Gigathlon Camp

Training Camp Day 3

This was going to be the last day of camp and we started it with a run.  I think it is the run that we will be doing on day 5.  Rodger (winner from last year) and I were guides but he knew that I did not know where to go so he had to make sure that we all made it.  I was staying with the last runners and keeping count.  There were two of them that started walking and we were not on a really bad climb yet.  We were on a jeep trail part that was uphill but not technical.  I would try to keep some people ahead in sight and then run back to the last people to make sure we stayed on course.  The back of the pack was getting a little to far back and the steeper it got the harder it was to keep the ones ahead of me in sight.  We actually got where it was to steep to run and it was on the side of a cliff.  There were ropes hammered into the wall to use.  I was grabbing on to them for dear life!  I think I have discovered that I am scared of heights.  I was freaking out anytime I looked down.  Anyway I got up the really steep part and had to hurry to keep the others in sight.  I did not bother to go back down the really steep part to make sure the others were coming.  I knew they would be around soon and needed to keep the others in sight. You see the trails disappear and the Swiss are really good at hiking into the direction with the confidence that they are going to pick up where the trail left off.  I just stop where the trail ends.  When  I caught up to the others it looked like they were just walking across steep grass into trees.  I kept following them and lost the people behind me.  Well it turns out that the people I was following were off course and we had missed the trail.  One person of the group ahead of me came back with me and he asked me “What are you doing here.”  I think that he sensed I was supposed to be a guide and it was obvious that I had no clue of what I was doing.  I was a bit embarrassed since my hiking skills sucked.  This was my first time on a mountain hiking ever!  We were so high up that we could see the famous Materhorn from the top.  We back tracked and I was thinking of how bad I was for loosing my people behind me.  We then found the trail and started heading up it.  The guys that were behind were just fine and they were standing there with Rodger.  We were all grouped together and Rodger was looking at me like I was an idiot.  He did not think he was going to have to baby sit the race across America champion.  The top of the mountain went slow and I decided that I would just stay back.  The trail we were on was not made for running on..  It was narrow and lots of rocks and roots.  I could not believe that this was part of the race.  Everyone seemed to do really great going down except me.  I was thinking about how I was going to die every step I took.  The others were just jumping and crawling over the boulders and roots like they were nothing.  There was a part that I started to run at and the next thing I knew I was on the ground.  I did not look so cool then.  We were predicted to be in around 3 hours and we came in at 3 hours and 45 minutes.  This is going to be the start of Day 5?  I really got worried about the running after this.  What is funny about this run is that I thought that we were going to do a loop back to home and we ended up in a town called Montana at the bus.  I was clueless all weekend as to what I was doing since everything was in another language.  It was my first time to run with a camel back so my hair looked like a pom pom and was really knotted up. Most of the gang thought it looked like I needed to cut it but I picked most of it out on the bus.

After we got back to Luekebah.  I knew that Sarah had mentioned us riding home but I thought that she was just kidding.  I got off the bus and she was already in her bike clothes.  I had to dig mine out of my back and rushed around thinking we were going our own bike ride alone.  She said it was an easy downhill home.  When I showed up to meet Sarah there was a whole group of people waiting on me.  The camp was still going on.  We got started a little late and started riding uphill and it was steep.  I was thinking “some downhill.”  We did end this climb and it was at a huge cable car…wow…I had never been on one of these!  I was really excited but nervous too.  We were riding up the side of a cliff and were going to ride down the other side of the mountain…shit!  It was also raining.  I think everyone was getting a laugh at me looking at the cliff.  I saw a little trail on it and it had a runner on it.  It was Benny.  I will tell you more about this guy later but he sure looked crazy running up the cliff.  I hope he was going to take the cable car back down.  We all got out of the cable cars and bundled up for the downhill. I wanted to be last but Sarah took that place to keep an eye on us.  It was rocky and slippery but I was really enjoying it.  It opened up to a steep really rocky downhill that you could slip on and I let go of the brakes and started having some fun.  There were some curves and I was going to run into the guy in front of me so I hit my brakes and next thing I knew I was on the ground.  Sarah was back with the other two guys and they did not see me so I hoped back on my bike and acted like nothing happened.  We came across more snow and had to walk our bike through it.  I hated this part.  We had a few more snow patches but after that it was a nice downhill.  We did loose the lead group ahead of us but they got off course.  Just as Sarah said we did the last uphill there was another one.  We climbed and ended up at another cable car.  I was thinking “oh no.”  Sarah said we missed a turn so we got a bonus hill.  I was glad to know we were not going up again.  This downhill was fun and I enjoyed going fast but then there came some turns and this is not something I am good at.  I fell on these with Roz and still had the chicken blood in me from it so I would stop and manually turn my bike around.  There was one other guy that was behind me that could do the turns so we hung together and he passed me when it got really curvy.  Next thing I knew some of the lead group was coming down behind us.  They had taken a wrong turn. The good part about this was we were all grouped together and waiting for Sarah to help one other guy down.  After this it was mostly paved road and as we headed back to Sarah’s house people would stop at places where they had parked their cars.  She was not kidding…we were riding home.  I will tell you that it was not all downhill.  I am from Lubbock where it is flat and we were doing some gradual climbs.  They were not bad but I had some tricks up my sleeve to slow Daniel down.  He is doing solo also and the very fit guy that I rode with earlier in the week.  We were riding and there was a really pretty picture that needed to be taken.  We were right in the middle of a hill and I asked Daniel to take a picture.  This allowed Sarah and I to take it easy up the hill.  I really had a good time riding home with Daniel and Sarah.  We all had mud on our faces and looked like we had freckles.  I will not lie….I was wore out and riding in the back.  Sarah and Daniel were riding fast and with little effort.  I was really glad to be with such great athlete’s but really glad when we stopped at Sarah’s.  It was one long training weekend for this girl from Lubbock, Texas.  I decided that it would be a good idea to have a training camp for the training camp…if you know what I mean.