Changes

The camp meeting race each year has always been super fun. It's low key and not very well organized. But that's ok. It's just for fun and promotes health for families.

But this year there was a change in directors. One of the changes that they made was to make the course truly a 5k. Every since I first ran that race at 5 or 6 yrs old, it has started at the bright yellow speed bump by the outdoor courts. But this year they moved back quite a bit. We all knew the course was short by about 4/10ths of a mile, but it wasn't like it was an official race or anything.

They also changed the course. So now instead of just running around the lake, we went up the hill to the Lambuth Inn and then went around the lake. 

Talk about a shock. I wasn't aware they'd changed the course and it wasn't a pleasant surprise. So instead of getting a pr like I'd been training for, I was almost 3 minutes slower. But it was still a decent time. And other than the hill from hell, I really enjoyed the race.

I love my kids running in with me. Sweetest kids!

And surprisingly, considering the huge jump in numbers this year, 

I actually won something in my age division.

I'd sent everyone to get their free race popsicles, so there isn't a picture of me receiving the award. But I like a picture so later I know which one went with which race.

Haha! That sounded like I have a ton, didn't it. =D

I placed!

A couple of months ago my brother and I were talking and he mentioned a sign he'd seen about a race in the Collegedale (Chattanooga) area. It was during a time that I needed to come down to do some work on one of our rentals. So I decided to combine the two things.

The information online was extremely limited and I was a bit apprehensive about where and what what going to happen. The race was at 2pm on a Sunday which is very unusual. But I showed up at the correct time and sure enough - there was a race.

Dominic decided at the last minute to run.

The goodie bags were almost non-existent, the bibs didn't have chips, and we were handed an ankle bracelet for the chip. The race began near the police station and the guy starting the timer couldn't find the start line. So we just haphazardly lined up, all 30-40 of us.

The course ran through a partially finished subdivision and was hilly and full of switch backs. But it was pleasant weather and low key. So I really enjoyed myself. I hadn't brought any of my gps devices so only had my stop watch. But I figured since it was put on by Southern Outdoor Club that it would be accurate. Wrong assumption. Pretty sure the course was a tad longer than 3.1 miles.

I finished and was handed a card to fill out that helped determine my place in the race, because the timer had quit working. The organization was sloppy and non-existent. After 4 attempts at the award ceremony they finally had everything sorted out and the correct medals to the correct people. I sunburned. Not from the race, but from standing there waiting while they did the ceremony four times. We stood there longer than it took me to run the race.

But I won first place in my age division so I don't really want to complain too much.

All in all, it was fun and slightly crazy and I'm actually contemplating doing it again. Just think - in two years I'll be able to run as a Masters and could get 1st Masters overall. =)

Hot Chocolate

Last year I was sitting in book club talking about running with several of the girls. Somehow the talk turned to the Hot Chocolate races that are happening all over the US right now. Instead of running shirts, they give fleece jackets. And instead of just water and Gatorade, they have chocolate at the stations. At the end of the race is lots of chocolate too. So we all decided to run the race in Atlanta in January.

Somehow after the meeting I was the only one who actually signed up. I waited for a while. But when it was clear that everyone had bailed I changed the hotel to include Jon and the whole weekend.

That was one of the best times we've had in a long time. Jon was able to get off work on Friday so we headed down early. We left the kids with my in-laws so we could have some couple time.

We visited museums, restaurants, and walked downtown. It was romantic, fun, and relaxing.

Since Jon wanted to ride the bike while I ran we decided to ride the route in a car. There were several places where the streets were one-way and I would be running the "wrong" way the next day. Add all of the events going on and traffic and we had to take several side steps. We found ourselves here.

And since the hot sign was on, we HAD to stop. =) So this might have been my pre-race supper.

The race was on Sunday morning. The paperwork told everyone to be in or ready to get in the corrals at 6:30. But because it was a corralled and chipped race, my corral didn't start until 8:25. It was FREEZING. So I (I wasn't the only one) stayed in the car until it was just a few minutes from my corral start time. Then I ran down to the start and took off.

Once I warmed up, the race was super fun. Chocolate makes everyone happy. =)

The route was beautiful. Since I haven't ever run a 15k I didn't have a time to beat. So I decided to just run. If I was tired, I walked. If I was feeling it, there would be bursts of speed. It was one of the funnest races I've done.

The chocolate at the end was divine. Hot chocolate in a cup, fruit, cookies, etc. to dip in the melted chocolate. I might have made myself a little sick eating it all, but what a way to go.

