One of the greatest secrets of life is having patience - knowing when to do what, kinda like the song says, "you gotta know when to hold em, know when to fold em, know when to walk away, and know when to run."

Today Suzanna and I ran a 12 mile loop in Annadel. It was a beautiful morning and we had fun catching up and trading stories. She is getting ready and gearing up for Cascade Crest 100 mile in Washington. It is a tough 100 miler but I know that she will do very well there. It is on August 23-24. Cascade Crest was my 2nd 100 and it just about did me in. I hadn't prepared myself for all the mountain climbs and I was really inexperienced. I would like to go back again and see how I could do now.

Leadville 100 starts tomorrow in Leadville, Colorado. I haven't run Leadville and unfortunately, with the problems I have had with altitude, it is doubtful that I ever will. That totally bums me out because I hate to think that I have a weakness that is serious enough to keep me from doing something that I really desire to do. I have made peace with that limitation and I know that there are several great 100's that I can shoot for. So many races, so little time. Have a wonderful weekend!!!

This photo was taken by Olga Varlomova at the Headlands 5o mile last Saturday.

This week has gone by so quickly, it is scary! Work has been busy and it is hard to keep up with everything that I like to get done. I've taken a few days off from running and I can't believe how much extra time I have. Yesterday, while finishing up my run, I noticed that a neighbor's house was on fire. Unfortunately, it is severely damaged with damages estimated to be over 400,000 dollars. I am so sad for that family. When I was a little kid, fire was my biggest fear. I still feel a panic run through my body when I see flames anywhere.

The Olympics have been great! I just read that Michael Phelps consumes approximately 12,000 calories a day! Apparently many of the top swimmers swim between 35-40 miles per week! Wow! Can you imagine being in the water that much? I like to swim, but that seems ridiculous. Amazing athletes and performances. I got into the pool for a short swim the other day and I think everyone swimming was there because they were motivated by the Olympics to be there. First off, everyone was older and basically non-swimmers. (I don't think they realized this). They take up an entire lane flailing about, on their backs, legs pointed down to the floor, arms flailing about keeping them somewhat afloat. I tried to pick the lane with the best swimmer. It was really hard to decide. Hmmm. I picked the lane with the slowest swimmer with the best form. She needed a lot of room to swim. We split the lane and it was almost impossible to swim next to her, as I needed to make myself very thin as not to get hit with either her legs or her arms. It was exhausting. Usually, there is never a problem at the pool. It is very easy to pick a lane because there is almost no one occupying it. Not since the Olympics! Okay, Michael Phelps, see what you've done?!


I hope you all have a happy Thursday! Enjoy!

A fine day at the Headlands 50 mile

Yesterday was the 2nd running of the Headlands 50/100 mile race located in the Headlands just north of San Francisco. The race covers some of the same trails as the Miwok 100k. Last year I ran the race in 9:01 finishing as second woman. My good friend Suzanna Bon came in 1st.

I was apprehensive going into the race as I have been plagued with a few injuries that have not helped my training. My left and right piriformis are so inflamed and tight that it can be difficult to sleep. With my "tight butt muscles", I've had a hard time elongating my stride. Instead, I run with a short, choppy gait. I have been trying to stretch it and ice it but it has been a chronic problem since about December. Going into the race made me uneasy as I wanted to better my time from last year.

Race morning was cool with a bit of fog. It only took a few minutes of running across the beach to warm up. The course is beautiful with views of the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay. The run traverses over tall cliffs and through narrow coastal trails. There are a lot of ups and downs on uneven rocky ground.

Despite my painful hips, I have to say that I had a great run. I had the pleasure of running with fast Beth Vitalis who dominates many bay area races. We have trained together before, but is was great to run with her and see what a great sportsman she is. She's an excellent ambassador to the sport of ultra running. It was a pleasure to run with her. I think that she helped push me to victory. She is a strong runner and I tried my best to keep her within sight. Finally, with less than 10 miles to go, I was able to push ahead and finish as 1st woman, 8th place overall. Thanks, Beth for pushing and encouraging me. It sure feels good to have won a 50 miler as a 50 year old!

