Hills make champions out of you...or you die trying

Today's adventure we experienced physical highs and lows.  We had the hardest training run we have ever done.  Ever.  We pushed the limit and pushed further.  We wanted to quit, but we didn't.  We wanted to sit and that we did.  We made a plan and went with it.  After we began, that plan seemed like the worst idea ever.  We both questioned can we do it?  Maybe we bit off more then we can chew.  Maybe we should do less.  Champions are not made on maybe, they are made on doing it no matter how awful it feels.  This is our journey today.

So what was the plan?  The plan initially was to finally do Pistol Hill on the trail, but due to child care arrangements we needed to change that to something closer.  On the dog walk last night Kevin proposed a couple options.  Tortolita Preserve, which is what I did last week; a hilly run with mostly on the road near us, or Beacon Hill with hill repeats.  I didn't want to run on what I did last week and I didn't want to run on the road so I went with Beacon Hill.  What was I thinking?

Because we were going to be near the house for the kids, Cecilia watched the boys and we were maybe 10 minutes away if something happened and we didn't set the alarm.  That could have been a better decision as the temperature cranked up.

I was awake before Kevin and looking at the pictures of fellow RWB Eagles doing Bataan Death March and doing the Arizona Distance Classic Half Marathon and other events around town.  I was excited for them all and ready to get up.  Guess with all my clicking and whatnot he woke up.  He said he was dreaming of running all night so he was done already and wasn't running.  I of course said he was going to and that we needed to get going before it gets hot.  I told him it was 57 out and it was going to just get hotter.  He said it is practically freezing and there is probably ice on the hill and it would be dangerous.  Oh my, this man.  Obviously we finally got up and got everything set up for the kids and our run.  I decided to go with a tank top and he went with a bright shirt in case we needed to be found.  I wasn't going to run with a pack, just an arm band and a bottle of water since we could refuel and refill our water from the truck.

After we got the kids all sorted out we were out the door.  It was nice being close to the house and that this hill is close for training on.  Although I may have PTSD from the damn thing.

As with every run it begins with a before and all full of joy and happiness photo.

But, before we begin, what was the statistics of the hill?  It is important to know then you can understand more of the misery.

That is 356 ft of going up over .7 of a mile, with a 9.7% grade.  That is steep.  Here is what grade means and a visual to give you an idea that may seem more familiar. Vehicles have to use low gear to get up and use run away ramps to slow down.

We did that 8 times.  8.  We use Strava on our phones because it is the most accurate and it is cool because you can see how you did etc.  I had to make a few toilet breaks, something about running downhill on such a steep decline shifts everything down, so I ended up with 12.5 miles.  It looks funny though on the squiggles which shows on the map.  My little off shoots at the start are toilet breaks.  Something we thought about when we were doing it was my friend Cory who has done many repetitive loops for running and we could relate to the insanity that comes with that.

Here is the elevation chart of what we did too which is funny to look at, looks like something the doctor shows you when you have a heart problem.

I came up with a little poem of sorts to describe our 'loops'.

Loop 1--it was shock and awe with pics and swears

Loop 2--we can do this too and lets take some more pics, this so good for us

Loop 3--we bit off more then we can chew, maybe we shouldn't do all 8

Loop 4--wow this goes from tolerable to suck in 2.5 seconds

Loop 5--how are we going to survive the next 3, maybe we should quit at 6

Loop 6--it is okay to sit

Loop 7--I am begging to Heaven to let me go to the gates, I won't make it to 8

Loop 8--Holy shit we did 8, we did great, we are Champions, we did it

But there is always more to the story.

Both of these should have been warning signs.  

 There is approximately 50 locks linked together to open the gate

But will the power of 2 legs work?

At first we were pretty ambitious.  We ran to where the 'pavement' began.  That didn't last after loop 3.  The pavement is there for a reason.  It is actually concrete.  It is grooved for vehicles to even be able to get up the hill to get to the towers to service.

I made the joke it is 'ribbed for your pleasure'.  I was thankful for how it is made because it was so steep it would have been so difficult to walk up and run down.

