The Final Chapter: A New Beginning

After 70 blogs posts and over 5000 site visits, this is the final post I will be making to 113 For Emmah.  It has been an incredibly journey and one that will provide for lasting memories.  I hope you enjoyed reading about our experiences as much I as enjoyed writing about them and participating in the Transrockies Run.

The nearly $6400 raised will certainly go a long way in helping the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation find a cure for this nasty disease, and will certainly go a long way is assisting the Gudeman Family.  On behalf of them, and Lynn, I want to say a huge THANK YOU for your support and encouragement.  I really believe this wouldn't have been possible without all of you.

Many people have asked me "So what's next?" and it is a fair question.  Just doing an event like this showed me that I can do more the just plod along.  The honest answer is "I don't know".  However, I have a few things in mind though.  After I did the Goofy Challenge in 2008 (40 miles over 2 days) to celebrate my turning 40, I jokingly said that the next time you will hear from me for an event and fundraising effort will be for 50 @ 50!   I have to think that is still a good possibility if I can stay in shape and injury free for the next 7+ years, and still have a passion for running.   But I didn't quite take the 10 year break I was thinking about, mainly because I can't sit still for long without seeking a new goal, a new adventure, and new motivation.  So at this point, I do believe there is another run my future - probably the near future.  And I can guarantee you it will be longer than a marathon.  Most likely some true ultra. Either a 50k (31 miles), a 50 miler, or a 100k (62 miles) - all to be done in one continuous stretch over one day.  Now that is a whole new challenge.  For now, I am content for the time at eating badly, watching TV, and reminiscing about what was....not about what will be.  But it won't be long before that itch needs to be scratched.  Right now, I just can't reach it!

I have also been told by some that I need to write about book about my adventure(s), using the blog posts.  No, that takes too much work, and then editors will take it over and it wouldn't be my own content.  I think I can let the blog speak for itself.  However, strange as it may seem, some people actually like what I write about and want more.  Just to know what is rattling around inside my head at any given time, and see if I have any unique spin to put on how I see this world.  So, perhaps I will start my own random blog at some point, but for now I am taking a break from writing as well.  You can see that after the TRR, the frequency of posts has trailed off (again a motivation thing).

This has been a fun, moving, challenging, memorable, incredible, motivating and inspiring journey....thanks for following along.  I hope to hear about some of your adventures too!  Keep in touch! kjban23nc@aol.com.

Ken

KEIYH

Coming Full Circle

Yes, it is hard to believe, but the TRR ending exactly 31 days ago.  Since that time, I think I have run approximately 5 - 6 times (including tonite). So I was feeling nostalgic and decided I needed to get on the ball and bring this story to a close, and focus on the next chapter in my life.

Now just in case you are wondering, I do believe that registration for the 2011 GoreTex Transrockies Run opens up on October 1st.  Just 3 more days, and you to can have the experience of a lifetime.  This past week I completed my participant evaluation of the event, and rated it as Exceeding Expectations.  In fact, the TRR just posted on their Facebook site that of the first 77 responses to the survey - it has rated at 6.68 out of 7.00.  Just outstanding!

However, you won't find me signing up for the 2011 race on Friday.  Although I would like to.  But even if I did, I don't think I would have the proper training experience, or motivation to excel.  This year, the TRR was all part of something bigger - a master plan if you will.  While the thoughts of the race circulated since probably early 2009, the whole event came into focus on December 27, 2009 when I saw Emmah for the last time.  It was then that I realized the role I could play in making a difference in the life of a young girl and her family.  It is strange how moments like that happen in life, but when they hit, you know it.  And you know what to do, as if all the pieces to the puzzle were always there in front of you, but you didn't know how they fit together.  On my ride from Illinois to North Carolina those next few days, I thought a lot about what I could and needed to do, and put the wheels in motion to make that happen.  You can go back to my very first blog post from January 17th of this year to learn more and from there the rest is history.

Over the months of training, the desire grew to not just run and complete the 113 miles, but to tell the story of my friends, Jeff and Julie, and Emmah.  And to share the lighter side of training, random observations, and how Lynn and I prepared for Colorado.  And throughout that all, the number of readers of this blog kept growing (as I watched the visit meter), and culminated with the many "good luck" wishes right before we left for Colorado, and the "keep it up" wishes during the race.  And in the end, many people told me how they were inspired by our efforts.  Thank you for reading, for following, and for commenting.

So now I have a call to action for everyone reading this.  If you were inspired, what are you going to do about it?   What is your Transrockies Run?  Who is your Emmah?  What is the story you want others to know about?  And how can you pay it forward, and in turn benefit someone else?  At the intern conference I conduct through my employer, I speak about aspirations/goals, and finding your inspiration, and the ACTING upon it.  I always tell people that if I reach just one person with my story, and inspire them to act, then I feel great at the end of the day.  Because realistically, most people talk about what they want to do, but don't take the action to make it happen.  I am so hopeful, that one person reading this will commit to doing something incredible (and note, incredible doesn't mean big.  Big comes over time).

I also hope that someone reading this will share with me someone they know who needs help.  While I knew Emmah personally, my experience with Team-In-Training taught me that I could help others, even if it didn't know them.  I have more goals ahead of me (stay tuned for my last post), and would like to help others in the process.  Perhaps I can tell their story, make it personal, and bring more motivation to another group of people through the power of word, social networking and relationships and extraordinary effort.

But I would like you to take that journey with me, so I am going to lay this out there.  Is there an event you want to do?  A story you want to tell?  Not sure you could go at it alone?  Want a partner? A coach and motivator?  Then reach out to me and let me know.  We can do it together - whether near or far away - it will create accountability to see something through to completion.  Contact me at kjban23nc@aol.com if you are interested.

I must bring to close this chapter of my 113 For Emmah story.  This may have started out about me 2 years ago, but it turned into a celebration of a young girl's memory - and how she served as a guiding light to this wandering soul for the past 9 months.

For that, I thank you Emmah...you are forever in my heart.

What I Learned On My Summer Vacation

For most normal people, a vacation is something you do to get away from the hectic pace of your daily routine. This likely means going to the beach, on a cruise, visiting family (is that really vacation???), or visiting some other tourist destination. Chances are good you don’t disconnect from life though (especially work). If that is the case, then you need to do the Ken Bansemer summer vacation!

Before, during, and after the Transrockies Run, I had a lot of time to think. A LOT OF TIME. When you are on the open roads or trails, for many miles and many hours at a time, your mind tends to think about various items (like why Dancing With The Stars hasn't called me yet). So in looking back on what I learned from this experience, I thought I’d share them with you. Maybe there is a nugget in here for you to take away and apply to your own situation.

• What may seem impossible at first, is very possible. Hills, mountains, altitude, distance. All scary…all doable. You never know if you don’t try.  Like the quote goes "what would you do, if you knew that you couldn't fail?"

• The warmest place on a cold morning when in the middle of nowhere is inside a porta-potty. Just saying. There are unspoken trade-offs. (On a side note, I can now hold my breath for over 10 minutes. Just saying.)

• You really can disconnect from work, email and phone calls on vacation. Now it helps when there is no cell or internet connection where you are at. But seriously – leave it at home – or just focus on staying in touch with family. Makes the vacation much more relaxing, and makes for less electronic baggage to carry.

• A tent that is about 4 ½ feet high is not a good changing room. Arms and legs everywhere. And when it is dark out and you are using a flashlight to see while changing, those outside the tent are rolling with laughter.

