Holiday lake 2013. Year of the bonk!

So holiday lake 2013 is in the books now. I honestly had about 3 good weeks of good training since running Hellgate and made a couple of rookie mistakes along the way. Put 3 good training back to back weeks in January . Went for training run in snow on holiday and ended up maybe using too much toe strength to get good footing in sow and ended up with some tendinitis in the bottom part of my shin. The squeaky rusty feeling when you lift up your toes and have some major pain in the shin. I took it easy for the next week and it felt a little better but stupid me couldn't pass up on article 5k and raced it. Ended up running weird on left leg and straining calf a little. Stupid me!!! Last 3 weeks before holiday ran less than 40 miles for all 3. Rolled, iced, compressed injury and tried to focus on feeling fresh.
I saw Horton earlier in week and he said that I was seeded number 1. First time racing career I had been seeded #1. Kinda cool and I would be lying if I said I didn't feel any pressure. Of course you want to finish your seed and the thing about Holiday lake is that it's not really my race and there is always some fast marathoner that comes in and surprises everyone.
So that ironing did my usual bagel and coffee breakfast. Drank some good water and then took my usual pre race poop. Perfect. Had 6 gels and handheld. That's one gel every 20 minutes like my usual plan. I forgot to buy salt pills that week so I bummed 8 of them off Wade Stout!. Thanks bud! Took small warmup jog up road and then came back sang national anthem and we were off. Nothing unusual about first section. I led a little through first section. I purposely was moving at a real comfortable pace. I have to admit I have been feeling like I've been going out to fast in recent past races. I wanted to feel good this time. At least for a little while. Surprising though is that no one just bolted out. Everyone basically stayed together till first aid station. Climbing hill to aid station 1 steve(the eventual winner) made his move. He was just gone in a matter of seconds. I remember someone saying to me...Frank who's that guy out front. I said I don't know but he is either going to win or we will see him again. Deep inside I thought we would see him again cause he didn't even have a water bottle. I was wrong. Congrats Steve!
A group of 4 basically stayed together till 16. Nothing blazing fast. Just chilling waiting for someone to make the move. My plan was to start racing as soon as the steep hill about mile 20. So the hill came and I climbed it pretty hard and kept the throttle down. But 2nd place finisher on the flat stuff just left us. He seemed to be running effortlessly and also not carrying bottle. I admit I was slightly jealous and wondering if that would hurt them at all. Again I was wrong!! So me and my bud Sam pushed. He stayed on my heels and did not say a word. I think I asked him at one point how he was doing and he said good. Sam and I are used to this. We train together frequently and we end up racing every time. We are constantly trying to outrun each other and beat previous times for the loops we run. Even when we say we just want to go slow. ( reminds me of my other training bud Jeremy Ramsey).
We reach aid station with 8 miles to go. Sam actually looked strong and if I can be completely Frank(pun intended) I was afraid he would just continue to latch onto my heals and then blaze me at the end. Not sure if you have ever experienced this but running behind someone and staring at heals seems to put you into a trance. You forget where you are and it seems like you don't have to worry about racing. Just the heals in front. So I purposely told myself to speed up and try to put some distance between Sam and myself. To allow the trance to wear off and while running alone maybe he will hurt like I was. So I pushed harder. I created the gap I wanted and told myself to just go into the pain cave for 1 more hr!!!
Nothing unusual next 5 miles except I kept dropping stupid gels and didn't think I had time to stop for them. I picked up one more gel at last station and ate it pretty quick. I thought it would last. Then when I came up to beach area I felt a little dizzy. I kept running and didn't give in. Then I reached the last hill. I shortened stride and tried to blaze up the hill. My legs started to lock and I just lost all my bearings. I think I was bonking. I got to top of hill and felt like I was going to pass out. I contemplated walking but was sure if I stopped I would collapse. The real thought crossed my mind that if I passed out I'm pretty sure my buddy Sam would wake me up and help me in(Sam would you?) so I kept running. I actually hadn't bonked like this at all. I usually eat like a champ. I guess dropping 3 gels was a bad mistake. Needless to say I got to the trail and ran hard. It was almost over. Got on the asphalt and just ran as fast as my legs would carry me. Finished in 3:54:15. My fastest time ever at holiday lake and good enough for 3rd.

