Message posted by: Jannah .

Done like dinner!! Yay!!!!! It was intense. This is a mountain marathon, I did it last year, but this year they added the option of an ultra distance, and being the freak that I am, I just had to do it.

Quick background– my training hit a wall one week into marathon training, rolling out of half iron man training. I developed plantar fasciitis and took ten days off, then gradually began biking and attempting my distance runs on the weekends, struggling with a hip that frequently wanted to go out. Occasionally, I was able to toss a misc run in during the week when I wasn’t biking. So all this to say, I was not able to really train for an ultra. I hymned and hawed (himmed and hod -whatever) and ended up signing up and running it.

It was PERFECT weather, 40′s, overcast in places, but ideal for running all day. Since the first portion of the race is intense climbing, I opted to briskly hike all of that to avoid reinjuring my heel or hip. It was a piece of cake. I ran everything I could, and felt strong mile after mile.

Four hours into it, I realized I was ahead of where I thought I’d be and I began to run with more excitement. I was really happy with how I felt, for the next hour life was good.

Somewhere in the fifth hour, my hip went out. I stretched, I did all sorts of contortions, but my hip refused to normalize. I jog/walked mile after mile, stopping to stretch frequently. Every mile thereafter was continually more and more grueling. My pain level was about an 8.5+ (and climbing) on a scale of one to ten. . . ‘ten’ being DEATH by fire!!

I got to the cut off where they direct ultra runners to a five mile loop and hobbled on in there, grinning like a mule eating brier. That last five miles was rough -probably the toughest thing I’ve done to date. I walked sideways to avoid the intensity of the pain (imagine line dancing/doing the grapevine), I laid down and stretched, I prayed!! Nevertheless, I pressed on.

I finished approximately eight hours thirty minutes, way off my goal time, but obviously under the circumstances *time* went out the window and it was all about finishing.

As I came down off the last hill, saw my family, I tried to take it up to a run and for the first time in hours, my “runner” started working again. Lovely. NOW it decides to work!!

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Anyhow, thank God I finished. Thank God I did not injure myself. Thank God I had strength to endure. I cannot tell you how beautiful the views from uptop were nor how sweet it was to be handed a big ole finisher’s medal.

My mom says I’m “pure steel”. I like that, but I’m not sure it fits my current sass level. I’m thinking something more along the lines of “ULTRA STUD”!!!!! YEAH!! An awesome way to close out a great season, now for those dusty yoga videos.

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