Grand2Grand
Grand to Grand
There was a year of planning before jumping on a plane to Las Vegas for this. I had originally planned to do the Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica, a stage race, but not self supported. A far more civilised way of doing things. However I was persuaded to do Grand to Grand by Mike, who was turning 50, as a way of celebrating his birthday. Maybe just go to Vegas and skip the run.
Grand to Grand is a lot smaller than Marathon des Sables. I knew that, although I hadn’t read too much about the race before signing up. I knew it was a similar format to MDS, 6 stages of racing, but slightly different as to when the ‘long day’ was.
I had planned my training around races for this year - the Fox ultra first, then the North Downs Way 50. Race to the Tower. I had also been accepted into doing the CCC race in France.
As it turned out, after the North Downs 50 I had a strain in my groin, that worried me right up until the week before Grand to Grand. I ran the Lakeland50 with it and it didn't really give me too much grief, but after the L50 I had a poor training block, resulting in me getting an MRI. The consultant at the London Institute of Sports Medicine and my physiotherapist were both worried about me having a stress fracture to my pelvis, indicated by pain only on exertion and in the change in power for going up hills. I got the results on the Friday before flying on the Wednesday. It turned out that I had an injury common with footballers and pregnant ladies. Pubic overload: a weakness in the tendons and ligaments in the groin, where it's held together in the front, but the news was good and I was good to go.
I flew into Las Vegas on the Wednesday, landing too late for the transfer on the Wednesday to Kanab. So I had a night to kill in Vegas. Normally not a problem I suspect, but the fact that all I was thinking about was getting to Kanab, I just used the time to try to get over jet lag. Stay up late, get up early. Which I did, I killed the Thursday walking up and down the strip, then catching the bus from the airport for a 4 hours ride to Kanab.
Mike, Katie and Nora had been in Kanab for a few days. I didn't know Nora, but I had done Marathon des Sables with Mike, and Katie was our tent mate. They were sending me photos and abuse of things that they were doing - aeroplane flights around the Kanab area. It was possibly one of the only times you would not want to kill time in Las Vegas.
I got to Kanab around 9pm and pretty much we went straight to bed.
Next morning was a quick 3 mile run planned in the area around Kanab. Kanab is set at altitude. 1,515 meters. Which, for perspective, is already 500 metres higher than Snowdon, 300 metres higher than Ben Nevis. The race finishes at 2600 metres, so altitude can become a factor in the race too - Mike and Katie were convinced that it affected them on the first run that they did. I didn't struggle as much as I thought, but I definitely did notice it.
The rest of the day was scheduled for equipment checks at race check-in. Food was weighed and everything we were to take on the race needed to be labelled with name or number, since any littering would incur time penalties. The one thing this race touted itself as being was environmentally friendly. Tread lightly, leave nothing. The use of single-use plastic bottles as in Marathon des Sables was not allowed. You had to carry your own water bottles and fill from containers at the checkpoints.
Katie was first to be checked. Mike and I were keen to see how this would pan out so we went to the check in with her to watch. She was very organised and the kit check was very smooth. Her food was weighed at 5kgs. No further action was taken - 5kgs seemed to be within the limits of not scrutinising too much the calories.
There was a tarpaulin laid out in the middle of the grass and people who weren't up to standard in terms of labelling were sat there labelling their equipment, with their names written on the 'naughty board'. As we walked past the board, mine and Mike's names were written on it. Confused, we asked why and were ushered over to the table where they were giving out the race bibs. A lady started to tell us what we had done wrong. Then she showed her face, it was Cher. Oh my god, we were surprised. She had volunteered to come and work on the checkpoints, knowing Mike and I were here. Cher was a friend who we met on Druids in 2016. We had done MDS with her, Mike had also been on two training camps to Lanzarote with her, and I had been on one.
Mike and I were next to be scrutinised. I started the process and realised I had misplaced my medical certificate, much to Mike's amusement. At first I assumed he had hidden it as I had had it the previous night when I was faffing and re-packing. I ran back to the hotel in a bit of a flap and realised I had left it by the bed. Obviously this was to the great amusement of Mike, Katie and Cher.
Check-in done, we were ready to go. We were issued with the road book and our race numbers.
Saturday..... the adventure really begins.
We were driven out to the the northern rim of the Grand Canyon. It was vast. I had been flown into the Grand Canyon three years before, when my sister got married in Las Vegas. It was impressive then, but from here it was much bigger, deeper and more impressive. We were also a long way off any of the tourist routes, no helicopters or any other people were here. I'd also never approached it from the ground and you could see it from miles away, just a large crack in the earth's crust. This would be our home for 24 hours before the race started.
