Pinkcorker's Desert Trail Running Blog

Pemberton 50k Race Report

2012-02-12T08:34:00.000-07:00

My third time running the Pemberton 50k.

Time to kill before the race starts.

2009 - 5:15:30 (the only time I'll EVER beat Paulette Zilmer - not sure how that happened.)

2010 - 5:00:36 (I could have broken 5 hours if I wasn't taking PICTURES on the course!)

2012 - 5:08:28

I was shooting for 5 hours, but decided I would be content with anything between 5:00 and 5:15. I went into the race with a little hamstring/glute aggravation on my left leg, but it didn't really bother me too much. There are some hills at Pemberton, but they are fairly mild.

So, I went out a little too fast on the first loop, clocking a 2:26. I felt good though, except that I was having a hard time eating. I never have a hard time eating - I usually 'eat' my way through ultras.

Feeling really good - for now.

I didn't realize that I spent a bit of time running behind Mindy (on the left in the picture above). She and her husband Nate used to run with TTR before they moved a little outside of Tucson.

After I started the 2nd loop, I made a few bathroom pitstops and it became clear that I was getting tired. The lack of food, the building desert heat, and going out too fast on the first loop caught up to me. I started drinking the sports drink (Heed) at the aid stations to get more calories in. However, between AS 21 and AS 26, I had to conserve fluid - I was thirsty. By the time I reached the last aid station at 26 miles, I was in bad shape.

Still smiling, though.

I just put the mental state in charge and finished the rest the best I could. They say that running long distances is pretty 'mental' and this was no different.

I was only passed by one person on my 2nd loop, and I passed quite a few people myself, which felt good.

I finished 46th out of 128 finishers - I was happy with that. One more long run next weekend and then Old Pueblo 50 mile on March 3rd.

"You hear about how runnin' ultras is all mental; well, I sure wishit'd hurry up and get mental, 'cause it's feelin' awfully physicalright now."

~ Ken Loveless

Fleet Feet AZ Trail Race

2012-02-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Dallas and I decided to skip the TTR run today and run the Fleet Feet AZ Trail Race. I have done it twice and he had never run it, so I signed us up! This is my first 'running' race in some time.

This race is only 8 miles, but allows me to taper and have a little burst of speed before Pemberton 50k next week.

The photographers on the course got some good pictures of me and some not so great.

Happy - beginning of the race

Climbing a hill on the way back

I'm pretty tired at this point!

I won't be posting the worst one. :)

I placed 3rd in my age group!

Time - 1:20:35

I finished 95th out of 234 finishers. This race brings out the fast people. I haven't been speed training at all, so I felt good about the time. I thought I'd never run again last Summer, so it is all good. :)

Dallas finished 4th in his age group, missing 3rd place by 20 seconds. There are a lot of fast guys in his age group.

Got to see some friends at the race. Shari - haven't seen in forever, which was awesome. Kathy - I'll be riding up with her next week to Fountain Hills for Pemberton 50k.

TTR Redington 50k

2012-01-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

I've never done the whole thing. Two seasons ago, I only went to the aid station and back ~ 27 miles. Last season, I went off course with Alli and Glenn and ended up at Bellota Ranch. By the time I got to the aid station, turning around back to the start netted 50k, but it wasn't the official 50k.

We had a record number of people show up this year. Everyone getting ready for Old Pueblo 50 mile race.

This year I finished it! And Dallas ran it with me! I wore my 'trail gansta' outfit.

I felt pretty good most of the run. Redington is an out and back on the AZ trail. It is a lot of up and down, with several long climbs each way.

Dallas had some IT band issues on the way back, so he told me to go ahead without him when we were about 5 miles out from the finish.

Ross got a lot of pictures of us out there running as we passed him both ways.

I had a smile on my face when I came in to the finish!

Great run! Felt strong at the end.

Total time: 7:15

Elevation gain: 4,464 feet

Distance: 31.38 miles

Ross always gets candid shots of me like this

I have no idea why I was posing like that. :)

One of our newer TTR members, Jeff, summed up the day with a fancy move at the finish.

Now THAT'S infectious enthusiasm

Another weekend at Tucson Mountain Park

2012-01-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

Saturday - 24 miles with Tricia and her friend John at Tucson Mountain Park. Both of them are running the Pemberton 50k, too.

Trails - Yetman, Golden Gate, Prospector, and Starr Pass

Felt pretty good and better as the run progressed. I had a great time and think both of them will do great at Pemberton. I don't usually run with anyone but Dallas lately, so it was a nice change.

Sunday - TTR Tucson Mountain Park Scramble

My shin was bothering me and I was a little tired from Saturday, so I took Doug's suggestion and hiked a short loop around Bren Mountain. I started with the TTR group at pullout G7, went up Golden Gate trail, and then arrived at the intersection of Yetman, Golden Gate, and 'Gates Pass' trails. This 'Gates Pass' trail is not on any map.

Climbing high above Gates Pass Rd.

Beautiful trail. Lots of climbing. Went around Bren Mountain and dropped onto Yetman, which I took back to Golden Gate and then the G7 pullout.

Saw two deer - one had a big rack, but didn't get a shot of it.

She is far away, but right in the middle

5.86 miles

1,262 feet elevation gain

2:06 total time

It was hiking only, probably only ran a few short spurts. Lots of up and down over 4-5 topouts, one was a little rock scramble. Can't wait to do that one again. Fun to go off of the map sometimes. :)

Everyone did different trails on this run, so it was cool to hear where everyone went on the map. Doug had everyone draw their routes on his blown up board. Very neat idea!

Doug's homemade ice cream and sherbert is the absolute bomb. Anytime Doug is the run director, he makes different flavors. Never a dull run when Doug is around.

TTR Tortolita Mountains Run

2012-01-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

Tricia showed up, or I would have been the only gal!

Distance: 14.66 miles
Elevation gain: 2,910 feet
Time: 3:32

This is a hard run. Up Wild Burro, around Wild Mustang, up Alamo Springs, down Wild Burro. Tortolita mountains have a lot of 'step ups/step downs' which are tiring. I always feel slow on that type of terrain.

Pretty uneventful run, but it is pretty out there. Quite a few decaying saguaros, maybe from the cold snap last winter? Dallas got off course, came in an hour and 20 minutes after me. He probably ran 20+ miles. I was worried that he may have fallen out there and was hurt. So relieved when he showed up.

Lot of running at Tucson Mountain Park

2012-01-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

Love running with my best friend.

Dallas and I have been running a LOT out at Tucson Mountain Park. Over the holidays, we did two runs - a 10 mile and a 12.5 mile. Since there was no run scheduled with TTR, we decided to head back out there again. Good place to get a lot of runnable miles. I'll need that with Pemberton and Old Pueblo coming up.

We started at Gates Pass - Yetman TH. We took that to the Golden Gate intersection and ran Golden Gate trail. New trail out there for me.

Lots of cholla cactus on the Golden Gate trail and nice singletrack. A little climb on the way back.

We then ran Yetman trail and then looped around on Starr Pass trail (on the Kinney Rd. side).

Next - down 36th St. trail. Cool saguaro cactus 'alley' on this trail. Don't believe the sign - it says .9 miles and it is about 2 miles to the TH.

Dallas is the quintessential 'forefoot' runner

We also ran out and back to Starr Pass TH. We found out later that Outside magazine was doing mountain bike testing out there. When we reached the Starr Pass TH, there was a U-Haul unloading a pile of mountain bikes. Luckily, we got out of there and back on Yetman before they got going.

Heading back up to Gates Pass at the end kind of sucked - very rocky uphill and then rocky downhill. We got 'er done, though!

Yeah, one time in 100, I get ahead of Dallas.

22 miles in 5:16. Slow, but we hit some rocky sections with some climbs. We had 25 minutes of 'non-moving time' on the Garmin - we took a few breaks. 2,400 feet of elevation gain - not bad for Tucson Mountain Park.

This place is where I practiced learning how to trail run. One of my favorite places.

Beyond...

2012-01-07T21:05:00.000-07:00

This was an event to commemorate the January 8th, 2011 shootings. A day to get people out, enjoying the outdoors with the community we love so much. A positive reaction to a horrible day. A tribute to the people lost and injured.

TTR participated with SAR to put on free trail runs at Sabino Canyon today.

I met up with Tricia, who I haven't seen since the trail races I used to do out at the Tortolitas. It was so awesome to see her again! I was dressed pretty warm - I arrived at 6:30am, and I knew it would be several hours before I started running.

We swept the 7 Falls distance together.

Above 7 Falls pool

I really enjoyed running with Tricia. We talked the whole time. It was great!

I enjoyed hanging out with all of the new faces and TTR members, who came out to run and volunteer.

TTR rocks!

It went really well and I think everyone had a good time. We had 4 people not check in from Bear Canyon Loop - uh oh. Before calling search and rescue, we were able to get their phone number or email address from the sign in and within the hour or so, all reported back that they were home and fine. Whew.

My heart goes out to my friend Ross, who is going through probably the worst year of his life. He has been grieving the loss of his son Gabe, who was tragically killed on January 8th. Out of the grief came *Beyond*. Ross and his family established the Tucson Trails Tribute fund, which put on the event.

Ross, thank you for this day of celebrating life with those around us. We were with you and your family in spirit today and love you very much.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

Ended 2011 with a Ride and Tie on 12/31/11...

Check out my crazy socks.

Two 5 mile loops at Fantasy Island. One mountain bike, two people. Kathy and I were a team - there were about 8 teams. Kathy is a hoot.

She took off on the bike and I ran.

We switched about every 5 minutes. She'd put down the bike after 5 minutes and start running, and I would run to the bike, start riding, pass her, drop the bike, and so on. It was fun.

Kathy on 'our' bike

We also had to carry stuffed animals around for extra points. After the first loop, you could down prune juice and other sugary junk for extra points (time deductions). I like prune juice, so I did it. Luckily, no problems as a result.

What a fun time! Big thanks to my friend Shari for the invite!

Started New Year's Day of 2012 with a TTR Wasson Peak run! 14.6 miles in 3:13. Beat my prior time of 3:26 from 2010.

On top of Wasson - 4,686 feet high

It was really windy on top

Good to see Dallas at the end - he was way faster than me.

We do a figure 8 - up Sendero/Esperanza, across the saddle, down King Canyon, up to Wasson, down Hugh Norris. 3,027 feet of elevation gain. I was tired heading up, so I was fairly slow, but I made up time going down.

Got in 63 miles this week. 25 mile trail run on Monday (Bear Canyon Loop and Sycamore), 12.5 mile trail run in Tucson Mountain Park on Thursday, 5 miles at the Ride and Tie, almost 15 miles at Wasson Peak and another short 6 mile run mid-week.

I'll cycle down a bit the next week to avoid overdoing it, but I think this is going to be a good year.

Proposal Run 'Redux'

2011-12-26T08:08:00.000-07:00

One year ago today, the day after Christmas, Dallas and I went on a 25 mile trail run. On that run, he asked me to marry him!

So, we decided to do the same run again to celebrate - Bear Canyon Loop and Sycamore trail. A friend of ours, Jim, just broke his hand in the creek in Bear Canyon - he slipped on a rock covered in ice. We've had below freezing overnight temps all week.

Therefore, we did the loop backwards, starting with Phoneline trail, to give the ice a chance to melt. We stopped in Sabino Basin - where he asked me to become his wife! He recreated the heart that he has always made when he goes through the basin.

Dallas - hopeless romantic

One lucky gal.

What a memory! Now, we are married a year later! I love being married to Dallas. It is everything I dreamed a marriage to be. :)

Sycamore Reservoir trail was a little hard as there is definitely some elevation gain/loss on this out and back. We also ran into some ice on the trail in various spots. We took Sycamore to Prison Camp and back, which adds on 7 miles.

It was fun doing the loop backwards from how we usually do it - we got a different view of Bear Canyon.

View of the switchbacks towards 7 Falls

At the end, instead of trying to navigate the 7 creek crossings by rock-hopping, we just waded through the water. One crossing was up to my thighs. It felt so good at the end of a warm run.

Total distance - 24.8 miles

Total elevation gain - 5,492 feet

Total time - 6:53

What a difference a year can make. I sadly lost my Mom suddenly in March and my beloved dog Cracker in May. Dallas and I married in May and became co-administrators for the Tucson Trail Runners, which we love so much. I was injured over the Summer with a ligament tear in my groin and didn't run for 4.5 months - it forced me to crosstrain and I completed my first 60 mile cycling race in November. I had struggles with work and with friends. I felt like giving up at times.

