I can't remember exactly how I met Cindy. I think it was probably via one of the various Ultra running FB pages I am on, or one the dog running pages. I was intrigued at the miles her and her dog Miles were putting in as they prepared for various races. I even raced at the same race she did last winter, but she started before Stella and I, so we didn't get to meet face to face. We talk on FB a lot, as we have lots of goals in common, and of course we both run with our dogs. I had to have her as one of my guests, so welcome to my blog, Cindy and Miles!!!!! This is the story of her first 50 miler with Miles. Since she has an AMAZING race report, I am going to break this into two parts. One will be answers to my questions and then her race report of the 50 mile Buffalo Run on Antelope Island.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you came to running.
I grew up everything horses and spent years
being a typical tomboy doing everything horseback that I could. I met my
husband, also from a ranching family, and married, then spent the next 20+ years
raising 4 kids and becoming a “horse show mom” with them along with their other
various sporting interests. I was never
a runner because as a “cowboy” you never walk when you can ride, and running is
only for when your horse throws you and you have to catch him because the walk
home would be miles and miles in boots on your own two feet, horrors. I had always been very physically active,
plenty of chores on the ranch where I start all our colts, and was the Athletic
Director and Basketball coach for my daughters basketball team through high
school. When I turned 47, I looked in the mirror and realized that the
“baby fat” from my 4th child (who had just turned 14) was not going
away this time and might even be increasing. I knew I had to do more than what I
had been doing, because it wasn’t working any more. I decided to start adding walking (on my own
two feet no less) to try and get better control of what that sneaky thing
called age does to us. I have a lovely
half mile drive way, so I started walking up and down it each night. The start from the house is quite downhill, and I decided about a week into it, to try and jog it a little bit to see how far
I could go before I had to walk. I
surprised myself, and even though I didn’t get very far that time, I didn’t hate
it, in fact, I even kind of liked the feeling that maybe there was more in me than I
knew. Suddenly, I was calling and FB
messaging friends that I knew were runners for advice and wanting to try and do
more. I signed up for a 5K on the advice
one very good friend gave me and set a goal. I was a runner! Granted
not a very good one, but rather a heavy breathing, plodding, sweating mess, but I
WAS running. It just kept going from
there to where I am now running Ultras at 50 years old.
When did you make the switch from running roads to running trails?
I I had spent a year just planning to do 5K races and improving. Then that special running friend (who quickly
became a much loved mentor) started encouraging me to try for a 10K
distance. So again, I signed up for my
first 10K and enjoyed working on going longer in my training. Wheels started spinning in my head as my body
got stronger, not just my legs, but everything got stronger the more I
ran. I could lift things that had
started to be a burden to me, as I had been losing range of motion in my arms, but found it coming back as the weight came off and the muscles grew. I ran that 10K and signed up for more, and
started dreaming about doing a half. By
the time I finished my 3rd 10K and didn’t die, I bought into doing
it and signed up for a half in the spring, that I would have to train through the winter for. Meanwhile, as I was training for
the half, my friend herself found a trail race she wanted to try that was 10
miles, and encouraged me to do it too during my training for the half. I thought “why not” and jumped in for the
Psycho Wyco Run Toto Run in February.
While training for it that winter I started training on a local horse
trail that I had often used with the horses, and I was in LOVE. Getting out in the woods was SUCH a break
from the routine of running up and down the roads. Using different muscles
climbing up hills, over rocks and through creeks instead of the same ones over
and over on a flat roads was invigorating!
My body hurt less running longer on the trails than the pounding on the
roads, and I was able to go further and not feel like I was beat up nearly as
quickly. I saw so much wildlife up close on every run that I didn’t see on the road, and I didn’t have to worry about
the next car coming around the curve or over the hill not paying attention. I went into that trail race knowing nothing
about the community of trail runners and learned SO MUCH just doing that
race. I was welcomed into a group that
is all about the FUN, forget the finish.
