I’m injury-free and over my cold so I’m revving up the training this week. I took Wednesday off and now the next four days it’s going to be tough, tough training: running, hiking, biking and throwing in a little swimming. It’s hot and humid here in central New Hampshire so there may be a bit of complaining at the next training update.
UGH!
But life is good during Week 8 – let the training countdown to Leadville begin.
I’ve been seeing the updates on social of the Leadville 100 Run Training Camp and I’m so jealous that I’m not there. Bob is there and I’ve been messaging him for updates.
He said the 100 mile course still has snow especially at Hope Pass so it’s possible to have a course change in AUGUST.
From the Leadville Race Series Instagram Story
The camp looks so fun; maybe next year.
The photo at the top is from the running camp; from their Facebook page.
There are 8 weeks of hard training left until race day. I’m so excited for training and racing, yet this week has been less than ideal. I’ve been goofing around during week 9. I wanted it to be a tough training week, capitalizing on the fitness from the marathon and getting in hard runs.
I did run my 15 mile mid-week run but I’m fighting a cold which rendered me speechless (laryngitis) for the last three days. So I didn’t run my plan on Thursday and today, Saturday, I slept until 7:00 (this is unheard of). I am trying to leave the house right now but I’m easily distracted……. by writing this blog, walking my dog and the list goes on and on.
And, I’m going to Ogunquit this afternoon. Every year (since I’ve been home) my mom takes me to a play at the Ogunquit Playhouse. Last year was Oklahoma and this year, 42nd Street. It is really the only cultural activity I do each year. The musicals are always so great. I know all the music from Oklahoma and am trying to get to know the music from 42nd street today.
So the Saturday plan is pretty much a bust. And to make matter worse, the weather is finally perfect today after several days of rain. After today’s diversion of musical theater, the next 8 weeks are all about trail running, night running, weights, stairs, swimming and biking. I have one minor race in Lake Placid in July and hopefully a few plans to run the Pemi Loop with Bob. But everything else is planned training, hard training. No distractions. Wish me luck.
I had great flights all day Friday and arrived on time at the Denver Airport. Whitney and Kathleen picked me up and we headed west on I-70 to our lunch plan – Tommyknocker Brewery is my Colorado tradition coming into the mountain from the city, since 2010.
Whitney walking into TommyKnockers
Once in Leadville we waited at our hotel for Mary to arrive and then headed to packet pick up. We walked through the expo and then into the packet pick up for our shirt and bib. I spotted the Leadman booth and knew that one day, one day, I would be registering at that booth.
Weather was a concern for days leading up to race and Friday the weather forecast for Saturday was looking like cold temps and rain. Mary and I were panicking a bit because we both get so cold, so easily.
Dinner was at Treeline and we met Bob and Vicky for the pre-race day meal. I met Bob and Vicky at the Blood Root Ultra in Vermont. We chatted a bit during that race and learned that we were both racing the marathon AND the 100 in Leadville.
Race Morning:
Pre Race pics
At the race start the weather was perfect : 39 degrees and sunny. The weather still showed clouds and rain in the forecast so we carried rain gear.
I started with Bob, Mary and Whitney. Mary and Whitney were running the Heavy Half
Race Report:
The first three miles introduced me to Zombie brain – a phenomena that caused me to stare at the ground, rendered me speechless and my brain couldn’t function except to keep moving forward running/hiking. I didn’t even look at my heart rate. I just moved with the crowd.
The climbs seemed endless and the scenery spectacular. I have to say I’m pretty used to the beautiful high mountain scenery after living in Grand County so many years but being so high up at 11,000 feet, seeing all the snow, it was strikingly beautiful. I walked so much it wasn’t a big deal to take out my phone and take photos.
Leadman and Leadwoman racers wear a special race bib to identify themself. They get extra cheers from the runners since this is just one race in five that they compete in during the summer. If everything goes according to plan, I hope to enter the Leadwoman races series next year. But first, the 100 Run.
Whitney and Bob saw the big black bear that ran across the trail and I missed it by a few minutes. Bob said that seeing the bear made it worth the registration price.
At about mile 13 I felt a little dizzy and thought I should look at my heart rate – 180 at that moment. It scared me so I walked and tried to monitor it better. Then after the turn around point, my stomach started to hurt. Right in the middle, not the side, the middle. I hoped it was gas. Nope.
I told Mary yesterday that I needed to have a tough race. I need to throw up and feel sick. I didn’t even think about GI issues.
I’ve never had issues before. Never pooped or even needed to poop on a run, much less diarrhea.
