Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and Mt. Charleston Marathon

The past 2 weeks have been a dream!

Mt. Charleston Marathon 

The first big event was me running the Mt. Charleston Marathon in Las Vegas on April 27th. My mom even flew in for the race to cheer me on! The marathon experience really started on January 1st when I started training for the race in earnest 5 days/week. It was a long and brutal winter with heavy snow, temps in the single digits, and a very delayed spring. Actually, we didn't even have more than a few spring-like days before the race. I was dediated to my training though and managed to run outside all winter. I only did 3 workouts on a treadmill when I needed tempo miles (fast pace) and the roads were too icy to safely run fast. I am so grateful for my equally dedicated running buddies who met me at 5:00am (sometimes earlier!) everyday to run, no matter the weather. We are a super awesome team! 

Running in single digits!

When I arrived in Las Vegas I checked in to our hotel a couple hours before my mom got there. I took advantage of the free time to lay on the bed, rest and watch a 1 hour video of a Revel running coach explain, in detail, the marathon course and give coaching advice. It was a great help! When mom got to the hotel I was pretty hungry but we were also losing daylight so I decided to go walk part of the course before dark and then get dinner. Mt. Charleston Marathon is a downhill course starting at 7500ft elevation at the top of Mt. Charleston and running down into Summerlin, NV to finish at about 2,000ft elevation. Overall the race is about a 4% downhill grade. This makes it a fast course but it's also tough on the quads and knees, especially when the grade flattens out or when you have an uphill section. I knew that there was a hill at mile 23 that gained a little elevation for about 3/4 of a mile. I wanted to walk this section before the race so that I could get a feel for the length, steepness and see the landmarks. Mom and I walked this section and finished just as it got dark. I was starving and nearly turned around for food several times but I'm glad I walked it that evening. It was really helpful to have seen it and done it on foot come race day.

Mile 23

Friday morning Mom and I got up early and went to the temple in Las Vegas. It was a beautiful day and we thoroughly enjoyed the temple together. After that we met up with some family friends for lunch. They treated us to a delicious lunch at their favorite fancy seafood restaurant. It was so nice to catch up with them and enjoy a great meal together. 

After lunch we changed clothes and went over to the race expo. I picked up my race bib and some nice swag and enjoyed seeing the vendors and race organizers. I decided it wouldn't be bad luck, just confidence, to buy a BQ (Boston Qualifier) shirt before the race. We ended the day with a turkey sandwich from Panera for carbo loading and went to bed early. I had to catch the bus to the start line at 3:00am!

Yummy carbo loading!

I had big goals for this race. This was my 7th marathon; I ran my first full marathon on April 27, 2002 my senior year of high school. About the time I ran my first marathon I set a goal for myself to someday qualify for the Boston Marathon. In the marathon community the Boston Marathon is one of the most iconic and prestigious races in the world. The qualifying standards are challenging and definitely something to aspire to if you are a serious runner. For my age group my qualifying time is 3 hours and 35 minutes. My first marathon was my fastest time of all 6 previous marathons at 3:57:42. This time around I was ready to finally qualify and my goal was to finish under 3:25:00. However, before I left home I told my family my stretch goal of 3:15:00 and even wrote it on the white board to commit to that stretch goal. I was nervous because on race day there are many variables that can affect the 26.2 miles but I was also confident because I had put in the work and trained really well this time. I was ready to run!

3:00am: I'm excited!!

