The trip didn’t start off good; my check in bag did not make it when I arrived to Managua on Thursday evening, so all I had was my carry on. Luckily when I travel for races I pack all my essential running gear in my carry on, just in case such a thing would happen. My bag would not make it until the next flight from Houston, due in Friday night, but I had to be on the island by Friday afternoon to pick up my race packet. So I adjusted my race strategy slightly without having any of my drop bags and I’d have to wait for clean clothes until I returned to Managua on Monday. Usually I don’t get excited about the race T-shirts but this time it’s needless to say I was over grateful for the clean race T-shirt.

The 100km, 50km and Survival racers all lined up at the start line on Saturday at 4am. The survival racers held live, flapping, squawking chickens in their hands as part of their first challenge. They would face other challenges and obstacles along a 75km course, such as carrying 50 lbs of logs, climbing a coconut tree and hiking a volcano with an egg (apparently the chicken comes first in this race). I would only have to run, at least that’s what I was still thinking when I got to the 1^st aid station.

The streets and trails were flooded with a blur of bouncing head lamps as we continued on our journey. The path was marked with blue ribbons, and blue arrows and race logo symbols painted on rocks, trees and poles. The sun started to light our path around 6:30, which made it hard to see color with the shadows. I found myself with a group of runners, when after 20 minutes we decided to turn back around because we hadn’t seen any markers. Sure enough, the blue flagging marking a turn that we missed earlier was clear in the direct sunlight. I was ready to go bananas, literally, because the path led us through banana trees. I finally made it to the 2^nd aid station at Ojo de Agua where I ate and refilled my water bottles.

I continued running with my new buddy, Aaron, from D.C. We ran across some rolling hills where cattle were out for pasture to a 5k stretch along the beach. The breeze off the water was refreshing and the sound of crashing waves took our minds off of running. We saw a heron standing in the water, followed by others standing the same way about every 500 meters. It felt like I was having déjà vu and really going nowhere. But the Volcan Maderas did get closer and we made a turn to lead us to the 3^rd aid station at the trail head.

Shots of Flor de Cana Ron were among the refueling options that the supporters brought to the aid station atop Volcan Merida

I did manage to pack a drop bag at the 3^rd aid station with socks and hiking boots in case I decided to hike up Volcan Maderas. Upon seeing the path at the trail head, that turned out to be the best course of action. The terrain was steep with a mix of roots, loose rocks, boulders, mud and dirt. I continued ascending and stopped every once in a while to take in the scenery and sounds of the rainforest. I was surrounded head to toe by a canopy of rainforest vegetation. I could hear the wind rustle the leaves, birds singing and howler monkeys off in the distance. Eventually I caught up to a couple Germans and we arrived at the 4^th aid station located by the lagoon in the crater of Volcan Maderas. Among the gallons of water and pounds of food that the volunteers carried up, they remembered the most important, a 1.5 Liter bottle of Flor de Cana Ron. A shot of rum was exactly what I needed after a hike like that.

Descending the volcano was very challenging and without the company of Aaron, Laura and Steve, it would have been even more so. We had to free climb a short section of rock wall and trapeze across a narrow ledge just to enter the infamous ‘jungle gym’. Here there is no trail to speak of. We were literally hiking on roots and swinging on branches. There were drops of over 10 feet where I found the best strategy to get down was to just sit on my butt and slide down. We sank 6 inches deep into mud that threatened to steal shoes, so I was glad to be wearing my hiking boots. To get around obstacles I would do a 360 by lifting myself up, then swing my legs around. I can’t tell you the number of times I hit my head on branches overhead. After about 2 hours of this we were glad the volcano flattened out with solid ground. But we still had more to descend and run until we got to the 5^th aid station. Once Aaron and I got to the main road, we ran into small store. He got a 1.5 liter bottle ice cold water and I got an ice cream cone. It was the best tasting ice cream cone I had ever had! From there it was a short jog to the aid station.

Cooling off with a beer halfway through the 100k

This marked 50km. Aaron, Laura and Steve were finished and I was only halfway, but that didn’t stop me from celebrating Laura’s second place female victory. We carried a Tona cerveza with us into the lake to cool off and cheered each other. I grabbed another beer to drink while I dried off and got ready. Needless to say I was feeling pretty good to start the 2^nd half. I got back to the beach and caught up with another 2 runners, Siebrig from The Netherlands and Andres from Guatemala. We ran in together to the 6th aid station back at Ojo del Agua. One of the volunteers verified the rumor I heard of fresh coconuts being sold here, so I stuck around a little extra for the tasty treat and great service too! She ran off to get it for me, while I sat and rested. Then when I finished drinking the water, they were able to cut it open and we eat the meat.

Great support at aid stations

It was now the heat of the day and the sun beat down on the wide open and dusty road. Dogs just looked at me as they lay under trees and pigs and chickens scurried away as I approached. Horse and cattle quietly grazed behind wire fences. Sometimes a car or horse and buggy would pass stirring up a cloud of dust. I entered the first store I saw when I arrived in the town of Altagracia and bought the most refreshing, cold Coca-Cola I’ve ever drunken. I enjoyed running through the rest of the quaint little town to the 7th aid station located at a park, which was alive with families gathered having a party with music. I watched and listened to the fiesta while the volunteers helped me refuel and rehydrate, then I got on my way.

I was moving pretty slow through the next 5km, which was probably a good thing because the streets were filled with kids playing ball and riding bikes. Then the caffeine from the Coca-Cola must have kicked in because I started moving pretty quick. I soon caught up to Siebrig and Andres and with the sun starting to go down. My original race goal was to finish before dark, but missing the turn early on set me back from that pace. Then when I started climbing the first volcano, I concluded that this was an extra-long, glorified hike and I changed my goal to just surviving the race without any broken appendages. I told my running buddies that I’d wait for them at the 8^th aid station so we can hike Volcan Concepcion together at night

The path was a tunnel of darkness, but we created a beacon of glowing light with all 3 of our headlamps turned on. As they say, safety in numbers, so having 3 pairs of eyes looking out for course markings and flagging kept us on course. Our companionship also made it a more pleasurable experience and kept us moving along. We didn’t attempt to run anymore at this point, one because it was dark and two because of the steep and technical terrain. We kept ascending and were nearly blown away by very strong winds once we got above the tree line of the volcano. We soon saw the tent of the 9^th aid station, which signaled our summit of Concepcion. I tried crawling the rest of the way up to avoid being blown over by the wind, but that just led to my entire right leg cramping up. A volunteer came up to me and asked if I was alright. I thanked him and just sat there for a while to stretch and rest.

After about 10 minutes we were all ready to start the decent. On this side of the volcano only grew a short grass, probably because it did not receive much precipitation and we could smell sulfur gas emitting from the crater. The slope was very steep with very loose sand and rocks. Andres and Siebrig exhibited great descending skills, which I could not replicate as I kept losing my footing and falling. Sensing my struggle, Andres let me use his trekking poles, which helped me keep a close pace with them. Eventually we reached flatter terrain and forever grateful, returned them to Andres. We hiked for another hour or so to the outskirts of Moyogalpa at which point we were escorted through the streets to the finish where we crossed together hand in hand. I was proud to share that moment with great friends and to celebrate Siebrig’s first place female victory.

Done and Dirty

Pump repair team