Across The Years

Anyone else still writing 2019? Hope I'm not the only one. All of the Christmas decorations are put away, the house is back to normal, and the days are slowly getting longer. We're now 30 days away from the Mesa Marathon. The full is sold out! I'm getting pretty amped up about this race for many reasons. This will be the first race I'm running for fun. Now, that wasn't always the case. When I first started training, I had a set time goal in mind but I also didn't want to rely on hitting specific paces. I basically just wanted to show up and see what would happen. When my knee issues set in, I threw that out the window and while I was bummed at missing so much running, it almost felt like a big weight was lifted off of my shoulders. No expectations. No keeping of time. Show up and run like this is the one thing that makes you the happiest person alive. It will also help having company along the way! My friend and fellow Volée bird, Trinity, who hails from my home state of Michigan is flying out to join the fun. Party pace!

Alright, let's get to Across The Years! If you aren't familiar with Aravaipa, they put on some of the most popular races in the Southwest, including the 'Burning Man' of running: Javelina Jundred. 

That's Rob (Steger) up there, mid-200 mile race. I had the privilege of crewing for him and his endeavors. Rob is a very established ultra runner, with his most recent accomplishment of the Triple Crown in 2019. I met him via the wonderful world of Instagram right before his book launched. I really appreciated his approach to becoming a runner and representing us middle pack runners. Fast forward to about a month ago and he messaged me asking if I'd like to help out at the race. He stated it'd be a great way for me to learn a lot as I'm about to start my own endeavors into the ultra distance.  I jumped on the opportunity right away. With a few weeks of back and forth, specific planning of what his expectations were, fueling, timing, and everything in between, he was landing in Phoenix. We met up Friday (1/3/2020) morning, picked him up from his hotel, and set off to the race. The vibe was very chill. This specific race is set on a loop that's just over 1 mile in distance. When we arrived, there were many other participants that had been running since the previous weekend. That was 6 days ago! And they still had 4 days to go. 10 TOTAL DAYS OF LAPS. So epic. We set up shop right along the course, just feet from the timing block corral. Time flew by and before we knew it, Rob was off. It was great to watch him in person. He's a great athlete and has an even better sense of humor. Now, Rob was actually attempting two races at the same time: 200 miles and Last Person Standing. This was the first year they added Last Person Standing and it was definitely an interesting race to watch. Remember, I had the best seat in the house. With LPS, you do one loop at a time with a 15-minute time limit. If you finish your lap in, say, 8 minutes, you have 7 minutes to basically just relax and wait. Sounds great, right? It's not so great when you're coming off being in flow with a different race that has no rule except get your miles in a set amount of time. Rob ended up DNF-ing Last Person Standing after 3 laps with a little advice from me and his own head. 

I think my favorite part about this race, besides being part of the action, was watching all of the other people running. I saw so many different abilities and people with so many goals. At one point, I was in the aid station around 1am Saturday morning, and one of the athletes, who was from Australia, had clocked in over 500 miles. The oldest participant was 84. He clocked in just over 100 miles. Seriously, so amazing. People will ask me, "well, you see people of all ages at road races too" and yes, you do. Something about this community, though, is different. I basically felt like I was surrounded by a bunch of my closest friends yet I had just met them. A girl, who's table was set up next to ours (Aisling), was all alone. Unsupported 200 miler. While those many hours might seem lonely, she kept a smile on her face, went whatever pace she felt like going, and was so nice. I still wish I would have gotten her contact info. So, fast forward to Rob's 68th lap. He started feeling it. The disadvantage of a totally flat course was getting to him. Now, I know some of you will read that and think "how is that a disadvantage". It is when you aren't used to it, especially after running on it for like, forever. I'll skip over a bunch of little details but he ended up calling it quits, which I found smart. Pain is temporary but injuries suck and that's not what we needed, especially since he'll be running Black Canyon in February. I downed my 7th cup of hot water, which I was basically using to keep warm, made sure he was ok, and headed to the van to sleep. It was 2:30am. I was awake for 22 hours. I can't remember the last time I did that for fun. 

Side note: I can't wait until we have one these guys ourselves (this is a friend's). This is seriously the ultimate way to transport to a race. With a full kitchen set up and a big bed, what more do you need? Okay, back to the race. Takeaways? I have a lot to learn about fueling for a race that's longer than 6 hours. Be organized. Strategy. Lube. Baby wipes. Vegan grilled cheeses. That last one is an inside joke. Will you see me at Across The Years 2020-2021? Probably. Crewing or running? We'll have to wait and see! 

If you want the audio recap, Rob has a podcast you can subscribe to via Apple, Google, and on his website. You can even witness my podcast debut and what my running goals are for this year. I'll give you a hint, they're epic! 

Did I mention the port-o-potties had entertainment of their own?

Let's shift gears here. I've decided to go dry for January. I would think most of you know what that means but just in case, to clarify, I'm not consuming any alcohol. It'll actually continue into February leading up to race day. Why am I doing this? Because I want to. I'd like to keep my epinephrine levels up so I can have better and quicker recovery. I don't like feeling like a sack of rocks during my long runs because, let's be honest, what day of the week do we normally consume adult beverages? Fridays! What day is my long run? Saturdays! It just doesn't work. I've also noticed that I feel a heck of a lot more sluggish after not a lot of drinks. A sign of getting older? Maybe. Now, I'm not a regular drinker at all. I maybe consume one drink a week, if that. Yes, I have a big wine collection, but I'm not busting corks every day. It's been 10 days and I feel good. It's coinciding with Veganuary very well. That's vegan+january. Yep, another month! I went Vegan in November, why not do it again. I'm actually finding it way easier this time around than last. My body feels great. I don't feel inflamed or "fluffy", as I like to call it. I don't go vegan to "detox" or lose weight and if you think going vegan is the key to both of those, you are doing it for the wrong reasons. For the record, I'm vegan for ethical reasons. Watch Dominion and then we'll talk about it.

