"Listen, everyone
The time will come when all of us say goodbye
Feel that aching in your heart
Leaving you broken inside
But we're never really gone
As long as there's a memory in your mind
So now go do the best things in life
Take a bite of this world while you can
Make the most of the rest of your life
Make a ride of this world while you can
And hold on to memories" -Disturbed
I hadn't planned to run this course again.. Last year I got lost for over an hour and was confused by poor course markings at several sections, & there were over 100 trees downed on the course making 36 hrs a tight cutoff. All late winter I've been counting down races to make Cruel Jewel in May my 50th 100 mile distance for veteran suicide awareness. When we got to late February I realized I'd miscounted and was short a race! I started searching for anything that was available & every race I found would put me doing 2 100s a week apart. I really needed to find a high elevation run anyway for training for Crewel Jewel which has a crazy 33k elevation gain... Endurance Hunter was the only feasible course I could find without traveling cross country. Taking place exactly a week after Blackbeard's I really thought I was chancing a big DNF with less than a week recovery time. I saw they had extended from a 36 to a 40 hour cutoff, so I could worst case, hike the whole thing and probably still finish. Of course I hadn't planned to DNF Antelope Canyon, so jumping into Pistol last minute put me at three b2b 100s. It was crazy, traveling every weekend for these races. I didn't even unpack from Blackbeard haha I just repacked and added in mountain race gear. My post race recovery from Blackbeard ended up being stellar. 2 days out I wasn't even sore of even puffy so I felt at least somewhat confident.
When I was preparing my pictures to carry, I was writing on Jake Crewson's pic and feeling heartbroken that Jennifer was gone. I'd just seen this image and I thought...yes, its so true. Some of us do not survive.

As I was thinking about it, I had a feeling of love come over me like hug of gratitude and friendship from Jennifer that I was still honoring her son. That went so deeply to my heart.
It always surprises me, those moments when the veil is so thin, and how close we are to the heavenly world of spirits.
On that thought, I actually read this article recently about the "Third man factor."
It's a real phenomenon when people in perilous circumstances report seeing or feeling a mysterious person come to help them, hold their hand, talk to them through their distress. It's s great read and fascinating and blessed to have experienced this on many occasions.
Some scientists dismiss as just being our brains under extreme duress, but I believe it's 100% angels. With that little moment thinking of Jenn to start out my race with, I felt confident I would have the spiritual help I'd need to traverse this difficult course.
On the road down our son and DIL Bethan were having a 4d ultrasound we got to video in for, for our new grandson on the way. It was so sweet! Little guy kept showing us his feet. I think it means he's a future runner haha. Paul helped me get the Gaia map app working on my phone, so I felt I'd have help if I got lost.

There is a little Bigfoot museum just outside of blue ridge. We had time to stop in and pay $16 for a tour. The place probably hadn't been updated since the 1970's. It was somewhat tacky and campy but kindof fun. Just to make my race more interesting we listened to 'actual' recordings of Bigfoot howls and growls. Just thought I'd give my brain some fuel for terrifying hallucinations haha! The butt print was the funniest! The green tacks on the map are bigfoot sightings in the same area as the race course, eek!





There was rain in the forecast and 40 mph wind gusts for town, so I figured we'd get some bad weather on the mountain. Antelope and Blackbeard mentally prepared me for both. In the few minutes before heading to the start Jason offered a priesthood blessing in which he blessed me to have the stamina I needed and that I'd have angels to help me. I held on to those thoughts.


