Been Busy...

but I'm back!

Finally reached my point of "I can't stand it anymore!!!!" The motorcycle tire around my waist is just too much for me to bear. It's grossing me out daily. I still have another month of working on this book most of the time, so the sitting is still going to be an issue for a while longer, but not too much longer.

As if I needed insult to add to my physical state of affairs, today I was out trying to run very slowly and carefully, trying not to aggravate my back, which has been sore and stiff for several days, and I passed some old fart (probably not too much older than me) on a bike who was pulled off the bike path by the sidewalk, talking on the phone. As I ran by, I heard him say, "Sorry I can't concentrate on talking, a female jogger just went by me."

WTF!!??? Excuse the #$%*& outta me! Every time I think I'm old, gray, and wrinkled enough to be immune from sexist ignoramuses like that, I get reawakened. So when he finally rode by me, I said, "You're lucky I'm not in my usual condition." I woulda kicked his ass and mansplained it to him. Perhaps he needed his balls cut off and stuffed in his mouth so he'd shut up next time?

What's been happening lately is that I have gotten really fat and out of shape. I've been very inconsistent with running and I've been having back problems too, a result of sitting too much, gaining weight, and not doing the exercises that I normally do when I'm training- core, weight training, etc. And I've been a bit stressed, over miscellaneous things, which contributes to stress eating, which I've been doing, and drinking too much alcohol, which I've also been doing. One of the main sources of my stress has now been relieved somewhat.

The other morning I could barely walk down the stairs, my back was so tight and stiff. And a few other reminders- trying to stretch in order to work on my back requires that I bend forward in certain ways and I am running into a pile of flesh. That I am not used to. Unacceptable. I really do need to lose about 20 pounds.

But. The other day I had an epiphany. I really do miss ultras and I want to move forward with a few items on the back of the mind bucket list. I have always wanted to do a 6 Day race. And I want to go back to the Keys 100. Just one of those races I always have wanted to do again- so much fun and so beautiful. Dennis wants to go back there too. And I am still looking at doing Across the Years 24 hour this year, just the 24 because I am so out of shape at this point I think it would be wise for me to just run for fun, get a few miles in, as a training run and hang out with running buddies I haven't seen in a long time.

In order to get to that goal of the 6 Day race, I think it will take me at least 3 years. I'd like to do Cornbelt again or another 24 hour next year, but shoot for the 48 hour at ATY then, if I'm ready. If not, I'll push it forward another year. I can think of some other way-out-there, crazy ideas too.

I've even considered Spartathlon, though I will need to get in shape to qualify again, and then there's the problem of getting in, and then figuring it all out, and then even finishing the race itself is iffy, which would probably involve some kind of crazy strategy of racing 50 miles then walking most of final 100+ miles. Which is fine, but that's a problem for another day.

First things first. Marissa just told me she is looking at having another Fatass run this fall in Colorado. I imagine that will be 12 hours, which is a great summer goal for training, and a buildup to Across the Years.

My life has been extremely busy. I'm juggling several projects right now, and about to start on the last full chapter in the book. I'll be sending the manuscript off to the editor before I leave for any summer trips. June 30th is my deadline date, self-imposed, but I have stuck to it. The work on the Appendix will be a lot to do, but most of it is already written. It should be done in the fall, I'm hoping October, but before the holidays, anyway.

The girls have grown up! I've been super busy with them too. We ended up getting Velcro spayed a few weeks ago. We took a trip up to our property at Trout Creek Pass a few weeks ago. She was already showing some subtle signs of going into heat, and we were headed up to the mountains and I was worried about having her up there like that, with all the coyotes and other dogs up there. And bears, etc. So when we got back from our weekend up there, I made an appointment. And she definitely was in heat.

We have been going to the same vet since 1984 with all of our dogs, and we love our vet. Velcro does too, because she gladly went into the back with them, no separation anxiety in being taken away from her mom. Mom, on the other hand, had enough separation anxiety for all of us.

