July 20 Day 1 on The Canol Road- Pup Creek Camp

July 20

Day 1 - Pup Creek Camp

We called this day one but we actually started the trip the day before from the ferry at Ross River and rode approximately 16 kilometres before deciding to camp. My brand-new sleeping pad was punctured the night before and I luckily found a patch that worked really well. Regardless, my sleep wasn’t very restful since mine and Hannah’s tent was angled a little downhill. I ended up sliding off of my mat and my mat on top of Hannah’s head!

So day one began by having a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee followed by packing up our camp. At this early part of the trip most of us were still trying to figure out the best way to pack our bikes and packs and the food was pretty heavy!

Spirits were high in the group and my legs felt very strong and happy to be doing something besides traveling in planes and vehicles. As the day progressed I felt more and more comfortable riding fast down the hills and had a blast tearing down each one! Hannah kept encouraging us to keep riding and the fact that the days are light for a long time in that part of Canada made it easy to keep going. Many hills up and down were ridden that day.

There was also the unknown of bears. We had been told there were grizzlies, but because the road was still very drivable and open we didn’t think about it as much. I did keep hoping that I would see a grizzly bear because that fear of the unknown was nagging at me. I felt that if I saw one, I would be less afraid. And my wish came true, I saw a bear, a black bear. Hannah was riding up ahead and Caitlin and I were behind her as she zoomed ahead and up a hill, Caitlin and I both saw it and yelled “bear, bear!” at the same time, Caitlin shot off a bear banger but the bear had already run off. We decided to stick together for a little bit and talked and sang very loudly.

A little later in the day we rode through a forest that had been burned in a pretty big forest fire.

A vehicle passed us and since that area is so remote and it’s pretty unusual to see five women biking, every vehicle that did pass would stop and chat. We met an older couple that happened to be the parents of Glenda the hunting outfitter at Godlin Lake, which was one of our planned camps and where our food cache was stored. They were headed up to mile 222 where they would fly into the camp at Godlin to visit.

Our goal this day was to get to Dragon Lake but after riding and riding, we finally came to a nice creek called Pup Creek with a nice bridge to hang our bear bags from.
The day had been quite sunny and warm we were all pretty gritty and dusty and to top it off, some of us were developing some saddle soreness from the long day on the saddle, so the creek was inviting for a quick wash and dip. As our luck would have it, as we removed all clothes to dip in the creek and wash our clothes, a truck with men from a road crew drove by and stopped to talk to Hannah and Caitlin who had just finished their dip and were cozy in their dry clothes. The naked ones of us ducked into the bushes for a few minutes until they drove off.

During our dinner preparation, another vehicle drove by with a german fellow and his partner who wanted to know what we were up to. We had a nice conversation with him and he proceeded to take a picture of us and yelled “RESPECT” as he drove off. Our dinner was tasty and we quickly set up the tents and climbed into our sleeping bags to listen to Hannah read another chapter from The Canol Road book.  

I soon fell asleep before the chapter was done. All in all, we rode 11.5 hours and covered 84 kilometres this day.
-Gabi

Mosquitos and Grizzly Bears, oh my!

Running has always been my favourite discipline, but any chance to be outdoors and experience new things in nature is my true passion.  My friend and co-adventure buddy Hannah asked me to join in the CANOL doc project and I couldn't resist!
This year has been a whirlwind for myself and my family as we are building a new home and I am finishing up grad school but this "opportunity of a lifetime", as my friend Kiran put it, to join 4 other women adventurers on this amazing trip, in the remote north, was something I knew I could not pass up.
As the school year wraps up I am rushing around trying to figure out how the heck to carry all the food I know I am going to need, the equipment, the supplies, etc on my new bike! I have some biking experience, but nothing on this scale. Training has consisted of core workouts of pushups, burpees, lunges, squats, trail running and of course biking! Much reading about bike packing and list making have also taken up a lot of my time lately.
I admit I am a tad bit intimidated by the remoteness and the challenge ahead, but the thought of the unknown and that "fear" of what I don't know, of going outside of my comfort zone, that's what drives me. As I am meal planning and dehydrating food, training, gathering extra bike parts, thinking about the most effective bug and bear repellants, meeting with the other Canol chicks, etc. my favorite quote comes to mind:
"Everything you want is on the other side of fear..."

