Sunday, September 16, 2018

Malaga 20K



We're back home!  Boy it's good to be home!  I love traveling so much, but I do love being home too.


The 20K race was the strangest race I think I've ever raced, and that's saying something since I've raced A LOT of races in all my (many) years.  I'm going to attempt to recap it as accurately as possible and share all the things that I was feeling and thinking.  My hope is someone might have some ideas for what went on.  So if anything rings a bell for you please speak up!

After the 10K and being so tired from all the travel to Morocco we tried to take it a bit easier.  We still wanted to see Malaga though, so still walked around.  And Wednesday (two days before the race) we ended up walking WAY more than we meant to, but it was awesome.  Thursday we rested quite a bit but my workouts were still just blech.  Dave came and watched me Wednesday and gave some good feedback so I felt like my technique was solid.

Friday morning I was getting ready to go and I just felt.... blech I guess is the way to describe it.  I barely felt like warming up and mentally part of me didn't even feel like racing.  Things just felt off.   But I figured once the gun went off my competitive spirit would kick in.  I started off not at the front of the line so it took me about 1.5K to get caught up to the leaders.  I felt great!  I was so surprised at how different I felt than my warm up!  I was going at a decent clip and it felt smooth and easy and my breathing was low.

The weather was heating up and it was very humid.  Even with that I still felt great.  Then at 6K the wheels fell off.  My right butt started to hurt.  That K slowed down about 30 seconds!  It wasn't a slow down from starting too fast, not with that much of an instant slow down.  Then my right leg basically went numb.  It was the weirdest feeling.  Luckily I didn't get knee paddles, so I guess muscle memory stayed in place and I knew what to do, but if my knee had started to bend I probably wouldn't have been able to feel it.

Mentally I was so frustrated.  To have gone from not really wanting to race to the lead to slamming back was just throwing my mind everywhere.  I was still in third in my age group.  But most importantly to me was the team.  With myself, Stacy Trogner and Katie Grimes having moved down in age groups to join us we had a team.  If I DNFed then we would have no chance of a team score and that would've really been unfair to Katie as she could've moved to another age group.   So even though for about 3-4K I really wanted to stop because of how my leg felt I didn't want to stop because I didn't want to let my teammates down.  I know how frustrating it is to see your teammate stop and make it so you have no team score.

I kept going and kept pushing.  I got into a decent rhythm and luckily continued to stay in third.  I was drinking each lap and throwing water on me.   With about 3K to go I had about 30 seconds on 4th place.  Then, fairly suddenly, my whole body started to tingle.  My hands, feet, arms, everything.  My sight got sort of weird fuzzy.  I could see but it was just strange.  I tried to start pushing and slowed down.

Next I got probably the biggest side stitch that I've gotten since 8th grade.  I actually do remember the side stitch I got in the 8th grade, it was that bad.  And this was right there with it.  I ended up walking a bit with my arm up in the air to try and stretch it out it was that bad. 

I have never got numb or tingling like that before.  The original pain in my right butt I think might have been from the really, really tight 180 degree turns.  I saw a number of athletes shuffle around them.  I won't do that.  I will race walk every step of my race, even if the corners are tight.  I remember going around once and feeling a spot as I tried to turn harder.  I would lose a lot of momentum each turn so I was trying to push more getting around it, but that might have been bad for my butt.

I ended up coming in third, which I am proud of.  And, even better, we got silver in the team competition.  I am so proud of my teammates who worked so hard to earn that silver!  And I don't know what I would've done without Dave doing my aid.  He was the best!  He got me my drinks every time, cheered, supported and helped me do my best.  That is the best thing about racing at different times, although it makes for long day where I race in the morning and he races in the evening.   And it means that world that he would come out and stand for all that time in the sun and heat before his race to support me for mine.

I've left Malaga with an individual gold and bronze and a team silver.  One of each!  I raced, saw amazing sights, made new friends, hung out with old friends, ate amazing food and had fun.   I definitely didn't race up to my current potential, but I'm okay with that.  I made that decision when I raced on the Isle of Man a few weeks ago knowing that I wouldn't be 100% recovered.  Of course when you're in the heat of the competition it's hard to remember that.  Live and learn!

I'm so proud of how Dave raced, just a few weeks after a world leading 100 mile time he did amazing.  I'm so glad we were able to go and experience new cultures and have fun and race.  Race walking is so awesome in so many ways!

Now it's time to rest a bit and then get going on 50K training!



Thursday, September 6, 2018

World Master's 5,000 in the books!


Photo credit Tammy Stevenson

Oh my gosh, I won!  I can't believe it!  But I'll start back a bit....

Dave and I had a nice and uneventful flight to Malaga and got our luggage!  What a relief!  We made it to the hotel just fine and took a nap.  I know, you're not supposed to, but we were tired and wanted to be rested more than we wanted to get on the right time zone. 

We had a few days to goof around and get the lay of the land and get our credentials.  We found the Canadian race walkers who are always wonderful to hang out with.  We watched some races at the track and got excited.   I did a few easy sessions and by the day before the race I was moving decently well and thought cool, I can have some fun! 

As I posted on my FB page this has been a massive year.  I've raced three 50Ks, an 85K, a 300K stage race and a 100K race.  The 100K race was two weeks ago, so I am in no way fresh.  Especially since after the 100K I got sick and it just would not let go of me and hung around for just over a week. 

Photo Credit: Tammy Stevenson


As most athletes are I am a very competitive person.  I can smack talk a game of Yahtzee like nobody! ;)  But I went into coming to this race with the view of having fun.  I thought after the Isle Of Man I'd be pretty tired and didn't want to do anything to hurt myself, so I tried to take expectations away. 

