Run It Fast®

Note: I’m writing a series on my bout with ovarian cancer and how my running was affected by it and helped me deal with it. You can read Part 1 for a little history on my running and cancer here and Part 2  for a look at how I planned my running while going through chemotherapy here.

Note #2: Today is World Cancer Day. I wish more than anything that we didn’t need a day for this terrible disease. I am a survivor of Ovarian Cancer and the color for that is Teal but today I am Purple to support World Cancer Day.

I wish I could describe how horrid chemotherapy is but until you go through it, you can’t know what it’s like really. I had to take a class at the cancer center before I started and they gave me a long list of symptoms that I would have to manage, foods I could eat, foods/liquids I should avoid, what medication I could/couldn’t take, daily tasks that I would need to do, how each round I would need to do blood work, it went on and on. It was overwhelming and scary.

Then I started chemotherapy and WHAM! I felt like I had been hit with a bus. Even with chemo school, I wasn’t prepared. Chemo made me feel like I was losing me – that my mind and my body were…not all there. I can’t explain it.

I had arrogantly thought I would be strong through it and continue to have a normal life. Ha! That was a wake up call. You feel loopy and foggy and so tired you feel like your bones are noodles. Food tastes horrid and you learn really fast that you have to be careful what you eat or you will have issues…with nausea, diarrhea, or constipation. Even with taking multiple meds for it, nausea reared it’s ugly head and would be a constant companion for the first week after chemo. My skin felt like it was crackling. I had to start taking a shot for my white blood cell counts and it made my bones ache like arthritis. I had trouble focusing and I couldn’t remember words and names. I did things like turn the stove on high instead of turning it off or putting my cat’s litter box lid on backwards. They call it Chemo Brain and when you pride yourself on being a smarty (some people would say smartass), not being able to remember a word or forgetting why you walked into a room is scary. Add all that up plus the fact that I was moving so slow and I felt like I had aged 40 years overnight!

And did I mention I lost my hair? God, how I miss my curls. I miss my pony tails I used to wear when I ran!

I know what you are thinking. A 45 year old woman should not be wearing her hair in pony tails. But to me, running was the fountain of youth. I didn’t start running until I was 40. People (non runners) would tell me running was bad for my knees but I felt better and healthier at 40 than I did in my 20s and 30s. Way healthier. Like I could conquer the world. On foot. 🙂 Running was fun and it made me feel like a kid again.

Running, for me, is most fun when I’m running fast! I had been running soooo slow and easy since I started back after surgery to be careful and not tire myself out. I’d had moments of what it felt like to be fast when I was running trails and would get to a fun downhill section. I didn’t push the pace for long but it was enough to make me smile. For the most part though, I was running slow. And when I say slow, I mean 12-14 minute miles…slow for me anyway.

But last Saturday, I felt like seeing how fast I could run a mile. I wasn’t going all out but I wanted to get into the 10-11 min mile range. During my 5K, I pushed it and did a 10:50 mile! Woo! Happy Dance time!

I knew I had to be sensible about my training but I figured I could start laying a good base for when I could really train again. I had already bought a couple of pilates and yoga DVDs and pulled out my weights and started working on my whole body (I couldn’t do any core work or lifting for 3 months after the surgery). I had lost what little muscles I had before and now I was ready to build a stronger all around Lisa. But wow, pilates (I haven’t tried yoga yet) and weights was tough. And not as much fun as running but I am determined to do them and see if they help me get stronger. One thing for sure, I am not flexible at all, right now. At. All. For sure, I need to work on that.

For motivation to keep up with the pilates and weight training, I made a goal to try climbing by the end of the year! Yikes! It’s one of the things I’ve always wanted to try but was a little scared of. No more sitting around waiting and wishing for things. You have to get out there and do it. I also signed up for the Leading Ladies Marathon in August. I think I can be ready by then. I don’t know how fast I’ll be but I’m sure I can complete it. I had hoped I could PR but that might be wishful thinking, I hear. I’m sure I’ve seen other runners who are battling cancer run half marathons and marathons. I think. Haven’t I? I had looked for an ovarian cancer support group when I found out I had cancer but there wasn’t one near me. What I really wanted though was a Runner’s With Cancer support group so I could see how others were dealing with it and what they were doing.

