Heading out. Current race plan is to take every mile at a time and listen to my body. Try not to irritate the ITB and have fun.
Good luck to all those racing! I hope to see you all afterwards at the RBF party!
If you want to track the number is 6401. If I keep popping up at checkpoints you'll know I am meeting the primary goal which is to finish without too much damage and count this as my last long run before JFK in one month. I am going to try to hold 8:30 pace most of the race and hammer the last 2 miles in to get under 3:40 but that will be left up to my ITB to decide. Dreams of the 3:25 finish will have to be put on hold for another race.
Random Friday Photo
Imitating ANTM models doing "extreme" posing at my birthday celebration. Fun was had (if you couldn't tell from this photo) 
Check out the CW lounge and the Bonus Footage: Bend It video for reference
25
I am moving on up into a new age group! Yeah! Spent the birthday washing windows and packing for Kalamazoo and Chicago.
I will be at a work conference all week, back Thursday night then leaving Friday morning for Chicago.
Am not prepared at all for this marathon. Let's hope that I haven't lost too much fitness and I can hold 8:30-9 minute pace without beating the crap out of my quads!
Internet useage may be sparce this week. Wish I would have more time to reflect on the marathon coming up etc but I have been super busy and this week will be more of the same!
Hopefully I will be meeting up with some super awesome RBFers next weekend in Chi Town!
Posts to come post Chicago of Birthday party fun (some pics here), Youngstown 50K, and life in general.
Great job Brian, Janet, and Lou today in Columbus! Very proud of you guys!
I will be at a work conference all week, back Thursday night then leaving Friday morning for Chicago.
Am not prepared at all for this marathon. Let's hope that I haven't lost too much fitness and I can hold 8:30-9 minute pace without beating the crap out of my quads!
Internet useage may be sparce this week. Wish I would have more time to reflect on the marathon coming up etc but I have been super busy and this week will be more of the same!
Hopefully I will be meeting up with some super awesome RBFers next weekend in Chi Town!
Posts to come post Chicago of Birthday party fun (some pics here), Youngstown 50K, and life in general.
Great job Brian, Janet, and Lou today in Columbus! Very proud of you guys!
Akron Relay Recap!
My friend A LOVES the Akron Marathon. This was her third year participating in a relay of some sorts. Last year she was on the run for beer team carrying cardboards signs. This year it was Five Fast Freaks. With a name like that how can you go wrong?
Initially I was recruited to run 10.7 on a 2 man relay but had to back out because of my ITB. A insisted that I do the 5 man relay with her and T, oh and that I find two other fast people to join us. Hmmm. We have plenty of fast friends so i put a call out on the CTC forum and sent an email to my SERC peeps. B and Papa Louie replied and we registered the team.
I had not run all week since the 50k because of my cold. My nose was still running a lot and I was still hacking up a lung but I figured I couldn't let my team down, and it was only 5K!
We met at T's early in the morning and carpooled to the race. It was cold and drizzling. It stayed that way the whole day. But we were in good spirits as we dropped our 1st runner T off at the start and headed to our buses to get shipped to the relay points (after a quick pic).
Papa Louie and I said goodbye to B as we waited for our shuttle, in retrospect we probably could have watched the start. But we had fun chatting about Lou's upcoming marathon and predicting what time our relay partners would make it to each point. We both agreed that we would run about a 3:20, boy did we overestimate :)
Lou got dropped at my relay point with me so he could do my 5K leg as a warmup for his 12K. After hanging out in the rain for a little bit Lou headed off to avoid the traffic once the leaders came in. I waited until I thought I had a minimum of 10 minutes before A would arrive and gave up my bag and outer layers. I headed out for a warm up of my own.
I ran backwards through the course for 5 minutes, spotting some of my speedster friends along the way and cheering. Then I made a turn around at about mile 15 on the actual course to head back and wait for A, well remember that overestimating? A was right behind me, and she was flying! So I had to haul tail with her to the exchange. Not exactly the easy warm up with post stretch I was planning on.
I was stripping my third layer, taking off my hat, leaping over ropes so as not to hit the timing mats, and after that 3 minute tempo warm up I handed my hat to A and took the snap bracelet (Like the ones we all wore in the 90s, you know the neon ones?). It was pretty wild, they are calling our number in the relay zone and I am supposed to be waiting in my corral and here I come running with my partner on the course, but the hand off went fine, and I was super glad I had that third layer tied around my waist for after my leg.
The first half mile or so I wasn't really thinking about the course. I think there was a short downhill before the 3 mile incline began. I was just trying to focus on breathing, keeping my arms from swaying in front of my body, and trying to run like I was in a 5K race. Well I can honestly say I have never run a 5k race uphill before, and it is much different starting off on your own than in a pack.
I hammered up the hills as best as I could. I had screwed up my watch during the hectic warm up so I hit the split at marathon mile 16 to check my pace at 17. As I closed in on 17 the number 3 and 4 women marathoners inched by me and seemed to float away. Here I am busting my snotty arse up this long incline and I get passed by two women running the full marathon. Holy cow. My first mile split I got was 7:40ish, definitely not breaking any records. I hoped to hold onto that pace and trucked on up the hill.
I think it was somewhere between 17 and 18 that there was a slight decline before you ran over a little metal ramp to keep your feet from getting wet in the stream flowing over the road. I tried to focus on not slipping in front of the only spectator watching the bridge.
