Day 6: Center of the Nation Series: Chadron, NE- September 20, 2013

This is the final installment (day 6) of a seven part (6 day) set of entries chronicling my big birthday trip in which I participated in 6 half marathons in 6 consecutive days in 5 different states with 2 of my good friends. I have really dragged my feet on writing these blog posts, and this one is particularly difficult for me to write because not only was the final half marathon an incredible day for me, but because writing the blog post symbolically means that this is a part of my life that is officially over. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to close off that chapter of my life, but I think I am finally ready to write. But first:

• Part 1 can be found here
• Part 2 can be found here
• Part 3 can be found here  
• Part 4 can be found here 
• Part 5 can be found here 
• Part 6 can be found here

*****

When I left off, I had just completed my 5th half marathon in 5 days in frigid temperatures and high winds. Because the winds were so high, and it was such a difficult course, I must have overexerted myself unlike I ever have before. I'd still been babying my bad foot... following doctors orders to wear my aircast for every waking moment when not actually on the race course. I had been icing and elevating. I had been eating my anti-inflammatories and my pain-killers religiously. I did everything I was supposed to be doing. But after 65.5 miles in the first 5 days, and after that unbelievably difficult course and conditions in Albion Montana... I was spent.

When I got out of bed after our pre-dawn wake-up call, I could barely put any pressure on my right foot. It wasn't swollen as badly as it had been in the height of my injury but I knew that didn't mean much. I was determined to get out there to Chadron State Park for the final race in the series, and if that meant that I would be hopping the 13.1 miles, I was pretty much prepared to do just that.

I've not always been the smartest when it comes to making decisions and listening to my body. The doctor had cleared me to run the series (warning that it might be excruciatingly painful and it may set me back in terms of my overall healing process, but he had cleared me none-the less). The one caveat, of course, was that I was on doctors orders to listen to my foot and do constant checks-ins with myself about the pain I was feeling. And I did just that. I got dressed, we drove to the park. We parked what seemed like a mile away from the start line, and I hobbled along behind my friends.

I was down on myself from the moment we got to the park. I had come all this way, and here I was thinking I may not even be able to start the final race in the series. I didn't want my friends to know just how bad it was, so I put on a happy face. And when the race started... I put one foot in front of the other. Afterall, a did not finish trumps a did not start any day.

The course was gorgeous and the weather was amazing. A woman named Pamela slowed down to my pace and kept me company. Listening to her stories and talking about the amazing experiences during the earlier part of the week kept my mind off of the fact that with each excruciating step I was getting shooting pains up my heel, into my calf and up through my knee and hip. I knew it was going to be a long morning out there. And strangely, it NEVER ONCE crossed my mind to sit down and give up.

By the time we were done with our first lap, I knew I had to make some changes, but my attitude had changed. I told myself I only had 9 miles left to reach my goal, and I would get there come Hell or high water. While Pamela went to the restroom, I sat down on a bench and replaced my right running shoe with my aircast... and I was ready to go.

The cast slowed me down even more, but at least now I could avoid the shooting pains up through my leg. And putting pressure on my foot was far easier. And that was how I finished the last 9 miles. Nothing was going to stop me. It was slow, but my goal had nothing to do with time. The goal was to finish, and not let my experience be defined by what I couldn't do (as had been the recurring theme before I began running in 1012).

Instead, I took the opportunity to define myself by what I could do in the face of adversity.

And I really like this definition of myself.

My ridiculously slow finish time of 5 hours and 8 minutes for the half marathon earned me the daily caboose award for being the last to finish, but I will cherish that award for as long as I am alive.

Day 5: Center of the Nation Series: Albion, MT- September 19, 2013

There are just no words for Montana. Apparently, Montana and I have a love hate relationship.

Montana Race #1 was awesome and left me with a PR. Montana Race #2 was le suck. And as awful as the race itself was, the experience was amazing. I'll get there.

But first, If you haven't figured it out yet, this is part 6 (day 5) of a seven part (6 day) set of entries.

• Part 1 can be found here
• Part 2 can be found here
• Part 3 can be found here  
• Part 4 can be found here 
• Part 5 can be found here

The final installment will be coming soon, so stay tuned...

*****

Day 5 of this badass trip brought us back to Montana, and a little ghost-town called Albion. Technically the registry of Montana ghost towns lists Albion as a ghost town, but in fact it is not entirely abandoned. It is still technically a town of residual population (similar to Colony WY, I guess). The only thing that indicates that this area of Montana had once been a town is the abandoned schoolhouse that was found right near the start line for the race. 

Once again, the course was fairly straightforward with a 2.3 something-ish mile out and back where you collect 5 rubber bands and perform a victory lap. Unfortunately, the first thing that was going against us was the unbelievably cold and windy temperature.

When those with smart-phones could get service, the temperatures were reading at 37F with a wind chill of 29F. I knew that I was going to be cold in my running tights, skirt, and multiple layers of shirts, but cold is a word with little meaning compared to what we were experiencing.

Imagine this... go into your kitchen and take a bag of frozen peas and drop it down the back of your panties. then put a frozen steak over each nipple, put a bag of frozen broccoli under each armpit and between your legs. now stand there in your kitchen in front of your open freezer for 3 hours. That still doesnt seem cold enough to me... maybe turn a fan on high and aim it right at you and eat some icecream while you are at it. Then you might know a fraction of the type of cold we were experiencing. 

The first trip out on the course was decent enough... albeit frigidly cold, but it was the return trip that was brutal. The return trips had us running into 30+ MPH SUSTAINED winds, that chilled you so badly you felt like all of your joints were going to explode and your tears were going to freeze to your face. I was putting in twice the effort to run my intervals, yet I was going so incredibly slow. It was absotively exhausting...

