The Dust Settles

It was a good idea to take Saturday off. I had a strong 39 mile run today, steady and consistent all the way to the end, I was running a decent pace. I didn't feel wiped out when I was done, either.

I thought about doing more miles with the daylight that was left, but decided I should stop while I was still fresh and expedite my recovery. I don't need to be doing junk miles.

I used the day as a mental training run, I tried to focus and be consistent in my pace and my run-walk-run transitions. I had the wind to challenge me in all directions. I was running quite a bit faster than I'll need to at Across the Years, and it helped me figure out how much slower of a pace I'll want to keep during the 48 hours.

It was an interesting day with the weather. It started out as a nice morning, the day became clear, calm and warm. About halfway through my run I saw a front moving in over the mountains. Suddenly a big bank of dark gray clouds moved in, the wind started howling, and Longs Peak was obscured under the storm. There were a few cold raindrops stinging my face but not enough to get wet.

At one point there was a huge dust storm on the west side of the lake. It looked like one of those dust devils in Death Valley except it was about 80 degrees cooler. I had to wrap my jacket around my face to get through it. I was prepared for almost any weather, but I didn't bring my swim goggles on this run.

Within 2 hours, the clouds moved over, Longs Peak and the Mummy range had fresh snow, and the sun was starting to shine on the foothills. In the last hour and a half of my run it was sunny, clear, and warm but still windy.

Looks like we have one more day of beautiful fall weather according to the forecast, and then we have to pay for this extended summer. The first snow could fall this week. Perfect timing, this is my easy week!

All in a day's work...

Thursday I spent most of the day and night running. I set out with a goal of 18 hours or 80 miles, whichever came first. It didn't quite end up that way but it was close enough. I was on my feet for 19 hours and covered 70.5 miles. I spent a good 2 hours of that time taking breaks and taking pictures. My total running time ended up being 16 hours and 55 minutes.

My original plan was to start out super early in the morning, like 3 am, and run around my neighborhood until about 6 am, then drive down to the lakes before sunrise. I would run all day and then my friend Doug Nash would meet me around 6:30 pm and run with me until 9 pm, when I was done.

I didn't know what it would be like out there all night at the lakes, I've only been there during the day, but I have seen a few unsavory looking characters at times and felt I would be better off with someone to run with out there at night.

The night before my run, I got an e-mail from Paul Grimm, asking if I still planned to run all day and into the night. He was interested in joining me, possibly with his S.O. Karla, and another ultra runner friend of ours. Paul sounded sure he would be there by 8:30 or 9, so I changed my plan to get up early and allowed myself to sleep in until 5 am, then I drove down to the lakes.





The morning was C-O-L-D! It was the first night that the temperatures had dropped below freezing which is unusual for this area in late October. I heard 22 degrees that morning but judging from the ice that was on the lake and the vegetation off the side of the trail, plus some frozen solid puddles on the west side of the lake, I'm guessing it was more like sub-20 degrees. My hands and feet were completely frozen, I struggled with the camera and beng able to feel my fingers and the bottoms of my feet for the first couple of laps.





The sunrise was awesome and there was steam coming off the lakes. On the west side of Equalizer Lake, an irrigation pipe had burst from the cold, and flooded about an 1/8 mile section of the course, which necessitated a detour into the shoulder, and I had to leap over three or four muddy sections with water flowing through for most of the day until the sun dried things up. The area never dried out even by night, so that section became a permanent part of my loop, which slowed things a little until the worst of the mud solidified.



For the first hour or so I took pictures, so it took forever to get around the lakes the first loop. At sunset I did another slow loop where I took pictures. The pair of eagles were in the tree again.



The day was clear and the lakes were smooth as glass all morning. Lately we've had some fierce wind and that was my main concern, having to deal with the wind all day. But it never got to anything more than a mild breeze.



I listened to my music most of the day. I'm not really sure what went through my head because I wasn't paying attention to my thoughts, I was looking around me at the light changing and the beautiful scenes. The mountains, water, cornfields, buildings, everything was so clear and colorful. It felt like a moving visit to an art gallery.









As I write this, I just realized that it was a relief to have my mind clear from any troubling thoughts junking up my ability to lose myself in the run. It's been a long time since I've been able to do that!







