It all leads up to this...

Speed just isn't on my side.

I can recount back to when we had to do that awesome P.E. test in high school with the one mile run that everyone so impatiently waited for each year! ha ha. Even back then, a 11 or 12 minute mile was PHENOMENAL for me!

Needless to say, when I first started running, it was brutal.... okay... brutal probably doesn't even break the surface. It was TORTUROUS! Each step, each mile, was a stretch of just how far I could go.  Like skydiving, it was a test. I didn't want to just know what it felt like to run, I wanted to know what it felt like to "race", to be part of the large crowds you'd see gathered on TV or the covers of exercise magazines!

After realizing that speed just wasn't my forte, I slowed down. (Slowed down you ask? How on earth can a chick who is already running a 12 minute pace 'slow down'?). Well, I slowed down, I walked, I went for time and for the enjoyment of the run. And don't you know... I actually enjoyed it!

I went on to run my first half marathon in January 2010. Followed by a slew of other half marathons, 10 milers, etc; however I still wanted more. I wanted MORE.

In January 2011, I ran my first marathon, the ING Miami Marathon. No walk in the park, I finished in 5:44. Painful, exhausted, and glad it was over, I vowed to never run another one of THOSE! Sure enough, the pain dissipated, the memory of the pain turned into memory of elation, and I did it again... and again...  

Six months after my first marathon, I again wanted MORE.

On a whim, I signed up and ran the BOMF 20in24 Lone Ranger ultramarathon in Philadelphia in July 2011. I'd love to be able to share a story of running like the wind, feeling the pavement under my feet roaring by, and a 50 mile finish with me cruising through arms held high... but that story will have to wait for another year. This 50 mile finish was anything but. My training was poor... I think I averaged 6 miles for the 2 weeks prior to race day... with my longest run being the Shamrock Marathon months earlier. I ran, walked, jogged, walked, cried, hallucinated, and cried some more... but somehow I finished. At just over 16 hours, I ran my first 50 miles.... and I was HOOKED!

Two more marathons flew by in 2011 and in September I felt like I was ready to conquer a trail ultra. I signed up for the Virgil Crest 50mi in Virgil, NY. A trail run boasting 10k of elevation, I felt like this would be the perfect challenge. Leading up to the race, again my training was less than optimal. I did little to no long runs, except for my marathons of coarse, and I didn't even bother to step foot onto a trail or add in any hill training. WOW...

Virgil chewed me up and spit me out. The week leading up to the race it rained, so the trails weren't easily runnable. It was shoe sucking mud. I had no knowledge of trail markers either, which made the first few miles quite interesting. That day, after 10 hours and 30 miles, I dropped. My very first DNF. I was defeated. Luckily, I came away from that race with a new respect for the ultra distance, and new friends who would teach me the ropes and give me the support I needed to keep moving forward and keep pushing those limits I set out to crush when I first toed the line at my first 5k.

Without saying, I learned. I trained, and I hit the trails. I finished some shorter distance events and in December 2011, ran my first official 50k. Its been slow progress, but i'm still learning. Recently, I've done 2 more 50k's, and another 50 miler (with NJ Trail Series Ultrafest), which went 100% smoother than my first 50miler at 20in24. I actually completed that race in 11:24, which was an almost 5 hours faster time than my first 50miler (and on trail compared to road to boot!- [see picture to the right]). I still hold Virgil Crest as my race that defeated me, and vow to come back and take my revenge on the mountain in 2012. Beware Ian Golden... your race hasn't gotten the best of me yet :)

Either way, I'm not fast. I'm not one you'll see at the front of a race... i'm the back of the packer... the one still trying to figure out how to keep placing one foot in front of the other to finish. I'm the one who learned that giving up just isn't an option. You can be first.... dont worry... I dont have a problem being last!!