Step Into Action

Day 149 October 2, 2011 Merritt to Hope 71km

5 Oct

Big reunion

We were a little slower getting started this morning. Part of it had to do with the fact that my legs were sore from the past few days of hills and part of it had to do with the fact our battery died again. As happened to us in Dryden, nothing worked, included the starter for the generator, which usually solves the dead battery situation. We mulled over our possibilities and I even call a few of the boys to see if they had jumper cables but none of them would answer their phones at that early hour. Finally a Hail Mary attempt combining the auxiliary battery and the generator start worked, despite never working before, and we were on our way.

I managed to get 17km before the boys showed up. The first few kms were on a steep downhill, which immediately fed into a very steep uphill that continued for 3.5km. This time though I didn’t have Snowy to keep me company on the hill, so I slowly trudged up it listening to the same music I’ve been listening to for months.

Unlike yesterday where everybody seemed to run as much as they could all at once, today they took turns in cycles of about 3km each. This definitely seemed to work better and I could actually talk to people as we ran. A little before lunch my mum, dad and Sarah showed up, having driven in from Vancouver for the day. It was awesome having them there and they joined in the running rotation, although Sarah didn’t really rotate out, she just kept running.

The guys stayed until lunch, taking me past the Coquihalla Pass at 1278 or so metres. We said our goodbyes and then Sarah, Mike, Mum, Dad and I sat down for some lunch. The descent after lunch was hellish. It was about as steep as anything I’ve seen yet this trip and it lasted the rest of the run, all 26km of it. Ordinarily I don’t mind the downhill, but the pitch of this was really steep and my hips and knees started to ache and my quads started to burn. I had been scheduled to do 84.4km today but the terrain was too hard on my legs so I had to tap out at 71km. The two days after my descent from the BC border into Golden were the sorest my legs had been all trip and I hope my legs don’t hurt too much from this tomorrow.

I’m only a few km from Hope after which the hills disappear for good!

Comments Comments Off on Day 149 October 2, 2011 Merritt to Hope 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 149 October 2, 2011 Merritt to Hope 71km

5 Oct

Big reunionWe were a little slower getting started this morning. Part of it had to do with the fact that my legs were sore from the past few days of hills and part of it had to do with the fact our battery died again. As happened to us in Dryden, nothi…

Comments Comments Off on Day 149 October 2, 2011 Merritt to Hope 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 149 October 2, 2011 Merritt to Hope 71km

5 Oct

Big reunionWe were a little slower getting started this morning. Part of it had to do with the fact that my legs were sore from the past few days of hills and part of it had to do with the fact our battery died again. As happened to us in Dryden, nothi…

Comments Comments Off on Day 149 October 2, 2011 Merritt to Hope 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km

5 Oct

Bringing in reinforcementsToday started early for the first time in a long time. Tyler was up early on his last day making eggs and toast. I was running by just after 7am and had done 20km by 9:30am. I stopped to give my legs a quick rest and w…

Comments Comments Off on Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km

5 Oct

Bringing in reinforcementsToday started early for the first time in a long time. Tyler was up early on his last day making eggs and toast. I was running by just after 7am and had done 20km by 9:30am. I stopped to give my legs a quick rest and w…

Comments Comments Off on Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km

5 Oct

Bringing in reinforcements

Today started early for the first time in a long time. Tyler was up early on his last day making eggs and toast. I was running by just after 7am and had done 20km by 9:30am. I stopped to give my legs a quick rest and when I exited the MCC to start running again I noticed a black SUV had pulled up behind us. I figured it was someone coming to see if we were ok or to ask about what we were doing, but all at once the doors started opening and I instantly recognized Roger Hatch, my high school rugby coach and Trevor Thomas, a buddy from high school. In total seven people emerged from the car; David Speirs my other rugby coach, Josh MacLean, Rob Snowden, Bryce Quan and Alim Abdulla.

Apparently there are five stages to grief, but I think there must also be five stages to joy, and I experienced them in rapid succession; confusion, disbelief, understanding, acceptance, joy. They had driven in from Vancouver last night, stayed at a hotel in Merritt, and driven out to find me this morning. I can’t describe how awesome it was to see everyone there.

We said some quick hellos and then got back to running, this time with an additional five people. Snowden couldn’t run because he forgot his running shoes back at the hotel and Speirs was driving. They all ran varying distances throughout the day, some running multiple times, others just once. Elaine showed up at some point during the morning to collect Tyler and take him back home to Kelowna. It was awesome having him with us!