It was a great race for me and I was happy with the outcome. The other guys were just faster. My buddy Sam came in after me and I was super happy for him. Usually I wait until all people come through but my parents who crewed me the whole time along with my usual crew of my bro and daughter, had to go to airport. I waited around for about another hr and left. I hate not watching everyone come through. No matter wether you first or last everyone has goals and in the words of my good friends REM....everybody hurts......sometimes!! So this was great training for promise land and now it's time to get some hill training going. I love hills. Sorta! My quads were definitely sore and didn't run till Thursday. One thing Horton always says is that it's better to go into a race under trained then over trained. I want to make sure this year to train correctly. Not to overdo it and give my body the rest it needs to recover.
Terrapin is probably next. Don't think I have ever run that race to my potential. I really would like to try super hard this year!!! Hope to see you out on the trails.

Back from the dead!!!

Well its been almost 2 months since hellgate and I feel like I am coming back from the dead. I feel joyful on the trails again. I feel like I can run with people again. I feel like I want to race again. Even though tonight was a freezing 27 degrees I enjoyed it. I liked not feeling my hands a little. I enjoyed being out of breath going uphill. I just enjoyed it.

So I signed up for Holiday lake this past week. Why? I don't know. Its such a painful race cause its just all out redlining from start to finish but i thought....why not? Just using it to train for Promise Land I guess. Either way don't know if I'm in holiday lake race shape but I will give it my all.

This past weekend went out and ran a loop and a half at Holiday and i think the snow made me utilize my toes a little more than usual causing some inflammation on the front of my shin which i think is tendinitis.I feel a little squeaking in the tendon also when i lift up my toes. Icing, resting, and rolling is really helping but I definitely feel it and hope its gone by the race. This is not my first bout with this though.

So 2013 will be the years of 5 for me. If I race promise land, MMTR and hellgate it will be my fifth consecutive time to run those. Its seems like only yesterday that I was a fat boy running promise land for the first time. This picture was after I lost 20 pounds also


Promise land 2009

So those races are definitely on the docket for this year. Also I plan on trying to go back to highland sky and see what can be done there. I honestly have been asking myself the question..."where do i go from here" Not that I'm the bomb runner or anything but i keep wondering if I have the same effort to be able to run these races as hard or harder.

So lets see what happens. Hope to see you all out on the trails soon.


Hellgate 2012 " The year of the friends"

Hellgate 2012 "The year of the friends"

