Adventures Of Running Mom

Qucik Update and More Vacation Photos

2011-09-20T12:00:00.000-04:00

I've been back to running for over a week now. I'm taking it slow, literally. I've decided this comeback would be the perfect time to finally get to running barefoot and in my Vibrams full time during my road runs. I've also decided to do low heart rate training. There are sooooo many LHR training methods out there! I decided to go with the one that I know some other ladies, that are plagued by injuries as well, are following. So, I'm following the Maffetone Method, many times referred to as MAF (maximum aerobic function). The pace is quite slow for me, about a 13:00 min mile, but it's the pace I need to safely ease into barefoot/minimal running anyway. I won't bore you with details since it bores me but you basically don't go out of your MAF zone until you've built up your base if ever. Many people swear by it and others try it and abandon it pretty quickly due to the frustration of having to go so slow. I'm hoping to stick with it and have it pay off. Hopefully after a good month I might break 13:00 min mile. I'm up to 2.25 miles in my VFF with the last half mile of my runs being barefoot.

I'm also going to see a sports chiropractor in hopes that getting my lower back worked out will straighten my imbalances out. I had many accidents back in my equestrian days but I had one that left the right side of my lower back pretty messed up. Since 1997 I've rarely had a day where I didn't feel some level of pain in my lower back. I had a few adjustments in 2000 that helped a lot but didn't take care of it completely. After one adjustment and a tiny bit of ART my back feels better. I can feel that I have a bit more movement in that area but it still feels really tight compared to my left side, which makes my whole right side seems stiff when I run. I have my second appointment tomorrow and hope to be feel even better. I will probably be doing a total of 4-5 sessions.

Now on to some more vacation photos! From our trip to the Quinault Rain Forest in Washington. It lived up to it's name and rained on us. Not a nice drizzly rain like we all envision the PNW usually gets, this was a good soaking rain. Even with the rain it was beautiful but the rain did dampen our spirits after awhile and after a few short hikes we did the rest of the Quinault Rain Forest loop drive in the car.

First small hike, still fairly dry.

The world's largest known Sitka Spruce Tree. You can't tell from the picture but I am soaked to the bone.

Waterfall seen from the comfort of the car.

We actually enjoyed the dreariness of the day. It would have been better if we had proper rain gear though.

Beautiful view of the base of the surrounding mountains. I wish I could see this kind of beauty every day.

I hope everyone is having a nice start to fall! Stay tuned for more pictures, next time: Astoria, Oregon.

What a Beautiful Day!

2011-09-07T11:23:00.000-04:00

It's not just a beautiful day because it's overcast and 60 at 11:00am. It is a wonderful day because I had my follow up appt at the Orotho and was cleared to start running again! I have to start at 1-1.5 miles for the first two weeks. That's fine because I'll take what I can get at this point. I'm also cleared for easy hiking since the ortho doesn't want me trail running for about 6 more weeks.

Tomorrow I will don my running clothes and hit the nice flat greenway for a run! I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself. Then Friday I might head to the Ridgeline trail for an easy hike. I hope it all goes well. There is a little voice in the back of my mind telling me that things might not be all unicorns and fluffy bunnies tomorrow. What if the ortho is wrong and I'm not ready? What if my ITB decides to join in the fun? I will ignore that voice as best as I can and hope for the best and be prepared for dead unicorns and fluffy bunnies.

Happy running everyone!

My Vacation in Pictures- Seattle

2011-09-04T07:13:00.000-04:00

Here are some photos from our Seattle portion of our dream vacation. I'll try not to bore you with too many words.

One of the first things we did after we arrived and had lunch at Pike's Brewery and Pub, The Seattle Aquarium. The aquarium was really enjoyable, probably one of the best I've been to, not that I've been to a lot. I wish we could have gotten some pictures of the sea otters since I've not seen them in person before. I was surprised at how large they were compared to river otters.

Super cute river otter that put on a show for us. Unfortunately the show involved the large rock closest to us and marking his territory, if you know what I mean. Thank goodness for the glass divider.

The under the dome portion of the aquarium. Simple yet super cool effect.

Pictures from my Sunday hike with Kay at Discovery Park.

Poor little abandoned rabbit population. I don't think I've ever lived anywhere that had a feral domesticated rabbit problem.

The shortest lighthouse I've ever seen.

I love the personality of the beaches in the Pacific Northwest. Such a huge contrast to what I am used to seeing on the gulf and east coasts.


Salmon going through the fish ladder at the Ballard Locks.


Sculpture at the Ballard Locks.

That is all for today of my super fabulous photos from the Seattle portion of our vacation. Next up will be photos of the Quinault Rainforest.

Dream Vacation Hangover- part 2

2011-09-01T20:44:00.001-04:00

Let's see if I can remember what I had babbled on about in my eaten by the interwebs part of my previous post.

Upon arriving in Portland both the hubby and I felt right at home. It seemed so relaxed and down to earth. It's a super pedestrian and bike friendly place. We took a short cab ride to our hotel only to find out later that day that we could have taken public transportation for free! Oh well, now we know for next time. Since we arrived early our room wasn't ready at the hotel. The concierge placed our bags in a secure closet so we could wander aimlessly around the city for a few hours. The first thing on the non-agenda was to find a Starbucks so the hubby could get some Chai Tea Latte for the second time that day. He was attempting to overdose on it while we were in the PNW since Starbucks are few and far between in the south. We don't have a Starbucks, yet, in our little town. We have to drive a whole thirty minutes to get to one, oh the humanity. Our aimless little stroll around the city helped us to come up with more activities to add to our busy tourist schedule.

The first night we decided to take a free street car to Deschutes Brewery. The stop where we caught the street car had the most awesome shop called Crafty Wonderland on the corner. I peeked in real quick and made a note to go back later. I went back on our last day there and bought something for each of us. I could have gotten more. I got a super cute shirt by Little Lark for Emmett. (I've already ordered a surprise grab bag of shirts for Emmett and will be getting us adult sized shirts to match his) I could have spent some serious cash in that store but I was fairly restrained and think we managed to keep it in the double digits.

Dinner at Deschutes Brewery was good. But, the beer sampling was the best part. My favorite beer was the Black Butte Porter and the Green Lakes Organic Ale gets and honorable mention. One big thing I learned on our vacation is that I'm not a huge fan of IPA's and tend to prefer the stouts.

Our second day we actually spent on the Oregon Coast. We rented a car and drove first to Fort Columbia (just across the Columbia River from Astoria, Oregon). It was a fort in a lovely location but it wasn't as cool as the forts on the east coast since it doesn't date back as far as the east coast forts. We then headed back across the super long Astoria bridge for lunch and to check out The Goonies house. This was pretty cool since the owner is a big Goonies fan and allows people to come up and take pictures, she'll even give tours of the house. The house next to it is for sale for a reasonable price if you're looking, or if you feel like buying it for me just let me know. We also went by the Oregon Film Museum which houses lots of Goonies memorabilia. We also went to the Astoria Column to get a better view of the surrounding area. I'm proud of the hubby for going up since he really doesn't like heights. It was a long climb up the stairs but worth every quad burning minute of it.

We left Astoria and headed south down the Coast to Ecola State Park. Absolutely gorgeous! I didn't want to leave. I really could live almost anywhere along the Oregon coast and be beyond happy. Indian beach at Ecola park was where the La Push beach scene from Twilight was filmed. We sat and enjoyed the beach watching the surfers attempt to catch waves for a long time, followed up by checking out the life in the tidal pools. We finally tore ourselves from the beach and headed into the town of Cannon Beach right next door to the park. We found an awesome tiny pizza shop to eat at called Pizza a'Fetta. This is totally my kind of beach town! Anyone want to buy me a vacation house there? I promise I'll share.

The rest of the stay was just as awesome as the day in Astoria. I'll just wrap most of it up with a quick list:
-took a 3 hour boat tour down the Willamett River to the falls. Not as cool as the Seattle boat tour but still a good time.
-visited the Japanese Gardens

Tiny Park

-visited the smallest park in the world, Mill Ends Park.
-had lunch at Cupcake Jones (they serve frosting shots, absolutely genius!)
-went to a wine tasting on the east side of the Willamette river with another of my make-believe interweb friends (this one from a running forum) and had an absolutely fabulous time!
-went to breakfast at Bread & Ink in the Hawthorne neighborhood, yummy! We wandered the hood for a bit after and fell in love with the area. Sadly after checking zillow.com I discovered we can't afford to live right in the area and would have to go at least 15 blocks out. (insert sad blue face)

Enjoying the show on the lawn with the hubby.

The last thing we did while on vacation was to go see The Decemberists at the amphitheater at the McMenamins Edgefield. Before the show we ate dinner at the pub there and did more beer sampling. This time I fell for the Terminator Stout. (must find some local NC beer to take the place of all the yummy PNW beer, I already miss the beer and I'm not a big drinker.) The show was great. The lawn at the amphitheater was lovely and the weather was gorgeous. I got a bit choked up at the end of the show knowing our dream vacation was coming to an end. We seriously fell in love with Portland. It lived up to our expectations and more. It just felt like home to us immediately, felt natural to be there among the natives.

The only thing I forgot to do in Portland was to visit the Museum of Contemporary Craft. I was sooooo excited about going there. But, in all the excitement about the other exciting things, I forgot to go. I think my craft geek status has been revoked due to this error. Hopefully one day I can be reinstated as a true craft geek when I find a way to move there and visit the museum.

So, now I'm suffering post dream vacation hangover. I'm sad to be gone from Portland and my body is trying to readjust to east coast time. For now I will daydream of Portland and work on a plan to move us out there and become residents of Portlandia. It's an awesome place to be. After all the dream of the 90's is still alive in Portland.

I have lots of pictures to share but I'll put them in another post in a day or two since this post became quite the novel. I'm sure I'll remember other things that I must ~~bore~~ excite you with about our vacation as well.

Dream Vacation Hangover- part 1

2011-09-01T17:31:00.000-04:00

Ecola State Park

Last week the hubby and I finally got to go on our dream vacation! For many years we have fantasied of moving to Portland, Oregon. The only problem with this fantasy was that neither of us had ever been there. We loved it based on rumors, stories, pictures, blogs, movies, etc. Seems silly to love a place you've never been to. So, a year ago we discussed going for a visit. This year we finally put the discussion into action.

Since I have two AWESOME friends in Seattle, Washington we decided to start our trip there then head to Portland. We flew into Seattle on Saturday around noon and planned to leave for Portland via Amtrak Tuesday morning. So we had a packed two and a half days in Seattle.

Tara and me on the boat tour.

For many years I have had a make-believe friend, Tara, that I met via the interwebs horse forums. She has always been awesome on the phone and via the interwebs. She was gracious enough to pick us up from the airport to take us to our hotel. Upon meeting her for the first time it felt like we'd be friends in real life for ages. I am beyond thrilled that she lived up to all my expectations that I had created in my imagination. She and her husband were a lot of fun and good sports to visit with us so many times in just a short few days. Tara and my husband got along so well that I'm sure if I let them loose somewhere they'd get in big trouble with their very similar senses of humor.

Kay making a bridge at Discovery Park look good.

On Sunday I met with my old trail running buddy, Kay, from Charlotte. She took me on a hike around her local trail at Discovery Park. Then we went into Ballard to eat lunch. We picked a not so stellar Indian restaurant but stopped to pick up cupcakes on the way back to make up for it. It was great to see her again and made me long to be able to run with her again on our favorite trail in NC.

In the two and a half days in Seattle we:
-ate at Pike Brewery and Pub twice, loved their Kilt Lifter Ale!
-walked around Pike Place Market
-visited the Seattle Aquarium, very nice aquarium with lots of cute sea and river otters and seals.
-ate at Sweet Iron Waffle, twice
-drove to the Quinault Rainforest- it lived up to it's name and we got drenched! Totally worth it since it was beautiful.
-did a 2.5 hr boat tour around Seattle with Tara and her hubs. This is where my hub and Tara really got their goofiness on.
-Sunday morning hike and lunch lasted most of the day due to the traffic from Hemp Fest. But again worth it to hang with my trail buddy again.
- ate at Pintxo with Tara and her hubs.

Huge jellyfish at Discovery Park. Kay's hand demonstrating the size of the unfortunate creature.

World's largest Sitka Spruce tree.


Yummy ale and mac & cheese at Pike's!

Lovin' the train!

After the whirlwind adventure of Seattle we boarded a train to Portland on Tuesday morning. I've never been on a train other than subways, els, and short distance trains between PA, NJ, & NY. The comfort of the long distance train was awesome! There was lots of leg room and leg and foot rests. The train ride wasn't as scenic as we had hoped but it beat driving or flying down to Portland.

Holy crap! I had a whole bunch about Portland but it didn't publish. Guess I'll be making a second vacation hangover post, sigh. More to come...

Lake Logan Aquathlon 2011

2011-08-10T12:42:00.020-04:00

I had been looking forward to the Lake Logan Aquathlon for several months (1500 meter swim & 5k run), excited about venturing into a new sport. Sadly, we know that my high hopes for being able to compete were shot when the Orthopedist told me no running for six weeks due to being on the verge of a stress fracture. I decided to go ahead and go to the event and at least do the swim. I couldn't get any money back at that point so may as well make the most of it.

I switched my attitude from competitor to mom on vacation for 24 hours. I did decide I would at least attempt to walk the 5k so I wouldn't have a DNF. The weather forecast was iffy for the weekend and I was worried that it would storm and ruin my camping experience and even worse cancel the swim portion!

During the drive up there I ran into some really bad rain and was quite worried what the weekend had in store. Turns out when I arrived at Lake Logan it was dry as a bone! Sweet. I picked up my packet and asked a few newbie questions then headed off to find my camping spot and set up my tent.

Once I got my tent set up I grabbed my camera and checked out the venue. I took a peek at the mysterious and fear inducing transition area. Ha, you don't look so scary, for now.

I checked out the dock where we would be exiting the water. Then I walked over to the bridge and checked out the HUGE lake. The water didn't feel all that cold, very similar to the temp of the water at the YMCA. The water by the exit dock was cold but that was a teeny tiny fraction of the swim. At this point I started to contemplate the need for a wetsuit. Seemed everyone was opting for it. I figured I'd try it out. If I didn't end up liking it there would be no big loss since I wasn't really competing.

My night of camping was uneventful, other than the guy in the tent next to me that snored. OMG, don't camp in a group campsite if you snore! It's just rude! Thank goodness for my ipod.

I spent my morning getting my first body marking, setting up my transition area, and picking up my chip. Everyone I spoke with was really nice and helpful. I watched the experienced people and hoped to pick up some cool tricks. If I did see any cool tricks I've completely forgotten them now. I eventually put my wetsuit on and made my way over to the start of the swim with everyone else. I enjoyed watching the sprint triathletes head off for their much shorter swim. It is interesting to see everyone's swim style. There was even one guy that was breast stroking the whole sprint swim instead of freestyle. That looked really slow going, but, at least he was out there getting the job done.

Our turn came to swim and I was actually pretty calm, probably because I had no pressure on myself. I enjoyed getting a view of the surrounding mountains with each breath, that was amazing. I felt like I did really well sighting on the way to the first turn buoy. That all changed once I turned around the second one. There were fewer buoys and the other swimmers were well spread out by then. There was so much more empty space and my right pull started to kick in. I felt like I needed to sight more because I kept drifting to the right back towards the start dock instead of under the bridge to the exit dock. I thought I'd never get to the bridge. Once I finally got close the current from the stream that fed the lake made me feel like a salmon trying to swim upstream, ugh. The water was much cooler there but was very welcome at that point. Thank goodness they had people there to help us onto the dock since I felt a bit disoriented upon standing up.

I thanked my helpers and started my slow march to the transition area. I took my time in transition since there was no reason to rush. I kept an eye on how others were going about things. I struggled to get my wetsuit off my legs and was glad to see it gone. I got all my gear on and grabbed two fig cookies since I knew I'd be out there for a good long time. I hit the potties too since I figured there wouldn't be one on course. My transition time was around 3:30min. Not too bad for taking my time. I now know what I will and won't do next year in transition. I won't be wearing a wetsuit next year either. I'll save that for truly cold water.

I'll admit it was tough to have everyone cheering and being all overly supportive when you're just walking. I felt so silly but I thanked everyone who was giving me support. I just wanted to wear a sign that said, "No running for 6 weeks on Dr's orders, I swear I can actually run." After I got past the thick crowd of spectators I almost cried from disappointment of having to walk. I did my best to turn that around and enjoy my walk. I admire my fellow competitors and took in the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains. I had one runner that tried to get me motivated to run with her. I told her I was walking on Dr's orders and she gave me kudos for not letting that stop me from having a good event. I had several other runners ask if I was okay. I really enjoyed the friendliness of the triathletes, very similar to my beloved trail runners.

I was happy to reach the finish. I was second to last in the aquathlon. The only reason that happened was one swimmer took nearly an hour for the swim. But, I'm fine with it. I learned a lot that day. I learned that I definitely need help with the swim if I want to be competitive. It took me 32 mins for the swim, that counts my walk to transition. My watch gave me just a hair over 30 mins. With that time I was 9th out of 13 women in the swim. The winner swam in 20 mins! Wow, I've got some serious work to do. I now know next year I will wear a swim suit only for the swim and run. I'll have some shoes I can slip on easier and I'll skip the potty break.

I'm looking forward to next year. It was a beautiful place to visit. I hope I'll have a much improved swim time and I'll be uninjured so I can run instead of walk!

Sunrise at Lake Logan:

New Blog Name- Adventures of Broken Mom

2011-08-01T17:43:00.003-04:00

Just a quick update. Last week I went to the orthopaedist to check out what I thought was a soleus pull in my right calf. Sadly I was wrong. It was worse than that. I was told I am on the way to a stress fracture on the inside of my right tibia if I don't take a break from running. I was shocked that my tibia is where the pain originates, never did I dream of poking around the inside of my tibia for pain when this latest injury cropped up. When he poked my tibia in the spot next to where I thought the soleus pull was I about hit the ceiling.

Of course the second he finished with the sentence, "No running for six weeks," I broke down and cried. I blubbered something to the effect of there goes everything. He tried to tell me all is not lost that I will run again. But I continued to sob and rattle off my three big races I've been looking forward to and specifically training for are all out of the equation now. He gave me some tissue to get the snot under control and I tried to compose myself. He assured me this was nothing that happened from bad training or over training. I just had some bad luck recently and put my foot wrong at some point, which is easy to do when you are a crazy trail runner.

I am finished with week one of rest. I've officially taken myself out of 2 of my 3 races. The only one I'm still doing is this weekend. I know, I've been told not to, but it's an aquathlon, Lake Logan. I could have gotten some of my entry fee back but I couldn't get my camping and pre-paid cafeteria meals back. So I'm going ahead and heading to the event on Saturday afternoon, hopefully with Laura (my reason to tri). I'll camp and enjoy a quiet evening away from home then have a lovely 1500 meter swim surrounded by beautiful mountains and call it a day. For me the challenge is the swim anyway. I'd like to see how I measure up in a race situation with my swimming. I'm still quite a newbie at it and hope this is a good learning experience for me.

So no Blue Ridge Relay or Medoc 10 mile trail race. There is always next year. Now that I have a tent, and no ordinary muggle tent, I can afford to travel a bit farther for some trail races. (Feast your eyes on the Hobitat.) I won't feel so bad going out of town for a short race if I'm only dropping between $10-$25 for lodging. Medoc Trail races are planning on holding some spring races for the first time next year, a 5k and 15k, so I think I'll head up for that since they are such a fun bunch of runners.

On the bright side: I don't have to run in the summer heat any more. I will be a stronger swimmer at the end of my 6 weeks. I also have more time to craft, something I have felt either too busy or tired to do this summer. I've even pondered maybe trying mountain biking to see if I could be an off road triathlete. I'm not convinced I'd do all that well on a mountain bike. Thank goodness for USNWC where I can rent a bike and ride the trails before investing in something I won't like.

Well, so much for a quick update, more like a novella. Hope everyone else is still in one piece. Hopefully I'll have a fun report after next weekend.

Miles For Marines 5k Trail Race

2011-06-25T12:53:00.007-04:00

Today I ran the Miles For Marines Trail 5k Race. I wanted to do this race last year but for some reason that I can't remember I didn't get to. It's for a really great cause which is a big bonus reason to run other than, "I like trail running." "All proceeds will benefit the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund. The IMSFF works tirelessly to assist injured Marines/Sailors and their families on the road to recovery. We are proud to be a part of their mission. Oorah!"- from the Miles For Marines website.

I had been planning for months to run this race. But, last night I was not feeling the race. Luckily I had already told others I would be there so there was no backing out.

I won't go into the boring details of the prerace nerves and lack of motivation. I'll just jump into the race itself. I checked out the other runners as we ran down the grassy hill into the main trail. I realized there was only one female in front of me. Ruh roh! The pressure was on! A couple of teen aged girls popped in front of me for a tenth of a mile and then fell back and were not seen again by my eyes. So I leap frogged with the other female for the first mile. After mile one she took off, easy breezy. I thought to myself that she had just been leap frogging to wear me out. So I resigned myself to second female. At this point I was already having moments of feeling queasy due to pushing myself like one should in a 5k.

Around mile 2 the bigger hills started. At this point I checked behind me for any other females and there were none so I chose to start walking the larger hills. Each time I'd walk a hill at least two guys would pass me but then I'd get them once it leveled out.

At 3 miles (according to my Garmin) I caught sight of the lead female. She was far enough ahead of me that I thought a miracle would have to happen for me to catch her. By 3.1 miles I had shortened her lead by half of what it had been. "Not too bad, maybe there is hope?" After looking at the distance on my Garmin I decided we couldn't be too far from the finish so I surged and managed to overtake the lead female. "Sweet, not much longer now!" Famous last thoughts. With each turn of the path I kept expecting to see the finish in sight, nope, no such luck. Each time I thought, "How much longer can I keep up the vomit inducing, leg cramping pace?" At that point I had to keep going. I just couldn't let her get me. I wasn't sure how much of a lead I had. I was afraid to look back for fear of tripping myself up. (At this point my Garmin was reading over 3.4 miles) When we finally turned for the finish I let out a groan upon seeing that we would be running back up the grassy hill we started on. I kept up the pace, telling myself the pain would be over soon. People started shouting that the first place female was coming in. Several people with cameras started taking what I'm sure will be very unflattering photos of me. I raised my hands up in victory as I crossed the finish, thrilled to finally have my first overall female win!

Trying to get the tab off my bib in the shoot was torture. I just wanted to fall down and be doused with a tub of ice. It was so tempting to crawl into the baby pools full of ice and water bottles but I refrained from such unbecoming behavior. While shoving ice down my sports bra a local newspaper reporter stopped me and asked for my name! Oh, it's good to be popular. At that point I realized I hadn't stopped my Garmin. Oh well, I'll just have to wait for the online results for a more accurate time.

