THANKS to EACH of you who sent us shout outs during the race.

It is probably impossible to describe the emotional changes that occur during 8.5 days of continuous racing… there is the external journey of pushing our bodies through all those miles of different activities in spectacular environments.

But the internal journey is more important. I know that a team is stronger than any individual. I know that our spirit determines our success. I know that the love we share for one another makes our pursuits worthwile. This race is a slice of life- compressed with intense physical and emotional and spiritual surprises. The only thing that kept me going was my faith that in some way our experience would touch someone else to purssue some other form of excellence… Perhaps even you.

Several people asked about my high and low point during the race. As often occurs, they came within hours of one another. As we biked to the Bridger Mtns our pace decreased through the night. It was desolate and cold. Finally at 4:am we “slept” in the tent for an hour until sunrise. We woke w/o words and began peddaling uphill again… I became hypothermic and shivered uncontrollably for hours. When the sun rose I regained some strength, but felt pretty whooped.

At the Bridge Mtn TA, Jenn read many of your Shout Outs. That was my race highlight. I was in tears of appreciation as I listened to your encouragements. Thanks to each of you, I keopt going.

I suppose that is why I race.

May you each pursue excellence in some form of your life today, and every day…

All the best, Doug et al.

This area is for leaving words of encouragement or pats on the back for our team.

Not sure if anyone is reading at this point, but wanted you all to know the team made it to the finish line all happy and mostly healthy.  They were fighting the “sleepmonsters” in a major way on the last bike in and I think a few of them crashed, or almost crashed, at different points.  And from what I hear, Luther and Doug almost biked off the mountain side.  Luckily their pre-crash woke them before they flew off the steep slopes.

AFter the grand finish, the team stayed up late enough for a beer or two, pizza and doughnuts and then crashed (in bed thank goodness) for the night.  The next day we had nice big breakfast together at the hotel, unloaded and cleaned the van and sorted geared, packed it all back up and then headed to the 4 hour awards ceremony.  PQ folks also organized an amazing dinner for the the teams, support and families that night.  Chicken, mashed potatoes, beef, lasagna, salad, millions of different cheesecakes, beer, wine, coffee, etc.  There was a nice band there and folks were festive and very excited to share stories.  Quincy and Karynn got royal treatment from their fan club.  And Mark and I snuck out early to take advantage of the heated pool and hot hot tub for a few minutes.  We were all in bed by 10pm…well, except for Sara, who had slept until noon that day :)  I think she, Liz and Sujata closed the party down!

Jay, Doug, Liz and Sujata flew out of Bozeman today and Mark, Sara, Luther and I are enjoying downtown Bozeman today.

A special thanks goes out again to Liz and Sujata, who sure brightened all of our TA time with their laughter, amazing help, and general all around happiness.  And Paul House gets another big thank you for housing us again tonight, at his own home.  Paul, you’ve been an incredible help to the team and we want to adopt you as an honorary member: Team Action Learning Hospitality Guru.

Thanks for staying tuned folks.  Mark and I have a few weeks of slow travel home.  May be heading up to Canada!  And check back on the leaderboard in a day or two.  We’re thinking there has been a miscalculation in the results and are expecting our final ranking to be a bit better than what is currently posted (16th right now).

Until next time, Jen

It’s 11pm MT time and we’re waiting here at Big SKy for our amazing team to show.  Got lots o’ pizza and beer for them, and showers and beds.   I’m off to shower now, in hopes I won’t miss their finish.  Should be here within the hour.  Stay tuned….

Jen and Jay

Gasp!!  Whew…here we are again, back to wireless connections and cell phone reception.  We’ve been hunkered down at Storm Castle for the last few days, cheering on our great team and holding down the fort.  We now have just a few short minutes here to pound some breakfast, approve all your shouts so they can be posted (thank you - will read to team at next TA!) and give you all hearty supporters a brief update. 

The team is rockin!!!  We’re so proud of them.  The were looking a bit worn down after the Bridger trek, but they got fed, slept and bit and took off again.  Then at both Storm Castle TAs, the team slept for short spurts and got their last nap in last night around 6pm, until the race is over.  They headed out for their trek to Ennis Lake around 9pm, and we’re expecting them at any time, really.  Jay have I have mastered the hurry up and wait method.  Yesterday, we were expecting them between 8am and noon and they didn’t show until 5pm or so.  The climb at Storm Castle was a bit nutty , with the team having to trapse across a few knife edeges in the dark of night.  Mark went up first and then waited at the top for the rest of the team for 5 hours….In the cold, dark night.  I’m sure that was hard on him.  But all made it safe and sound, before the rain/lightening storm postponed the climb for many other teams.

