Nous avons bien mangé

It's a good darn thing we are about to run for 14 days... we are staying with some friends in Crolles, France, and Marie-Pierre is an incredible cook. She has treated us to some amazing salads, tarts, casseroles, etc, that contain fresh vegetables from her garden and eggs and milk from a local farm, topped off with bread from the boulangerie. Now I remember how I gained weight while living in France!

We made it over here OK, after volunteering our seats in exchange for airline dollars and taking a detour to Paris before arriving in Geneva a couple hours later than expected. Our bags arrived the following day, so that was a bit exciting. We've repacked everything and we should be ready.

Later today we're going to Chambery to meet Philippe and go with him to Chamonix. With any luck we'll get to see some of the finishers of the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc (we'll keep an eye out for Scott Jurek). Then it's on to Thonon-les-Bains at Lac Leman for dinner and a race briefing. From here on out I don't expect to get enough sleep, but at least we're well caught up and well rested today.

As a couple folks have asked, I do not believe there will be any online updates (nor will I have access to the web) during the GTA. We'll be fairly remote, in little villages and up in the mountains. I'll try to post something soon after the race when we find our first internet café.

On the off-chance that I'm wrong and Philippe has some kind of web connection going, here is the website:
http://www.couriretdecouvrir.fr/

Happy end of August to everyone and we'll see you next month!

PS to Sheila R - you are anything BUT mundane; in fact, seeing friends and family was the highlight of our brief stay in Austin :)

Packing up

We're getting everything together to fly out tomorrow. We're heading to Geneva by way of Newark and hoping for a good movie or two over the Atlantic.

Today's exciting events included the chance to see the Daily Show for about the second time this summer and watching "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story." Both were excellent viewings with significant laughter.

We dropped Howie off at the storage place :( We'll miss you!

Last night we ate at Kerbey Lane with Kip, Jason, and Sheila. Sweet potato fries, yum.

So that's the really mundane stuff. But it's all I got at the moment, and it's also probably the last chance for much blogging for about a month.

Don't expect any mid-race updates from the GTA, but I'll try to post something after it's over to let everyone know how it turns out. Here's hoping for healthy knees (and the rest of us as well).

Have an awesome month of September and we'll shout atcha later!
-Marcy and John

No Sweat - awards ceremony

First place Team HFAR Knights:

Second place Team Vignette:

Third place Team Werewolves:

Congratulations to all teams! You rock!

No Sweat - Flashes in the face

Nighttime race images, otherwise known as "attempts to blind people":

No Sweat - climbing wall videos

The climbing wall, in double time! (Imagine "Ride of the Valkyries" playing along, or for Looney Tunes fans, "Kill da Wabbit"):



For comparison, another video but at normal speed. I call this one "Making it look EASY":

No Sweat - Photos from the climbing wall

From John and the GoPro:

No Sweat - HoustonAdventureRacing.com

Winners of the 12-hour race in the 4-person co-ed division - Congratulations!

Finishing in 12 hours, 12 minutes:

No Sweat - photos as night falls

No Sweat - a few more photos from TA

No Sweat - Team Run Amok / 12-hr course winners

Congratulations Team Run Amok, aka Scott and Sheila!! They won the 12-hour event in 11 hours, 2 minutes. Awesome job.

No Sweat - TA photos