Vanessa Runs's Blog, page 6
May 3, 2016
Daughter of Distance of the Week: Terry Toffelmire
One of my goals this year is to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to promote female athletes than to feature one Daughter of Distance each week? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
This week’s Daughter of Distance is: Terry Toffelmire!
Check her out:
Who Is Terry?
I’m a 41-year-old mom to two girls, ages 3 and 5. I work full-time in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and I love to run, train and race. I’ve been running for more than 15 years.
Running started as a casual hobby to stay fit, and I would run half marathons here and there. Since having kids, running has become an even more important part of my life. It is what I do for myself. It is my meditation, my time with myself, with friends, with God, my time to renew my own well-being. I also hope that as I feed my own needs, my daughters learn to grow up feeding their needs and become strong, empowered women.
Over the last couple of years I’ve fallen in love with trail running. Trails feed my soul and give me a connection to myself and to the world. Moving up in distances has happened naturally. Last year I ran my first ultra, a 50K. I am excited to see how far I can push my body, to see where my limits lie. It is amazing to me that we are always capable of so much more.
What is your most memorable endurance experience?
Last August my running partner and I ran a trail marathon (The Moose Mountain Marathon) in the mountains near Calgary. Getting snow year-round, randomly, is the norm here, and this weekend did not disappoint.
We arrived at the starting line to see a few inches of snow in the parking lot. If there was snow in the parking lot, there would surely be snow on the race course, as it went up to nearly summit a mountain and back down again.
As we started out, I knew that my legs were not lively that day, but my running partner and I are both positive people. On this particular day, we decided to make a game of it, to try to think of #brightsides to this crazy weather and day.
We laughed and chatted for 5.5 hours as we ran up and down this mountain, and had one of the greatest races ever (experience-wise, not performance-wise). It just goes to show that it isn’t always about time, or performance, often it’s about your attitude and how you look at things.
I wrote up my race report based on the list of all the #brightsides we thought of. You can read it here: https://terryruns.wordpress.com/2015/08/23/brightside-moose-mountain-race-report/
Tell me about some of your goals and plans for 2016.
May: Calgary Marathon. I hope I can BQ at this one, and am focusing more on road running through to this race (with the occasional trail adventure just for fun).
I also plan to run Powderface Trail Marathon and Ironlegs 60k trail race over the summer. I ran the Powderface Half last year, and loved it. The Marathon is 44K and had almost 1700 m’s of elevation gain!
In September I plan to run Lost Soul 100k. Lost Soul is my big “take a risk” race. I almost always set myself up with goals that might look difficult, but that I know I’m pretty sure I can achieve. This one scares the crap out of me! It’s a long race and I don’t know how it’s going to go down, but I’m excited to find out.
You can connect with Terry any of the following ways:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/terryrunsthings
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerryToffelmire
Instagram: http://instagram.com/terryruns
Blog: https://terryruns.wordpress.com
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sport. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews and purchase at tinyurl.com/daughtersofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each week on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community.
See you on the singletrack!
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
April 27, 2016
Daughters of Distance of the Week: The Rev3 Koa Wahine Women’s Adventure Racing Team
For three months now I have been posting a series of profiles featuring individual women in endurance sport. Today I’m thrilled to present our first all-female team! These ladies are hardcore. Allow me to introduce you to: The Rev3 Koa Wahine Women’s Adventure Racing Team
About the Team
The Rev3 Koa Wahine Women’s Adventure Racing Team is made up of four female endurance athletes from both Virginia and North Carolina. Kia Wahine is Hawaiian for Warrior Women and really embodies the team’s fighting spirit.
As individuals the team has years of experience in Adventure Racing but 2016 marks the first time they will compete together. The team will be participating in the Rev3 Cameco Cowboy Tough Expedition Adventure Race this July in the state of Wyoming. The race is a non-stop 3.5-day event during which the team will rack up over 100 miles of paddling, 200 miles of biking, and over 100 miles of trekking.
