PNC Milwaukee Running Festival (1/2 marathon)

PNC Milwaukee Running Festival - 1/2 Marathon - November 6, 2016
time = 1:46:57
pace = 8:10
placed 10 in my age group (40-44) out of 125
placed 66 in women out of 934
placed 226 overall out of 1509
link to strava data


that's a PR people!  oh yeah!

BUT before i get to that let's talk about fueling on race day shall we?  again i slept SUPER badly saturday to sunday.  daylight savings got me all worried that my phone wouldn't update and i'd not get up on time.  so i tossed and turned most of the night finally getting out of bed before my alarm at a little after 4am.  my morning "routine" is a full glass of water right out of bed to get the innards moving and then i take the dogs outside.  by the time that's all done i'm generally ready for the bathroom.  the morning went off without a hitch.  i also usually eat one packet of instant oatmeal on race day.  it's just enough to stave off the hunger and doesn't make me feel icky when i race.

 UNFORTUNATELY for me... this time i unthinkingly added RAISINS!  whoops!  rookie mistake for sure... rookie mistake that i didn't realize until the next day.

in case you're sitting there wondering to yourself... "why not raisins?"  i'll tell you why not...

"Raisins soaked overnight and taken in the morning support bowel movements. The Council suggests a healthy raisin recipe: Combine 50% raw milk and 50% cool water. Eat two handfuls of soaked raisins twice a day, and sip two glasses of this water alongside. Besides this, eat light foods like squashes — lauki in particular is good — to regulate your bowel movement." ~ excerpt from ayurveda view on raisins

um, so yeah... all the poopings, but we'll get to that a little later.  something else to note is that it was about around 45 degrees to start and when i finished it had to be in the mid-50's.  this is the ONLY reason i signed up for this race... the fact that it was warm enough to race (for me).

we wanted to leave the house at 5:30am because lincoln memorial drive would be closing at 6am and i wanted to get a parking spot near the start/finish with minimal walking.  so once we arrived down there we sat in a line (not all that significantly long) for a few minutes and then got a $5 parking spot very close to the start/finish.  pro tip:  should have gotten the all wheel drive and not been so concerned about my gas mileage.  alas that wasn't what happened so now i have to concern myself getting stuck in mud and snow for ever and ever amen.

i imagined this... obviously over exaggerated. lol!

we parked on some mushy grass and i wondered for a minute if i'd be able to get out.  my new (1 year old) car only has front wheel drive and i'm not all that used to it after having a jeep with all wheel drive for the past decade.

after getting all parked and settled in the squishy grass i left my family in the car to go to the bathroom.  i drink a large amount of liquids in the morning and spend a good amount of time in the bathroom because of it.
there was no line and i was in and out in a jiffy.

i did notice that the line of cars trying to park now stretched well past where we ended up getting clogged up, and it looked at least a mile long.  by the time i got back to the car (it turned out to take me 10 minutes back to the car!) it was 6:20am and i was supposed to meet my oiselle volée ladies at the kite shop for good morning photos.  i stripped off my pj pants, lubed up my legs for running, grabbed all the things i would need, and we headed out.

there was a lot of really great energy buzzing in the air which just added to my joy and excitement.  i'm joyful because i've come back from my 8 month injury hiatus stronger than ever, and my excitement to be a part of this race was almost insuppressible!  this was going to be the longest distance i've tackled since my injury back in january!  even in training (or what could be called super minimal "training") for this event i never went longer than 10 miles.  so here we are... looking at 13.1 and hoping to PR at 1:45.

oiselle volée in full effect!  and this isn't even everyone... 

met up with the ladies and met some new friends to boot which is always amazing!  in case you didn't know i'm quite socially anxious (hide it well with the "fake it 'til you make it" mentality) so a big group of new faces makes me VERY UNCOMFORTABLE... got a picture and then we all went our ways to prepare for our races.  i was supposed to meet my mom's run this town ladies for a photo op at 6:45am... when that time came and went i realized that i would need to hit the head one more time before taking off.  tried to make some connections online to see where people were, but had to take off and get in the potty line.  it was HELLA long!  took me until about 2 minutes before the race started to get in there.  talk about cutting it close!

said goodbye to my husband and son and went to find my corral.  when i meandered my way up to the 1:45 pace group i found sheila!  we stood around and chatted; then another bird showed up (sorry love i don't know your name) and we too chit chatted.  next thing we know it's time to go!

my plan was to stick like glue to the pacers which i accomplished up until we hit st mary's hill.  have i mentioned that i'm not a good hill climber?  well... i'm NOT!  i started to lose the pace group by a few feet so i determined that i would have to catch up at the top on the straight away.  it seemed like the hill went on F.O.R.E.V.E.R... although when i look at it now it's only approximately .27 of a mile.

the struggle was really really real tho'!  

my legs not even 2 miles in

i started up the hill feeling strong and capable... that didn't last long.  before i knew it i was huffing and puffing, my legs felt like lead weights, and i was thinking about how much pain i was in instead of all the positive shit i am usually talking to myself about.  finally, i made it!  i was at the top and needed to lengthen my stride and push my pace to catch up to my pacers... this is the first of several times over the next 6 miles that i would force myself to catch up before finally being unable to do so at mile 7... but we'll get to that.

so i made it up the hill where the sparklers were sparkling, unicorns were dancing, and my body did the happy dance (only on the inside).  FREEDOM! i started to fly down the road towards my pacers arms... just kidding... their backs.  then i MADE IT! i caught up and could settle in.

