Last 24 Hours

The Ascent is tomorrow.

Yay! The Ascent is tomorrow!

Eff, the Ascent is tomorrow.

It is all the things at once. Eric and I, along with a marathoner and her husband from Indiana, went up to the Peak this morning and schlepped around a bit. I sucked in the last bits of elevation to try to ensure my lungs are prepped.

I think I've trained almost as good as I could have, although there are a couple of runs I think I should have done. Overall, I've taken myself to the verge and this week have been trying to scramble it back like Cameron putting his dad's car in reverse and trying to turn back the odometer in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. With 40-50 mile training weeks, your body is simultaneously building up and breaking down. So I saw the massage therapist and the chiropractor this week and overloaded on zinc and vitamin C until my stomach said "umm, enough already?" (I also had a work trip to New York and DC last week, so yay for timing of being around millions of people and all their germs on public transportation.)

Getting to this point has not only meant eating all the things, but long miles mostly alone, which has its own consequences. Like, I talk to animals. Out loud. Four-ish weeks ago I did an 18 mile run from Elk Park (13 miles up the Pikes Peak Highway to a trailhead that connects to Barr Camp and then up Barr Trail), and was talking to a guy who was just in (as in like his plan landed 10 hours before) from Houston and had lots of questions about the peak. A bird kept buzzing us as he clearly expected we would feed him. I told the bird he wasn't getting anything from us. In front of this stranger from another state. It wasn't until I was heading up the peak that I thought "hmm, I don't think everyone just talks to birds like you know them."

I also have nearly stepped on several animals. I was running down from the top of the mountain and come over a boulder when a marmot scooted out from where I was aiming my foot. I also had several close encounters with pika underfoot, but the marmot was definitely the nearest miss.

I got endorphin high the other week at about 13,000 feet and texted Eric I was queen of the mountain. Again. 

24 hours out from the race and I'm having a small panic attack about a pain in my literal rear end that I have my tens device pushing electricity into. Its improved since yesterday when during a shakeout run with the Incline Club it was a sharp pain and weirdness when pushing off. I have no idea if this is real, leftover from the back pain and sciatica moment the chiro fixed up for me, or is completely psychosomatic anxiety. 

I'm also experiencing liable affect where I have been happy and silly and near tears in the space of minutes. I'm worried that I've either not eaten enough or eaten all the right things. I'm concerned I won't sleep tonight. I'm concerned I will forget all my clothes and show up to start line in my underwear and socks. I'm afraid for all the training, my body will say "I can't do it" four miles up the trail. Will this hot mess get cleaned up before tomorrow at 7am? Stay tuned!