tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49457408836537579652024-02-20T15:51:48.735-06:00Running with MelMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.comBlogger111125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-2311200292503407722016-04-11T09:34:00.001-05:002016-04-11T09:34:50.279-05:00But what if you fly?I ran the El Dorado half marathon a little over a week ago. I didn't have great expectations going into it because I had been training for a 50K, but then decided not to do that, and hadn't done much speedwork. I had the fast 5K, but I didn't know how my new speed would translate to a half marathon. I was so scared going into it. I knew I wanted to run it in under 2:20. In the back of my head somewhere, I thought that 2:15 would be really cool. I tried that in September though, and it was a massive failure.<br />
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Leading up to the race I came up with a pacing plan. I knew if I had a great day it would work. I was afraid I was going to fail though. I knew how bad going out too fast could blow up on me, and I didn't want that to happen. Race morning I felt pretty good, and the weather was perfect. Sunny, not too windy, and chilly. My mom came with me, so that was exciting. We rode over with Cristy because she was running the 5K. The plan was for her to watch me start, then run her race, then come find me on the course to cheer for me. She was very encouraging when I was nervous. It was a pretty small field of runners, so I thought there was a decent chance they'd all pass me pretty early on and I'd be at the back. That didn't really happen. What happened is that very early on, the field separated into three groups. There were the fast runners out front, then just a few of us in the middle, and then way behind me was another big group. This meant I was running alone most of the race. I think as the race went on people spread out more, but in the beginning it seemed like they were bunched together.<br />
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To hit a 2:20 finish, my average pace needed to be 10:41. I wanted to stay between 10:15 and 10:30 for the first 5 miles. Mile 1 was was really fast. Too fast, but I felt good. Mile 2, same story. By mile 3 I could feel that I was going too fast, so I slowed down but stayed within my goal. Same for mile 4. Mile 5 felt great, until the end. I looked ahead and could see the mile 5 sign, and it was partway up a hill. It was a big hill, but I thought surely it wasn't too bad. The problem was that I couldn't see all of it. I think mile 6 was almost completely uphill. Then we turned into the wind, which had picked up. Miles 6-8 were really windy and really hilly, and I hit a low spot. My stomach was cramping, the wind and hills were awful, and every ache and pain I have felt the last few months reappeared. I kept pushing and thought that no matter what, I'm just doing the best I can. I stopped looking at my watch.<br />
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At the end of mile 8, we turned and had a nice long downhill. We were also no longer running into the wind. I started perking up. I looked at my watch, realized I had less than 5 miles to go, and that I was on pace for 2:15, and that I felt great. I knew I had suffered through a lot of 5 mile runs, so unless something happened, I was probably going to do it. This is when I thought of a quote I love.<br />
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Here it is:<br />
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I was still afraid I might fall. I might run one more mile at this pace and blow up and have to walk the rest of the way. Should I keep pushing? What if I fail? Oh, but what if I fly? What if I just give it all I've got, and I succeed? I decided that sink or swim, I was going for it. </div>
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I was almost to mile 10, and turned, and saw a big hill. There were some volunteers there and I said "oh, well that sucks" and they laughed and told me I get to turn halfway up. I got to the turn, and I saw my mom, Cristy, Danielle, and her friend Alyssa. I cried, because it's what I do. I was so happy to see them. I asked Cristy what her time was, and she had killed it, so that pumped me up. I grabbed a gel from Danielle and kept running. I turned around to yell that I was on target to finish in 2:15. I seriously felt like I was flying at that point. I don't think I have ever felt so good in a race. I had gone a little ways when I realize that the girls had been holding up signs, and they had something on their head. I realized it was unicorn horns, but I was thoroughly confused. With the highs come lows, and shortly after I saw them came another crash. I ate a gel, and that perked me up. We also started seeing a lot of crowd support the last few miles. I love it when people set up in their driveways to cheer for runners! It helps so much. My favorite are the little kids that give high 5's. I think I had about 2 miles to go and I saw Mom, Cristy and the girls again. I was getting pretty tired at that point. I finally read the signs and one said "It's a unicorn day." I had posted on my last blog that to hit my goal I needed to have a unicorn day. It was so cute and funny that it cheered me right back up. The other sign said something about donuts. Danielle thinks it's pretty cool that I eat donuts when I run. </div>
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Mile 12 was a struggle, but was ok. Mile 13 was rough. I knew I only had 1 mile to go though, and I needed to push to make it. The last little section of the race was a bit confusing, because they had part of the road blocked off, but the volunteers were directing us to run on sidewalks. Since I was alone I really had no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I wanted to be on the road, but stayed where I was told to be. When I got back close to the finish the sidewalk was full of people, so I went back onto the road. When I tuned the last corner I could see the sign and could see how close I was to 2:15. I feel like I sprinted through here, but it was probably only a jog. In my head I forgot that the race is chip timed and what is on the clock wasn't my real time. I was determined to finish before 2:15! </div>
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I crossed the finish line and looked at my watch, and it said 2:14:47. WOW!! I cried. I hugged my mom. I posed for pictures with the girls and their sign. I felt like I was flying again! I don't know how I did it. I think lifting is helping. I'm running shorter and faster, and man is it fun. I can't keep having huge PR's, but I'll take it while it lasts! </div>
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This was a great race and I would highly recommend it! My only complaints are that the cups of water were tiny and didn't have much in them, and the end was a little confusing. They had so many volunteers though, and it's an excellent course. I'd love to do it again someday. </div>
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Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-82317811815101692402016-03-24T13:53:00.000-05:002016-03-24T13:53:17.594-05:00Where did that come from?I realize that I bragged about this all over Facebook, but I haven't blogged about my recent 5K race with a huge PR. If you've been dying to hear the details, and just admit it, you have, this is your chance!<br />
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Several weeks ago my friend Cristy mentioned that she and another friend, Joy, were doing a St. Patrick's Day 5K and had a team and registration was cheap. I thought it sounded like a fun idea, so I signed up. I quickly began thinking that I've been getting faster and maybe this was finally my chance to run a 5K in under 30 minutes. The only thing I did for a while was thinking about that, and not actually do any work toward it. Several days before the race I decided I was going to do a 3 mile treadmill run at race pace to see if I could do it. I had no real faith in my ability to get it done. None. I got up in the morning anyway and headed to the gym, determined that I was going to give it everything I had. Cristy sent me several encouraging messages, and I got started. I did it! I couldn't believe it, but was very hopeful for the weekend. I needed more miles that day, so after work I headed out for a 5 mile run. The first mile was under 10 minutes. I told myself I needed to slow down. The second mile was under 10 minutes, and I told myself the same thing. I didn't slow down though. Mile 5 was awful, but I had come so far I wasn't giving up! I finished in 48 minutes, 51 seconds. Whoa. Before that morning the longest I had gone at a sub-10 pace was 2 miles. At that point I knew that unless something happened I could probably expect a finish in under 30 minutes.<br />
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The day before the race I had a minor wardrobe emergency. It's a St Patrick's Day race, so obviously I needed to wear green. It was cool enough I couldn't wear shorts, and the only capris I had with pockets were purple. I showed Rick my outfit choices. He made fun of me for thinking I could wear it. Then I felt bad because I was going to look stupid. Rick kindly said "what time does Lululemon close?" I was able to get a great pair of capris for the race that I felt good in and were comfy.<br />
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Race morning was early! We left Eureka at 5:30. I was nervous, but not terrified. It was chilly and had decent chance of rain, so that was unpleasant. Cristy is a lot faster than me, so my goal was to keep her in my sights as long as I can. There were so many people though I lost track of her almost instantly. Mile 1 felt great, and I had to slow myself down a little bit. Mile 2 started out great, but I was running too fast. I was afraid I'd blow up. I kept trying to slow myself down. Not long before the end of mile 2 I finally caught site of Cristy and was close enough I wanted to try to catch her. I didn't think I could, but it would give me a goal. At the beginning of mile 3 there was a hill, and I was getting closer to her thinking that something wasn't right because I shouldn't be able to catch her. I caught her and tapped her on the shoulder and asked if she was ok. She said yes and we started running together. After a while she started to walk and waved me on. I was so conflicted. It was almost painful to leave her, but I knew she wouldn't want me to give up on my goal. It turned out she was having some stomach issues. With about a quarter of a mile to go I was tired and breathing really hard, but decided to just go for it. I gave it all I had and finished in 28:14! I blew my goal out of the water. I still don't know how it happened. I don't know what I've done to cause me to speed up, but I need to do more of it!<br />
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Joy was walking the race with a friend because she's battling an injury right now, so we waited for her. I'm so grouchy and sad when I can't run that I'm not sure I would have the courage to walk it injured, so I'm impressed Joy came! Plus she's super nice and fun, so I'm really glad she was there! Cristy's daughter Danielle ran as well and finished in a super fast time I can't remember. She's a speed demon! We went and changed clothes, picked up Joy's daughter, did a bit of shopping, and finished our day with a giant meal at Jose Pepper's. I think there's something to be said for these short races that are done in the morning.<br />
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I'm running a half marathon next weekend in El Dorado that I'm excited and nervous about. I have a time goal in mind, but it's going to take a unicorn day to make it happen. We'll see!<br />
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<br />Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-54303757841278716602016-03-04T11:37:00.000-06:002016-03-04T11:37:01.878-06:00Back in the saddle!Wow, it's been a while! I've been running, but I took a break from ultras, and from the stress of running, and just did what I wanted for a long time. It was amazing!<br />
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Last spring after running Heartland 50, I had reached total burnout. I didn't love running anymore. I wasn't in a very good place mentally. I decided it was time to stop doing races, and just do what I want. I spent the summer doing short runs, like 3 or 4 miles, and did it several days a week, but never pressured myself. I also started lifting and going to spin classes. Where has lifting been all of my life?! I have been focusing on losing weight, and just getting stronger and better.<br />
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Here is a picture of me at Pumpkin Holler 100, and a picture of me last week. Same shirt. I've only lost around 10 pounds, but I can see a huge difference!<br />
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At the end of 2015 I decided I was ready to tackle ultras again. I've been training for a 50K, but to be honest, I'm not sure if I'll do it. Right now I'm still really enjoying running for myself, and not for a race. I want to do a 100 in the fall, so my thought was I'll train for a 50K to help get me ready for 100 mile training. Well, I've accomplished that main goal of getting ready for 100 training. I'm pretty much there. Not ready to run a 100 of course, but ready to train for one. So, maybe I'll sign up for the 50K and run it, and maybe not. We'll see.<br />
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It has been challenging to ramp up my miles and maintain my lifting. I think as I increase the miles more I'll have to decrease the lifting to two days per week instead of three. Life with my boys is kind of hectic, so most of the time I'm moving stuff around as the week gets busier, and just hanging on for dear life. I'm thrilled at the end of the week when I've hit a mileage goal! It doesn't always look like I expected it to, but I'm getting it done.<br />
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Right at this moment, I'm in a great place with my physical fitness. I'm managing to balance it with my family obligations, and with my desires, rather than running because I feel like I need to or it's what I should be doing. Not to say I don't have to force myself sometimes, because I do, but overall I'm enjoying myself a lot.<br />
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Goals:<br />
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<li>Body recomposition. Lose fat, gain muscle</li>
<li>Start a 100 mile training plan</li>
<li>Keep lifting. Don't give it up as I increase my miles.</li>
<li>Eat healthy to fuel my body and my workouts, and not work out to undo the damage of what I ate.</li>
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Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-22930029566837619362015-05-18T10:46:00.002-05:002015-05-18T10:46:56.167-05:00Knowing when it's time to back offOver the course of the last few months I've really questioned what I'm doing and how much I want to keep doing it. Long runs seem to be getting longer. Every run has been a struggle. I have no joy. I spend pretty much every run thinking "how can I possibly run longer than this in June?" Every time I thought about running 100 miles I seriously wanted to cry. Every once in a while I'd get excited about it, but for the most part I had an overwhelming sense of dread. During Heartland 50 I kept asking myself why I was doing this. Why do I keep pushing myself? I talked to the ladies I was running with about it and they told me if I'm not enjoying it don't do it. Take a break. After the race I mentioned how I was feeling to someone and she said the same thing. If I need a break, take it. After the race I talked to Rick and told him how I felt. I was worried because I had already paid a lot of money to register for the 100 and if I didn't do it that money is just lost. He assured me that he doesn't care. He didn't think I should run if I didn't want to.<br />
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I've been going back and forth with myself since the 50. I finally convinced myself that it's really just a couple of hard weeks of training, then a taper, then the race. I can suck it up. I can take a break later. I powered on. I got a little bit excited again. Then Friday rolled around and I looked at my weekend miles and couldn't stand to even think about it. Saturday morning I got up crazy early and Rick and I headed to Iola. We did a 7 mile out and back and then Libby joined us. While we were running I started talking to Libby about how I felt. We kept talking. I went through everything I was feeling. All the reasons I should run the race and all the reasons I shouldn't. I really analyzed my feelings and the reasons for doing it and not doing it. In the end, there are so many more reasons to drop out than there are to go for it. By the end of the run my decision was made. I wasn't doing it. The relief I felt was tremendous.<br />
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I've really struggled with feeling like I would let myself down and let others down. I didn't want people to be disappointed in me. I don't want people to think I can't handle it. The truth is, right now I can't. Well, maybe I can. I just don't want to. I feel like that's a good enough reason. I cannot run 100 miles to please other people. That's absurd. It's too hard on me and my body and on my family. If people are disappointed in me that is their problem, not mine. If people think less of me, that's their problem. Am I failing? Maybe. I had a goal and I'm not going to accomplish it. I'm doing it on my own terms though. I'm saying enough is enough. I need to step back a little. I need to shift my focus and find my joy again. Right now my joy is not in running for hours and hours at a time.<br />
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I'm obviously not going to take a break from running completely. I'm just going to work on shorter distances right now. I'm currently considering a half marathon in October. Sounds about right to me at the moment. I can work on speed and strength and push myself and see what I can do. I want to take some fun classes at my gym and I want to get stronger. I need to step back from the huge mileage weeks to make that happen. After I analyzed my decision to death I have to say I'm so excited. I'm excited to work on other things besides running long. I'm excited to see what I can do. Mostly I'm excited to spend the summer with my family and not running.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-66050381851779885542015-05-07T11:21:00.001-05:002015-05-07T11:21:06.351-05:00Heartland 50 ReportOnce upon a time, I thought running 50 miles in the Flinthills in May would be a good idea. In the back of my head I knew it was stupid, but when have I ever made smart choices when it comes to running? I registered and decided that running in the heat with absolutely no shade wouldn't really be that bad. I mean, I live here. I know the area, I know what it's like to run here. I would have an advantage! Hahahaha. Not so much.<br />
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Leading up to this race I had an overwhelming sense of dread. I just didn't want to do it. Nothing could get me excited. I did not want to run. At all. I honestly wanted nothing to do with this race. Great attitude going in, right? I think the day before I started getting a little excited, because races are fun. Also, Rachel was coming from Washington to run, and I was excited about that.<br />
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Saturday morning I got up, got ready and Rachel and I headed to the race along with Deanna who was going to be crewing. We got there way earlier than we needed to be so I had plenty of time to be nervous and freak out! I picked up my packet and finished getting everything ready. The race started in a different place than packet pickup, so we all headed to the start line. We had a quick pre-race briefing and we were off. I was planning to run the race with Megan and Kathy, who was running her first 50 mile. I knew Megan, but had never met Kathy. Running 50 miles together seems like a good way to get to know each other, right? The first snafu I encountered was that my gatorade wasn't thawing. When it's hot I stick a gatorade in my front pocket frozen. Ad it thaws I drink it, so it's always cold. Great plan, right? Except it was cooler in the morning than I was expecting and it didn't thaw. The result is that I didn't get to drink enough gatorade. I also didn't eat like I should have. Such a beginner mistake! Why do I keep making it? I know better. I know some people don't seem to need a lot of calories when they run. I am not one of those people. I know my body. I know what I need. When will I learn?<br />
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The first several miles ticked by. I was having a blast. We hit the first aid station, which was staffed by the always friendly Elden, Debbie, and Jim. I don't remember what I got here, but I think just some pringles? I should have grabbed another gatorade because my first should have been empty, but I had barely touched it. I left the aid station with Rachel, a little ahead of Megan and Kathy. We walked slow while she waited for Krystal and I waited for the other. Soon Rachel and Krystal took off and I waited for Megan and Kathy. This section is the worst. From Battle Creek to Lapland is really hilly. It sucked away some of the fun we had been having, but not all of it! Again in this section I failed to fuel properly. I did finish my gatorade, but should have finished two by the time I hit Lapland. Also, the sun reared it's ugly head right before Lapland. I switched from my buff to a hat to shield my face. Deanna was waiting at Lapland and got me fixed up. I'm not sure who all was at this aid station, so forgive me for leaving people out. Terry and Sherri rider were there, and I'm not sure who else. Sherri and I talked a minute and we all took off. Kathy realized she had meant to change her socks at that station, so she went back and Megan and I strolled along waiting for her.<br />
