OK...Now THAT Was F*cking Cool!!!

This exact weekend last year I ran my first, and what I thought would be my only half marathon.  I wanted the sense of accomplishment and the medal for doing a half marathon, and then I thought that would be enough.  Then I did 2 more within 2 months.  Then I did a few trail runs and fell HARD in love with trail running.  Then I decided to train for a full marathon.

THEN...1 year after that first half marathon...I RAN A F*CKING 50K!!!  That is 31 miles for those of you who are "K" challenged.

HOLY SH*T!

So here is how the day unfolded.

Paul and I arrived at the Hampton Inn the night before, laid out all our stuff and got a good nights sleep.  Up bright and early at 4am to shower, get dressed, fill the coolers at the hotel ice machine and head over to set up camp for the day.  As early as 4am I was already getting my inspirational text messages from Kelly (http://www.slippingslowlyintopain.blogspot.com/).

We arrived at the Leiderkrantz at 5:15am and we were the first to set up camp.  Our tent was literally steps away from the turnaround/start/finish.  PERFECT!!!  By about 6am there were about 12 of us all packed into our tent and we actually set up a second tent just for the gear!  The group of people that running has brought into our life is hard to describe in words.  They are amazing, inspirational, strong, supportive, funny and just plain cool.  If I didn't love running so much, I would keep it as a hobby just for the friends it has made for Pauly and me.  Everyone was pumped up, ready for a long, hard but awesome day.  There were a bunch of us that were there to set personal records and run our first Ultra.  How cool to share that experience with the other awesome runners in my life.

7:30ish I found myself at the start line, ready to blow some minds in my running skirt.  I had no idea what the next hours would hold for me.  Ron, the awesomely hysterical race director from http://www.pretzelcitysports.com/ told us the course was a mess from Irene, so all I thought was "hey, I got that going for me".  I kissed the hubby, gave a high five to Mr. Schultz (also running his first 50k) and we were off!

Not 1/4 mile in, and I already had to pee.  That seems to be happening  more and more these days.  Well, I was told that it didn't really count as an "ultra" if I didn't go in the woods, so at least I was getting that little detail out of the way early on.  So I lost most of the crowd while I tinkled on the poison ivy, and settled into my own rhythm and pace.

At about the 2 mile point of the first 5 mile loop I ended up running with friend Dan.  He and his partner Anh (an accomplished runner, swimmer and tri-athlete) are familiar and friendly faces at many races!  Dan was nursing a sore knee, so didn't mind hanging with a slow chick like me for a while.  He kept me company and running a solid time for the rest of that loop and a portion of the next 5 mile loop.  Dan rocked out 10 miles that day, and Anh did 30 miles to claim their relay team a 40 mile total finish!  Thanks for the company Dan!  I'll run with you anytime!

I felt great after the first 10 miles!  A third done, half a pbj sandwich and I was ready for the next 10.  These miles were aided by my friend i-Pod.  Paul lapped me on this loop, no surprise...he is wicked fast...and he spared me the great big "slap on the a**" he had been promising for days.  Hey babe, thanks for opting to just call me "crazy lady in the running skirt".  Love you like a fat kid loves cake.

15 miles down, some pasta salad, and propping my legs up  for a few minutes and I felt AWESOME heading out to hit 20 miles.  I couldn't believe how good I felt!  It was like I'd only run 10 miles or less.  All I kept thinking was "I got this".

Along the next few loops I saw a few other runner friends.  Lou who was using this race as a training run for his first 100 miler in a few weeks.  GO LOU!  And his awesome wife Heather (training for her first triathalon) and their two cool kids were at the turnaround.

I also saw Rob, who we met at the North Face Endurance Challenge in DC where Rob ran a 50k.  At Labor Pains he crushed that distance clocking 45 awesome miles!!!  Next one is 50 miles friend1!!  I also had the pleasure of seeing Rob's wife Steph (an awesome half marathoner) and their 2 adorable boys at the turnaround.

So I finished 25 miles, my longest ever and knew this next loop would get me the title of marathoner!  Holy Sh*t!  I was tired, but could taste the marathon and then the ultra!

