1. This sucks and I just started.

The run was a 4 mile loop repeated 13 times. The first couple loops I realized my back was stiff and my muscles were tight. I hadn't run very much in about a month before this race and my body was struggling to get into it.

And isn't that one of those lessons learned in life? We fall off the wagon and it gets incredibly difficult to get back on. A project for work we're procrastinating seems impossible to start. A weight loss goal we keep forgetting about every time we have to enter the gas station...

Don't give up friends. It is so worth the fight. One "foot" in front of the other. Small goals to achieve big things.

2. If ya ain't first you're probably better off

No way on God's green earth am I going to finish first...but maybe if I went a little faster? Slow down you idiot. You've never even run this distance before. Going too hard too fast can screw you up in the long run. For many of us, this is one of those life lessons learned the hard way.A lot of us tend to want to be the best. We race in life and end up feeling burnt out more often than not. I am so guilty of this. I have to remember not to exhaust all my energy on one lap of the race, one day in life, one project... Don't use up all your willpower on just one thing.

It's best to leave the racing to professionals. (Although shout out to my girl Lori who did end up winning the overall 50 miler! Wow! Professional butt-kicking inspiration!!)

3. Walkin' ain't so bad

My third loop I walked the whole thing. I realized early that I had a very long day ahead of me and should conserve my energy. It was my slowest lap overall but I know it helped carry me to the finish.

Feeling like you need a break and it's only 9am? Well do it! It may not sound like a very inspirational life lesson but...Slow down, put your phone out of reach, and breathe. Even a 2 minute break from life will help you reboot. Walk your third lap, my friend. Liz Wilcox does it.

4. Everybody likes a pat on the back

I always run alone. I haven't done a race with someone since 2013 (oh wait, that 5k with my husband!) and I like it that way. How can I hope to hear the "life lessons" the universe is trying to give me if I have a partner that is jabbering all the time? Running is ME time. I don't have to think or worry about any of life's responsibilities. It's pretty much the cheapest form of therapy, if I'm being honest here.
However, I love to cheer on other runners. Any time I pass someone or they pass me, I say great job! Way to work it! Wow, look at you! I don't leave this exclusively for race day either.

Everyone likes to be complimented, especially on their hard work. Next time you see someone working their toosh off, let 'em know!

Gas station clerk slinging those upsales? Right on man! Walmart cashier smiling despite the rage from someone standing in her line when the light is clearly off? I see you and I appreciate you! Mother of 3 outside in public? Wow, your kids are amazing and so are you!

Complimenting others is just about the most fun you'll have with life lessons. Just try it and see what a great time you have!

5. I'm actually doing this!! I never thought I could but I am!

My husband ran the last two laps with me which means he saw the craziest side of me there is. At the end of a race or hard project or bad day, I talk to myself. I say all sorts of inspirational stuff to myself. The Bear Bait 50 Miler was no exception.

"Wow! I'm really going to finish! I'm tired and cranky but I feel so alive. Be proud, Liz! Holy crap, I am almost done. Can you believe it? C'mon Liz. You can do it. You ARE doing it. Let's go!"

This is verbatim, I kid you not. Don't be afraid to give yourself a pep talk. If you aren't going to motivate yourself, who will? Look inside yourself and trust there is an amazing, accomplished WARRIOR in there and you can release it with a little bit of willpower and belief! Prove those Doubting Toms in your head wrong and work hard to get what you want! This may be the most important life lessons you learn!

I honestly never thought I'd be able to run 50 miles. Not even on race day. Not even 3 hours in on race day. But I did, because I just kept telling myself I could. There isn't anything in me that is different than you. I simply have learned to engage the power of positivity.

6. I don't really push myself to run anymore, I'm pulled.

Again, 50 miles. Never in a million years did I think I'd be running 50 miles.

I've always had an on again off again love affair with running. I look back at the last 12 months or so and feel gratitude that I was able to rekindle my love for it. I've run more in that time than I probably have in the last ten years.

A year ago I was just beginning to use running as a means back to happiness and now running has propelled me into pure joy. I am no longer pushing myself to run; running is pulling me towards the road day in and day out, and as you know, pulling is a much stronger action than pushing .

I hope all of you are able to find your pull. Whether it be running or something else, don't be afraid to fall so deeply in love with something JUST FOR YOU that it literally pulls you out of bed in the morning. I am so grateful for my pull.

Love these life lessons?

Comment to let me know what lessons in life you've learned! And don't forget to share with your friends!

By Matthew Rutledge, Ultra Runner RunJunkEes Ambassador
Gear review – 66 Audio BTS Sport
Disclaimer 1:  Using music while you run can distract you from your surroundings and become a safety issue.  Be an adult and be responsible for your own actions.
Disclaimer 2:  I am not an audiophile.  I do not often use music when I run.