My next mile split was around 8, certainly not what I would normally hope for in a 5k, but at this point I was just suffering until I could finally hand off to Lou. My knee was bothering me and I was having trouble breathing so I just wanted to be done! They saved the steep incline for the last length before coming around a corner to the sound of spectators and the loud speaker calling out the relay exchange numbers. I hammered in until I found Lou waiting at our corral and handed off the snap bracelet. My total time was around 24 minutes. Just a wee bit faster than 8 minute miles. Lou took off and ended up passing and completely overtaking the team in first place for the mixed 5 man relay.
Our final time was 2:57 and some change. Not too shabby!
After my leg I wandered a bit. I couldn't find the buses after I got rid of my chip so I walked backwards through the course cheering on other marathoners and relayers. Eventually I found the bus and got on. As we were waiting for the bus to take us to the finish I noticed the race was getting more crowded and commented that this must be the 3:40 crowd because it always gets more crowded then, and sure enough I looked out and saw Lloyd round the corner holding his 3:40 pace sign. I leaped off the bus and started screaming for him. I saw him turn and make eye contact so I was hopeful that I helped a wee bit. After all they had been running in the cold and rain for much longer than 24 minutes!
The people on the bus informed me I had much too much energy for just having raced. I guess that's the difference between racing a marathon and a 5k for me, after a 5k I can still run and scream, after a marathon, I have to stay in one spot and scream.
We made our way back and I headed into the stadium hoping to catch Lou finishing. After waiting about 20 minutes and then starting to see people I had passed on the course I realized Lou must already be done. I wandered back to the bag pickup and found Lou looking for his warm clothes, which I had, poor guy he was shivering up a storm!
T went to check the results and found out we were in first. We tried to find someone to find out when the awards were and if we would get one. We were informed the awards were on the field at 12:30. We went and got our 3 free beers each and hung out until the awards. At 12:30 we headed down to the field only to find out the awards were really out on the street! Ooops. So we rushed out there to find some SERC friends who had placed in the two man mixed relay and the 5 man male relay. I looked behind us and there was Bill Rodgers! We went and chatted him up and got a picture. He was really nice and had a lot of good things to say about the Akron marathon and especially the relay.
We waited a bit longer for them to get the awards going, there wasn't much of a crowd as everyone was back at the stadium because there were still some marathoners coming in. We were all excited we got first and then they awarded us second, WTF? We were a little miffed but I was just happy we placed!
Afterwards we found out there was a glitch with the team that beat us. Their anchor leg was either Superman or a cheetah because he did the last 12k in about 7 minutes, now that's fast! So the race director corrected the error and we got our names in the Akron newspaper!
How cool is that?
The weather wasn't great and I felt and ran like shit, but it was a very fun race and I was super glad my team did so well. I will definitely consider doing it again next year, except next year I am taking the 2nd 10K leg because I heard that was flat and on Towpath! No more of this uphill for 5k!
Initially I was recruited to run 10.7 on a 2 man relay but had to back out because of my ITB. A insisted that I do the 5 man relay with her and T, oh and that I find two other fast people to join us. Hmmm. We have plenty of fast friends so i put a call out on the CTC forum and sent an email to my SERC peeps. B and Papa Louie replied and we registered the team.
I had not run all week since the 50k because of my cold. My nose was still running a lot and I was still hacking up a lung but I figured I couldn't let my team down, and it was only 5K!
We met at T's early in the morning and carpooled to the race. It was cold and drizzling. It stayed that way the whole day. But we were in good spirits as we dropped our 1st runner T off at the start and headed to our buses to get shipped to the relay points (after a quick pic).
Papa Louie and I said goodbye to B as we waited for our shuttle, in retrospect we probably could have watched the start. But we had fun chatting about Lou's upcoming marathon and predicting what time our relay partners would make it to each point. We both agreed that we would run about a 3:20, boy did we overestimate :)
Lou got dropped at my relay point with me so he could do my 5K leg as a warmup for his 12K. After hanging out in the rain for a little bit Lou headed off to avoid the traffic once the leaders came in. I waited until I thought I had a minimum of 10 minutes before A would arrive and gave up my bag and outer layers. I headed out for a warm up of my own.
I ran backwards through the course for 5 minutes, spotting some of my speedster friends along the way and cheering. Then I made a turn around at about mile 15 on the actual course to head back and wait for A, well remember that overestimating? A was right behind me, and she was flying! So I had to haul tail with her to the exchange. Not exactly the easy warm up with post stretch I was planning on.
I was stripping my third layer, taking off my hat, leaping over ropes so as not to hit the timing mats, and after that 3 minute tempo warm up I handed my hat to A and took the snap bracelet (Like the ones we all wore in the 90s, you know the neon ones?). It was pretty wild, they are calling our number in the relay zone and I am supposed to be waiting in my corral and here I come running with my partner on the course, but the hand off went fine, and I was super glad I had that third layer tied around my waist for after my leg.
The first half mile or so I wasn't really thinking about the course. I think there was a short downhill before the 3 mile incline began. I was just trying to focus on breathing, keeping my arms from swaying in front of my body, and trying to run like I was in a 5K race. Well I can honestly say I have never run a 5k race uphill before, and it is much different starting off on your own than in a pack.
