Here's a link to the pictures we took. Many are blurry because I tried not to stop when I was taking a picture. They're in reverse order because I forgot to upload them in reverse for photobucket.
Anchorage and Check-In
Seth and I got into Anchorage Thursday morning. It is a beautiful yet dirty town. All that snow makes for a lot of dirty snow on the roads. But I was already in love with the place and we talked about moving here sometime. This wasn't helped any by Mark (my step-mom Angela's dad whom we would stay with Thursday night and again on Monday night) who talked about getting me a job with a local attorney he knew. I'd been sitting at my desk the last few weeks just starring at the Cascades and dreaming of being in the thick of such a place, so it wasn't hard to enjoy every moment of being in Alaska (for now).
After picking up all my gear packed in two large boxes at the Fed-Ex (I didn't trust the airline not to lose it) we headed to Mark's in downtown and I repacked my gear into my nylon duffel bag. This was an old bag of Angela's and it was on its last legs and the zipper broke on it at the last minute. Glad it did this now and not later. Seth and I headed to the REI and I got an even bigger and more sturdy duffel bag which would fit even the big down -25 degree sleeping bag that Karen Wiggins had lent me. Then we drove to the library for check-in and I repacked everything from the old bag into the new bag before heading in.
Seth was pretty impressed with all the fat bikes we saw and liked how the handle bars on most were outfitted with oversized mittens.
The gear inspection was very laid back and I passed easily. I had been worried that they would take one look at what I had and ask "do you know what you're getting into?" They had a huge scale from which they hung your bag to weigh it. My gear weight was 38 lbs - without sled and without full water bottles.
I think Seth was surprised at all the gear I actually did have. (I'd been secretly making small purchases here and there since about November.) But instead of asking "when did you get that?" or "how much did that cost?" he said, "I'm glad you have such and such, I was starting to worry."
During the briefing I sat by Janet Casal and we compared notes on gear a little more. The speaker went into a lot of detail and I took many notes, which I would end up forgetting in the car and also wouldn't end up needing - the course was well-marked. The directions on the course from the website were misleading to me and I thought there were more aid stations than there were. There are a total of four - at approximately miles 22, 44, 66 and 85. But I learned there would be warm food at each and I hadn't known that. Still I didn't leave any of the 8,000 to 10,000 calories behind in order to lighten my load.
To my best recollection I packed: 1 pack of pepperoni sticks, 1 pack of beef jerki, 25 Gus, 10 sport bean (packs of, not 10 total), 30 chips ahoy, 2 baggies of tortilla chips, 2 bags of chocolate covered pretzels, 8 clif bars (one of the few foods I didn't "freezer test" yet did freeze almost immediately - I was only able to eat 1), 3 pizza slices (only ate 1 - made me burpy), and 2 starbucks packs of espresso beans. 3,000 of those calories had to be with you still at mile 85 - I didn't eat any of the saved 3,000, still plenty, but not a lot, left from my "main" food supply.
At the briefing I also bought some souvenirs. Later the purchase of these would help me to keep going because I didn't want to come home with a bunch of crap I couldn't even show off.
FRIDAY/SATURDAY
We went to breakfast at the Snow City Cafe, a favorite of my dad's Mark told us, and then walked through town and down to Cook Inlet. We went to the Visitor's Center and got postcards and a couple items to bring home. It was easy to forget why I was here, we were having so much fun being tourists.
We spent a greater part of the afternoon before heading into Wasilla searching for a battery for my camera (forgot to pack my charger). Yet another thing that I'm glad "broke" before the race started and not after. No one had a charger for a Kodak Easyshare so I ended up taking Seth's camera and he would buy a disposable if he did any sightseeing. Seth's camera had audio recording which would come to keep me company. And provide some embarrassment upon our return home after listening to some of my ranting out on the trail!
