TransRockies Run - Race Recap - Part TWO (Pre-race & Stage 1)
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller
When we arrived in Denver on Sunday afternoon, we were picked up by the TransRockies shuttle and rode about 2-3 hours to Buena Vista with other runners. The ride was long, I had to pee, and it was either -40 degrees or 140 degrees on that bus!! I was so happy to arrive in BV. However, it was dark by the time we got there thanks to a traffic jam on the interstate headed out of Denver. The shuttle wouldn't take us all the way to our cabin because apparently 6 miles is "way out of the way" - my smart hubby had already arranged for an Uber driver (the only one in BV!!) to pick us up after we caught dinner in town and take us up the mountain to our cabin. We would later befriend a different TRR shuttle driver who would make sure we got to and from town without having to arrange for an Uber - so thankful for our friend Ray!!
Dinner was at Eddyline, and we were starving. They didn't have a lot to offer our entire table of vegan diners, but they tried to accommodate us none-the-less. I skipped on the usual celebratory glass of wine due to the altitude, which can make dehydration worse (and dehydration leads to altitude sickness).
We arrived at our cabin in the dark, so we couldn't really tell too much about it. We all found our rooms and decided to step out onto the back deck to check out the views before heading to bed for the night. What an amazing sight to behold. There were no lights out our way, so all we could see were the trillions of stars and even the incredible Milky Way. I wish I had my nice camera with me and I would have gotten a million pictures. On top of that, the Perseid meteor shower was at peak, so we all simply took a seat and watched the show, in awe of the nighttime sky dance above us. God's creation literally takes my breath away. It will always be one of my favorite memories.
The next morning, my eyes opened to catch a glimpse of pink coming over the Rocky mountains in the distance outside our huge window in our loft bedroom. Justin was awake too, and he was thinking the same thing I was - we made a huge pot of coffee, layered up, and caught a gorgeous sunrise together with the hummingbirds fluttering around our heads. What a fabulous way to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary!!
Soon, our friends were up enjoying the views with us and shortly we all headed into town to grab lunch and go to registration/packet pickup. Lunch was at Simply Eatery & was delish!! We then walked down to packet pick-up, where we would hang out for a few hours before the required meeting at 5:30 pm. I lingered at the entrance as my friends waltzed right in without a second thought... for me, walking into the fenced in "Chillville" full of vendors, athletes toting huge black duffel bags, and adirondack chairs waiting for visitors simply meant a point-of-no-return... commitment to this thing. I took a deep breath, and walked in. Here we go, I thought.
We got our bibs - Team Flatlanders, aptly named and chosen by my oh-so-hilarious husband - numbers 21-1 & 21-2. We got a t-shirt. We got our humongous duffel bags that we would pack our lives into every day and lug all around before and after our runs. We bought hats at the little store, more stuff at the vendor booths, and took pre-race photos of us goofing off. There was a DJ playing great music, and the atmosphere was fun and relaxed. My nerves started to settle down. We were happy to see our friend, Rob Krar, there hanging out with everyone after he had just completed a 100 mile bike race in nearby Leadville. The guys attended his running camp a couple years ago (best Christmas gift ever... gives self a pat on the back...), and he's been super supportive of their running endeavors ever since.
The meeting commenced with the usual... who's from what countries, who's running their first trail race ever (brave souls!), etc. Then sh** got real when the medical guy gets up and proceeds to tell us that Colorado is like #1 in lightning strikes in the USA and "here's how to know if a lightening strike is imminent... the person in front of you's hair will stand on end..." - how reassuring!!! Bahaha!! Anywho, after the meeting, we grabbed dinner (I don't remember the name of the restaurant, how sad) before heading back up to the cabin to pack our massive duffel bags for the race of our lives.
_____________
I hopped out of bed pretty well in order to make sure I was ready. Boy my tummy was ready, haha! Our shuttle picked us up at 6:05 am, and we proceeded into Buena Vista to the start line where we were so early that not all the tents were done being set up. We dropped our duffel bags at their appropriate spot, and waited inside the lobby of the Surf Chalet, a trendy hotel literally 100 feet from the start line.
Nerves were high for a few of us, and I still wasn't sure I could do this. Selfies were taken, drop bags dropped off, and we danced around to the DJ's music until AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" began playing. From reading up on our adventure, and from talking with Andres & Mariana (who ran it in 2013), I knew this was basically the ringing of the bells to signal the start of the race.
The gun went off, and off we went trying to keep a slow steady jogging pace. Every runner around us were already panting thanks to the altitude, and I realized I was also one of them. We ran and we walked. Stage 1 had begun. We had 20.5 miles ahead of us for the day, with 6 days of running and about 20,000 feet of elevation gain to be found over those 6 days. So we drank lots and lots of water and paced ourselves nicely. I filled my bladder up twice during Stage 1's run. By mile 14 or so, it had gotten very hot. We came up on a blind runner being guided by 2 sight guides, and quickly fell into pace with them. We got to know Kyle very quickly and learned so much about his visual impairment and how he really did not let that hold him back from pursuing his ultra-running goals. Kyle is a class act and was awesome to watch how he and his guides communicated every nook and cranny of that course each day. If you're reading this Kyle, we hope you'll come see us in NC like we talked about!!