I hammered up the hills as best as I could. I had screwed up my watch during the hectic warm up so I hit the split at marathon mile 16 to check my pace at 17. As I closed in on 17 the number 3 and 4 women marathoners inched by me and seemed to float away. Here I am busting my snotty arse up this long incline and I get passed by two women running the full marathon. Holy cow. My first mile split I got was 7:40ish, definitely not breaking any records. I hoped to hold onto that pace and trucked on up the hill.
I think it was somewhere between 17 and 18 that there was a slight decline before you ran over a little metal ramp to keep your feet from getting wet in the stream flowing over the road. I tried to focus on not slipping in front of the only spectator watching the bridge.
My next mile split was around 8, certainly not what I would normally hope for in a 5k, but at this point I was just suffering until I could finally hand off to Lou. My knee was bothering me and I was having trouble breathing so I just wanted to be done! They saved the steep incline for the last length before coming around a corner to the sound of spectators and the loud speaker calling out the relay exchange numbers. I hammered in until I found Lou waiting at our corral and handed off the snap bracelet. My total time was around 24 minutes. Just a wee bit faster than 8 minute miles. Lou took off and ended up passing and completely overtaking the team in first place for the mixed 5 man relay.
Our final time was 2:57 and some change. Not too shabby!
After my leg I wandered a bit. I couldn't find the buses after I got rid of my chip so I walked backwards through the course cheering on other marathoners and relayers. Eventually I found the bus and got on. As we were waiting for the bus to take us to the finish I noticed the race was getting more crowded and commented that this must be the 3:40 crowd because it always gets more crowded then, and sure enough I looked out and saw Lloyd round the corner holding his 3:40 pace sign. I leaped off the bus and started screaming for him. I saw him turn and make eye contact so I was hopeful that I helped a wee bit. After all they had been running in the cold and rain for much longer than 24 minutes!
The people on the bus informed me I had much too much energy for just having raced. I guess that's the difference between racing a marathon and a 5k for me, after a 5k I can still run and scream, after a marathon, I have to stay in one spot and scream.
We made our way back and I headed into the stadium hoping to catch Lou finishing. After waiting about 20 minutes and then starting to see people I had passed on the course I realized Lou must already be done. I wandered back to the bag pickup and found Lou looking for his warm clothes, which I had, poor guy he was shivering up a storm!
T went to check the results and found out we were in first. We tried to find someone to find out when the awards were and if we would get one. We were informed the awards were on the field at 12:30. We went and got our 3 free beers each and hung out until the awards. At 12:30 we headed down to the field only to find out the awards were really out on the street! Ooops. So we rushed out there to find some SERC friends who had placed in the two man mixed relay and the 5 man male relay. I looked behind us and there was Bill Rodgers! We went and chatted him up and got a picture. He was really nice and had a lot of good things to say about the Akron marathon and especially the relay.
We waited a bit longer for them to get the awards going, there wasn't much of a crowd as everyone was back at the stadium because there were still some marathoners coming in. We were all excited we got first and then they awarded us second, WTF? We were a little miffed but I was just happy we placed!
Afterwards we found out there was a glitch with the team that beat us. Their anchor leg was either Superman or a cheetah because he did the last 12k in about 7 minutes, now that's fast! So the race director corrected the error and we got our names in the Akron newspaper!
How cool is that?
The weather wasn't great and I felt and ran like shit, but it was a very fun race and I was super glad my team did so well. I will definitely consider doing it again next year, except next year I am taking the 2nd 10K leg because I heard that was flat and on Towpath! No more of this uphill for 5k!
Falling Behind
Not much posting going on over here and I am sorry, sorry for my readers, but more sorry for me because each day I postpone my race recaps is a day when I am more likely to forget key parts that I intended to hold onto forever by posting them here on this blog.
I need to remind myself that blogging isn't a chore, it is something I do for myself, a place where I can rant, rave, brag etc. and really it is for no one other than myself.
On that note I will try to get some real posting going on here soon.
In the meantime if you haven't been reading posts over on the complete running network you should check them out.
I really enjoyed Jon's recent post.
Also welcome back to blogland Su! Glad to see you are doing well. Go catch up with Su if you haven't already.
I need to remind myself that blogging isn't a chore, it is something I do for myself, a place where I can rant, rave, brag etc. and really it is for no one other than myself.
On that note I will try to get some real posting going on here soon.
In the meantime if you haven't been reading posts over on the complete running network you should check them out.
I really enjoyed Jon's recent post.
Also welcome back to blogland Su! Glad to see you are doing well. Go catch up with Su if you haven't already.
Cleveland- The Windy City?
Last night I ran for an hour dowtown, rather I got blown around by the wind for an hour. Holy cow, it about knocked me off my feet! The knee was a little sore but I stopped and stretched my hip flexors and it felt better after that. A little tender this morning but not too bad.
Hope that Chicago is a little less windy on the 22nd! So I think I have to come to grips with the fact that I may not be able to race Chicago. I just don't have the speed workouts in that I think I would need to hold 7:40 pace. So backup plan is to try to BQ with an 8:24 pace as long as that feels relatively easy. I don't want to shred my legs 4 weeks before JFK unless it is going to end in a PR.
I have updated my sidebar with my plans for 07. I am trying to back off a bit next year. I am feeling a bit burned out, still excited about my races but wishing I had a bit of time off before them. I think December will contain little to no running this year. I want to start 07 fresh. I am also trying to stick close to home, all this racing gets expensive.
