16 weeks and sadly not running

I'm well into my second trimester and although this pregnancy overall seems easier than the first, I find that the nausea is dragging on and I have an annoying injury I can't seem to shake. Until about 2 weeks ago, my running was going really well. I was sticking with 40-50 miles/week with runs up to 17 miles and feeling strong. I feel like I could have kept that up no problem, but seem to have developed some sort of soft-tissue injury in my right arch. After a great week of running (including that 17 miler), my arch started bugging me a little after runs. In my normal sensibility, I completely ignored it and did about 30 miles in 3 days. Big mistake, the pain started keeping me up at night and my foot ached all day. So, like any regular person, I figured one day off should fix it. The next day, I went out for 10 minutes and was limping so bad that I had to turn around and painfully walk home. I then took 6 days off! In a row!! Serious sacrifice here! After the break, went out for an easy 5 miler, had no problems most of the run, but started having twinges by the end and again was kept up at night with the pain. I have now taken another 5 or 6 days off and the foot still hurts just walking around. I actually have a palpable lump in the middle of my arch and it's swollen. Luckily, there was a warm spell here and I was able to get out on my road bike a couple times, did some rock climbing, some skinning up the local ski hill, and today went for a swim. There is just nothing like running, though. It's the only sport I've found that I can get ready for in 3 minutes, do from my front door, no partner or special equipment needed, and can get a killer workout in an hour. I miss it terribly and am desperately trying to let this foot heal so I can get back to it.

About two weeks ago, I had one of those experiences runners often fear but rarely encounter. While on my normal loop with a friend, we came upon a man with two dogs on the side of the bike path. As we approached, one of the dogs let out a little growl, so we edged around to the other side of the path to avoid it. As we passed, the dog ran after me, lunged, and sunk his teeth into the back of my thigh. I was shocked and shaken and even had myself a nice little cry. After getting my leg cleaned up in the closest bathroom, I went back and located the owner, who denied the dog ever having had such encounters before. He also assured me the dog was current with all of its shots. I decided to get his information anyway. This man lives in a neighborhood that is FULL of little kids and the dog bit me right at eye level on a toddler. I thought I had to do the neighborhood a service by contacting the police. Soon after getting off the phone with the officer, I got a call back telling me that the dog actually had a history of biting (3 times!!) and was not vaccinated. Needless to say, I opted to have the officer fine them for a vicious dog. The dog was also quarantined for 10 days to make sure it didn't have any signs of rabies. As far as I know, the dog was returned to his owners after the quarantine. The whole experience was more traumatic than I thought it would be. I had to take a round of antibiotics, which I hate to do even while not pregnant. I had to flush the wound out by myself, which hurt really freaking bad, and I still have a nasty looking wound nearly 3 weeks after the incident. I will most definitely have a scar from it. While I'm not a dog owner, I would hope that my response would be very much more apologetic and concerned than this owner was and I would seriously consider putting the dog down. He was nonchalant about the whole thing and hardly apologized for his dog, who was completely unprovoked and not defending its own territory. OK, that's enough whining from me, but here are some photos for evidence:

I took this about 24 hours out.

This is 10 days out. The scab is a little smaller than a dime.

Last weekend was wonderful. Mike, Selah, and I were all together the entire time and we just had so much fun. Saturday was beautiful, sunny, and unseasonably warm, so we headed to a winter crag for some climbing. Selah got to try out her new harness and I got to reawaken my arms after months of no climbing. We followed the climbing with a hot springs soak and yummy dinner. Sunday was supposed to be a little cooler, so we packed the car up and headed to the desert. We were also treated by Selah to a 7:30 wake up time! Incredible! We went to Colorado National Monument and when we got there, found out the road over the monument was closed, perfect for our roadbiking plans! We had the privilege of riding through the beautiful canyons and steep cliff faces with the road to ourselves. After riding for a few hours, we caught the last rays of sunlight and headed to the crags once again, this time to sandstone splitters. Here are some pics to document the weekend.

