Journey to Badwater

Team Gab Virtual Race

2012-01-30T16:41:00.001-07:00

This weekend Dennis and I went down to Arizona to visit my dad and stepmom, after I was unable to go over New Year's. This was an opportunity for us both to visit. Our friend Morgan graciously took care of the girls this weekend while we were gone.

This weekend I ran in the Retro Run 5K, an 80's-themed race in Kiwanis Park in Tempe. But the real reason I ran was not to dress up like Flashdance or to run a blazing fast 5K, (which would have been a nice bonus).

I ran this race primarily to support Team Gab. Gabby Gonzalez is the 5 year old daughter of my fellow blogger Heather Rusch Gonzalez at 365 Days of Awesome. Gabby has ALL, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and was diagnosed a year ago. Since then she has endured treatment and has toughed it out with a spirit that most adults couldn't muster.

When Heather announced the Team Gab Virtual Race on her website, I wanted to find something I could do in that timeframe.

Since it's in honor of Gabby, I was going to go all out and live it up, dress like an 80's workout chick, and run as hard as I could.

There wasn't much question about what a Colorado ultrarunner was doing running a 5K in Tempe, Arizona. The day we left, the yard looked like this.

We arrived at Kiwanis Park early enough to figure out how to get to the parking area- we drove around the neighborhood like a couple of clueless snowbirds. We've only been gone from the valley a little over 5 years but I can't remember my way around. But in Phoenix, we fit right in. No oxygen tank or Depends, yet,though Dennis is a card carrying member of AARP. I had pre-registered, but Dennis made a last minute decision to run the race and had to sign up.

Timing chip on top of leg warmers? Not very retro.

The t-shirt was retro- remember these old cotton things?

Yes I looked like a dork but I didn't care. I was in good company.

Dennis was all business, no costume, not very retro. What was he up to?

I had to warm up, and I was afraid to run very far away from the staging area because of my dorky outfit. We ran down the canal for about a mile, but then I stuck to the parking lot.

We all lined up for the race, the gun went off, and that was it. There were a few hundred people in the races, a 5K and a 10K. The course was not easy, there were some long stretches crossing grassy areas of the park, and a lot of sharp curves on the bike path and sidewalks. We had to negotiate the slower 10K runners, who started 5 minutes ahead of us. Whatever. Lots of ups and downs with underpasses on the bike path too. It was a challenging course. I was so pleased that my ankle didn't bother me one bit on the grass sections.

I was following metallic chick the last 2 miles. Once I caught up to her, I wanted to pass her toward the end but there was this little kid who kept getting under my feet and I didn't want to elbow him out of the way on the narrow sidewalk. Since I was running to support a child, I didn't think it would be a good idea to trip a kid and knock him off the sidewalk. I was feeling decidedly non-violent. Metallic chick finished 3 seconds ahead of me. But, come to find out, she's 20 years younger than me. So then I didn't feel so bad. She was born in the 80s!

I found Dennis shortly after I finished, he had gone to the car to get the camera. He won the race overall! 19:04. Not bad for an AARP member! In my relative youth, I won the women's masters. I was the 5th overall woman to finish, my time was 22:43. It was faster than the race I ran a month ago, and given the terrain, I felt like it was a decent time. I'm making a little progress, and that's all I need to see to keep me going.

After the race we wandered around, Dennis got a chair massage, and we talked with people.

The Breakfast Club was there too.

In my opinion, this well-costumed couple ruined the overall effect with their not-so-retro minimalist shoes...and since I am such a fashion diva myself I have the right to judge...

Dennis picked up his overall award.

I got my age group award. It's been a while since I placed in a non-ultra event...It felt more special because it was for Team Gab, and I know there are lots of people out there running virtual races in her honor this month and next. Team Gab is symbolic to me, it's about supporting Gabby and her entire family. Mom and Dad, and her siblings, who put so much time and energy and have made so many sacrifices to keep Gabby on track with treatment, and keeping her life as normal as possible, even though it's far from normal.

Heather's (Gabby's mom) amazing optimism and energy jumps off of every one of her blog pages. Her creativity and her ability to find the fun in a bad situation is a gem for this family, and anyone else who reads her words. Check out her blog. It could break your heart to see what this family has been through, but when you read Heather's words, it's truly uplifting.

(In case you can't read it, the little blue card I'm holding says, "For you, Gabby!")

Back at the ranch...

My dad hams it up for the camera. Then he decided to cook lunch for us. He is an awesome cook. My friend Stephanie still talks about the meal he cooked us after Across the Years in 2008.

After lunch we all wandered over to the pool, my dad, my stepmom Ronna, Dennis and me. It was 75 degrees and sunny, perfect poolside napping weather. The early spring flowers were blooming.

That night we went out for Thai food and then went home and watched The Help. What a great movie. The next morning, we met my sister-in-law Becky, and my niece Jenny, who is 14 going on 21, for breakfast. Jenny is torn between going into acting and going to medical school. I wouldn't be surprised if she figures out a way to do both.

Sunday afternoon we flew back home. It was a short visit, but lots of fun. The Buffaloes were thrilled to see us, we were in big trouble with them.

What a great little escape from the Colorado winter in January. Here's to you, Gabby!

What would you do with an extra 24 hours?

2012-01-26T19:52:00.003-07:00

Some people might say, "Sleep!"

It's almost February, and it's a leap year, which means we have an opportunity to devote 24 extra hours this year in service to something greater than ourselves.

Think about this: If a sedentary person simply committed to moving for 24 hours this year, even if they spread it out over about a half hour a week, that's 24 hours of benefit toward their health. I hope that in those 24 hours they would realize they feel better as a result, and continue to add activity to their routine.

For those sedentary people, they are not only helping themselves, but they are also helping others. Just think about the public health impact it could make if large numbers of sedentary people got up and started moving. The physical health benefits are only the tip of the iceberg.

The social implications of sedentary people increasing their physical activity include improved mental health, reduced health care costs, improved productivity, and would benefit everyone in gazillions of other ways that would make this blogpost way too long if I tried to write about it here. My point is, when you take care of yourself, it helps everyone else, too.

If you're a beginning runner, think about how you could use the extra 24 hours for your benefit in fitness. You could add a half hour a week of running spread out over a year, or you could spend that half hour a week doing weight training or cross training. Or try a new activity for fitness or recreation this year, give yourself 24 hours to try it. Take a class, sign up for a trip, or organize an outing with some friends.

Here's my 24 hour challenge to you.

No matter what you do, look at the 24 hours as an opportunity to give back to others. Here are three things you can do:

1. Volunteer for 24 hours of your time this year, whether it's in your community, or at races you usually run, it gives something back to the sport that you value so much.

2. Donate 24 hours of your pay this year to a charity. For most people that's 3 days of pay. It sounds like a lot, but if you were to spread it out, it might not seem like it impacts you.

3. Add 24 hours of fun and fitness this year, as I described above. You're taking control of your physical and mental well-being when you increase your activity level or diversify your old routine.

This year I plan to do all three.

This year, I want to volunteer at my favorite race, Badwater, on the medical team again, which is actually more like a 50+ hour commitment, but I'll call it 24 hours. I am also running a 24 hour race on the track, in which I'd like to cover more than 100 miles. And I am donating 24 hours of my pay this year to the PVHS Foundation, between a payroll deduction program and other small donations spread throughout the year. By the end of the year, I'll probably have given more than another 24 hours in volunteer service to my community, in wellness and cancer-related programs.

A leap year is an opportunity. Spread the word.

Test Drive

2012-01-21T16:45:00.002-07:00

Twenty three miles at the lakes today. It was fairly pleasant for running, cool in the morning, and occasionally the wind would pick up and freeze me but by the end it warmed up into the high 40s and it wasn't bad at all. This was my longest run again, since last July. I felt good in the last 10 miles, which surprised me. I thought I'd be dragging. I did take yesterday off, which helped.

Today I took this "vehicle" for a test drive. I actually only ran with it for the first 2 miles, because my traps were killing me after that much time. The handles are too high for me.

I borrowed it from my friend Kristin, who is a lot taller than me and it was too short for her. I'm trying to find something to take with me on my adventure run this summer in case I end up doing it mostly solo, which I think is what's going to happen. I might be able to get minimal crewing in parts of the run, but I will need something to carry my gear and ice if it's hot and I'm on my own.

Other than that, I liked it, it felt stable, and even on the dirt my water bottle stayed in the holder, and stuff didn't bounce around. I piled it up with rocks to make it more realistic- I think they weighed about 30 pounds. If I could rig something up so that I had handlebars below the existing ones, I think it would be perfect. I'll be looking into that, and smaller used baby joggers next.

Yes, I'm being secretive about my plans. It's not going to be as long as last summer's run, and it's not connected with any race, but I'm not telling any details until I pull it together.

Today was one of those runs where ABC rules applied. For new readers, ABC means Always Bring a Camera!

The first lap around the north lake was with the baby jogger, but then I ditched it in my car, and took off with my camera. The lakes were partially iced over, but I could hear the "glug-glug-glug" sound under the melting ice. We've had such mild temperatures for the past few weeks, there's almost no snow in town.

After a few laps I saw this bald eagle in the tree halfway around the loop. The bird stayed there for at least an hour, I took pictures on two of my laps.

I was only planning on running 18 or 20 miles but I ended up with 23, I felt so good. And I was treated to this view at the end.

Now that I'm home, the wind has picked up considerably. The weather gods must have liked me today! Tomorrow, hills at Horsetooth.

A New Look

2012-01-20T21:08:00.001-07:00

Yes, you're in the right place. This is Journey to Badwater, sporting a more artistic look, discarding the old Quaker gray. Let me know what you think of the new design.

I plan to do a lot of running this weekend. Hope you do, too.

Never a Dull Moment

2012-01-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ancient proverb: She who runs with buffaloes will never be bored.

Today I was entertained on my run with the Buffaloes, from start to finish. The girls needed to go out- I just got done with my two days in a row of 12 hour shifts and as usual when I'm working, they have been forced to take time off from running while we both work long days.

So by my first day off, I am usually exhausted (which I refer to as my "work hangover") and the girls are revved up like a thousand charging buffaloes.

Well, maybe 500.

Sometimes it's hard to get Isabelle to go outside. For some reason she's got it figured out that she wants to take every other day off. Smarter than a lot of human runners. She can be bribed, though, if I tell her we're going to Arfy's or Starbucks.

Arfy's is the nearby pet supply store with special treats that they get just for going in the door. Last week the girls both ended up with new leashes when we went to Arfy's.

If I say we're going to the mailbox, that usually works to get Isabelle to go. But if I say we're going for a run, she only wants to go every other day.

If it's her self-designated rest day, she'll allow me to put the leash on her, but she makes her decision afterwards. She will lie down, and no matter how much I try to convince her, or even tug on the leash, she will dig in and refuse to go. It looked like it was going to be one of those days today. But this time she got up, and then she pulled us the whole way.

A half mile from our house is the LDS church. The geese love to hang out on the grass there, and where the geese hang, so do the droppings. So we begin goose poop diving on the leashes- giving mom a chance to do her rowing exercises. Pulling two 55 pound dogs back from the goose poop in the grass all winter, I have great lats- who needs P90X when you have Buffaloes! What flavor are they today, Iris?

A little over a mile from the house we reached Horsetooth Road, a major street, which is near the intersection to the street leading directly to the hospital. Lots of ambulance and fire truck traffic along here.

Today we saw a fire truck with all the lights and sirens going, racing to somewhere. When this happens, Iris and Isabelle both freeze in their tracks, sit down on the spot, point their chins to the sky and howl together, in perfect pitch and harmony.

Isabelle high, Iris low, in their vocal salutation to the fire trucks. "Haaaaallllooooooooooooooooooooo!"

Then we turned down another side street. The UPS truck driver who works in our neighborhood drove by. Whenever he comes to the door, the girls go crazy, but Iris also goes crazy when she hears the truck come down the street to stop at a neighbor's house. I always thought it was the squeaky brakes on the truck that tipped her off. But today just the sound of the UPS truck made her go wild. She started pulling on the leash, lunging and barking. The driver recognized us and waved as he drove by.

I took the Buffs home after a few miles and went out to finish my run. I really didn't feel bad today, after two long busy work days. I did some strides, and I feel okay.

I can tell my thyroid medication has kicked in. I'm no longer exhausted in the afternoons. I'm not freezing my butt off all the time, either. Now it's the opposite- I'm back to hot flashing. My face and palms turn red, and I start sweating everywhere.

It happens during the day at work, and even worse at night, throwing the covers off, then getting cold and pulling them back over me. I fixed one thing, but that throws something else off. I was also feeling extremely irritable and sensitive for a few days, quite the RPB.

At least now Dennis can send me to my woman cave, and I'm happy to have my time out room.

Not so much

2012-01-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

Orange sunset...

TEBOWANDA!

2012-01-14T17:19:00.001-07:00

Grand Opening!

2012-01-13T16:46:00.001-07:00

This is my first blogpost from the woman cave.

This was a busy week. Work was busy, and I was trying to get my routine down, now that it's the beginning of the year and I'm needing to coordinate all of the usual business: work, writing, running, home life.

I'm into my second week of what I'd call real training even though I'm still not doing the weight training part yet. That is the hardest thing for me to motivate myself to do. I can work my abdominals and do the core work but basic weight lifting is the thing I struggle with. I am giving myself another month to work into it, what I really need to do is put a program together for myself and I haven't sat down to do that yet.

I had another good workout on the track this week, I did a little more speedwork than last week and my pace was considerably faster! Actually hit 6 minute pace. I'm only increasing the volume by a little each week, but this workout gave me confidence that my legs will remember how to run fast if I make them do it in small doses.

There's nothing more motivating than a little success.

It was funny though, I happened to be at the track again when the CSU team showed up. Except this time I was almost done and into my cooldown. I was finishing up my last 400 and I thought I was going to puke at the end, I got lightheaded and sat down on the bench for a while before I got up to cool down.

I am always afraid that all those young runners will see this gray-haired older runner gasping and looking like crap, and call 911. Hopefully as I get in shape that will be less likely to happen. But after this week school is back in session and the team will be practicing in the afternoons, so I'll have my morning workouts mostly to myself and any other people who happen to be randomly using the track at that time. We'll all look like someone needs to call 911.

My neighbor's husband works at Anheuser Busch and just gave us a 6 pack of this new beer that's being marketed to women, it's a "Pomegranate-Raspberry" light beer, called Michelob Ultra, interesting. Might be a good recovery drink this weekend. I just remembered the Broncos are playing too. A good weekend to run.

This weekend's running agenda includes a run at Horsetooth for hills again, and another long run, I'm hoping that 18-20 miles won't feel too bad. A little pomegranate raspberry beer might help. If it's not good, I can always break a bottle of it on the woman cave, like they do to launch a ship. This is Fort Collins, beer capital of the universe.

Like they say here, Napa Valley is the Fort Collins of wine.

So, Ya Think Ya Want to Run Badwater...

2012-01-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

MWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!

Take heed, aspiring Badwater runners, and those who have Badwater festering in the back of their brains for a bucket list race like blisters rubbing in their shoes...

It's almost February and the application process for 2012 is about to start. Whether it's this year you're applying, are thinking about it for next year, or some time in the future, there are things you need to know. If you aren't planning on applying this year but have already looked at the website trying to figure out what you'll need to do in order to be eligible in the future, that's a good start. You're already planning ahead, which is a more important skill for this race than any amount of running talent.

Get to know that Badwater website like your best friend. Read every article posted, every link, and more. There's a ton of good information on there. This blog has a lot of anecdotal information and advice, and there's a lot more out there.

Two must reads:
(1) Death Valley Ultras: The Complete Crewing Guide by Theresa Daus-Weber & Denise Jones .
(2) Fixing Your Feet 5th edition by John Vonhof.

Then,

1. Get your head screwed on straight.
This is not a race for you if you have a long history of DNFs. Get your act together mentally before you do this one. BW is not a race you "try". This is one race you don't want to DNF in, unless your life depends on it. Not to mention the incredible dedication of your crew who came out to support you and gave up their vacation time, family time, or whatever personal commitments they shelved in order to help you have the experience of a lifetime. They got you there, you don't want to disappoint them.

You need to be realistic about the time and energy commitment you are about to embark upon. If you haven't done this before, and even if you have, this is no little weekend 100 miler where you throw a few things in some drop bags. You need to plan meticulously, and realize that as you get closer to the race, planning will take up as much time as training. It's like having at least an extra part-time job. So apologize in advance to everyone in your life and explain what you are doing, and hopefully why, so they can support you and will be less likely to resent the time you must spend devoted to preparing for this event.

So if you haven't met the qualifications, you can start now. Figure out how long it will take you to get those required races under your belt and get going. Along the way, keep asking questions, talk to people, learn as much as you can, and find a way to get out there and crew so you can see for yourself what's involved. Many runners I know, who are successful at other ultras like Hardrock and Leadville with multiple finishes at both, have told me they went out to crew at Badwater and realized it is not for them. Or they just know, without ever going to Badwater, and they plan never to do it. This is something you want to know before you sign up. If it's not for you, nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their preferences. But if you're considering it, you'll want to know before you invest any effort in it.

2. Be ready to run the distance before you apply for the race.
What? You've never heard of that before? Well first of all, the race director makes sure you are fit because you wouldn't be able to apply without running at least two 100 milers in the year before the race, and you'd better have more than that under your belt.

I think that by the time you apply, since you have to be fit enough to manage the distance, the last 6 months before the race should be icing on the cake. You'll need to be focused on the finer points- maintaining fitness, sharpening, preparing for the heat, preparing for the conditions. Planning what you'll wear, eat, drink, do. Your training time will consist of lots of time on your feet, on the asphalt. Lots of hills, with conditions as hot as possible. Learn how to walk efficiently uphill and on the flats, because you'll need to.

3. Know what you're getting into.
Find someone who's done it before and talk to them. You should know someone, since you need to get crewing experience. Don't know anyone yet? The BW message board is available if you subscribe to the AdventureCorps newsletter at the BW website-it will show you how to connect with someone who needs a crew.

Read and learn as much as you can. The must-reads above, and then read as much from other runners' personal experiences as you can. Check the links section of this blog for my 2008 four-part race report, from my rookie year. Then check the following links for my 2011 race.
Lessons Learned
Pre-Race
2011 Badwater race
Foot Care in the Heat

Other things to consider- the time, the cost. Roughly $5000 or more is a good estimate of what it will cost you, once you figure in everything for crew travel, lodging, food expenses, rental vehicles, gas, equipment, supplies, other training costs, shoes, etc. Oh, and don't forget the $1000 entry fee. Steep as races go, but worth it.

Personally, I get tired of hearing people whine about the entry fee. This is a unique event, with unique requirements for maintaining it as a quality event. The race director does make some money by producing this event, that's the business he's in. When you see what goes on, you'll realize he can't be making too much off of it. If you're going make the effort to do Badwater, the entry fee is really a drop in the bucket.

Figure in time to rest before the race and recover after.

And during the 6 months or so leading up to the race, definitely arrange your schedule so that you can take the time to both train and recover.

Crew will need to be prepared for this too. They need to be prepared for the heat, so heat training and/or sauna training is important for them, too. During the race it's nearly a weeklong commitment for all of you with preparation, recovery, travel, etc.

The 48 hour time limit has worked well. Over the past few years, the temperatures have been milder. But if we get some warm years, as this coming year could be, 48 hours might be a real challenge for some people. It's plenty of time to get to the finish, but you have to keep moving. Taking care of issues like feet are important and can take you off the course for several hours. Keep that in mind when you're thinking about the big picture. Stomach problems are another time-eating issue. Try not to have those in the first place. Read my posts above on how I handled this- I did a much better job in 2011 than I did during my rookie year of 2008.

4. Take the application process seriously.
It's like an essay contest, but you have to have the credentials to back it up. Try to write as much detail as possible, and sound intelligent. There's a reason why BW is hard to get into- the race director and staff absolutely do not want anyone to die, get sick or injured out on the course. This is an opportunity to run a unique race under dangerous conditions and in today's legal climate the fact that we can run this on these state highways through public lands- including a National Park- is somewhat of an act of kindness and good will on the part of all the entities involved. Don't risk the future of the race. Read the rules, like the application says. If it sounds like it's strict and rigid on the rules, it is, and for good reason, and you will get in trouble for varying from the established rules. Having each and every crew member and runner know the rules is crucial.

Oh yeah, one more thing. The media are there, there is a lot of attention paid to the runners and the event. You don't want to be caught on camera doing anything you wouldn't want your boss or your grandmother to see.

5. Have a plan in mind for how you will prepare for the conditions.
At Badwater, you need to be both physically and mentally prepared for heat, sleep deprivation, temperature extremes, foot care, hydration, caloric intake, and dealing with difficult and unexpected situations.

Art Webb's article on the BW website helped me more than anything else to make a plan for getting used to the sauna. I won't include the link here, I'll make you dig for it. That way you'll have to see all the other good information on there, too.

John Vonhof not only has a great book, he has an excellent website/blog on foot care too. The must-reads, above, will help you prepare for other conditions you will encounter, such as it being cold up at Whitney Portal, and sometimes at the higher elevations of the course. Seventy degrees or cooler can feel cold when you've been running in 115, and are depleted of energy. Sometimes it rains, or gets windy too.

6. Plan for crew, expenses, major equipment and supplies.

Now is the time, if you have not already started, to build your crew. Preferably you have already obtained commitments from a solid group of people. No head cases, no people who are in it for anything other than doing their best to get you to the finish line. They might get a few perks like building their BW resume for a future shot at running the race, but the main point of being there is to help you succeed. Seriously, you'll want to interview and get references on your prospective crew members, especially if you don't know them beforehand.

Make your reservations the minute you find out your entry is accepted. Don't hesitate.

Plan to acquire in advance any important equipment you'll need, that you can't buy out there before the race.

If at all possible, plan to go to Death Valley for a training run with at least one of your crew members in the last couple of months before the race, once it gets hot. Having been there recently and in the heat is a great confidence builder, and will help you to work out some kinks before race day.

7. Have a contingency plan for everything you can think of!
What if a crew member backs out at the last minute? What if the things you trained with (food, drinks, clothing) don't work during the race? What if one of your two vehicles breaks down? What if you can't get ice along the course? What if, What if. The more prepared you are, the less likely it will happen.

8. Plan to have fun.
It's fun. It's a blast. You will meet the most inspiring people, have the most fun you've ever had at a race, take home stories and memories to last a lifetime, build strong friendships, and so on. It's priceless.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Plan, prepare, prepare, plan. It's all in the planning. I have a supply list I'm willing to share if you write me.

Feel free to send a comment, you can also write me at sherunnoftatgmaildotcom if you have specific questions you don't want to put in the comments. But the beauty of blogging is that it is public, and everyone can see and benefit from the comments, questions, and answers. I can guide you to the best sources of information.

If you read the BW website and the links above carefully, and follow my advice, it's all there for you to learn. The old saying, To fail to plan is to plan to fail, applies here more than anything. Now that you've read this, you are a step ahead of everyone else who hasn't.

Do it!

Back on Track!

2012-01-06T12:06:00.002-07:00

I did it. Signed up for my first ultra race since Badwater last summer, the Cornbelt 24 Hour Run in Iowa. The application is in the snail mail.

Now that I've committed to a race on the track, guess it's time to get back on a track again, something I haven't done much in the past five years. I used to love speedwork, loved running on a track. I can run around in circles forever. I must be part rat.

This morning I went over to the Colorado State University track, and there was no one there on a Friday morning in January at 9:45 am. It was 38 degrees and windy, coming from the south.

During my warmup the only people I had to share the track with were not people, they are Fort Collins' unofficial city snowbird and mascot, who are back for the winter and making their presence known on every horizontal surface, those familiar and tasty gray-green droppings that The Buffaloes love to dive for.

The geese certainly knew their track etiquette. I was running in lane 2 and they moved out of my way, into lane 1. I only had to say "track" once or twice. They didn't even honk or hiss at me. I wish they'd clean up after themselves, though.

I told myself I needed to do something short, fast and minimal, so I don't overdo it my first time back. I decided to stick to something more like strides, which is all I've been doing, and just a mile of them. I settled on 8 x 200 meters, with 200 meter jog in between. I ran them hard, but not all-out. I did them the same way I do my strides. As fast as I can go while staying relaxed and not losing my form.

I recovered with no problem and my splits were consistent, just slow. I'm not even hitting 6 minute pace for 200 meters. Hopefully that will change over the coming months.

Once I finished my "speed" work, I finished the rest of my miles there, and the CSU distance runners showed up for their workout. They appeared to be doing 600s. I was just doing miles to get used to the surface and curves so I moved to the outer lanes and watched them run while I was doing laps. It was fun to watch them, but I only saw one runner who really looked like she was focused on her workout and had something in her eyes that you could see she wants it. They just seemed like they were socializing more than working out. Maybe it was meant to be an easy workout. Or maybe it's just the beginning of the season.

I did my entire workout on the track, a total of 9 miles. I enjoyed it. I'll be spending a lot of time there this spring. Bring it on!

Beyond Two Hours (finally!)

2012-01-05T14:52:00.000-07:00

Finally did it! 15 miles today, my longest since Badwater. It was also the first time in 6 months I've worn a pack and carried water while running. Two hours and 35 minutes, very easy pace. I met Doug at Cottonwood Glen Park, 6 miles from home, and ran most of the remaining miles with him. We talked spring/summer racing plans.