Team member Susan Alderman’s best race memory comes from the Untamed New England Race:
“It was day three in the middle of the night somewhere remote in the backcountry of Maine. I was sleep deprived, hungry and hallucinating. We had been on our feet for hours and we had just transitioned onto our mountain bikes.
Half asleep and pedaling down this lonely stretch of backcountry, I turned to look over to my right side and there was this huge creature galloping alongside me. At first I thought maybe it was my teammate, but then I realized it was something extraordinary. It was a moose!
We had been traveling for days in the remoteness of Maine and seeing evidence (droppings) of these stately creatures along the way. I was hoping to encounter one face to face. I just didn’t know it would be in the middle of the night. It was pretty wild!”
Team member Britt Mason’s memory also comes from Maine:
“It’s the sort of train wreck leg of a race that is bound to happen when you have only slept about an hour in the last three days. This section was designed for you to hike up a trail for about 10k, then packraft (think expensive blow up dinghies) down a river with class III rapids.
In the daytime, I’m sure this was a blast; however, we hit it in the dark while our navigator was basically asleep on his feet. The batteries for our lights were dying, so we didn’t feel comfortable on the water, and we kept hitting big water that would drench us. None of us wanted to go swimming at this stage!
There were checkpoints on the other side of the river we had to collect, so we ended up paddling across to get them. Crossing the whitewater was no easy task, and we had to time it right while making sure we were crossing in the right place. It was a long, cold, demoralizing night.
We saw other teams along the trail who were hypothermic and warming up or who had lost gear and even boats in the water. We ran out of food and struggled to stay awake. But as the sun rose, we made it into the final transition area and were rewarded with a final short victory ride to the finish. We had overcome a lot of things throughout the race, and there was such a great feeling of accomplishment as we headed home.”
Dusty Repphun’s memory comes from the 2013 Cowboy Tough race in Wyoming :
“We were paddling on a reservoir in Wyoming when a crazy storm came up. You could hear the wind roaring through the canyon before it hit us. Sustained 50+mph winds for hours created waves that would swamp our kayak. We paddled from shoreline to shoreline in zig-zag fashion, getting out and dumping the water from the boat, then portaging as far along the shoreline as we could.
Conditions on the beach felt like a sandstorm because of the high winds. All of the other teams still on the water when the storm hit were picked up by rescue boats and taken to the next leg of the race.
My teammate Cory and I decided we could finish the paddle under our own power and made it our personal mission no matter how long it took. At one point, Cory became hypothermic and we had to stop to get him warm. What should have taken us two hours took ten, but we succeeded, and it was a huge personal victory for both of us.”
Sarah Goldman’s favorite race memory comes from the Equinox Traverse in Pennsylvania:
“It was late on the first night of the race. My teammate Glen and I were pushing our bikes, in the dark, up a steep section of road. I was cold, tired, and hungry, which is par for the course on any long race. As we pushed, I could hear something in the woods beside me. At first I ignored it, knowing it could be any manner of wildlife and certainly whatever it was wouldn’t be interested in two skinny adventure racers. But quickly the sound got closer.
I froze thinking that the heavy footsteps must belong to something much larger than me. I remember grabbing Glen in a mild state of panic, which of course made him freeze as well. The thudding sound continued to get closer and closer, moving at a steady clip. Suddenly, out of the woods burst a really tiny toad, hopping expertly just in front of our bikes. Instantly, Glen and I burst out laughing! It may not be the most exciting memory, but what a great reminder to not make a mountain out of a molehill. Sometimes what you think is Bigfoot, is just a toad.”
To learn more about these outstanding women, visit:
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sport. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews and purchase at tinyurl.com/daughtersofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each week on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community.
See you on the singletrack!
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
April 16, 2016
Daughter of Distance of the Week: Stephanie Fronk
One of my goals this year is to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to promote female athletes than to feature one Daughter of Distance each week? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
This week’s Daughter of Distance is: Stephanie Fronk!
Check her out:
Who Is Stephanie?
