Sometimes...

Sometimes you go for a run and come back looking like this...Well I do on most runs but that's not the point!

And on some of those runs you come back to discover that your garmin recorded the time but no distance!  Too bad that happened because I was really looking forward to seeing the map trace on last night's crazy mystery run--we had it all, snow, ice, mud, hills, more mud, tree roots, ankle deep water crossings and yes, even more mud.  My main regret is that I chose to wear my road shoes (didn't know there was an off-road option last night) because my trail shoes were still sopping wet and muddy from the impromptu midday run.

On a sad note, my Sock it to Me "Bad Ass" socks developed a hole on the big toe area during last night's run. Not impressed because I haven't worn these socks that much and they were fairly expensive.

Trent Meadows once more

Trent Meadows December 2013 XC

Last winter the Trent Meadows BDL race was held on the first of December 2013 but I don't think having it in January changed the conditions much. It was bright and sunny, a little chilly but not near as cold as it should have been and just as bloody muddy.  Today also marked a sort of anniversary because this was the first race I did wearing the IRC vest (FYI there are closer running clubs to me but this one was the nicest and bestest* in replying to my emails when I was looking for a club to join).

So what has changed between that first time and today?  The course according to my garmin is slightly longer, we got to run by sheep and llamas (nice having something to distract you from the agony of running fast), and they added this steep little incline which required using your hands to get up and over it which we had to go over TWICE.  We also fielded quite a large women's team--yay ladies!!!!! Another change was having appropriate footwear** for a cross country race, that made such a huge difference in my confidence about getting around and there was no almost falling over in front of another runner because I couldn't get a good foothold in the mud.  The course was also much better marshalled this year in my opinion, no wrong turns today!

Despite having finished up a long run week (20 miler on Thursday) I was feeling remarkably strong and confident albeit not especially speedy at the start line. I think that might have had something to do with running 2 miles from my house to the car share meetup point with a heavy rucksack--all the pre-race nerves were already burnt off.***

With not having any speed expectations once the initial mad dash slowed I just settled in slightly behind one of the guys who usually finishes ahead of me and used him as a pacer (Thanks Alan!) even though he didn't realise I was doing so until after the race, lol.  I also resisted the urge to glance at the garmin whenever it would beep at the mile points mostly because right now every time I look down too much on a run I end up with a nose full of liquid snot that is determined not to stay in my nose (yes, it's as gross as it sounds). It would probably be easier to just forgo the watch altogether but then you don't get the fun of comparing your Strava segments afterwards.

Pic courtesy of LERC

The aforementioned steep incline caused a huge bottleneck on the first lap so we all ended walking up it but on the second lap there were only 3 of us close together so I was able to scramble up it quite quickly, passing another woman in the process.  It wasn't any less hellacious trying to get back into a rhythm after it though, a definite pace killer but that's part of all the fun of XC, eh? The finish this year also featured a very short but steep climb right before the chute and I got pipped to the line by one of our guys! I just couldn't muster up that last kick, great fun though!

Somehow I managed to finish up a minute and a half faster than last year despite the longer course (per my garmin connect stats) and I came in at 139th instead of my usual 180(ish) placement.  Another bonus--I didn't end up near as muddy as I usually do after a xc event!

Trust me, that's clean compared to normal

*Yes, I know that is a made up word
**You can get around in a pair of trail shoes but something with more aggressive lugs on the bottom will keep you upright and get you past other runners when it's muddy
***Not the recommended warm-up

Bonus Ben picture with my clean again trainers

A running tip that I thought everyone was familiar with but after a recent facebook convo found out differently is to stuff your trainers with wadded up newspaper after a wet run. Not only does it dry them out quickly (you might have to change the newspaper a couple of times depending on how soaked the shoes are) but it also deodorises them! The trainers are usually dry enough to run in the next day with this method especially if you place them near a radiator or under the refrigerator kick plate.

Some run stuff. Some expat stuff.

Bad tree!

I do love some of the imaginative signs that you see here in England--this one immediately had my mind racing making up stories about what the tree did to deserve it's outlaw status ;-) I'm also ignoring (or trying to) the fact that "of" was omitted. 

