Transrockies: There's more!

See the video outtakes from a flip cam that sat in an ice-cold babypool for 20 minutes at the end of Day 4, compromising the integrity of this award-winning look back at a few days across Colorado. It's not a lot of great running coverage but it further promotes what Transrockies was all about for us - big smiles, wide open spaces, great friends - old and new. And a lot of hand gesturing.

I think this might be my last attempt at visual media for this event so savor it. But you never know!

Transrockies: The Song

It's the song they played each night at Transrockies before the awards, the song that stayed with me back home, the song that I've listened to ad nauseum since returning to California. I can't quit you, song!

So what better use of it than to borrow from the producers at W.L. Gore and create our own personalized Transrockies photo montage with their song. To watch the slideshows the race organizers presented each night after dinner of the photos from the day was to feel inspired all over again to be doing something so amazing in a place so beautiful. Though these don't quite have the same professional caliber as what we got to see, hopefully you get the gist of what our adventure felt like. Or at least looked like.

Sierra Nevada Endurance Run 50 miler

Yesterday was the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run 50 mile race and marathon. I raced the 50 mile with friend Kara and Sam raced the marathon as a training run to prep for Dick Collins Fire Trails in 2 weeks. I signed Sam up for the race on Friday and apparently my handwriting messed up her registration so CONGRATS to Sam on her 12th place in the men's 40-49. (should have been 4th place in the women's, KILLER!)

For this race I was worried about 2 things. 1) Heat and 2) every muscle in my body seizing up and not letting go. For the past 3 weeks I have been so tight in my back and hips that I thought 50 miles might turn me into a mannequin. The heat came to be, the mannequin pose never happened but I did turn into another mall staple, the mall walker!

First things first, the heat. Turns out we got lucky and it was forecast to be 15 degrees cooler than the day before of 105. Whew. Still way to hot for this girl.

All smiles.

The race started at 6:30 am and I was sweating in no time. I knew this was going to be tough. The course was amazing with rolling hills, nothing big but no real flat either. There was rock formations, gorgeous water and great vegetation to make the trail fantastic. All was well into mile 10. Into mile 18 too, then we started up the hill and that is when it got hot. This was an ordinary hill I wouldn't normally think twice about but it made my core temperature sore just from power hiking. A flat section before mile 22 helped me run again and it felt okay.

Sam cools off at one of the aid stations. Ultrarunning centerfold! Photo courtesy of Brian.

Then it just got hot. HOTAHOTHOT. Yes, I am a wimp around heat but boy I was woozy. I had ice, sponge baths and dreamed of slurpees but really I was barely under the threshold for cooking my brain. I had to walk slow to keep from fainting. I was so excited to see Brian at mile 28 to pace me, something to take my mind of things!

The 2 mile canal along the route was awesome for cooling down. Mile 29.

I jumped into water twice during the race and it was worth all the delay it caused for sure. I felt like a pig wallowing in the mud but for sure it saved me. I never had issues with tightness all day but I did have some sort of Achilles flare up that slowed me down to mall walker pace but hey, I was moving! I won't go on and on about that because really, who knows what happened and why but I moved on (at a barely detectable pace for some of it but always made forward progress).

In the end another PW! 12 hours and 20 minutes. Right after the finish superstar Jessica, crew chief for my last 50, called thinking I wasn't checking in with her, never thinking that it could have taken me that long. Ha, I was so happy to tell you I wasn't dead! So this summer I have run a personal worst at the marathon, 50k and 50 mile and I never have learned more.

From this race I realized:

• I often kid around blaming genetics for my slow speed and poor athletic talents but really I am blessed with the ability to eat anything at anytime. Maybe better than the ability to run fast when you are an ultrarunner!
• I am tougher than I think I am. Cool.
  
• My brain is my strongest muscle. I better make sure I keep it on a good workout plan!
  
• 50 miles is far and 90 degrees is hot, so if it takes me 12 hours, well still better than dropping or not starting at all!
• Running slow is still running, grace isn't always with you and getting it done is what counts.
  