The past day and 1/2, Jay and I have had some amazing support help from Sara’s sister and sister in law, Liz and Sujata.  They brought pancakes and biscuits for the team yesterday morn, and the team finally downed then last night.  Mmm, mmmm good.  They also went on an marathon car ride back to Big SKy to buy Doug some new trekking shoes.  And brought Sara Oreos.   It was such a delight to have them around, and esp have them helping during the transitions.  Jay and I are a bit worn, to say the least and are just as excited as the team about finishing.  We’ve reserved some rooms at Big Sky resort for tonight and Wed.  That will be an awesome treat, esp for our worn out Action Learners.

Thanks for staying posted and check out the site later tonight.  You could join us online as they cross the finish!!  They’ve rocked the course and I can’t wait to celebrate their victory.  What an amazing four folks we’ve got.

Take care!  Jen and Jay

PS For those of you who love the pups, Quincy and Karynn are great.  They’ve got a huge fan club now at the Transition Areas and everyone seems to know their names, even if they don’t know Jay and mine’s.  People are even bringing their leftover meat, etc to them.  They’re lovin’ life!

Gasp!!  Finally up for a brief moment of air, well, sleep that is, as we perform our Primal Quest version of this adventure race.  Personally speaking, as of last night, I had a total of about 6 hours sleep since the race began.  Not much more than the racers themselves.  I had NO idea how crazy, busy and exhausting this support crew experience would be.  Within the first day and 1/2, we had set up 3 transition areas, which means unloading the 23 foot Ark van full of gear, huge bins, food, dogs, tents, etc.  Then we set up our shelter EZ up, 4 chairs, place gear and bins out and start cooking - noodles, Ramen, chicken noodle soup, beans, etc - get some coffee going.  Fill 2 other thermos’ with hot water. Make sandwhiches and other food prep.  Then we wait, and wait……and wait.  Sometimes up to 12 hours before the team arrives.  They give us guesstimates of ETAs but, that only so good.  So when they show late, we must heat everything up again.  Uggh!  Then there’s a mass explosion after the arrive.  Smelly gear everywhere, packs slowly ooze out the past 20 hours of so of foods and stinky clothes and wet socks.  After they are fed, Jay and I get busy pulling trash, etc from pack, stuffing it with new snacks (chips, nuts, bars, sandwiches), refilling their water bottles with their requests, etc.  Then they’re off (unless they choose to slow for a quick hour nap).  And Jay and I get to somehow figure out how to fit everything back into the van again, clean the kitchen items, repack the food….hopefully all before a huge rain storm comes thru.  Then we head an hour to the next TA and start it all over again.  I am totally wiped!!

This morning started at 6am with team getting up, eating (trying to empty the fridge really!), packing the van, dressing for the snow and climb and deploying the vehicles (the Ark van and Luther’s car) at 8am pronto…we’ll, kinda…to head from the cabin to Big Sky.  Arrival was around 9am.  They gathered the last of their gear, water, food and love and stood at the starting line for the 10am gun.  It was exciting..teams were in good spirits and the socked in cloudy sky looking up Lone Mtn broke right then into glorious sunshine!!  How awesome for them.  About an hour later, as Jay and I were prepping for the TA, we could look WAYYYYY UP Lone Mtn and see some moving spots of teams walking the ridge, with steep, snowy drop offs on either side.  YIKES!  After they got to the tip top, they did a free climb (pretty easy) and then clipped in for a rappel down.  THEN, they glissaded down the mountain.  What a rush.  Glissading is when you slide on your booty down the snowy peak.  That must have been a blast on this clear, cool/warm day.   What a great start!

They arrived at the TA at 1:18pm and left with new food, water and hopefully full bellies by 1:33.  Quick group.  They were in good spirits and had a great time up top.  Now they’re in for a 12 hour or more trek (50K +) to the next TA at Sage Creek, about 40 miles driving from here.  We will head down before dark and get set up at TA2, ready for their arrival around 1am.  But it may be later than that, but we’ll see. 

Important info for you viewers.  Apparantly the teams SPOT tracking device is either off or turned over in a pack or something.  SO, you now see them still at Big Sky resort, which in not true.  We’ve summoned a SPOT employee to hopefully meet them at their checkpoint in the woods to reset the SPOT, but that may not happen.  So keep checking in, if all else fails, it WILL be reset tomorrow (early am) sometime after they arrive at the TA.

