JP's Re-cap...part 1

So as I sit here 72+ hours post-race, I want to get some thoughts down before I lose them.

First, Trevor is great. I can't name a single other friend I could've done this race with. He struggled badly early, but was a champ by the end of the week. And like I said before, even when he was hurting, he was still a bull - pushing through the pain the best he could to cover as much ground as possible. Thank you for all your hard work this week, man. Of course, thanks also for being a great friend. I dare say we made people laugh everywhere we went and we had a great time doing so. The company was awesome all week long; til next time.

Second, thanks to my wife, my mom, my sister, Scott, Joe, Sean, Brandon, Steve, a couple of Andys and Trevor Mills. You guys have always been great sources of support and encouragement, and there's no way I would've attempted something like this if it wasn't for the commitment you all have made to me over the last 18 years. I'm so blessed to have people who believe in me, push me, inspire me, and love me. So blessed.

Ok, enough with the sappy stuff, let's talk about what I would do differently if I were to do this again.

As far as gear, I would definitely get some shorts that have lots of side or back pockets. Trevor and I both agreed having a Nathan Quickdraw bottle was the best of the four (naked, relying on aid stations; hand-held bottle; fuel belt; Camelbak) hydration options we had each day. But the bottle had little storage area, making carrying the mandatory gear (gloves, hat, jacket, blanket) a little cumbersome. We eventually got it to where I slid the blanket (very small) into the interstitial space between the bottle and the holder on the Nathan, put the poncho in the wasteband of my shorts, put the hat (thin cycling beanie) in my gloves, and clipped the gloves together, tucking one of them in the waistband, opposite the poncho. And when I wore my Adidas (ah-dee-dahs, trust me) shorts with a decent sized back pocket, I could stash 3 gels and a half-dozen salt tablets back there easily. I was good to go, but it took us until Stage 5 to figure this out.

I would definitely bring every small bag I have. The duffel bag TRR gives you is the balls - don't get me wrong. But it's HUGE. And having electronics, food, dirty clothes, clean clothes, racing clothes, hanging out clothes, 4 pairs of shoes, hydration products, mandatory gear, safety pins, toiletries, massage sticks, an air mattress and pump, pillow, sunglasses, race bible, and a headlamp made navigating the duffel very difficult. I had a total of 4 bags in there (race gear, small stuff, food, dirty clothes) but I could've used 3 more.

I would bring more medicine. My biggest complaint of this race, which probably cost us some time, was the medical staff. They would pop blisters and work on my ankle tendonitis, but they had no pain-killers, no anti-nausea meds, basically no over the counter drugs. I put my knee into a tree on Stage 5 and really needed some NSAIDs. "Ask around" said the medic. What? Blood is running down my leg and my knee is the size of a grapefuit, and you want me to ask around? Come on. Also, in the mornings, when we all had to leave at the same time, the line to be treated was 20 people deep. Not everyone got seen by the 2 medics on staff. In the afternoons it was fine as we all trickled in at different times, but not the mornings. I did self-treatment Friday morning on Stage 6, and I know that cost us some time as I had to have my foot wounds properly dressed at Check Point 2. So that kinda sucked.

I would friggin train harder. This summer was rough for hard-core training with an insane project at work, moving, and spending 10 days in New England. Also accumulating only 32 miles in March and April combined really set me back. My body was pretty pissed off after 70 miles in 4 days, and we still had 50 to go in the next 2. I definitely needed to introduce a harder training stimulus prior to this event. Having my feet swell and my ankle tendonitis return mid-race was an unwelcome surprise. I'm not sure how many more miles I would've introduced, but doing some hard, long downhill running would definitely be in the plans if I did it again. The uphills were a relative breeze compared to the smashing and bashing on the steep downhills, of which there were plenty.

I'd get a different partner. Man that chump was dead weight.

I'd bring less food. Breakfasts were awesome, dinners were better, and in the afternoon, I just didn't feel like eating much. I'd have beef jerky or a protein bar, but the finish lines were pretty well stocked with bananas, oranges, CHIPS!, PB&J sammies, pretzels, trail mix, etc etc. Much of our food went uneaten and we just had more to lug around all the time.

Things that went well that I highly recommend:

Get a inflatable mattress. At Camp Hale especially, the ground is cold and lumpy, so being inflated up off the ground was awesome. Yeah, it took up some space and was some work to pump up every night, but it was really worth it.

Bring Gatorade mix, any vitamins you're into, and your protein-dense recovery food. There was plenty of fruit, simple carbs, and salty snacks, but not much in the way of quality vegetable or animal proteins post-race.

Make sure you have business cards, a phone, or a notebook and pen to get information from people. The people, from volunteers to employees to racers to spectators, are absolutely fantastic. They come from every corner of the globe, have had awesome adventures, possess uplifting attitudes, and are worth remembering. Rebecca and Ben, Red and Fern (obviously), Cynthia from GORE, the Hound Dogs, Amy and Sabrina, Nic from Idaho, Martin from France, Ed from Canada, and on and on, there were amazing people around you at all times.

As nice as the people are, bring ear plugs and maybe an eye cover for the evenings. Some people are here to race and some people are here to...have fun. At night it's nice to be able to tune everything out and catch some Zs (on your mattress).

Don't miss dinner at night. The photos and videos were laughter-inducing and really well done. Plus the attention to route-planning and marking was really evident, and you got to appreciate the hard work of the crew. Dinners were some of my favorite memories, and not just because Gourmet Cowboy's food was damn good.

I don't have a lot of caffeine in my life, but even in my training for 3 weeks leading up to the race, I abstained. Great decision. Each time I had a gel, which was 3-4 times each stage, I felt the physical boost and mental clarity that compound delivers. I highly recommend coming off it before the race. Also on the physical side, coming in 2-3 pounds heavy was a good decision that played out exactly how I thought it would. I was at peak race weight by the end of the week; had I started at peak weight I would've been underweight by Stage 5, which would not have been good.

So where am I now? Well, like I said, 72 hours later, I'm still jacked up. I'm currently sporting 6 Band-Aids, 4 on my 4 small toes on my right foot holding toenails on or covering horrible blisters and 2 on my left side, 1 on a toe covering a blood blister and one on my heel. My feet will heal, they're the least of my worries. My right ankle, which was showing signs of tendonitis just like the left one, is already about 90% healed. My left knee, which went into a tree at high speed with 2 miles left in Stage 5 (you have no idea how much I wish this didn't happen...it changed the whole next day for me) is still bruised and scabbed and swollen, but overall it feels ok. It's better than it was on Friday already. What's troubling me is the tendonitis in my left anterior tiabilis tendon. It hurts a good 6" up my shin, which is pretty high compared to how bad it got in the spring when I was sidelined for 2 months. It also makes this weird grinding / creaking feeling when I rotate my foot up. My foot, btw, is swollen, for reasons I don't know but may be related to the bee that stung me at mile 4 on Stage 2 and I never got the stinger out. It's still itchy around where the bastard got me. Also the trauma of everything around it is probably aggravating the daylights out of it. I feel pretty good in the morning but by the evening everything is pretty achy. I'm hoping to be on a bike next week; this week is a punt all around for training. It's totally fine with me; I missed my family and am happy to goof off with them as much as possible. Running sounds nice, but it can wait a little longer.