Kelly offered to run the last 5 mile loop and then the additional 1 mile with me (super fast guy had already finished his 50K AND had a beer...or two).  I opted to do the 5 miles alone with my thoughts and emotions, but agered I wanted him with me that final mile and at the finish!

As luck would have it, guess who lapped me RIGHT as I was approaching the marathon marker???  My Pauly P.  My one true love, my best friend and my biggest inspiration and biggest fan!  He stayed with me until the marathon marker, gave me a huge hug and told me how proud he was!  That was awesome!  He also told me he was currently in 5th place overall, so I promtly told him to get his a** moving, to "runny fast" and to win a damn Pretzel City Sports award.  So off his tiny hiney went, racing through the woods.

The remainder of that loop from 25-30 miles was emotional and painful.  There were moments I teared up with emotion about what I was doing!!!  I never thought I'd run a 5k 2 years ago, and here I was with a f*cking 50K around the corner.  Then there were moments, especially in the second half of that loop where I was crying from the pain.  I had at least 8 blisters that were throbbing, 2 toenails that were jet black and falling off BEFORE this race and my legs felt like I had been hit by a car.  The pain was excrutiating.  Weird though, it hurt less when I was running and walking hurt the worst.  All that kept crossing my mind was "if it wasn't this damn hard, everyone would do it".

As I approached the turnaround I knew there was 1 mile left to make me an Ultra-Marathoner!!!  Just 1 stinkin mile!  I saw Kelly at the turnaround ready to go.  It was awesome to see him and all our runner friends (that weren't out on the course) cheering and SO excited for me to reach this milestone!  Words can't describe it...it was f*cking amazing!

So Kelly and I headed out.  The half mile out was mostly uphill so we walked a bit.  Once we hit the woods, Kelly said he could smell the 50K turnaround.  I could too and my legs just got their groove back.  I don't know where the energy came from but I felt like I hadn't just run 30 freaking miles.  I smacked that sign, about-faced and ran out of those woods like my hair was on fire.  We had 7 minutes to break 9 hours, and I told Kelly we were gonna do it.  He said ok, and talked me right through that last 1/2 mile.  Kelly was an awesome coach for that final stretch, and not only couldn't I have done it without him, but I wouldn't have wanted to.  I won't ever be able to express how much that meant to me...to have a friend, and kicka** ultra runner run me through the finish line of my first ultra...priceless.

We entered the parking lot and the finish was in sight!  My legs and adrenaline took over and I felt like I was f*cking flying.  I can't describe how AWESOME that felt!

50K

I did it!!

I'm an Ultra Runner

I did this for me.  For the personal satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment...but...

if you are reading this, don't EVER think you can't do something.  If you put your mind to it, and work hard for it, you can do amazing and seemingly impossible things.

Nobody can say you "can't" other than you.

Go out there and turn "I can't" into "I DID!"

******************

Here are some pics from one of my loops.  If they are blurry its because I took them WHILE running.

Some sweet guy who's house we ran by left out this hose with a sign that said 'hose yourself off".  It was very hot and humid!

Single track shortly after entering the woods.

Bridge over a creek.

Loop around a lake/pond.

Water fall.

Trail along the pond.

You can see this is a steep uphill by the person up at the top in the red shirt.

Another rocky uphill.

This picture says "marathon finish line".  When I took this...I had officially ran 26.2 miles and joined the 1% of the population who has run this distance!

Mr. Schultz, JC and I...all Ultra runners as of this moment!!! (My eyes aren't facing the camera, they are facing the finish line...I was anticipating Pauly any minute).

Pauly approaching the finish line...only little did we know, he wasn't done yet.

And this is where Paul threw his water bottles at me and yelled to Ron "I'm going out for the 100k" and then like a streak of lightning, he was gone with 37 minutes to hit the 100K turnaround and make it back!

And he did it!  3rd overall, and 1st male under 40!!!  1 of only 3 guys in the whole race to hit 100K.  Freaking amazing.  I am SO proud to be this dude's wife!

And he won that award I told him to go get!!!

Freaking amazing!

Awesome running day for the Peters family!

Now we just need to get Hsin trained for her first 5k :-)