Wednesday, May 30, 2012

My Article in UltraRunning Magazine

I was so excited when I was asked a few months ago to write an article for UltraRunning Magazine, definitely an honor. The article was printed in this month's issue, so I thought I'd share it with you:


I vividly remember the moment I evolved as a runner. It wasn’t the moment I crossed the finish line of my first marathon. It wasn’t that moment when my mind was fuzzy and I staggered across the finish line of my first 100-miler. Nope, not the time I was running in a wind storm and my runny nose ended up in my eye lashes. My transformation came at mile 20 of a beautiful trail run in southern Utah when I stopped at my car to refuel with a pack of Hostess Crumb Donettes. 

At this transformative period of my life, I already had a long-standing love affair with Hostess products. But I had never had the pleasure of using them to fill my veins with sugar during a run before. I stashed some in my car and planned to eat one or two Donettes instead of a Gu packet. But they were so good that I ate another. And then another. And before I knew it, I was standing with an empty package, crumbs down my shirt, and a stomach that audibly said “thank you for your gracious gift.” 

I was surprised how well my stomach tolerated the donuts in the middle of a long run. I was fully expecting a gastrointestinal revolt. I was so surprised in fact, that on the next long run I tried a Hostess Snowball. As much as it pains me to talk bad about something so delicious, I admit that the Snowball didn’t go over well mid-run. For you unfortunate souls who haven’t had a Snowball before, imagine a velvety cream center covered by chocolate cake covered by a thick layer of marshmallow covered by pink coconut sprinkles. I had a “No duh!” moment after I tried to run and my stomach didn’t feel very good. Shocker! I can think of nothing worse than a bad case of Snowball Gut. (Well, except for eating cauliflower or listening to Celine Dion. I believe those things actually are worse than Snowball Gut.)

Every year I organize a group of 50 friends to run a half marathon in celebration of all things Hostess. A requirement of the fun run includes eating a Hostess product every two miles, although “The Hostess With The Mostest” Award goes to the person who, you guessed it, eats the most Hostess. It’s not often that you can say you gained weight during a running event instead of losing weight! The “race” is enjoyed by everybody and nobody at the same time. 

After a great deal of trial and error, I’ve come to realize that the best Hostess product during running was my first Hostess product: the Crumb Donette. I only wish that these little morsels of heaven had a different name. I’d prefer that they just be called Donuts. I feel like I’m risking my Man Card by saying how much I love a food that ends in “ette”. 

According to Dr. Thomas Dansie at the Institute for Completely Imaginary Facts, “A Twinkie contains the superior combination of monocalcium phosphate, sodium stearoyl, and soy lecithin to fuel the demands of a grueling ultramarathon.” As ultrarunners, we are striving to extend our durability and longevity. It seems only fitting that we ought to consume products that contain enough preservatives to survive the apocalypse. 

Surely I can’t be alone in my desire for Twinkie-flavored Gu packets or energy bars that taste like cream-filled cupcakes with little white swirls on top. These would be a true revolution in ultramarathon fueling. Chia seeds are so 2009! Until then, we’ll have to subsist on Chocodiles and Ding Dongs. Is it important to eat healthy in training and racing? Without a doubt! I certainly eat more than my share of rabbit food. But is it okay to fudge a little with junk food while training for an ultra? I sure hope so. Otherwise I should retire right now.


My brother told me a funny story. He found out about this article on a flight home from Washington DC last week. He was sitting next to someone reading the magazine, and unexpectedly looked over and saw me standing there holding a Twinkie. I expect Hostess sales to skyrocket.

Monday, May 28, 2012

The Flies Tried To Eat Me

It's two weeks out from the Zion 100 and I'm surprised how good I feel. It only took a few days before I could see my ankles again. This has been such a vastly different recovery compared to my first 100 miler.

1) Last time, after I finished the race I threw up a few times, passed out a few times, and couldn't eat much for a few days. This time there was no vomit, no blacking out, and I was starving afterward.

2) Last time I really jacked up my knees and it hurt to walk or go up down stairs for a long time. This time I had a knee that was achy for a few days but then mellowed out.

3) Last time it took two months before I could run 16 miles. This time it took two weeks.

I am so, so thankful that recovery has gone better this time. I managed to make it out for a few runs this week.

