I Run 4 LilliAnne

Filed Under: Fitness, Inspire, Love, Workouts Tagged With: fitness, i run 4, running, trail running

After waiting almost 2 years, yesterday I was matched – I Run 4 LilliAnne.

Almost 2 years ago I applied to be part of the I Run 4 Michael program. I never forgot about it, but honestly thought maybe my information had gotten lost somewhere in their massive pile of people wanting to participate in the program.

And then about a month ago I got an email that I would be matched soon.

Yesterday was the day.

It has all come at the perfect time.

I Run 4 Michael

What is I Run 4 Michael? Their mission sums it up well,

Here at IR4, we foster relationships. We want to see runners and buddies alike experience the profound power of encouraging and being supported by people who were once perfect strangers. Running can just be about health. Or it can be about dedicating our miles to and creating awareness for our buddies with special needs whose conditions span the spectrum from total physical disability to developmental delays to autism spectrum disorders, as well as myriad rare conditions we’re only now learning about thanks to our participation in IR4.

Today the group is over 22,000 members and nearly 7,000 matches, with 3,500 athletes waiting, within 18 months. (That timeline is pretty accurate based on my wait.) (I actually think those numbers are much higher than what’s stated on their website because the Facebook group is over 43,0000 people.)

I Run 4 LilliAnne

The girl I was matched with is almost 10 (next month), and her name is – you guessed it – LilliAnne. She is high functioning autistic, and has femoral anteversion in both legs.

According to her mom, Amanda, (who has raised her on her own, even though she has milk cerebral palsy),

She loves people, and she will talk to anyone. She is always the first to try to get the smaller kids involved, but just because she has an outgoing personality doesn’t mean she doesn’t struggle. I’ve had to take her out of public school twice because she gets stressed out, breaks down, and refuses to go.

Here is a picture of Amanda and LilliAnne.

About the picture, Amanda said,

This was taken while we were waiting for her to be seen at the ER the other day. We were there for six hours because of chest pain she was having while breathing. This picture captures her silly and sweet side perfectly.

(And YES, yes Amanda gave me full permission to share this and their picture here. I would never, ever do it otherwise.)

What Does it Mean?

So what does it mean anyways when you are matched?

It’s very simple. The idea is just that we are forming encouraging relationships between buddies and runners.

Each week, I will post (in the private Facebook group) a minimum of three (3) times weekly whether or not I have run so LilliAnne knows I’m still around.

They aren’t picky about the workout – running, walking, cross fit, yoga, or strength training – as long as it’s done in honor of your buddy. Many choose to devote races to their buddies, too.

In other words, you run for someone who can’t to help inspire them while realizing that they will ultimately inspire you as well.

So Why Did I Do It?

Everyone says that running is “so hard.” Or that working out, in general, is “so hard.” I love that there is an organization that celebrates children who could only wish for the so hard that we are afforded the luxury to do each and every single day.

Running (<– if you click that link you can see all the posts I have written on running and my journey with it) has never come easy for me, and yet I have accomplished things through it I never thought I would.

Originally, I wanted to do it for accountability (that was around the time when I started getting really consistent with running again).

Like everything else in life I live and breathe by Ecclesiastes 3:11,

Everything is beautiful in its time.

Being matched wasn’t supposed to happen until now.

I’ve been in my own drenches for a couple months now, but this has (once again) opened my eyes to, “…..but I still can – run, lift, all of it.” There is nothing so great in my life that limits what I can do. The only thing limiting is myself. Which brings me to the second reason this was supposed to happen now….

Matt Fitgerald published this post on Monday, “The Goal of Becoming a Better Runner is Highly Compatible with the Goal of Becoming a Better Person.” In it, he states,

Because the mind truly is the athlete, the goal of becoming a better runner is highly compatible with the goal of becoming a better person. Addressing the weaknesses that limit your success in running will make you happier and more effectual in other parts of life. Likewise, becoming a stronger person through crises outside of running will pay dividends on the racecourse.

Running is a metaphor for life. I have so many things to work on in my own life. Now I get to work through them, while dedicating all those miles and hours to a girl, somewhere in Texas, who might hang on to my messages and activity daily.

When we learn to get out of ourselves, out of our own heads, and lean in towards something and someone else is the point at which healing (for us and them) happens. Helping is healing.

Summer and Fall Race Schedule

I figured I’d end this post with my planned summer and fall race schedule. I’ve been working with Michelle to set these races, so they have been intentional. I wanted to wait to share them until I had my match.

