Keys 100

To this point in my life I never had been south of Orlando in Florida. I haven't been to Florida since I was a kid and my parents made the mistake of taking us on a family vacation shortly before they divorced, by driving all the way from Pennsylvania.

I haven't been to the east coast since 1981, either. So when I first met Bob Becker the year we both ran Badwater, I had only heard the rumors of the first Keys 100 race, the horror stories of the highway and the narrow shoulder, the heat and humidity, the crazy drunks on the road, and I had my doubts. Bob seemed like a super guy and I couldn't imagine that he would put on a race that was bad.

The next year Nattu ran it and said good things about it, so I knew it couldn't be too bad. I talked with Bob when I saw him again at Badwater in 2009, and the Keys race intrigued me more. After hearing more favorable reviews after the race's second year, and talking with Bob over the winter via e-mail, I decided to put it on my "to do" list.

Not chicken, but...



I was looking for a hot race, something different, in a place where I'd never run before. I was also in need of a 100 miler. I admit I've been avoiding the distance, it's been 12 years since I did one, because I've found other distances that suit me better. Mostly longer ones that allow me some time to sleep. But I also realize if I want to improve at longer distances, I need to do more 100 milers as training runs.

Meanwhile, Dennis and I are coming up on our 20th anniversary and we needed a beach vacation. Normally we don't do races together, I go to them myself and we do our vacations separately. But this seemed like a perfect opportunity to do both. My ultra buddy Mike Melton from Florida offered to crew me if I came down for the Keys, and I took him up on his offer.

Dennis agreed to go for the vacation if he didn't have to crew. It looked like it was all going to work out great. Except for one thing. We didn't have a sitter for the Buffaloes. Our dogsitter in Arizona would have been great but she was in Arizona. So we started the search for a dogsitter/housesitter. We lucked out there too, we found the perfect person for the job, and it all came together.

Getting there

This winter has been incredibly long and cold. The snow has been relentless. The morning we were leaving for Florida we woke up to snow, but worse, our beautiful cherry tree in the middle of the back yard, which the day before had been in full bloom, cracked two of it's limbs overnight in the heavy spring snow!

When I woke up at 6 the morning we were to leave for the airport, I looked out the window and I was devastated. I love that beautiful tree. I quickly wrote down several numbers from the phone book to take with us and call while we were in the airport to see if someone could get out and assess the damage.

They had to de-ice the plane on our way out of Denver. We sat there for an hour waiting to take off. Flying over the gulf, I thought I saw what looked like oil on the water but I'm not sure that's what it was. The big BP oil leak had not been plugged yet and everyone in the south was waiting to see what would happen.

We flew into Fort Lauderdale and picked up our rental car and found the hotel, on the beach. As soon as we checked in we went for margaritas. We were on vacation.



We spent the first night in Fort Lauderdale so we wouldn't have such a long travel day that first day. We left for Key Largo in the morning and drove down through Miami and all the little towns between there and the Keys. Once we crossed the bridge over to the keys, I knew we were getting close to the course start by the mile markers on the Overseas Highway.

When I saw "Crocodile Crossing" I realized maybe there were things I hadn't prepared for.

We spent the day Thursday buying supplies for the race, anything we could get at the supermarket. Then we went to the pool for a while. Sitting out in the 80 degree temperatures with the breeze I never realized how intense the sun could be. I always thought of high altitude sun being intense, but this was almost tropical, and it scorched me in just an hour. My body was blinding white, after a whole winter of only running in shorts once. In an hour I got a head start on my race tan.

Friday morning Dennis and I drove the upper part of the course, down past Layton, almost to Marathon, the halfway point. The water and the clouds were a spectacular turquoise color. Even on the concrete bridges it was enough just to look at the color of the water and I was mesmerized.



Mike met us at the hotel on Friday afternoon and we organized our stuff in his van, made our race plan, and then went to the pre-race briefing. There were almost 100 people entered in the 100 mile race, a fair number in the 50 miler, but the big draw was a relay of 100 miles that attracted nearly 400 runners in teams of up to 6 people. For some reason I never paid much attention to the fact the relay was going on and I didn't think about that. There would be a lot of runners out there! It must not be that bad, I thought, if all these people would come down here to run.