Now, some people may think that I am exaggerating here, but I kid you not, this was the most brutal experience I have ever been through. My terrible, horrible, no good, very bad race at Singer Island on April 27th had nothing on the brutality that was Albion Montana. One would never understand how horrible the wind was or how bad the cold was from the spectacular photos, but you are going to have to trust me here...

What made it worse was that there was an extreme pitch to the gravel roadway, leaving my feet screaming in pain with each excruciating step as the tendons and muscles tried to keep my feet underneath me. My my legs felt as if they were going to shatter off with every step and my muscles never wanted to warm up. 

At one point, after nearly being blown off the road (and I am not making that up either), I was in such mental and physical anguish that I  turned to one of my fellow runners (Jim) and told him that I had to listen to my body and I would be giving up. I wasn't even sure I would be able to make it back to the vehicles I was in so much pain. I was cold. I was crying. I felt like a complete and utter failure. Had I done a video of myself I would have looked like that poor snotty nosed girl from The Blair Witch Project... But I didn't, because my fingers and hands wouldn't even work well enough to unzip my camera from the case. 

And when Jim saw me struggling, he stood in front of me to block the wind, and said we would walk together. He crammed athletic socks on over my mittens. His friend crammed a winter ski hat down over my head when we passed the turnaround point again, and we carried on. I wanted to give up with every fiber of my being. But I had come this far already... as much as I wanted to give up, and seriously thought that the next step would be my very last... I kept going. One excruciating footstep after another.

Once again, Seth and I brought pennies hoping that Brina would find them and have the luck she needed... but it was really me that needed all the luck I could get.

And finally, after 4 hours and 23 minutes, I was hobbling across the finish line and to the car where Brina was waiting for me with heat and a shot of Fireball.

It was the worst race I have ever participated in, but one of the best experiences of my life. I could never fully explain what happened out there next to the abandoned schoolhouse at Albion Montana, so I am not even going to try.

Just know that I have forever been changed because of that day. And believe it or not, to learn the lessons that I learned about myself during that race, I would gladly do it all again in a heartbeat.

Day 4: Center of the Nation Series: Colony, WY- September 18, 2013

Almost 2 weeks have passed since September 18, 2013, the 4th day of my 6 day/6 half marathon adventure. I am still struggling with how to fully write this and do these stories the justice that they deserve. I think in the end though, though I rarely allow myself to "just settle," I feel I have no choice in this matter. No matter what I say or do, nobody will ever understand what we went through during this adventure than the amazing men and women who joined me to log this kind of intense mileage. All I can do is try to tell this story to the best of my ability, and hope that I do this story justice...

So, If you haven't figured it out yet, this is part 5 (day 4) of a seven part (6 day) set of entries.

• Part 1 can be found here
• Part 2 can be found here
• Part 3 can be found here  
• Part 4 can be found here

The next installments are coming, so stay tuned...

*****

I woke up early on the  morning of Day 4 with some tummy troubles but that wasn't going to stop me. This, afterall was not only the 3rd day of the Center of the Nation series and miles 39.3-52.4 of my 6 day running adventure, but it was also Boston Day. One of the fellow runners in the series had run The Boston Marathon and was active in fundraising for the Boston One Fund. This generous man asked that everyone wear Boston related gear to the WY race, and in exchange, he would donate $5 for each to the One Fund. So of course I was looking forward to Boston Day, and of course Brina and I wore our Boston Strong Shirts. It was too cold for just our tanks so early in the morning, but we quickly shed our jackets. And it was worth every moment of being chilly to join together to remember the tragedy at Boston.

Day 4 brought us to Colony Wyoming, AKA "The Bentonite Capital of the World." Colony is so small that county officials and the US Census Bureau don't even bother to keep track of the town's population. From what I understand the only thing that really exists in Colony Wyoming is Bentonite, the factory, spectacular sunrises and views, and wonderful people like Janet and Thorval Jansen who graciously opened their land up for us to run (and play) on.

Just me!

My game plan for the day was to once again take it easier. I knew what my body and mind needed were a nice relaxing day enjoying the sunrise and the beautiful scenery. I needed to recoup, regroup and prepare myself for the last 2 races of the series. My stomach was bothering me (perhaps just from normal travel issues like not eating the right things at the right times, or perhaps related to runners issues), and this made me realize that slower was better. I had long since resigned myself to the fact that I wouldn't be impressing myself with good finish times, and had already moved to the point that my goal was to just finish the series.

I don't want anyone to think that I had given up, because that most certainly was not the case, but I know my body. I know what I am capable of. And you know, if there is one thing that I have realized is that the fast times aren't what make you an impressive athlete. Yes, having an amazing half marathon time of 1 hour and 45 minutes makes you an impressive endurance runner. But meeting all of these people out there caused a shift in my thinking.

Without her permission, I didn't want to post her photo.

Because people like me are impressive too. We go out there and put one foot in front of the other for consecutive hours. It is a different type of endurance. And it doesn't make sense to compare the 2 types of people out there. So I know that I am way off topic now, but I have to say that there were some impressive runners out there who ran 3.5 hour marathons each day, but there was one woman who blew me away. I think each day she finished her full marathons in 7-8 hours. I could NEVER be a strong and dedicated as this woman and my hat goes off to her. She was the type of inspiration that I needed on Day 4 (and 5.... and 6).

Because despite the gorgeous course, the spectacular sunrise, the perfect running surface of shale, the amazing people I was enjoying my time with... my body was failing me. My stomach issues quickly spiraled out of control and I spent enough time in a port-o-potty to last me a lifetime. Then my heel was bothering me and I felt myself altering my gait a bit, which quickly had some blisters re-emerging. Between the bathroom breaks and the emergency blister surgery, I was a hot mess and wound up sitting out for a combined total of 40 minutes of the race.

