Fox Cities Marathon Appleton, WI 9/23/12

I ran this race last year as a Marathon Maniac reunion, and this year because I had access to a “free” hotel room. My dad was visiting this week from Seattle and was in Appleton, WI for a cribbage tourneyment, a mere 5k away from the start line at UW-Fox Cities. I worked on Saturday for 10 hours and then made the 2 hour drive up from Milwaukee and checked in. Early bed time for a 5 am alarm, with the race starting at 7am. We found a Starbucks open early on Sunday am and took the long way to the start line with plenty of time to spare without having to stand out in the 38 degree cold weather. In 2 months 38 degrees will no longer feels cold but right now in transition into fall, everyone looked freezing, particularly the spectators.
The race started on time at 7am and we were off. The had 2 corrals A, B, C and it helped to organize the different running paces. This race is a point to point and there are random pockets of spectators in the neighborhoods cheering. A few interesting signs “Worst Parade Ever,” “Motivational Sign,” and “If this were easy your husband would do it.” I wore capris, tshirt, and gloves and was at a perfect temperature. By the end of my run at 11am, temps were in the upper 50’s.
I had no race goal but had to think about time a little as my dad was out cheering and needed rough estimates for spectating sites. I started out and found myself at 9 min/mile and ended up staying at that pace the entire morning. I did slow down slightly to use the portapotty once and when I started geting moderately severe right knee pain. It turns out my sciatic nerve on the right side was being pinched and the pain would go away completely if I picked up my knees a little, it was very weird but I was grateful for the pain relief.
I finished in 4:02:44 and was surprised and pleased with my time. Space blankets, finsher medal and shirt, and the usual after race fruits, bagels and water. Bummer for them though to have run out of chocolate milk so early on in the race, usually that happens close to the surge of runners finishing at the 4:30 mark. I suspect having the half marathon runners finish before the marathoners had a part in that. Boo.
A short walk to the car, late checkout at the hotel and we were on our way on the 2 hour drive back to Milwaukee.This was a well run race, great aid stations with a few of them being themed (cowboy at one, hippy at the other).
Repeat state. #44 marathon or longer.
Next up, Tahoe Triple Marathon Sept 28, 29, 30!

Flatlanders 6/12 Hour Race Fenton, MO State #29

I got an email from a fellow Marathon Maniac that she had noticed that I needed Missouri in my 50 states quest, and that there was one labor day weekend near St Louis. Great! I sent off my entry that same day.

We made a quick trip of the race, driving down on Saturday, the day before the race from Wisconsin in a rental car to get better gas mileage. Arriving to what we thought was a few minutes before packet pick up closed, but they were actually open for 1 more hour. Drove to the hotel about 6 minutes away, checked in, and hung out in the A/C waiting to get hungry due to stopping for lunch at subway at 1pm. Dinner at Olive Garden for the all you can eat pasta bowl, but we both ended up just eating one "bowl" each. We did splurge on pumpkin cheesecake and shared it between the two of us. After dinner, back to get organized for the next day.

Up at 5:30a to enjoy the continental breakfast that was already set out (yay for Holiday Inn Express again!). The race started at 7:30a, and we were there by 7a to get our drop bags under the tent near the start. However, we were two of only a half dozen that did this as most people had their own setup with chairs, blankets, umbrellas, etc. set up along the start/finish area. It was warm and very muggy at the start and never changed much other than about a 40 minute time span of rain a few hours into the run. Unfortunately, several people did not anticipate rain and had all their stuff laid out for easy access.

The race was a 1.4 mile loop in Fenton Park that you run repeatedly for 6 hours. There is one aid station at the start/finish, and one tiny hill that over time gets "bigger" and more people walk it each loop. There are several drinking fountains around the loop as well, and a bathroom with flushing toilets at the start/finish and again about half way around. I had forgotten my gels/shot blocks but this was not an issue as they had typical ultra fare at the aid station that I used as fuel instead. They also put out gu but I never took any. The loop has enough variation in each part of the loop to keep it a little interesting as you made your way around. An occasional chit chat with runners that you pass, that pass you, and that you run the same pace with for a short time passed the time as well. Most people I talked with lived in the area and were a part of the running club that put on the race, the SLUGs, St Louis Ultrarunning Group. Love the name!