         Well its taken me a month and a half to finally lay down my thought and feelings about this race. So lets begin....
        After masochist i really didnt run as much as I wanted to. Took a trip out to Cali and ran a little out there but since its so flat i ran way too fast and kinda aggravated my Achilles a little. So i backed off miles thinking my past couple weeks will get me through. Fast forward to week before Hellgate. I woke up on Tuesday of that week and throat was scratchy. I ignored all day and when i got home body was crazy tired. symptoms only got worse and i went on antibiotics thinking maybe just maybe i would feel better by Friday. Friday rolls around and my body was tired, sore and throat hurt. I worked all day and only ate a 6 inch sub for lunch. When i got home I got prepared for the night and tryed to eat something but didnt really feel like it. I knew I had to though. This was the first time I had not gone to prerace stuff but waited for my friends to drive with me. i thought a chic fila sandwich would really get me ready and at 9:30 pm ate one of those. Then me and my crew drove to camp and then followed the caravan to start. Pumped myself full of extra strength Excedrin about 45 minutes prior to race and about 15 minutes before ate a gel with caffeine. Needless to say I was not feeling anything at the start. We sang and then prayed and then we were off.
      Nothing abnormal for the first section. Matter of fact felt good. I witnessed the eventual winner shoot off like a bottle rocket and thought for sure he would pay the price later. No one had ever come to Hgate for the first time and won it. I didn't thin it would happen this time either. Chattered a little with Todd and couple other guys but i was focused. Hill came and ran it well. Picked up hydration pack at petites gap and ran off into darkness. I was feeling even better. Plan was to eat a gel every 20 min and salt pill every 30. drink drink drink.
     i pushed this section and if I'm not mistaken was in 3rd. Ran very well and came into camping gap. still doing well. Saw 2nd place during next section who was struggling and passed. I thought OK you can do this!! about that time something started to happen. Breathing was getting difficult. Hills seemed to get harder than normal. Finally when we got off grassy road i heard Todd and Chris just talking away like it was a Sunday afternoon walk. I was breathing hard.Got to a downhill section and felt Little better. couple of us ran together. got to bottom and then started climbing. I started walking. feet were hurting(rookie mistake of trying new shoes and they were a little light in the cushion are for hgate). Eric passed me and i tryed to put my head down and follow but couldn't keep up. Stomach now was hurting and i don't know why? we came into aidstation and I felt like crap!! The words i told my friends were..."thanks for coming guys". what did that mean? it meant sorry for all your troubles but i would like to go home now. Told them all my problems and not for a second did they gave into my jedi mind games. Kevin smith helped me change shoes. They gave me some kayopeptat and switched to bottles. I drank some soup and Gatorade and off i went against my wishes.
      I normally can stay positive but the thought haunted me that if i felt this bad now then I still had 40 miles to go!! I cant do it!! Every section felt like the forever section. I must have looked rough or something cause when Patrick Mcglade passed me he said in this very sympathetic voice..."Frank is that you? You ok Man?" My head was down and i just said not having a good day. Thanks for asking. Long downhill came and then the breakfast aid station. Saw my buds again and gave them my sob story. They kept telling me where everyone in front of me was and to be honest...i didn't care. drank some soup and gatorade and went on.
       Chris reed caught me on this next section. He was battling some motivational issues a little and we talked about that for a little. I told him to go on but he wouldn't. He walked when i walked and ran when I did. We talked all the way to top of the hill and then started coming down. at this point I could only see out of my left eye. i didn't know what it was but my right eye basically was cloudy. I stopped Chris at one point and asked him if he could see anything but he said no. I thought if I had some physical injury that could be seen my buddies they would let me quit. But nothing!! we got to the next station and my stomach issues were gone but still not feeling great. some friends from work had shown up and there cheering gave me a little pump. I got soup and gatorade and was off.
       I caught Chris for a second but then he left me like it was a 10K. Either he got a burst of energy or he slowed down that last section to help me out only. Either way i was grateful. The next section sucked!! I ran every step but it seemed like I was just crawling. My hips were exploding, back was hurting, eye was frozen over still, and i just did not want to run anymore. What?? Thats right! i didnt want to run anymore. I hiked in this section way to much and my time showed. I came out to bearwallow gap and saw my buds again. I said i wish one of you guys would run with me to which none of them seemed like they wanted to. Again my buddy kept telling me times of people in front like that would motivate me. Normally it would, but not this time. Drank soup and took a gatorade.
          This next section has always been tough for me and it was again. I hiked alot and even stopped and stood by while another guy passed me. I had nothing in me to keep with him and wished him the best. I kept going but not very fast. Nothing horrible or great happened here. Finally reached bobletts gap. I saw my buddy Todd dressed like he was going to run. I asked him why he was dressed up and he said he would run with me from here in! what?? its exactly what I needed.
         I followed him. we talked and I dont think he will ever know how much i just needed company. I have to give it to him for trying to motivate me. He prayed for me... talked to me about hurting and getting over it... and kept me going. I wish I could have given him more but I gave him what I had. This section was slow but not horrible thanks to company. We came out at day creek and i knew it was almost done. Matt gave me some more soup and at that point gels tasted like poop!!
            we hiked and ran a little but it was the slowest I had ever run that section. I wasnt even looking forward to the downhill but we ran it and finally the camp came. It was over. Shook DHO's hand and he said something along the line that sometimes we learn more from the races that we suffer the most from. Not sure I agreed but whatever it was over. Congratulated all the people in that finished in front of me and was astonished by the fast times. WOW!!
           Why the year of the friends? Because only good friends do not let you quit! They didnt give in for a second. Matter of fact they mocked at my attempts to appeal to their soft side. Crewing this race is an ultra in itself. So to Matt Towles and Todd Foster a big thanks goes out. As a matter of fact Todd foster has crewed me for every hellgate I have ever done. This year kids soccer conflicted with the race so wife showed up a little late but so glad she came out. She literally makes me feel like I win every race. Chris Reed definetly helped me more than he knows also. Just talking and listening was great. All my friends from work that showed up to cheer me on.

            What did I learn?

 1. I was tired. I raced alot this year and my body needed a break.
 2. You cannot win every race so dont think you can!
 3. I need people to do this life. You cannot think you will succeed without community to help you when you down.
 4. Thankful to run for Theaidstation.com ultrarunning team this year. Hope I represented well. So for any of your running needs you better go there!!! theaidstation.com
  Specifics: Shoes: Scott /socks: swiftwick compression/ Food: cliff shots and blocks. But mainly ramen noodle. Soup saved my life!!/shorts; Pearl izumi. Shirt: Patagonia team jersey.
           Not sure what I have in store for this year but I am finally getting my motivation back. After the race on sunday I jumped on a plane and flew to nicaragua and the symptoms of my sickness hit me like a ton of bricks. Took me a while to get back to it. Whatever it is im looking forward to it. Thanks for reading.

