The Breakdown

The Breakdown
Fairbanks,AK
State 19 – 50K
5:29:54


In the fall of 2009, Molly had contacted me and said she was looking at moving to Fairbanks, Alaska. She said she heard of a great opportunity to and had been interviewing to be a nurse practitioner at a community clinic. One of the guys she interviewed with mentioned the Equinox Marathon. Molly told me if she took the job, she would be there for one, maybe two years and I should do the marathon.

Being Alaska, I wanted to make it more than just a weekend trip. I didn’t think it was going to work for 2010 since there were plans for a 2 week family trip to Greece. This trip ended up being cancelled, and when it was cancelled, I had vacation time open up. Making lemonade out of lemons, I decided, that meant I should go up to Alaska. When I told Ultra Jen of my plans to run the Equinox Marathon, she mentioned they actually have an ultra marathon, so I should add on an additional 5 miles since I’m already out there. I knew the run would be in the mountains, and I figured, since it was a tough one (ranked just behind Pikes Peak) it would definitely be a run/walk, so I might as well increase the distance.

It was official; I was signed up for the Ultra Marathon (50K), in the spring. In June, I booked my plane ticket. I made a detour in San Francisco/San Jose since Becky just moved there and spent 5 days (not including day of travel), in Alaska.

The vacation part of Alaska was great. It was like the Ultra Marathon was a side thought. It was a race to enjoy the state, and put the time/pace on the back burner. On the Wednesday before, Molly and I hiked the out/back portion. This would be miles 13 to 17. It was rocky and bumpy and I thought, there is no way I will be running this, falls would really hurt! I knew I had 10 hours to finish, so really, just 3 miles an hour was all I needed to do.

Friday, Molly and I went out to Denali Park (Mt. McKinley). It was a clear and beautiful day. We had a great time there, and then made our way back to Fairbanks to pickup my race packet. Packet Pickup was again, a smaller venue, no ids required just give your name, and then get your shirt and a water bottle. No timing chip for this race, once the gun went off that’s when the clock started.

Saturday morning I got up, Molly took me to the start (University of Alaska). I was hoping there would be a gear check, and I believe this is my first marathon race without a gear check. I made the mistake of tearing off this tag on my bib, thinking it was for gear check and I put it on my bag. When I realized there was no gear check, Molly just took my bag.

What I took with me on the run
~ Molly’s Ipod as my shuffle stopped working somewhere on this trip and I otherwise only had a big ipod.
~My work blackberry just because I knew I’d be calling Molly with about 5 miles left to come watch the finish, and my work blackberry is ATT while my personal is Sprint. Out in Alaska, sprint doesn’t work too well.
~Four Gus (I only ate 3)
~Two Aleve (Never took).

I originally wanted to bring a camera, but I didn’t like the thought of falling on it. If Sprint weren’t unreliable in Alaska, then I could have brought my phone with a camera on it. My work disabled the camera function on my Blackberry so there was no camera. I should just be thankful I had a functioning phone the whole race.

If you visit the equinox marathon website, you would see a picture of the start. The start consists of running through a field and up a hill 250 feet. When the gun went off to start, we all started running up this hill which then funneled onto a trail. Because you had to make it through the gate, even if you ran up the hill, you had to then stop and wait to make it through the gates, and run on a trial single file. The race started off in a great way, feeling so laid back. I wasn’t here for time; this was another one of those ‘remind me why I love running’ races.

We managed to make our way onto an open road and everyone spread out in their respective paces before the next trail. I couldn’t tell you what pace I started off with, because I wasn’t worrying about time. I also didn’t mind the trails so much, because my legs were fresh. I was actually having a lot of fun. About 5 miles into the run, I started talking to a local, Keith. He pointed out a lady just ahead of us who holds the female course record. This time would be 3:20ish back in 2002/2003 (that is the Marathon distance, not Ultra). That should give some perspective on the toughness of the course.

Around mile 8, we actually started running with Ms. Course Record holder, and I think her husband, which she was pacing for this race. At one point, Keith pointed to the mountain a little bit away and he said, that’s the top of Ester Dome, which is what we are climbing today. Okay, I knew we had climbed on the drive, but seeing the exact mountain and how high it was from the distance we were at, that put the whole race on a new level. I reminded myself, 3 miles an hour, and since I was already doing over 6 an hour at that point, I could go even slower on that climb.

