Quickie

Just a quick recap while I sit at the airport.

Talk about highs and lows. Luckily, there were more highs than lows and the race will stick with me for a while.

Both Aaron and I trained hard specifically for this race and we were both in incredibly fit. But with such a unique and challenging race format, we knew that we would have to face some demons. It was inevitable.
It seem like Aaron faced them for both of us. He suffered some severe cramping on stage 1 and we had a long walk home as he struggled to breath. Funnily enough, it gave us a chance to get to know each other a bit better. I knew that he was suffering and was digging deep just to finish, I actually admired that a lot.
what I admired even more was his ability to dust that off and toe the line the next day. I knew that he was a bit embarrassed and worried with how his body reacted, but after about 20 minutes of running on stage 2, as we filed in behind the leaders up Hope Pass and he said I feel good, I was stoked to have him back. We both resolved to fight as hard as we could and to salvage a positive experience from the event.
We went up and over the pass and as we chased our fellow "Crazy Canucks" down the back side, Aaron decided to kiss a rock at full speed. As I pulled him up off the ground, he dusted himself off, his face covered in blood and with chipped teeth and simply said "Let's run".

He took off like a wild man down the hill, with me hanging on for dear life. We somehow got the ultimate redemption, as we somehow managed to pull off a stage win, passing Team Salomon Canada about a mile from the finish line, putting 2 Canadian teams on the podium.



Stage 3 was long, but flattish. Once again, Aaron and I had a tonne off fun rolling along the single track. It was quite amazing how evenly matched we were although we had never run together before. We were able to pass team Rogue Valley Runners around half way and hold on for second. Whittling away some time from the leading teams.

Stage 4 turned into a gun fight. 3 teams, Run Flagstaff (the class runners of the field), Rogue Valley Runners and us all hit the water at the same time, with 2 miles to go and it became a full on drag race. Team Flag rolled away from us, but Rogue Valley and us traded punches for a while, before we finally rolled away from them, claiming another second and stealing more time from the teams ahead of us.

Stage 5 was nothing but pain. It was cold and were all sore with lots of miles still to run. It finished with 9.5 miles of downhill and I felt pain in almost every step.
Once again, Aaron and I were able to pull out a second place finish.

Stage 6-the final day-we were all barely holding together after 5 days of racing and I knew that there could be some carnage. I asked Aaron how he was feeling and he said, not too bad, all things considering, so I made the decision to press a bit. We gambled and luckily, the gamble paid off and we were able to pull off a stage win.


We managed to claw our way back onto the overall podium, finishing 3rd overall.

I would recommend this event to anyone who is considering it. It is an incredible physical and mental challenge for everyone. The race organizers put on a world class event, which seems seamless. The courses are tough and varied in spectacular venues. The food is good and the camraderie of so many people suffering and living together for a week makes for a unique experience. They also schwag you out, which is cool!

It was great to get to hang out and run with Aaron and all the other runners that we shared the trails and experience with. Happy trails.