Lake Erie 2, Alene 0: National Championships at North Coast 24 Hour Fall 2014

North Coast 24 is one of those races with a character of its own.

It's subtle, but there’s a unique understated charm. It's well-organized, and has a definite following of locals, and it has a way of growing on you, even on this westerner at heart who loves mountains and small cities, not big urban messes with sketchy downtowns and crowds of people.

Being in downtown Cleveland might as well be another country or planet to me. One of my former patients used to work in law enforcement and warned me before my first trip to Cleveland, “When you're in Cleveland, just shoot, and walk away."

It's hard to find your way around downtown in a modernized but also partially decaying cityscape where the streets don't make any sense. To visit the downtown areas shops and restaurants you have to park first. In between lightposts, trash cans, fire hydrants, there are very few scattered parking meters which force you to find parking garages, the entrances to which are inhabited by panhandlers.

And then trying to get out of the parking garage is another adventure. We thought we were going to witness a crime scene there when an impatient driver in front of us was getting pissed off at the first car in line. The guy just lifted the barricade up and out of his way instead of paying for parking.

I ran here in spring of 2013 and at the time I didn’t think I’d come back. Not that there was anything wrong with the race, it was just that I couldn’t see traveling all that way when I could find something closer to home. But then it was announced that the 24 hour national championships would be there, and I wanted not only a competitive race, but a chance to hit my 120 mile goal.

I missed last year’s nationals due to a hamstring injury, but it also happened to fall about three weeks before I quit my job, so I was about as stressed as I’ve ever been and wouldn’t have been a good time to race anyway.

The thing about North Coast 24 Hour is that it’s next to fickle Lake Erie with crazy weather and wind. Talking with Joe Fejes earlier this year about races, he advised me to seek a fast race or a track for my 120 mile goal, because he felt North Coast was a difficult venue, and the weather was unpredictable.

I knew about the weather from my first experience there, but I usually can do well in the heat and I figured that might be the thing that made it hard in the fall, and maybe rain. I am not used to running in humidity, but I’ve done well in it before, so I wasn’t concerned as much about the weather as maybe I should have been.

I thought being in a competitive race would be good, and it was. I learned a lot watching the other runners, and learned a lot about my own racing style and preparation. It was more like feedback this time. I feel like I’ve got it down really well.

But Saturday September 20th was not the day I hoped for, and the same could be said for most of the other runners there. All week Saturday’s weather forecast looked hot, sandwiched in between milder days. It never budged. Thunderstorms were predicted for Saturday night and Sunday.

The weather forecast turned out to be very accurate except the temperatures got even higher than predicted. At one point someone said it was 85 degrees. I saw 81 on my phone when I checked it around 5 pm.

I've been to this race twice now and both times the weather got me good. Now I understand why Joe felt it was difficult. It’s not that the course is hard by itself, the weather is a contributing factor, but it’s what goes on in the park all day that makes it difficult.

I say this not as a criticism of the race itself, but just as far as practicality for running optimally. I think Joe meant there is an advantage of having a controlled venue like a track where people are only there for the race. And also there is something to having a race with fewer distractions, as there are lots of things going on all over in a busy urban park like Edgewater.

Between people often walking three abreast and the random pedestrians, kids, bicycles, kite flyers, smokers, large groups (and I hate to say it but large people like the guy in the shirt, and even bigger), it got quite crazy and chaotic around mid-afternoon and it was very difficult to stay on the inside throughout much of the loop. Especially the half that goes alongside the water.

I would say there was a lot of extra distance covered on that course due to the amount of passing people. The area where we all had our tents and tables set up was almost impassable at times during the afternoon.

The lower corner just before you take a curve to the right to cross the mat and pass the aid station was challenging at times as pedestrians seemed to have no idea that they were crossing our direct path.

It took a lot of energy, both mental and physical, to get around the people, who of course had no idea they were hindering our progress, and it’s not their fault either. We were the invaders, we were the crazy zombies who took over their park.

Not that it was all bad. I had a lot of fun. Despite the poor conditions for running I enjoyed it. It was entertaining, too. There was the “Kale Yes I’m Vegan” guy, that’s what his tank top said, who spent the entire day and part of the evening jumping rope and working out in the east corner of the park with some sort of gas mask on.

And it was a beautiful scene next to the water, a clear fall afternoon with kites flying, people out enjoying it, weddings, nuns walking, people grilling with their families, a mix of people watching, but also very distracting. I don’t think I would have been as distracted if I was running better. I would have been concentrating on my stride and forward progress and not looking at the scenery as much.

I think that was my last trip to this race. It is such a well-run event though, it's too bad. But to be realistic, I live too far away, it's an expensive trip, and it just hasn't panned out for me. I don't have a lot of time, I’m getting older and I want to get my goal. So I will move on to somewhere else. Not sure where that will be yet, but I’ll find it.

