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

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!

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!

Monterrey, Mexico training camp!

sunrise on my way to Monterrey

To get ready for my next 50K on Feb 25th, I decided to come to Monterrey two weeks early to get some training in that wasn't in snow or my local HS hallway...  Here's how it's been going so far.

I arrived last Saturday after 16 total hours travel.  Everyone was super nice!  The lady that picked me up brought her brother in law assuming (correctly) that my Spanish wasn't great and he could translate.  I got checked in to the CARE center (I've forgotten what it stands for) which is a big building with lots of dorm-style rooms.  It ends up this is where kids come to live and train for their disciplines.  There's track and field, rollerblading, archery, martial arts, springboard diving, BMX racing, cycling, tennis, and I feel like I'm leaving something out.  There's a school on location so they can live, study and train here.  This makes me slightly out of place, being an adult, but since there's coaches who stay here too I think a lot of the kids think I'm another coach.

The facilities are pretty bare bones, but functional.  The dining hall serves cafeteria style food, nothing fancy, but definitely gets the job done.  I'm used to eating about 5 smaller meals a day, so adapting to three meals only has been a bit of a challenge.  I brought some food with me, but in hindsight not enough.  A trip to the grocery store will be in order before my stay is over.  There's a weight room with a lot of equipment, much of it with a "do not use" sign because it's broken, but everyone I've seen in there is working hard and having fun.  There seems to be a coach for every event.  I've seen a hurdle coach, long jump coach, sprint coach and throwing coach, and met and spoken a bunch with the race walk coach.  Everyone is super friendly and we try really hard to communicate.  Mostly people are surprised I'm here by myself,, they keep asking where my coach is.

The whole compound is located inside a big park, which has a 2K roadway around the middle.  The outside half is for cyclists and the inside is for rollerbladers and runners/race walkers.  The surface is really nice and easy to walk on.

The day after I arrived I had a 40K session.  Saturday, when I was being shown around, I asked if it was safe to leave my bottles by the road during my workout.  he thought for a minute and said no, it's a public park and couldn't guarantee someone wouldn't take the bottles.  No problem, makes sense, I figured I'd wear my pack and then when I was out of drink would hurry to my room (about 150 meters and 4 flights of stairs), change bottles and keep going.  No problem.  He asked when I would do my workout, I said probably at 7:00 AM.

Sunday morning I wake up and go to the dining hall and have a nice breakfast.  There's no WiFi in the rooms, you have to be in the courtyard area to get online, so I was sitting on a bench about 6:40 and a guy comes up to me and says, "Erin?  Hi, I'm here to do your aid."  Say what?  They found someone to come with water, powerade and ice and he stayed out with me for the whole workout!  I felt bad and told him he didn't have to do that.  he said "my job today is to take care of you."  Wow!!!!  And I was so glad he was there.  The last 15k or so of my session the temperature got up to the low 80s, way hotter than I'm used to, and the extra water to pour over me and the ice to put in my bra helped me get through the session really strong.  Talk about nice!  I went out later that evening for a second session and did another 5K, ending up with a 5:35K, so I was super happy about that.

Yesterday evening I saw some race walkers and introduced myself and met their coach, who speaks pretty good English.  He's super nice and we had a very nice chat.  One of the girls he's training just started walking three weeks ago.  She's not fast but has a very nice technique.  I did her cool down with her and she was so excited.  We "talked" as much as our limited bi-lingual abilities would let us, and it was really nice.  When the coach heard I was doing 30K the next morning he offered to do my aid for me.  I told him he didn't need to do that and he said, "I have nothing else to do."  Meaning his job is to be there coaching the race walkers.  And he said what I have always felt, that we are all cousins in race walking and help each other!

It seems that the sickness that's back home is here too, and I wonder if I'm catching it or relapsing from what I had in NY.  Today I had a 30K session planned and started off my first 2K sooooo slow and my heart rate was waaaaay up.  I stretched a bit and tried again and just went slower.  I came around again and the coach even said I didn't look good.  Really stiff, no flexibility and not looking good in the face (lol).  So I decided to stop the session (my fourth K was 6:40!) and take a nap.  I laid down and five minutes later was ravenously hungry.  I had a few snacks in my room and ate them and then slept for three hours straight!  I've currently got a headache and a slightly upset tummy, but am really hoping the power of positive thinking, some good food, and a good night's rest will result in tomorrow being a bright new day.  This was one day where the mind was willing but the body was not.

I've used the day very productively, getting ahead on my school work, I have less than two weeks left of classes and will be really happy to be done with the degree.  Then I'll have a review class that's extra and then I can take the certification exams!