August 18, 2018: Mendota Bottoms – 10 miler (we have a wedding that afternoon, but I really wanted to do this one, so I’ll make it all happen)
September 22, 2018: Surley Trail Loppet – half marathon (this is kind of set as my “A” race – the one I’m most excited for!)
October 20, 2018: Surf the Murph – 25K (this will be my longest race yet)

These are all trail races, and I’m so excited to experience them in Minnesota. I’m not opposed to 5-10K road races along the way (or even an awesome half marathon) so if you’re in Minnesota and know of some, let me know, mmmmmkay?! (By the way, this image makes me miss my friend Tami so dang much.)

I hope you love sharing the journey with me, LilliAnne!

Xox,
SKH

Trail Hog Survival

Filed Under: Fitness, Inspire, Love, Workouts Tagged With: fitness, inspire, love, running, trail running, workout

My second Brazen Trail Race held the theme Trail Hog Survival.

Around mile 9, I overheard a guy say, “It’s just survival at this point.”

I really could not have said it better myself.

Trail Hog Survival

Don’t let these next two images fool you. They were taken before the race when I had no clue as to what was ahead!

Let’s set the stage for all of you who do not live out in this area of California or who have never run in the mountains and/or run in general.

The temperature that morning during the race was 103-105 degrees. Garmin told me total distance covered was 13.7 miles. The website said we would climb 1,800 feet (though a guy I know told me he recorded upwards of 2,200 feet).

Unless you’ve done a race like that, it’s hard to imagine exactly what that combination would feel like. I had zero clue because even the day before when I knew what it was going to be, I thought it wouldn’t be that big of a deal.

Wrong.

I had two goals for this race coming off of my first trail race ever, and that was to beat my time (since the overall climb was less) and not stop for pictures, water, food, or anything else.

Not only did I not hit either of those goals, but I was far from hitting them.

This race took me about 10 minutes more to complete, and I had to stop at the last aid station for probably a good 3-4 minutes because I needed electrolytes and some salt stat.

The race started fine….for about 2 miles, and then it all quickly went downhill. I won’t even for a minute pretend that I “have no idea why” because throughout the entire the race all I could think was, “this could have been prevented” or “there is no way this could have been prevented.”

It broke down (literally) as such with 5 main things….

Hydration. This one both could have and could not have been prevented. I was not properly hydrated going into the day, and then on the course, I simply could not catch up with how much water and electrolytes I needed. I knew it was going to be rough with the heat, so the night before, I went out and bought a CamelBak. Even though it held 2.5L of water, that was gone within the first 5-ish miles probably. It wasn’t until the very last aid station (around mile 11) when I was able to temporarily re-hydrate. It was the first aid station I stopped at, and during my time there, I downed 3 glasses of water and 2 electrolyte glasses of water. (I also had a handful of salted nuts because my skin and hair were covered in salt, and my body needed it desperately.)
Heat. This one could not have been prevented. I’m typically chronically cold, never warm. But for the past month, I’ve felt constantly too hot. Even still, I had zero clues to what being too hot and running a (climbing) half marathon too hot would feel like. The heat was absolutely brutal. What made it even worse is that most of this course is not shaded. I would be running for what seemed like miles (or wait, it probably really was miles!) in pure sun and heat. Even my legs felt like they were burning (which was confirmed after when I saw a heat rash on them). I was so hot that I started getting chills. During those moments, I’d run super slow or just walk. But no matter what, I could not escape the heat.
Trails and hills. This one could have been prevented. Trails and hills are what trail running is all about, so if I am to get good at this, I really need to run more on trails and get in better shape for hills, hills, hills. Trail running in California is no joke. Technically Trail Hog is one of the lower climbs I’ll do through New Years, and yet I know that even climbing all of 1,800+ feet was hard. Yes, yes, yes, I do realize the heat had a lot to do with it, but part of getting better with trail races is to get better at the uphill (and downhill, for that matter).
Bandana. This one could have been prevented. I will wrap a bandana around me somewhere for the next trail race. On three separate occasions during Trail Hog, so much sweat got in my eyes that I was temporarily blinded and it stung like crazy. I’ve never experienced that before, but the sweat while running for hours at a time is so real.
Sleep deprivation. This one could have been prevented. I told you in my August 2017 recap that I’ve been having a crazy amount of energy (maybe too much) these past few weeks. While I like to think of it as a good thing, where it has affected me is in my sleep. I’ve gone a few weeks with no more than 7 hours a sleep a night, and that works for neither my training + races nor will it work to help keep SIBO at bay. I felt so tired on the course that day, sort of dizzy and faint all around, and I know the sleep deprivation went into that equation. (I’ll have you know that finally on Sunday night I reached my 8-hour sweet spot again.)

I’m proud of the finish, although it was a tortoise pace for me, and not for reasons you might expect. I’m proud because of that tortoise pace.

The ambulance had to come, and I saw people on stretchers. I saw a man on the side of the trail (over 1/2 a mile from the aid station) who was in very bad shape and had to wait for medics to get it. Ryan told me people were dry heaving at the finish line. Others collapsed upon finishing or had to be rushed off for quick medical attention.