By the end of the race, it was mind over matter. One foot in front of the other. And eventually I would get there. It took me 4 hours and 16 minutes, and was my longest half marathon time to date, but I finished.

And I didn't beat myself up over the time. Because I had spent the morning realizing that the term "endurance athlete" doesn't always have to do with a fast time. Sometimes it is about time in general.

And what a time it was!

Day 3: Center of the Nation Series: Belle Fourche, SD- September 17, 2013

I am sitting at my desk staring at a ball of rubber bands. Having completed 6 half marathons in 6 consecutive days (5 of which were the Center of the Nation Series by Mainly Marathons), I have come to have a deep and meaningful relationship with rubber bands. You see, because each of the 5 races in the CONS were 2-3 mile out-and-backs or loops, you marked your progress by collecting a rubber band each time you returned to the start line. Rubber bands signify progress. They signify sweat and tears. They signify perseverance. And smiles. And good friends. And as I sit here preparing myself to write about my race in Belle Fourche, SD, It only seems fitting that I spend a brief minute contemplating what rubber bands REALLY mean to me.

So, If you haven't figured it out yet, this is part 4 (day 3) of a seven part (6 day) set of entries.

• Part 1 can be found here
• Part 2 can be found here
• Part 3 can be found here 

The next installments are coming, so stay tuned...

*****

I have to start by saying that the race course at Belle Fourche, South Dakota was probably my favorite course out of the 5 races put on by Mainly Marathons. It wasn't really that pretty, and we ran on concrete pathways for most of the course, but it was fairly flat, and there was a lot of shade to be had. The course started next to the Belle Fourche chamber of commerce, ran down a path lined with flags from each state ("avenue of flags?"), and past the Center of the Nation monument. From there, we turned down a path along the river and the rest of the race continued either on this path or up a short street nearby. It was a 2+ mile out and back where half marathoners were expected to pick up 5 rubber bands and then do a victory lap.

What was different about this run than the day before was that runners all recognized on another and the comeraderie had grown exponentially. Runners high fived one another non stop, encouraged one another, smiled, cheered one another along, and really got into the running community spirit.

Fellow runner Sam stopping for a photo with me

I started the race a little sore, but I soon felt myself wondering if (as strange as it sounds), 3 half marathons in 3 days is EASIER than doing 2 in 2 days. I ran my 1/1 intervals. I felt slower than my pace at home, but I wasn't slogging through it either. I didn't have much heel pain, but my right foot was already double the size that it normally is, so I didn't want to take much risk. I kept remembering that slow and steady does it.

Up until this race I had always been acutely aware of just how long a half marathon was. I had always rolled my eyes thinking that there was still XXX miles left, and I still had so much more to do. This was the first race I have ever run where I suddenly looked down at my garmin and said "seriously? how did I already get to 7 miles?" and "wow, eleven miles, already????" It was like some kind of switch had been flipped, and suddenly a half marathon didn't seem so long. and an hour and a half of running would fly by like nothing. It was unreal.

I think passing the time was also made easier by pennies.

Brina, Oblivious to the fact I just dropped 3 pennies at her feet

Brina and I had decided to run the races separately during the Center of the Nation Series, although we have been running races together since March. One of the little quirks that I love about Brina is that she gets easily distracted by shiny things. She is always pushing me to do my best and be my best, but if there is something shiny, she always has to stop and check it out. She is also in love with collecting pennies on her runs. That's not my story to share about why, but she feels that she is getting a little extra oomph of good luck when she finds pennies while running. I have always lovingly teased her about how easily she distracts when she sees pennies on the ground, but I actually find it really sweet.

After finishing the Bowman race the day before, Brina had confided that she had a tough run and that she felt like she was struggling. She said she was looking for pennies on the run but hadn't found any and that maybe that might have made her feel more confident or stronger.

Me with only 0.1 miles to go

So Seth and I had gotten some pennies and each took about half a roll with us to the race at Belle Fourche and tossed them on the ground every few yards for her to hopefully find a little inspiration along the way. It made us feel good, and it helped pass the time... but we later learned that she hadn't found any pennies at all. Yikes. Where did they all go?

Anyway... It was a good run. I felt relaxed and in touch with my own body mechanics. I felt encouraged and strong. I loved the weather (especially after it went from jacket/gloves weather to tanktop weather), and I felt good. I don't really have much more to say about the actual race though. 

At Mt. Rushmore

My garmin said my finish time was 3:40:41 with a pace of 16.36 per mile. not bad for taking it easy. I don't feel badly about that pace because it paid off. I made it through day 3 without any pain. I was certainly swollen, but no pain.

And still enough energy leftover to visit Mt. Rushmore!

39.3 miles down, 39.3 miles to go.

...to be continued...

Trip Day 2: Center of the Nation Series: Bowman, ND- September 16, 2013

Once again I am staring at a blank screen not knowing what to write. If you know anything about me, and my writing habits, you know that this NEVER happens. If we are being honest (which I am a big advocate for), as readers, you must know that part of my struggle in what to write and how to write it has been fueled by a nasty depression. For me, when I plan and plan and plan for an event and spend months anticipating it... whether the outcome is what I had planned or not, I wind up feeling horribly sad. All this build up and excitement suddenly ends, and I am left feeling kind of empty. This is EXACTLY what happened after this amazing trip. And as I sit preparing to write, I realize that it is taking so long because I don't actually want to end that chapter of my life yet. If I don't finish posting about this event, I wont ultimately close out that period of my life, and I can continue to pretend that it never ended. Hows that for some early morning introspection?

