Day after Ridge to Bridge Marathon

This photo is looking north off Blue Ridge Parkway. You can see Stone Mtn and Pilot if you look carefully...

Another grand day! Yesterdays post babbled about the unique Ridge to Bridge Marathon...(which really was super cool..)
Today, I am sharing a few photos taken while out on a run/slog/hike with George. He was doing the running and hiking and I the slogging.

The real difference between being "in shape" or not quite is in the recovery. The first 7.8 miles today felt fine...yet after that I really felt yesterday's efforts and did all I could do not to whine out loud before we made it back to the car in what would total for me 13.5 miles. I think it will take several more months of weeks, solid training to have a quality double.

This picture was taken looking south from Alligator back...We're seeing the mountains of Ashe County in the distance.

Today wasn't bad-just a reality check in a beautiful place-with an understanding, if not somewhat dissapointed George by my side. Sooo tomorrow will be "off" and Tuesday an elliptical day and get back to the good stuff on Wednesday!

Definition of Adventure: "That which has an unknown outcome!"

Ridge to Bridge Marathon 10/24= Superhero Dennis

Dennis and I about 1:30pm today-running a fun 26.2, soaking in the river and eating pizza (me) drinking ultra beer (Den)! He was maddingly speedy at 2:58:45 (unofficial) and 4th overall on the new USATF certified R to B Marathon this am. I squabbled in at some 11ish minutes later..Top finisher awards were leaf pottery! WOW!
THE DENNIS himself demonstrating post race ritual of an ultrarunner and furiously accomplished dirt road marathon runner! Yip, yip, yippeee!!!

Today I had the privilege of running David and Ronda's new course for their Ridge to Bridge, 70%ish dirt road USATF certified marathon course. What a glorious fall day in the Appalachian foothills!

I am psyched for and proud of my kindred spirit running friend who trained for this event and vowed to go sub 3:00 for this marathon. Dennis is a strong, versatile runner who is a couple years older than me...44 or 45? Anyway he wanted a sub 3:00 marathon.

AND he got it! I don't even know my real time, but Dennis ran 2:58:45! Agghhh! Mr Superhero!
I am so thrilled for him!

I hope he enjoys his accomplishment..his crew was great to be around- I scammed a ride this am and this afternoon and got to bask in their company too!

....My clock time was somewhere around 3:09:38...I was thrilled. Lots of downhill-which has always been good for me. I did not race, but ran smartly and then sat in the River for 12 minutes afterwards. I got 2nd girl overall and 1st Masters. Pretty cool!
Tomorrow I plan to run/hike 17-27 miles depending on what George wants to do...hope to make it to Doughton Park ...yet that is many hours away! I am "in training for JFK" and "cramming" for Masochist!

Great job DN and especially kudos to David and Ronda for hosting a tremendously gorgeous and professional event! Full results here.

Frolicking in/around the Iron Mountains=BREADZILLA plus!

On Saturday, 10/17, 8 of us set off on a chilly trek south of Damascas, VA on the Appalachian Trail ... 6 of the group ran , 2 hiked, this brief photo display focuses on the
"runners"...though you can be sure with the dropping temps and pelting frozen precipitaiton , "running" in some spots, is a sorely over ambitious term! (Yet yay for us-chilly, windy and wet!)

This photo shows 4 of the 6 of us "toasting" each other. We didn't know before we started, yet we are all wearing Montrails: L to R (me w/purple sock: W's 10.5 Mtn Masochist, Rick in the Streak, Beth in Womens' 10 Streak and Dennis in Masochist. We met for a mountain running adventure, several hours before celebrating the official unveiling of the creation by fellow adventure runner JJ Jesse . Little did we know our adventure would take us though 34 degrees and the 1st frozen precip of the season.
Annette and Dennis trying to be balanced as we show off our shoes (and calf muscles)...
Dinking around like this was fun for me as I am returning to running after a 2 month lay off....
Dennis and I will run the Ridge to Bridge Marathon next week... a 75% dirt road, 60% down hill marathon. He'll likely scream it in sub 3:00, I am doing the run as a training run, looking forward to running through my old stomping grounds as an NC Outward Bound instructor. Go, Dennis, Go!

This is a trail break: From L top: Doug, Dennis, Annette and 2nd row, Rick, Beth and Jenny. We really didn't plan on being groupies-yet I couldn't resist this photo when I realized ALL of us were Nathan Products dependent this day! Yippeee!
The real whole purpose for the documented above 24 ish mile G0vernment's Road loop was the coming together of trail running friends to celebrate and burn calories as we made our way to the formal unveiling of JJ Jesse (and Bonnie's ) super, amazing, cooker of yummy pizzas in the "Breadzilla." JJ was too busy prepping for the festivity to join us today...yet he has in the past and after he recovers from pizza essence overload, I hope he will very soon...JESSE-YOU ROCK AND CREATED YUMMY FOOD, A GREAT COMMUNITY AND AN AWESOME PIZZA MONSTER COOKER!
Above. Sniff. Shiver. 34 degrees. Eat pizza, relish amazing human contact and give thanks for weekends!