Selah enjoying her bar on the way to the crag. Check out the sweet shades on that babe!

Selah climbing in her chest harness. Since little kids don't have hips, they could theortically fall out of a harness if turned upside down. The chest harness makes this pretty much impossible and is much safer. It fits Selah juuuuust barely right now but should fit her until she grows hips!

While she does enjoy climbing, it is usually for a very short amount of time. She is however, easily entertained by rocks, dirt, flowers, sticks, spiders, waterbottles, and the like. She truly loves being outside and I am SO thankful for that!

Selah and I on Sunday near Fruita. While there was still quite a bit of snow on North-facing slopes, the road was clear enough to ride. Selah had fun pointing out all of the things she knew, such as rocks, which she says are for "climin", birdies that fly, airplanes (aepanes). When I asked her what kind of animals lived in the forest below, she swore that deer did not, but she thought cows did and probably moose, both of which "eat snow for dinner". She is also into colors, well color, because everything is "green" right now. So, I just stick to asking her what color trees, frogs, grass, and such things are.

Post ride hike to the crag in the beautiful evening light. Selah rode on Mike's shoulders most of the way, but wanted to get down and hike herself for the last part.

She tried climbing again and got about 10 feet off the ground, at which point she asked to swing and spin on the rope. She has no fear of hanging on the rope.

Selah and I have recently had two opportunities to take free mommy-daughter ski days. These days are so fun! While she still has basically zero control over the skis, she loves it and keeps asking to go.

On our second run on Snowmass last weekend, Selah fell asleep halfway up the chairlift and remained asleep through me getting her off the lift, skiing all the way down with her in my arms (she snored while my arms shook with fatigue), getting both of our skis off, and finding a sunny bench to sit on. She ended up sleeping for a good hour while I basked in the sun.

Once she discovered the gondola, which she keeps calling a truck, she just wanted to ride it up and down and up and down and up and down. The skiing was over, gondola rides are apparently MUCH cooler.

This is how all of our outside days end. Aaahhh.

My last big news? I officially gave my boss notice that I will not be returning to my job next year. As a family, we decided that I need to spend more time at home and less time stressing and working. These consistent 60 hour weeks are just too hard to maintain. To supplement our income, I have joined Rodan + Fields Dermatologists as an Independent Consultant. I am absolutely loving it, my business is thriving, and I can't wait to see where it takes our family. It is so nice to know that every hour I invest in this company is an hour I invest in myself. If you want the best skin of your life or could use some extra income, send me an email!

Goofy blon.de toddler is now a skier

Goofy blonde toddler.

The photo above is my favorite view from the far end of my normal Chariot route, a 7 mile hilly and traffic-free loop through a sparsely inhabited neighborhood. I've been thinking lately about how one's physical place of residence has such an impact on one's exercise patterns. I have always had standard routes from my front door, and I must say that this living space provides the best yet. I have a consistently snow-plowed bike path in several directions and this 7 mile loop is one of 4 possibilities on the course (it can be cut short 3 ways). If I were to live in a place without baby jogger friendly running routes or had to drive somewhere to exercise, I can imagine a decrease in the daily habit. From my last house, the most practical daily route was just 4 miles, now it's 7. Makes one wonder how much of a difference 20 miles/week makes.

Oh, yeah, and there's this....I'm assuming most of my readers are also my facebook friends and are aware of the fact that we're expecting #2 in July. For those of you new to this information, I'm 12 weeks and having a relatively easy pregnancy thus far. Minimal symptoms, mostly good sleep, mostly good energy. I was running fast until this week, when my pace went abruptly from about 8:00/mile to about 10:00/mile. I don't know if that's due to the fact that I'm recovering from a horrendous bout of bronchitis and quite wheezy or just because I'm pregnant. I definitely got slow last time, too. I am just SUPER happy to be running and was able to do 13 miles a couple days ago without a hitch. My first prenatal appointment was this week and everything looks like it's on course. We are planning another homebirth and will again be surprised with the sex.

