Beast of Burden 100 Miler Training/Gluten Free Week 3/BR 100/I2P Updates

BEAST OF BURDEN TRAINING
The miles are starting to pick up and things are looking good! First order of business was a shoe change. My "why not" experiment with the Pearl Izumui's did not pay off. In fact, my husband and I are, even with the discount we got, out a ton of money because of the Izumi's. They were horrible for the both of us. We couldn't take it any more! Friday on our way to Baldwin Wallace to pick our son up from camp we stopped at Vertical Runner. I knew what brand of shoe I wanted - my old and trusty Adidas.


Never again will I put my feet in another brand of shoe. I don't care how much of a discount I get, I don't even care if I get shoes for free - FUGGETABOUDIT. (Although Vince gave us a pretty sweet deal on our shoes!) I tried on one of the shoes and instantly said "I'm gettin it!" Vince looked at me as if to say "Don't you even want to at least walk in them, tie them, something?" Didn't have to. I already know, they work for me and I love them. I'm not saying they would work for everyone, people have their own likes/dislikes, people have their own foot issues, etc, etc. For instance you could wear huraches like my friend Ted:









You can use, well - - any old shoes that you get for free, because the shoe companies love ya, like they love my friend Caballo:









Or heck, you can even go barefoot like my friend Patrick (who recently set the world record for the greatest distance run on sand in 24 Hours - 87.36 miles)











What's my point? Trial and error are ok, ultra running is definitely a learning process - but if you find something that works, really REALLY works for you don't change it up. If it ain't broke don't fix it, right?

My first run in my new shoes was a 25k training run. Little did I know, my Izumi's had completely changed my running form. At the time I didn't realize it was the Izumi's that changed my form, I just assumed my form was totally jacked up from my health issues (again - it's a learning process). I was starting to get ticked, really ticked with every run I was going on. Wondering, why if my health was starting to improve, was my form still so messed up? Enter Adidas and problem solved! I started running in my Adidas and like magic everything was right with my running world. It was then that I realized that my previous shoes were to blame for my craptastic form - for whatever reason. I don't know if I had a placebo effect goin' on, or I was just really excited to have my form back, (or just the simple fact that my better running form was back), but my pace improved by nearly one minute per mile from the previous week. HOOAH! THANK YOU ADIDAS!


WEEK 3 GLUTEN FREE
This is HARD. REALLY hard. I love love love my bread. Last week really hurt. I have a lot to learn about all this. A WHOLE lot to learn. Last week all my food tasted the same. Chicken, steak, fish - it ALL TASTED THE SAME and I was getting tired of it. Then, along came two angels. Angel numero uno: Crystal.












My husband and I attended a runner's picnic organized by none other than super speedy Chuck-O. We all brought a dish, and Crystal (who deals with Gluten issues herself) brought an awesome desert - vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free brownies. I was SO excited I hugged her, and seriously wanted to cry! (but that would be crazy. I'm just crazy at home when no one can see) The brownies were amazing, and I probably could have eaten the whole batch. Yes. Yes I'm certain I could.

Angel #2, Courtney Baker Russell. I was speaking with her at Mohican about my problems, only to find out she has gluten issues as well. Saturday evening she posted a pic up on facebook of pizza she was eating. PIZZA!!! WHA?? WHA?? I commented on the pic, the pizza looked delish, and she told me she had ordered it from Zeppe's, they now make gluten free pizza! The next day I ordered some for lunch (I was so excited I called before they opened!) The pizza was rather pricey, $15 something for an 8 cut, but I had been craving pizza all week and I couldn't take it anymore! They gave me only 3 choices -plain, with sausage, or with pepperoni. I ordered the pepperoni and went to town. It tasted good! Not the same as the regular stuff, but it really did satisfy my craving. My husband approved of the pizza as well - that's always a bonus! I have to say, it feels SO great to not feel pregnant after eating pizza (which is always how I felt before). I was not swollen, bloated - none of it. Even the old man said he felt better after eating the gluten free pizza vs. the regular pizza. Tasty and you feel good after - doesn't get much better than that! The next time we order it I will change things up a bit, I'll put some veggies from the house on the pizza as well. (Don't know why I couldn't get veggies on this one - must be a safety thing) Thanks Courtney for letting me know about Zeppe's!

BURNING RIVER 100
The Burning River 100 mile endurance run is fast approaching. This will be my husband's first 100 miler. I have to say, I'm extremely proud of him right now! He had his first real taste of what it would be like last weekend. He ran 8 hours on Saturday and 6 hours on Sunday. I joined him on Sunday for 25k and was extremely impressed at how well he was running. If he was hurting he wasn't showing it at all. He is 100% ready, and I can't wait to pace him! BR will be on our anniversary, and it will be really special pacing my guy for his first 100 on our big day! Also, he's a real ultra runner now - he made me take a picture of his gnarly feet. You know you're an ultra runner when you get proud of the fact that your feet look so freakin' funky:













IMPOSSIBLE2POSSIBLE UPDATES

Next up for I2P: INDIA!






