Sunday: 26.2 mile run
Friday: 5 mile walk/limp/run
Monday: 1 hour yoga, 5 mile run
Wednesday: 20 min exercise ball, 5 mile run
Friday: 1 hour yoga, 4 mile run
Recovery from Columbus Marathon has gone pretty well. I have the usual twingy right ankle and sore toes. There is still one questionable toe nail but it seems to be healing. I also have some tightness in my left IT band that I am not so happy about. I really just want that to go away. I'm going to have to work on that in order to avoid a serious issue brewing in the future. Physically things are pretty normal.
Emotionally I am very content. No beating myself up because I did not go under 4 hours or get a BQ time. It's really just fine. I am probably more psyched about running now than I have been in a long time. Running just for the sake of running. I've had to break out the cold weather running clothes. This morning it was very cold with a heavy frost, BUT the sun was shining and I knew it would be a great run. Thoughts were swirling in my brain; they bubbled up one by one and I just kept dealing with each thought the same way: it's okay, God is in control, I am content right now right where I am with what I have.
I've spent some time browsing at spring marathon choices. There are some interesting options. We'll see what winter brings.
In general, the family fitness seems to be in a little bit of a funk. We eeked out a nice walk/hike locally on Sunday. Some of us were a little grumpy so it was not the best, but as always the fresh air was helpful and I think everyone felt a little better when we returned home. Any remaining grumpies were banished by the amazing time we had working together in the kitchen to make Chile Rellenos. Gina had found the recipe in one of our vegetarian magazines. Wow was that ever a project but so worth it! Muy delicioso!
I don't think I mentioned in my blog that Abby was able to break 14 minutes in the middle school cross country 2-mile race. It was sheer awesomeness. The girls team went on to win the NOC division for the first time ever. Amazing group of runners this year and so fun to watch. Here is a tiny clip I took during one of their meets. It's not great but I love the sound of people cheering for these kids. Something about it makes the joy pour right out of my eyes. Abby is the sixth runner in blue and white!
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Goodbye, Columbus
Goodbye, Columbus is the title of a great short story by Philip Roth. I read it at some point during college and then again a few years ago. I really loved the feel of the story - young love that grows and fades. I think it popped into my mind again this weekend because everything about Columbus Marathon seemed a bit different to me. I was not nearly as enthused as I have been in the past and my training was certainly not up to par. Although I originally set out saying that I would like to do 10 consecutive Columbus marathons I am now thinking that it might be time to say Goodbye. Fifteen thousand runners : 10 in the half and 5 in the full.
The BAD: Crazy traffic getting into the expo, nothing spectacular (and no chocolate milk!) at the expo, poor sleep at the hotel, more crazy traffic getting to the start, and a humongous CROWD at the start. We usually have had time to enjoy the band and hang out for awhile but this year I did not even use a port-a-pot. Just jammed my way into the corral with about 15 minutes to spare.
The GOOD: Fireworks at the start, fabulous entertainment and spectators as always, superb weather, I did not walk and I did not cry.
Here are the splits:
10K @ 56.02
13.1 miles @ 1:58.54
20 miles @ 3:03.33
Finish Line @ 4:01.59
My finishing time was exactly where I expected it to be. I have never been so worked up about a race before. I know how hard I have worked for my 3 sub-four hour finishes and I knew that mentally I was not up for the beating this year. I also put a lot of thought into the message I am sending to my daughters. They really struggle with putting undue pressure on themselves to perform in school and sports. I swear I do not know where they got that from! Jerry? I realized before the race that I was talking nonstop about whether I could go under 4 hours. I was being negative and incredibly hard on myself. This is not the pattern I want to set up for my girls. They both sort of gave it to me on Saturday with a verbal scolding. I took their words to heart and incredibly felt the four-hour monkey melt away during the race. With every mile I became more determined to have a great day and stay positive. I knew from the splits that I was a couple of minutes off pace and made a cognizant decision to not give a rat's behind (as my momma would say!) and just stay the course. Instead I focused on not walking and not crying. I don't care how many marathons a person does - it hurts like HECK and there is NOTHING easy about it. I may never get to Boston but I am okay with that too. Truth be told if I did qualify I would have to make the difficult decision of whether or not it would be worth the money to sign up and take the family there. I can think of a lot of other places we would like to go. Not to mention that this morning there are a lot of sad runner faces who got shut out of Boston registration. Not me though, I'm still smiling!