I can't wait!
-Gabi

Survival Run round two, FAIL

Every year now for six years I have been traveling down to the beautiful island of Ometepe on Lago Cocibolca, known to many as lake Nicaragua.  "Majestic" is the word that comes to mind every time our ferry or lancha approaches the island where the conical volcán Concepción dominates the vista.

 Most years I have gone to volunteer in the ultramarathons and the Survival run that is the brainchild of my brother Josué, but last year I raced the Survival run for the first time.  In 2012 I had raced the 50k but until 2016 had not run in the Survival run.

Last year at SR 2016, I made it up to the top of Concepción but was not able to make the time cutoff at the next checkpoint at the bottom.

But since last year, I have upped my training and running game.  I lost about 15 pounds, I ran a lot, I ran my first 100 miler, I ran several 50 milers, a 40 miler, a 72 miler and other smaller orienteering races.  I rode bike, I did lots of burpees, I did bikram yoga, pilates, planks, kettlebells, squats, pushups, hill repeats, I hiked 178 miles around the Tahoe Rim trail with a super heavy pack in 8 days, and I felt confident that I would either finish and/or definitely get farther than last year!

I have been in grad school which really took up a lot of my time and energy in the weeks leading up to SR 2017 so I didn't really pay attention to the gear list until the night before I was supposed to leave for Nicaragua. At 8:30pm I frantically ran around Home Depot and bought rope, hacksaw blades and glow sticks and crammed waay too much stuff into my bags.  4 am came quickly and we were off to the airport! 
Every year my two boys come to Nicaragua and they really look forward to participating in the volunteering and have even climbed the volcanoes themselves.  On the plane I finished a test for a grad class then proceeded to read the instructions for the SR, I would have to learn 3 knots for the race and there would be slingshots again.

In the 6 years of going to Ometepe I have come to know the island pretty well and I am not really afraid of going up the volcanoes, but one thing did scare the living daylights out of me and that is the dive tank.  In 2016 the tank was used for fish instead of diving, but there had been two years before that racers had to dive down to the bottom and retrieve a rock.  In 2015 I had helped set up that task and I saw how deep it was and the truth is, it terrified me!  I had recently had a dream that I drowned at the bottom of the tank because my rock was too heavy.  So I tried not to think about it because I was pretty sure this would be one of the challenges.

Arriving in Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, every year is always such a change because we come from a cold and usually snowy Pennsylvania to a super bright, warm, colorful noisy city.  After meeting up with a few racers at Managua hills for the night, we were off early in the morning to the ferry.   The taxi ride to the ferry is usually about 2.5 hours from Managua and then another hour once you get on the ferry to Ometepe.  

After arriving at finca San Juan and seeing and talking to all the other racers nervously wondering what challenges we would have this year, would there be plantain carry? would there be chickens?

Which volcano would we climb first? Some people were down at the beach practicing slingshot so I joined in for awhile and while I didn't hit every time, I felt confident in my abilities.

"I hope you practiced your slingshot skills"
That's what my brother said to me when I told him he'd better not have another plantain carry repeat this year.  I laughed and said I had practiced and was ready.  I wish I would have practiced more...
We settled into our room at playa Santo Domingo and I started laying out my gear, planning my nutrition, and mentally preparing for the race start.  

We arrived at the race start a few hours before 5pm which is when gear check started.

After the race "meeting" and the gear check we were handed materials to make a slingshot which I did very quickly but in retrospect made some serious errors.

 I only singled the rubber when I should have folded it over to give it more resistance and power.  Nevertheless, we had 5 shots then we had to move to the back of the line and let another racer go.  After you made your shot, you could get your bib number.  People kept making shots, and then I was the last female, still trying to make my shot.  I shot everything but the target.  I even hit the targets next to mine, but not mine!

It took me 40 tries before I made it.  Meanwhile, other racers had a chance to earn a 'wild card' bracelet that would allow them to skip a challenge later on in the race.