Running out of work

No... This is not what it sounds like! I do have a job and I work and live beneath a beautiful mountain. What follows is a tiny slide show of my wet run yesterday!

Full results New River Trail 50k

Below are the full "unofficial results" for the New River Trail 50k...I will be posting this to our website within the next 48 hours...please advise of spellings or age snafus!
Many thanks and heaps of gratitude to our amazing volunteers and full of life runners!

Official Finishers are 7 hours or less.

place time name sex age
1 3:25:13 Timothy Driscoll M 40
2 3:35:38 Matt Kirk M 28
3 3:38:39 Nick Whited M 31
4 3:46:40 Shannon Price M 31
5 4:01:30 Jenny Anderson F 35
6 4:12:32 David Kirby M 22
7 4:13:32 Matt Stollenwerk M 41
8 4:13:53 Rachel Harrison F 27
9 4:15:14 David Wasson M 41
10 4:15:36 Terri Gizienski F 42
11 4:19:24 Rick Gray M 48
12 4:23:28 Chad Randolf 43
13 4:26:13 Melinda Yelton F 43
14 4:26:14 Betsy Chew F 38
15 4:29:50 Travis Coe M 30
16 4:30:31 Wanda Burnette F 57
17 4:31:39 Angela Delbrugge F 27
18 4:31:58 Mark Long M 50
19 4:32:01 Fred Dummar M 40
20 4:33:54 Desiree Lerch F 34
21 4:34:30 Jonathon Adcock M 27
22 4:36:19 Mike Pastore M 54
23 4:37:09 Tom Patch M 50
24 4:38:35 Joel Sweigart 40
25 4:38:35 Derek Reese M 39
26 4:39:24 Jen VanAllen F 35
27 4:39:30 Greg Stick M 53
28 4:41:27 Jeremy Baldwin M 36
29 4:42:12 Ian Prince M 44
30 4:46:17 Ashley Funderbunk F 32
31 4:47:07 Lark Dunham F 41
32 4:47:31 Landon Frerich M 26
33 4:47:40 Don Mertz M 49
34 4:47:51 Amy Albu F 33
35 4:47:51 Erin Gordley F 38
36 4:48:59 David Kirk M 58
37 4:56:19 Eva Gonzales F 48
38 4:58:42 Bob Clouston M 47
39 5:03:44 John Waite M 30
40 5:05:02 Joseph Licata M 27
41 5:06:24 Bradley Nester M 40
42 5:06:41 Rosemary Baxley F 46
43 5:06:41 Jamie Moore M 40
44 5:07:08 Dale Riddle M 51
45 5:07:11 Ed Hanks M 50
46 5:07:28 Rebecca Adcock F 29
47 5:07:50 Paul Valarides M 42
48 5:08:25 Sally Stollenwerk F 42
49 5:17:30 David Ritchie M 54
50 5:17:48 Janine Myatt F 42
51 5:20:47 Jimmy Ballard M 46
52 5:20:48 Tony Rouse M 45
53 5:23:12 Sandy Davis F 33
54 5:23:16 Aaron Proden M 37
55 5:25:09 Richard Tyner M 55
56 5:25:37 Mike Day M 48
57 5:27:40 Eric Fogelman M 49
58 5:28:56 Eric Bath M 35
59 5:29:51 Darrel Wells M 51
60 5:30:57 David King M 63
61 5:32:01 Joe Guest M 41
62 5:33:09 Jason Holmberg M 39
63 5:34:25 David Bragg M 29
64 5:34:25 John Neathawk M 25
65 5:34:30 Marie Tedesco F 60
66 5:35:00 Frank Maguire M 62
67 5:37:43 Lisa Tranel F 29
68 5:37:52 Judy Campbell F 60
69 5:38:56 Leon Harmon M 59
70 5:41:10 Lance Foss M 39
71 5:41:13 Jerry Anderson M 50
72 5:42:14 Steven Lutz M 35
73 5:43:03 Wendy Ann Weidner F 50
74 5:45:55 Elizabeth Fairbanks F 39
75 5:47:15 Richard Hulse M 46
76 5:54:51 Radu Stoica M 35
77 5:55:02 James Kesterson M 61
78 5:55:24 Michael Furman M 42
79 5:55:28 Anita Finkle F 43
80 6:04:01 Nate Roll M 40
81 6:04:35 Michael Morley M 30
82 6:06:12 Tammy Massie F 37
83 6:08:43 George Songer M 59
84 6:09:20 Janice Hicks F 67
85 6:19:10 Chris Redman M 41
86 6:26:42 John Hurley M 54
87 6:32:14 John Hoffman M 47
88 6:34:48 Joyce Ong F 59
89 6:36 Dale Caveny M 49
90 6:37:52 James Hunter M 36
91 6:38:11 Trace Stewart F 45
92 6:38:53 Parker Brown F 42
93 6:38:53 Kate Wisz F 40
94 6:46:10 Richard Hoben M 37
95 6:46:45 Anne MacCallum F 45
96 6:47:33 Susan Dummar F 44
97 6:47:33 Scott Herman-Giddens M 66
98 6:47:43 Brian Moretz M 44
99 6:48:34 Michael Bubel M 53
100 6:55:22 Jeannie Hutton F 47
101 6:59:04 Dale Less M 50