It was a year of joy and pain and I came through it all with renewed determination to keep on loving and keep on hoping. There really is no other choice.

TTR Loma Alta/Quilter/Grass Shack

2011-12-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

This was a new trail run for the Tucson Trail Runners; everyone who ran it today loved it. There were many variations; some ran shorter distances, and one person ran to Manning Camp (and encountered quite a bit of snow!) Dallas and I decided to run to Grass Shack Campground, via Loma Alta, Quilter and Manning Camp trails. Quilter trail is a newer section of the AZ trail that connects with the upper trails in the Rincons. Thank you Chase for coming up with this run!

Summary:

1 spectacular sunrise...

21 miles of pretty runnable terrain. I got a lot of running in, which I really needed for my training.

Nice view of fog over the city.

3,796 feet of elevation gain. We did some climbing, that's for sure, but it didn't feel too hard.

Big kitty paw prints along the trail. Glad I was with Dallas!

Mike says mountain lions like pink...

1 fall with a bruised up knee.

Lots of large Saguaros in this area.

We crossed water several times. It had rained like crazy earlier in the week. It was supposed to rain the day before our run, but it didn't, and then the revised forecast indicated that we would be running in rain the whole time. Thankfully, that didn't happen either, and the rain held off until that afternoon when we were finished.

I was leading us on the way back down and I missed the turnoff to the Quilter trail (I was in a trail trance - dancing downhill on a rocky trail). We ended up running a bit towards the Madrona Ranger Station, which added on about a 1/2 mile. Dallas kept yelling at me until I stopped and turned around - he was a little behind me. We got back on track and it was all good. Finished in 5:05.

This run gave me the confidence I needed to continue my training for my two 50 mile races in the Spring. I got in a lot of running today - it is slow running, but running. Everything feels good. I am happy.

"I want you to be everything that is you, deep in the center of your being."

~ Confucius

TTR Trail Work Day

2011-12-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

The Tucson Trail Runners set aside one or two days a year for a Trail Work Day (TWD). As heavy users of trails, this is our opportunity to give back by putting in time to maintain or improve various trails surrounding the Tucson area.

Also, many of our members need to satisify trail work requirements in order to register for some 100 mile races.

For today's TWD, we worked out in the Rincon mountains, on a newly created AZ trail segment - the Quilter trail. This is a beautiful area.

We spotted a pretty unique multi-armed Saguaro cactus. Chris got this great shot.

About 11 TTRs showed up, as well as people from various other agencies. We broke into 3 groups, with each group hauling tools from the trailhead - pulaskis, McLeods, pickaxes and trimmers. Our group went the furthest, about 4 miles from the trailhead.

Chain Gang

We cleared brush, trimmed, built cairns, did some erosion control and a little trail grooming.

The Bohemoth Cairn!

I learned a lot! I primarily run on trails, and it was time to start understanding what went into creating and maintaining them.

Old Management-Ross-works while New Management stands around! :)

We were told that being trail runners gives us a great perspective on placing trail markers, etc.

We'll be running on these trails next week for the first time as a group, so it was exciting to get out there and check it out.

What a fun day. Giving back is so important! Just knowing that some of the things we did will be enjoyed by many people in the future makes me happy!

"The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit."

~Nelson Henderson

Snow and Douglas Springs

2011-12-04T05:58:00.000-07:00

TTR had a run planned to Cowhead Saddle in the Rincon mountains (18 miles RT). A storm came in for several days prior and dropped a lot of snow onto the mountains surrounding Tucson. My plan was to go to the saddle if the conditions weren't dangerous.

Snow topped Catalina Mountains in the distance

About 3 miles up, snow started appearing in the desert. About 6 miles up, ice was evident on the trail and the snow became heavier. I elected to turn around at Douglas Springs, which is about 6.75 miles up (13.5 miles RT). I didn't want to fall and injure something else, so I felt that was a good decision. Other TTRs fell that day.

It was beautiful, though. On the way down, the fog moved into the mountains from the city and gave the trail an eery feel.

I felt slow and discouraged. It took me 3:22. My legs were very sore this day - calves and shins tight as could be. I had used the roller quite a bit the day before, so maybe that was it. Returning to running has been hard, in that my fitness level definitely dropped. I need to start running mid-week. I haven't been doing that, since I was doing the bigger hikes recently. Also, my sore shins last week gave me the idea I shouldn't run all week. Those are feeling better, so I need to slowly increase my mileage.

I've been doing a lot of runs/hikes that have elevation gain - today was about 2,000 feet of climbing. Douglas Springs is hard as it starts climbing right off the bat, so the legs don't have time to warm up. At any rate, I'm getting in quality exercise - I just need to work on the running base and eventually, picking up the pace.

It is just so good being out on the trail.

Esperero and AZ Trail runs

2011-11-27T06:33:00.000-07:00

Dallas and I ran/hiked Esperero Canyon on Thanksgiving. I elected to leave my camera at home, which I am sorry about, as Fall was in full swing on this run. Lots of golden/reddish leaves the whole way.

This is a 21 mile distance with an accumulated elevation gain of about 5,500 feet. It tops out at the 8 mile mark on Cathedral Rock trail at just under 7,000 feet, and is mostly downhill after that. So, most of the climbing is in this 8 mile section. It is steep going up and steep going down.

I said to Dallas on the steep downhill (which is loaded with loose scree), "This trail is dangerous and I'm never doing it again!" He just laughed. Esperero will make me swear. The runnable trails of West Fork and Sabino Canyon are a nice enough reward that you forget all about the pain by the time you return. We finished in 6:40, just in time to get showered and find our way to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner!

However, my quads were sore for about 5 days afterwards. I was favoring one leg in the 'braking' going downhill. One good slide coming down from topout could have you going off the edge, and I wanted to make sure that didn't happen!

Even with sore quads, we went out for the TTR run just 3 days later. It was an out and back 50k, but we were only going to do one way - 15 miles.

We got a ride with Harry to the 'out' point aid station and ran back to the start. We were happy about this, as it was freezing and the wind was really howling at the start - our original plan was to run out to Harry and get a ride back. When we started at the 'out' point, there was no wind and things warmed up nicely.

Much of this run is on the AZ Trail, which also happens to be part of the Old Pueblo 50 mile course. It is a little hilly - about 2,000 feet of elevation gain one way. It passes through Kentucky camp, the start of Old Pueblo.

It is a combo of nice single track trail and dirt roads. That's one of the reasons I like Old Pueblo - it has a little bit of everything and is very runnable.

Big 'D' - all recovered from his 100 miler

We were able to see all of our fellow runners coming towards us, which was great!

Took us about 3:40 - I did a considerable amount of hiking as the legs were still sore from Esperero. I'm still getting my running legs back - I can get a little tired running up hills, so I tend to hike all of the hills at this point.

Not bad - 3 separate run/hikes in 8 days. 18, 21 and 15 miles, with about 10,000 feet of elevation gain total. This was all right after El Tour, where I cycled 63 miles! My fitness is pretty good, the injury has healed and as Gene said, "You are back!"

I've been warned, though, to take it easy. I did overdo the mileage a bit, and although a lot of it was hiking, my shin was a little sore. I'll rest a bit the next week. I don't need another injury to sideline me.

I'm signing up for Pemberton 50k. It is very runnable, and getting in 31 running miles 3 weeks before Old Pueblo 50 miler would be perfect!

I'm back! It was a long road, but I had a lot of people supporting me and I was patient and persevered. I learned I had more in me than I thought. If I am willing, I can learn so much from the things in life which at first appear to insurmountable.

"Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain."

~Author Unknown

Bear Canyon Loop

2011-11-20T11:28:00.000-07:00

Ran Bear Canyon Loop (BCL) in Sabino Canyon with Dallas today. We did the all-trail version, going out on trails and returning on Phoneline trail. It was 17.8 miles.

I was so happy to be back running! I probably ran about 12 miles of it. It is about 3,000 feet elevation gain, so there is a bit of climbing - lots of hiking. My legs were a *little* sore from yesterday's 60 mile El Tour bicycle race, so I was slow.

Dallas felt pretty good until the end. He is still recovering from last week's 100 miler.

I've been feeling some tightness in my groin area where my torn ligament was. I was worried that I had returned to running too soon. It wasn't really pain, but a general stiffness/soreness. I really stretched yesterday, so the good news is that today I couldn't feel it at all. Patience with my injury has paid off. I probably have some lingering scar tissue that I may have to deal with.

When we got to the basin, Dallas recreated the 'heart'. This was the first time we have done BCL together since he asked me to marry him here on December 26th last year.

What a hopeless romantic ;)

BCL is so pretty. This was my 7th time doing it. I love trail running. And, I really love trail running with Dallas.

Well, I'm signed up for Old Pueblo 50 mile on 3/3/12 and Zane Grey 50 mile on 4/21/12. Time to get training!

El Tour de Tucson 2011

2011-11-19T11:03:00.000-07:00

The crescendo of a summer of running injury. I finished the 2011 El Tour de Tucson - 60 mile distance in 4:16:38. I came in 737 out of 1404 finishers.

I got to see Dallas about an hour into the race. His work location is right along the race course, so he came out to cheer me on. He made an awesome sign, gave me a big hug and kiss, and I was off again.

Happy to see Dallas!

The whole outfit

I got started again in a big lull, which was nice.

I did not have a fancy bike - just used my donated Gary Fisher hybrid (heavy dog!) and I did not have clipped-in shoes. I wore my New Balance Minimus shoes! I love my little bicycle, though. I just peddled my little legs off during this race!

I rode to the start of the race from our house and so my total mileage was actually 63 miles. I was way back from the start line (almost a whole block). It took my about 7 minutes to cross the start line. It is chip-timed, but only for the finish. The start is 'gun-time'. So, my Garmin read 4:10.

I paid attention so I didn't get in any bicycle wrecks and pretty much rode by myself most of the race. I did see my friend Troy, though! Dallas shot a picture of us together, as Troy came up on me not long before I ran into Dallas.

I'm on the far left and Troy is right next to me

Never thought I could ride a bike for 63 miles. I'm pretty impressed with myself, to say the least. :)

Maybe next year, I'll have a better bicycle, with the clipped-in shoes and the whole shebang. Then, I might consider doing the whole thing - 111 miles.

For now, though, it is back to the sport I really love - trail running!

Javelina Jundred - a jell of a party...

2011-11-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

Dallas finished his first 100 mile race - Javelina Jundred. His finish time was 20:42 - 19th place!

Javelina is a 15.4 mile trail loop. 100 mile runners do 6 loops, and then a final 'cut-through' loop of 9 miles, for a total of 101.4 miles.

Dallas and Mike a few minutes before the start.

I volunteered at the Javelina Jeadquarters aid station from 7-3. This allowed me to see the action for runners every 15.4 miles (and be able to crew Dallas!)

Dallas coming in from lap 1

Dallas at Jackass Junction Aid Station on lap 3

Looking good before his 4th lap

After finishing my volunteer shift, I hooked up with Jeremy Dougherty from the Phoenix area to put out glow sticks on the course from 4-8pm.

We had a great time! Jeremy marked the shorter, 9 mile loop, and I marked the 15 mile loop. He was pacing someone and needed to get back for that duty. That meant that after mile 5, I would be on my own for the rest of the loop, which would be 10 miles. The great thing is that I got to see all of the Tucson runners out there - Dallas, Ken, Harry, and Jerry - as well as Catra 'Dirt Diva', Hal Koerner, and others.

Jeremy is a hoot to hang out with.

Posing with my glow sticks. Can't see 'em yet. :)

Jeremy and I ran into Dallas, who was starting to deteriorate a bit on his 4th loop (but still smiling!) I was a bit worried about him, but he had been running strong up to this point. So, I just hoped that Kristi and Mike would take good care of him at the Jeadquarters aid station between his 4th and 5th loop. I would still be putting glow sticks out during that time. Unfortunately, Mike dropped early on in the race from a pre-race injury, so he was there to help at the Jeadquarters aid station, which was great. Thanks Mike and Kristi!

