Thru Endurance We Conquer!

The start of a new year always brings out the dreams. As we turn close the book on one year and open the next, it appears that we have a blank slate for what we can accomplish. Tabula Rasa - the mind in it’s blank slate before being influenced by outside impressions. That’s what a new year is, right? Time and goals in the original pristine state before we get a chance to start screwing things up. It’s one of the greatest things about the turn of the year - that clear calendar and the opportunity to dream big. Or is it? As 2019 ticks to a close and 2020 dawns before us, is it really fair to completely wipe the slate clean? That purges not only goals that weren’t met and things we’d rather forget, but the things we did accomplish. It doesn’t honor that the person who started 2019 isn’t the same person who is starting 2020. The blank slate idea erases the things we learned over the course of year - both from failures and successes. And without recalling those lessons, we are doomed to r...

Recovering means stepping away from the trails, from the snow and just focusing on getting healthy. But that step back also means distance from the people and the tribe of athletes you surround yourself with. Even as an anti-social runner and cyclist, this past month has been challenging. There's a different kind of loneliness when you are so far separated from what you love. The photos splattered across social media of sunrises, epic days on the trail and generally being outside pull you. Everyone one else is out there, yet here I am, settling in for another day on the trainer, another round of water running or treadmill run. Staying focused on the end result is important, but there can be a dark cloud surrounding the process if you aren’t careful. Recovery isn’t all sunrises and unicorns - instagram worthy posts of doing the “right” things. There’s a lot of feeling angry, worried and testing the limits. It starts in the hospital room. On the other side of the badge, it’s hustle...

With healing ribs and better breathing,  I decided that maybe I could start doing a little more. Sure, I wouldn’t be racing Sawmill, but maybe a little mountain biking and some attempts at harder running. I was just factoring the time from the crash with my thought process. The ribs felt a lot better for sure. Still tender at times, still not the best sleeping but I was moving better. If I didn’t try riding now, it might be months before I got outside to ride! So down to Pueblo we headed the weekend before I went back to work. This was three and a half weeks post crash. Easy loop - Duke, Rodeo Ridge, Quatro Cinco... I made the first climb up Rodeo, which sent my heart rate through the roof! A few other things I just didn’t have the umph for and ended walking. A little discouraging for sure - between the muscles around my ribs tightening up and just dealing a skyrocketing heart rate - I wasn’t really ready to ride. It felt good to get out and pedal though! My ribs and the muscle...

So it’s 30 days out from my crash. My ribs feel much better, but I’m still getting some sharp pains along the front and where the chest tube was. I was able to go back to work at the beginning of the week - which was super nice. I missed my co-workers and interacting with my patients! I’ve even been able to start running a little. Kind of a walk/jog/hoggle type of run - nothing fancy at all. The ribs ache and I can tell I’m still pretty anemic, in addition to still not quite being able to take a full deep breath. But I’m able to start moving more and moving smoother, which is the goal. Small steps, focusing on the moment and not the big picture right now. I have some challenging goals for next year and I need to make sure I heal well, recovery smartly and take my time building into the training again. But still. Tomorrow I was supposed to be heading up to Golden for my planned final race in the Transcendence Series - the Sawmill 50+. Even though I’d finished my challenge at Indian ...

One of the hardest part about recovery? The self-consciousness of what you are doing compared to what you usually do.What you can do is huge part of identity - and it's no different for me. I'm the crazy one running four laps of the neighborhood in the mornings before work. Or the runner who heads up into the hills with a full pack and doesn't return until hours later. I'm the one at work who climbs up the stairs every time, without fail. Or the perfect metronome in the pool, gliding from wall to wall without ever stopping. All of that - part of who I am and how I define myself. Until the 13th of November. In the time between the 13th and when I went to the hospital on the 21st, those identities I've created felt like they were slipping away. I felt like I should have been improving, but wasn't to the degree I normally do. Granted, I now why now, but still... To go to the pool and not even be able to swim 25 yards or be able to kick because I'm gasping for...

Homeostasis - any process that living things use to actively maintain fairly stable conditions necessary for survival. The body's mechanistic for balancing out within the narrow confines established for survival and maintaining the delicate equilibrium that is life. From temperature to blood pressure, blood sugar to respiratory rate, there are preset "normals" and normal ranges for each physiological condition. The human body is amazing in its ability to detect and regulate when we fall outside the preset normals. One of the best examples is temperature control - if we get cold, we start shivering. If we get hot, we start sweating. If things start falling outside the preset ranges and the compensation strategies are no longer working, most normal people show predictable and linear declines in function, like a river flowing downstream at a high rate of speed. As athletes, we've used training to modify where our preset normal range falls. It's not uncommon for an ...

