Just 9 short days ago I was finishing my first 100k and first 100 mile attempt(read about it here: Secret Race Report ). I thought I would be wrecked for weeks. Probably barely able to get off the couch for ice cream and not able to put shoes on without help. Yet, only 2 days later I went for a 5 mile run. I was slow, I was sore, but I was victorious! It was amazing to me that I could do that and that I WANTED to do that still. If anything my thirst for running has only increased since the VTU. I jumped back into CrossFit a little too quickly. I went to the box 4 days after VTU and attempted a simply deadly ladder workout my trainer devised. My quads were a mess for two more days from that alone. I took those two days off and worried and fretted about the planned trail run I had with a fellow ultra runner over the weekend.
Saturday morning I got up at the crack of dawn and drove an hour and a half to meet my friend (and her hubby) that you may remember from the Hell Hath No Hurry 6 Hour Trail Race. She's seriously a rock star! See?!
We met up with two other runners and drove another hour and a half to the trail head of the Baker Trail in Cook's Forest where I'll be running my 50M next month. My friend's hubby is also running the full 50 and the rest of the group is running the relay. We had originally planned on doing a 12 mile out and back for a total of 24 miles. The guys decided that an 18-ish mile point-to-point was better so we parked one vehicle at a road crossing with the trail and the other a half mile from the trail head. If we had only know what would happen from there!
The guys went out faster than the ladies and it wasn't more than 100 yards onto the trail before they were gone for good! Our group of gals managed to get turned around twice, run out of water twice, spot a giant bird, climb a fire watch tower, and generally induce more mayhem than necessary into trail running! I loved every minute of it! When we finally found the end car, 22+ miles later, we were ever so grateful that the guys were faster. They had chairs and food and bevies (the new word for beverages apparently!) ready and waiting. It turned out to be an awesome way to spend a Sunday! Oh, and I found out that Newton was a Red Eft, or a juvenile salamander/newt. How cool is that?!
Fire Tower. Yeah, we climbed that!:
I probably should have been recovering Monday but I took advantage of my husband and I both being off and we headed for Kennywood, the local amusement park. It was really fun but my flip flops rubbed some gnarly blisters on the tops of my feet! I won't make that mistake again!
Today I checked my friend's Facebook page and saw that she was looking for someone to run with in the afternoon. I couldn't pass up another opportunity for hilarity and we met on a rails-to-trails trail for a quick run. It turns out that, while our trail pace is perfectly compatible, I have some work to do on the flat! She held me to just over a 9-minute mile for the first few and then let me slip a little on the way back. We ended up with 6 miles at just barely over a 10 minute-mile pace. For 1PM in almost 90* heat with high humidity I am super happy with that. If I keep running with her I should be setting PR's in no time! I'm going to try to drive up for one of her running group's runs in the near future. You can never have to many 'solemates' as I've come to call my trail BFF.
All in all, I don't know how long this good running can last. I don't know if going from 80 mile months to 100 mile months to 120 mile months is going to burn me out over such a short period of time. But I do know that I'm going to take in every minute it lasts and enjoy it thoroughly. All I can do is hope that running continues to be such a source of joy in my life for years to come and that I continue to meet such amazing people who push me to better myself in every way!
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