Would I do it again? In a Boston minute I would. I knew as much after day 1. The people, the scenery, the break from work, the food, but mostly...the challenge. This thing was no joke. I wanted to quit on 3 of the stages - that's when you know you're pushing your limits, and trees in the knee aside, it's good to find your boundaries, your real limits, in this remote-control-everyone-gets-a-trophy life. Their slogan is "Find out what's inside...outside." and they absolutely made you do that. And I loved every minute of it. Thanks, Gore-Tex TransRockies Run, you put on one hell of a race. But for now I think I'll heal up and prepare as best I can for the Bay State Marathon in Lowell, MA on October 16. As always, I'm not one to rest.

Finally, we'll always have Stage 5 : )

TRR Stage 6: "Concrete Milkshake"

For those not familiar with the term, "Concrete Milkshake", it basically means to Harden The F Up, i.e., there's no room for excuses...just get it done. Unfortunately I didn't really have the chance to order up a concrete milkshake as I knew it. Instead I had a different variety today; instead one where there was to be no moaning, no bit*ching; I just had to except things for what they were.

Mantra de Jour

We were back up at 5:30 this AM. It was noticeably warmer here in Vail then it was in Camp Hale. I slept with only my compression tights on. I did not need the additional t-shirt, hoodie and winter hat. I had a decent nights sleep other then the one bathroom break. The only thing worth noting about having to get up in the middle of the night was that I was able to walk on my busted toe without too much discomfort. Bells at 5:30 for what would be the last day of a routine I was beginning to enjoy. Let's be honest; running longs miles, up steep hills at altitude does require significant effort, but if my everyday only required this task, I could accept it. There are certainly harder, less enjoyable ways of life.

Race clothes.

Warm clothes.

Call.

Top up Gamin juice. (something I have been doing most AMs)

Medic (for supplies only, as the line was a dozen deep).

Breakfast.

Pack.

Finalize race gear.

Mend toe.

ATS - Ass To Start.

My toe/foot was certainly swollen and the bruising was migrating from my big toe to the other toes and beyond. I decided under the advice of KJC via Karina to tape it to the next toe for support. I threw some gauze in there as well. I had also scored some Tylenol from Ben and Rebecca (thank you), plus I was on a steady Difene (diclofenac - anti-inflammatory) diet supplied pre-race by my personal pharmacist. Had I known I would be putting foot to root with great force I would have procured some stronger meds!

TJM Tape Job

As I was taping my foot, one of the camera crew had asked me to say a little something on record about TRR. The footage didn't show up later that night in the daily media presentation, so it must not have been as good as he assured me! Ready to go, I dropped my duffel to the TRR crew for the last time. We had a 5 min walk to the race start which was the same as yesterdays finish. I had my Newtons on which were a tad more loose in the toe box than the Sols so this was helpful for the foot. In addition I put on an ankle sleeve and my Zoot compression socks. At first I was thinking that maybe the combination was too tight, but I said I would go with it. The thought process for the ankle sleeve was to be proactive knowing that with the busted toe I would probably be altering my gait, increasing the possibly of turning my historically weak right ankle more easily. I was looking for all the support I could get. I was also going sans compression shirt with a singlet, a breath right strip and my handie. The last three days I have put my mandatory hat and gloves in the pocket of my jacket and tied the jacket around my waist. I had carried the mandatory safety blanket the first three days and JP has taken it that last three.

3, 2, 1 Bang...and we were off on day 6, the last 23.6 miles to bring the cumulative mileage to just under 120 for the six days. It is pretty hard to believe that my legs feel great considering after 5 days I have run more mileage then any two consecutive weeks leading up to TRR. Aside from the busted toe, everything else is good. It is either a reflection of not running at full steam the first few days due to the cramping or a reflection of running trails instead of road. There is no doubt that I have had sorer legs after a hard 5K road race than I do now. And one would think that despite pace, I should have sore quads from the downhills, but nothing. WOW. I'll take it.

We entered today's stage in 9th. There was 9 1/2 min to 7th and 19 min back to 10th. We would really have to make a dogs dinner out of it is we fell back to 11th since they were 3+hrs back. After Stage 4, I would have said, "just enjoy it", but after stage 5 I was saying, "go get it". This was all provided our minds would be stronger then our injuries today. At this point there are only 21 teams still in it. There were 25 to start plus there were some "teams" remaining who had taken huge time penalties because they had split from their teammates, maybe due to frustration over pace or strategy. The team aspect is no small feat. Pain is just pain and there is often no one person, other then yourself, at fault. When it comes to something like pace or strategy, there can be someone to blame, but if your start thinking blame then it's possibly to late. You have to take the good with the bad and know that at some points the roles have been reversed. I'd say this part is tougher then the physical pain. Thankfully I have JP as a teammate.

There was about 200m up hill on a dirt road from the start before we turned and headed North West towards Lions Head for another 1000m on a rolling dirt road. A little less then 1K from the start we hit the pavement. We snaked through Lions Head and out onto Frontage road heading towards the footbridge over I-70. Before we hit pavement our competition was out of sight. My toe was aching, but it was something that I could probably put up with. Nevertheless we were averaging 8:30s, not exactly leaving it out there, but it was early in the stage. Once we got onto the single track we were able to pass two teams while closing the gap and eventually joining some of the other teams we might normally have been around. We were rolling with the likes of Amy and Sabrina of Team Inov8 and Dave and Morgan (podium 80+mens). This would be good if we could continue to pace with them. Granted our competition was ahead of us, but if we kept it steady then we could hold 9th place. It was probably the chatting with the people around me, but I had managed to put the busted toe out of my mind. A few ticks into this groove,  JP called me back as he was struggling with his blisters. With that the pack moved on and we would not see them the rest of the day.

The terrain was single track all the way to CP1 climbing until mile 6 and then 1 mile down to the CP. We did our best to keep running to the CP. Right before the CP we dumped out into a jeep road. When we got to CP1 we got some band-aids for the blister on JPs heal. It was not pretty. It was right on the money spot where the back of the sneaker rubs against the Achilles. Been there, done that! I have been fortunate these last 5 days; I only had one blister on the top of one toe and this was easily handled by a piece of kinesio tape, never to be felt while running. We reloaded the handies and JP attempted to put the band-aid on, but it did not stay on very well. He would have to gut it out another 7 or so miles to CP2 before he could get some tape.

We were on jeep road now rolling all the way up to CP2. We did a lot of walking during this stretch; accents, descents, flats. Things were not good in Camp John Paul. On Stage 4 when the downhills were tough on his knees,  I started talking about random stuff, as I know with me, conversation can help distract me and pass the time. But today JP was in so much pain that he told me he couldn't talk. This was probably the toughest element of this race (and the toughest part of writing this blog); seeing my teammate in pain and not being able to do anything about it. We weren't even halfway home. It's one thing if you're struggling together, but when your in different camps, it is very frustrating for both. I am sure this is how JP might have felt when my cramps were at their finest.

