Miles For Marines 5k Trail Race

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.

A Good Month

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!

Holiday Running Wrap Up

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!

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.

Medoc Trail Marathon- I did it!

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!

Let The Taper Madness Begin!

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

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 (and not so favorites)

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

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)

Church of the Long Run

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.

6.8 Miles- A Photo Story

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.