I am a graduate student, a chemist, and a crazy ultrarunner. I’ve finished 13 ultras, 10 marathons, and a variety of shorter distance races. Graduate school is kind of like an ultramarathon too – you work really hard for four or five years and hope you finish with a doctorate. Juggling 50+ hours a week in the lab, spending time with my boyfriend, and running can get kind of crazy at times. I can’t imagine yet what it would be like to add kids into the mix.
I love playing on the trails. The chance to get outside in the mountains is one I rarely pass up. When I’m trail running, I can forget about all of my failed experiments, rejected papers, and real life stress and instead focus on how lucky I am to live in Santa Barbara, CA with unsurpassable views of the Pacific Ocean, Channel Islands, and the Santa Ynez Mountains.
Running is also social time – a chance to talk and laugh with my friends. If I’m not running one of the local races, I’m usually volunteering. The running community in Santa Barbara has really made me feel at home.
What are your plans for 2016?
I plan to run Nine Trails in March and The Canyons 100k in May. I really want to run another 100 miler in the fall but there are too many choices. Maybe Headlands, maybe Kodiak, maybe someday I’ll dig up the courage to run Chimera.
I will volunteer at a couple of races as well—most likely Born to Run and Red Rock. I hate to miss all of the excitement at Luis Escobar’s events and I love cheering for my friends. I also need to develop a definite plan for graduating and then maybe decide what I want to do when I grow up (to support my running habit).
Tell me about a memorable endurance experience.
A little over a year ago, I ran my first 100-mile race at Rio Del Lago. My labmates thought I was crazy, my parents were worried about my health, and I had no idea if I could run 100 miles. My first ultra was only a year and a half earlier.
My only goal was to finish the race so I didn’t even bother to wear a watch. I didn’t really have a plan—I just wanted to keep moving forward without resorting to a death march at the end. Returning to the start/finish line with 22 miles left in the race scared me. However I rolled into mile 78 to meet my friend and pacer Loren. It was tough, my legs were cramping up but it was also surreal to be running in the dark during the early hours of the morning and so much fun crossing paths with my SB friends also running Rio.
The last section of the race crosses a levy such that you can see the finish line more than a mile away. My first sighting of those lights was definitely emotional—it meant I was going to finish my first 100! The last mile or two is a bit of a blur in my memory but Loren says I must have been “smelling the barn” as we started hitting sub-9 minute miles at that point. Finally crossing the finish line I realized that if you want something badly enough, you can succeed (especially if you have friends to help along the way).
You can connect with Stephanie on Facebook.
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sport. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews and purchase at tinyurl.com/daughtersofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each week on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community.
See you on the singletrack!
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
April 11, 2016
Daughter of Distance of the Week: Erica Smith
One of my goals this year is to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to promote female athletes than to feature one Daughter of Distance each week? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
This week’s Daughter of Distance is: Erica Smith!
Check her out:
Who Is Erica?
My name is Erica Smith (AKA La Chiva). I started running in Winthrop, Maine, where I ran roads with my dad. He has always run and it continues to be something we can always do together, no matter what time or where we were.
I went to school in upstate New York, pursued my passion of painting, and came out of it all with a “real” job (teacher). I had some travel experiences before this, so I promptly fled the country after finishing school.
I tried out Costa Rica. I managed to travel and teach for a couple years in Central America, meeting some amazing people who, crazy as it seems, were not all trail runners! The beaches got redundant, so I headed to Peru for a bit and did some rock climbing. One thing I love about running is you can do it anywhere you are. For the most part wherever I have lived, I have run.
Where do you call home these days?
One way or another I found myself in Phoenix. After a breakup with the guy, I found myself completely alone. I have traveled all over the world on my own, having no problem befriending complete strangers, but for some reason in the U.S it seemed harder. People were established more or less, had their groups, their families.
When I realized in this setting I am too shy to make friends with random people on the streets, I found a couple meetup groups to check out. One of the first I went to was a group run with Aravaipa Running. It was still a relatively small group back then.
