Official Blue Ridge Blogger!!!

Just a quick post.  I just got word via email that I did indeed got picked to be an official blogger for the Blue Ridge Marathon in Roanoke in April!!!  I'm very excited and couldn't wait to share the news :-)  Stay tuned for a chance in the future to win a free entry and to follow my journey (I may even run the marathon twice this year!)

I'm Back!!! NYC, Philly, Blue Ridge and Born to Run 100K Here I come!

Yes, it's been a while since I blogged.  I was taking a vacation.  A vacation from work, vacation from cooking, cleaning, running so intensely, from blogging and life in general.  As you may recall we went to Bosnia and Croatia to visit Emir's family.  We were there for 4.5 glorious weeks!  We ran the Plitvice Marathon which I wrote about in my last entry.  After that I was tired.  I mean I'm pretty sure that it was a normal reaction of my body to running 3 marathons and a 50K between the last week in March and 1st week of June, only one of them NOT taking place on a mountain.  Unlike some people, I wasn't sick of running and I didn't hate it.  My body just felt physically tired.  I took about 4 days off completely after the marathon and then I ran 4 miles here, 5 miles there whenever I felt like it.  Once we went to Croatia I only ran maybe 2-3 times in the 2.5 weeks we were there.  Most days I went for 45-60 minute swims in the Adriatic.  There's nothing like it.  Water is crystal clear, you can see fish and other sea life while swimming.  I miss my swimming days so much.  Every time I'm  in Croatia I just always think why can't the Atlantic be this nice?!?!  There's no way you could go for daily open water swims like that in Jersey.  It's just not safe.  Anyway Emir's mom has an apartment on an island called Ugljan.  My life when I am on the island is perfect.  Whenever the kids wake us up, we eat breakfast and we are at our beach café by 9.  I'm pretty well known there now after several summers of lengthy visits so either a table is saved for me or space made at one of my friend's tables.  You are literally sitting right on the beach so the kids play and swim while the mommies drink coffee and chat.  Eventually it's lunch and nap time.  That's mommy's free time to go swimming, read and relax.  My mother in law cooks all our meals and stays with the kids while they are napping since she is usually cooking all day anyway.  At night we go for walks around the small town, usually indulge in ice cream and beer.  It was truly the perfect way to end our spring racing season and give our bodies some rest. 

Once we were back in the states which was the very end of June, I still wasn't really ready to go back to a steady running schedule.  Also we have a condo in Wildwood at the Jersey shore so I spend a lot of my off days there with the kids.  Until this past weekend, Emir wasn't able to come down as much because of many reasons (car problems, soccer games, work) so anyway that made it pretty much impossible for me to do much running anyway.  I did however do a bunch of I suppose we will say "jogs" with the kids.  Niko rode his bike while I ran pushing Una in the stroller.  Usually somewhere between mile 1 and 2 Niko gets tired and he hops on the stroller as well and I throw his bike on top.  Yup that's how I run anywhere from 1-2 miles to finish it off.  It's actually fun.  The kids love it and we are on the boardwalk next to the ocean so what's not to love?!

So that brings me to last week.  The weather finally broke from being oppressively hot and humid to 80s and fresh air.  All of the sudden my desire to run and run a lot came back.  Maybe it wasn't all completely my body being tired maybe some of it was the impossible thick air that made me feel like that.  Regardless I know it was for my own benefit that I rested a bit.  And now not only am I feeling better running but Emir and I have finally put together our running schedule.  It was hard to be excited and motivated without races in my future to be excited about.  That's just how I am, I need some kind of goal or else I feel like "what I am doing this for?"  So what races are we doing, you might ask.  Well back in May my sister-in-law (editor for Fitness magazine) basically begged Emir and I to sign up for the NYC Marathon lottery.  She ran it in 2011 and absolutely loved it.  She wants to run it this year with her husband (Emir's brother Dino) and us.  Honestly, Emir and I were pretty against running NYC.  The thought of paying $260 for a race plus having to take a ferry to Staten island at the crack of dawn only to sit there and wait 5 hours to race. It just didn't sound like that much fun to us.  But we obliged and entered the lottery.  I think all of us figured it was pretty much guaranteed that there was no way all 4 of us would get in.  Well long story later and really thanks to a friend who works at ING, all 4 of us are in the NYC marathon.  Despite my hesitations, I am really excited.  Not going to lie, I'm pretty sure that I am excited because we are part of the ING team so we will have some special privileges that include a heated tent on race day ;-)  But really it will be an experience to do a huge race like this.  It is completely different than the types of marathons we generally like to run. 

