Good luck Leslie! Go get em!

Jeez louise Buddo! Let the woman get home and relax for a minute! Can't wait to hear how it went, Leslie! We've had this NW wind blowing for the past 3 days! I've about had enough! I'm tired of running in it and it didn't make my job of teaching 3 yr olds how to ski yesterday any easier! I've run 40 miles in since Friday-no wonder I'm tired. Talk to you all tomorrow. Kelly

Great job! Leslie! You didn't quit! These races can be more mental than physical but it looks like you had both sides covered! It sounds like it was a great learning experience for you so you'll be even better prepared for the 50K you have coming up. 3500' of climbing over 18 miles is a lot! Was there a lot of downhill too? Once you recover from this you'll be in such better downhill shape-I think a lot runners don't train enough for downhills and that's where you can pass a lot of people towards the end of a long race because their quads are shot. That's my strategy anyway Take care Leslie and can't wait for pics and race report once some of the experience starts to fade.... Kelly

Okay, Buddo, where are YOU?

I'm feeling better about the run every day. I got a really good night's sleep last night, which has helped the mental attitude a lot. Put in 3 easy miles this morning that felt good, but my legs are still tired and a bit heavy feeling. The run wasn't touted as being more difficult, it's just that I suck at reading and comprehending the maps they provide on their web site, which are good maps. As far as fuel, my coach says I need to start carrying "regular food" as opposed to Luna bars, these fruit bars I found, etc. So I'll be boiling up potatoes to take with me, pretzels, etc. They have all this at the aid stations, but I'm probably just someone who needs to eat consistently throughout a run. The failure in the fueling department is not listening to my body from the get go and just plain ole lack of experience. It's a constant learning thing. The bloating, I don't know. I need to address that further. Maybe from the dehydration, which is why I was dizzy. For my next few long runs, I'm suppose to carry a water bottle set up (as opposed to my hydration pack) and mark the bottle at 6 oz intervals so that I get used to what it feels like to drink a full 6 oz. at a time, which I obviously wasn't doing. And yes, I think the heat and climbing had a lot to do with the problems. Re a stair stepper - I have two fairly long steep hills by my house that I've been avoiding like the plague. Looks like Coach is going to make me start running them on a regular basis. The neat part for me is that I know I can run up them (albeit slowly), and 3 years ago it was hard for me to even walk up them. That makes me feel good.

I hadn't thought about fig bars but will give those a try. Same here - granola isn't enough. Will check out REI's bottle-refill-thing. Sodas don't work well for me. Also, I use Endurolytes when running. One an hour unless it's warm and an extensive run, then 2 an hour. I had forgotten about your pancake and spaghetti experiments! Ha!

Checking in. Won't be able to run any trails until next week, so it's the pavement for me this Saturday. Did a 5 mile tempo run this morning and the legs were telling me their still a bit tired, but it felt good. Hope all is well with you. Keep the posts coming!

What's coach got you doing? How about a little preview? or is it top secret? You can do it Leslie-it may be a little tough at first but you'll adapt and you'll look back at the end and wonder what was all the fuss about. Kelly