Getting everything out of Life

My adopted parents the Wickland's, and my future husband

“Don’t just accept whatever comes your way in life. You were born to win; you 
were born for greatness; you were created to be a champion in life.”





The morning after Ray Miller I wrestled around in our tent, and was awake before sunrise. I had rented out the entire La Jolla Group campsite for the start and finish line of the race, and also so we could set up Friday, and have a place to store all our stuff. The group camp could easily fit 400 people. Its really awesome, and will be the staging area for Ray Miller every year. I kept tossing and turning, and finally I got up to witness the sunrise. I threw on some warm clothes, and climbed outta our tent. To my surprise it was warm outside. Much warmer than Friday morning  when me, Jack, and Chandra marked the course. 

I could hear the waves crashing hard down below me, and across PCH. I quickly grabbed a chair, and sat down in View of the ocean, and took a deep breath. So deep that it almost hurt my lungs. I closed my eyes, and decided that I would take in this moment. I worked to really capture it, and just tried to stay where I was at for a bit. I could hear the waves crashing, and crashing. Man it was such an awesome sound. The breeze was a little chilly, and blew over my ears to chill them. I kept my eyes closed, and thought about the huge success of the event. I remember hearing a bird make some noise, and it was close. He chirped away as the ocean roared, and I opened my eyes. The orange sky lit up the campground, and it was so beautiful. Another day had gone, and a new one was here. For some reason I thought about the moment in time when I was over at Wick's house having dinner in December 2010. He had mapped out the perfect 50 mile/50k course, and said if you can someway make this happen it would be the perfect course. It was in the back country, and I really wasn't familiar with that area. Sure I had ran out there a few times, but to be an RD you have to have an exact knowledge of the area. At that moment in time we looked over his maps he had drawn up, and he committed to help me learn the area, trails, and teach me everything there could possibly be to learn about the course. Howard committed also to help. We spent countless days, hours, weeks running in those mountains with our friends, and eventually it started to come together. It took a long time to get the permission to even move forward with the event from Park Services, but eventually in Feb 2012 Ray Miller happened.  

The sun was getting much warmer, and I decided to peel off my jacket. I thought about how much fun me, Jack, and Chandra had marking the course on Thursday and Friday. I love my friends so much. I honestly cannot even comprehend why I am so blessed with such wonderful and amazing friends in my life. We spent the Thursday and Friday before the race hiking, and marking the course. What a blast we had!!  I am so lucky to have two legs, two arms, and a conditioned body to be able to be on my feet all day, and mark my own courses. It took us 9 hours on Friday to mark! Fun, but exhausting. Below are some fun pics of us out on the course. We are silly! 

Jesse signaled to me that we needed to start loading up, and get rolling out of the campsite. Its funny, but I think I could have sat in the sunshine all day. I told him I would be right there, and then took another deep long breath. Some people never even get to see the ocean their entire lives. I wanted to take in this moment. I thought allot about the enormous success of the event, and how awesome it was to have so many of my friends there from all ends of the sport. So many great friends came down from Oregon, Washington, and Northern California. What a crowd we had! Jesse and I have a blast at my ultra's. I love my job so much, and never dreamed I would be where I am at. Yes I pinch myself everyday.  

This week has been about resting, resting, and more resting after Ray Miller. I have been sleeping about 10 hours a night. Karl has me doing some shorter faster miles, but I mostly have been tidying up all the stuff after Ray Miller, and now focusing on Griffith Park Trail marathon. The non-ultra races are much easier for me to organize and put on. Funny enough the runners are not near as needy! Ha! Looking forward to my next event. I also am racing next weekend, but its simply going to be a nice supported training run. I am no wear near as fast as Margaret on the short stuff, and I don't care to be. I know my goals this year are my hundreds. I look forward to a good old fashion ass whooping next weekend, but my hope is that she can really push me to roll out a 50k PR. I guarantee she will beat 99% of the field including men, so if I can keep her as a carrot I should be able to run pretty fast. Maybe finish within 15mins after her? We will see. She is friggin fast as heck. My only concern is that the RD has said this course is tougher and longer than the old course so I am uncertain how to gage previous times. I have ran a sub 5 hour  @ Calico 50k, but that was in 2008, and I am a little bit faster now. Also Calico is not so easy. I am guessing it might compare to the toughness of Bandit. I will just have to see, and all I can do is try my best, and have a super fun day! I am just blessed, and happy to be healthy and able to run!! Plus Prizzle Sauce will be there so I am very excited about that!! 

Almost positive I will not be running Old Goats. Boo Hoo! I really want to...but my goal for the month of March is to be training for Miwok 100k. That's the first "A" race of the season. I am getting so excited for so much coming up!!! I cannot wait to volunteer at the Back Bone Race, PCT 50 Mile(Jesse is racing it!!), and then SD 100(love you Scotty)! I am crazy excited about Jesse running Western States, and honestly we have our entire 2013 planned out until Chimera 100 in November. Life does not suck!! Its so awesome. Below is my 2013 race calendar. I am super excited! In between it all Jesse will be racing a ton, and in some capacity we will be at pretty much every race in Southern California this season. Love our world. Love my friends. Love it all so much! 

Feb~ Bandit 50k
March~ Old Goats ? 
May~ Miwok 100k
June~ Bighorn 100 
August~ Angels Staircase 40 mile~ Washington and Oregon vacation!!!! 
Sept~ Mongollan 100
Nov~ Chimera 100

On, on, on with life my friends!! Off to go run...