We checked into the Alaskan View Motel at about 4:30, went to Pizza Hut (although Seth wanted to eat at a local/non-chain restaurant, I was set on pizza). When we got back I felt a sore throat coming on and downed the 2 Airborne tablets I had packed (it worked). We were in bed by 9 p.m.
I woke up at 4 a.m. Saturday, an hour before the alarm was to go off. I fiddled with my gear a little more and made a final decision about what I would wear: fleece tights (pre-washed in water proofing detergent), capilene long-underwear shirt, and my danskin top with pockets and hood, one buff headband to cover my ears, dirty-girl gaiters. My clothing worked perfectly - never got wet in the snow. I never got really cold and really had more of a problem staying cool and not sweating which I knew, and was told, NOT TO SWEAT. I was glad that at the last minute I decided not to wear my long-underwear pants under the fleece pants.
Added to this the items I wore during the next 47 hours were my down jacket and wind jacket (intermittently), ski mittens and/or knit gloves (many times I didn't wear any gloves I was so warm), waist pack (for carrying "drugs," chapstick and sunglasses), tool belt (to which sled was attached) and a large pocket attached to tool belt (meant for carrying nails I'm sure) in which I stashed my food supplies, shoes of course, hankie for blowing nose, sunglasses, goggles, and balaclava. I also had a small nylon bag that I hung off my belt into which I put my garbage and then later empty into larger nylon garbage bag in the duffel bag. I also collected into the garbage bag a few lost dog booties that were frequently scattered along the trail.
Here's a summary of other gear I carried: 3 extra pairs long pants, 3 extra tops, 10 extra socks, sleeping bag, bivy sack, therma-rest, food, 2 insulated water bottles (one homemade, one in an OR bottle holder), 1 insulated camelbak, 1/2 roll duct tape (used it all), swiss army knife, extra strips of velcro (thought I might need for strapping down gaiters), extra water bottle tops, extra carabiners, sleeping bag, small store-bought first aid pack (used all the antiseptic wipes for fixing blisters), 4 extra hats, 3 extra buffs, 1 fleece ear/head band, 5 hankies/snot rags, 1 extra pair of Montrail gore-tex shoes, 1 extra pair ski gloves, 5 pairs knit gloves, tall gore-tex gators, short neoprene gators, 3 extra pair dirty-girls (actually worked the best!), and other misc. crap I'd put into a coffee can I carried that I didn't need (bear bell, compass, whistle, ...).
START
We arrived at MacKenzie's General Store about 7:30 despite a couple wrong turns on the way. I checked-in and declared myself in the "foot" division and spent most of the time staying warm in the car.
About 15 minutes till start at 9 a.m., we got out and I hooked into my gear. It was cold and snowing so I put on my down jacket ... even though I knew I would get too hot, and I did, and would have to stop and take it off and put it in the duffel bag, and I did.
When it was time to start I hugged Seth goodbye for a long time and actually got really scared. What the hell was I doing here?
I guess you could say that I was way over-confident. Even in the car at the start I said to Seth, if I don't make the first check point by the 6 p.m. cutoff, I'm just calling it a day. It can't possibly take that long.
I started out mid- to back-of-pack, but really pushed it trying to run and keep up with those in front of me and not give those behind a chance to pass. It really didn't matter...there would have been plenty of time to spread out later, but I was in a competitive spirit. Looking back, I don't know how I ran so much during the first 22 miles. It was Janet who finally said, later, you know you're not going any faster. Walking was much more efficient, especially in the "punchy" snow. I probably only ran 30 miles total, IF THAT, during the entire run.
The snow was coming down and I think it was fairly windy - not eye-stinging windy though. I kept thinking when am I going to settle in and just run? It was a lot of fiddling with gear. Drink water, blow air back through hose, blow nose, drink, blow, blow, drink, eat, put wrapper in garbage bag, drink, blow, blow, gloves off, gloves on, drink, blow, blow, eat, garbage, blow, drink, and on and on. This didn't really change at all through the entire time, but became second nature and stopped bothering me less, and then not at all.