After the urgent care visit, I tried getting back into somewhat of a normal routine. Sleeping sucked, as did trying to get comfortable on the couch. I needed five pillows behind my back sitting on the couch or I wasn't able to lean forward at all to stand. Even trying to lay on the couch was hard and so painful. As a PT, I know exactly how to move and what motor planning is required for going from laying on my back to on my side or for going from sidelying to sitting upright - but implementing? As Nick put it, there was plenty of whimpering every time I tried moving. Of course, I was also trying to be stubborn and do it all myself. I never said I was smart! Sunday - four days since the crash, I decided to try my first "workout." Nothing fancy, just 30 minutes on the trainer. Shouldn't be too hard - after all, I'd pedaled that 30 minutes back to Cam's house after the crash! First few minutes felt great. Then it got progressively worse and worse. I barely made...

Sometimes, you know before impact that this is going to be bad and its going to hurt. My crash on Nov 13th was one of those times. I knew as the series of events unfolded that this might finally be the one that takes me out. It all started with a root. A slightly damp root covered in about six inches of leaf debris. I hit that root at just the wrong angle and with just a little too much speed. My rear tire slid out, shooting me to the left. I was almost able to correct, just upright and ready to pedal out of it. And then... My left hand hit a small tree, sending me careening back to the right. There was no coming back from that one. I was airborne - the only question remaining was what the leaves covered as I plummeted towards the ground. The pain upon impact was immediate. I’d landed hard on a series of roots, my entire right rib cage perpendicular with the roots. Along with the pain came the scream, like that of a dying animal as everything registered in my brain. Nick was at my si...

That phrase can mean so much to an ultra runner. To the end - to the finish line, the end of the race. To the end - to see the race to the final conclusion no matter if it’s the finish line or chasing cutoff. It also reflects the mindset of those last volunteers, the ones welcoming the back of the pack runners to the finish line. It’s a long day for the runners, but even longer for those tail end volunteers. But that is what we are there for! There is nothing more inspiring then watching runners reach the goals they’ve worked for for months. The cheers of the family, the tears from the runner. The front runners never see that, especially if they just cross the line and then head out for a shower. Even if there is an awards ceremony, all the attention is devoted to the athletes on the podium, not the athletes finishing at the same time. So the only people who are there for those finishers are the family and the volunteers waiting. Volunteering is one of the things I want to do more ...

The trail is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. I’m not sure we’d even call this a trail back home. Maybe a goat trail. But there’s a faint line in the fallen leaves, winding around the trees. And those trees have the trademark white blaze posted on them. So I’m still on the trail, despite what it looks like. This is not Colorado trail running. This is Arkansas trail running and it’s one of the most challenging and enjoyable races I’ve done this year.   Follow the white blazes for the Ozark Highlands Trail Razorback Running Revival at Lake Fort Smith State Park, on the famed Ozark Highlands Trail was a late addition to the running calendar. It was a chance to explore a new area of the country, run and ride on some new trails and see some old friends. It’s also fun to be a part of history with a new race - while there are bound to be a few hiccups, it’s always an adventure to be the first. I knew Human Potential will put on a great race, filled with adventure and adversity. ...

Six races - six different courses and events. This wasn’t a singular journey, even though I covered most of the miles alone. This was a journey that had the support of a community. At each race, I was humbled by the day and inspired by the other runners or volunteers. It’s one of the memories that I have really taken away from the year. No matter how strong I might be, there are things that can bring me to my knees. And while finishing the Transcendence Series might be inspiring to others, I saw many things that inspired me to keep moving.    Sometimes to reach the goal, you just have to keep climbing into the clouds Stories Ultra. The mud humbled me. I knew that course and took for granted how it would be. Yet each lap, when I met other runners we provided inspiration to keep going. Everyone was working through something and those other runners were a voice in the darkness. The cold we all longed for to freeze the mud became a challenge to work through. No matter ho...

