This is one of those posts, guys. It ranks right up there with my first Ironman...My first Ultra....My first tri. You start to write it a few times but you can't find the right words. You want to convey the sheer magnitude of the experience you just had but the written word cannot in any way, shape or form, do justice to the feelings you have about it. So I'll do my best.
2020 has been hard. So, so hard. And I know I'm nowhere near alone when I say that. We have had our ups and downs, and the downs have been low, low downs. Everyone has felt it to some degree, so this is not news. I hit my lowest low a few weeks back. There were a few days at the end of June where I actually could not get out of bed. I thought I was sick, but was afraid to say anything to anyone. My stomach hurt. I couldn't eat. And walking to the bathroom was a task that was insurmountable. You get the gist.
Coming out of it, I got stronger every day, and had to be thoughtful of how to expend my energy so I didn't slide back into the hole I was in. It was not an easy climb back. I had to let go of certain things I clung to. To accept things that I didn't have the energy to address or change, and to focus on what was most important in my life in the world that we currently live in. As the days went by, I began to realize that the "sick" I had was a hitting of the wall with life - my stress had compounded so much with work, my family, my friends, my training and my environment that my body said ENOUGH! and forced me to rest. It was eye opening. Coming out of it, I knew that I could, in fact, use the experience to become a better version of me. I'm taking my time with this one, and of course I will have some thoughts along the way, but, as always, it comes with quite a few steps and a shift of my mindset. Growth. It's a scary, wonderful thing.
I preface my post with this because it really sets the stage for my experience. I want to call this a race report, but it wasn't a race. Or maybe it was? You decide. This past Friday, I travelled down to Cattaraugus County, NY, to be part of something amazing. My friend Bradley Poole (well, I had met him once, but we are now BFFs, I'm confident) is a CF warrior. What's CF? Cystic Fibrosis, a rare genetic disease, produces mucus within the lungs and other organs in the body. It's a rare genetic disease, and is fatal. There is no cure, and the study to find one is severely underfunded. Bradley has this disease, and I am a carrier for it. He is 32 years old and has accomplished feats that no one with CF should logically be able to accomplish - he is a fantastic trainer, motivator, and holds a 1:34 half marathon PR (I know. I need to work harder). All in all, he is an amazing example of what it takes to NEVER GIVE UP. (You're gonna want to donate even more when I finish this post, but in case you are inspired RIGHT now - https://passion.cff.org/runforacure).
As part of his quest to raise money to find a cure and inspire those with CF to live their life to the fullest, he, along with his sister Lauren (who is totally my sista from another mista) devised a fundraiser to run EVERY town in their county. That's 7 days, 266 miles, roughly 38-42 miles of running per day. Wow. I eagerly signed up to pace him for 42 miles on the 6th day of the challenge, figuring my (limited) experience with ultras might in someway assist him. I was so, so excited to be part of this.
As the week of the challenge arrived, we figured out his goal pace (10-12 minute miles)...and then....life hit. The weather was predicted to be in the nineties all week, with the heat index over a hundred. I was getting over being sick. He figured out the first day that not only is Cat county hilly AF, but your pace for an ultra....especially a multi day one....needs to be flexible. He tweaked his schedule and did the runs in two parts, one starting at 7am, one starting at 7pm. I revised my pacing and decided to do the first 21 with him and then hand it off to a PM pacer. Sensible. (Maybe?). The morning of, I had my normal bagel and gatorade and packed for a 5 hour run - his morning runs had been about that long for 20 miles. Into my camelbak went water, a pack of chomps, 2 gus, some peanuts for salt, gum, and emergency aquaphor. I drove down to Alleghany, which was two hours away. At 6:45am, the weather was a balmy 75 degrees with a projected high of 95. Yowtch.
I met up with a small group of runners that turned out to be a mix of Brad's friends and people that didn't even know him. One was a woman that read about him in the paper whose son battled anxiety. One was a high school principal of a town we were running through. Some were members of the local running club that wanted to lend their support. Others co- workers, people he trains, and his wfie's co-workers. Their goals ranged from following for 2 miles to ten, and everyone knew we were going to be part of something great. "Forrest" (as we oh so originally called him) showed up right at 7 and after a few photos and jokes, we were off!
