After a little more than 82 hours and 246 miles, we had finished the AdventureXstream Expedition adventure race. We came in 6th place out of six 4 person teams, just 4 minutes behind 5th place. We were 10th out of 11 teams that finished the course. Thirteen teams had started the race. The winning team finished the course in just under 58 hours.

I was soaking wet with sweat and a little river water. I was exhausted and pumped up from three hours of hard paddling. I was a little disappointed that we had come so close to taking fifth place and winning a cash prize. But at the same time, we had accomplished our goal, which was to finish the course set before us. And we had done so without serious injury and almost a day quicker than we estimated. We had seen more of the Moab area than most people see in several weeks. We had formed a new friendship with Kevin, and hot-forged the ties between the rest of us with shared experiences that you just can't get any other way. We had achieved something that nearly everyone else we spoke to had a hard time understanding, if they could comprehend it at all. All of that was something to be proud of. And to top it all off, we didn't even feel as bad afterwards as we feared we might.

Just prior to the race, we were joking that we would probably go through every emotion while out on the course, both high and low. Kevin told me I could only have one cry. Looking back, I'm pretty sure I got in a couple of tears, but they were all related to laughing so hard that I couldn't breathe.

I want to give some praise and credit to Kevin here. He joined up with a group of people he had never met to take on a tremendous challenge, the scale of which none of us had done before. He became part of our Adventure Family quickly and never complained when we had trouble with the thin air and steep hills. He pulled us where he could, and waited patiently where he couldn't. We all had moments where we struggled, but everyone worked together as a team and we made it through. I look forward to sharing another adventure with you again Kevin!

Fear? I think I felt that the most as we tried to finish up the first 90 miles. I couldn't imagine at that point how we could possibly finish the rest of the course. Trying to trek fast at high altitude had been tough. Thoughts of not continuing bounced around my head, but I never let them pass my lips. I told myself that I needed to get to the transition, have something warm to eat, perhaps get some sleep, and then see what I thought about it. I had to take it one step at a time. And that worked. We were never really pressed for time again like we were before that first cutoff, so we were able to go at our pace and just crank out the steps, one after the other.

Several people have asked me what the hardest part of the race was. I can't really think of any one thing that would fit that description. A lot of it was difficult. A lot of it was challenging, both mentally and physically. But not how you would expect. The big rappel wasn't bad. I guess I had mentally anticipated it so much that I was ready for it. It was hard to trudge up to 11,400', but I know that's what hiking at altitude is like. It was hard to push/carry the bike up some of those hills, but if you take it one step at a time, you'll get there eventually. We joked a lot about Will's Hills. There are probably worse hills out there, but if so, I bet that Will didn't use them in this course only because he's saving them for next year's race.

I never did get to see the sleep monsters. The way the cutoff's, rally points, and dark zones worked out for us, we wouldn't have gained anything by minimizing our sleep time more than we did.

Food. All of us planned for consuming much more food than we actually did. I put together 15 bags of trail food to last 6 hours each. I think I got into bag #5, but that was just to pick a few things out that I liked better than others at the time. Of course, finishing in 82 hours cut out the need for several of the bags, but we still had much more food than we needed. The things Marion had for us at the transitions went a long way.

How did I feel after the race? Tired, but not exhausted. An hour or two after the race, the rest of the team went to the room for a nap. I was too wired to want to lay down and took my laundry to the wash room to get started on that chore. Fifteen minutes into the wash cycle, I figured I'd take a little nap. I woke up 10 minutes after the buzzer went off. I don't think I fell out of the chair. The dryer cycle was longer and I got in a little snooze there too. We all went back to Pasta Jay's for dinner that evening.

We had planned to stay at the Lodge an extra day after the race, for recovery purposes. Finishing a day early gave us time to go visit Arches National Park and do a little leisurely hiking. I think that wind-down time helped a lot. Plus the exercise helped our bodies loosen up. We drove back to Vegas the next day, hit the Strip that night, and by Wednesday morning we were ready to go home. Perfect timing.

Would I do it again? I wasn't going to answer that question until 3 weeks after the race, to give myself time to recover mentally and physically. But recovery has gone well. Getting ready for something like this takes a lot of time and effort. It will be hard to beat this particular experience. The scenery was so fascinating. But the challenges were met. I feel physically stronger and know my limits a little better. I came out satisfied with my performance and have stronger relationships with my friends. Those kind of rewards are worth facing any challenge.

May the Adventure continue ....

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