• It all means nothing if you can't share it with friends. Thanks to everyone for the calls, emails, texts, good thoughts. I am so lucky.

PS- a shout out to my pacer, Brian. Brian is the best partner, boyfriend, pacer ever. He was encouraging without being annoying, helped me dig deep when I wanted to kick something and made me feel proud of my accomplishment even if it was a tad on the slow side. Nice job Brian at your longest run (by time) ever!

Do you have $12,000?

Dream with me here for a minute. One year sabbatical from work. (No, I have no idea how this will be funded, please suspend disbelief to dream with me for the rest of this post) Okay, one year sabbatical from work. $12,000 cash for the purchase of the retro, silver airstream pictured above. A couple thousand dollars more to renovate for full sports engagement. A full 2012 race calendar spanning the American West. Training in the National Parks. Sleeping in the dessert, the mountains, Wal-Mart parking lots. Sponsors would be our favorite blinc of course, a tea sponsor would be nice, shoes, must have a shoe sponsor, socks, don't forget, some sort of recovery cream, Whole Foods and oooh, gas, we would definitely need gas.

Look how shiny it is! With the sponsor logos on the sides it would be even shinier, happier! What a home. Are you with me? Potential sponsors, give me a call. I run in the mid-pack and love to talk about your products! At my pace I have plenty of time to discuss intricacies as well! Dad, I will need some guidance on the interior renovation as you can see below. There is so much potential. I suppose I would need to learn how to drive a truck pulling this thing behind me. I would have to suspend plans for saving money, getting mail delivery and, and, and I can't see any other drawbacks at this point!

The crazy thing is that this very Airstream is really for sale within 5 miles of my house right now. Two weeks ago I bought Sam a shirt meant explicitly for wearing while lounging outside an imaginary Airstream I wish we had. A sign? I suppose the real sign would be someone giving me $12,000 plus a little something for renovations and a sponsor signing on to this crazy idea. Anyone game?

Thank you blinc

Sam after finishing stage 4 of TransRockies. Look how good she looks. Yes, genetics and blinc!

Dear blinc,

You complete us. We can't quit you. If you were a person we would stand outside your window with a boom box blasting Peter Gabriel. We were in love with you before and now, after our epic 6 days of TransRockies racing, the deal is sealed. Thanks for being our team mate!


We want you to know that your mascara stood up to over 20,000 feet of elevation gain, 120 miles, countless belly laughs, tears of joy, an inflatable slip and slide, 1 mile of running through a stream and lots of dirt. You were made for sport, thank you for supporting us with product, we certainly put it to the test.

Our well used tube of blinc after 5 days of camping and 97 miles of running. The background is the sea of tents and mountains of Vail, CO.

We noted lots of other competitors rocking their mascara during the race and told so many people about how we tube our lashes! Wearing our "My Mascara Runs Faster Than You" shirts always got a good reception and even superstar runner, Tracy Garneau noticed (she also is a mascara wearer, great for all those podium shots as she and her team mate Nikki Kimball won our age group!)

Sam with Tracy Garneau waiting for stage 5 to get started. Check out those eyes! Check out the legs too but we didn't get that photo!

blinc, our relationship is just getting started. I am running the Sierra Nevada Endurance Run on Saturday and although it promises to be 95 degrees, I will be wearing a gigantic smile and my blinc. Sam is running the Dick Collins Fire Trails 50 miler on October 8, in blinc for sure! Then don't get us started on all the adventures we have in mind for next season. Bring on more blinc, I hope you like long term relationships!

What a Surprise!

A shirt we saw in Vail after day 5. Us going into TransRockies? Nah!

Hey there, Dana here. I can't believe it has been so long since TransRockies and I haven't posted a thing. Sam did a great job posting the highlights which I share so I will post the surprises, at least surprises to me.

