The 50k is coming!

First of all, I’ll start with a happy update since my last post – my coolant tank has been holding coolant steadily at the “full” line! This is a big deal for Delores the Volvo! And me! I did have a couple of long waits at shops for a trailer light and a goofy situation getting a tire repaired this week, but that’s just truckin’. Always something. But at least it wasn’t coolant-related! Yay!

Ready to rock ‘n roll! Should I wear these insane shades for my race? Haha!

So on to the subject I popped on here to write about: My upcoming 50k race!

I just finished my peak week of training (at 44.8 miles! Holy moly! In one week! That’s a lot for me!!), which means the next two weeks are taper weeks, which means I run less and less leading up to race day, which is July 14th, which is 21 days away! My plan for the actual race week is to run zero miles and focus on sleep. Because… I’m tired.

So looking forward to this!

Runners generally talk about the difficulty of taper weeks – after all the training, it’s hard to just back off suddenly. And I get it, I really do. And I might find myself there once I’m deep into taper-ville. But right now? I don’t think that I’m going to have any issues with that – At – All. I’m just worn out and looking forward to the slow-down. (But I hear that’s what they all say.)

So I managed, so far, to stick to my wacky, flexible, truck-drivery, homemade 50k training schedule, without missing a beat, for 14 whole weeks! When I look back on that, and all the places I’ve run to make this shit happen? That’s craziness! But, because of my perfection-ish obsessiveness, I feel ready to run those 31 miles. I think it’s going to go just fine and be really fun – I mean, as long as I don’t have a major bonk day, which could happen, and dangit, I’m due for my lovely period that very day (not awesome, universe). But then again, that’s never held me back before. So whatever!

135.8 miles in these last four weeks! And my legs feel good!

The race: The 50k I’m signed up for is called Dances With Dirt at beautiful Devil’s Lake State Park, which is just north of Madison, WI. Definitely check it out! There’s bluffs, a lake, forest, and apparently, dirt – and in addition to the 50k that I’m signed up for, there’s also a 10k, half marathon, full marathon and a 50-mile event, so there should be lots of fun trail people hanging out. I’m really excited to dive into the ultrarunning culture and meet some other crazy-awesome people – I hear so many great things! And? I’ve heard ultras referred to as eating events with some running. Yeah, I think I’m going to really like this stuff.

But. A big but. That 50 miler is one short month after this 50k, and while I’m trying to stay focused on one race at a time, I do know after seeing some online videos, that the Marquette Trail 50 is tough. Like, seriously, there’s a good chance I could just not be quick enough and get pulled from the race for missing a cutoff time. So I can’t help but have this in the back of my mind, too. I’m going to give it my best shot, you can bet on that! And, 50 miles feels crew-worthy, so Adam is probably going to be my guy! He’s gonna feed me, fill my water, and kick my butt back out on the trail from the aid stations when I want to linger. So that’s going to be yet another whole new (awesome) experience.

And why all this? The very original idea was to run a 100-miler in 2019 – because I’ll be turning 40. I mean, why not? Reasonable. Right? Haha! Nope. Not at all. But that’s how I roll. We’ll see what I say after hopefully crawling to a finish at the 50 miler. And the 50k. First things first! I gotta focus!

Maybe I will have a tough time tapering! I’m pretty wound up!

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Tonight I love the Ten Junk Miles podcast. They really kept me great company on a lot of my runs. Thanks, guys. ❤️

A funny sweat story:

A few weeks ago I went for a run and was laughing at myself when I got back to the car because, well, this! Sweat patterns can be so weird!

Then tonight, I took my shirt off to change, and… this! Oops! I did it again! Didn’t realize I chose the same bra/shirt combo. And there were a LOT of people on that rec trail! Probably gave ’em all a good chuckle. 🤣

Work Run Repeat

I need a vacation soon. This has been a trying week, but mostly because it started out with needing a new radiator last-minute, totally throwing off any sort of schedule that I can never really count on, anyway. Here’s what happens: I plan, plan, plan. Then it changes. But, that’s just trucking. Heck, that’s life. So… I’ve got a delivery 1,200 miles from home, and my trailer will be ready at 2pm. I’ve got it all figured out, so I get up a little later than normal and head to town with my duffel of clothes, clean dishes and a huge tote full of healthy food for my fridge. I know it’ll all just barely fit in there, too. It’s a small fridge, but bigger compared to the fridges I’ve seen in most other trucks. It’s one of the features of this truck I really love. Anyway, fridge-lovin’ aside, I get to my truck, toss in my stuff and pop open the hood right away. It’s Tuesday and the shop where I park is still open. I always like to do my pre-trip as soon as I can just in case something is a little off. That way there might be time to have them take a quick peek. Usually all is well, and I move on with my planned day. Not today.