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This next section was fairly uneventful. The sun went back away and it sprinkled on us a little. We got to see the front runners in this section headed back to the finish. That was so cool! It's amazing to see these strong speedy runners out there killing it. Coming into Teterville the wind had picked up and I knew it would be in our face a lot of the rest of the race. This is where the wheels really started coming off for me. I was cranky, getting tired, and way behind on calories and electrolytes. Deanna was ready for me and had everything I needed. I'm so glad she was there! Jason was at this aid station and it's always nice to see him and get bossed around a little. April Calaway was volunteering too and she always has a smile on her face. Her daughter was there riding her bike up and down the road and is such a little doll! We got what we needed at the aid station and headed out. I texted Rick to update him, and also my mom, who I had asked to come see me finish. I think I texted Libby here too.<br />
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The next few miles were again pretty uneventful. I was still doing ok, but starting to feel pretty nauseous. At mile 28ish (maybe?) I thought I was going to puke so I sent Megan and Kathy ahead. I just did some dry heaving, and started going again. I no longer had gatorade because the taste wasn't something I was interested in. Again, poor choice! It started getting really hot through here. Like, running through the bowels of hell hot. Ok, I'm exaggerating. It was hot though. At the bottom of the hill leading into Lapland we saw Kathy's dad waiting for us. He had a flower for each of us. So sweet! We all started crying. Then Kathy's husband came down the road to meet her. It was so sweet. She was so happy and it was so neat to see her whole family there cheering for her. We made it to the aid station and I did a lot of complaining about the heat. Deanna was awesome again getting everything I needed. Jason sprayed me down with sunblock and I sat on a bucket eating for a little while waiting for Kathy to fix up her blisters. This time leaving this aid station we knew what was ahead. We knew the hills between here and Battle Creek sucked. We knew we could do it though. We had plenty of time.<br />
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This section did indeed suck. There's no other way to describe it. It was awful. I was tired, like falling asleep tired. I couldn't eat because my stomach was a mess. I couldn't run much because my stomach was a mess. It would calm down for a few minutes, then start rolling again. I just powered on. I am so very thankful for the ladies that were with me that stayed with me and kept me moving. I could not have done it without them! I ate when I could, and tried to drink as much as possible. We made it to Battle Creek and I needed to use the bathroom desperately. Yay portapotties! I did what I needed to do, then parked my butt in a lawn chair and ate a popsicle. It was sooooo good! Debbie got me some cold wet cloths and I used them to cool off a little. It was hard to leave this aid station because there's a giant hill climbing out of it. Once you're past that though, it's smooth sailing. It's not hilly and you should be able to speed up a little. HAHAHA. That didn't happen. I started really really struggling. Some of it was mental because I didn't know how far I had to go. I knew the race was more than 50 miles, but I didn't know how much more. I got overly anxious about how much further I had to go. The other ladies were feeling much better and wanting to run, so with maybe 4 miles left they pulled ahead. I wanted so badly to keep up but I couldn't, so I let them go. I called Libby through this section and cried and vented. She was kind, but firm in telling me to keep moving. I could do it. I finally caught back up, but then got really sick and slowed way down and puked massively. A few minutes later Jason and Carina came along breaking down the aid stations and picking up course markers. I cried and asked Jason for a ride. It was a no go. He said I had to finish. I think I had 2.5 miles to go. That seeems like so little, but at the time it did not. After that I caught back up with everyone and we stayed together.<br />
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The last 2 miles were incredibly hard. I was dizzy and nauseous and though I might pass out. I kept going though, mostly because I didn't have a choice. When we finally got back to Cassoday I was soooo happy! Megan said we were running to the finish line. I think I told her no I was not, and she assured me that yes, I was. I did. We crossed together holding hands. My family was all there, so that was really cool. I got some cold water, some food, and sat and talked to my friends. I didn't get that elated "omg, I just ran a really tough race and finished!" feeling that I normally get. All I had was regret for the mistakes I made, and dread about my next race. I'm sort of passed that now, but not completely. I'm not happy with how I did. I'm dreading my next race. Hopefully knowing the mistakes I made this time will help me next time. I woke up Sunday with a sore throat, and by afternoon I was covered in a rash. I'm a freak, and I get a rash when I have strep. Aha! That explains a little bit of my struggle. I went to the doctor monday and sure enough, strep. Yay antibiotics! I thought I was dying for two days, but woke up yesterday feeling great.<br />
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I have my next 100 in a month, and to say I'm looking forward to it would be a lie. Hopefully I can shake it off and be back to my normal run loving self soon.<br />
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Thanks so much to my family that came to watch me finish, to Megan and Kathy who ran over 51 miles with me, and Deanna for crewing. Also, Barry and Jason for putting on such a great race, as well as all the volunteers that were awesome. To Amber Lane, so glad I got to meet you! Thanks for your help and support!Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-30710103268483602602015-04-28T13:14:00.000-05:002015-04-28T13:14:28.010-05:00ReevaluatingI think every once in a while it's good for people to really step back and think about why they're doing something. I've been doing that a lot lately with running. Well, not running so much. I know why I run. It's more that I've been evaluating the way I talk about running, the different ways in which I log my runs on social media, and how much of what I'm doing is more about bragging and seeking attention than actually about running.<br />
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I have several areas where I log runs. My garmin automatically uploads to garmin connect, which logs everything I do. I have my settings set so that only my "connections" can see my activities. I also use dailymile, which is sort of like facebook for running. I post my run on there, and people can comment. You can post your time, so that everyone knows your pace, or you don't have to. I also upload to Strava, and only have a few followers on there. Then there's Facebook, where I post random photos, or elevation profiles, or I just brag about my miles.<br />
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Lately I've gotten more and more uncomfortable with posting about running, and posting each and every run for my dailymile friends to see. I started by just no longer posting my times. I would be running and struggling, and keep pushing myself beyond what I should be doing just because I didn't want my friends that are all faster than me to see my pace. I realized this is ridiculous, so my answer was to just stop telling what my time is. Then I don't have to worry about it. Doing that felt so freeing. I no longer needed to care what anyone thought of my pace. I stopped logging every run. I still post most of them, but not all. I've decided that some runs are just for me. I just go out there, do my thing, and come home. No one needs the details of that run. I know, and I'm the only one that matters. I also lock down my garmin connect randomly. I'll go through a phase where I just don't want to share my running, not even with my closest friends. I mark my activities as private, and it feels so good. I always bounce out of that and eventually open it back up. I think it's good to just step back from that stuff every once in a while.<br />
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Something else that I've put a lot of thought into lately is the stickers on my car. I have one that says "ultra marathoner" and then one for each distance above a marathon that I've completed. A few weeks go I looked at my car and wondered why? What is my motivation for doing that? I discussed it with Ryan who came down firmly on the side of removing the stickers. I told him I felt like I had only put them on there to brag. That is the reason. I know myself well enough to say that is 100% why I did it. I don't remember exactly what he said, but he agreed with me that if bragging was the sole reason, that's not good enough. The next person I talked to about it with was my mom. I've actually been talking with her a lot about my motivation for this stuff. She told me keep the stickers. She said they motivate people and they're also good conversation starters with new runners. She said some other stuff that made sense. Ultimately what I decided is that they make me happy, and when I go to get in my car I see them and smile, so I'm keeping them. Plus it helps find it in a parking lot! After decided to keep the stickers, I realized over the weekend the ones on the back are starting to peel off. It is the ultramarathoner one and the 50k one. I took that as a sign and last night I removed them. I still have my 50 mile, 101k, and 100 mile. As they start to peel, I will remove them. Will I replace them? I don't know. I'll overthink the situation and decide when it happens :)<br />
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In the end, I've decided that I really just need to run for me. The more I brag on Facebook, dailymile, garmin connect, etc, about my runs, the less I feel like I'm running for myself. I think everyone has different reasons for posting runs or not posting. For some it motivates them to keep going. They also do it to motivate other people. I think it doesn't really matter what someone's reasons are, as long as they're their reasons and not just because it's what everyone does. Please don't think I'm going to stop annoying people by talking about running. I'm totally going to keep doing it. I'm just going to be more thoughtful of why I'm doing it. Sometimes it's just going to be bragging. I'm ok with that. If (when?) I finish Heartland 50 this weekend I'm guessing I'll be pretty excited and you guys will see more pictures and posts than you care about. If I DNF, you'll know because their will be total silence from me ;) Ok, not really. I tend to be pretty honest about my running, even when it sucks. This is going to suck, because my training has been awful. I'm going to give it everything I have though!<br />
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I would like to make it perfectly clear that I'm not judging what anyone else does regarding social media and running. To each their own. My feelings have nothing to do with anyone else.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-7259103047256746362015-04-13T20:59:00.000-05:002015-04-13T20:59:29.606-05:00Lake McMurtry 50KThis is the race I wasn't supposed to run. The plan was to go and crew Libby at her first 50k. Then wrestling season happened. Also, a long, cold, nasty winter and my typical laziness and lots of illness in my house over the winter. Those things created the perfect storm of a crappy training cycle. I hadn't been running enough miles, and suddenly Heartland 50 is just a few weeks away. How did that happen? Anyway, I didn't want to lose an opportunity for a weekend of back to back long runs. I also needed to force myself to run, and if I've paid for it, I'm doing it. I sent Libby a message and told her that I'm happy to crew, but if she wanted me to I'd run the whole thing with her. She knows me and saw through that right away, and asked if I needed the miles. Yep! She very kindly agreed to let me run instead of crew. Woot!<br />
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My plan was originally to go down the night before with the boys and camp. Then Rick decided he'd like to go. Prom was Friday night, which meant going down then was a no go. Instead, we got up and were out of the house by 4:15 am. The boys were probably not my biggest fans in that moment. They're sort of used to my craziness at this point though and just went with it. We hit the road and within an hour I had to go to the bathroom. Rick kindly pulled into a gas station and I went. Maybe 10 minutes later I had to go again. He wasn't quite as kind the second time.<br />
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We got to the race, found Libby and her husband Justin, and picked up my packet. I started getting ready and Rick and the boys tried to sleep. I had been really nervous leading up to the race, because this was Libby's race and I didn't want to do anything to mess it up for her. I was also severely undertrained and was afraid I couldn't finish, or that it would be really ugly. Thankfully I was worried for nothing! We started the race and pretty quickly everyone took off and Libby and I found ourselves at the back of the pack. I was actually shocked at how fast that happens. I mean, I'm never really speedy, but I'm not usually last place within half a mile. I think if I hadn't been with Libby this would have put me in a pretty nasty place mentally. I was determined to just enjoy the day though.<br />
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Since the first time I heard about this race several years ago I've been hearing about the Leap O' Doom. It always seemed like a big joke, but was it really? I mean, you definitely had to leap over a crevice, but how deep was it? How wide? Would I make it? I don't want to die on the trail! We got there and all of my questions were answered. The only one I'll answer on my blog is that yes, I did make it. My remains will not forever be a part of Lake McMurtry. If you want more details on this 72nd Wonder of the World, you'll have to run the race yourself. It's worth it! Trust me.<br />
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The race is two out and backs, which you double. Well, sort of. There are some loops within the out and backs, but every 7.5-8ish miles you came back to the start/finish. I could never decide if I liked not knowing where we were and how far it was to the next aid station, or if that was a bad thing. I think it was kind of fun to just be running along and an aid station would sort of pop up when I didn't expect it. I knew very little about this race or what the course was like going in. I'm still not sure I know that much about it! I just mostly played follow the leader all day. This was Libby's day, so when she ran, I ran. When she walked, I walked. Sometimes I stayed at an aid station chatting a little longer than she would, so I'd have to run really fast to catch up. Every aid station was great, which is typical at TATUR races, but the Flushy station was the best! What is a Flushy you ask? Who knows? I had one, but I still couldn't tell you. Something slushy with some alcohol. The first time through I had a flushy and some home brew that Jason Bement concocted. It was actually pretty good! I chased that with a pickle and some pringles and m&m's. How did I not throw up you ask? So many mysteries surrounding this race. It was at this station on the way back, which was maybe mile 13, that we heard it was getting ready to rain. Probably about 5 minutes later it did in fact start raining. I assumed it would just be a quick shower, but it pretty much rained the rest of the day. It never rained very hard, and the rain actually kept us cool. The ground got a tiny bit sticky, but mostly by clumping and since I was running behind Libby, the clumps hit my legs and slid down into my shoes. I had so much gritty dirt down inside my shoes that eventually I just had to pretend I didn't really have feet anymore. If I thought about them it was incredibly unpleasant, so I didn't.<br />
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The whole day was filled with laughter and just lots of chatting and fun. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Libby had a perfect first 50k. She was strong and happy throughout. She never death marched. I was so proud of her! Her hard work definitely paid off. I think this might be the most fun I've ever had in a race. It turns out I'm in good enough shape to run a 50k! I had a nice relaxed day and wasn't sore at the end. Win! I had some stiffness when I woke up Sunday, but I ran 10 miles and felt good today. I really needed this weekend to remind myself that I can still do the long distances, but training is necessary.<br />
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I could tell stories for hours, but I'll just leave it all on the trail. I will tell everyone that if you ever get a chance to do this race, do it! It is fun, beautiful, and very well organized. Ken and Dana do an incredible job with every race they put on. I'm very happy that Ken is going to be running the Urban Adventure 100. Hopefully I can put in some miles with him.<br />
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Heartland is less than three weeks away my friends! This will be my second 50 miler. I had high hopes and goals several months ago, but now I'm just looking for a finish. I'm sure I'll share all the details here, whether you all want to hear them or not.<br />
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PS, I almost forgot to thank my crew! It was a handsome lot of boys that helped me out. Rick, Ryan and Adam were great. They didn't need to do much, but they were always fun to see. I think Adam spent most of his day trying to eat the food in my drop bag. I love having them come to races with me. Who knows? Maybe it will inspire them to do ultras one day.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-19850418731782968452015-03-11T08:01:00.002-05:002015-03-11T08:01:27.566-05:00Volunteering at racesAre you a runner? Do you run races? Have you ever volunteered for a race? If you answered yes to either or both of the first questions, and no to the third, get your butt to a race and volunteer! There are so many reasons to do it. It's tons of fun, it's rewarding, and it's a good way to give back to people that have volunteered for races you're in. Races take a lot of volunteers. If you've been taking advantage of all of those hours of volunteer work and haven't done it yourself, it's time.<br />
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This weekend I volunteered at Post Oak. The station I worked at had 5 people in the morning, and one more joined us after she finished her race. We were at the aid station around 8:30, and I think I left around 5 and was the first to leave. So at that aid station alone 6 people gave up a day of their lives to help runners. Did we have loads of fun while we did it? Of course. Still, we were part of a large group of people that made it possible for the runners to run that day. Lots of runners thanked us for being out there. I really felt like we should thank them because they made it possible for us to have so much fun. I get how they feel though. When I'm running a race, especially a really long one, I am so thankful for the volunteers that are out there as they're the reason I'm able to do it.<br />
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At ultras, most aid stations are staffed with other ultrarunners. If you're having some kind of issue there's a good chance someone there has had the same issue and they can help you. That can be invaluable. I was nauseous and cramping at a race once and the electrolyte tablets the aid station had were ones that make me sick. One of the volunteers went to his own car and got out his personal stash and gave me some. That was way above and beyond the call of duty. In a 100 mile race, volunteers will likely be there well over 24 hours, will prepare food in their own kitchens ahead of time, and will basically sacrifice an entire weekend to help you run. There's a chance that doing that meant that had to scratch another race off of their calendar because their time spent on running is limited and they just can't do it all. They might have sacrificed training miles for their own race. I've done both of those things. It's worth it though. Seeing runners persevere through pain, fatigue, cramps, vomiting, etc makes it all worth it. It's inspiring. You also learn so much. By volunteering at a couple of different 100 mile races, I learned a lot before my own. Even talking to crews can be very helpful. If they have crewed at a lot of races they know the issues that plague runners and they know how to fix them. Even if they have never ran a step in their life, a lot of crew members can tell you how to fix any problem that comes your way.<br />
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If you have time to run and time to do races, and time to do all of the other things in life you want to do, you also have time to volunteer. You have to make it. It's the right thing to do. Don't keep taking advantage of volunteers without doing some of it yourself. This is also not a one and done type of thing. Keep volunteering. I'm not saying you have to give up a weekend every month. Get out there one or two times a year though. Even if you go for a few hours, it'll help. The runners will appreciate you, the race directors will appreciate you and you'll have fun. You can't lose!<br />
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<br />Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-62182433214509867222015-03-04T09:49:00.000-06:002015-03-04T09:49:04.376-06:00You're so luckyDo you know how sick I am of hearing that phrase? Especially when it concerns running. It seems there are an awful lot of people that for various reasons think running is easy to me, because something about my situation is different than theirs. I am just done with it. First, stop comparing your life to mine, because unless you're living it you have no clue. Second, stop making assumptions based on what you think you see.<br />
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Let me list for you the reasons I'm lucky, so running comes so easy to me.<br />
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1. I have older kids.<br />
Yep. I do. My kids aren't little anymore. They can be left alone while I run. That is awesome. However, I never get through a run without a phone call, facetime, text, etc. I have to stop in the middle and answer them. Sunday I had to cut my run short because one was sick. I have to schedule my runs around school activities, sports, music, whatever. While having older kids is easier in some ways, it's harder in others. Really, I have a 14 year old and an 11 year old and so far I haven't ever though "omg! This age is sooo easy!" Also, I paid my dues thank you very much. I had little kids once. I didn't get to do things I wanted to do and I had to stay home with them and miss out on stuff. What you're doing right now with your little kids? I did that. You might not have known me then, but that doesn't mean I didn't go through that.<br />
