Star fish and palm trees!

A coworker of mine mocked my excitement for heading "south" for a trip in the winter. Apparently Kentucky doesn't constitute far enough south - "Yeah, watch out for those starfish and palm trees" she said. Rather sarcastically said, in my opinion :) So Starfish and Palm Trees became my rallying cry for the weekend! And we saw both! Granted, the star fish were on a billboard and the palm trees were the light up kind outside of a bar we drove by but the details aren't important . . .

It's about a twelve hour drive from Duluth to Louisville so we left late afternoon Thursday and after a nasty drive through some gross snow, time for sleep! Step 1: Freeze for about an hour under super thin blankets. Step 2: Get up and rummage through various drawers for an extra blanket that MUST be stowed somewhere. Step 3: Eye up Andrea's bed to see if she beat me to the extra blanket. Nope. Step 4: Determine the heat is off. Turn on heat in room. Step 5: An hour later, roast for the rest of the night since there is no temperature control aside from "heat on." On the bright side, I had a delicious hotel Belgian waffle for breakfast! Then on to the rest of the drive down to Louisville. Good company makes long rides go fast and I'd go for a long trip with the same group of people any day.

Louisville was warm when we arrived. Sort of. We didn't need jackets, anyway. We sent the other Minnesota van to pick up all the race packets and met them at the free pasta feed. Hardly anyone was there (okay, we were the ONLY people there for a while) so it was super low key and also delicious. After some threats from the other van to withhold our packets, it was back to the hotel to start obsessing about what to wear in the morning. The weather called for 29ish at the start, potentially warming up to 50. Come morning, I decided on my Northwoods T, running sleeves, and half tights. However, since I'm indecisive about dressing myself, I also stuffed a long sleeve and a tank top in my drop bag and brought a bag with of other clothes, just in case. This ended up to be good because after seeing the other Minnesota runners clad in shorts, I was convinced I'd be too hot in half tights and changed to . . . my running skirt! First race in my skirt!

We got to the start rather early, but that ended up being okay - allowing me to wander from van to building, trying to decide on what to wear. It also gave me the chance to exchange my shirt! I hate, hate, hate choosing a size for a race shirt ahead of time (I think I've mentioned this before). Since I actually love to wear my race shirts around and want them to fit me, it matters to me. My general rule of thumb is, if it's gender specific, then I want a medium, if it's uni-sex, then a small. The website seemed to indicate uni-sex so a small I ordered. Not so. My shirt was TINY! Crisis averted, though, I was able to change my shirt for a men's medium, which not only meant a good fit but also loose sleeves instead of tight sleeves so, happy.


So here is the Minnesota crew is at the start. All in shorts. Notice everyone else in hoodies, pants, hats, etc . . . Granted, my hands were frozen for the first couple of miles and I really should have worn my mittens for the first section. After that, though, I was quite comfortable. I kept my arm warmers on until mile.... ummmmmm...20ish? I actually have no idea. I could look it up, but I like that I didn't really know where I was mileage wise most of the time, so I'm not going to look.

The course was three different loops. First a 6ish mile loop, back to the start, then over to another loop, and then a long stem with a lollipop at the end. I knew where 2 miles to go was and I knew the tiny loop at the end of the stem was 3 miles (so they say, anyway. I don't actually believe them) before heading back along the stem and into the finish.

I'm happy with how I did here. It was a long course (33 miles) and a tough course and I finished in 5th woman and 6:57. I was in 3rd for women for the longest time but I let that 3 mile loop slow me down way too much. I felt strong at the end, though, and could hear runners coming up behind me during the last 3 or 4 miles and was determined to not let them get me. They didn't. My stomach mostly behaved for the race. It did start feeling a little oozy several times but I took an s-cap each time and it calmed back down. During that 3 mile loop section, I did start getting certifiably nauseous but started sucking on a ginger chew and it went away. I LOVE my ginger chews! I even had to eat a gel around one since it was past food time and I didn't want to quick chew what was left of the ginger but still really needed to eat. My knee was also fine during the race, though it was a bit pissed the following week from the sudden jump in long run mileage.

The course was very runnable, which was nice. Mostly single track but not technical so that you could blast downhills - lots of fun! The trail was canted quite a bit in places and, of course, mostly in the direction that does not agree with my minor leg length descrepencies but that ended up not being a problem. There was also a long section in that second loop that was ATV trail width with even footing and nothing too steep so that there was a lot of sustained running at a decent pace. I'm happy that it both felt good and didn't seem to make my wheels come off later.

I decided during this race some of what I already discovered at Wild Duluth last year. The reason my ultra times are so much slower then they ought to be (compared to my road times/who I keep up with on roads) is my muscles. I'm actually incredibly weak in a lot of places and I think the combination of distance and trails really brings that out. So my renewed big goal for the year is to focus on this. I have a routine that I do after every run and a longer one that I mostly do on days I don't run. I'll keep adding to these as I get stronger and as I find exercise that I like and that work. I am determined to go into September knowing that I did everything possible to have a super strong body. If you have a favorite move, feel free to share it with me be it core work, upper body, legs, whatever.