The rain started at the start line, but temps were nice. What began as a sprinkle soon turned into a deluge. I felt really confident on the tracks this year even in the heavy rain, having put some really hard mountain races under my new knee they didn't feel as treacherous. From start to mile 8 we have a mile of road, 2.5 mi of old rotting railroad track and 5 mi on roads, mostly an uphill climb. Along with the rain we were hit with a scary lightning storm. I was praying for the safety of all us runners. The rain became so heavy that with my headlamp I couldn't see even 4 feet in front of me or tell where the edge or middle of the road was. I put my raincoat hat on but it'd filled with water in just a few minutes so rainwater just poured down my back and I was I was soaked to the skin. The lightning though scary, was helpful because I could see the road light up for a second to see what was ahead.
I hit the first aid station and grabbed some chips ahoy and candy fruit snacks. I thought I should bring a second bottle of water for the next stretch which was 12 miles gradually climbing up to the ridge, along the top of the ridgeline then back down to #2 aid station, but it was so wet and windy I just grabbed the snacks and a bottle refill and took off. There is a fairly deep river crossing at mile 8.5, the bridge being washed away, I waded through it close to mid-thigh deep. I was so wet and chilly that the river didn't feel much different than the outside air. I was glad to have my trekking poles to keep me steady in the swollen water!
We had a mile or so of sloshing thru grass turned puddle, then a bit of a steep gravel road to hike up before we hit our first trail-head. A woman in front of me almost missed our turn. I ran about 50 yards after her, yelling before she went too far. I felt pretty good about helping someone not get lost. I needed the Karma. Ha! The climb to the ridge has some rolling terrain, some is fairly steep. I hiked all the climbs. Its really only moderately technical so I was able to take all the downhills pretty fast. It was exhilarating to be out in the foggy woods, feeling great and cruising up a mountain. I was out of breath a few times and questioned how long my energy would hold up!


All week I'd been having anxiety about pain. With only a week in between races my mind hadn't yet forgotten the extreme circumstances you encounter every single time ha-ha. I wasn't looking forward to it but once out on the mountain my worry stopped and I just said a prayer of thanks for my ability to do these runs, for the health, stamina and strength of spirit they require. It's such a gift and I hope I never take it for granted. Having a weekend adventure in the mountains doing extreme sports feels like I'm living my life to the fullest, for myself, for Dexter and those whose lives were cut short. Actually Jason made a post on FB recently describing my runs and it was just so perfect I took a screen cap to add to my race report.

On the mountaint op a guy was sitting on the ground because his pack had broken. I gave him my emergency safety pin...later when I met him at the 20 mi aid station he thanked me and said that safety pin saved his whole race. I was so glad he was able to jimmy-rig his pack to continue! Another guy sitting by the trail was squeezing puddles of water out of his socks, he said " never buy sealskin waterproof socks” We just laughed at the crazy rain and agreed that the weather is what adds that touch of epic to our adventure. Passed a guy, Lucian aka "hot chocolate" in exactly the same place as the last 2 yrs lol, out attempting to get this 100 completed. Close to the AS#2 the rain disappeared and the sun came out for the day and the forest was beautiful, waterfalls full and raging. The last mile to Aid Station 2 got fairly technical and reminded me of the Grindstone course. I ended up filling my bottle in a creek. I figured it was all gonna be rainwater anyway. The aid station was well stocked with all kinds of yum snacks. I discarded my raincoat into my drop bags, ate a PB sandwhich and grabbed cookies applesauce and capri suns and headed to #3. I still didn't have a second bottle, I was just drinking from the creeks and waterfalls when I ran out.
AS #2-3 continued to be a beautiful cool sunny morning, mostly runnable trail with a few steep climbs. On the mountaintop I was listening to music and thinking of all the Marines I was running for. I was listening to "Follow you" by imagine dragons which in my heart feels like a song for Nina, SSgt Taylor Wilsons wife & son. She is a beautiful woman and so funny and I try to send her son Gabe something from my races. . As I thought of them both, right in the middle of this muddy brown crushed leaves trail was a perfectly shaped white heart rock. It was just ..100% from Taylor for them. I'd been looking at pics of Taylor recently with his son and I swear I could feel him smile.

