redeem

Days after O2S 2007:

I am broken. The depth of pain this race caused cannot be measured on a human scale. I found dark places I didn't know I had. It was perfect. I will need time.

tsp - 38th Overall = 3 hrs 1 min
tttt - 62nd Overall - 3 hrs 9 min

A few days Later:

Here is the 48 Mile "Hard Rock" race description done up by the good people of the Ore To Shore organization:

HARD ROCK 48 Mile Race - Mass StartThe course traverses some of the most scenic terrain available in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The 48 mile race starts in downtown Negaunee, which is the "birthplace" of iron ore in Michigan. The first mile will be a roll-out on pavement, and then the race will hit the dirt as you make your way to Ishpeming. There you will detour through downtown and travel the city streets for another mile. Then you're back on the trails. The course will roll with the hills as you gradually drop in elevation to Marquette. You will be captivated as you pass by the lakes, rivers, ponds, and wildlife along the way. The course is wide enough the entire way to allow for easy and safe passage, but yet remains "tunneled" by nearby trees to give the sense of winding your way through the forests. Approaching the city of Marquette, you are still in the highlands, look off in the distance for a beautiful view of Lake Superior and the final destination. The course passes through local mining history in the area. Look for the following sites along the way: Cliff's Shaft, Rope's Gold Mine Haul Road, L.S. & I. Railroad's, Presque Isle Ore Dock and many other intriguing points of interest.

It should read:

The fucking sandy course traverses some of the most fucking sandy scenic terrain available in the fucking sandy Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The fucking sandy 48 mile race starts in downtown Negaunee, which is the "birthplace" of fucking sand. The first mile will be a roll-out on pavement, and then the fucking sandy starts. You will detour through fucking sand another mile. Then you're back on fucking sand. The course will roll with the hills and the fucking sand as you gradually drop into more fucking sandy conditons as the elevation drops to Marquette. You will be pissed off by all the fucking sand as you pass by the lakes, rivers, ponds, wildlife, and still more fucking sand along the way. The course is wide enough and filled with enough fucking sand the entire way to allow for easy use of foul words and slow fucking passage through more fucking sand, but yet remains "tunneled" by nearby trees to give the sense of dying in fucking sand as you wind your way through the even more fucking sand. Approaching the city of Marquette and are still riding in fucking sand, look off in the distance and cry because all you'll see is fucking sand. As you head to your final destination, the course passes through deeper fucking sand and then turns into woodchips because they used all the fucking sand in the whole fucking state on the rest of the course.