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=C2=AB=20 Armstrong's Personal Testing Program Abandoned | Main | The=20 Gear Junkie Scoop: Coghlan's Survival Kit-in-a-Can = =C2=BB

February 12, 2009

24=20 Hours of Sunlight: The Business

By Ou= tside=20 Online
Feb 12, 2009

Comments=20 (3)

No, I don't think my name will be listed in Guinness even = though=20 I do now have the world record for the most vertical feet = skied=20 uphill in 24 hours by a woman. (Set at the Fourth Annual 24 Hours of=20 Sunlight last weekend.)

It turns out there are now so many world records in so = many=20 categories that if Guinness were to print them all, it would = result=20 in a world-record-size book. I=E2=80=99ll have to settle for = a certificate.=20 That=E2=80=99s fine though. =20 I=E2=80=99ve got the perfect spot for it: on my office wall = between an=20 autographed photo of Charlie Daniels and a large photo of me = getting=20 a little western with an 8-foot tall Jackalope.

And then, of course, I=E2=80=99ve got memories that will = last forever.=20 Knowing these memories would run together though, pre-race I = devised=20 an ingenious way to distinguish between laps: =E2=80=9CAs I = finish each lap,=20 I=E2=80=99ll give you two words describing how I=E2=80=99m = feeling,=E2=80=9D I told my=20 five-man support team. =E2=80=9CTake note.=E2=80=9D Armed = with this list, here are=20 highlights of my 24 Hours of Sunlight experience. To see how = mood=20 might correlate with performance, I list my time for each = lap as=20 well.

Lap 1: 11:00 a.m. Saturday (42 minutes) =20

Too hot (It was 38 degrees at the start and, wearing a = lycra=20 one-piece, I could only take off so much).

Lap 3 (50 mins.)

Giant wedgy (With the temps what they were, I had to = trade my=20 tested and true long underwear for my little-used boy = shorts, which=20 are wedgy-prone even when I=E2=80=99m not in continuous = motion).

Lap 5 (51 mins.)

This sucks. (This was the lap during which I felt the = worst --=20 fatigued, disheartened that I seemed to be in =20 a solid second to professional Canadian adventure racer , = who was=20 undeniably faster than I was, and still hot. I began to = dream of=20 McDonald=E2=80=99s double cheeseburgers.)

Lap 7 (54)

Bye sun. (I don=E2=80=99t know that I=E2=80=99d ever = appreciated a sunset more in=20 my life.)

Lap 9 (59)

Welcome break. (The one break I took during the race was = after=20 this lap. I ran into the lodge at the base to do some work = on my=20 left foot =E2=80=93 injecting my pinky toe with a local = anesthetic -- switch=20 out socks and liners, and suck down some ramen noodles. = Total time=20 sitting: 7 minutes.)

Laps 11 =E2=80=93 15 (1:01, 1:01, 1:05, 1:06, 1:10)

So, I slacked on these a bit. But that was only because = they were=20 generally uneventful and I was holding steady.

Lap 16 (1:12)

Uncharted territory. (Finishing lap 16, which made for = 24,000=20 feet of skinning, bested my previous personal record for = most feet=20 ever skinned at once, which had been the 15 laps and 22,500 = vertical=20 feet I did at Sunlight in 2007)=20

Laps 17-18 (1:25, 1:13)

Plod. Plod. (Obviously I was slowing down, but I = couldn=E2=80=99t=20 figure out why. My muscles still felt great and I was doing = great=20 with shoveling in the calories at each transition.)

Lap 19 (1:21)

First place! (Sunlight=E2=80=99s altitude must have = finally caught up=20 with the woman who had been in first =E2=80=93 she came up = from Squamish,=20 B.C. =E2=80=93 and she went in for a long break.)

Lap 20 (1:11)

Keep=20 eating. (Whether from excitement over moving into first or = having=20 been on the move for nearly 20 hours, my appetite not only=20 disappeared, but actually went into the negatives. Chewing = was=20 difficult. My mouth was so dry I nearly asphyxiated on a = chunk of=20 chocolate chip cookie. My taste buds were history. There was = no=20 difference between Ensure and Hammer Perpetuum, both being = equally=20 gross. )

Lap 23 (1:53)

All done. (After having already shed tears a few tears of accomplishment on lap 20, this = lap was=20 surprisingly unemotional except for the few minutes I was = rocking=20 out to Eye of the Tiger and when I realized this was the = last time=20 I=E2=80=99d get to rip the amazingly fun downhill that my Goode Randonee=20 Race skis totally ruled on =E2=80=93 they don=E2=80=99t = ski like skinny little=20 skis at all.)

And then, when I finally could sit down and take my time = eating=20 something, I was too excited to do either. The same went for = sleep.=20 I didn=E2=80=99t really get a good sleep until Monday night. = But when it=20 finally came, it was really, really good. Almost = world-record good.=20

-- Dina=20 Mishev

Dina competed in the Fourth Annual 24 Hours of Sunlight = in=20 Glenwood Springs, Colorado this past weekend. While she did = set the=20 record, she fell short of her personal goal of 37,500 feet = (25=20 laps). Look for one more post about how her recovery is = going before=20 she signs off Outside.

Email=20 this post

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Dina,
Again, congrats on your accomplishment!! Thanks = for=20 filling in some of the blanks on the race. Though I didn't = stay up=20 for 24 hours, I was following your and Brians's progress Sat = and=20 Sun. Looking forward to the return of the Sr. member of your = support=20 team, for more details.
Mr. D

Posted by: Mr. D | February=20 12, 2009 at 06:23 PM

Dina,
You should consider posting the record yourself = on=20 www.urdb.com which is attempting to be more comprehensive = than=20 Guinness. It has some hookey stuff on it, but it does track = some=20 legitimate records such as yours. Contratulations - you are = a=20 stud-ette.

Posted by: D. Gibbs | February=20 12, 2009 at 07:55 PM

David,

Thanks. Just did it. You're right about some weird stuff = being on=20 there. Deepest cameltoe?

Posted by: Dina Mishev | February=20 12, 2009 at 10:19 PM

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