the course is freaking beautiful!  so far so good... we ran along the lake and now we were on the east side.  my old stomping grounds... grew up right off of brady street and spent my college years over there too.  i miss living on the east side.  so much to do, see, and experience all within walking distance.  *sigh*

i digress... we ran down historic brady street where the crowd support was stupendous!  there's a bit of an incline near the west end of brady (it wasn't bad), and then we got to hit a downhill!

andrea and the dino

we ran under the holton street viaduct where there is a marsupial bridge  (built in 2005) that goes over the river for safe pedestrian crossing.  that was fun to run across and if i weren't attempting a PR i might have stopped and taken some photographs like my friend andrea (you can find her here) who stopped for photo ops at the swing park, with a dinosaur, and several other fun places on the route.  right after the bridge we got a sweet little downhill to the street below where we headed south into downtown.  i thought the hills were behind me and i began to feel light as air.  well, THAT might be 100% an exaggeration as i was still trying to keep up with my pace group who were running like little bullet trains.  all the while chatting away to each other as if this were a snail's pace... man, i wish it were that easy for me to run this pace!  incidentally, turns out that miles 1-6 were considerably faster than the necessary 8min mile pace needed to hit 1:45.  i'm not saying this was my downfall, but i do think it helped contribute to my failure.  you see... when i run on my own my pace varies but the average has been hitting under 8 min miles as of late.


anyhoo... i was happy to hit the flat land of downtown, running along the riverwalk was an astonishingly beautiful reprieve from the pain in my legs and lungs.  as we were running the short distance along the riverwalk i was mentally praising my good fortune when we hit wisconsin avenue.

 fun fact:  wisconsin avenue runs east to west (we were running west) and is a delicate,  constant, simply arduous, mind-numbingly challenging 1.80ish miles with a measly 97 feet of elevation gain.  it sure didn't FEEL like something so easy... it felt impossible.

as i watched my pace group slowly slip away within the first quarter mile of this stretch (that felt like a gentle mountain ascent; no i'm not exaggerating!) the woman i was running with this whole time behind the pacers turned back to me and said: "stay with me!"  i replied with breath that was barely mine... "i'm tryin'", and i watched the divide between us slowly grow and grow until i was so far behind there was no catching up now.  it was at this same moment that i realized i would need to find a bathroom pretty quickly.  thankfully in mile 7 (or was it 8?) there were glorious port-o-potties!  beautiful and gleaming in the sunlight... calling my name.

i went in and when i tried to lock the door... IT CAME OFF! the lock not the door ya silly goose!  as i cursed the lock, sat down, and tried to fix the lock whilst doing my business... i timed myself so i could lose no more than 1 minute.  i figured we had banked enough time that i should be ok if i didn't lose anymore than that.

jumped out of the port-o-potty in a practical sprint just as denise came out of the other potty!  she was running the full and went on to win as the first woman to cross the finish line!

so far mile 8 was my slowest mile yet at 8:57... not bad so i figured i was fine with the lost time.  so i lengthened my stride once again and opened up as best i could to once again make up my lost time.

i hit the turn around (effectively a descent) and clocked that mile at a 7:40.  made the righthand turn onto 16th street and lost my gumption.  the bridge is cool and it was fun to run over it with no cars, but my stomach was acting up again with no potty in sight!  i was really worried that i was not going to make it to the next stop without having to walk which i think causes me to subconsciously slow my roll thereby putting less strain on my innards.  mile 9 was still an excellent effort at 7:54.  got to the end of the bridge and went down a small hill to connect with bruce street which would ultimately take us back east and into the 3rd ward.

mile 10 was tough as i tried to run comfortably without causing stress to my bowels.  i was really needing to find another potty pronto!  i finally came upon another aid station with potties and handled my business... unfortunately i was there for almost 2 minutes this time!  very disheartening as i watched my hopeful PR slip away.

i got out of there as fast as my legs would carry me and finished out mile 11 at 9:36!  ugh... this was gonna hurt me for sure!

i really picked up the pace as best i could for the next 2 miles.  i figured if i could really push it i could try to make up at least some of the time.  which was now almost solely my focus only to be diverted while running around discovery world as it was pretty and new to me.  i really liked running on the wood walkway surrounding the facility so i took note of it.  as i rounded the building i knew i was maybe 1.5 miles from the finish, and i pushed as hard as i could until the end.

saw the camera and readjusted my face

 as i ran the final stretch i noticed several people who had finished and i was mentally trying to check their bibs to see if they were 5K finishers or half finishers... unfortunately my brain couldn't figure out what color bib was for which... the pain in my body was so intense that i started to cry.  

what pain looks like

i just wanted to finish as strong and fast as i possibly could.  i needed to beat my previous fastest time and i was angry that i had to make TWO bathroom stops on the course.  as i rounded the turn to the finish i saw the clock turn from 1:45 to 1:46 and i kicked it into high gear.  as i did this i heard a man making a TON of noise behind me as he pushed himself with all he had.  i can't remember if he finished before me or not but i think so... i think his sprint was stronger than mine, and as soon as i heard my name and crossed the finish line i burst into tears.  i ran that last bit at a 7:32 pace.  it was hard and painful and worth it!

i saw my husband and son.  i cried into my husband's chest as i collected myself from my effort.  i made my way down the finisher's corral gathering bananas, pretzels, milk, water, and cliff bars.  as i came out of the corral i hugged my son and husband again and smiled.  I DID IT!  i managed to PR and i'm counting it even if it's just a breath over 2 minutes.  my garmin counts my moving time at 1:44 so imagine if i didn't have to bathroom break?!?  i could have CRUSHED my goal!  next time...

