Micah is training for Jake’s 100 mile trail run at the end of July. In an attempt to get some really hard trail runs under his belt, he signed up for one that had all of the things he needed:
Held on a Saturday — check.
Support such as water and people along the way — check.
Decent mileage, 22 miles, which is the most he has ever run — check.
Nearby (or so he thought) — check.
The part he didn’t read until after paying for the race was this cut and pasted sentence from the website:
***22 Mile Trail Run + challenges WARNING: YOU MAY NOT MAKE IT BACK ALIVE***
Unfortunately, Micah had paid. And if Micah commits, there is no backing out. Even if he did seem nervous. Even if the race director was the Guinness Book of World Record’s “World’s Fittest Man”. Even if he told me on various occasions that he was “sketched” about this race. Even if the following warning were straight from an Email Micah received the day prior:
- I’ve joked in the past about the other trails and their difficulty. THIS ONE IS NO JOKE!
- On the way up you will follow the ridge and stay to the LEFT on the way down you will stay to the RIGHT. There are some major drop offs so please be careful.
- There will be NO exercise stations on the course this year. We just want you to make it out alive!
- There will be limited water and NO food on the course. Please understand that this is the first time an event has EVER been put on out there. We had to physically carry over 40 gallons of water up the mountain last Friday night which took us about 12 hours round trip. So please understand that we need you to be as self sufficient as you can. I don’t want to scare you but you can get into trouble out here if you don’t bring your A game and don’t pay attention. This is truly Man/Woman versus Wild!
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Micah asked me to have my phone with me the next day in case they needed to call me.
(Apparently, my accessibility isn’t always top notch.)
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Here is the small group who braved the run.
The mountains in the background were where they were headed.
Before they even started, they had to drop and do 100 push ups.
These guys were serious — think Navy Seal style.
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Just to give you an idea — here is the terrain they were running on.
This is the summit, with the final pink ribbon that would mark their path — since there were no trails.
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As I check in on my phone periodically, I received a text around 11:30 am.
“At the top.”
“Feeling Good.”
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After swimming with the kids, I saw that I had missed a phone call just minutes before, so I listened to the message as I took a naked Dash upstairs to bathe.
I immediately handed Dash off to my mom and headed to the computer in my towel, which is where I stayed for the next hour and a half.
The message was basically this:
“Lindsey, there are three of us lost on the mountain. I’ve taken a picture and sent it to you so you can figure out where we are and get us an off road vehicle and some water. We are really low on water, and it is 107 degrees. The race director is aware that we are lost. (Then he gave me a description of trees and mountains nearby) But I know you can find us. There are three of us, and we want to make sure that this all gets done, and I know that you will do it.
(Here is a look at the computer screen I was looking at for an hour. He was on the right side, up in that mountain range about half way up the screen. He was supposed to be coming down the front of it, but instead, he was going to our left and going straight down the face.)
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I immediately jumped on the computer — got the hotel restaurant names to try and get a contact number for the race director. Once I got it, and there was no answer, I emailed everyone I could think of. In the meantime, Micah called again and described the location again. I pulled up Google Earth, and had a very educated guess to where they were. Then Micah told me that the race director said they were going to turn it over to Search and Rescue because they couldn’t get to where they thought Micah was. I called S&R to verify, and there had been no call. I made the arrangements, and texted Micah to immediately call 911 so that they could have the coordinates. I was worried he wouldn’t have cell reception, but he called back. I told him he needed to call 911 because there was no S&R arrangement yet, and to call 911, but the phone went dead at some point, and I was crossing my fingers that he heard me. I called S&R five minutes later, and was told that there were three hikers reported missing and that they were on the phone with them at that very moment. That was a bit of relief. After that, I never had contact with Micah again. But the race director called me back, I told him I had S&R heading out, that they were in desperate need of water (keep in mind that they had already completed a very grueling 12 mile run up 8,000 feet in 107 degree heat) and that these things needed to happen quickly because it would be dark before we knew it. I then told my mom and Tristen what the story was, and Tristen (who is ridiculously nice) offered to go with me so I could drive him home. Knowing my husband, I knew his cramps alone would need a chauffeur….little did I know that it wasn’t only cramping that would be a problem.
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On the way down, I talked with S&R about four times. On the third call, I was told that all hikers had been accounted for. On the last call, they had all been transported to safety. Phew!
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When Micah got back, he immediately called me. I told him we were on our way to bring him home. You could hear the relief in his voice. When we finally got there, his face was completely emaciated. He looked like he stepped out of a concentration camp because he had lost tons of weight in one day. His lips were all shriveled, and his voice was high-pitched and scratchy. He looked wasted.
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We went to a mexican restaurant to get him something to eat, and heard his story. And in one word, it was amazing.
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They were supposed to follow pink ribbons. He thought it was one way, but the two guys he was with thought it was the other way. When he went to check his way, they said they were leaving and not wanting to be solo on the mountain, he went with them. On the way down, they left the kind-of trail and started going down the face of the mountain. There were steep cliffs to stay clear of, dried up waterfalls to jump down, boulders to climb over, and cactus and Jumping Chola that left needles in your shoes and scrapes all over your body.
Micah is no wimp, but he said it was as trying as anything he has ever faced. He said that the two other guys (one in particular - Jeff) were very frightened, and were losing their minds. He said that it was very emotional for all three of them. He said that they would get about 20 feet and Jeff would have to take a break. At one point, Jeff looked at him with huge tears and asked, “Are we going to die up here?” After I spoke with Micah and he called 911, he went to catch up with the two others. He saw them both lying in a tiny patch of shade that was there because the sun was setting. When he got to them, he told them that he could use a break to clear his socks of cactus also. But jeff looked at him and told him he was done. Micah said his eyes were completely red “like a zombie” and there was foam coming from his mouth. Then the other guy, said he was done too. Micah said he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. So he got up and went to find help. As he walked away, he said that he kept thinking, “I have way too much to live for to give up. It isn’t even an option.”
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As he was walking away, he saw a car in the very far distance that gave him some hope. Micah thought it was S&R, but later he found out that it ended up being a group of kids out there having a party. As he was walking in the car’s direction, he heard a helicopter over the ridge. He ran as fast as he could to the top of a large rock to try and flag them down. It was a few moments before Micah realized that they saw him. When he got there, they instructed him to hop in. Moments later, the other two guys were in there also, and they all were flown to safety.
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Then they got a ride to the parking area.
Where they gave them some water and iced-up sponges.
We learned later that 15 minutes later, they would have had to call off the search and start up again at first light.
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Our ride home was full of all the details. It is amazing to hear what goes through someone’s head as they have a very serious and death defying story to tell. I am so glad he is home safe and sound.
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I learned a few things through this:
1. If your gut (AKA the Spirit) tells you to stay away — then do.
2. Always read the fine print — such as “You may not make it back alive.”
3. Don’t send the following text “If you run out of water — drink your urine:)” when someone is really worrying about dying.
4. I am really calm in crazy situations.
And the last thing I learned –
“I saved my husband’s life” rolls off my tongue really nicely.
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