The pace started out at an eleven minute mile of easy running. Chris, a co-worker of Brad's wife, served as my co-pacer for the first 12 miles and she, Brad and I developed an easy rapport right from the beginning. We chatted with Brad about his goals (run the flats, walk the hills) and I gave him his mile splits, which he asked for and said he found helpful. We started out pretty quickly with the bad dad jokes (What do sprinters eat for breakfast? Nothing....They Fast!) and kept up a decent stream of chatter for the first few miles.
About 3 miles in, our first 5k group peeled off and we hit an "aid station", which was filled with awesome supporters, water balloons, and ice! Score. I had elected to wear my camelbak and it began to rub, so I hit it up with aquaphor, ate some peanuts, and played with my new husky dog friendo (hint, greg, hint!) We took off after a photo op and three members of the local fire department joined our entourage. About mile 6 we were back on the roads and managed to get ourselves a fine lead vehicle (Thank you Deb!) and a police escort (Thank you Devine!), along with Brad's wife, Steph, who carried the SAG vehicle (she was AMAZING). This parade of vehicles stayed with us for the whole 42 miles of the day, which was just unreal. If I would have known, I would have thrown a change of clothes and my cooler in a car (this would totally bite me later, but live and learn), but it was super awesome to have an entourage - and Deb doubled as our photographer - she averaged at least 200 pictures per day, and was our map reader, cheerleader, and literal driver of the bus!
Around mile 6, we got sillier than normal and Chris and I started singing to Brad (this poor man). We sang a little Def Leppard (my forte) and some Bon Jovi, eventually ditching the words to "Halfway There", as Brad was, in fact, way more than half way to his goal. I give you the new chorus:
"Ohhhh! We're 80% there!
Ohhh ohhh! I wish I had cold air!
Take my foot, it don't smell I sweearrr
Ohhh oh! Where's the cold air?"
Yep. It was like that. I'm a ball of cheese and I'd feel bad about it, but I got him to laugh through the pain, so thanks, I'll be here all day (foreshadowing, anyone?)
It was also at about this point that we developed our first grand idea of the day. Brad confessed to us that after 5 days of running he had lost 15 pounds and we joked that it was a great dieting strategy (disclaimer - it's not, and we know it, and we were joking) but over the next few miles we developed our new marketing tool - the 2-6-6 diet!
Only 2 runs a day for 6 days, for 6 miles (plus 260) total! (266!)
your results may vary. Do not try this at home.
Somehow this seemed totally hilarious at the time, and after day 7 Brad lost 20 pounds total and might have to revise his plan. Don't worry buddy, I'm still available for consults!
Mile 8 changed the tone for the day. We were still averaging about an 11:30 mile and picked up two new running mates - Teegan and Trae. Teagan is a 12 year old child warrior who battles CF and is one of the top wrestlers in the state. She began wrestling at age 4, which blows my mind. She, her brother, and her Dad became part of our entourage, and these two kids just blew me away with their can do and amazing attitude toward life. These guys joined us for the next 6 miles, and this is when we started hitting the major hills. I joked about hiring a bulldozer the night before to flatten the hills, and about 2 miles into them, realized I needed to fire them immediately (THEY HAD ONE JOB TO DO!) Our morning buddy, Chris, peeled off here (don't worry, we are totally besties now, she texted me bad dad jokes all afternoon for the cause, and is one of the new amazing friends I have from this day!). The first major hill, about mile 10, was at least a mile long and totally unrunnable. The second stretched at least 2 miles long and Brad kept us going strong here - at this point, it was about 93 out and the pavement was well over 100. We were running up these hills at a steady 11-12 minute mile and I was just in awe of this man. Any thought I had of stopping would have been laughable.
At mile 13, we came to the intersection of a new town and stopped for water, a balloon launch in CF colors (purple) and a few words with the local paper, which my backside made. (They clearly knew my best shot LOL).
With the first half marathon down, it was off for more fun, more water spray, more cheering, and then miles and miles of desolate country. We had a new runner join us, Trina, who was an awesome cheerleader and we hit it off immediately. We spent the next 6 miles or so trading spots next to Brad and talking him through one mile at a time. At this point, we found out that Teegan's Aunt lived on the course at mile 21 and we made plans to stop for the morning there. It was where I planned to unload, until I found out that Brad's third pacer for the day might or might not make it. Trina and her husband, JD, planned to do as much of the back stretch as possible, but with it being as hot as it was and with Brad's condition (he began to question a stress fracture at this point) I decided I would stay with him as long as I could stand it. I had a bail out option at 1pm, 5pm, or Steph offered to drive me back to my car at the end. I ditched my camelbak about mile 15, as it had rubbed the spot of a silver dollar totally raw, and gave it to Deb to SAG. We finished the morning stint super strong, and did the first 21 miles in 4:15 total moving time, a 11:35 pace, which was his fastest morning yet of the week!