the course support was great.  the volunteers were amazing and energetic which is oh so necessary when doing something hard.  it's nice to hear someone tell you to push through or that you're doing great when you feel like shit.  i liked getting to see the city on foot and that was the best part.  it is an entirely different experience than driving.  more visceral and real.  there's an attachment to it that you can't get in any other way.  running is freedom and life.  the world looks a whole lot different when you're running on it than any other way of traveling except maybe walking.  connection.

all in all i liked the course a lot.  the challenges were necessary and (while painful) made the course fun.  i like being pushed to my edge to see what i've got.  this course did that for me and for that i'm grateful.  there is nothing so rewarding as working hard towards a goal and attaining that goal.  i am stronger for this race.  if the weather cooperates i would certainly do this race again... but ONLY if the weather cooperates.  after all, we all know how i feel about winter racing.

finisher's "after tears" smile

and done!

InStep Trail Races - 1/2 Marathon

InStep Trail Races - 1/2 Marathon - September 19, 2015

time = 2:03:16 (42 seconds faster than last year)
pace = 9:25
placed 1 in my age group (40-44) out of 9
placed 5 in women out of 46
placed 23 overall out of 93
link to the strava data

interestingly i also received the masters award this year which (i think) means that i was faster than everyone 40 and older... or something.  not sure but i got a pretty sweet plaque out of the deal so that's awesome.

my sweet masters plaque

it rained on and off all night friday and i woke up to some rain happening at 3am.  i moved to wauwatosa from delafield so the weather can be totally different from here to there, but i had checked the doppler the night before and knew it would also be raining in delafield.  it was supposed to stop by the time of the race so i was not concerned.  before bed i took 2 imodium because i've been having a lot of problems with my gut on runs and wanted to avoid any issues whatsoever.  i had a goal for this race (2 hours), and i really didn't want my stomach interfering subsequently ruining that for me.  my alarm went off at 6:20am so i would have enough time to not have to rush.  took the dogs out, got dressed, had some juice, vitamins, and a banana.  once i handled all that morning business i headed out to lapham.

i got there around 7:30am.  it was low 50's, but was supposed to get to the mid-50's by race start.  it was cold.  i found dave since he was volunteering, and we chatted for a little while.  i ran into a bunch of other friendly faces and had some hugs and pictures.

at 8am i watched the marathoners take off... my friend nic killed it again with a 3:33:22 winning finish time.  it's always exciting to watch a race take off.

at 8:24am i lined up at the start.

at 8:30ish... we took off.  i had planned to run comfortably but still harder than normal.  i have completed the black loop 3 times in under an hour over the summer so i was feeling quite confident that i could maybe beat my time from last year.  all the overnight rain had made the prairies really wet and there were some puddles.  as we hit the first climb i was feeling really good.  my plan was to just motor along, try and run the whole of "gut buster", and not be pooped out once i made it to the top.  i managed to do all of those things and then get to BOMB DOWN the next mile of downhills.  so fun!  there were some mud puddles along the trail but they were easily avoided.  i really expected the trail to be much muddier than it was.  the temperature and cool wind that was whipping around now and again made for excellent conditions to run this race.

my strategy was to run everything that i could, and walk the couple of hills that i customarily walk... namely the one directly before "the wall", i also get to walk "asthma hill", and lastly one just before a long incline next to the tower.  i finished the first loop in 1:01:03.  not too bad but not exactly what i was hoping for.  i was definitely not bombing downhill as fast as i have been known to do which i believe directly contributed to adding some time.

moving on to loop two... i walked A LOT of "gut buster"... i simply couldn't make myself go any faster or harder up that damn hill.  everyone in front of me was long gone and there were really only a handful of people that were running a relatively similar pace as me.  none of which looked to be in my age group... and we all know that my goal is to win in my age group. lol!  running up that hill proved to be harder than i thought the second time around.  i tried... i really really did!  i commiserated with another male runner near the top who started walking just before we crested.  we lamented our misfortune of being on that hill a second time while alternately celebrated our good fortune in not having to run it again since we were only doing the 1/2 marathon.  silver lining people... silver lining.  finally got to the top and bombed my way down the other side.  it was glorious!

i run this loop so often that i know it like the back of my hand and can tick off the miles without even looking.  it is certainly an advantage in that i know exactly where i am and how much further i have to go.  it's a beautiful thing.  i think it makes it easier to run a race when you know what comes next.

by the time i hit "two tier" i felt so done.  my quads were burning.  oddly, my right shin (that i've been having so much trouble with these past weeks) was nearly painfree. whatever mike did at PT last week must have been well worth it.  even so... i walked A LOT of this hill.  in fact, i didn't even bother to try to run very much of it.  i figured i was nearly done and no amount of running now would make much difference in my time.  i suppose i could have maybe shaved off a minute on that hill... maybe.  although, the trade off might have been that i wouldn't have had the energy to bomb down the following hill... "magic carpet ride".  because "magic carpet ride" is longer than "two tier"  i'm going to believe that my choice to walk then run was the right choice.

i finished the final prairie strong and came into the finish with a smile on my face.  it was really great to see the faces of friends at the end.

i love this race.  i love this park.  everything about it is great.  it is well put together, great race director, and the volunteers are fantastic!  best of all it is so fun.  if you didn't get out there after last year's race report... you will really have to try your best to get out there next year.  there is a race distance for everyone now.  they even added a 5K this year... so there's that!

