bit about my ultrarunning adventures and
I was gonna start with a question I most
usually get and it’s why you know why
would you want to be an ultra-marathoner
why would you run that far why would you
do that to your body you know I kind of
get this like are you crazy or what kind
of feeling and I have to admit like
eight eight and a half years ago I was
one of those people – I didn’t know much
about ultrarunning and I had the same
questions you know why would you want to
push that far doesn’t hurt her you know
why would you even go there and really I
wasn’t even a distance runner until I
turned 40 I ran my first marathon and
prior to that I identified caves and
some ten K’s but never ever would have
ever thought that I’d be running a 50k
much less 50 miles or 100 miles so it
was quite the journey it kind of started
when my husband got deployed overseas
and I had two and four year old girls
and running just kind of became the
activity that I did to just get away and
destress it’s just my quiet time and I
started doing that a little more and
more they got longer and longer and I
you know you always have time to reflect
when you’re out on these long runs and I
started thinking back when I was in high
school I had a cross-country coach and
she was a marathoner and she always said
someday you need to get out there and
run a marathon even if it’s just one and
that seed you know kind of started
surfacing again and I decided you know
the time was right so I jumped online
and found some beginner training program
and just started following that and I
don’t know three or four months later I
packed my kids up hopped on a plane and
flew to Arizona my in-laws were there at
the time and ran my first marathon the
rock and roll era Arizona had to say it
was not the most pleasant experience at
all I think I did like everything you
could wrong and I think part of that is
because you know I read so much and I
had to do this I had to follow this I
had
much structure that I didn’t listen to
my body so by the end I was like totally
miserable but then I crossed the finish
line and it just I don’t know it goes
away you have a total feeling of
accomplishment and just you know self
gratifying you know you did something
you never thought you could do and it’s
really weird I’m not ever gonna compare
like the childbirth but it’s kind of
like all that miserable feeling and then
it’s just like wow you know I really did
something that I never thought I could
do and I was back maybe three or four
days later I was back online trying to
find my next marathon and for me I’m
very self driven self-motivated and I
like physical and mental challenges and
this was kind of fitting that role for
me that I was back online looking for
something because I wanted to do it
better it’s always about bettering
myself not necessarily any competition
it’s always about you know doing it
better for myself if I I’m always the
woulda shoulda coulda person and I
learned something from every run that
I’ve done so anyway I think I’d done
like 20-25 marathons when I finally got
enough confidence to look at our local
ultra running group they ran on
Saturdays and I thought well maybe
that’s a good way to see some different
you know I was always running kind of
the same routes and meet some people to
run with and that’s I blame everything
on them actually so they showed me all
the trails around our beautiful
community I mean we have a beautiful
trail system and I just fell in love I
mean there’s something about being out
on those trails I run a lot by myself
and it’s just so freeing and of course I
was the road marathoner running with the
ultra runners and they kept giving me
crap about that and saying you know you
got to get in a 50k it’s actually easier
on your body than you think and you know
just give it a try and I’d laugh out of
him and but you know then again that
seed was planted too and that kind of
came to light one day I decided I’m just
gonna do it and I signed up for Elkhorn
50k and I was pretty tough for your
first 50k but I did really well there
and one free entry into the
50-mile which scared me to death
but I couldn’t say no I mean I won free
entry so I got there now I was like zero
degrees at the star my water froze like
by mile four and crews are people out
there to help me along but I just call
that a very memorable experience and
then I won free entry I did well there I
went free entry back into Elkhorn
50-miler and that’s kind of the end of
my story as far as how I got going I
mean you know it doesn’t hurt that I was
doing well at doing the long runs and
you know every time you pass through the
finish line you’re like wow you know I
really did it but for me there’s way
more to it when you do these really
really long runs
I have find a whole different kind of
solitude out there that I can’t get
anywhere else
I have a pretty high stress life I mean
you know I do have a 40 plus hour a job
my husband works out of state most of
the time and I have two teenage girls
and when I get out on the trails and do
these long long runs it’s not it’s that
kind of all goes away I mean you don’t
have time to or energy to worry about
everything else that’s going on the
world that’s my time to like live in the
moment and you can live in the moment
for a long time when you’re running a
hundred miles I mean you’re pretty much
you know strategizing you you can plan
it out I’m a planner I like to have
everything in order but when you run a
hundred miles there’s no way you can
plan the best you can but you have no
idea how your body’s gonna feel if
you’re gonna you know go the wrong way
if you’re gonna roll an ankle I mean
I’ve gotten lost before and you know
been around an extra four miles and when
you’re running a hundred miles that’s
very demoralizing and you kind of that’s
where your brain has to kick in you’ve
got to have that mental strength to just
go with the flow keep you know your
intense focus on your goal and just just
go so it’s just very meditative for me
very kind of a spiritual experience so
that’s really what keeps me coming back
is that
just kind of like a total emotional
stress cleanse and then when I am done
with it I’m too exhausted to worry about
anything else and then I can come back
and start over the other thing I’m very
thankful for every time rill my shoes on
whether I’m running a mile or 100 miles
is just being able to get out on those
trails because I know there’s a lot of
people that would love to not
necessarily run the distance but just be
out there in nature and so I never take
that for granted and then I have a
wonderful family that’s been very very
supportive and without that there’s no
way I’d be doing this because they do
come first I try to fit my runs in at
noon noon hour and then I do long runs
on the weekend but I get up early I try
to get them in so I at least have time
with my family later and they’ve been
some of my biggest supporters so that’s
really why I run for her I guess it’s
alluring the challenges I like the
harder the challenge the better it is
for me and it’s a passion of mine and
running is part of who I am and as long
as I’m able to do it I’m gonna be out
there doing it and if I can’t think of a
better way to see you the beautiful
landscapes in our you know community and
just all over the world if I can plant
that seed for someone else it’s even
even better so that is all I have to say
and I am very honored that I was asked
to speak today and hopefully some of you
guys will want to go out and try it note remember time now so thank you very much