The weather forecast for Saturday was partly cloudy, high of 87 and low of 80, with a chance of rain on Sunday but the same temperatures. And of course it was humid. The air felt heavy and sticky. I love the smell of salt and the ocean, so it didn;t bother me at all. By the water there was always a nice breeze. I was actually cold when I wasn't in the sun. The sauna must have paid off again. Every time we went in an air conditioned restaurant or hotel room, I froze.

At the pre-race briefing Bob warned us about the drunks on the road, but the upside was that the Overseas Heritage Trail is being built, a system of pedestrian and bike paths that stretches the whole length of the Keys, and the race is now 70 percent off the highway shoulder. That means only 30 miles are still directly on the road.

The Start





Race start morning went fairly well. The only thing I forgot was to get my orange ice bandana from Dennis at the start. We started at 6 am and it was still dark, but within 5 minutes I was pouring sweat, something I never do, but the in the humidity I was drenched. The plan was for Mike to meet me in about a half hour after the start, he was helping Bob with the start of the relay at 6:15.

Fortunately Mike had the bandana when he met me. I ate a ham and cheese sandwich before the start, and at 10 miles in the town of Tavernier there was a McDonald's. Mike got me a breakfast sandwich, the 1000 calorie kind, with egg and cheese and bread and meat. I scarfed that down in a few minutes and pretty soon I was running again. I had no problem with my appetite. I was eating sandwiches every 10 miles or so and putting the fluids away. Mike was giving me a salt stick capsule in each bottle.



The water was bright turquoise the whole way and every time we went over the bridges there were these little holes or grates where you could look down and see right into the water below you. Occasionally you could see fish and sea grass down there. The breeze on the water and on the bridges was refreshing and I never felt hot up there.



At 23 miles I felt like I was getting a hot spot on my left foot, in the same place that gave me so much trouble at Badwater. So I stopped and changed out of the Drymax hot weather socks and put on the thicker regular Drymax running socks. That was my last sock change for the rest of the race. After that I did well with my feet. I was chafing too, between my thighs and on my butt and below my armpits, wherever the edge of my clothes rubbed on my skin. I was told chafing would be a problem here with the humidity. I used quite a bit of hydropel and greased myself up good, every 10 miles or so.



My 25 mile split was 5 hours and 8 minutes. Not bad. I wanted to go a little fast in the early hours while it was cool. That was fast enough. I planned to start doing more walking from 25 to 50. I still had sunscreen on from the morning, Dennis must have done a great job coating my body with sunscreen that morning.





After a while I realized I was only peeing every 2 hours and my fingers were swelling, but my stomach wasn't sloshing. I'd been drinking well. I must be getting too much salt, I thought. I needed to remind Mike to back off on the salt stick, but I kept forgetting every time I saw him. He was meeting me every one to two miles. After about 50 miles I finally remembered to tell him to back off on the salt. By then I couldn't even bend my fingers!



But I was doing well. Once we backed off on the salt, I started peeing every hour and I was less swollen. During the hottest part of the day I was on the bike path before I arrived in Marathon, the halfway point. I put my Badwater jacket on and my big sun hat with the full neck drape on to minimize my sun exposure.



Mike was awesome. He knew how to space his stops perfectly, and he was always there when I needed him. And he knew the course so well, he could tell exactly what to anticipate in the upcoming section. It seemed like as soon as I started thinking about what I'd ask for at my next stop, I'd go just a few more steps and there he was.

My 50 mile split was 10:55. I felt fine, I wasn't hurting, I didn't feel hot and the pace felt great. I decided to take a little break and eat more food Mike picked up some food at a fast food restaurant and I ate a grilled chicken sandwich and had a big cup of coke. Before I got going I wanted to change my clothes, just for comfort. The hottest part of the day was over and I was ready to get out of my sweaty day clothes. The problem was there wasn't really any cover anywhere except by the side of the van, sandwiched between the highway and the building we were parked in front of.

So I changed clothes on the side of the van, in front of the Disabled American Veterans building in Marathon. Sorry to the Disabled American Veterans, since I flashed them. I figured it was better than flashing the entire overseas highway going through the city of Marathon.

Soon I was at the end of Marathon and about to take on the famous, or infamous, Seven Mile Bridge. This is where there is just a narrow shoulder on a seven mile span of concrete and the traffic is thick. Fortunately I had plenty of daylight and I was moving well. I ended up running about half the distance on the bridge, and got over it in just an hour and 20 minutes. I could see why, with the traffic whizzing by, it was so scary, but for me, I was enjoying the setting sun, the water, the breeze, and just moving on my feet.



