Week in Review (September 9 - September 15)

Tuesday (14,792 steps) - Woke up a few minutes before my alarm. Took a shower and did the last minute packing before taking Olive for a walk. Ben and I stopped to get gas and Dutch Bros before he dropped me off at the train station by his work - saved me the hassle of leaving my car at work and having to walk all the way to Union Station! It was still a struggle dragging Big Red to baggage drop, however. Both my bags got flagged by TSA - various items set it off - face wipes, instant potatoes and the Kogalla strip/battery. It’s always something! Had lots of time to kill before my flight, got my steps in and sat outside on the deck for a bit. I ended up having a middle seat for the first flight, which thankfully wasn’t terrible. For the first time I connected to an airline TV with wireless buds and watched the movie “Friendship.” With just under an hour left of the flight I pulled out my iPad and watched an episode of Gossip Girl. Deplaning went REALLY fast and this was one of the only flights I have ever been on where people didn’t stand in the aisle the second we landed. I had to go through customs and then wait for my checked bag. The connecting flight baggage drop was closed so I had to lug Big Red around to re-check it. What a hassle. I got flagged again through security, this time it was all the battery banks. 

I had hours for my next flight, so I got a sandwich, which wasn’t that expensive and then sat and read my book. The next flight was on a teeny tiny plane and was only about a half hour long, which gave me enough time for another Gossip Girl. Found my bag pretty quickly, picked up a beer, and then walked to meet Paul and CJ. 

This is so awkward and my bags are SO HEAVY

We took our first Uber to southern Calgary so CJ could go to Best Buy and we also got dinner at a Burrito place. 

We took a second Uber to get to the house where we were picking up our Turo for the week. Thankfully, CJ drove to Castle Mountain where we were staying as we did not get there until after 11 pm!! The resort is very “in the middle of nowhere” and our keys were left out for us to check in. I have never stayed at a hostel and I was relieved to find out I didn’t have a roommate. The room was VERY warm and stuffy so I opened the windows even though it was raining.

Wednesday (11,990 steps) - Did not feel incredibly rested, but I was glad to have gotten some sleep. I took a shower, went for a walk and then went upstairs to join CJ and Paul for some coffee. 

We made plans to head out at 11:30 to get some food and groceries, so I decided to go for a longer walk. Since we are basically staying AT the start/finish, I was very easily able to locate the course route and walked the first mile of the course - thankfully it is pretty non-technical and flat, I should be able to get at least a little running in before all the climbing and hard stuff. 

We headed out to go Crownest Pass for lunch. We stopped at pretty much the only restaurant in town, where I got a beer and a burger.  Delicious! 

Then we went to the grocery store and for a little place I was surprised at what they had available. Most notably, APPLE BUBLY. I haven’t seen this flavor in probably three years and was very excited to pick up a 12 pack. 

Headed back to the hostel and I went for another walk just to get my steps in. 

Tried to organize my stuff and get my drop bags set up. Then I decided I wanted to switch mattresses with the top bunk, which, turns out, was NOT as easy to do as it sounds. I'm really glad I did this, however, as the top bunk mattress was nowhere NEAR as lumpy as the bottom bunk.

I had brought a can of ravioli with me and had that for dinner in the common area. Watched Gossip Girl before bed. 

Thursday (12,776 steps) - Once again I was up earlier than I expected I would be. Took a shower and did the usual routine of heading upstairs for coffee. Paul was up there as well - I asked if he would be interested in a run or walk. He said no to the run and that he would likely want to do a walk later. We made the same plans to head out around 11:30. Since it was still so early I went for a longer walk - didn't want to put it off until later just in case things got wild.

Glad I went out for a walk, the weather was so nice! We decided to go to Pincher Creek for food and some shopping. I was really happy that Paul and CJ picked the local sushi spot. This was priced very well and SO GOOD. I ate 100% of what was on my plate. 

