I crawled into my sleeping bag and laid there thinking of the day that stood before me. I had about seven hours until I had to wake up and run 100Kilometers... It was a brisk 23 degrees, with a nice breeze that cut through my bivy tent like a knife through butter. I rolled back and forth.. shivered.. then rolled back and forth some more... I received several texts and Facebook messages that warmed my heart, and momentarily my frozen toes.. I shivered for what felt like hours, until i finally fell asleep.
Like a bear waking from hibernation, I opened my eyes, feeling groggy and well rested i checked my clock and it read "1:45..AM!".. 1:45am?? Damn it.. That means I had only been sleeping for two hours.. "Screw IT!", I thought to myself, So I jumped in the car and took off to a 24hour grocery store to get some coffee and get my muscles warmed up. After running a few laps around the parking lot at the store.. It was back to Chatfield State Park to chat and shiver with all the other racers...
As the sun started to rise above the lakes, i felt the warmth caress my skin, the heat washed away all my worries, and made me feel almost weightless. We all huddled in a small group at the start line, joking, laughing, and grinning ear to ear, Roman the race director explained a few course details, preparing us for the river crossings and technical trail that lie ahead. With a few jokes and minimal instructions, he counted us down. 5..... all the runners index fingers took the ready positions on their watch.... 4.. 3..2..1 And we were off, charging out of the start with the lead pack was a thrill as it always is. We cruised on dirt roads for about 3miles chatting about how similar our pack looked to being in the lead pack at Leadville last year. We cruised together until we hit the first aid station.. Knowing there wasn't much food on the course i grabbed a clif bar and shoved it down my shorts, and took off again. A quarter mile down the trail i saw several men standing around in very official looking uniforms. This was the first river crossing and they were Search and Rescue, these guys were out there to help make sure that we made across safely. I decided to take the beaver dam across that was so conveniently placed next to the crossing to keep myself dry and some what warm. The water was cold and so was the air this early in the morning, so i thought this was the best option. Until I ran another quarter mile...
After several loops on this 12 mile course, I finally made it to the halfway point. As i came through I asked the timing guy where I was in the race. He told me that I was in last place in the 100K and if i didn't pick up the pace, i probably wouldn't make the cutoff... So I grubbed down a bean burrito, slammed a beer and I flew out of aid station. I looked at my Garmin and saw that i was running seven and half minutes miles as I pounded up and down the trail trying to make up time. Dust flying from my Luna's and sweat spraying from my hair, I started to catch other runners. I tore through the over growth and shrubs, bushwacking, as I yelled " ON YOUR LEFT", " ON YOUR RIGHT". I blew the rivers, enjoying the cool, relieving water on my aching burning muscles, as i tried to enjoy and embrace the cramping and pain. I kept catching runners until I made it back to the check point.
After one more burrito and another brew, I was off on my last loop.
At this point I knew that I was going to make it back before the cutoff. So I thanked every volunteer on my way through the course, I'm sure they thought i was nuts for being so happy after such along time of running. But without volunteers none of us would be able to do what we do. I ran as fast as I could through the loop, with one mile to go in the race the sky opened up and it started to pound rain.....sideways.. I ran as hard as I could, but there was a large field on my way back to the finish. I turned my head to look and to my surprise there were three deer standing in the field watching me run I stopped and looked to the sky, in that moment a ray of sun came down from the dark rainy clouds, and a rainbow appeared. I wish I had a photo of this exact moment for it sums up one of the greatest reasons i run. To be with nature, feeling free. I stood there in awe for about a minute or two, then with a satisfied smile on my face I ran the last mile of the race, finishing in 12HRS39MINS, and my first 3rd place finish.
This was my first adventure of many over the past month, I enjoyed the ride! And I hope you all do too...