I've also been re-reading "With Winning in Mind" by Lanny Basham.  I've mentioned the book before and I swear, every time I read it I learn something new!  It's helping me get even more focused and excited about the year.  And another thing it's helped me realize is this:  I may not have been able to workout how I wanted to today, but that doesn't mean the day was a failure.  I have used the day to work on my mental game and I have done the smart thing and not gotten myself so exhausted that it would take days to recover.

The race should be fun.  I've heard there are five women officially entered; three from Mexico, one from Bolivia, and me.  Then I guess there are two women who have yet to declare if they will do 20 or 50.  Hopefully they choose 50!

Fingers crossed I wake up tomorrow feeling better!  Happy training everyone!

How salty my pants were after my 40K! 

evening view from my window

roller blade track

stadium

rock climbing walls

volley ball courts

diving pools

diving practice

velodrome

part of the 2K loop for cyclists/roller bladers/runners/ race walkers

courtyard of the dorms

making new race walking friends!

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recap of the 50K national championships and moving forward

made it to the end!

Better late than never?  I've been meaning to get this written for a while, but life has been so busy lately!

Overall I was quite happy with how the race went.  I had zero paddles or card, so a very clean race!  And, best of all, no pain!  My hip didn't hurt at all!  I had a few moments where it was tired and cranky, but that's to be expected doing a 50K where the last time you've walked anything over 25K was August....

In hindsight I started off too fast.  I thought I could be anywhere between 4:45 and 5:30 and ended up just under 5 hours.  But my first 10K was 56:31.  It felt so good to be able to move again!  I hit 20K in 1:53:26 and then it sort of went downhill.  But then it went back uphill a bit.  During the race Tracy Sundland was interviewing Phillip Dunn and during the interview he spoke about how in a 50K you'll have a time where you sag down and then can come back up from it.  I was happy that I was able to come back up! 

Happy to be done with my athlete AJ, who finished third! 

The one thing the race gave me was definite hope!  I'm going to be able to come back and I'm going to be able to come back stronger than ever!

Chloe is quite famous in the Santee area. (And yes, I was able to get back up all by myself from this position!) 

Since the race training has been going pretty well.  I've had some amazing workouts.  I really try to train for consistency over single amazing workouts, but with the weather being, shall we say non cooperative, I've had to adapt as best I can.  For the most part it's been very successful.  But I will say, I now know the inside of the school hallways much, much better than I ever wanted to.  For example, Sunday I did 30K in the morning and 10K in the evening, so a total of 112 laps.  Thank goodness for Podcasts!  If anyone has some they enjoy I'm up for suggestions.  I've been listening to TED Radio and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.

Saturday I'm escaping this winter wonderland to head down to Monterrey, Mexico for a few weeks before racing another 50K February 25th.  I'm really happy to be going to get some solid training, but sad I'll be leaving.  It's been really nice being home, and I enjoy coaching the kids.  I'm missing the last two weeks of their season, but I know they'll be ready.  First I need to kick this dumb cold I caught.  I'm not sure how the human body can create so much mucus....

There's the short story!  If all goes to plan I'll have a nice seasons best to write about after Feb 25th!

Happy training!
ERin
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It may be cold, but it's beautiful

Our National 50K championships are in two days, here's how I'm really feeling about it

Two days til my favorite type of race.... a 50K!!!!  It has been a bumpy roller coaster ride the last five months.  Very bumpy and very up and down.  And now the race is in two days.  Here's some of the thoughts going through my brain.

1.  My goal is to finish.  I know, the first goal is always to finish.  But sometimes we just say it and then have a goal that really means something.  In this case it really is just to finish.  The most Ks I've put together in a single day since August is 31K and those were not fast.  I know I'm coming into this race undertrained.  Not because I've been slacking, in some ways I've worked harder in the last 5 months since surgery than I have in my life, it's just that the working hard I've done hasn't been putting miles down on the road.  So I want to finish.  I want to know that my recovery is done and I'm on my road back.  Not just back to recovery to the old me, but on the road to being a better version of myself.  One where I can push through anything.  One where I can be tough and focused and ready for any challenge. 