I think that JP and I know each other pretty well, but I guess the one key area I don't know him is in racing or training. We have never really raced/trained together, thus we have never experienced each other in Camp Shit while competing. So I didn't know how to react when things turned bad.  

• Do I continually ask him what I can do to help? 
• Do I call him out and tell him to take a concrete milk-shake?
• Do I say nothing at all and let him figure his own way out of this place? 

The only thing I did know is that he basically just told me to shut the F up so I stayed away from calling him out for fear of getting an overhand right to the jaw. I just backed off a bit and let him dictate the pace.

Between CP1 and CP2 JP told me his stomach started to go and hinted that some yak-in might be imminent. I do recall in Stage 1 JP telling me when I was in the red, that when he goes, he goes hard. It was all happening as he said. His body seemed to be going downhill faster then Chevy Chase's sled greased up with "non-caloric silicon-based kitchen lubricant". But despite the pain there was no quit in him; he pushed on. When we got to CP2 there was a medic there, so he got his blisters taped and tried to eat some solids. We sluggishly moved on from CP2, onto single track uphill for a another mile or so before the 4 miles downhill to Avon.

Despite the downhill we still were not moving very fast and peeps that we haven't seen on the track all week were passing us. I was feeling it a little on the down hill. If there was any hint of soreness in the my legs, it showed face on downhills. My downhill running had certainly been getting more tentative and slower all week. At CP we filled our handies. JP sat down in one of the chairs and pretended to cheer on the runners, "way to go runners". He was in pain, but his humor made a flash appearance. If it was only for a min it was good to see him joking. We walked out of the CP and walked most of the way from here on out. Avon was truly a concrete jungle. We were on concrete sidewalks for about a mile before snaking quickly through some housing neighborhood and up onto single track.

It was rolling single track for the next few miles before the final climb. We mostly walked, with occasional jogging. At this point I was thinking this was going to be the longest 4-5 miles of the 6 days. I had to keep from looking at my watch; tenths of a mile ticks were hard to come by.  JP was driving and unfairly, as I was getting frustrated, when ever he mentioned words like "hurt" or "pain" I insisted that those words did not exist. I was trying to keep things as positive as possible. I also continues to jog albeit at a very slow pace and sometime in place. I wanted to keep going. I'm not sure if this shuffling of feet behind him was motivating or annoying. I had constant fears that an argument/blow out between us was imminent. These were uncharted waters for me and for JP and I.

(BTB......I had to get out of Denver and back to IRL w/in 24hrs of the finish. There was an epic amount of emotions to digest from the 6 days, especially this day, that JP and I never had a proper breakdown of the whole thing......a lot of this he maybe reading / finding out for the first time and surely I have some of the details/specifics wrong. JP be sure to correct me).

JP's water/Gu-brew was getting low so I emptied my 3rd of a bottle into his bottle as I think he was starting to bonk. He was mentioning being dizzy. It was definitely most important that he stay hydrated.  I also insisted that he eat something. Unfortunately all we had was gels. Despite his insistence that he a gel wouldn't stay down I was even more insistent that he take it. If he threw it up then, we had more gels and he could take another. All the while more and more people were passing us. One thing that was great about ALL the competitors here, which I find is a similar case in triathlon, is that they ALL wanted to help.

At 4HR39 my garmin decided it was game over, battery dead. Battery life is not one of its attributes. We were snaking our way up though wooded single track and it was a pretty dope trail under any other circumstances. Next on the agenda was some forced yakin’. JP got a few good heaves in, but I am not sure that there was any product. Then like guardian angels Rebecca and Ben swooped in. Rebecca had these ginger chews and we were willing to try anything to break the funk. Legend has it, the ginger chews were given to her earlier in the week by the Old Goats (naturally wise in the ways of ultra running) when Ben was sick. They seemed to have an immediate effect if not physically than mentally. JP was back up and there was some life in him. He mentioned that the surroundings looked different despite us having navigated similar terrain for the last few miles. But as quickly as things improved, they quickly returned to pre-ginger-chew status. Eager for some more life I ran ahead to catch Rebecca and get the remaining chews she had.

After a brief stop at a stream to duck JPs head and face in cold water, some pushing on his back up hills, and a short train with the crew of girls from California we summit-ed the last climb and fell out onto catwalk of The Beav; it was about 2 miles home. There were a few first aiders / medics there and they were asking if they could help. JP spotted someone’s Coke and immediately demanded whose Coke that was. True to form as all week, they fired back that it was his, even though it looked as if it was with one of their lunches; just another example of how accommodating the TRR staff have been.

On our way up the last climb I was adamant to JP that we were going to run/jog the last two miles down to the finish. Bad News: we started to run, but it didn’t last long and only came in brief 100m spurts. Good News: while 5+ hrs of pain had beaten JP down physically and mentally, his sense of humor endured. Shortly after dropping into the catwalk, some pleasant couple scurried by and gave us words of encouragement to which JP replied something to the affect of, “I’m gonna throw rocks at you in a min”. I’m not sure they heard or comprehended what he said or maybe they did and the lack of response was shock. It made me laugh anyway. We drudged our way down and as terrain leveled off just before the final 100m decent we progressed to a jog to bring it home and crossed the finish line in 5hr40+. The permanent smiled Cynthia from GORE greeted us and I only wish that I shared her enthusiasm.

Admittedly I was not really stoked when I came across the line. I actually felt that I didn’t deserve the hard-wear and finishers t-shirt. It was very tough to go out on a day like this. This was my longest day racing period and it felt several times longer then my previous longest (a mid-distance tri) and probably longer then this post feels! But now looking back, we finished the 6 days. It is the most mileage I have ever done in a week and the most gain fo sho. I think that goes for John Paul as well. Considering the minimum training we did, not training together and the altitude, I guess we did pretty well to finish. Aptly I just finished reading an interview with Jessica Ennis (British hept-athlete and current World and European Champion) and she mentioned that she thinks heptathlon is different then other sports in that if you finish, even if you don’t win, you are still “chuffed”. I think the same can be said for ultra running. Being my first ultra event, I was not of this mind-set as I crossed the finish line, but now I can look back and be proud of E.L.F.S.  

Hard-wear, Soft-wear & Very Small Cowboys

Not long after the finish, JP got obtuse, i.e., back flat legs elevated, while I wandered around aimlessly eventually making it into the river close to the finish. I’m sure the high-class clientele in the surrounding condos/hotels were shocked to witness a bunch of beaten looking peeps stripped down and soaking in the cold waters of what they probably though was a water feature rather then a mountain river. But we didn’t care.

The banquet dinner was only a few hours later right there in the Beav. Dana was coming from Boulder to go to the dinner with us and then we were headed back to their place so naturally we did not get a hotel. As a result we had no place the clean up. Our regular mobile shower truck was gone; we where on our own. We were under the assumed impression that there would be our regular showering facilities, so that is something to consider for next time. We managed several offers, but finally took up Charlie and Eric, The Memphis boys whom finished 8th overall, on their offer. Thanks fellahs and well done racing.