So, If you haven't figured it out yet, this is part 3 (day 2) of a seven part (6 day) set of entries.

• Part 1 can be found here
• Part 2 can be found here

The next installments are coming, but it might take some time...

 *****

Day 2 brought us to a campground that sat along the Bowman Haley Dam in Bowman, North Dakota. Our home base for the early part of the week was in Spearfish South Dakota, So that meant a 2 hour drive to get to the Bowman race. Thankfully, we were never really came off of Eastern Time and we had a 2 hour time difference that worked in our favor during the entire trip. We woke up at 3am in South Dakota and our bodies felt it was 5am. our races all started at 6:30am and we felt like it was 8:30 am. We went to bed religiously at 8 or 9 pm and it felt like 10 or 11pm. We hadn't thought of this all while planning the trip, but it worked in our favor. As a related side note, I should think that moving backwards in timezones is easier for folks attempting a streak, rather than moving forward in timezones. I really felt sorry for the few folks we met from Hawaii who were constantly exhausted from the time shifts. Well, I felt sorry for them until I remembered that they LIVE IN HAWAII, but I digress.

The course at Bowman, ND was fairly straight forward as a just over 2 mile out and back course which half marathoners would repeat 6 times. To count each lap, runners had to collect a rubber band at the end of the lap (which was right after the MOST amazing support station that I have ever seen at a race), gather 5 rubber bands and then finish strong with a "victory lap." The full marathon ran concurrently and marathoners had to collect a total of 11 bands then have their "victory lap."

What made this course tricky was that the finish point for each lap was at the top of a little hill and runners had to run into a strong headwind that many have said could have easily been 30 MPH gusts.

I was so exhausted from running Billings MT the day before, that somehow I didn't really notice the wind gusts OR the hill. I just knew that I was drained of energy and was getting scared because it was only day 2 and I still had to save energy for 4 more days of this.

Brina and I had previously discussed whether we would do our races together this week or not, and came to the decision that she would run her own pace for the duration of the week, letting me plug away doing what I needed to do. I was ok with this in theory, but in reality, when this happened at Bowman , I felt incredibly alone. and bored. and sad.

I was running my intervals, doing what I had to do to get it done, but my body was filling me with self doubt.  If 2 in 2 was going to be this hard, how on earth was I going to finish what I started?

When we got to the start line that morning, I couldn't walk more than a couple of steps without someone I knew from facebook introducing themselves to me and being excited to finally meet me. I was excited to finally meet them too. But out there on that course, as we were all just working to put one foot in front of the other, I was concerned that I wasn't seeing or hearing as many "attaboys" as I normally hear other runners exchange during races. It would get a million times better as the series continued, but that first day, runners seemed quite quiet. I worried that this would be an ongoing theme throughout the trip.

But then again, I worried about EVERYTHING at Bowman, ND. It wasn't that I wanted to give up, because seriously that thought never crossed my mind. But I did worry. About absolutely everything.

I worried that I was going too fast and would burn out and hurt my foot even more. I worried that I was going too slow and was going to embarrass myself. I worried that I had bitten off more than I could chew. I worried that people weren't going to be accepting of me as a real athlete. I even worried that I was worrying too much.

A few times I had people stay at my pace and talk to me, which was nice. But I was well aware of the fact that (for the second day in a row), my foot was also causing me to unravel. by the 4th lap, I had a distinct limp and my back was beginning to bother me. By the 5th lap, the limp was more pronounced and every time my foot landed, I felt fire radiate up through my heel and ankle. And by the 6th lap, I was spent. I was barely able to put one foot in front of the other. The only thing that kept me going was that I knew I had to cross the finish line on the way to the car and I had to get to the car to get to  my painkillers and my ice buckets.

As I approached the finishline, Seth ran out to meet me with a bottle of ice cold water in one hand and my aircast in the other. I finished. It may not have been pretty. It may had been slower than I wanted to. But I finished.

Gun time: 3:55:00
Pace: 17:56 per mile

Not a great time, but my goal was not about time. My goal was just to finish.

26.2 miles down, only  52.4 miles left! To be continued...

Trip Day 1: Montana Half Marathon- September 15, 2013

I am struggling with how to write the posts about my 6 in 6 challenge. At first I thought this was going to be just about running, but it became so much more than that. Other than running (which was a big part of the trip), this was about pushing myself to my limits, about physical and mental perseverance, about strengthening old friendships and about kindling new ones. It was about blood, sweat, tears, and blisters. It was about having a life-changing, perspective altering experience. It was about overcoming adversity, and remaining strong even while feeling incredibly weak.  If I had only one minute to say what this trip was about, this would be it, and I could end the blog post right there. And that would be OK.

But there are so many things I want to remember. And an occasional few things that I would really rather forget (see bedbugs in previous post). But in the end, it was all of these things that made my trip so amazing. And how do I write about it and ensure that I do it justice?

If you haven't figured it out yet, this is part 2 (day 1) of a seven part (6 day) set of entries.

• Part 1 can be found here

The next installments are coming, but it might take some time... Afterall... I've got a lot to say. When do I not?

*****

Sunday September 15, 2013, Seth, Brina and I woke up before dawn in our warm little hotel room in Billings MT, ready to start the experience of a lifetime with the Billings MT Half Marathon.

The course was fairly straightforward. It was a Point A to Point B course with the Finish line at the local high school in downtown Billings. All runners for the full marathon were brought via bus to the start line 26.2 miles away, and half marathoners were brought to the midway point for our start about an hour later.