• When you have a story to tell, and can make it real and personal, others are interested and supportive. Wow! The kindness of those who don’t know me, Lynn, Emmah or the Gudeman’s was amazing. Even in a down economy, people find a way to help.

• Runners come in all shapes and sizes. I knew that. Transrockies runners are bit more fit. I knew that. Transrockies leaders are really good people – down to earth and hang with everyone else for real conversation. They are unlike some of the good road race runners you find at marathons. They don’t travel with a posse.  I don't have a posse.  Therefore, I am not a good road race runner.

• What goes up must come down. Simple. Up – not much fun. Down – lots of fun.  Up-down-up-down-up-down....time for a mixed drink.

• I can go longer and farther than ever imagined. If one day took 6 hours to go 24 miles in the mountains, then on a flat trail…..

• Good friends are hard to come by. When you find them, make sure you keep in touch.  And when you can help them, find a way.

• Good running partners are even harder to come by. When you find one, make sure they like to sleep in cramped tents, and are ok with no mascara.  I left my eyeliner at home.

• I love trail running….and will look to find ways to continue doing that. If you haven’t tried it, give it a shot. May not do a road marathon again, unless I am looking for a long training run. :)

• When warming up in the porta-potty, I found that there are different types of construction methods used. Over 1000 rivets, composite plastics, some have mirrors, some don’t. Hand sanitizer stations are all the rage, and single ply is the most common form of sandpaper used to…..uh, too much sharing?

• Goals are what drive the commitment, or maybe the commitment is what drives the goals. Either way, without the goal and the commitment, something big will never happen. Too easy to procrastinate and say “I can do this later”. Later may never come.  I don't want to be late to the party.

• Emmah is more than just the daughter of a family friend. She became my guide and confidant. She picked me up when I was down, and kept me focused when I was wavering. Who is your Emmah?

• My summer vacation in the Rockies wasn’t the same without family there. Let’s just say it was different – all in a good way. And I’d do it again, next year and each year, if it weren’t for that aspect. And I never do the same race twice.  It was that good.

I could share many more thoughts on my summer vacation, but I doubt you want to know about my 2 a.m. treks to the porta-potty, in the cold, because I was over-hydrated. Or how changing clothes in a sleeping bag is not as easy as it might seem. Or how we had only one rule in the tent…and it was around farting. I think that would be too much learning for one summer…..

KEIYH
 
PS - only two more posts to go....are you still there?

Inspiring One Person At A Time

You never know who you might connect with when you try to do something to help others.  In this case, I happened to make a connection with my 11 year old daughter, Erika.  This week, she had a class project to write a one pager on what she dreams for.  Here is her paper:

I have a dream to create a cure for cancer because after this February, one of our close family friends, Emmah Gudeman, died of Neuroblastoma cancer.  My dad ran one hundred thirteen miles for her and has made a gainful profit for the Gudeman's and for the research of cancer.

It has inspired me to believe when you fight for someone or something, it can make a difference.  People who have cancer I want to help because you have to fight a long, hard battle that no one knows the answer to.  If you realize how many people have cancer, a cure will solve many problems everywhere. 

That is why I, Erika, want to help find a cure for cancer.

Not to shabby. Hopefully we are instilling the right values in our kids on the importance of helping others. In this case, do as I say and as I do. 

By the way, we didn't profit from this.  Oh, and it was 118 miles when it was all added up.  But who's counting?

KEIYH

Beauty In Everything

Lynn's final thoughts about the Transrockies/113 For Emmah experience:


I promised myself upon our return from ‘conquering’ the Rockies; I would let my body recover at least until my birthday (mid-September). The only problem, I felt great. After six days of the most intense physical activity of my life, I wanted more!

As luck would have it, I was immersed immediately back into the real world with a business trip to New York. The camping, camaraderie, 5 minute showers, running/ hiking while eating Clif bars and gels seemed as if only a dream (and sometimes nightmare – if you are familiar with my ‘battle scars’ from day 1).

By the fifth day after my return, I took a yoga class (that isn’t really exercise…is it?) and by the seventh day, I couldn’t wait any longer. I put on my ‘traditional’ running clothes with my regular old running shoes, got in my car like I normally do and drove to a usual running route along a very flat and unexciting greenway. I stretched as usual, saw the average Charlotteans preparing for their Saturday morning jog and quickly realized…I wasn’t going to be running in the Rockies!

I heaved a great sigh for the loss of everything I wasn’t going to experience in my run. I told myself to take it slow with thoughts of a grocery list, laundry and chores swirling in my head. But then it happened! I started to run. The air was crisp, my legs felt strong, I passed folks with a happy ‘good morning’ and for the first time in a very long time, I actually looked around the greenway as I ran. The sun glinted through the trees, a light breeze caressed my face and rustled the leaves, the birds were chirping and all was right with the world. I literally bounced for 12 miles.

If I know the definition of epiphany, I truly believe I had one. I realized the beauty of the Rockies, the experiences I enjoyed and the challenges I had faced were now part of my fabric. I did not lose anything but have merely locked those memories in a very special place that will serve to strength and guide me through glorious and difficult times in the future. It is my hope and belief this is a similar effect Emmah had on so many lives.

Thank you to everyone who supported Ken and me through this crazy adventure. I do not plan on ‘enjoying’ this particular experience again but will continue to seek beauty in all forms to add to my treasure chest. Now that I have the bug, what will be next; hiking rim-to-rim at the Grand Canyon, Machu Picchu, the Alps! Or, maybe just running outside my own back door…

Lynn

KEIYH

Adrenaline Withdrawal

Now I don't really know if this "adrenaline withdrawal" is a real term or not, as I haven't googled it yet. But I think it adequately represents how I've been feeling the past ten days or so.  Brenda coined this term after I told her that I am already feeling bummed about not being in the rockies and putting in another 20 mile day.  The motivation to go out for a run hasn't quite been there.  I've been out twice, and to be honest, both times my hip was really sore afterwards.  I think it is my IT Band causing problems - the same problems that occurred prior to the TRR.

So I don't know if you believe in fate, or a higher being -  your call.  But isn't it strange how I had issues prior to the run, and after....but not during.  As if someone was looking out for me to make sure I was ok.  Call it divine guidance from a 13 year old.  And now the guidance is gone and has been replaced with a "dude - you are getting old....just slow it down a bit and take time to enjoy life".  Hogwash.   Adrenaline withdrawal.  I need another goal to set my sights on to have the proper motivation.  I may never be as motivated as I was for this run, but the goal presents consequences of not achieving it. It creates accountability.

Anyhooo - the adrenaline withdrawal might explain why I haven't posted all the pictures from the run yet.  Sure, I now everyone is dying to see photos of "how I spend my summer vacation" - we all love to look at photos of other peoples cool trips.  But, I must say I have had numerous requests for said photos.  By numerous, I mean more than one and less than five.  NUMEROUS.

With the best intentions, I have created a Shutterfly sharing site where the pictures reside, and where you can view our expierience at the TRR in all its glory.  In fair warning, I will let you know that there are 267 pictures.  Yes, 267.  No, I am not going to pare them down.  I started to put captions on each photo so the NUMEROUS visitors would know where we were, and what we were doing, but stopped after about 50 - 60 photos.  Adrenaline withdrawal.  Too time consuming, and I figured you just don't care - you just want to see where Lynn fell, where we came into Red Cliff and were greeted by the 100s of fans, or where we crossed the finish line and saw Jeff & Julie.  Hint: if you want the latter - you need to go towards the end of the 267 photos.  http://www.113foremmah.shutterfly.com/

Of course, I have included photos of my meals during the week as well.  Lots of good food with a "cookie chaser" to top them off.  Lots of cookies!

