Spring Race Reviews

All Roads Lead to Shiloh Relay
May 10th

Chester, IL

Half Marathon Relay (4 Person Team)
11th Overall in Mixed Teams

This event was a fundraiser for scholarships in the name for 4 children that were killed in a horrific house fire.  It was the first year for the event and they had an outpouring of teams and I am hopeful that it will continue in the years to come.

Most of my running pals were running the half marathon, Tim included.  Leah was already on a relay team, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to participate.  My knee was still hurting after Uncorked, so a half was not in the cards!  Leah suggested I ask her coworker Michael Holcomb if he was interested. He was, and even got 2 other folks to join us.

I like relays because it's fun to cheer folks on.  I don't like relays because there is usually a lot of a standing around before you get to run. I was runner 3.  The morning started off cloudy and humid, by the time I got to run, it was sunny... and humid.  Fun stuff.

Really, the running wasn't as bad as it could have been.  My leg started on an uphill, but it was in the shade.  The worst part was an long. flat section without any shade. After I got through that, there was a pretty steep downhill and then the finish.  My knee started hurting pretty much the minute I started going downhill, but I managed a pretty even (slow) pace throughout and was happy to be done!

The event flew by and our team had a lot of fun cheering ourselves and other teams on. It was brutally hot at the end of the event and watching the half finishers coming in was intense.  Most were sweaty messes.  Tim was miserable because he wore a very old pair of shoes.  Poor guy couldn't even walk after!

Overall, it was a fun day and I was happy that I was able to fumble through a run without too much pain.

Levee Fest 5k/Half Marathon
June 14th 

The Bottoms

Time/Distance:  31:20/5k

We had just gotten back from our vacation in Florida and even though we ran while there, we also overindulged in food and drink.  Tim decided he would do this half as a kick-off to his marathon training.  I decided to to just sign up for the 5k just to get a run in.  My running has not been going very well.  In fact, I haven't been able to run a full 3 miles without stopping because of my knee for a few weeks now, so it's been frustrating.

The morning of the race was gorgeous!  Cool temps always makes for a better run for me.  The 5k and half started at the same time, so Tim decided to run the first part of the 5k with me.  Well, my watch messed up and then my shoe came untied, so I told Tim to just go on.  I was already checking out of this thing.  I told myself to run until the turnaround and then I could walk.  When I was almost there, I realized my knee wasn't bothering me too much, so I decided to just keep running.  Then, I was behind a girl that was running a good pace for me, so I just stayed behind her.  The route was uber flat.  I could see the finish and decided to kick it a little bit.  Well, that was stupid. Because it was so flat, it only LOOKED like the finish was close.  In reality, I still had a little under a mile when I decided to try to push.  My last mile was insanely fast for me and I was a mess when I finished.   Sure, it was no record breaking time for me, buuuut, I ran a full 3.1 miles without walking!  This was a total win for me!

Tim came in feeling pretty good about his "training run" with a time of 2:04:34.  He said he came out a bit too hard in the beginning and it was pretty lonely out there.  I'm looking forward to supporting him in these upcoming months of his training.

Race Review: Uncorked 100K Relay

Uncorked 100K Relay
4/26/14

Katy Trail, Missouri

Time/distance:  10:23:07/100K

This was so much fun!  Seriously, doing events like this makes running worth it!

After the Land Between the Lakes 23K, Jaime and her family left right after for vacation.  As we were driving home, Jaime sent me a text about doing this relay.  Tim and I were like, "Sign us up!"  We figured we'd have no problem finding a 4th runner. Why would we, right?  Um, wrong!

So, we signed up and figured we'd split the course up between us if we absolutely had to.  As we got closer to the event, the more nervous we were getting.  A 100K is about 62 miles.  Split between the 3 of us?  Um, that's a lot.  Especially since I was a slacker with distance training at the moment.  We decided that we had to convince Leah to do it with us.  I think we all became rather annoying to her, but in the end, she decided to join us.  Thank goodness!  There is no way we would have been able to do it without her!

This event was on the Katy Trail, which they had just opened up for foot races.  It was the first race on the trail, so there really weren't a lot of teams.  I was runner 3 with Leah passing off to me.  My first leg was really flat, but quite shaded and pretty on the trail.  A little girl was waving to everyone as they passed.  I stopped to give her a high five and she gave me a flower, so I put it in my hair.  I ran the entire time at a steady pace and when I passed off to Tim,  I was excited about the day.

My second leg was my longest one.  It was hot and I didn't eat properly, so I was pretty hungry the entire time I was running.  Also, I was completely alone on the trail.  At one point, I was afraid I had missed a sign telling me to turn or something.  I was uber relieved when I finally saw the hand off spot.  Which I could see for like a mile!  I handed off and went directly to the car to eat.  Talk about a case of the rungries!

Before my final leg, I was feeling a bit nervous.  I just didn't want to run anymore.  Tim offered to do my leg, but that would be mean him doing two back to back, and we knew the final leg was going to be hilly.  I had to just suck it up.  It started to sprinkle when Leah passed off to me.  It never fully rained, but it did make it pretty sticky out.  I was near 2 other runners, so I wasn't so lonely on the trail.  I also had a random moment where I ran into a girl I went to high school with!  She probably thought I was nuts because I was so excited to see her.  The last couple of miles were up hill and I could tell I was having issues.  My leg was burning pretty bad when I approached the final hill.  Jaime was at the bottom ready to run up it with me (in flip flops!) and said "Don't worry, they can't see you until the curve."  So, I walked until then.  I handed off to Tim and the SoIL Halfcorked Trailblazers were almost done with the relay!

