Arizona Trail Race Individual Time Trial Second Attempt:

The first day I was right on the pace I wanted. My body felt good, I had a tailwind, and the morning temperatures weren’t as cold as my first attempt. I could push my pace until about noon when I had to meter my energy just a bit to deal with the heat. I took my last sip of water a mile before Kentucky Camp, perfect timing. It was my first break. I took my shoes off right away to air out my sweaty, soggy feet. I filled up my water and ate a burrito before I kept going. Since I started later and at the border, I got to the magic green gate in the dark. The descent was a welcome break, but the nighthawks kept ruining my flow, flying into my face if I didn’t see them in time. 

I started my second day with the Italian Trap section. I hiked Molino Basin during the day and man, what I would’ve given to jump in a creek that moment. I must’ve blocked out the Prison Camp climb last time, because I was expecting to get to the Lemmon Highway much faster than I did. When I finally made it, I kept a steady pace, dreaming about the creek at the top on Sunset Trail. 

I arrived at the Summerhaven store at 4pm. I refilled my water and bought an ice cream bar and a 7up for now and another for later. A hiker asked me where and when I started. “That’s kind of annoying. I’ve been out here for 9 days.” I tried to keep my stop quick to get as much of Oracle Ridge done in the daylight as I could. I got most of the way down before sunset that second night. 

Once the sun was gone, I started getting slower and clumsier and my breathing was getting worse again. I stopped for a 20 minute nap but couldn’t relax enough to sleep, so I kept going. After a few minutes, it was clear that I was going to need to sleep to keep a decent pace so I stopped again and set a timer for an hour. Maybe it was having less pressure from the timer, but I was able to sleep this time. When I woke up, my body needed to get rid of some shit in my lungs- it was an energy sucking cough and the episode lasted about 10 minutes. Like a cat with a hairball, I was bent over, coughing up more hard and sticky junk from my lungs than I ever had in my life. When it was finally over, my lungs felt better than they have in years. I could take a deep breath again. While I was still coughing up crap the rest of the way to Picketpost, I didn’t need to use my inhaler once which is very unusual for me. I’ve always had to use my inhaler at regular intervals to keep my lungs under control on long rides.

As I made progress, the trail opened up and got faster again. I laid down for a few more dirt naps that night. The sun came up again when I was in the Black Hills section. The land was covered in cholla. It was beautiful as long as they weren’t on the trail! 

Things were going okay until the late afternoon. While it wasn’t terribly hot, the sun was oppressive. I neglected to put sunscreen on my legs and they were on fire. I took my sun sleeves for my arms and put them on my calves for some relief. I saw my first substantial tree of the day at about 2pm and stopped in its shade to cool down and drink the 7up I saved from Summerhaven. My progress was slowing and I was frustrated about all my coughing. I’ve done a lot of reading on sleep lately and one of the things science tells us is that emotional regulation is one of the first things to go when you’re sleep deprived. Despite knowing that, it’s still difficult to keep your emotions in check. Right as I started feeling sorry for myself, I saw a Gila Monster right in the trail! I was so pumped. I’ve always wanted to see one in person. I took some pictures and rode that energy all the way to the top of Ripsey at sunset, man what a view. 

As I approached Kelvin, I remembered camping there with some friends this winter. It was an amazing spot right by the river, but what was really on my mind was the fact that Karla saw a mountain lion while we were out there. As I was having that thought, I passed a cow skeleton with a gut pile. Creepy. I made it to the ADOT yard to refill my water with plans to take a nap as soon as it made sense. That night is when things really started to fall apart. If you remember from my goal time, I wasn’t planning on having to go through a full third night. I found a nice flat spot to lay down. I got my puffy and emergency blanket out. There was a large spider that kept wanting to check me out. I kept brushing it away but it wouldn’t leave me alone. I tried to sleep but couldn’t stop thinking about the spider so I decided I’d try to make a little progress before trying to sleep again. 

I knew I’d need to take some longer chunks of sleep that night. I’m not sure why I decided to set my alarm for 1.5 hour blocks instead of just trying to sleep 4 hours straight. I guess I was trying to keep moving forward, still hopeful I’d finish at a decent time in the morning. Unfortunately, that just wasn’t realistic with my level of fatigue and sleep deprivation. I finally made it down to the Gila at sunrise where I found a set of mountain lion tracks. 

I knew the climb up Martinez Canyon would be tough and “Little Debbie” was running out of Little Debbie snacks. I knew I’d have to turn it on low and slow, burning snack cakes from times past for fuel. My progress was slow, but I was in good spirits. Martinez Canyon offers some of the best views of the AZT 300. It was so quiet and I was soaking it in. I was fortunate to have cloud cover that day. Denny, another bikepacker on an ITT, caught me near the top of the climb and I didn’t have the energy to hang with him. I continued my slow pace to Picketpost. I saw my first hiker of the day who told me I was an amazing athlete for doing this on a bike. I think he’s an amazing athlete for doing it by foot! I finally made it to the end, 3 days 11 hours after I started at the US/Mexico border. Denny, his partner Alissa, my husband Andrew, and John who organizes the Arizona Trail Race were there. They’ve all done the trail and knew how I must be feeling.  

While I didn’t reach my time goal, I was happy to finish the route. I still have some work to do to figure out how to manage my breathing better. If I had known I would have to ride through a third night, I definitely would have slept more on the front end, but in order to go fast, you have to take chances. This time, skipping on sleep didn’t work out, and so the experimentation continues. - Katie Strempke