They say sitting is the new smoking. What we do with our bodies all day effects us when we are walking and running.
In my latest video, I give you a quick tip on how you can maximize the time you spend sitting on your butt all day in under 2 minutes.
When you first start lifting from the crown of your head, make sure you do this for small periods of time. You are working out your core muscles with this practice so you want to do it gradually. I recommend setting a phone reminder or alarm every hour to mindfully practice this for a minute or two to get used to it.
Bonus Tip: I work on this while I’m sitting in my car as well. I lift my rear view mirror up a little higher to keep my spine lengthened. I bring the back of the chair a little closer so I do allow the seat to help me but I’m still doing the work just with a bit of assistance.
Do you want to start running? Not sure where to start?
Or have you tried it a few times and given up because maybe “running is not for me”?
Even if you’re not a beginner runner, these tips will help make your running more enjoyable. Here are 3 quick running tips for you as a Beginner Beginner Runner™:
Always make sure to check with your Doctor before starting physical activity.
Running is not just a physical sport. Mindset and mental training go hand in hand with being a runner. We are our own worst enemies when it comes to this though. It’s easy to compare ourselves to what other runners might be doing, we may judge ourselves thinking we are too overweight or too old. Running has a bad reputation and many people get into the “no pain no gain” mindset…..which isn’t how it should be! Running should be fun! If you like it too hurt and that’s part of your running story than I’m probably not the right person to be following. If you want to learn to enjoy running, the first thing you have to do is forget about all the negative things you’ve heard about running. You are writing your own running story! If you tried it and it’s still hard then maybe my next two tips will help you too!
Learning how to run can make or break your experience not only as a beginner runner but all runners. Putting one foot in front of the other sounds logical but there wouldn’t be a 65% annual injury rate for runners. Of course I am biased to ChiRunning but I always encourage all my runners to investigate different options because at the end of the day, our bodies are all different. In the video above, I share a form tip that will make a difference!
Get a coach! I think newbie runners assume that coaches are for elite athletes…this couldn’t be further than the truth! Just because people run, doesn’t mean they have all the answers. I’ve seen the worst advice given in facebook groups. I don’t care if it’s me or not, but find yourself a coach that can show you the ropes and help make the experience so much more enjoyable. Here is link to a blog I wrote about finding a running coach.
This is my biggest message to my runners! Running is such a great sport but gets a bad rap because many people hurt themselves when they try it (I help you fix that by learning proper technique). Add insult to injury (pun intended) one of the first things people ask you about when you tell them you are a runner, always has something to do with speed. By nature, you start comparing yourself to everyone else….and down the rabbit hole you go. One of the things I preach in my TRU TRIBE is to not compare themselves to any other runner because everyone has their own story….just like they have theirs.
Learning to get over this as a runner, gives you more confidence in your ability to do this in other areas of your life!
Since yesterday was National Write Your Story Day, I thought I’d share mine!
1st 5K in Italy in 6th grade? My parents were both runners. My Mommy placed in the top 3 women a lot
Young me running!
Started running as an adult in 2006, mid 30s. Learned Pose Method but my life was changed when I was introduced to @ChiRunning
1st half marathon: Rock N Roll Pf Changs on 1/14/07
1st 5K as an adult was Iron Girl on 3/25/2007
Certified ChiRunning/ChiWalking (CRCW) Instructor in 2010
Hanging with Danny, our founder
1st trail race was @AravaipaRunning 25K at Pass Mountain on 11/19/11
1st 10K (?) at Whiskey Row on 5/14/11
1st marathon was the Lost Dutchman on my 41st birthday 2/19/12
Upleveled to CRCW Senior Instructor on 12/1/12
Became the RFB Organizer in Tempe on 5/7/13
First out of state trail run was the Chippewa Creek Trail Challenge in OH 8/7/13
1st 50K at Elephant Mountain on 2/22/14
Finish line pic with my #1 supporter!
The Running University was founded on 2/27/14
1st night run at Adrenaline on 6/14/14
1st running injury: Plantar Fasciitis. An overuse injury that came from moving to Altra Running shoes and not giving my body enough time to get used to them.
1st timed event: 7/12/14 with Solemates CYA (Cool Your Ass) 6 hours
1st Ragnar Relay Race in 11/14
Upleveled to CRCW Master Instructor on 11/11/14
1st 50 Miler at Antelope Canyon on 2/20/16
1st 100K at Black Canyon on 2/17/18
CRCW Instructor of the Year in 11/18 (first one given by the company)
1st Double Down at Blackout/Big Pine on 6/8/19
Became one of the CRCW company owners along with 3 fellow Master Instructors in May of 2020
1st Night 50K/ultra at Javelina Jangover on 9/25/21
1st Stage Race at @transrockiesrunning in 8/21
1st 100 miler at Across The Years on 1/1/22
Second ever running injury now from the aftermath of not training enough for the 100 miler
Most miles logged in a year: 1904.10 miles in 2021
Thanks to Athlinks and Ultrasignup for making it easier to find most of this information!
