Mile 72.6 to mile 81.9
Arrived 4:52 pm
4:50 from Telluride, 28 minutes in the aid station (ouch!) (3:24 total in aid stations)I couldn't believe I actually saw Bur and Bob at the aid station!
Linda VanTilborg was there, and as always was most helpful. She applied duct tape to my right heel (the left one seemed alright) I relubed my feet (particularly at the base of the toes, where it was getting wrinkly) with Desitin. I thanked Chip for pacing as long as he did and thanked his wife for letting him 'out to play in the mountains' She smiled, probably knowing there would be no way to keep him from the mountains, especially since they had moved to Colorado!
As I left the aid station, I crossed the open baseball fields on the way to the trail and BOOM! -Lightning struck rather close to Telluride. I stopped under the cover of some trees to wait a bit before continuing. I watched some clouds forming and I swear it looked like they had little tendrils wisping and curling, even intertwining with adjacent clouds like they were holding hands and performing some sort of ritual; ready to unleash some sort of evil on us unwary travellers. After a few minutes, when it seemed to have died down a bit, I continued up the jeep road that is the Bear Creek trail (Bear seems like a recurring theme in these mountains...)
I encountered several tourists, some seemed like they didn't care much about the weather; some asked about the race. I tried to describe it but was reluctant to use the word ‘run’ as not many of us 'back of the pack' folks were actually running much at that point (especially me.)
I caught up to Roger Ackerman, who was looking rather rough. I wished him well and told him that I knew he could do it, especially since he not only finished last year, he finished before me!
There was an orange plastic barricade fence that said "Closed - Do Not Enter" right at the turn off the main jeep road onto the Wasatch Trail, which had course marking before and after it. It was nice that they had the trail 'closed' for the race - two years ago, we had to dodge a woman riding her mountain bike down this trail!
Shortly after turning on to the Wasatch trail, I caught up to Pat Homelvig and Karen Pate. I stayed with them for a while, we were talking and trying to motivate each other, then I pulled ahead. I told them they were doing great. I crossed the bridge at the mine ruins and looked back; as I ascended, they seemed to be farther and farther behind; I was hoping that this was because I was climbing well and not because they were slowing down! (Pat did finish, happily)
I saw people ahead and above me in the distance, so I made it my goal to get closer and closer, hoping I would eventually catch them.
After another stream crossing, there was another orange barricade fence, just like the other one below, "Closed - Do Not Enter", only this one didn't have any coure marking flags. I went around it since it was the only place to go...I did get a little confused, however, after climbing a few switchbacks without seeing markers. The runner and pacer I just passed caught up and I shrugged my shoulders, after the next switchback or two, though, I found the next marker. I yelled “I’m On” knowing that they could probably neither see nor hear me, but hoping they continued on the right course.
After having done this course in both directions, every year when you go in the other direction, the climbs seemed to take a disproportionately longer amount of time that the descents on the same sections; especially the climbs later in the race compared to the descents earlier in the race... I found this to be especially true along this section.
The storm, which could have been part of the same system in Telluride or possibly a new one, seemed to blow away while on the ascent up the canyon but higher up it built again, rumbling in the next valley over from us…I hoped that it would stay there!
As I got to the meadow just below the last climb to Wasatch Saddle, I saw a group up ahead; actually two groups, two runners and their pacers climbing and another runner and his pacer closer to me but stationary, not following the higher group as it looked like they had been up until then. I stopped to see what was going on and it was Rich Hafele (one bib number after me) He said that he was going to drop, and that it will be his first ever DNF. I told him not to say those letters or talk like that; I've had people tell me that in the past and it really wiped me out. I continued on, wishing him well and hoping he would recover between here and Chapman and change his mind before it was too late…
I kept pushing up the hill, finally making it to Wasatch Saddle, and much to my suprise saw the group that was ahead of me was just making it over Oscar's Pass! I pushed as hard as I could, through the snow and rocky traverse. By the time I arrived at Oscar's, I saw Mike Bur and Bob Combs with their pacers only one or two switchbacks below me. Two years ago my feet were hamburger here and I had to tiptoe down (in fact, John DeWalt passed me on this downhill, but John is an excellent downhill runner.) This year, knowing what I was up against, I made sure to fix my feet at Telluride, and it was a good investment in my time at the Aid Station. I couldn't seem to make up any ground on Mike, but it seemed like I was getting closer to Bob. Just before we reached treeline, I caught up to Bob and his pacer, who was going to drop him off at Chapman and get a ride back to Telluride to meet her friends. I figured that I could hang with Bob, so I told her that wouldn't be a problem. It seemed like there were more switchbacks than I remembered from past years, but I finally arrived at the green gate toward the bottom of blixt road. It also seemed like a lot longer from there to Ophir pass road, but eventually I was on the road, with other crews cheering. After a quarter mile or so down the road, there was a bunch of vehicles, with everyone cheering me on and directing me on to the trail on the left. Bob and his pacer and I walked and shuffled into Chapman. I saw Joyce Prusaitis and Barb Hitzfeld here, waiting for Joe (George was pacing Joe from Telluride) and asked how he was doing; they smiled but something seemed like they weren't as optimistic about Joe this year as I had seen them in past years. I couldn't remember how far it was down the trail/jeep road to the aid station; last year they had moved the aid station up to the road where we had just passed all of the vehicles. Finally, there was the big white tent and Chapman Aid Station. I checked in and grabbed my drop bag.