What's Next?: October 2022

So fun to see race photos from No Business! Here are a few taken by the talented Misty Wong, with the pre-race bib photo taken by Nichole Newport.

Pre-race

Bridge at mile 4

Twin Arches

Duncan Hollow

Finish line smile

Finish line relief

And the buckle! I love how you can tell how proud Ryan is of me 💗Thanks, my love!

And now, onto the post-race recovery...

I had taken Tuesday off from work but ended up having to go in for several hours in the morning due to some reporting that had gone awry. I was flat out exhausted and my feet were still swollen and hurting, but with a bandaid on my pinkie toe, and in my most comfortable shoes, I was able to walk around almost normally. Honestly, my legs didn’t feel badly overall at all, it was just my feet that were just plain, well, ouch! After getting some work done, I hit the farmer's market, grocery store, Target and the feed store for birdseed and cat food. Gotta make sure there's food for everyone 😉😊Then I came home to sit on the couch for the rest of the day and work on my race report!

Woke up on Wednesday to a note from Ryan that he had a weird cough and had taken a Covid test just to be sure. Negative. I also had a bit of a cough and sniffles, which isn't super surprising, as let's be honest, I had just subjected my body to being up on my feet for 29 hours Fri/Sat, plus all the travel, and I knew it was highly likely I might pick up something in my inevitably rundown state, even though I was being as careful as possible with an inordinate amount of sanitizer and wearing my mask while traveling. Still, I had planned to test Wednesday anyway, so I did. Negative.

Went into work for the day and came home to Ryan feeling worse, so told him to stay on the couch for the night and I took Sam to 6:00 pm swim. I figured since I was there, I'd get in a short walk on the track. Wore my Brooks, as they have the widest toe boxes, and walked a rather slow 14 laps around the track. Legs felt fine, but my feet still felt tender and I was still tired, so that was enough. (1.1 miles walked)

Thursday, another negative test, but still coughing and tired overall. My feet still looked bad due to all the scabs from the irritated areas but they were no longer swollen, I didn't have to wear a bandaid on my pinkie toe and I wasn't thinking about them all day.

Another negative test Friday morning before going into work until noon and then getting some errands done. It was so nice out, I decided to take a short walk on the Gone Fishing trails around the ponds after dropping off the recycling. My feet and legs felt fine, so I was able to walk a bit more quickly, but trying to balance the desire to move and be outside with my body still needing to rest and recover too, so didn't go far. (1.25 miles walked)

Repping the new NB100 gear

Then it was home for the 7th/8th grade dance! Lily walked home with Sam after school so they could get ready and go to the dance together. Aren't they are so cute 😍 - and so grown up?!

💕

Another negative test on Saturday morning and feeling better, so the cough and sniffles this week definitely appear to be your general garden variety low-grade yuck, but still annoying!! Ryan headed down to Mass for a ceremony at St. John's Prep honoring the 1992 xc team for their induction to the athletic hall of fame, and Sam and I had a mellow morning at home with me finally catching up on some cleaning and bills before I headed out for a walk later in the morning. Sam did not wish to join me, so I left her to relax at home. It was beautiful out so I decided to drive over to the Cathance so I could walk down and check out the river after all of last week's rain. It certainly was roaring! And lots of foam along the edges of the river banks. The woods smelled wonderful, like evergreens and fallen leaves. Lovely to get out for a short jaunt. (1.1 miles walked)

Sam spent the evening with Anne and Abby while the Ryan and I did nothing but sit on the couch once he got home from MA. I think she had the more exciting evening 😂

Sunday was the end of the season Trail Monster run and get-together and although we were really sad to miss out, it didn't seem the wisest idea for either of us in terms of getting over this yuck even if we were still testing negative for Covid, so we stayed home and relaxed instead. Although I did drag Ryan out for a walk on the powerlines in the late morning once the morning fog cleared. Still some pretty late fall colors out there, and definitely warmed up once the skies started to brighten. (2.0 miles walked)

So all told, I'd give the recovery week #1 a B-. Feet are healing up nicely, legs feel decent, and it's felt good to be out walking, but this cold/germy yuck is a real drag! I guess it's giving me an extra reason to take it easy, but I really hope I can kick it sooner rather than later - being sick is never fun!!

