“I’m on the highway to hell
On the highway to hell
Highway to hell
I’m on the highway to hell”……

This AC/DC song will never be the same for me after the last 9 days of my life! I’ll tell you why in a minute….

I remember hearing about the TransRockies Run several years back.  I remember talking to my friend Diane about it and I put it loosely on my bucket list.  With all the new adventures in my life, I kind of just forgot about it…..until my friend Joan heard about some volunteering opportunities with the race this summer. August is my slowest time of the year and I figured it would be nice to get out of the Arizona heat and go to CO.  (I always tell my peeps that they should volunteer for races. It’s just good karma and so much fun.) I usually volunteer locally but this seemed like a fun summer adventure….and now that I was going to see what it was about, maybe I’d consider putting it back on the bucket list.

In the interest of time, I will try to summarize my experience with some quick comments and photos 😉

Race Summary
A 6 day stage race in the Rocky Mountains of CO totaling 120 miles (13-24 miles daily) with 20,000 feet of elevation gain.  Runners have the option to camp or stay in hotels as the start and finish line move just about every single day for these point to point runs.

120 miles!

My Volunteer Gig
I went up with some friends and we were assigned to Start and Finish Line Catering & Timing (aid station for the runners before they left that stage and at the end of it).  This might seem pretty easy but consider that the start line and finish line were usually in two different locations (and sometimes so was camp!). We have all been trained and volunteered with Pati Coury from Aravaipa Running and were very confident in our aid station skills. As said by Justin, a fellow volunteer: “ It was the easiest week of working hard that I can ever remember.”  I am not kidding when I say I don’t think I have worked that hard for that many days in a row EVER!  We started at 6am getting the Start Line Aid Station ready, then normally drove to the finish line, helped the Start/Finish line crew put the finish line up and then set up our aid station.  We were there all day until the last runner came in. Then we cleaned everything all up, loaded it back in the cargo van, maybe had time to get some dinner, attend the mandatory end-of-day staff meeting, then go refill our van with supplies for the next day. We normally ended our day at 8:30pmish.

Day 1 we went to “HQ” to fill up our cargo van

We emptied and reloaded this van twice a day and it always full (not like this picture!)

GU was a sponsor and we had plenty of products!

This is the start/finish line that goes up and down every day! (those are metal panels on the side that come apart!)

We were nicknamed the AZ Girls. We strategically brought our AZ Sole Sports shirts to represent! We had our Run Steep Get High shirts for one day too but forgot to take a picture!

Behind The Scenes
I titled this blog Behind the Scenes for a reason.  Never ever have I seen this big of a group of volunteers work so hard and so well together. It’s hard to describe in writing. Just about every day, the camp crew took tents down and put them back up at another location, the luggage crew moved all the runner’s luggage, and the shuttle drivers shuttled runners to and from start/finish lines and camp. And when you were done with your “job”, you just moved around and asked others if they needed help.  I don’t know what the return rate of volunteers is but I will guess it’s about 80%.  We walked right into a big TransRockies family.  The first evening was a bit weird because it was a reunion for most of them. By the next day, we were welcomed and brought in like we belonged.  I met so many wonderful people.  There is no doubt that there is a very strong sense of community with this race and it felt so good to be part of it!

Back to AC/DC..and Right Said Fred
The count down song at every start line (6 days in a row!) was Highway to Hell. I can play the song now and close my eyes and feel the energy of the runners.  There is nothing like the energy of a start line!  The other great thing you could see and feel throughout the week was the camaraderie.  Not only of the volunteers but the runners too.  Many of them knew each other as repeat runners as well but if they didn’t, they had 6 days on the course and in camp to become friends.  The closest thing I can compare it to is my Breast Cancer 3-Day experience only this was more days and more moving around.
The other song that I will never forget now is Stand Up (for the champions) by Right Said Fred.They played this every night after dinner with all the winners for the various categories in the front of the audience. They all stood up and jumped to this song. Again, lots of good energy.