Congrats to 3rd place woman and former Montrail teammate Meredith Tarranova. I enjoyed visiting with fellow goat, and former Montrail teammate Olga Varlamova and blogger Rick Gaston. They were both there to pace in the 100 miler. As always it was great seeing friends and being out on the trails that I love. Thanks Matt, for allowing me the freedom to be who I am and for supporting my love of running.

The overall mens winner was Lon Freeman with an awesome time of 7:43!!

Live, Love and Enjoy Today

This afternoon I received a phone call from my oldest child, Caleb. He is in Cancun vacationing with a few of his Fraternity Bro's. His voice scared me as his tone was quiet. He started out by saying, "Mom, I just wanted to tell you that I love you very much". He then told me that he had just witnessed a 21 year old guy that had just drowned in front of him. He described the terribly disturbing scene, ending the tragic story by saying that the young man's Mother and family were crying and screaming over their loved one while he lay on the sand. My heart is bleeding right now for that poor man's family and the life that was lost today. As a Mother, I can feel his Mother's pain. As I took a short, easy run today, I could hear his Mother's cries. I prayed for his family. I was sad that my son had to witness that horrible tragedy. I can't imagine losing a child. I love my kids so much, that I can't imagine living through a loss like that. I thought of Caleb, 22 years old, my first born, my perfect, loving son. I thought of my two daughters, bright, loving, perfect children. God picked me to raise and love them. I am so blessed to have these three kids. I am so thankful for the joy and love they have given me. The unconditional love I have for my children is so big, so strong. It is all so encompassing. I never knew this kind of love until I was blessed with their lives.

Remember, how precious life is. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. Love, live and enjoy today. Hug your children and tell them that you love them. Tell them again. And again, and again. Life is short... I was reminded of that today.

Feeling rushed in the morning? I know I do. I get up at 4:45am and I am working by 6am. It is almost impossible to squeeze in a filling, nutritious meal in, after dashing into the shower and heading out either on my bike or in my car to the Hospital. While breakfast might be the last thing on your mind as you dash out he door, it is important that a morning meal has a place in your routine. For many of us, consuming large late night dinners, or many calorie-rich evening snacks, reduces the urge to eat upon waking. Eating dinner within an hour or two before bedtime may cause poor absorption of food and a restless night of sleeping. Give yourself at least three hours to digest a healthy dinner before going to bed.

Working out on an empty stomach is recommended for workouts lasting around an hour (or less), but neglecting to refuel post-workout is an unhealthy start to the day. The body has enough stored glycogen in the muscles to help you finish an hour long moderately intense workout fist thing in the morning so long as the daily diet is balanced with several small protein and carbohydrate snacks and healthy meals every day.

In order to have plenty of energy for your morning workout, eating late at night is not recommended. Workouts become compromised when undigested food is sitting in the stomach or you wake up bloated due to a late-night meal. Also, eating too many simple carbs in the evening increases the chance for unstable blood sugar levels, poor storage of muscle glycogen and the probability that excess calories will be stored as fat. Breakfast is the first chance to refuel liver and muscle glycogen after sleeping all night. Eating breakfast will not only help you recover quickly after a morning workout, but your mind and body will also feel energized all day. People who skip breakfast have a tendency to snack excessively, feel starving at lunch, and experience uncontrollable cravings throughout the day.

"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending"

Finally, a new car

I have been without a car for over a month now. We have not been car-less,we do have a Honda Pilot, but my much loved car failed smog, and I have not been legally able to drive it. It has been the total pits, believe me. I have begged, borrowed, and rented vehicles while waiting to buy another car. Finally....on Monday, I purchased a totally cute red ruby Honda Element! I am more than thrilled! I hear it is the perfect cyclist's car. Damn, does that mean I need to shine up my bike and head for the trails? I was riding my bike to work, but I have been slacking off lately. Note to self.... ride my bike to work this week.