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2. I don't work full time<br />
This one is also true. I don't. I only work 30 hours per week. I will admit that this is a huge advantage for me. I do still work though. I can't just take off any time I want and go to all the races I want, and I can't just go run whenever I want. This one is a pretty big advantage for me and I will say that I am lucky. It might not be quite the only reason I'm able to run so many miles though as people seem to think.<br />
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3. You live in Kansas<br />
Who ever thought this would be an advantage in life? If you ask several people I know though it sure is. I mean, I don't know if you're aware, but Kansas is completely flat. It's just wheat fields as far as the eye can see. You can run for miles and miles without ever encountering a hill. It's lovely. Wait, what? People actually think that? It would appear they do! It is true that I don't run mountains. Thank goodness. I do see the occasional incline though. Sometimes I even (gasp!) run hill repeats. The hills where I live tend to not be very steep. They're long and rolling and constant. I do have a couple of easy routes I can run that are virtually flat. I'll go ahead and admit that I do that quite often because I'm lazy. Most of my runs though are pretty hilly. I also assume that if you live in an area with steep hills or mountains or whatever, that's what you learned to run on, so that's your normal. Would I struggle there? Probably. I have a feeling though that if the types of hills I run aren't what you're used to then you might struggle a little bit here as well. This is my normal. It's still hard, but it's what I'm used to.<br />
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I've also been told recently that I'm lucky I live in Kansas because of the weather. You are clearly not from this state if you think our weather is any kind of advantage. I run despite the weather. Obviously I don't deal with blizzard after blizzard like the east coast has this year. I also don't have rain every single day like the west coast. I'm not in the desert. However, because I live in Kansas, sometimes I deal with all of that in one week. Hell, sometimes I deal with it all in the same day!<br />
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Those are all things that I've not heard just once. Multiple people tell me on a regular basis how lucky I am and how easy running must be. The point I'm trying to make here is...stop. Stop doing that. It minimizes how hard I work and how much I've accomplished. I am tremendously lucky to have a supportive husband, a job that makes scheduling easier, and kids that can mostly take care of themselves while I run. Running is still really hard though, even if you have all the time in the world. When you run 50-70 miles per week, as I do toward the end of a training plan for a long race, you're going to have scheduling conflicts. Sometimes it might be your husband or one of your kids looking at you and saying "when are you going to stop running and spend time with me?" It's pretty hard to say no to that.<br />
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The moral of my little story is to just be happy with yourself and what you're accomplishing and stop worrying about what other people are doing. If you aren't running as much as them, don't assume it's because running is easier for them. Be proud of what you're doing without having to make someone else feel bad.<br />
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I would like to add that this is NOT directed toward anyone in particular, it's just something that has been bugging me based on many little comments made by many people.<br />
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Oh, and P.S......I'm training for another 100!Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-19175221026150401672015-01-01T15:58:00.000-06:002015-01-01T16:10:40.976-06:002014 in ReviewIt's hard to know where to start in summing up 2014. It was a really big year for me. There were some very good things that happened and some not so good things. I'm working on moving past the not so good things and am looking forward to more of the good this coming year.<br />
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2014 started out pretty miserable for me. I was living in a town where I didn't know anyone and mostly spent the winter at home depressed. I rarely saw my husband as he was working a lot of hours and I wasn't very good at telling him what I needed from him when he was home. Instead I was hateful and angry all the time. The only good thing I had going on was running. I don't know if it was late 2013 or early 2014 that I decided to run FR101K, but I know I started training for it at the beginning of the year. At the time, that was the biggest thing I had planned to accomplish for the year. I planned to run that race, then just maintain that level of training and run my first 100 miler in 2015. Somewhere along the way that changed. My training for FR went really well. I felt really strong going in. Some things happened not long before the race that really shook my confidence, but I powered on. I went into that race knowing that people were betting against me. Literally. It's pretty upsetting to know that there are people out there hoping you'll fail. I didn't though. It just convinced me to push harder and do better. I finished the race and couldn't be more proud of how well I did. I obviously wish I wouldn't have had so many stomach issues, but I finished, so it doesn't really matter.<br />
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Shortly after FR I started thinking about what I wanted to do next. I knew I wanted to run 100 miles. For various reasons, the 100 I planned to run in 2015 was no longer an option. I also knew that I could do it sooner than I had originally thought I could. After searching and discussing it with Rick, I settled on Pumpkin Holler and that became my focus. About that time, things had pretty much reached a crisis point with my emotional health. I finally broke down one day and told Rick how unhappy I was. For the record, my unhappiness wasn't his fault. He just needed to know. We committed to spend more time together and work harder on our marriage. We've never before had to work so hard to schedule time together. We didn't know when he took his new job how hard it was going to be. I won't pretend it's easy now, but now we make spending time together a priority and have figured out that sometimes just spending 15 minutes alone together can mean a lot. I also finally started meeting people here and making friends and that helped tremendously. Let me tell you, Eureka Kansas is not an easy town to move to!<br />
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Right about the time Rick and I realized we need to spend more time together, my training ramped up. I needed to spend a lot more time running if I was going to be able to run 100 miles. Thankfully Rick started running too, so we spent quite a bit of time together this summer exercising. We were able to kill two birds with one stone. I won't lie and say it wasn't a little selfish of me to spend so much time running. It was. My family had to sacrifice a lot. It was pretty selfish of me to tell my husband that I'm upset because I never see him anymore, and then say "oh, hey, I'm going to be running half the day every Saturday and Sunday." He's a pretty amazing guy though and handled it well. I'm pretty lucky to have him!<br />
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I survived the training and my family survived it. My marriage survived. I ran 100 miles and rocked it. After that I started focusing on strength and haven't been running quite as much. I want to continue with strength training in 2015 as it seems to be helping my running, plus it's just pretty fun.<br />
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I don't really have any goals for 2015 except to keep lifting. I want to run another 100 miler. In fact, I have one picked out. I just have to convince Rick to let me do it! It will involve travel, a lot of money, time, time off work, and did I mention money? These races are expensive! If I can't convince him to let me do the one I want, I'll try to find one a little closer to home.<br />
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Total miles for 2014: 1764.24 (up from 1054 last year!)<br />
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I had such a huge year. Two new distance PR's and my mileage increased by a huge amount. I'll likely never have another year like this one. Maybe now I'll get faster? Ha! Well, I did have a half marathon PR and a 50K PR, so who knows?<br />
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My year in numbers:<br />
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</th><th class="rich-table-subheadercell reportTableHeader" id="j_id63:j_id191:t2header" scope="col" style="background: url(http://connect.garmin.com/api/report/page/images/reports-header-bg.png) 0px 0px repeat-x; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;"><div id="j_id63:j_id191:t2header:sortDiv" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<span class="rich-table-sortable-header" style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span id="j_id63:j_id191:j_id907">Distance</span><img alt="" class="rich-sort-icon" height="15" src="http://connect.garmin.com/a4j/g/3_3_3.Finalorg.richfaces.renderkit.html.iconimages.DataTableIconSortNone/DATB/eAFjYGD4!!8!AAYAAv4_" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></div>
</th><th class="rich-table-subheadercell reportTableHeader" id="j_id63:j_id191:t3header" scope="col" style="background: url(http://connect.garmin.com/api/report/page/images/reports-header-bg.png) 0px 0px repeat-x; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;"><div id="j_id63:j_id191:t3header:sortDiv" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<span class="rich-table-sortable-header" style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span id="j_id63:j_id191:j_id913">Time</span><img alt="" class="rich-sort-icon" height="15" src="http://connect.garmin.com/a4j/g/3_3_3.Finalorg.richfaces.renderkit.html.iconimages.DataTableIconSortNone/DATB/eAFjYGD4!!8!AAYAAv4_" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></div>
</th><th class="rich-table-subheadercell reportTableHeader" id="j_id63:j_id191:t4header" scope="col" style="background: url(http://connect.garmin.com/api/report/page/images/reports-header-bg.png) 0px 0px repeat-x; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;"><div id="j_id63:j_id191:t4header:sortDiv" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<span class="rich-table-sortable-header" style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span id="j_id63:j_id191:j_id919">Avg Speed</span><img alt="" class="rich-sort-icon" height="15" src="http://connect.garmin.com/a4j/g/3_3_3.Finalorg.richfaces.renderkit.html.iconimages.DataTableIconSortNone/DATB/eAFjYGD4!!8!AAYAAv4_" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></div>
</th><th class="rich-table-subheadercell reportTableHeader" id="j_id63:j_id191:t5header" scope="col" style="background: url(http://connect.garmin.com/api/report/page/images/reports-header-bg.png) 0px 0px repeat-x; border-bottom-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(229, 229, 229); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; cursor: pointer; height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;"><div id="j_id63:j_id191:t5header:sortDiv" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
<span class="rich-table-sortable-header" style="background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat;"><span id="j_id63:j_id191:j_id925">Calories</span><img alt="" class="rich-sort-icon" height="15" src="http://connect.garmin.com/a4j/g/3_3_3.Finalorg.richfaces.renderkit.html.iconimages.DataTableIconSortNone/DATB/eAFjYGD4!!8!AAYAAv4_" style="border: 0px; vertical-align: middle;" width="15" /></span></div>
</th></tr>
</thead><tfoot>
<tr class="rich-table-subfooter reportsFooter" style="background-color: #f1f1f1;"><td class="rich-table-subfootercell reportsFooter" scope="col" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px;">Summary</td><td class="rich-table-subfootercell reportsFooter" scope="col" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px;">260</td><td class="rich-table-subfootercell reportsFooter" scope="col" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px;">1,764.24</td><td class="rich-table-subfootercell reportsFooter" scope="col" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px;">358:13:33</td><td class="rich-table-subfootercell reportsFooter" scope="col" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px;">4.2</td><td class="rich-table-subfootercell reportsFooter" scope="col" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px;">130,058</td></tr>
</tfoot><tbody id="j_id63:j_id191:tb">
<tr class="rich-table-row rich-table-firstrow progressRow reportsRowSelected" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: url(http://connect.garmin.com/api/report/page/images/reports-highlight-bg.png); background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat-x; background-size: initial; height: 28px; text-shadow: rgb(124, 124, 124) 1px 1px 1px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:0:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Jan 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:0:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">18</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:0:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">137.13</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:0:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">32:14:37</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:0:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.2</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:0:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">13,197</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRowAlternate" style="background-color: whitesmoke; height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:1:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Feb 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:1:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">18</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:1:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">119.02</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:1:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">24:23:57</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:1:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.9</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:1:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4,151</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRow" style="height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:2:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Mar 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:2:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">18</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:2:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">105.00</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:2:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">23:11:10</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:2:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.5</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:2:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">9,721</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRowAlternate" style="background-color: whitesmoke; height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:3:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Apr 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:3:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">17</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:3:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">200.06</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:3:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">41:27:39</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:3:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">3.5</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:3:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">8,313</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRow" style="height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:4:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">May 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:4:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">13</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:4:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">65.15</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:4:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">12:36:16</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:4:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.8</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:4:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">6,414</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRowAlternate" style="background-color: whitesmoke; height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:5:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Jun 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:5:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">20</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:5:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">94.94</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:5:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">15:05:24</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:5:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.6</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:5:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">7,304</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRow" style="height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:6:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Jul 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:6:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">34</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:6:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">198.84</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:6:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">41:41:08</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:6:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.4</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:6:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">18,280</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRowAlternate" style="background-color: whitesmoke; height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:7:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Aug 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:7:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">31</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:7:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">236.30</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:7:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">48:44:01</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:7:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.2</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:7:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">19,124</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRow" style="height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:8:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Sep 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:8:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">23</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:8:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">190.51</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:8:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">35:01:32</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:8:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.0</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:8:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">13,230</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRowAlternate" style="background-color: whitesmoke; height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:9:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Oct 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:9:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">14</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:9:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">170.60</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:9:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">40:52:37</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:9:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">3.7</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:9:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">9,149</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRow" style="height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:10:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Nov 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:10:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">24</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:10:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">118.49</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:10:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">17:09:18</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:10:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">5.0</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:10:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">8,608</td></tr>