And, you get to see what "puffy eyed Ken" looked like a few mornings after waking up freezing.  A poor man's Rocky....

So peruse as you please.  Leave comments if you wish.  Please sign in as you visit in the Guest Book so we know you were there.  Maybe, just maybe, these photos will give you that much needed shot of adrenaline to attempt something out of the ordinary!

KEIYH

Do You Want Wine with Your Dinner? Seriously???!!

After more than a week of hydrating on a daily basis for the upcoming runs, Friday night after the 6th stage of the TRR brought a sense of relief and accomplishment.  We found ourselves with about 5 hours to "kill" before the celebration dinner, and we finally had access to some of our clean clothes that had been taken from us at the start of the race.  "Memphis Joe" was the support member responsible for making sure our gear always arrived safely at our next camping site, but he was also responsible for our real luggage.  So naturally, we took a picture with him for posterity purposes.

Our accommodations on Friday night were at the posh Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort, which was also going to be the site of the celebration dinner.  Jeff and Julie were kind enough to help us schlep our bags about 2 blocks to the hotel - where we look dumbfounded at the toilet and shower!  Hey - after a week of a mobile shower, and looking at the 4 walls of a porta-potty many times a day - this was really like coming back civilization!  While Lynn preferred to rest until dinner, I cleaned up quickly and spent a few hours catching up with J & J - telling them stories about our week on the trail, some of the wild experiences we had, and how a killer snake almost bit me less than a mile from the finish line on Day 6.  YES!!!  A KILLER SNAKE!!!  I was skipping and jumping along the single track trail looking down on Beaver Creek, when I suddenly look down and see the HUGE snake slither almost between my feet.  Man, did I jump high, and I do believe a let out a quite audible "WHOA"!!!!  After 117 miles, you might not think that I had the Texas Two Step still in my bag of tricks, but quite seriously, I looked liked Deion Sanders taking the ball into the endzone for a touchdown - nice big high steps!!

Now in retrospect, maybe the snake wasn't THAT BIG, but it was close to 8 - 10 inches and 1 inch in diameter.  Pretty large for this snake-fearing runner.  Couldn't reach for my machete quick enough.

Anyhooo - dinner than night was very nice, and to celebrate, Lynn and I had a bottle of wine -  the real drink we were craving all week, rather than water and drinks with electrolytes!  It is also pretty cool to see your fellow runners clean.  "Stinky bad" may have been a good phrase for the week!  Our time together with this group was running out, so we used the moment to take additonal photos with friends.

During the week, I spend a lot of time running with Jen and Marie. Jen works for Gore-Tex in Flagstaff, AZ and Marie is a retinal surgeon in Dayton, OH.  They were quite evenly matched to our pace, and were great to talk with, so we caught up with them often during dinners and on runs.

We also got to listen to the final awarding of winners for the overall race.  Each night when they did the ceremonies, they would play a song called "Stand Up (For The Champions)" - a nice moving song, with some pretty good lyrics, that got the crowd in the mood. This night was no different, and we found ourselves clapping along for the strongest runners in the field.  Later, I googled this song and found out it is by Right Said Fred (that's right, the group that did "I'm Too Sexy"!).  If you want to hear the song and see a simple video, click here.

Alas, though we tried, Lynn and I fell just a weeeee-bit short of making it to the podium.  About 9 hours and some change short.  But it was a valient effort!  More importantly though, the crew did a closing slide show from the week, along with a wrap up video, both of which were quite moving, and both of which featured Emmah.  In the slide show, there was a photo of me holding the Emmah banner made for the last stage.  A photographer happened to be hanging around the tent village on the last day, and I asked him to take the photo - which he obliged.  Cool to see that in the show.

Then in the closing video, where they showed the final stage and people coming to the finish line, the videographer first focused on the sign Jeff & Julie made for us and had displayed about 20 years from the finish, then the next scene showed Lynn and I running towards the finish line with our Emmah banner between us.  Wish you could have been there - I may have been hearing things, but I do think that got the loudest round of applause for the whole video!  Felt so good!

After dinner, Lynn and I went to the "Dusty Boot", a local bar in Beaver Creek with a number of the other runners, where we had one last chance to reflect upon the week, what lies ahead....and watch some of the top runners compete in drinking games!!! That's right....team drinking!  Run hard, play hard.....

Saturday morning came around all too quick (since we didn't go to bed til after midnight), but it provided another chance to spend time with J & J.  First, an all-american breakfast at the local Denny's!  So satisfying....then a 2 hour drive back to the Denver airport for the trip back to Charlotte.  In the car, they had brought along the video tribute that was played at one of Emmah's memorials/fundraisers earlier in the year.  One of their friends did an outstanding job of putting Emmah's pictures to music.  It was very quiet in the car for that 10 - 15 minutes, and probably not a dry eye amongst us.  Brought right to the forefront the driving purpose for the run....remember the girl who left this world all too soon.

On our flight back to Charlotte, we found a had the 2nd place female open winners on the same plane, as they were headed back to Montrael.  A dynamic French duo, who may be thin in stature, but must have incredible leg drive and set of lungs, as they were awesome.   Getting on the plane, they were ahead of us in line, carrying these huge backpacks, so I suggested they try running the race with those on next time as a handicap!  Ha - funny Ken.   Then after we got off the plane in Charlotte, they tried to pass us walking through the concourse, in order to catch their next flight.  At this point, I was.....well....I said "hey, can't we have just one moment of glory without you kicking our butts"!!!   Ah, they smiled and laughed and went on their way.  They better watch out next year, I'm gunning for them....or at least I'm going to tie their shoelaces together when they aren't looking.....

I finally made it home around 10:15 pm Saturday night to find the kids and Brenda waiting in the driveway.  My support crew was there to provide the best hugs and kisses of the week, and to welcome me home in a big way!

Sure, it was time to go to sleep, but I couldn't.  I still had Stand Up For The Champions ringing in my ears!

KEIYH

Still to come - more pictures from the run, final thoughts from Lynn and I, and a wish for all of you!

Vail to Beaver Creek - Bringing It Home!

When Friday morning came around, there were mixed emotions.  The Transrockies run was wrapping up...if we could slug it through another 20 miles - so on one hand I was happy.  On the other hand, the run was wrapping up...if we could slug it through another 20 miles - and that was leading to sadness.  And if I had a third hand, I would have been using it to pull up any covers over my head because I was freezing again in my tent!!!  WOW - it sure does get cold in those mountains!

Vail was a nice location to stay in, but we didn't get the opportunity to see much of the town.  After our run ended on the 5th stage, we were shuttled to the end of town to our tent city, and only got a passing look at "condo" city - very nice.  We were treated to a wonderful steak, potato, corn on the cob dinner that night and once again turned in early in preparation for Friday.  We started to learn some tricks throughout the week of camping and one of those was to get all our stuff ready for the next day while it was still warm and light out.  Another I did was to sleep in my running clothes for the next day, and then layer the sleeping clothes over that just to stay warm.  Friday morning brought about the coldest day yet, because there was no place to go inside like the previous days at Camp Hale to get warm.  We had to eat breakfast outside in the early morning light, as well as pack up.  We were shuttled back to the main part of Vail for the start, and were fortunate to be able to wait until our 8:30 am start inside a public area of town with VERY NICE RESTROOM FACILITIES.  Finally, no porta potties to go in!!  What a nice treat.