We took photos and sat on the rim, looking in and taking more photos, before returning to our tents. We had tents provided for us on the race, and also chairs. We weren't expecting chairs. We were unsure if we would have them for the rest of the G2G, but for now we would take it. A surprising new luxury.
We spent a few hours back in the tent, sorting gear, re-packing and taping feet. Our American friends were new to this phenomenon, but joined us and we taught them how to tape, what we were taping. Johnny was also in the process of gluing in his gaiters, which also seemed a bit late in the day. I had mine stitched into my trainers. I had been told gluing would either crack or melt, but I didn't want to mention anything. I was conscious of being the know-it-all. I had only done one self-sufficient stage race before - I had some experience, but I was nowhere near being the oracle. It annoyed me listening to 'experts' who had done MDS many times whose opinion was the only way. Yes, it worked for them, but they tried to batter their opinion down the throats of people who paid money to listen to them. I now understand that some even make their 'clients' wear the same and eat the same as them just to get the weight of their packs to under 7kgs. I don't subscribe to that method at all.
The last provided meal was in the evening. We had cowboys come in with a field kitchen and cook for us. The food, although not low carb, was fantastic. To be honest although my breakfasts and lunches were low carb, my snack bag and evening meal were not. We were sat at tables with a view of the Canyon. I sat looking in awe. I wondered what a geologist would make of it.. I knew that 250 million years ago we would be sitting on an equatorial flood plain. Volcanic activity to the west would be covering us with ash. At some point there would be dinosaurs roaming. I was mesmerised sat here eating.
As soon as the sun went down, it was bed time. I don't think I slept.
​
Sunday is race day........
Part of the routine over the next few days was forged here. I woke at 6 and sat outside and ate my breakfast. Katie would join me. The others: Mike, Nora, Johnny, Scott and Bill, would sort their kit out. Some would eat in bed. I got out to give everyone space. Packing would be easier as the week went on, but for today it was a nightmare. Bags were full. Mine was 10kgs without water on day one, which was pretty much bang on what I had hoped for. Well, I'd have liked it to be less, but that would have been less food. I didn't want less food.
We packed our bags, cleaned and brushed out the tent - penalties were applied for dirty tents or any equipment or rubbish left in them. Bill was the brush master; coming from Kanab, he was used to sand being blown in the house and one of his chores as a child was to brush. He laughed at us Brits 'pushing' a broom and took it over.
We donned our bags, belts and gear and headed to the start line. We had our last minute photos before the start, then the official ones. We were all at the front for the official start line photo. We knew we wouldn't be in the front for the race, but at least we were for the photos.
Day 1 was underway and we had 170 miles to go. As usual, I broke this down to checkpoints. We had 4 today. At these CP's your race passport would get ticked off to show you going through each CP. Each 750ml bottle of water I would fill to the top and add a Precision Hydration tablet too. This oddly made the warm water taste better, but they were effervescent, so what it did mean is that if I over-filled the bottles, it would pressurise them. By CP1 I was running on my own. The field had stretched out. I wasn't really too aware of where I was in position, but as I started at the front, I knew there weren't too many people ahead. At this point too, it didn't matter. My goal was to get to the 'long day'. After the long day, it was the back part of the race. Especally with two marathons to go and an 8 miler, that would count. Today was just about getting the day done, getting some rest and reducing some weight in the bag. I was carrying just under 1kg of food per day! This included my race snacks, the salt for the day, breakfast, coffee and evening meal. I knew I could be lighter if I wanted to be higher up the order, but as well as making a good account of myself, enjoying this race was also as important.
As I came out of CP 1 I was with Rolf, a very tall, lean German that I first saw in Vegas. He got the same bus as me to Kanab. We got talking - he was surprised that only a little over an hour in we were so spaced out: no-one visible in front or behind. We chatted for a few hours, ticking off the CP's. We were making good time, nowhere near flat out. It was warm. I hadn't done any acclimatisation in the UK for heat or altitude and both did have an effect on me, but not horrendously. I was a bit short of breath, more than I felt I should be at this pace, so I put that down to altitude. I wasn't sweating so much, or maybe it was evaporating quickly.