What Happened

Beth McCurdy and I met each other at the keys 100 in 2010. She’s from the Atlanta area. Then we ran together again at NorthCoast in 2013 in the horrible wind snowstorm. This time we decided to share a room to help with costs in Cleveland. It was a good match even though I usually like to have my own space. Beth understood all my quirks and it turns out we both have interesting quirks before races, we share many of the same obsessions, preferences, and weird habits pre-race. So it worked out well. Compatible weirdness.

I flew into Columbus again this trip, it's an easier airport, better flights and less expensive from Denver, plus my friends Lynn and Suzy Newton live there. I stayed with them for 2 nights before the race. I’ve known Lynn through running since about 1997. I know their daughter, too, the three of them used to attend Lynn’s races in Arizona such as Across the Years. Lynn decided to run North Coast this year, too.

I always sleep well at their house, I had plenty of sleep hours and good food in the tank by the time I left for Cleveland Friday morning. I drove to Cleveland to meet Beth at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn. On my way into town I stopped at Whole Foods and did our shopping, Beth gave me a list of what she wanted.

Neither of us wanted to attend the prerace dinner as we are both not into expending a lot of energy and socializing the night before the race. We found a good restaurant in Lakewood that has pasta and salads and ate there for our prerace meal then holed up in our hotel room to relax and prepare for morning.

Bill Damman offered to help us. Poor guy, I don't think he knew what he was getting into. But he was very generous to help us with our gear before and after, brought us ice during the heat of the day, and checked on us. He covered our gear before the downpour, and set up a tent for us to change in or sleep in if needed.

Neither of us slept well the night before in the hotel, but I wasn't worried because I had so much sleep at Lynn's I knew I'd be okay. I got maybe 5 hours, but I had plenty of crack gels- the chocolate cherry Clif shots and drinks with caffeine if needed.

We got to the start and got stuff set up and everyone was saying hi as we got ready. I had to organize my table. I saw quite a few runners I know and met a few new people. Beth knows everyone. We got set up next to a tent that said Virginia Tech Hokies. Wheaties Boy territory. I sent him a picture and took it as a good sign.

It was already quite warm. I knew we'd need the ice from Bill. I had my plan at a very conservative pace. I realized I might have to slow even more for the first half, and I was prepared to do it.

Soon it was time to line up at the start. There were about 170 entrants, so it was pretty crowded. They start you a little before the aid tent and finish line because of the course measurement, so you get to 100 miles on the finish line mat instead of some random place.

Then we were off.

I started out according to my plan, at a relaxed pace, talking to a few runners and then doing most of my laps in silence. I needed to get a feel for how my body wanted to run in the conditions. It felt easy and I immediately stuck to my planned run/walk pattern. I got through the first 20 miles or so at exactly my planned pace and I knew that I would have to slow down to get through the afternoon, so I did that.

I started putting ice on my neck sometime after noon. A lot of people were feeling the heat, there were already people running with ice packs on and talking with their crews about hydration and electrolytes. I knew by the time I got to about 35 miles that it was not going to be the day for performances. I accepted that and knew I still had a chance to run faster after dark. Pretty much everyone I talked with was saying the same thing, we were all just waiting for dark. It was a survival race.

It was a bloodbath out there though. So many runners quit early. In the afternoon I saw quite a few suffering in the heat. People who were flying and leading early in the race one by one started to drop. I felt pretty comfortable with the pace in the heat, but I backed off early. Harvey Lewis was moving well in the men's race along with several other guys, and in the women's race it seemed like there were a lot who dropped. I'm not sure.

I was there to run my own race, not worry about what they were doing. Debra Horn was there and she was running very well, but she wasn't going blazing fast. She seemed to be running smart. Beth looked good early on but we run differently, she likes to run and I do the run/walk thing. I lost track of her for quite a while.

Some of the older runners were amazing though. Those of us in the USATF national championship race had our age groups on bibs on our backs, and there were some 70+ year olds out there who did not in any way look their age. They were moving well too. The two women I saw in the 65-69 age group looked great, too.

I went through 50 miles in about 10:25 which is a lot slower than usual, but it was necessary. I have no idea where I was at 100K because after 50 miles I stopped paying attention to splits and just focused on moving forward and staying cool. I ate a couple of PBJs and then stuck to yogurt. My stomach was fine.

The afternoon was chaotic with masses of people in the park. I stopped for 10 minutes and got into Bill’s tent to change into evening clothes. My legs were surprisingly fresh. I’d been well-hydrated, peeing hourly, and I didn’t have any muscle cramping when I had to crouch into the small tent to change clothes.

I got back out on the course, but it hadn’t cooled down. The park was still full of people at sunset, it was beautiful though. There was this group of people facing east and doing their Muslim evening prayer, and the seagulls were circling around overhead, along the waterfront, and it was such a calm scene despite having so much going on out there.

As it got darker, it was still too warm to need any extra clothing. I could feel a blister in the usual spot under my left foot, the ball of my foot, the same spot that got me at Badwater. I looked at it when I was in the tent and it just looked like a friction spot. I changed socks but didn’t do anything else to it. In retrospect maybe that’s when I should have broken out an Engo patch or something, but it was not bothering me running.