We hurried to the finish and waited for Tim at the top of his last hill.  He kicked butt, of course.

I think when you spend a day running with folks, you can't help but get to know them in a whole new way.The four of us had a lot of laughs throughout the day.  These people are awesome.

Race Review: Land Between the Lakes 23K Trail Run

Land Between the Lakes 23K Trail Run
3/8/14

Grand Rivers, KY

Time/distance:  3:45:32/14.291 miles

So even though I haven't been blogging much, this girl still has been running. Although, with this whole "Polar Vortex" business, the running hasn't been as often as I would have liked.  And if I really want to be truthful in regards to this event, I would really have to confess that my training was spotty at best.  I did get a 10 miler in and I did run (slip? slide?) some trails as well, but I would not say that my confidence was all that high when I was standing at the start of this race.

For some background, Land Between the Lake Trail Run actually has 4 events:  23K, Marathon, 60K and 50 Mile.  The 23K course was a little under 2 miles of road, then a little over 11 miles on a trail, and then finishing on road again.  Folks that did the Marathon, etc would do 2, 3 or 4 loops of the trail.  I must say this:  Those runners are HARDCORE.  Seriously, I barely made it one loop around that trail.  I would have just sat down and started my own colony in the woods if I had to run anymore than that!

Jaime had done this race last year and while we were doing our best to muddle through the trails around Cedar Lake, she would tell us how the LBL trail was not going to be covered with leaves or that we would not have to deal with a hill full of rocks to climb up.  She said it was hard, but a pretty clear path.  And I'm sure it is.  When there isn't 6 inches of sleet and snow on it!

Yep, the Sunday before the race, winter struck Kentucky.  A post on Facebook from the organizers assured us that the trail drains well and though it would be more challenging it, it would be doable.  I wasn't sure how to take that, but what can ya do? It is what is.  We'd just have to see how it looked on race day.

To shake my confidence even more, the sick monster decided to attack me on Wednesday.  By Friday, I felt better (NyQuil induced comas can help!), but I was still pretty congested.  My plan of attack:  pack lots of Kleenex.  Shrug.  I told myself to back out if I really needed to, but in all honesty I didn't want to do that.  I wanted to do this darn trail run, dammit!  So, Saturday morning, I blew my nose about a dozen times and hoped for the best.

Regrets of my decision hit me pretty early on.  The first few miles on the road never felt comfortable to me and I was already having issues finding a rhythm for my breathing.  I knew things were bad when a guy in front of me snot rocketed and instead of being grossed out, I was immensely jealous.  I have not mastered this disgusting, but necessary act while running.  I really wish I had.  Sigh.  Still so much to learn about running.

Anyway, we made it to the trail and sure enough, they were covered in snow.

It was actually easier to run on this than it may look.  Sure,  there were a few slick spots here or there.  I mostly had problems when it would dip down right before a small creek or something.  I am not good at committing to jumping over things, so sliding down a hill and then needing to jump?  Um, yeah not my strength.  Though it was easier than I had expected, I still couldn't manage to keep up with Jaime and Tim.  I am a very sloppy trail runner and somehow manage to slip and slide even when things aren't slick.  I was also a snotty mess and that started to impact my breathing more than I had anticipated.  At one point, we were going up a pretty long hill and I started wheezing.  It totally freaked me out and I felt like I couldn't breathe.  I stepped off the trail with Tim and he calmed me down, but I'm embarrassed to say that I just started crying.  Yep, that happened.

Though the breathing issue had me spazzing, I drudged on with Tim's encouragement. We caught back up with Jaime (she had to stop and wait for us several times!) and once again I started wheezing as we were going up an incline.  So, I stopped again. Caught my breath and moved on.  At this point, I didn't think I was ever going to finish this stupid thing.  I just tried to keep moving forward and not think about time or distance. Just one foot in front of the other.  This was easy to do because with trail running,  I feel like I"m always just looking at my feet.  Tim and Jaime encouraged me along and I just tried my best to believe them.

And then the trail started to look like this:

It was like running in wet sand.   It was exhausting.

The second half of the trail was harder.  More hills, more mud/slush.  In fact, I really feel like the last 2 miles on the trail was all mud.  Jaime got so annoyed with it, she took off and we didn't see her until we emerged from the trail.  She said she just wanted to be done.  I didn't blame her.  I was over the whole experience at that point. However, a volunteer had just informed me I only had 1.7 miles of road to go!  Yay. Not really.

I was pretty beaten at that point.  The trail came out at road heading uphill that was covered in ice.  I said I'd walk to the top.  We started running again with Jaime's encouragement.  "To the bridge," she said.  "To the orange cones!" She was the only reason I ran.  I would have just walked the rest of the course if it wasn't for her.

When we (finally!) finished, I felt like I was going to collapse.  Seriously, that was HARD.  I hurt more after those 14.291 miles than I did after running a marathon.  But, I did it.  It wasn't pretty, but I finished.

I often say that the best part of running is doing it with others.  I have ran many miles with my running friends and I learn so much about them and myself.  Jaime is a fantastic runner.  The girl could have rocked that course,  but she stuck with us.  Girl, if you are reading this, I think you got what it takes to do the marathon on that course. I really do.  You and Tim should totally do it next year!  I'll even cheer you guys on when you pass by me on your second loop when I'm still pushing through my first!  :)

This race was really well organized and a lot of fun.  The volunteers and other runners- even those crazy ones doing multiple loops of the course- were so encouraging!  I will definitely be attempting this one again in the future.  Hopefully the trail conditions will be a bit less challenging!  :)