Rolf was worried that he wasn't recovered from a 100 mile race he had done with his friends a few weeks prior. He was clearly a great runner, like a metronome. He didn't seem to slow. We weren't going 'quick' if you put us on a road marathon - we were doing 5 and a half hour pace.
We came into CP3 and Cher was there. She was a little surprised seeing me and gave me a bit of pep talk about being too quick. We have a long way to go, this is Day 1!
Actually she was right, Day 1 was 31 miles, CP3 was at 18 miles and I was starting to really feel it. I hadn't walked until this point, but I walked out of the checkpoint, eating, and shuffled off. With miles to go I knew I would have to push a bit, although conscious of the many days ahead.
Rolf left ahead of me. I decided to let him go - he did look for me to run with, but I flagged him on. I could have kept pushing, but I was tired and I certainly didn't want him to wait for me.
So far, we had mainly been on trail. Packed dirt and loose rock, but trail. We had been warned that after CP4 we would be a bit more cross-country, and the road book warned of cactus, capable of piercing the soles of your trainers. The road book also showed we had one CP to go. As this was a 31 mile day, we also had an extra water drop. We were permitted to only fill one bottle at the drop. It wasn't manned, but there were only a few containers and I assumed that once it was gone, it was gone, so thinking of the back markers who would be out 'enjoying the course the most,' as Colin put it, I filled my half-empty bottle and made my way to CP4.
Between CP3 and 4 I had been overtaken by two ladies: Melissa, from Alaska, and from the Lake District or Kirkby Lonsdale, Sally Ford. Sally had a sleeping bag boucing around on the outside of her pack. We joked about it, and she ran on.
As we turned off the track, we had our first climb across country. There was no trail, just pink flags and ribbons to follow. The cacti were lethal. I didn't stand on any, but they looked menacing.
It was a bit of a climb, so no running up to the road. We crossed it directly into CP4. From the elevated position we could see the white of the tents at Camp 2 in the distance. In reality it was only just under 5 miles, but I was pretty much done! I didn't have a lot of running left in me, but I ran on the downhills to use gravity. Out of the CP was downhill to the fence - it looked as though we were going straight now to the camp. It didn't look too far, so buoyed, I picked my heels up and ran on.
This was when I realised the fun that Colin and Tess would be having over the next few days. I'm not sure if this was coincidence or design of the course creators, but on Marathon des Sables, you didn't really see the camps until you were right on them: on Grand 2 Grand it became apparent that you could see the camps from miles away, but you ended up on a dogleg to get to them. I'm not sure if it was just how it turned out, but both got to you! On Day 1 it was unexpected, by Day 2 I knew what was coming.
The trail followed the fence for a few miles, then I could see some runners coming from left to right in front of me. It seemed that there was a fence that turned 90 degrees to the left and went halfway up the hills before stopping and then coming straight back down again. It made me laugh. This wasn't the end of the fun either - half a mile further on it pretty much took the same pattern and climbed. This time, however, we didn't come back down, we ran along another fence to what looked to be the finish.
I could see a marshall on the track guiding us into the field where Camp 2 was. We had to run around some flags for a few hundred metres, I guess just to tick over the miles to be exactly 31. I crossed the line to hugs and handshakes from Tess and Colin. We were offered water and I sat down on the mini chairs in the cyber tent. The cyber tent was a bit of a communal area where the laptops for emailing out were and also the hot water. I took my bag off and laid down, putting my feet up on the chair. I rummaged around for my protein recovery powder and added it to my water.
I didn't feel too bad, to be honest. I took my trainers and socks off and examined my feet. Day 1 was done and I was unscathed. In hindsight, Day 1 was pretty bland. We had the most amazing start by the Grand Canyon, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but the terrain from there had been pretty samey. We ran along the Vermillion Cliffs, which we could see all day, which again were special, but we didn't climb them, we were just getting away from the Grand Canyon.
I gathered my bits up and made it over to our tent. I opened the door and dropped my gear, laid down again and propped my feet on my bag. I had read somewhere that this position was good for recovery and helped the body clear the lactic acid and nasties out of the legs. I looked at my time: I had finished in 6 hours 49:43, 21st out of the 135 that started. I was pleased with that, but knew I would struggle to sustain it.
Mike and Katie came in next, 46th and 47th. They had run most of the day apart, but came across each other towards the end of the day. We were all pleased with how were doing. I knew this was the pace that Mike wanted to do. He had done some maths and expected to be around 30% longer than we had on MDS. Day 1 was done for them in 7 hours 49. I hadn't thought about times so much - I thought there were too many unknowns to put the pressure on, but I was happy with how Day 1 had gone. Next to arrive a few minutes later was Nora.