He did sign up for Leadville. The other day he said he felt like he should sign up for it, just to motivate himself to get in shape. So he did it, crazy nut, but we high-fived over it. Of course he spends much of the year in the Leadville area, so he is more acclimatized and able to train on the course, so it makes sense.

I'm opting for Lean Horse if I do a summer 100. I can do without the hypoxic stomach, brain and all the other parts starving for oxygen up in Leadville.

My legs were tired, but they felt much better than yesterday's ten mile run where I tried to push it. We stopped at a porta-potty during the run and as we stood around drinking our water, I remarked that 15 miles is a struggle right now, when just 6 months ago I was able to run 50+ miles a day on consecutive days. Weird, but true.

Regardless, I'm dropping my entry form for the Cornbelt 24 Hour in tomorrow's mail. It's only 17 training weeks away, but I know I'll be ready.

It's over 60 degrees today and I cannot get motivated to paint today. I only have one more day off and today is the last warmish day predicted until next week. I think I just need a break from working on the woman cave. I could use a nap.

The Rule of Twos

2012-01-04T16:53:00.001-07:00

Today I went out with the noble intention of running 10 miles at a steady pace and throwing some strides in. It worked, I got my strides in, but the return trip was a good minute per mile slower on the average than going out. Partially because it's downhill on the way out, but mostly because my legs are fatigued and I was bonking, running on nothing but oatmeal and a banana at 11:30 am was not a good idea.

The lessons will be repeated until they are learned, right?

All the way back I was trying to push my fatigued legs to turn over, and by 8 miles I had to keep reminding myself of the Rule of Twos. After I pushed myself through my final strides, my recovery was so slow I thought I was going to end up walking. I really wanted to.

The Rule of Twos? As in, I can deal with anything for 2 miles. Or I can deal with anything for 2 hours, 200 meters, 2 days, whatever it is.

If you stick with something for two weeks, that's usually enough to establish a routine, and you can push through the fatigue of starting out again. I'm experiencing the discomfort of losing the speed aspect of my fitness. I feel like everything else is intact. This is the first of two weeks that I'll need to make myself stick carefully to my plan to establish a training pattern again that includes regular hills and speedwork. My legs are screaming now, but after two weeks it will be easier.

Tomorrow I'm planning to run 15 miles with Doug on the bike path. I have been procrastinating on doing anything longer than 2 hours, but now that the weather is nicer, I have to take advantage of it.

I am off this week, it was supposed to be my vacation, but I've had the endless parade of repairmen and I've been spending my time furnishing and painting the outside of the cave. Here's how it looks as of today:

I got a storage ottoman so I can stuff all the junk in there. I don't work well in a cluttered space. I've been trying to figure out a few things to put on the walls. I want them mostly bare, but they needed something. So finally, after 18 years, I hung my Ph.D. diploma on the wall. I dug it out of the cheap frame where it was hiding in the corner, dusted it off, and put it in a nice frame with a mat.

Cave-worthy.

Dam! Y2K Redux?

2012-01-02T19:10:00.000-07:00

Here it is the second day of January and we are finding that the old year roared out with some interesting twists.

This morning Dennis and I went for a run together- which is a rare event anyway, but we met Connie, Tom, and Doug up at Maxwell Open Space parking lot and did a 10 mile run on the hills and over the dams at Horsetooth. I warmed up a little on the flats before we started so I got more than 10.

This is the best hill workout around, and there was almost no traffic today. Climbing up and down Dixon Dam, Soldier Canyon Dam, and Dam Hill was enough to get my legs screaming, after the 5K yesterday. I'll feel the effects of the last two days tomorrow for sure. It was 19 degrees when we started, but it warmed up nicely and there was almost no wind, which is unusual for this time of year.

Speaking of wind, the other day, December 30th, when we had the 75 mph gusts, a huge tree limb fell down and part of it broke off and impaled the roof of the woman cave. It's a good thing my neighbor told me about it yesterday or we wouldn't have known. That's a new roof, so it is still under warranty. I'll have to call on the roof tomorrow, before it snows again.

All we could see was this innocent looking branch. But it tore a fist sized hole through the roof, all the way through the boards under the shingles. There's no interior damage, fortunately, but we need to get it fixed before the next snow.

Then on December 31st, some time during the night, the hot tub died. Just croaked. No warning, nothing. I opened the lid on the morning of the 1st and there was nothing on the display. The water was cold. We tried the breakers, nothing. Dennis pulled the guts out. Nothing he could figure out. So I'll have to call the repairman again. He's like an old buddy now. This is going to be the third repair visit in the past year and a half. Might be time for a new hot tub. I hope not. We'll see what the bill looks like this time.

I'm starting to think that maybe Y2K arrived 12 years late and attacked our hot tub. Or maybe there's a hot tub virus going around. Anybody else have this problem? Or maybe it's the Mayan calendar, which predicted the end of the world for hot tubs in 2012.

The woman cave has further evolved to have a desk. I also picked up some simple bookshelves for $17 at what might be the last remaining K-Mart. And I've picked out the colors for the outside. It's almost warm enough in the afternoons to paint this week- supposed to be in the 60s, maybe even close to 70. We have crazy weather here, so we'll see. I'll have the repairmen out this week so I can pass the time by painting.

I picked a wild color for the front door, but a slightly more subdued tone for the siding. The trim will be white. I think it will look oh so cool. Can't wait!

First Day of Spring, First Race!

2012-01-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

Since I couldn't be in Arizona, I decided I might as well support the local race, the Runners Roost 5K. It was fun to see so many runners I hardly ever see anymore!

New Years Eve Dennis & I celebrated with some champagne and the Buffaloes in the Woman Cave. It's evolving, we bought some furniture and I'll start working out there this week!

We celebrated New Years in the Greenland Time Zone (4 hours earlier than here) went to bed early and woke up late. We can't stay up that late, and the race wasn't until 10. That's my kind of race. Dennis was going down to Denver to see his mom and pick up the desk for the woman cave.

I needed a good warmup before the race, it's always scary going into something fast when you have slow legs. I've been doing strides, so that helps. I did a few miles and strides before the race, running by myself on the back streets of the course where I didn't see any other runners. I always feel sort of ridiculous doing strides, being as slow as I've become. It must look like a track and field movie in slow motion, starring a short-legged runner with bad form.

I ran 23:05. I was hoping I could make it under 25, so this was good. I didn't feel like puking so I didn't make the extra push to get under 23, I probably could have put the hurt on if I'd started when I saw the finish line, but I was uncomfortable enough. First mile, 7:06. A bit fast, faster than I thought I'd run, but surprisingly not too uncomfortable by the end of it. Two miles, 14:13. Wow, even splits. Third mile, 22:22. I slowed down. Then after I finished I found out the second mile marker was off. So my last two miles were probably more like 7:30 ish.

There's nothing like running your first 5K in a gazillion years to give you a reality check. I've got work to do. It's the first day of spring, tomorrow I'm going for a run up at Horsetooth with some friends, and I'm ready for action.

Happy New Year! I'm off to help Dennis set up the desk in the Woman Cave with the Buffaloes.

Ten Thoughts for the New Year

2011-12-30T16:31:00.001-07:00

What a crazy couple of weeks to wind up my year! Life is unpredictable, it keeps you on your toes. I thought I'd share these ten thoughts as I move from 2011 to 2012.

1. Instead of being in Arizona as I'd hoped, I am still in Fort Collins. I am missing Across the Years. The real reason is in # 2 below. But I am also glad to be here, I rarely get to spend New Years with Dennis, and also, the drive would have been too much anyway right now, I'm still foggy in the afternoons from my thyroid not being quite right. I am starting to feel better in general though. I hope to attend the race next year as a participant, and run a new PR.

2. Part of the hazard of working in management is that that occasionally you get a wingnut- someone who is off their rocker completely, or has enough screws loose that the wheels come off at the slightest provocation. Dennis experienced this last week at work, in the process of a disciplinary action against one of his employees. Without giving away too many details of what happened, let's just say that we've felt somewhat like we're in a witness protection program this week. Fortunately our employer takes these situations very seriously and did everything possible to ensure he was safe, and not only that, they extended it to me. That's why I stayed home, I figured if I went away all I'd do is worry.

3. Writing- I've been doing a lot of it. Between guest blogposts, blogging for ONS, the Coloradoan column, and a few other writing projects, not to mention my own blogs, I've been doing a lot of typing at the computer. It's great, I love it. Blogging is such a great way to interact with readers. I spend a lot of time answering comments and e-mails as a result. It's been challenging, and I'm having fun. I'm looking forward to what 2012 brings. I just wrote this post today, check out giraffy's blog. She's a runner, but so much more. She's an amazing mom, who counts her blessings every day.

4. Another one of my favorite bloggers, Patricia Singleton, wrote a post about healing as a gift to ourselves. Her blog is about healing from childhood trauma and sexual abuse, but it applies to so many other things, too. All of us have experiences in our lives that require healing. I think this is a fantastic article.

5. Eradicating apathy- It's an election year, and a leap year. We all have an extra day in which to do good things. Make it count. Be an informed voter and exercise your right to vote. Healthcare reform, greed, and whether the government can work for the people, are three issues front and center this coming year. If it affects you or anyone else you know, get going. Don't sit there and let things happen. Speak up. If you're spending a lot of time texting or talking on your cell phone, use your electonic gadgets to spread the word about what's important to you. Mobilize other people to action, and follow through.

6. On nursing as a profession- I was replying in a private e-mail to some one who had commented on a blogpost I worte on nursing. After I replied to her, she wrote back to me and thanked me, then mentioned that she'd never heard such honesty from someone in a position of power and authority. Wow. I'm not in a position of power OR authority, I'm just a blogger. I don't even get paid to write. It took my breath away.

Blogging is such a powerful medium. And perceptions are powerful, too. Makes me a little fearful, that when I talk about nursing, I have to be careful what I say. But I have some serious opinions about the nursing profession. And it's funny, when I verbalize them, I rarely get disagreement from nurses who work on the front lines, in direct patient care. I love what I do, and I'm lucky to have landed where I am, because my employer is like a gem. I have never worked in a place where I've been treated so well in so many ways.

But so many nurses all over the U.S. still work under conditions that are little more than paid slavery. Where are the professional nursing organizations on healthcare reform? Why are they not advocating for themselves? We need to jump in, get involved at this juncture, to ensure that as we reform healthcare, nursing is reformed, too, so we receive the compensation and working conditions fit for a professional who is expected to operate under a heavy workload, stressful work, huge responsibility, and a high level of skill and knowledge.

7. Running- oh yeah, isn't that the purpose of this blog? I'm getting there. I reached 50 miles in a week, once. I'm doing strides. I'm trying to get enough sleep. January 1st is the first day of spring. No more excuses after that.

8. The girls got a new hedgehog and a frisbee for Christmas. Iris plays with both of them, Isabelle waits for Iris to grab the toy, then she chases Iris around.

I got some booties to keep my feet warm in the woman cave, too. Not pictured: Spongebob fleece pants and yellow spongebob t-shirt. I'll model those later.

9. The woman cave is done. Just a few little touch-ups, now it's time for furniture- a desk, chair, and storage for art supplies.

10. The conditions in our neighborhood are treacherous again. Every year, the ice dam happens, and the entire sidewalk and most of the street become a huge skating rink. The bigger streets and bike paths are clear, but getting out of my neighborhood is taking your life in your hands. Now we have 50 degree weather and it's melting everything. I hope it lasts long enough to see the retreat of the ice shelf. They should have science class field trips to our neighborhood, it could be a mini-model of Antarctica and global warming.

This is what I have to negotiate with the Buffaloes just to turn off of our street.

Skating rink in the first 0.1 miles of my run every day.

The ice dam at the end of the street.

Readers, thank you for coming to Journey to Badwater, I hope you'll keep reading, and thank you for putting up with my many tangents over the past 5 months since I've taken this long break from doing any serious running adventures. I suspect that some of the topics above are a few that I'll ramble to, in between training and racing. But I'm committed, January 1st, first day of spring, it's back to the business of running. Happy New Year, and Happy Journeys!

Solstice

2011-12-21T22:56:00.000-07:00

I'm really glad the axis of the earth has shifted tonight. I know it will lead to some better stuff soon. The past week has been really crazy, full of unexpected twists and drama that I really don't want to deal with. I don't have the energy or patience for it. But how boring life would be if it didn't freak you out every once in a while, and keep you on your toes.

The least of it was that I re-sprained my ankle last week. After 5 months of diligent rehab, I was out for an easy run, 4 blocks from home, stepped off the curb and landed just the right way to give it a good twist. I said a few choice words, and I was okay enough to run home. I iced, said a few more choice words, and then Isabelle reminded me by bending her ears that she does not like four letter words to be said in her presence.

Sorry, Sister Bella. Doesn't she resemble the Flying Nun with those ears and her habit?

The ankle hurt for two days, I'm taking a few days off now and it no longer hurts. The other stuff is a bunch of random crazy $**# that I won't go into, and will pass. It's not even a full moon, so I don't know what happened. My tolerance for people's crap is pretty low anyway, but it's below zero now, even though I feel like I'm just barely starting to feel a little better with my energy.

I made it through two days earlier this week without a nap. Although I did nap for 2 hours yesterday and 3 1/2 hours today. Probably why I'm awake at this hour blogging about solstice, I was up late enough to witness it. I have felt slightly better while running, until the ankle incident. I think it was because I can't stay awake most days past mid-afternoon, and I was running much later in the day than I normally do.

I also managed to almost rear-end someone in traffic the other day too. I was just not there. My mind was off somewhere else. It was close. Between locking myself out of the house and the car within a week's time, almost colliding with another car, missing my turn while driving that same day, twisting my ankle, and feeling really irritable, I know that I'm not back to myself. I'm in full RPB status. I don't do tired well.

Even though it looks like this tonight, January 1st is the first day of spring, did you know that?

In my world, it is.

Mostly I am tired of feeling tired and I'd rather be doing this than anything else right now. Soon, I will.

WO-MAN. CAVE.

2011-12-17T16:29:00.000-07:00

It's a nice day, sunny and 40s. I was toast after work yesterday. We went out to Tortilla Marissa's for margaritas last night, I could barely keep my eyes open after one, then we went home and got some good sleep.

This morning I ran just short of 10 miles at 8:30 pace. I felt good. Started out with Dennis and Frank at Cathy Fromme Prairie and took the bike path. The boys turned around at the new bridge at Harmony road for their halfway point. In just 2 1/2 miles, with a little digging, I believe Frank now has the bug to do a 100 miler for his four years-off 40th birthday. Kids these days.

I ran home on the Spring Creek Trail. Since then Dennis and I have been working on the woman cave all day, with Iris and Isabelle's supervision. We're putting the laminate floor in. It looks amazing. Next step: trim and baseboards.

Iris was supervising Dennis's lunch, too.

Every woman is going to want her own cave after this. I foresee two possible scenarios: Dennis might be able to retire building woman caves, or go into hiding in an undisclosed location from the horde of angry husbands who will be after him.

Curing Cranky

2011-12-15T08:58:00.001-07:00

I'm off today and I need something to cheer me up. I have been in a horribly cranky mood. It takes a while to start feeling better when I am going through the adjustment period, waiting for my thyroid medication to start working for me. It could take 6 to 8 weeks before I feel better. The good news is the thyroid ultrasound showed nothing but a shrunken, not very functional-appearing thyroid, and the nodule in question shrunk too, which is great news. Now all I have to do is wait for the increased dosage to kick in. Patience!

So far this week I have locked myself out of the house, locked myself out of the car, burned oatmeal on the stove, and bit the inside of my lower lip while eating soup.

Running is a little better, I didn't feel like falling asleep yet on any of my runs this week. But then, they've all been in the morning. I woke up before work yesterday at 4 am so I went for a 5 mile run. That made me feel oh so energetic by the end of my shift. But if I don't run then, I won't run at all.

I do well in the mornings, I feel pretty sharp and my enrgy feels normal. Around 11 am I start to fade, and afternoons are hell. I get annoyed with myself because I feel so sluggish. It's almost like my brain hurts when I ask it to do anything. Multitasking is difficult, and I get irritated with my own inability to function. My coordination and focus goes out the window. If I could stuff all my daily activities into the first 4 hours of the day it would be great. I'm in zombie land after noon, until bedtime, unless I take a long nap.

So my plan today is to paint the walls inside the woman cave. It's brainless, and at least I will feel like I'm doing something productive. I will also go out and run this morning, try to get my entire workout done before noon. The weather has been warmer, the ice sheets in the neighborhood are shrinking and the footing has improved. Today I'm planning no more than 10 miles with some fartlek. But first, a run with the girls, or I'll be in trouble.

The woman cave is looking better all the time. After I paint the walls we'll put the laminate floor in, and soon I'll be able to move in. I need to start looking for some furniture that will help me keep it open and uncluttered.

I am so envious of my running buddy Paul. He is running two races in Florida this spring, LOST and the Keys 100. I got an e-mail from him the other day and I want to tag along! But I can't. I'm saving my money and it would be silly for me to go run long ultras this spring when I'm not even doing 20 mile runs in training yet. I'm hoping to hit 15 on my long run this weekend. I'm going up to Horsetooth to get some hills in.

I need to get out to the woman cave, stat. I'm in a race with my brain!

Obeseification

2011-12-13T07:25:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been avoiding King Soopers, the big store close to my house where I used to shop for a lot of our groceries. It's part of a national chain, Kroger. Instead I shop mostly at Sunflower Market, which is within walking distance of our house and is smaller.

King Soopers used to be a nice store as far as supermarkets go, but then they expanded it. As a result of the expansion, the aisles seem longer, narrower, taller, and more cluttered. You can't see where you're going, because the shelves are so high they impede the view of the directory that tells you what you can find in the next several aisles. And of course it's just what our expanding population needs- more choices of more bad food.

It's also very expensive. Things that are packaged are expensive. They are colorful and are wrapped in materials to make them more visually appealing. I find the supermarkets overwhelming. I feel bombarded with color, clutter, and noise. It's too much input for me, and you get distracted by all kinds of things that seem to jump in your face, which is no accident. You end up spending more money as a result.

Big box stores take a long time to get through if you just need a few items, usually you end up covering the entire store because things are spread out in different aisles. I also find it irritating when you have more than a few customers per aisle with grocery carts, because you have to maneuver around each other and it's hard to focus on finding the thing you want in the multitude of choices.

When I go shopping, for anything, I know what I want and I like to go in, get it, and leave. I find that big supermarkets are a huge waste of time and energy, so if I can't find it at Sunflower, I either don't need it or I plan one trip to the big box, preferably early in the morning before the crowds show up.

Now it's Christmas and every end cap, and all the big aisles, are full of glitzy plasticized garbage, and you have to listen to Christmas music, interrupted by advertisements. The store is crowded, even though they expanded, the aisles are not wider- just more numerous, so it gets to be really annoying when more than two or three people are shopping in the same part of the aisle.

So last night, as I was trying to get to the dairy case and having to navigate through freezer cases in the middle of the aisles, and huge cardboard displays of red, green and gold Christmas crap, I moved my cart to get out of another customer's way, and nearly knocked over a pyramid of chocolate covered Ritz crackers.

I have no idea how long these have been around, but it's new to me. It sounds disgusting, but I don't like Ritz crackers, and they fall into the category of things I would never buy unless I were running a really long ultra and needed salt, fat, and variety. And even then, I'd choose some other crackers.

Seeing this product struck me as so disgusting, I pictured people as wide as the aisles buying them, huge rolls of fat flopping off their waists, shirts that barely covered the bottom of their hanging pannus.

That people will buy this crap is what really bothers me. The food corporations are profiting off the destruction of our health. People spend money on a package of air, surrounded by cardboard and cellophane, with contents of so little nutritional value. I don't know what they cost, I didn't notice the price, but I imagine it's probably 3 or 4 dollars a box. And for that you could buy a gallon of milk, some yogurt, beans and rice, or some vegetables instead.

I'm sure the Nabisco corporation is planning to put a portion of their profits toward national health care and diabetes prevention.

It's apathy. Most people who shop at these stores do know better, but they fall into the traps of marketing. Someone is getting very wealthy off your failure to think. And it's not the people in the factories making the crackers, either.

If the store continues to sell things like this, they will have to expand again because no more than one person at a time will be able to walk down the aisle, they'll be so fat!

Come on people, use some part of your head besides your mouth! Quit supporting the gluttony!

What to eat on your first 100 miler

2011-12-08T07:44:00.001-07:00

I just got an e-mail from a friend who signed up for his first 100 miler. He asked me to give him some pointers on nutrition during the race.

I gave him the short and long answers.

The short answer

Real food, as often and as much as possible.

The long answer

This could go on forever, but I can make it a lot simpler. First, consider what foods you like to eat. What tastes good to you? Comfort foods, things that don't upset your stomach, but have lots of calories and are fairly digestible.

Make a plan

If you have special nutritional needs or food allergies, then you need to factor those into your food choices and remember that you might not be able to rely on the aid stations to provide what you need.

If you will have a crew during a 100 mile race, then you have a lot of options. You can use aid station food if there is enough variety and calories to keep you going, or you can have your crew bring, or even cook things for you. If you're running near a populated area, you might have the additional options of restaurants or fast food.

If you're used to running fueled by bars and gels, it's a different story in a 100 miler. You're going to be out there for 24 hours or more, and in that time you do need some real food.

A race is not the place to be a prima donna. It's where you need fuel, you need it fast, and it needs to work. That means staying down once you eat it. Don't worry about a healthy diet during the race. You can do that on the other 364 days of the year. Just eat what appeals to you, but most of all, eat.

Practice in training runs

If you're not used to eating on the run, you need to practice and test different foods during your training runs, or you'll be in uncharted territory on race day. Figure out a way to run a loop back to your vehicle, or home, and try the different foods you think you'd eat in the race, and see how your stomach tolerates them.

This all takes planning and extra work on your long training runs but it will pay off on race day. Don't neglect this important aspect of your training. Same goes for drinks you might use, electrolyte replacement products, medication, or anything you'll put in your stomach on race day.

Aid station take-out

In a 100 miler you're most likely going to have some walking stretches. What works best for me is to eat a good-sized portion of food- not so much that I'm uncomfortable, but a substantial meal, right before I anticipate having a long walk, like before a long uphill stretch. That way you'll be going slow enough to allow digestion to take place, and if you take the food on the walk with you, you can eat it while moving forward. Sandwiches, burritos, a slice of pizza, or soup in a cup work well for aid station take-out.

Little plastic sandwich bags with zip closures work great for portion-sized foods if you're eating "on the run".

Remember, aid stations are not fast food restaurants, they are staffed by volunteers and often will cook something to order, which takes a little while to prepare. If you can let your crew know ahead of time that you'll want something at an aid station, they can get there ahead of you and get the process started so you won't have to wait so long when you're there. If you're on a short loop course, you can always ask that they have something ready for you on your next pass through. Remember that timing is approximate and you might arrive to cold or not-quite-ready food depending on how fast or slow you're running.

How to eat throughout the day

Before the race, the biggest thing for new runners is getting over their nervous stomach before the race. If you have the jitters you won't feel like eating much, but this is the time you need a lot of calories. I find that eating a big breakfast helps me because I can't go out so fast, and the calories I take in pay off later in the first day of the race. Taking in a few hundred calories spread out throughout the morning can help if you're too nervous before the start to eat much.

Keeping a steady stream of calories going works for some people, eating little snacks along the way. Some people like to eat at the times of their regular meals. Some do both. That's why it's so important to practice this on a long run that lasts all day, or into the night.

Caffeine

At night, a lot of people like to use caffeine to stay awake. Coffee, caffeinated drinks, energy drinks, caffeine-infused snacks, caffeine pills, or whatever works for you. Again, try it in training before you do it in the race. I like to start with a little caffeine in the afternoon of the first day. I drink small amounts of cola or coffee drinks from about 3 pm on, every hour or so, unless I plan to take a nap at some point, where I'll let myself get sleepy enough to do that.

Be careful not to take in too much caffeine, because it can cause problems, for example, heart palpitations. You don't need that much, just enough to keep you from dozing off when you need to be moving forward. If you are unsure of what's in a product, especially energy drinks or pills, be very careful and do your research. Dosing is not tested in many of these products and you could end up causing yourself additional problems. Stick to the things you're familiar with- like coffee, cola drinks, or whatever you normally have if you're a caffeine user.

It's important to continue taking in calories at night, even though we're not used to eating during those hours. You might not feel hungry, but if you start to slow down, or feel tired, there's a good chance it's because your blood sugar is low and you need more calories.

Remember to stay hydrated at night even if you're not thirsty. Drinking caffeine drinks can cause you to lose more fluid, so replace fluid losses.

Don't forget

The most common reason for feeling poorly in an ultra, if you're adequately trained, is running out of fuel. Eating a few hundred calories with some carbohydrates will perk you up within 15 to 30 minutes. Keep moving forward, and eat. That's why it's important for a new ultrarunner to have a pacer at night, someone to keep an eye on you and recognize when you're starting to bonk. They are your brain when your brain shuts down, they can remind you to eat and drink and keep the calories going.

If you're running when it's cold outside, or at night, staying warm will help you conserve your energy. Wear adequate clothing, don't let yourself get chilled. It's easy to get cold when you've burned up all your energy all day. A little warm food or some hot drinks will help you warm up, but don't stay in the heated tent or aid station too long, keep moving!

And most important of all, always thank the people who give you food! They are keeping you going, and they are there to help you succeed.

