June 21st, 2024 was the day a long time dream came to be. The Pocatello Round is a line around Pocatello that I see everyday, and have often thought about linking together. Surrounded by friends and family I set out at 8:00 am from the Brady Chapel. First leg I ran with Ethan Hansen and we quickly passed the opening miles. At the Wellness Complex I said goodbye to Ethan and picked up Taylor Farnsworth to do the pavement section on the north side of town. The temperatures rapidly rose and it already felt quite hot when I got the Simplot trailhead, said good bye to Taylor and picked up Bri Basile. Bri would run with me through the first rough patch of the day as we worked through the long and unrelenting climb to Kinport Peak. At Kinport I was feeling pretty rough, very hot, and so grateful for the numerous friends that had committed to supporting this first attempt at the Round. A crew of us ran the outback to Kinport summit, then a full resupply, a goodby to Bri and off towards Rock Knoll with Greg Reynolds and Will Tarantino. We joked and laughed our way through the Ridgeline miles trying to push away the thoughts of the oppressive heat. Some of the Ridgeline miles were very slow as the temps took a serious toll. It was quite nice once we descended off of Slate Mountain down to the West Fork of Mink Creek and were able to cool off in the water. A few easy miles down the trail took us to the next crew stop where my emotions started pouring out as quick as the sweat out of my pores. I spent some time there cooling down and trying to refuel which had become challenging. I said goodbye to Will and Greg and headed up the hottest part of the day with long time adventure partner and dear friend Steven Gnam. We ground out the climb, and were moving ok until my stomach fully protested at about mile 42 with some exorcism level vomiting. I leaned in to a puke and rally that carried us to the East Fork Trail Junction where we were joined by two more friends Kelly Halpin and Cody Lind. The company was nice as I battled a blown stomach and waning energy. Near the top of Scout my best friend Scott Kirkham met us accompanied by the very talented Anastasia Wilde, who was taking photos. We topped off water and set off to try the never end ridge section from Scout Mountain to the Black Rock Gap. We held a very brief but deeply emotional vigil and hung prayer flags on the summit of Indian Mountain in memory of our friend Terry O'Connor who had died in an avalanche a few weeks prior. Then ran together, now well in to the night, towards the next crew point at Black Rock. It was very special to be met after midnight by a gaggle of friends that were all out to help me finish the loop. Kelly had to go home to take care of her pup, but we added another friend, Waylon Wade to the late night run party and set out to finish the last peak and ridge system, China Peak. I continued to struggle with my stomach but managed to get down an orange creamsicle at the summit when we were met for the final time by the crew. A long descent off the peak led us to a few miles of road that closed the loop back at the cemetery. Twenty hours and thirty one minutes after starting the run, the first completion of the Pocatello Round was done. This effort was made much more enjoyable, and frankly possible, by the support of the pacers and crew who so willingly sacrificed their time and energy to help me reach for my dreams. Words are inadequate but thank you to: Tanae, Bryn, Chloe, Anders, Scott, Steven, Anastasia, Tatyana, Bri, Mali, Taylor, Ethan, Eric, Kevin, Todd, Greg, Will, Jill, Sheena, Cody, Kelly, Waylon, Paula, and Julia.
I recognize that this route will be run much faster and look forward to supporting those future efforts. I do hope that future FKT attempts, and any attempts on the route, lean in to the spirit of community and support that was present for this first competition. Information about the the Pocatello Round, including gpx files, crew and pacer sheet templates, and a list of finishers can be found at https://lukenelson.run/pocatello-round