I think I finally understand the addiction. Non-runners like to ask "why running?" Hell, even runners ask why. Why do we do it? What is it about running that makes us crazy? That creates a bond between perfect strangers and a sense of community? Why we LOVE to write about our experiences? Why we love to read other's experiences? You don't see yogis or tennis players or cyclists putting out race reports or blogs nearly as much as runners .. (or maybe they do and I just don't know it). It's because it's hard. There's nothing else that creates the "I want to die but I'm gonna go one more mile" feeling. I sit here injured, but not so badly injured that I can't do anything else. I can go to yoga classes, swim, cycle, weights. But I put my shoes on and pound the pavement for 10 minutes and it sucks the entire time and it's ALL I WANT TO DO. I haven't been able to run in over a month so I've lost tons of endurance - which means I can't breath. And I'm feeling great in almost every other thing I do, but that pillar of confidence buckles underneath me after a measly 1/2 mile or so. And as soon as that happens all the days of feeling strong are wiped clean and I feel like a loser again. I wasn't even that great of a runner to begin with. But all I want to do is run. Because it sucks. Because it's hard. And if you do something that's hard without quitting, the feeling of accomplishment that follows is unparalleled.
I should also mention that I have no food in my pantry, I have no health insurance, can't afford to pay my taxes from 2008, and should be out there "pounding the pavement" to build my business, not worrying about whether or not I can run. Yet here I sit, writing this blog .. about running.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Lean Horse 100mi/50mi/50K: A Race Report of a Different Kind
"My experience in this race is easily near the top of my list of greatest running accomplishments."
~Byron Benoit
The morning after Lean Horse 100, I sat alone in the game room of the KOA in Hot Springs, SD to plug in my phone, call my parents and re-live some of the moments from the day before. I always feel bad for the non-runner on the receiving end of my running stories, but they were all so fresh and my dad was indulging me, so I took full advantage. After I hung up, I laid on the futon in front of the white square plastic fan and allowed myself a little "Erin" time.
Greg, Byron, and Michelle drove around to the front of the campsite and picked me up so we could begin our day of sight seeing and at some point, Byron turns around from the front passenger seat to speak. You can tell he's about to say something profound because he grabs the iPhone out of Michelle's hand to make sure she's paying attention. This is clearly important. What he says very closely resembles the sentiments I was describing to my dad earlier that morning - and it's the paraphrased quote at the top (I had to shorten it, the man can talk, right Troy?). As he goes on, and as we spend the remainder of the trip telling stories and laughing about our individual experiences, it was clear that a race report was INEVITABLE. A race report from a different perspective: THE CREW. But first, let me introduce you to the players:
BYRON
Man was I glad to have him with me! Michelle asked me few weeks before the trip what I was going to do while they were running. "You're gonna have a lot of time on your hands!" How naive. In her blog she said we were the perfect crew because we are a balance of quiet and loud. So very true! Our roles were clear. We rarely had to stop and clarify what was going to happen once we got to an aid station. I would go one direction and he another. We didn't have to struggle to listen to what each other were saying and make decisions, they came easily. If I asked him to do something, he didn't hesitate. He was an amazing motivator and helper for every single runner he came across, not just the ones that "belonged" to us ... yes, they were OUR runners that day. And without the two of us working together, and doing it so well, I am certain our runners wouldn't have had the support and attention we were able to give. Much of this will be written in terms of "we", meaning Byron and myself. I'm doing this not to put words in his mouth, but to emphasize that there were two of us.
MICHELLE
Michelle and I have a small history that shares a couple friends in common and one huge college marching band. We were lucky enough to be given a second chance at friendship and I'm proud to have her by my side. She's one of those annoying types; you know, always smiling, excels at EVERYTHING she does, and is always cheering for you. I ran in to her at the perfect time in my life because I needed some direction with my running. She has single-handedly changed my running life by introducing me to a wide range of people, social media outlets and training ideas. I've been searching for ways to give her a proper "thank you", and I have a feeling that being on the crew for her first 50 mile was a HUGE step in that direction. Or at least I hope.
GREG
This guy is pretty cool. He was difficult for me to read at first because he doesn't show a ton of emotion in his face. He's one of the kindest people you will ever meet; and while his encouragements may not be the most robust, they are always there. He has always reminded me of one of my closest friends, Erik, who moved to Hawaii. (And yes, Erik just happens to be Asian). Aside from the Asian persuasian, there are other things they do that are similar and I often find myself wanting to call him "Erik". That has changed. I have been given the opportunity to see Greg for himself; he has created his own personality in my head and is no longer "the guy I know that reminds me of someone close to me". He is simply, G.
TROY
The man doesn't give a great first impression. In fact, when I left Palio's the first night I met him earlier this year I thought, "man, what as ASS." His role in the Trackies (a crazy group of runners, a subculture if you will, of Grapevine Runners and Walkers, aka GRAW aka RAW ... see, even the names are bipolar - does that sound about right, Capt. Ruby?) is to call out everyone for their wussie behaviors. Turns out, everything in Troy's eyes is wussie ... at least that's what he wants you to believe. The thing is, Troy is a big teddy bear and one of the kindest men I've had the pleasure to meet. It also happens that he is the one that causes the most panic for me during this race. I never imagined that he would be such a prominent player in my day .. and bring out the most tears followed by the most joy.
KEVIN
The night before the race the four of us ... wait, more background. "The four of us" is the #bestcrewever and #teamfirst50 (Byron, me, Michelle and Greg). We drove together, ate together, camped together .. you get the point. Troy and Kevin flew in to South Dakota and each had their own rental cars and were free to eat and sleep wherever they chose. The four us were pretty much stuck together ... went to dinner and started discussing race day strategy. It was at this point where it seemed more clear that I was no longer "along for the ride" and that the label of "crew" was something to be taken a little more seriously. So we came up with a strategy of our own.
Bright and early Saturday morning our alarms go off, everyone gets their game faces on and we load up the car. I didn't worry about feeding myself breakfast - all we had to do was get our runners to the bus by 5:30am. The race didn't start until 6:00am and we didn't need to be at Argyle, the first aid station, until 8.9miles in. Plenty of time to take care of me after we took care of them! Then we hear the race director say the buses weren't coming. Ok, so we pack our cars and drive a bunch of runners to the trailhead. It actually worked out better this way (for us) because we were able to be there for the countdown. I'm not sure if that would have happened if our runners were able to get on the bus. It was awesome. You could feel the tension/anticipation/excitement. Everyone was milling around, standing in line for the bathroom .. but not our guys. They were peeing behind a tree. NICE. (And don't try to tell yourself that Michelle isn't one of the "guys" I'm talking about because she's a girl). As they walk toward the start line, Michelle turns around, gives me a hug and thanks me for being there. *sigh* It was the first emotion of many.