We stopped for a couple minutes (for some reason, I cannot remember why), and Kyle kept on. We were about a mile from Aid Station 2 when we saw another runner waving at us from way off the course in the tree line. It was really hot - and a runner who had been chasing the leader (literally) had become dehydrated and overheated and had wandered off course. He was disoriented and could not even stand - he tried, and almost passed out on us. We laid him down on the hot dry ground and began working to cool him off. Justin called Houda, the Race Director, to try and get medical down there to help us. Tim, the runner, could not keep anything down and despite our best efforts, began to show signs of heatstroke, with uncontrollable chills and further disorientation. A couple other runners stopped to help and we all stretched out emergency blankets to create a shade. Another runner gave him salt in powder form which he was able to keep down. Medical was on the way, and thankfully he was starting to turn around. I had used all my water from my bladder to squirt on Tim to cool him down and I myself was starting to feel light-headed and overheated. I knew I needed to head to the aid station or else I would be in the same situation. Once I knew he was doing much better, we headed up to checkpoint/aid station 2. We hadn't been there maybe 5 minutes, when look who comes strolling in along with our other friends who had helped but TIM!!! He had refused medical help from the EMTs and had walked his butt up the hill to the checkpoint. He looked like a different man. I could NOT believe it. He walked/ran with us and the other "medical team" the rest of the way to the finish line. I don't feel we did anything beyond what anyone else would do in that situation, but he was sincerely grateful for our help and over and over kept telling us thank you "for saving my life." He said, "I am going to be telling my kids about you for years to come." I hope Tim is doing well!
When we arrived in Denver on Sunday afternoon, we were picked up by the TransRockies shuttle and rode about 2-3 hours to Buena Vista with other runners. The ride was long, I had to pee, and it was either -40 degrees or 140 degrees on that bus!! I was so happy to arrive in BV. However, it was dark by the time we got there thanks to a traffic jam on the interstate headed out of Denver. The shuttle wouldn't take us all the way to our cabin because apparently 6 miles is "way out of the way" - my smart hubby had already arranged for an Uber driver (the only one in BV!!) to pick us up after we caught dinner in town and take us up the mountain to our cabin. We would later befriend a different TRR shuttle driver who would make sure we got to and from town without having to arrange for an Uber - so thankful for our friend Ray!!
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| shuttle ride to BV |
We arrived at our cabin in the dark, so we couldn't really tell too much about it. We all found our rooms and decided to step out onto the back deck to check out the views before heading to bed for the night. What an amazing sight to behold. There were no lights out our way, so all we could see were the trillions of stars and even the incredible Milky Way. I wish I had my nice camera with me and I would have gotten a million pictures. On top of that, the Perseid meteor shower was at peak, so we all simply took a seat and watched the show, in awe of the nighttime sky dance above us. God's creation literally takes my breath away. It will always be one of my favorite memories.
The next morning, my eyes opened to catch a glimpse of pink coming over the Rocky mountains in the distance outside our huge window in our loft bedroom. Justin was awake too, and he was thinking the same thing I was - we made a huge pot of coffee, layered up, and caught a gorgeous sunrise together with the hummingbirds fluttering around our heads. What a fabulous way to celebrate our 13th wedding anniversary!!
We got our bibs - Team Flatlanders, aptly named and chosen by my oh-so-hilarious husband - numbers 21-1 & 21-2. We got a t-shirt. We got our humongous duffel bags that we would pack our lives into every day and lug all around before and after our runs. We bought hats at the little store, more stuff at the vendor booths, and took pre-race photos of us goofing off. There was a DJ playing great music, and the atmosphere was fun and relaxed. My nerves started to settle down. We were happy to see our friend, Rob Krar, there hanging out with everyone after he had just completed a 100 mile bike race in nearby Leadville. The guys attended his running camp a couple years ago (best Christmas gift ever... gives self a pat on the back...), and he's been super supportive of their running endeavors ever since.
The meeting commenced with the usual... who's from what countries, who's running their first trail race ever (brave souls!), etc. Then sh** got real when the medical guy gets up and proceeds to tell us that Colorado is like #1 in lightning strikes in the USA and "here's how to know if a lightening strike is imminent... the person in front of you's hair will stand on end..." - how reassuring!!! Bahaha!! Anywho, after the meeting, we grabbed dinner (I don't remember the name of the restaurant, how sad) before heading back up to the cabin to pack our massive duffel bags for the race of our lives.
