Western States….running edition
| July 2, 2015 | Posted by Melinda under Uncategorized |
I went and watched part of the Western States Endurance Run last weekend (equivalent to the Tevis for non-horsey people) and it was a lot of fun.
Stephanie in 2nd place at Foresthill. She managed to hold onto 2nd place even with some very strong running in 1st and 3rd place. I was really impressed by her last year and it was awesome to see her IRL.
Much like vet school seemed safely far away when I decided to apply as part of a 3-5 year plan, WSER has seemed like a nice safe long term goal until recently.
Lucy and me hanging out at the UltrarunnerPodcast tent.
Funny how the years pass when you are obliviously and determinedly completing the initial steps towards a big goal. Before you know it, the initial work is done and it’s time to start actually doing the hard things – the things that you thought you would have plenty of time to get used to by the time you actually had to DO them.
Like picking a qualifying run next year. YEEEP.
Eventual third place women. She sat down in front of my tent to fix a shoe issue. SQUEEEEE. She looked awesome.
So many people sign up and qualify for WSER that you get in through lottery (or by winning certain races which will never ever ever happen to this girl here).
The first year you qualify you get one ticket. If you don’t get in and you qualify the next year….your tickets double. The most tickets I saw a participant get in with this year was 32…meaning they had qualified for seven consecutive years before getting their ticket drawn.
I got to help a sub 24 hour finisher named Jim. This is his crew Emily squirting him with a dinosaur squirt gun. AWESOME.
If I wasn’t pregnant I would have attempted to run my first 100K or 100 miler race this year so that I could start my WSER ticket accumulation (and hope that I didn’t actually get in for another 2-3 years).
This probably would have been a BAD idea since I have a track record of getting injuried and then off for 1-2 years if I don’t take an easy year after jumping up my distance and speed significantly. Enter pregnant but uninjuried Mel – the perfect recipe to not let myself slip into poor decision making such as doing that 100k or 100 mile too soon.
So, I’ll be trying to qualify NEXT year (2016), which will get me a ticket into the 2017 lottery. Getting picked that first year would be a special sort of disaster, but the odds are NOT in my favor to get picked, so I’m hoping to be set up nicely to run it in 2019 or 2020.
Jim is (another) new hero this year (the other was the last finisher, who beat the cut off by 6 seconds to become the oldest women to finish the race at age 70. *sob*). He was the epitome of who I want to be running 100 mile races – smiling, happy, gracious, and having a good time, even if this was a low point in the race. AND he came from NH! Love seeing non-CA or west coasters out there experiencing the beautiful mountains and trails we have.
Big goals like Tevis, going to vet school, running 100 miles are all achievable – and they all start by doing what you are capable of doing right now and then watching how those small decisions add up over the next 3-5 years.
Yes, luck plays a part in how successful I’ve been over the years in achieving some of my dreams, but I want to emphasize how many daily small choices go into those dreams too.
It isn’t crazy for me to be talking about this while pregnant – it’s the way you achieve your dreams. Knowing I want to run this race in 4-5 years helps me decide all sorts of things TODAY that will make it possible for me to actually do it.
- What types of jobs I will apply for – local versus commuting, little money versus more money, flexibility in schedule, part time versus full time, which shifts are available.
- What loans I will take out – buy a motorhome? pay for vehicles with cash only? Buy a house here or somewhere else or continue to rent?
- What kind of schedules and habits I want to establish now after birth – full, part time or no daycare? Force myself to get up and run in the mornings? In the evenings after bedtime? During my lunch hour in order to maximize sleep? How does my husband or family feel about babysitting for non-work related stuff like going for a long run or attending a race? Do I need to save for a jogging stroller? How will my family be involved in my running? Or is this a solo activity?
- Where I board my horse – close or far? expensive or cheap? Convenient for riding or for some other aspect like trails or farrier/vet services?
All these decisions are intertwined, and if I’m not careful I could find myself in a place where it would literally BE IMPOSSIBLE to make my dream happen. However, but keeping my goal in mind now, I can try to make sure that dream stays possible.