That being said, sometimes, I do indeed like to jam out a bit (while running or otherwise).  I’ve been using in the ear ear-buds for much longer than I should admit.  But I think I remember having one of the early pairs that came with a Sony Walkman.  We’ll just leave it there.  The arrival of my test set of 66 Audio BTS Sport headphones was timed perfectly.  I had just taken a good fall trail running and had destroyed my iPhone 5.  The replacement was an iPhone 7.  That’s right, the one without the headphone jack. 
(Official site here: http://www.66audio.com/bts-bluetooth-sports-headphones )
What I got was a case, a USB cable to charge, and the headphones themselves. Having a reasonable understanding of the way things worked, I elected to try and pair things on my own with no guidance.  It worked the first try and has been flawless since.  I slapped them on my ears and hit the trail.
First impressions were really good.  The ear pieces were comfortable.  The over the ear design didn’t bother me at all.  It fit well with my trucker hat, and didn’t interfere with my sunglasses.  The first run was short – 3-ish miles because that’s what I had time for.  I made a point to come back sort of along the road to check some things out.  I could hear the music while the cars came by, AND I could hear the cars.  I think that’s a good thing.  You know, just in case.  Complaints – 0.
Remember when I said I wasn’t an audiophile?  This is where I start talking about music quality.  Please don’t laugh.  My playlist is a bit… eclectic.  The classical songs sounded great.  I could hear all the important parts just fine.  The acoustic jams were also great, as were the rock jams.  The hip-hop… Well, the bass isn’t *quite* what I have come to expect.  I think this is inherent to the design.  It isn’t bad, just different.  I can clearly hear the vocal bass of Uptown Funk.  I can hear, but not feel, the bass when Fort Minor is rapping about Remember the Name.  I was surprised how good the bass sounded when Snoop was telling me to drop it like it’s hot.  The bass track to the intro of Big Boi’s The Way You Move was difficult to discern while running, but acceptable in the house. But if we’re honest, that intro really only sounds good with some good subs pumping. So it isn’t bad, just not as good as some of the in-the-ear models.  Overall, a good first impression.

The second run was a good trail 10k that ends with a solid 2 miles of gentle, fast downhill.  The slog up produced lots of sweat.  I was expecting the ear pieces to get slimy and slide all over my ear on the descent.  Guess what?  It never happened.  They were solidly in place even as I bombed/jumped down the last technical drop.  What a great surprise!


If you’ve been following along, you’ve probably noticed that I almost always run with some sort of glasses on my face – either prescription or sunglasses.  When wearing my prescription glasses, there is some initial interference between the glasses and the over-the-ear component.  The first time I tried this combo, I was a bit dejected.  But it really only took a couple seconds of wiggling things around to get them to settle.  As a bonus, the 66 Audio BTS actually seems to lock my glasses in place a bit and they don’t bounce or slip as much as usual.  Total win!  After wearing the 66 Audio BTS for a bit I have only one suggestion for improvement: The connector behind the neck rides pretty low.  This makes it difficult to look up, especially when wearing glasses.  I think this design is part of the reason the headphones are so solid on my head – when you put them on, they twist a bit to lock onto the ear.  It’s an interesting engineering challenge for sure.  It isn’t all that often I have to look up at the sky when I’m running, so I can make this work.
The 66audio.com website claims the battery life on a single charge is about 25 hours.  I forgot to actually time how many hours I’ve used these things, but between running in them and wearing them around the house for the better part of two weeks, I haven’t had to charge them yet.  Most the other wireless units I’ve looked at had a battery life in the 4-8 hour range.  So far, I’m very impressed.
The 66 Audio BTS supports connecting to two Bluetooth devices at one time.  Say, you wanted to stream music from your iPad, and use the headphones as wireless devices for your iPhone.  The pairing works, much as you think it should, with the addition of needing to manually connect one of the devices.  (I think this is an apple/IOS thing, but I’m not sure.)  If you know it’s there, it isn’t difficult at all to get working.  I had some trouble answering calls in this configuration, but that’s likely because, as my kids say, I’m old.  Honestly, I don’t get many calls, so I didn’t have much chance to get that figured out, but I’m pretty sure it’s user error.  (And honestly, it’s kind of a weird feature. I’m not sure how often I would use it.)
The on-ear controls are a great touch.  The ear-bud models I’ve used in the past have all had that single button microphone that I could never really get to work right.  The 66 Audio BTS has some pretty clear buttons on the right ear that allow you to adjust volume and skip around the tracks.  The controls are pretty easy to remember and operate – volume up: top front, skip track: bottom front, volume down: top back, Previous/restart track: bottom front.  I’m not coordinated enough to manage these buttons while bombing down trails, but that’s because I’m me, not because of the design.
 
Call quality of Bluetooth devices has always been a bit sketchy.  The call quality here seemed to be good quality.  The phone operation is pretty basic – one touch answer/drop, and then the volume controls still work for the headphones.  I didn’t know the 66 Audio BTS had a microphone for the phone function until I read the documentation.  I was thinking it would be a nice touch.  Seems the engineers thought of that too.
Overall conclusion -  With the 25-hour battery life, the overall comfort, the lack of bounce and movement, and the ease of use, I’ll add these to a list of “must buy” gear. 

If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that I would be an ultra marathoner, I would have accused them of being into some fairly serious drugs. I've only been running for 4 years, and my first half marathon was in January of 2012. I attempted to train for my first marathon which was scheduled for January 2013, but I gave up after chronic injuries left me in constant pain.

