My First DNS--Sljeme Marathon Croatia

I was all ready to rock the Sljeme Marathon

 

You are probably thinking "she must have done way too much too soon after the appendicitis and surgery."   NOPE. Going into this race I was feeling great.  I didn't feel any soreness in the surgery area at all anymore during/after runs or even with  core work.  My appetite and bowel functions all finally completely back to normal.  I was so excited for this race. It was the pick me up I needed after my unexpected surgery and having to drop down to a shorter distance at Velebit which I had been so looking forward to doing the longest distance for about six months.  I also just love trying all different races in all different places. Sljeme sounded like a great challenge.  3, 14k loops.  First half of each loop 1000 feet down and the second half 1000 feet up and I think mostly trail but runable trail. Definitely my kind of race.

Niko REALLY wanted to come to the race which meant Una wanted to come too.  That's why I asked my sister-in-law and her fiancé if they would mind driving me and the kids to the race and taking care of them while I ran.  They were more than happy to take us so all the plans were made.  

Sljeme mountain is in Zagreb the capital of Croatia and about 2.5 hours from Bihac, Bosnia where Emir's family lives and I was staying the night before the race.  We decided the night before that we would leave at 7 to give us an extra hour cushion getting to the race as it started at 10:30.

The Sljeme Mountain where the race takes place.  We passed it on our way to visit family the week before the race

 

Race morning we got up.  I had coffee and ate well. The kids ate and we were out the door on time.  Everything seemed great.  About 15-20 minutes from Bihac is a border crossing into Croatia which is how we always go no matter our destination in Croatia.  As we rounded the corner towards the border, our hearts all literally dropped to the ground at the same time.  The line was the longest I've seen it since the early 2000s the first few times I came with Emir.  Back then then the war had not long been over so crossing could be difficult sometimes. But the last few years Emir and I have never waited more than 30 minutes.  Usually on average 10-15 minutes. Even my sister-in-law and fiancé were shocked and they live there and cross on a regular basis. They said that It is never a long wait early on a Sunday morning.  It was awful just sitting there in line not being able to do anything but watch time slip away.  They finally opened a 3rd line and we moved over to it.  But still by the time we went through it was after 8:30.  I knew making it to the race on time was a slim chance at this point but Menso said he would drive fast so we powered on.  

About 20-30 minutes later Una started screaming.  I knew it meant she was about to throw up.  I yelled for Dajana to give me a plastic bag.  Una started puking as I was trying to get the bag open to catch it.   It was all over my hands and arms and all over her.  We pulled into a gas station to use the bathroom to get Una and myself cleaned up.   Time just kept ticking away.  We got back in the car and sped off again.   Now Una only in her underwear was much happier.  And all I could smell was her throw up.  I kept thinking even if I make this race it's going to suck smelling like puke the whole time.   

Una feeling much better after puking and I'm just trying not to go crazy, knowing I'm probably not making this race

 

About 15-20 minutes later the car started making a weird noise.   We all tried to ignore it as we didn't want to stop again but it kept happening so Menso had to pull over again to check.  He never found anything wrong with it and then it never made the noise again.  It's like the race gods were just stacked against me that day.

Eventually we made it into Zagreb but it was already 10:30 and we still had to get up the mountain.  We drove in circles for a while trying to get to the mountain.  We stopped to ask someone and found out that the main road was closed and we had to go back to the highway and go that way.  But going that way takes an hour.  And at this point it was after 11.  There was absolutely no reason I wanted to drag the poor kids who had already been in the car 4 hours another hour up to a race that I definitely wouldn't be able to run since I would be 2 hours late at that point.  So I made the decision that we were just going to give up on getting there.  

Una in my after race shorts.  She was not happy, she did not like them one bit, said they weren't pretty

Menso and Niko in Zagreb

It was an awful feeling.  I really wanted to just sit by myself somewhere and cry but that wasn't an option.  I had two hungry, rammy kids to take care of and we had to now make it all the way back to Bosnia.  I also felt so terrible that Menso and Dajana did all this driving really for no reason.  As Niko kept saying the whole way home "what a bad, bad day.  This is the worst day."