Each lap your timer makes an X in your box on a big chart and tells you what lap you are on. At one point my timer told me that my nearest competitor I was about to lap. I wasn't sure what that meant in the overall standings, but it did give me some motivation as I had only been passed by a few people, and only males. I had 2 low spots when my electrolytes were off and I got a sloshy stomach, but no nausea. The first time taking electrolyte capsules helped, and the second time was after taking electrolyte capsules but then I needed to drink a little more water to dilute things.

The last 20 minutes of the race they stopped letting people do the entire loop and had set up a small 1/8 mile out/back near the start/finish line and then gave people little flags with your name and bib # on them to place in the dirt on your right when you heard the bullhorn signaling the finish. People said it looked very entertaining to see all of us stop at the same time and put our flags into the ground.

I also got to meet a few runners that I am facebook "friends" with at the race which is always nice, such a small and friendly running community! One runner we had even tracked online when he ran in Western States this year.

I usually never stick around for the awards ceremony but they did not hand out finishers medal until that time and so we did a quick change of clothes at the car and headed back to the picnic area. Finishers got a gold medal if they ran a 50k or longer, silver if you ran a marathon up to a 50k, and bronze if you ran any part of the course. I ended up 3rd overall, and second female with 25+ laps, for about 35.XX miles (I don't recall EXACTLY) and the race results are not up just yet. Afterwards we hit the road for the 6-7 hour drive back through the remnants of Hurricane Isaac again as we had on the way down. Of course stopping for a shake at Culvers for "recovery" purposes, and then a few hours later stopping at Cracker Barrel for an early dinner/late lunch.

Nice run, but I still like the cooler, lower humidity races.
State #29 complete.

My "gold" medal

Next up, the Tahoe Triple Marathon at the end of this month!

My Katrina Story Part 1

*Warning, this is long. I found myself telling this story to a co-worker yesterday and figured I should write this out.

I lived in uptown New Orleans from December 2001 to December 2005. Hurricane Katrina made landfall August 29, 2005. I did not grow up there, I had moved there with a boy, moved due to boredom, and due to feeling lost in deciding on a major to pursue at university. About 1.5 years into living there, the boy I moved there with left New Orleans after we broke up. At the time I was a few months into the 2 year nursing program at the local community college. Time marched on, I graduated from school and started working in the Emergency Department at the hospital where I had worked as a tech at during school, and about a 10 minute walk from my apartment uptown.

Fast forward to August 2005 and a few days before Katrina made landfall. On Saturday, Mayor Ray Nagin calls for the first ever mandatory evacuation of the city, things were picking up in the ER on night shift in anticipation of the storm, and I was not sleeping well during the day due to anticipation and to watch the storm updates and press conferences. We were told by the hospital that when we reported to our shift on Sunday, the day before the storm, to bring 3 days worth of personal belongings. As Saturday night's shift was ending on Sunday morning, my phone was exploding with friends calling me that they were evacuating, with one person calling me that their car had broken down on the interstate (it restarted and he continued to drive to California to evacuate). You see, when they call for an evacuation, they turn all lanes of the interstate into one direction away from the city, also closing all exits for hundreds of miles to encourage people to disperse over a wider area.

The other phone calls we got a lot of at work were people calling to ask if they could drop off grandma or grandpa because they did not want to evacuate with the family, we told them no and that the superdome would be open as a shelter. Knowing that we told so many people to go to the superdome became a little ominous after the fact. We also had people pretty much abandon family members at the ER with vague medical complaints so that they would not have to care for them either at home in the city or to evacuate with them. Pretty frustrating in general.

Sunday during the day I got a little sleep, but got up early to pack my camping gear to bring to the hospital and to get my car in the parking structure several floors up, away from the likely flooding streets. A regular summer afternoon rainstorm will flood the street for about 30 minutes, I could only imagine what a hurricane could do to street flooding.

I got my car in one of the last inside facing parking spots in the garage, which would be key later as the pressure change with the storm blew out people's car windows that were parked in outside facing spots and those that were on the upper deck. As I was walking from the garage to the ER I got to meet the hospital's new CEO, he was from Colorado where they do not have hurricanes and had started only 1 week before. He was being shown the building's flood protection by one of the VPs.

My shift started Sunday night at 7pm, and we spent time packing up all the supplies and beds in the ER on the first floor and moved them up to the 3rd floor where they had same day surgery center, not currently being used. The move was in anticipation of street flooding. We only had a few patients that night, a few that were the family of staff that were staying in the hospital, and one that was in line at the superdome but the daughter was tired of waiting, made up a story about her mother having chest pain, called an ambulance, and so we admitted her as a bit of a social admit so that they would be safe in the hospital. By 1am we closed our alternative ER location and got a few hours of sleep after I made rounds to touch base with nurses that I knew that worked on other floors and stood for periods of time trying to look out the windows and watch the storm. We slept on ER stretchers in unused patient rooms without windows and so you could not really hear any noise from the wind.

