So, I have been thinking long and hard about what I am trying to accomplish since beginning the Paleo diet. Of course, it is not really a diet unless you define diet as either 1a, 1b, or 1c from the following example. 1d most certainly is not what I am thinking when I say diet. I am eating when I am hungry and not eating when I am not hungry, simply because some silly schedule says it's time to eat.
Definition of DIET
1a : food and drink regularly provided or consumed
b : habitual nourishment
c : the kind and amount of food prescribed for a person or animal for a special reason
d : a regimen of eating and drinking sparingly so as to reduce one's weight
2: something provided or experienced repeatedly
But, to clarify, I did go into this desperate to lose some weight so that I could meet a huge performance goal... talked about that already: Make the US Centurion List. I was not feeling healthy, and I was totally lacking in any confidence in my ability to meet the challenge I had already signed on for.
There has been tons of discussion on Strong is the New Skinny about how the word skinny offends, shocks, startles. I cannot let words of any kind get in the way of my goal which is to get to the body weight my genetic makeup tells me I am supposed to be. Yes, I am weighing myself, because that is one measure of progress. I am also taking measurements... mainly waist and hip. I am also paying attention to how much better my clothes fit. I may never wear a bikini (I am almost 50 and have been moderately obese all my life) but I am fine with that... this is not about how I look, it's about how I feel and meeting that performance goal.
I also understand, as I have stated in the past, that being an endurance athlete does not exactly scream Paleo/Primal... but it is what I do. I also do some lifting, and maybe as I get to the weight my body is supposed to be, I will be able to increase my lifting to help speed up the body fat loss.
Talking about food again... baked pork country style ribs seasoned with garlic, a little cayenne, thyme and rosemary. Side of steamed butternut squash and a veggie salad dressed with high quality olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
My walking workout last night was amazing and spot on! the details:
so... the goal of these slower, steady paced treadmill workouts is to try and get my body to recognize that 13:30 is an ez pace. Start off the first mile for warm up, then increase the speed to 4.4mph or around 13:37 minutes per mile pace and maintain that pace while keeping the hr at around 70% for 4 miles at that speed, then slowly ramp the speed down in the last mile for cool down.
This was a very successful workout. 6 miles - 1:23:29 - overall average pace 13:55 - miles 2 through 5 pace 13:37 - Average HR: 128 / Max HR: 138
Next blog post will certainly contain a progress photo.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Omg, another blog entry!
Just have a few things to share today.
#1 – thanks to Strong is the New Skinny for challenging us to do better!
#2 – I want to share my workouts from Monday and Wednesday… they are on Running Ahead. It’s the website I use to track all my mileage.
#3 – I will be turning 50 on March 11, and I am truly excited about reaching this milestone. I am healthier right now than I have ever been, because I was the FAT KID all my life.
#4 – thanks to Ruth for needing a training partner on Mondays! She and I are going to make a great team. She is faster than I am, and I have more long distance endurance. So, she will help me become faster and more efficient, and I will help her increase her endurance!
I also like to talk about my meals… This morning, I had a couple pieces of bacon and one egg. I was not really hungry, but hubby cooked breakfast, so I ate a little.
Lunch: some celery sticks with cashew butter, radishes and heirloom tomatoes with olive oil vinaigrette (still not very hungry).
Dinner tonight after my treadmill hill workout: 2 small flounder filets cooked in a mix of olive and coconut oils, a small sweet potato (increasing carb intake with mileage increases) and a huge serving of mixed veggies (broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, squash and onions) with garlic and olive oil.
Feeling great, off to clean up the dishes then in the shower and to bed early! Sleep is awesome!
Thanks, Jerry!
Maryann
#1 – thanks to Strong is the New Skinny for challenging us to do better!
#2 – I want to share my workouts from Monday and Wednesday… they are on Running Ahead. It’s the website I use to track all my mileage.
#3 – I will be turning 50 on March 11, and I am truly excited about reaching this milestone. I am healthier right now than I have ever been, because I was the FAT KID all my life.
#4 – thanks to Ruth for needing a training partner on Mondays! She and I are going to make a great team. She is faster than I am, and I have more long distance endurance. So, she will help me become faster and more efficient, and I will help her increase her endurance!
I also like to talk about my meals… This morning, I had a couple pieces of bacon and one egg. I was not really hungry, but hubby cooked breakfast, so I ate a little.
Lunch: some celery sticks with cashew butter, radishes and heirloom tomatoes with olive oil vinaigrette (still not very hungry).
Dinner tonight after my treadmill hill workout: 2 small flounder filets cooked in a mix of olive and coconut oils, a small sweet potato (increasing carb intake with mileage increases) and a huge serving of mixed veggies (broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, asparagus, squash and onions) with garlic and olive oil.
Feeling great, off to clean up the dishes then in the shower and to bed early! Sleep is awesome!
Thanks, Jerry!
Maryann
Paleo? Me?
I have been thinking about starting to blog again. But, finding the time to write is a real challenge for me. These pictures show the overweight, struggling me... the trainig pic is over the summer, doing a 12 hour overnight training walk with some friends in Houston.
I finished my first 100 mile event January 1, 2011. I was really overwhelmed at the time, so happy and proud! This was my third attempt, the first two ended in DNF. Not that a DNF in a 100 is the end of the world. Each race has its ups and downs, and Did Not Finish is better than Did Nothing Fatal! The self portrait below is how I looked right after the race, at my heaviest
weight in a long time.
Immediately after the race, as I was driving home from Phoenix, I had a huge revelation. I will never reach my goal of having my name added to the Centurion list. I was 20 to 25 pounds overweight, and yes, I did just walk 100 miles, but it took me 45 hours of a 48 hour race. The more I train for ultras, the more crap I ate. I was desperately trying to keep my energy level up. It seemed as if cookies were the answer. I also ate twice as much fruit as I did vegetables. Trapped in a low fat, high carbohydrate cycle, I just kept gaining all the weight I had lost back, a couple of pounds at a time.
The back story on the initial weight loss: I have always been a carbohydrate and sugar junkie, and after I stopped drinking alcohol to excess… sugary foods were the next logical step. I moved from one addiction to another. When I realized what had happened, I was all the way up to 215 pounds. That was in 2004. My back was such a mess; I could hardly get out of bed in the morning. I went to the doctor for one thing or another (I don’t remember the reason) and the doctor finally got through to me. He told me if I kept this yo-yoing with my weight up, I was going to kill myself. You might as well just stay fat. That was the straw that broke this camel’s back. I started walking, a little bet every day. The more I did, the better I felt. So I looked for an eating plan I could live with. I changed my carbohydrate intake to brown. I ate more fat (olive oil and peanut butter), and I ate lots of vegetables and fruit. I lost 70 pounds in about 9 months and found racewalking. I never knew I had a competitive bone in my body… now I was racing regularly and have even won a few walking competitions. The more I raced, the more I wanted to race and I did my first full marathon in 2006! Wow, that was awesome, but I know there is more. That’s how I found about the Centurion list. In order to get one’s name added to the list one must walk 100 miles or more in 24 hours or less at a judged competition. Competition meaning there are more than one person making a Centurion attempt. This is the goal I have had in mind since 2006.
Fast forward to where I am now, driving home from Phoenix on January 2, 2011. I was ready to give up on my Centurion goal because I had let my food addictions take over yet again and was back up to 170. I mulled this over and finally posted something silly on Facebook about the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon. If they would count the 20 extra pounds I am carrying around, I could just add a 15 pound pack and enter the heavy division of the marathon. A new, awesome friend saw it and sent me a private message about Paleo, and the rest is history.