My running since TRT has been sketchy at best. I came out of TRT with a very sore back rib, and a horribly inflamed PF. Our bed is so full of lumps and bumps (it's only 3 years old), that I toss and turn all night with total hip and back pain, making me utterly exhausted. So hows that for training! I wake up feeling like I ran a hard 100 miler and I have never left my bed. Not good. Once again, we are in search of the perfect mattress.

I am running Headlands 50 mile this next Saturday. I would like to beat my time of 9:01 from last year. I should be able to do that if things go as I want them to. Unfortunately, we all know that anything can happen out on the trail that we don't expect.

I received a bottle of Recover-ease in the mail the other day. I am anxious to try it after Headlands and see how I feel. Thanks, Bob, for recommending it to me.

Nothing to much interesting to say except that my youngest daughter is in Barbados vacationing, and my oldest son, is in Cancun. Wow, are they lucky! It must be nice, I think my kids have seen more of the world than I have. Today, Matt and I are going to the County fair to people watch. It is always a good place to get your confidence built up. If you are feeling ugly, go to the fair. I guarantee that you will feel like a prince or princess after seeing the hordes of toothless wonders that frequent the carnival rides. I am feeling ugly, so I gotta go hit the fair. Peace out!

Pills prayers and promises

Here I sit at my computer thumbing through Endurance News, trying to find the PERFECT product that is going to make me a better athlete. I think I will read the article titled, Getting faster as you get older. It talks about training, nutrition, supplementation, hydration, injury, and of course, rest and recovery. Yeah, that article really caught my eye. I could spend my whole paycheck in one sitting ordering products that will do it all! Would I really get any faster? Probably not. I think that so much of how we do comes down to genetics, age and the old saying, "how bad do you want it?"
I did order Recover-Ease today. It is suppose to help your body recover faster and more completely from your hardest efforts. It reduces stress hormones, improves immune function, stimulates tissue repair and manages muscle soreness. It also claims to increase your breast size by two cups and for you men, to grow lot's of hair on your chest. (psych......just kidding about the boobs and the hairy chest). But anyhoo, I am excited to try the Recover-Ease as it comes in a pill form, and that makes it easier for me to take as opposed to drinking some sickly sweet drink after a long run or race. Yuck!! I figure I should try it out before my stage race in Costa Rica. I know that recovery will play an important part of my success at The Coastal Challenge in January.

I have had a few short, nice runs this week following TRT. My plantar fasciitis is really putting a few new swear words in my vocabulary, but other than that, I feel really good. I went to the gym today and did some upper body work, and felt like a dope as I sat there trying to remember how to use some of the equipment. I tried to act casual, but I think it was obvious that I didn't have a fricken clue how to use a lot of the stuff. I will get that figured out this next week, so I don't look so s.t.u.p.i.d.

It's late and I need to hit the hay. I think that I will ask Matt to rub my poor tired achy feet before I fall asleep. I think I read that foot massages are crucial to the health of runners feet, especially if you have PF!! I've got to go, I can't remember where I put the foot cream!

CFL at TRT 50 miler

This last Saturday I ran the TRT 50 mile in Carson City, Nevada. I went into the race feeling like I could easily break my best time of 10:31. I wanted to run strong, to really feel fit, to push the uphills. What I didn't know was that I was going to get a condition known as CFL. Crap for legs. Yeah, it was the pits. My legs felt like lead, like they were filled with cement and my body just couldn't move fast enough with CFL's. I don't know if it was the altitude, the race itself, or the weather. I suppose it was a combination of everything. Oh, well. 10:41 was the best I could do.

The TRT is an awesome race. It has to be one of the prettier races I've done. Some of the area reminded me of the Hardrock course in Colorado. Beautiful mountains overlooking blue pristine lakes. The trees and large rock formations are amazing. The trails are mostly made up of decomposed granite, which helps give your legs that "crap for legs" feeling. Sometimes it felt like I was running in deep kitty litter.

I haven't seen the race results yet. I do know that my good bud, Suzanna Bon won the woman's 50 mile. She was quite the studette out there. Suzie is always smiling and a phenomenal athlete. I love running with her because she always makes me work hard. What I don't like about running with her is that I frequently get CFL during our trail adventures. I really hate that.