Dallas on lap 4

I estimate that I ended up running about 11 of the 15 miles. It was so fun! It was dark after 6pm, so I ran in the dark by myself for several hours. I had my headlamp and also a 'knuckle light'. I borrowed it to see if I would like it and it was awesome! You can even hold a water bottle with it on your hand. It has a broad beam, so it doesn't 'bounce' around like a regular flashlight does.

There were several more aid stations, so I stopped and got a bite to eat and visited with people. I love the ultra atmosphere!

After getting back to Javelina Jeadquarters at about 8pm, I waited for Dallas to come in after lap 5. He was starting to feel a little tired, and was hoping for a pacer for lap 6. Some friends of ours were supposed to come up from Tucson, but that didn't happen. I told Dallas that this would be a hard loop - that he would be by himself and probably feel lonely and tired, but that when he came back in, I would be pacing him on his 7th and final lap. He steeled himself mentally, and headed out again.

I knew I didn't have much time to sleep, so I just decided to shower at the trailhead and pump myself full of caffeine. It started pouring down raining shortly into Dallas' 6th lap, but he didn't bring his rain gear. I was worried he would come in cold and soaking wet. However, when he arrived at Jeadquarters, he was feeling pretty good! We grabbed our shells and headed out at 12:30am for his final 9 miles in the downpour.

I was told that Dallas would be walking a lot by this point. Nope! He probably ran 8 of the final 9 miles. I had a hard time keeping up with him! He said I gave him energy. It was raining so hard! The trail had become a muddy slip and slide. Our shoes, caked with mud, became 10 pound weights! It finally quit raining about an hour into the 9 miles. Up to this point, I had only been using my knuckle light to see, which was fine, but it was nice to have my headlamp back on. My rain jacket hood had been covering it.

He was so excited to see the finish line, that he started picking up the pace. After crossing the finish line, we hugged and our friends congratulated him. He didn't realize that he finished 19th place until we got home to Tucson. What an accompishment - 100 freaking miles! Only 174 people finished the race out of 339 starters and Dallas was 19th. He really trained well - you can't fake that.

I ended up with about 19 miles of running out of 24 miles on the course. Much more running than I've been doing, but I felt so great!

We showered again, and got on the road to Tucson at 3:30am. I had not slept, and Dallas, Kristi and Mike were cashed out in the car. By the time we got to Casa Grande, it was apparent that I was close to involuntarily falling asleep at the wheel, so I pulled over in a dark shopping center and we all slept for over an hour. I woke refreshed, and me and Dallas rehashed the race all the way back to Tucson.

Dallas said his favorite part of the race was running with me the last 9 miles. It was raining hard, about 1:30am in the morning, and I was running behind him thinking, "This really is the life - running with my best friend as he accomplishes something not too many people are able to do."

The shining spirit that is Dallas and our wonderful friend Mike

Dallas said that finishing that 100 miler was the 2nd best thing he has ever done; marrying me was the first. :)

The Super Stevens Couple

Grand Canyon...

2011-10-24T10:03:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Grand Canyon. This trip was supposed to be a R2R2R, but with my injury, I didn't have time to train for that distance. Since we had already paid for a room at the Bright Angel Lodge, and my longest hike was up to 18 miles, we went anyway.

The plan was to hike/run down S. Kaibab trail to the river, on to Phantom Ranch, and then come back out of the Canyon via Bright Angel trail.

Dallas and I checked out of the lodge bright and early and waited for the 'Hikers Express' shuttle to take us from Bright Angel lodge to the S. Kaibab trailhead. There is no parking at that TH and it is about 3 miles away.

Right before we started, while we were waiting at the TH bathrooms, a lady asked us what we were hiking that day. I said, "We are going down to the river/Phantom Ranch and back". She said, "In ONE DAY?" I replied, "Yes", to which she quipped back, "You know that isn't recommended." I reassured her that we were ultrarunners and would be fine.

However, you see these signs everywhere, so we were fairly warned. We knew to bring plenty of water and food and we had adequately trained for this. I don't think a lot of people who get in trouble really know what they are getting into at GC.

We started about 6:30am, right after break of dawn. As soon as we started down the trail, we were gasping at how beautiful it was!!! We took so many pictures.

We ran off and on down S. Kaibab. The views on this trail are unbelievable. It is fairly steep in spots, so we had to be careful on the downhill running. There were some spots that went back up, but it was mostly very downhill!

Yay! I'm running!!!

View of the switchbacks below

Me running on the switchbacks

The river finally came into view, along with the bridge. We made it down to the river in about 2 hours.

After crossing the river, we headed on to Phantom Ranch for some lemonaide!

Dallas is so adorable in this picture.

Been a while since I've seen one of these phones.... :)

We put the lemonaide in our bottles to drink on the way out. After a 15 minute break at Phantom Ranch, we headed back towards Bright Angel trail.

We crossed a few more bridges and started to head up Bright Angel trail.

Silver Bridge

The trail is above the river for a short bit, then eventually moves away from it.

Bright Angel trail has a lot of switchbacks, with some different foliage in spots than S. Kaibab. There is also quite a bit of water along Bright Angel, whereas on S. Kaibab, there is none.

We started seeing all sorts of people on this trail, which is heavily traveled. We passed a few mule trains during our time in the canyon, but luckily, we were at great spots to pull over when we did, so it was no problem.

The views were pretty. Even saw a little critter here and there.

He was just munching away - not too concerned about us.

We power hiked this and trucked past all sorts of people. There was not much running being done at this point! One switchback after another.

There's no room for error if you quit paying attention to the trail in some spots.

We were in shade much of the way on Bright Angel, which was so nice. However, after a gazillion switchbacks, we were ready to be done when that tunnel came into view.

The last 3 miles out, we saw so many people. Right below the rim, a class of students on a field trip were having lunch (this was as far as they were going, but it was quite a sight when we came around the corner).

A final, parting shot of the Grand Canyon.

We ended up with 19 miles, but you lose signal with the GPS a lot on this trail, so it wildly overestimates the climb out. It is more like 17 miles is what we have read. About 4,500 feet elevation gain. Took us 6 hours and 6 minutes for the whole trip. I probably ran about 6 miles of the 17. I felt great!

Reddish legs, socks and shoes from the Grand Canyon's red dirt.

We did it! We drove to Flagstaff to spend the night and rewarded ourselves with - burgers, of course! I love doing things like this with my best friend.

Dallas and I are planning a R2R2R next October. We can't wait! One of the most epic places I've ever been.

TTR Baby Jesus Run

2011-10-21T13:05:00.000-07:00

Last week, I joined TTR for a new run created by Doug. It starts at the end of Golder Ranch Road.

Doug gave us a litany of directions before the run, but I think most of us were so confused that we were hoping that his chalk markings and cairns would help us find our way. He did give us a map. I lost the map halfway through the run. Whoops.

I brought Taos dog with me, fresh back from Colorado.

My goal was to hike the short route, about 10 miles, and run a little here and there. A lot of people did the longer route, about 17 miles.

Baby Jesus trail was beautiful. Doug had all questionable spots marked with chalk and there were many cairns as well.

Taos was getting thirsty - luckily, at mile 5, we ran into a full stock tank, and she drank and drank and drank. I was wearing my Geigerrig hydration bladder, which can be pressurized. All you have to do is squeeze on the end of the tube and the water comes spraying out, right into a dog's mouth! I kept giving her water, but she really enjoyed getting a big gulp at the tank.

I had been running a little here and there, which felt marvelous on this single track trail!

After Baby Jesus trail, we got onto Sutherland road - a rocky, Jeep road. I ran quite a bit of it, finding it easier to run slowly than walk on this terrain.

We finally ran into the rest of the group on the 50 year trail. By this time, Taos was getting really hot. I kept giving her water, but she finally started stopping at any shady spot she could.

After I couldn't get her up, and she wasn't taking any water from my tube, I was getting worried. Along came Dallas, and he had plenty of water (of course he did, he likes to get properly dehydrated on his runs, ha ha).

He opened his Camelbak to let Taos drink out of it. :)

This was just enough to get us back to the finish. I ran quite a bit of the last mile with Dallas, which was wonderful!

The Dynamic Duo!

A lot of people got off course at the end, but we didn't, thankfully! It was fairly overgrown in spots, but I didn't get too scratched up. Dallas, on the other hand, had a catfight with some thorny bushes.

Doug had homemade chocolate raspberry ice cream and lemon sorbet ready for us. I think I had about 8 small scoops. Awesome!

Taos was just thankful for the shade.

This was another test for my injury - I estimate that I ran about 4 of the 10.5 miles and felt pretty good. This was a great run!

Registration for Old Pueblo 50 mile opened up today. I didn't want to miss the opportunity to register before it sold out, so I am officially in. I will have 4.5 months to train, so I don't think that is pushing it too much. I am already up to 18 miles hiking and with all of the bike riding, I think I'll be strong when I start extending my runs.

Dallas and I will be doing 17 miles in the Grand Canyon this week. We are going down to the river on Kaibab trail and back on Bright Angel trail. I'm excited! I've never gone into the canyon. I'm glad I get to share it with my best friend.

Get Moving Tucson Half Marathon

2011-10-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

I signed up for the half marathon back in the Spring before I was injured. I knew I could walk it and the course was open for 3.5 hours. The question was - how fast could I walk it and could I run a few miles?

Dallas finished quickly in 1:35 and made it back to me at about mile 8.5 of the race. Up to that point, I had been walking and averaged a 13 minute mile. I kept that pace going up and down A-Mountain as well! Power walking!!

Going up 'A' Mountain

We continued to keep up that pace (Dallas can't walk that fast, so he slow jogs a little here and there) and began running at mile 11. This was fun as mile 11 goes past the start line again and we got to see some friends who were cheering me on!!

We walked mile 12 and then we ran the last mile into the finish. It felt good to run into the finish.

2:45 total time for 13.1 miles and I only ran 2 of the miles.

This was the third race of the Gabe Zimmerman Triple Crown, which raised all sorts of money for the charity with which Gabe was involved. Gabe is the son of Ross in TTR, so all sorts of TTRs came out to support the Triple Crown, which was awesome. It was great to see so many people out to these three races that we knew and we got to hear Ross speak about his son and how he would have liked what we did. I think Gabe would be proud of his dad for creating so much unity in the community. You won't be forgotten Gabe.

Cycling and a new goal

2011-10-08T19:42:00.000-07:00

I decided I wanted to do the 60 mile El Tour de Tucson course instead of the 40 mile since the course was changed. Last week, Dallas and I rode our bikes to the start, which is now at McMahon's on Swan near Ft. Lowell. We then took the 60 mile El Tour course all the way up to Rancho Vistoso/Innovation Park, the start of the 40 (42 now?) mile course.

Most adorable man on the planet award. Hands down.

Here I am showing off my new jersey from Colorado. I know my friend Kathleen has been anxiously waiting for it! :)

We returned the same way, for a total of 40 miles. My longest ride yet!

Today, I did the 25 mile Trek Breast Cancer Awareness Ride. I rode from the house, did the ride, and rode home. My first ride with a group.

I was nervous, but it went well and I kept up with everyone fine. I rode behind a gal for a while that kept braking (and driving me crazy), but I finally got past her after the group stopped for a break. Then I rode next to a guy that talked my head off for the rest of the ride. Made the time pass and got me used to riding next to someone in a group.

I stopped at The Running Shop on the way home to pick up mine and Dallas' packet for tomorrow's half marathon, and returned home with 29 miles.

I determined after today that my helmet is old and dorky and I need a new one. I also fell in love with that beautiful pink bike behind me in the picture up above (Orbea). A new bike will be a while. Not enough $.

Besides, I have a few races to register for - I need to save my money for ultrarunning! I plan on doing Old Pueblo 50 mile on March 3rd and Zane Grey 50 mile on April 21st. I will try running a little in the next few weeks to continue to test the waters, but I think I am fairly mended and can start training soon.

Big Yay!

Executing the plan to return to running

2011-10-01T18:29:00.000-07:00

After driving 11 hours back to Tucson, I got up early the next morning and rode my bike up to Sabino Canyon with Dallas for the TTR run (10 miles). It was good to see everyone with the new TTR season starting. I saw a lot of new runners and made sure I introduced myself. As the new co-administrator of TTR with Dallas, I want to make sure I know who the new people are and make them feel welcome.