The next youth expedition will be in October, and the youth who will be chosen for the expedition will be going for free to Rajasthan, the largest state of the Republic of India. The youth will run approximately 300 kilometers in the region of the Thar Desert. (also known as the "Great Indian Desert")

Parents and teachers - if you know someone who would be interested in this - please tell them! Youth between the ages of 17 - 21 can register today for your chance to join the i2P Youth Ambassador team on this once in a lifetime journey - again, at no charge. Send them here: http://i2p.force.com/YouthExpeditionIndia
Good luck to all who are trying for a youth ambassador spot!

Don't forget about my upcoming fundraiser fun run for I2P! To register and/or donate go to the event page on facebook. The page has a link so you can donate via activegiving.com. The mula goes straight to I2P. Donate today!!

Happy Running all!

Mohican 50 miler, I2P Fun Run and Western States

Ok so it's been awhile. I've been swamped with things to do, volunteering, working, family - needless to say, things have been crazy but thankfully the craziness is now coming to an end. Before getting into my reports, I will take a quick second to update people, but not dwell and whine too much on things. I did this crap to myself really, so sucking it up and looking ahead now. I had to back out of Mohican 100, wasn't able to get good solid training in because my body decided to crap out on me all at once. Most likely culprit: Only getting 4 1/2 hours of sleep each night for the last 2 1/2 years or so. That's one thing, the other is food. I've never felt so horrible for such an extended period of time. Since Glacier Ridge, my body has just not been right. Doc's had no clue, just wanted to keep monitoring all the symptoms. So they were no help. Some things : Dizziness, nausea, lack of concentration, bloated 90% of the day, leg swelling (of course runners feet and legs swell alot, but this was unreal and continual) and more. My legs felt like complete bricks and held anywhere from an extra 4-10 pounds of water.












Doc's couldn't help, in stepped my awesome coach/friend Ray Zahab. #1 He ordered more sleep. "Don't even think about running unless you are getting 7 hours of sleep each night!" Is what he said. He told me a year ago that my sleep habits weren't good, but I thought I was doing ok on very little sleep. (Yes then I was managing it, but it all catches up to you at some point. My point was now.)#2 Since the doc's couldn't figure anything out Ray had me cut out 3 big food items. So far, so good! I'm so thankful for his advice and pretty bummed I let him down, but things are improving and I'm looking to the next race, Beast of Burden 100 miler (summer version). For awhile I was pretty bummed about not running Mohican, but in the end it was all my fault really. Time to start taking care of myself the right way :) Suck it up and move on to the next one. 54 days and counting. I have to say while the course will be boring without a massive amount of snow on the ground I'm pretty excited to see what I can do given the lack of that cold white stuff.

Mohican 50 miler - my husband's first 50!
Friday we left for Mohican, my husband driving me crazy with his taper. I almost ALMOST wanted to tell him to run to Mohican. We arrived and checked into a pretty cozy cabin that we shared with good friend Charlie Bolek and his family.














We were pretty surprised how beautiful the inside was! We weren't exactly roughing it, the man needs his air conditioning!! The outside, now that's a different story. The cabin was right on the main road, and behind it was the river (and another road). Beautiful cabin, not too great setting - but still a good situation so we were pretty happy. We went to the packet pickup/spaghetti dinner, chatted with some friends and headed back to the cabin.

Early to bed, early to rise:

We went to bed as early as we could, and woke up about 3 a.m. I made my guy some oatmeal piled high with fruit. My son had some as well, um - that is he ate two bites and complained. eh what can ya do? Soon Charlie, my son, my husband and I made our way to the starting line. I could tell my husband was nervous.











I could just see it - the expression on his face, the fact that he really wasn't talking much. His stomach was in knots. We hooked up with Kevin Tenkuu and Scott McGrew before the race, saw a few other friends and just hung out at our own little table for awhile.












10 minutes before the start of the race I looked around. No Fred Davis?! I told Charlie and my husband, you know I bet that Freddy is still sleeping! We made our way to the starting line, did all the happy sappy kissy lovey dovey stuff and soon my husband and friends were off! Their adventure had begun! After the dust had settled I saw a bunch of activity in my friend Fred's tent. You could tell that it was him hurrying up, trying to get ready as fast as he could "FRED" I yelled....."Hurry up the race started!!" Fred soon crossed the starting line and was on his way. Can I just say right now he's one of the most awesome men ever??! We cheered for our buddy and then went inside to figure out what aid stations we could be at and when. After all was figured out my son had his little plan - he had noticed the McDonald's in town (gross) and of course NOW was hungry. We headed to the McD's and got his nastified breakfast and saw Scott's wife Bri, who we would be hanging out with from aid station to aid station for most of the day.

And on to the aid stations:
We went to the first aid station we were allowed to hang around at and soon saw SMOKIN fast running buddy Jay Smithberger in the lead. WOOT! This would be the only time we'd get to cheer for Jay as again, the man is SMOKIN fast. More runners trickled in and finally groups of runners started to come. Looking good my hubby was in and out of the aid station pretty fast.

