Julie van Amerongen - I Can Do Hard Things: How Small Steps Equal Big Impact

CHAPTER FIVE

PORTLAND TRAIL SERIES: ILL BET I ATE MORE GNATS THAN YOU THIS SUMMER

WEEK ONE. FOREST PARK, PORTLAND, OR

Matt and I have been together for a long time and weve done a lot of strenuous exercise together (Come on, minds out of the gutter!), butI have never seen his face so red as it was last night after the first in our Portland Trail Series races! As we arrived at the race and witnessed how incredibly fit the other runners were looking, he interpreted that this might be the race where he could absolutely possibly be that guy who comes in DFL. I suppose in any race we run, theres a possibility well come in last place, and though thats not exactly what happened, Matt did say it was the hardest race hes ever run. It may have been mine as well, but, honest to God, I did have a smile on my face most of the time. If you looked closely at that smile, you would have seen the gnats caught in my teeth.

The race organizers did a great job. (Translation: Trail race organizers are a heartless bunch whose idea of fun is dreaming up ways to make people suffer out there.) The course was beautiful, varied, well marked, and man, there were a lot of hills! Most of the course was single-track wherein you must learn your happy pace (and place) on the hillsdo I power-hike up them (not uncommon in ultras), or run up them? How do you find a place to pass the person in front of you appropriately while watching out for roots and rocks and stumps and the massive banana slugs that populate exactly where you want to land your foot in the center of the trail? There was a lot of passing and being passed by the same folks in the pack I was with. Some were stronger on the uphillsome faster on the downhill. I was fastest in my pack on the straightaways, sometimes somewhat crazily fast on the downhills (Feeling like a boss but looking like a flailing penguin.) and as fast as I could be on the uphills. However, when I learned afterwards the pace of the winner of the race, I could not believe how fast he had run. Are you f-ing kidding me?! I never even saw him!

I do have to say that this wins for a weekly date nightespecially if, like me, your idea of an ideal date night includes not having to brush your hair or put on makeup or uncomfortable shoes or even something clean and say polite things. And we were surrounded by some good people who patted us on the back afterward, even if it had been just to whack the mosquitoes off our sweaty backs!

Boy oh boy, I cant wait to see what course they lay out for us next week! And seriously, did I mention how fortunate I feel to live in this proximity to Forest Park, the largest park inside an urban area in the US? Very.

WEEK TWO. FOREST PARK, PORTLAND, OR

When the going gets tough
youre probably only on mile five.

Crunch, crunch, crunch (sound of gravel underfoot)soft thud, soft thud, soft thud (sound of feet hitting single-track trail) huh, huh, huh, huh, huh (sound of rapid running breath) hunh, hunh, hunh, hunh (sound of labored breath as we ascend the trails while thinking about how I can no longer deny the need to add some hill training into my routine)back to huh, huh, huh on the rolling downhills, then the relentless uphill hunh, hunh, hunh, huunh, huunh, huunh, huuunh, huuunh (sound of uphill breathing while I call bullsh*t on how tiny Kaci Lickteig, the female champion of the recent Western States 100-mile hilly AF course, said in an interview this week that she trains on only flat pavement because that certainly is not working for me right now)cough, gasp (sounds of gnats slowly losing their lives in the back of my throat) huunh, huunh, huunh Ackbackshu! (what came out of my mouth in response to another runner who passed me and said, Good job, in my attempt to say, Back at you!) beep (sound of Garmin watch calling out the mile markeris that mile five or six? I hope its six. I really, really hope its six but I think its five, damn it.) thump, thump, thump (sound of feet hitting the downhill trail hard while not avoiding tree roots as well as I should as in OMG, this actually feels dangerous ) crunch, crunch (back on the gravel)cowbell (can never have too much of that and must be getting close to finish line) slap (the sound of the high fives and amens at the end of the race ) slurp (drinking yellow electrolyte drink out of small cup that looks remarkably like a pee sample) slap (no longer high fives but the sound of whacking at the mosquitos that swarm around our legs the moment we stop)friendly chatter (the sound of bonding with other dirtbags, errunners) vroom (sound of the car taking us home) pshhht (sound of beer bottle opening) munch, munch (sound of dinner being almost literally inhaled)Aaaaaaaah(sound of satisfaction for job well done while sitting on the couch with my feet elevated). If only I didnt smell so bad right now.

WEEK THREE. FOREST PARK , PORTLAND, OR

My wholly scientific theory #1:

Matt drank the supposedly miraculous and newly trendy beet-root extract two weeks ago just before the trail race, felt strong, ran fast, and beat me.

Last week, he did not drink any, ran slower, and I beat him.

Today he drank it again, felt strong, ran his fastest, and beat me.

Therefore, beet-root-juice extract makes you stronger and faster. Even if it does make you burp burps that smell like celery throughout the race.

Well-researched theory #2:

I didnt even know what a soleus was until I strained it during the race last week. If you are unfamiliar with it as well, your soleus is the muscle on the lower back part of your calf. Its pretty important. I did a lot of things to make it feel better all week long, but the thing that made it feel best was keeping it warmby wearing fashionable knee socks in the summer. In service of that, I ran the race in compression socks tonight. My soleus is fine, but holy hell, I was hotter than Hades. I mean really f-ing hot .

Conclusion: Compression socks raise your body temperature exponentially. People like the flashy sock colors but the flashiest color around was the red of my face when I ran in
them. Phew.

Undeniable science #3:

As we were headed out, Matt and I were talking about how your whole trail race can be made in the first mile or so. By that we mean that if you get stuck in the middle or back of the pack at the start and then hit a lot of single-track, you can get frustrated by having to run slower than you like during times you feel strong because the trail is too narrow to politely pass the slower runner in front of you - at least without knocking the other runner into the poison oak. I often get passed on the uphill because my puny butt doesnt have enough oomph to power the hillsyet, then pass those same runners back on the downhill portion of the course.

Today, Matt encouraged me to push a little harder on the uphills to avoid the irritatingly breathing-down-another-runners-neck on the uphill scenario. I did.

When I dont push as hard, I have lots of smiles and whoops and idiotically loving-the-moment moments in the midst of it all. When I push harder, there is less smiling and more profanity.

Conclusion: More profanity just might make me finish faster. Less smiling on the trail might mean more smiles later. The jury is still out.

Proven fact #4:

All the runners out there make each other better runners. And all the good job, looking strong, as we pass (and repass) each other supports and motivates us. If you are out there, youre already winning.

Conclusion: Were all winning. (Now, wheres my ribbon, damn it?!)

WEEK FOUR. FOREST PARK, PORTLAND, OR

Sometimes I think about throwing in the towel.

But that would only make more laundry for me.