I got some sweet prizes! I must say I picked an awesome race to finally have an overall female win!

I'm so glad I didn't poop out on this race and not go. The victory was great but I did get to enjoy the company of my friends (who all ran the 15k). All of us walked away with a gift certificate to a local Tri store since everyone else all placed in their age groups. It was a great morning all around! Seems the races I'm least excited about end up being the best sometimes.

Inspired to blog again!

2011-06-05T08:22:00.011-04:00

I finally did something recently that is making me feel inspired to blog! Grab your coffee or popcorn! I plan to bore... I mean... intrigue you with all my new inspiration!

As you all know I struggle to keep my IT bands happy. I go through phases where they don't cause trouble for nearly half a year. Then they flair up and beat me down for half a year. I recently tried an experiment with more days of running but shorter and easier. That experiment was an EPIC FAIL! So, once again I came up with a new plan of action to keep me running and sane. The new plan consists of 3 days running, 1-2 days yoga, and 2-3 days swimming. Much more kind to my body than trying to force it to run 5 days a week.

I cut my running back two weeks ago and had already added the yoga in the mix the previous month. I just needed to get back in the pool. Even before getting back in the pool my legs felt tons better even though my runs were on average longer and harder than a few weeks back.

I've been intrigued by the idea of competing in an aquathlon but couldn't find one without an intimidating swim distance that wasn't too far away. My good friend Laura came up with a brilliant plan of us doing a triathlon relay and I could do the swim and run! So exciting! Last week she asked if I wanted to go to an open water swim practice on Saturday. I told her I didn't know since I had no idea what my swim fitness was like. It just seemed crazy to be getting into open water so quickly after starting to swim again.

My plan was to sign up at the YMCA again this past Thursday. Wednesday night Laura sends me a link to the Carolina's Open Water Challenge. It's so tempting because it's a reasonable distance and they have a 5k following the swim! Perfect, except I haven't swam in a year. I tell her I'll have to see how the swim on Thursday goes but I doubt it's a good idea.

My swim on Thursday went surprisingly well. But I still wasn't sure. Laura helped convince me I could do it as long as I took it easy and took breaks from freestyle stroke from time to time. I spent Thursday evening and Friday morning trying to make a final decision. By the end of Friday I had committed to the swim! Yikes, I couldn't believe I was venturing into the unknown world of open water swimming. I was nervous due to hearing other people's accounts of their first open water experiences.

I was nervous on the way to the swim. I kept talking myself into and out of swimming most of the morning. Luckily as we waited around for the swim to start we realized there were lots of newbies there and it was a pretty informal race.

The time came for us to get ready for the swim. Luckily the water was toasty warm and not too murky looking. Laura and I took our places at the back of the group. The signal was given for us to hit the water. A handful of experienced, or brave, swimmers got right to the task ahead of us. The rest of us, at least half the swim field, just looked at each other. We all mulled around hoping more would get in the water ahead of us. Once it was clear nobody else was gung ho, Laura and I slowly made our way in to the deeper water to start our swim.

I finally take the plunge and get to work on my freestyle swim. Not too bad, only a little water got in my goggles and I was feeling calm. After 100 meters or so I notice a swimmer to my left drifting far from the course. I knew, without looking, it had to be Laura. She got back on course and we laughed about our newbie skills. Luckily for me we kept the same pace. I think Laura's wandering helped keep her back with me, otherwise she would have been far ahead. I took several breaks from freestyle and did side stroke. I had to flip to my back a couple times to fix the leaky goggles. I was having a hard time finding a rhythm until we rounded the buoy for home. After that I hit a good rhythm and managed to freestyle most of the way in, just one break for the goggle situation. Every now and then I'd tap Laura on the leg to alert her she was veering left again. I was really worried about getting pummelled by other peoples' arms and legs during the swim. Luckily I only got hit by a stranger once. The rest of the colliding came from my cohort. I actually swam head first into her thigh once. I knew immediately I must be off course if I had hit Laura. And yes, I was off course, again.

I was so thrilled when the shore was in reach. Not just because I was tired, but because I was excited I had just conquered my first open water swim and enjoyed it! I knew I could finally commit to one of the aquathlons with a 1500 meter swim. Once on shore we celebrated our awesomeness!

There was plenty of time between the swim and run to stretch, relax, change, and revel in our awesomeness. The run was really informal, really just a preview run for the tri that will be held there the next weekend. I was excited when I first heard it was trail, but it wasn't lovely single track. It was ankle killing gravel. We picked a comfortably hard, but not race, pace. By 2.5 miles my shoulders were fading fast. Tired shoulders do not make for fun running. I was thrilled when we got to the end of the run. We did the run in just under 30 minutes, which I'm thrilled with since I had done 5 trail miles the day before and was exhausted from the swim and all the excitement.

Look at me! I'm a multi-sport athlete. Complete with a sharpie marked swim cap to prove it!

Today I'm exhausted but inspired. I had a great time yesterday and can't wait to do it again. If you got this far, I thank you for indulging me in my excitement. I hope you all have a great week of feeling inspired on your adventures!

Oh, where to go with things now?

2011-05-19T10:02:00.002-04:00

I wish this post was going to be me rejoicing in the fact that I am all better, 100% free of ITband woes. The reality is that after months of physical therapy I still struggle to keep my IT bands happy. I was fine for awhile. I even felt good enough to play with running five days a week. I figured if I kept most of my runs easy, minding a low heart rate, then I could pull it off. I've also only been adding 5% to my mileage each week with a step back week every third week. Sounds reasonable, right?

Wrong! Last week was my 5th week of running 5 days a week, only 18 miles total. I even made it back up to 5 miles for my longest run. But, alas, on Monday I woke up with a tender IT band on both legs! Sigh...

So, it's time again to adjust my goals and have a talk with my ego. My main goal is now just to be able to run any mileage. No more chasing mileage goals. Time to put the blinders on when looking at what my friends and fellow runners are up to. Time to start swimming again so I can sustain running on just 3 days a week instead of 4. I've been fairly successful with 4 but I think 3 with 2-3 days of swimming will be the best for my IT bands. It's clear it's not the intensity or distance that does in my IT band it's the lack of rest between days of running that they need.

It will be a few weeks before I can hit the pool again. But I've got yoga classes I can go to. I checked out the local yoga studio, finally! Only took me 6 months of knowing about it, and driving past it many days each week during errands, to finally check it out. What a find and only 2 miles away! I'm still going to keep my running going but only as much as my IT bands will allow. I'm taking this whole week off except for Saturday. Saturday I'm going to a 5k that is being put on by Laura's multi sport club. Not sure if it will be a race or just a run for me. Guess I'll find out when I get to the line and the gun goes off.

Hopefully next time I stop by I'll have better news. Maybe having better news will make me blog more. For now blogging is so uninspired since my running is questionable these days. Fingers crossed for some inspiration!

Coming Out of Hiding

2011-04-04T15:34:00.015-04:00

Since things went south at the end of January I went into hibernation mode. We tried desperately at physical therapy to beat my IT band woes into submission again. It very slowly responded but after almost two months I still had a hot spot on the side of my knee that was keeping me from doing more than 2 miles at a time. We broke down and sent me back to the Sports Med Dr and got a cortisone injection. Ah, sweet relief. I can now run 3 miles pain free! My doc wants me to keep at 3 miles per run this week then I can add about 5% overall per week to build back up. Fingers crossed we have this back under control and PT can start slowly torturing me properly again!

In the past two months lots has happened. I won't pain you with too much written detail but photos are definitely in order.

First the sadness that happened. Not only have I been depressed over not being able to run but I was walloped with the news that my good trail running buddy, Kay, was moving to Seattle. I knew it was going to happen sometime, it just happened at an extra sucky time for me. I'm glad we got in a last 16 mile run together before my knee went kablooey. Even though we couldn't get any more runs in before she left, we got together with our spawn at one of our favorite places to trail run and had a lovely stroll around the lake.

A failed attempt at a group photo:

Thank goodness for the Facebook and the interwebs for keeping me connected to Kay! It's a bit harder to coordinate a chat with the time difference but it is nice to still get my Kay fix once a week on chat and to see pictures of her new life out in the PNW. (I am extremely jealous after just a few weeks of pictures)

The good stuff:

I changed my hair color from pink to blue and love it! I also did my first big Tunisian crochet project with my newly found spare time. Awesome wool wrap:

I also crocheted these cute little guys:

I also taught my first class on Tunisian crochet! It was fun and everyone seemed to have a good time. I didn't earn much but it covered half the cost of my new tattoo!

I joined a team for the Blue Ridge Relay and joined a newly formed running club, Gaston County Runners, that is actually in my town vs having to go into Charlotte for a running club. WOOT!

I have to give a huge CONRATS to my best running buddy, Laura, for becoming a Triathlete last month!

Hopefully as I heal I'll have some actual running adventures to share again. For now I'll just pop in every now and then so everyone knows I'm still alive and, of course, awesome!

Ugh!

2011-01-31T10:05:00.006-05:00

It figures that after blogging last week about how great things are going this month I had to finish the month with a thud! This past week was to be an easy week with a shorter long run of 10 miles to give my body a break. What could go wrong?

I spent the week doing easy short runs on the roads. Thursday and Friday were too hectic with birthday party preparation to run. That also means I didn't do any stretching either! Oops! Wait, not just oops, more like DOH! I ran Saturday at the end of the day after all the party guests were gone, just an easy 3 around the hood. Sunday my left IT band felt a hair tight and was a bit worried about that for my planned 10 miles in the afternoon. You'd think this might prompt me to stretch some earlier in the day. Nope. I chose to snuggle on the couch with my jack russell terrier and a book. Really, who can resist a snuggle fest on a Sunday morning? Not me!

I met with the Carolina Trail Runner Meet Up group for two laps around Francis Beatty Park's mountain bike trails in the afternoon. First lap was great. The worry over the left IT band was for naught, felt completely fine. I didn't try to keep up with the fast guys on the first loop but did allow myself to push it a hair and was keeping a nice pace. Then we met back in the parking lot to pick up more members for a second lap. This time there was another runner that would be a back of the packer so I slowed down and stuck with her since I'd already done a lap at a good pace. A little over half way around the second loop I felt tightness in my right IT band. Crud! This is not cool. This trail system isn't the kind that I could hop off the trail easily and get back to my car so I pressed on. I stopped once to stretch and that seemed to make it happy for a bit. But I had to call it quits around 9.75 miles, about half a mile from the end of the loop. It was clear running any more at that point would be detrimental to my IT band. Fortunately the girl I was running with was nice enough to walk it in with me even though I offered for her to leave me. (Gotta love trail runners! Such an awesome bunch.)

Today my IT band feels sore. I've already stretched once and will do so again later. I'm dreading telling my PT tomorrow but I guess it's better that this happen while I still have PT available. (Good news about PT, I found out I have 20 sessions for this year so I'm still covered by insurance. Whew!) I'm guessing I'll need a few days off and may need to re-evaluate my goals.

Luckily I haven't signed up for any half marathons yet. I'm hoping to get my IT band happy again and alternate my long runs to look like this: week 1: 8-9 miles, week 2: 10-12, week 3: 13-14, then back to week one. I just want to stay healthy and be able to run. I need to stop dreaming of long miles. It is clear my body isn't ready for it. It may take another year to get there, if ever. It is better to keep it shorter if that means I get to run. It's so hard not to dream of the glory of long races. It's the ultras that get all the glory and coverage on the trail blogs and in the trail magazines. But I need to make myself immune to the lure and be happy with shorter and faster. It seems in road running it's mostly about the speed, at least it is with my road running friends. But on trails people focus on the distance not speed for glory. Time for me to look into the glory of speed again, but on the trails. I'd still like to pick a few half marathons for the year to do. But, I may look at the shorter local races again to put on my schedule and focus a bit more on speed vs long distance in my training.

I like fast and I like going long too so it's an inner battle I deal with. One of my wise trail buddies said last night when I told her I'd keep my long runs to 14 miles at the most, "14 miles is a good distance. Not too long but long enough to stretch the legs and clear the mind." She is correct and I will still have the energy plus time left to enjoy the day. Once you start to get past 14 miles it starts to eat up your day and energy. It's also depressing to have all the set backs so I may as well stay with what my body is comfortable with to keep my mental health in order as well.

If I start to get cocky and start dreaming of longer distances in the near future I need someone to smack me upside the head with reality! Please help keep me in line!

A Good Month

2011-01-24T09:29:00.007-05:00

I've had a great month so far and it isn't even close to over. I've gotten my mileage back up to 16 miles for my long run and my weekly over 25 miles. I'm hoping to have my final physical therapy session tomorrow since my body is holding up so well and also because insurance is no longer covering my visits. PT is an expensive venture when paying out of pocket. There goes our flexible spending account in the first month of the year!

I've been crocheting like a mad woman. I belong to this wonderful website, Ravelry, for knitters, crocheters, and yarnies. You can share your projects with the different forums, you can keep track of your friends' projects, and you can search for patterns. It really has added a lot of fuel to my crochet fire. I have discovered Tunisian crochet and am in love! I'm dying to get some more Tunisian projects started but I'm having to wait for my hooks to show up. The hooks are difficult to find locally so I'm having to order off the web, a few are special order as well. In the mean time I'll just work with what I've got.

One of the more exciting things to happen to me this month is that the local yarn shop has asked to teach a class on a Tunisian crochet neck warmer that I came up with on my own. So now I'm busy working another one up and writing the pattern down and trying to translate what I did so others can understand it. It's exciting and scary! I'm still such a newbie to crochet, especially Tunisian, but I'm pretty sure I can guide others through making my neck warmer. I enjoy teaching others to do things that I have a passion about. I used to love giving riding lessons back when I used to ride horses so, I'm hoping I'll really enjoy teaching others my pattern.

The most exciting thing for this month is yet to come. My little man turns 3 on Saturday! Crazy! I'd say the time has flown by but it really hasn't. His first two plus years were quite challenging but luckily he has outgrown his fussy years and has become a really fun toddler. Just in the past few months we've seen a huge change in his personality. I think a lot of what makes my little man happy is being independent and being able to communicate better. What a relief that his talking is finally starting to catch up a bit. At the ripe age of 3 he is finally starting to string two words together! The one thing I've really enjoyed is when I get dressed to run he finally recognizes what I'm planning on doing. Many times this leads to running warm up laps with him around the living room. Could I have a future trail runner on my hands? I hope so!

Project 333 Update

2011-01-03T14:49:00.004-05:00

At the start of October 2010 I started a minimalist wardrobe project called Project 333. I was already minimizing the stuff in my home so, I was intrigued to see if I could use just 33 clothing items, shoes included, for 3 months. I never expected it to be a permanent change but I figured it would help me on my journey to having less stuff in my life. So I made my wardrobe list but changed a few rules to fit my needs. I was worried I wouldn't do well with my limited wardrobe but was excited to find out what would happen.

I really enjoyed participating in the project. It was so much easier to make a decision about what to wear for the day when you have so little to choose from. There were times I wished I could wear a different jacket or shoes but for the most part I was quite content. I learned to dress up plain T-shirts to work for special occasions and dress down nicer things for everyday. So now I know I don't need to have so many just in case type of outfits waiting in the wings taking up space. I also now know that I don't really get bored with my outfit choices and nobody else seems to notice that I wear the some things over and over. Heck, I don't remember what my son or husband wore yesterday so I'm pretty sure that others outside my home can't keep track of what I wear.

The project ended on Dec 31, 2010. On Jan 1st I didn't jump for joy that I had a larger wardrobe again. Though, I did wear a turtle neck and some shoes that weren't on my list that day but, I didn't drag out my stashed away clothing with wild abandon like I thought I would. It's been three days and I still have yet to sort through my wardrobe that is packed away. I'm not really in a hurry to put my wardrobe back together, it just doesn't seem important right now. I did go out and buy a new t-shirt on the 1st. I know it sounds crazy since I'm supposed to be minimizing but the project taught me what really works for me and what doesn't. I kept track of what I wore each day for about two months but let it fall to the wayside during the holidays. It turns out I really like to wear my Mossimo tissue tees and wanted at least one more long sleeve and short sleeve shirt. I only found a long sleeve that I liked so that is all I bought. No more buying unless I know I am going to love it and use it until it is in tatters.

Project 333 is going in for round two but I won't be joining them. I've learned what I needed to from the first round. What a person considers minimal is a personal decision. It can't be dictated by a set number. So I will continue on my minimalist journey on my own again having more knowledge about what works for me. I will be going through my wardrobe sometime this week and weeding out what I no longer need or want. I hope I can keep my wardrobe down to a smaller size, I'm thinking around 50 items, but for now I won't be attaching a set number to what I'm allowed to own. I'll be using the honor system to keep my wardrobe under control.

No longer concentrating solely on my wardrobe might help me to focus on minimizing elsewhere, whether it's reducing knick nacks, kitchen utensils, boxes packed away with memorabilia, junk drawers, computer and internet use I'm not sure yet. I'm excited to keep working towards my goal of buying and having less stuff in my life so I have more room, time, and money for the things that really matter to me in life.

If you're looking for a challenge in the new year this could be the one for you. Give it a try! You'd be surprised what you can learn from having a small wardrobe.

A list of minimal wardrobe projects:

Project 333

The Great American Apparel Diet

The Uniform Project

The article , and blog, that got me started on my minimalist journey.

If you know of any other minimal fashion projects or any type of minimal lifestyle challenge let me know about them, please!

Surprise! Another Indulgent Year End Recap

2010-12-31T20:49:00.002-05:00

It's that time of year where everyone recaps all the good and bad things that happened in the past year. Lots of over analyzing occurs and people set goals and resolutions. I'd like to say I'm immune to such frivolity but, alas, I am not. I will try to make this quick and painless for all, hitting on the things I am most proud of and excited about. So here goes!

In 2010 I...

ran my first half marathon.
was 4th overall female in a 5k trail race.
ran my first marathon.
ran 1,061.2 miles
started working towards living a minimalist lifestyle by clearing out my home and wardrobe.
started crocheting again with a passion.
made lots of new running friends that I adore!

For 2011 I want to...

concentrate on the half marathon distance for the spring.
run Medoc Trail Marathon again.
run 1,300-1,500 miles.
continue on my minimalist lifestyle journey.
learn to crochet good enough that I can set up an Etsy shop.
make even more great running friends and keep the existing ones close to my heart.

My biggest wish for the new year is that my good friend finally gets the family she wants. If only one thing could go my way in 2011 that would be the one thing I would ask for!

Happy New Year to you and yours! May you all be graced with love, good health, and happiness in 2011!

Holiday Running Wrap Up

2010-12-27T14:46:00.009-05:00

I am happy to report that my running has been good this past week. I managed to run 5 days! I rarely ever do that. Most of the time I feel my body just can't do it. That must be a sign that physical therapy is working. I'm not 100% yet but I'm feeling stronger than I have in a long time.

Christmas Eve the hubby and I got to trail run together. We went for a run with the Carolina Trail Runners Meet Up group at Crowders Mountain. My friends Kay and Laura came along. Laura dragged her hubby along as well. Kay put everyone up to the challenge of wearing festive attire. Apparently only us ladies were in the festive spirit. We have no qualms about looking goofy out in public.

We ran to the top of Kings Pinnacle where we all took photos and enjoyed the beautiful clear view of the surrounding land. This is the first time that the air was clear enough for me to see the city of Charlotte's skyline. I got my hair bows caught on some branches while up there and couldn't seem to free myself. Luckily Kay managed to save me from hanging myself by bow. Thank goodness for friends! After our rest and photo ops we ran back down as fast as possible. I admit running up that pinnacle is painful but it's so worth it to run back down like a streak of lightning. After 5 miles of running we enjoyed some well earned snacks and good conversation. I'm looking forward to more group runs with them. It was a great way to start off the days festivities!

Christmas night it started to snow here. I was hoping the roads in the morning would be nice enough to hit the trails. When I first got up they looked good but by 8am there was a covering of slush so I decided to brave the roads for my long run. It's been a long time since I've done any long mileage on roads so I was worried more about that than the conditions.

I bundled up and I strapped on a pair of trail shoes so I'd have good traction on the snow and slush. I also filled up my new Nathan 22oz handheld water bottle that Santa brought me so I could test it out even though I was pretty sure my 10 oz would have sufficed. It was snowing when I left and it snowed the whole run. It was absolutely gorgeous! The snow made running on the road so much more tolerable and entertaining. My body held out nicely. I first committed myself to at least three miles. Then a six mile commitment. Then nine and finally to ten miles! I was thrilled with my run and pace considering the conditions and that I'm not used to running long on roads! As much as I hate to admit it, I really need to do more long runs on asphalt, maybe once a month. I think it would be good for leg endurance since there are no walk breaks built in like on trails with the super steep long hills that demand walk breaks.

All in all it was an awesome week. I hope I can start the new year of running off as strong as last week's running. I hope everyone else had a great holiday week of running!

Snow Day!

2010-12-18T20:00:00.017-05:00

This morning I went out for what I hoped to be a 12 mile run on one of my favorite trails. I got there by 9am with the intent on getting my run in before the rain/snow started in the afternoon. Even though it was a cold overcast day I saw several trail runners and lots of hikers out on the trail.

About 5 miles into my out and back adventure, as I was making my way up the final ascent to the top of the mountain before the pinnacle, I heard precipitation. What? It's not supposed to rain until later. Wait, that's too loud for rain! That's sleet! Time to put my windbreaker/rain jacket back on. When I got to my usual turn around I considered going down the other side of the mountain for an even 6 before turning around but decided with the sleet it was best to turn around at 5.5 miles. By 5.75 miles it was snowing!

It was so beautiful and unexpected. Big fluffy flakes mixed with sleet. I was really wishing for a visor at that point since I kept getting sleet in my eyes. I enjoyed my run back. Around 7 or 8 miles I was grinning from ear to ear. What fun! Most everyone I passed was loving the conditions. Well, except one hiker, but she seemed a naturally grumpy sort anyway. I'll admit by mile 10 I was over the slush because it made for terrible traction on top of the leaves going up hill, like spinning wheels. Had I known there would be slush I would have worn my La Sportiva Crosslites with the big lugs. I made it 11 miles and decided it was time to call it a day.

Thank goodness I brought my camera. What a great day for photos on the trail!

After the run, deflated pigtails and raw nose from wiping it constantly for 11 miles.

Blog Slacking

2010-12-14T10:01:00.006-05:00

Seems I've been a bit of a slacker here lately. Every day I've been telling myself I'd sit down and make a quick blog post. Yet, each day passes and my blog sits unkempt and lonely. I've also slacked on reading other people's blogs. I've been so wrapped up in other things that for the first time in a long time the computer is being ignored unless it is required for whatever project I'm wrapped up in.