And one thing I tried, and again I posted this on FB, was I raced in a crop top, something I've never done because of a poor body image.  For those of you who posted to my FB page in support THANK YOU!  It made me feel amazing!  I really, really appreciate it!  But I was going to the start line feeling more self conscious than I normally would. 

The Women's 35 and 40 were racing together, so there were a decent number of ladies on the start line.  I knew I wanted to get out quick to get out of the mess.  They lined us up and the gun went off and I went right to the front and.... they shot the gun again!  They called us back to the line!  I've never actually been in a race walking race what got recalled.  It felt kind of cool, like I was a sprinter or something.  It wasn't that anyone actually false started, there was a problem at the finish line.  So we all lined up again. 

The thought went through my mind, since I was getting a second chance to start a race, and who ever really gets that, of do I start off differently?  Did I hit it out too fast?  But I thought, nah, go with it!   So the gun went off again and I again went to the front.  I came through 200 in about :55, well faster than I knew I could do the whole race, but my plan was to go out, get out of the mess and then settle.  So I spent the next 200 or so gradually slowing the pace.  I fully expected that when I eased back I would get passed.  That was my expectation.  Imagine my surprise when that didn't happen!  I was actually a bit confused!  From 200 to 600 was around a 1:57, a pace I was much happier with, so I settled around in there or a bit slower.  Again no one was passing me!  And it sounded like the breathing of the ladies behind me was a bit labored.  At that point my breathing wasn't hard at all.  And they were taking water early, something I didn't do until around 7 laps in.

I decided to just keep pushing.  The American age group record for 3,000 was 15:11, something I thought I could break on the way, so I pushed a bit for that.  I was satisfied to come through in 14:52!  After that I slowed a bit, to around 5:08 per K to finish in 25:08.  I kept expecting people to catch me.  I even mouthed over to Dave to tell me how far back second was.  When he told me 50 meters I was quite surprised.  So I finished comfortable.  I could've pushed harder and broken 25, which would've been nice, but I didn't really see a point.  I was comfortable in 1st and there's still the 10K and 20ks to go.  There are more women racing in the 10Ks too, so there will be more competition which will be fun!

Photo Credit: Tammy Stevenson 


Once the gun went off I didn't think about my top at all, it was quite comfortable.  So yay! 

I was asked if I did well because I took the pressure off myself.  I honestly think the answer to that is no.  Because even if I'd wanted to win I probably would've gone out the same pace and the result probably would've been identical.  I just went to walk my race and I did and on that day I came across the line first. 

Photo Credit:  Dave Talcott


Now we'll go spend a few days in Morocco and then come back for the 10K.  I have no idea if I'll be able to do any workouts while I'm there, so that should be interesting preparation for the 10K.  But I still hold true to my thoughts that I'm here to have fun and just enjoy myself. 

Happy training everyone!


Wednesday, August 22, 2018

Isle of Man Centurion Race - Recap

Sunset on the beach in Kirk Michael


Another trip to the wonderful Isle of Man!  Boy do I love it there!  The people are friendly, helpful and wonderful.  The island is beautiful, and the population understands endurance walking. 

But of course all good things must have drama!  Which started off with us arriving and our bags not.  We always carry our competition gear with us, so we had our shoes and a set of racing kit, but for a race as long as 100 miles there's a LOT more equipment needed.  We had packed a lot of food with us that we knew we'd want that we didn't know if we'd be able to replicate.  Our wonderful and lovely hosts, James and Sarah jumped to the occasion and Sarah was just about to open her wardrobe to me when they came.  Ended up I still raided her closet, but I'll get to that in a bit. 

We arrived and went for a nice walk on the beach, ate some fish and chips, bought the rest of the food stuff we'd need, and went to the pre-race party and met the Mayor of Douglass. 


Selfie with the May of Douglass

A warm welcome


The race started at noon on Saturday.  We arrived and got the tent set up, which would become a lifesaver later in the night. 

Started off great, nice and relaxed and easy.  I went through 50K a touch over 6 hours, which is so funny when I think that I'll be working towards racing a 50K over 90 minutes faster than that.  Had to take a few potty breaks, but that's expected and I had that scheduled in.  I would go between race walking with my arms up and then putting them down to move things around.  Being on a track I found my arms/back/neck got way tighter than on a road course, so I was working really hard on keeping them loose. 

Then, about midnight it started to rain and get super windy.  It didn't get really cold, but the wind and rain got nuts.  I had a rain coat on, but no rain pants on.  My legs and core got wet and I started to get chilled.  About that time James started having some issues and Sarah was helping him.  In the meantime I stopped eating and drinking and my brain started to get fuzzy.  Then I don't remember too much for a while, I was just walking in circles.  I started to chatter and shiver like crazy.  I think people were talking to me but I'm not entirely sure.  At one point Sarah grabbed my arm and swung me off the track, shoved me in the tent and put warm drink in my hand.  We then spent about 20 minutes getting soaking wet clothes off me, dry stuff one and in the sleeping bag to warm up.  She got me some oatmeal to eat too.  I don't know what I would've done without her! 

I laid down for about 30 minutes or so and contemplated life.  By this time a fair amount of time had gone by.  I started doing the math of what kind of pace I would have to do to finish.  Before the race I started to feel like maybe I was getting sick, I ignored the feeling because it doesn't do any good at that point.  But now I was starting to feel even worse.  I will admit, I was thinking about having to walk another 10 hours straight with no break in the wind and rain and cold and I just didn't want to. 

