Yes I'm Still Alive...

Just busy Fighting Dinosaurs, and a few other things...

Dennis and I made our usual February trip to Arizona to see my parents. Usually I would run the Pemberton Trail 50K, but this year, and right now I am lucky to be able to run 50 minutes. My back has been steadily, but slowly, improving and today I actually ran for a solid hour without walking for the first time in about a month, or more. I'd have to look back to see when this happened.

This time we stuck around, just hung out with my dad and stepmom. My dad hasn't been feeling so great lately and had a bone marrow biopsy yesterday, so we're waiting for the results. We're all stressed and scared and everything is uncertain right now. The problem with blood cancers is that they can undergo this transformation into a different disease, that is treated differently than the original diagnosed cancer.

So we're waiting to find out if this is just a flare-up of the primary leukemia he's known about for 6 years, or if it's something different and more serious, that needs treatment with chemotherapy and/or transfusions eventually. I know too much about this stuff and I'm afraid for the worst, but optimistic for the best. We are waiting for the send-out labs which take the longest, about 10 days. Nail-biting for me. There's so much more to say on how I feel about all this, but I'm waiting to hear what the next step is.

I've been pounding the vitamin D supplements religiously and I already feel less dizzy than I was, ha! As if I was never dizzy? But I do feel better- just a little- enough to notice. I don't have a lot of energy but I am trying to be more consistent about getting out and walking and running.

I am looking forward to crewing Bob at Badwater this summer, so we're waiting the announcement of who got in the race, then we can start planning.

The big project I've been working on is Fighting Dinosaurs. It's a new website/blog that features guest submissions about nursing-related topics, with a focus on solutions and changing the current dysfunction of the profession itself within a dysfunctional health care system. I just wanted to give nurses a chance to get their voices heard, because so many people are afraid to post on Facebook and Twitter since their employers spy on them. I am allowing anonymity when a person is concerned about it affecting their job. I am hoping it will spark some lively discussion and commentary. There is also a Facebook Page.

Fighting Dinosaurs is where my energy will be focused when it comes to healthcare, nursing, and so on. If you've been following those posts, you will find more of it at Fighting Dinosaurs. You can also follow us on Twitter at either @AleneGoneBad or @FightingDinos. By the way, National Public Radio has had an excellent series on workplace injuries among nurses lately. I wrote to them to ask if they'd include a piece on psychological injuries and PTSD among nurses. That is one topic that will be covered extensively on Fighting Dinosaurs, you can bet on it.

Tonight I'm speaking at a cancer support group at the hospital where I used to work, talking about exercise and cancer, along with a friend who is talking about nutrition and cancer. On March 2, the book Empowered Nurses will be released, and I have a chapter in it. I'm excited. I'll include a link to it as soon as it's available.

I'm ready to get back into a more physically active routine. I am up 14 pounds, but I will lose it once I get my act together. This winter has been extremely difficult, but it really is spring, and I am looking forward to the warmer weather.

After this weekend's snowstorm.

Farewell to Forties...Pemberton Trail 50K 2014

Absolutely the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen. Or maybe the second most beautiful. It was up there, among the top 2 for sure.

This morning I ran the Pemberton Trail 50K, the race that my friend Brian Wieck has held in McDowell Mountain Regional park near Fountain Hills, AZ, for what seems like the gazillionth time.

The race is 2 loops on the approximately 25K Pemberton Trail loop in the park. This is my old stomping ground, I used to run here all the time when I lived here, just 4 miles away from home.

A low-key, family-run race, Brian and his mom Joan and dad Keith have been involved in this event since the first year, back in 2001, I believe. I am not sure what year he actually started it but I think it was then. Joan is still making the pots of post-race chili, among the many other things she does for the event.

Started out as the perfect morning. it was cool at the start but not cold. I started in shorts, gloves and my lightweight Team Pearl Izumi jacket, which I stripped down to my short-sleeved jersey after the first loop. About 5 minutes into the race I was already kicking myself for not bringing my phone, we were treated to the most incredible sunrise over the Superstitions and Four Peaks imaginable.

