Monday, April 26, 2010

POSITIVE ATTITUDE.............
"HAVING A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE IS ASKING HOW SOMETHING CAN BE DONE RATHER THAN SAYING IT CAN'T BE DONE."
Sundays fun run I was only planning on running 20 miles, but somehow ended up with 26 miles ;-) Funny how that happens.
Yeah I got to run with my friend Faye who is a lot like me we love the outdoors and doing crazy things in the wilderness, oh and most important she loves the color pink ;-)
Her sister Miki was up from SoCal and they were going to run 30 miles since Miki is training for her first 50 miler. She is running Bishop and Faye is running the whole thing with her. I am planning on going to crew and pace them, and to get a little heat training in for Ohlone 131 .
Jerry joined us for the climb up the peak but since he wasn't wearing any pink we had to kick him out of this Pink club ;-)
The weather got hot by the time we got to Sunol. I climbed 2 miles up and turned around. The trail was and obstacle course of orienteering people blocking the trail, lying on the trail and some weren't carrying water. These people were pretty rude.
I got down and was looking for whoever was in charge, the person wasn't around. The person working the table didn't even know where the water was for the people to fill up. Not that I own the trail but when someone is running down hill I move out of the way. I was asking nicely too. They were to concerned with finding the box of whatever and the clicker. I have no idea I just heard people talking.




I headed back to Mission peak and was super dehydrated from the past few days. I was sucking down water.
It was really getting warm.
I was happy to see Mark Tanaka running down the trail. I thought I feel safe now since there's a doctor on the trail. Always nice to know if you epic ;-)



I made it back home in around 7 hours. Jumped in a cold shower regrouped and waited for the girls to text when they got near the junction of the peak to head down.
Rounded Rocky up in the 83 degree temps, and headed out to the gate a mile away.




We got there but the little guy had to take a break and with cookies in my hand he kept moving. He took a nap under the bench at the trail head. When the girls showed up he was ready to head home. he ran strong all the way back.


I put in 113 miles of training last week so hopefully I'm ready for a good run at Miwok 100k this weekend.






9 comments:

Jules said...

So, Catra -

I have to say - first of all - that you are all *sorts* of awesome, and I am truly inspired by both your life and the way you choose to lead it - you have remade yourself completely and the result is amazing.

My question for you is, in general, about mileage. You run....a lot. In my world, a marathon is still like Mt. Everest, while to you it appears to be a stroll through the park.

I plan to run the Portland Marathon in October (my first,) and being quite interested about other folk's experiences with this distance, I've been reading their stories. The majority of them indicate they practically needed a stretcher by about 20 miles - that infamous "wall" - and were in turned completely amazed they were able to finish at all.

So - does this threshold change - the point where you "bonk" - or in other words, for you, *is* a marathon indeed a jaunt through the rose garden? Do you experience the typical soreness that those who do marathons have, after a run such as you posted about today...? And then just sort of push through it to keep going for the rest of the week..? You know the "horror stories," of course - "OMG the cramping!! I couldn't walk for days!! I couldn't do stairs for a week!! I had to take three days off work the day after just to be functional!! etc. etc. etc..."

I am curious to know, if in your experience, there is simply a certain point at which the body generally starts to rebel against the miles, no matter how signficant your training base, hydration or nutrition happens to be - and if there is, is it around the marathon mark, or...?

Sorry to ramble - but I would sure love to hear your input on this!

Anonymous said...

Tell Jerry men can wear pink and if he want's to run with the girl's he better get some pink!

Jenny said...

Yay pink! I love wearing pink when I run :)

Olga said...

Catra, not that being rude is ok, or anything, and I wasn't running down with you, but in general, apparently, trail etics says those who go up have the right to go. The reason I know that is because when I co-RD'd PCT50, we had a nice up/downhill near turn-around. And while we, as runners, do give way to those who flies down (makes sense, otherwise they'll wipe us out), we had hikers who didn't (I can tell you more, the pushed a couple of people, what is a whole another story). Anyhow, we appealed, they appealed (after the race), and the final stand is - Hiker's guide, PCT assos. and so on all said "those going uphill have a right to go" (again, seems in your case there were standing still, so may be it is not the same).
But in general, I hate stopping or veering off when I am busting down, It's a lot of speed to break.

Frank said...

Do pink ear buds count?

Anonymous said...

Olga is correct and I am surprised you did not know that with all your time on the trails. Or maybe you always feel you have the right of way even when packing? ;)

If you had just gone around everyone it would have added 100ft to your run. A distance that is almost nothing for someone who goes 100 miles.

Catra said...

anon it's hard to explain but you weren't there. It wasnt that i was trying to go fast lol..thats not me. But I had tried passing these people on the way out that were all in front of me and we were going up hill. They would not move as we tried to excuse ourselves to go around. one group had an out of control dog as well. They were like I said laying on the trail, i am talking no going around unless they moved. hill on one side drop off on the other. Well hiking the PCT we going up hill move out of the way for the downhill peeps this way we can rest. Ask most of the PCT hikers and they will tell you. Been on the JMT and it's the same climbing a pass and we pull over to rest ;-)
LOL...I know the rules ;-) but in most cases it's the way I just mentioned.
Thanks Olgo.
I guess I should of reread my blog and made it more clear.
Have a great weekend

Catra said...

Jules email me at catrarunner@yagoo for questions I can answer them there.
Catra

Mark Tanaka (Ultrailnakaman) said...

Hey, Catra, it was great seeing you out there-- I rarely run that trail, especially not on a weekend in the afternoon. False sense of security, if I were dehydrated myself, probably not of much help. Ironically, those orienteering folk saved me since I didn't know where the water jugs were. Hope the training's going well-- sorry it hasn't been hotter!