Ragnar Relay Race

The Ragnar Relay race is tomorrow. My team of 6 starts at 12:30pm in Madison WI - we have a projected finish time of 4:30pm on Saturday in Chicago. I have not been feeling awesome. I'm actually going to the cardiologist today to see what my deal is - if it has anything to do with my heart, if not on to the asthma doctor (I know they have another name, but I don't know what it is) I did have a few good runs recently though - ran 11 miles saturday at a really good pace - under 8:30 - best mile 7:50... So I have hope. I would like to keep my pace right at 8:20 for every mile of ever leg I have... I have 34 miles... I am runner number one... SO I get to start. Kind of exited about that... I will write about how it goes! Looking forward to a new challenge (running on no sleep... and what ever else comes our way...)

Marathon #1 & shoes #2 of the year

I had more to write about last year with all my troubles and trials. Not that it has been a breeze or anything - I think i'm just use to all the garbage that comes along with distance running. It has gotten better though - let me compair:
Last year = TONS of rubs & blisters. My dog came into the bathroom last year as I stepped into the shower very concerned with all the howling that that I may be dying. Luckily for me she hates bathes enough to ensure she would not jump to my rescue... Yeah, that hurt, those little raw spots, as the water splashed on them then liquified salt from the rest of me just to aggravate them even more. I don't know why I dont' get them anymore - but i'm not complaining!

I have gotten a few blisters this year... the huge ones like last year. I have however discovered that it is NOT my shoes but my SOCKS to blame. I have asked my Saucany trail shoes for forgiveness for the false accusations. Turns out my feet need REAL running socks, and the more expensive the sock the more my feet like them. These happen to by my absolute favorite at $14.99 a pair and worth every penny. thorlos experia. I love these socks. I tried the ones with the individual toes IJENTA or something like that... I liked those alright, but it took forever to get my toes in the toe holes and I really just didn't feel any particular benefit. Once I get a blister it's hard to get ride of it because, of course I do not stop running to let it heal. I now have a method of blister treatment. First off is to just finish your the run and ignore the pain... after then run and after a shower and some food if it's a long run (and it usually happens on a long run) once your foot is dry - take a needle or something - even finger nail clippers work (make sure what ever it is, it is clean) pop a little hole in the top or bottom of it and let it drain. Then just leave it endless it hurts to walk around - if it does then cover it up with a band aide. When you run again however I have discovered that a regular band ade does not do the job - first of all my blisters are usually to big for both band ads AND blister pads (I like those a lot when they fit). What I did, knowing how often I get blisters, was to order a whole roll of mole skin. It's stick on one side and fuzzy on the other. You just cut it to fit & make sure your foot is dry when you put it on, press it firmly on your foot and put your sock on right away. This has always allowed my blisters to not be damaged farther by running and has allowed me to continue training.

Back to last year's troubles. Another thing I had last year was my burn out. BAD burn out. I have not experienced anything too bad yet. I have had a few bad runs though in a row where a normal rout just felt all up hill... that worries me - but it did not last. Thats how I now i'm having a bad run... it all feels up hill.

Last year I had hamstring problems & knee issues, but the knee was because I fell down roller skating.. I have not roller skated this year so i'm all good there... I also have not had to deal with the heat. As much as I hate the cold I do not run well in the heat - so I guess it being april 2nd and my run being 18 degrees is not all bad - but I sure didn't feel that way when I dragged myself out of bed knowing this it was 18 degrees outside this morning.

I tried my new trail shoes out. I like them. BUT they are not good for the road for me anyhow. way to thin. I like feeling the trail, they are great in dirt & grass, but those rock still hurt a bit. I've only run around 15 miles in them so far, so they are still on trial. No blisters or anything from them though. They have been really confortable & I love how light and flexible they are.

