Renae and I walking along the trail at the Death March.
Kristen, Renae, and I half way through the march.
Kristen, me, and Renae getting ready to start.
After Kristen and Renae crossed the finish line.
Me heading to the aide station.
Those aren't cactus, they're short palm trees.
Kaily checking out the Flora and Fauna of White Sands.
Hey what's this Air Force missile doing on a Army post?
Kaily and me checking out the Army missile's at White Sands.
Kaily and Renae checking out a "Scud Buster" at White Sands Missile Range.
Well we headed to White Sands for some fun and excitement and 15.2 miles in the dessert in honor of those that were forced to march from Bataan in WWII. It seems that Renae and I can't go anywhere with a bit of drama attached to it. We loaded up the vehicle and headed out from Grand Junction at around 0740 in the am. Renae and I had been watching the weather but didn't think we'd hit the snow storm until New Mexico well it proved us wrong, not long after leaving Montrose we hit this wall of snow. It was crazy people trying to drive 55 while others were driving 25mph. We made it to Ridgeway maybe 45-60min after leaving Montrose and it was snowing in feet per hour not inches. We stopped at the Shell Station and they said they probably had a foot of snow drop in the last hour and the road crews hadn't even made it out yet. They also informed us that chains were required over both Lizard Head and Red Mountain, which of course we didn't have chains and no one in town sold them because after all it is 4 days before April 1st. So we turned around and headed back to Montrose. We wasted some time to allow the road crews to get out and the weather to ease up and purchased snow chains. Then we turned around and headed back to Ridgeway. Once we got there it looked like we could get over Red Mountain according to the CDOT sign. So we headed to Ouray. The snow had let up some but it had dumped all morning. We creeped up Red Mountain, then up Molas and stopped in Silverton to go to the bathroom. Once everyone was ready we headed up Coalbank pass, which was the best (road wise) of the three passes. On the way up Molas we passed a van from Cali-forn-ia who had apparently gotten one of his tires off the side of the road which then pulled his vehicle off the road, luckily there was a 6 foot snow bank because his car had tipped at a 55 degree angle and the snow bank stopped it from rolling on over. It must have just happened because the road plow driver stopped to check on the driver. We made it up and over Coalbank in record time and sped into Durango so I could meet with my 330 appointment. I was scheduled to do outreach in Durango but the weather had other ideas. We pulled into the hotel at 315pm after 7 1/2 hours of being on the road.
Renae and I watched the weather and the next day decided to go around some weather that was closing down I-25. We headed down through Farmington, veering off at the last second at a Fry Bread sighting yummy, then headed to Gallup. What a desolate road between Farmington and Gallup, depressing indeed. We arrived in Gallup and found a Cracker Barrel which Kristen and Clayton had never eaten at. Then we were off again headed to Las Cruces, we left Gallup around 230pm and arrived in Las Cruces around 8pm, so two long days of driving.
The next day we needed to drive over to White Sands Missile Range to register for the march. So we packed up the van and headed over. I guess I didn't realize that White Sands was at elevation I thought it was at sea level but it was at greater elevation than Grand Junction. It felt good to be on an Army Post again, made me all nostalgic for the military. I think it did the opposite for everyone else though. We followed the signs for the check in and stood in line, got our numbers, our timing, chip, checked the timing chip, got our certificate for participating and a t-shirt. Renae and I had our certificate and dog tag framed and got a few other memorabilia. We were told to be at the post no later than 0430 am for breakfast and to park. So we decided to get up at 0315 AM (I know, geez it was early) and head to the Post.
We followed a long line of cars (we saw Michigan, Tennessee, Texas, California, Kansas ((Sedgwick County)), Indiana, New Mexico (of course), New York, Idaho, Georgia, Mexico, and a lot of others. We parked where they told us (at 415 in the morning none of us were really paying much attention as to where we actually were) and started looking for our free breakfast. We arrived at the tents and found fruit and pastries. I think we were all disappointed for waking up so early and not getting a hot breakfast, but oh well. We got to talk with a daughter of a POW Bataan march survivor. She said her father wanted to come to the event this year so the daughter drove down to bring him and the POW passed away the night before the event at 6pm and his family came in honor of him. It made tears come to our eyes. They were truly celebrating his life. We made the time pass by standing in line for the porta potties, watching space aliens in tin foil walk/run past, and watching various military units. I think I even saw one of the ladies I was stationed at Ft. Meade with. We lined up in our appropriate staging area to await the start. The brass gave their speeches, the Air Force flew over in their new jets, and they told us not to start until directed to. Then the cannon sounded and amazingly our group was the first to start which was completely opposite of the way it was supposed to happen. We didn't cross the start line until about 30 min after then cannon sounded. Along the way before the start line they had the Bataan survivors and we got to shake their hands, totally awesome experience.