The race started at 6pm and I decided not to swim because it would have put me way behind the other racers and it would have taken a lot of energy out of me.

The race started promptly at 6pm and we ran off along the beach for about 8 kilometers or maybe less.  I guess I was in the front pack but racers caught up to me on the rocky shore.  I met up with a fellow racer AJ Juarez who I had met at the Georgia Death Race and we went into the dive tank together.  I tried diving down 3 times but did not even get to the bottom before I started panicking and swimming to the surface. I just told myself to get a grip on it and took some slow deep breaths to calm down and thought that if everyone else is doing it, I can do it too.  I got down to the bottom and picked up a rock with my feet, handed it to my hand and swam to the top.  That was the best feeling to have that tank dive over with!

I felt such a relief as I jumped down got my first wristband, put my wet pack on and then AJ and I were off to the next challenge.

We ran on some dirt roads for awhile and finally arrived at the tree climb.  Super easy no problem, got my two wristbands for that and then AJ and I continued on to the next challenge which was bringing us closer and closer to climbing Maderas.  As we ran along the lake shore several other runners joined us and we finally came to the firewood cutting challenge at the base of Maderas.  Men had to cut 100 lbs and women 80 lbs, so I grabbed my grain sacks and my machete and wandered into the woods where I could see many headlights and hear the chopping of machetes.  My strategy was to just start gathering a bunch of dried pieces of branches laying around the ground.  Then I found Johnson Cruz next to a giant fallen tree and Oleg and we all cut large pieces off of it to add more weight to the load. My first load that I took to get weighed was 47 lbs. so I quickly went out and cut another log, but this wood was super hard and it took me waay too long to cut the second log with my small machete.

I noticed less and less headlamps around me and as I picked up my second load, I got disoriented and yelled "hey where is the road, where's the path?", "over here" I heard Matt Dolitsky shout over to my right.  So I finally found my way out of the brush with my load and when it was weighed, I was 9 lbs short!  For the last load, I just decided to keep finding dry branches on the ground and quickly gathered a large but light load.  12 lbs, whew!

I grabbed my pack and was feeling pretty thirsty so I drank and a bunch of water and grabbed a snack.  Someone told me there was a little stand with juice and snacks which I found on my path towards Maderas.  I bought two fresh watermelon juices and a coke as Matt Dolitsky flew by me.  I kept moving forward up the volcano and was able to recognize parts that I remembered the first time I climbed up that side with my two boys, sister and husband 5 years before.  After a while I caught up with Matt and kept turning around hoping for some company but I could not see anyone around. Soon I caught up with Jeff Izzo who I had met in 2016 when he volunteered for SR and the Ultras and he and I stayed together chatting until we caught up to Corinne Kohlen.  All three of us descended into the crater together and decided to do the cold, muddy swim across the crater lake to get our next wristband.  Luckily, it wasn't as cold as it had been 2 years previous when I had volunteered at that checkpoint and we had one runner get hypothermic.  The swim was fast and it was good to have company, then we turned in our wristband for our first FAIL medal.  Once we got out of the lake I started shivering uncontrollably so I changed into a long-sleeved shirt and put a buff and gloves and the three of us started climbing out of the crater.

About 10 minutes later I was asking Jeff and Corinne a question and no one answered.  I turned around and said "guys, guys?" and no one was there, so I just kept going faster and faster trying to get out of that wet, muddy, windy, cold, foggy world at the top of Maderas.   I basically ran and stumbled my way down and caught up to Oleg who kept me company till the bamboo and fencepost challenge.  We talked about life, politics and rabid dogs.  Which we actually ran into! Well they weren't rabid, but they were trying to attack us so we blew our whistles at them and backed away quickly.