I remember reading about No Business back in 2019 and boy, did the course photos draw me in. It just looked amazing. That, and the prospect of one big loop out in the TN/KY wilderness. I was intrigued, and signed myself right up on January 1st, 2020. Then Covid hit, and we all know things went to hell in a hand basket. They actually held the race, but there was no way we felt comfortable traveling in the midst of a pandemic, so I deferred my entry to 2021. Things were looking promising last year until August when another Covid surge was afoot and in the end, we once again just didn't feel comfortable traveling, so I gave up my spot in the race. And well, in 2022, I signed up again, crossed my fingers and hoped that third time would be a charm! Either that, or me and this race just weren't meant to be!

I put in just shy of 1,750 miles leading up to October 14th. Not a lot of them were on super technical terrain or hilly. My longest run in the full training cycle was Emily and my Semi-Pemi of 26+ miles in early July. Other that that, I got in 8 other runs of 20-22 miles with a number of those 20 milers being part of a three-day block of 40-45 miles. These blocks work well for me, in part because I often tend to procrastinate my long runs 😂 and because they ensure a decent amount of time, miles and running on tired legs, but spread out a bit more than a 2-day back to back. So, was I sure my training was enough? No. Was I nervous? Hell yes! But was I excited? Yes indeed! Was I confident? Yes and no. I knew I had a lot of experience and miles on my feet, but there were some unknowns on this one and, most importantly, 100 miles is never guaranteed.

Not to mention, traveling for a 100 miler requires its own special skillset. I'm a horrible traveler, just ask Ryan, so I am not predisposed to this, but one of my goals has always been to see interesting places and use my running as a means for exploration and adventure so that means I am just a disaster leading up to the travel and then eventually calm down enough to enjoy myself once we get there, or at least I try! 😆😏😝 Covid has not helped my travel anxiety in the slightest either, so that added a bit of extra stress this time around. However, honestly, travel went fairly smoothly, and taking an extra day to be in TN before the race meant it was much more enjoyable, as we could actually do some exploring too and not just be so race focused.

We had also decided that, due to the big loop nature of the course and the fact that only Ryan was coming with me on this trip, I would be running this race without a pacer. I felt sure I could do it, but it did rachet up the anxiety just a little bit.

So with the background set, let's get on with the race report!

Race start wasn't until 8:00 am on Friday - so civilized! - and with the VRBO was only 30 minutes away from Pickett, that meant a rather leisurely race morning, which was quite lovely. Additionally, weather was looking pretty darn perfect so that was nice too. It was an incredibly beautiful October day, so no weather excuses for this one! 😏

Running gear all ready to go

Taking in the morning glow along the pond at the VRBO before heading to the race

Start line smiles!

And we're off!

The first 3.5 miles of the course were on a rolling gravel road. It was a nice chance to shake out the legs and allowed the field to spread out a bit. Looking at the results, 208 of the 238 signed up started the race, so it was a decent size field. I tried hard to keep it chill, and landed right around 10:00/min miles for that first stretch before we turned into the woods onto some nice smooth double and single track for the rest of the way down to the Visitors Center at Pickett. I didn't really need much here, but did a rolling stop to pick up a few more gels and an oatmeal cookie from Ryan and drop my trash. I walked up the paved hill eating the cookie. Ryan's notes say I left at 9:15.

Coming into Pickett, mile 6.8

The next 3 or so miles were once again on gravel road, and I recognized the stretch of road we had driven out on to Twin Arches. Once again, it was undulating but runnable and I just tried to stay comfortable. Around 10 miles, we headed onto the trails. And man, it was beautiful! I was in a small train of people running a good pace as we wound in and out of draws that were filled with rhododendron, big leaf magnolia and mountain laurel, and around rock formations, and finally around 18 miles ended up at Twin Arches.

So many amazing sights along this course

Couldn't resist one photo at Twin Arches

Lots of running along the edge or slightly under cliffs and rock formations like this

There were two aid stations between Pickett and Bandy Creek, where I'd see Ryan next at mile 24.2. Somewhere along the way, I ended up running with Jose, who was from Panama and a really nice guy. We ran some in comfortable silence and chatted some, and it was nice to just have someone to share a few miles with. We might have been having too much fun chit chatting as at one point we ran right by a sign and a few flags at a turn off the wide double-track we'd be on. Oops! We fixed the sign to make it a bit more noticable and continued on.

