Running With Runners Anonymous

Last Saturday we were visiting family in northern Utah. My seriously amazing friend Susette invited me to a run with the running group from Runners Anonymous. I couldn't pass up the opportunity. We met at a park with a 1-mile loop and everyone ran as much as they wanted. This was such a fun group of peeps.

It was fun to meet most of these people for the first time. I got a chuckle when I got there and they asked for a lesson on jumping pictures. Look at these eager observers on the left:

And then more jumping.

And then......you guessed it, more jumping. (Sugar rush courtesy of some amazing glazed donuts.)

Mel and Jackson came along to join in the fun. Huge props to them because it was freezing cold out there!

I mentioned my friend Susette. She is one of the nicest people you could hope to know. And would you like to hear something awesome? She signed up for her first 100 miler - the Jackpot Ultra Running Festival in Las Vegas in February. I'm running this one too, can't wait to see her cross that finish line. At this little shindig on Saturday this woman ran 26.2 miles around that loop as part of her training! Just incredible. Here is Susette in the middle with my friends Josh and Becca.

I had so much fun hanging out with these guys. (Running + donuts + friends = AWESOME.) I hope to run with them again sometime. I ran a few more miles near some railroad tracks to get to 10 for the day.

This social stuff is just one of the things that makes running so fun.

The Long Run Home From Work and Thanksgiving Amazingness

I had an unequivocally awesomely fun week of running last week (as long as you don't count Monday's obscenely early run before work.) (I loathe obscenely early runs before work.) (I also loathe alarm clocks and Celine Dion music.)

Monday, November 25th 2013: 6 miles @ 10:46 per mile
Tuesday, November 26th 2013: 20 miles @ 11:45 per mile
Thursday, November 28th 2013: 5.5 miles @ 10:48 per mile
Saturday, November 30th 2013: 10.5 miles @ 10:22 per mile

I came up with an idea to run home from work Tuesday night. I work in St. George Utah but live in Hurricane Utah which gives me a 20 mile run home. I figured this would be especially good ultramarathon training. It's one thing to run 20 miles first thing in the morning on fresh legs. It's another thing to run 20 miles after working all day. I enjoyed this cool sunset:

After it had gotten dark I saw a car parked ahead of me with a big, burly guy standing in the head lights. I didn't want to go Karate Kid on someone. Fortunately when I got up to him I saw that it was my friend Ryan Duckworth. He heard I was running home and stopped to check on me. So awesome.

Ryan is a talented triathlete. Last year - in that same exact spot - I was running with Ryan....and an amazing person named Chris Praetzel.....who was RUNNING ACROSS THE COUNTRY. No joke. Chris ran across the United States. We were so fortunate to spend some miles with Chris. You can read and see more pictures HERE.

So back to the run home from work - I felt okay as I kept running up the road. I got to the top of a big climb and happened to look behind me. Seeing the city lights of St. George behind me was really cool.

After about three hours I was feeling sleepy and needed a pick-me-up. I passed by a gas station and bought some calories. I'll let you guess how yucky my stomach felt after this little mid-run snack of Twinkies and Dr. Pepper.

My legs are not huge fans of running that far on pavement so I was a bit sore afterward but overall it went well. I'll probably do it again sometime.

On Thanksgiving morning I had the pleasure of getting in a quick sunrise run on the Chuckwalla Trail with three friends of mine: Justin, Turd'l, and Jennilyn.

Jennilyn just ran a solo 100 miler. Beast mode! You can read her blog HERE. I ran my first 100 miler with Justin. He is crrrrazy fast. And Turd'l is one of the funniest human beings around and conned me into eating Hammer Gel pancakes during the Zion 100.

Chuckwalla has some cool views and most of it isn't too challenging. We all had fun talking and swapping stories.

Our turnaround was a place called Scout Lookout. The views here are incredible. Justin was the first to pop up on the ridge.

Jennilyn is from northern Utah so Justin pointed out some of the other trails in the area:

Justin offered to take a jumping picture before heading back. Turd'l was just a tad off but trust me, he caught lots of air. This picture makes me happy.

I had a great adventure on Saturday's run also but I'll save that for another day. In the mean time my race, the Baker's Dozen Half Marathon is next Saturday, December 14th! There are still a few spots opened, you can check out the race website here if you'd like more info. Hope to see you there!

A Treadmill Is Satan's Sidewalk

It was a less than stellar running week for me. And by "less than stellar" I mean that it was horrible.

The week of crappy started with Monday morning's 10 miler. For me to run 10 miles before work I have to get up ridiculously early. But aside from that, the run actually wasn't too horrible. And then less than 1/4 mile away from my house I stepped wrong on a rock and gave myself the worst sprained ankle I've had in 15 years. I fell to my knees. It felt like I stepped on lightning.

A few choice words involuntarily popped out of my mouth and I hobbled home. The other problem during that run was that for the life of me, I could not find any gloves to wear that morning! After doing a glove scavenger hunt for 20 minutes I eventually settled on two mismatched gloves, one of which was my girl's. Fail.

Later in the day when my foot started to swell it was excruciating. I felt so embarrassed to be limping around work despite trying my hardest to walk normally. When I went to the grocery store later, I seriously considered riding one of their electric wheelchairs.

Miraculously by the next day my foot felt amazingly good. And by Wednesday there was no soreness at all. I could not believe it. My healing was likely aided by the lunch I ate at the elementary school with the kids on Wednesday. It's not every day that you get such a delicious helping of mystery meat.