Pink, orange and red streaks across the sky. The next photo I borrowed, thanks to Mary Laibe, one of the runners. It really was spectacular, you had to be there of course to experience it.

photo credit: Mary Laibe

Being 11 pounds lighter and 3000 feet lower in altitude, it was hard to judge my pace, but I do know the trail and landmarks well, and I hit the one mile mark at a decent pace, faster than I usually start. This being the first ultra since my injury and my last ultra being in the 40-49 year old age group, I wanted to at least run better than last year. Last year I ran 5:06.

I ate a huge breakfast before I left my dad and stepmom's house, so I really didn't feel hungry for the longest time, I didn't even take a gel during the race. All I had was water and some S-caps, and a couple of small cups of Coke. That is unusual for me, I usually eat, but I just didn't need it today. Still burning off the nursing fat, I guess.

I ran in my Pearl Izumi H3s, this is the first time I've run a trail ultra in them. It seems like they worked very well for me, I will know for sure in the next day or two as I feel any sore spots after the race. But I had no problems with blisters or any issues with the surfaces. I did wear my gaiters, which I'm glad I did, the trail was dry and loose, they haven't had much rain.

I tried not to push it too hard going up the first hill on the first loop. At one point I was getting ready to pull over to water a cactus, when my old friend Dan Gabalski caught up to me. We've known Dan and his wife Heidi for 20 years, since Heidi was one of my students when I taught at Western State College. They live in Flagstaff now. They used to live in Colorado, and luck would have it, they ended up moving to Tucson when we moved back to Colorado from Arizona in 2006.

Once we got on the new section of the Pemberton heading east I felt so good, it feels like a roller coaster with those curves and rolling hills.

I finished the first loop in 2:20, and ran over to the truck to dump my extra clothes and pick up an icy water bottle and gels. I decided to start listening to music at that point, grabbed my ancient MP3 with the trance tunes on it. I might actually upgrade to an ipod this year...

It took me 3 minutes at the truck then I had to pee again soon after I hit the trail. I struggled a little but was able to maintain a decent running pace up the hill again. At the first aid station I grabbed a ltitle cup of coke and slammed it. Then I regretted it, I felt like it was going to come back up. Fortunately it did not. I couldn't believe I still wasn't hungry!

I was running, but dragging ass a bit in the middle section across the park, but once I saw Penis Rock, yes, that is a landmark on the course, I knew I was almost to the turnoff to the roller coaster again. Once I turned back on to the roller coaster section I got a second wind and maintained the same splits from the first loop. I felt great running down that section.

The other boost I got was in the second aid station, both loops, seeing James Bonnett working there. His dad Paul used to be director of Across the Years before Aravaipa Running took it over. I have watched James grow up from when he was a little kid. It's always great to see him and I'm glad he's still involved with the ultra community. They're sort of like family, after all these years.

James told me I looked a lot better than the 4 people ahead of me. Incentive.

I got passed by very few people in the entire event, I think only 3 or 4 men passed me after the first hour, and on the way down toward the finish I passed about 10 people. All men. It was only in the last hour that I started to feel the warm air, I knew I needed to get done before it got really warm. I think my Badwater sauna training might have finally worn off.

I must have been going pretty fast down that trail as it straightens out toward the end. At one point I almost bit it, but caught myself, I did feel a good yank on my left hamstring, yes, the one I injured last year. But so far it seems to be fine. If I didn't catch myself, I would have done a major faceplant and probably some damage to my wrists, face, knees, or who knows what. Lucky.

I finished in 4:54:32, a full 12 minutes ahead of last year's time. I knew I wanted to run under 5 hours, but had no idea what would happen, because I'm not doing nearly as much mileage as I was last year at this time. The weight loss helps so much!

I saw lots of old running buddies down there, it was fun to hang out at the finish and see everyone and catch up. I also met a new Colorado Team Pearl Izumi member, Mike, who was down here from Leadville.

It was 66 degrees at the finish. A little change from 13 below, that it was when I left Denver on Thursday.