When I went to Paris-Alsace the only way I was going to stop was if I timed out or got injured.  I didn't have that feeling before this race.  I had Spain in my mind and needing to get ready for 50K training. 

I was 12 laps short of 100K, so I decided I would finish off the 100K and call it a night.  I would bundle myself up and, thanks to having raided Sarah's closet before the race, had enough clothes to put on after.  So I got back up and trudged through 12 more laps.   The first 50K took me 6 hours, the second took around 8.5, but that was with an hour and a half of not being on the track.  I would love to race a 100K sometime. 

I then went to the clubhouse and laid on some chairs for about an hour and ended up getting chilled again.  So went to the tent and put 6 layers of long sleeves on.  That finally kept me warm and dry! 

Then I went to the aid table to help Dave.  He was still going like a machine!  Since he's got the most incredible internal combustion engine he never put any different clothes on the entire race.  The wind and rain did take a toll, it's be impossible not to with the wind on the back straight, but he stayed so strong the whole time.  He ended up being only a few minutes off his time from Owego last year and only about 5 minutes off the American 100 mile track record.  I know he would've gotten it if it hadn't been for the weather.  His goal going into this race was to get the next available Centurion number.  His US number is 88.  The next one up was 1188.  And he did it!  I'm super proud of him :) 

At first I was thinking I sure felt awfully sore for only doing 100K.  Then I was like, wait a minute, I did 100K! 

Monday we had a nice relaxing morning and a yummy breakfast courtesy of James' awesome cooking.  We went to Peel and had some Isle of Man ice cream and walked around the castle.   

Tuesday we headed home after a really bad night's sleep.  It was a long day and a lot of flights, but we made it.  Then when we were 5 miles from home the girl who was taking care of the animals called.  Someone had knocked on the door and asked if she owned the cows, the baby had gotten out.  Before we left we had a flood event and the electric fence was shorting somewhere.  And it was supposed to rain a bunch just after we left, so to be safe we turned the fence off.  The big cows are used to it, but the baby is a little adventurer and found a spot she could squeeze through.  By the time we got home, about 5 minutes later, she had already gone back in the fence.  But then Dave and I spent about an hour walking the fence line to untwist wires and making sure the fence was okay.   Fun stuff to come home to. 

Other than that everything was good!  A good night sleep was just the thing.  Now it's all about getting over being sick and getting ready to race as good as I can in Malaga, Spain for World Masters.  I know I won't race as well as I could have had I not done this race, but that was a choice I made and I still stand behind it. 

So now it's all about rest, recovery and getting over this darned cold.  Then getting as sharp as I can for Malaga.  Then a bit of a break and refocus.

Huge thanks to Sarah and James!  I don't know what we would've done without them.  They picked up up from the airport, opened their home to us, helped us get what we needed, did aid during the race, took care of us after, cooked amazing food, and took us back to the airport.  We are so lucky to have met so many wonderful people in our world of walking. 

Happy walking!

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The American Centurions participating in the race.

Friday, June 8, 2018

Paris-Alsace - the recap


The finish!!!!!

Wow!  Is there anything else to say but wow?  Well, yes, there is, but those three letters also seem to sum it up fairly nicely.  Of course I will go into much more detail.  Buckle down, it's a long one!

I'm not even positive where to begin.  I've known for a few years that I wanted to do this race; multiple stages, grueling endurance, and pushing yourself beyond your limits.  What's not to love? 2017 was a rough year, so I decided to have some fun in 2018 and then refocus.  Thus my hope of qualifying for and participating in this race.  I was lucky enough to be invited to race this year.  Usually there are qualifying races in France that you must do.  But the race organizers have a few slots that can be filled without the qualifying races.  They understand that for some it's not easy to get to France to race.  They told me that if I successfully completed a Centurion race I could get one of the bonus slots.  Since I earned my Centurion badge in 2016 I had met their requirements, so they invited me to come.

Team Erin!
Before I forget, because there's so much to go over, but I wouldn't have done it without my team!  John Constandinou, Karen Davies, Emmanuel Tardi, Dave Talcott and Jacques (I forgot his last name!)  They kept me going, fed, protected and taken care of.  And thanks to John for also updating the FB site so people could go along.  A  million and a half thanks are not enough!!!!


Check in.  This banner goes on the van


Then came the planning.  You have to have a support crew, with a camper van to follow behind you the entire time.  I won't go into all the gory details, but trust, me, there was a ton of planning!

The race finally came, thank goodness, I was so excited for the race I was like a kid before Christmas.  Here's how the stages worked:

Stage 1:  9.2K in 8 laps around the city center.  Wednesday at 4:00 PM
Stage2: 34.8K in one really big loop.  Wednesday at 9:00 PM
Stage 3:  200K in one really, really long line.  Thursday at 5:00 PM
Stage 4:  56 K in one long line, over two mountain passes.  Saturday at 10:00 AM

Start of stage 1, with Eddy Roze.  He was a 4:04 50K walker in the day! 
Since Stage 1 and 2 were both short and on the same day I was basically going to attack it as a RW workout day.   I figured in those two stages I could really play to my strengths, since I knew my weaknesses would flare up in the third stage.  So I had a blast in the first two stages.  I came across the line second overall in the first stage, over 10 minutes ahead of the second woman.  I averaged about 5:24 per K pace, something like that.   I was all set to go prepare for the second stage (stretch, eat, sit) when they told me I had to wait for the jersey presentation, and that wouldn't start until everyone had finished.  But how fun was that?  Being presented with the leaders jersey, which of course was pink for the women.

