Utah cancer survivor completes Wasatch 100 with two of his sons

DRAPER — When McKay Larrabee, 23, was seven miles away from the finish line of the Wasatch 100 Endurance Run earlier this month, he didn't know if he had much more to give.

"I was at mile 93, and I felt like it was so close, but I didn't think I'd be able to make it in before the cut-off," he said. "I just remember stopping on the trail and talking to my uncle and saying, 'I need a blessing.' Faith is pretty important to me and my family. Getting that blessing, I believe, was a really big part of why I think I finished."

But it wasn't just his uncle who was out there on the trail with him that day. He, his older brother Keaton Larrabee, 22, and their dad Cory Larrabee, 50, had crossed the finish line a few hours before.

"When I crossed the finish line, my dad was right there to hug me, and it was really cool to hear about how Keaton had done," he said. "A few hours after that, it really started hitting me, like, this is such a cool experience."

The Larrabees are from Draper, and it wasn't the first time some of them had run the prestigious Wasatch 100. In fact, in 2002, Cory ran it with his dad, following a very difficult time in his own life.

"I did the Wasatch 100 after I had cancer, and they took out two of my four quadricep muscles," Cory recalled.

Cory was a track and cross-country athlete at Southern Utah University and said that running was what got him through his college years. He was diagnosed with cancer during his senior year and underwent chemotherapy. A year later, he and his dad toed the line of Wasatch 100.

"It was kind of a pivotal time in my life where I was kind of closing a chapter and starting a new chapter," Cory said. "It was before McKay was born and Keaton was just a few months old at that time, and that's kind of how it all started."

Cory said the race in 2002 was a way to prove he could do hard things, and he didn't know that over 20 years later, his sons would be inspired by what he had done long ago.

"Growing up, I remember my dad had some sort of trophy that had 'Wasatch 100' on it," Keaton said. "I remember messing around with the trophy and then, as I grew older, realizing that dang, my dad ran 100 miles. This is crazy!"

Keaton said that he wasn't much of a runner growing up, but mostly mountain biked in the Wasatch Mountains as a member of his high school mountain bike team. After he completed a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission, he said that he wanted to run Wasatch 100.

That first attempt was last year, and Keaton said it didn't go as planned. He wanted the 2026 race to be his redemption run, and he invited his dad and older brother to enter the race.

"I paced Keaton for the last 30 miles, and I at that point I was like, 'I'll never do another ultra again,'" Cory said. "That was just a one-and-done type thing, but he said that he had more to give, and so he asked if we would put in for the Wasatch lottery."

They put in for the lottery, and only Keaton and McKay got in. An email to the race director, however, changed that, and they all found themselves racing 100 miles in the heart of the Wasatch Mountain Range.

Running together apart

Even though the Larrabees spent a lot of time through the spring and summer training together, they knew that running together during the race wasn't a feasible option. They were all different paces, and they knew that a lot could happen over the course of 100 miles.

"I had two goals going into it: One, I didn't want to hate running after I finished, and two, just to not wreck my body," Cory said. "There's quite a bit of muscle fatigue with the lack of my quadricep muscles, and so I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't doing permanent damage to my body. So, the idea of all of us running together, I don't think it was ever a possibility."

McKay said that he also had a goal to just finish, and Keaton, on the other hand, had a goal to finish at the top.

Even with different goals, they all said that what kept them going was knowing that they were all out there doing something hard.

"I had a little moment where I broke down crying because I knew that McKay would be coming right behind us, and I knew he was struggling," Cory said, adding that he contemplated going back to get his son.

"I was willing to do it, but my brother, who was pacing me, and had already run 30 miles with me, turned around and went back and ran the last eight miles with (McKay)," he added.

Keaton was able to cross the finish line in third place with a time of 22:05:25, and was taken to the hospital shortly after as a result of dehydration. He was released after being given high doses of fluids. Cory came in at 31:19:34, and McKay made the 100-mile trek in 34:45:44, pushing through a knee injury.

"Throughout the day, it was cool just thinking like, 'Oh, my dad and brother are gonna be here pretty soon, and I hope that they're feeling well," Keaton said. "Then when I finished, it was pretty fun to track them and see where they were at and cheer them on."

As for what's next for the Larrabees, they said that it may be too soon to tell if they will run a 100-mile race again, but none are discounting it as an option.

"I got to spend these really fun times with my boys," Cory said. "This is something that I've dreamed about for years and years — not necessarily about doing 100 miles, but being able to share the things that I love with my kids. I can't put into words how cool it was to run with them."

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