<tr class="rich-table-row progressRowAlternate" style="background-color: whitesmoke; height: 28px;"><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:11:t0" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px;">Dec 2014</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:11:t1" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">30</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:11:t2" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">128.20</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:11:t3" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">25:45:54</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:11:t4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">4.5</td><td class="rich-table-cell" id="j_id63:j_id191:11:t5" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(192, 192, 192); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; font-family: Arial, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; margin: 0px; padding: 4px 20px 4px 4px; text-align: right;">12,568</td></tr>
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Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-70236210756329914742014-11-07T14:04:00.001-06:002014-11-07T14:04:30.632-06:00Chasing StrongIt's not a secret to anyone that knows me that I'm pretty much always trying to lose weight. I used to be really heavy, then lost a lot, then after moving to Eureka I started gaining again. I got that back under control and am back at my lowest weight since having kids. I'd love to be smaller than this, but right now I'm more concerned with getting strong and being healthy. Do I want to look good? You bet I do. I know I shouldn't care, but who doesn't want to look great? However, last week I read something that I really liked. I was reading a discussion with several women about weight loss. My friend Monica said "I also gave up on chasing skinny. I'm chasing strong and healthy. It's a much happier journey." I love that! I need to stop chasing skinny and start chasing strong.<br />
<br />
I could go on and on about how we as women should love our bodies and just embrace the changes that happen when we have kids, and yada yada. I believe all that too. We should not be constantly chasing some ideal body that society tells us we need to have. I believe that with 100% of my being. However, I still want it. What I want more though is to be strong and be healthy and to teach my boys that women just don't have perfect bodies. What is perfect anyway? Who decides that? I carried and gave birth to two kids. I have stretch marks. Lots of them. You know what? I grew people. I made two fantastic little human beings with this body. The second time I'm very lucky that both Adam and I lived. Those stretch marks are my battle scars. If someone doesn't like it that is their problem. I don't go around without a shirt showing them off, but if I do happen to change in front of someone, or run in just a sports bra and someone chooses to laugh at my stretch marks then that is just sad for them.<br />
<br />
You know what else this imperfect body of mine can do? It can run 100 miles! It can carry me anywhere I have asked it to so far. It has not let me down. My favorite picture from FlatRock 101k doesn't even show my whole body, but shows my legs. One leg has cellulite. At first I wasn't going to post it because I didn't like showing that. Then I remembered what those legs with cellulite did. I ran 63 miles on an insanely hard trail. Who the hell cares if my legs were jiggly while I was doing it? My legs are strong, not skinny. I'm happy with that. I want to keep getting stronger and have a long way to go to be as strong as I want to be, but my body is capable of some pretty amazing things. <br />
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In the spirit of getting stronger I visited the high school weight room twice this week. There are no other gym options where I live, so thankfully I'm married to someone that has a key! Rick and I both lifted. On day one I didn't want to overdo it and end up super sore, so I just kinda messed around and figured out where stuff is and lifted some. It was fun. I got home and told Ryan, my 14 year old, how much I lifted. He laughed out loud. He then told me he's going to coach me. He said he could whip me into shape. I'm frightened. I went again last night and lifted a lot more and I had so much fun! I told Ryan this morning how I did and he said "Ok, good. I can work with that." I guess I finally have the approval of a teenager! That won't last.<br />
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I know there will still be times I look in the mirror and hate what I see. I'll wish I was skinny. I'm doing my best to change that attitude though. I'm going to work much harder on chasing strong, not skinny.<br />
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<br />Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-79288129067807556042014-10-31T11:22:00.000-05:002014-10-31T11:22:25.076-05:00Crushing ObstaclesI can't think of anything in life that really matters that doesn't come with a few obstacles. I've heard people say that nothing worth having is free. I occasionally have people say things to me like that it's easy for me to fit running in because my kids are older, or because I don't work very many hours, or something else. That's all true. I can often leave my kids home alone so I can run. Not always though. Adam isn't a fan of being home alone, so if it's just the two of us and I need to run I have to figure something else out. I also don't work a lot of hours. I start at 9 most days and am off by 3:30. However, I also have kids in lots of activities and a very busy husband, and still have a house to keep clean, laundry to do, and prepare meals and sometimes extra snacks for my food allergy kid. It's not like I have all the time in the world.<br />
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My point is, everyone has obstacles. It's easy to look at other people that are accomplishing their goals and dreams and thinking it must be easier for them than it is for you. I'm guilty of that from time to time. I have a friend that is the single mother of 4 little boys, works full time, is working on her masters degree, and just finished her first 50K. Oh, and by the way, one of her boys is special needs. I can promise you, if she can find the time to train anyone can. You just have to want it. If you don't want it and have other priorities? That's perfectly ok. I'm fine with everyone doing their own thing. What I get annoyed with is when people assume that if other people are doing what they want to be doing then it must be because it's easy for them. Everyone has crap you don't know about. Even someone that you think you know really well has stuff going on behind the scenes that you're not aware of.<br />
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I like to think that when you come to an obstacle you shouldn't tiptoe around it. Don't try to crawl over it or under it or just hope it goes away. Crush it. Acknowledge that it sucks and you wish you didn't have to deal with it, then just plow right through. One obstacle I've face in the past and will again in the future (every.freaking.summer) is the heat. I used to just hibernate in my house and wait for fall. Wanting to do ultras in the fall was not conducive to that. Early on I could finish races without training. The further I wanted to run, the less of a valid option that was. This summer I decided I was not letting the heat stop me. I got up and ran at 5 am, I finally got over my body issues and just ran in a sports bra, I had my husband bring ice, I froze my snacks, etc. I figured it out. I stopped letting the heat be an obstacle. I couldn't let hot summer days ruin my dream of a fall 100 miler.<br />
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I mentioned earlier that Adam doesn't like to be left alone. When I can run in the morning that's not a problem. Running in the afternoons in the winter does cause an issue though. Last winter I was training for a spring race, so I had to run. I let Adam be an excuse way too often. He would look at me with his tiny little Adam face and I'd melt and not run. Sometimes though it wasn't an option. I had to go. I ran short one mile loops so I could check in on him, or if it was a nice day I took him to the park and ran laps around it, or I begged Rick to let him come hang out at work with him.<br />
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Injuries can really be obstacles that there's just nothing you can do about. Sometimes not running is the best and only answer in that case. Sometimes though, shit just hurts. There's no injury, your body is just tired and sore and you have to just run through that. I had several issues during this training cycle. I had a hip that was constantly cramping and achy. It didn't matter what distance I ran. Same with my foot. When I got to the end of my training I ended up backing off a bit because I knew those two places needed to calm down a little for my race. The rest of the time though I just ran through it. Sometimes Deanna would look at me with a sad face and tell me I was limping. I did my best to not show that I was hurting, but when someone goes that many miles with you they'll see it. I'd stop and stretch and really just want to cry and go home, but I didn't. I ran anyway. I figured out how to manage it. Guess what? Neither of those spots are causing me issues when I walk. I still haven't ran, but before even walking to the bathroom hurt, so I feel confident that it's better.<br />
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Please don't think that I'm advocating neglecting your kids so you can run, or ignoring injuries. What I'm saying is don't let things be an excuse. I believe there's a difference between a reason and an excuse. An injury is a reason not to run. Running 20 miles on Saturday and being sore is an excuse to not run Sunday. Sometimes you can't find a babysitter, or don't have any other option with your kids. Heck, sometimes I just need to spend time with my family because it's important for our mental health, or my marriage, or whatever. Sometimes though I think we moms use kids as an excuse because it's handy.<br />
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I think fear of failure can be such an obstacle. A mutual friend of mine and Rachel's just started running. Monica is sweet and awesome and has been a huge cheerleader for both of us. Now it's our turn to cheer for her. She recently asked both of us if we thought she could do a half marathon in February. We both like to enable, so of course we said yes. She sent me a message that she was registered. I told her she'd be awesome, because she will. She replied back "or I might go down in a blaze of glory." I told her she should wear a tutu just in case. My point was, if you're going to fail, do it spectacularly. Go out there and give it everything you have and have a great time. I fail sometimes. I DNF'd a race once when I got sick. I technically DNF'd FlatRock since I didn't finish in the time limit. I've also gone into races undertrained and walk almost the whole thing. I skip important training runs and make excuses. I fail often. I keep getting back up and pushing through and accomplishing goals though. I always will.<br />
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I'm so guilty of skipping runs, or making excuses. I'm getting better though. My running is improving. I often think of Rachel and the fact that she doesn't just overcome obstacles, she punches them in the face. I want to be more like that. I want to crush my obstacles and laugh when I'm done.<br />
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I hope this inspires someone to go out and crush any obstacles you're facing. I hope it also inspires me to keep doing it instead of letting the fact that I don't have a goal right now make me slack. I've said for a very long time that I need to work on strength and speed. Then I don't. Well, I have to this winter, so I'm putting it out there on my blog. I need to quit making excuses. The reason I haven't done it in the past is because it's hard. I'm going to do my best to not let that stop me.<br />
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I've been resting, but I'm ready to get back out there next week. Happy Running!Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-70234973508691457612014-10-22T07:52:00.001-05:002014-10-22T07:52:45.217-05:00Pumpkin Holler Hunnerd ReportI've been sitting here staring at a blank screen trying to decide where to start. I told my friend Monica I didn't know where to start and she told me to start with the fact that I'm a badass. So, here it is. I ran 103.7 miles on a hilly, rocky road. I'm a total badass. For those that don't want to read a long, boring blog, let me sum it up for you. I had a plan, I executed it. I smashed that pumpkin!<br />
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My journey began at 8:00 am on Saturday. 29 hours and 24 minutes later, it was over. It is amazing what a person can go through in that span of time and over that many miles. We all lined up and it seemed like people were fighting to be in the back. At a lot of races people want to be in the front. Not this one. I think most of us knew we had a long day ahead of us, and no one wanted to go out too fast. We took off and as we were running through the campground where the start/finish is, I got a little choked up. I've wanted to run 100 miles for such a long time. I've worked so hard this summer, and it was finally going to happen. The course consisted of an 8 mile out and back and 3 loops of 31.9 miles. The total length is 103.7. Nasty trick, right? 3.7 miles may not seem significant, but I'm here to tell you, it is.<br />
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We started the race with the 100k and 50k runners. Not far in we veered off to the right to do the out and back. I had read some blog reports that indicated there was a big hill. I ran a couple of miles and hadn't seen it, so I decided the reports were exaggerated. I was so very wrong. I started going up the hill and went up and up and up. I got to the top and went a little further and came to the aid station where we turn around. I said something inappropriate about the hill I had just come up. I'll just let you all use your imaginations. The aid station had waffles and bacon. I picked up a piece of bacon, but the ends weren't as done as I like (I like it crisp) so I was pulling it apart. Another runner said he'd take the parts I didn't want. Aren't ultrarunners weird? I also grabbed a waffle and put some peanut butter and syrup on it. Refilled my bottle and was on my way. I had gone maybe a tenth of a mile and realized I had left my second bottle. Well crap. I had to have it. I ran back to get it. I got it and headed back. Going back down the big hill there were two guys behind me that were definitely gaining. I didn't consider this a race, so it's not like I was going to speed up. They caught up and we started talking. One was Kelvin and one was Jorge. It was their first hundred too. Jorge thought he knew who I was and we started talking and realized we had both run Flatrock 101k. I remembered him, just hadn't recognized him. I ran with them all the way back to the start/finish.<br />
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I was getting ready to take off on loop 2 and heard Kelvin ask if Jorge was ready to go. Jorge told him go on, he'd catch up. I left right after that, but the group Kelvin was in was a bit faster than me. Fairly quickly, Jorge caught up to me. He told me he was going to walk up all the hills, run the downhills and any flats (there were no flats!). I planned the same thing. We stuck together. We were around a mile out from the first aid station, Mad Dog, when we encountered the HILL FROM HELL. I just can't even describe it. Yuck. We finally got to the top, then dropped down into the aid station. There they had all kinds of yummy goodies. I ate a bit and kind of waited, but Jorge was doing stuff, so I just took off. A lot of people stayed there. I don't blame them, the food was good. I headed to the next aid station, which was only a couple of miles away. After it we had to do a 3 mile out and back. The first loop this out and back wasn't a lot of fun, but it was no big deal. That changed the more we did it. Coming back into that aid station on the way back Kelvin and Jorge caught me. We stopped and got pancakes and Kelvin said he was going to hit the restroom and would catch up. I walked and ate. At some point we ran and I told them I'm slow so they could go ahead. They assured me they wanted slow, they had a plan, and we were all going to do this thing together. Sounds good to me!<br />
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Nothing eventful happened through here. I was glad for company because honestly, I was having doubts. I was less than 20 miles in and just wasn't having fun. I had company all summer, even on my long runs. That didn't really help me mentally prepare for a long run by myself. If I could do anything about my training over again I would do a few long runs solo, just so I was used to it. As we were coming into Savannah Corner Deanna ran out to grab my bottles to refill. I asked how her 10K went and she told me. She had a huge PR! That just made my day. I'm so happy for her! We got what we needed and took off. The next section sucked. The sun came out and it was hot. There was no protection from the sun so we were baking. I don't think it actually got that warm, but it felt like it. I really slowed down. Kelvin felt great so he kept going. Jorge seemed to feel fine as well, but waited for me. I feel so blessed to have met these guys. They made such a huge difference for me. Once we got to the next aid station it was partly cloudy again and that really helped. We pushed on to Hard Up Ahead, where my crew was waiting for us. Right before we got there Ken pulled up beside us and we chatted for a second. I don't really remember anything about this stop. We got in and out as efficiently as possible, but didn't leave without some pics! Here are Kelvin and Jorge. This picture of me is dorky because I'm laughing, but I love it. I had a lot of fun with these guys and this picture really captures that.<br />
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This next section was run on the blacktop road. Early on we discussed this and thought we'd hate it. It turned out to be my favorite part of the course. A break from the rocks was nice. A 135 miler caught up with us during this section and Jorge stayed back to run with her while Kelvin and I pushed on ahead. The next aid station was Bathtub Rocks. They took excellent care of us. My stomach was a little queasy here and they offered me endurolytes. I said they mess with my stomach so one of the volunteers dug into his own stash and got me something else. Saltstick maybe? Anyway, that was very kind of him. They took great care of us. As we were leaving Jorge got there and we knew he'd be back running with us soon.<br />
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This was actually taken on the last loop but shows what we had to cross.<br />
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I've really got nothing to say about the last 6 miles of this loop. We ran when we could, walked this hills, and just kept going. We got to the start/finish and I went to the bathroom and I think I changed my shirt and sports bra. Then I changed my socks and relubed my feet. My crew had gone to Sonic to get me a cheeseburger. It was so sweet of them, but it had mayo on it, which I'm pretty sure is the most hideous food known to man, so there was no way I could eat it. I feel like an evil b*tch for not eating it, but I just couldn't. I did eat a hot dog though. It was good! This is where I got to pick up a pacer for the first time. I found a hottie that I thought I might enjoy spending a few hours with and talked him into running with us. Here we are:<br />
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In all seriousness, it was a big deal for him to pace this far. Ryan was supposed to pace, but got hurt at football and couldn't. Rick stepped up and ran over 14 miles, instead of the 8 he had planned. I can't thank him enough. On the way to the first aid station we told Rick about the big hill. I think I had been dreading it since we did it the first time. As we're going up it he said "Wow, this is really a hill, isn't it." I think he probably wanted to complain a lot, but he didn't. He's awesome. We made it to Mad Dog and I hit the porta potty. OMG. It was gross. I barely made it out before I started puking. Oops. I got some french toast and they were making soup. I really wanted some warm broth but was afraid it had carrots and I'm allergic. I asked and the wonderful volunteer read the label for me. It was safe! The broth was great. We left there and headed to the out and back. When we got there I was hoping for more broth, but the soup had big carrots in it, so that was a no go. I asked if they had bacon. They said they could start cooking it. I told them I'd be back in three miles and would love some. We did the out and back, which I'm fairly sure got longer. I think Ken tricked us by moving the mat every single time. We got back and I peed in front of a truck because I was not risking another porta-potty. We got what we needed and got out of there.<br />
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(a break from your regularly scheduled program to tell you I took a break right here to peruse the internet for my next ultra. Thanks Rachel!)<br />
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As were were running toward Savannah Corner Kelvin said "I don't remember all of these hills last time." He was right! I remember the first year of Pumpkin Holler, Ken and some friends did the race a few weeks after everyone else. It was the Pumpkin Holler Invitational. Being a long time stalker of his, I read his blog report, and I remember him saying something about the hills getting bigger each loop. It's so true. The aid stations move and the hill and rocks grow.<br />
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At Savannah Corner Rick handed off his pacer bib to Libby. She was also taking on more miles than originally planned and I felt some guilt. This would be her longest run ever. I got pretty emotional at this aid station and was pretty ready to be done. We started out and I knew this part of the course was a bit easier, so I was happy about that. Overall I was just in a bad mood most of the time though. It was also through here that I started having to pee constantly. I also started hallucinating. There were lots of leaves on the course and I kept thinking they were other things. Not just thinking "oh, that leaf looks like a mouse" but actually "OMG, a mouse!" It was special. I don't remember much about this section. At Hard Up Ahead I made Rick come in the porta-potty with me. I used the bathroom while he stood there inside. Poor guy. I just needed to break down a little bit and needed him. The more tired I got the more I just wanted my husband. I am so glad he was there. We left there and had the road section again. At bathtub rocks they had grilled cheese sandwiches that were so so good. This aid station was nothing short of awesome every time we came through. They were all great, but something about this one just made me look forward to it every time. I have no clue who the people were running it, but I hope someone knows and tells them how impressed I was. As we were coming to the end of the loop we passed a familiar spot that I knew meant we were almost there. It breathed new life into us. I gave Libby a list of the things I needed before the last loop and she cut off early to go get everything ready while Kelvin, Jorge and I ran around the parking lot and through the finish line. It's hard to keep running through there and not getting to stop!<br />