Getting the pink jersey for stage 1



Then it was jump in the van to drive to the town where the second stage started, and eat along the way.  The race started off with me, the men's leader, and the leader of the petite race.  The men would continue on after the women stopped, so they started off a bit more conservatively.  I was happy starting off around 6:15 per K pace.  So I just walked along through the countryside happy as could be.  Karen rode her bike with me and we were having a great time.  Then some nasty hills came up and Karen jumped back in the van.  That bike was not meant for serious hill climbing.  Later Dave came out and joined me.  We saw some amazing views, the sunset was fantastic, the moon was huge.  Just about everything went great.  The only thing was somewhere around 25K I had to go to the bathroom, bad!  The van was there so what you do is stop, the van catches up to you, and the van stops and you can go in the van and do whatever you need to do.  I had a few very uncomfortable moments in the bathroom and I was off again.  But then, about 5K later I really had to go again, bad!  So the van stopped again.  I started to worry, not for that stage, but for the next day, I couldn't be stopping every few Ks.  If anything I wouldn't be able to stay hydrated or keep my electrolytes and stuff in place.  But I'd worry about it later.

During the time when I was still legit race walking.  I got a lot of compliments on my RW technique.

So many people on the side of the road cheering.  The kids loved it and loved the high-fives.


I arrived at the finish just before midnight, the first person there!  As far as we know it's the first time a woman has arrived to that checkpoint first, so that made me feel good.  Of course, as I said, the men continue on longer, so it's not like they were only going to that point, but still, I'll take as much positive energy as I could!  People were cheering and happy and I got interviewed for Belgium TV.  I was again presented with (another) leaders jersey.  Then it was eat, get refueled, and to the hotel.  It would be our last night to sleep in real beds for a while, and I knew I'd need to get as much rest as possible.

End of stage 2.

Being interviewed. 


Of course when I got to the hotel, around 2:00 AM I was totally jacked up and it took me forever to calm down to sleep.  I got on FB and read a lot of the amazing comments that people had written and that made me feel so good!  Got up hungry and went and ate as much as I wanted, knowing I was about to burn it all off.  Then off we went to the start of the third stage.

We got there with probably 4 hours to spare, so it was a matter of hurry up and wait.  I ate, relaxed and tried not to get too nervous/excited.  Finally the time came to start.  Since I was in the lead by about 40 minutes or so I started first.  There were so many people at the start, it was a big party atmosphere!  The 200K stage started off with four 1K loops around the square so they could see you and cheer for you, it was awesome!  It was already quite warm so I was really working on staying hydrated, making sure I drank at least every 2K.  Karen was again with me on the bike as everything was quite flat for a long, long time.

Four times around to start off stage 3.


I started off around 7:00 per K pace, a bit slower at times, and felt good.  I was eating and drinking.  Then, at one point I had something to eat and had to go to the bathroom, like right then!  Karen said she had some anti-diarrhea pills.  So I took some, because I knew it would be a disaster if that kept going.  And they worked!  Every six hours I would take a tab.  However I took the dumb things for literally about 48 hours, which then presented some different problems at the end of the race.

All was great until about 50K or so.  By that point it was dark, which was fine, but it started to drizzle.  no problem, I can handle some rain.  Then it started to pour, buckets!  I stopped and changed my clothes and put on some waterproof stuff.  Boy was that the right decision!  It absolutely poured for quite a while.  At least it never got really cold, as cold and rain would've been miserable.  By that point Dave was walking with me and we had a lot of fun, or at least as much as you could in the pouring rain.  Then some of the "trouble" started about 85K or so.  My body started to say hey, this is a long way, when do we get a break?  The answer of course was there was no break and my body started to get grumpy.  And I started getting some blisters.

Rain, rain go away!


I started to slow down, not a ton, but some.  Doubts started to fill my mind.  Things like, you're not even half way into this stage and you're already starting to hurt?  Then what about stage 4?  What will you do then?  Why did you think you could do this?  You don't train for really long endurance races?  What makes you think you can do this?  Of course I knew all this going in.  I knew I had never done anything this long.  The longest I've done is 100 miles, and stage three was 124 miles by itself and the whole race is almost twice that.  But I came into the race saying I would not stop but for two reasons:  1. I developed an injury that could be career ending or 2. if I was timed out.  See along the way you have checkpoints where they sign a sheet saying what time you make it to that point.  You have time limits that you have to make each checkpoint by.  If you don't make it by a certain time then your race is over.



Night time has been tough for me in the 100 milers I've done.  Really I'm just trying to make it to dawn.  But this night time I started having a mental crisis.  I'd stop to use the restroom (this time  just normal stops, because I was doing well at staying hydrated) and be saying, I'm not giving up.  I had thoughts going through my head that people were thinking "yeah, she went out too hard, she won't make it."  Or "she can't do this, she only does short stuff."  and I became terrified that I was going to fail.  By this point dawn was rearing it's head, which was good and that helped.  I had stopped to change my shoes (they were wet still) and that was a great thing.  My feet felt better, but there were still blisters forming and there.   The mental doubts were still looming though.  At one point I said I wanted to walk alone and I took my phone to listen to some podcasts.  I took some pictures, cuz I could and at one point I started crying out of frustration.  I took a picture of that too....

Definite rough patch.

But the cows were cheering for me.  They ran along side until the fence stopped them!


Then I just said to myself, and out loud, I'm not going to fail, I'm going to do this!  and that seemed to be the pivotal moment.  Everything went up from there.  I didn't always walk faster, but mentally I was much better. 