The next location we headed to was the dam. This turned out to be a confusing spot for runners. The runners were coming straight out of the dark woods into open light and basically were trying to get their bearings when they came out. The confusion pretty much fell on how us viewers/fans were standing, all gawking around the exit standing in a circle, it kind of confused some runners when they came out into the light. One poor guy we saw ran right into a sign. Many looked stressed as they were coming out of what was a harder portion of the course. Many had something to say about that part of the course and it sounded incredible! I was so jealous, peering into the darkness wanting to know just what it was everyone was seeing and going through.

Mid way through my husband's run he was looking good. His bum knee was holding up on him, so that was making my day! He complained that I didn't tell him how hilly the course was. BAH! "I told you to do your hill work!" I said. In his defense, while not the hilliest place on earth (far from it) It's the biggest hills he's ever seen not to mention run on. EVER.














The next aid station we hung out at we wound up talking to a couple people. One guy was crewing for a husband/wife running team out there (his brother and sister in law, or vice versa - can't remember which) and we were also chatting with a girl from California, pacing her friend. Really nice people. The girl from California? (Summer) Turns out her runner won the 100 with a sub 24 hr finish. AWESOME!! We were also able to see Terri Lemke come through this aid station, and I was able to tell her that her son was on track to win the marathon portion of the run. He did wind up winning...so congrats Little Lemke! (little? maybe just to Terri still!)

Finally we went back to the finish line and waited for my guy. We had gone to the firetower but had just missed him. Waiting at the finish line was a good chance to talk with some running buds and make some new ones. Stephen, Juan, Kim, and James. It was great to get to talk to everyone and makes me wish even more that we all lived closer together :)

The Finish:
Waiting, watching, hoping everything was o.k. we finally saw him. My husband ran strong through the finish line, got his medal and we hugged there, with him saying NEVER again. HA! Suck it up buttercup - you have your first hundo in a month! Seriously though, I'm so so so proud of my guy, and again so thrilled that his knee held up. Secretly I did worry about his knee the whole time, given the terrain - but he prevailed and completely shined! Such an awesome thing to witness and my son and I both are just SO PROUD!!
















Big Congrats to fellow Northeast Running Club Sean Hensley for conquering the 100 miler at Mohican! Sean had a stellar crew in wife Amy and President Mark Anson! Sean had an amazing finish and looked like he could run 100 more miles easy!!














The Impossible2Possible 6 Hour Fun Run Fundraiser!!











Ok people, I've created a fundraiser with a suggested minimum donation of $15. No goody bags here, I'm sorry - but I will have food (a little) and lots of I2P prizes to raffle off. Here's the deal - a great idea thanks to Mike Nicholson. Each loop you do gets you a ticket. The more loops, the more tickets. After all is said and done the tickets go into a hat and names are drawn. They will be drawn until all prizes are gone. We have SUCH awesome things thanks to Bob Cox and Ray Zahab of Impossible2Possible. Hoodies, tech t's, tech tanks, tshirts, stickers, patches - you name it.















We have a few people signed up already, so hurry up! The event will be held at Indian Point in Leroy, Ohio. Anyone who wants to chill at our house the night before can do so. You can crash on our floor our outside in tents, we are 5 minutes from the starting location. All proceeds go directly to I2P via Activegiving.com. 100% to the organization! Sign up today, it's for a great cause and you'll be running and/or walking with some pretty fantastic people. Remember there are no DNF's - it's just all about how many loops you can do in 6 hours. Hope to see you all there!

To sign up/donate:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=103905569702911&ref=ts

What's Impossible2Possible you ask? Check them out here!
http://impossible2possible.com/i2p


-
The Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run

I can't say how proud of my trail running sisters and brothers I am! Sandi Nypaver, Stephen Zeidner, and Shaun Pope all ran the Western States 100 this weekend and ran it in style! They had a great team of pacers as well - Rachel Nypaver, Star Blackford, and Steve Hawthorne. It was such an exciting thing to watch play out online (as well as frustrating given the online tracking malfunctions). It's such a thrill to see their finish line videos, and completely inspiring and motivating. Congrats to all this weekend on a job well done! Love ya guys!!!




Beast of Burden training










Easing back into a training schedule I had a bigger run that what I had been doing this weekend. 35k and my butt hurts. It's the good kind of hurt though. This weekend brought the first weekend of running in a long time that I actually #1 enjoyed, and #2 didn't feel like total poo. Saturday I dropped off my son off to volunteer at the Metroparks Wildlife Center (right at the start of the trail, conveniently!). I ran the trails until he finished and he joined me for the last 7k. I introduced him to a "new to him" trail at Pen Glen, where tons of mud was sitting there begging to be jumped in and run through.












Good times with my fave trail buddy :) Sunday I woke up sore but was thrilled to have a faster time than Saturday's run. Not as fast as I want to be, but baby steps. I'm just very thankful that I didn't feel bad during the run, that every step wasn't complete misery. Just to enjoy my run again, not getting sick - it means the world to me. Thanks Ray for knocking some sense into me and telling me like it is. (And if I don't listen ever again, feel free to yell at my stubborn ass)

Happy Running All!

My son's first full marathon - race report

Ok wanted to get this one done earlier, but it's been a busy week of choir concerts and doctor's visits. That will be saved for another time.