Our lunch stop was nothing short of gourmet. Teegan's Aunt, Deena, had a pool and we jumped in fully clothed. We feasted on Peanut butter and fluff sandwiches (OMG SO GOOD), popsicles, and cheese puffs. I aired out my shoes and shirt. Aquaphored. And sat down and chatted with Brad, Steph, Deb, Devine, and Teegan's Dad, Shane. Their stories blew me away. They shared their life experiences and opened up 100% to a complete stranger. My feet hurt, I was warm, and I wasn't feeling awesome, but being part of this day took all of that away, and a feeling of peace and grace took over at this point that would remain the rest of the day. It was indescribable to be part of something this amazing and I knew I wanted to soak up every minute.
We headed out for the second 21 miles about 3pm, and the day was just brutal. It was easily 95. Brad donned his new "umbrella hat" that his wife (oh, did I mention she's 7 months pregnant?) got with a diaper purchase, and we joked about his modeling for the company for when you get "the runs". At this point, a new runner, JD (Trina's husband) became our third, and we started out with the goal of run half a mile, then quarter mile walk. We bid Deena goodbye (what an awesome woman!) and headed out, with Deb at the lead, Devine in his cop car, and Steph trailing the parade. The first 3 miles were pretty great, then we realized that the 1300 feet elevation gain we had in the first 21 miles was merely a warm up for the PM hills.
The hills came fast and furious, and the day got even hotter. We were in the middle of complete desolation, and as we trekked through dirt roads in the country we began to wonder what passerby thought of us. We decided that it was most logical that we were 3 inmates with our police escort getting our hour rec time. Man, we are not model prisoners.....we took way longer than an hour!
About mile 25, on our 537th hill of the day, we abandoned the running and opted for a power walk. We started talking about how we got to our journeys as runners and how we were all so different than we were 15 years ago. We started sharing really personal stories, and even though it was above 90, we all got shivers. We agreed that we were so damned lucky to be where we were in life, and how running really helped us ground ourselves and be good friends, partners, and parents. JD has two kids as well, and we gave Brad some solid, likely shitty parenting advice I'm sure he holds near and dear to his heart. In this stretch we also developed a real craving for bacon cheeseburgers, gravy fries, calzones, a solid base of four letter words and "That's what She said" jokes.
In the heart of the country, we noticed an abundance of Trump signs and the talk turned to politics. This could have gotten sketchy, but we were past any squeamishness (yes, we already resolved the "If a runner shits in the woods debate") and had a lively political chat. We ended in agreement - clearly, it was time for Brad to cast his net into politics, and run for president. We came up with a platform "He ran the county, now he can run the country!" and I'm pretty sure I volunteered to run the campaign while JD fed us and kept us up in dirty jokes. Somehow, I have faith this will be fruitful, and you can all thank me in November.
About mile 28, we encountered a new obstacle - there was construction on a bridge that led to a road closure about 12 feet long. We had 3 choices.....jump it, run the detour (an extra 3 miles), or catch a ride to the other side of the bridge. JD and I volunteered Brad to test the jump, and he wisely opted for the ride. (See, he is smart). We loaded to the other side of the road, and continued up another mother f*cking hill on our way.
About mile 30, Trina joined us again (at the top of a hill, cause she's super smart) and we entered dog country. Devine gave us some siren support to stave off the ankle biters, and we (almost) unanimously decided JD could totally be our dog bait (Sorry, JD). The next 5 miles were pretty uneventful - we stopped a few times, Brad was really hurting, and I was starting to hit a wall based off of the fact that I packed nowhere near enough food, no electrolytes, and nowhere near enough liquid for the day. Thankfully, Steph shared water and ice, and I shared my trick of how to go from a B cup to a D cup with just a handful of ice (its a cool party trick).
About mile 35 we had some new people join us - our pom pom crew, Steph's mom, Sue (who had knee issues and was out there gettin it done!) and Tom, who brought fresh dirty jokes to our crew. My gamin gave out at mile 36, and JD volunteered his stats for the cause (which were way better because my watch consistently shorted us. Damned garmin).