My Newton guidance shoes have over 400 miles on them - so I decide to get another pair of newtons. The ones that I ended up winning on ebay for $74 including shipping are the newton distance running shoes. I have not run in these before - but they felt very similar to my other newtons, the guidance &  original ones I had. It's nice to have some fresh shoes! Problem is it's just going to take me that much longer to get out the door because now I have oh... you know. just a COUPLE of shoes to choose from.

This Saturday is the Trail breaker Marathon. My Fiance and I are driving up the morning of the race and then staying over in Milwalkee for a little get away. The weather is not looking too good. 44 as a HIGH and 12mph winds with 30% chance of rain. Hoping it shapes up a little. Not sure my plan will be for sure, but i'm thinking i'm going to attempt a 8:30 pace the whole way. My fiance is running the half so I want to stay with him for the 7miles or so before he turns around - then I will continue to the ice age trail, run to the watch tower, then up it, then back. My sister and I did this race last year - She will also be running it this year but her IT band is bothering her so she is not sure how things will go. I'm looking forward to this race I think. It will be a good test to see if I can push myself. I have failed so many races and just given up - now that I have some solid problem free (for the most part) training behind me, maybe I will be able to pull this off with a decent time. No pressure - but who knows... I'm looking forward to hanging out after in Milwalkee - we are going to hotwire a hotel after or before the race... I got a good deal on a grupon for 12 at a bar/grill place we will get 2 burgers and 2 beers. It will be fun to get away...

That's all till after the race I guess - I plan on taking it easy thursday - running 7.5 to 8 at an easy pace and taking Friday off all together - just walking & doing some lawn work...

Half Through and not limping!

Well i think we are about half way through training. I had a really good week last week - and a little bit of a scare the week before that. I was running 2 weeks ago on Saturday - going out for what I hoped would be a 20 mile run with a group of runners... when at mile 8 my achilles Tendon started really hurting. I ended up ending with 13 - it hurt pretty bad. I went home and took ibuprofen and iced it - then later that day I went hiking - that really hurt... not fun. The next day I changed to a different pair of shoes & went out for 10. It was alright, hurt, but not that bad. Then after that later in the day, I went hiking & again, it really hurt. It was hillie and snowy... The next day, monday was an off day - so i rested it and although it did hurt during the day, and into Tuesday morning, I was able to run 6 miles on the tread mill - wednesday it felt pretty good and thursday I was able to run pretty much pain free - 7.5 in the morning and 4 at night... by Saturdays long run I was just fine. We (my sister & another runner who is training for the same race) headed out at 8am from my parents house - my Fiance judah did part of the rout with us, but we ended up missing a turn (I EVEN PRINTED MAPS) I don't know what happened... Judah only got to do about 5 with us because of that though. We added a little bit to the rout & it ended up being
21.5. I felt really good for most of it, we had some windy spots, some sunny spots... 2 HUGE dogs chase us & some really pretty snowy country roads... I wore my brooks per grit trail shoes.... they were fine most of the time, but I think I had them too tight - my right top of my foot started to really hurt... I made it, but it hurt for a few days after that - so did lifting my big toe up... it was strange. It's fine now though.... Today was one mile and stregnth - tomorrow I am running 7.5 in the morning with Debi (sister) and Angela (friend), then maybe 2 miles of hills in yorkville, and 4 with the midwest misfits meeting at coblestone bakery.... Friday will be a cross train day, and I guess im doing around 24 on saturday. it's supposed to be an easy week, but I think it's getting switched because my sister & angela are doing a half marathon on what is supposed to be a hard week..... ... Anyway - I've had a few minor hurts come up - but nothing bad yet!

Here are the new shoes I ordered - really exited to try them!  They are the Inov-8 Trailroc 150

I will write a review once I get them. I think they will be similar to the newton shoe - the 3mm drop and the weight. they are only 7oz.... Can't wait to get them in the mail!

