Every Wish That We Put Into Motion.... (comments welcome!)

[avondale]

The forecast looks pretty good. I would love that temperature for a summer race!

Plan for rain - bring your hat or whatever you put on your head in the rain. Make sure all your sugary treats will be sealed so they don't dissolve in the wet. Put on a little extra anti-chafing stuff.

Doesn't look like it would be much, so that's good. They aren't going to change anything about the course just because it's muddy. You had a number of long runs in the rain, right? You can handle it.

I'm not sure how long you'll be checking this blog before you leave for the race...so good luck! You've got this!

 

[Herding_Cats]

The forecast looks pretty good. I would love that temperature for a summer race!

Plan for rain - bring your hat or whatever you put on your head in the rain. Make sure all your sugary treats will be sealed so they don't dissolve in the wet. Put on a little extra anti-chafing stuff.

If it looks "definitely wet" I'll be adding ziplocs of vaseline to my vest main pocket as well.

Doesn't look like it would be much, so that's good. They aren't going to change anything about the course just because it's muddy. You had a number of long runs in the rain, right? You can handle it.

Yep. 3 longer runs in the rain, including the 22mi run.

I'm not sure how long you'll be checking this blog before you leave for the race...so good luck! You've got this!

Oh I'll be checking it a lot because we'll be there before dinnertime on Saturday night and there won't be anything else to do besides doom scroll.

 

[Herding_Cats]

We helped our brown dog go across the rainbow bridge yesterday. You may remember that we did ACL repair surgery on her last summer, a tough decision because of her age, but we felt like it was the right choice given how healthy and active she was. These past few weeks with her have been really hard as her liver slowly failed on her. This spring I pushed DH pretty hard on getting the new puppy so our younger dog would have a playmate when brown dog was gone, and now was as good a time as any to get one. That decision seems prophetic now. And hey, Universe, if you're listening....3 dogs in 19 months is plenty. I would really love to have a dog make it past 10 years old. We put her in the backyard with our other 3 good boys, and DH is pretty sure that he messed his back up during the shovel work (which is not a surprise...I wish he had waited for me to change my shoes before he started.)




As of this morning it looks like SIL is planning to come over and jump into the course with me at the mile 24 aid station. Hopefully I make it that far because both my Achilles have continued to voice their irritation this week. But that's what Tylenol and Motrin are for, right? Right. I can deal with a fair amount of pain and discomfort, the trick will be if I can deal with it while maintaining pace. The weather looks a couple of clicks colder as of this morning and we might be looking at 54 to start the race.

 

[nancipants]

I'm so sorry for your loss. She looked like such a sweetheart.

 

[The Expert]

Aww I'm sorry. What a sweet silver face.

 

[garneska]

Am so sorry for you loss. 3 dogs in 19 months is too much. Big hugs to you.

Good news on the weather. Hopefully the ankles are more of the taper madness.

Trying to come up with something motivational for your 50k. Generally my manta is I can do hard things, so going with that YOU CAN DO HARD THINGS.

 

[jmasgat]

I came here (after 2 weeks away and pretty much offline) to wish you good luck with your race. But I am so sorry to hear about your dog. Hug your other ones tight.

 

[Erika10021]

So sorry for your loss.

I've been following along on your training journal, I know you got this for the race! Good luck and I hope it is fun!

 

[avondale]

I'm so sorry about the passing of your dog. It is always a tough thing.

there won't be anything else to do besides doom scroll.

Yes, there is - go to sleep! Nap! Rest!


Again - good luck!

 

[marty3d]

Sorry for your loss

Good luck on your run

 

[Herding_Cats]

Because I’ll forget by Sunday afternoon when exhaustion wipes the memories from my brain:

We hooked up the camper and drove down to the camping area near the start. Apparently it is hosted my some participants for free (we will be looking for a donation box) and they have 2 portas, a big bonfire pit, and an assortment of yard games set up when we arrived. We got there at 3pm and had figured maybe we would be one of the first ones there. We definitely were not. There were probably already 30 campers or tents set up! It’s a pretty small area, so I lobbied to be away from the bonfire area as much as possible since there is sure to be some nighttime celebrations for runners who are only running on Saturday.



Then we headed up to the trailhead parking lot (which was full) to get in line for my bib and swag bag. I was surprised as long long the line was, but after a little wandering around (DH held my spot in line) I figured out that there were actually multiple lines and we were in the HM line, which was 4x longer than the others. That makes sense as there is a HM on both days. We still waited in line for around 20min. They checked ID, confirmed the bib number, and you got your bib and distance sticker, then went inside where you have your bib to a group of middle school boys who filled your swag bag (which is a mesh laundry bag!) with the sized items. The start/finish area is pretty cool with flags from all the states/countries present.




We saw the medals for the 50mi runners (I’m like 90% sure they just have different ribbons for each distance) and they are HUGE. Good motivation to keep going on Sunday. I. Want. That. Medal. I know scale is hard to tell, but they’re probably 7-8in in diameter.


This is the setup for drop bags.


And then it was time for a pic with the big numbers!


The hoodie is gorgeous. Oh my gosh I love it so much.


One oddity is that the bibs are more cardstock-y (they are NOT tyvek) and they don’t have any holes punched in the corners. Any thoughts on that? Punch my own holes?

Because it was so busy for bib pickup I was unable to locate anyone to ask about an additional buffet ticket for DH, or someone to ask about having SIL jump in to pace me. I’ll ask around at the campsite tomorrow or go early enough to hopefully find out on Sunday morning.

They were practically giving away a gear from previous years ($8 hoodies? $2 hats?) so DH also got a hoodie and a hat since he destroys them at work.

 

[nancipants]

So exciting! That swag is so cool.

 

[The Expert]

Wow, it's all so REAL! I know you won't have reliable service, but if you need a few positive words along the way, you can always text or call me.

 

[Herding_Cats]

Wow, it's all so REAL! I know you won't have reliable service, but if you need a few positive words along the way, you can always text or call me.

You can just text me whenever you feel like it. I probably won't respond much because of service and battery life on my phone, but I will totally take the positivity. I'll probably need it at around noon when I'm 5.5hrs in and questioning all of my life choices.

 

[Herding_Cats]

I'm going to wait until later in the day to make any firm(ish) decisions, but overnight the forecast has changed and it looks like it is definitely going to rain tomorrow. Which is fine. It just means I'll have to figure out when to get dry shoes--a drop bag, or maybe have DH come to one of the spectator access points.

I'll probably also throw some of my arm sleeves in for the morning when it's chilly (and probably wet.)

 

[WillRunForPizza]

Woohoo! Good luck tomorrow! You got this!