Another 20 mile marathon training run is in the books, this one while not exactly terrible, certainly wasn't the fun-fest of last week's despite having equally excellent company.  It was definitely an interesting one with the weather, I stepped outside and the skies opened up with a heavy enough downpour that I immediately went right back in to grab a water-repellent jacket. Not normally a huge deal but I was already running late so didn't take the time to shed the long-sleeve shirt. 3 layers up top meant that I should have just skipped going back for the jacket because I was soaked from sweat almost as much as I would have been from the rain!  A few miles in and we were treated to the most gorgeously blue skies for the rest of the run so I ended up faffing about with the jacket tied around my waist and it and my spibelt kept slipping around--extremely irritating to the nth degree (not the sunny sky, that was wonderful!).

Interestingly enough despite struggling to keep moving forward, today was only a couple of minutes slower than last week's 20 miler (9:28 versus 9:21 pace per mile).  I'm chalking that up to having people to run with because I'm pretty sure I would have thrown in the towel early on this one if I had been by myself. To keep things honest, I almost did text saying I wasn't going to be there and then thought about calling it good enough at 18.3 miles.  Stuck with it though and these sort of mental fights are as important to marathon training as the great runs are.  Oh yeah, do as I say and not as I do with this bit of advice:  Don't do a more intense than normal strength session the day before a long run!

Probably more excited about it than I should be but after being waylaid with horrible sinus pressure headaches the past few days finding Clarityn rapid melt tabs on markdown for less than half-price at the shop has made me very happy. This in turn made me think of another difference between the US and UK regarding OTC meds--you can't buy in bulk here. Most supermarkets limit you to purchasing 2 packages at a time and each packet usually only contain between 10-16 tablets (the Clarityn were in packs of 10).  However if you go to a pharmacy you can buy in packs of 32 and twice the dosage strength (up to the discretion of the pharmacist) but it is still nowhere near the packs of 50 or more (live large and go for the 500!) that can readily be purchased in the states.  More information about this is on the NHS site.

Thanks to Jennifer Z's post on facebook this is today's earworm! While perhaps Leon Russell's cover of "The Battle of New Orleans" isn't everyone's cup of tea I do quite enjoy the sped-up version.  Check out what History.com has to say about the historic battle if you're like me and all you remember about it is from the song (don't guess I should admit that I'm horrible about recalling history!).

The 20 miler

From Etsy (not my shop)

Not gonna lie, thoughts of 20 mile training runs strike a wee bit of fear into my heart...something about that number is incredibly intimidating (let's not even talk about that additional 6.2 miles yet!) and I have always dreaded when they started looming ever closer in the training schedule.  That of course was for my first marathon in 2009, I didn't get up to 19 miles in 2011 when training for the Marine Corps Marathon (bad Gabby, very very bad).

Looking back over the 2009 posts it looks like I had one great 20 miler and one that was horrible (recap here)--I also had blogged about peanuts causing me tummy troubles which is something I'd totally forgotten about and mentioned this past summer like it was something new (memory like a sieve).  

End of the bad 20 mile run 2009

Enough down memory lane though, yesterday marked the first 20 mile training run for the Belvoir Challenge and true to form I had quite a bit of difficulty relaxing and falling asleep the night before. When the pesky alarm went off at 5:30 am I just laid there thinking about how insane I was to be getting up to prepare to go running before dawn. Eventually I did drag myself out from under the covers because a mate was going to be knocking on the door at 7:30 and I'm sure he wouldn't have appreciated me telling him I had changed my mind about this running lark.  I did dawdle long enough that my planned 5 miles before he got there had to be shortened to 3, oops.  

Long story short, ran 3 miles solo, then 2 up to the club with Ian to meet up with two other runners, 9.4 with them, then back to my house which brought my total up to 18 (15 for Ian), said the goodbyes and straight up the street to finish up the final 2 miles to get the 20 done.  That was so hard going past my front gate and not stopping! Having to run the last bit solo was good for mental toughness though and the last mile ended up being my fastest (8:39).  

What I did right:

*arranged to run most of it with friends so I wouldn't be tempted to back out or cut it short

*remembered to eat a couple of bites of a 9bar around mile 7

*was able to eat and drink without stopping to walk

*had fun!