It was about 6:30pm at this point and every time we thought the sun was done, it would prove it was kidding and give off more heat. The bugs came out and the hills were relentless. The ground was mostly rocks and dirt, and I got really thirsty. Trina and I paired up and came up with a few awesome running plans - I think I agreed to coach her and JD and pace them for a half in the fall (I am so in, guys!) and we traded more life stories, which was much needed!
About mile 38, I took a break. I was getting cold and fuzzy headed, which is never a good thing. I hadn't peed in 5 hours. I took a break in Steph's car, slammed a gatorade, and looked down to see my legs were totally covered in heat rash. It was still in the high 80s, and about 7:30pm. I could not warm up and knew I was in trouble. I took over as support with Steph via tunage, and we came up with a playlist to finish out the day - including epic jams like "Till I Collapse" and "The Hills" (I knew I liked this girls sense of humor). I eventually rallied and can't thank Steph enough for her awesome support of the silly runner who didn't prep (Of course, in my defense, I DID plan to run 21, not 42!). The last few miles Brad decided not to stop at all and the crew maintained a strong as hell pace of 16-17 minute miles (with JD in charge of splits!) power walk, even breaking into a jog for the last half mile. According to JD's timekeeping, we finished the second 21 miles in 5:35, for a 16:00 pace.
Total elevation gain over 42 miles: 3600 feet. Un freaking real. For comparison, the 112 mile Lake Placid Elevation gain for the bike IN TH ADIRONDACKS is about 6000 feet.
The end was filled with air hugs, fist bumps, exchange of phone numbers, and a ride back to the car (still craving that cheeseburger). I was exhausted, dirty, and my neck was sore as hell. My legs were covered in heat rash, and I ate a bag of tortilla chips for dinner (those babies were so darn good), along with some gourmet McD's burgers.
The next day, after fueling up well, I felt pretty awesome. Brad finished his last 14 miles strong Saturday and met his goal. I woke up to so many kind words and group camaraderie from my new Cat county peeps - and the feeling of being part of something so much bigger than I was. The whole day was beyond anything I could have even imagined. In today's world, especially with the events of 2020, to be part of something like this was exactly what I needed.
Brad asked me to pace him, and he and his support crew and family gave me more than I ever could have given them. I had a bunch of new Facebook friends, I might be in someone's wedding (kidding...maybe??) and I think I might have spring boarded my future as a running coach.
I met so many amazing people over the miles - Misty, Althea, Chris, Trina, JD, Trae, Teegan, Shane, Deena, Sue, Tom, "D" Devine, Deb, and of course Steph - and the man him self. (Sorry if I missed anyone!) He might be Forrest Gump. He might be a personal coach. He might be a runner. But above all things, he is a warrior who goes for what he believes in and what he sets out to do - as an example to others of the lack of limits living with CF - and to a daily example to everyone of living life without limits.
How inspiring. How amazing. How.....I have no words. Brad, I won't forget this day ever. Thank you for inviting me into your world. It meant so much to me.
And like you, I'll stride till I'm done.
Please donate to his cause - https://passion.cff.org/runforacure. His goal is 100,000 and he is halfway there (no I won't sing more Bon Jovi). In a year where we need a "why" - here it is.
(Note: Thanks to Deb Golley for the awesome pics!)
(Note: Five days post run, I feel awesome - I took a few days off and am back to running again, though a slow build up for sure! I DO NOT advise doing what I did - I had one 18 miler build up to this day and drastically screwed up my nutrition and hydration. I was able to fix it on the fly with no long term damage but it was not a wise way to handle this. Also note, all decisions were my own and not my coaches - due to 2020 being lame AF, I am on pause with my coach and all stupid decisions are mine alone. He would, um, strongly advise against this, period. )
2020 has been hard. So, so hard. And I know I'm nowhere near alone when I say that. We have had our ups and downs, and the downs have been low, low downs. Everyone has felt it to some degree, so this is not news. I hit my lowest low a few weeks back. There were a few days at the end of June where I actually could not get out of bed. I thought I was sick, but was afraid to say anything to anyone. My stomach hurt. I couldn't eat. And walking to the bathroom was a task that was insurmountable. You get the gist.
