Word of Mouth: Fun Stuff

Let's move on to the fun stuff!

I've been working on a lot of fun stuff for my own business lately, doing the marketing and talking to people is something I really enjoy. My biggest frustration so far has been figuring out how to get in to talk to doctors. They are so busy, and getting past the secretary or office manager sometimes can take earthmoving equipment...might have to get out the tank.

But I'm not in a hurry and I will eventually speak with them, right now my focus is on the clients and word of mouth in the community.

This is the fun part and some of the creative part of what I do, other than developing individual programs and ideas for clients. Radio shows, talking to people, getting the word out, is what's fun, plus spreading what I feel is an important message about taking care of yourself and prioritizing your health.

But the best fun stuff is about running and play...

Wheaties Boy, Bard, Eddie and Chris went down the Grand Canyon and ran the rim to rim to rim a few weeks ago. They got some kickstarter money to make a documentary of their experience. Here is the preview. The scenery alone is enough to make me want to drop everything and get in the car and drive to the Grand Canyon and run off the edge.



Bard started this concept a few years back called "Feed Your Crazy".

I was playing around with a bumper sticker idea I've had for a while and decided to make one, and see if people like it. I only made a small number, they are not back from the printer yet, and they are a little expensive to produce in small numbers. But if there is interest I will print more.

I plan on doing a giveaway soon. More about that later.

Word of Mouth: Top to Bottom

I have started running again, just a little. I've been working on doing about 8 to 10 miles on my feet each day, some dog walking, and then running small amounts. I feel great when I run. I'm a little slow but my legs don't feel bad. Yesterday I did 5 miles and wanted to keep going but stopped myself. The plan is 20 miles this week, 40 next, and see how it goes from there.

I plan to run the Houska Houska on May 26, which is a fun 5K. That week I will also do my first speed session again. I'm not going to push hard, it will just be interesting to see where I am 3 or 4 weeks post-race. And as of the first week of June I'd like to be back into training for this fall. I can't wait to get going again!

So the rest of this post is my public service announcement. If you're squeamish and can't bring yourself to put your big boy or big girl panties on, then by all means, move on to another post. If you think it's TMI, then I'm calling you a wimp.

I'm a 50 year old athlete, I run ultras, I've been mostly healthy all my life. I hope to continue that way. Some things you just never know if they're going to happen, but to the extent that you can prevent some awful thing from happening, I think you should. My opinion on this, and you might not agree, is that you have a social responsibility to control health care costs in your own life for the benefit of society in general.

By avoiding preventive care, your chances of having a serious health condition that needs expensive and drawn-out treatment result in increased costs that are spread to everyone. That's not fair. I'm not saying that everything can be detected early, because it can't. And no test, no screening procedure is ever fool-proof and 100% accurate.

Yes there are many tumors that go undetected, some cancers that often can't be caught early like pancreatic and ovarian, and I can't even tell you the number of women who had a mammogram come out "normal" and then within a short period of time later, found a lump that was beyond stage I. But those are generally the exceptions.

And if you are diagnosed with cancer or some chronic disease, it is not your fault (almost never! the exception would be if you willfully and knowingly allowed it to progress and then decided to wait to obtain treatment) and you deserve the best care that is available to restore your health, regardless of where you fall on the socioeconomic ladder. Knowledge is power and I am just saying that you have a responsibility to your fellow citizens not to bury your head in the sand if you have the knowledge and are able to access preventive care.

Having seen and administered the treatment for many types of cancer, I can tell you almost without exception, you are much better off detecting a disease, especially cancer, early, because the outcome and treatment are so much more favorable.

Yesterday I had an appointment with a dermatologist to check out my skin and lips because at my checkup this spring my dentist thought I had some sun damage on my lower lip that should be looked at. The dermatologist thought things looked pretty good, and advised against freezing off the few small spots on my cheeks, nose, and upper lip that are little pre-cancers until later on in the year, when I'm not having so much sun exposure, because it would leave white scars right now.

