Thanks for all the notes of congratulations on Dezi's and my first
100. It's just starting to sink in. I was very lucky for many
reasons. This ride was only 2 hours away, so there was very little travel
stress on Dezi. The ride was wonderfully managed by Sarah Maas,
this being only her second year managing, and her FIRST to manage a
100. We had beautiful weather; although it was very warm for late
September in MN (around 90), we did have an almost full moon, and no rain.
There were only three of us doing the 100 and we all rode together and got along
well. We were especially lucky to have Dana Maas, the RM's daughter with
us, who helped mark trail and was able to guide us in the dark!
Although I didn't have any crew, all the checks were back in camp, and people
helped when they could. My neighbors-for-the-weekend, Mary Lambert and
Sheryl O'Brien took charge at the last hold, making me sit down and taking care
of Dezi. Actually I felt fine at that point, but when I saw a picture of
myself sitting there, looking like death-warmed-over, I see why they were so
insistant. For the last loop, which was 20 miles, Dezi was really charged
up, and I felt great too. There were a bunch of people who met us at a
couple different spots and had oats for the horses, and snacks for us
waiting. That was so thoughtful, and I was really touched that they would
charge around in the middle of the night for us. I would like to apologize
to Van and Dana for singing all those silly songs, and especially to Van, who
wasn't feeling very well the last loop. I kept babbling about how
WONDERFUL I felt, and how I wasn't tired at all, and wasn't this great, and
didn't the moonlight look beautiful. Finally, when no one was answering,
and Van and Dana kept pulling ahead of me, I decided I should just shut
up.
