Rocket City Marathon 12/14/13

 What a time!!! I kept hearing from other friends that PINK was on tour and they had stayed an extra day after such and such run to see her so I thought I wonder if she will be on tour near any of the events I am doing. I found out she was going to be in Birmingham the night before Rocket City, now Birmingham was another 100 miles south drive and the time zone changed. I found this out about a week before and since it was just me I search for tickets for one and got a 12th row seat!!! Hold smokes I gotta see her, I had heard she put on one heck of a show.
I left around 8am friday morning knowing when I arrived it would be an hour before, I had a 465 mile drive to Huntsville went straight to packet pickup and then checked into my hotel and went ahead and laid out my clothes for the run the next am knowing I wouldnt return to my hotel till super late that night. The weather forecast all week would call for 100% ran 36 as a low and 51 as a high then switched to 50% then 70% then back up to 100% the night before,,,ugggg this was gonna such but lets make the best of the weekend and heck Im gonna go see PINK in the 12th row!! I got to Birmingham around 7:30 and the concert was gonna begin at 8:00 with a group called the HIVES, they were a little heavy and screamy for me but they did a decent job. I couldn't believe my seat!!! PINK came out and wow....people were right she is amazing. Lots of acrobats and I have no idea how she sings and does all that. After the concert I had to then drive back to Huntsville 100 miles, I arrived at the hotel at about 1am which was 2am to me and had to get up at 6 to catch the shuttle to the race at 6:45 from my hotel, thought that would be easier then trying to find a parking place. There was almost an hour before the event and met a guy who kinda looked familiar and we got chatting and we had run some events together, he was an older man and was 3 states away from finishing the 50 states for his 3rd time around. I then saw Jorge!! We met at Center of the Nations and I got to meet his wife Paula. Grabbed a banana since our hotel didnt have anything but cookies out yet. Finally we were told to go line up!! It was a light rain and a little windy but not super cold, I did wear a short sleeve with a long sleeve and a toss away rain poncho. When the run started it was spitting the rain and after a couple miles I ditched the poncho as I was getting pretty warm. I eventually took off the long sleeve and tied it around my waste. The rain would just come and drizzle every so often and actually made almost perfect running conditions. I met a guy out there that had some some ultras and had some major medical issues the past year and this was his first marathon back, we talked and ticked off about 5 miles together which was nice. I felt ok but I felt TIRED!!! I had driven almost 800 miles the day before stayed out till 1am (or 2am if you look at my time zone) at a rock concert then slept for about 4 hours and got up to run 26.2 miles. After the event I had some chocolate milk and ice cream sandwich but was ready to get the shuttle back and shower and eat something real and start heading home. I drove about 4 hours and stopped for the night then got up and headed on home at 6am for the last 3.5 hours. That weekend wore me out but it was an amazing time!!!