There were a few little rough spots on the edge of my upper lip, again, not too concerning, these are tiny little precancer areas. And the area of my lower lip that the dentist was concerned about, the dermatologist felt that there was nothing concerning at all there.

So I took care of the top half as far as cancer surveillance. Went to the dermatologist, had my mammogram, and now the not as much fun part: I scheduled the Roto-Rooter for the last week of May.

As an oncology nurse, I have to set a good example for readers. So I'm writing about colonoscopies. This won't be the last post, either. This is the PRE-colonoscopy blogpost. There might be a during the prep blogpost if I can get away from the can long enough, and yes I promise you I will wash my hands before I come back to the computer, there will be no virtual spread of disease and E. coli by reading my blog...and I also promise you, there will most definitely be a post-colonoscopy blogpost even though I anticipate I will have no memory of the entire procedure.

My intention is not to post graphic pictures or gross you out. The appearance of my inferior-most orifice will remain a secret between me and the gastroenterologist. But as far as the details of the procedure, if you're freaked out by the "EW" factor, then it's time to re-condition yourself.

I didn't get to have the colonoscopy appointment as soon as I wanted to, but I got it a week later, and still in May, with the doctor I wanted, so I'm content with that.

I wanted to get it done before Memorial Day because I want to return to full training but one more week won't hurt anything. I'm a little concerned about getting the anesthetic out of my system. They use propofol (yes that's the Michael Jackson drug) and from what I can tell about the pharmacokinetics (how the drug works, moves through your body, and is eliminated) it looks like it will be a good 48 hours before it's cleared. Until that time is over I'm not taking any chances. Two years ago when Dennis had his colonoscopy he broke his foot the day after, by slipping off the stairs. I'm convinced it happened because he was still affected by the propofol.

It kind of freaks me out to have them putting propofol in my system. We used that all the time for sedation for patients on ventilators in ICU. It's pretty freaky stuff. It wears off quickly, and it's this thick milky-looking liquid. I don't want it in my body. That is more of an issue for me than the scope itself. But I also know I don't want to be aware of or remember what they're doing with the endoscope, so I'll compromise.

What are the biggest fears people have around getting a colonoscopy that keeps them from doing it?

1. Embarrassment: exposing your butt hole to other people. Seriously. Everybody has one. (Some more than others)

Believe me, I don't remember the faces or other parts of any of the patients I ever was present with during their scope, and there were a lot. Even less so with your doctor, they do these day in and day out, they are busy watching the video screen of the inside of your colon, not paying attention to any personalized markings on your body. You won't run into your gastroenterologist in the grocery store and they'll think...oh yeah that was the one with the hairy butthole...

Now if you have a tattoo on your right butt cheek that says "Scope Me" or has the doctor's name, well, maybe they would remember that...but the room is dark so they might not even see it.

As far as the outside parts go, seen one, seen 'em all. Some have hemorrhoids, some don't. Unless you tattoo your hemorrhoids, they won't remember. That's about it...

What if you pass gas during the procedure? You might, but it's more likely to do that afterwards. But you'll be in your little recovery area and everyone else is out of it with anesthesia too. They won't know where it's coming from. Sort of like farting in a crowded, loud room full of people. And during the procedure, there is noise in the room and they aren't very close to the offending part anyway, they are focused on moving the scope and the video screen. You won't know, and won't remember. Everyone farts, you, your dog, your grandmother. Even gastroenterologists fart.

2. Afraid of pain: It's highly unlikely that it will be painful unless you already have some sort of serious GI disorder, and in that case they would medicate you. You will be lightly sedated, and the doctor can even talk to you during the procedure. Afterwards you will not remember it. But you will be able to let the doctor know during the procedure if you're having any pain. They can give pain medication if necessary, but usually it is not needed.

3. Afraid they'll find "something": If they find a polyp, they will remove it during the procedure. You won't even know. They'll slip this little wire around it and cut it off, take it out and send it off to the pathologist. It's done. Most of the time the polyps are benign and if they are suspicious, the nice thing is that they are out of there. Unless they find a major tumor, they are not likely to have to do anything else.

