Klondike 2011

Klondike 2011 - So you want to run from Skagway to Whitehorse in the middle of the night?

Okay, so I am writing this post with less than 3 hours of sleep for each of the last three nights...Please forgive my typos! Why less than 3 hours of sleep? The Klondike of course! It is the best 4 days of sleep deprived running, driving, dancing, RVing and well, more driving...that you will ever have!

This year over 1300 racers participated in the mayhem in the middle of the night; running supported approximately 110 miles from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Canada. Our race start was 9:00 pm on Friday, September 9th. We finished in Whitehorse around 15 hours later on a sunny Saturday morning.

There are 10 legs of varying distances. The longest leg is 16 miles (go Jen!) and the shortest is somewhat less than 7. However, those slightly-less-than-7 miles take you up White Pass and the moonscape landscape above Skagway. Very tough running! We had an elaborate system of running and supporting and driving and cheering, with each woman taking her turn at each one during the night and early morning.

Our team this year was stellar. Meaghan, Karol, Amber, Paula and I put together a "dream team" of ladies. The idea came about over a year ago on a long run. We wanted to have a group of fun and fast ladies and we really did it this year! One of our first recruits, Paola, named the team one rainy night at track practice and "These Legs Go All the Way" was up and running.

In fact, "These Legs Go All the Way" was such a success that we ended up on the podium at Klondike 2011 as the first place women's team, beating out 21 other all-women teams of 10 with a group of only 9 women! We were short one team member due to a passport issue so Amber ran Legs 2 and 3 (ouch!). The team this year was Meaghan, Karol, Amber, Paula, Jen, Paola, Deana, Cory and me.

Thanks to all of those ladies and to Cousin Brenda for hosting the 9 of us! It was a blast.

Cheers,

Kelly