Getting warmer

2011-12-06T14:42:00.001-07:00

Nice picture? Smathers Beach, Key West.

I'm not wishing I could be there now or anything.

It's 21 degrees now, and I took the girls running when it was 18 degrees. Isabelle didn't have any hesitation today. We ran 4 miles, and other than a few breaks to lie down in the snow and eat it, they had a good run. I went out for 3 more miles and strides afterwards. It felt so much warmer today, even though I was dressed the same as yesterday in 9 degrees.

First thing this morning I got a call from the nurse at my doctor's office telling me all my labs from yesterday were "normal" except for my cholesterol, and to give them a call. I have learned that "normal" can mean a lot of things, so I called her back. First thing I asked her was, if my cholesterol was so high, then what was my thyroid doing? My TSH jumped a point and a half since I was last tested.

I love my doc, and I know she would agree with my concerns about fixing my thyroid first, but so many other health care professionals are clueless when it comes to this little butterfly-shaped gland in your throat. Especially treating an athlete who needs her body to be fine-tuned, and knows when things are not right. I'm not one of those people who fits neatly into the "normal" range, and over the past ten years, after all I've gone through to get properly treated for my thyroid, "Congratulations, you're normal", sounds the same to me as nails on a chalkboard.

Last spring I told my doctor I wanted to cut back on my thyroid meds by skipping one weekly dose to get myself a little more on the hypo end of things so I would avoid problems with the heat in Death Valley. Since I normally keep myself around 1, near the bottom of the "normal" range, she wasn't concerned- there's lots of room to play with thyroid- unless you're as sensitive to it as I am- which I underestimated. I overshot it at first so I went to skipping only two doses a month. I was perfect in July, right before the race. You'd think that two little doses a month wouldn't have such an effect, but it changed my TSH by over a point in just a few weeks.

Well after Badwater I continued with skipping the medication doses as I was doing last spring, and here it is 5 months later, and I don't feel so great. That was my own dumb fault, I should have gone back to where I was. But now that I've overshot the point where I first overshot last spring, I'll find out soon if adding the skipped doses back is enough. I've been so stable the past two years, I was starting to enjoy not worrying about what my thyroid was doing all the time, bouncing from hyper to hypo on a whim. It appeared that the little #$%*@&! finally gave up the ghost.

I've been having all the weird hypothyroid stuff lately, brain fog, always needing a nap, feeling wiped out in the afternoons, getting back cramps at the bottom of my rib cage when I breathe hard, eye twitches, and wanting to lie down and fall asleep during my runs. I've gained back the 4 pounds that I worked so hard to lose, and to top it off, my total cholesterol went from 199 last year to 252 now! I do have HDL of 87, which is a good thing, but my LDL went up a lot.

I know that when I keep my TSH in the place where I feel optimal, my cholesterol has never been an issue. So...I'll try the thyroid fix and see where that takes me, but first, I do have an ultrasound next week and hopefully there won't be any issues. I'll see how that looks before I add back the skipped doses.

Plus having such a hard time dealing with the cold, makes me wonder if it's not just from 4 months of sauna training earlier this year. I have not been feeling hot as often, and I even put an extra thick comforter doubled up on my side of the bed last week because I've been freezing at night lately.

Like my wonderful endocrinologist in Arizona told me, when I hit menopause it might not be fun regulating my thyroid. I get the feeling I'm only at the beginning of the ride.

Maybe I'll welcome the hot flashes when they come back. I could use one now.

Two Dogs. Seven Miles. Nine Degrees.

2011-12-05T18:37:00.001-07:00

This morning I woke up too early, and the temperature was 5 degrees outside the kitchen window when I started the coffee. I had a doctor appointment first thing, and I was fasting because I wanted to get all my labs drawn right after I saw her, and get it over with.

I'll see what my labs looked like later this week, but the appointment went well, no surprises, I haven't shrunk any, I am a couple of pounds heavier than last year, but that's where I'm headed these days. I told her about the brain fog, we're checking my thyroid labs and I'll get a thyroid ultrasound next week to see if anything has changed with my little nodule friend in there, but overall, nothing exciting.

I blew off my run yesterday, it was cold and breezy and I had one of those "don't wanna" days. So I didn't. I ran a grand total of 18 miles last week. My motivation has been in the toilet. It's the cold weather. I am such a desert rat, which really should be my code word for wimp.

Monday starts my new week as far as my training goes, so I had to start fresh today. There were no excuses despite a predicted high temperature of 10. Just last week, I discovered, to my great horror, that my wind pants that fit me last year wouldn't come up over my hips. I was without windpants, unless I wanted to swallow the bitter pill of admitting that my butt is getting FAT and I need to buy a larger size.

I was lamenting my expansion to my friend Keith on the phone Sunday afternoon and she said maybe I was retaining fluid and that's why my pants didn't fit. I asked her, "Retaining fluid in my BUTT?!!"

I do have a big pair of windpants, but they used to belong to Dennis, and they are too long for me and I have to do all sorts of weird adjustments before I can wear them. I just couldn't believe it, that my butt has gotten that much bigger since last year. I dug the small pants out of the closet again, loosened the drawstring all the way, stared into the crotch and down the legs, and fervently believed they were going to fit.

POOF! Suddenly my butt was neatly tucked into them, no problem pulling them over my hips, even with my thick tights on. They fit!

Okay, as outlandish as it sounded, maybe Keith was right. Maybe it is possible to retain fluid in your butt. Or maybe I was so brain fogged last week that I didn't loosen the toggle on the drawstring enough. Or maybe I was constipated. It is constipation awareness month, after all.

Whatever the reason was, my pants fit and I no longer had any excuse to stay indoors. Even if the temperature was nine degrees with a -2 windchill.

I got dressed and then asked the girls if they wanted to go. Iris bounced around until I put her leash on, and she barked until we went outside. Isabelle came down to see what the commotion was, and as soon as I put the leash on her, she sat down in her spot and resisted, absolutely refused to move. She got that wimpy look on her face and I wasn't about to make her go out in 9 degree weather if I couldn't even motivate myself all weekend when it was warmer than that!

I took Iris. Isabelle was content to win the cute Buffalo contest.

Iris had an ice beard after a mile, and we did three miles together before I decided to take her home. I wanted to run faster. She got mad and started barking at me as soon as I took her in the house and went back out to finish my run. Isabelle was content to stay in her position.

I did seven miles total, including some strides once I felt warm enough and the wind was at my back. When I got home, I did my abdominal workout, too.

I was vindicated.

The woman cave is coming along. Dennis is getting plenty of supervision by the Buffaloes. It is going to be the BEST woman cave ever!

I finally got a lot of loose ends cleared up, little projects and things I needed to finish, to pave the way for focusing on the next year's goals. I now have two "projects" to focus on, one is staying up with my writing, since I have a couple of regular commitments in addition to my blogs, and studying for my oncology certification exam, and then there's always running & training. But it feels nice to have narrowed things down to just a few instead of having scattered unfinished business everywhere.

I like it when it’s simple. Give me pants that fit when it's 9 degrees, and I can do anything.

Happy December!

2011-12-01T14:14:00.001-07:00

We woke up to three inches of snow, blowing sideways. Last month we started out with two days of snow. This month it looks to be the same, but not so wet this time. The girls were thrilled to play in the snow this morning while I shoveled the driveway and sidewalk.

Iris was smiling and dancing around in it, while Isabelle was lying down in it, typical of her. She'll stay there until she's completely buried, and all you can see are two little black tips of her ears.

Not so good for running, though. As I shoveled, it was slippery on the sidewalk and there were already deep slush puddles forming on the edges of the street. Good enough to soak me in ice water up to my ankles. No thanks, I'm a desert rat for today. Tomorrow I won't have an excuse, though. Gotta get some miles in.

For a while it looked like some blue sky was going to appear, but it was only a tease. I have been indoors working on various projects and cooking for a potluck I'm attending tonight with the cancer support group.

There's still time to run, but I might wimp out. There's something intimidating about slush. I have been feeling good running, even though the past week has been rough with the brain fog. I might not be sleeping enough. Yesterday I went to an early morning event in town and after that, my brain only worked until noon. I was too exhausted to run. Then I took a 3 1/2 hour nap!

When I woke up, it was dark outside. I took the girls for a couple of miles and then finished up 3 more miles on my own. It was a warm night and I took my music, I miss running at night! I'll have to start doing more of that.

Next Monday I go for my annual physical at my doctor. I suspect I'll be giving up half my hematocrit in all those little tubes at the lab!

This weather is okay with me, for now. Until January 1st, snow is acceptable. Only 31 days to spring!

Feed all the Kangaroos...and Run!

2011-11-27T18:16:00.001-07:00

Who remembers the Steely Dan song "Black Friday"? There's some reference to "nothing to do but feed all the kangaroos"... and "catch the gray men as they dive from the fourteenth floor".

I saw something about it on Facebook, and it reminded me of this cool picture of my niece Jenny on a trip to Australia. Jenny is now 14 going on 35, and look out world, she is Towanda! She's going to take over the world, which, believe me, would be a good thing. She really ought to be running for President. She does have some political experience in student government already- probably makes her more qualified than quite a few of those candidates!

I worked on Black Friday. I like the feeling of doing the opposite- making money and keeping it in my own pocket instead of spending it on that day like everybody else.

Look out, here comes another rant.

For me, Black Friday is buy nothing day. Actually it's buy as little as possible season, as far as I'm concerned. It's my personal boycott of the whole Christmas shopping season. There's something nauseating about going into any retail store, even to buy groceries, and hearing Christmas music, first of all. And it lasts for over a month, sometimes the onslaught starts after Halloween! After I've heard my first Christmas tune, I'm over it. Change it back to something, anything, please! I wish we could limit the Christmas music to one week- just the week leading up the the actual holiday.

This weekend's papers were HUGE, thick, heavy things- our actual local paper is only a few pages long with four short sections, but the ads made it look like something out of Chicago or LA. How many trees died to make all those ugly full color ads for diabetogenic foods? Do we really need to see pictures of bags of Cheetos on sale? Or digital cameras and megasized TV screens?

I prefer to work on Christmas. I think of it as my gift to the Christian world. Each year I tell my co-workers, anyone who wants Christmas off can talk to me. I'm happy to hide out from the mobs by working.

I'm just so tired of the commercialization and money grabbing, the shameless and mindless consumption of all this plasticized crap. To me, it might as well be porn. It is sleazy.

I cannot understand what is worth pepper spraying or shooting other people over it, or even waking up to stand in line at 4 am to buy some thing that you or anyone else certainly can live without. Personally, I'd rather sleep in, and walk to anywhere I need to go instead of buying another tank of gas. If I can't carry it home in my two hands, it isn't worth buying.

We have an election year coming up, and I'm really tempted to make up my own bumper sticker this time: Kick 'em all out. No incumbents in 2012. Actually, I will vote for Obama, because I don't see alternative candidates who would improve things, but I'm thoroughly disgusted with the state of our government and the way things work against most of the citizens of this country. I can't stand to pay attention, but I can't afford not to. It's gotten so bad that no one can afford to ignore the state of things. We need a control-alt-delete button for our political, legal, and economic systems. Reset, reboot, and start over.

So my goal for this coming year? Eradicate apathy. People have got to quit being apathetic. They have to stop burying themselves in THINGS and THINGS and THINGS they see on TV, and their cell phones, and their text messages, and all the little distractions that make it so convenient to spend money and keep the corporate world ripping all the ordinary citizens off during their willful somnolence.

I wrapped up my buy nothing weekend this morning with a blazing fast-for me- ten mile run on the hills at Horsetooth Reservoir. The wind finally died down and it was a perfectly clear, late fall morning. There's no ice on the water yet. I felt strong the whole way, especially running the uphills and pushing through over the tops, like I never missed any training at all. Awesome.

Quit buying, and keep running.

photo credit: Nathan Nitzky

Starting the long road back...

2011-11-26T10:44:00.001-07:00

The wind is howling today, 60 mph gusts are predicted. Last night it sounded like the roof would fly off. I just got back from a short run with the Buffaloes on the Power Trail. We did 3 1/2 miles and I'll go out again later for another short run on my own. I'm taking an easy week, since my energy has been low.

Yesterday I felt somewhat better from the brain fog, and I went out running before work. During my seven mile run I did an accurate mile as fast as I could on a rolling stretch of the Power Trail. I surprised myself with the time, six minutes and 52 seconds. At first glance at my watch, I was surprised because I really didn't think I could break 7 minutes at this point.

Then, for a minute or so, gasping and doubled over on the sidewalk, I remembered the days when I could run 6:50 pace with the guys for 20 miles. And a 5:52 mile was no big deal, I could run that a week after running the Leadville Trail 100. That was about twenty years and nearly 20 pounds ago. So, yesterday, in my pathetic state of trying to recover from a 6:52 mile, out in plain view of walkers and joggers along the Power Trail, hoping no one would call 911, my unexpected sub-7 was not exactly cause to celebrate.

I often think about how I'd like to get some speed back. I used to really enjoy speedwork on the track, but the past four years I've been focused on longer races with little need to do pure speedwork. And I've made all these plans to add it back in, in some form, to my training routine, but when it comes down to it, I opt for a long slow run. My thought is usually, "I don't care about the speed, I don't need it." I need to quit being so apathetic about the speedwork and realize that it's the only way I'm going to improve on my performances the way I want to.

Just 4 years ago I was able to run a 6:10 mile and ran a 1/2 marathon in 1:37. I also ran an 8:47 50 miler on a warm day on rolling hills and trails. That was also at 112 pounds. That year I did lots of speedwork at 6:50 pace, no problem. As of today I'm at 129 pounds, and a 6:50 mile just about kills me.

I want to get it back. I'm going to be 48 years old in the spring, and I know I still have some speed in me somewhere, waiting to come out from under the layers of fat and years of slow-trained muscle fibers. I need to literally get back on track, and run speedwork on a regular basis! Over the next 6 months I'll have to do it, instead of whining about how slow I am. As for the fat, I have to hope the speed training will jump start my metabolism, and make some changes to how I'm eating. In the past the speedwork always was enough to do it for me, but I never had to lose this much weight before.

Dammit.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T09:18:00.001-07:00

Decided to skip the Turkey Trot this morning. I've had a strange week. Forgive me, I need to have a little whine with my turkey.

It started out well, I met Steph down in Boulder on Sunday and we spent the afternoon walking around and just hanging out together. We picked a random intersection, Broadway & Spruce, and walked around from there.

I found this cool Buffalo Crossing sign, and decided if it wasn't too expensive I would buy it. Steph and I shared my Buffalo story with the salesperson in the shop. I was a Ram (Colorado State grad) in Buffalo territory, but because I am the "Mom of Buffaloes", or "buffmom", everyone always thinks I have kids at CU, or I work out a lot, both of which are partially true.

My girls are smart enough to go to CU, and I do work out a lot, though I certainly wouldn't describe myself as "buff". But I figured the sign was a great start to decorating the woman cave, which is now in the process of getting insulation.

On the way home from Boulder, the sky and views of the Front Range were breathtaking.

I made it to 40 miles of running last week. The ankle still acts up when I do too many long runs back to back, but it is improving. I will probably cut back a little this week since it's been a weird week, and then continue to boost my mileage through December.

I had a lot of brain fog this week. I slept fairly well, too, which makes it even weirder. I did wake up early on Monday morning but still got a good 7 hours of sleep. And Monday night I slept 7 hours again- even with waking up for 2 hours in the middle of the night. Monday I had one of those "off" days. Couldn't hit a vein if it was a mile wide when I was starting IVs, couldn't multitask, couldn't focus. Kept banging my leg into the side of the chairside tables. I hate days like that, it's awful when your brain doesn't work right and you're dealing with people and complex situations. Fortunately I got to go home early from work.

Except as I was getting into the shower Monday night, I smacked my toes on the edge of the bathtub, hard enough to make me wonder if I broke something. I sat there for a while, rocking back and forth holding my foot until it stopped throbbing. Then I saw the quarter-sized bruise on my right thigh from multiple hits on the tables. I'm a danger to myself!

Then Tuesday at work I felt better but still a little "off", and it was a long, busy day. And Wednesday, my first day off, I had my usual post-two 12 hour shifts "work hangover"- where I'm just fatigued and brain fogged and absolutely worthless for the whole day. I didn't run or write or do anything requiring brain work- just walked the girls, shopped for food, and basically stared into space at home all day. My annual physical is coming up and I'll get my thyroid and everything else checked out. But I'm pretty sure that it's hormones.

This perimenopausal stuff is really annoying. Sometimes I think, I want to yank these things out of me- I don't need my ovaries and they are driving me crazy! But I would only do that if I needed to in order to save my life. Plus it would only make everything worse- abrupt menopause would surely be worse than this slow, natural process.

That's another one of those things about nursing- when I get on my soapbox about the nursing profession in general and it's need to get a grip on reality. The average nurse is female and in her mid-forties. We are having to function for 12 hours or longer at a time, at a time in our lives when we don't sleep well, and experience all the things that go along with sleep deprivation and hormonal fluctuations. And don't even get me started on the equipment manufacturers who make little medical devices that require great hand strength and dexterity, plus being able to read small print, all of which many of us are losing at this age...

I should stop my RPB ranting though, because it is Thanksgiving Day and instead of whining about my brain fog, I am thankful that I have a job, which many people do not, and that my job is more than a job, it's an opportunity to help people and be nice to people and do things that make a difference in the lives of those who are struggling in so many ways.

So this morning is Thanksgiving and I feel more clear-headed than I have all week, and I'm almost ready to run and cut up a big bowl of fruit- we're having dinner with Austin and Melissa, which is always fun.

I chose my first race for 2012, the Cornbelt 24 hour run in Iowa in May. I figure it will qualify as speedwork. I want to focus in 2012 on getting a little faster, and doing a number of 24 hour-ish runs. I do have a plan for an adventure run, too, of about 5 days this summer, but the details remain to be worked out, as it's not an official race. It will be a gathering of a few friends who can manage themselves on the road for that long, and we might even end up being self-supported with baby joggers.

I plan on ending the year with a multiday run of some sort, most likely Across the Years. I'm hesitant to plan for too much if my ankle continues to be an issue. But as long as I remain pain-free I will keep moving forward with plans. At this point, if all goes well, over the next year I'll be focusing on preparing for my next race, the 2013 Self-Transcendence 6 Day Race in New York City.

It feels great to be making running plans again!

How lucky we runners are...

2011-11-17T15:48:00.001-07:00

In my life outside of running, I am an oncology nurse. I see some parallels between training, racing, and going through cancer treatment, but when my races are over, I can go home and rest. For someone with cancer, there is no finish line.

I see patients running their own personal ultramarathons every day, propelled by their inner drive, perseverance, courage, and will to live. They don’t know where the finish line is, but they give everything they have to the race.

Yet every day at work, a common theme I hear from patients who are in for the battle of their lives, and are as sick as they've ever been, is how much they have to be thankful for.

I see them for weeks or months, until they finish their chemotherapy. Often they have already had some type of surgery that alters their bodies, and they might have radiation too. It’s more than a full-time job for them. Not only do they average eighty medical appointments in the year after diagnosis, but the treatments leave them fatigued, sometimes nauseated, or with nerve damage to hands or feet making it difficult to walk or do fine motor tasks like buttoning their shirts. They can be vulnerable to falls, infection, or bleeding, and unable to concentrate.

No one can manage cancer alone, and not without community support. There are many other equally important needs that go along with cancer treatment, such as having to negotiate family responsibilities, employment and financial issues, and social relationships. None of these things go away when a person has cancer. And not everyone the person with cancer has to interact with is understanding or informed.

Even their families can fail to become educated, sometimes willfully. Sometimes it's because of fear, or sometimes a low educational level. Or they just don't want to know. They expect the person to come home from their treatment and go back to being themselves, to keep doing all the usual tasks at home, or at work, such as taking care of sick kids, doing the cooking, cleaning, and activities that can expose them to life-threatening complications. Imagine knowing your immune system is very weak and having to go into public places where people cough in your face, or don't wash their hands after using the bathroom.

For the cancer patient, all of this is like being on a treadmill that has no “off” switch. After treatment, if the cancer is gone, they can't just pick up where they left off. It’s not like coming back from a running injury. Cancer changes everything. Relationships and family dynamics are affected. The person needs to adjust to changes in a body altered from surgery or radiation damage. If there are lasting effects of the chemotherapy, like nerve damage, the person might not be able to drive. Repeat checkups and scans must be done for years to ensure the cancer has not come back. Nothing is guaranteed but hope.

I'm not writing this as a scare story to dramatize the effects of cancer treatment. This is reality. Some people have these side effects I've mentioned, some don't, and some have it worse than others. This is not all-inclusive, either. There are lots of things that happen along the way in treatment. One in three of us will be diagnosed with cancer, and the older we get, the more likely that is to happen. If cancer hasn't touched you or your family, or anyone you know, then you are in a rare category. Inform yourself, because eventually you will be touched by cancer, indirectly, or otherwise.

Restoring quality of life for the whole person who has been diagnosed with cancer is a challenge. The road back to wellness is a lot longer than the treatment itself. The support of this community in the form of a cancer center will ultimately shorten the distance back to wellness for those with cancer.

The greatest gift you can give is to do the best you can every day with what you have. If you can do something that has meaning for you, and helps someone else, you win the race. If you have your health now, then you already have a head start. Use it to your advantage, and reach beyond your own fitness, competitiveness, vanity, or whatever else is driving your running.

I look around and see so many overweight people everywhere. Even here in Colorado, where we have the optimal conditions for a variety of outdoor activities year-round, we have a growing problem. So many health problems stem from obesity and other unhealthy behaviors like sedentary lifestyles, smoking, overconsumption of alcohol, overexposure to the sun, unhealthy diets. Cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer are costly and a huge burden to all of us.

What is even worse is that so many children are overweight. They are getting a bad start in life when it comes to their health. They aren't active enough, they are exposed to TV advertising of sedentary games and junk food. Not enough of them ride their bikes or walk to school, and they don't play outside the way we did when we were kids.

Schools in our community did something extraordinary this past year to raise funds for the PVHS Cancer Center. Three elementary schools each held a wellness day where the kids ran and walked laps and played soccer. They were doing their best, being active, and turning their activity into a meaningful gift to their community, raising nearly $13,000 through pledges. One of these schools is in a neighborhood that has the lowest income in the city.

This holiday season, when many people are struggling to meet their basic needs, shopping for gifts is overwhelming, stressful, and financially challenging. One great gift idea is to give to a charity in someone else's name. Even a small gift makes a powerful statement.

My gift is my health and ability to run ultramarathons, when I use it to give something back to my community. I'm supporting the Cancer Center here, and making the Survivorship Center within it a reality for those in our community who will need it. Make running your gift this year, wrap it into something meaningful to you, to help people in your community.

If you are fortunate enough to know where your finish line is this year, find your own gift of activity, live it, and give it. Let your finish line be the start of your next adventure.

Bucket List Races- Keys 100

2011-11-08T07:03:00.010-07:00

This weekend, on my way to Phoenix, I found out the exciting news that Southwest Airlines has preliminary plans to be flying into Key West in the near future, which means one of my favorite races might soon be more accessible logistically. It remains to be seen what the flights will be like, what it will cost, and if it is finalized, but I am thrilled to know that planning for running the Keys 100 could be a little easier.

The Keys 100 race is not only one of those bucket list races, but it's a must do again race. And not just because I got a PR on it the first time I ran it, but it was so beautiful and unique, I want to go back.

Bob Becker is the race director and he does an awesome job with the race. It's well organized and it keeps getting better each year- the course improves and he has made the race easier logistically for running without a crew.

Bob is also holding a new trail race, the Everglades Ultras, this January. If I could run trails, I'd be there. Along with the wildlife and scenery, I'm sure it will be another Bucket List event.

When you're like me, facing a white landscape and cold temperatures for the next 6 months or so, nothing sounds more appealing than palm trees, turquoise water, ocean breezes, and margaritas on the beach.

Go check it out, you won't be disappointed.

Year of the Haboob

2011-11-08T06:38:00.007-07:00

I went to Phoenix this past weekend to visit my dad & stepmom and flew into a haboob. Almost.

The flight from Denver was uneventful until we approached Phoenix. We were arriving early, but as we got closer to the city I saw how dusty and hazy it looked. Then I realized we were going to get a tour of Phoenix by air, multiple times, as we circled the dusty valley before we could land. We ended up circling the city for about 20 minutes, just enough to mess with my head so I'd have a slightly queasy feeling for the next 24 hours.

Dad picked me up at the airport and we drove east on the freeway toward Scottsdale and Tempe, and this is what the sky looked like as we drove further east. You couldn't even see the little mountains in town. When we went to Havana Cafe for dinner Camelback Mountain, just a mile away, was hazy.

I thought, I will be spending the weekend in a haboob.

During the night it rained and blew the dust out, and Saturday morning was perfectly clear. It was cool, just 46 degrees, and I met my friend Chris Harrison near the canal at 68th and Indian School for a 10 mile run. My ankle felt fine, even on the soft dirt of the canal after the rain, and we kept a good pace.

It was a laid back weekend. Dad and I visited the running stores, didn't buy anything, but just looked around. The day was one of those perfect winter Arizona days that makes you understand why people might think Phoenix is a good place to live. The little fluffy, puffy clouds in the clearest blue sky that I've never seen anywhere other than Arizona were out and it was a perfect weekend for weather.

We watched the LSU vs. Alabama football game, my stepmom is a native Louisianan.