Sometimes they find a polyp that upon examination by a pathologist, needs to be followed up on with a repeat colonoscopy in 5 years, instead of 10 years. But since they took it out already, at least you have the peace of mind knowing that you've stopped the growth of a potential cancer and set it back. That alone is better than not knowing there is something growing in there, and finding it when it's already spread.

Wouldn't you rather know that you had a precancerous polyp removed and out of your body? At least you'll know you can do something about it in the future. And you'll know that the colonoscopy procedure wasn't that bad. It's a lot easier than waiting until there's a huge tumor that has spread to your liver and you need chemotherapy and surgery and possibly living afterwards with a colostomy bag attached to your abdomen. Believe me, a quick colonoscopy that you won't even remember is much more favorable.

4. Fear of complications: Unless you are in poor health, have advanced cancer, or already have some kind of advanced GI tract disease, it is very unlikely that anything can go wrong in a healthy colon. The scopes don't have sharp edges, the little tools they use are retracted inside the endoscope, and they are watching the entire procedure on video the whole time.

The doc I chose is one I actually know, and have conversations with if I run into him somewhere in the hallway or in town, and I know his wife too. But I feel totally comfortable because I've worked with him doing the procedure before and I know he does a thorough job. He's got a nice personality and you feel at ease around him. I won't be freaked out after the procedure if I run into him in the grocery store.

So that's my public service announcement for the day. I admit that yes I do feel a little icky about it. It's not something I look forward to. But I also know that it's better to get it over with, so I'm looking forward to being done.

The important thing to remember, other than GET YOUR COLONOSCOPY is, make sure you choose a doctor whose name you haven't tattooed on your butt.

Starts With Mother...

The word I used this morning when I first looked out the window and saw this.

Yes it's pretty, but this is the suck of all suck...cold, wet, heavy, white, relentless crap coming down all day without stopping. All over the blooming peonies and delphinium, and everything else that is just barely turning green. Will this winter EVER end?

I did get a project partially done, at least the worst of it. All the garbage that was in the closet of the extra bedroom has been piling up and collecting dust for 7 years and I pulled it out, got rid of some of it, and took most of it to the garage, where Dennis helped me stash it out of the way. Mostly art supplies, a lot of things I will want later on when I do have time to take up painting again.

The room feels so much bigger without that pile of crap. I have a lot of old paintings and other stuff that needs to be gone through, organized and discarded, but I can do it in manageable chunks now. I needed to clear the big bulky stuff out of the way.

Iris was patient all day and then I asked her what she wanted. She went down to the closet where we keep the leashes. So I got dressed and found my Sorels, and took her out for a walk. Isabelle didn't want to go.

It was wet, cold, and windy enough to make it unpleasant once my clothes soaked through. The streets were full of slush and puddles. After a mile it was more than enough. It's nearly 40 degrees but the way the stuff is coming down, I'm sure we'll get some heavy snow tonight.

I walked every day this week, today was the only day I didn't do some distance on my feet. My legs still feel tired, but I jogged a little a few times and it felt fine. Next week I'll start doing some short easy running and start working the weights back into the schedule. I anticipate a lot of walking this coming week, too.

I'm trying to get that colonoscopy scheduled in the next two weeks. I want it done and over with before I start training again. I know the GI docs from working with them in ICU, having been present during many, many colonoscopies and other endoscopic procedures. I know which ones I'll feel comfortable with.

And I'm seeing a dermatologist on Wednesday about the sun damage on my lower lip. I really need to find out what's the best thing to use for sunscreen on my lips, because it would be nice to find something that lasts longer than most lip balms. Maybe it's just a habit that I need to get into, reapplying it much more frequently. I couldn't even get an appointment with a physician for 3 months, but I can see the PA this week. I guess that's okay, experienced PAs are good, I'll see what this one does.

Iris's birthday is Tuesday. She'll be 13. She was born on Mother's Day in 2001, she's my Mother's Day baby. Of course we'll have a party for her. Isabelle has her birthday in two months.

I hope this snow stops and goes away soon. Even though I don't have to run in it much yet, I am OVER IT! Ready to hop on the next flight to Phoenix, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Hell, whatever. Anyplace that is above 80 degrees.