As the evening went on, it stayed at about 75 degrees. I no longer needed ice but it was not comfortable for picking up the pace. The blister was there but I decided to keep going since it wasn’t affecting my gait. It always took about the first 24 hours for it to be a problem at Badwater so my thinking was, I should be fine to make it through morning. But I’d been walking a lot more than I anticipated due to the heat, and I think that made it worse. When I ran, it was starting to hurt more, especially on the little downhill section going into the aid station.

Sometime around midnight I passed Andy Lovy, the race physician, who told me to be prepared as they were expecting a storm to move in with heavy rain somewhere around 2 am. When I went through the aid station, Bill was working in there so I asked him if he would cover Beth’s gear. When I went by our table I had a garbage bag ready to go so I could cover my stuff, but I didn’t know if she had anything, and I thought she was in the tent sleeping. She’d been having nausea earlier and decided to lie down in the tent and take a break.

The wind started to pick up and I grabbed my rain hat and jacket when I started to feel drops. I continued moving, but it only rained lightly. It did cool things down a little. Eventually I started to notice my groin and hamstring on the left side were getting tight. The blister had been hurting, and it was affecting my gait, which is what I wanted to avoid. I decided to stop by the medical tent to see if the foot care people could help me. I had my own foot care stuff but it was raining and dark, and I thought I’d see if I could avoid digging around out there.

When I went in there were about 4 people who appeared to be students, they all converged on me at once. I told them about my foot and they had me fill out the form, just like Badwater. No problem. I did warn them that I am a nurse and a pain in the butt. I took off my shoe and sock, and a woman who said she was the doctor came over and looked at it. It was the start of a deep blister under that same spot that hasn’t caused me any problems ever since Badwater in 2011. Back to haunt me.

Then she asked me some questions, turns out I’m allergic to the supplies they had available to pad my foot, and they were unwilling to try popping the blister. John Vonhof would have jabbed it with a scalpel. I was a little annoyed but it really is the runner’s responsibility to take care of their own feet. I had all the supplies I needed at my table, so I told them I was going to go and work on it myself.

I know I probably sounded like a bitch but I warned them. I guess what irritated me was that if they didn’t feel comfortable doing what I knew needed to be done, that was fine, I just wanted them to not take so long to make a decision, it seemed like they spent a lot of time making me wait and I’m not sure what for. But then I have little patience with anything these days.

Anyway I apologized to them as I left and thanked them, and went to my table and sat down in the dark. The rain had stopped, so I sat down in the wet chair and dug out my foot kit and my headlamp, and went to work. The blister didn’t have much fluid in it, but it hurt. I tried poking one area with fluid and got very little out. I taped over it and pulled some hypafix up and over the space between my toes, hoping that if it did eventually pop, it would drain.

I got back out on the course, and Beth got up at some point and we ran together for a short time. She was up and down, she’d feel okay for a while and then awful again. I was fine but now I couldn’t run or walk very well either. The blister really hadn’t improved from draining the few drops of fluid I got out. Walking became more painful and around 4 am, the sky opened up with a fury. It was a steady downpour and puddles were forming everywhere, some parts of the course had sand that washed over them, and I was barely moving. I got my rain jacket again, which I had ditched when it never turned to steady rain earlier.

With each lap as I went across the mat and saw the results on the screen, it seemed like it was taking forever to accumulate miles. I was only at 78 or so. Earlier in the night I realized that 100 might be a good thing to focus on, but by the time the rain really started, I knew I was doomed, and it was getting ridiculous.

In the middle of the serious downpour, I was headed east along the lake and realized I was going at Andy’s pace. (He’s about 30 years older than me) . I caught up to him, and we walked together in the rain. We could see the portapotties in the distance and I pointed them out as my goal. I said, when we get there, I’m hiding inside to get out of the rain. He said I might do the same, and told me that it would take about 4 minutes to get there from where we were. We giggled as we headed toward our goal.

There we were, in a raging rainstorm, along Lake Erie with the wind blowing in the dark, at 4:30 am, planning to hide out in the portapotties. I asked him what that says about our sanity. He would know, he was a psychiatrist.

When we got to the portapotties I got inside and stood there for a while. I had my phone with me, which I had used to text Wheaties Boy when things started getting ugly. I snapped a selfie in there, standing there, seriously questioning my sanity. I decided that I was done. I got out and limped the rest of the loop back to the mats and aid station. When I crossed the mat it said 80.2 miles. That’s where I was done. I was over it.

When I got there, Phil McCarthy and a few other runners were in there, doing the same thing I was. Lots of other people had left much earlier. I gave my chip to Dan, the race director, and talked with him for a while. He gave me my medal. I ate some hot food and sat down to talk with the others in there. Soon Beth walked in, looking drowned rat-like in her hoodie. She told me she was thinking about being done too. I didn’t want to influence her decision. I had warm clothes, I could stick around until morning if she wanted to finish.

