An early Mother’s Day gift…

 our daughter, Candice!

After running 32 miles for Day 179 of  her Guinness Ultramarathon World Record, Candice drove four hours from her home in Tucson to Pine….just to see us and run Day 180 in and around the trails of the Pine-Strawberry area.  

We were so excited that Candice was coming for a visit that we started getting ready for her days ahead of time.  I frosted the carrot cake cupcakes and made chocolate chip cookies.

Then we headed to Payson for a big grocery order, which included filet mignon steaks.  We knew that she needed a ton of protein to keep running 32 miles a day, every day, for 179 days and more!

Transforming our walk-in storage room/activity room into a guest bedroom was fun.

We even left a treat on her pillow like they do in fancy hotels.  This is the type of treat that we felt was appropriate for “fancy” cabins—Tootsie Roll Pops and Bigfoot Poop Drops (actually the tin container said that they were miniature chocolate covered mints).

We felt that we had really scored when we found the Bigfoot treat, since one of the 200 mile races that the business that Candice founded is the Bigfoot 200.

After running 32 miles in Tucson and then driving to Pine, Candice arrived in the dark after 8 pm.  Dan had to innovate to see the steaks that he was barbecuing.  Isn’t he clever!

Here is the scrumptious, nutritious dinner that we had waiting for her!

After dinner we had some time to just hangout together.  We love talking with her.  She is so open and honest about what she feels and thinks.  Her thoughts are always insightful.  And what’s more, she has a great sense of humor, so we are continually laughing.  What a fun, happy evening.  

We could have talked for hours, but Candice had to get up early to run another 50K!

It’s quite an ordeal getting ready to run a 50K. There is massive documentation that is required for Guinness to award a world record.  Candice has to have witnesses, videos, and a GPS track for each day.  She can’t stop her run for more than five minutes for each hour she runs.  For this reason she wears two GPS watches, and she checks and double checks to make sure she has all the gear, food, water, clothes, battery packs, etc. that she will need for the entire 7-9 hour run.

This is her final check as the sun is rising over the Mogollon Rim….

The start of Day 180!

And she’s off on Day 180!

We wanted to “run” with Candice for at least a small part of her Day 180, so we drove to the start of the Arizona Trail.  Candice ran from our cabin over two miles to the start of the AZT.  

We left home at the same time…and after we hiked about a mile south on the AZT, guess what?  You got it.  Candice caught up with us on the trail!

We got to “run” with Candice for a bit—which means that we walked together.  It was a sort of rest break for her.  Thank you Candice for letting us “run” with you.

 

 

 

Soon she was off running again.  It was really special to “run” with her for part (a very small part) of her 200 day journey.

Now we got to do another thing that we were looking forward to.  We got to be her crew for the rest of the day.  This means that we would be available to bring her food, water, or any supplies that she would need throughout the day.

So up to the top of Hardscrabble Mesa we went to resupply her.  She had found the back way to go to Strawberry from Pine….right over (up) the shoulder of Strawberry Mountain!

And off she went again…down to Strawberry, around Strawberry, and then back on the Pine Strawberry Trail to run the last few miles in Pine.

Candice found all our favorite hikes and spots around Pine and Strawberry in one day while running her 50K.  It took us nearly two years to discover all these special places.

And she found a great sign that we hadn’t seen here or anywhere in all of our thousands of miles of hiking!

It was a long day running for Candice.  Pine is in the mountains, so as Candice said, “the entire 32 miles was up, or up and down.”

She rounded the final corner and ran back to our cabin nine hours later as the sun was setting over Strawberry Mountain.

32.5 miles—Day 180 done….good job!

We had another nice dinner waiting for her…

Then after running another 50K on Day 180, after dinner and hugs and kisses goodbye, Candice had to jump back in her car to drive another 4 hours home.  

This morning she was up and shining and running another 32 miles.  Candice did all this just to see us, to spend some time together, to give us hugs, and to let us show her and tell her how much we love her.

She certainly showed us how much she loves us.  We got to have a very special day with our girl!

Candice’s message after she arrived home last night.

Thank you, Candice, for the best Mother’s Day present ever….time with you!