Of course if you have been reading my blog at all you know that NYC can't be the only thing on our schedule and you would be right.  Two weeks after NYC is the Philly Marathon.  Despite not being the biggest fans of the course due to the second half being of the out and back variety, this year is the 20th anniversary so there will be a lot of fun things going on plus an awesome medal I'm sure.  Did I mention we also got a good discount for filling out the race survey??  ;-) 

Then we move on to spring.  Nothing is set in stone yet but OD Marathon at the shore is always in play since it's so convenient for us and a fast course.  Then there is Blue Ridge Marathon in April.  We absolutely loved this marathon and are really hoping to do it again.  I'm waiting to hear if maybe I will get to be an official blogger.  Fingers crossed!!!  I would love to have that experience.  But either way most likely we will run it since I have cousins who live down there and it's such a great race.

And then there is a race that we are most excited about.  April 2014 happens to be Emir and I's 10th wedding anniversary.  We have been thinking of ways to celebrate for at least a year now.  We were married in Key West on the beach so one thought was to return there.  There's a ragnar there or a half marathon.  Another idea was to run the Madrid marathon since it occurs right around our anniversary and we LOVE Madrid.  There were other ideas.  It was always the same, we liked the ideas but there was never anything that gave us that "yes, this is it!" feeling until this week.  Emir stumbled across the Born To Run Ultra event in California.  It occurs in May which is perfect timing for us to go on an anniversary trip.  The race included camping on a ranch for two days, lots of drinking, tattoos and of course the running.  After the race we are going to stay in California and visit a bunch of sites and eventually end up in Vegas and the Grand Canyon.  I couldn't be more excited, except that it's 9 months away.  Anyway they offer a variety of distances from 10 miles to 100 miles.  The last few days while we have been talking this out and planning out which sites to visit while we are there, it was assumed that we were doing the 50K.  I started reading about the race, reading some runners' blogs about it and getting myself really excited.  In my head I was thinking I really want to do something more for our anniversary, do something we haven't done.  But I was also thinking about conservative Emir.  You know how he can be afraid to go fast in a race for fear of "hitting the wall" or afraid to set a goal for a PR because we are running several races close together.  I didn't want to say anything because I thought for sure he would say it's too much to do more than a 50K, how will we train enough?  we will be too tired to enjoy the trip, blah blah.  I just want to enjoy our anniversary.  Then today after I got back from my run before Emir was going on his, we were discussing the trip a bit.  All of the sudden, Emir blurted out "I want to run the 100K!"  I was shocked!  I said "you do?!  so do I!!!"  That's all it took, now we are set on 100K for our 10th anniversary and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!  Let the training begin!!!!

Plitvice Marathon (Croatia)

Well circumstances leading to the marathon on Sunday weren't exactly what I would have hoped for but not every race can be perfect and if we are never challenged then what's the point really?  Anyway the very next day after I wrote my last post, Una threw up on me...twice.  Oh and btw if you don't want to read about bodily functions just stop now otherwise, carry on.  Anyway she was a little cranky maybe a little fever but then the next day she was back to normal.  I was thinking, phew that's good.  Then Friday rolls around and Niko wasn't eating great and wasn't really himself.  I was getting ready to go out with my sister-in-law and bam Niko throws up then has diarrhea almost simultaneously :-(. Emir wasn't planning on going out anyway since it was his last day working remotely and he was working US hours.  Saturday Niko had a fever all day and diarrhea.  Unfortunately that when the diarrhea set in for me.  I took medicine for kids and it seemed to help.  So of course we went to a neighbors for a graduation party an I ate an drank like normal (like an idiot) but whatever!  This party was awesome.  It was just in the backyard but they had a band and every table was stock full of all my favorite Bosnian food and drinks.  I have to be dead to not partake ;-).

 I definitely paid for it during the night plusNiko  was up in the bathroom multiple times plus our drunk family coming home in the middle of the night = not much sleep for the race. 

Eventually we made it to Plitvice National Park in Croatia around 8 Sunday morning after trouble starting the car and a wait at the border.  

