So let me
start by saying that I did NOT run this amazing race. And amazing it
is... awe-inspiring in fact. I did have the pleasure of crewing for my
good friend Mike Dixon, who eventually finished in 94th place with a time of 22
hours, 38 minutes, 56 seconds. That's 13:35 pace... over 100 miles.
100 MILES PEOPLE!
The race took place on June 23rd.... and a little bit of June 24th. I wanted to write a concise recap of my crewing experience, and the fulfillment that I got from volunteering and being a part of a coordinated team effort. Planning for this day(s) began months in advance, but like most plans we found ourselves hurrying in the last few days to tie up loose ends and nail down all boards. Not that we weren't organized, it was just more... I don't know... we didn't know what to expect and yet we wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. In the end, I strongly believe that we did a great job but we'll let Dixon give his opinion on that since it's the only one that truly matters here. I can only really give my perspective of the events as they played out in front of my crew vehicle. The other crew was headed up by Kelly with fantastic assistance from Dave, Bill, Mary, and Sally. My car was rockin' with Lianne, Shannon, and Jayson. We all left the sweet condo in Zephyr Cove, NV at 2:30am and headed north around Lake Tahoe up to the Olympic Village at Squaw Valley, CA. It took about an hour and we all made the best of the early morning dark daze, thinking about what would transpire over the next 24 hours or so.
The race took place on June 23rd.... and a little bit of June 24th. I wanted to write a concise recap of my crewing experience, and the fulfillment that I got from volunteering and being a part of a coordinated team effort. Planning for this day(s) began months in advance, but like most plans we found ourselves hurrying in the last few days to tie up loose ends and nail down all boards. Not that we weren't organized, it was just more... I don't know... we didn't know what to expect and yet we wanted to be prepared for any eventuality. In the end, I strongly believe that we did a great job but we'll let Dixon give his opinion on that since it's the only one that truly matters here. I can only really give my perspective of the events as they played out in front of my crew vehicle. The other crew was headed up by Kelly with fantastic assistance from Dave, Bill, Mary, and Sally. My car was rockin' with Lianne, Shannon, and Jayson. We all left the sweet condo in Zephyr Cove, NV at 2:30am and headed north around Lake Tahoe up to the Olympic Village at Squaw Valley, CA. It took about an hour and we all made the best of the early morning dark daze, thinking about what would transpire over the next 24 hours or so.
5am
8:30am
It takes us about 3 hours to get to Robinson Flats because we literally had to drive around the mountain range on one side, and then drive allllll the way back on the other side. Haven't you people ever heard of tunnels?!! It is raining, and very very foggy. We're curling up the side of the mountain but we have zero views to "ooh and ahh" over. We know you're out there beautiful vistas!!! We get to the parking area for the aid station, it's raining harder now. Dixon isn't expected to roll through until around 10:30am so we all catch up on some z's. Well... at least I do. Lianne and Jayson stay up to play Words With Friends, Shannon passes out. Apparently I sleep like a baby, according to Jayson. I didn't budge until my alarm went off at 9:30am signaling that it was GO TIME!!
10:30am
We finally get to the aid station after waiting on line for the bus, and the short 3 mile drive. It's still raining, and quite cold actually. We should have prepared better for the cold, but we made the best of it. As we set up our mini-camp waiting for Dixon, we were able to see some of the elite women roll through, and got to see eventual winner Ellie Greenwood and runner-up Rory Bosio. Runners come and go, and then we see Dixon sauntering through the fueling area. We are happy to see that he has about 4 layers on to ward off the cold, thanks to Crew B and Dave & Bill specifically. Some quick chit chat, a change of dry shirt and the Albino Kenyan is off in to the wild wilderness of the Sierras again. It would be another 5 hours for us until we see him again.
We make it back to the Buick Enclave, get everything packed, and start to head out to the next stop. BAM!!! Whaaaaaat was that?! Apparently it was a tree stump, and it jumped out right in front of the car... honest!!! No major damage, but definitely some cosmetic bruising to the air dam along the bottom of the front bumper. Maybe Hertz won't notice it? The drive back from the shuttle lot is soooo much nicer. Clouds and fog have burned off now and we have spectacular views of the valley and canyons below. Windows are open as the temps start to creep up to comfortable levels.