I stuck around for the awards. I have no idea where I placed, again, being at the top of my age group puts me way in the back. And there are some wicked fast Arizona runners at that race every year. I think the women's overall winner ran an hour faster than me.

But I was happy with my evenly paced race and my strong improvement over last year, in my first race back. It's a good way to exit my age group in ultras. I'm not sure if I'll do anything short before my birthday, but my next ultra is March 29th in Kansas. And by then I will be officially 50.

This will be a long day, I am going to see my niece tonight. She has the lead role in her high school play.

I'll be here for another few days, I plan to soak up the warmth like an iguana. I just hope my body survived today intact. Look out, Sally O'Malley!

You can take the girl out of Colorado, but you can't take Colorado out of the girl. Still life with beer, my post-50K treat. I earned it.

Awesome Snowmageddon Flashback: 1990

This is so cool. Snowmageddon leads to some interesting discoveries.

Last night Dennis was surfing around on You Tube, since there wasn't much to do and it was starting to snow again.

He found this video of the 1990 World Cross Country Championships in Aix-les-Bains, France, he was on the U.S. team that year.

From 7:28 to 7:30 on the You Tube timeline Dennis runs by in his USA uniform, tall runner, dark curly hair with mustache. I think he finished somewhere around 130th to 150th place. He was the 5th finisher on the US Team. He ran something like a 28 and a half minute 10K split in that race. Crazy fast!

So cool. I never got to see the race at the time, that was the year he was racing all over the place and I was stuck here in Fort Collins, in graduate school. Now, 24 years later, I get to see it!

Today I am being watched carefully, as I pack for my trip to Arizona to run the Pemberton 50K.

Yesterday I had a decent run on the bike path and threw in a little faster paced effort. Today the weather sucks, it's still snowing, and I've decided to spend a couple of hours on the bike, indoors today. I'm tired of fighting the ice and snowdrifts, but mostly I'm tried of getting splashed with slush. Just looking forward to running on dry ground, or at least something that isn't covered with white.

I did launch my business Facebook page for World Cancer Day and you can visit it here and "Like" it. More info to come.

The Snowmageddon Super Bowl

Today I ran about 16 miles on the Power Trail and south of town in the snow. It stayed at 19 degrees and snowed the whole way. Most of the bike paths were plowed, but the roads were slushy and the sidewalks were marginal. Lots of icy spots underneath the snow.

The backyard is buried, our raised beds are almost submerged in the snow. It seems like there isn't much out there when you look at flat surfaces or the roof of the woman cave, but when you go out in the streets that haven't been plowed, like ours, it's almost knee deep in some places. And it's still coming down.

But it was another nice day for a run. Time alone, to think about things. Sunday is Superbowl, which is of course a bigger deal here because of the Broncos. I am very proud of my nephew Jim, he's a freshman at Cal State Long Beach and he is a bassist. The Walmart commercial during the Superbowl will feature his bass playing in the background music. Even if it is Walmart, hey, it's pretty cool.

Next week when I'm in Arizona I will also be going to see a play the night after running Pemberton and my niece Jenny has the leading role. I'm very excited about my niece and nephew and their success in their artistic pursuits. My youngest nephews, Matteo and Luca, are turning out to be amazing athletes, great at soccer, basketball, and whatever else they pick up.

I'm not much of a football fan but I can tolerate watching a game every once in a while. I will be watching the Superbowl. Especially the Walmart commercials. Ha!

Running today brought me an incredibly happy feeling. I was thinking about things I'm looking forward to, like the races I've signed up for, and being able to actually watch the Superbowl with Dennis- I always had to work on Superbowl weekend. And this morning I just spoke to a running buddy of mine, Beth, in Georgia. She might want to run in Ohio again next fall at North Coast and we would share a hotel room, which would be fun, and it would be great to hang out and run some with her, she's a lot faster than I am though. And it would also save money on my limited budget this year.

I've had a solid week of running, and next week I get to go to Arizona. I am not tapering for this race, I intend to go into it tired. I hope to run well even on tired legs. First race back you never know. But it will be fun, I always see so many of my old friends there in the Arizona races.

