Hi Steemit! My name is Raelynn and I run 100 miles for fun!

in #introduceyourself7 years ago (edited)

“I don’t even like to drive that far” is one of the things ultrarunners hear the most when people find out we run distances like 100 miles. The other questions is usually “why?”.

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Me, on a recent trip to Patagonia

I started running in 2010. It sucked. I couldn’t run down the block without feeling like I wanted to die. When I ran my first mile, I remember being frustrated that it took such a long time and that I only burned around 100 calories. Fast forward a year and many training runs later, I ran my first race: the Broad Street Run 10 miler. From there, I was hooked. While I was doing these races, little did I know, my mom was becoming sicker and sicker from Hepatitis C.

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Visiting my mom in the hospital

She contracted the disease from a blood transfusion in Italy before I was born. She would eventually become so sick that she would need a liver transplant in order to survive. She would have to fight so hard. I felt hopeless. She needed a full transplant so the donor had to be from the deceased. I racked my brain and came up with a plan. I would run my first marathon to try and raise money to help with the transplant costs. If my mom could get through every day the way she was, I could get through 26.2 miles for her. And I did! November of 2014, I ran my first marathon and raised close to $7,000 for my mom. She had her transplant and is doing great! After the surgery, we learned that she only had two weeks to live.

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My mom and I the night of her transplant

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Enjoying the spoils of finishing my first marathon

So then what? I have always been fascinated by ultrarunning ever since I read an article about the Barkley Marathons in a magazine. Definitely check out the documentary about it on Netflix; it’s wild. I ran a marathon for my mom and wanted to do something for myself. I ran my first ultramarathon close to a year after that marathon - a 50k.

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Crossing the finish line of my first ultra

One race I learned about even before running the marathon was this 120k (around 75 miles) in Cortina, Italy called Lavaredo Ultra Trail. It was brutal and gorgeous. Through country pastures, past lakes and up unrelenting mountains, this race was the one I was going to do. I needed it. And I would run 50k, 50 miles and eventually 100 miles in 2016 to prepare myself as much as possible to get there.

In June of 2017, I had my chance. We lined up in the streets of Cortina at 11 p.m. and the bells rung high in the town church’s bell tower. 1,600 runners, for reasons all our own, took off into the night and up into the mountains.

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Minutes prior to Lavaredo Ultra Trail

On my page, I want to write about the incredible highs and absolutely devastating lows that surround the training for this ridiculous and amazing sport.

I hope you enjoy!

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Hi and welcome to Steemit!
Nice Post 👍

Hi! Thanks you!

Welcome to steemit - Running for a good cause, awesome!!! So inspiring what you are doing! Check out my profile, @theaustrianguy - I am hosting a contest (#fiftyrunstillmay), where you can win 100 SBD (500$ with the current price level for SBD) for running! Gonna post a update the next days, stay tuned!
Resteemed (=shared) you with this account I use mainly for sharing promising newcomers!
Greets!

Good work @welcoming hope you also like my work thanks

Thanks! Following!

Welcome! congratuliation 100 miles is huge distance!

You ultra marathoner's amaze me.

Have you ever met Dr. Bill Andrews?

I hear he is into that and he is also into curing aging.

peace. :)

hey! No but I’m going to google him now!

Welcome to Steemit Raelynn. I really like the water bottle vest, its such a great idea!

Thanks!! There’s a small backpack on the back too! It’s a game changer!

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Welcome to steemit hope you're doing great and good luck to your future race. =)

Thank you so much!

Keep it up girl! Stay healthy:)

Thanks Tiffany!

he follow and upvote I follow and upvote back

Great to have more fit minded people :) welcome to Steemit!

Thank you @hangryginger! Love that name!

Well done! Now that's dedication to your amazing mom, so glad things worked out. Oh, and welcome to Steemit. I'm sure you'll have the "run" of the place! :)


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Ahhh I see what you did there! My mom is awesome and she gives me so much inspiration for the things I do! Thanks for commenting!

Hey @raelynnbianca,
So good to hear about your Mom and the Liver transplant. That is wonderful how you raised that much money from a Race. I have run a half marathon and many, many 10Ks. But nothing like 100 miles. That is truly amazing. Keep up the great job and welcome to Steemit. Wanna here more about your ultras so I'm Following you now :)

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