Saturday morning I got on the bus at 3:00am and it dropped me and the few thousand other runners off at the top of the mountain. I was able to find a few friends there waiting to start and we chatted a bit before lining up. My plan was to take it easy and let gravity set my pace for me to start. One key to marathoning well is to conserve energy early in the race so you don't "hit the wall" later on. My mantra until about mile 21 was "take it easy, take it easy." I was aiming for about a 70% effort for the first half. I tried not to worry about looking at my watch or at my mile split times, I was focused on my effort. The biggest race day factor was the weather. It was really hot! 60-70 degrees felt extra hot since I had trained for months in a cold, long winter. By the time we got to mile 21 it was pushing 80 degrees and the road felt like lava under my feet. I knew that the heat presented a big challenge and that I would need to be diligent about hydrating. I decided to walk through every aid station and drink at least 2 cups of water or Powerade. I also poured water on my neck and back to try to stay cooler. The heat was brutal but staying hydrated and replenishing my electrolytes along the way kept me going strong. I put in my music at the halfway point and it gave me the boost I was hoping for. In fact, I was smiling so much that I thought to myself, "Surely smiling this much is wasting energy but I don't care! I am having so much fun!" It really was fun, haha, in an uncomfortable and even painful, triumphant way! I wrote a few split times on my arm, 10 miles, 13.1, 20 and 24. I didn't want to use mental energy worrying about tracking every mile time but this would help me stay on target for my goal. I was slightly ahead of goal at 10, 13.1 and 20 miles. The heat really got challenging about mile 21 and my pace slowed a bit. At mile 23, the hill I walked on Thursday evening, the race volunteers handed me a cold, wet towel. That felt amazing and helped a lot! I got through the hill and it wasn't too bad. There were spectators along the road cheering and that really helped boost my spirits and energy to finish. About mile 24.5 I pulled out my music because I just wanted to take in the feelings at the finish line. I knew I was slightly slower than my stretch goal but I was close! Mom was cheering for me about 1/3 mile from the finish line and I tossed her my headphones and my waterbottle and decided to pick it up and finish as strong as possible. I managed something of a sprint finish and came in with a finishing time of 3:16:54! What a thrill! I thought I would cry at the finish line when I qualified for Boston but I was happy, excited, HOT and exhausted. 

I was having so much fun!

I drank a cold water bottle right away and got another cold towel. I put ice down my bra, down my back and filled my towel with ice and rubbed it all over my hips, legs, arms and neck. It took me a full 15-20 minutes of icing before I felt cooled down. I am really glad I was diligent about hydrating because I saw several people collapse along the course or at the finish line. There was a great team of EMTs taking care of people. Mom and I walked around for about an hour so that my muscles would cool down without seizing up. Then we went back to the hotel and I took a much needed shower before we checked out of the hotel at 12:00. I wore my BQ shirt with pride that day! Our flight back home didn't leave until 8:30pm so we had time to kill. I needed to keep moving so we found an air conditioned mall to walk around, well I was mostly hobbling. After a couple of hours there we were bored of the mall so we headed to the airport and continued hobbling around and people watching. It was a really great and memorable day!

Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore

My mom came back with me from Las Vegas to hold down the fort with the kids while Mitchell and I went on a week long anniversary trip to the Upper Penninsula of Mitchigan. We spent 4 days backpacking along 43 miles of the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. We hiked right along the Michigan coast of Lake Superior. It was absolutely fantastic! The following is a photo overload because it was just so beautiful and we loved it so much!

The Detroit airport has a light show set to music in one of the tunnels connecting terminals.

Mitchell showed me the Religious Reflection Room too. I had never seen or heard of this but apparently many airports have them. It was a quiet and reverent room. 

What an adventure to be heading out alone!

As the trip was getting closer we were watching the weather closely. We, especially me, were nervous about the cold weather! It was still in the 20s and 30s overnight with high daytime temps in the 40s. We were really nervous that we would freeze! We reassured ourselves that we have winter gear and, worst case, if we were hypothermic there was a road nearby and we could bail on the backpacking and just stay in a hotel instead. So, it was cold and we were really glad that we had our winter gear but for the most part we were very comfortable. 40s is perfect for hiking it turns out. We would start each day with warm layers and as we warmed up we would shed layers until we hiked in short sleeves or just a light weight long sleeve shirt. It was marvelous!

Us at the trailhead ready to go on day 1! 

The first day was foggy and misty all day. Although we hiked on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior we never saw the lake that day. Fortunately the rest of the days were clear.

Friday was day 1 on the trail. We had arranged for a transport van to pick us up in Munising, MI and drive us to Grand Sable where we would get on the trail. There was a guy and his dad in the van too and we had a fun chat with them on the ride. The first day we hiked 7.1 miles to our first campsite. We got there in the mid afternoon and had plenty of time to set up our tent, gather firewood and explore the Au Sable Lighthouse that was nearby. 

