Sultan 50K

On Saturday January 23rd, the Sultan 50k made me realize why trail running is so enjoyable!

Upon Mohammad's birthday run planning the group of runners come together to enjoy beautiful scenery and great friendship at South Mountain. Not only did Mohammad provide crowns to wear and red velvet birthday cake at the turnaround point, Mohammad honored us by assigning his personal bib numbers methodically to the person running with his number. I was honored with his PR bib from Thunderroad Marathon since I was from Charlotte.

As our CTRC team meets at the usual "Cookie Bar" spot at 7am, Da'Leader, STB, DC, Queenie pile into Kermit with CC and Betsy follow in "Put the fun between your legs" car (bicycle picture - get your mind out of the gutter) drive to South Mtn park to drop off Kermit. Let's just say poor Kermit is scared from that car trip. If you were not in the car you WERE talked about! Highlights, such as waking up Ed at 7am to tell him to get out of bed for his training run, sorry Phyllis! We brought to certain peoples attention the "man crush" and brought the Silver Backed Gorillo out of his shell to take charge as he navigated with DC at the wheel to the Coffee House in Morganton.

After the mix of skinny goatee's meet the camouflage/John Deere hat wearing folk at the friendly Morganton Coffee House, we caravan to Roper Hollow Road for the trail start. 27 runners, crown hats, hydration packs, and cameras start up the hill through the fog. Enjoing the mindless chit chat with Jon the Gastonia british guy, STB, Betsy, CC and I end up together with more mindless chick chit chat in the fog not allowing use to enjoy the overlook scenery. Cruising through the fairy tale looking trails the Galloway method of run/walk in our Sultan 50k crowns, CC dissed us as we approached the finish line happy birthday streamer by the waterfall heading down the stairs over the bridge to meet up with DC for the turnaround as she means business to kick this South Mtn Sultan 50k in the arsss!

Red velvet cake is not a bad post race nutrition. It's all about the icing color.....the group thought I had oxygen deficiency with my blue lips. Once the Silver Back Gorilla found his warm pants, he took control again to drive STB, Betsy and Queenie back to Charlotte via the Lincolnton cafe'. Who knew they don't serve caffiene in Lincolnton, no wonder everyone looks sleepy and move slowly needless to say they were very friendly and introduced us to fried cream corn. At home by 5pm, as my belly recieved a great workout from laughing, tired legs and in serious need of a shower, I realize why I love trail running. Who needs a "race", timing chip, entry fee, professional photographers, aid stations and swag, to enjoy the good company of others that share the love of nature. Thank you for Mohammad in bringing us together to celebrate his birthday and did I mention.......CC's birthday is on Thursday.

Boston Scientific Thank You Gift

A special gift from the Boston Scientific HR Summit. The painting reflects my life experiences and accomplishments with a pacemaker, my family, volunteer activities and partnership with Boston Scientific.

Queen of the Mountain

Queen of the Mountain event is participating in 3 events within 3 consecutive days. Making this more exciting, they combine the events during the Highland Games taking place at McCrae Meadows at the base of Grandfather Mountain.
Event #1 - Thursday, July 9th The Bear - 5 mile uphill run starting at 7:00pm at Hwy, 105 in Linville finishing at the top of Grandfather Mountain State Park. It was disappointing to have so much fog this evening therefore the views were distorted. I focused on pacing myself knowing there are two more days of events, so found the fine line of pacing myself and racing The Bear. I was happy with my 52 minute finish. It was great to see my husband and running partners at the top.

Event #2 - Friday, July 10th - The Grizzly 65 mile bike ride at 8am from Linville through a 6 mile climb on Beech Mountain, through Banner Elk and the beautiful blue ridge parkway finishing around the dirt track at McCrae Meadows. This was by far the hardest bike ride ever! After the bike ride I experienced my 1st ice bath...BRRR after the GRRRR.

Event #3 - Saturday, July 11th - Grandfather Mountain Marathon

The 26.2 mile run started at 7:30am from Appalanchian State College. Ashley, Ed and I began the journey through backroads of Boone/Blowing Rock, along the blue ridge parkway, we were greeted by Doug, Amanda, and friends on their bike encouraging us to keep moving forward. In order to pace myself for this very rolling course, I walked the hills early on. Approaching mile 20 along Hwy 221, I'm having a sinking moment as Amanda encourages me to finish the last Gu that I've carried for about a mile. 15 minutes later my sugar levels are back up for a surprisingly strong finish of 4:23 around the McCrae Meadows track.

