From Arizona to NYC: Eighty-Eight Miles of Love

Adventures from Arizona's Javelina Jundred 100K
to the TCS New York City Marathon

Last year, I told myself that the NYRR 60K was my last hurrah and the world was ready to make me a liar.  A heckling spectator, 50+ douche bag messages and an endless list of supporters later, I find myself being a weekend warrior with tan lines, an endless pie of blisters and 88.3 miles covered in three days in ode of change.  Somehow I thought signing up for my first 100K and doing the NYC Marathon a week later was a good idea.

A Year's Reflection From a Viral Heckling and Moving Forward

Who knew a cantankerous spectator would be the catalyst of keeping me here in fitness?  Five years ago, I started my fitness journey as a weight loss journey.  These days, that almost sound like a dirty term thanks to Instagram models squatting deep into the camera or enough Slim Tea advertisements to make you sprout a senna leaf from your anus.  As I stated several times before, running was supposed to be a one time thing; I just wanted to knock off this bucket list item that came in the form of inspiration from a MySpace buddy and never do it again.  Somehow my mind and body hasn't caught up to the finish line as of yet.

Last year was a springboard of highs and lows:  I generated a decent amount of new followers from a feature on BuzzFeed Health and then I experienced a miscarriage.  Two weeks later, I was diagnosed with endometriosis -- a condition that makes you want to kill everything moving while your insides make you feel like you're an intruder.  Combining it with a growing list of hecklers who accused me of being everything from a fat bitch to a race baiter, I wasn't sure if my mind was equipped for much more of this.  Nobody asked me to put myself out there but this space, Running Fat Chef, allowed me to find a balance between my very conflicting inside thoughts and releasing it on a space that I use as an open ended journal; it was never with the idea of making me hood famous or a fantasy of living out being the popular kid in school.  

When I went viral, most people thought it was the best thing since sliced bread; I thought it was too damn much.  I just wanted to exit stage left without a large encore.  A year later, I've never been so ecstatic to be unsuccessful with a plan in my life.  And honestly, I didn't know what adventures lied ahead of me after talking with so many people who related to the atrocious yet simple statement questioning if it was going to take my 'fat ass forever.'

Since then, I knew I wanted to do a few marathons this year; with enabling, I chose to take on the longest distance that I ever attempted:  100K.  Realistically, this plan was insane considering I signed up for several events - mostly marathons - and sandwiched a 100K somewhere in the mix.  Out of all places that I chose, I elected to go to the desert with cacti, bugs that scare the shit out of me and some snakes.  Yes, Arizona sounds perfect!  But to compile the crazy, let's do the NYC Marathon the following week because insanity is clearly the best way to go.  Most of this doesn't make sense to many people but to a community of ultra marathoners, ha -- hold my drink.
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