2017-07-23 43 -74

Location

In the woods by the trail-head for Sprague Pond

Participants

Pedalpusher

Expedition

With the expedition from yesterday this was going to be another consecutive but I had to plan carefully. My sister was starting her Ironman race around 6:40 AM and we wanted to be in Lake Placid in time to see her exiting the water. Long Lake is about an hour drive, but with all the traffic for the race, we were considering parking in Saranac and riding our bikes over(making the 'commute' about an hour and a half). Another thing was this hash being about a half hour drive south from Long lake so this would add an additional hour to my driving. I also knew I needed to go in the morning, because there was a chance that my sister would finish close to the midnight cutoff and I'd run out of time to get there. Also, if I did it like that, I'd be stumbling through in the dark.

I told my parent's my plan that I would go separate from them and meet them in Lake Placid after the expedition. They were cool with that, and early the next morning I got up around 6:30 AM and had breakfast. I told my parents I would check the Ironman App and let them know what Merle's first lap swim split was so they could know when to expect her out of the water. I left for the hash about 7am and had no trouble with finding the spot to park (there were only 3 turns). Noting the lack of posted signs, I headed toward the hash but knew it might be a rough one as there were pine trees and they tend to muck up the GPS signal.

As I was making my way over, the distance stayed around 200 feet and the indicated direction was bad, but I was pleasantly surprised when the GPS picked up a few extra satellites and was able to better respond. I still had a big GPS dance, but I was able to home in on the spot within a few feet and got my pictures. New (and Virgin) Graticule completed (WOO!) I headed back to the car and to Lake Placid.

I ended up not getting any updates on the app until my sister actually exited the water and started the bike course which was disappointing, but my parents had trouble finding their way to the course as it was anyway and missed her transition. They found a great spot on the bike course and I was able to find them without too much trouble. I had some really good timing too. As I got to the bike course by the finish line, the 3 leaders were just going by and completing their first lap(of 2). We got to see my sister go by around 12:30 or so and then we headed back to the car to grab some lunch(my parent's ended up parking in Lake Placid) and figured on being back at the bike course to watch her go by again around 15:00. We explored a little of Lake Placid and were back in our spot cheering everyone going by until Merle came around the corner a bit after 16:00. We scooted down to the transition area and got to see her head out for the Marathon and final leg of her race. We found a good spot on the run course and relaxed in the shade for a few hours until we expected her by our spot. We cheered her on again and then went to find some dinner and pick up some of her stuff from the transition area. Getting to our spot again around 21:00, we waited and cheered everyone on again while we waited. We were getting worried though as her split time before she got to us jumped from an average of 13-14 min/Miles to 23. We figured she was having some trouble and either stopped to rest for a bit or was walking really slow. Finally, around 22:00, she came walking around the corner and started up the hill. Her knees were really starting to bother her but she only had about 3 miles to go with 2 hours to use so we were still confident she would finish. On the way back, she started to jog again down the hill and finished close to 23:00 with about an hour to spare. Her overall time was 15 hours, 50 minutes and 47 seconds. We're all very proud of her accomplishment!

A note on the Consecutive ribbon, there wasn't anything that I could reach that was even remotely close on the way home the next day, so the consecutive streak ends here at 3.

Photos

Made it!
Accuracy.
View of the surrounding woods by the hash.
I'm a Happy Hasher with the morning sun on my face.
During my long GPS Dance, I came across wild blueberries, but they weren't quite ready yet.
A view of the hash, by the large tree.
My sister, the Iron (Wo)Man talking with my mom after she finished.