After going a couple nights, I met my first friend in Arizona, Nadine Haluszczak. Look her up, she is a badass. We ended up doing our first Aravaipa race together, then first 50K, all the way up to 100.
Why ultrarunning?
When starting with the group I had just run my first marathon, and I thought that was a pretty big deal. But these people I was now hanging around didn’t blink an eye at this. I heard this new word “ultra,” and realized these people were not marathon runners. They did not run on pavement. They did not follow the rules. But really all that mattered was they liked to drink good beer after a run, so that’s where I started.
Now I have a family, people who support me not only in my running, but in my life. I have since worked up the ladder from 50K to 100 miles. The racing is not what matters, so I will not list my accomplishments. I do it because I can’t not do it. The people I have met, the trails I can’t live without, the feeling of being out there alone and loving it. This is why I run.
Tell me about a memorable race experience.
My most memorable race experience was el ultramaratón de los Cañones in Guachochi, Chihuahua, Mexico. My first trip to Mexico was to run in the 13th Ultramarathon Caballo Blanco, made famous by the book Born to Run.
It was a wonderful experience, traveling to Urique, reuniting with some of the Tarahumara guys that have come up to Arizona for races, and actually being able to camp with the Raramuri. After many encounters with goats along the trip, I also got my trail name, La Chiva, which means goat.
As many know, the race was cancelled due to cartel activity in the area. The race directors cancelled, but the government in Urique still put on the race. Though controversial, my friends and I still participated in this race. To read more about my experience there, please read Michael Versteeg’s blog: http://michaelversteeg.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html
What are your fitness goals this year?
Looking ahead at 2016, my first goal is to be healthy. Since November I have had some problems with my hip that have kept me from running more than 10 or 15 miles per week.
I am registered to run the Zane Gray 50 miler in April, so my biggest goal is to be healthy enough to train hard for this race and feel strong. I continue to run with the Aravaipa group, and am helping out as much as possible. This helps me stay connected with the running community even though I can’t run.
This is the longest I have been out, and mentally and emotionally it is a struggle. Through this I have discovered much about myself, and have found other ways to occupy my time, with activities like yoga, painting, and dancing. My goals in running are similar to my goals in life: be happy, healthy, and surround myself with people I love.
Erica shares many of her experiences in life and running through Facebook and her blog: http://lachivarunning.blogspot.com/
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sport. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews and purchase at tinyurl.com/daughtersofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each week on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community.
See you on the singletrack!
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
April 5, 2016
Daughter of Distance of the Week: Amy Novotny
One of my goals this year is to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to promote female athletes than to feature one Daughter of Distance each week? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
This week’s Daughter of Distance is: Amy Novotny!
Check her out:
Who Is Amy?
Amy Novotny is a physical therapist, marathon/ultra runner and nature photographer living in Arizona. She enjoys the outdoors and can often be found running and hiking on trails in the Phoenix area. She seeks out local parks, nature preserves and wildlife refuges to photograph as a way to recover after marathons as she attempts to run one in all 50 states.
Amy’s endurance career began in 2009 with a 1-mile run on a treadmill to get in shape after graduating from physical therapy school. She celebrated that initial accomplishment and her love of running grew from there to six miles, three times per week.
In 2011, she began racing half marathons and six months later attempted her first full marathon. By the end of 2015, Amy had run 25 marathons (12 in 2015 alone), 3 ultra marathons, and 13 half marathons. She also completed the Arizona Ironman triathlon in November 2013.
In her spare time, Amy tends to her backyard garden filled with fruits, vegetables, and herbs. She cooks from scratch using recipes from various vegetarian and vegan blogs online. Amy is now a volunteer trip leader for the Arizona Highways Photo Workshops where she will begin sharing her joy of nature with others.
Amy’s most memorable endurance experience was the Across the Years 24 hour race in 2013-2014. Having just completed the Arizona Ironman triathlon five weeks earlier, Amy set off to run for 24 hours along a 1-mile track that changed directions every four hours. Prior to this, Amy’s longest run was a 50k race in the San Tan Mountains 10 months earlier.
