Let's try to introduce the reader with a set of adjectives that could resume at best my last adventure:
- Extreme
- Dirty... very dirty
- Unhealthy
- Unhygienic
- Freezing
- Amazing
- Exhausting
- Messed up
4am.... I am preparing my bag, ( did not sleep the whole night damn huge burrito ), lady K does not want to wake up and I cant find my race bib number... the day starts well.
5am ... breakfast at the restaurant in front of the race start. I look around me and we are (J and I) the only first timers... all the people around seem to be experienced trail runners... at least looking from their outfits and the amount of small details they have thought about.
6.30am .... 8200feet of altitude, race starts with a shy Sun on the horizon and a temperature in the low 50s. I look at Johnny and with my usual attitude I force him to come in the front and start close to the super fast guys.
First 1.5 mile... I am running so fast, the trail is narrow and fun, i am following the first 2 guys, the pace is insane but I am just happy to be part of this... J is way back already...
2rnd mile... I am HELLA tired, cant breath anymore, few uphills are showing up, Johnny is catching me and my running style loses any resemblance of my old times.
3rd mile...All of a sudden I do not see the 2 guys in front of me, I do not see the right trail to take, there are choices in front of me and no colored flags to show the way, J and other 2 guys are behind me and they stop with me to figure it out. We all take one of the trails and we start climbing...
3.1th mile, the climb is terrible.. can't breath, I am struggling behind J ( we are holding 3rd and 4th position in the race )... BOOM.. I feel like I cant run anymore... I say " J... I AM WALKING... SEE YOU AT THE END". I feel sick all of a sudden, the 2 guys behind me pass me and I am walking uphill like I have been running for 100miles... stomach is sick... and yes I am puking on the side of the trail.
3.2th to 6th mile... the climbing is insane, I walk/run/walk/run the 2 guys in front of me in sight, J still runs like a dear... damn it.
6.1th mile I look at my watch and I am at 11000 feet. I am on the top of the climb. One guy in front of me leaves the race ( I will understand only at the end why! ).
The trail starts going down... it feels a little weird though... I was supposed to be on top of this hill after 11 miles... BOH! I am so happy I am going downhill... breathing wise I am suffering like there is no tomorrow. Going down I can see Johnny the goat running fast like the wind... but I am fresh now... I realize that even though I climbed so much... I walked for most of the uphill and I am not so dead after all.
Down like hurricane... I want to reach J.
8th mile... I feel my intestine cramping... uff... I can't take this anymore... need to stop to a bathroom.. OOPS there are no bathrooms here... just dust, rocks and snow......... few switchbacks downhill and the pain is unbearable need to lose the package....... YES I am doing it in the middle of the mountain :-P.
Lost about 1 minute but feel so much lighter and luckily some small dead leaves came very handy :-PPPP
Going down, the race is becoming super fun... oh noooooo now what the heck... I am lost again... I was so concentrated to go crazy down hill.... now I have few choices again.. and sign of a colored flag.... fine taking the bike trail in front of me...
9th mile... now I am getting depressed... I feel lost... nobody around me... I am running at exhaustion pace but I do not see anymore flags... I am out of the official track... damn it...
9.5mile... intestine complaining again... you know what... whatever ... lost for lost I will take another pit stop. This time no dead leaves around...damn... I am in the craziest/dirtiest/toughest position anyone can imagine and the Pine tree around are not the best for "what I need". Ok.... need to sacrifice my gray t-shirt ( Venezuela Half Ironman memory... uff ).
Clean... not really, but definetely lighter and painless I am running downhill and decide to take a different path that seems more for runners than bikers.
NICE, I see an orange flag, I am back on track.
10th mile... HOLY CR*P.... I see the end.... this is impossible... the race should be 15 miles long.... damnnn this can only mean one thing... I messed up the whole race by cutting some trails turns .... uff.
I am running toward the end and I see a small group of people setting up the festivities for the arrival ... and I see Johnny waiting.... GOOD LORD... he got lost as well ... at least I am not the only one.
Final result: J ran 9 miles, I ran 10.5 miles instead of 15... Both of us Disqualified, pissed, not as tired as we expected to be....
Fine.... good experience... a lot to learn... a lot to forget ;-)...
Thanks Kimmy to be supportive
V.
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