A little later on I had a similar angel & rock moment for Sally and her brother Nate. This month is the anniversary of her brothers death. He shared depression and addiction issues like Dexter did and I feel like she was brought into my life so we could support each other in our grief, and I believe Nate is Dexter's friend and part of my 'crew' ...a civilian angel among Marine angels lol. I love her. It might be hokey, I dunno, but I just think somehow at the right moment these are pointed out to me or something but it always feels like a sign when thoughts, music and hearts coincidentally collide.
I passed several runners along this stretch. Met one of the RDs, Hunter, at AS 3. His Dad is the other RD and they have done 2 adventure race TV shows now, one premiering on Amazon tonight. I just grabbed a bottle refills and an assortment of chocolate & cookies ...nutter butter & chips ahoy, so tasty. This next section from AS 3-4 supposedly the “ fast downhill" section, is anything but fast. This is where we had 100+ blow downs last year. The majority of trees had happily been cut and moved. The downhills were rocky and loose and a bit toe crushing so really only ran about half, just slowly worked my way down the steep loose ground. Late in the race I saw a guy with a bleeding broken nose from tripping on a log. I've face planted plenty of times so I wasn't gonna risk it! When we reach the bottom of that particular mountain we cross probably a dozen rivers, some we could hop rocks over but each seemed to get harder soon was wading through them. This course has probably 20+ crossings ankle to mid thigh deep. One is so swift and deep and next to a short waterfall...felt some fear but there was a tree down across the river so I held onto it and crossed easily. There was a creek with a steep bank on the opposite side with rocks to hop. My shoe slipped on some moss and I lost my balance even with my poles and went face first, face-planting the side of the creek bed hard. My back and neck snapped back and I hit my left knee hard on a rock. I was stunned and it took a minute to regroup, for a second I thought I could have snapped my neck! Luckily I was okay, I limped for about a mile thinking my race could be over but the neck and knee pain subsided. Only had a few scratches on my face & luckily not even whiplash. I took the crossings more slowly after that! This portion did still have some huge tree blow downs to climb over or under or through. One I had to go under on my hands and knees. Countless little creeks, beautiful rivers and waterfalls on this course. I didn't bother to get any river crossing pics because the camera never does them justice lol.



After a lot of technical ground and climbing I finally rolled into meeting Jason at mile 39ish.
This is a great aid station to regroup at. I was able to change out of soaking wet shoes, a new pair of wide speed goat hokas & rub lube and pain cream into my white shriveled feet. I shouldn't wear new shoes at a race, but I needed to test them out for Cruel Jewel in May. I wolfed down a Boston Cream donut and a cup of ramen. After the under-cooked ones at Blackbeard, I was happy Jason had let these sit for 20 min, so they were soft & warm & salty. So delicious! I was expecting to get cold night gear and a coat, but it was still pretty warm, so I just took head lamps. The stretch ahead is the longest on the course, 15 miles to traverse without any aid. I finally grabbed a second water bottle. I figured it still wouldn't be enough but there were a few little creeks/ waterfalls in that section. Jason walked up the gravel road with me for a mile or so, was nice to have his company. There was still plenty of daylight & the view was beautiful.




I wasn't moving as fast as I hoped but I was still making a decent mid-range pace. We backtrack on the course for a few miles and I and a couple other runners got a bit lost. We were going the right way but thought we'd missed a turn. We lost probably 20 minutes till a cute girl passed us named Tracy, she gave us the details that we needed to back track all the way down to the Pinhoti trail. Phew. Of course my Gaia app wasn't very clear to understand when I really needed it. Tracy was sooo happy to see me. She's with a group "bigger than the trail" an outdoor running group for mental health. She said she was a big fan of mine and was watching my journey and loved it. That made me feel super happy, I didn't realize I had fans haha..
The -I hate being lost- face.