By mile 36, she was convinced that ultra running was much harder than an Ironman. By mile 80, her whole body hurt but she pushed through and completed 102.88 miles in 23:37, coming in 4th place for females and 9th place overall. Amy managed to run 92 of the total miles!
For 2016, Amy plans to return to Boston for her second Boston marathon and push for a fast race only to return to Arizona to run the Zane Grey 50 miler in the Mogollon Rim. Her goals for the rest of the year will include running marathons in states not yet completed in her attempt to run a marathon in all 50 states. She plans to throw in a few trail ultras as time allows.
Amy can be contacted through her website: http://www.amysimpressions.com; through twitter: @amynovotnyaz; through instagram: @anovotn, and Facebook: Amy Novotny
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sport. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews and purchase at tinyurl.com/daughtersofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each week on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community.
See you on the singletrack!
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
March 29, 2016
Daughter of Distance of the Week: Racine Lambert-Cwerenz
One of my goals for 2016 was to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to do that than to feature one Daughter of Distance each month? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
I have since posted two of these features and put out a call for more women to volunteer their stories. The response was overwhelming.
I was flooded with responses: enough to fill the rest of 2016 and into 2017. So I’ve decided to step up the pace and post a weekly profile instead of a monthly one. Each of these women are so deserving and deeply inspirational, I can’t bear to leave anyone out.
Thank you so much for generously sharing your stories with me. I am honored and excited to pass them on.
Today we kick off the weekly profiles. First up is Racine Lambert-Cwerenz!
Check her out:
Who Is Racine Lambert-Cwerenz?
My name is Racine, not my legal name but the name I go by. My real name is Traci and I like that name but I like my nickname better. I got it when I worked in nightclubs back in the 80s. I was a cocktail waitress and I was fast on my feet in serving up people their liquefied concoctions.
I knew I liked you! Tell me about your athletic background.
I started running late in life, around the age of 42. I ran road races from 5k to marathon distances. Trail running entered my heart last year when I ran my first trails and my first 50 miler. I joined a few running groups, met some great people and have not looked back. I ran my first 100 miler this year and have paced, crewed, and volunteered many races in between.
What are some of your most memorable race experiences?
I have two events in my running life that mean a great deal to me. Actually, three if I am honest. The first was pacing my friend Liz to her first 100 finish at Potawatomi. My second was finishing my own hundred this September at Hennepin 100. My third was just recently pacing, crewing and watching my friend Vicki complete her first 100 at Javelina Jundred. It really is amazing to see and help people attain their goals, but pretty cool to achieve your own as well.
What are your plans for 2016?
For 2016 I have on my calendar so far:
Three Days in Syllamo
Potawatomi 100
Bear 100
Other things will fall into place in between those events and I hope to enjoy running in 2016 as much as 2015! As my saying goes, “Run Long My Friends and Get Out In It!”
How can others get in touch with you?
My blog is Ultra Tales, Sparkle Skirts and Neil Diamond at muddrunner.com/blog.
I am also on Facebook as Racine Lambert-Cwerenz.
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sport. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews and purchase at tinyurl.com/daughtersofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each week on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community.
See you on the singletrack!
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
February 22, 2016
March’s Daughter of Distance: Brenda Marion-Gerula
One of my goals for 2016 was to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to do that than to feature one Daughter of Distance each month? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
I am honored to present Brenda Marion-Gerula as your Daughter of Distance for March!
Check her out:
Who is Brenda Marion-Gerula?
I’m the mother of 4 amazing children ages 8, 8, 6 & 4. My running journey began in 2002. I started with training and then running my first half marathon. I signed up for two more in 2004 and another two in 2005.
Tell me about your family life.
In the summer of 2005, I met my husband. We were married in September 2006. In December 2007 I gave birth to our beautiful twin boys. It wasn’t until after our third son arrived in 2010 that I decided to start training again. I asked my husband Eddie if he would also like to try running with me and he is now hooked on running! In 2011 our beautiful baby girl arrived.
Tell me about your training.