Turns out my radiator is cracked. After all was said and done, I was set back a precious 7 hours (but better than the two days if they hadn’t had the parts – silver lining?) and I was on my way – only to have to make another pit stop in Milwaukee to have a hose clamp adjusted and my coolant topped off again. Because almost all of it leaked out, setting off my red-blinky-noisy-scary stop-alarm on my dashboard. And after that was all taken care of, I had to wiggle this beast of a vehicle through a construction-peppered downtown Milwaukee at night. That was fun. Well, no, it wasn’t fun, it was sketchy. But I made it unscathed. Sometimes I look back on stuff like that and wonder how. How did I even?

So, yeah. It’s been a stressful week. Adam’s still out west, and in order to not miss him I’ve been trying to not think about him (he’s so busy with the movie set that we’ve hardly talked -at all – mostly just some text messages here and there).

In Oregon getting beardy and doing movie things!

It’s impossible not to think about him, as it turns out, but the working and running has kept me busy enough, I guess. But I’m feeling a little disconnected from him. And a little blue. I know once we see each other those feelings of disconnect will dissolve and we’ll be back to normal in no time, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t wearing on me a little bit.

And I’m thinking more and more about using a week of my vacation to, I dunno, do nothing? I want to hike and visit friends and visit family and catch up with people I love and camp and sleep and eat ice cream and float down rivers and sit in front of bonfires and go for long runs and see more friends and more family and catch up some more and sleep more and hike a really long trail for like 8 months. But I have a week. When? What? Vacation is even stressing me out right now. What’s my best use of a week off? When should I take it? Who do I see? Where do I go? How do I do everything all at once? I need to do all the things and immerse myself in the company of all my people!! Because I miss everyone so hard! Ugh. Guess I’ll just keep working. It’s too much to think about.

I do have two events coming up that I’m looking forward to, though. Just weekend deals, as of now… And it’s races! It’s been forever since I’ve done a race, and I’m pretty excited, actually. I signed up for a 50K (31 miles) in July, and a 50-MILE race that’s in August, because apparently I’m officially crazy. I was on the wait list for the 50-miler and honestly didn’t know if I’d get in, so I kind of put it out of mind and focused on my 50k – that one was a for-sure thing. So I came up with a very flexible training plan about 2 months ago and got to work on it.

Because of my job, I did get the opportunity to do a couple of “runs” in the mountains. Which thoroughly kicked my arse.

Training for an ultra race is hard as a truck driver. Mostly because finding time and places to run is exhausting. Also because if I’m not running, I’m sitting. Driving. A lot. And my legs get twitchy and need to stretch and move. Whenever I’m home I get in a longer run, and on the road I try to get in two our three shorter runs and some body-weight strength workouts in where I can. And, lately, headstand attempts, which I’m terrible at.

Headstand in the truck! Getting there, but still pretty horrible at them!

I’ve somehow managed to keep up with my plan so far, but it’s kind of tiring me out, and I’m trying to take it easy this week – and already looking for the next chance I’ll have to run. Tomorrow, I think. If there’s a safe place to run from wherever I park my truck. Sigh… Turns out actually running is the easy part of this. Who would’ve thought?

Oh. And then suddenly? I’m #2 on the wait list for that 50-miler! So chances are pretty good I’m going to get in. And now I’m kind of freaking out. My last 20-mile run was a beatdown, and I’m already nervous about my last long training run (25 miles) and my 50k race. Can I even DO 50 miles? Yes. I can. It’s going to probably hurt – really bad – but I can do it. Right?

I keep thinking about the Frozen Otter. I’ve done that twice, and it’s 64 miles. But it’s also a winter race, which really is a whole different beast. And I had 24 hours to do that one – it was probably mostly hiking and some running. These races are going to have shorter time cutoffs and I hope more running than hiking. And a lot more sweating. I’m a total noob when it comes to ultrarunning. So I’m definitely learning as I go, and we’ll see how it turns out. I’m really just winging this thing.

As of right now, my confidence obviously isn’t super-high, but I’m just going to keep plugging away and try to focus on the 50k for now. That’s on July 14. One month away. 50k. Focus.

One of my fave photos from a mountain run in Missoula, MT at the top of Mt. Jumbo. Loved this run!

But even before that, this cup of hot decaf coffee while these guys finish unloading my trailer. Then I drive towards Boston, and then towards home where I can start another crazy week all over again. But hopefully this time a good long run and no new parts will be needed on my truck. Fingers crossed.

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Tonight I love seeing my coolant tank full. I really do.

That’s a nice thing right there. A full coolant reservoir!