High Fives

The littlest of high fives to our littlest and most precious fan, Rawlings. Huge thanks to everyone who supported us and left messages and texts and followed our journey along the way. Again, with brains still foggy and work calling, this is far from what we'd like to say with real meaning and big S.A.T words, but we want everyone to know how much it meant to share the experience with you throughout the journey.

It's almost like she's holding an imaginary mascara wand, right? Right?

TransRockies. A Brief Check In.

It's been three days since we returned from Colorado and while Dana jetted off directly to Penticton, Canada to meet up with her boyfriend, Brian, who was chasing his own goals at Ironman, I came back to San Francisco to nurse my newly dead toenails and the accumulating blisters from the final 2 days.

(Registration pick-up day, Buena Vista, CO)

For both of us, it's still going to take some time to wrap our heads around describing all that we saw and felt and experienced, and everyone we met.

(Day 3, Leadville, CO)

But for those of you who hate suspense, in a nutshell: we rocked it...relatively speaking.

Goal 1: Have fun. SO DONE!
Goal 2: Make it to the starting line each day. SIX OF SIX!
Goal 3: Make it to the finish each day. SIX OF SIX!
Goal 4: Run strong when we can, do our best when we can't. DONE. DONE. DONE.
Goal 5: Finish strong. OH HELL YES.

(Day 2, top of Hope Pass, 12,000+ elevation)

Dana provided a quick synopsis of our stages:

Stage 1: Sam feeling okay, Dana good

Stage 2: Dana in pain cave, Sam on fire

Stage 3: Sam and Dana both have a good day, phew

Stage 4: Dana feels great, Sam on top of world beating Dana up and down hills. Awesome!!!! Want to barf at forced sprint to solidify 5th place in stage finish.

Stage 5: Both okay to start. Bit of nausea for both. We pass our competition, they pass us back, repeat x7 at least!. Sam has worst blisters I have ever seen. Sam finds f**k you blister gear and we run in at 8 min miles. Flying high with hope. Unsure if we will be able to walk tomorrow!

Stage 6: Sam tapes all her toes. Try to find reserve strengths. Sam pulls start. Dana pulls middle. Together we make it up final death march of endless hill to final 2 mile ripping downhill into Beaver Creek. We pass yogis in final 300 yards. Hugs. Tears. Awesomeness.

(Big air)

Final numbers: 28 hours+ of running; 6th place out of 14 in our age group; 2 5th place stage finishes (technically giving us a Top Five spin)

(Day 6, the finish at Beaver Creek)

So much more to share and show but will have to wait. Oh, and yes, we did wear mascara the whole time. And we looked damn good. Stay tuned.

It's not who you know, but who you thank

Hi all, Dana here. As I sit on my gigantic duffel bag trying desperately to close the zipper I realize it is not only my bag that is so full, but my life. I am full of gratitude right now as I head off to Colorado for this great adventure. I could go on and on about everyone I need to thank but for now the short list:

1. My family. They think it is awesome that I run real far and understand how happy it makes me. That is priceless. My dad reads this blog (awesome). My mom sends awesome cards (see below) and t-shirts and running shoes and is basically our biggest sponsor. Mom, time to get yourself a logo so we can wear it on our shirts!


2. Great friends and co-workers. We have friends writing us cards, buying us foot creams (Kara you are awesome), giving us funny hats (see below- thank you Jessica), asking about our long runs, wanting to track us online, wishing us luck and truly interested in our adventure. Special shout out to the dinner club ladies who are the best and to my co-workers who do their own amazing feats like a Hocks Salto or balance work with babies.

3. Julie Upton. Although we have never met you were willing to talk to me on the phone about your experience at TransRockies last year which was very helpful. I am jealous that you were able to prepare by sleeping in an altitude tent but I will get over it. You told me the thing I have been waiting to hear all my life, "Eat as much as you can!" I will follow that sage advice next week if it is the last thing I do! Thanks as well for lending me the compression gear and sleeping bag. I should be less fatigued and warm!