*foam rolled afterwards

What I didn't get right:

*didn't eat or drink anything after mile 7 (every time I thought of it we were either running up or down a hill or we were chatting, lol)

*neglected to re-lace the new trainers in the way that takes pressure off my toes--my left big toe was in agony for a good part of the run

*didn't take the time to properly adjust my Amphipod fuel belt before running so was having to constantly move it back into place

Accessories and fuel for yesterday

Overall it was a very good training run and certainly the fastest 20 miler I have done with an average pace of 9:21 per mile and best yet I wasn't totally wasted for the rest of the day--although there might have been a nap later on. Let's just keep the fingers crossed I can keep the feet issues under control! As for today, I didn't wake up hobbling around and my 30 minute recovery run was much faster than it should have been.  

I do not get any sort of compensation from any of the links in this post but if you want to help fund my racing habit please click on the affiliate or Amazon links that are between the posts or in the sidebar, it's very much appreciated if you do. Thank you! 

Stanage Struggle 2014

I do love a good fell race. Even more so if I finish feeling better than I did at the start.  The Stanage Struggle was a last minute decision and I almost backed out of it when I woke up at 4am this morning and couldn't fall back asleep properly.  Even at the start line I was standing there thinking why the hell am I doing this...Once we started moving though I settled in to a comfortable place within my head and just made up my mind to enjoy it.

Bargain race of the year, £5! 

And enjoy it I did.  The disgruntled sheep who leapt through the pack of runners provided a laugh, at least from 10 runners back it did. I'm sure those who were right there didn't think it was quite as amusing but I don't think I've ever seen a sheep catch that much air in a jump before.

The relentless climb where most of us in the middle of the pack were reduced to walking didn't even kill my mood although my calves were on the verge of cramping. Instead I channeled my inner Jens Voigt and repeated (silently, talking took too much effort) "Shut up legs", I wonder if anyone else was doing the same? 

Once we reached the top I took a moment (while still running) to admire the view...Next thing I knew I was doing a World Series worthy home run slider head first! Adrenalin rocks though, I popped back up as fast as I went down and didn't even lose a position. Yes, Miss Whoops strikes again! 

The steep downhill ascent lost me time and several spots though.  My ankles are still not as flexible as they should be after the sprains earlier in the year so I was taking that far more cautiously than I normally would.  It doesn't help that I'm woefully out of practise with running technical (aka too damn rocky) trails.  

The aftermath

I made up for it once we reached the gentler sloping areas, bombed through mile 5 at 7:37, then mile 6 at 8:50--we started climbing up again and there was a boggy area to cross through that was ankle deep and a bit shoe-sucking.  When I say boggy, I mean not just the fact that it was wet and muddy but it was also that I think it was the preferred sheep toilet area--it stunk!!!! 

Heading for the finish

Gaining on the guy in blue

Oh, hello there! Smile for the partner and both feet in the air. No, those two things are not necessarily connected but it did make my day to see him at the end. 

Hair, tattoos, and laughter.

The Stanage Struggle is on my list to run again, actually I would love to do the entire Outdoor Challenge race series next year.  Hathersage is a beautiful village and the race was well-managed, very well marshaled and the people on the trails were very supportive, lots of cheers and well-dones.  There was even a water stop at the top before the turn around point which I didn't expect but was a nice touch.  

What I need to work on: 

• Calf strength--I'm doing well with deadlifts, squats, and lunges but need to start adding in some calf specific strength exercises to combat the trying to cramp tendency while climbing the uphills
• Technical trails--I used to be quite good with rocky and uneven terrain but have gotten out of the habit of running over technical ground the past couple of years
• Ankle flexibility--again, have gotten out of the habit of doing the ankle mobility work.  Need to get back with that
• Speed--self-explanatory, need to get faster

After the race, you gotta refuel! The past few times we'd been up to the Peak District we had just missed Grindleford Station Cafe being open but we lucked out today :-).  Post run reward was a full English and a huge cup of coffee.

I ate everything except the sausages. 

Check out the pics from a previous visit (2011) to Hathersage when we visited Little John's Grave. 

What I wore, a flipping tyre, and fried bologna

After the recent discussions about how much workout gear I own and then coming to the realisation that I only wear a small percentage of it, I've decided to start documenting the outfit du jour.  Race days will be the exception because in order to get points for the club championship or if it's a league race then I obviously am in the club singlet or shirt and that gets a bit boring--the only variation of those is exactly what horrendous expression of agony will be on my face.  Speaking of finish line photos despite my trying for a decent one at the Wilne 10k, the photographer managed to completely miss my arms in the air and beaming smile as I crossed the mats only to snap this one just after when I was recovering from the sprint in and turning my garmin off...sigh, even when I try I can't get good race face.