My fueling plan was to stick to a gel every 30-45 minutes as long as I could, pick up my soft flask filled with caffeinated Roctane once it got to be later afternoon for an additional calorie drip and caffeine through the night, and always pick up something at each aid station. At Sawmill (12.3) I just picked up a few grapes, but I think it was at Charit (19.6) that I started in on the Lays potato chip snack bags. I'm guessing I ended up eating about a dozen of those bags throughout the race, as they ended up being the most appealing and easy to eat of the real food options in most spots.

My aid station strategy also involved no sitting, and doing a quick sweep of the aid station table and my own snacks and then taking whatever sounded good to go and walking out while eating it. That way there was less stopping and more forward motion. I have strong opinions when I'm racing about what sounds good and what doesn't, so this works for me.

There were a number of climbs and descents as well as a number of creek crossings between Sawmill and Charit. Although the creeks were apparently low this year, I was not able to entirely keep my feet from getting wet in a number of spots. Charit was also where we passed by a lodge down in the valley with people sitting out at picnic tables and about 10 horses tied up on tethers. Horse travel seems to be a big thing in this area.

Cool trail logo. We followed this one for quite a ways along the course.

Jose and I coming into Bandy Creek, mile 24.2

Headed out of Bandy

The Bandy Creek aid station was out in a big field at the edge of a campground. We stopped briefly at the aid staiton and then continued on down to the area where Ryan had set up our chair and my food in the shade. It was getting warmer, but it wasn't hot. I had some grapes and a cookie, and took a bag of potato chips to go.

The 4.6 miles stretch between Bandy and Grand Gap had us following the Sheltowee Trace trail through a valley with a stream lined with rhodies, big leaf magnolia and mountain laurel with neat little rock formations and caves all along it. There were a number of people out hiking and backpacking, but I didn't see any other runners along this stretch. Weird.

I started in on Coke at Grand Gap (28.8). My legs were feeling the effort a bit for sure and I hoped I hadn't pushed too much in these early miles. Somewhere between there and Duncan Hollow, I ended up in a train with Rachel and Lisa, two lovely moms who were chatty and friendly and who were doing a reasonably close enough pace to what I would have done on my own that I just latched on and enjoyed the diversion and the company.

We ran atop the cliffs in these photos, following a bit of a horseshoe above the valley. So pretty!

We climbed the hill up to Duncan Hollow, mile 36.6, which was out in the middle of nowhere and which Ryan had taken a shuttle to from Bandy with an additional 1.25 mile walk to reach the aid station. I stopped to fill my water, get some coke and a bag of chips and then I did a slightly longer stop at the chair so that I could ensure I got all that I needed for the next stretch as I wouldn't be seeing him again until mile 60.7. A long 24+ mile stretch and with sunset around 6:00 pm, a fair amount of the miles would be in the dark too, so I picked up my headlamp as well as gloves and sleeves in case it got cooler. Ryan's notes say I left here at 4:30 pm.

Ryan, as usual, had the crewing down!

Coming into Duncan Hollow, mile 36.6

I had heard that things got more rugged and harder after Duncan Hollow and I can say that it is true. Most of the first 36 miles were runnable, almost buttery and smooth, but the steep ups and downs, the creek crossings, the mud, these all became apparent in the final 2/3 of the race. There was a long steep descent out of Duncan Hollow down to a big creek crossing. There would be no way to avoid getting wet there. And looking around, there didn't seem to be any course markings either. While the course had been reasonably well marked, we had heard from the RD that last year there had been some vandalism of the course markings and there were some spots where the flags had simply been trampled, etc. I stopped and backtracked a bit and ran into another runner coming my way. We looked around but saw no markings that led us elsewhere so decided we must have to cross. I had loaded the course GPX on the Gaia app, and in this case, it proved most useful as it confirmed we should indeed cross the creek and continue on.

Somewhere in this next stretch, Joseph, the runner who had come my way before the creek crossing, and I met up with Lisa and Rachel again, and then Jose came down the trail too, having seen a bear on the descent! So we had a merry little band rolling along. Jose eventually pulled ahead but the rest of us stuck together as the woods got darker and we all had to turn our headlamps on as we started a steep climb up to the Laurel Hill aid station (45.7). I don't think I got much more than just a bag of chips here and I ended up taking off before the rest of the group, so was on my own for the next stretch. Being alone in the darkness on the trail requires a definite focus, as although the hanging flags from branches with reflective tape at the end did catch one's eye nicely, I definitely pulled my phone out a few times to double check on Gaia that I was going the right way. I certainly didn't want to get off course in the dark.