At no point could we run up this.  Going back down, see those rocks, that made it tricky to run back down so you didn't slip on the rocks.  Notice in the background a lake.  Marana Lake.  I have never known it was there.  Crazy how when you change your perspective you see things not seen before. We talked about taking the kayak out there and doing an open water swim sometime.  There are no rules, it is rain water so it is safe to swim in.

This is our turn around spot.  We touch the phone pole and turn and go.  It with great victory when we get to the pole because we can go downhill.  Which normally is a good thing.

In our starting picture you see one set of towers, but not these, these are further back and higher.

Our house is behind me some.

It was a very pretty view from where we were.

Coming down the hill takes major concentration.  We did a zig zag pattern to minimize the pounding on the knees and change up muscle groups being used.  It is a good workout for the ankles to do the zig zag too.  There were these red dots that Kevin called slalom poles/points for us to go in between.  He counted 34 of them.  

 We have no idea what they are for or what the purpose is, but for us it worked and passed the time well.  Kevin caught me missing one and said I got a 5 second penalty.

We decided to make an eight and have rocks to count out each loop and victoriously throw a rock when one was done.  Here is my pathetic throw.  There is a throwing incident from my time in Afghanistan that I cannot disclose due to National Security.

We came up with certain areas to rest at.  We named this, "orange truck look out" point.  Straight across there is a house with an old orange truck in the yard.  I am pointing at it for reference.

I sat down at one point and it felt great.  So Kevin decided to sit down and try it out and he complained that the ribs were not for his pleasure.  Lol.

But, do you notice how stupid steep it is?

This is "blue trailer look out" point.  Just one lonely blue trailer out there to look at.  The sweating was epic today.  My hands were sweating.  So hot.  It was 82 when we got done.  Ice Kevin, really?

It is kind of hard to see, but off to the right there is a big white house with two boats, we called it the Marana Marina, you know for the lake.

Time for Kevin to throw a rock.

The face of a champ, victorious.

Kevin asked me to hold his water bottle for a minute and I decided to use our water bottles as walking sticks, felt better for awhile, like a minute.  When I stood up, I was dizzy.

That is a lot of green poles as Cecilia would say.  Her high school is way out there and that is a new sub division being built up.

It is a little tricky to see, but our truck is WAY down there at the end of the dirt road, off to the right where the road does a T junction.  It is so tiny and so, so, so, so far away.

Another toilet break and a victim to the cactus.  At least it wasn't in my hyney.  Poor Bernie, reference to last blog and Disney Movie, Shoes on the Move.

Okay these two pictures are what happens when heat and the same thing over and over gets to you.  There were these shiny gold covered beans on the ground that Kevin saw the first or third loop and we joked and said are they magic beans?  Then we couldn't find them again.  He found one and had me hold it and due to sweat and shakiness I lost the "goldness" part.  Kevin said they tried to plant them to get to the top of the hill, but the ground was too hard and all that grew was this tiny stalk.  It entertained us for awhile.

We thought about how many people can see us on the hill watching from the comfort of their home of us going up and down and thinking what a couple of crazy loons.

Speaking of Loons.  We had a discussion about we should quit on the sixth loop.  I said, let's just do 7, but then that was dumb, if we do 7 then we should just do 8.  This conversation was solidified eating sun chips and and going over things at our refuel box.  Kevin packed the cooler and stated when we got in the car he packed enough for an army, well the army of 2 took care of it.  At one point I used ice to cool off my body which felt incredible.  We had a small incident where the gum and tissue got wet.  Still used the tissue.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  It is better than a sunscreen packet and the cardboard it came in which is something I have used in the past.

We were pretty sure this Saguaro was alive when we started, any excuse to sit at this point.

This little weird grate cover thing was also a point of rest.  Just walk to that and a rest.

This was Loop 7.  I was praying to Heaven for Jesus to take the wheel, walk for me or something.  I was beat.

I pointed out these cute little cactus several times, such beauty in the desert.

