Front Range Ultra Dayze
September 3 - 6, 2026
Front Range Ultra Dayze, FRUD, is a multi day event during Labor Day weekend in Loveland, Colorado with really nice race directors and very supportive volunteers. Also they have a sale if you want to do two events and you know me I like a sale. Because it has a hundred hour race option among other events I thought this might be a race where I could get a double hundred, or two hundred mile races. Shor nuff this worked.
The course is a partially paved and soft dirt and gravel two mile loop around a park and some fishing lakes. I signed up for the 100 mile race which started on Thursday and the 48 hour race which started on Saturday. I asked Chris to join me as it was going to be warm and he likes warm weather so he did. This was a game changer move to have Chris with me during this challenging series of events and he had fun too. We recently discovered City Strides (thanks Amy) and have been enjoying collecting streets in different cities. So Chris had purpose as well as I for going to Colorado.
The weather forecast looked hot and it did not disappoint. The mid nineties started each day around 11 AM and lasted till 6 PM. During the first hundred on Thursday and Friday I got to experience this each afternoon and it crushed me. I slowed my pace, drank lots of fluids and iced up as much as possible. Because this was so devastating I began not thinking I would even attempt the double because of the heat. In two previous races (Strawberry fields and Bountiful) where the temps were high 95-105 degrees we were given a finish at the 100K if we wanted and I took that both times because I did not think I could last on the second afternoon in the heat and I was right, the second day was brutal. How was I to do a third and fourth day for the 48 Hour? Yikes. I was freaking myself out about it so I just focused on the race I was in and that helped.
I finished the first hundred in 30:30:30. Okay now rest and recover and get ready for the 48 hour. Usually when I do a double hundred I have a full 24 hours to recover, but not this time, only about 15 hours. However I think the game changer for success was a strategy session with my husband. After showering, eating, squeezing the legs and getting ready to sleep, we chatted and came up with a plan. Since I had all 48 hours to complete the second hundred, we decided I would not run in the heat of the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday. I could be off course and into the AC because Chris could whisk me away from the course and return me when needed. We had rented an AirBnb only five minutes away. The schedule was to be off course from 2-5 PM both days. This would reduce my time from 48 hours to 42 hours. Most of my second hundreds have been between 32-36 hours, so totally doable.
Day one of the 48 went well, I made it to 2 PM and got off course, with 22 miles. I ate, squeezed and napped and was back on course at 5 PM. I told Chris that it was really hot by 2 PM and I would not make it to that time on the second day and could he pick me up at 1 PM. Well my tolerance for the heat was shot, I only made it to 10:30 AM with a total of 72 miles. I called for a ride and then spent the time off course freaking out about whether I had enough time to get the second hundred. Of course I was doing the maths wrong which didn’t help. I also was unsure how I would handle it after 172 miles on my legs. I tried to sleep but didn’t do well from the nervousness. Chris took a walk to get streets on City Strides while I was supposed to be sleeping and when he returned he did the math correctly and his presence let me sleep and my confidence about finishing turned to positive talk. Yes I can, I can do this, I’ve done it before, I got this.
So back on course about 4 PM I slowly walk in the heat of the day and took it easy strolling with some friends. Again we are just trying to survive the last of the afternoon heat. Finally it cools a little and becomes very muggy. During the week we had seen a lot of lightning strikes far off, very beautiful because it was far off. Well the lightning strikes started getting closer and we began to hear thunder. Then of course it starts to rain and this feels good because it is a light rain. We get to the aid station and everyone is talking about a thunder storm moving through for the next two hours. I got time, I sit down and looked at the radar on my phone, yup looks bad. So I decide to sit tight and wait out the storm. And then wow, it totally just down poured and we are under the covered area but it is not really covered so we are getting wet. Several of us jump into the custodial closet, you know that little room with buckets and mops and brooms. Five of us cram in there and sit on buckets for a while. Then we hear the rain has stopped and look at the radar and the storm has passed. We feel very grateful we were safe in our little hidey hole. I didn’t have extra clothes with me so it could have been disastrous and no rain coat would have even helped in that downpour. But now the rain has stopped and off we go again. Probably an hour of down time for the thunderstorm. I should have taken a picture of us huddled in the closet.
At this point eating sucks and I am just trying to down some liquid calories to get me through the last 10 miles. My lips are cracked from sun burn and wind burn, very painful. Ginger ale takes me to the finish as I have a cup of it after each loop. I’m walking and talking with friends. We are all helping each other get the last few miles in to reach our goals. The laps go much better when you get to chat and distract from the pain and suffering, just what we signed up for. Suck it up buttercup and get a move on. Just before 5 AM I call and wake up Chris to come pick me up. I finish with a couple of extra laps to get me on the podium. All is good.
FRUD 100 Miler, 30:30:30, 4th Woman, hundred number 94
FRUD 48 Hour, 104 miles with time to spare, 3rd Woman, number 95
7th double hundred, only one more double hundred to go at ATY
P. S. A little scary moment happened.
You know we can all freak ourselves out on these events especially in the middle of the night. On the first night of the 48 hour about 3-4 AM it is very dark and not many people are out on course at night. So it can be a bit lonely and sometimes you can hear things that scare you, it could be an animal in the bushes, or it could just be a piece of clothing that makes noise by scratching or it could be a person screaming at you.
I’m walking on the far back side of the course and a dark figure comes toward me. Okay the natural inclination is to look at the thing with my headlamp to see what it is. The black thing dressed all in black is a person and the person is cussing and yelling at me for flashing my light in his eyes. He is swearing and then threatens me. Very scary. I apologize and try to explain and he is not hearing me and he continues with the cussing and threats and so I move swiftly away. I am a little upset (ya think) about this. I begin to get emotional and am more mad about him taking away my ultra bliss. I knew he was likely homeless or coming to fish in the middle of the night ??? and had passed several runners who shined their headlamps at him. A guy ahead of me in the race slows down to walk with me and lets me vent as he heard the whole thing and this helps. Then two guys who were behind me, again guys in the race join our group. So now I have a little posse walking with me helping me calm down and letting me vent and then we all start cracking up because the runner guys wanna use their karate and judo moves on him. Those guys said the exact right things to lessen the situation. They walk with me another whole loop so I don’t have to go through that section by myself and by the end of the lap I am laughing so hard my belly aches. All is good, but sheesh always a new experience in ultra land.