It's been a week now since my son's first marathon and I'm glad to say, yes he's survived it unscathed :) No physical damage, no mental damage - just one proud kid. We didn't discuss time goals for his marathon, as everyone's first marathon should really just be about finishing. He did finish in almost the exact time I figured he would though. I had him pegged to finish in 5 hours, he crossed the line in 4 hours, 59 minutes and 29 seconds - chip time. Congrats to my son and all the others who ran last weekend! There were many events going on - so many that it was hard to keep track of who was doing what! Congrats to all on your hard work.

THE PLAIN DEALER
The Monday before race weekend Jodi Valade, reporter for the Plain Dealer newspaper came over to interview my son. She did a great article on him that can be found here:

http://www.cleveland.com/marathon/index.ssf/2011/05/who_needs_video_games_painesvi.html#cmpid=v2mode_be_smoref_face

Wednesday a photographer came over to get "action" shots of us running down the street. That was definitely an experience. We felt kind of goofy running down the street for pics, but the photographer was a fun chick to be around and really put us at ease.

With the media business over, it was time to prepare.










(I think he was thinking pizza all week. But no!)


THE CLEVELAND MARATHON EXPO
Saturday my husband, son, and I headed to the marathon expo to get our shirts, bibs, etc. and check out the vendors. The expo was in a different location this year, and while it was a good spot for us (free parking - woo hoo!) it seemed like it may be a bit of a pain in the butt to get to for out of towners. The marathon is in Cleveland, the expo was in Euclid. We got our shirts and goodie bags, and got a laugh when we saw one of the goodies in our bag:










We then walked around and saw Jean Toth. Jean was about to run what has got to be her gazillionth marathon. She was at the expo shakin it to Zumba, and at 75 years old she was looking like the best Zumba (dancer?) out there. Smiling the whole time and just workin' it. AMAZING! Big congrats to Jean on her marathon performance as well. She finished the marathon in 6 hours and 7 minutes. After watching Jean for a bit we walked around, checked out the Northeast Running Club booth and talked with our awesome Prez Mark Anson for a bit, also checked out the Fleet Feet booth and of COURSE we hit all the freebie stations! We sat and listened to Bill Rodgers speak and then left. We did let my son choose his pre race dinner location - he chose Zappitelli's in Painesville Township, which worked for us because it was 5 minutes from our house. At this point the nerves hadn't kicked in yet. He was being his typical self:











We came home and relaxed, and went to bed early (the one thing about running the marathon that he could NOT stand!)


CLEVELAND MARATHON RACE REPORT
Early a.m. I woke the kiddo up and I think it hit him.










He was nervous and questioned me: "What if when I start running my legs just don't work? What if they hurt right away?" I was surprised it took him this long to start to worry. I tried to tell him he'll be alright if he eats his oatmeal, but he hates oatmeal so I'm not sure I was all the reassuring. (He probably thought it was my way of being sneaky just so he'd eat something that's acutally good for him, vs. lets say....RAMEN NOODLES for breakfast). We got ready and hit the road.

Arriving in Cleveland we were pleansantly surprised to see the Cleveland Brown's stadium open to the runners. I hope that the marathon people continue to do this - as the lines for the toilets were much shorter and it offered a teeny bit of shelter from the great outdoors. Those concrete jungles can be quite nasty. I did have one thing to say about being in the Brown's house however. GO STEELERS.










Nuff said. But thank you for your toilets, they were the best. While I was in the grand toilet facilities my son and husband were approached by Scott McGrew and his wife Brianne. They read my son's article and came to give him well wishes. Scott was running his first marathon as well, and Brianne was running her first 1/2 marathon. Congrats to both of them on their run! (Scott will be joining the ranks of us crazies in June when he runs the Mohican 50 miler. One might say he has already joined us crazies as he joined us yesterday for a trail run, a marathon training distance run a week after his marathon!) Anyway their well wishes gave my son a bit of an ego boost and he walked around with his chest stuck out looking all manly for a bit. We met gal pals Jeannette and Kathleen, as well as man-pal Mark Anson (monsieur President) right before the start. We walked out with Jeannette and it was time to start!


The gun sounds, and so it begins. After 9 minutes. That's how long it took us to get to the start, but no worries - we have a chip time here in Cleveland. I think the sun gods hate Cleveland. However in my son's case it was probably a good thing, since all his longest runs have been run in the rain. It was actually not so bad at first - temps were comfortable and there was just a light mist. The end of his run, well that's another story.

Mile 1 - bathroom break. For everyone. We let my son go first and told him when he gets done just start running, keep to the right and we'll catch up when we have finished. This was how the whole race was spent in terms of bathroom breaks. It worked out pretty good. I did feel a little silly when I would leave the port o johns though - people I think thought I was getting some kind of an energy surge and would cheer me on.

Miles 2-13 my son spent deep in thought. I could see the wheels turning in his nugget....he was worried. I kept watching his expressions knowing what he was thinking. I was worried for him - it was so early and it seemed he was already doubting himself. At the half way point, he started to express his concerns vocally. Wondering why he signed up to do this. I myself was wondering if I made a mistake in allowing him to do it. I then just tried to convince him to keep his thoughts positive (however that's pretty tricky - easier said than done).