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This isn't a great pic of Libby and I but it's all I've got. Congrats to Libby on her longest run ever!<br />
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Me with Jason. I made him take this because when I paced him at Heartland last year I made him take a selfie. I thought we needed one during my race too.<br />
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I did what I needed to do and picked up my final pacer, Jason. I knew we had one loop to go and we had plenty of time. Jason was excited and full of energy, so that helped get me going. Kelvin and I looked around for Jorge but couldn't find him. He always caught right up with us so we headed out. We did a lot more complaining about the hill going into Mad Dog. Ok, fine. I'll be honest. I complained a lot. Kelvin probably didn't. Jorge did finally catch up to us, but passed us and did his own thing the rest of the race. I hate so much that I didn't wait for him and didn't get to finish the race with him. Waiting longer and looking harder for him is probably the one decision during the race I would change if I could. In the moment though I just didn't think enough. I just took off assuming all was well and he'd catch us within half a mile.<br />
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When we got to Mad Dog I headed to the porta-potty. You might be asking yourself right now, Why? I puked last time, why go in again? Well, I stupidly thought it might be better. It wasn't. I barely made it out before I threw up again. The only two times I threw up the whole race was due to stinky toilets. Jason made fun of me a lot, then kicked us out of the aid station and down the road.<br />
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I started getting really tired. I actually fell asleep in the porta-potty. I came out and started crying. I was exhausted. Jason mostly ignored me when I was being like this, which was the right thing to do. No one could fix it, so we just needed to move on. He handed me a pancake and I took a bite and gagged. It was not what I wanted. We headed out to do the out and back for the final time. Jason handed me a cup of coke and said to walk and drink. I needed the calories. The problem was that it was very cold. I was freezing and just couldn't drink something cold. When he wasn't looking I poured it out. He saw the evidence on the way back though! It gave me a good laugh when I needed it. Through here I started thinking people were running up behind us. I could hear the footsteps and even heard voices. Jason kept saying no one was there. Once I stopped to pee and as I was squatted in the middle of the road I thought some people were coming up behind me. I freaked out. Jason assured me that I was just crazy. We got that done and headed toward Savannah Corner. We were really cold and tired and just not happy. We knew the sun would come up pretty soon and that's all we could think about. By the time we got to Savannah Corner we knew we could put away our headlamps. That was something to look forward to! When we got there they had hot cocoa! It was so good. I think I had hot cocoa, broth and some coke there. Probably some solid food too. I really reloaded on the calories. The aid stations were close together at this race, so I mostly just ate at them and not between. It worked very well.<br />
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On the way to East of Eden, we kept thinking surely it was around the next corner. One time Kelvin even swore he saw it. It turned out to be a random building. We finally got there and I peed and I think I drank some coke or something. Jason handed me a cup of m&m's and told me to eat and walk. He put way too many in there though and there's no way I could eat them all. I ate several, and then when he wasn't looking I threw them in the ditch and stashed the cup in my pocket. I'm not sure if he knows I did that. Lets see if he reads my blog! Ha!<br />
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I looked very much forward to hitting Hard Up Ahead the last time because then the aid stations were only 3 miles apart and I knew it was almost over. Everything hurt. I think my eyelashes hurt. We got what we needed there and got out. We just wanted to be done so we were hurrying. When we left this aid station Kelvin was having severe calf cramps. Jason massaged it for a while, but there wasn't a lot that could be done. We just had to power through. We got to Bathtub Rocks and had Jason take a picture. He fell going over them and broke his phone case. Thank goodness he didn't break his phone!<br />
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We didn't even stop at the last aid station. Jason grabbed us cookies and handed them to us on the way by. We were on a mission! I took a bite and threw the cookie. For the record, I only littered food. No trash. I put that in my pockets. With a couple of miles left a vehicle pulled up and Kathy Hoover jumped out. She had ran 135.6 miles, so what was a couple more? She had coached Kelvin all summer, so she came to finish it with him. She was just what we needed. Lots of energy! We started moving faster. Kathy and Kelvin got ahead of me but I was going as fast as I could so I just let them go. Eventually they stopped because Kelvin wanted us to finish together. With maybe a mile to go Kelvin felt a pop. He had pulled or torn his calf muscle. He was in extreme pain, but no way was he quitting. We slowed way down and he hobbled as well as he could. I was holding back tears because I felt so bad for him. We had been through so much together and I couldn't feel his physical pain, but I knew how upsetting that must be. As we were coming over the last bridge I couldn't hold back the happy tears any more. I was getting ready to cross the finish line and get the buckle I've worked so hard for. I could see my crew down there waiting for me and we were waiving and so happy. We came into the camping area and began the long slow walk around to the start/finish.<br />
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Coming in we crossed a mat that told them who we were. A huge crowd gathered and was cheering us on. I was crying. We finally crossed the finish line in 29 hours, 24 seconds. Well ahead of the cutoff.<br />
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Some finish line pics:<br />
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This is what we worked so hard for!<br />
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And finally, thank you, thank you, thank you to my crew and pacers! Rick, Ryan, Deanna, Jacob, Libby and Jason. You guys are the reason I finished.<br />
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To Kelvin and Jorge: Running this race with you guys was just something special. I am so glad you tucked me under your wings and helped take care of me. You made all the difference in my race. I hope we can all run again together someday. If either of you ever need a crew or pacer, I'm there.<br />
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Thanks to everyone else for the messages and well wishes and for cheering for me. I knew so many people were pulling for me. When I wanted to quit, and yes, there were times, I knew how much support I had and I kept going.<br />
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Thanks to all of the volunteers! Those TATUR's know how to put on a race!<br />
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Now it is time for some much needed rest. I don't know when I'll run again, but I know it won't be for a couple of weeks.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-29955032887546741472014-10-14T11:20:00.001-05:002014-10-14T11:20:04.883-05:00Bring it on!I can't believe it. It is a few short days until my first 100 miler. How did this happen? I started training for this in May. It seemed so very far away. All summer when I was suffering through the heat it seemed it would never get here. Now it's time. Of course I'm nervous and freaked out, but I'm also really excited. I've trained for this race harder than I've ever trained before. Obviously I ran more miles, but I was more committed and more consistent. If nothing else, I'm proud of that.<br />
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I have a big, awesome crew going with me. I want to tell you guys all about them so I'm using this post to do it. Otherwise my race report will be too long. Lets be honest. It will be too long anyway. This will make it shorter.<br />
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Rick-My amazing husband. He will be crewing and pacing and supporting and whatever else I need. I think he's very much looking forward to bossing me around! I'm so happy he has started running and so happy he'll be part of this experience.<br />
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Ryan-Super Duper Pacer Extraordinaire. Also, my oldest son. He's such a great pacer and really knows what to do to keep me moving. I still get tears in my eyes when I think about my 50 last year and how great he was. So happy he's going!<br />
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Libby-Gosh, what do I call her? She's so much to me! Best friend, wailing wall, supporter of my craziness, and so much more. She is going to be crew and pace. She'll be my first pacer and with any luck we'll still be friends when it's over. I will apologize now for anything mean I say Libby!<br />
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Deanna-My training partner, awesome friend and the person that can make me laugh like no one else. She's actually going to run the 10K (Go Deanna!) and then crew for me. She'll jump in to pace if I need her. Her son Jacob will be going too and is a really fun kid (guy? he likely doesn't want to be called a kid), so I'm glad he'll be there.<br />
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Jason-Oh dear. How to come up with compliments? Ha. Just kidding! Jason will be taking me to the finish line. He'll pace the whole last loop, which is 31.9 miles. It's perfect, because he won't take any of my crap or listen to any of my excuses. I can also say anything to him I want and we'll still be friends when it's over. Well, I hope. He's just the right amount of mean to get me to finish. He won't let me quit unless a bone is sticking out. Hell, he might not even let me quit then.<br />
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I've been shopping, and making lists, and obsessing over everything. My dining room table has turned into Race Prep Central. It's covered, mostly in food. Adam keeps eyeballing the snacks, so I'm thinking I may have to hide them or I'll get to the race without half of it. Speaking of Adam, he's not going to go with us. We talked about it and he'd rather spend the weekend with his Meemaw. It would be fun to have his cute, smiley little face there, but I can understand him not wanting to go. I do plan to face time with him a couple of times if I have good enough cell reception.<br />
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Shopping:</div>
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Result of shopping:</div>
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In my defense, a lot of that is for my crew!</div>
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The watch I'm using for the race syncs with my phone via bluetooth and lets me get texts and fb messages, so anyone that has my number, feel free to text me! I likely won't reply, but I'd love to get messages. If you don't have my number and are dying to text me, send me a fb message and I'll give you my number.</div>
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My next post will be a race report!<br />
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Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-41873275555495700072014-10-06T13:18:00.000-05:002014-10-06T13:18:14.042-05:00The Last of the Long RunsAhhhh, it's finally here. The taper! I have worked my butt off the last few months, and now I get to ease off a little until it's time for my race. I'll run during the next couple of weeks, but not a lot. It's time to rest and let my body heal a bit before I torture it for 100 miles.<br />
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I had two long runs on my schedule for the weekend. 30 miles Saturday and 20 Sunday. Saturday Deanna and I went to Iola to run on the Prairie Spirit Trail. Well, she biked, I ran. I wasn't far into it when I knew 30 wasn't a good idea. I was still sore from last weekend and I have a couple of issues that are present, but not bad enough to be a true injury. Yet. I didn't want to push it. My plan was to run 5 and reevaluate. It was an out and back, so I'd get at least 10. If I still felt good at 5, I'd reevaluate at 8, then 10, then 12. At mile 5 I was good and at mile 8 I was as well. The wheels fell off around mile 9 though. My hip started cramping and my foot was making itself known. At this point, the only thing I can do is hurt myself or overtrain. This one weekend wasn't going to determine how my race goes, unless I get hurt. I turned around at 10 and ran/walked back. I wanted to walk all the way back, but I didn't. I ran a decent amount. This was not my best long run of the training cycle, but it was fine and I got it done.<br />
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Sunday the original plan was 20, but Jason asked if Rick and I would want to go to Elk City Lake and run the trail with him and Krystal. I'm always happy to have some trail time, so I said yes and talked Rick into coming too. The trail is 15 miles, but I figure if I'm doing what I like to call "Flatrock Math" it was at least 20. I was unsure of how my legs would feel after 20 the day before. I was also a little nervous about running with Krystal for the first time when I was tired and grumpy from a long run the day before. I did my best to not be a total jerk when I was feeling bad. The first few miles Jason and I traded off leading because there were so many spider webs. One of us would run in front until we couldn't take it anymore, and the other one would jump in and lead. Eventually I just let him lead. Rick and Krystal are both really quiet, but since Jason and I definitely are not, there was plenty of conversation.<br />
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I felt remarkably good in the beginning considering my miles on Saturday. I'd say we were about 5 miles in when I started feeling it and said I was pretty much done with the whole running thing. Thankfully the rest of the group was ok with a long hike. We did still run a little, but not a lot. I had a headache when I went to bed Saturday night, and still had it Sunday morning. By mile 10 it was pretty bad. When we left Oak Ridge I wasn't feeling great, but was still attempting to be cheerful. By mile 12 I was done with that crap. I felt horrible. My legs were still good and my energy was ok, but every step hurt my head and I was starting to just feel gross all over. At this point Rick had a couple of decent blisters and his knee hurt. I don't know that anyone had a lot of fun the last couple of miles. I was really happy to finally see the parking lot!<br />
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Picture of Rick and I a couple of miles in<br />
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This weekend was challenging, but fun. It's nice to have the big miles out of the way!<br />
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11 days, 18 hours and 47 minutes!!Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-56982800222771208252014-09-29T13:18:00.000-05:002014-09-29T13:30:09.443-05:00FlatRock 50k...Epic FailI went into this race full of confidence. My training has gone well, and based on the first half of the 101K on this trail in the spring, a PR was a sure thing. I had not a worry in the world. I knew that for various reasons it's likely my last year doing this race and I wanted it to be a good one. It never crossed my mind that it wouldn't be. Looking back I think this is the first place things went wrong for me. I failed to take the trail seriously, which is a mistake. I finished the race, but did not meet the time limit. I believe I was 39 seconds over. Yes, seconds.<br />
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Normally I go through all the details of my race, but I'm not today. First of all, I just don't want to. I need to move on and not dwell on it, and rehashing the whole day is not going to help me do that. I have discussed getting sick with a couple of people and think I have some good tips for going forward so that stops happening. I'm going to start explaining what happened with two miles left in the race. I had left the person I was running with and was trying to finish as fast as I could, while puking and feeling miserable. Heather and I finished together last year and it was horrible for me to leave here, particularly since she was having a lot of trouble. It really made me feel like a bad person. Anyway, I did go ahead and pull ahead. My watch had died, so I no longer had a running timer. I heard the race had started late, but I didn't know exactly how late, so I was running blind. I looked at my phone and I knew there was no way it was going to happen. Still, just in case I suddenly was blessed with the speed of a cougar, I pushed on. I had to sit a couple of times because I felt like I was going to pass out. I hated to do it, but I know it was the right thing to do.<br />
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When I was close to the end I saw Rick Mayo, the photographer. I told him I wasn't going to make it. He told me I still had 10 minutes and to run. I tried. I got to a spot on the course where I could cut the course and knew that would help me with time. I started to turn that way, but I couldn't do it. That is not the person I want to be and isn't honest. I went up and around, as we're supposed to. I got to the road and wanted to run so bad. I was just miserable. I didn't hurt, but I was nauseous and dizzy and just couldn't do it. I got close and saw Rick, Ryan and Adam running out to me. Adam got up next to me and said "You have 3 minutes!" I thought I was already past the cutoff. Rick told me I really had two minutes. I ran as fast as I possibly could. I truly wanted to die right then, I was so sick. Adam said "I'm tired, but if you keep running I'll keep running!" What a little sweetheart. I went around the corner and could see the clock. I was a few seconds over the limit. I kept running and finally crossed the finish line just seconds over the time limit. It was devastating. Just when I thought I couldn't feel any worse, someone came up to me and said "You know you didn't make it, right?" He's right. I didn't make it. That was absolutely not the right thing to do though. There are kinder ways to say that and perhaps maybe 5 minutes later when the world wasn't spinning and I'm trying to hold in my vomit would have been a better time.<br />
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I've tried really hard to not make this sound like I'm just bitter and whiny and complaining because I didn't finish the way I wanted to. I could have made a lot of different choices during the race. I felt great after Oak Ridge coming back and could have left Heather behind. She was struggling though and I wasn't going to do that. Please don't think I'm saying this is her fault! It's not. I'm simply explaining one of the choices I made. Heather is one of the reasons I finished last year. She pushed me when I didn't feel like pushing. She's great and I'm so proud of how hard she fought this weekend. Her finish was incredible. She was in extreme pain and she pushed on. I made lots of choices that added up to me not finishing on time. Honestly though, I don't think I'd change any of them. I'm not happy with the result, but if I continue to dwell on it I won't be able to finish my 100. I need to get my head in the right place.<br />
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To the people that love me and are always there for me: Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your endless support amazes me. I won't name everyone because I would miss people. I do want to say a special thanks to Ken and Dana Childress, who have never doubted me and continue to tell me I can do anything I set my mind to. I will see you guys at Pumpkin Holler!<br />
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I do need to make a special shout out to Max Walker. He is always at Aid 1 and does a great job. This year my son Ryan was doing the 25k (more about that in my next post!) and is recovering from a concussion. I asked Max to please look out for Ryan and ask him how he felt. He did, more than once, and made sure Ryan was telling the truth. It was nice to know someone was out there looking out for him. That was way above and beyond what an aid station worker should be asked to do, so I appreciate him doing it. He also taught Ryan how to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, which is a story for another day :)<br />
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I said in the first paragraph that I went in thinking this would be my last FlatRock. I haven't changed my mind. I'm now more firm in that belief. I won't be back. It was fun, but I want to go back to running that trail because I love the trail and want to have fun.<br />
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18 days until Pumpkin Holler!<br />