The food and presentation were fantastic per typical TRR standard. RedFer,, GREAT people and our nightly ticket to podium glory, finished 2nd in GC beating several other sponsored teams. We were thrilled!! Well I guess they were kinda sponsored, by some awful (colorful) shirt company! A lot of folks were heading to Stage 7 - Hyatt Banquet room to the Dusty Boot bar - immediately after awards, but were quietly exited with out wounds and modest sense of accomplishment. There is no doubt the daily camaraderie, challenge and chow will be missed. I was getting use to this life.

Sincerely,

Humbled, TJM

The Short

Finish: 5:41:37
Place:  16th

GC: 10th of 21 (7:16:32)

Garmin: Go Get It (missing 2.4 miles)

Distance: 23.4 miles

Gain: 5,100 ft

Max Elevation: 9,529 ft

Terrain: 2+ miles road, 5 miles single track, 7 miles jeep road, 2 miles single track, 2 miles road, 3 miles single track, 2 miles catwalk.

Weather:

Sneakers: Newton Ms

Gear: Singlet (no compression), handie, visor, mandatory kit, zoot compression socks, right ankle sleeve

Food: 3 gels, Salt tabs, chips, peanut butter and jelly

Fluids: Gatorade, Gu brew, Water

TRR Stage 5: JP's Take

Since Trevor already posted on this, I won't drop another 2,000 words, but rather pick up on some of his comments.

First, though, what a day. Being an amateur athlete, my life is full of wonder. What would've happened if I ran competitively in college? How good could I be if I quit my job? How crappy of a car does a professional runner drive? Would I be happy traveling around all the time, busting myself for measley prize money at races no one has ever heard of, doing what I love every day? Would it ruin that love of sport? Fortunately I've accumulated enough mortgages and student loans that I don't seriously consider any of those questions, but the 2nd one, the one about finding my potential is the one that haunts me. Very few times have I been able to dedicate myself to a single effort, and while this race wasn't quite one of them, it was pretty close. And on Stage 5, I got an insight to the answer to that question. And I liked what I saw.

5 separate teams that had crushed us all week were with us for the first 7 miles of climbing. We (ok, I) was slow out of checkpoint 1 and they were all ahead of us save for 1, but we gobbled 3 of them up on the singletrack. It was not without effort, but I didn't go cross-eyed and my insides didn't turn upside down on me either. It was a managed, controlled effort, but a damaging one as well. We finished 7th on the day, by far our best of the week, beating 3 teams in front of us. And that was with the mishaps Trevor mentioned (he left out me kicking the only rock for 100 yards and almost biffing it, and choking on my water bottle and half-gacking up whatever was in my throat). Like Trevor said in his post, what if we could do this for all 6 days? Again, the 'what ifs' will kill you in life, but when you can see part of the answer, and you like what you see, it's very encouraging.

And it was so much fun. To be fast, to be strong, to be smooth, to be consistent, to be on the same page as one another, and to crush people...Trevor said it best, some people have Paris, we'll always have Stage 5 : )

Some notes from Trevor

"I’m pretty sure that JP was feeling really good about a mile out from CP1. He was leading the pack." Yep. My legs were electric. I could feel them, so I wasn't unconscious as I've described before, they were very much active in their sensory feedback, but all they kept saying was, "Yeah, no problem, we've got this. Feel free to add on some more." Any athlete that has experienced those moments knows that feeling, and it usually ends very badly for the competition. ...as long as you don't go airborne into a tree apparently.

"We were feeling good and just continued to power even up climbs where in previous days we would have walked. " I fully knew the day was going to be epic when I was leading Trevor up a steep climb, and as the custom had become, stopped to walk. He came around me and kept running up the 12% slope at 11,500' and I asked, "Are you mad?!?!" He grinned and kept running. We didn't win the day, but I'm telling you, we were flying.

"It felt great. Where was this for the first 5 days? What would we have been capable of had we gelled like this since day 1?" I guess we'll just have to do it again, buddy : )

"I went sliding head first into down on the ground. " I was behind the big man when this happened. It was a full-on, head-first, belly-flop, limbs-flailing slide into home plate. Quite spectacular, if not really poorly-timed and disruptive.

"I look back to see JP on his back grabbing his knee... JP tripped and put his left knee into a tree. He was rolling around on his back with a wicked grimace on his face and clutching his leg/knee. At this point I though, “Game over, he really messed up his knee”. I was worried that he dislocated it, but I helped him up and he enforced “Rule 5”. Sweet Chickens, we were rolling again. Nothing was going to stop us today. " There are times when you get knocked down and you hardly feel the pain; you're just pissed you're off your game and you want to get going again. This was not one of those times. The adrenaline and endorphins surging through my veins couldn't mask the pain after 2 seconds. That's when you know you did a good job of bashing the shit out of yourself. Having spun around the wrong way, I ordered Trevor to come back up the hill, as my head was now down the trail and my feet back up it, and pull me up. I shuffled / limped for a second or two and said, "I'm driving, let's go." and off we went. To echo Trevor, "Nothing was going to stop us today."


Tomorrow...well, that's a different story altogether....

TRR Stage 5: “Dig Deep”

I took this one literally and dug deep into the ground to find a root with 3 ticks left of this 23 mile stage.  As a result, I jammed/possible broke my right big toe and following my lead, JP subsequently dug up some roots himself and then found his left knee into a tree. Despite both eating dirt, we slugged out the last 5K and finished up our best day yet. More on that to follow. 

This AM is was back to the early 5:30 start; time to make more trail donuts. JP and I were optimistic to put in our first solid day. There some good climbing and there wasn’t such steep descents so it should play into our strengths, better yet it lessens our current weaknesses. I also convinced JP to turn to OTC drugs in hopes of lessening his knee pain.

An additional driver this AM is the 2 other teams with which we are in our own little, “mid-bus” competition with. One team of dudes from Memphis who are ahead of us by about 10min and the other team, the “hobbit” brothers who are currently 5 min ahead of us. The hobbits seem to fittingly blitz the short stages while in stage 3, 24 miles, we were able to put 15+ min into them so we were expecting to get back in front of them today.

Alarm.

Race Clothes.

Warm Clothes.

Call.

Breakfast.

Finalize Race Gear.

Pack Bag.

AIS – Ass in Shuttle.

We were in a shuttle about 7:30 headed back to Red Cliff, yesterday’s finish, for today’s 8:30 start. We were able to chill in Mangos to keep warm prior to the race start. They had coffee, water and hot chocolate if we wanted it. I got to chat a bit with Gordy Ainsley – the godfather of ultra running. He was telling me about the shirt he was wearing, which later in the evening I would win in an auction with the proceeds going to Vitamin D research.

