Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2021.
Marta Fisher bent to kiss the ram’s head painted onto a grubby block of mining debris.
It was three a.m., and the gravel street in front of Silverton Middle High School was empty, but for Fisher, her crew, and the infamous white rock that marks the finish line of the Hardrock 100. Fisher jumped in the air, yelled “I’m a Hardrocker!!” and promptly fell asleep in a folding camp chair. She had been awake for almost 48 hours.
Fisher, 47 from Portland, Oregon, was exhausted. After a tough race, she felt vindicated, newly confident and inspired by her interactions with fellow female Hardrockers along the course.
“I felt like I was pulling a little bit for all the other women in the race and I wanted all of us to get to the finish,” says Fisher.
So much of Fisher’s life had been oriented around training for Hardrock, she felt a bit unmoored after finally catching up to her ultra horizons. After returning home to Portland Fisher started paging through the routes and records listed on fastestknowntime.com, a rolling record for all things FKT….
