Unpublished

“Remember how perfectly that was timed,” he said one morning, “remember the window to work with.”

Yup, they remembered, and let the still unmentioned happenstance of that day color the plan he was drawing up. Merits first.

“Same approach here and,” he said, leading them into the guide room the day of the mapping. “We’re actually ahead of the clouds today.”

With the most experienced alpinists entering the room first, the ethic of the valley emerged slowly in the room. And, as if moving their bodies for the first time, many found their legs in the warm rays of sun streaming through the glass window. There, framed against the sky in the largest pane, was that mass of rock, ice, and, fundamentally, exposure. This was where anything implicit in the guide room was explicitly lived. In other words, this was where how they thought their lives should work, did in fact work.

The other ethic of the valley was that to tame something was to name it. And this was the reason they were all there. It had been several years since the first summit of the most iconic peak in sight, and amongst the experienced guides over half had followed his lead to the top. But over half of that experienced half had, in that half’s own minds and bodies that is, also tamed that thing. And this was beginning to subvert the first ethic of the valley, which confused the other guides that, in their own minds and bodies, hadn’t tamed it just yet.

“Fathomable,” was how those of that other half that hadn’t yet tamed the most iconic peak saw it. This was rooted in their corollary to the other ethic of the valley, that to understand something was, although not as recognized as physically taming it, still a part of what that must be like.

The door closed behind them, softly, and a bustling of orderliness came with it. While subtlety was not an option in the exposure just outside, it was possible to sense it here. The half of the experienced half that, in their own minds and bodies that is, tamed that thing constantly challenged this; confusion is not a place for the ethic of the valley to work.

Experience was the first-to-enter: really, shouldn’t that be enough?

“By happenstance,” was how the least experienced of the guides that hadn’t yet tamed the most iconic peak saw…whatever the most experienced thought they created, named, or even managed. So now everyone had his or her say.

For as much as it was a trying prospect to transition between the least experienced of those who hadn’t yet tamed the most iconic peak and the most experienced, split into halves that had in fact, firstly, and had in mind and body, secondly, whenever anyone had their say, that was what the valley went on. Which is why they were all here.

“Eyeofthebeholder,” said the one who thought fast and spoke fast as well.

News travels fast in the valley.

Oudersluys ran to raise money for the Hall Steps Foundation, run by Ryan and Sara Hall, with all the proceeds going to build a well in Africa. He was inspired by his favorite movie, Forrest Gump, in which the title character crosses the U.S. over the course of three years. Oudersluys covered that distance in just over three months yet, just like Gump, did not shave or cut his hair during the route.

"Grew it all out, tried to get it as long as his, definitely didn't get there, but it is a good goal," he said.

His route covered over 3,000 miles, from the Santa Monica Yacht Harbor and Pier in California to the Marshall Point Lighthouse in Maine. And, much like Gump, who famously said "you never know what you're going to get," Oudersluys favorite under-the-radar running towns might not be what you expect.

• Tuba City, AZ



• Sedalia, MO



• Logansport, IN



• Buffalo, NY



• Bath, ME

As for the pre-run 'Gram, it was a "knolling" one. "To knoll,"" as Wikipedia defines the verb, is to organize by arranging like objects in parallel or 90-degree angles. All of Anders' gear for the run were laid out in this way on a hardwood floor, including the one that most concerned me for this trip: a blue 10-gallon water jug. While the four Colorado-based runners would be driving to Zion, I'd be flying from my home outside of Boston, where I was taking the pre-requisites for physical therapy school, writing, and training for this run, into Las Vegas and driving two hours northeast. Before flying out, I asked every friend who has traveled from sea level to elevation over the course of a day for advice, and the response was the same. I quote: hydrate.

With a fourth buzzword in tow, Anders texted his travel update (Sweet! We are on the road! So stoked!) as I arrived for a layover in Minneapolis and happily realized that the water fountains there are in a prime spot. Indeed, unlike in Boston, hydration in Minneapolis is right next to the gates, practically asking all trail-runner-traveler traffic to stay in one area. (In Boston, only one fellow traveler seemed to appreciate me strolling from the security area to the gate to the fountain and back to the gate to drink and stay loose. "You look like you're going to climb a mountain,"" remarked a mid-20s businesswoman in line at security.) By the time I landed in Las Vegas that evening and drove northeast to meet up with Anders, Matt, Steve, and Tyler at South Campground in Zion, I had drunk 6 liters of water, shared a laugh (an encouraging laugh) with fellow travelers about our traverse plan, and rested on the plane. I felt fresh for an early start the next morning.