While these are the major milestones of my running story, I’ve learned and grown so much because of this sport! I’m blessed that I get to coach others do the same!
If you’ve been in my circle for awhile, you know I started this practice a few years ago after reading Atomic Habits. James Clear, the author, does this annually and he inspired me to do the same. This is my annual “performance” review based on goals that I set for myself at the beginning of 2021 as well as my 2022 goals.
James mentions in his last annual review that’s it’s uncomfortable to “brag” about himself and his business and to be so vulnerable by sharing some uncomfortable information. I agree but I figure it’s part of my personal growth process and if it inspires others to do the same, then great! So here it goes!
2021 Learning Lessons
Before I get into my learning lessons (because I am a sucker for constructive feedback and I was mainly focusing on that until I proofread this), I had a pretty darn epic 50th birthday year! From running distances I never thought possible to finally raising $1M with my Las Bombas 3-Day Team, I’m living my dash!
My biggest learning lesson last year was that I set too many goals in my personal and professional life. I quickly realized that many of those goals would not get accomplished. The biggest reason for this is that I underestimated the amount of training that I had ahead of me. I continuously reevaluated my work load and since it was my 50th birthday year, my running goals were non negotiable. I wanted to make sure I completed those running events as my top priority because you only turn 50 once!
The other big lesson I learned was that even though I love what I do so much, I can still burn out if I’m not taking the time to take care of me. I took it for granted and assumed that my running time could still be down time but it wasn’t enough. Between my mental state at Ragnar and my body shutting down on me at the Breast Cancer 3-Day event in San Diego, I knew I had to make some changes.
I made some changes already because of these epiphanies. I cut my group runs in half and I raised some of my prices (which I haven’t done in awhile).
It’s funny because I didn’t start my business to become a millionaire . Of course I need to pay my bills but the reasons I started my business were to change peoples’ lives and have a flexible schedule. Money has never been a motivator for me. As a matter of fact, my life mission is: “Do the things I love to do, with the people I love to do them with, whenever I want.” Whenever I want, implies needing money but I’m happy to say that I am fulfilling my mission just fine without being rich! So when I had the aha moments above, I thought “Why am I trying to do so much when I really don’t “need” the money”. I’m not raking it in but I’m happy as a clam with what I have now.
Now I have to remind myself of this as I move forward in 2022. I set my 2022 goals at the bottom of this post along with my phrase of the year and my vision board.
I’m excited to see how 2022 will unfold!
2021 Personal and Professional Review
Running:
Zero Injuries
Races:
Coldwater 52K in January: PRd by 50:56 minutes!
Black Canyon 100K on 2/13: PRd by 24:33. My goal was to PR by 1 hour which I may have been able to do if I had crew but I wasn’t allowed to have one due to COVID. Still happy with a 24 minute PR!
Mesquite Canyon 3/6: Half Marathon
Sinister 9K: placed 3rd female in the 50-59 age group
Adrenaline 25K on 5/22
Blackout 6K & Big Pine 13K on 6/11-12
5 K Knight Race Series: 5/21, 6/18, 7/23
TransRockies Run! Bucket list item complete! 8/2-8/7: 120 miles over 6 days in 8K+ of altitude with 20K feet of elevation gain!
HotFoot Hamster: 12 hours: 32.9 miles
Jerome Hill Climb: annual tradition
Javelina Jangover 50K: First Night Trail 50K: 8:49:32
Jackass Night Trail Runs: 5:31:34
Ragnar Trail:done
Breast Cancer 3-Day: I got sick half way through the event but our team reached our $1 Million goal! It took us 16 years but we finally did it!
December: First 100 miler at ATY on 12/30-12/31 (this will go into 2022 since it ended in this year)
Cocodona Virtual Experience-I knew going into it that I wouldn’t do 250 miles in 5 weeks but I wanted to be part of the first inaugural event somehow
Hashke Virtual Race
Javelina Jallucinations
Random:
On 5/7 I got to pace my friend Andre Lee for 17 miles during his Cocodona 250 mile race!
Travel:
April: Prescott for Whiskey Basin Race
June: Flagstaff for Blackout/Big Pine
July: Silverton/Kendall Mountain races, Boston to see a friend, VT to meet with my ChiLiving business partners, MA to see family
August: CO for TransRockies race
September: Jerome Hill Climb
October: 2 week trip back east: Boston>Omega Retreat>Pittsfield
November: San Diego for the Susan G Komen 3-Day
Professional
Copy this blog and update date it monthly starting February. 2/5/21 Done
Meditate daily: I should’ve got this number at the beginning of the year because it only gives me the last 12 months and it’s from 3/1. I complete 298 meditations with a daily average of 1.13. If you know me, this daily practice has been a game changer for me!
