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Team Sole reports on Day 2

Paul Romero / Team Sole / 25.08.2007

In a race that all competitors are describing as “brutal�, Paul Romero spends his days on the battlefield and his nights cranking out race reports on the computer! Team Sole’s core of Paul Romero and Karen Lundgren are racing here in China with Eric Sullivan (normally with US team Salomon Crested Butte) and Canadian Chad Ulansky. www.teamsole.com
25 August, 2007
We wrote yesterday that the gloves were off. Today was no different. The 5 a.m. breakfast buffet had athletes in all stages of injury and fatigue. These 8-9 hour sprint days are immensely high impact and downright painful the day of AND the morning after.

The thought of a 1 hour bus ride to a 16km/10mile mountain run at 8 a.m. in a driving rain storm just does not rank high on the wish list. All 25 teams are stretching, gossiping, back slapping and EVERYONE speaks about how much we dread the run starts, and how it ALWAYS starts too fast. Today was no different: 4km on the asphalt, slightly downhill, before we dropped off the road onto a slippery, rocky trail that led to the river bottom and ran UP river for about 5 miles, on nothing but slippery, ankle twisting boulders and 1-3' of rain-swollen creek.

Our team was faring well, hanging about 5-7th place, just trying not to break a leg and keep sight of the lead teams. Before this first run was over, we would be running along the bottom of some absolutely mind blowing GIANT land bridges, 500 feet above us, with sheer granite walls creating slot canyons in every direction. This is somewhat of a tourist destination, so there were nice trails and several bridges to cross the river. I would have given anything to have a camera at this place.

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