Just a quick summary of what I've been doing during my blogging vacation:

PT- my right knee decided to join in the IT band fun so I finally broke down and sought some help. My PT is doing an awesome job tortur... uh, I mean fixing me. I've been spending two hours twice a week there. I'm happy to report that I am up to just over 10 miles with almost no issues. I still get achy in my left leg after a long run but it usually clears up after a day. Hopefully we'll get this fixed for long term!

I've been working running in where I can around all the PT. Which means I've been running some at night, a rare thing for me. It's not as bad as I thought.

I've been crocheting a lot. I've jumped in full force with learning to crochet better. I've made lots of presents this year. I'd love to be able to post pictures of all my cool projects but I don't want to spoil any body's presents. I can post a few since they aren't presents. I'm really loving the crocheting. It's so soothing to do. In true to me form, when discovering something I really enjoy, I have become obsessed with crochet!

I'm still in on the Project 333 fashion minimalist project.

I'll have to make a separate post on all that I have learned during Project 333 when I have more time. Now I need to go get bundled up for a running date in the freezing cold. I finally got my cooler weather, a bit too cool, but it beats slogging around in 90+ with high humidity.

A few of my craft projects.

28 Days Later

2010-10-28T14:20:00.003-04:00

Well, I've been on my Project 333 minimalist wardrobe journey for 28 days now. I was going to wait for a full month to report but I couldn't resist the 28 Days Later title so close to Halloween!

I fretted and worried over my choices for the first few weeks. The weather was up and down with temperatures and I just couldn't decide if I had too much short sleeve or too much long sleeve. Do I really need that third skirt? Or even any of them? Will I actually wear my tall boots? Two tank tops? I must have been nuts when I picked my choices!

I am happy to report that all the worry was over nothing. It did take me some time to get into the swing of things and stop second guessing and just make do with what I have. I have to say I feel more confident in the choices I make each day about my wardrobe. I feel like I radiate that confidence when interacting with others. I've managed to make pieces that I love but normally have saved for the right occasion work for everyday situations. That little bit makes me really happy! Even this morning my neighbor complimented me on how nice I looked as I was getting in the car to take my little monster to preschool.

I'm loving how easy it is to make a decision about what to wear. I even look forward to certain pieces getting laundered so I can wear them again. Who would have thought that with only 33 wardrobe items I would get excited about wearing some of them over and over? Right now my favorites are my cheap-o grey tee shirt and my wool shrug. I've only worn one out of my three skirts and my boots have yet to make an appearance but that will come with cooler temps. I'm thinking of pulling out my black boots with my black skirt for a knitting group tonight!

I've already gone through my packed away clothes and put some in my donation box. I hope that in two more months I'm willing to put some more in that box. I keep the wheels turning trying to decide what else in my life I can pare down to only what I need or truly adore. It really is such a liberating feeling. I wouldn't be surprised at this point if I have more running clothes than I do day to day clothes!

If you are interested in starting your own minimal journey there is a wealth of blogs out there that can help you get started. One big thing that has helped me is setting aside a box in my garage to put things in that I will donate. Having the box always available makes it easy if I come across something during my day that I decide I don't really need. That way there is no need to take the extra step to find a box or start a messy pile of things to donate. When the box is full I load it in my car and swing by Goodwill after I drop my little imp off at preschool and bring it back home to wait for more goodies to fill it with. Seems like no matter how much I've donated lately I can always find something else that needs to find a new home.

Some inspiring minimalist blogs:

Rowdy Kittens

Be More With Less- the blog behind Project333

mnmlist

Tiny House Blog

Medoc Trail Marathon- I did it!

2010-10-17T06:17:00.006-04:00

Oh man, where to begin?

Kay and Michael both ran the marathon as well. This was Kay’s first, as well as my first, and Michael’s second. We were all set for a day of fun and we weren’t disappointed. The weather was perfect! Just chilly enough to make you shiver but not freeze. By the end of the race it was in the mid 60’s with a pleasant breeze.

Waiting for the race to start I met many wonderful people. There were two girls dressed as Girl Scouts. As they walked past me they gave me the title of Fraggle because of my hair. Everyone had trail names on their bibs. I made mine up since I’d never been given one by anybody but have now proudly adopted Fraggle as my official trail name! After that a women came up to me and we started to chat, her name was Twila. How cool! I have a friend from HS named Twyla so it was neat to meet another one. In fact there were two Twilas in the marathon.

Twila and I started the race together and turned out to be a nice match in pace. Around mile 3 we caught up with a guy named Tobias and grabbed on to him making our group a threesome. The three of us ran the first lap and a half together. It was nice to have conversation while settling in to the course for the morning.

Around the halfway mark my worst fears started to come true. My IT band was feeling tight. WTH? I haven’t had issues with it since February. My only guess of what went wrong was since there was a lot of flat and I was busy chatting and feeling good I got to over striding and heel striking and it took its toll after 13 miles. At this point our group started to spread out and leave one another. Twila's hip was hurting and I needed to speed up to relieve my IT band pain. I did get to see each of them on the third lap and at the finish. I was happy to have had their company.

After finishing my second lap I decided to keep pressing on, I was at 18 miles and had too much invested to stop. I devised my plan of walking even the smallest incline and running the flats, stopping to stretch when needed. I managed to make my way around the final lap. Around mile 23 things got really rough. I stopped to stretch and began to cry. I was so upset at what was happening. As I was crying I started to run. The crying quickly turned to anger and I started growling at myself to get my legs going. I knew the best way to relieve the pain was to run faster and to get done! At this point there wasn’t a soul around me so I just growled and yelled at myself that I could get it done. Around mile 24.5 I started singing an altered version of Dori the fish’s motto “Just keep swimming, just keep swimming!” For the last mile and a half I sang, out loud, “Just keep running, just keep running.” At the 25 mile marker I did my best to run everything up hill, flat, and down hill. Screw the pain I’m getting this done now!

Upon reaching the grassy area near the start finish I just started to sob. I was elated, angry, and in pain. I used that anger to propel myself to the finish as fast as I could. I was so happy to see the smiling faces of my hubby, my son, and my friend Kay! I crossed the finish and gladly accepted my medal. The Race Director was handing them out and asked if I was okay. I told him yes, just emotional and my IT band really hurt. He offered me help. I thanked him but I told him I just needed to get to my family and friend waiting for me. My official time was 4:51:40, very close to the time of 4:50:00 I was hoping to beat. I am thrilled with that time considering the troubles I had.

I really enjoyed the three loop course. I had a chance to see the hubby and my son twice mid run. Each time I got hugs and kisses from my son which really helped. The trail near the end of the loop passes near the finish and you can’t really see the finish well but you can hear it. On my last pass by there I hear my son crying, another good motivation to get it done! Turns out he had taken a header off a picnic table, awesome!

Kay had an awesome finish. She was 4th female in the marathon, so impressed and proud of her! Sadly Michael had some stomach problems and walked most of the last lap. I almost caught up to him around mile 20 but didn’t get to ask him what was up since he ducked into the port-a-potty. He said he finished just so he could get his finisher’s surprise. It was worth it, a nice lightweight running vest with the race logo on it.

The ride home was long and I’m very sore today. My IT band feels better than it did after my first half marathon so I’m hoping a week off will do the trick. I’m still very emotional this morning. An overwhelming sense of pride mixed with disappointment at my body’s rebellion. I’ll get this worked out because I’m planning on heading back to Medoc next year to set a PR!

So, I had to come back to edit this post because I realized I hadn't talked about the awesomeness of the race. This was the best race ever! From the RD, volunteers, and fellow racers I've never met a better group of people. Not one bad apple in the bunch. Great atmosphere, great aid stations, great medals, shirts, finisher's surprise, etc. Each volunteer on course made an effort to talk to you, and not just a "looking good," a specific comment related to each individual runner. The RD's were going around taking pictures before and meeting everyone, they even were on course encouraging as well. At aid stations the volunteers were eager to help refill my bottle and do all they could to help especially at the end when they knew you were suffering. I recommend this race to anyone interested in running a trail marathon or race. You won't be disappointed, I promise!

Marathon Week Madness

2010-10-13T20:27:00.002-04:00

So this week has not been the calm pre-marathon week that I envisioned.

We started Saturday off with a yard sale. We made lots of money and got rid of lots of stuff. Unfortunately early that morning while I was setting up my husband came outside and declared that our son wasn't feeling well. I abandoned my merchandising to take his temperature. He had a fever of 102 and eventually it spiked over 103 during the night. By the end of Sunday his fever seemed to be gone.

Monday there was no preschool due to the holiday, but that worked out fine since he hadn't been fever free for 24 hours by then. Sadly he was a pill all day, crying, whining, acting like a piece of velcro stuck to me. I tried to clean bathrooms and regretted that. Not a relaxing day at home to say the least.

Next day he woke up in a decent mood and no fever so I sent him to school. I went for a 3 mile run and came back to two voice mails, one from school to pick him up and another from the hubby saying that he had picked him up. So I made an appt with the pediatrician. He has been tested for strep and flu, both negative. He basically has a virus. Today he has a cough and his fever is spiking again. We got some cough medicine from the pediatrician tonight. So no school the rest of the week, which means very little relaxing for me.

There was one good thing that came from our second trip to the pediatrician. I found out that the nearby high school has a cross-country trail. Our ped runs there since he doesn't like roads but isn't a trail runner either. That will be so convenient for shorter runs or speed work! Sweet! Sometimes good things can come from a bad situation. I never would have thought to check there for a trail to run. I'm going to check it out tomorrow night for my last run of my taper, a whopping 2 miles.

Another sad point to the week, I am getting a bit of what my son has. My sinuses feel clogged and I've got a scratchy throat. As long as it stays away from my chest I'll be fine. I'm running this marathon come hell or high water. I've dreamed of running a marathon for 8 years now. I'm two days away from fulfilling that dream, there is no stopping me!

Project 333- a minimalist wardrobe challenge

2010-10-01T11:31:00.005-04:00

Today I embark on my first minimalist fashion challenge with Project 333. Here is the basic outline of what it is if you don't feel like clicking on the link:

Pick 33 fashion items including clothes, shoes, jewelry, accessories, outerwear to use as your wardrobe Oct 1- Dec 31.
What's not included in those 33: undergarments, workout clothes(thank goodness), wedding ring, in home loungewear.

My own adjustments to the rules:

I'm not counting jewelry and accessories in my 33 because of two reasons: 1) I have a toddler so accessories and jewelery are liabilities on a day to day basis. The only time I can wear them is when I'm out and about without him, which is rare. Chances are I won't even use any in the next 3 months. 2) I feel jewelery and accessories help to make a minimal wardrobe possible. They are what adds umph to a basic wardrobe without taking up a lot of space.
I'm not counting my purse because for me it's a utilitarian piece, it's like asking a man to not carry a wallet or money clip. My purse is small and I tend to have to alternate it with a diaper bag. It literally holds my coin purse, a folded shopping bag (courtesy of my pal Tara), a pen, and sometimes my phone (all things I can't leave home without.)

You may ask why do this? What can you expect to get out of such an experience? Good questions.

First, I like a challenge.

Second, lately I have been working on going minimal in my life. I'm tired of too much stuff in my home and life. I've been slowly cleaning out the house and this will help me to make some final decisions on my wardrobe. At the end I don't expect to stick with just these 33 fashion items. I suspect I'll greet some old favorites with fervor and be able to let go of others that I forgot about. My vintage clothes that only get worn on special occasions probably will stay since I'm passionate about those clothes and they are my wardrobe gems. I hope to get rid of the silly guilt I feel when I look at clothes I rarely wear. I hope to spend less time figuring out what to wear and spend more time experiencing life. I'm sure my heart will still go pitter patter when I walk through Anthropologies but I will learn to think my purchases out more thoroughly.

Life is about experiences not things. As much as I hate to admit it, I got sucked into acquiring things to a certain extent. These things started to control my life; bigger house to fit all my things, having to clean around them, worry over my spawn destroying my precious things, etc. It's time to let go of things and be free. It has been tough, there was a lot of unfounded fear upon letting things go to start with. Now that I've let so much go those unfounded fears were replaced with a sense of freedom, accomplishment and clarity. During the process of picking my 33 things I managed to weed out even more clothes to give away, yay for me!

Here is the part you've all been waiting for, my list of 33 wardrobe items:

CK skinny blue jeans
BKE bootcut jeans
BKE black skinny jeans waiting to be purchased on Monday
Grey Gap Skirt
Long Brown Skirt
Black Skirt
Grey Short Sleeve Tee
Black Short Sleeve Tee
Plum Tank
Grey Tank
Long Sleeve Grey Tee
Long Sleeve Brown Tee
Long Sleeve Green Tee
Brobee Tee Shirt
INC Pullover Tissue Hoodie
Big Grey Sweater
Pink Sweater
Olive Sweater
Wool Shrug
Cotton Shrug
Knit Poncho
Grey Cord Jacket
Pink Northface Jacket
Long Black Gap Coat
Dansko Mary Jane Clogs
DKNY Grey Felt Mary Janes
Black Boots
Brown Boots
John Fluevog Wing Tips
Grey Stripe 3/4 Sleeve Sweater
Grey Leggings
Striped A Line Mod Dress
Black 3/4 Length Tux Style Jacket

We will be having a yard sale next week as part of our clearing out the crap experience. I'm sure I'll have a bit to share about that experience since I've never done one.

Let The Taper Madness Begin!

2010-09-26T08:35:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my final long run of 20 miles for my training for the Medoc Trail Marathon. Kay and Michael (aka Sideshow Jesus), who are running Medoc as well, met me at the Boulders Access Parking to the Ridgeline Trail. The weather wasn’t what I had hoped for. I have day dreamed all summer about this run. The average temps should have been in the mid 50’s for the low and mid 70’s for the highs. Instead of dreamy fall temps we got 64 for a low and 92 for a high. I decided to try to embrace the less than ideal temps with a reminder that what doesn’t kill me will only make me stronger.

Most of the run was uneventful. The temps started to rapidly climb after about 14 miles. By mile 15 I was adding a lot more walking to areas that weren’t all that hilly. I took a dip in a stream twice in mile 17. That dip revived my hips and legs for a bit. By mile 18 every time I had to walk my lower back screamed at me, threatening to seize up. I did my best to run the flats and downhill but I just couldn’t muster the ability to run uphill with the temps in the mid 80’s at that point.

Kay and Jesus ran a bit farther than I did before turning around so they were actually behind me for a bit but I knew they would catch up. At 19 miles I decided I would sit down at mile 20 and take a break if I wasn’t close to the end. I just really needed to let my back muscles relax for a minute. Kay caught up with me at 19.5 and stayed with me until I hit 20 but she couldn’t stop and sit because she was in the opposite situation, if she sat down she would seize up and I’d have to carry her in.

So, I sat down for a minute on a tiny log. I took a few deep breaths and tried to relax and not cry. I then decided to stand up and stretch my back . As I was bent over touching my toes I heard Jesus coming up the trail. Uh oh, not very lady like behavior, I’d better stand up! It was too late I had already given him a bit of a show. The humor of the situation helped to lighten my mood as we made a joke out of it. Having him with me at the end helped me to get done without crying. He offered to carry my Camelbak since my back was giving me fits but I declined since it wasn’t really the problem, but it was very nice of him to ask and just what I needed at that point. We finally reached a good stopping point near the end a walked it in. My final distance was 20.44 mi in 4:30:59.

We found Kay sitting on the bench waiting for us at the bottom of the trail spur that takes you to the parking area. We all sat down for a minute before tackling that spur, it’s really brutal after a long trail run to hit this steep winding trek to the parking. We all agreed we were glad it was done. I think we were all out of water and the mountain had taken a toll on all of us. Even as beat as we were, we are all looking forward to a good time at Medoc on October 16th.

I had weighed myself before leaving for the run and when I got home. I had lost nearly 3% of my body weight. Way too much loss. Clearly I need a bigger hydration pack for these longer runs. Hopefully Santa will help me with that. I now think had I had enough water my back wouldn’t have felt so horrible. Lesson learned!

All the photos are from after the run.

Wrinkled feet from sitting in the stream.

A more realistic image of what we felt like after the run.

Laying Low to Run High

2010-09-18T20:06:00.009-04:00

So, last week I took it pretty easy. Only two runs to be exact, one 5 miler and a 13 miler. Wild and crazy, I know. I had planned an 8 miler for Thursday but that day I woke up and felt like I'd been hit by the sleep truck. I decided that I needed to spend the day taking it easy and skipped my run. I took the next day off because I don't like to run the day before a long run, even if it was a "short" long run. I'll admit the morning of my long run I just wasn't feeling it mentally. Physically I felt great but wasn't feeling like running 13 miles. I got it done and was glad to be done with my running for the week.

After a week of not feeling the run I was anticipating a possible crappy week of running again. I have to report that this past week of running rocked my stripey socks! Monday was 5 miles of bliss. Cooler temperatures and an easier route allowed for speedy running, averaging my best trail pace in a long time. Tuesday was warmer than I had expected but wasn't horribly hot. It wasn't a stellar 8 miles but nothing to complain about either. Thursday was nice and effortless feeling. Not that I went fast but, at the end of 5 miles, including more than a mile climbing to the top of a mountain, I felt like I hadn't run at all.

Wow, my body felt great the whole week and I still had my long run to go. This week was another recovery week. My long run plan was for 13. I decided to meet up with a trail running group west of here, just under 2 hours. The plan was to run the Kitsuma trail as a time trial. Everyone starts their watch at the same spot and takes a halfway time at the same spot before heading back to finish up. We all stated what we thought we could run it in. Having little knowledge of the trail other than the elevation map. I declared my time goal of 1:45:45. I also planned on doing the time trial then follow it up with 3 easy miles to make my 13 for the day.

I was pretty excited when I got there this morning. We introduced ourselves and went on our quests to make our predicted times. The trail head had a trail closed for maintence sign but we decided to go anyway since it was a mountain bike trail and maybe it just wasn't suitable for bikes. One of the guys ran it just last week and it was fine.

As I headed up the mountain I glanced at my watch around half a mile and had already been going for over 8 minutes, crap! I know I'm not good at ascents. I'm working on my power hiking skills, something I truly don't like doing. I ran what little I could and walked when I had to, which was quite often. Halfway through the first mile I started noticing parts of the trail were turned up where they were working on it, not too bad, definitely tolerable. As the climbing went on the dirt became more churned up, lots of exposed and broken roots to be mindful of. It felt like running up hill in a really messy sand box, talk about lack of traction and no help propelling yourself up the hill. I made it to the top of the mountain and got a short break as I ran down to the parking area on the other side of the mountain. I took my split 4.5 miles with a time of 1:04:45. Crap! No way I will make my time unless I can find it in me to motor up the hills.

I turned back around and headed back towards the summit with as much vigor as I could muster. I tried to do as much hill running as I could and walked as briskly as I could in a sand box on the side of a hill. It was less than 2 miles to the summit which was a relief because it was mostly downhill from there. The churned up dirt made for nice cushioning as I blasted down the mountain. I'm a downhill machine. Nothing better than saying a prayer and letting go as you run down a torn up trail with little room for error, just a small tree here and there to separate you from the steep drop down the mountain. Arms flailing and dirt flying I managed to finish my run in 1:55:39, almost 10 minutes over my predicted time, and an awesome negative split for the way back. (my slowest mile was 16:04 and fastest was 9:07)

A dip in the stream as an ice bath and to clean the dirt from my legs was a perfect treat after such a leg beater of a run. I decided not to add the extra 3 miles because in less than 10 miles I had put in a 13 mile effort. Everyone brought food and we had a potluck cookout afterwards. I had a great time meeting everyone and eating some great grub!

I have to say this has been my best week of running ever! If I ever top this week I'll be pleasantly surprised and if I do I'm going to guess it will be awhile before I do. This week has been full of running high, both figuratively and literally! I hope everyone else has had a great week as well!

Friday Favorites

2010-09-10T20:47:00.008-04:00

Today's favorite will have nothing to do with running. It's about a popsicle and a little boy. For dinner tonight I served my son some whole wheat spiral pasta and lima beans. Seems like a strange combo but it is a big hit with my son, he loves pasta and legumes. Don't ask him to eat a strawberry or any other fruit, unless it's a fig bar. Most veggies get ejected from his mouth pretty quickly too, but, hand him a kidney bean, a pinto bean, black eyed peas, lentils, etc and he'll give you a firm, "mmmm, guud." He wasn't always like this at one time he ate spinach, avocado, sweet potatoes, and applesauce. But, now he's a typical toddler with a limited food repertoire and what little he likes he picks at like a bird.

About 15 minutes after dinner I noticed he was pretty tight lipped. Lots of, "mmm and hmmm," coming out of his little mouth. Then he did something that seems to be built into the wiring of little boys, he let a bit of the lima bean slime from his mouth seep out only to suck it back in before it disconnected from the mass in his mouth. This isn't his first time at this game. He kept a piece of turkey bacon in his mouth for over an hour a few weeks ago. Ugh. I tried to get him to spit the lima bean out to no avail. After a few tries I pull out the big gun, the lure of dessert. I showed him a popsicle and informed my little imp if he spit the lima bean out he could have the yummy raspberry popsicle. Well, I could barely get a napkin in front of his mouth quick enough!

So, rambling done, here are some pictures of the popsicle delight! It's a good thing it was bath night! .

On the running front, I've only run once this week, on Tuesday. I had planned a run for Thursday but woke up feeling extremely run down. I actually slept until 6:45, very rare for me to sleep past 6am, I only woke up because the hubby's alarm went off. So, I opted to spend my morning resting on the couch and do as little as needed to get through my mom work for the day. I'm glad to report I woke up this morning feeling like myself again! I decided not to run today since I don't like to run the day before a long run. I'm only doing 13 tomorrow (pretty exciting that I can put the word only in front of 13!) so I should be back on track after tomorrow. One more true long run on the 25th of 20 miles and it's time to taper for my marathon on October 16!

Wordless Wednesday

2010-09-08T12:12:00.005-04:00

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-09-03T18:56:00.003-04:00

This weeks favorites:

1) Cooler Morning Temperatures- the overnight temperatures have been more mild this past week and a hair less humid. This has made for some almost pleasant feeling runs. I'd still like it to drop about 10 degrees to make me happy but I'll take what I can get.

2) Finding a few new trail groups: Last weekend I met up with a new meetup.com group called Teal Trails. They are part of the Run Like A Girl, a trail running series dedicated to ovarian cancer awareness. I ran with them last weekend as part of my long run and it was nice to have company more than halfway through my run. Kept my pace up and my mind positive. Today I met with the group's organizer and we did a short run together. It's nice to have company again since Laura, My Reason To Run, has been on the injured runners list.