Dallas ran to Sabino Basin with the group, and I hiked my longest distance since the injury - 10 miles. I hiked Phoneline trail to the junction and back in 2:45. I was with Ross for a few minutes early on, but he said I quickly 'dusted him'. He also said that I have a 'ferocious hiking speed'. :) Thanks Ross!

We then rode our bikes back home 10 miles. Nice Sunday!

The next week was the TTR Green Bug run. Since I wasn't going to be cycling this weekend, my goal was to hike 3 hours out and 3 hours back. I didn't think I would get to the out point (Green Mtn. trailhead), but I thought I would see how far I got. Dallas decided to hike with me! :)

So good to be back out on the trails with my best friend. ;)

The goal was to hike as fast as possible the entire time (sometimes Dallas had to jog to keep up with me - I'm a fast hiker!). We started earlier than the group at Prison Camp on Mt. Lemmon. We took the Bug Springs and Green Mountain trails.

After several hours, we started seeing TTR folks.

These trails are really pretty. Green Mountain was the trail we ran after we got married! Felt great to be out on the trail where I belong. :)

At exactly 3 hours, we were at 9 miles, so we turned around. On the way back, we took a 10 minute break at the aid station that Tonja was manning (thank you!!) and returned to the group at Prison Camp at 6:10. We didn't quite make the whole route, which was 18.8 miles, but we hiked 18 miles with about 4,200 elevation gain. I felt good, so it was a victory!

So, today, less than a week after the 18 mile hike, I decided to try out my running legs. On my hour out and back walk on the Rillito, I RAN for 10 minutes of the way out and 10 mins of the way back. No pain!! I felt a little sore this evening in my groin, but not much, so I think I will give it another week before I try it again. I felt so much hope when I was running, because it is getting better! The freedom! Felt wonderful.

Hope is such a grand thing.

Last stop before home: Silverton, CO

2011-09-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

I've spent a lot of time here over the years. My now ex-husband has an art gallery there over the summer and I used to go visit. It has been several years since I've been there and it was good to be back. Silverton is an old mining town that is now inhabited by about 300 residents and sits at 9,300 feet elevation. Silverton is home to the Hardrock 100 mile endurance run.

I pulled in on Thursday night after driving all day from Golden. I got rained on here and there and the weather was supposed to be cold, rainy and possibly snowy on Friday.

I got up and went to the local Silverton Movement Center and took a Kettlebell class. Marianne is the owner and she is great. I've taken spin classes there in the past.

The weather turned out better than I thought and I got in 2 hikes. The first one was along the Animas river with Taos (Ken's dog - used to be ours). We were happy to see each other! She is a good dog. I have done a lot of runs along here, because it is so beautiful! Also, the Silverton marathon runs along here as well, which I did several years ago. We did about 4 miles.

The Animas River and my new pink hat

Little slice of heaven

I miss that Taos dog. She is so sweet and can run like the wind.

Lots of snow on the mountains already

Afterwards, I did some small town shopping (Mountain Calling outdoor store going out of business) and eating (Avalanche Cafe - yummy!)

It rained for a little mid-day, but cleared up in time to enjoy a little more Silverton outdoors. I went on another short hike with Kenny, Taos and Elvis. Elvis is possibly looking for a home - we may be taking him.

Taos and Elvis

This hike was along the snowshoe trail, which I have run before as well. It is in a beautiful forested area, but crosses a lot of runoff streams and can get pretty muddy when it has been raining. It wasn't bad today, though. People have built some wood crossings to deal with some of the bigger ones.

A cool little structure is out there - not sure what it is?

Looking down into Silverton past old mining remains

After that, I went back to Avalanche Cafe, had some tea and got caught up on email. I went back to Bill and Cindy's house, where I stayed both nights, and got ready for the return trip home. I drove out early on Saturday morning, looking forward to the reunion with Dallas.

The drive from Silverton to Durango was rainy and foggy. Ken reported that it was raining and snowing on Saturday in Silverton, so I just missed the bad weather. The leaves are turning - a sign of Winter's approach.

Colorado, it is hard to leave you! I'll be back. Dallas and I are thinking of doing Pike's Peak Ascent or Marathon next year (in Colorado Springs) and there is word of a 50 miler brewing in Silverton next year.

I'm a Mountain Girl, for sure.

About an hour before you arrive in Tucson, in Mammoth, AZ, the Corker's One Stop comes into view. I've never stopped there.

All I can say is that there may be another Corker out there, but not another Pinkcorker. :)

More Colorado trails with Julie

2011-09-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

After driving out of Colorado Springs, I headed to Golden, where my friend Julie lives. Like my friend Kathleen, I met Julie about 3 years ago via email - she had found my trail running blog. She was coming to Tucson to visit her family for 6 months while her husband was on a sabbatical and wanted to know about some Tucson trails. We ran together off and on while she was here. I say off and on because a month or so after she arrived, I shattered my wrist on a trail run and had to get a plate and 9 screws installed! I was out for about 5-6 weeks, but got in a few more runs with her after that before she left.

Now, every time she comes to visit, sometimes once or twice a year, we go running (usually Phoneline trail; I'll get her out on Bear Canyon loop one of these days).

I decided it was time to go visit her, and along with Kathleen, the 'tour of Colorado' trip was born. Of course, we wouldn't be trail running, but Julie said that we could go on a few hikes, so that is what we did.

First one was behind her house on some trails she regularly runs - about 4.5 miles.

Roo dog was so cute.

Later that day, her husband Mike made us homemade pizza, which was gloriously delicious!

The next day, we went into Boulder and did a few trails (I have no idea what they were called - it was a maze of beautiful trails).

The Flatirons are obscured by the stormy clouds.

She would be one of the many great reasons to live in CO...

The little guy in the tree was seriously checking us out.

A lot of the trails were 'closed off' due to heavy bear activity. I was told that the hunting laws had changed in regards to bears in CO and thus, more bears this year. I think we went for about 4 miles and finished in the drizzling rain and cold.

Boulder is really pretty.

We had lunch at 'Next Door' and shopped on Pearl St. (Outdoor Divas!!!) but I was restrained, and didn't buy anything.

After coming back to Golden that afternoon, I headed to the Red Rocks Amphitheatre and got in another short hike - 1.5 miles - and took in the views.

I would love to see a concert at this place someday.

Momma appeared like she was going to charge me for a second.

After walking down 400 steps to get to the Visitor's Center (I parked at the top of the Amphitheatre) I walked back up the 400 steps and went back to Julie's house.

We ended the trip with a sushi dinner out with her kids that night and I got on the road the next morning to Silverton. I'm hoping she'll come to Tucson in the next year to visit her folks and I can take her on Bear Canyon loop!

Thank you Julie for a wonderful trip. I am so glad I finally made it to your little corner of the world. :)

Oh, the mountains! I'm in love. Next stop - Silverton!

A few days with an old 'new' friend

2011-09-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

Sometime around the beginning of 2008, I was contacted by Kathleen from Colorado Springs, CO. Her and her husband Steve were looking to start a trail running blog and they asked me a bunch of questions about my blog.

After many emails with Kathleen, it was clear that we really connected as friends. She was so easy to converse with and she seemed like a really beautiful person. We have kept in touch with each other on a fairly regular basis over the last 3 years by email (only). In addition, we've been reading each other's trail running blogs and really got to know each other! I had thought about coming up to visit them a while back, but finally my trip to visit her and her husband Steve was planned for September, 2011.

Of course, the purpose of the trip was to go trail running, and that wasn't happening because of my injury. I still decided to go, knowing that we would find plenty to do!

I arrived Saturday night and felt like I had always known them! After several hours of easy chatting, we headed off to bed. Steve had planned a trail run for the morning and Kathleen and I decided to rent a mountain bike for me and go bike riding!

We went on the Santa Fe trail, which is a fairly mellow multi-use trail near the mountain bike rental place. However, being a 'low-lander', the elevation of Colorado Springs took my breath away, making even small hills a cardio experience!!!

Kathleen is Colorado Springs' 'Fashionista'

The view in all directions was beautiful.

It was fun - can't wait to get a mountain bike! We did about 25 miles total on the out and back. We went through the Air Force Academy and through some really pretty areas. I love Colorado Springs!

Based on previous posts on Kathleen and Steve's Happy Trails trail running blog, I wanted to do the Manitou Incline.

The Incline (to the highest point) is about 2,200 feet elevation gain in 1.1 miles.

At the steepest part, the grade is 68%. Kathleen says it is about 3,000 stairs (uh, I believe her now!) I had been doing some training on the Catalina high school bleachers in Tucson, and knew I could do at least 1,500 stairs, so I was fairly ready.

It was everything that it was billed and more. With the low oxygen, at parts I would hike up 10 steps and have to stop and catch my breath! My legs handled it okay, but my lungs revolted...

Kathleen stayed ahead, but periodically waited for me.

The railroad ties became a little crazy after a while.

I wanted to look back, but felt like I would fall over. So, I sat down for a moment to snap a picture.

I finally made it to the top - victory!

We took the Barr trail down, for a total of about 4.5 miles.

My legs felt good and I had no issues with my injury. What great fun! Kathleen is just an awesome person to spend time with.

Colorado Springs - wow! We ate at Adam's Mountain Cafe and Coquette Crepery (both in Manitou Springs), went to The Mate' Factor, finally visited Title 9 Sports in person (I have always ordered from them online), went to the Colorado Running Company (tried on the Hokas!), got in some good exercise, and even fit in a quick visit to Garden of the Gods.

And, best of all, I finally met Kathleen and Steve in person, both of whom I would call good friends and good people.

As I drove out of town on Monday night, headed to Golden to visit my friend Julie, I shed a few tears - I was sad to be leaving my new (old) friend Kathleen. I'll be back, though, probably next year, to do Pike's Peak Ascent (or marathon) and maybe run some of the many beautiful trails in the area. Kathleen, ♪ "Happy Trails to you, until we meet again..." ♫

Saguaro Labor Day 5k

2011-09-05T19:25:00.033-07:00

Yesterday, Dallas and I rode 30 miles on the El Tour de Tucson course - 15 miles out and 15 miles back (uphill on the way back). I have offically signed up to do the 40 mile option, which is on November 19th. I will be doing it on the Gary Fisher hybrid bike, given to me by my friend MaryEllen last Summer.

I have really enjoyed the cycling and I'm so glad I can try some new things as I heal up.

Today, I did the 5k race instead of the 8 mile race I had signed up for originally. I knew I could walk the 8 mile course (I had done it a few weeks ago) but I figured it would take too long so I walked the 5k. It was a little hard 'walking' into the finish, instead of running, but I was happy to be out there on my feet!

Total time: 40:22

I was proud of that. It was a 13 min/mile average. My second mile I averaged 12:36 min/mile! I walked the entire thing. After 2 miles, I heard a gal say, "I've been running the whole time and I still can't pass her!" So, it was fun to know I could at least walk really fast. No pain as a result, either. I'm healing!

My friend Christian (http://www.run100miles.com/) put this on my FB page:

"Love the Saguaro Labor Day Run 2011 photo. Lean, mean racing machine. WAD UP AZ!?"

Made me feel good! Thanks Christian!

I will try to run towards the end of September and see how things feel. I'm confident I will be back at it before long. I sure hope so! I miss the trails.

Healing.

2011-08-26T04:59:00.003-07:00

Verdict is in from the bone scan - I have torn the ligament which attaches to the lesser trochanter. This is right below the ball at the top of the femur that inserts into your hip socket on the inside of the upper leg. The psoas muscle attaches to the iliacus muscle to form the iliopsoas, which attaches into the lesser trochanter. Based on other tests and findings, the Sports Medicine doctor concluded that I probably strained that as well. This area is known to many as the 'hip flexor' area and is exactly where my pain has been.

I have not run for over 10 weeks, but the Sports Medicine doctor suggests that it could take 3-4 months total time (or longer). The best thing I can do for a ligament tear is to do functional movement, but with no impact and nothing that causes pain. Ligaments heal faster when you actually move your body - they regrow fiber in a more proper fashion. When you actually put a little strain on a healing ligament (not pain), you end up with a stronger ligament in the long run. It can take up to a year to fully heal a ligament tear.

So, I am walking, cycling, swimming, and doing hot yoga and kettlebell classes. None of these are causing pain, although my fast 4 mile walk the other day (14:36 pace with one mile being 14:10) had my groin feeling a little sore the next day. I just need to be careful about speed still. I figure until I can walk really fast without pain, there will be no running.

