How To Be a Bad-Ass Mother (*or Father)

(I started this right after Ellie wrote her article, but like I say below, Bad-Ass Mother's can't do everything, so it didn't get finished in a timely fashion. But since today is Mother's Day and because I am speaking on this very subject at a running store this Tuesday, I had some good motivation to get this done).

A while back, Ellie Greenwood wrote an article about the paucity of women in ultra-running and many people suggested that motherhood may be a major deterrent to participation. Some of the commenters suggested that women who could juggle training and parenting were bad ass. As a mother of two kids, a full-time physician, and an ultra-runner, I am here to tell you it can be done!  Here are my tips to becoming a Bad Ass Mother (or Father!).

Plan your run time

-“Early to bed, early to rise…makes a Mom healthy, wealthy, and able to get in her daily run.” If you are a stay at home mom, you probably have more flexibility with your time, but as a working Mom, the best way to go is to get the run in first thing in the morning. By evening there are just too many things to derail you: tiredness, hunger, working late, kids activities, etc. Get up and get it done!

“But I am not a morning person,” you wail. The trick to becoming a morning person is to go to bed early. If you have gotten enough sleep, it is much easier to get out of bed. Set a bedtime and stick to it. I run 3-4 days/ week at 5 am and try very hard to be in bed by 9pm. Find friends to run with to make sure you don’t hit snooze one too many times.

- Set a regular schedule and stick to it. This not only serves as designated time for your run, but it also helps your family accommodate your schedule. My husband knows not to plan any late night Sunday activities, because I have an early Monday appointment with the track! My kids aren’t surprised when Mom and Dad aren’t home for dinner on Wednesday, because it happens every week.

Lighten your load:

-“Outsource” mom duties. Baby sitters are great parental surrogates to gain a few hours of time for yourself. If you can afford it, consider hiring help to clean the house. Get help with the yard. Yard service is expensive, but neighborhood teenagers are often eager to earn a few bucks pulling weeds, raking leaves and mowing lawns.

-Get help from your spouse. Studies have shown that women do more household chores, even when both partners work full time. While it may never be equal, there may be ways to pass some of the duties off to your spouse. Ask him to get the kids ready for school or cook dinner one day a week so that you can get in a run.

-Raise self sufficient kids. Anita Ortiz, the only mom to win Western States in the last 25 years (and maybe ever), stated that her teenagers made their own lunches and did  their own laundry while she was training. My kids are much younger (6 and 8) and not quite capable of those things, but they are responsible for packing their own backpacks, getting dressed in the morning, and cleaning their rooms.

Training

-Use the kids as Training Tools: Running with a jogging stroller is not that much fun, but remind yourself how strong you will be from pushing that mass all around the city. Older kids can keep you company on their bicycles. And if you have kids, Congratulations!-You birthed yourself a great set of weights for all kinds of strength exercises. Put them on your back and do lunges, stair climbs, and squats. Whenever I do this, I get a GREAT workout because my kids never want to stop and they always want everything to be equal, so I have to do everything with both my 38 pound weight and my 52 pound weight, er, I mean kids.

-Run during kid activities: Two nights a week Liam takes karate. That’s free babysitting (well, its not free, but it is a free perk that comes with tuition). I often drop him off and get a short run in the nearby neighborhood. I have also taken the kids to the park and run laps around the playground. Maybe not a glamorous or highly exciting run, but it can serve to get 5 miles in.

-Get creative: With kids, you may have to get a little creative as to when you schedule your workouts. Consider two short workouts in a day instead of one long one. If you work, run commuting may be a way to get in some of your weekly mileage. I have also done a “Run swap” with another mom, where I dropped my kids off at her house, went for a run, then watched all the kids while she went for a run. I know one mom who rode a bike trainer during her kids’ soccer games.