Just feeling so relieved, so much less of a burden to carry around now that I don't have to deal with the toxicity of my old workplace. It's a great feeling. I am working probably more hours now than I was at my nursing job but the hours I put in are doing things that are moving me forward. The opportunities are unlimited.

Finally I feel like what I'm doing is going to make a positive difference and really improve someone's health, rather than having to do it in a way that is limited and restricted, forcing me to check little boxes instead of being able to focus on the person I'm working with.

Tuesday February 4th is World Cancer Day and I am going to launch my business Facebook page that day. At that time my business website will be visible. I'm making progress and will be done with my Cancer Exercise Trainer course by the end of this month and ready to take the exam for that certification, and then I have some paperwork and legal details to take care of, and I should be ready to go by mid-spring, ready to pound the pavement and tell everyone about my new gig.

But first...Omaha! It's the year of the prairie.

Bronco Bella, aka Isabelle, aka The Prairie Princess, is wearing her Broncos shirt. Go Broncos!

Back From The Whirlwind!

I don't remember the last time I took a whole week away from blogging. This week was a whirlwind and I was so busy, I just didn't have time to sit down to write a blogpost. But it's been a good busy whirlwind!

I survived last weekend's Prairie Dog Torture Fest, but I was exhausted until the middle of the week. I didn't even run until Wednesday and then only about 6 miles. I needed a ton of sleep and my legs hurt.

I think I was just tired and a little stressed from trying to finish up preparing for my health coach exam, and my body is still not sure what it's doing when it comes to training.

On Tuesday morning I went over to the local community college to take my health coach exam in a proctored setting. It's for the ACE certification, American Council on Exercise, which is one of just a few reputable organizations out there. I heard there was a very low pass rate for this exam.

It was 150 questions and I had 3 hours to do it, and I used up a good portion of that time! It was tough, but I passed and I was so relieved. I have taken a lot of these computer based tests over the past 8 years, the NCLEX to get my nursing license, two nursing certifications in Critical Care and Oncology, and the ACE exam, so far. I don't like those tests, I have a hard time sitting still for that long.

It's expensive to keep up these certifications with all the continuing education you have to do, but I like it, it keeps me current because there's always new research, especially in cancer, you can hardly keep up with it from day to day!

I have one more to take when I'm done studying for my certification as a Cancer Exercise Trainer. That's through ACSM, American College of Sports Medicine, and it's been a good 25 years since I was in school studying exercise physiology and ten years since I was a personal trainer, so I have a bit of catching up to do.

Of course a celebration was in order. I am limiting myself to one beer a week. It's working. I am now down to 122 pounds, that's 10 pounds of nursing and stress fat that I have lost so far. Another 5 and I'll be happy. But the beer deserves a mention, because in my beer taper, I was craving an Isolation Ale, and when I went to the liquor store, they were out! It's a seasonal beer and it won't come back until next winter. Bummer.

I decided to give this spring beer from New Belgium a shot. Spring Blonde, it's called. It was good. It's more like a lager but has a citrusy flavor too. It would be a good beer to drink on a hot day. Unfortunately hot days are few and far between, as we got another cold snap with snow and ice at mid-week. Just in time for a visit from Florida. Hung, a runner from Orlando, whom I know from Badwater and North Coast, was coming to visit.

Hung and I ran together a bit all day and through the middle of the night last year in the howling wind and cold along Lake Erie, and he contacted me to tell me he was coming to Colorado. I offered to show him around Fort Collins, he was visiting friends in Longmont, Denver, and Greeley too, with the idea of moving to Colorado at least temporarily. He wanted to check out the area.

It wasn't exactly an ideal day for running. We ended up going out for lunch and I showed him around town, and then we drove up to Horsetooth Reservoir so he could see where the trails were, 9 degrees with who knows what kind of wind chill was a bit much for a Floridian!