Ahhhh the sitting rock, it was pretty magical.  Kevin got to sit on it first and I wanted to sit on it for several times many times before.  It is the only flat rock on the whole loop.  I said I want to sit on it next and he said you have to get to it first.

Loop 8 was a dark time, an exhausting time.  A time to sit kind of time.  I am not ashamed.

For the record, Kevin was laying down on the ground before me.  He is a born leader and I was simply following his lead.  I see nothing wrong with that.  Really, nothing at all.

We made it to the final end.  Too tired to touch with our finger, just the water bottles.  I got a photo of us up here too.

Back down the hill we go.  Songs that played on the downhills that had me a little worried.  'Falling' which really a song about falling in love.  'American Pie--this is the day that I die' just to mention a couple.  I was worried about falling with such tired legs, but alas I didn't.  I did hear 'Blurred Lines' and danced with my arms as I went down the hill.  It was so tricky.

We got back to the refuel box and a tragedy happened with the gummy bears.  "I am melting".  It was a little rough.  Almost as rough as the car.  We threw away 19 empty bottles into the recycling when we got home.  I have never drank so much water, gatorade and chocolate milk on a run.

But, we did it.  We set out on a mission and we completed it. 

Here is a video of throwing the final rock!!

Today was by far the hardest run we have done for training for anything.  It took us over 4 hours, nearly 5  to complete 12.5 miles.  This surpassed any elevation gain in the race or any race.  We have gained a lot in experience and strength to know the importance of a run like this.  I am sunburned and chaffed but it is all worth it to say we did it and feel the sense of accomplishment.  

Many times today I wanted to quit and stop moving entirely.  But I didn't.  I kept thinking about this girl I saw in this video and said, I can do this if she can without feeling her legs ever.  

We all find strength in times of adversity.  I named this champions and thought about being a champion a lot.  In high school we had a hill we did repeats on and our coach called it champion hill.  Today, Kevin and I became champions of this hill together as we are champions in our life.  We talked about a lot of great ideas and plans for Ragnar and so many other things.  I love our time out there and will reflect on it for years to come.  It made us smile that we saw a couple there when we started who went up once and then they were done.  We were on our second loop when they were coming down. We said they are thinking we are over achievers, yeah maybe. We know we are crazy and we push ourselves to levels others would never think of.  Like the girl in the video said, I am going to run while I can still run and that is exactly what we will continue to do.

Next weekend is a run call Run as One and we have a Triathlon planned too, hence the open water swim idea.  What is the best part about all this running and craziness?  Our kids are getting into it too.  Matthew and Cecilia did a 5K on Saturday with us and both improved their times by 5 minutes which is their second 5K in two weekends. We must be doing something right?

Until next time, thank you for all of your support and reading our adventure.  It is an amazing time and living life to the fullest is exactly how we want to be.  In fact, a butterfly was out there today, we knew it was Benjamin pushing us along. A black butterfly which has been with us on every training run for the 50 miler.

10 Miles of rambling thoughts....no, I am not crazy

Today's entry is all about the thoughts that ramble on through your mind when it is just you and the trail.  Today was a solo run and an awesome run at that.  Kevin couldn't run today due to a search and rescue mission with work that kept him out late, in fact he was coming home from work when I was coming to the finish of my run.

Some would say, well since he couldn't run wouldn't you just want to sleep in?  No way, I got new shoes and they needed breaking in. Here are some comparison pics of my old shoes and my new ones indicating how much I needed new shoes.

I had everything all ready for us both to run, but work commitments needed to be dealt with.  I carry most of the stuff anyways in my pack.  So I decided to up the water amount, no place to refuel with water and I had 10 miles planned.  

I chose to run on Tortolita Preserve Trail which I have previously ran many times in training for my first 50K.  I knew it would give me enough challenge with hills and be close and easy to do.  I packed up a cooler that would have been our refuel with gatorade, water and choc milk and my pack and out the door I went.  Along the way on Twin Peaks Road I saw my fellow RWB riders out on their Sunday ride which was a nice treat.  Here are a couple pics of them.

When I got ready for the day I decided to wear all orange since I have been having concerns about the shooting and whatnot as identified in previous posts.  When I pulled in, I was pleasantly surprised to see this sign, so no need for the orange here.