Velcro did fine, she didn't even need to wear her cone of shame. She was lethargic for a day and then you would never know anything happened. Gypsy is not nearly as physically mature as Velcro was at the same age, so we have time. The Gyppers is about 1000 percent more amped up with energy than her sister, so it will be a challenge keeping her calm when she has her surgery.

Oh, and my friend Megan just twisted my arm the other day into going out to Death Valley this summer and working on medical at this blog's namesake race. I swore it off, said I was retired, but I have to admit I sure miss Death Valley in the summer, and would love to see Ben and Denise Jones, John Vonhof, Don Meyer, and a lot of other people I haven't seen in some time.

We had a huge storm here last week and we had a ton of heavy wet snow that took trees down and raised hell on everything. Fortunately we were spared this time, we only lost a small maple tree, the top snapped off. But our apricot trees were fine and our garden beds only had lettuce in them at the time, so no damage. Now that I've planted tomatoes, eggplant, cauliflower, peppers and more, I am sure we'll start having hailstorms.

That's about it...not extremely exciting, as I haven't been running much at all, maybe once or twice a week and just a few miles then. I have been pretty good about getting on my feet and doing 50 or so miles a week of walking most weeks. But I've had my share of slug weeks too. I know it's going to be a challenge to get it back, but I've finally reached a point where I am mentally ready. Now I just have to fix my back, which should cooperate with some massage, stretching, and gradual return to a real training program.

I hope to make more appearances at this blog. It's just been so hard to write the book and for my other writing obligations, and then I'm not running, so there hasn't been much blog-worthy news. I hope to turn that around in a good way, soon.

Happy summer! I'll be baaaack....

Spring in January, Told Ya So...

Sunny and 57 degrees, right now, going on 4 pm. It is spring, and the Great Antarctic Ice Sheet is retreating from our neighborhood streets. I no longer have to drive put of the neighborhood to start running, to avoid risking my life.

This afternoon I am kicking back after a nice long run. Long in time, not in distance. It was warm, almost 50 degrees when I woke up this morning, and windy. I needed to get at least two and a half hours in, preferably more. I decided to do a run on the Spring Creek and Poudre Trail bike paths, then followed it up with a half hour with the tire east of town.

I wore shorts! My legs are about as white as they ever get, they never get quite pale enough to blind anyone, but they haven't seen the sun in months. I got more than 15 miles including the tire pulling, in 3 hours. Slow overall pace but fighting the wind for half my run and then the tire, with the hill, so that was pretty good. Longest run since October for me.

Now I'm in the woman cave drinking a Stranger Pale Ale from Left Hand Brewing, in Longmont. They make good beer there, even if they're not in Fort Collins. The other day I made a huge pot of green chile and some refried beans, we've been living on that with tortillas all weekend.

The sun came back on Wednesday morning, Cat called me and we met up at Horsetooth for a late morning run. It was the best thing I could have done. Just seeing the sky and the scenery, instead of cold, gray ice in town, was enough to pick my mood up out of the winter depression that was setting in. I have been in a major hole this winter.

Interesting thing I found out this past week. Last year's U.S. performances in the 24 hour were posted for men and women. I managed to miss the top 25 list by just a hair. The 25th place performance was 112.9 miles. I am not sure if there's anyone else between me and her, but I ran 112.29 at Cornbelt. Damn. Not that it matters, but I guess I could feel pretty good about it given that there were not that many other women 50 or older on the list. There were a few, but most were much younger. Not bad for an old fart. I think I can still do better, but I'm not sure when or where I might do my next 24 hour. My buddy Hung Ng ended up just out of the top 25 too. We met when we suffered together at North Coast in 2013.

Here in Colorado we are spoiled, we are used to having sunshine most days, and when the sun doesn't shine for more than two days in a row, we get GRUMPY.

The girls got grumpy, too. It was cold and so icy that I didn't want to walk them, because I was afraid they would hurt themselves. Old dogs don't need soft tissue injuries. So they went without walks for a couple of days and by Wednesday Iris was bouncing off the walls, and Isabelle was ready to go first thing in the morning.

