As Lowi shared with you last week, our May ultra race together has come and gone. In fact, there have been so many other things going on that it feels like it happened months ago instead of mere weeks. 

I went into this year’s race with no expectations of spectacular finishes or big numbers because, frankly, life got in the way.

As I mentioned before, I had dental surgery in March, which threw quite an obstacle into my training. Then, we have been preparing for some other life adventures that we will share about later, and race training necessarily had to take a back seat. 

You may be thinking that what’s coming next is a bunch of excuses for why this race was a downer or a disappointment but you would be wrong.

Since I couldn’t realistically have any major expectations of myself, I just wasn’t mentally or physically fit enough for it; I could only hope for fun. That, my friends, is precisely what I got. I spent the majority of a day running and walking with my sister and brother-in-law and every 15 minutes or so I saw my husband. Aside from John, it has been years since I spent the day with just Lori and Andy. They are two of my favorite people, and I’m not just saying that because we are family. 

There was no pressure to meet a certain mileage, so I was in it for the enjoyment. It’s what you might call a relaxed ultra, which is an oxymoron, I suppose.

We laughed. We ate a bunch of food. We ran and walked on a spectacularly beautiful day and I got to see Andy hit a new mileage record. For someone who is built for sprinting and this being his first ultra, he had a phenomenal day.

And it was so great to be back on the course Lowi and I ran 10 years earlier to celebrate my birthday! I think we both should take great pride in the fact that a decade later we still have the courage to challenge ourselves!

While I have had bigger days and higher miles this will always be a favorite.