The results summary is really great this year. It indicates that during the last six miles I passed a total of 255 people and only 10 people passed me! I really really love that!
I am really looking forward to choosing my next race. Maybe I can stop obsessing over colleges for Gina and start researching race venues. Or maybe I can combine a race with a college visit! Hey kids now that would be fun!
The BAD: Crazy traffic getting into the expo, nothing spectacular (and no chocolate milk!) at the expo, poor sleep at the hotel, more crazy traffic getting to the start, and a humongous CROWD at the start. We usually have had time to enjoy the band and hang out for awhile but this year I did not even use a port-a-pot. Just jammed my way into the corral with about 15 minutes to spare.
The GOOD: Fireworks at the start, fabulous entertainment and spectators as always, superb weather, I did not walk and I did not cry.
Here are the splits:
10K @ 56.02
13.1 miles @ 1:58.54
20 miles @ 3:03.33
Finish Line @ 4:01.59
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| The old dog paw sign from San Diego! Makes spotting my peeps real easy! |
My finishing time was exactly where I expected it to be. I have never been so worked up about a race before. I know how hard I have worked for my 3 sub-four hour finishes and I knew that mentally I was not up for the beating this year. I also put a lot of thought into the message I am sending to my daughters. They really struggle with putting undue pressure on themselves to perform in school and sports. I swear I do not know where they got that from! Jerry? I realized before the race that I was talking nonstop about whether I could go under 4 hours. I was being negative and incredibly hard on myself. This is not the pattern I want to set up for my girls. They both sort of gave it to me on Saturday with a verbal scolding. I took their words to heart and incredibly felt the four-hour monkey melt away during the race. With every mile I became more determined to have a great day and stay positive. I knew from the splits that I was a couple of minutes off pace and made a cognizant decision to not give a rat's behind (as my momma would say!) and just stay the course. Instead I focused on not walking and not crying. I don't care how many marathons a person does - it hurts like HECK and there is NOTHING easy about it. I may never get to Boston but I am okay with that too. Truth be told if I did qualify I would have to make the difficult decision of whether or not it would be worth the money to sign up and take the family there. I can think of a lot of other places we would like to go. Not to mention that this morning there are a lot of sad runner faces who got shut out of Boston registration. Not me though, I'm still smiling!
The results summary is really great this year. It indicates that during the last six miles I passed a total of 255 people and only 10 people passed me! I really really love that!
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| Quick bottle exchange at mile 20! |
 | |
| Just after mile 26. Happy moms make happy kids! |
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| Marathon #10 complete! They still love me! |
Friday, October 8, 2010
Ten Days Till Columbus
My tenth marathon is now ten days away! This afternoon I headed out for a nice 4 miler down the bike path. Apparently I was not the only one in need of some fresh air and sunshine. I saw at least six snakes, a big old toad and a tiny turtle. The past few days of cool, rainy weather seemed a cruel hint of what is to come. It's hard to believe that winter could be just around the corner.
But first I have to make sure that marathon #10 goes down in the books. To be honest, I don't really have any huge expectations for the day. There are a few things I am really looking forward to: the awesome excitement at the start of this marathon, the great entertainment during the first half of the course, the Ohio National Guard band on High Street, the super friendly faces (especially my 3 peeps) all along the course, and definitely the downhill to the FINISH LINE! I am trying not to think about the things I am not looking forward to: being super cold at the start, the constant mental battle of what lies ahead, the lonely feeling of the second half when more than half the crowd turns to finish the half marathon, my legs turning to mush, my feet feeling like they were run over by a truck, the lump in my stomach and throat for last 5K, the sound of the pace group coming up behind me, not being able to pee for four hours!
You would think by now I know the drill, but the element of the unknown can be overwhelming. I know that I will get to the start with the plan to just let the day unfold. I don't know what else I could possibly do. I will take with me my mental arsenal of positive thoughts and inspiring images of family and friends. I will think of Jerry and how amazing it is that he can run a 100 mile race. I will think of Abby and how she plows and pukes her way through middle school cross country. I will remember Gina and the thousands of miles she has put into swimming and how good it makes her feel. I will think of my mom and my dad for reasons too numerous to count. My sister and her victory over breast cancer. My sister-in-law who was supposed to be running with me but was injured. My friend Veronica who kicked Boston in the butt this year as her mom was fighting in a hospital for every breath. My friends JP and Maria who will be running the half marathon and hopefully loving every minute of it. And many many more faces will pop into my head throughout the day and I will cherish the thought of each one. Who knows, with any luck I just might make some new friends along the way.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Taper Time!