Sunday morning I ran 7 miles on the canal again and felt fine. Managed to get 32 miles of running in for the week, my biggest mileage week since Badwater. I am making progress.

I've been starting to think about next year's running plans. I'm hoping that things pan out for a fun little adventure run in the Black Hills with a few friends, not a race, but a multi-day training adventure next summer. Low key, low budget, low stress.

I'm looking ahead at a multiday race in New York, most likely in 2013. And other than that I'm going to stick close to home, save my money, and find some good local races, within a day's drive or so in 2012.

I'll be back in Phoenix again in just 8 weeks. I hope Across the Years will be haboob-free.

In the coming weeks Journey to Badwater will be getting a new look. Some of the things on the right-hand side of the blog will be rearranged, and might go away for a short time. I'd like to hear feedback on the new look once it happens, which should be within the next 2 weeks.

Far Beyond the Toenails: A Personal Review of Running on Empty

2011-10-30T14:59:00.009-06:00

This is not exactly a book review, but there is one wrapped inside of this blogpost, which is really a personal review of my response to reading Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich. I’m no book reviewer, but this book touched me personally in a lot of ways, and I feel like writing about it.

Yes, I do highly recommend the book. One of the things Marshall says early on is people are fascinated by the story of his toenails. I’ll leave that to the reader to discover. I don’t care about the toenails. I knew about them long before I read the book, and I didn’t care then, either. Marshall’s internal and external discoveries along the road across the country are much more interesting.

It took me a long time to get around to reading this book. I started it, then put it down, and intended to read it at several different times in the past 6 months, but it was only this past week that I actually sat down and read the thing cover to cover.

I bought a copy soon after it was released, and I planned on taking it with me to Badwater this past summer to get Marshall to sign it when I saw him. I’ve met Marshall and his wife Heather several times and always at running events, where there’s a lot going on, and never had a real conversation. We have quite a few mutual friends, not the Facebook kind, but real friends. Still, we’ve never gotten to know each other.

I picked it up and read the first few chapters last spring, while I was in Arizona on a long training weekend before my Badwater double. It was hard to concentrate because I was tired from running, but also, somehow I felt like I didn’t want to read it yet. Not sure why. I never even got to the point where he started writing about the Transcontinental run.

I put it down with the intention to finish it while I was tapering for Badwater, but never did. I kept putting it off, for some reason I kept hesitating. I had a reluctance to read about it.

As it turned out, he was at Badwater this summer signing copies of his book for each of the Badwater entrants. I had forgotten my copy in the hotel room, and I wanted a signed copy, but not for me. I wanted it for a friend of mine who happens to be a fan of Marshall’s, and who is going through a very difficult struggle right now with his wife who has cancer, something that Marshall could relate to.

Marshall’s generosity caught me off guard. I don’t know why, because my friend Bob Becker had already told me what a great guy he is, but when I told Marshall about my friend, and I told him about my upcoming double Badwater run and how and why I was doing it, he was all for it and wished me the best. He signed the book for my friend.

I gave the signed copy to my friend and I had mine sitting on my desk all summer and this fall. I still wanted to read it, but I couldn’t pick it up, even after I’d run the successful double crossing, came home, recovered, and processed what I’d done.

Now I know why, and I’m glad I waited. I needed to do my own run, work at my own goal without the disruption or distraction of someone else’s experiences- and then I could read it. If I had read the book beforehand, I know it wouldn’t have made any difference in my performance, but might have junked up my head a little, because I wouldn’t have had much context for it in my own experience until after I completed my run this summer and started thinking about what’s next.

In reviewing the book, I can categorize my responses into three groups.

His experiences out on the road.

The landscape. The descriptions of the trees, the farmland, the cornfields, the countryside, the smells, and the memories they evoke. The bristlecone pine, and the tree with the shoes draped on it. Those are the things I notice and remember when I’m out there.

The pain and discomfort. I never even got close to what Marshall experienced with his multiple injuries along the way. In Death Valley, my feet hurt with every step and I found the best way to deal with it was stopping to put my feet up for 10 minutes or so every few hours. While I was on my feet, my thoughts, music, or any other distraction was enough to keep me from focusing on the throbbing surface supporting my body.

The drama. While I felt sympathy for what Heather and Marshall and some of their other crew members endured during the run, especially with Charlie and his dysfunction, I believe ignoring their gut feelings from the beginning was what got them in trouble. Finding a way to make the whole production work, the entire trip and all the support that was needed, and sponsors, and everything- it’s understandable that they would make the best of what they could find for support, and weather the good and bad. And ultimately it was a success, in no small part due to the way both Heather and Marshall have the depth of character to pull them through the rough times.

I experienced crew drama on both of my Badwater races. The first year I didn’t handle it as well as I could have. It strained my friendship with one of my crew members, and things haven’t been the same with him since then, but that’s how I dealt with it at the time. In 2011, I also had some crew drama between two crew members, and I felt much better about my own response to it.

History. I love how he wrote of the historical significance of the places he saw and passed through. I loved the snippets of history, talking about the Mexican immigrants who started their restaurant business in Utah, the experiences of the pedestrians and other cross country runners who endured much harsher conditions, and the way Marshall wove the stories of people he met and scenes he saw. Not the least of which was finishing on Election day, 2008. THAT was cool.

The little things that amused me because I have been there and can relate to them.

Note to myself and ultrahypo: Couldn’t help chuckling at his thyroid medication. Another hypothyroid ultrarunner. We do succeed despite our thyroids. And we need someone to remind us to take our medication every day.

Marshall says he did 120 miles per week in training, that’s about what I did for my peak weekly mileage training for my Badwater double. I found that interesting.

The food he likes- milkshakes, Starbucks coffee drinks, real food, lots of calories. Not drinking plain water, but other things.

Becoming a machine, all you do is move forward, eat and drink, rest as needed, leaving the details to the crew to worry about, so that you can put your energy into the focused forward motion.

The familiar crude and unique names we make up along the road for the monotony of our everyday routines.

The important things that transcend running and athletic achievement.

I like the fact that he does also do it for charity, and makes it about more than himself. Our personal goals and expectation of ourselves, no matter how far out of the norm, how selfish and consumptive they may appear to others and even to ourselves, do not have to get in the way of improving the lives of others.

His sensitivity and his love for Heather, that he writes about so well, I think he conveys this better than anything else he experiences in the entire journey. I don’t know Heather beyond a couple of times being introduced by mutual friends. One year when I was working on medical at Badwater, I saw Heather and Marshall as they sat for the longest time with Denise Jones and John Vonhof in the back of the medical room at Stovepipe Wells, where Marshall was trying to make a decision about whether he should go on due to injury. Looking at Heather, you see there is a strength and depth to her being- and you understand why she and Marshall are so good together.

His comments on how ultrarunning strains a marriage and a family- and how selfish it is- yet we do it because of this compulsion inside of us. Marshall says, “It’s just who I am.” And I think that is really the best way to explain the inexplicable. It takes a strong partner to live with a person like this- they must be well-grounded and confident in their own existence.

How he describes his fragility out there and how it contrasts yet coexists with his strength. It’s the fine line between focusing on a goal and feeling like you’re teetering- in some ways you are made of steel but in other ways you’re on the verge of a complete collapse. I can relate to this somewhat from previous races I’ve done, although I know I didn’t get anywhere near my limits on my Badwater double.

And finally, what drives him, and how he views his own accomplishments and moves forward. He celebrates, but doesn’t rest on his laurels. He pursues the next thing, when he is ready. And considers the point where he might not pursue anything more ambitious. He accepts, gracefully, the fact that he might be done with some aspect of his pursuits, or might not be.

After reading the book, I realized that so much of what Marshall wrote about inspires me, yet I have a different approach. It was an important book for me to read right now, as I'm at a crossroads with my running, in a sense. I'm in a place where I'm stopping and thinking about what's next and where I'm going.

My longest run yet is not even ten percent of what he did, and I don’t have a fraction of the adventure racing and none of the mountaineering background that he has. I can’t, won’t, and don’t want to do most of it. Stories of climbing Everest fascinate me, but I don’t want to do it. Considering how I respond to 14,000 feet above sea level, I don’t think I’d make it past base camp.

Five days on my feet at Badwater this summer was not long enough and I’d love to go beyond that. I know I can, and I want to, somehow, but I’m just not sure what that will look like, where it will take me, where it will be. I suppose I’ll be ready at some point, I’ll know it when I am ready. And I’ll find a way to make it work, logistically and financially, when the time is right.

I’m currently grappling with the fact that I have limited resources, another multiple Badwater crossing might be within my means, but without some substantial amount of money, I can’t see myself doing any cross-country treks, even north to south. I’d love to run across more of the beautiful scenery in the western U.S. Maybe that will be possible someday.

Because I am not a well-known accomplished adventurer or elite athlete likely to get sponsorship and support, and I don’t have an independent source of financial stability, the main thing holding me back from longer adventures is money. The reality is that doing the Badwater double last summer was a stretch, and it did set us back somewhat. I’m not willing to do another adventure until I’ve saved enough to more than cover it again.

I also know that whenever I’ve wanted to do something, I can make it work. It’s a matter of deciding to do something, and focusing on what needs to be done in order to make it happen.

But I’m less sure I want to take the risk of injury associated with such a long trek. I have things to weigh, things to think about. I need more time for my ankle to get stronger. I do know that my trail running days are probably over. This ankle is not going to weather another severe sprain. I realize that you can sprain your ankle anywhere, just walking down a hallway on linoleum in flat shoes, but technical trail running will not be worth the risk for me. Roads, on the other hand, are unlimited possibilities.

I see Marshall’s book as a description of what goes on in reaching one’s peak and facing what’s on the other side. I know I have not reached my peak, athletically. I’m not ready to stop, but I am trying to decide what, if anything, is next. Some days I’m not sure. People remark at how amazing a Badwater double crossing is. But inside, I feel like, it was just part of my journey, part of where I’m going in this long ultra called life, and I’m not sure where it is relative to the beginning or end. I just accept it as part of the path I’m on.

I keep my eyes focused not on where I am, but on the horizon, where the next goal lives. People have told me that I seem muted in my own celebration of an accomplishment. But it’s because I’m looking forward and outward, just like when I was a kid, looking out the second floor classroom windows over the green Pennsylvania hills, wondering what was out there, and knowing that as soon as I could, I was going to discover it.

I’m really glad I waited to read the book until now, when I could focus on it without being distracted by what I had to do to prepare, and after I had my run behind me, so I could relate to a taste of what he experienced.

But I want to thank Marshall for his gift, not just the signed copy of the book, but for sharing this insight into his experiences. I understand how much must have been edited out, things that could make the book drag on too long or things that Marshall thinks would not appear to be interesting to general audiences. I do understand the humor and silliness, and some of the pain and agonizing that goes along with such a trek, and to me, it would have been worth reading about.

Last and least important of all, why the fascination with toenails? All I know is that no one seems to ever let go of the memories of pictures of my feet after my first Badwater. It’s like they get fixated on the bizarre and gruesome details, which are really inconsequential in the long run. Marshall called it the freak show quality. I guess because it’s something tangible, an experience they can share – and most people have had some experience with foot pain. People are looking for some aspect of it that they can relate to. When they see me, months after the event, they still ask me, how are your feet? Are they healed yet?

It’s a strange phenomenon, and I have to admit, I find it amusing.

But the point is, read the book.

Looking Ahead

2011-10-30T08:18:00.007-06:00

Our back yard looks empty. I’m mourning the loss of our beautiful cherry tree in the middle of the yard. It took a hit a year and a half ago, the same morning we left for the Florida Keys a heavy wet late spring snowstorm cracked one of the big limbs.

We cut that down and left the rest of the tree, but last week our heavy wet fall snowstorm broke the remaining limbs and it wasn’t going to survive. I’ll plant something in its place, probably a fruit tree of some type, when the time is right. I'll miss the cherry blossoms in the spring, and the shade.

I’ve been in a sort of half-funk lately. I’m not depressed but I feel somehow at loose ends. I think it’s finally starting to catch up with me, the fact that I have no immediate running goals and that huge part of my life’s focus is really blurry right now.

I’ve been filling the time with domestic projects, which is nice, cleaning out and organizing all the junk and making room for other things. I have made a goal to study for my oncology certification exam over the coming year. And I’m looking forward to the completion of the woman cave.

I haven’t been running with anyone else, I’m not ready to do anything where I take the focus off how my ankle is doing yet. And I haven’t been in the mood for sharing that time with anyone else, either.

I’m having to not only physically guard myself, but somehow I feel the need to keep my thoughts and mental processes to myself and to positive things while running. I’m unable to listen to anybody else’s stuff. Once I am more confident that I can run with a free mind, without the little nagging voice reminding me of my ankle, it will be easier to be around others, for now, I’m in self-protection mode.

I have made it to an hour of running, it doesn’t hurt while I run, but before I warm up in the morning, my ankle is slightly stiff. It’s not painful, but it reminds me that it’s there. I keep taking days off whenever I feel like it, but I’m sort of pushing it with that. I’ve taken a lot more days off the past 2 weeks than I really needed to.

It’s a luxury right now being able to do that, but there is some little gear grinding in the back reaches of my brain that is nagging at me to get off my butt and get moving more consistently. The weather doesn’t help, we’ve had snow, ice, and are expecting more in the coming week. I’m going to Arizona for a few days, maybe the sunshine and warmth will help my attitude and my ankle.

One thing I did do this week, I finally finished reading my copy of Running on Empty by Marshall Ulrich, and I’m planning to write a complete blogpost on that, sort of a personal review, wrapped into my own perspective.

I started reading it months ago, while I was training for my Badwater double, but was too tired, focused, and reluctant to read further at that point. Now that I’ve finished reading it, I’m really glad I waited until now, because I don’t think I could have thought about the book or appreciated it in the same way if I read it earlier this year, before I did my double crossing.

More about that later. The sun is up. I really need to get out and run today.

Return of the RPB...

2011-10-27T15:00:00.005-06:00

What a weird week this has been. The sunshine finally came back this afternoon, but it's not forcing me out the door yet.

We got our first snow yesterday and it was one of those heavy, wet storms that splits trees and wreaks havoc in all kinds of ways. We were without power for a while, our maple tree took a hit, and our cherry tree is now flopped over in the back yard and we'll have to cut it down.

I woke up yesterday morning, needing to go to work for a staff meeting, and found big tree limbs down in front of our front door. I had to climb over everything. Then once I managed to get to the car and push the 6 or so inches of heavy, wet snow off, I discovered two huge cracks in my windshield. Then I saw our neighbors' house. We didn't fare too badly compared to them- their huge old cottonwood was half down, leaning against their garage and new roof. They moved all their cars during the night.

On my way to work, I had to go a different route because the way I normally go was blocked by downed tree limbs. Afterwards I had a dentist appointment, which fortunately was just a cleaning, nothing else needed.

This morning I had to go to a class at work, mandatory training for all nurses on the new AEDs we're getting. I had signed up for a class earlier this week, on Monday morning before my work shift, but spaced it out. I had to sign up again and this was the only time available that I could make. So I dragged myself out of bed and when I went out in the 18 degree morning to warm up my car, the locks were frozen. CRAP!

I have never had frozen locks before- or not in my recent memory. Not with this car, anyway. I looked at the clock. I had just enough time to put my running shoes on and run to work. But I really didn't want to run to work, so I decided to keep trying with the car. My employee badge was in there too, so I might have a hard time getting in the building. I was pissed.

Finally, some miracle happened and I got one of the doors open. The sun wasn't up yet to warm things up, there was a fog sitting on us. Maybe the universe was afraid of the wrath, feeling the threat of a forthcoming hormonal rage, which could likely have happened if my doors didn't open within another 5 minutes.

I went in, attended the class, and stuck around afterwards to get my annual TB mask fit test, something we all have to do. Dani took a picture of me in my Spongebob outfit for the test.

I had originally cancelled a haircut appointment because of my goof-up with the AED class. But I got done with class and the TB mask test in time, so I called to see if I could reschedule, and I was in luck- my appointment time was still available.

I went in and asked the woman who always cuts my hair if she could take a lot more off than usual, and thin it out. I proceeded to get the worst haircut imaginable. It really was my fault, I wanted less hair- my hair is super thick and when it gets long I feel like I'm carrying an extra 10 pounds on my head. My hair grows fast, fortunately. But right now I look like I have a mop on my head. It truly is awful- maybe I should go get it shaved. I'm going to have to pin it up in different places and tie it back for at least the next 6 weeks, until it grows out enough to figure out what to do next.

Some days make you want to go home and crawl under the covers. Forget the running plans. I came home from the haircut, did yoga, took a shower, and now I'm going to drink a glass of wine and crawl under the covers and maybe take a nap. Maybe when I wake up my hair will give me inspiration for a new Halloween costume?

Nite...

Alene as Spongebob

2011-10-27T09:13:00.001-06:00

This is what we nurses have to do every year to get our TB mask fit tests.

Thinking

2011-10-21T11:07:00.011-06:00

I've been busy with more "stuff" I chose to do. Some is busy work, some is for fun. I've been working on projects around the house, trying to organize and clean out junk before winter.

Only a few days left of this gorgeous fall weather we've been having until the seasonal reality kicks in. Next week we might see our first snow this year. That's okay, I'm ready for it.

I have backed off on the bike, and running is steady but I'm not up to an hour yet. That could happen this weekend if all goes well.

I have things on my mind, other than running.

Last night I spoke at a cancer support group about the role of the nurse in care of the oncology patient. It was odd to be speaking about something other than running. It takes me out of my comfort zone. I spoke about what nurses do, how we are trained, and how oncology patients can get the most out of their time spent with the nurse. We have access to so much information and so many resources, but many patients don't know to ask about those things.

I think it went fairly well, though I felt somewhat nervous up there, talking about something I've only been doing for 5 years, and especially oncology nursing, which I've only been doing for 15 months.

The discussion at the end of the talk was lively. There is so much frustration among patients with certain aspects of healthcare in general. They are not frustrated with the nurses themselves, but with the flow of information and communication among providers, and not just physicians. There are so many gaps to fill, and nurses can do our part by being thorough in each interaction with a patient, but there are so many other interactions between patients and health care providers that we can't control.

As a result, nurses often end up picking up the pieces and filling in the cracks where we can. Our job is to make sure no one drops the ball when it comes to a patient's care, but we can only do that when we know something is missing- we have to discover it ourselves or hear it from the patient, and often we hear it from the patient too late. The health care system in this country has failed patients who have access to it in so many instances by providing inadequate and inconsistent information, that patients don't know where to turn.

What I didn't talk about last night was that the complaint I hear so often from nurses that the nursing profession itself is failing nurses. So many nurses are physically and emotionally unhealthy because of their working conditions and powerlessness to change them. They get frustrated and give up. How many obese nurses have you seen? I see a lot. Every day. Ever wonder why that is? Then look at the general public.

Nurses don't have a powerful organization lobbying for them. Physicians have the AMA. Nurses have the ANA, which is barely a whisper in comparison. It really isn't doing any justice to nurses who actually work in direct patient care. In nursing, to begin at the bottom, nurse education and nursing employment paradigms, need as much of an overhaul as health care in general does, along with our political system. What does that have to do with obese nurses?

Our country is failing- our leaders and our political system have failed us. They allow the powerful wealthy interests to dictate how things are run, not in the best interest of the people they are failing to serve. We have an oligarchy. And we are seeing the obesity that results from oligarchy. What do I mean by that?

Obesity is just one symptom of all of this. Keep the people in a fat and sedentary food and electronic gadget coma, keep them tired and busy and commuting and help them to be slaves to their objects so they won't have energy to stay sharp and fit, or to fight or even care. This helps to minimize their leisure time, and minimize their sleep. Minimize their energy and time to prepare, cook, and eat healthy food. A hamburger with french fries is much quicker to eat than a salad if you only have a 30 minute break in a 13+ hour day.

I wish nurses could be examples of healthy living for their patients. I wish people would change their lifestyles before they become patients in the healthcare system. I wish I wish I wish...and I feel powerless, even though I try on a daily basis to exemplify these things.

I've been watching the Occupy Wall Street movement from a skeptical distance but I can't help thinking that people are getting closer to the point where they are finally realizing that their apathy is costing them more than the risks of taking action do, and I believe that is precisely where we need to be going if we are ever going to save ourselves from destruction. Look at the puppets we supposedly send to Washington to represent us. Have they done anything for you lately? Keeping people divided and spreading misinformation is exactly how the powers-that-be, the oligarchs, want things to be in order to keep things going in their favor so they can retain power and wealth.

This isn't a blog about nursing or politics so I won't go any further here. I have so many thoughts on how nursing needs to change as a profession. And how health care needs to change. But it's just part of the bigger picture that has been eroding for a long time. Real people, every day, need to take responsibility for changing it. That's what I'm thinking about today.

A Real Run

2011-10-09T12:56:00.005-06:00

I did my longest run yet in the 2 weeks I've been running again, 40 minutes. I feel like I took 10 years off my body, or I'm running in someone else's body.

I have started to drop a little weight, just 4 pounds so far but I can feel it in my clothes and I have a little less to pinch around my waist.

Running feels a lot easier than it did before. I feel like a runner again, my legs turn over so much more easily, I feel like my posture is better, and my form is better. I didn't realize how tired I was before. My pace is faster without even trying.

This weekend we had our first taste of real fall weather and it was refreshing- it rained and was cold yesterday. I didn't even force myself out to go run in it. I did yoga instead.

Then I spent the rest of the day cleaning out my junk, I have two closets that were full of stuff, unorganized chaos that was expanding by the day. I pulled everything out- running gear, art supplies, books, dust, dog hairballs, and I vacuumed and dusted and got rid of stuff, I can walk in my bedroom closet again, and it felt so good!

I was thinking on my run today, that I am learning a lot from this break, more than I thought. First, I am enjoying having a life again. I don't feel like I have to get out there and put the miles in or run at a certain effort.

But what is more important is that I am realizing how much better my body feels with the cross training and different activities. I am so much more flexible- I feel it when I get out of bed in the morning. I used to hobble around like an old lady, my calves, achilles, hamstrings and glutes would be so tight in the morning that I'd walk around stiff until I took a hot shower. Now I take that first step out of bed in the morning and I don't have to shuffle around, my ankles bend the way they are supposed to.

The other thing I'm finding is that the stress of training so many miles and so slowly was not so good for my weight- I think a combination of being so tired all the time and working at such low intensity made it hard to burn calories and eat the right amount. Now I'm not hungry all the time and I'm able to get through the day without having to eat every couple of hours.

I love doing long runs and there are more adventures I'd like to do. When I'm ready.

Thought for the Day

2011-10-07T15:35:00.003-06:00

We all could use one.

Earlier this week I was in low spirits. Not sure if it's the shorter days, sometimes I hit a speed bump around this time of year. But the weather has been spectacular, and I'm enjoying a lot of things every day now. There's nothing particularly stressful going on, but whatever it was, it was hitting me hard. Wednesday I forced myself out on the bike when I didn't feel like going. I felt somewhat better afterwards, but it wasn't enough.

Thursday I felt better, and got out for a nice ride toward Greeley and back. When I got home, I talked on the phone to a long time friend who just found out her dad has metastatic cancer- it's everywhere, they're not even sure where it originated, but he won't be with us much longer. We talked for a long time, we have shared a lot over the years and one thing we have in common is that we both have a strong attachment to our fathers. We talked about quality of life and making the most of the time that's left.

Then I remembered it was the night that the cancer support group meets. There's been a lot of visibility for the topic of cancer, it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. It also happens to be my sister's 5 year anniversary since her diagnosis. She is doing great. I went to the support group and being around everyone and listening to them always gives me a boost.

But this morning I was barely awake, sipping my coffee, and saw that our local paper was pink! I rolled my eyes. Oh please, spare us the pink frenzy. It's really hard to read the print against a pink background!

There was a great article about a local cancer survivor in today's paper and I think they more than redeemed themselves for the pink insult to our eyes by printing this article.

I'm very supportive of the efforts to support cancer survivors, to prevent, treat, and eliminate cancer as a life threatening disease, and all the great organizations out there working toward this common goal.

And I also support and believe in living life one day at a time and not getting caught up in the unimportant things. I do my best to live my life like that, and I'm nowhere near perfect, but I am getting better at it.

I am feeling so much better today.

Meet the Frackers

2011-10-01T15:30:00.018-06:00

Dennis just got home from a work-related trip to Florida. I had a bad week while he was gone. For some reason this past week I was in a bad place, just super irritable and then feeling crabby and hormonal. I didn't sleep much while he was gone, and that never helps. Finally I got caught up on my sleep and felt much better this morning.

So now I feel energetic and a little snarky.

Today we went for a bike ride along the Windsor-Greeley section of the Poudre Trail. Dennis had never been on it before so I took him out there to see the scenic part, and we turned around before the ugly part.

Dennis was noticing all the oil tanks out there, and the number of huge homes sprouting up along the bike path near Greeley.

We were wondering, who would be living in and building such huge monstrosities, in this economy, and in Greeley of all places, and with poison ivy in their back yards.

Serendipitously, this morning there was an article in the Denver Post about the frackers.

Frackers refer to the people who are making a very comfortable living off of fracking- hydraulic fracturing of the land in order to get oil out. I don't mean the paycheck to paycheck living of the people who do the hard work. I'm talking about the people who are raking in big bucks.

Frackers pump water plus a special mixture of chemicals into a well to force more oil out.

The frackers don't want to disclose the contents of their fracking fluid.