NOTE: ultra runners talk about pooping all the time. It’s regular conversation for us, for the record.
So there it is – pooping in the woods and then no more pain.
I still have to figure how how to throw up and maybe pass out (okay, not pass out) on a trail run prior to the 100 just so I have the experience and can get used to it. I want to know that I can react to it and not just stop.
Then, it was all about the downhill and finishing. I was surprised that I wanted to walk so much on the downhill. I thought it would be easy to run downhill but it was hard on my heart and lungs still. My legs were fine, really. Kind of cool.
I caught up to Bob a few times during the race and we reconnected after my two stops in the woods at mile 20. We ended up running the last 5K together. The finish line and red carpet were absolutely amazing and I had to stop myself from getting choked up with emotion on finishing this race. After I finished George wandered into the area and we hugged. He drove down from Hot Sulphur just for a 30 minute visit.
George at the finish line
Step 4 of 5 in Dream Year 2019 – done!
I signed up for this race so I would know what my body would do at 10,000 after coming from sea level. My heart and lungs exploded from my chest for the first half of the run. I seemed to settle in and feel somewhat better after three hours. Running downhill was still hard on my heart and lungs. My legs held up, though and that is good – very good. I wasn’t sore during the run but post-race I just wanted to sit.
I learned so much about myself and my body during this race and to be honest, I’m scared to death about the 100 mile race. I want to finish this 100 and cross that finish line more than anything in the world. I have a lot of training to do and need to spend more hours on my feet and get to the mountains for long mountain runs to get ready for the 100.
Here’s what I learned and what I have to do: • Write and follow a nutrition plan for 5 days leading up to race • Do not drink electrolytes from an aid station unless I know what it is and I’ve tried it before • Write and send to pacers and crew a detailed Project Plan for the 100 • No more bourbon days before a race (this seems like common sense but then again adventure)
Even after years of living in Colorado and Arizona, I always think of my home as New Hampshire and my home airport Boston.
From 2004 to 2012 my home airport was Denver and often confused it by saying Boston when I began traveling frequently.
Today I’m on my first trip back to Colorado for the Leadville Marathon and to spend time with Mary, Whitney and George; three, true forever friends.
It’s been over two years since I left and I feel like I’m coming home.
But Colorado wasn’t my original western place despite Denver being the first city I moved to at 17 with a plan to live there permanently. I came home after a few days. My first western dream-place was originally Montana, a place with far fewer people and more wildlife; or so I had heard and experienced with frequent trips in my 20s.
I dreamed of the west for a decade and tried to figure out a way to get there; I was too scared to go without a job. In 2004 I finagled a way to move to Steamboat for my job – so Colorado was chosen for me. Almost every year while living in Steamboat or Granby, I thought of moving home but never acted upon it. Then I had a chance to move to Tucson and escape cold, mountain town living, essentially running away from a place that I thought would be my forever-place. I took the Tucson job and moved to the southwest knowing noone.
Colorado had its grasp on me and three years later I moved back to the place I left, for a job that is my favorite occupation to date: editor of a newspaper. Denver was my home airport again.
Just under two years later I moved back to New Hampshire; for many reasons. In reality, running away, running back. I’m a runner; a self inflicted label I want to change.
I run in two-to-three year increments; a pattern I’ve followed all my life. The thing is – I’m not afraid of endings and I’m not scared of beginnings; it’s the quiet times of staying still and stagnant that frighten me the most. It’s two years into this stint back in New Hampshire and finally feel like I’m getting my footing back; and being the person that is joyful, engaged in outdoor pursuits and reaching athletic goals.
This feeling started with a bike, a mountain bike. Well, it started, really, when I got into the Leadville 100 Run. To finish this race would be the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I wanted that feeling to cross that finish line. I started with so many baby steps and here I am two month before the race prepared for the next cycle of training. I’m so ready and feeling confident. But it was the mountain bike that reminded me of joy – the joy of downhill riding and laughing. You don’t really get that joy from running, or at least I don’t. Mountain biking teaches you about living in the moment. Running is more mental, calculating.
Of all the races I could’ve entered or been excited about, why Leadville? Why did the sequence of events happen that led me on this journey back to Colorado? Why did Colorado get chosen for me again? I think it comes back to going away west, coming home east. It was the opposite for Wallace Stegner who wrote that he was born a westerner and had been coming home west his entire life. Maybe Leadville is my coming home west – the fulfillment of the hero’s journey where you go out on adventures and then try to find your way home.
My favorite thing to hear on my phone when mapping a destination: Arrived