I drove Troy's rental car back to the hotel, jump into Michelle's car with Byron and we stop by the campsite one last time to gather our things for the day. As we're getting our stuff situated, I'm going over the time frame in my head .. we don't have much time to left to drive out to Argyle. I had wanted to stop by a grocery store to buy a bunch of snacks for the day but now there was no time. (Wouldn't have mattered, it was too early in the morning, nothing was open!) I kept saying to myself, "let's get there first and make sure they're ok, then you can worry about you." And that's how the rest of the day was going to unfold. My first thought - at every turn - was only about them. The ironic part about this is Byron and I said to each other, on more than one occassion, "We need to be sure and take care of ourselves today. We are no good to them if we are weak. We need to eat." Sounded good in theory.
We acutally missed Troy and Greg at the aid station. They took off from the group to run their own pace and we rolled up about 10 seconds after Greg left. Byron jumped out of the car and ran out to meet him and I'm sure he gave him some encouraging words like, "forward progress, keep moving". Not too far behind came Kevin and Michelle!! They looked great! However, for me it was to be one of the worst moments of the day. I was taking some pictures and video of our runners coming in, and Michelle headed straight for me. I shut off the camera and she handed me her hydration pack (an Ultimate Direction Wink - best pack ever) and asked me to refill it while she stood in line for the bathroom. I'm pretty sure Byron was with Kevin here, but I'm not sure because all I could focus on was filling that pack. That stupid pack. It was my first test as crew. We had already begun making references to being #bestcrewever .. in fact, I may or may not have posted a picture of us on FaceBook with the caption BEST. CREW. EVER. A little presumptuous it would seem. From the second I unzipped her pack, I saw the velcro and the roll down top and thought 'OH SHIT. I don't know how to do this.' I don't own a pack. The only time I've ever run with one, she gave it to me already filled. "Be smarter than the pack, be smarter than the pack" is what I played over in my head. Turns out I'm not. I over filled it. By a lot. I handed it back to Michelle and she asked if I filled it past the fill line. All I could do is look at her, blink, and say 'I have no idea'. I didn't even see the line. I was so focused on opening and closing it correctly (which, by the way, is easy enough a 1st grader could have figured it out) that it never occurred to me to look for a fill line. There was no time. She took it from me, I helped her put it back on, and she was off.
We jumped in the car and took off a little ways down the trail to cheer her on and take more pictures and she - ever so kindly - let us know that I had, indeed, filled it too full and water was dripping all over her. My heart sank. I had failed. ALREADY. My runner was 8.9 miles in to a 50 mile run and I messed up. BIG. She said it wasn't a big deal, but you could see how wet the she was all the way down to her shoes. I wanted to put my head down in shame .. then I had an idea. I looked at Byron and said "GET OUT OF THE CAR!" Without question he jumped out with me and we ran down to meet her. We took her pack from her, I helped him open it up and dump some water out (hey look, a fill line .. what a smart idea ..). He told me to go back to the car and drive to the end of the road while he caught up with her. Crisis averted. Well, crisis fixed.
The next few aid stations went a lot smoother! We realized that our original plan was much too rigid, and there was no reason for us to drive to the Pringle aid station and chill. So we drove. All over that stretch of highway and back again. All day. We made friends with some of the other crews and started giving everything nicknames. For example .. the group in the white hatchback was named "cowbell". (The woman had a cowbell noisemaker). The aid station not on our list that we frequented was Key Lime (Lime Kiln). You get the idea. Not only did we get to know the landscape, the volunteers and other runners, it was also at this point in the afternoon that Byron and I had a little time to get to know each other. Every time a runner came through, Byron would jump up to help. He made friends with what appeared to be a lone 50 miler and helped him change his shoes. We filled his water bottle, helped him search through his drop bag, and got him up and going again. Byron was everyone's best friend that day.
The volunteers at the aid stations were awesome. While we all stood around waiting for runners, people would ask questions .. "so, who are you waiting on?" Byron and I proudly answered "we have 4 runners" and went on to share who was with us. Most of them looked at us like we were crazy (yeah, a trail full of people running longer than most people drive in a day and WE'RE the crazy ones). They called us crazy because they knew the stress involved in worrying about 1 person much less 4 .. with 3 different distance and 3 different courses.
HARD DECISIONS
A few days earlier a FaceBook group was started for the purpose of posting updates. All morning I did my best to keep everyone clued in and post an occassional picture .. then I saw this:
"How's Keving doing?"
We hadn't seen him since the first Argyle stop, almost 4 hours ago. If you take a second look at our original plan, nowhere does it say KEVIN 50K FINISH. Time to make some more changes. The whole time we're driving around taking care of Greg and Michelle, we know in the back of our minds that we have others out there. Our 50 milers had just come through Pringle one last time and we knew it was time to find Kevin. We had, at this point, seen enough runners to get a grasp of just how important our role was turning out, and there was one more out there that might need us.
With a little help from Cowbell and our new friend Rich (head volunteer at Argyle), we were on a mission to find Kevin! As we're driving the ups and downs of Argyle road to the Morph aid station, it occurred to us at that it felt like we'd been driving FOREVER. The conversation that followed was humorous for us, but I know our runners probably won't appreciate it. It went something along these lines:
Me: "Damn this road is hilly! We've been out here FOREVER!"
B: "I know! Look at this hill!! Can you imagine running this road??"
We had to laugh. We talked about Kevin, curious if he'd made it to Morph yet. We talked about Michelle and Greg and how we would prepare them for this horrible road. Finally the aid station came into view and I jumped out of the car and walked up to the volunteers.
"I'm looking for my runner, can you tell me if he's checked in?"
As she's looking for his name and bib number, the butterflys in my stomach took over. We didn't see him on the road and we know he left the previous aid station .. Please say he's ok, please say he's ok ..
"You just missed him, he checked out about 10 minutes ago. He didn't look good, was asking about dropping."
And for the second time that day, my heart sank. I jumped in the car and screamed (at least it felt like it) that he was close and he needed us QUICK! There wasn't much time to ponder over how we, self-proclaimed #bestcrewever, had let him down.