A total time of 10:15, I'm 3rd place Queen of the Mountain out of 5 female participants. Looking forward to a little time off training and some rest.

Thanks for the support of my husband, Coach Melinda, training partners and the friends riding along the marathon course.

Red Sox & Rain

Despite the rain, we visited Fenway Park on Tuesday April 28th the day after the Boston Marathon. Unfortunately Sox vs. Minnesota Twins game was a rain out. The fans were disappointed but managed to enjoy the visit to Fenway Park as a Boston tourist spot. The famous CITGO sign 1.5 miles from the marathon finish!

Meeting Bob at Boston Marathon

Bob Meltcher and I have lot in common: Boston Marathon finishers, the love of running, love of life and the Boston Scientific Altrua 60 pacemaker. It was so much fun sharing this experience and wearing the BS title across our chest during the marathon as advertisement of a quality life!

Boston Scientific HR Summit - April 27th 2009

As a spokesperson for Boston Scientific, this has been the highest honor as guest speaker at the 1st Global HR Summit hosted by Lucia Quinn, HR Director on Monday, April 27th. The evening kicked off with Camille Change Gilmore introducing Board of Directors speaker, John Pepper and myself at the pre dinner cocktail party. Camille gave us the red carpet treatment. John Pepper spoke of values and inspiration of his business beliefs. After the evening meal, I was dessert guest speaker and briefly spoke of my Boston marathon experience from the prior Monday, my Boston Scientific Quality Days experience including the video, then talked of my lifetime of physical challenges and how the Boston Scientific Cardiac Rhythm Management pacemaker device has enhanced the quality of my life (as you can read about more in my blog post below). Two hours prior to the event I was notified of my Uncle's death, therefore speaking from my heart the reaction seemed it was very inspirational to my audience.

Boston Marathon, Monday April 21st 2009

At 6:45am, after Doug's good luck kiss, Melissa and I were in a taxi to our chartered bus meeting location that will take us to the start line host town of Hopkinton. One memorable part of the 26.2 mile journey was the 1 hour bus trip with 5 Charlotte running buddies, Melissa, Lana, Diane, Ultra Joe, and Saun. We enjoyed nervous chatter , calling my Coach Melinda, performing our pre race routine, eating breakfast while other runners tried to nap on the bus. Arriving at 8am, the school yard filled with runners wrapped in blankets across the sports field made us appreciative of our warm, private bathroom $30 chartered bus that would be available for our use until 10am. Lana, Diane and I leave our warm bus at 9:45am to turn in our drop bags and walk to our coral 2 starting position as we were greeted by media cameras. 10:25am is the sound of the start gun.....the 1st 10k is the slight downhill as expected, I'm on 8:40 pace for my 3:45 goal finish time and feeling great. Greeting Nancy and Diane along the way, Lana and I greet each other among the runners at mile 9 as we hopscotch each other throughout the rest of the course. Fun to see a familiar face!
Hopkinton to Boston was street lined with cheering spectators especially the high pitch at the half marathon point by Wellesley College. Around mile 17 experiencing stomach distress, watching my Garmin reflect 9:00 pace for a couple of miles, I realized I need to focus on at least meeting a requalifying marathon finish time of under 4:00. To focus on what I need to be focused on....nutrition, not slowing down too much, running through discomfort.... I ran along the right side of the road close to the cheering spectators, media taking pictures while I point to my Boston Scientific sponsorship shirt, drank water and force the gel nutrition at mile 21. As I approached the large CITGO sign with 1.5 miles to the finish I'm excited to see the last turn at the old fire station where Doug camped out since 9:00am. I ran along the crowd looking for Doug as I spotted Lana to my left and the Finish Line in the distance. Enjoying the greeting of Doug, then realizing I need to make the 4:00 cut off, I pushed the last bit of energy out of my legs for a 3:58:15 finish time! Boston 2010? I don't have to decide yet but nice to know I have the option. Thanks to my Trijinx Coach Melinda, my husband, Dad and Boston Scientific for helping me to reach the Finish Line!