Rock and Ice Update #11: Start of K-Rock Day #3

Thanks everyone for the comments.

As I said on Sara's blog...
Race headquarters at the Matrix Village were able to patch me through on the radio to the Jennejohn stage camp last night, so I was able to speak briefly with Sara. She said the conditions were very tough, but she was encouraged with how she was feeling, and looking forward to the final push to home today.

I was hoping to catch a media flight out to the stage camp for the start, but unfortunately wasn't able to, so I'll be anxiously awaiting Sara's arrival this afternoon sometime probably after 3pm. I will call in or post results at that point.

The weather this morning in YK isn't too cold, but it's been snowing pretty hard which will make some of the lake crossings very tough. The wind should be at their backs though, which will be a welcome push to the finish.

Go Sara!!!! Can't wait to see you!

As for me...
I had a restless night of sleep with cold sweats but have been able to keep my fever under control this morning with ibruprophen. It was a pretty lonely Matrix Village last night with everyone either on the course or packed up and gone home.

I was glad to have the company of the Matrix Village Camp staff member Ken. Ken is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and just speaking with him for a few minutes, you feel as though you've known him all your life. Kind of a combination of camp manager, father figure, best friend and race mascot all wrapped into one. He is always quick with a interesting story about back home (Cape Breton) or some of the remote places he has been to (Baffin Island and many more). When you aren't feeling well, it's comforting to have someone like that near by.

I've had a bit of a chance to ponder about my race and it still hasn't sunk in that I'm not out there. It started to hit home a bit when I saw the photos on Sleepmonsters. I'll have more time to reflect on this in the next little while. Still frustrates the hell out of me, but looking back at the past week I do realize that something wasn't feeling right. On Wednesday I had an ear ache and scratchy throat but was hoping to just put that down to the flight from Toronto. Apparently it was more than that though.

I'm heading back down to the finish line now for the long wait. It looks like the snow is dying down and the sun is trying to peak through which is a good sign. With any kind of luck I might be able to get out on the course on a snowmobile to see Sara. I'm very pumped for her as she seems like she is in a really good place right now and will be mentally tough as she knows today is the final day.