I put my lights on and my night gear after the Seven Mile Bridge. The sunset was colorful and I was enjoying it. Except once it got dark, going over the bridges became a little more scary. I hoped I had enough lights on and reflective gear. The warning we got at the pre-race briefing and all that Mike had said was people are in the Keys to drink, there are lots of drunks on the road, be careful.








Gators in the road

I went through the 100 Km mark at fourteen hours. Perfect timing. At one point when it was getting dark, I was starting to feel tired, I was on a bridge, and I stepped on what I thought was an alligator! Except it was really a piece of old tire rubber. I jumped so high, I probably could have cleared the concrete barrier on the bridge.

When it finally did get really dark, I started to fade. I told Mike I thought it was time for a nap.He looked at me strangely, and asked if I wanted to go a ways further before stopping for a nap. I said no, I'll do better if I sleep now. I am an early to bed person, and that includes races. I get my nap in and then I'm good to go.

I took a 30 minute nap and I'm not sure if I actually slept, but I think I did. Mike woke me up and I was still groggy. I got my act together and went on. I got to the 75 milemark in about 17 hours and 50 minutes. I was still making excellent time. It was just before midnight.

Soon after midnight I was headed toward Big Pine Key where the Key Deer live, and I was on a curvy, dark section of road. All of a sudden I felt raindrops. Within a minute it was raining hard! I looked around for shelter and I could see flashing lights of crew vehicles ahead, but probably by a half mile or so. I needed shelter NOW. I saw a driveway with a big thick palm tree up ahead and I got under the tree and stood there.



Pretty soon I was stranded on an island, under the palm tree the dirt was elevated by a foot or so above the road. The palm tree wasn't the best umbrella, either. Water was pouring down my back every time I moved a few inches to one side. The ground was covered in deep water and it was flowing in rivers down both sides of the driveway next to me. It was like one of those intense Colorado thunderstorms except this was warm rain.

Every few minutes I looked out on the road, holding my light out, hoping Mike would figure it out and come back and find me. I must have stood there for a good 20 minutes. Finally he did drive up. I asked him, "Is this one of your famous rain squalls?" He said it was. He was right, it ended after about 20 minutes. I got into some dry clothes and went on my way.



I did actually see two of the Key Deer as I made my way into Big Pine Key. I could also smell the pines. There were fences alongside the road to prevent the deer from wandering onto the highway. They are little deer, bigger than a dog, but not by much.

Late night to the finish

There were lots of crazy drunks on the road at night, that was part of the experience. People would drive by hanging halfway out of their pickup trucks, screaming as they flew by, one guy even threw a cigarette butt at me, which hit me in the chest. They didn't really try to run me off the road, but there were a few times I jumped off the side just to stay safe. I was always glad when we hit a bike path section, it gave my mind a break from being on alert.

At 24 hours I passed 90.4 miles, according to Mike, which was a new 24 hour PR for me. We were on a section of bike path and Mike pulled out the chair for me to sleep in. I celebrated by begging for a 5 minute nap, which I then upped to 10 minutes. Mike was generous, he gave me 12 minutes. I slept hard in the chair and then got up. The light was coming back. I had less than 10 miles to go.





The morning was cloudy and incredibly humid. It looked like it was going to rain. I was glad to be finishing before there was a chance of the day heating up again, or the rain pounding down like it did during the night.

I was aware that it would be easy to get a PR if I kept moving at a decent pace. My old 100 mile PR was 27:48. As I got closer I realized I could get under 27 hours, so I decided to keep going for that. By the time the sun came up I was able to see the mile markers again and once I got on the island of Key West I knew I had a PR for sure.



When I hit the 3 mile mark, I actually had only 2 miles to go but for some reason I thought it was three. I told Mike I needed to keep going, I didn't have time to stop if I wanted to get sub-27. He looked at me strangely again. He said, no you only have two miles.

I kept moving. Right before I finished I passed a guy named Martin who was hurting but still moving along. We talked a while and then I went on. It seemed like forever getting down Roosevelt Boulevard, I couldn't see where I was finishing. I knew it was at Smathers Beach and across from the Sheraton, but I'd never seen it before and I didn't have any idea where it was.