The Best Advice and Support...

Just got back from the gazillionth walk around the neighborhood with Iris. It's my way of multitasking. I'm trying to walk it off in my recovery, and I've been needing to think. Walking is great for thinking.

It's thundering now, and sprinkling lightly. I wish we'd get some real rain out of these clouds. The backyard finally has color and looks like spring.

I'm definitely feeling it now, my legs are still sore and my feet and ankles are a little puffy, still. Sleep has been coming back slowly, but I don't know if I'll repay the sleep bank from naps anytime soon. That's okay, I'm sleeping 9 hours a night and that works well.

I've been getting things organized in my life and I need to get focused on work again this week, which I will, but for now I've been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on my race and what I want to do for the rest of the year.

Last night I had a great talk on the phone with Joe Fejes, we discussed my results from Cornbelt and how I could improve on efficiency, training, or strategy. I got some great ideas from him, and some suggestions, and it helped to state my thoughts to see what he thought.

I was totally pumped when I got off the phone with him. We had a pretty mellow conversation but it got me thinking about prioritizing things, what I want to accomplish, and for some reason, it made my brain kick in all at once. I was suddenly excited about all these different things at once. I went for another walk with Dennis and the girls after I talked with Joe, and I told Dennis what we talked about and what I was thinking.

Dennis helped me untangle the thoughts in my head and make sense out of my plans and goals. It's great to be able to talk nonsense and have someone interpret and straighten out your thoughts to help you make sense. Dennis understands my babble when it comes to running and knows how to weed out the garbage, which is so helpful. It's great to hear his perspective as someone who has been there, knows me, and knows what's realistic for me.

And I am so thankful to Joe for his guidance, we've only had a couple of conversations but they've been so helpful as I move forward in my pursuit of better performances. It helps to bounce your ideas and questions off another athlete. He was amazed when I told him how much I ate during Cornbelt. He gave me some great insight to what I'm doing regarding that. Plus he's been trying to work on some stomach issues, so I'm hoping that maybe what I told him about how I do it might help him in some of his longer events.

This morning I started digging around in travel plans. I have several trips coming up that are not related to racing, and I needed to start looking at those, and then I decided that it's time to sign up for NorthCoast 24 Hour, so I did that and made hotel reservations in Cleveland, found a screaming deal at a good hotel where I stayed last time, for about half the price I paid last time. That's always nice especially when it's the 24 hour event and you won't be using the room on the middle night, but keeping it anyway for convenience.

I'm very excited about the rest of the year. I plan to do a few marathons and half marathons this summer, nothing big, just for some good workouts and training runs. I was trying to find a 50 miler or 12 hour race in late July or early August but there were very few that were either the right terrain, dates, not conflicting with other travel plans, or reasonably affordable to get to. So I'll just stick to the shorter road races and focus on good quality training, and that will work just as well. Maybe even better.

It's weird to live in Colorado and say you can't find any ultras to run. There are a ton, but they are all on trails and up in the mountains. Am I the only road and track ultra person in Colorado? I know I can't be, but sometimes it feels like that. What, no one else in Colorado likes to run around in circles?

I made some airline reservations for our trip to LA this summer when we visit my parents at Manhattan Beach, and I made reservations in Spearfish for the Leading Ladies Marathon, which I will do in August. That's a fast one, and I really want it as a fitness test. I don't care about running a certain time, it's still a training run, but I am looking to make some progress toward being able to hold a certain pace in ultras, and this will be a great way to measure that.

I'll be going off to Badwater to work medical there in July, and I looked into the possibility of doing a marathon either before or after that trip but both marathons were cutting it too close and the travel arrangements were too complicated. So I opted to find something else, that doesn't conflict with having a relaxing and fun time around Badwater.

Wheaties Boy (Shannon Price) has been super encouraging about going for my goals. It's so important to have a buddy, someone who backs you up and supports you, even if they aren't there all the time, because we rarely run together, and for the next month I won't even be doing workouts with him. But even when we don't get to run together, in spirit, it's awesome support, and it helps so much to verbalize my goals and have someone to keep me honest, and even more, someone who believes in your vision as much as you do.

