The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated!  Upon my generous invitation to accompany me to Mountain R.A.T.S., Barney nodded and said he was intrigued but only for one reason...."so that he could watch me die."  He then turned with that impish smile of his and began a more interesting conversation with someone else. I am sure that much to his chagrin, I am proud to say that once again I have prevailed over the forces of nature to prove that sheer ignorance and a healthy fear of a DNF can in fact result in greatness. 

 

Mountain R.A.T.S. is a 4-day stage race which loosely falls under the ultramarathon paradigm although it's really more of a "fast pack" race since you are required to carry all of your survival gear, clothing and food for 4 days.  Much like an adventure race, RATS does not disclose any course information prior to the race for fear of participants cheating.  All I knew was that I was heading to Copper Mountain, CO. The race director provides a campsite at the end of each stage with hot and cold water and a tent.  In addition they transport your sleeping bag from site to site.  The rest is up to you.

 

The race this year broke down as follows:

 

Day 1 -- 20 miles; gain 5,547 ft; loss 4,724 ft; highest point 12,300 ft

Day 2 -- 32 miles; gain 7,208 ft; loss 6239 ft; highest point 12,000 ft

Day 3 -- 32 miles; gain 6,239 ft; loss 7,208 ft; highest point 12,000 ft

Day 4 -- 20 miles; gain 4,724 ft; loss 5,547 ft; highest point 12,300 ft

 

Overall it took me about 30 hours.

 

Lessons learned from 4 days in the mountains:

 

(1) NEVER TRY ANYTHING NEW ON RACE DAY -- Bullshit. I hadn't heard of let alone used half of the crap I was required to bring with me as survival gear.  I now have a strobe light you can see from 2 miles but I don't really know how to turn it on, a really cool emergency sleeping bag and a compass.  I know a compass points north but that's about it.  How do you go south with a compass....walk backwards while you face north?  These are the kinds of things I worried about on the trail but apparently they didn't matter because I still made it home alive.

 

(2) NEVER ACCOMPANY ME TO SOMETHING THAT PUTS YOUR LIFE IN DANGER -- Mother nature has a way of following me much like in the recent movies when teenage kids cheat death and then spend the rest of the film narrowly escaping its grasp.  In the long tradition of Bennett luck, I lined up at the starting line in 50 degree weather, downpours and thunder/lightning readying myself for the first ascent to 12,500 ft.  Isn't Colorado supposed to be the blue sky state?  Apparently if there's lightning striking around you're supposed to squat and fold your hands over your head to protect your internal organs if you're hit.  As I listened to these instructions this explanation sounded very similar to me...."In the unlikely event of a water landing, your cushion can be used as a flotation device." Yah right.

 

(3) PACK LIGHT -- My pack weighed 33 pounds not including the two water bottles I carried.  As usual I was the recipient of many jokes as my fellow competitors ran around with much smaller packs and meals that while not very sophisticated seemed to do the trick.  By day 4 I had unloaded all unecessary items and was actually able to run down one of the ultramarathon couples that I had been keeping alive with my extra food (see below), which was particularly gratifying.    

 

(2) TRANSITIONS ARE INCREASINGLY DANGEROUS WHEN YOU'RE ALONE -- Think that T1 and T2 are hard to get out of the gate fast.  Try making a fast transition after spending 9 hours alone in the woods.  My first few checkpoints went very quickly, but by the end of the race I found myself to be increasingly chatty with the person behind the desk. "So what's your favorite Office episode?" "Ever try putting potato chips inside a Tuna sandwich?  It's really good."  Not good for overall finishing time.

 

(4) BRING TOILET PAPER -- Much to my surprise, I noticed that above 10,000 feet there's no groundcover.  Of course I noticed this once when it was too late to reconsider the act.  Try wiping your ass with a clover.  Doesn't work.  So after some thought it occurred to me that if Bob Ross could paint a masterpiece with a spatula I could certainly wipe my ass with one.  A small piece of bark will suffice, or so I thought. 

 

(5) PAY ATTENTION TO THE CLOCK -- After the tree bark episode I was determined to reinject some civility in my life.  Unfortunately I missed the start of Day 3 as a result.  While I was on the can enjoying a recent publication of Backpacker magazine I heard all of this whooping and hollering.  Didn't think much of it until I came out of the bathroom to find the race had started and everyone was gone.  Once again, the knuckler becomes the butt of many jokes.  Speaking of which the topic came up in one of the evenings of some teams have nicknames for their members...I kept my mouth shut.

 

(6) DON'T BE A NICE GUY -- I could have finished higher if only I had more of a mean streak in me.  Two of the leaders didn't pack enough food and after day 2, one of them was dry heaving and looked like hell.  Oh how I wished I could sit in the corner with a steely grimace (think Michael Corleone, legs crossed in a dimly lit office) as I watched her body consume itself.  But I didn't. I ended up feeding those two knuckleheads with my extra food that I carried on my back.

 

In all seriousness, Mountain RATS is a totally awesome race.  If you're up for something long and grueling but love the outdoors its the race for you.  These guys also put on a tremendous show.  I was very impressed with the organization.  The intimacy of a F.I.R.M. race with the execution of an IM branded race.

 

Check out their website because they offer a bunch of 24 hour run events as well as a 6 day Desert RATS.  www.geminiadventures.com