12:30pm
Our crew decides to have our own refueling session back up near the interstate. We were lucky enough to stop for lunch at a fine California establishment called Jacques Dans La Zone. It was quite good and definitely hit the spot. We represented Jersey well and decided to eat in the parking lot while we dried out our chairs, blankets, towels, and clothes... stay classy Jersey.
3:30pm
After the grub we make our way back down the twisty and turny Foresthill Road. Lianne is driving now (thank you!) and doing a fine job... even though this vehicle is four times the size of her Honda Fit!! We park near the Foresthill Elementary school, which is MILE 62 on the course. This will be the first available opportunity to have a pacer join the race with their runner. Jayson will be first up to pace Dixon, followed by David at around MILE 78, then Baron Bill Hulbert will bring him home for the last 7 miles or so. Lianne, Shannon, and I leave Jayson with Crew B while we board yet another shuttle bus to the Michigan Bluff aid station about 4 miles away. It's hot now... or at least it's hot relative to what the weather was like in the morning at Robinson Flats. It's close to 80 degrees which is fine for us as we sit back and soak up some rays. I can't help but think that Dixon is feeling like a dry sponge in the sun. Dixon appears in the distance and we give a loud cheer as he approaches the aid station at MILE 55. He goes through some mandatory medical checks, and his weight is 145lbs... unchanged from the weigh-in the day before. Quite amazing considering that he is just over half way done on this epic journey. He fuels up, and we switch out a dry shirt, new hat, and I give his sunglasses a spit shine... and then he's off again. It's 5:20pm at this point.
6:45pm
We make our way back to Foresthill Elementary School where Dixon will roll in and pick up Jayson to begin the "pacing" legs of the race. The rest of the RVRR crew (traveling in RVs) meet Dixon at the Bath Road aid station and walk/run with him up to our location at the school. We have this pit crew stuff down to a science now. We take turns with the bag of tricks with gels, protein bars, eye drops, hats, shirts, circus clowns... We're all providing the comfort and moral support (and sunscreen-put-er-on-ers) and providing the focus, the drive, and the sensibility to balance Dixon's insanity! 6.2 miles until your next aid station. Whatever, it works and we're going with it. Whoosh, the boys head out west in to the glorious, golden sunset with headlamps ready to blaze as the dusky night descends upon the Sierras. How wild that must be to run through mountains and canyons with little more than a flashlight taped your head?... in essence anyway.
7:30pm
We mosey on over to where the RVs are parked, and hang for a bit with the total group before pushing on to get dinner and then to the next aid station at Greengate. We'd not see the RV folks again until the finish line in the wee hours of the morning. Jayson is pacing Dixon at this point so Crew A now consists of Lianne, Shannon, David, and myself. Lianne bravely barrels the Enclave back toward the interstate for a quick bite to eat. Bellies now full, or almost anyway, we make our way back down the curving road that we know all too well at this point. I ride shotgun and navigate while Lianne handles the switchbacks with flair and panache... basically not killing us. We make our way to the church in the town of Cool. Seriously... the town of Cool, CA. at 9:30p we start to queue up for the shuttle bus... AGAIN!! What gives, man?! This shuttle is a short bus but a long ride to the drop point. We realize as we're waiting on line for the short bus that there is a very real possibility that we will miss Dixon at the next aid station. This will be the aid station AFTER the Rucky Chucky crossing of the American River. Dixon and Jayson will be wet and we can't afford to miss him and send him into the darkness with everything soaking wet. We finally get on the bus and make our way to the drop area. From here it is another 1.5 miles DOWN a rocky dirt road. We have to run if we're going to make it. Shannon is the only one with a headlamp so she runs between Lianne and myself... sort of a modern day Rudolph, if you will. The temperature has dropped back down to 45 degrees or so, and the three of us are layered up good. I'm carrying two backpacks, running down a dark road, trying not to catch a toe on the odd protruding rock. We make it, safe and sound, down to the checkpoint and wait expectantly for the boys. The three of us are sweating from the quick huff down the mountain side, and Lianne takes this wonderful photo of me.
Ok... I was tired, I was sweaty, and I wasn't thinking clearly. Hahaaaa! Oh man...as Lianne would say, possibly the sketchiest photo of me ever taken. Well played.