However I digress--last night's recovery/stress management/I've-gotta-get-away-from-the-computer-before-I-toss-it-out-the-window run outfit consisted of mostly Brooks Running gear, "Live Love Run" tee, Nightlife essential (?) shorts, Ghost 6 trainers and the jog bra by a huge sportswear corporation that I no longer buy products from in protest of their overbearing attitudes at track meets.

The shorts are brilliant, they are reflective/bright without being the usual fluorescent yellow and they have two back pockets which fasten shut with velcro that are the perfect size for gels if you use those.  Unfortunately it looks like they have been discontinued because the only version available on the Brooks site are the blue ID Elite shorts.  Guessing it's because they run slightly shorter than most of the other styles.  

Thanks to a running club friend I had a delivery of a huge tyre to my front garden this morning!  Why would I ever want such a thing you ask? For tyre flipping of course...and perhaps a bit of sledgehammering or equivalent for those nights when I can't get out for a stress relief run.  Pressups, planks, mountain climbers, and crunch variations can also be done with the tyre as the platform.  Can't wait to try it out! 

On the unhealthy side of things I read about Hardee's Fried Bologna and Velveeta Cheese Biscuit on one of the expat facebook groups this afternoon and that got me to reminiscing about my truck driving days.  Southfork truckstop in Gurdon, Arkansas was always a regular stop (huge parking lot, a couple of great running routes and a decent restaurant where the waitresses learned your name) and one of their menu items was the "Big R Sandwich", a thick slice of bologna fried and served in between slices of Texas toast.  Heart attack on a plate but sometimes it just hit the spot, the rest of the time it was just gross to think about.  

Ramble, rant, and race

It was shaping up to be an excellent week of running and nordic walking but a third workout in the minimalist trail shoes cooled the jets for two days.  I knew within a few steps of running Thursday night that I'd pushed it too far but since it was an away club run and I didn't pack a different pair of trainers I was kind of stuck with it.  It is probably just a bit of bruising from going over some rocky areas and pavement but my left forefoot was killing me on the downhills. The route was gorgeous, mostly off-road and I'm not sure I could find my way around part of it without a guide again--speaking of guides, ours was Colin (Brinsley Runner) from the running club and he did a great job of explaining where we were in relation to various landmarks and even giving us a bit of history, good stuff.  It was getting dark towards the end of the run so it's time to charge up the head torches and unpack the reflective gear (sigh, sure sign of summer being over).

I also managed a pb on the summer course Tuesday night, 5k in 23:20, hoping I can carve that time down to sub 23 on some parkruns soon.  There was no getting lost this time but they started me off with a couple of other runners to make sure it didn't happen again, lol.

Today was the Wilne 10k, I debated skipping it because I wasn't in the mood to race and I wasn't sure how the foot would hold up but went ahead because I didn't want it to be another wasted race entry like back in the spring when I sprained my ankle.  As my usual, I was in the loo queue until the last possible moment and once I got to the start I couldn't be bothered to elbow my way up closer to the front so just started almost in the very back.  I did start my garmin right after we heard the "go" and it took 56.8 seconds to reach the timing mat (at least it had one).  Yes, it is frustrating both to me and the people I'm zig-zagging through when I do that but it also prevents me from jack-rabbiting the first mile (8:00 on the dot by the way).

Once I got into a clear area where I could settle down into a steady pace I realized that I actually felt good and was sure I could get sub 51, what I didn't expect was that I would keep consistently clicking off (just barely) sub 8 minute miles.  I almost always flub up 10k pacing but for once got it right.  What was funny was I could see one of the club members up in front of me for most of the race that I'm close to the same speed as but every time I would try to surge up to catch him, he'd do the same and the gap never lessened, lol.

Click to view

Could I have pushed harder? Yes, I could have, I wasn't totally wiped out at the finish line, it was a comfortably hard pace rather than pushing to the puke zone. I said thank you to the marshalls and to the people spectating who was cheering us on.  I smiled whenever I saw a camera (even smiled several times when it was just me) but on the other hand I wouldn't have been able to carry on a conversation.  My foot did start aching in the last couple of miles but it wasn't unbearable. Final stats: gun time 50:26, 470th overall/chip time 49:03, 440th overall out of 858 finishers. Yes chip time has me up 30 places! Stoked! Middle of the pack territory but there were a LOT of speedy people at this one.