Before Mile 9, I decided to Breakdown the run into sections. The portion I just talked about was the warm up run portion. The next few portions include:
2) The Climb;
3) The Bumpy Hike;
4) The Oh $hit, let’s not die on the down;
5) The Fast Down;
6) Extra Credit;
7) Final Mile.

2) The Climb. I started with Keith and his friends. However, I pushed ahead. I knew they had a goal to make the initial part of the climb running until we hit trail again. I almost managed that but walked a little earlier on. Once I hit the trail, Keith and friends passed me. This was between miles 9-10 and I was walking a brisk walk, and my calves were burning. When I could run, I would run, or more or less jog. Before Mile 10, I started to pass this man and just as I was passing, I hit a root, and tripped. I caught myself, which he applauded my catch, but that scared me enough to slow down and walk again. This guy and I started walking and talking together. He mentioned he was doing the relay with his wife and son. He had the toughest of the legs. He made climbing the mountain not so bad. Once we got on the open road, I did try to run for a bit and left him. I managed to make it to mile 13 which meant I was close to part 3: the bumpy hike. I decided since I had my phone, I’d give Alison a call, and tell her so far I loved this race- walk or run- it was a great challenge and beautiful.
There was a porta potty and I got all excited, having to go to the bathroom, so I stopped. This concluded part 2 at about 2 hours and 20 minutes (the half marathon marking)

3) The Bumpy Hike. From the point of Molly and my hike, to actually being out there for the race, I gained a little courage. Unless it was one of the huge inclines, I was running this portion. The bumpy hike is also known as the out/back. The turnaround is part way through a decline. They had a water stop at the turn around, so I stopped, grabbed a drink and walked on the incline (like everyone else). At the end of this portion, I stopped to refill the bottle I was carrying with me.

4) The Oh $hit, let’s not die on the down, is also known as the Chute. I’m pretty sure this isn’t part of a real running path, it was along some power lines and you had to jump back and forth left to right, for the most compact rocks that didn’t make you slip. If you looked up (which I could really only do on the peripheral), you saw this was nearly a vertical drop and if you tripped and fell, you would be tumbling into a bloody mess (which has happened before). I managed fine at first, but when I didn’t know where this down would end, and how long I would have to shuffle and kill my quads and knowing you couldn’t stop because if you stopped, you would then just slide on down (and become a bloody mess), I could feel the tears forming in my eyes (and I said out loud- I want my Mommy!). I was catching up to a girl in front of me as I could hear a guy right on my tail. I really worried he was going to try to pass me and that would trip me up. The guy behind me told me we were almost to a place where we turn off and go back on a path. When I completed this portion, I’m pretty sure I had a loud sigh and as I started to pass the girl who was in front of me I said “I’m so happy I’m still in one piece” she agreed.

5) Being alive and in one piece, I made our way to the next portion. Still very steep, but more manageable was the fast down. I don’t know if it was Idaho that prepared me for this, but this is where I passed lots of people. I started to use music (I needed to be focused on my step for parts 2-4 so there was no music then). I also don’t know if it was because I was taking it slower and walked some, but I still felt more than fine. I figured I should live it up as my quads were really killed on this section and part 4, so soon enough I would be slowing down. Around mile 22, we made it back on a trail, and I was still really enjoying the run. I gave Alison a call just to tell her I was doing a lot better than all my expectations and still loving the run minus the part where I thought I was going to tumble into my death. Not only did I get to talk to her, but I also got to hear from Michelle. I might have looked like an idiot running on my phone, but it made me happy. Around mile 25 I called Molly to tell her when I had about 6 miles left. I told her, this could either take me 50 minutes, or an hour and a half. I also told her the part of my bib I put on my bag thinking it was gear check- I needed it for the finish. So I asked her to bring that with her and pass it off to me just before I finished. We agreed I would call her again with 4 miles left, so she could make it there on time.