January 12, I flipped the switch and removed everything containing sugar from my food intake. I already drink high quality coffee black with no cream or sugar, so I could still have my cuppa joe. It is amazing how when I set my mind to NO SUGAR, I was able to just quit, cold. I was still eating a few grains such as one slice of homemade wheat bread made in to French toast, or a serving of organic oatmeal. I talked to a couple more friends about slowly cutting the grains and they suggested that would just be self-torture, so, January 18 I flipped that switch and have had NO grains since. It took a couple of weeks to learn to eat when hungry and to stop obsessing over food logging, and I lost 6.5 pounds by January 22. It was so easy; I didn’t even feel like I was depriving myself of anything. Oh, and drinking coffee is no longer a necessity… but a pure pleasure. My energy level had increased dramatically! I didn’t start my serious training until after I had lost a total of 12 pounds, which was January 30. Can you believe it? I lost 12 pounds in 18 days with little effort, and this time, I can actually see the weight coming off my waistline. It’s like a miracle for me, as I have ALWAYS been fat, even when I was thin. I know a lot of people who read this will understand that statement.
I have been absorbing everything I can find online and recently bought the revised edition of The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. and The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. I also love reading from Mark’s Daily Apple. I am sure I will buy Mark Sisson’s book next. The folks at “Strong is the New Skinny” are also great sources on inspiration. I love to read the testimonials people send in about their amazing transformations, physical as well as emotional!
Today is February 23, 2011, and my weight this morning was 151.2. That makes my total weight loss to date 18.8 pounds. I am back to my endurance training 4 days a week, and desperate to find a way to include more strength training to my routine. I know ST is critical… maybe with a little exterior prodding, I will be encouraged enough to find a way to fit all the things I need to do into my schedule. I posted on FB the other day and will repeat here that my lumbar spine is pretty jacked up… no disc material left between L5 and S1, so there will be none of that: “Lift Heavy Things”, I will have to figure out how isometrics and resistance bands, etc can make a difference. I am stronger, but don’t want to derail my endurance training because I did something stupid with weights. Oh, and check out this calf muscle. Isn't it awesome!
Maryann, who is so happy to be where she is today, only needing to lose another 5 to 8 pounds, but ready to let the body decide what it wants to weigh!
I finished my first 100 mile event January 1, 2011. I was really overwhelmed at the time, so happy and proud! This was my third attempt, the first two ended in DNF. Not that a DNF in a 100 is the end of the world. Each race has its ups and downs, and Did Not Finish is better than Did Nothing Fatal! The self portrait below is how I looked right after the race, at my heaviest
weight in a long time.Immediately after the race, as I was driving home from Phoenix, I had a huge revelation. I will never reach my goal of having my name added to the Centurion list. I was 20 to 25 pounds overweight, and yes, I did just walk 100 miles, but it took me 45 hours of a 48 hour race. The more I train for ultras, the more crap I ate. I was desperately trying to keep my energy level up. It seemed as if cookies were the answer. I also ate twice as much fruit as I did vegetables. Trapped in a low fat, high carbohydrate cycle, I just kept gaining all the weight I had lost back, a couple of pounds at a time.
The back story on the initial weight loss: I have always been a carbohydrate and sugar junkie, and after I stopped drinking alcohol to excess… sugary foods were the next logical step. I moved from one addiction to another. When I realized what had happened, I was all the way up to 215 pounds. That was in 2004. My back was such a mess; I could hardly get out of bed in the morning. I went to the doctor for one thing or another (I don’t remember the reason) and the doctor finally got through to me. He told me if I kept this yo-yoing with my weight up, I was going to kill myself. You might as well just stay fat. That was the straw that broke this camel’s back. I started walking, a little bet every day. The more I did, the better I felt. So I looked for an eating plan I could live with. I changed my carbohydrate intake to brown. I ate more fat (olive oil and peanut butter), and I ate lots of vegetables and fruit. I lost 70 pounds in about 9 months and found racewalking. I never knew I had a competitive bone in my body… now I was racing regularly and have even won a few walking competitions. The more I raced, the more I wanted to race and I did my first full marathon in 2006! Wow, that was awesome, but I know there is more. That’s how I found about the Centurion list. In order to get one’s name added to the list one must walk 100 miles or more in 24 hours or less at a judged competition. Competition meaning there are more than one person making a Centurion attempt. This is the goal I have had in mind since 2006.
Fast forward to where I am now, driving home from Phoenix on January 2, 2011. I was ready to give up on my Centurion goal because I had let my food addictions take over yet again and was back up to 170. I mulled this over and finally posted something silly on Facebook about the Bataan Memorial Death March Marathon. If they would count the 20 extra pounds I am carrying around, I could just add a 15 pound pack and enter the heavy division of the marathon. A new, awesome friend saw it and sent me a private message about Paleo, and the rest is history.
January 12, I flipped the switch and removed everything containing sugar from my food intake. I already drink high quality coffee black with no cream or sugar, so I could still have my cuppa joe. It is amazing how when I set my mind to NO SUGAR, I was able to just quit, cold. I was still eating a few grains such as one slice of homemade wheat bread made in to French toast, or a serving of organic oatmeal. I talked to a couple more friends about slowly cutting the grains and they suggested that would just be self-torture, so, January 18 I flipped that switch and have had NO grains since. It took a couple of weeks to learn to eat when hungry and to stop obsessing over food logging, and I lost 6.5 pounds by January 22. It was so easy; I didn’t even feel like I was depriving myself of anything. Oh, and drinking coffee is no longer a necessity… but a pure pleasure. My energy level had increased dramatically! I didn’t start my serious training until after I had lost a total of 12 pounds, which was January 30. Can you believe it? I lost 12 pounds in 18 days with little effort, and this time, I can actually see the weight coming off my waistline. It’s like a miracle for me, as I have ALWAYS been fat, even when I was thin. I know a lot of people who read this will understand that statement.
I have been absorbing everything I can find online and recently bought the revised edition of The Paleo Diet and The Paleo Diet for Athletes by Loren Cordain, Ph.D. and The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. I also love reading from Mark’s Daily Apple. I am sure I will buy Mark Sisson’s book next. The folks at “Strong is the New Skinny” are also great sources on inspiration. I love to read the testimonials people send in about their amazing transformations, physical as well as emotional!
Today is February 23, 2011, and my weight this morning was 151.2. That makes my total weight loss to date 18.8 pounds. I am back to my endurance training 4 days a week, and desperate to find a way to include more strength training to my routine. I know ST is critical… maybe with a little exterior prodding, I will be encouraged enough to find a way to fit all the things I need to do into my schedule. I posted on FB the other day and will repeat here that my lumbar spine is pretty jacked up… no disc material left between L5 and S1, so there will be none of that: “Lift Heavy Things”, I will have to figure out how isometrics and resistance bands, etc can make a difference. I am stronger, but don’t want to derail my endurance training because I did something stupid with weights. Oh, and check out this calf muscle. Isn't it awesome!
Maryann, who is so happy to be where she is today, only needing to lose another 5 to 8 pounds, but ready to let the body decide what it wants to weigh!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Across The Years
So, I have been screwing around long enough. It is time to put some thoughts down on paper about my first 100 mile finish. Sucks I had to enter a 48 hour race to walk 100 miles, but if I had to do it over again, I would certainly do it at ATY!