Along the was the support was unbelievable!  People in towns would come out and cheer like crazy.  Cars driving by would cheer and clap.  One guy almost drove himself off the road because he took his hands off the steering wheel and was clapping like crazy.  There was one guy, in the middle of no where, that cheered and after I went by gave a goodie bag to my team for me with jam and sweets in it.  In the US, if cars had to slow down to go around or by the vans there would be a lot of upset drivers.  I only saw two or three drivers who were annoyed, otherwise everyone was yelling support, it was very cool.

My Emmanuel pose.  Whenever I see Emmanuel at a race I do this pose for him.  I did it for each of the four stages.  


Because of when stage three started it meant walking at night twice, which was a bummer for me in terms of night walking, but the good part was it was cooler.  Daytime of stage three got really hot.  It wasn't necessarily that it was a million degrees, I think it was low 80s, but the sun was really intense and there was little shade and few clouds.  It got harder to stay hydrated, although I was always able to pee so I never got too bad.  At one point the sun just got to be too much so I asked for an umbrella.  We found one and that really helped.  John took a picture of me carrying it while Dave was with me.  Someone got concerned on FB that I shouldn't have to carry the umbrella, but I just have to say that picture was taken during the approximately 2 minutes I carried it myself while Dave was getting in his pack to get me some food.  Otherwise Dave or John was carrying it for me.  They were amazing!  So in that sense the sun going down was good.

Bright sun, finally starting to go down. 


The blisters finally got to the point where I was having difficulty walking.  At a check point I asked for medical to help with the blisters.  When they called I don't think they said it was just for blisters because I was sitting there waiting for them and they came flying down the road and jumped out of the car.  I was like, whoa, it's okay, just blisters.  So they helped fix me up and the break (about a half hour) did my legs a lot of good.  In fact I felt so much better I thought that some occasional breaks would do me good.  So I planned some in.  Every 50 or so K I would plan a 20-25 min break.  I would lay down for about 15 min, use the restroom, eat and change clothes if needed.  It was really the right move, so I'm really glad I learned that about myself.

Some amazing roads and scenery. 



Then the first really "bad" thing happened.  I had reached a checkpoint and had planned a break.  Took my break, and started off.  We went a few hundred meters and the people in the van were hollering.  I look back and there's smoke coming out of the van!  Well, not out of the van as in the inside, but out the bottom of the van.  So we have to stop.  Which meant I had to stop.  See you can't walk without a vehicle behind you.  So no van, no walk.  They checked the oil and it said it was empty!  The van was supposed to have been fully serviced.  Luckily there was a  gas station about 100 meters ahead.  So we get up there and.... they were closed!  Because we were near a check point a judge went by.  I told them what was happening.  he said he had some oil in his car!  So he kindly gave it to us!  Then another judge was there and he also had some oil.  They put a call out to people and about 2 hours later someone drove by us and gave us another liter of oil.  So we were able to keep going!  Whew!  but all that cost me about an hour, which was really frustrating and caused me some stress that I didn't need when I was already that tired and needing my energy.  Even if the van had broken down I wouldn't have been forced to stop.  Emmanuel was our official gofer, he had his car, so we could have put the flashing light on his car and put as much food and stuff in his car as we could and gone along in that, but there would've been no bathroom and no place to lay down.  It would've been rough, but it would've allowed me to continue.  Whew!


I got to the point where I was just going checkpoint to checkpoint.  It was a series of small "races."  I would get to a checkpoint and then it was like I would start over.  It wasn't that I had 60 whatever K to go, I had 19.3K, 11.7K, 24K or whatever the numbers were.  Mentally that made it easier.  But the last stretch was rough.  I was sooooooo tired, mentally and physically.  At that point Dave was walking with me and I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open.  I was strangely dizzy.  It was very misty out and I was seeing things everywhere.  I know there wasn't a horse by that mailbox, but boy I sure saw one!

Then, there it was!  The end of stage three!  I had made it with about an hour and a half to spare!  Obviously not a lot of time, but I had done it!  Then it was jump in the van, eat something and lay down.  I managed to sleep about 2 hours while John drove to stage four.  He woke me up about an hour before I was to start.  I ate and medical came to do my feet one last time.  Man did it hurt.  My heels had such blisters that when I laid on my back I couldn't put my heels on the bed, I had to hang them over the edge.  They fixed them up good, but it was painful, there were definitely tears!

Finally made it to the end of stage 3!


The start of stage four was another party.  The leaders had gone off an hour earlier but there were still a bunch of us getting ready to go.  We had gone through how fast I needed to get to each check point and I was nervous.  I was basing it off how slow I had ended up going the last night (as slow as 12  minute Ks in a few parts) and I was worried I wouldn't make it.  John said he'd never seen anyone not make it the last day, so that gave me hope.  I started off and Dave was going to do most of the day with me.  We started walking and I was quickly last.  He suggested I try more of a race walking technique.  I gave it a go and it felt great!  Play to my strengths!  So I was able to pick it up a few minutes per K and it felt really good!  My smile was back!  I caught back up to the pack and passed a few (who would later pass me on the massive downhills).  Stage four starts with going over two  mountain passes.  It's about 16K of going up, up, up.  There were some amazing views!

Down, down, down, but lots of beauty.


The top was awesome!  But what comes up must come down, and boy did it come down.  I think it only took 10-12K to come down and parts were brutal.  I made Dave go sit in the van because I knew I'd need him later in the race and he didn't need to beat himself on those hills.  After a few K of really painful downs and guy came by.  I thought I'd try to keep up with him and I let him pull me along for a couple K.  I was able to pick up the pace by a few minutes per K and got to the bottom faster, so that was great!