The race kicked off heading back up the dirt road that we finished on in stage 4. Instead of pealing off to head back up the riverbed we continued on Shrine Mountain Rd. It was an 8 mile pull up this road before we headed off onto single track. We settled into a pack of runners, the 80+ women’s leaders (incl. Nikki Kimble, the Memphis boys and an Open mixed couple (extremely upbeat couple, and she had some serious hamstrings!). On some of the flats we fell back from the pack, but where they walked some kickers, we continued to jog so we would bring them back in. I’m pretty sure that JP was feeling really good about a mile out from CP1. He was leading the pack. Possibly there was a sudden surge of adrenaline. We held with the pack all the way through CP1 and into the single track. At CP1 I reloaded the handie, took a salt tab and we quickly moved on.

In the single track, we originally started at the back of the train, but eventually moved up a few cars. At first we progressed pass the Memphis boys and eventually the open mixed couple, but by this time the 80+ women’s leaders had already made a gap. We continued to push up and down increasing the gap on the Memphis boys. We were feeling good and just continued to power even up climbs where in previous days we would have walked.

The single track continued to climb up and out of the woods as we made our way to the back bowls of Vail. The final climb up to CP2 was completely open with several switchbacks, thus we were able to gauge our gap (btb…”raw beats su*k” – JPR 11:46 PM 26Aug11). We burned through CP2, refilling handies and taking salt tabs as well as the quintessential very small cowboy! We were running on catwalk for a bit before carefully stepping down a 10ft rock drop off to some more single track and continuing to move West across the back bowls. Quickly we were back onto catwalk and headed towards Two Elk Lodge (where I worked winter break ’98).

Unexpectedly we were up and down on the catwalk for a few miles before turning off down the front side of Vail. As before we tried to minimize our walking up climbs.  We were feeling good and we wanted to maintain a “steady grind”. It’s funny because we were in a different place physically today, we were actually both running well and matching each other’s skills. We were both pushing ourselves to the brink without blowing up so that we could hold our gap till the finish. It felt great. Where was this for the first 5 days? What would we have been capable of had we gelled like this since day 1?

We rode the catwalk up and over, dropping down to the front side of Vail onto single track. This is where the course would start to become tricky cutting across various ski trails and dodging ongoing construction at Vail. The advice given the night before during the stage 5 briefing is that you would need to “keep one eye up” looking for flags “and one eye down” on the ground, i.e., your footing. (I had not previously explained this but the courses were marked out each day with yellow tape, “flags”, which was similar to caution tape, but which read “Gortex”. The course was always “marked positive” This would prove to very challenging and at times unsettling, as we were not always sure we were on course.

I did most of the “driving” as we descended down to CP2 at Mid-Vail. We were calling out flags as we saw them to make sure that we stayed on course. The terrain was not too steep as we cut very wide switch backs across the front of Vail. The foot in some of the single track wasn’t ideal though as it tapered down like a V so that there was a camber on both sides. As we hit the trees in between trails there were a lot of exposed roots to be weary of. There was no one around us on the front of Vail. We couldn’t see anyone down below us or above us. We were not exactly sure where the Memphis boys were, so we continued to press as if they were tailing us.

The flagging had been great all week, but once we dropped over the front of Vail things were not as straightforward. There times that we were running for a few minutes without spotting a flag and thus we ran with a little unease that we were off track. They could have done a better job with the flagging here, but we successfully snaked our way down to Mid-Vail and CP2 without losing course. Again we tried to get through CP2 as quick as possible. I think that being used to triathlon, I was constantly in “get-in, get-out” mode; there was no time to waste. (After stage 6, in the final GC, there were a few places that were decided by less than 20sec. This could all come down to one CP.) We only had a little more than 5K to the finish, but the sun had started beating down on us so I topped up the handie with water. Note that all week the volunteers at the CPs were supah helpful. They normally had pitchers of Gu-brew or water taken from their coolers and were ready to fill your handie or camel. Also there was normally tons of nutrition, e.g., Gu, pretzels, chips, watermelon, bocks, gummies, oranges, bananas, etc.

Below Mid-Vail it was more of the same WRT the terrain. Push, Push, Push. Clearly our descending speed has dropped progressively every day, but we were descending as well as could be expected given the conditions of our feet and muscles. Not long after CP2 is when I decided to “Dig Deep”. I got good wood…on wood; I kicked a stump or a root directly with my right big toe. Man down. I can’t recall at this point if I was singing hymns when I did this, but the chances are high. I went sliding head first into down on the ground. I immediately got back up and started running again, albeit with a bit of a limp. WTF. We are going so well and this happens. I was furious with myself, but I was determined that we had to keep going; there was no time to think about the foot.  

Not long after I hear a scuffle and then some yelling. I look back to see JP on his back grabbing his knee. Again WTF, we aren’t getting any breaks. JP tripped and put his left knee into a tree.  He was rolling around on his back with a wicked grimace on his face and clutching his leg/knee. At this point I though, “Game over, he really messed up his knee”. I was worried that he dislocated it, but I helped him up and he enforced “Rule 5”. Sweet Chickens, we were rolling again. Nothing was going to stop us today. We battled our legs/feet for the last 3 miles and came in 7^th on the day. The last mile was very technical and it was the only time that there were tenth mile markers from 1 mile to the finish. Dana and Colin were down at the finish waiting for us with old school poster board congratulating us!! It’s possible this is what helped JP turn around so quickly, despite the clear pain he was in after his battle with the tree.

Wow, what a day. We came in at 3hr54 and rightly put 20+min into the hobbits and grabbed 4 mins back from the Memphis boys. Not only that, but we finished ahead of several of the various division podiums. Some couples will always have Paris, but we’ll always have Stage 5.

I was not long hanging around the finishing shoot before heading over to the medic. This was my first real trip to the medic in 5 days other then for some kenisio tape for a blister on my left toe. (The sols usually result in a blister or two where with the Newtons blisters are not an issue.) I sat down on a cot and took off my shoe to find a pretty sore right big toe. At this point it there was slight swelling. The medics advised to get ice on it right away. I started with an ice bath, but then I wrapped it up. They did give me the option to go get an x-ray, but I didn’t really consider it. One of the guys there was flicking the end of my toe and as there wasn’t any noticeable pain he concluded that it wasn’t broken. Is that your final answer? I wasn’t too convinced of his methods or the diagnosis, but I didn’t think I was going to get any more help so I took the ice and a lift back (<5 min) to camp.

Camp - Night 5

Camp was in a Ford football/soccer field and would end up being the best camp we had. The ground was level and dry. Leadville was equally level but was pretty wet when we were there. In camp, they arranged the tents in the shape of a heart, as it is apparently tradition in Vail to be creative with the set up. Previous years tents were arranged in the form of  “Run” or “TRR”. I am not sure the reason for the heart, which seemed a bit weak considering our accomplishments so far. Why am I telling you this? Just to paint a picture or where our tent was.

I went to the medic at camp first thing. They didn’t seem too concerned about my toe, which was a bit troubling. The girl that I was explaining my situation to didn’t even get out of her chair. She just suggested that I would shower first. As I was back before JP I grabbed my duffel bag and hobbled to the closest tent, which happened to be the bottom point of the heart (hence my previous tent setup explanation). It was off to the showers. 