Three weeks after a 100 mile race, I had no idea what I would feel like going into the final race - Indian Creek 55k. Would I have recovered enough to run happy the entire way? Or would it be a death march from the start, with my legs rebelling against the idea of running? I knew I'd be okay for a few miles and that I even had a little speed left after the prior weekend's Neilson and Fall Series events. But a 3.2 mile race is a far cry from a 35 mile race and I was honestly concerned about how I would handle the distance. So what does any good runner do when faced with a question about how recovered they are? Focus on the costume contest instead of anything else! Yes, my goal was to win the costume contest - heck with running fast. I'm not sure when I came up with the idea for my costume, but it was shortly after Last Call. John had gone over the legend of SilverHeels during the pre-race meeting and I'd done some reading of my own. Could I pull it off? Could I come up w...

When I was younger, racing marathons all over the country, I knew what mattered. The numbers on the clock when I reached the finish line. That was the point, the goal and that was what mattered for running. Sure, we did plenty of marathons where the time was of lesser importance - some of the smaller, crazy races like the Delaware Trail Dawgs Marathon. But back then, if I wasn't going for time, I still had an eye on the placement. Running under 3:10 was common, as was placing in the top three at marathons around the country. Speed and the “glory” that came with it was my primary focus and I thought that was the ultimate goal for running. But in the greater scheme of things, was that really what mattered? When people asked about the marathons and the 50 states, what was your fastest time was always glossed over. People wanted to know what my favorite race was. They really could not care about the times I ran. They wanted to know about the courses, about the towns and how we manage...

A year is a long time to be working towards a goal - espcially when there’s so many individual milestones to be met along the way. In 2018, when I first started thinking about taking on the Transcendence Series, I knew it would be huge. It’s been four years since the last person finished. Only one other women completed the challenge set forth by the Human Potential Running Series. Six races - spread out across the year, six different courses providing different challenges. One 100 mile race, one 100k race, one 50 mile race and then three 50k races. I had a solid plan - with some backups if needed - but in order to survive the year I would need everything to work perfectly. Dreams start when we sleep, but require the work of daylight to achieve.  The original plan was simple.  Stories 30 hour in February. With that being the first event and coming off my recovery from a busy late fall season, I was hoping for the 100k. I was concerned about the weather for that race. ...

Five races down. One more event remaining in the Transcendence Series. The finish is so close, I just need to run another 35 miles at the Indian Creek 55k. Nothing compared to what I've already covered! It’s still an ultra, still a distance to be respected. There are no guarantees when it comes to ultra races - even with the “shorter” distances. I have 12 hours  - and given that it took me 4 hours to hike the last 9 miles into Music Meadows on the 22nd, I am not taking anything for granted. A lot can happen over the course of 35 miles. I need to be ready to face whatever comes my way so I can reach that finish line. In some ways, I'm sorry that the journey is ending already. I know it's been a long year of balancing training, racing and recovering, but that's been half the fun. Learning what I can tolerate for training and when I start to crack. It's easy to settle into the routine of training for one particular race. Get in the long runs, get in the hills and the...

The trail looked different in the dark. I knew it would - the soft shadows from the setting sun had long vanished, leaving only the hard angles from my headlamp. The climbs faded into the night, the summit a distant dream in the darkness. Even the rocks littering the trail disappeared into the dusty ground, only to reach up and grab my toes. And the cold. I knew it would be cold, but the bone chilling frozen damp of all the creek drainages was taking a toll on me, mentally and physically. Twenty four hours ago, I could not have imagined all that was going through my mind as I slowly marched forward to the next aid station. I didn't need to be out there in the dark, suffering like I was. I could have dropped down to the 100k and been finished hours ago. How long would it take me to reach Colony Creek, let alone Music Meadows? And then I still had the climb of Music Pass to face. I'd wanted the "real" Colorado 100 mile experience and the trail had been more then happy t...

The runners usually take all the glory at Ultra Races. They are out there, working through the miles, struggling against the distance and the time. The stories of success and failure are written about time and time again. But the runners are only one small part of a successful ultra event. The whole event is much more then just the runners. Some of the parts are hidden - behind the scenes work from the race director for permitting and emergency management plans. Others are more visible - from the smiling faces hand out bibs in the morning to the volunteers scattered across the miles and the crew and family there to support the athletes. It’s a machine of many parts that when they come together create a wonderful experience for all. The loneliness of waiting for runners in the early morning hours Photo - Jamie Reichler The Whole is greater then the Sum of the Parts. That was the theme of the Sangre de Cristo Ultras this year and it was on full display throughout the entire t...