The Great Antarctic Ice Sheet has been worse this year than most, we got all that snow, it started to melt, and then we got the deep freeze. The water was higher than the sidewalks and spilling over the curbs. When it froze, the sidewalks were skating rinks. The usual ice dam at the end of our street is deep enough that if a car without much clearance tries to go over it, it scrapes the bottom and makes an awful noise. The city hasn't figured it out that every year they end up having to bring the big equipment in to chip the ice away from that same spot.

We've had some nice sunrises with all the clouds, but it's hard to not see the mountains for days on end. Grumpy. Finally today from the bike paths and the east side of town, I got some good views.

The geese were hanging out along the Poudre River, which is almost free of ice.

After the first 2 and a half hours I was starving. I stopped by the hosue and grabbed a snack, then quickly got into the car and drove over to Strauss Cabin, where I did a quick little jog to re-warm up, then I got the tire and did 35 minutes with it.

West of the cabin, off the paved roads of Horsetooth and Ziegler, there is a nice little hill where the road isn't paved, perfect for the tire.

Nice day for a tire. I hope the sunshine lasts a while...it is spring.

2014 Cornbelt 24 Hour Race: Adventures in Iowa

Pre-Race
It was a long pre-race day. I left Omaha Friday morning around 9:30 after doing some grocery shopping at Target there. I slept great in Omaha though I didn't plan the hotel location very well. It was out of the way of I-80 so I got a scenic tour of Omaha strip malls and suburbia.

It was windy as hell all the way across Nebraska and Iowa. I got great gas mileage.

It was a 4 1/2 hour drive east on I-80 across Iowa, after 7 1/2 hours on the road across Nebraska the day before. I stayed hydrated so I had to stop a lot, and finally, finally, finally got to Eldridge around 2:30 pm.

People drive slow in Iowa and there were a lot more semi trucks on the road, along with roadwork and the 70 mph speed limit. I kept seeing all these "Maid Rite" signs along the highway and I texted Rachel when I was close to Des Moines, just to see if there was a chance she wasn't at work that day. I asked her about Maid Rite. I was thinking it was like Home Depot.

She told me it's "loose meat sandwiches like Sloppy Joes" which already sounds really gross to me. But okay. I know what that is. It's just that Maid Rite doesn't sound like a restaurant. Sloppy Joes sounds a lot better than "loose meat"- that sort of makes my skin crawl. Is that a porn star's name?

Anyway, I arrived in Eldridge, the room wasn't ready, but at the front desk there were a couple of scruffy-looking characters fresh off the road asking questions. They turned around and one was Andy Lovy! Andy is the team physician for the U.S. National 24 Hour team and many other races, including Across The Years. He was trying to figure out how to get to the armory in Moline with a friend of his, John Surdyk, another ultrarunner who has been around for years but I've never met before.

Andy told me I should go for 127 to make the women's national team. One thing at a time, I told him, 110 was my goal for now. I needed to see if I could make it through that before setting my sights on that far out goal. Actually I'm not even sure 127 would qualify at this point, there have been so many women in the 130s or better. John started asking me questions and I didn't want to talk about it, so I changed the subject. They soon took off for their sightseeing, Andy offered to let me hang out in their room until my room was ready but I told him I had plenty of stuff to do.

I knew with Andy there that it would be a good day. I love going around in circles with him, he's always so encouraging and positive, and funny.

I went out in the parking lot while I was waiting for my room, and started making my PBJs and portioning out my race food into bags. As I was making PBJs a big truck from Minnesota pulled up next to me and I was so involved in spreading the peanut butter I didn't notice the guy walked up behind me until he said something. It was Ed Rousseau, longtime ultrarunner from Minnesota. He's 74.

He kept me entertained by his stories for a while as I made PBJs, then we must have both headed over to the track at the same time, so we helped each other drag our stuff to Lancer Stadium and onto lane 1 of the track. He entertained me with a few more stories and then we took a pre-race selfie, and he continued putting up his tent and I went back to the hotel to check into my room. Then it was time for the prerace dinner.