The three Americans in our tent were running as a team, which meant that they had to leave each CP together. If they didn't, their team would be disqualified and they would become individual competitors. Six teams started the day. By the end, only two were left: our 'tenties' from Southern Utah University, SUU; and Team Roosters. The biggest and most high profile team, Team Jamesy, dissolved. They were raising money for James Raffone's son, who has a rare muscle degenerative disease, Muscular Dystrophy. James is a larger than life New Yorker who spearheaded the foundation to try to save his son's life. This was also James' 3rd attempt at G2G. He had never got past the long day.
The boys from SUU arrived. To be honest, I knew these boys were fit, strong guys, but when they arrived I was a little worried about the state of Scott, the Dean of the University. They had been on the course for over 9 hours and 40 minutes. We all got up and offered help. Johnny was pleased his taping worked. He took his shoes off and fell asleep. I had never seen anyone fall asleep so quickly. Bill got his admin sorted. He was a real morale booster - he joked with us, kept the stories going, and by all accounts was giving biology lessons while on the move. Scott was quiet and in a bad way. We got them water and talked them into getting their food sorted. We didn't have long until sunset, so time really was of the essence if they wanted to get food and recovery in before dark.
The last competitor came in in just under 12 hours 30 mins. A fairly large group gathered by the finish line to cheer everyone in. Everyone had finished Day 1.
The day was over pretty quickly. We had all eaten, emails arrived from home, and we crawled into our sleeping bags and slept. The ground under the ground mats wasn't anywhere near flat. I'm sure I did sleep, but it didn't feel like it.
Stage 2
In the morning we were woken again by the same playlist - the Proclaimers blasting out. I got up, sat outside and ate breakfast. Cher came and said good morning and quickly left. She was heading out to CP3 and they left before us.
We packed bags, sorted our kit, brushed the tents out, cleared the rubbish, and headed to the start. Bags were still very full, but we were better at packing them. My daily food was packed into my belt and we made our way to the start line. The pink track markers led back to the fence we ran down yesterday, but joined the track again heading north along the trail.
Surprisingly I didn't start off with stiff limbs and very quickly I found myself with the same people around us as stage 1. Stage 2 was under way and we were still traversing along the Vermillion Cliffs. After 6k we hit the first checkpoint, turned a sharp 90 degrees and headed northwest, following the Navajo Trail. For the next 3km the route took a 400 metre climb, which was the first real climb of the week. It was a beautiful trail, sandier and with the vegetation changing from the low grass we had been used to since arriving at the lip of the Grand Canyon to more shrubs and gnarly trees, used to being baked in the sun. The scenery became more picturesque and beautiful and the terrain became more demanding. This was the first time I'd had to manage my water. I'd worked out that I was taking 2 hours or so between CPs so should be drinking half a bottle per half hour, which still kind of tied in with my MDS strategy of 5 sips per 15 mins. We had had more water on MDS, and I was starting to think that I'd be struggling. There was plenty in the camps at night, but I was starting to think that the long day may be a problem with the extra time it would take on the course. On a regular day I was finishing around 1pm but the hottest temperature was around 3pm. No matter, I'd have to deal with it.
After Stage 1 was complete, I got talking to Neil, the race director for XNRG, who was also here racing. We had spoken about the history of the area. Today we were on the Navajo Trail, described in the course book:
"The Navajo trail is an old shepherding and Indian trail that goes though the Kaibab Plateau. It's a horse path, which was first used by the white man in 1871. The trail traverses the scenic pinyon pine and juniper forests of House Rock Valley and the oak and pine of the Kailbab Plateau. It overlooks the Paria Plateau with its unique wind and water-sculpted red rock formations."
I was captured by the beauty. After the first climb the majority of the rest of the day was downhill. As we came across the high plateau we came to CP2; there was a steep climb out of CP2 and then it was downhill to the end. Cher was spraying water at CP3. She made comments about me stinking but would still hug me - I made a note to try and do some laundry tonight. Soon CP4 came and I started to feel it. The terrain had come back to a road/ trail and I expected this would be the same until Camp 3. Actually this for me was harder than the trail. The trail kept my mind busy, looking for a route and following the markers, which was surprisingly hard as every direction seemed to be trail. If you missed a marker you could be off course, which happened. I slowed to a walk, looked around and couldn't see anyone hunting me down. I'd already been passed by Melissa and Sally, this was becoming a pattern. I was okay with it. It seemed to be the order of things.