MMTR 2012

The snow year! Felt great coming into this race. I had trained hard. I had run the course hard. Felt that a 7 hr finish time was a possibility. The last 2 years I had run grindstone 4 weeks prior to the race and by buck mountain felt those miles. Not this year. No grindstone in my legs. Uroc giving me some speed and some experience. I thought this might be the year. I WAS WRONG! My mental goal was to stay positive. I accomplished that. Went out fast but not feeling overly fast. Running good and consistent. Got a little freaked when my bro who was crewing me did not show up to parkway station but went on and like I always tell everyone who runs ultras. "Expect for things to go wrong". No sweat. Just ate from aid stations. Worse thing was snagging a GU from aid station and it was a cap pachinko flavor. Disgusting but o'well. Ran with Brian Schmitt till reservoir and saw my bro. Changed out pack for bottles and got some cliff shots. Ran mostly with some fast hiking and close to where it flattens out I get passed by Brian Rusecki who would later win the whole stinking thing. He passed me like I was standing still. The only words from his mouth were " you guys started out fast huh". Apparently he had his game plan and killed it from that point. I came into every aid station right on my mark. Long mountain wayside by 3:29 and then climbed to buck mountain in 35 min. Flats feeling great and downhills even better. Passed another runner who would later drop near wiggins aid station. I remembered that Jared Hesse and I had run an aid station for grindstone and I honestly never realized the effort and time it took to run an aid station so this race I had a great appreciation for all aid station workers and gave high fives to most and said thanks to each one. I went into loop 12 min behind leaders and honestly felt like I was going to make my move now! WRONG AGAIN! The snow came. I didn't believe all the reports of snow but they were true. I have a very low gait and my feet do not come off the ground very much so I kept feeling like I was dragging my feet and could not get into any rhythm. Gary Robbins passed me coming down from out and back in loop and looked like a gazelle and I was running like a buffalo. Needless to say I knew I was in 4 th place now and the people behind me were closer than I thought. I hiked a whole bunch in the loop and swore that everyone was going to catch me. I got a little frustrated but then looked around and laughed out loud cause this will probably never happen again at mmtr and it was cool to be a part of running this. Done with loop finally and saw my wife and bro. Got 2 bottles cause I knew it was going to take longer than I thought. So I ran every step of that next section cause I knew there was a lot of hiking in store. Reached the old AT section and like I said before I could not run! So I hiked. I kept looking back thinking I was going so slow that someone is bound to catch me. But alas no one did. I kept trying to run in the post holes of the people in front of me but they wait her had really small feet or I have huge feet cause I kept missing their holes. I kept dragging my feet. Finally the last aid station. Saw Matt Day and asked him how much behind I was from 3rd. He told me I was 3rd. I said ohh no someone got lost. So I ran the last section hard and fast. All downhill baby!! The HOKAS felt great here and even better on the road. I came in at 8:07. Good enough for 3rd overall. My beautiful family were all there and friends. As always we waited there for all my friends to come in. This race was especially special cause it was my birthday this day. I turned 36 and remember the first time I ran this race in 2009. My good friends brought me cake and Sang to me. I only benched 28 reps for the ironman comp but I was ok with that. I think the snow and HOKAS made me feel incredible. Almost no soreness and of course the ice baths help! As always thanks to my crew, my wife and kiddos, friends and Clark Zealand and DHO for putting this thing on. As always anything good in life should point us to the creator of that good! Jesus who created us with these passions and desires for acceptance, love, exhilaration, etc can only ultimately be fulfilled in HIM!. I love that. Don't get stuck on a small fix when he promises to fulfill us! Hellgate next. 2nd last year. What's in store this year? Hopefully something really special!!!