At the pre-race dinner I saw many familiar faces. It's been two years and that was the only other time I ran this event, but a good number of people remembered me. What a nice bunch of people. I sat with Ed and Dick Hogan and talked with Andy, Bonnie Busch, and the RD Karl Ungurean. We ate pasta and Karl gave a short pre-race briefing. There's not much to say. Hopefully no one would get lost on the course.

When we left there was a little sprinkling outside- some clouds, but the wind calmed down. The sunset from my room window was pretty. The weather forecast looked good, as long as the wind didn't get too bad.

In the morning the sunrise was gorgeous but I was too busy getting my stuff together, which is unusual for me. I usually never want to miss a sunrise or sunset. But this time I missed all of them- the pictures, anyway. I did get to enjoy them, they were all spectacular. I was focused and didn't want to waste time dealing with my phone.

I ended up only with these few pictures, and the selfies below, taken 12 hours apart.

The race
I did not sleep well the night before the race this time. This is unusual because ever since last fall since I quit work I have been sleeping great, including before races. The walls of this hotel are paper-thin and there were kids bouncing up and down on the floors somewhere, probably not anywhere close to my room, maybe upstairs. It took me forever to fall asleep, I got up and did things for a while, and then I probably got 4 hours of sleep. I woke up maybe half an hour before my alarm went off at 5.

I was glad I had my stash of chocolate cherry crack Clif Shots. I had coffee and ate a ham and cheese sandwich and some oatmeal. I left at 6 and went over to the track to finish setting up my table. There is so much to do to get things organized and set up right so you don't end up wasting time looking for things at each table stop.

Before the race, we met our first lap counters who work in 3 hour shifts. Then it was the national anthem, and at 7 am it was time to start.

My plan was to run 6:1 (run 6 laps, walk 1 lap) for the first 12 hours, keeping a comfortable pace for both. I was shooting for 3 minute laps average, but leaving time for screwing around. Bathroom breaks, a night clothes change, and table stops. That would put me in 12 hrs at 58 miles with lots of wiggle room. The plan was 110, 58/52. I was going to drop back to 4:1 for the second half, but if it was hot in the afternoon, I could drop back to 4:1 during the heat of the day, from about 1 to 5 pm. I could always make it up later.

The race is run in lane 2 of the track, which allows runners to set up their tables and gear in lane 1 instead of on the infield, where it is usually wet and muddy. That also makes it nice because the measurements result in 396 laps being 100 miles, or 99 laps per 25 miles. It's just nice to know you have the "bonus" miles already built in.

I got through 50K at 5:55 a little ahead of schedule, but it was cool outside. The wind was strong from the west, whichever direction we were going we would have the north or south side of the track into the wind, with a tailwind on the opposite side. I reached 50 miles in 9:43, again ahead of schedule, but I wasn't pushing it and I was actually holding back. At 12 hours I was at 60.5 miles. Then I took a 20 minute break to change clothes and get ready for night. I texted Wheaties Boy and told him how I was feeling. I told him I was trying to figure out at what point to bust it wide open- if I should wait for 100 miles to do that. He agreed.

I did great with hydration and eating all day, until about 9 pm. I ate 2 ham and cheese sandwiches, six of the 10 PBJs I made, ate 8 of the 12 yogurts, and just a few handfuls of potato chips. I also ate a baked potato at night, had about 4 bananas, half a bag of chocolate covered donuts, drank iced tea, lots of coke, a ton of vitamin water zeros, I like those with S caps in them, they taste better than water, and give some variety. I also did maybe half a dozen gels all night, just the caffeinated ones.

I hit 70 miles in 14:15, and 80 miles in about 16:30. Around 16 to 20 hours I was really struggling with getting the calories in. I was still running a lot more than I was walking, but I did dial it back to more like 2:2 for a while so I could find a way to get my stomach to cooperate. Finally I tried a banana and that did the trick, then I was able to eat donuts too. I did well most of the day so that saved me. I was peeing once an hour, the entire time, even toward the end when my fluid intake was down to a couple of cups of coke each hour.