On another note can I just say how awesome my hubby is? We have been in our house since last November. We bought this house because it doesn't have much fixing to do to it, we are NOT handy at all. The only problem that we have really had is the shower. The diverter was broken and the fixture probably was built with the house in 1930. Picture showering in a tub full of water because the water is shooting out of the faucet and the showerhead at full force.
So Monday night I come home and David suggests I take a shower because I stink, nice. To my surprise I find that he and a buddy have spent all day getting a new fixture and fixing my tub! Now that is true love! The whole thing was tricky because the old fixture was huge, so there was a big hole in the wall. They had to be clever and modified one of those big panels used to take the three handle fixtures to one handle but turn it on its side to cover the hole. It looks good, I'll post a pic later.
Tonight we are off to the comedy club with my office, should be fun!
Hope that Chicago is a little less windy on the 22nd! So I think I have to come to grips with the fact that I may not be able to race Chicago. I just don't have the speed workouts in that I think I would need to hold 7:40 pace. So backup plan is to try to BQ with an 8:24 pace as long as that feels relatively easy. I don't want to shred my legs 4 weeks before JFK unless it is going to end in a PR.
I have updated my sidebar with my plans for 07. I am trying to back off a bit next year. I am feeling a bit burned out, still excited about my races but wishing I had a bit of time off before them. I think December will contain little to no running this year. I want to start 07 fresh. I am also trying to stick close to home, all this racing gets expensive.
On another note can I just say how awesome my hubby is? We have been in our house since last November. We bought this house because it doesn't have much fixing to do to it, we are NOT handy at all. The only problem that we have really had is the shower. The diverter was broken and the fixture probably was built with the house in 1930. Picture showering in a tub full of water because the water is shooting out of the faucet and the showerhead at full force.
So Monday night I come home and David suggests I take a shower because I stink, nice. To my surprise I find that he and a buddy have spent all day getting a new fixture and fixing my tub! Now that is true love! The whole thing was tricky because the old fixture was huge, so there was a big hole in the wall. They had to be clever and modified one of those big panels used to take the three handle fixtures to one handle but turn it on its side to cover the hole. It looks good, I'll post a pic later.
Tonight we are off to the comedy club with my office, should be fun!
I'm Alive!
Wow I am so far behind on blogging it is ridiculous. Just a quick post to remind myself of what I still want to blog about and to bring everyone up to speed on my life.
The past 4 weeks have been wild. On September 10th I ran a PR half marathon, and injured my right hamstring. I took a complete week off running and came back on the 16th and ran my first trail marathon with Mouse, injuring my left ITB in the process (It was SO worth it). On Friday the 22nd I attempted to run with my girls in the morning but after 18 minutes of incredible ITB pain I threw in the towel and walked back to my car in the dark. On the 23rd I woke up and stretched and drove down to the valley to meet Wild Bill and friends and carpool to the Youngstown 50K. I went with the intention of quitting at the first sign of pain. The running gods smiled on me and let me finish my first 50K relatively pain free. Sunday I woke with a sore throat. Monday Sept 25th I went into see the ART doc and start the process of fixing my biomechanics and getting my ITB back to pain free. By Tuesday I had a full blown cold which is just now starting to subside. I continued to stretch all week and saw the doc again on Friday. With no running since the 50K I showed up on the 30th to the Akron Marathon to run in the 5 man relay with some friends. I suffered through a rainy 5k uphill with knee pain and sucking down snot, but it was worth it as the rest of my team members were super fast and snagged first place for us. Monday I was in to the ART doc again and he has cleared me for light running this week. I plan to run easy tomorrow night.
In the mean time I have been doing a lot of stretching, drinking lots of OJ, Tea, and chicken noodle soup, watching lots of LOTR, and trying not to go crazy with the lack of running. It's not like I have a marathon to run in three weeks or anything :)
I have been lurking a bit on blogs but still have a bunch of reading to catch up on. Looking forward to checking in on everyone.
Race reports and pictures to come soon, hopefully!
The past 4 weeks have been wild. On September 10th I ran a PR half marathon, and injured my right hamstring. I took a complete week off running and came back on the 16th and ran my first trail marathon with Mouse, injuring my left ITB in the process (It was SO worth it). On Friday the 22nd I attempted to run with my girls in the morning but after 18 minutes of incredible ITB pain I threw in the towel and walked back to my car in the dark. On the 23rd I woke up and stretched and drove down to the valley to meet Wild Bill and friends and carpool to the Youngstown 50K. I went with the intention of quitting at the first sign of pain. The running gods smiled on me and let me finish my first 50K relatively pain free. Sunday I woke with a sore throat. Monday Sept 25th I went into see the ART doc and start the process of fixing my biomechanics and getting my ITB back to pain free. By Tuesday I had a full blown cold which is just now starting to subside. I continued to stretch all week and saw the doc again on Friday. With no running since the 50K I showed up on the 30th to the Akron Marathon to run in the 5 man relay with some friends. I suffered through a rainy 5k uphill with knee pain and sucking down snot, but it was worth it as the rest of my team members were super fast and snagged first place for us. Monday I was in to the ART doc again and he has cleared me for light running this week. I plan to run easy tomorrow night.
In the mean time I have been doing a lot of stretching, drinking lots of OJ, Tea, and chicken noodle soup, watching lots of LOTR, and trying not to go crazy with the lack of running. It's not like I have a marathon to run in three weeks or anything :)
I have been lurking a bit on blogs but still have a bunch of reading to catch up on. Looking forward to checking in on everyone.