Back on track moved I forward confidently into the evening. I was wearing 2 lamps now, one an ultraspire waist lamp and a diamond headlamp. Still not super happy with battery life but they help me see rocks & roots so much better. On this course mi 39 to 54 is probably my favorite. Most of that stretch is less technical and the climbs are gentle and more runnable. Still, took me 5 hours to get through it. Practically everyone was running out of calories and fluid on that stretch. I ended up being mostly okay, filling my water bottles twice. For future reference a solid full liter of hydration is probably needed for that section, two bottles for all the rest of the race unless you take your chances drinking from the stream .I actually had water purification tablets with me but didn't want to take time to pull them out. I've never had trouble yet drinking from clean water sources.
The aid station at 54 mi I passed one female runner ahead of me, we ran into the Aid Station 5 together but I left sooner than her. This was a great aid station! Jason was wearing a wolf head hat I bought him for crewing, it was so funny and awesome to see him wearing it.
AS 5 was the best ever. I ate two hot dogs, a grilled cheese sandwich, a cup of ramen noodles and was able to grab some favorite chips a-hoy cookies along with drinking down another meal drink and taking applesauce and Capri Suns. I really liked the applesauce, I'm gonna add it back into my race preps. Frosted flakes carnation breakfast drink is great, very mild & only lightly sweet. Anyway Jason refreshed my nighttime headlamp batteries, hid behind the car to pee and rub pain cream all over my legs and take off my compression sleeves. They were rubbing & loose from being wet all day. Got a coat for the dark. Ended up tying it around my waist but thankfully I took it for later on, Jason missed the mile 65 cutoff going into the worst part of the night and there is very little cell service or internet. this pic cracks me up because every pocket I have is jammed full of calories.

I was concerned with this section because I remember it being very hard. I'd changed into dry shoes at mi 39 but mile 54 to 65 had several wide river crossings that I had to wade across. This was 12-2 am and I wouldn't change our of those wet shoes for 12-14 more hours. Last year I got lost trying to figure out the trail thru the low lying land or finding it on the opposite side of a river so not knowing where to cross. This year the course was marked incredibly well. Ended up not being too hard a section & I got through to 65 miles with little trouble. Maybe a tiny bit of nausea and hydration. I was drinking a bit less and taking in less salt and eating more solids, but it was working, I hadn't hit the 'pee every mile' point yet.
Mile 65-75 is some of the worst terrain I've run on. The aid station here was manned by a young guy who wasn't very helpful. I had drop bags there, so it was okay. They sadly didn't have hot food but I grabbed some cookies & candy...oh and I had a bag of Fritos in my drop bags, they worked awesomely. I stomach them well in a late ultra I found out at Blackbeard. After that #6 aid station there is a huge steep climb to get up to Fort Mountain. It just keep going up and up. Then a slow crawl over 10 miles around the park on the ridgeline. Very steep ups and downs that are rocky, have some stair sections, loose rocks, very little that you can actually run on. Its difficult to traverse. 3 years in a row now it's taken me 4 hrs. to do 10 miles. Fort Mountain has a cool history, stories told of an ancient "moon eyed" people who built a tower there, and sometimes people hear sounds of battle or see ghosts in bear skins. Luckily no ghosts or bears or bigfoot were on the mountain overnight. I did see some freaky trees morphing into weird monsters and giant insects, but I'm used to ignoring them mentally together enough to know they're just trees.
The planet Jupiter was really bright out and a partial moon, skies were beautiful and clear with lots of stars. I kept seeing the moon on the horizon and thinking it was a runner's headlamp lol. I guess this weekend there were some devastating destructive tornadoes as close as Tennessee. Luckily, we only got the outside edges of that storm system, but we had sustained winds at ft Mt of 20mph but gusts up to 30&40mph. Temps hovering around 40 but the windchill was in the 20s. I was very glad I'd gotten my coat and gloves from Jason. I stayed pretty warm when a hill was blocking the wind but every time I was out on the ridge it went right through me. I passed a lady and her pacer on the loop, so I was glad to be moving up in placement. I knew I couldn't catch first place, but I wasn't too far behind to maybe catch up to second or third place if I didn't waste any time in aid stations. I pushed through that section with her tailing not too far behind. I tried to stay a full hill ahead of them. Such a miserable 4 hrs. I needed my spirit uplifted, so I played my church song playlist and focusing on things of faith helped take my mind off the torture that mountain was inflicting on my body. I almost got lost from missing a turn, but I caught it pretty quick.
The 3rd hour out there I wasn't feeling great, cold, tired of stumbling on rocks, I looked behind and saw 2 headlamps close behind me. I thought...dangit, I'm tired, those girls are going to leave me in the dust and knock me into 4th or 5th place. Then they passed and with relief I saw it was 2 dudes Phew! Paul got me into a competitive spirit, lol. I since met the girl I passed, Brittany, out on that freezing mountain with her inexperienced sister pacing, running this as her first 100 miler. Huge respect that she finished!
I was so frigging glad to get that section behind me. I knew I still had though miles but to me that's the hardest section. And through the night makes it even worse. Jason met me at the same aid station which is #6 & #7 after a loop (mile 65&75) Jason crewing me in his awesome hat. The aid station was serving hot hash brown patties with salt. HUGE kudos to those volunteers. It was freezing cold, and they were out in the wind trying to cook up food for runners on a propane stove that kept blowing out. Jason helped them jimmy-rig an aluminum food container to keep the fire lit. I was a bit queasy but the hashbrowns looked so good that I ate 2. Jason got me set with some noodle's hot hands, a fresh headlamp and all the fuel I'd need for the next very long remote loop of 13 miles. I remember this loop being harder than it was. I was feeling great and taking all the technical toe crushing downhills and 3 -4 steep rubbly rocky climbs at a good pace. I passed a couple guys and 2 more women in this section. Running along a beautiful waterfall, Sunday morning dawn in the mountains, there was no place I'd rather be at that moment.


