Rock and Ice 2009

So here is the story of my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th marathons (the first being at Ironman Canada last year) I know, I know I don�t like to start small. That being said I must admit to being severely delusional in my approach and training for this event � 135km of snowshoeing over x-country skiing over three days of snow and ice in the Canadian sub-arctic. I had decided in the fall I was going to participate, but after doing Ironman Canada, I figured it would be a piece of cake. I also decided that rather than �race� the event, I would walk the first two and see how if I would feel like running on the third. That being said my training this winter consisted of lots of snowshoeing around Yellowknife, but never for more than 3 hours at a time, it was a very easygoing � the race will be no problem approach�HA.

I do have the admit to enjoying the 9am start times, so after waking and having a hearty breakfast and coffee, Sean drove me down to the start line. I had a few friends participating as well and although we were not planning on racing together, we would share the tents at night. There was a larger crowd of participants than I expected, skis and snowshoes take up more room. The gun went off and so were we, many of my friends and coworkers came out to cheer on the start. I have to admit, it was the slowest start line I have ever seen. The first 6km was great, I got into my groove, felt good and reached the checkpoint within an hour � on track to my 8 hour day I had visualized. Sean and a couple of girlfriends were at the checkpoint to cheer, which was a great surprise. The next leg went well too, the trails were in the trees, protecting us from the wind and I just kept on trucking along. I had my watch set to beep at 10 minute intervals where I would take a sharkie or a small bit of power or cliff bar. (I had previously cut each bar into 24-36 pieces, rolled them in icing sugar so they wouldn�t stick and froze them.) At the top of each hour, I would stop and have a cup of water from my thermos. So when I got to the 2nd checkpoint I had lotss of energy but my left hip flexor and right knee were starting to feel sore. Then we headed out across the lake. The wind hit me and I knew my 8 hour goal was never going to be achieved. I pulled on my ski goggles, pulled up my neck tube and started trudging. I chatted with a Doc I know who was skiing for a while, that helped to take my mind of the conditions (it was snowing with 30km/hr head wind aka blizzard). We came across a 6-day racer who didn�t look too good, he kept insisting he was fine although he couldn�t feel his hands and wouldn�t take warm gloves or handwarmers from us. I later found out he was pulled by the Medic team shortly after we passed him and was hospitalized for a week with frostbite and hypothermia. A girl on the Italian team also looked like she was in trouble�she would take off running and then slow to practically a crawl�we played cat and mouse all the way to the third checkpoint. The Italians trialled a �new� technique for frostbite prevention � duct tape on their nose and cheek bones, I can only imagine how that felt to take off at night, I don�t recall any of them wearing it after the first day. But I digress�back to Day 1. The wind feels like it is picking up and it starts snowing harder so I take out my down parka hood with fur trim to help my face out. Honestly the hood and the handwarmers are what saved me during the day, I don�t think I could have finished without it. Finally I see a snowmobiler and he says the next checkpoint is only 1.5 km away, just around the corner. The fact that I reached it in � an hour gives you an idea of my pace. I actually go into the checkpoint tent to warm up, eat some wraps and cheese I had packed and some hot water, I did however forget to take some Advil for my nagging hip and knee. So again, I am off the last 14km to conquer of Day 1 all across Prelude Lake, no trees for cover and no significantly changing scenery. This part was hard�my hip and knee are killing me, the wind is howling and it feels like it is pushing me backwards. I start to wonder what the hell was I thinking to even sign up for a race like this � who does this other than completely deranged individuals? And to top it off I have two more days of this? I have to sleep in a tent on the snow! I could be at home with my honey, nice and comfy and cozy with a glass of wine. After just over 2 hours (at about 6pm) I see a support guy on a snowmobile and ask how much further, �6.8km he replies with a smile.� My response was �oh f%^*� and I burst into tears, which I quickly tried to control � tears at -20 are not a good idea. I kept on trudging trying very hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other and to hold back the tears, praying that something on me would break � a knee or an ankle, so I could have an excuse to quit. The wind started to die down a bit and it almost stopped snowing, I took off my hood and looked around, it was very pretty and there was an orange mass up ahead. Then I realized those were our tents! I was almost done for the day! I crossed the finish line with me friends cheering me in and Sean was there too! I was so happy to see him. They had already gathered my gear and selected the tent. I passed the frostbite check and later the cognition test for hypothermia, I settled in for the night. Once I had stopped moving I felt better � the temporary depression had lifted and I was happy that I wasn�t last. We were joined by two Doctors from the UK who were doing the 6-day, they had never skied before and were using the race to learn � while pulling all their gear on a pulk behind them. They were hilarious, almost burned down the tent with the fireball from their camp stove and very appreciate for the rope we gave them to hang up their clothes, �oh you guys brought rope, we never thought of that.� I set up my down sleeping mat (it was the envy of camp), hung my clothes to dry, had dinner and passed out.