When we boarded the bus to the half marathon start line, we immediately realized how chilly it was going to be. We all knew that Montana would be cold, but as honorary South Floridians, we really weren't quite prepared for this type of cold. My heel was bothering me, but I knew that this was the only race that my time really mattered to me on. I was determined to set a PR and bring my half time down by 2.5 minutes so that I could get a better corral for my first full marathon (upcoming in January). The drive to the start was spectacular with the Rim to the north, and the mountains to the south. I had never quite seen such beauty (this would be an ongoing theme throughout the trip, you'll see).

Our claimed sagebrush

While waiting for the start, Brina and I both had to use the restroom, but the lines for the port o potties were too long. We debated waiting, but ultimately figured that if peeing in the fields was good enough for the local cow population, it would be good enough for us. Brina scouted out a lovely sagebrush to provide coverage for us to squat behind, and we each took a turn.

I am only bring this up because it was probably the most heavenly moment I have EVER had while relieving myself. I squatted behind this beautiful little bush to pee, and my face went right into the sage brush and I inhaled deeply. The smell was soothing and refreshing and really settled my nerves. It was pure bliss for me, though for Brina, it was entirely different. Turns out she must be allergic to sagebrush... and she spent the next 2 days with itchy watery eyes and sneezing. Poor girl.

So anyway, what was really cool about this course was that the majority of it was downhill, and that it basically followed the same route that the bus took to bring us out to the start. The field of runners was small and with this being the first time that I ran on my bad heel, I knew that the field was going to thin out fairly quickly and leave me behind.

But Brina knew that I had a goal. I needed to get a good proof of time to be able to move up a corral during my first full marathon. I hate to remind people (lest they he shocked that this is a run pace, or try to call me "lesser than"), but I do run, walk, run intervals of 1min/1min. My times have increasingly lowered and lowered as I have become more accustomed to running, but I still seem to average approx 15:15 minutes per mile with a PR of 15:04 per mile. The goal was to bring my pace down to approximately 14:45 per mile.

And this is why I love Brina. She sees my goal, she tells me to cover up my garmin and not look at it. then she coaches me through the entire event so that my goals become my reality. She's tough, and sometimes on the course, she can irritate me, but I am CERTAIN that goes both ways and I drive her batty as well. During previous races we have done together, she has NEVER left me behind. Even during that terrible horrible no good very bad race that made me so incredibly sick for days afterward. She repeatedly forgos reaching for a personal best to instead stay with me, socialize with me, and try to usher ME into a new best.

When this injury had cropped up this summer, we had a long discussion about how I didn't want to hold her back during this trip, and how if my heel was acting up and I had to take it easy, I wanted her to make the best of the moment and do something great for herself, and she was hesitant on giving me an answer. I isn't that I didn't want her company (because we all know that I love her dearly) but I didn't want to be the thorn in her side holding her back from awesomeness.

So there we are slogging our way through the miles in what I thought was the most gorgeous course I had ever seen, and Brina was pushing hard. She started bumping my running intervals out to 1:15 and walking intervals to 0:45 and kept encouraging me to move forward. She stopped to pick up pennies, she relished in looking at the wild turkeys and the horses (even screaming at them like a giddy 4 year old, which I LOVED), but my heel pain kept building.

And I thought to myself, "Oh shit. If I have 5 more of these things to run, I should probably back off just a little." But I didn't, and the pain kept building. And by mile 8, I was at my breaking point. Brina was no longer pacing me from beside me, she was about 10 feet ahead of me. And I couldn't keep up. I was limping (although not really that badly), and I was near tears. When the timer went off to tell me that it was time for another run interval... I just couldn't do it.

Brina looked at me irritated at first. And tried to encourage me to move forward. I begged her to leave. I told her that I was at my breaking point, and she saw this as reality, wished me luck and left. I'm sure she was irritated with me, because *I* was most certainly irritated with me.

I walked for a few intervals to allow myself a nice cry and a good pity party, and when I was done with the tears, I looked at my garmin.

My average pace for the first 8 miles was 13:58.

How the heck did that happen???

I picked up my pace again and finished the race out strong completing almost all of the run intervals as planned at 1/1 ratio. My heel pain was so excruciating at that point though, I was well aware of the fact that I was running SLOWER than I was walking.

That last couple of miles felt like they took forever (and they most certainly did), and I watched the time on my garmin slowly creep higher and higher. As I rounded the park near the finish line, I knew that making my time for Disney was out of reach, but I still wanted a nice strong finish.

And I did. Because entering the chute at the finishline, I saw Brina leaning over the railing taking a picture of me with my nice strong finish. I flew through the chute at a sprint, fueled by the fact that one of my closest friends was there cheering me on.

As I crossed the finish line they announced my early birthday, gave me my medal and water, and congratulated me. I looked down at my garmin, and realized that I may not have gotten my time for Disney, but I still managed to get a PR!

At our post race celebratory lunch.

Time: 3:16.36
Pace: 15:00/mile
OA: 360/370
AG: 57/57
Gen: 328/278

Incidentally, It wasn't Brina at the finish line but a look-alike instead. Brina and Seth were at the car, thinking I wouldn't be finishing for another 15 minutes or so. Guess I proved them wrong. ;)

So we did it. 13.1 miles down, only 65.5 more to go.





To be continued...

Preparing for the Runcation of a Lifetime

So I've spent a lot of time talking about the physical and mental training involved in a huge running trip (what I like to affectionately call a "runcation"), but trips like these take a lot of logistical planning as well. I've not talked about any of that so far, but seeing as how I am about to blow up blogger with half a dozen posts about my trip, why not add one more to the mix?

