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Hard Trails and High Emotion

Fredrik Ölmqvist / 21.09.2007

Today's stage was 18 miles (about 29 km) and the "trail" consisted of 50 % tarmac and 50 % groomed park trail, and very little elevation, maybe 250m. Quite boring but by now the runners have understood that Colorado isn't the friendliest place when it comes to permits for trail races. Compared to the Gore-Tex TransAlpine-Run this first edition of the TransRockies Run is much flatter and has much less singletrack. Tarmac, jeep roads, dirt roads and wide trails have been the most common type of running surface, which is a pity since the participants expected a "trail race".

We started at 10 am in Basalt. It was sunny and hot. Since we weren't going to pass any mountains we didn't need any of the usual mandatory gear. My only gear except running shoes, shorts, cap and a tank top were a water bottle, a painkiller tablet and a towing line.

Elinor and I started as usual quite slowly and ran on the gravel strip next to the paved road when it was possible. Our goal for today was to keep the third overall position in the mixed category. At the second checkpoint, after 10 miles, we were 8 minutes behind mixed Team Powerbar Nyc & Cali. But they needed to be 22 minutes faster than us today to pass us in the overall ranking.

Since we had been pacing ourselves we were able to run the second half of the stage much faster, now also using the towing line, even though our bodies were quite worn out after the past 5 days of running. Knowing that we were getting closer and closer to the finish in Aspen gave extra energy. We were eating and drinking all the time so our bodies could perform as strong as possible.

Myself, I had bonked the second stage, with just a kilometre to go to the finish line, so I knew that the energy intake was crucial. We crossed the finish line after 2h 45min, some 10 minutes behind Team Powerbar Nyc & Cali (winners of today’s stage). Thus we made it. We kept our third place overall. The race is over. Our legs can rest. And the feet too. And our backs.

The past 5 days have been amazing. Now it's 6 pm and time for the closing party dinner and prize giving ceremony. And I suppose we will also get the Gore-Tex TransRockies 2007 Finisher T-shirt. And one thing is for sure - putting it on will be an emotional moment. It has been a long race.

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