It’s a party from aid station to aid station, AND CAN WE TALK ABOUT AID
STATIONS???? OMGoodness! It’s really an all day buffet at trail races, as they KNOW how to put out the spread with REAL FOOD like pizza, bacon, quesadillas,
burritos, watermelon, potato soup, and boiled/salted potatoes. I could go on and on as it was so amazing coming from the “do you want water/sports drink and GU” at
road races. These folks know how to make
misery into a real party and coming into an aid station is not just someone
holding out a cup, but they start asking you what you need, can they refill
your water bottle/flask, do you need pickles, salt tabs, here is a bowl of soup
to eat, and they even will grab your nasty, messed up feet and slather more
trail toes or squirrels nut butter on them for you!!!!! These volunteers are DEDICATED to making your
run a success, as most of them have been there and love the trail family that
you become once you step foot at the start line. I was floored, and it was all I could do after
that race to continue to train for the road half I had coming up and not just
totally toss it to the curb and look for more trail races right then. I did do that half, but since then, all my
races have been trail races, except for a few local 5K that I will continue to
do for the charities they support. Road
racing and I have parted ways amicably, but we just aren’t that into each
other anymore since I fell in love with trail running and then leaned about
Ultras from my trail family and I haven’t looked back since.
1 Tell us about miles! How old, where you got him from, his
personality?
Miles is my heart and he
is 2 ½ now. I started running with
Bogart, an Airedale I had rescued from a local shelter, but he had an accident
playing with husbands Border Collie when they were chasing around the yard and
caused a Grade 3 ligament injury, This injury effectively caused a permanent limp even
after completely healed, but wouldn’t “hurt” him any. However, you cannot take a dog that is
limping to a race without everyone thinking you are abusing him, even with a
letter from the vet explaining that it was not hurting him. Bogarts running career was over just as it had started. I was sad to not have a running buddy any
more, but having not made that heart connection with him, I knew it was much
less of an issue for him as long as he could run around pain free and do his
own thing. I put the word out that I was
looking for a running partner to rescues, and got a call from one staying there
was a dog in a shelter that they thought I should go look at. I drove 2 hours to this shelter and she was
brought in to me to see. I liked her,
but she was actually very short nosed and I worried about her being able to go
long distance. I saw some photos on the
wall of other adoptable dogs, and there was one that instantly caught my eye. He looked the type of dog that my heart dog Nick was, BUT I had shied away from any other
Heelers because I was afraid I would always be looking at them and comparing them
to Nick and they would fall short of what he had been to me. This wouldn’t be
their fault, so I didn’t want to do that to a dog. But this picture just pulled at me and I
asked to meet him. They brought Miles in
(named Samuel at that time), and he looked at me and I melted, totally falling in love at that
moment. I asked to take him outside and
have a short run with him, and off we went down their trail behind the facility
where they run the dogs daily. He stuck
right beside me, clipping my leg with every stride and kept looking up at me as
we went. It was done, that moment that
empty place in my heart was full again, and I knew he was coming home with
me.
Miles was a year and a half old and they knew because he actually came in as a puppy on his mom and had been in foster till a couple months before when his foster family had to move and he came back to the shelter. How lucky could I be, my heart dog from a shelter and he was already house trained, had manners, and knew how to go on a leash. It was totally meant to be, he rescued me from my solo runs and my almost kid-less life, and I had a heart dog again. He wasn’t Nick, he was his own self with every good quality Nick had, but in his own personality. Miles is my Velcro dog, always at my heels around the house, outside doing chores, working cattle, and riding in the passenger seat with me everywhere I go. When it’s too hot, he is waiting for me at the door when I get back home. On our runs I can turn him lose when safe to do so, and he never leaves me, even when we flush a flock of turkeys, deer run across the trail in front of us, or there is another dog coming down the trail. He loves nothing more than to hear me say “Good boy Miles” and will do anything I ask him to do, as long as he can be with me.
