Still Alive

This blog post is dedicated to my fellow Tri-campers Caroline and Angelina who may have slight heart attacks when they see that I have blogged.

My last post was a promise that I would post my entire race report from CDA. So much for that. Post Ironman, work life flourished and my free time was well just enjoying free time. I didn't do any other triathlons post Ironman, but rather just enjoyed goofing off, training for "fun" and spending time with family and friends.

Since CDA I have raced... On the road and om the trails. I have this birthday this year--yes it is my 40th-- so I decided that I needed to do something different and a big challenge. So I decided I would challenge myself to my first Ultra. A 50K+++ in the western part of Virginia.

So this fall I started with the Maymont 8 miler (my first trail race), continued with the Richmond Half Marathon, then the Bear Creek 10 miler (another trail or trial race as our shirts said), and in January a 35K back at Bear Creek but on a different and VERY muddy and wet course. The finale was in February, a 50K plus plus or just under 34 miles of trail running fun outside of Appomattox, Va.

The trail running and the experience of the Ultra was a challenge worth taking. I enjoyed so many great long rambles through the woods with Kate, Molly, Jill, Lynn and others and got to run for running's sake, not for a fast time, or an interval but just to run, see new places, and enjoy being outside. The 50K itself was a challenge... Both physically and mentally. More so because I had a major wipe out at mile 6 resulting in an instant swollen and badly bruised left quad muscle. Having running partners and knowing all of the miles I put in training kept me putting one foot in front of the other. Thankfully after some advil on course and some time, the miles got better and the end came sooner than I had planned. We all finished the task that day and I was thrilled with my sub-7 hour time.

After a bit of R&R plus a trip to Germany for work, I've been back focusing on tris and trying to get myself in some semblance of shape before TriCamp in Tucson-- where I am headed now! My fellow JHC athletes are inspiring me to keep my schedule a little closer and see what happens when you complete all the training as written in your plan.