Beartrax Brownie Shuffle (4.2K)

Beartrax Brownie Shuffle (4.2K) - April 26th, 2015
time = 21:01
pace = 7:52 average
placed 1st in my age group (40-49) out of 30
placed 4th in women out of 86
placed 12th overall out of 121

photo by jeff crosby pre-race

47 seconds faster this year than last so that's something.  i love lapham peak and i love the people who put on this race.  the energy is always the best part.  this race is in memory of nancy sellars who was killed by a drunk driver in 2008 while out riding her bike.  the proceeds from this race go to help support the nancy sellars memorial foundation which in turn does awesome work to enhance public trails and waterways in southeastern wisconsin, promote bicycle safety and cyclists rights, as well as to educate the public on the dangers and impact that drunk driving has on our community.  it is a very worthy cause and one i wholeheartedly support with open arms and the smile i'm sporting in this picture.  with that being said... i am not a fan of the short and fast race yet here i am again.  last year i figured out that i'm a distance runner through and through.  i greatly enjoy running and getting to do it for a significant amount of time.  what i do not like is how i feel when i'm trying to run as fast as i can for a short period of time.  i hate the way it feels.   i even tried to warm up with a short run before the race and that didn't help as much as i thought it might.  i'm just not much of a sprinter at this point.  i mean... i could be if i worked on my speed but my goals are longer distance as opposed to short and fast.  those short races are no joke.  ugh...

did my best.  started out too fast per usual.  had about 5 guys and 1 girl in front of me who pulled away pretty consistently as the race progressed.

the start ~ photo by annie weiss

there was a little snafu at about a mile in where the course branched off of the 20K and the volunteer at that marker wasn't clear so i all but stopped to ask which way.  that sucked.  right then is where 2 people passed me.  one turned out to be a 5mo pregnant woman and the other was a heavy set man.  both of which i feel like i should have maintained pace with or been faster than... i'm disappointed in my performance from that point on.  before that almost stop i was hauling ass like nobody's business and i felt pretty good.  my ankle (oddly) doesn't hurt while running but is really really awful when i finish.  limping and everything.  *sigh*

why do i think i should have been able to stay ahead of those other two runners?  well, mainly because they had physical obstacles that i do not have and therefore i expect more from my body.  i feel like my body should be able to perform stronger and faster than someone who is in the midst of growing another human as well as someone who is carrying 2-3 times my weight.  it seems logical.  not that i would be a better runner exactly... just that my genetic makeup should make it easier for me to run harder and faster given that i am lighter and smaller. guess it doesn't work that way tho' and that is disappointing.  i need to work on my speed if i'm going to do anymore shorties.

the start ~ photo by kristine hinrichs

the start ~ photo by kristine hinrichs

this course is pretty nice.  just a few hills and mostly rolling trail.  the last (maybe less than) half is pavement AND downhill!  i kept coaching myself to make it to the downhill so i could just catch my breath there.  i thought i could catch up to the guy in front of me there but i simply couldn't make it happen.  he was just too fast.  i think he was maybe 15 feet ahead of me and while i was closing in i just couldn't catch him before the finish.  he finished 3 seconds ahead of me.  the amazing pregnant woman finished a whole minute ahead of me!  so fantastic!  all in all i'm happy with my time.  i was shooting for 20min but i'll take the 21min for now.  maybe i can get it down for next year. lol!

the finish... the guy who i simply couldn't catch
~ photo by kristine hinrichs

my typical "pained" finisher look ~ photo by kristine hinrichs

finished!  ~ photo by annie weiss

team instep! ~ photo by jeff crosby

2 weeks

iceage is 2 weeks away and my ankle is still being a brat.  i had some great running weeks and then my ankle was sore and oddly swollen on the outside just below my ankle bone.  i saw my PT and he was not concerned about the swelling as long as there was no pain.  lots of icing, some aleve everyday and taking a few days off with the hope that all would be well by my wednesday run.

on wednesday dave and i ran the majority of the beartrax 20K course since we both are supposed to race it tomorrow.  we cut it short because i was just having a really challenging time.  i haven't run since...

