Although we knew it would be a fun weekend, going to the NP Summit and race in Wisconsin was not something that either of us thought we would do initially. It certainly would not have happened without the support of NP folks in at least three tribes/cities. Deniz was just coming off of an Ironman (!!!) and an intensive summer of racing, plus a trip home to Turkey just before the race. Morgan had really enjoyed doing the Endurance Challenge in New York, but had taken all his vacation days to coach baseball and was unclear what “cheese curds” were (thankfully, not anymore!) In order to make it happen, we were going to need some help from the tribe. As we were only beginning to appreciate at the time, the tribe helps. The tribe helped both of us get into a position to even think about running. Before we started November Project neither of us had raced more than 6 miles on foot in one day, much less twice in one day, but that is another story. For Wisconsin, Lindsay Smith started shaking the trees and applying ample doses of peer pressure to get us to do it earlier in the summer. Once he had four people lined up (Smooth, Deniz, Morgan, L.Smith) the topic turned to how we could make this work for everyone’s budget and timeframe. We thought about running as a four-person team, but if we were going to go all the way out to Wisconsin, we felt we should probably do it 2 by 2. Driving was an option budget wise, but none of us could take that much time off of work, and running straight out of a cross-country drive didn’t seem like a good idea. Lindsay reached out to NP-MKE and NP-MSN (and potentially anyone named Jennifer in Wisconsin, though that is still TBD) and as tribespeople do, Jen Z. (MKE) and Jen T. (MSN) both stepped up to the plate.
Even though most of the tribe arrived in Wisconsin before Friday, the four of us could not get time off from work and were scheduled to leave Boston Friday afternoon. Lindsay and Deniz worked to the last minute west of the city and warmed up for the race the next day as they ran into the terminal minutes before the check-in counter closed. These were potentially the fastest splits of the weekend, though accounts differ.
Once inside the airport we noticed a few other stranglers from the tribe, Harry and Drew, who were traveling NP incognito in fluorescent day-glow lime shirts spray-painted with Frogman “1” and “2”. Due to the Southwest boarding methods, we all got to split up and spend the journey recruiting new members. Morgan ended up with two doughnuts and advice to save for retirement early, but unfortunately no verbal. We decided we liked Wisconsin when the first thing we saw was a ping-pong table… Sorry Jen, we did not know you were already waiting. Then we met our lovely host Jen Zaidel, who not only volunteered to house 4 strange dudes for a weekend, she also volunteered to collect us from the airport and show us the sites in Milwaukee. Since we had all skipped lunch to leave work a little early, we each had two rounds of dinner and then headed out on the renowned Lakefront Brewery tour (which, if one finds oneself in Milwaukee, must be the best deal going for a night out). It may not have been the most advisable pre-race night activity, but it was a blast to be traveling and racing with folks who were just as engaged in the experience of the trip as the results of the race, and we are all very appreciative to Jen and Brian for sacrificing their Friday nights to entertain some out-of-towners. As a point of emphasis for how awesome Jen and Brian were, they were in the midst of remodeling their new home and STILL agreed to house us! Wonderful hosts!
Let’s get to the race. Jen and Brian again went above and beyond and took both of their cars to the race site to help us all fit comfortably/legally. Despite the surprising (to us) and unseasonably cold weather it was awesome to show up at Kettle Moraine Park and see all the tribes in full effect. In contrast with the NFEC in New York, when we had shown up to a fairly subdued start/finish area, this one was bumpin’. People from across the country all emblazoned with the NP trademarks, smiles and spray-paint. Even people we had never seen before seemed familiar. It was an impressive statement of the shared community that the co-leaders have created. Without getting too caught up in the excitement and the spray paint fume inhalation, we were well aware that it was going to be a very competitive race. Between our two teams, our main goal was to secure at least one position for Boston on the podium and ideally two. The race started very hot with NP-SFO leading NP-CHI and Smooth ahead of Morgan into the woods. A few miles in and the front three had opened up a bit of a gap on Morgan. They were visible on straightaways but disappeared around corners. The goal was to keep all the leaders in sight on round one and see how the second legs played out. Somewhere out on the back of the lollipop loop Morgan came into a straightaway and after a junction and didn’t see the leaders. Panicking that he had been lulled to sleep in the woods, he put his foot back on the gas to catch up, but still, they weren’t around the next bend. While running past Ryan from Dooster, Morgan asked how far ahead the other teams were, only to get a surprised look and word that he was in first place. His heart sank with the realization that they must have taken a wrong turn, but he had no idea how long they had gone the wrong way for, but it was certainly going to be a different race than it had been a few miles before. Suddenly rather than working our way up the podium group over the long race, we were out front by a few minutes after one leg.
