World Harmony Run

For the last 2 weeks I have been participating in a global relay run. I started in Slovenia on the day I arrived from New York. The plan was for me to just run on the Slovenian part. However after 1 week and with a shortage of runners needed for the next week, I went on to Italy. I got to see a lot of Slovenia that I had not seen before. I averaged around 10k a day in running, which was pretty good considering that I only had 1 week of recovery from the 6 day race. When we got into Italy it was unusually warm with temperatures in the 90's F ( 30's C ). We visited a lot of schools to spread the message of world harmony. It was good training. sometimes at altitude and I was with a great team of international runners. I am now back in Slovenia and will start training for a race later this summer, though there is a possibility of a 100k race next month. We will have to see about that.

6 Day race part 2

The 4th day was much cooler, but of the runners in the race had left which affects the race a little. My day started quite well and when I took my sleep break I slept really well, in fact I took the longest sleep of 5 hours. When I woke and went out on to the track I noticed I was struggling a little. I had the feeling that I was not as strong as I thought after my sickness 3 weeks before the race. I tried to hold it together, but had my lowest day of 38 miles.
Day 5 was better and Andy Cable who was just behind me in mileage pushed me on a little . It was interesting to see how the top 2 ladies in both the 10 day and 6 day were pushing each other along. My blister problems started to improve with the cold weather and I ended up with 41 miles on day 5.
Shortly after day 6 began the rains came. They were quite hard at times and parts of the course got a little flooded, which made things interesting. Since it is the last day a lot of runners spend time on the course. Most are looking at possible finishing distances. There was a respite from the rain during the night and then one last storm before the end of the race.The last few hours were pretty exciting because Dipali was approaching the World record and Pam reed in second place was approaching the American record. For me Andy had closed up to with 8 or 9 miles, but could not catch me so I settled for 270 miles, a last day of 38. I had done 273 in the first 6 days of the 10 day last year, so that seemed alright.

6 Day race report part 1

When the race started I was pretty relaxed, this is I think my 26th multiday race. It was already quite hot and the Sun was pretty strong. There were a lot of new faces and a lot of energy out there. With it being a hot day I tried to make sure that I did not do too much in the first few hours. My pattern is to take an early break and then run through most of the night when it is cooler. By the end of the first day I had a total of 66 miles and felt quite good. My second day was started after a 1 hour break and I was once again out there in the heat. I noticed that I was getting some blisters on my feet, in the usual places, but earlier than I usaully get them. I treated them as I usaully do and continued to run and walk. On the second day I try to establish my sleep pattern and find that helps my body deal with any physical problems that come along. The 2 blisters I had early on now seemed to be under control, but I was having a little problem with metatarsal pressure, one on each foot. This is an old problem and I know how to deal with it. I finished with 45 miles on day 2 and a running total of 111 miles for 2 days.
The third day was the hottest of them all with the temps reaching close to 90 F ( 32 C ). Although I was using sunblock I wa still getting some burning, though it was not bothering me too much. Day 3 is often thought to be a tough one, when the body makes a play to get you to stop this craziness. If you can get through this it gets a little easier. I also knew that the weather was going to turn cooler, so I just had to keep going. There were some showers and then it was quite humid, but then the temperature was so much nicer. But before things got better I started to feell some pressure on both of my heels. I have not had heel blisters in many years, but I now had a small one on the outside of my left and the beginning of one on the bottom of my right. I changed my shoe regularily and that seemed to stop it from getting too serious. My mileage for day 3 was 42 for a halfway total of 153 miles. I would have liked it to be a little more, but I was happy.

All done

Well I finished the 6 day race, we had some interesting weather. My total miles was about average for me, 270, but I did finish second in the over 50 age group. I will write more about it tomorrow.
Feeling good!