Ultramarathon to hit Sloan Canyon on Saturday

Annette Schulz and Darrell Henry signed up for Trail Trashed together.

The friends didn’t get their chance to run it side by side before Henry died in December from cancer. But Saturday, Schulz will bring Henry with her as Trail Trashed returns to Sloan Canyon.

“His wish was to have his ashes scattered, and so I’m carrying his ashes for the 100 miles and running the race in his honor,” Schulz said.

Schulz, who lives in Reno, will be one of about 250 running in Trail Trashed, which offers everything from a one-mile kids’ fun run to a 100-mile run.

She’s one of 12 who will be running the longest distance.

Race director Heidi Dove, an ultrarunner herself, decided to add the 100-mile option for this year’s event, saying there aren’t enough races of that distance in the Las Vegas area.

There are three, including Trail Trashed, she is aware of.

“A lot of people who get into this just have very extreme personalities and are very adventurous, and so the road running doesn’t cut it,” Dove said. “It’s like we need something else, we need to see how far our bodies can go and how much we can push our bodies and our mind.”

The course will be a 25-mile loop through Sloan Canyon, and entrants will have 36 hours to complete the 100 miles.

Schulz has never run 100 miles, though she’s completed a 50-mile race and has run 50Ks and 55Ks.

She said she’s been training for the race for five or six months, doing shorter runs during the week and then back-to-back runs on the weekend. A typical weekend could include a 26- to 30-mile run one day, followed by a 15- to 18-mile run the next day.

Dove, who has completed three 100-mile races, said people often train for races of this distance by doing late-night runs, sleeping for a couple of hours, then picking up where they left off in the morning. She said they also will do cross training to work different muscle groups and dial in on their nutrition.

A common practice for runners in long-distance races is to have a pacer run with them around halfway through.

“You’re starting to hallucinate at mile 50, and you’re sleep deprived, so you’re having somebody who runs with you to make sure you’re drinking and eating and not passing out,” Dove said.

Schulz plans to do that, having friends keep her company and run with her late in the race.

And, of course, she’ll have Henry with her, too.

“I’m just taking his ashes along for the race because he never got a chance to run an ultra race,” Schulz said. “Posthumously, this is his chance to finish an epic race that he wanted to do, and I’m happy to help him do that. That’s my motivation to finish.”

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.