I did look at my watch at mile 50 and it read 12:23. So definitely not quick, but I was still moving fairly decently and feeling solid. Next aid station was Ledbetter at 53.5 and well, this is where things took a rather unfortunate turn. I had picked up my Ultraspire headlamp at Duncan Hollow instead of my Petzl as it was lighter and felt better for long periods of time on my head. However, either by user error or whatever, apparently it was not fully charged and kept shutting off, leaving me in full darkness. Definitely could have been a huge problem, as I had left my backup headlamp with Ryan, who I was of course not seeing until mile 60, and the small flashlight that I had packed with the intent to put it in the bottom of my pack never made its way there. I did pass/get passed by several runners during this stretch, so if I had had to I could have asked to tag along, but I knew it was my own fault and thankfully I had my phone, so that would have to do. The headlamp would work again for short stretches if I turned it back on, but would quickly go dark again, so except in spots where I needed both hands to get down steep steps or rocks, etc, I ran by light of my IPhone. Let me say this is not ideal. But it did work, even if it was challenging.

I was most grateful to get to the long bridge that led into Blue Heron (60.7), as I knew it meant I could get my other headlamp and my waistlamp and see Ryan! Ryan was waiting for me at the end of the bridge and I know he didn't recognize me, running across, probably looking like a fool with no headlamp on and my phone in hand, flashlight on. He led me down the course to the big parking lot where the car was parked, and although we had initially planned on him not running with me at all, he asked if I wanted him to join me for the 6.6 mile Blue Heron loop. Company, combined with extra light, sounded great, so he quickly got ready while I added some things to my pack, and then we took off on the loop. It was fun to have a chance to catch up on his day and to tell him some of my stories from the race so far. The loop climbed steeply for a few miles with stairs and switchbacks, before more gently meandering back downhill. Near the end of the loop was the Crack in the Rock, a neat section of trail that led us under, through and around another area of sandstone features. The stairs were a challenge here as elsewhere on the course as they were really steep with the steps close together. I was definitely not going quickly down those!

It was really nice to have Ryan join me for this short stretch, a welcome break from being out on the trail by myself, but I didn't feel upset when we got back to Blue Heron (67.3) and I knew I had to keep going alone. Instead, it just felt like those miles were a nice interlude and now I was back to business. I still felt like my energy and running was pretty solid. I stopped at the aid station and had a scoop of warm white race and a few slices of avacado with salt and that might have been the best real food of the whole race. Tasted so good! Going to have to put that in my bag of tricks for other long races. Such a good change from the sweet gels and Roctane, and even from the crispy chips, all of which were still going down reasonably well. According to Ryan's notes, I left at 1:52 am.

Through the Crack in the Rock on the Blue Heron Loop

One of the many sets of steep stairs along the course, this one on the Blue Heron loop

Headed back out of Blue Heron across the bridge, mile 67.3

There was still some runnable double track mixed in with steep climbs and descents, and somewhere near mile 72, the trail exited the woods onto pavement. There was a gravel road that went to the right and a few flags led straight and downhill on the road. All was well and good until I wasn't so sure I was on track, and I didn't want to go too far down the hill, so I pulled up the Gaia app, which showed me off track. I doubled back but couldn't tell where I should go. Then two headlamps and then another emerged in the darkness and soon all four of us were wandering around trying to figure out where the trail went. In the end, the GPX was off by a bit and the trail was further down the pavement, so we just did some needless wandering back and forth up and down the hill. Gah! A bit frustrating, but oh well. Onward. It was also around this point that I was feeling a bit of rubbing on my feet, but it seemed to be on the tops, where I often do get a bit of chafing.

The trail meandered a bit before hitting a big uphill that appeared to be a big wide skidder trail, or some sort of construction/clearcut area. Two of the guys weren't that far ahead of me and I caught the flickering of one of the reflective flags fluttering in the breeze and realized they had gone off course. I called them back and we got on singletrack for a short bit only to come across a stream crossing with no obvious markings on the other side. Sigh. Some time lost in this stretch for sure. Eventually, we got back another dirt road that went up and seemingly forever. I will admit to not liking this stretch much and I am pretty sure I told Ryan "that sucked" when I finally go up to Bald Knob, the 75.1 mile aid station. I think I spent a bit more time here, feeling a bit disoriented in the darkness and tired. I was probably my lowest point mentally and energy-wise. I mentioned my feet here too, but it just seemed like the best course of action was to stay as is, knowing there would be more creek crossings going forward. I never put my second pair of shoes in the car anyway, although I did have extra socks. But having never had any major feet issues, and typically not changing shoes or socks at all, I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and continued on. They had some avacado at the aid station, so I ate a few slices of that and Ryan got me ready to go and eventually I meandered off, eating chips. Ryan's notes say I left at 4:52 am.

