Dear Nolanders,

At the last moment, I decided to run the Nolan's 14 course south to north a
day earlier, on 8/18/04. This, after realizing that as an individual
self-supported runner, I did not need to avoid the LT100 crowd. I felt that
by going north, It would be easier for Nicki to find me when I was finished
and that I would be closer to a town when I finished.

I climbed only four 14'ers in 37 hours, and hiked into Buena Vista on the
the third morning to retire from the course for this year after only 50
hours. I'm not going to blame my slow progress on the weather. The fact is
that I am 20 pounds overweight and out of shape. I haven't trained since
1999, and have run less than 300 miles total since then.

However, I enjoyed my time in the mountains. I feel that my equipment and
supplies were adequate to complete the entire course, and intend to give it
another try next year.

Going self-supported was enjoyable for the unexpected reason that I did not
feel pressured to be at any particular point in the course by a certain
time. That's good if you prefer to sit out the rain or lightening, but bad
if you are trying to set a record or complete the course in a reasonable
time. I intended to climb through the nights if the weather was good, but it
rained both nights, and I spent a total of 23 hours inside my bivy sack.

Stoping early gave me the opportunity to see some of you at the LT100. I had
the privilege of pacing Ricki Redland between Winfield and Twin Lakes and
the pleasure of visiting with Jon MacManus. Ricki is a strong climber, and
even though she had already run 50+ miles, it was hard for me to keep up
with her on the way to Hope Pass.

Congratulations to Paul DeWitt for setting a new course record at the LT100.
He finished around 9:30 pm on Saturday, but came back out to the finish line
Sunday morning looking like he hadn't run, and chatting with his fellow CRUD
members. (I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself Paul, but I enjoyed talking
with you in the bleachers at the finish anyway.)

Jon designed the 5th in his series of N14 Sawatch Range T-Shirts. If you are
collecting these like I am, get in touch with him. He has a few available.

As you may be aware, N14 can no longer be an organized event because of
wilderness area restrictions. This doesn't really matter, because like the
Badwater to Mt. Whitney run, you can run the course as an individual and you
really should provide your own crew and traveling aid station. Runners
continue to run Badwater to Mt. Whitney and some of them save the $300 entry
fee by running it independent of the Badwater 135 race. As an individual,
you are entitled to run the Nolan's 14 course any time you please. If you do
so, let me know. I would like to continue to keep a record of all N14 runs
and course records and will try to get the results published periodically.

Regards,
Fred Vance