Lapham Peak Colorama Run (5K)

Lapham Peak Colorama Run (5K) - October 6, 2012
time = 25:35
pace 8:14
1st out of 18 in my age group (40-49)
placed 47th over all (out of 249 finishers)
12th among the women (out of 137)

i completed this run one month after the tough mudder. for 2 weeks after the mudder i was completely out of commission because my ankle was a mess. i was limping and unable to use my ankle normally much less run. i was able to begin running again last week so i wasn't expecting much from this run and to my surprise and (dare i say) pride... i did quite well. i think the 2 weeks off somehow shoved me over the speed plateau i seemed to be stuck on. i simply couldn't run faster than 8:30 or so and now i'm consistently running faster than that without much more effort. this course is in the Lapham Peak State Park again and it is pretty hilly. in fact, right off the bat there is a huge hill which i thought was going to do me in so i took my time and just made sure i could breathe... i figured i would just pick up the pace on the straights and slow down on the hills... admittedly i did walk up parts of a couple of the hills and i guess the downhills must have helped with the lost time there. i sprinted to the finish which helped too and i'm not going to say that this race was easy because it was not. my 10 year old son did the walk with my mother-in-law and he decided to run about half way through so he finished with about a 15 minute mile pace... i think i might be able to get him running!

next summer i think i'm going to try for some 10k runs. i want to make it easy on myself tho' and not do any that are hilly. where i live is pretty wooded and country so the races out here are always bound to be full of hills and hard which is good for me when i do flat runs because they're easy then. all in all i'm so happy with my performance today. it was only 48 degrees and windy too! fall is here!

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Tough Mudder 12 Mile Obstacle Course

Tough Mudder 12 Mile Obstacle Course - September 8, 2012
time = 3 hours and 5 minutes (not officially timed)

the obstacle course was crazy hard. it was also the most fun thing i've ever participated in so far in my whole life. today i am in pain all over. i did this run/obstacle course on a bum right ankle. i haven't gone to the doctor but after talking to my aunt who is a nurse we determined that i've likely got some serious tendonitis going on and will only truly recover with rest and no running until it's healed. the first 9 miles were good... i took 2 excedrin and 2 aleve before the event and then by the last few miles i was in complete agony. we finished tho' and it was amazing! it was so fun! i can't even put into words how great it was. there were over 30,000 people there and so much love everywhere! everyone was helping everyone else and encouragement abounded. it was truly a beautiful thing... we laughed so much! it wasn't even hard to run that much! i loved every minute of it. i will absolutely do it again next year! i'm so excited to do it again!




UPDATE:  yesterday i participated in the tough mudder in cascade, wi which is about an hour and a half from where i live in delafield. i've been waiting for this event for months and the anticipation has been building equally as long. i got up at 5:45am after only about 5-6 hours of sleep and we left at 6:45am. we arrived to a long line of cars at about 8am. the first wave took off at 8am while ours wasn't set to go until 10am. i was already feeling quite nervous. i was meeting my team there so trying to get that altogether was nerve-wracking.

parking was easy. checking in was a breeze... everything was totally smooth until we tried to find our people. the event is huge! there were supposed to be 30,000 people there for it so we wandered around for a good hour before we finally found anyone. angie was the first to find us and then after that everything fell into place. we found kelly and gert next and we were all set.

the running was a piece of cake. i thought that was going to be the hard part. i've got an ankle injury that i've been nursing for a few weeks now but i took 2 excedrin and 2 aleve before leaving the house in the morning so i was actually feeling pretty good upon the start. the first 9 miles were good but the last few were excruciating. the obstacles were great! some were easy but some were impossible without help from teammates and/or others. it truly is about teamwork and camaraderie as opposed to the fastest time. i absolutely love that! it was so much fun! i will be doing it again next year.

Dirty Girl Mud Run (5K)

Dirty Girl Mud Run (5K) - August 18, 2012

time - approximately 35 minutes (it wasn't officially timed)

the obstacle course wasn't difficult nor was the run. it was cold (55 degrees) when we arrived but warmed up to near 65 or so by the time we started running. it was fun. i won't do it again tho'... there weren't nearly enough obstacles between the running and a lot of the running/obstacles were in a field and it was roped off like a line at disney or something. back and forth back and forth back and forth. not too fun... boring actually. all in all it was a good experience with good friends and i'm glad i did it.

Prowl The Peak Run (5K)

Prowl The Peak Run (5K) - August 1, 2012
time = 27:47
5th in my age group (30-39)
placed 68th overall (out of 196)
21st among the women

this was such a challenging run. first of all, it was at night. started at 9:25pm. there was a delayed start because there were lighting difficulties on one of the hills where they had to use car headlights to light the course. second, it was held in lapham peak park which is in the kettle moraine forest near my house. it was held on the ski trails. notably i am NOT a trail runner so this was so so hard! there were a few hills that i had to walk a few steps to catch my breath. all in all i'm a bit disappointed by my time, the fact that kids and the elderly were passing me, and the fact that i actually had to stop running from time to time... but i completed it and i guess that's a good thing. i'm going to do it again next year and see if i'm any better.

UPDATE 9/5/13:  i failed to follow through with the 2013 race.  i've been having serious GI issues and tapered off my runs until i could figure out what was going on with my body.  therefore this race was a DNF considering i never even went to get my bib.  turns out that my issues are gluten related and i'm sensitive to that.  after modifying my eating habits i'm happy to report that my body is getting better and i'm able to run without excessive bathroom breaks.  yay me! 

St. Mary's Bell Tower Run (5K)

St. Mary's Bell Tower Run (5K) - June 22, 2012 - First Race Ever
time = 25:53.16
2nd in my age group (30-39)
placed 33rd overall
11th among the women

this is the first race i've ever done and honestly i thought i was going to die. little kids were passing me all over the place. i thought i was going so slow so i'm really happy with my time. i had no idea how things work so afterwards my friend and i just went to the festival and got drinks and watched the kids ride the rides... i had no idea i had won anything until the next day when i sent an e-mail looking for my time. learn something new every day i guess.