Summary
2009 Gore-Tex Transrockies
6 day Endurance Run
1. Month by month
training links below. 2. Click on any photo to see larger.
Photos by Michelle Barton,
John DiMeo, Joe Edgecombe, Steve Harvey,
Doug Malewicki, Chuck Specht & Lambert Timmermans
 |
We earned our finisher
medals!
www.Transrockies.com |
|
This is our official FINISHERS certificate
& fancy medal. Our second year!
Based on preliminary results it looks like 132
teams started and 15 dropped. We came in 19th out of the
24 teams in the 80+combined age group (our combined age was
135!). Our total run time for the 6 days was better than 17 of the other
teams that finished all 6 days. Means the ancient OLD GOATS
did better than
24% of all the teams that started.
How was that possible?
This will make a lot more sense if you read some of the
other runner's Transrockies blogs.
Click
HERE
for links to
blogs
If you have the
time to read a few of them, you will see that the front runner
teams were really racing hard - some tripping and getting
injured, some pulling muscles bad and some getting giant
blisters. Famous ultrarunner Dean Karnazes fell and broke
3 ribs and kept running for two more days before dropping out of
the race & going to a hospital. I have had one
broken rib years ago. You can't breathe deep, you can't cough
and dare not laugh because it hurts so much. How could
Dean keep runnning - let alone in the thin air?
Talk about TOUGH!
Also Aaron Heidt of TEAM TWO JOES from Canada had a bad
fall on Day 2 on the steep trail coming down from Hope Pass.
He knocked out one tooth and later in the day Aaron had to have
a root canal done on another tooth ($250 to a Leadville dentist)
plus he really smacked his face up pretty bad. In spite of
that fall, he and team mate Adam Campbell WON that stage and
finished 3rd overall in Open Men.
After reading some
of the blogs you will understand that quite a few of the serious
runner's were thrashing themselves, while the Old Goats were
taking it easy (carefully pacing to have energy for each
subsequent day) AND being careful not to trip. |
|
I am happy to say for both 2008 & 2009, I never had a leg muscle cramp
nor fell
during the 6 days of Transrockies! Nor have I gotten a blister on
my feet or
toes from running or backpacking in at least 10 years. Feel
very lucky in that respect. |
| HOWEVER, on day 4
- on
the way to Red Cliff, my right heel felt like it had a rock under it
- even though I was wearing gaiters to help keep out rocks.
Was feeling worse and more tender as we got within a few miles of
Red Cliff.
Then it was time
to tromp though the short creeks and then the 1/4 mile long ankle
deep creek. Guess what - the ice cold water completely made
the tenderness feeling go away and it lasted for the next 2 or
so miles to the finish. Whoo Hoo!
Once done with that
14.2 mile day, I had the finish line medic look at that heel.
He told me he didn't have the right tools to take care of it and
told me to see "The Blister Whisperer" as soon as I got back to
camp. Hmmmm?
The "official"
blister medic had me a bit worried when he pulled a surgical scalpel
out of its package, and started cutting. He put in a 3/8" wide
slit through umpteen years of thick callous and let the blister
drain. Next, using a syringe, he squirted Zinc Oxide (same
stuff lifeguards use on their noses for sun protection) to fill up
the entire blister internal volume. All new to me! This
treatment worked fabulous and I never felt any more heel blister
tenderness through the last 2 days and 44.6 miles of running! |
The above photo was
taken almost a week afterwards. |
|
Our 2009 Transrockies
Highlights: |
Steve with the Gore-Tex PR ladies, Cynthia Armon and Sally ? |
Doug & Steve with Yoshiko Jo and Fumie Sato all the way from from
Japan. Other foreign entries came from Great Britain,
Scotland, Brazil, France, Spain and many from Canada. |
Doug's daughter Michelle was here to run her 3rd Transrockies! |
Doug with Christine Harrison and Luciana Cox from Brazil.
Luciana was the only person who had MORE fun this year than the Old Goats! |
Our Six 2009
Transrockies Routes
(Full size PDF at:
http://transrockies.com/transrockiesrun/transrockies/race_route.htm
) |
Our 2009 Transrockies
elevation gains & descents. |
Day 2 -
Steve & Doug on top of Hope Pass (11,583' elevation). |
The Old Goats weren't the only racers that had to power walk up that
3,100' climb in 3 miles! |
Finishing the Hope Pass day... Steve gets a friendly greeting
from Rafael from Brazil. |
Day 3 started in Leadville at 10,152' elevation. A 24.3 mile day
w/3,800' of climbs. |
We finished this 24.3 mile leg 6 minutes faster than last year! |
Tent city at Camp Hale We also had blinking LED's to help
us find our tents in the dark. |
After each day runners like to soak their legs in ice cold water for a
good 20 minutes. |
Wearing matching RED Old Goat shirts on our Day 4 to RED CLIFF. |
Panorama shot on
the high point of Day 4. Click on this shot to see the
awesome grandeur of the Colorado Rockies! Steve is here with
Andy Udis and Hanz Schmid of Team Blazing Rocking Chairs. |
The 2nd creek crossing of our RED CLIFF day. |
The long icy creek! |
On Day 5 to Vail. 23.4 miles with 4,400' of climbs. |
California Old Goat Doug kicking for joy with daughter
Michelle after finishing Day 6 in Beaver Creek! Whoo Hoo! |
|
|
Back in California
with daughter Michelle and grand daughter "Speedster" Sierra (age 9).
(Photos by
Chuck Specht) |
 |
 |
The three generations of trail runners in Laguna Niguel, California on the
Laguna Sur trail overlooking the Pacific Ocean! |
|