"LOOK! THERE HE IS!!" Byron drove us up ahead of him and started getting ice and water from the cooler while I jumped out of the car to run back and greet him.
"How you doing, buddy? What can we get ya? Byron's getting ice, we have water, gatoraide, what do you need?"
"I'm not doing so hot. I'm in a dark place."
Now, I understand that this was one of the hardest moments for KW, but what happens next has turned out to be one of the funnier moments of the day. When I heard Kevin's response, I thought to myself, 'yep, I have no idea what to say here.' I could see Byron walking towards us and I gave Kevin a good side-arm hug/pat on the shoulder and said, "yeah, I'm gonna let Byron take this one," and handed him off! Can you believe it?? I honeslty couldn't come up with one thing to say. The only thing I knew about this guy was that he liked Styx and made Michelle listen to them all the way to Chattanooga, TN. That story hardly seemed appropriate in the moment. I couldn't even muster a "hang in there man!" (It actually happens that a similar situation arose later with Michelle. When the person in front of you looks like death it seems wrong of me to tell them they look great. Yeah, never been much of a cheer leader).
Actually, my inability to speak to Kevin and Michelle when they needed it most has less to do with my lack of talent in the cheerleading arena. It had more to do with my insecurity at that moment. I want to be able to say things like "you can make it, you've come this far, it's not gonna hurt any more than it does right now, push past it, forward progess .." And if these guys were struggling through a half marathon, I would've felt like an expert. BUT. I've only ever run 15 miles. What could I possibly have to say that they don't know better than me? They run longer, faster, train harder. This mind frame was my biggest hang-up of the day. After this little incident with Kevin, I switched my role. Byron was more natural with his words and was always behind the wheel of the car. My job was jumping in and out of the car, posting updates, taking pictures - and together we did whatever was necessary to get them to the finish.
Let's see, where am I again? Oh yeah. We just barely made it to Kevin. We couldn't miss him finish. Not an option. As the crew, when one of your runners is asking questions about dropping, your focus changes. The only thing to do at this point was to split up. Byron dropped me off at the Argyle aid station to wait for Greg and Michelle; he took the long drive back to town to catch Kevin on the road one more time before the end.
ONE DOWN, 3 TO GO
Meanwhile, at the Argyle aid station ...
I'm chillin' in the shade doing my best to get reception on my phone to make some updates. It's been a while, folks are asking questions and I can't get a single bar on my iPhone to answer them because I'm out in the middle of freaking Nowhere, South Dakota. Rich, the "owner" of this aid station opened a cold beer and sat down next to me. Just as he finished telling me a story about sharing his personal stash of Bud Light with a runner a few years ago, a man runs in, looks at Rich and says, "hey, can I have that beer?" And sure enough, with a laugh and a wink to me, he hands it to him. There's nothing in the world like a trail race!
Greg comes through and is looking awesome. Tired and sweaty, but strong. I told him where Byron was, got him what he needed, rubbed some ice on his neck and dropped some in his shirt and started walking him up to Argyle road. Byron and I had decided that we wouldn't tell them what this road looked like unless they wanted to know. I guess when you're 34 miles in to a 50 mile race, it doesn't much matter because it didn't seem to phase him. And off he went. Not long after, Michelle comes in. I filled her up, took her pack, gave her the ice treatment, Rich helped me put some in her hat, and just like before, I started walking her up to the road. She looked so good, I didn't want to tell her what was ahead but she already knew. Figures. She'd studied the course map like a good little brown-nosing A+ student. The cool part? She was excited. Yep. She loves hills. We reached the road and I let her go but I hear her call to me so I turn around. She's jogging backwards, holds up her hands and yells "16 miles to go!! WOOHOO!!". Amazing.
A little while after Michelle, a woman came into the aid station - turns out it was the wife of the man I'd been talking to and the closest female to Michelle. She knew who I was, and she knew who Michelle was. She also knew that Michelle was the only female she had the chance of catching, but knew that wasn't gonna happen. She was sitting in a chair pushing on her IT Band so I did the only thing I could think of. I offered to help.
"I'm a massage therapist, do you want me to do that for you?"
Her eyes opened wide and she almost jumped out of the chair and onto the ground. "Um, YES!" Finally, something I'm good at! We reminded her that she wasn't in the spa and that she had a "little" bit of running left, so she got up and started getting her things together. I turned around and saw my friend. It was Byron!! We were whole again :). I was happy to help the pink clothed pig-tailed girl, but it was time to go. And as I walked back to the car, I turned around and said in fun, "hey, if you happen to catch her, don't tell her I worked on your leg!" Everyone laughed and we were off!!
Food!! He bought me food!! After Kevin finished, Byron stopped for gas and went to the local taco drive-through to bring me lunch. It was somewhere between 12:30 and 2 I think. My food since 4am had consisted of a small packet of peanut butter, a Mojo bar and some Gatoraid. We didn't allow ourselves to complain around the runners, but I was STARVING. I love you, B!
Over the next hour or so we caught Greg and got him through the Morph aid station - he was in the home stretch. Nothing more we could do for him now. No question he was going to finish. We caught up to Michelle and drove behind her for a while on the long, hilly, Arygle road. Her calves were cramping pretty bad so we went up to the aid station and took some Endurolytes to her, but this was a struggle that we couldn't help with. We made sure she had everything she needed. She was going to finish.
"We need to leave now. We haven't seen Troy all day. You've got 2 aid stations left; we'll see you at the finish line." These were not the words I wanted to be saying to her, but it was necessary. It was hot, it was direct sunlight all day, and once again, we had a runner out there who needed us. We figured if we left now, we could get to Troy at his turn-around point.
SO CLOSE
This was THE MOST frustrating part of the day for me (so far). I was tired. The taco was wearing off already and the hunger was crawling back in. The directions didn't make sense. I was afraid if we went too far out, we wouldn't make it in time to see M & G finish. I was afraid if we couldn't find Troy, we wouldn't be able to see him for another 2 hours or so. He'd been out there by himself, in the heat, in the middle of a 100 mile race - alone. We were so close but a decision had to be made. I told Byron to turn around and go back to Hot Springs. It would take us around 30 minutes to get back and if we waited any longer, we might miss them. This was the first time we disagreed.