Many of my co-workers I could come to find out, showed up at the hospital drunk as they had been having a hurricane party at one of the ER MD's home, and they were all lined up in their rooms with IVs going to help with their hangover.

The next morning at dawn, the storm was about to make landfall (though New Orleans is a few hundred miles inland from the Gulf of Mexico), cell phones still worked, I wandered over to the parking garage to try to check out the storm and look up the street, "it is windy and rainy with a little street flooding so far" I told my mom on the phone. I wouldn't talk to them until late the next day.

I went back inside, tried to sleep again, and about 1pm with the majority of the most severe weather over, they unlocked the hospital doors allowing us outside, and I walked with an ER tech that I was rooming with to my apartment to see if everything was OK. The building looked fine and our landlord had already taken out all of the fridges, put them in the driveway and emptied the food out of them. We wondered outloud how long until we were back to normal, and we guessed 1-3 days, we had dodged a bullet.

The ER was then set to re-open Monday night, and so part of the day we spent time bringing supplies back downstairs to get ready. However, that plan changed when an overhead page went out for all available staff to report there. At that point we were on generator power and the power for some reason had failed only on the 3rd floor where the ICU was located. The plan was to transport all patients down to the ER where the generator power was still working. This took a while as the only elevator that was still working was the visitor elevator that was barely large enough for a full inpatient bed. I milled about to help the ICU staff find supplies, but I will never forget the shell shocked look on the faces of the patients as they watched us scurry around. The A/C had all but given out, and the humidity was beginning to make the linoleum floors slick, and ceiling tiles to occasional fall once they had become saturated. I was was also made fun repeatedly of for my "miner's lamp," known as a headlamp in the backpacking world, that I never understood but somewhat spoke the level of preparedness of the staff and the hospital. We did ponder breaking into the well stocked vending machines but never did in the first few days.

I headed to my room then late Monday night to try to sleep but was awakened by overhead paging for some specialist to report to the ER. Being curious and wanting to help, I headed down there. Turns out the police came literally knocking on the ER door, still closed and locked with the flood gates up. They had a man that was involved "in a drug deal gone bad" and had been stabbed in the chest. They placed a chest tube with limited medication as none was available and the ER doctor's orders for the patient read "chest xray when the electricity returns." I always wish I would have taken a picture of that order sheet. Now that the ICU was in the ER, we simply turned care over the ICU and we again were done with work.

I sat there for a little while and they were able to get one radio station tuned in and we were listening to it, people were calling in saying that the water was rising quickly, that they were getting stuck in their attics, etc. And then rumors continued to flow that the city was refilling with water and that soon the water would be up to the 3rd floor. I do not easily cry, but as I was sitting there in my sleep deprived state, I started to cry sitting with some fellow ICU nurses that I knew from school. It was over as quickly as it started and I certainly felt more embarrassed that it had happened than anything else. I needed sleep and I sought it out. I headed outside with a blanket and pillow and laid down on the helipad, there was no aircraft in the air at that time, at least near our hospital, and the air was much cooler outside than in the hospital. Looking south toward the gulf, the remnants of the storm was releasing energy and there was a spectacular lightening, but a very long ways in the distance.

After probably just a nap, I headed inside and the rumors continued to build, with the latest one being that the hospital was arranging private airplanes to evacuate the cardiologists (!). At this point, cell phones, land lines, and the phone lines (we call them bat phones) that work during power outages had all stopped working late morning on Monday, the day before. So rumors were our main source of information. We had also been hearing about widespread looting, that the roof at the superdome had collapsed and that people were shooting people in the superdome, and that the city was reflooding.

This became decision time and the ER staff started talking amongst ourselves that we were going to leave. Our rationale was that we were not being used as the ER was not open and there were no plans now to re-open anytime soon, and that we were not abandoning patients. So, in a frenzied way, we began to pack our stuff and find our co-workers to let them know of our plan, and that only those with SUVs would drive trying to get to Baton Rouge. Most of the ER staff left except for an ER MD and one of the ER techs. And as we loaded up the cars, the medical director, and former ER director told us that we would drown in our cars if we left. Well, we were going to try. Guns also came out of the woodwork as people got them ready and had them out should they need them. For a person that is never really around guns this was pretty scary stuff.