She went out for another lap or two and then came back. She was done. She said she felt lightheaded like she had low blood sugar so I got her some M&Ms and she sat there for a few minutes. I went to the tent, where Bill was sleeping, and asked him if he could help us get our stuff back to the car. I drove the car closer and we loaded up and went back to the room, showered, and napped until about 10:30 am.

We didn’t sleep much all day, we did eat breakfast and then hung out around the room, talking. Later we went downtown and had a drink and ate. I tried a beer from Great Lakes Brewing Company. It was okay.

I was really glad Beth and I shared the room and stayed together because it made it a lot more fun, especially when our races didn’t go well. But in running the race this time, I realized something, that I did just fine with my body and almost everything was good. The only issue was the blister, and I did a good job of backing off on the pace. My body has plenty left, I was not sore or even very stiff.

I didn’t realize the callus had built up that much again, and running on asphalt in the heat and humidity despite being well hydrated, that is my bad spot on my foot. It got me. I had no issues when I ran on the track last spring in cooler conditions and more miles. So in a way this is good, once the blister heals the callus will peel away and I can start working on reducing it again.

But somehow this experience left me feeling even more confident that 120 miles or more is well within my capability. Things can go wrong in any race, weather can get you, or something else can happen. The faster you go and the more you push yourself, the more things that can happen, so you just need to hit the right one. It will happen, like Joe was telling me. Eventually you’ll hit the right one.

We slept Sunday night and then Monday morning Beth headed to the airport and I drove back to Columbus to return the rental car and catch my flight out. I spent a little time in Columbus before I had to go to the airport. I mailed my cooler back to myself with my laundry in it. Then I ate lunch and walked around as much as I could on my sore foot. On the drive back from Cleveland for some reason I felt very happy. I came to the realization that I had a lot of fun and the 120 goal will be there for me to pursue in 2015.

Then I was checking Facebook and I got this message from my friend Eddie in Boulder. He asked me about the 24 hours of Boulder race coming up in October. The one that I couldn’t do the last 4 years when I worked because it always fell on my work weekend.

For some reason I got excited about that. The thought of running around under the stars all night again sounded like exactly what I needed! I didn’t get to enjoy the night at North Coast the way I wanted to, so this would be my chance!

I might do it. I’ll let the blister heal, and then see how I’m feeling. I think it will be a go. Except I’m watching the weather and will wait to sign up until the last minute. I don’t want to run in any more downpours this year! I’m done with that!

In the Columbus airport there was a Jeni’s ice cream vending machine. I could not believe my eyes so I took a picture. I went to Jeni’s twice while I was there. That is the best ice cream ever.

I started my day at 7 am Eastern time, and didn’t get home until 11 pm Mountain time, so it was an 18 hour day of travel after the exhausting race. I was toast. The girls yelled at me, I had to shut the front door quickly so they wouldn’t wake up the whole neighborhood. Dennis was at a conference out of town so the house was quiet.

Lynn wrote me later to tell me I had won my age group. I guess that should be consolation, but I don’t feel consoled by that. Eighty miles is not the performance I wanted. I want to make my goal. I just need to find the right place on the right day. Lake Erie beat me out of my goals twice now, but I won't forget either of those two events. Definitely memorable. Thanks to the lake.

That’s all there is to it. I might think of some other things, but I don’t feel disappointed by the experience. It was valuable, even in its shortcomings. I have been doing this for nearly a quarter century and I still learn new things every time. I love this sport and I am so glad I’ve gotten a chance to enjoy it from so many different perspectives, competitively, recreationally, as adventure, from the race director, medical, staff, and volunteer perspectives, and now, as I’m getting older, to be able to come back to the competitive side again.

I can’t wait for next year!

Certifiable: North Coast 24 Hour Nutshell

Well after 18 hours of traveling yesterday I am officially brain dead so this blogpost isn't going to happen until after I get some sleep. So I will finish the long post later, maybe after a nap.

The official results aren't even out yet, but the race fell on a day that was less than ideal for performing well for most people, so the overall mileage totals were low, and a lot of people went home early, which was wise if you were trying to salvage a chance at something else, or if you were somewhat sane.

High temperatures in the mid-eighties, after a warm start, and then downpours at night made this race one of those where you just can't win. (Unless of course, you were one of the two winners!)

My race ended at 80 miles, in a portapotty taking cover from the rain, at 4:30 am, due to a blister I was unable to fix that left me limping, barely walking through the storm, giggling with Andy Lovy about our sanity. Andy happens to be the team physician and he was a psychiatrist for many years.

But after all that I am not as disappointed as I might otherwise be. I had fun, it really truly wasn't the right day for it, and it's another race. I move on. I will shoot for something big next year. I learned a lot from this race too.

I am just glad I am not injured, that I am done with my racing season for the year, and I get to go forward.