Part 1: The Drive to Arizona
I was planning to leave early Sunday morning so that my drive through west Texas could be done at 80mph. I ended up having to work and did not leave Sealy until about 7pm. It was already almost dark and it takes a LONG time to drive through Texas when the night speed limit on I10 is 65. . I think I stopped at a rest area (where?) at about 1am and slept in the car for about 2 hours because I was just too tired to drive any further without resting. Started out again and just kept cruising until I stopped for breakfast and just to get out of the car for a little while in Las Cruces. The rest of the drive was uneventful and I made it to my friend, Lauri’s house sometime Monday afternoon. I rested a little, and had dinner with Lauri and her family. She was kind enough to let me use her cabana as my base camp for the week! It was very comfortable and afforded me some privacy.
Tuesday, I was able to visit my Aunt Cil and Uncle Bob who also live in the Phoenix area. We had a nice lunch. After that, it was back to Lauri’s to organize my things in the car so I could go out to Nardini Manor where the race was held.
Part2: Across the Years at Nardini Manor
I arrived at the race site, and went to pick up my race materials and wonderful assortment of gear that came along with the entry fee. Gear bag, North Face fleece, North Face long sleeve tech shirt, Moeben sleeves and race bib belt. I went out a day early to work the aid station day 1 from 8-2, as my race did not start until Thursday morning. I also wanted to check out the race setup I had heard so much about. There was a huge tent, large enough for all the race participants to set up their individual tents inside of it. Inside this huge tent, there were two smaller heated tents where runners could take naps or simply come inside to warm up. I had NO idea how cold it could get in the desert outside of Phoenix, but was soon to find out because I slept in the car Tuesday night. I froze my ass off, even with a sleeping bag for cover! I did not have a problem getting up early in the morning. It seemed warmer outside the car than it did inside when I got up to make my oatmeal and get ready to help those first day runners. What a great group of people. The Coury family knows how to put on an ultra event! They have a full outdoor kitchen to prepare hot foods which were really needed at this race. It never got over 40 degrees that first day, and it started to rain at about 11am. I really felt for the runners and did everything I could to help make sure they had all they needed from the aid station… from hot chocolate to coffee and hot tea, hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. When my shift was over at 2pm, I was wet and muddy all the way up to my knees. The track was a muddy mess, even though Nick, Jamil, Nathan and all the other volunteers did everything they could to try and drain the water from the surface. The weather just got worse throughout the day and into the night. My friend Deborah invited me out to dinner with another friend, and we ate some wonderful pasta at Macaroni Grill, then it was time to hit the sleeping bag because the three of us were all starting our 48 hour race Thursday morning.
Deborah had set up her tent, and the cot would not fit inside, so she allowed me to put my sleeping bag in the tent. I am sure happy she did, because during the night, the wind howled so fiercely through the large tent, that Deborah had to fight to keep her blankets on, though the cot was inside the big tent. I was sleeping on the cold hard brick floor, but at least I was warm! Listening to the wind howl and the rain pounding down, I felt like I was in a hurricane, not out in the desert! This weather is apparently very unusual for Phoenix.
Part 3: Let my 48 hours begin!
I woke up early and got my Hammer Perpetuem/Hammer Gel mixture ready to start the race. 9am and we were off after a short briefing on how the race is managed. We changed directions on the track every two hours and that ended up being my favorite part of the race. LOL We were following each other around in circles with our names on our behinds and it was nice to look at faces once in a while. They have a messaging system where runners can receive messages from friends and a live webcast of the race which I am sure not everyone knew also had a live audio feed to the race website. I was planning to follow the 5k/break 50k/longer break pattern that had worked so well for me at Run Like the Wind. So, that’s what I did, though instead of just taking a break after 50k, I took a nap. It was rather difficult to get going again after the nap, but I changed clothes in the heated restroom and got my arse back out on the track after what I would guess to be about 2:30 after I finished the first 50k. It was SO cold outside by then, I think about 28! Everything was covered with frost, even our jackets I think. I was dressed in multiple layers (3 pants and 4 or 5 shirts). I was still cold, but able to keep moving. The second 50k was complete at about 7:30 am or 100k within 22:30. I went back into the heated tent for another nap, just thankful that I had been able to keep moving all night! I knew when I went back out to begin day 2 that I would not reach my dream goal of 201 kilometers. I was fine with that; just knowing I was certain to walk 100 miles is all I was really concerned with anyway. Dream goals are just that, dreams that sometimes to our complete surprise, come true.
Things were still going well for me, and one thing about me, I always have fun. After all, if this was NOT fun, I would not be doing it. So, I wear loud polka dot tights and they call me Hot Pants. Whatever. It’s FUN! I even got to walk a while with Ed “Madhatter Fancypants” for a while. What a cool guy. He and Adreas were duking it out for first place in the 72 hour race, and then they decided to tie it up. They ran/walked I think the whole last 24 hours together. Every step! I was planning to take my next little nap at 91 miles so I would have less than 10 to go to make that magic number of 100 miles, but it was almost midnight. Another nice runner would not let me go in for my nap and miss the New Year’s celebration. The RD’s called us all in from the track where they passed out party hats and noisemakers. We had a choice of champagne or sparkling cider to toast the new year, and as we all walked a loop on the track together, there was our own private fireworks display! When I stopped for another nap I was at 93 miles and only wanted to sleep for an hour, Ed and Andreas entered the heated area when it was time for me to get up and there was only one open cot… I quickly got up and gave one of them the cot I had been sleeping in. It took a little while for me to get all my layers back on… by this time I had on 4 pants and 7 shirts! It was SO cold, and the only way to keep warm under those circumstances is many layers. I felt like that kid in A Christmas Story… I couldn’t put my arms down at my sides!
I crossed the timing mat for 100 miles at 5:50:03 am, 44 hours and 50 minutes after I started! I thought for a while I might try to continue, but why? I did one more lap for good measure, and then went in for one more nap in the heated tent. I did come out to see the last runners cross the mat and it was amazing! What an experience! If I had to enter a 48 hour race to get to 100 miles the first time, then this was the race to do it at! WOW!
The awards ceremony was great! Every single runner/walker was recognized for their achievement. No one was made to feel like they did not belong. There were some amazing stories… the 2,000 mile jacket awarded to Martina Housman, the 1,000 mile jacked awarded to Ulli Kamm, the youngest person ever to complete 100 miles at this race… 13 years old! WOW! When they got to me and awarded me my 100 mile belt buckle, I felt like I would cry…and they all cheered for me!
I actually had been tearing up off and on ever since I finished. I am ok with being weepy over such a huge accomplishment. I am also ok now with that let down feeling I got immediately after it was over.
We all packed up our things, wondering if the race will be held at this wonderful place ever again. The owner has moved and the place is for sale. So happy I was able to be there. Funny thing is that if this was the last year for ATY at Nardini Manor, it will be the second time I reached a milestone at a race that will no longer exist as it stands. I did my first ultra (a 50k) at the last edition of Sunmart.
Part 4: after ATY
The drive to Lauri’s house in Mesa was really tough. I went straight to sleep for about 4 hours… then was treated to one of the best blue cheeseburgers I ever ate! I was treated to a spinning session… Lauri spins her own yard from fibers she gets locally, then knits all sorts of wonderful things! Too sleepy for words, I went back to sleep and didn’t get up until around 9am on Sunday. My mind was all screwed up, I thought it was Monday already. Thank goodness it was not. I had to be at work on Tuesday and the drive home was not going to be fun. I ended up stopping for the night in Van Horn Texas and continuing home Monday morning.
