Dear Doubt: You are no longer my friend!

The week leading up to Sun Mountain 50 miler ~ We had been dealing w/ a host of issues.

Friday morning: Benjamin had projectile vomit that continued for the whole day....Sat am. Gary had a 50k race ~ Luckily Benjamin made a 90% recovery and we went on to crew his race. We made it to Monday before Hannah ~ started with her projectile vomiting. She took a little longer to get over her bout with the flu ~ 2 days of solid rest.

Whew! ~ It was now Saturday morning and no others were vomiting! We loaded up the truck and headed out on Saturday morning. Destination Winthrop, Wa. As we arrive in the vicinity of Seattle....Sophia started in on the projectile vomiting! Shooting the plastic bag out of Gary's hand and sending vomit into his lap & Sophia's. We made a sudden stop and changed out Sophia's clothes and Gary was in bad shape....I forgot to pack a change of pants ~ yikes! Now we were committed to getting to Winthrop. We figured if we could get her to the motel and rest up she'd probably be fine by morning. She continued to be sick for a few hours. Gary was a trooper and sat with her. (The runner really needed to steer clear of vomit) ~ Benjamin sat next to Sophia, his fingers were in his ears and a plastic spoon stuffed up his nose to not smell the fabulous odor. We were in luck we had a shoe box lined with a plastic bag and that held out till the vomit session was over ~ many uses for a shoe box! (thank you Brooks)

Now we finally make it to the motel and Sophia is magically cured when we make it to our room. She's ready to eat and drink everything and we were scared of what that could bring. We limited her intake and waited till morning. Meanwhile, Benjamin fell out of bed in the middle of the night screaming and then proceeded to sleep walk. (Now I'm really awake!) he also had a watch that beeped every hour also he had snuck a stopwatch into his bag with some random timer that went off at 2:43am. I had visions of running it over w/ my truck. A 4am alarm went off for Gary to go help out with parking for the race and my alarm went off at 5am. No sleep for me.

Well, we made it through a night without anyone getting sick! Loaded the kids up and headed to the start line. I was able to meet Duncan Callahan ~ it was finally nice to meet him in person ~ he is an amazingly fast runner. Also, Nick Triolo was there too ~ just enough time to wave at the start and I wouldn't see much of him until mid race!(on a loop) Duncan was leading and Nick was 6 min. behind him. Duncan was all business and Nick was smiling and giving a shout out!

Starting line

Five minutes to the start James Varner RD, gave a quick speech about trail markings and barb wire fences & cowboy fences & crawling under some. I manage to squeeze through a couple and under a couple. I was good at "Limbo" when I was a kid but I really wish I could have seen some of the taller guys make it under them. Then the race started and everyone was out and gone before I knew it. Keeping my pace was all I was after. At about mile 4 I was all alone and enjoying incredible views and loving just being out on the trail. I had a "Sound of Music" moment ~ I looked around and made sure no one was looking and stretch my arms out and had my eyes fill w/ tears ~ this is what it's all about!

The kids after their 1K race (sophia even wanted to run)....she has the makings of an ultrarunner.

The kids has some great adventures & mountain climbing too!

The rest of the day I just continued to focus on my run and try to keep a consistent pace. That was my game plan and I'm sticking to it. I was not letting my mind wonder off on some doubting trip. I had been struggling w/ the distance and not really racing at all in 2011. My confidence was a little lacking. Prior to Sun Mountain I really worked on "self talk" and how to quickly steer away from negative thinking and remember prior "great" races! Midway through my race I hit a low point w/ a little too much walking. I made it into mile 36 and was greeted by Gary & the kids again...I could almost smell the barn!

getting closer to the end!

I finally hooked up w/ a guy named Jason ~ and we ran and chatted about kids, family and life! It really helped my pace and kept me running also, it was some of the sweetest single track. My climbing was getting better as time proceeded and I soon found myself running into the last aidstation. One last climb 2 steep miles up 2 steep miles down and 2 miles gradual climb to the finish. My climb went exceedingly well I was so excited and just popped right up the hill. It was fun to see people on their way down, I had fun clapping and cheering them on. I made a game of it and set my eye on a few runners and thought of how I could catch them on the downhill. My downhill was okay ~ the steep stuff was a little hard on my toes ~ The Big Toe is going to be a goner. I focused on "not" focusing on my feet and got myself moving. Running the uphills were now easier on me then the down. I kept reeling in runners and that game got me to the finish line that much easier. One last runner I almost caught her at the finish but with about 100 yards to the finish she turned and saw me and then took off! Dang!

great music at the finish line

9:37 ~ a PR for me. I would have been happy w/ 10:00 hrs, so I'm elated.
I needed this race and this outcome as I head into Bighorn 100 in June. Meanwhile, I'll continue on with my training. In a couple weeks I am headed out on an adventure w/ some great people to run Mt. Zion & Bryce Canyon.