Croom Fools 50 Mile Run

What some people don't understand is that each race is so much more than the actual event. It's the training, the camaraderie you develop with others throughout, the learning, sometimes the travel, the testing of your limits, the preparation, the support of others, and many other factors. And then, what makes the event is how everything culminates and works together to make an experience.

For me, my fifty miler was an awesome experience.

It started in November, when I called my mom and asked her if she would want to support me during the race and she said "sure". I was super-excited to share my experience with her. Not many in my family know what racing is like, and certainly not the life of ultra-running.

Now, mom was probably thinking she would drop me off somewhere in the woods to go running and come back at the end of the day, but I had bigger plans for her (ie, I needed her support more than that). First, she helped me prepare for the race.

Here she is boiling me potatoes to take on my run with me.
Moms are awesome.

Next, we traveled over to Brooksville, for packet pick-up. It was a nice, laid-back atmosphere.

I got to see some of the area we would be running through and it got me more excited for the run. The relaxed atmosphere and the genuineness of the race director helped ease my nerves as well.

We went to the hotel, got everything organized and hit the hay pretty early. With a 6 am start, that meant that we would be up at 4:30 am (2:30 am MST-- which my body was still on, ugh!)

The race itself was 4 loops. One 5-mile loop followed by 3 identical 15-mile loops. All the loops came back to the start/finish area where mom (and all my stuff) would be. That made things a lot easier.

With a 6 am start, we were beginning the race in the dark.

Here we are.

It was actually really cool to run through the forest before sunrise. I had a headlamp and I mostly just followed the people in front of me, but there were some times when I was alone on the trail. At those times, I had to navigate the course that was marked by glow sticks. It was fun to look for and run towards the glow sticks and made me feel like I was at summer camp on some crazy scavenger hunt.

My failed attempt at capturing the "lighted" course on film.

The other real cool thing about this hour was the sky. If you stopped and looked up (which, yes, I did), you could see the moon through a real cool foggy haze. As the sun came up, the scenery only got more beautiful.

Sunrise in the forest.

At mile 5, I found myself back to the start where mom was waiting. I traded her my headlamp for my visor, grabbed some G2 and hand bottle and I was off on my first 15-mile loop.

The second loop for me was all about checking out the terrain and seeing what I would be running through for the rest of the day. And, it was all quite beautiful.
I finished the second loop feeling good. Mom was ready for me, refilled my waterpack and sent me on my way.

The third loop, I was ready to slow down, but just kept plugging along at my happy pace which wasn't any slower. I hit the 25 mile mark and was excited to be halfway. I was on my way to completing the third loop. I kept plugging along. I was super-charged to hit the 30-mile mark/aid-station. I thought that was all I needed to get me to the end of the third lap, but somewhere right after that aid station, my nutrition went south... and so did my energy. Mile 31-34 were probably the low point of my run, but I knew I needed to pull out of it.

I completed the third loop in need of more repair than the first two loops. Did a quick wardrobe change, including washing my feet, re-applying moleskin and new socks (ahhh!). Warned my mom that the final loop might take 4 hours and I was off.

Amazingly, I felt good! I rambled through the forest, surprised at my new found energy. I took in the scenery, it was probably the prettiest part of the loop, but unfortunately, I didn't capture much of it on my camera because the ground was so filled with roots, I didn't trust myself to run and take pictures or video.

I got to the first aid station and took in some food, cola and refilled my water pack. (By this time, it was quite hot and humid, so I was refilling my waterpack at every aid station-- and sometimes depleting it between the aid stations. That's 70 ozs/3-5 miles. Unfortunately, I sweat A LOT.)

Again, shortly after that aid station, I lost some energy. And the run/walking started. I got really frustrated with myself because I felt like I could run, but my body just wouldn't let me. I did some self-talking and came to the conclusion that, since I was still running at a pretty good pace, I thought it might net a faster time if I ran/walked than running at a slower pace.

At this point, too, a woman (Becki) happened upon me that seemed to be in the same state I was in. I asked her what her goal was and that is how the friendship started. We continued on together, chatting, running and walking when we needed to (the uphills). At one point, she was out of water and I gave it to her. At another point, my stomach was really irritated and she handed me some Pepto. Somewhere between miles 42-45, we were chatting so much, we lost the trail and kept running (oops- what's another 1/2 mile when you are running 50?) Anyways, we really became quite a team, motivating each other to run and supporting one another emotionally, physically, everything. It was something totally unexpected and it was awesome.

We got all the way to mile 48.5/49 and came across Brian, one of Becki's friends who had come to cheer her on at the end. Brian had walked down the trail to find her and found "us". He was cool, full of encouragement and ready to do the last stint with us. When we got up to the finish (FINALLY) Becki and I crossed together. And WE WERE DONE!

50 Miles (+ some) took us 9 hours and 59 minutes. We ended up being 1st in age group (tie) and 5th woman overall (tie).

And here is my video of the day. ENJOY!

** Sorry for the pixelation, I will try to fix that. (If you see this message gone, it means it has been fixed.) Also, in the video, when I was recounting my loops, I only the 3 15-mile loops.

Balance

So, I had a pretty fun and relaxing weekend. With (get this) even a rest day built into it. How lucky am I?

First, Girls Night Out-- Yay!

Followed by a fun day at the parade with friends

And husband

and kids
and Bloody Marys.
And today, today (Sunday) was just a relaxing day at home with the kids. Making pancakes, watching movies, coloring, napping, etc. OK, so I did throw in a little 18-mile run in there, but it didn't take precedent over the family and the weekend.

