Tussey Mountainback 50 mile Race Report!

I am happy to report that on Sunday I completed my first 50 mile run!! Why you ask? Well, simply because I wanted to. (I could go into the fact that I am drawn to the laid back nature of ultra after years in the type A tri community, I have always found my strength lies in running & I wanted to see what I could do, etc. but at the end of the day it all boils down to “I wanted to.”) And long story short, I am really happy I did as I ended up having a great race experience and just loving (most of) the day.

 

Woohoo Done! I almost beat my mom to the finish line.

I feel like I EARNED this race. This year, I felt at times I downplayed its importance to me (until the last week or two) since I know people probably get sick of hearing about all my training and there are other aspects to my being. However, I have put in the specific work for about a year now leading up to this race, rarely skipping a workout despite it being really lonely/challenging at times, and I am so grateful that I got to see that work pay off.  Even more than the physical accomplishment, I am most proud that I stayed mentally positive even as I hit challenges and never really hit a “low” point that threatened to ruin my race.

Ultrarunning Camp Recap

As I type this, I am sitting in the St. Louis airport during my three hour layover which has been delayed to a (hopefully) 6 ½ hour layer. What better time to write up my recap of the grand adventure I was just on? (Note: this was over 3 months ago but figured might as well not edit to keep the spirit of the excitement.) Pictures are at the end so you can just skip straight to them if nothing else.

Cooking: Chili Con Carne (my all time favorite chili recipe)

So I haven't done a cooking recipe in awhile, and I didn't think about doing one for this recipe so didn't take in process photos. However, now that it is officially chili season, I absolutely have to share my FAVORITE chili recipe in the whole wide world since I realized I couldn't find it on the internet when a friend asked me for one. This recipe (adapted) is one of the first things I ever cooked. I joined Weight Watchers in high school and to limit my eating out/unhealthy foods, I decided to start cooking after buying their cookbook Take Out Tonight. After all these years, that is still one of my favorite cookbooks - I bought a second copy when the first one finally fell apart!

This recipe is really quick, simple, & delicious! As a first time cook, I didn't have any issues with it. I think I spent ~20 minutes throwing it together post Sunday dinner when I was absolutely exhausted and it was worth every minute.

My apologies for the poor quality of the one photo I did manage to take

Chili Con Carne (adapted from weight watchers take out tonight)

Ultrarunning training recap

Once again it's been ages! I would lie and say I would try to fix that but I just hate turning my computer on when I come home from work and I hate dealing with uploading pictures. However, since I am now a week away from my 50 mile run, I wanted to make sure to recap this training/my experience before my thoughts get skewed by the race itself. Overall, this training has been a roller coaster, with real lows and real highs. However, I have followed my training plan, have prioritized taking care of myself, and will toe the line next weekend with no regrets/shoulda/woulda/couldas. Hopefully I will finish the race (ahead of Abe so I get free beer), but if something goes wrong I can be happy with the journey.

Here are the random thoughts that have run through my mind (I might add more as the week goes on but 10 seems like the right number):