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Tahoe Rim Trail Race Report

Mountains= gorgeous
Snow capped mountains plus lakes= double gorgeous with a cherry on top!
Altitude= Can't breathe= walking hills
Able to run for 8 hours= awesome ninja skill
Total= great day and glad to be back in San Francisco where the foggy air is so thick you can eat it for breakfast.

Feet on Fire

Dana here- I am off to Tahoe. On Saturday I will run the Tahoe Rim Trail 50k. Sam is sad to be missing after racing here 2 years in a row but is having fun trekking in India.

People have been asking if I am ready, how I feel, am I excited? I will tell you. There is a euphoria associated with being ready to run and confident you can tear it up (even when tearing it up is 80^th place!) It comes to me a few days before an event while on a run, in the car, while packing up and it is awesome. Hills have small welcome signs and you are a VIP. Your butt is just like Kara Goucher and you look amazing in bun huggers. Your hair is blond with gorgeous highlights. Your lashes are so long they touch your sunglasses. The Talking Heads are live in concert jamming with Rhianna and the Black Eyed Peas on your iPod. You are 10 pounds lighter. You run 8 minute miles in 6. You are tan, have perfect teeth and there is a small puff of smoke that trails behind you with each step because you are on fire.

(Photo without citation borrowed from a strange blog also worshiping Kara Goucher)

Wink

Bet you think this is going to be about mascara! Nope! No mascara but we do have a long overdue product review of the newest hydration system for RWM, the Ultimate Direction Wink. Dana has been running with this pack since the Western States training weekend over Memorial Day.

Bottom line: LOVE!
Details: We have handhelds, we have small hydration packs, we have expedition size packs but what was missing was the mid-size supported run with mandatory gear pack to use at TransRockies! That meant big enough for stuff but not a huge bladder since refills were going to be available. The Wink was ordered and it has not disappointed. First, to get it out of the way, the pack is pretty! The blue color is fantastic which isn't so important for staying hydrated but doesn't hurt when trying to look cool. There are enough back pockets to store small stuff (keys, money) and big stuff (extra food and long sleeve shirt) and there is enough room for that TransRockies mandatory gear (blister kit, hat, gloves, jacket). There are loops for running poles, a mesh pocket for stuffing maps or whatever you need and that adjusts to hold your precious items tight. The real seller though are the multiple pockets in front on the straps and the double front sternum straps. First the front pockets. There are 4 of them. Probably enough room to stash 1,000 calories in bar, gel or sandwich form and never need to stop, ever. Small stash pockets hold lip balm tight. Big pockets zip in food and don't let it go (until you want it!) When you eat as much as Dana, this is nirvana! As for the sternum straps, with 2 of them the pack literally doesn't move. So no annoying bounce, no chaffing.

Get one at Zombie Runner, you won't be sorry!

Dana's pack isn't looking so pretty after some dirty wet miles and a hungry dog got to it but trail running isn't the cleanest sport. The pack will be packed come time for Transrockies for sure!No, Dana can't sew. She will stick to baking from now on!

Four in a Row

Self portrait of me and my Joint Juice Glucosamine. It tastes good after a long run (or four days in a row of running) and gives me hope that I will still be running 30 years from now! I do mix it with water.

Hi all. Dana here! I am officially on the countdown to Colorado. Transrockies is about a month away and I am really ramping up the running. I am running! And running. I am eating, stretching and then on to more running. I am drinking spinach smoothies (sounds bad but tastes great) and eating anything on my co-workers' desks that looks like they might not finish, then I run again! I have made 2 significant changes to my running routine this week.

1) Less iPod, more brain. Turns out I have some great ideas when I have some time to actually just think. I would love to say I have solved the world's problems but I have come up with great recipe ideas (oh yes I did make homemade Nutella!), gift ideas (need to say thank you for putting up with my obsessive running) and ideas for doing my job better (yes, sometimes work does creep in). I gave up the iPod when I realized that Tranrockies mid-pack runners take about 30 hours to finish and I computed that even if I only listened for 1/3 of the event that I will need 10 hours of music and podcasts that are new and exciting. So we will see how long I last but at this rate I should have about 5 each of my favorite podcasts saved up for down moments during the race. Thank you for asking, my favorite podcasts are: This American Life, Planet Money, Ben Greenfield Fitness and Radiolab. Go download a few and then head out for a run without your iPod, you never know what you may think up!

2) 4 in a row! I am starting to train in more race like conditions. I have been running hills for breakfast, lunch and dinner, that hasn't changed. What has changed is my Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday running schedule. I have swapped that luxury schedule with lovely days of indoor cycling between runs for running four days in a row with one fifth run thrown in for speed. Last week the 4 in a row set was 9 miles, 10 miles, 9 miles, 15 miles. This week is a funny one with a 50k race so I plan on 6 miles, 6 miles, 32 miles, 15 miles. I am finding that when I am on the fourth day my knees are asking me what is going on. My feet are curious why I am putting on running shoes and not my bike shoes. My running clothes are all dirty and I am out of GUs. The good news is that I am having fun with the change and adding in one day of speed in the 3 days between 4 day sets is a mental boost (I CAN run fast when there aren't gigantic hills in my way!) Next week my four in a row lands in 3 countries (Hungary, Italy and France) so that will be fun. I will let you know how it goes. I think by then my legs will be used to it. Hopefully it won't be too much to ask during race week to go just two more days to make it a six in a row!

Jealousy, part 2

Update on Sam from Dana:

"Still no luck hearing from the marathon organizers but I'm going to ask the hotel guy."

