(photo above is from Friday… read below to know why we’re a bit behind!)
Some of you know that I’m away for a couple of weeks – replenishing myself on a trip to southern Italy. Rob’s on his way back from his sister’s wedding! So…
You’ve had babysitters. Thanks to Andi, Keith, Zoe and Marcela for keeping us all going on Friday and today!!
We’re a bit late in sharing this guest blog post from one of your babysitters this past Friday- Andi Eng. Take a read here….
Not going to lie, I was more than relieved to see Keith ride up on his bike this morning at 5:45am, just as planned. I’m not ready to babysit y’all alone! We reviewed our plan: Bounce, First Timers, Workout, Post-Workout announcements. Keith wrote it down on his hand in Sharpie so that we wouldn’t forget.
6am hit, we did the bounce, we sent you on the hill. We held back to watch the gear at the bottom of the hill until we saw the speedy folx finishing their first lap.
While we waited, I thanked Keith for showing up and gave him a bit of a hard time about setting alarms. Why? Well, let’s rewind a couple of weeks…
**record scratch**
Shortly after midnight on July 10th , I headed out into the darkness on Leg 2 of the Sinister7 50 Mile race. 49kms down, 35kms to go. I called over my shoulder to my crew (made up of Keith and Cam), “I’ll see you in five hours! Five and a half, tops!”
“We’ll be there!”
The next five hours were rough. There had been a thunderstorm shortly before midnight, so the trail was wet, and puddles were unavoidable. Night running means no sunlight and heat to help things drain and dry out. My shoes and socks were soaked, creating some painful waterlogging in my feet. I could feel the trench foot starting to set in. I knew there were dry shoes and fresh socks in my TA1 Bag that was with my crew. With each painful step during the last hour on Leg 2, I knew that I was one step closer to warm, dry feet that would give me the renewal that I would need to finish the final leg.
I rolled in to TA1 at 5:33am. Bang on my estimate of five hours. The crowd cheered and I scanned for the faces of Keith and Cam and my TA1 Bag with dry shoes. And they weren’t there.
“Where’s my crew??” The small group waiting for their respective runners to come in looked back at me blankly. I checked my watch. I was not early, I was not late. They should be here. I hobbled over to the soloist tent and got some food and found a chair. I positioned myself where I would be able to see them arrive. I took off my shoes and socks and wrung them out as best I could. I let my water-logged feet start drying.
Panic started to set in at 5:45am. My feet in the condition they were in meant that I was going to need every minute of four hours to finish. And that was if I got dry shoes and socks. 10am was the cutoff for the finish. I needed to get back out on course. But how could I? Keith wasn’t there. I tried to put my wet shoes back on. NOPE! said my feet, HARD PASS. So, I sat and waited. I had myself a pity party. I made the decision that I would hand in my timing chip at 6:20am. At 6:19, Cam finally drove up, without Keith.
Pity party abruptly ended. I didn’t have time to ask questions as I donned dry shoes and socks. I was back on course at 6:26am. I had little hope of finishing before 10am, but I had to try.
I finished the race at 10:14am. 14 minutes over time. Keith was at the finish line. His alarm hadn’t gone off, so he had slept in. I was too exhausted to be very angry. I had been on my feet for over 24 hours. I had run 50 miles in the mountains. I was done.
So back to this morning. That is the other reason why I was so relieved to see Keith pull up on his bike this morning. Once bitten, twice back out of babysitting? But when you think about it, Keith – and everyone at NP – has always had my back.
Even when he slept in, he had still shown up. If it hadn’t have been for Keith and his crewing, I wouldn’t have made it through that race. I wouldn’t have the courage to toe the start line without crew like him, let alone finish 50 miles. And finishing over time was still better than not starting at all.
Just Show Up. Show up and see what you’re made of. See what you can do. Just show up and face the challenges. You’ll surprise yourself every time.
Thanks Andi!!
Announcements
- Wednesday at 5:58am- we are NOT going to be at Commonwealth Stadium. We’ll be meeting at the bottom of Royal Glenora stairs.
- If you haven’t paid attention to NP Summit stuff as yet, you may want to. It will creep up fast. Here’s the main NP page with details.
Ciao from southern Italy!
And…
~togetherisbetter
Lazina
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