my ankle still does not feel right and since my A race this spring is iceage i'm making the decision to drop down from the 20K to the 4.3K tomorrow.  i'm disappointed but i know this is probably the right choice if i want to be my best for the 50K in 2 weeks.  i feel prepared for the race.  i ran the first part of the iceage course the past 2 saturdays to the tune of 21mi and 19mi respectively.  i felt like dying the first saturday and then absolutely fantastic the second saturday.  i am banking on my current fitness to get me through the race.

it turns out (after being examined and reviewed by one of the podiatrists i work for and my PT) that i am a light heel striker but a heel striker none the less.  what this means for me is that a zero drop shoe is not the best choice for me and they believe it is what has caused my ankle injury.  heel striking in a zero drop shoe is no bueno.  so i'm back in my new balance 1400's and that's just fine with me.  it's really too bad tho' because those altras were tax and now i've got two pairs of shoes i can't wear.

i just hope that the ankle thing isn't going to plague me through my whole racing season.  the podiatrist told me that 12 weeks of no running is what i would need to heal my ankle completely and what that would mean is another 12 weeks (give or take) to get back to my current level of fitness.  i took 2 weeks off last month and it was so incredibly challenging cardio-vascularly to do what i want to do... i am absolutely not interested in taking 12 weeks off.  that will have to wait until october after lakefront.

while this is disappointing it is also becoming my "norm" to run through some sort of stupid left leg, ankle, foot injury.  that left side is just a bummer.

i'll post my race report once everything is said and done.  i love running at lapham and i hope the weather is agreeable.  it's a beautiful course and i'm bummed i'm dropping down again this year due to injury.  i did the same thing last year.  gotta roll with the punches and keep my eye on the prize... under 6 hr 50K finish in 2 weeks.

Beartrax Brownie Shuffle (4.2K)

Beartrax Brownie Shuffle (4.2K) - April 27th, 2014
time = 21:48
pace = 8:10 average
placed 1st in my age group (40-49) out of 29
placed 3rd in women out of 110
placed 8th overall out of 163

i was much slower this year than last.  my time last year was 19:53 but given i was uninjured, running consistently, and the weather was nice enough for shorts... well, i think i'll take my time today and be happy with it.  i should mention that i was signed up for the 20k but given the way my leg has been feeling i went early this morning and changed my registration to the 4.2k to be safe.  i'd rather finish well in something short than have a DNF in something long that i'm ill prepared for.

kellie, me, and amanda pre-race

it was raining this morning and the wind is really gusting something fierce.  makes for a cold and clammy day in spite of the temperature being in the upper 30's low 40's.  last year at this time i was lamenting running in lapham peak as i could not call myself a trail runner yet.  i hated trail running because it was hard and i simply wasn't up for the challenge.  this year... i LOVE it.  i was so happy to be on the trails.  i wasn't pushing myself very hard because as of this race it had been 12 days since my last run.  so i was running comfortably and not balls to the wall as i had suspected i might run.  my foot had gone numb pretty quickly into the run and i was just being cautious of any pain that might arise.  thankfully there was no pain... just the numbness.  so i powered on.  i started near the middle of the pack so as to not take off too quickly (plus it makes me feel faster if i pass people which is always a bonus).  so i started passing people right away and continued to do so most of the race until there was only one large teenager in front of me.  he was so gross!  he kept stopping (in the middle of the trail i might add) to spit and then he'd lope off like a lanky golden retriever who hasn't quite mastered his legs yet... only to stop dead in his tracks and spit again.  seemed like maybe he was fighting a cold.  i caught up to him pretty quickly.  then i got passed by a woman in blue.  i stayed on her heels for awhile and then passed her on a downhill to be quickly overcome a moment later.  i assessed her age and determined that she was  younger than me and therefore not worth killing myself to beat so i held my pace as she quickly became a speck ahead of me.  yes... i actually had that conversation with myself about whether or not she was in my age group because all that matters is that i place in my age group because i'm freaking old.