Busted Toe

Post showers it was back for ice and I would put my foot up while eating and chilling in the Gore relaxation area (an area set up every night with lounging chairs and tons of snacks. After 20min ice time, I followed JP into Vail village where the US Pro Cycling Challenge TT stage start was. I got there just in time to see Big George buzz by. Then I hobbled to a Starbucks to grab some java, WIFI and put the leg up. Surprisingly I have not been having any coffee in the mornings and the only other time that I had coffee this week was post stage 2.

Dinner tonight was unreal. We were back with the Gourmet Cowboy and as this was their last night they normally went above and beyond. All true. They were grilling steaks, chicken, yams, peppers, onions and zucchini. In the salad bar, on top of the normal wide variety of options, they had a large couscous salad, bean salad and mozzarella, tomatoes, basal salad. Fantastic!! 

The Grill - Vegetarians Need Not Que

The Rabbit Bar

My Grub - Plate 1

Desert - Loads of cookies

Post dinner, I hit a little snooze with the legs up before the nightly brief, awards and pics/video. Prior to the nightly run down there was an auction for the daily shirt worn by Gordy. I had been talking to him about the shirt in the morning before the start. It was a depiction of Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai's, Great Wave. I thought it was a good cause and he is also a legend so I bid $100 for the jersey and would eventually donate $125. Gordy signed it as well. 

Gordy, "Great Wave" and I

 Curtains around 9:30-10, under the pleasant noise of light rain on the tent’s rain fly. Tomorrow is an unknown. How will JP hold up with his toes and now the knee? How will me fattening-by-the minute foot be in the AM? Will I be able to run? KJC was suggesting that maybe it will be the case that it hurts more walking then running. Here’s hoping.

Yikes, long post, but it was a wickid good day!

Sincerely,

Bitter Sweet, TJM

The Short:

Finish Time: 3:54:35
Place: 7th
GC: 9th of 21 (4:45:54)

Garmin: Go Get It

Distance: 23 miles

Gain: 4,200 ft

Max Elevation: 11,701 ft

Terrain: 8 miles dirt rd, 5 miles single track, 3 miles cat track, 7 miles single track/catwalk

Weather:

Sneakers: Newton Ms

Gear: Short sleeve tech (no compression), handie, mandatory kit, visor, breath-right strip

Food: 3 gels, Salt tabs

Fluids: Water (with ZYM), Gu brew, Water

TRR Stage 4: “P.A.C.E.”

I got a decent sleep last night except for the ritual bathroom wake. I didn’t make it to the port-a-johns though, a few feet from the tents would do. It did get pretty cold in the morning again, probably colder than Leadville, despite the copious hot air expelled by the inmates.  I slept in my compression tights last night and the hoodie and winter hat made it on sometime in the early AM.

We didn’t have to pack the bags this AM as we were bunking down here at Camp Hale again tonight. It was nice to have a little less to do in the AM, thus we were able to really sleep in, i.e., 5:55!

Race clothes.

Warm clothes.

Call.

Breakfast.

Call.

Contacts.

Finalize race gear.

AIS – Ass in Shoot.

Today was fantastic in that we didn’t need to pack bags and the race shoot was a couple hundo meters from camp. We were heading out the same arch we finished through yesterday. Today I was back to the sols, cycling jersey and handie. We were using matching 2011 TdC jerseys. It was the first time that I have put this one on. It was a little too big compared to the NU jersey so the back pockets where up and down all day, but at the same time the front did not ride up like the NU one does. Survey Says: ditch the cycling jerseys cauz even though the pockets are handy, the back of the shirt jumps and it’s not the easiest to run with. Unless you can get a really tight jersey, but then it’s probably going to ride up so forget about it.

I went back with the sols since it was a short day with steep accents and descents and about 3/4mile in a shallow river/road bed. I was opting for grip and support. Again I’m glad with this decision, except the sols definitely induce the blisters more then the newtons.

My stomach wasn’t 100% once the gun as I’m not a huge fan of the oatmeal they are dishing out, in fact, I miss breakfast TJM style.  But once we got going it wasn’t a problem. We headed back out the way we came for a mile and then turned off a different direction. The cramps were still hang about, but definitely less painful then previous days. We were on dirt road for a few miles before turning to jeep road, which would climb until after mile 6. I was really trying to push and keep from walking. The terrain was a constant climb, but there were occasional up and over dips, probably the result of run off.

We were able to hang with a bunch of the leading open women’s teams and our competition (9 and 11) until after CP1. JP was stronger then me on the climb. I gather that he was pushing a little more as he was dreading the descents cauz his ankle was bothering him; his tendonitis showed face yesterday and had swollen up over night.

I had taken on a stinger a mile or so back so at CP1 I only topped up/diluted the ZYM mix in my bottle with water. There was no salt but thankfully JP had some at hand.  Since day 2 I have been popping these things at CPs like a rock star.

Après CP1 there was some ascending, rolling terrain. Once we got into the downhill sections, JP knees started bothering him. The good news is that the focus was off the ankle. But unfortunately it was now the knees, which I think was more painful judging by increasing frequency of his energetic hymns.  Before the highest point there was some straight open stretch were I could see some of our competition getting away. Despite my TRR expectations having faded away with the persistence of my cramps day 2, every day there were still glimmers of hope, especially today as JP had kept us close during the climb.

At the apex, we turned right and into the decent. This is where we really had to drop cruise control down several notches.  The knees weren’t playing along, so we were walking some bits. As peeps that we haven’t seen all week passed us, JP was campaigning for Advil or the like.  Seeing some of these peeps for the first time was a bit of a downer, but at the same time it has been a frustrating week, so I quickly put chalked it up as one of those win some lose some situations. And this just hasn’t been our week.

Finally, one dude had some Advil and I tailed him down about a half a mile while he got it from his camelback trying not to lose pace. At this point we were getting towards the end of the major decent and into terrain that JP could manage. We were 3-4 miles from the finish. We reached this road/river bed section and I was unsure what to expect. All types of rumors were floating around camp about its depth and those varied from spit to deep-channeled shipping lanes. 

It was about ¾ of a mile mostly a few inches deep with some sections of pooling that was mid calf. This would end of being my favorite ¾ mile all week. It was as if I was given a license to be a kid again and splash in the water. Granted it was cold, but every now and then you could dry parts. It sort of brought some life to my legs. And JP was able to stay not too far behind.  Come to find out after the finish he had taken video of me at one point during the water run. Very wise move for someone with 2 dodgy knees and a bum ankle. That Advil was apparently impairing his decision-making.

We got thought the water, CP2 and there was 2+ miles of descending dirt road to the finish. The Advil must have taken effect at this point as JP had taken the lead and we were pushing 7min miles. All of the sudden we turned a corner and we were in Redcliff at the finishing shoot and the infamous Mangos.

Stream.

Stretch.

Nachos and a Fat Tire at Mangos.

Shuttle.

Shower.

Chill.