Gnaw Bone Schedule

Training has started! I did not realize that it needed to start so soon. I was making the schedule - and realized that it should have started that week - 16 weeks to Gnaw Bone... At first I was a little upset & filled with dread. I was not ready... I had not had good runs for 3 weeks because I had a chest cold and kept coughing constantly. It was horrible. Thankfully the 14 went ok - actually fairly well - and this week the 16m run went awesome, so now i'm feeling confident and ready and even looking forward to the long runs. This schedule is different than any schedule I have done in the past - it starts going easy, hard, easy hard in the high mileage weeks. I noticed that a lot of ultra schedules do this, so I figured I'd give it a try. I think it will be nice because i will be able to fully recover, and hopefully not get burned out. It will also be nice to stay up later every other Friday night & maybe plan stuff to do more often - the other schedules had 3 long weeks then one easy one - so I only got to really do anything fun friday night one week of the month... This will be nicer I think - more flexible. My water tube from my camel back froze Saturday on the run... I will have to tuck it into my clothing next cold run I do - ended up just taking it off and having a waterbottle in my pocket.
Next Sunday is the Super Bowl Fun Run that the starved rock running club puts on every year. This will be my 3rd year doing it & i'm looking forward to it. Planning on doing 18 saturday - then the fun run is 11 - so it will be nice to have a easy week after that. I'm also trying to get those hill & speed work outs in on Wednesdays. Hoping to be more prepared for those Indiana hills.

"Winter" Marathon "Check"

TECUMSEH TRAIL MARATHON -- Bloomington, IN - Yellowwood State Forest
Saturday December 1, 2012 -- 26.2 Mile Trail Run

On our way to the start

 My winter marathon is not complete - this means I have run a spring, fall & winter marathon now & I have to say my least favorite training session was deffantally the fall one. SO hot. I much prefured the spring & winter. Running threw the fall for Tecumseh was fun - saw some good fall colors... But the spring was nice too because you start training in Feb, and I personally do not have much going on in Feb. & March. Anyway...

The race went OK. It had a LOT more hills than I thought it would - that was rough - just not knowing how hard it would be. Pretty much all hills, switch back after switch back. The forest was really pretty - it was MUCH warmer than I thought it would be. When I signed up for the marathon I did not think that I would be running in shorts and a T-Shirt. So I kind-of feel like I missed out on the winter marathon experience - maybe next year it will be more winter like because I will be back next year to try it again.I think it will be much better knowing what i'm getting myself into at the start.

Waiting at the start

We ended up starting almost an hour late so my food energy balance was a little messed up - one of the buses had broken down - so we had to wait for it to get to the start. Once we started about 4 miles of the trail was a wide path - lots of big gravel pieces that actually really started to hurt the sides of my feet. I wore my brooks trail shoes - the longest run I had done on them. No blisters or anything, i was happy with their performance. After that 4 miles of wide trails it narrowed into a single track path - and that is mostly what is was after that. I felt good for about 8 miles. Debi started falling after that I my energy left me. I struggled for a while, feeling ok, then bad again... The course had plenty of aid stations - I probably did not need my camel back. after around mile 10 the stations started having food - that was nice and helped me out - new favorite because they did not have pringles is Cheese Nips YUM. Judah was feeling great till about mile 18, he actually couldn't have gone a lot faster than I was going between mile 10 and mile 18, because I was being pathetic. I was not doing well - I gave into my hurts and tiredness and really wussed out for a while - I am annoyed about this of course now... At around mile 17 Debi had a bad fall, she fell right on her IT band sore spot - then at mile 18 Judah started getting awful muscle cramps. This made him very angry.  I would have just cried personally, and I kinda wish that's what he had done instead of being so mad.... Guys... So, we all walked for a while after this - debi was really hurting, and Judah kept on getting cramps every time we tried to run. A lot of people passed us - I started getting my energy back and started noticing that a lot of people were limping that were passing us - Debi was hurt, Judah was having issues... .but I was finally feeling good again. Ideas of continuing along alone started going through my head.

