I’m starting to think about MdS as a restful vacation with a bit running thrown in. I’m not underestimating the desert...
Some MdS pictures and stuff
Liza
I didn’t take a camera with me during the race, so I’m slowing borrowing other people’s pictures. My tent buddy Marissa took this one. Here’s Tent 177 early on: From left to right: Anthony, Me, Jay, Meghan, Sarah, Marissa, Sam, and Dave
I will work on stories from the tent because there are some very good ones that need telling.
I got to meet Mark Gillett at MdS who is a photographer and a friend of my tent friends. There are lots of beautiful photos on his website. He took all the ones below.
Here is most of Tent 177 and some friends on the last day: From left to right: Dave, Marissa, Jay, Ricky, Me, Meghan, and Martin
We’re all wearing the (heavy cotton) Unicef t-shirts they gave us for the last stage. Mine is actually hiked up a bit, so it doesn’t cover my shorts entirely. Small. Pfft.
Here I am modeling very large water bottles and a buff — and my palsied hand. For the record, the water bottles are standard-sized, I am now a buff zealot (Go get one!), and my hand is not actually palsied. I just like to run like it is — apparently.
This is the start of the marathon on Day 6. I think Mark took this picture because I made the starting tape look so ridiculously high.
Here’s Jay Batchen. He and is his wife, Lisa, are wonderful. Simply wonderful. Jay gave me a little safety mirror for my mandatory gear. It was perfect and light, but didn’t allow for much vanity in the tent. I could only look at one eyeball at a time.
And here’s a lovely pic of my buddy Meghan. There needs to be an official Meghan fan club because I want to be a card-carrying member. 
I’m looking for more pictures of the other wonderful folks from our tent, and I’ll get them up when I do.
The tent scene. Ours is fourth from the end of the outer row on the right. See it? Also, there are at least five people peeing in this picture.
Well, it’s 4am, and I am going to do my first post-MdS run today. Because, you know, Comrades. I am looking forward to putting on my bright pretty road shoes. I will miss these guys though.
PS. Ruby has attached herself to me like a koala bear since I got home. She doesn’t trust I won’t disappear for another two weeks anytime I walk out of the room. Oh the guilt!
Magnificent alien looking photos. You were definitely not in Texas (Kansas) anymore.
Great race report; looking forward to the tent stories.
Gene
Eliot’s back went out, so he’s been on the floor on Vicodin a lot, but the stories are coming Gene! 🙂
Will you tell me the make and model of these shoes? I am not finding anything on the NB site, and only a similar “winter” shoe elsewhere on the web. Or are these special for you? 🙂 I am competing in the Grand to Grand this year and these look a lot easier than traditional sand gaiters!
Hi Jami, NB made a mash-up shoe for me. I told them how popular they were, and that the shoe would sell like hotcakes for MdS. They’re busy with Boston right now, so I haven’t heard back. I will post if I hear anything. But what size shoe do you wear?
I wear a 7 – 7 1/2. I look forward to hearing more! I get heat rash, especially on my ankles, so the though of putting a plastic bag around that area is not good. Thanks for the quick reply and congratulations on MdS.
Jami, I have a pair that have shorter gaiters that you can have to try if you’d like. You could modify the gaiter height with some material if you needed to. Just send me a note with your address if you’d like to see if they’d work.
Liza,
I didn’t see an email address or contact form on your site, so I searched “contact” and sent you my address through the form that came up. Not sure if that works, but also realized that it’s not a big deal to put my address here. Jami Sutter, 94216 Daniels Court, Gold Beach, OR 97444. Thank you for your kind offer. I look forward to trying the shoes. :-). I will keep in touch about how they work. I live on the Oregon Coast so I’ll be able to try them on the beach right away!