Wendover • After more than 24 hours on her feet, Melissa Soper could see her destination off in the seeming infinite desert flatness, a banner strung between two aluminum rods, getting bigger against the horizon, backlit by the sun rising.
The 39-year-old mother of four began moaning as she approached and then ran under the banner, becoming the ninth finisher and the first woman to complete the 2018 Salt Flats Endurance Run on Saturday.
The Salt Flats Endurance Run, which starts and finishes at the Bonneville Speedway, is a relative newcomer to the growing sport of ultra-running, raced at distances exceeding, sometimes far exceeding, the traditional marathon of 26.