After an hour or so on this track I saw the dust cloud of a vehicle coming towards me. I expected it to be a race vehicle, but it was a sand buggy of a local. I moved to the right as it approached me, the dust was blowing the other way. The lady driving asked if the race was coming this way and how many, I told her 100 or so were behind me and she said she would take another way. She did - straight across country. I figured I was about 2 miles from the next camp and wanted to pick the pace up. I could see the course markers about 100 metres apart and decided to run to the next then walk to the following. I kept this rhythm going for a while, until I was about 500 metres from the camp. I could see Colin on the finish line and thought I would push to the end. I crossed the line and he hugged me. He thought I was quicker than the day before, but I was doubtful. I finished the day in 24th place in 6 hours 41:13. More than pleased, I went to the cyber tent, filled my bottles and added my recovery shake. I put my feet up and relaxed. I'd have liked to have been able to run more of the latter section of the day's course, but my speed through the CPs and fuelling was good. I had a think about my race strategy so far: fuel, salt, water, feet. I was happy.
30 minutes later Mike came across the line, a few minutes behind Neil. The tents weren't ready for us at the moment - the camp crew had had issues with a vehicle, so we lazed around waiting. My shoes were off and I noticed my big toenail was looking in danger of falling off. I pulled it and it was loose, it came off with ease but left my toe bleeding. I put the nail on my shoe ready to dispose of. About 30 seconds later, one of the doctors, Sam, came into the tent, saw the nail and called me to the medical tent. It was missing the furniture, but she sat me on a pelican case and dressed the nail, telling me off for pulling it off. I went back to my laying around. Half an hour after Mike, Katie came in, smiling and happy. Katie made me laugh, she swore like a squaddie but with a posh accent. She ate her body weight in food at every opportunity and she always seemed to have toes that were blistered. She didn't really seem to worry, though, she was hard as nails, just not her own toenails. Nora was another 20 minutes or so back. The tents we ready so we went to arrange ourselves and sort gear. We hadn't been back long when Johnny, Scott and Bill arrived, looking in much better shape than the previous day.
Spirits were good. The whole tent was back and we knew from previous years that after the long day, no-one dropped out. No-one had dropped on day one either. Unfortunately we lost 4 today. One of them, Lou, Mike had become friendly with in Kanab. Turned out he had a stress fracture to his foot. He did, however, volunteer to stay on and would be on the next day's CP s. Another friendly face wouldn't go amiss, especially on the long day.
There were nerves growing around the long day. Bill asked us our strategy. I told him that I planned to push on and try to finish. I'd done two 50 mile runs in the build up to this: the North Downs 50 and the Lakeland50. I did them in just over 9 and just over 10 hours respectively. I knew this would be slower due to fatigue from the previous days - weight, heat, altitude, and a whole myriad of different factors would also affect my time, but I was still hoping for 18 hours or so. Even being 30% slower than MDS I expected I would be quicker than I was back then.
Scott was aprehensive, he was talking to Bill and Johnny about stopping for a rest. They seemed keen to push on, but as none of them had done the distance or indeed a stage race before, they agreed that they would be sensible and not try to push on. I had decided to run the long day with Mike. He wasn't much slower than me in any case, so it would be good to drive each other. We had done this many times and we knew what it would take to finish. Everyone ate, tended to their feet and other admin, and got to bed as it got dark again.
Stage 3
This was the challenge of the week. Yes it was all tough, Day 1 was hard going, but this was the double, one day earlier than on MDS. The elevation today was harsh: 1700m (5577ft) of ascent, 1300m (4265ft) of descent, which would be tough on its own, let alone in an 85km (53mile) run.
We started at 7am, which would give us more time in daylight. The elite runners would start 3 hours behind us - we were pleased not to be in that category. Mike and I ran steady, crossing from Arizona into Utah after 20 minutes or so. We followed a dusty trail road, crossed a main highway, and moved though a very light residential area on the outskirts of Kanab, then took a fairly steep climb up onto anther step of the Grand Staircase. The views from the top were spectacular. This was what I had been expecting, far more rugged and mountainous. It didn't feel horrendously steep, following a trail - which I presumed was designed for horses -with signs warning us of time penalties for cutting the switchback corners.