My sore feet had numbed out and was pretty tired but moving quickly, for being 80 miles into a trail race on a rugged mountain, that is. My stomach was turning south, and I knew that was going to lose me time and placing. I only had 260 calories, no water, and 5 mi to go with an absolutely insane climb ahead. I was worrying but then I 'felt' clear directions in my head, coming from Sgt Gray, to fill up and drink water at the next 2 creeks and take all my ginger pills at once and I'd be okay. So I did that. I didn't know where creeks were because I was in a pretty dry stretch but sure enough, there were 2 creeks before the climb that I was able to fill up at. A bit of third man syndrome. AKA angels. <3
I'd put a lot of space between myself and the last female runner I'd passed, but when I came to the "wall" at mile 86 and had climbed a quarter mile, I looked back and saw she wasn't far behind me and had reached the climb. That put some fire in my soul and heart, and I climbed for all I was worth. No easy feat. This was supposedly a switchback, but it was as steep as if I was just climbing up the side of the mountain. I was on my tiptoes and the ground was close enough to my face I thought I could probably put out my hands and crawl up it. Instead, I used my poles, arms, and every single muscle in the lower half of my body and made it up to the clearing of telephone lines to the top. There were the two guys who passed me on Ft Mountain, sitting on the side of the trail. We all shook our heads at the absolute insanity. “Who decided to put this mountain here? " one said to me, lol. I passed them & did my climb pattern, go 100 steps, rest for 5 slow seconds & breathe deeply, repeat. Every time I paused my heart was pounding out of my chest. The sun was out but luckily the morning was still cool & I'd already taken my coat off. I looked back & never saw the girl behind me again. I love the little flag at the top of the mountain. I thought I got a pic of the climb, but I guess it didn't take.
So happy I'd crushed it, 2000 feet in 2 miles.