Wednesday, May 23rd 2012: 7 miles. I went to explore a new area, and let me tell you something my friends: this run was Miserable with a capital M. All the trails were pure sand. Plus the air temperature was hot enough to bake Snickerdoodles. But that's not the worst part. The worst part was:

VAMPIRE FLIES! I got out of my car and was immediately standing in the middle of a swarm of biting flies who thought it was hilarious to remove chunks of flesh from my legs, hands, and neck. Amid their feeding frenzy, I wondered how long it would take before I was whittled into a skeleton on the side of the road wearing a really ugly hat.

By the time I had climbed 1,000 feet up the sand, they started leaving me alone. There were a few cool views off on the horizon:

I strayed a little bit off the trail a few times and found this little arch with the only shade I saw all day:

Even though I saw a few cool things, most of the run wasn't very scenic. It was just a bunch of sand, hills, and sage brush. Don't let the pictures fool you - there were only a few places worth taking the camera out. I doubt I will go back to this area (partly because I love my skin and I don't want vampire flies to remove it from my body). I'm glad I saw this view before I made it back to the car:

Saturday, May 26th 2012: 16 miles. I had the pleasure of meeting up with Travis and Ben who I ran most of the Zion 100 with. Even though that race was the first time I met these guys, we feel like old friends. This was my first time on the Barrel Roll Trail and the Rim Rock Trail. Rim Rock was easily one of the most beautiful trails I've ever stepped foot on.

There is nothing like running along the edge of towering mesas with the desert floor far below. We also saw the biggest rock cairn this side of the Mississippi (and added a few rocks to the top). The only place it led to was off the cliff but I didn't see any corpses below:

I still felt some residual fatigue from the 100 miler, but I kept thinking over and over how thankful I was to even be out running (let alone 16 miles on moderately technical trails) considering how slowly my body recovered after the Javelina Jundred.

I look forward to running with Travis and Ben again and hopefully doing another race together.

"If one could run without getting tired, I don't think one would often want to do anything else." ~ C.S. Lewis

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Meeting the UltraRunning Magazine Gang

In February I got a phone call from Lisa at UltraRunning Magazine. I was surprised and excited and honored. Our call went something like this:

 Lisa: “We’d like to have you write an article for the magazine.”
Silence 
Me: “Are you serious? I would love to!”
Lisa: “Great.”
Me: “What would you like the focus of the article to be about?”
Lisa: “Your love of Hostess products.”
Silence 
Me: “Are you serious? I would love to! That would be a piece of cake. Literally.”

And so began my correspondence with Lisa at UltraRunning Magazine.

Since then she has sent me some really funny things, including a link for how to make homemade Twinkies. She also remembered my disdain for Brussels sprouts, and emailed the most awesome picture ever which her husband John took at a grocery store:

I was excited when she told me that she and magazine editor John Medinger would be coming to the Zion 100 race. Our paths finally crossed at mile 35 when I was exhausted and it was so hot outside that I may have seen Alf on the side of the trail cheering for me. This was yet another highlight of my race experience:  

The Hostess article was published in this month’s issue. If you’re interested, head over to your local running store and buy a copy. I’ll share the article with you next week too. They do such an awesome job with the magazine; I really feel grateful to be associated with these guys.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Zion 100 Review From My Pacer

Editor's Note: My friend Jess Jensen joined me for miles 70-90 of the recent 100 miler. Jess is incredible. I can't thank her enough for her help. You can check out her blog at: www.journeytothelandofskinny.com. Here is her experience of those 20 miles:

There I was waiting at the finish line, showered, with a 45 min nap under my belt, waiting for Mel and Cory to come across the finish line and looking around at all the other ultra finishers with new found respect. If it was getting increasingly harder for me to bend my knees and walk normal, I can only imagine how sore and tired the finishers felt.

Now let's rewind three months ago when Cory asked me if I would be able to pace him in the Zion 100. I didn't even hesitate and said "heck yes. How far?" I thought he would say 10 maybe 15 miles at the most but when he said 20, I tried not to let my jaw drop and confidently said "No problem". I mean I had three months to train right?

Now lets fastword to 11:30pm on Friday May 11th. I had ran a total of 2 trail runs with the longest being 7 miles before this race. I have been doing CrossFit pretty faithfully these last 3 months so I was hoping that training would help me on the trail. Now I was pretty nervous because I didn't want to be late meeting Cory at the 70 mile aid station, I didn't want to hold him back in any way, I felt like this was my first long run ever (I have ran 3 marathons) , I hadn't ever ran on the trail in the dark, what if I annoyed Cory and he wanted to leave me at one of the aid stations along the way.......lots of random things were running through my head. I felt better because I had read an article on what it took to be a good pacer. I had pretty much none of the qualities it stated but one. Be there for the runner. I knew I could do that.

