Cheering on Stacey at the TransRockies

In the last week we've had solar panels put on our house, finalized the details of our new yard, made some dents in the piles of stuff in our house, and driven all over the state.

Thursday August 15 I (Meggan) packed the car and the girls and left the house at 6:10am.  I had hoped to leave a little earlier, in order to see our friend Stacey Cleveland start her trail race in Leadville at 8am.  She was running the TransRockies stage race: 6 days of running side by side with a partner, then camping each night with the group.  Jason has always wanted to do a big stage race, and I did not really know much about how they worked.  We went to watch day 3.

The runners left Leadville at 8am but ran down the road a little ways before going into the trail, so we were able to scramble around to see Stacey at the edge of town.  It was only 36F, and the kids were still in their pajamas, but we rang our cowbell and cheered 'Go Stacey!' before she ran by, and then we got dressed and organized.  Each aid station/view point was about 6-7miles apart, and we saw Stacey 4 times including the finish.  In between each aid station, we had a chance to eat/feed Ava/change a diaper/play a game, etc.  Rachel rode her bike a little bit and harassed Stacey's husband Dave in his VW van.

The trail was not nearly as technical as many of Jason's races, and it felt like we were able to see the runners often.  The leaders were really flying.  There were different categories of runners, but Stacey and Mel (sponsored by North Face) had won stages 1 and 2.  They had pink leaders jerseys on, just like in the Tour De France.  They had 3 min, then 5 min, then more on the second place women's team as they went through.

The finish was set up with a huge camp of tents for the athletes to sleep, and a different area of tents for volunteers and organizers to sleep.  Portable bathrooms, showers, a huge tent for a dinner and awards, massage tents, and the finishing chute were all fun to see.  Rachel threw rocks into the lake for a while, then lost steam as she became more tired and hungry.  Stacey and Mel came into the finish smiling and looking fresh.  Clearly seasoned athletes and hanging out with the VIP runners.  We had a picnic lunch and then Stacey and Dave helped me get the kids back in the car to go home.

By the time we got home, all 3 girls had runny noses / head colds!

Rachel rings cowbell for Stacey

Stacey comes to high 5 Rachel

Other pictures on facebook