Within the new movie, “A Lap for Invoice: Zach Miller’s Hardrock 100,” we’re handled to a a lot totally different view of Zach Miller than we usually get. As an alternative of the extremely intense photos of Miller sprinting to complete traces that we’ve all grown accustomed to, we get a a lot softer model of him and an perception into his motivations for working the 2025 Hardrock 100.
[Editor’s Note: Click here to watch the film on YouTube.]
At first of this brief movie, narrated completely by Miller and created by the nice people at Freetrail, we study that his buddy Invoice Dooper, whom he describes as “an older gentleman who lived in Leadville, [Colorado,]” all the time wished to see him race Hardrock. Miller continues, “He was largely only a great, wonderful fan of the game,” and explains that after spending a number of years chasing the UTMB dream, he determined to concentrate on Hardrock in 2017, largely as a result of he knew how a lot Dooper wished him to run. An harm, sadly, stored him from the beginning line that 12 months.
Zach Miller beginning the 2025 Hardrock 100, eight years after his first acceptance to the race. All photos are screenshots from the movie “A Lap for Invoice.”
For Miller, working this race was a very long time coming, and by the point he obtained one other entry in 2024, Dooper had handed away. Miller determined to honor Dooper’s reminiscence by carrying a card with Dooper’s picture on it round his “loop within the San Juan Mountains.” Then, with solely two weeks to go earlier than the race, Miller had an emergency appendectomy. He graciously accepted his destiny and vowed to return. When the 2025 race lastly rolled round, the one fan who would have been essentially the most excited to lastly see Miller firstly line of Hardrock was, after all, not current.
There are a number of movies on the market that profile this superfan of the game, and we extremely advocate checking them out. It’s also possible to learn iRunFar’s remembrance of Dooper, as Dooper was additionally an unbelievable supporter of this publication.
Zach Miller working the 2025 Hardrock 100.
In “A Lap for Invoice,” Miller offers it his all in a really totally different approach. Because it typically goes in a race like Hardrock, Miller finds himself struggling early on. As an alternative of the standard volley with the entrance of the race, we see Miller resigned to a decided and purposeful loop. Miller shows his attribute sportsmanship and compassion, and the tip couldn’t be extra good. He’s greeted on the end by iRunFar founder, Bryon Powell, who was additionally an excellent buddy of Dooper. Powell offers Miller the particular Inexperienced Bay Packers hat that Dooper all the time wore, which Miller, an Eagles fan from Pennsylvania, instantly dons as he absorbs the enormity of his run. The ending is crammed with emotion and accomplishment, which anybody who has skilled this storied end line in Silverton, Colorado, is aware of all too effectively.
Zach Miller reveals the memorial to Invoice Dooper that he carried round his 2025 Hardrock 100.
Whereas Dooper handed away in 2018, earlier than he may see Miller run the Hardrock 100, it’s clear that Miller gave his buddy the best honor by working along with his reminiscence.
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Invoice Dooper: Ultrarunning Superfan.