Every single dream and major life change I’ve done so far has required similar questions and preparation.
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******WARNING************
SOAPBOX INTERLUDE
At this point, I’m already wincing at what I anticipate will be the comments and facebook chatter about this post.
I think the biggest hurdle to being able to achieve dreams is other people’s limitations and expectations being placed on the dreamer. I wrote about my thoughts on this subject here. Please please PLEASE read it if you haven’t before.
I don’t write about this to be mean or to insult those of you that are itching to leave me a comment about how I don’t know how time consuming and draining it is to be a parent, or how you are skeptical that a reality exists where my dreams are achievable.
Here’s the problem – life in an individual experience. Your guess at what it’s like to be a vet student or veterinarian in *my* life is as imperfect as my guess at what it’s like to be a parent in *your* life. My predictions for what you will or will not accomplish given a certain circumstance are guesses at best, even if I’ve lived a similar circumstance.
The wonderful and terrible thing about life is this individuality. No one can tell you with any certainty how you will experience it. Before running my first 50 miler, I had some good guesses what I should pack in my 45 mile drop bag based on other’s advice and doing lots of reading….but no one could tell me exactly what I would want or need before I had actually run 45 miles and arrived there, for the first time (the answer by the way is half of a large pepperoni pizza, a wind breaker, headlamp, and a change of socks). I think one of the most important lessons of life is to share experiences and advice where appropriate and asked for, but never fool yourself into thinking you know enough to try to live someone else’s life for them by trying to make it look like your own.
As I look back over the last 10 years, that is where my biggest regrets lay – not tempering my own advice and predictions I gave to other people, for what they actually are: 100% valid only for myself since they were born out of my individuality in this life.
(and please – don’t let this diatribe keep you from making comments – I LOVE comments OK? And I love the advice and experiences you guys share here and on your own blogs. I just needed to get some of this off my chest and now I’m much more likely to be able to politely smile and nod for a while at the people who continue to make dire predictions, and hopefully this will remind me to NOT BE THAT PERSON TO MY FRIENDS’ DREAMS. Because sometimes I am. And that is shameful).
END OF SOAPBOX
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I’m super curious whether running “Tevis” is harder, easier, or just different from riding it. Because so far riding any particular distance has been WAY harder then running it. Hopefully I get to find out! If not, then I’ll just have to enter Tevis and *run most of it to satisfy that curiosity :).
*which would be exponentially harder since runners get 30 hours to finish (special buckle to people who do it in under 24) with no mandatory holds. With a horse you only get 22 hours of trail time because of 2 hours of mandatory holds, plus all those pesky gate and goes reduce potential trail travel time even further….meaning if I was going to strictly run it I’d have to finish in 21 hours or less! :o.
My husband is an ultrarunner and we are fully steeped in that community. One of his best friends lives in So Cal and put his first bid in for Western States this year partly hoping not to get in so he could do Angeles Crest instead. He didn’t get in. You might already know this but you also get an extra ticket for being present during the lottery. As you get closer to the time you really want to run it, keep that in mind.
As for parenting and any hobby it looks very different for every person. You will find what works for you and your family. My hubby runs over his 2 hour lunch break to avoid missing time at home and to allow me time to ride a couple days during the week. I don’t know how closely you follow ultras, but we have one family who has a 10 year old who has run Badwater. It is all very possible if you want it to be.
The only piece of unsolicited advice I will give you is to remain flexible. What works well for your family as a newborn may not as an infant and most likely wont anymore as a toddler. The time goes by so quickly when they are little it is astonishing and I have never regretted missing a ride or run, but I have regretted missing time with my son.
Best of luck to you with all your life changes!
One thing that I have been taking note of the last couple years in ultra running is the number of working parents that do it. In general it seems like the ones that make it work are the ones that have a very supportive partner. So that’s key to my plan – get my husband’s buy in about whatever scheme we hatch up and do it TOGEHTER :). In some ways it makes it easier that my husband has no interest in running or doing endurance for himself. We’ve talked about buying a motorhome and treating these weekends as mini family “vacations” and that works for him.