Cory gave us the time frame of 11:30pm to 3am of when he thought he would be at the aid station. Mel and I watched the online tracker and by that figured he would be coming in around 1am. We got up to the aid station at 12:30am. It was freezing! I was so thankful that I grabbed my jacket at the last minute. When we got to the aid station there were a few runners that were dropping out and were not to happy about it. There was lots of food for the runners to fuel up on and a fire to get warm by. Mel and I decided to hang out in the car and wait for Cory to come. I spent the next 2hrs drifting in and out of sleep until we saw three headlights in the distance come towards us and one of them stop at the car. The first thing I said when I saw Cory "You look way better then I thought you would." I really like to be encouraging.

After spending about 20 minutes getting Cory ready to start the next leg of the journey we headed out. It was 3:30AM! I wasn't sure how much running Cory would want to do at this point so I was prepared to walk and talk the whole way. And I did. I told him to treat me like a TV.....if he wanted comedy, sports, drama, politics or reality I could give him that. I also told him to feel free to hit the mute button!

The first couple miles were pretty flat but then we started to head up the mountain road and his poor legs and feet were feeling it. I think a direct quote was "It's like hot pins and needles are stabbing my feet." At that point I knew that there was not going to be any running and I mentally settled in for a good long walk. We both got quite a surprise when my phone rang at 4:10am and it was one of our friends asking where we were. She was trying to find her runner that she was pacing. I was surprised to have service out there but I actually had it the whole way and it was great because I was able to give Mel updates along the way.

At the next aid station at Little Creek Mesa Cory was able to change his shoes into those super big sole ones. Sorry I don't know the name...something Huka or Hooka or Hooker? I have no problem with touching feet and I told Cory to let me rub his feet for him but he wouldn't let me until I made him let me rub one foot for him. I tried to tell him as his pacer it was my job and I didn't have these man hands for nothing but he put me on mute then. There were runners at that aid station that had just woken up from a 2hr nap! I don't think I would be able to keep moving if I slept on the trail.

The next couple miles were pretty steep downhill but so pretty with the golf course in the distance and all the green fields. We also met one of the oldest runners going down the hill. He was 69 and this was like his 30th or something ultra. We called him Father Time and it was fun to talk to him for a bit and then he scurried off and we only ever saw him in the distance after that.

Lots of miles were covered and not much to distinguish them from each other. At one point I asked Cory if he wanted to try running for a minute and walking for a few. I am one of those awkward people that laugh at people's pain at the wrong moments and when Cory started to run and the expression on his face and the words coming out of his mouth...I won't lie, I giggled. I am smiling right now as I type this. We only attempted running for one more minute after that and we were good with walking after that.

I didn't start to feel tired till mile 13. There was no way I was going to complain about tired legs or feet or mind. I don't even remember what we talked about or all the songs I sang along to on the Ipod. I tried not to sing any Heart or Celine Dion because I didn't want to drive Cory over one of the cliffs we walked along. I did break out in a few dance moves after taking a 5 hour energy though. I think Cory wanted to push me over one of the cliffs!

We did meet a super unhelpful mtn. biker who told us the aid station was just around the next corner. LIAR! Cory knew this part of the trail really well and knew that we had a good 3 miles to go. I know I hate hearing "you're almost there" when running the last few miles of a marathon but when you are at mile 87 of an Ultra and to here those words it makes you want to pull your hair out.

I had mixed feelings hitting the aid station at mile 90. We rolled in at 12:20pm. I was super happy to be done but I also felt guilty leaving Cory knowing he still had 10 miles left to go. Good thing Mel was there to help give him the extra pep in his step he needed to finish.

I am so grateful to Cory for letting me be apart of his Ultra experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I told Cory I felt like I had been on a deer death march that my dad used to send us on during hunting season, only much longer. I loved it out there and would love to take up trail running.

The race was awesome and the volunteers at the aid stations were great. I am very tempted to sign up for a trail run of my own or maybe I should just become a professional pacer?