JFK 50 Miler 11/23/13

 Drove over to Maryland on Friday morning, arrive to packet pick up a little after 3:00 and got to run into my friend and legends of JFK and other events Irish Joe Cleary, Paul Grassie and Steve Bozeman-these are a few of the folks I met last year that made me wanna come back again this year. My friend Kelly Bruno who I met at Umstead was coming for JFK as well as Shawn and Alex. We were all sharing a room and after the race Paul and Joe were hosting a party, this was going to be both their 20th finish and Steve's 26th! I was also looking forward to seeing my friend Shaunte that I met last year and she was going to be volunteering. she came over once the boys had arrived and helped up get one car at the finish line so we could drive one to the start and not have to deal with the shuttle afterwards and the 4 of us went to dinner.  Paul, Joe, Steve, Alex, Shawn and myself were all taking the 2 hour early start as well as some other friends I met last year and at a few other events throughout the year. Kelly is speedy and was fine with the normal 7am start. Kelly is also a single leg amputee and just amazing yet so humble. I will put a spoiler in now and say she finished in like 9:09!! Also is the first single leg amputee to have done the JFK 50 miler!  We had to wake early and tried to be quit as to not wake Kelly, we had to be at the gym by 4:20. I was so worried about Shawn and Alex forgetting stuff that yes I walked off without my bag! I did message Kelly when I thought she would be waking and she had it at the finish for me. We arrived at the gym for the pre race meeting and there I saw a couple other friends I had met before and a few others I had only met on Facebook. Its almost a mile walk to the start in downtown and off we headed.
The race started and it has some good climbs in the beginning and I wanted to save my energy as well as allow Alex to save energy cause I really wanted him to finish this event!! We told Shawn to go ahead and see what he could do as we both could feel his antsiness as we walked the hills, plus his damn garmin was gonna beep every mile and there was no way I wanted to hear that!! I dont even wear a garmin to JFK cause I dont wannt know where I am or how many miles are left, I just ask at the check in stations if I am on time and how much ahead of the check point schedule am I. Alex and I and a new girl we met on the trail stayed together, Im not an expert on the trail but I had been on it last year and knew for the novice runner the biggest trick is to get off the trail unharmed.
 I was a little slower on the trail this year then last but still when I got off I had a good hour in the bank and was ahead of schedule, now it was 26.5 miles on the boring C&O Canal all flat and this is where you can actually bank a little more mileage. I could tell at the first aid station coming off the AT check point Alex was struggling, that trail just sucks the life out of you, constant concentration on every step of the way. I yelled and said grab your shit and eat it on the way, keep moving. He hung with me for awhile and I tried to keep his pace a nice slog job and could tell he was wanting some walk breaks so we would pick out some trees, or bridge or rock or something and make it there to start a walk break for a few. A couple times he started to slag back but he was always in view. I ran into a gal and we got talking about last year, come to find out she was with me on the trail with King Jordan had taken his big spill and ended up with stitches in the head and was unable to finish since it was so bad, I told her after that and seeing Paul have a first aid kit to help him I decided I would run with a first aid kit this year. She pointed that he was just ahead of us and I thought it looked like him and all of a sudden he tripped on a root and down he went, this was on the tow path too! Darn. We ran to his aid I immediately pulled out the first aid kit and others came up to help and asked to get in my bag and I said please do, he had some bleeding from his head and his hand was really gashed with blood going everywhere, he legs were getting covered from his hand dripping and I was getting covered trying to help. He is deaf so can't hear but can speak well since he lost his hearing at age 21. Others were trying to talk to him as they didnt know him and he was upset and even said darn it I made it off the trail without falling this year and here I fall on the straight tow path. He then told the others Im deaf so I started to sign to him, I only remember the ABCs but that helped a lot. We got his head taped up and his hand wrapped tight with gauze and I kept telling him to keep it up in the air to get the blood to stop, his friend Steve said he would stick with him till they got to the next station and there were some medic there, Alex also caught up with us here and helped out for a few and off we went.  At the next station I had to climb a hill to the porta johns and headed up and on my way out told them to watch for him as he would need cleaned up, the volunteers poured some water on my arms and hands to get the blood off me. Alex was coming thru here also as I was heading out and I thought he was just behind me most of the time but he fell way back. I really wanted to stay with him but the time to help King Jordan now was eating away at my time for myself to finish too and I couldnt risk not finishing. I wouldnt trade staying with them on the AT or stopping to help King Jordan for any time on the clock! Later I found out they patched him up at the aid station, the medics wanted him to quit but the RD knew him as he also had about 20 finishes and he knew if he would be in jeopardy. He FINISHED!!!! Afterwards he did go to the hospital and required 10 stitches in his hand....this is why I run folks!!! 70 years old finishing the JFK 50 falling with 30 miles left to go while needing 10 stitches in his hand...and Im gonna complain about my knee issues, or my foot or my hamstring?????? Each aid station I was still ahead of schedule by about 45 minutes, not the 90 i was hoping for but at least I had no doubt that I would finish. It is always a pleasant site to get off that towpath but then you hit road and a nice big climb directly off then some rollers for the next 8.5 miles. Joe was just ahead of me and I came upon him and he knew he was gonna finish but was having some issues and just wanted to take his time. I wanted to check on Alex and he wasnt answering his phone nor was Shawn, I finally got ahold of Shawn as I thought he was prolly finished but he advised me he still have about 3 miles to go and I think I had about 6. He then told me Alex was pulled at mile 38. I was really bummed and pissed at the same time cause I had him time in the bank and really wished he woulda dug deep and kept his eye on the cut off times at each station to know whether he had to just suck it up and jog or walk super fast to get there.  That is one thing about the towpath if you start walking it can make it hard to jump in and jog again, it kinda can suck it out of you and you get lost since it all looks the same.  I was told that last year, Joe said to me, dont catch yourself walking too long because those cutoffs will get shorted and you think you have time and bam it catches you.