The day was cold and I stayed bundled up all day from head to toe in 2 to 5 layers, including gloves and a headband over my ears. The only time I got warm was late afternoon, just before the sun was setting, but I stayed dressed, knowing the heat would be gone quickly.

As a result I ended up with my own Halloween tan, a stripe across my forehead from my headband, and the raccoon eye mask from my sunglasses.



I felt good all day. I took it easy during the day, knowing I would have all those fresh bodies with me at night, I wanted to be able to run with them. I took a few breaks off my feet. My car was loaded up with warm clothes, my cooler and all my food and supplies.

I covered everything up with towels because otherwise it would look like I was living out of my car. I had sandwiches, gatorade, coke, coffee drinks, hot water in my thermos for soup and hot chocolate, lots of snacks including my old standby Starbucks banana chocolate chip coffee cake.

What ended up happening was Doug showed up at 6:30, and Paul drove up just as we were starting out on a lap. Karla was unable to make it. My running partner Cat had another running event she was attending but she was going to come down to say hi and run a lap with us. Doug and I ran a lap while Paul got his stuff organized and then Doug went home. Paul and I started running. Cat came down and joined for about a lap and a half, and then Paul and I continued until 2 am.



Paul is a 2010 Badwater finisher among numerous other ultra and ultra-triathlon accomplishments. We had never run together before this so it was an opportunity to get to know him a little better. We had plenty to talk about in the nearly 8 hours we ran. Paul is going to join us in running Across the Years for his first time this December.

I felt good and ran well for a few hours after sunset, then I started to need more walk breaks. Eventually Paul and I walked most of the last few laps. It was great training for Across the Years, which was the purpose of this run anyway.

I had no problem staying awake, all I had for caffeine was one 16 ounce bottle of coke that I drank before sunset. I didn't get sleepy even after midnight, but I am sure if I'd stayed out there a little longer I would have.

Catharine had the best quote of the entire run. She said to us, "I love running with people like you, it makes me feel normal!"

I got home by 2:30 am, didn't bother unloading the car, I just went in the house, took a shower, and climbed into bed. I slept from 3 am until 11:30 am. Then I unloaded the car, ate, drank- I woke up with a bad headache probably from dehydration. I felt pretty good other than the headache. My feet were tender, but no blisters. My muscles were not sore at all. I soaked in the hot tub for 15 minutes and my feet burned when I got in, from the heat rash.

Then I went back to bed from 2 pm until 4:30 pm. I took The Buffaloes for a walk, ate some leftovers for dinner, Dennis came home from work, and I went back to bed at 8 pm and slept until nearly 7:00 this morning. I figured I slept 21 hours out of the past 28 hours since I got home Friday morning. Is that normal? I guess I needed it.

Thanks to Doug, Catharine, and Paul for joining me on this perfect day!

Today I will run and attempt to get my life back to normal, maybe do some yard work, clean the bathroom, etc. Maybe I can make myself feel normal, too.

Ninety miles and still smiling

I just wrapped up a 90 mile week, with 80 miles in 3 days over the weekend. I feel good, which is encouraging, because I've been struggling this winter to get back into the routine of doing the mileage. It's amazing how much one year of casual running can set you back when you start doing long runs again. I'll barely have a decent mileage base by the time I do the Keys race, but the Keys race is only one step on the way back to bigger goals.

I started out Friday morning at 4:30 am with the Buffaloes. We did a 5 1/2 mile loop, then I brought them home, did another 5 1/2 mile loop, then got home and Cat was there waiting. We did 20 miles together, mostly on the bike path, then I was at 30 miles. We both were complaining about feeling tired, low energy. We both had extremely busy weeks. We ran well though.

After Cat left, I took a break to eat some soup and change clothes. For some reason I felt like taking a shower too so I did that and then changed into all clean clothes. It felt so good!

I headed back out on the bike path and did two more out and backs of 11 and 13 miles before I was zoned out and ready for a nap. I did quite a bit of walking during this part and was flying, between 12 1/2 and 14 minute miles for walking pace! I need a lot of practice at getting my fast walking pace back, since it's so useful to keep me going during breaks from running during ultras.

I was at 54 miles when I got back to the house, around 5 pm, and felt like I could keep going except I was so tired that I'd be just walking the rest of the way, which would be silly. I decided that I would get some sleep. If I woke up from a nap, I'd go out and finish the 70. If not, I'd finish over the weekend.

