State #5 Redo...2.0 Fort Collins, Colorado

May 6th 2018

Let's try this one...more...time!!!
As the end is drawing near...to finishing our run through the fifty states, there are a few states that give me pause.  Sometimes my lackluster running results  leave me with a feeling of unfinished business.  Just as a college student may repeat a class to raise a GPA, I feel the need to repeat a couple of states where my efforts and performance did not go well. Who says you can't go back and make something better. While many things in life are irrefutable, my finishing time in Colorado does not have to be...it is possible to try again and get a do-over.  The state of Colorado gets the good "old college try" again. Let's see if I can knock an hour or more off of my previous Colorado time.

A speedy drive to the airport Saturday morning has us in Denver by the afternoon. After a burdensome drive~lots of traffic~we make it to packet pick-up at the Fort Collins Hilton Hotel with plenty of spare time. We print the boarding passes, for our return trip in less than twenty-four hours, back to LAX as we walk back out of the hotel on the way to dinner.  

After a very healthy dinner~it for sure will not add any extra pounds to my middle section and thunder thighs~we soak in the hot tub.  After six full marathons, so far this year, my body is not too happy about the idea of running down a mountain...or running period.

"Pain is the bodies way of saying...something needs to change!" (quote from a running podcast) The throbbing pain radiating down my right side from hip to toe, let's me know something different needs to happen. I definitely need to strengthen my hips and gluts.  I have heard many times when you have a pain~go up~to find the source. At one o'clock in the morning, I find the pressure point near the hip flexor that is tender to touch and radiates pain down through the It-band and out through my foot.  Why oh why do I think repeating Colorado is such a good idea?

After an hour of applying pressure and massaging the tender spots, I sleep for another hour or so before the alarm goes off at 3:50 am.  The Colorado Marathon has a strict bus boarding policy.  Be on it between 4:15 to 5:00 am or get left behind.

We hurry to get to the bus and then regret that we get on one of the earlier buses. It means we will be waiting around in the cold for a long time before the marathon starts.  Luckily, the snow they had four days earlier is all gone and it is much warmer than expected.  In fact, after I have some hot chocolate and walk over to watch the river, the cold doesn't even bother me anymore.  I am too busy fretting about my leg. My hip joint is sore from all the work I did on it to release the tension and tightness to get my leg ready to run. Nothing left to do now...can't worry anymore, it's time to run. There is only one way back to town...26.2 miles straight down the mountain!

Look at the determination on those faces...

The good thing about the early bus is the short line for the potties. They even have volunteers guiding runners and directing to open stalls.  The time, which I thought would pass ever so slowly, passes quickly.  After dropping our bags at the UPS truck, I decide another pit stop may be necessary.  The line is staggeringly long now with all the runners here and off the buses, but ten minutes before race time it clears as runners make their way to the start. I am able to go again and get to the start line in plenty of time.  My husband takes a shortcut down a ravine and up a hill, my hip balks at that kind of pressure and I decide to take the long way around.  I figure he is off to his pace group, but he is at the front waiting for me. 

The river peacefully follows us all the way down the mountain...

We actually start a race together~miracle!  My plan is to start slow allowing my legs an opportunity to warm up and ease into the run. I follow my husband as the race begins and our watches beep together 9:06 only 25 more to go. Wow, labored heavy breathing in the first mile is not a good sign of things to come...

Free Pictures...but there aren't any of me, trust me, I smiled just like her

As the hip loosens up, I shed my jacket and tie it around my waist for the remaining miles.  The river is my companion as it peacefully meanders down, it keeps me entertained. Doubt and uncertainty run through my mind, but strength is also present in the knowledge I

hubby finds another pic...

have done it before...I can do it again! I am amazed at how strong our bodies are even when not in the best of shape. The four hour pacer haunts me during the run. After my first potty stop, the pacer and his runners rush by as I jump in for a short time. A motorcycle cop keeps yelling at the group to move over and stay inside the cones. It is a narrow stretch for runners. I push ahead to have more room and do not get passed again by the group until my second bathroom break just before the half-way point.  It takes me four miles to catch up to the pacer only to be left in the dust by them on the huge hill at mile 19.  Without gravity to assist, my pace slows during the last six miles of flat running. Definitely the year has plagued me with various ailments and injuries, but the  predominate theme is no matter what... 

The key...he tunes me out!

~the mind~is determined and somehow always pulls me through.  I can rely on my body~despite its weariness~to persevere even when I do not treat it as kindly as it deserves to be treated. My poor husband is truly the strongest creature of them all!! He "must listen" to me talk incessantly about all my ailments...and complaints of ailments...and he  must  pretend to care as my endless declarations never stop..."I really mean it...it is really bad, I don't think I can make it..."  Only to watch me pick up the pace and disappear out of sight.  The doubt and pain is truly there...but the will and the power of running envelops me taking away all my troubles each and every time! I don't know what it is or how it happens, but there is something magical about a marathon~that frees me from my darkest places. It must be why I keep chasing the crazy dream and passion, even when rational thought and logic says...Stop...Enough!! 

On our way to each destination and during the grueling treks home, I question my rationale and ask why we keep going...but as I run and as the miles accumulate under my feet, I feel the answer and understand... 

Found one photo at the finish. While I couldn't break the four hour mark, I push hard to pass number 304 with a little gas in the tank.  (When you cover your number with your jacket don't expect to get any free photos.)  I end up with a 4:03 and cut one hour and thirty-two minutes off my previous Colorado time. To be under four hours would have been the icing on my cake, but I will settle for just the cake~stole that line from someone's Facebook post~who was talking about life being the cake and exercise the frosting. My twist is that running a marathon is the cake and a good finish time is the frosting.

Not impressed...How long is this repeating states thing going to last!

Even the cat knows I'm off my rocker, and mainly she is not happy when she has to sleep outside when we are gone!