-”Treadmill” is not a dirty word: I like to say, “If you put the kids to bed and go run on the treadmill for an hour, your friend will think you are SuperMom. But if you put your kids to bed and leave them in the house alone while you go out for a run, your friends will report you to Child Protective Services.” Yeah, sometimes you have to resort to a treadmill. If you are really serious about running, consider purchasing one for your home. I know many parents (including myself) who run on the treadmill while the kids watch TV. But you don’t have to have a home treadmill. Gym treadmills can also be a valuable tool for late night, early morning, or rainy day runs when you just might not have the motivation to get outside. And many gyms have fairly cheap babysitting services.

-Be Ready to Go: Sometimes opportunities pop up that you hadn’t planned for - you get off work early, the kids get invited to a friend’s house, etc. I keep a set of running clothes in my car at all times for just such opportunities.

- Consider Trading Miles for Speed: I’ve already talked about why I like speedwork (and recognize that not everyone agrees). But I also think focusing on speed for one or two workouts a week can be an efficient way to increase your fitness level with less time needed to finish a workout.

Be Realistic

-You can’t be perfect: In our ideal world, we would all cook homemade meals, do lots of volunteer work, take foreign language classes, and have perfectly clean houses. But the reality is we can’t do everything. Pick the things that really matter the most to you and then MAKE THE TIME for those things. If working out is one of those things, then put it on your schedule. And then don’t beat yourself up for picking up take-out or not making your bed! And if you have to miss a workout or two or even a whole week because something comes up, don’t stress about not following a plan to the letter.

-Some is Better Than None: A lot of people get stuck in “All or None” mentality. Maybe you can’t fit in a 45 minute run today, but see if you can do 20 minutes or even 15. Or maybe you can get in a walk or a hike with the kids, but not a run. That’s better than just blowing the whole day off when things get hectic. I also think a lot of people avoid signing up for races, because they can’t commit to doing every training run. But most people could finish an ultra (or shorter distance race) with a lot fewer miles than a typical training plan calls for. Maybe it won’t be your best run ever, but you can still be out there enjoying the trails, the people, and a lot of fitness benefits.

-Don’t wait till the TO DO list is empty: I have a few friends who really want to run a marathon, but they keep saying they want to wait until they are less busy so they have more time to train. We live in a fast paced world, and there will always be too many things on the “To Do” list. So put running on it, too!

-Get Over Mommy Guilt: Ok, I know this is a hard one. As moms we are always worried if we are doing enough and trying to do the best we can to be good moms. But good moms need time for themselves, too. This is not only good for your own mental health, but it is a good example for your kids, too. It is okay for you to have an activity just for you. Your kids will love you just as much when you get back from your run. I promise!

- Don’t compare to Non-Moms: I actually have friends that get up after 8am on a Saturday morning and then go for a run. Other friends take a nap after their long run. But they don’t have kids. You know what, they probably have cleaner houses and more stylish wardrobes. They probably read more books and do more social activities than I do, too. But life without kids is a different world. I am not saying one is better; they are just different. Don’t try to compare; it’ll never match up.

Keep Family First

Yes, you can be a mom and still find time to run and even train at a high level. But don’t get so involved in running that it is squeezing your family members out. Give your spouse time to himself, too, so that he can pursue the things he loves. In our house, that means I run long on Saturday morning and Mac gets Sunday for his long run day. Have a regular date night with your spouse. Every Wednesday evening, Mac and I go for a run and then go out to dinner, often just the local pub with many other runners. But it is still time we are spending together without the kids and it allows for some adult conversations. And make sure you hit all of your kids’ big events, like school plays and piano recitals, even if that means messing up your training for a weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day to All the Moms out there. You are already Bad-Ass Mothers, but don’t let parenthood keep you from your running goals. With planning, dedication, and creativity you can train for and run ultras or whatever else your running goals may be.

Awesome Kids

This past weekend was the Awesome 3000, one of the few Salem events that really is awesome. It is a citywide noncompetitive running event for kids 3 years old through 8th grade and it gets a couple thousand kids out moving on a Saturday morning.