At the fencepost cutting challenge we were told that there were not enough axes to cut the fenceposts so we were sent to the bamboo challenge right down the road to cut a 5 meter piece of bamboo with a hacksaw blade. I picked a bamboo that looked like the top was free enough to where it would fall easily once I cut through the base.  It took me about 15-20 minutes to cut through but it would not fall.  I climbed and shook that bamboo and it just would not come undone.  Pretty soon Oleg left, he told me that the fencepost challenge wasn't going to happen for him so he opted out of that wristband and continued on.  Corinne caught up and started her bamboo. People were coming and going so fast I was starting to feel a bit defeated.  One racer from the Tahoe area had been there for 3 hours trying to get a bamboo loose from the stand.  He said he finally climbed up 5 meters and cut the bamboo from the top to free it from the tangled branches.  So I took a cue from him and did the same thing.  The bamboo is not forgiving, I had to fight my way up through the thorn-like sharp branches with my machete and finally gave it a few karate kicks to get it out.  Tiiiiimber!

Corinne, AJ and I went up to the fence-post cutting challenge and after surveying the logs that were the knottiest I had ever seen decided that we would skip this in the interest of time, plus there were no axes available.  We picked up our bamboos and took off down the road towards the bike shop on the other side of Balgue.  The instructions said we needed to show an unbroken egg at each checkpoint from now on. The sun was getting high and it was really starting to warm up.  We stopped at a few little food stands along the way asking for "huevos" but the previous racers had cleaned out the first few places we stopped at.  We did take advantage and bought a few cokes and snacks to fuel us until we finally found a place with some eggs.  After what seemed waay longer than the 3 kilometers to the bike shop, we finally made it and presented our unbroken eggs.  The instructions were to carry the bamboo and bike across to finca San Juan where we had started the race.

So Corinne and I hung together for a hot long haul back to San Juan.  I was so happy to see that long dusty driveway down to the finca!

At the beach we were told that we had to do another slingshot challenge, this time you only had 5 shots with a marble to make one.  I practiced for awhile since the first one had not gone so well and kept making it with the stones, but as soon as I started shooting with the marbles I missed completely.

So I was not able to continue on in the race.  The next part was to carry the bamboo down the beach and swim out to a different island to retrieve another wristband and get the second medal "I".  Corinne had her wild card wristband and was able to continue on and get her second medal. So the race ended for me.

I had a wonderful time and loved all of it. Next year...

The best part was getting to see all of these people!

Photo credits:  Kaori Funahashi, Tyler Thomasello, myself, my mom, Corinne Kohlen

A crazy feverish post from the third floor of the library

Anxiety, it is something that appears when I don't want it to and sometimes when I don't expect it.  In this case, writing two research papers combined with my procrastination have left the door wide open for my unwelcome guest.  Sleepless nights, irritability, stomach aches, shallow breathing, sallow skin and dark circles under my eyes have not helped me to feel my best.  I keep struggling and struggling to get past this mental block that I am not a good writer, I want to be perfect, I want to get a good grade, I am afraid of "failing", what was that that Winston Churchill said about failure? That quote that I have posted in my classroom at work and that I post often to remind myself of? Oh, "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts". When I have an assignment due, specifically a paper to write for school, I start using avoidance techniques, I find everything else to do until it is the last moment and then I build up this insurmountable "monster" out of my task to accomplish.  It becomes so big, that it almost swallows me whole.

Today, this morning, I woke up and decided, that it is only a paper, I will do my best, it won't be perfect, because honestly, my writing stinks. Probably because I avoid doing it so much.  I recently read about the "evaporated people" in Japan including one young student that disappeared himself because he was so afraid of failure.  But failure isn't something we should be terrified of, it is something that happens sometimes, and we move on.  It's part of being brave, part of getting to "the other side of fear" and finding everything I want.  Today, I am "embracing the suck" a suck that I would prefer not to have to embrace, I will embrace it. Research paper, I refuse to let you own my life anymore, It's ok if I don't get a perfect score on my paper, I am trying my hardest.  Thanks Mr. Churchill I needed that reminder.


Some other great quotes from ole' Winston:

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

If you're going through hell, keep going.

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life.

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.

Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

For the Love of Woolx: A Review of the Woolx Basic Tee

I have always worn wool garments especially for running and outdoor adventures because of the amazing breatheability and the non-stink factor.  Wool has often had a bad rap as being too hot or itchy.  However, it remains my top favorite fabric to wear! Recently I stumbled upon a new brand of merino wool outdoor clothing and performance wear from a company called WoolX. On Facebook they were having a sale and I really liked the way their running capris looked so I purchased them.