Toastmasters: Goal: 5 Speeches
1 of 5 speecheson 6/24
High Performance Leadership Guidance Committee member for Xin Yin
Set up a road map in the Membership Academy so I can get get clear on my TRU TRIBE goals and be accountable. Did not complete
Courses:
2/28 Video Strategy Academy Course (Trena Little):
Increase my presence on Instagram and You Tube. I don’t have goal numbers on this yet but hope to have them as I review this blog monthly. Goal is to re launch You Tube channel in August. Postponed to 2022
6/9 List Builder Society Course (Amy Porterfield) – used info to work on my new newsletter platform
Change my newsletter platform-Started with Flodesk on 3/21 and transitioning on 5/17 (day Fitpro expires). Done on 5/17/21
First kayak trip on Salt River for Sylvia’s birthday
Co-led my first ChiRunning/ChiWalking retreat at Omega Institute with my business partner Sarah Richardson
Met with Eric Deeter: ChiRunning Instructor in Training
Personal
Spend more focused time with family:
Greg: Monthly Day Date on calendar- better than 2021 but still not a regular practice
Mom and Dad: see them at least 1x a week. Started seeing them on Wednesdays once we all got vaccinated. Didn’t track but definitely making this a high priority and have been sticking to it as much as possible.
Create 2021 Vision Board on 2/7/21 Word of the Year: Ignite Done
Read 7 pages a day (I always say I want to read more but I don’t make it a priority. Following the idea of making it a daily habit rather than worrying about quantity of books). Finished 3 books
February: Finished Depression Hates A Moving Target
March: Grit & Grace by Tim McGraw
April: Let your Mind Run by Deena Kastor
Schedule a regular health check up, mammogram and other tests to be done at 50-Done!
The Running University
Certified ChiRunners/ChiWalkers :
Privates: 11 new CR/CW, 4 ChiRefreshers with Alumni
CRCW workshops:
10 graduates on 5/29
9 graduates on 10/30
TRU TRIBE
Members: 81 (as of 2/21/22)
TRU TRIBE Team: Double membership by 12/31/21 to 132. I was at 66 when I set this goal. In the 3rd quarter I decided I was happy with where I was. I finished the year with 76 members.
Guest Speakers:
January: Melissa Higdon Fit Focus Me: Building Healthy Habits Through Daily Reminders
October- Jenn Tarrant: Practical Strategies for Dealing With Grief
December- Celebrate with Chi with Sarah Chesterfield
Courses/Challenges rolled out:
Our Favorite Things: Big list of all of our favorite things from favorite kitchen utensil to favorite running socks
Spring Cleaning Challenge: Getting rid of one thing every day of the month
How to Pace Your Run: Learn why pacing is important, how to apply it to your training and your race.
Step Up Your Cadence in 30 Days: Course with specific drills and homework assignments to improve running cadence
Curiosity Challenge : a combination of having new experiences like trying a new recipe, workout and a scavenger hunt of finding the awesome features in Mighty Networks (platform for the TRU TRIBE)
Monthly Themes:
January: Habits/Goal Setting
February: ME!
March: Spring Cleaning
April: Grounding
May: Mental Health Awareness
June: New Experiences
July: Rest & Recover
August: Focus
September: Self Care Awareness Month
October: Emotional Wellness Month
November: Gratitude
December: Celebrate!
Ladies Training Programs (LTPs):
Spring Semester 2021
Havasu Half
10 women
Dam Good Run
8 women:
Two: 1st trail race (one of them is 67 years old!)
Whiskey Basin
9 women
One: 1st trail race
One PR
Big Pine
12 women
Silverton/Kendall Mountain
6 women
Fall Semester 2021
30 people total
Jackass Night Trail Runs: 8 total
3 did their longest night trail race
2 did their longest trail race and first night trail race
1 DNF
Frenzy: 17 total
Goal: at least 10 new ultra runners. Actual: 5
7 did their longest distance
1 did her first trail race
5 did their first 50K (and became ultra runners!)
5 of the 8 50K finishers are over 60 years old! (First one for 3 of them!)
2022 Goals
I realized I set way too many goals for myself last year, mainly because I turned 50 so this year I’m scaling back:
Start Video Academy Strategy Course live on 2/28/22 and relaunch my You Tube by 8/22.
Create at least 3 different opt ins for my newsletter by 8/22. When I changed platforms last year, I couldn’t use the same one so I haven’t had one for awhile. These may include ebooks and/or quizzes.
Delve in deeper to the Membership Academy. There is a lot of content for membership owners.