And by Thursday, a mere three days later I would have never known that a sprained ankle had dropped me to my knees. Very strange. Just to be safe I avoided running for one more day but caught this sweet sunrise on my way to work.

Friday morning I ran 4 miles. It was ridiculously windy and the whole run was approximately 0% enjoyable.

That night I did something I would come to regret. I ran 10 miles. ON. A. TREADMILL.

It was again ridiculously windy. And it had been POURING rain all day. After an all-day downpour, trails around here are out of the question. They turn into clay that cakes on the bottom of your shoes so it feels like you're running in these:

With the horrible rain and wind I decided to run on the dreadmill. I quickly realized that this rolling sidewalk is at least as miserable as running in the rain and wind. They are equally evil. It's like giving you the option of cutting off all the toes on your right foot or your left foot. They are both terrible options.

Initially I was thinking about maybe 20 miles. After approximately 18 seconds I changed my mind on that distance. Those ten miles were pure and unadulterated agony. I think our dreadmill is broken because it says my pace is so slow and each mile seems to take forever. This is not running. This is torture for prisoners of war.

Give me 100 miles across desert trails in 102 degree heat. Give me killer owls. Give me trails so steep that I want to start crying. Just don't make me get on a treadmill.

I tried to think of something that would make me like the dreadmill a little more. But even my cute little girls standing on that thing didn't make me like it any better. In fact after making them stand on something so evil I made them take a shower to wash off all the filthiness that surely contaminated them by getting too close to the contraption.

I am fairly certain that it will be a long time before I make that mistake again. I ran 7 miles outside the next day which were much more enjoyable. So despite a seriously terrible week I still managed 31 miles.

If you're wise you'll heed my public service announcement: stay away from random rocks in the road, platform shoes, and Satan's Sidewalk.

A Week Worthy Of Two Jumping Pictures

I got in 32 miles last week. 10 of those were miserable miles too early in the morning before work. (I'd like to thank Dr. Pepper for helping get me through that morning.) The other 22 miles were INCREDIBLE miles on some INCREDIBLE trails.

Earlier in the week I enjoyed 12 miles of pure bliss which started on the Prospector Trail. The autumn leaves are just about done for the year but there were still enough to make the trees glow with yellows, reds, and oranges.

It wasn't just the trees that were beautiful. These yellow flowers have popped up everywhere.

I explored some areas I've never been to before including this new (to me) trail called White Reef. In the distance I saw this awesome patch of yellow trees that stood out among the green, white, blue, and red. Seeing that variety of color in one place was just so pretty.

This was a great place to get in some fairly easy miles. Without a doubt my running shoes will make it back to White Reef soon.

Thursday night I was honored to give a presentation at St. George Running Center called Intro to Trail and Ultra Running. I had so much fun hanging out with this group of runners who were interested this this stuff.

On Saturday I ran 10 miles in Warner Valley. Words can't describe how much I love it out in this area. It's one of the places that grew my love of trail running. It's so isolated and quiet and beautiful. It feels like home. I've seen countless amazing sunrises out here with yet another on this run.

It was such a great sunrise that I felt justified in getting a second jumping picture for the week.

A few miles in I passed a pretty big herd of cattle. They wanted nothing to do with me and ran away. Except for this one that gave me the stink eye for a minute before trotting away. If I was missing one horn, and my other horn looked so silly, I'd probably have a bad attitude too.

I found this rock for Mel. Here is a heart of stone. Literally.

We are less than a month away from the Baker's Dozen Half Marathon on December 14th. If you like running, laughing, and cupcakes this is the race for you. I've still got a few spots opened, you can click HERE for more info if you're interested. I can't wait.

Pictures Showing Progressive Exhaustion During 100 Miler

A few weeks ago I ran the Javelina Jundred - 101 miles of hot, sweltering fun through the Arizona desert. This race is a series of six loops of 15.3 miles each followed by loop seven which is another 9 miles.

I ran more than 80 miles with my amazing friend Catherine. Temperatures soared to 102 degrees. We took a picture at the end of each loop. I thought I'd show you the progressive exhaustion that took place over those 101 miles of awesome:

Loop One: Mile 15.3
It's all fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out with an enormous foam hat.

Loop Two: Mile 30.6
Yes, our skin resembled something you'd find at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Our tube socks full of ice definitely helped make the heat bearable.

Loop Three: Mile 45.9
Beginning to feel like we swallowed a bottle of Benadryl, punched in the stomach by Chuck Norris, and kicked in the quads by an angry mule.

Loop Four: Mile 61.2
Catherine and I finished loop four after being paced by our friend Kristin for 15 miles. That loop saw three pit stops to barf on the side of the trail as well as a generous supply of sleep walking.

Loop Five: Mile 76.5
Sunrise was approaching soon, this was my last lap with Catherine before heading out on my own. I've said it before, but I was amazed and inspired by what she accomplished out there. She made this race an unforgettable experience.

Loop Six: Mile 91.8
I think it's important to try and stay positive and smile despite the fact that you are close to spontaneous combustion, your feet feel like they are walking on needles, you're so tired that you can't see straight, and your legs feel like they are caught underneath a UPS truck.

Loop Seven: Mile 100.9
Holy ouch. SO, SO, SO thankful to be handed that belt buckle and be able to sit down. That was a hard race.

I jumped each time we came through a loop but on the last loop I was so thankful to be done after 101 miles that I had my biggest jump of all. Huge props to race directors Jamil and Nick Coury for putting together another incredible race!