For the first half of the day the CPs were evenly spread, about 10km apart. We ticked them off, knowing some of the volunteers pretty well now, and obviously having Cher on CP3. CP4 was Joanne, who had come out to support two of her friends. The Brits were very supportive of us. To be honest they all were - the energy especially today was electric in the CPs, bearing in mind that they had long days in the sun too. Pacing wasn't accurate today and although we were allowed to use Garmins (just not to publish the data), I had mine in 'ultra track', taking GPS points at far fewer intervals but meaning it would last easily for the time I planned on being on the course.
Mike and I had picked up Neil now, we were running this as a 3. We were all even for pace. Neil was using poles, but was keen to run on every part that wasn't climbing, so this suited us all. Not long after that, we also picked up a Brit who was wearing an Aussie patch on his arm. He moved from Grimsby 20 years ago and had made a new life for himself, retaining his accent. Paul was also around our pace and was keen to stay with us.
We passed one of the Aussie competitors, George, who I knew was close to me for the first two days. He was lying on his backpack, out of water, stretching his back. He said he had 'blown up' and asked if we knew how far to the next CP. I assumed looking at my watch it was 3km away. We had no water to give him either - we were all out. He told us to go on and leave him. We had gone around 300 metres when we saw the CP. We filled our bottles and discussed going back and letting George know it was just here, but before we had made the decision we saw him. We hope we would have made the decision to go and get him but we will never know!
He arrived at the CP and we apologised. He laughed and laid on his bag again, stretching himself. He said he was really struggling today and would be taking it easy. We said goodbye, filled up, hugged Cher and got moving. I pity Cher, we must have been stinking by then, but she hugged us all and cheered us into the distance.
We followed the course off the dusty road and into the 'bush' on a dried river bed. We could imagine that in a flash flood this would be a torrent of water and you could see the water cut its way into the rock, moving boulders and debris with it. Neil and Paul got talking about football, Paul still a massive Grimsby town fan. We had been going a few minutes and realised we had not seen any course markers. There were also no footprints. Neil took the blame for leading us off course as we turned around. Of course it was everyone's fault, but we let him anyway, all part of the banter of the day!
We found the markers again and turned right, going steep up the bank off the river. We figured our little detour took us 20 minutes out the way.
The next few miles would take us though a canyon. It was incredible scenery with massive rock formations. Some looked balanced, some had holes cut in them through wind and water erosion. I could have spent hours taking photos, but today would not be the day for that.
Eventually we came to a road crossing with state troopers waiting to assist us to cross. We exchanged a few pleasantries with them as we did. As soon as we crossed, the scenery seemed to turn a lot more luscious. We followed a canyon to a riverbed where the river looked refreshing and we all dipped hats and buffs in. It felt amazing, cooling us instantly. The edges of the canyon were slowly closing in on us, but this section seemed to carry on for a long time. We also were starting to lose the sunlight. Mike said he could hear a drone and eventually we saw it, along with a photographer. This surely meant that we were close to a CP and getting out of the canyon. Sure enough we came to a road and a CP. This was the halfway point, in terms of the checkpoints - as it happened the second 'half' was longer than the first, spacing 4-5 being 11km, then 12.7km then 9.3, 7.2 and 5.3km to the end! 45.5km to go after completing 40km. The profile showed that after CP6 it did look to be downhill, but my god was there a sting in the tail.
We did dig deep to push on, we were still making good time. Mike was starting to talk about his fuelling. He ate his food, but was starting to feel very tired. We kept an eye on him for a while and said that at CP6 we would sit for a few minutes and get some food in him. My strategy was to eat at CP7, which tied in with Neil. Mike had an extra meal for this, a 'wet' MRE as the Americans call it. He ate the meal and we carried on going, he was digging deep. We seemed to be walking more than running due to the sand. Oh boy was it sandy! It was like the trails had been dug up and put through a sieve. We found out later that due to the lack of rain that the region had had, the trails were breaking up into deep sand. We hit CP6 and sat down for a few minutes while Mike ate. Neil emptied his shoes and I had some snacks. We got ourselves together and headed off. We knew this would be a tough section hitting the sand dunes.