It felt a little weird coming back to this trail to run for this 50 miler.  I previously did the majority of my training for the 50K on this trail and I had a DNF (Did not finish) at that race, partly from doing my training on this trail only.  The 50K terrain was rockier and that proved to be quit difficult for me to navigate and it kicked my ass.  I missed the cut off for the last loop by 8 minutes and they wouldn't let me continue.  I learned so many valuable lessons from training for that race and the race itself, that have made me a stronger runner today.  The last time I ran on this trail was with a former friend, it wasn't a good run for me at all.  More on friends later.  My last training run for the 50K was on this and it was my best run, until today.  I will post the stats later.

As with every other run, I posted a start picture, in case anyone needs to look for me in case I got eaten or had some medical thing, they would know what I was wearing and where I was.  I usually post with Kevin, so just pretend he is standing there with me.

Here is the thing about this trail.  This sign lies.  My watch said 9.5, Strava said 10, which has been the most accurate in the past. 

In the past I have seen Bobcats, jack rabbits, javelinas and a billion lizards and bunnies, so I run with my camera in my hand just in case of a sighting.  However, my best sighting of stuff was nature and spring growth.  Everything was so nice and green.

I particularly enjoy seeing the weird things that grow out in nature, like this big crazy looking guy.

I appreciated that they kept reminding me what trail I was on and where to go.  

Some days I see people out here and sometimes I don't.  Around the time I took this picture, just after in fact I was drinking some water and contemplating going pee and assessing my water amount, if I drank enough the days prior, will I have enough water, what will I do if I run out of water, wow this water is tasty.  All about water in la-la land and then I heard, "hello" and I choked on the damn water.  A mountain biker came up behind me and scared the water out of me!!  He apologized of course, but it was funny still.  As it turned out he was the only person I saw all day.  Naturally I had to pee after that and found a quick spot to pee.

I absolutely love this time of year when all these pretty flowers pop up.  I kept stopping and taking a photo because we don't see this for very long or often.

Given that I have been on this many times I was faced with a dilemma.  I knew I needed to eat something and I knew that I was coming up on a downhill portion and I wanted to be able to take advantage of running downhill and have eaten before the downhill. So what to do, what to do.  I decided to cram a baggie of sun chips down my throat as fast as I could and walk slow so I could be done quickly and be able to run.  I must have looked like a hostage eating so quickly and like a pig, I may have even grunted.  But for the first 4 miles I have been climbing up at a 60/40 ratio, run 60 feet and walk 40 feet and I just wanted to run!!!  That's what I did, I ate and took off happy to be going downhill and free.  I love this part of the trail, not just for the downhill, but because there is this pretty golf course off to the right and I imagine running barefoot on the grass and putting my feet in the water.  It is really pretty to look at and it takes my mind away for awhile.

Next is a picture and moment that makes me smile.  For every run I did out here I would rearrange the rocks to whatever the mileage was for the day.  I haven't been out here for a long time and it was neat to see my rocks there still. I rearranged them to what today was of course.

 Here is the view right across from the rocks, I love this trail very much.

Along the trail there are numerous signs for names of Saguaro cactus.  This one is called strong arm and I thought it would be cool to take a pic from underneath it like when you take one underneath a tree.  The first one I took, um, looks dirty.  The second one is better. 

I read somewhere it takes 50 years to grow one arm, this one is ancient.

I was coming up on 6-7 miles and I was thinking I needed to eat again.  I was faced with another dilemma.  I was loving the running downhill part and I knew it would start to do an incline again and I could eat on the incline.  I had Kevin's voice nagging me to eat.  By the time it would get to the incline it may be too late, I should just eat.  It is such a pain to eat really.  I have to unbuckle two parts and now untie a part to get to my food.  But, he is right I should eat it or will be too late.  If you are wondering if I had this conversation with him in my head, I did.  It happened.  

