Back in November, my friend Kristina Pham (http://www.kristinapham.com/) ran 41 miles for her 41st birthday. I on my taper for Ironman Arizona at that point so only joined her for 6 miles, but I got inspired! Most people would call it crazy, but I thought it was the best idea ever and told her that she made me want to run 37 miles for my 37th birthday. 37 miles in Phoenix in July? No biggie! I'm always up for a challenge and I love the heat. Several months later, Kristina posted a link to the CYA 6/12/24 hour race in Prescott,AZ on July 12th on my Facebook page and shortly after, I signed up for the 12 hour race. It was a week after my birthday and it was in Prescott which is typically quite a bit cooler than Phoenix in July, hence the name CYA (Cool Your Ass). Since I was going to be running for 12 hours, I changed my goal from 37 miles to 50 miles because hey, why not? I always said I would do a 50 miler for my 40th birthday but why wait? My life is now! I reached out to some friends who had done ultra marathons and 12 and 24 hour mountain bike races and picked their brains, looked up some ultra marathon training plans online, and then came up with my own version of a training plan. What it came down to was learning to run on tired legs, running in the heat, running lots of trails, and often training based on time rather than miles. For the first time in a long time, my training wasn't based off of a certain number of miles, a set pace, or heart rate. I didn't follow anything specific. I just exhausted myself every day and I actually ran about the same weekly miles as I do for marathon training. It was just split up differently. I trained 2-3 hours a day, but it wasn't all running. I swam 4 times a week, taught my cycle and strength training classes, and ran 5 days a week. I had planned on doing back to back long runs on the weekends but due to the kids' swim meet schedule, my Saturday runs were an hour and a half to two hours instead of 3-4 hours. My Sunday runs were long trail runs. I had planned on doing 20-30 miles on Sundays but that didn't always happen. Technical trails in the heat are sure to slow your pace down. I kept reminding myself that I was training on time not mileage, but some days I started to doubt myself and on numerous occasions thought "this is stupid. I'm just dropping down to the 6 hour race". Thankfully, my husband and some friends told me to cut it out and kept telling me they were confident in my ability to complete a 12 hour race... so I just took their word for it A week before the race, some very close friends of mine lost their 8 year old son. The tragedy of losing a child is every parent's worst nightmare and here I was in AZ across the country from them when all I wanted was to be in Boston hugging them and helping them with whatever they needed. The 12 hour race was the last thing on my mind. 3 days before the race, I decided that I was going to dedicate my run to Joshua and run in his memory. I set up an online fundraising page and asked friends to sponsor me for my upcoming race and all money raised would go to the Joshua Kaye Foundation. Donations can still be made via the following site: http://www.gofundme.com/bbq3fc On the morning of July 12th, I got up early, drank my bulletproof coffee, ate a Picky Bar (www.pickybars.com) in the car, and drank my Osmo pre-load about 30 minutes before the race (www.osmonutrition.com). I had no goal other than to spend 12 hours running, meditating, contemplating life, remembering Josh, and talking to G-d... ok, maybe yelling at G-d. The gun went off and off we went. I stayed at the back of the pack for the first half mile or so and then when we were off the single track portion of the trail I worked my way forward and then settled into a nice comfortable pace. The first loop was just about settling in and getting to know the 3.15 mile loop that I would be seeing many more times that day. It was a whole lot warmer than I expected it to be, but I felt ok since I had been training in the heat for months. I made sure to take in some calories and refill my water bottle with Osmo Active Hydration (best stuff ever) on each loop. On my 4th loop, I could feel some hot spots and blisters forming on my feet but didn't feel like stopping to switch shoes yet. After my 5th loop I stopped and texted my husband that I was feeling great, just completed loop 5, and was changing shoes. I told him when he came back he would have some blisters to pop for me. I'm sure he was thrilled. I ditched the trail shoes and put on my trusty super broken in Brooks Adrenalines which probably have way too many miles on them but they felt amazing! My legs and my mind were still feeling good and I felt like I could run for hours (always a good thing when it's not even noon and the race doesn't end until 7pm). A little while later, my husband, kids, and Pixie arrived. My husband popped my big blister and helped me change my socks and off I went. When my Garmin beeped and I saw that I had hit 26 miles, I had the biggest smile because a marathon at ultra marathon pace feels a whole lot better than a marathon at marathon pace. I thought, one marathon down, less than one to go until I hit 50 miles. No biggie. I quickly refilled at the aid station and took off on the next loop. As I passed our tent, I heard "mom! wait!"