I went to bed after eating dinner and slept for 11 hours. I woke up Saturday morning and felt great. I had a morning appointment to get my hair cut, so after that, I went out and did 16 miles in the cold wind. I felt fantastic! I ran fast, even with the headwind, and my legs weren't sore at all, hardly even stiff, and I felt good the whole way, didn't need to walk. That was a good call, to finish the 70 running instead of walking.

Sunday I did my weight workout and went to the sauna, then I ran in the afternoon, 10 miles of Horsetooth Hills starting with the Harvest Farm group. I ran well on the hills, I felt strong. Toward the end on the downhills I could feel my legs, they aren't sore but they are tired.

Food is my next priority...

Seventy Smiles

I'm up early, stuffing in as many calories as I can stand to eat at 3:30 in the morning. In the next half hour or so I'll be out the door to start a 70 mile run, my longest run leading up to the Keys 100, which is just 7 weeks away!

There's nothing better than a long run, all day, listening to music and letting my mind relax when I'm alone, and enjoying the company for part of the run. Today I'll have someone to run with for about half the miles. I'll start out this morning with the Buffaloes, then I'll be joined by Cat at 7 am for at least another 20.

The big snowstorm we got Tuesday night dumped about 4 inches of heavy, wet spring snow on everything, weighing down the trees and leaving big chunks of slush in the roads, but it was mostly gone in a day, and the roads are dry. I lucked out as today is supposed to be the nicest day of the week. High in the mid 50s and low in the 30s forecast. There's a bright moon this morning and I hope to be done before it gets too late into the darkness this evening.

The girls don't mind getting up at 3 am if it means they get to go running. They are sitting on the futon, staring at me, wondering when I'll quit typing and get going.

See you in 70.

TGIF

February!

The days are getting longer, only another 5 weeks to daylight savings time, the sun is higher in the sky, the squirrels and birds are getting more active, and the frozen tundra of dog poop in the back yard is slowly melting, but not enough yet for the big spring cleanup.

This winter has been consistently colder and we are not seeing 50 degrees temperatures like we normally would. Everything is still icy and frozen, and the sidewalks are still treacherous in shady areas under trees. Today I noticed in the paper that last year on this day the high temperature was 62 degrees, today's expected high was 42.

I started getting grumpy a few weeks ago with the frozen ice shelf in the front yard, down the street in front of my house. It looks like Antarctica out there.

Last Friday, the 29th, Cat and I did a 50 mile training run. It was a gorgeous day, we started out in fog and ice, our hair and faces looked like frosted little old ladies with our ice beards and frozen spaghetti hair. I felt like a grumpy old lady at first because the sidewalks in Fort Collins and bike path in Loveland were so icy.

We broke the run up into 3 legs of 25, 15 and 10 miles. In between each we stopped at my house for a quick change of clothes and some food and drinks.

We started at my house 7 am in the fog and ran down to Loveland. We forgot our cameras! First we ran to Loveland, to Eisenhower & Denver, stopping into a coffee shop where we entertained all the patrons with our ice princess look. We tried to take a picture with Cat's cell phone but it wouldn't work. We froze our butts off on the way down. The low points of the hills along Lemay and then the bike path along Boyd Lake were several degrees colder than the tops of the hills, and the sun wouldn't break through the fog. We kept begging it to come out but it wouldn't.

We both felt good on the first 25 mile stretch and we made great time.

We got back to my house in the cold sunshine. It was a bit warmer on the way back from Loveland, but we still wished we had brought more clothes. Cat had a sandwich at my house and I had some soup. We packed extra warm clothes on the way out for the next leg, west along the Spring Creek Trail to Hughes Stadium, because we anticipated wind.

Slowly we started to warm up on the way out. As we approached the west end of the Spring Creek Trail, we both started having a bad patch. I felt like I should have eaten more before I left the house. We kept telling each other it's downhill all the way home. We both suffered a bit on this stretch. We got back to my house with 40 miles behind us, knowing we had only 10 to go. We both ate again and packed more warm clothes and lights for when it got dark.