Here I am immediately post race:

I hardly even look tired. To me this indicates a couple of things. First off, I definitely could have gone harder and maybe should have but I'm okay with going conservative in Feburary. Second, I'm already getting stronger. Now, ignore the mud on the hand holding my finisher heart. I certainly did not take a nose dive less than a minute from the finish on the only stuck up tiny corner of rock to be found.

For a February race, I am pleased. I do have a lot more detail I could share about the race but it's been over a week and I refuse to let a race blog entry hold back other entries again!

Heat Wave! In Kentucky, anyway.

Things I need to pack for a 50K in Kentucky this weekend: shorts, running skirt?, t-shirt.

Things I don't need to pack: wool running socks, bun toasters, ice breakers running pants.

Awesome.

Don't get me wrong, I love winter and I enjoy running in the cold but I'm excited for some single track that isn't snow and/or ice covered. Though, word on the street is that it might be super muddy but at least it'll be warm. It'll also be nice to run without ten pounds of clothing on me. The high on Saturday fluctuates from the mid 40s to lower 50s so it's not going to be crazy hot but it'll definitely feel like a heat wave. Of course, with a starting temperature in the 30s, I'll still be bringing a wide variety of clothing to choose from come race morning :) Half the reason for having a drop bag is in case I want to switch up the layers I have on!

After twisting funny when landing in a mud hole this summer, resulting in a slightly torn meniscus, I'm feeling a bit paranoid about mud. However, a quick check on the race website updates me that the trail is wet but only a few muddy areas. Fabulous!

Flagging is pink, so I'm well used to looking for pink ribbons with the NMTC series!

I don't really feel like I have a race this weekend. I suspect it'll start to sink in when we start driving down there tomorrow. Or maybe if I get off my butt and go pack instead of writing a quick blog update . . .

Not quite frozen gizzard

It's only January and I already have two races done and another planned in just over two weeks. Crazy!

Last weekend was the Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run in International Falls. I think I've mentioned that I've wanted to do this race since high school but just hadn't gotten up there yet. They have a 5K and a 10K and they start them an hour apart so that it's feasible to do both.

The weather forecast had been promising super cold weather (below zero and then wind chill) but that got pushed off a couple of days and race morning was actually quite pleasant: 14 degrees when I checked the temperature to decide what to wear! As per usual, I brought every possible thing I might want to race in but I did an okay job of figuring out the layers. Spot on, actually, since I was warm but not too hot. Go me! The temperatures did drop by the second race but still, MUCH warmer than I originally thought. The main problem came with the two or three inches of snow that fell Friday/Friday night and hadn't really gotten plowed or packed down by race morning. Though, they DID make an effort to sand the shoulders we'd be running on. It didn't help at all, but the effort was nice. I did my warmup outside and quickly realized that it would not be a good racing day. Ah well, still fun, right?

Not so right. The 5K was very little fun, actually. The footing was just so horrible that there wasn't much rhythm to be found. Not much else to say, really! I found a good pace for a while and then lost my decent footing and slowed way down. I didn't really race at all and stayed content with just hanging out. I don't think I got too frustrated, just didn't try to fight the footing or push the pace. There seemed to be a lot of people in the race and they all seemed to be bopping by me then, though I managed to fight back and pass SOME people, at least. There was even a woman right in front of me heading into the finish and while I did speed up some, I decided it wasn't worth hurting myself to beat her since I still had another race coming. Of course, she ended up being third woman leaving me with fourth . . . but I did still get third in my age group so I guess I can't complain too much. I'm not telling you my time, though. If you want so bad to know, you can look it up! Let's just say that my 10K pace was faster. In fact, my marathon pace is generally faster. So. Moving on... :)

I finished the 5K and didn't hang around the finish much, just cheering for a couple friends who finished close by. Then I moved quickly back inside to keep moving and keep warm. I went with a group back to the cafeteria where the main area was (we're all contained in a community college, which is SUPER nice since it's nice and warm and spacious). I took off my top layers so they could dry out a bit but decided not to actually change layers since I wasn't too wet. Before I knew it, it was time to head back outside for the 10K start.

Brrrr. It sure seemed much colder this time around. And more windy. Suddenly, this didn't seem like a stellar idea, but there we were anyway. The first part was so much colder than I remember the 5K being. The wind was strong from our sides and had gotten much stronger since the 5K. My right hand was frozen. The temperature had also dropped some, but before long I had my jacket zipped part way down and everything was quite comfy, even after we turned back into the wind.