Continue making the TRU TRIBE my priority. I already have guest speakers lined up through June. I will continue creating good content and courses for them. Not sure yet if I’ll have any goals for increasing membership this year. My ultimate goal (no deadline yet) is to make this 80% of my income. I am taking my time. I am on the Mighty Network Product Council and we looked at my Insights a few weeks ago. Happy to report that they said I have one of the most engaged memberships they’ve seen!
Get efficient at having a monthly and quarterly Content Calendars for both of my businesses for social media and the online communities. I’m getting better at weekly scheduling. My goal is to have this nailed down by 5/22
Deliver 5 speeches in my Toastmaster club by the end of the year
Copy this blog post and update it monthly
Spend more focused time with family:
Greg: Monthly Day Date on calendar
Mom and Dad: see them at least 1x a week
Meditate daily
No running goals this year! I am recovering from an injury and have decided this year I need to spend more time on my businesses (I don’t mention that much here but the ChiRunning business takes up a lot of my time too!). I do have an ultimate goal to do the Cocodona 250 but that will be on the 3-5 year plan. This year I’ll focus on strength training and technique (always!) and then I’ll get back to longer distances in 2023.
Strength train/Mobility work at least 2x a week with a stretch goal of 3x (starting 3/1 since I’m writing this on 2/25)
2022 Vision Board
My 2022 Vision Board is to the left of me in my office space so I see it constantly.
My phrase of the year is: Embrace My Space. By space I mean: physical, emotional, spiritual, mental…I want to be better about setting boundaries and taking care of me. You can see that a lot of the right side of my vision board is about that. I need to keep working smarter not harder and keep streamlining some of my processes and keep things simple. The top left is about our home space. We’ve been in a one bedroom apartment in Tempe (love the location and we are minimalists so the space works too). Not sure what we will do this year with the economy the way it is but I want to keep a good home space for 2022 which could also mean staying put where we are (I just want my honey to have a good garden space though!). The bottom left is all about my summer plans! I’ll be volunteering at TransRockies (summer camp!) again this year with my besties! Excited to say that we are Dawn Patrol which means taking care of the Back of the Pack group! Last but not least the bottom middle is about spending more time meal planning and cooking. Because of my work load I tend to resort to quick fixes (still mostly healthy ones) but I’d like to make more time for planning and preparing food. Also a good way to spend quality time with Greg 🥰
If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read through it! 🥰 This is a time consuming process but well worth it!
Another distance checked off my bucket list!
Warning: this is a bit long so grab a coffee or beer and get comfy! It took me longer to write this blog than to do the race!
Seriously, WHO AM I? If you would’ve told me 10 years ago that I would be doing 100 miles, I would say you’re crazy! One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned from running is “Never Say Never”
But why 100 miles?! 🙄🤣
Let’s tackle this question first. I have two major Why’s:
The longest distance I’ve done so far is a 100K (62 miles) at one time and 120 miles in 6 days at the TransRockies stage race. Every time I go up a distance, and feel good after finishing it, I wonder….can I do the next one? In most trail races, distances jump from 100K to 100 miles…..which is about 38 miles. That’s a lot more miles! But I got it in my head that I wanted to try it. My original goal was to do this race in 2020 going into 2021 as I entered my 50th birthday year. But this race was canceled last year due to COVID so I changed it to this New Year. I purchased the 48 hour option (more on this below). I decided I would do my longest distance on the first day, go take a shower and sleep a bit (Greg’s Mom lives 10 minutes away from the race venue!) and then come back and finish the rest on 12/31 so I could ring in the New Year doing something epic!
This might be the first time I put this in writing. I’ve started saying it out loud because this 100 miler was the first test for me. In 2020, Aravaipa announced a new race: Cocodona 250. That’s right…250 mile race! I remember reading all about it and watching the video….thinking what an amazing event to do in 2021 (the inaugural year) when I turn 50. Then, reality set in. I just became one of the new owners of the ChiRunning company and let’s face it, I was definitely not prepared to tackle this distance yet. I loved the idea of running through most of the state of Arizona.! I was lucky enough to get to volunteer and pace my friend Andre in May this year. The seed was planted but they have a requirement that you have at least one 100 mile race under your belt and their cutoffs were definitely out of my league. So, I figured, getting this 100 miler done would be the first step to deciding whether doing a longer distance was even something that I wanted to do. I’ll admit it, I think I’m addicted to longer distances! My next step will be to do another 100 miler or two but not until 2023. While I am excited at the possibility of Cocodona, I need to be realistic about my work load as well as my training and experience. I don’t want to rush into anything so right now it’s on the 2-4 year plan.
I remember when I first heard of it from one of my ChiRunners. Sounded ridiculous to me! It’s a 1.05 mile loop and you basically go around in circles for hours…or days! Wait…what?! You read that right!
I’ll admit it, it’s definitely not my favorite type of race. I’m a trail girl at heart. However, there is something about this race that is truly special.