Evidence of the many beavers that live in this area

That blue fog behind Mitchell is obstructing our view of the lake. This is up on a sand dune near the shore.

The forest hadn't quite woken up from winter yet. Still lovely.

Oh look! We finally see some of the lake!

The Au Sable Lighthouse and caretaker's home. 

We looked around the lighthouse for a while then we sat on the porch of the caretaker's home/museum for a bit. After only a couple of minutes sitting there I got really, really tired. I laid down on the porch and instantly fell asleep with my head on Mitchell's lap. He was so sweet to be my pillow for 30 minutes sitting there on a wooden porch with no back support and nothing to do but sit. After my nap I felt energized and we went back to our campsite.

On the way back to camp we saw a bald eagle had snatched a large fish right out of the lake. The eagle flew away when we walked by but I caught a blurry picture of him. The eagle came back sometime during the night because half of the fish was eaten the next morning.

Bald eagle dinner. We considered cooking it up for ourselves but decided to stick with our gourmet freeze dried camping meals instead.

Cozy quarters on night 1

We were plenty warm while hiking but the evenings at camp were chilly. Fortunately we could sit by the fire and get toasty. We read books on our Kindles by the fire and it was delightful! Also, Mitchell thought of the best campfire food ever! He rubbed a little oil on a tortilla and roasted it over the fire. Mmmm. That became our dessert each night!

Nice little privacy screen in the middle of the woods

Sweet! A bathroom! I can rough it in the woods when needed but the toilet seat was a nice little luxury. Beautiful view too!

Dinner. And we were hungry!

Our campsite provided this handy metal bear box to store our food. Thankfully we had no encounters with any bears!

Night one was pretty rough. It was the coldest night and dipped down to 27 degrees! As we were getting in to our sleeping bags that night Mitchell's inflatable sleeping pad got a large rip. It instantly flattened. We managed to patch it in the tent that night and it held air with only a small leak. He had to wake up and reinflate it about every 45 minutes. Then at 4:00am it gave out completely. He found out quickly that the pad is more for retaining body heat than for comfort and was freezing within minutes. He decided he had 2 choices to warm up; he could roll on top of me and use me to keep him off the frozen ground or he could empty our packs and sleep on those. I am glad he chose the latter. Once he had the packs insulating him from the ground he was able to sleep better and we both slept until about 9:30am.

In the morning we packed up again and headed off on Day 2. On Saturday we hiked 13.3 miles to our next campsite. Just beyond the lighthouse we were able to go out on the beach and see the site of a shipwreck. Lake Superior is known as a ship graveyard because there have been so many lost ships. On a calm day the water can be crystal clear and there are glass bottom boat tours and kayak excursions out to see sunk ships. Since the lake is fresh water it preserves the boats better than ocean water.

We saw tons of trees like this! The woodpeckers were out in force. We never saw one but could hear their tapping all day long in the forest.

Much of the day we hiked over snow banks. It was kind of nice because Saturday was the warmest day on the trail. It got up to the mid 50s and we were really warm. The downside to a warm day spent hiking over deep snow was that we often broke through the snow and sunk to our knees. Post-holing is exhausting!

The fog from Friday rolled out and we caught some incredible views of the lake

Somehow this old car (1930s era?) was sitting out in the middle of the forest!

We were the first to arrive at our campsite on Saturday night. After we got set up 2 other groups ended up camping there too. We ate our dinner and then we shared a fire with the other 2 groups of hikers staying there that night. It was fun to get to talk to the other people a bit and enjoy the evening together. Mitchell recited a few Robert W. Service poems around the fire and everyone enjoyed it a lot. We went to bed not long after the sun went down. As far north as we were the sunset was about 9:15pm and we had about 20-30 minutes of dwindling twilight after that. 