The medal was pretty cool too.

Turkey Trot

It totally slipped my mind to blog about the race I ran with family on Thanksgiving day

The weather was freezing (literally) and I don't do well with the cold. I probably won't run this race again. It has consistently been a race that I finish and wish I'd saved the money. But I didn't die and I enjoyed the time with friends and family.

 I ran with a friend who was running bandit and that really helped keep me from just walking the whole thing. So I was very thankful for her.

My official time was 30:16 (5k). Not the world's greatest, but not too bad considering.

My marathon trip Part 1

Jon and I decided to make a mini vacation out of my marathon trip. So we headed to St. Charles on Friday. It was one of the most relaxing weekends that I've had in a really long time. Our hotel room was perfect, the weather was gorgeous, and the food was superb. 

We ate lunch in downtown St. Charles at this local family owned Italian restaurant. I can't remember EVER eating a pizza that good.

And then the dessert came. Oh. My. Word!

I might have pigged out.

On a funny side note: I went downstairs to use the restroom and found this lovely hole in the door.

 When sitting on the seat you could see and hear everything going on outside the door. Thank goodness there weren't any people downstairs.

Somehow, despite all of the pictures I took, I failed to get any pictures of the downtown. The roads were the original brick. Consequently it was like riding a roller coaster to drive down the road or walk on the sidewalks. But it was so cool. Since Jon or I weren't really interested in shopping we drove down the road for the experience, ate at the local restaurant and then explored the countryside outside of town. 

These are some of the pictures I took.

 This lady wasn't being very cooperative. As soon as I'd put the camera up she'd put her head down or turn away. But she was so sweet and pretty that I forgive her.

 Just to give you a frame of reference - my dad is 6 foot tall.

 Love this man!

 And my 4'll foot mom. =)

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I had so much fun that didn't even relate to the marathon. It was the perfect, relaxing vacation.

Running forever!

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with the post below. I just like it. =)

My dad is awesome!

Last night he arrived at my house so he could be ready for our adventure in the morning. And by morning, I mean just barely.

This morning at 2am we woke up and quickly got ready to hit the road. My goal was to run a 50k (31 miles). I knew that weather would play a huge part in making or breaking my goal. It was about 70 and a little humid, but not bad. Definitely better than the 78 from the other morning.

It's still hard for me to comprehend that a person can put their body through so much and not die at the end. But it's especially mind blowing that I can do that. I'm not well known for my strength or love of pain. I'm rather a wimp about difficult things. 

When I hit the 26.2 miles I felt amazing. I had really been downing the water and eating my jellies (energy jelly beans) so I'm sure that helped. It was also a really major thing to have my dad there running beside me. Some how it was a huge psychological boost.

When I hit the marathon mark we were about 4 1/2 miles from home. So I knew with a slight adjustment to the route we were going to make the 50k. About that time I got a horrific cramp in my left leg. I've never had this type of cramp before in my life. It was awful. Thankfully it came and went so I was able to get some relief. But not to long after my knee quit. Not sure if it had to do with the cramp or not, but I walked quite a bit. I'd run until I was done in with the knee pain. Then I'd walk until it eased off and start again. But we made it home. 

I don't like to post my times. I'm super slow and seeing it in writing is a bit painful at times. But for the sake of wow - my time was 6:34:11 That is 6 1/2 hours! I honestly can't believe a human body can do that. But then I'm reminded of my two cousins who hope to finish the Ironman this month in approx 12 hours. The human body is astounding!

26.32 Baby!

I did it!!! I actually ran a marathon today. I was supposed to run 25 miles. But it would have felt wrong to get within 1.2 miles of a marathon and not do it. So I went for it.

I woke up at 3:30am so I could get started before the heat came. But it was already 78 and extremely humid.

My run was good. I drank quite a bit more water than I normally do, which resulted in two bathroom stops. Those gas station people must love me. =)

Saw a gorgeous sunrise. This picture does not do it justice.
Probably because it was taken with my iPhone.

About mile 15 I started getting overheated and tired. By mile 20 I was walking quite a bit. And by mile 26.32 I was toast. But I drank enough to stay hydrated and ate my energy beans so I felt good. Just tired and stiff. I had my chocolate milk after and except for the tired, I feel really good.

And I'm super stoked. I ran a marathon today. How cool is that?! So while my official first marathon isn't until October, I did it! And now I'm really looking forward to this race.

Poop and Running - It's not what you think!

Some language ahead. If you have sensitive ears eyes you might want to leave or proceed with caution.