1st and 2nd Graders out on the field lining up to run

Megan was up first and had been strategizing with her friend Stella on how they could do better than last year's casual jog. Megan decided she was sprinting the whole mile, but like her mom, she doesn't really have a sprint so she was out of the gate in about 30th place. By the time they lapped the softball field and came back to the track Megan was in 9th (out of about 100 2nd graders). The 8th place girl looked like she was dying, but when Megan pulled up alongside, she took off and held her place. Megan finished in 7:51. Afterwards I realized it was only a 1500 and not a mile so no sub-8 for Megan just yet, but still a big improvement from last summer's 8:52 mile time. Nothing spectacular, but at least a half dozen people told me Megan would do really well in a longer event. Hmmm, now I wonder where she gets that? ;) Mostly, I just love watching her run. Her stride is so loose and free - nothing like her mom's stiff hip shuffle!

Megan strides to the finish (almost a little too fast for the camera)

Liam does things a little differently than Megan. He started slow and ten minutes later came walking nonchalantly back to the track. He made sure to give every volunteer a high five. He sprinted past kids on the track, said hi, and then stopped to walk. He fired a few finger-gun shots into the sky. When we yelled at him on the homestretch he started his sprint finish...then stopped and just walked the last ten meters, definitely embracing the non-competitive aspect of the race. 13:03 for 1500 meters - definitely not last, but certainly a back-of-the-pack performance. But he had a great time and told me it was easy to do a mile (well, when you do it that slow...), and that is really what matters.

Liam looks around and takes his own sweet time to get to the finish

My kiddos - each awesome in their own way

After a hula-hoop cool down while refueling with an apple, it was off to soccer. Yeah, soccer mom time! ;) I don't think Megan has a ton of natural talent for the game, but she is focused and usually doesn't get too tired by the end, and that goes a long way in U-8 play. The team is 0-4, but most of them have been close and Megan has scored four goals, so she is having a good time. However, Saturday, she was dragging big time in the second half. Tough races and 80 degree weather will do that!

 Lucky for Liam, all he had to do was sit around and cheer. No doubt he was tired, too. Later in the day he got mad at me and had a fit. So he told me he was going to call up the orphanage to see if they would take him, so that he could get better parents. Is is appropriate to bust out laughing when your kid tells you he wants a new mom??

Liam tries to find the number for the orphanage in the phone book. Sadly, there was no listing under 'O', so he will be staying with us for the time being.

In other mothering failures, I am pretty sure I warped Megan against the field of medicine on Take Your Daughter To Work Day. I thought it'd be cool to check out a twin placenta together (yes, pathologists are weird) but Megan just stared at it with fear and told me it was gross...really gross. I had to tell her to get closer three times and I don't think she wanted to take her eyes off of it to take a picture. Fortunately, the other parts of my job were much more appealing, so maybe she'll reconsider.

 Eeew, gross!

 Eating donuts in the physicians lounge, because that is really what doctors do all day. But watch out for the surgeons. They are a bunch of greedy pigs who can demolish two dozen donuts before 9 am! That's the bariatric surgeon. Ironically, that guy would eat the donut right out of your hand if you aren't careful! 

 Now that's better - good clean, sanitary fun!

Otherwise we are just trying to make the most of this glorious weather while it lasts. Sadly, all this sunshine is very hard on my training - just too much I want to do, especially in the garden and it is way too light to get to bed before 9, which for me is important if I am going to get up at 4:30 and still be functional by the end of the week. I am not doing too well with that. Last Thursday on my day off, I laid down to take a nap at 2:30 and I slept right through Liam's karate at 5:30. More mom of the year points right there!

Looking forward to another crazy weekend centered around the McDonald 50k and a visit from Olga!