My argument must have been a convincing one because he reluctantly turned the car around. Byron wanted to find Troy; thought it was more important to make sure he was ok than to see the 50 milers finish. But he did what I asked. After getting to the finish line in Hot Springs, he drove us around to the point where he saw Kevin - about 3/4mi away from the finish. We went along the path as far as we could, and we came to a parking lot ... but we couldn't figure out where they came from. WE DROVE THAT PATH BACK AND FORTH A HUNDRED TIMES. Clearly his brain was tired too. This was the second (and last) time we disagreed. I wanted desperately to stop driving, let my brain rest, close my eyes, and wait at the finish line. But with a little help from the race director, we found out where to go. Byron won this one. We drove out to the parking lot again, but this time we parked. There was a bike path! With camera in hand, we walked down the path and sat on a bench and waited. (Oh, and we may or may not have made bets as to who would come through first and whether or not she caught him on those hills ... :p)
THREE DOWN & A GAME CHANGER TO GO
Greg came through first and I understood that I was right to let Byron win that last argument. With 49.25 miles behind them, seeing us was a welcomed push to then end. You could see the emotion in Michelle's face. This is why I was here.
THE GAME CHANGER
~Byron Benoit
The morning after Lean Horse 100, I sat alone in the game room of the KOA in Hot Springs, SD to plug in my phone, call my parents and re-live some of the moments from the day before. I always feel bad for the non-runner on the receiving end of my running stories, but they were all so fresh and my dad was indulging me, so I took full advantage. After I hung up, I laid on the futon in front of the white square plastic fan and allowed myself a little "Erin" time.
Greg, Byron, and Michelle drove around to the front of the campsite and picked me up so we could begin our day of sight seeing and at some point, Byron turns around from the front passenger seat to speak. You can tell he's about to say something profound because he grabs the iPhone out of Michelle's hand to make sure she's paying attention. This is clearly important. What he says very closely resembles the sentiments I was describing to my dad earlier that morning - and it's the paraphrased quote at the top (I had to shorten it, the man can talk, right Troy?). As he goes on, and as we spend the remainder of the trip telling stories and laughing about our individual experiences, it was clear that a race report was INEVITABLE. A race report from a different perspective: THE CREW. But first, let me introduce you to the players:
BYRON
Man was I glad to have him with me! Michelle asked me few weeks before the trip what I was going to do while they were running. "You're gonna have a lot of time on your hands!" How naive. In her blog she said we were the perfect crew because we are a balance of quiet and loud. So very true! Our roles were clear. We rarely had to stop and clarify what was going to happen once we got to an aid station. I would go one direction and he another. We didn't have to struggle to listen to what each other were saying and make decisions, they came easily. If I asked him to do something, he didn't hesitate. He was an amazing motivator and helper for every single runner he came across, not just the ones that "belonged" to us ... yes, they were OUR runners that day. And without the two of us working together, and doing it so well, I am certain our runners wouldn't have had the support and attention we were able to give. Much of this will be written in terms of "we", meaning Byron and myself. I'm doing this not to put words in his mouth, but to emphasize that there were two of us.
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| BEST. CREW. EVER. Just after the "gun" |
Michelle and I have a small history that shares a couple friends in common and one huge college marching band. We were lucky enough to be given a second chance at friendship and I'm proud to have her by my side. She's one of those annoying types; you know, always smiling, excels at EVERYTHING she does, and is always cheering for you. I ran in to her at the perfect time in my life because I needed some direction with my running. She has single-handedly changed my running life by introducing me to a wide range of people, social media outlets and training ideas. I've been searching for ways to give her a proper "thank you", and I have a feeling that being on the crew for her first 50 mile was a HUGE step in that direction. Or at least I hope.
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| At Mt Rushmore the day after |
This guy is pretty cool. He was difficult for me to read at first because he doesn't show a ton of emotion in his face. He's one of the kindest people you will ever meet; and while his encouragements may not be the most robust, they are always there. He has always reminded me of one of my closest friends, Erik, who moved to Hawaii. (And yes, Erik just happens to be Asian). Aside from the Asian persuasian, there are other things they do that are similar and I often find myself wanting to call him "Erik". That has changed. I have been given the opportunity to see Greg for himself; he has created his own personality in my head and is no longer "the guy I know that reminds me of someone close to me". He is simply, G.
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| At Pringle Aid Station |
The man doesn't give a great first impression. In fact, when I left Palio's the first night I met him earlier this year I thought, "man, what as ASS." His role in the Trackies (a crazy group of runners, a subculture if you will, of Grapevine Runners and Walkers, aka GRAW aka RAW ... see, even the names are bipolar - does that sound about right, Capt. Ruby?) is to call out everyone for their wussie behaviors. Turns out, everything in Troy's eyes is wussie ... at least that's what he wants you to believe. The thing is, Troy is a big teddy bear and one of the kindest men I've had the pleasure to meet. It also happens that he is the one that causes the most panic for me during this race. I never imagined that he would be such a prominent player in my day .. and bring out the most tears followed by the most joy.
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| Me and Troy (WJ, T-Roy, or my fav, T-Money) at the Post LH party |
KEVIN
This is my public apology to you, KW. I'm sorry we didn't get the chance to meet before the trip. I apologize for not knowing what to say when you needed it the most. Byron and I had a mantra this weekend: "know your runner" .. and I did not know you. I wish we had factored you into our plans more than we did. I don't even have a picture of the two of us for my blog! I apologize for not being there to see you finish with Byron, and I'm sorry that a 50K is considered a "fun run". When did 31miles become "easy", anyway!! You're an amazingly consistent runner and I look forward to getting to know you more in future .. and if you ever need a crew, give me a call ;)
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| At the start, Team Lean Horse! I don't think ANY of us had an idea of what we were about to experience. |
The night before the race the four of us ... wait, more background. "The four of us" is the #bestcrewever and #teamfirst50 (Byron, me, Michelle and Greg). We drove together, ate together, camped together .. you get the point. Troy and Kevin flew in to South Dakota and each had their own rental cars and were free to eat and sleep wherever they chose. The four us were pretty much stuck together ... went to dinner and started discussing race day strategy. It was at this point where it seemed more clear that I was no longer "along for the ride" and that the label of "crew" was something to be taken a little more seriously. So we came up with a strategy of our own.
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| Well, we tried anyway ... :) |
I drove Troy's rental car back to the hotel, jump into Michelle's car with Byron and we stop by the campsite one last time to gather our things for the day. As we're getting our stuff situated, I'm going over the time frame in my head .. we don't have much time to left to drive out to Argyle. I had wanted to stop by a grocery store to buy a bunch of snacks for the day but now there was no time. (Wouldn't have mattered, it was too early in the morning, nothing was open!) I kept saying to myself, "let's get there first and make sure they're ok, then you can worry about you." And that's how the rest of the day was going to unfold. My first thought - at every turn - was only about them. The ironic part about this is Byron and I said to each other, on more than one occassion, "We need to be sure and take care of ourselves today. We are no good to them if we are weak. We need to eat." Sounded good in theory.