 I finished much slower then I had hoped but again I wouldnt trade any time in the world for stopping to help a friend and knowing that stopping and helping and having the first aid I brought in fact is the reason he got to finish makes me feel great!! He woulda lost way too much blood if we were not there with aid right away. I also have no regrets for going a little slower on the AT, it was great spending that time with Alex and our new friend Robin. After the run Kelly had been done for hours, I got something to eat and then realize I totally left my car key in the boys car at the starting line that morning hahaha...so we all had to hope on the shuttle to go back to the start, Kelly was having some blur vision and the Doc there advised her not to drive and her car was at the start so Alex drove them back to the hotel and they got cleaned up while Shawn and I headed back to the finish now to get my car and then return to the hotel. DUH Once we got cleaned up I opened some wine they had a beer and here comes Shaunte, Paul and Joe were ready for the party and we all headed down to their room. Was a total blast, so fun listening to everyones running stories and personal stories. Then next morning Kelly had to head out early and Joe, Paul, Alex, Shawn, Shaunte and I met at the Denny's as this it an annual ritual for breakfast. Next year I wont be able to do JFK again as I have some other events at the same time and sure will miss that JFK Family but hope to see Joe, Paul and Shaunte other places next year!

Hot Chocolate 15K 11/17/13

A couple days before this run I decided to call the Doc about the swelling in the knee, he went ahead and had me start the Medrol pack on Thursday the 14th so that I would be off it for the JFK 50 the next weekend. My friend Tiffany went with me for this run and we stayed at my brothers house, weather was calling for cold windy rain and we were not thrilled, trying to sleep and while trying to listen and see if the rain had started didnt work to well. We got up and it had been raining during the night and spitting the rain that morning. I wore a short sleeve shirt since it was suppose to be in the 40's and then a garbage bag on top to peel off when I got to warm. For some reason we thought the event started a half hour before it did so we were early but the time went by pretty fast. It was colder and windy and drizzlings.  When the event started the drizzle had stopped! Wow we got lucky! We kept a nice even pace for most of the run and really had a fun time. She had done the event last year so remembered the course, and the course went through a few areas that some of the other events hosted in Columbus do not go through and I really enjoyed that different scenery for a change. Even though the wind was blowing we did warm up and I took my garbage bag off in the first couple miles and Tiff had to take her jacket off about half way thru,,, she's a cold blooded runner who will wear long sleeves in the summer if it dips into the 60's  :)  With a couple miles left to the finish the rains came back and it was much more then a drizzle.  We had to walk quite a ways to get out hot chocolate and mugs with the fondue and it was a nice steady cold rain! We got our goodies and the hot chocolate tasted like heaven but was a little too rich for me so I had to toss about half. I also made the mistake of dipping a marshmallow in the chocolate fondue first only because it was the only thing open and now it was pretty much pouring down the rain as we were walking as fast as we could to find the car! Im not a huge marshmallow fan unless it rice crispie treats and this chocolate also was super rich!! We both dumped the chocolate so we didnt have to deal with spilling it and it was so rich it woulda made us sick. Tiff had remembered to bring some kroger bags to put our bowls in due to the fact there was no way to get all that chocolate out with out rinsing it and it would be messy. Was a nice fun day!