American River

The kiddos and I had a fun weekend down in Sacramento visiting Grammie and Grandpa for the weekend. Oh yeah, there was a little race, too! Meanwhile, Mac was off running R2R2R, but that's his story.

I am not quite sure what to say for this race report because I am not quite sure how I feel about my race.  Sure, it is fun to win, but I always say you can't really judge a performance based on what place you get. That being said, I clearly remember a finish line conversation from a few years ago where a woman who beat me went on and on about how terrible her race was and I kind of wanted to punch her in the face because she finished ahead of me and I didn't think my race was all that bad. So I am not so sure I want to be overly critical of my race, because I don't want any violent thoughts against me! Maybe it is best just to say AR was the steadiest, most in control race I have ever had and probably the most fun.  I think the pictures do an awesome job of conveying this. And through the magic of Facebook plagiarism, I have lots of them to share here!

So here's the run down:

I got my carbo loading in at the Jelly Belly Factory on Friday morning and showed remarkable restraint with the Jelly Bellies, eating only half of my sampler bag before the race!

Who are you calling Jelly Belly??

I completed the carbo loading at the prerace dinner  with Jimmy Dean Freeman and his wife Kate. Jimmy gave a humorous and poignant motivational speech for running American River. I must have been paying attention! 

Jimmy Dean gives some pointers. Pre-race dinners with the Freemans have been very good for my racing (also Miwok). Kate has generously agreed to be flown to any locale to

eat with me before a race. 

Race morning was cool, but I knew it'd warm up, so I opted to go without a race vest. Instead I wore my shorts with the most pockets and had my "cheeks" stuffed like a chipmunk at the start of the race. Right before the start, I ducked behind a very public parked car and tried to discretely empty my bladder one last time. After peeing on my shorts, I was ready to rock!

Tera Dube joined me on the bike path around mile 2 or so, and I had the pleasure of running with her for about 15 miles. We swapped mom stories and Western States horror stories before joining up with Andy and Andy, two friends from Reno. When they asked us how we knew each other, we laughed and said we just met. 

My plan was to be in the 7:20-7:30 range for the paved section, and we were consistently 7:21-7:24 with one 7:17 thrown in just for a little variety. The others in the group would periodically say it was a touch too fast, but no one actually slowed down. I felt easy and smooth so I certainly wasn't going to be the one slowing us down.

Right before the climb up the Folsom Dam at mile 19, we caught a couple other guys. I latched on to them up the hill and the rest of my group fell back and that was the end of our foursome.

At the top of the trail, the two guys I was following tried to go straight across the parking lot and up the fence line. I remembered the course running through the parking lot and when I looked to the end I saw an orange flag. I yelled at the two guys and got them back on course. When they caught back up, I joked that they owed me one. One of the guys said he'd hold down any of the other women if they tried to take the lead from me. I told him I hoped it wouldn't come to that, but if it did, I'd take him up on the offer.  Fortunately, it didn't come down to that. ;)

Over the next few miles, there were a few times where I'd catch up to somebody, briefly make a new friend and then gradually pull away. I hit the marathon in 3:12 and Beal's at 3:14 and left with good company: Galen Farris and his pacer Jenn Pfiefer, who I ran with through most of "the meat grinder" section, until I pulled ahead a bit right before Rattlesnake Bar. There I picked up my pacer, Mo Bartley.

Mile 38 and looking great! (IMHO, of course. Oh, just let me enjoy it; I usually look like shit in race photos)

Mo is a super awesome runner and super awesome person, who finished as high as third at Western States, was on the 100k Worlds team, and had several American River podium finishes of her own. At 58, she is still going strong! She paced me my first year at WS and it was a last minute surprise when I found out she would be pacing me again. It was great to spend nine miles catching up with her and gossiping like school girls! I ended up "power hiking" about a third of the Wall section, but ran everything else. We cruised on in for a 6:54 finish, 6th overall/1st female.

Mile 44

Almost done!

