coach_cz_runs

Pivoting away from a goal is hard. In January I promised myself if I finished my 50k in under 7 hours I could sign up for a 100k, something I have been talking myself out of for a while. I did it! But then I decided to shift. Because in the end FUN is king. Yes, doing hard things is fun. And I am no stranger to a little suffering. But a complete suffer fest of a 62 mile race? And months of suffer fest hot long training hours? It just didn't sound fun. It's just not the year for me for a Fall 100k.

There will be a different time when it's right though, don't you worry! And in the mean time I get to try something totally new: running a 4.16 mile loop on the hour until I can't. No time limit, no distance parameters. Just a last wo/man standing style open question begging to be answered.... what will the day bring?

12 miles, 2,211 ft gain, and very dirty ankles as proof of a great trail run

Taking walk breaks is a great strategy to boost endurance and tackle long runs. Taking breaks to pet the neighborhood pets is actually a requirement even on short runs

Best part of my routine, I swear she knows my schedule and waits for me

You read that right. Nearly a 2 HOUR improvement over his last marathon. I have watched Shane's success build to race day, balancing dad life, high work demands and keeping his focus on training and what a race day it was!

The focus and work it takes to make an improvement of that measure is enormous, please take a moment to celebrate Shane with me!

That's the face of someone that just got a surprise PR on her 50k while on the way to a 50 mile finish!

No one runs 50 miles, we run 10 or 7 or some other number over and over again. And I don't even look at my miles when I am running because mostly it doesn't matter. In this race I didn't even know what mile I was on till a little after 20 (I swear they FLEW by). And forget looking at elapsed time, that just makes it feel like an eternity until the finish line! That is how it snuck up on me that not only had I made it to the 50k mark, but that had just PR'd my time by 27 minutes.

When I realized what I had done I celebrated with another racer I had been running along with. I considered if this was bad news: going out too fast. Was it going to make me pay later? I decided not, that I had been conservative and felt crazy fresh even at that point. I knew I just had to keep being smart and keep control of my mind, not let that doubt take hold.

1 finish line: 2 PRs. So many emotions.
A 2 hour PR in the 50 mile with a 24 min PR in the 50k along the way.

More to share later. What a journey. Only made possible by all of the people that believed in me enough to make me believe in myself ✨️