The streets uptown were pretty dry with our main obstacle being downed trees, large debris and powerlines. It was a total maze to get out, we would drive down one street only to have to turn around and try the next street. Eventually were were going up the ramp to drive over the famed bridge where police stopped people from walking across it from the convention center to the other side of the river. At the time we did not know this was even happening. What we did see, was newspaper employees crammed in a box truck like sardines with the lift up but the rolling door pulled back, and them evacuating the city. The sight was very ominous as it showed that bad things really were happening in the city when the reporters leave and that they left in a hurry due to the water rising quickly. We had smooth sailing once on the highway and were in Baton Rouge an hour later. One of the ER MD's parents lived there and that is where we headed.

To be continued...

State #28 Vermont 100k 7/21/12

Vermont 100k

Saturday July 21, 2012

Photos on Flickr 

I had originally signed up for the 100 mile race as my first one but chickened out after attempting to run the 38 mile night fun run at the Kettle 100 mile race. I just felt too grumpy during the night run and made the trail running less fun than normal, and when I got home the next day I emailed the RD for Vermont to change race distances. Plus another runner at Kettle, who had completed a few 100 milers in his day, said that a person should run a 100k before a 100 miler, and I figured it was good advice. This was my first attempt at 100k, with 2 - 50 milers under my belt from 2010, White River 50 and JFK 50.

I looked for lodging a little late in the game, and ended up booking 2 nights at the Inn at Long Trail at Sherburne Pass, about a 1 hour drive from the race start which worked out quite well. 

On race morning we needed to leave at the same time breakfast would start at the inn, but we found a coffee shop that opened at 7am in nearby Killington, VT, only 5 minutes out of our way. At the start, ultrarunners are pretty humble most of the time, and so no-one wanted to line up right at the start line, essentially telling the crowd you think you will be a front runner. Pretty funny stuff. Race started at 9am to help time the 100kers going through the aid stations about the same time that the front runners of the 100 mile were going through them. This worked well as we were arriving at our first aid station, the first 100 miler was coming through.

We had a great cool breeze most of the morning with about 60% of the race route being shaded. Nearing about mile 24, the margaritaville aid station, I had started to have yucky tummy and tried tums but that did not really fix my tummy. This was also when it started to warm up for the day. Watermelon and 1/2 water 1/2 gatorade was the majority of my intake for that section. It continued to be an issue until I sat down at the aid station at mile 51, the barn, and took down 3 pepto bismal tabs, ginger ale, watermelon, and started to feel better rather quickly. My stomach felt worse after uphill climbs when my blood was shunting more into my legs, but better on the flats and downs when my bloodflow was a little more generous to my stomach.

The majority of the course is on country dirt roads linking up farms and private property. Either Vermonters don't own dogs or they were specifically asked to be kept in homes for the horses on the course, I only saw 2 dogs over a 62 mile route. I did see several horses both in the race and that were in pastures along the course.

My first pacer, a local high school 400m track runner that had been recruited by her friends dad, the pacer coordinator for the race. She had only previously ran 5 miles and would be running 7 trail miles with me. I picked her up at the aid station about mile 32 at Ten Bear and ran with her to the Spirit of ’76. When I had arrived at the half way point I was wanting to drop, getting tired of fighting through yucky tummy. But when I arrived I asked both HH and the pace coordinator John for a pep talk. They told me what I needed to hear, that it was at the hottest point of the day, there was some shade ahead, etc., and I kept moving forward and out of the aid station, and on with the race.

During this section, we got lost twice, the only times I went off course the entire day. The first one we were redirected by a local monk that then recognized the local girl pacing me. A little ways up the trail she mentioned that her and her friends are creeped out by the monk guy. The second time getting lost was 50 ft that dead ended into an area where people piled up horse poop.

When I finished that section, I got to the Spirit of ’76 aid station, about mile 40 where I was supposed to meet my second pacer Dave from Burlington, VT. When I arrived, I took a seat to assist in getting my stomach settled, changed shoes into ones that were ½ size bigger than my usual ones, and take in some ginger ale and a little food. HH was very helpful here but I found myself looking around for someone with a Dave nametag on, my pacer, but I did not see anyone that was looking like they were ready to join me. HH then told me that my pacer would be late and that he would tell him to meet me at the next crew accessible aid station in 11 miles, at mile 51. A few miles later, my pacer had caught up to me and ran with me for the next 6 hours to the finish. He was a great distraction with stories and sub-conciously pulled my pace along. It was a little intense though at the Bill's aid station where I asked to sit down for a little bit to help solve my yucky tummy. I had HH, my pacer, and the medical crew checking in with me. Difficult for a person that is moderately independent, not a fan of intense personal attention, and at a time when you don't feel so good. These last 22 miles were through beautiful country, and then once it turned dark just before Bill's, the clear sky, stars, and glow sticks were pretty neat. 