When planning for any race, of course you must pay your entry fees and train long and hard. I paid my entry fees and trained really hard for a few weeks and then got hurt. Then you must make sure that you have your airfare, car and hotel reservations made prior to the trip. NEVER just show up at a destination airport hoping to rent a car on the spot.  We had no problems with airfare, but there are a couple BIG things I must mention about car and hotel:

• Make sure that when you make car reservations, you are renting a minivan of some sort. I really like the Town and Country because it allows both sliding doors and the trunk to open hands free. What's more, the rear seat and the captains chairs each stow and go, preventing little mishaps like what happened in this photo of Brina when she got stuck searching for something behind the rear seats. Also, not only does having the extra space make storing baggage really easy, but if it is really cold, you can crank the heat in the vehicle and use the extra floor space for post race stretching, sleeping or wine drinking (while waiting for your friends to finish).
• Make sure that your car reservations actually have you picking up and dropping your car off at the appropriate places before you get there. We made our car arrangements through one of the online rental places, and arrived in MT to find that our car was not to be picked up at the airport but instead down the road in town, and that it was to be returned to the same location in Billings, MT instead of at Denver International Airport where Seth was flying home from. This made for some confusion and concern as the car rental company was not being flexible and wanted us to drive the car back to MT from NE, then get a different rental car to take from MT to CO. Did you follow that? If not, that's fine. It took me days to figure out what was going on with the car, and I am still not sure I get it.
• On the point of driving from place to place, it makes more sense to map out your route of travel before you even leave home and not rely on your GPS. GPS is great, however you never know what kind of cell service is in your destination area which may render your smart phone just as useless as my dumbphone.
• On hotels, while nobody likes to go from hotel to hotel during a trip, if your travel time to a race on race morning is more than 1 hour, it might be easier to get a hotel closer to the start of the race, rather than using a base hotel and driving longer distances to and from. On day 2 of our trip, the race started about 2 hours away from the start and while (at home planning the trip) 2 hours didn't seem so bad, that can really be exhausting for the driver when you are pulling multiple days of getting up at 3am. It wasn't so bad for us, but for the future, this might be something we consider.
• And finally, while driving around, we saw a lot of signs that specifically advertised that hotels had free wi-fi and were clean. We thought this a little peculiar but we reminded ourselves that the local culture was very different than what we were used to in a large city. I'm not saying that you should lower your standards, just that you may want to be flexible about what is important and what is not. Wifi, not so important. Maybe you only have a shower instead of a tub, or a small bathroom area, or no coffee maker... these are always things you can compromise on, but NEVER compromise on Cleanliness. This really hit home for us when we found out during the middle of the week that some of our other friends had found bedbugs in their hotel up the street. I cannot emphasize this enough... KNOW where you are staying, and KNOW how to check for bedbugs and other hotel calamities. I really don't want to talk more about this because I am grossing myself out already.

But what do you pack with you? How do you make sure you aren't packing too much or too little?

• Before my trip, a friend taught me about the plastic bag method of packing. I vaguely remember my mother packing me for sleepaway summer camp like this where she would lay out entire outfits including socks and underwear, then pack each outfit in a separate bag. I had never thought to do this for an adult trip, but in terms of running clothes, it made it very easy. Because I was running for 6 consecutive days and didn't know what my access to laundry would be like, I laid out 6 individual outfits including socks, bras, panties, and compression sleeves. I tightly packed each outfit into a gallon sized ziploc and labeled the outside with a description of the shirt. 
• Packing this way allowed me to really make the most of the real estate on the inside of my luggage, and kept things all in one place. Then at our 3am wakeup calls in the hotel, I could just reach into my bag, grab an outfit and run to the bathroom to pee and change without getting into the way of my roommates. Easy Peasy.
• I also packed one bag with just my fuels and electrolyte tabs (which I seriously wound up not needing on this trip), one for all of my non-running underwear, one for my bras, and one for socks. This left PJs, Dresses and Shirts as the only loose clothing in my bag. We had 3 adults in our hotel room, and packing this way left me feeling super organized, it made packing and unpacking really easy and cut down on hotel room sprawl. As a side note, If I do this again, I might pack some different essentials to make sure I was well prepared for both the 30F days as well as the 80F days.
• Always make sure you have jackets and tanks, pants and shorts, a warm winter hat and sunscreen. Don't forget your body glide, your foam roller/stick, your camera charger, or your flexible attitude.

Always remember, You may be going somewhere that is small town, but there will be stores and pantry items wherever you travel... We were shocked to find out that although Billings MT was one of the smallest cities we had ever been to, they have not one, but TWO Walmarts. Heck, there was a Walmart nearby each hotel we stayed at. This allows you to get yourself a cooler (which was a MUST on this trip), your breakfast foods, pick up extra pants if you are chaffing in unusual places, and a winter hat if need be and your buckets.

And finally, ALWAYS make sure that you have enough room to stand comfortably in your ice buckets. These buckets will be invaluable to you in filling your cooler from the hotel ice machine, but also in ensuring that you ice your achy limbs while on long drives from location to location.

Now that you know how to pack... please place your seatbacks and tray tables to the full, upright and locked position and prepare for takeoff. It might be a bumpy ride, but you can do it!

and the verdict is in... *sort of*

I had an MRI on Saturday and the followup yesterday where the Dr. showed me some of the problem areas in my foot and ankle. Its not broken. So that's good.

Its not acutely torn, so that's good too.

But everything else is a mess. From their reports:

1. No evidence of acute fracture, stress fracture, dislocation, bone contusion or significant bone marrow edema of the left ankle or hindfoot, particularly the calcaneus.
2. There is a small subcortical cyst in the superior aspect the calcaneous just deep to the insertion of the subtalar ligaments
3. Small ankle joint effusion but disproportioned pooling of fluid  posterior to the tibiotalar and subtalar joint and fluid within the tarsal sinus
4. Tear of the anterior talofibular ligament, but I suspect that this is of long-standing.
5. Mild Achilles tendinosis but no evidence of Achilles tendon tear.
6.  Edematous changes and fluid posterior to the Achilles tendon felt to represent a combination of peritendinitis and retro-Achilles bursitis
7. Retrocalcaneal bursitis

******** ADDENDUM #1 ********
There is a small amount of fluid within the posterior tibialis tendon sheath. This may indicate mild tenosynovitis, although the posterior tibialis tendon itself is intact.

