I ran 100 miles in one week*

I should post about the Bolder Boulder. I really should. I should back up my undying love for this race with an effusive post about how great this year was. About how the weather was perfect (it was), how the crowds were fantastic (they were), how the elite race was really interesting (it actually was), but alas, though the race was fantastic as always, I just don't have anything witty, amusing, or even interesting to say about it. I'll give the executive summary for those who are interested (bullet pointed to facilitate reading):

• I have been training for a 100 (you know this), so I wasn't sure what 'speed' meant to my legs at this point
• I ran faster than expected, logging my 2nd best time at the BB (hooray), feeling mostly pretty good the whole time
• I skipped the slip n' slide (the horror!)
• I got the massage (was awesome)
• The expo was lovely as usual - we may or may not have made 3 trips to the free popsicle booth and there was an ample supply for everyone else to do the same
• We got to meet up with our super awesome friend David to watch the elite race
• It was too windy for the skydivers (massive bummer - the Memorial Day festivities are not nearly as cool without them)

Overall, a really nice day - definitely a nice iteration of my favorite holiday.

 It was, however, decidedly uninteresting compared to my feat 2 weeks later, which was to run 100 miles in one 7-day period.  Now THAT was epic.  Now, I mocked Ronnie when he did his 100 mile week last year, saying "Wow.  You ran 100 miles in a week.  You know you're going to have to do that in a day in Utah, right?"  But truth be told, jamming 100 miles of running into a week is kind of tricky.   

I can't really say if there was no gas that week,
but it would be awesome if it was true!

Now, I have to admit I kind of cheated because, due to my travel setup and my father’s work schedule, I did my weekend long run from the week before on Monday.  Thus, with a 42-miler on tap for the following Sunday, I really only needed 30 miles in the other 5 days to make it happen.  When I tell people this, they unfailingly point out that this doesn't matter - I ran 100 miles in 7 days.  That's a hundred mile week.  I still feel like it should get an asterisk, though.  Anyway, asterisk or not, it was still a big deal for me, so I feel compelled to share how it played out:

Monday – 27 miles in Denver.  Started at 6AM - ~60 degrees.  Finished at ~10:30AM - ~80 degrees.  Also, I forgot that the last 10 or so miles were going to be paved.  And have no shade.  Oops.  Regardless, I made it.

Tuesday – 0 miles.  Yes, I had an off day in my 100 mile week.

Wednesday – 6.5 miles at Fullsteam.  Got there late, had to sprint to catch up, short cutted (made up for it by parking way far away).  Got my 6.5 in, though, so all was well.  Also, my semi altitude-adjusted legs probably helped.

Thursday – 5 miles – usual run with Nancy – all was well.

Friday – Walked to work and back.  Had to take an outlandishly indirect route to get 8 miles in total.  Yes, I know that walking is different from running, but I sure will be doing both in Vermont, so I’m counting it in my weekly 'running' mileage.  Also, it's not like I ran all 42 miles of Sunday's run, so yeah.

See where those circles are?  Imagine someone
stabbing you right there over and over again.  That's what it felt like on Saturday.

Saturday – OHMYGOSH - apparently you use totally different muscles for walking and running.  My rear end was SO sore.  SO.  SORE.  Still did my 12 singletrack miles in Umstead as planned.  Felt pretty good when I cut out at 2 hrs, but definitely had a heavy sense of impending doom regarding Sunday (and was praying to any god that would listen that the shooting DOMS pain in my a$$ would go away (literally) overnight.

Sunday – 42 miles on the ‘triathlon of pain’ course.  Sadly, my prayers from the day before weren't entirely answered and lap 1 was decidedly uncomfortable.  Ronnie was a trooper in putting up with my whining, but I was feeling a bit apprehensive about laps 2 and 3, where the role of Ronnie would be played by Mandi, who I didn't know as well, and who was apparently showing up on a mission to get me through these two laps 'on pace'.  Oh dear lord.  The theme for lap 2 was heat.  Also, apparently horseflies like Mandi better than me.  Sometime toward the end of lap 2, my feet and quads told my butt muscles to quit their bitching, which was nice - things still hurt, but it was a nice change of pace.  Managed to manipulate myself a break halfway through the third lap by becoming enthralled by the insect ecosystem that had set itself up on a pile of horse doody.  It was super interesting to be sure, but really I just wanted to sit down.  Picked up Brandy about halfway through Turkey Creek and together, we all shuffled our way back around toward the cars, where I passed the 100-mile mark for the week.  Mentally self-fived myself because a physical self-five would take too much energy, braved a swarm of yellow jackets to refill my water bottle, and shuffled back to the car to celebrate with some nice watermelon.  Whew.

So ended the epic 102-mile week.