Selah is now 21 months and SO FUN to be around. She snuggles, is a non-stop talker, constantly laughs, plays, loves school. We are truly excited to be bringing #2 into the world. Selah makes our world so much better, I can't wait to see what the next one does.

Selah very much looks up to her friend Juniper, who is a good example of safety.

Often when we run, Selah asks to get out and run herself. On this day a few weeks ago, she ran about 3/4 of a mile along a bike path. Impressive!

The three of us went to Jackson for an extended Christmas break, a wonderful time had by all. Like always, we played really hard (aside from the days that I laid on the couch hacking up a lung and watching episode after episode of "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant"--TV when you're sick after 11 years of a TV-free existence can REALLY suck you in). We also made GREAT food, skied skied skied, and talked talked talked. All of you that know my mom and me can attest to our, um... talking habits.


As soon as Selah figured out what opening presents was all about, she was psyched and wanted to open all of them herself. Luckily, the rest of the family graciously complied.

Mike made his yearly sugar cookies and included the now traditional cockandballs cookie for mom.

Mom, Dad, Selah and I skinned Snow King on New Year's. It was 0 degrees, balmy if you're from Jackson. The warming hut with a panoramic view of the Tetons made it quite worth the ascent.


Wes skinning up something in the vast Teton backcountry.


Mike, dad, me and Wes celebrating a great day of backcountry skiing.

Here's a picture of Dad topping out on Mount Glory. He rallies for a guy that's 63, really even for a 25 year old. The guy is fit and currently weighs the same that he did in high school, about as much as I do at 3 months pregnant. He is always lifting or doing lunges or pulling his big rubber bands around or begging to pull Selah in the Chariot while skiing. It's a pretty awesome thing to see that in my dad, especially when last Christmas break he didn't move off the couch due to a total knee replacement.

Mike has been volunteering two nights a week as a climbing coach for his high school students. He has about 40 regular attendees, including the quarterback of the football team, a few XC kids, and many that have never done a sport before. He and the other volunteer coach have raised several thousand dollars toward an indoor climbing wall at their school and have been able to purchase shoes, harnesses, ropes, etc to take the students climbing outside. Pretty neat!


This is Selah and me today!! I am SO excited about her new skis that arrived yesterday and so is she! A friend and I took her cross country skiing in the Chariot and brought her skis and boots along to try. She skied for about 20 minutes and kept asking for "more skiing Selah". She was able to balance well giggled louder and louder the faster we went. Tomorrow is teacher appreciation day (read: free lift tickets for me and Mike) so we're taking her to the lifts. I can't wait!!

Oyster Meister Part 1: Red Hill

Family time

Check out SeaLegsGirl, she's made me famous by choosing a photo of yours truly as the best ultrarunning photo of the year. (Seriously, check it out, it'll make you laugh)

The past couple of weeks have been a delightful whirlwind. I somehow managed to race 3 times in a 7 day stretch, travel to Iowa and Missouri, spend a week with Mike's extended family, celebrate Thanksgiving, etc etc. It was fantastic. Spending 7 days with Selah just makes me so happy--and miss her all the more when work starts up again. She is growing into a sweet little girl with new words popping up every day. One of her favorite things to do is go through pictures and identify anyone she sees--if you're on the fridge, she knows your name. She also loves "simmin" and makes every effort to get us out the door to do so, like tracking down her swimming suit and waiting by the door. Taking her to the hot springs has become one of my all time favorite family activities.




The days have gotten shorter with the end of daylight savings, but we haven't been deterred from our evening runs. The above run was interrupted by a heinous sleet storm at the far end of a 6 mile loop. With 3 miles of running in sleet and 30mph winds blowing straight into our faces, I became a genuine whiner and begged to call a friend to pick us up. I was denied, of course, and Mike spent the half hour letting me draft behind him and joking around, making fun of my being "soft".