Sunday, May 20, 2012

88 MILLION Views

Friday night I got to take the kids to The Piano Guys in concert. Jon Schmidt on piano and Steven Sharp Nelson on cello started putting a handful of music videos on Youtube exactly one year ago and since then, they have hit around 88 MILLION views. This is the big leagues. This Coldplay song is one of my favorites, filmed in an area where I often run:


Click HERE to visit their Youtube page for more songs. I promise you won't regret it. My kids treated me like Justin Bieber when they learned that I have worked with both of these guys. (In my other life I'm also a piano player.) They were thrilled to hang out with Jon after the show:

They were also amazed when they learned that Steve has played cello on a few of my CDs. They were ecstatic to see him after the show too:

We had a memorable night together. All of us went home wanting to work harder at the piano.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Zion 100 Race Report - My 2nd 100 Miler!

It was taking everything I had to not throw up. I felt like I was standing in a toaster oven and could almost hear my skin sizzling. My vision was a little fuzzy and I prayed I wouldn't pass out. And I swear I saw vultures circling over me. And then crossed the finish line of the Zion 100.

Now rewind to 35 hours and 100 miles earlier. I was standing at the starting line with 117 fellow lunatics ready to take on a challenge so daunting that you can't let your mind get caught on the details or else you will start crying: run 100 miles in less than 36 hours through the desert, up and down enormous mesas, in the middle of 90+ degree heat, and do your best not to die.

Although there was certainly a part of me that was scared, there was also a huge part of me that was beyond excited. I knew that the course was significantly harder than my first 100 miler, the Javelina Jundred. The first climb of the day starts after only a few miles. The Flying Monkey Trail climbs 1,000 feet in one mile to the top of Smith Mesa.

One of the things I loved most was seeing so many runners on the trails that I call home. I've run countless miles on the course and rarely see another runner so I loved being out with so many crazies. Eventually we neared the top of the Flying Monkey:

One of my favorite things about the whole race was reaching the top of the Flying Monkey Trail and being cheered on by.......A MONKEY!!!!!

I was still feeling good when I got to the top of the hill. My plan for the race was to stay very conservative because I didn't want to explode later in the race. It was already warm in the morning. Seeing the first light of the sun was beautiful, but I dreaded knowing that we would then be battling heat for the rest of the day:

And just a short while later, runners got another surprise. Not just a monkey, but an actual FLYING monkey with wings! This monkey was just so awesome. He was yelling and cheering and giving high fives. I think it's safe to say that this is the only race in the world where you can see a flying monkey:

I planned to run most of the race by myself. I train alone and actually prefer it that way. But within the first mile I seemed to be keeping the exact same pace with a few other guys. I couldn't have imagined at the time that I would end up covering more than 60 miles with them. In those many, many hours I built close friendships with Ben, Travis, and Eric. We were loving the scenery on the top of Smith Mesa:

The scenery in this race really is indescribable. Any runner who was on the course will tell you that pictures don't do justice to how beautiful it was. We were surrounded by it. I looked behind me and saw this image, which became one of my favorites for the day:

At around mile 19 we reached the part of the course I had been dreading. I am petrified of heights and I knew there was a section on a skinny ledge right on the edge of a cliff. If you look closely you can see a few runners getting close to the ledge:

Leading up to the race, I was so nervous that I thought about dropping to the 50 miler so I wouldn't have to do this section. But I was so, so relieved when I got here and realized that it wasn't nearly as bad as I had imagined. In fact, not bad at all. And that's coming from a huge wussie. Definitely nothing to be worried about:

They even had some ropes to hang on to. This is a view looking back on the trail we came across:

It was around noon and the temperature continued to climb. We could see that runners were starting to suffer. We came across one guy curled up under a little bush trying to find some shade and almost out of water. We shared some of ours, but this was still so early in the race and I realized how much of an impact the heat would have. Even though I was really hot, I was thankful I hadn't reached the point of curling up under a bush. After the guy assured us that he'd be okay, we pushed on.

I can't begin to express how valuable it was to cover so many miles with Travis, Ben, and Eric. We all kept a close watch on each other, reminding each other to take Gu and salt tablets, and just giving encouragement if someone was having a low time. Each of our races would have been dramatically different if we didn't have each other. We never exceeded a pace where we couldn't keep up a conversation. It was nice to have a little 4-mile stretch of road to have a short break from the technical trails:

This was the first 100 miler for Ben and Travis, but Eric was the wise master of the group. This was Eric's 30th 100 miler, not to mention a handful of 350 milers. I think each of us was a little bit like a middle school girl around Justin Bieber with Eric. He kept us laughing the whole time and was full of insights and tips.