I've also found a group farther west, Asheville region, that has lots of fun organized training runs and Fat Ass races. I'm hoping to do a run with them in a few weeks. It will be a great way for me to explore other trail systems in NC with people that know where they're going, instead of me heading out blindly hoping for the best. I will have to drive an hour or more but I hope it will be worth it.

Not So Favorites:

1) Afternoon heat: even though the mornings are cooler we are still reaching the mid to high 90's more than 3 days a week. This will last into next week. I hope after next week we get normalized into low 80's for the highs.

2) My relationship with the interwebs: I find that I get down on myself about the time I spend on the net: browsing blogs, checking forums, searching for trail races, checking facebook, etc. I'd like to reduce my time spent browsing but I get sucked in everyday!

Every now and then I'll set limits then follow them for a week or two before I fall back into my old routine. I need help! Admitting the problem is a good first step but it only works if you actually manage to follow it up with a real plan, and stick to it. I have gotten rid of some forums and dropped some blogs but I think I need to do more than that.

Maybe I'm just in a funk this week and can snap out of it next week? I'd like get back to doing things like reading books, doing crafts, and crossword puzzles. I need more face to face connections with people and that's something that is hard to come by right now. I hope with the new group trail running possibilities I can get that connection with the outside world that I clearly long for.

Sometimes I just wish all our technology would fail so the decision would be made for me and I could just go with it.

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-08-28T13:17:00.003-04:00

Okay, so I'm a little late on getting this post done. I skipped last week since we went out of town for a wedding. Also, the spawn doesn't have preschool this week so he has been draining the life force out of me. It is also quite difficult to try to type with my budding techno geek in my lap assisting me. But, after 18 miles this morning, and the spawn locked in his bedchamber for a nap, I am all motivated to write up my Friday Favorites on a Saturday.

Favorites for the week:

1) Trail Running Anniversary: Today marks the one year anniversary of my foray into trail running. My first trail run was a short two mile run. Introducing trail running into my routine was originally an attempt to combat my IT band. It did help but I also fell deeply in love with trail running, something I wasn't expecting. Now a year later I celebrated my anniversary with an 18 mile run, I've come a long way baby! All I wanted to do was run pain free and I've managed to do much more than I ever thought I would after my second bout of ITBS. So here's to another year and hopefully many more years of happy trail running!

2) Sports Shield: Some of you may have remembered awhile back that I had some horrible chaffing after a long run. I used to use Body Glide but after hearing some other ladies rave about Sports Shield I decided to give it a try. I'm so glad I did! I haven't had any significant chaffing since switching. Today I had a tiny spot (size of a dime) but I'm guessing that I either missed that spot or after 18 miles it finally wore off. So if you are having any chaffing issue give this wonderful product a try, I promise you won't be disappointed!

Not So Favorite:

Black Toenail: So here I am celebrating my accomplishment of trail running for a year and what do I have to show for it? (besides some awesome legs and a healthy mental state) My first black toenail is forming. I thought I had caught it before it got bad but I guess I was wrong. I felt it during my Wednesday run and came home and trimmed the nail. But today around 16 miles or so I could feel that it was still getting punished. I'm guessing that the constant downhills probably are what is causing it. I guess I'll have to figure out how to fix it. I can't imagine needing to go up a shoe size, I already went a bit larger in this pair than my last. If I get my shoes any bigger they'll look like clown shoes. It's my middle toe which surprised me, I always figured the big toe or second toe would be the ones to lose a nail first.

MCM Mama Goes Masters Virtual Race Report

2010-08-26T11:57:00.007-04:00

MCM Mama decided to invite all of us in her bloggy world to join her for a virtual race in celebration of her 40th birthday. I've never done a virtual race but decided that celebrating her moving into the masters division was worthy of participation. I'll admit I am looking forward to moving up to the masters division in less than two years. Next year will be tough since my friend Kay and her biggest local competition, Jamie, will both be moving into my age group. So, for 2011 they will be smoking me in races. So, I was looking forward to helping MCM celebrate moving up in the world!

Since I already had 8 miles on my calendar for MCM Mama's birthday I decided to go for the 8.25 miles option. I know my run won't be the fastest since it will be on trails but maybe I'll snag top trail run. This week my son also doesn't have school so there is no time in the morning to get my run in. I had to plan for an evening run at the US National Whitewater Center after the hubby was done with work.

I was nervous about this run because I'm not an evening runner, heck I'm not even an evening person. After about 2pm I only get the bare necessities done around the house, no starting big projects after then. So the idea of doing 8.25 mi at 6:30 pm was daunting. I had no idea how my body would respond after a day of trying not to kill, er, I mean taking care of my beloved toddler. Also I'm used to running after eating just my oatmeal for breakfast. There was worry about how my insides would respond after a day of: oatmeal, turkey bacon, pasta with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and parmesan pretzel crisps, and some M&M's and candy corn chased with a frappuccino.

The USNWC is much more busy in the after work hours than in the morning when I'm used to going there. The weather was more pleasant than I expected, around 85 with mild humidity. I wore my party dress, aka my Nuu-Muu dress, to make my run more festive. I hit the trail around 6:40 starting with the easier green trail. Man that trail was busy. Lots of rental, novices, and a few experienced mountain bikers. It was a relief to get off the green trail and over to the south main trails where there were fewer riders.

Around mile 4 I started to lose good lighting on the trail as the sun was quite low on the horizon. In one of the darker sections, as I was just starting up a hill, I was caught off guard by a mountain biker that was barreling down the same hill. We barely missed each other and both apologized then carried on. The insects were so loud at this point all I could hear besides them was my own rhythm thus causing the sounds of the bikes to be muffled resulting in a startled Ashley! I started to push the pace just a hair knowing I was losing daylight rapidly.

Around mile 6 I had to walk a few hills due to some mild tummy discomfort, my afternoon "snack" was revisiting me. I also had brought some Honey Stinger chews to try out as an option to my fig bars on long runs. I tried them out and had no tummy trouble from them but I didn't like the texture and after taste. I'll stick with my fig bars.

Heading into mile 7 I felt like I was flying down the trail and feeling my sweat spray off the bottom of my dress with each step(yes I call that mildly humid). I knew the feeling of flying was just an optical illusion due to the low light and the narrowness of the trails. At this point there were no more mountain bikes and I actually crossed paths with two other runners. I was trying to get the run done as fast as I could without falling. With about .75 mi to go I came out of the woods and decided to finish up around the kayak pool's gravel path since it's open and lighted. I decided to push my pace at that point to a real race pace. The last .25 mi seemed longer than it should have been but it brought my 8.25 mi to an end with a time of 1:35:05 for an average pace of 11:31. I could probably knock over a minute off the time due to the constant pausing and hopping off trail to avoid collision with mountain bikes.

Here are my splits:

1)11:40
2)11:27
3)10:34
4)13:02
5)11:32
6)11:42
7)12:40
8)10:25
.25)1:59 (pace 8:01)

Report from the Podiatrist

2010-08-17T10:05:00.004-04:00

I have good news to report on the injury front!

I went to visit a Podiatrist this morning. The first thing they did was x-ray my right foot to make sure there was no stress fracture. So, there is no stress fracture but, there's always a but, my 2nd and 3rd metatarsals are a bit too close to each other, the 4th is a little close to the 3rd but not as much. After poking around my foot to try to elicit pain, which of course she couldn't do today because my pain has reduced a lot since Friday, she declared that more than likely it's nerve inflammation.

The nerve inflammation is what is causing the pain that radiates into my toes. Depending on how inflamed the nerve is, my toe and ball of foot pain changes quite a bit. Sometimes it's only one toe, sometimes it's all my small toes and the ball of my foot.

She thinks the shin pain in my left leg was the root cause of my right foot pain. I probably started overcompensating and putting more weight on my right foot. So the week off walking around barefoot favoring the left leg just angered the nerves in my right foot.

So as long as it doesn't hurt I can run. No walking around barefoot or in any shoes that hurt my foot. I had managed to get the pain down a lot since Friday by taking ibuprofen and icing it. Even with doing 11 trail miles Sunday and 5 road miles today it didn't hurt today like it did last week. So that's good news. The marathon is still on!

So I have a prescription anti-inflammatory patch for my foot. I also am to keep icing after runs and throughout the day when I can. As long as I can baby my foot when I'm not running to keep the inflammation down all should be right in my little world!

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-08-13T14:12:00.002-04:00

Last week I forgot to do my Friday favorites post. I'm sure you all had a big gaping hole in your lives due to my slacking. We had a guest at our home and I was too distracted. But fret no more! I am here this Friday to enlighten you on my favorites and not so favorites for the week.

Favorites:
1) Our house guest, my husbands ex-step dad, came to help us do some projects around the house. I now have an extended patio, a gravel flower bed to put my potted plants on, and a raised flower bed (4 landscaping bricks high) in my back yard. Upstairs he put in a door so we could access more attic space for storage. The builders left us with little storage options outside of our closets and our two car garage has only held one car the almost 3 years we've been here.

2)Minimalism- Now I'm not talking the running kind, though I do love more minimal shoes. I'm talking minimalism in our everyday life. I came across this article via a facebook friend. I read the article and it lead me to this blog because I was intrigued by the 100 personal items challenge that was mentioned in the NY Time article. From there I found this blog that led me to the pinnacle of my day at this blog. I've been trying to declutter our home over the past year so that's why I was so interested in the article and blogs. It's a slow process but it is very satisfying. The Minimalist blog gave me a lot to think about when it comes to getting rid of clutter, distractions, excess activity, excess blog following, and even food.

The great thing about striving for minimalism in your life is that you can set the rules and decide what you think is minimal. For some it's owning only 100 personal items (toiletries, cars, phones, clothes, anything that is mostly for your use) for others like me it will be only having what I truly use. I started taking inventory of my things ( I still have some boxes in the attic and garage to count) but I have 75 running/exercise dedicated personal items, out of over 600 personal items. Clearly limiting myself to 100 overall would not make sense because then I'd be wearing running skirts and sports bras for everyday wear. We all know asking me to let go of useful running items is like asking me to amputate my foot for no reason. My goal is to reduce my personal items by 25% in the next three months, hopefully I can eventually get it down to 50% from my starting point.

As hard as it is to decide to let something go, it's just as satisfying to finally release it from my bonds. I never thought of myself as a hoarder but it turns out that I'm not exactly living a hoarding free lifestyle. My house actually looks clutter free, but behind closet doors and in drawers it's taking on a life of its own. You don't realize how much you hang onto until you start to clear it out. I don't think it will ever end, but I look forward to the day where I have less clutter (nick knacks) to clean around and fewer clothes and shoes to choose from. I love a challenge and this is definitely a good one. One thing I always remind myself of when I am trying to let go of an item is that the item isn't a memory or a person, those are inside me and can't be taken away.

So if you are intrigued or need help trying to get started I'd say look at the minimalist blog first, it helped me to come up with a plan of attack. After reading just a few posts I felt calm and uncluttered. I still need to delve deeper into the other blogs because they are inspirational too. (I wish these few paragraphs could have been more minimalist, seems silly to have to use so many words for something called minimalism but I'm not adept at minimal writing yet.)

Not So Favorite:
Very few people outside my circle of friends and family know I'm training for an October trail marathon. This is my third time signing up for one and I'm still a marathon virgin. I haven't mentioned it because I've been afraid I'd jinx myself. Well, the hush hush plan isn't working. I took the week off to give my left shin a rest and I've been having some pain in the ball of my foot that radiates into my middle toes on my right foot. It started off mild at least three weeks back and has slowly gotten worse. I notice it less when I'm on trails and once my foot is warmed up it really isn't bothersome. But after almost a week of rest it seems worse. The shin feels good but the right foot is angry. I've made an appt with a podiatrist for Tuesday and am hoping it will be an easy fix. If not I will cry.

Church of the Long Run

2010-08-01T21:01:00.003-04:00

My version of church is to hit the trails for a long run. It’s a great way to get in touch with Mother Nature and reflect upon myself and things going on in my life. Today my running buddy, Kay, joined me for my long run. We both brought our cameras and took some good photos. We did 14 miles with lovely weather- overcast, foggy, and low 70’s for a high! I won’t bore you with too many words just pictures. Blog posts are more fun with pictures anyway.

Foggy upon the mountain

The Boulders of Boulders Access on the Ridgeline Trail

“That’s a nice boulder.”

Tall Grass anyone?

Is that a big foot sighting?

Maybe, but I’m guessing whatever it was had legs that felt like jello and really wanted to get back to the parking area.

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-07-30T19:02:00.003-04:00

Oh, wow! Where has the week gone? I realized late this afternoon that it was Friday and I hadn't put any thought into my Friday post. Seems like the week went in a flash. Didn't I just write a Friday Favorites post a few days ago?

I've had a week of ups and downs. One boring road run at 4:30 am. A nice trail 8 miler Wednesday when the temps dropped the tiniest of degrees making a great opportunity for starting such mileage at 9am, it also rained and ended up a wonderful run. Yesterday I got a bee in my bonnet about cleaning and spent my 3.5 hours of free time while the spawn was at "preschool" cleaning, my plan to strength train right out the window!

Today's plan was for a 3 mile road run at 4:30 am, but it didn't happen. I woke at 3:30 to use the potty only to feel the few little twinges that have been hanging around my legs this week were still there so I opted to shut off the alarm before it went off and climbed back into bed. After that I changed my plan to strength train this morning. So... What do you think I did? Pretty much nothing. I opted for two homemade cupcakes, a Starbucks Frappuccino, and to browse the internet for cloth potty training pant options. I just didn't have it in me today to get much done. I think I spent all my motivation yesterday and have been in a funk all day today because of it. I'll get my hip strengthening, and maybe my ab routine, in while I watch TV tonight but the upper body is going to have to fall to the wayside.

So enough about my boring week. Here are my favorites (and not so favorites) for the week:

Favorites:
1) Girl Shorties by Skirtsports- I purchased a pair of these to wear with my Nuu-Muu dress since I don't like compression shorts and wanted a bottom with a pocket for my key. The Girl Shorties fit the bill with two slender pockets on each hip and a generous cut around the bottom and bikini area. I was impressed with how soft, silky, and lightweight the fabric is. They are extremely comfortable! I wore them on a 9 mile trail run and they rocked! I hate to say it but if Nuu-Muu adds pockets to their dress I may no longer call my skirts from Runningskirts.com my favorite running attire. I know it sounds like crazy talk but I can't deny the ultra comfort of the dress and girl shorties combo.

2) Cupcakes- I made cupcakes yesterday after I was done with my whirlwind house cleaning tour. I would like to say they are from scratch but that wouldn't be the whole truth. I used store bought organic cake mix and made my own frosting from a cream cheese frosting recipe that I saw on the Today Show earlier in the week. I altered the recipe a little by adding bakers cocoa to make the frosting chocolate instead of vanilla. You'd think seeing what went into the icing would stop me from wanting to indulge but I just have a hard time saying no to any cupcake. Have you ever made frosting? It's a real dose of reality on how unhealthy it is for you. Half a stick of butter, almost a whole package of cream cheese, and a mountain of powdered sugar! But oh is it worth it for a sweet treat.

Not so Favorites:
1)Being in a funk- all week I've had lots of ups and downs. I've been happy, motivated, driven, sloth like, bitchy, and impatient. I don't care to be bitchy or impatient, it's very rare that I'm bitchy. I'm usually pretty good at not letting things really get to me and not taking things out on others. Heck, my hubby said that during labor I only snapped at him once and that was well deserved because I had been told I was allowed to push and he didn't hear that. When he told me to, "breath!" with the next contractions I corrected him ASAP! I get annoyingly cheery during the tough parts of long runs, just ask Laura at My Reason to Run. So, I'm ready for this moodiness to find it's way out of me. Hopefully 14 miles this Sunday will chase it away.

Now, notice I didn't say the sloth like behaviour bothered me. It doesn't because I feel you've got to listen to your body and mind. If I've busted my butt all week running and being productive then it's okay to give in to a day where I'm just not feeling any of it. Some days you just go with the flow and see where it takes you. Sadly it took me to two cupcakes and a frappuccino before 11am. But I'm sure my body and mind will thank me for it Sunday when I head out for my long run feeling fresh both physically and mentally.

2) The Heat- again I'm hating on summer. Do I need to say more?

Nuu-Muu Dress Review

2010-07-27T21:21:00.002-04:00

I managed to get my hands on a Nuu-Muu exercise dress recently. A friend of mine won a give away but she already had a Nuu-Muu of her own and was sweet enough to pass the win on to me. The anticipation of waiting for my very own dress to arrive didn’t last long, it arrived within a few days of my order being placed. Oh the excitement when it arrived! I reached my hand in to pull the dress out of it’s package and felt the silkiness of the fabric, oh heaven! I literally stripped down right then and there in the kitchen and put the dress on.

I picked the Cricket pattern based on the color description. The picture online did no justice to the pattern! It’s a lovely olive green toned basket weave. I even think this dress has a sophisticated look to it. My hope for ordering a pattern was for some bellyflage. The pattern definitely helps to hide the mommy belly and amazingly at the same time makes me look more endowed up top than I actually am. Needless to say the hubby is quite fond of this dress! Just wearing it around the house it felt good and the fit was nice. I’m a solid size 4 and chose the small and it fits perfect. It’s nice and snug up top and slowly loosens as it approaches the hips. I like that it isn’t a racer back dress, this makes it much easier to use different styles of bras. So day one of wearing it around the house I loved it. Now begins the anticipation of waiting for my next short run.

The next day I dug out a pair of compression shorts to use with the dress. I loathe compression shorts, since I didn’t have any other options I had to deal with the horror of wearing them. I survived the compression shorts and came home and immediately ordered some Girl Shorties from Skirt Sports. Despite the compression shorts I loved the dress. I tried it first on a short 5 mile trail run. I was using my fuel belt that day for hydration and was concerned that the dress might bunch or twist because of the fuel belt. Much to my surprise there was no shifting, bunching, or twisting of the dress! The fabric feels heavy but surprisingly it’s not hot. In the south in the summer there is no fabric that stays dry during a run and this dress is no exception. But, the fabric felt cold to the touch in the areas where it was wet and it didn’t stick to my body like a wet noodle, bonus points!

I got my Girl Shorties the next week and did an early morning road run in it as my next run. Love the combo of the dress with the girl shorties! The next trial was a 9 mile trail run and again I still loved the dress and Girl Shorties combo. The final test was wearing it all day today around the house, running errands, and playing in the back yard with my toddler. I paired the dress with a pair of cotton lounge pants for a tunic look. So comfy that I haven’t felt the need to get my pj’s on yet and it’s past 9pm I’m hooked on this dress and hope to one day have another one.

Here is my one and only con for the dress, there are no pockets. So you’ve got to find undergarments/shorts/capris with pockets so you can at least stash your keys during a run. Though it would be nice to have a pocket for a key or a hanky, I can live with this one con since the dress is outstanding in every other way.

* I am not associated with Nuu-Muu in any way nor have I been paid for this review. I love the dress and just want to spread the word on a great product.

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-07-23T13:42:00.003-04:00

Another week has gone by and it's time for my Friday favorites and not so favorites. Some weeks I know on Monday what I'll be writing about and other weeks I use my Friday morning run to come up with them. Today was a Friday morning run of trying to find a favorite. I've got some serious bones to pick about my not so favorite but the favorites are lacking. I've only been able to come up with one this week, although it's very important, it's just one. So here goes!

One lonely little favorite for the week: My running partner, Laura, has located her misplaced motivation. She has found it by being inspired to dip her toes into the water of the Tri world. Though this means she won't be doing as much running, it does mean she will still be running. She can still accompany me on segments of my long runs during my marathon training, which is better than getting no running time with her. With her body and mind in better shape she'll make for a great distraction in the middle of these horribly humid and hot long runs. I'll admit I'm Tri-curious. Right now I'm so in love with trail running that I'm not ready to take the plunge. Once I finish the marathon in October I'll assess what direction I want to head with my running. If I opt for shorter faster distances then I may take the plunge. Hopefully when I do Laura will have a tri or two under her belt and can help me work out the logistics. This weekend we may go ogle some bikes and tri gear together, should be lots of fun!

My not so favorite for the week: Summer! Where do I begin? Normally I love warmer weather but this summer is sucking the life out of me. Usually in the summer you have a brutal week here and there but if you get up early enough it's pleasant enough to go for a run without wanting to pack up and move to a more northern state.

Even my husband who really loves summer has commented on how much this heat is sucking. We aren't heat wimps, we lived in many areas of Georgia and have dealt with Georgia summers for many years. In fact we thought our first two summers in NC were very pleasant, leaving us with warm and fuzzy feelings for the state. This year the warm and fuzzy feelings for the NC summer has turned into more of a melting and lack of oxygen to the brain feeling.

The more I get obsessed with trail running the more I loathe the heat of summer. This morning is a great example. All week I had planned on making my 4:45 am run a tempo or fartlek run around the boring streets of my hood. I step out the door to be greeted by stagnant, humid, warm air. It's 75 and probably near 100% humidity with absolutely no breeze to be found anywhere. (Yes, I know it's better than 80 or 90 degrees, but when I'm making the effort to drag my ass out of bed that early for a more pleasant run at least mother nature could throw me a bone!) Team these conditions up with some PMS and you no longer have an attempt at speed work. Now it's just a go out and get your miles in kind of run. I was drenched at the end of my 4 miles and the sun was still a good half hour from rising.

I'm thankful my long run for Sunday is only 9 miles this week instead of the 14 planned for next time. The forecast shows it should be about 77 and I'm sure humid as hell at the start of the run at 6am. Thank goodness Laura is meeting me after I've done 3-4 miles to distract me for the last 5-6 miles. Next week our temperatures should go back down to the low 90's for highs and low 70's for the mornings, that should feel down right chilly after this week.

I hope everyone is doing their best to keep cool and safe during their summer runs this year! Looks like it's an extra warm summer all around the eastern half of the country, not just us in the south.

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-07-16T13:43:00.002-04:00

Welcome, blog friends, to this week's edition of my favorites and not so favorites!

Favorites for this week:

1) Last Saturday I ran the last race in the Carolina Trail Run Series, Rock-n-Race 8k. I really didn't feel like racing in the heat and humidity so it was a godsend that it was part of a series so it made me get out there. Lots of negative talk in my head the first mile but finally settled in to a good rhythm after mile one. I put in a comfortably hard effort, I just wanted to enjoy myself and not die of heat stroke. I was only passed by one person in the last mile and we had been chatting for the previous half mile before I decided to let her go. After I let her go I set my sights on two guys to chick. I knew I could get the first one but the second was going to take some effort. It took a while but I got him with less than a tenth of a mile to spare. I finished in 50:07 putting me 3rd in my age group. That did give me enough points to win my age group for the Carolina Trail Run Series! It was a nice enjoyable time for me and I'm so thankful I made myself line up at the start that day!