Not sure when we’ll check back in.  Hopefully in the next day or two.  Will post pics later.  Keep cheering them on and stay tuned!!  Thanks for reading!  Jen and Crew (and Quincy and Karynn)

Ok folks….the time’s almost here. We are in full Primal Quest mode right now. All team members (Sara, Doug, Jay and Luther) arrived safely, with all gear in tact, by Friday. Due to the crazy new airline costs, a few folks chose to mail a few packages out here so they wouldn’t have to pay to check it. Sara, the team Wonder Woman, unfortunately picked up the same bug I must have gotten on a flight and when into vomit mode 24 hours after her arrival. After one full day down and out, she is slowly recovering. We’re trying to fatten her up again before Monday when the race starts! All I can say is wash your hands every chance you get on those germ infested airlines!

Final team certifications were today. We all (6 of us) and the two dogs, and tons of gear, piled in the Ark van and drove to Big Sky. What a gorgeous day!! Everything went super smoothly for check-in and everyone involved in the process, from volunteers to staff to teams, were all in high spirits. What a nice bunch of folks! PQ (Primal Quest) requires that all team members pass specific certifications before they can race. The teams had to do one in the spring and then again today. The list of gear that the racers are required to bring is long and involved, so PQ staff wanted to account for each members individual gear also - things such as emergency shelters, emergency cell phone, extra batteries, bear spray, thermals, water purification, etc. After the mandatory gear check, they had their first aid kit approved and then headed up to the ascending/rappelling site. This involved them hooking into ropes, ascending to the top of one of the ski lift support columns, and rappelling back down. I got some great pics of that, which I’ll send later. They then went through the water cert where they all had to prove they could swim on river boards, exit from tandem sea kayaks after dumping, get back in the kayaks, and then show their ability to paddle individual inflatable kayaks (Duckies). Lucky for them it was a gorgeous day!! The water was a frigid 40 degrees, but in wetsuits and dry tops, they survived quite well. The snow melt here has been making the rivers rise to almost flood level, so the PQ staff are trying to figure out if the teams can still run the same stretches they had planned on. Should be interesting either way! The final thing was a bike check, to make sure it operates, and then the exciting part was when we all got our swag, which in race world means FREE STUFF!! We all got cool PQ long sleeved, lightweight shirts, hats, food and drink samples, personal first aid kits, advertisements, water and I believe that the team also got socks. Woohoo! All the free stuff is from the sponsors of the PQ. Giving away small gear to their best audience, hoping you’ll come back for more. Today’s Pics

We’re all back at the cabin in the Gallatin Canyon tonight tying up loose ends, drying wetsuits, etc. I’m packing and almost feel like I’m moving again….sure feels like it after being here so long! The van will be a hoot once we get it full of 6 people, 4 people’s gear (including bikes), mine and Jay’s stuff to keep us entertained while waiting for the team to show at the transition areas, and two big dogs.

Tomorrow we have the official race briefing at 3pm. Here they will hand out maps to the teams, bring in wildlife specialists to talk with teams about what to do in the event of a not so friendly bear or other wildlife encounter, cover race rules in depth and tell us when the official race start is. Then all 80 or so teams will feast together for one final meal. The teams will be busy tomorrow night mapping their routes and will hopefully get at least 6 hours of sleep. The race will begin Monday morning sometime between 9-11am, leaving from the Big Sky Resort.

I highly encourage you all to visit http://www.ecoprimalquest.com/wp-primal/pq/ and click on Leaderboard and Tracking. If you do so now, you’ll just get an advertisement, but once the race begins, you can look for the team name - Action-Learning.com (#14) - click on that, sends us shouts (words of encouragement!), track the exact location of the team and watch them as the progress thru the course.

You could also check this website periodically . Jay and I will try to keep that as up to date as possible, with entries and maybe pics, depending on our internet access and time.

The race officially ends July 2, but we’re all thinking positive here and trusting that Action-Learning.com will be finished and celebrating by the 7 or 8th day!!

And again, please send shouts to the team…they LOVE that!

Happy June and hope your travels are as safe as ours!!
Jen (and team)

Click to play Theme Music

primal-quest

On June 21, 2008, Primal Quest will return. The race will be held in the Gallatin National Forest, near Bozeman Montana. Similar to past events, the 2008 event will involve teams of four racers, last up to 10 days and cover approximately 450 miles (including over 100,000 feet of elevation gain).

Team Action learning will be there !

As the name applies this is most definitely a team sport. Team captain, Doug Gray, has put together a team of highly motivated adventure racers

Jen and I were in downtown Bozeman last night for the Art Walk. There were bands in a few of the art galleries and we ended up dancing to a waltz. A local reporter caught us in the act.

Bozeman Daily Chronicle