Periodically I'll browse the give-aways on Goodreads and enter the ones I'm interested in. I only win about 1/3 of the ones I enter. So about a month ago, while looking through titles, I started laughing. There was actually a book titled "How to Shit in the Woods". Seriously?! When I made a comment to my husband, he assured me it was a real book that had been around for a while. It was also pretty popular and recommended as funny. I was a bit disbelieving. I mean, I live with a 7 year old boy. Poop isn't really funny anymore.

But against my better judgement, I allowed him to talk me in to entering the give-away. Imagine my chagrin to get an email notification that I'd won.

Sigh! Now I have to read and write about this book.

The book arrived and I was horrified to see that it was an audio book. I'd somehow missed that part. I HATE audio books. And this thing is 4 1/2 hours of someone reading about poop.

But I have several long runs coming up and figured I'd have some time. So last night I downloaded the book onto my phone and went to bed.

I woke up at 3:45am so that I could be at the Y by 4am. I didn't want to be running in the heat.

I placed water a couple of places along the route and made sure I had some breakfast in my stomach. I'd been really careful to stay hydrated and fed the day before. I did NOT want a repeat of last time.

The sunrise coming up over the mountains with the mist was gorgeous. 

The first part of my run was a bit unusual. I usually run with a friend and we talk or I listen to some fast paced, upbeat music. Instead I was listening to someone talk about poop. And it wasn't really that funny. There were a few amusing antidotes, but not enough to keep my brain engaged.

After about an hour of listening I decided I was tired of that sh** and changed to music. 

My speed and mood definitely picked up after that.

The run was gorgeous. The only downside was forgetting my sunglasses. But God provided some beautiful fog at the perfect time. I was turning to run into the sun and this fog surrounded me.

Love how the sun peaking though the trees gives everything a fuzzy look.

I was having a completely different response from two weeks ago and was feeling better. So when all of my water consumption resulted in a very full bladder, I changed my route so I could stop at a gas station to pee.

This resulted in my running 23 miles today. I had planned on 21, but . . .

I finished feeling great. I was a little sore and definitely tired. But I know I could have run another 3 miles. So I'm super stoked about the rest of my training and this marathon!

Dumb Running Mistakes

Yesterday was one of those fun days, but I was busy all day. So somehow I forgot to eat both lunch and supper. I had a small snack mid afternoon, but that was it. Not really a big deal on a normal day. 

But. . .

This morning I got up at 5am after about 4-5 hours of sleep to run 19 miles. I took some gummies and water with me. And I'd hoped that I started early enough to avoid the major heat. About mile 8 I missed a turn to take the route I'd planned out. Not a big deal, I knew where I was, I just wasn't super familiar with the road. Wow! That was the scariest 3 miles of my life. It was a road with literally no shoulder and tons of morning traffic on the way to work. The speed limit is 45, but people were flying a lot faster than that. I took the first turn off I could find. About mile 12 I was out of water, not near any water and fading fast. So I changed my course and ran home for a few seconds to grab some extra water. I'd run 15 miles by this point and knew that it was only 4 miles back to the Y. So I headed back feeling good. It was a tough 4 miles, but I finished feeling exhausted, but good.

I always shower at the Y. I began feeling nauseous almost immediately after I entered the locker room. It was soon followed by dizziness. I passed out twice in the shower. I was sitting a the bench outside the shower trying not to black out for the 3rd time when a lady tried to ask me a question. I guess my response scared her, because within a minute I was laying on my back with an oxygen mask on my face and my limbs curling up. I couldn't use my arms or legs and my lips wouldn't move. There were several ladies all "working" on me. They gave me a drink (nasty stuff) with some potassium in it to get my limbs to uncurl and let me sit there until my eyesight was no longer fuzzy and blinky. It was a bit weird and disconcerting, but all is good now.

And I've learned several lessons. 

1. Don't forget to eat the day before as well as the day of a long run.

2. Stash way more water than I think I need along the route.

3. Stick to my route unless I know the road completely.

4. Bring more snacks for the run.

5. Add more potassium to my diet a few days before a long run.

But I'm super excited. Quite a few marathon training schedules have the final long run stopping at 20 miles. I just ran 19.15 miles this morning. So while I still have 8 miles to add to my long runs, I'm now capable of running a marathon! Whoohoo!!!

 

Images taken from here and here.

Twelve Miles of Beauty

Last week I ran 10 miles with my dad. I hadn't run further than 8 miles since my last race. Time and other things to do just prevented the longer runs from happening.