6) Extra Credit. If you know Tony, he introduced me to the term ‘extra credit.’ Tony goes out to the Tour De France course every year and bikes it. They aren’t the people actually racing the Tour De France, but his group is out there during the race and just does random parts of the course. Each day they have X amount of miles to accomplish, then they have some extra miles/extra climbs they call extra credit. Since the marathon/ultra was together until just over the 25 mile marker, I decided the ultra distance was my extra credit. This course was very soft and woodchippy for the most part. It was rolling hills and awesome. I walked/ran more and was all alone- just me and Molly’s music which I really enjoyed the randomness and so many songs with memories of College. Every now and then I’d catch up to a person and exchange a few words before passing. You had to watch the course arrows because the path was windy and you could easily turn a wrong way. Around mile 19.5, I wasn’t sure I was going the right way. Just as I realized I was correct, I tripped. Somehow, after 29.5 miles, I still caught myself without falling, but that sent a Charlie-horse like pain up my leg. I stopped for a minute to regain control of my leg, and then walked some. I finished mile 30, as the course turned off the trail and back on a hill, on a magnificent decline. I could tell I was near the finish.

7) The final mile was brought us back with the Marathoners. It was also a steep down for a lot of it. Somehow, I was still feeling great where I picked up my stride. I was listening to Lips of An Angel, and was so into the song and the down, I blasted my music, which I think turned a few heads- oops! The .2 was all that remained. We were back on that open grass where we started. And some sick joke of the race, we had to climb half way up the 250 foot climb again before we could go back down it to the finish. I did walk on that up until the turn down, and then I picked up the down. I grabbed my little ticket from Molly, and I sprinted the final 200 feet to the finish. It felt so great to finish in just under 5 hours and 30 minutes.

Because this race was tough, and I knew I should just take it easy - I managed to really enjoy it, and I managed to cross the finish line feeling happy. I really didn’t know if this would take me 6 hours, 8 hours or the full 10. Breaking down the race really helped my mental game, and remember all the different parts of the race. It was a great state #19, and I kind of want more like it.

Ironman Wisconsin - The Journey Part 1

Over the next year, the blog is getting some additional writings.

On Monday, Sept. 13, 2010, the Wisconsin Ironman opened the 2011 registration.

If you don't know, the Wisconsin Ironman sells out within minutes, maybe even seconds of it opening up for regitrations online. There are other ways to get a slot:
1) The current years participants can sign up actually the day before that year's Ironman. (So next year, I could register for 2011, the day before I actually complete the Ironman)
2) If you volunteer for the Ironman, you get first in line when in person registration opens up.
3) After the volunteers get to line up and register, then everyone else can line up to register in person.
4) THEN finally, after all this, it opens up online.
(You can also pay something like an additonal $1,000 or something like that for other charity slots).

What this means, is you really should be there in person, otherwise you are gambling on slots still being open. My schedule didn't allow this since I had my California/Alaska trip planned. So, I had to take a gamble.

The Journey for the Ironman, starts the moment you register. The adrenaline rush that hit me leading to signing up was ridiculous. I watched that clock tick down to 10:00am (PDT). I tried to register earlier, but it wasn't until 10:00am hit the clocks, that you could register.

Once it opened I went to business. It wasn't your typical registration. They asked all sorts of questions for purposes of publishing. I just wanted to confirm my entry, so all i kept typing on all the questions was "i'm a 50 stater" and managed to say something like that to each question.

I figure since it's a year long journey of the ironman, I'd write a few updates along the way.

So expenses thus far? Registration: $614.43
That's enough to remember this is serious business. You must train enough to be ready and make it to the finish, but not too much where you get injured. Easy enough? Right?

Well see....

(We're gonna) Rock This Country

(We're gonna) Rock This Country
Pocatello, ID - State 18
September 4, 2010
3:50:17

I am not officially in the 50 state club. It takes just mailing in a piece of paper, which if you know me, you know that I'm the worst at snail mail. I'm getting a little better at it, but still not great. (Thank goodness for online banking, or my bills would probably never be paid on time). Though I'm not officially in the club, the goal is there, and I'm tackiling it faster than I originally set out for.

Some think my goals for the 50 states is ridiculous, but as my blog headline says: "I'm just your average endurance runner." I might even be below average for the 50 state club. We are all rocking this country in our own ways. This state was tackled with one of my great friends: Ultra Jen. She is who I would place in the above average group. We started almost at the same point. We started at the same speed, and I was her pace leader. Somewhere down the road, her running surpassed me imensely. Early on, she was into the Ultra Marathons and trail running. She talked me into my first Ultra which was by far the hardest state I have accomplished. I think Alaska will be worse, and of course she's the one to talk me into signing up for the 50K rather than the marathon.

