Ice Age Trail 50 (1/2 Marathon)

 Ice Age Trail 50 (1/2 marathon) - May 9th, 2026

time = 2:31:05

pace = 11:32

placed 7th in my age group (50-59) out of 34

placed 42nd in women out of 148

placed 116th overall out of 298

strava data here

i was supposed to run the 50K this year, but the training for longer distances historically has proven that i will injure myself.  this year was no exception.  a couple of months before this race, i was sick, and when i went back to the gym after 2 weeks of illness, i managed to pull my sartorius muscle in my left leg.  incidentally, it is the longest muscle in the body, running from the inside of the knee to the outside of the hip.  i pulled it on a bulgarian split squat and just never let it heal, as is my MO with my body.  i've gotten better at listening to my body, but sometimes... i still just work through pain like a dummy.

so i ended up not running for the 2 weeks before the race.  i was also supposed to run chippewa this year again and had to drop from that one too. disappointing for sure but again... trying to listen to my body.

i was going to drop from iceage as well, but changed my mind and dropped down to the 1/2, which i'm really glad i did.  i love love love these races and am always so thrilled to be a part of it.

i arrived at nordic really early so that i could see gabby off as she was unexpectedly running the 50K.  i had a bit of fomo that i had dropped, but just told myself again and again that it was the smart move. 

the most notable thing this year is that i FORGOT MY SHOES!  i went back to my car after seeing gabby off and started getting my things together just to realize that of all the things... i forgot my shoes.  i almost started crying.  i gather my wits and then head over to the merch table and tell tina what happened.  she told me to go ask jeff to make an announcement.  so i walk over to jeff (the race director) and ask him to make an announcement.  he does, and 2 wonderful women come up and offer me their shoes!  i love this community!  this would never have happened in a road race. so i borrowed some woman's shoes (never even got her name!) and went to gather the rest of my things and get ready for the race.

the race went well.  i wasn't fast, but i felt good the whole time... with the exception of my feet.  my calves started cramping within the first 2-3 miles, and that lasted a few miles, but then i also felt blisters forming.  i was able to run through them and finished strong.  i'm pretty proud of this race since i barely ran the weeks before and nothing really hurt besides the blisters.  all things considered, i think i did a pretty good job for having run in someone else's shoes.  quite humorous. 

i'm sticking to the 1/2 going forward.  i'm getting really tired of always having some sort of injury.  it's now about a month later, and my sartorius is still wonky.  i can't say it hurts exactly, but it's not 100%.  i haven't run yet this week since my weekend miles last week aggravated it, and i just felt like i should rest.  

next up is my birthday run.  gabby and i are going to attempt rim to rim to rim.  she seems to think we can do it, no problem, but i have my doubts.  this old body likes to give me trouble, but maybe, just maybe, this will be one more accomplishment i can check off.

Ice Age Trail 50 (1/2 marathon)

Ice Age Trail 50 (1/2 marathon) - May 10th, 2025
time = 2:17:15

pace = 10:29

placed 5th in my age group (50-59) out of 34

placed 23rd in women out of 151

placed 70th overall out of 285

strava data here

the last time i ran this race was in 2019.  i ran it better (aka faster) then, but i was also 6 years younger, and not in menopause.  although i suppose i can't really blame the menopause, but i am constantly fatigued, which is my new normal since going into menopause. so there's that...

notably, everyone in my age group who beat me was also older than me, so that maybe debunks my menopause theory. 

this year, they changed up the parking structure and were shuttling people in from the nearby (10 min drive away) high school.  my anxiety was really high going into this race for some reason.  i was worried about parking and wanted to have my car close, so i went to nordic at 7am even though my race wasn't until 9am.  gabby and michael were there already because michael's brother was running the 50-miler, and that took off at 6am, i think.  

the 2 hours went by very quickly.  my brother, sister in law, and nephew were coming and set to arrive around 8:30am.  i talked to a couple of people i knew, and while i was talking to someone, dax called me.  i turned around and there he was, so he also came out to support my run.  i'm really fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.