Running

Judah and I had planned to run it together - but we had discussed one of us getting hurt and the other going on - he thought that we had decided to finish together no matter what - at the time I seemed to have forgotten this and wanted to redeem myself for the weak miles and poor performance exhibited on the road behind me. Debi and Judah continued on walking & running when Judah could - I started to run on alone with out Judah's blessing. I felt horrible - but I needed to finish strong at least since I had sucked it up so

Glad to be done

much in the middle of the race... The last 5ish miles went pretty quick and I was really happy with my performance. I ran up a lot more hills, and didn't walk much, passed a lot of tired people - it was a good feeling finally. When I finished Mike & Matt were of course waiting - long done with their race. They both did great - Matt set his PR & but mike had cramps as well and did not finish as well as he would have liked. Judah and Debi came in about 9 minutes behind me - turns out the cramps had left 4 or 5 minutes after I left them.

Sadly - even though I was happy with my last few miles - I had a VERY un happy fiance. I really did feel awful - but I was also upset because I felt like he should have been ok with me leaving... But no one agrees 100% of the time - and mis-understandings defiantly happen in life. I don't regret leaving them - they were hurt - I was not, however I did feel sad as my sister and my Fiance ran across the finish line together as I waited along the edge. I understand the disappointment of not preforming as you would have wanted to - been there done that in pretty much every race I have ever run. I suppose learning to deal with that is a process. I have learned to not get too emotionally involved in races - however I think this method is starting to hurt my race. I do know one thing -  That I will not be committing to run any race with anyone again. training is one thing - but races need to be everyone for themselves.

Everyone finished

The problem is - I have no race. I kill them - and not in a good way. I think I have committed it in my head for so long, that a race is just another run i'm almost bitter at the race - and when I feel down and tired I become defendant to the race for making me feel that way - and then it truly just becomes a run again - and not even a good run because by the time I kill the race nothing good is left and that's why I let it die. I need to learn to fight harder - not stress so much about being tired and hungry - to just get through it. I think I let myself believe that I have more race issues than other people, i'm more tired than they are, i'm more hurt, something is different about me so I deserve to slack off - and it's ok, it's just harder for me. That's not true. A marathon is just hard. next race - I suck it up and deal with it.

On a side note - the trip down took about 5 hours - we all drove together. We stayed at "A Summer House Inn" Not the greatest place, but at least they extended our check out because of the late race start. The rooms were not all that clean, the bright light was on outside all night & the bathroom looked like the perfect place for a murder.
 For our pre race dinner we went across the street to a place that ended up being much more formal than we had though - expensive too & they put us in the back room. I don't blame them, we were very under dressed - the food was good though, but not worth the price, and we kept having to ask for more bread because they hardly gave us any - that was annoying.
Another thing I liked about the race was the late start (if it had started on time) it was nice to get some more sleep.

On the way home we stopped for dinner & local beer (I had wine though) then back to illinois we went - getting home around 11pm.

Ready....Set...........

4 days till marathon #4!!! i'm ready. Today was 15 degrees in the morning - but Saturday is supposed to be 56, so thats exiting. We plan on leaving on Friday around noon. I have my list all set (just need to print) Need to wash my camel back & clean it.... What shoes to wear still concerns me. I'm afraid to use the saucany ones because they are the ones that gave me the blister - however my blister has healed leaving behind a very large callus - prehaps that will protect me from another blister saturday? Otherwise I will wear my brooks trail shoes - they have been working nicely on the shorter runs, and although I never planned on running a marathon with them, they have been feeling better than expected - so maybe I should give them a chance. We'll see - thinking that'll be a game day decision.