The last 10 mile out and back we decided to repeat the Spring Creek Trail because it was close to rush hour and we wanted to avoid traffic. This time we didn't have to go as far. The sun set around the time we hit our far point at about 45 miles on the Spring Creek Trail. The sunset was a spectacular clear pink-peach-purple and when we turned around to run the last 5 miles back to my house we were both surprised by the big full moon.

I didn't realize it but it was a full moon again for my long run this month. We both felt recharged by this point and picked up the pace on the way back. We got back to my house by 6:30 pm, giving Cat a PR for the 50 mile distance! Not bad to do that in a laid back training run, with plenty of stops and breaks.

I was tired over the weekend but I maanaged to get out and run with The Buffaloes. Only 2 weeks to the Pemberton Trail 50K in Arizona. I hope I'll feel decent. It's hard coming back after a year of doing no ultras. I did feel better today.

This morning we woke up to TGIF day, February 1st, and we're celebrating. The Buffaloes did a longer run, then I sat in the hot tub while Isabelle sunbathed in the yard. She's waiting for the big thaw too.

Blue Moon Across the Decades 12 hour run

As I think about the year ahead, I will focus on the good things that are coming my way, and I'm letting go and dropping the burden I've been carrying from the difficult events of the last year. I am thankful for the gifts in my life, and for the opportunities I had to grow and learn. Life is an ultra, and every finish line is the start of the next adventure.

I planned the Blue Moon Across the Decades run as my solution to missing Across the Years. I only wanted to do 12 hours over the two days, no big mileage goals, I'd be happy with 50. I only wanted to run 6 hours and then I could walk the rest of the time. I needed it for my head more than anything. This would be my longest run of 2009 if I went over 30.

This year has been pretty rough. In the past couple of months I've begun to see things more clearly, I've learned a lot and I'm doing a lot of personal growth, figuring out what I want and how to help it happen. I'm on a journey to steer my life back in a direction that feels right, that takes me back on the path that I know will lead me to happier places. Running, as always, is a big part of that and I haven't devoted nearly enough energy to it all year. I've allowed the energy-sucking forces to take away from my enjoyment and participation in my favorite activity. I can't let that happen anymore!

Since I haven't trained much all year, I didn't need to exhaust myself by running all night, trying to put in 100 miles or 24 hours or some big goal. I figured a 12 hour run would be enough to get some miles in and get my head cleaned out of some junk, and get focused on the good stuff ahead.

I took almost all of last week off, I was sick with a cold. I did one snowshoe run of 30 minutes that week. My legs felt sore each time I ran once I started up again. Weird. On December 30th I ran 11 miles, 5 in the morning by myself and then met Catharine and several others for a 6 mile moonlight run on the Poudre Trail. Afterwards we sat at Starbucks and talked, and I bought some snacks for my run the next day.


December 31 started like any other day in our household. The Buffaloes got their treats, went outside with mom to look at the sky, and ate their breakfast. The moon was full and setting in the west. It was 13 degrees outside our kitchen window. The humans had coffee and got ready for their day. Dennis got ready for work and I prepared to go on my run. Iris brought me her duck.





It was 10 degrees when I started, just after the moon set and the sun was rising in the southeast. I put on two pairs of tights and four layers on top, a set of gloves under my mittens, a neck gaiter, earband, and hat. I had my lightweight pack, just one bottle, a few gel packs, and my MP3 player.

I told the girls I'd be back to take them later but I needed to start my run alone. I wanted to get a good chunk of miles in before I had to make any stops.


I went west on the Spring Creek Trail out to the stadium before I turned around. I saw Larry from the running store but no one else I knew. There were few runners out so early. I got back to the house at 10:30 and got the girls' leashes. They danced around all excited. I wanted to take them for a decent run but they were pulling me on the ice and I didn't want to risk injury with my already tired legs.

Catharine and I made plans that I'd check my email when I got back to the house and if she could, she'd run with me to finish her mileage for the year. She had 7 miles to go on her annual goal.

I took the girls home after just 2 slippery treacherous miles on the ice. I promised them we'd do more after New Years. Our neighborhood never gets plowed. The streets are too small. I thought I was paying taxes too, but I guess that's not enough to get your street plowed after 2 blizzards. It's like 4 wheeling over a mogul run in the intersection at the end of our street. It's been cold and nothing has melted yet.

