Rocky Mountain High - WWR 2009 Recap

I was fully aware of the running adventure I was getting myself into when I responded to Bobbi's blog solicitation for Wild West Relay team members. I'd taken on this relay in 2007 and had a blast. But every event holds new and unique experiences. This was no different.

The adventure started with delayed flights into Denver. I was designated picker-upper for one of our vehicles at the airport, so when I arrived in Denver to find out my first passenger had been re-routed to Amarillo, Texas, I knew it was going to be a long evening. After circling the airport for what seemed like 20 times, we finally had all airport passengers and it was already almost 9 PM! We still had to drive into downtown to pick up our final team member before heading to Ft. Collins. Oh - and nobody had eaten dinner yet. Hmmm, not looking so good for an early morning relay start. After cramming passenger #7 into our mini van, (did I mention we had a load of race gear also?? - it was a little tight), we picked up a quick bite at Noodles and hit the road for Ft. Collins. Everyone got to bed close to midnight, dreaming about that wonderful 5:15 AM wake-up call.

Friday morning, we rose at the crack of dawn to load up our vans, make quick introductions (yes - most of us had never met in person prior to the race, just through blogs *see my WWR blog roll* and facebook), re-check our gear and head over to the starting line.

Teammate Melissa in Van #1 (my van), took off promptly at 7:40 AM. And it was on, folks. This was about when I started giving my brief mobile blog updates. Hope you enjoyed that, first time I had ever tried it. Being runner #6, the last runner in our van, I had some time to relax and enjoy the scenery. We snacked, laughed, took pictures of our runners, enjoyed Popsicles at an exchange point. It was pretty hot for leg #1, but when it was my turn, I was ready. I finished up leg #1 around 12:30 PM, time for lunch! We headed on to a cute little country cafe where we could re-fuel, use an actual potty (lots of portapotty usage over the course of the relay), and stretch our legs for a little bit. We then headed on to the next major van exchange, spread out our sleeping bags and rested for a bit.

Our 2nd legs started in the late afternoon, when Van #2 rolled into the exchange. Again, I knew it was going to be a while before I had to run, so I did some driving and picture taking for our other runners. We enjoyed Jeri's run mix on the ipod and cheered for pretty much every runner we encountered, especially the Colorado Elite runner (read: eye candy). My 2nd leg started around 11:30 PM, isn't this supposed to bed time? It was quite fun though and my best leg of the relay by far. The temps had dropped, I was running in pitch dark with nothing but my headlamp and the moon to guide my way. I remember loving the night leg last time I did this relay and nothing changed this time around. After finishing up this leg in Wyoming, Jeri and Bobbi grabbed the runner's special spaghetti dinner and we headed into Walden, CO. The great town of Walden is huge support for the relay, opening up their schools for showers, restrooms and shelter. Around 1:30 AM, we squeezed into the crowded elementary school cafeteria to briefly spread out our bags and catch a few hours of rest. I think my head landed right next to some guy's sneakers, and there was lots of snoring to accompany the runner's stench in the place, but we were all way too tired to pitch a tent.

We were up and at 'em at 4:30 AM Saturday morning, as we were expecting Van #2 at any time. Did I mention that one of our runners in Van #2 helped to rescue an elderly woman from a drowning car the week of our relay? Actually, we ended up with time to refill the van and get some coffee, then we were off for our final leg of the journey. The last stretch of our run seemed to go by pretty quick until it was my turn to finish us up. There was a strong head-wind and I was exhausted, not a good combination. It ended up taking me longer than I would have liked to finish, but I got there with the help of my wonderful team! Man, it felt good to be finished!

Here are some of my favorite photos taken by the team:

Click here to view these pictures larger

Steamboat Springs, here we come. We had a 3o minute drive into town, where we ate quickly at the finish line and had time to shower up before Van #2 arrived. We all crossed the finish line together before our post-relay celebration. Happy Hour at the hotel and a fabulous dinner at .

Now that I'm home and rested, stinky clothes are washed, I'm ready for the next adventure. Folks are talking Ragnar in CA in April 2010, bring it on! We couldn't have asked for a better group, I gained 11 new runner friends on this trip, all of whom have my utmost admiration for their strength, support and determination over the course of the relay. Most of all, we had fun!