As we neared the finish line, I started to run more continuously including most of the ups, and was very pleased that they had signage for the last mile and the last half mile of the race. A significant hill climb in the last 1.5 miles was also thrown in for good measure. The finish photo was in the dark and we were all too tired to try to at least get one of me with a flash wearing my medal. But I got a great finisher's medal, ate some broth with veggies afterwards and we drove the hour back to the Inn at Long Trail.

I was weighed in 4 times, first before dinner the night before the race start, so that race officials can get a baseline weight. Then again at about mile 10, the first time at Camp 10 Bear, where I was up 1.4 pounds. I blame starting with my handheld water bottles only having water in them, instead of an electrolyte mix. The next weigh in was when I came through Camp 10 Bear again at mile 32, and I was then down 0.2 pounds. The third and final weigh in was mile 51, Bill's aid station that was in a barn, and I was down 0.4 pounds. At least to me this meant I was not dramatically dehydrated, which could be a cause of yucky tummy, but it is also the first time during a 50+ race that I have been weighed.

Lessons learned:

Don’t start with water in your handheld water bottles

When running LONG races, sign up for ones that have cooler temperatures

Pepto Bismal dissolvable works great for “yucky tummy”

Pacers are great to have, particularly if they are good story tellers

Great to change up to a 1/2 size bigger shoes at some point during the race

Off for the month of August from any races and then starting back up in September with a 6 hour race in Missouri and then the Tahoe Triple at the end of September, getting me up to 30 states!

State #27 Run4Troops Marathon 6/30/12 Dubuque, IA

This was the smallest marathon I have ever run in! Last year they said they had about 20 runners and this year almost 80! It was a point to point, rails to trails dirt/gravel bike path that started outside of town and you ran towards town. You could park at the finish before the race and then shuttle you to the start. Only, they had 2 small party buses to transport us in, pretty funny. Turns out the other bus had a little dance party en route with the lights and everything, seemingly lead by Dave Mari, fellow Marathon Maniac.

It is warm in Iowa in June and so the race started at 6am, and the course being 60-70% shaded. Temperatures did get into the upper 80's but the race organizers did a great job of having all the water and gatorade containers filled with ice.

I had a little mis-hap about midway through the race where I put down my bag of electrolyte capsules to fill a cup with fish crackers and I just never picked them up, not realizing this until the next aid station. Luckily they had big bags of pretzels at each aid station so I got enough salt replacement. The aid stations were spaced like an ultra, about every 4-5 miles apart. Some people were running their first marathon! I was impressed as it was a hot one.

Finished in 4:40 which was pretty good considering the heat. I recovered very quickly afterwards, giving me the confidence that I had trained enough for the VT 100k coming up in July.

Finisher medals were dog tags with the race info engraved on them.

Also offered was a relay race along with the marathon.

Inaugural Maritime Marathon 6/24/12

In training for Vermont 100k, this race fit well with doubling with the Keyes Peak 50k race the day before as they were 2.5 hours apart. Plus there was a good contingent of Marathon Maniacs signed up for the race, including Kino and Peter "from"NYC. I had last seen them about 5 weeks earlier at the Delaware Marathon.

Earlier in the week when I was thinking that I would just not do the races to get caught up on school and let my hip heal, I had cancelled my hotel room in Manitowoc. HH was supposed to join me for the weekend as he was off, but a large water loss job came in earlier that week further complicated but a major fire in an unrelated building across the street, then causing smoke damage to the same space they were already working on. They also wanted the building open in 1 weeks time. So needless to say, he had a 90 hour work week and I got to go to the races by myself. I have gone to the majority of my races alone, even starting with my very first one, as that is not an issue, but it is nice to travel with others some of the time. Plus both of the races were in beautiful areas of Wisconsin.

So I ended up driving the 90 minutes the morning before the race, early enough to catch the Marathon Maniac pre-race photo that was taken under the extended fire truck ladder that had the start banner hanging from it. One of the RDs ran over during the photo to exclaim "we love maniacs!" We were off after some wonderfully succinct speeches from area leaders, as well as a prayer that could have been written by a marathoner.