I had a great race with my dad and felt really good about my times. So this morning when I headed out to run around the lake, I was hoping to keep it to the same distance and time.

But this view and tons of friends kept me (I felt) from running as fast as I could have.

Imagine my surprise to realize that I was considerably faster than before and I was already at mile 10.5 and across the lake from my house. So I went ahead and ran 12 miles today. With an incredible time. I was pumped!

Now I'm just tired and sore. But my cousin is here at camp meeting as well and asked if I would run with him on Wednesday morning. So it looks like I'll be running 3 days this weeks since the race is on Friday. It's a wonderful start to my marathon training that was going to start when I returned from this trip.

What a beautiful, gorgeous new day!

Another race is in the books!

Have you ever had an experience that could be incredibly good or incredibly bad. It just depended on the perspective?

I had this exact thing happen yesterday. My dad, somehow, convinced me to run a 1/2 marathon trail run only three weeks after my last race. I've never put my races that close or run on a trail before. But crazy me agreed. Especially since my dad was running the 50k. 

It was located at Fall Creek Falls State Park so we decided to go up for the weekend and camp. My parents came up, but stayed at the inn.

Despite Jon getting food poisoning, us forgetting quite a few major things, and a skunk scare we had a good weekend. But all weekend I kept dreading this race. I've never felt this way before a race and could only attribute it to the forecast. It was supposed to be low 40s and raining the entire day.

We arrived at the packet pick up to find a leaking pavilion, mass disorganization, and tons of family. Three of my cousins were running the race along with my dad and I. So more family arrived to watch and cheer. My brother came up with his daughter and decided that since it was raining and he couldn't rock climb, he'd join me for moral support on the race. I was so excited! 

I'd been told that great portions of the race I would be alone since the race was in a circle and the entrance numbers were limited. My brother was able to get in because so many people had bailed when they saw the weather. So I was excited to have someone with me. At least if I got lost on some trail miles out in the wilderness, I'd be with my brother. =)

It was freezing! I absolutely HATE being cold or wet! And I was both. Trash bags were being passed around since it was so wet. It somehow helped hold the heat in, so I ignored the fashion statement and wore one.

Because of the complete and utter lack of organization, we started late and I missed the fact that the start was gun time and the finish was chipped. So I stood on the road after the gun went off for at least 1/2 a minute messing with my watch. I finally gave up and started running.

My brother and I at the start.

Crazy guy was wearing regular shoes, khaki pants, and a fleece pull over. 

Not exactly running gear.

The trail was a mud bath. I slipped and almost fell too many times to even count. I kept telling my brother that I felt fine, but I couldn't seem to run faster because I felt so heavy. The air was thick, the mud on the bottom of my shoes was thick, the atmosphere and light levels were thick and dark.

But it was amazing too. It was so nice to have my brother pulling me along. He encouraged, scolded, and pushed me. He was a huge support that totally made the race bearable.

There was only one major aid station at mile 9. The other two were at the beginning and end of the race and didn't really have anything other than rusty water, if you were lucky. I've never eaten or even drank much during races. But the race last October showed me that I needed to drink more during a race when I was putting my body through that much stress. Then the last race I tried eating some gel. It really boosted my energy for a little bit. So this race I ate quite a bit at the only aid station and took some candy with me. It really seemed to help.

My brother is one of the most competitive people I know (aside from my dad). So despite the fact that my brother's last running was done with me over 9 months ago, despite the fact that he needs knee surgery and was limping really bad, he took off when we hit that last mile of pavement. He left me in the dust and beat me by 3 minutes. Crazy guy!

I might have been able to keep up with him, but I didn't want to kill myself. I had to drive down to Chattanooga for work after the race (more on that later) and had a 4 hour meeting this morning. So I just kept plodding along until I finished.

I was hoping to finish around 3 hours. So if you figure in that I didn't start immediately after the gun start, I finished a hair under 3 hours. Not bad considering the amount of difficulty and walking we were forced to do to keep from sliding on our bums.

Other than a tiny bit of soreness, I feel great today. I'm totally back to normal with nothing wrong. I was tired, but good yesterday too. And the crazy thing - I didn't get a single blister. I start getting blisters at about mile 2-3 even in training. But this time not a single one popped up. And I had wet feet the entire time. Something to think about!

My 61 year old dad ran the 50k with my cousin. They both ran together until almost the end, where Chad pulled the same stunt as my brother. =)

Can you imagine?! My dad has run over 30 marathons in his life, is considered a senior citizen and the dude kicks butt. My dad inspires me!!!