Jan Brett’s Blog

     October 12 – my first day of training for training for the Laugavetur ultra marathon. It’s going to be held July16th of next year and I’ve made my flight and hotel reservations so there is no turning back. I may be overreaching, as the course is difficult, and 34 miles is a long way, but I love to have a goal. Running across Iceland’s glaciers and thermal fields sounds exhilarating. Today I ran my first distance run since last summer. In July and August I trained on the Appalachian Trail that runs by our house. It’s a perfect place to train because it has steep hills and lots of rock and rock stairs. My longest stretch was 15 miles. The time goes fast compared to road work because you have to think of each foot placement. The stakes are high on the downhill stretches because tripping could mean landing 20 feet down a gorge on sharp rocks. This is why I have promised my husband I would bring a cell. I also got picky about shoelaces – I tape them down, and use one of the locking devices on them so they can’t untie. I’ve been practicing with a camel backpack which has been essential. My first long run was in the mid-90s and muggy so I was glad to have the water. I started with my Harney and Sons chocolate mint tea, it is a favorite of mine. But it is black tea based, so it’s a diuretic which isn’t ideal.  I switch to pure water from my 700 feet deep well and bring one gel with caffeine. When I do longer runs, for breakfast I have a piece of homemade bread that is made of dark flours, currents and walnuts and one of my hen’s eggs, poached and a small glass of orange juice or Pom juice for breakfast. Most of my chickens are Bantam’s, so I smiled to think “Fluer” my large fowl Cochin has fueled all my summer runs with her big brown eggs.  I’ve been wearing my Nike frees for about three years now and really like them, although I may experiment with the vibrams. The AT section I run on has some sharp rocks, which I don’t think would allow the vibrams. I like feeling the earth and using all the muscles in my toes, feet, and ankles, because balance is important. I find I need both arms free for balance – holding a water bottle could stop me from catching my balance. I read an article in Trail Runner magazine about a woman who ran the whole AT in about 73 days. She said she tried to “run like a deer” when questioned about her style. The image resonated with me and I’ve come up with a few of my own “run like you’ve just seen mother bear and her three grown up babies!” Actually, after being in Africa, I probably wouldn’t run away from a predator animal, but would try to melt away into the woods. I’ve seen a lot of deer and fox on my runs, but that mom bear and her cubs were strategically placed about 50 feet from our house after coming home from a long hike. I was with my two sisters and I think we all thought “Hhmmm, three big baby bears and three of us!” I think will give them lots of room. I remember when Stephen King had a terrible accident and he was quoted as saying he was run over by one of his own book characters. The driver was reaching into the backseat throwing hamburger out of his cooler to his guard dogs when he hit King. I was thinking, children’s book illustrator gets in a tussle with mother bear who didn’t like her portrayal in Brett’s latest picture book, THE MITTEN!

     Running is definitely a good way to clear the mind and rev it up.I’m looking forward to my training in the floor work at my gym that has really helped me in the past. I’ll be running the Boston Marathon in mid-April and will give updates on the training. I’m a serious runner, and in that it’s an important part of my life, but I’m not super fast. My last Boston was 4:11and I would like to see a great big 3 in my time next spring, by shaving off the 11 minutes.   This first run in Newark Delaware was 10 miles.  I have floor work with a trainer scheduled twice a week while I’m on the
road.  Onward and upwards,

Jan