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<br />Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-70423485523467247162014-09-15T11:51:00.001-05:002014-09-15T11:51:30.933-05:00Second star to the right......and straight on til morning! For those of you that don't get it (surely everyone does!) those are the directions to Never Never Land. I think of that all the time when I'm running. It won't really make sense to other people, but that's ok. The first time I ever made a reference to that was during FlatRock 101k. I was telling Jason we had to go this direction, then take a turn, run down the road, turn again, and we were almost to the turnaround. The way I described it just made the directions to Never Never Land pop into my head. I said that. He had no idea what I was talking about. I explained but he just looked at me like I was nuts. Then this summer I did the same thing to Deanna. Often on our runs I'll say something like "we will walk up that hill, then run the flat until we get to so and so point, walk the next hill, then turn towards home." I just always think of the directions that Peter Pan gave Wendy when I do that.<br />
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Right now, for me, Never Never Land is the finish line at Pumpkin Holler. Well, maybe the whole race is. It's something that I can't really imagine. I've been at other races where people run 100 miles. I've paced, I've seen the finishers. I even paced in this race last year. It still all seems like this magical, mystical place that I don't really understand. I think I know what will happen there and I definitely know what I want to have happen there. It's really just a great big unkown to me. I've followed my training plan, so I guess I have the directions down. I just need to keep following them and I'll get there, right?<br />
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Everyone knows Tick-Tock the crocodile in Peter Pan, right? He swallowed the alarm clock and you can hear it ticking when he's around. Captain Hook always freaks out when he hears the clock ticking. Well, I'm going to think of Tick-Tock and that clock that is ticking down the whole race. See, I think I can run 100 miles. Actually, I know I can. I just don't know if I can do it in 30 hours. My biggest fear is being pulled from the race due to time limits. I also worry that I'll go out entirely too fast because I'm worried about the clock and I'll end up blowing up and not being able to finish. I suppose if I were to continue this comparison, that would make me Captain Hook? Hmmmm. I think that makes Jason, my final pacer, Tinker Bell? I like it! I wonder if I can get him to wear fairy wings?<br />
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I guess I'm all out of Peter Pan references. I mean, just how closely can one compare Peter Pan to running 100 miles? I think it's probably weird that a silly quote from this movie pops into my head on a lot of runs. It's one of the things that makes me unique I guess! This post really has absolutely no point and is really not that exciting. It's just something that I keep thinking about, so I thought I'd share it with all of you. The closer I get to race day the more scared I am. 32 days!! As of today I'm officially registered! I put that off for quite a while, because now that I'm registered I suppose I have to do it.<br />
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I'll see if I can't come up with a much better post in the next few days. In the meantime, Happy Running!<br />
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~MelMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-15467930597411435632014-09-08T13:35:00.000-05:002014-09-08T13:35:46.158-05:00Birthday MilesSeveral weeks ago I was looking at my training plan and realized that on Sept 6 I had 30 miles scheduled. Well, my 35th birthday is Sept 4 and I have the day off work, so I decided I could just do 35 and call it a birthday run. It's something I've wanted to do for years, even before I was running ultras. I made a route, stashed coolers, made plans, etc. I was ready to go. The biggest snafu leading up to it is that my Garmin watch died....again. So I was going to have to run it not knowing my pace. Yay! I was still set to go. The weather forecast looked awful as it was going to be really hot and really humid. I talked my partner in crime, Deanna, into going with me.<br />
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3 am rolls around and Deanna showed up. She had a present with her. I opened it up and she had given me the most hilarious present I've ever received. Toilet paper, wet wipes, vaseline, and bath salts. The first three are things I often use on a run and the last was for after the run. Perfect! I laughed a lot. We took off for the first section, which was a 4 mile out and back. Nothing exciting. Just ran. It was really hot. At the end of the 4 miles I was already dripping sweat. I put on my hydration pack, ate a small snack, and off we went for the rest. Within a few blocks my stomach was shaky. I didn't know what was up. I kept running, thinking it would settle down. For a couple of miles I really struggled. I just felt gross. Six miles into the run I threw up. Great. I still had 29 miles and I was already puking. I started again and still didn't feel great. I was worn down, just completely exhausted, sweaty, and my stomach hurt. Yuck. I kept going thinking it would get better. It didn't. I whined. A lot. Deanna finally said maybe I should go home and finish the rest that night. I didn't want to as it felt a lot like failure. I decided I had a couple of options to keep going and at certain points it would be easy to just turn around. By the time I got another mile down the road I just knew it wasn't happening. I could have kept going, but hey, it was my birthday. Why spend it completely miserable? I turned around. I was almost home and had to stop again to throw up, but this time it was mostly just gagging. So much fun! I got 15 miles total and just felt awful. I got home, went to the bathroom, and laid down on the bathroom floor. I was dizzy, the room was spinning, and I was wondering what the hell was wrong and why the hell I do this to myself. I then realized I was super thirsty and my lips were chapped. Had been for days actually. Sooo...my brain wakes up and I realize I'm probably really dehydrated. I had emptied a 20 oz bottle of water as well as a 2 liter hydration pack and a 20 oz bottle of gatorade on my 15 mile run. I had also had water before the run. That's a whole lot of water in a short amount of time, and I didn't have to pee. I kept drinking all morning. Finally at around 9:30 I had to pee a little. For those of you keeping track at home, that's twice in a few weeks that I did this to myself. Will I ever learn?<br />
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Late morning Deanna and I headed to Wichita to go to lunch at Olive Garden. My tummy was finally happy and I ate a ton. We also did some shopping and had a great time. I got home, napped a bit, then went to watch Ryan's first football game of the season. He scored a touchdown! I watched until halfway through the 4th quarter and went home to get ready to finish my run. All day I doubted my ability to do it. I know what a wimp I am and how tired I was. I got ready anyway and started. Miraculously, I felt great. I don't know what it was. I just felt good. I decided to just go with it as long as it lasted. The first 5 miles or so were uneventful. I was cruising and felt fabulous. Things sort of started going downhill at that point. The day had caught up with me. I was still doing ok though. Maybe 6 miles in I started noticing under my arms were chafed. I called Rick to see if he'd bring vaseline. He was sooooo excited to do it! Ha! While talking to him and not paying attention I almost stepped on a copperhead. In town. Eeeeewwww. I freaked out, then told Rick I had to go. I'm normally super scared of snakes (shocker, right?) but I guess I was too tired and delirious to worry about it. It wasn't moving, so I threw a rock at it. It didn't move. I decided it was dead. I ran up and through the country club, and Rick found me. I lubed up and took off again. On the way back past where the snake was I found out it was not in fact dead. It was gone. The only way for it to get off the road was to slither, so that meant it was alive. Aaaahhhhh! I got out of there ASAP. I was 8 miles in by then and just felt awful. I suggested to Deanna that maybe we could pretend I was 25. The meant when I got home I could be done. She wasn't having any of it. I think she was really ready to be done also, but she was kind enough to keep encouraging me. I finally got home and was 10 miles in for that run, 25 total for the day. Just 10 more!<br />
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I decided I would run as much as I could for the next 5 and Deanna said she'd walk the last 5 with me. Woohoo! I'd love to say I ran most of the next 5, but I'll be honest, I didn't. At one point I was bragging about my illustrious high school forensics career and unfortunately for Deanna, recited one of my pieces. I also tried to recite the Gettysburg Address, but she shot me down. Who doesn't want to hear the Gettysburg Address at 11 pm? It's exciting stuff! I think I also sang a little bit and who knows what else. I was way past the point of being tired. I just wanted to sleep. There was a lot of giggling. I got the bright idea that we could do the final four miles on the track. It's flat, I wouldn't have to carry water, and well, it just seemed like a brilliant idea. Deanna wasn't convinced of it's brilliance, but like the steamroller I typically am, I just ignored her and forced her to do what I wanted. It's shocking that I don't have more friends. I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with someone like that? We got to the track and started walking. It was a blast! Ok, not really. I'm such a liar. It was awful. Then it was exciting! We were walking and suddenly see a lawnmower flying down the road away from the schoool. I mean, this guy was hauling. It was midnight. Why would someone be driving away from the school on a lawnmower in the middle of the night? We were sure it was one of the schools mowers. I called the cops and told them what was going on and they hurried to catch the guy. We felt all victorious, and like we had saved the school, etc. I call my husband to relay the news about his wife being a hero. He said "are you sure it wasn't soandso?" Ummm, who? He said the janitors get off work at midnight and one of them often drives his lawn mower to and from work. Oh dear. Well, surely it wasn't this guy! He was acting weird and driving super fast. He must have stolen it. Rick was laughing hysterically and telling me he's pretty sure it was the janitor. Huh. Well, maybe. Then Michael, my friend Misty's husband, (aka one of the cops in town) shows up at the track. The first humiliating part of this is that I wasn't wearing a shirt. I only had on a sports bra and capris. It was hot and the middle of the night, so who was going to see me? Well, someone did. The second embarrassing part was that it was in fact the janitor, on his very own mower, that we had called the cops on. Wow, this is humiliating. We talked to Michael for a few minutes and then started back on the track for the last couple of miles.<br />
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It was FINALLY time to head home. I live just 3/4 of a mile from the school. Longest 3/4 of a mile ever. I think I might have sang a couple more songs on the way home. I don't know. I know I was almost home and got really cold and was shivering. Since it was around 80 degrees outside I'm thinking it wasn't due to the temperature. I finally arrived at home with 35 miles complete!!! Victory is mine! I took a bath and crawled in bed and passed out. It was an amazing birthday! I will NOT be running 36 miles next year. I'm retired from craziness like that. At least until Saturday when I have to run 30 miles.<br />
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I wish I had felt a little better at the end of 35 miles. I cannot fathom how I'm going to run 100 when 35 was so hard. It doesn't make sense to me. I know though that before my 50 and my 101k that my long training runs were brutal and I felt the same way. I just can't quite imagine how it's going to work. Maybe it's not? Maybe I'll fail? I don't know. I'm going to give it everything I have though.<br />
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Race in 39 days!!!!Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-67088871766252057532014-08-27T13:32:00.001-05:002014-08-27T13:32:38.719-05:00It Takes A VillageI'm a firm believer in the theory that it takes a village to raise a child. We've been blessed with a wonderful village of people that are helping our kids grow up to be the people we want them to be. It occurs to me lately though that it takes a village to build and ultrarunner as well. This is where I prove once again that I'm a total wimp and need a lot of support. I know there are lots of runners out there doing it all on their own and don't have the amount of help and support that I have. That's awesome that they can be that tough. I'm...not. Well, maybe I could be, but I hope I don't have to find out any time soon.<br />
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The most important people in my village of helpers are my running partners. The person that goes the most miles with me is Deanna. Bless her heart. If I'm running long she rides her bike with me and if I'm doing a shorter run she runs. She carries my stuff in a pouch on her bike, she gets up at all hours of the night to start with me (we started at 3 am last Friday), she waits while I stop to poop, then stop to poop again, then stop to pee. Then I stop to relube with vaseline. I tell her way more than she wants to know about my life. She does it all with a cheerful attitude and a smile on her face. I'm lucky to have her! Lately I've also been joined some by Joy, who is as wonderful as her name indicates. She's always happy and is just fun to be around. Someone I don't get to run with very much is Tammy. I wish we could run together more, but our schedules don't match up well. She's great because her husband is also a school administrator and I can talk to her about things that no one else understands. It's nice to end the run feeling refreshed both physically and mentally. One of the sweetest people I've ever met, Misty, walks with me on Monday nights. It helps loosen up the muscles after the weekend long runs and is just an hour of fun chatting that I look forward to every week. Without these ladies I would skip a lot more runs and when I did run I wouldn't have as much fun.<br />
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Besides people that run with me, there are those that let me stash stuff at their house or on their property. Joy lives in the country and has the absolute perfect spot to stash a cooler. In fact, oops, I still have one there from this weekend! I will go get that tonight. I hope. I've left stuff at lots of houses and am always so grateful that people let me do that so I don't have to worry about something happening to it or having to carry everything at once. If all else fails, Rick will bring stuff to me, but both of us hate it when he has to. I've met a few people in Eureka that tell me any time I need water or a bathroom please feel free to stop at their house. I just need to meet some more people out in the country!<br />
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I've talked about my friend Libby on here before, but I can't express how much she means to me. Not just with running, but in general. She's a really great person and I'm not worthy of her friendship. She supports me no matter what. She makes me believe there's nothing I can't do. I could go on and on, but just suffice it to say she's one of the most important people in my life. I'm also thankful for Rebecca, who I "met" on a running forum and have become friends with, even though we've never met in real life. She listens to me via facebook messenger and she gives advice or just an ear. She's always encouraging and is totally my diet/fitness role model. My dream is to look like her!<br />
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I can't write about the people that support me without talking about my husband and kids. I've gone on and on about them, but I'm really thankful for them. Ryan is always willing to pace me or crew for me or do anything else I need at races. Rick is just there for whatever I need. He's not always happy to do things like bring me ice when it's really hot, or bring me extra toilet paper, or get up early and ride his bike with me if I need him to, but he does it. He has started running and we're having a running date tonight. So excited! Adam is just Adam, which is a pretty special thing. He's not old enough to do much, but I know he supports me. He talks about me with pride at school. He brings me water or snacks if he can. He waits at home alone while I go run even though he hates that. He will put in a mile or two if I need him. He also makes me smile and laugh every single day, which is priceless.<br />
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There are so many other people that are helping "raise" me into the runner I want to be. I could go on and on. The Eureka Run for God group has been great! They continue to motivate me to reach my goals and encourage me. I meet so many people in town that are really nice and encouraging when they find out what I'm training for. Of course, they think I've lost my mind, but they're generally nice about it.<br />
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I've had people lately comment on how much more dedicated I am these days and how much more I run. For a while I was all proud of myself and felt pretty awesome. Then I realized it's not me that deserves any credit for that. It's my village. I've built this village up around me and they're the reason I continue to get up at 4 am (or even earlier) and put in the miles. I know that without their help it wouldn't happen. To everyone that has helped, is helping, and will help in the future: It may not always seem like I appreciate you or notice what you do, but I promise I do. I know that if (when!) I finish the 100 it will be due to your efforts.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-65242113457141622602014-08-11T10:32:00.000-05:002014-08-11T10:32:08.622-05:00When all else fails...runAugust 7 was my 15th wedding anniversary. Yay!! I've been anticipating this for months. I was excited and it felt like a big milestone we should really celebrate. Rick and I had an amazing summer, spent a lot of time together, and I was really happy. Well, I say "we" had an amazing summer. I did and I hope he did too. Anyway, the anniversary was coming up. I made plans, got a babysitter, etc. I mentioned it lots of times. Rick told me he had enrollment that day, but that's no big deal. Our plans were for the evening. Then Ryan's enrollment papers came home and I started reading through them. There it was in what seemed like enormous font. Enrollment lasts until 8 pm. That meant Rick would work until at least 8:30. On our anniversary. The boys were already scheduled to go to Rick's parents house, so I was going to be spending my anniversary home alone. To say I was angry was putting it mildly. I was furious. It's no secret that I've struggled with Rick's work schedule and not getting to see him much. I was so nervous about school starting this year but we had both vowed to make sure we spend more time together, have dates, and communicate better. Then this happened. It was like his job was punching me in the face. Overdramatic? Yeah. I probably was. I just felt like this year was going to be repeat of last year and I cannot handle that.<br />
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I moped and whined and was hateful to Rick. I complained to friends. I was mad. I decided I'm not even going on a date the next night. Just forget it, we're not celebrating our anniversary. Then I realized I was being a giant baby and sucked it up. I had 15 miles scheduled for Sunday. It was going to be hard to get that done as my brother was getting married that day. I thought that it would be perfect to run the 15 miles on Thursday evening. I could do an anniversary run. 15 miles for 15 years. Deanna agreed to bike with me. I was really dreading it because we all know I'm a heat wimp. I was right to dread it. It was HOT.<br />
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We started at 7 pm and the sun was bright. Within half a mile I had sweat pouring off of me. I pushed on. At nearly the two mile mark a dog came out and chased me. Long story short, I used my pepper spray on him. Sadly, the pepper spray came back and hit me in the face. Within a couple of minutes my face was on fire. I pressed on. I finally had to stop. I was almost in tears. I had a frozen bottle of gatorade so I held that to my face for a few minutes. It helped. Deanna asked if I wanted to go back. I did. So bad. I was hot, my face was burning and it sucked. This was my anniversary run though. I hadn't given up on my marriage in the tough times, so I wasn't giving up on the run. Plus, I'm trying to be less wimpy and learn to tough it out no matter what. I walked a bit, then started running again. We came to a big hill that I knew was going to be hard. We were doing the usual loop backwards. I normally run down this hill. By the time we got to the top I think we were both cussing.<br />
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We trudged on. Up and up and up. I was not pleased. I felt horrible, it was hot, and I had no energy. I was trying out Tailwind Nutrition as I've heard great things about it. Well, it just isn't the thing for me. It's a powder you mix in your water so it is your nutrition, hydration and electrolytes all in one. The problem for me is that it means every drink you take is flavored. When it's hot and I'm thirsty I just want cold water. I don't want flavor. I got the the point that I didn't even want to drink because I didn't want the flavor so I knew it was time to make a change. It was late enough I thought Rick would be done working so I called him to bring me water. He didn't answer. I texted him to call me and waited. He didn't call back so Deanna called her husband Ryan. He was kind enough to bring me some water. I dumped out the tailwind and filled my pack with water. Ahhh, so much better! I was 8 miles in and thankfully had a lot of downhill from this point. The sun was also going down, so it was a tiny bit cooler.<br />
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Not a lot to say about the final miles. It was just a lot of walking with some downhill runs thrown in. Lots of nasty frogs! They were everywhere. I was thankful for Deanna's company because it was late and dark and scary out in the country. I wish the run would have been a little more enjoyable. The important thing is that I finished. I'm so much stronger than I was a year ago. Mentally and physically. I'm happy with where my running is. Just have to keep pushing!<br />
