Vol State 2013 ugh, too much writing, too much to say

Crying didn't help!  Thanks Bonnie for the daily reminder!

Finisher's prize

Of the 314 miles across Tennessee, I completed 210.  I decided to drop from the race due to a very painful sensation in my calf.  My calf is fine now but still has some residual pain.  I know I made the right decision for me.  There was no way I could go up two big hills with the pain I was feeling.

Any how, on to the totally selfish part.  The race was awesome.  Weather, perfect.  Time spent with Shannon, priceless.  Making new and wonderful friends, awesome.  Seeing the rest of my Ultrafamily, incredible.  Laughing and laughing and laughing was the best part of the entire thing.  You would think when people are in so much pain, so hot and with such a big goal ahead there would be little laughter.  To the contrary, it was a lot of laughing.   Shit, I just got to Day 2 and this is already silly long.  Sorry.

Vol State is a good reminder of how much good there is in the world and particularly in the state of Tennessee.  Everyone was welcoming and so very kind.   So many people gave us free water, food and snacks.  Scott and I were the recipients of a three course meal and lodging all for free (read on).

This year, I think my training was pretty good and I accomplished a couple of my goals.  I hardly cried and Shannon and I made it to Mckenzie (57 miles) the first night.  Although going to Mckenzie was an accomplished goal, it was not the right choice if/when I do the race again.

Highlights and pictures





Marv travels light!

Beautiful sunrise at Castle Rock Ranch where we parked our cars and where most starters finished.

Paul, Psyche and John on the fancy bus to the start of the race




Runners, crew and family (HI PAT!) on the ferry


Shannon and I on the ferry with laz, one of the race directors



DAY 1:I Spent all of day one with Shannon, we were first place women for the whole day!  We met up with Jim Ball (Gym Balls) and Sal Col who protected us through much of the night.  The best part of the time the four of us spent together was magic.  We were headed to Gleason on a dark, narrow road with the Milky Way visible overhead, bull frogs making their noises, Katydids, Cicadas and SO MANY FIREFLIES.  The best part was that none of us felt the need to talk for some of that time, we just listened and looked with the sound of eight feet hitting the pavement.  Simply magic.  Shannon dropped on day 2 due to some very impressive chafing. 

Shannon and I as first place women at mile 20 something

Shannon laughing through the pain

Shannon and Sal

Sal protecting us through the night

DAY 2:On day two, I "raced" Sherry M for a while.  We were both competing to be the first woman to call in on day two.  She kicked m ass but I think we both really enjoyed the "race".  Lori Neal, at Mudslingers Studio in Huntingdon, TN, was SO NICE.  She invited me in to her studio, offered me water and a bathroom, talked to me and said a beautiful prayer for me.  (those of you who know me know that prayers aren't my thing but this was exceptionally beautiful).  Right outside of Huntingdon, after turning left for no reason and doing 3 extra miles, I met up with Brad Compton.  We had a wonderful conversation and he protected me from a well meaning handicapped man that was trying to get me into his air conditioned trailer.

 

Jeff S at sunrise outside of Huntingdon

DAY 3:  Sitting at a gas station, pretty tired from all of my racing mistakes, I saw someone walk slowly by.  He trotted for about eight steps and backed off to a walk.  I was determined to catch up with this VS participant!  He was moving my speed!  I caught up and reintroduced myself.  Scott Krouse became my running/walking/adventure buddy for the next three days.  I have very little memory of what transpired after that until we got to Parsons where we bought a four pound box of Epsom salts that I carried four miles to the motel.  Our brains were so addled that it seemed to make sense to put off lunch and just walk the four miles to the motel to eat our sandwiches.

 

Scott finishes his first 100 mile distance ever

 

This is how he kicked ass and took names

4 pounds!!!

DAY 4: I have no idea what happened except that we went to Walmart where I slept on the floor and then we continued on for the night.  I'm not sure what the hell we were thinking or where we thought we were going to sleep.  Turns out we stopped at a campground just as the owner, Bill Roper, was closing up.  He gave us water, potato chips and then offered us a full dinner with desert.  He then offered to let us stay at the campground.  Scott kindly let me sleep on the roll out bed and he slept on a church pew. 