I was tasked with carrying a special package that day, which I will get to later in.  Couldn't lose this one on the run, otherwise there wouldn't have been as special a finish this day.  We got to run through downtown Vail on flat road for the first two miles, before we started what would be about a 5 mile uphill climb to our 1st aid station of the day.  As was our routine for the week, Lynn was quicker out of the gate than I was an went on ahead, while I hung farther back.  Once we hit the trail for the climb, it was single track (about 18 inches wide), and there was no opportunity to pass.  So you pretty much get to know who is in front and behind you on the climbs, in between breaths. I happened to be behind Angie from Baltimore, who was a road runner.  She just completed the Lake Placid Ironman Triathlon a month earlier, and was in great shape.  It was pretty cool to hear her say that this event was much harder than that - because of the multi-stage approach requiring so much more mental focus.  Made me feel good that this was indeed a challenge.

At the first station Lynn and I caught up again, and had the chance to take a photo with Dean Karnazes - Mr. Ultramarathon.  He is well known in the long distance running community, and once ran 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 days.  Each day we was running a stage with a different person to help raise awareness around this event.  I told him I would race him to the finish line, but he wanted no part of me....you can understand why after following along with me for months.  I was in peak form.

For the next few miles I pulled ahead of Lynn as we moved into some of my favorite downhill single track.  This was unlike some of the other terrain we traversed over the week, as the grass, weeds, growth (whatever) was quite high, making it quite difficult to actually see the ground we were running on.  But boy, was it beautiful anyway.  Steeper downhill, more rocks to move over.  Lynn said she fell about 4 times on that part of the run.  That would make her the week's winner in getting a close up look at the ground!  I loved that part of the run and moved through it well, and on into the town of Avon, where Jeff and Julie would be staying that night.  We ran a few miles into town before heading to the last aid station of the event....and another hard part of the run.

The Transrockies staff did not make Stage 6 any easier than the rest.  This one may have had the most elevation climb of the week, and there were still 5 miles to go to Beaver Creek, with the first 3 of those uphill again in about a 1300 foot climb.  It was slow going, and mostly walk. I was behind a German (Ralph), and not a word was spoken between us.  I didn't think now was the time to try to improve my foreign language skills, and he probably wouldn't appreciate my sense of humor 115 miles into the run (I know - how couldn't he???).

With two miles to go, we could see Beaver Creek approaching from above, and began our final single track descent into the city and the finish line.  At this point, I was smiling pretty big, and started to have the emotions kick in again.  I made my first camera video of the week for Brenda and the kids during the run - so they could see, and hear, how this was.  You could hear the announcers at the finish line calling off the names of the participants who were coming in just around a bend ahead.  I was still a few minutes ahead of Lynn at that point, so I stopped and got the package ready that I had carried for 20 miles that day, and began to unfold it.

Once Lynn arrived, we jogged together around the final bend and over a bridge into Beaver Creek towards the finish where a modest crowd was waiting and music was playing.  Together we held the package by its ends as we approached, and I could see Jeff there with a video camera ATTEMPTING to capture the moment.  Around the final bend we went and crossed under the Finish sign in 5:15.  Relief, joy, sorrow, and many other emotions flooded through at that moment.  A video crew was there filming our finish as we hugged to celebrate our accomplishment.  We were presented with our finishers medal and t-shirt, and handed some cups of cold water and recovery drink.

I looked around and found Julie waiting on the other side of the spectator fence smiling at me.  We had a great moment together with no words.  How could you say anything when you don't know the right words?  This run was done for so many reasons, and I know that Emmah was there with us throughout it all making sure we'd see it through safely.

Jeff and Julie brought a number of items with them to the finish.  One was their own sign, which we never saw while running in, but others did so they could learn the story.  They also presented us with our own trophies for finishing - that means so much more to me than the medal!  Jeff was also prepared to escort us across the finish line in style if we needed it....when he brought a wheelchair and the musical soundtrack to Chariots of Fire!!! Funny man, real funny!  I also got a replacement KEIYH bracelet to replace the one I "left behind" on the mountain.

And they brought Emmah. So I could have a moment with her as well. 

113 For Emmah mission accomplished....now we could celebrate and reflect upon what we had done.

More to come over the next few days around the celebration dinner that night, thoughts on the entire event, and other final thoughts, along with links to photos from the event.

KEIYH

Plan B is the NEW Plan A

Yes, 60 is the new 40.  And we learned this week that 42 is the new 20!  We feel great and achieved a dream that months ago (and maybe even as recent as a week ago!) seemed impossible!  So our quite unrealistic stretch goal of winning the rach (ha!) was replaced late is Day 6 with a more realistic goal of finishing in one piece (yeah - maybe that should have been the original goal).  We hope we didn't disappoint all of you following our run on Google Earth and seeing us slowly drift back in the pack each day.  Oh well, there is always next year.  But heck....

WE WERE CELEBRATING THAT WE FINISHED THE TRANSROCKIES RUN!!!!!

6 days, 6 stages - 118 miles - 29 hours 15 minutes of running through some of the most scenic areas of the Colorado Rockies!  Up, down, over, under, through - we did it all.

Emotional time at the finish line too - Jeff and Julie made it from Illinois and sure enough were waiting for us when we arrived.  They had a sign for us (which we didn't see as we were coming in, because we were carrying our own 113 For Emmah banner that we made for the finish).  I saw Jeff videotaping the finish as we rounded the final bend, but he said that we he saw we had a banner his hand got shaky and the emotions took over....and well...no real video of the finish.  That's ok though - the race video crew captured the moment and showed it at the celebration dinner last night.  What a nice round of applause the audience gave!

Julie was waiting after the finish snapping as many pictures as she could too.  When I finally saw her, we had been awarded our finishers medals/shirts.  We had a great moment together.  After gathering all of our thoughts - Jeff and Julie presented us with our own finishers trophies.  That means so much more to me than the race medal.  We took a lot of photos together and also with the other finisher friends we had a chance to meet throughout the week.

When I have a chance to recuperate a little more and get more time - maybe on the plane ride home tonite (Saturday), I'll share more about Stage 6 - it was the hottest day of the week, with the most elevation gain.  They certainly didn't make finishing easy on us.

We capped off the evening with the finishers banquet - a chance to recognize the real winners of the week in each of the categories - but we all knew that anybody who finished the event was a winner (us included)!  The closing slide show and video was really great, and Lynn and I were in a number of shots.  It is my understanding that small videos from each day of the run, and a number of pictures as well were posted on the Transrockies website throughout the week, along with a short write up of what we endured each day.  If you have time, take a look - Brenda tells me than I was in a photo on day 1.  I haven't looked at any yet, but there was a great shot in the closing slide show of me holding the 113 For Emmah banner - hopefully that is on-line.

And...if you had been holding off on any donations because if you wanted to see if we would really do this thing....please take a moment to donate to the Gudeman family, or the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation via the links on the right side of this blog.  Hopefully you believe we worked hard to earn it!

More to come later...thanks for following us!

KEIYH

Bending, bending, bending....but not breaking!