Without those other three teams,it was difficult to gauge whether or not we were racing at the necessary pace. There was a big lead again at the second exchange, but Morgan cramped badly on his second leg and had to stop twice to stretch, and still there was no one in sight when he handed off to Deniz for the final leg.
Due to the nature of the course, those going out could see who was coming in for the first 1.8 miles of the race, however with some teams coming in on their second exchange as well, Deniz glanced past the actual second place team and thought he had a greater lead than he did.
It was a heartbreaking moment for me. I was not aware that NP-MSP team was running only seconds behind me with one of the best performances of the day at 6:08 min/mile average pace. I thought NP-LAX was in second place, and I saw Angelo coming in, roughly 2 minutes behind as I started the last leg. Also I was wrongfully thinking that Orrin would not have much game since he just ran a 3 hour marathon a week ago. In fact he was running blazingly fast and closing in too. Without having a serious competition, I was keeping a comfortable pace and slowly getting excited for winning the race as I got closer to the finish line. My excitement suddenly disappeared as somebody flew by me. I was still recovering from my Ironman race 3 weeks ago, so I did not have much faith in myself to fight back. But, then the best thing that has ever happened to me in a race, happened. My competitor, Ian, who just passed me had faith in me! He said: “Don’t give up, I have faith in you”. The following 4 pictures were taken right after Ian passed, and describe how I was feeling at that moment. I believe it was about 2 miles to the finish, and those were the hardest miles I have ever run.
At this time at the finish a number of folks were talking about the race that we expected was unfolding in the hills above the start/finish area. Unlike Deniz, we knew Ian was in second place with fresh legs and that Minneapolis would likely be reeling in a fatiguing Deniz, we just didn’t know if they would have enough real estate. Paul Leak of NP NYC, and a seasoned racer, was pacing about in his walking boot anticipating a throwdown coming down the home stretch, between Ian and Deniz. He said, with absolutely zero hyperbole, that it was a race between “The two nicest people on the planet”. As Deniz’s story relates, this is a fact. Ian’s encouragement of his competitor in the woods was a game changer, even though we all know Deniz can pull those crazy eyes out of the bag to finish a race when needed.
Somehow, I managed to keep up with him until the end of the race. I was still not sure if I could pull a passing attempt when I saw Morgan who was jogging out to cheer for me a little before the finish. Seeing him gave me what I needed to execute the attempt to take the lead back. From that point on, I shut down all my sensors, locked my eyes on the finish line, and just kept running. Fortunately, I managed to cross the line a second before Ian. The splits from my watch show the fierceness of the race. Our average pace was 5:26 min/mile at mile 6, and 4:27 min/mile in the last 0.3 miles. After the race, the first thing we did was to hug it out. Then, we went for a beer before the podium ceremony.
After the race Jen and Brian drove us the rest of the way to Madison and dropped us off with our next host, Jen Taylor of MSN. We laid out air mattresses all over her apartment and then headed to the Union terrace to join with the rest of NP nation to recount the day and enjoy the evening. We are honored to be part of the November Project podium sweep at thisNorth Face Endurance Challenge series race and more importantly, to spend time with members from all tribes of November Project. Overall our weekend was a blast with Wisconsin food , beer and hospitality. It was a great chance to see our friends from other tribes, and make new friends (or meet with those we are already connected to on social media). A huge thank you to our hosts for the weekend, the Jens of Wisconsin, our teammates for the weekend, L. Smith and Smooth, all the NP folks who made the trek to the upper Midwest, and of course Bojan and Brogan. Glad we were there!
