Dammit.
5 days later. I lasted longer doing paleo.
Just back from the big skies and snow-capped peaks of Wyoming by way of Montana. Great, wide open spaces as far as you can see, verdant green hills, small towns, slow talkers, cold mountain air, summer thundershowers and about a dozen other things all in contrast to the din of the city.
Such was the backdrop for the Bighorn 100 - 100 miles of trail running up to almost 10,000 feet elevation, through wildflowers and forests, snow and mud, finishing the first half with almost 4500 feet of climbing over 17 miles only to turn around and repeat the effort going back down. In the dark. A beautiful, rugged, challenging course that would yield smiles, tears, and hard fought triumphs.
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| Tina feeling the sunset. |
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| Ram time with Jessica, Tina and Brian |
Of course, I didn't actually race it. I was on the sidelines cheering, pacing, driving and watching in awe, grateful that it wasn't my undertaking but tangentially excited to be so up close to the experience. I was crew and pacer to Dana and cheerleader to a handful more from our extended running familia - Rick and Kara from SF, Jonnifer from the Phillipines, Jason from Portland. Along with Jessica, Tina and Brian we drove some 300+ miles over the course of 32 or so hours following our racers from point to point, swapping out of the car to jump in and run with Dana, fill her water pack, bring her clothes, ask if she was eating, drinking, peeing, and generally doing okay.
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| Dry Fork heading out for last 18 miles. Go Kara! |
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| Dana at Jaws turnaround. So warm. |
I logged the 2nd shift with her starting just past midnight heading out towards the turnaround at the Jaws trailhead. Brian, Tina and I had arrived hours earlier stopping to admire some moose along the way and a vast sunset reaching out across the valley. We parked just in time to see Jason heading back down (read: fast) and spent the next few hours cheering others as dusk turned to darkness. (Ok, actually I stayed huddled in the car because I was freezing.)
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| Tina and Brian showing glow stick support. |
By the time Dana came into view she'd just come off slogging through the long uphill with Jessica and was a little low energy. Different people want different things from their pacers - maybe to push the pace or keep them company in the later stages. For Dana it was make sure she was eating, make sure she was drinking, keep her going, and keep her focus positive.
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| Footbridge aid station headed home. |
At the turnaround as she warmed her hands and had some soup inside the aid station tent I stayed outside in the cold air waiting patiently until it seemed it had been long enough and was time for her to keep moving. I felt a twinge of guilt prying her out of there but I could feel the warmth and din from the tent seeping in like a drug. We shuffled down the next 18 miles over rolling, technical terrain pausing just long enough to pick up soup at the aid stations, glance at the stars, check a potential blister, snap a pic of the sunrise (ok, only I paused for that one) and pee.
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| Sunrise peeking over. |
At our last aid station, some 3.5 miles out from where I'd switch with another pacer, as Dana stared at the snack options in a daze, the volunteers and I humored (demanded) her to eat something - anything - just to boost her energy. She looked pained but took a long pull off a Hammer Gel bottle and fisted a few dried apricots before we were off again. Within 10 minutes I could see the life spring back into her legs as we started hopping over rocks and running longer sections without walking. We cruised into the next aid station to see the FOMO (fear of missing out) crew cheering and gratefully I stepped off the trail to call it a day. 35 more miles for Dana to run. Ah, the pacer's life.
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| Solid endorsement for Hammer Gel. |
So what did we do with the rest of the time we weren't running, you ask? Therein lies the fun of it all in being part of the crew. There was a lot of driving to get to the aid stations - a lot. But each drive took us through Dayton where we'd suddenly decided we had to get meat sticks with each passing. Meat sticks! And listen to Lonely Island singing "
Three Way" over and over again. And then there were costume changes we'd discussed and planned ahead of time. Ram hat beanies and tutus to start, ram hats and tiaras to finish, thrift store clothing to go with the Macklemore song Tina was playing on her mobile as Dana came racing through. Glow sticks at midnight! Matching FOMO hoodies and Strong is the new Skinny shirts!
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| You're a ram. Photo courtesy of JFew. |
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| Crew bonding around Rick Gaston. |
There was no end to how amusing we found ourselves to be (ha!) given the excitement of trying to spot our runners from afar, instagram-ing and Facebook-ing the latest updates, bantering with other spectators, running low on sleep, energy and healthy food choices and then going to work like a Nascar pit crew whenever Dana came into a checkpoint. We brought fun and big vocal chords to every stop, exhausting ourselves
almost as much as the runners. And by almost I mean not nearly.
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| Brian gearing up to pace last leg. |
When Dana came across the finish line some 32 hours later - running in with Rick - you could see the struggle it had been to get there etched in her face and swollen eyes. She was smiling of course but she looked slightly stunned and depleted. And as the slightest tears formed at the edges of her eyes and she embraced Brian, tears welled up in my eyes at the enormity of her achievement. All that kept running through my head was
relentless forward progress. Stripped down, that's what it was.
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| Brian with Rick and Dana who finished together. |
Are you feeling a life metaphor waiting to spring from my fingertips? I'll leave that for you to consider.
As for MY running? If we can turn back to me for a minute? I did it. I paced Dana for the 19 miles I'd been training for, didn't stumble or get dropped. My knee was swelling and slightly painful about 4 hours into it but whenever Dana picked up her stride I forgot all about it and fell in right behind her. As if I was going to complain about how I was feeling on my little 19 mile stretch of adventure anyway. Duh. I don't know if long distance running is part of my future anymore but it felt great to be able to go out to Wyoming with the rest of the crew, be part of Dana's epic journey and pace again.
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| Dana, Jason, Rick, Jonnifer and Kara. Finishers! |
Congratulations to Rick, Kara, Dana, Jason, Jonnifer and all the other runners who finished. Huge shout outs to the great Search and Rescue volunteers who manned the aid stations, the friendly folks at the Dayton gas station, my new running friends Masha and Leigh and the endearingly warm and welcoming woman from Bernie's in Billings, MT. And last but not least, thank you mountains and trails and rivers and skies.
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