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PAT COLE '99 FINISHES THE 171 KM UTMB RACE WITH A RENEWED SENSE OF GRATITUDE
You can usually find Great Raider Pat Cole '99 working as a special education teacher at Asbury Elementary in Denver. But late August found him running in the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc 170 KM Race in Chamonix, France. That's more than 100 miles up and down mountains in just 30 hours! Wearing Raider gear to start, he was supported on-site by his wife, Catherine (a teacher at Regis Jesuit) and two of their friends and cheered on by scores of family and friends at home, including his RJ classmates. Read Pat's post-race reflections about the experience that was simultaneously grueling and grace-filled.
In Pat's own words on Facebook from August 30 and shared here with permission. Ahead of the race, his wife Catherine asked friends and family to submit notes of encouragement for him in this endeavor.
It has been three days since I finished #UTMB (171 km which on my watch said 110 miles and 32,000 ft of climbing). Today at school students asked me if I won the race. Some seemed genuinely disappointed when I said I didn't and others seemed to think it wasn't a big deal. It made me think about what does it mean to win a race? Typically it means to cross the finish first, but after this weekend, I'm more convinced that there are hundreds of ways to win. I'm going to recap some of my favorite moments of the race and parts when I thought of you and how it helped me win.
It has been three days since I finished #UTMB (171 km which on my watch said 110 miles and 32,000 ft of climbing). Today at school students asked me if I won the race. Some seemed genuinely disappointed when I said I didn't and others seemed to think it wasn't a big deal. It made me think about what does it mean to win a race? Typically it means to cross the finish first, but after this weekend, I'm more convinced that there are hundreds of ways to win. I'm going to recap some of my favorite moments of the race and parts when I thought of you and how it helped me win.
Mile 0: I waited in the starting corral for an hour with thousands of other runners from 106 countries getting more crammed every minute. I thought about your letters. How you took the time out of your busy schedules to write your hopes for me. Very few mentioned finishing the race first, most mentioned something about having a safe journey.
Mile 12 San Gervais: Thousands of people lined the streets cheering us on and inspiring us with their music. I thought to myself, 'How can it get any better than this? Running the streets of a small French village in the Alps being cheered on by thousands of people from all over the world.'
Mile 24: Running through the Hoka Light tunnel (Youtube that one if you haven't seen it) and then going up our first major climb. The people on either side of the trail left a four-foot gap for us to pass through. They were cheering us on in our native tongues, and one fan literally pushed us up the hill. It definitely felt like the Tour de France. I thought how unreal this was that people would stay out all night to cheer on strangers. What a perfect show of solidarity.
Mile 48 Courmayeur: First time seeing Catherine since the start. Having her travel through Mont Blanc to get to Italy just to give me food, new socks and the best hug possible. I thought of how thankful I was that our principals Jimmy Tricco and Jeanna believed in us so much that they gave us the green light to pursue this dream.
Mile 55: Really tough climb out of Courmayeur met a Dutchman named Daan. We ran together for much of the second half of the race. During this stretch, I chatted with people from all over the world: Spain, France, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Japan, Columbia, Canada among others. Is this how simple friendships can be I thought. It reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where you only needed to like Orange Soda to be a best friend. In this case, it is a 171 km trail race in the Alps.
Mile 88 Trient: I have two big climbs to go. I've done 88 miles, but I have 22 to go. This is my lowest part of the race. The last climb I did was so hard. This past climb was where Jim Walmsley started to show his humanity and lost the lead. On the uphill, I'm thinking about everyone who is taking care of our kids while I do this race. I thought of the grandparents, the friends, aunts/uncles, coworkers, etc who helped with our kids so I could have this adventure. The word selfless love came to mind as I was climbing that mountain. Thank you to everyone who helped play a role with our kids while we were gone.
Mile 104 La Flegere: I'm at the top of my last climb. I can do this. A sense of relief floods over me. A French volunteer thanks me for talking to him in English to help him practice, as if I could speak to him in French. This volunteer who is filling up my bottles at 11:00 pm is thanking me. At this point, I knew I was going to finish. A wave of relief flooded over me. At this point, I just wanted to get this race finished so I could share with you that because of your prayers, notes, help, I was able to make it around Mont Blanc.
Mile 110 Chamonix: I'm back to where it all started 30 hours before. As I ran down the blue carpet, my main thought was how could I show everyone at home how much I appreciate them, love them and am so grateful for their support. Earlier, Catherine told me that so many of our friends and family were watching the finish. I decided to blow a kiss to the camera. I don't think it was captured clearly enough to show what I was doing, but it was to say thank you for the letters, for the meals, for staying with the kids, driving them around, staying up into the night to watch the race, for the text messages, for your constant push from afar to get me to the finish line.
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