There is no doubt that JP was weaker on the descents today, but he pulled like a horse on the climb and he gutted out some very steep, loose downhill. We still managed to stay in 10^th as another team pulled out. By some luck we are still hanging around, but that is part of the game; part of it is just getting though the adversity and making it to the end of day 6.

Sincerely, 

Surviving, TJM 

The Short:

Finish: 2:38:11
Place: 11th
GC: 10th of 21 (3:46:44)
Garmin: Go Get It

Distance: 14.1 miles

Gain: 2,900 ft

Max Elevation: 11,678 ft

Terrain: 2 miles dirt rd, 9.75 jeep rd, 3/4 mile active river bed, 1.5 miles dirt rd

Weather:

Sneakers: Sols

Gear: Compression Shirt, Cycling Jersey, Visor, Handie, Mandatory Kit

Food: 2 Ginsting Gels

Fluids: Water with ZYM, Water, Gu Brew

Up and down - JP on Stage 4

Today was stage 4. I am so sad there are only 2 stages left. I miss my family, but work can wait a little longer please. This is definitely summer camp for runners and I'm having a great time being a camper.

Today was up and down in every sense. We started in the cold (like, see your breath) morning at 8:00 and within 50 steps I knew I was in huge trouble. For my senior year in high school, I trained hard all winter long - outdoors in New England. I often would only wear shorts, never with any regard for the health of my joints. That changed one morning when I hopped out of bed and hit the deck, both knees in awful pain. I became the first 17 year old diagnosed with arthritis I had ever heard of. Fast forward to this cold morning 14 years later, with stiff legs and stiff joints, that extremely familiar pain came back in full force.

So let's recap. A half-dozen blisters, an ankle that was very swollen and also quite stiff / immobile, and now throw in two bad knees. Awesome.

The stage did not look good for us. It started with a huge climb, then some rollers, followed by a steep descent to running in a flowing river bed and finally a short 2 mile drop into Red Cliff. Trevor was still a wild card, and typing this in the tent at night, I still don't know how he was this morning. I was going faster than he on the climb, but not by much. All I know is the climb that started at 2 miles was unreal. Steeper and longer than Hope Pass, it tore us up. All 3 teams fighting for 9th, 10th, and 11th were at one point within 10' of each other after racing for an hour+. It was exciting to be competing even if the race was playing out at 2mph. Unfortunately the top of the climb would be the last time we would see them prior to the finish. My knees just wouldn't let me pound away on the downhill and we lost a lot of time as I did my best, but the steep chutes really caused a lot of pain. Most trail runners fly down the hills; it has been our weakest aspect this week and we have lost a lot of time as a result. After asking numerous passing teams for an Advil, I finally struck gold with Ed from Canada. Between popping that 1 pill and cold creek running, my legs were awesome at check 2, with only 2.5 miles remaining. It felt so nice to be running pain free, and fast. For an admittedly terrible video of running down the creek, see here. We closed in the low 7s, flying into the finish together.

The 11th place team finished 7th on the day, the 9th finished 9th and we finished 10th. One of the top teams had an accident out on course and DNF'd. At first it felt cheesy to slide into the top 10 because of someone's bad luck, but when running 120 miles in 6 days, luck is very much a factor in play. It hasn't been roses for us, but we've persevered and I am proud of that. We've earned our spot in the top 10, that's for damn sure.

A few more notes from today:

• Trevor was really good at keeping me distracted on the steep slopes before the creek. My knees and toes were in a bad way and having something to talk about was very good for me. Thanks bro.
• As we went up Hornsilver Mountain, possibly the longest, steepest thing I've ever been up, our competitor Eric from Hypoxic Hound Dogs indicated to his partner that he was out of water. I had a good 6oz. of Gatorade left in my hand-held and offered it to him. He was surprised at first and shook me off, then a few minutes later expressed gratitude. We talked about it post-stage and he was again grateful for the offer. I just don't feel like this is the kind of race where you put your elbow into someone's chest, or close the door on high-speed corners. We're all out here suffering like mad, and yeah we want to beat each other, but we don't want others to get hurt, dehydrated, or anything else detrimental. It's just not like that out here.
• I would like to find an easier way up Hornsilver Mountain and come back here. The view of The Mount of the Holy Cross, one of my favorites in Colorado, was outstanding. Too bad it was so damn hard to get up (and down) there.
• Fun song of the night during the slide show: When I'm Up by Great Big Sea. Check it out, pretty cool.

Looking ahead to tomorrow, I think I'm going to switch to my lighter and (at least mentally) faster road shoes. We start with 7+ miles of road climbing, then more climbing in the singletrack, then on the exposed ridge of Vail and finally down 4 miles via Vail's ski slopes to the finish. It doesn't look too technical so I think I'll be ok with the faster shoes. Dana and Colin will be visiting me tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited to see them. Sorry in advance for the odor, babe.

TRR Stage 3: JPs Take

Colossal day.  Name a personal record; I probably broke it.  Longest time spent running (for the 2^nd time in 3 days): check.  Most miles in a week (and I did it in 3 days): check.  Most time spent running unconscious (not really, Mom, I mean I was numb, just running on…I don’t know what): check.

No wonder my left ankle has 3 kinds of tape on it right now and is throbbing like a bastard.  I’ll be sleeping with it elevated tonight, will keep the tape on for tomorrow’s stage, have the medical staff take it off tomorrow, work their magic, and tape me back up.  And the blisters.  Oh, the blisters.

Alas, despite writing the above, I am thrilled.  Trevor came around late in today’s stage and it was awesome.  I woke up (cold and late) relaxed, thinking less of racing and more of just running.  And as Trevor’s chest hurt right off the bat again, I immediately made a mental shift from competing to enjoying the terrain and realizing how good the training is.  But somewhere after check 2 at 14 miles, right after I had a double-caffeine Roctane Gu (too thick, but boy that works) and went to the front to do some quick-feet work on a nice descent, Trevor was right on me.  We transitioned to a flat in a valley just west of Highway 24 and I continued to turn a quick pace, bringing back into view some peeps who passed us earlier.  Trevor was right on me.  Today was a good day.

We descended to check 3, the final of the day at mile 19+, leaving us with 5 to go.  I took some hose water on my hands (which were driving me crazy with stickiness thanks to the 4 gels and 8 bottles of Gatorade I had had to that point) and washed them and my face.  I’m not sure what it is about cold water, but it brings me back to life in a big way.  It wasn’t hot per se, but it felt really really good.  We re-fueled and took off with Trevor leading.  He’s faster in these checkpoints; I guess tri folks know what to do.  I told him quickly that I was running on borrowed time, meaning I was running in uncharted territory with the duration.  And the pain in my feet (blisters galore); ankle (anterior tibialis tendonitis from March flared back up); ankle (same one, effing bee sting was irritating it); and left patella (reasons unknown) were causing me physical and mental duress.  Trevor motioned for me to take the lead so as to not drive the pace too hard and crush me, but when I went to the front, there were no issues.  I was running unconscious. 

