Weekly posts? Hahaha. All we can do is our best. As long it is our best in that moment, it is enough.

Life for us all is so interesting right now. I know I told you I would tell you about my DIY 100 mile run and I will, but the journey getting there is important so I would like to start from there. I decided to put my writing (blog and books) on hold in August 2018. I didn’t believe it would take years to get back to the blog. I knew the books would likely take years before I would have the time to dedicate to finishing them.

I had many changes occur in my life over the last two and a half years. My daughter was born, I left my 9 to 5 career (been there ten years) to start my own business, I got married, I moved and then there is this Covid-19 pandemic we are all more familiar with then we’d like to be.

My running has always been my freedom, my therapy, my meditation, my foundation as I have navigated changes and challenges in my life. During the last trimester of my pregnancy and for about 5 months following it, I wasn’t able to run. In August of 2018, I barely had my running.

I relied on hiking, elliptical, stair master, and strength training to keep my sanity through these months and just held on to my belief that I would be able to run again in time. The whole time I was pregnant and then right after, everyone told me you will bounce right back don’t worry about it. Your endurance and strength will return very quickly.

I know they were trying to be encouraging and they probably believed what they were saying, but it didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, it made things worse because when I was able to start coming back to running, it was hard, and I had to start from the very beginning. I had to start back with run walking which meant that I had regressed to a point past where I began my running life.

I was determined. I love running and I was not going to let it go.

I began with run/walking. I was walking more than I was running. I could only do 15 minutes at a time. The problems I was having were the same as every beginning runner. I had pain in my knees. I had pain in the tendons of my ankles.  I also had a new problem. I would pee every time I ran, even a short distance (if this is TMI for male readers skip the next paragraph).

I did many pelvic floor exercises I found online for months and it wasn’t getting better. I went to a physical therapist who specialized in pelvic floor muscles. I did those exercises for months. Nothing.  I had to see a urogynecologist about it, who said it may take a long time for my body to recover and I may need surgery to correct the problem or to wear a pessary every time I ran. I felt betrayed by my body. I was afraid that running would never be the same for me again.

It was October 2018, when I was finally able to get back to a run/walk program. It was slow going and little things like the knee and the posterior tibialis tendon issue would pop up when I increased my miles. It was hard to get out on the trails with a baby at home who was still breastfeeding.

I kept telling myself I was rebuilding my base. I had no idea when or if I would race again. All winter I worked at rebuilding my miles. In June of 2019, I was able to return to racing. I finished the Squaw Peak 50 mile in 13:05:29. I finished Speedgoat 50k in 10:25:45 in July 2019 and Antelope Island 50 in 5:50:59.

I had registered for Bear 100 but ended up withdrawing from the race because I didn’t feel my daughter was ready for me to be gone for 24 to 36 hours.

I was feeling good about my progression and excited for 2020’s race season to open up… and then Covid hit and all the races were cancelled.