March madness is upon us which means brackets, basketball and buzzer beaters.  While I’m not a huge basketball fan, our family always does a March Madness pool and for the record, I am winning by 10 points.  Actually, all the girls are in the lead, leaving the boys to handle the back end. It may not last, but a girl has gotta take her wins where she can get them.

Back to the madness which actually has nothing to do with basketball.  Back in early February, I told you about a brief lapse in judgment that landed Andy and me on the OUTRUN24 roster.  We are currently 6 weeks out from the ultra and I wanted to give everyone an update on how it’s going out here in Colorado.

In terms of the weather, which you will recall I was concerned about, we just had about 2 feet of the white stuff last week.  We have actually had quite a bit of snow this year making training outside virtually impossible some days.  Cross-training in the form of snow-shoeing and skiing, however, have been fantastic.  I’m not opposed to walking in the snow and I’ve done my fair share this winter.  It’s not easy and it’s extremely S L O W, so you have to ask yourself if it’s worth it.  My quads say yes, but my cardiovascular system says, “eh.”

Besides the snow, I have had some foot issues. I will spare you a photo, but it appears that I have a bone that wants to reside in a different spot. It’s a little painful.  At first, I thought it was plantar fasciitis because of the pain, but now I think I have a different issue.  Some x-rays are perhaps in order, but hear me out.  I want to do this ultra and the following week is my youngest daughter’s graduation from college and then we are going to Europe with the family.  I need both feet in working order.  I can’t take the chance that a doctor is going to tell me to stop.  I just need another 3 months and then I can take care of it.  

It’s something that has been nagging me for a while, but has gotten progressively worse with training.  I have been churning through shoes trying to find a pair that doesn’t irritate it more and that I can comfortably wear for 24 hours.  So far, my hiking boots are the overall winner.  Shoutout to Merrell.  Maybe I need to ditch the traditional running shoe and see what Merrell has to offer.  

When I am not wearing my hiking  boots, I am wearing an old pair of Saucony running shoes.  They don’t have a lot of cushion left, but they also seem to be doing the trick so I have a new pair on order. Time will tell which one is the winner and I am quickly running out of that which leads me to the elephant on the trail:  Mileage.

Treadmill miles are not the same as trail miles.  I have been racking up the miles on the treadmill and while it’s not fun it’s sometimes necessary.  This was my big problem 2 years ago.  The trail beat me up quickly because my body wasn’t used to consistent mileage outside.  At least that is what I keep telling myself.  Maybe I am just not cut out for this sport.

This past week the sun has been shining and it has been warm. You best believe I have been outside doing 2-3 workouts each day and soaking up some Vitamin D.

Let’s cut to the chase.  I told you previously that I wanted to be at 20 miles by the end of March.  Well, the end of March has arrived and as of yesterday, we have accomplished that goal!  We stayed close to the house so we were never more than 5 miles away.  It makes training much easier as we can use the bathroom, refill our water bottles and refresh our snacks.  We forced ourselves to eat a couple bites of something every 30 minutes and I would say it was a successful day. We are feeling good and continue to tell ourselves the following:

It’s just going to be a fun adventure with G and Johnny.  

Maybe we will just focus on 50k.

Maybe we will just walk the whole time.  

Maybe we will just go until it hurts, but not so much that we need wheelchairs for graduation.

Maybe we will go, have a blast, not take ourselves too seriously and we will be able to say that we completed an ultra together at 54. I’m sorry, my sweet, young, baby of a husband will only be 53 and ¾.  I don’t want to get his feathers ruffled unnecessarily.  I have plenty of other things to ruffle him over.

Okay, we will check in again 5 weeks from now as we prepare for our big Ohio adventure.  Until then I will just be walking these Colorado hills and hoping it’s enough