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Our son, Tim Fowles, had registered to run the Zion’s 100K on April 18 in Virgin. The race was, of course, canceled. Organizers offered him a few options, one of which was to run 100K by himself. He liked that idea. He spent hours mapping his route close to his home in Salem. The easiest, he decided, was to run 31 miles north and then turn around and run the same 31 miles back. He wanted to stay off main roads, but not take on difficult terrain that would slow him down.
(Courtesy of Kristin Fowles) Tim Fowles didn't let the coronavirus stop him from running a 100K, but he couldn't do it without the help of his family.
The silver lining was that the whole family got involved. Someone had to make sure he had food and water. His wife, Kristin, took the first and last station at the entrance to the Y mountain trailhead. His brother-in-law manned the second and fifth stations at the Orem Cemetery. He also biked that last 20 miles alongside Tim. His sister, who lives in American Fork, manned the third station and on his return trip offered him an In-N-Out burger (the paper had been carefully wiped down) for “fuel.” His son drove from Salt Lake City to Cedar Hills to bring water and food for the apex of his run. All of us practiced social distancing and we sanitized. Our son-in-law in Texas even monitored the run remotely, receiving calls from Tim so he could alert the family at the aid stations to be ready.
We took pictures. We created supportive posters. We all had the chance to FaceTime with him as he ran, starting on March 31. He finished in 14 hours and 12 minutes.
None of this would have been possible if he had run the race as scheduled. The original route was such that spectators would be few and aid stations would have been manned by strangers.
It wasn’t the 100K he originally signed up for, but it became a rallying point for our family. That’s a true silver lining.
— Kathryn Fowles, Salt Lake City