The expedition stage starts at Dewey Bridge which is also a put-in site for float trips down the Colorado. The day after this race ends we are doing one of those trips with my sister, her partner, their 7 year old, and my adult niece. I’m really looking forward to that. This seems more relaxing than running 41 miles.
I didn’t feel great this morning, and could only manage a little oatmeal before heading out. I felt some nausea and my legs definitely hurt but the stage starts with a long gradual climb so there was no running for the first hour or so. Unless you’re Ryan, of course... he trotted passed me on an incline that probably everyone else in the group “power hiked.”
This year hasn’t been as hot as last year but today was somewhere between 100 and 113 depending on whose thermometer you trusted. There was carnage. Not sure how many DNFs, but a lot of suffering and one IV and hospital trip at the end of the day (hyponatremia). The day seemed at once shorter and longer, easier and harder than last year. Being familiar with a route generally seems to make things go faster, except the demoralizing parts where you’re thinking, “what the..., this stretch is is 3x as long as it was last year.” It took me a few hours to feel ok, and several more to overtake the other women in my wave. (Theresa and Amanda are in the fast wave and thus started behind me.) I had multiple opportunities to get inspired/motivated about working on my crap downhill skills, easily passing people on climbs and then being leapfrogged on descents. This even happened on a paved (i.e. non technical) road when Anne blew by me toward the end of the stage. She’s really strong and frustrated the hell out of two guys who tried to overtake her for much of stage two. She runs in those Barefoot Ted sandals. (Amanda has been running in her Chacos since the first day when her running shoes hurt her feet.) After the first four stages I think I’m around 30 minutes ahead of Anne in the overall standings but I won’t be surprised if she makes up that difference in tomorrow’s marathon. She’s pretty badass. Otherwise we’ll have the same top three women as last year (Amanda/Theresa/me) which pleases me for some reason.
When I woke up this morning I still felt sore enough to contemplate skipping the final day. I don’t want to risk wrecking my legs for next week when I’ll be in the Grand Tetons. But now it’s late afternoon and I feel much better so I’m planning to start.
playing leapfrog with Amy -- I pass her going uphill, she passes me going downhill. She lost her electrolytes somewhere along the route so I gave her some salt tabs. She's Mikey's sister so obviously she's awesome.
Westworld headquarters
pretty
last year on the day off I skipped the trip down to the river and attempted to sleep under a truck at the campground. This time I went and it was really nice. I’m super excited to return here on our float trip!
Dinner time = blister time