As for races, all 3 of the races were unique and inspiring. The first was unofficial, a contest between all of the willing students and faculty at the boarding school where I work. Of course, since I knew every contestant and was defending my title from last year, I think I ran harder in this event than either of the others. It was the first event in a 6 part series, including rock climbing, kayaking or swimming, mountain biking, XC skiing, and one more I can't remember at the moment. At the end, there will be overall winners for the combined efforts in 5 of 6 events. For each male and female student that finishes ahead of our headmaster and his wife, respectively, a large sum of money will go to the school club of that student's choice. All of the faculty are pledging different amounts of money, parents are getting involved, it's a pretty novel idea. This first contest is a 3 mile trail run that gains about 1500 feet on technical singletrack. I gave it my all, but finished 2nd to an 8th grade girl that was visiting in hopes of making a good impression on our Nordic coach. She succeeded! About 10 boys beat me.

Mass start on the road.

Our headmaster, a barefoot running enthusiast. He admittedly lost some mojo after encountering snow about 1/2 mile from the start that continued to the end!

The second race was in Cedar Falls, Iowa, a trail run on the Hartman Reserve. In nutshell: $5 entry, no race numbers, no official timers, no keeping track of who finished where, somewhere between 3 and 4 miles long. 100 people showed up for this entertaining and beautiful race and Mike snagged 2nd and I snagged 1st for women and 8th overall. I won an apple pie for my efforts--love that Midwestern spirit.



The 3rd race was the largest Turkey Trot in Missouri, 7100 participants on a blustery Thanksgiving morning. I PR'd here last year and was hoping for a similar performance. I missed my PR, but ran a respectable 21:23, good enough for 18th/3007 women and 3rd in my age category. Mike rallied and ran 17:44, winning his age category. I truly love running big races and the positive energy that comes with them. There were twice as many runners as residents in the entire town we live in. I love seeing so many people out trying to do something good for themselves before enjoying the Thanksgiving feast.

Celebrating his win with a fresh Krispy Kreme.

From IA, we drove to MO to join Mike's extended family for Thanksgiving. This was their 19th Annual Great Rieken Adventure, AGRA. Depending on the year, between 20 and 40 people show up and stay under one roof for about 5 days.

The incredible hosts, Tom and Donna. They go way above and beyond and are superiorly gifted hosts. The amount of preparation that goes into AGRA is pretty astounding, and they make it happen with smiles.

Selah's 2nd cousin, Gabby, who just turned 2. They were hilarious to watch as they chased each other around, played hide and seek, colored, tickled, and were genuinely sweet little girls.

Really, it's been 3 months??

Wow, I knew I was a blogging slacker, but 3 months, really?! Sorry for all of you previously loyal followers... The combination of 60 hour work weeks, an 18 month old, XC season, and attempting to maintain an exercise schedule, well you get the point. Any how, here's a snippet of what's been going on with our little family.

Just after Tahoe, we went straight to Iowa for an extended visit. Many afternoons were spent at the pool because, in case you've never been to Iowa in July, it's freaking hot!

Selah loved this pair of goggles and wore them around for quite a while.

Iowa time was wrapped up with a family wedding. Here we with Mike's brothers, their ladies, and his mom, all dressed up.



August brought a Montana trip for a wedding on my side of the family (please forgive my lack of pictures of both wedding parties, I had to trim 3 months down somehow!).

I absolutely love this photo of 2nd cousins. Wish we all lived closer.


With September came the beginning of work for me and Mike and "school" for Selah. As much as I miss the heck out of her each day, she loves it. Most mornings, she puts her "pack pack" on and waits by the door.

Mike and I have enjoyed the minimal time we get together. It's been a gorgeous Fall in Colorado, like always, and we've gotten out to climb, hike, mountain bike, run, a little bit of everything. His XC schedule takes up most Saturdays and my on call schedule takes up pretty much the rest of them, so our time is limited. It's all or nothing for us--we have lots of time off (summers, holidays), but when we work, we work a LOT. We're trying to figure out a healthy balance and it has proven quite challenging.

Family hike day.

Daddy-daughter bouldering day. Selah got very excited about this little pothole on top of the boulder. I might be biased, but dang she is cute.