I also attended a fascinating and entertaining lecture at the university by one of the Veterinary Oncologists there, about where we are with animal research and how it is applied to benefit humans. After the lecture I stuck around for the reception and talked to about a dozen people I've known through my time at the hospital, colleagues, patients, and people in the community, it was nice to see all of them.

Funny, none of my former coworkers or bosses were there. They must be too exhausted from dealing with all the B.S. to have time to attend an event that's relevant to what they are supposed to be doing.

I had a bit more energy by late in the week but couldn't motivate myself to do any real hill or speed-like workouts. And here it is Sunday.

I was originally going to run the Frost Giant 5K today up in Estes Park, but I felt like an easy 20 miler might be better for my body. I think I made a wise choice.

I've run a few times now with Emma and when we ran together on Friday she told me that a group was meeting up at Redstone Canyon on Sunday morning. That sounded perfect for me, Redstone Canyon is only a 13 mile out and back, but I could add on by running in several directions.

I felt good on the run. I wasn't pushing the pace, but I could definitely feel a difference both uphill and downhill, I am carrying less weight. I ended up running twenty miles about a minute per mile faster than my last flat twenty miler about a month ago.

Redstone Canyon is southwest of Fort Collins. It's about a 13 mile out and back up this county road that passes through some beautiful scenery: rocks, cliffs, desert-like vegetation along with juniper, ponderosa pines, and cottonwoods along the creeks. It also gives close-up views of the west side of Horsetooth Rock.

I rarely run there anymore. I used to run Redstone Canyon all the time, before we moved to Arizona. I forgot what a challenging run it is. It's just not very long.

I got up there early so I could get a few of my extra miles in. I first ran up to the Horsetooth Mountain Park trailhead, which is on the road and climbs a good steady hill. I headed back down when I got a text from Emma that she was on her way with the others. When I got back to my car there was a large group of people assembled at the road, from Emma's group.

I hung back with Emma and a couple of other women and took a lot of pictures until they turned around. I got up to the end of the county road where there is a gate that blocks you from proceeding along the road, and started heading back down. I was surprised to be moving as fast as I was. I felt good, but I ran out of water on the way down.

I got back to the bottom of the road, got more water out of my car, drank a little, and took off back up the Redstone Canyon road to finish my last 3 or so miles to get 20. I probably got about 900 or 1000 feet of vertical in each direction, so while it wasn't a lot of climbing, there are some pretty good hills in there.

It took me three hours and 20 minutes, and my last 20 miler took about 20 minutes longer. I feel like I'm making progress.

I have two weeks until the Pemberton 50K. I haven't been doing a lot of miles or long runs, certainly don't have anything resembling leg speed, but last year I ran it in just over 5 hours. I was doing a lot more miles at the time, but I did weigh a bit more. I'm curious to see what happens this year.

Oh yeah, how silly of me, almost forgot to mention, the Broncos are going to the Superbowl. The girls are excited.

The Accidental Long Run

I really wasn't planning on going very far today. I had to take Dennis to work this morning because he's having his truck worked on and I decided to use the opportunity to run at the lakes since they are across the road from where he works. I originally planned on about 10 miles but I packed extra water and a few gels and Lara bars. Nothing exciting, just a few calories in case I went longer.

I started out and was feeling pretty good. I kept the pace slow but steady. Each lap is about 3.28 miles according to my GPS. After 3 laps I was feeling good, and decided to keep going. It was warm in the sun but cold in the shade. The temperature got up to around 40. After a few laps the mud started to appear and I kept having to scrape my shoes off after a few short sections. Other than that the conditions were nice.

On my 5th lap I started to feel really good, my 5th and 6th laps were the fastest. I considered calling it quits at 20 miles, after 6 laps and some change, but I still had a couple more gels, plenty of fluids, and I was feeling good, so I decided to keep going. I did one more lap feeling good and decided what the hell, go for an 8th lap, which would give me 26 miles and about 5 hours of running time. Perfect for a long easy run.