Ultimately, I am not that kind of almost-doctor, so I really don't know much about what is going on, but this is not necessarily good. I don't need surgery. I don't have any breaks. But it is a soft tissue (with multiple injuries as has been explained to me), so it means it will take time. And rest. But mostly time.

I am looking at 6 weeks in my boot (at least), but thankfully I have been cleared to ride my bike without the boot to allow for some cross training. And I have been cleared to run 3-5 miles twice a week over the next 2 weeks.

But best of all, I have been cleared to run the 6 in 6 series I have been training for. I agreed to wear the boot to and from the races and wear the boot as if it is my full time job for the next 6 weeks, and in exchange I get to run my series.

Obviously I will have the option to slow down to a walk if I need to during this event, but did I mention that I get to at least try to run it?

The Dr. warned that the pain may be excruciating, that I will need to be taking pain killers and anti-inflammatories through the whole trip, and that ice is a must.... but he isn't discounting me altogether.

In the meantime, I may be allowed to run 78.6 miles in 6 days 2 weeks from now... but I also have a handicapped parking pass and have been told to use it. Seems kind of amusing to me.

Getting down to business

The other day, my dear friend Brina (who started as a running friend but who I feel strange calling a "running friend" because she is WAY more than that), posted to the Center of the Nation group on Facebook about what kind of training plan we needed to do in order to complete our goal of finishing 6 half marathons in 6 days. She got some great responses, then took those responses and developed a training plan for the two of us to follow.

We both agree that we are far more accountable for our commitment toward training if we follow a set training regimen, and we liked the way the plan she designed looked. She gave me a copy this past Thursday, and it looked like I was only missing one day at the very beginning.

Fast forward to Saturday, and I realized that I was actually looking at the wrong week. Doh. So instead of finishing out the week FOUR miles short of the target, I actually finished out the second week about FIVE miles short.

OK, no big deal, right? Except that my total for the week was only 12 miles. And next week, my total mileage for the week goes up to 20 miles. That's a big increase. They are somewhat shorter runs, but they are a lot of back to back days. And this is where I start to get intimidated.

But I have a plan. And other than a few deviations from the plan (like the fact that I am traveling this coming weekend and don't see myself being able to complete my scheduled Sunday 10 miler on a travel day), I think this is going to work.

You got to have a plan, and you have to work your plan.

And starting to eat right again would probably help too. Its not that I am gaining weight, I'm just feeling a little puffier than normal. I think part of it is the increase in whole grains and other vegetarian types of foods, but I'm sure the cinnamon bun at Ikea didnt help, or the other little cheats that I find myself somehow justifying.

But whether my weight is increasing or not, I am feeling somewhat sluggish from the occasional foray into junkfood-ville and the lack of high mileage runs (which will obviously be changing soon) means I am not burning crazy calories. I am actually kind of surprised that the weight isn't creeping back on.

In the meantime, I have a closet full of new running clothes.... clothes I never would have considered running in this time last year. New clothes may provide some of the extra motivation that I need too. Who knows?

One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. Its time to get into gear because I don't want the point one to get me.

Welcome to Week 3!

Disney's Glass Slipper Challenge

After last year's half marathon experience, I had said that I would never run another long distance race at Disney... but then I went back on my vow and chose to register for the 2014 WDW Marathon.

Part of my decision to register for the WDW Marathon was because I wanted to see if I actually could run 26.2 miles (in a row), and I knew that doing it at Disney would allow me hard corrals which would allow me a little extra time if I started toward the front of the corrals.

The other part of my decision came from the sheer joy of spending uninterrupted quality time with my dear friend Brina.

When I suggested running the marathon, Brina really didn't seem all that interested. She had run a marathon before, and hadn't overly enjoyed the experience (because she ran by herself?). But she liked the idea of having a friend to share the experience with if she did it again. It didn't take much arm twisting, and eventually I convinced her that she wanted to do it with me, and we registered.

The half-serious (but not quite joking) agreement that we made was that she would do the marathon (that she claimed that she didn't want to do, but I believe she was only half-serious about not having interest in), but in exchange, I would register for a race that I wasn't all too keen on, if she really wanted to do it.

But then I started half joking about doing the Center of the Nation series (and adding the Montana Half Marathon to it for a total of 6 half marathons in 6 days), and somehow I sort of wound up roping her into doing those races as well. And while I would never force her into doing races that she didn't want to do, it becomes very clear that when it comes to choosing the events we participate in together... I seem to be the bad influence (always picking ridiculous goals and pushing for more and more).

Brina is perfect Princess, meaning she has run the Disney Princess Half every year since it was introduced. I knew she wanted to run the Princess half marathon all along, and we had planned for me to join her. But about a month ago, Run Disney announced that in addition to their family 5K and the half, they were going to add in a 10K race and create a 2 race challenge called the Glass Slipper Challenge, where runners would tackle 10K on day 1 and the half marathon on day 2... for a total of 19.3 miles at Disney (and 3 medals).

Of course it sounds crazy.

Not quite as crazy as 78.6 miles in 6 days, but still pretty crazy.

So of course we are in.

Today, the Disney Princess race registration becomes available to the general public. Being an annual pass holder allowed me early registration last week, and because we were both afraid that the Glass Slipper would sell out early, Brina and I jumped at the opportunity to register.