2) Laser Hair Removal- Yesterday I had treatment 6 of 9 treatments for my underarm and bikini area. I can tell you this has been one of the best financial investment in myself that I have ever made! I have been blessed with sensitive skin and lots of body hair. This is a combo of extremely annoying consequence. Shaving any area of my body is treacherous. I can only shave my legs every 3 to 4 days and dog help me if I shave the day before a run or put lotion on my legs the same day I shave! OUCH! Keeping things tidy so I can wear a bathing suit or running shorts has always been a nightmare! I'd shave only to have angry reds bumps the next day, my bikini line ruined for several weeks to a month. (and yes, at the ripe age of 38 I've tried every trick out there!) Waxing created an ingrown hair problem, whether I did it myself or got a professional job. So when my husband gave me the okay for laser treatment last year I was ecstatic! It's been amazing. I'm no longer embarrassed to wear a bathing suit without a skirt as well as no more boy short suits. I can wear my running skirts without any worries of accidental bikini line exposure or extra chaffing. My underarms are so smooth now, it's heavenly.

Before you get too excited and head out to get it done let me tell you a few things about laser hair removal.

First, it hurts like a son of a bitch, those of you that have given birth might say you'd rather go into labor again, I say it every time. Surprisingly it's the underarms that hurt the most. The more concentrated the hair is in an area the more painful. It kind of feels like being briefly lit on fire while being stung by a bee, but no pain no gain! The bikini and inner thighs are about half the pain and I'm able to talk during those areas, underarm I'm tight lipped- focusing on my labor breathing!

Second, it works best on darker hair. So any areas that are blonde, red, or gray haired won't respond well. They also prefer that the skin of the areas treated not be tanned. So in a nutshell if you have brown or darker hair and fair skin this will work like a dream on you. Darker skin it works but it takes more effort.

Third, if you've ever had skin cancer, specifically melanoma, they will not do laser treatments on you.

Fourth, it's not cheap. This is my birthday, xmas, valentine's, mother's day, etc. gifts for the next few years.

So three cheers for a carefree bikini line and underarms! I hope in a year I'll be allowed to do my lower legs. Sadly the hair on my knees and above are too blonde to qualify but it's the lower legs that bug me the most so I'll take what I can get.

My not so favorites for the week:
My best running partner is struggling with a body that has suddenly retaliated against her and her running habit. All sorts of aches and pains have piled up making for one unhappy girl. This makes me sad because I really do look forward to my runs with her and will miss her while she's trying to get it all straightened out. Please send some knees, ankle, and hips healing vibes her way so she can get back to accompanying me on some fun and crazy trail runs!

6.8 Miles- A Photo Story

2010-07-14T15:30:00.024-04:00

I love getting fun ideas from other bloggers, especially when I'm feeling a lack of motivation for blogging. Tonia at Racing With Babes had this awesome post where she took her camera on her run and took a before picture of herself, then a picture of what was in front of her at the end of each mile, then an ending photo of herself. What a fun idea! I bring a camera for lots of my trail runs anyway so this is right up my ally. It was also nice to break up the run in segments that gave me a treat to look forward to for finishing each mile.

Upon taking my first picture I realized that my battery was low. The poor camera battery tried to die around mile 4 but I managed to trick it into 5 more pictures before it cried uncle.

Before the run

Mile 1

Mile 2

Mile 3

Mile 4

Mile 5

Mile 6

Mile 6.8- I took 2 photos so you could see why it was a 6.8 run instead of 7 even. Nothing says misery like finishing on this hill. May as well walk it in at this point since it's less than a quarter mile from the parking lot.

All done- near the top of the hill. Took the picture then realized I had my mouth gaping open, so attractive. I tried for another but I couldn't sweet talk the battery into coming back to life.

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-07-09T07:55:00.006-04:00

Time for another installation of Friday Favorites. This Friday Favorites won't have any not so favorites which makes me happy!

My favorites for the week:

1) Road ID Ankle: After trying hard to win a Road ID for several months I was ready to give up and just use one of my $2.00 off coupons when my best running partner Laura gave me a $15.00 gift certificate code! Sweet, she already has two Road ID's so she spread the love. I had the chance to try her Wrist ID Elite. It felt a little heavy for my liking so I decided to try the Ankle ID. I agonized over what to put on it but of course picking the color was easy, pink! I am happy to report that I love it. The Ankle ID is so light and I don't even notice it's on my ankle. There is also a nice reflective stripe on it so I'm more visible on my early morning road runs around my neighborhood. Now my hubby will have less worry about me during all the solo running I do.

2) Running Partners: In the past I always thought I preferred solo running. Last year I met Debbie, a mom I was acquainted with from a local moms' group, at a local 5k. At that race she introduced me to Old Runner, another local runner that runs in my area of town a lot. I ran into Old Runner and his wife at several races and started running with them from time to time. Debbie and I ran our first trail run together last year and I really enjoyed having someone to talk to during the race. At that race I ran into Kay, who I barely knew from another mom whose play dates I have been to. Kay and I both fell in love with trail racing that day and formed a new friendship because of trail running. Through Old Runner's attempt at starting a running club I found two other moms that like to run in the morning. Eventually I collected Laura, my most prized find to date, through the same moms' group I knew Debbie from. Laura had posted her blog on the moms' group wellness forum. From there I managed to sucker her into running with me and my two Wednesday running partners. It was clear after a few runs we were a perfect match. We have very similar speeds, I'm a tad faster but I've got 6 months of running on her, and the conversation was great! She lives close enough to me that getting together for a trail run is easy to do.

All my running buddies have their purpose, some multipurpose. Some I get to run with a lot, others only sometimes, and some I rarely see except at races. My Wednesday girls are my easy run day but for them I turn it into their speed work day. Laura is mostly my long run partner but we manage some weekday runs on occasion. She's also a fellow gear whore and does a lot of enabling in that department. Laura and I also now have a friendship outside of running! Such a huge bonus! I would love to run with Kay more, but sadly I mostly see her at races. But we do lots of chatting online and enabling each other with our trail running addiction. She's a speed demon compared to me so she keeps me motivated to become a better faster runner. Debbie is one I don't get to see enough but we do a lot of online encouraging and checking in with each other.

A year ago I would have told you that I don't like running partners for many reasons: I don't like to be distracted from my rhythm, I don't like having to coordinate, I don't want them slowing me down, blah, blah, blah. Now I'll tell you I love having some that slow me down and others that distract me. I go out of my way to coordinate with them so we can run together. I love that we share our joys, sorrows, and frustrations while we are out there. Running with someone creates a bond even if it's a person you would never have anything in common with in daily life. I learn a lot from my running partners about life and most importantly about myself. In them I see a reflection of me. I can look at my reflection in my collection of running partners and honestly say I am proud to be the person that I am!

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-07-02T11:10:00.002-04:00

This week's favorites and not so favorites will be short and sweet.

Favorites for this week:

1) Cooler weather making for more enjoyable runs, specifically Wednesday's run! I'm hoping my long run on Sunday will feel great due to this slight temperature drop.

2) The hubby and spawn are leaving tomorrow for their first solo trip to Michigan for a week! I'm so excited to be free of working around other people's schedules for one whole week. The dogs will be the only ones I have to answer to.

3) I finally made it past the 1 mile mark barefoot twice this week. Today's barefoot was 1.25 miles!

Not so favorites:

1) Soreness and bruises left over from falling during Wednesday's awesome run. The bruise on my calf speaks to me with every stride I take, walking and running. My arms are really stiff too, ugh. The pictures really don't do the bruises justice, they are much darker in real life.

Feeling Alive and Close to Nature

2010-06-30T13:38:00.015-04:00

Today I went out for an easy 5 miler today at Kings Mountain National Military and State Park. I took the loop trail to Browns Mountain today. I love this trail, a nice mix of steep hills and flat areas. The trail itself on this side of the loop is beautiful, lots of rocks, moss, and streams. The weather today was nice. It had stormed yesterday and it was still overcast this morning at 9 am. Even though it was overcast the temps were in the 70's with lots of humidity but the lack of sun made it feel so nice compared to last week's run at the same time and same place.

My feet got wet pretty quickly with all the dampness on the grasses along the sides and middle of the trail. I hit an area of wide trail early on where they have put down some small pebble footing since last week. Man that was tough to run on. I know it's there to help with trail erosion but man it wasn't fun sinking into the pebbles with each step. I hope it doesn't take long to settle in and get packed down.

I was really having fun running the trails this morning. I know I'm a bit of a freak because I love overcast weather, it's easier on my eyes and makes the warm temps easier to deal with. The overcast sky made the mood of the trail perfect for me, dark with the contrast of the green lush forest floor filled with ferns, moss, grasses, vines, and underbrush. Beauty all around. I was feeling so alive and in touch with Mother Nature. I came around a right hand curve leading to a stream with a footbridge and like a ding dong didn't slow down! What was I thinking? Rain + Wooden bridge + Running fast = SPLAT! My right foot slipped off to the left off the side of the bridge, scraping the side of my calf on two boards and landing on my right butt cheek. What would you think my first thought would be after finally coming to a stop? Well, it was to pause my Garmin! Not, oh my, let's do inventory to see if I'm hurt. Nope, I've got to stop my watch so it doesn't add any extra time to my run. After my Garmin was stopped I checked things out and my calf was red and scraped up, my left arm felt a hair sore, and the butt cheek on the right was stinging. So I got my camera out and took photos. I brought it to take pictures from the top of Browns Mountain, glad I did! After the photo opp I brushed myself off, started my Garmin, and went on my way.

My big goal was to make it to the top of Browns Mtn without walking. It was tough and mostly felt like a crawl but I did it and was rewarded with a beautiful view. I stopped and took some photos and just enjoyed my time out in the quietness of the woods. I packed my things back into my Camelbak and headed back down Browns Mtn. That was fun! Steep with lots of rocks to dodge. I imagined myself running my own mini version of Western States 100. Yes, 5 miles is a far cry from 100 but a girl can dream! At the bottom of the mountain I decide to turn away from the direction of the trail head to allow myself some more bonding time with Mother Nature. It was tough to finally make myself turn around and head back.

About 1.5 mile from the end of my run I was blazing along the trail, well it felt like blazing to me. I had a huge grin and was loving life when, SPLAT, I was on the ground! My final resting spot had me on my hands and knees. Yet again, my first instinct was to pause the Garmin! Did a quick inventory and whipped out the camera for another photo opp. No blood, just lots of scraped up skin and leaves all over my limbs. This part of the trail had leaf debris as a base instead of rocks. Had there been rocks I think I'd be a bit bloody. I used my Camelbak to rinse off my hands and packed my camera back up hit the pause on my Garmin and took off.

Man, do I feel alive today! What a run! I didn't want the trail to end but alas it always does. Luckily one of my favorite features of Kings Mountain trails is that there is a stream near the end no matter which direction you go on the loop. So, I rewarded myself by putting my tootsies in the stream and even sat down and gave my battered legs some love from the chilly water. I drove home going over my run in my head as I listened to Ben Folds and I thought, "What a wonderful day. Does it get any better than this?"

(I'm pretty black and blue now but it doesn't show well in photos. Bruised heel on palm of my left hand, bruised outside of right calf, side of right knee, and front and inside of left knee. I'm not looking forward to how I'll feel trying to get out of bed tomorrow.)

Friday Favorites (and not so favorites)

2010-06-25T13:56:00.009-04:00

So I've decided to do a Friday Favorites post each week to force me to blog. Yep, I'm a lazy blogger, I'll admit it. I go too long between blog posts and I know you guys miss me during my silence. I've taken the first step and that is admitting my problem, sadly just one of many. Now for some taking action to recover from lazy blogger syndrome. So, without further adieu, here is the first installation of Friday Favorites (and not so favorites).

Since today I did a long run I'll talk about two of my favorite must haves for my summer long runs.

My Favorites:

1) Elete Electrolyte Add-In: I'd love to take credit for finding this but Santa brought me this last Christmas, what a smart guy he is! Apparently Santa knows my tummy gets very sensitive to sugars while I'm running. The few times I've tried Gu's or sports drinks during or after a run I've ended up doubled over wanting to die. So I've always just stuck with water in the past. The Elete add-in is great for me since there are no sugars, just electrolytes and no colorings or flavors. At first I noticed a slight taste, and I mean really super-de-duper slight, like a very watered down saline solution, but now I don't notice a taste at all. I'm thrilled that it doesn't upset my stomach and I can get electrolyte and mineral replacement that I need during my long runs. I'm excited that I'll get to test it on some really long runs this summer, so far the longest I've done using it is 13 miles, I'm hoping later to test it on some 20 milers and then a marathon!

2) Cool Off Bandanna: My friend Kay found out about this little gem of gear and convinced me to get one. This is a bandanna folded in half with a chamois in the middle and sewn together only at the bottom point leaving two openings for you to put ice in. Simple and so genius! Today I ran the first 3 of my 11 miles without it then headed to the car and jammed it full of ice. Ahhhh... gloriously cold ice on my neck was the bomb! The ice lasted just a bit past mile 8 today. This will definitely help me get through a long hot summer filled with marathon training runs. The only down side is that you get absolutely drenched from the melting ice, but hey, it's the south and I would be drenched from the humidity anyway!

My not so favorites:

1) I don't like passing billboards on the way to the trail for my long run that have a temperature reading of 76 F at 5:45 in the morning. Really? Is that necessary Mother Nature? The sun isn't even up! Don't you know it should be closer to the 60's?

2) Chaffing anywhere sucks. But it sucks even more in the bikini area. I'm not sure what I did different today. Maybe I wasn't generous enough in the right spots with my Body Glide? I can tell you my shower was extremely painful, you've been there and know that feeling. It's one of the few times I say crazy stuff like, "I'd rather go through labor again than feel that again!" Grocery shopping was unbearable and I've got more powder coated in that area than I'd like to admit. Here's to hoping the next shower doesn't make me want to cry!

Some Refrigerator Fun

2010-06-20T07:05:00.005-04:00

The other day on Racing With Babes she blogged a post about her fridge. Oddly enough it's been one of my favorite blog posts I've read this week. I mean really, you can tell a lot about a person/family by looking at their fridge style and what's in it. She took the challenge of showing off her fridge goodies from the blog If I Can't Convince You I'll At Least Confuse You.

So here is my fridge in all it's glory! (Finger/foot print art by my son.)

First thing I think you can tell from the inside of my fridge is that I don't live far from the grocery store so there isn't a lot stocked up in it since it's not a hassle to make a run to the store to make a meal.

A few things I like in there: hubby's homemade spaghetti sauce, cucumber/tomato/onion salad from a recipe I snagged off of EricaH's blog, I added a bit of dill to it the second time around.

What I can't live without: butter, cheddar cheese, sweet and spicy jalapenos from Harris Teeter.

What I should live without that is in there currently: nothing really, the only thing in there that I wish wasn't is my hubby's pop, I wish he didn't drink so much, of course compared to the average American he drinks very little, but to me more than one or two a week is too much.

What I wish was in there: strawberries, Starbucks frappuccinos, romano cheese.

Race For The Land- A Photo Review

2010-06-06T13:34:00.001-04:00

Here are the photos that I wanted to add yesterday but couldn’t get the interwebs to cooperate with me.

Hills…

…and more hills.

The Finish.

Ahhh….

Removing of wet socks and calf sleeves.

The kiddos tolerating each other. Haley was nice enough to share her toys with Emmett since he neglected to bring any.

It Takes A Village...

2010-06-05T16:53:00.009-04:00

... to run a half marathon on a private nature preserve and survive!

Today was the inaugural Race For The Land Half Marathon and 8k. Those of you that have been following my blog for awhile know that back in Feb I ran my first half marathon. I finished but with serious IT band pain. I've been working hard on overcoming my IT band woes since then. So this half marathon was a big test to see if I finally have the hang of keeping it happy.

Today's temps were warmer and more humid than what we've been training in but I brought my super cool bandanna that I can pack with ice and put around my neck. (It's a great idea

but the ice melted by mile 4 or 5 and there wasn't anywhere to refill.) I was running with Laura and Meredith and our plan was to do the race together, through thick and thin. The trails today surprised us. We knew we wouldn't be climbing up,up, and up any mountains. But, what we didn't know was that it was going to be: straight up, down, up, down, straight up, straight down, a tiny flat bit, up, down, and rinse and repeat more times than I care to count. (Garmin says 6,700 feet of elevation gain and loss.)

The trail markings were difficult to follow. Main problem is that when you are running such rough trails you don't look up long enough to see all the ribbons marking the trail, so you tend to miss some important turns. We did some extra mileage today, not sure how much but I'll guess about a quarter to half a mile. But we got off easy. Around mile 5 a pack of faster runners came upon us from behind. They did an extra loop somewhere. Luckily everyone was in good spirits about it, it's just the nature of trail running that at some point you will get lost during a race. The fast group left us behind pretty quickly but it would not be the last we would see of them. Pretty much everyone we encountered said they had gotten lost. There were even half marathoners that finished at the 8k finish missing about 3 miles of trail. The fast pack we met probably did a 16 mile half marathon today.

I'm gonna guess around mile 7 we got confused and I headed up a big steep gravel road ahead of our little pack to scout for marking ribbons. Upon reaching the top I hear a stampede of runners. It's our pack of fast runners, again, and they are lost, again. We blaze back down to the last ribbon we saw and all look around to see where we went wrong. I'm gonna guess there were about 15 of us standing there scratching our heads. Finally someone sees some ribbons up the side of the gravel road heading off into oblivion. Off we go up the tiny path. Yet again we miss a turn due to the fact that we were all concentrating on looking where to put our feet so we don't break an ankle. So we end up in the woods with no trail. Announcements are made to turn around and hunt for the missed turn. Thank goodness that was the last time we were lost. The trails got easier to follow after that. It really took a village today to make it out of the trail system.

It's a good thing we didn't get lost again. Laura was having a rough go of it today and I don't think she could have physically or mentally taken one more sidetrack. I really felt bad that Laura wasn't doing well. She rarely had a bad run during our training but today just wasn't her day. We did our best to keep her going at the end. We walked a lot the last few miles. We pulled ourselves together to run for the finish and all crossed it together. I was bittersweet for me. I finished it with a happy IT band but also with a friend in rough shape. I would have traded my elation of having a happy leg for Laura having a better run. Hopefully this won't be her last half marathon. I really think she needs a fall or winter race. I told her when we started this journey that they were nuts for picking a June half marathon, now they believe me!

More Photos

Let the Countdown Begin!

2010-05-30T05:52:00.006-04:00

Yesterday was our final training run for the half marathon on June 5th. It rained pretty hard the night before leaving Anne Springs Close Greenway a sloppy mess, some areas more sloppy than others. From the start our feet got wet from grass, then mud, and finally I gave up after a few miles and started putting my feet in the water during stream crossings just to get the muck off my shoes. Some of the paths are narrow causing you to get slapped all over by very wet trees, bushes, tall grass, and vines (some of them were mean thorny vines, ouch). So it was a wet 12 miles. Luckily the temperature was cool to start. Compared to what we've been used to we almost felt chilled before we headed out. The skies stayed overcast for the most part, keeping the temps comfortable and the oppressive steamy humidity at bay.

We came across a cute little friend on the trail, reminding us that slow and steady is the way to go. We also crossed paths with a black snake but the urge for a photo opp just wasn't there. Actually, each time we've been there we've come across at least one black snake. Yesterday's black snake was the smallest one we've seen and we just jumped over him. There is lots of animal life to be found on these trails, some wild, others domestic. We pass by several pastures, some with goats, some cows, and plenty of horses. There rarely seems to be a dull moment there.

We had meant to take pictures of ourselves before we changed out of our wet clothes but we forgot. We were so drained and soaked that all we could focus on were dry clothes and chocolate milk. I am happy to report that in spite of having wet feet the whole time I have no blisters or hot spots. Also this morning my legs feel great, no IT band discomfort and my shins are happy too.

So now it's time for a week of tapering, I'll do 6 on Monday and 3 on Wednesday and I'll also take it easy with strength and yoga. I have high hopes that I'll make it through this second half marathon with no IT band pain, that would make me the happiest girl in the world. The week is going to drag since I have something so great to look forward to- 13.1 miles with my two fun running buddies. Wish us luck!

Versatile Blogger x2

2010-05-26T12:59:00.002-04:00

So I've been awarded the Versatile blogger award twice now in two weeks. I was procrastinating about it after the first one because I just didn't know what 7 things I was going to say about myself. Now that I've been given the award twice I'm just going to have to wing it and write the first 7 things that come to mind that hopefully won't bore you to tears. So here goes.

1. I hate to be late and tend to be habitually early to everything. Back when I had a job outside the home I was usually at work 5 mins early, sometimes more.

2. My hairstyle and color are constantly changing. It's rare for me to keep the same style with the same color for more than a month. Right now it's pink, blonde, black, and a tad purple. My hair has never been longer than my shoulders and the top of my shoulders was only twice, to me long is anything that goes past my chin.

3. I prefer to drink water, always have. I rarely drink sodas or juices, if I do it's only when we go out to eat.

4. I started riding horses when I was about 8. I was a serious competitor for a long time, I'm not good at being a hobby rider. I trained and worked for several Olympic riders. Every time I gave up my "real job" to do horses full time I ended up burnt out within two years, really takes the fun out of it when you have to do it. I lost most of my nerve after having my son in 2008 and officially retired from horses at the ripe old age of 37.

5. I met my husband at a dog park.

6. I have 6 tattoos and my nostril pierced.

7. I'm a morning person 100%. I can get so much done before noon but don't expect much after then. By the time the sun goes down I'm useless. I've always loved to get up and run or ride my horse first thing in the morning no matter the temps. I know if I wait too late I'll lose my motivation so I'd rather deal with cold temps than the disappointment of not getting out there.

I think most of my fellow bloggers have gotten this award by now and honestly it's past noon so I've just not got the motivation to tag 15 of my favorite bloggers.

Have a happy hump day everyone!

A Good Long Run

2010-05-21T22:20:00.002-04:00

This morning Laura and I did an 11 mile run in preparation for the Race For The Land trail half marathon on June 5th. Originally I wasn’t sure I was going to do this half. I was maybe going to do it or do the 8k that goes along with it. The reason being I had originally thought I wanted to do the Paris Mountain 15k trail race in Greenville, SC the weekend before. Paris Mountain trail races are notoriously tough. They start off with a long climb to the top of the mountain and end with a fun descent down it with lots of switchbacks. I decided with the temps starting to rise, my lower back giving me trouble, and the fun I’ve been having on my long runs with Laura and Meredith that the half marathon just sounds like more fun. No need to feel like racing, just enjoy the nature preserve and some good company for 13.1 miles.