4. Larissa Polischuk. Coaching, workout plans, speed work ideas, calming advice. How can we thank you? Would bringing home the 80+ ladies category top third placing do it? HA! Thanks for helping us prepare, so fantastic.

5. Brian. Thanks for telling me I look lean, for thinking I am fast, for calling me hard core and for being the best of the best. I will try to channel some of your speed and killer race attitude this week!


6. SAM! Of course Sam. Snarky, strong, hilarious Sam. Thanks for inspiring me, cracking me up, helping me take things less seriously and most importantly being of similar speed so we can spend hours running, chatting, laughing and solving the world's problems one mile at a time!

Oh shoot. I am sure there are so many more people. People I should name specifically (Jennie, Rangsi, Cheyenne, Tina, Troy, Elizabeth, Rachel, Sarah, Julian, Rodrigo, Emily, Nora, Ruth, Neil, Sari) but I won't. For those unmentioned, know you are thanked. I promise to have loads of fun, take pictures and blog all about it when we are done.

Push Up Challenge Complete!

Dana here! Today was the final day of the Push Up Challenge. We marked the occasion with a lunch break full of push ups. 80 push ups in fact. (for those of you who don't remember we are doing push ups, we started with one and added one per day until we hit our goal of 80 push ups) Maybe our form could have been better. Maybe we could have our elbows in, our butts down and our backs flatter BUT we couldn't have laughed more! Hopefully having fun and getting to the goal makes up for less than perfect form. We can work on perfecting that in days, weeks and months to come.

Rachel, Sarah and Dana pushing up on the bay!

Our friend, photographer and hard core pusher does a push up with Rachel on his back. Show off!

Killer toned arms for lunch!

What do you do before a big race?

So the countdown is on to the big day. What's an athlete to do while working out less and packing up for 6 days of running? You Bieber yourself. Thanks to our amazing and tech savy friend Rangsiwan we have been Biebered. As in Justin Biebered. Funny that this teenage hairdo makes us both look old.

Okay, so no wigs, just one funny Jimmy Fallon app for the iPhone but it made us laugh just the same. Now onto the more important stuff like packing up sunscreen, buying new socks, stuffing that sleeping bag as small as possible, making the to pillow or not to pillow decision and gathering up the long list of thank yous that will be the next blog post.

The Perfect Playlist?

Dana's bringing her iPod to Colorado - for the downtime, for the times when we run out of things to talk about (hard to believe I know), for the times we might get separated or just need the extra pick-up.

Do I bring my full iPod with more music than I could ever want or do I make the perfect playlist on my little shuffle? Will I want more cerebral music when I'm feeling the surge of the mountains surround me? Some Armin Van Buuren and Thievery Corp? Or will I want balls out music on a descent - the kind you blast in a convertible headed for the Jersey shore on a hot summer day? AC/DC and Nine Inch Nails. Or will I want show tunes to sing along to and keep me distracted from whatever pain and suffering I might encounter? A Chorus Line, Rent? Or hip hop, and a head-bobbing beat to make me feel gangsta and empowered? Big El and Eminem? Or will I want those surprise gems of days past that always make me smile? Songs by Styx, REO Speedwagon and Hall and Oates. Or will I want whatever Dana's listening to, reaching a critical stage of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) wondering if what she's listening to will make her run faster than what I'm listening to?

It's a little overwhelming. It's what kept me from buying an iPod right away - all that music at the touch of my hand, trying to craft the perfect playlists from unlimited songs with titles I think might remind me of what I stash in them - Long Slow Run, Fast Run, Morning Run, Attitude Adjustment, Mountain Jams, City Tracks, Driving to Work, Driving Home.

I think I'll take the full iPod. What's a little more weight? Better to be overprepared than under. Show tunes alone on a grinding ascent above 10,000 feet on the fourth day might not cut it.

A Quick Look Back

As noted in the many posts over the last few months, all your RWM news has been coming from my better half, Dana. If it was anyone else, I'd have my excuses in check - work, travel, social commitments, sports, another blog, a long commute, too many carbs slowing down my synapses. But with my travel-nista running partner juggling work spread across multiple continents, an Ironman-training boyfriend, family, friends, spot on training and her quest to make the perfect [insert anything here - bar, muffin, nut butter, hazelnut milk] I have nothing to stand on.