So far my runs have been right on schedule with a few extra miles here and there. Last week I made it to boot camp on Monday - so that workout + 1 mile.
Tuesday we did a 6 mile run some of it at a tempo pace. Wednesday I ran a mile and did a boot camp workout, Thursday was thanksgiving! The Sandwich YMCA and the Plano YMCA got together at sliver springs. We filled up the whole boat launch parking lot. Ran 8 miles there - it was a beautiful morning - wish I had gotten a picture. The trails were all raked thenks the the Midwest Misfits who had had a 5k "Gobbler Gallop" race the day before.

Friday I got a undeserved rest day - after 2 thanksgiving dinners + one more on Wednesday night I should have gotten up to run 20....

Saturday Debi, Judah, Mike, Angla and I got together at sliver springs - ran a 7 mile loop, then 3 more miles of trails. I felt ok, not my best, but not bad at all. Probably just tired from all the food I had eaten - Friday night was game night with Judah's sister and brother in law - we also went out for mexican food - my french fries were wondeful.

Sunday I got up and took Matilda on a 2 mile run, then got ready for the bears game - more drinking & eating.... By Monday I felt super fat and ready to get back to a good diet and my workout routine.  So Monday was boot camp and Tuesday was a 6 mile frozen run - 15 degrees! but felt really good and light. Tomorrow I plan to goto boot camp Run a mile - Thursday I was thinking of just doing 4 easy miles and then taking Friday totally off, or maybe going to boot camp but taking it easy. So that's it.... I'd really like to do Dick Pons Cross Country Challenge on the 2nd - but it's really hilly and i'm wondering if my muscles would just give out right on the way down a big hill - that would be awful - so I think I will not do that race. Still thinking about it though... That race is fun - and they have awesome food after and I really liked the shirt from last year....

All for now - happy running!

What are you running from?

Spartan run

mile 18ish at starved rock

 2 weeks till the last marathon of the year for me.  I'm exited about it actually. It's going to be really fun to run this race with everyone - and run Judah's first marathon with him. I can't believe how smoothly training went compared to last year & earlier this year. It's kind of crazy to me. The worst thing that happened to me, was being tired (Imagian that on a 20+ mile run) getting a big blister (I'm still mad at my Sacony trail shoes for that - they failed me) and having a nagging tight hamstring from time to time. That's pretty good for me - REALLY good actually.
After getting engaged on October 22nd (exiting :)) in Geneva Illinois, planned on a easy week of only 10 miles of course - then getting up to run 6 miles on the Lake Geneva trail - which was a LOT more fun then the 22 mile Euro burn out marathon, that's for sure, it's amazing how different I feel now. The last 3 big runs started with a 18, That was the longest run I have ever done BEFORE work. We started out on a 10 mile loop (Mike, Judah and I) circled back to Mike's house to pick up his wife Angela, we then ran a 8 mile rout on my side of town.... It went fairly smoothly, by the end I was tired, but not that bad. We saw 5 bras on the road though, that was strange. The reason we did this run on a friday was because the following day was the Super spartan.

The Super Spartan is a 8+ mile run through obstacles and mud and fun stuff like that. It was chili out when our group started at 10:30am. It was a few miles of mainly running to start with, which was nice to warm up. We of course eventually got to some crazy muddy and kind of dangerous obstacles. Such as belly crowling through slimy mud under barbed wire, climbing crazy steep hils, going down really steep hills into mud pits, jumping, or getting a boost over 8' walls, going under and over and under and over stuff. Crawling through a really long pipe line thing with holes dug here and their where you can't see them. Long set of monkey bars, balancing beams, posts in a mud pit you had to jump from one to the other (and they were not exactly too close together) I big rope thing to climb, a big tower to climb over, a 30' tall rope to climb up that you had to swim to....dragging a cement block over a bunch of steep hills.... Stuff like that. And if you failed a obstacle you had to do 30 burpys.... It was really fun, but I was pretty tired and sore after. Not as bad as last year though, it really didn't feel like I had ran 8+ miles. The bad part of the race was waiting in line for people to do the obstacles. I HATE waiting in line, and people were "butt scooting" over the beams you were supposed to walk and balance over, so it took forever and I was SOOOO cold!!! but it was fun. A good time was had by all. The next day I think we ran a few miles, I don't remember though. I got a lot of bruises out of that race.