So back to our run. Since we had to do our run on a week day we weren’t able to meet until after 9:00 am. I spent the week worrying about the temps but was pleasantly surprised with somewhat mild morning temps around 60-65 and overcast, it would have been perfect had it not been for the humidity, but hey we live in the south what else would I expect? The weather teased us with some very short drizzles that never satisfied us.

As usual the conversation was great. It was nice to run without having to look at a map and made the run mentally more easy for me which in turn translated to a physically more easy run. The run was an out and back, which can sound tedious but the turn around at half way is always sweet. Woot, half way home! I have to say I never had any serious rough spots today. There were even times I felt the urge to go faster but thought better of it since I knew I still had plenty of miles to go and didn’t want to empty the tank too early. During the last mile I caught a second wind and really felt like going longer but I knew my partner in trail running shenanigans was not holding up as well as I. So when Laura’s Garmin announced the end of mile 11 we called it a day.

On our walk back in we indulged in mother nature’s version of an ice bath. Aaaahhh… sweet relief on the feet.

Giving my IT band and calves some icy love.

I could have stayed in that stream all day but sadly we had to get home and back to real life. Even more tragic I didn’t get a post run chocolate milk. With being on a time crunch I was worried I didn’t have time to stop at a store and pick some up before the hubby needed to get back to work. He had picked our spawn up from preschool for me thank goodness because I would never had made it there unless I had skipped the wading in the stream and that just wasn’t an option. So today not only am I grateful for awesome running partners and solid legs, but I’m so grateful for having a hubby that works from home and is willing to help me out with small details from time to time.

An Adventure on New Trails

2010-05-08T12:32:00.009-04:00

Today Laura and I met up with her friend Meredith for a long run at Anne Springs Close Greenway in Fort Mill, SC. We really didn't know what to expect from this trail system. It's a mix of hiking, equestrian, and mountain biking trails.

There was a mounting biking race going on so we knew to avoid those trails so we set out to follow the Blue Star trail but had a hard time following their trail markers, or lack of markers. We ended up following mostly equestrian trails for the first half of our 9 mile run which made for rough footing but it was still fun. There was a nice mix of mostly woods, some fields, and some gravel roads. Around mile 4.5 we came to a stream that we knew we wanted to cross fairly soon. Not really knowing how far to get to a bridge to cross the stream we made the decision to cross it under some RR tracks where there were some rocks. Half way across I gave up on trying to cross with dry feet. I was having to use my hands to keep me steady and the girls were getting a good look at my backside. So, I just finally said screw it and jumped into the stream. Oh, it felt so good on my hot sweaty feet. Thank goodness trail shoes drain well. After crossing the stream we were finally on the Blue Star trail!

The Blue Star trail was for foot traffic only, very pretty and no huge gouges in the trail from hoof prints. Around mile 6 we came upon an open field next to a road and the trail just seemed to disappear. We took out the map and tried to figure out where we were. For a moment we thought we were on the opposite side from where we wanted to be. Luckily we saw a park sign in the distance and ran over to it to see what it said, "Dairy Farm Access." Sweet we are on the right track around 2 miles from where we parked. This portion was mostly gravel road but it was a nice change of scenery with pastures and old farm buildings. Then we came upon a wide stream. There was a tall foot bridge or an option to go through the water. I opted for the water while Laura and Meredith took the foot bridge, at that point my feet were wet so I may as well indulge in some cool water. Ahh... that felt good, the water was to the top of my calves. I could have spent a few minutes just hanging out in that stream. We moved on and finished up our run with a loop around the lake near the parking. The last mile finally revealed the tired parts of my body. My shoulders were heavy and my lower back on the right was really starting to ache.

We made it through 9 miles in 1:43:00, not bad with all the pausing and slowing down to figure out where we were. I think we'll definitely go back there. Lots of trails to offer and even places to refill our water bottles without having to go back to our cars.

Wow, this ended up longer than I thought it would. I didn't realize I had so much to say about it. Now that I've started, I realize I could write several more pages. That's what is so great about trail running, it's not just a training run, it's an event, an adventure! When you are done there are so many little memories to pick out of it and cherish, I just don't find those special moments on the roads that often. If you've never done any trail running I highly recommend you get a friend and plan a morning to hit the trails and have an adventure. I promise you won't regret it!

Run Like A Girl 8k Trail Race Report

2010-05-01T19:58:00.006-04:00

Today was a special race day for me. I ran the Run Like A Girl 8k Trail Race for the second time. This was my first trail race ever last year and an all women race. This year they moved it up to May, instead of September like last year, which made me happy because there was a better chance of cooler temps. This would also be my running partner Laura's first trail race! She was pretty nervous about it and I was nervous and excited to be able to go for my first trail PR! My two goals were to go faster than last year and help Laura get off to a better start. She likes to blast off the start line like the hounds of hell are chasing her. On our way there she mentioned that her horoscope this morning told her to, "defer to others on understanding your limits." That may not be exactly what it said but pretty close. So we decided that meant she needed to allow me to guide her through the start.

We met up with Kay, one of my other trail running pals, and headed off for a warm up run around the kayak pool. It was strange not to see anyone else but the three of us doing a warm up run. Usually there are plenty of runners doing so. After our warm up we milled around the start area discussing our nerves and plans for the race. As usual Kay gave me the what for about needing to step it up a notch and I was telling Laura to take it down a notch at the start. I decided it was important to get Laura through the start then I could step it up a notch. After receiving instructions on how to follow the marked trail our wave, 1st wave, lined up at the start. Laura and I seeded ourselves a few people back from Kay but in front of most of the pack. The horn went off and we started the race. Laura started to inch in front of me right away. I told her to slow down but I don't think it sank in. She started get even farther ahead of me. Finally, before she got out of arms reach, I grabbed her upper arm and yanked her back to me. I told her to just let the other runners go. She finally cooled her jets and settled in behind me. Over half way to the trail head she mentioned how uneven her breathing was. I imparted some more wisdom on her by telling her not to push her speed up until her breath was in a regular rhythm. On that note I started to leave her behind as we reached the trail head.

We both ran a great race. The warmer temperatures were tough since we haven't acclimated to running in warmer temps yet. I tried to hold my pace steady, going easy uphill and using the downhills to my advantage. Sadly there weren't as many downhills as I would have liked, there was definitely more uphill on this year's course. I did a small amount of walking up some hills, some of them I thought would never end. When one of the never ending hills ended we were punished with a jaunt across an open field in bright sunshine. I held two girls off behind me for most of the race but once we left the woods for the last time they both just shot around me like rockets. I kicked it in gear to try to stay with them but that stupid steep hill into the parking area got me. I ran it but at a very slow pace. Once up the hill I set my sights on the finish line. Holy moly, I might make it under 45 minutes! I kicked into gear and finished at 44:44! Much better than last year of 54 minutes.

I waited for Laura at the finish and, as I did last race, shouted at her to kick it into gear. She finished around 49 minutes, a pretty good showing for her first trail race. We waited around forever and a day for the results to be posted and awards to be handed out. I was thrilled with my 2nd place age group placing, 3 minutes behind 1st in my AG. Kay was just out of the awards in 4th for her AG and Laura 17th in her AG. I got a cute Run Like A Girl Tech tee. First place in each AG got a free skirt from runningskirts.com. It made me feel better knowing that first in my age group beat me by so much. It would have been hard to deal with missing out on a free skirt over a small difference in time, but the three minutes showed that clearly she was the better runner today.

After the awards, Laura and I went out for a three mile run to get a full 9 miles in for the day. If we had known they were going to take so long for the awards we would have done our 3 miles right after the race. We survived the three miles at an easy 12 min mi pace. It was fun going over the race and all the thoughts that ran through our heads during the race. As usual we both felt like hell during the race but the glorious race after glow set in and all the pain can be forgiven, and maybe even forgotten in a few days.

Random Ramblings- new shoes, great running, and day dreams

2010-04-27T13:48:00.004-04:00

Last week I got my awesome new trail shoes, La Sportiva Crosslites. I got to wear them Saturday on my run with Laura and I must say they rock! So light and grippy. I love the feel of the narrower and lower heel. I actually felt more nimble and stable without the extra wide flare at the bottom of the heel, which is ironic because traditionally it is thought that it gives you more stability, maybe on the roads but I don't know that it holds true for rough trails. They aren't as soft as my other trail shoes and this may take some getting used to just like running barefoot, but this shoe is meant to be my first experiment with a more minimal shoe. I wouldn't call them minimalist but they don't have all the bells and whistles that my other trail shoes have. My other shoes feel light at the start of a run but by mile 4 of a good effort I'm usually feeling their weight, I found this didn't happen with my Crosslites. I'll be interested to see how they do on a run of 8 miles or more. This weekend they will be put to the test of racing at the Run Like A Girl 8k Trail Race.

Last week was one of my best weeks of running so far since my return to running. I am happy to report that all my runs were enjoyable, and several gave me the elusive runner's high.

My Tuesday run I let myself pick up the pace a bit and really enjoyed feeling myself flying through the woods over rocky terrain and down steep inclines.

Wednesday I did my first installation of speed work. I warmed up 1.5 miles, then did less than a mile of fartleks, then less than a mile of cool down. I wanted to start off my first one some what easy, only 4 fartleks, I didn't want to over do it my first time out. I would liked to have gone faster during the fartleks but Tina was with me and I let her set the max pace since she isn't as speedy. I still got a good workout just not a max speedwork effort.

Then came Friday (elated angelic choir sings in back ground)! Friday I headed off to Crowders Mountain with a plan to run 6 easy miles. It started with a feeling of dread, I just knew this run would suck, legs felt cement filled. Much to my surprise by mile 3 I was feeling good, by mile 5 I was as high as a kite, mile 6 still awesome and decided to make it a 7 miler. By the end of mile 7 the delirious runner's high had dissipated and I was happy to stop while things still felt relatively good. Wow, what a run! I love having moments where I feel as though I could just run forever.

Saturday met Laura for our weekend run. She decided she didn't want to do a full long run, say 8 or 9 miles, but wanted to work on speed at a shorter distance. Her half marathon training plan called for a 10k so we picked 6 miles. 1 mile warm-up, 4 mile tempo, 1 mile cool down. I set the pace for our warm-up and tempo. Laura did a great job of keeping up. We did have to walk one hill on the way back in. I had another insane runner's high moment. I asked Laura if she felt like the wind because I did. Her reply was not as cheery and I'm thinking at that point if she had been closer to me she would have thrown a punch my way. I knew she was struggling at points and did my best to keep her focus away from this discomfort by giving her tips and making light conversation. With the tempo done I had Laura lead us on the cool down, which ended up only being 10 secs slower than the last mile of our tempo, way to take it down a notch! Laura had on these awesomely bright socks, green with a wide orange stripe and two small yellow stripes. She was Rainbow Brite in all her glory. I couldn't help but stare at her calves. I'll have to blame those socks on my near miss that has left the outside of my right ankle tender, luckily it doesn't hurt to run just walk.

After such a great week of running last week, yesterday's run was kind of sucky. It wasn't horrible but I never felt like the wind or that I could run forever and I sure didn't feel like adding any extra mileage to my plan. Oh well, runs like that are what make you stronger mentally and physically.

Daydreaming, ah, my favorite hobby outside of running. Of course much of that daydreaming revolves around running. Sometimes I enjoy hunting for gear on the interwebs that I can't have or races I would like to do. This time I'm day dreaming of an Adventure Running Co. trail running vacation. What are the chances that the Mother's Day fairy will buy me a trip? I think it would be fun to get my trail running girls to go with me and we could all take a much needed break from family duties for a week and enjoy the beautiful landscapes Mother Nature has to offer in our great country.

Fire Drill Friday!

2010-04-23T19:49:00.005-04:00

Today I was a participant in a fire drill hosted by my own little trouble maker. Yes, my precious child set off a fire alarm while I was getting my beloved Volvo V50 serviced. We were sitting on a couch in the waiting area. Emmett was climbing off and on the couch as I read my book. The next thing I know there is a screeching alarm going off and on in my ear. I look to my left to see Emmett kneeling on the couch hand still up in the air in the direction of the alarm. Frak! This little stunt adds 20-30 minutes to our wait since the whole building has to evacuate and wait for the Fire Department to come and turn the alarm off. I just wanted to go bury my head in the sand. The firemen wanted to meet the culprit. They all tried taking turns to get him to speak but he just looked like a deer in the headlights. Any other kid would have been thrilled to have big tough (and cute) firemen come talk to them. Such are the adventures in mommy-hood. I'm sure this won't be our last adventure.

On a good note, I got my new trail shoes today! I ordered a pair of LA Sportiva

Crosslites from Zappos yesterday and they got here today. Zappos rocks for customer service. Need a quick shoe fix? Zappos is your go to website! They were waiting for me when I arrived home from my fire drill. I put them on my feet as quickly as possible, they have been there ever since. At first I wasn't sure what I thought about them. They felt snug at first, the mid section of upper is a bit stretchy, I was a bit concerned that I didn't like it. After wearing them for a few hours now that extra snug feeling is gone. I think I'm really going to like them. They are more minimal than my other trail shoes because they are made for faster shorter (less than marathon) distances. Sadly they will not work with my Dirty Girl Gaiters due to the scree guard across the laces. The Dirty Girl Gaiters require something like laces to hook onto to keep them on, the scree guard covers the laces. I originally told Laura that I would hold off until after RLAG trail 8k on May 1st to try them out. Now I'm thinking I might just try them for our 6 miles tomorrow. Laura will be testing out her first pair of trail shoes so we may as well try our new shoes together. I must say I look pretty sharp and fast in my new kicks. Yes, those are my pj's, I'm a trend setter!

Run For The Money 5k Race Report

2010-04-17T10:50:00.004-04:00

I've had myself worked up all week over this 5k. It's the first road race I've done since last June, since then all I've done is trail races. I was pretty anxious to find out how much I've improved since last summer. My best 5k ever was 23:47 in 2002. Last year's 5k PR was 26:07. My goal was to just beat last year's even if it was just by a small margin.

Laura and her husband, Will, met me at a parking lot just less than a mile away from the start and we all did an easy .65 mile warm up together. We got a chance to preview the last part of the race. One word works best to describe it and that would be hilly. I had driven the first half earlier in the week and knew that part wasn't as hilly but flat is nothing that would be used to describe this course. So the plan is not to go out too fast and save some legs for the last mile but at the same time I want to make sure I don't go too slow either.

This was a big race for our little town, 1,000 runners. Almost every runner that I know was there. It's always fun to get to see other faces I know and chat with my fellow running moms. Getting to meet their husbands and kids is always nice, too. One of my road running partners was there with her hubby. She seemed really excited about the race, she's only done one 5k and a sprint tri, several years back. I was really surprised when she told me she would be there and even more surprised at how pumped up she seemed to be.

We found a spot at the start. The race director made an attempt at seeding everyone by having signs for the paces but it was clear that the people we were around weren't doing a 6 min mile. We decided to stay there even though we are more 8-9 min mile-ish. As we were chatting I looked up to see the runners at the very front all lean forward in the ready, set, go position. Oh, time to go. I didn't even hear a loud speaker announcement or any kind of signal.

Laura and her husband took off. Will was out of sight in no time but I could see Laura. I got stuck behind some other runners as we rounded the first turn, which was less than .05 from the start, talk about a cluster f*#%! I watched as Laura got farther ahead. Crap, either she is starting out too fast or I'm pokey woman. I finally caught up with her before the end of mile 1. I was hoping we would stay together from then on but it didn't take long before I realized she was slipping behind. The first mile was fast only small hills. Mile 2 was a good mix. And mile 3 was 75% hill.

There's really nothing stellar to tell about. I did what I could mentally to make myself keep up my pace. I did take a brief walk break just to get some water at an aid station. Even then I only took a small sip and started running again. The last .25+ mile was a straight shot to the finish up hill so I could see it. I'm so glad I could see it because I needed it to convince my legs to go. I wish I could say I had some kick left in me for the last 0.1 mi but I didn't. I saw Brian holding Emmett up on his shoulders near the finish. I waved and Emmett ignored me but looked like he was having fun. I looked at the clock and was happy to see that I finished in 25:09, almost a minute faster than last year's PR and it was on a tougher course. I have no idea right now where I placed, it's such a big race I'm sure I didn't blow away the competition.

After I was done socializing and hanging out, I walked Brian and Emmett back to their car. Then I started my cool down run back to my car about a mile away. On my way I passed a parking lot where a lot of the runners parked. As I ran by the lot I heard a girl say, "Look at her, she's still going!" It made me chuckle inside and I gave myself a pat on the back for still having the energy and legs to run back to my car.

Garmin Stats:
25:09
Avg 8:05 min mile
Splits:
Mile 1- 7:41
Mile 2- 8:03
Mile 3- 8:26
Mile .1- 0:57

Results are in: 13/123 in Age Group 30-39 (they didn't have overall and overall womens' results)

Some non racing news. Yesterday I won a pair of New Balance 760's from Run Like A Mother! I'm so excited. I never win any cool prizes, but now I have. Sadly this means I've used up all my luck and won't win the skirt, the compression socks, or the lottery.

Running Skirt Love

2010-04-15T14:49:00.010-04:00

I want to talk about running skirts. Most people who know me know that I am not much of a girly girl and it is rare to find me in a skirt or dress. I used to love to run in my split sides running shorts but after a group of ladies from a running forum raved about their running skirts from runningskirts.com I changed my mind. I had tried running skirts once before and they had compression shorts built in. The shorts rode up and drove me nuts so I gave up. The beauty of the skirts that the ladies were raving about is that they have a brief built in instead of compression shorts. I reluctantly gave runningskirts.com a try.

I fell in love with the green running skirt I had ordered the first run and have never looked back. Not only are they the best thing ever to run in, no worries about your thighs eating your shorts creating that awesome lump of fabric up in your crotch to rub you raw, but they also come in the cutest colors and patterns! My favorite is my pink plaid skirt. I also have hot pink, green, and a black one that has the Run Like A Girl logo on the back.

My friend and running buddy, Laura, is giving away a skirt from runningskirts.com. So head over to her blog http://myreasontorun.blogspot.com/ and sign up to win a skirt. You won't be sorry you did. I've recently thrown out all my running shorts. I now refuse to run in anything but these skirts. What skirt would be complete without a pair of compression socks? Here's a cool blog, Lil Runner, that is giving away a pair of CEP Compression socks.

Birthday Wrap Up

2010-04-12T11:36:00.003-04:00

So there isn't much excitement going on for my birthday today. The big 38 doesn't feel a whole lot different than 37. It does make me two years away from the Master's Division at races. That seems kind of odd. Two years doesn't sound like long enough to make me a Master runner. I have to say I'm looking forward to reaching that milestone as much as I'm dreading it. Master's runner sounds like I'm empowered and knowledgeable but it also sounds like I should have one foot in the grave by then, 40 is nowhere near the grave. Anyway back to this year's age, no big deal, we aren't doing any official celebrating. I do have an appt to get a new tattoo with Emmett's name worked into it so I am excited about that.

On the running front things have been uneventful, sort of. I've done very little barefoot running since my first round of blisters and hot spots. I did a very short one mid week last week, I've got a tiny bit of soreness on the top of my left foot. So it's time to dial back the barefooting mileage a bit until that is resolved. I've also got a mild quad strain in my right leg. It's not causing pain, it's just a noticeable tight spot. I'm taking a few days off to rest and stretch it, gently of course. I've got my first road 5k coming up this weekend. I'm anxious to see how I can do, I just hope the quad is settled by then.

Laura and I checked out another access point for the Ridgeline Trail at the boulder's access area on Bethlehem Rd. It was a hilly challenge. Laura and I openly complained about the abundance of hills. We also reminded ourselves of how good the hills are for our quest to dominate the racing scene. We both brought our cameras. Laura was sad to find out her battery was dead and my pics didn't come out as well as hoped. Laura gave me a good tough girl pose for the camera and I know she's going to love me for sharing it with everyone.

She's now done a handful of trail runs, one in the rain and this last one on some rough and hilly terrain. I'll gladly give her her first bad ass trail girl badge. After this run she went home and was put to work in her back yard by her project obsessed hubby. She is definitely a mom to respect for her toughness!

Have a good week of running everyone! Hopefully I'll have a good report for you this weekend after the Run For The Money 5k.

Re-inspired Road Running

2010-03-30T21:10:00.004-04:00

No worries folks! I'm not giving up trail running. After too long of a time, I finally had a day of non-trail running that felt good, no not just good, good with a side of awesome sauce!

This morning my new awesome running buddy, Laura, informed me that she could get together for a run today. We decided on the Gastonia Greenway since we both needed a nice flat run to let our bodies recover a bit more from our races this past weekend.

I arrived a little early so I decided to get my 1 mile barefoot run out of the way. This was my first day of going a full mile barefoot. So far the bare-footing is going well. The skin on the balls of my feet are starting to feel tender but other than that I've not had any other common barefoot newbie complaints. I'm taking it nice and slow with adding distance in hopes to avoid too many of the usual newbie problems. I'm noticing that it is becoming more natural to use my new shorter stride with mid-foot strike both barefoot and shod. I still do a check every now and then but it's not every stride like a few weeks ago. I made it back to the car a few minutes before Laura arrived, perfect timing!

We had a great run. Lots of talking. I told her of my woes from my run with my other running partners last week. There were some conversations that frustrated me. It was good to get that off my chest and for her to understand how I felt. I'm glad she didn't think I was nuts and decide to take off running in the other direction. Maybe she didn't run away because she knew I could keep up with her? Hmmm...

Speaking of keeping up with her, I loved that I was running with someone that I felt like I could keep an even pace with. I've gotten so used to running at the greenway with runners that I always have to keep my pace in check for them. It was nice to feel my legs and feet turning over at a higher rate and to feel my breathing really get into a good rhythm. I'm not going to call it a hard run but it wasn't the easy that I've been doing. The easy I've been doing with the other girls is too easy. I can chat up a storm when I run with them. With Laura I can chat but I've got to pause in my speaking long enough to breath. We held a good pace, 9:20 min/mi average. It felt awesome to get to do that kind of effort on "roads" again. I hope we can get our schedules to match up every now and then so we can crank out some good miles at that pace. I'm also hoping she can hit the trail with me this weekend, too.

It was great to enjoy "road" running again today. I have to thank Laura for that. I don't know that I would have had such a smooth run by myself at the greenway. In the past I've always thought of myself as a solo runner but slowly I am learning that running buddies can really add some inspiration to your routine. So a big thanks to all my running buddies, you all inspire me in some way. I hate playing favorites but I'm about to. Kay and Laura have given me the most inspiration lately to push myself and to encourage me to be the best runner I can be. I'm so grateful to have both of them as friends and running buddies. (I feel a group hug coming on.)