The last lap is where I started to feel it, I had to do some walk breaks but I was motivated by seeing a huge bird perched in this one big cottonwood on the edge of the lake. I've seen bald eagles up there before, and as I rounded the southeast corner and started heading toward the bird, I hoped it wouldn't take off before I could see it up close.

I'm not even sure what kind of bird this is. I am terrible about recognizing birds. I know owls and eagles and that's about it. I also know pelicans, seagulls and geese because those are the ones we have the most of around here. I took a few pictures when I got to the tree, which was only about a half mile from where I finished up. But the bird took off, and it had about a 4 foot wingspan. Big.

I finished that last lap and I was at 26.3 miles, exactly 5 hours in. Perfect- an ultra, technically. I'm back. My legs ache like hell a few hours later, but it was my longest run since June and I guess it was the wake up call realizing I have a 50K in a few weeks and I'd like to get through it without a death march.

This will eventually call for hot tub and beer. Except right now I'm too hungry to even think about that. I took the girls for a little walk to shake out my legs after I got home, and it's getting cooler outside, so I think our 60 degree sunshine is gone for a while.

For now I can sit around watching the girls groom each other, and not have to do a thing...

A Post About Running...

This morning thankfully we got that extra hour after turning the clocks back. I decided to do something out of the ordinary...get up and run!

At 8:00 the Fort Collins Running Club Tortoise & Hare series had a 5K at a park near my house. I'd run into Nick Clark a couple of times at the grocery store this past week, and he reminded me of it. No excuses, he said.

I woke up at 6:45 after about 10 hours of sleep, and I knew there really was no excuse. I pulled my running clothes on, drank my coffee, and got my butt out the door. Now I know I can move that early in the morning. I set a precedent.

I went over and found a huge gathering of people, looked like there were close to 100 runners. I saw several long time friends from the club and it felt so good to be outside and around them again. There is life out there!

I had about 3 minutes to warm up before my start, the runs are held as a time-handicap events so I got going pretty fast without too much of a warmup. I started out easy. I was totally surprised when I hit the one mile mark in 8:39. My next two mile splits were 8:04 and 8:07, and I ended up finishing in 25:42, not bad for a flabby old lady who has been doing next to nothing for the past 4 months.

I fully expected to run 9 minute miles at an effort. So this was a pleasant surprise, even though last spring I was a minute per mile faster!

The other day I also got an email from my friend Brian Wieck, he's the RD for the Pemberton Trail 50K in February. I thought that would be a good first comeback ultra.

I won't be running fast, but it will get me back into things. So as soon as I know I'm on the healing track, hopefully later this month, I'll be signing up for that.

I also ran into Celeste and Scott who put on the Brewery Tour in February, and this year it will be February 15th. Can't miss that!

I'm so glad I won't have to work that weekend...my new boss is so great, she doesn't make me do ANY weekends unless I want to. She supervises me from the couch. The only thing I have to do is take her for runs and walks. She's not into micromanaging unless there's food involved.

After the 5K I went home and ate some food, then changed into dry clothes, and went out for a two hour run. I felt a little tired. It's been over a month since my last 14 mile run. I got a total of 14.4 today with the 5K, and 36+ miles for the week, my highest since July.

Not a peep out of the hamstring. I will wait a few days to see if there is any flare up from pushing the pace, but as of now it feels fine.

When I was on my run today I saw two people I know and stopped to talk, Wheaties Boy's mother-in-law Faustine was out for a long walk, so we talked for a few minutes. And then I saw my buddy Dan, who was on my Badwater crew in 2011. He was walking his dog out in the field near the golf course, next to Power Trail. I yelled out to him, and we talked for a good 20 minutes.

It feels like the sky got bigger and the days got brighter. I can see the light, just gotta make it through this final stretch and once I recover from that, life will be all mine again.

2013 Pemberton 50K: Hole in the Wall at the Cat House

Thirty-nine degrees and raining? In the winter, Arizona weather is often warm and sunny compared to most other places in the U.S., but somehow the past three times I've gone there for ultras, it's been cool and rainy, even cold.