i was still feeling nervous for some reason and (in hindsight) didn't get enough warming up in before the start of the race, but that's neither here nor there.

i got changed into my running gear and then my family arrived.  we said hello and talked until it was time to line up for the start.  i tried to position myself towards the front middle of the pack so that i wasn't going to be stuck passing people right away.  i still got stuck in a clump of people, but then everyone found their strides and spread out.  the first mile or so, my achilles tendons were talking to me and sort of burning like they were doing too much.  i made note of it but everything else on my body felt really good so i just worked through it.  it eventually went away and felt fine.

i went out WAY TOO FAST per usual.  sheesh... i was trying to temper my stride and keep it at around a 10.  i did fairly well after the first 2 miles, but had to really pay close attention or i'd fall back into a faster pace than preferred.  this ended up being my downfall for the second loop.  too fast the first loop, and then the heat came, and so did the struggle bus.

i came through the start/finish after the first loop at the 1/2 way mark and was already feeling the warming day.  my fingers were starting to swell like sausages, and my handheld was nearly empty.  got some water from emily at the aid station and then continued on my way.  i walked out of the start/finish and got beyond the bathrooms before i started running again.  not a good sign. foreshadowing maybe? 

at about mile 9 the chafing began in earnest. i stopped at the aid station kevin was manning to slather some vaseline on my thighs, joke with the volunteers, and then get moving.  there was a woman who i believe to be in my age group switching positions with me through the whole first loop back and forth and i decided that i wanted to get in before her.  she was coming up behind me while i was at the aid station so i took off to try and stay ahead of her.  honestly, if it weren't for that goal i probably would have run in slower than i already was running. 

i had an A goal of 2 hours, B goal of 2:20, and C goal of finishing.  i always go into every race with an A, B, C goal set.  the A goal is usually a little unrealistic but still possible, the B goal is usually completely doable but challenging, and then the C goal is when all else fails... just get it done.  one foot in front of the other and anything can be accomplished. i managed to stay ahead of her until the finish while several others passed me in the last open prairie stretch before the last set of hills to the finish.  nothing was hurting but for some reason i could not get my "go" to go... i was really fatigued and just kept wanting to walk.  so. many. hills.

i ran into the finish as fast as i could and managed a pretty solid time.  i almost cried several times in the last few miles, as one does, but its nearly impossible to run and cry at the same time so that works in my favor.  i suppose that i'm happy with my finish, but also a tiny bit disappointed because i really wanted to be faster.  the first loop made me think that i could get it done, but i guess there's no accounting for all the uncontrollable factors that impact a race.  i'm not acclimated to warm weather running yet, and this race being in may makes it challenging to know what weather to expect.  for me, these things make a difference.  i've noticed that things that didn't impact me years ago when i was running/racing are now factors to consider in my running.  weather, fueling, etc... 

as always, this race is the best.  the race director does a wonderful job, and all the volunteers are really great and supportive.  everyone involved with this race wants the runners to do well.

the iceage 50 is the oldest trail race in the country. people come from all over to run the various distances (50 miles, 50K, and the 1/2 marathon). i’ve run the 50K twice. completed it the first time (in 5:34) and DNF’d the second time at mile 19.9. this is my second time running the 1/2. the first time i finished in 2:06. so a smidge slower this time coming in at 2:17 but i'm not complaining!  my body works, i'm running again, and i've got a lot to be grateful for.  life is really good.  