*Steps off soapbox* See how I distracted you with a photo of bread? Hello beautiful loaves of carbs. This is the first vegan dessert (if you want to call it that) that I've ever made. I had some VERY ripe bananas chilling and instead of freezing them, I baked! I present to you, vegan banana bread. 

I have baby loaf pans, so I made two. I'd be lying if I said they weren't already half gone. They came out perfectly moist and delicious. They pair well with some coffee. Just make them already! I'll link the recipe here.

I think that's it for now. We'll chat soon. Adios!

Whatever It Takes

"If you push through the dark moments when everything hurts, you will find another reserve of strength you didn’t know you had. Know that a high is going to come again." - Courtney Dauwalter

That quote basically sums up everything about race day. There were a lot of highs and a lot of lows all in less than 30 minutes. If someone asked me what's the easiest way to have something slip away because you got into your head too much, it'd be running. This sport is such a mental battle and you either end up really happy or extremely pissed off for a moment right after crossing the finish line. We'll get to the race recap and takeaways in a moment. Let's not skip too far ahead and remember, we did finish another week of training. Here are the numbers from week 5:

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  2/25 - Easy miles w/strides

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  2/27 - Fartlek

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  2/28 - Recovery miles

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  3/2 - Shakeout run

After having what felt like the worst workout last Saturday, I felt 110% better after Monday's run. Everything just clicked back into place and I knew I had to give it my all because it was the last week to really test my limits and listen to my body. Come Wednesday, my last speed workout, I knew I had to put forth the most effort possible. I couldn't find my breath and then I get in my head thinking almost immediately that this run is going to suck. Don't do that! Negativity, in fact, kills the vibe real quick. Instead of only focusing on what didn't happen, I checked my stats and noticed I hit all of my 'on' paces pretty damn well. "Okay, you're doing alright", I said to myself. Sometimes you need a little pep talk between you and the mirror. The last two remaining runs felt great. I locked in the thought that I was ready for whatever came on Sunday. My husband cooked my traditional pre-race meal of spaghetti and you better believe I ate two bowls!

My alarm went off at 4:45am Sunday. I woke up more than ready to run. I ate my pre-race oatmeal, I did my pre-warm up exercises, and set out for my warmup run. Coach had me do a specific warm up and it really got me amped up. As I was running, buses passed me that were on their way up to the mountain for the 15k. The sun was rising as I turned back to home and the weather was perfect. I don't think I've ever raced in more perfect weather. It was always really cold or really hot. It was also the closest race I've ever ran, being roughly a mile from the start line. We opted to drive anyway because I knew I wouldn't want to walk home after running my ass off. I lined up at the start around 7:20am right in the front. Hello confidence, where have you been? Never have I ever been in the front. I always thought I was too slow or not good enough. Today, I was not messing around. Right at 7:30am, we were off. Mile one, strong; Mile two, slightly less strong; After that, lost control. This is why I hate when people say "it's just a 5K". It's never JUST a (insert distance). A run is a run. I went into this race feeling super confident and finished feeling defeated. I did not PR. I did not even beat my last 5K time. I slowed my pace down for the last tenth of a mile knowing I failed. Just give me my medal and my free beer. After crying for a slight second and feeling like a piece of garbage, I checked the race results: 26:29, averaging 8:30/mile, 4th in my age group, 11th overall female. Okay, not terrible. I may have not gotten my sub-25 but 11th overall female out of 121? That's pretty awesome.

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  Finisher's Medal

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  Post-race burrito

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  Around mile 1.2

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  Free swag! Buffs!

My friend Jenn gave me a subtle but huge reminder that I hadn't run for two months straight and only trained for 5 short weeks for this race. When you put that all together in perspective, I did run a good race after all. Once I finished, checked out the small expo, and got some free goodies, we headed to get food. I always joke and say I'm going to make shirts for this blog one day that say "will run for burritos" on them. We got our food to go because I wanted to spectate the 15K since they ran right past our street. This is the first time I've ever spectated a race and it's a lot of work! We were cheering and had the cowbell for everyone that came past. It's really incredible to be on the other side of things and makes you appreciate how strong we are as runners no matter how fast or slow you may be. Which brings me to my post-race thoughts. Yes, I sulked about my finish, but after some great encouraging words from my husband, my coach, and my friends, I stepped back to look at the bigger picture. I ran the fastest average pace I had ever done in a race, I still placed pretty high overall, and I felt pretty strong most of the time. My husband, who is my biggest supporter, told me that I need to remember why I do this first and foremost: because it's fun. I run because I enjoy it, not to go out there and beat myself up for nothing. As I watched the 15K racers, I thought to myself, 'damn, us runners are amazing and our community is incredible'.

So, what's next? These next few months, I plan to focus on getting stronger and still building my base. I feel like base building never really stops but there comes a time where you don't focus on it as much. I plan to get more into trail running (I live in Arizona, after all) and enjoy the nature of the outdoors over the treadmill as much as possible. Even when we are not training for a race, we are still training ourselves. It never stops. I do have another raced lined up but that will be announced at a later time.

I don't have a recipe to share because we were just so busy last week and, well, we cooked stuff I've already shared! BUT fear not, I will be trying a new one this week and will most definitely post it up if it's worthy. I do, however, want to share a book I dove into recently. It's a great read even for you non-runners out there. The first few pages alone are inspiring enough to make you want to conquer your own inner demons. Rob's story is incredible so far (I'm on Chapter 3) and I can't wait to see what else has to come. You can check out more about him, his book, and access his podcast on his website: trainingforultra.com.