the course (as recorded by my garmin)

about mid-way through the race the beautiful trail gives way to pavement and that's about where the gap between the woman in blue and i got too large to close and for what it's worth... she was fast.  the golden snot boy on the other hand... had he just held his pace and figured out how to spit WHILE running probably could have stayed ahead of me.  no such luck for him and i was in front of him in no time.  i like to think that i rocketed past him at light speed but it was more of a gaining akin to a snail overtaking another snail.

in the final downhill stretch another teenage girl passed me and i made the decision to not try and get ahead of her because again... not in my age group and for fuck's sake... my leg was numb.  the whole time i was trying to figure out how many people were ahead of me because well... that's how i roll.  why is it that running looks so effortless for these kids?  i mean... i'm busting my ass out there and this girl just glides past me like she's doing a little waltz.  when i look at the stats tho' it looks like i came in just before her not exactly beating her as we both have the same 21:48 time... our milliseconds must be different tho'... i really pulled it out around the last bend but i didn't notice where she was at that point as i was looking at the finish.  no matter how hard i try i simply cannot shrug off my competitive bug.

lastly, a little kid passed me up around the same time that teenage girl did.  earlier on i passed him and 2 others who were 3 deep, but man, those little kids get that second wind and they are fast.  again... no effort was made in this 10 year old's passing me.  none... he just slid right past me like he was on some of those heely shoes or something.  *sigh*  that kid beat me by 3 seconds!  i wish i could get a second wind like that but no dice... i was simply glad that i was still on my feet given that i have no endurance from all NON-running i've been doing lately.

i really love this race.  it is really short and always beautiful.  it is well organized and if you're not a trail runner per se it's a good way to get your feet wet (or muddy or dusty as the case may be) considering that only 1/2 of the race is on the trails.  today could have been muddy given the rain this morning but the beauty of a forest is that it protects the trail from a lot of the rain and the trail was totally dry.  i can't wait to get out in lapham again for my weekly runs.  i miss it so much.  all that nature just wrapping it's arms around me.  also, once in the woods the wind was mostly nonexistent which helps a lot. the only thing i don't like about this race is that they don't do age group awards.  i'm guessing because it's so short of a race.  the after race foods are awesome!  this is the only race i've ever been to that makes fresh oatmeal.  i cannot say enough good things about this race, lapham peak, or my community.

if you get a chance to come out and run this next year please do.  it is so worth it.  if not... there's always the colorama which is in fall.

the finish as photographed by my husband

obviously i need to work on my "finish face"

beartrax on sunday

"and one has to understand that braveness is not the absence of fear but rather the strength to keep on going forward despite the fear." - Paulo Coelho

 on sunday i'm running in the beartrax brownie shuffle.  i originally signed up for the 20K but given the state of my leg these past few months i've decided it would be in my (and my ego's) best interest to take it down a notch and run the shuffle instead.  i'm really hoping that given that i've not run in 12 days by the time sunday rolls around things should be feeling a bit better.  maybe wishful thinking but who knows.  all i know for certain is that all this NOT running has taken it's toll on my endurance and i pretty much have none at all so that is what concerns me at this point.  the shuffle is only a 4.3K but since it is on the trails i won't kid myself into thinking it will be a piece of cake.  to add to that it is supposed to rain.

i've never run a race where i haven't placed in the top of my age group.  given my purchase for competition i'm guessing that i will go balls to the wall and kill myself trying to win.  it is, after all, what i do.  i would rather not compete if i can't compete to my fullest potential and even without running consistently i think i can still pull it out for a win.  maybe not 1st place like last year but still... top 3?

the difference between this year and last year is that i've grown to love lapham peak so much that i am devastated by this issue with my leg.  i've not run in lapham since february 19th.  man, that feels like such a lifetime ago!  i keep hoping that the time off of my leg will give the pinch time to unpinch if that makes sense.

i'm just waiting for the new insurance to kick in so that i can go to a physical therapist and maybe get an MRI too.  i need to find out what is going on with this leg and get it rectified.  it is so frustrating.  the frustration is leading to some mild depression i think.  i'm not very good at recognizing that in myself so i'm not sure if that's what i'm feeling.  i just really need to run.