Life as a secret agent: crazy? I was crazy once...

It's finally over. As many of you know, last weekend I hiked 100 kilometers in 22 hours and 40 minutes. It's strange that you train for something for so long and then it's just over. But trust me, during the last 20 kilometers it felt like it would never be over.

Overall it was definitely worth it. I feel a great sense of accomplishment to have finished it. I would even do it again...if I only had to walk the first 80 kilometers. The last 20 kilometers were about the most painful hours of my life. The race was divided into 10 kilometer chunks and those last chunks seemed to drag on forever. By that point I had serious blisters and my ankles ached every time I took a step. Much of the trail was rocky and uneven so my ankles were constantly having to adjust to maintain balance. Interestingly, the uphill parts were easier than the downhill parts because the impact on my feet wasn't as painful.

502 teams of 4 started the race and although 83% of individuals finished, only 287 complete teams finished. According to the provisional results, we finished in 94th place out of the 287 complete teams. However, they robbed of us our time so I hope that the final results have the correct time. Even so, we finished in at least the top 1/3 of complete teams and even higher if you consider how many teams started. The fastest women's only team finished in 20 hours and 46 minutes so if we were ranked among women only teams we would be even higher! I was very excited when I learned our ranking because we were really just trying to finish it and were shooting for around 24 hours. So to come in less than 24 hours and so well in the rankings was exciting!

At the beginning I couldn't get my mind around just how far we had left to go. Once we had 10ks under our belts it was easier to keep going. Those last 20 kilometers were all in the mind. I don't think any amount of training would have prepared me for that. I originally signed up for this thinking it would be easier than a marathon because it was walking, not running. However, I'm thinking maybe a marathon would be easier. I'll think about it. For now, I'm taking a break from walking and then setting my sights on the Grand Canyon.

I've almost fully recovered now. I won't show you the pictures of my feet underneath the tape. Suffice it to say I had a lot of blisters and I've been limping on my feet the last few days. But now I can put full weight on my feet and the swelling in my ankles is going down. Woo hoo!