As far as the race goes, I quite enjoyed the course, didn't even mind that it was 2 loops.  It kind of reminded me of the Capitol City Classic 10k in that it was flat, had shady areas, and while not uber scenic, it was pretty enough.  I would definitely do this one again.  Oh and we got a banana in our goody bag! Yes, I'm still holding a grudge against the Derby 10k for not providing the participants with bananas at the end, call me petty if you must but it's all about giving me some kind of food at the end. Some people want a medal, I want my banana. 

Goody bag contents, yay for a non-white tee! 

Adding resistance

So what happens when you mention to your Nordic Walking instructor that you think you have reached your maximum walking speed?  In my case you get introduced to "Terry the Tyre" and pointed towards some hills.

One of the few "flat" sections on the route...and yes I heard all the related jokes afterwards from my partner.  It is certainly a conversation starter and during yesterday's session I had a huge dog pick the tyre up twice and try to go in the opposite direction with it! The gym equivalent to this would be the stairmill, you work up a sweat within moments.

With the next British Nordic Walking Challenge event coming up 2 November, I've increased my number of NW workouts from the usual 2 or 3 to at least four per week. Two of the walks are fairly laid back because I'm a walk leader assisting with them so I generally focus on technique but I'm trying to get in one hard walk per week to get my speed and endurance up and hopefully that will help my running as well.

Speaking of running, Tuesday's club run was awesome! It was a mostly off road, mystery route where the leader even had us running backwards at one point.  There were a few nettles and brambles and quite a few shouts of "Watch your head!" which quickly got shortened to "Head!" to avoid the low tree limbs. I still managed to get slapped in the face once with a ricocheting branch though. I played it smart and ran slow for the first 1/3, hard on the 2nd third, then easy again on the final bit. I also didn't get hung up on the pace and didn't bother with pausing my garmin at the re-grouping points or when we had to walk through a field with thick overgrowth and thistles so the stats looked a bit willy-nilly once down-loaded.  The only part I can't say I enjoyed was our tempo run around the lake, towards the end of that section I swallowed wrong and couldn't breathe and almost lost my lunch.  Afterwards I was so exhausted I barely made it through our tea before falling asleep on the couch.

See how all over the place the pace was? Loving some of the best pace times though

Back to a track session tonight but it's short intervals which I quite enjoy (once they're done).  Run happy y'all and try something crazy with your workouts every now and then.  

Race Report-Newton's Fraction

It's been a while since I've done one of these, eh? Not sure I remember how.......

Flashing my Brooks Fanatics tee

Last year I ran the Stafford Half Marathon and I started to sign up for it again but stumbled upon the Newton's Fraction Half Marathon which was one of the top 10 as voted on by Runner's World readers in 2012 so thought I would give it a go instead.  Unlike last year where the weather was so cold that runners were coming in to pick up their t-shirts and medal (I've never ran a race where you had the option to pick up the medal before it started until Stafford) and immediately going back home, Sunday was absolutely gorgeous--slightly too warm for a spring race in my opinion but I loved the sunshine.  The winds, predicted to be up to 33 mph, I could have done without though.

The sideways ponytail? That's not from me tossing my head playfully

Miles 1-4 went well leading me to think I might be able to keep the 8:40 something pace I wanted to ensure a sub 2 hour. I'd skipped the first water stop at 3.5 because of a queasy stomach and drinking when I feel that way already leads to me needing to find a Porta Loo or some trees very quickly. Gross but true. Oh, I did have a garmin malfunction just past mile 1, it did the lost satellite reception thing then tried to freeze up. Fortunately I was able to shut it down and get it restarted with only losing .2 of a mile. 

The tummy did do what I feared and started rumbling towards the end of mile 4 so between that and the first big hill at mile 5.5ish my pace dropped to a low of 10:33 for mile 6. I did find someone to chat with for 3 miles which got me back under a 9 minute pace but then around mile 9.5 I started feeling like the nail on my left big toe was being ripped away.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Going up the other big hill at mile 10.25 made it throb even worse and I was vowing to never enter another half marathon. It was such a relief to be told finally that the finish line was within half a mile but I couldn't even manage to pick up the pace once I got on the track. Actually I got slower, lol.  