Packing up for the day at 5 a.m. was still a groggily done process, however, even with the apparent 7 a.m. timeframe for this New Englander. Fortunately Steve, an accomplished rock climber, was keeping us all alert by pointing out the big walls we could see from our campsite. "That's The Watchman, he'd say, pointing south of the Zion Mount Carmel Highway, the road leading to where we'd start our run. "Alpine style to chimney at the top." Chimney was evocative of the morning, for Zion has this smoky smell that reminds me of childhood trips to Little Cottonwood Canyon in northern Utah, the smell of sagebrush and ponderosa pine that mixes together in the dry air and settles there lightly, as if at any second the next gust of wind would blow it away. And, being the only souls awake at South Campground and shuffling around beneath thousands of leaves waking up to the breeze, it very may well have in a self-forgetful moment, as if to reinforce its stage-dressing quality for the 48-mile run ahead.

An hour and a half later, we were on the trail, following the same route that Mike Foote and Justin Yates took to set the Zion Traverse's current Fastest Known Time in June 2013, running from the East Entrance down to The Grotto, up to the West Rim Trailhead past Angel's Landing, from the West Rim to Hop Valley Trailhead, and from Hop Valley to Lee Pass Trailhead. Having read their report on iRunFar, I knew that the route's first section would feature gradual ascents and descents before merging into steep technical single-track and, sure enough, the first five-mile stretch was a mellow warm-up with slight pitch changes at each turn. I was steadily drinking from my bladder and generally catching up on life in Colorado before Anders, the director of a film festival with a keen cinematic and storytelling eye, brought up coincidences, based on a recent episode of This American Life.

"Yeah, the photo?"

With the person's Grandma in it?

Craaaaaaaaazy!!!"

As if to add to the topic at hand, we turned into the path of an oncoming runner around five miles in. Seamus, we learned, was planning on running 20 miles today and 28 the next as training for the Squaw Peak 50-miler in Utah in June. He was two miles into his run for the day when we shared our plans.

"You guys have support?"

Yes, at miles 26, 35, and 48.

"Can I join?"

Two more miles and 1:24 in, with the path transitioning into wider stretches of rock alongside Dr. Seuss-like rock formations, the early warm-up section had given into that zone of running where any goal for the day—in this case finishing—seemed easily attainable. Intent on carrying this momentum through the climb up Angel's Landing, we stopped briefly at The Grotto to refill on water before setting off again.

Finally, with the first few steps of ascending out of the canyon, the real Zion Traverse began. Indeed, by now it was 8:30 a.m., and the mix of dry air, sun, and vertical had slowed our pace to a speed-walk as we tacked back and forth up "The Wiggles."" Alternating between running and walking, and draining my second 3L supply of water within an hour, Anders and I hung back while Seamus, Matt, and Steve steamed on ahead. After carefully planning and partitioning hydration to what I thought was a tee, here I was, doing mental math on paces as we shuffled through sagebrush on our way to the first checkpoint, coming in at just under seven hours. Angry with myself, I elected to call it a day; pushing through another 22 miles was not sound strategy at 7000 feet.

The next two checkpoints went smoothly on the whole. Steve joined Tyler and I in the shuttle after 35 miles, nursing a tight ITB, but Seamus, Matt, and Anders all finished in just over 13 hours total, with Seamus running strong to the finish. In hindsight this made sense; you wouldn't elect to tag along if you didn't think you'd fly through, and as we enjoyed celebratory chocolate milks and beers at Lee Pass, the three 48ers told stories of rattlesnakes by the trail and the lack of footing on the sand in Hop Valley. After all our preparation, the Zion Traverse had held its status as an adventure run. Indeed the obvious risks—hydration, footing, or fatigue—often lie in the open, while the subtle rewards—running the stretch from miles seven to the top of Angel's Landing, joining the support crew at remote trailheads on a beautiful Southwestern day, or hearing stories of your buddies testing their limits—can only come from miles logged in the canyon.

“There is definitely interest in Brek from the teams in the Premier League,” said Shea’s agent Spencer Wadsworth in an August 15 article on Goals.com. “But it’s not just England, it’s teams from Germany, Holland and Belgium also.”

According to Wadsworth, several scouts have been tracking Shea at each game, although Wadsworth did not specify whether they were examining Shea’s MLS minutes, his time with the MNT, or both. However, given the depth of research done on players before signings these days, there is reason to believe that all of Shea’s appearances on the pitch are now under consideration.

“With these scouts, they don’t evaluate a player over a few weeks, they evaluate over a span of 7-10 months,” said Santio Sports and Entertainment Industry President Patrick McCabe in the same Goals.com article. “Brek is in a good place right now and regular minutes are important.”

It is in that sense that Shea—who has started every game but one for MLS’s FC Dallas this season, leads the Hoops in goals with 10, and gained his first League All-Star nod in 2011—might’ve laid down his biggest highlight for the scout tapes while playing on a different stage altogether. In the second half of the MNT international friendly versus Mexico on August 10, Shea took a pass from Juan Agudelo in the corner, sprinted along the top of the box, and slid the ball past two pressing defenders for Robbie Rogers’ equalizer.