Oh, yes, and before I forget, I won my age group too. I guess I could take it as consolation, but I really don't care about age groups so much, not yet anyway. I still have my goal and I'm determined to go after it next year.

I will write the full blogpost and hopefully have that posted in the next 24-48 hours. Sit tight and I'll have the whole story here soon.

iCPR

I am so looking forward to fall. We got some cool wet weather this weekend. My friends Steph, Dale, and Pat & Karen all met here at our house to drop off a car while they all head up to South Dakota for the weekend, Dale is running the Lean Horse 100 and the others are crewing him. It's dark in the morning at 6 am and the days are not getting quite as hot. I love this time of year, when you start to feel fall coming, when it's no longer just a subtle sense that things have changed, like it is at the end of July.

If I didn't need to get caught up on things, I would have gone back up there this weekend to hang out. But I'm working on a revised marketing plan for my business, and getting things together for some classes I'm teaching and a cancer support group I'll be leading in the fall and winter.

My old reliable running watch finally croaked the other day. It crossed my mind a few months back that it's been a long time since I got my watch, and I wondered if I might have to replace the battery sometime soon. It was working fine, so I forgot all about it. And then suddenly, the other day, it went berserk on me.

Started flashing and doing this high-pitched beeping thing, and then it went into a loud, screeching monotone. I couldn't get it to shut up so I buried it. The back of the case looked weird, maybe it finally suffocated from all the dried sweat and peeling skin that it suffers through every day.

I think it went into V Tach and then maybe deteriorated into PEA. Compressions wouldn't help, I didn't have an AED or epinephrine, and I finally pronounced it dead.

I thought about maybe replacing it with a Garmin but decided against it. So I went over to Target and bough another, later, version of the same watch. It's the Timex Ironman. Simple. No GPS, no frills.

So then this morning I went for a run after loading a bunch of new songs on my iPod last night. I added all kinds of stuff, from the 70s through the 90s, everything from Earth Wind & Fire and Marvin Gaye to Queen. Rolling Stones to Red Hot Chili Peppers to REM. Anything that would give me some variety to get through the night in Cleveland.

I ran 10 miles listening to my tunes, mostly easy but threw in 30 solid minutes of tempo pace, between 7:50 and 8:20. Felt damn good, even though I could tell my legs are still tired. I got home and started doing some chores and at one point went to check my phone and it was dead. I couldn't believe that in two days I could lose two gadgets. I thought maybe I got some moisture in the phone, or maybe there was some S Cap powder that clogged up the buttons. I tried blowing air on it and scrubbing with a dry toothbrush. Nothing.

Other than trying chest compressions, injecting it with epi, or finding an AED, there wasn't much I could do. Damn, I'm not even tapering yet. I guess if the Taper Worm wants to attack my gadgets, that's better than attacking me.

Time to head over to the phone store and see what they had. I had the iPhone 4, so now I upgraded to the iPhone 5s. A chunk of cash I didn't want to spend, but a necessity. None of the chargers, including my juice pack, work on the new phone, so I had to replace all that too. Very smart, Apple. You know how to get the consumer.

The dead legs problem has continued, but I talked with Wheaties Boy yesterday morning. I knew he would have some good advice. He told me what I would tell someone else, if they were asking me for advice. But it's hard to tell yourself the same thing, so it was a good call to ask Wheaties Boy.

He advised me to back off, that there isn't much I can do to improve fitness at this point, but there is a lot I could do to make myself more tired. He recommended some tempo runs but not too long. No more long runs, nothing over about 15-20 miles.

Wednesday I ran 14 miles mostly with Cat, and I felt okay but my legs still feel stale. I took Thursday off, and for Friday I was thinking 10 miles or so but Wheaties Boy said, how about 3 to 5?

Friday I ran just 3 miles. Then this morning, when I went out for 10 miles with short tempo, I did feel better.

On Wednesday while I ran with Cat I was doing a test of different foot goo materials from samples John Vonhof had sent me. At Badwater I asked him about my concerns for Cleveland, since I'm not used to running in wet conditions, and if it is wet, how I can prepare my feet so I don't run into issues with blisters and maceration. September is supposed to be the rainiest month in Cleveland.

John sent me a box with 5 different products, a couple of which are prototypes for developing products, not on the market yet. I tested them on different parts of my feet and kept my feet soaked the whole time I was running, plus for a few extra hours afterwards as I walked around doing things. I found two products that worked best for me, and I sent the package of samples and paperwork back to John. It's great to be able to try this stuff. Something called RunGoo, that is already available, worked best, my wet feet stayed dry in those areas and there was no shriveling like a prune.

I am starting to get excited about Cleveland. After feeling better this morning, and running with my new tunes, even more so. I stopped off and got a box of salted caramel Gu. I just need to get some of the high caffeine crack and I'll be set with gels.

New Beer Report: New Belgium's seasonal Tour de Fall Pale Ale. Reminds me of a cross between Fat Tire and a hoppy pale ale. It's good. It's darker than I expected. Good flavor.

