If you know me, there has never truly been many moments in my life that I am left speechless. Well, there was “one”. But my teacher got me confused with another student… the parents of the other girl were so surprised when they were greeted with the news that their daughter “talked too much”. Anyways, I am usually always up for a good conversation, laugh, or debate.

Yesterday I was left speechless multiple times.

{6am at Fleet Feet Savannah}

I was running my last long run for Pittsburgh Marathon and met up with Dan, Tony and Dawn around mile 6 of the 22 miles. We were going to run by Fleet Feet because I had stashed fuel there…. as we approached FF, Tony was asking if we were picking up more people. But we weren’t picking up people until mile 16. I just assumed they were another running group. Nope. Not the case. They were there for me. My other coach {Nancy} and three of the runners who let me be apart of their running journey from 5k to half marathon {Janet, Anna & Jenn} where there with signs and fun accessories  And apparently there would be more to come!

As I hugged and cried, we refilled and refueled and headed on the way (while picking up another runner– Hi Gregg!)!

After we headed towards downtown, I hit a wall (again). Being that my first wall was hit early on when my head lamp died on the pitch black roads on the islands…. I was struggling. My pace was off by over a minute and I was mentally tapped. But I knew I had about 12 of my friends waiting for me to run the Talmadge Bridge and I didn’t want to let them down.

We meet up at Gallery Espresso after only having run 12.5 miles (or so I thought…) and picked up the gang and start up the bridge…. ugh. I was speechless (again) that so many of my friends took up my plea to come help me conquer the bridge after running so many miles before. They could have easily slept in on a Sunday morning.

I get conned into running to the Westin for an additional two miles and a fancy smancy potty break. And then I figured out that my Garmin was wrong…. we actually had covered more ground. I was off by a few miles SOOOOOOOOO I would hit 22 miles for the day if we just turned around and run back over the bridge and back to Gallery Espresso!! Hot damn, that made my morning! So back over (ugh) we went… but at least that made me smile….

I swear these ladies were every where and had new posters each time and different accessories!!

Thank you team… from the bottom of my heart. I struggled mentality which really slowed me down. But you all stuck with me and I know that is not your normal pace, so I thank you.

Now bring on Pittsburgh!! Marathon #2…. TAPER TIME!!!

I truly believe that there is something magical in Savannah, especially in our run and fitness community.

This weekend, I was supposed to wake at 3am to start my 18 mile run by 4am so I could make it to a volunteer commitment with the Junior League of Savannah. When I woke up before my alarm, I had a raging migraine… I popped some of my Rx and hoped it would go away. Needless to say, I was in my bed- in the dark- until afternoon noon.

Since I only have two long runs left before Pittsburgh Marathon, I knew I would have to get the miles in on Sunday Funday. I posted on my Facebook Page that I was going to need my miles on Sunday. Thankfully, Hillary offered to make my 18 miles less of a suck-fest.

And then next weekend, I have 22 miles including the Talmadge Bridge (miles 18 & 22) to mimic the hills in Pittsburgh. I created a private Facebook event for some of my friends that are close to my pace to help drag me up, down, up and down that bridge after having run 16 miles right before. Not only did I get an amazing response, but Dan offered to run the whole thing with me!

Talk about your heart being overwhelmed with the love of this community!

And just so you don’t think this is the ‘Victoria Show’, the support flows over the whole community. One of my friends, Chris, runs a ton of Ultra Marathons and whenever he does Fleet Feet Savannah posts updates and photos from the races on their social media circuits. Not only do people ‘like’ the heck out of every post… but they also leave such encouraging comments for him.

Thank you Savannah for being such a class act!

What I have learned from being friends with Joe, is that all things are relative. Like the fact that he told me that the North Face Endurance Challenge course in Pine Mountain, GA was easy. Little did I know, “easy” equated to scaling rocks the size of freakin’ couches. Apparently we have varying opinions on ‘easy’ runs vs. ‘hard’ runs.

And another neat fact about Joe– he “has awesome beards”….that sometimes become shaped like a monkey tail on his face. And sadly, no photographic evidence of that for you!

So on that note… let’s welcome Joe

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Quick little bio (when did you start running):

Started running and playing sports as long back as I can remember, got into the ultra running scene probably about 3 years ago.

Brag Time (race you are most proud of, show off your times, winning a race etc):

I always enjoy a race whether I come in 1st or dead last. If I had to pick a race I am most proud of it would be when I beat Don Piper in the 1 mile around the track when I was 11….Don was the fastest kid in school haha.

{and because this is my blog and I can chime in too– the above photo (dude on right in blue) is Joe about to cross the finish line at Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah Full Marathon for a 2nd place finish!}

What is your favorite Ultra you have done?

My favorite ultra I have ever done was probably the Tussey Mountain Back USATF 50 mile championship race. It is just a really nice fast course, with rolling hills and nice single track.

How many miles a week on average do you run while training for a 50K? Do you alter your training for 100 mile + races? If yes, how so?

My training dosen’t really change depending on which race I’m am running. I keep a base of around 70-80 mpw and I will try and hit at least one or two 100+ mile weeks before a race.

What is your favorite gear to wear while running? Shoes, apparel, headlamp etc.

Favorite gear while running are 3 inch splits (shorts), a trucker hat, and a beard. Plus Adidas Adios shoes.

Ultras usually have a good spread of food for the athletes. What do you intake during your race?

I find that during a race the more crap I eat the better I do. The last ultra I did all I drank was coke and all I ate was mini fudge rounds and I felt great!!! Honey Stingers work for me on training runs.

What are your running goals for 2013?

Goals for 2013 is getting my knee back to normal. I have been sidelined for almost 2 months with a pesky knee injury which will probably result in surgery and another 2 months of rehab. I certainly know that in 2013 I will never take a injury free training day for granted.

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Thanks Joe for concluding our Ultra chat for this time!

I hope everyone has a great race on Saturday… I’ll be at Aide Station 3 to cheer y’all on!

I hope you all have learned from these guys this week. I know that they are a wealth of knowledge and will help anyone interested in trying out ultras. I know that when I embark on that next step (once my knee is cleared), I have quite a bit of ‘experts’ onto reach out to! Thanks guys!!

And yes, maybe next time I’ll feature the ladies, because there are a ton of awesome chicks that beat the guys on the course. So… stay tuned for future posts!