BECAUSE YOU CAN DRIVE 80MPH in west Texas in the day time.
I called lots of folks on the way home to thank them for the wonderful and fun messages I received during the race via the mailbox system. Spoke to a few of them about how LET DOWN I felt immediately after the race. I started to feel like a failure because it took me so long to reach 100 miles, and HOW, just HOW I would ever dream to think I could walk 100 miles in less than 24 hours. That let down feeling did not stay with me too long. I am now on a new path, thanks to another friend. And, that Centurion goal does not seem as elusive any more.
Part 1: The Drive to Arizona
I was planning to leave early Sunday morning so that my drive through west Texas could be done at 80mph. I ended up having to work and did not leave Sealy until about 7pm. It was already almost dark and it takes a LONG time to drive through Texas when the night speed limit on I10 is 65. . I think I stopped at a rest area (where?) at about 1am and slept in the car for about 2 hours because I was just too tired to drive any further without resting. Started out again and just kept cruising until I stopped for breakfast and just to get out of the car for a little while in Las Cruces. The rest of the drive was uneventful and I made it to my friend, Lauri’s house sometime Monday afternoon. I rested a little, and had dinner with Lauri and her family. She was kind enough to let me use her cabana as my base camp for the week! It was very comfortable and afforded me some privacy.
Tuesday, I was able to visit my Aunt Cil and Uncle Bob who also live in the Phoenix area. We had a nice lunch. After that, it was back to Lauri’s to organize my things in the car so I could go out to Nardini Manor where the race was held.
Part2: Across the Years at Nardini Manor
I arrived at the race site, and went to pick up my race materials and wonderful assortment of gear that came along with the entry fee. Gear bag, North Face fleece, North Face long sleeve tech shirt, Moeben sleeves and race bib belt. I went out a day early to work the aid station day 1 from 8-2, as my race did not start until Thursday morning. I also wanted to check out the race setup I had heard so much about. There was a huge tent, large enough for all the race participants to set up their individual tents inside of it. Inside this huge tent, there were two smaller heated tents where runners could take naps or simply come inside to warm up. I had NO idea how cold it could get in the desert outside of Phoenix, but was soon to find out because I slept in the car Tuesday night. I froze my ass off, even with a sleeping bag for cover! I did not have a problem getting up early in the morning. It seemed warmer outside the car than it did inside when I got up to make my oatmeal and get ready to help those first day runners. What a great group of people. The Coury family knows how to put on an ultra event! They have a full outdoor kitchen to prepare hot foods which were really needed at this race. It never got over 40 degrees that first day, and it started to rain at about 11am. I really felt for the runners and did everything I could to help make sure they had all they needed from the aid station… from hot chocolate to coffee and hot tea, hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. When my shift was over at 2pm, I was wet and muddy all the way up to my knees. The track was a muddy mess, even though Nick, Jamil, Nathan and all the other volunteers did everything they could to try and drain the water from the surface. The weather just got worse throughout the day and into the night. My friend Deborah invited me out to dinner with another friend, and we ate some wonderful pasta at Macaroni Grill, then it was time to hit the sleeping bag because the three of us were all starting our 48 hour race Thursday morning.
Deborah had set up her tent, and the cot would not fit inside, so she allowed me to put my sleeping bag in the tent. I am sure happy she did, because during the night, the wind howled so fiercely through the large tent, that Deborah had to fight to keep her blankets on, though the cot was inside the big tent. I was sleeping on the cold hard brick floor, but at least I was warm! Listening to the wind howl and the rain pounding down, I felt like I was in a hurricane, not out in the desert! This weather is apparently very unusual for Phoenix.
Part 3: Let my 48 hours begin!
I woke up early and got my Hammer Perpetuem/Hammer Gel mixture ready to start the race. 9am and we were off after a short briefing on how the race is managed. We changed directions on the track every two hours and that ended up being my favorite part of the race. LOL We were following each other around in circles with our names on our behinds and it was nice to look at faces once in a while. They have a messaging system where runners can receive messages from friends and a live webcast of the race which I am sure not everyone knew also had a live audio feed to the race website. I was planning to follow the 5k/break 50k/longer break pattern that had worked so well for me at Run Like the Wind. So, that’s what I did, though instead of just taking a break after 50k, I took a nap. It was rather difficult to get going again after the nap, but I changed clothes in the heated restroom and got my arse back out on the track after what I would guess to be about 2:30 after I finished the first 50k. It was SO cold outside by then, I think about 28! Everything was covered with frost, even our jackets I think. I was dressed in multiple layers (3 pants and 4 or 5 shirts). I was still cold, but able to keep moving. The second 50k was complete at about 7:30 am or 100k within 22:30. I went back into the heated tent for another nap, just thankful that I had been able to keep moving all night! I knew when I went back out to begin day 2 that I would not reach my dream goal of 201 kilometers. I was fine with that; just knowing I was certain to walk 100 miles is all I was really concerned with anyway. Dream goals are just that, dreams that sometimes to our complete surprise, come true.
Things were still going well for me, and one thing about me, I always have fun. After all, if this was NOT fun, I would not be doing it. So, I wear loud polka dot tights and they call me Hot Pants. Whatever. It’s FUN! I even got to walk a while with Ed “Madhatter Fancypants” for a while. What a cool guy. He and Adreas were duking it out for first place in the 72 hour race, and then they decided to tie it up. They ran/walked I think the whole last 24 hours together. Every step! I was planning to take my next little nap at 91 miles so I would have less than 10 to go to make that magic number of 100 miles, but it was almost midnight. Another nice runner would not let me go in for my nap and miss the New Year’s celebration. The RD’s called us all in from the track where they passed out party hats and noisemakers. We had a choice of champagne or sparkling cider to toast the new year, and as we all walked a loop on the track together, there was our own private fireworks display! When I stopped for another nap I was at 93 miles and only wanted to sleep for an hour, Ed and Andreas entered the heated area when it was time for me to get up and there was only one open cot… I quickly got up and gave one of them the cot I had been sleeping in. It took a little while for me to get all my layers back on… by this time I had on 4 pants and 7 shirts! It was SO cold, and the only way to keep warm under those circumstances is many layers. I felt like that kid in A Christmas Story… I couldn’t put my arms down at my sides!
I crossed the timing mat for 100 miles at 5:50:03 am, 44 hours and 50 minutes after I started! I thought for a while I might try to continue, but why? I did one more lap for good measure, and then went in for one more nap in the heated tent. I did come out to see the last runners cross the mat and it was amazing! What an experience! If I had to enter a 48 hour race to get to 100 miles the first time, then this was the race to do it at! WOW!
The awards ceremony was great! Every single runner/walker was recognized for their achievement. No one was made to feel like they did not belong. There were some amazing stories… the 2,000 mile jacket awarded to Martina Housman, the 1,000 mile jacked awarded to Ulli Kamm, the youngest person ever to complete 100 miles at this race… 13 years old! WOW! When they got to me and awarded me my 100 mile belt buckle, I felt like I would cry…and they all cheered for me!
I actually had been tearing up off and on ever since I finished. I am ok with being weepy over such a huge accomplishment. I am also ok now with that let down feeling I got immediately after it was over.