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| 2020 - "gently rolling hills" |
I preface my post with this because it really sets the stage for my experience. I want to call this a race report, but it wasn't a race. Or maybe it was? You decide. This past Friday, I travelled down to Cattaraugus County, NY, to be part of something amazing. My friend Bradley Poole (well, I had met him once, but we are now BFFs, I'm confident) is a CF warrior. What's CF? Cystic Fibrosis, a rare genetic disease, produces mucus within the lungs and other organs in the body. It's a rare genetic disease, and is fatal. There is no cure, and the study to find one is severely underfunded. Bradley has this disease, and I am a carrier for it. He is 32 years old and has accomplished feats that no one with CF should logically be able to accomplish - he is a fantastic trainer, motivator, and holds a 1:34 half marathon PR (I know. I need to work harder). All in all, he is an amazing example of what it takes to NEVER GIVE UP. (You're gonna want to donate even more when I finish this post, but in case you are inspired RIGHT now - https://passion.cff.org/runforacure).
As part of his quest to raise money to find a cure and inspire those with CF to live their life to the fullest, he, along with his sister Lauren (who is totally my sista from another mista) devised a fundraiser to run EVERY town in their county. That's 7 days, 266 miles, roughly 38-42 miles of running per day. Wow. I eagerly signed up to pace him for 42 miles on the 6th day of the challenge, figuring my (limited) experience with ultras might in someway assist him. I was so, so excited to be part of this.
As the week of the challenge arrived, we figured out his goal pace (10-12 minute miles)...and then....life hit. The weather was predicted to be in the nineties all week, with the heat index over a hundred. I was getting over being sick. He figured out the first day that not only is Cat county hilly AF, but your pace for an ultra....especially a multi day one....needs to be flexible. He tweaked his schedule and did the runs in two parts, one starting at 7am, one starting at 7pm. I revised my pacing and decided to do the first 21 with him and then hand it off to a PM pacer. Sensible. (Maybe?). The morning of, I had my normal bagel and gatorade and packed for a 5 hour run - his morning runs had been about that long for 20 miles. Into my camelbak went water, a pack of chomps, 2 gus, some peanuts for salt, gum, and emergency aquaphor. I drove down to Alleghany, which was two hours away. At 6:45am, the weather was a balmy 75 degrees with a projected high of 95. Yowtch.
I met up with a small group of runners that turned out to be a mix of Brad's friends and people that didn't even know him. One was a woman that read about him in the paper whose son battled anxiety. One was a high school principal of a town we were running through. Some were members of the local running club that wanted to lend their support. Others co- workers, people he trains, and his wfie's co-workers. Their goals ranged from following for 2 miles to ten, and everyone knew we were going to be part of something great. "Forrest" (as we oh so originally called him) showed up right at 7 and after a few photos and jokes, we were off!
The pace started out at an eleven minute mile of easy running. Chris, a co-worker of Brad's wife, served as my co-pacer for the first 12 miles and she, Brad and I developed an easy rapport right from the beginning. We chatted with Brad about his goals (run the flats, walk the hills) and I gave him his mile splits, which he asked for and said he found helpful. We started out pretty quickly with the bad dad jokes (What do sprinters eat for breakfast? Nothing....They Fast!) and kept up a decent stream of chatter for the first few miles.
About 3 miles in, our first 5k group peeled off and we hit an "aid station", which was filled with awesome supporters, water balloons, and ice! Score. I had elected to wear my camelbak and it began to rub, so I hit it up with aquaphor, ate some peanuts, and played with my new husky dog friendo (hint, greg, hint!) We took off after a photo op and three members of the local fire department joined our entourage. About mile 6 we were back on the roads and managed to get ourselves a fine lead vehicle (Thank you Deb!) and a police escort (Thank you Devine!), along with Brad's wife, Steph, who carried the SAG vehicle (she was AMAZING). This parade of vehicles stayed with us for the whole 42 miles of the day, which was just unreal. If I would have known, I would have thrown a change of clothes and my cooler in a car (this would totally bite me later, but live and learn), but it was super awesome to have an entourage - and Deb doubled as our photographer - she averaged at least 200 pictures per day, and was our map reader, cheerleader, and literal driver of the bus!Around mile 6, we got sillier than normal and Chris and I started singing to Brad (this poor man). We sang a little Def Leppard (my forte) and some Bon Jovi, eventually ditching the words to "Halfway There", as Brad was, in fact, way more than half way to his goal. I give you the new chorus:
"Ohhhh! We're 80% there!
Ohhh ohhh! I wish I had cold air!