Woolen running capris don't sound like they would be very comfortable and the last time I purchased a pair of merino wool running capris I had to return them because of the ill-fit and the saggy-ness that happened when they got sweaty during a run.  This pair was different!  The fit was great, there was a nice pocket on the side and I took them out for a trail run.  They performed super well, I didn't get too hot and they didn't sag at all. I love them and will have to buy another pair in another color!  The other great thing about these is that they do not stink!  I can wear them a couple of times before having to wash them, which is an additional plus for the environment!  Here is a picture of me enjoying my Fearless by WoolX capris:


So I tried out one of their woolx basic tee in black to see how that would perform during trail running.
 Here is my new Woolx basic tee package that arrived very quickly!  
I tried it on right away and loved it! The fit is great and the length is perfect.  Aaaand there was no itch whatsover.  WoolX guarantees their clothing will be 100% itch-free.

The other really great thing about WoolX is that the prices are awesome!  Most merino wool sportswear is very expensive, but I found that WoolX's prices are very reasonable.  I put my new shirt on and took it for a spin on the trails.  It performed very well, again, super breatheable, when I sweated I didn't get a sticky, wet or stinky feel at all.  In fact, I did not wash the shirt and just hung it up and wore it again today on another run.  Even though it still doesn't smell I may wash it this time, but I may not!
I highly recommend Woolx and right now there is a 12% off sale going on.
You can find Woolx on their facebook page  or go to woolx.com. Check them out!
I
I have now washed my Woolx basic tee and followed the instructions to wash in cold water and turn inside out, I did not dry it in the dryer but just hung it over a chair to dry and then I have worn it pretty much every day! Thanks #Woolx!

Fuego y Agua 2016: The anticipation of a baby's birth

Before I forget and get engrossed in my everyday life again, I want to write about my experiences and trip to Fuego y Agua Nicaragua 2016.

My mom once said, while waiting for my sister to finish the Leadville 100 mile race, that the anticipation and waiting for runners to finish was worse than waiting for a baby to be born.  She would know, she's had a lot of them.  This year at Fuego y Agua was like that.

I have been going to Fuego Y Agua almost every year since its inception in 2008.  I only missed the first year and then again in 2013.  I look forward to every February because I get to travel to a tropical island in the middle of winter and meet incredible people.  The other reason I go is because my brother is the race director and mastermind behind it all and it gives me an excuse to see him and help with the organization and volunteer for the race.

In 2011 I ran the 50k and finished 2nd woman.  In 2012 my brother came up with the Survival Run concept where the race is run through both volcanoes but includes challenges of different kinds that mimic some of the native islanders daily tasks and/chores.  Every year I have volunteered but have wanted to participate in the Survival Run itself.  This year, I decided was the year I would try my hand at it. This year was also different because Josue and Corinne were expecting a baby almost exactly on the date of the ultra races.

Because I was participating in the Survival Run, I was not "in" like I usually am and was not privy to any of the information or challenges that were being planned by the race staff.  All I knew is that Josue had told me it "would be harder than last year" and that most people would drop out before the first half.

I can always say that my training leaves more to be desired.  but I did train, just not a lot or enough. Last year I had volunteered for the 2015 Survival Run and had made a pact with Aimee Booth that we would be a team and try to be the first women to finish. My training consisted of mostly running, rock climbing, hiking, several technical 50k's and Bikram yoga, with a little bit of body strength training sprinkled throughout.  I know how Josue thinks, I have helped him in previous races, I've been up both volcanoes multiple times and I have completed the Hunter-Gatherer race in Texas.  I knew he would probably have tree climbing, swimming and/or diving, and eggs and/or chickens.  What I didn't know is that I would have to carry plantains up and down Concepción!  A day or two before my trip, my team mate Amie called me and informed me that due to work and family related issues she would not be able to make it.