Sunday: 5 miles
Monday: 20 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday: 4 miles
Monday: 10 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Friday: 20 miles
Two Week Total: 76 miles
The second 20-miler was another Tour de Twinsburg on a very warm day. I was out for 3:17 which is well over marathon pace but I am not going to freak out. Did you hear that? Not. Freaking. Out. It was super warm and I struggled with a very negative internal voice. Thus, the run became more of a mental training session despite fried legs and sore feet. No matter how you slice a marathon there will always be a rough patch. Typically this will fall in the last 6 miles but I fell apart once at mile 11 (Charlottesville Marathon) and once at mile 15 (San Diego). You better know how to silence your brain if you have to gut out 2 or 3 hours of agony in the second half of a marathon!
So now it's taper time. I am not working much so it should be a productive couple of weeks. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. Time to bring back the yoga that has been sadly missing in my life. I also want to revisit my 5-lb weights and get some strength back.
Abby has improved her 2-mile cross country time to 14:17! This weekend is the big Woodridge Meet at Pine Hollow (also known locally as the Sound of Music hill). It will not be a fast time but that place is truly magical and I hope she has a great day.
Gina is swim, swim, swimming and realizing that high school swim season is just around the corner. We are not looking forward to the oh-dark-thirty alarm for the 5:30am swim practice.
Fall seems to have safely arrived after all that scorching heat of September. I wish it would last until April!
Monday: 20 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Friday: 8 miles
Saturday: 4 miles
Monday: 10 miles
Tuesday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Friday: 20 miles
Two Week Total: 76 miles
The second 20-miler was another Tour de Twinsburg on a very warm day. I was out for 3:17 which is well over marathon pace but I am not going to freak out. Did you hear that? Not. Freaking. Out. It was super warm and I struggled with a very negative internal voice. Thus, the run became more of a mental training session despite fried legs and sore feet. No matter how you slice a marathon there will always be a rough patch. Typically this will fall in the last 6 miles but I fell apart once at mile 11 (Charlottesville Marathon) and once at mile 15 (San Diego). You better know how to silence your brain if you have to gut out 2 or 3 hours of agony in the second half of a marathon!
So now it's taper time. I am not working much so it should be a productive couple of weeks. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. Time to bring back the yoga that has been sadly missing in my life. I also want to revisit my 5-lb weights and get some strength back.
Abby has improved her 2-mile cross country time to 14:17! This weekend is the big Woodridge Meet at Pine Hollow (also known locally as the Sound of Music hill). It will not be a fast time but that place is truly magical and I hope she has a great day.
Gina is swim, swim, swimming and realizing that high school swim season is just around the corner. We are not looking forward to the oh-dark-thirty alarm for the 5:30am swim practice.
Fall seems to have safely arrived after all that scorching heat of September. I wish it would last until April!
Monday, September 13, 2010
Twenty Mile Tour de Twinsburg
Monday: 5 miles
Wednesday: 5 miles
Friday: 13 miles
Sunday: 3.5 miles with Abby
Monday: 8 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Saturday: 8 miles
From the above record it does not appear that I am doing much training for the upcoming Columbus Marathon, but it is slowly filling in little by little. The week before last was insane with lots of work, two school open houses, our 19th wedding anniversary and Abby's 13th birthday. Oh yeah, we also went to NY and visited my family over Labor Day.
The Friday night 13 miler was ridiculous and we can leave it at that. This morning I did my first 20-miler and I am fairly pleased with how it went. It's never easy. That's why it's called a training run. Today I toured my lovely little community for a bit over three hours. Down the bike path, past the schools, uphill to the garden and then up, up, up the Old Hickory Trail until my turn around point at 5 miles where I turn around and head for home. I don't mind stopping at home once but that's about the limit. It gives me a chance to fill up bottles and use the bathroom before heading out for another 10-mile loop. The weather was perfect this morning and I am so grateful for that. Now I can check that off the training schedule. I will do another 12 or 13 miler next weekend and then another 20 after that. Then it's taper time! WooHoo! I am vacillating between wanting to do really well at Columbus (sub-4 hours) and just running to celebrate my 10th marathon.