As a couple we now average 7 races a year. We have run over 20 half marathons and 2 full marathons. I have crushed several of my goals such as running a sub-2:00 half marathon. My husband Eddie runs faster than me and has motivated and pushed me to keep up as we run side by side.
Last July my husband turned 40. He wanted to have a group of friends run 40km to mark that milestone year. We had a great time. One of our friends, who is also an amazing runner, brought an actual tripod and camera and ran the entire distance with it. He took hundreds of pictures along the way and it was the best running experience ever. There were no race expectations—just a bunch of friends having fun running and goofing off. We ended our run with a surprise potluck with all of our family and friends.
How do you keep up with your fitness goals?
I prefer running in the morning. In order to get my running in I am up very early. I meet up with a couple of friends and run at 4:40am. I never tracked my mileage in previous years but this year I really wanted to know. I set a goal of running 2015 km in 2015 and accomplished that.
What’s in store for 2016?
My husband and I have signed up for our first trail 50km ultra. My longest mileage to date has been 44km. It’s scary to think of going beyond that but also very exciting.
What message would you like to share with other athletic moms?
To all the moms out there: I encourage you to make time for yourself. You deserve, need and have earned it. Motherhood is exhausting! Dishes can wait. Laundry will never be done, so make time for you and get out there and do something healthy. Whatever goals you may have: No excuses! Just put that time on the calendar and consider it your time. Reward yourself for what you accomplish! Your entire family will benefit no matter what you decide to do for yourself.
Connect with Brenda on Facebook at facebook.com/brenda.mariongerula.
What does it mean to be a female in endurance sports?
This series is inspired by my book: Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports. Here, hundreds of women open up about their realities as athletes, wives, girlfriends and mothers. From the intimacy of the bedroom to the community of competition, some of these stories will encourage and uplift. Others will surprise and infuriate. Welcome to the beautiful and complicated world of strong women.
Check out the Amazon reviews at tinyurl.com/daughterofdistance
Will you be our next Daughter of Distance?
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
This is a project to feature one woman in endurance each month on social media. The goal is to connect strong women across sports and across the world in celebration and appreciation. There is no need to be an elite or professional athlete. Each Daughter of Distance will receive a copy of my book, Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports.
For daily inspiring stories on athletic women, follow us on Facebook at facebook.com/daughtersofdistance.
And don’t forget to tag your photos and stories with the hashtag #daughtersofdistance to connect to this awesome community!
See you on the singletrack!
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How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
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February 6, 2016
February’s Daughter of Distance: Alfa Severino
One of my goals for the New Year was to support more women in endurance and help them connect to each other. There are so many of us out there, grinding out those miles and sometimes feeling alone in our awesomeness.
I thought: What better way to do that than to feature one Daughter of Distance each month? These will be women who love and embrace endurance sports of all kinds. They are not necessarily elites, though they can be. The majority of them are “regular” moms and wives and girlfriends and friends, balancing work and kids and training.
I am honored to present Alfa Severino as your February Daughter of Distance! I first met Alfa as part of the Race Across America team, to benefit the 100 Mile Club. She ran across the entire state of California! But I’ll let her tell you more about that.
Alfa has two beautiful children and a loving hubby. She is currently a coach for The 100 Mile Club and she’s got big plans for 2016.
Check her out:
Who is Alfa Severino?
I’m a wife and a mother of two who discovered the love for running, and for running long distances. I have completed 36 marathons/ultramarathons, numerous half marathons and relay races. I love the freedom running gives me. It makes me happy and it makes me smile!
In January 2015 I completed the Race Across California (RAUSA) where I ran from Huntington Beach, California to Parker, Arizona. It was an amazing experience!
Running is the one thing in my life that I can improve the more I do it. I have gotten stronger and more consistent over the years. Running has taught me how to push beyond my limits and has proven to me that I can, and will achieve my goals. My family supports my running and I have learned to balance life. I appreciate and respect the roads, the mountains and its trails.
Tell me about your most memorable endurance experience.
