Big Tahoma Rogaine

This was my first Rogaine. None of my friends have a clue what a rogaine is. They all think it somehow relates to men's hair tonic. My understanding of a rogaine is that you run around finding checkpoints that are all worth a different number of points. The goal is to grab as many points as possible in the allotted time. We had 24 hours and our ultimate goal was to get them all.

Of course, this goal came after we stated our original goal of "training for nationals" without injuring Peteris' knee further. We spent a great deal of our conversation during the race on Peteris' knee. It hurt him the entire 24 hours with a few exceptions. We walked much of the route because of this. By the time we were 6 hours into the race, I was pretty sure we would not get all the points we were hoping for, and I felt fine about that. We have an obligation to keep Peteris healthy.

Usually I am the first one to opt to go back to camp and sleep. This race was different. Toward the end of the race, probably the last 3 hours of the 24 hours, I felt more determined than ever to go past the hash house and get the two points we opted to skip on our way out.

Mari and Kyle "Militant Hippies" were racing beside us the final 6 or so check points. They are definitely faster than we are and I was convinced they had more points than we did. It's funny how I always assume we are the losers in these situations. We have only been racing together one year, and I have only been in 3 other 24 hour races. A novice at best.

Peteris was SO in his element. His micro navigation blows my F______ mind. How can anyone see that much detail in a squiggly line? I get the macro navigation, but once we leave the main road or trail and head to the micro area, I am useless. This is the first race that I have carried a map the entire time. It was great to be actively helping with the navigation, but I do have a lot to learn. I hope Peteris will continue to teach me, as he is amazing and is certainly why we were able to get all of the check points.

Our first bushwack was up to the Hut. We cut up a ridge that was easy traveling. We were pretty psyched that the off-trail travel was so easy and clear. We cruised straight up to the hut with no trouble at all. Hooray! Bushwacks were going to be the way to win the race - and sure enough they were. Our team is pretty fond of bushwacking and Murray is always happiest when we are off trail. This worked to our advantage for sure.

We did spend a lot of time on logging roads during the race. It would seem this was the "easy" part of the race. We were thankful for the off-trail travel. It made the race much more exciting. Our bushwack up to CP 64 was amazing. We went up one ridge which led to another ridge. We spread out along the final ridge so we were sure to see the welcoming reflective tape on the CP. Peteris told us when he thought we were close, and sure enough - we walked straight to the point. I spotted it first (which I find exciting) and was super surprised at how easily we arrived at our destination.

After CP64 we "waded" through soaking wet huckleberry bushes. We were shortly soaked and were out in the wind. This ended up being the coldest part of the race. I was hording my warm clothes for the "middle of the night", so didn't put them on because I was sure it would be colder yet. I was wrong. I did break out my hand warmers and we passed them between us. Murray had fig bars and date bars that he shared. They were so delicious and made us feel warmer. We kept moving, eventually got out of the wind, dried out, and didn't get that cold again.

We went on to many, many more check points before being slowed down at number 40, which we never found. We targeted it from three directions and finally gave up (in agreement) and moved on. In hindsight, we probably should not have doubted our location as much as we did, because Eric had put the point on the wrong place on the map. It was his error, not ours.

About 3am Murray started to slow down. He was hurting. I knew he would spring back, as he always does; I just was not sure when. We talked him into giving his pack to Peteris - and Peteris dropped his pack. Murray's Fig Newtons were weighing him down a bit, so I ate three to help lighten the load. The least I could do. We had one more 100 point CP, next to another 50 pointer to get and we really needed it to finish strong. Peteris made the trek quick and painless and when the 50 pointer was easier than it looked on the map, Murray came back to life.

Now, all we had to do was get through the last 15k and then the 2 CP's past the finish line. We were lucky to run back into Militant Hippies at this point. They seemed to be "racing" against us. Being the fiercely competitive spirits that we are, their presence breathed new energy into us and we ran almost all of the final 15k back to the hash house. I kept thinking in my brain "I don't think I can run any more" but then I would think "yes, I can, it's only 3 (2, 1) more hours and we have already done 20 (21, 22, 23)" and then I would just keep on moving.
We finally lost the Militant Hippies. I couldn't believe how good it felt to actually pass by the Hash House (finish line) to get our last two check points. We walked the steep hills with plenty of time to spare before the 24 hour deadline. We chatted away about our training plans for the rest of October leading to finals. Peteris promised not to run too much and I promised to train on paddling once my wrist feels better. Murray just stated that he was going to continue his program as usual. We talked about where we want to finish in Nationals in order to feel good. I am glad we are not putting too much pressure.

We walked back to the hash house and turned in our passport. Eric told us he was surprised we finished all of the points and then told us we were the only team to do so. What a great feeling.


The Stats: 97km or 58.2 miles, 15000 feet elevation gain, 23.50 hours.
See the route