We all packed up our things, wondering if the race will be held at this wonderful place ever again. The owner has moved and the place is for sale. So happy I was able to be there. Funny thing is that if this was the last year for ATY at Nardini Manor, it will be the second time I reached a milestone at a race that will no longer exist as it stands. I did my first ultra (a 50k) at the last edition of Sunmart.
Part 4: after ATY
The drive to Lauri’s house in Mesa was really tough. I went straight to sleep for about 4 hours… then was treated to one of the best blue cheeseburgers I ever ate! I was treated to a spinning session… Lauri spins her own yard from fibers she gets locally, then knits all sorts of wonderful things! Too sleepy for words, I went back to sleep and didn’t get up until around 9am on Sunday. My mind was all screwed up, I thought it was Monday already. Thank goodness it was not. I had to be at work on Tuesday and the drive home was not going to be fun. I ended up stopping for the night in Van Horn Texas and continuing home Monday morning.
BECAUSE YOU CAN DRIVE 80MPH in west Texas in the day time.
I called lots of folks on the way home to thank them for the wonderful and fun messages I received during the race via the mailbox system. Spoke to a few of them about how LET DOWN I felt immediately after the race. I started to feel like a failure because it took me so long to reach 100 miles, and HOW, just HOW I would ever dream to think I could walk 100 miles in less than 24 hours. That let down feeling did not stay with me too long. I am now on a new path, thanks to another friend. And, that Centurion goal does not seem as elusive any more.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Run Like the Wind 24hr
Part 2 of my very busy day December 4, 2010:
Or as I like to refer to it: Walk Like the Breeze! Because that is what I felt like, the breeze! The Sealy 5k Jingle Bell Fun Run and Competitive Walk was such a huge success… I was on cloud 52! I don’t think it would have been possible for me to have a bad race. I don’t know what time it was when I left for Austin Saturday, but it must have been about 12:45 when I got to the race site. Race location and all information about the race are at this link: http://schrodifund.org/RunLiketheWind.htm.
What an awesome place! My first impression was turning off of a very busy Business 71 onto Old Bee Caves Road and finding wilderness within 1/4 mile of the highway! Saw my friend Mary Ntefidou just as I arrived at the race site. She is an amazing runner and an awesome friend! Soon after that I saw Deborah Sexton and not long after that, Debbie Evans, two more of my awesome ultra running friends. Deborah, Debbie and I are all getting ready for Across the Years http://www.acrosstheyears.com/ in December.
It took me a few minutes to get my gear ready and pick up my race packet and timing chip. Funny thing is that my goal for this race was to get in at least 100k. Guess what my race number was… 101. Anyone who knows me understands why I simply could not, would not stop at 100k. It had to be 101 or more. I fully intended to get on the course and walk until 10:30 Sunday morning. I gave the race director the leftover bananas and oranges from the Sealy 5k so they would not go to waste.
Next - hurry up and get on the course for a few laps. The loop was not really a loop, but a 1 kilometer meander through a beautiful wooded trail that was covered in mulch with a few well placed trip hazards (small tree stumps hidden in the mulch). After I walked the first 5k, I got my stuff from the car to set up my drop bag area with the other race participants. My plan for this race was to stop for a few minutes every time I completed 5k and look at the next one as a new 5k! I would certainly reach my distance goal if I only completed 5k an hour, and I was completing them just a teeny bit faster than that, including the stopped periods. I knew that I would probably slow down during the night, so whatever I could put in the bag before dark would be a huge bonus. Oops, just realized I forgot my headlamp. And I forgot to eat any solid food since really early that morning. Thanks to Deborah Sexton and Debbie Evans, who brought extra gear and had a headlamp I could borrow. Many thanks to RD Sam Voltaggio, chef extraordinaire… the race chow was amazing. When I realized how hungry I was, I asked for some protein and was given the most delicious burger I had ever tasted (only the meat, no bun or anything else). I don’t know where Sammy gets his beef or how he seasons it… but WOW!
The funny thing about me and race food is that I usually do not eat anything heavy during races. I usually totally rely on Perpetuem, Hammer Gel, Endurolytes, a spoonful of plain peanut butter every now and then, some bananas and orange slices, and some pineapple juice for variety, oh and don’t forget the black coffee during the night. But, that beef patty was just what I needed at the time. I never got any stomach discomfort or restroom issues through the whole race. When the sun started to go down, I put on a long sleeve shirt because the temperature dropped a little. I was not ready for the thermals until some time after midnight when I believe the cold front came through. Thankfully it was a dry front, so the wind just picked up a little and we were mostly protected from the wind by the woods.
Back to the race plan; I mostly stuck to the plan of walking 5 loops and taking a little rest break, from 2 to 5 minutes. I love that the loop was 1k, so I never had to carry anything. I could wait a few hundred meters if I got thirsty on the trail. I usually took a small drink of water or Heed at 3k, and then drank plenty every time I refueled. There were a few times when I just refueled, hydrated and kept moving, but that was not part of the plan, so I was very careful to take the breaks. After all, this was supposed to be a training walk… getting me ready for Across the Years. I didn’t start at the same time as everyone else, so no chance I was going to move up from last place.
I need to repeat once more what a wonderful place this was to have an event like this! Thinking about the things I heard and saw (?) in the woods after dark. I was listening to my usual heavy metal with only one earbud in and started to hear strange sounds so turned off the music for a while. I was just the wind making the tree limbs creak and groan. The strange things I was seeing turned out to be rather large spiders trying to make their way through the mulch bed on the path. Their eyes glowed in the light from the headlamp like tiny little green strobe lights. There must have been thousands of them. The reason I know they were spiders is I stopped to see where the little green flashing lights were coming from… and it was a huge honking spider! (Not really that huge, about the size of a nickel including his legs) So, I had fun avoiding crushing spiders and watching out for those hidden tree stumps. Let me tell you, when you walk the same 1 kilometer loop enough times, you begin to remember exactly where you will encounter the trip hazards. LOL… I know I said a few choice words but I never fell down! Amazing, isn’t it!
I know the volunteers and the RD thought I was totally crazy, but I REALLY had FUN at this race. I arrived in such a great mood and it is sometimes hard for me to contain myself. Several times I jumped for joy as I crossed the timing mat.
I don’t remember exactly what time it was, but I had to change into thermal tights and shirt. This dog training facility has a really nice house for their office space and allowed us to use the indoor restroom to change clothes. Yes, I am a trail racer, but I have a problem with getting naked in public, so I took about a 45 minute break to go indoors and strip naked. I cleaned up a little and put on dry clothes from the drawers out after 50k. Again, I felt like I was starting a new race.
I think I started getting tired around 4am, so asked for some solid food again. I ate half of a bbq chicken breast and it was delicious. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I ate some chicken noodle soup during the night. These things are all running together in my mind now so forgive the sporadic nature of this report. Thinking about time and pacing, 15 hours into my race (17:45 on the official clock) I had 16 5k’s complete, so I had one extra in the bag. Still feeling great I had been walking the kilometers anywhere from 9 to 10 minutes each, and then taking the break after 5k. I don’t know what time it was, but I had a burst of energy during the early morning house and walked 3 loops in a row in 8min30sec! I have NEVER felt this good at a race before! It was daylight when I reached 100k, and the race was to conclude at 10:30, and I was still feeling fine. So, I kept walking though I know I was slower. We had live results that we could check all night, so at one point I saw myself move up from last place to 7 out of 8 total participants. 6 were women and two were men (one guy dropped early due to injury). Then, I moved up to 6 out of 8. When I saw myself in 5th place, I started knocking out some really fast loops, not paying attention to the clock, just planning now to stop for a minute or two at 6k instead of 5k. I was taking extra Hammer Gel for energy it seemed to work for a little while, and then I regained my senses and just kept motoring forward and not trying to kill myself or cause an injury this late in the game. When I reached the end about 110k, I heard someone say “Wow, these women are kicking ASS!” Hearing those words really made me feel great. Sorry to say that the last man standing left at about 4 am or so because he had terrible stomach issues. I walked part of a loop with him a little while before he left and he is a very nice guy, competitive and really not happy that he had to leave when he did. He told me as he was leaving that he was practically walking into trees out there, so it was not safe for him to continue. I ended up with much, much more than I ever thought I would do at this race. I was imagining struggling to complete 100k and finished 113!