 

Thrilled to be laying down on a bench a Shoneys or Hardees shoving my face with food

Want free porn?  Walk Tennessee roadsides

Stay here!  Fantastic hosts

Fantastic host, Bill Roper!

 

 Just the beginning of an amazing meal served to us by Bill.

DAY 5:  We discovered the "Gentleman's Club" in the next town.  The men were very nice and told us we could sleep there any time.  Any time.  Eventually, we needed to sleep.  We got past the Bench of Despair and the sun was going down.  We thought we'd sleep at a church.  Wow, I've never been so uncomfortable.  After three hours of "sleep," we moved on down the road to a bench in front of a store where the sleep was a little more comfortable, further down the road, we slept on the ground on the other side of the guard rail.  Lastly, we made it as far as town and slept on the ground at a video store.  Not a restful night.  One of my big mistakes was not keeping a regular schedule and not sleeping well.  I need sleep.  I can't remember what happened after that except that I quit. The pains in my calf were so bad that I was bursting out in sobbing.  Not cool.

Resting at a church.  I didn't get struck by lightening or swallowed by the earth

The World Famous Hampshire Men's Club

Inside the Hampshire Men's Club

 

Mile 183, what a ham!

Very dramatic

Scott did AWESOME and I'm so proud of him.  He stuck with me until I forced him to leave me.  He finished in 7.67 days.  Fantastic accomplishment!!

AFTER:  The time I spent after the race was as good and much more comfortable than the time during the race.  It was wonderful to see the joy of finisher faces (as a back of the packer, I never get to see this), to see what Carl and laz do during the time they wait for finishers to come in, to spend time (while clean) with the other participants.  Lots of laughing and guilt free eating.  So much kindness and friendship.  I will cherish the whole experience forever.  Will I try again in 2014, yes. I was so inspired by the speed and strength of the front runners (Joe Fejes, Bruce, John F, Alan Abbs) and the amazing finishes, devotion and extreme strength of the back of the pack (Jan W, Paul H, Diane Taylor, Dallas, David, Brian) as well as everyone else that finished (Johnny A and Charlie T had a SPRINT FINISH) and those that didn't (TJ Nages at age 19 kept trying every day and Jeff S who got to 297 before having to drop due to an ankle injury).

 

Joel "MY BALLS" Gat finishing Vol State

Race Director Carl trying to keep cool

Race Director laz, asleep with a smoke in his hand 

Pennies for Parrots wrap up

Sampson (top) and Gemma (bottom) both Moluccan Cockatoos in their new cages



Pennies for Parrots was a huge success for Parrot Outreach Society and the birds despite my inability to complete all of Vol State.  I will post about Vol State in the next couple of days.

I've been totally and completely overwhelmed with gratitude over the generosity of my runner friends, Addison's friends, family and even some donors that we have no idea who they are.  THANK YOU!!!  Together, between PayPal, Fundrazr, cash and checks, we've raised nearly $2,000!!!!  100% of the donations (after PayPal and Fundrazr fees) will go toward cages.  $350 dollars came in AFTER the race was over!!  If you'd still like to donate, please send a check to Parrot Outreach Society, 1105 Taylor Rd, Punta Gorda, FL 33950 or click on the Fundrazr links.

So far, we've gotten three double stack cages as in the picture above.  Enough room for six medium to large birds.  On deck, we are hoping to find two reasonably priced triple stacks for medium/small birds and one quadruple stack for little birds that can be obtained locally.  Shipping cages costs a lot of money so we're trying to avoid it by picking the cages up.

Double stacks getting delivered by Marty, Pam's husband

I cleaned the new cages on Saturday.  All I could think was, "Thank you everyone!  It's so much easier to get the poop cleaned up!"

Here's a picture of the money I picked up on the road and donated.  Missing, 3 $1 bills and a $5 (thanks Joseph Nance!).

Another benefit of this campaign, a bunch of new volunteers!  Volunteers are priceless and we are so grateful for any help.  Many thanks to Dave Stein for the brochure and Heather Nagy for the Press Release.

Thanks to everyone who donated money!  This has been the most wonderful and satisfying fundraiser I've ever done even though the dollar amount is not what I've raised in the past.  The cages are a very tangible, useful item and have improved the quality of life and adoptablity of six birds so far.  By the time all the donations are spent, there will be new cages for about 20 of our birds.  WONDERFUL!!!