We flew threw the last shaded miles and out onto the barren dirt roads of Camp Hale.  This is one of my favorite places in Colorado, and I entertained my mind looking around at the canyons and mountains I’ve ascended and descended with the likes of Joe, Brandon, and Trevor himself.  I had a rough go in the final 2 miles, with all the systems (stomach, bowels, mind, legs, joints) all sending warning signs that time was up.  Luckily Trevor was on his A+ game and got me through to the finish line, despite two brief walking breaks.  It was similar to Stage 1, but not nearly as bad.  We lifted the pace as we entered the barriers; even when so many things hurt, nothing feels as good as smooth quick strides, something I’ve been missing these last 2 days.  We finished in 4:04, right around my goal target of 4 hours. 

I was a pile of crap post-finish.  When the adrenaline and endorphins fade, what you’re left with is not pretty.  I found some shade and lots of drink, and quickly took off my shoes.  I would not move from this spot for quite some time, elevating my throbbing feet and ankles on the back of the Gore-Tex truck.  Despite wanting to get to the medic ASAP, it was almost 2 hours til I was there.  Food, drink, some stretching, and a shower all came first.  PTs and ATs aren’t as nice to when you show up pre-shower.

It was quite evident my tendonitis is back in full force, and Thomas with the Howard Head Treatment Center spent a good 30 minutes on me while 5 other people waited to have their injuries treated.  I’m optimistic about finishing the race, but I am quite sure it’s going to hurt really badly.  I am also concerned about long-term damage and inducing a stress fracture.  We’ll take it one day at a time and hope for the best.

We get to stay in (wi-fi dead) Camp Hale for 2 nights, so no messing with bags and stuff tomorrow morning, which is awesome.  I’m psyched Trevor is back and hope to have good sensations tomorrow and continue to move up.  The team that was 19 minutes in front of us is now just 1 minute 10 seconds ahead.  3 teams are within 4 minutes of each other for 9^th, 10^th and 11^th in the Open Men.  I really don’t want to be the team that finishes 11^th.

With that, good night.

TRR Stage 3: “E.L.F.S.”

I decided to go with the self-titled mantra after a txt from KJC reminded me to breath easy.  Great idea KJC, I would focus on breathing especially since I have been horsing in the salt via tabs and chips and that hasn’t helped my cramp situation. Thus I'm thinking it’s more likely my diaphragm that is the issue. 

The cackle of the campers was greater than the earplugs last night so I had to resort to the ipod. I guess some peeps just don’t get it that you can hear EVERYTHING they say. I had one bathroom break, which was a drag since the porta-johns were a bit away from the tents. It was pretty cold last night/early this morning so I had to put a jacket on in the sleeping bag. We were a little shuffled this AM as JPs phoned died and we missed the alarm. We got to “sleep in”; up at 5:55.

It was up to HS for breakfast quick before back to camp to pack up and make trail donuts (scones). It was back to the camelbak today since it was a long stage. I put 2 ZYM (electrolyte tabs) in the bladder and took 4 gels, a bar and two waffles. I was also back to the newtons I was going to rock a breath-right strip on the nose for some more nasal O2. Apparently you get more O2 via the nose?

We started out on main street and ran on road for a few downhill miles before hitting the trails. The cramps were business as usual, but I tried to put it out of my mind.  Into the trails we started the first climb. It was a few miles of jeep road. There was very good footing so long as you were keeping focus and where there were steep sections I was walking. I tried a few things with breathing to see if it helped. Surprisingly talking helped. I even tried sorta singing, but that was not good for me or the peeps around me! Again the steep sections, where most peeps were walking, were good for me as I could hike without issues and keep pace.

The climb was over after a few miles and we were into descents. My quads were hurting today which is probably due to the message; hence I think that we were a little slower going down than we were yesterday.  At the bottom of the decent we hit the first CP. I loaded up on water and a salt tab. Between the stinger and the ZYM in the camel, my mouth was feeling very sugary so water was the fluid of choice. After CP1 it was flat paved road for a few ticks before heading back on trail and a 5mile gentle climb. It was jeep road and actually rather rolling. There were some water crossing and one which there was not avoiding getting wet. It felt actually pretty good to cool the feet. On the steep sections it was down to a walk, but I was trying not to walk as much. We were very shaded to this point, so despite the sunshine and blue skies, heat was not a factor.

Btb….On this section we ran into this guy wearing a skinfit jersey. In chatting with him, he knows Trevor whom I was trying to email prior to the TRR. He said that Trevor is usually pretty good at getting back to peeps, so maybe I had the email wrong.

Before I knew it we were on CP2 and 14+ miles in. I filled the camel with water as I still had that sugary taste in my mouth. I threw down a salt tab and a piece of watermelon; in general I wasn’t very hungry.

After a short section of road it was onto the Colorado Trail. It was single/double track and very runnable. The cramps situation was feeling a bit better and we were going at a decent pace, relative to previous, similar sections. At this point I already decided tomorrows mantra and better yet, it would have been a good team name: P.A.C.E. – Positive Attitude Changes Everything. I was going to quite dwelling on the cramps and focus on other things. And not sure if it was this new mental state or my increased consumption of these salt tabs, but the cramps were diminishing and there seemed to be some life in my legs. There were bouts of sweet forefoot running on the rollers in the woods. Ironically, as started to feel better JP was heading to the other direction. He kept stopping ahead of me to stretch his ankle. This ankle injury of old was resurfacing, not to mention the sharpness of his blisters on his toes.

We rolled though the last CP and with 5 or so miles left in day three I was now feeling a bit sharper then JP. Roll reversal. My turn to be supportive. He’s been carrying my ass for two days, so I’ll gladly return the favor. We pounded out the last 5K on exposed dirt road. Thankfully we had a head wind to keep the heat out of play. With two miles left we would see the finish off to the left. It was a mental game cauz it lingered there in the distance while the ticks on the garmin slowly added up. We got across the line in just over 4hrs. This was over what we might have expected before Sunday, but it was good to get the long day done and know that we were half way there.

Having run 24miles and for 4hrs, I felt pretty good. My legs were great coming in and lets hope these cramp issues are behind me.

Hydrate.

Chips.

Lake.

Stretch.

Stick.

Shower.

Chill.

We maintained 10^th, and 11^th was as close to us as 9^th was. We will have to have a good day to stay in the top 10. At this point 9^th is probably the best we can do given the first 7 are sponsored teams and the 8^th place team would have to have a disaster for us to move there.

Enter sandman about 9. 

Sincerely, 

Looking up, TJM

The Short:

Finish Time: 4:04:50

Place: 9 of 23

GC: 10 of 23 (2:57:23)

Garmin: Go Get It

Distance: 24.2 miles

Gain: 2,800 ft

Max Elevation: 10, 918 ft

Terrain: 2 miles road, 5 miles jeep road, 1+mile road, 4 miles jeep rd, <1 mile road, 8 miles mixed single and double track, 3 mile dirt road

Weather:

Sneakers: Newton Ms

Gear: Short sleeve tech, compression shirt, mandatory kit, visor, camel, breath-right strip

Food: 4 gels, salt tabs, watermelon

Fluids: Water (with ZYM), Gu brew, Water