What would a tidbits of joy update be without a snippet on running? If I were honest, I'd say it took a full two months to recover from Tahoe 100. It was a completely different recovery experience than a 50 miler or marathon, where I feel normal after a few days. After Tahoe, I felt tired, heavy, and slow and didn't run farther than 10 miles for 2 whole months. For the first couple weeks of recovery, I slept until 10:30am every day (thank you, summertime!) and still felt ragged. Little by little, I got back at it and am now feeling fit again.

I have run 4 races since Tahoe, 3 of which were 5K's, 2 of which I actually won overall, and 1 where I got 2nd overall with the jogging stroller. The 4th was a half marathon in Denver. I know that doesn't sound consistent with feeling slow and heavy, but the competition was minimal at the races I won. The new 5K stroller PR is 23:00, also a small local race.

Family photo op at the Denver Rock N Roll Half Marathon. I PR'd with 1:37:49, but that was only good enough for 25th in my age group! Of over 9000 half marathoners, 1257 were women age 25-29. Mike ran 1:20:59, good for 3rd in his age category.

Cuties.

Flashback to one year ago. Times really does fly.

Tahoe Rim Trail 100

Finally a blog post, I needed something good to motivate me to write. Also, Mike's iPhone has allowed us to do all of our internet stuff while driving down the road instead of needing to stop at coffee shops to use our computers. Hence, we have not blogged a single time!

Short synopsis of the 2 months since my previous post:

Selah is walking. I have been training for my 100 mile race. Mike, Selah, and I headed out on our 6th annual summer roadtrip June 8th and have been to Yosemite, Lassen, Redwoods, Oregon Coast, Crater Lake, Seattle (Mike ran the Rock 'n Roll 1/2 marathon), Tahoe, and now Iowa. We have kept ourselves busy running, climbing, biking, visiting friends and family, and generally having a great time. We truly appreciate the fact that we have the opportunity to spend so much quality time with the people we love.

Selah spent her summer as any kid should: dirty and outside.

My training for Tahoe has really been years in the making, but most notably I did a 50 miler in May and a road marathon two weeks before the race. A quick note on the marathon...I was trying to use it as a training run, but just can't help but get competitive once that starting line gun goes off. It was a fast and flat marathon and I ended up doing the first half in 1:35, a little fast for me. There was an out and back from miles 5 to 18, so I could see that I was in 3rd place. Instead of being smart and just keeping steady, I decided to start surging to maintain my place. I paid for it later and had a slower second half for a finishing time of 3:24:17 (7:47 pace) and 8th woman of 190. A 6 minute PR, not too shabby.

Between the marathon and Tahoe, I ran only twice and did a few days of hiking. I think the rest was just what I needed, both physically and mentally. I tried not to think about the race and was able to sleep well and eat normally. When I think about racing too much, I tend to have a hard time eating and sleeping, so that was good for me.

Wes and Stef arrived a few days early, so we backpacked into the Incredible Hulk to climb and hang out.

My parents, brother and sister-in-law, and us all arrived in Tahoe on Monday, 6 days before the race. We rented a big condo and had wonderful family time full of laughter, conversation, hiking, lake time, climbing, and lots of food and beer.

We spent a day climbing at Lover's Leap. Here's dad on a steep and exposed pitch.

Found a natural waterslide at the end of the day. So nice!

Selah and Grandma playing by the lake.

Friday was the pre-race meeting in Carson City and Wes joined me for the drive. I shyly raised my hand when they asked who was running their first 100 and looked around to see just a few other hands up. They warned us about the heat (mid to high 80's), a large aggressive bear, and the strenuous new course that added about 4,000 feet of vertical. They weighed us and checked our blood pressure (I was a bit hypertensive with the nerves, 133/80). They put wrist bands on us with our pre-race weights and 3%, 5%, and 7% changes both up and down. If any racer was to lose or gain 7% of their weight, they had to sit at that aid station and attempt to get back to normal through hydration, etc. I dropped off a single drop bag and then we headed back to the condo for a spaghetti feast and some rest.