Samantha sends out a mass email about how great Bhutan was, how wonderful a day trip to Delhi turned out and how she is in Leh, a place I have wanted to visit since seeing the Bollywood movie, Three Idiots (highly recommended, the theme music makes some good running tunes as well!)

She ends with the highly mysterious and seriously teasing last line pasted above (and now again for dramatic effect) "Still no luck hearing from the marathon organizers but I'm going to ask the hotel guy."

WHAT?!?! Now Sam is going to run a marathon in Leh at 11,000 feet, in the place I have been coveting visiting. I am cramping with jealousy. The jealousy pains are really starting to hurt now. I need salt tabs, I need a massage, I need to be on this trip obviously! Sam, this trip of yours is killing me. Enjoy every moment.

Can I freak out for a minute?

Larissa, coach of RWM- photo from Scott Dunlap's blog (A Trail Runner's Blog)

Email from Dana to coach: "Can I freak out for a minute?"
Email response (exaggerated and paraphrased) from coach: "You don't need to freak out, you will run and run some more and it will be great and I will email you tomorrow to make sure you are spending more time running than freaking out."

Ahhhh, sign of relief. We all need friends, lots of friends. We need the "you don't look fat" friends, the "come running with me" friends, the "I know you just want to cry but c'mon you look better when you laugh" friends and the "eat another scone" friends. We also need sage advice givers, heroes and teachers. Well thank you to Larissa Polischuck for being in our circle. Larissa is a hardcore runner, TRX guru, crossfit crosser and OUR COACH. Larissa can be found blogging, running, smiling and helping RWM not die at Transrockies.

THANKS FOR TALKING DANA DOWN LARISSA. She is going to run some hill repeats now!

Sam is visiting the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan (JEALOUSY HURTS)

Taktshang edit.jpg

Taktshang Monastery, Bhutan. Photo by Douglas J. McLaughlin (Photograph edited by Vassil)

Dear Sam,

If you are running while visiting the Tiger's Nest in Bhutan (see picture above blog readers) I will positively die of jealousy! Just don't tell me if you are. Keep it to yourself. Okay, I am silly to think you are running, this place is probably at 10,000 feet or more. You are probably wishing you could be running but the whole not breathing and only energized by yak butter thing is probably a limiting factor. I am jealous anyway. Don't forget to come back!!! Miss you,

Dana

3 gadgets Dana is into right now

You have to love a three day weekend. Running, eating, flag waving, more running. Slurpees to tame the heat, corn on the cob, friends. In honor of three days of playing here are three gadgets Dana is totally into right now.

1. Her Garmin Forerunner 310. Well more specifically the bird's eye view of runs already completed. You can check out her run through Paris here: PARIS! Once you see the file click on bird's eye view and soar over the Eiffel Tower.
2. Her Vitamix. If you don't know what that is it is basically a blender with a boat motor. So far this weekend she has made horchata, 3 types of vegetable juice, root beer slurpees, pancake batter, basil dip and on cue are the makings for Nutella.
   
3. resurf.a.stic by blinc. So blinc is the amazing company that sent Runs with Mascara free product after we told them how we ran the Grand Canyon wearing blinc. They sent their amazing mascara (It just DOES. NOT. RUN. If you are an athlete run don't walk to buy this stuff now) and their entire product line as well. WOW. Turns out they make a stick with an exfoliation end that makes this type of deep cleaning easy. It also smells GREAT and it is so easy to use.
   

So happy Independence Day to all. Hope your day is full of healthy food, healthy skin and mapped memories of amazing journeys!

Diana Finkel, Karl Metzer and Dana Katz in the Hoka club

So it is official, Dana's Hoka's are here to stay. This is what she is saying about them:

• "They are like running on a marshmallow, in a good way"
• "It is like switching from a hardtail mountain bike to a fully suspended bike."
• "The downhilling is insanely good. NO hurting knees, feet feel great. I roll right over things."
• "No. More. Foot pain!"

So Dana has now done 4 runs of 3+ hours and tons of climbing on the Hoka Mafate Women's and it moved her to take the Hoka ad and put herself in it! (see above) She tried the Hoka's to relieve pain on the bottom of her feet (or maybe to try and be super fast like Diana Finkel!) and it worked. 20+ mile runs involve no foot pain. In the rain they did just fine, in the heat they were great (reports say they are pretty hot but that wasn't a problem for her). The only problem was a stink that smelled like rotten meat after a wet run but after a few hours of baking them in the sun that seemed to go away.

At this point the only drawback is the high price and the goofy look (although when you have great lashes with blinc mascara and an adorable running skirt, no one should be looking anyway!)

Push Up Challenge

Runs with Mascara has been participating in a Push Up Challenge. The challenge is one push up added each day through 80 days. So you do one push up on day one. You do two push ups on the next day, then build up and up and up. We need something to balance all this running!
Today we are on day 33 so this morning I did 33 push ups in sets of 5 since my arms are so sore!
So far we have recruited bunches of friends and co-workers into this challenge and by the time we are done everyone I know should have buff arms and back. The best is that with all this work/play travel Team RWM will have done push ups in 10 countries and 7 states by the time 80 days are up.

Until we have pictures of ourselves doing push ups in Kiev or Serbia or Bhutan or Hawaii you can see what our push-up contest looks like in the office. YES, we do push ups in our work clothes since missing a day is just not an option!

Co-worker, Rachel getting push ups done between work!

Excited to be done for the day (and no one saw her sneaking in the work out!)