Grandpa made me a do it....100 Half Marathons

100 Half Marathons (5 Years), Half Marathon Club

Paula Elaine Pearson

Back in 2005 I decided to run a full marathon in honor of my grandpa Daasch that passed away suddenly and unexpected.  I decided I want to do “something BIG, and outdoorsy, for him” to celebrate his life and what he taught me growing up.  I was never a “active” person or even an athlete, my brother took care of that part.  I was a artist and band geek.  So researching things on line about how to train for a marathon and “how to even run” was way out of my comfort zone.  I remember not being able to even jog even down the block with out feeling like I was going to pass out and parts of my body rubbing raw against each other.  I thought several times to my self, this is awful, why would anyone run anywhere.  Let alone 26.2 miles straight!  

So I started looking at what marathon I wanted to do as this was going to be a ONE and DONE.  (so I thought at the time)  I wanted to do a marathon in a warm place and also give me time to train.  I pick Walt Disney Marathon Weekend in Jan 2006.  I did my run/walk/jogs.  I also thought it be a good idea to do a half to see how training was going but the Indy 500 had already sold out so I just said well…..thats OK, i just go straight to the Marathon. OUCH!

I picked a marathon because I wanted to do something physical and mental that my grandfather would think was cool.  You see, hes the one that introduced us kids to the outdoors.  He taught us to enjoy nature, how to skip rocks across the pond, catch frogs, catch lightening bugs, feed the ducks, ride horse back, pick and tend to the garden, ice skate and sledding, and riding bikes.  He did it all, even took all of us camping.  So an outdoors event that challenged the mind and body was a perfect way to celebrate him.  

The Disney Marathon….well I finished.  It was not easy, nor was I even trained and ready for it.  I learned a lot about running and for some reason did many more marathons after that.  

When we moved to colorado back in 2013 I decided I wanted to continue to honor him.  I set my goal out to run 100 half marathons in 3 years, well that was way too many in that time frame.   After I did 26 in one year, I decided I needed to cut back a little.  In Colorado you can do a half marathon every sat and sun pretty much all year, except Nov, Dec and Jan.  

So when I run, and not every run is a good one.  I talk to grandpa in my head A LOT.  You can see in photos that I carry a picture of him with me.  

Sometimes I think he talks back when the sun comes thru the trees and lands on my face, or when a few snow flakes land on my nose, or when I feel a gust of wind at my back pushing me up the hill.  All signs I know hes with me and saying “Good Job Punkin’”!   

So here’s to you grandpa, see you on the trails!  I love you and miss you every day.

Paula Elaine

“Punkin’”

*Some random photos, too many to post with 56/100 so far! :)

12HR PYTHON Orienteering Rogaine, Ohio, Solo 2nd Place Overall

The Python ROGAINE, put on by the North East Ohio Orienteering Club (NEOOC) took place in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. They offered up 3 different race options: 3, 6, or 12 hours. I opted for the 12 hr version, which ran from 8 am until 8 pm.  At 7 am racers received 3 overlapping maps of the course and a small map of a corn maze. This left only an hour to survey the maps and plan a route. 

The course consisted of 68 regular controls with 1 additional mystery control. The mystery control was found by using a clue that was on one of the regular controls, but it was unknown which control that would be. You would only know it once you arrived at that control. 

All the controls were weighted, so the winner would be determined by the racer who collected the most points (not the number of controls) in the least amount of time. 

Looking at the maps, with so many controls to visit. I was unsure if the course was clearable, but my course of action was to try to clear; leaving no control unvisited. 

The race started promptly at 8 am, and racers scattered in all direction towards their first control. Interestingly enough, no one opted to go to same first control as me. 

My initial goal was to head towards the corn maze control, and pick up all the controls in that direction along the way. I wanted to get to the corn maze early before it got too crowded with the general public.

I made it to the corn maze by about 9 am. I was the first one there. I made several attempts to locate the control but struggled to find it. After about 20 mins I realized my mistake. Thereafter, I promptly found the control and exited the maze.

I knew I had lost some time, so I picked up the pass trying to gain back some of the time I had lost. I continued collecting controls in a clockwise manner around the map. 

I made a minor navigational error on control 21. I attempted to reshoot the control a couple times but came up empty. I thought it might have been stolen, because i knew I was in the right area. I decided to come back for the control and attack it from another direction. After collecting 5 other controls, I made another attempt at control 21 and found it. I think I just hadn't gone far enough earlier on. 

I continued on collecting control after control, making small mistakes here and there but nothing too costly. My goal was to walk the up hills and run everything else, and I came close to accomplishing that. From a performance standpoint I was pretty solid throughout. Staying fueled and hydrated with HAMMER performance supplements was key. 

About 3 checkpoints from the finish, I looked over my passport and noticed I had 4 un punched squares. I missed checkpoint 3 at some point during the race. It was not on my immediate map, so I finished collecting the last few points before figuring out what I done wrong. I opened up my map case and found control 3 about 5 miles out and back from where I was at. I realized I had folded the map where the control was out of view. It should have been an easy point less than 500m from a control I picked up early on. Dang it! 

I made it to the finish line at 6:30 pm and was faced with a decision, finish and leave 1 control on the course or run the 5 miles and collect the point. With an hour and a half left I knew I only had one choice- go get the point.  

I took off in the same direction as I did when I started the race. The plan was to bushwhack between roads to get to a more direct route. However, I got on a trail that never connected to another trail running parallel to it, which is the one I needed to be on. At the time I hadn't realized what I had done. All I knew is that I needed to get to the road. I finally bushwhacked my way to a road, only to realize I was on the wrong road. I was back on the road I previously crossed. I lost valuable time. I started to wonder if I should have just finished instead of attempting to clear. I still had time so I continued on. I gave myself a cut off time of 7:15. I made it to the area of control 3 a little after 7. I oriented my map wrong and made a navigation error. Time was just about out and it was getting dark. Realizing my mistake, I blazed on my LUPINE headlamp and found CP 3 right away, but past my cutoff time. It was 7:20. I took off running back towards the finish, keeping my time in check. I made it to the entrance of the camp and I knew I was going to make it. I walked up the steep road and ran to the finish once it leveled off.   My finish time was 7:47 pm. I came in second overall, just 5 mins behind the winner. Only 2 people cleared the course, I being one of them. Had I not collected the last control I would have still had second, but I would have fell short of my own goal of clearing the course.

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day to be in the woods. Despite some of my blunders, I was happy to clear the course. The distance traveled was close to 40 miles. Thanks to HAMMER for keeping me fueled throughout the race. 

Every race you learn something. My 2 big takeaways were never to fold my maps to precise to an overlapping map, leave extra showing, especially if there is room in your map case. The second was to verify that I had all the controls numbers accounted for in my intended route.   Get out and play! 

http://neooc.com/race-results-python-adventure-race-2016-cvnp-manatoc-saturday-october-8th/