So the fracking industry doesn't want to share it's secret recipe with the world. I liked Hickenlooper's comment about Coca-Cola. Cute.

It's a big deal here in Colorado. We don't know the effects on groundwater and whatever other toxic environmental effects might result from it. The industry is wanting to frack the area around Windsor. Windsor has a growing residential area, and it also happens to be scenic and has great potential for outdoor recreational pursuits. Look at this gorgeous scenery along the Poudre River Trail, where we rode today.

Looking up at the huge homes overlooking the poison ivy corridor of the bike path, we decided that this must be where the frackers live. Who knows if they do, but it sounded plausible.

I tell you, some people will frack anything. Hey frackers, Frack this!

It's starting to cool down in the mornings and evenings, the days are still hot. Great cycling weather, but in another week it's going to change. I'm returning to running slowly and I'm going to tough it out and wear tights and more clothing to keep cycling as long as I can. No long runs for a while. I've been enjoying the days, having energy to do other things besides just working out.

I feel great when I run, instead of running on fatigued legs they feel strong and flexible, and I feel light, even though I haven't lost any weight. I've been doing a lot of cross training, not just cycling but weight training and other balance, flexibility, and strengthening work. I forgot what my body felt like before I started training for all these long ultras!

Our house is still a wildlife sanctuary for Einstein, but not for the squirrels. The squirrels are losing to Iris the squirrel hunter. I should see if she has a license. Sadly, she has eaten at least 3 more baby squirrels. I find carcasses in the yard when I get home from work. She stalks them. Even my neighbor told me he yelled at her over the fence because she had a squirrel.

As you can see, with 20 minutes of daily running, I don't have much to report right now, if I'm resorting to writing about fracking. I hate thinking about politics anymore, dreading the onslaught of the approaching ugly election, I find it all so depressing and overwhelming, and mostly it just brings out the snark in me.

Tomorrow is the annual running club picnic and 4K run, in which I am actually going to participate. And I'm off to Arizona in November for a visit with my dad and stepmom. And that's the extent of the news in my world for now.

Einstein 1, Squirrels -2

2011-09-25T17:38:00.009-06:00

Another week has gone by and I'm coming up on week 8, as of October I'll be starting a super S-L-O-W rebuilding program with my running. I don't miss it yet! The weather has been so nice for bike rides, I'm perfectly happy to go out on the bike! Yesterday Connie and I went for a good bike ride around Windsor and she told me about some new places to ride.

I'm not planning any races until I know I'm running at 100%. That could be a while. Starting out will consist of five minute runs at first. It will take a few months before I do anything resembling a real run, but I'll get there.

I've been doing little domestic projects and staying incredibly busy, which makes me wonder where all these things go all those months where I have no time for anything but running. I guess they just don't get done.

Einstein is still winning the chase. This past week we only saw traces of him one morning. The traps in the house are all empty. One glue trap out in the shed caught a tiny mouse. Definitely not Einstein, and probably not anyone related to Einstein. He's a big dude.

One evening after I got home from work, I was in the shower, and as soon as I turned the water off all I could hear was Dennis saying, "No! Let go! Drop it!" I threw my robe and shoes on and ran outside. He was holding Iris in one arm, and trying to pull a squirrel out of her mouth with the other hand. It was a BIG squirrel, too. It had a thick bushy tail and was fat.

It took us a good 15 minutes to get it away from her, she would not let go. The squirrel was already dead. I had to distract Iris, I said, "Look over there!" and she finally dropped it. I got the honor of picking it up in a garbage bag and disposing of it. Ugh!

Iris got a bath after that, and got her mouth washed out, too. There was no way she was coming in the house or sleeping on the bed after chewing on a squirrel!

Today I caught Iris trying to climb a tree in the back yard. Later I found squirrel guts and hair in the yard. I think she got another one.

If at first you don't succeed, try the other side of the tree.

Chasing Einstein

2011-09-19T21:22:00.008-06:00

I'm seven weeks into my running layoff now and I'm not missing a thing. I've been riding my bikes into the ground, though, I already broke my chain once on the Surly! The guy at the bike shop told me to go easy on the poor bike...

I finally made it up north Dam Hill at Horsetooth on the bike, faster than I can run it. That was an accomplishment for me, since I used to always seem to run faster than a lot of the cyclists on that hill. At the beginning even Bingham Hill was tough, but now I can do Bingham Hill with a lot less effort.

I am getting some opportunities to chase things for cross-training though. Like the newest member of our family, the one who wasn't invited but makes himself comfortable every night in our house, Einstein.

Einstein is a mouse.

This time of year in Fort Collins the mice like to come indoors looking for food, when it gets cold outside at night.

So far Einstein has outsmarted us even though he's come close to death several times. I could have done him in once, but I can't kill mice. Mice squeaking in a trap make me cry.

I have a hard enough time dealing with the inescapable crunch of running over gazillions of grasshoppers on the bike path this time of year, so killing a mouse is over the top for me.

I had the opportunity, and I thought my effort was enough, but I didn't do it and he ended up escaping. Now he's managed to evade all of our traps and foil all of our efforts. We've tried to bait him with dog food, peanut butter, oatmeal, and I don't know what else. Dennis deals with the traps, not me.

Iris and Isabelle hear him and try to chase him but he knows to get under the oven and in the cracks where they can't reach him. They sniff, but they never get close. They don't pay much attention most of the time. Does this look like a buffalo who is ready to chase a mouse?

One day I heard him stuck on the glue trap in the garage, near the doggie door. He was trying to get off of it and he was squeaking. I felt victorious, but his squeaking was making me feel guilty. I dropped him and the glue trap into the trash can in the garage, saying, "sorry little mouse!" and thinking once I closed the lid we would never hear from him again.

Later that day I went out to put a trash bag out in the can. I opened the lid, and something dark flew out! It went flying across the garage.

That mouse freed himself from the trap deep in the garbage can, got up near the lid and waited for the opportunity to get out! This mouse deserves a diploma of some sort. That's when I decided to name him Einstein. My sister has a cat named Einstein. Maybe we should borrow the cat for a while.

Most mice find little cracks or holes, or get under doorways. Einstein uses the doggie door.

A few days before we "caught" him I opened the little closet that we use as a pantry, and something dark and furry came flying off the shelf, brushed my hand as it flew across the room, and by the time I realized what it was, all I saw was the swinging flap of the doggie door. The girls were nowhere to be found. They were too busy looking for squirrels in the trees in the back yard, oblivious to the mouse.

After we set traps, Einstein chewed his way into a triple-wrapped bag of flour and an unopened bag of tortilla chips. There were chips all over the shelf. We cleaned everything and put all the chewable items up in the cabinets. Or so we thought.

I had a big cardboard container of oatmeal that I cook in the mornings, and I left it out on the counter one night, not thinking about the mouse. In the morning I found the oatmeal in the state below.

He tried gnawing through the cardboard at the bottom, but then must have given up and jumped on the top, where he chewed a hole in the plastic lid! I found shredded plastic all over the counter, and of course, another trail of mouse poop across the stove. We also found more little turds in the pantry again, on top of the cans. Ugh!

After cleaning up again, Dennis said that was it, he was getting some different mousetraps and wanted to keep him from getting up on the shelves in the pantry, so he placed a sheet of plastic wrap across the lower shelf all the way to the door, thinking Einstein might bounce off of it if he tried to leap up there.

That didn't work, we found mouse poop on the shelves again!

So far, no luck. We got a reprieve from cleaning up mouse poop the past 2 days but I have a feeling it won't last.

That's about it. Mostly these days I am working, painting, riding the bike, and hanging out with the girls at home. There's nothing as fun as an afternoon game of Stick in the back yard grass.

I thought about going off on a rant about people who talk on the cell phone while riding their bikes on the bike path, but I'll save that for another day.

Same Road, Body, & Driver, Different Vehicle

2011-09-10T23:11:00.009-06:00

I am now into my fifth week off of running. This week I have taken a few running steps, as I'm adding some grass running into my every other day routine of physical therapy. I am up to a whole 10 minutes on the grass! WooHoo! But it's good.

It's pain free, and I'm able to tolerate the uneven surface without a brace on my ankle. Standing on a pillow on my bad ankle doing leg swings and other balance exercises was helping, but I needed to step up the challenge even more.

I'm riding my bike as much as I can fit into my schedule, and I've been working out my entire body, trying to build on my core strength and upper body, things I have neglected in varying degrees. My entire body is sore, different parts, every day. I like it. This break has been so refreshing, for my body and mind.

I ran into my friend Nick this week at the grocery store, he's taking a much needed break right now too, he's had such success on the ultra racing circuit but pushing it so hard that I think he raced himself into mental burnout. It was so good to see him. I know that after a break he'll be ready to tear up the ultra world again like he did last year, if he wants to.

I'm looking forward to running races next year but right now I don't miss the training at all. I love what I'm doing now. It's fun and I have a lot of variety in my workouts, and it doesn't consume all day, every day. I definitely don't miss going to the sauna!

I've done some interesting and new bike rides, some of which I'll do again, and some I'll chalk up to curiosity. I rode the bike path from Windsor to Greeley and back last week for the first time. It was actually quite pleasant, until about the last 5 miles into Greeley.

You cross a set of railroad tracks and literally, on the other side of the tracks, suddenly the scenery goes from riverbanks and cottonwood trees to dead grass and gravel pits, and you're in Greeley. And that's where I started seeing people carrying baseball bats as they walked on the bike path. Nice.

When I emerged on the far end of the path in Island Grove Park a few miles later, it's not such a pretty part of town. I looked out at the delapidated buildings and the trailer parks, stopped at 11th and D streets, and turned around and headed back toward Windsor without exploring anything in Greeley.

It's really a decent ride but once you hit the railroad tracks, it's time to turn around. It was 63 miles out and back from home the way I did it, but next time I'd cut off the middle 10 miles and just skip the Greeley section which would be a nice 50 mile ride.

I'm getting stronger on the hills, today I rode up toward Masonville over County Road 38E by Horsetooth Reservoir. I went down through Loveland, cut over to Boyd Lake, and came back to Fort Collins.

I really need to go do a century ride one of these days before the weather changes. I need to figure out a good route and do it.

I have a feeling when I return to running I'm going to feel a lot stronger and healthier than I've been in a long time. I'm not in a hurry, I'll get there. I like it this way.

Dusting

2011-09-04T06:40:00.002-06:00

Forty-six degrees this morning! As much as I like hot weather, I'm ready for a break.

I am now at the end of 3 weeks of an 8 week layoff from running. I have to say I don't miss it yet. I have been cycling and painting. Going out to lunch or on bike rides with friends I haven't seen. Going for bike rides with Dennis. Going up to the cabin with Dennis and playing with the dogs. Dusting.

Dusting???!!!

You never realize it until you move things around how much dust accumulates over time. I had to take all the paintings off the walls when we had our roof done. I thought of my brother, cleaning up after the haboob in Phoenix.

Running and training all the time, to the exclusion of most everything else, creates haboobs in your life. It's only when you stop and shake things up that you see so much dust everywhere.

I've been telling people that I've been off running for three weeks and I haven't hurt anybody yet. But really I am okay with it.

I started physical therapy, and that is some work. It hurts after I do those exercises, standing on a pillow and balancing on my bad ankle. It will be worth it though, even if it takes months. I have to work hard at this, since it takes a lot of stress to make my ankle hurt. Most people would be happy that their ankle only hurts after 40 or 50 minutes of running. But for me, I'm not even warmed up!

Painting has been great. I haven't worked on anything serious, just warming up by playing with cactus and colors and seeing where that takes me. I have some paintings in the local Senior Center this fall.

I'm having fun on the bikes, exploring some new rides. I hope that once the weather changes and it gets cold on the bike I'll be able to run enough to keep me challenged. Riding a bike indoors for hours is something I don't particularly enjoy. There's always deep water running too, which isn't much more exciting than riding a bike on a trainer.

It is such a nice break, it helps me clear my mind and get re-centered. As important as running is to me, it's a good reminder to stay well-rounded. There is so much to enjoy in life besides just running!

Everyone asks me, when's your next race? I don't have anything on the horizon. I am not planning anything at all through the end of this year. I'm looking at doing some of my own adventures next year, planning them myself or with some friends, instead of doing a lot of races. As far as racing, I am looking at some sort of multiday fixed time event toward the end of 2012, probably Across the Years.

If I enter any shorter races, they will be close to home, inexpensive and easy to plan for, most likely some 100-ish mile runs or a 24 hour run. I might even jump in a 50 miler or 100K at some point, if I find something new and interesting. I just want to have fun, see some different places, and think about what's next. I'm looking ahead at 2013 and 2014 and preparing for that more than anything. I'd like to do something big to celebrate my 50th birthday.

On Learning from Experience

2011-08-19T15:25:00.007-06:00

The world is not simple, and not black and white, but to state things as simply as possible, there are good mistakes and bad mistakes. Good mistakes are the ones you learn from. Bad mistakes are the ones where people get hurt. And somewhere in between, that can go either way, are mistakes you don't learn from the first time, despite having the information and resources to do so.

People do make mistakes. It's human nature. Ultrarunning requires a person to think critically, and use common sense. People usually do learn from their mistakes, and I believe in individuals taking responsibility for themselves, but when someone points out an error that involves runner safety, I think it's prudent to seek out information and advice, and resolve to do better next time.

Anyone, at any stage of their running career, can make a mistake, have a bad day, use poor judgment, or just space something out at an aid station that results in a serious problem a few miles later. Just last year in a 50 mile race I made the simple mistake of rushing through an aid station and forgetting my warm clothes in my drop bag. I had some food in my stomach, then an unexpected storm blew in suddenly.

Within a few minutes I was shivering and headed toward hypothermia. Fortunately my friend loaned me her jacket and stuck with me. She could have easily run ahead and finished an hour ahead of me, but she didn't. That's what ultrarunners do, and that's what makes the sport so great.

The lesson: never rush through an aid station. And never assume you're safe in an ultra even if you've run the distance hundreds of times. One of the most talented, experienced runners in the entire field at Badwater this year, not to mention the entire world, ended up in the hospital for days, in acute renal failure from problems she was having before the halfway point in this year's race, one of the cooler years in the race's history.

Nearly 20 years ago, as a new ultrarunner, I made the mistake of inviting a senior member of the ultra community to a low-key local event I was holding. My friends and I had already done a few of these training runs ourselves and decided to invite others to join us. His response to me was flat-out harsh and abrupt. "You people who put on these unofficial events are ruining the sport! You're screwing things up for the rest of us who put on legitimate races!"

He went on and on about people advertising their unofficial events in places where everybody and their nutcase cousin could see, and then they'd show up and do something stupid to jeopardize the sport. We didn't have Facebook in those days, mostly things were advertised by word of mouth or in magazines like Ultrarunning and locally produced, free publications. But the point is the same today as it was 20 years ago.

At the time, I wrote him off as an egotistical, insensitive jerk, but after a while, I realized that his response, as abrasive as it was, was motivated by a fierce love of the sport, and a desire to avoid ruining the future of it. If something bad happens, or you fail to get the necessary permits, or someone complains, it will reflect badly on the entire community of runners.

You do not want someone to be injured or die as a result of the event you hold. If an event is held on public lands, first of all, the agency managing the public lands where you held the event will not want to touch you or your sport with a 10 foot pole, and it will put a damper on the chances of any other entity putting on an event in that location. Then there are the legal issues, which I can't even comment on, because they are way beyond my knowledge and comprehension.

Even in the case of a completely official event, where all your bases are covered, and you have permits, insurance, waivers, official medical personnel, and a stellar record of things going smoothly, you still need to be prepared for the worst.

The moment the press gets wind of someone being seriously injured, ill, or dying at a running event, every journalist and his uncle will be calling the race director, and anyone they can get hold of connected with the race, wanting to know why it happened. There will be articles published in major newspapers all over the country and all over the Internet about the controversy over safety in the sport of ultrarunning. The press loves that sort of thing. I can promise you, if someone dies of heat stroke in an event in little ol' Fort Collins, the New York Times will be calling. And if not New York, then LA, or Chicago.

But worst of all, if you are a race director or part of the staff, are the questions you will ask yourself if someone does get seriously injured or dies, the weight of it on your conscience, and how much it will impact your world and your own running. In 2003, I was co-race director of Across the Years, in Litchfield Park, Arizona, and we got word that one of the competitors had been found dead in his hotel room the day after the race. We heard from everyone, including the New York Times, before we knew the cause, and weeks before the results of an autopsy were released.

Even if it turns out it had nothing to do with your event, you do not want any of these things to happen in connection with your event. It was devastating and long-lasting, for the entire race staff. That's the kind of thing that sticks with you, for a long time.

No ultra is safe. An individual can decide to take risks by running an ultra, but for the race organizers/director/staff/agencies involved, it's a different type of risk. There are things that need to be considered beforehand, because they are taking on the combined risk of everyone who participates, and more. Add a few extra things, like heat, rain, cold, road construction, inexperience, and the omnipresent human factor of stupidity, which also applies to motorists, spectators, and any other two-legged creature on the planet, and there is even more risk.

There is always the potential in every event for something to go wrong. As I mentioned above, you can't even assume that the people who finished intact that year are all safe once they finish. As a race director, thinking about these things is what keeps you up at night for weeks or even months before the race.

It's a big mistake to assume that an event is safe because no one had problems. They potentially could have: it's even more dangerous to make assumptions about the safety of an event based on good luck. Just because nothing happened one year, or two in a row, or 5 in a row, doesn't mean nothing bad will happen in year 2 or 6 or 30.

Not long ago I wrote a blogpost that obviously struck a few nerves. I suspect I hit someone's thumb that was on the head of the nail I was hammering. The experiences I have described above are what drove me to write that original post.

I'm human. People aren't going to agree with everything I say and that's fine with me. I don't like checking my e-mail and finding nastygrams, that makes me mad, especially when people get so caught up in taking the small insignificant stuff personally, that they don't even see that someone is watching their back, thinking about the more important picture: their safety.

It's a great time to be an ultrarunner. The sport is well-established, even if most people still don't understand the draw. More and more people are getting it, though, because of all the good attention the sport and athletes have received in the media. There are so many great places to run long, with lots of potential for events in the future. The sport is growing and is being viewed more favorably than ever. Let's keep it that way.

Tour de Wal-Mart: Save Money. Live Better.

2011-08-18T13:15:00.008-06:00

My basic daily ride is a 30 mile out and back with a loop in the middle. I call it the Tour de Wal-Mart. Why?

Because there are two Wal-Marts along the way. I ride from home in Fort Collins, down the Power Trail and south to the Loveland bike path, which I take to the first Wal-Mart, off Eisenhower & Denver, and then I go out the Loveland bike path near Boyd Lake and take the path until the place where it currently ends, near 287, where there is another Wal-Mart.

If I wanted to add more mileage, and more Wal-Marts, I could easily tack on two more. I could take the Poudre Trail around to the Wal-Mart north of Lemay and Mulberry, and I could ride out east Harmony to the Wal-Mart at I-25. I don't actually go in the Wal-Marts, but they are there as fixtures on the landscape.

I've been alternating between my two bikes, the 1986 Fat Chance with dinosaur components, and the Surly CrossCheck. I love riding both.

All this time on the bikes has given me time to think about goals for next year, to build up over the next few years for some longer adventures.

I made a promise to myself when I turned 40 that I would be healthier and have better fitness at 50 than I had at 40. At 40 I was just starting to get my life back in order after being a semi-vegetable due to my undertreated thyroid condition.

Dennis just turned 50 which reminds me that I'm three-quarters of the way there from 40, and it won't be long. I know I already have much better endurance and I am healthier in a lot of ways, but I am carrying around some weight that I've put on in the past 4 years. My acquired dislike of doing weight training has kept me from working my upper body and overall strength, and adding it back into my life would do a lot to boost my slowing metabolic rate.

I do lift weights but my weight routine is completely pathetic. I do the bare minimum that I can accomplish in about 15 minutes three times a week, and I have to force myself to do that. Yes, I used to be a personal trainer, and I can't even make myself lift weights anymore. I used to love weight training, but burned out at some point along the way.

I have a solution and I'm getting organized to get started on lifting weights again within the next two weeks. We'll see what happens. Maybe I can revive my interest in weight training again with some creativity. First I need to dig my long lost weight sets out from under all the junk in the garage that Dennis has piled on top of them! That should be a workout in itself!

I guess you could say I am following the Wal-Mart slogan. Save money, live better. By riding my Tour de Wal-Mart and not going in, I am saving money, and all these great training ideas will help me live better. I could be the Wal-Mart poster child with my special Wal-Mart dress that I wore in Las Vegas, with my tacky sports bra hanging out the back. Actually I got both the dress and the bra in the Target girls section, but don't tell Wal-Mart that.

Good News

2011-08-13T17:46:00.005-06:00

Met with the doctor (Dr. Yemm) at Orthopedic Center of the Rockies, after my MRI. They were able to get some very clear pictures of my right ankle (I'm good at holding still for long periods of time- something I didn't know I could do).

It was the best news I could have hoped for.

There is no tendon tear, and everything looks intact except for some inflammation around my peroneal tendon. No evidence of achilles tendinitis, no degenerative or arthritic changes in my ankle joint. I still have the little bone fragment near my subtalar joint from the rock that fell on me in the 1992 Mosquito Marathon, but it isn't doing anything. Everything looks good.

I am so relieved knowing I won't need surgery! That would have been awful, I would have had to be non-weight bearing for weeks, and I wouldn't have been able to work, and then it would have been a long rehab.

I asked about all the things I can do to rehab it now. I asked him if he thought it would respond to a couple of months off. He told me he never hears runners suggest that, usually he has to say it and they don't like to hear it. I told him I want to be running at least another 27 years, and preferably when I'm 90, if I live that long. He said he thought I probably would be running then.

So the plan is, take 6-8 weeks off with no running, no uneven surfaces, not even hiking. Allow the inflammation to subside somewhat, using ice in favor of anti-inflammatories. (So nice to hear a doctor suggest THAT!)

After 2 weeks, start physical therapy with some ultrasound or other modalities and peroneal strengthening exercises, which I'll be able to do on my own. Then another 6 weeks or so of non-running before I slowly re-introduce it. Meanwhile, the bike and deep water pool running are my substitutes.

Sounds like a great plan to me. I can enjoy the beautiful fall Colorado weather on my bikes, and do a little deep water running to give myself some intense interval workouts. I could end up with better fitness after this layoff than I have right now. I have not planned any additional events this year.

This solves my problem of figuring out whether I would do Across the Years if it's held this year. The answer is, No. But I will go down and volunteer if the race happens!

We just got back from 2 days at the cabin, where we took the girls hiking, my last hike for a while, and it did hurt my ankle somewhat. But it was an easy 6 mile hike with only a few rocky places.

I do hope I'll be able to return to trail running and hiking by next summer. It's hard to be away from mountains and all the great trails. But 8 weeks is nothing, and I know my long-neglected Surly cyclocross bike and Fat Chance mountain bike will be so happy to go for daily rides!

YAY!

Gotta Love It

2011-08-11T14:25:00.008-06:00

More hate mail today. Awesome! Unfortunately these people (or person) sending the vitriolic comments didn't have the cojones to sign their name(s) and were dumb enough to identify themselves as members of the Fort Collins Trail Runners. Yeah, that does a lot to support your arguments for the legitimacy of your group. Good job!

I am sure that your fellow group members who had the good sense to write intelligent, well-reasoned comments and sign their names would be so proud of your representation of them. Now go change your diapers. WAAAAAH!

People like this don't deserve the time of day, but I'm pointing this out for a reason. I've been chilling over the past week or so since I got my first nasty unsigned anonymous comment, planning to blow it all off. The people writing this garbage obviously don't read and completely missed the point of my July 31 blogpost, which was about a link to my guest post on John Vonhof's blog.

Since then, I've been accused of badmouthing the Fort Collins Trail Runners, and my supposed transgressions include: (a) referring to the group as novices, (b) suggesting that running in the heat is dangerous and people were out there at 24 Hours of Towers looking bad and suffering in the heat of the day, and (c) a mishmash of half-reasoned accusatory statements that include the following: I think that because I've run Badwater that makes me superior to them, when in fact they've run a lot of miles, and watch each others' backs, and are experienced ultrarunners, that suffering is a necessary part of running ultras and I'm full of $@%# for suggesting otherwise, and so on...

Sigh...

But there are issues pertaining to safety and the integrity of the sport of ultrarunning, not to mention common sense, that are being missed in this defensive backlash.

It doesn't matter if you're affiliated with a group, and it doesn't matter how many miles or which races you've run, if any at all! If you're a part of the sport of ultrarunning, whether a runner, volunteer, race director, or novice, respect the sport, and it will respect you.

The important points will likely be missed regardless of what I say to people who are of the hateful, anonymous comment-spewing variety.

For the rest of us who can read, think and reason, I'll be writing a blogpost in the near future that addresses these issues and concerns.

Waiting for the Verdict

2011-08-06T06:57:00.002-06:00

Over the past week I've been pretty much a couch potato. Not intentionally, but it's been one of those weeks where I've allowed regular life to take priority over running. That's a weird feeling for me, not sure I like it. It's been fun, though, because I've been working on a slide show to show at several upcoming presentations I'm doing.

The other thing I've been up to is pursuing the answer to what's wrong with my right ankle. I got in to see a sports medicine specialist last week and I have an MRI scheduled for this coming week. The good news is that he evaluated my achilles tendons and the problem is not coming from there.