I stayed on 6:1 through about 70 miles, but I noticed it was making it more difficult to eat and digest food at that point. I knew I would have to keep a balance between pushing it, being able to take in enough fluids and food, and not burning myself out before the end. I would have to say I managed it all pretty well and got a great result.

I wasn't swelling, didn't have blisters, and I never bothered with my feet at all- same shoes, socks, gaiters, compression sleeves the entire race. I did have a hot spot in the usual spot under my left foot, but I haven't been taking care of the calluses there the way John Vonhof always warns about. But it wasn't bad and in 24 hours it wasn't even uncomfortable enough to distract me, I just knew it was there.

One thing I was concerned about before the race was my left ankle. A few times, after the last few races, I had terrible swelling in front of the lateral malleolus. When I did my 30 miler on the track a few weeks ago, my ankle did that again. This time there was nothing. Whatever it is, it didn't cause a problem.

Bonnie is an incredibly strong runner. Going into the race I figured she would be my main competition and we could push each other. She wasn't having her best day though.

I had no idea but there was this young runner named Trista who is a marathoner, and for a while she was ahead of me. The only way I found out was that at one point we passed by the lap counters at the same time and it surprised me to hear that she was one lap ahead of me. She was running with two of her friends who came to the track. It looked like she was hanging in there, but fading.

My walk is a lot faster than just about anyone's, except for this one racewalker who was out there. Every time Trista started walking, I knew that I could gain on her by walking myself. So that kept me occupied for a while when my stomach wasn't cooperating and I didn't feel like pushing it yet.

When I got to 100 miles, it was at 21:16, which was a 2 1/2 hour PR for me. While having nearly 2 hours and 45 minutes seems like plenty to reach my goal of 110, but it's not as easy as it sounds. Averaging 4 miles an hour at this point in a race can be a challenge, especially when you're running low on fuel and fluids. If you're doing a lot of walking, unless you stay on top of a decent pace and get sub-4 minute laps, that's still 16 minute miles, which is slower than 4 mph.

I picked it up a little, but I decided to wait to really turn the afterburners on until we did our last direction switch at 22 hours. At that point I was at about 103 miles and I knew 110 was doable if I stayed with it, but maybe more if I had it in me. Doug was my lap counter and I told him I was going for at least 110, and I got lots of support from the lap counting tent. I can't wait to see the splits because I wonder how fast I went those last two miles. I think I had about 23 minutes left on the clock at 110 miles. I got through 111, and then started on 112. My final distance with the last partial lap was 112.29 miles.

There were so many moments during the race that I would observe the track and the sky and the people and for a moment realize that this was what I would rather be doing more than anything. running this type of event, where you truly get to share it with all the other runners, is my favorite thing of all. When the sun set in the evening and rose again in the morning, and we were all still out there, circling, more slowly but just as determined, to push through until the very last second when the finish gun went off.

I spoke to a young runner named Josh for a while, he was fascinated with Fort Collins and all things Colorado, and he is an admirer of Nick Clark. There were quite a few people doing their first 24 hour races. Amy was one of them, she was running well but she kept taking breaks and sitting down. I told her not to stop- to keep moving and do things while walking, because it takes longer to get your muscles moving again after you stop.

The Midwestern runners always are impressed when you tell them you're from Colorado. They love to visit Colorado. They always ask me why I come there for races when we have so many great trail races at home. I don't race trails anymore, and Colorado doesn't have enough road ultras and almost no track ultras, either.

Ed was doing well all day, he was trying to get at least 84 miles so he could finish his 1000th Cornbelt mile. He ended up going beyond his goal, and notably, won the men's race! At age 74!

Andy's friend John was plugging along, he said he had a headache, and he was starting to lurch to the right. Andy was having foot pain so he went as far as an ultra- 26.5 miles, and called it a day. The whole time he was out there it was fun hearing him cheer for me each time I went by.

There were several other runners I remembered from last time who I talked with, and their encouragement helped. And Bonnie, especially, she was cheering me on to my goal the whole time, and beyond it. At night on the track some of the runners had their spouses walking with them. In a small race like this it's nice that it's an uncrowded track. There were only 30 runners this time.

