“You’re Stronger Than You Think You Are.”
Those words greeted the racers at about mile marker 20-21
of the 26-mile off-road trail challenge – the Megatransect (a.k.a. “MEGA”) - in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. How true the
prose rung in my ears realizing at that very point, I was going to finish my
very first marathon – not a flat, hardtop, easy 26 miles like normal folks do –
but a 5,500 elevation gain, rocky path marathon. And here’s the kicker: I didn’t do any run-hike-specific training
for which makes for a noteworthy blog post and a little sharing of life’s
lessons on human spirit and the wonderful bodies we occupy. Yes, we all are truly stronger than we think
we are.
Just like preparing for 7 days of mountain biking, I
devised a training plan with a couple key races to help build distance and
endurance. The first big race was the 16-mile Hyner
Challenge in April. During February and March, I slowly added
mileage like all the textbooks say, and come Hyner race day, I finished – but
not without stress. I ached the last 4
miles and prayed I could finish. My body
was crying for me to stop. I bloggedabout the aftermath here thinking I simply wasn’t cut out for long-distance running. A few weeks later, I bagged the
18-mile Rothrock thinking my body can’t take the pounding stress. Summer went by and I assumed I wasn’t doing
the Mega. It really bothered me there
were no transfers or refunds – especially since SO many folks couldn’t get
registered and wanted to be part of it.
In August, a friend of mine (and his wife) decided to do a 27 mile hike
without much training. I thought, “huh,
if he can do it, I can too, right?” He
finished with a couple weekends of long hikes prior to the 27 mile day. But
life got in the way for me and I never was able to get out and do some long
training hikes as planned, and I continued to ask myself, “Can I hike 26 miles
without training AT ALL for it?”. Two weeks
prior to the Mega, I picked up the inspirational saying book a co-worker gave
me for retirement and turned to a page that said, “I will stop doing things the
same old way just because I like to play it safe. I will be daring and courageous and refuse to
allow fear to control my actions.” At
that moment, I decided to change the “Can I?” attitude of doing the Mega to, “I can.”
I decided to race, see how far I get and be satisfied with whatever
happens. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not much of a couch-potato
and didn’t go into this thing unfit. I
life weights, do a little biking, run about 4-5 miles twice a week and do a LOT
of organic gardening. I garden for hours on end: walking, lifting, pulling, stooping, and digging
for up to 6 hours straight. I often wondered
if this “exercise” would benefit me someday.
I believe it just did. Those 6-8ish hours a day of being on my feet paid
off. 
Race day: nervous
as all hell having virtually no trail running training and was still a little fearful
I couldn’t do it. The inspirational side
of me said, “just savor every second and soak up the beauty of this
mountain. Smell it. Look at it, and just enjoy the journey every
step of the way.” And that’s exactly
what I did for the next 10 hours. From
the moment the race director said “go” until the sprint to the finish line at
just under 10 hours, I simply savored each rock, every conversation with fellow
racers, and thanked all the volunteers.
I felt bad for folks in pain and immediately thanked my lucky stars for
my generally pain free body. I watched
people go down steep trails backward to avoid the excruciating knee pain going
forward. I thanked my lucky stars
again. I listened to folks “complain”
about the “horrible” trails and immediately thought how magnificent Mother
Nature was to create such beauty. I
stood in awe at a majestic mountain reflecting in a lake and nearly cried. I
watched folks wobble, fall, and crawl over boulders as I hopped from boulder
and boulder with perfect balance and once again, thanking those lucky
stars. Town folk lined the streets and
cheered us on. One particular family had
hand-made signs out “You can do it!”
“Face the challenge head-on.”
The young gal had pompoms and was cheering for us. It was heart-warming. She especially liked the gentleman dressed as
a football player carrying the football for the race. 
And I teared up. I
was about to finish something I never, in a million years, expected I could
do. I started running. I was SO excited to be SO close to the finish
I couldn’t contain myself. The only pain
my lucky stars threw me was a tiny blister that flared up AFTER I started running
those last 4 miles. I ran through
it. The finish line was in sight and the
clock said 9:57. I cheered and jumped in
delight that I made it under 10 hours.
The crowd clapped and yelled too.
It was a moment almost as exciting as popping the cork on the champagne
bottle to finish 7 days of mountain biking.
Definitely two of the most rewarding moments
in life I’ll never forget. 
