Over the course of 22 miles I can not tell you how many times I said to myself "Just do it." Having just read my wife's post on the ever so popular Nike slogan. The power of positive thinking can definitely help us to overcome what some may deem impossible.
Friday morning we left the Budweiser plant to begin our 29 hour 195 mile journey. At left is the starting line of the Wild West relay. I was the first runner in the second van which meant that I had to be up at five o'clock in the morning to register with the rest of the team, but would not run until 1:20 in the afternoon. Good thing I am an early riser :)
The course meandered through tons of beautiful scenery including: Roosevelt National Forest, Red Feather Lakes and Wind River range to name a few. This picture was taken at the top of the summit in Roosevelt National Forest midday on Friday. I would not run my second leg for several hours following this picture. Anticipated start time 11:45pm! Remember I said I was an early riser!?!
With several hours to spare between our last legs and the up coming ones we headed for our hotel room in Walden. Some Veterans of the Wild West Relay said that a hotel room was a little piece of Heaven one that we took their sound advice on. It was nice to relax, eat and shower outside of our already stale smelling van (6 sweating men, shoes, socks and all!).
11:00pm- Found us packing the van to head out to our checkpoint where we would pick up to run our team through the night. Our anticipated connecting point was slightly off. We arrived at the checkpoint only to find out that our teammates came through at 11:22pm! Our team captain made the call deciding that I should take off on my leg and that we would take the time penalty for missing our transition. I willingly agreed feeling bummed that we missed them and started out on my second leg 8.8 miles with a 2000 feet vertical ascent. Six miles into it, my van pulled up beside me to inform me that one of the other runners from van 1 had already ran my leg, and that I should take it easy and get back in the van. No biggie we all make mistakes so I got in knowing that I had just ran six miles that I did not need to run.
I took the opportunity to rest in the back of the van knowing that I would have to pick up one additional leg. My second leg would leave from Walden High School around 5:30am 6.5 miles to just outside Walden on HWY 125. This being my easiest leg of the course with an overall elevation change of 67 feet. The third leg would take us from the bottom of Rabbit ears pass to the top over 800+ vertical feet having already ran 16 miles. Trying? Yes, in fact very much so. Impossible? NO WAY! Here's the picture to prove it. 5.6 miles 800+ vertical feet in 49 mins! Pretty proud of that one :)
Happy trails for now,
Josh