The next week was a 20 - half of the group was out running a half marathon in Geneva, so It was Debi, Judah & I. We did a new rout I put together, from hoover, to millington, to yorkville again and back to hoover. It was actually a really good run and we all enjoyed the rout. The next day we ran 10 miles - that was tough. We saw more bras. What is the deal with bras in the road? I don't get it. Not even lonely country roads....

Just this week we went on a 22 mile adventure. Judah could not attend sadly  he had drill... So it was Mike, Debi, Matt & I. We started at starved rock, ran into Utica to the I&M canal trail, all the way to ottawa, back on the road, and the last 3 miles on the trail. With 2 miles left Debi and I were running on the top of the rocks, around Lovers Leap when a CRAZY storm hit. Thunder louder than I have ever heard and really bright crackly lightning.... Then we got hailed on and rained on all all the way back to the car. Strangely after the lightning and thunder I completely forgot about my legs hurting, so that was a positive.  I was pretty tired after that run, we had our post run beer of Shock top Pumpkin (really good beer btw) and also went to a pub in Ottawa for a drink and lunch.

The next day we ran 10 miles, it was kinda tough as expected... but knowing that after that it was pretty much down hill made it much eayser. Now - this weekend we only ran 11 miles, and for the sunday 5 mile run I decided to bike instead - I'm just kind of sick of running right now. Its weird that I am sore after a 11 mile run, but I am. I'm just tired now. I 'm fairly certain I will bounce back by the time the marathon comes around - probably sooner than that, but I can defiantly tell I am at the end of a big training block. I'm ready for this taper - I need it.

One thing I have been thinking about again - the same thing I usually think of when i'm sick if running - is WHY. Why do I do this to myself. It hurts. It's hard. It's exhausting, it's a HUGE time commitment... but this whole year had really been something else. It had not been easy, those bad runs that I had, getting hurt, being tired, early nights so I can get up at the crack of dawn, or before dawn. It's not easy - it's actually REALLY REALLY hard. So why? I do it because that's what I do - but I really enjoy the benefits  too -- Being fit, strong and feeling more confidant in the other areas of my life. like "I just ran 2 marathons and 2 50k's in one year - I can get up for work, I can clean the house, I can do all the things I need to do and keep trying with all my goals, because if i'm committed to something, I can fail or I can succeed - however if I never try I can only fail. It's also the companionship of course of my runner friends, the challenge... and when I talk abut running, and people ask "what are you running from" I'm running from high blood pressure, from stress, from American Obesity... i'm running FORM all those things, but i'm also running TO health, pizza, wine & happiness. I do not want to have tones of health problems when i'm old, I do not want to look back and think of all the things I could have done to prevent any illness I develop - I want to know that I am doing everything I can do NOW to be healthy - so that in the future I do not suffer - or if I do, I know that there was nothing I could have done differently to prevent it.  I have heard the saying that working out adds time to you life - but the extra time you get - you just spend working out anyway. Well, that may be true - but I will live a heather life - I will feel better - and experience more, see more & know more people than I would If I did not run.

SO even though I get tired of running - I know I will keep running - because it is a part of my life. I just have to know when to take a break to let myself rest, and when to keep with the schedule. It's not that I think I will ALWAYS run marathons and 50ks or more than that - I maybe just start doing half marathons for a year, or only stay in shape to run 7 or 8 miles (Any less than that just sounds crazy) but I will always run because it makes me feel good - and it will make me live longer and more healthy & because if I was not running what would I be doing? Staying up late to watch movies? Staying up late to play video games? Reading books about someone elses take on life? Spending money and drinking in a bar?  I'd rather just go to bed early & go out and experience life myself.

Here we go to Marathon #4!!

mile 20ish at starved rock

Spartan run