Race reports and pictures to come soon, hopefully!
CROAK
Holy Cow. I have gotten hit HARD with a head cold. Other than time at work I have been spending my evenings on the couch watching LOTR and trying to at least do something productive, like laundry, and working on crocheting A's scarf. On a good note my basketball skills have greatly increased this week with all the kleenex free throws into the trash can, I think I have only missed two shots.
Sorry to keep everyone hanging on the race report and doc visit. I am hoping I will feel better before the weekend, so hopefully by then I will have a recap up and some fun pics that the race volunteers took!
Sorry to keep everyone hanging on the race report and doc visit. I am hoping I will feel better before the weekend, so hopefully by then I will have a recap up and some fun pics that the race volunteers took!
Quickie Post
I "ran" my first 50k race yesterday. I took it extremely easy so as not to irritate my ITB band. I didn't have much pain at all surprisingly and finished! WooHoo!
Tomorrow I am off to an ART therapist first thing in the morning. We are going to take a look at my biomechanics and hopefully figure out what is going on to cause all my little irritations.
Race report to come soon!
Tomorrow I am off to an ART therapist first thing in the morning. We are going to take a look at my biomechanics and hopefully figure out what is going on to cause all my little irritations.
Race report to come soon!
Trails are Super Awesome-North Country Trail Marathon Report
Mouse and I arrived at the race site with about 10 minutes to spare. We headed straight to the portapots as the race director made all the last minute announcements. The only real thing we needed to be troubled about was the last trail marker at 24.8 at which we needed to turn left or face going back and doing that part again when we arrived at the finish. The course was a big 25 mile loop so the marathoners had a 1.4 mile loop tacked onto it.
The race director finished with a plea for everyone to please not drop and it was time for the national anthem. We hurriedly pinned our number onto our drop bag and set it on the tarp and then we all headed over to the start. Mouse had met a lady at DWD that was doing the 50 miler so we went over to wish her good luck and we were off.
We headed out towards the road and quickly saw the front runners coming back. It was extremely funny and the group around us was having great fun pointing out the leaders. We got to the road and turned around to follow the leaders onto the Big M trail. "peanut" hammed it up for the spectators as we headed onto the trail, waving Miss America style and blowing kisses. For a long time we were a line of runners in the woods. The trail was single track. The land there is old sand dunes mostly covered in pine forests now. Absolutely gorgeous. The beginning wasn't thick with trees, but lots of ferns covered the ground as we wound our way up into the pine. We were walking pretty soon up any inclines and I joked that somebody should start the wave or a conga line. Peanut informed Mouse that her leopard skirt was Hawt, super Hawt in fact. And we quickly made friends with the group around us.
"Jah" hollered ahead at one point that Peanut was slowing everyone down and to get a move on. I could tell already this was going to be a blast. My hamstring wasn't making a peep and I was off into the woods with a bunch of fun people.
We arrived at the first aid station after about 45 minutes and I ran off to take care of business. Caught up with Mouse as we grabbed some gatorade and water from the aid station. That was the only station I didn't grab some food at. We headed back into the woods after a short clearing. Peanut and Jah had fallen a bit behind and we picked up the pace to catch up to the group we deemed the "Peloton." We chatted with whoever was around us and heard lots of great stories. A few guys attempting their first 50 miler. A few attempting their 70th+. Always surrounded by beautiful hills and pine of Northern Michigan.
The second aid station came along and we decided to eat something as we were both starving. I had an orange slice and downed some water with one of my e-gels. We headed back out with a runner in Boston shorts matching my sports bra and a TNT guy. He mentioned he was worried about us because he stopped hearing us talking for a bit. We got into a good groove here and hammered until we caught the Peloton again. I think it was at the third aid station that we fell back from them for good. We stopped here and I think I had another orange slice and some chips. A runner caught us and mentioned he was from Ann Arbor and worked in Novi which was funny because those are areas Mouse and I know well. Here we had some big climbs and did some power walking up the hills. We jockeyed back and forth with "Downhill Runner" quite a bit. We'd catch him going up, he'd catch us going down. It wasn't until before the last aid station that we passed him for good.
After the last major hill here we hammered a bit more and finally came to the halfway point. We stayed here a bit longer than most. My ITB had flared up a bit so I stretched as I called my husband and gave him his chip alert. We grabbed some more food and I switched out my handhelds and stuck two ibuprofen in my bottle in case the ITB got worse. We both tried the potatoes with salt, absolutely disgusting! I had some PB and J and some more chips and my second gel. A ton of people went by us during this time, I think we were there about 10 minutes. We finally tossed our bags on the other side of the trail to be taken back to the start and headed back into the woods. I joked that without the Peloton I was sure to get us lost now. A spectator assured me we wouldn't. I took my only split of the day as we headed out and we were at about 2:40. About 1 hour slower than my road race halfs.
About this time my body was getting seriously sore. I was kind of pissed because I always inform all my road running friends about how nice the trails are on your body. But everything was getting sore here. My back, my legs, my hips, my ass, my feet, all sore. I did a gut check and I knew I didn't want to have to walk a half marathon but if that is what it would take that was fine, I was finishing no matter what. Oddly Mouse mentioned the whole body soreness just as I was feeling it, it was nice to know I wasn't the only one. We jockeyed back and forth with a runner from Tucson in this section that was doing the 50 miler. I think he said his name was Billy. We got ahead of him for awhile during what was marked as an easy section of trail.