We acutally missed Troy and Greg at the aid station. They took off from the group to run their own pace and we rolled up about 10 seconds after Greg left. Byron jumped out of the car and ran out to meet him and I'm sure he gave him some encouraging words like, "forward progress, keep moving". Not too far behind came Kevin and Michelle!! They looked great! However, for me it was to be one of the worst moments of the day. I was taking some pictures and video of our runners coming in, and Michelle headed straight for me. I shut off the camera and she handed me her hydration pack (an Ultimate Direction Wink - best pack ever) and asked me to refill it while she stood in line for the bathroom. I'm pretty sure Byron was with Kevin here, but I'm not sure because all I could focus on was filling that pack. That stupid pack. It was my first test as crew. We had already begun making references to being #bestcrewever .. in fact, I may or may not have posted a picture of us on FaceBook with the caption BEST. CREW. EVER. A little presumptuous it would seem. From the second I unzipped her pack, I saw the velcro and the roll down top and thought 'OH SHIT. I don't know how to do this.' I don't own a pack. The only time I've ever run with one, she gave it to me already filled. "Be smarter than the pack, be smarter than the pack" is what I played over in my head. Turns out I'm not. I over filled it. By a lot. I handed it back to Michelle and she asked if I filled it past the fill line. All I could do is look at her, blink, and say 'I have no idea'. I didn't even see the line. I was so focused on opening and closing it correctly (which, by the way, is easy enough a 1st grader could have figured it out) that it never occurred to me to look for a fill line. There was no time. She took it from me, I helped her put it back on, and she was off.
We jumped in the car and took off a little ways down the trail to cheer her on and take more pictures and she - ever so kindly - let us know that I had, indeed, filled it too full and water was dripping all over her. My heart sank. I had failed. ALREADY. My runner was 8.9 miles in to a 50 mile run and I messed up. BIG. She said it wasn't a big deal, but you could see how wet the she was all the way down to her shoes. I wanted to put my head down in shame .. then I had an idea. I looked at Byron and said "GET OUT OF THE CAR!" Without question he jumped out with me and we ran down to meet her. We took her pack from her, I helped him open it up and dump some water out (hey look, a fill line .. what a smart idea ..). He told me to go back to the car and drive to the end of the road while he caught up with her. Crisis averted. Well, crisis fixed.
The next few aid stations went a lot smoother! We realized that our original plan was much too rigid, and there was no reason for us to drive to the Pringle aid station and chill. So we drove. All over that stretch of highway and back again. All day. We made friends with some of the other crews and started giving everything nicknames. For example .. the group in the white hatchback was named "cowbell". (The woman had a cowbell noisemaker). The aid station not on our list that we frequented was Key Lime (Lime Kiln). You get the idea. Not only did we get to know the landscape, the volunteers and other runners, it was also at this point in the afternoon that Byron and I had a little time to get to know each other. Every time a runner came through, Byron would jump up to help. He made friends with what appeared to be a lone 50 miler and helped him change his shoes. We filled his water bottle, helped him search through his drop bag, and got him up and going again. Byron was everyone's best friend that day.
The volunteers at the aid stations were awesome. While we all stood around waiting for runners, people would ask questions .. "so, who are you waiting on?" Byron and I proudly answered "we have 4 runners" and went on to share who was with us. Most of them looked at us like we were crazy (yeah, a trail full of people running longer than most people drive in a day and WE'RE the crazy ones). They called us crazy because they knew the stress involved in worrying about 1 person much less 4 .. with 3 different distance and 3 different courses.
HARD DECISIONS
A few days earlier a FaceBook group was started for the purpose of posting updates. All morning I did my best to keep everyone clued in and post an occassional picture .. then I saw this:
"How's Keving doing?"
We hadn't seen him since the first Argyle stop, almost 4 hours ago. If you take a second look at our original plan, nowhere does it say KEVIN 50K FINISH. Time to make some more changes. The whole time we're driving around taking care of Greg and Michelle, we know in the back of our minds that we have others out there. Our 50 milers had just come through Pringle one last time and we knew it was time to find Kevin. We had, at this point, seen enough runners to get a grasp of just how important our role was turning out, and there was one more out there that might need us.
With a little help from Cowbell and our new friend Rich (head volunteer at Argyle), we were on a mission to find Kevin! As we're driving the ups and downs of Argyle road to the Morph aid station, it occurred to us at that it felt like we'd been driving FOREVER. The conversation that followed was humorous for us, but I know our runners probably won't appreciate it. It went something along these lines:
Me: "Damn this road is hilly! We've been out here FOREVER!"
B: "I know! Look at this hill!! Can you imagine running this road??"
We had to laugh. We talked about Kevin, curious if he'd made it to Morph yet. We talked about Michelle and Greg and how we would prepare them for this horrible road. Finally the aid station came into view and I jumped out of the car and walked up to the volunteers.
"I'm looking for my runner, can you tell me if he's checked in?"
As she's looking for his name and bib number, the butterflys in my stomach took over. We didn't see him on the road and we know he left the previous aid station .. Please say he's ok, please say he's ok ..
"You just missed him, he checked out about 10 minutes ago. He didn't look good, was asking about dropping."
And for the second time that day, my heart sank. I jumped in the car and screamed (at least it felt like it) that he was close and he needed us QUICK! There wasn't much time to ponder over how we, self-proclaimed #bestcrewever, had let him down.
"LOOK! THERE HE IS!!" Byron drove us up ahead of him and started getting ice and water from the cooler while I jumped out of the car to run back and greet him.
"How you doing, buddy? What can we get ya? Byron's getting ice, we have water, gatoraide, what do you need?"
"I'm not doing so hot. I'm in a dark place."
Now, I understand that this was one of the hardest moments for KW, but what happens next has turned out to be one of the funnier moments of the day. When I heard Kevin's response, I thought to myself, 'yep, I have no idea what to say here.' I could see Byron walking towards us and I gave Kevin a good side-arm hug/pat on the shoulder and said, "yeah, I'm gonna let Byron take this one," and handed him off! Can you believe it?? I honeslty couldn't come up with one thing to say. The only thing I knew about this guy was that he liked Styx and made Michelle listen to them all the way to Chattanooga, TN. That story hardly seemed appropriate in the moment. I couldn't even muster a "hang in there man!" (It actually happens that a similar situation arose later with Michelle. When the person in front of you looks like death it seems wrong of me to tell them they look great. Yeah, never been much of a cheer leader).
