great not having to think about anything other than forward motion. We gottotop of Townes about 9:00 PM and again I took a 20-minute break, sitting in acomfortable folding chair. I got nauseated at about 11:30 PM but felt betterimmediately after puking. I reached Panamint Springs a little after 1:00 AM (72miles). Per Lisa’s plan, I was to sleep here for one hour. I lay on a lawnchair and was instantly asleep. After one hour, Adrienne and Russ tried to wakeme and were very disturbed as they thought I had died. They couldn’t wake me. Ijust couldn’t get back into consciousness, so they let me sleep another 30minutes. They were finally able to rouse me, though I was slightly delirious forthe first several miles climbing up to Father Crowley Point (80 miles). Adriennewas now pacing me and I reflected on how fortunate I was to have her helping me.The sunrise on the high plain heading toward Darwin was the most beautiful shehad ever seen. It was wonderful to be with her. I was strictly walking, butwalking strongly. I was happy. I was doing it!!!! Randy and Billy arrivedbackat 8:00 AM. We were alternating crews so each could theoretically get 6 hours ofsleep. Randy was to pace me the rest of the way. As we now entered the plaintoward Lone Pine, every bit of progress seemed to take forever. However, I waswalking smoothly and my crew made it possible to make continuous forward motion.It was not extremely hot and I continued to feel amazingly good. My feetwereslightly torn up, but ever since seeing a photo of David Horton’s feet, aftersetting the record on the Long Trail across Vermont, I knew mine could get a lotworse. In hindsight, I let my feet get too hot after Stovepipe going up TownesPass. The pavement stays super hot much longer than you would think and I didn’tchange my shoes often enough. At that point I got “hot spots” that would laterbecome huge blisters. With Randy’s and Billy’s loving care, I reached Lone Pineat 6:40 PM. It dawned on me that I was making much better progress than I hadever dreamed of. Now I began to think I could finish in 40 hours or less. It wasonly 12 miles up the Portal Road and I had almost 4 hours to do it. What followsis our gravest miscalculation of the race. I never gave the Portal Road athought. It’s a 4,600-foot elevation gain. Coupled with my depleted state wouldgive me a rude awakening. I did the first 6 miles smoothly in two hours. As Ineared the switchbacks, the wheels came off the cart. I began to get delirious.Finally I degenerated to walking 50 feet and then sitting in a folding chair,thoughtfully carried by Russ. Randy was extremely worried. Would I collapse?What if he made me sleep for an hour or two, what then? Additionally, heknew Iwas on the edge of becoming very cranky and that it wouldn’t take much to turnme into a wild man. During this time Mark Henderson, from Texas, passed us andoffered to stay with me to the finish, hereby showing another great example ofBW spirit. He has the potential to win overall but had cooked his feet early on.He was hours behind where he had planned to be and yet was kind enough to wantto slow down even more to help me finish. I thanked him for his kindness butdeclined. My progress was so slow I wasn’t sure I would ever finish.Fortunately, soon after, I puked and instantly felt much better. Randy wasworrying over me like a mother hen and thought I might be BS-ing about feelingbetter, but I was and we walked smoothly to the finish. The finishing photoshows all of us in our glory: Randy was bawling; Adrienne, Russ and Billy werebeaming with pride at our accomplishment. I looked just like the zombie I was.Aftermath - I was sadwhen we left Lone Pine Sat. AM. I was leaving all my friends behind. ChrisMoonwas starting on second half of his double. Marshall Ulrich was heading back forfourth lap of his quad. For the next two weeks, I was kind of brain dead,maybefrom the heat, and only was marginally functional at work. My legs felt fine
Leave a Comment