One nice thing is the race didn't start until 10 so we weren't too rushed.  We got our # and our goodies pretty quickly.  Plitvice has 3 races.  5k, 16k and 42k.  While its gaining popularity, it's still relatively small.  Maybe 2000-2500 people total between the 3 races, which I love.  There's no lines for things and everyone is so friendly and happy to be there.  Also for about the equivalent of $20 you get your entry to the race, t-shirt, free ticket to the National Park for the weekend, pasta dinner Saturday night, lunch after the race, a nice race bag and beer after the race.  Seriously, you can't beat it!  

One of the ladies working the race had emailed Emir and I during the week asking if we would do an interview for Japanese tv.  Kind of weird but of course we said yes, sounded like fun.  We weren't sure where we were meeting so we were just walking around, toileting (yes still diarrhea!  Ugh!) and shopping for socks since Emir forgot his race socks!  Emir made his purchase and that's when the crew found us.  It was definitely an interesting experience and I felt like a bobble head nodding along with the Japanese interviewer but it was fun.  We agreed to talk to them again after the race.

Eventually it was time for the race to start.  I was actually pretty nervous due to my stomach issues and lack of sleep.  I never really thought I could do an overall PR at Plitvice but I definitely was going to be disappointed if I didn't beat my 2011 time which was my first ever marathon.  The first 6-7k is mostly downhill so we just went with it.  I let my legs do their thing and I was feeling good.  The only negative so far was Emir had severely misjudged how much Tailwind to put in our handheld bottles.  It was extremely potent!!! kinda gross actually.  luckily the aid stations give out full bottles of water (kind of wasteful) so we poured out a good portion of our bottles and poured water in to dilute it.  much better!  i knew that this was how their stations are setup from last time which is why we didn't bother trying to cram our hydration packs into our suitcases.  Just like in 2011, i would refill my bottle each station.  Then we started upwards.  But still legs felt strong and I could tell it was a descent pace for uphill.  Basically 7k-19k is uphill.  7k- maybe 11k is pretty gradual and levels off here and there.  There's a brief leveling off from maybe 11-12k but then from there very steady climbing and winding.  It's not extremely steep but it gradually wears you down with its constant ascending.  This section is where I let Emir go.  He's definitely better on inclines than me and my legs just couldn't keep up with him.  At the time I thought I had "hit the wall" already and was feeling achy with heavy legs.  But looking back at my splits, it was probably just I was doing too fast a pace on the incline than I can handle.  None of my splits were slower than 10:50s even on the long incline which for me is fast.  After 19k, it's a good 3-4k of downhill.  I love downhills and am good at it so I definitely made up a few minutes in this part but downhill takes its toll on legs as well.  I was feeling pretty tired and a little down by halfway.  I really didn't feel good.  My legs were heavy and sore in fact most of my body was sore.  I thought a few times I might poop my pants and I was thinking "why is this so hard for me?!?!  I'm in much better shape than the first time I ran this?!?"  Can i also just mention that im really not a fan of kilometers?!?the numbers go way to high!  mentally i think it makes it harder, at least for someone who is used to miles.  Eventually though I pulled myself together and realized i was on a better pace than the first time and that I could do this.  This is not an easy race so feel good about what you are doing.  The rest of the race is full of rolling ups an downs. I mean really, it never stops.  One nice thing is the gorgeous scenery.  Most of the race takes place through the Plitvice National Park with tons of beautiful greenery and crystal clear lakes.  You can really lose yourself in all the beauty, I love it there.  I know many people in the US wouldn't like this race because really you are so isolated and there's really no one cheering you on until the finish line but that's one reason I do love this race.  It's an added challenge but at the same time an added bonus due to your surroundings. Kilometers 39-41 are steady downhill so I kicked it into my high downhill gear but knowing that there is an awful uphill at the end.  I didn't care though.  I wanted to try to take a minute or two off by going as fast as I could knowing I would be fairly slow my last kilometer.  And that last kilometer or more whatever it was, is hell!!  It's was longer than I remembered.  I also remembered when I saw the 42 kilometer mark that its 42 kilometers + something that almost seems unbearable coming up this hill to the finish.  But I made it and in 4:17 which I was pretty satisfied with. 