Chippewa Trail Races - 20 Miler

 Chippewa Trail Races - April 26, 2025
time = 4:32:05

pace = 13:20
placed 4 in my age group (50-59) out of 11
placed 10 in women out of 43
placed 29 overall out of 80
link to strava data

a lot of trail runners i know run this race annually but neither gabby nor i have ever run it so we decided to give it a go.  the plan was to run it "comfortably" as we both are training for other things and didn't want to exactly "race" this race.  we arrived in chetek on friday afternoon, found northwoods best inn, and got our stuff situated there.  asked the front desk for food recommendations, and she recommended gilligan's (which i might add is on 8 1/2 avenue.  incidentally... a lot of the streets were fractions 8 3/16 ave, 5/16 ave, 25 3/8 ave, etc... which we laughed about.)  other options were "joe's b&b bar and grill", "phil's bar and grill", and "mary's cafe and pub", all on the same block. 

gilligan's was as expected.  a little bar and grill on one of the many bodies of water up in chetek.  the food was good.  the place was empty.  it was also 2:30pm, so there's that.

we ate, we left, and nearly forgot we had to go pick up our bibs.  we drove the 25 minutes to the david r. obey ice age interpretive center. we looked at a bunch of animal pelts, stuffed animals, live animals, picked up our packets and headed back to the "inn". on the way back we stopped for ice cream and candy at the aptly named "custer's cones & candy". 

once we got our food, bibs, and sugar fill we headed back to the "inn" for the rest of the day/night.  we watched some bad tv until lights out, and that was that.  the place was nice enough. no frills, and the rooms were clean.  no muss no fuss.

saturday morning started at 6am.  we both slept pretty badly for various reasons, but race day is race day yay!  i ate the rest of my steak and potatoes for breakfast, and we were out the door by 7:30am for an 8:30am start.

the weather was a bit cool, but we knew it was going to warm up fairly quickly.  the race starts at the center on the top of a hill.  i think we clocked it at a quarter mile maybe... i don't remember.  the beginning of the race is a downhill which ended in a muddy section of trail before continuing around and then back up to the road.  we ran on the road for a short distance and then headed out on the iceage trail.  the majority of the race is on the iceage trail with glorious views, many little lakes, and quite perfect conditions.  very few muddy spots, but lots of roots and rocks for our dancing pleasure... or if you're me tripping and falling pleasure.

this race is an out and back with the 10 mile aid station turnaround on a short stretch of road.  we picked up a man, whom i started calling our caboose, right at the beginning of the race, and he stayed with us most of the time.  we lost each other here and there, and then lost him for good somewhere between miles 13-15.  the 10 mile aid station was stocked with nut roll candy things, snickers, fruit snacks, gatorade, water (of course), and some other snacky type things. we were hoping for some real food, but you get what you get.  around mile 13ish, i started chafing (thighs) and kicking myself for not bringing the lube along.  i really didn't think i would need it... i was wrong.  i won't make that mistake again.   my hip flexors also started talking to me.  i managed to eat shit twice (once fairly early on and then the second time near miles 16-17) and tripped without falling twice... no injuries tho'... just a little bit of a skinned left knee.  i pulled my right glute rock climbing on the tuesday before the race and was pretty worried it was going to be problematic, but nope... absolutely no pain at all on race day.

we were leapfrogging a couple of people (and groups) throughout the race and picked a woman in denim printed spandex running shorts and a group of four younger women to beat to the finish.  we passed up denim shortly after the 10 mile turn around (which incidentally was a pretty big dirt road hill) and about 1 mile after that we passed the 4 horsemen because they took a wrong turn and had to back track to get back on the right trail... they never caught back up to us.

eventually we were running grouped with a couple of older people, and we just stuck with them for some time.  there was an aid station at mile 3, and gabby and i discussed it and decided not to stop going out or coming back.  this allowed us to pass up a few more people who did stop on the way back.  the goal then became to stay ahead of all those we passed and get to the finish as quickly as we could.

i was really hurting by then and having a lot of trouble with my hip flexors.  i had to give myself an internal pep talk to keep it moving.  gabby was wonderful as our pacer and kept us on track with a pretty steady pace throughout.  i, as we know, have a lot of trouble with consistent pacing and tend to go out too fast and poop out at the finish.  not so much this time, which i'm grateful for.  we kept ticking down the last 3 miles, and as we came back towards the start, we were met with a bunch of mud on the last stretch to the center.  all of the places that were a little muddy on the way out were now very muddy with the late morning sun, and there wasn't much in the way of avoiding it.  so tromp through the mud, resulting in wet mud-covered shoes and legs, it was.

