The Pemberton 50K

The Pemberton 50K in Scottsdale, AZ kicked off Team Baby Alex Foundation's 2011 season. The race was awesome. Such an incredible group of people who race ultras--very low key. Ultra running legend Pam Reed raced, and several of the top ultra runners either ran or manned the aid stations. Since I had just finished reading Pam Reed's book, it was a thrill to see her in person. She is tiny, and I believe one of the ways to save your joints if you are an ultra runner is to avoid carrying any extra weight!

Alex and Izzy came out to see me off and met me half way through. Alex loves a race. He was chanting "Go Mommy Go" at the start. Izzy was angry that I wasn't running with her in tow. The race started at 5pm and around 6:30 I turned on my headlamp. Running at night is a bit surreal and lots of fun. I finished in 5:58, and had a great time. We then spent the a week in AZ training in the McDowell Mountains, in hot, dry weather. Returned a bit achy and tired, but strong. It's snowing today in the northeast and I can't remember why we live here.

The best part of the week was seeing the kids blossom on the trails. Izzy is turning out to be an exceptional runner. We took the kids to the trails every day and let them dictate our speed and length. On the first day, we had to drag Izzy off the trail because we were all starving for breakfast. She would have kept going. Alex loves to say now that we are going for a "trail run". We took them to a nature hike that had pictures and samples of the flora and fauna and they learned a little about the AZ environment. Education trip.