Overall, I really enjoyed the 10K so maybe I was just finally warmed up The footing seemed a TON better or else I had finally gotten a good hang of how to get through it. There was still loose snow but it was more packed or more of a type to get a grip on, I'm not sure. There were a decent number of people in the 10K (101 as it turns out. 201 in the 5K) but I was generally on my own for the race. I saw a one mile marker and then nothing until mile 4 and then nothing again until the end (though others saw regular mile markers, so I just missed them). For once, I actually kind of liked not knowing exactly where I was at. I hadn't taken a real good look at the map so I knew I was somewhere around halfway on the stretch I found mile 4 at and it was nice to find out I was further along than I thought. The last couple of miles were a bit less lonely as I had been steadily gaining on the woman in front of me and I passed her somewhere between miles 4 and 5.

Another thing that helped a lot in the 10K, especially by the last mile and a half, was that the 10Kers were not content to run down the coned off shoulder with had a few inches of gross loose snow the way the 5Kers were. No, no, instead they seemed to creep into the traffic lane and hey, if the people in front of me are doing it, it must be okay, right? There was about a mile stretch where we were moving back and forth from road to crappy shoulder when cars came by. By the last part, though, the road had two lanes coming our direction and the runners stayed in the lane the whole time. It was sooooooooo fabulous to have something solid to run on. I remember looking at the shoulder we had run on for the 5K and being both amused that EVERY runner was ignoring it and annoyed that we had to run through it for the 5K. And happy that the traffic seemed to hold no malice towards these runners forcing them over a lane. I was really feeling good at this point and was able to bring it in strong, despite being all by my lonesome. 3rd woman overall, 3rd in my age group (man, wasn't I supposed to leave some speedies behind when I turned 30?).

I hung around for a while at the finish this time but of course, at that point, I'm ready for more running! And getting cold FAST so I opted for warming down inside the community college. It's set up as a circle so four laps of the college is just over a mile. A mile of circles and weaving through crowds was about what I could handle, though, so I called it a day after that.

So I'm glad I went - it was a good race and I'd do it again. I saw a friend from high school (well, she went to International Falls but we were similar speeds all through middle/high school so became friend) and promptly spilled hot cider all over her . . . I also saw two other friends I wasn't expecting so that was fun, too. All in all, I recommend the trip. And remember - if you're heading up there, you might as well do both races!

Bloody nose!

So I guess an important question is - how often do YOU want to be reading my posts? Once a week? Multiple times a week? As often as I can spit them out? Let me know!

I had a couple of lovely runs this weekend. Saturday was a long trail run with two friends. Well, long in terms of the time we spent out there, not so much in terms of the distance we went. See, due to all the rain Duluth recently received (in January!) the trails are rather icy right now if they've had any sort of traffic at all in the last week (incidentally, the SHT around the Mission Creek area is quite ice free). This makes for rather treacherous running in places, especially ski trails or SHT near an access point and especially since I still haven't put screws in my shoes. I didn't really notice it Saturday but by the end of Sunday's run, I had a good form for ice running going - taking very small steps, keeping my weight directly above my feet, and concentrating on landing forefoot so that if I slipped, I didn't do that magical arm flailing/back wrenching attempt to not fall. Something I saw Ron do a couple of times as he pranced about ahead of me like an elf on Saturday . . . Amazingly, though, none of us actually fell, so it couldn't have been all that icy, right? Anyway, we played around on trails for a while, finding some good crunchy trails to get a rhythm on and then discovered were running out of light. So we ended up hitting the Munger Trail for the way back to the car. I don't so much recommend snowmobile trails right now, either. Unless you're looking to cross country ice skate. Luckily, the edges held enough packed snow to be runnable, as long as you were careful to not fall off the edge of the packed trail and destroy your ankle and kept an eye for un-packed sections that sent your feet flailing behind you.

So we're running along the Munger when I turn my head and spit. And see blood. Hmmm. That's alarming. Lisa informs me that I have a bloody nose. Less alarming. Except it seems to keep going and when you can't actually SEE your bloody nose, you imagine it as this great geyser gushing blood down your face. Well, at least I do . . . So I decided to grab some snow and clean it off but we're on an iced over snowmobile trail so I sort of have to kick at some snow until I get a few crystals loose, not enough to really do anything. So really, all I felt like I managed to do was smear blood all over my face as opposed to cleaning anything up or stopping the flow. Again, this is really just the visual in my head, in realty, you could probably barely tell it was bleeding . . . Now, I had my awesome multi-colored mittens on (remind me to take a picture for you) and I didn't want to get them all bloody so I didn't attempt to clean with cloth and just let it drip along. I did decide that it was good I was wearing a red jacket. You know, for all that blood gushing out of my nose and covering the rest of my body? Eventually, I stopped feeling it oozing and at the end, I kicked up some more snow until I was able enough to clean up with. Which didn't require all that much because, shocking as this may be to everyone, I was not, in fact, about to die from blood loss.

So that was my first run.