Kristen talked about her marathon's and we just kinda watched people as we crossed mile 1 and came upon mile 2. By the time we hit mile 2 quite a few of the military units and teams had gone past us, we had even seen one guy in uniform running barefoot. Kristen pumped at mile 2 and we headed on. I helped pass the time by picking up trash that people had thrown down on the ground, looking at the candy people had dropped, and watching for wildlife. At mile 3 we started to see military people off on the side of the trail taking off their boots and putting on moleskin and band aids, I definitely don't miss that. Mile 3 and 4 went pretty quickly because we would speed up one mile and slow down one mile but 3 and 4 were quicker miles. Around mile 5 they had a fruit station were they handed out oranges and banana's. I got my second wind then and we speed our way to the halfway point at mile 8. Mile 8 is when the 26.2 milers and the 15.2 milers split. I started noticing my feet around mile 6, but it wasn't until reaching mile 8 (which was supposed to be a faster paced mile) did I hit the wall. This was mostly because they had us walk through a sand pit for about 1/2 of a mile. This kicked my ass, but we still completed the mile in 18.5 minutes. Then we had a brief up hill section just past mile 9 and another aid station with oranges and cots. I took this time to sit down and empty the 10 lbs of sand I had in my shoes. I started questioning whether I would be able to make it as my feet burned and my fingers amazingly were swollen to the size of polish sausages. We passed mile 10 and I started slowing down. I told Renae and Kristen that I wasn't trying to be rude by not talking I was just trying to find my rhythm so I could make the last 5 miles. I don't remember mile 11, but as we neared mile 12 I could see another aid station. At this point the wind had kicked up with gusts of around 25 miles an hour. I was just putting one foot in front of the other, my butt was cramping every other mile or so since mile 9, and I could no longer feel my feet. I started thinking about the insanity of doing such a crazy thing as to walk 15.2 miles just because. Then I would try to remember why I was there. As we crossed mile 12 a man stopped me and asked if I were ok. I asked how much further and he said 2.6 miles or so, I told him if he were lying I'd walk back and kick his butt, he told me Sargent Major's don't lie, so then I apologized to the Sargent Major (military bearing). I walked a little bit further then decided I needed to change my socks to hopefully help me feel my feet. Luckily there was a challenge course on the right side of the trail so I sat on a log while Kristen and Renae helped take off my shoes. At one point both of them had both of my feet off the ground. At that point I got really nauseous and told them to look out because I was going to hurl. It was funny to watch them scatter, but I never hurled. Kristen asked if I wanted the Medic people and in a incomplete haze I said yes. I wish now I hadn't because I'm sure I would have been able to finish it would have just taken me about 30 min a mile to get it done. But they took me in to the aid station at the finish line. I had finished 12.25 miles which is 4 miles over what I have ever walked or hiked since the military. So in that sense I was pretty proud of myself. We actually finished the first 8 miles in about 2.5 hours which was amazing considering the course and the amount of people that were on it. The next 4 miles took about 2 hours because we were slowing up a bit. Then Renae and Kristen finished the last three miles in about 1 hour. I watched them cross the finish line and we had our photo taken.
Renae's bib number was 1324
Kristen's bib number was 1325
My bib number was 1323
The times are already posted on http://www.arizonarunningeventsco.com/BataanHonorary2009.htm
So if you get the chance congratulate Kristen and Renae and a job well done.
We went over to get our free after march meal which was a hamburger or bratwurst and headed back to Las Cruces. Renae drove to the long A named town in New Mexico Alburqurue (or something like that, then I drove to Farmington. We got into Farmington at 11pm utterly exhausted. Then drove on in to Grand Junction on Monday. I'm not ready to get back into a vehicle again for a while.
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