Finally I could see something that looked like a bunch of colors and people congregating on the sidewalk next to a stone building, and then I could focus on the finish line. I finished in 26 hours, 44 minutes and 21 seconds, a PR by over an hour. Mike and Dennis greeted me at the finish line and I finally got to sit down!





I received my belt buckle and we took some pictures, and we limped off to the hotel so we could get some sleep before the awards ceremony downtown starting at noon. My legs had horrible-looking heat rash, and I knew my feet would be interesting.



When we got back to the room I peeled my shoes and socks off, and my feet weren't too bad, some heat rash, a blister on my left big toe and left heel, and a blister under the callus on the ball of my left foot. My right foot was good.



I got in the shower, and found all the places I'd been chafing. My back, where my pack rubbed against me, all the places I'd been hydropeling were pretty good except for my butt...no bra chafing this time, though. The Nike Dri-Fit top with the built-in bra, and my new Saucony bras managed to keep me from chafing in my usual places.

I let out a good scream when the water hit all the chafed places for the first time.

I took a 2 hour nap and then we went to the awards. We got there late and missed most of it but we talked with Bob and I found out I got 1st place in my age group, and was 4th woman overall, and 17th overall in the race. There were 34 finishers and a ton of DNFs. Bob said it was the lowest finishing rate ever. Not sure why.





We took Mike to lunch and then it was time for him to head back home. He said he felt awake enough to drive. I went back to the room for a long nap and Dennis went out to let me sleep.

Post-race tourists

The next few days we spent being tourists in Key West. We did some beach time, walked around downtown, and checked out the sights. What a crazy town. At one point I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt that said, "Went on vacation, left on probation". That pretty much sums up Key West.

At one point we were walking around downtown and there was a woman near us who seemed to be looking for something on the sidewalk, like she lost something. Dennis asked her what she was looking for. She replied, "Oh, just some condoms."

Then she added, "They're not for me."

There were restuarants mixed with bars mixed with places advertising everything from drag shows to frozen key lime pie on a stick. We watched the people line up on the sidewalk to take pictures of silly little tourist attractions. I took pictures of the tourists taking pictures.





We ate some amazing food. This one Cuban restaurant, El Siboney, was incredible. And then of course, there were margaritas. And Key Lime pie.

We checked out the galleries and a few of the sights. There's the Hemingway House, the lighthouse, the treasure museum, Mallory Square. Too much to do in just a few short days. We took in as much as we could. I wasn't really able to walk around much until Tuesday. But we did spend time on the beach and in the water. Dennis went sea kayaking. We checked out an old army fort on the beach that was converted into an arboretum by the Key West garden club. Lots of tropical plants.









There were chickens and roosters everywhere, they ran all over town. Some were beautiful colors.





And I spent a lot of time walking around taking photos of the architecture, the old buildings and the foliage. I am looking forward to doing some painting this summer. Just watching the sunset evolve over a half hour on the beach is enough to keep me happy.







On our last day we drove back to Fort Lauderdale to avoid another long driving and flying day. We spent the last morning on the beach in Fort Lauderdale before catching our flight back to Denver.



I do know that if the Overseas Heritage Trail ever gets completed, I would definitely consider doing the race again. For now, I think I used up plenty of luck just staying alive with the crazy drunks whizzing by all night.

I'm not sure that I'll go back to the Keys again. Key West isn't really my idea of a place I'd want to spend a vacation. It was worth seeing it and it was fun, but I'm into peace and quiet. I might go back and check out other parts of the Keys that were quieter.

But the race was worth doing and I highly recommend it, if you're looking for something different. It was easy to crew and very scenic. For a race only in it's third year, Bob has done a great job of making it run smoothly. And Mike made the race so easy with his awesome crewing. He told me thinks he doesn't antiicipate things, but I thought he was perfect!

It was definitely a vacation, and I came back with a tan. My feet feel pretty good, my heat rash and chafing are all but gone, and I am relaxed. We are already planning our next beach vacation, and we won't wait as long to go there this time.

I think I finally did overcome my aversion to 100 milers! I'll rest for a couple of weeks and then I'm sending my entry in for Lean Horse!

The Keys: Gratitude and Generosity

The two themes that have emerged over the past week are gratitude and generosity.

While I am frantically packing and getting ready for the Keys 100 race, I have taken the time this week to keep my focus off the race so much and to concentrate on the other things I'm involved in outside of running.

