The Day I Ate A Snickers

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I was talking to best friend Trisha yesterday and she asked me what was the best part of the 24-hour Crooked Road Ultra challenge. 

I thought about it for a moment. There was the feeling of pride that comes with facing a fear and meeting a goal. The accomplishment of running over 50 miles. The friendships that were formed or strengthened. The confidence that running such a race gave me overall as I move forward in life. But really, there was one highlight that stood out for me. 

"I got to eat a Snickers," I said. 

Seriously, when was the last time you let yourself eat a candy bar? It has to be at least 10-15 years for me. Sure, I'll eat mini-snickers all day long at Halloween but there was something different about holding a full-sized candy bar in my hand. I just simply never allow myself to go there. 

My friend Marty (who's run several Ironmen) brought me the Snickers when he showed up to run with me. I just kind of looked at it and then it hit me. I was going to eat this thing. Every. Last. Bite. 

It took me 2 miles to do it, but oh my God, best Snickers EVER. I couldn't get over the blatant hedonism of eating the whole thing myself, with no whining to girlfriends about, "Oh, I shouldn't," and "Oh, I hate myself now." Nuh-uh. I licked the wrapper, baby. 

Self-confidence and knocking down walls and exceeding goals is all good, but never underestimate the power of chocolate. 

Cheers,

Dena 

My First Ultra

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Time spent on course: 10.75 hours

Laps: 55

Miles covered: 53

Okay, so I didn't even come close to making the 24-hour mark, but I'm still super-proud to be able to call myself an ultra-runner! I ran 50 miles in just under 10 hours (as in, 9 hours and 58 minutes) and, for the most part, felt great. Here's a quick breakdown of how the day went:

How much stuff do 2 girls need to run an ultra?Pre-run

Sole Sister Cindy and her husband Dan were at my house by 6:30 am to drive me to the race. We felt intimidated as we unloaded our stuff onto a picnic table underneath a shelter as we'd brought so much stuff. However, we later learned other people had their cars there. Dan dropped us off and came back throughout the day, so we had to have everything out. 

Speaking of stuff, I waaaaay overpacked. (Shocking, I know). I bought $100 worth of food and didn't eat one bite of any of it. Not one. The race had plenty of food. I brought a bunch of clothes and didn't use half, although I will say if I had stayed the night, I would have used a lot more of what I brought. 

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24 Hour Ultra: Already Feeling The Love

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The 24-hour ultra challenge is this Saturday and I'm pleased to report I am feeling MUCH calmer about it. I finally got it in my head that I'm just going to go out there and see what happens. If I make it the full 24 hours, awesome. If I make it for 12 hours, okay. If I run screaming from the 1-mile loop after 30 minutes...well... who among us will really be surprised?

I have to say I have been overwhelmed with support from my running community. Friends are sending me e-mails, good wishes, and I have a whole host of people showing up at different times during the day to run a few laps with me and offer encouragement. Given that this race is over an hour outside of Greensboro, that's a quite a time commitment for someone to do on a Saturday. I've been so touched this week by the generosity of my friends. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it - the best thing running has brought me is friends. Wonderful, supportive, fun, loving, caring people. I'm so lucky. 

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