I could have run faster, but it would not have necessarily been better or stronger because it would have taken me out of anything physical for quite some time.

My health has been so great for such a long time now that I didn’t want to put myself in a position to ruin all the hard work I’ve done for a race like that where it was more survival than setting PR’s.

Shortly after the race, a guy I know messaged me, “Well I really hope that you don’t let this one race discourage you from any of the Ultras.”

Nope. Not stopping. Not even for a moment did I think I’d never do one again. In fact, I got home and within 24 hours had signed up for the next…..Goonies on October 21 with a 13.1-mile course and gain of 2,734 feet. With less than 7 weeks to go, I’ve got a lot of training (and sleeping and eating!) to do. The training strategy for these next 7 weeks includes more overall weekly mileage, at least one day a week on a trail or hill somewhere (or at the very least a hard running, not walking, session on the treadmill), a full day of legs, and WOD’s to fill in the gaps.

Did I mention how much I love, love, love trail running? Even in the awful heat, and even though I have to refer to this race as the Trail Hog Survival race, I had so many moments out there saying, “Thank you, God. Thank you for all the beauty in nature you have created.”

Because it really is something incredible.

Where are my trail running friends at?! Have you ever a run a race in heat like this? How do you structure your weekly workouts? What has made the biggest difference for you in getting better, faster, and stronger on the trails?

Xox,
SKH

Brazen Trail Racing

Filed Under: Fitness, Inspire, Love, Wellness, Workouts Tagged With: fitness, inspire, love, running, trail running, yoga

Sigh. I fell in love this weekend with Brazen Trail Racing, and like every other time I fell madly, truly, deeply in love, it was completely out of the blue.

Upon falling in love, I stumbled upon this quote, and it has engulfed every inch of my soul.

Right after the San Francisco Half Marathon (not even a month ago), my friend Tami said, “You should totally run the Bear Creek Brazen with us on August 12. It’s a trail race, climbing over 3K feet, and it will be so hard but amazing.” (Side note: This girl right here has also captured my heart. Her attitude, energy for life, and sweet demeanor is incredible.)

I barely gave my fears any thoughts, and instead signed up instantly.

From July 24 (the day after the San Francisco half) to Brazen, I did the following to prepare….

Got trail running shoes (La Sportiva Women’s Akyra Mountain Running Shoe)
Did a super hard hike in Yosemite (this post is still coming!)
Did approximately 1-2 hard leg-only workouts each week
Spent 2 days per week doing 45 minutes – an hour of incline (6 – 12%) walking, jogging, and running on our treadmill
Began doing these amazing short, but intense WOD workouts from Jess’ new program
Told myself constantly, ‘there are no such things as snakes’ 🙂

A few days prior to the race, though, doubt set in. My energy was low last week, I wasn’t sure this trail running was really for me, and all the snakes and coyote dreams came at me full force.

Race morning came, and I felt excited! What I’ve learned from all the races I’ve ever done is that race morning just straight up ROCKS! I went in feeling like this was going to happen, and it would be whatever I would make of it.

And here’s what happened during that 13.3+ mile and 3K+ elevation climb of Brazen Trail Racing.