Where do gratitude and generosity fit in with running across the Florida Keys? Three different events this week brought me back to these themes, all separate situations, but related in an important way.

First, this past week was Nurses Week. In the past when I worked full-time, it seemed that I never got to participate in any of the Nurses Week activities because I was working, taking care of patients. This year with my part-time schedule I got to attend a class which got me thinking.

And someone else I've met recently who is a cancer survivor said something about gratitude this week that I've contemplated in the past, but the way she framed it with words was so perfect because of her experiences and genuine feelings behind it.

Finally, last night was the Foundation's Spring Benefit event, which is always a great time. The theme was fitting, "island casual", for my upcoming trip. The featured speaker emphasized the theme of generosity.

Being involved in these group learning activities and social events helps keep my running in perspective. Before I go into detail about how these three events fit the themes, I'll talk about the running.

Keeping the race in perspective is helpful, I haven't been so focused on this one, because it isn't a "big race" for me. It is a training run, a reminder of how to run this particular distance, which isn't my favorite, but it's an important re-learning experience.

Making myself run this distance will be good because it pushes me out of my comfort zone. It's a mental training exercise more than anything.

I haven't run the 100 mile distance in 12 years, since my last Leadville Trail 100 in 1998. I like the fixed-time events like the 24 hour, 48 hour, and Badwater-type distance races so much more, they allow me time to sleep, enjoy it, and not worry about a time limit.

The one hundred mile race distance never did agree with my body, I could always finish, but I felt rushed when I needed a nap, when my body was telling me to sleep, and I had to look at my watch and keep moving to make it in under the time cutoff.

I haven't had much time for the nagging little obsessive runner thoughts, like the fact that I've done just six long runs for this race, that I've averaged only 48 miles a week since the beginning of the year, that I've never run in humidity before, that I weigh more now than I ever have in my life, even after I graduated from nursing school.

Probably due to the fact that a few weeks ago I discovered Ben and Jerry's Key Lime Pie ice cream, a new flavor. Perfect for pre-race fat loading, with an island theme.

This morning I'm headed downtown to watch the finish of the Colorado Marathon. Among so many runners I know, I will be looking for Eric, a co-worker who is running his first marathon. I'll see the runners come across the finish line, glad to be done. What evaporates from their minds at this point are the little trivial nagging ideas in the back of their minds that runners obsess about. Have I trained enough? Am I prepared? Am I rested? Have I gained/lost too much weight? Will an injury flare up?

I was commiserating with Cat, my running partner, about these little things on our run this week, but we laughed about how we think the same way and it really doesn't matter. You're ready if you think you're ready. And I am ready.

And at the end of the race runners are just glad to be done, relieved to be able to rest and socialize and get back to normal. All the little worries are gone.

And I know I will be, too. I know what I will feel. That I am so fortunate to be here, to be able to run this race, to be able to take a vacation, to be with my husband for 20 years, that we have our beautiful dogs, and to have the life that we have.

And it's an opportunity to give. I hope that people will donate to the Foundation in honor of my race, but even more important is getting a message across. The message that we are all a community, we all depend on each other, no one goes through this life alone, and we are individuals, but we are not separate from each other.

Gratitude and generosity.

The Nurses Week presentation was about horizontal hostility among nurses. As I've said before, nurses are great advocates for their patients but terrible at advocating for themselves. In any workplace, interactions with other people can be the hardest part of a job. People bring their unresolved issues from their lives to work. It's a fact, no matter what your occupation is or where you work, it can happen at any level in an organization, and it can be vertical as well as horizontal.

I think gratitude and generosity both fit in here. When you appreciate what you have, you can be kind to people. Accepting them where they are, and not making assumptions or judgements. Appreciating them for who they are, different and separate from you, but connected. We always have opportunities to learn so much from each other, and to give each other so much.

Often the rewards we receive at work are material things. But in the workplace, simple things like a kind word or even eye contact, greeting people by their name, letting them know you recognize their presence and acknowledging that they exist, that you recognize what they do, shows them they are valued. These are such simple practices but so often get lost and forgotten in interactions with others.

The person I met recently, who touched me with her words about gratitude, was speaking with a group of us the other night, and the theme of gratitude came through in a way that I think many runners would benefit from hearing. She is not a runner, but she talked about the often-expressed notion that your health is everything. Not everyone believes that, but I think many runners do.