There was some kind of celebration going on in Zagreb

I think Zagreb is a great city, would have just preferred to be running the race!

We stopped at this huge mall called the Arena to get the kids McDonalds. At least this was the high point of the trip.  They got pretty awesome minion toys with their happy meals and pictures with these Lego statues of "Lego Friends" which is a show they watch all the time.  After that back to the car.  This time about an hour from home Niko's stomach started hurting.  He was crying and it was a little bit to the next gas station.  Luckily he made it to the stop.  But poor kid's stomach kept hurting the whole rest of the way home.  

the kids with the Lego Friends

So about 9 hours after setting off for the race, we finally made it back to my in-laws.  I had sent Emir a message while on the wi-fi at the mall to let him know we didn't make the race.  I knew he would be antsy to talk to me so I facetimed him as soon as we got back.  If it's any consolation for all of this, he felt as bad as I did.  He understood all my emotions and actually was going through all of them with me.  Even though it can make our lives super crazy sometimes, I just can't say enough about how wonderful it is that  Emir is an ultrarunner too.  Ultrarunners are seriously crazy people with lots of intense emotions. The fact that he just gets it, is awesome.  Talking with him was what I needed at that point and I was feeling better but I knew I needed more "therapy" to help me truly get over my first DNS.  

I talked to my in-laws and said I was going out early the next morning for a long run, probably a few hours.  They said no problem.  While I think they don't really understand why we run so much and so many miles as I think it appears to be more like torture than fun to them, they are totally supportive.  Emir had to go back home to work and I still was staying here 3 more weeks with the kids and they have been totally wonderful making sure I get all my runs in which I truly appreciate.  

Anyway my plan was to climb to the peak of the Mountain that my in-laws live on.  It's been a goal of Emir and I for a few years but we never got a chance to do it yet.  Even though I really wanted to do it with Emir, I knew it was what I needed to do after missing the race.  

I set off a little after 6.   It was a struggle from the get go.  My body and mind were so tired from the events of the day before.  As I steadily climbed the road part, I took a few walk breaks as needed.  Eventually I came to signs indicating that I could continue on the road or I could take the trail off to the right.  I could reach the peak both ways but it was longer via the road.  

straight up the mountain

I didn't want to be gone half the day so I chose the trail.   I figured out pretty quickly that the trail way was shorter because it was much more steep rather than the road that was a gradual climb to the top.  No matter, I just set into steady hike mode.   I was getting excited as I got closer.  Finally I reached a sign that said 1km to the top but said over an hour time it would take.  Uh oh.  That last kilometer was extremely steep and very rocky think Velebit.  Whatever I just climbed my way up and about 20 minutes later I saw the sign indicating the peak.  I felt great!  I took a bunch of pics with the gopro and got stung by a bee on my ankle before starting to head back down.  

The peak!



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redemption!!!

Once I made it back home and checked out my stats, I felt satisfied.  In only 13.5 miles I did 2600 feet of climbing which wasn't much less than what I was going to do in the marathon.  So what I had just done was actually more challenging which is what us ultrarunners thrive on.  I was feeling good but there was one more thing I needed to fully complete my therapy to overcome my first DNS.   

