62 mile training run

The day started early, driving the 0.8 miles to the starting parking lot with Troy and Annie. Moab 100 kicks off at 7am, so I wanted to start at the same time. I pulled up and to my shock and amazement all of the parking lot and sidewalks were chalked up for me. I had no clue who did it and wouldn't find out for another 56 miles. Tyler, Boone, and Bret were waiting for me. I thought I would just have Tyler, so this was pretty rad.

At 7am on the dot we took off running. It was great to get to know Bret as this was my first time meeting him. Boone is working on moving out here, and his wife and I are bloggy buddies (soon to be "real" friends). Tyler kept things alive and crazy as usual. I didn't feel very good at all. I felt like I had already run 20 miles, and at first this scared me a little. But my brain just started thinking "Well, if I can run 62 feeling like crap this, I will know that I can do 100 with a taper and feeling better".

Pulling into the parking lot for lap two I was shocked to see Julie and John and Jon, none of whom I was expecting. Bret stayed on for another lap as well. We had a great lap chatting and Bret told me some great stories that I will totally think of when I am running the 100 miler, super cool.

Laps 3 and 4 I had a literal entourage. The Jons stayed on for another lap. Keith, Barry, and Melissa joined in, and Melissa brought her husband Ryan and her SIL Jen. Those two were super cute and were running farther than they ever had.

Talking to Sharpie this morning she reminded me that when people come out and run with me they are showing me with their bodies how much they support me. I really am so blessed that I am able to get people out the door to push their limits, that is my MO and main motivator. You all keep me pushing to the next level. It's truely a win-win!

Lap 5 I was still pretty much feeling like dog poo. Not that you would know it, but the end of that lap with Michelle and Keith, and a little bit of Barry was pretty quiet. Inside my head I was just focused and trying to not puke as I was a little nauseous. I couldn't help but think...only 30 miles in..Oy! Michelle and Keith got me through that one. Also, I really didn't think I would have anyone with me for the rest of the day until maybe the last lap in the dark where I knew that Ben would come ride with me.

I pulled into the parking lot and I saw people. I got excited. Maybe they were there for me. And sure enough, such an unexpected surprise was Carrie and Tess. I've only met Carrie two or three times, and Tess was one of my Mountain Mamas YEARS ago. Tess and I have kept in touch via facebook and she just decided to come help me out (BTW you have to check out Concert for Cash). John also showed up about 1.5 miles into the lap on his mountain bike.

I tell ya, Carrie and Tess are two of the most vivacious people I have met. They both got me headed down a completely different path. By the end of lap 6 I was feeling better than I had all day. It was totally them...all them.

Carrie stayed on for lap 7 and kept me 100% entertained. She's a great pacer...I tell ya!

Then pulling into the parking lot I was again preparing mentally for a solo lap, but didn't have to prepare for long. Keith was there with his bike. That was a painful lap for me but he stayed right with me, keeping me company, letting me talk about stupid stuff and slurr my words.

Ben came out for the last two laps. Whew, because I was now eating massive amounts of pink and white Circus Cookies, and Yellow Peeps. I was getting loopy and a little out of it. Ben is perfect for these conditions. He totally kept me on track and moving forward. Ben lets me talk about ANYTHING. I think I spent like 30 minutes retelling him the story of Annies birth, including ALL the gory details. I swear I could talk about my period for an hour with him and he would totally be like "No kidding, Hillary is that way too". But I didn't...

At the end of lap 9 Bret had come back to cheer for me in the parking lot, that was a nice bonus. We also realized that somewhere in lap 9 my Garmin had fallen off. Seriously? But it gave me something to focus on for the last lap...finding my $300 Garmin! We looked everywhere and sure enough after like 5 miles of looking, we found my Garmin laying in the middle of the trail. The strap had broken.

Troy followed us in the car the entire last lap. I gave Annie a hug in the last mile and apparently its just what she needed because she fell fast asleep. Finishing was great. I was giddy and pretty high. It was pitch dark and I hadn't turned on my iPod once, I had company from sun up to sun down.

I hobbled into the car, and straight into the ice bath from hell. After that it was food, jammies, and bed. I couldn't sleep most of the night, was even up at 2am tweeting. A nap is in order today!

Friends, oh friends, I love you all for helping me. Moab will be so sad alone, but it sounds like many of you plan to make the trek out there to pace me at night and have a bit of Moab fun!

There is one last thing I wanted to share with you. I lost 9 toenails last year. And yea, they hurt and were annoying, but more annoying is my ability to get blisters. Last year every run over 15 I got blisters. I didn't even mind them after awhile and just assumed it was part of the program. I have always gotten ones on the top of my toes, and I don't care about those, but the ones that really kill are between my toes. On my 45 mile run a month ago I got a sizable BLOOD blister between my toes. Youch.

This got me thinking that I should try some of those Injinji socks. Wow. For me...blister prone woman, I am sold. I ran through wet mud for 62 miles, I changed socks once because I was just soaked and doing the squish squish dance, and when I pulled my socks off at the end of the day... pruney wet feet...totally BLISTER FREE. Let's just say I'm now going to have to harass them until they let me be a product ambassador. I don't even know what it feels like to be blister free. I do have one toe nail that will probably leave me...again...in a couple months. But no blisters after 3 years of weekly blisters is HUGE. Thank you Injinji!!!!!

Here is the video of my day, I hope you enjoy it!

62 mile run from sonjawieck on Vimeo.

I am training for the Moab 100 which is a looped course. This was my last big training run and I ran 10X6 mile loops out in Cherry Creek State Park. All my friends came out to run with me and it was a total blast. This is a video of my day, sun up to dark