Day 5
I woke up from the hour long nap extremely disoriented and tried to get moving as quickly as possible. I had about 50 km (30 mi) left in the race and I was ready to be done.
I continued the long, slow climb towards the peak as the sun rose. The views were breathtaking; 360 degrees of mountains with nothing else in sight. I ran for portions of whatever songs were playing in my headphones, walking when they slowed down or ended. At some point, I realized that I was falling asleep mid-stride and waking up as my foot hit the ground. I radioed for Caleb & Claire, hoping to get some food and a nap the next time I saw them.
Soon, Caleb appeared with Andrew and a hot cup of oatmeal. We walked towards the truck while I ate and, out of nowhere, a llama (or some llama-like animal) appeared. I confirmed with Caleb & Andrew that it was real, not a hallucination! After days without seeing any life in the desert, this was an exciting moment. I wished it would come talk to me. It did not and trotted off into the hills away from the road.
At the truck, I sat and finished the oatmeal, adding globs of jelly to it. Nothing had changed, aside from the disappearance of darkness with the sunrise, yet all three of us were in much better spirits. As I finished my jelly oatmeal, we laughed about when I ate an entire jar of grape jelly in one sitting as a 12-year-old - just prepping for more than 2 decades later when I’d be running across the Atacama Desert.
With a good breakfast in my belly and the sun fully up, I felt awake and ready to run. I sent some updates to folks via audio note and was particularly excited to share about my llama sighting. I was so excited, in fact, that I sent my wife a 2-minute message that was mostly about the llama and then sent her another one 30 minutes later that opened with “I SAW A LLAMA.” I guess the oatmeal did not fully cure my sleep deprivation.
After about 10 miles of climbing, I reached the top of the mountain.
20 miles left, mostly downhill with 1 more climb. My watch showed 295 miles. Every step was a distance PR.
We heard that Alex was just 15 km behind us. He’s a fast runner so knowing he was not far behind me motivated me to push the pace on this downhill section. I ran three 10-min miles, a 9-min mile, and a couple of 11-min miles to get me to over 300 miles while my crew scouted the course.
I was running faster and longer sections than I had in days. Caleb and Claire were filled with enthusiasm and excitement as they reported back on what they had seen ahead of me. I was feeling great, aside from some very bad heat rash covering my legs and feet that Claire carefully treated for me (what a saint). The finish line was calling.
Soon, I could see the bottom of the final climb. I heard honking and saw Rob, Parley, and Chalo. They had come to find me and support me to the finish. Immediately, I was in tears. After a long hug from Rob, I kept running with Parley alongside me IN HER CROCS! It was so much fun to hear her stories as we ran towards both of our crews, parked together on the side of the road at the bottom of the last climb.
It felt like a celebration to be all together. My support crew had more than doubled in size. The new energy was incredible. We had ice and cold beer, which I took a big gulp of before starting the climb with Caleb.
I had about 7 miles left, about half of which was uphill. I wanted to run hard and leave it all out on the course. I tried to run as much as I could up the climb. Caleb could keep up with my hard running by just walking (both hilarious and humbling).
I finally made it to the top of the last climb: just about 3 miles (5 km) of downhill to the finish. I pushed the pace and felt like I was flying. For context, “flying” at mile 312 of a race is between 8:40 and 10:30 min/mile. It felt much faster, but I’ll take what I can get.
I saw the finish line, Cruz Papal, at the top of a small hill, and heard the yells from my crew.
I climbed the hill, touched the cross, and hugged Caleb & Claire tightly. We had made it. We had finished what we set out to do. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and I couldn’t have done it alone. This is called a ‘solo’ race but it’s far from that.
315 miles. 500 km. 105:45.
Ice on my legs and a cold beer in my head, I sat with my friends under the cross and looked back towards the mountains we had just run through.
The feelings at the finish line are impossible to describe - as if there isn’t really a word for them in the English language. Gratitude, connection, community, inspiration, love, pride, exhaustion, adventure, humanity, and more. It’s hard to explain to those who haven’t experienced it for themselves, whether by running or crewing.
It left me wanting more: more connections, more adventure, more challenges.
Luckily, there was so much more to come on this adventure: the chance to cheer on other solo runners, to share meals and trade stories, to connect over our common adventure, the shared craziness of what we had just accomplished.
My crew and I finished the running part of our adventure on Friday but some of the best moments of the trip were yet to come.
As James Poole said, “it’s about the people.”
Thank you to Nils, the Speed Project, Jarrick, and Reana for making space for us to lean into radical participation, to do hard things, to have adventures, to build connections. You created something special in the Atacama Desert, and I’ll never forget it.
To rad: Thanks for supporting female athletes, like me and Alex. Thanks for getting me to the start line in Iquique. Thanks for believing that I would make it to the finish line. Thanks for making this life-changing adventure possible.
To the team of creative, imaginative, and adventurous folks who captured photos & videos that allow us to look back on the experience through new eyes, thank you for using your talents to help us remember and celebrate this journey.
To the other solo runners & crews: As Alex said: “when everyone is crazy, no one is crazy anymore.” In each of you, I found a kindred spirit with a shared desire for challenge and adventure. I’ll be forever thankful for the love, support, challenge, joy, fun, and friendship that we shared that week in Chile. I hope our paths cross again and, wherever that intersection is, we find the same magic we did in San Pedro.
Caleb & Claire: This adventure could not have happened without you. You are the only two people I can imagine taking this challenge on with. I knew you loved me going into it, but the sacrifices (of sleep, comfort, time, and more) that you willingly took on exceeded anything I believed possible. Thanks for always loving me: at my best, at my worst, and everything in between.
And last, but not least, Maggie Riddell. My #1 supporter, always. I love you.
If you’re still reading, thanks for following along. These recaps took a life of their own and have really been a lovely way for me to remember and process this incredible experience.
We are travelers on a cosmic journey, stardust, swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
-Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