I hopped on the Internet and was searching around for races near home.  Emir's Eastern States 100 miler is only a couple weeks after I get home and my TARC 100 is the second week of October so I was looking for something end of August, early September.  Within a few minutes I found it, the Labor Pains 12 hour.  I had heard of this race and even Emir had shown it to me before.  I'm not sure why but when he brought it up before I didn't want to do it.  But now I did.   I didn't have any races lined up aside from pacing Emir at Eastern States until my 100 and after missing Sljeme, I just needed another race to fill the void. It seemed like good timing to me about 5 weeks before my 100 miler.  I know coach will be giving me tons of miles that weekend anyway so why not get them in at a fun race?  But since I've never done 100 miles before I definitely wanted to check with coach first to make sure he thought it was ok.  Caleb emailed me back immediately saying he thought it was perfect timing in regard to the 100 and also a perfect opportunity to work on my nutrition and hydration in the setting of a race in prep for the 100.  I was excited.  I messaged Emir telling him about my convo with coach and a minute later I had a confirmation email in my inbox.  I told you having a fellow ultrarunner as a spouse is the best!!!

So that's it.  My therapy is now complete and I'm ok.  I think all experiences good and bad no matter what make us stronger/better people and in this case a better runner.  On to the next adventure!!!!



My last long run in the Balkans.  22 miles on the island of Ugljan in Croatia ending with a jump in the Adriatic Sea



Velebit Ultra Trail Croatia--Ridiculously difficult, ridiculously beautiful

That's Velebit Mountain behind me!

   Crossing the finish line 7 hours and 40 minutes after starting the 27k at the Velebit Ultra, I knew I had definitely done the right thing and not run the 65k despite all my crying last post.  It actually had ended up being 22.4 miles (about a mile extra at the end as I went the wrong way off the mountain) and the hardest race I've ever done, not just elevations wise but terrain wise.  And then when Emir finally finished what ended up being a 44 mile race in 18 hours, I REALLY was thankful that I did not try to do the longer race.

Ultra running + common sense???

Sums up my last couple of weeks before I left for my trip

Me: "can I start running again?"

Surgeon: " um yeah you can run"

Sees my overly ecstatic reaction

Surgeon: " but please use your judgement and use common sense..."

Let me take you back to two weeks ago. We were on our way home from spending the day at my parents house.  Just hanging out and having dinner.  I started feeling pain in my abdomen but assumed it was just gas.   After getting the kids to bed I laid down on the sofa trying to get the gas to dissipate.  Emir says "why are you holding your right side?!  It's your appendix!" Me: "no!  You are crazy!  It's just some gas or little stomach thing." 

The next morning I thought I felt better.  Una and I went to Target and her 3 year old well visit.  As time passed I felt worse but I really wanted to go to my last kindergarten lunch duty at Niko's school. All I could think of while listening to all the tattling(the kids were so done with school), was I just need to lie down.  It wasn't even just pain, my whole body just felt terrible.  But still I thought I was just coming down with a stomach bug. As soon as I got home, I threw Una in her room and told her to nap.  Thank goodness she didn't put up a fight.  I collapsed into bed.  By this time I had started getting the chills.  I checked my temp and it was 100.6 so not too high but definitely a fever.  I struggled to get comfortable.  I think I dozed a few times however pain that would originate on my right side would shoot across my abdomen and jar me from my sleep.  Getting up to use the bathroom was SO HARD.  I could barely walk due to the pain.  I was holding onto things to get around.  Finally I started to give in to the idea that maybe this was appendicitis (I hate when Emir is right!).  I'm well aware of the symptoms however I wanted to see if there was any specific tests the doctors do to figure out what's going on.  I don't remember the name of the test, but it goes like this.  If you press down on the left side of the abdomen, you will feel sharp pain on the right side where the appendix is.  I did this and almost died.  I lost it after that.  "SHIT!!!  Now I have to go to the hospital and have surgery!  WTF?!?!  In less than two weeks we are leaving for vacation and I can't afford to miss work before we go away!  What about the race I'm running in a couple weeks?!"  I was a mess.  I realized not only that I really needed to go to the hospital but also that Niko was going to be home in about 30 minutes and I was in no condition to care for my kids.  I called Emir and told him.  He said he would leave work right away but that there's no way I should drive myself so to see if our neighbor could take the kids.  I texted my neighbor Stephanie and next thing I knew she was blowing in my door.  I cannot say enough about what amazing neighbors I have.  They have saved us so many times.  Of course we would and always do the same for them but still it's rare to have what we have with them. 