“[Shea] has the qualities to take people on,” said Head Coach Jurgen Klinsmann (who subbed Shea into the game in the 60th minute) at the post-game press conference. “He has a tremendous pace, he’s driving towards the goal, he wants to score, he has a drive into the box…I knew that we could bring him in any time, we had that in the back of our mind already before the game, that certain players need to be changed for getting fresh legs in there, so he was on top of the list.”

sAs for which teams top the list in the potential Shea sweepstakes? Only one has been floated so far, “Fulhamerica” a.k.a. Fulham FC, the oldest football outfit in London and the one that, historically, has signed the most American talent of any foreign club. In 1999, Fulham began its American recruitment when Paul Bracewell signed keeper Marcus Hahnemann, and in the 12 years since the club has had Eddie Lewis, Eddie Johnson, Brian McBride, Carlos Bocanegra, Kasey Keller and Clint Dempsey wear the Lilywhites. (Dempsey is the only American on the current squad.) With Shea specifically, there was speculation in the British Isles as early as December 8, 2009 as to the likelihood of then-Cottagers Head Coach Roy Hodgson adding the FC Dallas midfielder, although since Hodgson’s successor Mark Hughes took control of the Cottagers in July of 2010, the rumor mill has spun less.

“Obviously you want to see guys have as much success as they possibly can,” said FC Dallas keeper Kevin Hartman when asked in an August 11 interview if he would prefer for Shea to go unnoticed and thus not have his teammate be lured away from the Hoops. “Careers aren’t that long so it would be great to see him be put on a stage that prepares him and would really help us at the national team level…I think that any chance he could go to an international level and play bet it England, Italy, Spain or something like that would help with his development, and make our international team better, and financially he’d be much better off too.”

Of course, that is precisely the wrinkle in all of this transfer talk, the bare fact that Shea is under contract with FC Dallas, having signed a four-year deal with his hometown club in May of this year that has him in Frisco through 2015. Adding to that is that the MLS, aspiring to one day generate its own Premier-like appeal, aims to keep its young talent on North American soil.

“Re-signing a player of Brek Shea’s impressive ability and potential shows the great vision of FC Dallas leadership and proves the League’s continuing commitment to retaining top, young American players,” said MLS Commissioner Don Garber in an FC Dallas press release on the day of the deal in May.

And said Shea himself, “I think it’s good for the league, especially when young players want to stay. Each year it grows bigger and bigger and better and better so I think it’s great.”

Yet still, the midfielder with the shock of blonde hair didn’t rule Europe out.

“As a soccer player I want to try and play in Europe at least one time in may career but I don’t think it’s the right opportunity right now,” said Shea. “I want to try and be on the All-Star team and do big things here, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Who knows? Maybe the whole world will be watching.

“Anytime Will Brandenburg leaves the start, he’s looking to win,” said Men’s Technical Head Coach Mike Day of his 2010 super combined Olympian, who tied Canada’s David Donaldson for second with a time of 1:30.39. “But it was a good thing to build off.”

Wednesday’s slalom in the Southern Cup—an event hosted by Japan that typically draws the strongest ski teams of the Earth’s bottom half—was the first of four races to be held at Coronet Peak, where the U.S. team, along with several others from the north, had been training since the beginning of August. The “Storm of the Century,” as it was dubbed, had hit New Zealand during the days leading up to the race and with winds speeds estimated as high as 90 k.p.h.

Still, “[it’s] been a successful camp,” said Day. “We had a great stretch of weather before this big storm. We had [a] really good training block up until the front end of this storm. We’ve been mixing it up with some GS and pretty heavy volume in slalom, which brought us right into this race.”

Brandenburg, who was returning from a round of arthroscopic knee surgery in June, finished second (along with Donaldson) behind Norway’s Lars Elton Myhre (1:30.54). U.S. teammate Will Gregorak took fourth in 1:30.71.

“[And] the race crew here at Coronet did a great job pushing off 70 centimeters of snow for a successful race,” noted Day. “It was a tremendous effort.”

On the women’s side, Norway again held the top spot with Lotte Smiseth Sejersted in first (1:39.29) followed by a pair of Germans, Susanne Riesch (1:39.40) and Lena Duerr (1:39.47) in second and third. Salt Lake City’s Avril Dunleavy was the top American finisher, placing eighth.

After the slalom, Day emphasized that the race—which was missing many other members of the U.S. Ski Team—was primarily for training, despite its FIS status. (The Audi FIS Alpine World Cup begins on October 22-23 in Soelden, Austria.)

“We didn’t have a bunch of guys racing today because we’re obviously down here to train at this point,” he said. “We’re looking at these races as a training opportunity more than anything else. This camp is a continuation of our fundamental progression as we slowly build toward Soelden. We still have quite a bit of preparation coming up.”

The four-day Southern Cup was the end of the team’s three-week Kiwiland training camp, after which the U.S. Women return home before moving on to Chile in early September.