1. We were racing. Yes, I know we signed up for this thing and knew the whole time it was a race. Thing was, I thought it would be a race against the race, against the elevation, against the distance and it truly was all that. BUT! It was also a race against other teams that seemed to be nearby all the time. To put it in perspective, Sam and I had a total run time of 28 hours and 19 minutes. That put us in 6th place. 10th place was only 30 minutes back at 28:48. That means there were 5 places within 30 minutes of each other or just 5 minutes per day. To be more specific most days on the uphills the order of the racers was Sam, all our competitors, me at the bottom, the caboose. Luckily I could cruise the downhills.

2. Sam is an animal. Okay this is actually not surprising, at all. In fact, if you know her you know what an amazing athlete she is but seriously she went to the next level on this race and pushed through blisters and feet that look like she was in the civil war. We also got along insanely well, again, not a surprise that we would get a long but we did FANTASTIC. (She did ask me to marry her in a fit of happiness upon seeing our hotel room on the last day, don't worry gents, Sam is still on the market).

Goofing off post-race.

3. That was luxury. I never felt like I was roughing it at all. The food was amazing. The tents, the help, the people, the support. I can't say enough amazing things about how well organized this race was.

4. Getting back to real life is hard. I am glad to have a race coming up as I definitely need something to focus on. Getting back to working out was fine. Going to work brought me almost instantly to tears as it is about as opposite as you can go from a week running in Colorado to email,desk,work, UGH. Anyone want to pay me to have fun sporting adventures for them? Happy to do it!

TransRockies Highlights

A Bunch of Highlights (from Samantha and in no particular order and which may be subject to evolve as I continue to relive the memories and pour over the photos.)

1. Soaking in the creeks post-runs. Every run ended near water. Cold, yes. Uncomfortable, yes. But having the option to soak at the end each day was huge. Effective recovery, definitely.


2. Feeling that first nudge of competitive fire on Day 3 when we spotted our competition about 3/4 of a mile ahead towards the very end of the race and we steadily built up our pace, kept our heads down and quickly, quietly passed them with a final 400 yard surge that made us both almost want to throw up. Game on.

3. Bombing the downhill to Red Cliff on Day 4 like I've never run before - fast, confident, seeing the whole rooty, rocky terrain 10 yards ahead of me and like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix, having complete and utter clarity on my direction.


4. Arriving at the top of Hope Pass (12,500 ft) and feeling the sincere euphoria of everyone around us snapping pics and taking videos and high-fiving and turning the mental corner on the long, steep hike it took to get up there.

5. Seeing our friends - new and old - finish every day.

6. Margaritas and fish tacos and friends on the deck at Mango's at the end of Day 4.


7. Running a mile through a stream bed - from ankle deep to mid-calf - in the last 4 miles to Red Cliff. Again, stoked by our closest competitors all entering the stream at the same time, Dana and I surged ahead pep-talking each other through it as exhaustion knocked at our door.

8. Running competitively each and every day right alongside the same teams in our age group vying for top honors amongst the mid-pack. The Island Girls, Mother/Daughter, Wounded Warrior, and Yogis on the Run.

9. Sunrise on Day 6 at Vail. Spectacular. Unfortunately, I was in the med tent getting my toes taped up so no pictures. Unless you want to see my toes.

10. The 7 mile downhill bomber on Day 5 coming into Vail. A few toenails - and patches of skin - sacrificed themselves that day as we crushed 8 minute miles all the way to the end for a hard-fought top five finish.

11. The finish. Careening down the last 2 miles going sub-8 with everything we had left, passing our Michigan friends, Rob and Joe, past the Yogi Girls, down into the chute and being struck with almost dumbfounded elation that it was over. That also might have been fatigue. Euphoric fatigue. Then turning around to see all our friends finish right behind us.

12. The showers. I thought these would be cold and in short supply but every day mobile trucks with 6-7 stalls delivered hot water, room to shampoo, shave, lotion up and head back out for another day of running fresh and clean. Magnificent.

13. The views.


I loved, loved, LOVED this event.