And I have been diligently stretching and doing strengthening exercises for my hips, and I think it's paying off. I can already tell I'm going up and down the stairs with more ease. I can only hope to approach Isabelle's flexibility. She moves so easily, it's like she has octopus legs.

It's not quite taper time, I still plan to get a few miles in next week, but I am to the point where I can start tapping my feet. Less than a month away!

No Turning Back!

It's really spring now!

In the last day or two, the green leaves have started to break out and it doesn't matter anymore that there's a forecast of 7 inches of snow on Tuesday, it's spring and that's all we know, that's all that matters! We're moving forward.



Yesterday I did an easy ten miles at the lakes, I needed some time to be alone in my thoughts, and an easy run where there was no one to push me.

It didn't really look like spring yet at the lakes, nothing was very green, and there was fresh snow on Longs Peak and the Mummy Range.



This morning, I met Wheaties Boy at the cemetery to do a 15 mile tempo run. I started off a little stiff and sore after the past few days of trail running and a hard mile on the bike path on Thursday. But after a few laps, my pace came down into the 8s and even though I was pushing it, I wasn't hurting too bad. My legs were more sore than tired.

We wrapped up 15 miles in 2:10, a nice 8:40 average talking pace on the dirt surface of the cemetery, with my final mile in 7:52, without working too hard. When you feel refreshed but not dead after a workout, you know it's a good one.

I've needed some kind of confidence booster lately, as I've been struggling so hard since Delano. Now I feel like a two week taper with a lot of good, solid rest is all I need. I got a total of 75.8 miles this past week which didn't kill me. Anything I do from here on out isn't going to help me get fitter, and doing too much can only hurt me. So I'm done, just easy jogging, keep the legs fresh, from now until Ohio, and avoid the dreaded taperworm.

I have a plan for North Coast, and I'm going to stick to it. It starts out SUPER CONSERVATIVE. I'm actually going to look like I'm dragging ass out there for the first 6 hours. But I'm pretty sure if I take the opposite approach of what I took at Delano, I'll have a successful performance. And I'm very excited to be wearing my Team PI gear for the first time in a race!


Plus today Wheaties Boy let me try one of the chocolate cherry Clif Shots with mega caffeine and I thought it was the best tasting gel ever. I'm going to use those during North Coast instead of relying solely on my usual Starbucks doubleshot espresso, because I usually end up needing a trip to the bathroom soon after the doubleshots, I'm slightly lactose intolerant.



The leaves are coming, flowers are blooming, and typical of Colorado, it's supposed to snow in the next 24 to 48 hours. Spring. Bring it on!

Spring: Everywhere But The Legs

It might be spring outside everywhere, but there is no spring in my legs, they are as stale as an old Peep.

Each week since I got back from Delano, I have made plans to run a certain number of miles and have ended up falling short, except for last week when I planned to do only 30 and that is exactly what I did.

I got out today and ran 11 after yesterday's 15. Yesterday morning I got excited, it was my work hangover day but I still felt pretty decent on my morning pre-nap run. My legs actually had a little energy in them. I was so pumped I texted Wheaties Boy to tell him. Not so fast. In my afternoon run, they were dead meat again.

This morning I took the girls running, it was just barely spitting raindrops. I finished out 6 miles on my own and then did some errands before meeting my friend Cat for an easy 5 mile lunchtime run. It rained pretty hard right before we started running, and then went back to light rain. It was good to catch up with her, we do our own types of races and rarely get to run together these days. We are planning an easy trail run later this week.

I must be feeling courageous to plan a trail run, since I haven't been on trails more than twice all winter and certainly haven't done anything resembling a hill. I'm thinking someone gave me a frontal lobotomy during the night and I wasn't aware of it. If a lobotomy would stop my hot flashes I probably would agree to it.

My new name could be "The Flasher". I have been constantly hot and cold all night, waking up in a sweat, and during the day, same thing. I'll be standing there at work and all of a sudden I am pouring sweat inside my scrubs. Fortunately they dry fast!

If I could do something about it, I would. There isn't much I feel comfortable doing. I don't need to take any more pharmaceutical products...and most of the herbal remedies out there are full of dangers to your liver function and who knows what else they do to your brain and kidneys and other organs.

I won't do hormones due to my sister's breast cancer history, and I'd rather have hot flashes than cancer, but this really is annoying. It's the lack of sleep that is hardest. If it didn't interrupt my sleep a gazillion times a night, I could be okay with it.

I've tried not drinking alcohol, and that doesn't help. Avoiding spicy foods doesn't help. Afternoon naps help, only because they help me make up for the sleep I lost during the night, they don't solve the thermoregulation issue. Everyone says that eventually it gets better, but for the several years while I have to endure this "personal summer" as my coworker Connie calls it, I'm going to be a B.I.T.C.H!

On the positive side, the anxiety attacks I was having a month or so ago seem to have left me alone lately. I don't know why that is, nothing has changed. But I'll take it.