I'm not exaggerating when I say this was by far the hardest section of any race that I've ever done. It felt as though you were walking into a wall of sand that you were then climbing up on hands and knees. We climbed the first and laughed. It was mental how hard the climb was. We tackled the next and then the next. We could see small LED lights on the flags that we were supposed to be following, it turned out that some of them actually looked like stars as we were walking to the base of the next wall of sand. Mike was in a world of pain. We were convinced each one would be the last. I'm not sure how long it took but we did eventually make it out of the dunes and into CP7. Cher was waiting for us and said she was amazed that everyone who made it to her so far had been broken by the dunes, even the leaders. We sat and ate. Cher filled our bottles as we sat in silence. Mike couldn't eat again and said he was going to stop here and sleep for an hour or so. I didn't think he would. I left him for a few minutes to gather his thoughts as we started to sort our gear and get ready to crack on. Mike walked towards the tent. I had a word with him, convinced he would carry on, but he was adamant he wanted to rest for a few hours. He walked to the tent and went inside. Cher shouted to him and he said to wake him in a few hours.
We set off for the final checkpoint. We had 7.3km to go and then the final 5.3km. On a flat fresh run with no weight we would all have done this in an hour and a half at the most but we knew this was 3 hours or so, a mixture of running and walking. I was determined now and drove the pace. I did feel bad for leaving Mike, but I had done enough runs with him to know that he would carry on and finish. He had plenty of time to finish, with the cut-off not until 6 the following evening. Even at a slow walk he would have no problem. As it happens he heard Katie come into the checkpoint 'bouncing off the walls' stupidly happy and excited. This gave him the motivation to get up and push on.
The final few miles were a blur. They were never-ending. I was somewhere between delirious and exhausted. I knew the end was in reach, a parkrun away at most, but the track there was ankle-deep sand. Every step was sapping. I don't really remember getting into the camp other than Tess giving us a hug. I had some water and got into bed. I'm not even sure if I got the ground mat out. I was the only one in the tent.
I woke up as the sun came up - I had only been asleep for 5 hours or so. Katie and Mike were also in their sleeping bags. I was chuffed to bits for Mike to be here, still feeling as though I shouldn't have left him. Bill burst in to the tent next with Johnny and Scott, they too had stopped for a few hours sleep, they said they had seen Nora, who was also home. Amazing we were all in. We knew that history told that getting though the long day was a pretty good omen for finishing.
The sun was up and it was too warm to sleep in the tent. We were in an area that was a lot less sharp under the mats. We laid around for a few hours with a slow stream of people finishing. We cheered people in. Mike had a few spare coffees so we had a couple of drinks. In the late afternoon a vehicle turned up with ice chests in the back and they started to hand out cans of Coke!
Ice cold Coke! And party games. Lasso came out and the horseshoes, trying to hook around the pins. Everyone was in a good mood. Although we had only done stage 3, everyone's morale was buoyant.
Stage 4
Today we would be going up the Whites, Islands in the Sky, the 3rd of the 5 steps of the Grand Staircase. We would also be passing one of the sponsors of the G2G and a large landowner of part of the route. The Best Friends Animal Society is a nationwide animal sanctuary giving hope to over 2000 dogs and cats. It has a no euthanasia policy. We were passing within a few hundered metres of the cafe on site. We were told in the race briefing that we were also banned from stopping!
Today I was back to running alone, hovering around the 25 position mark. Although during the day this wasn't weighing on my mind, during the down time in camp I was thinking about it. I would love to finish in the top 30 and I would have to make sure I pushed hard. The terrain today was rough. The sand was getting less and it was more runable. The temperature was cooling too as we gained altitude - not by a huge amount during the day, but enough to make it very cold at night.
There was a long section almost following a highway to the right. As I was running along a fairly easy section of almost road trail I caught my foot and fell. I was more annoyed with myself than anything. Some of the trail had been heavily bouldered in dry river and I fall on an easy section. I rubbed the grit out of my hands and it took me a mile or so to get back up to pace. I came into CP and said hi to Cher. She knew I was a bit annoyed and cheered me up with cheering and shouting as I came into the CP. She filled my bottles and kicked me out the CP. Almost immediately there was a climb up to a tunnel. Reading the road book it said you wouldn't need a head torch, however I fell over twice in the tunnel, both times laughing to myself slightly hysterically. As I exited the tunnel, Josh, one of the doctors, was coming back towards the CP that he would have been working on. I noticed he was clever enough to have a head torch with him.
Not too much further on I could see a photographer waiting. He was there to catch you on a steep scramble up a rock face with a ladder and rope to assist. I recognised it from some of the photos on the G2G website. It was on the trail to CP4 that it took a sharp right that I missed. I ran about a mile longer than I should. I was greeted by a runner, Crystal, coming back towards me. You could hear the energy from the CP, so we were close. I was annoyed that I missed the turn and ran back up the hill. On my return I picked up two other people coming down the wrong way. We found the trail and ran to the CP. This was the first time I realised how close we were in the rankings and that I had added at least a mile due to lack of concentration.
