This was my 3rd trip to Hardrock. The first time was so perfect that I attempt to duplicate the same sequence in hopes of similar results. It works, so why change it. My body takes exactly 10 days to get acclimated, so I go out 14 days before the race to make sure. We help with course marking to learn the course, get acclimated, meet old friends, and make new ones. It has become our summer camp, where we bond with kindred spirits and relax from the stresses of our daily life. I enjoy it immensely. We drive up from Austin to Silverton and arrive the day before course marking begins. We stay at the hostel and flit about the mountains: days on the course, evenings in the restaurants and homes of friends. Camelbacks & sandwiches, elk herds & marmots, we pass out from exhaustion each evening before dark and up before sunrise. Hot springs and fireworks, hummingbirds and old friends, we smile til our faces hurt. A few days before the race, everybody else arrives and the mood shifts. Our friends slip away into their own circles while we do the same. Paul & Kathleen arrive and we move to the little house just down from the gym. It's very nice and comfortable. We rest and eat at home, cooking our own meals, and visting on the porch. The day before is all chaos, as the race overwhelms the town. Check in, meetings, drop bags, and discussions about plans with crews. I'm more confused than usual this year for the oddest reason. I know the course too well. They change directions each year, and I've run both directions now, as well as marked the course 3 times. But we don't mark all the sections in the order that we run it. We do mark in the correct direction, but the sections are done in an odd sequence. If you split the course into sections from aid station to aid station from 1 to 8, then our marking order went something like 8, 7, 3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6. Anyway, I'm all jumbled up and confused about the sequences now. I know the course pretty well, but I don't know which sequence is next. I won't get lost, but I can't explain it either. Race day starts with me walking out of town dead last once again. HARDROCK has begun.

After the race, we usually stay through Sunday and leave town early Monday, so Joyce & I can both get more sleep. Makes for a much more pleasant and safe trip home to Austin. But, with Badwater looming, we made plans to escape right after awards. Paul & Kathleen had rented a nice little house for the last few days and still had it through Monday. They had hoped we would stay with them another night just to relax and enjoy some time together outside the race. After a minimal amount of persuasion, we changed our plans to stay another night for all the original reasons. The problem with our new plan was that I had to be at work on Tuesday morning. We had 24 hours to go 1000 miles. Do-able as long as we don't sleep. Leaving Silverton at sunrise, we stop at Durango for breakfast, and Albuquerque for lunch. Dinner is a bit late in Lubbock and by the time we arrive in Sweetwater, we know Austin's a long shot for tonight. I just can't stay awake for very long and Joyce has been doing the bulk of the driving. After dinner, she gets so punchy that it's just not very safe to continue. We decide to stop in Sweetwater as there's nothing but podunk towns for awhile afterwards and no sure thing on another nice hotel. We have a very nice dinner and pull up for the night. We have an early breakfast and start at sunrise again. We get home before noon, unpack the truck, and I'm at work by lunch time. I've been gone from work over 2 weeks and way behind, so I stay late to catch up. I'm leaving again on Sunday, so I hammer all week to catch up and make plans for next weeks trip. Lots of little things to arrange and confirm: hotels in 4 cities, rent car, and air plans. Rich drives out from Napa Valley with his wife, and his brother flies in from Pennsylvania. I arrange hotels for all of us, but they arrive by their own means. Bills get paid from arrears and then again in advance, Joyce makes neighborly arrangements for her dog, the kids are called and reminded that we have not abandoned them, even if we have been gone for awhile and are leaving yet again. We just got home on Tuesday and are leaving again on Saturday, just 4 days later. We have no time to get our lives in order. Our kitchen is under construction and the living room is being painted, so everything we own is in a large pile in the living room under tarp. Erica takes us to the airport early Sunday and we're almost glad to be leaving again. We are off to BADWATER.

I have known about Death Valley since I was a kid, and never having been there, I was curious. I knew a bit about the place, but still, the feel of the heat and wind in Death Valley is something that must be felt firsthand. Like the Grand Canyon or the beach, pictures just don't do it justice. I enjoyed Death Valley and many of it's main characters, especially the Benyos and Badwater Ben. I didn't know many of the runners there and wondered if the trail runners and road runners at this distance were so different. After I got home, I checked the results for both Hardrock & Badwater and only found 16 people who have ever done both events, and only 1 person that has more than 1 finish at both events, with me being the only fool to do both in the same year. The passion is the same, but some love the mountain trails while others love the desert heat. Most avid trail runners don't care for the road, while most road runners don't care for rugged trail. They just seem to be at opposite ends. I obviously favor trail. The annual Badwater pilgrimage will do well minus me, while I continue to attend Hardrock summer camp. It is who I am.