Sunday's run was with the Northwoods team. For those who don't know, I'm on the Austin Jarrow running team and we're trying to do group runs every Sunday. An hour and a half or just over of a good pace on roads. I think this might be a great plan for me - run long trails on Saturday followed by a harder paced run on the roads with some speedsters the next day. Good to get my legs moving when they're tired, right? It took a little while for my legs to shake out and then they felt pretty good and I wanted to go further. It makes sense to me that this will help push the legs in a road marathon - especially if we keep doing hilly courses. The problem with having Boston be my last road marathon for a while is that I'm sick of roads - thus giving road marathons a break. Which means what I want to do is train on trails, which is probably not so stellar if I want to run a decent time come April. This seems like a decent compromise, but I should probably still get up at 5 to run with another group of road friends on at least some Saturdays . . .

The current forecast for International Falls on Saturday? A high of 0 with a windchill as low as -36. Friday night low of -17, windchill to -31 with up to 3 inches of snow possible. So below zero with fresh snow. I do not expect to be putting up any stellar times! I wish the shirts were like a New Year's run I used to do - you got the shirt a couple weeks later because they waited to print them so they could print the race day temperature on them.

First race coming up!

One of my goals for the year is to update more frequently! Feel free to nag me about this if I start falling behind.

My first race(s) of the year are coming up already. I've had the Freeze Yer Gizzard Blizzard Run on my list since high school and have never managed to make it up to International Falls for the race despite growing up not all that far of a drive away! Well this year, I'm finally going! And hey, why drive all that way for just a 5K? They've set it up so that the 10K starts an hour after the 5K and that way, a person can run both of them - and you don't even have to pay double the entry fee! Of course, I haven't done anything short and fast in ages so this could be an interesting outing to say the least but it will definitely be a fun time. Then there's the part where the high for next Thursday is -4. Yes, the high. Granted, this IS Minnesota so not only can you not trust that forecast, but the forecast could be completely accurate and it could still be 40 by that Saturday. I'll let you know, though.

Goals from 2012

Happy New Year!

Time to review my goals from 2012:

1. Run at least a 3:30 at Fargo. Not quite. However! I ran a 3:34.24 for a 2 minute PR and good enough to qualify me back into Boston so I can't help but be happy about this one, anyway. I'm in process of figuring out what I want my goal at Boston to be and after that I'm done with road marathons for a little while because I'm sick of roads. Granted, I'm not saying how LONG a little while but at least a year and no reason to plan beyond that, right?

2. Stay injury free! Hmmmm. Another fail. But!! This one being a freak accident and not my fault, I actually feel as though I DID succeed with this since I didn't do anything stupid and this was mainly aimed at not getting injured by over-training or the like. I've just been klutzy this year and have two nice scars on my left leg to show it. Left leg, mind you. Same as the meniscus tear. Same as my two college injuries. Apparently my left leg hates me. Or I stepped on kryptonite that one race . . .

3. Get heat acclimated at least as well as last year/don't be afraid of the heat. Well, success, I guess. I didn't really get to test it out too much being injured for July and not running much in August but I've mostly ceased to view hot gross weather as something I can't handle.

4. See what kind of mileage my legs can handle and confidently make up my mind by June about my fall running plans and train well for whatever the plans end up to be. I did, in fact, make up my mind about the fall. Of course, this was determined for me by an injury . . . but details, details, right?

5. Log. Every. Run. Mostly success here. I know I've missed logging a few runs but less than 50 miles worth, for sure. So that makes this the first year I've had anything like a total yearly mileage. It's a lower number than I wanted but that makes it easy to improve on this year! I'm most happy with the fact that while I could only run 34 injured miles in July, I was able to bike 148.2 during the last three weeks which is pretty cool for someone who's never really biked for fitness before. I'm looking around at some other methods of logging but I think I'm going to stick with just entering it into Google Calendar. It's easy and while it doesn't add things up for me, I like it. Most importantly, it seems to be something that I can keep on top of.

Next post will be my goals for 2013! One goal I suggest for everyone? Volunteer at a race! It's loads of fun and if you run races it just makes sense to give back to the running community by working them. Races can't happen without the help of lots of people, so pick a race that maybe doesn't fit into your racing schedule or maybe it's a distance you aren't ready for yet and sign up to take care of your fellow runners. You'll probably find some inspiration for your next year along the way :) I challenge every single one of you reading this to work at least one race in 2013. No matter where you live, there's a race right down the road you can work at.

And on one last note - one of my goals for next year is to blog more regularly! Feel free to yell at me to help me keep up on that way.

100Ks are awesome!

So! My first 100K! It was awesome and actually hurt much less than I expected. Though, I did start slowing down earlier than I hoped, too . . . Here is a story, told in tidbits:

Tonya and I ran the first pavement section together and chatted. It's tough to know what kind of a speed one should be running when the first half mile or so is flat pavement. As we approached the entrance to the trail, we both slowed down to let the other ahead, which made me giggle. I went for it and hopped in front. Spoiler alert - Tonya glided back by me somewhere around mile 40 and I didn't see her again until the finish.

