Hardrock 100 2009 Sherman to Grouse Gulch

Mile 28.7 to mile 42.1
Arrived 9:08 pm
5:30 from Sherman, 20 minutes in the aid station (:46 total in aid stations)

-John Sharp pulled ahead of me
-Jody caught up to me, we walked into Burrows together
-saw Karen again, at Burrows, she asked if there was anything she could get for me and I said ‘heroine’ (jokingly) and she said ‘here I am!’ it took a few seconds to click but then I agreed with her. She filled my bottles for me while we conversed

-Jody followed me up Handies, I thought she would pass me but she seemed content to let me pull, which I did as well as I could.
-When we got to the point where the lower group had done some trail work in 2005, I pointed it out to Jody.
-it took forever to get to tree line
-we caught up to John again, Jody was stretching and John asked her what she was stretching (I forgot what she said) and he started showing her some stretches, I kept climbing…eventually they caught up at the higher stream crossing
-Bur caught up to me just past the trail work we had done in 2005 (he mentioned it not a minute after I had pointed it out to Jody)
-Olga caught us; I jokingly asked where the bungie cord was that she could use to pull me up the hill and she said ‘Fuck You’ and went on ahead. She did stop to take a photo of me just before she turned on the afterburners and flew up to the summit
-I managed to summit just ahead of Bur and Jody, perhaps by 2 or 3 minutes
-After the summit I cruised down the trail, the steep part down to the saddle, then through the switchbacks through the tundra then to the rock field and then to Sloan Lake and when I looked back, I saw nobody there

-I looked back while climbing Grouse-American pass and saw what looked like Jody’s jacket still high up on the trail…
-caught up to Frank Banton climbing Grouse-American pass and we actually made it to Grouse Gulch Aid Station without turning our lights on (though it was a little dicey going down those last few switchbacks)
-I arrived at Grouse to find Chip Tuthill, ready to pace me. What a surprise (he later told me that he had paced Dobies in this direction 2 years ago and Dobies dropped him on the climb up Engineer…there was no danger of me doing that to him this day…)
-Naresh was also there to help, and he actually untied my shoes and pulled them off for me while I was eating so I could reapply Desitin, change socks and put my shoes back on after I ate – the guy is so dedicated, friendly and helpful I couldn’t believe it. I thanked him profusely. He stayed after I left to continue crewing for John Sharp. I also saw Jim Sweat, who jumped in to help by getting some food while I was taking care of my feet and repacking my calories.
-I was telling those around me about Jody and that I hoped she would be in soon. I saw a green light coming down the switchbacks and thought it was her. I never did see her before I left.

Once again, I'm certain that I spent way too much time here,