Actually, my inability to speak to Kevin and Michelle when they needed it most has less to do with my lack of talent in the cheerleading arena. It had more to do with my insecurity at that moment. I want to be able to say things like "you can make it, you've come this far, it's not gonna hurt any more than it does right now, push past it, forward progess .." And if these guys were struggling through a half marathon, I would've felt like an expert. BUT. I've only ever run 15 miles. What could I possibly have to say that they don't know better than me? They run longer, faster, train harder. This mind frame was my biggest hang-up of the day. After this little incident with Kevin, I switched my role. Byron was more natural with his words and was always behind the wheel of the car. My job was jumping in and out of the car, posting updates, taking pictures - and together we did whatever was necessary to get them to the finish.
Let's see, where am I again? Oh yeah. We just barely made it to Kevin. We couldn't miss him finish. Not an option. As the crew, when one of your runners is asking questions about dropping, your focus changes. The only thing to do at this point was to split up. Byron dropped me off at the Argyle aid station to wait for Greg and Michelle; he took the long drive back to town to catch Kevin on the road one more time before the end.
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| In spite of being in a "dark place", he finished WITH HARDWARE. 3rd Male, 2nd AG, 5th Overall |
Meanwhile, at the Argyle aid station ...
I'm chillin' in the shade doing my best to get reception on my phone to make some updates. It's been a while, folks are asking questions and I can't get a single bar on my iPhone to answer them because I'm out in the middle of freaking Nowhere, South Dakota. Rich, the "owner" of this aid station opened a cold beer and sat down next to me. Just as he finished telling me a story about sharing his personal stash of Bud Light with a runner a few years ago, a man runs in, looks at Rich and says, "hey, can I have that beer?" And sure enough, with a laugh and a wink to me, he hands it to him. There's nothing in the world like a trail race!
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| Rich tells me this temp is taken in Custer, where it's 10 degrees cooler ... |
A little while after Michelle, a woman came into the aid station - turns out it was the wife of the man I'd been talking to and the closest female to Michelle. She knew who I was, and she knew who Michelle was. She also knew that Michelle was the only female she had the chance of catching, but knew that wasn't gonna happen. She was sitting in a chair pushing on her IT Band so I did the only thing I could think of. I offered to help.
"I'm a massage therapist, do you want me to do that for you?"
Her eyes opened wide and she almost jumped out of the chair and onto the ground. "Um, YES!" Finally, something I'm good at! We reminded her that she wasn't in the spa and that she had a "little" bit of running left, so she got up and started getting her things together. I turned around and saw my friend. It was Byron!! We were whole again :). I was happy to help the pink clothed pig-tailed girl, but it was time to go. And as I walked back to the car, I turned around and said in fun, "hey, if you happen to catch her, don't tell her I worked on your leg!" Everyone laughed and we were off!!
Food!! He bought me food!! After Kevin finished, Byron stopped for gas and went to the local taco drive-through to bring me lunch. It was somewhere between 12:30 and 2 I think. My food since 4am had consisted of a small packet of peanut butter, a Mojo bar and some Gatoraid. We didn't allow ourselves to complain around the runners, but I was STARVING. I love you, B!
Over the next hour or so we caught Greg and got him through the Morph aid station - he was in the home stretch. Nothing more we could do for him now. No question he was going to finish. We caught up to Michelle and drove behind her for a while on the long, hilly, Arygle road. Her calves were cramping pretty bad so we went up to the aid station and took some Endurolytes to her, but this was a struggle that we couldn't help with. We made sure she had everything she needed. She was going to finish.
"We need to leave now. We haven't seen Troy all day. You've got 2 aid stations left; we'll see you at the finish line." These were not the words I wanted to be saying to her, but it was necessary. It was hot, it was direct sunlight all day, and once again, we had a runner out there who needed us. We figured if we left now, we could get to Troy at his turn-around point.
SO CLOSE
This was THE MOST frustrating part of the day for me (so far). I was tired. The taco was wearing off already and the hunger was crawling back in. The directions didn't make sense. I was afraid if we went too far out, we wouldn't make it in time to see M & G finish. I was afraid if we couldn't find Troy, we wouldn't be able to see him for another 2 hours or so. He'd been out there by himself, in the heat, in the middle of a 100 mile race - alone. We were so close but a decision had to be made. I told Byron to turn around and go back to Hot Springs. It would take us around 30 minutes to get back and if we waited any longer, we might miss them. This was the first time we disagreed.
My argument must have been a convincing one because he reluctantly turned the car around. Byron wanted to find Troy; thought it was more important to make sure he was ok than to see the 50 milers finish. But he did what I asked. After getting to the finish line in Hot Springs, he drove us around to the point where he saw Kevin - about 3/4mi away from the finish. We went along the path as far as we could, and we came to a parking lot ... but we couldn't figure out where they came from. WE DROVE THAT PATH BACK AND FORTH A HUNDRED TIMES. Clearly his brain was tired too. This was the second (and last) time we disagreed. I wanted desperately to stop driving, let my brain rest, close my eyes, and wait at the finish line. But with a little help from the race director, we found out where to go. Byron won this one. We drove out to the parking lot again, but this time we parked. There was a bike path! With camera in hand, we walked down the path and sat on a bench and waited. (Oh, and we may or may not have made bets as to who would come through first and whether or not she caught him on those hills ... :p)
THREE DOWN & A GAME CHANGER TO GO
Greg came through first and I understood that I was right to let Byron win that last argument. With 49.25 miles behind them, seeing us was a welcomed push to then end. You could see the emotion in Michelle's face. This is why I was here.
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| Greg on the hidden bike path, about 3/4 mile to the finish |
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| Team First 50 Greg 1st AG, 9th Male Michelle 1st AG, 4th Female |
THE GAME CHANGER
We were having such a great time at the finish line; telling stories, taking pictures and congratulating everyone! We were able to momentarily forget how tired and hungry we were. Not 30 minutes before, all I could think about was getting a chance to close my eyes for a few minutes and now I was running around in celebration. I happened to look up at the race clock over the finish line … Troy. He was still out there. Michelle and Greg were done; we were not. I walked over to my people – Byron and I hadn’t quite figured out how this was going to go. We really wanted to stay in the Element; it’s where we had been all day. It felt like our home for the day. But it was Michelle’s car and the easiest thing to do was toss our stuff into Troy’s rental and give them the key to his room so they could shower and rest. I was trying to come up with the words, and I was taken with a small amount of panic. We needed to get out of there. Quick.