receiving my masters award

Summerfest Rock 'n Sole 1/2 Marathon

Summerfest Rock 'n Sole (1/2 Marathon) - June 13, 2015
time = 1:50:22
pace = 8:25
placed 16th in my age group (40-44) out of 264
placed 205th in women out of 2021
placed 644th overall out of 3344

when i checked the weather last night there was a 32% chance of rain at 7am.  when i re-checked at 4:45am this morning it had gone up to 100% chance of rain at 7am.  what a bummer.  so i checked the doppler because... doppler.

there was a huge storm headed our way from the south but veering east and planing to end up over the lake.  it looked as tho' there would be a downpour right at the start of the race.  i was not at all happy to see that.  krista is again in town from colorado to run this race (like last year) so we decided to carpool again.

when we arrived downtown traffic was pretty backed up and it took about 20 minutes to get parked.  as soon as we were parked it started to drizzle.  now, drizzle is no big deal... it was this "downpour" i was worried about.  we got our running prep on and headed towards the port-o-potties.

me & krista - photo by john g.

on the way there we ran into my friend john g. who was one of the event photographers!  it was nice to see a friendly face and he got a pic of us to boot.  hugs and introductions were had, and we moseyed on to do our business before hitting our corrals.  the potty lines went quickly and it was about 15 minutes until go time.  krista's corral was right there so we said our goodbyes and i started towards my corral.

when i got to my corral i expected to run alone and was contemplating my goals when i looked to my left and saw rani!  yay!  so i went over to her and we chatted.  we both were really happy to see each other and it turned out to be a no-brainer to run together.  while we were waiting to begin there was this woman in front of us.  she was very fit.  she looked like she didn't eat much but spent a lot of time maybe lifting light weights and/or running/jogging.  she was doing some VERY VERY dynamic warm ups to the tune of kicking people in her immediate vicinity.  rani and i were discussing the merits of such a venture in such a small space.  we agreed that it was odd.  this woman was an odd duck for sure.  she was in full makeup and swinging her legs like there was no tomorrow also... massaging her glutes like it was going out of style.  we couldn't decide if she was super elite or the complete and utter opposite.

when it was time to go that woman took off like a bat out of hell.  it was drizzling and i am happy to report that my choice in long sleeves up top and shorts on the bottom was a good choice.  i was appropriately dressed for once.  yay me!  our pace group started off WAY TOO FAST and we lost them within the first 2 miles.  oh well... so much for a 1:45 finish.

we caught up to dynamic woman within the first mile.  guess she took off way too fast and all that leg pendulum-ing did nothing for her.  we passed her shortly after that and maintained a lead for some time.

the miles ticked by and as always running over the hoan was beautiful.  the rain had stopped and the fog was so thick that nothing beyond the bridge was visible.  each time i run this race the experience is so different.  the next notable runner was a very colorful woman in hokas who stayed just a few paces ahead of us from the bridge on.  why she is notable will come later in the report.

mile 6-7 from the bottom of the bridge to lafayette hill was pretty uneventful except for rani's knee causing her a significant amount of pain.  she decided she would make the decision to bow out (aka slow down) after we crested lafayette hill.  once we made it to the top she said go so i did.  i needed to find a potty anyway.  so i took off and hit the potty near st. mary's.

lost 2 minutes there (mile 8) and took off sprinting.  caught up to rani less than (i think less than) a mile later where she told me that dynamic woman passed her.  i took off and just focused on my pace and passing people one by one.  i wanted to finish strong and since mile 10 is lincoln memorial drive and a big down hill... i knew this was going to be a good split!  i just kept focusing on form, breathing, and ticking off the next person in front of me.  sure enough that mile split was a 7:49.

keep it moving and keep breathing even... i've got this!  i feel great, my legs feel great... everything feels great!  oh my god!  look who it is... dynamic woman is a few people in front of me so i keep ticking them off, and i effortlessly pass her.  i leave her behind and never see her again.

this stretch is totally flat which is wonderful.  i just keep running and keep trying to pass the person in front of me.  my watch beeps and i look at it... ugh.  8:08.  pick up the pace!

i try to move a little faster and IT WORKS, but i'm starting to feel it.  i've done ZERO speed work this year and it's starting to wear on me.  i'm really trying to keep picking off the person in front of me.  a lot of these people started off really fast and are paying for it now.  i really want to finish strong!  i really want to PR, but i know that's not going to happen.

mile 12 beeps off.  7:52.  not bad... keep pushing!  so i keep pushing, but so do a couple of other women.  we play frogger for awhile with me winning some and a couple of other women winning some... only one mile left and i'm running up on the very colorful woman in the hokas.  i finally caught back up to her!  so i decide to push harder... it's only one more mile!  i can do this.  when i pass her she exclaims: "hey!" so without missing a beat i raise my right hand and wave to her over my right shoulder.  i can't even waste a moment turning my head or my pace will suffer... she laughs and i'm glad.

i am running as hard as i can which is still not hard enough for a PR.  it is all i can make my body do. my toes hurt and i'm pretty sure i'm getting a blister on my right foot just between my big toe and the ball of my foot.  i keep telling myself it's just a mile... i can do this!

unfortunately i am not as fast as i feel and i finish out the last mile at a 8:07.  still respectable but not good enough to meet my goal of finishing in under 1:48.  i came into the finish with a smile tho' and i am really happy about that.  normally i feel so awful at the finish that the pain on my face can be read from a mile away.