I don't remember much else along that patch until one town, Kaiserberg.  It was all cobbles!  They were so painful!  It was beautiful and I wanted to look around and smile and wave to all the people cheering, but every time I did I'd step bad and hurt my blisters.  Emmanuel found me ice cream!  The best ever!  It was getting hot again, I had a wet towel over my shoulders and the ice cream was such a treat!

Beautiful town, awful cobbles.

Mmmmmm, ice cream!


Near the end I got the motorcade, which was awesome.  It's the same company that does traffic control for the Tour de France, so that was fun.  Finally, and I do mean finally, we made it to the end.  I ended up with five motorcycles in front of me, honking, using their sirens.  people in the town were clapping and cheering.  They gave me my flag and I saw the finish line.  Oh my gosh, what a feeling!  I'm tearing up just thinking about it again!  I'd done it!  I'd actually done it!  All the doubts, all the pain and I'd pushed through it!  Not on my own by any means.  My team helped me and pushed me and supported me and lost sleep and exhausted themselves so that I could have this amazing experience.  It means the world to me!




I crossed that line and everyone was cheering.  Everyone wanted their picture with me.  People were hugging me and clapping my back.  I'm surprised I didn't fall over!  There's this awesome video of me crossing the line and Sergey, a Russian guy we'd met in Lyon for World Masters was there and he's smiling and cheering and hugging me and I turn because they called me some where else and he sees the camera and looks at it and gives a huge fist pump in success.  The women's winner, Tatiana, came up and gave me a big hug, which was awesome.

With Sergey.  He was on the crew for the men's winner.  


The Russians invited us over for Champagne,, which I had a sip and made a huge face in disgust, because I just don't like alcohol!  But it was sweet to offer and to want to celebrate.  I made an offhand comment that I was hungry and immediate they were offering me some of their food.  Such great sportsmanship and kindness

By that time my body said that's it.  My feet were killing me.  The rest of me felt fine.  The shower felt amazing and I was able to eat some.  My eating this race was by far the best I'd done for a long race.  I didn't eat a ton, Dave was amazed that I could survive on so little compared to him, but I never really felt hungry, and if I did I ate.

Awards was awesome.  I wish I spoke French so I could've understood more.  But it was awesome.  I got fourth!  I'm the first American woman to finish and the highest place of any American.  One American guy, Ivo Majetic, has finished the race in 2016 and he was fifth.   Everyone wanted pictures and getting to talk with people was awesome.  So many wonderful people!

Awards.  I was fourth!  The highest place of any American in history.

Giving a gift to the race director.  The shirt says London, Paris, Rome, Owego :) 


Slightly successful selfie.  


I'm sure I'm forgetting so many things.  Obviously I race that takes (me) 50 hours is hard to summarize in one blog post.  I know time will blunt the extremes of the race.  I expected it to be tough and it was.  I knew I could do it and I did.  Yes there were doubts, but I still knew I could do it. I knew I wouldn't give up and I didn't.

The race organizers were outstanding.  The judges did their jobs, but you could tell were also cheering for the athletes to succeed.  The volunteers at the checkpoints were always smiling and happy and cheering.  The volunteers at intersections were always mindful of safety and cheering.  The motorcade was awesome and fun.  The two medical guys were great and kept me on my feet (literally).  The towns we went through were supportive and warm and welcoming.  What an amazing event!



Will I do it again?  I hope so!  Not for a while because I have other goals to achieve first.  But when I go back I'll go back with an eye for reaching the top of the podium.  That will take a lot of special training.  And Tatiana and Irina are absolutely amazing.  But it's good to have goals and dreams and things to make you keep stretching your limits.

If anyone has questions about anything having to do with the race let me know!  I will do my best to answer.  Thank you again everyone who supported through donations, especially Susquehana Printers, US Centurions (Rob Robertson) The Gwendolyn Show, Willow Tree Massage (Janelle Malia) and Mountain View Mobile Homes! (it's the most expensive race I've ever participated in due to the van and the length and all that) Thank you to those who bought shirts, told jokes during the race and for the amazing comments.  Knowing there were so many people behind me and cheering for me helped me through the rough patches.



And most of all, thanks to Dave.  I wouldn't have made it without him.  From all the miles he walked with me to knowing what to say when and what not to say when.  Knowing what I like to eat and knowing when he had to say eat this whether you want to or not, he was my rock.  I'm one super lucky gal.


Church of Joan of Arc



Thursday, April 19, 2018

What I learned from watching this year's Boston Marathon

Holy cow, what a race!  Did you see it?  If you didn't you should find a way to watch it.  The consensus seems to be from all around it was the most miserable weather anyone can remember.  Cold with wind and sometimes torrential rains had many people changing predictions before the race.  But I don't think anyone would've predicted the outcome.

I am over the moon excited for Desiree Linden!  The announcers said this is the first marathon she's won.  Not the first major marathon, but first marathon.  She's been racing marathons for years, coming in 2nd in Boston in 2011 by a few seconds.  She obviously has the speed to win a marathon.  But it seems whenever she decided to run a marathon she decided to run a major marathon, one where she'd have to really be the best of the best that day. 

And the men's winner, Yuki Kawauchi, what a story.  He's won a marathon or two, or twenty!  He's the epitome of what a professional marathoner should NOT do.  He races around 12 hard marathons a year, plus also racing half marathons, 50Ks and other ultras.  He has no coach and works a full-time desk job. 

What do these two have in common?  They are very, very mentally tough. 