Here is the link to the final results where I ended up in 5th place overall, 4th place female: https://www.eventdatasolutions.com/2010_rltw_results/index.php?search_type=race_results&event=24H&gender=&division=&results_per_page=100. I NEVER dreamed I would do this well in this race, and I really want to thank Sam Voltaggio, Jeff Farrell, Jeff Linwood, Cheri Woldt (the winner), Mary Ntefidou (my dear friend who told me about this race), Deborah Sexton, Debbie Evans, Pat Shannon, Angela Ivory, the Schrodi Memorial Training Fund, and the owners of The Canine Center for Training and Behavior in Austin for allowing us 24 hour crazies to invade their space! I don’t know the names of the rest of the volunteers, but there were some high school students working on service hours and a couple of others whose names I don’t know. Everyone was awesome, and right now, I feel like I am writing an acceptance speech for an academy award or something.
The last huge thing I had to do was change clothes; load up the car and drive back home. I had planned to chill with Deborah and Debbie for a little while before going home, but changed my mind. Once I got going, I found Starbucks, then Sonic. A quad shot iced nonfat latte followed by a cheeseburger with jalapenos, some tater tots and a real Coke. I drove almost to LaGrange, and then had to pull over and sleep in the car for about an hour before I could make it the rest of the way home. I did not get to sleep until about 9pm, and I feel relatively good today. My legs are just a little sore, but here is the kicker… NO BLISTERS!!! The key to no blisters is changing into dry SmartWool socks about every 30 kilometers.
That is all.
Or as I like to refer to it: Walk Like the Breeze! Because that is what I felt like, the breeze! The Sealy 5k Jingle Bell Fun Run and Competitive Walk was such a huge success… I was on cloud 52! I don’t think it would have been possible for me to have a bad race. I don’t know what time it was when I left for Austin Saturday, but it must have been about 12:45 when I got to the race site. Race location and all information about the race are at this link: http://schrodifund.org/RunLiketheWind.htm.
What an awesome place! My first impression was turning off of a very busy Business 71 onto Old Bee Caves Road and finding wilderness within 1/4 mile of the highway! Saw my friend Mary Ntefidou just as I arrived at the race site. She is an amazing runner and an awesome friend! Soon after that I saw Deborah Sexton and not long after that, Debbie Evans, two more of my awesome ultra running friends. Deborah, Debbie and I are all getting ready for Across the Years http://www.acrosstheyears.com/ in December.
It took me a few minutes to get my gear ready and pick up my race packet and timing chip. Funny thing is that my goal for this race was to get in at least 100k. Guess what my race number was… 101. Anyone who knows me understands why I simply could not, would not stop at 100k. It had to be 101 or more. I fully intended to get on the course and walk until 10:30 Sunday morning. I gave the race director the leftover bananas and oranges from the Sealy 5k so they would not go to waste.
Next - hurry up and get on the course for a few laps. The loop was not really a loop, but a 1 kilometer meander through a beautiful wooded trail that was covered in mulch with a few well placed trip hazards (small tree stumps hidden in the mulch). After I walked the first 5k, I got my stuff from the car to set up my drop bag area with the other race participants. My plan for this race was to stop for a few minutes every time I completed 5k and look at the next one as a new 5k! I would certainly reach my distance goal if I only completed 5k an hour, and I was completing them just a teeny bit faster than that, including the stopped periods. I knew that I would probably slow down during the night, so whatever I could put in the bag before dark would be a huge bonus. Oops, just realized I forgot my headlamp. And I forgot to eat any solid food since really early that morning. Thanks to Deborah Sexton and Debbie Evans, who brought extra gear and had a headlamp I could borrow. Many thanks to RD Sam Voltaggio, chef extraordinaire… the race chow was amazing. When I realized how hungry I was, I asked for some protein and was given the most delicious burger I had ever tasted (only the meat, no bun or anything else). I don’t know where Sammy gets his beef or how he seasons it… but WOW!
The funny thing about me and race food is that I usually do not eat anything heavy during races. I usually totally rely on Perpetuem, Hammer Gel, Endurolytes, a spoonful of plain peanut butter every now and then, some bananas and orange slices, and some pineapple juice for variety, oh and don’t forget the black coffee during the night. But, that beef patty was just what I needed at the time. I never got any stomach discomfort or restroom issues through the whole race. When the sun started to go down, I put on a long sleeve shirt because the temperature dropped a little. I was not ready for the thermals until some time after midnight when I believe the cold front came through. Thankfully it was a dry front, so the wind just picked up a little and we were mostly protected from the wind by the woods.
Back to the race plan; I mostly stuck to the plan of walking 5 loops and taking a little rest break, from 2 to 5 minutes. I love that the loop was 1k, so I never had to carry anything. I could wait a few hundred meters if I got thirsty on the trail. I usually took a small drink of water or Heed at 3k, and then drank plenty every time I refueled. There were a few times when I just refueled, hydrated and kept moving, but that was not part of the plan, so I was very careful to take the breaks. After all, this was supposed to be a training walk… getting me ready for Across the Years. I didn’t start at the same time as everyone else, so no chance I was going to move up from last place.
I need to repeat once more what a wonderful place this was to have an event like this! Thinking about the things I heard and saw (?) in the woods after dark. I was listening to my usual heavy metal with only one earbud in and started to hear strange sounds so turned off the music for a while. I was just the wind making the tree limbs creak and groan. The strange things I was seeing turned out to be rather large spiders trying to make their way through the mulch bed on the path. Their eyes glowed in the light from the headlamp like tiny little green strobe lights. There must have been thousands of them. The reason I know they were spiders is I stopped to see where the little green flashing lights were coming from… and it was a huge honking spider! (Not really that huge, about the size of a nickel including his legs) So, I had fun avoiding crushing spiders and watching out for those hidden tree stumps. Let me tell you, when you walk the same 1 kilometer loop enough times, you begin to remember exactly where you will encounter the trip hazards. LOL… I know I said a few choice words but I never fell down! Amazing, isn’t it!
I know the volunteers and the RD thought I was totally crazy, but I REALLY had FUN at this race. I arrived in such a great mood and it is sometimes hard for me to contain myself. Several times I jumped for joy as I crossed the timing mat.
I don’t remember exactly what time it was, but I had to change into thermal tights and shirt. This dog training facility has a really nice house for their office space and allowed us to use the indoor restroom to change clothes. Yes, I am a trail racer, but I have a problem with getting naked in public, so I took about a 45 minute break to go indoors and strip naked. I cleaned up a little and put on dry clothes from the drawers out after 50k. Again, I felt like I was starting a new race.