My ITB was getting angry and I gave in and took one of the ibuprofen pills. My right calf was starting to seize a bit too so I decided I needed some salt at the next station. I stopped to pee and realized I was probably a bit dehydrated so I vowed to drink most of my handheld before the next stop. We made it into the aid station with our friend Billy and I took an e-cap, I have never tried these before but I figured that as a training run for JFK I'd better try everything and find out what works. My stomach had held up surprisingly well with all the food I was eating only trying to cramp for a mile or so. A woman came in behind us and I seriously thought she was going to bite it, she looked woozy and not steady on her feet. She asked for some ibuprofen and I decided to take one of their pills so i would have one in reserve. We took off from the aid station and were still feeling pretty bad. Billy caught us and we let him lead the way. We jogged and walked with him for quite a ways before both of us caught our second wind.
If you had told me a mile previously I would feel this good I would have called you a liar. But I wasn't going to take it for granted so we pushed ahead of Billy as we picked up the pace and conversation. Mouse asked how I met David and that story always gets me excited so we proceeded to chat all the way into the next aid station, we even ran some hills in this section. My ITB was painful but tolerable and the calf seemed to be doing better. I took another e-cap at this station and some potato chips and pb and j and my 3rd gel. We passed a guy who had bit it here and was walking the rest of the way. I am glad I didn't have to do that!
The downhills were starting to kill my ITB now, at some point I decided to just fly down to get it over with and that set off the hamstring. I wasn't happy about that but was glad it made it that long before complaining. I think we found the culprit as River Run is a downhill race, so I should probably avoid hills for awhile.
We passed downhill runner in this section and started looking for a girl that we thought was in our age group. We didn't see many people though and we just kept chatting as disappointment of the race coming to an end soon set in. We made it to the last aid station and were informed by the runner ahead of us that we were having too much fun. Billy had told us earlier he could tell we must have been friends for a very long time. Wonder what he thought when we told him we met on the internet!
We filled up on gatorade and water and I had some M and Ms. I never did try the defizzed coke, Mouse said it was nasty. We headed off towards the finish knowing our left turn was coming soon. There was a pretty big uphill right after the aid station so we walked a bit here. We got a little worried we missed the turn but finally we saw a man standing in the trail and a big yellow arrow pointing left for the marathon. At this point we knew we didn't have much time left to go.
The last section was completely flat soft packed sand and we hammered in. My ITB had had it and I wanted to hammer just in case there were any more hills left we would have to climb. We passed a road and a spectator let us know we had less than a mile to go. I said awesome and declared out loud, less than 20 minutes now, which made Mouse laugh. I like to overestimate time left so that when I get done faster I am happy. We came in to the finish line together and were both handed some awesome finisher mugs. We high fived and headed straight to the beer keg. My legs felt pretty good other than the ITB and the calf and hamstring. None of the regular stiffness I get after a road race.
We got our beers and went to change. I called David and Mouse called Rae and Brent to celebrate. We talked with the runner we passed at the last aid station and headed over to get some food. The awards were already started and we both got "2nd" in our age groups and got some really nice duffle bags. I checked the results and we were actually both 3rd out of 3 but the ladies that took first in our age groups were in the top 3. Despite our time of 5:27 and change we were not the last ones in and if there were an award for who had the most fun out on the course there is no way anyone could compete (except maybe Jah and Peanut).
Post race details to come soon. The fun weekend definitely did not end at the finish line!
The race director finished with a plea for everyone to please not drop and it was time for the national anthem. We hurriedly pinned our number onto our drop bag and set it on the tarp and then we all headed over to the start. Mouse had met a lady at DWD that was doing the 50 miler so we went over to wish her good luck and we were off.
We headed out towards the road and quickly saw the front runners coming back. It was extremely funny and the group around us was having great fun pointing out the leaders. We got to the road and turned around to follow the leaders onto the Big M trail. "peanut" hammed it up for the spectators as we headed onto the trail, waving Miss America style and blowing kisses. For a long time we were a line of runners in the woods. The trail was single track. The land there is old sand dunes mostly covered in pine forests now. Absolutely gorgeous. The beginning wasn't thick with trees, but lots of ferns covered the ground as we wound our way up into the pine. We were walking pretty soon up any inclines and I joked that somebody should start the wave or a conga line. Peanut informed Mouse that her leopard skirt was Hawt, super Hawt in fact. And we quickly made friends with the group around us.
"Jah" hollered ahead at one point that Peanut was slowing everyone down and to get a move on. I could tell already this was going to be a blast. My hamstring wasn't making a peep and I was off into the woods with a bunch of fun people.
We arrived at the first aid station after about 45 minutes and I ran off to take care of business. Caught up with Mouse as we grabbed some gatorade and water from the aid station. That was the only station I didn't grab some food at. We headed back into the woods after a short clearing. Peanut and Jah had fallen a bit behind and we picked up the pace to catch up to the group we deemed the "Peloton." We chatted with whoever was around us and heard lots of great stories. A few guys attempting their first 50 miler. A few attempting their 70th+. Always surrounded by beautiful hills and pine of Northern Michigan.
