An incredible adventure with an incredible crew! My intention when setting out was to complete the 24 in 24 from trailhead to trailhead as Jan did during his self supported effort in 2015 and I'm proud that I was able to accomplish that with time to spare.
We started out from the Adirondack Loj on a gorgeous, warm bluebird day at 10:00 am sharp with my team and my pacer Alissa took me over the MacIntyre Range, keeping me chatting and fueled. I was pretty hyped up on adrenaline from the anticipation and the crew sending me off so I managed to gain an hour on this section compared to my projections. I chose to not complete the bushwhack to Marshall as the DEC and ADK have requested that this bushwhack no longer be completed and doing so would require trampling alpine vegetation (including one of my own research plots!). At Colden Dam I linked up with my next pacer Alea who was an amazing sounding board as I visited Cliff, Redfield, Grey and Skylight. I had a lot of fun splashing in the creek along Redfield and taking in the vast view from Skylight. I was so far ahead of my goal time I even had a moment to check in on the Alpine Azalea on top. My brain was being pretty loud at me at this point in the route since I'm not used to being crewed in this way and had some fears/anxiety around that, but Alea helped me work through some of that and quiet it down. Up the backside of Marcy and on the summit, Clara took over as pacer and brought me through the entire Great Range. On Haystack I had a pretty big low when I suddenly started feeling dizzy/fatigued but Clara quickly helped me realize it was due to dehydration and low electrolytes/sugar from pushing in the heat all day and we were able to correct the issue quickly.
Basin and Saddleback didn't feel great as my body tried to catch up. At the Saddleback junction, Gillian met us with a restock and I gulped down a bottle of salty water (plain LMNT) and felt like a million bucks after that. I'm pretty sure I PR'ed the climb up the Gothics cables I was feeling so great and then we got to enjoy a pretty magical sunset on Gothics/Armstrong. The rest of the range went quickly and we had a ton of fun chatting and cruising - so fast in fact that we briefly missed the Upper Wolfjaw junction as it had gotten dark and had to go back for it! As we headed down Lower Wolfjaw, we met Syd who took her job of getting my legs to turn over quickly the whole way down seriously. I had a blast chasing her to the aid station my crew setup on Lake Rd! The aid station was definitely the highlight of the adventure, it was touching to see how much care they had put into packing everything in and setting it up. A string light in the shape of a heart guided us in and some of my favorite people fed me Noonmark Diner mashed potatoes as we walked down Lake Rd together before I started up toward Colvin with my next pacer Debbie.
We were so amped up from the aid station and happy to see each other that we flew up Colvin! The night was quiet and still, and the moon was gorgeous floating above us, peeking out of the trees intermittently to say hi. Blake was an easy out and back with some music in my ears (Rubblebucket, in case you were wondering) and then we were heading up the long Nippletop climb and over to Dial. I remember feeling decent on this section but ended up losing some time here which made me nervous going into the bushwhack to the Dix Range. We met up with Forrest near Dial and worked as a team to get the bushwhack done efficiently. There may have been a few times I ended up with my head below my feet briefly. Debbie did an amazing job leading the way, I would follow that women to the ends of the Earth, and it was strange but necessary for me to sit back and let my pacers guide us as I'm used to taking lead on these things. In fact, the entire experience of having a crew/pacers, having friends carrying my things, prop me up emotionally, remind me to get nutrition in, etc was VERY strange and definitely tested my capacity for vulnerability but I'm so glad I did something so far outside my comfort zone and I was able to trust all of them 100%. After the bushwhack, being on trail felt so good and I was able to grind out the Dix slide climb without much fuss and having the gorgeous sunrise to my back as I climbed felt special. Forrest and I met Alissa again at the summit of Dix. At this point I was only about 15 minutes ahead of goal pace it that was weighing on me pretty heavily. I made the terrible decision to start trying to do math, never a good idea when your brain is that tired, and decided it was physically impossible to finish trailhead to trailhead under 24 hours. Of course, that made no sense since I was still ahead of schedule so as soon as I vocalized my concern my pacers set me straight and lit a fire under me.
Getting out to Grace was another special moment, especially given that only men had completed this challenge before. "We're doing it Grace!" I told her as I hopped on the summit. Then back over South Dix and final climb to Macomb. I dug deep on this climb, pushing as much as my aerobic system would let me. My body still felt great at this point, with no aches or pains to speak of, but my lungs were irritated from the duration. One of my big goals with the efforts was to finish strong - push the last climb and run the entire way out. I was so proud that I was able to fulfill that goal. The last challenge was getting down the Macomb slide, which was a bit sketchier than I remembered from when I last did it in 2020! At the bottom, Syd was waiting again to help me keep that momentum and we cruised all the way out to Elk Lake trailhead finishing in 23:31:05. The team was waiting at the trailhead and we all got a bit emotional as I came in. In that moment I felt so loved and cared for by this incredible team. Now I can't help but wonder, what else is possible if we all work together?
A huge shoutout to my Crew Chief/husband Kenny and Assistant (to the regional) Crew Chief/dear friend Sarah for keeping the team motivated, organized and cared for the entire 24 hours. Their diligence and love was a huge part of what made this effort a success.