The end is in sight! After a lap around the track that is

Despite the toe and tummy issues I did enjoy most of the course. I love running canal trails and back roads plus the view of Belvoir Castle was amazing.   The area of Denton that we ran through was quite pretty as well. The only complaint I would have was that the final 1.5 miles wasn't quite as nice as the rest of the course but you have to get back somehow on an out and back.  This isn't a personal best course in my opinion and if you are a bling collector you will be disappointed because there were no medals, only finishers shirts which were a bit plain (no logo on back, small logo on corner of the chest).  The goodie bag was also a bit sparse especially when compared to the one from the Rushcliffe 10k. The only extra besides food was a trial size tube of toothpaste--hmmm, wonder what they were trying to say, lol.  A big thank you to all the course marshals and volunteers, everyone seemed to be pleased to be out there--that probably had a lot to do with the beautiful sunshine though :-) 

Not happy about the 32 seconds over 2 hours but happy to be done!

So back to the toe. I was dreading pulling off my shoe because I was expecting a bloody mess but fortunately I (and everyone else on facebook because I would have taken pics) was spared that.  Turns out that the Compeed callous plaster I'd placed on the side of my foot had started to come loose and when it did it was catching on my sock which then was catching the side of the nail and pulling it up with each step I was taking. Extremely painful yes but no permanent harm done this time, whew.  

Click to enlarge

Mileage and time is off because of the Garmin issue

  

January club handicap run

Tonight was our monthly club handicap run and due to a dust and allergy induced sinus pressure headache (we're changing rooms for our office and main bedroom) I was expecting the end result to be less than stellar. I've pretty much been laid out on the couch the majority of the day stubbornly refusing to take anything for the pain, then when I capitulated it turned out that we had absolutely nothing in the house for allergy relief. Paracetamol did absolutely nothing to relieve the pressure but at least it made me drowsy enough to take a nap for a bit.

Anyway back to the run. It was miserable, it felt like the wind was at my face for the majority of the 3 miles pressing against the bridge of my nose and eyes just out of spite. Other than that, a car backing out of a drive in front of me, and a group of unruly hooligans that tried to plow directly into the runners, it went well :-). Per my garmin I managed to better my time from the December handicap run by at least 9 seconds but will have to wait for the official results on the club site.

In addition to having a better time, my legs are not sore so I'm definitely seeing results from the weight workouts already. My partner had mentioned the day before that I was looking skinnier and my jeans are fitting looser yet my weight has not changed so that's another good sign.  I might have undone that with the after run meal of fancy mac and cheese and chocolate cake though ;-)

Splits from tonight

Janathon Day 7: 3 mile run, .28 mile warmup slog, 100 bicycle crunches, and lots of foam rolling. I even managed to blog about it on the proper day, yay me!

UK versus US difference for today: Clarityn/Claritin. However it's spelled, it equals relief.  

back 2 back races

Doing back 2 back races/events is not anything new for me, not that I'm saying I do it several times a year or anything but it is something I've been known to do occasionally. However it has always been a shorter race combined with an endurance event, ie running a 5k or 10k on a Saturday then a sprint duathlon, a century ride, or a half marathon on a Sunday.  This past weekend I ended up running 2 longer distance races--the Sylamore 25k trail race followed by the Run the Line Half Marathon on Sunday in Texarkana.  Yes, I know the true distance runners are scoffing at my classifying these as distance events but let's not forget that even a 5k can be a daunting amount of miles for those starting out.  Heck, a 5k still scares me and that's my favorite distance to race.  

KT Tape and my new Brooks Running Launch trainers

I had no plans/illusions/goal times for the Run the Line half marathon, all I wanted to do was get there, get the distance done, collect my Arkansas RRCA Grand Prix point, and hopefully still be able to walk afterwards.  I told Julie and Luke (who I car-pooled down with) that I would be much slower than them (btw, I'm slower than those two in ideal conditions) and apologized in advance for the longer than usual wait time they were going to have because of me.  It was so hard waking up at 0345, feeling my left ankle throb and knowing that I was going to have to run 13.1 miles after a long drive--which I was just a passenger for thanks to Julie!!!!--but I had my goal and with KT Tape snugged around the cranky ankle I was all set (sorta) to get it done.

ummm, is that a bullet hole?