I have found out that even world class athletes can have a bad day.  And by world-class, I am talking about me.  How did I arrive at world-class status?  Simple, I define world class as those people who live on Barclay Woods Court in Charlotte, NC.  Out of everyone living there (about 7 homes), I am world class.
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If i was able to upload a photo from my camera now, you would see a pic of me waking up this morning in the cold yet again.  Damn it was cold!  I never in my life had had my eyes nearly swollen shut from puffiness, but it happened for the second straight day, and today was worse than yesterday.  Rocky Balboa had nothing on me.  Not sure of the cause of it, but eventually it goes away - after like 2 hours.  Fortunately, none of the other runners said "Ken, you look like sh*t!".  Oh, I would've opened up a big ole can of Whoop Ass on them (yeah - big talk for 6 am!).

Each day it has been taking longer and longer to warm up, and today was going to be  brutal.  I could feel it my legs that there wasn't much juice there.  Starting out of Red Cliff with the starter shooting a real 9mm pistol, we began our 11 mile climb.  Uggghh..  After running with Lynn for about a mile, I had to walk, and she went ahead.  I didnt see her again until mile 8 when she was waiting for me just outside the checkpoint.  I asked how long she was waiting and she said 5 minutes.  I said Liar!  She said about 10 - 15 minutes.  Let's call it 15!

I was jogging when I could on the flat portions, but had to walk much of the way.  Good thing we have made friends with many of the other runners of our "world-class" status this week, so it became somewhat easier to pass time talking with them.  Eventually I pulled ahead of some of them around the 5th mile and had to go solo until mile 8.  That's what world-class athletes on Barclay Woods Court do - they suck it up and gut it out.

All week long, when I needed a shot of adrenaline, I would do one of three things to get motivated.  1 - think of my family back home (miss them tons!).  2 - look at the Emmah button on the back on Lynn's water pack (I have one too).  3 - look at my Emmah KEIYH bracelet.  Well, the past 24 hours have not been kind to me.  Family - check - still able to think of them.

Emmah button - fell off my pack sometime yesterday (stage 4) and I didn't realize it until this morning when I was getting ready.  Today, my Emmah bracelet came off, likely when I pulled my gloves off midway up that first climb.  I was pretty devasted about this - then I got mad.  Used it as motivation.  The way I am looking at this is that Emmah decided she didn't need to guide me anymore on the run.  She has provided all the motivation she could for the past 8 months, and it is up to me to bring it home.  The button and bracelet are somewhere in the Colorado mountains, and she wants to be there.  However, since the bracelet hasn't left my wrist since February, I am hopeful Jeff and Julie have another one with them on the way out here.

Mile 8 - I gained strength, and it was Lynn's turn to feel the effects. Of course, at that point we moved into my strength - single track trails - uphill into the Vail ski resort area. All I can say is it was a haul, and amazing to run through some of the ski runs.  We peaked at about 11 miles, then had rolling up and downs at the top of the resort for about another 4 to 5 miles.  Incredible views, but I can only take so many pics before they will mean nothing to people.

At the second aid station at mile 14, the sign said 4 miles until next aid station and 8 miles to go (to reach the 22).  Then the person working the station said - its all single track, downhill. I thought great. Lynn took off running.  Then we found it to be a dirt road, uphill.  We weren't happy, and were quite tired. By the time we hit the real downhill trail, I started to pick up speed and pull away.  FIgured we'd hit aid station 3 within 40 minutes at the pace we were going, if not sooner, as we zig zagged across the ski runs.  50 minutes later we still didn't hit the station.  By the time it arrived, it was obvious the distance was wrong!

From there, the sign said 3.8 miles to the finish, all downhill again.  Another 50 minutes passed (at least) before we finally arrived in the hip and swanky town of Vail.  For nearly 10 miles we could see the village from the top of the ski runs, until we hit the bottom.  A long way to go, but fun.

After we crossed the line in 5:51, we started to hear other runners say this was longer than 22 miles. Possibly closer to 25.  I would agree.  Hopefully at the dinner tonight we will hear what it really was.  It was a long day, and true to other days, I was stronger at the end, Lynn was feeling effects.  But we both know there is only one more day left, and at this point we are in good shape!  Of course, the massages help!

Looks like we came in 10th today in our group.  Not too bad, and I think we are either in 10th or 11th overall, just about 8:26 behind the leaders.  I think we can make those mere minutes up tomorrow with a burst of speed at the start.

What?

Huh?

Oh, we are 8 HOURS behing the leaders in our category??

Hmmm.  Looks like this world-class athlete is going to need to pick it up some....

5 down, 1 to go.  Somewhere between 115 and 120 miles in 6 days.  Dang....

Looking forward to arriving at Beaver Creek tomorrow and seeing Jeff and Julie.  Hoping for a safe and uneventful day.  Have so much going through my mind I want to still write about around this experience, that I hope you will stick with me for the next few weeks, as this journey won't just end abruptly tomorrow.

Hang with me....and wish us well!

KEIYH

Catching Up on the Week!

No internet or cell access has been frustrating for a few days, but now that we've arrived in Vail - they probably have everything!  Here is a catch up on the past 3 days (Stages 2 - 4), not including today.  Hopfully I'll get that later!

Day 2


Role Reversal

Day 2 is complete and as I write this I am laying in my tent is historic Leadville, CO. Today’s journey took us from Vicksburg to who knows where (a total of 13.5) miles running, where we were then shuttled to Leadville. But let me step back now that I have time and fill you in on the last 24 hours.

MORE SWAG (or SCHWAG…depending on how you say it). Last night at dinner, the kind people at Gore-Tex provided each runner with a pair of GoreTex running gloves. Quite cool! Rumor has it that last year, Gore Tex provided recovery shoes to all participants. One can only hope that tonight we will be rewarded! Here is the program for each night after all runners have finished up. Our running bags are transported from the start of the run to the end, wherever the tent city is set up. We grab our bags and select one of the approximately 200 tents that have been set up for us. We have the afternoon free to do whatever we want, which can include massages, or going into the local town for lunch, which we did today. Dinner is served from 5 - 7 pm (yesterday under a large tent), and then from 7 - 8 is the awards ceremony, where the top three runners/teams in each category are brought up to the stage and awarded prized (Last night was Solomon shoes and Peet Feet dryers). Lynn and I just missed getting called to the stage, having finished 18th out of 24 teams in the mixed 80+ category. So close - oh, so close…. only about 2 hours behind the leaders!

The race sponsors also give a chance for regular joes like us to win prizes. One is called the “middle of the pack” award - out of the 200 teams/runners - whoever finish 100th that day wins a prize (I believe it is a GoreTex Jacket of their choice). Then they also award the King /Queen of the Mountain award - although it is a mystery how that is selected. In any case, I am holding out hope that they will award that to us for something! I personally think for being the best fundraisers and doing something special!

After all this is done, then they show a slide show set to music of still photos taken during the day, followed by a video produced during the day. Yesterday, we were on the video for about 3 seconds running on the trail - hey - it worked for us! Today, one of the video cameramen shot me coming down the backside of the 12500 ft mountain and heard me mentioned Emmah’s name (FYI - I was flying down that mountain!!!). So at the aid station just up the trail, he came by and asked me what the story was behind Emmah. So I got to share a minute as to what we were doing - and show the Emmah button I am carrying with me. Hopefully that will make today’s video show. People are starting to find out about the story and that Jeff & Julie are coming Friday! The excitement for me is building for that moment!