She discovered that when her health was at the lowest point during her cancer treatment, it allowed her to see all the other things she has in her life, that it changed her perspective on how she valued things.

The body is one thing, but the presence of friends, family, a spiritual presence, and so many more things are important, even if physical health is not optimal.

Runners can forget. They assume they will be able to keep on going race after race. Their lives and health often revolve around running. All it takes is an injury or illness to send a moderately obsessed runner into a tailspin. What do I do now? It causes a sort of identity crisis.

Sometimes I hesitate to put my event list on this blog because I have seen how tenuous life and health can be. I hope to be able to do most or all of those events, but it's not certain. There are no guarantees.

Finally, last night I attended the Spring Benefit. The featured speaker was a local oncologist, a warm, vibrant, highly respected physician who is also a cancer survivor. She spoke about generosity, our connectedness to each other in the community, and how this theme has tied her life together.

We are truly connected to each other. We give something to others all the time, every day, whether or not we are aware of it, with everyone we encounter. It can be as simple as kindness, or it can be something not quite as good.

We have a choice in what we give.

Make what you give a true gift.

p.s. Congratulations Eric for finishing your first marathon! Great job!

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.

Is it spring yet?

After a week of horrendous weather, driving rain, 30 mph wind, and still cold enough to wear too many layers, today it finally eased up during the morning, enough to run 30 miles easy on the bike path and 5 mile loop.

Friday I'd planned to do my long run but I got called from work and offered double time, and it has to be really nasty outside for me to choose work over running, even with the extra carrot. I worked a 12 hour shift and then paid for it Saturday, I was exhausted. I don't generally like to do long runs the day before I go back to work because I get too hungry and I'm usually tired. But I had no choice at this point.

The 30 miles went by like nothing, I didn't even feel tired when I was done, so that's a good thing. I did have to come back to the house after 13 miles and put more clothes on, I was freezing! Must be the sauna. My hair is drying out, too. Maybe I should get my thyroid checked just in case.

I did take a nap this afternoon, and when I woke up, the sunshine was turning to rain again. My neighbor brought a perennial over yesterday and I planted it in the rock garden. I have been meaning to go to the nursery and get more perennials but just haven't had time.

Whatever happened to the month of April? Three weeks to the Keys and I haven't even started thinking about it! I've been too busy! I need to start packing and planning what I need to bring or send to Mike in Florida before we leave. My office is a chaotic mess of piles of unorganized papers. One of these days, before summer...

Runs with Earthworms

The past two days have consisted of running mostly in downpours, looking like a drowned rat minus the tail. Yesterday morning I took the Buffaloes for their 5 mile loop before the rain moved in. By the time I went out to meet the Wednesday night group at the Roost, the sky was looking dark gray.

We took off on our 6 mile group run and about halfway through we started feeling the drops. By the time we were a mile out from the Roost on the way back, big bolts of lightning were striking somewhere south of Ft. Collins and the rain was getting serious. I was in fast mode and I made it back to the Roost about a minute before the downpour hit. By the time the rest of the group showed up a few minutes later they were drowned rats.

I stuck around to wish Cat and Felix good luck on their run in Kansas this weekend, wishing them no tornadoes. They are running a 100K race on trails, Cat's longest distance yet. I wish I could go, but with three weeks to the Keys I will stay home and run 50K in between downpours.

Today I went out in what started as a light rain, but by two miles into it the water was pouring down my back and I might as well have been running in the shower. I decided to make it just seven miles and go home, hit the sauna, and see if things got better later.

On my way in to the gym, I ran into Rick who is on his way to California tomorrow to run the Big Sur marathon. Good luck, Rick, and enjoy it. That is one race on my to do list.

There was a big blue hole in the sky as I left the gym and I went home and took the Buffaloes for their run before it got cloudy and cool again.

This week I have been tired in general, but feeling good on my runs. Just this past week it finally kicked in, both mentally and physically, that I have made progress in my fitness over the winter. I feel much stronger and can hold a decent pace for a long time, even at the end of a tough run. I still have no speed whatsoever but I can work on that over the summer.

Summer will be here soon. I want to run the Lean Horse 100 in August but I don't want to feel like I'm training for a race all summer. I think I can get away with just a couple of long runs this summer and the rest of my time just doing 10 to 20 mile runs, which don't take up my entire day. I want to put some energy into painting this summer again, I have missed it. I look forward to going out to Death Valley in July again. And Dennis and I will get up to the cabin with the Buffaloes as often as we can.

