Primal Quest '08 - Montana!!!

As many of you are aware, we successfully finished Primal Quest close to midnight on July 1st ... 9 days of the most incredible and challenging adventure I have ever experienced. It will probably take me a few posts to share this adventure, but there are a few things that I want to get out there sooner rather than later. This picture was taken after the race ... after a much needed shower & some sleep. ...Just love these guys! Serge, James, (me), Jeremy, Todd, and Scott.


First of all, this was seriously an amazing journey on so many levels. I learned so much about myself, my teammates, what expedition adventure racing is, how your mind controls so very much of what you are able to do (or what you can't do), how to control that fine balance between moving forward and managing food/hydration & sleep deprivation, and many more things that will come out in later posts.

We also saw some of the most incredible things during the race - the most amazing mountains and scenery deep in the wilderness, wildlife including moose, mountain goats, deer, elk, and even a bear & her cub. I honestly felt honored to be able to experience this because we were far enough removed from "society" that it felt very special to be in a place that is not frequented by many.

Although this was technically a race, due to the length, variety, and intesity of the event, it really felt more like an expedition. There were several times over the 9 days that I completely forgot that it was a race - times when I was intently focused on the terrain and my movements to avoid falling hundreds of feet, times when my teammates and I were having great conversations about "life", times when I was hallucinating and seeing all kinds of crazy things around me, and times when I was just stunned by the beauty of the scenery around us. ...Maybe this attitude contributed to our "second to last" finish, but we didn't care at all. Our goals for the race were to:
1. Be safe
2. Have fun
3. Remain friends
4. Finish the race

Happily, I'm reporting that we succeeded in all these goals! We didn't sustain any injuries - except for blisters (more on that later). We had a great time and got along very well. I couldn't have asked for better team dynamics - everything worked out just great. And, although we were put on a "short course" since we missed a few time cutoffs, we finished as a ranked team - 40 out of 41 teams that finished. There were quite a few teams (15+) that did not finish for various reasons, so we still consider this to be a big success.

A few BIG THANK YOU's:
* To my awesome teammates who never gave up and helped me in so very many ways throughout the race (including carrying my pack sometimes and talking me through the "scary" parts!) I am forever grateful for the experience!
* To Scott and Todd who were the absolute best support crew - being tough when we needed a push, feeding us awesome food at the transition areas, and picking up after 4 smelly people w/o a single complaint ... They're amazing!
* Especially, to all my family and friends who sent us comments on our race website/blog, tracked us on the PQ website, and sent us good vibes. It helped more than you'll ever know for us to know that people were watching us and cheering us on while we were out in the middle of nowhere.
THANK YOU!!!

I'm in the process of downloading pics from my camera and will put them out on my picasa site soon, but for now, here are a few of my favorites.


Serge and me right before the race started. Serge was the power-house of the group! I have no idea how this guy has so much energy. :-)















Climbing the ridge of Lone Mountain - the first ascent of the race.















One of the many beautiful sunrises ... this one was right after we finished the trek along Telephone (or Telegraph?) Ridge











One of the many, many river crossings! Here we were lucky to have a log because the river was raging! It was interesting to cross it though because it wasn't as smooth as it looks in the picture. Definitely a time when I pulled out a pair of pants.





The stunningly beautiful Crazy Mountains!!












Happy to be alive and in the mountains!!