Back to last night. We both slept lousy in the tent - maybe a few hours sleep each - none of it quality. Lots of noises around Tent City, and people started moving around 4:30 in the morning. We were both moving by 5:30, and breakfast was from 6 - 7:30. We had to be bussed to the start line this morning - about 30 minutes away. Nerves were setting in from the night before when the logistics/weather person told us to expect 40 degrees, possible winds, lightning strikes at the top of Hope Pass, and many other things. Geez did he lay it on thick!. So our bus pulls up to the start line and there are big peaks on both sides and it was intimidating. Fortunately, the weather was good and while we needed to pack our mandatory gear of hat, jacket, gloves and survival blanket - we were able to run in short sleeves tops and shorts.

1.7 miles to the trail head got us started, but we were sluggish, and continued to follow our race strategy of letting most teams go ahead of us (yes - that is strategy - let them think they are ahead of us, only to KICK SOME ASS on the last day!!! Ok, even I laugh as I write it). So, we poked around in the back and quickly started the 2.7 mile climb uphill to the pass. It was slow going - basically like a mule train walking to the top. There was no running - it was steep and muddy at times. Picture a trail about 18 - 24 inches wide with a steep drop off. Lynn used the hiking poles she brought to walk slowly up, and I just took baby steps behind the people in front of me. Good news though was that I had great energy today compared to yesterday, and wasn’t bothered by the altitude. Lynn’s arm was doing ok too - bandaged up for the trip up. I have so many great pictures we took along the way to post later. It was incredible to climb first through the trees, then past the tree line, then over rocks, to finally reach the pass at 12500. It took us about 2 hours to go just over 4 miles. At the top we took more pictures, where I got quite teary eyed taking pictures of Emmah’s button at the top of the pass. Let me tell you, starting to run downhill is not easy with tears in your eyes. Going downhill was my favorite part of the day - I am like a jack-rabbit bounding back-and-forth between the rocks. WHHHHEEEEE!!!! Lynn, on the other hand, did not like it and was more tentative. Somehow, she used the poles going up, and I carried them the 8 miles back down!!! Fortunately, we had great scenery coming back down to where we were going to finish up a Twin Lakes (which we could see in the distance), and had a great stream path to follow, where we tucked in behind some other runners to keep the pace going. When the only sounds you hear are your footsteps and breathing - it is quite special. I would do this day again in a heartbeat - the climb up may have been difficult (but not as intimidating as we made it out in our minds to me), but once we reached the top - WOW - to look back and see what we accomplished….priceless.

We finished in 4:02 today. Not sure yet where we placed, but it doesn’t really matter. Day two is in the books, and for what we thought might be the hardest day wasn’t so bad. 9 hours of running over two days - 34 miles - not a quick pace, but enjoyable. We actually are getting good at this tent thing and set our stuff up pretty quickly, showered and walked about 6 blockes into town where we rewarded ourselves with a BIG OLE BACON CHEESEBURGER and fries. We are getting to see some of the same faces each day who are comparable to our pace and time, so it has been good to sit with them at meals and sometimes run together.

Tomorrow is the longest run of the week - 24 miles with three shorter climbs. Not exactly sure where we end up, but I am pretty sure it will be memorable nonetheless. We have been told tomorrow is a lot more road running, than trail running, which is a bummer since we really like the mountain terrain. It may be slow going, but based on how we feel after today, we are in pretty good shape. Minimal soreness and lots of water to stay hydrated.

Sorry this isn’t a humorous post like past ones. Trying to fit in time to write in-between all the activities. Hoping to find a wireless internet spot in town on my way to dinner shortly to upload this to the blog.

And the falling count is now tied at 1. I went down today clipping a toe on a rock, but was able to brace myself with my hands. No harm, no foul. Look for us later this week on ESPN’s countdown of Not So Great Plays!

Until tomorrow….keep up with the great mojo coming our way via face book - its been a big help! Lets keep on moving on!!!!

KEIYH


Day 3

Ever have one of those days….

…You know the kind - where you wake up earlier than expected. Your body is stiff and sore from activities the day before. The weather outside is cold and you just want to burrow under the covers of your bed. And you are hoping someone will serve you a warm breakfast with a steaming cup of coffee - when you are ready for it. In our house, that day is Sunday. This morning felt like a Sunday, but unfortunately it was Tuesday morning an Day 3 of the Transrockies Run. My Sunday will come in another 5 days when I return to Charlotte. For now, I needed to get that aching, sore body out of bed and muster the strength to tackle today’s 24 mile run.

And my body wasn’t cooperating. The boogieman decided overnight that he was going to visit my tent, and make sure that I wasn’t feeling the energy that I would need to tackle the course. He woke me up early, after a night of sleeping in very cold weather, so he was draining my spirits out of the gate. Another poor nights sleep in tent city brought condensation to our belongings which are left outside the tent. Breakfast was from 6 - 7:30 for an 8 am run start - so by the time we were shuttled to the breakfast hall, we had a 90 minute wait before the start. The good news was the video shot the day before at Hope Pass was shown at the evening ceremony the day before, so many people knew Emmah’s story, which helped pass the time with some of the people we met.

In short, the first ten miles of today’s run was difficult. Another 1000 mile climb after a few miles made for strenuous going, and the legs weren’t cooperating. The boogieman was trying to break us, and he was doing a good job. Around mile 11, we were able to tuck in behind few runners and keep a steady pace until we hit an aid station at mile 14. That was when the day changed. Not sure what brought about the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th wind of the day but we started moving, and didn’t really stop until the end of the run.

We stared that monster in the face and said “bring it on. If you are going to bring that sh*t into our house (or tent), you better work a little harder to break us. Homey don’t play that game when it is day 3.” We brought it home, and finished the day with a negative split. First 12 miles was about 2:50, last 12 miles was about 2:34. Finishing time of 5:24 - the longest either of us have ever run. Our legs are incredibly sore right now, but thankfully we have ONLY a 14 mile day tomorrow. Hopefully a reprieve. Based on the way my toes feel today, I think I am going to lose 3 nails before the week is out. Gotta block out the man trying to put me down, and focus on the end goal.

After stage 2, we came in 13th out of 24 teams in our category. Like “The Jefferson’s” theme song - “we’re a moving on up!”. Thinking we had a good day today in the standings. Every else is playing into our hands…they just don’t know it yet!

Unfortunately, we are at a campground called Camp Hale for the next 2 nights, and we are officially in the middle of nowhere, with no internet or cell phone access. No way to communicate, so these posts will come in a few days.

3 down, 3 to go. 57 miles down, 58 to go. Mr Boogieman - leave us alone….

KEIYH


Day 4

Getting Stronger

Today was a lot like day 2 - it was going to be a shorter distance, with an extreme climb the first 5 miles, followed by a nice sharp downhill for the next 7 - 9 miles. 14 overall. It was our first night at Camp Hale - we are actually spending two nights here - so we were fortunate to not have to pack up our belongings in the morning and get the to the transport truck before the start at 8 am. However, it was damn cold in the morning again. We were burrowed on our bags (actually the first night I burrowed - thankful for the bag my friend Katie lent me). When it is so cold outside (probably in the 30s or 40s), you don’t want to get up in the middle of the night to pee - even though you have been hydrating since the end of the previous days run. So it is that much worse waking up in the morning and having to hike your sore, tired and cold body to the porta potty. Did it anyway, and stopped by where breakfast was being served to get a hot cup of coffee. Bad news is that today’s meals aren’t being catered by a local company, and Camp Hale basic brewed coffee one pot at a time for 300 people. You can see how that is an issue. I was fortunate to get in line early (courtesy of my early morning pee-pee run), but Lynn had to wait later on.

