In the summer of 2019 Lori, Lauren, and I ran our first aid station.  Remotely situated at 10,700 feet in Pike National Forest Colorado, Gold Dust aid station is located at miles 42 and 53 on the Silverheels 100 course.  We arrived at our campsite on Friday night with all of our materials.  We awoke early Saturday morning and set up our station, anxiously awaiting our first runner who finally arrived at around 1 PM.  Lauren kept track of the runners and their times, while Lori, Tyler (another volunteer), and I took care of their needs.  We filled their hydration bottles, cooked them quesadillas, served them homemade brownies, and poured them cups of soda.  We kept a fire going all day —- it is still relatively cool at 10,700 feet — and provided them a comfortable place to sit, warm up, and refresh before moving on.

Most importantly, we interacted with each and everyone of them.  We talked about where they were from, asked them how they liked the course, gave them hugs and words of encouragement, and told them how proud we were of their efforts.  We met Walt, who was out to complete 50 100 milers in one year.  This race was his 25th last year. Then there was Paris, from Guadalajara, who was coming to Denver for business on Monday, so he took some “vacation” days prior to his trip to run the race.  We fed him quesadillas and enjoyed his pronunciation of Guadalajara.  Then there was a gentlemen from Oklahoma who asked to rest his eyes in a chair by the fire for just 5 minutes.  Six minutes later I  woke him up from a sound sleep.  He looked at me puzzled at first, then said “wow, I feel great,” stood up and proceeded up the course.  Finally, there was Elisa, who arrived in our aid station nauseous, sick, and crying.  The Race Director, Sherpa John, was there on site and gave her the most encouraging talk I have heard in a long while. Off she went up course.  She arrived at our aid station the second time in the rain, caring for another runner who was borderline hypo-thermic, before continuing on course herself.

Interacting with the runners was the absolute highlight of the weekend.  This was our chance to give back.  We came together as a team to help others. We will never forget this experience and can’t wait to run the Gold Dust aid station again.