Though Jen started with Ultras and loved them because you could take it slow, something happened and she changed her focus. She no longer is just running Ultras and Marathons, she said she wants to master all distances, this includes speed runs. Now most people are either short distance and fast or long distance (and slower). She wants the 5K in under 20 minutes, while still running her 100 mile runs and taking home first place. She went out and conquered the Western States 100, which if you read Dean Karnazes' book, you would know, that is quite the race. She paced someone 50 miles in the Leadville 100(which if you read Born to Run you would learn that is in the toughest and roughest altitudes up to 12,620 feet). And when I'm out in Alaska, she'll be at Nationals. I'm telling you, she's going to become a known runner soon enough.

So...when Jen said "Tara, lets go out and do Idaho together" I said what I always seem to say when someone says "lets run this" ... I said, 'Okay' This race is a milestone race for me, as it's my first marathon in the mountains. Pine Mountain was in the foothills of the Appalacians, but it also was on trail, which I've learned, I'm not too big of a fan of trails because it makes you walk and always focus down concentrating on not falling, so Pine Mountain and Idaho are two whole different feels for me. I was actually racing Idaho. I was unsure what 1,500 feet of down in the first 14 miles would do to my body, but of course, I had to at least push it and try to see if this could be a Boston Qualifier.

Though I ran on a marathon training schedule prior to the Racine Half Ironman, I didn't focus on MY marathons and the distance until after Racine. Once Racine was over the goal was to make it to the gym and treadmill run twice a week. Part of this is for the Alaska training, and part was for Idaho. I started my runs on a -3% decline for two miles at a 9minute mile, and then I would go flat and run 1 mile at a 8minute mile, and from there i'd begin an incline run, completing a total of 6 to 8 miles. Prior to this, I struggled at a 5% incline, and with this training, I've learned after pushing 10% + run/walking, going down to 5% was pretty 'easy'

Jen and I flew out to Idaho early Friday morning. Her friend, Tony was on a different flight, that was actually supposed to get in before us, but due to someone passing out on the plane, he didn't get into Pocatello until 8pm. We landed in Salt Lake City and had a 2.5 hour drive to Pocatello. The drive was fairly uneventful but it was beautiful, driving by all the Mountains.

A neat thing for me about Pocatello, is my Grandfather once lived just outside of there. He would go to church and summer school at the church there. It's a Greek Orthodox Church, and it's still there. We got to drive by it many times and eventually stopped there to take pictures. We also went by the railroad where he had his first job, and the race ended in Ross Park, the park which he shared some stories with me on how he would spend many family outtings in that park.

In the morning, we left the hotel at 4am, parked the car at the finish, and took a bus to the start...26.2 miles away and up. As we took the bus on the mountain that we would soon be going down, the Bus was struggling a bit going up. I thought "oh boy, the quads are going to be shot!" We started at 6,000 feet.

It was still dark when we got to the top, which was just about 5:45. There were only 350 runners in this race so the start wasn't like any city marathon. Tony and Jen made waiting for the start fun. Tony is also one Rocking this Country with the 50 states. He is completing his Michigan next weekend for a 50 miler horrible trail run (in Hell, Michigan), so he took this run extremely easy. Jen, ran with me for the first 11 miles. When we started, it was still pretty dark, and as we ran down the Mountain, we got to watch the sun rise above the other mountains in front of us. It was extremely beautiful, and Jen and I tried to entertain eachother. We started at a comfortable 8:30 and worked our way to an 8:00 ...because we were going down, the plan was not to kill ourselves but get as much speed on the down trying to make it natural and not kill the quads. Already around mile 6 I was feeling it, so I figured I'd take some Ibprofen early on, I didn't think slowing down would have much impact, because the pounding would be there all the same. Around mile seven we had a break from the down and went up. I actually pushed that one in the sub 8 minute miles because it was just so great to be doing something other than down. Then...it was back to the down.

We saw a beautiful black horse running 'freely' on a large field. I turned on the music to take my mind off what I was feeling. I was also trying to just take in the surroundings. I saw a man wearing a shirt that said he did the 50 states all in sub 4 hours. So I said hi to him. We started talking, just as Jen decided she wanted to make a bathroom stop. So we parted ways. It was nice to talk to this guy but then he just latched on and kept talking, and i really just wanted to get in a zone. I learned he is on his 2nd round of the 50 states (so he's Rocking this Country TWICE!), and again in sub 4 hours, and he was headed to Colorado for another marathon on Monday so he figured this run would be a 3:50ish marathon (he finished about 3:58). We were nearing the bottom of the mountain and had some incline to take on. I told him I wanted to listen to my music so I didn't have to hear my breathing, and we parted ways.