Very soon after, we see a number of headlamps bobbing and weaving up the river crossing. We are happy to see that Dixon and Jayson have successfully crossed the Rucky Chucky, and were met by David and Bill who were waiting with dry towels. The reunion is the briefest of visits as Dixon and Dave wave off the crew and let us know that they have everything they need. We're a bit confused until we find out from bill that the true aid station was 100 yards down the dirt road. Ugggggghhhhh.... well, at least we were prepared for all eventualities, and that's what a crew is for.
12:00am - Sunday
The next time we see Dixon will be at MILE 99 when we all run the last mile in with him. We get back to the car, and discover that we have 3 hours until we need to pick up David at MILE 92. Time for a serious nap. We're able to get a solid 2 hours of sleep until we meet the shuttle bus in some random parking lot to pick up David, and have a quick reunion with Crew B. David is tired, but quietly energized from the experience of running the trail at night. At one point he comments that Dixon was feeling so good at times that David had to work to keep pace with him. Pretty amazing after powering through 80 miles of mountains, sleet, hail, dust, canyons, burning sun, no sleep, gel after gel after gel...
3:00am
We come around the corner and see the blazing lights of the football stadium. Almost there. We make our way to Placer High School where the race will finish on the track. We meet up with the RV crew, and Crew B and start making our way back up the course to MILE 99. This is exciting!! It's the middle of the night, we are tired, but we know that one of our own is out there somewhere... thoroughly exhausted, spent, delirious, and just wanting to get to the dang finish line! Lindsay, Lianne, Anis and myself run back all the way to MILE 99 while the rest of the gang waits at the half mile mark. We aren't at the mile marker for more than 3 minutes when we see Dixon and Bill emerge out of the enveloping darkness with a single headlamp meekly casting its light ahead. I wish that I could have taken a picture of Dixon's face when he saw us... the smile, the joy, the excitement, and the relief produced such an amazing glow. I gave him a huge hug and realized that the boy was bone dry! He had nothing left to sweat out, like that sponge left out in the sun. We ran back down the course toward the high school. Along the way we picked up the rest of the gang and there was a great cheer as we approached. I think it would be hard to verify, but I would venture to guess that Dixon had the largest entourage of any participant at Western States. That is NOT an exaggeration!! Dixon quickens his pace, knowing that the journey is a mere 400 meters away from being over, and he can finally stop... and stop for good. We all run around the track with him on the final lap and a rousing cheer goes up as they announce over the stadium p.a. system "Michael Dixon - Fanwood, NJ"!!! He did it, he actually did it. Official finish time of 22 hours, 38 minutes, 56 seconds... that's a long time folks. Lots of hugs from everyone, a ton of smiles, and a silent understanding that we have all participated, in some way, in a most amazing day.
p.s. Hertz never said anything about the damage to the Enclave. :-)
10:30am
We make it back to the Buick Enclave, get everything packed, and start to head out to the next stop. BAM!!! Whaaaaaat was that?! Apparently it was a tree stump, and it jumped out right in front of the car... honest!!! No major damage, but definitely some cosmetic bruising to the air dam along the bottom of the front bumper. Maybe Hertz won't notice it? The drive back from the shuttle lot is soooo much nicer. Clouds and fog have burned off now and we have spectacular views of the valley and canyons below. Windows are open as the temps start to creep up to comfortable levels.
12:30pm
Our crew decides to have our own refueling session back up near the interstate. We were lucky enough to stop for lunch at a fine California establishment called Jacques Dans La Zone. It was quite good and definitely hit the spot. We represented Jersey well and decided to eat in the parking lot while we dried out our chairs, blankets, towels, and clothes... stay classy Jersey.