On the way into Merritt was a very steep descent, which caused some trouble with lots of legs including mine. This also set us up for a steep ascent out of Merritt to be tackled after lunch.

Snowden and I started running at the base of the hill out of Merritt. It ended up being an 8.5km ascent at a fairly steep grade, something that Snowy didn’t enjoy too much. He was red faced but determined not to stop. The boys started taking shorter shifts in the afternoon and I always had someone to run with. By the end of the day Bryce had run 38km and then walked 2 to cool down. This coming from a guy who says he hasn’t run in 3-4 years.

All 9 of us piled into the MCC and drove back to the visitor info centre to pick up Josh’s car and upon stopping were greeted by a bus load full of British tourists who came over to talk about the run. I was sitting in the MCC when I was told that I had to come out to meet some people. Some of the guys had been talking to the tourists about the run and when I came around the corner they just started taking my picture, but no one really asked me anything at first. It was kind of awkward and I felt a little like an animal at the zoo but I was tired and didn’t really know what to say. Eventually though we got a dialogue going and it wasn’t so strange.

After enjoying the hot tub at the guys’ hotel we all wandered over to a nearby pub to eat dinner and watch the Canada vs New Zealand rugby match. Before the match had even really started a free pitcher of beer was sent over from a kiwi who was also watching to soften the blow of the loss that was expected to happen. Needless to say his prediction was somewhat accurate as we were beaten 79-15.

Watching everyone walk back to the hotel was priceless!

Comments Comments Off on Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km

5 Oct

Bringing in reinforcementsToday started early for the first time in a long time. Tyler was up early on his last day making eggs and toast. I was running by just after 7am and had done 20km by 9:30am. I stopped to give my legs a quick rest and w…

Comments Comments Off on Day 148 October 1, 2011 Middle of Nowhere to Merritt 71km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 147 September 30, 2011 Kelowna to Middle of Nowhere 66km

3 Oct

Holy hill!Tyler was still feeling a little unwell and went home last night and actually went home the night we stayed in Vernon because he wasn’t feeling well and was worried about blowing his nose and waking us up. I could have told him that I can’t h…

Comments Comments Off on Day 147 September 30, 2011 Kelowna to Middle of Nowhere 66km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 147 September 30, 2011 Kelowna to Middle of Nowhere 66km

3 Oct

Holy hill!Tyler was still feeling a little unwell and went home last night and actually went home the night we stayed in Vernon because he wasn’t feeling well and was worried about blowing his nose and waking us up. I could have told him that I can

Comments Comments Off on Day 147 September 30, 2011 Kelowna to Middle of Nowhere 66km
Categories Blog
Author Riley Senft

Day 147 September 30, 2011 Kelowna to Middle of Nowhere 66km

3 Oct

Holy hill!

Tyler was still feeling a little unwell and went home last night and actually went home the night we stayed in Vernon because he wasn’t feeling well and was worried about blowing his nose and waking us up. I could have told him that I can’t hear and Mike snores so loud that he wouldn’t hear anything. He apparently lay there in the bottom bunk trying to figure out how to clear his nose without making a sound for quite a while before giving up and heading home.

As a result Tyler had to get up pretty early this morning and was sleeping on the couch in our condo when I got up. We drove back to the start point and met Geoff and Jennay along with a bunch of their family and local firefighters. They escorted us all the way to their fruit stand, at which point they peeled off. At pretty much exactly the same time Kent and Dana pulled up and took turns running with Mike and I for about 30 mins; a great way to run out of Kelowna.

And then the hill began. We started climbing at the 15km mark and an elevation of just under 400 metres. It was a 6% grade, with not a single flat portion, that continued upward for 25km and an elevation gain to the summit at 1728 metres. I had felt really good when I started running this morning, thanks to the day off yesterday and this hill took most of that away.

In fact, I don’t think there was a single flat portion today. Once I reached the top of any hill it immediately crest and plunged back downhill. Needless to say my overall pace was a little slower than normal and it was dark by the time I finished running.

We spent the night in a brake check pullout, surrounded by semis all testing their airbrakes all night long. At least that’s what I was told; I slept through the whole night.

Tomorrow I should make it a little past Merritt