Sticks-n-Stones Trail Race

2010-03-28T20:27:00.005-04:00

This weekend was the second race of the Carolina Trail Race Series, the Sticks-n-Stones 5k and 10k at the US National Whitewater Center. There are two categories in the series, long and short. After running the Charlotte Running Company Trail 8.2 miles I decided to enter the long distance series. I had planned on doing the 10k of this race but due to my ITband issues the 5k was the best choice for me. I emailed the director of the race series to see if I could change categories and he made my week by saying he could do that for me. So I signed up for the race and waited for an illness to strike because since December every time I signed up for a race on line I came down with a cold within 24 hours after signing up. I was lucky this time and stayed illness free!

I decided I was going to give this race my best effort. I decided to try to start out fast for the first time in a race. I'm not good at this, I really like to hang back and let everyone pass me. In a 5k you've really got to start out strong and hold it if you want to stand a chance of placing well because there is no making up time later in the race like a 10k or above. Kay was there to run the 10k. We discussed my plan during our warm up run and as we were standing around waiting she told me I was to start in the front row. Yikes, that's a scary place to go. I knew I'd be hearing her voice the whole race keeping me from slacking at any point.

We went over to the start area and I stood right at the front. The timing service Emcee informed us that he would be staging the racers. The only race where I've been staged was at the two Peachtree Road Races I did. This new development was nice to hear. First he called for the 6 minute milers and below, we all just stood there and looked at him since it's rare to have a trail runner doing under 6 minute miles. After that he asked for the 7 minute and below milers he finally had some takers. I decided to hang out with the 8 minute milers which put me in the second row. I eyed my competition and hoped they weren't as fast as they looked, and not in my age group.

The signal was given to go and I took off as fast as I could. The start was downhill. After reaching the flat area I realized that I went a hair too fast down that hill and my quads already felt wrecked. We ran around the kayak and whitewater pool on a wide gravel path. There were areas with freshly laid gravel that were really awkward to run on. I finally moved just off the gravel on to the grass. Even though I started as hard as I could I still got passed. I saw two women pass me and I knew there was already one ahead of me from the start. We made it to the trail head without a traffic jam, that was a great feeling to be able to keep running at that point. The trail felt so good on my legs compared to the gravel path around the pool.

Once in the woods I set myself to my task of not letting the two girls ahead of me out of my sight. I am proud to say they never did get out of my sight. I also never got passed on the trail. I only passed one person and he clearly had started out too fast and had to walk around mile two. During the last mile there was a lot of pain and moments where vomiting seemed possible. Every now and then I would think, "Oh my god! I'm in 4th place for women!" That was enough to keep me from backing off. I kept hoping one of the two girls in front of me would poop out but they never did, always kept 10 to 100 feet ahead of me. I made it up the hill to the parking lot with very little left in my legs but I still managed to find a last little kick left in me for the most glorious end to any race I've done in a long time.

After turning in my chip and grabbing some water I went for a cool down run around the pool. My legs really needed to loosen back up. After my cool down I headed straight to the results board. Just as I thought 4th place for overall women! Kay blew away the 10k and won female overall. I'm in trouble next year when she moves up to my age group!

Stats:
Time: 31:28
Garmin distance: 3.37
Garmin Pace: 9:22
Official Pace: 9:33

Placing:
Overall: 20/70
Females: 4/40
Females 35-39: 1/10

Now that's more like it!

2010-03-21T15:46:00.003-04:00

After a disappointing run following my week off to let my IT Band heal, I'm happy to report that two weeks later I'm thrilled with what I've done. That first run I made it about 1.8 miles before my IT band protested. Over the past two weeks I have worked my way back up to 5.5 miles. With each run it was great to hit a distance longer than the previous run without any pain or tightness. I will admit that on today's run my IT band started to feel tight, no pain, just tight at around 5.5 miles so we stopped. I was really hoping for 6 miles but I'm not going to complain since last time my IT band flared up building back up took much longer. I think I'll hold steady at 5 miles during the weekday runs now and slowly add 0.25 miles each Sunday. Not making it to 6 miles helped me to finally make my decision on which distance to do at the Sticks-n-Stones race this coming Saturday. I'll stick to the 5k and see what kind of speed I can do.

I ran with my new running buddy, Laura, again today. I think we'll make great running partners since we match our paces pretty well. She did her very first 5k yesterday in 27:13, which isn't far off from what I was doing last year when I first started back. Now she just needs to catch up on some trail miles after she's done with her target race, Cooper River Bridge 10k, next Saturday. (I have a feeling she'll run it faster than she thinks she can.) It's not just the pace that makes her a good partner there are other reasons. One reason is that we ran together an hour, then add the walking time too, and we never once talked mom talk. Not that I don't want to talk about my kid but it is nice to not have to rely on that to make conversation. The best reason we'll make great partners though is that she's a running gear whore just like me! Nothing like having an enabler in your life!

On the barefoot front, I'm up to a whopping 0.6 miles barefoot. I'm doing my barefoot runs either on my normal days off or at the end of my shorter runs. I've also decided to eventually go full minimalist & barefoot running once I've done the 15k in May. I've ordered a pair of trail racing flats as my first minimalist shoe (Brian, they were on sale, only $50). I want some Vibram Five Finger shoes but I'm holding out on getting some until they come out with the Bikilas. http://birthdayshoes.com/five-fingers-bikila-information-resources-2010 After deciding to jump into the world of barefoot and minimalist running I also decided to purge my my closet of any shoes that are not comfy on my tootsies. The purge reduced my shoe count by half. Honestly most of them I rarely wore because they were not comfy. Now when I shop for shoes I will be looking for wider and more flexible shoes with little to no heel rise to give me more of a barefoot feel.

That's all for now. Hopefully next Saturday I'll have an awesome 5k race report to post. Until then, happy running everyone!

Photos, disappointment, and naked feet

2010-03-08T15:17:00.002-05:00

I have some links to photos from my most recent races.
Here is a photo from the HardCORE Serious Trail Runner 8k: http://www.photos.usnwc.org/Events/hardCORE-8k-02-20-10/hardCORE-Trail-Race-8k/11415360_M9ckm#802408179_JUSpq

Here are some photos from the Xterra Thrill in the Hills Half Marathon: http://defiantphotography.smugmug.com/Action/Fort-Yargo/11364944_bGCpk#800660441_6wuZF-X3-LB

I really should buy this one:
http://defiantphotography.smugmug.com/Action/Fort-Yargo/11364944_bGCpk#801108955_ZM2wT-X3-LB

All smiles (it's blurry but you can see how happy I am to finally be doing my first half marathon): http://defiantphotography.smugmug.com/Action/Fort-Yargo/11364944_bGCpk#799421924_GYiS4-X3-LB

On to the disappointment, big sigh. I met with Kay on Sunday morning to do a trail run at the USNWWC. I had high hopes of getting in some decent miles after a week of rest and stretching. Sadly I was only able to enjoy Kay's company for about 1.8 miles before I started to feel twinges of pain in my IT Band. Frak! Kay escorted me back to my car and tried to help me rid myself of the feelings of despair. I'm frustrated and angry with my body for not cooperating. I've tried everything to rid myself of IT band woes. I've worn motion control shoes and stability shoes to stop my over pronation, neither seem to help stop it. I stretch daily. I feel like I spend most of my free time stretching my IT band. I use a foam roller every day. I've also done strengthening exercises for my hips. None are helping. My wear pattern on my road shoes are pretty neutral, actually the left one (which is my problem leg) is more worn on the outside of the shoe than the inside, though it's still mostly a neutral wear. So I've decided it's time to try something I've considered since last year when this problem reared it's ugly head: Barefoot Running!

I'm hoping that barefoot running will help to strengthen my feet to help correct the misalignment that creates my over pronation issues on my left foot. Hopefully I will learn to land lighter and less on my heel. I've seen video and I really land hard on my left heel. I'm starting slow with the barefoot running. Yesterday I stopped by the park and ran 0.25 miles around a soccer field. Today I did 0.3 miles on our neighborhood streets. If it seems to work for me I might look into investing in some Vibram Five Finger shoes and maybe some trail racing flats. The idea is to take away the big cushy heel support so you don't heel strike hard and land more mid-foot. Minimal footwear should allow your body to do what is natural while allowing your foot to stay strong since there are no support systems in them, just enough protection from the elements. So we'll see if this works. I'm really at my wits end about this situation. I have set up an appt to see my sports medicine doctor next week, but I'm hoping to feel better and be able to cancel it. I'm not sure what he can do other than set me up with orthotics and send me to PT.

Xterra Thrill In The Hills Half Marathon

2010-02-28T07:42:00.022-05:00

The Xterra Georgia series Thrill In The Hills half marathon was a hugely anticipated event for me. After years of dreaming of doing a marathon I decided it was best to throw out that idea for this year and do a half marathon. I had my eye on this half marathon ever since I started trail running. It was close enough to Atlanta that I could stay with family, not too far from NC, and most importantly not during the warmer months which lots of the other trail half marathons seem to be in.

The week leading up to the race was one of the longest weeks of my life. So many emotions and thoughts running through my head all week. Sometimes I felt that I was so prepared and had nothing to worry about and other times I questioned if I had done the right training. At times I worried if I would even enjoy myself and other times I knew it would be the thrill of a life time. I constantly worked my strategy all week. When to leave my Aunt's house, what to eat in the morning, what to wear, and how to run the race were constant thoughts all week. The biggest concern was my race strategy. Not having done this distance I decided on taking it easy for at least the first 5 miles then decide when to kick it into a higher gear.

The morning of the race I left my Aunt's house at the perfect time. I drove calmly to Fort Yargo State Park, again going over race strategy in my head. I arrived at the park, parked the car, headed to the bathrooms, then checked in. After picking up my packet I went back to the car to check out my bag of goodies. The usual suspects were found; a short sleeve technical race tee made partially from recycled polyester, some GU, and a ton of post cards for businesses and various race series. After another trip to the bathroom I went back to the car and got all my gear ready. I made one last final decision to get back in line for the bathroom, third time's a charm! Perfect timing, ten minutes to spare until race start. The only thing I didn't do and really regret now is that I didn't do any IT band stretches, what the hell was I thinking?

At the start I still debated what my race strategy was. I decided just to run by feel and make decisions as I go along. About 450 people crammed in behind the start, mostly half marathoners and about 80 full marathoners. The gun went off and we headed out for a trip around the parking lot. On the far side we passed the finish and packet pick up area where they were playing music. The song coming through the speakers was "Welcome to the Jungle" and I cringed. I thought if this song gets stuck in my head for the next 13 miles there will be hell to pay! We made it to the trail head and we all came to a walk, as usual for large trail races. Once running again, I kept an easy pace, enjoying being able to listen to other people's conversations.

I kept my pace fairly easy. The first mile was around 11:30 and after that I kept it around 10:30. I broke the race down into 3 mile sections to start. At each water station I took a short walk break to pull out my water and take a few sips. Every two miles I assessed my clothing situation. Every time I'd get in the sun for more than a minute I'd decide that I'd take my top shirt off at the next walk break. Then I'd get back in the woods and decide that wasn't going to be necessary. I had some short conversations with other people on the trails. I slowly passed people here and there but was keeping it around my 10:30 pace.

Halfway through I was feeling great and decided after mile 8 or 9 I would up my pace a bit and finish at more of a race pace. I passed the mile 8 marker and was excited that I well on my way to finishing my first half marathon. The elation didn't last long as I felt a pang on the side of my left knee. I tried to pretend I didn't feel it. A few more strides and another one. "NO! This is not happening!" I tried to convince myself it wasn't my IT band, it had to be something else, just had to be. I made my way to the first big power line hill and after making it a quarter of the way up I decided I needed to walk it due to the pain on the side of my knee. Walking didn't hurt, so I walked up as briskly as I could. After the ground leveled I ran again. Before hitting mile 9 I stopped and stretched. I decided on a plan of walking the hills and stretching when needed. I implemented that plan and tried picking an easy pace. After passing a few people I realized that the slow running was hurting more than a faster pace. So new plan, walk the hills, run as fast as I could in between, and stretch if needed.

The last five miles were so disappointing. Walk the hill, let everyone pass, then sprint, passing all the people that just passed you, rinse and repeat for the rest of the race. In the last mile it started to hurt even on the down hill. I stopped to stretch at least twice in the last mile. I think I stopped to stretch a total of 5 times in the last 5 miles. I didn't look at my time on my watch until I saw the mile 11 marker. I was shocked to see that I could possibly make it in under 2:15, holy cow I'm shocked. I had told myself I'd be happy with anything under 2:30 and had a super secret goal of 2:15. I was going to make my super secret goal in spite of all the problems in the last 5 miles.

When I saw the finish I was thrilled. I hadn't looked at my watch since mile 11 and wasn't sure how much impact the hill walking and stretching had made on my time. I saw my dad and his wife, Linda, cheering for me at the finish. I waved to them wildly like a total goober and gave Linda a high 5. I hit the stop on my Garmin as I passed over the timing mat without looking at the time. I collected my medal and turned in my timing chip. I found a spot to stretch and looked at my watch, 2:14:31! I can't believe I did that with all my troubles with my IT band.

After the race my dad, Linda, and I headed to Athens to have brunch at The Grit, the best vegetarian restaurant ever. To my surprise and delight dad and Linda loved their meals. I indulged in a cup of their tofu cubes, which to me are absolutely heaven, and had the Boarder Patrol (pinto beans on a flour tortilla with eggs, salsa, and sour cream). What a great meal to have after a race, quite the treat for me.

Driving home I had a lot to think about. I know I could have finished faster had it not been for the IT band. I marched up the hills at a walk passing others who were walking due to fatigue, not pain, and that made me feel great. I had lots left in my tank and knew I had put in the right training. I thought about my training log and and realized that I did a lot of treadmill and road miles the past three weeks due to weather and illness. I really think the inability to run trails leading up to the race took it's toll on my IT band. Maybe not doing my stretches before the race was a bad idea too. Even though I'm thrilled I'm also very disappointed that my IT band had to flare up. Couldn't it have at least waited until later, maybe mile 10? I figure I added at least 5 minutes to my time with the walking and stretching. I decided on taking a week off, or as long as needed for my IT band to stop hurting. I'm going to trying some inserts that the Dr gave me last year and see if they help. If they do I might see about getting custom orthotics. I've done all I can to try to manage this without resulting to orthotics so it's time to give them a whirl. I'll cut my mileage back and not think about another half again until the fall, assuming I can recover from this fast. I see lots of swimming for me in the upcoming weeks.

Race stats:
Official time 2:14:44
10:17 minute mile average
Age Group 35-39: 9/27
Overall: 222/390

Stretching after the race.

I forgot to speak of the actual trail. The trails were fairly easy compared to what I train on. The single track was wide and it wasn't constant up and down small steep hills like the US National White Water Center in Charlotte. The conditions were fairly dry, the dryest trail run I've had in months.

HardCORE Serious Trail Runner 8k

2010-02-21T20:10:00.005-05:00

Friday I made a last minute decision to run the 1st annual HardCORE Serious Trail Runner 8k at the US National White Water Center. I had known about this race for a while but was having a difficult time deciding whether to run it or not due to the fact that it is on the Saturday before my first half marathon.

I came down with another cold last week, second one in two months. I was unable to get in my last planned long run last Sunday and had been trying to find time to squeeze in an 8-10 mile run by this Saturday. I played the week by ear. When I woke up each day I assessed my physical conditions and planned my run according to how well, or not well, I felt. That meant that I never ran more than 4.5 miles this past week. What should have been 13-14 on Sunday was 4.5 and all the rest were around 3. I still kept up the hope that I would wake up one day and feel ready for a longer run. Alas, that day didn't come. My friend Maggie sent me a message on Friday asking if I was racing Saturday. I decided I may as well go and have fun since I wasn't going to do a longer run after all. Later that day Kay also sent me a message as well about the race. All signs pointed to this race being a good thing for me.

Soon after arriving at the WWC, Maggie found me at the registration table looking confused and out of sorts. I didn't seem to have all my lights on yet. It was too cold and my head was splitting from sinus pressure, sadly something I'm getting used to living with lately. We chatted and seemed to need to go back and forth to our cars a lot as we remembered to grab stuff or drop off clothing no longer needed as it warmed up. Kay showed up a little bit later and introductions were made. There were lots of other people there that I know, most of them moms I know from my neck of the woods. There's always something inspiring to me about fellow mom runners, no matter what their ability or experience.

Maggie and I lined up at the back of the pack for the start of the race. My plan was to stick with Maggie if I could. She told me to feel free to run my own race if her pace turned out to be too slow for my easy pace. The race started and we trotted off at an easy pace. By the end of the first quarter mile we were dead last, a place I've never been in before. We chatted and enjoyed some socializing. Upon spotting the first photographer I hammed it up real good with some jazz hands. At the first hill we actually passed someone! She stayed right behind us for that first mile. I finally told Maggie I was moving on at the end of the first mile, even at my easy pace I was slowly leaving her behind.

After leaving Maggie I picked a comfortably hard pace and started picking my way past other runners. It's amazing how much easier it is to pass on trails when the runner you are passing is significantly slower. I kept reminding myself not to go too hard since I didn't need to get hurt before my half marathon in a week. The trails they picked were fairly moderate except for two large hills. I came upon the first big hill that never seemed to end and looked up to see 90% of the runners walking up it. I made the decision right then to do my best to make it to the top without walking. At the top I was relieved to find we had a nice quick downhill for a minute, everyone knows I'm all about the downhill on trails. The descent ended when the trailed opened up on a power line that went straight up. Great, another killer hill, not as long as the last one but much more steep. Again 90% of the runners were walking. And again I vowed to make it to the top without walking. After reaching the top I realized there was only about a mile left and I was still feeling good.

In the last mile I kept passing people. It felt good to have the legs to even pass on the hills, a rare feat for me. The races at the White Water Center always end with a short steep hill less than 0.1 miles from the finish. I passed several people coming up that hill and then kicked it up a notch for the finish, passing at least two more runners. I finished with a time of 52:53. That's an average of 10:39 a mile. Not too bad since my first mile was more than a 12:00 mile. According to my Garmin the rest of my miles were all under 10:00 except for the mile that had the big hill and that was a 10:21 mile.

This race made me realize that even without that last long run I am ready for the half marathon. The hills really sealed the deal for giving me the confidence I need for next week. I've been so stressed about missing that last long run, but I am stressed no more!

The race was well run and the shirt was a nice long sleeve technical shirt, my first technical shirt score from a race! They had one water stop that could be accessed at the top of both hills. There were plenty of volunteers on the course to point us in the right direction. I also spotted at least two photographers, the one girl kept getting lucky enough for me to do my jazz hands for her.

After all the awards were over and the crowd started to thin I stayed and chatted with Kay. She mentioned to me something I had already been thinking about on my own. She said she noticed my log entries are starting to get slower. I told her I had noticed it too. We had a good conversation about me needing to get back on track with the speed. She's like me, not the fastest ever but fast enough to place in our age groups. She also finds more joy in going fast than just logging long slow miles, just like me. It's amazing how we are on the same page with what we enjoy about running and what we were both thinking about what I needed to start focusing on. Now that I've got my mileage up and have proven I can keep my IT band under control it's time to get some speed back in the equation after I recover from my half marathon. I got so wrapped up in building miles that I started doing too much easy running and my runs have little by little been getting slower. So, my plan is to hold steady at my current weekly mileage and start adding some speed again. I'm excited to see what I can do this spring!

Now I must mention the Sunshine Award.
My newest running buddy,Laura of http://myreasontorun.blogspot.com/ , gave me a Sunshine award the other day on her blog. I am honored that she gave me this award because I am always inspired by her as a mom and runner. She amazes me with what she is doing to raise money for the Joubert Foundation. To work part time, take care of a child with special needs, train for a 10k, and set up Jog for Joubert to raise money and awareness is more than I could imagine having the energy for. She inspires me that I can do all the things that I need and want to do. So I send her back the same award she has bestowed upon me.

Be sure to check out Laura's blog because she has a great basket of running goodies that she is raffling off to raise money for the Joubert Foundation. Check it out!

The 16 Mile Loop Has Been Conquered (sort of)

2010-02-08T09:01:00.013-05:00

After two weeks of not being able to run trails due to bad weather and illness making it's way through the house I got back on the trail Sunday. I had a 14 mile long run planned and decided to do it at my favorite place, Kings Mountain State Park. The main trail there is a 16 mile loop. So far all I've done is out and backs since I haven't been doing enough mileage to complete the loop. I figured with 14 miles to do it would be a great chance to finally do the whole loop. I figured I'd walk the first and the last miles and with 14 of running in between.

The temperature started out around 35 and slowly moved up to 40. A last minute wardrobe change after arriving at the park turned out to be perfect! (this is a rare feat to pick the perfect running attire for a long run) We have had several weeks of wet weather so I knew the trails would be wet but I wasn't really prepared for what was ahead of me.

I brought my Argus Bean camera, an xmas gift from my dad, along to take some pictures of my favorite spots on the trail. This camera is ultra light weight, only a few ounces and is water resistant. It is designed to be able to clip onto your gear easily as well. It's only 5 megapixels but for convenience during trail running it's perfect. This was my first run bringing it along. I attached it to the loop on the back of my fuel belt and hoped the camera bouncing on my tush wouldn't annoy me too much.

The first 5 miles were uneventful. I enjoyed the trail thoroughly. I stopped a few times for some snap shots of the trail. I reminded myself from time to time not to be over exuberant because I had a long way to go. I carried out my plan to stop my watch at mile 5 and walk so I could do any gear/clothing adjustments and refuel. After removing my gloves I decided to test my trail potty using skills. I gave myself an A+ on this test. I judged these skills on these points: not peeing on myself, not coming in contact with any poisonous plant life, no animals/insects attacking me, and not being seen by others that might be out on the trail. Once I was all put back together I refueled with a fig newman bar and some water. I then restarted my watch and took off at an easy pace.

Around mile 6 I started to come across more mud and boggy areas. My toes got a tiny bit wet every now and then but no big deal. I was having fun and that's all that counts. At this point I'm still reminding myself to keep it easy because there are many more miles to come. At exactly mile seven I encounter a stream that is too wide to jump over. I look both up and down the stream hoping there might be a narrower spot but there is none. So I go for it and just run through the cold stream. This point marks the down turn of trail conditions. From here on out it's mostly muddy, lots of boggy ground, and many more stream crossings. At one point the stream crossing was so wide I wasn't even sure I was in the right place. Looking back I now wish I had taken a picture but at the time all I could think of was the safest way across. My feet and ankles were starting to tire from all the slipping and my legs felt like they were loaded down by bricks but I was still having fun.