the finish is back up that original hill, and to be fair... it's more of a 3 tier rolling hill and very demoralizing.  as we were heading for it, i had a baby breakdown with a couple of tears, but it's virtually impossible to cry and run at the same time, so run we did.

gabby had to go to the bathroom since before the last aid station, so with a bursting bladder and an apology, off she went.  she ran up the last 1/3ish of the hill while i walked it out, trying not to cry.  

i tend to cry when i do hard things and am in physical pain.  the race was really fun, well supported, in a beautiful setting, and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  

came through the finish with all the other finishers who came before me hanging out, sitting around, eating and resting after a job well done.  i dropped myself in the grass near the finish and watched others come in while i caught my breath, drank some coke, and ate some chicken noodle soup (although i didn't eat much as it was hot and not at all what i wanted to be consuming).  all in all we had a wonderful time and i would absolutely run this race again. 

next time tho' i will stay overnight saturday night too, as we ended up staying after the race for only about 30 minutes and then got in the car for the 4 hour drive home.  no bueno!  it was really challenging to drive home right after running 20 miles.  we stopped a few times to stretch and once for food and gas.  i have nothing but good things to say about this race.  i'm really glad i did it, and i'm really grateful for having such wonderful friends as gabby, who will sign up for a race 4 hours away on a whim.

do hard things

i say this to myself a lot.  i mean... a lot.  there are some seriously difficult things that i live with every day and have for a very long time in my personal life so i try to find the most wonderful things about each day even when it seems like it's the shittiest day ever.

i've had a pretty tough 34 days.  it's been 34 days exactly since i sprained the fuck out of my right ankle.  sprained it so bad i thought it was broken.  see my previous post. 

today i ran.  i ran deliberately slow and controlled and oh so careful because i have some goals for 2020 to do some very hard things and i need my ankle to allow me to do these very hard things.

my ankle is achy and sore but painless.  running felt wonderful but hard.  my cardio has suffered with that short break but nothing to worry about.  my training starts in earnest the second week of january so i've got time to get it together before then.

today i did a very scary thing.  i signed up for the iceage 50.  i sort of want to puke.  i've run the 50K before and never in a million years thought i'd ever want to run 50 miles... but here we are once again proving never say never is indeed a thing.

“Courage is not the absence of fear. 

It is rather not letting your fear control your actions” 

~ Brett Harris

sometimes you have to do hard things to know you're alive, strong, and that life is as beautiful as you know it is.

when it rains it pours... otherwise known as a rolled ankle

gah... so after my last post about how i NEED running to be sane i went out and ran again that sunday because well... everything felt great!  the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, my smile was a mile wide, and basically rainbows were shooting out of my ass.

then it all came crashing down.

i was about 1.5 miles from home on a beautiful trail that runs along the river and i rolled my right ankle.  i crumpled to the ground as the sky did indeed fall all around me.  i laid there in the mud for a little bit chanting the mantra "please don't be broken, please don't be broken, please don't be broken" over and over again through tears.

then i took a breath and reasoned with myself that if i could stand on then it wasn't broken. 
so i bore weight and... i could stand on it.

then i reasoned that if i could walk on it (in spite of the instant swelling just above my shoe line) that it wasn't broken. 
so i took a few steps and... i could walk.

then i convinced myself that if i could run on it then there's absolutely no way it's broken.
so i ran home.

while it hurt a little it didn't hurt like i expected a break to feel.  i've broken another bone before (shattered my right wrist in 2007) and just now i'm remembering that it didn't hurt at all for about 2 hours.  then hole-e-shit it hurt SO MUCH!  well... i ran home and it didn't really hurt and i figured that if it was broken there was no way i would be able to do that.

when i got home i asked my husband to look at it and judging from his reaction... i guess i should have called him to come get me.

as soon as i took the shoe off my whole ankle swelled up like a balloon.  i basically took a shower and then sat on the couch with ice the whole rest of the day.  then on monday i went to the doc and she had a little looksee and told me that it wasn't broken but very badly sprained.