I was ready mentally but not 100% physically.  Our trip down there was super smooth and we got to Managua Hills where we met up with several ultra-runners and three survival runners, Jamie Boyle, Mitchel Woods, and Dave Gluhareff.  After having a nice dinner, a shower and a good night's sleep we woke up for our shuttle taxi for San Jorge where we would catch a ferry to get to the island of Ometepe.  My brother had mentioned that several adventure racers were coming this year and I had the pleasure of meeting them on the shuttle.  Once I met Kyle, Paul and Dylan, I had a feeling that these guys were going to do really well.  They all had multiple expedition races under their belts and seemed super tough.

We arrived at Ometepe where Josue and Sean picked us up in Moyogalpa and took us to Santo Domingo, the race start and finish.  It felt weird not to be participating in all of the race preparations but nice at the same time.  Because one thing I know about putting on a race (even though I've only volunteered), it is super hard! Especially in a country like Nicaragua where amenities do not abound and connectivity makes things a hundred times harder.  I got to relax, meet some other runners, work on my grad coursework and hang out with my sister Abi.

Race morning came and I felt that my water bladder was too full and my pack was too heavy, and yet I knew we were probably climbing volcán Concepción first and that it would be hot! So I decided to keep it full and had super-hydrated the day before by drinking 6 x 32oz. Nalgene bottles of water mixed with electrolytes, plus several juices.  During check-in we received a colored strip of fabric and I quickly noticed that there were 4 other colors and surmised there would probably be a team challenge.  Sure enough! After we started, my green team comprised of 13 people had to carry 8 large bamboo poles down the beach about 3.5 kilometers then had to build a raft and carry 2 out of 3 rocks to an island.  Our raft was build pretty well but not buoyant enough to carry two rocks and one was lost on the way over.  Luckily, we had one rock left on the beach and had to do a second trip out.  At the island we were to gather a container with our team color on it full of eggs and pieces of a puzzle that we were to complete on the mainland.  By the time we swam back to the mainland, the rest of our team had completed most of the puzzle and were waiting for us to disassemble the raft.  We received our bib numbers and were told that we were no longer a team but we would have to show an unbroken egg at each checkpoint.  I quickly packed 2 extra eggs in my pack for a total of 3 just in case.
As I ran up the dirt road I came to the first challenge in the actual race, getting 20 lbs of plantains and carrying them in a feed sack unharmed.  I continued up the road and was passed by Morgan McKay who was moving at a really quick clip.  I saw a little store and stopped to buy a gatorade, knowing that the volcano climb was imminent. The trail turned up and we started climbing.  Pretty soon I arrived at the second challenge, a tree climb.  There was a choice of 3 trees and they were all slippery and sweaty from all the previous climbers.  We were instructed to climb and get our slingshot rubbers to make a slingshot.  I quickly climbed up, chopped a y-shaped branch and took off with my plantains.

Little by little the climb got steeper and steeper.  It seemed to never end.  Helene passed me, as well as Arian and several others.  I was also passing people, people that were already out of water and getting heat exhaustion and we weren't even past the halfway up point on the volcano.  I was really conserving my water because I knew there were no refills till we got to the bottom.  Some people were saying that we had to carry the plantains to the top but I wouldn't believe it.  Well, once I got to the top, I was sure I was going to miss the cutoff but Frasier said I still had 30 mins AND that I was to keep carrying the plantains till the next checkpoint around the other side of the volcano rim.  I hustled to get to the next checkpoint because I wanted to make the cutoff.  At Robin Johanson's challenge, we had 5 tries to shoot at a small target.  We had to hit the target once to be able to collect our first bracelet.  I practiced and it seemed that my poorly constructed slingshot was pretty acurate so I went ahead and made my 5 shots.  2 of them were super close and the rest were waaaay off, so I quickly packed up and took off.  My heart sank when Robin informed me we had to carry the plantains to the bottom.  I was moving pretty quickly and felt great, still had water and I felt strong.  But as the darkness came, things got a little harder.  I started falling, and my quads started to feel it.  Billy McKenna caught up to me at a point and said he wanted to buddy up during the dark which I was grateful for.  He had been out of water for hours and at this point my water was super low, I had already given some to Mitchell who was suffering pretty badly at this point.

