10.4 miles in about 28 hours

Let me start by saying I had virtually no sleep Wednesday night, I was too busy packing (and blogging). Not good. I packed so much gear, I needed a team of pack mules to bring it all to the van.

We rode up in two vans on Thursday, through Colorado Springs to pick up two more runners and a driver. Aaand if blogger wasn't being such a b***h, you'd see the picture of most of our runners. You'd see how happy, fresh-faced and optimistic we all look. Of course, that picture was taken just after we'd had our lovely dinner, courtesy of Wild Oats (this race had good sponsors).

I had no sleep Thursday night – we had to be up at 3:45 to hit the road. 3:45. In the morning. I don't believe people actually get up at 3:45 in the morning to do anything. It is not possible.

The whole thing sounds much more complicated than it turned out. It helps to see the course table and look at actual leg maps.

We arrived at the start line, and I was immediately intimidated by the conditions - it was cold. I have to say, in spite of the cold, there was really good energy - everyone was ready to go.

With cowbells ringing, we pushed Runner 1 out of the van in Idaho Springs at 5:40 in the morning, into the dark and cold. She had optimistically wanted to run a couple miles before takeoff, that did not happen. Off she went, into the dark, headlamp and reflective vest. Our van contained runners 1 through 5, the other contained 6-10.

The other, inactive van had a couple of hours to kill before they'd pick up the trail (and, through a cruel twist of logistics, runners 1 and 5) about 18 or so miles down the road.

We picked Runner 1 up and booted Runner 2 out about 4 miles down the road just as the light was starting to pick up.

I was Runner 3, and picked up the baton about 3 miles later. My first leg was supposed to be an easy 3.3. Since the light was picking up, I thought I would risk shorts. I had two layers on top, plus arm warmers and gloves. I wore my leg warmers to stay warm, took them off before I started running at sometime around 6:30 in the morning. My legs were frozen for the first mile, and then I started shedding layers. I regretted the arm warmers. That “easy” 3.3 was a touch more difficult than I expected – my other team mates concurred that their “easy” legs were not really. I think it was the altitude more than anything - we started at somewhere near 8000 feet. I passed several. I got passed by one, but then I chased her down and passed her before I finished and thrust the baton at runner 4.

And then the rain started.

As soon as we dropped Runner 5, I went horizontal. While runners 6 through 10 were off battling a mountain somewhere, I could have cared less - I had a whole seat to myself...bliss!Unfortunately for them, Runners 1 and 5 would end up in the active van packed in like sardines for about 6 hours -- yikes!

We had a big layover in Breckenridge, a very nice little town. One of our runners was a very polite military type young man. He was very genuine with the Ma'ams and Sirs, which, as it happens, gets you into some nice places. He spoke to the desk clerk of a posh hotel, who let us camp out in their very swishy hotel lounge (I think the locals are used to this race). After a shop (for some more tights - did I mention it was cold?) and some food, I got another nice long nap in the van – bliss!

Runner 1 finished her second leg (over Georgia pass - 13 miles she traveled over the peak!), came down the mountain and handed off to runner 2. She completed her teensy short 2 miler and she handed off to me at sometime around 4 in the afternoon. This was easily the funnest leg for me – down the mountain at a pretty good clip. Again, it was freezing at the start and then I started losing layers – first the jacket, then the gloves, then the longsleeve top. I was running in tights and short sleeves when it started to rain again. The jacket came back on, and then I was soaked through. Stupid Pearl Izumi water “resistant” wind “resistant” jacket was exceedingly cute but practically useless in a downpour. The rain was rolling off my hat. My ponytail was flopping on my shoulders like a wet snake.

It was supposed to be a 3.8, Garmin had me at 4.6 (and I was totally ready to do more!). My team-mates were worried when I didn’t come in. I got in the van and put on my last pair of dry tights. I laid out all my wet smelly clothes chinese laundry style, hoping they would dry out a touch so I could get more use out of them later. I had plenty of other dry clothes -- shorts, singlets, cute tops - all useless in the cold wet.

Runners 4 and 5 got to run in some serious rain as the light faded into the evening. The course was marked with an occasional glowstick, and the signs marking turns were marked with beacons. The headlamps and reflective vests came back out. Our wet runner smells were mingling in the van.

We had a reasonable layover in Vail, consisting of an overpriced dinner in a bar and a nap in a church basement. Luckily, I got to take my eyes out for an hour or so for this nap. My contact lenses felt like little chips of sandpaper in my eyes at this point. We were back in the smelly van and on the road again at Midnight-thirty.

Runner 1 took the baton from runner 10 and hit the road for her last leg at sometime around 1:30 in the morning, in the rain. Runner 2 got to run her 6 mile leg in relative dryness, and then surprised me when she hit the exchange point easily 15 minutes before I expected her – I think it was her fear that propelled her. This particular runner was worried about getting eaten by a bear. Alas, there are no bears in Edward, CO.

Runner 2 rocketed in so fast that I didn’t even get to pee before I had to start burning pavement! This leg was supposed to be an easy 2.2, it was more like a moderate 2.5. No rain, it was a beautiful night – just me and the road. Very quiet. 3 a.m. In the dark. With a full moon. You don't get to do that very often.

Runners 4 and 5 ran in the rain.

At this point, the whole event is starting to take on a surreal quality, and we're all getting a bit loopy.

Runner 5 covered himself in glowsticks that we brought along. He was starting to look like a skinny version of Dynamo (you remember the roman soldier guy in The Running Man? How apropos). The exchange point coordinator looked at him and said, "uh, you do know you're not supposed to pick those up, right?"

After we collected Runner 5 from his wet 6 miles, I curled up in a corner on the way to Glenwood Springs. I snoozed again in the van whilst everyone else went inside and camped out in a Ramada Lobby.

The team met runner 10 about 0.25 miles shy of the finish line, and we all ran in together, the sweaty, smelly, lot of us.

In total, we came in at close to 28 hours – a pretty good time for a bunch of first-timers.

I survived on catnaps and snacks for the whole event. I was the only one who seemed to get decent naps. I was spoiled with a luxurious 5 hrs worth of catnaps over 2 days – everyone else was operating on Starbucks and a half-hour’s worth of sleep.

The whole objective of Outward Bound is to get people to learn something about themselves, to feel capable. I found I have a special skill for naps – just give me a spot to lay down and I’ll kip. If I'm tired enough, I'll sleep in a carboard box. I suppose it helps that I am not very big - some of our runners were pretty leggy and needed extra real estate.

The hip and leg report: both were fine. Absolutely fine. I was tired by leg 3, and I'd guess slower (runner 2 came in so fast, my effing Garmin never had a chance to acquire a signal so I don't know my pace for this leg). I stayed fine until I untaped my right arch - and now my hip is bugging me again. Clearly, these two pieces are connected.

We came in 85th out of 133 finishing teams, 20th out of 27 in the open division.

All in all, I would recommend this race. It was a lot of fun, and had some good challenges. We got to run in some special parts of Colorado. We've been told that the weather we experienced was unusual, and by far the worst they'd seen for the event.

Beloved's race up Imogene was cut short by the weather. They couldn't get support vehicles to the top, so they reduced the race to 7 miles up and back on the Ouray side of the mountain. This is the first time they've done this in many, many years of holding the race.