I hear you on the flexibility thing. In general it seems like I just get better and better at doing that (adapting based on whatever my present circumstances allow). Early on it will be easy to ride in the arena because I can set up a playpen etc in the shaded corner of the arena. Later that won’t work. No jogging stroller for the first 6 months, but I’ll be working less days a week too, and my mileage won’t be as long.
Hand in hand with flexibility goes an idea of what you are willing to sacrifice. I’m not a nazi about housework and while I make an effort to pick up around the house now, I could comfortably do less of it and live in more of a mess. If running in the morning was the only way to get this to work, then I bet I could actually get myself out of bed and get it done (unlike the present where since I don’t *have* to, I don’t).
Kids aren’t young forever, but I dont have any guarantees of a tomorrow either. A balance is best IMO and I’m committed to that balance – whether it the subject in question is family time, a career, or trail time. Like you alluded to, that balance is different for each family, but I suspect for me, being able to regularly have trail time – either on horse or foot – will be key to me being able to be the sort of parent I want to be.
Oh Sara – you will appreciate this. Jim, the runner pictured above, got his entry because he was a participant in a race that was also raffling off an entry, AND HE WON!!!! LOL. I think he ran his first ultra in 2012. If the luck is with you….then it’s with you I guess :). If your hubby every comes and runs WSER let me know and I’ll come along and cheer him on (and even crew if needed). Don’t know if he even has an interest, but the offer is there. 🙂
He will appreciate the offer! He would love to run it, but right now with our kiddo he just can’t get the training in he would need for a 100 miler let alone that 100 miler. He wants to do it someday, but probably not until the kiddo is grown. For now he does 50s, 100Ks and 24 hour runs.
Balance is important. I have family question me all the time about keeping a horse and riding, but without it I wouldn’t be as good of a mom. I need the me time. I need the stress relief and I need a sense of self to remain that goes beyond being a mom. Not everyone feels that way or understands it, but not everyone has to. It is about you, your family and your life. Who knows? Maybe mini Mel will love running and you will have a new R&T partner. There is a 4 year old here in the SE that did an 8 miler two years ago and came back at 6 this past year to do the 15 with her mom. Anything is possible!
If there’s no email address I have to approve the comment so didn’t get eaten!
I think my reply got eaten…anyway thanks for the crew offer. He may take you up on that some time although Western States isn’t on his list for along time. I know he plans to do the Burning River 100 in 2016, but I don’t know if that is a qualifier or not. He mostly sticks to 50s, 100ks and 24 hour runs for now.
I have family question me all the time about keeping my horse and riding. They don’t understand my need for a sense of self outside of being a mom. That’s ok though. Not everyone has to understand. Heck, there is a 6 year old who did a R&T with her mom this year for the 15 miler. She did the 8 miler at age 4 and said it wasn’t long enough. Maybe mini Mel will quickly become your new R&T partner!
Big goals are good, whether they are achieved this year or 10 years from now, or never! And I love your list of priorities to think about, there are so many variable on job type, family stuff, housing decisions, everything combines to make a solution that will work for you.
As for your soapbox: hear, hear! Do what works for you, and try not to do anything that derails others dreams. It is that simple.
Mum of two, full time job, rode a 100 miler last year and nearly all of a second one… NO desire to run a 100 miles though!
I so hear you on the comments other people make. I routinely get called an “over achiever”.. Like that’s a bad thing. And I’m not: I’m just achieving more than some other people. And achieving the RIGHT AMOUNT for me.
And yes, a supportive spouse is essential.
I totally don’t feel like an overachiever. That’s a great way of putting it – that I feel like I’m achieving just the right amount for me.