Along the way on my run with the girls this morning, someone had lost a pack of cigarettes out in the street. I always like to think that came from someone who decided to quit smoking and threw their last pack of cigarettes out the window.




Another sign of spring: pesticide warning flags on front yards. Which reminds me, this summer we will be under watering restrictions in Fort Collins due to the drought, something that should have been implemented years ago, but hasn't been until now. It's kind of silly to expect to keep your lawn green, and I always hate seeing that people have applied pesticides to their yards, but at least the warning flags help me keep the girls away.


Xeriscaping would be a better way to go. We plan to slowly convert our yard to xeriscape over the next few years. Except I refuse to put in gravel like we had in Arizona. I hated those pink rocks all over the yard. I prefer something like wood chips, boulders, and wildflowers.

I am so looking forward to taking a break after Ohio. This was not a good idea, the way I stretched out this season to last so long. But I will give my best effort in Ohio and shoot for as many miles as possible. I have a strategy that I am going to try out, that worked well last year on the track in Iowa.

I'm modifying it based on the course, but it still calls for about 75% running, 25% walking in the first 12 hours. It will give me plenty of slack time for eating, drinking, using the bathroom, or whatever else I need to do. The second 12 hours plan will be modified to include less running but to stay on a strict pattern of long stretches of running, then some walking.

I find that once I start running, even when my legs are dead, it's easier to keep running than to try to do too many run/walk shift changes. It helps to talk to another runner who is running and keep my mind off my discomfort in the later hours.

I go back to work for a short 8 hour shift tomorrow, then afterwards is the Team PI party in Louisville. More about that, with pictures of all the cool gear, later this week!

Yes, I'm Tapering

And I'm losing my mind. The taper worms have infested my brain!

It's Monday, a new week of training and I did go out on this sunny, slushy day and put in 10 easy miles. My legs felt tired. I don't know why they feel so tired. I ended up pushing through the wimp factor on Saturday and did 20 miles, but then we had a big snowstorm on Sunday and I totally wimped out of my other 20 mile run.

Completely and thoroughly wimped out. How bad was it?

I went over to Island Grill, a little bar and restaurant in our neighborhood, with Dennis, and sat on my butt and drank beer and ate...french fries. And did not run a step.

I did shovel snow twice, if that makes up for it. Maybe that makes up for one french fry, but as far as the other dozens of french fries in the basket, I don't know what to say. I'm sure I am carrying them around on my butt somewhere now. They were greasy and salty and I washed them down with beer and I stared at the Daytona 500 and some golf tournament in Arizona where they were freezing, and sat there like a barfly.

It's not my fault though, Dennis contributed to my delinquency, after just the day before, he convinced me that I was being a wimp and I should quit whining and get my butt out the door to run 20 miles. How can I trust this man? You'd think after 23 years I would know him, but the evil Dennis was lurking on Sunday, probably came out of the snowstorm like Sasquatch with size 14 running shoes.

I hate to admit it. At this point, tapering feels like a weakness, like I'm wimping out. But when I go back to my original plan for the year, I should be tapering. Things are a little off because of my involuntary change of plans, but it really shouldn't make all that much difference.

The plan was to run Delano Park as a race, and to run Cornbelt as another "training run" to go to Oklahoma City and run 24 hours for a PR. So, here I am a little over a week and half away from Delano and I'm finding myself wanting to keep training through it. The last two weeks my mileage has been lower than what I've been averaging over the past several months.

I'm planning on doing just 40 miles this week to get a really good rest week, and then I won't do too much other than very short easy runs before I go out to Alabama next week.

The thing about this mid-season taper is, I don't want it to throw my training off too much. I want to get away with just one recovery week after the race and then jump back into training, to do as much as I can before North Coast. I won't have much more training time before it. I feel unprepared for 24 hours at this point.

I have to remind myself, I'm not SUPPOSED to be prepared for 24 hours at this point. I'm training. North Coast is a TRAINING RUN. The race I'm peaking for is in October, not April.

Just reading what I've written so far, I think I'm doing that anxiety thing again, with my brain spinning in my head like a top.

How did I become such a head case? For so many years I have been calm and relaxed about going into races.

So tonight, to make myself feel better, I went out and got a new pair of shoes to wear at Delano Park, a pair of Brooks Adrenalines in the new neon green color. They look awesome. I saw the blue ones too, might have to get myself a pair of those one of these days. Maybe before North Coast.




The moonrise and sunset were amazing tonight. I didn't get a good picture of the moon, but it looked huge over the eastern plains as I was driving to Runners' Roost to get my shoes. I stopped east of Zeigler Road to take a picture, but the iPhone camera doesn't do justice to the moon at all. It was huge and yellow and dominated the sky.

The other problem with tapering is that you end up doing all kinds of strange, normal things while you wait for your race day to arrive. Like cleaning the bathroom, doing those long-procrastinated errands, and staring at the giant moon wishing you could go for a run, instead of actually doing it. It's just weird and it messes with your brain.