There's a Runner's World article from 2015 that talks about Kawauchi's training when he was 7 years old.  His mom would make him run penalty laps if he didn't set a personal best in training.  Every day.  If he was really slow he'd have to walk home by himself.  His high school coach also had the philosophy of pushing yourself to the limits very regularly.  He would often collapse in exhaustion at the end of practice.  He runs marathons now in whatever weather there is.  In one marathon around new years he ran and was the only person to finish it the weather was so bad.  He knows how to push himself, he has pushed himself, and he finishes races, no matter the conditions.

Desiree has an incredible resume.  In some ways she's always seemed like the perpetual bridesmaid.  Constantly so close.  Always up there, always qualifying for teams but never really considered a favorite.  But she's always out there pushing and trying her best.  It took a very long time in the broadcast for the announcers to even start talking about the fact that she was in the lead pack.  And then when they did it was because she waited for Shalane after her potty break to help her catch up. 

What does this mean?  Boston this year was a race that took the eliteness out of the elite.  It took out the racers who can race when conditions are perfect and stripped it down towards raw strength of will.  It stripped it down to those who run with their heart.   Those who don't have the ideal training, so that when the race wasn't ideal they could still run amazing. 

And you know what else I learned?  American women are tough!!!!!  Did you see how many American women were in the top 10?  Seven!!!!!  That is unbelievable!  Were they fast?  No, but nobody was.  What they were was tough.  The second place woman, Sarah Sellers, when she crossed the finish line asked what place she got.  The finish line officials told her second.  She was like, cool, in what division?  They told her overall and she was in disbelief.  She ran close to her best time, stayed smart and cool and composed.  What does she do in her real life?  She's a nurse who works 10 hour shifts.  She fits training in before and after work.  She runs when she's tired and her feet hurt and she had a tough day.  So when she raced and didn't feel good and it was a tough day it was just like training.

What can we learn from this?  Mental toughness is important.  It's not as important when things go well.  When things go well it's just a day.  It's when things are rough, when you're not having a good day, when the weather is awful, when you didn't get enough sleep or your eating is off, when you're having problems in your personal life and your mind just isn't in the game.  That's when mental toughness comes in. 

And this is where people may say, yes, they're tough, but I'm just not all that tough.  That may be true, but that doesn't mean it has to stay true!  We all have days where we look outside at the weather and think yuck, I don't want to go out in that.  How often do you go out in it and how often do you stay in?  Let me say that safety is always first!  Dangerous conditions are never worth a workout.  Your health and safety are never worth just one session.  Living in upstate New York with ice and snow storms sometimes decisions have to be made based on safety factors, not just the yuck factor. 

Think of mental toughness as a muscle that you can work.  Basically it's getting yourself out of your comfort zone and making it comfortable.  Getting used to changes, going with the flow, being adaptable, these are all things that can help you become more mentally tough.  Many of you know my favorite book, and one I make all my athletes read is "With Winning In Mind" by Lanny Basham.  If you haven't read it I highly recommend it.  He talks about mental toughness in his book, so I'll skip what he says and let you read it.

I will admit there are times I'm not as mentally tough as I could/should be.  But in other ways I consider myself very, very mentally tough.  Do I have room to improve, yep!  But I also know when race conditions get tough that I am tougher.   Are you mentally tough?  Could you be tougher?  Do you know what you could do to be tougher?  If you don't know what to do to be mentally tougher then let's start a dialogue, let's see if we can help each other become as mentally tough as the American women who ran Boston!


If you didn't see my last blog post about the race I'm doing in France, please take a look!  There's still time to sponsor and/or buy a shirt!  I could really use your help and support.

Happy training everyone!

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Jerzy Hausleber Memorial 50K


Another 50K in the books!  And what a weekend it was.  Lots of new friends, good times, oh, and a 50K!

I moved from the Villa I was staying at on Thursday and joined all the other athletes getting ready to race.  I had WIFI in my room, and meals that consisted of something other than rice and beans!  And people I could talk to in English!  It was wonderful.  I enjoyed my time at the Villa and everyone (except one cafeteria guard) was super nice and friendly and helpful.  But it is nice to watch TV and things like that.  I missed watching the Olympics!  (Thank goodness for DVR, I'm watching them now as I type this)

The weather for the 20K races on Saturday was really brutal, especially for the men.  It got really hot and humid and you could see it take it's toll on all the athletes.  The clouds came over for the women's race and the conditions were significantly better, but still quite warm.   I worked the aid table for the men's 20K and really enjoyed being on that side of things, cheering for friends, and making friends with the other people helping behind the tables.

My amazing personal cheering section!  They yelled and cheered for me every single lap!


Thankfully it wasn't slated to get as hot on Sunday.  After the men finished and I made sure the guys I knew were okay (some were in bad shape)  I went back to the hotel to cool off.  I was hot and I didn't even race!  I relaxed for a bit and then went to watch some of the women's race.  I had been standing in the sun and the heat for quite a while that day, so I didn't watch it all, but I saw enough to get really excited and motivated for my race.

One thing that had me a bit apprehensive was the judges.  Obviously my DQ from London was a big frustration for me.  And after surgery I worried that it might affect my technique for the negative.  I raced three major races since London (Our indoor national 5,000 champs, 30K national champs, and 50K national champs).  In all three I didn't get a single paddle or card.  But the judges seemed to really be watching everyone closely.  There were tons of cards on the board and a number of DQs.  So there was part of my brain that was getting nervous.  So part of my pre-race prep was spent with my eyes closed and "feeling" my technique in super slow motion.  I thought about each part of my step and how I wanted it to feel and how it would feel.  And I constantly thought to myself "I walk legal, I have very straight legs."