There was a big descent and then another climb between Bald Knob and Spring Branch at mile 80.8. There were a number of us slogging up the hill at this point, most with pacers or running with another runner. I didn't mind. I was mostly in my own head, thinking of nothing, just focused on moving forward and trying not to think about how my feet felt. But the most wonderous thing about later in this stretch was that as we were climbing, the sky was lightening and atop the ridge, the fall foliage was aglow with the early morning light. It truly was beautiful.

Trees aglow as the sun started to come up right before Spring Branch, mile 80.8

I was glad to take off my headlamp and turn off my waistbelt soon after leaving Spring Branch, where I stopped for a bag of chips and watched some guy pound a cup of bourbon. Although the course continued on a fairly level gravel road stretch right out of the aid station, I walked so that I could get the chips down. But eventually, it appeared we were going to continue on the gravel road, so I figured I might as well run. My feet and toes eventually numbed out a bit, and I even managed a few 13 and 14 minute miles! I passed everyone I came up to along the road, probably a dozen people. It felt good to move and actually run a bit and really, I felt pretty strong. I was a nice turn-around from Bald Knob.

The entire 5.6 miles between Spring Branch and Peters Mountain were on the gravel road, so I actually covered that span fairly quickly, or at least a lot more quickly than I had been going! In fact, I was so "quick" that I got to the aid station and had to get out my phone and text Ryan as I didn't see him. Ha! Turns out he was chatting with some guy who had run Riverlands, but he ran quickly over to the aid station to join me. The nice volunteer was reeling off all the possible food options, and I was just like uh uh! Sorry lady! I took a bag of chips, went to the bathroom, dropped my headlamps and waistbelt, swapped out my softflask for a full one, and then it was on to the final 15 miles! Of course, I knew these were supposed to be the toughest of the miles, with a big descent right after Peters Mountain, so I was prepared for a bit of a slog. Ryan's notes say I left at 8:14 am.

Headed out of Peter's Mountain, mile 86.4

Down into the valley for the final 15 mile stretch of the race

Lisa and her pacer passed me at the start of the descent to the valley floor. It was great to see her and I was glad she was running well! I was eating my chips and not moving as quickly so I let them go. The trail continued to descend steeply and then proceeded to cross this way and that over the creek running through it about a dozen times. The rocks were slick with moisture and moss, and my feet were killing me and it was slow going. Of course it was beautiful, the valley lined with rhododendron and the water trickling, but all I could think of was come on, this is bullshit! Pick a side and stay on it, trail! Enough of the creek crossings!! The trail meandered this way and that, and some of it was runnable, but I could only run for short stretches. I know I lost a lot of time through here, but I was simply just doing all I could to move forward.

The RD had warned us that Great Meadow aid station (90.7) required a deep, wide river crossing complete with a rope to get us across. I was really not looking forward to it, as my feet were wet and sore enough already and I knew I didn't really need anything there. Thankfully as I was dropping down the bank, the volunteers called over and told me I could just yell out my number to them if I didn't need anything at the aid station. I was so grateful and happy to not have to do a big river crossing!

The trail continued on around, meandering up slowly but surely to the final steep climb to Blevins (96.9). I caught up to a few people here and ran/walked with a couple for a while. None of us were moving quickly. I knew there were only 4.3 miles from Blevins to the finish, so I simply asked for my soft flask to be filled with water, dutifully took a bag of chips and continued on, hoping it would be smooth sailing to the finish line. Ha! I should never have thought that. What transpired was a nasty shock to the system, a drop down to a river crossing, complete with a rope, resulting in very wet feet which made them hurt so much I could barely walk once I got to the other side. Then the trail was a thin ribbon just above the river bed, with wet slicks rocks and roots to scramble over, and then a descent to yet another river crossing. I had to butt slide down the bank to get to the rope. It was not a pretty sight. Then another mile or so of climbing. I got passed here by Rachel and another woman, along with a few guys too. Ugh. But seriously, my feet were not having it and I had nothing left to give to try to get those places back.

We finally crested the hill where the final mile or so was along a sandy dirt road that wound around to the edge of the campground. I managed to run most of that final mile. I was so ready to be done!