In other areas of my life, I'm looking forward to change, which sometimes comes slowly, but it will happen when the time is right. I'm tapping my feet at times, but trying to be patient, anticipating good things, and expanding my horizons. It has to rain really hard sometimes before you get flowers. One of these days it will look more like this:


The horizon is a good thing to focus on. Keep looking forward, keep the chin up, focus beyond the shortcomings of the present, and be grateful for all the nice people who are in my life now. And the Buffaloes, always the Buffaloes.

Horsetooth Half Marathon

Today I ran the Horsetooth Half Marathon, one of the popular local races that's been around for a million years, or at least as long as I've been running. It's a hilly course that starts by Hughes Stadium and climbs over 500 feet in the first 2 miles. It continues north passing over the dams of Horsetooth Reservoir, along Centennial Drive with views of the foothills, Horsetooth Rock, and Fort Collins, with plenty of challenging climbs until the big descent toward the town of Bellvue.

Then it takes a right over Bingham Hill road, more hills to climb, then turns north on Overland Trail, followed by a turn onto the Poudre Trail bike path for the last 5 miles of fairly flat concrete into Old Town Fort Collins, and ends at New Belgium Brewery (where they brew Fat Tire Ale).

I ran well, I didn't expect to cover the course in much less than 2 hours but I ended up with 1:49 and a few seconds. I powerwalked up all the hills, which was a big advantage for me to pass all the people who went anaerobic trying to run up the big climbs. I flew by them without working very hard on the way down. Then on the bike path I was able to manage sub-8 minute miles without working too hard, leaving me with a feeling of confidence for the upcoming Keys 100 race. I'm feeling a little more fit than I expected to.

I was also happy to beat my time from last November at Boyd Lake, since this is a much tougher course. I did make some progress over the winter. I was sort of dreading the run all weekend and this morning, I'm really not into mass humanity and fast running, but it turned out to be perfect weather, cool and sunny after the fog burned off, and I enjoyed my run.

This afternoon I took advantage of the sunny day to plant the wildflower seeds in the rock garden.

Only four weeks to the Keys!

Spring...almost

It's been warmer lately, the days have been around 60 degrees, but the sun won't shine! This winter has lasted too long.

The past week flew by, and I am exhausted from so much going on. That's okay, I only have one long run left next week and then I can pretty much taper until mid-May. Now I'm spending more time in the sauna. I did three days in the sauna this week and was in there 41 minutes today.

I had an interesting conversation with another person in the sauna on Friday. We sat in there and talked about our philosophies of life and spirituality. We come from very different backgrounds, for example, he served in the Marine Corps, but we still found we had much in common. Rarely do I share more than a few words with people I meet in the sauna but this conversation kept going.

The sauna is a lot busier these days than it was the past two years, there are a lot more people at the gym now and it's hard to find time alone in there unless I go on weekday mornings. I'm still finding it relaxing except when there are too many people going in and out, opening and closing the door and letting cool air in! I like it to be at least 160 degrees. Most people only stay for 5 to 10 minutes, so I get to do a lot of people watching, which is usually entertaining. I love the college students who talk about older people, like their parents' age.

I had a different conversation this week with a woman I'd never met before, who is a cancer survivor. This person could not understand why I do ultras. She was expressing concern for my health. She felt that the stress on my body could result in my getting sick, perhaps with cancer. I told her I appreciate her concern, but I've been doing this for 20 years, my body has made adaptations, and I know to listen to my body when I'm stressed. If I tried to restrict my activities to things that wouldn't stress my body, I don't know what would be left to do.

Yes runners do get cancer. So do non-runners. I've heard of ultrarunners being diagnosed with leukemias, lymphomas, and other types of cancer. That doesn't mean running ultras is bad for you. If you put it that way, then everything is bad for you, since the general population has a high incidence of various types of cancer.

The point for me is that I'm enjoying what I do. I love to run ultras, and I'm living my life the way I want to. I wouldn't be happy if I didn't do ultras. I'd rather live my life to the fullest, being happy.

The Buffaloes are happy these days. They howl in the rain at the sirens from the fire trucks, and Iris loves to hang out with her scorpion.