At some point I was running with someone and got distracted and forgot to be diligent about drinking and blowing through my bladder hose to keep the water from freezing. It didn't take long and the bladder was unusable. I knew to expect this, but thought I was smart enough not to let my bladder hose freeze. It was not a problem given that I had two water bottles. However, water was freezing at the tip of the water bottle so I'd have to be just as careful about not letting that freeze. Despite drinking frequently, it froze frequently and I'd have to take off the cap and hold it in my mouth, sometimes hoping I'd just choke on it rather than continue, until the ice melted and I could put the cap back on. This continued through the night until temperatures warmed and it wasn't an issue any more. Dethaw, drink, blow nose, drink, dethaw, eat, blow nose, gloves on, gloves off...again and again.
I remember going through a snow field filled with short, black, spindly trees and it was the most beautiful landscape even though the sun was barely coming out. Later I'd come to hate these vast landscapes and much preferred the more closed in rivers or the forested areas. There were a couple short steep downhills that were fun...if I grabbed the poles on my sled it sort of pushed me down while I skidded on my heels.
FLATHORN/MILE 22
It was 3:30 when I arrived at Flathorn - 6 1/2 hours to go 22 miles - I never would have imagined. This was my quickest pit stop and I didn't leave until 4. I thought I'd be just whizzing through the check points with all the gear I was carrying...Hah! No way, it was stupid not to warm up and stop and change socks (some of you know how I love to change my socks). At this checkpoint you left your sled below and then hiked up a steep hill to the check point. I had been itemizing in my head everything I needed to bring with me from my sled for the past few miles. This was my entertainment during the miles just before each check point..."I'm going on a camping trip and I going to bring...socks, first aid, duct tape...."
This check point was a cozy home and we were ushered into the fire-place heated living room and given jambalaya and corn bread. Best meal ever. I heard someone say "they're dropping like flies."
At the start of the run I'd made a stupid last-minute decision to put toe warmers in my shoes, and I was wearing my normal size shoes, not a size up, which resulted in some already large blisters on my toes. I was relieved to get the toe warmers out. I changed socks here. Also, using the extra pair of long-johns I wrapped my bladder hose in the pants with duct tape which was completely brilliant (or so I thought) and worked for some time after this check point.
Janet and Ron came in shortly after me. Back at my sled I decided to put on the short neoprene gaiters and put over those the tall gore-tex gaiters. It was COLD back down at the frozen lake and I started to consider frostbite was possible as I sat on my sled and put on the gaiters. My fingers were burning by the time I was ready to go. As I was doing this a sled dog team went by and I wished I was able to get the camera out to take a picture (the camera was also secured to my belt in a little insulated camera bag). It turns out about 20 to 30 teams would end up running by us. Ron, Janet and I started off together here across the lake and they let me go ahead. I got ahead a bit and was soon running with a guy named Jack and we entered the "Dismal Swamp" together.
DISMAL SWAMP to EAGLESONG/MILE 44
Before entering the swamp, I think we passed 2 people who had decided to turn around and go back. "Too windy" they said. I actually had thought we'd already crossed Dismal Swamp during the spindly tree section so was surprised when Jack said this was it. He was going faster than I, but I would catch up to him every once in a while. Dismal Swamp wasn't too bad. The cold and wind was sort of exhilirating and helped to keep me alert. The snow started to sting my eyes and when I saw Jack stop 50 feet in front of me I also stopped to put on my goggles. (Still even here I was feeling competitive and didn't want to lose any ground on those in front of me.) I kept seeing him veering off the straight line of "hard" packed snow into the deep snow which would go knee deep. I tried to yell "over here," but you couldn't hear anything because of the wind. I probably had less trouble because I was able to see where Jack was and see where not to go.
At some time I bit throught the hose on my near frozen bladder and it started to spray everywhere. I blew air back through. It worked for a while longer but then the water spray kept getting bigger until I had to just let it freeze over. That was the end of the camelbak and I buried it under my duffel bag on my sled at the next check point.