And so, to Dana's mom and all the other Dana loyalists out there who may wonder where the other half of RWM has been and if I've been training and if I'll represent come race day and help make all of Dana's TransRockies goals come true I present you these gratuitous vacation running shots of evidence of my training and commitment while I've been absent from blogging.

(Running on a healthy dose of karma from a monastery outside of Thimphu, Bhutan)

(In northern India, airing it out on the first of a 5 day trek over 12,456 feet. I did not do hill repeats.)

(My first trail run in Bhutan. Short but thrilling. This was clearly my go-to shirt of the trip.)

6+ days and we toe the line in Buena Vista, Colorado to begin our adventure in yet another new place on unfamiliar trails. I've already got a bad playlist running through my head - the kind where you sing a few lines and 35 minutes later you and everyone around you have the same song running through your heads? Who remembers Men at Work? Ain't nothing gonna break my stride? Another topic for another blog. Here we go.

Taper Time!

Aloha! Fresh off the plane from Kauai and mid-taper before TransRockies, the lungs are chilling, the feets are resting and the legs are tanning - working up that base for the high altitude exposure. All is good the week before we start. Cheery emails from friends and with Dana, 11th hour purchases - a new pack to hold my camera, a new bra to hold my boobs. Things are coming together and the excitement is tangible. I am ALL confidence at the unknown. We will go, we will finish, we will have fun. 2 of the 3 I know for sure.

(Na Pali Coast where I did not run. I hiked. Quickly. With feeling.)

Fresh off a great long weekend in Kauai paddling an outrigger in the Napali Challenge, my upper body is tight, my lower body loose, and my mind all dialed back into running. Truth be told the weeks between my trips to Bhutan/India and Hawaii were not filled with the usual glowing happy running adventures I generally experience. I was solo a lot and running the same trails just to get the miles in. I mean, in the end you never finish a run and think boo hoo, poor me - there's always the natural high from running 12+ miles at dawn and landing at your desk flush with rosy cheeks and a little dirt around the ankles. (Sometimes you have to make the hard decision between cutting a run short to get a shower in or toweling off in the parking lot and heading to work.) But at times it felt a little more like work and a little less fun.

(No work, no running, no cares. View from edge of Hanae, Kauai.)

But now I am ALL IN and super stoked for the adventure ahead. Even a chill 55 minute run through the city got me excited after a week of no running. The miles are logged, the mascara selected. Soon the bags will be packed and Runs With Mascara will make it's official debut. Shabooya.

Salt Point 26k Trail Run

Taper is fun! Hi all, Dana here. Since I am tapering to be rested for TransRockies next week I have cut my weekly mileage in half. To keep up the intensity I signed up for the Pacific Coast Trail Run at Salt Point. Although a bit of a drive, it was totally worth it. First, Salt Point State Park is a great place! Check out the California coast in this picture- it can't be beat!

Post-race heading home down Highway 1.

The trails were runnable, on varied terrain and provided some great vistas. Doing the 26k or 16.6 miles by my Garmin was the best part as I could run "fast" or at least faster than the all day pace I normally do at races and I loved feeling reckless. I saw 8:20 pace on my watch multiple times and thought of my sister, Nora as we joke that our genetic top speed is 8:30 minute miles!
When I finished I made a resolution to include more shorter distance racing into my training as my competitive spirit is a good motivator for running faster than I would normally.

After the race I checked out the beach, walked meadow edges and stood in the glorious ocean breeze with my fabulous companion Chance. Although the park trails didn't allow dogs there were enough places for us to explore.

Chance is the king of the roadtrip.

Help Wanted: Perfect Running Skirt

Dana wearing her favorite running skirt in South Africa.

Hi all, Dana here. I have the perfect running skirt and it makes me cry just thinking about it. I remember getting the tip about this skirt. I was running a 30k and a woman I was running with told me about it. I noticed it was cute and she gushed and gushed. I particularly remember her saying, "it doesn't move". I had no idea at the time that not moving is the key to this running skirt. The skirt stays put as do the things I stash in the pockets. The reason I am crying is that the company, Atalanta Athleticwear, went out of business and my skirts (I have 2) won't last forever. What's a girl to do? I have shopped running stores, athletic shops, online, thrift stores, e-bay, you name it. Nothing I have substituted even comes close.