The fun started to end between miles 9 and 10. Being so unfamiliar with the trail made me wonder if I was still on the right trail, dog help me if I had wondered onto the longer equestrian trails! My legs weren't getting any fresher either. Around mile 10.5 the area started to become familiar! Sweet sandal wearing wiener dog, I've made it! (sort of) Being back on familiar trail put my mind at ease but did little for my mud heavy legs. Another good thing was the trail was significantly less muddy. I knew I'd be coming upon the road the leads back to the parking lot soon. I decided if I was at 12 miles by then I'd take a left, cutting the loop short by 3 miles, and head back and hope it was a mile so I could get as close to 13 miles in as possible. Sadly I was not as far along as I wanted.

I was feeling a bit better and thought I might just be able to make the full 14 miles. I knew that around mile 12 the trail would be mostly downhill or level, good news for heavy legs. Just as I thought, mile 12 started a renewed energy with being able to coast downhill a lot. Sadly at mile 13 the side of my left knee felt a twinge of pain. I was not happy! I had no problems with my left hip during this run, hadn't even thought about it. Why on earth was my IT Band doing this to me now? I was on a roll! I stopped and stretched it. I managed .25 miles before I felt it again. Stopped stretched and continued. Ugh, .25 later and I felt it again so I gave in and walked.

I hadn't planned on having to walk 1.5 miles back to the trail head, just 1 miles. Something about that extra half mile that made it seem more daunting. I pulled my headband over my ears and put my gloves back on. After 5 minutes I was getting very cold. I stretched my IT Band again and ran for a few minutes to get warm. Then I walked up the massive .45 mile hill as my legs screamed at me to sit and rest. Had it been warmer I would have stopped and done lots of stretching halfway up but it was too cold for that. I made it up the hill and started to run again to get warm and speed things up. I was so happy to finally see the visitor center through the trees!

I checked back in at the desk and beelined it to my car. Once at my car I sat down on the bumper and peeled off my wet shoes and socks. I had brought clean shoes to put on but no dry socks or towel. I made a mental note to be sure to bring them next time. My feet were covered in mud and look like prunes but the clean dry shoes were the bomb even without socks. My heated car seats were just the ticket and I blasted the heat. On my way home I thought over my run. I decided for next week to do the Ridgeline trail because I'm positive it won't be so wet. I've also decided not to do the full 16 mile loop again until we've had a good dry spell, only out and backs on there until then.

Today I'm sore in places I've not been sore in for a long time. Mentally I feel good about it. The run had it's highs and very lows and I survived. Now onto next Sunday's long run, the last one before the Xterra Thrill in the Hills Half Marathon! I'd like for this last long run to be less taxing. I'm going to try walking a minute at the end of each 2 mile segment and I'm going to refuel with food at mile 5 and 9. Here's to things looking up for next Sunday!

The Ugly Truth About Motherhood

2010-02-03T19:38:00.012-05:00

There is a part of motherhood rarely spoken of. This is the part that you feel ashamed to admit, that is taboo to say to others. The feeling of resentment and anger towards your little one that surfaces from time to time. I don't know how often other moms feel it but for me right now it's several times a day.

Please don't get me wrong, I love my son with all my heart and can't imagine not having him. He wasn't an accident, we made the choice to create him. Even knowing how difficult he can be I'd still go back and do it all over because he is an amazing little guy and melts my heart from time to time. Even with all the frustration he adds to my life I look forward to seeing him in the morning and when I pick him up from school.

Right now I feel trapped and frustrated. I feel like my life is being held hostage by my precious child. He has never been easy. He was a high maintenance baby and has turned into a high maintenance toddler. An example of one of our biggest problems revolves around sleeping. He sleeps great through the night and he's a difficult napper, but the nap is the least of my worries. It's the waking up part that is the biggest source of drama during our day. 90% of the time when he wakes he is in a foul mood, usually crying. Today after a 2 hour nap he woke up and immediately started crying. He spent the next 20 minutes crying non-stop and throwing himself on the floor. For the following 45 minutes he was just a pill. Many days as soon as he wakes up in the morning I'm already counting down the hours until it's time to put him to bed.

I could make a list a mile long on the things that make me want to lock my little man up in his room until he's a few year older, but I won't do that. I'm sure there are kids worse than he is but I also know there are plenty of kids that are easier. If all kids were as high maintenance as my son the world's population would be a lot smaller. So, I know he's not typical and we have a special one. I keep telling myself that when he's older this will all translate to a really special person with lots of talent. But for now I want to run away and hide. I miss my freedom. I long for the days when I only had to figure out what to do with the dogs when we wanted to do something. I long to make and eat dinner without crying involved. I know we'll have those days again but right now it seems a lifetime away.

I wish more people were honest about the true frustrations of parenthood, especially motherhood. We knew parenthood wasn't going to be easy but nobody prepared me for these feelings of frustration, resentment, anger, and despair. If I hear someone tell me to cherish this time and these moments one more time I will lose my mind. When a mom talks of frustration it doesn't help to say these things to her. All I ask is for others to please acknowledge that these feelings are valid and normal. Nobody wants to feel guilty because they aren't feeling all warm and fuzzy about their child 100% of the time. I feel it's an awesome day if I get the warm fuzzies about Emmett 50% of the day. That is reality and it doesn't need to be a taboo.

Not everyone gives me the guilty feelings. I have several friends, some of them my running partners, that understand my myriad of feelings that I have towards my son. They make me feel more normal. But, in general, our society doesn't want people to talk about the dirty truth, that moms can and will resent their children at some point. It doesn't make us bad mothers it just makes us real humans.

So for now could someone please just knock me out and wake me up when he's ready to go to kindergarten?

Charlotte Running Co. Trail Race

2010-01-23T20:28:00.004-05:00

I signed up for the 8.2 mile race on Monday or Tuesday. Within 24 hours of signing up I came down with a head cold. I thought it was no big deal, running always clears my sinuses and makes me feel better for awhile. Unfortunately for me this cold didn't have plans to just hang out in my sinuses. By Friday evening it was clear it was starting to work its way south. Friday night I slept horribly and struggled with deciding whether to race the 8.2, switch to the 3.8, or not go at all.

When I woke at 5:30 I felt better than I did the night before. My cold was still there but everything was more loose in my head and my cough wasn't as bad. I decided to head out to the race and make my decision about which distance to do when I got there.

Once there, I decided to go ahead and do the 8.2 miles. I ran an easy mile as a warm up and to see how my lungs would do. It was clear I wasn't going to be doing an all out race effort but I would survive. I found my friend Kay at her car and hung out with her and her friends until the race started.

There had been a good amount of rain this week so the trails were muddy. As usual the race got clogged at the trail head. People were walking down the first short hill. I immediately started passing people while they were walking down the hill. I spent the first few miles passing people. At first I was waiting for wider sections to pass but finally I just announced which side and slipped past people whether it was downhill, uphill, or narrow.

Around mile 3 I finally had plenty of room for working the trail at my pace. Every now and then I would catch up to a group but I had gotten good at passing by this point. I really enjoyed just blazing down the muddy hills, such a thrilling feeling! Just raise your elbows and take gentle quick steps down the hill. I picture myself picking my way through the tires on an obstacle course as I pick my way down the hills.

The race was nice and uneventful for me, no close calls, maybe putting my foot down wrong one time but no fear of falling. I tried to keep my pace a bit easier since my lungs were not at full capacity due to my cold. The last two miles I had to do some walking uphill, my lungs just couldn't do it and therefore my legs couldn't either.

I give huge kudos to The Charlotte Running Co. for organizing such a great race. They had more than enough water stations, though I didn't need it since I always bring my own to trail races, you just never know. They had volunteers placed where the trail split for the different distances to let the runners know which way to go for what distance. Very upbeat and encouraging people! The volunteers were always a welcome sight today.

As usual for a trail race the distance isn't known for sure. My Garmin had the race about half a mile short and my friend's Garmin had it just 0.1 mile short. After seeing the 8 mile marker on the trail I'm pretty confident in saying that we had close to half a mile or more to go. I'm not really sure what my pace was exactly somewhere around 11:00+ per mile. My time was 1:31:55 according to my Garmin.

Kay won her age group. I was 5th out of 15 in my age group. Other than my horrible cold, the morning was great fun and a total success!

Triad Trail Race Series 10k

2009-12-14T14:43:00.004-05:00

Saturday morning I woke up at 5:00 am to drive just over 2 hours to Greensboro for a 10k trail race. The temperature was 23* when I left my house. Most people that know me know I don't do cold well. I stressed over what to wear all week. I don't want to get cold but I also hate getting too hot once I'm into my run. I made a few last minute changes to my previous evening's choices and loaded myself in the car and was off.

Thank goodness I made it more than 10 minutes on the road without needing a potty break, after the trip to Greenville last month I was a bit worried. I made it an hour before I started looking for a rest stop. There isn't one until you're 30 mins outside of Greensboro, now I know for the next trip. While I'm on the subject of potties, I was thrilled that the bathrooms at the race were indoors. I was not looking forward to using a porta-potty in sub 30* temps.

I did a short little jog around the road at the park just to get my blood flowing so I wouldn't freeze to death while waiting. After getting into the huddled mass at the start I decided that I needed to remove my middle shirt layer. Just when I decide that they give a 2 minute to start call. I quickly tear off my fuel belt, tug my top layers off , frantically separate them, then throw my top layer back on along with my fuel belt. Luckily my car was parked by the start line and I just tossed the shirt on my car. I was back in the huddle mass with 30 seconds to spare.

After the start the race was pretty uneventful. The ground was frozen and my face and feet were numb for the first half of the race. Even though it was uneventful I really enjoyed the race. I didn't feel like I put out the effort I normally do at a race, I put out more than a normal training run, but it clearly wasn't an all out effort. I finished in 54:37. I was very pleased and surprised. That put me 42/100 for overall, 14/42 for women, and 2/9 for 35-39.

I will probably go back up there in April for a half marathon on the same trail system, that's assuming I enjoy the half marathon in Feb.

Right now I'm trying to battle a cold. I'm losing. After my run this morning it was clear it is moving south towards my chest. Right now it's just lingering at the top of my throat but I can feel it trying to drop lower. I really don't need this right now. My running is going so well and my IT band and other recurring aches are starting to behave. Everyone in the family has had this cold. First Emmett, then Brian, now me. Emmett is still fighting his but Brian is all better. I need this to end!

Tomorrow night is Emmett's first Xmas show. This should be interesting, a bunch of 2 year olds shaking bells while the 3 and 4 year olds sing Jingle Bells. I will be bringing the video camera!

A Girl Can Change Her Mind, Again!

2009-12-03T14:51:00.005-05:00

Well, I've been MIA on my blog. Sometimes I just don't have the concentration to sit down and put my thoughts into words. I'll try to give a quick update on all I've done since my last update.

I've managed to do a lot more trail running lately. I've only done two non trail runs in the past three weeks! Hooray! I got to do some trail running Thanksgiving week while visiting Brian's family in Michigan. I really enjoyed getting some time to myself to indulge in my obsession while on vacation. The drive home with lots of sitting made my IT band feel tight and I was worried it might be going rogue on me again but after a few days of being home with my foam roller we are both on the same page again. I'm up to 7 miles for my long runs and have added one more day of running to my week this week, so I will now run four days a week. I hope my body agrees to my new schedule.

I've got a 10k trail race in Greensboro, NC next Saturday. I'm 99% decided that I will not be running the Virginia Creeper Marathon in March in favor of concentrating on the Xterra Trail Race Series in South Carolina and Georgia. It's not like Marathons are going anywhere, when I'm ready I'll find one that fits my mood. I'm not going to blow the competition away in the Xterra Series but I'm already in third place for my age group in SC and I'd like to see if I can hold onto that or move up. I will focus on trail speed instead of long miles. I do like to go fast (well fast for me) and training for a marathon right now would require me to not think about speed. I feel a weight lifted off me and now I can go out and have fun. I am looking to do a half trail marathon Feb 27th in Winder, Georgia, it's an Xterra Xduro race. Brian will be racing it as well, should be a fun weekend with friends and family as well.

A Girl Can Change Her Mind- Paris Mt. 11k Trail Race

2009-11-09T11:33:00.006-05:00

So, I changed my mind about doing the trail race last Saturday. I was worried it might rain for the 10k trail race on the 14th and it would end up a road race. So Saturday morning I made the 1.5 hour trek to Greenville, SC for the Paris Mountain 11k Trail Run.

I woke up at 4:00 am even though the alarm was set for 4:45. At least that gave me time to eat, drink some water, and get in my morning sun salutations. The drinking of water caught up with me as soon as I hit the highway. Seriously, not cool! I was hoping to make it to the welcome center rest stop just over the boarder in South Carolina but I couldn't make it. I found a gas station at the first SC exit and made a mad rush inside. Ah, much better. Sadly 20 mins to go and I'm starting to feel it again but manage to make it to Paris Mountain and bee line it to the potties. Clearly the extra time to drink water in the morning was a bad idea.

It was a cold morning and waiting for the start was going freeze me to death. I tried to keep moving to stay warm but my feet started to go numb anyway. The race finally started and my numb feet went on their way. I watched as lots of people went flying past me. I just smiled and mentally told them that I'd see them again later.

We started on the park road for about a quarter mile then made our way to a wide single track. Almost immediately I needed to start passing people, especially down hill. At about half a mile I'm finally not freezing to death and my lips are warming up but the feet still feel numb. I took my long sleeve shirt off in mile 2 and tied it on my waist. The gloves stayed on until mile three. Once the gloves were removed the temperature was perfect for running. Thank goodness for the big pockets on my running skirt so I could tuck my gloves in one and forget about them.

In mile two I'm thinking how gentle the trails are compared to the ones I do at home. I do know that there is a climb to the top of the mountain but I don't know when and how tough it will be. At the end of mile two I start to encounter rocky areas in the trail that are not runnable. It turns into a line of people working their way over the rocks. The space for running between the rocky areas gets smaller with each rocky area passed. The ascent to the top begins with trails that have very little room for error, it's mostly straight down hill to the stream if you mess up. We cross over the stream a few times. Some of the trail is basically rock steps, or root steps. If the trail isn't rocky it's too steep or your legs or too tired to run when the footing is good. I finally get near the top but have to dig deep to find the power in my legs to get back to running. At the top of the Mountain is the one aid station before the descent to the bottom.

The other side of the mountain is a huge relief. Lots of fast easy down hill with little roots or rocks to worry about. I catch up with another female runner and we do some chatting. She's a Marathon Maniac working on running all 50 states, she's up to 38 and she's planning on doing the Sears Tower Stair run. What an inspiration! Around mile 4 she takes a walk break and we say goodbye.

There were some awesome steep and twisty descents after mile 4. I got trapped behind some girls who were doing a good job blazing down them but they were just a hair slower at it than I was comfortable and it was beating up my legs to have to put on the brakes. I managed to get past one but not the other. Once the trail flattened out somewhat I stayed between the two women I had done the twisty descents with. I almost ate it on the flatter trail. I was on my way down when I flapped my arms out to the side and ran off the trail into the brush for a few strides and saved it. I was so shocked that I didn't eat it and so were the two girls I was in between!

The last mile I started to suffer. I couldn't make it up a hill without walking if it was more than a couple strides long. At one point I thought that I might be lost since I hadn't seen or heard any other runners in a while. Once I finally decided I wasn't lost I had lost my drive. My legs were shot and I had less than a quarter mile to go. As I got to the end I started to see people hanging out in the trees waiting for their friends and rooting us on. As I broke to walk up a small hill one man said, "Come on! The finish is just around that bend!" As I shuffled back to a run I replied, "If you say so." I was thrilled when I saw he was right! I ran through the shoot grabbed a water and my pair of finisher socks.

I felt so nauseous as I cooled down. The pancakes and chocolate milk looked so tasty but I waited awhile before testing them out. They were yummy but my stomach still wasn't happy with me. It took an hour or two after I got home for it to feel better.

I placed 2 out of 3 in my age group; one minute behind 1st and 30mins faster than 3rd. I was 14th out of 40 women, and 77th out of 131 overall.

My garmin stats:
Total time, distance, avg pace 1:17:43 - 6.95 miles - 11:11
lap 1) 9:54
lap 2) 10:22
lap 3) 16:28 (the mountain goat climb to the top of the mountain)
lap 4) 9:37
lap 5) 11:16
lap 6) 10:17
lap 7) 9:46

I am so pleased with my performance over such a tough course. I had so much fun and loved the challenge and the people. I will definitely be back for the 15k in May and I will be ready for that climb!

Dirty Knees

2009-10-31T15:24:00.003-04:00

After not being able to get on a trail for almost two weeks I finally got back out there last Saturday. My friend Kay and I went to Kings Mountain and did 5 miles. The weather was not what we would have liked. The temps were about 10 degrees warmer than what we've been used to lately and there had been a torrential downpour for a few hours before we hit the trail. It was a tough run. The mud was fun but it also made for heavier legs and the temp with the extra dose of humidity wore us out. We did take quite a few walk breaks but we still had fun and kept a decent pace according to my Garmin even though it felt like a death march at times. The Boy Scouts were out hiking and we did lots of dodging around them. It is amazing how oblivious teenage boys can be. When we would announce we were coming up on their left the only ones that heard us were there Troop Leaders, the boys never flinched. Ah, the things I have to look forward to with my son!

I didn't get a trail run in on Monday since my son had to skip preschool due to a runny nose. So I waited until Brian got home and ran at the local park. It wasn't much fun and my IT band felt tight at the end. I felt pretty discouraged. I made sure to take extra good care of it over the next few days. My run Wednesday morning at the greenway with the girls was successful, no IT band issues. That gave me hope for my planned 5.75 mile trail run on Friday.

On Friday I hit the trail, literally. I still had Monday's run swirling around my head and I decided to start my run with a ratio of 4 mins of run to 35 sec of walk. I felt good and was cruising along somewhere after the 2.5 mi point and bam I was rolling on the ground! I clearly didn't see the rock/root responsible under all the newly fallen leaves. I was amazed at how fast it happened. I truly didn't realize I was falling until I was already eating dirt. I finished my log roll and popped up to my feet, checked for blood and went on my way. No blood just some dirty knees and hands. The rest of my run was uneventful. My ratio of run to walk went out the window around mile 4 due to all the short but steep inclines. I finished my run feeling good and tough! I finally ate it on the trail! I must say I prefer falling while running trails to falling off a horse!

Today I feel good and the only sign of my tumble on the trail is a tiny bruise on my left hip. I've been contemplating doing an 11k trail race next weekend but I decided this morning that I'm going to skip it. I think it would be just a hair too much for me right now. Kay and I are signed up for a 10k trail race on Nov 14th. Hopefully it won't rain that day or it will end up being a road race and that's just not what I have in mind.

Patience is the key to happiness

2009-10-20T13:46:00.008-04:00

I'm pretty sure I've gotten that fortune in many a fortune cookie. When you have lofty goals swirling around your head it is so difficult to bide by that rule.

I've been reading the blogs of female ultra runners lately. They inspire me so much. I'm just itching to get to a point where I can run for long distances again. I have to say the discovery of my love for trail running has eased some of my impatience to get to longer distances, but it also fuels it some when I read about other women that are serious trail runners. Right now my long run is 5 miles, a far cry from an ultra distance. I know with time and patience I can get up to at least marathon distance. At that point I should know if I'm hardcore enough to go longer distances. I've just got to get my mind to calm down and be content with the next step and not keep skipping ahead to things that aren't feasible for at least another year.

One big reason I need to stay patient is because I constantly battle tightness in my IT Band (iliotibial band for those not familiar with running woes). I've been instructed by my Sports Med Dr. to increase my mileage by just 5-8% a week as opposed to the normal of 10% a week. I've decided to stick to 5% increases for now. At first that meant tiny increases of 0.2 miles some weeks. I'm finally to a point where I can increase by 0.5 miles a week and soon I'll be able to increase by 0.75 miles a week. It is slow but at least it is progress. I'm even proud of myself for having a self chosen step back week last week to allow my body some rest. This week I'm going to repeat my mileage from two weeks ago and start adding again next week.

So I need to take my new mantra and plaster it around my home to remind me of my ultimate goal. If I follow my eagerness and try to do too much too soon I'll be right back where I started. My brain needs to keep my ego in check so I can fulfill my crazy dreams.

Happiness here I come!

What am I doing?

2009-10-19T13:03:00.000-04:00

I have no idea what I am doing or why. Recently I've been toying with the idea of starting a blog. I'm not sure I have the time or the mental energy to keep up with this. I'm also not sure anybody will be too interested in what I have to say but there may be a few out there. I have a few blogs that I enjoy keeping up with and inspire me, I am hoping that my blog can serve the same purpose to other people.

Just a quick profile on me. I'm a stay at home mom to a toddler that is very adventurous and outgoing. I know where he got the adventurous part from but the outgoing part is nothing he got from us. In the mornings, when my son is at preschool feeding his outgoing side, I am feeding my adventurous and introverted side by running trails. I have recently discovered that I love trail running. I try to do it at least twice a week. Once a week I do a social run with two other SAHMs that isn't a trail run (I may be mostly introverted but I do need some adult contact during the weekdays). I also swim and do yoga once a week.

I have lots of lofty goals in my head that I want to do. I just need my body to agree to cooperate in order to accomplish these goals. Goal number one right now is to complete a Marathon. After that I don't have any set goals just lots of ideas swirling in my head: trail marathons/half marathons, trying a triathlon, seeing if I can get a Marathon Maniac or Half Maniac status, pursue the Xterra Trail Running Series in SC and Ga. There is just so much I'd like to do and can't get my mind to settle on picking one and sticking to it. I'm sure I'll just be all over the place.

I have goals at home too. I'm not looking to be super mom. I'd like to be better at cooking. I'm working at it but it's not something I love to do. I keep my house pretty clean. It's not the cleanest house but I have no worries about ever being on one of those shows about people's horribly filthy and disorganized houses.

When I feel I have the house under control I like to dabble in crafts. Sometimes it's crocheting something simple, sewing a purse or softie dolls, or my new discovery of felt crafts. I made Emmett, my son, some really cute felt designs that I sewed on to some of his onesies and shirts over the past year. I am learning how to do needle felting. Lots of fun, easy (so far), and very meditative. I've made some penguins (with instructions) and a mutant dog (without any instructions, hence the mutant part). I love that it's a craft that I can eventually do successfully without patterns. Crafts are another area of my life where I have lots of ideas swirling around in my head and not enough time or energy to get them done.

Well, we'll have to wait and see what is in store for my blog's future. Will I flourish or flop? I guess that's truly up to me. One of my favorite quotes: Whether you think you can or can't you're right. -Anonymous