Bataan death march marathon

About 2 months ago, Traci, one of my Alamogordo friends, asked me if I felt like joining her in a marathon hike over the Organ mountains in Las Cruces... With vision of the beautiful Mountains and memories of good times fresh in my mind I said yes without much, if any, thought...

As the weeks went by, training, minimal at first, halted and consisted mainly of spending time at altitude (in Santa Fe, although not always in physically active ways ;-) ) and quite extensive "carb loading" ..... We did do a fair training hike last weekend -about 15 miles- along the Rio Grande River here in Albuquerque...







So, the weekend came and after spending time with friends, an extensive pasta dinner and early bed time on Saturday, we found ourselves Sunday morning waking up at 4.00 am to be at the registration at 5.30 am and the starting line -together with about 5400 others- at 6.00 am....

Mile after mile of hiking, a little jogging, plenty of toilet stops and more banana's, oranges, trailmix and cerial bars than I have ever eaten in one day, we did cross the finishing line, 26.2 miles and about 7 hours and 16 minutes later, worn out by the hills, the loose sand and the wind gusts....

Through the opening ceremony and as the day went on and I saw plenty of military participants, including Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with obvious physical disabilities tackling the challenging course with enthusiasm and determination, I learned about the march itself....: It honors a group of World War II soldiers who were responsible for part of the Philippines. They fought in a malaria-infested region, surviving on half or quarter rations with little or no medical help, outdated equipment and virtually no air support. On April 9, 1942, tens of thousands of soldiers were surrendered to Japanese forces. They were forced to march for days (over 60 miles) in the scorching heat through the Philippine jungles. Thousands died and those who survived faced the hardships of a prisoner of war camp. The 3 to-date survivors were there greeting people at the starting line of the race...








Wind, wind and more wind...



Mile 18 -I think-





Back at Traci's house in Alamogordo... still standing!!!



Some phone calls to share our achievements and a long hot shower... and the aches and pains decreased enough to have a little celebration party at Jesse and Cathy's house afterwards -Cathy and Tammy ran the 15 miles in great time!!! Congratulations!!!!!-...

It was so great to see everybody and visit Southern NM again, the place where my wonderful South-Western-USA time started, now more than 6 months ago....





Jesse, so proud of his climbing son...





My 'other' boyfriend, Conrad... ;-)