I'm making peace with that, and I'm doing other things to keep myself busy.

I have been cycling more hills. Last week, Dallas and I cycled from home to Sabino Canyon, hiked 5 miles on Phoneline trail, which is a bit of a climb, and cycled home. 21 miles on the bike.

We had done 23 miles the week before, but with no hills.

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of going mountain biking with Ross from TTR.

Hope I am out doing this stuff years from now. Ross is amazing.

We went from his house up Redington Rd, which is super steep (for me!) Ross has some nice bikes - I was riding on his wife Pam's bike, which was perfect.

I decided to turn around at 7.5 miles, as I was starting to feel it in my groin a bit from the climbing and I wanted to be safe. The downhill was pretty scary, as we came barreling down that road at a pace that had me with a 'death grip' on the bike 'intent on avoiding disaster'. It was fun. 15 miles total.

I'm proud of myself!

The next day, Dallas and I went to Saguaro East and walked the hilly 8 mile paved loop in 2:12.

We then got on our bikes and rode the 8 miles in 46 minutes. There is one big hill that goes on for about a mile and a half, but I got up it. My legs were a little sore from the mountain biking, but I was not going to walk the bike. So, I kept on.

Almost done with the big hill

We then went swimming at DMAFB (Air Force base) at the indoor lap pool, which felt great. We were blessed with a lot of cloud cover, which was awesome on such a hot summer day in Tucson.

Dallas and I are taking 2 Kettlebell classes this week and 2 next week. We hope to add this into our regimen and get out of the gym a bit.

I'll probably be signing up for El Tour de Tucson, which is the big bike race in Tucson in mid-November. I will likely do the 40 mile option, although people are trying to talk me into the 66 mile option. I hope to get in a 25+ mile ride sometime in August, and I'll still have 2 months to work up to the higher mileage. I don't think I'm ready for 66 miles, but I'm excited to be trying something new.

I guess that is the upside of all of this. While I was cycling a bit last summer, this injury has gotten me out of my comfort zone with further distances and hills. Also, I have not gone swimming (real swimming) ever. So, I'm learning how to swim laps, which is actually a real fun thing to do in the summer here in Tucson. This whole thing will refresh my love of running in the long run and make me a more balanced athlete.

It was a bummer to skip our planned GC R2R2R, and I had to bag JJ100, but I would have never attempted a bike race otherwise (or tried swimming!). I'll attempt those goals next year. I'll get to crew Dallas on his first 100 mile attempt at Javelina Jundred, which will be awesome.

Meanwhile, I'll keep hiking and eventually, I will heal. Lots of healing this year.

No trail running happening on this blog...

2011-07-31T14:45:00.000-07:00

I'm still recovering. After doing 'the splits' going down an embankment on April 23rd, I ran for a while until I couldn't anymore because of the pain. Now, I haven't run in 2 months. I've had X-rays, an MRI, and a few days ago, an MRI with an arthrogram (dye injected into the hip).

Although I had to take about 3 weeks off of all exercise (I was limping), I eventually started cycling, swimming, and hot yoga, since I could do all of those without pain. I'm still lifting weights twice a week. I've been cycling about 45 minutes to an hour 3-5 days a week, swimming once a week (well, if that's what you want to call it - I haven't swam in 30+ years) and trying to walk 2+ miles once or twice a week. Until about a week and a half ago, my walks have been painful. I am now able to walk pain-free, which is great!

Getting ready to leave the house. My new bike skirt. :)

After seeing the Sports Medicine doc at TOI, I was sent to physical therapy for 3 weeks. Exercises and stretches, mostly for strengthening of my adductor/abductors/hips. I am pretty sure I pulled my adductor muscle, and that has finally been fixed. The physical therapist suggested that I try a minute of light jogging, since I was now walking pain-free. It hurt, so I stopped. After seeing my doctor again about that fact, I was sent for an MRI with an arthrogram on Friday. She suspected a labral tear.

I got the results yesterday and it was negative for a labral tear. It indicated a few other things, which I don't quite understand, so I will talk to her this week for the next course of action. It will most likely be a cortisone shot. We'll see. I've become pretty patient these days...

Today, Dallas and I rode our bikes to DMAFB (Air Force base), swam for 30 minutes in the indoor lap pool, and rode back home.

Waiting to get on the AFB. I'm officially a military dependent now.

Riding on base with a view of the Catalina mountains.

Pool feels good in this heat.

Pink everything. Pink clothes, pink swimsuit, pink goggles.

I rode 20 miles!!!!!!!

My longest bike ride ever. I am working on lengthening my weekend bike ride and if things progress along, I might do the 40 mile option of El Tour de Tucson in November. Not sure when I'll get running again, but when I do, it will be a slow progression.

So, for now, I'm enjoying the cycling, trying to learn how to swim again, will probably do Kettelbell/TRX classes with Dallas in August, and hopefully, start hiking with some hills soon.

I did crew Dallas, Mike, Tom, and Jeremy on a 50 miler last weekend. They ran through the Catalina mountains in the middle of the night to celebrate Dallas' 50th birthday.

Proud of these boys! Almost 16 hours and over 11,000 feet of elevation gain

This year has been hard with the loss of my Mom, the loss of Cracker, and the loss of running. But, I married my best friend Dallas, my job is going fairly well (except I'm working a LOT), my health is really good (other than the injury), and I am surrounded by more friends than I have time to spend with.

It felt really good to do a 2+ hour block of exercise today with Dallas. I have really missed running with him and this was awesome.

I don't see myself becoming a triathlete anytime soon, but I am going to Ladies' Night at TriSports at the end of August! Should be fun. I'll probably be going mountain bike riding with my friend Ross in a few weeks for the first time.

I am blessed! I know I will be back to running before long - I just need to be patient and let things heal.

No news is good news and some not so good news...

2011-07-04T12:41:00.002-07:00

I haven't posted in a while - there has been a lot going on!

Dallas and I got married on May 22nd on Mt. Lemmon, followed by a 4 mile trail run with friends. For that reason, we had our wedding reception a week later at our friend Gene and Jane's house, which is beautiful.

We had a lovely cake from Nadine's, which had our signature 'trail heart' on the top, made out of sugar 'rocks'.

Yum. We shared a monstrous corner piece.

The rock heart in Sabino Basin. That is the ring in the middle.

Our wedding reception was a joyous time, just like our wedding. Dallas always makes me laugh. Dallas picked out this beautiful dress for me.

He said more beautiful words to me before we cut the cake.

We had about 65 friends come. We are truly blessed.

A week after the reception (2 weeks from my last run), I decided to go forward with my plans to run the Meet Me Downtown 5k, which is part of the Gabe Zimmerman Triple Crown. I have been dealing with some painful issues since my trail 'splits' on Easter Sunday, April 23rd, so I decided to take a few weeks off to see how things felt.

As soon as I started the race, I was in pain. Dallas ran the race with me and we finished in 26:05 (8:24 mpm pace), which was 9th in my age group (not bad for running injured). In retrospect, I should have probably stopped running a mere 1/8 mile into the race. Oh well. It definitely set me back a bit.

So...I haven't run since then. One month of no running. I've basically run 7 whole miles in the last 7 weeks. I miss it.

I've seen a sports chiropractor, my primary care doc, and finally got in the other day to a sports medicine doc at TOI. I had x-rays done, an MRI and I am taking Celebrex.

Initially, it was thought that I had a tight psoas muscle and possibly, a femoral neck stress fracture. Then, a torn adductor and pelvic avulsion were suspected. My sports medicine doc thinks that I likely strained my right adductor/quad/hamstring and associated tendons when I did the splits over 2 months ago and I might have a hip labral tear.

What the MRI reported was not good, though, and I'm not sure yet if it is related to the trail accident. It reported Femoral acetabular impingement syndrome and Herniated synovial pits in my right hip. My sports medicine doc has not seen the results yet, but in the meantime, I will be doing physical therapy twice a week and taking Celebrex.

She said no running for at least 3 weeks. I can exercise, but nothing that causes me pain. So, I am easy cycling (about 45 minutes at a time - 9+ miles), doing Bikram (hot) yoga, and I have started 'learning' how to swim. Yes, I can swim to save my life if you threw me in a pool, but my friend Shari is teaching me how to swim for exercise/cardio. Thank you Shari!!! It feels good to get some exercise.

Between all of these suspected and diagnosed problems, I have learned a lot about human anatomy. Bottom line is my hip socket is messed up. Could mean surgery, could get better with PT and Celebrex. I've also been doing Eucommia Bark, Krill Oil, and eating a lot of anti-inflammatory foods. I am doing whatever I can to help my body heal.

What's next? If I don't improve in 3 weeks, then I have to get a contrast scan to see what is going on in there. Once the sports medicine doc gets the results back from the MRI on Tuesday, she may change the plan, I don't know.

I took the Grand Canyon R2R2R off the upcoming list as well as JJ100. If I get back to running by the end of the summer (pipe dream?), it will be a while before I build up my base and I am able to do long distances. Dallas signed up for JJ100, so I'll crew him and maybe pace him if I'm running by then. I am going to CO in mid-September to run trails with some girlfriends; I sure hope I can run by then, too.

Lot of acceptance going on.

Other good news; Dallas and I are the new co-administrators (directors) for TTR!! Gene and Ross are stepping down after 17 years, and we will be overseeing the Tucson Trail Run Series for the foreseeable future (with their sage advice). Very exciting and humbling at the same time. What an honor to head up TTR for its 34th year.

Me in the news:
I was featured in some various articles over the last few months, which is cool. First, an article right before OP 50:

http://www.examiner.com/endurance-sports-in-tucson/ultrarunners-come-to-tucson-for-old-pueblo-50-mile-endurance-run

Then, I was featured in Tailwinds magazine in May - Emily did a great job on this article. Look on page 30:

http://issuu.com/tailwindsweb/docs/tw_may_june_2011

My friend Chase from TTR interviewed me for his new blog:

http://trailsofglory.blogspot.com/2011/06/profile-and-interview-with-renee.html

My blog will be pretty quiet for a while. Not sure what to expect about when I can run again, but when I have news, I will report it. I am so thankful for all of the emails, FB comments and general love I have received related to my current injury/body problems. Mentally, they have all helped me tremendously.

I did finally invest in some bike shorts (and a bike skirt from Skirt Sports!) When I get the bike skirt, I'll post a pic. It is cute!! It is nice to have some cushioning when I ride.

Dallas and I went to my family reunion in Texas the 2nd weekend in June and he got to meet my humongous family. It was so good to see my family!!! They all loved him, of course. He jumped in and helped the guys out with the annual catfish fry and really enjoyed himself.

No, I'm not from Texas, I'm from Lousiana - different relatives 'host' it each year. My cousin-in-law IMa (on the left) called us workout freaks.

Guess I'll end on that note. :)

A Running Bride

2011-05-22T19:49:00.176-07:00

Today, I married Dallas, my best friend and ultimate trail partner.

It was a small, yet beautiful ceremony at San Pedro Vista trailhead, which is about 17 miles up Catalina Highway. I couldn't think of a better place to have it - up in the mountains we run in so much, surrounded by pine trees and amazing views.

Heading to the wedding-we are very happy today.

The plan was to have the wedding ceremony first and then run a 4 mile stretch of Green Mountain trail from San Pedro Vista downhill to General Hitchcock Campground. We all congregated at GHC to get shuttled up to the top.

No dressing up fancy for this wedding...

I wore a dress that I could run in (like a tennis dress, from Athleta), Zoot running shoes, and a veil. Isn't that what every gal wears to her wedding? Of course, the dress and the shoes had pink on them. :)

The happy bride has arrived.

We were married by Susy Bacal, a local triathlete and ultrarunning phenomenon, who is also a Justice of the Peace. Seemed fitting, and I've known Susy for 10+ years. She runs with Pam Reed a lot. We were considering getting married in the middle of a long trail run, and thought Susy would be perfect. We wanted to invite a few non-runners to the wedding, so we changed our mind and decided to get married at the trailhead, a short walk off of Catalina Highway.

Don't panic!

After all of the guests that were going to run got shuttled up to San Pedro Vista, I determined that one vehicle didn't make it. Two of our guests were lost. Gene and Ross saved the day by driving down the mountain to find them. They returned with the guests and the wedding started about 15 minutes behind schedule. I was in a small panic, but Dallas calmed me down.