Mile 17 - 24
Eventually at around mile 17 he asked for his mp3 player. MP3 player = mental magic. It was nearly an instant transformation. He started smiling, laughing, and running stronger. We could even tell when a favorite song of his came on, because he would get a BIG boost of speed. At some points I told him to slow down and be careful, I didn't want him to burn out. Music magic :) He started to pass TONS of people. It seemed he was pulling it all together at the same exact time that most people were falling apart. We started laughing at all the funky statues we saw, wondering what exactly the story was behind them.

Mile 24
My son was still passing people - including one guy who seemed to take it kind of personal. My son ran by and this poor guy and he raised up his hands, pumped his fists and let out the biggest growl I've heard to date.

Mile 25-finish












The headphones came off so he could soak it all in. We were all thrilled that the end was so close! Turning the corner in front of the Brown's stadium we saw my dad and sis. AND the finish line. My watch showed less than 5 hours. We let him know how proud of him we were.










We continued on and saw most awesome gal ever, Roisin, and her mum - they had come down to cheer him on as well. (They bounced back and forth from location to location throughout the race in the nasty weather. SO COOL!) We chatted for a bit, then found my Dad. At that point we were COLD COLD COLD. It was not so bad when we were running - but stopping was killer. It seemed like our car was incredibly far away. The wind seemed nastier. It took forever to get there. Thankfully we had extra clothes to change into. We changed and took our nasty smelly selves to lunch with my dad, my mum, and my sis. I couldn't drink enough hot chocolate to keep warm. I'm sure our waitress was questioning our sanity as I walked in with skin tight compression shorts on, my son walking in with his medal, and all of us in flip flops. Not to mention smelling like complete butt. No matter anyway. We stayed and enjoyed ourselves for a bit then headed home. Good times :)


IN CONCLUSION
Does he want to do it again? Not sure. Did he have a good time? Eventually. Do I think I made a mistake in letting him run the marathon? Absolutely not. He's incredibly proud of himself as he should be. Everyone who ran should be. It's not an easy thing. I had the opportunity to look around when we were running. Had the chance to really check people out, look at their form - watch their faces, wonder what they were thinking. EVERY single person out their was workin' it. No matter if they finished in 3 hours or 6. You could tell people were pushing it to the very best of their ability no matter what their time. Everyone was giving it their all, and should be equally proud. Congrats all to an amazing job - give yourself a pat on the back for toughing it out and giving it your best out there.

One week and counting!

ONE MORE WEEK

One more week and my son will be running his first marathon! 14 years old, 26.2 miles.













Back when he told me he wanted to attempt to run his first marathon I had my reservations. I'm not even sure there's an age group category for anyone under 15 running the marathon distance at Cleveland! I wasn't sure what to do - let him run it or make him wait? Would this be good for him or bad? As a parent I was at a crossroads, and ultimately made the decision to let him do it. Training has been going well, his last three long runs have unfortunately been all in the rain. I'm hoping we'll have nice weather on marathon day, but if we don't then he'll be prepared. (Actually with our weather what he won't be prepared for are sunny skies!) My son has just an 8 miler to do this weekend and that's it. Fun news as the Plain Dealer will be doing an article on him running his first marathon. The reporter will be coming to our home on Monday. She contacted the Northeast Running Club looking for a club member to do a story on - someone who's a first time marathoner. Exciting stuff!!! I'm really looking forward to marathon day. I probably sound like a broken record, but it will be so amazing - my son, my husband, myself all running together - crossing the finish line together as a family. Nothing will match it! Good luck to all runners who will be there, we'll be looking forward to seeing you. Give my son a big cheer as you run by! I was thinking of putting his name on the back of his shirt, but I don't think strangers would be able to pronounce it. (Rada - radum - rada what?) And...if I put just our last name on his shirt he'll probably get a million people shouting Colon! (as in intestine. um NO) instead of COLON! (pronounced cologne.) So, we'll just leave his clothing as is :)

It's like this:













Not this:














IMPOSSIBLE2POSSIBLE UPDATES










The Expedition Bolivia site is now up! The I2P team leaves May 12 for Bolivia. Follow along at http://impossible2possible.com/bolivia/home.

The site features a live broadcast schedule,videos, question of the day and more! 5 youth ambassadors were chosen to make the journey to Bolivia and will run across the world's largest salt flats. Total running kilometers equal 250, around a marathon a day for one week! Good luck to the entire team, and have a blast out there!

Don't forget, those who have to stay home can follow along - and schools can register to follow for free and participate in the Experiential Learning program here:
http://impossible2possible.com/bolivia/education

Did I mention it's free? 1 0 0 % F R E E !!! Kids I give you permission to go to your school and bug your teachers until they sign up for this FREE program!!


NORTHEAST RUNNING CLUB/LAKE HEALTH 1/2 MARATHON












CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS!! We need you! What are you doing on June 5? If you say nada, come help out at the 1/2 marathon in Concord. Shoot me a message and give me your tshirt size, we'll find something for you to do. No experience necessary. If you've ever been interested in what goes on behind the scenes at a race, give it a shot! You'll feel good for helping, and learn lots! (p.s. if your name is K-Ten I'm told you can help but you have to stay away from the Gatorade!)