Emir was waiting for me at the finish.  He had just come in at 4:14.  I'm not going to lie, it made me feel better that he didn't beat me by that much ;-). The Japanese reporter was waiting for us and we did our little post race interview right away.  After that I found a spot on the grass and collapsed.  My legs hurt!!!!  My legs didn't hurt this bad after a marathon well since last time I ran Plitvice!  

It was really pure agony for about 30 minutes until I made myself walk around for a bit.  

So now I've had time to mull things over and discuss with Emir.  I think it was hard for me to compare Plitvice to our other marathons because it was a year and a half from when I ran it in 2011 until my next marathon due to being pregnant.  Also being that it was my very first marathon, my opinion might be somewhat skewed.  I might have thought it was harder than it really was since I never did one before.  I remembered it had a lot of elevations but I think going into it I really thought it wasn't as hard as Blue Ridge.  Blue Ridge is "America's Toughest Road Marathon" so there's no way Plitvice is harder.  I mean how could I have done 4:30 in my very first marathon if it is such a hard race.  So I really think in my head I thought I could run closer to 4:05-4:10.  Which is why I was feeling disappointed during the race when I knew it wasn't going to happen.  Now I really think Plitvice may indeed be harder than blue Ridge.  Yes Blue Ridge had a couple inclines that are steeper but Plitvice's are way longer with long descents.  And even the "level" sections are just constant rolling hills.  I'm not taking anything away from Blue Ridge because that is a freaking hard race but definitely Plitvice is up there in difficulty.  But as always I'm so happy I did it.  I just love getting out there and challenging myself.  Despite at times getting disappointed, I had a great day and a lot of fun.

So what now???  Well time for a little break from racing until fall.  A year ago from today I was cleared by the doctor to start running post c-section.  My goal was to run and finish 1 full marathon within a year.  Instead I ran 1500 miles including 5k, 10k, 2 half marathons, 4 marathons and a 50k.  And I improved my marathon time by over 30 minutes.  I guess I accomplished my goal ;-). I think my legs need and deserve a bit of a break.  We have 3 more weeks here in Bosnia and Croatia so lots of rest.  I will gradually start building up again when we get home in preparation for the fall.

Preparing for Plitvice (Croatia)

As I sit here drinking my karlovacko pivo (beer) I have some thoughts regarding my next marathon.  We arrived here in Bosnia Sunday after a little bit of an arduous journey due to traveling with 2 young kids and maybe 1 or 2 too many complimentary wines from my good friends British Airways ;-).  Oh well I had a nice first flight.  Anyway I always love coming here.  All of Emir's family is here except for his brother who lives in NYC and we have many friends here.  Plus it's so beautiful here.  Not only are there cute little European cities such as Bihac which is where my husband grew up and we usually stay when we are here but there are gorgeous mountains surrounding the cities that take you to another world.  Emirs family has a beautiful house in the mountains just outside Bihac so we get the best of both worlds.  The other piece is the culture.  I love the people, the food, the drinks and lifestyle.  It's just so relaxing and beautiful.

Anyway 2 years ago when we were planning our annual trip here I found via Internet the Plitvice Marathon.  It takes place in the gorgeous Plitvice National Park which is only about 30 minutes by car from Bihac.  As you may or may not remember that is the first ever marathon I ran.  Not that anyone's first marathon is easy but Plitvice is pretty challenging with significant elevations.  I was more than happy with my 4:30 plus the course is just absolutely stunning. 

So now here I sit just 5 days from running Plitvice again.  I have very mixed emotions.  I'm very excited just because I love running marathons and I love Plitvice.  But this is the first time I am repeating a race.  I feel like if I don't improve my time, I will be disappointed. Last week I was feeling terrible during runs.  Tired, stomach problems (yes I pooped in the woods twice!) and cramps.  It was humid but still.  Then today Emir and I ran here up in the mountains and I felt great and we had a great pace.  It's hard to remember exactly how Plitvice compared to other marathons we have run.  I know it's harder than Philly and OD but is it as hard as Blue Ridge?  Is it reasonable to think ill beat 4:30 since that's what we did at Blue Ridge.  I really don't know.  Emir didn't run the full marathon at Plitvice with me so this is his first time.  I know it's only me putting pressure on but I can't help but feel nervous.  I guess the only thing to do is relax ( we are here on vacation) and carb up with pivo! ;-). 