 We made our way slowly down the volcano and kept getting passed by people who had not made the cutoff and had dropped their plantains.  I kept hope that I would somehow make the cutoff at the bottom so I kept my plantains.  Towards the base, the sweepers caught up to us, we could hear the checkpoint at Los Ramos but I was told that I had missed the cutoff by 1 hour so I finally gave up and dumped my plantains and continued on.  When we got to the road, my quads were so shot that I couldn't even run, because my knees kept buckling I had to hold onto Billy.  What sweet relief it was to sit down at the checkpoint and drink a cold coke.  I was super bummed that I had not made the cutoff and that my race was over.  I really really wanted to finish but at least I knew that Helene and Morgan were still out there and one of them would probably finish. I had a feeling that Helene had the determination and that this race had been a thorn in her side since last year.  Plus she had signed up for the Devil's Double.

The rest of the race was a waiting game, waiting for runners, waiting for the baby to be born.  It was an incredible moment to see Paul and Dylan cross the finish line as well as the other 3 men but when Helene crossed, it was a victory for me  My eyes were misty and I almost felt as if I were crossing the finish line myself.  I have incredible respect for her and dream of being such an amazing athlete as she is.

The beer mile came and went with its usual hilarity and craziness, we were able to raise almost $1000 for the schools on Ometepe!  Then the planning and organizing for the ultras began with more lack of sleep.

On Feb. 6th the 100 and 50k ultras began at 5am, many of the runners had run FyA previously but many had not.  The day turned into a hot one and people began to experience heat exhaustion, especially some of the 50 and 100k-ers  Many dropped out, many didn't make the time cutoffs but all were amazing for coming out to run such a difficult and crazy race.  The only sleep I got that day was about 1 hour or 2 sleeping on a chair at the finish line, waiting, waiting for runners and waiting to hear if that baby had been born.  I had to leave and catch my ferry and wasn't able to see the first women finishers for the 100k, but I heard it was amazing.  Helene was not only the 1st woman to finish Survival Run Nicaragua but also finished the Devil's Double, which very few people have managed to do.  My friend Meredith was first woman over the 100k finish line, which I was so proud of since this is her longest race ever and last year she only made it to the 50k.

The adventure didn't quite end after the race.  The boys and I jumped on a bus hoping to make it to the 7:30 ferry since our flight left Managua at 2:30.  We arrived at the ferry, bought tickets and jumped on.  I was so tired that I fell asleep for about 1 hour then woke up to find out that due to high winds the ferry would not be leaving anytime soon, and possibly not that same day.  I had resigned myself that we would be missing our flights when I noticed that a lady was trying to schedule a flight off the island.  She said that if we got 12 people together it would cost $100 apiece.  I told her I would like to go but that the situation with my card would not allow me to access any money at that time.  She said that she would trust me to PayPal her and she would cover me and the boys.  So off we went and boarded a Cessna and had an incredible and amazing 20 minute flight straight to the Managua airport.  The boys and I had just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and get to security and then we were off!

Now I sit here looking out at the winter wonderland of snow and missing the company of all of the incredible racers and volunteers that FyA attracts every year. It was a big year for firsts: A woman finished, a woman finished the Devil's Double, and many racers finished and or attempted FyA for the first time.  Baby Benjamin Oliver was born on Sunday night or early Monday morning!  He is the cutest baby in the world.  All that waiting was worth it.

Surveying with Papi circa early fall of 2007 in Tennessee

My father, Papi, as we call him, used to say the funniest things. Still does on the occasion I get to spend more time with him.  

One day while working on a land survey with him, we got to talking about where the name ‘Stephens’ came from.  

"It’s a viking name" he said to me.  "Actually papi, it’s a name from the British isles, an English name", I responded.  

"No, it’s a viking norman name" he insisted.  

"Well maybe originally" says I, "but more recently an english name".  

Looking thoughtful and hopeful all at once, he said, “I bet they were the really nasty vikings.”

I laughed so hard.  Maybe I was just in a giddy mood, but it struck me as very funny, and you would agree with me if you knew my father.  He revels in the extreme and shocking.  Comments like “I’m about to pee my britches” are not uncommon to hear while working with him.   He gets frustrates so easily and takes on an ‘Australian-g’day-mate’ accent when frustrated with the surveying instruments.