I know, I know. This is a triathlete blog, so what the heck am I doing writing about my weekend?

Balance.

Too often when we are training with a specific goal(s) in mind, we forget about the other parts of our life that are so important. Training takes over our time, our diet, who we can hang out with, how late we can stay out, everything. It also limits the energy we have to spend on and with the people we love who may (or may not) be part of the sport.

Training can make us forget about the friends that support us through anything-- sporting or non-sport related.

We often take for granted the spouses that would do anything for us, who give us the confidence and ability to continue on doing what we love.

And the parents and family that support and love us unconditionally... ...even if they don't always "get it" they are always there for us.

Prior to this weekend, I will admit I was feeling drained. Tired. A tad sick of working out. But now, I feel rejuvenated, happy and can't wait for my next key workout. I think it is the energy of my friends and the other aspects in my life that even it all out.

It's the balance I strike between time with and support from you that makes me a better athlete and person. So, thank you. Thank you to you all for being a part of my life. For your words of encouragement. For celebrating in my successes and seeing the positives in my not-so-successes. Thank you for being patient with me when I am training and supporting me with my goals. I know that I wouldn't be able to achieve them without you. I feel so lucky to have you all in my life.

Happy Birthday to Me!

So... you know you are a tri-geek when you get totally excited about... a transition bag!

A transition bag is really nothing more than a gym bag with all sorts of compartments for your different gear. When I started this whole triathlon biz, I had no clue what I would need at races and I still don't. A bag like this allows you to stuff a lot of random things into a small space so that you can have basically everything you need when you are at a race. Above all, it helps to keep you organized. And I like to be organized. (Clean- not always. But organized- yes!)

To top things off, this is something I wanted, but never hinted at it. Didn't ask for it. Wasn't going to buy one. It was just something I had seen around and Ross picked up on the fact that I would like one, so that is what he got me. :)

Here I am with my awesome new bag:

(It even comes tricked out with a small fold-up chair attached to the side. Seriously, this bag has EVERYTHING.)

And here are some of the cute little tags to help me know where to put stuff.

I think the tags are more to show off the cool logos. Some may call it overkill because no matter how dense you are, I don't think you will be stuffing your bike helmet in the sunglasses compartment without their direction. And think I can figure out that my wetsuit goes in the waterproof area and all. Being graphically driven, I still like them.

Then Ross had me open another gift– I LOVE IT!

A simple charm on a necklace to remind me what we had accomplished in our first season.

With the Ironman logo on the other side to remind me what we were training for in the upcoming year. Perfect!

My husband is such a good guy and so in tune with what would make me happy, it is a wonderful thing. I hope that I do the same in return for him.

So... how did I spend my glorious birthday? Running 24 miles. My longest training run EVER. Then spending the afternoon "working" from the couch. Yep, that's the life I am leading this year. Some people felt sorry for me when they asked how I spent my day, but I loved it. It was totally me and what I want to be doing this year. Next year, I hope to be able to run 33 miles on my 33rd birthday. (I have a feeling like I might accomplish that well before the year is up, but we will see.)

And so it begins...

The year of the Ironman. Well, actually it began 12 days ago. September 14, 2009. The day after the 2009 Wisconsin Ironman/the day we signed up for Ironman Wisconsin 2010. {Affectionately called: IMMOO. As in IM (Ironman) MOO (what a cow says)}

Anyways, here we are with our confirmation sheets.
Yes, dorks, I know, but it was a special moment for us. To actually, finally be in. "The dream" started about 6 years ago for us. We watched the Kona IM championships on t.v. and saw how incredibly cool, exciting and rewarding the experience could be. Ross said to me "If a 75-year old nun can do it, we can to do it." {Yes, there is a 75-year old nun who has finished over 33 IMs.} Anyways, I laughed and told Ross once he finished a marathon, I would start to take him seriously.

Side note: It's not that I don't believe in my husband, it's that he has a way of putting ideas in my head that I get really excited about, only to come and find out that he really doesn't have the interest or want to do the amount of work to get there. No biggie, I just didn't want that to be the case this time.

Anywhoo, in 2004 Ross ran his first half-marathon and in 2005 he completed the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon. After the marathon, Ross turned to me and said "I am not going to run another marathon until we do our Ironman." OK, so I knew he was still into it and chances are we WERE going to do it. With one little on in the crib, I knew IM wasn't anytime in the immediate future, and we started talking about how we would do it when the kid (turned into kids) got older. In 2008, knowing that we were moving to Colorado, we decided to go and spectate the Madison IM. After watching it, we were more excited than ever and it was then we put a year on it-- 2012. It was the year both boys would be in school and we would have more time to train. However, when we got out to Colorado, the school systems were a little different and we realized with both kids in 5-day, full-day pre-school, THIS may be the time to train.

So, Spring of 2009 we set a race schedule that included 3 triathlons with the final triathlon being a half Ironman distance in August. If we finished that successfully, and feeling good about it, we would sign up for Wisconsin IM 2010.

We had a great, self-coached season this past summer. Some ups, some downs. LOADS of training. Tons of new experiences. We tried to integrate ourselves with other triathletes and learn as much as we could along the way. And, as a result, we did finish our halves in GREAT times (for us). So... onto Wisconsin the next month for volunteering, spectating and sign-up.

So here we are. $1100 in the hole with two pieces of paper confirming that we are crazy and about to have the most athletically challenging year of our lives thus far. Scared? Yes. Anxious? You bet. Excited? YOU CAN'T EVEN IMAGINE!!!!