I've won other races, but I think this is the first time I have actually broken the tape!  This week's advice to RD's: This is cool! You should do this, even if you just hold toilet paper across the line!

I felt great the whole race and was more chatty than I was in pretty much all of my races from last year combined! I never had that "Oh dear god, when will this end" feeling or really a sense of suffering at all. As I told a friend, I was more tired at the end of a 30 mile training run 2 weeks prior than I was at the end of this race, and that's what's bugging me a little bit about this race: I don't really feel like I gave it my all or that I worked as hard as I could have. (Ok, I hope you do not want to punch me in the face right now!). It was a good race for me, I felt strong all day, and of course, I am psyched to get the win, but I did not hit my "A" goal of 6:50, and I kind of feel like it was maybe because I didn't try hard enough. I never really got passed by anyone all day, but with around 7 miles left, my pacer and I looked back on a curved section and saw a shirtless guy about a quarter mile back and I remember thinking, "If he catches me, I'll pick it up and run with him to the finish." If you think you can run faster in a race, shouldn't you? And shouldn't the mentality be, "There's a guy behind me; I'll pick it up now so that he doesn't catch me."?? Am I getting soft and lazy in my old age?? 

I know it was a good run, and there is even a rumor that my last 9.5 mile split was only 3 minutes off the men's winner (I never actually saw any splits and that might not be saying much because I think the men's leader was hurting at the end), but I caught myself telling a friend it was the easiest 50 miler I have ever done. As a non-ultrarunner, she definitely wanted to punch me in the face for calling 50 miles "easy." And while AR is known for being an "easy" course, I don't think that means the race should feel easy. In fact, I have never been more sore, more tired, or more beat up than after the "easy" 100k's and 100M that I have done on road/track.

The podium with RD Julie Fingar and two women who want to punch me in the face right now. 2nd place - Tera Dube, 3rd place- Ana Guijarro

On the bright side, I had almost no soreness after the race (also, due to almost no downhill on the course) and on Monday I could already hover over public toilets - no hands, even with a full bladder! The Monday after Desert Solstice, I couldn't even sit down on a toilet normally! (Toilet agility being the ultimate barometer of recovery, of course). 

Sunday, we got out for a nice recovery hike to Hidden Falls with the family, a great way to cap off the weekend before heading home. A big thank you to Julie Fingar for a great race and for giving me the opportunity to compete (now 3-0 for races where I "begged" entry!) and thanks to all the other volunteers. And thanks Mom, Dad, and Uncle Roger for entertaining the kiddos all day while I was off running.

Here's a link to the Auburn Journal article/interview. When he asks me if I was looking to win, I kind of want to punch myself in the face, but other than that, it isn't too bad. 

Next up is a "tiny" 50k in Oregon (sorry, Dennis and Ken!) and then Western States! Time to live up to my shirt and "RUN MTN"! (instead of just wearing it in mostly flat and paved races).

The best part of staying at my parents' (well, besides the free baby
siting, the free bed, and the free food) - post race hot tubbing!

Hidden Falls

Proudly sporting my finisher's jacket!

Megan's Race Report

(I asked Megan if she wanted to write a race report and she happily agreed. What follows is entirely her own writing - I just helped her spell quesadilla and magazine. She hasn't read my report either, so this is completely unbiased. Note the attention to what she ate; I told you she was inspired by all the junk food! She even did the signature at the end unprompted.)