Abby is doing really well with middle school cross country. The first two dual meets were on days where the temperature was over 90 degrees. She really struggled but who wouldn't. Here is a photo of her at the meet in Cuyahoga Falls. That day she finished at about 16 minutes. The tears were flowing in between her gagging episodes. However, this Saturday she ran in Brecksville with much cooler temps and cruised her way to a 14.23 finish. That's a PR for her so she was super happy. Most of the other girls are soccer players and have lots of running and endurance under their belts. Next year they will all most likely go back to soccer which is good for Abby but not for the team. In typical Denise fashion, I guess I really don't get the big deal about soccer. I was never good at ball games, so its no surprise that I have a swimmer and a runner! I can't imagine anything worse than playing a game where I have to chase after a ball. The other thing is that I always try to promote life long fitness. I may be guilty of somehow persuading the girls to try sports that they could continue as adults. I see lots of adults running and swimming. I don't see too many playing soccer - usually just sitting on the sidelines screaming at their kids. But I digress....................
Jerry is in China. My mommy is coming to hang with me this week. I'm really looking forward to some down time! I think I can turn her into a vegetarian yet!
Wednesday: 5 miles
Friday: 13 miles
Sunday: 3.5 miles with Abby
Monday: 8 miles
Wednesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Saturday: 8 miles
From the above record it does not appear that I am doing much training for the upcoming Columbus Marathon, but it is slowly filling in little by little. The week before last was insane with lots of work, two school open houses, our 19th wedding anniversary and Abby's 13th birthday. Oh yeah, we also went to NY and visited my family over Labor Day.
The Friday night 13 miler was ridiculous and we can leave it at that. This morning I did my first 20-miler and I am fairly pleased with how it went. It's never easy. That's why it's called a training run. Today I toured my lovely little community for a bit over three hours. Down the bike path, past the schools, uphill to the garden and then up, up, up the Old Hickory Trail until my turn around point at 5 miles where I turn around and head for home. I don't mind stopping at home once but that's about the limit. It gives me a chance to fill up bottles and use the bathroom before heading out for another 10-mile loop. The weather was perfect this morning and I am so grateful for that. Now I can check that off the training schedule. I will do another 12 or 13 miler next weekend and then another 20 after that. Then it's taper time! WooHoo! I am vacillating between wanting to do really well at Columbus (sub-4 hours) and just running to celebrate my 10th marathon.
Jerry is in China. My mommy is coming to hang with me this week. I'm really looking forward to some down time! I think I can turn her into a vegetarian yet!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Morning People
Sunday: 5 mile run
Monday: 4 mile run
Wednesday: 8 mile run
Saturday: 18 mile run
Total: 35 miles!
I have not been blogging much because I have been working more than usual, getting the girls adjusted to being back at school, dealing with a sick dog, and trying to keep up the training for Columbus Marathon. Whew! The running has been really erratic. In lieu of the usual morning run, I have had to squeeze in running in the late afternoon or evening. My body does not like that. I feel sluggish and it is soooooooo hot then. The biggest reason I don't like running in the afternoon/evening is that people are crabby. Really crabby. No eye contact, no friendly smiles, no cheerful banter. Just crabby, crabby, crabby.
Today was wonderful though! I was able to get out and running by 8 am. It was so nice and cool. I even had some goosebumps going! I did two 9-mile loops from our house. All my old morning peeps were out on the path and it was like old homeday. Gosh, I missed those smiling morning faces. One of the morning regular walkers noticed I had my fuel-belt on and gave a cheer as I passed him for the second time. I saw another couple that I have seen regularly since I started running marathons and we exchanged hellos and where-have-you-been's. I chatted with a man who had his 6-month old golden retriever off leash on the trail section. It was such fun that I hated to see the 18 miles pass by so quickly. Truth be told I was terrified that I would not make it through today's run, but it was pure joy. I was smiling all day.
In terms of family fitness it is pretty much status quo. Abby is in cross country mode and has her first meet on Tuesday. Go Tigers! It is looking like a nice strong girls team this year and that is exciting. She has a goal time of under 14 minutes for the 2 mile race. I think she will reach that with no problem if it ever cools down. Gina is on break from swim team and anxious to start up again. Her exercise is mainly coming from marching band lately - sweating away in the mid-day sun for an hour or so every afternoon. I think that's work. Jerry is running a few times a week. Nothing major. His recovery from BR100 has gone well and he is also anxious to start up again although no races have been set.