Brazen Trail Racing

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I finally found my ‘Yoga.’ Remember in Let It Be Fall when I explained how I pushed and pushed to love yoga but that, ultimately, no amount of pushing could make me love it? Trail running is my yoga. According to The New York Times, “The original context of yoga was spiritual development practices to train the body and mind to self observe and become aware of their own nature. The purposes of yoga were to cultivate discernment, awareness, self-regulation and higher consciousness in the individual.” Bingo. That’s why my doctors have long recommended it to me. But I have explained it as such…..I have tried to be present and mindful with yoga, but I just can’t. sit. still. And I get it. That’s the point, to train yourself to do so. But was the point to physically sit still or to have the mind sit still and in the process be present? Because that’s what happened to me on Saturday with trail running. For almost 3 hours, I was present, mindful, and soaking up nature, life, and all the quiet that existed deep within.
I faced my fears of snakes. In Unafraid I told you, “I had massive snake phobia nearly my entire life. When I was really little, I ran over one with my little trike, and in grade school, while jumping on a trampoline, had a friend’s brother throw them at me. To this day, I have a hard time doing a lot of things outside in summer, namely hiking, for fear of a snake encounter.” After starting out running the race with Tami and her husband, I decided to just go ahead and do it on my own. I did this, namely, because I wanted to conquer all that was ahead alone, and mentally know that I could do anything. But shortly after I made that decision, the trail became a super narrow, single path in the middle of the hot, summer fields. If you live in or have ever been to the Bay Area in Northern California, you know exactly what that means – snakeville. That’s where they live, and that’s their home so to pretend they shouldn’t be there would not be right. To make matters worse, after awhile on this path, the weeds and grass got taller. It was a claustrophobic feeling where all I could do was take massively huge breaths, release, and just keep on running. At one point, I told the guy directly behind me, “If I have a heart attack right now, it’s not because I’m tired. I’m deathly afraid of snakes.” He laughed and said, “Well they are definitely all around us.” More. Deep. Breaths. But eventually, that path lead back to the “forest,” and I had conquered those minutes, my mind, and the fear. Conquered for good? Ah. No! This is going to take a very long time, but I have finally faced it, and in the process, have gained so much more out of life.
Calm and chaos. For the last 2-3 miles, I could hear the finish line music, yet I was still so tucked into the shaded, woody area. I couldn’t help but think about how alone we can be with the sounds, voices, and calm in our heads, but yet still so close to the chaos of life. Feeling this for those 2-3 miles was really something. In fact, it’s not even something I can explain very well but felt so deeply. My mind played over and over again, “It’s just me, my thoughts, nature, and all the emotions in the world currently, but out there…..chaos, commotion, and life.”
Found my weakness. Had it not been for the downhills, I would have come out like a champ. In 2012, I wrote a post called, “What Goes Down Must Come Up.” The premise of the post is that hiking the Grand Canyon downhill was much easier than climbing back up. I argued back then that the climb back up was much harder than down. I still believe in the post, and that, as a metaphor for life. But after Saturday (and Yosemite), I no longer believe that from a physical standpoint. Back when we hiked the Grand Canyon, I was in far worse shape than I am today. The flats and uphills were much easier. I was terrible at the downhill, getting passed up by everyone (which I’d then make up for and then some on the flat and uphill). I’m still afraid of falling and tumbling down the steep hills (almost did yesterday, in fact), and I’m not used to running so much downhill. If I want to truly excel, I’ll need to get better at this weakness.
And then found my strength. As I mentioned above, the flat and uphill climbs were a major strength. Sure, on many of the major uphill climbs, I had to walk, but I also ran/jogged a ton of it, which was a huge strength. I have been working legs like it’s my part-time job. And I do believe that this practice has set me up nicely to continue trail running.
You really get to see everything. When you trail run, you are able to see things you would never see on the road. When I reached the top of every hill, all I could think was, “Wow! This is absolutely beautiful.” Part of that is the beautiful Bay Area, but the other part is just that being at a peak, no matter where you’re at, allows you to see everything – for miles and miles – from a different view than you would otherwise. God’s creations are breathtaking.

And when it was over? No stress-fracture pain. When I woke up yesterday? Still no pain. I did my hardest half marathon yet and came out with only the pains anyone would expect – sore quads, and ankle muscles that were all, “Um, hi. We did work yesterday.”

I have been fighting hard to desire to spend the next 3+ months training to PR a flat, road race in the beginning of December. My mind says, “Yes,” but my body ~~screams~~ says, “No. No, you aren’t currently in a life place to train 30-50 miles a week and commit to everything else that goes along with it.”

Prior to Saturday, I thought those road races were the only way to make me feel like I was working towards the next “thing” for me. But after Saturday’s Brazen Trail Racing, I know I don’t have to fight any longer. I don’t need to run 30-50 miles a week. I don’t need to pound pavement 3-6 days a week. I don’t need to focus on sub-8 half-marathon times (when you trail run, every single trail is different and the change from climbing 1k feet of elevation to 4k feet will not yield the same half marathon pace, no matter what).

The saddest part about Saturday’s race for me was that I have been in and out of love with running since 2008, but I might have experienced the best parts of the sport tenfold had I not let FEAR hold me back all these years.

But now I have the chance to not look back. (And to keep these medals coming 🙂 )

Yesterday (yes, the day post race), I signed up for the next trail race, the Trail Hog Half Marathon on September 2 (yes, like as in 2017, just a few short weeks away).

And I won’t stop there. I am also thinking about doing 5 more Brazen Trail Races from now through January 1, 2018, one of which I am considering powering through to the 30K with over 4K elevation climb.

Oh my gosh…..I’m so excited, slightly terrified, but absolutely beaming! There truly is so much life among tall trees.

p.s. I already know what some of you who also have an Autoimmune Condition and/or SIBO are thinking, “But your gut…..” Yup, I’m still thriving. Cracking the code, pushing fear aside, and letting life in – everywhere.

p.s.s. Are you a trail runner? Have you ever done Brazen Trail Racing? Favorite trail running blogs? How about trail running gear? Anything else?

p.s.s.s. Promise this is the last one. I continue to write about my journey with running and fitness in general because there are so many life parallels. When I am in these spaces, I am inspired to share even more about life and Gravel Roads.

Xox,
SKH