Final dirt road stretch before turning into the campground for the finish! It was pretty but seemingly endless!

I popped out of the woods into civilization, complete with a dancing unicorn! I was smiling ear to ear. Painful feet and all the hours on my feet forgotten for a few minutes as I ran to the finish line. I had done it!

Yes, there was a unicorn!

DONE!

After getting my buckle and smiling for a few official photos, the adrenaline wore off almost immediately and tiredness and pain set in. I knew I had to get out of my shoes and socks, but what greeted me was worse than I expected. Tons of irritated oozing spots all along the tops of my toes and all sides of my feet at the tops of my shoes, skin coming off my right pinkie toe and very pruny wet discolored feet all around. Now that I was stopped, the pain set in. I literally started to cry. It hurt so much. OUCH!

If you are squeamish, DO NOT LOOK at the next photo, scroll on by...

...

The aftermath

And appropriately, the shoes and socks were unceremoniously pitched!

There wasn't much to do except try to clean up my feet as best I could, change out of my wet clothes and attempt to get some food down. Can you tell how good I felt?! 😂😐

Oh the joys of ultrarunning! 😆

People were smiling and chatting and hanging out but I wanted nothing except to get back to the cabin. It felt good to get clean but wow, the feet were a total disaster. I pretty much just slathered them in neosporin and hoped nothing would get infected. And then I got into bed 😉😛Done and dusted!

The end

Honestly, this was an amazing race. The natural features along the course were truly spectacular and they went on and on. You can see some of them in my earlier post and on the race website. The sandstone cliffs and arches and caves, the beautiful valleys filled with rhododendron and mountain laurel and the huge big leaf magnolia, so many creek crossings and clay-like mud, the cool connections of all the different state parks, historic areas and recreation areas/state forests, the brilliant foliage, the steep climbs and descents - it all added up to an incredibly beautiful and challenging course. And while the saying may be that "Some say those who came here looked over the harsh, unforgiving landscape and thought they had no business settling here. While others made it clear, outsiders had no business in these parts," I'd say this area was meant to be explored and going on foot in one huge 101 mile loop was a pretty cool way to do it!

While there is no race that ever goes completely right, and obviously this one had some failings - see the headlamp dying and my feet slowly deteriorating with a death by a thousand cuts over 100 wet miles and many creek crossings - I think I did a pretty good job in terms of fueling, energy, attitude and focus.

I probably had about 24 gels, plus 5 of the packets of Roctane starting at mile 36, a dozen bags of Lays chips, two snack baggies filled with Bugles, a few handfuls of grapes, two small pieces of quesadilla, one scoop of rice and maybe 1/4 of an avacado, a few cups of coke but not as many as I have in other races, 5 mini snickers and two small packets of Haribo coke gummies, my stomach never felt off and I felt like I had pretty solid energy throughout the whole race. And while my choice to go without a pacer was mostly practical in nature, in a way, I felt like it worked in my favor. I had to stay focused and within myself, I had no one to turn and complain to, and when I did get a chance to run with Ryan for a few miles it felt like a wonderful gift and a nice reprieve. And when the headlamp failed and my feet started to hurt, I had nothing to do but keep going, I couldn't feel down, I had no choice but to just accept what it was and deal with it. I had thought I'd need the distraction or the pick-me-up of music in the night or late in the race, but honestly there was no need. I never had a major low and I didn't even cry until the race was over! So, overall, I am pretty darn proud of this one. It was a hard fought battle at times, but I got it done and it sure felt good to earn that buckle!

RESULTS

29:06:54 (33 hour cut-off)

64 of 141 finishers; 208 started the race

14 of 36 women finishers; 57 started the race

As always, with these crazy ventures, none of this can be done alone.

Many thanks go out to the RDs and all the volunteers for making it happen and doing it well!

To Ryan, for forever being my biggest cheerleader and for always being willing to go off on some wild adventure to some wacky place with me. I couldn't do it without you 💗

Extra special thanks to my mom for shouldering the load of taking care of and hanging with Sam for the 5 days we were gone while Dad isolated at their house with Covid. We are so lucky. Thank you so much.

And of course, continually grateful to all the family and friends who cheer me on and offer up support and encouragement virtually and in person. I truly am surrounded by the best people 😊

Monday, October 31, 2022

Happy Halloween 🎃

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Recovery Week #2

Sunday, October 23, 2022

No Business Photos & Post-Race Recovery

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

2022 No Business 100 Race Report

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