Winfield to Twin Lake 10.5 miles, Twin Lake to Tree Line 12 miles, Tree Line to Fish Hatchery 6 miles



Thanks to Ed!! Go Juno Go sign!

 

2nd Pacer at Twin lake Kei

 Yukiko is smaller than me,but she was very strong.  She carried my rain gears and extra food for me, and paced me all the way up to Hopeless pass.  We stopped at the Aids station this time, had a hot noodle soup.  It was salty and tasty!!  There were many runners sat down and rested for a while...I saw Stewart, who is an awesome mountain biker. He just did 100 mile Mountain Bike race a week ago.  He was racing as a Leadman.  Leadman competition includes Leadville marathon, Silver Rush 50 bike or run, LT 100 mountain bike, 10k run, and LT 100 trail run all together in one summer.  CRAZY!!!!!  but... sounds like a great challenge.... maybe someday.. ?!!

It was so nice to see the Twin Lake view ahead of us.  I felt the section was longer to cross the creek, and run through the field to get to Team Junko.  Yukiko called Team to get ready for hot coffee.  It took us longer time to get to the team we expected.  We were slightly behind the goal split.  I was getting nervous.
There were Ed and Val waiting for us here with Go Junko Go sign on the pavement!! What a nice surprise!!     I sat down and asked my team to give me the ointment for my shin /feet pain.  I rubbed it to my feet and shin, and changed socks and shoes.  I felt better by changing the shoes to the wider Vasque trail run shoes. Hope they could help... cross my fingers...!  As I checked in to the official, I saw my friend Kim was there to cheer me up!!  It was nice to see her smailing face!!  She gave me so much energy!!



I was keep asking Kei my time.  Must be annoying him!!

At the Twin Lake, 2nd pacer Kei was waiting for me.  He is one of the toughest endurance athletes among my friends. He has done many 100 mile mountain bike races, Iron man races, and marathons..!  I had confidence he would pull me up on the Colorado trail up and over to Treeline no problem.  We grabbed the headlamp and flash light for the night run. It will be dark in an hour or so.  My shin was still hurting badly.... ugh~~~~!!! I kept my mouth shut, and talking to myself " suck it up!"

It was getting dark... we had to use the headlamp and flash light.  I was glad that Yukiko, Kei, Jo ( friend of yukiko) and I did a night run to test lighting system once.  It helped me so I knew what to expect in the dark.  We were chatting and hiking up/ running up on the hills, talking to some other runners along the way.  I was still having a great time, Can you believe?? Ha!

We stopped briefly at the Half Pipe aids station.  So many people did not look good.  I saw a guy throwing up his entire stomach....  My energy was so great, but my feet and left shin were in pain... getting worse.  I swallowed the hot soup again and left quickly because I worried about my split time.  Kei kept saying "  we are OK... no worry!"  I was bitching : NO!! I wanted to be ahead!!!!"  Sorry Kei for being a bitch! 

After the short break, we had a couple miles to Treeline aid station where Kenji as a 3rd pacer was waiting!   It was dark and getting colder at this point.

 


Cold night for my crew!



kei and me

My feet/shin were in pain!!

I had to really be tough to stand up and get going. I never thought I wanted to quit, not even once!!!  I just wanted to be on time or slightly ahead of my goal.  

Kenji was so good to talk to me along the way which was about 4 miles on the pavement to Fish Hatchery.  It was pitch dark... you could see the headlamp from other runners and headlights from cars far away to the road ahead of us.  It was the longest 4 miles, I was very slow and walking or limping... I could not exactly remember how I was running.. As we approached to Fish Hatchery, I needed to look for a bathroom!!!! YES!  There was!

Thanks to Kenji, I survived to get here!  24 miles to go!