I'll need to find a way to exterminate the taper worm, once it's crossed the blood-brain barrier, the damage might be irreversible...

Work Hangover Wednesday: A Change of Plans

Halfway through the week, and only a week to go until March. Where is the time going?

I can't complain about winter going by fast, as it is my least favorite season, and...we'll be changing the clocks again soon. On my birthday, this year. I'll be in an airport somewhere, probably Nashville, on my way home from the Delano Park race. That means I get to enjoy my birthday for 25 hours instead of the usual 24.

I got the bad news late last week, the time off I requested in May to run Cornbelt was not going to happen. I was really annoyed at first because I put in for that last October. But we are slaves to this merger now, and we are being held hostage May through July. It was time for creativity in scheduling. I've been training my ass off since last fall. What was I going to do?

I moped around for the weekend and early this week. It definitely contributed to my poor sleep over the weekend. I've been so frustrated with so many aspects of this merger. It's affecting everyone in so many ways. I had no idea what I could do, I'd signed up for a 50 miler in late April, but the only option to lengthen that was 100K, and I needed a longer race.

I'd considered North Coast 24 hour earlier in the year but thought the spring race was the same weekend as Cornbelt. I always wanted to run North Coast because I've heard so many good things about it. But the trip would be expensive, with airfare, rental car, hotels, big city expenses and hassles like parking and traffic, and where to shop for race supplies.

Cornbelt on the other hand, is a long day's drive from home, or can be broken into two days, there is no traffic, it's very low key, midwest, rural, cheap hotels, no air travel, no rental cars, traffic, parking, or bad parts of town. I can haul everything I need in my vehicle.

I was back at work on Tuesday, eating lunch, turned on my phone to Facebook and saw that one of the runners I know from the east coast had signed up for North Coast, but it was April 20th! The lightbulb turned on. I immediately emailed the schedule goddess, and asked her if those dates would work. She wrote back and said they would. I had an alternative!

So I spent most of today figuring out arrangements for North Coast, and things came together nicely. One of my longtime ultra friends from much earlier in my running days, Lynn Newton, lives in Columbus now. I've known Lynn and his wife Suzy, and their daughter, for many years, and we all lived in Arizona for a while. I wrote to Lynn and asked him about North Coast, and if he knew about Cleveland. He suggested I fly to Columbus instead and stay with them, and drive to Cleveland just for the race.

When I looked into it, it turned out to be a much more economical alternative. The airfare and rental car were much better in Columbus. So I've made my plans, signed up for the race, and all I have to do now is buy my ticket and book my hotel room in Cleveland and rental car. It will be great to spend some time visiting with Lynn and Suzy.

Tonight it is sleeting outside and we're supposed to get 3-4 inches of snow by morning. We need any moisture we can get, but it really won't put a dent in our drought. No, there's no climate change...I'm fearful that we will have a horrible fire season like last year. And unfortunately we'll be stuck here this summer...

Today I was off work, after just one work day. As a result, I can't really call today a work hangover but I was tired anyway, slept until 8:15 this morning, missed my nap this afternoon. I called in sick to work on Monday. I wasn't sick, but I was sleep deprived.

I've been describing this anxiety thing in my recent posts. I was up during the night on Saturday, my brain spinning around in my skull again, over all sorts of things that I can't do anything about, but I couldn't get it to quiet down in there. When this happens, I'll be up for several hours, and then in the morning I feel like crap.

Sunday my sleep pattern was all messed up. I went for a 21 tempo mile run, most of it with Wheaties Boy. It was a great workout, but I was tired later in the day, a combination of the beer tour, high mileage, lack of sleep, and the anxiety thing.

After the past several weeks of bad things happening at work in the evenings, including the night when I was there alone and the patient had that reaction, I wasn't looking forward to the possibility of that happening again if I was already exhausted at the beginning of the shift.

I'm getting sort of tired of having to stay late and do paperwork on transfusion reactions at the end of a 12 hour shift, and if I'm sleep deprived to begin with, and I'm stuck closing, and something goes wrong with a patient, I really don't want to be having to think on my feet with an emergency when I'm brain dead myself. If I were a patient in trouble I wouldn't want my nurse being sleep deprived and unable to think clearly.

So I took a "mental health day" and saved myself the agony of schlepping my body through a 12+ hour shift as Zombie, RN. I slept in, took a nap, and it was windy as hell, but I went up to the foothills and did a 10 mile trail run. More like a trail crawl. Absolutely dragged myself up the trail, my legs were screaming. I texted Wheaties Boy and told him I'd be thanking him on race day, after I was whining on the trail.

I'm going to make this a high mileage week and then next week I'll cut my miles and do a 2 week taper before Delano Park. After that it will be just 6 more weeks to North Coast!

Oh yeah, one more thing, has anyone noticed their local McDonald's advertising something called "Fish McBites"? Are they serious? That is gross. Obesification knows no bounds, or decency.

McBite Me.