I remember the first time I went to just check it out. It was years ago. Some of my ChiRunners from Prescott were doing it and they invited me to come and visit and do some laps with them. Again, not my cup of tea but I totally could see how this type of race would work for a lot of people and a lot of reasons. After this experience, I decided to start volunteering. The Running University now fills the entire volunteer shift from 9am on New Year’s Eve to 9am on New Year’s Day. It’s my favorite way to spend this holiday!. Of course, every time I volunteered, I got more and more intrigued. I had the chance to run the race several times due to my volunteering but I never choose to do the full 24 hours. I would only do what my training plan called for. (One of the dangers about these types of events is that you get caught up in adding the mileage and it’s easy to get injured when you haven’t trained for the distance).
Some crazy distances are covered by athletes of all ages at this race! If you want to check out some of the results, click here. For example, the winner of the 10 day race, did 690.471 miles!
When I decided I was doing my first 100 miler, I had to pick which race. I knew it had to be an Aravaipa race. I did my first 50K and 100K with Aravaipa Running. They are one of our local trail racing companies and they put on amazing races. I basically “grew up” and became a trail runner and ultra runner through their races. I also considered the difficulty of a trail 100 miler and after lots of thought, I decided Across The Years would allow me to ease into it, do it over 48 hours, it would be a great social race as I always know a lot of people who are either running or volunteering, and my team would be there on my last day volunteering.
Training for races is important to me. LOL that’s one of the reasons I’m a running coach. Not conditioning yourself for a race, especially a long one, is an injury waiting to happen. Unfortunately I knew I wouldn’t be able to train the way I would’ve normally done for this type of race. At one point in early November, I almost considered canceling it. I circled back to my why and it was really important for me to reach this milestone during my 50th birthday year. At that point I decided to buckle down and I was able to increase my training mileage and get a few long runs in. One day I even did a 50K in loops around the Kiwanis park lake. I did that several times for some 10 and 20 milers. Although I still wasn’t sufficiently trained, I felt better about it. Of course, knowing ChiRunning/ChiWalking technique is a huge asset!
My plan was to take it easy. I had a few calculations in my head as far as my pace but I knew I would be doing lots of walk/run intervals and I wanted to be realistic. My goal was to do my longest mileage on Day 1 so I could get that PR under my belt and then finish up later on 12/31 when all my peeps were volunteering.
It’s weird to me that I wasn’t really nervous before the start. It wasn’t a trail race, there was an aid station on the 1 mile course and there was no risk of getting lost in the middle of nowhere (this is usually my biggest stressor on a trail race). The mileage was intimidating but I also knew I was in a very safe space. As usual, the weather was my biggest concern…I was refreshing my Weather app on my phone constantly the whole week leading up to it. It was supposed to rain on both days…and in typical fashion, it kept changing. It looked like Thursday was going to be the better day which was good since I decided I was going to do the most mileage this day.
I found Lori’s tent (one of my trail wives and BFFs). She was also doing 100 miles but as a different race. She had the AZ flag on her tent like we do for our TransRockies camping. Although I had my car as home base, Lori’s tent was right off the track so would take less time to get things when I needed them. She let me keep my stuff there. I headed to the start line…..race start was 9am on 12/30. The 1st 24 hours was 9am-9am.
There were several reasons for that. When I’m planning a big mileage event, especially out of my comfort zone, I always like to raise money. I used to be a Board Member for our local chapter. I love this charity because I wish I had this when I was growing up. I started running late in my life so I love to see how GOTR makes such a big impact on these girls. As a matter of fact, as a running coach, I do the same thing for women only at a later stage in their lives. Running is such a great sport and we can learn so much from it. I love helping transform peoples lives with running and walking. I wish I had it as a kid! I also decided I wanted to walk in memory of Ila Brandli and Bob Hanson.
From my fundraising page! https://www.gotrmc.org/fundraiser/Coach-Lisa-The-Running-University
They were both big Girls On The Run supporters and passed away in the last few years. I would see Bob and his wife Cindy volunteering at aid stations during XTerra trail races (they support GOTR!). He had one of the best smiles and was always so positive.
Miles and smiles for Bob ❤ I wore this for both days
Ila used to raise money for GOTR too and used to do Across The years as well. As a matter of fact, she was one of the record breakers there! I wrote a blog about her in 2016 because she was such an amazing lady! I kept the cape on most of the first day. It ended up serving as a great conversation piece too! One girl ran by me and said she used to be a participant of the GOTR program and that’s how she became a runner! This made my day! Several people commented saying their daughter was in the program. Then, I made a new friend from Germany, Simi. I am bummed that we didn’t get a picture together because we had some great conversations! She’s doing some great things with women runners where she lives and it was fun to swap stories about how we motivate our athletes.
