Finding myself- again

The winter months are a busy time for me at Ornery Mule Racing. There are many race preparation task that are done during this “off race season”. I spend my days tackling task such as: searching for the best swag available, working on permits, tweaking our websites & spreadsheets, managing staff, scheduling, meeting with the marketing team, working with graphic designers to help make sure our swag looks professional in both the awards and race shirts. Plus all the more boring task like insurance, taxes, payroll, etc…

Personally, my mind wants every single job to be done at once. In reality it takes a full time work week for months to accomplish every task that I need done during the “off race season”.

Falling in love with trails

I absolutely love running, and love exploring trails. I found this beautiful sport in the early 2000s. At this time, very few people were participating in trail races. I remember when Ice Age 50 and Kettle 100 were small races that you could signup the day of the race.

I found this older photo of me running Kettle 100k. This race day was extremely hot and humid. Races in other towns were being cancelled because of the heat. Trail runners are a different breed. The race was not cancelled.

When I discovered this sport- I instantly fell deeply in love. I knew “trail running” was where I belonged. I remember the first time I ran the Nordic loop at Southern Kettles. It was a place that I found so beautiful and peaceful. Running on trails made me feel good, healthy and alive. I wanted others to get to experience this.

Inviting others to run trails

In Crystal Lake I have amazing local trails at Veteran Acres/Sterne’s Woods. When I first started running I rarely saw anyone using these trails. It was my favorite place to be. I decided to invite people to run on these trails by putting on a local trail race.

I gradually added more races that were on trails I wanted to run on, or styles of racing that I enjoyed. I cared passionately about giving the runners a great experience and poured all my energy into making these races great.

This slowly changed my hobby/passion into a job….

As I added more fun races to the OMR schedule, the work and responsibilities of hosting them grew. Eventually I found myself only working on race planning and management… with out giving myself time to play on trails.

My mental health & physical health suffered… It was urgent to find a way to improve my self care. Over the course of a year I slowly started taking time for myself to run. At first it was 1 mile, then 2 miles…and by November I was trained up enough to run a full marathon. It was amazing.

Running improved my physical health and mental health. Quality nutrition was equally important in my self care.

I learned to knock off task with long term planning. I scheduled the runs into my day. Work is still a high priority, and sometimes I do have to skip my run to focus on task. Although now I know that running is absolutely essential to my life. 98% of the time, I walk out that door and run.

I am much happier. I get to run. This is why I started putting on races in the first place.

A healthier, happier Michele

I am grateful every day that I have found a way to include trail running into my life again. I believe I can bring an even great race experience to our community when I am mentally and physically healthy. Taking care of myself is also important to my job.

***I will write more about our community on another journal. There is some people that simply worked hard to help me. Our community is special in bringing out the best in each of us.

Journal of todays special run

I had a 4 pm meeting today with my marketing team. I knew the meeting would take about 3 hours so I had to get my run in beforehand. I started work by 5 am to make this happen.

I ran from my home. I was about 5 miles in and saw a man walking from his house to his mail box. He had on a back brace and was moving very slowly. The walk to the mail box was clearly a big task for him.

I recognized this man, and could still see him as what he looked like 19 years ago when I would run past his house. Running in the neighborhood can be interesting in observing the changes. One house used to have a big white fluffy dog laying in the drive way that would wag its tail every time I ran past. It makes me sad for the family now when I realize that the dog is no longer there.

As I approached this man, I thought about the songs I used to listen to 19 years ago while running. I reflected on being proud of myself because I am still a strong runner.

As I approached, he smiled and said, “I used to run like you.” Runner language….that means he is an instant friend.

I stopped to ask about his running. He said, “thank you for stopping, I am having a bad day.” He told me he is 90 years young and shared a little about his struggles for the day. Then he went on to tell me about how his regular runs used to be along a beach trail, and how he would do pull ups on the play ground equipment. His skin and eyes changed while telling me all of this. He said, “it is a nice day today, I think I will walk around this circle. I have not done that for awhile” I said, I will see you on my next run Nicholas. He said I could call him Nick. Excited to see my new friend Nick on my next run. As I pass his house, I will think of young Nick running along the beach, doing pull ups on the play ground and maybe taking a walk around his neighborhood passing joy.

Photo at Kettle Moraine 100k finish line. Kettle Moraine has always been one of my favorite races. I am extremely grateful that I now am the RD of the event. Also- I just noticed I still have the shorts that I am wearing in this photo and they fit me. Tasha is along side me. She is 25 years old now.