The debate of the morning was what clothes to wear today due to the cold weather - long sleeves, long pants? I actually was freezing around 7 am, but the sun quickly warms the temp to something more manageable, so it was short sleeves and shorts for the 4th straight day. We have been blessed with good, sunny weather - probably on the warm side for around here. Each day, we are required to carry with us some mandatory gear - a hat that pulls over the ears (which I wore for part of today’s climb, gloves, and a jacket, plus a survival blanket. Doesn’t weigh down our packs too much, as we are also carrying each day about 70 ounces of water (that is refilled each aid station), and a variety of gels, energy bars, etc.

Gun went off at 8 on the button. Each day we are sent off at the start by the same song - “Highway to Hell” - quite appropriate! Gets the blood flowing, although not enough for me each day. While Lynn has good energy each morning, I have taken a few miles each day to really warm up, Hence our back-of-the-pack strategy! We had about a 2 mile run today before we hit the climb - 8.9% average grade over the next 3 miles. At first I thought it was easy, but quite suddenly it went steep on us. Lynn used the poles again today, and I plodded up unaided. We have found out how our running styles mix together this week - they don’t! My strengths are the steeper uphill climbs and steeper downhill descents. Lynn is strong on the more subtle climbs and flat roads. So we are finding ourselves not running as much together as a team, but apart and with other runners we have gotten to know this week. We still generally stay within the required 2 minutes of each other, with whoever is in the lead slowing or stopping so the other can catch up. Good teamwork is helping us along. Meeting a lot of great people along the way.

Tough climb, but we made it to the top in about 95 minutes. It was quite depressing at one point when a runner in front of me said, “we took 26 minutes on that miler, and are averaging 17 minutes per mile”! Knowing Lynn and I can do probably a good steady pace of 9 minute miles on the flat road - that will tell you how hard this is. Not so much the Transrockies Run, but the Transrockies Hike!!!

We putzed around at the top for quite awhile this time to take photos with our new friends. Probably took 15 minutes to enjoy the view and take photos, which ended up costing us about 4 spots today in the overall finish - oh well! It was great to get to the top, at around 11500 feet, because I was ABLE TO GET CELL PHONE RECEPTION!!! Something Camp Hale has nothing of. So I did what any good husband (no - great husband!!!) would do and called Brenda!!! She was at work, and I only had a few minutes to tell her I was alive, that we did fine in Stage 3, and were at the top of Stage 4 and feeling good. Also sent her a few photos and asked her to post a status update on Facebook for everyone, and to call Jeff Gudeman to have him put a quick Blog post out to everyone to let them know I would hopefully be able to update everyone on Thursday night when we reached Vail. Then I told her I’d call at the end of the run when we reach the town of Red Cliff (they had to have cell reception).

Our downhill descent is what makes the climbs so much fun. Wheeeeee!!!1 I was off to the races knowing Lynn would catch up later. Trick is to let gravity do its thing, pull you down the mountain and run side-to-side so you don’t get so much momentum that you fall. The next 5 miles went by fast, and we even had to run through a creek for awhile - oh, cold water and squishy shoes and socks!!!

The last two miles brought us into Red Cliff. Lynn was hurting a bit - feeling dizzy. I was feeling strong and wished we could tack on more miles today so we wouldn’t have to do 22 tomorrow!

Wouldn’t you know it - Red Cliff has no cell reception!!! No contact with the family, or to call Jeff and Julie who are leaving Illinois today for the trip out here. In the van shuttle back to Camp Hale, I pretyped some emails to Brenda and Jeff in hopes I’d get cell reception like I did at the top of the mountain - so I could give a quick update. I got 1 bar with AT&T, and sure enough, emails downloaded to my Iphone, but my outgoing messages did not send! Bummer. I did quickly text Brenda and it appears they sent, but I have no idea for sure before we lost coverage again for the next day.

We arrived back in camp by 12:30 today - so we had the whole afternoon free to hang out, get some sun, catch up with others, etc. Lynn got her first massage of the week, and I visited the medical tent for a possible blister forming on the ball of my big toe. Having some hot spots forming on the bottom of our feet, which could pose an issue over the next two days, but at this point - we just have to suck it up. We have about 70 miles down and 45 to go.

Today we place 14th out of 20 teams, but were only 4 minutes out of 10th, so you know we had a good day. Overall, we are in 12th place (I think a few teams have dropped out). I am beginning to have the feeling we may not finish in the money. But don’t give up hope Team Emmah fans - there are two days left and ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN!!!!

Expecting more SCHWAG at dinner tonight. We got a GoreTex outdoor blanket on Monday night, but nothing yesterday. We are holding our for the recovery shoes/slippers that we heard were given out last week. Oh, our aching piggies could use them.

Long day tomorrow - probably the longest time run of the week. 22 miles. First 11 of those uphill. YES - FIRST 11 UPHILL!. But then the fun begins - after about 4 - 5 miles of relatively flat running, the rest is downhill. Get out of our way people - we are making up time!!! Expecting a 6 - 7 hour day.

Lets hope we feel good tomorrow morning, and there is more coffee to get us going. Hard to believe we are 2/3rd of the way done of this amazing event.

Thanks for all of your reading and support - I am sure you have been wondering what the holdup has been in posting. I guess we are IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE playing in the Colorado Rockies.
WE ARE ON VACATION!!!!!
KEIYH

A Horse With No Name...

This picture just reminded me of that song for some reason.

I am filling in for Johnny as guest poster because sitting (or standing) at near the top of the world affords you a great deal of things.  For instance... tranquility with a great view and fresh (thin) air... then again, shortness of breath also comes to mind.

What it doesn't allow for is an internet connection... phone connection yes, internet no.

At any rate, through the marvels of modern technology (that being a phone call placed to Brenda, a second phone call from Brenda and a subsequent email from Brenda) voila here I am guest posting...  The email read that he and Lynn are doing fine, blah, blah, blah.

So the gist of it is that he and Lynn are doing fine, blah, blah, blah and that he hasn't had service.

Never fear though, once he does, day 2, 3, and 4 are already written up and sitting on the editor's desk ready to be dropped in... which Ken suspects will be tomorrow when they hit "a real town"... so stay tuned for that.

Geez Ken... you must have some kind of pull around town... how did you manage to get your paper boy to deliver all the way up there, I can't hardly get mine to get it more than two feet up from the curb!

You guys look great and you're more than half-way home now... see you Friday!

KEIYH

Team Emmah is in...

Hell if I know what place we finished in today. I am late for the group dinner as I write this, and I haven't seen any results yet.  So I will give you the shortened version of the day.   Bright sunshine at the start - around 65 perhaps, and got quite warmer throughout the day.  We were exposed most of the time to the sun, and the first 7.3 miles was an elevation gain of 1400 feet - but we managed to make that in about 1:40 I think.  We started near the back of everyone to make sure we ran at our own pace, only to find the first 1 mile + was single track that everyone walked - so that took us about 20 minutes before we actually started to run.

By mile 4 we were heading into some beautiful terrain - single track between two rock walls when Lynn stumbled on a rock and went down. I believe the term would be "face plant".  It wasn't pretty - she skinned both knees and really tore up her elbow quite well.  But she is a trooper and was determined to continue on.  She got some first aid at the first break area, and at the end of the race they bandaged up her elbow. 

