I'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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Monday, August 11, 2014
When all else fails...run
August 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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Similarities 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.
Here are the ways in which I think ultrarunners and infants are similar:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Small brag: Three weeks in a row of 50+ miles! My training is kicking butt. I'm happy. 100 miles here I come!
Here are the ways in which I think ultrarunners and infants are similar:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Small brag: Three weeks in a row of 50+ miles! My training is kicking butt. I'm happy. 100 miles here I come!
Monday, July 21, 2014
Updates and randomness
Let 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! ;)
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 Pumpkin Holler 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
~Mel
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 Pumpkin Holler 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
~Mel
Monday, April 28, 2014
FlatRock 101K
As 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Right before the turnaround the first time
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!
Random photo that I just really like for some reason (because I'm weird?)
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.
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.
My super duper pacer/son.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Closing my eyes for a few minutes
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!
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.
Finish!!
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.
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.
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!
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?"
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Right before the turnaround the first time
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!
Random photo that I just really like for some reason (because I'm weird?)
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.
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.
My super duper pacer/son.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Closing my eyes for a few minutes
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!
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.
Finish!!
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.
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.
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!
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?"
Thursday, April 17, 2014
It'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.
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.
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.
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.
Course profile for anyone that hasn't seen me post it on facebook a few dozen times over the years:
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Course profile for anyone that hasn't seen me post it on facebook a few dozen times over the years:
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!
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.
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Hawkeye 50K report
A 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.
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.
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.
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.
Coming into Aid 1
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Coming into Aid 1
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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