Marshall Marathon 11-10-13

I wasn't sure how Marshall was gonna play out as my knee really had given me fits at the Day of The Dead Series. I had taken this week only doing my spin class and a couple walks with the dog allowing the knee to recover a bit. Things felt pretty good that week and headed up to Huntington the morning of the event, I had drove over the day before for my packet since they recommend packet pick up the day before and even though it was a total mess in there I was glad I did it that day because race morning was so much of a nightmare for them they didn't have time to put the timing mat out for the start of the event. I kinda didn't feel it heading over to the run that morning and at one point I actually thought to myself forget this I think I'll just turn around and go back home, all these reason of course go through my head like hey you wanna be totally well for JFK 50 in 2 weeks but I know I will never be totally well for any run! I don't consider myself injured since the problems I have are pretty much chronic, all I can do is the best I can and I do it because I enjoy the people I meet out there for the most part, I love hearing everyones stories and there is always many others with more problems then I have and they continue to run! Saw some friends at the beginning of the run and during the run ran into a few which was nice, also talked with a couple marathon maniacs out on the course. I found myself photo bombing a couple people in the park where the photographer was taking snap shots so I ducked behind and jumped up as fast as I could while he snapped. Marshall Marathon is a 2 loop course, it passes the parking lot around mile 2ish and I decided to take the extra time and little bit of added mileage on to drop my coat and put it on my windshield wiper so that I wouldnt have to run with it tied on my waist for 24 more miles. I felt decent after lap one and just told myself- hey just pretend you just got here and go run a half marathon. When i entered the park with the walking/bike path again I noticed all these stations set up that I didn't notice the first time around? Maybe since the first loop I had ran into some local friends Marty and Jonica and we chatted for a bit. I found a stationary bike on the course and I had to play!! Think it was right at about mile 20, I asked one lady that was sloggy if she was in a hurry and if I could trouble her for a photo but she wasn't willing to stop, I guess she musta felt that 5:00 pace was gonna win her age division or BQ her? Maybe it was a personal best - i shouldn't judge but did find myself entertained by that response. I saw another lady who was just standing in the park and asked her if she would mind
taking my photo, she would have to walk about 10 steps to get the shot so she said see that man with the kids, he will take it for you, he's on his way back over here....he was about 100 feet away but decided i am in no hurry and was worth the wait. He was super cool and loved the idea that I just was out there having a great time, I needed a little bike break, mix those muscle groups up :)
I think about this time I decided to stick some tunes in and start singing to keep myself occupied, my knee and such hurt but it felt better to slog then to walk so thats what I did. I actually ended up finishing this in just under 5:03! How does this happen only a week after 3 marathons in 3 days with a knee the size of a watermelon, stopping and waiting for someone to take my picture playing on the bike, a couple potty breaks, time out and a little extra mileage to put my jacket on my car. I was pleased and actually felt great afterwards.