The not as good news is that he suspects, as I have for a while, that it's a longitudinal tear or split in my peroneal tendon behind my lateral malleolus (that's a tendon behind my outer ankle, in plain English). And the only way to fix that is through surgery.

All this started nearly two years ago to the day, when I sprained my ankle on a little six mile run on the trail around Dixon Reservoir- just stepped on a little rock the wrong way- and ever since then, I can't run on uneven surfaces without pain.

For now, he gave me this brace to try- the "malleo-train"- it puts pressure on the peroneal tendon to stay in place while you run. I tried it and I can't tell. I ran an hour yesterday and after 50 minutes I started to feel the usual pain in the tendon. Maybe it kept it from hurting for longer than it would have without the brace, but I need to try the brace on a trail to see if it really works.

I decided to bite the bullet and get the MRI so I'll know what's going on. I really do not want to have surgery, it's a lengthy layoff and rehab, and from what I've been reading it doesn't always take away the pain, and there are possible complications with any surgery. I am hoping that it's something I could work through with physical therapy, but realistically, I know that a tendon tear isn't going to heal itself, and given what I do, is likely to get worse.

I will find out the verdict this week when I have the MRI and then meet with the doc the following day.

Other than that I've been busy teasing Dennis about his upcoming 50th birthday. Here he is filling out his AARP card. Of course he listed me as his spouse, so that means I'll start getting mailings soon.

End Needless Suffering in the Heat

2011-07-31T18:55:00.008-06:00

Why is this runner sitting down?

This is called competitive advantage. Click here to read my guest post on John Vonhof's blog:

John Vonhof's latest blogpost

If you're a runner or just spend a lot of time outdoors on your feet, the biggest favor you could do for yourself right now is to get yourself a copy of John's book, Fixing Your Feet, 5th edition.

Yesterday I watched a good-sized group of runners doing a low-key, ultra "fun run" locally here. The temperatures reached the mid-90s. I rode my bike up to watch for about an hour. It was noon and getting hotter by the minute. Many of the runners in this group are new to ultras, and they were challenging themselves to this event. I went up to cheer for a few people I know, and was observing as the runners came down the hill to their turnaround point.

I heard the runners commenting about how hot it was and how they'd just like to chew on some ice, but none of them were wearing ice on their necks or heads, a few were not carrying enough water, and some didn't have hats on. I suggested these things to a few of them, and at their aid station I saw some wisely take breaks to sit in the shade in between repeats of the hill they were running.

I saw a few who were obviously feeling pretty miserable. Running is supposed to be fun, especially in an event like this, but being unprepared for what were predictable conditions was the number one mistake these few made.

It's a good thing to challenge yourself, and when you get a group of young, new ultrarunners together they push each other to see who can be the "craziest", but some common sense and sanity are in order here.

The problem is that heat exhaustion can rapidly progress to something more serious, and when you don't routinely run in those conditions, it's even more dangerous. Being prepared can save your life, or someone else's. Be careful out there.

Food for Thought

2011-07-30T17:02:00.002-06:00

How can reading a blog help you with your running?

The problem for people who insist on paying tuition to the School of Hard Knocks is that they never seem to graduate. Meanwhile, those who take advantage of a freely offered public education keep moving forward, and gaining ground.

It's a Crazy Smart...

2011-07-27T15:49:00.003-06:00

I've been asked several times in the past week, what's next? How do you feel? How's the recovery going?

Over the past week I've been taking the girls for daily walks, now I'm up to over 2 miles without my feet complaining at all. I have been on my mountain bike, doing some 20ish mile rides, easy. I plan to get in the pool and do a little deep water running to stay fit, and I'll get back to running soon enough. I won't be doing any serious workouts for another few weeks.

I am not sure if I'll be signing up for any races the rest of this year. I'm going to get my tendinitis evaluated next week and see what's going on in there, and start some sort of rehab for it, most likely physical therapy. I'd like to be able to do some faster running, eventually, but I need to heal this thing first. I miss being able to run trails, too, and right now uneven surfaces are not an option.

My feet still are missing a couple of large chunks of skin and they itch a lot, needing lotion. They are dry and the outer layer of skin feels like it wants to come off. Got my thyroid labs done yesterday and they were all perfect, with my medication tweaks I got things just right in time for my race, TSH of 1.

I feel good. My energy is good, especially now that I've taken 2-3 hour naps most afternoons since I got back from Death Valley. I'm getting my life organized and making plans for this fall. I miss running already, all my friends are out doing group runs and I wish I could join them, but I know better, and I also know it won't be long until I'm out there again.

My friend Connie teases me about the runs I do being crazy but she's really not serious. She tells me I'm smart about getting some rest. Like a dry heat, it's a "crazy smart".

Today I got a new pair of bike shoes, my old ones were too narrow and short and were hurting my feet. I am psyched to get on my cyclocross bike again, and start doing some long road rides as the weather gets nice this fall.

The past few days I've been having fun riding my ancient mountain bike, the 1986 Fat Chance with prehistoric shifters, elliptical chainrings, toeclips, and all the original components from my Crested Butte Bad Bikin Betty days in the 80s. I might even do a century on my mountain bike, just for fun, knobby tires and all, just like the old days.

What's next? I don't know, I'll figure it out. I'd like to go to Florida next spring and run one of my friend Bob's races, I'd like to do a few low key 100s, and possibly a multiday race toward the end of next year. I'm not planning anything until late this year or early next year. For now, I'll be running with Buffaloes.

Badwater Double 2011: The Return

2011-07-22T14:39:00.038-06:00

No Monkeying Around
I woke up around 7 Thursday morning after sleeping well all night. Ed went on a coffee and breakfast run to McDonald's and brought it back to Steph and I in our room. I retaped my feet and Felix drove Ed and I up the Portal Road to drop us off so Ed could crew me on foot in the cooler temperatures. From there, Felix would go back to town, and he and Steph would get groceries, ice, and reorganize the van for the return trip.

On our way driving up the road, we passed Karen Bonnett who was running up the road. We figured we would see her on our way down. She was done crewing for Terri in the race, and she and Nattu were going back toward Badwater to meet up with Dale and the rest of his solo crew.

Felix dropped us off at the exact spot where we had stopped on Wednesday morning after the race finish. It was 9:33 am when we got started, a little late, but I wasn't about to rush and I wanted us to be unstressed on the way back.

Soon we ran into Karen and she joined us most of the way down the portal road, until Nattu picked her up in their vehicle. I made great time going to town, and we met Steph and Felix at the McDonald's, where I got a salad and a chocolate shake.

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After using a real bathroom, I started out again. Ed felt like running and it was nice to have the company. He kept me laughing the whole time. Going back across the Owens dry lake bed was hot and dusty.

There was a crosswind that picked up dust and deposited it in my teeth, and as we approached Keeler, the flies were thick in the bushes at the side of the road. I wrapped my orange sarong around my head hijab-style, and that helped keep the grit and flies out of my eyes and teeth.

Steph and Felix showed up in the van soon after that, proudly announcing that they had completely reorganized the van and knew where everything was! I said, "Did you find the monkey?"

"No monkey."

When I asked for my first yogurt, they couldn't find the plastic spoons. We bought a box of 100 at WalMart. All they could find was a fork, so I ate my yogurt with a fork.

Later I needed the baby wipes. I asked for those.

"Can't find 'em"

Ed seemed irritated. I laughed. "They're 3 for 3. They were so proud of knowing where everything was, but so far they haven't been able to find anything I asked for."

"I'll just take some paper towels with water on them." They found that.

Soon a big white pickup came down the road and stopped, it was Chris Frost and his friend. I've worked with Chris on race staff before and he has run the race many times, we were running close together for a long time on the course when we both ran in 2008. They wanted to say good-bye and good luck on their way back home. Chris had a lot of cold drinks, snacks, and plastic spoons left over from the race, so he gave them to us. He had whole wheat fig newtons, which tasted so much better than the regular ones. I asked the crew to save those for me. He also had a few cold beers. Ed sucked one down.

Later when I asked for some whole wheat fig newtons, they brought me regular ones. I said, "Where are the whole wheat ones Chris gave us?"

"We can't find them."

There must have been a black hole sucking things out of the back of the van.

As the day progressed, I was making good time. I wanted to get to the Park Boundary, which was 51 miles from where we started at the Portal Road. I was hoping I'd feel good enough to get as far as Father Crowley. Fifty miles a day would allow us time to climb Telescope Peak.

That evening the sunset over the Sierras was spectacular and I got to watch it from my chair (throne) while eating another slice of pizza from the Pizza Factory, which Felix and Steph made a run to get.

As we passed landmarks on the course, we were still making good time, but as we approached Darwin, it seemed like it was taking forever! I knew there were utility poles and I had a good idea of what the landscape looked like up there, but for about 10 miles approaching Darwin, everything looked the same. Steph and Felix went ahead a few miles so they could nap in the van.

As the air got cooler, I adjusted my electrolyte mix again and had trouble with swelling. My hands started to get puffy and I could feel my feet screaming. I took a break to look at my feet, and I could see why they were hurting. I knew I had a larger pair of shoes if I needed them, but the swelling went down in a few hours, and I never needed those bigger shoes.

The temperatures were cooler, and Ed and I both started to feel cold the higher we got. It seemed like forever before we reached the van again. Soon after we met up with them in the van, Ed took a break and Felix came out to the road with a drink for me. I was walking along the road and saw something stretched out from the white line, quite a ways into the asphalt. I realized it was probably a snake, and as we got closer, it was a large mojave rattler.

Felix ran to get his camera out of the van, and came back to me. I said,"Let's not piss this guy off, they can be aggressive." I went around to the other side of the road, stepping very quietly, and gave it lots of room. The snake didn't seem fazed.

It was so cool outside that the road had to be hotter, so I began looking out more cautiously ahead of me and on the shoulder. That was the only snake we saw, though, other than a dead baby snake not much further ahead.

At one point Felix pulled up next to me in the van and said, "Hey Alene. Why did the rattlesnake cross the road?"

I said, "I don't know, Felix, why?"

"Bye." He drove off.

Next time I caught up to the van, I said, "Bye". And motored ahead.

Next time I said, "Felix, how many times have I told you don't expect me to have all the answers."

He said, "Bye." and took off.

Then we had knock knock jokes, and why did Spongebob cross the road jokes. Same answers.

There was no traffic on the road for hours, we had bright moonlight, and I was still feeling good, just wondering why it was taking so long to get to Darwin. The landscape was awesome, and even with the moonlight, a lot of stars were visible. Steph and Felix drove ahead and waited for us at Darwin. By the time we got there, we were exhausted, and decided 46 miles was good enough for the day, and we would drive into Panamint to sleep in the room there, then drive back up to Darwin in the morning to resume.

I got in the back of the van, which was a mistake. On the curves going down into Panamint, I got nauseous. I still felt queasy when we checked into the room. I was so tired, I didn't bother to take a shower, I just fell into bed. It was 3:30 a.m. There were 3 beds, and they gave me my own. I should have showered though, because I felt so sticky and sweaty, it took a while to fall asleep, plus Felix was snoring like a freight train. Ed was laughing at Felix.

RPB Makes an Appearance
We were all up 3 hours later. Ed got breakfast from the buffet and brought it back to the room. I took a shower with plastic bags taped around my ankles so my tape wouldn't get wet. I didn't feel like retaping, and the tape looked good. Steph and Felix prepared the van.

Felix took us up to Darwin again. I was concerned that Ed was pacing too much, but he said he felt fine. I kept reminding him to stay back a bit, I don't like to feel like someone is clipping my heels, and I wanted to be able to focus. I was having a hard time focusing though. I knew I didn't get much sleep, and I could feel it.

Soon Karen came along on her bike, she was riding to Stovepipe Wells that day, training for the Kona Ironman. We talked with her for a while, then she took off.

Soon we got a treat, the airshow from the F-16s again, screaming by overhead then diving down into the canyon toward Panamint Valley.

I ran well on the descent to Panamint. Ed stayed in the van for part of it, and I had some alone time. I felt great. I was dancing out there with my music, making the crew laugh. I wasn't having any further issues with blistering. My feet were sore, but getting off them every few hours was helping. Once we got past Panamint Ed rejoined me, and there was a strong headwind. Again I was fighting dust in my eyes and teeth. When I woke up that morning my eyes were swollen and they were tearing and itching all day from all the sand. Once we got past the Panamint Lake Bed and headed up Towne Pass again, the wind wasn't so bad.

About halfway up Towne Pass we got a special visit from Dale Perry and his crew, who were on their way into Panamint to get pizza the night before Dale started his solo run. It was awesome to see all of them and gave me a huge boost. This is a special group of people. We all share a sense of mutual admiration and respect for each other. It was so nice to have all these people we know, supporting all of us, all in one place, but far from home. It was very cool that Dale was doing his solo at the same time as we were headed back.
(Left to Right: Paul Grimm, Steph, Dale Perry, Vince Gerber, Nattu Nattraj, me, Ed, Karen Bonnett)

(Left to Right: Nattu, Paul, Vince, Karen, Phil Rosenstein, me, Ken Grimm, Ed)

Ed and I continued up the 9% grade toward the top of the pass. I knew we weren't making as much progress as we had the day before, and I told Steph that I had made the decision that it was okay to not do Telescope Peak, that I was happy with just finishing the double. But I wanted to keep it open as a possibility, if time allowed.

By the time we reached the Towne Pass summit, the sun was setting, and Steph took Felix back to Stovepipe Wells so he could sleep, and she picked up dinner for Ed and I to bring back to us on the pass. Ed and I took a little sitdown break at the summit, and soon after we started descending, Steph showed up with the food. We got in the van and sat there to eat.

As soon as I got back on the road, I didn't realize it but I was getting inefficient and slow. I still had it in my head that I was going to get past Stovepipe Wells that night, I wanted us to get 50 miles so we could do Telescope. I don't know how much time passed, but we hadn't gone very far over the pass. I told Ed I felt like I needed a little nap. He got in the van with Steph at one point, and I just kept going. I wasn't paying attention to what they were doing. Apparently they were discussing what they should do about me since I was barely moving. I didn't know this, though.

They drove back up to me. I said, "I just need a 15 minute nap."

Ed said,"No, you need to go into Stovepipe and get some sleep. You've had enough for one day. You're doing hour and 15 minute miles. Get in the van, let's go into Stovepipe."

We'd only gone 34 miles that day and I was pissed.

"Ed, you're full of SHIT! I am not doing hour and 15 minute miles. That's BULLSHIT! I'm going!"

And I started marching down the road, then started to run. Ed and Steph looked totally shocked and bewildered. They followed me in the van.

About 20 yards of running later, I stopped cold. "Okay," I said.

"Okay?" Ed asked me.

"Okay, let's get in the van and go to Stovepipe."

I saw Ed and Steph look at each other with a look of total amusement on their faces. I had turned into a two year old in front of their eyes.

We located a marker where I stopped that we could remember in the morning. They drove me down the pass, and I was out. When we got to Stovepipe Wells, I woke up from my little nap in the van. We startled Felix in the room, waking him up. He didn't expect them to bring me with them.

Ed started giving me a hard time. "So I'm full of shit?"

"Yes, you are, Ed. You're full of shit."

We laughed our butts off about that one.

We all showered and fell asleep, and I got a solid 7 hours of sleep. In the morning they all told me I was the snorer that night.

A Little Pain Never Hurt Anyone
I was retaping my feet for what I hoped would be the last time, and Mimi Anderson's crew stopped by the room. They were carrying Mimi. They wanted to wish me good luck on the rest of my double. Mimi had finished hers, including a Whitney climb. She was having a hard time walking, her feet were trashed. But she was happy, and she and her crew were obviously pleased with the outcome.

We talked for few minutes and then I got my stuff together. Felix drove Ed and I up the pass again to where we'd stopped the night before. There was no way, at that point that we were going to have time for Telescope Peak, and I let it go. I was happy to finish the double crossing. Telescope Peak would be there, I could climb it next summer.

Felix took Ed with him after I did a few miles, I was managing to run 10-12 minute miles downhill on the way into Stovepipe, so I was hauling. Ed rejoined me close to Stovepipe and I came into the gas station where they were parked and had my chair set up for me to take a cooldown. Felix ran in and got me ice cream again, and I ate some yogurt, too.

While I was sitting there with the iced towels on me, a Canadian couple came up to ask us about Badwater, the didn't know if the race was going on, or what we were doing. Apparently they had seen Dan coming in the direction of Badwater the day before. That was how I knew he decided to do a double, he must have given himself an extra rest day. I hoped I would get a chance to see him before I left, so I could thank him again.

The Canadians were runners and engaged the crew in conversation about half marathons and such, which I didn't have time for. I needed to get my ice and get going. I felt good in the heat, and it was windy and dusty again, so I wrapped my hat flap around my face. My lips had sunburned really badly the day before and this helped cover them, too.

I ran some of the way through the Devil's Cornfield and we stopped for my first cooldown at the bottom of the hill before Scotty's Junction. While I was sitting there with my feet up, Mimi's crew stopped by one more time on their way out of town to wish me the best. They were so nice. Congratulations, Mimi!

On the curves before the hill, a car pulled over, and Paul Grimm, his brother Ken, and Vince got out. They said Dale wasn't far ahead and he was doing well. I kept going. I felt good, the 7 hours of sleep made a huge difference. I knew I had 56 miles to cover before I finished, but I felt like I could do that in a day, feeling so much more refreshed.

I was running over a hill before Salt Creek and as I started to descend, I saw the white van with "Richard Cranium" and "Sasquatch" written in blue painter's tape. I could see Dale down the hill, he was coming up with Karen. I sprinted down toward them, and we all hugged and talked for a few minutes. Dale looked great- he didn't seem to be bothered by the heat, and he was in good spirits.

Soon I went on, and Ed started running behind me again. I needed to put my feet up, they were getting sore. We asked Felix to go up about a half mile from Salt Creek because I didn't want to stop in the bottom- it was too hot. The tops of the hills were cooler then the low points. He went a short distance ahead, and stopped just past the bottom of Salt Creek. When we got there, Ed told him we wanted to be up higher, because it was hot down there. Felix took off and drove much further than we intended. Either everyone was brain dead or there was just poor communication, or both.

By the time Felix stopped, Ed was pissed off and they got into a tiff. I couldn't believe it. It was the last day, and they're arguing about where to stop on the road. I just wanted to stop and put my feet up. It wasn't like I was dying of hyperthermia. Ed was making a big deal out of it, and I couldn't tell what Felix was doing, but I just rolled my eyes to myself and hope they settled things before I reached them.

I took my break, and started out again. We had only come 12 miles since Stovepipe Wells, but I felt like I was ready to be alone. Ed had paced me way too much, and I needed my alone time.

Then I asked him to come up toward me on the road. I let him know that I was not happy about what happened, and that I wanted the last 30 miles of the trip to be as fun as the first 240 miles. I needed him to settle things with Felix. I didn't want any tension out there between the crew, and I was feeling tense.

Ed had also begun to develop a blister on his foot, and was dehydrated. I asked him to show me his foot. It was all macerated. I told him he needed to dry it out."Hang it out the window." I said.

I asked him how long it had been since he peed. He said, "Not since this morning."

I told him to drink.

Then I told Steph I was done having a pacer. Ed didn't argue.

The next several hours I kept asking him if he peed every time I got the van. It wasn't until nearly Furnace Creek that he said he did. I asked him what color was it. He said, "Dark." "Not Guinness, but Coors Light." I said, "Drink more!"

Felix called Dennis as soon as we got a cell phone signal close to Furnace Creek and let him know how I was doing.

The boys seemed to be getting along much better on the way into Furnace Creek. The wind had died down, and it turned into a brilliant late afternoon over the most beautiful part of the course. Then the sunset was a blazing orange ball followed by deep pink and purples over Stovepipe Wells. I stood there on the road for a while at sunset, looking back and watching the sky change colors.

I passed Harmony Borax Works as it got dark and strolled into Furnace Creek, where they set up on the grass and had dinner waiting for me. Felix brought me an ice cream sandwich and a fruit bar after dinner. My feet hurt, but I told the crew, "A little pain never hurt anyone." I couldn't wait to get going. It was only another 17 miles. Other than my feet being sore, which I was getting used to, I felt great.

I marched up the hill to the junction of Highways 190 and 178, fruit bar in hand. I made the turn toward Badwater, and soon after that the van caught me. I asked Steph to go with me for a few miles, I'd been missing her company. We did about 5 miles together as the moon came up.

Going down the valley in the moonlight, I could see the outline of the mountains above Badwater, and the rock formations by Devil's Golf Course. The colors in the rocks were different shades of black and white in the darkness, and I knew if I hadn't slept the night before, I'd be hallucinating again.

The salt pan was lit up all the way across the valley under Telescope Peak. I'm going to climb that next summer.

Once Steph got back in the van, I started thinking about the journey, and whether I'd do it again. Absolutely. I can't imagine doing Badwater again without a double, it'stoo much fun and there's too much to see. The longer you stay, Death Valley has a way of putting all the pieces of the puzzle back together, in their correct order.

I feel like this run changed me in some ways. First, it took me to another level in my running. I've never gone this far or this long before. I love it. I don't feel at all burned out from my training and preparation. I don't know what will be next, but there will be something, some new challenge, some new journey. I'll figure it out.

And I have so many truly caring, supportive, and genuine friends surrounding me. I truly am blessed to have such richness in my life.

There are so many people I want to thank who supported me before and during this journey, I was thinking of individuals the whole way. I tried responding to some e-mails when I was able to, but know that even if you didn't hear from me, you were in my thoughts, I am grateful for your support and I will be in touch.

Around 260 miles I came back to reality from my introspective time, and Felix pulled up next to me in the van. "Alene, why did Spongebob cross the road?"

"I don't know, Felix, why?"

"Bye."

When I caught up the van again, I told Felix I needed Steph to come out, there was something I needed to tell her.

Steph got out of the van and crossed the road to me. "What is it?"

I said,"I know who the patron saint of the desert is!"

She said, "Really?! Who?"

"Spongebob!"

I can't imagine who else it could be.

On one of my foot breaks, Ed and Steph decided to get a snake's eye view of the star-filled sky.

Next time I passed the van, Felix must have been asleep in the driver's seat, because I came up and he sounded really surprised. He said,"Oh, hi!"

I said, "WooHoo. Bye."

After the turnoff to the Devil's Golf Course, a car came along., It was after 1 am and we hadn't seen another vehicle in hours. It was a Hummer, and it pulled up next to me. A guy said,"Are you okay?"

He sort of woke me up out of my world, and I said, "I'm fine!" in a surprised, sarcastic way, even though I didn't mean for it to come out that forcefully.

I must have scared him. He said quietly,"Okay, just checking."

I said, "Thank you." and he drove off across the valley on the Devil's Golf Course road.

The van was just ahead. They heard the whole conversation. Ed said,"Are you okay?"

"I'm FINE! And you're full of shit!"

The next time I caught the van, I said, "Hey Felix, what time is it?"

"About a quarter to two."

"No, what time is it? What is it time for?" I asked again.

"I don't know." Felix was stumped.

I said, "It's RPB hour."

"RPB hour? What's that?" Ed echoed him in the van.

I said,"Random Perimenopausal Bitch Hour, right, Ed?"

The last few miles I was getting a little sleepy. I cranked the volume up on my tunes and tried dancing around under the moon. Electronic Persian music, appropriate for the occasion. Soon the desert princess would have to start doing things for herself again.

I could barely see the van around the last curve, I knew I'd see the moonlight reflecting on the bathroom roof at the Badwater parking lot.

Then I saw the van, and the lights, and Felix in his reflective vest coming toward me with the camera.

Steph and Ed had some sort of rope rigged up as a finish line for me at the race start site. Woohoo! It was 3:48 am.

I hugged Steph, then Ed and Felix. We took pictures, then went down to the Badwater sign for pictures. Then we headed back to Furnace Creek in the van.

Just before the junction of 190 and 178, we saw a white van parked on the side of the road. It was Dan Westergaard's crew, they were waiting for him. We stopped and talked with them, and soon Dan came running down the hill He stopped and asked how it went. I thanked him for his advice, and I told him how much I enjoyed it.

Dan and I both see the double crossing in a similar way, we both love the race, and we also like being able to appreciate the valley and enjoy it without the hype of the race.

Dan got on his way and we went to our rooms in Furnace Creek, I showered and crashed on the bed. My feet didn't look bad at all.

Culture Shock
Sunday morning we cleaned out the van and gave most of our extra stuff to the housekeeping employees at the hotel. One of them came up with a golf cart to load up the stuff. As I was talking with her, she told me she is a cancer survivor. I told her about my run and how I was supporting the building of a cancer center.

We packed up the coolers with the remaining equipment so we could ship it back from Las Vegas. We checked out and headed for Pahrump. A giant blue monkey stood on the corner across the street from McDonald's. After a salad and shake stop, we went into Las Vegas.

We stopped by a UPS store and mailed the coolers back, and then were off to the airport. We returned the rental van. We never found the monkey.

My guess is that Spongebob ate him, or he ran away because it smelled so bad in the van. Maybe he took steroids, moved to Pahrump, painted himself blue, and got a job selling used cars on a corner lot.

The Las Vegas airport looks like a giant WalMart shoppers convention. It was a scary segment of the human population. Lots of high heels, exposed flesh, and long hair, jewelry, and animal prints on not very attractive people. Our flight was only delayed 45 minutes this time. On the flight, I slept.

