"You’d just want to shoot yourself in the foot," said Mila Olson, a San Lorenzo Valley Middle School teacher and the only woman on the four-person adventure racing team.
But they persevered, and the team of Jeremy Olson, his wife, Mila, Bob Lapanja and Johnny Ryan completed the 10-day trek in the mountains of Montana in strong fashion.
Team Lucky finished in 21st place out of 82 teams, a strong showing in a race in which their goal was simply to finish the 450-mile course.
The first two days of nonstop hiking, combined with torn-up feet and little sleep, left the team hurting.
"When you come up against a brick wall right at the start, it’s disheartening," Jeremy Olson said.
The first hike in the race was 4,000-foot climb to a snowy peak. After sliding down the other side, the team embarked on an adventure. By final tally, they had trekked about 300 miles, biked about 200 miles and kayaked another 30, usually getting between two and three hours of sleep each night in between the stages.
By the end, the Olsons, at least, decided a 10-day race is simply too long.
"I think you’ve proved your point after about four days," Mila Olson said.
However, the later stages of the race were where the team excelled.
By the sixth day, the team’s feet had healed, and they set out to start passing other teams.
At one point on the eighth day, it seemed they wouldn’t finish a hiking stage in the necessary time, but Lapanja urged them on.
"Bob said, ‘You know what, we’re gonna do it. I know we’re going to do it,’" Jeremy Olson said.
The team blasted through the rest of the stage, finishing the hike in 16 hours, when the top teams were taking between 20 and 24 hours.
Snow covered most of the course thanks to spring blizzards, and river levels were so high that much of the planned kayaking was pulled from the course because of dangerous waters.
Jeremy Olson was also pulled off a rock-climbing
section of the course when thunder and lightning threatened his safety.
The racers had no serious injuries, but after crossing the finish line, they were exhausted.
"Our entire lives have been about this race for the last year," Jeremy Olson said. "We’re glad we did it. There is a sense of accomplishment and now a huge amount of freedom."
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