Run Eat Tri Yogi

I finished my last brick workout today and unexpectedly, I broke down in tears. That's it. Now it's onto race week. And then race day. All those months of training have flown by. What seemed like a distant (crazy) goal to train for is finally within sight. All those hours plugging away on my training, sore & hating myself for signing up for this challenge ... I sat down on the porch to take it all in. It feels like awaiting a trip to Disney World and the death chamber at the same time. The taper madness... I thought I was ready. Believe me, I was physically exhausted and more than ready to rest! I'd been looking forward to these weeks and let my body reset after beating it up all the way up to peak training month. Here's the madness aspect of the taper. The mind argues that it wasn't enough. It's telling me I still have ways to go."What makes you think you can even toe the starting line?" It makes me question even my strongest training days....

"Oh no, what happened?" is my usual reply, thinking they have an injury.  The reply from the other person usually goes along like "Well, it's not that I can't. But I don't. I don't like it and don't want to do it." I get it. You have no idea how much I get it. That was me most of my life. Remember those 1-mile runs in gym class? Day from hell. Always the last one with the gym teacher calling out, "You can just walk the last lap." It didn't help that I needed an inhaler for most active sports. Even after I lost 49lbs (yes, the OCD in me hates that odd number too), I had no desire to run. "Why would I run when I can just walk the same distance and not be in pain? Or hate myself?" I had lost most of my weight with changing my diet and walking; I felt no need to change anything. In fact, I was one of those people who would get angry over your running posts. Seriously, why? Why would anyone want to put themselves throu...

I actually started writing this last week as I was in the midst of updating my dusty resume and writing up a new cover letter for a position that I have no professional experience in (but plenty of personal experience!) but I couldn't focus on the task at hand. Because I knew I missed a few items from my last grocery shopping trip and I couldn't remember what it was or if it was even important - can it wait until the next time I remember? Because I heard my little one dumping out her Legos when she should've be getting started on her school work. I had cold coffee in the other room but I was "too busy" to stop what I was doing to grab it because I know I'd get distracted by something else and not come back to my computer. I also had 4 hours to finish 2hr bike + 3 mile run before cleaning up and getting my kids off to their friend's house. I recently saw a video from That's Inappropriate - the mom trying to explain how she was just o...

My left ankle has been the bane of my existence ever since it happened in late May. I lost out on a lot of miles in running/cycling and leg days. My only reassurance was the 20 miler I got in a few weeks beforehand. Should be good, right? I couldn't NOT run this race. This was THE race. The one that got me started in ultra running. Message with Chris (yes, I have his permission to use this!) Bib pick up, first year.  4 years ago, I was preparing for my 3rd official (4th unofficial) marathon and one that would get me qualified for marathon maniacs when I joked about running the 50K distance instead. I had just finished reading Dean Karanzes RUN! and the idea of running an ultra myself seemed insane. Few people egged me on and said I was more than ready for my first ultra to which I laughed and laughed. This was considered a tough trail course. The website bragged on about how tough this was and having had zero experience on trails, I wasn't even sure about running th...

Races tend to fall between hard and easy. There are some where it just seems to flow and others where you're gritting your teeth and wondering what made you sign up for this race. Or any race. Why even run anyway?  I'm somewhere in-between the two. I ran this race last year as a birthday gift and told the director I'll be back to run it on my actual birthday 4/1. We drove down to Brookfield/Delafield the night before, forgetting that we'd be arriving in the area right about 4:30-5pm on Friday night, just in time for the traffic! Packet pick up was a breeze and once we ate our dinner, we headed to the hotel where I started the obsession into what I'd wear tomorrow. Checking the hourly temps by the hour... I think this was one of the few times I got a decent night of sleep before a race! We arrived at the Schuetz recreation center in time for me to stop by the drop-bag table and then we just waited. I was restless so I kept going back and forth from the bath...