Bear Mountain 50K

I don't even remember how long ago at this point, maybe 5-6 months ago it was when Emir and I signed up for the North Face Endurance Challenge Bear Mountain 50K.  It was timed nicely a week or so after our 9 year wedding anniversary, so we thought what better way to celebrate than stay up at Bear Mountain for a couple days and cap it off with our first 50K Saturday morning.  In the mean time, the two marathons we ended up running this spring just kind of ended up happening and really it was the 50K that our training was focused on.  We didn't taper for the OD Marathon (which I PR'd in anyway!) or for the Blue Ridge Marathon which despite the insane elevations we still finished pretty respectfully.  So FINALLY the two weeks between Blue Ridge and Bear Mountain were a taper!  As much as I have grown to absolutely love and maybe have developed a slight addiction to running, it was nice to have this "break".  It's not even really the running itself.  It's more the hecticness of life when we have a ton of long runs.  Work, kids and anything else going on that week so it was nice to have a couple weeks with just a few short runs.  By Thursday when we were making the trek up to Bear Mountain, my legs felt good.  No aches or pains to speak of and I felt fairly rested.  We dropped the kids off at school (my mom was picking them up and they stayed with my family for four days.  Thank goodness for my awesome family or none of this would ever happen!!!) and we headed first to NYC to pick up our race stuff at the North Face Store.  Turns out we should have just picked it up on race day at the event.  It was a total waste of $13 (yes $13!!!) to go through the stupid Lincoln Tunnel.  All that happened at the pick up was they gave us our bib, shirt and smart wool socks.  So I'm going to complain a bit here for a second.  Up until a week or two before the race, it was advertised that 50K and 50 miler runners were getting North Face arm sleeves.  I know it seems a little silly but I was EXTREMELY excited for these.  That's one piece of gear I have yet to own.  I mean I know they aren't really necessary which is exactly why I have never spent the money to buy them but I always wanted to try a pair.  So anyway last minute they switched it out for the smart wool socks.  Ok yeah they are descent socks but I WANTED MY ARM SLEEVES!!!  Ok I'm done ranting now.  ;-)  Anyway there was really nothing to see or do that made it worth the trip plus as it turns out our hotel was literally steps away from the starting line and the races were so spread out that only the few hundred doing the 50K were milling about which would have made getting our bibs a cinch.  Oh well, you live, you learn. 

Going into this 50K I was feeling pretty confident.  At this point I have finished 5 marathons comfortably, 4 of them since just this past November.  So I felt pretty good about my endurance.  Elevations I was not nearly as scared of anymore after running Blue Ridge just a couple weeks ago.  That race really helped me to become comfortable with walking when necessary up the impossible inclines and switching back to running as soon as its possible.  For the longest time I never wanted to stop during a run even to pee because I was so afraid of not being able to go back to running after stopping or walking.  Therefore I felt totally fine with all the elevations that would be in this race.  The last piece would be the terrain.  Bear Mountain was my first trail race so that was a bit of an unknown for me.  I had done some training on the upper trails here near our house.  There definitely are sections of fairly technical terrain that reduce those of us "normals" to walking but then there are sections that are completely runnable.  So I felt like ok I have a descent idea of what it will be like and I should be fine.  Apparently we should have noticed that North Face rated bear mountain 5 stars for technical terrain and all the other races in the endurance challenge series are 2 or 3.....  

We had a wonderful 2 days exploring Bear Mountain and the surrounding area.  The Bear Mountain Inn was very nice and everyone was super friendly.  Found a few great places to eat and drink (of course!)  Gotto carb up!  It was nice and relaxing.