I also wanted a coach who trains cancer patients. I wish I’d had one from the beginning. I didn’t think they existed but I had a couple of Twitter conversations with some other cancer survivors about that and it turns out there are coaches who are trained for that! Who knew! Thanks to @RunEatWriteRun and @AleneGoneBad who let me know that the American College of Sports Medicine offers a certification for that. And they have a Pro Finder to help you search for coach with that certification in your state! How cool is that?! Too bad I didn’t know about this last November instead of when I’m almost done with chemo. It might have helped me do the Tinkerbell Half that I’d had my heart set on. But then probably not since it fell on one of my hardest chemo round days. Sigh.

Anyway, I start round 5 of chemo on Thursday and will probably miss some days of working out. I think that having my scheduled interrupted  is one of the most frustrating things as a runner. Routine is key, I feel, toward succeeding at a goal. A routine without chemo will be bliss. I can’t wait until February is over.

But for now, I’m just taking it one day at a time.

***

Check back soon for the next chapter in my running with cancer journey! And don’t forget, if you missed Part 1 or Part 2, you can read them here:

Running With Cancer – Part 1
Running with Cancer – Part 2 The “Moderate” Runner?

If you’ve been through cancer and chemotherapy and are a runner, I would love to hear how it went for you. Please let me know in the comments or email me at the link below.

RIF #101 David Wingard, from Greenville, South Carolina, is the winner of the Run It Fast Club’s – 2013 Extreme Racer.

David accumulated 1,928.3 points for 2013. Run It Fast – Club members earn 1 point for every 1 race mile from races they complete during the year. So David ran races totaling 1,928.3 miles for the year. He averaged 160.7 race miles per month in becoming ‘Extreme Racer of the Year.’

It was a very close race for the top spot as runner-up RIF #190 John Leighton finished the year with 1,910.9 points, less than 18 points behind David.  RIF #1 Joshua Holmes finished in third place with 1,834.7 points.

RIF #159 Diane Bolton, who let Extreme Racer, for most of the year ended up in 4th place and the female with the most ER points for 2013. Other women to finish in the Top 10 Overall included RIF #218 Carol Goslin, RIF #287 Carol Earles, and RIF #261 Kerri Haskins.

Top Ten 2013 Extreme Racer Finishers Leaderboard
1.  David Wingard – 1928.3 (RIF #101)
2.  John Kent Leighton – 1910.9 (RIF #190)
3.  Joshua Holmes – 1834.7 (RIF #1)
4.  Diane Bolton – 1783.45 (RIF #159)
5.  George Southgate – 1524.04 (RIF #279)
6.  Carol Goslin – 1388.8 (RIF #218)
7.  Carol Earles – 1284.19 (RIF #287)
8.  Denis McCarthy – 1117.3625 (RIF #263)
9.  Kerri Haskins – 1026.5 (RIF #261)
10.  Rob Distante – 992.73 (RIF #259)

Here is a look at all of the Run It Fast men who submitted points in 2013. Congrats to all who submitted points and especially those that broke 1,000 points for the year. (John Leighton – 2nd overall – pictured above)

Men’s Final 2013 Extreme Racer Leaderboard
1.  David Wingard – 1928.3 (RIF #101)
2.  John Kent Leighton – 1910.9 (RIF #190)
3.  Joshua Holmes – 1834.7 (RIF #1)
4.  George Southgate – 1524.04 (RIF #279)
5.  Denis McCarthy – 1117.3625 (RIF #263)
6.  Rob Distante – 992.73 (RIF #259)
7.  Danny Staggs – 758.3 (RIF #186)
8.  Hideki Kinoshita – 727.4 (RIF #88)
9.  Jeff Le – 682.16 (RIF #248)
10.  Eric Waterman – 509.481 (RIF #289)
11.  Houston Wolf – 400.9 (RIF #254)
12.  Nicholas Norfolk – 361.31 (RIF #116)
13.  Arland Blanton – 345.81 (RIF #290)
14.  Billy Cannon – 306.8 (RIF #169)
15.  Nathan Bass – 306.5 (RIF #174)
16.  Anthony Ohrey – 293.6 (RIF #27)
17.  Kevin Brandon – 265.7 (RIF #214)
18.  Steven Reagan – 261.65 (RIF #157)
19.  Mark Ogletree – 234.9 (RIF #247)
20.  Jeff Liu – 231 (RIF #275)
21.  Mark Watson – 194 (RIF #173)
22.  Dennis Arriaga – 181.3 (RIF #140)
23.  Jason Scott – 176.5 (RIF #265)
24.  Robin Robbins – 165.8 (RIF #33)
25.  Rodrigo Jiménez – 158.32 (RIF #203)
26.  Josh Liggett – 142.5 (RIF #147)
27.  James Krenis – 126.8 (RIF #67)
28.  Winston Trice – 126 (RIF #29)
29.  Stephen Griffin – 112.05 (RIF #48)
30.  Kevin Ronayne – 108.4 (RIF #11)
31.  Bill Baker – 106 (RIF #196)
32.  Nikiah Nudell – 94.8 (RIF #234)
33.  Charles Carmen – 89.63 (RIF #255)
34.  Rick Thiounn – 79.5 (RIF #111)
35.  Neil Dryland – 57.2 (RIF #252)
36.  Naresh Kumar – 50 (RIF #2)
37.  Stewart Crouch – 29.3 (RIF #89)
38.  Brian Wooldridge – 26.2 (RIF #141)
39.  Chris Haynes – 26.2 (RIF #223)
40.  Brennan Thompson – 25.5 (RIF #274)
41.  Daniel Escue – 22.4 (RIF #187)
42.  Austin Coates – 22.4 (RIF #241)
43.  Al Edwards – 13.1 (RIF #291)

