What a great start today! We are staying a second night here at Nova Guides or Camp Hale. Normally bags need to packed by 7 am and breakfast is from 6 to 7 so alarms and tent zippers seem to start at 5 am for some reason. So even if you were confident in your packing speed there was never sleeping much past 5 am. Today I don't think anyone moved til 6 am, it was so nice. We were probably only a couple degrees short of scraping frost off our tents so long underwear and sub zero run tops are in order for sleeping and breaky. Our relaxed morning though provided a window of 6:30 to 7:15 to crawl back into your sleeping bag. Timing was perfect as the sun came over the mountain it instantly became warm enough to handle heading to start line for a little dynamic warm up and race check in, in your run gear without freezing solid. It was an almost typical TR day, very similar to day 2 up over Hope Pass. Even with the knowledge of another very steep climb knowing it was only 14 miles, mentally made going into this day and through this stage much easier. So we headed out on a 2 mile "warm up"' before hitting the trail and going straight up from just around 9000'ft to 11500 ft in just a few short miles. It was the second of 2 days during this week that I consider poles a must. Once we reached the top and ran across the ridge the climb seemed worth it. 360 degree look at the world or at least what the people around here consider some of the most beautiful mountain ranges you'll see in CO. After sightseeing along the ridge for a couple of miles we headed down for about 4 miles that was better then an amusement park ride. Single track trails that gave me the same kind of rush as a nice mtn bike descent. We also had multiple stream crossings and about a 1/2 mile where we actually had to run down the river in the river, flowing at shin to knee height. It ended up being our best result day but even outside of that, in terms of pure enjoyment it was a peak day for that. In the tiny town of red cliff where we finished there doesnt seem to be to much but it has everything a racer needs. The therapeutic icey river for the legs and a bar/ restaurant right at the finish line that has become very highly regarded by TR staff and racers every year. So following a brief interaction with the real world during a momentary contact with wifi we hit the river and then joined the whole race, literally, for an amazing lunch. I have now hit 4 days straight of burger/fries and beer as my post race mid afternoon snack. The afternoon was great back at camp where a shower, massage and chatting with some New Yorkers brought us to dinner and the nightly awards and next day prep banquet. We only have 2 days to go BUt they make up about 43 miles with day 6 being considered the hardest day of the week. I know in 08 I talked more of the amazing event staff then this year. It's not because it has changed, when you meet people here and talk about experiences thus far they all mention the same things, a few of the most common points include:

The staff look like they are having the best time themselves even as they work all day long for the runners.

Shuttles going back and forth all the time for the convenience of the athletes is amazing For the terrain and amount of movement from to day with new start/finish lines and newly constructed tent cities everyday i cant believe nothing ever goes wrong.

The best description I have heard is Club Med Run Camp.