For those of you that are interested, here is what I had in my drop bag. Note that we went through this aid station a total of 6 times on the course and that my crew was at 3 other points on the course.

• spray on sunscreen (it's easier to spray over very dirty skin)
• baby wipes (SO NICE! I washed my face a few times, as well as other tender areas and I would highly recommend having these available)
  
• headlamp and batteries
  
• 4 peanut butter and banana wraps and a few pieces of homemade pizza (I ate only half of one wrap and 1 piece of pizza, they made me sick to my stomach)
• electrolyte caps
• ibuprofen
• caffeine pills (didn't use them)
• blister kit with bandaids, moleskin, skin glue, tape, topical lidocaine
• two long underwear tops
• 5 king size Snicker bars (ate most of them)
• spare water bottle

I had the following items for my crew to have ready for me at check points:

• shoes borrowed from El 1/2 size larger than mine
• spare shorts, sports bra, and top (didn't use them)
• extra socks (changed into new shoes and socks at mile 50)
• super lightweight windbreaker
• food

Thankfully, I was able to go to sleep around 9:30 Friday night in preparation for my 3:30 am alarm and 5:00 race start. Selah woke up a couple of times during the night, but otherwise I slept pretty well. I had the coffee pot ready to go the night before, so walked upstairs and turned it on and got dressed for the day. Even at 4:00, when we left the condo, it was already warm enough for just shorts and a T-Shirt. It was going to be a hot day.

Mike drove me to Spooner Lake State Park, the start/finish and 50 mile turnaround. Runners were milling about everywhere and everyone was getting excited. The race volunteers all wore bathrobes, slippers, and curlers in their hair, perfect for lightening the mood. We milled down to the start area and I found another woman that had raised her hand the day before. Off we went into the dark for the start of 100 miles! So anticlimactic, really, as we all started off by walking.



It was 6 miles and a 1500 foot climb to the first aid station above the beautiful Marlette Lake and I took it really easy, running any downhill, walking even the slightest uphill and running some of the flat. I talked to all kinds of people that I would see throughout the long day. From Hobart aid station, we got onto single track and weaved around the west side of Marlette and Harlan Peaks, then had a nice drop into Tunnel Creek aid station at mile 11. A quick weight check and some food in, and off we went on the notorious Red House Loop, a 6.5 mile lollipop type loop that ends back at Tunnel Creek. I was feeling great, so I booked it on the steep downhill to the Red House and power hiked back out, passing many people. To this Colorado girl, a 1200 foot climb in 1.5 miles wasn't as strenuous as they had warned. The only thing slowing me down was that I seemed to have to pee every couple miles.

From Tunnel Creek, the course took us north again towards Diamond Peak ski area. It was flat and rolling for about 8 miles, then 5 miles of downhill to the 30 mile aid station. I felt amazing and ran those 13 miles in just over 2 hours, fast enough for my family to show up 30 minutes after I had left the AS (they were watching live updates online). I think it was a mistake to go so fast, and I paid for it later. I must admit, I was pretty sad and disappointed when I showed up and had no cheering section waiting for me, but I decided I had to get over it and move on. I couldn't let my emotions get me down. Fortunately, Olga caught up to me at the aid station and we were able to climb the steep ski area out of there together, power hiking past guys like they were standing still. We both have some buns of steel to get us up those steep climbs! She was so wonderful to talk to! What an inspiration, with many many many ultras under her belt, a constant smile, and a charming Russian accent. At the top of the ski area, I took a little break in the shade and she took off ahead. She almost went off course at an unmarked turn, but this rookie had pored over the map for enough hours to memorize the course. Thankfully, I turned her around. (A few other runners weren't so lucky: the second place female came roaring past me at mile 40, stating she had gotten lost for 6 miles at that turn, and ended up DNFing in frustration).