man, i guess i didn't look as good
as i felt at the finish line

beastmode or beefneck? finish face

walked it out to the end of the finish shoot, and read my text messages.  found out where krista was and then i saw rani in the finish shoot!  we hugged and she finished strong in spite of her knee.  only a 5min difference between the two of us so she did excellent!  then i saw the colorful woman and tapped her on the shoulder!  i told her she did a great job and we laughed about my passing her and the wave.  i love runners and how connected we are!

finished with a smile

rani, her boyfriend brian, and i stood around and talked a little bit and then we went to our cars.  i stretched it out and got ready to head back and wait for krista.

krista finished strong around the 3 hour mark and we unceremoniously met at the end of the finish shoot and headed to the car.  by then we were both done.  we did a little stretching at the car and headed home.

this race is always fun.  i really enjoy the course and will probably do it ever year if i can.  i love running over the hoan bridge and i think it will be all that more amazing once the repairs are done and it is completely open.  my hope is that they will go back to the original course and we will get to run an out and back on the bridge again.  june race in the books... now to prepare for dances with dirt in july.

InStep Trail Races - 1/2 Marathon

InStep Trail Races - 1/2 Marathon - September 6, 2014

time = 2:03:58
pace = 9:27
placed 1 in my age group (40-44) out of 8
placed 6 in women out of 49
placed 24 overall out of 103

THIS.IS.AN.AWESOME.RACE! if you read my blog at all you know how much i LOVE LOVE LOVE lapham peak.

the start/finish BEFORE we start/finish

it's my back yard and an easy go to when i need to get in some beautiful miles without thinking about them.  this race was a no-brainer so i signed up.  admittedly i was very intimidated because i run this so often and i KNOW how challenging the course can be.  it can take a lot out of a person so i was a bit concerned that i wouldn't do well on the second loop or after running the tower.

i woke up to a perfect day.  58 degrees and the humidity had dropped considerably.  it was sunny and cool... absolutely wonderful.  i pulled into lapham and got perfect parking in evergreen grove as i had hoped.  great timing too because it filled up right after i arrived.  once i parked i looked up and saw that i was parked directly behind my friend nic!  how awesome!  so i got out and introduced myself.  we chatted (me, his mother, and myself) and then she and i headed to the bathrooms.  once that task was completed i ran into a couple of other LPTR runners and since the marathoners were about to take off we headed over there to cheer them on. nic was running the marathon (FOUR of the black loop) and i wasn't the least bit surprised to see him in the lead.

the marathon started a 1/2 hour before the half so we chatted a bit and milled around near the start for a little while.  i was looking for my friend jim but didn't see him.  once everyone started lining up there was a pretty good group of LPTR runners and i cannot explain how wonderful it is to start a race with a bunch of friends.  no nervous jitters at all!  jim showed up and we discussed our goal finish which was the same so we planned to run together.

we took off and i pressed the wrong button on my garmin!  good thing i noticed right away because i had turned it off!  i got it started again and all was well with the world.  we took off hella fast, but since that part of the course is mostly flat it felt ok.  we ran all the hills and killed it on the downhills. the first loop went by pretty quickly.  we kept pace with a pack of about 4-5 people in front of us, but once we had to climb the tower we totally lost them.  i have no idea what happened to them.  the tower climb wasn't as bad as i thought it was going to be.  it was tough but mostly just the going up part.  the coming down was easy peasy.

throughout the entire race we were jackrabbiting this one guy in a blue shirt.  he was so good on the up hills!  it was crazy effortless.  he passed us every time and then we smoked him on the straightaways and downhills.  i honestly expected him to pass us at the end, but it never happened which was surprising.

we came through the start for the second loop feeling really good.  nic's mom told me at the end that she saw us but nic was coming through directly behind us and needed gear support so she couldn't say anything to us.  i had no idea he was right behind us!  so weird... the course isn't that big so we thought it was strange that we weren't really seeing anyone from the other race while we were running.

we started the second climb up "gut buster" and surprisingly were only a little bit slower.  11:50 min/mi pace compared to 11:08 min/mi pace the first go around.  this hill is crazy!  it's a half mile long (not counting a smaller part of the hill before it really starts to go up), and this is the fastest two times i've ever run it.



we kept trying to haul ass and we did really well.  there are only two splits that were not so fast.

mile 5 - which looks like the hills leading up to the tower, the climb at the tower, as well as the downhill after the tower so i guess that part was S-L-O-W...

mile 5

mile 8 - which looks like the little hills before "gut buster", "gut buster" itself, and then some of the hills after that.

mile 8

all of the splits

during the second loop we passed one girl on "gut buster" who was a marathoner, and the jackrabbit dude was with us.  after that we saw no one.  no one behind us and no one in front of us save for a couple of marathoners and a couple 7 milers that we passed.  for our race tho'... no one. jim and i decided that was a good thing because there was no way we were going to catch the people ahead of us and the people behind us we gapped big enough that they weren't going to catch us... all that was left was the damn guy in the blue shirt.  we decided he wasn't in jim's age group so not an issue. hahah!

eventually, we passed him up near the end on the "magic carpet ride" down hill and lost him.  i expected him to catch us here but he never came.  on this downhill we finally saw people ahead of us.  tim... one of the LPTR group was directly in front of us but we never did catch him.  much too fast for us.