Because I was upset at the lack of good marking last year, some people volunteering at the race were worried about me finishing and not getting lost but I'm happy to report the race corrected the errors and any questionable turns were extremely well marked. Very well done and I appreciate the RDs took the extra time to keep runners safely on the trail. This father and son are featured in this new survival show taking place in Alaska...no wonder their race is so difficult! 'Race To Survive: Alaska': How And When To Watch | USA Insider (usanetwork.com)
I ran the downhill to the 88-mile aid station. I was supposed to meet Jason there, but he underestimated my pace, so I missed him by a minute! I'd wanted to change out of the wet shoes that were crushing my toes. He has all my race fuel in the car, so I just drank half a bottle of ginger ale, ate a couple salted potatoes, filled my bottle half with mountain dew and grabbed a banana and stuffed it in my shirt. There was 1 last female I saw at the aid station. I found out later she was only doing the 100k but I didn't know that, so I took off at a quick pace to the last aid station just 3 miles away. From there only 8 to the finish.
There was more long and pretty tough, toe crushing descents and a few steep climbs in 3 miles. The sun was finally getting hot, and I was more than ready to ditch my coat, and all my night gear, that I'd been carrying for 5 hours, hats, mittens, head & waist lamp, hot hands etc. I tailed 2 men to that aid station. Jason met me there and unloaded most everything from my pack for the final stretch. The volunteer there kindly filled my 2 bottles with apple juice and a couple slices of cold but delicious pizza, my sun hat, neck fan and a bottle of water to pour on myself if I got overheated. That was the smartest thing I could have done. I had long sleeves so before I left the AS to the finish, I splashed my sleeves with water and poured a bunch over my head and down my shirt to cool off.

The 2 guys I'd come in with weren't particularly friendly, so I left quickly to get ahead of them and beat them. I struggled for a bit to stay ahead, but I wouldn't let them catch any extra ground behind me. About this time dehydration pee decided to hit and I had to go like every 10 minutes. The last 8 miles to the finish is primarily gravel forest road with few trees easily accessible to hide behind. With the 2 dudes close behind me with nowhere to pee I had to push to get a full turn ahead of them so I had time to stop before they rounded the corner. Ha!
Everyone says ' downhill' because there's 2000 ft net loss these last 8 miles but there are just as many hills to climb as downhills, though none very steep thankfully. I used my bottle of water strategically and kept my arms and head cool. At 4 mi left was a shin deep river to cross. I stopped there to dunk my head, hat, refill my water for keeping cool, splashed water on my sleeves. Sooo refreshing! The guys behind me took more time at the river so I didn't see them behind me again. In the sun I dried out quickly, so I kept pouring on the cold stream water. I thought this was probably good heat management practice for Cruel Jewel in May. My stomach was off, so I ate some anti-nausea tablets, and I rationed out my apple juice to 3 swigs every half mile to keep calories and hydration steady. That seemed to hold my stomach together.
I was on track for a 33.30 hr. finish. I thought if I really crushed it, I could bring it in under 33 but considering I'd just run 2 other 100s, a little extra time just didn't matter that much to me at the moment. I was going to finish strong, and it wasn't worth having a vomit storm to cut off a few minutes. With 2 miles left, there was another beautiful stream to cool off in. I was getting hot and cold flashes, sweating one minute, shivering the next. 2 &1/2 miles is still 45ish long minutes of suffering. I was all alone so I put on imagine dragons and told myself these were my victory miles and I sung along to the music as loud as I could to get my mind away from my body.
Of course, the last mile had a semi tough climb and descent. With 3/4 of a mile left, I hadn't really felt Dexter with me so I prayed and was like, hey I know Dexter is probably busy over there, but can he come run this victory mile with me? Right after my prayer my favorite runner's high song that I always jam to with Dexter when I'm out training, came on my playlist & I felt his companionship. I sang and ran my heart out and as the song was finishing a huge yellow butterfly flitted around my head for a few seconds, then flew away. I crossed the finish with tears going down my face. 33:22

I met Jason and Hunter at the finish, and I got the huge 100-mile #48 buckle, and found out I did indeed win 2nd place overall female. I was so surprised and just really proud of how hard I worked from mile 65 to 100 to pull up to second place.