That's how race day started. Dennis and I were barely awake at 4:30 am, listening to the rain on the roof at my dad's house. I was prepared for any weather, but wasn't looking forward to 50 kilometers of cold rain. I could have stayed home for that and had snow.

The night before, when we arrived in Phoenix, it was cloudy and breezy, but there was plenty of blue sky and it didn't look bad, other than the forecast, which was for rain.

By the time we got in the car to drive to Fountain Hills at 5:15, the roads were dry except for a few places, and there were a few stars visible in the sky. Promising blue holes overhead.

We left my dad's house and drove north to catch Chaparral Road to the 101 freeway. As we crossed Camelback Road, we saw a big coyote, wandering around in a parking lot, in the morning darkness. Must have been a rich coyote, hanging out near Fashion Square in Scottsdale. That's the first time I've ever seen a coyote in downtown Scottsdale.

We stopped off to grab my usual pre-ultra meal, a breakfast sandwich from McDonald's. I scarfed it down, knowing it was a short, fast pace I'd be running, and hoped I'd digest it in time. We drove through the ghost town of Fountain Hills, careful of the omnipresent Sheriff Joe deputies who love to catch people speeding at odd hours on the deserted streets with the 30 mph speed limit.

We arrived at the park and picked up my race packet. It was cold, but not terrible. Nothing wet was coming down from the sky, it didn't even smell like rain, but the sky was cloudy. It was dark until the race start at 7 am.

Brian Wieck and his mom, Joan, were at the table with other volunteers, handing out race bibs. Joan and Brian's dad, Keith, who was at a softball tournament, were our neighbors when we lived in Fountain Hills. We've been friends with Brian since he started the race, 13 years ago.

I hit the bathroom and got my act together before the start. I saw Robert Andrulis, and Chris Harrison, two of my ultra buddies from Arizona. Everyone was bundled up except for a few people in shorts, but hats and gloves, jackets and tights were the norm. I felt as cold as I ever do in Colorado. I wore my PearlIzumi jacket and my capri tights, neck gaiter over my ears, and gloves.

Brian gave the pre-race briefing in the faint sunrise. We lined up, and we were off...

I took off at a good pace, not too fast but one that would be a challenge to keep. I felt good on the first ascent and over the hill into the first aid station, I ran much of this talking with Robert. My legs were tired, they burned. I knew it was from the three hard 15ish mile days earlier in the week,and that was the point. I wanted to run unrested. I still moved well.

At the first aid station I saw Ric Hatch from Flagstaff, he's been working that aid station there since the beginning of the race, I remember working it with him one year when it rained. There was snow on the little knob of boulders above our heads, maybe 500 feet of elevation above us. I could feel sleet for about 5 minutes, but it didn't last. The sun went in and out from the clouds, but was mostly behind the clouds. Cold.

This year's race featured the new and improved Pemberton Trail. The last hour of the loop is no longer through the sand pit that used to drag on forever and ever and ever. Now there is a nice wide dirt trail that winds through the desert, with mostly a gentle downhill grade. The length is roughly the same as the old trail, but it makes it seem so much quicker now. And no sand! I don't know if it's faster because it's very twisting, lots of short, sharp little curves, but the surface is much better and it's much more interesting than the straight, sandy service road we used to run.

The second aid station had a canopy over it, and James Bonnett was there. I've known James since he was a little kid. Now he's all grown up. I grabbed some coke and pretzels and took off.

My stomach was not too happy in this section on the first loop. I realized several things: Too many beans the day before. I'd eaten black beans and rice for lunch and then had hummus for dinner, and I don't think it agreed with me. The McDonald's sandwich prior to running fast was the next problem. I think I'll save those for 12 hour and longer races in the future.

As a result, nature was calling. I felt like I needed to use the facilities, and I was afraid to stop because I'd told Dennis I'd be in between 2:15 and 2:30, and to be there past the timing tent with my stuff when I came through after the first loop. If I arrive late he always worries. That's one of the reasons he doesn't crew for me.