Humbled and challenged at UROC 2012

Humbled and challenged are the 2 words that describe this race for me. I came into this race feeling strong. My goal time was to run a 9hr- 9:25 and I would get into top 5 and get some cash!! I felt like a kid at the pre race elite panel. A who's who amongst ultra runners was there. For some reason I still wasn't intimidated. Wake up and christy, Abby and I drive up to wintergreen. Still not to nervous. So we are off and I tell myself to stay in the top 10 and hold on. But everyone wanted to be in the top 10. We were running super fast down hill. I thought these super fast marathoners were not suppose to run these technical downhills this fast I told myself. I held on! Needless to say by the time we got out of wintergreen drive my quads were already busted and we had more than 40 to go. Not good! All day I was chasing shingi a runner from Japan that was a 100k rd world champ. I just kept running! Saw my wife and Abby a couple times at some aid stations. Then at about mile 32 I saw them and went into a single track 8 mile out and ask section. Made the mistake of only taking one bottle and ran out of water 3 miles in. I kept eating but was very thirsty. As the front runners past me I saw Max King, Sage, David riddle, Jorge m, David Mackey, nick Clark, and other killer runners. Ten the thought occurred to me that I was expecting these guys to die? These guys don't die do they? Every single one of them are winning races somewhere in the nation any given weekend! So I went into a negative spiral. Maybe the thirst, the fact that I knew that the likelihood of coming in top 5 was against me and that I saw Ellie greenwood only a couple of minutes behind me along with some other great runners. I came out the out and back the same place but mentally I was shot! I finally got water. My wife reminded me that Ellie was right behind. To be honest I didn't really care. I have never wanted to quit a race more than now. The negative thought kept following me for the next 10 miles. Then Ellie passed me. I thought ok now is a good move. Stay with her and let her pull you in! Wrong! I could not stay with her for the life of me. I tried! But she just kept getting further and further away. I did not walk a step but still kept losing her. The negative feelings subsided when I finally saw my family, my friends that drove from Lynchburg to cheer me on. I smiled and thanked them so much! I felt ok again. Ok to finish. Ok to fight through such negative feelings. The road didn't treat me well and the last hill back up wintergreen was almost unbearable. I finished 11th over all and 10th male. Finished in 9:23. I was humbled by how fast the guys and girl in front of me ran. I have to admit that I was disappointed that I could not dig deeper than I did. Yet 10th male in this field was a good feeling. My wife told me it was not my best race and that she felt like the other runners had a pocket they dug into that I have I just didn't dig deep down into. I probably would have to agree. So I will train harder, smarter, differently so when the time comes to dig deeper I can find that pocket!!! As always thanks to my sponsor theaidstation.com for all my trail running Supplies.

Old story from the past

Holiday Lake : the beginning of the end! My name is Frank Gonzalez and yes I think I am addicted to Ultras!!! My history: It all started last February when my 235 pound Mexican body read an article about someone in runner’s world attempting to run a 100 mile race. He describes the mental anguish and suffering he went though just to get to mile 80 something and not be able to finish. The thought crossed my mind, what it would take to get to that level. So I started running. The last Time I ran any distance was when I was 19 years old and did the Adirondack marathon. I finished in 3:56 and basically crushed every bone in my left foot. Whatever, I was young. I began to tell some people about what I wanted to do and they pointed me to some people that ran these things. Tommy field and Richard Michael were the first ultra runners I went out with. We ran 18 mile in February of 09. It was tough, cold, and yet something about me liked it.(along the way I suckered my best friends to run with me and now My best buddy Todd foster is doing the whole Beast series with me..SUCKER!!!!) Fast forward to Promise land 09 and I had lost close to 20 pounds and ran it in 6:36. Not bad for fat boy. Next was the MMTR and lost another 15 pounds and ran it in 9:21. Then benched 135 pounds 37 times to win a sweet gladiator sword. Best prize yet!! Finally I begged Horty to let me run Hellgate. Yes I begged him. He let me in the Wednesday before the race and yes I finished it in 14:50. So whats the next step? THE BEAST! I have really been putting in a lot of running and just trying to drop weight. Now to the Holiday Lake: I weighed in at a whopping 183pounds before the race and felt as good as ever. (Yes I have lost over 50 pounds) In all 3 ultras prior to this I went out way to fast and hurt the second half so My game plan was to go out 30th and stay there till half way point and then run as fast as I could back. My Crew was in place (consisted of my wife and surprisingly Jeremy Ramsey drove around with my wife all day) which I was glad for because I saw them a lot more times than I thought. The first half really wasn’t very exciting. I ran at a medium pace, fought off the temptation to pass people and just stayed right where I wanted to be. I got to the turnaround at 2:50 and in about 25-30th place. Felt great. So I picked it up on the second half. Was amazed at how good I felt and that I was actually passing people. My wife and Jeremy kept yelling what place I was in every time I saw them. Went from 25 and then next were 19, then next was 17, and next was 13. Horty seeded me at 13 and would have been happy getting 13 except for I kept feeling good. Last aid station came quickly and I was still 13 overall. Up to this point I had eaten 15 Gu’s(raspberry pomegranate: the best gu’s I have eaten EVER! Thanks Bikes Unlimited for those!) Feeling good. I managed to pass 1 more guys and then I saw the top girl. She looked as strong as ever and finally caught her. Coming out from the lake with 2 miles left Jeremy says “you have 1 more guy to beat to be in top 10,he’s one minute in front, anything you have left give it now!!” So I did! I passed Justine who stayed on my heels the whole time and we caught number 10 quickly and passed him. I started to cramp just a little now, but I knew I was close. I came out and hit the pavement with Justine on my heels. Sprinted in and ended up getting 10th overall and finished in 5:15. My second lap split was 2:25. I had set one goal for this year and that was to get a top 10 in 1 race. It came early so now the pressures off. But top five sounds good to. Thanks Christy for being the best crew ever, Thanks Jeremy for helping her, thanks Horty for putting on the race, running with me, and being an inspiration. All of you who were there…. WAY TO GO! See all of you at Terrapin!!