Take my foot, it don't smell I sweearrr
Ohhh oh! Where's the cold air?"
Yep. It was like that. I'm a ball of cheese and I'd feel bad about it, but I got him to laugh through the pain, so thanks, I'll be here all day (foreshadowing, anyone?)
It was also at about this point that we developed our first grand idea of the day. Brad confessed to us that after 5 days of running he had lost 15 pounds and we joked that it was a great dieting strategy (disclaimer - it's not, and we know it, and we were joking) but over the next few miles we developed our new marketing tool - the 2-6-6 diet!
Only 2 runs a day for 6 days, for 6 miles (plus 260) total! (266!)
your results may vary. Do not try this at home.
Somehow this seemed totally hilarious at the time, and after day 7 Brad lost 20 pounds total and might have to revise his plan. Don't worry buddy, I'm still available for consults!
 |
| Teegan, Brad and I, hitting the first major hill |
At mile 13, we came to the intersection of a new town and stopped for water, a balloon launch in CF colors (purple) and a few words with the local paper, which my backside made. (They clearly knew my best shot LOL).
With the first half marathon down, it was off for more fun, more water spray, more cheering, and then miles and miles of desolate country. We had a new runner join us, Trina, who was an awesome cheerleader and we hit it off immediately. We spent the next 6 miles or so trading spots next to Brad and talking him through one mile at a time. At this point, we found out that Teegan's Aunt lived on the course at mile 21 and we made plans to stop for the morning there. It was where I planned to unload, until I found out that Brad's third pacer for the day might or might not make it. Trina and her husband, JD, planned to do as much of the back stretch as possible, but with it being as hot as it was and with Brad's condition (he began to question a stress fracture at this point) I decided I would stay with him as long as I could stand it. I had a bail out option at 1pm, 5pm, or Steph offered to drive me back to my car at the end. I ditched my camelbak about mile 15, as it had rubbed the spot of a silver dollar totally raw, and gave it to Deb to SAG. We finished the morning stint super strong, and did the first 21 miles in 4:15 total moving time, a 11:35 pace, which was his fastest morning yet of the week!
Our lunch stop was nothing short of gourmet. Teegan's Aunt, Deena, had a pool and we jumped in fully clothed. We feasted on Peanut butter and fluff sandwiches (OMG SO GOOD), popsicles, and cheese puffs. I aired out my shoes and shirt. Aquaphored. And sat down and chatted with Brad, Steph, Deb, Devine, and Teegan's Dad, Shane. Their stories blew me away. They shared their life experiences and opened up 100% to a complete stranger. My feet hurt, I was warm, and I wasn't feeling awesome, but being part of this day took all of that away, and a feeling of peace and grace took over at this point that would remain the rest of the day. It was indescribable to be part of something this amazing and I knew I wanted to soak up every minute.
We headed out for the second 21 miles about 3pm, and the day was just brutal. It was easily 95. Brad donned his new "umbrella hat" that his wife (oh, did I mention she's 7 months pregnant?) got with a diaper purchase, and we joked about his modeling for the company for when you get "the runs". At this point, a new runner, JD (Trina's husband) became our third, and we started out with the goal of run half a mile, then quarter mile walk. We bid Deena goodbye (what an awesome woman!) and headed out, with Deb at the lead, Devine in his cop car, and Steph trailing the parade. The first 3 miles were pretty great, then we realized that the 1300 feet elevation gain we had in the first 21 miles was merely a warm up for the PM hills.
The hills came fast and furious, and the day got even hotter. We were in the middle of complete desolation, and as we trekked through dirt roads in the country we began to wonder what passerby thought of us. We decided that it was most logical that we were 3 inmates with our police escort getting our hour rec time. Man, we are not model prisoners.....we took way longer than an hour!
 |
| At the top of hill number 412....gorgeous, but DAMN! |
In the heart of the country, we noticed an abundance of Trump signs and the talk turned to politics. This could have gotten sketchy, but we were past any squeamishness (yes, we already resolved the "If a runner shits in the woods debate") and had a lively political chat. We ended in agreement - clearly, it was time for Brad to cast his net into politics, and run for president. We came up with a platform "He ran the county, now he can run the country!" and I'm pretty sure I volunteered to run the campaign while JD fed us and kept us up in dirty jokes. Somehow, I have faith this will be fruitful, and you can all thank me in November.
 |
| Umbrella hat! |
About mile 30, Trina joined us again (at the top of a hill, cause she's super smart) and we entered dog country. Devine gave us some siren support to stave off the ankle biters, and we (almost) unanimously decided JD could totally be our dog bait (Sorry, JD). The next 5 miles were pretty uneventful - we stopped a few times, Brad was really hurting, and I was starting to hit a wall based off of the fact that I packed nowhere near enough food, no electrolytes, and nowhere near enough liquid for the day. Thankfully, Steph shared water and ice, and I shared my trick of how to go from a B cup to a D cup with just a handful of ice (its a cool party trick).
