Running with Tonks

View from our Shake Out Run Holy Banana Pancakes! The lead up to this event was nuts.  COVID caused so many challenges.  The course changed but due to the possibility of more changes it wasn't released to us until three weeks out.  Also, finding pacers and crew willing to fly across the country during a pandemic was a huge challenge.  I was one of the lucky ones as I actually was able to get help.  Some runners had to attempt the 100 solo which I can not even fathom.   Actually flying there was super stressful.  American Airlines cut out flights.  I am very lucky I had already planned to fly out Wednesday and give myself the extra day.  Good thing I did! The changes left us on entirely full flights and long layovers.   I think the most "amusing" part of flying were the American Airlines ramps leading to the planes had markings of 6 feet apart. Of course the moment we sat down on the plane we were shoulder-to-shoulder.  Des...

If I fall asleep right now, I will get 4 hours of sleep... Yeah, those nights never work out well.  I tried to will myself to sleep with every trick there is but nothing worked.  I ended up just getting out of bed to eat my nut butter bagel.  Then thankfully fell asleep for an hour and a half.  You would think it would have been difficult to wake up considering I only had 90 minutes of sleep but nope.  When the alarm went off, my eyes popped open.  I laid there a minute listening to the rain.   Michelle and Kirsten drove me to the start.  There was an amusing incident on the way involving my fairly new headlamp, turning around and then turning around again but I will save that for another time.   I stepped out into the rain in a calm.  Felt so surreal.  How was this finally race day after all this time?!?  Last minute picture before stepping out of the car. "Every one here has worked so f*cking hard to be here....

This post is half about running, half about life and all about how we have absolutely no control over anything. Two nights ago I lay in bed for three hours before falling asleep.  What was I doing? Worrying about things I can not control.  Running: As of a month ago the Yeti 100 was a go.  They sent out the Runners' Handbook and I got all giddy.  Three days ago the race director posted a video of the kick ass Yeti socks with the caption, "2020 Yeti Race Participant socks . If we get to race." Saying my heart sank when I read that last bit is a cliche but it's true.  It was like I was a balloon and someone deflated me. (Not even the fun kind of balloon deflation with helium and funny voices.)   It was the first time he even hinted at the possibility of having to cancel it.  Like he is trying to warn us to soften the blow.  Some runs are already a struggle and this is a big hit against motivation. I mean I will always do the plan because the race...

Just Pressed Submit on the Lottery Like many aspects of life, the running community has been flipped on its head.  This post is about my experience over the last six months... It all started back on January 1st.  It was the morning of my 40th birthday and I jumped off the metaphorical cliff.  I put my name in the lottery for my first 100 mile race.  I would like to say that I forgot about it and was pleasantly surprised on lottery day.  Newsflash: I am not that cool. For the next seven days, I daydreamed of race day and started to make mental adjustments to my year as 2020 would be full of serious training with no social life (little did I know the coming reality of this concept).  As lottery day approached I started to panic...I started to play the what if game.  What if I didn't get in?!? It was a horrifying thought.  On the evening before the lottery (next day at noon), I decided to make an action plan in the event that I did not ge...