Tuesday, January 26, 2016

So much going on!

This is going to be one heck of an update.  I have not posted since September and so much has happened! I know my head will think faster then my fingers will be able to type and I will be all over the place as I normally am.
Lets go back to after feeling so good after the Adams County Marathon.... Full marathon 114 days after a L4-S1 Spinal Fusion....who woulda ever dreamed that possible.  So let the possibilities grow endlessly!  The following weekend October 4th; Heather, Jackie and I went and ran the Broke Mans Half Marathon....I felt really good during this event too but think I went a little too fast for it being so soon after surgery finishing in 2:20.  The next couple days I did have some aches but nothing that had me alarmed.
Then the next weekend we all heading to Northern Ohio where Jackie and I did the Towpath Marathon - Jackie did the half in which she qualified to be a Half Fanatic!!!! It was a very pretty course I got to run into my friend Joe and again I felt super finishing in a time of 5:36? Still not back to my normal speed but I will take it!!!
We took a break the next weekend then Heather and I found a marathon called Eastern Kentucky marathon which was only about an hour and a half drive away so we just drove the morning of the event.  This marathon promoted that it had the largest finisher medal.  Now I do love a nice finisher medal but its not all about that for me.  This things was crazy huge and heavy! I honestly think I like the cute and simple medals best.  Heather stayed with me this entire race and we had a super fun time. I got to see a couple of my maniac friends that I hadn't seen all year which was awesome! I started to feel like I was back and also feeling like I had not been laid up for 9 months!
After the EKY marathon I found a house in Hurricane Utah that I would rent.  I had to go ahead and pay for December rent since this is when it would be available knowing I could not move until after Christmas. It worked out really nice because on November 15th I was running the RnR Vegas and it is only a 2ish hour drive so I was able to at least physically see where I would be living before hand.
RnR Vegas - what can I say about this event! To start Kid Rock put on one hell of a pre show and trying to get motivated to run while listening to him put on a kick ass show was very tough!!! The race starts at 4:30 and I had already signed up for this before my surgeries and had talked to them about dropping to the half due to their 5 hour course time limit but I thought I may as well try for the full if I felt good.  I was able to start in an early corral but the weather was not as predicted! 40 mph winds came, rain and cold! It was miserable.  I knew about mile 6 that I was just going to do the half and I had no ego problems telling me this was not ok.  I didnt take that many photos on the course because the rain was so bad.  I had a great time meeting some new people and since I knew I was only going to do the half when a group of Texas gals saw I was running with Fireball they started calling me Fireball.  I had 4 on me so knew I didnt need them all and I convinced them to give one a taste. They debated for awhile thinking they should wait until they finished but I convinced them it would be ok.  One swig and their eyes lit up and they passed the bottle to each other in amazement of how great it tasted!!! I continued on the course and I was wearing my Team Beef jersey when I had my first heckler come upon me.  She was yelling "yeah go team beef murder all the cows,,, you cow murderer - good for you" I didnt waste my energy to saw anything back and all I could do is laugh.
The week after Vegas I went to Nashville to do The Flying Monkey...I was so excited to be able to do this this year because the past 3 years I have had other commitments and have been unable. I really worried I wouldn't be able to do it this year due to my surgeries but it all worked out!! I stayed with Cathie and Troy the night before and was so great to be able to catch up with them. Hard to believe I had not seen them since they ran with me when I finish my 50th State in Honolulu in December of 2014! We took an early start at the event and got to see so many folks that I have missed all year! I ran about half of the run with them and Troy's hip was bothering him and he had to go a little slower on the uphill and I had to go a little faster on the uphill or I would use my back too much so I went on.  The course was very hilly but beautiful!!
I didnt run any for the next couple weeks due to packing for the move and working on getting things together for the run I host the First Day of Winter Half/Full/50K but I was also signed up for California International Marathon on Dec 6th and I had to go!  My friend Nicole was there and introduced me to her friend Jerry who just wanted to party on the course......and all I can say about that is ....this is what we did! Super fun time - My friend Jenine was doing the event and she said her goal was to catch me! Around mile 22 she did! Just in time for us to find a bar serving Guinness. By this time Jerry and I had too many to even count along with shots and gin fizzes and wine! After we finished Jenine and I hung out a bit and got to visit.
The First Day of Winter run was another huge success for Portsmouth! This year is was held Sunday December 20th. I had one guy come from Japan to run his 685th marathon...a couple that came from Brazil, one from Canada and 22 other states represented!
We were leaving December 28th to drive a 17 foot Uhaul while towing a car carrier with my car on top 2105 miles to Hurricane Utah.  The northern route we decided against due to the Colorado Mountains driving the truck and snow so we opted for the southern route. This would add a couple hundred miles but safety was much more important! Tanner, the dogs and I headed on Monday the 28th.  There was a nasty snow storm that hit a couple days prior but it did not effect us and also Missouri received a ton of rain and flooding but our timing was perfect.  Some of the highways had high water when we went through but the day after we went through some of them were actually closed due to high waters! Timing was perfect.  It took us 3 days and we really had an uneventful time! Once we arrived we inflated an air mattress to sleep on since it was already late on the 3rd full night and got some decent sleep and got up to start unloading the truck in the morning. My realtor who I had been working with for a year and am still working with came and even helped Tanner unload! We then had time to go to the furniture store down the street to get a couch, table and things like that and they even delivered it that afternoon to us. For the next week it flew by! Tanner stayed until Jan 6th and we shopped for furniture and other necessities. We never had a single get on each others nerves time in the entire 10 days that we spent 24 hours a day each day together!
I took him to the airport on the 6th and then on the 8th I was flying out to pace Mississippi Blues on the 9th and run First Light the 10th. I flew into Dallas since it was so much cheaper and rode with my friends Bre and Andrew 6ish hours to Jackson...just because i hadn't had enough time traveling in a vehicle.
I was a little concerned but knew I would be ok because i had not ran a single block since CIM on Dec 6th and there was no way my base was built back up to par. I had made a commitment to pace and I wasn't going to back out on that. I had no business going as I wasn't even settled into my place nor where my poor dogs who had to go to the kennel...and the kennel here ...holy hell are they expensive!!!
I had a fun group with me while we ran Mississippi blues, we ended up about 15 min over our pace time but we had one of the runners fall into a hole while trying to cross a culvert to go to the bathroom. She went to the bathroom and was there for awhile before we could be sure she was ok and we all agreed we were not leaving her behind. We had all been together for 14 miles and someones well being is way more important then coming in at 6 hours. Our pace group wasn't a time that was going to qualify anyone for boston and with everyone feeling the same way we waited.  She felt bad because she knew our time was going to be off but I reassured her it was no big deal at all!! The weather for Blues was raining....and when I say raining it was pouring!! Then the thunder came and them warning us to be careful but we were not going to stop!! We all finished and then I took a quick shower and headed to Alabama with Clyde and Gary.
Cathie, Troy and I were going to run this one together and I felt like I should drop to the half and not risk any issues since I had not been running much.  The night before they almost had me convinced to just walk the full with them but then with Troys hip we all decided it was best for us all to just walk the half together.  We had a super time!!! Afterwards we grabbed some food and a shower and they brought me to the airport.  It was a long weekend of travel but I was glad I went and got to see everyone!
Now I am trying to get settled into my new location. I am loving every minute of it and have been exploring new trails.  I did decide to apply for a job at a State Park and got called in for an interview so will see what happens on Feb 11th.