Between miles 90 and 100 I controlled my pace and spent time trying to force calories in. I knew I needed to have enough fuel to last through the two hours without wasting time to stop and eat and drink too often. I finally got bananas and chocolate donuts, along with iced coke, to work. Bob is one of the volunteers I remembered from last time, he runs the refreshment table at night. If no one comes by the table for a while, he sits on a cooler and nods off occasionally but if you let him know you need something, he is on top of it. He must have gotten me half a dozen cups of iced coke, and he cut up bananas for me, and brought everything to my table before I finished the next lap.

I was at absolute top speed for the last 3 or 4 miles. My legs felt like they were going to burn off. I doubt I was going much faster than 10 minute miles but that's fast enough at the end of 112 miles. When you see Karl walk out to the track with the gun, you are in an all-out sprint to get every last meter before you come to a dead stop when he shoots the gun.

I ended up with an 11 mile PR at 24 hours. I placed first overall, 10 miles ahead of the next runner. The top 3 spots were women, me, Trista and Bonnie, and 4th place was Ed.

The lap counters at this race are amazing. Totally on top of it. They let you know where you are each lap and make eye contact. Out of the nearly 445 laps I did, there were probably half a dozen times when the lap counter was distracted or had more than one runner going through and I had to yell their name to make sure they saw me. Every other time they were on it. It's the human touch, and they cheer for you, there's lots of support for the runners. Karl is the RD and he does a great job, along with the help of Bonnie Busch and her husband, and several other local runners.

Someone was nice enough to take this picture of me while I was waiting for Karl to roll the wheel around the track to measure our exact distance on the partial last lap we each did.

And just when you think the race is over...

I had enough time after the race to grab about half my stuff and put it in the car, then go to the hotel and shower before the post-race breakfast and awards. My last lap counter, Doug, helped me carry my heavy stuff to the car and Ed and I agreed to go back to the track after breakfast to help each other get the last of our stuff. While carrying my milk crate to the car, Doug remarked, "I see you have crack..."

My gels were organized by regular gels and "crack"- the super caffeine ones.

While undressing and taking a shower I had horrible foot cramps, leg cramps, back cramps, side stitches, and everything was seizing up. I figured I didn't take in enough fluids the last few hours when I picked up the pace but my stomach was not happy. I drank a bottle of water before the breakfast, but that was all I had time for.

I had an interesting experience at the post-race breakfast. I was sitting down at the table and started to eat a few small bites of food, when all of a sudden I started feeling funny. I felt the blood drain from my head and felt nauseated, so I got up to go over to the restroom. On my way to the door I don't know what happened, it happened so fast all I remember is that it felt like I tripped, hit the wall, and slid down, and suddenly I was on the floor, all I could see were some shoes and I heard some voices talking to me. "Are you all right?"

It was Bonnie and another woman from the group. I must have gotten up too fast and I bet my blood pressure tanked because I was so dehydrated from those last few hours on the track when I couldn't take in enough fluids.

Anyway I told them I felt nauseated and they helped me get up and took me into the bathroom, where I got down on the floor and sat there, waiting for it to pass. I had a few dry heaves but there was nothing coming up. Bonnie brought me some ice water and a wet towel, and hung out on the floor with me until I started to feel better. We started laughing about it. I said, this is too funny. She told me she's done it lots of times.

I was starting to feel better and she got me a chair from the other room. I told her to let everyone know I was okay, because the entire group saw me do this. Quite dramatic!

When Bonnie brought the chair in the bathroom, she told me I looked like the wicked witch, she pointed at my shoes and legs that were sticking out under the stall.

Soon we were giggling hysterically. I said, I need pictures of this, this is blogworthy material. So she took pictures of me on the floor of the bathroom.

Finally I felt good enough to go back in the room, and I drank my orange juice and diluted it with water and shook some salt in it. That was my old cure for when I got lightheaded at work- it was so hard to drink or eat enough, I always found myself lightheaded or having muscle cramps there.