First off I want you to know how incredibly refreshing it is to read about a new mom who still has hopes, dreams, and goals for herself. Over the last several years I have watched most of my friends and peers get married and start families. While I have been happy for them it has also been somewhat bittersweet at times for me, the outsider, to see my friends sort of melt away into a generic “mom” personality. These are lovely, smart women who wanted careers and had hobbies and made time for themselves. After that first baby it’s turned into part time jobs that they chose specifically because of the hours in fields they never had interest in, no hobbies other than playing with their children, and all activities revolve around whether the baby and kids can come. What happened to those vivacious, adventurous women? They’re gone. They’re lurking in the shadows behind the overwhelming persona of being “Mom.”
Now, before everyone gets offended let me just state for the record this isn’t wrong or bad. Everyone must make their own choices in life and walk their own path and goodness knows the world needs dedicated mothers. It’s simply an observation I have made over the last 6-7 years. I find when a marriage happens instead of being over joyed, a small part of me mourns my friend because I know I won’t be seeing much of them anymore physically or mentally. Life is short, everyone deserves to pursue their dreams. Put those dreams on an indefinite hold and you run the risk of never getting to go after them at all. In the case of balancing family life and personal goals I truly believe you can have your cake and eat it too and in most cases it makes for a happier, more well adjusted family.
And don’t get me started on fathers “babysitting.” It’s not babysitting when it’s your own kid. You’re a father, you helped create the child and you are more than capable of watching it when you are asked to without complaint. Yes, that’s a pet peeve of mine.
Luckily (or unlucky depending on how you look at it) most of my goals are relatively small ones. Probably the largest one to date was the purchase of my home. While in the end it sort of all fell into my lap I still count it as a goal met because I took those baby steps you talk about a few years in advance. And because of those small decisions when the opportunity for home ownership appeared, I was able to leap on it.
I have many smaller goals still remaining. I lust after independence with my horse in the form of a truck and trailer. The epitome of being a horse owner and partner to him would be loading him up in a trailer of my own, hauling it by myself, and riding around the lake. Small goal in comparison to what some people accomplish with their ponies but if I could do that I would die one happy girl. It’s still a while off because being single and living on one income doesn’t leave a lot of financial wiggle room for two vehicles and a trailer. If I don’t meet that goal before it comes time to retire Rio I may never forgive myself. Many signs point to that happening more quickly than I had intended so I need to start getting used to the idea of failure. I am still taking my baby steps though so at least if it never comes together I will know I tried. And for the record, Rio doesn’t care if he ever gets to trailer somewhere anyway.
Longest comment ever? Only you know that. Hopefully it is somewhat coherent and mildly mentally stimulating.
Thank you for taking the time to compose such an honest comment. I’ll take this as a vote of confidence that what I want is possible :). I share many of your pet peeves and what you said is so true – neither path is necessarily wrong or right, but I know which one I want and that goes a long ways.
I was incredibly lucky to have a mom that not only did what she wanted to do (stay at home and have lots of kids) but did it while very much being a strong independent person who had her own hopes and dreams and did things to make them happen. It was a wonderful example to have and if she can do it with four, surely I can do it with one!
Yes to the soap box! I try really hard to bite my tongue and not respond to those who have all the advice to share, particularly those who have never done whatever it is that I’m trying to achieve. To the same end, I would never presume to know about somebody’s pregnancy or aspects of parenting since I am not pregnant and not a mother. Can I tell you how you should ride a 100 miler – it isn’t something I’ve completed yet, but even if I had, I didn’t do it on your horse under the exact same conditions you may find yourself in.
(Also, the WSER lottery concerns me, I’m applying this year with the hope of not getting in yet lol.)
Plans/goals are good. Big ones are even better. I am sure that there will be times that you find it easier than you thought and times that it will be tougher than you expected. It happens with every goal that you have and it would not be as satisfying reaching those goals if it wasn’t for some of the struggles.
The only think you can know at this point in time is that if you don’t aim for it, you will never get there. If you have a bad week or a bad month I think you have gained the ability to refocus and move on. From what I’ve seen with friends with young children it can be rally easy and really hard – sometimes in the same 1hr period!
You and Matt sound like you make a pretty awesome team, so you should be able to work through it. I’m sure that he recognises that running and having these goals helps to keep you sane.