OUTRUN BI PARK CHALLENGE

Me, Kevin, and Mike







The OUTRUN Bi Park Challenge was held this past weekend and we had a pretty good turnout. Zach Johnson organized the fun run, which was run in two of the area Metroparks, Chapin Forest and Penitentiary Glen. It was great to see so many people come out! The run was 25, 50, or 75 km. I was happy to be able to come. Ray gave me 35k trail to do for the day so I chose the 25km distance and just continued on for 10km after that inside Pen Glen. He told me to try and get a personal best out on the trail, so I was making an attempt at being speedy ;) There was lots of mud which made the run even more fun. (OF COURSE!) Thanks to all who came out, the weather was beautiful!


TEAM OUTRUN







The team is finalized! The clothes and shoes have been ordered from Fleet Feet and we have a new sponsor as well - NUUN. It's getting more exciting as it goes on, and we're all pretty proud of this team. The final roster is:

1 Jon Paul Preston
2&3 Amy & Sean Hensley
4 Jeanette Spada
5 Mark Mlachak
6 Brian Pulling
7 Kevin Tenku
8 Laurie Colon
9 Radames Colon
10 Crystal Basich
11 Chris Basich
12 Zack Johnson
13 Jack Sharpe
14 Carole Moran Krus
15 Chuck-O Stusek
16 Mike Nicholson
17 Charlie Bolek
18 Pam Rickard
19 Jeff Sobieski
20 Brad Phillips
21 Lou Genovese
22 Brian Batke
23 Zach Johnson

Glad to be a part of an amazing team - amazing people, amazing runners! See everyone on the trails soon!

Getting back to it

It seems every day I’m getting back in the swing of things more and more. I’m feeling better with each day and each run. It’s taken a long time to get back to normal, and I think I’m there. I can’t believe how long it took me to recover from the flu, but I’m thankful that I am. I could feel my muscles just zapped, my glycogen depleted. It seems like it took forever, but my energy is back up thank goodness! I am still down 10 pounds which I’m fine with of course! HA! (I would not have preferred to lose the lbs this way, but it is what it is and it hasn’t come back yet so I’ll take it!) For the first time since the Beast of Burden 100 miler I enjoyed my runs. Really truly enjoyed them. This is such a relief to me ! All running seemed like work, too much like work. I did quality work this week and while it’s always hard and I always try to push it didn’t feel like a job. YES!!! My best run came Saturday on muddy trails. It was extraordinary out there! While I was running I also came to the conclusion that sunny runs are boring. Beautiful, but boring. (Unless it’s 90+, then that makes things a little more interesting!) I seem to thrive on bad weather. It just feels like more of an adventure. When you sit behind a desk for 40 hours each week you need a little adventure in your life. Even if it’s just a run in the rain.

My son’s first marathon: Training


This week my son ran his last 20 mile run before his first marathon, the Cleveland Marathon. Before his run I ran my required distance on the trails and went back home to get him. My husband ran with him and I biked the 20 mile distance.
While I enjoy running in funky weather I was hoping he would have good weather for his run, as his last 20 miler the skies opened up and he got completely dumped on the whole time. Well the weather also stunk for this one. I felt bad for him, but he didn’t complain. My little dude pushed through and finished his run. Welcome to the taper period ! I smiled today when he asked what mileage he had to do this weekend. I told him only 12 and he said “That’s it?!” LOVE! Many people have asked me what he hopes to finish the marathon in. Truth is, I haven’t asked him. I haven’t asked him & won’t ask him – I just want him to enjoy his run and have a blast without worrying about time. Just finish, this is the goal! And what’s more – finish smiling! It will definitely be a cool experience running alongside him while he completes his goal. Crossing the finish line my son, myself, my husband – all together will be an amazing thing.

Team Outrun: Fleet Feet Sponsorship








Excellent! One of the running groups I belong to, OUTRUN (Ohio Ultra Trail Runners) is going to have a team supported/sponsored by Fleet Feet of Pepper Pike. Thanks to Zach Johnson for organizing everything! The team will have a race kit (shirts, shorts, shoes etc) with the OUTRUN and Fleet Feet logo on it. My stuff will be a little different as I will be in I2P gear. However, I’ll have the Outrun and Fleet Feet logos on it as well. I’m nervous but excited to try a new shoe – Pearl Izumi’s - shoes we get a mega disount on. I decided I’ll try a lightweight shoe, something which I’ve never done before. All my shoes have been tanks, but I figure why not? We’ll see what happens as far as that goes. Our group was at Fleet Feet Friday for a meeting to finalize everything and the Pearl Izumi reps were there showing us their gear. Everything they showed us looked pretty amazing. I’m excited to be a part of this team – great people and great fun. A bunch of people who love running and the togetherness that comes with it. Who could ask for more?

Glacier Ridge 50 mile non-race race report

And it has happened. My first DNF. Never in a million years did I think I'd say that (unless I was talking about my goal race). But, I have it, it happened. Looking back I never should've started it, but I am a stubborn ass. And so it goes...

