:-::Lost Girl::-:

-------Week 13 of training for my first ultra-------

This is the beginning of my tapering. I only did 27 miles this week. I have some pretty tight sore muscles at the moment and I didn't help things by doing the super intense trail run up Larch Mountain yesterday. Going to need to really baby my body for the next 3 weeks before my ultra. #myachilleshatesme

::Recap of Saturday's Long run::

A friend of mine who is also training for the Smith Rock Ascent 50K told me how hard that run was going to be...when I told him I was running from Multnomah Falls to the top of Larch Mountain.  I have been getting more and more nervous as the Ultra gets closer. So I wanted to do another really challenging run to gain a little bit more confidence. Mostly, my confidence took a beating. Maybe it was the heat, maybe it was the fact that I chose a run that had an over 5000ft elevation gain over a 17 mile span, or maybe it was the fact that it really was just a very very challenging run. Now, my ultra is almost the same elevation gain over a 31.5 mile distance. Soo...it should be more gradual. My left achilles and calf gave me A LOT of trouble-not up hill but alllllllll the way downhill. I literally had to repeat to myself outloud for a good hour "pain is temporary, pain is temporary, pain is temporary."

That run was supposed to be 6.8 miles to the top with a elevation gain of 4074ft. I forgot to turn on my gps for 1.5 miles coming down the mountain...luckily I knew how far that huge fallen tree was from the top since I glanced at my Garmin every 3 seconds going ever so slowly up that last 2 miles. I also got turned around and somehow ended up on the Oneonta/Franklin trail and at some point got turned around on the Multnomah Spur trail. Still not really sure how that happened. When you are hiking slowly I think its easier to keep track.....buuuuut when you are running down hill only watching the ground to make sure you don't trip on rocks or roots or boulders or trees or your own ankles...it can be easy for one to miss a trailhead. There were quite a few moments that I would realize....oh crap...I am not going the way I came. Oh well.....in the end I had burned almost 3000 calories and had an elevation gain of over 5000ft and around 17 miles and got to see an amazing view as I made it to the top. Incredible. PS: Tried brining a PB&J on my run instead of relying mostly on Perpetuem. I had absolutely NO stomach aches while out. It was nice. Apparently, your body WANTS real food.

Not liquid calories only. 

:::After:::

Every Saturday on the way home from whatever trail I have been training on I go straight to Youskyme Teriyaki and get Gyoza. This time I picked up my Gyoza and went home and crawled into a hot bath and ate my gyoza. I was so tired, hungry and sore that I couldn't fathom a different way of doing things at that moment. So I (without shame) ate my gyoza in the bath. My feet have never taken such a beating. I took off my shoes and all of that aggressive down hill pounding had left holes in the tips of my brand new running socks. ::That's a first::. My feet also looked like i had been in the bath for 3 hours. Prunes, bruised and beat up. It's safe to say that my Brooks Cascadia 10 trail shoes are now broken in. I don't want to turn this collection of running thoughts from my long run into a trail running shoe review...but I absolutely love those shoes.

In the end it was an incredible memory that I will forever remember. I was a little scared to go by myself...but I have gotten stronger, braver and a lot more self sufficient. I am learning thing about myself that I never knew were there... I have always been someone who is trapped by fear. Fear of making a fool of myself, of being ignored or forgotten, of failing.....----Now my biggest fear is not pursing my goals, of not even trying and of giving up when things get hard. My goals have gotten so much bigger. I have HUGE plans for me. I don't want to be ordinary. I don't want to wake up one day and WISH I had given 110%. No more talking myself out of the things I want to accomplish. I am the only one in my way. So, I'll move.