Tom's Trans Rockies Top Twenty

The more time that passes, the fonder I am of the experience I had at Trans Rockies. It really is a summer camp for runners. Like-minded people of all abilities and from all over the country and the world come together to tour the Colorado Rockies on foot. So cool.

Over the 6 stages we climbed and descended single track, double track, and dirt roads. We battled the elevation change while some didn't. We worked hard to beat the heat on day 1 as we trudged through the Arizona-like desert. Ate amazing food from soft tacos, to lasagna, to chicken, steak, and corn on the cob. Spent some time in the legendary towns of Leadville, Vail, Beaver Creek, Red Cliff, and Buena Vista. Sat idle in cold streams with other runners and TRR staff. Listened to the stories of so many others. But mostly we just ran, and ran, and ran ...and loved it.

In no particular order, but a list of 20 random odd thoughts, this is Trans Rockies:

20 - the age of the youngest runner (a father-son team)
19 - bags of Guu Chomps in 6 days...blaaaahhhh!
18 - the cost of a round of beers following the finish in Beaver Creek.
17 - Our place overall out of 100+ teams
16 - Ibuprofen per day to prevent my IT from flare ups - it worked.
15 - kilometers to go when my shin decided to pack it in on day 6.
14 - our team bib number.
13 - days without running before Trans Rockies. What a taper, huh?
12 - thousand-five hundred feet of elevation on day two through Hope Pass to Leadville.
11 - thousand feet atop Vail and getting stronger for the downhill on day 5
10 - % discount returning runners will get for each year they've run TR. A runner who has run every year since the start could get 40% off next year.
9 - bottles of water per day totaling 5.4 liters of Nuun, water, and Gu2O
8 - place in the very competitive open men's category.
7 - the number of days before the race that Jenn Turner (Moveo) worked me into shape.
6 - number of teams that dropped out of our category by the finish.
5 - gorgeous, but cold mountain streams for post-run soaking
4.5 - the number of marathons we ran over the six days.
4 - number of toe nails I'll be losing soon.3 - post-race massages.
2 - cups of coffee each morning before the run.
1 - shin injury on day 6 after the climb out of Vail.

0 - the number of nights we got up on stage for an award.(Above:Tent City after Stage 5 - Vail)

I can't thank Salomon enough for this opportunity this year. They made it possible for me to take part in a world class event with some truly world class people. It was especially great to meet Junior Maheu and Luc Hamel of Le Coureur -Salomon Flight Crew and Danielle DeGuire and Amlie Fournier (Les Filles Salomon Le coureur). Congratulations to both of these teams who ran incredibly strong everyday and were brilliant to run with. Being with these folks really made me proud to be part of Salomon Canada's Flight Crew.
Also a huge congratulations to Salomon's Phil Villeneuve, who I finally met, in taking fourth place in the first annual Trans Rockies Run 3. Incredible job, Phil. It was truly terrific to finally meet you.
It was incredible, tiring, and a lifetime experience. Glad to stop running on day 6...get some ice on the shin and suck back a Fat Tire.