“I don’t mean to break up the party, but we need to make some crew decisions and get outta here. We haven’t seen Troy all day.”
I knew Michelle would get it. I think she wanted to us to find him just as bad as WE did. I took off running, got the keys to the rental and started tossing our stuff into it. We gave Michelle and Greg one last hug and we were out!
We took off, once again, to find Troy. During this drive we grasped the concept – as much as we could – just how far 100 miles is. We passed the start line; Argyle; Key Lime; Pringle; remembering that Hill City was his turnaround, we thought FOR SURE we didn’t need to go that far. So as we came upon Carroll Creek aid station, we figured this was as good a place to start as any. The plan was to stop at the next four aid stations and see where he checked in last. If he was keeping a pace even 2 minutes slower than he intended, Troy should AT LEAST be between Harbach and Carroll (miles 63.6 to 69.4). We had stopped at Carroll earlier on our failed attempt to find him and found that he was holding somewhere around a 9:30 pace. According to the fancy new app on my iPhone, if he was able to keep that pace, we just might have missed him.
Earlier that morning we’re waiting at the Pringle aid station and I get a text from some random number
“WJ just left Pringle 8:30”
It was funny because it was already after 10, but I wasn’t able to receive it due to the spotty phone service. I showed it to Byron and we decided to heckle him a little bit.
“We’re at Pringle waiting for you, what’s taking you so long?” (his next turn through Pringle is mile 76)
We had a good laugh, and kept on with our day. This text came from Lynn Fairfield, wife of runner 133. Troy had a bunch of yellow Post-It notes with my cell phone number written on them. It was his plan to hand the sticky note to someone at the aid stations so they could text me with his time at each one. Brilliant idea .. except for one thing. He dropped them, along with his iPod, in his drop bag way back at Pringle.
So when we walked up to the volunteers, (they remembered us from that morning!) and learned he hadn’t checked in yet, we started playing with numbers. If he’d slowed down a little, it’s possible he hadn’t made it to Harbach yet. Should we drive up there and see? What if he’s already through there, and we miss him here, too? When you’re a kid, you’re taught the best thing to do when lost is stay put. So that’s what we did. At the very least we’ll have to wait a little longer than expected but better us wait here than miss him twice!
The sun was going down and it was beginning to cool off. We’d been waiting for a while now, runners that were close to Troy’s time that morning had come and gone. There was a guy sitting in a chair next to the RV and he was struggling. BAD. I tried not to look at him, tried not to picture Troy sitting there – at some other aid station, without his crew. Bryon was talking up a storm, true to form, but I managed to pull him away; I needed to think out loud.
“Hey Byron, let’s go for a walk.”
We head out on the Mickelson trail (this way he’ll come running straight for us) and start throwing some scenarios around. If he did this, then he’ll be there. If he did that, then he’ll be over there .. but the main question was WHY WASN’T HE HERE YET?? I looked at Byron and said, “you know what I think? I think you should go on a little jog and see if you can find him.”
“Alright.”
He didn’t even hesitate. Didn’t ask what I was going to do while he was gone. He just did what I asked. And for the moment, I felt better. Thirty minutes later, there was still no Byron, which meant there was still no Troy. It was getting darker. Cooler. Every time two runners came down the path the volunteers would look at me and ask “are those your guys?” And every time, I said no. Except, wait, yep, that was Byron! I jumped up and ran to the trail and yelled “BYRON!! T-MONEY!! You made it!!” But as they got closer, I could tell that unless Troy changed his clothes, it wasn’t him. Byron ran 3 miles out and didn’t find him.
For the third time that day, my heart sank; this time it went all the way to the ground. The reality of the situation was setting in. He might have dropped. We might have let him down. While Byron was running, I worked up enough anxiety to get the volunteers involved. After a few failed attempts at phone calls to the other aid stations, two women decided to jump in a car and drive out to get some info for me. Shortly after they left is when Byron came back. Not long after that, a woman drove up and asked the volunteers if they needed anything. She was on her way to Mountain (or was it Harbach?) station to pick up a few runners that dropped. Please don’t let it be Troy. We gave her my cell number, Troy’s bib number, told her what was going on, and asked her to text me if he was one of them.
… waiting,
… more waiting.
Then my voicemail beeps. Troy made it through the 52.9 mile aid station at 5:30pm. That was 4 stations back from where we were. He had slowed down. Big time. Then I get a text. It was 9:17pm.
“Troy went through Mountain (58.6) at 7:01”
*Ok, let’s take a break in the story to do some math. Troy was running in the 9’s through the first 22.9 miles. We know this because of the text I got from #133’s wife and his first recorded time through Carroll. When I plugged the most recent info into my app, it looks like this: 58. 6 miles in 13 hours (remember, the race started at 6am) is a 13:30 run pace. This means he should have been at the Carroll station with us, which was 10ish miles from Mountain, right about the same time I got the text. The thing is, Troy doesn’t run a 13min mile. The time he banked at the beginning was averaging out his walk pace and all the time he spent sitting. Confused yet? Yeah, so were we.*
That was it. I’D HAD IT. I was so excited I could barely stand it! My hands were shaking (although, in hind sight I hadn’t eaten much since that taco around 1:30 … but anyway …), I couldn’t stop yelling!! It was dark by now and he didn’t have a head lamp!! He was expecting to be at Pringle by dark!! What do we do??? Drive!! I NEEDED TO DRIVE!! HE NEEDED HIS HEADLAMP!! IF WE COULD GET HIM HIS HEADLAMP EVERYTHING WOULD BE OK!!! Poor Byron. He must’ve seen me jump up and run over to the car because he came up behind me and put his hand on my back. “You need to calm down, you’ve got time.” This made me laugh. I knew I was being ridiculous but I couldn’t help it. The two ladies that drove to the other stations had come back with more information about his times spent at the aid stations – and I only remember one thing she said. “It appears he’s picking up speed.”