_____________
I hopped out of bed pretty well in order to make sure I was ready. Boy my tummy was ready, haha! Our shuttle picked us up at 6:05 am, and we proceeded into Buena Vista to the start line where we were so early that not all the tents were done being set up. We dropped our duffel bags at their appropriate spot, and waited inside the lobby of the Surf Chalet, a trendy hotel literally 100 feet from the start line.
Nerves were high for a few of us, and I still wasn't sure I could do this. Selfies were taken, drop bags dropped off, and we danced around to the DJ's music until AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" began playing. From reading up on our adventure, and from talking with Andres & Mariana (who ran it in 2013), I knew this was basically the ringing of the bells to signal the start of the race.
The gun went off, and off we went trying to keep a slow steady jogging pace. Every runner around us were already panting thanks to the altitude, and I realized I was also one of them. We ran and we walked. Stage 1 had begun. We had 20.5 miles ahead of us for the day, with 6 days of running and about 20,000 feet of elevation gain to be found over those 6 days. So we drank lots and lots of water and paced ourselves nicely. I filled my bladder up twice during Stage 1's run. By mile 14 or so, it had gotten very hot. We came up on a blind runner being guided by 2 sight guides, and quickly fell into pace with them. We got to know Kyle very quickly and learned so much about his visual impairment and how he really did not let that hold him back from pursuing his ultra-running goals. Kyle is a class act and was awesome to watch how he and his guides communicated every nook and cranny of that course each day. If you're reading this Kyle, we hope you'll come see us in NC like we talked about!!
We stopped for a couple minutes (for some reason, I cannot remember why), and Kyle kept on. We were about a mile from Aid Station 2 when we saw another runner waving at us from way off the course in the tree line. It was really hot - and a runner who had been chasing the leader (literally) had become dehydrated and overheated and had wandered off course. He was disoriented and could not even stand - he tried, and almost passed out on us. We laid him down on the hot dry ground and began working to cool him off. Justin called Houda, the Race Director, to try and get medical down there to help us. Tim, the runner, could not keep anything down and despite our best efforts, began to show signs of heatstroke, with uncontrollable chills and further disorientation. A couple other runners stopped to help and we all stretched out emergency blankets to create a shade. Another runner gave him salt in powder form which he was able to keep down. Medical was on the way, and thankfully he was starting to turn around. I had used all my water from my bladder to squirt on Tim to cool him down and I myself was starting to feel light-headed and overheated. I knew I needed to head to the aid station or else I would be in the same situation. Once I knew he was doing much better, we headed up to checkpoint/aid station 2. We hadn't been there maybe 5 minutes, when look who comes strolling in along with our other friends who had helped but TIM!!! He had refused medical help from the EMTs and had walked his butt up the hill to the checkpoint. He looked like a different man. I could NOT believe it. He walked/ran with us and the other "medical team" the rest of the way to the finish line. I don't feel we did anything beyond what anyone else would do in that situation, but he was sincerely grateful for our help and over and over kept telling us thank you "for saving my life." He said, "I am going to be telling my kids about you for years to come." I hope Tim is doing well!
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| This was not staged... there was also a detached but fresh mule deer leg on the course! |
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| The famous tunnels on Stage 1 |
Buddy the Elf visited us at Stage 1 ;)
My hip felt great in Stage 1... no issues. The heat was almost unbearable. I was starving by the time we hit the finish line, so I promptly down 2 stroop waffles covered in nutella and marshmellow cream (yep, I dropped the vegan thing at that point). They were so good going down, but in hindsight, they were a terrible idea after having run in such hot conditions. By the time we got on the bus (and had to sit in the very back), I was so nauseated I just knew I would vomit right there in that bus. haha!! Thankfully I did not, but when we got to camp, I was very green around the gills and the pain of that climb and the 20 miles had also set in... I was miserable! On top of that, we had to trudge up a very steep hill to get to our tents - it was like a cruel joke. Thankfully the TRR volunteers took our huge duffel bags up the mini-mountain in a truck for us. I somehow managed to get back down to the showers and get a shower in the shower truck. If you've never taken a shower in a shower truck, let me tell you, it's an experience the first time. All modesty is basically out the window for the women! Don't worry, there are shower curtains, but to get to the bench, you pretty much have to put it all out there in that truck. Oh well, we got to know each other pretty well over the next 6 days, hhahaha!!
I think it took me an hour or more to get over the nausea. We went to dinner and the post-race meeting (which discussed the next day's stage/run), then trudged back up the hill and fell fast asleep. But not before learning the first night of camping how to get organized with that duffel bag to get it all together for the next morning - what a fun game of Tetris that was, trying to fit our sleeping pad and bag into that duffel the next AM! I slept fairly well considering that was my first time ever in a tent! We woke the next morning, got ready, grabbed our drop bags, and thankfully we didn't have to take our duffels down the big hill. We watched our duffels get loaded onto a big truck and I remember thinking, "OK, well at least I know our bags are headed in the right direction!" ...Or so I thought...
(to be continued...)
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