Race morning wasn't what we really wanted.  Usually we like to gorge on eggs, bacon, sausage, bread but the hotel we were staying at only offered a continental breakfast which only had danishes and individual cereals.  Unfortunately we were on a mountain with nowhere nearby to grab anything so we bought sandwiches the day before and put them in the fridge.  I ate one and my stomach just wasn't feeling it so I didn't eat anymore.  I still had my coffee but I was just feeling weird in the stomach.  I know I was super excited for the race so that may have had something to do with it as well.  We took care of business in the comfort of our hotel bathroom before heading out to the race area.  Since only the runners for our distance were around it was really nice.  Easy access to gels, bars, pottys, fire pits, water, whatever you wanted really.  The temperature that morning was perfect, really.  It was very slightly cool but in my singlet I didn't feel uncomfortable at all.  I decided to wear my salomon running hat since I knew we would be out there for a long time.  I had lathered up in sunblock and glide before we left the room.  Oh and Emir and I decided to don our trail runner tattoos that our good friends at Tailwind sent to us with our first purchase.  They looked awesome, if I do say so myself! There were a couple differences I noticed from a marathon start area.  Pretty much everyone had hydration packs like us, everyone was lathering themselves from head to toe in glide and almost no one was running around warming up.  I mean really when you will be out on the trails for god-knows-how-many-hours, pretty sure you don't need to run around warming up. 

 

 Dean was there of course so he said a few words to us and next thing we knew, we were off!  In the beginning couple miles there was a descent amount of running however it was mixed with stopping on hills due to the single file of runners all bunched together.  A little bit of a traffic jam a few times but it didn't really take too long for that to get sorted out.  I was thinking "ok this is cool.  I'm having fun.  We are running, we are walking.  We are doing what everyone else is doing.  Things are good"  It didn't take long for that to change!!!  After the first 2-3 miles, the terrain changed drastically.  It was long, very steep inclines but it wasn't just that, it was rocky, like giant boulders that required you to basically rock climb them.  It was crazy!  So we would walk/climb our way, finally make it to the top thinking ok just make this then we will coast down the downhill.  Boy were we wrong!!  Every time we made it to the top of a climb, the descent was even worse.  It was either ridiculously steep that literally if I leaned forward I would have fallen right off the mountain or the terrain was so unstable/difficult to negotiate that you basically were crawling down.  I was a little shocked the first couple of times we encountered this.  I mean I really did expect parts with difficult terrain that would be hard to run but I was not expecting rock climbing to be part of the race!  After a while, it was just like ok here we go again.  Occasionally there would be a runnable portion for maybe a half mile to a mile if we were lucky but that was few and far between with the exception of the 7 mile stretch in the middle of the race between two of the aide stations.  There were a probably about 2 miles worth of this stretch we had to walk however we were able to run a big portion. 

I was feeling my shoes rubbing my left big toe a lot so at the second aid station I stopped to get it wrapped up.  Then during the section that had a lot of running, my left ankle kept giving out.  I had turned it a couple times already and now it was weakened and kept giving out.  At one point I slipped trying to avoid a giant mud pit and it gave out and yes I landed in the mud pit.  I actually enjoyed that because I was feeling hot and it cooled me down.  Then next time I felt I was lucky enough to land mostly in a bunch of leaves so no real injury there.  A girl who was running this section with Emir and I helped me up and said her ankles were doing the same thing to her so she had them wrapped at a previous aide station and that it really helped.  So it was decided that's what I would do at the next aide station.  Before I go into detail about that stop, I do want to just say that everyone at the aide stations were AWESOME!!  So upbeat, so helpful, so encouraging, food and hydration were totally on target.  However when I stopped to get my ankle taped unfortunately I probably ended up with the one EMT who just seemed a bit overwhelmed by this whole ultra running spectacle.  People were puking, bleeding, dropping like flies out of the race so if you weren't expecting this type of thing I could understand why she was so overwhelmed.  Anyway when I said I wanted it taped, she was like why don't you drop out of the race?  I couldn't believe what she just said!  I told her no I would like to keep going and could she just wrap my ankle.  I had to talk her through the whole thing (luckily I know how it's supposed to be done!)  But anyway the important thing was it definitely helped me through the last 9-10 miles of the race that we had left. 

At one aide stop, the sign said it was only 2.5 miles to the next one.  Up until this point most of them were in the 5-7 mile range.  At first we thought "oh good!"  But then immediately after we thought "Oh no!!"  We knew that meant that section was going to be HARD!!  And boy was it!!!  I'm pretty sure it took us at least an hour, probably longer to navigate that section.  It was like someone took a dump truck full of boulders and poured them down this incline, ridiculous.  And the descent was even worse.  I can't remember but I think this was the section we encountered a rattlesnake.  Emir was slightly ahead of me.  There was a guy just in front of him that almost stepped on the rattlesnake!  Luckily it started rattling just in time so everyone was able to avoid it, after I took a picture of course! ;-)  I'm pretty sure this was also the section were I just started getting mentally a bit beaten.  It was a mix of emotions.  One hand I was mad at myself for not realizing the intensity of this race.  I was thinking that I was stupid for thinking I could just do trail racing.  I mean I did some trail running but now I was feeling that the training I did was idiotic.  I might as well have just not done any trail training.  But then at other times I was just frustrated.  I am a runner and I just really wanted to RUN.  So much of the race was walking, rock climbing and hiking and taking forever.  I was tired of it, I was here to RUN a race and I was mad that I couldn't really do that.