Vegetarian diet status is also being maintained and quite well at that. I recently read that only 3% of Americans claim to be vegetarians. Wow! We watched Food, Inc a couple of weeks ago and that just solidified the decision to not eat meat. The girls pack their lunches everyday for school and we are learning a few more ways to expand our food plans. The only downside I have discovered is not being able to fry eggs in bacon grease! I really miss that.......
Monday: 4 mile run
Wednesday: 8 mile run
Saturday: 18 mile run
Total: 35 miles!
I have not been blogging much because I have been working more than usual, getting the girls adjusted to being back at school, dealing with a sick dog, and trying to keep up the training for Columbus Marathon. Whew! The running has been really erratic. In lieu of the usual morning run, I have had to squeeze in running in the late afternoon or evening. My body does not like that. I feel sluggish and it is soooooooo hot then. The biggest reason I don't like running in the afternoon/evening is that people are crabby. Really crabby. No eye contact, no friendly smiles, no cheerful banter. Just crabby, crabby, crabby.
Today was wonderful though! I was able to get out and running by 8 am. It was so nice and cool. I even had some goosebumps going! I did two 9-mile loops from our house. All my old morning peeps were out on the path and it was like old homeday. Gosh, I missed those smiling morning faces. One of the morning regular walkers noticed I had my fuel-belt on and gave a cheer as I passed him for the second time. I saw another couple that I have seen regularly since I started running marathons and we exchanged hellos and where-have-you-been's. I chatted with a man who had his 6-month old golden retriever off leash on the trail section. It was such fun that I hated to see the 18 miles pass by so quickly. Truth be told I was terrified that I would not make it through today's run, but it was pure joy. I was smiling all day.
In terms of family fitness it is pretty much status quo. Abby is in cross country mode and has her first meet on Tuesday. Go Tigers! It is looking like a nice strong girls team this year and that is exciting. She has a goal time of under 14 minutes for the 2 mile race. I think she will reach that with no problem if it ever cools down. Gina is on break from swim team and anxious to start up again. Her exercise is mainly coming from marching band lately - sweating away in the mid-day sun for an hour or so every afternoon. I think that's work. Jerry is running a few times a week. Nothing major. His recovery from BR100 has gone well and he is also anxious to start up again although no races have been set.
Vegetarian diet status is also being maintained and quite well at that. I recently read that only 3% of Americans claim to be vegetarians. Wow! We watched Food, Inc a couple of weeks ago and that just solidified the decision to not eat meat. The girls pack their lunches everyday for school and we are learning a few more ways to expand our food plans. The only downside I have discovered is not being able to fry eggs in bacon grease! I really miss that.......
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Burning River 100 Support Report
Jerry had a great day and surpassed his main goal of running 100 miles in less than 24 hours. His race report and several photos can be found here!
I wanted to take a few moments and write how the race went down from the perspective of his race crew which consisted of myself, Gina and Abby. Together we are typically a hormonal mess of peri-menopause and teenage angst and I don't know how Jerry puts up with us most of the time; however, we held it together for race day and did our very best to support him.
The first thing we did was decide on Thursday to not actually go to the starting line with him on Saturday morning at 3 am. This was a very rude thing to do, but he managed to secure a seat on the shuttle bus. We made the decision so that we could be at our very best during the night when he would need us to be in good form. The change in plan allowed us to sleep till 6am and then we loaded up the Subaru and headed towards South Chagrin Metropark.
We bought a few supplies at Walgreen and then landed at a little parking area we are familiar with on the road heading down into Sulphur Springs. This is a Williamson Family favorite where we have spent a tremendous amount of time. It was great to hang out in the cool morning air and watch the runners go by. Gina and Abby did some balance work on the fence rail! Jerry went by and asked us to bring him a bandana and "the Stick" from home. The girls were really a great help. One of their main jobs was to help me remember things like that. They also recorded his times in and out of aid stations, controlled the ipod in the car, texted and checked voicemails from my phone when I could not, and most importantly they helped me navigate and stay focused. They are really wonderful girls and I love being around them!