The rest is pretty much history.  I walked into the ER saying I had sudden right sided pain from the night before and they whisked me away right into a room (good info if you want to get seen ASAP in the ER ;-) )   In less than a couple hours, the diagnosis of acute appendicitis was confirmed and I was put on the list for surgery which took place at 7:30am the next morning.  Luckily, everything was done laprascopically.  I was very happy with that as working with patients on a regular basis on getting back on their feet after various surgeries, I know that laprascopic has much shorter recovery time.  Also, being the recipient of 2 C-sections has taught me that open abdominal surgeries are no joke and would probably be a solid 4-5 weeks of no running, no working and possibly delay my trip.  So despite my depression over the whole thing, I was for the most part very lucky.  Things could have been a lot worse. 

BEST COMPRESSION SLEEVES EVER!

So back to my follow up with the surgeon about 9 days post op.  I was so eager to get back to work that day and to get back to running ASAP.  He cleared me for back to work without batting an eye.  At first he didn't seem to think running was big deal however I think my over eagerness made him more hesitant and maybe he realized he wasn't dealing with a "normal runner."  After he said to use my "common sense" about running, I had visions of running miles and miles the next week and a half leading up to my race and completing the 65K race in Croatia I had planned for June 20th.  Then he proceeded to follow up with "you have deep internal stitches and need to be cautious.  You can easily get a hernia and need more surgery if you are not careful"  In my head "dammit!  Ok yeah I don't want that."  It was right then and there I knew I shouldn't run the 65K. 

After leaving the office and getting to work, I looked up the Velebit Ultra website and saw there was a middle distance option, 27K which is about 16.8 miles still with around 8,000feet of elevation.  So while much shorter, it will still not be easy.  I consulted Emir and coach Caleb and both were in agreement that it was reasonable.  And to be perfectly honest, I know Emir was SUPER relieved.  He knows me and that there was a high likelihood that despite all I had been through in the last couple weeks, I would still insist on doing the 65K with 20,000 feet of elevations.  And he's right.  I did still want to do it. 

I wasn't allowed to work, run or do much of anything but they didn't say anything about hanging out on the beach!

In the end, I know I am super lucky that things weren't a lot worse.  I made it back to work for a few days before our trip, I was able to start running again 9 days post op, I was given the all clear to travel and thank goodness I didn't get the appendicitis while in Bosnia or Croatia!  And I am super grateful that I will get to run any race at all at Velebit. 

So why when there are so many really good reasons why I should not run the 65K, I still feel like a failure, like a loser who had to drop down in the race and isn't doing the hardest option offered? I know this really isn't true, but it's just my ultrarunner nature and mentality that I've developed over the last couple years.  I've never DNS'd or DNF'd or dropped down.  If I decided to run a race, I'm going to do it and I'm going to finish it no matter what hence why I struggled for 7.5 hours at the PHUNT 50K coming off of 2 weeks with the flu.  Yes I know this race is a mere 18 days after my surgery and there are huge risks if I had tried to run the 65K not to mention I can tell during my runs so far that I'm sore and sluggish plus my eating has not yet returned to normal.  So it should be an easy decision yet it was so hard for me and I'm still struggling with it.  I am definitely only doing the 27K but struggling in the fact that I still don't feel good about it.  Which is why when the doctor said "use your common sense getting back into running."  I thought "he really has no idea who he's talking to and that common sense in ultrarunners doesn't exist." 

Not sure running mountains in Bosnia two weeks post op is what the doctor had in mind ;-)

 

Dirty German 50 Miler Humid Fest

Emir and I wanted to do several long ultras this spring since we both are attempting our first 100 miler later this year.  It's not always easy to accomplish this though since we do have two small children and we also can't afford to travel ALL the time.  Lucky for us Stephan Weiss, uberendurance sports, puts on multiple events in our area.  We have both done Blues Cruise 50K and I did the Sloppy Cuckoo 12 hour so we know that his events are always well run and lots of fun.  The Dirty German was no different. 