To ease my pain I am putting this challenge out to the world. Make me a perfect running skirt and I will make the world a better place. I will cover lots of ground sharing smiles, laughs, GUs, miles, advice and of course, letting everyone know that there is a running skirt that doesn't bunch, chafe, ride up, dump your pockets, fall down, give you a wedgie or look ugly.

Dana expressing excitement to Yi about a possible perfect running skirt!

To ease my pain further I have given one of the 2 perfect skirts I have to Yi who works at Athleta for inspiration. Maybe they will make one just like it and call it the "mascara". Athleta- may you find inspiration in this skirt. You make totally adorable skirts now, I can't run in them for more than 3 steps as the short shorts underneath cause chafing before I leave the dressing room but you have the style part down. To help you see why my running skirt is so great I have some highlights below:
1) You put this skirt on and there it stays. Like static cling but not in the bad sense! The fabric is heavy enough and stretches/fits in a way that once it is on it doesn't creep up or down it just stays. This means more running less fiddling and more soft skin less chafing. I have run in this thing for 10 hours straight with no problems.
2) The pockets. Don't put the pocket on the leg of the skirt under the skirt part. That is hard to reach, uncomfortable, and it is complicated to go to the bathroom as I do often on a run. Pants go down, headphones pop out, risk your iPod falling into the toilet. The Atlanta pockets are on the outside of the skirt at the sides where it is natural to reach. They literally hold everything still. Keys, one key, iPod, tissue, candy, trash, you name it. I have never lost something from these pockets and I have pulled this skirt up and down hundreds of times. I have lost items from the little side pockets under skirts on the shorts though and somewhere there is a lucky animal with some money getting a latte.
3) The fit of the skirt is straight with no flair out. I think there is a perception that a running skirt may restrict movement so they are all flaring out and loose like you are about to hit the tennis court. No way, let Serena Williams wear those. I am short, the pencil skirt with no flare looks great so why not on my running skirt too. It doesn't restrict movement since it is both short enough and stretchy enough. Dare to go straight down! Double dog dare you! I haven't seen others do it yet!
4) Legs as long as the skirt. Check out the inseams on the shorts. They are at least 3 inches long. They are short enough that they don't poke out of the skirt but cover the length of it fully. No thighs rubbing is a great thing. No riding up is another great thing. I have not found legs extending as long as the skirt in any running skirt as most have very short shorts underneath which just don't cut it.
5) Simple fabric that has nothing extra, nothing swishy, no gimmicks, just plain awesome. (Okay, I really only have 4 things but felt like 5 things would make a stronger argument.)

Just as a side note: The skirt I gave Yi has red shorts. That is the only bad thing as they should have been black for my taste but I could not get any other color and when I heard of the pending business closure I took what I could get!

I am available for product testing, phone discussion of my running skirt disasters (of which I have many), lunch, a run or anything I can do to help you help me and the other hard core girls out there who love running, looking good and avoiding chafing! THANK YOU!

PS- I am not the only one who thought this skirt was the best of the best.
http://www.andherlittledogtoo.com/2010/04/skirt-goddess-love.html
http://www.fitsugar.com/Get-Your-Butt-Gear-Atalanta-Athleticwear-Commitment-Skirt-298467

Volunteering at Mile 92- Headlands 100

It was an early wake-up call on Sunday. Headlands 100 Mile Endurance Run was on and I was volunteering at mile 92 from 4:00am until 10:00am. Thanks to Pacific Coast Trail Runs for putting on such great events. I was glad I was finally able to give back after racing many of their events all over the Bay Area. Highlights: fighting off a hungry skunk, a strong, beautiful, incredible 70 year old female racer pushing the pace with no problem and some delicious cookies made by another volunteer. The racers looked so strong and it was great to see the positive energy. Inspired my 16 mile run that day for sure!

