The Bucket List

A work in progress and in no particular order...


CHECK!_1.  Set a Female time Course Record.  I have always wanted to stamp mark my legacy into a race.

*Accomplished for the first time in the Isle of Wight 70 mile multistage ultra in England in the summer of 2011.  I now hold female CRs for:
Isle of Wight 70 mile multistage ultra:  11:23 cumulative time
 Endless Summer 6 Hour race (inaugural event): 41.53 miles
UBER Rock 50K ( inaugural event so half count it): 4:59:59 clock time

I might also hold the women's CR for the Trail Dawg Triple Crown, but this is hard to tell because they score you based on placement, not time.  My (somewhat debatable) CR for Blues Cruise 50K was just broken by less than two minutes this year while I was running Shepherdstown marathon this year!  Might just have to go back and reset that one :-)

___2.  Be the OVERALL winner of an Ultra.  I really just want to run a race where I chick every single last guy in it and take home the overall win:-)  I have come pretty close at Isle of Wight (2nd overall) and the Endless Summer 6 Hour race (3rd overall, with first place less than half a mile ahead), but there's always one of them that manages to escape my grasp.  Then my name would be listed under the annual "Ultramarathons Won Outright By Women" annual report in Ultrarunning magazine.  Someday....

___3.  Run a sub 3 hour marathon.  It's really not just because I want to become a member of the "sub three" club (although that little glory would be kinda nice!)  The idea of this one first sparked when I found out I could get an all-expenses-paid trip to Boston to start with the elites if I ran this marathon time.   I have not ever actually come very close to this one with a marathon PR of 3:09 (which was set on a whim sign-up, essentially no taper, and a fairly hilly course), but recently I have felt that someday that will be within reach for me with the right training, the proper rest, the right day, weather, nutrition, confidence, pacing...ahhhh so many factors to think about.  I realize that it is going to take some marathon specific training to reach it, and when I am ready to become dedicated to a marathon race (rather than ultra training) I will attempt again.  For now, I am happy to use marathons as training runs:-)

__4.  Become the one of the 1st women to ever successfully complete the Mason Dixon Longest Day (MDLD) challenge.  This low-key bad ass 100K along the Mason Dixon trail has been on my list for the past 2 years.  I have had some of my best most fun training runs here and this trail is probably one of my absolute favorites.  Technical and hill at parts, with some boulder scaling, along with a few speedy road segs thrown in, the challenge is to complete the 100K course between the time of sunrise and sunset on the Saturday in June closest to the longest day of the year.  It is also essentially completely self-sustained, with no crewing allowed.  Not many people who set out to attempt the MDLD challenge ever complete it, and only one woman, Meg Harnett has ever completed it in this time (in 2012), (although Jen Erickson did only miss it by about 3-4 minutes in 2009 I believe)

___5.  Transalpine Run.  Run an eight stage race through three countries with a teammate... Pretty self explanatory.  Some of my British friends talked this one up while I was over in England and I have been dying to do it ever since. 

__6.  Get lost on the trails in Whales.  Speaking of England...I never got to go to Whales on my trip, but ever since hearing about it's awesomeness have wanted to go there on holiday.  Apparently there are endless miles of remote single track trail with some good mountain climbing.  I want to rent a cabin in the woods, and just explore trails there for as long as my heart desires (or until my legs completely give out:-))

___7.  Ironman.  Pretty much as soon as I can afford the entry fee (almost $600 !!!).  No need to be all fancy and go to Kona or to get the IM tat.  I just would like to complete one (and with a reasonable not too embarrassing swim time!).   

___8.  100 Miler.  Yep.  It has finally officially made the bucket list, although I do not foresee it happening for a good while.  Just eventually.  And it is not because it just seems to be the next logical step in my long distance running.  There are a lot of things on a separate "bucket list qualifiers" but this one finally got pushed over the edge after I crewed Mike in his Burning River 100 mile race.  There was something absolutely horrifying, yet irresistibly enticing about witnessing the toughest of the tough, who could otherwise pulverize me on any kind of running or track workout, getting progressively stripped and seemingly demoralized as the miles tacked on.  And this, ladies and gentleman, is why extreme endurance running is just as mentally demanding as it is physically, and why it is said that the last 50% of a 100 mile race is the last 20 miles. 
                I always say I get more competitive as the distances get longer.  But what I do not really know is where my cap is.  Obviously I have one, and right now it lies somewhere between 50 and 100 miles (probably closer to the 50).  The idea of experimenting with  my own physical limits and pushing my body to extremes it has never seen before is just scary and thrilling at the same time.  It is the same curiosity that drove me to sign up for my first ultra (JFK 50 mile) and it will be what drives me to attempt the next extreme distance.  However, this is definitely not something I would ever do on a whim.  I want to be the fittest I have ever been and to build confidence to that I am mentally more than ready to face this challenge.  So as you can see it will likely not be happening while I am on the time constraints of grad school for the next few years.  I don't know where or when it will be, but it will happen.

__9.  Run through a ribbon-break finish.  Well, actually fly, jump, leap (or possibly crawl) through.  I don't really care what race it is, I just want to break through one and feel like a rock star.  I've won races before, but unfortunately none thus far have had the ribbon-break finish.  Guess I've gotta keep up a winning streak and increase my chances!