One dog musher stopped to talk to me around 11 p.m. I was alone at that point and starting to feel the first bits of sleepiness upon me. She really helped me to wake up. Her name was Liz Parrish and it turns out she is from Oregon and is training for her first Iditarod. Maybe I'll have to talk to her more about that... what d'ya say Rickie?
At some point I passed Jack and then soon after Janet caught back up to me and we entered Eaglesong checkpoint together. The checker here picked up my sled and said "yep too heavy, beginner's mistake, you won't do that again."
We spent 1 1/2 hours here. It didn't seem that long. I think Jack and at least a few more dropped here. I remember feeling tired and looking at Janet and saying "I put too much time and money into this, I can't quit" and we both shrugged our shoulders to say, yep, got to keep going. I had some chowder type soup, homemade roll and 2 cups of coffee here. At this point I really needed to do something about the blisters on my toes. I was really embarrassed to be fixing my feet in this beautiful lodge just two feet away from where others were trying to enjoy their meal. I took off the short neoprene gaiters as they were just eating up snow and holding it against my feet. I tried to make a wall with my gear around my feet so that I wouldn't offend anyone. I don't know if anyone cared.
EAGLESONG to LUCE'S/MILE 66
Janet left just a bit ahead of me as I had left my water bottles at my sled and still had to fill them up. It was 3 in the morning...the bad hours for me and I got tired and lost Janet. Neither the espresso beans nor the previous coffee seemed to help even though I hadn't had any caffeine since 2007. I tried a 5-hour energy drink that I'd brought and that actually seemed to help for a bit, too bad most of it was frozen and I only got to drink maybe a 1/4 of the small bottle.
Really I don't remember much from here. Miles 44 to 66, for 10 hours, I was asleep on my feet, delirious with sleepiness, hip & knee injuries were making a comeback and I was mentally preparing myself to drop. I rationalized that most people were quitting, that I was injured, that 100k would be good enough. I screamed and I cried. Crying led to dispair, then anger, then determination. But each cycle was too short. I've never cried so much in my adult life. I was completely out of the realm of what I had considered would be a challenge.
I yelled at and for a lot of you to please help me. Is this miserable enough for you Rob?! Tony, please pray for me! Arthur where are you? Seth please come get me! Jay why didn't I get you to come ride your bike with me?! I uttered the words "please" so many times not really knowing what I wanted...to sleep, to quit, to not ever have started?
When the sun finally started to come out (8 a.m.) it actually did help my sleepiness, but not my mood. I put on my headphones and the only thing I could get on the radio, besides John Tesh, was classic country. That made me feel a little better. Also, if anyone is wondering what happened to Cal Worthington "and his dog Spot," well, he is in Alaska, alive and well.
This was another section where you went through never ending expanses of snow field and black trees. I'd think I was entering a forest where I'd escape the wind and monotony, but all you would do was wind through some islands of trees and exit into another wide open space. At one point I saw a tent and thougth it was the water check point Rich Crain's tent. Two guys came out to greet me and said "this isn't a check point" and I said I didn't care I just needed some human contact. I actually don't know if they were with the race or not. (Rich Crain's tent isn't until 7.5 miles after Luce's.)
My right hip flexor got bad here. The nylon climbing ropes attaching me to the sled were attached around the front of my hips which (I think or thought) gave me more power to pull the sled. I finally decided to stop and adjust the carabiners on the tool belt so that they would be pulling from my lower back instead. Stopping made my feet extremely cold and this happened every time I stopped from now on. The tool belt was made of one waist band which attached to two velcroed straps on either side so that you could adjust the width of the belt. Two carabiners, which were attached to the nylon ropes on the sled, could then be moved between the velcroed layers of the belt. Amazingly, the change in the attachment location helped my hip almost immediately.