Friday night we headed down for the pre race dinner. The dinner was held in the park and was so good. Spaghetti, stuffed shells, lasagna, rolls, salad, COOKIES! I got my race packet, chatted with Ray one last time before the race and was starting to get pretty excited. Mild panic did set in for a second when I looked at the back of the awesome race shirt I received and saw this:










(it's really not as bad as it looks!) My husband, son, and I ate and listened to the RD's and Park Rangers at the pre race meeting. Seeing how excited everyone in charge was it was hard to not get pretty pumped. The Rangers were especially enthusiastic about the event, which was so cool to see. My favorite part of the meeting came when the RD explained that at one section of the race the 50 mile runners needed to rip a page out of a book as proof you really did make it to that point. Instantly all you heard was chatter from runners "ooooh..like Barkley!" I sat and smiled :)

Meeting over, we headed out to stay at my mom and dad's house about 40 minutes away from the park. And so it began. My body was starting to give me one big F.U. I tried to ignore it, but this made it even more angry. Inside I was hoping I would go to sleep, wake up and all would be well. But this was not the case. I tossed and turned all night, and at 3 a.m. off goes the alarm. Wake up, upchuck #1. I was completely bummed, but still determined to run. So - I forced myself to eat, thinking I can't run 50 miles and not eat breakfast. Well....ha upchuck 2. and so on and so on. I woke up my hubby up so he could get ready and told him what happened. He didn't even make mention of the fact that maybe I shouldn't race, he knows me all too well. He just said "Oh shit!" yeah. So we headed out and I could feel that I was already dehydrated. At this point, water and food were out of the question though. We arrived at the race start, I dropped of my drop bag and I hung out in the bathroom as long as I could until it was time for the race to start.

THE START
I took a ginger candy thinking it would work like magic and all would be well. Off we went and I found myself in 1st, and running at a pretty good pace. After a little while I started to slow down considerably. My energy was zapped, all my fuel in the toilet, and dehydrated. My muscles felt like jelly, they had no power. I started to not be able to imagine running 50 miles this way. The first female runner to pass me flew by, looking pretty good. I tried to pick up my pace again, but nada. I had completely fizzed out. I slowed down even more, then came to a screeching halt and started to walk. Even the walking seemed to take everything out of me. Soon many people would pass, each one of them asking if I was o.k. I shouldn't have been surprised, I mean, trail runners are known for this - but still it touched my heart in a way they will probably never know. How amazing is it that someone would do that? Not just one person, EVERYONE. You know, I always thought that if I would get a DNF I would be completely crushed beyond belief. Which yes, my husband and Ray got a few of my boo hoos on Saturday. But, the more I think about it the more I am amazed at those people who just simply cared. I am, believe it or not, lucky to have witnessed that. It has me more in love with trail running than ever.

THE FINISH
I saw my husband around the mile 15 aid station and completely broke down knowing I would have to stop. (People were STILL stopping to see if I was ok!!) I was so glad to see my guy there.....I was just all....HOLD ME! drama. ha. I was SO SO cold from starting out fast and then coming to a screeching halt. We went to the aid station where the volunteers were so amazing and caring. I can't thank them enough. And that was that. I took off my bib, signed my name, and peace out. Will I run this one again? You betcha. First day registration opens up for next year, I'm in. The course was beautiful, and people amazing - I wouldn't miss it. And besides, I have a score to settle now.

HEADED HOME
We went back to my mom and dad's house where my dad said something to the effect of "You look like the Grim Reaper's sister". Yahoo. I felt it. I hung around half dead on the couch for awhile and then we made our way back home. I called Ray eventually, after getting enough courage too (don't know why I was nervous really!) and he was his typical encouraging self...I'm lucky to have an awesome friend like him! The rest of the weekend, and yesterday - was spent inside, I made sure not to venture too far from the bathroom. I thought I had success in keeping yesterday's lunch and dinner down, but I was wrong. This morning I woke up, and same old story. BUT I got my lazy but up and took myself to work today. Why? Because #1 I'm BORED and #2 I'm AGGRAVATED. Now I know absolutely nothing about medical issues, I'm completely ignorant when it comes to that - but here's what I do know. Before this year, I never had the flu. Never got the flu shot either. This year the flu shot was offered to me free of charge. I thought "Why not, can't hurt anything!" Got the shot. Got the flu. Twice now. As I said before I don't know too much about medical things, and I do know that the doctor's say the flu shot can't make a person sick, blah blah blah - but you can bet your ass I'm not gettin' another one.


Happy Runnin'

Another month, another race

Here we go again! Another month, another race. Ultra #4 for the year. So far it's been Run for Regis 50k (er um, 36 miles)-January 16, Beast of Burden 100 miler February 12, Copper Canyon 50 miler March 6, and now it's time for April - The Glacier Ridge 50 miler. I've been trying to get back in the swing of things since running Copper Canyon - and it's going a wee bit better. I've had a couple massages at work (Wendy is a life saver!) and have been trying (TRYING) to be a bit better at stretching. Awesome coach Ray Z has been giving me my schedule and is trying to get me back on track. Slowly but surely I'm seeing improvement in speed and a bit relieved. After CCUM I took one week off from running (the longest time off in I don't know how long) and then got busy. The first week back was extremely rough as I tried to push the speed work too much which killed my long runs that weekend. I was worried though. Worried I would be stuck in some permanent state of slowness. The following weeks after that were much better, thank goodness!