Promise Land 2010

Promise land # 2

by Frank Gonzalez

(this is from a story I wrote about this race about 2 years ago)

This race by far is the race of the season for me. It is special to me because last year it was my first ultra I have ever done, all of my family and friends came and camped, and I felt incredible coming into this one.

I really started to train for this one back in January. I started to run every Saturday with a crazy Man Named “The Runner”. We ran in freezing temperatures and lots of snow for many of those runs and all “the runner” would say is that this training is good for you. So I followed him for miles and hours every Saturday. In March I even followed him to do 4 days on the AT averaging about 30-34 miles per day. I only got 108 miles out of the 168 we were supposed to do. He called me names but I just couldn’t do all the miles. Also the Terrapin race was the next week. He kept telling me this was not going to help me for Terrapin, but it would help me for Promise land, and it did.

I have not gone into a race feeling so good from all the races I’ve done. Body felt good, mind felt good, I was definitely nervous because I knew in order for me to run in the top 10 I was going to have to run hard from the get go. My goal was to run out with the top 10-15 for the whole race and then do my normal kick at the end. Well the top 10-15 started off way too fast for me. I was 23^rd going into AS#2. From that point I told myself I better step up my game a little. So I started to run faster up all the hills and especially down the hills. I still felt good, but started to feel an unusual burn under my armpits…yes I was chafing. Note to self …do not wear a tank top without body glide. I made it to AS4 and I was now 13. That last section was a great one for me. I asked for some glide or Vaseline at the station, but no one had any, so the shirt came off (and so did the duct tape on the nipples, because that would look just dumb). Felt a little low point after that, but took some food down and kept a good pace. I passed 2 more people before AS5 and now was 11. For the next 5-6 miles did not see anyone. Hard to know how fast you’re running when you’re alone. I kept telling myself that everyone in front of me must be running faster so I should speed up. Finally saw 2 people coming back into AS 6 and they were a couple of minutes in front of me and finally got some Vaseline, 2 salt pills, Aleve, and refilled bottle. I had taken a gel 5 minutes before the Aid station and 5 minutes after. I knew I would be running low when the steep part came. Running low was an understatement. I felt as if I was power hiking the steep parts, but to my surprise here came the first place lady and another guy. So at the falls I took another gel and then hit the steps. My quads were cramping and I got nervous. I knew this is where the race is won or lost. The first place lady passed me as if I was standing still, and I knew this was the moment in the race that I had dreaded. I could either let her pass and then the other guy would pass also and then just hang on, or allow her momentum to pull me up the hill by following her every step…..so I pulled myself together and started to follow her every step. When she ran, I ran. When she power walked, I did. I never once looked up until we got to the top. She carried me past 2 guys and when we reached the top I was 10 overall and 9^th male.

From that point on I knew it was all downhill and no matter how I felt I would run hard. I ended up passing one more guy and coming in 8^th overall. WHAT a feeling!!!! I had shaved off 1 hr and 10 minutes and 40 pounds off last year’s race. I could not believe how great I felt after and even today. I think I love sitting around eating, talking and watching the other runners come through as much if not more as running the race itself. Its exhilarating watching people succeed and make dreams come true. This year I was joined by friends and their families that have made this year even better than the last. Unfortunately this is only the beginning. The beast is calling our names and now it’s time to get ready for 100 miles. I really cannot fathom what it’s going to take to run 100 miles. I will let you know when it’s done!