Ed and I got our post-race selfie (the two winners!) and we headed over to the track again, along with Mick, one of the volunteers, and his wife, and they helped us get all of stuff loaded up.

So now I'm back in the room and I took a two hour nap and then went to the store, and the only thing that sounded good was soup. So here is my first pre-race meal. I'll be eating and sleeping this off for a few days.

I'm planning to take it easy the month of May. I can feel that this race took more out of my body than the 24 hour races have in the past. I did a lot of running and my mileage going into it, while decent, was not particularly high. I think the key to improving at the 24 hour event now is going to be more high mileage weeks with more intensity, not all the time, but more than I've been doing.

The results are here. I'll be back again.

Recipe for a Tailwind

This entire week so far has been nothing but WIND. Constant blowing and cold. We got a few sprinkles one day but no more moisture, just a steady howling with a few extra strong gusts, the kind that split trees in half, blow trash cans over, and generally make a run down any street lined with trees into Russian Roulette.

I went out anyway, just for a few miles each day, 4 or 6 miles at a time. It really wasn't that bad, even running into the headwind. Probably because I knew I'd be out there for such a short time. I've been following the forecasts for Iowa and it doesn't look much better there, actually worse because of rain, but it looks like this storm system is headed east, so I might have a strong tailwind blowing me across Nebraska. Could save money on gas that way.

I waited until tonight to run because the wind was super gusty today. Once the sun went down, the wind died down quite a bit and there was a sliver of a moon out, and there was still light in the sky until almost 8:30.

Iris has been following me around, every time I go to the bathroom she follows me and stares at me. Isabelle is more subtle about it but she's been watching me, too.

The bags are packed, reservations made, I have a plan for the race. I was talking with a running friend from Georgia the other day, Beth McCurdy, and we were laughing about last spring in Cleveland. She was telling me the story of when we were running North Coast in that heinous windstorm last year, and Beth decided to drop out and she told me, I said to her, "Oh, no! Why?" She tells people, "Because I'm not from freaking Colorado!"

Beth runs with Joe Fejes, and according to Joe, running a 24 hour is like baking a cake, following the recipe. I have my own recipe for this one and I think it has plenty of wiggle room for bathroom breaks, changing clothes, and any quick stops that are needed.

I'm ready as usual, overpacked, for whatever the weather gods throw my way. All I can do now is let the wind blow and follow the recipe.

Oil Change, Crack Dealer, and Errands for the Guilt Trip

After working all weekend I finally have a day to concentrate on packing and getting ready for the race. I did some errands this morning- got the oil changed, bought some race drinks and food that aren't perishable, and packed the table, chair, and coolers into the back of the car.

I started packing my clothes and running gear, with Iris's supervision, of course. Packing for a guilt trip.

Going through my running supplies, I have so much crap that accumulates in my foot box, first aid kit, and the other stuff that I bring to the table in my 24 hour races, that I have to go through it all and replace stuff. I also find the gels that expired in 2009, along with some old, leaky, sticky things that I can't identify.

Going through the gels, I realized my supply of double caffeine chocolate cherry Clif Shots was dwindling, so I had to make a trip to the crack dealer this morning. I went over to Runners' Roost and topped off my stash. There was a new guy there, looked like a college student, I'd never seen him before, and he didn't know me. I think I freaked him out a little when I asked him for crack.

I'm getting the evil eye while I organize all my stuff into bags. It's windy outside today, and cool. We probably haven't had more than 5 days where it got into the 70s yet this spring. It has been consistently cool. No rain, though. The leaves on the cottonwood trees are just starting to open, and there are a few lilac blooms.

With the weather the way it has been, I'm preparing for cold, wet conditions. Who knows what we'll get. Wheaties Boy and the Cereal Killas completed their R2R2R in cold, windy, rainy, muddy conditions, with a little snow. No problems with the heat for them. They did great, and it sounds like the weather made the adventure even more exciting.

The pictures they got were amazing, and they made a video, which I hope to be able to share or link to from this blog in the near future.

Back to packing...