From there we meandered our way to Shadow Lake and then on to a surprise stop at Bridal Veil Falls. Jerry did not know we would be there but this is also a favorite family spot. It was not an official aid station so we just wanted to pop in and say hi. We stayed in the car a bit so Gina could read another chapter of The Scarlet Letter and Abby worked on a bracelet. When we made our way down to the waterfall we were completely shocked to see Jerry immediately come down the trail! Whew - that was close....we almost missed him! He was really trucking along and I was so glad we had reworked the pace chart to include the faster pace times.
It was now nearing lunch and I had been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get from Bridal Veil Falls to Station Road via the Pulp Smoothie shop in Macedonia! It is a traditional pit stop for the girls and I and it just wouldn't be BR100 without it. We figured it out and it was awesome vegetarian goodness. On to Station Road where we set up a chair and a blanket and hauled the shoe boxes full of Jerry's supplies into the open sunny space. The place was pretty packed and we had a good chat with some of JPs crew. We were barely finished with lunch when Jerry came running in. He was right on a 21-hr pace and it was sort of freaking us all out. It seemed way too fast and I was hoping he would not crash and burn. As a family we have all been trying to step it up a bit this year - try running a bit faster, harder, push a bit more, go outside the comfort zone. Jerry had clearly stated his goals but a 21 or 22 hour finish was NOT part of this plan! Regardless, we fueled him up, changed his shoes and sent him over the train tracks to be on his way. His attitude was completely different this year - I kept looking at the girls and saying, "Dad's got his game face on today, I don't know what's happening." He was soooooooo serious. We went home after Station Road for a quick refresh.
The car had become a mess so I spent a few moments reorganizing the shoe boxes of supplies for each aid station. We made plans to pick up the first pacer, Andy, at 2:20pm at Pine Hollow so that left very little time to actually be at home. Our golden retriever was acting sick and it took a fair amount of time to get her out to do her thing. Before we knew it, it was time to get back in the car and head out again.
We picked up Andy and headed to Boston Store. It was wall-to-wall with people and cars and I could only hope for a decent parking place. We ended up along Stanford Rd which was great. By now it was about 3:00 pm and the sun was out. The heat in combination with the large amount of people was wearing me down quickly. Jerry finally had slowed down a bit and did not arrive till about 3:40. He made a quick pass through the aid station and set off for the loop. We moved everything over by the car and continued waiting. I was ready to order pizza and leave Boston Store!
I had planned ahead and brought the number for Winking Lizard. All we had to do was find a parking place in Peninsula on a Saturday evening at 6pm. That didn't take terribly long and we made our way to Happy Days. Happy Days parking lot was jam-packed. The theme of finding a place to park was starting to become a familiar one. A spot opened up and that was all I needed to start a big sermon about how God cares for us and will help us through anything! The girls are used to this sort of digression so they politely listened, prayed with me and then we ate our pizza in the quiet of the evening.
Jerry and Andy came cruising through the aid station and we met them with the shoe box of stuff. Again, Jerry was in and out and still very serious. We packed up our things and set off for BP where we needed some more water and ice to get us through the night. I also picked up a much needed cup of coffee.
From there it was on to Pine Hollow - really one of the greatest places in Northeast Ohio. We had plans to meet our neighbors there and also the second pacer, Mike and his family. We were a big crew by then with lots of cute little kids, glow sticks, and marshmallows. It was super fun. It really helped break up the anxiety and exhaustion that was setting in. One of the things I love the most is the thought of how natural this sort of thing is to our family. Since Gina and Abby have grown up going to these sorts of race venues and long days, they really can kick it in and make a great day when other kids might be grumbling about being away from the computer, TV or their friends. We always find some fun activity to do. Nothing will ever beat the pinecone and stick baseball game at Mohican but pony rides may be a new close second.
After Jerry passed through and changed his shoes and refilled his bottles, it was time to say good-bye to Andy and our friends and head off into the dark of night for Covered Bridge. My navigation skills were spiraling downward and it was quite an adventure getting there! We did, however, arrive only to find another parking lot completely full. Argh! It was nearing 11pm and I really wanted to snooze, but not while parked along Everett Rd in complete darkness. Eventually a spot opened and we wheeled the Subaru in, reclined the seats, set an alarm for 1 hour and enjoyed the absolute stillness of the night.
