2021 Desert Rats Stage Race- Rest Day: Eat and Sleep (Chapter 6 of 7)

I woke up sore in the morning. Breakfast wasn’t until 9AM since it wasn’t a race day, so I took some time to chill around camp. Josh and Melissa were still there so I got to hang with them for a bit which was awesome. As a bonus, I got to shower up in their camper. I swear dirt just ran off me in rivers as I washed my long hair and feet.

There were several options of things to do during the day. There was a stream close by with a waterfall that some people were hiking to. With my legs so sore I decided to do all I could throughout the day to rest them and rub them down with some CBD cream.

I hopped a shuttle down to the Colorado River where several people were heading for the day. There was a tent down there with lunch and some drinks. Since I had been alcohol free for a few weeks I decided to drink some bubbly water and wait for the race finish to have a real beverage.

I was still feeling good, but my legs were sore and I was already thinking a lot about the marathon. It was kind of silly to worry about my standings. Morgan would have to run 2 min/mile faster than me for 26 miles to have a chance at winning, but I also know that 26 miles is a long way, and anything can happen. There was a long climb to start the next day and I knew it would be tough if Morgan decided to run it hard. The biggest risk in letting him go at it and lose sight of him is that I would not have any idea of where he was in the field. He is a sub 3-hour marathoner on the road, so I would need to be careful.

All the worrying aside, I was able to relax a ton this day. I drank tons of water and even had some time to read a book with my feet up.

After dinner, we had awards for the previous day and an outdoor slide show where Glen took all the photos from the week and showed them on a screen. It was cool, but I realized that the downside to racing up front is that there were very few pictures of me that week.

We went to bed early and once again, the snores picked up.

Comments

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Quad Rock 25

For some reason every time I know I have to wake up early the next day, I can’t sleep. I set my alarm the night before for 4:45 AM and went to bed around 10. I woke up just about every hour on the nose and looked at the clock. By the time 4:15AM rolled around, I just laid in bed and waited for my iPhone to tell me it was time to get up. Buzz….It was time to get up. My pre-race plan I rolled out of bed virtually exhausted and put on my battle armor for the day -- shorts, socks, compression, t-shirt, jacket, and my signature trucker hat. I had loaded up my car the night before with all my gear and nutrition so I was good to go. I kissed Julie on the forehead, she wished me luck as I left to go grab some coffee, pick up Chris and carpool to the race. We made it up to Horsetooth about an hour before the race start. Since we carpooled, we were able to park about 100 feet from the start line. This was clutch because outside it was 37 degrees, raining and windy. View close...

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