Courage to Start

Big Horn 100 Miler!
I have always been very impressed with Gilles and his accomplishments with finishing the 100 milers that he starts. Today, I am impressed with something quite different: His courage to start. I always think that if his training is going well, (and we all know he has been training well) the race should go well. What we normally don't take into consideration is the runners mental state: stress at work, preoccupations. Add this to the fact that we drove 17 hours in 2 days to get here, lack of sleep and a 100 miles starts to look a little daunting.
The morning of the race, Gilles announced that he had not slept at all. He was not sure if he would even be able to start. He was demoralized before he even got started. I tried not to make a big fuss thinking maybe it would all just pass. I went to take my shower and realized that he needed a boost to his morale. I got dressed and wore my finest "Run Gilles Run" t-shirt. The, I took out my dollar store pompoms and encouraged him to give it a go.
We followed the usual routine:

1. Tape feet
2. Go to breakfast
3. Go to race briefing
4. Go to start and wait

At each step of the way, Gilles looked withdrawn. Perhaps he was mustering the courage to start. Maybe he was wondering how he could graciously bow out. Either way, he hydrated and ate a few cherries. I gave him a big kiss ad a hug, told him I loved him and that he could do it. Off I went to secure a good spot for race pics.

Once the star spangled banner or pledge of allegiance or something of a patriotic nature was recited or sun (I was too far way to hear anything). I began my picture taking. At first it was random shots of runners since I did not know where Gilles would be. Then, Karl came bay and warned me he would be on the other side. Great, I had a few secs to re position y self.
Most importantly, he started!!!!

The Prince and Princess of Cairo

Well, my sister moved to Cairo with her family on Monday. It is the beginning of their second adventure as a Foreign Service family. In the meantime, I have taken a break from my knitting so that I could get to work on some cute dresses for my Princess of Cairo. So far I have finished 2 dresses which I will send this weekend. I still have a few more (approx 5 still in the works). If I only had more time. Hopefully I can get the rest ready next weekend.
Lucas on the other hand is quite easy to please and a little less work. It is not like there are lots of things I can make him. His main priority is that a package must has something with a dinosaur on it.

Coyote Two Moon Update

The race director has now posted his report on line.
Check it out. Gilles makes the report for his speed and ability to get ahead of the aid station set up.
The official race results are also up.

Gilles officially finished in 31 hours (basically, that is how long he ran);
Luckily, he got lots of bonus points for getting into the aid stations first. And his time including the bonus minutes is 29 hours and 41 minutes.

Final Results

All of our folks came in:

1. 30:24 Chad Hyson and Karl Jensen
2. 31:01 Gilles Barbeau
   
3. 34:47 Al Harman
4. 35:22 Shannon Willford
5. 35:24 John Machray

WOOOHOOOOO

Race Update

The good news:

1. Gilles is doing great. He is scheduled to finish around midnight. Unfortunately, he miscalculated the times and should have started later. This meant that many times the aid stations were not yet set up. I saw him at the last one, Cozy Dell, where I waited 3 hours to be sure not to miss him. He looks great a little dehydrated but in good spirits nonetheless
   
2. John is doing great but moving at a sluggish pace. He is proud to say that not only did he get bit by a tick, he ran into a nighttime aid station stark naked. Apparently there are already pics on the web.
3. Chad is doing great and Karl is just a little behind.
4. Shannon was doing great but has since run into some chaffing and blister problems. However, her tough as nails attitude and super duper support is keeping her going.
   
5. No new on Al, Charlie or Van. After spending a day of trying to chase the elusive Gilles, I was not able to figure out where they were.
   

Race Report 1

They're off!
We had an anxious day waiting for everyone's start times.



Race Day Schedule:

1. 9am Go to breakfast with a most of the Canadian runners: Chad, Karl, Shannon, John and Gilles
2. 10 am Go to our respective hotel rooms to get stuff ready for the race. On the way up, Gilles starts to internalize quite how high the ridges are that he will be running on.
   
3. 11 am Gilles and I go to the ranch to sign him in, have lunch and sit and wait
4. 12:00 Barbecue lunch for runners and crew.
5. 1pm: short race briefing
6. 1:30 Foot preparations: I dutifully tape Gilles' feet to avoid those nasty blisters. Shannon thought that was a good idea and asked if I could do it for her. So, of course I obliged. After popping Baldwin's blisters last year, I decided prevention of other people's blisters may be the way to go.
7. Gilles went to take a nap in the car while I hung around with the other fools
8. 4pm race gun went off and the tippy turtles of the race went off: Gilles and John
9. 6pm Al and Shannon start (supposedly - since Linda and I went off to see Wicked)
   
10. 9pm Chad and Karl start (supposedly - since Linda and I went off to see Wicked)

The next time we can see them will be about noon, 3:15 and 9pm. We may not be able to post anything until late tonight.
For more picks:
Coyote 2 Moon Pre-race pics
Coyote 2 Moon Pics

Race / Trip Preparations

The countdown is on: 3 workdays left before we leave for LA and the preparations have begun. Today, we brought Linda our lawn chairs so we would have some place to sit at all the race events: before, during and after. Linda had a good a good idea of bringing some Fat Ass t-shirts since people all always asking us where they can get some. Ian also gave us some brochures to give out.

Tonight, Gilles prepared his drop bags. After much fiddling and maneuvering, its all ready. This trip is a little harder to prepare for since we will be flying. At the back of our minds, there is a nagging fear that airlines could lose our luggage. So, Gilles will be bringing the essentials in his carry on: a drop bag or 2, his trail shoes and water bottle holder.


I, too, began my preparations. Today, I put the finishing touches on a skirt that I wanted to wear on this trip. Nothing special, mostly sentimental. I bought the fabric last year while Gilles and the boys ran Big Horn. Linda and I had a blast exploring all the quilt / yarn shops in a 100 mile radius. That same trip, I bought some yarn to make a sweater. At the end of the day, when we had fun looking at all our our purchases, I realized that the yarn was a perfect match to the skirt fabric.
Now with the decision to go see Wicked, I thought that this might be the perfect outfit to start the 2008 100 mile season. The skirt is now finished and I have about 3 inches left on the sweater. Of course, I will still need to sew it together. Heck, that can always be done on the plane ride.

I also began cutting some fabric so that I can do a bit of hand piecing. Hopefully, this pattern will keep me going throughout the running season.



Quilt Shop: Best Kept Secret
Yarn Shop: The Fiber Shop