Not changing my wet shoes for 12 hours gave me another case of stage 1 trench foot lol. Every single muscle in my body was sore stiff and wrecked. Jason grabbed me 4 pieces of pizza and got me back to the hotel. A hot bath felt sooo amazing. It took some time to work tangles out of my hair from all the crazy rain and then wind. I had been kind of upset with myself. Our church does a worldwide conference every April and October. I look forward to it every 6 months, it always rejuvenates my spirit and commitment to follow Christ. I'm usually a person whose always busy doing something so it says a lot that I want to watch 10 hrs. of church meetings over a weekend lol. Well, I realized soon after I registered for Endurance Hunter that I was going to miss most of it. I took some Tylenol PM intending to sleep and just watch all of it during the week. I was more than ready to doze off after being awake for 40 hrs. but I had Jason turn the last Sunday afternoon session on so I'd as least fall asleep participating in it. I ate my 4 slices of pizza while watching. My legs were cramping, and I felt restless, so I stayed awake and listened to the whole 2 hours. I kept wanting to doze off but just kept listening like, I need to hear these messages. At the very end President Nelson, the prophet of the church announces temples being built around the world and I jolted awake and sat upright when he said "Winchester Virginia" Wait, WHAT??
Winchester is sort-of a generic med small town surrounded by rural communities, probably tens of thousands in the country just like it. 10 minutes from us!! Right now we drive 2 hours round-trip to attend the Washington DC temple. For Latter Day Saints the temple is like the pinnacle of our faith. A holy house where we go to be close to God, make covenants and perform ordinances that unite families for eternity. I felt just a rush of happiness and joy and just so shocked and surprised! I'm still not over the surprise! Well, between taking 2nd place and the temple announcement there was no resting now, I was too excited, so we went out and got blizzards from Dairy Queen to celebrate. Just an amazing thing, and a perfect end to a really spiritual and difficult and awesome weekend.

My heart is so full and I'm on track to attempt my #50 in May. One more race to go, a flat trail run in New Jersey that should be in the bag ..though I have learned to never underestimate a course lol. I think something special about this race is the new friends I made, meeting strangers who know about me and my mission to help stop veteran suicide. I don't know how many people my life would ever effect but if just one is saved, it's worth every mile. Jason did meet a guy who's a veteran, who saw my pack and introduced himself to him. He helps put on a running camp just for veterans, & family members trying to create a supportive runner community with others who knows the struggle and invited us to come. It's in Texas so we probably won't but I was still cool.
I'd been afraid of the pain and hard work and risks of this course but faced it and conquered it. I know we can all do that, for every challenge that comes our way, especially if we rely on our family and faith. This was my predominant mantra through this race.









Every time I read one of your race reports I cry a d get lumps in my throat. I am also filled with such awe that you finish these brutal 100s. I cannot fathom the pain you and your family experience daily at the loss of Dexter and to be doing these grueling events on top of that is just inconceivable love. ♥️. I pray our God continues to keep you safe through these 100s and I know you have saved *countless* lives only our Creator knows of from these labors of love. I am grateful and relieved you will not have another 100 until May. I hope you, Jason and your family enjoy a quiet, peaceful & rejuvenating Resurrectio…
What a wonderful experience! And yes, you're getting more competitive now. :-)
I'm proud of how well you stuck it out... and how well you did without any caveats! Three races in a row and you really did well on all 3!
Wow Rosie, congratulations on #48. What a tough course and what a tough lady! And competitive! I don't think I had detected that in the previous race reports. That must be a sign of how strong and confident you have become. You are a Pro! What a journey! Congrats on a great race, and all my best to Jason and your family for their amazing support!