I decided to eat my grilled cheese sandwich.  I recently read a post on Trail and Ultra Running FB page about eating a grilled cheese is heavenly in ultras, so I thought I would give it a go today.  I couldn't eat it as fast as the chips because the cheese would make a blob blockage in my chest that would be hard to swallow, then I would be laying there dying from air way blockage from a cheese sandwich.  Hard times that would be for me!!  I am going to jazz up the grilled cheese with some garlic salt and make it taste more savory.  For every 3-4 miles I took 2 electrolyte tablets which have salt in them, but more salt can't hurt especially in long runs.

Whenever I get to this point on the run I know the terrain is going to change some and I try to get my refueling done because there is a lot of nice downhill running through here.  I like that someone stacked some rocks on it.

Something that has changed out here on the trail is the amount of sand.  A ton more sand then my runs in the past out here.  We had a pretty wet winter and I am sure that is why we have more sand.  I love my new shoes and my gaiters that kept it all out of my shoes!!  However. It sucked to run in.

Somewhere along the way after this, I started thinking a lot about everything.  The first is friends and change.  This trail has changed in the amount of sand, but it is still there for me to enjoy and visit.  Over the last year I have had a change in friends.  A former friend who I ran out here with decided to do a 50K instead of coming to my wedding that she said she was coming to.  I found out she was doing the 50K from a post on FB the day of and I thought it was so selfish.  I love running and doing races and the preparing for it is epic.  So she willingly lied to me and said she was coming and I found that to be most hurtful.  The 50 miler we are training for is the same race she did her 50K at.  However, I recently learned she DNF'd.  As much as I know how painful a DNF is, it made me think of karma and maybe she shouldn't have done it in the first place, or should she have?  Maybe her friendship wasn't something I needed in my life.  I supposed I wanted her friendship because she was willing to run with me.  Growing up I knew a lot of people and had very few friends.  People knew me because of my running success, but hardly any knew me as I am.  I have a friend that has ran with me a couple times and I loved it because I haven't had a friend to run with before and it was so nice to have a running partner.  But, it has been short lived and we haven't ran together or hiked together in almost a year.   I am struggling still as an adult to make friends.  I would make friends in the military and then they would move, or I would.  I retired and talk about friend exit stage left, that was something I never expected.  I recently joined up with RWB and the part of friendship has really turned around for me.  I went to an event over the weekend that RWB was out and I felt nice and secure with them.  A few of my other friends were there and it was awkward at first and it made me sad, because those relationships have changed.  I started running because it gave me a safe place to be in my own space and in my own time.  I still need that time and place to be in my own company, but really miss having a female friends.  People's lives get busy and complicated, just wish there was room for me.  I am not looking for some pity or something, it is where my mind and heart was running through the sand and thinking of change.  People change, ground changes, however, my love of running stays constant, the trail stays constant, the reward is constant.  With all that being said, I am happy more then words can say that Kevin is getting into the trail running and the distances I want to go.  He is enjoying it as much as I do and that gives me peace and not feel so alone.   That is the thing about running, it makes you think a lot about stuff.

Among other really random things, not as deep and serious I thought about.

Cactus in animal poop, ouch.  How does that happen and does it fold over or something to come out?

Shoes.  I love my running shoes.  I think there should be a sensor thing in shoes that senses when you are walking or shuffling your feet out of tiredness and it connects to your headphones and gives you motivational talks to help you pick up the pace or keep moving or you can program it with motivational quotes, like a play list.  I am sure there is an App for that on the phone, but it would drain your battery, this is separate and straight from your feet, your soul.  Yeah, that deep.

Disney movie and shoes.  Disney made toys talk.  Made planes talk.  Made cars talk.  Animals talk too.  What about a Disney movie for shoes.  Like an old beat up pair is the wise one.  Fresh ones from the store is the punk young kid character.  You have the pretty color female ones.  The valiant character would be some rugged strong shoes.  Military boots, the old vet.  They could all be on a journey together that takes their humans to amazing places through amazing journeys.  Wouldn't that be a sweet and sappy and moving Disney movie, "Shoes on the move".  You could have this crisis scene like this picture and they have to figure it out to safe Bernie's life.