Soon after I actually did come into a forested area. A guy on a snowmobile who was with the race said I was 2-3 miles from Luce's. It took me 1 1/2 hours more to get to Luce's and I screamed at him many times "Liar! Don't tell me it's 2 miles when it's not! Liar!" It was in all likelihood a very accurate estimation of the mileage.
Sobbing when I arrived at Luce's and not able to answer any questions, the checker put me in a room (they supplied warm heated cabins for the runners here), and I just layed down and cried myself to sleep and didn't care when I woke up. I'm pretty sure they counted me out at this point. I had the forethought at least to lay all my wet gear out in front of the heater in the room.
When I woke up I didn't want to even look at my watch. I'd arrived at 1 p.m. and the cutoff for leaving was 5 p.m. (I'd questioned the checker about all the remaining cutoffs upon my arrival.) I sat on the bed for about 5 minutes trying to figure out what I would do if I had time to keep going.
I finally picked up my watch ... only 3 p.m. That set me into motion. I couldn't quit. I got my gear back, went to the bathroom/outhouse, changed and left by 3:45. Yes it took me that long to regroup. Inside Luce's restaurant I put on my extra pair of dry shoes, full foot warmers inside my shoes, and put on the neoprene gaiters again and taped them down with duct tape, then strapped everything down with yaktrax. I guess I was willing to try anything to keep my feet warm and keep the gaiters from gathering snow up against my feet. There were others in there who had decided to drop and who were eating the warm spaghetti offered here. Despite the fact that most of them had dropped, it felt like a party. The food smelled so good, but I didn't have time to eat now.
The checker helped me fill my water bottles with hot water. By now I'd learned to get the hot water and then to fill the bottles with snow as often as possible to keep my water supply. I had only 9 hours to make the next 20 miles. The checker said I looked better than before, and I said yes, but was afraid to talk for fear I'd lose my composure again.
LUCE'S to FLATHORN/MILE ~85
Not 10 minutes later I was sitting on my sled taking off the gaiters and getting those stupid foot warmers out of my shoes. Too tight, too cold. Within another half hour I was sitting on my sled again getting rid of the neoprene gaiters, and later I would change back to just the good ol' dirty girls which held tight to my shoes and let in the least amount of snow.
I was awake now and really focused. I finally realized that taking the path most traveled wasn't the fastest. It was best to find a hard packed path covered in powder. I finally had come to the point where I was running (walking that is) like I HAD TO. I'd have to move it to make the next cutoff. I never doubted that I wouldn't make Flathorn by 1 a.m., but just knew that I had to stay awake and somehow I did make it through without getting sleepy again. If only I could recreate this urgency whenever I wanted.
From the map I know I passed through the Dismal Swamp again, but it was much different and I didn't know it at the time. The weather was calm and warm. Many snow machines went by me with their riders giving me the thumbs up, asking if I was ok, are you Shawn?, how are you doing?
I can't say enough about the race organizers and the hospitality of those at the check points. They really took care of you and were up just as many hours. The snowmobilers were always nearby, especially during the second night, making sure you were okay.
After a while you break from the river and come to a few forested areas to arrive at the lake crossing to get to Flathorn again. I could see the lights across the lake that I had been willing to appear for a couple hours. It took forever to reach the lights, they just never got any closer. Sort of like going through the Snoqualmie tunnel I suppose. Across the lake the snow got punchy again and it was hard to find a hard trail; it was 20 feet wide and it all looked groomed by snowmobiles, yet a step in the wrong place put me in snow up to my knees. I kept yelling "not now, I'm so close!" I finally found the tracks of a bike that seemed to most always follow the best path. Thank you unknown cyclist!
I knocked on the door to the Flathorn cabin at 12:25 by my watch. The checker whose name was Clay seemed surprised to see me, but said he'd been rooting for me and welcomed me with a "Hey Red Lantern!" He had sent snowmobilers (Dana and Jim who I met later) to meet me. I seen them pass me, but somehow they'd missed me, maybe not expecting me to be so close to Flathorn. Clay called ahead to the finish and asked if I need to just be at Flathorn by 1 a.m. or if I needed to be out the door by 1 a.m. - the verdict was I needed to be out the door by 1 a.m.