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The moral of this story is, when it seems like everything else is falling apart and you don't have anything else to do, just go run. Running will always be there for you. It might not always be pretty, but you learn from the tough runs and they prepare you for the tough times in races.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-75401016046276103062014-07-29T10:06:00.000-05:002014-07-29T10:06:23.216-05:00Similarities between ultrarunners and infants...I have an 8 month old nephew, Jaggar, that I've spent quite a bit of time with lately. The more time I spend with him the more I notice the similarities between his lifestyle and mine. I've often thought that the tail end of training for a race, where you're getting big miles, is similar to when you are the mother of a newborn. I know when my boys were born I walked around in a fog of fatigue for weeks. I'm the same way when I'm running a lot. I'm just so tired I can't focus on anything. I didn't realize before just how much ultrarunners are really like giant newborns though.<br />
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Here are the ways in which I think ultrarunners and infants are similar:<br />
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1. Frequent naps-Perhaps I'm just a wimp and extra tired, but I take naps a lot these days. I get up at 4:30 or 5 on the weekdays to run. Weekends are even earlier. By the time afternoon rolls around I'm just done. I need a quick nap. When I'm with Jaggar, our napping schedules tend to be similar. In fact, I love it when he's at my house or I'm with him because he likes to have someone lay down with him to go to sleep. I quickly volunteer myself for that duty. Last Saturday we camped and I took two naps with him. I had gotten up at 3:30 and put in 20 miles before heading to the lake, so I was ready for some sleep.<br />
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2. Frequent meals-Like our napping schedule, Jaggar and I also tend to eat on the same schedule. Every few hours we need a snack of some sort. His comes in liquid form, which doesn't seem like a lot of fun. I eat whatever I can get my hands on. I'm starving all the time. I'm trying not to eat everything I see as I've been fat, didn't like it, and don't really want to go back.<br />
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3. Excessive Laundry-both Jaggar and I tend to generate quite a bit of laundry. A lot of it is wet and stinky. My sister Keli does his laundry, but sadly I'm left to do mine by myself. One time I asked Rick to wash my running clothes and he was so grossed out that I think he almost left me, so I guess I'm on my own with laundry.<br />
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4. Schedules-You know how when you have a baby your entire life revolves around their schedule? When they need to eat, nap, etc, affects when you can go places. Sadly, that's what my family is experiencing right now. Want to go camping this weekend? Yay! But first I need to run 20 miles. And by the way, I'll be going to bed early so I can get up and run again the next day. Right now my training schedule takes priority. Obviously some things would come first, but I'm doing my best to stick to it.<br />
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I'm sure I could think of many other similarities, but right now I'm tired and hungry. Also, there is a huge pile of stinky and wet clothes on my bathroom floor that need washed.<br />
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Here is a picture of me with the cutest 8 month old ever. Notice I'm in running clothes. I think I got him all wet when I held him.<br />
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Small brag: Three weeks in a row of 50+ miles! My training is kicking butt. I'm happy. 100 miles here I come!Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-34995250744904391512014-07-21T07:57:00.001-05:002014-07-21T07:57:10.753-05:00Updates and randomnessLet me start by saying I have no title for this post. Maybe by the time I'm done I will? Also, I need to get back to blogging regularly instead of just doing race reports. I have so many cool experiences when running. I just know you guys love hearing about them! ;)<br />
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I'm pretty sure everyone has been on the edge of their seats wondering what I'm up to and what big race I'm doing next. At least, I'm sure there's still one person out there that hasn't had to listen to me obsess about it for hours. After the 101K I knew I wanted to run 100 miles sometime in the near future, or at least within the next year. The first challenge is picking one. I looked them up, read race reports, read race info packets, asked for advice from friends, and narrowed it down to a few. I then started talking to Rick about it. I knew I needed him to be on board. For one thing, it's a huge commitment and I needed him to be ok with it. I also want him to go with me to crew and just be there. After much debate and discussion, I'm doing <a href="http://www.tatur.org/pumpkin-holler.html">Pumpkin Holler</a> on October 18 in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The next thing to do was talk to some people about pacing and find a training plan. I still don't have all of my pacers lined out for sure, but I think I've got enough people that are willing to do it that if my first choices can't do it I'll still be ok.<br />
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Training started out well. I was happy. Then I crashed. I got sick. Strep throat and a double ear infection. That took me out of two weekends of long runs. Then I pulled a muscle in my back. The worst part of that was that I missed out on going to Dizzy Goat, which is a race I had looked forward to for months. It was a few days after the injury. I think it's entirely possible I could have ran that day, but sitting in the car would have been misery. It was I think a 5 hour drive to the race and there was no way my back could handle that. It was depressing and the worst part was that a few people questioned me a lot and seemed to get pretty upset with me for not going. I don't know why and it was pretty upsetting. I think in the end I'm the only one that knows my body and knows what the right choice is. In this case, the right choice was to defer my entry to next year.<br />
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After those things happened I just had a hard time getting back out there. I was doing my runs during the week because I have awesome company (Tammy and Mindy are amazing and let me chase them around town three days a week). The weekend long runs just weren't happening for me though. On 4th of July I had a 22 mile run scheduled. I was planning to run 14 alone, jump into a 5k race, then finish after. I was a few miles into the run and just felt awful. My stomach hurt, I was so tired I felt like I might fall asleep and it was just terrible. It was 5 am, dark, I was out in the middle of nowhere in the country on a gravel road and I just started crying. I stood there on the road bawling my eyes out. I was asking myself why I was doing this, do I really want to run 100 miles, and lots of other questions. I finally got myself together and ran a little further. I finally realized it was just not happening for me and I walked home. I still went and did the 5k race and had a lot of fun. Tammy ran it with me and I told her about my run, how I was questioning myself, etc. It felt good to talk it out. I also met a lot of people from Eureka. After nearly a year I'm finally making friends and feel like part of the community! There is a group here called Run for God. I joined it and it's so fun! They have a monthly mileage challenge and people post several times a week what they did that day, how many miles they've ran, etc. It's very motivating! My morning ended on a high note.<br />
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Rick and I talked quite a bit that afternoon and I told him I really wasn't sure I want to run 100 miles. We decided I didn't have to make a decision right now. The next day I decided I would redeem myself and run 22. Two miles into the run I felt horrible again and was practically falling asleep while running. I was at the park so I decided to sit at the picnic table for a few minutes to see if I felt better. I fell asleep. I decided to call it a day and went home depressed. I finally realized that two nights in a row I had taken Advil PM hoping it would make me fall asleep fast and sleep well for my run the next day. Well, with only 4 hours or so of sleep after taking that I wasn't sleeping it off and couldn't wake up enough to run. Lesson learned. I talked to Rick some more and I decided I need to re-evaluate my training plan as there was no way I could just jump into where it had me after missing all of those runs. I also decided to give it two weeks before I make a decision. I wanted to follow my plan for two weeks and see if I could turn things around. Well, I changed up my plan quite a bit and actually followed it for two weeks. I'm feeling so much better about things. I'm out of my funk and am back to feeling confident about running 100 miles.<br />
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I'm getting rather spoiled and most of my runs are with people instead of solo lately. I run with Tammy a lot, and sometimes on the long runs Rick rides his bike with me. That's a lot of fun. Yesterday I was really hateful to him when I got tired. I hope he'll still go next time I ask! I did apologize. Saturday I had what was probably my best ever long run. I started at 5 am with Deanna riding her bike with me. We did about 9 miles, maybe a little over. She probably got to know me a lot better than she wanted to while riding beside me! Poor thing. She even had to wait for me while I used the restroom in between rows of round bales beside the road. I had a great time though. Then I ran to Tammy's house and she ran 5 miles with me. She had to wait while I went in Casey's and went to the bathroom. It was not my best day when it comes to bathroom issues! After Tammy ran her 5 she decided (or maybe I talked her into) doing the last few with me too. We ran back to Deanna's house and picked her up for the last 3ish. After a few blocks her knee hurt pretty bad and she told us to go on. Well, that wasn't happening! She had gotten up at 5 am, rode over 9 miles, helped me a ton, then waited while I ran 5 more, then was willing to run 3 to finish it out. I wasn't leaving her. We told her we were happy to walk. We walked a little less than 3 miles I think. It was decent training as I'll certainly walk a lot in the 100. When we got back to Deanna's (which is right by my house, she's my neighbor) I still had .68 to finish the run. I ran Tammy back to her house, then back to Deanna's and was finished. I had left my hydration pack there so I got it and walked home. I took Adam to get a donut at Casey's because I hate using the bathroom somewhere and not buying something. I also bought a bag of ice so I could take an ice bath.<br />
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Anyway, long post just to tell everyone what is going on. I had a few crappy weeks but I'm back! I've been enjoying some lovely weather and having fun getting to know people on runs. I have some big miles coming up that I'm nervous about, but I know I can do it. I hope everyone is having a great summer!<br />
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Disclaimer: I haven't edited this post for grammar and spelling errors. Maybe I will later. Maybe not. Don't judge. It's Monday morning and I've only had half a cup of coffee.<br />
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~MelMelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-11670885867252294232014-04-28T18:29:00.000-05:002014-04-28T19:27:48.928-05:00FlatRock 101KAs I sit here with my feet in a tub of ice water to reduce swelling, trying not to vomit from the persistent nausea I've had since Saturday afternoon, I ask myself, "WHY?" I don't really have an answer, besides that I had something to prove. Guess what? I proved a lot of things. I'm tough, I'm persistent, and there's nothing I can't do if I want it bad enough.<br>
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Race day started at 4:00 am when I got up to get ready. I woke up, gathered my stuff, and made sure Libby was awake. She had stayed the night at my mom's house and needed to be at the race bright and early to volunteer. I'm so glad she stayed there as she helped me finish getting my drop bags ready and kept me sane. I went downstairs, got dressed, and went to the kitchen to forage for food. I had just sat down with a bowl of cereal when Rick came in the kitchen and said something about rain. I looked at him like he was crazy, and he pointed out the thunder and lightning. I hadn't even noticed. I started freaking out. I think we all remember the craziness that was the FlatRock 50K in the fall. I did not want a repeat of that today, especially when I was doubling the distance. I had done a decent job of not freaking out about the weather, even though the forecast said it would be really hot and it might storm.<br>
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I finished getting ready, got Ryan up, tried to get Adam up, and loaded up the car. Adam wouldn't get up so I left him at my mom's house and made arrangements for Rick to get him later. We started driving and I could see it had rained quite a bit. I was getting upset. I started telling them I couldn't even start. Rick and Ryan were having none of that. I got to the race and didn't start feeling better. I just got more nervous. I started getting ready and went to check in. I talked to Jason a bit. He signed up for the race planning to run it with me. I was thrilled because it meant I didn't have to spend hours and hours on the trail alone. Eric did his prerace briefing, I took some pics, and it was time to line up.<br>
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The race started and I was running nice and easy. My plan was to go into the woods in last place. I hate the first part of the trail and hate when people are behind me and I have to go faster than I want. After running on the road a bit we hit the trail. It's like being dumped into hell. The first part of the trail goes up and up and up. It sucks away your air, makes your heart race, your legs burn, and just generally sucks. I think it's likely that I'm just a big giant baby, but I just hate this part! We eventually got to the top and then settled in to run when we could. Jason wasn't liking the first part any more than I was, but I assured him that soon we'd be out of that crap and then have some sections that are a lot easier. See, I know this course. Well. I used to run it all the time. This is both a blessing and a curse. I told Jason he'd get sick of me telling him where we were and what was coming, but he never said if he did.<br>
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Not a lot to say about the first few miles. We were taking it easy and chatting. We hit the first aid station, Max's Place. Got some food and drink and kept going. More running, more chatting. Sometimes other people would run with us, then they'd take off ahead. We were ok with that, we knew it was a long day, a tough trail, and were 100% ok with coming in last place. The next aid station, formerly Oak Ridge, is now Dana's station. This one is manned by Ken and Dana Childress. For followers of this blog, you might remember I paced Ken the last 25K of this race last year. You would have thought that would have convinced me to not do it. He just made it look easy! They helped us refill water and whatever else we needed. I don't remember a lot about this stop as it was quick.<br>
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We took off and were enjoying the relative flatness of this section of the course. Still not a lot to say, we were just running easy. Talking about a lot of things, though I don't really remember now what we talked about. Jason would slow me down every once in a while, reminding me of the long day ahead. It had also started to get pretty hot and sunny. When we got to the turnaround station I was greeted by my family. Ryan was helping out until he paced and Rick and Adam were there to crew for me. I started reloading my hydration pack and Sean came over to make sure I didn't need anything. I was pretty well set. He told me I was really red and I said yeah, I was sunburned and didn't have sunblock until the start/finish. Another runner was there with his crew and he had some sunblock. I rubbed some on as quick as I could as I needed to get out of there. I'm not entirely sure who it was that let me use their sunblock, but I really appreciated it.<br>
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Right before the turnaround the first time<br>
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We headed back out for the next 25K still feeling good. It was getting really hot though. I was staying on top of my hydration and nutrition and felt good. We cruised through Dana's station again and entered the harder section once again. Something I haven't mentioned yet is snakes! We saw so many. Not far past Oak Ridge I saw my first copperhead of the day. I stopped and threw my arms out to stop Jason yelling "Copperhead!" I wanted to stop and he made me go around it. So gross. I eventually lost count of the copperheads I saw but it was more than 5. I can't even guess how many snakes total. I have ran mile after mile on this trail and have only seen one other snake. I think it was in here that I saw a baby armadillo. It was so cute! I asked Jason if he would pick it up and put it in my hydration pack so I could take it home. He said no. He told me I'd look like a redneck Paris Hilton. I cracked up!<br>
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Random photo that I just really like for some reason (because I'm weird?)<br>
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When we got back to Max's place with 4 miles to go I was starting to feel the run a bit. I was ok, but I was hot and getting tired. Thankfully nothing really hurt yet. Michael Mora was at the station and he looked a little rough. I told him to come with us and he could stay with us as long as he needed. Michael, Jason and I left the aid station at the same time as William Sprouse, who I hadn't met before. The four of us ended up finishing the first 50K together. I don't think we ran a step of that last section until we hit the road. As we came out of the woods Jason realized that if he hurried he could have a new 50K PR on that course. He took off and said he'd meet me there. He got his PR! So did I. My previous fastest 50K there was 9:13. I finished Saturday in 8:56 (I think). This isn't an official PR for the course as it's part of a longer race, but I know now I can do it faster! I was thrilled with that and it gave me the motivation to go back out.<br>
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At the aid station Rick and the boys were ready to help me with whatever I needed and Libby was there also, along with my friend Krystal. They helped me change shoes and socks, I relubed everything and went to the bathroom. I also tried to eat but my stomach was starting to rebel. I had 1/4 of a sandwich but when I tried to take another bite I threw up. Decided that was enough of that. Got some watermelon and that was better. Ryan was ready to jump in and pace. We left the aid station and were ready to tackle the second half. It was time to do what we had just done all over again.<br>
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My super duper pacer/son.<br>
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Same story as before, the first part sucks. This time it was worse though. My heart was racing and I didn't feel well. I just couldn't get going. Jason was moving faster and I told him to go on, run his own race. He kept waiting for me. He'd get ahead and stop and wait for me. I kept telling him to go. Maybe a mile before Max's Place I threw up. It was massive. Also rather humiliating considering both Ryan and Jason were standing there watching. After I threw up I felt better so I started going again. We finally made it to the aid station and I sat down a couple of minutes. I got some food and liquid in me and took off. I was feeling awful and all I could think was that I had over 20 miles left of this. I knew then it was going to be a long evening/night. At the start/finish I had heard some reports of people dropping. At Max's I heard even more. The heat was really getting to people I think. I heard of so many people that had cramping and nausea. Every time I heard that someone else dropped I think I was more determined to finish. The conditions were brutal and that just made me want the finish even more.<br>
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Ryan was awesome. He kept his eye on the time and told me when to eat and when to take an endurolyte. He also kept me drinking. He asked a lot how my stomach was and I tried hard to be positive, but I was miserable. I just kept moving and was finally at Dana's station. Joell was there with William as he didn't have a pacer and she wanted some extra miles. She was going to be pacing me the last 25K but was hoping to run more. She did! She paced an entire 50K. What a woman! Ken and Dana got me food and snacks and were positive. Dana told me she was impressed with how far I've come since I met them. She's such a sweetheart. Rick was here to help me. He was originally not going to be at this station, but I was getting chilled and wanted a dry shirt so I asked him to be there. The poor guy. I was so demanding and he was so patient and nice. I changed my shirt and felt so much better!<br>