When I backed out of my marathon experience, I realized that I really wasn't all that sad. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that I didn't really want to be a marathoner. Sure, it would have been nice to put in the training and get it done, but I wasn't doing it because I wanted to do it, but rather because it felt like the only logical step after completing countless half marathons already. 

I'm a back of the packer. I'm overweight. I struggle with health issues. Sure, I wanted to take my running to the next level while overcoming great obstacles, but deep down, I knew that marathoning wasn't for me. Friends would ask me all the time when I planned to take that leap, but after that failed attempt at training for a marathon, the answer was always the same: I just don't want to. Maybe you want to, but I don't.

And then something crazy happened.

I spent the weekend at a race with my dear friend Mel, and he paced me through a 15k, a 5k and a half marathon. And he kept talking about this crazy event he would be doing on Easter Sunday in Jacksonville: a 50K Ultra Trail race called the Run Til You're Boared. I thought he was insane, but I wanted to check out the website. He told me repeatedly that this was the perfect race for me to take my running up a notch without the pressure that is normally associated with a full marathon.

But I was so untrained...

By the time my interest was piqued enough to pull the trigger on registration and get airfare to Jacksonville, I only had 5 weeks to train. And training wouldn't be easy. I had never logged over 14 miles at a time, and never logged over 18 miles in a day... somehow I had to get my head around how this was all going to work. I messaged Bobby Green (the race director) a few times to ask about terrain, I talked to a couple of established ultra runners for their advice, and I told a couple of very select friends. I was afraid that if I told everyone before the event, that they would think I was a failure if I didn't cross the finish-line.

On the day of the race, crossing the finish-line seemed like the easiest thing in the world. The real struggle for me was crossing the start-line. From the moment we pulled into the park, I was nauseous and overcome with an intense feeling of dread. 10 seconds before the start of the race I burst into tears and started to hyperventilate. But my friend Mel was right there by my side, as were other veteran ultra runners who turned to me and gave me encouraging smiles and words

Even after the gun went off and we started our VERY long day of running, the attitude of other runners never changed. People were absolutely exhausted, some were downright miserable in their own socks and shoes, but they were each out there doing their own version of epicness... and they were supportive of each and everyone else on the course.

We were taking liberal bathroom breaks, breaks to change and refuel, and enjoying the opportunity to be in such a gorgeous setting, and this reflected in our time. For the most part, the course was fairly straightforward. 5 loops of 6.2 miles, all relatively flat, mostly in dirt roads through the wildlife preserve. But there were a few tricky areas of the course where we were routed through burn-breaks (where the course significantly narrowed and the footing was through deep loosely packed dirt and sand). 

But although the course was tricky at times, the support more than made up for it. There were 3 aid stations on the course, and the race director did an excellent job of anticipating everyone's needs. My stomach was so upset during the race that I had to survive almost entirely off of pepsi (for sugar) and pickle juice (for salt), but there were options for both vegetarians and carnivores alike... with food ranging from gummy bears and marshmallow peeps, to bananas and oranges, to pb&j and bacon. Because the field of runners was so small, the volunteers at the aid station quickly learned what each runner preferred and made certain that it was immediately available to them when they came through. In retrospect, the only thing that I think the aid stations should have had at the very front of their tables was sunscreen... the weather was perfect, but it was overcast... so although I applied sunscreen, it clearly wasn't enough... note to self: next time be more careful.

Anyway, There were a few moments where I worried that I wouldn't be able to finish the race in the prescribed 10 hour time limit, but not once did I allow my mind to go to the negative side of questioning whether a finish was possible or not. Which I think leads me to the most important revelation of the day... 

Anything is possible with the right attitude and mindset.

With an eye on the finish, you can do anything you put your mind to... as long as you really put your mind to it, failure is not an option. Barring any unforeseen injuries (which are always possible), your mind gives out long before your body ever will. If you enter a situation with the right attitude, the power of positive thinking will get you far. This is obviously not just a lesson for running, but sometimes it takes a crazy experience like an ultra to bring something like this into perspective.

My name is Amy, and I'm an ultra runner!

Check out more at Amy's blog. 
Www.thepointonewillgetcha.blogspot.com

10 Commandments of running that I have learned to live by over my many years. They are not in a stone tablet, but I tend to live by them. Scroll over if you want 


1)Thou shall not categorize other runners based on pace, gender, age, race, looks, background or wardrobe.
2)Thou shall wave to other runners as they run or walk by
3)Thou shall not beat yourself up for what you termed a subpar run or race. You get 24 hours, thats it, move on.
4)Thou shall not run when injured, it only gets worse
5) Thou shall not stress about running, rather allow it to be a stress relief
6) Thou shall encourage the beginner or struggling athlete and talk about "their accomplishments"
7)Thou shall appreciate those who make your running life possible, nobody does it alone.
8)Thou shall realize that this is a lifetime activity, you have a lifetime to improve.
9)Thou shall be thankful for the mere fact that you can walk, run , jog, or move, each and everyday
10)Thou shall not say negative comments about the first 9. Amen

Enjoy!
Mike Beeman

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