The course was an out and back right along Lake Michigan from the town of Manitowoc, North to the town of Two Rivers, and then back. Being right next to the lake was key, as the temperatures rose a little, and with the rare shade, the breeze off the lake kept temperatures reasonable for a long run. I ran most of the way with Peter from NYC, which was interesting as he is a relatively new maniac, only running his first marathon something like 6 months before. We also crossed over a bridge where a piece of the Ice Age Trail runs and I got to share with those running around me the story about that trail.

I finished 4:24, pleased to have broken 4:30 on a double weekend, and headed for the chocolate milk, Dairy Queen blizzards and brats that they had free for all the runners. We were able to enjoy a view of the lake as we watched others finish. I had offered the guys that they could shower at my apartment in downtown Milwaukee, as late hotel checkout is always a challenge and unsure thing after marathons. They accepted and after the drive back and showers we had a meal at the noodle place across the street.  Kino was great about taking lots of people photos but his race report is not quite up yet.

Both weekend races were great and I would add them both to my top 10 races!
Also, the Maritime Marathon is a great small marathon but many of us don't think it will remain small for long!!!

Keyes Peak 50k Trail Run 6/23/12

Just getting to the start line of this race was up in the air. My hip was still hurting, a combo of abductor tendonitis and ilieopsoas irritation, combined with a stressful week filled with more things than I could accomplish. At 4pm the night before I went for a trial run and things felt not great but not horrible either, so I returned home quickly showered and packed and hit the road. I had a little of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) going on, so that helped me get out of the door even at the late hour with a 4 hour drive ahead of me.

I stayed in a hotel in nearby Iron Mountain, Michigan, just across the state line from Florence, Wisconsin where the race was being held at a small ski hill on the outskirts of town. They were about 15 minute drive apart and I arrived early at the race start after not making it to packet pickup the night before and stumbled upon the early starters being briefed before their 6:20a start. The regular start was a 7am. I quickly asked the RD and then timers if I could start, and after tossing my sweatshirt in the car I started about 2 min behind the rest of the group. My rationale was that since I was doing the double, the sooner I finished, the sooner I would get home, get showered, could rest, etc.

I spent the first hour with an older gentleman from nearby Green Bay whom I would find out the next day had run over 800 marathons in his lifetime. We chatted as the trail, which was a dirt road, meandering through the woods, aid stations about every 4-5 miles apart. He was working on running all of the marathons in Wisconsin, which there have been several new ones start in the last few years. He was also running the double race weekend paired up with the inaugural Maritime Marathon in Manitowoc, WI. 

The front runners ran past us and I began to pick up the pace. The hip was not too bad on the relatively even terrain and the temps were warm but being moderated but the surrounding trees and frequent shade. At mile 15, the 50k runners make a left turn and do a side loop of 5 miles to make their distance longer than the marathoners as they kept going straight. I misunderstood and thought that the 50k had a race cutoff of 6 hours, when it turned out that the marathon was 6 hour cutoff and the 50k was 7.5 hours. Needless to say, this kept me moving when I may have walked a few places.

At mile 22 there is a significant river crossing where the water is chest deep and they hung a rope across the river and hired local river guides to stand in the water to walk with people across. They also offered a swim across option, about 100 ft above the rope crossing where the water was over my head. I opted for that one for some reason and used the ziplock baggies they had to encase my electrolyte capsules holder. Due to the current I had to swim at a slight upriver angle, and got a little scared as I headed into the current in the middle. But I was out of the strongest part of the current pretty quick and to the shore in time. There was a lady with a big camera taking pictures, I just have not been able to find them with my Google-fu at this time.

The aid station was right after the crossing, and they had glorious cookies and pretzels. There had been water, heed (electrolyte drink known to make stomachs churn), and hammer gels, but not really any food until that point. What also didn't help is that due to my quick morning start I didn't eat a bar for breakfast. This also likely affected my energy levels.

The race finishes in dramatic fashion cresting the top of the ski hill and then zig zagging back and forth across it. Finishing essentially where you started with the small crowd watching people come down the hill before the finish. I got my car keys back from the timing lady that had offered to take my keys at the start when she saw I was going to run with them. "You run with your keys?!? Here give me those."

Wooden finishers medal. Got a tech tee before the race. I think they did a great job at making this race pretty well a "green" event.

Cool homemade RV in the parking lot,
this was an aid station along the course, complete with a lit up open sign

Finisher wood "medal", race bib, and tech tee