Soon enough the alarm sounded and we gathered our chair and boxes and headed for the bridge. It's quite a sight and I was excited for the girls to finally see it. Abby first had to face her demons though: she has had a rough time at Covered Bridge! A bizarre rash last summer after we hiked there, a puke-fest during Jim Klett 10K, the memory of my accidental step into dog poop during the Run with Scissors last fall. We barely made it past the port-a-pot and I heard her gagging. Poor girl. She said the smell of runners, port-a-pot, and all those memories was getting to her.
Jerry and Mike had slowed but they were doing just fine and set off for the Perkins Trail loop very quickly. This was starting to bum me out a bit! We were waiting and waiting all day and night and then whoosh....he would run in and leave so quickly! But I kept telling myself, the faster he gets in and out of these aid stations, the faster we are headed to the finish line. Upon returning from the loop, he announced he really had to use the bathroom. The girls and I rolled our eyes. The clock was ticking now and I made my infamous statement upon his return that he was eight minutes off the 24 hour pace time.
Getting to Merriman aid station was another navigational failure. Thanks to G & A for getting me out of that mess too! Same thing here: we pulled in, reclined the seats, set the alarm for about 1 hour and proceeded to snooze. By this point I barely wanted to leave the car, but I pried open my eyes to watch for Jerry and Mike. I heard them before I saw them and jumped out of the car. I ran with them to the aid station and once again, Jerry had one thing on his mind: get in and out as fast as possible. I returned to the car where Gina and Abby remained sleeping! I felt bad waking them up but it was time to go to the finish line and they had to buckle up for safety!
We arrived in the parking garage about 3:30 and I set the alarm for 4:15. It was not restful at all, but we could hear the announcer calling people in as they finished down below. We gathered our things and set up chairs. According to the current pace he was keeping he would finish very close to 5 am but something told me I better get down there "just in case." Good thing we did because at 4:30 we caught our first glimpse and soon enough he came through the finish - still looking serious, game face on but with a hint of a smile!
We are all so very proud of him and happy to have been part of the whole thing. The life lessons that can be learned by spending a weekend as part of an ultrarunning event are too numerous to count. I wish I had time to speak to every runner and find out their story. It's an amazing community.
I wanted to take a few moments and write how the race went down from the perspective of his race crew which consisted of myself, Gina and Abby. Together we are typically a hormonal mess of peri-menopause and teenage angst and I don't know how Jerry puts up with us most of the time; however, we held it together for race day and did our very best to support him.The first thing we did was decide on Thursday to not actually go to the starting line with him on Saturday morning at 3 am. This was a very rude thing to do, but he managed to secure a seat on the shuttle bus. We made the decision so that we could be at our very best during the night when he would need us to be in good form. The change in plan allowed us to sleep till 6am and then we loaded up the Subaru and headed towards South Chagrin Metropark.
From there we meandered our way to Shadow Lake and then on to a surprise stop at Bridal Veil Falls. Jerry did not know we would be there but this is also a favorite family spot. It was not an official aid station so we just wanted to pop in and say hi. We stayed in the car a bit so Gina could read another chapter of The Scarlet Letter and Abby worked on a bracelet. When we made our way down to the waterfall we were completely shocked to see Jerry immediately come down the trail! Whew - that was close....we almost missed him! He was really trucking along and I was so glad we had reworked the pace chart to include the faster pace times.
It was now nearing lunch and I had been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to get from Bridal Veil Falls to Station Road via the Pulp Smoothie shop in Macedonia! It is a traditional pit stop for the girls and I and it just wouldn't be BR100 without it. We figured it out and it was awesome vegetarian goodness. On to Station Road where we set up a chair and a blanket and hauled the shoe boxes full of Jerry's supplies into the open sunny space. The place was pretty packed and we had a good chat with some of JPs crew. We were barely finished with lunch when Jerry came running in. He was right on a 21-hr pace and it was sort of freaking us all out. It seemed way too fast and I was hoping he would not crash and burn. As a family we have all been trying to step it up a bit this year - try running a bit faster, harder, push a bit more, go outside the comfort zone. Jerry had clearly stated his goals but a 21 or 22 hour finish was NOT part of this plan! Regardless, we fueled him up, changed his shoes and sent him over the train tracks to be on his way. His attitude was completely different this year - I kept looking at the girls and saying, "Dad's got his game face on today, I don't know what's happening." He was soooooooo serious. We went home after Station Road for a quick refresh.