The Glacier Ridge 50 miler:










This upcoming training run/race is more prep for the Mohican 100 miler in June. I'm stoked that I'll be running in my birth-state! Corny? Ah well - what can I say? I love P.A.! We are leaving tomorrow - after I sleep in as loooong as possible. SLEEP! Probably the best thing about races is that I actually get to sleep in for one day before the race. I always make a point to take off the day before - so my body can play catch up from not getting sleep any other time. Don't know if it works, but I sure do like sleeping in :-)

The downside to sleeping in tomorrow:
My son is running his first 20 miler tomorrow morning! This will be his longest distance yet, all in prep for his first full marathon in May, the Cleveland Marathon. He had a good 18 miler a couple weeks ago, and a shorter 13 miler last weekend. I joined him part of his 18 miler since he had to run longer than me. (what?!) We ran by the beach and stopped for pics. It was cold - but too pretty to not stop. We never noticed this little spot before, and you bet we'll be running by here again!












IMPOSSIBLE2POSSIBLE UPDATES:
SO much has been going on with Impossible2Possible! The student ambassadors for the upcoming expedition to Bolivia have been chosen, details on the ambassadors can be found here:
http://impossible2possible.com/bolivia/team

The youth and other I2P team members will be running 250 km across the salt flats of Bolivia in Salar de Uyuni- location of the largest salt flats in the world! Congrats to the newest youth ambassadors!

Keep watching for new I2P gear as well. It will be available for purchase soon - so save your $$ people! Lots of new stuff is coming! Ray is working hard on lots of stuff so keep watching. And when I say work hard I mean EXTREMELY hard. If any of you got a text/email/phone call last week he was pretty sick but working through all of it. I think.....yes I KNOW I was probably nagging him way too much to get some rest but he needs it! It's pretty amazing watching I2P keep on growing and growing though. All the hard work is definitely paying off. This month Ray spoke at Engineers Without Borders - then headed off to Rotterdam where he was the keynote speaker at an event (alongside the Secretary General of NATO and the President of the International Red Cross!) Another I2P mastermind, Bob Cox headed down to the Clinton Global Initiative where i2P was a featured organization! Incredible stuff going on! But Ray still needs to rest. ahem. :)











A LITTLE MAGIC CALLED CHROMIUM PICOLINATE
While not really related to anything running, I need to mention this little wonder of a supplement. Chromium is a naturally-occurring mineral, trace amounts of which are found in everyday foods. "So what?" you may ask. Let me explain:














It all started with curiousity. Curiousity in regards to why I feel I need to down a whole 1/2 gallon of orange juice in one sitting. Orange juice is always one of those things at the grocery store that I just had to avoid. Literally, I would chug my orange juice. Chug it without coming up from air. If you picture yourself getting lost in a desert with no water, then FINALLY finding water, this is how I would drink my o.j. Always. So, I became curious. Goggled a phrase, something to the effect of "why do I crave o.j." I fully expected all the websites to say things like "lacking in vitamin c, blah blah, blah" which I do not. I take Vitamin C on a regular basis and have been since I got pneumonia a couple years back. Magically the first thing I saw someone made reference to a lack of Chromium. "hmmm what is this thing they call Chromium?" I wondered. With a little assistance from good friend Google I found out a little more. Lack of Chromium also will cause chocolate cravings. Now I was even more curious. Every single day I would go out of my way to get chocolate. Often, more than once. I love love LOVED chocolate. I wouldn't leave a store without some kind of chocolate in my hand. And if the whole family got chocolate - my husband was sharing his after I had mine. Choco freak I was. So I figured I'd give Chromium Picolinate a shot. For a couple bucks, why not? I was doubtful, as I usually am about supplements. The ones I do use (ex, vitamin c) I honestly can't tell if they work or not. I don't notice a difference, hell I take Iron AND a multi vitamin and am still anemic - haven't been able to give blood for years. But I decided to try Chromium anyway. I was extremely shocked to find it actually is working! I no longer chug my orange juice, and no longer go out of my way to buy chocolate every day. Don't even buy it once a week! I successfully can look at chocolate in the store and not touch. My husband has come home a couple times with chocolate and I have not had any desire to have it. I'm pretty amazed at this stuff. So, my husband's chocolate is safe - and hopefully the size of my butt is not. Now to just work on my cashew craving...














DO YOU KNOW?
I stumbled upon a podcast a couple of weeks ago and am fascinated with the story of Olympic Gold Medalist Billy Mills. Billy Mills gold medal victory is thought of as one of the greatest of Olympic upsets of all time. The gold is not what impresses me, but his determination, drive, and belief that he could and would get there. He is currently a motivational speaker and is co founder of the non profit organization Running Strong for American Indian Youth.

Watch the video!