From the top of Diamond Peak, the course heads back south to Tunnel Creek, back around Harlan and Marlette Peaks to Hobart Aid station, and then splits slightly east to the top of Snow Valley Peak, mile 42 and the high point of the course (9200'). I was feeling really strong at the top of the peak, had no blisters, had no GI issues, not even a sore muscle. As I left the AS tent, I looked right and heard "Boo!" and found my dad standing there! He had hiked up to meet me and run to the turnaround with me. What a morale boost!! I was so excited and just started talking his ear off, telling him how great I was feeling and how happy I was. In fact, I was feeling so great that he couldn't keep up with me and we were only together for about 1/2 mile. It's funny how an ultra is such an extreme emotional roller coaster, because by the time I got to the bottom of the descent to Spooner Lake, I had nearly talked myself into quitting at 50 miles. I wanted to sit on a rock and wait for my dad and was secretly wishing for some pain somewhere so I could have an excuse to stop.

Well, no such luck. I still had no pain at mile 50 and my brother was practically doing cartwheels in excitement to go back out for another loop with me. I couldn't stop or he would be too sad...so I went out again after 30 minutes of eating, changing shoes, and having Mike wash and doctor up a few hot spots on my feet. Wes and I left the turnaround at 6:00pm, 13 hours after starting the race, 50 miles and 12,000 feet of climbing down, 50 and 12,000 feet to go.

The climb back to Hobart was fairly uneventful, except that Wes was jumping around, hooting, yelling, and generally having more fun than I had ever seen. We left Hobart just before sunset and headed into the open above Lake Tahoe into one of the most fantastic views I have ever witnessed ever ever ever. Alpine glow on Marlette Peak, Lake Tahoe, Marlette Lake, a field of Arrow-leafed Balsam Root, Lupine, Indian Paintbrush, Cinquefoil, Pentstemmon....OMG!! I had just run about 57 miles and was back on top of the world. Wes and I headed toward Tunnel Creek (by the way, we saw the first 100 miler heading back to the finish here, he was nearly 30 miles ahead of us!) and we were RUNNING!! We averaged about 9:00 pace through the rocks in the dark and arrived at Tunnel Creek to find Olga, who had unfortunately decided to DNF. We left Tunnel Creek towards the Red House with rocket fuel in our veins (remember that roller coaster analogy?).

The Red House Loop has gained the reputation as "a taste of Hell". I didn't think it was bad at all the first time around, but it seemed interminable the second time! By the time Wes and I arrived at the bottom of the loop, I had a couple of very sore blisters and started feeling really tired. I basically could not get the energy to run and just walked all the way back to Tunnel Creek. I sat at Tunnel for a while, weighed in (I was peeing literally every 20 minutes or so but had not lost any weight), and left the AS walking at 11:45pm. We ended up walking the next 13 miles, the longest 13 miles EVER. I had been warned not to get into a death march, ie run even though it hurts and avoid the urge to keep walking forever. I should have heeded that advice and at least tried to run, but I could not muster any strength. The 13 mile stretch between Tunnel Creek and the bottom of Diamond Peak ski area was probably the hardest thing I have ever done. Wes turned music on for us and just stayed behind me, constantly telling me I was doing great and trying to encourage me. I remembered a couple of significant turns and kept waiting for them to arrive, but we just seemed to never get there. What had taken me 2 hours on the previous lap took 4:20 the second time. I essentially gave up, quit eating and drinking, and decided to quit as soon as we got to Diamond Peak. I could only imagine crawling into the bed in back of the van and having Mike drive me back to the condo while I slept. I only wanted to sleep, it completely consumed my thoughts. Several times, I sat down on rocks and begged Wes to run down and get Mike to come carry me to the van. I was done. Completely depleted. Over it. Thought it absolutely impossible to go out for another 20 miles. Pissed off. This is the stupidest thing I have ever done. I will never ever do this again and I don't care what anyone thinks. And on and on, you get the picture.