We started Kayaking this year, and testament to how much being with me is important to him is the fact that even shaking the first time, he willingly climbed into the kayak and sat down between my legs, and bravely stayed right there as we took off down the river without being held there. I cannot express how much I love this dog beyond saying he is now my 5th child, and I often refer to him as my son's younger brother and of course, the kids tease me that I love Miles more than them. He has a “never quit” attitude out on the trails, willing to keep going even when I start questioning my desire to run another step. He will come to my side, stick his nose in my hand, and go ahead again like he is encouraging me to “come on mom, you can do this”. He never says no to a run, except on our short ones when we do an out and back from home and questions the turn around coming too soon for his liking. He knows when we are turning back, and will give me that look and lag a bit begging me to keep going instead of turning back. He’s simply the best!
Miles was a year and a half old and they knew because he actually came in as a puppy on his mom and had been in foster till a couple months before when his foster family had to move and he came back to the shelter. How lucky could I be, my heart dog from a shelter and he was already house trained, had manners, and knew how to go on a leash. It was totally meant to be, he rescued me from my solo runs and my almost kid-less life, and I had a heart dog again. He wasn’t Nick, he was his own self with every good quality Nick had, but in his own personality. Miles is my Velcro dog, always at my heels around the house, outside doing chores, working cattle, and riding in the passenger seat with me everywhere I go. When it’s too hot, he is waiting for me at the door when I get back home. On our runs I can turn him lose when safe to do so, and he never leaves me, even when we flush a flock of turkeys, deer run across the trail in front of us, or there is another dog coming down the trail. He loves nothing more than to hear me say “Good boy Miles” and will do anything I ask him to do, as long as he can be with me.
We started Kayaking this year, and testament to how much being with me is important to him is the fact that even shaking the first time, he willingly climbed into the kayak and sat down between my legs, and bravely stayed right there as we took off down the river without being held there. I cannot express how much I love this dog beyond saying he is now my 5th child, and I often refer to him as my son's younger brother and of course, the kids tease me that I love Miles more than them. He has a “never quit” attitude out on the trails, willing to keep going even when I start questioning my desire to run another step. He will come to my side, stick his nose in my hand, and go ahead again like he is encouraging me to “come on mom, you can do this”. He never says no to a run, except on our short ones when we do an out and back from home and questions the turn around coming too soon for his liking. He knows when we are turning back, and will give me that look and lag a bit begging me to keep going instead of turning back. He’s simply the best!
1 Favorite cross training or strength training?
1 Our cross training is
working cattle and horses mostly. I
don’t go to the gym or specifically “strength train” because all the outside
working with animals and assorted gear/feeding we do pretty much covers
that. I am looking at incorporating Yoga
into my life to address some recent blood pressure issues I have had, and need
to figure out how to include Miles in that too.
He will probably just do “downward dog” beside me as I do everything
though and that’s fitting.
1 How did you fit training in with your busy life
of being a mom and work?
1
Luckily, I am self employed
and my kids are pretty much grown (youngest is 17) so I can train pretty much
whenever I want or have time depending on what needs done that day. One of the benefits of taking up running at
an older age and working for yourself, the time constraints are a lot less than
being tied to a 9-5 job and kids really aren’t a big factor. I had more issues scheduling around social
responsibilities than “work” life.
Friends who don’t run don’t really understand the desire to run 20 miles
instead of going out for lunch or shopping.
On days that we had all day cattle work or I was helping with the crops,
I would take every chance to jump off the horse or out of the tractor and run
around pastures and fields (I would carry my running shoes and stuff in a bag
with me and toss it on and off as necessary during the day) as I could. Often I would only get a mile here and two
miles there and then another mile or so as it went on. However, time on feet even interrupted is
time on feet. Most of my runs were
focused, but many were piecemeal as I could get them.
Thank you so much for showcasing my boy Miles (and me too but he's the special one). Cannot wait to see you soon at another trail race and share some miles together with our perfect partners, Miles and Stella.
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