December 2013 in pictures

Not much to say about December of 2013.  Birds, birds, birds and Ancient Oaks 100.

I cleaned this parakeet's eye.  Yes, you read that right.

Cracker Jack, who has been adopted, started trusting me.

I ended up getting her out.  Look how relaxed and comfortable!!

This is my 21 year old boyfriend, TC.  He's a Military Macaw.  I adore him.

Florida is a different world! 

One of two bobcats in my neighborhood that afternoon.  Sorry for the poor quality of the picture.

RaceTrac only has one employee.

Random find during a run.

This was the biggest truck I've ever seen.  This guy must be built like a Ken doll to need something like this.

ANCIENT OAKS 100

I completed Ancient Oaks in 29ish hours (can't remember).  The important part is that I was happy and not nauseous the whole time.  I also only slept one hour, another victory!

The start

Mike Baker and me.  Poor Mike, I told him we'd start out walking.  We didn't.

Most of the trail looked like this.  Beautiful!

The roots were like this.  Tricky at night.

The one and only hill of the whole course.  14 feet high and named Mt. Mahoney.

The Aftermath of Route 40 Romp

I ran Route 40 Romp on Saturday and Sunday, March 22-23.  Finishing in the afternoon, Marilyn drove us back to the west coast to Heather and Dave's house.  Heather made us a lovely chili but I was not hungry yet.  I went and took a shower and then to bed at 7:30 pm.  As you might imagine, after not eating for the better part of 36 hours, I became hungry in the middle of the night.  I hate to have to eat in the middle of the night!!!  Anyway, I woke up twice to eat and slept very poorly due to soreness, hunger and extreme exhaustion.  In general, I don't sleep well when I'm really exhausted.

Monday, I awoke stiff and achy as expected, ate some breakfast and went out to run my mile.  Surprisingly, my feet felt great and were not swollen.  My muscles were achy but not as bad as when Paul and I did a "one day conditioning hike" in the Tetons and couldn't walk for four days.  My lungs were the tough part.  They felt constricted.

Marilyn drove us to her house in Cleawater.  From there, I drove the 100 miles home.  Needless to say, by the time I got home, I was hungry and very tired.  No rest for the wicked, I hit the road and went to the accountant's office.  The following day, Tuesday, I worked at Parrot Outreach all day.  I need to stop here and say that my energy was not good.  My mental capabilities were operating at about 50%.  I was taking extra HC but I'm not sure how much.  By Tuesday afternoon, I was no longer sore but I was spent.  I had a little crying break down.

All in all, my soreness was not unreasonable and dissipated rapidly.  My face, hands and feet did not swell as they have in the past after a long, hot event.  My feet had NO BLISTERS and felt pretty good until I took my sneakers off and went into the cold ocean.

I felt generally recovered from the running, staying up all night and not eating by Wednesday.

Taking enough HC has many benefits.  It helped me stay awake through the night, kept me from throwing up, and after the race, the recovery was much, much better than I had expected it to be!