My Story

My fiftieth birthday was spent in quarantine. Covid quarantine. Ironically, as a Nurse Practitioner working in a walk-in clinic and in a nursing home, I treated hundreds of covid patients over the previous three years but never contacted covid. So funny it would find me right before my 50 th birthday. And right before both of my kids’ high school graduation ceremony. And right before my first ever 50k race. It wasa Triple Whammy. And on top of that I had just rented out my house and needed to move into my basement and my empty nest syndrome was kicking in. Quadruple Whammy.

I started to get into trail running in my late 40’s after I went on an Alaskan cruise. How does a cruise, where we mostly sit, and eat, and eat more, motivate one for trail running? Well I took an excursion by helicopter to a glacier and was in awe. That beautiful scenery made me want to get in better shape to get OUT THERE MORE. The Alaskan Wilderness is WILD and it demands fitness to explore. I was a decent runner but had kept it up minimally in my 20’s and 30’s while starting my nursing career and raising children. Mostly for my sanity. For 27 years I never ran more than 5 miles at a time, three days a week, and several of those years included pushing a stroller or dragging a dog on a leash. But in my late 40’s I attended a trail running camp and ran for longer. I learned that trail running includes a lot of hiking (ha!) and that my body could handle it. I expanded my miles and it felt good. Then came the long volcano runs. Timberline Trail: Check. Loowit: Check. Wonderland: Check. But I never really had the motivation to run an ultra race until I tore my ACL right after my 49 th birthday. Being forced to sit on the couch will do a lot for your imagination. As I hobbled around after surgery, I realized I was 10 months away from my 50 th ’ birthday. I fantasized about not being injured. I needed to do something big. And HARD. Like why not run up a volcano in a 50 mile race? It seemed so easy from the couch! As soon as I could walk, I started training for the hardest 50 mile race that I knew of, called the Baker Ultra, a 50 mile out-and-back race that included a 10,000 foot climb up Mountain Baker to Sherman Peak. But by March, (5 months later) it was cancelled. Time for plan B. There was another 50 mile route called the Zion Traverse that piqued my interest, but right before purchasing airline tickets and booking hotels, I learned the 49ish miles had been compressed due to rockfall, so now it wasn’t long enough to be a fifty. And my friend who was joining me was also injured, so that was also a no-go.

Finally, scrambling to decide on a 50 something run for my 50th birthday, I settled on a local 50 K race near Mountain Hood called the W ’yeast Wonder. It wasn’t the grand 50 mile adventure I had fantasized about, but it was accessible, I knew the route, and most importantly, I had a high probability of making

the starting line! I managed to recover enough from covid to run the race two weeks later. I felt pretty good about it and ended up third in my age bracket. My first 50K race in the bag! And just like the amnesia that settles in after childbirth, I dismissed the pain and quickly signed up for another one. This time it was The Backcountry Rise on Mt. Saint Helens in Washington. It is a beautiful and challenging route, and after the race I learned I was one of the few runners who didn’t get stung by yellow jackets. I loved the energy, scenery, and comradery and I was hooked. This time I finished first in my age bracket. I was exactly a year out from my ACL repair and it felt great.

So back to my empty nest. Thankfully my kids are amazing young adults, and I couldn’t be prouder of their independence and drive to be productive. But anyone that tells you graduating both kids and sending them off to college in the same year doesn’t feel like a gut punch-kick might be full of it. My heart ached as much as I was happy for them. So I needed something to fill that hands-on parenting time—I needed another project. Hence the 50-50-50 project was born. As I sit here typing, it sure feels like running 50 ultra marathons in 50 states during my 50’s might be possible. So far I’ve completed races in both Oregon and Washington. My plan is to hopefully stay healthy and get it done within the next five or six years, but at the latest I must be done before I turn 60. My pacing will vary depending on how I feel and how my body holds up. I plan to run some of the races at my race pace, others at a more casual pace, but all have to be done before the cut-off times in order for the race to count. I also realize that life is fragile, and time is not infinite. If there’s any doing to be done in our lives, it’s best to get going. And in my going I will think of the people I know who have affected me positively, given me strength, or inspired me in different ways, but who are no longer going, or might be barely going, but the day-to-day grind is a struggle, and I will thank them. I think of people I know with mental illness, families touched by suicide, breast cancer, or even the wounded Veterans who have fought various wars that I currently know at the Veteran’s Home who are no longer able to use their bodies the way they used to. Each of those people are daily reminders that life is challenging, and that we are at the mercy of our environment and circumstance, and I must be thankful for my health and for each day. If this project succeeds, I hope to raise money for charities that support those resilient people as theyare my inspiration.

In the meantime, my plan is to keep on running.