Between Dennis, Wheaties Boy, and Joe, I'm so thankful, so lucky they all have my back! Three incredible athletes, and great human beings. Thank you all.

Date With A Porn Star...

Curiosity killed the cat. Or maybe it was a raccoon. I saw dozens of dead raccoons, roadkill along I-80, like the official roadkill of the Midwest.

I had to check out this Maid-Rite thing. I had a sadistic fascination with anything as bizarre and porno-esque as a "loose meat sandwich" and I was in post-race repletion mode, so why not?

Conveniently, as I needed to stop for gas in Grimes, Iowa, there happened to be a Maid Rite place just behind the gas station off the exit.

I ordered a basic Maid-Rite basket, just a plain sandwich and fries, and a drink. They give you a spoon, too, in case you have some stray loose meat that falls out of the bun. I was impressed by the fact that they had hand sanitizer by the register and by the trash cans. How often do you see that in restaurants? Actually they should have that in all restaurants, and all hotel rooms for housekeeping staff to use between rooms. What a concept.

Anyway the plain old boring Maid-Rite sandwich wasn't too bad, it wasn't exciting or anything, but it was palatable. And a small, reasonably sized dose of French fries tasted pretty good too at that time.

The other thing was the portions were like normal food, not supersized like everything else in the world. I drank the iced tea for the caffeine, and hit the road again. I did a few laps around the parking lot before leaving, it felt so good to walk the stiffness off.

I lucked out again, the wind shifted yesterday from east to west, so I had a tailwind going home too! Nice for saving money on gas, and it made the trip a bit faster.

After a while I needed to stop again at a rest area just to walk and stretch out my legs. So I did that.









And then half an hour later I was starving again. I stopped in Kearney and for some reason I was craving Taco Bell, so I found one, and ordered one taco supreme and some beans, and that wasn't enough so I went back and ordered two more tacos. There I was, living out my Taco Bell fantasy.

Before I got back on the road, I felt sorry for Dennis tonight, after all this horrible road food.

I stopped one last time for gas and being hungry again, in Sidney, Nebraska. This time it was a McDonald's salad.

Then a couple of hours later I was home, with a beautiful sunset over the mountains.

It was so nice to be home to Dennis and the girls, I got the dramatic greeting from the Buffaloes, and we took them for a walk around the block to help me stretch my legs.

I feel pretty good despite the long hours on the road, I'm sure Tuesday I will be sore from sitting in the car, and I cannot wait to get back to eating salads and my other normal foods.

Maybe this would be a good time to get that colonoscopy over with...

Snark Alert! Nursebots' Week: Humanity is a Doormat

lion image credit: Nathan Nitzky

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled programming for this important public service announcement:

Readers, consider yourselves forewarned: You knew I couldn't possibly make it through a Nurses' Week keeping my mouth shut. So here it is, my thought for the week...

I haven't been on my soapbox about health care in a while, but this is a time of year that always lights a fire under my butt. I'm not having to deal with it directly anymore, which has done wonders for my physical and mental health, but I have many friends and colleagues who are still being rocked seasick on the tsunami of health care reform in the age of corporate dominion.

You've read my other posts and rants about nursing, I've said these things before, as have so many other people. Here's my take this time.

Patricia Singleton's excellent blog about abuse and healing from incest has much that is applicable to the corporate workplace. In a recent post she was writing about healing and educating, and stopping the abuse.

She writes, "It is through silence that...abuse has been allowed to continue and flourish for so long and become an epidemic in our world."

She further states, "If we don't educate people, who will...Abusers thrive in the silence. They count on the silence of those that they abuse. They count on the subject to continue to be taboo in society. The silence gives them free reign to do what they want. I refuse to be silenced again."

Workers are scared, they want to keep their paychecks, they have seen how the system handles dissent or differences of opinion. Retaliation is rampant, I experienced it the minute I opened my mouth. When the powers that be don't get blind allegiance and compliance, they do things to try to get rid of people. They threaten them with unsavory working conditions and force them to quit.

Someone has to talk about it, former coworkers tell me the old trick of writing letters doesn't seem to get any traction, and these people are so exhausted and defeated that they have no hope that their efforts will work. Conditions keep getting worse. Staffing won't get any better thanks to the dumbasses at the top, who cut regular staff and then have to hire expensive travel nurses to replace them, so that they can slide their Teflon-coated tactics just under the wire of getting dinged for dangerous work conditions. On what planet does this make sense?

The privileged and tone deaf executive class's planet. To be a fly on the wall at an ACHE conference...

It's outright abuse of health care workers. But it's part of the big picture of what we're doing to people everywhere in this country, the old, over-repeated story of the rich getting richer and the average people getting squeezed to death. People accept it because they feel powerless to change it, because they are too exhausted.

It's not a "caring profession" like the nursing school instructors tried to impart to us in their pathetic attempt to sell us a line of bullshit. Nursing schools are part of the problem, they keep the dysfunctional cycle going.

What kind of caring profession allows it's members to be lucky to make it through a work day without making a mistake? Who can care when they don't have time to look at the patient because there's so much charting to do? Not being able to take time to pee or eat for a 13 hour shift? Throwing pills in front of the patient and running out of the room? Clocking out and working for free after 12 hours because you didn't have time to chart everything but you'll get in trouble if you go into overtime?

I ran into a former coworker from the ICU in Starbucks last week. She was getting off night shift. She gave me an earful and she's always very animated and expressive about what's going on. Nothing I hadn't heard already from the others I keep in touch with.

I saw another hospital worker in there recently, early in the morning. I can remember those mornings, going in for my shift and walking across the bridge from the parking garage, seeing the downtrodden body language and frowns of people who used to smile and greet each other.

It was interesting listening to my former coworker talk. I was able to keep a detached and very occasionally amused distance from it, that means I am healing and not so personally wrapped up in it anymore. But I still feel the anguish and the frustration. It is a horribly stuck feeling. I see it in the twisted foreheads and heavy shoulders of these defeated, exhausted people. This is what we're allowing to happen to our fellow human beings. The same ones we expect to take care of us when we're sick.

Is there anyone out there who sees this and will take a sane approach? I will not see that in my lifetime, I doubt it. Elizabeth Warren talks about the parallels in the banking industry and how the little guys are getting abused by the way the system is stacked against them.

I do have hope that the millenials will turn things around. They will have to, or they will be doomed to a miserable existence. No one is investing in their future, instead, the older generations are sucking them dry, making money off of their futures. You can't prune the tree and expect it to bloom when you don't water the roots.

I am constantly amazed by the fact that the health care industry has no leaders who recognize that in taking all these steps forward, then panicking over missteps, staying focused on cutting costs, they are killing the workers and that leads to worse health care.

From physicians to nurses to techs to the people who take out the trash and serve the cafeteria meals, if they take the fast track to overworking everyone and burn them all out then what will we have? Richer CEOs and no health care. Mistakes. Injuries. Deaths.

The whole thing makes no sense whatsoever. Nursing doesn't even make sense anymore in this health care debacle. Keep on burning out physicians and making them leave medicine or preventing the brightest ones from entering it. Keep on grooming nurse practitioners, until there's a glut. Keep on relegating registered nurses to the status of court reporters.

Not that court reporting isn't an important job. It's just that when you're dealing with people's life and death situations when they are sick, you need to be able to focus on the sick person and not the transcription process.

Hell, court reporters make about as much as nurses do, with a lot less stress. They don't have to worry about killing someone.

I am sad to say that I no longer recommend that anyone take up nursing as a career. Recently someone asked me if I would attend a middle school career day to talk about nursing. I couldn't attend due to a prior commitment, but after thinking about it I realized I couldn't live with myself if I contributed to the lie.

The next time someone considering nursing wants career advice, I know what to suggest!

We will now return to our regularly scheduled program...Adventures in Iowa...

2014 Cornbelt 24 Hour Race: Adventures in Iowa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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