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I had a couple guys who followed close to me for the first few miles, after peaking over Enger. They weren't from Duluth and since I didn't need to look for the markers in the dark, I just knew where to go, I guess it was easier to just follow me. I had to ditch them for a bathroom break not too far in and then spent the next couple of miles trying to remind myself that it was not necessary to sprint to catch back up with them.

In related thoughts - when you stop to go to the bathroom in the dark, even if it's just kind of dark/mostly getting light, do NOT set down your turned off flashlight. Especially when it's not even your flashlight to begin with. You've stepped off the trail and it's darker in there. No worries, though, since it was getting light out, I was able to find it again after a few moments of telling myself not to panic.

While I managed to not sprint, I did still catch back up to the two guys and bounced around them. It's definitely a big advantage to be so familiar with the trails - I can think things such as, "Okay, this section is covered in leaves, but I know it's not terrible rocky/rooting so I don't have to slow down and watch footing too much."

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Sometime between Haines and Highland/Getchell, I heard these fast steps gaining on me. Along comes Roberto! We greeted each other and then he loped away like a deer through the fog in front of me. He was pretty cool to watch glide away.

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I've realized on longer runs lately that sometimes, I just get sick of water. I don't generally drink a sports drink but will often nab some Coke at aid stations and I think the main reason it looks so good is that it's something that's NOT water. I decided, though, to try carrying a flask of something not water, just to have a sip now and then. So I decided on ginger ale, as that could also help settle an angry stomach. Sometime after Highland/Getchell (8ish miles in), I realized my little flask was leaking all over. Yet another Nathan product that leaks terribly. How fabulous. I was, of course, heading into the longest section between aid stations (which still isn't terribly far, but still). At least once it emptied down, it stopped leaking out the top.

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One of my favorite sections of in-town SHT (of which I have many, I know) is between the zoo and the stairs going either direction. It's another section that I was very happy to know that the footing would be fine under those leaves and I could just coast. The light was just amazing here, too. The sun was up but couldn't make it through the fog and everything had this gorgeous surreal glow to it. I was grinning through most of this :)

When I got to the stairs (134ish steep stairs which are down in this direction), I looked around for a nice stick. Turns out, going up the stairs is so much nicer with a good hiking stick. So I found a nice one for the way back up and stashed it at the bottom of the stairs. Not in a very smart spot, as it turns out . . .

I was also spending a decent part of this section trying to figure out if I would run into the Half Marathoners after they started. I decided I would just miss them and then figured out later that there was no way I would miss them and couldn't figure out why I never ran into them. Turns out, I had the starting time wrong for them so that would explain it and good to know for the future.

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I came into the Magney Aid Station the first time (I'd see them 4 times throughout the race) to be greeted with - COWBELL! Now, I have an irrational love of cowbell during a race, so this was fabulous. Misty could also tell that I enjoyed and so she gave it a few more enthusiastic rings for me. Never enough cowbell! Also a positive - I came into the aid station from the right direction. Apparently some of the people in front of me took a wrong turn and came the wrong way. There was really only one confusing crossing for me. It was a crossing that was talked about in pre-race babble but it was still confusingly marked to me (and apparently to others since that's where they turned wrong). I was able to reason it out without too much difficulty, though.

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I started seeing 50kers a lot earlier than I expected (including a guy I recognize from the trail series who was plugged into his iPod and singing along, which was amusing). I decided I wanted to cross Skyline before seeing any women 50kers and I almost made it! Just the women's leader came by me before I hit Skyline, so I figured that was okay :) I just love out and back courses - it's so fun to see everyone. With Wild Duluth, the 50kers start at the 100K turnaround so we get to see all of them, too, so even more fun.

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I beat my crew to the Munger aid station. This, of course, being one of the times when I needed more e-gel. Happily, he drove up just as I was trying to decide if I should grab the Hammer gel Molly was offering! And I seem to have only mentioned my awesome crew in terms of where he almost missed me, which simply won't do. My friend Jeremy came up from the Cities just to drive around back roads for 18 hours for me. He's pretty awesome. This is a race that doesn't really need a crew - the aid stations are well spaced, there are drop bag options, and the volunteers are, of course, awesome and helpful. However, I like having crew. It's nice to not have to worry about the number of gels you have or dig/search for a drop bag and then dig in the drop bag. It's also nice for things like switching from a water pack to a hand held - which I did for the middle 14 miles. It was nice to get the pack off my back since I was getting hot with it on and didn't want to shed a layer of clothes. Plus it's just nice to get weight off of your back. I'll have to continue to remember this.

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I caught back up to Roberto after the Munger aid station. Which worried me a bit - was I running too fast? I'd wondered this a couple times previously but mostly came up with the same thing - I could tell I was still holding back some but was running a nice, comfortable pace so that must be the pace I should be going.