Having a little fun before the wedding starts

Me reading my words and vows to Dallas...

Dallas reading his words and vows to me...

Well, it's official now. It is in ink. :)

This is a very happy day for us.

Our wedding party - Shari is my witness, Gene is Dallas' witness

These are the people we spend the most time with and who we love so much.

13 of our wedding guests ran down the trail with us - Ross, Pam, Chris F., Mike, Joe, Tom, Billie, Denise, Steve, Gene, Wayne, Mark, and Chris A.

Green Mountain trail is gorgeous

A running bride!

Thimble Peak in the background

What great fun at a wedding.

Getting ourselves cleaned up from the run to go eat at Zona 78.

A friend of ours gave us a metal sculpture of two runners 'running towards each other'. That was his message - always be running towards each other.

Thank you to Pam, Ross and Patricia for taking pictures! Pam's pictures came out so professional - she has a lot of beautiful close up pictures of us. Unfortunately, they are too big to put on Blogger. We will probably enlarge some for our home.

What an incredible day - gorgeous weather, fantastic views, a difficult, yet beautifully diverse trail run, surrounded by friends, my favorite restaurant, and I married an infinitely gentle and kind man (who is also wild at heart) that cherishes me and treats me like a princess. I love you so deeply Dallas; your love is a symphony.

To us - to a lifetime of many laughs, intimate companionship, endless excitement and running together. I love us.

"Marriage is not only the beginning of a relationship but also the end of a life long search for the other half of your soul."

~ unknown

Cracker Dog - hope there is a 5k wherever you went

2011-05-07T19:31:00.107-07:00

I lost my beloved Cracker Dog on this day - May 7, 2011. She was my precious little girl and I miss her very much. Somehow, she got out of the yard, and was killed instantly in the road in front of our house.

This happened two weeks before my wedding, and has been so difficult to deal with. She was a rescue dog - I got her at 9 months old in November, 2007. She had such a wonderful personality. I am grateful for the 3 and a half years I had with her.

We ran together from time to time and we did 2 official 5k races together.

Canine Classic 5k- 2009

Finishing her 2nd 5k - Canine Classic 2010

Getting ready for the post-race doggie fashion show!

Showing off that pink camo jacket on-stage

I think about you every day. I miss how you would 'talk' to me and I miss holding you. I miss calling you all the names I used to call you: Cracker, Crackster, the Crackinator, Crackmeister...

Cracker, Dallas misses running with you and Dixie misses playing with you. I will miss watching you chew on Dixie's ears. Why these things happen in God's universe, I do not know. It will take a long time for all of us to heal. Crackster, I hope wherever your sweet soul went, that you are happy.

Dixie and Cracker. BFF.

"If you have a dog, you will most likely outlive it; to get a dog is to open yourself to profound joy and, prospectively, to equally profound sadness."

~ Marjorie Garber

A month of running service

2011-05-01T20:58:00.205-07:00

I decided that for the month of April, I would help out on long runs instead of running them. I was giving my body a break and I also believe that at some point, you have to give back to the running community.

TTR Mt. Bigelow - April 12, 2011

I helped Dallas with aid (he was the RD) at Palisades TH. A big storm rolled in the night before, so we had lots of snow in the Catalina Mountains. You needed chains or 4WD to get past MP 14 (Windy Point) because of ice and snow.

My Subaru Outback came through for me - AWD rocks.

Long Live TTR! ♥ Love my Subaru Outback ♥

Our friend Mark came and helped with aid, bringing a stove. We had hot chicken soup and mac and cheese, which became important as runners showed up at the top frozen.

Mark and I did a little trail blazing south on Palisades, while Dallas blazed the trail up Bigelow. Runners were very appreciative of this as it can be difficult to navigate trails in fresh snow.

I am bundled up for a day of standing around. :)

Some did the RT (about 50k), but many chose to not return back down the mountain, because they were so frozen.

Looks like a bathrobe, but Chase is actually swaddled in a blanket.

Luckily, we had some friends from our group show up and they helped bring runners back down the mountain to Sabino. Big thanks to Jim and Jane (who brought up their very cute new baby Amelia) and to Tonja for helping out with rides down.

We waited a while until the last runners were in. Dallas went down Palisades to see if he could meet up with the last runners and came back with Ross and Debbie. We were so glad to see them!

Huge thanks to our friend Mark for bringing the stove, which saved the day. The flames that shot out of it at some point made the day a little exciting (and had our RD Dallas a little concerned!)

The freezing cold really made the stove act up, but we were grateful for soup and mac and cheese. :)

Zane Grey 50 mile race - April 16, 2011

This was Dallas' big race. He had been training for it for 5 months. We stayed outside of Payson in a cabin with our friends Tom, Mike, Kristy, and Sarah.

Dallas and Mike did a little pre-race relaxing the night before by strumming away.

Dallas on a banjo = sexy

Tom, Dallas, Sarah (with her oh-so-cute-smile) and Mike before the race start

I gave the whole crew a ride to the start. We got up before 3am I think.

Dallas is ready to take on his first official 50 miler. He looks ready.

I got to crew Dallas, being at every aid station to attend to what he needed as he came in. At the same time, I got to help our friends and many other runners as they came in. Lots of people dropped during the race; runners came in looking trashed and overheated. Dallas looked great the entire time! He was so kind to his crew! :)

Look at that beautiful smile, 33 miles into a grueling race.

Jane and Jim came up from Tucson, which was awesome. I was able to chat with them quite a bit at AS 17 and AS 33.

Jane, little Amelia and Jim

It was wonderful to see and help friends from TTR - Tom, Mike, Sarah and Chase.

Chase at AS44 looking like his usual tough self with his crew/wife Trish

Tom at AS33, crossing the road after making his amazing race comeback.

Mike dropping into AS33 running strong, but looking a little in need of shade.

Sarah, who nabbed a 1st place woman finish at OP50 and a 3rd place woman finish at ZG50. You rock, girl!

After watching all of the runners all day, I finally got to see Dallas and Tom come into the finish. I was so happy for them! They finished in 13:11.

Victory.

Even though I had seen so much race 'carnage' today, it was when Tom and Dallas crossed the finish that I decided I would do Zane Grey 50 next year!

Dallas, it was a privilege and an honor to crew for you.

TTR Catalina Peaks - May 1, 2011

Dallas and I scouted this run out the week prior to get a good idea of the route. We had run many of these Catalina mountain trails before, but some were new. We never found Barnum Rock, but we did head up Incinerator Ridge until it topped out. Dallas went out again the next day and made it to Barnum Rock, putting cairns along the way for the runners to follow.

At the top of Incinerator Peak or Leopold Point - not Barnum Rock

We also got to check out a cool trail going through a culvert under the highway, which lead down a really neat trail to Sunset TH. We initially missed the trail from the dirt road and cut down a steep embankment; I slid abruptly and did the 'splits' and most likely, strained a muscle or ligament at my hip thigh/hip area and a muscle behind my knee. I was able to finish the run, but it doesn't appear to be healing fast. Just when I recover from overtraining injuries, now it is a stupid injury to deal with. Arg.

Yeah, we crossed it with wild abandon.

We ran/hiked 21 miles, which was the longest I had done since OP50. We returned on the paved road instead of the trail/dirt road - we almost got run over twice. I can't believe people drive as fast as they do on Mt. Lemmon.

The next week, 10 runners showed up to try the route. It ended up being 22 miles. This route hits Barnum Rock, Mt. Bigelow, the FAA loop, and the top of Mt. Lemmon (Stewart Observatory).

Touching the tower at Mt. Bigelow

Dallas and I were providing aid at the top, but decided we had time, so we went and did Barnum Rock and Mt. Bigelow. Barnum Rock was a scary place to stand - 360 degree views all around.

That's our wedding spot - just below on the left

We'll probably try this whole route again in the near future.

I've kept my mileage low in April - most weeks I ran about 25 miles, and one week had 40 miles. I'm still recovering from the loss of my Mom, but each day gets better. I still miss her a lot.
What am I up to now? I've been planning my upcoming wedding to Dallas, which will be on May 22, 2011. I'm so excited about that. We'll get married up in the Catalina Mountains and we are going for a 4 mile trail run afterwards. Of course, I will be wearing a super cute running dress at the wedding. :)

Everyone Runs Catalina State Park Trail Race

2011-04-09T07:25:00.092-07:00

This wasn't my fastest race, but I didn't run a step for 3 weeks following Old Pueblo 50 mile and was just starting to get back into the running groove when the race came around. I love Steve's races - check them out at Everyone Runs.

The only bummer on race day was the weather. It was freezing cold before the race, so I sat around shivering until the start. I was thankful that I bought some new gloves the day before; my dog had chewed the thumb off of my other ones!

Then a BIG thunderstorm came rolling through right after the race started and rain poured down during the whole race. I wore my rainjacket, but with my visor, I looked like quite the goober.

I was glad I had it - some race participants looked very cold in their underdressed state. Needless to say, as soon as the race was over, a lot of people booked. There is a substantial breakfast at Steve's races, but I grabbed one tortilla and got going, too. I was drenched and cold.

I saw my friend Steve H,, and he gave me ride out of the park to my car, so I didn't have to take the shuttle. Never turn down a ride in a Cadillac (after all, I was born in one!) Thanks Steve!

Distance: 10.35 miles

Time: 1:47

9th in my AG. Jeesh.

I was slow.....and I told myself it was because of the death of my Mom, because I was trained better for longer distances, because work has been stressful, etc. All of those might be true.

However, shortly after this race, I determined I was low on iron. Again. So, I'm getting that fixed, but that "I am not getting enough oxygen" feeling from being low on iron is really tiring! I get low on iron about once a year, most likely due to the heavy training.

I saw my friend Becky (she is fast!), which is always a plus. :)

And, the storm rolling in against the desert landscape is always beautiful. I stopped by Carpet One in Oro Valley to visit Dallas after the race, and then went home to take a hot shower.

That storm dropped a bit of snow on the Catalina mountains. This was exciting, because tomorrow, I'll be heading up there to help out with a run. Fun!

Recovering Emotionally, Physically, Mentally, Spiritually....

2011-04-07T19:51:00.016-07:00

I did not run a step for 3 weeks following the Old Pueblo 50 mile race. I knew with the news of my Mother's death the day before the race that it was time to rest for a bit.

I flew out the Tuesday after the race to Nashville, which is where my mother was to be buried. The visitation was from 4-8 pm that day. I had never been to a visitation before, but it ended up being a joyous time to celebrate Mom. Attending were my Mom's 4 surviving siblings and spouses, 3 of my 4 sisters (one was still on the way), my brother, my sister from my Dad's second marriage and a few cousins. My brother had done most of the arrangements, as he lived in Nashville (thank you).

My Mom lived in GA, but it seemed fitting to bury her in Nashville, as she was planning on moving back there and 3 of my siblings live there (and a cousin). We chatted all evening about life and Mom. My sister Lisa had put together several collages of pictures of Mom, which we all enjoyed immensely. I was emotionally wrung out. This day was also the 19th anniversary of my father's death. I still miss him, too.

We arrived at the funeral home the next day an hour prior to the funeral for another 'visitation'. My one sister still hadn't arrived, so we pushed the funeral back a little to see if she might make it. She didn't and we moved forward. My brother and us 4 sisters shared about Mom at the funeral; we were all at the podium together. We really honored my Mom with everything we said. She wasn't the perfect Mom, but there was so much to miss.

After the funeral, I watched as they put the casket in the hearse and then we were off to the cemetary. I thought it was so awesome to treat Mom's death so reverantly. The ride to the cemetary was a long one; traffic pulled over all through town. When we arrived, my sister was there and everyone was glad to see her.

A quick few words by Scott, the pastor who did the service, and they lowered Mom into the ground. Covered with dirt and then flowers, it was done. The rain held off until later on and we were grateful for that. Mom was buried in the same cemetary as her one deceased sister.

The next day, we all got up and drove down to GA (including my half-sister from my Dad's side), where my Mom lived alone. We spent a little time on Thursday looking at things at her house and then 4 of us stayed up late talking about all sorts of things (more healing).