Congrats to all of the women who took part in Extreme Racer for 2013. Here is a look at all of the women who submitted races for points for the year. Congrats to Diane Bolton (pictured above), Carol Goslin, and Carol Earles for making the top 3.

Women’s Final 2013 Extreme Racer Leaderboard

10.  Katrina Mumaw – 519.53 (RIF #268)
11.  Christy Scott – 512.3 (RIF #231)
12.  Robin Mancinelli – 480.8 (RIF #134)
13.  Donna England – 390.5 (RIF #277)
14.  Alicia Eno – 332.8 (RIF #126)
15.  Amanda Staggs – 327.2 (RIF #210)
16.  Lisa Gonzales – 319.26 (RIF #5)
17.  Michelle Mitchell – 312.6 (RIF #133)
18.  Sandy Staggs – 274 (RIF #220)
19.  Beth Hosick – 268.57 (RIF #219)
20.  Marj Mitchell – 264.1 (RIF #4)
21.  Heather Shoemaker – 261.8 (RIF #44)
22.  Shannon Burke – 236.8 (RIF #171)
23.  Christy Bowers – 231.02 (RIF #60)
24.  Michelle Lenahan – 192.08 (RIF #283)
25.  Donna Pittman – 188.9 (RIF #181)
26.  Jennifer Wood – 183.4 (RIF #243)
27.  Melanie Casey – 144 (RIF #202)
28.  Jennifer Whitley – 82 (RIF #160)
29.  Natalie Torres – 81.7 (RIF #72)
30.  Leigh Marsh – 61.7 (RIF #192)
31.  Jill Hassen – 57.2 (RIF #242)
32.  Marlene Deem – 52.4 (RIF #189)
33.  Debra Jacildo – 28.3 (RIF #98)
34.  Trisha Leonard – 26.2 (RIF #144)
35.  Martine Kincade – 26.2 (RIF #260)

Here’s a summary of the submitted races:

And George Southgate was the random drawing winner.

Extreme Racer is open to all members of Run It Fast – The Club. The Club is comprised of very driven runners of all levels from all over the world. Click the link below for more information or to join.

Mount Wilson Summit Run – Sierra Madre, California
January 30, 2014

The stresses of life and letdowns from others can often beat us up and tear us down in our day to day life.

On Thursday I needed an escape. I needed a mountain to pound  against and wrestle with until my body was beat down and my head was clear.

I’ve been trying to maximize and find all the beautiful, wonderful, and amazing places to train and run in and near Los Angeles over the past few months.

So a couple of nights ago I was searching maps and googling different searches and found Mount Wilson. Every review I read about it talked about how serious a ‘hike’ it was and one reviewer described the climb as ‘hell on earth.’ Well after reading that I found myself at the base of Mount Wilson less than 10 hours later. It was about a 40 minute drive from Hollywood.

I knew the climb up to the summit of Mt. Wilson was roughly a 4,500-5,000 foot gain over the course of give or take 7 miles.

By the time I parked it was already 2:15pm which didn’t leave too much daylight to run/hike up to the top and run back down. The day was already void of sun as it was extremely overcast, foggy, and full of dark clouds. I knew I’d have to Run It Fast® up and back down to beat the dark on what was an unfamiliar trail.

Running Up Mount Wilson

I started up the trail and immediately saw a guest book/log and wrote out ‘Joshua Ho…’ before the pen dried out. I had on a hydration vest with two bottles and hoped it wasn’t a prelude to my own hydration fate up on the mountain.