I think I started getting tired around 4am, so asked for some solid food again. I ate half of a bbq chicken breast and it was delicious. Oh, I also forgot to mention that I ate some chicken noodle soup during the night. These things are all running together in my mind now so forgive the sporadic nature of this report. Thinking about time and pacing, 15 hours into my race (17:45 on the official clock) I had 16 5k’s complete, so I had one extra in the bag. Still feeling great I had been walking the kilometers anywhere from 9 to 10 minutes each, and then taking the break after 5k. I don’t know what time it was, but I had a burst of energy during the early morning house and walked 3 loops in a row in 8min30sec! I have NEVER felt this good at a race before! It was daylight when I reached 100k, and the race was to conclude at 10:30, and I was still feeling fine. So, I kept walking though I know I was slower. We had live results that we could check all night, so at one point I saw myself move up from last place to 7 out of 8 total participants. 6 were women and two were men (one guy dropped early due to injury). Then, I moved up to 6 out of 8. When I saw myself in 5th place, I started knocking out some really fast loops, not paying attention to the clock, just planning now to stop for a minute or two at 6k instead of 5k. I was taking extra Hammer Gel for energy it seemed to work for a little while, and then I regained my senses and just kept motoring forward and not trying to kill myself or cause an injury this late in the game. When I reached the end about 110k, I heard someone say “Wow, these women are kicking ASS!” Hearing those words really made me feel great. Sorry to say that the last man standing left at about 4 am or so because he had terrible stomach issues. I walked part of a loop with him a little while before he left and he is a very nice guy, competitive and really not happy that he had to leave when he did. He told me as he was leaving that he was practically walking into trees out there, so it was not safe for him to continue. I ended up with much, much more than I ever thought I would do at this race. I was imagining struggling to complete 100k and finished 113!
Here is the link to the final results where I ended up in 5th place overall, 4th place female: https://www.eventdatasolutions.com/2010_rltw_results/index.php?search_type=race_results&event=24H&gender=&division=&results_per_page=100. I NEVER dreamed I would do this well in this race, and I really want to thank Sam Voltaggio, Jeff Farrell, Jeff Linwood, Cheri Woldt (the winner), Mary Ntefidou (my dear friend who told me about this race), Deborah Sexton, Debbie Evans, Pat Shannon, Angela Ivory, the Schrodi Memorial Training Fund, and the owners of The Canine Center for Training and Behavior in Austin for allowing us 24 hour crazies to invade their space! I don’t know the names of the rest of the volunteers, but there were some high school students working on service hours and a couple of others whose names I don’t know. Everyone was awesome, and right now, I feel like I am writing an acceptance speech for an academy award or something.
The last huge thing I had to do was change clothes; load up the car and drive back home. I had planned to chill with Deborah and Debbie for a little while before going home, but changed my mind. Once I got going, I found Starbucks, then Sonic. A quad shot iced nonfat latte followed by a cheeseburger with jalapenos, some tater tots and a real Coke. I drove almost to LaGrange, and then had to pull over and sleep in the car for about an hour before I could make it the rest of the way home. I did not get to sleep until about 9pm, and I feel relatively good today. My legs are just a little sore, but here is the kicker… NO BLISTERS!!! The key to no blisters is changing into dry SmartWool socks about every 30 kilometers.
That is all.
Sealy 5k Jingle Bell Fun Run and Competitive Walk
Part 1 of my very busy day December 4, 2010.
I spent most of the day Friday marking the course. We had a meeting Friday night to make sure all the volunteers knew what they were supposed to do when directing the runners, so I felt confident that we would have no problems on the course. The past two years, folks had gotten lost because we did not have enough volunteers. The Sealy High School Choir Booster Club and the Choir students REALLY came through this year.
Up at 5:10 am… out to buy the bananas and off to the Hill Community Center to get the party started! The count shows we had about 60 people show up to sign up on race day for an estimated total of 115 participants. Wow, that’s about 30 more than last year! We may have started a few minutes late, but I tried to remember all the instructions (forgot to make one major statement… if you signed up to walk, make sure you walk every step because you will be disqualified if you run, and I had to disqualify one lady who ran across the finish line). Other than that one thing, everyone was perfect. I rode in the pace car to show the lead runners the course and also make sure my volunteers were in place. The winner, a 17 year young man, won the race in 18 minutes and change. It was a lot of fun watching the race from the front instead of from the back!
We got a lot of praises from race participants and I think the race will grow from this point forward. The 5th annual was a turning point for us. The Booster Club felt that if we could not get this right once and for all, we were going to give it up. I don’t know if we made a lot of money on it, and we could use a little more community support such as a large corporation to actually sponsor the run… $1,500.00 is a nice round number and would truthfully cover ALL the expenses, and then all the runners’ registration fees would stay with the club.
I will get the photos from Mrs. Kenner and post them up on my facebook page where anyone can see them, and copy past to get their finish line photo. When the event wrapped up and we had the party cleaned up, it was time for me to head out to Austin to start the 24 hour race I signed up for. The race director was kind enough to let me start late, just so I could get some experience walking all night… I will post the details about that one in the next blog post.
I spent most of the day Friday marking the course. We had a meeting Friday night to make sure all the volunteers knew what they were supposed to do when directing the runners, so I felt confident that we would have no problems on the course. The past two years, folks had gotten lost because we did not have enough volunteers. The Sealy High School Choir Booster Club and the Choir students REALLY came through this year.
Up at 5:10 am… out to buy the bananas and off to the Hill Community Center to get the party started! The count shows we had about 60 people show up to sign up on race day for an estimated total of 115 participants. Wow, that’s about 30 more than last year! We may have started a few minutes late, but I tried to remember all the instructions (forgot to make one major statement… if you signed up to walk, make sure you walk every step because you will be disqualified if you run, and I had to disqualify one lady who ran across the finish line). Other than that one thing, everyone was perfect. I rode in the pace car to show the lead runners the course and also make sure my volunteers were in place. The winner, a 17 year young man, won the race in 18 minutes and change. It was a lot of fun watching the race from the front instead of from the back!
We got a lot of praises from race participants and I think the race will grow from this point forward. The 5th annual was a turning point for us. The Booster Club felt that if we could not get this right once and for all, we were going to give it up. I don’t know if we made a lot of money on it, and we could use a little more community support such as a large corporation to actually sponsor the run… $1,500.00 is a nice round number and would truthfully cover ALL the expenses, and then all the runners’ registration fees would stay with the club.
I will get the photos from Mrs. Kenner and post them up on my facebook page where anyone can see them, and copy past to get their finish line photo. When the event wrapped up and we had the party cleaned up, it was time for me to head out to Austin to start the 24 hour race I signed up for. The race director was kind enough to let me start late, just so I could get some experience walking all night… I will post the details about that one in the next blog post.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Running for the Bay Marathon, Apalachicola Florida
I drove over to a friend's house a few hours from the race site on Thursday. She and I headed out to Apalachicola Friday as we had hotel reservations for Friday and Saturday night. We were right on the beach and were looking forward to being beach bums after we finished the marathon.
The expo was small, not really an expo at all, with only one vendor and packet pickup. That's ok by me... no chances to spend tons of extra money like at the huge races. One thing that had been worrying me from the start is that the course map was not to scale, and did not show where the aid stations would be set up. That is when I decided to carry my hand held water bottle during the race. Good decision.