Well, the turns did eventually arrive and I actually did eventually make it to the ski area and immediately crawled into the van to go to sleep as planned. Mike, on the other hand, had been warned by me for months that I would try to do this and his job was to not let me do it. "This is different, you don't understand! I really am done! Quit being such an asshole and let me go to sleep!". Well, darn, he wouldn't listen and made me get out of the van "for a med check, I think you should get weighed to make sure everything is ok". He was totally working me. He wrapped me up in a blanket and helped me walk to the officials, whom I told I was quitting. Mike: "No, no, no, let's just go rest in the lodge for a bit". Me: "No, I'm quitting, you're such an asshole, why won't you let me sleep?! We went into the lodge, he made me eat some chicken soup and I fell asleep sitting up in the chair.


When Mike went to the bathroom, I sneaked back to the van and crawled into bed, ignoring Wes' pleas to have me try again. I dozed on and off between Mike and Wes trying to get me to eat and drink, and eventually the sun came back up. Then Mike pulled out the big guns, he called Sari, my uber tough Primal Quest winning friend. She knows what blisters feel like. She knows what exhausted feels like. She also knows what persevering through it feels like and what success at the end feels like. She told me to put on a new pair of shoes and "just try walking, just a little bit, just try" and I barely got out the words "I'll think about it" between sobs. Then Mike started gyrating his hips to "Freaky Girl" in front of me, claiming I was really going to miss out if I missed his special playlist.


I tried not to laugh, cuz gosh darnit, I was determined to stay mad. But I laughed. And then I put on a different pair of shoes. And then I walked across the parking lot. And then I tried, just a little bit. Wes was still on fire and amped beyond belief, so he decided to stay with me and Mike instead of having Mike take his place.

Heading back out at mile 80.

As I walked out of the AS and up that ski area, Mike and Wes yelled and clapped and jumped up and down in excitement. By that time, it was 7:15 am, 15 minutes before the cutoff. We were the last people to leave and we started passing people within about 10 minutes of starting. By the time we topped the peak, my blister-induced limp had stopped and I was running again. We passed another party just before Tunnel Creek and kept running. We passed 6 or so more runners by Hobart and kept going.

Mike kept yelling "Bone Crusher Joy!"

We hiked and laughed and started having fun and got to Snow Valley Peak aid station, mile 93 and all downhill to the finish. It was then that I realized I was actually going to finish this race. We ran almost the entire way to the end, passing another several runners in the process, and ended up with just over 6 hours for the 20 miles, the same pace I had done it on the first loop.

I crossed the finish line in 32:19, 11th out of 13 finishing females and 47th of 60 finishers overall. 57 of 117 had DNF'd. I persevered. Then I drank a well-deserved beer.

My award. I will now start wearing a belt.

There is absolutely no way I would have succeeded without my mom helping me get prepped, my parents and Stef watching Selah, Wes indomitable spirit for 50 miles, Mike's excitement. This was a family affair.

Will I do it again? Yesterday I said absolutely not. Today I say probably not. Tomorrow, who knows. I truly think that marathons and 50s are more my thing, but i guess we'll just have to see.

What I learned:

• Sitting still for a few minutes at every aid station to eat, drink, and recover was a good idea. When I blazed through, I paid for it later. When I took the time to rest, I felt energized.
• Eat and drink constantly. I drank about 8 gallons of water through the course. I ate a few king-size snickers, several chicken and avocado burritos, a piece of pizza, a few cheese sticks, lots of chips, a couple of ham sandwiches, a grilled cheese sandwich, a breakfast burrito, loads of watermelon and canteloupe, a few small smoothies, a peach, a few cups of soup, M&M's, jelly beans, half of a gel (made me gag) and lots more that I can't remember right now.
• Sugary electrolyte drink almost always makes me nauseous. I tried in the beginning and it had the same affect, so I took electrolyte caps every hour with water.
• Sometimes it takes 3 hours and lots of encouragement to get moving again, but once you just get moving, you feel better than you think you will. Make sure you have your crew prepared to talk you into things you don't want to do.

If you're still reading, I'm impressed~!

Playtime

Selah loves the phone:

Playing at the park

Video of Selah at the park. She loves going down the slide.




She loves the spiral slide but she goes so fast I can hardly get my camera on in time.