at the very finish i put it in over drive and ran as fast as i could and got in just before jim.  funnily enough our finish times have him finishing seconds ahead of me.  we decided that he paid a higher entrance fee to get that done.  hahah!  actually, he probably crossed the start before i did and i just made up a little bit of time at the end because i think i was lagging a lot during that first loop compared to him.  he really is why i kept up that awesome pace.  if it weren't for him i would have probably had a much slower finish time and not gotten nearly so close to my goal!  i am so thankful for his encouragement and camaraderie today!  running something this challenging with friends makes it so much more enjoyable and endurable.  we had a magnificent time!  the gap between me and the second place finisher was 19:20 which i think is a significant lead.  i could have totally ran slower! hahah!  the gap between me and the third place finisher was 21:53.  (i'm talking age group placing here... just so that's clear.)  jim came in second in his age group.  the gap between him and the first place finisher was 11:24.  that's a pretty big gap.  then between jim and the third place finisher was a mere 2:03.  so close!  he ran such a great race! man, we killed it!  i'm pretty proud of that.

jim, maggie, and me right after we finished the race
photo by kristine hinrichs

my one complaint is that they didn't have any port-o-pottys right on the course.  i mean... i know where the bathrooms are all along this route but if you're running a race the last thing you want to do is go a few minutes off course to go.  there should have been a port-o-potty right on the sidelines of the start/finish so that all one would have to do is pull over, go, and start running again.  that would be my suggestion for next year.  other than that... aces.






if you get a chance to get out to lapham for a run, race, or hike... you will not be disappointed.  i will be doing this race again for sure!

all the bling with all the sweat and tireds

shows my 19 second time difference from starting my garmin a bit late

me and nic - finishers!

Dances With Dirt - Devil's Lake 1/2 Marathon

Dances With Dirt - Devil's Lake 1/2 Marathon - July 12, 2014

time = 2:15:17
pace = 10:19
placed 4 in my age group (40-44) out of 38
placed 28 in women out of 269
placed 130 overall out of 568

race start/finish - photo by tom chute

the announcer announced my "blankie" for winning 4th place
top 5 in each age group got a "blankie". it's pretty awesome.

i don't even know where to begin with this race.  i went into my first trail half fretting like crazy!  i had worked my stomach up into some crazy knots the entire week before.  turns out it was all for naught.

lets begin at the beginning.

friday late morning the husband and i packed up the car with both dogs and the boy.  we headed over to pick up a friend of the boy and then we were on our way.  as we were making the hour and a half drive up to devil's lake it was drizzling here and there so i was concerned about the weather.  the reports i had been watching like a hawk for the days leading up to the weekend were calling for scattered thunderstorms and alternating rain showers.  the forecast had gone from 20% to 60% and that left me a bit uneasy.  uneasy because setting up camp and then camping in rain with 2 dogs and 2 kids is a bear of a time... not because of running in rain.  running in rain would have been just fine with me.  anyways, we decided to stop for some food to wait out the rain and as it happened when we arrived in devil's lake the rain had passed and the skies were clear.  we set up camp and got comfortable.  once that task was accomplished we drove over to packet pick up which was effortless.  got my packet and then decided to have a little hike along devil's lake.

loving life the day before the race

we headed back to camp after a little rock hopping and dog walking.  once we made a fire, roasted some marshmallows and hot dogs, and did all the other campy stuff one does when camping we were well on our way to putting friday to bed.  i decided to turn in early-ish and as luck would have it the next campsite over from us had several kids, and a very animated dad telling an awesome bedtime story so we all got the benefit of that before lights out.  it was pretty great.

i woke with the birds well before my alarm and frankly didn't sleep very well.  not for any reason tho' considering we have an awesome tent, super comfortable blow up mattress, and i basically had all the comforts of home without being at home.  i had taken half of an imodium at about 7:30pm the night before (turns out too soon) because everything was running through me already.  such a bummer.  my nerves were fried as i was freaking about the unknown of the course (studied the route and everything), the fact that my stomach was not feeling good, and i just overall felt not good.  i ate some food and did my normal routine to get ready for a race and we headed over to the start so i could be ready for the 7am gun time (little did i know that the gun time was 7:30am... ugh.)

let's talk about my ridiculous nutrition plan (or rather lack thereof...)  i'm a poor planner when it comes to my nutrition for runs sometimes.  i always go into it with the best intentions and then FAIL.  i ate a hardboiled egg, some smoked salmon, a banana, and some cherry tomatoes with water.  um, yeah... then i had my normal vitamins as well as some tylenol, sportlegs, and about 1/2 a bag of sport beans.  i left my other bag of sport beans behind because i knew they would have GU on the course.  THAT was a mistake.  i failed to pack any nuun for my water bottle too so yeah... there's that.  so ill prepared.  i'm sure that accounts for all the pain in my legs even today 2 days later.  couldn't possibly be because i bombed ALL the downhills at FULL SPEED... nah, probably had nothing to do with that.

my wonderful husband got up, packed the dogs into the car, and drove me to the start at devil's head resort by 6:30am.  we arrived with very little fan fair, and i kissed my husband goodbye so he could head back to the kids as i would be seeing them all at the finish.  i headed to the bathroom and then to the start.  i thought it was strange that the start was totally empty at 10min to 7am.  so i start to wander around and find the list with the start times only to find that the 1/2 start time is 7:30am.  i text the husband to let him know and of course... my phone is not working.  no service up in the hills of devil's lake.  i basically had little to no service all weekend.  quite nice to be unplugged except when you need to talk to someone.