There was no organized pasta dinner, so we ate at one of the local joints, I don't remember the name. I chose to eat a chicken sandwich and a side of cheese grits, which by the way were very good. We headed back to the hotel after dinner to get our stuff ready and thankfully got to sleep pretty early. St. George Island is the halfway point of the marathon, so we had to drive over the race course back to the start in Apalachicola which was no problem at all. There was plenty of parking. Things were rather disorganized at the start. I heard an announcement that marathoners should start first followed by half marathoners, 10k runners with the 5k runners last. I don't really know what the actual start time was (supposed to start at 7am) the people in front of me started running, so I took off too. I am guessing around 7:02.
The first part of the race was ok, kind of crowded in the break down lane of the bridge, and strangely enough we were headed out with the traffic instead of against it.
Now for the REALLY strange stuff. All of the races started together, the 5k and 10k folks had to turn around on the bridge which was not closed to traffic, even at the start of the race. There was only a woman on a bicycle trying to stop cars and trucks... the runners and walkers had to risk life and limb, cross that bridge and head back toward the race finish again on the wrong side of the road. Wonder what the Race Director was thinking? So do hundreds of other people!
Water stations early in the race had no cups, several people reported aid station volunteers pouring water from 5gallon jugs into racers hands so they could hydrate. Since I regularly do ultras... I was prepared. Handheld water bottle, Endurolytes, and my own nutrition. There were people out there on those concrete bridges with temps in the 80's, of course there was no shade and the wind was really gusty from the southeast. These people who depend on having basic support from race organization and did not bring their own gels, etc, were just up a creek without any paddles. This goes back to the course map not showing the locations of the aid stations, or no info on what sort of sports drink would be provided. Well, there was no sports drink until some nice folks that were monitoring their friends and relatives took care of it. There was also NO medical aid station anywhere on the course.
I usually don't need medical aid at a race, but even a basic need like a bandaid for a blister was nowhere to be found. That is until a nice local heard me asking the race volunteers and course marshals if there was any medical aid because all I needed was a bandaid for a blister that had developed 8 miles ago. This nice man apparently went home and found some bandaids and looked for me on the course. If not for that kind individual, I would have had a REALLY bad day.
So, all adversities aside, Mellody catches up to me and gives me renewed energy and we take off at a blistering 14:00 pace. LOL as we crest the last part of the course, a steep cambered bridge, we see the finish line being dismantled down below. OK, I am training for a 100 mile race, I am not supposed to be fast, that is the main reason I chose this race for my Florida marathon. They bragged unceasingly about how ANYONE could do this marathon because it has an 8 hour time limit. They took up the timing mats at 6 hours, and when we saw them dismantling the finish line, it was about 6:15 into the race. If it were not for Kathy and her policewoman voice telling them that there were still several marathoners out there who had paid the entry and they also deserved to finish the race through the official finish line like everyone else, that would have been gone too. After she gave them what for... they at least put the clock and finish line arch back up. Let me tell you... we hung around there until the last finisher was in sight so they had to keep things going. Though someone was overheard saying she just wanted to go out in her truck and pick up the last finisher to get this thing over with. How's that for feeling like you are welcome in a race.
Most of the medals were broken, but the race director has already sent out emails promising replacements, so I will let that one go. Inaugural events always have problems, and no one is perfect, but I understand that the Race Director left before the event even wrapped up, or at least he was no where to be found. This guy is just lucky no one was killed on that bridge, or that no one died from heat exhaustion.
blah blah blah. After the race, we went and had some fun in the surf, lazed around on the beach and had a nice dinner! I am over this one, and know that the next race will be lots of fun, because they can't ruin this for me, I am having too much fun in my middle age!
The expo was small, not really an expo at all, with only one vendor and packet pickup. That's ok by me... no chances to spend tons of extra money like at the huge races. One thing that had been worrying me from the start is that the course map was not to scale, and did not show where the aid stations would be set up. That is when I decided to carry my hand held water bottle during the race. Good decision.
There was no organized pasta dinner, so we ate at one of the local joints, I don't remember the name. I chose to eat a chicken sandwich and a side of cheese grits, which by the way were very good. We headed back to the hotel after dinner to get our stuff ready and thankfully got to sleep pretty early. St. George Island is the halfway point of the marathon, so we had to drive over the race course back to the start in Apalachicola which was no problem at all. There was plenty of parking. Things were rather disorganized at the start. I heard an announcement that marathoners should start first followed by half marathoners, 10k runners with the 5k runners last. I don't really know what the actual start time was (supposed to start at 7am) the people in front of me started running, so I took off too. I am guessing around 7:02.
The first part of the race was ok, kind of crowded in the break down lane of the bridge, and strangely enough we were headed out with the traffic instead of against it.
Now for the REALLY strange stuff. All of the races started together, the 5k and 10k folks had to turn around on the bridge which was not closed to traffic, even at the start of the race. There was only a woman on a bicycle trying to stop cars and trucks... the runners and walkers had to risk life and limb, cross that bridge and head back toward the race finish again on the wrong side of the road. Wonder what the Race Director was thinking? So do hundreds of other people!
Water stations early in the race had no cups, several people reported aid station volunteers pouring water from 5gallon jugs into racers hands so they could hydrate. Since I regularly do ultras... I was prepared. Handheld water bottle, Endurolytes, and my own nutrition. There were people out there on those concrete bridges with temps in the 80's, of course there was no shade and the wind was really gusty from the southeast. These people who depend on having basic support from race organization and did not bring their own gels, etc, were just up a creek without any paddles. This goes back to the course map not showing the locations of the aid stations, or no info on what sort of sports drink would be provided. Well, there was no sports drink until some nice folks that were monitoring their friends and relatives took care of it. There was also NO medical aid station anywhere on the course.
I usually don't need medical aid at a race, but even a basic need like a bandaid for a blister was nowhere to be found. That is until a nice local heard me asking the race volunteers and course marshals if there was any medical aid because all I needed was a bandaid for a blister that had developed 8 miles ago. This nice man apparently went home and found some bandaids and looked for me on the course. If not for that kind individual, I would have had a REALLY bad day.
So, all adversities aside, Mellody catches up to me and gives me renewed energy and we take off at a blistering 14:00 pace. LOL as we crest the last part of the course, a steep cambered bridge, we see the finish line being dismantled down below. OK, I am training for a 100 mile race, I am not supposed to be fast, that is the main reason I chose this race for my Florida marathon. They bragged unceasingly about how ANYONE could do this marathon because it has an 8 hour time limit. They took up the timing mats at 6 hours, and when we saw them dismantling the finish line, it was about 6:15 into the race. If it were not for Kathy and her policewoman voice telling them that there were still several marathoners out there who had paid the entry and they also deserved to finish the race through the official finish line like everyone else, that would have been gone too. After she gave them what for... they at least put the clock and finish line arch back up. Let me tell you... we hung around there until the last finisher was in sight so they had to keep things going. Though someone was overheard saying she just wanted to go out in her truck and pick up the last finisher to get this thing over with. How's that for feeling like you are welcome in a race.
Most of the medals were broken, but the race director has already sent out emails promising replacements, so I will let that one go. Inaugural events always have problems, and no one is perfect, but I understand that the Race Director left before the event even wrapped up, or at least he was no where to be found. This guy is just lucky no one was killed on that bridge, or that no one died from heat exhaustion.
blah blah blah. After the race, we went and had some fun in the surf, lazed around on the beach and had a nice dinner! I am over this one, and know that the next race will be lots of fun, because they can't ruin this for me, I am having too much fun in my middle age!
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