My Bear 100 Pacing Strategy

Randy Thorn is going to come to the Bear 100 (Bear100.com) as my pacer throught the night, or into the finish, or whenever I need him.  I gave him permission to use all means necessary to make sure I made it to the finish line....and this is what he came up with!  I like it, just what I need.  I have no idea how I will feel at the end which is why it will be nice to have someone there the keep me moving, eating, and hydrating.



The course has about 22,000 feet of elevation gain and drop, as if just going the distance wasn't hard enough!!

Randy told me this looked really crazy when he first looked at it.  I told him it's all in your perspective.  So, I made the following map and sent it to him for a second opinion.... (In case it's hard to read the scale goes from 4,800 feet elevation to 9,000 feet elevation)

OK, this seems more managable..........

Random Quotes

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit. ~Aristotle

The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender. - Vince Lombardi



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOMEDAY is not a day of the week! ~unknown

Everything in Life is a Choice! ~my friend Jewel Warner

Big Roaring Lake to Hideaway Lake - PART TWO

Click here for Part One...

We went camping camping to Trinity the last week of August 2009 and I was training for another reason.  I was still in the process of losing my weight and on that particular week I was giving it everything I had to reach 100 pounds lost.  The week prior weighed in a 212.4 and 95.6 pounds lost.  I was certain I could lose 4.4 pounds if I ate right and exercised.  As it turned out I lost 4.2 that week which brought me to 99.8.

Fast forward to 2011.  I ran the exact same stretch of road and trail this year with a similar purpose, trying to get to 100.  This year it wasn't 100 pounds but 100 miles as I prepare for the BEAR.  What a difference 2 years makes.  Back in 2009 I didn't quite reach my goal when I got to 99.8 pounds.  Hopefully I can have EXACTLY the same results.

The Bear 100 is actually 99.7 miles.....

I don't think I have ever posted this but this is the 1 year goal chart I kept from the beginning (March 18th, 2009) to when I met my goal of 135 pounds lost (February 24th, 2010).  In the time between starting and reaching my goal I had 3 weeks when I gained.  The first was the week I had umbilical hernia surgery, the second was the week I ran my marathon in December, and the third was the week I attempted my first 50k!  One surgery and two carbo load weeks, not bad!

Big Roaring Lake to Hideaway Lake - PART ONE

I got up and was planning to run a loop on the Rainbow Trail near Trinity Lake. I Started at 3:40 and ran nearly the whole thing in the dark. I have been there many times so I wasn't terribly concerned about the rocky rooty trail. I was a bit concerned about the backside of the loop since I hadn't been on that part before.

Even though it was dark I remembered many place along the trail where I have stopped and taken pictures with my kids over the years. It was a real shame to run the whole thing in the dark because it is such a beautiful place. When I got to Hideaway Lake the trail just disappeared. It is so rocky that the trail is impossible to see in places and there was no moon. I wandered around in circles for about 12 minutes until I found it again and decided to go back the way I came and not risk getting lost, or worse fall down the 500 foot rock wall at the back of the basin!

Anyway, it was a beautiful morning and there were zillions of stars. When I got to the first pass I was greeted by my favorite constellation, O'Ryan. That is how I spell it anyway! I finally got to turn my headlamp off at about 6:30 (mile 9) and was back in camp by 7:00 to start a fire and make breakfast!

Good times

Winning and Racing

"Winning has nothing to do with racing. Most days don't have races anyway. Winning is about struggle and effort and optimism, and never, ever, ever giving up."  ~Amby Burfoot
 
I saw this today and had to share.

Strength and Courage Part II

This post is for my friend Christie who had the strength and courage to share part of her past with our friends on Daily Mile yesterday.  I know that it can be hard to do, but I am sure that there are many people who look up to you for your wonderful example and positive attitude. ☺

I found this poem sometime ago and posted it back in September of last year.  I posted it on my fridge so I could be reminded of its message each day.  My daughter liked it and came up with some of her own that I really like too, which I have added as part 2.

Strength and Courage

It takes strength to be certain; it takes courage to have doubts.

It takes strength to fit in; it takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to share a friend’s pain; it takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to hide your own pain, it takes courage to show it and deal with it.

It takes strength to stand guard; it takes courage to let down your guard.

It takes strength to conquer; it takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to endure abuses; it takes courage to stop them.

~Author unknown~

 

Strength and Courage Part 2

It takes strength to finish something; it takes courage to start it.

It takes strength to write the words; it takes courage to say them.

It takes strength to be known; it takes courage to watch someone else shine.

It takes strength to join a group; it takes courage to be yourself.

It takes strength to dream; it takes courage to carry it out.

It takes strength to follow; it takes courage to lead.

It takes strength to stand on your own; it takes courage to ask for help up.

It takes strength to have feelings; it takes courage to truly feel them.

~Cami Anderson~

My new favorite running picture

Christie took this on Three Bears trail in the foothills on July 23rd.  We were out enjoying the hills and supporting Amy on first 20 mile run ever.  The best thing about this photo is that we were on mile 12, I believe, and the sun is just beginning to come over the mountain tops!

Three Bears at sunrise July 23rd

The King and Queen

Jack Lalanne age 93

Exercise is king and nutrition is queen.  Put them together and you have a kingdom. - Jack Lalanne

Saw this earlier and had to share.

Don't Mess With The Fat Kid T-shirt

I mentioned here the other day that I would like to get a t-shirt made that said, DON'T MESS WITH THE FAT KID. I know it isn't my normal supportive kind of attitude but after being overweight forever, I just felt like it was something I needed to do to move on. On TV and movies, it is always the fat person being the butt of the jokes or the bumbling idiot. Most people laugh and think it’s hilarious. My reaction, ALWAYS (now and before) was ‘why do they have to make fun of the fat kid?’ Unfortunately, kids pick up this mentality young and keep it going.

I am hoping the t-shirt will give people a reason to ask me the story behind it. It has my blog address on it so I hope people will go check it out for themselves if they don’t feel comfortable asking me about it. When I ordered the t-shirt in the mall, the cashier didn’t say a word when I showed her the design. After she rang it up, she asked for my drivers license to check my signature on the credit card and I gave her my old one… Then she asked me about the story behind the t-shirt!

All little back story. The t-shirt I ordered is bright orange with black military style lettering. The color is significant. Before I lost weight, I had about five t-shirts and four of them were orange (the other one was this one). One 3X t-shirt Michelle’s step mom got me from Hawaii, one 3X Boise State football shirt, and two identical 3X Idaho Power shirts (blaze orange for safety). I also had two pair of shorts I wore all the time, one blue and one green. One day, 'someone' made the comment that I should stop wearing the big orange shirts with the green shorts because I am as fat as I am tall and I look like a pumpkin.

I have to admit that hurt to hear. SO, in honor of my pumpkin-ness the DONT MESS WITH THE FAT KID t-shirt is orange! Oh, one more thing I would like to mention. The person who made that comment...weighs 65 pounds more than I do now.

FAT KID 1 You ZERO!

Set a goal, tell everyone who will listen, and stick to your plan.

I have decided to take my own advice and tell everyone what my official new goal is.   Official because I actually signed up.  I will be working on creating some luck between now and then.  Here is my take on LUCK!

I have used a training plan for all other races so I tried to find something I could stick to for the most part and this is what I found.

The elevation is crazy, but the scenery is amazing........