finally people start milling over to the start and the announcer says that they will have waves.  this is awesome because i've heard about things getting clogged.  because of what i heard i was standing right in the front because i did NOT want to get stuck behind a bunch of walkers first thing.  turns out the first wave was a 8min mile start... nope, not me.  i move back... next wave 8:45min mile start... nope, still not me.  let's scoot back a smidge more.  next wave 9min mile start and that's where they stopped and just had everyone line up behind that.

what the hell? let's be optimistic and start here right in the front of this pack!  yay!  i'm chatting with a couple of ladies and i hear my name... it's TOM!  woo hoo!  i didn't think i'd see anyone so that was great to see a familiar smiling face.  tom and andrea are two runners from my beloved LPTR group.  so i started with them.

the gun goes off and we're running!  the first half mile is flat-ish field with sometimes sandy, grassy, and/or dirt terrain to a very short paved section and then back to the first stuff which then led to a 2mi wooded incline on the ice age trail.  seriously, it is no joke.  this is the hardest part of the run in that because it comes first the desire (or maybe just MY desire) is to gung ho run it balls to the wall but really... a nice run/hike is better.  i found it really challenging to control myself and not allow myself to run it full force.  however, i knew and had planned for this 2 miles and kept telling myself to take my time.  although, i didn't take my time in the way i had original planned... i ran more than i walked but i'm glad that i did in the end as it helped my time a whole lot. i ran/hiked it the whole way and passed a lot of people.  don't get it twisted tho'... A LOT of people passed me too.  i tagged onto the tail of a few different groups of people, and in hind sight i should have passed some of these groups earlier than i did.  i should have passed them because i got comfortable at their pace when i know i was faster than they were, but i didn't know the etiquette of passing yet so i stayed put.  if i had passed them instead of staying it's possible i could have skimmed a bit off my time.

a weird thing:  i got a lot of comments on my tattoos which rarely happens in a race setting.  a lot of comments.  normally no one says anything to me about my tattoos in this sort of setting.  during this race i'd say that at least 8-10 different people commented in some way about my tattoos.  so odd.

anyway, i finally took the cue from some people taking innitiative to pass, and tacked onto a group of them. once i did that i started running my own race and left a bunch of people at an unmanned aid station about 2.6 miles in.

i started passing people a lot after that.  especially on the downhills.  i LOVE running downhill.  i run full speed and have no problem doing so which is what saves me in trail runs.  sure it's hard on my feet, but i make up so much time running full speed and most of all it is SO MUCH FUN!  that's the best part... how much fun it is.  it saved me in the end, but i'll get to that later.

the hardest part was trying to pass people on the single track trail, but i loved running with people.  there was never a time when i was completely alone on the trail.  there is a section of trail that is gravel which was also an incline and really challenging to run on.  it forced me to power walk which was disappointing.  i loved that the course overlapped the 50K/50MI course so we could see those runners and cheer them on as we passed... that was really nice.

at about mile 7 i was running with an older man who also loves downhills (he commented on my tattoos too) so i trailed him for awhile, and we ran a huge downhill together which was really fun.  he was great to run with, and we had a lot of fun running side by side flying down the hill passing runners as if we were the only two people there.  it was beautiful!

mile 9.8 i was with two other dudes who thought my garmin was wrong and that we were closer to the finish, but turned out they were wrong and i was very disappointed because MAN, I WAS TIRED! at that point from the exertion.  when i finally did get to the 2mi downhill i FLEW!  i passed so many people all i remember was that i kept saying "excuse me" and "on your left".  over and over and over.  those 2 miles were what i was looking forward to the entire race... i knew i would make up so much time on that downhill.  it's like having a turbo booster... i just fly like a crazy person and actually i heard some comments to that end.  likely because people expected me to take a digger or two (incidentally i didn't fall until about two tenths of a mile to the end which i'll get to).  i'm not sure i'd call this trail super technical but there certainly was a variety of different types of terrain and lots of rock, roots, and single track obstacles and obstructions which could certainly cause a fall if one were going at full speed downhill and didn't have dainty little tinyfeet.  just sayin'

i finally get to the last half mile which is mostly flat and i can barely clear a 10:33 minute mile.  i know this because i looked.  my legs felt like lead.  2 of the people that i passed gained on me and got me back but that's it.  all the rest stayed behind me.  then i almost missed a turn because i was following the woman i passed who passed me back and then we got back on the turn and i eat it.  right into a bunch of sand.

hands submerged to my wrists, water bottle covered in sand, knees to ankles covered in sand... ugh.  so gross!  no pain... just gross.  covered in sand and i can barely run at this point anyway!  now i have to pick my sandy ass up and keep running.  i get back up and turn the corner to see all the people!  thank goodness i fell just before all the people. hahahah!

now i've got all the people clapping and saying that there's only the one turn left and let's go and woo hoo and all that jazz.  i remember telling some guy that i just really want to walk.  he laughed.  i was so close to the finish i could see it and i want to walk!?!

race splits

i just kept plugging along and finally i made it!  it was a hard finish.  really challenging.  especially after how great that 2mi downhill felt.  super easy and effortless!  then that 1/2 mile of hell.

this race was so rewarding.  i stopped at an aid station around mile 6 i think and got a GU which ate a minute or so of my time.  turns out i missed 3rd place in my age group by 2 minutes, 2nd by 4 minutes, and 1st by 5 minutes.  FIVE MINUTES stood between me and 1st place in my age group.  i'm totally bummed about that.  if i had walked a little less on some of those hills or ran a little faster on some of those flats... i could have easily shaved those minutes.  i'm really happy with my time tho' as this was my first trail 1/2 and the time i will measure all the rest of my times against.   now i know what i'm capable of, and can try harder for next time.   it was also such a good time.  it certainly sets the bar high.  i would recommend this race to anyone who wants to experience a true trail race.  devil's lake is breathtakingly beautiful.  i loved it.