Eventually the last two miles came around and were generally runnable.  And I say generally runnable because there was still a few small sections mixed in where I had to cautiously creep across rocks so I didn't break my neck.  Eventually 8 hours after we had started that morning, I crossed the finish line.  I was pretty dirty, tired and mentally drained.  For a while after the race, I didn't even feel that happy.  I felt like I had failed for some reason.  I was thinking we did awful in this race.  I knew obviously that time in this race really has no relevance.  I mean you can't even begin to compare trail races to each other let alone road races but  we walked ALOT and I think I had myself almost feeling embarrassed.  I was embarrassed that I didn't know that trail running entailed all this craziness and that I thought I could come out and do this with all these other ultra trail runners.  Emir however was pumped.  He kept saying "we did awesome!! I'm so proud of us!!"  I was thinking "really???" 

As we took off our shoes, socks, hydrated ourselves and got some food I was listening to other runners.  It was the same conversation all around me "this race was insane!  Those race directors must just sit there and laugh when they map out this course.  I would love to see how some of those elites could even attempt to run some of those sections!"  I also noticed how almost everyone was covered in dirt or had blood and gashes all over them. Then I also began noticing how many more 50K runners were coming in 30 minutes, 45 minutes to an hour after us.  Just then they started the awards ceremony.  They started with the marathon relay, then the marathon, the 50K and 50 miler.  As I listened to them call out the places and the times, I was struck by the thought " wow these times are not that fast!"  I was also surprised by how far apart some of the top finishers were.  We are talking 40+ minutes between 1st and 2nd places in a couple of the categories.  Emir was saying "see this WAS a HARD race"  Slowly I began to perk up.  After we had our tasty lunch, we went and got our complimentary beer from the beer garden (big plus in my book!!).  We sat up on this hill by the finish line and watched finishers.  To my surprise there was even more from all the categories even 50K.  There was great music, they had a really fun kids race with characters plus all the kids got medals.  And the other runners in general were awesome.  All congratulating each other, discussing falls, how many times they puked, etc.  We met this awesome couple from Canada (Runinpieces).  Heather told us of her ultra running exploits.  Seems like she travels a lot and has run a descent number of races.  She assured me that the race we had just done was by far one of the hardest and that there are many other ultras that are more runnable.  That was just that little bit of extra encouragement I needed to get over that negative feeling I had going for a bit.  This WAS a VERY HARD race and it was our first 50K.  Not only did we FINISH but we finished pretty much in the middle of the pack.  At the end of the day, I was very proud of what we accomplished and that even though I myself had some negative thoughts, we never actually gave up.  I really want to run another 50K and I mean RUN, hehe ;-)  Emir and I already have our sights on one in Reading in early October that seems like will be a more runnable race (hopefully!) 

I want to thank our awesome friends at Tailwind once again for fueling us!  Our only regret was not having more in our bag to refill during the race.  But now we know!  I also want to thank the North Face for putting on a great event (despite not getting the arm sleeves ;-)  )  Everyone was awesome at the start/finish, aide stations.  Food was great during and after and great party atmosphere at the finish.  It was awesome to just hang out with fellow crazy runner people and have a couple drinks.

So I guess I'll take a couple days off now??? I guess...hehe  However not too many.  Next up for us is the Plitvice Marathon in Croatia on June 4th.  Plitvice was my first ever marathon.  I ran it in June 2011 in 4:30.  It's in Plitvice National Park which is GORGEOUS!!!  When I ran it, I felt that it was pretty challenging due to some elevation in the course however now I'm thinking it's not going to seem that bad to me anymore....we shall see!!!  I just can't wait to get over there!  It's definitely become my second home and I can't wait to spend time with our friends and family there :-)