Regardless, I went home, refilled my bottle and drank a bunch of gatorade and water. I changed into dry clothes and left the house at 11:30 to meet Cat at the clinic. She met me coming up the Power Trail. We did our seven miles to get her goal for the year. It was a clear, perfect day, not too cold but we didn't get too warm, either.



Catharine reached her year goal of 3500+ miles, 3503 to be exact. That's 70 miles a week all year. I've never done mileage like that, I told her. Awesome job, Cat! We took a quick break for a photo op and then she went back to work and I ran home.

Becoming friends and running partners with Catharine over the past year is one of those gifts I am so thankful for, something I didn't expect or anticipate, but was meant to be. Who would have thought that here in Fort Collins I'd meet someone my own age who likes to run as much as I do, is open to doing the ultra distances and gets the same crazy ideas for training runs that I concoct in my head, that most people consider insane running plans.

It's one thing to have someone to share those miles with, but to find someone who can make just the right amount and topic of conversation, makes our runs that much more meaningful. We have a mutual friend, Steve, who knows we are two peas in a pod and when he found out we'd met each other and were running together, he said, "That's trouble!"


When I got home from the section with Cat I was starving. I had 27 miles in. I had left a can of soup on the counter to remind myself to eat, but I didn't need a reminder. I devoured the soup and made a sandwich. I drank more gatorade and took some magnesium. I took a long break, changed clothes again, and headed out for the rest of the daylight. I only needed a little over an hour to get my 6 hour running goal, and I wanted to do 8 hours on my feet for the first day, which would leave me only 4 hours for January 1st.

I decided I would run until the moon rose. I went out the bike path again. I walked a solid hour to let the food digest and I saw several foxes, and four deer. I thought about what it would be like to be circling the track at Across the Years, and thought of many of the runners, wondering how they were spending their holiday and what their running plans were. It was starting to get to late afternoon, about my favorite time of day at ATY. I always love sunset and going into the night. I'd stop and eat whatever food they had for us at the aid station, and get more warm clothes on, recharge my batteries and get out again, ready to listen to music and move forward under the night sky.

But this time I was on the bike path in Fort Collins, the sun was setting, and it was getting dark. I forgot to bring my light. I made it home at 5pm just before dark and left Dennis a note on the counter. I grabbed my light, put an extra layer on, and took off for my final 40 minutes.

When I got home it was exactly 8 hours of moving forward since I started, I had 6 hours of running in and 2 hours of walking, and I had 40.4 miles the day. The moon was full above the street and it was bright on the snow.

The girls greeted me with barking, smiling and howling. Dennis came home with some champagne.




































I had a typical night of sleep that night. I woke up in the middle of the night, couldn't sleep for a while, then slept until 5:30 or so. I got up and made coffee, started the day again as usual. It was slightly warmer, 15 degrees outside the window. I wanted to drive over to the Roost and use my car as my aid station. The Roost was opening at 9 am for a sale and Cat and the others would be there to shop and then to run at 10 am.



I left the house and made one stop at Starbucks around the corner. I got a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream and some so-called "low fat" banana chocolate chip coffee cake for the road. Eric, the awesome barista there, asked me how things were going in the world of crazy running. I told him what I was doing and I asked him to make that hot chocolate good for 20 miles. He said he calibrated it for 18, so he dumped a little more chocolate in there for the extra miles.




I parked at the Roost. No one was there yet but I could see Steve and the others inside setting up for the sale. I took off and did my first leg of about an hour and 20 minutes, stopping in the store after 9 am to do a little shopping. I got another pair of shoes and a running bra. At 10:00 I took off with Cat and the other runners, there was a group of about 20 of us. We ran about a 4 1/2 mile loop. The morning was getting warmer and the sky was clear. The clouds lifted from the front range and we were treated to these incredible views of Longs Peak, the Mummy Range, and Horsetooth Rock.






























After the group run I decided to finish my last hour and change from the Roost. I said Happy New Year to everyone and took off for my final 7 miles. I did quite a bit more walking the second day, trying to get my fast walk rhythm again, even though I felt good when I was running. I had no idea what distances I was covering the second day since I don't run on those roads on a regular basis. I managed to get 17.4 in the four hours. I finished back at the Roost at 12 hours on the nose, with 57.8 miles for the two days. I went inside the store and had some water, hung out for a while talking with everyone before I left to go home.