Sunday we planned to take a rest day and just relax and enjoy the day in camp. I slept in until about 9:30 and when I got up I saw Mitchell perfectly content sitting on the beach reading his book. What a lovely pace of life for a few days! I boiled water on the camp stove to rehydrate our freeze dried Spicy Breakfast Hash, it was delicious! After breakfast we tidied up a bit; we gathered our trash, washed our dishes, and retrieved our socks that we had hung to dry. The other groups left for the trail in the morning and we were alone again. Mitchell and I decided to take a short walk around a nearby pond for the morning and we found some beautiful caves. When I saw the first cave I was really nervous there might be a hungry bear inside, just waking up from hibernation but there was no sign of any bears. 

I sent Mitchell up to investigate the cave for bears

Another cave

We were gone maybe 2 hours walking and exploring around the pond then we returned to camp. We ate lunch and had a nice Sunday School lesson and discussion about some stories from the New Testament. After Sunday School it started to rain a little so we secured our packs and gear out of the rain and headed for the tent. It rained steadily for about 90 minutes and we played a game in the tent and read our books. When the rain stopped and the sky cleared we built a fire and read and played our card game. We ate a leisurely dinner, saw a most breathtaking sunset, then read until dark.

This was such a stunning evening!

Monday morning it was time to forge ahead on the trail again. It was planned to be our second to last day of hiking and we had planned to hike 10 miles Monday and 12 miles Tuesday to finish the trip back in Munising. As we discussed the plan in the morning we both agreed that we would prefer to hike farther on Monday and make Tuesday, our final day, a shorter day. There were 3 other campsites on the map beyond our planned stop so we decided to be open to hiking longer if we were feeling good. Much of the day we hiked up on the cliffs above the shore but we did get a few looks at the giant ice flows out on the lake.

Do we look happy and relaxed? We were!!

On this stretch of trail there were many stunning rock formations both on shore and jutting out into the water. These are what gives the national park its name: Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

At the far end of this carved inlet is an ice waterfall

Waterfall!

These giant ice flows were as big as houses!

This is a famous landmark called Chapel Rock. It's named for the tree that grows directly on the top of the formation giving it the look of a chapel with a steeple.

Chapel Rock

The water was so clear and a vibrant jade color. Some of the archways go all the way through like a tunnel on the water. A kayaking trip would be incredible out here!

We got to the planned campsite about 2:00pm and easily decided to keep hiking. Our packs were light and we were well rested. We even did some running on the trail which was fun. We got to the next campsite and found that no fires were allowed. Fires are fun so we decided to go on to the next one. When we found it we realized there was no direct water access there. We had been filtering water from the lake or from streams all week but at this site we would have had to pump water from another area and hike it in. We could have done this but the site also looked pretty rugged and overgrown compared to the other sites. Plus we still had energy and daylight so we decided to go on to the last campsite on the map for the night. This would make our Tuesday hike only about 5-6 miles and that sounded good to us. On we hiked, this time we were watching the time since it was getting later in the afternoon and we knew we would want to get to camp in time to set up the tent and eat dinner before the sun went down. 

When we reached the place where the last campsite should have been there was none. We looked all around and it just did not exist. We could have turned around and gone back to the previous site but we decided to just go on and hike out completely. It was a long haul and the last 8 miles of trail were mostly marsh with ankle deep puddles and soft mud everywhere. We pushed pretty hard and reached the parking lot right at 9:00pm with only about 15 minutes of sunlight left! We still had to walk back to town which was an additional 2 miles, plus we had to walk across town to pick up our suitcases that we had stashed with a nice bartender and then walk to a pizza place for dinner. In all we traveled at least 25 miles on foot that day! We were totally beat!

We made it back to the road just before sunset! A long but very enjoyable day!

Since we got off the trail a day earlier than planned we called the airline to see if we could change our flights back home for a day earlier. That would have cost us $400 in fees so we decided to just relax for the day in the sleepy little town of Munising, MI. We slept in, read a lot, washed all of our dirty trail clothes at the laundry mat across the street, took naps and had a delicious dinner at a surprisingly tasty dive of a diner. We also got to video chat with our kids since the hotel had WiFi. After nearly a week with no contact I was really ready to love on our kids again! I never worried about them at all though. I knew they were in great hands with my mom and they were loving Grandma Time. It's hard to say if the kids or Grandma liked the week more. Everyone came away from this trip having had an absolutely fabulous time!