Team Billy Goat kicks some ass!

Team Billy Goat - for short

The esteemed Dr. Lewis somehow engaged his psychobabble powers and lured me into teaming up with him to run the '24 Hours...the Run' as the second half of Team Billy Goat. As we had trained a measly few weeks (mostly by scoring faceshots in the in the backcountry) we elected to enter the 12 hour version of the race, and further wussify it by dividing the work between two - entering as a duo.

Early morning view of parking area and event flag.

Coffee takes the chill off the morning

The next thing I know I'm camped out on the frozen desert still trying to fall asleep when the loudspeakers come on blaring "Are you ready for this!" techno theme song. Opening my eyes I realize it is 4:30AM! Not much restful REM sleep was had, but there must have been a bit, as I woke in the night all sweaty with belly pain dreaming that I had appendicitis and the surgeon didn't even get a history from me.

The start

Finishing up a lap. I swear I am actually running even though it looks as if I am walking. Look closely - Lucy is hovering. She got her wings from drinking Red Bull.

LEWIS! making up for my slow laps. As you can see, he is actually running (and monitoring his splits and heart rate - nerd alert!).

LEWIS! and I alternated laps on the 5.37 mile course around Monitor and Merrimac buttes north of Moab. It was a beautiful day, made even more so by the company of my teammate and Lucy, who ran a couple of laps with me. Between laps, we'd graze from the back of the van on chocolate milk, gummy bears, smoothies, pretzels, beef jerky, Gu, Snickers, Gatorade, etc. Magically we finished our 14th lap with 5 minutes to spare before the 12 hour cutoff and come to find out we placed 2nd! We got 24 ounces of PBR, a medal, a water bottle, sand in all orifices, and a case of tendinitis out of the day.

The La Sals really made for a beautiful backdrop against the red desert.

A view of Monitor and Merrimac Buttes from the Gemini Bridges trail. The course made a loop around the two buttes.

Base Camp

LEWIS! enjoys the spoils of the day while we debrief.