I was slick though the CP and was out again. Jo was cheerful and sprayed water at me as I left. There wasn't far to go. I got my head down and worked hard to finish. I finished the day in under 6 hours, the first time I had gone sub-6 all week. I was happy with that; found my way to the cyber tent, had some water and ate my snacks. I had only been in for 15 minutes or so when Mike came in. He had had a great day. He was using his poles and admitted they were a huge help for him. Neil wasn't far behind and he was surprised to see that Mike had got in before him. Mike's confidence was back after the long day. It was great to see.
Katie was next back, followed by Johnny, Scott and Bill, We were worried for Nora, she was taking far longer than she should. When she arrived she was in a bit of a bad way. She had taken over 9 hours. I got up and made her dinner for her and left her to Katie. They were friends of many expeditions. She had a rough day out there and in my experience it was better to leave her to it for a few minutes, get some food in her and let her recover. She had a small cry and in her own words 'gave herself a talking to' She was a tough girl, but even the toughest can have a bad day. This was hers.
After we had all been fed and watered Nora started to become her usual self and got on with her evening routine of yoga. As much as I knew it was good for me, I just didn't fancy trying to stretch too much - something may go twang!
Stage 5 - the last real challenge.
Stage 5 for me was by far the most magical. Well, the first 3/4 anyway. We left the camp and quickly entered Peek-a-Boo Canyon. This was the day that I had been looking forward to the most: running though the slot canyons that I had only seen on the Discovery Channel and the film '127 Hours' where Aaron Ralston gets caught by a falling rock in a slot canyon. This was beyond anything I had seen before - the colours, the formations, the rocks were just incredible. Fallen trees were jammed in places, we had to crawl through a small hole, down a ladder. It was just amazing. The professional photographers had set up in various places to capture us with an action shot. I was loving every second of it.
The canyon came to an end and I spent a long period running along a dry river. We could see roughly where we were heading and it looked to be up a steep rock face. Sure enough, it was. The trail followed mountain trails. Today really was my day. Eventually though it evened out on to a gravel/trail road following a ranch full of cattle. The road would carry on for a good 6 or so miles. This was the worst of an amazing week of trails, but it allowed for some progress. I was now running with Crystal, a French lady who was 15 minutes ahead of me in the standings. We spoke and ran/walked the final few miles. She lived in New York - inevitably this got us talking about Mike Bloomberg, the owner of the company I work for. She hoped he ran for president!
We finished the final marathon in a little over 6 hours. Now I was to wait for my tent mates to finish. With an 8 mile run tomorrow it was obvious that this was really the finish. We would crawl tomorrow if we had to, but finishing today was key. Mike wasn't far behind me, again. He was loving the poles! Katie, Nora, and team SUU came in. We all stayed to cheer everyone in. The atmosphere around the camp was electric. Everyone knew the implications of finishing today. We all sat around the cyber tent, eating, talking and checking the finishers' positions.
The final finishers came in and everyone got to bed.
Stage 6
I knew that today I would have to be 1hour 40 mins slower than the person behind me to lose a position, but I had to make up 15 minutes to pull a position, which wasn't likely either. Mike, on the other hand, had 3 minutes to lose his and another 1 or 2 to make to get into the 30's. Technical terrain isn't his strong point either - he prefers the less rugged trails. However, he was improving rapidly. I also knew I wanted to cross the line with him today. A group had set off an hour ahead of us and there was one an hour behind us. We worked hard to stay towards the front of the group we were in. We were moving well. We guessed today would be under 2 hours so we knew we could give it beans! Today was all uphill. There wasn't a lot of rest and recovery, but the views were spectacular. Looking at the formations of rocks was amazing. I was not expecting towers like this - the colours, the sheer beauty. We closed in on the peak and we knew there wasn't long to go. We could hear the microphones announcing the runners coming in. We knew we wanted some good finishers' photos so we worked to make some clear space around us. As we came towards the end, Michael Jackson said we should moonwalk. It was the worst moonwalk you have ever seen, by a long way, but it was a fitting end to 275km of running, plus the bits we added!
We were presented our buckles by Colin. Colin explained to every finisher the fact that there were only 600 or so of these in circulation. I knew the race would be tough. It was tougher than I expected, but far more beautiful. The whole experience was something special, magical, brutal. Would I do this race again? In a heart beat!
