 |
| PAGE 7 |
|
| Nearing the end of the rocky descent I caught up briefly with the runner in black. She made a comment about the downhill being so long, and I agreed. I stopped running and took a walking break to drink water and the runner in black went by me again. There was also another runner in this section, and I think it may have been the runner in the red shirt again, but my memory is sketchy. I reached the bottom of the rocky rutty road with some reluctance.... the loose rocks and ruts gave way to a nicely graded dirt road. It was here on this nice dirt road that I had taken the bad fall last year by tripping on a small rock that had been slightly sticking up above the road surface. I became extremely cautious---- scanning the ground with each step, and picking up each foot high enough to clear the sneaky little rocks which so closely matched the color of the dirt road. Cresting a slight bump on the road I could see Helvetia aid station just ahead. I remembered arriving to this aid station bloodied up last year. Checking my watch I was surprised to see that I was arriving at exactly the same time as I had last year: 9:35am. I thought for certain that I would be atleast ten minutes or more slower. This situation presented me with an interesting opportunity. At Helvetia aid station, a volunteer filled my bottle and I drank some coke and grabbed some PB&J quarters to take along. One of the volunteers pointed out that one of the safety pins had come loose from my bib number, and I replied that I would fix it. The volunteer was worried I'd get stuck with the open safety pin, and all I could think was if he had seen the bloody mess I was when I arrived to this aid station last year, that a pin prick would be miniscule in comparision. I was so relieved to be beyond that dirt road section where I had fallen last year. Leaving the aid station, I headed the wrong way (again there was a white line and the word NO written), and the volunteers corrected me. Geez, I felt like a real numbskull. But mostly I was just tired. I was in another low energy patch. It really seems to me that we took a slightly different route out of this aid station last year for two reasons: 1)based on a photo I had taken last year and 2) it seemed there were more cattle gates to go through in this next section in last year's course. But perhaps my memory is faulty. (or maybe some cattle gates had been removed ) This next section consists of about 3/8mile of the flat road with a left turn onto a road with loose dirt which starts off flat , and then is followed by some gentle rolling terrain.And finally a few cattle gates and then a climb up to the 25mi aid station. Last year, I lost a great deal of time in this section because I was unable to run. I was hurting and stiff from the fall. The brief time I had spent in the Helvetia Aid Station last year, allowed the knee that I had fallen on to stiffen up. All I could do was walk. Eventhough I was feeling tired at this point, I was not in the same bad state as last year. The opportunity presented to me was that if I could get to the next aidstation quicker than last year that it might be enough extra time pad to get close to or slightly under 11hrs. I had come so close last year. Given this , I felt compelled to try . I had nothing to lose. I mostly walked that first 3/8mi out of Helvetia, so I could eat the PB&Js and reattach the the corner of the bib with the errant safety pin. When I made the left turn on to the road with the loose dirt I was greeted by a head wind. Great. Not only was it flat but there was a head wind. I again longed for the hills. I thought again about Pat Coates in this section.. she had crossed my mind several times earlier on the course. Pat was the kind person who had taken me to the Tucson hospital last year after I finished and stayed up with me until about 3:00am in the ER, and then took me back to my hotel .. I ran-walked the section with the headwind and grumbled to myself... then I remembered how bad I had felt a year ago, and that memory put a quick halt to the grumbling. The road again turned and the headwind became a side wind, and my disposition on the trail immediately improved. But the view ahead showed dark heavy clouds forming in the not so far off distance. It was now about 9:45am or 9:50am... so much for the rain moving in during the late afternoon, the rain appeared to be knocking on the door right now. |
| Photo # 12: The arrow points to the dark clouds... the clouds do not look as heavy or dark in the photo as they really were. |
 |
 |