The morning of Day 2 brought sunshine and clear cold skies, I was a little stiff but overall pretty good. I heard 4/8 snowshoe men dropped out and 2/7 women (we are tougher, what can I say). One of the guys in our group of 4 informed us he couldn�t continue as he hurt his knee too much on Day 1, we were down to 3. I made sure to plug myself into my ipod as I was thoroughly annoyed with my own thoughts the day before. We packed up, threw our bags on the pile for the airplane to take to the next camp and set off. As bad as Day 1 was, Day 2 more than made up for it. The sunshine and the beautiful portage routes we were on were amazing. I had my tunes and was practically dancing for most of it. Sean and his parents were at the road crossing, so I got to see some familiar faces to cheer me on and �keep going� kiss. I was thrilled to be outside and alive and participating in this fantastic race. The only hard part of Day 2 was the last 45 minutes when the sun was lower in the sky and the temperature dropped, I got quite cold and couldn�t get my heart rate up to compensate � it hovered around 120, when I had been a constant 135-145 throughout the race. I crossed into Camp 2 � Jennejohn and my friend Darch helped me straight to our tent, where I sat on my bag still dressed in all my gear (including snowshoes, until I warmed up). We shared our tent that night with two Spanish guys who were sponsored by Buff, again very funny, although they were starving as they did not pack enough food. Since I packed enough to feed 10 ppl, I kept handing over the food until they were full. They later informed me I saved their lives, I gross exaggeration I am sure, but I was happy to help none the less. Day 2 also brought the loss of another member of our group. One of our skiers didn�t fuel properly through the day and couldn�t keep going past the road crossing checkpoint � there was now just Darcy and me, 2 out of the 4 who started.

Throughout the night I heard the wind pick up and whip around our tent, but in the morning we discovered it was a tail wind to push us back into the city, whoo hoo! Last day, now I knew I could finish this thing. I had been watching come of the other snowshoers and their gait during the race, they were doing a shuffle which is not much faster than a walk but faster none the less. I tried this out, not only was it a little faster, it kept my heart rate a little higher (145) and was easier on my legs. I was on a nutrition schedule of sharkies, bars, salt pills and an Advil every 2 hours (I know I had overdosed by the end of the day) and the checkpoints just kept appearing, at one point I was going 7 km an hour � much better than day 1�s 3km! I spent the day dreaming up and designing new gear, a wind proof jacket over booties, gloves etc. Crossed onto Duck Lake and we could see the Con Mine tower in Yellowknife, I called Sean to tell him where I was so he could meet me at the finish line. As we crossed pass Dettah onto Great Slave Lake there was a couple of snowmobilers who stopped and started cheering, on of my co-workers and her family, it was so nice to see her. As I rounded the corner to start on the ice road, there was Sean and our two fellow Rock n� Icers to cheer me on. I stopped to take off my snowshoes and gave them all a hug � next year they will finish too. I started runnin � God it felt good to be able to actually run and there was only 6km left in the race. Unfortunately that didn�t last too long (couple hundred metres) before I fatigued, so I continued with what I like to call the endurance shuffle, it looks terrible but it is amazingly efficient. Sprinted as much as possible across the finish line and then almost threw up, but it was over � holy crap I did it. We quickly left, Sean had to pick me up to get into the truck and he video taped me trying to walk up the stairs at the house, I was happy to be a source of entertainment for him as he was the best supporter I could have asked for.

All in all, the Rock and Ice was an amazing experience. I had initially said it was much harder than Ironman, as you are doing the same thing all the time. But now that the memories of the pain are fading, I would put it on par. I am planning on doing it again next year, and actually racing it this time. My hip and knee stopped bothering me after the first day (in part due to the Advil consumption), and after my right glut med and both calves were the most stiff, as well as heavy bruising on my feet. I highly recommend the race to anyone who wants to challenge their physical, mental and emotional strength.

Essential Gear?
�   Windbreaker
�   Ski goggles and sunglasses
�   Over boots for my shoes (I used Sugoi�s winter biking ones)
�   Fuel belt
�   Hand-warmers
�   Parka hood with fox fur trim
�   I-pod
�   Wool base layer (I had woollen hot pants, haha)
�   I would have liked to have had a camel back under my jacket so it wouldn�t freeze, I had a hard time forcing myself to stop and drink from my thermos

So now I am well rested and returning to training for the next event, I want to rock my team across the finish line at the Banff to Jasper Road Relay in June, all the while wearing a ridiculous 80's outfit:)

Meghan