Berryman 36hour Adventure Race Epilogue

Get ready for another Berryman post.  This one promises to be a disjointed hodge podge of random things that occurred to me but didn't make it into the official report, but was worth mentioning.  I also copied some of the messages we received from people tracking our progress on the internet.  So here goes.


I would be remiss if I failed to give a huge thank you to our sponsors without whom this race wouldn't have been possible, for me anyway.  
Rich and the VFW Post 2482 out of St. Clair Missouri whose generous donation was greatly appreciated by everyone on the team.
Jason at the Bird's Nest Lodge was also very generous with his donation and also in offering us whatever support we needed to help us out.  "Whatever support" almost became taking my place on the team because of the knee problems I was experiencing leading up to the race.  If you are ever going to float the upper Meramec River, Camp, or just take some time to get away from it all give the Bird's Nest Lodge a try.
Although not really a sponsor I should mention that if you like BBQ you should try Pappy's Smokehouse but get there early because this place is popular and for good reason I am told.  
Seriously though the team and I are grateful for the help that we were afforded to make this race happen and without the support of our sponsors we couldn't have done it.  There were times when we were feeling down and out questioning if we would be able to finish, just knowing there were people out there that believed in us and what we were doing was enough to pick us up and keep us moving forward.  So again from Team POW/MIA we thank you for your support.

Our packs were heavy- not sure how heavy but holy crap!  It was some comfort to find out that Ryan's was as heavy as mine.

I brought way too much food.  In fact over two times more than I needed.  I ate a lot.  My teammates frequently exclaimed "I can't believe you are eating AGAIN!"
Things I Ate:

• Honey Stinger gels ,bars and energy chews
• Rokit Fuel
• Nature Valley chewy granola bars
• Pizza
• Cream of potato soup (from the can)
• A tube of Sweet/Tarts gel
• Wavy lays
• A ProBar I found on the ground
• and a whole lot more but you get the idea

We sang quite a few songs.  Ramblin' Man by the Allman Brothers was #1 on the POW/MIA charts mostly because it was still fresh in our heads from the practice on the Berryman trail, and our paddling practice.

Southern MO is where old school buses go to die.  Up north in the "citified" parts we keep our stuff in sheds, but down in the rural areas it seems when you have something to store you round up an old school bus and throw your crap into it.  One of the weirdest things I saw was not the school bus FULL of toilets, which was weird enough on its own.  The weirdest part was the lone toilet sitting outside on the ground.  There was room in the bus for it so why was it on the ground and not in the bus with its toilet kin.

The bathrooms at the Bass campground were actual bathrooms with real flush toilets, not the pit type I expected.

After we finished I was wired.  If someone would have asked me to run a 10k it most likely would have been a PR.

On the drive home I crashed (in the sleeping sense, not the driving) so hard I didn't wake up until we were approaching the Poplar street bridge.

At the beginning of the race we all sang the National Anthem.  I may have mentioned this before but it is more patriotic that way, and in my opinion far better than standing around listening to someone else sing.

Mark brought some pizza with him and shared it with us.  It was quite tasty once the dead animal flesh was removed from it.

After Ryan's crash we spooked some horses.  I was really worried that they were going to go into a full on equine freak out.  I now know what the term "wild eyed" means.

Getting messages from a volunteer

And now as promised some of the messages from our followers:

POW/MIA, keep it up, even if you are chumps Rrongey
Keep going POW/MIA ! You are almost there  ROCK Racing
POW/MIA - PUSH IT. YOU CAN DO IT!!!!!!  MOM & DAD
See you in a few, POW/MIAers!! Lookin good, keep on going! Bring you some dry clothes and a power bar or two for lunch :) Congrats, almost there...!  Lauren Hum
Good progress, POW/MIA! Keep it up!  Kate
Good job POW/MIA!!!! Go, go, go!!!!  Ann
Go POW/MIA!!  Kate
Thinking of POW/MIA and sending them all my energy! Wish I was with you guys today! Keep up the good work.  Stacey
great job pow/mia!  Kat
Let's go POW/MIA!!! Keep it up!! Rootin for ya!  Lauren Hum
Come on POW/MIA!!!!  Ann Lauridsen
Team POW/MIA: Made it through the water. Keep going!  Paula
GOOD LUCK TEAM POW/MIA!!! big brother is watching.  Gravitymeatball


Thanks everyone for the support.
I don't know what is next on the horizon for the team but I'll bet it will be awesome!