The Dirty German takes place in Pennypack Park which is the same place as the Sloppy Cuckoo.  The Sloppy Cuckoo was a 6.55 mile loop and Dirty German was a 16 mile loop.  It's only a short 15-20 minute drive from our house.  Since my mom is still on the mend, our amazing neighbors let the kids sleepover and hang with them for the day, even taking Niko to his final kids race of the spring :-) 

Niko and Jaycie after running the final kids race

Zensah Gear

If you haven't realized yet, aside from being a BibRave Pro and an Altra Ambassador, I'm also a Zensah Ambassador.  Back in the fall I was given the opportunity to test Zensah's Ultra Compression sleeves.  They totally changed my life (no exaggeration).  You can read how in my review.  After falling in love with the sleeves and having such a great experience interacting with the great people at the company, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of.  Luckily, they were willing to have me!

sporting my ultra sleeves at Niko's race just before heading out on a long run

As an ambassador, I've had the opportunity to try out a few more of Zensah's products. 


Zensah Compression Sleeves

I knew I would love these as I loved the ultra sleeves.  I could notice a slight difference in compression in the regular sleeves vs the ultra which is good.  The regular sleeves I literally could wear forever where the ultra sometimes are a bit too much compression for a super long period of time.  Everyone's comfort level with compression varies so much that it's great they have a couple options for runners to choose from.  I also love all the fun color/design options with the regular sleeves.  I went with the argyle, gotto look good out there! 

regular compression sleeves for the OD marathon

Arm Sleeves

I have had several pairs of arm sleeves the last couple of years but I always end up with the same problem, major chafage!  It was so annoying to me because I found that running a marathon in a singlet and arm sleeves was way more comfortable than a long sleeve top when it was cooler weather.  At the Philly Marathon expo, I saw some Zensah sleeves with Philly Marathon printed on them and I took the chance knowing that I've loved all other Zensah gear that these would work better for me.  And of course I was right!  They are light, comfortable, nice compression and NO CHAFAGE! 

Long Sleeve Compression Top

The Long Sleeve Compression top is by far the most comfortable long sleeve running shirt I have run in.  The fabric is soft but it is moisture wicking.  It keeps you warm and dry on those long, cold winter runs.  I had no issues with chafing which is due to the seamless nature of the shirt.  I like having a compression top that also keeps me warm.  I'm also a huge fan of this being SPF 50.  Just because it's cold out doesn't mean the sun isn't strong.  The only downside is that it only comes in black.  I would love to get this top in a few fun, bright colors!

The compression top was the perfect base layer for a chilly, winter run

Peek Socks

These socks were a very pleasant surprise for me.  In the past, I've had more padded socks to help cushion my feet/prevent blisters so when these came and felt thinner, I was thinking they might not be as good as I hoped.  They felt great from the first time I put them on.  They are comfortable and do not feel bulky or change the feel in my running shoes.  When I run in them, I can definitely feel the arch support and have less achiness on my super long runs.  And the biggest positive for me is how well they prevented blisters/chafing on my feet!  I wore these socks on a 20 something mile training run in the pouring rain.  My feet were soaked from the first step and when I took them off, my feet were in the exact same condition as when I started.  I couldn't remember the last time I ran with wet feet and didn't end up with some kind of foot issue.  I also ran the Double Blue Ridge Marathon in them which was 52.4 miles on the road in the mountains, very tough day on the feet.  It was hot so lots of sweating going on.  Once again when I took them off, my feet were great!  Last year I had multiple blisters and painful spots on both feet however this year with the peek socks, no problems.  I LOVE THEM!!!!



Peek socks have a nice look
 

peek socks and compression sleeves during the Double Blue Ridge Marathon