My goal for the first day was to do the highest distance I’d ever done. This happens to be the Black Canyon 100K (62 miles) but according to my Garmin, it was actually 63.06 so I had to get at least 63.5 done before going to shower and rest. I didn’t really have a strategy other than trying to keep between a 12-18 minute mile between running and walking intervals. They weren’t set intervals and I just body sensed when I felt like walking or running. I tried to run a bit more up front knowing that I would get more tired later. I knew quite a bit of people that were either participating or volunteering so it was a fun way to catch up with friends. (2 min Instagram Live at my start)
At one point, my friend Joshua handed me Ila’s In Memoriam race bib which I wore this for several miles. If you ever do this race, once you get a bib number, it’s yours for life! Many people come back year after year and you get swag for hitting milestones too. If you pass away, an In Memoriam bib is made and participants are able to wear them during the race. (3:46 min Instagram Live at mile 25)
Ila’s bib ❤
I got a visit from Melissa and Miggie and they even came back with a Cafe Americano for me because I knew it was going to be a long night!
Melissa did a lap with me!
Outside of the weather, the other mindfuck was the actual distance covered on each lap. While I had my Garmin on, the official race lap count did not match it. This is because the course is 1.05 miles and of course I wasn’t on the exact trajectory of when the course was measured. The path was pretty wide in some parts and there were bathroom breaks slightly off course, etc. I tried not to look at it but as I was getting closer to my daily goal, I was off by 2-3 miles. The hardest part of the entire race for me was the night of Day 1. I wanted to be done but was too tired to run so it was taking longer to do laps. I never ever thought of quitting but there was a lot of self talk and pumping sunshine 🤪there were fewer people on the course as people going for days would take longer breaks at night in their tents or RVs.
Gritting it out at night with Lisa Lee!
It all became a blur. The highlight of that early morning, was some food at the aid station. You pass it on every lap and you definitely don’t need to stop at every mile. At that point I was getting hungry and was about to grab a bag of potato chips, when Jon, the aid station captain, said, “we have tater tots!” Wait, what?! Keep in mind they make some great meals for us like hamburgers, pancakes, etc. I wasn’t expecting tater tots but they were the best thing EVER at 3am!
Finally I was getting closer….at first I wanted to reach the 64 miles on the race lap count…but when I was at mile 63 on my Garmin and still at 61 on the race count, I was over it! I did my last lap and hit the 64 miles on my Garmin and called it a night. I knew I had to get the official time for the total 100 miles but I would deal with that the next day. I think I left the race about 330ish. I went to my boyfriends’ Mom’s house which is about 6 minutes away, took a hot shower and went to sleep.
Ringing the PR Bell and feeling bad because it was 3am and people were sleeping in tents nearby.
I slept for about 4.5 hours and then starting getting ready for Day 2, New Year’s Eve. I was jazzed up because I “only” had 37 more miles to go. My plan was to end within an hour of midnight and 1am on New Year’s Day. Many of my TRU TRIBE members were volunteering on this day, including Greg, my boyfriend. I knew this was going to be an easier day.
Started Day 2 with Kisha!
TRU TRIBE after their volunteer shift doing a lap with me!
AND I had a few ChiRunning Instructors joining me on this day! Master Instructor Vince Vaccaro, one of the four co-owners of ChiRunning with me and Laurel Flax, a Certified Instructor in NH. These timed events are right up her ally and this was going to be her longest. Vince was going 24 hours and she was doing 72 hours. I didn’t get there until 12:30ish and I tried to find them first right away. I tried keeping up with Vince for a bit but he was fresh (well jet lagged from the late flight the night before) but fresher than me!
Some of my ChiRunning family! Vince and Laurel 😁
Long story short, this day started out better than I expected physically and mentally. I had to stay focused though because I’d get caught up at the aid station talking to friends. I had plenty of time as far as the cutoff of 9am the next day but I really wanted to finish right after midnight. I had more company this time around but I was also mostly walking at this point. I am pretty sure that I walked most of the 2nd day. My sister and my friend RJ came out to do a few laps with me. Alina, one of my TRU TRIBE members from Tucson, drove in a crazy storm to come out and walk with me too.
At one point, I started having lower shin pain. I knew there would be a possibility that something like this could happen because I didn’t really train as much as I wanted to. I told myself that I would stop if it was bad enough that it may take me out of commission for awhile but it never got that bad (so I thought). Of course I was even more hyper-focused on my technique but the overuse injury was starting to set in. I never take ibuprofen but did this time. I would normally drink alcohol but believe it or not, I drank none at all while I was on the course! First of all it was too cold! Second of all, I didn’t want to mess with how good I was feeling. Outside of the shin pain, I was in great spirits and people commented on that quite often.
