"Success
is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill
I’m running Mountain Lakes 100 on
September 28th and 29th.
Mountain Lakes was not supposed to be my 2nd
100, San Diego in June was. But life situations forced me to drop out of San
Diego before I had the chance and life brought me back to Oregon from
California.
Mountain lakes is a new race made
possible from an experienced race director. It starts and ends at the Olallie
Lake Resort in Oregon.
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| Olallie Lake |
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| Olallie Lake |
For training, my biggest runs
came in July. I ran the Mt. Hood 50 on July 13th and the Siskiyou
Out Back 50 on July 27th. Two 50’s within two weeks of each other,
something I’ve never attempted, but took the risk and it paid off. For the Mt.
Hood 50, I got a PR of 30 minutes, came in at 10:59:10. I qualified for the
Western States 100 lottery with 50 seconds to spare. I ran hard and fast the
last 4 miles and finished holding a banana that I got at the last aid station;
never eating it, never tossing it. I thought it was lucky. I was very excited.
I was tired going into the Siskiyou Out Back, which takes place in Ashland, OR.
This race’s course was a lot more challenging. I remember walking a lot. I came
in at 11:23. I beat the final cut off by 37 minutes.
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| Finishing Mt. Hood, holding the banana. |
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| Mt. Hood |
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| Siskiyou Out Back finisher cup, I have the green one. |
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| Gorgeous views |
I then ran Bunker to Bonneville
50K 5 weeks later on August 31st. I got stung 9 times by Hornets. We
were forced to go through a nest and by the time I reached them, they were not
amused. I had a huge panic attack and never recovered from them. Between the
Hornet stings and my toe hurting, it was a bad race and I came in at 9:15,
really slow, but I finished.
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| Bad footing in several spots |
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| Runner friend of mine. We had the option of climbing a mountain, which is not shown. If we did, we had to bring the race director back a playing card, that was up there and she'd give us a glass mug. |
I started out training for Javelina with a stress fracture. Luckily, I never had an injury since
completing Javelina in October of 2012, so it has been a very pleasant training
period, no worries. I continued with my Crossfit, but at home, 2-3 times per
week and I kept up with my lap swimming once a week.
I’m ready for Mountain Lakes. I’ll
get through the tough hours using two pacers that I have preset up. I’m
grateful for them. Gone is the fear of the unknown. I have an idea of what to
expect, but am approaching it very humbly. I’ll be taking in new memories for
100 #2, but will never forget Javelina. I will run strong, smart and determined for
success.
"Stay focused, go after your dreams and keep moving toward your goals!"