! Lovebug was running after me. He told me he decided to run with me for a little while. I was beyond thrilled. Lovebug and I always have some of our best mother son bonding moments when we are running together. We argue back and forth, we talk, we laugh, and we just enjoy each other's company. There is typically quite a bit of complaining from him, but then he finds his happy place and settles in. Really that's how it is for most runners. The first part of any run isn't very fun, but then you settle in to that happy place and the endorphins kick in and you feel like you can run forever. The difference with Lovebug is that every thought that comes to his head, pops out his mouth so you get to hear exactly how he is feeling and what he is thinking at every moment. On this particular day, he had chosen to run with me during the hottest part of a hot day, so for the first 10 minutes I got to hear all about how swimming is a better summer sport and running should be reserved for winter. While his endurance is incredible, he is a swimmer and not used to heat training. There was more walking on that loop than I had done earlier that day, but I was ok with it. I was just happy to be spending time with my favorite little running partner. He loves trails and had fun walking up the hills and running down them. He did make sure I was aware that he would never run a whole 50 miles with me and that he never wanted to run that far. He made it through the loop and was proud of himself and glad to be done. The heat took a lot out of him but he was a trooper. The heat was starting to get to me too. I was starting to feel queasy. My husband encouraged me to eat some salted potatoes. I thought those were coming right back up, but they actually settled my stomach. I started to feel good again and took off on the next loop. The family left for a while to go cool off at the house and told me they would be back at around 4. When my watch hit 37 miles I did a little happy dance in my mind. I had hit my goal of 37 miles for my 37th birthday and I was still going strong. I was starting to feel some shin and ankle discomfort, but was moving at a steady pace and decided to take a break before the next loop and put my compression socks on. I sat in my tent for a few minutes, changed socks, ate some Krave turkey jerky, and off I went on mile 41. My shins and ankles were feeling better, but my left hamstring tightened up from sitting and putting my socks on. My run became a shuffle and then a walk. I started alternating running and walking. In the past, that would have done me in for the day. I would have finished because I always finish no matter what, but my attitude would have sucked and I would have been miserable. This time was different. I was ok with it. I just thought to myself that it is what it is, it's an ultra and plenty of people walk during races this long, and I still have plenty of time to hit my 50 mile goal even if I have to walk the rest of the way. It was my slowest loop of the day, but I had less than 10 miles to go to get to 50. I completed that loop and saw my husband and told him about my hamstring and that my loops were going to be slower from this point on. He said I was still doing great and that my friend Sasha was all ready to run with me. I came around the corner and there she was all ready with her guest bib and a giant smile (as always). Sasha is an amazing person who smiles through it all and is always there to support her friends at races. She's also a darn good runner! We walked more than we ran the next two loops but I was just grateful to still be out there and to have the company. She asked me if this race was everything I ever wanted it to be. I was at mile 45 at that point and I told her I was glad I am doing it but I just wanted to get to 50 and be done and I have no need to ever do another ultra. (hahaha. We all know how that goes!) When I took off on my 2nd loop with Sasha, Mark Hellenthal (the race director) told me that I was the first female. I couldn't believe it! My first ultra longer than a 50k and I was winning? My strategy was to walk/run like I had done on the last loop but Sasha would keep checking behind me for other girls and if we saw someone with a 12 hour race bib I would push through the pain and put it all out there. We passed the 50 mile point and I of course had to stop for some photos ad then kept run/walking. Towards the end of the loop I saw my husband and my beautiful little daughter smiling and cheering for me. I thought I was about to be done for the day. Ladybug looked at me and said "I'll race you", and we took off running. She beat me to the "finish line" which wasn't actually the finish line. I asked Mark how big a lead I had and he said "I would do one more loop". I didn't get upset or disappointed at all. I think by that point I had been running all day. What's 3 more miles? I sipped some coke and walked a lot. As I got closer to the finish line I started to run more than I had been running. It hurt so good! I just wanted to be done and knew running would get me there faster than walking. That last loop seemed like the longest. When I approached the last hill and heard the generators, the pain disappeared as it does at the end of every race and I ran to the finish. A few people asked if I needed anything and I said "I'm fine. I'm just tired. I need to sit down". I sat down for a few minutes, drank some water and a couple sips of coke, started to feel better, looked at my husband and said "I feel better now. I wish I was running all night". I think a 24 hour race and a 100 miler are in my future. |