I ate more jumbalaya, corn bread, and oranges. I changed my socks and allowd my itchy, hot, "trench" feet to dry at the fire place. When I got back down to my sled Dana and Jim were just getting back and said they were glad to see me and know I wasn't lost. I was the last one out there. I talked to Jim later at the awards ceremony and it turns out he is from Alger which is the town just outside Bow where I grew up.
FLATHORN to FINISH
The last 15-17 miles were straight. More travel through open snow fields with those little black trees. It was hard to keep my focus knowing how close I was. My feet got really cold now everytime I stopped to fill my water bottles with snow. When I had to go to the bathroom I tried to balance on my sled so my feet wouldn't have to touch the ground (unsuccessful). The ground was rolling here from snowmobile traffic and my sled poles kept bumping into my calves. I'd made the nylon ropes running throught the pvc pipes to be longer than the pipes so I could get into my sled without having to unhook myself from the sled. However this meant that the pvc pipes also knocked into my calves whenever there was any slack (like on a downhill) in the nylons.
About half way some snowmobilers with the race stopped. One of them, John, walked with me for a while and told me his GPS said I had 8 miles to go. Soon after John left I sat down on my sled to change my socks again; 15 minutes later I started to get tired and my feet really cold again so I sat on my sled for about 5 minutes letting myself doze.
I knew I was getting close because I was starting to see city lights, but it was impossible to know how far away they were. There were some longer downhills and on one I did hop on my sled and ride down - whee!
When I finally got to the main road that takes you to the General Store I felt relief and tried to enjoy my last moments out there. But this stretch was still much longer than I remembered. When I came to the finish line I sat at a picnic table and then Seth appeared and hugged me and I cried again. He unhooked me from my sled which was sort of sad, to let the sled go. John the snowmobiler was there and said we could come into the cabin to warm up where I had more soup. It was a quarter to eight in the morning.
To my best estimation I spent 6 1/2 hours not making forward progress (not counting the short stops at my sled out on the trail). This made my total travel time 40.25 hours. So my traveling speed was 2 1/2 mph. Pretty slow. I've often wondered how it is possible to take an entire 48 hours to complete a race and now I know.
On the drive back to the motel we saw about 7 moose eating alongside the road. The only wildlife I'd seen the entire time. (We also saw one later walking down the sidewalk in downtown Anchorage and drove around the block a couple time trying to get a good picture.)
At the awards ceremony they said it was the worst conditions in 15 years. It wasn't any worse than I expected of Alaska weather, but it sure slowed me down more than I expected. I was actually sitting next to women's foot winner Laura McDonough and afterwards she talked to for a bit, she was extremely nice and soft-spoken. She finished in 34 hours. Ed Bennet the 3rd place men's foot finisher came over to congratulate me too and that felt really nice. We saw the guys from Flathorn, Clay, Dana and Jim. Janet had flown home that day so I didn't get to see her again; she'd finished 2 1/2 hours ahead of me - great job Janet! I can't imagine what the bicyclists went through; I can't imagine pushing a bike through so much unridable land.
Mark took us out for yet another meal. Well, this time it was a well-deserved beer and a huge piece of chocolate cake and ice cream. I had trouble finishing it. "Aw, c'mon, it's all mental, you can do it," Mark said.
I'm recovering fine. My fingers were so cracked and dry afterwards that Seth had to squeeze my toothpaste for me to brush my teeth. My feet are normal in the morning, but fat again by the end of the day at work. Some numbness in my toes, and a lost big toenail, but I don't think anything permanent. My face has finally stopped peeling from being so dry. In summary, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. On the plane ride home we hit some turbulance and I wasn't afraid; I guess that says something, whatever that may be. The End.