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When the Superior Hiking Trail crosses the four wheeler trail right before the Voyageur course is when we got off the SHT and started on the detoured part of the course for 10 miles or so. Very shortly, we joined back up with the Voyageur trail and headed for the river crossings - three of them. Well, one river (creek, that is. Mission Creek) crossed three times. I decided ahead of time that it would probably be worth taking the time to step on rocks to keep my feet dry and happily, that turned out be very do-able and easy.

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The only time my stomach was annoyed the whole race was while running down the flat DWP trail. It was probably the shock of suddenly running a consistent speed! I had caught up to Kevin Mackie coming out of the Skyline/Becks aid station and we ran together and chatted for a while. I let him go ahead and a bit later - BAM out of nowhere I'm dry heaving. Luckily, Lisa had given me some ginger chews to experiment with. I dropped to a walk, popped one of those, and maybe a minute later tried running again and was fine! It was fabulous! I will now have those things on me at all times!

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As Ron and I crossed paths, he told me this fabulous rumor that the turnaround had soup! I was very excited for some soup! Yum. Yum. Yum. Time for soup. And then I got to the turnaround and completely forgot to ask for it. Ooops. However, I did have a happy surprise waiting for me - Jeremy had somehow managed to get Kyle to come out. Granted, he didn't look too happy about it, but it was nice to see him anyway and he got a sweaty hug. Even more shocking was seeing him a second time - at my last time through the Magney aid station. Thanks for coming out, husband!

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Downhill was starting to be a bit painful now. Not a good sign since I was but halfway through but . . . onward! I also did a lot of walking on the DWP on the way back. This is where I decided that an all flat ultra would be no fun because you feel just plain silly walking a flat. I had some bikers head by me while I was walking. Then I would run some, and walk some, and run some, and I walked through the tunnel since it is all dark and lit by glowsticks (and a hidden Halloween motion detector noise maker which for some reason didn't spook me the first time by). Only to find the same group of bikers sitting on the trail and watching me walk by. I felt like reassuring them that I hadn't been walking this whole time when they asked how far I was going. When they passed me again, I had just finished walked across the last railroad bridge and though I started running after the bridge (which is rather sketchy and not so runnable at that point) I again felt like calling out to them "Look! I'm running now! I haven't been walking this ENTIRE time! Really!" I restrained myself, though :)

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Tonya passed me strongly in the next section. I had pulled over to water some leaves and on by she zoomed. I thought I might pull her back in but while my uphills stayed strong, my downhills only got worse so away she continued to zoom :)

Since this was my second bout of leaf watering in a very short period of time, I dug out the wet wipes and have now discovered the (mostly) joy of wet wipes instead of leaves. Next is to search for ones without alcohol and that's all I'll say about that particular topic. . .

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Somehow, coming into the Munger aid station, I was all confused and thought I was not making the Munger cut off for some reason. After several minutes of worry, I was able to solve the problem by LOOKING AT MY WATCH. Seriously. This all started because I thought it was much later in the day than it actually was but did I take that first moment of worry to check my watch? Heavens, no. First I stressed for a while. Then I double checked the card I wrote aid station distances and cut offs on. THEN I checked my watch and coming into the aid station, I was three hours ahead of the cutoff. Awesome. No need to worry about that.

Also awesome? It was time to pick up my pacer! I was chanting the list of things I needed to do in my head (and out loud once I came into the aid station), so I didn't forget anything - gloves, gel, body glide, flashlight, not necessarily in that order. I was super worried about forgetting something and while I seemed to have lost my gloves some time during the day, I had packed mittens, too, and so all was good. Time to head up Ely's Peak! Let me tell you - that was something I had been a little worried about ahead of time. Silly me. I was SO EXCITED to head up. Uphill felt great and I was excited to have Marcus with me and excited to head uphill I think I bounced out of that aid station.

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Coming over Ely's Peak, there were two high school kids walking around off the trail and singing Phantom of the Opera at the top of their lungs. I don't think they saw us running along and so I sang the next line back to them, which seemed to startle them a bit but I enjoyed it :) The song was then stuck in my head for the next while . . .

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Part of what was awesome about Wild Duluth for me is that I knew someone working at almost every aid station. Not only does it make them fun and more comfortable, but you have a new way of mentally going from aid station to aid station - only 2 miles and then I get to see Wayne! Again!

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A good thing I learned was that I am not someone who needs to beware the chair. I sat down at Munger to dig through my bag and it was quite comfy and it was no problem getting back up. I was actually really looking forward to being able to sit at aid stations from then on while I guzzled some soup and I had no trouble with getting myself going again. This is good to know! I did, however, avoid any cozy looking campfires, since those DID seem like a bad idea. If I was getting cold, it was clearly time to eat on the move and get going.