We said our good-byes at the parking shuttle island and Felix and I went to get my car. He drove us back to Fort Collins, where he shot a video of the girls and Dennis greeting me in the driveway. After a few minutes, Felix took off on his motorcycle, and I officially arrived back in the real world, which really isn't bad at all.

photo credits: Felix Wong, Ed Green

Badwater Double 2011: The Race

2011-07-22T08:41:00.028-06:00

Race morning
I woke up before the alarm went off, and listened to Stephanie's breathing in the other bed. She was still asleep and I didn't want to wake her up. I checked my cell phone for messages, and got a message from my friend Andrea, who is one of the most positive, happy people ever, it's like sunshine being around her. How perfect to hear from her wishing me well. Steph started to stir and as soon as I knew she was awake I said, "Good morning. Did you sleep well?" She said,"Sort of. Did you?" I said yes. I wanted Steph to sleep well because she was likely to be the one awake longest and have the most on her mind.

I checked the tape on my feet, which hadn't shifted or rolled up during the night, so I got dressed, had a double shot, and ate some yogurt and a piece of the coffee cake from Starbucks that I brought for variety. I didn't feel like eating much. I made a sandwich to eat on the 17 mile drive down to the start. I drank a bottle of water, and put everything important in my race morning bag, including the monkey for pictures at the Badwater sign. Steph was in and out of the room talking with the crew. They had everything ready to go, the coolers were full of ice, and we organized our bags so Dan and Nathan could check us out of the rooms.

I felt like a bride again, I waited until just the right moment to come out of the room and let the crew see me. I was either the princess, or the Saudi porn star, according to my crew. We took some pictures in the hallway and got ready to go.

When we drove past the building at Furnace Creek with the thermometer on it, around 7 am, it said exactly 100 degrees. I don't know what the temperature was at the start, but the high for the day was predicted to be 112 in Furnace Creek. Most of the course is hotter than Furnace Creek.

I didn't eat the sandwich on the way down. I had little appetite, which worried me. I normally don't get nervous before races. We passed the 6:00 starters on our way down the road, cheered loudly for them, and then arrived at Badwater and parked.

My first order of business was to go to the bathroom, check in, and weigh in. There were less than 30 women in the entire race, and they were split up among waves, so I didn't have to wait in much of a line for the bathroom. Some crew members let me go in ahead of them, which was really nice. I felt slightly nauseous, and when I got out of the bathroom, I headed over to the medical team to weigh in and check in with them. I got on the scale.

My medical team buddy Steve Teal weighed me in. 133! I weighed 125 when I left home. I guess with all the shoes and water in my stomach, and clothes I had on, but that was really heavy for me. I wondered if maybe I had last night's food sitting in my stomach and that was making me feel sick. Nothing I could do at this point, that's where I was.

Monkey Business

As I looked for the crew, I saw John Vonhof and gave him a hug, he wished me good luck. I found Felix, who had the monkey, and we went down to the sign and managed to snap a couple of pictures, lots of runners and crews were down there taking pictures. Then I heard Chris yell, "All runners down to the sign." He was calling us to line up for our pre-race picture, and then we would go to the starting line.

I chose a place near the far end of the group (second from the right). Suddenly I had a funny feeling in my mouth and I felt extremely queasy. I looked over my shoulder to see if there was a place I could bail out and barf if I needed to. I knew that would look really bad, to already have left the puke free zone before we even started.

I felt shaky as we stood there and the different photographers snapped their cameras. Finally Chris told us to go up to the start, we'd have the national anthem and then start. I made a beeline for the bathroom one last time, just in case. When I came out, the national anthem was almost over, and I stepped in line in the back (behind number 67). We did our countdown, and we were off.

Suddenly, my stomach felt fine, all the nervousness went away, and I ran down the road with the group.

In the Zone
Ed, Felix and Steph would crew me through the first day, and Nathan and Dan would be my night crew. When we got back to Furnace Creek at 17 miles into the race, Dan and Nathan would have us checked out of the rooms, meet up with us briefly, then go on to Stovepipe Wells to check us into our room for Monday night. We had a room in Stovepipe so the crew could get some sleep in shifts during the day and Monday night while the other half of the crew was out on the road with me. I would cool down, eat something, possibly shower and change clothes after my long, hot day across the valley, and get ready for my ascent of Towne Pass that evening.

My rough plan for the first day was: 4 hours to Furnace Creek, 10-11 hours to Stovepipe Wells, and 20 hours to Panamint. I was figuring approximately a 40 hour finish was possible but that left me a big time cushion of 8 hours to finish in case I had any problems. My priority was to keep my feet intact and do frequent foot checks, because if my feet weren't good at the finish like in 2008, there was no way I'd be able to do a double crossing.

I also planned ahead to do 10 minute cooldown breaks every 60-90 minutes between Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells, and wherever it was hot along the course, because they would more than pay for themselves in time. Giving your body a break from the heat stress allowed blood that was diverted to my muscles to run and skin to keep me cool, to return to my GI tract, kidneys, and other organs so I could process the food and fluids that I needed to keep myself going.

Things went smoothly right away, from my perspective, with the crew. They gave me ice in my hat (head lice), or ice on my neck (neck lice) or a bottle of my mixed drink. Early on I decided that 2 S caps per bottle tasted right, so we stuck to that and I'd check my hands for swelling as I went along. I got the feeling that Steph was much more relaxed than she was in 2008 when there were only two of them crewing me at the start.

I don't remember too much of this section except I ran quite a bit of it. I felt good and it didn't feel very hot out there. I am always surprised how fast we seem to get up to the junction above Furnace Creek. You can see the greenery around Furnace Creek for miles, and then suddenly you're there. I ran down the hill and went through the time station in just over 3 1/2 hours. The crew was waiting for me with the chair and I sat down to take my first cooldown break. They brought me ice cream and a frozen fruit bar.

Feet? Check. Cooldown? Check. Yogurt? Check.
I put my feet up, checked the tape, and John came over to say hi. He looked at one of my toes that seemed to be forming a blister. He pointed out that the skin looked wet, so I changed my socks. Everything else felt fine. Dave from the medical team also stopped by and said hi. Nathan and Dan were there to meet us, and I took a long break. I was ahead of schedule, so I took my time and ate a sandwich, too. I wasn't puffy, my stomach felt fine, and I was charged up and ready to tackle the toughest part of the course, the next 25 mile stretch to Stovepipe Wells. I got up and started running.

I ran a lot of the stretch to Stovepipe Wells. I took my cooldown breaks as scheduled even though I didn't always feel I needed them. I'd take the time to eat, and for some reason yogurt was tasting good. After I'd get up from those, I'd feel great. I was peeing regularly but not a lot, so I was a little concerned about that, but after a few cooldowns I started to pee a lot more. That was the purpose of the cooldown, so obviously it worked.

Felix, in trouble with the authorities again, got a talking to by the race staff to be more discreet when using the "facilities", which is funny because he was so shy. Every time I had to pee, I'd duck behind the van, and Felix always seemed to be there. I'd announce what I was going to do, but he never got out of the way in time, and he'd get flashed every time, then get all embarrassed. Steph told him to get used to it.

I didn't have a pacer, I prefer not to run with one. It's distracting and I needed to focus on moving forward. During the race I only had a pacer when crewing was difficult from the car and there were long stretches between places where we could get ice and drinks. Ed ran with me for a brief time on the way into Stovepipe Wells while Steph went ahead to help Nathan and Dan get ready to make the transition to the night crew.

I felt great in the stretch around Stovepipe, by the Mesquite Dunes and Devil's Cornfield, one of the hottest parts of the course. I got into the Stovepipe Wells time station in about 9 hours and 44 minutes, well ahead of schedule. We lucked out and got one of the rooms down by the road, so all I had to do was walk a few feet up to the room from the road.

I went into the air conditioned room and took a sponge bath with big alcohol wipes, changed into my night clothes, and ate. They brought me ice cream sandwiches again. Nathan and Dan were getting gas and buying ice, and I was ready to go. I ended up having to wait an extra 12 minutes, which allowed me to stay off my feet a little longer, but irritated me. It seemed like I was waiting forever. Guys just don't seem to have that sense of urgency that women do. Or maybe it was just my random perimenopausal bitch condition flaring up in the heat.

Pit Bull
Finally they arrived and I started out, and for about the first hour they were in the process of getting their rhythm. Ed went with them for the first couple of hours so they could make a smooth transition, and I was a little pissed off, trying to be nice, but it took me a little while to get over it. After an hour I was happy again.

Ed was amazed at my planning, how I stuck to it, and how well I knew what I needed at different places along the way. He told Steph, "Alene teaches pit bulls to hang on!" Finally Felix came up in the shuttle vehicle and picked up Ed, and it was Nathan and Dan on their own.

It was getting dark going up Towne pass. I saw Terri Pfeil from Boulder and her crew in their van, taking a break. I yelled to Terri to keep going and good job. She was having a rough time at that point, but eventually she did get going and finished. I leapfrogged with a runner from Australia who was being paced by my east coast ultra friends Phil and Dave, so it was fun to chat with them. Phil crewed for me at the Lost 118 last February in Florida, and Dave and I have run Across the Years, Lean Horse 100, they Keys 100, and other ultras together.

I started to back off on the S caps and found my hands getting a little puffy an hour or so later. I could feel my feet swelling, too, I was having a hard time making the transition from day to night in my hydration and electrolyte needs. I switched to some plain water, and that seemed to help. At the top of the pass we took a break, checked my feet, and things looked okay. My hands were not as puffy.

I saw Lisa Smith-Batchen up there, we were both resting at the pass. She was having a rough time. She was trying for her 10th Badwater finish, but she ended up being taken to the hospital in Lone Pine because she wasn't peeing. After a few days in the hospital, she's doing better now and is home. Another lesson, no matter how experienced you are at this, never take the heat for granted.

On the way down into Panamint I was still awake, and I got through the aid station in 19 hours and change. Corey Linkel and Jack Denness from the race staff were there to greet us. Corey is always so full of energy, he got me charged up. I did sit down and get off my feet, took a bathroom break, and ate.

When I looked at my feet, I could see a blister developing in the same spot that gave me trouble in 2008, under the ball of my left foot. The difference was, I could see where the fluid was, there is a lot less callus there since I've been working on reducing the callus for a year now, following John Vonhof's advice. I have an incredible respect for John and what he does. Not only is he an authority on foot care for athletes, he is a truly generous and good person. Anyone considering running Badwater, or any ultra of any length, should read his book.

I knew John would be at Panamint at some point but it was early. I asked Corey if he was there and he said John was still at Stovepipe Wells. We left a message for the medical team to see if John was going to be in Panamint later, I wanted him to look at my foot.

The Doctor is In
After a long break, we took off up the hill toward Father Crowley. About a mile out of Panamint, I decided I was ready for a nap, it was 4:30 am and it wasn't light yet. Nathan and Dan set up the cot for me in a wide turnout and I was out for 30 or 40 minutes.

I woke up at sunrise refreshed and started heading up toward Father Crowley. We figured we'd see the day crew soon. As it turned out they had gone past us when we were off the road for my nap. They turned around once they realized it was too far and came back and found us. What took them so long? Apparently Ed was having difficulty deciding on what to wear. Nathan and Dan took off back to Stovepipe Wells to sleep until they had to check out of the room.

My foot was hurting, but it wasn't terrible. I knew I couldn't let the blister go much longer, and I was prepared to stake out and have the crew drive me back to Panamint. We arrived at Father Crowley around 7 am and I took a break there and pulled my shoes and socks off, and the tape on my feet was coming off. I pulled all the old tape off and started retaping.

Suddenly Jeff Lynn drove up in a car with a medic sign on it. I have worked with Jeff on the medical team the past 2 years and he is awesome. He told me that John was wrapping up down there in Panamint and would be on his way to Lone Pine, so I should stay put and he would stop at Father Crowley and look at my feet. Awesome!!!

Jeff hung out with us for a while, and my friend Bob Becker stopped by briefly while waiting for his runner, Marshall Ulrich, who was having stomach problems. Marshall went by and I got a chance to talk with Bob a little. We were having a great time at Father Crowley, laughing our butts off about who knows what crazy things seemed funny in our sleep deprived state. John showed up soon after Bob left, and John set up his chair and his foot supplies, and went to work on me. Everyone gathered around to watch the surgery.

The blister wasn't too bad but it was starting to get bigger and spread between my toes. John wanted to inject zinc oxide into the blister to dry it out, and then retape me. I trust John, and of course I said go ahead. But I have sensitive feet and I squirm even touching my own feet. Everyone was freaking out on what John was about to do.

He pulled out the scalpel and started to drain the blister, and then he pulled out a dull, large bore needle and attached a syringe full of zinc oxide. He reassured me that the needle has worked for him since 1966 and it was really dull, so not to worry. He pulled out a rubber foot, and handed it to me. We were all laughing so hard we were doubled over.

Finally John injected the zinc oxide into my foot, which burned like hell. He apologized, he said he hates it when it keeps burning for a while. He massaged it into the blister, which didn't hurt, but the thing kept burning for about an hour after he did it. It did get better after a few minutes though.

Then he pulled out some pink kinesio tape and retaped the ball of my foot, then followed that with some hypafix tape between my toes to keep the tape from rolling up, That tape job lasted me through the end of the race, and I left it on until Thursday morning. It was perfect. I never had a problem again with that blister.

I was stiff when I got up to get going again, and I headed toward Darwin. Steph went with me for a while, and it was fun to have some girl time. Along the way Nattu and Karen stopped by and wished us luck. They were crewing for Terri, and then after the race they were going to crew for our friend Dale Perry who was doing a solo crossing starting Saturday.

Denise Jones stopped by on the road to say hi on her way into Lone Pine later that morning. Denise is another foot expert, and she literally wrote the book on Death Valley crewing. She and Ben are the Mayor and First Lady of Badwater, they are the foundation of that race since it's beginning. I have learned so much from her over the years, and it's all been great advice.

Along the way I also saw Megan and Dave from the medical team, Dave stopped by to say hi and Megan waved from her car on her way back along the course. Every time I saw them I got a little burst of energy.

Gummy What?
On the way to Darwin we were all laughing again. We had a permanent case of giggles. This time I asked for gummy worms and there were some other runners along the course near us, and we were leapfrogging. I had an assortment of gummy characters before the race, and there were these gummy cherries that with a little imagination and even less sleep, looked amazingly similar to gummy testicles. I put one in my mouth and that got everyone going. The runners near us remarked on how we were having way too much fun at this point in the race.

The other things I noticed were the beef jerky signs. We never did find the beef jerky stand, it must have blown away in the haboobs.

We continued laughing all day. When we got to Darwin, Ed was blowing bubbles, and John stopped by to check on me again. My feet hurt from being on them, but the blister felt fine. My hands weren't puffy and I was eating plenty, peeing well, and I was pleased with how things were going. I downed another yogurt. At the Darwin checkpoint I got in a little later because of the long stop at Father Crowley, but still had plenty of wiggle room on the finishing cutoff. I did start to fade shortly after Darwin.

Nathan and Dan had taken the cot with them when they went back to Stovepipe, and it was windy. Dust was blowing everywhere, and it was hot. I was faced with the choice of sleeping on a thermarest pad that had a hole in it on the ground, or trying to sleep in the van. I tried the front seat of the van and that was really uncomfortable. After about 10 minutes I said to hell with it and went on toward Lone Pine.

I felt a hot spot developing on my heel, and when I stopped to check my tape and found a blister filling up. The tape was okay, so I popped the blister through the tape and it never bothered me again.

Later that afternoon Nathan and Dan came by on their way into Lone Pine. They went to go check into the room at Dow Villa. We finally had cell phone service so it was possible to let them know what we needed for when they came back out to crew that evening.

The 100 mile cheer
My feet were pretty sore all afternoon but that was to be expected at 100 miles into the race. We stopped at the 100 mile mark to celebrate and take a picture. The crew was cheering loudly for me. Or at least Ed and Steph were. Felix let out a subdued "WooHoo". The crew gave him a hard time about it. "Is that all you can do?" Ed said. "WooHoo" Felix repeated, with imperceptibly more vigor. Steph and Ed mimicked Felix. "WooHoo." "WooHoo." Soon we were all doing it.

Felix protested, "But it's perfect pitch!"

Soon the understated "WooHoo" became our official crew cheer.

We saw dust devils out in the distance. Ed pointed these out to me. "Look, a couple of haboobs!" I guess sometimes they come in pairs. I said, "We need a bra for the haboobs so they don't get out of control."

All these crazy things we were laughing about, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe and my stomach would hurt. Things that no one in their right mind would ever find the least bit amusing were hilarious to us. You had to be there, but we were the only ones there.

As the sun started setting, I realized I was hungry. I made a request to Steph. "How about if we call Nathan and Dan and have them bring a pizza out to us?"

"Excellent idea!" Steph said. She placed the order, and pretty soon, Felix was walking toward me with a pizza. Tomatoes and mushrooms, light on the cheese. He even picked the olives off for me. I sat down and ate one slice, waited a few minutes to make sure it was going to stay down, then I had another. It was incredible. The best pizza I've ever eaten. It was from the Pizza Factory in Lone Pine, which really does have great pizza. I've had it before even when I wasn't running, and it is good. I think we ate at least 4 pizzas from there by the end of the day Thursday, plus the post-race party is catered by the Pizza Factory. We got our pizza fix for sure.

The Visitor in the Shadows

Nathan and Dan came out to crew as it got dark, and I was starting to suffer from being sleep deprived. Digesting the pizza wasn't helping things, either. I went through Keeler and was staggering a bit, as it got dark. Felix stayed out with me on the road, beause I was not moving as well as before. A few times I felt his hand on my shoulder, guiding me back over to the left side of the road.

I could see shadows stretching across the road as we went past the saltbush of Owens dry lake bed. Some of the little plants growing in the cracks on the shoulder of the road were casting a shadow in front of me in the moonlight.

I started to avoid them, they were reaching out to me and I was afraid I would trip over them. Then they seemed to be out to get me, reaching for my ankles. I looked over into the saltbush at one point and saw something move. It was yellow. First I thought it was Pac Man, but then I realized who it was.

Spongebob!!!

Spongebob was hovering in the dark side of a big saltbush, and he was reaching for me with his shadow arms. It scared the hell out of me! I needed to get away. I think I said something about it to Felix, who talked me out of it and kept me on the shoulder. I startled myself awake, and realized it was long past time for a nap. So the guys set up the cot at the side of the road and got out my pillow and threw a blanket over me, and I was out cold for a good 30 to 40 minutes again.

Apparently I was snorting and snoring like a freight train full of hogs. They were trying not to laugh, afraid they would wake me up. Felix tried taking a video of it but the sound track diidn't come out.

Again I woke up refreshed, but a little sluggish. I hobbled down the road, and Nathan paced me for a while, doing an incredible job of multitasking with all kinds of things I needed. Dan was doing an amazing job of reading my mind, too, the whole time. He had the hang of it after the first hour on the first night.

Corey appeared out there on the course and cheered me on, telling my crew not to let me sleep any more. Corey's presence charged me up, and we finally made the turn into Lone Pine shortly after midnight. I got through the Lone Pine checkpoint right at 1 am.

I knew I could do the Portal section in 4 1/2 hours if I kept moving. But I needed some caffeine. I had been avoiding using the doubleshots because they went right through me and I'd always have to poop afterwards. But I needed serious caffeine. I drank a doubleshot, and sure enough, minutes later I had to poop. After a brief poop detour, I headed up the Portal Road with Felix behind me.

Halfway Home
I ate a few more yogurts on the way up, and kept moving well. It looked like I was going to finish in 45 hours or so. It took forever to get to the checkpoint at the bottom of the Z at 130 miles. Right after that, I saw Mike Thomas's crew vehicle. Mike lives in Fort Collins, is a podiatrist, and was running his first Badwater. I hoped it was a good sign, that he made it, because he was in the 6:00 start wave and time was running out for him. As it turned out, he finished. Great job Mike!

It was quiet at sunrise at the finish line. There was no one else finishing at the same time as me, we hadn't seen any other runners on the road, but could see them way down in the Alabama Hills behind us when we were on the Z. The crew parked in the lower parking area and went up to meet me at the finish line. I ran across the line in 45 hours, 30 minutes, and some seconds. Chris greeted me, we took off our reflective gear, got pictures taken, Chris gave me my belt buckle, finishers medal, and t-shirt, and it was done.

Post-Race
I was happy with my finish time, considering the many stops I made to check on my feet, and taking my time to rest my feet and stay cool. We had decided that if I got to the finish line early enough and felt like heading back to Lone Pine, then I would go.

I had to give it a shot, so I ran a few yards down the road toward the crew vehicles, but decided to just give it a rest and come back up the Portal Road to start Thursday. We could still fit Telescope Peak in if we did that, but it would be a tighter time frame. But I felt like the best thing was to get some rest for all of us, and start fresh after a full day off.

When we got back to Dow Villa in Lone Pine and went to our rooms, I was walking remarkably well. I was able to take the stairs with no problem. Going upstairs was fine, and coming down was a little more challenging, but okay. I seemed to be walking better than most of the runners I saw. I got in the room, stripped my disgusting clothes off and most of the tape except for John's beautiful, still-intact pink tape job with the white hypafix, and got in the shower. Then I crashed in the bed for several hours before waking up to go to the post-race party at the elementary school.

I felt great. The party was so much fun this year. It always is, but it was even better this time. I got to talk to so many people, and I realized that it's been four years straight I've been at Badwater now, which means I know almost everyone on the race staff, and a good percentage of the runners and their crews, either from running the race, other races, or being on the medical team.

I got to talk to Dan Westergaard, who wished me the best on my double. He wasn't sure if he was going back yet, his feet were very swollen. Mimi Anderson had finished the race well ahead of me and was already on her way up Whitney for her double. Everyone wished me well on my return trip.

Being around this group of people does something for me that is an overlooked part of the race experience. The people who run, crew, or are otherwise involved in some way with this race, are the most positive, enthusiastic creatures on the planet. Being in a room with all of them creates an energy that I'm surprised has not blown the roof off of the elementary school gym where it's held.

All the effort we put in all year individually, away from each other, suddenly converges in a small space and the result is combustible. It stays with me for a long time after the race, even for the whole year until I come back again. Remembering this feeling is like a miracle pill that I can pull out of a bottle anytime I need a boost. There is nothing else like it anywhere.

Nathan and Dan had to leave for Las Vegas to catch Dan's flight. We said our good-byes and thank yous, sent the stuff we didn't need back with Nathan, and they took off. I wish they could have stayed for the whole thing.

After the party, I had a salad from McDonalds, took another nap in the room, and soon we went to dinner at the burger place on the corner. I had a buffalo burger and french fries. It all tasted so good. Then we made a brief trip to the grocery store for me to pick out a few items I wanted the crew to get in the morning. I was thrilled to see they had my yogurt! In Lone Pine, they had Chobani yogurt, so I asked Steph to get me more than a dozen for the return trip. I downed at least a dozen of those during the race, they always were cold and tasted so good, plus they had some protein.

I wasn't thinking or worrying about the return trip. I was having so much fun, and looking forward to continuing it. I was a little concerned about how I'd feel running the 5000 foot 13 mile descent to Lone Pine first thing, but I wasn't going to worry about it. I was a completely different runner than in 2008.

My feet had held up fine. They were sore, but that's something you just get used to. My legs felt great, they weren't sore. My stomach had held up fine. My hydration was perfect, I'd stayed out of the puke free zone entirely. The only thing we didn't do was figure out who was the patron saint of the desert. I still had 3 days for that. And the only thing missing was the monkey. No one could find it anywhere.

We went back to the room again and I crashed in the bed, hard. I slept through the night, a good 10 hours, ready for the grueling downhill of the Portal Road at the beginning of my return journey.

photo credits: Nathan Nitzky, Felix Wong, Ed Green

No Monkeying Around: Badwater Double 2011 Pre-Race

2011-07-20T21:08:00.038-06:00

The Colorado crew, arrived at the Denver airport on Friday July 8th to catch our flight to Vegas. Nathan, who was in Arizona cleaning up from what we called his "Haboob Job", would meet us in Las Vegas Saturday.

We made it through security, and only Felix got frisked because he had chapstick in his pocket. My strategy of packing all my crazy outfits, the powdered drink mix, and the S caps in my checked baggage was a good one. Our flight was delayed by a couple of hours and we sat around the Denver airport, taking pictures, and crewmembers getting to know each other. Steph and I noticed there was instant good energy among the crew, Dan, Ed and Felix.

Finally the flight took off, we got to Vegas, and riding the shuttle to the rental car office, we noticed this ad.

We picked up the rental van, and ran into Mimi Anderson's crew. Mimi was running a Badwater double, too, and she planned to do Whitney. We heard the snow and ice up there was a lot heavier than most years, and they were going to need crampons.

We got good sleep in the hotel and in the morning we became the "People of WalMart." I even wore my special "people of WalMart dress" that makes Dennis cringe. He tells me I look like Pebbles from the Flintstones when I wear it. But it's perfect for WalMart!

The ribbing began immediately. On the rental car shuttle the day before I told the crew that I had listed on my Badwater medical form as one of my health conditions "Random Perimenopausal Bitch", so they instantly began seeking out solutions to this problem, should it flare up during the race.

Nathan met us in WalMart, having successfully cleaned up his house and pool after the haboob, and we got all our shopping done in 3 shopping carts. We took off for Pahrump, on the way to Death Valley. There we stopped at Taco Bell, topped off the gas tank, got water, and headed for Furnace Creek. On our way, Felix took a little nap in the van. He was well-rested when we arrived.