This was the first time for the three of us to run this race so we had no clue of where it was, what the course was like, the parking situation, etc but everyone I knew who had run it last year said it was great and we had no problems locating the place and everything went quite smooth with finding a primo parking spot close to the start line and the packet pickup.  The only complaint I could make was that there were 3 porta-potties outside and 2 of them appeared to be locked judging from the constant line of runners walking up and trying the doors and not being able to open them.  Thankfully there are facilities available inside the building where packet pickup was--yay for flushing toilets and hot water to wash your hands with!! Yes, that's a recurring theme for me, lol.  

Lots of hugs, lots of talking about my previous day's adventures, and lots of good lucks later we were off and running.  The first mile was all about getting my ankle un-stiffened up but once I did I was able to settle into a nice, steady pace, the good thing about the ankle was that I did NOT jack-rabbit this race like I have a bad habit of doing.  Also since I had no time goal pressure I was able to chat with other runners, the cyclists who were riding back and forth checking on everyone, and the volunteers at intersections and aid stations.  I generally make it a policy to say thanks to those directing traffic anyways but on Sunday they got smiles and "how ya doing's?" too, lol.  What I didn't have to do thanks to me carrying my Amphipod water bottle of Heed mix was walk the aid stations in order to get fluid (unfortunately I don't get any money/endorsement from those links, it's just what works really well for me) so I was able to keep my steady pace going.  Even the long-arsed incline on the busy roadway at mile 5-6 didn't slow me down an extreme amount.  Not saying I didn't slow down quite a bit, it just didn't hit me near as hard as I expected it to. Was very glad to see it end though, whew.  

That steadiness and feeling surprisingly decent lasted right through to around mile 8 then we turned into a headwind that sapped the energy right out of me. I still hadn't walked a single step and didn't have to until just before mile 10 where I took a piece of candy from a kid to try and boost my flagging energy.  Could only get down a couple of bites of the twizzler though.  After that I played the game of I'll run to the next intersection, mile marker, person, etc then take a walk break if I need to.  I WANTED to take walk breaks but was able to convince my brain to keep going.  Yes, brain.  While my legs were fatigued and it was getting very warm, it's more a matter of my brain wanting to quit rather than my body saying it had enough. Surprisingly during those last 2 miles of sluggery I was still able to keep catching and passing people and no, there were not any further walk breaks.  

I knew that I was keeping a decent pace thanks to the teenagers volunteering who called out the time and sometimes pace at every mile marker.  Yes, EVERY mile marker! That's something a bit different than any other race I've done and I kind of like it.  However I was still surprised to see the finish line clock and realize that I was going to come in under 2:05.  Don't ask me how I managed to put in a somewhat decent half marathon time on a bum ankle and the day after a 25k trail race because I have absolutely no clue myself.  A good bit of it was probably due to the not putting any pressure on myself to "race" on either day.  

Click to enlarge--mileage splits

My garmin mileage splits were quite interesting to me.  While it's not a negative split race, they are fairly consistent and much better than I expected.  The mile 14 data is skewed because I forgot to turn it off and there is some walking about time on there.  Needless to say, I'm happy with the result and it shows me that if I hadn't have ran 25k the day prior I would probably have gone sub 2 hours and might have even come close to pr'ing. Final stats: Gun time 2:03:17, chip time 2:02:58, 231/447, 13/44 female 40-44 age group, and 75/213 gender.

I thoroughly enjoyed this race especially the portions that were on the trail, crowd support was great, fantastic volunteers, intersections were well policed, and a gorgeous medal with an interesting tech shirt.  There was ample food afterwards, fresh grilled hamburgers and chicken with lots of condiments available and free beer from Hopkins Ice House.  I didn't receive one of course but the age group awards were cool-looking too.  A nice touch was posting the results immediately and they had a monitor scrolling through the results, showing overall finishers and where you placed in your age category.  

Such a cute moment

Finish Line disassembly

If you know Julie be sure and give her a huge congrats on her sub 2 hour half marathon finish.  She killed it Sunday!!! And this is all before her first year anniversary of running!!!!! She's also a cancer survivor and quit smoking approximately four years ago so there's an inspiration to get out and move if there ever was one.  My only whinge? She's in my age group, lol!!!!!!!!!  All kidding aside, I feel very privileged to have gotten to know her this year and look forward to seeing her ahead of me in many more races.

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Seen during a bathroom pitstop

Quick ankle update, I took Monday thru Wednesday off from running. Monday there wasn't much choice since I was limping and hobbling about but by Wednesday there was only a little stiffness left so all is good.

Race bling