About mile 35 we had some new people join us - our pom pom crew, Steph's mom, Sue (who had knee issues and was out there gettin it done!) and Tom, who brought fresh dirty jokes to our crew. My gamin gave out at mile 36, and JD volunteered his stats for the cause (which were way better because my watch consistently shorted us. Damned garmin).
It was about 6:30pm at this point and every time we thought the sun was done, it would prove it was kidding and give off more heat. The bugs came out and the hills were relentless. The ground was mostly rocks and dirt, and I got really thirsty. Trina and I paired up and came up with a few awesome running plans - I think I agreed to coach her and JD and pace them for a half in the fall (I am so in, guys!) and we traded more life stories, which was much needed!
About mile 38, I took a break. I was getting cold and fuzzy headed, which is never a good thing. I hadn't peed in 5 hours. I took a break in Steph's car, slammed a gatorade, and looked down to see my legs were totally covered in heat rash. It was still in the high 80s, and about 7:30pm. I could not warm up and knew I was in trouble. I took over as support with Steph via tunage, and we came up with a playlist to finish out the day - including epic jams like "Till I Collapse" and "The Hills" (I knew I liked this girls sense of humor). I eventually rallied and can't thank Steph enough for her awesome support of the silly runner who didn't prep (Of course, in my defense, I DID plan to run 21, not 42!). The last few miles Brad decided not to stop at all and the crew maintained a strong as hell pace of 16-17 minute miles (with JD in charge of splits!) power walk, even breaking into a jog for the last half mile. According to JD's timekeeping, we finished the second 21 miles in 5:35, for a 16:00 pace.
Total elevation gain over 42 miles: 3600 feet. Un freaking real. For comparison, the 112 mile Lake Placid Elevation gain for the bike IN TH ADIRONDACKS is about 6000 feet.
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| Cause why not bunny ears at mile what the hell ever. |
The next day, after fueling up well, I felt pretty awesome. Brad finished his last 14 miles strong Saturday and met his goal. I woke up to so many kind words and group camaraderie from my new Cat county peeps - and the feeling of being part of something so much bigger than I was. The whole day was beyond anything I could have even imagined. In today's world, especially with the events of 2020, to be part of something like this was exactly what I needed.
Brad asked me to pace him, and he and his support crew and family gave me more than I ever could have given them. I had a bunch of new Facebook friends, I might be in someone's wedding (kidding...maybe??) and I think I might have spring boarded my future as a running coach.
I met so many amazing people over the miles - Misty, Althea, Chris, Trina, JD, Trae, Teegan, Shane, Deena, Sue, Tom, "D" Devine, Deb, and of course Steph - and the man him self. (Sorry if I missed anyone!) He might be Forrest Gump. He might be a personal coach. He might be a runner. But above all things, he is a warrior who goes for what he believes in and what he sets out to do - as an example to others of the lack of limits living with CF - and to a daily example to everyone of living life without limits.
How inspiring. How amazing. How.....I have no words. Brad, I won't forget this day ever. Thank you for inviting me into your world. It meant so much to me.
And like you, I'll stride till I'm done.
Please donate to his cause - https://passion.cff.org/runforacure. His goal is 100,000 and he is halfway there (no I won't sing more Bon Jovi). In a year where we need a "why" - here it is.
(Note: Thanks to Deb Golley for the awesome pics!)
(Note: Five days post run, I feel awesome - I took a few days off and am back to running again, though a slow build up for sure! I DO NOT advise doing what I did - I had one 18 miler build up to this day and drastically screwed up my nutrition and hydration. I was able to fix it on the fly with no long term damage but it was not a wise way to handle this. Also note, all decisions were my own and not my coaches - due to 2020 being lame AF, I am on pause with my coach and all stupid decisions are mine alone. He would, um, strongly advise against this, period. )
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