At Furnace Creek, we checked into our rooms and went to dinner at the 49er cafe and did some shopping at the general store. Sunday morning we began the process of preparation of the van and Nathan's car, the shuttle vehicle. My job was to hang out and relax in the air conditioned room, drink and eat as much as I could, take a nap, and generally expend little energy.

Sunday morning, Steph and I went to the racer check-in. We brought our reflective gear and our $1.00 bill to the front door, which allowed us in. Many racers did not have this and were turned away until they could bring these items. It's Chris's way of ensuring that everyone reads the rules.

I got my pre-race bag and did a little shopping for crew t-shirts, and Zombie goodies for Dennis and a few other people. Marshall Ulrich generously gave a signed copy of his book to each entrant. I got a check in my bag for the PVHS Foundation from Frank McKinney, another Badwater entrant, who gave from his own charity to each of the runners who were running for charity. Generosity seemed to be the theme of this year's race, which was fitting.

Later that afternoon we went to the pre-race meeting for the 0800 start wave. In past years it was always at the Visitor Center but that was under renovation and we held the meeting at the smaller Marquez Room of Furnace Creek Inn, up the hill, necessitating separate meetings. We could only have three crew members in addition to the runner, so Steph and I brought Dan and Felix, the Badwater crewing newbies. Dan's eyes were as big as saucers.

There was a "crew training" meeting with Corey and Jay, two of Chris's right hand men on the race staff. Most of the crew attended this, and said it was very helpful. Dan got a chance to get a lot of questions answered.

Meet the crew:

Nathan, my brother, photographer, gadget expert, and king of multitasking.

Felix, blogger, jokester, and otherwise all-around star.

Steph, the boss.

Dan, the Badwater virgin.

Ed, Skortman.

The crew spent the rest of the day preparing the van and keeping the princess locked away in her chambers. We got take out dinners from the restaurant, went back to the rooms, and had a crew meeting. Nathan surprised us with a body bag he brought, which my niece Jenny had decorated in glitter, with the Puke-Free Zone logo.

The crew also decorated the van with a puke-free zone flag on the antenna, which lasted all of 5 minutes in the dry Death Valley wind.

I had told Felix that my co-workers had sent a monkey with me. The monkey is something that sits on the counter at work and whenever one of us goes on a trip, we take the monkey and take pictures of it wherever we are. They insisted on my bringing the monkey to Badwater. I hesitated, knowing that the crew would have other priorities and how difficult it was to find things in the van, but I went along with it. I asked Felix to get a picture of me at the Badwater sign with the monkey. I was relying on him to remember because I had way too many other things on my mind.

Being oncology nurses, they sent this little note with the monkey.

Finally it was evening and I took my last bit of alone time, and taped my feet. Steph came back to the room and we went to sleep. I slept great...

photo credits: Nathan Nitzky, Felix Wong, Ed Green

In search of the patron saint...Why a Double Badwater

2011-07-20T20:20:00.016-06:00

Stephanie Willingham and I go back a long way. We both have a long ultra history in Colorado. Steph used to live in Leadville and I spent a lot of time up there in the 90s when I first started running ultras, like the Leadville 100, the Mosquito Marathon, the Turquoise Lake 20K, and others. But it wasn't until 2003 that our paths really crossed in a way that we ever imagined would result in anything big.

In 2002, I was living in Arizona and I crewed at Badwater for the first time. The runner was my friend Josh Miller, and he blew up before 40 miles. He went out way too fast in the 128 degree heat and when he got to Stovepipe Wells we hauled his butt off to Beatty, Nevada for IV fluids, which disqualified him, but he was power puking blue gatorade and at that point he was a shriveled up, dehydrated piece of roadkill and wouldn't have made it anyway. The experience made quite an impression on me. I learned a huge lesson in how not to do Badwater that year.

In 2003, Steph and I crewed for our friend Ken Eielson when he ran Badwater. Steph was the crew chief, and I was on the crew, and the daytime pacer for Ken. That year, Ken had a successful finish at Badwater. It was the hottest year on record, temperatures reached 133 degrees. That year, Steph asked the question, "Who is the patron saint of the desert?" We googled on it, and asked everyone on the crew. We never figured it out.

I knew I wanted to run the race someday, but I was nowhere near ready. Steph was an amazing crew chief, she had it all together, and I told her that if I ever ran Badwater I wanted her to be my crew chief. She agreed.

I'd just been diagnosed with a weird thyroid disorder called Hashimoto's and I was still figuring out how to get my life back after being a zombie. I'd been having weird weight swings and energy swings, palpitations and a foggy, exhausted feeling off and on for several years.

I was bouncing from one doctor to the next, trying to find one who would listen to my insistence that no, it is not normal for a 39 year old to sleep 16 hours a day and no, 39 is not too old to be running ultras, and no, my ultrarunning is not causing me to feel like this, and it is not normal to feel old at 39 either. If it was, then why were people in their 50s and 60s out there doing ultras like Badwater and being successful, when I couldn't even manage a normal life.

I wanted to go back to school for nursing and I had dreams of running longer ultras again someday, but at that point in my life I could barely read a paragraph from a newspaper article because by the time I got to the last sentence I forgot what the first sentence said. I had my own personal training business which allowed me to control my own schedule and get the unreasonable amounts of sleep I needed.

When I ran I wanted to lie down at the edge of the road, track, or trail, and go to sleep. Not exactly good condition for ultras. Walking for miles in the desert was fine, though, because it didn't require a brain and my hypothyroid condition made it easy to tolerate the heat. I felt great pacing Ken at Badwater and knew that someday, somehow I was going to get my brain and body back, and make it to the starting line.

In early 2004 I got my lucky break. I found an endocrinologist who actually listened to me, and put me on another medication which cleared up my brain fog within a week. At the end of that month I ran a trail marathon. By the following winter I was enrolled in nursing school, and I ran one ultra a year while in school just to stay connected to the ultra community.

In 2006 I graduated from nursing school and found a job in Fort Collins. The year I started nursing school, my ultrarunner friend and registered nurse Chris was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, and went through treatment while I was in school. He was my biggest supporter and mentor through the trials of nursing school. Then, a week before I moved to Colorado for my new nursing job, my family received the news that my sister, Robin, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. It was a shock to all of us, as we knew of no family history of breast cancer.

My sister was lucky, she caught it early and had a bilateral mastectomy, but didn't need any other treatment. I went out to be with her the day after surgery and stayed for several days, which I was fortunate to be able to do so soon after starting a new job.

When I started my job here, the first of my coworkers to precept me told me about his wife's horrendous experiences going through treatment for ovarian cancer twice. Chris began to tell me stories about how once his cancer treatment was over, of all his struggles to get health insurance for follow up care, and keep a job, and all kinds of stressful hurdles he had to deal with because he had cancer.

Once Dennis and I moved back to Fort Collins from Arizona, I began to run again, having more energy than I had for years. By 2007 I was signing up for ultra races, and in August of 2007 my fitness had improved to the point where I won a 50 mile race in South Dakota, the Lean Horse 50. It was time to start setting bigger goals.

I hadn't run a 100 miler since 1998, though, and I needed to get back into it. The same coworker who precepted me at the beginning, had been enthusiastic when I talked about doing ultras, and I told him about my dream of running Badwater. I gave him a book to read and a video to watch about the race. He had heard about Marshall Ulrich before, and the more I told him about the race, he seemed as excited about the idea of my running Badwater as I was. It was infectious, and I took off on that energy.

I looked into what it would take to get into Badwater, and I needed to get something substantial in before I applied. I knew that my fitness level was where it should be by the end of 2007, and I ran some 70 and 80 mile training runs and felt good. I set my sights on a 48 hour race at Across the Years, with a goal of running 135 miles in 48 hours.

I ended up running 149 miles at the 48 hour race. Steph went with me to that race and we had a great time, plus had an adventure at the end of our trip when I got the crud afterwards and spent the night in the emergency room in Payson, AZ getting IV fluids, but we definitely bonded more through that experience.

When I got home I sent my application for Badwater 2008 in as soon as I could. On our trip to Across the Years, we took the famous "Goodwater" picture at the top of this blog, and we also discussed trying to figure out who the patron saint of the desert was.

As soon as I got back to Fort Collins, I met with a friend, Barb Brown, who worked for the PVHS Foundation, and told her what I planned to do if I got into Badwater. I told her about my interest in supporting cancer-related services, and I asked her what I could do to raise funds and support the Foundation's efforts. She put me in touch with Nikki Mossing (now Caputo), who helped me organize and promote a fundraiser that year connected with my race.

Steph was my crew chief in 2008 and I had a successful finish in 47 hours, making the belt buckle cutoff that year.

As I approached the finish line in 2008, on horribly painful blistered feet, I didn't want the race to be over. It was too much fun! We never figured out who was the patron saint of the desert, either. It went by too fast!

On my way back home after the race, I was in the car icing my trashed feet with crew member Ken Eielson driving, and we passed Dan Westergaard on the road, headed back toward Badwater. We also saw a couple of European runners who were doing a double. I watched them with envy, wishing I could be out there going back. Two days of the race didn't give me enough of Death Valley. I wanted to repeat my experience out there, at all hours of the day and night, under the stars, and in the blazing sun, looking at the mind-blowing colors and rock formations in the landscape. I told myself I would have to go back and do it again.

I originally set my goal for a Badwater Double when I turned 50, in 2014. I figured I could do it one more time before then, so I planned on doing the race again in 2011 just to have more experience. In 2009 and 2010 I worked as a medical volunteer for the race. I couldn't stay away.

After working the race in 2009 I spent a little extra time in the Valley, taking photographs and exploring places off the race course. I wanted to see everything, and Death Valley is the kind of place you could spend a lifetime exploring and never be done.

In fall of 2009, my dad was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which affects his blood cell counts, making him anemic and immunosuppressed. He was doing fairly well, and worked to reduce the stress in his life, improve his eating habits, and moderate his exercising. My dad was running 10 miles a day on his treadmill, still working, and actually functioning well other than being fatigued.

I went down to Arizona to visit him, and he was still very much in the early stages of processing all the information he received from his doctors along with his diagnosis. It was a lot for him to wade through and I thought I could help him understand all of the things that were happening in his body, and what he needed to do with the information.

At the same time I'd been struggling with the fact that I was very unhappy in my job. Returning from Badwater again, with everyone and their supportive, enthusiastic attitudes toward adventure and life was a huge contrast to what I returned to at work. It was a huge letdown to come back to work that summer, and I knew I was going to have to make a change, because it was affecting everything in my life, including my enthusiasm to run and my health.

Things continued to get worse at work and finally one day I had one of those A-HA! moments. I told my boss I wanted to go part-time. I slowly started handing off my responsibilities, and preparing to leave, but no jobs were available. I was feeling depressed, not sleeping well, and generally at loose ends.

I talked to my friend and mentor Chris about my feelings about work. I told him I felt like oncology might be the right place for me. He thought it was a great idea. The cancer theme had resurfaced so many times that it felt like it was steering me. I also found it fascinating.

I began putting all my energy into finding another job. I began applying for every oncology job that came up, talked to the manager and director, and began learning as much as I could about cancer. I attended a cancer support group regularly, and got involved in the Survivorship Advisory Council, took online classes, and persisted.

Meanwhile I decided that I had to get back to training because it was the only thing that would save my sanity. I chose the Keys 100 in Florida as my first goal race for 2010, and I knew that I would have to use 2010 as a buildup year if I wanted a chance at running Badwater in 2011.

I set a PR at 100 miles at the Keys, and while I was in Florida, a job was posted back home. I had my resume and application ready to go, and I sent it off. I interviewed as soon as I got home, and around July 4th, I was offered the job in outpatient oncology!

I had met numerous cancer survivors through the support group and now I was going to be taking care of patients receiving treatment for cancer. The switch to the outpatient environment from ICU was a huge and welcome change for me. It was so gratifying to be able to talk to patients and find out what they needed, and there was so much to learn. My coworkers were helpful, supported me, and welcomed me as part of the team. I never felt like I had to "prove myself" before I would be accepted.

The change in my overall well-being started immediately. I felt so much better, happier, and more energetic. I signed up for the Lean Horse Hundred and the 48 hour race again at Across the Years.

Meeting so many cancer survivors and learning from their stories, as well as my dad and sister, made me start thinking I shouldn't delay doing a double. I didn't know what might happen before I turned 50. I wanted to do it, and really, there was no reason not to.

I began thinking it might be possible to do a double in 2011. I worked on finding crew members and decided to apply for Badwater, but not make a decision to double until I knew I would be ready. Steph was all over it. She was already starting to plan.

"We'll have to figure out who the patron saint of the desert is this time." Steph said on one of our many planning phone calls.

I told her it would probably come to me in the middle of the night out on the course.

I needed some advice from someone who had done it. Dan Westergaard had run a six-time crossing of Death Valley in the summer of 2010, which blew everyone out of the water. I contacted Dan, and to my surprise he responded immediately. I told him about my plans to double, ran my basic strategy by him, and he thought it was great. He was very encouraging and answered all my questions. I began to think a double was going to be possible.

Things went well through the end of 2010, I set a PR at Across the Years, and my entry was accepted into Badwater again. In the beginning of 2011 the Foundation launched the Save Change to Create Change program to raise funds for the Cancer Center Project. I gave several talks and we began promoting the idea for a fundraiser around various community events and my race.

By May I knew I was ready to double, but we'd already been planning for it anyway. Everything was in place: training, crew, supplies, reservations. I had confidence in Steph's experience and the fact that she knew me so well. We'd spent hours on the phone, in monthly, then weekly phone calls to discuss the minute planning details since the beginning of the year.

On July 8th, 2011 we went out to find the patron saint of the desert.

photo credit: Nathan Nitzky

Lessons Learned

2011-07-20T08:52:00.003-06:00

I am still going through pictures and stories but I thought I'd post some practical information for the runners who are looking for heat training advice and aspiring Badwater runners.

On my 2011 Badwater Double Crossing, here is a list of some of the things I did and learned. Like anything else in running, this is what worked for me. As they say, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

What went right:

1. Hydration I am not kissing Karl King's backside here, I am telling you that I used S caps exclusively, day and night. Under the conditions of Death Valley I can't imagine using anything else for electrolyte replacement, it is absolutely a superior product. I used two S caps per bottle in the daytime, then when the temps got cooler at night I cut back to one S cap per bottle or alternated with plain water.

I used Crystal Light Pure as my drink mix- a packet of it, contents of 2 S caps dumped in, and ice, with just enough water to mix it up. This worked the whole time, I got tired of a few flavors, but had no problem tolerating it. I checked my hands frequently for swelling. The only time I had puffy hands was in the evening, when I'd be making the transition from hot weather to cooler temps. Once I backed off on the sodium, my hands went back to normal. The morning transition of increasing the sodium never seemed to cause problems.

I was peeing a lot- at least once every 2 hours during the hottest part of the day, and more frequently during the cooler times.

a. Stomach: Because my fluid/electrolyte level was regulated so well, I was able to avoid nausea and stomach sloshing. I absorbed all the fluid- evident from my urination and non-puffy hands. See more about this under cooldowns.

b. Feet: You have to remember that whatever is going on in your hands is also going on in your feet. Avoiding the swelling that comes with fluid/electrolyte imbalance means your feet are not going to swell causing friction against your shoes, the layers of skin and tissue in your feet are not going to swell and separate, which means you avoid blistering.

My biggest problem in 08 was the blister under my left foot. I had a blister in the same spot but over the past year I read John Vonhof's book Fixing Your Feet and learned how to tape properly, and how to reduce the callus in my problem areas. In 08 the blister was so deep John was unable to drain it with a scalpel, he taped it the best he could to prevent further blistering, and the blister finally popped from repetitive trauma on it's own at mile 127, which hurt like hell.

This year, it was easy to access the blister pocket and drain it, which was much less painful and much easier to manage. Other than that blister, I developed only a few small, minor blisters which I was able to easily drain as soon as they developed, and they never became a repetitive problem. At the end of 270 miles, I only had one blister left, the big one under my foot, which didn't get any worse after 80 miles.

Keeping your feet dry is another requirement. Checking your feet for moisture is critical. I use Drymax socks exclusively and they do very well, but no sock is blister-proof. There are seams, movement in the shoe, and moisture builds up eventually no matter what sock you wear.

Changing your socks frequently is important, and you have to be very careful not to disturb your tape job. Don't let your crew mess with the lacing on your shoes or pull your socks and shoes off unless they know exactly how to do it right. The runner is better off doing this is they can.

Speaking of shoes, I run in Brooks Addictions and I used only two pairs of shoes, one during the race and the other on the return. I never needed to change shoes or go to a bigger size because my feet never got very swollen and they stayed dry.

2. Cooldowns- I planned to take forced 10 minute cooldown breaks every 60 to 90 minutes during the hottest part of the day, every day. I stuck to my plan. I would sit down in a chair, put my feet up, in the shade of the van if there was shade, and my crew would cover me with two ice towels- one on my thighs and the other wrapped around my shoulders, reaching into my armpits.

I would take the time to drink something and eat. This would always result in having to pee afterwards. What these cooldown breaks do is allow your body a break from the heat stress it is undergoing. Your muscles get a break and you get more blood flow available to the stomach, kidneys, and other organs, so you're able to process food and fluids.

Every time after my cooldown, I felt much better and was able to pick up the pace immediately. Also, the cooldowns allowed my feet a break from being on them, which was heaven!

3. Preparation- supplies, plans, food choices: A wide variety of food choices has to be available because you never know what you will want to eat. Your body will tell you when it needs protein, quick energy, salt, or whatever. In 2008 all I could eat was jello and baby food. This time yogurt was my staple. I used a good quality greek yogurt, with lots of protein and little sugar. (Chobani). I was able to buy this in Las Vegas and Lone Pine.

Other than that the ham and cheese sandwiches I relied on in training did not appeal to me at all after the first day, and pretzels and crackers were too dry to eat in the heat. I ended up eating fig newtons and Pringles, which are easier to chew and swallow. At the checkpoints I had a special "Ice Cream Bag", an insulated bag for the crew to run to the store as soon as I approached the checkpoint, and then they would bring me fruit bars and ice cream sandwiches.

I had coke, 7 up, and iced tea for variety from my usual drink mix. During the cooldown breaks coke on ice tasted so good!

When we were close to Lone Pine, the crew would go into town and get pizza to bring back. That was awesome, a real treat for everyone, and good calories.

Having done Badwater before, and having crewed twice, I knew it was important to have everything you think you might possibly need, that you can't get while you're out there. I had a huge foot care/first aid kit and lots of hardware, bungee cords, duct tape, electrical tape, tools, etc. We never needed most of it but when we needed something, it was great to have it.

It is very important to teach the crew to put things back in their proper location- everything needs to be clearly labeled and marked, because I promise you, you will never find it again if you don't. As the days go on and everyone becomes more sleep deprived, this becomes more of a challenge.

4. Crew Dynamics- You have to have the right mix of people. Avoid having any crew member who is overly controlling or domineering. I heard horror stories about this on other crews. Assertiveness is very important, along with good, direct communication skills, and a sick sense of humor.

Sometimes it is necessary to confront a crew member on their behavior or a mistake, and they need to be able to take the criticism without taking it too personally. Crew need to have good people skills and to be able to work with each other under difficult conditions, stress, and fatigue. Being able to think critically, anticipate the runners and other crew members' needs, having empathy and patience are crucial to the success of a crew.

Crew need to listen to the runner and the crew chief, and there can't be any power struggles between the crew chief and the other crew members. I don't know what the magic solution is for this, but do your research well. Know your crew members before you pick them and trust your gut feelings. On our crew things went very smoothly, with a few little hiccups, which I attribute to crewmember fatigue. When a crew member gets dehydrated and hasn't taken care of themselves adequately, they don't have as good judgment and that's what happened briefly on the last day.

Having a crew chief who knows the runner well is also critical. Steph and I have been together through 3 Badwaters, and we have gone to other ultras together, and she knows me and my habits well. As a result she is able to predict how I'll respond to a given situation and what I would want. That is priceless.

5. Pacing yourself- During the hottest part of the day it is difficult to maintain a fast pace so it's important to take this into consideration. Save it for night time. There is nothing better than running under the stars. Keeping cool and steady during the day pays off.

Things that slowed me down:

1. Blister/tape management- This is almost a given for anyone running across Death Valley in the summer. It is rare for someone to have no foot issues whatsoever, but it does happen. This was especially important for me this time because I wanted my feet to be intact at the end of the race so I could make the return trip comfortably. I spent the extra time looking at my feet, changing socks, draining small blisters, and retaping as needed. It was well worth it. I am sure I checked my feet a dozen times during the race itself.

2. Sleep deprivation- this has always been a problem for me as of the second night. I seem to do well for the first day and a half and then it catches up with me. I took 3 naps during the race of 40, 30, and 15 minutes. My crew said I snored and snorted like a freight train. I was out instantly. It was always refreshing. The second night I was hallucinating and weaving, and this is a sign that it's time to get a nap. When you're not making good forward progress, a nap pays off. I drank coke and iced tea to get some caffeine, and I usually use Starbucks doubleshots but the milk in the doubleshots was not agreeing with my stomach as well as the coke was, so I only did a few doubleshots this time. The doubleshots went right through me. Not fun.

Things that surprised me

1. (Caution: possibly TMI) Body functions- I guess when you are consuming a lot of extra calories, it makes sense that you would poop more often. Most of the food you eat in ultras is of very low fiber content and can be constipating. For me, on my rest day Wednesday, I ate a lot of salads, and as a result, on Thursday, it was like my body experienced a giant detox. I pooped 8 times total on Thursday, and this was serious poop.

It's important to keep your butt from chafing if you're having to wipe frequently, and baby wipes help to keep things clean. I would use toilet paper, baby wipes, and we also had preparation H wipes, a tip I learned from another ultra friend. These are very soothing when your skin gets raw from wiping multiple times. Following this with hydropel, and then HAND SANITIZER will keep you, your butt, and everyone else happy!

The silver lining in this is that I got to stretch my glutes and hamstrings a lot with all that squatting!

2. achilles/peroneal tendinitis did not bother me at all- I have had mild tendinitis in my right leg for nearly 2 years, which mostly bothers me on uneven surfaces, but when it gets fatigued, it can also hurt on roads. Going into the race I was worried about this, since I aggravated it in a training run about 6 weeks before the race. I taped my achilles for extra support the whole time. I never heard a peep out of my tendons the whole way.

Things I'd do differently

1. Lose weight (if I can)- This is not coming from someone with an eating disorder. It was hard to carry nearly 130 pounds on my frame back and forth across DV. My body is in the awkward transition of middle age, perimenopause, and to top it off I have thyroid disease. But mostly, I think it's because I don't train with intensity anymore because speedwork is too risky these days between my tendinitis and training exclusively for multiday events (all of which I'm going to work on in the coming year)

I tried to lose some weight this spring but only lost 3 pounds. I allowed myself to be a little more hypothyroid than I normally am so I'd avoid problems with the heat like when I unknowingly ran it hyperthyroid in 08, but I don't think it was enough to affect my weight. My body really likes it's 125+ pounds now, and I would love to drop about 10 pounds, but I sure as hell am not going to starve myself to do it. A little more intensity in my training will help with this, once I rehab my tendon.

2. Crew adjustments- As far as crew, I think the people we had were great. I would change how I approached their roles, though. I allowed one crew member to pace me quite a bit on the return trip, he was training for a 100 miler and I normally don't like to have a pacer.

It was nice to have the company the first day, on the second day I told him he could stay back far enough so I wasn't aware of his presence. I figured he probably wanted the training opportunity and I didn't care as long as I felt like I was alone. I kept asking him if he was okay and he said he was.

By the third day he got dehydrated and started blistering, and this resulted in some friction on the crew, so I insisted on going alone. The runner shouldn't be having to worry about a crew member, and the crew member should not put the runner in a position of having to think about the crew member's well-being, blisters, kidney function, etc.

3. Other- I wouldn't do anything else differently except maybe adjust the quantities of stuff we bought, since we had so much left over and unused at the end.

Am I glad it's over? No. Would I do it again? Yes. Will I do it again? I don't know, but I can't imagine doing Badwater again without doing a double, because the race is over with too quickly and there is too much to see and experience out there that you can't do in the rushed setting of a race. Death Valley has so much to offer in it's beauty, and the chance to see the colors and landscape at different times of the day, is something you really shouldn't miss in a lifetime.

photo credit: Felix Wong

Catching some ZZZZs

2011-07-19T17:22:00.006-06:00

I know you're waiting for the details and full story of my Badwater Double run. At this point I have about 4 nights worth of sleep still to catch up on, and I haven't even put a dent in it. My brain is still fuzzy and I haven't had time to process through everything that happened last week.

But I can say this: it was the best run ever and yes, I would do it again, and no, I'm not glad it's over. My feet look good, I already can see my tendons again and the one blister is on it's way to healing. I'm not thinking about the next adventure yet, but I will be soon.

I can't imagine anyone running Badwater and never doing a double at some point, because the race itself is over with too quickly, you don't get a chance to experience the beauty of that environment during the fast pace of the event. It's such a unique place and so peaceful, so humbling, so big, it has a way of putting all the pieces back together in their right place, like solving a puzzle. I'm not sure I can explain that further.

I have several hundred photos to sort through and I need to retrace my steps and with the help of my crew, remember the details. Over the next few days I expect to be piecing it all together, please check back here soon.

Photo credits: Felix Wong