The second aid station came along and we decided to eat something as we were both starving. I had an orange slice and downed some water with one of my e-gels. We headed back out with a runner in Boston shorts matching my sports bra and a TNT guy. He mentioned he was worried about us because he stopped hearing us talking for a bit. We got into a good groove here and hammered until we caught the Peloton again. I think it was at the third aid station that we fell back from them for good. We stopped here and I think I had another orange slice and some chips. A runner caught us and mentioned he was from Ann Arbor and worked in Novi which was funny because those are areas Mouse and I know well. Here we had some big climbs and did some power walking up the hills. We jockeyed back and forth with "Downhill Runner" quite a bit. We'd catch him going up, he'd catch us going down. It wasn't until before the last aid station that we passed him for good.
After the last major hill here we hammered a bit more and finally came to the halfway point. We stayed here a bit longer than most. My ITB had flared up a bit so I stretched as I called my husband and gave him his chip alert. We grabbed some more food and I switched out my handhelds and stuck two ibuprofen in my bottle in case the ITB got worse. We both tried the potatoes with salt, absolutely disgusting! I had some PB and J and some more chips and my second gel. A ton of people went by us during this time, I think we were there about 10 minutes. We finally tossed our bags on the other side of the trail to be taken back to the start and headed back into the woods. I joked that without the Peloton I was sure to get us lost now. A spectator assured me we wouldn't. I took my only split of the day as we headed out and we were at about 2:40. About 1 hour slower than my road race halfs.
About this time my body was getting seriously sore. I was kind of pissed because I always inform all my road running friends about how nice the trails are on your body. But everything was getting sore here. My back, my legs, my hips, my ass, my feet, all sore. I did a gut check and I knew I didn't want to have to walk a half marathon but if that is what it would take that was fine, I was finishing no matter what. Oddly Mouse mentioned the whole body soreness just as I was feeling it, it was nice to know I wasn't the only one. We jockeyed back and forth with a runner from Tucson in this section that was doing the 50 miler. I think he said his name was Billy. We got ahead of him for awhile during what was marked as an easy section of trail.
My ITB was getting angry and I gave in and took one of the ibuprofen pills. My right calf was starting to seize a bit too so I decided I needed some salt at the next station. I stopped to pee and realized I was probably a bit dehydrated so I vowed to drink most of my handheld before the next stop. We made it into the aid station with our friend Billy and I took an e-cap, I have never tried these before but I figured that as a training run for JFK I'd better try everything and find out what works. My stomach had held up surprisingly well with all the food I was eating only trying to cramp for a mile or so. A woman came in behind us and I seriously thought she was going to bite it, she looked woozy and not steady on her feet. She asked for some ibuprofen and I decided to take one of their pills so i would have one in reserve. We took off from the aid station and were still feeling pretty bad. Billy caught us and we let him lead the way. We jogged and walked with him for quite a ways before both of us caught our second wind.
If you had told me a mile previously I would feel this good I would have called you a liar. But I wasn't going to take it for granted so we pushed ahead of Billy as we picked up the pace and conversation. Mouse asked how I met David and that story always gets me excited so we proceeded to chat all the way into the next aid station, we even ran some hills in this section. My ITB was painful but tolerable and the calf seemed to be doing better. I took another e-cap at this station and some potato chips and pb and j and my 3rd gel. We passed a guy who had bit it here and was walking the rest of the way. I am glad I didn't have to do that!
The downhills were starting to kill my ITB now, at some point I decided to just fly down to get it over with and that set off the hamstring. I wasn't happy about that but was glad it made it that long before complaining. I think we found the culprit as River Run is a downhill race, so I should probably avoid hills for awhile.
We passed downhill runner in this section and started looking for a girl that we thought was in our age group. We didn't see many people though and we just kept chatting as disappointment of the race coming to an end soon set in. We made it to the last aid station and were informed by the runner ahead of us that we were having too much fun. Billy had told us earlier he could tell we must have been friends for a very long time. Wonder what he thought when we told him we met on the internet!
We filled up on gatorade and water and I had some M and Ms. I never did try the defizzed coke, Mouse said it was nasty. We headed off towards the finish knowing our left turn was coming soon. There was a pretty big uphill right after the aid station so we walked a bit here. We got a little worried we missed the turn but finally we saw a man standing in the trail and a big yellow arrow pointing left for the marathon. At this point we knew we didn't have much time left to go.
The last section was completely flat soft packed sand and we hammered in. My ITB had had it and I wanted to hammer just in case there were any more hills left we would have to climb. We passed a road and a spectator let us know we had less than a mile to go. I said awesome and declared out loud, less than 20 minutes now, which made Mouse laugh. I like to overestimate time left so that when I get done faster I am happy. We came in to the finish line together and were both handed some awesome finisher mugs. We high fived and headed straight to the beer keg. My legs felt pretty good other than the ITB and the calf and hamstring. None of the regular stiffness I get after a road race.
We got our beers and went to change. I called David and Mouse called Rae and Brent to celebrate. We talked with the runner we passed at the last aid station and headed over to get some food. The awards were already started and we both got "2nd" in our age groups and got some really nice duffle bags. I checked the results and we were actually both 3rd out of 3 but the ladies that took first in our age groups were in the top 3. Despite our time of 5:27 and change we were not the last ones in and if there were an award for who had the most fun out on the course there is no way anyone could compete (except maybe Jah and Peanut).
Post race details to come soon. The fun weekend definitely did not end at the finish line!
Pre Race- North Country Trail Marathon
This weekend was practically perfect in every way (Like Mary Poppins practically perfect).