102 7:01:33 Vickie Fogelman F 51
103 7:02:09 Donna Maguire F 58
104 7:07:58 Cheryl Phillips F 51
105 7:08:00 Jim Moss M 56

Like to photo sharing site:

New River Trail 50k Top Finishers 10/10/09

What a great day along the banks of the New River and Chestnut Creek in Southwestern VA! What follows are the unofficial top 10 women and top 10 men in today’s race. Details, links to photo sharing sites, and complete “unofficial results” will be posted here tomorrow, and more formally on our website within the next 48-72 hours. New Men’s and Women’s Course Records!

Women

Jenny Anderson 35 4:01:30!

Rachel Harrison 27 4:13:53

Terri Gizienski 42 4:15:36

Melinda Yelton 43 4:26:13

Betsy Chew 38 4:26:14

Wanda Burnette 57 4:30:31

Angela Delbrugge 27 4:31:39

Desiree Lerch 34 4:33:54

Jen VanAllen 35 4:39:24

Ashley Funderbunk 32 4:46:17

Men

Timothy Driscoll 40 3:25:13!

Matt Kirk 28 3:35:38

Nick Whited 31 3:38:39

Shannon Price 31 3:46:40

David Kirby 22 4:12:32

Matt Stollenwerk 41 4:13:32

David Wasson 41 4:15:14

Rick Gray 48 4:19:24

Chad Randolph 43 4:23:28

Travis Coe 30 4:29:58

I am soooo proud of my friends!

What a weekend of Ultra Running and Trail Running!
Grindstone 100 was this past weekend and I am so pleased to see Rick Gray, Sophie Speidel, Kevin Townsend and many others among the finishers. Must be a tough course: 38-hour time limit of which many folks took advantage! Karl Meltzer led the men’s race 18:46:26, and Donna Utakis 23:34:59 for the women. Rick has often struggled with issues related to sleep deprivation during long races, yet he finished solidly in 36:04:26! I really look forward to hearing stories! Here for results!

I spent most of the weekend following the live web cast of North Coast 24 Hour. Jill Perry kicked butt with 136.01 miles, Anna Piskorska with 131.30 and my teammate from Italy, Deb Horn with 128.80. Many other excellent performances and stories I am certain! The men’s top 3: Phil McCarthy 151.32 (yay former teammate too!), John Geesler 138.71, and Dan Rose 138.71. Well done. Go here for full results.Click on appropriate link.

Much closer to home, I celebrated life and running. I had an appointment with a foot ankle specialist on Thurs (Oct 1). He spent 40 minutes with me, reviewing x-rays, MRI, history and my ultra running habit. His conclusion is that I do not have tendinitis or cellulitis (though I may have 10 weeks ago...) but what the inflammation is from now is an entrapped nerve in my lower shin.

Somehow, (due to irritation, chance, or injury) the fascia around the nerve in the lower leg has gotten thicker. The nerve runs through the muscle/fascia and when the muscle is active and filled with more blood, the nerve gets squeezed, hence the discomfort and pain. The most direct treatment is a procedure, which cuts into the fascia creating “breathing space” and hence releases pressure on the nerve. Kind of like compartment syndrome...but not quite.

This diagnosis makes sense to me. I don’t like the idea of being cut-yet it is a good option. Hopefully next week I’ll have scheduled an appt with a nerve doctor who can do a nerve conduction test and then we can go from there. In the meantime, I’ve stopped taking Celebrex in favor of a homeopathic nerve booster and a topical prescription cream. I am also doing iontophorisis on the area that seems entrapped. Best case is the fascia will calm on it’s own-worse, I get to have my skin snipped…

In the meantime, I’ve gotten the “OK” to train moderately and run, provided I am self aware and disciplined enough to back off when it hurts and apply ice and compression…
Sooo…I ran at the Dark Mountain Challenge yesterday (pitifully, yet joyously!) 17 advertised miles... (yet more like 15.5 from my time).

Jason and Allison Bryant both won!

Above is fast girl Allison Bryant who finished just under 2 hours and me (slogging in a slow-yet happy 2:15ish!)
And I got to meet a Gail,a professor at Appalachian State University and ultrarunner who recently relocated to the area from Wyoming. I hope we get to share the trails again in the future!

Today I got to run a slow round trip at Moses Cone from Bass lake to the fire tower today another slow 10.5 miles up and down. Discomfort? Yes! Did compression on the point specified help? Yes!

For now, I will await an appointment for the nerve conduction study and avidly continue to prepare for the New River Trail 50k, and proudly celebrate the tenacity,endurance and accomplishments of my friends and kindred spirits!