When I got home, I took a shower, ate something, got comfortable and wrote down some goals for the year. Then I crashed on the bed with Iris for about 45 minutes. Dennis told me he could hear me snoring from all the way downstairs. Afterwards we went out for sushi. When we got home, I sat upstairs quietly for a while, reflecting on the run and the coming year, ready to take in all the good things ahead of me.

Then I went to bed before 8:00 and slept a solid 9 hours, without waking up! If 70 miles in 3 days is what it takes to sleep, I'm all for it! I hope I can spend this holiday next year back at Across the Years, but whatever happens is okay with me. I plan to be running, somewhere.












Happy New Year!

Pedestrians on Crack

I finally made the right choice for running this weekend.

After my run at Fruita, I knew I didn't want to feel like that again in two weeks, and the idea of waking up at 3 am, going for a bus ride and getting motion sickness, freezing my butt off up Poudre Canyon waiting for the start, and pounding my body for 26 miles downhill on pavement, none of it sounded like fun. I am so happy to be blogging here this morning, preparing to take the Buffaloes out and get a leisurely 10 to 15 miles once the sun comes out.

Yesterday after "sleeping in" until 6:00, I drove up to Wyoming to join Katy for a run on the Wyoming Double Marathon course. We did one out and back on the course, for a 26+ mile run. Driving up in the morning it was foggy and raining in different places all the way up to the summit at the Lincoln Monument, but it wasn't snowing, and the wind wasn't too bad.

Katy's husband Wade drove us to the monument from the Turtle Rock trailhead so I could park my car and leave extra water, food and clothes, so we'd have an aid station at about 10 and 15 miles on the course.

We ran a lot but that course is deceptively hard, and we felt like we were in slow motion, even though we were running strong on most of it and keeping our walk breaks to a minimum. Still we were calling ourselves pedestrians because of the slow pace. I reminded Katy that in the early 1900s they used to call multi-day runners and ultrarunners "pedestrians".



We had typical Wyoming weather though. Every five minutes we were in a different climate. It would look like the sun was going to break through the thick fog, and we'd feel warm and start taking off layers, and down the next dip in the course we'd be able to see our breath, and we'd be freezing again. Then the fog would get so thick you couldn't see. Then it would rain. Then it would snow. Then we would warm up again.

The fog gave us enough breaks so that we were able to see the beautiful granite rock formations along the road, all though the Vedauwoo area. There were little pine trees growing out of cracks in the rocks everywhere. I've never been able to look closely at the rock formations before because the only times I've been up here have been for the race, and then I've been less focused on the scenery.

The only unpleasant part of this course is generally the two-plus mile stretch of pavement along the I-80 frontage road. That's usually where you catch the wind blowing full-blast in your face. The wind wasn't bad for our run, but it was cold.

On our way out on the frontage road we were looking at the thick fog. We could have used more of that fog on the way back along the frontage road, because there wasn't enough fog to cover the cracks.

I'm not talking about the cracks in the rocks.

As we turned the corner after the east underpass below I-80, we were noticing how cold it was, and we could see our breath. We saw a Subaru drive by slowly and it parked at the corner where the exit offramp came down to the road we were on. Two people got out of the car, a very large man and a woman. They walked over to a light pole and seemed to be interested in the bolts around the base of the pole.

Katy and I didn't say much, we just made our right turn onto the frontage road and we slowed down to cross the cattle guard with Kira. As we looked to the right, all we could see was the man's HUGE PLUMBER'S CRACK, his jeans down to about his knees, bent over looking at the bolts on the ground.

OMIGOD. I don't think they make a coin large enough for that slot.

It was enough to make us start running again. Fast.

After we got away from the crack, Kira started to pull toward the snow again. Katy helped her cool off by cleaning the gravel off the snow she was eating, and gave her another snow hat. Kira loves it.

Kira ran with us for 20 miles, until Wade checked on us and took her with him while Katy and I finished our run. He told us about a cow moose he saw down in the willows but by the time we got there, there were several cars and we didn't see the moose.

We saw clusters of pasque flowers all along the east part of the course.

Later on this spring and summer I will come up here when the snow has melted and we can get into the trails in this area.











So much better than 26 miles downhill on pavement!