I ran with some really great runners at TRT. I enjoyed my time with Mark Tanaka and fellow Goat team member Peter Lubbers. Please check out their blogs, I think that you will enjoy them. It was great to see old friends out there battling it out on that tough course. I can only say that I have total respect for everyone out there pushing the limits on a very tough course. Kudos to all the 100 mile finishers. I don't know if I am tough enough to finish that course. Mentally and physically it is a bear. Wow, at this point I cannot fathom running 100 miles out there.

Sunday morning after the race we had breakfast with the Men's 100 mile winner, Erik Skaden. He and Mike Wolfe finished together in 18:59:10! Totally amazing. What a shame we couldn't see what he could have done at WS this year. He looked good and was still smiling after his incredible run on the TRT!

I am happy to report that I feel fantastic! No sore muscles, no lingering dead legs, no regrets. Leslie and I made great traveling buddies and we had a great time. Put TRT on your lists of to-do's for next year. You won't be sorry. I know that I'm not.

Next on the race list is Headlands 50 mile. It is Aug. 9th. It's a nice race in a beautiful location which has you running above the ocean and through beautiful coastal trails.

A Busy Week

Well, I am a little late getting to my blog writing. My daughter and I took a road trip to Southern California to her freshman orientation to the University of Southern California(USC). We had a great time there and were treated like Queens. USC is a private school and they definitely wine and dine you there. On August 20th we move her down there. A very sad and happy day for us. I also got to spend a little time with my daughter Chelsea and my son, Caleb. It felt so good to spend time with the three of them.

Last Sunday, Suzanna, Leslie, Chris and I ran 38 miles at Pt. Reyes. We had a perfect day of running and fun. I pushed myself and was happy to feel great afterwards. It was one of those runs where everything just feels good. Well, not really that good, but the run went by quite fast and mentally I was strong. I went to the gym twice this week and worked on my upper body too. It was a productive week. On Wednesday, Suzanna and I met and ran together before Courtney and I started our long drive to L.A. I was unable to exercise during our stay in L.A., so I hope the layoff does my body good.

Next Sunday I am running the TRT 50 mile. I hope I have a good run there. I haven't run this race since 05. I am definitely looking forward to running on the beautiful Tahoe Rim Trail.

Shit happens.........

Karen and I went out for a nice run the other day. The park that we were running in is big and remote. There is an outhouse or two for the occasional camper but otherwise it is quiet and beautiful. We had been running for about 10 minutes, when we came upon an outhouse. I decided to take a quick pee break and dashed into the porta potty. When I walked in, I immediately looked into the toilet. Please don't wonder why. Doesn't everyone, once in awhile? Down about 2.5 feet in the pot was a poor blue bellied lizard sitting on a big wad of toilet paper surrounded in, well, you know.....I panicked. I couldn't rain on this poor little stranded lizard who was having the worst day of his life! I ran and found a long thick tree branch and lowered it into the toilet. I rested it on the wad of TP and tried to coax the little guys up the branch. He wanted nothing to do with my heroics. I propped the stick at an angle and just hoped for the best. I peed behind the outhouse, and Karen and I were on our way.

An hour later, as we were approaching the outhouse on our way back to the car, we saw a hiker approaching the porta potty. Before we could yell at him, we knew that the worst fate of all had probably happened to our little friend. I hope he scaled the large stick and got the heck out of there, but as we all know SHIT happens!

Running has been going well. My right ankle seems to be doing well, and my butt pain has settled down. Tahoe Rim Trail is in 2 weeks and I am hoping for a good day out on the trail. A lot of my friends are running that race so it will be fun. I've started working on my upper body in the gym and I am seeing results in just 15 minutes of arm exercises a few times a week. That in itself is really exciting.

Tomorrow is a long run of about 30 miles at Pt. Reyes. The weather is going to be nice and we always see Elk and lot's of Mountain Lion tracks there. All of us running tomorrow is running TRT 50, so we will have a lot to talk about.

Have a great Sunday and I encourage everyone to do something that makes you happy.