AZ Wilderness Trail Series??

Working with the maps of Arizona this past week looking for the right route for the Arizona 100 Mile Race I've been thinking more and more about a series of "races" that take place inside the Wilderness Areas of Arizona specifically and not getting more than 30 people per race.  Reading about a Fat Ass race in Boulder this past weekend they just did three seperate start times for each group of runners based on their ability.

Using that method you could have two "groups" which allows for the less than 15 people in a group for all Wilderness areas but also allows everyone to still run the course and some of the best trails in the state.  More often than not the best trails, most beautful areas, and views are inside protected areas.  I mean, of course they are because they are protected.  So in a way to attract more people to those areas they normally may not have run I could create a "race" for each of the ones that are nearby and just organize to have people use those amazing yet difficult areas as training runs for larger races or just plain amazing runs in themselves. 

There are so many Wilderness Areas in Arizona spanning across the entire state that are rarely visited and are so awe inspiring I am equally excited to just show people how diverse this state is and how it is much more than Flagstaff and Phoenix.  So much more. 

Also, I'm not giving up on the AZ100 yet.  I need to pick up a few more maps and hear back from a few people on their thoughts.  My first few attempts at mapping out a route have been challenging as there are a lot of Wilderness areas around Flagstaff and Sedona that you cannot run a major race through.  So the route coming down Oak Creek Canyon is quite difficult.  Possibly a route through the AZ Trail would work but that doesn't hit as many towns. It would essentially be a start of Mormon Lake and end in Flagstaff but wouldn't touch Sedona.  Which would not really make it that much more unique than any other forested race in the US.

So we will see...

Oh and Killian won another two races in downhill skiing.  Of course he did.