Around mile 30 Eric found an old tennis ball on the side of the road with a slit in it. We all laughed at him throwing it around, almost oblivious to the fact that he was in the middle of a grueling 100 mile ultramarathon:

We joked that the slit in the ball looked like a mouth. Someone said "I wish we had a Sharpie marker so we could draw a face on it!" I am not lying - about 2 miles later we were cruising down the trail and guess what Ben saw sitting there.....A SHARPIE MARKER! When was the last time you found a marker on your trail run? Never? Me neither. This was a good omen. Our wish was granted:

We all rolled into mile 35 which was my first opportunity to see the family. They were so happy and encouraging, and this gave me a huge emotional boost. Jackson said "Dad, your eyes are really red. You have dark rings under your eyes. You look like you would pay lots of money to take a nap for one hour." Very perceptive (and accurate!). I will always cherish this picture with them from mile 35:

While we were there, Mel also took a picture of the running posse. This is Travis, Ben, myself, and Eric (who happens to be holding the tennis ball):

At mile 35, a switch flipped for my entire race. It was at that moment that I entered a time warp. My legs were moving and it felt like I was running, but it felt like I was going nowhere. We would run/hike for hours and it felt like landmarks up ahead weren't getting any closer. Mile 35-42 were agonizingly long. It was the hottest part of the day and temps said 92 degrees, but out on the desert floor the heat radiated up at us and it felt much hotter. We were truly running inside an Easy Bake Oven (even though it was an incredibly beautiful Easy Bake Oven):

My stomach had gone into outright rebellion by this point. The possibility of throwing up seemed inevitable. I desperately didn't want to get regurgitated Gatorade on my shoes. The aid station at mile 42 was not a pretty sight. One lady looked like she was barfing up a lung. People were laying down trying to cool off and get their stomachs back. In general I try to smile and stay positive even if things are going sucky. This was one of those points where I felt horrid, but in ultras you have to figure out how to suck it up and just keep going.

I think a lot of people dropped at this aid station. Right afterward, around mile 45, we hit the hardest climb of the entire race - a death march up Gooseberry Mesa climbing around 1,500 feet in less than a mile. My brother-in-law Matt joined me as we began the ascent:

It's hard to grasp just how challenging this climb is. Here is a shot of some people ahead of us:

About half way up, I decided that I didn't really love the feeling that bricks were tied to my shoes and burning lava was filling my lungs:

This was our view of some people coming behind us. Look closely, inside that circle there really are people:

Ben, Eric, and I finally, FINALLY reached the top of the death climb. We earned bonus points for not dying. But we had a problem......Travis wasn't there. We figured he fell behind a little so we sat and waited. After 20-25 minutes of waiting there was still no sign of him. We were very worried and didn't know if we should wait or keep going. We came to the hard decision to keep going, assuming that he dropped at the last aid station. Later we found out that this was the case. I felt sad that he wasn't able to finish. We reached the top of the mesa just in time to see a stunning sunset that gave me goosebumps:

The miles on top of Gooseberry are technical and very difficult in the daylight, but exceedingly more challenging in the dark. We reached the aid station at mile 51 and there were three guys sitting there who looked like very capable runners. They were waiting for a ride back to the finish because they had dropped.

I was so incredibly thankful to do those 18 miles on Gooseberry in the dark with Ben and Eric. Sometimes we got off track and it took all three of us to find our way back to the trail. We met other runners who were alone and got off track and we got them going the right direction.

Around mile 65 I was out of juice. My body was spent, and I couldn't hold with Eric and Ben anymore. I would have loved to keep with them, but I wasn't too worried because I knew I'd meet my first pacer at mile 70. Jess Jensen has been a friend of ours for many years and I was honored that she wanted to spend mile 70-90 with me. This was around 3:30am.

Jess is always happy and positive and encouraging and funny. I was so grateful to have her with me. Exhaustion had fully kicked in and I was feeling weary. At mile 82 the sun was up again. It was so discouraging to come to the realization that I would have another full day of heat. The family came out to meet me at this aid station but truthfully I don't remember much about this visit.

