On a Mission

Today is my first day off of work for a long stretch. The past few days it's been hot outside and I've been working inside, in the frozen ICU. Now I'm on a mission. I have a ton of errands to do to get ready for this weekend's race and next week's trip. I needed to do my run, get my sauna session in, and make about 5 different stops in town.

The run was my priority, but I decided to multi-task for an errand I had to run at the hospital by working it into my run. Of course the weather gods decided to pick on me again. It was raining on and off all morning, temperatures in the 50s. I need practice running with tape on my feet, I taped my heels with this stretchy brown foam tape, supposed to be hypoallergenic. I found it at Target.

I am allergic to the adhesive on some kinds of tape. Runners often tape their feet at Badwater to reduce friction and give extra padding and protection on the hot asphalt. I need to practice this and see if it will help with my recurring problem of painful heels from the edges of my orthotics, but I have to be careful about what kind of tape I use.

First I took the Buffaloes for a quick sprint and realized I was risking my life being pulled on the wet sidewalks and grass, so I cut it off at 2 miles and decided to finish my run alone. The sky was looking dark.

I put a rain jacket and a hat on and ran up Lemay to the hospital, was inside for no more than 5 minutes, and by the time I exited the doors by the cafeteria, it was pouring rain on the outdoor seating area. I ran back home and the weather gods were taunting me. The rain kept coming down harder as I ran south on Lemay and just as I turned the corner into my neighborhood, three blocks from my house, the sky dumped pea-sized hail so hard I couldn't see across the street, I tried to stay under the trees until I got to my house.

I was drenched, but my feet were good. No problems with the tape, but I need to try it in dusty, dry, hot conditions over the next few weeks.

So far, the heat training is the biggest challenge out of everything in preparing for the event.

I am very excited about two additions to our crew, Nick and Katy! Nick is from Ft. Collins and I know him through the running club, thanks to Felix for connecting us. Nick and his wife Dana are the most awesome volunteers for taking on the Tortoise & Hare Series of monthly club sponsored runs. Nick is a talented distance runner and aspiring ultrarunner and he doesn't know it yet but this experience at Badwater is going to rock his world. His whole view of running is going to be turned upside down! Nick is competitive and will provide plenty of brain power and kicks in the butt if I need them on that second day when I'm really tired and my brain is fried.

The other addition to our dream team is Katy from Cheyenne. Katy is an accomplished ultrarunner having represented the US several times in international competition and has won the Bighorn 100 in addition to other ultras. This is her first Badwater experience, but she has plenty of experience at ultras and will be a huge asset to the crew with her positive attitude and I already know she is fun to run with in extreme conditions. One day the winter before last we did a long run at Horsetooth together in perfectly miserable, freeze-your-butt-off conditions, I think it was 10 below with 40 mph gusts that day? It was awesome!

55 days to race day!

Off to the sauna...

Update at 3:45 pm
Just got home from the sauna, I saw a few big tree limbs down on my way home, but no damage in our neighborhood. I got a call from Dennis at work and that's how I heard about the heard about the tornadoes! That's what was happening in Weld County around noon while I was dodging hail a few miles away. I'll never complain about the weather gods again...