It is going to be crowded. Probably much more crowded than I would normally like, but I'll get a girls weekend out of the deal... and I'll get to represent my favorite Disney princess.

Yep, that's right. When you register, you choose your favorite Disney princess, and her likeness is printed on your bib.

Now I'll just have to come up with a cute costume to represent her.

I'm a slacker

I've run into a slight snag with my training for my big birthday trip... I had originally wanted to spend last week running 5 miles per day, all 5 weekdays... but then the storms came. While I enjoy a nice rain (both misting and torrential downpours) while actually out on my runs, I find it so difficult to motivate to leave the house while it is raining.

When the rain comes while on a run, it serves to cool me off after I have already worked up a sweat. If I have to leave the house while it is raining, I go from dry to soaking wet from rain, and I just hate that.

So last week, I managed to run 2 nights in a row. The next night I was rained out. The 4th night of the week I was also rained out, so Ray and I went to watch the basketball game with friends who are on the Superman Walks Project Tommy's Dream Team. Then Friday, it was threatening rain all day, so I skipped my run for a double date with some friends to see The Great Gatsby.

But as the week progressed, I found myself worrying about something else as well.

With the constant threat of storms lately, my migraines have been out of control. But with the really high humidity index, my asthma has been out of control.

While I am happy to say that I haven't really had to use my albuterol, I have noticed a significant impact on my breathing. I've been short of breath for about a week, and have had some sporatic issues of being unable to catch my breath while walking outside. This makes keeping up with my training difficult.

I know that running in the morning will probably help ensure that I get these runs in, but my sleeping patterns have been messed up for years. The current trend is that I go to bed at 12 exhausted and wake at 4am... but then I am so groggy and out of it (from the sleep medication that I didn't fully sleep off), that motivating for a morning run is just not happening.

I feel like a slacker. I feel like a loser. I feel like a failure.

I have goals. And I know I wont be able to meet those goals if I don't buckle down and get the training done.

The good news is, the earnest training for the 6 in 6 challenge doesn't need to start until Monday.

In the meantime, I will keep on with the 30 day squat challenge.


Technically I am on day 15, but I missed a day this weekend so I repeated. I already notice a difference in strength... That first day when I did 50 squats, I thought my muscles were going to explode. Now it takes getting past 100 to feel that way, and I don't start struggling until I hit about 120-125.  Tonight I do 135, so we'll see how that goes.

How long before I am supposed to notice a difference in my body though?

Happy Birthday (to me)

It started as a joke between Ray and I. It was just a way to ensure I got all 13 of my half marathons in before the end of the year... particularly because I knew that I would get really busy again with work in the fall.

I had found a running series that would take me through 5 states in 5 days, the week before my birthday in September.

And considering that the week before my birthday always tends to be high stress and I always seem to wind up feeling let down after my birthday... it certainly would be an interesting way of celebrating.

It was a ludicrous idea and we laughed about how absurd the idea sounded. Because really, I struggled with doing 2 half marathons in 6 days earlier this year. But the more we laughed about it, the more I found myself wondering why I was selling myself short. I wouldn't admit that to Ray though.

But then my good friend and running partner Brina suggested in passing that she wanted to find a destination race so that she could catch up to me and finish 13 half marathons in 2013 too.

So then I joked with her that maybe she could do this 5 races in 5 days thing. OK, so maybe I wasn't entirely joking when I brought it up to her... but as long as I passed it off as joking, she wouldn't think I was crazy when she heard this asinine idea.

But when she heard this asinine idea, she didn't think I was so crazy. We joked about it, and somewhere along the line, we started wondering why we were joking about it instead of planning to make it a reality.

And so we started planning. And we invited our friend Seth along for the journey too. We've still got a few logistical things to iron out (specifically the airfare), but we are ready to do this, and take the Center of the Nation by storm.

Center of the Nation Monument

• September 16: Bowman, ND
• September 17: Belle Fourche, SD
• September 18: Colony, WY
• September 19: Albion, MT
• September 20: Chadron NE

Doing this race would also catapult us past the Saturn, and Jupiter, levels of Half Fanatics to land us squarely on Mars (3 half marathons in 3 days), but Seth kindly pointed out that if we added a 6th half marathon, we would qualify for the Earth status (6 in 16 days) at Half Fanatics.

So of course, recognizing that doing 5 in 16 days would be difficult enough, we rationalized that we might as well add our 6th half marathon while on this trip. Because when you are already doing something insane, what is just a little more cray?

A desolate road in Billings Montana

Then the question becomes, do we want a rest day in there? Do we want to tack one on for September 21 (my actual birthday), or do we want it the weekend prior to our running streak? And how much recovery time will we need after 6 races in order for folks to return to their regular responsibilities in the real world?

After weighing the options, it ultimately all came down to money. Which race was still in the early registration stages and would be the least expensive to tack on? And so we settled on the Montana Half Marathon in Billings Montana on September 15.

We are well aware of just how crazy this all seems. We won't be pushing for personal records on our times (although I need to get one race with a PR to have proof of time for my upcoming Disney Marathon in January), and the races themselves (other than the Montana half on 9/15) have no man left behind time-limit policies. But we are still aware of how crazy it all sounds.

It is going to take a lot of training, but I'm ready.

And the motivation is tri-fold...

1. I will be doing something that will challenge me more than anything has ever challenged me before.
2. These 6 races on top of the 7 I have already finished total 13 and makes me hit my half marathon goal for the year after only 9 months.
3. If I am burning approximately 2,130 calories per half marathon, I can only imagine the amount of birthday cake I will be able to consume guilt free!

That sounds like a win-win-win to me!




(Aw crap, what the heck have I gotten myself into?)