On the 16^th of March I ran Pacific Rim 24 hour race in Washington with my Mom. I took breaks in the car with the iPad when it rained, hailed and snowed. It was a 1 mile loop. About 3 laps in, it started to rain so we went and took a break in the car. We have a game called Ticket To Ride on our iPad me and mom both like it but she beats me all the time. It started at 9:00 on Saturday and it ended at 9:00 on Sunday. Since it is only a 1 mile loop there is no aid stations along the way. But there is a food station at the end of each lap you do. The first time I did a lap there was Gatorade, cookies and water. At lunchtime there was PB & J, still cookies, jellybeans, quesadillas  (that were very good), Gatorade and water. By that time I was at about 6 laps! Then it started a very heavy rain, it even started to hail on us. By then we were in the car happily playing the iPad while the runners who were running all 24 hours were unhappily running in the hail! My Mom has a running friend named Ken and he was at about 36 laps! He was planning to go for all 24 hours! There were a couple people who were planning to go all 24 hours but because of the weather, those people didn’t want to anymore. For dinner there was pizza and everything else they had for lunch. They only had 2 pieces of cheese pizza that I knew of and I ate both of them! For breakfast and lunch they had chocolate chip cookies but for dinner they had M&M cookies. I liked the chocolate chip ones better but I usually like M&M cookies better. By then I was probably at 16 or 17 laps! Ken was probably at 80 or 81! Now it was probably 8:00 or 8:30 and I probably had 19 or 20 laps! So I ran/walked 3 or 4 more laps. At 9:30 I had 23 laps. We went to our minivan and played 2 games of Ticket To Ride with Mom. Surprisingly I beat her both times! It was probably 9:45 or 10:00. We went to bed while it was pouring rain! My Mom felt so bad for the people running out there. I slept like a rock! If Mom hadn’t have woken me up, I would have slept until the race was over. I recall I had 23 laps. I walked for 4 more laps and then stopped. I was an ultra- marathoner just like my mother. At the end of the last lap I made her cry because I was an ultra-marathoner! I got a hoodie sweatshirt for being an ultra-marathoner! I also got my name in the ultra-runner magazine!!! It was a great experience for me.

                                                               -Megan Smith, age 8

Creating The Next Generation Of Ultra-Runners

When Megan was a baby, several of our friends dubbed her “Mini-Mac” because she had such a strong resemblance to her father. As she has gotten older, some people now comment that we look alike, but our true similarity lies in our personalities. For better or for worse, Megan is a carbon copy of me.

At home sometimes we butt heads because of this; the unspoken counter to “Opposites attract” can be that “Likes repel.” And I admit sometimes I get frustrated because I can see all the things I don’t like about myself in her. But she also has my fierce determination, aspirations for lofty achievements, and my competitive drive, so it wasn’t really a shock when she said she wanted to run in some races. Since last November, she’s done two 5k’s (PR 33:45!) and a couple of the Bush Park summer cross country races, as well as a few school races. So as far as I could tell she was ready for a 24 hour run!

Ok, that’s a joke, but after Desert Solstice, Megan understood the concept of a 24 hour race and she seemed to be into the idea of creating your own race distance, so we signed up to run the Pacific Rim One Day event in Longview, WA together (after getting approval from the RD).

Beautiful Lake Sacajawea - just run around it as many times as possible in 24 hours!

Mac was a little freaked out by the idea. “Promise not to push her. This has to be fun for her.” Knowing how hard I can push myself, I am pretty sure he had visions of me being one of those crazed “Dance Moms” yelling at their daughters to work harder and do better. Admittedly, it is really hard for me to watch 7 and 8 year old girls play soccer because I want to yell at them so badly (particularly other people’s kids!) and I know that is frowned upon. But more than anything, I want running to be fun for Megan and so I knew there was no risk of me locking her out of the car just to make her do one more lap.

As the race approached there was one thing that particularly excited Megan.

“Mom, do I get to litter when I am at the race?” Apparently, the scene she has witnessed at aid stations with runners coming in and just dropping their trash on the ground, was quite appealing to Megan. That’s right, Megan’s most rebellious desire is to litter! (We didn’t)

We decided 10 miles was a good goal, though Mac thought she could do 15. Better to go beyond our expectations than to fall short. But Megan had other ideas: “Mom, you know I might be able to do 30 miles.” I explained that we would need to rest and sleep, too, but she informed me it’d be ok for her to stay up past her bedtime this one time. Uh oh - I created an 8 year old mileage monster!

