Scratch Paper: October 2013

I watch as the Race director fiddles with his gun trying to cock it so that he can pull the trigger so I can pull the trigger. Instead, I hear "PULL" and everyone takes off and in the midst of confusion I follow. I flinch as the gun goes off behind, it was louder than I had expected, even-though, I didn't think he would still pull the trigger.

FRIDAY: EMERALD BAY MARATHON

I told myself that I would hang back with Jack and Kate to protect myself from going out too fast. I would try to wait till the half way point and then pick up the pace to finish strong. I'm following Kate on this screaming downhill and all of a sudden I am in front of her and Jack. Now I am nervous, the last two times I ran in front of Kate was at the Leona Divide Marathon and Ray Miller 50/50 and both times I BLEW UP. Granted I am way more experienced this time, but I am still known to do ridiculous things; I cant help it, it plays out perfectly in my head.

I turn down the bike path and there are ONLY 2 people ahead of me, this is not a good sign.

Took the lead

My mind is telling me that I'm going to fast, "CHILL THE F OUT"

My heart is telling me that I got this' "GO...GO..GOOOOO"

Naturally I followed my heart and pursued the two runners in front of me, eventually passing one. My mind and heart battle it out as I continue the pace. I tell myself that its okay and I will follow the first guy so I don't have to run a course that I don't know by myself. Then the first guy stops at a turn to talk to his crew and I pass him. Now I am LEADING A FREAK'N MARATHON and now my mind is questioning everything.

Got to have one Ridiculous photo

I keep running trying to hold my pace around 7:00 minute miles as I'm trying to finish around 3 hours. I forget all the negative thoughts in my head and just maintain focus on the course markings (please be good...PLEASE be good course markings). It wouldn't be long before I could relax once I noticed that this course will be marked well. They even had markings that pointed to the banos. Now all I had to do was focus on drinking every mile and eating a gel every 45 minutes.

Every so often I would cheer up as I would see Jimmy, Steve and Heidi. It's nice and comforting when you can see friends every 3-5 miles.

I would have a relatively uneventful run until the finish, other than the diesel rigs passing within inches of me with their tailwind feeling like a wall and the climb up Spooner Pass towards the finish.

I knew the end was near when I saw the "HOWL" on the floor and when I looked up I saw Jimmy and
Steve running away towards the finish.

I WON A FREAK'n marathon (3:26), which is one of those things that you don't expect to ever happen, but a part of me knew that the possibilities existed. This was one of the lessons that I learned from when Katie DeSplinter won her first 100. All I needed to do was keep trying hard and it could happen.

I was also reminded of how bad it hurts to finish a marathon.

SATURDAY: CAL-NEVA MARATHON

I told myself that I would survive today. I was sore from yesterday, but felt that I could feel better when I'm about 3 miles in. The difficult part of today would be the first 10 miles since it was downhill, my nemesis. I expected a lot of people to be in front of me and hoped to catch them later on.

I watched as Kate flew past everyone and eventually disappear into the downhill. I expected this to happen and started to wonder how fast she would take the course and beat me. I would keep focus on my form so that I did not annihilate my legs for when the flat part came.

I don't know when it actually started , but I would start to feel pain on my upper foot. The Nike Frees were irritating the (corrects glasses with pointer finger) extensor longus muscle and the tibialis anterior muscle, and YES I busted out my anatomy book. The sucky part was that there was nothing I could do at the moment that could relieve the pressure; looking back I could have cut a slit down the middle.

Anyways...I would keep grinding trying to hold my pace or improve it so that I could better my time from yesterday or get close to it. I would eventually catch up to Kate, who must have been having a rough moment and try to hang. Kate and I would Yo-Yo back and forth for a while. I would pass Kate on the uphills and Kate would pass me on the downhills.

This course was EATING ME ALIVE, but luckily I had company and Steve and Heidi would show up to crew.

Weird Side Note: Jack must have been having a hard day cause I swear there were moments where I would not see Steve or Heidi for a long time Or the two of them stopped at a bar or something.

I would eventually finish 2nd overall behind Micheal Wedel who won his first marathon as well (CONGRATULATIONS!).

OH SNAP....there is that pain again...hobble..hobble..hobble.

Kate would still take the women's lead and 4th overall.

We went down to the water to chill the legs for 10 minutes where I would sit on a rock that had a craw fish or lobster or whatever it was (IT HAD CLAMPS) underneath. It would keep walking underneath the shadow of my legs switching from one side to the other as I would keep moving my legs for fear of it striking. GO AWAY!

SATURDAY NIGHT: 72 MILE AROUND LAKE TAHOE

I can't believe it's still Saturday and I will have to run 72 miles, but I told myself that today I will coast. I expected this section of the Tahoe Super Triple to be the easiest of the 3 since I was going to be run a conservative pace. Unfortunately, I did not find the time to get some sleep (facepalm).

Heidi and I left the Inn around 8:30 to find the start line of the 72 mile run. Jimmy told us to drive until we see a bunch of cars parked on the side and lights within the trees. The start line was in an awkward spot where you had to walk through the trees and duff to get to the bike path. I stood with a crowd of others until Lucia said go and we took off following her until she threw us back onto the 89 Highway.

This is the same as before except that my shins hurt and one of the guys blasted off. I ignored him and focused on my pace. I would see Jimmy and Heidi every 3 miles, talk to cyclist and listen to random cars yell at me.

I remember passing by the Inn where I saw Jack and Kate. They asked how I felt and I told them that I was hurting. This sucked cause my quads did not hurt and felt quite good, but my shins did not.

I continued to coast seeing Jimmy and Heidi every so often. Eventually, Dave Carder and Michelle Crews would make a drive out to Tahoe and help Heidi crew. Dave would help pace me up Spooner Pass, which I requested to help me stay true on the climb and not take it too easy. I was surprised at how fast we had climbed the pass, but by now I was verbally complaining about my shins.

My Shins HURT and now I have to run down for 10 miles. I suffered through the 10 miles, stopping every-time I saw the crew vehicle to try and massage the pain away from my shins. I also had to trade out my shoes from a planter issue that arised...I WAS FALLING APART.

We finally reached the flat part where I would try to continue running, but couldn't. I was now 30 miles into the 72 and called it quits.

I had an amazing experience at Lake Tahoe. It was fun to run 2 of the 3 marathons with Kate, Jack and Nicola. It was fun to hang out in the freezing water talking and joking (Kasia swam in this water). I enjoyed the presence of everyone around the dinner tables with the conversations.

Thanks to Jimmy Dean Freeman,Steve Schuman, Heidi Christianson, Dave Carder and Michelle Crews for helping me chase my goal. Thanks to Kasia Gondek for being crazy and willing enough to help crew and still help her other friends at the 3rd marathon. Last, thanks to everyone for sharing a part of your life's moments to enhance mine.

LESSONS LEARNED