The real work happened Friday. We spent about 7 hours going through her possessions. We kept some, gave away a lot, and threw away some. I got my Mom's 5 year diary from high school, among many other things, and I'll be getting a collectible vanity and sideboard mirror that were in my Grandparent's old farmhouse years ago. It was this day that I found out that not only was I the same shoe size as my Mom, but also the same glove size. A day later, I found out I have the same ring size, too. I have a few pairs of her shoes now, a pair of her gloves, and I hope to have her Garnet ring (her birthstone) once the estate is settled. It all helps me feel that she is a part of me today, even though she is gone.

That day in her house I'll never forget. The one sister that was late for the funeral couldn't stay to help, so it was me and my 4 siblings. We spent the day finding things from our childhood, sharing memories, exploring the past, and meeting a woman that we never fully knew - our Mom. She was a private person and a sentimental one, too. She kept everything.

The healing that began at the visitation continued at my Mom's house. To touch all of her things and get a glimpse into the life she led was cathartic for me. This experience at the house was so rich and full of meaning for me and my siblings. So much healing, so much love, so much sadness, so much joy. To watch all of us in service at my Mom's house was amazing. We cleaned out her whole house, except furniture, with teamwork, love and respect. I am so grateful to have the siblings I do.

We drove back to Nashville that night. I got to spend 7 hours in the car alone with my only brother - I've never spent 7 hours talking to my brother alone!! It was amazing. We talked about our childhood, our father, our mother, our lives, you name it. I will treasure that time forever.

Back home in Tucson a few days later, I still feel in shock about my Mom's sudden death. I got out and did a little walking here and there, and two weeks after OP 50 I hiked up to Wasson Peak with Dallas. 9.2 miles in 3:03. Very cool hike; felt good to be back out there in the desert.

At the top of Wasson Peak in the Tucson Mountains

A week later, I made it out to the TTR Mica Mountain run and went up to Cowhead Saddle and back (18.4 miles) in 5:15. I ran a little on the way up (but hiked a lot) and ran a lot on the way down. Felt good to run.

At Cowhead Saddle in the Rincon mountains

I'm now back to my morning runs, but short ones (3-5 miles). I ran 9 miles last weekend (4 weeks after OP 50) with my friend Julie from CO and this Saturday, I'll be running the Catalina State Park 10.35 miler, even though I'm not in shape for it at all...

So, I'm still recovering - emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually. Not just from Old Pueblo 50, but also the sudden death of my Mom. I'm all grown up now, I guess?

After learning about my Mom more after her death, I asked myself why it was that I couldn't have done that when she was alive. The answer is - she let us get to know her as much as she wanted to. I think this was the only way I could get to know her better was after her death.

I found out she was a much more amazing person than I ever thought she was. She raised 6 strong and independent children and was a very strong and independent woman herself. We found out after her death that she had more friends than we thought; we believed that she was lonely and should have been living a 'different' life than she was. She was retired and didn't go out much. But, her life was full of the things that made her happy.

If I wish one thing, it is that I see people for who they are; see through their sometimes crusty facade and see the dreams and aspirations they had as a child or young adult; see the disappointments in relationships as an older adult; realize that they are who they want to be. So often, I saw my Mom fall short of what I thought a Mom 'should be'. I should have appreciated all that she was.

So, I celebrate you now, Mom. I know a lot about who you were now, your faults and your beautiful, kind nature. I know you aren't reading this, but if somehow, you are watching over me, just know that I love you and appreciate so much that you were my Mom. And, I really miss you.

2011 Old Pueblo 50 race report

2011-03-05T19:21:00.303-07:00

This report has been a long time coming. I needed some time to deal with what happened the day before the race.

I got a call from my brother on mid-afternoon Friday (March 4th) telling me that my Mom died suddenly. I was devastated. I wasn't sure then if I was going to do the race. My brother and sister were driving down from Tennessee to Georgia, where my Mom lived, to check things out on Saturday. I realized that I needed to run the race. I would not have received any information until late Saturday about my Mom or arrangements, etc., and I needed to be with my friends. Dallas was doing AS (aid station) 25, so he wouldn't be home either. Staying at home in my grief was not an option.

I got to the start just in time to get my bib, go to the bathroom and chat with a few people. Chris A., Scout, and Joe from TTR were so wonderful to me when I told them my Mom died. Chris gave me a huge hug - the kind your Mom would give - thank you Chris. I needed that.

We got the call to line up at the start and we were off in the dark at 6am sharp. I didn't use a headlamp, just picked my feet up and stayed near others with lights until the sun peeked up over the horizon, about 20 minutes later. What a sunrise.

I ran near Gene from TTR and Jon from Phx. for quite a while on the dirt road. I blew past AS 3, and headed onto the singletrack trail between miles 3 and 7. Arriving at AS 7, I saw Patricia and Jane from TTR and Robert from Phx. I was still hanging near Gene at this point. Patricia snapped my picture - I asked if she could take a few pics of me during the race. I wasn't going to be carrying a camera! She took pictures of me at almost every aid station as she was crewing her husband Wayne. Thanks Patricia!

I like the sun on my face.

I traveled light this race - only one handheld bottle, which held 2 gels, lip balm and had a bandanna on it. I had my iPod, but otherwise, I was unencumbered by a heavy hydration pack. I had been working out my shoulder muscles the last 3 months to prepare me for holding a bottle for 11+ hours. It doesn't seem like very much until you hold it running for that long!

I wolfed down one of my chia/pinole brownies and I was off. The stretch between miles 7 and 13 is mostly dirt road/sandy wash. I was treated with a smile from Mary from TTR at AS 13. I needed that so much today.

I then ran with Kamran from WOG (Workout Group) for a few miles; he was so friendly to me when I told him about my Mom. It was so good to talk about her and how much I missed her. About mile 15, where the 4 miles of downhill starts, the wind really started blowing. Had a good tailwind heading downhill, so I was cruising. This downhill section, all on very rocky, rutted jeep road, is one of my favorite parts of the race.

My good friend Steve caught up with me around mile 17 and we ran together until AS 19. What a treat; I rarely get to run with Steve. It was good to see Ross and Bruce from TTR at this aid station. Ross was taking pictures as usual.

Yes, he is Ultraman!

After AS 19, we change directions on the course, and we had to deal with a headwind for over 10 miles. It was very hard to run and I became pretty exhausted during this part of the race.

I stayed pretty close to Steve between AS 19 and AS 25 and we finally passed Kamran. He had smoked the downhill, but appeared to be slowing a bit. He seemed happy despite the wind tunnel we were running in.

I continued to think of my Mom a lot during the race. I cried a little here and there and just thought about her life and the things she used to say to me when we talked on the phone. I think it gave me focus.

Finally I arrived right behind Steve at AS 25 and got to see Dallas! Woohoo! I was happy to see him.

Dallas took very good care of me! Mike from TTR was there, too. Lots of kisses from Dallas, some hugs, a V-8 and another chia/pinole brownie and I was off again with Steve. He quickly left me in the dust about a mile down the road, about the time we passed....Boone!

OMG - I couldn't believe we passed Boone. He said he realized that his walking speed was slow (thank God that mine is fairly fast - I'm not a fast runner like Boone). He appeared to be in good spirits, but I think Steve was a little worried about him. I also passed Joe from Phx, who ended up dropping. Guess doing Ragnar the weekend before was a little too much...

I made it to AS 29 and saw Patricia and Robert again. The wind finally stopped howling around mile 29. Thank God.

I finally shed my long sleeve black shirt and revealed my pink arm warmers!

Back onto the single track from miles 29-33. Another V-8 and chia/pinole brownie at AS 33 and I was headed towards AS 40. I knew I would be tight on water in this section, as it is partially uphill, rocky, slow going terrain and 7 miles long, which is the longest stretch between aid stations so far. I ran out of water about mile 39, but I was pretty hydrated. The weird thing was, I ran into Steve again about this time! He had been out of water for 5 miles. I guess he thought that AS 33 refilled his pack, but they didn't. Bummer. He was definitely not doing well at this point. This section is hard; lots of rocky sections, downhill and uphill, and a few creeks.

There was Bob from TTR right before AS 40 yelling, "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Git 'er done!" When I crossed the creek, he gave me a hug and said, "I heard a rumor that you and Dallas were getting hitched. Is that true?" I said, "Yes it is!"

Next to Bob was Steve B. from TTR, who was really saying some encouraging things, too. Up the small hill to AS 40 (bagpipe music?) was Bob's wife MaryAlice, Denise, and Joan from TTR, too. And Patricia again, who snapped another picture of me. I was feeling good at this point. Seeing all of my friends during the whole race made me feel so alive. I felt pretty great for most of the race actually.

I left AS 40 at the same time as Steve, but he needed some time to get hydrated, so I lost him after a mile. Before long, I was back on singletrack and headed toward AS 46. I had to do a bunch of walking, but overall, I felt good. I knew I wasn't going to make my 11 hour goal, but I knew I would finish and finish strong.

AS 46 - they had G.S. cookies, so I had one! Tonja, Pete and Christie from TTR were manning this station, but Tonja had headed out to pace Julie from TTR from miles 40-46, so she wasn't there. Christie and Pete were so nice!

After AS 46 is a lot of singletrack trail, which is fun. I was running fairly well off and on the last 5 miles, but I was getting tired and ready to be done! About a mile from Kentucky Camp (the finish), I saw Heidi, with whom I used to do personal training. She was hanging out waiting for her husband Dan to come in. She knew my Mom had died and gave me a big hug and told me she loved the pink! Just what I needed to finish.

As I rounded the corner coming into Kentucky Camp, I heard some people yelling that Boone was right behind me! I turned around and there he was, on my tail! I hoofed it and crossed the finish line about 10 seconds ahead of him. Great comeback Boone.

Elation and grief all mixed up in one ultragal.

More of my TTR friends were there cheering us on at the finish - Tom, Chris, Sarah, Joe, Ken and Glenn. Chris said this in an email to me about my finish:

"Just wanted to let you know that what you did Saturday was incredible. In a sport that becomes more mental as the day goes on you still finished with a smile on your face. I'll never forget that."

Wow. Thank you Chris. Sometimes people's words just hit where you need them to.

The stats:
Distance: 51.3 miles

Finish time: 11:25

AEG: 6,200 feet (that's what the adjusted Garmin reported - I've heard it reported at about 7,500 feet)

I got my 2nd 50 mile buckle!!!

That was fun. This one was for you Mom.

My friend Steve came in shortly after I finished. Steve, you rock. I knew you could do it (he could have beat me if he hadn't run out of water). It was one of the highlights of my day to get to run with Steve so much. For Boone, Steve, Kamran and Ally, it was their first ultra. You guys were amazing!!!

Other stats:

Last year's finish time: 11:48

I finished:

7th out of 33 female finishers
3rd in my age group out of 17
48th out of 125 finishers (not sure how many dropped during the race - around 30-35?

What I consumed:

3.5 chia/pinole brownies
7 gels
8 bottles of Xood, some diluted
potatoes/bananas
2 small cans of V-8
chocolate chip cookie and thin mint (G.S cookie)

The love I felt from all of my runner friends before the race, while running, at aid stations, and at the end of the race was amazing. I received so many emails, FB messages and comments, texts and phone calls from people letting me know they cared. I really have never felt so loved in my life. Thank you all of loving me at one of the lower spots in my life. I needed all of it.

Mom, I think I have your smile.

My Mom will not be reading this race report, but she was a faithful reader of my blog for the last 4 years. I know she would have been proud of me for what I did out there today. She was always so proud of me and my sisters and brother.

I miss you, Mom. More than I ever thought I would. Thank you for making me the independent and strong woman I am today.

Burnout. Overtrained. Last week of OP50 training

2011-02-20T20:21:00.083-07:00

Old Pueblo Training Run #2:

Total distance: 21.14 miles
Total time: 4:40

Total AEG: 2,348 feet

This training run started at the parking lot at Kentucky Camp (1/4 mile off the official start of the race) and covered miles 1-3 and 33-51 of the race course (well, the race is allegedly 50.5 miles instead of 50, but many consider it to be about 51 miles. All of us must have gotten off course, because at some point, Lynda (who was sweeping) ended up in front of us. She was pulling ribbons thinking we were ahead of her. No wonder we had a tough time for a while trying to figure out which way to go!

My trail 'gangsta' outfit.

Miles 33-51 are the harder miles of the race. Fairly rocky, stream crossings (although not much water this year) and in general, more slower going terrain. But, very pretty in some sections.

One of my favorite views in the race - right after mile 40 aid station.