Starting out nice and slow

The other incentive for Megan to keep going was all the junk food. My kids get milk or water to drink and dessert is often a banana with sprinkles. So the aid station was like forbidden fruit, only race day it wasn’t forbidden. Cookies, gatorade, jelly beans - oh my, a LOT of jelly beans, cupcakes and pizza for dinner! What’s not to like about this ultra running! She had downed three cookies in the first four miles. I think she’s got the fueling part down!

Running for cookies! (photo: Bart Brewer)

The truth was that my job was not to push her but to hold her back and keep her in touch with reality! After 3 miles she was still telling me she could do 30. After 5, she told the timers that she could do 30. When they told her she could get a sweatshirt for 31 miles she wasn’t that impressed, but when she heard you could get you name in a magazine for that, I found out my daughter is a little fame whore! Her eyes lit up and she decided we could do 31. All the while I kept saying, "maybe just 10", or "13 is a half marathon - that’s a good distance." I want my little girl to dream big, but let’s not get crazy!

Ready to run a few more

Megan shows off her age. The real #8 kindly gave Megan his bib at the end of the race.

I have no doubt of Megan’s fierce determination and strong focus, but she has one downfall. Despite being a native Oregonian, that girl doesn’t like to be out in the rain! While she took the first rest, I ran three miles to burn off a little of my energy. Just as I finished up, the clouds opened up and for another hour we hung out in the car, playing Ticket to Ride on the iPad. Three times we had very extended breaks because of the weather, and while I did a few more laps on my own, mostly I just hung out with Megan, because a lot of the time, I wasn’t so excited to be out there myself!

Waiting out a rain break

But all of it was wonderful, even the sitting in the car. With the hustle and bustle lifestyle of today, it is truly a gift to have a whole day just to spend with Megan. And while out together, we got along famously, because really we are two peas in a pod. Mostly, we were just silly and laughing together. I said there were no alligators in Washington and then we found a sign for an alligator tree to prove me wrong. We debated whether one should cheer with “wahoo’s” or “woohoo’s” based on the motivational signs (Wahoo only in “WA”??). We noted that blue herons aren’t really blue, green herons aren’t really green, but blackbirds really are black. And since we looped Lake Sacajawea each mile, I tried to give a history lesson. But really the only thing that I could remember about Sacajawea was that I voted against the eventual winner for the obverse of the Sacajawea dollar coin because I didn’t want to glorify teenage pregnancy (the coin shows her holding her infant son; she was 16, although she was married. Yes, times were different then, but still, do we need to see more 16 year olds with babies??). So my lesson boiled down to “Sacajawea was like Pocahontas, but for Lewis and Clark.” We made jokes about the term “pale-faces” (used in a Pocahontas cartoon that we have).  And when we found a solar system plaque with directions to Uranus, we laughed even harder.

Two peas in a pod

Quite pretty in the sun. Too bad we only got about ten minutes of it.

Acting Silly

There are alligators in Washington!

Just what everyone needs - Directions to Uranus! Oh, come on, you know it's funny!

Finally, I think fatigue started creeping in and her right leg got a little sore. At mile 21, when we were talking about stopping for the night, she got all philosophical on me and told me it wasn’t really a one day event, because it took place over two days and they should’ve run midnight to midnight if they wanted to call it a one day. At this point, I could tell she was ready to stop but she had it in her head to get to 24 miles before going to bed. Finally, we stopped for the night at about 9:30 with 23 miles, and Megan making me promise to wake her up early to get in 8 more laps.

We had a mattress in the back of the minivan and slept pretty well. They were luxury conditions compared to what the runners faced, because it just dumped rain and even sleet and hail all night long. A miserable night to be up running for sure. But we were snug nestled together in our sleeping bags.