Back in May I ran my 4th 100 mile race with the goal to finish, and to perhaps even PR. I had trained mentally and physically for the race. I had my husband crew me and my friend Nathan pace me at night.
The real race started at mile 75. Those last miles are a big blur. My mind was telling me I had nothing left to give, but my pacer made me run, had me dig deep. My legs somehow responded, and I ran with heart those last miles. I got a sweet sub 22 hour race!
I realize that I can command my body to perform no matter what kind of pain I’m in. It takes desire, determination, and the willingness to push myself to the limits in order to succeed!
What are some of your goals and plans for 2016?
I plan to run Nanny Goat 100, EC100 and Badwater 146.
I will continue pacing for BeastPacing to get give back to the community and to get inspired by amazing athletes out there.
You can follow Alfa on Instagram @alfalfaseverino
Interested in being featured as a Daughter of Distance? Shoot me an email at vanessaruns@gmail.com.
You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
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Other Books:
January 5, 2016
2015 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 150,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 6 days for that many people to see it.
Click here to see the complete report.
November 25, 2015
Period Hacks and Bleeding Responsibly in the Outdoors
The following is a book excerpt from Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports. Get the full book or download a sample on Amazon. Remember to leave an Amazon review.
One thing that hasn’t changed after all these years is the implication that there’s something filthy about the vagina and the blood that comes out of it. In fact, menstrual blood is no different or dirtier than any other blood and a healthy vagina is one of the cleanest spots on the body. (If you’re looking for something filthy, check your mouth, which is statistically dirtier than your anus.)
Still, the difficulties of getting your period as an athlete are very real. Out of all the negatives mentioned by female endurance athletes about being a woman in sport, these monthly visits were the #1 downfall.
Environmental Concerns
When I spoke to women about their periods, many would guide the conversation to one sub-topic: bleeding responsibly.
What were the effects of menstruation products on the environment, and what could they do to eliminate or reduce this footprint? It was a serious concern for females who felt passionate about the outdoors and spent as much time as they could in the wilderness. One woman even went off the Pill when she started trail running because she didn’t want to pollute the wilds with the hormones in her pee. Instead, she would plan her runs around her periods and reported it was a small price to pay to keep the wilderness healthy.
Here are some of the tips I gathered from women on the trails with the goal of leaving no trace:
Mind the wrappers.
A large portion of the waste we send to landfills is made up of packaging. You can do your part by choosing products with minimum packaging. (Do this with everything else you buy, too.) Since feminine care products aren’t sterile they don’t require extra wrapping. You can find pads that aren’t individually wrapped or tampons that don’t include the plastic applicators. Buying in bulk may also help reduce extra waste.
Choose menstrual cups.
The environmental superhero of period protection seems to be the menstrual cup. Moon Cup is popular but there are several other brands such as Diva Cup and the Keeper. The cups are inserted like a tampon, removed and emptied when full, then reinserted. You can use the same cup for years and they’ve been around since the 1930s. One runner reported wearing it comfortably for up to 12 hours without needing to rinse it off. They are easy to clean, hold fluid well and feel comfortable. Several women reported training and racing with menstrual cups successfully, although it may require a learning curve as far as insertion. You can buy versions made of natural latex or silicon.
Try reusable pads.
Soft, reusable pads like Tree Hugger, Lunapads and GladRags are all machine-washable fabric maxi pads. Remember to use an energy-efficient washing regimen.
Use a baggie.
What’s the best way to pack out a tampon in the wilderness? One woman I spoke to reported carrying doggie bags to tie up her used tampons. Another mentioned Ziploc bags. The last suggestion was a surgical glove trick: put on the glove, take out your tampon, then remove the glove by turning it inside out with the tampon inside. Tie up the end of the glove and toss it in your pack for later disposal. No mess, no blood on your hands, and no trash on the trails.
Not every woman will be comfortable with all these options, but the point is that we have options. Make the best choice you can to protect the wild places you train and play.
Period Hacks
Every woman is affected differently by her period, but a wide variety of side effects can be inconvenient for endurance training. The women I spoke to reported everything from intense pain and negative self-talk to feeling light-headed and passing out on the trails.