3 Things I Love About Ultrarunning

I will have to get Sam's 3 things, but for now, here are mine which came to me while running up the fabulous Dias Ridge trail 15 miles into my run this morning. The 3 things I love about ultrarunning:

1) Women compete with the men, for REAL. I remember the first ultramarathon I watched. It was cold, foggy, horrible and I had just completed my own short, non-ultra race and was really ready to head home to warmth. We stayed at the race site though since one of our friends was racing the 50k and we wanted to see him come in. Our friend, Rick Gaston was an ultramachine and we knew he was going to come in fast (and he still does come in fast, check him out at his blog!) We wait, we shiver, I don't want to be there, we wait, we wait. Then the first runner is sighted down the trail. He is coming in. NO. WAIT. It is not a he. It is a she. It is Caitlin Smith, who I don't know or even know of. All I know is that men are supposed to win races outright. I know that men win, women kick butt but in their own category. Well, this was a game changer for me and made me love the sport immediately. Now that I am in the know and obsessively read ultra blogs and running articles I know that Caitlin regularly kicks boys' asses but so do other women in this sport. Diana Finkel came in second in the 2010 Hardrock 100 OVERALL people. Ann Trason -just look it up, this stuff is mindblowing. And don't even get me started on age, the oldies are the goodies in this sport.

2) I always feel like I win. Running long runs is like heading to battle. You prep for the fight. Training runs, massage, stretching, cross training, eating right, eating almost right, well just eating, then more running. You suit up in your armor, put on your hydration system and hope you make it. Then the battle begins, first it is fun, weeeee, we are winning. Mile 3, mile 5, mile 13, up hills, crossing streams, you are definitely winning, mile 15, eating, staying hydrated, floating over rocks and then after 3 hours the tests start, your battle is on. You trained. There are ups, downs, sometimes it feels like all you can do is just stop, curl up in a ball and nap but then the endorphins rush in, you think of that rockin' song and it kicks on in your head and you are back to life again and pushing, mile 18, mile 22, you on fire. Only on the truly long runs can you experience this true up with the full on down and the amazing feeling of coming back up. It translates into other things as this mental toughness. I love knowing I can push through and it makes me tougher at work, tougher in life and stronger for it. I win.

3) FOOD. Yup, I said it. I like to run real far so I can eat chocolate. I eat chocolate muffins, chocolate milk, chocolate cookies, even chocolate covered broccoli if that was any good. Nothing more satisfying then a post run snack of something sinfully delicious. Looking forward to TransRockies Run as that it going to be 6 days of indulgence.

Dana Ran Here

Dana on Gellert Hill on the Buda side of Budapest.

The "Hell Yeah!" Statue that greets you after the climb up Gellert Hill.

Castle Hill home of the Royal Palace and Mathias Church.

If it isn't clear from a 2 week break in blogging and posts of me all over the world, I been a bit busy. Hi all, Dana here! So a work trip took me for 2 weeks to 5 countries in Europe. The visits were to Hungary, Serbia, Italy, France and Ukraine, in that order! The goal was of course to get work done, but the real goal was to get in 100 miles of running and complete all push-ups since the push-up challenge is still going which meant 728 total push-ups while I was there. The spoiler: DID IT! I was able to run two 20 mile runs, one in Serbia to the Monastery I posted last and one through Kiev. Multiple other runs were fantastic and posts are to follow. The biggest problem was when my luggage was lost and I had to take a few days off from running and buy all new running attire from shoes to hat to bra to hand held water bottle. (I think that is a whole other story for another post!) Anyway, the photos above are my first day of the trip in Hungary about 1 hour after my plane landed. I got right out to see the sights of the old city and was rewarded with a hot rain, a statue that said, "Hell Yeah you run those hills!" and views that I just could not capture on my iPhone. You have seen Serbia, next post, Italy (no running, just some amazing shots of food since this was where I had no clothes or shoes only the sweatpants on my back!)

Dana Ran Here!

Photo by Ivo Andric

Čačak, Serbia home of faith tourism. 10 miles out of town to the Monastery of Sretenje. Built in the 1600s.