Then there was the music.  I had a lot of thoughts about music.  In my previous runs on this trail I have listened to audio books because I was alone, with Kevin I don't listen to the books because it would be rude to focus on the book and not him.  So given I wasn't intending to run alone, I had music.

Funky cold medina.  I listened to the lyrics and thought they should bottle up some of that medina to have on the run, like rocket fuel or something.

Living in America.  It is such a great song and so random on my run.  But, think of how many people in war torn countries who have a love of running but can't run for fear of getting killed.  I was sad for them and ran a little harder.

Then this song came on and it made me just stop, write it in the sand and laugh.  Like a G6.  I was giving a presentation in school about the use of technology like an iPad for learning and use as a communication device for people with communication problems due to their diagnosis etc.  I was demonstrating an App for one and I pushed some wrong button and loud as can be this song came on and I couldn't figure out how to turn it off.  I panicked, screamed a little and ran the iPad out of the room as fast as I could and I could still hear it.  One of my classmates got it to stop.  I was so embarrassed. That evening two of my school mates who were close friends (but one changed and now they are not), did a video dancing to the song in the car.  Forever makes me laugh. 

So here I am plugging along and thinking and whatnot then something completely random happened.  I got smacked in the face by a branch.  I screamed a little in shock and then laughed, had to recreate the scene of course.

Another great thing about having Kevin on the runs is he blocks out or catches the cob webs.  Today I caught one in my mouth.  No, don't taste like chicken.  More of a weird bitter taste.  Hopefully not venom and then I die later.  

I always look at the scenery and I am grateful I can feel the power in my legs to carry me.  Feel the magic of a second wind to encourage me to keep moving.  I felt really good today.  Really good.  Scary good in a sense.  

This trail does another trick to you besides the distance.  You run up alongside the road.  You can see it through the brush and sometimes hear a car on the dirt road, which makes you think you are close and almost done.  Knowing of course you are not close at all.  It still makes you think that just around the corner I will see the car.  Nope, next corner.  Nope.  Then harps play, church choir sings, Praise the Good Lord, you see the car.

I always park in the same place, a ritual of things I suppose.  I always well up with pride and emotion when I see the car.  It is just a car.  It is the end of the run, but it is where I can reflect and celebrate too.  I knew when I was running I felt a lot stronger and my legs and feet felt great.  My heel still gave me troubles, it has for months.  It was hurting last night so I expected it would bother me today. But, my friends, my shoes, my Bernie and Earnie (for the Disney movie, Earn the Burn) they did well out there and carried me well.  Well done boys.  Well Done.

I did it.  I may have finally figured out how to keep my neck from chaffing too.  Pretending Kevin is standing in the picture with me.

I got in the car and recovered with gatorade, choc milk, Motrin, electrolyte tabs and made my way home, first with a stop to Eeegees for a turkey grinder and a Lucky Lime.

So here are the stats.  This was from my last training run.  The 10 mile run on 2-15-14, my 50K attempt was the 2-22-14, the 23.9 insert very sad face.  No idea what the 2.12, 55 min walk was?  Was I crawling?

This is from today.

So, needless to say I was cruising along very well today.  I very happy with my run today.  No Kevin doesn't make me slower ha-ha.  I know if he was with me it would have been even faster.  I have taken him out here for a 4 mile run for Ragnar when my bike tire was flat before we could even get out of the driveway.  I said it is a sign we should run instead.  So we did that day and he tripped twice and I almost lost him.  But, he loves trail running.  Today, he helped find the family with hiking 8 miles in his full police uniform and boots, so he got some work in today too.  Along with our new Ragnar recruit Renee.  Thankful they could be there to help them.

Today's run was a reflective kind of run that brought me peace with things rolling around in my head and heart.  I was moved by the movie, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" when it came out because I was training for the 50K at the time and running is like a secret life you have.  I was asked how do I keep looking young?  Easy, Love, Running, Wine, Family.

I end this with my quote from the secret life, it resonates with me every day.

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel.  That is the purpose of life."

Find and feel your purpose and don't be scared of the journey, or changes to get there!!!