This is actually a huge part of my mental strategy. I say this over and over again but due to my daily meditation practice, I am able to be self aware and mindful of attitudes and emotions as they are happening to me. I purposely pump myself up mentally before any big race with as many positive things that I can. I got myself so excited to finally get started on this bucket list race! I knew it would “only” be 2 tough days and I can do hard things! I can also tell when my mind wants to take me down the rabbit hole in a bad place. I usually catch this early enough so I can change it. The first thing that I do to get out of my head is a Technique Body Scan (start at the bottom with my foot placement and then go through each area to see if I’m in good form). I can’t be in my head judging myself if I’m doing this! I usually follow that with a 5 Senses Meditation (learned from Danny and you can find it here!). Same concept though…if I’m focusing on my senses, I’m not in my head going down the rabbit hole.
The thing bumming me out the most was that I was slowing down and had to take more breaks than I expected. This meant that I wouldn’t be finishing close to midnight anymore (which is when the volunteer shift ends and several of my friends (and boyfriend) would be done volunteering. I had to get over this and not let it bother me. My other ways to get distracted were to listen to music or podcasts. Between that and the company, it went better than I expected.
It was finally midnight and we got to ring in the New Year together! The whole race stops, everyone gets together at the start line, we have a champagne toast and everyone does a loop together. Most of the people I knew left after the celebration. I can’t remember how many miles I had to go at this point but I think it was a few more hours. (2:47 Instagram Live at mile 91)
I got to spend several more miles with Simi. Vince decided to stay with me and keep me company. The weather had held out most of the day and go figure, at 1am, it started down pouring. I was pissed! So freaking close to being finished…and my Garmin was 3 miles ahead of the official timer….but I kept pushing through with Vince. Then all of the sudden, I saw Elaine coming towards us! I can’t remember if it was my last lap or 2nd to last lap but it was so good to see her face! Elaine was one of the first people to get me into trail running, helped me train for my first night race and ultra, is one of my trusted pacers, and one of my besties!
With Elaine! Photo taken after the finish. Alina brought me those balloons. She risked her life coming up from Tucson in a crazy storm with these balloons in the back of her car! All I could think about after my race is “don’t let me forget my balloons”. Elaine made sure I didn’t. (as of 1/25/22 they are still floating around in my living room!)
It was finally over! I turned right for the final stretch, I started running because you just have to cross a finish line running! I went through the aid station, rang the PR bell (and didn’t care about waking people up this time!), crossed that finish line and got my buckle! Thanks to Jan for getting this video of me!
As of today 1/28/22, I am taking a little break from running as I heal. I am going to see Jody from Longevity Wellness Clinic of AZ for my 3rd acupuncture appointment in 2 weeks.
As of today 1/28/22, I still can’t believe I did it! If you made it this far, thank you so much! It seriously took me longer to put this together than it did to run it!
The final numbers!!
Race Director Julie 😊
Race Director Jubilee 💜
OF course I wore my buckle the first chance I had at the Aravaipa Group Trail Run the following Wednesday!
Noooooo! It was Day 6! I wasn’t ready for it to be over!
The most exciting thing that happened that morning is that I got a free bag of Stoked Oats. This is seriously the best oatmeal I’ve had in my life. They are one of the race sponsors and I had it for breakfast there every single day. I asked about them midweek and was told that they are from Canada and that the only way to get them in the US was at a Costco in L.A.
I was told that if there were leftovers at the end of the week I’d be able to get a bag….and I did! I am finishing it up now but I just ordered a new one on Amazon because they are available there now! These are worth every penny in my opinion and I’ve only tried the Stoned Oats flavor.
I honestly have to say, I was bummed that it was the last day. I tried to stay as present as possible the entire week so I could keep as many memories as possible in my mind. Today would be another long day of 22 miles with 5300 ft of elevation gain. Because the sunrise was later, the early start was only about 30ish minutes before the regular start. I started on my own and even though I was bummed, I was looking forward to my last day on trails that I had never been on before. This was one of my Why’s for this race and it propelled me every day. It’s almost as if I couldn’t get enough of seeing new trails this week!
Where had the time gone? Were we really already on Day 5 of 6?
I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad….that’s really not true though…honestly I was sad.
Sure it had been a tough week but I wasn’t really ready for it to be over yet! I had to remind myself to stay as present as possible.
Stage 5 was sponsored by Mammoth Creameries. We had the option to have this tasty, keto friendly ice cream every single day! Check them out!
This was the longest stage with 24 miles and the 2nd most elevation gain (see the elevation profile at the bottom of the picture below).
I was amazed at how good I felt! Between ChiRunning/ChiWalking, my training, the poles, using the Elevated Legs the 2 days prior, I felt great!
“The creek was redirected so there won’t be anywhere near as much water as there normally is”…..they said the night before during the race briefing. I never found out if they said this on the purpose (I think they did!) but several people boood this comment that night. I was actually bummed too because there was supposed to be a long water crossing that I (and many others) were looking forward to.