Half a mile into the trail, I saw the last human I’d see over the next 3+ hours. I’d love to tell you the views were beautiful the higher I climbed, but I couldn’t see anything after 1,000 feet of climb up the mountain (see below).

The climb up Wilson was no joke. I was able to run portions of it the first 3.5 miles and fast hike the other parts. After about 3.5 miles it became even more steep as the thick fog and dark clouds started to circle around me. I had my first thoughts of not being to get back down before it was dark and the rains set in.

The temperatures started to drop and the misty rain started to come down faster 4 miles in. I was running in a cut-off shirt and started to think that it might get too wet and cold before I reached the summit. As I mentioned earlier, no humans were anywhere to be found, especially this high up on the trail. I debated turning back as my hamstrings and back were starting to ache. However, I kept marching forward and feeling more and more liberated and free the higher I escaped into the clouds. I wasn’t done battling the mountain, and I’d regret not finishing if I turned back prematurely.

The 5th mile up the mountain had over 900 feet of gain and seemed to go on forever. I could never see too far ahead due to lack of visibility, but the trail before me, where I was watching every single step I planted, was beautiful and rich with character.

The next two miles averaged about 600 feet of climb per mile, but almost felt relatively flat after that 5th mile. About 6 miles up the trail I hit a rough jeep road that I made pretty good time on. The last 1.3ish miles to the summit were on this road.

The first half of the climb up Mt. Wilson was a serious climb, but most runners/hikers in decent shape can do it. The last half (after the first 3 miles) gets very krunk. It’s technical, very steep, and desolate in nature. I’m sure most days there is a bit more, or at least some, traffic on the trail higher up towards the observatory, but there was none when I went up it. I kept wondering what wildlife hid behind the next turn or behind the fog, but all I came across were a few squirrels and birds.

The Summit of Mount Wilson

It took me 2:03:11 to reach the top of Mount Wilson. The distance from where I started at my car to the top was clocked at 7.3 miles. The total climb per Strava was listed just a hair above 5,000 feet to a point of 5,665 of elevation.

The top, as I had read elsewhere, was in fact anti-climatic. It was a welcome sight as I knew that the climbing was over and that I’d be running a lot faster back down the mountain trail to civilization. However the summit of Mount Wilson, it’s just a bunch of roads at the top, along with the observatory which was rather small, and not a single example of life.

Running Down Mount Wilson

The trip back down the mountain was a lot faster than the way up and therefore not worthy as of many words. It was a fast down that was at times too fast. Some of the more technical parts leave 2-3 inches to plant your foot or down the mountain to your death you go. So it was important to pay attention to every step and slow down and walk through some very tight passes.

The steep run down was refreshing and fast! I started to feel it in my quads half way down as they were starting to grow sore. The miles back down the mountain clicked off so much faster than the ones up it.

The flight down had of course 5,000 feet of descent and took 1:20:30.

Mount Wilson Run Details

Total Mount Wilson 14.7 mile run had 5,088 feet of climb and 5,088 feet of descent and took 3:20:41.

Mt Wilson Mile By Mile Ascent/Descent, Pace
Mile 1: +729 -70, 14:53
Mile 2: +686 -49, 15:47
Mile 3: +513 -42, 15:05
Mile 4: +718 -42, 18:42
Mile 5: +995 – 41, 21:40
Mile 6: +687 0, 18:51
Mile 7: +546 0, 17:01
Mile 8: +53 -404, 13:11
Mile 9: 0 -533, 9:56
Mile 10: 0 -952, 12:33
Mile 11: 0 -801, 10:24
Mile 12: +97 -480, 10:25
Mile 13: 0 -655, 9:50
Mile 14: +88 -683, 10:11
Mile 14.7: 0, -392, 5:07

It was a great run. I’m glad I decided on a whim to go do it. I felt cleansed, alive, and detoxed after it was over. I couldn’t help but feel alive in the rain and Los Angeles rush hour traffic as I slowly drove back home in much the same fashion as I had made my way to the top of Mt. Wilson.

I’d recommend this trail to anyone. It takes a big effort to make it all of the way to the top and back, but it’s still worth the drive and time even if you just want to do a handful of miles instead of the whole enchilada.

– joshua holmes (RIF #1)

PS: You can park in front of the small park on E Mira Monta Ave for free and walk up or start up Mount Wilson Trail Road right next to it.