The Jacket

[I wrote this post for my other blog "See Chrisy Run", but thought I'd post it here too.]

Supermodel and I each became proud owners of the Triple Trail Challenge "trophy" jacket on Saturday. The jacket was awarded to participants who successfully completed the three required events. We ran our third race, Mid Mountain Marathon, Saturday morning. It was much more difficult than we expected.

I won't give a blow-by-blow, but 25 miles of the 26.2 were on singletrack. Rocky, root-ey, hilly, singletrack.  When I crossed the finish line I searched for and found the few friends who had run the race prior...the friends who had said, "Your legs will feel GREAT after running a marathon on trails! Yes it's at 8,000' elevation, but the trail's relatively level, just a few climbs, and it's all downhill after mile 20! The scenery's beautiful!"

When I found those friends, I said, "You lied. About everything."

But, Supermodel and I each conquered the course. I suppose the views were pretty if you wanted to prolong the time on the mountain to stop running and...look. My eyes had to remain on the trail or I tripped, plus the views gave me vertigo. I was running with a guy for several miles; he stopped around mile 12 and said, "Let's just take a moment to enjoy this beautiful view!" I said, "Pretty. Now let's GO."

I fell. Three times. It hurt.

I've never fallen while running on the road. I fell three times during the Jupiter Peak Steeplechase in August, and was determined not to fall during Mid Mountain Marathon. I can't tell you how painful it is, physically and emotionally, to hit the ground in one of these races. The physical pain is obvious. But it's the emotional pain and mojo loss that drains me. It's a huge withdrawal from an energy account that has limited funds.

I finished though. I finished with sore knees and a dirty body, but I finished strong.

[Looking for Chris and the boys.]

[I see the boys.]

Supermodel fell once and also finished strong.

We hugged and cried and were happy that the event, the whole Triple Trail Challenge, was over.

I called Supermodel today...

ME:  How ya feelin'?

SUPERMODEL:  Better than I thought I would. My shoulder and hip hurt. I think it's from my fall. How about you?

ME:  My quads and calves are sore, and my knees are hammered, but I'm functioning.

We talked about what we'd eaten, how we craved salty foods, how our plumbing had taken 24 hours to return to normal. Then I asked her if she'd pop over so Chris could take some pictures of us in our jackets.  The jackets I convinced her would be SO cool to have. We'd be like the Navy SEALS [sort-of] of trail running!

Here we are in the jackets we ran for, fell for, argued about, and spent $140 in entry fees for!

[Click on all photos to enlarge.]

I wanted to do some fun poses, maybe build a pyramid or do the splits, but Supermodel wanted no part of it. Chris photographed one of our famous disagreements.

I begged and pleaded, but I couldn't get Supermodel to do a Cirque du Soleil trick with me in our jackets.  She finally just walked away.

Maybe after we complete the Triple Trail Challenge next year she'll do it. C'mon, Supermodel. It'll be fun!