Day of Dead Series 10/31/13 thru 11/3/13

Day of the Dead Series was to be 4 marathons in 4 days finishing 4 states. My first stop on arriving to El Paso was my mission to find a pair of cowboy boots as well as Day of the Dead beer. My plan was to drink one beer in celebration of the Day of The Dead Series and the bottles and package looked pretty damn cool!  Day one started on Thursday the 31st which was Halloween, there was to be a costume contest and I knew having my Richard Simmons outfit was only fitting to wear at this event! Yes I ran the entire 26.2 miles with that damn hot wig on, stopping at times for those to check the bald spot on top to be sure I didn't need to apply sunscreen.  The run was a loop no out back but some folks did turn around so we could see others, this event was very small compared to Center of the Nations, only about 35 or less starting this day and some of those were even half participants. We ran in a park around the lake and at one area you could see Mexico and the large red border fence, this was kinda cool.  
 It was very nice to see a few familiar faces from CON's - of course Clint the RD, his lovely wife and sister. Cathy whose husband Norm runs and she volunteers. A couple runners Jeff who is Clints brother, Bill and he had his son with him to do 2 of the fulls, which was his sons first double fulls and he did great!! Realized into the run on day one that Jenine was there, she looked very familiar but took her awhile to recognize me? Maybe since I was dressed as Richard Simmons ha. Met a few new friends this day too but it still was missing the magic we made at the Center of the Nations.  The first half of the run I was feeling great, no foot issues, knee a little tweaking but not too bad, I was on track for a 5 hour marathon but the wheels feel off bigtime only half way through? My legs just ached and feet were hurting, little knee issues but nothing that was unbearable or what I havent dealt with in the past 4 years. Made it thru day 1 in just under 6 hours. Oh well I had been in a damn boot for 2 weeks had done the double Indy/Cbus then and was in the boot 2 weeks prior to that, goal was to finish the states and have fun. I know I will never win a marathon and have no desire to train to attempt it I just love to run and meet new amazing people but I will win a costume contest and that I did :)
After that run we then had to drive 238 miles to Wilcox AZ, that sucked but I made the best of it, on the bright side Wilcox is an hour behind TX and TX was 2 hours behind OH, I knew by the end of the week my internal clock was gonna be a mess, and on Saturday when going to be we had to set the clocks back an hour! So I get to Wilcox and find my hotel, we had the option of starting at 6am that morning due to the time zone change plus after the run we would then have to drive to Las Cruces so we would lose an hour during the drive. I chose along with a group of about 10 or so to take that 6am start, again very small turn out but this time the course was out and back and we had to repeat it 18 times.  I had a shirt made that said WILL RUN FOR RUBBER BANDS, I chose to wear it day 2 well with halloween the day before and we did get 17 rubber bands that day and also because those that hadnt participated in any of Clints events wouldnt know until they were out there awhile on day one the fun meaning of the shirt, by day two and after collecting so many the day before and know this day would be another huge amount it was perfect! The run did start with temps of a real feel of 23!!! It however warmed up fairly fast but did take an a couple hours for even me to shed my jacket. When I got to about the half mark I stopped at the bathroom, my knee had been really starting to bother me bad and Im not sure if it was from trying to compensate not to land to bad on my stress fracture or just because I do have a really fucked up knee?  When I got out of the bathroom whozers i could barely walk on the knee, I was nervous very nervous about finishing...I had to get this pain in check so I switched to a 2:20 run and 1 min walk, sometimes the walk even felt worse.  I took some alieve and just kept trucking along, my time here was over 6 hours didnt really want that but I really dont worry much about my time and was just lucky I finished and am grateful I can do this. From here I drove to Las Cruces where I was staying with my friend from Grade School and Brownies yes it had been that long since she moved out of town but she is the one that came home this summer for a visit and decided hey do you think I could do a half? I said yes at these events there is no time limit and walk when ya half to walk job when you can jog and enjoy the journey. She got motivated and started training when she got back home that summer.  When I got to her place we went to eat at a Italian Place that night I believe, it was delish!!! I went to bed fairly early as my clock was so messed up!!

My knee was soooo swollen and the medial condyle was even starting to bruise again from the bones rubbing on each other, I didnt fly out and take this trip to not get the 3 states in so I was going to do it! I debated whether to rest that day then do the marathon day 4 since they had a marathon in NM both day 3 and day 4 but decided it may be worse if I wait an extra day, lets just get it over with.  This course was pretty seeing the organ mountains and all the others around each lap. The course went out a little over 3 then returned so we had to do it 4 times, Julie had to finish it twice! SHE DID IT!!!!! And with these events they give awards to those that finish last - so she even got the award for last and it was a really cool flask! She waited for me to finish and again I tried a run walk pace for as long as I could then the dreaded shuffle or slog as I sometimes call it felt better then to walk. At this point I did have to take a prescription pain pill, tried biofreeze and anything to get my mind off it.  
I finished still this one again was over 6 hours but I was done, I came for 3 states got all 3 of them and now was the hardest decision because I also came for the series!! I knew it would be completely stupid to do the full for 4 days in a row knowing I had another marathon the following weekend and JFK 50 miler coming up November 23rd so I thought well I'll do just the half, Julie actually was so badass she had signed for the 5K that day as well as doing the half the day before, now this is why I also say badass - before doing a 5K she does the half marathon then a 5K the day after!! Awesome!!! After talking with the volunteers we decided all I had to do was the 5K and I would still get the "series" special award since I participated in the entire run series, Norm was having knee issues too and he backed to the half on both NM days...sometimes we do listen to our bodies :)
Day 4 with Julie and one of her friends, at the start I then debated do I just go for the half but then there was the renaissance festival going on as well as it was the Day of the Dead so that festival was happening as well. I stuck with the 5K and ran thru the pain knowing the faster I finished the quicker I was done and did the 5K in 31:09 ha. Waited on Julie then went back to shower got changed to go play, her award had broke so we stopped to exchange it and hung around and waited for a Jeff and Jenine and a few others that hadnt made the turn around to see them head back out for there final half. We had a super time at both festivals, she took me to a great place with terrific margaritas and then I wanted the Mexican place that we had eaten at one of the previous nights again! Morning came and it was time for Jules to get back to reality and work and me to head home. Had a super time with a super friend and am so darn proud of her and her strong mind getting thru her first half marathon and her first 5k!!!