Although it’s a myth that women should avoid strenuous activity during their periods, some side effects make it difficult to get out there. Over the years, women have developed their own period hacks to make their lives just a little bit more manageable. Here are a few that were shared with me:
Pill Manipulation
If you’re due to get your period on race day and you’d rather not, you can push your cycle back a week (or several weeks) if you’re on birth control pills. Simply skip the fourth week of pills (when you typically get your period) and start right into the next month’s cycle. As long as you do this, your period can be held off indefinitely. Women have reported doing this for long runs, races or vacation time. Since women on the Pill do not experience uterine build-up, they technically don’t need to have a period to shed the lining. The bleeding that does occur while on the pill is not a “real” period. Some basic research or a chat with your health care provider can offer more insight into the biology behind this trick.
IUD
IUDs are a favorite option for endurance females. This small device inserted directly into the uterus can provide up to 12 years of birth control. Once inserted, you can forget about it. The biggest selling feature mentioned to me: no periods. Many women stop getting them.
Blood and Bears and Sharks! How Not to Get Killed by Your Period
“Special precautions apply to women! For their protection, women should refrain from wilderness travel during their menstrual periods! Bears and other large carnivores have attacked women in this physiological condition!”
That quote is from an old U.S. Parks Department flyer distributed for years to campers. The fear was based on the idea that hungry bears could pick up the scent of a woman menstruating, putting her at a higher risk of attack. Although there was no direct link between bear attacks and menstruating females, women were warned just in case—for their own protection, of course.
This myth—yes, it is definitely a myth—originated on the evening of August 13, 1967. Two women were killed by grizzly bears in Glacier National Park. When no causes were found for the attack, it was speculated that perhaps both women had been on their periods. Years passed without any legitimate investigation and the period-fears morphed into an unfounded but generally accepted warning.
Some feminists argue that this is a perfect example of how women are discriminated against in the outdoors. In general, they are seen as weaker in the wilderness, less able to handle themselves and in need of careful protection.
It wasn’t until 1991 that the bear myth was finally put to rest in a National Park Service study involving grizzly bears, black bears, polar bears and used tampons collected from 26 different women. Then NSP also considered data from various different studies and couldn’t find a single incident of menstruation-induced bear attacks. They also failed to find a single situation in which black bears or grizzly bears were even attracted to used tampons.
Polar bears, however, presented a bit of an exception. A 1983 study found that four captive polar bears responded to menstrual odors. Wild polar bears were also found to consume used tampons while ignoring unused ones.
The bear myth is still prevalent today. A 1997 pamphlet titled Backcountry Bear Basics out of Glacier National Park read: “Although the evidence is inconclusive, menstrual odors and human sexual activity may attract bears.”
A similar and equally prevalent myth is that menstruating women shouldn’t go into the ocean because of the risk of a shark attack. While it’s true that sharks are capable of detecting blood, they can also detect any other human excretion such as sweat or urine. Menstrual blood doesn’t put women at any additional risk.
Ralph S. Collier is a shark behavior expert who has been documenting shark attacks since 1963. In the late 1960s, he conducted a study with fellow shark expert H. David Bladridge. They introduced several human body fluids to wild sharks in open ocean pens and examined the response. The only fluid that was found to cause a reaction was peritoneal fluid, a liquid found in the human abdominal cavity.
Marie Levine, founder and executive director for the Shark Research Institute, claims she has been diving for decades and even got her period while underwater with a school of hammerhead sharks. The sharks did not show the least bit of interest. On the contrary, she claims she had to work hard to get close to them. Interestingly, 90 percent of recorded shark attacks involve men.
This was a book excerpt from Daughters of Distance: Stories of Women in Endurance Sports. Get the full book or download a sample on Amazon.
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You May Also Enjoy:
How to Balance Endurance Training and Family: Tips & Tricks for Parents
Menopause Management Tips for the Active Endurance Athlete
****
Other Books:
