Leisure Racing...

This was the full moon over our neighbor's house earlier this week.

Since then it's been dumping rain, then sprinkling, and now just overcast and damp for the past two days. We are supposed to get a giant blue hole in the sky tomorrow and have nice weather for race day. I hope that happens. Sunday is not supposed to be quite so great.

I'm doing my pre-race self-sequester, got a small amount of work done this morning and everything is ready to go. I managed to sneak the bag and all my supplies out the door while the Buffaloes were chasing squirrels in the yard today. Thanks, squirrels.

I'm trying to stuff as many calories in as possible, and drink plenty.

Dennis was up in Gunnison for a couple of days and took these pictures in Crested Butte of my old stomping grounds. Makes me want to be there. I loved this time of year up there, no tourists around, having all the trails to ourselves before the snow covered everything.

Dennis is coming to spectate for a short period of time at Boulder Reservoir sometime during the race though he'll surprise me when he shows up. It's rare for me to be running an ultra so close to home. I don't even have to get up at an outrageous hour, even though it's a 45 minute drive to the reservoir from here. So nice. It's like a leisure race.

I made my PBJs and got my yogurts ready, and spiked my vitamin water zero stash with S caps. Eddie will have a big canopy so if it rains we'll have our stuff covered. After all this rain it should have dumped a lot of snow on the high peaks so between the trees changing colors at the Rez and the snowcapped mountains we should have nice scenery if the clouds lift.

Really just looking forward to stuffing my earbuds in tight, putting it in autopilot, forgetting everything and having a nice leisurely cruise along the reservoir for 24 hours.

Wrapping it up Ritual

I did my last couple of runs here in town the past two days. I felt good, it's much easier to run a decent pace now than it was a month ago. I only got 20 miles on my feet last week, and did 6 1/2 yesterday and 4 1/2 today, with a lot of walking after my run yesterday.

I think I will be feeling bouncy by mid-week though. Give me a couple of days cooped up in an airplane and rental car, and I'll be ready to fly in circles. Velcro strips on the ceiling...

As of today the forecast for Cleveland on Saturday is very warm with possible rain at night, and some good wind. There's a 16 mph wind predicted, high of 79, low of 66. We'll see how much that changes by the weekend. At the lake, the wind is always a factor, hopefully it will cool us off.

I am ready, and I have recruited a very kind person named Bill to refill the ice in the cooler for us if it is a warm day. Beth and I will be meeting at the hotel on Friday and being mellow. We both like to keep our energy conserved for the race, do a minimum of socializing and such.

My plan is to go very steadily and consistently in my run/walk pattern through the first 12-18 hours. There is nothing to be gained by pushing too hard early. Especially if it's hot. I'm not even going to pay attention to any kind of numbers until after midnight. I will be completely in my own race and my own world.

In these competitive races, it's too easy to get caught up in someone else's pace and it can destroy a race plan. Can't worry about what anyone else is doing. I'm not racing them anyway, I am racing myself, for my own best performance. I have printed out Nick Clark's words to me that he sent me last spring, and I have had my pep talk from Wheaties Boy. I am ready to go.

You can follow the live results, which should be updated approximately every hour, from 9 am Eastern time Saturday the 20th, until 9 am Sunday the 21st, at this link. I hope to be somewhere in the middle of the pack for most of the day and into the evening. That is how I run best.

Iris is not happy about the ritual. She has not let me out of her sight since she discovered the suitcase, I was hiding it in the closet, trying to pack while the girls were napping. You can't hide anything from these dogs.

I had to pack, then repack, first because the bag was too heavy and then the weather forecast gave me more reason to get rid of some of the extra bulky stuff I packed. Finally today I went through everything one more time and took out another pile of unnecessary stuff. The bag still is heavy though, and just as stuffed.

I'll be staying with Lynn and Suzy again in Columbus before heading to Cleveland. Lynn is running the race this year too. I'll be doing a lot of resting and eating while I'm there.

I've been through my list half a dozen times, and I think I've got everything taken care of that I can possibly do before I get to Columbus. All I have to do is show up.

And then DIG IN until there's nothing left. Stay tuned...

Arrival

I'm not even sure where I should start with this post.

When I woke up this morning it was September. I've been looking forward to it, even though it's been one of the best summers I can remember in my adult life. I got to travel, run races, do the things I love to do, and I feel good, I have the time to be at a peaceful place in my life, I've been healthy, and I am excited about upcoming plans.

My biggest worry has been about running lately. And that was just the fatigue that I've been feeling for so long. Last week I only ran 30 miles, actually 29 to be exact. After my run with Wheaties Boy on Wednesday I started thinking more about what I need to NOT do before my race. So I've cut back and I've been taking it a lot easier. And then as I was walking yesterday, I had an epiphany about my race plans that helped even more.

I wasn't even sure if I should run this race today. But I figured it would be a decent workout no matter what. I set my sights on a sub-2 hour finish so as not to be disappointed. My short races this summer have all felt disastrous from a pace and finishing time standpoint. I know I don't need the speed for the 24 hour event, but mentally there's something that nags at you when you're not performing in "short" races. But I signed up for this one last week, and I needed to do a run anyway.

So I dragged myself out of bed at 5:30 to do the Colorado Run half Marathon, which started at Poudre High School and wound through the west side of town and on dirt roads and trails near Hughes Stadium until it hit the Spring Creek bike path and finished at the Fort Collins Club.

The weather was about as perfect as you could ask for, about 50 degrees, which feels cool to everyone after the warm summer. Perfectly clear skies and a slight breeze.

Waiting in line to pick up my race packet, the crowd was energetic and happy. Lots of young people, probably a lot of CSU students who are back now.

I hung out with my friend Joanne at the start, she is tapering for a marathon in two weeks, and I am tapering for my race. We shivered for a while until we went down to the track to warm up. The race started on the Poudre High School track. It is now modern and rubberized, twenty years ago when I was in graduate school at CSU I used to run a lot of quarters on this track, when it was dirt. Back in the day...

There was an issue with the gates being locked so there was about a 10 minute delay for the start, not bad.

Steve announced the start on the megaphone and also told us the news that just yesterday we lost a much loved and admired member of the running community. I will wait to say more in a future post...

We lined up on the track with seconds to spare before a voice said "Go" and we were off. I was still messing with my iPod. I hit the button on my watch and got my act together in the lap around the track before we headed out on the course.

I checked my watch split at one mile and it said 7:56. I wasn't struggling either. The next two rolling miles were just over 8 minutes, then we turned onto the dirt road, hill, and trail section that lasted 3 miles before we headed for the Spring Creek bike path. My slowest mile was uphill on the dirt at 9:10. I had my racing tunes on and tried to concentrate on turning my legs over as fast as I could. I kept thinking at that 8 minute or so pace I would eventually poop out, but I didn't, and by the time we turned onto the bike path and there were 6 miles left, I realized I might be a lot faster than 2 hours. I put it in fast autopilot and kept pushing.

The bike path is slightly downhill and I kept passing people, and holding an 8 ish pace was not that bad. My legs were turning over and I was working hard. At 10 miles I was at 1:24, then I ran 8:11 and 7:56 for my next two splits. At the 12 mile mark, precisely, I felt like I was going to puke. Really. So I pulled over onto the grass, had a quick dry heave that brought nothing up, and I got back on the path, starting slowly, but then picked it up when my stomach didn't complain. I was able to bring my pace back down in the 8s again and finish strong in under 1:50.

Like any good Fort Collins race, when you cross the finish line, they hand you a beer glass. I ended up getting two beer glasses today because my age group award was also a beer glass. Cool. I think I'll fill it with beer later after I get my work done. Joanne also won her age group.

I was very happy with this finishing time, not because I am satisfied with the time itself, but because I ran nearly 20 minutes faster than I did two weeks ago in the first half of the marathon, and 13 minutes faster than I ran the second half of the marathon. And this is the fastest half marathon I've run all year. After just one week of rest, it has already made a difference.

I am so thankful for Wheaties Boy saving my ass again, talking sense into me. Sometimes it's easy to get caught up in your own...orifices? and forget what you're doing. It really helps to have a second opinion from someone who knows!

Hanging out at the woman cave is on the agenda for the afternoon. I have some work to do, and then I'll be breaking out those beer glasses.

Back to taper mode...

When In Doubt...Dive In!

The old legs are still tired. I ran a tempo run with Wheaties Boy on Wednesday that turned out to be more of a steady state, pushing the legs as hard as they would go without breathing hard. We averaged just about 9 minute pace and I don't know what else to do. The hips were aching and the legs felt like someone was holding me down by the ankles.

Wheaties Boy suggested I get into the pool. And get some massage done. In Fort Collins it's hard to get in to the best massage therapists as they are all booked. Usually Dennis can take care of the minor issues but he's been so busy, he doesn't have time or energy.

Today I got in the pool and swam 500 meters, then ran in the deep water for a while. Only about a 30 minute workout, but afterwards I felt FANTASTIC. I always forget about the water, how good I feel when I swim. So I am going to start hitting the pool several times a week and get this body moving better. There is nothing I can do at this point without making myself more tired. I am running a half marathon on Monday and really, if I can average under 9 minute pace, that's fine. It's another workout.

It's all about rest and getting my body moving smoothly again before race day.

It's Labor Day weekend. Labor Day, for those who actually do the work, and will be working this weekend, too. Don't get me going on a rant right now. I'm going to relax this weekend. I do have some work to do, that never ends, but I had a productive week. When I think about where I was a year ago, I am thankful every day for the decisions I made, the support I have, and where I am now.

Smelling the flowers.

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...

Just Say No to the Taper Worm...

The taper is going as well as can be expected. I've been busy with work and other things so it's a welcome distraction from feeling like I need to bounce off the ceiling.

We took a trip up to the cabin this weekend to clear stuff out. We've decided to sell it, we aren't using it enough. We took the girls, they got a chance to hang out at their cabin hopefully before it sells. It's one of those "taper projects".

Iris knows where she is, as soon as we get over Kenosha Pass, she always goes crazy. We think it's the smell of cows, but it could be the scenery. This time there were no cows, probably too early for them to be grazing out there since the snow is not completely gone. As soon as we dropped down into South Park, she started getting excited.

On the way back the girls had to ride with all the junk we brought back from the cabin.

I was greeted by this nice piece of mail when I got home. One of those nice things about turning 50. Thanks for the pleasant reminder. Talk about the ultimate taper worm! I will have this done sometime this year, but I'm putting it off until AFTER the race.

The Wannabe Cereal Killa...

I am so envious right now my eyes could pop out.

This weekend Wheaties Boy and three other friends are off to the Grand Canyon to run rim to rim to rim. I haven't been down the Grand Canyon since 2003 and these days it is looking like a far off dream because of the state of my ankles. I would love to do that run again someday.

I sent them all a little note with Grand Canyon tips, from what I can remember from over 10 years ago. I addressed it to "Wheaties Boy and the Cereal Killas".

This morning I was forced to get my own butt out the door and run my mile repeats alone. The good thing was that I slept in, I didn't need a headlamp, and I wasn't freezing my butt off dressing in three layers. I am just at the beginning of my taper and I took yesterday off, and I'm feeling pretty good. I missed running yesterday, which is a good sign.

I did my two mile warmup and then jumped right into it. The first mile was hard, I started out a little fast and had to let up after the first quarter mile so I could survive it. I could not believe my eyes when I saw my watch.

I thought, it will be really bad if my next two are over 7 minutes because I blew out all the carbon on this one. I took my mile recovery jog and sipped some water, then took off for mile # 2. It seemed a little easier and I didn't go out quite so hard. I felt strong at the end but it was an effort. I guessed I would be right around 7 minutes.

Holy bat guano, this is what my watch said for number 2.

Again, I did my recovery jog, sipped a little water again, and psyched myself up. I was hoping I could hang on through one more sub 7 and I'd be thrilled.


This one felt even easier. I pushed a little harder in the last 200 meters or so because I was afraid I'd slacked off.

I guess not.

I felt so good, I wanted to do another one, but it's taper time and three one mile repeats 10 days before my race is plenty. I cooled down with an easy mile and went home. Holy crap, three sub 7s in a row and not 6:59.99s either.

I have a busy weekend ahead of me. Not from running, but for work! Yes, I am actually getting busy. I have real work to do! It's awesome!

I'm taking the day with Dennis and the girls Friday to do some family things, and then Saturday and Sunday I will do some short easy runs and get my work done. Next week is already getting busy before my trip to Iowa.

Today's workout was very encouraging. I've got my race strategy figured out, all I can do now is plan and prepare what's left and trust that I am ready for hundreds of laps around Lancer Stadium.

Not So Bad, for a Bad Brain Day

Spring made a brief appearance this afternoon, but it's not going to hang out for long. Looks like we're in for more typical Colorado April weather, cold, snow, and wind. The leaves are about to break out any day now, and I can see more green and wilted flowers that froze in the cold snap we had the other day. It was 12 degrees yesterday morning! Today it was windy but closer to 60 degrees when the sun finally came out.

I am very excited about the apricot trees I am growing from seed. I planted the seedlings last week, and they are starting to grow leaves in their pots on the kitchen table. As soon as the weather warms up, I will plant them, in places safe from Buffaloes. We are going to let our grass go over the summer, since we're on water restrictions anyway, and put in some raised beds and grow veggies. And we will xeriscape the front yard eventually.

This morning I met with a film crew in south Fort Collins, they were shooting some footage of me running in a field with the foothills behind us, for the upcoming Spring Benefit for the Cancer Center. I am one of 6 people they will be featuring in the video, 3 are cancer survivors and 3 are donors. I was honored to be included as one of the donors in this year's video. It was fun, they asked me questions about my running and why I support the cancer center, how cancer has affected people in my life, and so on.

It was freezing out there, I had to keep running around to stay warm. I had my jacket and wind tights on, but standing there it was cold. After we were done, I went home to a freezing house. Our furnace died overnight and I scheduled a service person to come out and check it out at 1 pm. Turned out it was the safety limit switch (whatever that is) and about an hour and $200 and change later it was fixed. We have heat again.

Having hot flashes makes heat seem relatively less important, but it was cold in the house this morning, 48 degrees! I know we will both appreciate having warmth tonight. I slept through the night once this week, but then last night I woke up a lot. It's killing my brain, I am worthless and unable to think clearly after a night like that.

I have been distracted, with yesterday's brain fog of a work hangover day, and today between the filming and the furnace, I haven't been able to get much done. But tomorrow I have to start packing for Ohio. The weather forecast looks gruesome at this point, 48 degrees, rain and wind. Ugh. But it's still 10 days away and a lot can change before then. I have a plan, and that's what's important.

I went out and ran about 6 miles today and felt okay. I also ran with the girls. My legs were still sore until yesterday. I don't plan on doing much all week, probably 8 to 10 miles at the most each day. I sat in the hot tub this afternoon, trying to get the girls to stop fence fighting with the neighbor dogs, and other than that brief chaos, zoning out. I have a book review to write and some other things to do around the house this weekend, but my brain wasn't ready to tackle any of it today.

It was nice to not HAVE to do anything today, between being hot, and cold, not sleeping, tapering, and my schedule being off, I feel sluggish and out of sorts. I'm really lucky to have the time to chill. I think I'll go hang out with my girls.

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...

Avocado Fetish and Christmas Thanks

I've been packing and planning, planning and packing for Arizona, to run Across the Years.

I worked 3 days in a row at the beginning of the week and it wiped me out, I was still a vegetable as of Thursday. As a result I only got 30 miles in for last week. And this week I planned to take it easy anyway, so I guess that makes it a taper.

An unintentional taper, that is. But it means I have no reason not to run my butt off. If I can be smart about my breaks, I will have a great race. I need to be overly organized before it. Everything in easy grabbing distance. No bending over to get stuff out of the cooler, it will have to be on the table.

I won't be overly intense, I want to have fun. I do plan to Facebook about it, and I'll take the midnight toast and lap with everyone. I got a portable battery recharger for my cell phone so I will be able to have power through the 24 hours.

But I plan to be too busy running to text much, and I'll do the brief updates on Facebook as I can, on my walking segments. Maybe I'll even find someone to write them for me.

We spent Christmas Day playing in the snow with the girls. We're not much into the holidays, not much into gift giving, certainly not into shopping. The girls got a new duck and some treats, and I made a special Christmas dinner for them with kangaroo meat, rice and carrots.

We actually splurged this year by putting up Christmas lights in our front windows, inside the house. I was thinking next year maybe I'll decorate the woman cave. We don't have a Christmas tree either, instead we use the avocado plant Dennis has been growing for a couple of years now.

He secretly wants to be an avocado farmer. I have to throw all our avocado seeds away before he can get to them, otherwise we'll have a crop of a dozen little jars with water and avocado seeds propped up by toothpicks on all the windowsills in the house. It's like a fetish.

We got 3 new inches of snow on Christmas eve. We need the snow, and I'm glad we're getting it, I like it better when it comes in small, steady doses instead of one big dump. And did I mention it's FREAKING COLD?!!!

Arizona looks a little better...

I've been occupying myself with blogging about trivial things. It's actually been a hard week, not feeling like diving too far into the real stuff that's been on my mind. This time of year, people struggle, and I've been watching it with a front row seat.

At work, we see patients barely hanging on through the holidays, and we know they might not be around by the New Year. It's hard to send a patient off to Hospice when you've cared for them for months or years, especially young ones.

People who have suffered losses over the past year feel their grief even more intensely during the holidays. And some people are unfortunate to get a bad diagnosis or bad news at this time, which makes things overwhelming and terrifying.

I am thankful to have my health and that the health of my family is intact, and that we are all so fortunate to have what we do have.

I am thankful for so many good things in running this past year. I had a great running year, I ran two races I'd never run before: Cornbelt 24 Hour and 24 The Hard Way 12 Hour, and both turned out to be awesome, fun, superbly organized events that I look forward to running again.

I had a blast running the Mickelson Trail with Ed Green. Toughing it out through our little adventure through adversity in the Black Hills was a run I will remember forever.

This year I met Shannon Price "Wheaties Boy" and he has turned out to be the key that unlocked my renewed enthusiasm for fast running and going after my unfinished business. He's been a great running buddy and an amazing source of positive energy for this sometimes jaded old runner.

And one more thing I'm thankful for: Today I was getting dressed so we could take the girls out to play in the snow, and I was looking for my windpants. I own two pairs of windpants, one is size extra small that I haven't been able to fit into since 2008, and a size small pair with more room in them that I use all the time now.

I pulled the windpants off the hanger in the closet, was pulling them up over my tights, and they were a little small over my hips, but I managed to get them on and they fit fine. I was a little disturbed that the pants that have always fit with plenty of extra room were hard to pull over my butt and hips.

Then I realized, I was wearing the extra smalls!!!!

WOOHOO! Christmas bonus!

Ready to Blow Out Some Carbon!

I have safely arrived at my taper, having done my last real run this morning, a 12 miler.

I also feel like someone lifted a 100 pound weight off of me.

First thing this morning, I met with some friends from work to do a video to promote a community wellness project. It was early and I didn't expect to be asked to be part of the video, and I was toast from not sleeeping much all week, and I hadn't prepared anything. I was unable to get any spontaneous words out. So Nikki told me what to say and I said it. That's what friends are for. We had fun though. I can't wait to see the video after she edits it. It will be on You Tube, so I'll share the link on this blog soon.

Afterwards, I met with Eric from work, and we did 12 miles together. He is running the Colorado Marathon next week when I'm running the Cornbelt 24 Hour. Eric and I tried to hook up for a run two weeks ago but my schedule got thrown off and we missed each other. Then the past week was a whirlwind for both of us, as it's a mutual friend we are both close to who suffered the loss.

Eric and I had a great talk during our run and it helped me realize that I'm not alone in my grief response to the events of the past week. Eric sounded equally affected. I think sharing our feelings on the run was helpful for both of us. It always helps to know you're not alone.

Afterwards we had lunch and talked about happier things, so when I got home, I was feeling relieved and ready to tackle the things I've been putting off all week, like going to the grocery store. I took the girls for a walk, and felt such a sense of lightness and peace.

Now I feel like I'm able to taper both physically and emotionally, and get back on track. For 24 hours! I'm on the BIG taper, a 3 week taper. After being at 80 miles, last week I ran 56 miles, this week I've run 33 miles, and I expect to take this weekend off as it's my work weekend. Next week I'll shake out the legs briefly on a few days during the week, and call it good.

I have to dig all my stuff out of the garage so I can organize my table, tent, cooler, supplies, and everything I'll need for the race. I need to de-worm myself, to avoid any taper worms that might be slithering around. No walking around in the dark, no tripping over dogs, etc.

I am finding myself looking soooo forward to running a race. I want to push myself mentally and physically, and come away with a big PR. I also hope I have some competition to push me beyond where I would push myself.

Bring it ON!

Holy Haboob!

A taperworm of the most unusual variety...

Nathan, my brother, and our sole crew member from the Phoenix area, sent us an e-mail tonight letting us know he might be a few hours late getting out of Phoenix because of this massive duststorm that hit Phoenix yesterday. His pool and entire yard and house were dusted by this freak storm.

I lived in Phoenix a total of 10 years and I never remember seeing a duststorm this big. It has a name, "Haboob".

There's only one thing to do...bring the swim goggles!









This wouldn't be the first time I used swim goggles while running in the desert. I can remember summer evening track workouts in Scottsdale where I was glad I had my goggles!

The girls have been watching me pack. They have inspected everything and they have something to say about it.














Iris has the last word.

Taper Madness

Not sure what this rooster is thinking. Is he about to take a bath? Is he looking for a drink? Maybe he's tapping his feet impatiently, waiting for something big to happen. Like tapering for a race.

The past two weeks I've been trying to balance rest and running. I've gotten a lot of sleep, done some errands to prepare for my trip, tied up some loose ends for projects I needed to complete, and here I am. Trying to be patient.

It's been cold the past few days, we were all spoiled here in northern Colorado by the mild fall weather. Temperatures were near 70 until just a few days ago.

Monday I'll have a new blogpost up, it's the day we launch a campaign to raise funds for the Poudre Valley Cancer Center. There will also be information about how to send messages during Across the Years. I love getting those messages during the race, they motivate me more than anything else, in the middle of the night when I'm trying to push myself through the fatigue.

I had a dream the other night that I was running a 100 mile race and I decided to take a nap in a hotel room. When I woke up I had slept 8 hours and I only had 3 hours left on the time limit to finish, and 20 miles to go. Not good! I'm taking that as a reminder of being careful about my nap time at Across the Years. In 2008-09 I slept for a good portion of the event. Actually slept better than I had in months. But that year I needed it!

I want to wish everyone reading this blog a happy holiday and a healthy and happy 2011. Thanks for your readership. I have some new topics planned for early 2011 in addition to my preparation for upcoming events.

Stop back soon!

It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings

Yesterday it was 80 degrees.

This morning, another reminder that we're in Colorado, and it is April.

Two weeks from now I'll be in Florida. Today, I'll be in the sauna.

Yesterday I was exhausted, after two busy days at work. I had a huge list of things I needed to do, but I spent the whole day in a fog. I missed the Wednesday night run, I was so tired I had to lie down at 5:30 pm and then fell asleep until Dennis came home.

The only productive thing I could do in the morning was go to the sauna and sit there, in the 170 degree temperatures, according to the thermometer in there. I lasted 30 minutes. I had it mostly to myself so there was very little opening and closing of the door to lower the temperature. I started sweating after 2 minutes, so I knew it was hot. I usually start sweating after 13 minutes these days.

I'm starting to get sauna hair again. I'll chop it off after the race.

The snow is pounding down, wet heavy stuff, and it's 34 degrees outside my window, weighing the branches down on the newly leafed-out trees. I hope this turns to rain soon because I'd hate to have broken trees.

Today I seriously need to start planning what I need to pack for my race. I'm going to enjoy my day today. There is something so enjoyable about reaching the point where you're tapering for a race, even though my training this winter and spring has hardly felt like a challenge, I've done so few miles.

The agenda today includes the sauna, a weight workout, a run in this wet cold white slop at some point, and trying to entertain the Buffaloes without getting them all muddy. Yesterday I gave them a bath.

I should have known better.