I got in at 2:25 and he had the camera (good), but he didn't have my stuff (BAD!). It was at the truck. It only delayed me about 2 minutes, but I whined, "Dennis!" He really is terrible at stuff like this. It's my own fault for asking him to do this for me, because I know better. But I thought it would save me time, and it backfired. The lessons will be repeated until they are learned. Some people are made to be crew people, some are not.

Brian puts on such a good race, and it benefits the park. It's a fast trail race too, defnitely has the potential for a PR. It is highly recommended by this blogger...

I took off on the second loop and immediately started obsessing about Dennis not being there, and then I felt bad for getting annoyed with him, and pretty soon my brain was spinning around inside my skull again, and it was slowing me down. Finally, on the way up the ascent, I had to tell myself, "Shut up and run!"

Another time when I found my mind wandering I brought myself back to reality by thinking of running for Team Gab. I really needed to do my best out there. If a 6 year old can endure two years of torturous medical procedures just to stay alive, I can run a 50K without whining.

Still, I was mentally discombobulated. I could not concentrate or focus, I did move pretty well, but I know I slowed myself down by being a head case. I walked a few times on the ascent but not for very long. My legs were still burning, but no worse than on the first loop. Mostly I was thinking, menopause sucks. How long will this last? For the first 8 or 9 miles of the second loop, my mind was bouncing all over the place.

Once I got on the Pemberton again, I pulled myself together. I felt strong and ran the last hour hard, a bit faster during the last hour than the previous loop. I had hoped to finish in under 5 hours but it wasn't happening. I settled for my 5:06 and change, and I felt good about the whole run, even with my temporary mental flake-out.

Brian congratulated me at the finish line and I went over to see Joan and get some chili. Dennis was working the finish line, collecting tags off of bibs for the timers. I apologized to him for being the RPB.

I talked with my friend Chris Harrison for a while. He's excited to be doing the Zion 100 in April. I'm a bit envious...

I didn't even come close to placing in my age group, I got my doors blown off by all the 40-something women, but I don't care about that. I got the workout I wanted and a solid 81 mile week, and I learned how to talk myself down from my crazy hormonal state, which I'm sure I haven't seen the last of....

I did run it 12 minutes faster than in 2010. I am going to have to rest to do well in Decatur in 4 weeks. I have 2 more weeks of high mileage and then I taper.

After the race, we hung out for a while and talked with people we know. I was talking to Will LaFollette, whom I haven't seen since before I left Arizona. I almost didn't recognize him! But we got to talking, he's been injured so hasn't been able to run. We got on the topic of retirement. Yeah, that old dinosaur concept from the last century...

This is off the topic, but I have an idea for a new retirement benefit for our generation: body removal from your workplace. Take your last pay check and deduct the cost of removing your body when you croak on the job. Perfect for our generation, who will have to work until we croak.

Brian did the awards, and we hung out just a little longer, then we left before I froze my butt off.

There was another event at the park, one of those obstacle course races. It was crazy, there were a million people and school busses in the lower part of the park, plus Sheriff Joe's deputies. They are everywhere. But no NRA stickers or Steven Seagall sightings. Not even a single black helicopter.

We stopped and saw Houdini and Huey at the park visitor center before we took off. Houdini is the Gila Monster, Huey is the rattlesnake. Both of them are well-cared for at the visitor center thanks to my friend Woofie.

Then we drove by our old house before we left Fountain Hills and went back to Scottsdale.

The rest of the weekend was uneventful, it was a relaxed visit with my dad and stepmom. I went for an easy run on the canal Sunday morning, and it was cool but the weather was perfect, clear skies.

The only excitement, if you can call it that, was when my dad was trying to pick up the cat, the cat clawed him and he somehow lost his balance and fell into the wall with his shoulder, leaving a cat-shaped hole in the drywall. Tom & Jerry couldn't get any better than that. We teased my dad about it relentlessly, the cat hole in the wall. Both my dad and the cat are okay, or we wouldn't be laughing about it...

We flew back to Denver and got home early Sunday evening, and the girls were thrilled to see us. They seemed unstressed, Morgan always takes good care of them.

And back to the old routine on Monday morning...