30K Trail Rail Run

 What an incredible day!!!!!  In this effort to move forward to a better me.  A healthier me.  Mind, body and soul I have been pushing myself to do things that I've never imagine I could let alone would be able to do.  Well today was one of those days that I tackled a challenged and pushed myself farther then I could have ever imagined.  I have this incredibly amazing friend who runs ultra-marathons.  She recently finished a 100 mile ultra and she encouraged me to find a 1/2 marathon.  Even if I walk most of it I could do the distance in the time allotted.  So I looked for something of that distance in our area, I remembered this trail run that was coming up.  So I checked it out and they had a 30K section.  18.64 miles, I can do that I thought.  So I signed up.

The day started early.  My alarm went off at 3:45 and I knew I had to be out the door by 5am.  It was an hour drive to St. Regis where I would park my car and catch the shuttle to the starting line.  And I had to cross the time zone so I was losing an hour.  I made it over with plenty of time, chatted with a few other runners while waiting for our shuttle and then we head to the starting line. 

I met this wonderful woman who had a plan to run 30 seconds and walk 30 seconds.  I thought this was a great plan because while I'm working on my running I wouldn't call myself a runner.  She was great.  We ran and walked and chatted for the first couple of miles.  And then I got hot in the sweatshirt I was wearing and had to take a walking break to remove said shirt and throw it to the side on the trail.  I purposely wore one that if I needed to do this I would be ok with losing it.  Hopefully someone who can use it picked it up. 

I then spent the next 4 or 5 miles walking and running at my own pace.  I had another woman walk a bit with me and we had a great chat.  Then off she went.  At about the 6 mile mark another woman caught up to me and she was running 30 seconds, walking a minute and twenty seconds.  She and I ran and walked together for about 5 miles.  We made the half way mark together and I really enjoyed her company.

After about the 12th mile my ankles started to ache a bit so I slowed my pace a bit.  I knew I was ahead of the schedule that I had set for myself so I felt good about doing that.  I walked the next 6 miles and then we finally got off the trail and had some pavement.  I was so disappointed when I reached the pavement thinking that I should only have just over half a mile left to go only to find out that I still had 1.6 miles.  The last .5 mile was the hardest.  Back on trail again that was uneven and windy.  I didn't think I had anything left in me and this great guy came running up behind me and gave me the push and the encouragement to finish strong.   He ran to the finish line with me.  What a great feeling.

My goal for the day was to finish the 30K (18.64 miles) in less then 5 hours.  When I made it to the 18.64 mile mark I was at 4:55.  I made my goal.  Total finished time for the 19.4 miles was 5:09.  I'm very happy with that and when asked if I would do it again my answer was a resounding YES.  Not next week by any means but yes I will do it again.  Now I have a finish time to beat.  :)

I was so bless to have so many messages through the day with words of encouragement.  Thank you to all who supported me through this challenge.  I couldn't have made it to the end without you all.   

At the Starting line getting ready to go.

Other 30Ker's getting ready to go.

5 miles and still going strong

Had to pick up a little souvenir along the way.

Isn't the scenery in front of me beautiful

By about mile 14 I really wanted to take my shoes off and soak my feet in the river.

Crossing the finish line

The tracker on my phone said 19.4 miles

My final times. 

I would walk 500 miles......

At the beginning of the year I set a goal to walk or run 1000 miles before the end of the year.  On Wednesday I made the half way mark.....500 miles.  I was so excited about reaching this point in my goal.   

So how does one reach a goal like this you might ask?  Well it's simple.....one step at a time.  I actually broke it down and made a plan.  I knew that in order to make this goal I would have to walk a minimum of 3.2 miles a day, 6 days a week or 19.25 miles per week.  And I shared my plan with others.  Making myself accountable.  I knew I couldn't possibly get to the end of the year and have someone ask me if I made it to 1000 miles and then to have to say "well no I gave up and didn't make it".    I did start out slow.  Honestly, it was cold out in January and I had to fight the snow and other horrid winter weather.  But I had made a commitment with myself and set a goal and I knew that I had to keep going.

Now that we are heading into summer the challenge is the heat.  But that ok since I get up early and get it done and out of the way before the heat sets in and the kid craziness invades my house.   As of this morning I am actually 3 weeks a head of schedule....YAY!!!  Part of my plan for this year along with finding a healthier me was to push myself and get out of my box and try some things I never would have imagined myself doing.  So one of those things is participating in a 30K Trail Run, 18.6 miles.  Now while I'm still walking more then running I'm still going to tackle this distance.  I have a time limit goal that I've set for myself, 5 hours.  Which would keep me at about a 16 mpm pace.  My plan is to run some, walk some and beat that time.  I can't wait.

So set a challenge for yourself and share it with your friends and get moving.  Maybe your's isn't to walk 1000 miles in a year, or 100 miles in a month.  Maybe your personal goal is to walk 15 miles in a week.  Maybe it's just to get out and walk for 15 minutes 3 days a week.  Whatever it is do it.  Set that goal for yourself and then strive to surpass it.  You will totally surprise yourself and feel so great in the end.  Here's to getting up of the couch, out of the recliner, and out of the house.  Get moving and enjoy the beauty outside that God has created for our pleasure. 

And just so I'm not the only one singing this song all weekend here's a little something for your listening pleasure.    You're Welcome :)