We were back at it at 6:30 the next day and that was the only crack in Megan’s resolve. It was dark and cold and she wasn’t quite awake. A quarter mile in she wanted to go back to the car and just go home. I told her we could but we would finish that lap. 15 minutes later we were back at the aid station and Megan was noshing on another cookie and sipping Coke. A little sugar and she started to perk up, plus the first hint of day was appearing. We decided to walk one more. By the end of that, Megan wanted a short break, which was good timing, because the clouds opened up once again with more freezing rain. We spent an over an hour waiting that one out. Then with an hour left, we got out and walked our final two laps and I had tears welling in my eyes as she finished: 27 total for Megan and 35 for me. So proud of my little ultramarathoner! Megan just laughed that I was crying.

27 miles finished!!

Some people might think it a little “Tiger Mom” of me to enter a second grader in a 24 hour event, but I really do think this was a positive experience and I am glad we went. Megan said she had fun and she is very proud of her accomplishment. I think RD Fred “Wildman” Willet must have been a little impressed, too, because when I went to get the sweatshirt typically reserved for runners doing more than 50k, he handed me one for  Megan, too. (And I thought the Men’s size small was big on me!).

Yeah, she should grow into that soon. Megan said,"Mom, why didn't they have women's sizes? They knew women were coming to the race." Got that RD's?? Even an 8 yo knows you need women's shirts!

I want Megan to grow up believing that anything is possible for her and that she can do anything she sets her mind to. And while we did not get to 30 miles this time, I think the bad weather is to blame for that. I am still so impressed with what she did do. I have no doubt that she is capable of 30 miles and so much more. I hope she knows that, too.

I also hope this is inspiring to other people. If a little girl who only runs 3 miles twice a week can cover 27 miles in 24 hours, so can just about anybody. Don’t set limits in your mind or tell yourself you can’t. Set the bar high and find out what you are really capable of!

And for me, it was incredibly special. I got more than just a day with my daughter. At eight years old, I now feel like I know exactly who she is. And she is amazing.

Nueces 50 Mile

The past three winters I have made an annual excursion to Texas for the Bandera 100k. This year, I still got a winter break in the lone star state, but not at Bandera. Instead, I headed off to the 50 mile National Trail championships at Nueces. This would be better named the off road championships, because some places did not resemble a trail at all! Nueces has all the rocks of Bandera and then some! 

Yeah, that's the trail

Technical trail is not my forte,  but that doesn’t keep me from enjoying it and I like the opportunity to do something different. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. Why else would I keep going back??

The course was three loops of 16.7 miles. I finished up the first loop as third female and Olga wildly gesticulated as she told me Melanie looked terrible and was in the bathroom and that I would totally take her. 

Nueces River at daybreak

Well, Olga miscalculated the restorative power of the Port-a-potty, because when Melanie jumped out, she was looking fresh and upbeat. I stayed close for the next loop and a half, but my legs aren’t used to all that stepping and jarring and I just faded a bit too much in the end while Melanie stayed strong. But then neither of us were anywhere near the winner, Michelle Yates, who went out fast and just kept getting faster.

(photo: David Hanenburg, Endurance Buzz)

My favorite part of the course - stepping stones across the Nueces

Finishing up (ph: David Hanenburg, Endurance Buzz)

Overall, I was pleased with my effort for the day. I do wish I had been a bit more consistent with the splits - 2:24; 2:33; and 2:42 - but hey, at least my “rate of slowing” was consistent at 9 minutes slower per loop. Haha.

Like Bandera, Joe and Joyce Prusaitis do an amazing job of orchestrating four simultaneous distances. And the courses are so well marked, it is like running a dot-to-dot! I am planning to head back to Texas in 2014, but I am thinking next year it'll be Rocky Raccoon. Despite the name, I hear those trails are fairly smooth. All those rocks around San Antonio are great fun, but I think I am ready for a break! And thank you, La Sportiva, Garmin and Honey Stinger for your support.