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Wild Duluth is before Halloween. Which means the Timber Twister at Spirit Mountain has this haunted ride thingy going on. So here we are, running nicely through the woods in the dark among people randomly screeching their way down the hill. Not scary but definitely strange.

Have I mentioned how downhills sucked? It's strange to go through the "W" of the SHT and be excited for the uphills . . . I was telling myself "Okay, only two more downhills left. Except there's that one right before 40th. Three left. Wait, you have to come down off of Piedmont Knob, too. Time to stop counting."

We came to the stairs and I immediately saw that my suspicions from earlier were true - my carefully dropped stick was nowhere to be found. Completely expected since I had dropped it right in front of the direction sign . . . I had realized that was a silly place to put it back when I dropped it there but wasn't going to turn around and move it. It was just as well, though - I was doing uphills just fine so someone who needed it more than me was able to use it.

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Right before the 24th Avenue aid station, there were these lovely tin luminaries set along the trail. Quite nice in the dark and they made me smile. Or that could have been the joke Marcus was cracking at the time. We'll go with both.

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Somewhere in here I reminded Marcus that I had run up to Enger at every Wild Duluth thus far and he was supposed to remind of that later. Of course, once we got there, I found I didn't so much care, even though two guys came zooming by us and Marcus tried to get me interested in chasing them back down. I decided I need to save my strength for going DOWN the hill. So by now I'm just moving slow in general as opposed to just moving slow on downhills. And downhills were just plain no good. You don't want to know how long that last 3 mile section took me. In fact, apparently, Marcus was laughing at my poor shaking legs! Punk. The happy news is that mostly, it was my IT bands that were weak super early on and that is so very fixable.

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Coming over the bridge over the highway, my brain heard a familiar sound but didn't really register it. As we turned the corner and came down the ramp, however, I realized that there was a train coming at us. A train. At whatever middle of the night time it was (somewhere around midnight). And we had to cross railroad tracks and there was NO way in hell I was going to stand there and wait so . . . time to speed up. Turns out we made it to the tracks well before the train and didn't have to worry about it at all. In any case, the trail turned out to be only a single engine chugging along (at midnight? What was it doing?) so it's not as though it would have been a big deal, anyway.

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Once we hit the sidewalk, I decided I needed to run the rest of the way in. After all, it was flat - right? My ability to do this clearly indicates that I could have lugged myself up Enger while running and I shouldn't have worried that it would make the downhill worse. I even picked the pace up a little coming into the finish. Waiting for me was the cruel taskmaster who kept making my night happy by showing up at all the aid stations. And here she was, demanding a heal click jump across the finish line. I obliged. Sort of. It felt like a great leap to me, anyway, though I didn't even try for a heal click and I probably got MAYBE a couple inches off the ground. Then I gave Lisa a nice sweaty, tired hug for being out there for me.

Finished!!! Slower than I wanted but happy and Kim gave me my awesome finisher hat, which I now wear everywhere.

Lisa then led me into the building to get warm. Where I was greeted by applause from those who had already finished and were still hanging out. I have to admit, that was pretty cool. I was already grinning from finishing but now I just kind of stood there and grinned more. I also got to pass it on to those who came in after me and it was fun to watch others enter to applause, too.

I really enjoyed this race. The 100K distance is pretty great and I'm sad there aren't more of them around. I also currently live in my hoodie since it's awesome and comfy and I'm damn proud of it.

Quick update

I apologize - I won't have time to do a good report on my first 100K until I get back from deer hunting next weekend.

But, it was fabulous! I had a ton of fun and I love the 100K distance. I slowed down a lot more than I wanted due to the inability to advance downhill with anything resembling speed but that was simply due to weak muscles - so fixable!

A more proper report (though most likely more of a highlights reel) to follow next week.

Here comes my first 100K!

So here we are, two weeks out from Wild Duluth. I signed up for the 100K mostly because that was sort of my plan earlier in the year. I've been a bit nervous since - in not really feeling ready. I haven't raced an ultra at all yet this year (though I have done training runs over 26 miles) since I was focused on Fargo in the spring and then was injured all summer and doubt, doubt, doubt. So I just finished a series of 20ish mile runs - Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday whose purpose was mostly to remind myself that I was going to be okay. Yesterday, my legs were tired during the run but not crazy so and not right from the beginning and I felt pretty good overall. I wasn't sore or tight or overly tired afterwards (well, I was super sleepy but not leg tired). I have a crew (friend from the Cities!), I have a pacer (Marcus!), and now I just have to spend the next two weeks being calm, not being stupid, and getting those calves to be not crazy tight. And get my Nathan back. Have I whined about my Nathan, yet? I finally bought a new hydration pack this summer and then promptly got injured. So I wasn't able to use it all that often. In fact, pacing Marcus was my second time wearing it with water, I believe. It's a mostly great thing - I LOVE having pockets in front and the bladder is much easier for people to fill, both big reasons for switching from my Camelback. Just one problem with mine . . . it leaks. Horribly and instantly. I spent the entire time pacing SOAKED and at the finish I was very excited to change into dry pants. No problem, though, I brought it back to be sent in for a new one. Only, it's on backorder right now. It's due in anytime, though, so as long as I get it back before Friday the 19th, I'm good.