2.  The last month or so have been mentally very challenging.   And I do mean very.  I'm a big proponent of consistent training.  That it's not super awesome workouts you have once in a while, but putting in the work over time.  I haven't been able to do that, for one reason or another, and it kills me.  And of course, like most athletes, once I have a good day I automatically want to think "all right!  That's it!  I'm back!  Now I can put my mileage back up to where it used to be!"  Which is of course silly.  The worst part is when I have a few good days in a row and I think I really am back to my old self (or on the way to becoming better self) and then it all falls apart.  Case in point.  Sunday I went to an indoor track meet.  I got there super early and did a longish warm up.  About 7K.  After the first two K being rough because I was tight, I was actually moving quite well.  Then I raced a 5,000.  I pushed myself hard and went over 30 seconds faster than I raced the national 5,000 indoors December 30th.  Not too bad for three weeks later!  Then, that night I went to the high school and did 10K in the halls.  It went great!  I felt awesome!  The next day, Monday, I was a bit tired, as expected since that was, for me an awesome day, but still did another fantastic 10K.  Tuesday we had a big storm and the school closed and the roads were covered in snow so I didn't get out to race walk.  But I did some elliptical and it was brutal.  I was so slow and heavy.  No problem I thought, you had two solid days, a day rest will do good for you.  Then Wednesday you can do some speed.  Wrong!  Wednesday I had nothing in my legs.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  And even worse was how it made me feel mentally.  Five days before the race and there's nothing there.  Now I know that there's still plenty of time for my body to recover and be ready for Saturday, and I'm sure I will be.  Unless I get sick or something like that I'm always ready on race day.  But I missed the mental confidence of doing a solid session before the race. 

3.  I'm really having to try and relearn some mental toughness.  Not the mental toughness of pushing through a session or a race, the mental toughness of feeling like I'm failing.  Of feeling like I should be so much farther ahead than I am.  Of when I have those days when I'm just so down and all I want to do is lay on the couch and feel sorry for myself to instead pick myself up and ask myself, what can I do to make today a success?  Some days the answer has legitimately been to rest.  Some days it's to make sure I do extra core work, or to stretch, or to read some articles on mental toughness.  But then every day I can say I did something to make myself better. 

4.  With all this I'm still going to have an awesome race.  How do I know?  Because I love 50Ks!  Because I am so thankful to be out there racing.  Racing the distance I love with other women who now have the opportunity to race it internationally.  Knowing that many of them are there because I helped open the door for them.  Knowing that I'm fighting my way for a spot on the team to go to China and race.  How cool is that?  I usually don't like talking about how fast I hope/expect to go in a race, but this time I will.  I have no idea!  I honestly could go anywhere between 4:45 and 5:30.  My plan?  To start off feeling comfortable and hold on and push the last 10K.  Whatever comes out comes out.  Saturday is basically a training walk for me getting ready for Mexico and ultimately China.

5.  My goal between now and Saturday morning?  Get as mentally ready as I can.  Smile a lot.  Be excited to see my friends and my parents.  Enjoy getting out of this snowy land of cold for a few days and be happy and excited to race yet another 50K!   

National 5,000 meter indoor championships - recap

The USATF Indoor 5,000 national championships, hosted by the Upstate Holiday Classic.  Five days before the meet I couldn't walk at 6 per K pace, so I had no clue what I'd be capable of doing, so I thought I'd go out and wing it and see what happened.

There's always little things to get organized the day of a meet, so I was running around way more than I normally would before a race and thus didn't get it a lot of a warm up.  So even once the gun went off I had no clue what I'd do or how fast I'd go, so I just thought I'd have fun and race!

I can't even tell you how happy and excited I was that my first K was 4:51!  I have speed!  It's still there!  I couldn't hold it, but hey, that'll come back over time.  My K splits were:
4:51
5:02
5:10 (15:03)
5:15
5:12 (25:29)

Pretty happy with that.  I felt like I could've kept going at that pace I settled into for longer, I wasn't going super hard, just lost that faster gear.   But for me it was so much more, it was hope.  Hope that I can get back to where I was, hope that I can exceed where I was, and hope that good things are to come.  Whew!  Hope!

My athlete AJ was going for a record in the 10,000.  One of the benefits of only doing the 5,000 was I got to watch him and cheer for him.  He was on pace right up until 4 laps to go.  And if you know AJ you know he always has a faster gear his last lap.  But you can never take anything for granted.  with four laps to go he decided that he really didn't want his breakfast in his stomach anymore.  After finding a convenient garbage can by the track he then made me so super proud by picking himself back up and finishing.   It's that toughness that will make him an awesome 50K walker!

And here's what makes me even happier about my road back...  I did 20K today.  that in itself isn't so impressive, so bear with me for just a sec.  The temperature today was 2 Fahrenheit (-15 Celsius) with wind and the road were still snowy and icy.  So I did it inside at the school.  The last 5K of my workout was 25:51!  Very exciting!

So here's to a new year.  A year of fun new challenges, a year of seeing how hard I can work, a year of setting goals and breaking them and a year of enjoying life.   Here's to an awesome 2018!

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