Trying to recover as much as I can in the short period of time between our finish (8:26pm) and wake-up, after the Beast I try these epsom salts with essential oils I purchased from a vendor (Energibath) at the Merrell Triathlon Esprit. Ahhh, c'est la vie, soaking in a warm bath and sipping on some Switchback Extra Pale Ale, but I'm so exhausted my eyes are closing.
Getting up to gear up and load the car before heading out is ok until I have to descend the small set of stairs to the ground floor - I sound and probably look as graceful as elephants doing ballet, but the soreness/fatigue isn't as bad as I thought.
It's quite comical and entertaining watching guests limp into the breakfast area. Bleary-eyed but relieved, we exchange a few war stories and POVs over some delicious, comforting coffee (New England Coffee Company Breakfast Blend). I get chatting with a guest who turns out to be none other than Eddy Dorozowsky - those of you who run in the East (Quebec specifically) have seen him run in kneepads and sporting either his leopard-print or tiger-stripe Speedo. He's a real sweetheart.
We find out our elite superstar Jen Milligan completed the Beast in 5 and a half hours (!) and she is off running the Ultra Beast. Wow, what an inspiration. Our other badass superstar Solo had clocked in at 6 hours 49 minutes. Can we ever be as fast as these two?
Walking up the same, winding & uphill road up to the K-1 summit area and to the site, hard to believe we're back again. This time the sun is out and it's warming up, so I don't have to re-wear my light base layer from yesterday (with the elbows spectacularly imbibed with mud). Can't say the same for the mud-crusted Speedcrosses and S-Lab shoe gaiters.
The Mudd Queens all gather, there is a feeling of elation as we know the worst part is over and we're all in this last bit together, plus we're curious to see where we stand on the final fundraising total. We are blessed to have a photographer following us this time, so we get a group shot and cheer on Sara's Beast start before we head up to the start area. Red Spartan logo wristbands are being handed out, probably to distinguish us (the charity wave is a separate start from the other events that day), gotta love free swag. The emcee introduces a few teams and we make a ton of noise when we are mentioned.
Off we go again, same start route as Saturday, and up the same hill. I wasn't sure how I was going to get my legs going so I'd had a GU Espresso Love caffeinated gel beforehand (tastes pretty good) - felt like I'd had some rocket fuel as I climbed up, feeling pretty good.
Just for fun, like yesterday on the trails, I call out, "Tanya?" Her answer: a loud, enthusiastic "Yep!" (but less on the 'y' sound and much emphasis on the second part) Next thing I know, a loud chorus of Tanya's answer from the dozen strong Mudd Queens randomly echo up and down the slope. Hahaha! I wonder if everyone else thinks we're nuts. Also find Gary Pillu, one of the co-founders of Polar Hero Race - seems we are always bumping into each other at various OCR's.
Same obstacles, the over under walls; pancake & bucket carries. I saw someone openly cheat on the bucket carry - she walked just a bit on the flat part, then stepped over the tape and went back to the bucket unloading area. ARGH!
Becky has zipped on ahead (did she run the Beast yesterday?!!?), and I find myself with 2 other teammates, Stephanie and Genevieve. They are excellent downhill runners so I try to keep up but to no avail, even if I'm trying a new running technique (courtesy of Solo, check out this post from her blog) We end up at the traverse wall again, get across thanks to some razor-sharp spotting by Gen.
I really can't remember the sequence this time, eventually we get to the rope climb. Looks much different in daylight. Gen wants to climb the one adjacent to the Canadian flag, I wait until she finishes. I start making my way up, think I'm ok. I'm maybe 3/4 of the way up when I realize I CAN'T climb any higher. I try and slide right back down. Gen is encouraging me, telling me to lift my knees. Guess the fatigue is really starting to kick in as I am unable to lift them. I'm just hanging on and shoot an anguished look at Gen (who returns the same look!) and have to admit defeat. That hurts the pride, but Gen points out the Beast ordeal is catching up to us. I also realize I've lost a shoe gaiter in the pool of water at the base of the ropes.
Then the spear throw (2nd one for the Beast), the shaft of the spear I throw smacks the target. More burpees. Running along comes David Freiheit - those again running in Quebec can easily spot him dressed in a suit, sporting white-framed glasses and GoPro in hand. Sadly, he lost his camera somewhere on the course. (Update: someone found it and sent it back to him) He's on his first lap of the Ultra Beast, he nails the spear throw and zooms off.
We get onto the barbed wire crawl and it feels more painful on the already-sensitive skin on the knees. Next is the obstacle we couldn't see completely in the dark - two long pipes hanging on chains (nicknamed "Norm's shaft") that demands a lot of upper body (uhm...we stand on each other's shoulders to get across).
More ups and downs, I thought a Sprint was 3 miles but when we find our intrepid photographer Ken, we are informed we have a mile to go. The effect of the GU gel has worn off and I definitely feel the energy drop.
Hercules Hoist, those darn monkey bars again, final loop to the finish...and it's this steep, nightmarish climb that also requires dodging fallen tree stumps.
Apparently this was also the finish of the Beast (Gen having completed it in less than 8 hours yesterday told us this). Eventually climb this slope, make the mistake of straddle-climb-over the last large tree trunk and scrape the sensitive skin between my thighs. As I'm half running, half jogging downhill to the finish, I hear on the loudspeaker system that the prizes are being awarded to the fastest teams (they've long finished). Then the top fundraising teams are announced...wait, we heard the awards were going to be handed out once every Charity Sprint runner finishes.
...Mudd Queens take top fundraising team! I am in the finish area going to collect water and bananas and have an epiphany all by myself in there. Those of us who have finished pose for the podium pictures, but we know Tanya and Kelly are going to make some heads roll.
With the prize money we have raised over $10,000 for our charity! That's really what counts for today.
As for the rest:
- brave Darcy got pulled off the Ultra Beast course after 24.5 miles (!!)
- Jen Milligan finished the UB in 13 hours 18 minutes (WOW!)
- I could never have done this whole ordeal alone. Thanks again Becky and Tanya for keeping things in perspective, whether it was stopping for bathroom breaks, joking about a "face full of branch" or dreaming about steaks on that 16+ mile trek. Stephanie and Genevieve - you are awesome! Kelly, Stephanie, cannot thank you enough for meeting us at the finish line with pizza.
- official time for the Beast: 11 hours, 26 minutes
- Sprint finish time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- I only found out later Simon Donato ran the Ultra Beast! (He's an elite ultraendurance athlete - check out the challenges he tackles all around the world http://tv.esquire.com/shows/boundless)
- Norm Koch (the course plotter) is a spawn of Satan
Finally make my way to Long Trail Brewery for some proper food and drink. Realize the legs all of a sudden feel heavy...
Goodbye for now, Killington. Actually, I can't wait to go back to hit the slopes on that mountain. Til then!
No comments:
Post a Comment