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We left and were happy to have some easy trail. About the time it started getting dark we hit the trickier part of this section. There's about a mile that just kind of sucks. No other way to describe it. Someone was behind us and ran with us for a bit. He stopped to do something and we got ahead, but I had to sit once to eat and try not to throw up. I had reached a point where eating anything was super challenging and I definitely couldn't walk and eat. After the man got ahead of us he stopped a said "It's moving away, but there's a really big copperhead right there." I was so tired and sick and I freaked out. I way overreacted. I was done with that race at that point! He told me I had to go around it and it was moving away and I'd be ok. I finally went around. What a baby! He talked to Rick at the finish line and I think he had gotten quite a laugh out of it. I wasn't amused. We kept walking and were finally almost to the turnaround. With less than a mile left I threw up again. A lot. Really, it's a shame no one got to see it. I don't know how a person could have so much liquid in them. Poor Ryan just stood there waiting for me. Have I said how great he is? He's a good pacer for me and really just a good kid. I'm so proud of him. When I got to the aid station Adam came up and hugged me. He's so sweet! Sean got me some broth and some ginger ale. Both were great. Joell was getting ready to pace me and I think Ryan was relieved to be done. I sat a while and I finally asked the time. I told Joell what time I wanted to leave because I knew she'd make me.<br>
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I eventually left for my last 25K. I knew I could do it, but I just didn't want to. I was sick and dizzy and my heart was racing. I just wanted to get to Dana and Ken because I knew they'd fix me up. I also knew if I left that station I'd finish unless I got pulled due to time. A few times I had to stop and sit and just let everything settle. I'd climb a hill, get really nauseous and dizzy and have to rest. There really aren't words to describe how hard it was. Imagine having a stomach virus and still running/hiking/basically crawling a 50K. On a really tough course. I think I threw up a couple of times through here, but maybe just once. It was a massive amount again. Joell tried to get as far away as she could because it makes her sick and I just felt so bad that she had to listen to that. She was concerned with the amount of liquid I was losing. I got to Dana's station and sat down and told her I need help. She gave me some soup and as soon as it hit my throat I started gagging. It tasted great, but I couldn't really swallow anything. One of them told me to suck on some pretzels. I did that and then Dana had me put salt under my tongue. I sat and ate pretzels and salt. She told me that I needed to do the same thing at the next station and also sent some with me. She told Joell that if I threw up again within 2 miles I had to come back to her station. I knew that meant if I did it again I was done. My race was over. At that point I was determined to hold everything down. Alternatively, there was absolutely part of me that was hoping I'd throw up again and the choice of whether or not to finish would be taken away. I hated that part of me, but it was there. I wanted to be done. Hours ago. Rick was here again and he just looked concerned. I'm so glad the boys were sleeping in the car. Adam certainly didn't need to see me like that. They helped me get what I needed and we started out toward the finish.<br>
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Closing my eyes for a few minutes<br>
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I really don't remember much of this section. I walked slowly, I probably cried, and I certainly whined to Joell a lot. She was cheerful and sweet and just kept me going. She put up with me when she was probably ready to push me off of a cliff. I don't know what I did to deserve having her as a friend. She's wonderful. Not too far from Max's Place I told Joell a creek was coming up and I think I want to soak my feet. I did it and wow! It felt wonderful. My feet were just killing me. My toes felt like someone had been stomping on them for hours. The cold water felt great. That motivated me to get going and get to the last aid station. We got there and someone handed me a flashlight and said he was told to give it to me. He didn't know who it was and I haven't been able to figure it out either. Can someone please tell me so I can thank someone? As we were leaving the aid station I did something weird and caused my headlamp to only have a red light. That wasn't going to work. I used the flashlight the last several miles instead. Talk about a lifesaver!<br>
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We tackled the last section knowing it meant the end was near! I don't think we talked much. I think I whined and we just walked. We stopped a few times. I threw up again with about a mile left. Eventually we could see the finish. I got so emotional knowing it was almost done. When we had about a mile to go I asked Joell to call Rick to make sure he was going to be there. While she called I kept walking. I was so happy. I knew I was going to sit down soon! I told her when we get to the road I want to turn off our headlamps so we could sneak up on the finish line. We got there and I so wanted to run, but it was not happening. I told her I'd run when we got to the gravel road. I also picked a spot where I wanted to turn our lights back on. Right before we got there someone saw us and started blowing the air horn and ringing the cow bells. I ran through, slapped the hand, and started crying. Eric came up and hugged me and gave me my buckle and 101k sticker. I cried on him. Then Rick came and hugged me and I was sobbing that I was so tired. I'm such a baby. Jason had waited to see me finish and he gave me a hug and said he was out of there, he felt awful and wanted sleep. He met his goal of 22 hours! I, however, did not. I finished in 23 hours, 14 minutes. I finished though! That's all that matters. Libby gave me a hug and asked what I wanted. I wanted biscuits and gravy! She fixed me some and I sat down to eat.<br>
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Finish!!<br>
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I think 49 people were registered for the race (maybe 48?) and 37 people started. 22 finished. I was one of those finishers! I couldn't be more proud of myself. A little braggy maybe. I feel like I have something to brag about though. Not because I'm an awesome runner and had a great race. Because I'm an ok runner, I had a horrible second half, but I did it anyway. You don't have to be the best to accomplish great things. You just have to want it. I wanted this race.<br>
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I am so thankful for all of the volunteers at this race! They were all amazing. It was a long day and night and they gave up a lot of time to help us crazy runners.<br>
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For more photos, click here http://www.epicultraphotos.com/FlatRock101K/FlatRock-101K-2014 Rick and Kristi Mayo of Mile 90 photography took pics and they are amazing!<br>
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I have so much more I'd like to say and so many more stories I could tell, but I think this post is already about twice as long as it should be. I'm ready to take a couple of weeks off to rest and recuperate, then it's time to start asking, "What's next?"Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-28685061799152903642014-04-17T12:02:00.001-05:002014-04-17T12:02:40.097-05:00It's getting real!I know that it's starting to get real and race day is rapidly approaching when I can see race day on the 10 day forecast. Today is the day! As of now, the weather looks amazing. That's going to change a bunch between now and then though. It always does. I like to obsess about the weather. It's not like I can change it, but it gives me something to think about other than the logistics and challenges of the race. Don't want to think about what to pack in your drop bags? Check the weather! Worried about getting your pacers where they need to be and if your crew is going to be where they should be? Nah, there are soo many weather sites to check and compare no one has time for those silly worries. People make fun of me for obsessing about the weather so much, but I don't really care. I know I'm not actually that worried about it. I'm using it as an excuse to not worry about the other stuff quite as much.<br />
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For anyone who doesn't know this, I'm running the FlatRock 101K on April 26. Check out this website for more info and a fun video if you don't know much about it and want to: http://flatrock101.com/ I said I would never do this race and honestly had no intention of doing it. It just didn't appeal to me. The FlatRock 50K is really hard. Why would I double that? Then I started looking around for a spring race. Nothing really appealed to me. I just couldn't get excited. I also feel like I have something to prove. Yeah, I ran 50 miles and it was awesome. Such a huge accomplishment and I was so proud and still am. It was a pretty easy course though. I feel the need to prove I can do a huge distance on a hard course. I'm the only person that I need to prove that too, but I'm a pretty tough critic. It seems nothing I do is ever quite good enough. I don't think anyone else thinks that way. I think it and I want to prove myself wrong! Maybe after this race I'll believe I really am tough and a real runner.<br />
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There are people that think I can't do this. Even more people think I shouldn't. That's ok. I know I can do it. I think my family thinks I've lost my mind. I talked with Rick about it before I ever committed to it as I know he has concerns about me running these crazy distances. I try to be sympathetic to his concerns while also fulfilling my goals and dreams. I wish I could say I listened when he said he didn't want me to do something, but I normally do it anyway. The problem in this situation is there is no compromise. He doesn't want me to do it and I do want to do it. I run 100k and he worries and wishes I would listen to him and probably wonders why I bother to ask his opinion if I'm going to do what I want. I don't run it and I resent him for not wanting me to. Someone loses. I can't do half a race. So I do everything I can to alleviate his worry, and also beg him to participate so he's there and can see that I'm ok. He's going to be out there (hopefully!) crewing for me and I'm really hoping he's at the finish line.<br />
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I have Rick and Adam crewing and Ryan and Joell pacing. I'm so excited! A bunch of my friends are going to be there running or working aid stations. Two of my friends had to drop out due to injury and a health issue, which made me really sad. At least one of them will be at an aid station though and he's also course sweep, so I may end up getting to run with him some. There is a very decent chance I'll finish last. That's cool. I just want to finish. The time limit is 24 hours. If I finish in 23:59:59 I'll be happy.<br />
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Course profile for anyone that hasn't seen me post it on facebook a few dozen times over the years:<br />
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That's actually only 25K. The race is a double out an back. You can see at the end that it says FlatRock turnaround. That means I do that, then go back, then do it all again. Woohoo!<br />
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Next time you guys hear from me I'll be sharing my race report. Oh, and by the way, the current forecast is 74 and partly cloudy.<br />
<br />Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4945740883653757965.post-56193713396522433002014-03-16T18:14:00.000-05:002014-03-17T11:45:38.462-05:00Hawkeye 50K reportA few months ago my friends Joell and Justin told me I should sign up for the Hawkeye 50K in Iowa. It sounded fun, but at the time I had been running quite a bit and gone a lot and didn't think Rick would be up for me going to Iowa to run. I didn't sign up and it sold out. Probably a month ago I was telling Justin I wish I could fine a 50K since I needed it for training. He told me there's a waiting list for Hawkeye, get on it. I emailed the RD and asked what the chances were of getting in. He said zero. The waiting list had 50 people on it and there was no chance of spots opening up. Ok, scratch that idea. A couple of weeks later I see a Facebook post saying a few spots opened up and to message the RD if you want in. I sent him a FB message and an email, pretty much begging. I hadn't talked to Rick yet but was hoping he'd say I could go. I got a message back saying I was in and talked to Rick who gave me the ok, so I was good to go.<br />
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Now it was time to start obsessing. The cutoff was 8 hours and my 50k PR was 8 hours 30 minutes. Hmmm. Justin and Joell both told me I could do it. The only thing that might mess me up was the weather. I've been training hard though and felt somewhat confident. Then we got daily updates from the RD about course conditions. They got so much snow that when it melted everything started flooding. They were going to have to change the course and even then it would be bad. The last email we got from him was late Thursday night saying part of the course was a sheet of ice so perhaps we should bring traction devices. Oh yeah, that's good for my confidence! The one thing I had going for me was that Joell had agreed to run the whole thing with me. It would mean a much slower finish for her, so it was incredibly generous of her to offer.<br />
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Friday afternoon I headed to Topeka and then we took off for Iowa. Looooong drive. We got there, checked into the motel, then went to bed. The race didn't start until 11 the next day and we were all glad we didn't have to get up early. After we got up we ate breakfast, gathered everything up and headed to the race. Picked up packets and then walked around a bit to look down the three different trails we would head down. We would do an out and back to the right, an out and back to the left, then two 3 mile loops. I took some pics, which don't really do it justice.<br />
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It was finally race time and we got lined up. The RD talked forever! I didn't realize it but my watch went into sleep mode. The race started and my watch didn't! I finally got it going after about a minute and settled in behind Joell to run. We had about a mile of trail in the beginning (maybe?). It was icy and snowy and a bit muddy, but really not too bad. The hills weren't awful either. We came out of the trail in nearly last place. We just settled in there for the next several hours. I was making great time, especially once we hit the road for a few miles. I even had a sub 11 minute mile! I was just cruising comfortably. We hit the first aid station and got some endurolytes, gatorade and m&m's and took off. That's when we hit the slop. It was really not awful, but it was muddy and wet. There was a lot of darting back and forth trying to keep our feet as dry and mud free as possible. Ha. If only we could have seen the future we'd have known that was pointless. I felt great and was eating every 30 minutes or so and taking endurolytes like I needed to. I wanted to keep my energy up and never crash. I think I did a great job of that.<br />
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Coming into Aid 1<br />
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This section was pretty unremarkable. I struggle a bit at one point but Joell kept going and I just did what I could to keep up. We had a short road section into the next aid station and I felt better. More gatorade and m&m's and we headed out to finish up this section. Probably a mile or so from the turnaround we saw Justin. He looked great. I told him I was kicking ass and we kept going. At the turnaround is a big mound we had to climb. I wish I had taken a pic. I did take one of Joell and I with the lake in the background though.<br />
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After the turnaround I ate a granola bar, which wasn't great. It was so cold out the bar was really hard to chew. Really, way too much work for 90 calories. Lesson learned. I started struggling a bit through here, but kept plugging away. I was also chafing under my arm. I've lost weight (yay!) and realize now it has made the arm holes in my shirts looser and caused chafing. I was a little worried I'd be dealing with that the rest of the day and that was a bit depressing. We got to the next aid station and I asked if they had vaseline. They didn't. Oh well, my responsibility, not theirs. I took some s-caps here as they didn't have endurolytes. I had my own, but the s-caps were handy. Big mistake. My stomach started cramping within a few minutes. I gutted it out as long as I could and finally told Joell I needed to walk a bit. I was really worried that I was having stomach trouble this bad this early. I also didn't understand why as I didn't think I had consumed too much or anything that would cause issues. I was staying on top of my electrolytes. It finally dawned on me what the problem was. We walked a bit and I felt better. I started running again but had slowed down. I was feeling a bit cranky at this point and then Joell pointed out that we had just ran a 3:19 25k. WHAT?! My 25K PR is 4:13. I was moving and still felt pretty good.<br />
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We had set a goal before the race and were well ahead of it. It felt so good to be in a race where I felt decent and was ahead of goal pace. We rolled into the aid station doing ok. I stretched a bit, drank gatorade, ate m&m's and took endurolytes. They also had vaseline so I applied that. We took off and were back on the road. We made great time for this section. I just kept running and Joell finally told me we really should take a walk break. She knew I didn't want to because I felt so good and was running so well, but we needed to. She was right. We walked the next hill, then ran again until the end of mile 21. There was a decent hill, which we walked while eating a gel, and then we entered the trail. Well, it had warmed up. A lot, The ground that was previously icy, snowy and a tiny bit muddy was now a nightmare. Thick, gooey, nasty mud, with sections of snow and ice. You have GOT to be kidding me. We knew the rest of the race would be this way. I said "This is f-ing not fair!" I was furious. I saw my goal come crashing down around me. I knew there was no way I'd make it now.<br />
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We got to the aid station, got some stuff and took off. At this point I started using my anger to fuel my race. I just took off. I took my anger out where I needed to, on the course. I was cussing and so upset. Poor Joell. As much as I said out loud to her about how I felt there was so much more I didn't say. I could not believe I had worked so hard and had such a good day and the mud was going to ruin it. It was ankle deep, shoe sucking mud. When it wasn't muddy it's only because it was icy and snowy. My feet were soaked and frozen. My mile splits were so bad I finally covered my watch with my shirt and refused to look. We got to the turnaround and I had ran out of steam. At this point I just did my best to keep up with Joell back to the start/finish. When we were coming up the last hill there was a guy there saying "all of the steep climbs are over!" That was a huge relief.<br />
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All day my calves had been cramping. The guy that had said no more steep hills asked if I was cramping. I said yes. He asked where it hurts and I told him. He squatted down and started massaging my calves. Oh.My.Goodness. It was heaven. Painful, but wow. After he was done the pain was gone. Joell said "hey, while you're massaging mine need some help too!" We took off for the first 3 mile loop with happier legs. The first little bit was pretty sloppy, but then we got a little bit of road. We took advantage of it as much as we could. To say I was shuffling was probably an exaggeration. Even our run was slow. For the record, I should say, Joell could have kicked my butt on this course. She chose to stay with me all day, for which I will forever be grateful. I could not have done this alone. We kept plugging away and my left leg was really hurting, way at the top. It had been hurting for a long time, but it got pretty bad in this section. I was having trouble lifting it. I could push off of it, and really do anything I wanted, but lifting it hurt. Umm, you kind of have to pick up your leg to run, so you can see the problem. There's a section on the loop that was so muddy and hilly we were having to use trees to pull ourselves up and to hold onto so we didn't fall going down. We were moving slow, mostly because of me. Joell just stayed ahead knowing I would do what I could to keep up. Somewhere through here I joked with Joell that I was done and dropping. I did not mean it and didn't consider it for a second. I wanted to be done though!<br />
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We got to the start finish and wanted to grab some stuff and take off on the final loop. They had taken down the aid station! What the heck? There were still 6 people out on the course. The guy that had massaged our legs asked someone to get us something. I was stretching and he asked what was hurting. I told him my leg and he massaged again. Again, so painful, but felt great! I actually ran most of the last loop pain free. We took off on the last loop and I saw the time and realized we could still make it under 8 hours and most likely under 7:40. We were running and Joell pointed at a girl ahead of us that was moving slow. It lit a fire under me and I made it my goal to catch her. When we were almost to catch up with her I told Joell I was in beast mode. I was too. I was moving better than I had in miles. We caught up with the girl, passed her and kept going. I ran as long as I could, even up hills because I knew when I stopped that might be it for my running. I kept it up for a while, then we hit the nasty part. Joell got in front again and kept me moving. We saw someone else in front of us and set about trying to catch him. We ran as much as we possibly could. I told Joell I thought we could finish in 7:35. Immediately after that I said "no, we can't really finish that fast, but lets try anyway." We did! We ran as hard as we could. We didn't catch the guy, but we got close. We also didn't finish in 7:35. We actually finished in 7 hours, 29 minutes and 27 seconds! A PR for me by a little over an hour.<br />
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I couldn't believe it! I had worked my butt off all day and it paid off. I've been training hard and I finally got to see the results. I still have a lot of work to do before Flatrock 101K, but I'll get there. I know what I need to work on and I will.Melhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00905736396503852546noreply@blogger.com2