I do like the idea of a camper and the long races being a weekend away for you. Sounds like a lot of fun.
If you get through those runs, you need to come to NZ and do the Kepler Challenge – only 67km but it’s some pretty incredible country (http://www.keplerchallenge.co.nz/node/28).
I like the idea of the camper vacation for running/endurance stuff for Matt and the kiddo. Do you realize how much fun we had tagging along with you to the Death Valley ride?
(And I’m confident that you will live with the right balance in your life)
This is meant to be supportive but sometimes typed words don’t work the way they’re supposed to:
it’s ok, even after all your planning and hoping and dreaming, if motherhood and parenting turns out to be surprisingly, amazingly, shockingly more different (not necessarily “worse” or “better” but DIFFERENT) than you ever could’ve imagined and you adjust your plans to fit your new normal. It doesn’t mean you “wasted” your plans or time, it doesn’t mean you made a mistake….just that life took turns you weren’t quite anticipating (because you just never know how it will be, no matter how many other ppl tell you their experiences or how much self examination and educated guessing you do, you still never know until you’re there).
So anyway, I actually think you covered this really well in your post, that in order to even reach a big goal you have to take the initial steps, and I think it seems you are definitely open to the idea of adjusting plans as needed (you really do seem to have a great sense of balance!) but anyway the whole point of my comment I guess is to remind you to give yourself permission to change your mind and adjust goals if needed without feeling “less-than”. I think you will do great as you take on the next steps in your life journey!
First let me say that I do understand the supportive nature the comment was written in. I’ve given similar advice to people who seem to need it when they are in crisis mode and are having trouble moving forward because of goals that just can’t happen at all or at least right then.
However I think that unless immediate circumstances deserve that sort of regrouping (injury or illness or medical emergency with kidlets etc) exist then you are setting yourself up for not achieving long term goals that are difficult in the short term. The research on willpower says that resolving not to have dessert before going to the party is far superior then to resolve to only eat dessert if it’s particularly pretty or if you really want it. Deciding what to do before the challenge whether it’s resisting dessert or the bread basket or a morning run or taking steps to achieve a goal is what you do if you want to have the best chance of success.
Deciding during parenthood whether running a hundred miles is a good idea isn’t productive. It’s like asking myself whether I would like to quit at a vet check or aid station during a hard event. (Yes please. This sucks).
Deciding overall goals and being flexible within that framework tends to work better. Depending on luck and injury and schedule and family it’s not unreasonable to think I might be looking at western states in ten years not five. That’s ok. It took me four years not one to do tevis. It took me seven years to run my first fifty not six months.
Split my comment because I was afraid it would get eaten for length.
Part of this resolve comes from being uncomfortable with how kid centric the culture is today. It reminds me of the self esteem movement of the nineties. What I want to do in the short term isn’t always the best for the long term. I talk to a lot of parents of all ages. Here’s what I notice.
I hear two things from parents of my generation “I never regret missing a run or a ride, but I would regret time not spent with my child” takes second only to “they are only young once”.
The mantra of the “older” generation of my friend group says “take advantage when they are young! Do what you want to do when you can do it because you never know what life will throw you!”
Why is this? I’m not saying one is wrong and one is right. But I suspect a balance (like everything in life) is where the happiness of all probably lays.
Parenting views are like any other hot button issue. Everyone’s mind is mostly made up and discussion rarely changes anyone’s mind. I figure these sorts of conversations purpose is so we can can understand each other better and practice compassion , not because we are going to have any revelations.
30 hours sounds infinitely better than 21. EEP.
And I love that you’re making goals and talking about them despite having a baby girl on the way oh-so-soon. It’s so admirable. And I don’t see how anyone can fault you and judge the kind of parent you’d be or not be from any of this. That’s just silly. You’re going to be a great parent, duh, but you’re also going to go on to do all the things you set your mind to. You’re just that kind of person, it’s evident from your blog chronicles over the years. I love following along – you’re quite the inspiration.
Liz you are really so sweet!