Headed into the "downtown" area so that CJ could check out the outdoor shop. He decided he was going to pace Paul but didn't have a pack. Or shoes. Unfortunately, we discovered that the store was just an outlet and the main location was too far away for us to get to. We also went to the Co-op to get some last minute groceries. By the time we got back to Castle Mountain, it was already mid afternoon. Ana had finally arrived and she had been put in my room - thankfully I had taken the time to clean everything up! We went to packet pick-up right at 4 - along with almost everyone else. They had pre-printed stickers for our drop bags, which was nice - I have never seen another race do this! We also had to wait in line to get our Garmin InReach - unfortunately none of the units were charged, so we were going to have to do this overnight. Kind of annoying since we needed a USB-A plug and the only one I have is for my watch... not to mention the thing took FOREVER to charge. Headed to the merchandise section and I bought a hoodie, sticker and blanket. Chatted with friends and then sat down for the pre-race dinner, which was a little too late, in my opinion. Food was delicious!

We had to wait until 7 pm for the pre-race speech. AND GOOD LORD IT TOOK OVER AN HOUR??! They went through the course section by section, for example. It was hard to hear with so many people in the room and we weren't at a close table. I actually finally got up at 8 and left - I had wanted to be winding down and in bed at this time! Of course, one of the things we learned at the meeting was that there was a more substantial change in and out of Coleman Polish Hall. Initially, I decided it wasn't going to be that big of a deal since it was going to be well-marked. Ana went to sleep right when she got back around 8:20. I watched an episode of Gossip Girl and then tried to sleep. Not having all the current gpx was going to keep me up so I tried to mess with it and couldn't get it to work. After sleeping well all week, I tossed and turned and it took a while to doze off. 

Friday (80,461 steps) - Divide 200

Saturday (114,852 steps) - Divide 200

Sunday (15,013 steps) - When I got back to the aid station I sat around for a bit deciding what to do. Finally I figured I would try to go back to sleep for a bit. Ended up dozing off again for a few hours. By this time, it was morning. Throughout the day, I hung out at the aid station. Don't recall much of the timeline, but I know I frequently napped and spent some time around the fire pit with volunteers. I walked over to the Rum Runner for lunch and got a personal pizza and beer. Then later in the afternoon I took another walk and went to the liquor store and picked up a 4 pack - probably one of the best tasting beers I have had when traveling!

Ben also surprised us all with a pizza delivery from a neighboring town! So delicious.

Took another nap and only eventually gave up my cot because there were more runners coming in/out. 

Monday (10,021 steps) - Finally, at some point, CJ brought in my bag. Thankfully I could now wear my crocs!! 

I finally saw Paul and Andrea, they both looked great. Ana finally came in around 9 am, maybe 9:30. She was definitely in rough shape. She was overall pretty upset about the cutoffs. I walked her out of the aid station - was really hoping she would get it together and finish. I then had to re-pack all my stuff and figure out how I was gonna get out of the aid station and back to Castle Mountain. I had thought that I would hitch a ride with CJ, but he was sleeping in Andrea's crew vehicle. I finally asked Lance, one of the volunteers, if he could give me a ride back, and he said he would.

Got back to the hostel and booked a room for the night. Got a different room this time:

Tried to go through all my stuff but I still had plenty of time, so I didn't rush any of it. I was able to get some food from the aid station. What I really wanted was a beer, but they weren't selling any and I was stuck at the hostel.

Unfortunately, around 3 or 4, I heard that Ana had DNF'd. She also got a ride back from Lance. Not really remembering how the rest of the day was spent, but I know that I ate more aid station food than I would have liked (but at least it was free) and watched more Gossip Girl. We also made plans to drive CJ to the last aid station so that he could pace Paul to the finish. I managed to fall asleep pretty quickly - must have just been sheer exhaustion by this point. 

Stats:

• 259,905 steps
• 90.15 miles run
• 10.02 miles walked
• 0 minutes of cardio
• 0 minutes of strength