Stage 3: Long Haul

Sorry for the delay - no cell coverage to hook up yesterday...

Another day…another 24 miles covered.Today was long…not necessarily in time, but the distance took its tool. We covered the 24 miles (39km) in just about 3hrs 25min, taking 5th overall (again), but close to 20 minutes behind the winning team of Eric Skaggs and Max King (Nike/Rogue Valley Runners). I’m blown away at how fast these guys ran today- Skaggs won the event last year with his brother Kyle, while King (strongest of the two) I’m told was a recent qualifier for the ’08 US Olympic Trials in the 3000m Steeple Chase event – Obviously he’s not too shabby in the long distance events either. Second to the Nike Team was UK’s Saab/Salomon Team who were overtaken in the final 4 miles of rolling gravel road running. Rounding out the Top 3 was team Heathens from the UK, another road running duo which includes Mark Steinle, a 2:09 marathon runner who competed at the Sidney Olympics…Some tough contenders out here…

After yesterday’s stage 2, we moved up into 4th overall, about 18min behind the leaders, and in the mix with a bunch of teams. Today, we were overtaken by both the Heathens and the Fluffy Bunnies in time but will only drop one position to 5th overall because the Salomon US Team (who was 9min ahead in the overall yesterday) had a tough day at the office, rolling in about 3hrs 47min behind the leaders. Nobody said this TR thing was going to be easy…

Dennis and I worked hard today- I’ll admit that the distance took its toll on me too. We starting fairly conservatively, once again letting the lead pack pull away. It’s not as if we don’t want to be out there, but when covering so much distance, we have to make sure that we leave a bit of energy in the ‘tank’ for the next 3 days. In the end, we stayed fairly steady throughout the day, even pulling out the tow line to ensure that we stuck together. I didn’t actually pull Dennis, but the motivation of being joined at the hip ensured that we kept the pace consistent from start to finish. Mission accomplished.

Three days down - three days to go…and the physical and mental fatigue is already starting to show itself in many teams. The mood at the Salomon Tent is quite a bit different than yesterday, not necessarily in a bad way – sort of like a dog that’s had the shit kicked out of him…licking his wounds after a good fight. Everyone seems a bit more attentive to doing the ‘recovery’ thing, stretching lots, sporting their compression apparel (socks/tights) and forking out a few bucks for a massage. I’m feeling much of the same after today’s marathon, my quads are quite tender after yesterday’s hard descent and I’m doing as much as I can to ‘numb’ the pain from stage to stage. Either way you look at it, tomorrow should be interesting-