The car had become a mess so I spent a few moments reorganizing the shoe boxes of supplies for each aid station. We made plans to pick up the first pacer, Andy, at 2:20pm at Pine Hollow so that left very little time to actually be at home. Our golden retriever was acting sick and it took a fair amount of time to get her out to do her thing. Before we knew it, it was time to get back in the car and head out again.
We picked up Andy and headed to Boston Store. It was wall-to-wall with people and cars and I could only hope for a decent parking place. We ended up along Stanford Rd which was great. By now it was about 3:00 pm and the sun was out. The heat in combination with the large amount of people was wearing me down quickly. Jerry finally had slowed down a bit and did not arrive till about 3:40. He made a quick pass through the aid station and set off for the loop. We moved everything over by the car and continued waiting. I was ready to order pizza and leave Boston Store!
I had planned ahead and brought the number for Winking Lizard. All we had to do was find a parking place in Peninsula on a Saturday evening at 6pm. That didn't take terribly long and we made our way to Happy Days. Happy Days parking lot was jam-packed. The theme of finding a place to park was starting to become a familiar one. A spot opened up and that was all I needed to start a big sermon about how God cares for us and will help us through anything! The girls are used to this sort of digression so they politely listened, prayed with me and then we ate our pizza in the quiet of the evening.
Jerry and Andy came cruising through the aid station and we met them with the shoe box of stuff. Again, Jerry was in and out and still very serious. We packed up our things and set off for BP where we needed some more water and ice to get us through the night. I also picked up a much needed cup of coffee.
After Jerry passed through and changed his shoes and refilled his bottles, it was time to say good-bye to Andy and our friends and head off into the dark of night for Covered Bridge. My navigation skills were spiraling downward and it was quite an adventure getting there! We did, however, arrive only to find another parking lot completely full. Argh! It was nearing 11pm and I really wanted to snooze, but not while parked along Everett Rd in complete darkness. Eventually a spot opened and we wheeled the Subaru in, reclined the seats, set an alarm for 1 hour and enjoyed the absolute stillness of the night.
Soon enough the alarm sounded and we gathered our chair and boxes and headed for the bridge. It's quite a sight and I was excited for the girls to finally see it. Abby first had to face her demons though: she has had a rough time at Covered Bridge! A bizarre rash last summer after we hiked there, a puke-fest during Jim Klett 10K, the memory of my accidental step into dog poop during the Run with Scissors last fall. We barely made it past the port-a-pot and I heard her gagging. Poor girl. She said the smell of runners, port-a-pot, and all those memories was getting to her.
Jerry and Mike had slowed but they were doing just fine and set off for the Perkins Trail loop very quickly. This was starting to bum me out a bit! We were waiting and waiting all day and night and then whoosh....he would run in and leave so quickly! But I kept telling myself, the faster he gets in and out of these aid stations, the faster we are headed to the finish line. Upon returning from the loop, he announced he really had to use the bathroom. The girls and I rolled our eyes. The clock was ticking now and I made my infamous statement upon his return that he was eight minutes off the 24 hour pace time.
Getting to Merriman aid station was another navigational failure. Thanks to G & A for getting me out of that mess too! Same thing here: we pulled in, reclined the seats, set the alarm for about 1 hour and proceeded to snooze. By this point I barely wanted to leave the car, but I pried open my eyes to watch for Jerry and Mike. I heard them before I saw them and jumped out of the car. I ran with them to the aid station and once again, Jerry had one thing on his mind: get in and out as fast as possible. I returned to the car where Gina and Abby remained sleeping! I felt bad waking them up but it was time to go to the finish line and they had to buckle up for safety!
We arrived in the parking garage about 3:30 and I set the alarm for 4:15. It was not restful at all, but we could hear the announcer calling people in as they finished down below. We gathered our things and set up chairs. According to the current pace he was keeping he would finish very close to 5 am but something told me I better get down there "just in case." Good thing we did because at 4:30 we caught our first glimpse and soon enough he came through the finish - still looking serious, game face on but with a hint of a smile!
We are all so very proud of him and happy to have been part of the whole thing. The life lessons that can be learned by spending a weekend as part of an ultrarunning event are too numerous to count. I wish I had time to speak to every runner and find out their story. It's an amazing community.
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