Indianapolis/Columbus back to back weekend 10/19-10/20

 Had been trying to behave for a couple weeks letting my foot rest due to some issues that finally got the best of me and felt like I would be ok for this weekend.  I drove to Columbus after spin class on friday and picked up all our packets for Sundays run since we would be heading to Indianapolis as soon as Shawn and Alex got off work.  Met Haley at the hotel and got things organized for morning and it was already time to get some sleep. Woke up and ate a bagel drank a little coffee one last trip to the potty before leaving and opps had a little visitor that hadnt been around in a couple years. Trying to explain to a 26 year old gay man what I need didnt work to well and next thing I knew we were at the start of the run with nothing but tissues that Haley had in her car, needless to say in the cold wet rain that wasnt gonna work to well. Met Tim that am as he was delayed with his flight and needed someone to get his packet so I picked it up the night before, I had met Tim out at Center of The Nations last month, it start to be just one big family out here!  Alex, Shawn, Haley and I all started together then as we passed a CVS I knew I had to stop, Alex went with me and the line was so long for checkout as well as the bathroom, finally I just grabbed a goody out of the box and handed him the cash to pay while I waited in the bathroom line. Then there was the debate with Alex about me wasting the box of 20 and I told him he could run the next 20 some miles with a box of tampons if he was that concerned ha. Off we go again....took quite awhile to catch Shawn and Haley and then we ran together for a little bit more, a bathroom break came up and they went ahead and Alex and I decided to just stick together.
 We had a great time stopping for fun pictures and just trying to make the best of it. Finally with only about 6 miles left the rain had stopped and the sun started peaking out and it became a gorgeous rest of the day. Still chilly but sunny and some blue skies and clouds.  We got to the finish and had some pizza, brats etc then headed back to Columbus.  We went out to eat at an amazing mexican restaurant had a couple adult beverages and back to their house for bed. They thought the Columbus marathon started at 7am but it was 7:30! Uggggg so we waited and waited for it to start thinking something was wrong. Shawn wanted to test himself and see how he could do on his first back to back marathon and the crazy ass ran a 4:13! Shawn and I agreed we would run the first hour then switch to a 3 min run 1 min walk pace for the remainder of the run. Beside stopping for lots of photos ops and singing a little note with my friends band Mothman we stayed on track together till about mile 20ish...Alex starting falling apart, i kept his spirits up for a couple more miles and he was huffing and puffing and making all sorts of excuses but around mile 23 I couldnt keep him going. I stayed with my 3 to 1 pace and sometimes just kept slogging along, felt better to slog then walk on my foot. I was so proud of both Shawn and Alex first for Shawn kicking ass on his day 2 marathon and for Alex for getting sub 6:00 hours on both!! He woulda been close to 5:30-5:40 if we didnt lally gag around but that's what makes it more fun! I dont take things too serious as you do only live once and you may as well have the time of your life however you can!  For me the fun factor isnt about speed its about the people I meet on the course and the fun photo ops that are out there!

Center of the Nations 5 states 5 marathons in 5 Days

Little video slideshow of the Center of the Nations Series.....will post more very very soon!