I've had some really pretty runs on the trails lately. The colors on the shore have been just amazing - I wish cameras could capture it better. Yesterday, I came over a hill (by myself at this point) and looking down was a stand of maybe 8 year old maple trees. They were all a beautiful red and since they were younger, they were still sparse and you could see through one tree to the next and it was just gorgeous. It's too bad the leaves will pretty much be gone in two weeks during the race - both for pretty-factor and because that means all those lovely leaves will be filling the trail and hiding rocks/roots/etc.

In other super exciting news - I made it back to Boston!! I was telling myself that it was okay to not get in, that I really wasn't all that excited about it, and there's even another race that weekend that I'd like to do. I even almost convinced myself. Clearly, the way I was haunting the Boston website at 4:00 the Friday registration ended betrayed what I really felt . . . Now follows Boston registration babble so feel free to skip if you aren't interested: So the way the registration works now is that running a Boston Qualifying time doesn't necessarily guarantee you a spot, anymore. A couple years ago, Boston filled up in 8 hours so they revamped the process to not be first come first served - now registration opens the first week on Monday for people who have beat their time by 15 minutes. Then by 10 minutes on Wednesday and 5 minutes on Friday. The next week, anyone else who has qualified can register during. It stays open all week and at the end of the week, if too many people have registered, then they accept the runners from that week based on who beat their BQ time by the most. Last year, you had to beat your time by 1:14 in order to get in. However, this year, they made the qualifying times 5 minutes faster and got rid of the 'grace minute' (ie, you had to run UNDER 3:35, 3:35:xx no longer counts). Anyway, I had no idea when to expect an announcement but then someone pointed out that if they announced that registration would re-open the next week, that had to mean everyone who already registered was in and it didn't fill - right?

END REGISTRATION BABBLE

So the short of it was that registration is STILL open now and I'm heading to Boston again next April! There's actually a pretty decent Duluth contingent going, so that'll be neat. I plan for that to be my last road marathon for a while - what a while means, I'm not sure yet. Just a year? A few years? It doesn't really matter, just that I have some other races to focus on and trying to throw in a road marathon musses with training.

But for now, it's my first 100K time! Which means watching (re: obsessing over) the weather soon, packing/figuring out a bag for my crew to lug around, getting directions for my crew (both driving directions to aid stations and directions about what I'll need), figuring out what I want to wear, etc . . .

In which I regain my title or . . .

. . . in which neither Rochelle nor Marlo showed up and so I was able to win the Port Wing Fall Festival 10K again. Whichever :) But hey, like my teammate's dad told me in high school - you can only race the people who show up, right? I actually almost didn't do the race. I ran 15 miles the day before and was worried about messing with me knee. Except, as I was talking to Leslie in a run earlier in the week, I realized that mostly I was worried about not being as fast as I wanted to be. Which is a stupid reason to not do a race, especially a race I want to support, so I did it. I started out super conservative and picked it up a bit as I went, let a guy push me to a 7 minute mile in the middle and finished feeling good. The roads were not great to run on since they had just re-graveled it due to some rain damage so the footing was lousy but my knee had no issues with it. It was fun to win, even if my time wasn't all that spectacular. Then I had two pieces of pie. Yum. But seriously, guys, I had no business winning with that time so I better see some more people there next year!

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The next weekend I spent pacing a friend through the woods of the Sawtooth 100 mile. After work Friday night, I headed to Finland to hopscotch/help crew until my pacing duties started around Cramer for the last 26 miles. So, way back when, post-injury, pre-night run, I was going to pace for 30 miles. Then I did that night run and realized I'd be doing a disservice to Marcus if I tried to keep up for 30 miles since I just wasn't in that shape yet. So I figured on 15-20. Then various events led to me doing the last 26, which was close enough, right? Marcus' parents then arrived at Finland and let me know Marcus was ready for company so I suited up and jumped on board for the next 12 mile section. His brothers then took over for the next two legs and then I brought him in to the finish for 38 miles for me. Sounds so easy, huh? We were moving a lot slower than Marcus wanted to go, which is the only reason I could stay with him. I became rather possessive towards the end and wanted to keep behind my runner the whole way. So the most important outcome, Marcus finished his first 100 mile and beat the sun, finishing in the light. I'm very proud of "my" runner - a lot of you know he got the cursed Sawtooth Shin and every step was painful with the added mental pain of the legs working fine otherwise. So I got a good lesson in being tough which will serve me well next year. And maybe even in a few weeks since I seem to have signed up for the Wild Duluth 100K . . . More on that later.