3:30pm
6:45pm
7:30pm
We mosey on over to where the RVs are parked, and hang for a bit with the total group before pushing on to get dinner and then to the next aid station at Greengate. We'd not see the RV folks again until the finish line in the wee hours of the morning. Jayson is pacing Dixon at this point so Crew A now consists of Lianne, Shannon, David, and myself. Lianne bravely barrels the Enclave back toward the interstate for a quick bite to eat. Bellies now full, or almost anyway, we make our way back down the curving road that we know all too well at this point. I ride shotgun and navigate while Lianne handles the switchbacks with flair and panache... basically not killing us. We make our way to the church in the town of Cool. Seriously... the town of Cool, CA. at 9:30p we start to queue up for the shuttle bus... AGAIN!! What gives, man?! This shuttle is a short bus but a long ride to the drop point. We realize as we're waiting on line for the short bus that there is a very real possibility that we will miss Dixon at the next aid station. This will be the aid station AFTER the Rucky Chucky crossing of the American River. Dixon and Jayson will be wet and we can't afford to miss him and send him into the darkness with everything soaking wet. We finally get on the bus and make our way to the drop area. From here it is another 1.5 miles DOWN a rocky dirt road. We have to run if we're going to make it. Shannon is the only one with a headlamp so she runs between Lianne and myself... sort of a modern day Rudolph, if you will. The temperature has dropped back down to 45 degrees or so, and the three of us are layered up good. I'm carrying two backpacks, running down a dark road, trying not to catch a toe on the odd protruding rock. We make it, safe and sound, down to the checkpoint and wait expectantly for the boys. The three of us are sweating from the quick huff down the mountain side, and Lianne takes this wonderful photo of me.
Ok... I was tired, I was sweaty, and I wasn't thinking clearly. Hahaaaa! Oh man...as Lianne would say, possibly the sketchiest photo of me ever taken. Well played.
Very soon after, we see a number of headlamps bobbing and weaving up the river crossing. We are happy to see that Dixon and Jayson have successfully crossed the Rucky Chucky, and were met by David and Bill who were waiting with dry towels. The reunion is the briefest of visits as Dixon and Dave wave off the crew and let us know that they have everything they need. We're a bit confused until we find out from bill that the true aid station was 100 yards down the dirt road. Ugggggghhhhh.... well, at least we were prepared for all eventualities, and that's what a crew is for.
12:00am - Sunday
The next time we see Dixon will be at MILE 99 when we all run the last mile in with him. We get back to the car, and discover that we have 3 hours until we need to pick up David at MILE 92. Time for a serious nap. We're able to get a solid 2 hours of sleep until we meet the shuttle bus in some random parking lot to pick up David, and have a quick reunion with Crew B. David is tired, but quietly energized from the experience of running the trail at night. At one point he comments that Dixon was feeling so good at times that David had to work to keep pace with him. Pretty amazing after powering through 80 miles of mountains, sleet, hail, dust, canyons, burning sun, no sleep, gel after gel after gel...
3:00am
We come around the corner and see the blazing lights of the football stadium. Almost there. We make our way to Placer High School where the race will finish on the track. We meet up with the RV crew, and Crew B and start making our way back up the course to MILE 99. This is exciting!! It's the middle of the night, we are tired, but we know that one of our own is out there somewhere... thoroughly exhausted, spent, delirious, and just wanting to get to the dang finish line! Lindsay, Lianne, Anis and myself run back all the way to MILE 99 while the rest of the gang waits at the half mile mark. We aren't at the mile marker for more than 3 minutes when we see Dixon and Bill emerge out of the enveloping darkness with a single headlamp meekly casting its light ahead. I wish that I could have taken a picture of Dixon's face when he saw us... the smile, the joy, the excitement, and the relief produced such an amazing glow. I gave him a huge hug and realized that the boy was bone dry! He had nothing left to sweat out, like that sponge left out in the sun. We ran back down the course toward the high school. Along the way we picked up the rest of the gang and there was a great cheer as we approached. I think it would be hard to verify, but I would venture to guess that Dixon had the largest entourage of any participant at Western States. That is NOT an exaggeration!! Dixon quickens his pace, knowing that the journey is a mere 400 meters away from being over, and he can finally stop... and stop for good. We all run around the track with him on the final lap and a rousing cheer goes up as they announce over the stadium p.a. system "Michael Dixon - Fanwood, NJ"!!! He did it, he actually did it. Official finish time of 22 hours, 38 minutes, 56 seconds... that's a long time folks. Lots of hugs from everyone, a ton of smiles, and a silent understanding that we have all participated, in some way, in a most amazing day.
p.s. Hertz never said anything about the damage to the Enclave. :-)