I powered up the ups and then took it easy on the downs. I passed some younger guys, and then one of them caught up with me, and though I was happy with my music, he decided I looked like I wanted to talk. So, we started chatting and he told me this is his second time doing this race and he is from Pocatello. We chatted for a mile or so, and in this time, we met up with the half marathoners, so the race just got a little crowded and it was time to start weaving the slower half marathons. (This race was set up so the marathoners started at 6:15, the half marathoners started and joined the marathoners at mile 13.1 around 8am and then there were also 10Ks to join and 5Ks...all ending at the same place).
When it came to weaving, I left the guy and made my way through the half-ers.

We reached the bottom of the hill around mile 14 and it was time for some gradual ups ('only' 50-100 feet at a time and always hovering around 4,000feet). I wasn't feeling that great but I took some gu and powered on through. I had to stop twice to tighten my shoe laces as they weren't undone but coming loose and made my feet uncomfortable. I started to feel better and just kept a slow and steady pace around a 9 to 9:20 mile. The local guy I was talking to told me around mile 21 was the steepest of the ups. I made it to 20 and was feeling alright. I didn't know if Boston was still in sight, but I was taking in my surroundings and I turned my watch to a setting so I couldn't obsess. (3 horses were 'horsing' around it was very fun to watch).

As I made it to the turn and the steep hill at 21, I decided I would walk for a minute, when a girl said "I've been trying to catch up with you, I finally caught you, now run with me" So I did, but it was slow. Then about that same time, Jen started to pass me. Now, Jen didn't mean harm in what she said, but her words are when I lost my positive mental game. She asked me "what happened, did I push you too much on the down?" Up until that point, I was still thinking I was doing alright if I just took it easy and pushed through the pain in my quads. But then, somewhere around mile 22, I let the pain take over. I slowed down significantly and walked some, and just tried not to think. I turned off my music with about a half mile left since there were even crowds in Pocatello and I crossed the finish in 3:50

Alison got the call where I was upset, but then she managed to remind me that even 3:50 is great especially out on a course where I had my quads beat up on the first half. My mom also reminded me of the Triathlon the week earlier, and with the two of them lifting me back up, I allowed to push away the negativity.

Tony, Jen and I met up once Tony finished (Jen went back to find him on the course and ran with him to the finish). We cracked some beers (we brought), and sat out around the finish for a few hours. We were probably hanging out in the same grass where my Grandfather enjoyed my Great Grandmother's Strawberry Cakes.

We learned I was one off from receiving an award for my age group. I placed fourth, and though there were less than 20 in my age group, I am pretty happy with being number four.

Of course, because Jen is a SUPER rockstar, we ended up going out to Mount Borah the next day so she could also cross Idaho off her list for "Climbed to highest point of state" Something I'm not doing, but I told her I would join her on the adventure (on Marathon Legs). I managed going up for 2 hours, in the dark, but I really wasn't enjoying myself and didn't think I had it in me for the complete 6 hour trip up, so I decided once it got light out, I would turn around. That down was so hard on my beat up quads, yet Jen, managed the full up which included trekking through snow, loose gravel where you are on all fours trying to crawl (they call that scrambling I think?), and some vertical climb. This year two people have already gotten stuck at the top and had to be rescued by helicopters. I'm pretty sure if I would have gone to the top, I would have been the third.

50 staters all have their own reasons for wanting to run all 50 states. Most don't JUST complete the 50 states, but they have more add ons that make it more interesting and difficult. For me, I added on the triathlons and want to complete an Ironman. The one constnat thing about completing the 50 states, is all the traveling you do. There is alot of ground to cover, and so much to see around the Country. Most people don't get the chance to travel to all 50 sates, but if you are a 50 Stater, you are guaranteed to Rock this Country!

(And PS- When Jen and I travel together, we have a rule about the Radio selection, and Country is one of the offlimit Cs, so the fact that my title is a Country Music song, was an additional bit of satisfaction for me to have Jen roll her eyes).