We did a lot of walking uphill - tough going, and ran the flats and downhills pretty well until I started having stomach issues around mile 16.  I think I was taking on too much liquid at the break areas and it was having a bad effect on me.  At one point I couldn't go up a hill and had to sit to rest for a few minutes.  The last 3 miles of the 20.6 we covered today was fairly flat and again exposed, and we walked most of it because I didn't have a lot left in my tank.

Crossed the finish line in 4:57.   Then we did an awesome thing and soaked our legs in a nearly creek - very chilly but it felt absolutely great!  Photos to come later.

Our tent city was set up for us when we got shuttled to the campground - albeit as small tent.  No unpacking here - just gathering the necessities.  Got a quick 15 minute massage to loosen up the legs and lower back.  Tomorrow is going to be interesting - only 13 miles, but 2.7 of that is at an incredibly steep incline.  That may take a long time to do before we head down a steep terrain as well.

Gotta run to dinner - and get a good nights rest!

KEIYH

You're Only As Good As Your Support Team

Sunday morning - time to go! 

Last year, the TRR received something like a 99% satisfaction rating from the participants.  That alone would entice someone to enter a 6 day stage race.  It takes a small army to do what they will do for the near 300 competitors this week:  set up and break down tents each day, provide breakfast and dinner at the camping sites, set the on-course aid-stations, and move our belongings.  Without these volunteers working hard on our behalf, this race wouldn't be possible.  The behind the scenes work will go unnoticed to those not here; it will be greatly appreciated by all of us running (or walking)!

The support teams we have at home are no different.  Without their encouragement and support of us taking on this adventure, we wouldn't be here.  There have been a lot of people following us and reading these posts on the journey over the past few months, and now that the time has finally arrived to run, I can tell the readership is increasing each day.  If you are following, please take the time to write a comment at the end of any post along the way.  Lynn and I read those and they are quite energizing.  We know we have your support, and we thank you!

So I want to take time to thank my support team.  I have a crew of three that are my biggest cheerleaders, and who have had to put up with me during the last 8 months.  This crew is usually sleeping when I wake up on weekends to run, but always ask how the run went.  They got to listen to me discuss (or vent) about various aches and pains, and also share in the joys of watching the donation amount steadily rise to help the Gudeman's.  They know this run was important to me, and why I am doing it, and haven't wavered in getting me to this day.  To my support crew:  thank you for all you have done!  I love you all and you will be here in spirit with me over the next 6 days, helping me navigate the trails ahead and bringing this adventure to life.

Crew leader: Brenda (wife) - making sure I'm well fed and prepared and overseeing the rest of the crew
Head cheerleader: Erika (11) - also known as Chief Hugger - always smiling and encouraging
Chief of Aches & Pains: Ryan (7) - keeping me balanced by being an ache & pain. This isn't all about me

From this point forward - posts will come to the extent I can get a wireless internet signal whereever we are camping.  If you want to try and follow along via the TRR website, they may do daily update posts, which can be found at: http://transrockies.com/transrockiesrun/transrockies/newsletter_signup.htm or somewhere else via the transrockies site.   There won't be many photos from the running itself, since my Iphone won't be coming with me, but I will try to post others from around the campsites each night.  We will have cameras with us, but those pics won't get posted until we return to Charlotte.

Gotta go - they are calling us to the starting line!  See you on the other side....

KEIYH

Christmas in August!

This experience has brought us many special gifts - some are memories, some are renewed relationships, some are joys of helping others, and yet other gifts are still to be found.  Today, brought us tangible gifts.  In the form of SWAG.  Stuff We All Get.  We knew heading into this event that we would be provided a large duffel bag each - all of our belongings we will be using during the 6 days must fit in the bag - from shoes, running clothes, food, sleeping bag/pad, toiletries, etc.  We also knew that we would get a t-shirt (seems every race provides one of those), and even a nice Gore-Tex rain jacket -as they are a premier sponsor of the event.

But it was the rest of the SWAG that we received at registration this afternoon that made it Christmas in August!  A Timex running watch, a ceramic travel coffee mug, a book on trail running (a bit late for that in my mind!), a Nathan water bottle and holder, a running hat, and more!!  Our bag was so loaded from our 6th walking trip down to Main Street over the past 3 days, that it took two of us to carry it back to the hotel, where we spend a good hour packing it up with what we need.  Good thing it was a big bag!  In case you were wondering...I am leaving my hair product behind...

However, at registration we came across a few other surprises.   The first was when checking in, we picked up the brochure for the event, and were a bit stunned to see that this is a 6 day, 125 mile event.  Huh?  Say again?  Can't be possible.  Don't they know that this is 113 For Emmah?  That is what we trained for.  So, we casually asked one of the staff if that was the case, and he said the distance could be anywhere from 113 to 125 miles, depending on the course is marked that day.  Come again Poncho???  Ok, I can live with this....after all, if we are going to run/walk 113...what's another 12 thrown in for kicks.  I am all about change.

Then we move down the registration line to turn in our photo id's which will be needed throughout the event, which they quickly turn into a laminated id tag/lanyard we will carry with us.  (Notice the angelic like glow over Lynn's shoulder - I do believe Emmah is watching us!)Contains our photo, name, team name, and punch out for the various meals they will provide all week (don't want any free-loaders taking our bean burrito on Wednesday).  My tag looked just fine - me, Ken Bansemer, 113 For Emmah.  Check.

Lynn's tag on other hand had her photo, her name, and 114 For Emmah.  Uh-oh.  Is somebody trying to tell her something?  I reckon (that's a southern term for my northern friends) that she is supposed to go a little farther than me...probably because I've been doing all the heavy blog liftin'.  No biggie, we will roll with the punches.

Then we read in the map guidebook provided to us, that the run is actually going to be 115 miles over 6 days.  Seems to me we have some major confusion going on about now.  And I am thinking that my post from yesterday about doing 200 miles as the result of a few wrong turns might be more of a reality than I thought at the time.  So - let's just say we'll report the mileage each day to the extent we can.

As of now, we know tomorrow is 20.6 miles, because that is what the TRR people put out on their website today.  If you want a quick visual of the course for Sunday, view it here.

We were psyched when we got to the end of the registration line to see boxes and boxes of Solomon running shoes lined up along the wall.  MORE SWAG!!!  That wasn't in our bag originally, so we kindly asked if we get those too.  Sad to report, that we were informed those were for VIPs only.  Huh?  Who could be more important that us?  We are running for Emmah...don't they know that?  It would help to have Solomon shoes (even though we each have a pair to run in).  We aren't really sure who the VIPs are - probably elite runners, but still, lets get real here - we could surprise everyone.  Stop laughing.  Alright, even I am smiling as I write it. HA!  Supposedly if you finish on the podium each day, you are awarded a pair.  We shall see.  How can an elite running "win" 6 pairs of these?  Lets just say we are holding out hope that by the end of the week we will be VIPs as well!!!

After packing we headed off to our welcome dinner and orientation meeting.  The dinner was outstanding.  If the food is like this all week - I'll be a happy camper.  There were a number of different speakers representing the various sponsors, and the Transrockies organization.  In short - we will get a program each night recognizing the days winners (us....ahem), and going over the logistics for the next day.  Lots of good stuff is in store ahead, and we are going to be treated world-class the whole way (except for the part about sleeping in tents each night).

While reading a running magazine while out here, I came across this quote, which I think sums up the week ahead.  "At the start of races 50 miles or longer, most people have the spirit of We're about to embark on an adventure.  At the finish, regardless of how we place, we're all equals because we have finished a grand adventure."  Well said.

KEIYH