Those 20 miles with her were gut-wrenchingly slow. My nausea kept coming and going, my rear end felt like it was getting kicked by a donkey with every single step, and my feet....oh, sweet mercy, my feet. I told Jess that every step felt like I was walking on nails. But she was patient with my slow trudging. I can't thank her enough.

At mile 90 I met up with Mel to pace me the last 10 miles. Back to 90+ degree weather = no bueno. I was getting a little foggy and hoped that I wouldn't pass out because that would be rather embarrassing. In those fuzzy hours I thought about how complex it is to run 100 miles.

During a marathon, you eat a Gu every once in a while, get some water every other mile, and keep going until you're done in 3-6 hours. I thought about how during the 100 miler you have to:
1) Monitor pace so you have enough energy to get you to the finish.
2) Be diligent about eating around 200-300 calories per hour.
3) Closely monitor hydration. Too little water can cause very big problems. Too much water can cause very big problems. Hydration has to be exact.
4) Monitor bodily functioning. Peeing too much? Too little? Too light? Too dark? (Sorry, too much information?)
5) Take varying amounts of salt/electrolytes depending on temperature, sweat, and exertion level.
6) Closely scan the trail ahead and know where every rock is so you don't fall or sprain an ankle.
7) Pay attention to your feet and handle hot spots/blisters immediately.
8) Figure out how to handle your stomach when you want to barf your guts out.
9) Figure out how to deal with exhaustion when you feel like you can't take one more step but you still have 20 miles to go.
10) Try to ignore your brain when it is begging you stop and yelling excuses for why it's okay to quit.

But here's the kicker: YOU HAVE TO DO EACH OF THESE THINGS SIMULTANEOUSLY. If you screw up on any of these, you may not see the finish line. And even if you do them all perfectly, something else may come up. This constant monitoring is extremely exhausting both physically and mentally. Thankfully Mel was there to keep me on track. There is nobody I'd rather spend those last 10 miles with.

The last 5 miles were indescribably hot and indescribably beautiful:

I used some walking sticks for the last 15 miles which helped, but my feet still took the brunt of the pounding. Each step was agonizing. I didn't feel like I had caused an injury or something. My feet just felt shredded and done for the day. I think I gave myself a pep talk in between every single step.

With what little emotion and energy I had left, I was so thankful and excited to make it to the finish line. After 34 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds (we'll just say 35 hours), I jumped across the finish line of the Zion 100. And then I jumped across it a few more times so the fam could get a picture:

Most 100 milers give you a belt buckle at the finish line. Sometimes I think it would be way smarter to buy a belt buckle at Walmart for $10 than to move my feet down a trail for 100 miles. The positively awesome thing at the Zion 100 was that each buckle was unique and custom made from materials gathered on the trail. We got to pick our own buckle at the finish line! How cool is that? Here is mine:

I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father, and the body he gave me. I am so thankful for Jess and her company for many, many hours. I am so thankful for my kids and their love and encouragement. I am so thankful for Mel. She never once questioned me doing this. She was always 100% supportive. I'm so lucky to have her. Thanks to the stellar volunteers, and a huge thanks to race director Matt Gunn who put roughly nine bajillion hours into organizing this incredible event. And seriously, seriously....thank you to you guys for your encouragement and kind words. I wish I could give each of you a hug and a pack of Twinkies.

So finally I ended up standing in the same exact spot I was 35 hours and 100 miles ago. I can't tell you how happy I was to be there. Do you know what I have loved about the finish lines of ultramarathons that I have run: there is hardly anybody there! There isn't thousands of cheering spectators. There isn't a marching band. There is a small group of people walking around like Frankenstein with huge smiles on their faces. And you finish and people give you a high five and say good job. That's it. And it seems so appropriate and fitting because the reward for doing something like this is completely intrinsic. It hurts way to much for somebody to do this for an extrinsic reward. I'll value my belt buckle and the knowledge that I pushed myself WAY, WAY, WAY farther than I ever imagined possible.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

100 Miler - Mission Accomplished!

The Zion 100 was gruesome, scenic, challenging, HOT, inspiring, demoralizing, incredible, beautiful, (did I mention HOT?) and simply awesome. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, the most miserable I've ever been, and the most fun I've ever had. I finished running 100 miles after 34 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds. We'll just call it 35 hours. THANK YOU to everyone who supported me!!!!!! I'll share my report along with some of my 227 pictures in the next day or two.
 (Unfortunately, I really was that red.)