Funny story (at least to me).  There were no bananas at the host hotel!  I didn't even think about the possibility of no bananas!  And there were no grocery stores nearby.  Obviously I don't NEED bananas, but I sure do like them race morning.  As I was coming back from the women's 20K, to get back to the hotel you take a pedestrian bridge.  As I was coming down the steps there was a police vehicle parked to the right and I could see in the back windows to the back seats.  And what did my eyes spy but two bananas!!!!!  I hurried into the hotel to find someone who could translate for me.  I found one of the really nice Chilean guys and told him, "Will you go out to the cops out there and ask them if I can buy their bananas?  I saw them on the back seat."  He looked at me like I was a little nuts, but happily obliged.  The cops thought I was pretty funny, but were so nice.  They told him that they understood there were no stores around, and gave them to me as a gift!  How nice!  I was literally jumping up and down I was so happy!  People are just so darned nice!

I had a nice dinner and then read, stretched, and watched some Olympics.  Then I tried to sleep.  Some nights before races I have no problems sleeping and others it's not so smooth.  I woke up a couple times absolutely overheated and drenched in sweat.  I have no idea why.  I was just so hot.  It was a bit weird.  So when I got up in the morning I decided to take a cool shower to see if I could cool myself off, as well as get any salty sweat off my body.  Last thing I want is extra chaffing!

View of the course


I walked over, got my aid settled, did a small warm up, and was as ready as I was going to be!  My plan/hope was to be around 5:40 per K pace.  I thought it was possible to hold that the whole race.  However, when I started it just wasn't there.  So I went with it and tried to stay positive.  I started off in a solid fourth, as in fourth by a pretty big margin.  But it's a 50K and I knew a lot could change....

A bit before 20K or so I noticed Mariela Sanchez wasn't gaining on me anymore.  And then another lap or so I noticed she started coming back to me.  I was keeping my eyes open to see if I was gaining when suddenly I saw her on the sidelines.  I was very sad that she DNFed, but I also realized it put me in a podium spot which gave me a positive bust of energy.

Even though I started off not feeling how I hoped to feel, I was still really happy.  How could I not be?  I was racing a 50K at an IAAF challenge meet!  I was smiling and talking with people, which is common for me.  And when people see you appreciate them cheering for you they tend to cheer for you more!  And during some of the rough patches in the race it was that cheering that really kept me going!  By that point, since they had seen me so many times and so many times smiling, when the smile started to falter they knew I was hurting a bit and really cheered to help me out.  But I jump ahead.

Around 12K I started feeling better and picked it up a bit.  I picked it up to around where I had wanted to be.  My second 10K was about 45 seconds faster than my first.  So I backed off a bit.

I had sort of noticed for a while that second place didn't seem to be charging at the same speed she had been.  So at one point I asked Emmanuel to time what the gap was.  Next lap around he told me it was 9 minutes.  I said, yeah, but I think I'm gaining on her.  And someone at the aid table said, yeah, she's really coming back.  Next lap I came around and the gap was down to 7 minutes.  It gave me such a burst of excitement and adrenaline.  I picked it up and charged after her.  I think at one point I said something like "she's mine!" (meaning I can catch her).  Quentin, in his usual voice of reason at one point said to me, "You're going to catch her, but there's still a long way to go."  It was either at 34 or 36K that he said that.  I think I replied to him, "Yeah, but I'm still feeling good."  Famous last words, lol....

So the gap went from 9 minutes to 7, to 4:30, 2:20 and then I was ahead of her by around 150 meters the next lap.  I did at one point in those last few laps realize that I should calm down and I backed off.  Even with the backing off I still caught second that quickly.  But the damage, I guess you could say, was done.  Because then I started to rig up.  Instead of continuing to gain a few minutes a lap on her I started going close to the same pace.  By that point I had a good 3-4 minute lead so I wasn't too worried.  And first was far enough ahead that I knew I had no chance of catching her.  So I went through some mental calculations.  I never intended to race this race 100% all out.  It was always designed to be a solid workout.  So I thought, well, I can charge ahead knowing it will probably cost me in recovery time and delay training.  So I kept my eye on third to make sure she wasn't getting a second wind and just focused on finishing strong and solid.

So I learned a lot.  You don't have to catch someone in 6-8K when you have about 18K to do it.  I think charging like that probably cost me 5-7 minutes overall in my time.  Good lesson to learn!

I was really happy with my aid.  I drank some water every lap from the race aid station, as well as sponged myself.  Because that feeling of being overheated that I had before the race continued during the race.  I just smiled to myself and told myself, "boy, it sure is nice how cool it is today!"  That seemed to work well.

Regina, her three sisters, and the guide at the museum... yes, they give you a guide at the museum! 


During my stay at the Villa I made friends.  There was one girl, Regina, who had just started learning to race walk.  She was so sweet.  She spoke less English than I spoke Spanish, so we would futz though talking.  She raced the 2K on Saturday and I was there when she finished.  She did so good!  Her and her three older sisters came to the race and made a huge banner for me that said "Go Erin, Go!" with hearts and stuff.  The first time I saw the sign I almost started crying!  They yelled and screamed for me every single lap!  I just love how sports, even when you don't speak the same language, can bring people together.

Most of the team that trains at the Villa (a few girls are missing, Regina is far left)


So I got second!  How cool is that!  And what a big award!  I was lucky it fit in my luggage.  It made my bag too heavy.  Two days after the race (Tuesday) I feel great!  I went for a walk today and felt amazing.  So I think my recovery will be quick and I can get right back to training and getting ready for China.  To have gotten this strong after only two months decent training, with two more months before China I'm feeling really excited for the possibilities.

Making new friends!