Big thanks for Joe and Lynda (the RD) for putting on both training runs.

TTR Cowhead Saddle run:

Total distance: 18.31miles

Total time: 4:49

Total AEG: 4,008 feet (whew!)

This run was supposed to be Tanque Verde Loop to Javelina picnic area (around 20-21 miles). I was moving too slow to keep up with anyone, so I made the decision to turn around at Cowhead Saddle (about 9 miles up). It is at 6,100 feet elevation, and I still had about 900 feet more to climb - I just couldn't climb anymore. My legs were wiped from the OP training run the day before. I also didn't realize that my Camelbak bladder was leaking from the drink spout all over my long-sleeved shirt, until I got really cold around 5,500 feet elevation. I looked down and my whole shirt was drenched. I put my jacket on, but knew that I should turn around at Cowhead and call it good.

Yep, everyone is ahead of me.

I was in the clouds by the time I got to Cowhead - luckily the weather was good - no rain until later on in the day.

I was happy with the decision - I still got in 50 miles this week plus the 6 mile Blackett's hike on Monday. And I was tired. Really tired from the training. I've been going at it for 3 months now.

Scout came out for her first TTR run! She did all 29 miles and did great! I met Scout at the GT 38.5.

Since I got back before a lot of people (shorter route), I saw many runners come in, which was fun.

Sion was first. Him in all his humbleness.

Chris, Jerry, Steve, Chris and Joe took a vehicle back from Saguaro to the start, but they still got in 21.5 miles.

Doesn't Joe have the best smile?

Dallas finished the whole 28.5 mile loop and was looking peppy as usual.

For my friend Kathleen in CO:

Peace!

A week of training

2011-02-14T21:18:00.113-07:00

Old Pueblo 50 training run #1 (2/12/11):

This follows the Old Pueblo course on a loop from the 7/29 mile aid station (during the race, we visit that aid station twice) and back to the 7/29 aid station (basically, miles 7-29 of the Old Pueblo 50 mile race).

Joe said, "And that's when I ran out of flagging. Good luck on the rest of the run!"

Total distance: 21.76 miles

Total time: 4:22

Total AEG: 2,825 feet

From mile 1-8 (7-15 during the race), it is hilly and works gradually uphill, going through some sandy, wash areas and some rocky spots. I ran the first 5 or so miles with Miro, who is from Italy. He talked a lot, which was great! Eventually, I had to make a 'bush' stop, and he went on ahead.

Miro says he never runs more than a marathon dstance - TTR will change that!

I love miles 9-12 - downhill!!! Quite a tailwind out there today, so I felt like I was being pushed downhill! It is pretty rocky on this section, but sooooo much fun.

Joe was going to meet us at the 12 mile point (just past the aid station 19 during the race) to provide aid. I saw him right before that driving away - he was going to check on some runners who got to the aid station before he did. He asked if I needed water, but I was good.

As soon as I took a left after seeing Joe, the wind became a headwind!! I would guess the gusts were around 30 miles an hour. At least it kept things cool out there, but it made it hard to run. Around mile 18 or so (mile 25 of the race), the road heads uphill again. Joe passed by again, and this time I took water. My Camelbak had some water in it, but I was starting to conserve. The wind was drying me out a bit.

On this run, I tried some things Dallas and I have been making - a pinole/chia muffin and a pinole/chia brownie (that has pinto beans in it - makes a complete protein). They aren't super sweet (sweetened with agave nectar) but they are supposed to provide more 'slow-burning' carbs. They were very filling and didn't bother my system or anything. I didn't even eat as much on my run as I normally do. I felt like I had plenty of energy. I am still doing gels, but not as many. I'm going to be weaning myself off of so much sugar for the really long runs.

I also wore my new compression socks (pink!!) I'm still dealing with shin issues (since Redington 50k on 12/19). My shin didn't bother me much at all today; maybe it was the socks. Yay!

Sabino Basin trail run (2/13/11):

Dallas was running Esperero today, so I ran out on the Sabino Canyon tram road and connected up with the trails and went out to Sabino Basin. It took me quite a while, because I chatted with Dallas on the tram road as he was finishing Esperero and I also saw Gene (doing his 475th Bear Canyon Loop! Wow!) and chatted a bit with him, too. I was tired from running the day before, but my legs felt good.

Yeah, I washed the compression socks from yesterday's run...

Of course, when I got to the basin, he had fixed the heart! How nice!

Happy gal

I returned on Phoneline trail and Dallas met me in the last few miles.

He was easy to spot.

Total distance: 13.37 miles
Time: 3:29
Total AEG: 2,870 feet

We got pretty sunburned (it was 82 degrees for the high today). Just two weeks ago, we had a hard freeze! Crazy global warming weather!

Valentine's Day Blackett's Ridge hike (2/14/11):

Total distance: 6 miles
Total AEG: 1,882 feet

It was only my 2nd time up there - the first time was last Valentine's Day!

We got to the top as soon as it got dark.

Nice calf.

We headed down with headlamps on, and just tried to be careful - it is pretty rocky in spots. Neverthless, Dallas managed to slide off the edge about halfway back down. Scared the hell out of me (I never curse, but I did this day!!) He went about 6 feet over the edge and stopped when he dug his handhelds into the side of the switchback. He was able to climb back up on his own.Tore his leg up pretty good. Exciting Valentine's Day!!

I got in 51 miles last week and should get about the same this next week (excluding the hike).

♪ "My Body tells me no!

But I won’t quit

I want more, I want more..." ♫

~ Finger Eleven

TTR Soldier Trail/La Milagrosa Run

2011-02-06T18:51:00.099-07:00

I hadn't run all week since Cave Creek, so it was good to finally run.

Got to see a great sunrise at the trailhead before we all started.

This is the first time I've done Soldier and La Milagrosa trails. Quite a few TTR's came out, which was cool.

Distance: 15.96 miles

Total time: 4:02

AEG: 3,274 feet

Soldier trail is the hardest trail ever!!!!!!! It is super steep. My legs are trashed from too many weightlifting workouts. I think I'll be abandoning them for a while. My quads and calves were on fire. I didn't think I'd be able to finish the run.

Dallas made it look like a stroll in the park. Ugh.

But, of course, we pressed on. Almost everyone in the group passed us by the time we reached Prison Camp. The trail from Prison Camp to La Milagrosa is familiar - we do it during the Reddington 50k. I like that part. After passing Molino Basin and crossing Catalina Highway, we continue East, heading up and over a ridge. On the other side of the ridge, it is fun running downhill!

The turnoff to La Milagrosa trail was hard to miss. Dallas said, "If we didn't take a right here, we'd have to be idiots."

2 LARGE cairns and 3 or 4 flags. We got it.

Dallas ran with me so we could 'scope' out a spot that Ross had suggested might be a good lookout point to have a wedding.

Who wouldn't marry this man?

We ran into Mari right at the end. She took a few pics of us and then Dallas got some pics of me and Mari.

Renee and Mari

Runnin' down the road with Dallas, my best friend...

At the end, Chris said he had never seen me when I wasn't 'happy'. He passed me on Soldier trail and asked how I was doing, and I was whining about my trashed legs and not feeling good. He had definitely never seen me like that before. Gene commented that he rarely passes me. Yup, I was trashed out there and my mental state was bad for a bit. But, eventually, I made up my mind that I was going to finish and Dallas and I had a great time. We always do.

"I wouldn't focus on the negative, there's no point in that
Nothing says you can't enjoy the ride
Even if you are off the tracks..."
~ Finger Eleven

Cave Creek Marathon Fun Run

2011-01-30T17:53:00.191-07:00

The 7th annual Cave Creek Trail Marathon Fun Run...

Dallas and I headed up Northeast of Phoenix again for our 2nd running of this course. We had to leave at 4:30 am to get there for a 7:30 start.

Last year, we went as friends....

This year, we went as a couple...

Catching up with all of our Phoenix area peeps before the run!

Jody Chase was the Run Director.

She came down from Lake City, CO to RD the run!

Here is her report from the WRMC site (with pictures inserted by me!):

The weather was perfect for running. Chilly at the start and then warming slowly to 70 degrees with intermittent clouds. The water crossings were low and the trails were in fairly decent condition this year.

Last year, we had a lot of water crossings - our feet just stayed wet...

Hardly any winter rains this year...

Dallas, me and Stephanie

There were quite a few return runners from previous years and some new runners to make things interesting. Jamil raced in first again this year and lowered his time from last year by 24 minutes. Nick, his brother, came in second and Andrew took the third spot. For the women, Honey ran in as first women and also bettered her time by 15 minutes from last year. Stephanie took second place and Renee from Tucson rounded out third.

Renee ran the entire way this year with Dallas, whom is also from Tucson. Renee told me an interesting story after she finished. Renee and Dallas carpooled from Tucson last year. They were just friends and chatted all the up to Cave Creek, ran the run separately and then chatted all the way back to Tucson. After my run, they continued to stay in touch and talked frequently. So much so that during the holidays of 2010, Dallas asked Renee to marry him. She gladly accepted and they are planning a spring wedding in 2011. Congratulations Renee and Dallas. I'm glad I played a small part in bringing those two together.

{You did Jody - thank you!!!}

I have raised enough money from last years race and this years race to be able to help Desertfoothills Land Trust buy two acres of land with the money raised from donations from the CCTR. DFLT are $700,000 strong and still gaining by fundraising the necessary monies to buy up the surrounding land around Spur Cross and Cave Creek Park. Right now, the land could be sold for development. Let's hope they are able to buy the land before developers do.

Thank you to everyone that got up early and came out to enjoy the day. Hope to see you next year for the 2012 Cave Creek Trail Marathon Fun Run.

Thanks again everyone, it was a pleasure. Jody Chase

Well, that's pretty much the story! Dallas and I went up there last year as friends, and this year as an engaged couple!

Total time: 6:57

Distance: 26.83 miles (we took a slight detour for a few minutes)

AEG: 3,550 ft. This is elevation corrected using Garmin Connect, so it should be pretty accurate. It felt like more than that, I think because much of the climbing seems to be isolated to some steep sections.

Great food at the aid station!!!!

Dallas and I were 20th and 21st out of 33 finishers. My time was longer than last year. [Bummer...sigh] I am still dealing with a shin issue, which slowed me down a bit - otherwise, I'm not sure? I thought that many steep downhill sections had more loose scree-type rock than last year, which made it hard for me to want to run the downhills with abandon. I still ran pretty good when I could.

This run is so hard! We got really hacked up from catclaw, and the trails at points were loaded with ball-bearing rocks.

I'm getting pretty sick of it by now. Just ask Dallas. :\

There are some steep climbs, but lots of runnable trails. Some sections go through riverbed washes, but there were some neat tree covered areas that we enjoyed a lot.

Oh, and we saw a dead cow. :( It wasn't good. We smelled it before we saw it.

Yes, we took a pic of the dead cow, but I'll spare you that.

We visited with everyone afterwards, which was great. So lucky to know a few runners up there now - Honey, Jeff, Jamil, Nick, Stephanie, Jody, and Robert.

We got back on the road down to Tucson (2.5 hour drive) and stopped at In 'N Out Burger in Casa Grande, just like we did last year. Dallas said I impressed him last year, because I ate two burgers and fries!! (Hey, a girl that can eat!)

Last year, after I dropped Dallas back off in Tucson, he emailed me and said, "Thanks for the scratched up legs and the sunburned face!"

This year, Dallas emailed me at work the next day and said about Cave Creek, "A year since the day I walked on clouds! Thank you for asking me if I'd like to go with you on this run last year. It truly, forever changed both of our lives!"

And, that's Cave Creek for ya. You are welcome, Dallas. :)

TTR Bear Canyon Loop PR

2011-01-23T12:04:00.024-07:00

Dallas watching me finish...

Total time: 3:41. It was 3:49 the last time. Woohoo!!

Total distance: ~ 17 miles
AEG: ~3,000 feet

Nice to get a PR.

Bear Canyon Loop is a TTR Classic. This was my 5th running of this set of trails, although I've only done the TTR version twice (I've gone out on the entire Bear Canyon trail, come back Phoneline several times, and recently, taken a detour on Sycamore reservoir.)

The TTR version heads out on the road and then picks up on the trail and then heads back on the tram road.

I was proud of myself. Especially since I had just finished a 38.5 miler the week before! :)