We left Thursday night and headed to Furian's place. The boys were off to Cinci first thing in the morning but I lounged for awhile and read some blogs while sipping a coffee and eating a fresh deli sandwich. Released a lot of emotion reading the IM Moo recaps. It is so incredible what these people did to get to that race and what they did that day, just amazing.
Around noon I headed up to meet Mouse and get on our way to pick up our race packets. After stopping for an oil change and getting hit on by the mechanic (I NEVER get hit on, this was bizarre, especially considering the mention of it being my husbands car, oh and the WEDDING ring on my finger, seriously do people have no shame?), I met up with Mouse at her place and we packed the car and got on our way.
We were both pretty jazzed for the weekend and we chatted the whole way up. We arrived at the race site around 7pm and got a water bottle and our numbers. I was under the impression that the long sleeved technical was only received upon finishing so we made a plan to finish the next morning, but we were surprised to receive the sweet technicals tees right off the bat, we decided we would still stick to the finishing plan the next day anways. We were there long enough to check out the finisher line and the trail head, and to get mooned, then we headed on our way to the cabin (note to the mountain biker who felt the need to show us all he had, maybe next time change inside your car, not in the front of the parking lot!).
Stopped at the grocery store for some pasta and coffee filters. Had to make a second trip because in all the distraction we forgot the coffee filters. Then we were on our way to our haven for the night. The cabin was awesome. Right on the lake and super comfy with lots of sleeping room.
We called Rae and Brent to let them know we were marking Pip as our emergency contact as we prepared our dinner, pasta and a beer, you gotta fill up on those carbs! We prepped all our stuff for the next day. I opted for the Wild Bill shirt and my fave Pearl Izumi shorts. Mouse went for the pink leopard print skirt and white tee. There was going to be a bag drop at 13.4 so we also prepped bags with whatever we thought we might need half way through. I threw in my second handheld filled with gatorade and carbo pro, some ibuprofen, and two gels. Mouse had an extra pair of shoes in case the new ones acted up as well as her cell so we could give my husband and Rae and Brent some "chip updates."
I topped off with a bottle of gatorade and carbo pro before heading to bed. I read a little and then it was lights out.
4:30 came quick (note the alarm was set for 5:30). Apparently I forgot to fill myself in on the laid back approach I was taking for this marathon. It was all about trails baby, and running like a training run. There was no need for the early wake up call and nerves. Alas my bod thought different and I finally gave in at 5:15 and got up and showered.
We got on our way about 6:15 and pumped up the Justin Timberlake and Queer Eye tunes to get us ready to go. The weather was gorgeous and we were all set for our first trail marathon.
We left Thursday night and headed to Furian's place. The boys were off to Cinci first thing in the morning but I lounged for awhile and read some blogs while sipping a coffee and eating a fresh deli sandwich. Released a lot of emotion reading the IM Moo recaps. It is so incredible what these people did to get to that race and what they did that day, just amazing.
Around noon I headed up to meet Mouse and get on our way to pick up our race packets. After stopping for an oil change and getting hit on by the mechanic (I NEVER get hit on, this was bizarre, especially considering the mention of it being my husbands car, oh and the WEDDING ring on my finger, seriously do people have no shame?), I met up with Mouse at her place and we packed the car and got on our way.
We were both pretty jazzed for the weekend and we chatted the whole way up. We arrived at the race site around 7pm and got a water bottle and our numbers. I was under the impression that the long sleeved technical was only received upon finishing so we made a plan to finish the next morning, but we were surprised to receive the sweet technicals tees right off the bat, we decided we would still stick to the finishing plan the next day anways. We were there long enough to check out the finisher line and the trail head, and to get mooned, then we headed on our way to the cabin (note to the mountain biker who felt the need to show us all he had, maybe next time change inside your car, not in the front of the parking lot!).
Stopped at the grocery store for some pasta and coffee filters. Had to make a second trip because in all the distraction we forgot the coffee filters. Then we were on our way to our haven for the night. The cabin was awesome. Right on the lake and super comfy with lots of sleeping room.
We called Rae and Brent to let them know we were marking Pip as our emergency contact as we prepared our dinner, pasta and a beer, you gotta fill up on those carbs! We prepped all our stuff for the next day. I opted for the Wild Bill shirt and my fave Pearl Izumi shorts. Mouse went for the pink leopard print skirt and white tee. There was going to be a bag drop at 13.4 so we also prepped bags with whatever we thought we might need half way through. I threw in my second handheld filled with gatorade and carbo pro, some ibuprofen, and two gels. Mouse had an extra pair of shoes in case the new ones acted up as well as her cell so we could give my husband and Rae and Brent some "chip updates."
I topped off with a bottle of gatorade and carbo pro before heading to bed. I read a little and then it was lights out.
4:30 came quick (note the alarm was set for 5:30). Apparently I forgot to fill myself in on the laid back approach I was taking for this marathon. It was all about trails baby, and running like a training run. There was no need for the early wake up call and nerves. Alas my bod thought different and I finally gave in at 5:15 and got up and showered.
We got on our way about 6:15 and pumped up the Justin Timberlake and Queer Eye tunes to get us ready to go. The weather was gorgeous and we were all set for our first trail marathon.
North Country Trail Marathon
Just after our first trail marathon. What a freaking awesome weekend guys. Seriously. Can't wait to write about it.
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