His drop bag was at Pringle, 6.6 miles away, plenty of time to calm down. “Picking up speed”. That jackwagon. He probably got tired of running in the heat and sat down to wait for the sun to disappear so he could start running again!! (That actually IS what happened, but not quite in the fashion in which imagined it .. more on that later). Before I knew it I was rummaging through his bag picking things out he might need. I looked up at the volunteer.
“Screw it. I’m taking the whole thing.” (hey Troy, the blonde isn't natural :p).
When I got back to Carroll, I found that Bryon had convinced a kid to take his bike down the path to look for him. Not too much longer I hear some commotion over near the tent and RV and .. wait .. yep, it was Troy and Byron. I ran over and stood in front of him for a second just staring at him; I couldn’t believe he was FINALLY HERE!! I gave him a hug and tried not to cry on him. Byron sat him down in a chair, I ran and got his bag from the car and we fell right back in to our respective roles. This time, however, I had no insecurity and was never at a loss for words. We changed his shoes for him; filled his bottle with coke; gave him a banana; and the three of us just sat there for a minute to enjoy the fact that we were together. After 69 miles. It was time to get our runner to the finish line.
We leap frogged him from there to Pringle, stopping as many times as we could to honk the horn, play him some tunes, moon him .. you know, whatever it took to keep his adrenalin going. The trail was still pretty much following the side of the highway and we took advantage of it as much as we could. He shared stories with us of what his day had been like, and it wasn’t pretty. Turns out he sat down for a total of 2 hours or so. It would be easy to get caught up in sharing his experiences but that’s his story to tell. He struggled. A lot. He wanted to quit 30 miles in. He had severe cramping and nausea, and he reached a whole new level of low.
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| We found him! Carroll station 69.4 miles in |
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| Want to hear his side of the story? Click on his quote! |
At Pringle we learned the system: Run out to meet him, take his bottle and fill it with Coke, sit his ass down in a chair for a quick massage, refill his bottle with water, hand him a banana and get his ass moving. He was on his own on the trail from Pringle to Key Lime (just a quick 4 miles).
Run out to meet him, take his bottle and fill it with Coke, sit his ass down in a chair for a quick massage, refill his bottle with water, hand him a banana and get his ass moving.
He was alone again from Key Lime to Argyle, but while I was using the bathroom in Rich’s RV, (remember him? Yep, the volunteers stayed out there ALL. FREAKING. DAY.) Byron found another bike and convinced the owner to let him ride out to meet Troy. Amazing.
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| Just doing my job |
The thing I like the most about this part of the story is that it illustrates the difference between the first half of our day and the second. The entire morning and afternoon we were with the 50 milers and Kevin and we focused more on the aid stations. The first half of the day was difficult because we had to figure out how to divide our time between 3 people on 2 different courses, 3 different paces, 3 different styles of aid. It was a constant GO GO GO! On Troy’s half of the day, we had one mission. Go out and get him. He had spent the first 69 miles of this race alone. Not anymore. And since we couldn’t drive the trail with him past Pringle, it was time to look for another bike!
Anyway, like I was saying … Byron found another bike at the Arygle station … Run out to meet him, take his bottle and fill it with Coke, sit his ass down in a chair for a quick massage, refill his bottle with water, hand him a banana and get his ass moving. I had been texting Michelle as much as service would allow for the past few hours and I knew she was coming with Greg and Kevin in tow. They caught up with him just as he was heading out onto the long, hilly, Argyle road. They knew what he was in for, they’d done it already. Since we both had cars, we took turns driving around him, keeping him company up and down the hills. We got him to the Morph aid station and took one more turn with the routine of Coke, massage, banana. Byron and I had never been past the Morph station. For the other runners, we bypassed the last one to drive straight to the finish line.
It was so great to have the three of them out there with us. There’s power in numbers and with all of us out there Troy had 5 people taking care of him. And food. They brought us food! PIZZA. POTATO CHIPS. PEANUTS. DR PEPPER AND MOUNTAIN DEW. After reading some of Michelle’s posts and sharing stories afterwards, they saw it as a chance to “crew the crew”. How awesome is that? I have to admit, though, it was at this point I started to feel a little uneasy. Byron and I had been in control all day. Even through our mistakes; they were ours to make. Now, all of a sudden I had to learn very quickly that it was ok to let some of that go. But it was hard. And I don’t consider myself much a control freak, but I do have a difficult time letting go of things. I was the one responsible for updating the Facebook page for our friends back home .. now Michelle was doing it. We had been told all day that we couldn’t drive on the road past a certain point (which is why we avoided the last aid station) and apparently that was wrong. They kept telling me “it’s ok, we just drove up from that direction.” And they ran it earlier, so logically, they had a knowledge of the course that we didn’t. But I was afraid to let go. I had to take a long breath in to keep from arguing. It seems silly now; getting upset over Facebook updates! If anything, it illustrates the intensity and pressure of our day. Looking back, I think I was afraid that if I let the three of them take over, everyone would forget we were there; that we had been there all day. It was something that Byron and I joked about earlier; saying things like “where’s the love for the crew?” We laughed about it because it was ridiculous. We knew without question that we were appreciated. But in that moment, I was afraid to let go.
While I was approaching my second near-meltdown of the day (around 2am?), Troy was about 90 miles in. It was the time Bryon was waiting for all day! It was time to run! Take for a second and focus on the word RUN. Yep, Troy was RUNNING. And he’d been running for a while. It was nothing less than amazing to watch. At one point I remember squatting down in front of him to work on his legs and as he was sitting there, he was staring out into nothing. He would blink, almost in slow motion, and blink again. It was so scary. Yet here he was, running. Damn.
With Michelle and me in the rental and Greg and Kevin in her car, we met Troy and Byron a few more times before the end. We waited at the last stretch of road before the bike path that took him in to the finish and Troy reached in the window, grabbed my arm and said “I want you two to cross the finish with me”.
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| Byron pacing Troy to the end |
*sigh* And we did.
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| Not only did Troy finish in under 24 hours, he rallied hard enough to finish 9th Overall, 2nd Masters. |
Epilogue
For the moment, we are all stuck in a bubble of love. We were left inspired and bonds have been created between the six of us that were unexpected. The Dallas team represented well, with all 4 runners taking home serious hardware and heavy medals. And in the few moments we have seen each other since that weekend, the hugs last a little longer and we embrace a little tighter. And I know that eventually we will all go back to normal; but until then, if you watch close enough, you may catch a stolen moment. An extra smile or a wink passed from one teammate to another that has in it an acknowledgement of the struggle, the respect of the journey, and the love for each other.
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