Stage 4: Sponsored by Kahtoola 15 miles/23 kilometres with 3600 ft/1100 m gain
This was another “short” day (only 2 days under 20 miles!) but there was a good amount of steep climbing even though our highest point was “only” 11,700. But our finish line was at Mango’s Bar and Grill in Red Cliff. 😁
We started in Nova Guides where we spent the previous night. It was nice to stay in one location for two nights so we didn’t have to pack. We also didn’t have any service during these two days which was a blessing in disguise. I kept my phone turned off during this stage as they told use when we got a bit higher we may have connection…..I really didn’t want to get bombarded with notifications or be back in the “real” world again.
Several people have asked me what my favorite stage was….It’s so hard to say because they all have their own unique character about them. However, I do believe that Stage 3 may have been my favorite.
We had spent the night in Leadville, in a WET baseball field. It had rained and they kept apologizing for the conditions like it was their fault it had rained. You just roll with the punches! I hadn’t been sleeping well the past few nights so this time I opted to do the regular start even if it was the longest stage. I checked the elevation profile and knew I could finish in time. Joan left early. I knew I would be by myself most of the day which was absolutely fine with me. My goal for this week was to enjoy this vacation and recharge…although I am mostly an extrovert, I have introvert tendencies and really love alone time in nature.
This was the longest stage at 25 miles. As I’ve said before, my Why for this race was so strong that I started every day like a giddy little kid on Christmas morning. I couldn’t wait to see what the trails had in store for me. Since I had volunteered, I was also excited about getting to Nova Guides as it’s one of the most beautiful locations I’ve been to. I also knew we wouldn’t have service for a few days but that was a blessing. I was happy to be as disconnected from the outside world as possible while I was reconnecting with nature and myself.
BTW I forgot to mention in my Hope Pass blog that I forgot to wear my Garmin! I ended up downloading Joan’s profile since we were together 95% of the time.
This was possibly the day I was most excited for! We were doing Hope Pass! “Only” a 13 mile day but a tough one!
Hope Pass is known as the iconic climb of the Leadville Trail 100 Race. Those runners have to do the race up and over and then back again as part of the 100 mile course. It’s at 12,508 feet of elevation, steep climb on both sides (Outbound runners tackle 3,200 feet of elevation gain over 4 miles, and an average grade of 15%. Inbound runners will face 2,400 feet of elevation gain over 2.5 miles for an average grade of 20%~from the Leadville Race Series Facebook page), with promises of outstanding views.
Thankfully we “only” had to do it once….but the weather was not good that day and there was concern about lightening and safety for runners.
Stage 2: Sponsored by Elevation Culture (they made our buckles!) 13 miles/21km with 3300 FT/1000m of elevation gain. The elevation gain was all in the first 2.5 miles so an average grade of 20% (you can see this in the picture within the picture at the bottom). I have a few quick short videos in my photo gallery.
Course map of Stage 2
My ONLY goal for TransRockies Run was to finish ALL the mileage. I wasn’t worried about how fast I would be but I wanted to do all 120 miles of the race. This plan failed on Stage 2. 😥 But it was a decision that I made mindfully so even though I was bummed making it, it was for good reason. I planned to do the early start already because they were really worried about the weather/lightening and the first 2.5 miles are the hardest and take the longest. I was good with that but then I found out that they were dropping the Dawn Patrol people (early start) 1.7 miles into the course already so we would start on the trail right away. This meant I was missing that mileage of the race. My ego was crushed. It may not sound like a big deal, it’s only 1.7 miles but since speed was not my goal, and my only goal was doing ALL the mileage, this really bummed me out. At first I debated doing the regular start but that was at least an hour later putting me at higher risk of hitting the worst weather. Then I thought, maybe I’d have them let me start 1.7 miles before the trailhead because they drove back some early start people to let them do that. I could hear and feel my ego getting in the way (I thank my meditation practice for this “superpower”! I always say self awareness is a bitch but it’s always for good reason.) I went through the pros and cons and tried to be as detached from the outcome as possible. Then I let it all go and really listened to my gut while trying to put my ego aside. Hard to do but then it hit me like a slap in the face!
“What was I thinking?! 1.7 miles? Come on Pozzoni, I would get that mileage just walking around camp….and did it really matter? It was 1.7 miles of road and I was still doing epic shit! So off we went……. My other faux pas of the day, more importantly, was since I was so preoccupied about the issue above, I didn’t put 2+2 together. The first aid station was at mile 1.7 before the big climb….duh, it wasn’t ready yet because we did the early start (we are told to provide for ourselves so my bad here!) so I didn’t have enough fuel with me. Thankfully there are always friends on the trail willing to share so I was able to get more food in me but that could’ve been a dangerous situation between the weather and difficulty of the trail.