The Runners
We were there for them!  Our goal was to make sure they all had a great experience.  If you are a runner, I highly recommend taking time to volunteer at races.  Such a rewarding experience! Since we were at the finish line, we got to see every single runner!  We got to watch the elites come in with some super strong finish times and then…..my favorites, the back of the packers.  I got to meet some of the coolest people! From Mirna Valerio, The Mirnavator  to Gordy Ainsleigh, the “father of ultramarathoning”, to Gina Lucrezi, the founder of Trail Sisters.
As much as it was great to meet the famous runners, I also got to meet so many other runners from all walks of life.  There were many international runners, elite runners and back of the packers.  I really think I met every single runner but didn’t really get to know many of them as they came through tired from their run and ready to go sit down with some GU Protein Recovery Drink (which by the way was all the rage!).  I watched so many people do some epic shit and that is what inspired me every morning to get up and take care of them.
Some TransRockies runners  were also supporting charities: First Descents (they provide life-changing outdoor adventures for young adults (ages 18 – 39) impacted by cancer and other serious health conditions) and Mito Canada (Canada’s only not-for-profit organization focused on mitochondrial disease).

The first time I hugged him I had no idea who he was…then I found he was Gordy Ainsleigh 😉

Best photo bomb ever with #themirnavator Mirna Valerio trying to drink my beer 😉

First Descent charity guys! Love what people do to raise money for charity!

On Day 3 they added an early start for the back of the packers, led by the awesome Mirna Valerio!

Love that these 2 were a team and were giving these cards away to people coming in after them 😉 It’s never too late and you are never too old!

The Man!
HOU-DA! HOU-DA! HOU-DA!

We all shouted his name when all the volunteers were called on the “stage” at the awards ceremony: Kevin Houda McDonald, race director.
What can I say about this guy?  My first impressions were his email responses when I was inquiring about the volunteer gig: short and sweet….then I had a chance to talk to him on the phone before we left to get more details and he was like a ping pong ball all over the place. I was writing as fast as I could trying to keep up as he changed his stream of thought what seemed like a million times. Even when I finally met him, he was doing 5 things at one time….but….:

• he was always present when engaged in a conversation
• he had no problem diving in any areas where help was needed at any time
• he thanked his volunteers daily and acknowledged everyone’s hard efforts in our nightly staff meetings from the porta-potty people to the sweepers
• he backed up his staff when needed
• he gets a high return rate of volunteers (and it’s a long tough week of volunteering)
• he keeps this huge team of volunteers motivated while there are so many moving parts to this race

I swear I am not kissing ass but as someone who has quite a bit of leadership experience from the corporate to the non profit world, this guy knows how to make it happen. This was one of the most well run events I’ve ever been part of it. There are many people who make this all happen but it requires a good leader too.

As much as I worked my ass off in those 10 days, I wouldn’t change a thing!  It was an awesome experience and I have a whole new running family too! There were so many more memories and pictures and beautiful views….but the next blog I write about this race will be as a runner when I do it next year! 

Special thanks to the Start/Finish Line crew who took us under their wing and the team we worked the closest with….seriously too many people to thank for this amazing experience!

Last day with our team: Big G, Rachel and Doug (missing Keon and Bruce)

Last day with our team: Big G, Rachel (missing Keon, Bruce and Doug). Joan and I manned the aid station and Elaine and Lori were timers and backed us up too.

If you want to find out more about running or volunteering, here is the website where you can find all their social media handles (go check out some of the pictures from the race!)

If you were a runner or volunteer and made it this far in reading my blog, you can find me, The Running University on Facebook and Instagram.  Stay in touch and see you next year!

THANKS TO VOLUNTEERS AND RUNNERS FOR AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE!

Edited on 8/22/19 with this video from We Run 4 Fun

I am recapping my TransRockies Run Experience (titles are clickable links):
Behind the Scenes: TransRockies Run Volunteer Gig (2019)
TransRockies Run: View from the Back of the Pack (Recap)
TransRockies 2021: Stage 0 & 1 Shenanigans 
TransRockies Run Stage 2: Iconic Hope Pass!
TransRockies Run Stage 3: My favorite? 
TransRockies Run Stage 4: Just Keep Swimming….
TransRockies Run Stage 5: One More Day 😥😁
TransRockies Run Stage 6: I did it! 🎉🍾