race route and elevation information

nature: has a way of breaking through

my poor feet hurt pretty bad after the race.  they take a beating when i bomb the downhills like that so i don't do that anymore when i'm not in a race situation.  i was pleasantly surprised to see that i placed and i got that sweet blanket you see in the picture at the beginning of this post.  the finisher medal is a bottle opener which is also pretty sweet.  the race director was adorable when he announced the winners and the food was great.  i love trail races.  i love running.

after the race we headed back to the campsite so i could shower.  i saw several of the 50K and 50MI runners pass through as their course ran right past my campsite. then my husband and i took the boys and dogs on a TWO HOUR hike from our campsite, down to the west bluff trail and then took that to the tumbled rocks trail and back to the campsite.  this was probably a very bad idea, but the kids were really great about waiting out my race.  this is what they wanted to do so i was determined to do it.  i cannot tell you how much i was SWEATING BUCKETS as i very slowly caboosed it up the bluff behind my entire whole family.  my lovely 9 year old dog was wonderful enough to putter along beside me.  i'm not gonna lie... it was tough.  the hiking guide says that the west bluff trail is "moderate/strenuous" and let me tell you... when you hike it after running a half marathon it truly is strenuous!  sheesh... it was a challenge to stay upright. lol!  i'm sure that's why my quads still hurt today.  the intention was to hike around the entire lake but we gave up that idea once we made it over this short trail (1.4mi).  it felt so much longer!  i'm not sure how far it was from our campsite but i'm guessing maybe 1.5mi.  add in the tumbled rocks trail which is 1.0mi according the the map below (but there's a sign on the trail that says it's 2mi so who knows) and that hike was about 4-5ish miles.  wow... it seemed like a lot more at the time.  here's a map in case you care.

i love devil's lake.  if you ever get a chance to get up there for hiking, running, camping, or just for a day trip... it is well worth it.  i had a great weekend and my experience with dances with dirt was amazing.  can't wait to do it again next year!

Brewers Mini Marathon (13.1mi)

Brewers Mini Marathon (13.1) - September 28, 2013
time = 1:48:42 (1:48:40 official results)
pace = 8:14 (8:18 official results)
placed  15th in my age group (40-44) out of 288
placed 171th in women out of 2440
placed 532 overall out of 4043


why do they call it a "mini marathon" when it's really a HALF marathon?  i've been wondering this for awhile now.  still... no one can tell me the answer so if you know please let ME know.  k? thanks...

the sunrise was set for 6:48am today so needless to say (but i'm gonna say it anyway) it was dark out when we left the house at 5:30am.

i'm not really nervous when i have races.  i was for my first few 5Ks and then for my first half but not really anymore.  i'm more worried about not pooping myself as well as pacing myself.  there were so many people and the energy was great!

lots of fun already.  as the sun came up i ran into my friend jeni and shortly after that megan arrived.  we decided to do one last bathroom break before we began and apparently EVERYONE AND THEIR MOM had the same idea.  we were in the bathroom line when the national anthem played.  we got to our corral just in time and then they announced that they were going to start 10 minutes late.  we were crammed like sardines!  i really intended to PR at today's race and i'm sad to report that i did no such thing.  as you can clearly see from my splits:

 

we were running really strong for the first few miles but it was long incline after long incline and i lost megan on the 27th street bridge at about mile 5.3 because she needed to sit down.  after that it was all downhill from there (and i don't mean logistically).  *sigh*

we started to lose the 1:45 pacers near mile 5 because of the long incline on clybourn st. (all the inclines were long... did i mention that?  let me say it a couple more times... REALLY LONG.  only 1 REAL hill but LOTS of gradual inclines).  so by the time we got to 27th both of us were losing momentum.  right after we parted ways tho'... i really just slowed down more each mile.  lame...

national ave. and 35th street were pretty flat so i spent that time trying to move my ass to no avail.  thankfully state street is a beautiful and welcome downhill right past miller brewery.  i stretched out my legs with longer strides, and tried to gain some lost speed/time there.  i managed to maintain the momentum for awhile after it leveled out, but still i knew that i wasn't going to finish in the time i was hoping for.  my legs were really tired although my foot felt pretty good with very little pain.  it was more just an annoying ache than actual pain.

next came hawley road which was the only incline that i'd consider an actual hill.  i actually walked a few steps here.  once i got up to the top tho' i started running again and felt pretty good.  another downhill came just before we got back to the stadium area.  it was wonderful to get a chance to stretch my legs again.  

when there's only one mile left we all got to run on the outer edge of the baseball diamond in miller park.  that was pretty cool because they put everyone's image on the jumbotron and there were so many people cheering us on from in there.

this was a really great race.  the sun was shining the whole time and the temperature was perfect!  there was a bit of a headwind but i'm thinking i wouldn't have even noticed it if i had been running a training run instead of a race.  

as i sit here with really fatigued legs i am really happy with this race.  i'd probably do it again next year. it was well planned and wonderfully organized.  the food at the end was awesome and it just seemed to go on and on... table after table of goodies.  the police were awesome blocking off all the streets and the volunteers were supportive and positive.  i had a really great time today.

all photos by therd