*sigh*

being that i'm not feeling all that mentally stable right now this felt like the end of the world for a hot minute.  then i dusted off my brain and took a breath. 

the nurse said 4-6 weeks but i'm not in a boot so that's something.  my ankle was so swollen the first 1/2 of this week that i couldn't get a real shoe on my foot.  today it's still swollen (6 days later) but at least i can see my ankle bones now.  before it was cankle city!

there's a pretty impressive bruise that goes from just above my ankle bone on the outside all the way along the whole base of my foot and ends just before the pinkie toe begins.  mostly the bruise hurts but the foot/ankle... not so much. 

guess 2019 is really going out with a bang.

winter blues... its a thing.

so i got a stupid shin splint in my stupid right shin back in september and i ran through it like a dummy because i had a race coming up that i love and wanted to do well in.  after the race... well, i've been running sporadically at best.

i averaged 1 run a week for 5 weeks in a row and then i felt pretty good so i ran 3 times the week of 10/21-10/27 and then my shin started talking to me the morning after the 3rd run.  no pain but i could feel whatever it is in the shin that is a shin splint... ligament, muscle, whatever hurts.  i'm too lazy to look it up right now so you'll have to use your own google skills on this one.  so i decided that day that i would wait until december 1st to run again.

guess how long that lasted?

until today.

i ran today.  i NEEDED to run today.  it got really cold, dreary, and freaking snowed on halloween so i've been less than good this week.  i've been borderline depressed and just full of unease and malcontent.  i NEEDED to run.  so i taped my shin, hoped for the best, and ran 3 miles.  it was a glorious 3 miles.  it is beautiful outside and the air smells amazing and the wind on my skin was amazing and my labored breathing was amazing and my working muscles were amazing and everything about it was amazing.

which brings me to what people like to call seasonal affective disorder.  apparently, it IS a thing.  so i wonder how it correlates with your run of the mill all the time depression? 

my family has a history of mental illness and depression.  how this has passed on to me is in the form of manic depressive disorder and deep depressive states.  running has all but cured this garbage from my brain.  when i run regularly i have very few if not non-existent episodes of wildly varying mood swings.  my moods are stabilized by regular running.  my highs are (seemingly) normal and my lows are (seemingly) normal.  i have not been medicated in many many years thanks to running.

so how do i balance my brain if i cannot run?  i also have a bit of an obsessive/compulsive issue as well and when i switched my focus to running this has proven to be alternately a bonus to my running and a detriment.  it is a detriment because i can't not run.  i have run through injury after injury.  i get really paranoid when i don't get to run regularly about my fitness and weight gain.  i get really in my head about these things to the point of obsession.  i begin to obsess about the foods i put in my body and how much.  when i get to run regularly i do not obsess about any of these things.  i eat healthy and what i want.  i don't restrict my diet when i run and i honestly do not think about food at all other than when i'm hungry i eat it.

i NEED to run.  i NEED to run weekly.  i NEED it to function properly in this world.  it reduces my stress to nil.  it makes me feel good.  it gives me something to do that allows me to see the beauty in my life, and appreciate all that i have going for me.  it makes me a better wife, mother, and friend.  it allows me to see that nothing in my life is a chicken little sky is falling issue.  before running my life was very dramatic.  my brain was very dramatic.  everything was life or death... and living with that sort of stress in one's brain is really really hard to do. 

today i am calm.  i am positive.  i am freaking happy.

this is because i run.

so... i am panicking about this stupid shin splint and the amount of time i will have to wait for it to go away so that i can not die.  see... dramatic as hell is my brain off running.  lol!

in all seriousness tho' i'm losing it.  i need to run and am so grateful that my body allowed me to do it today.  once a week is not enough tho' so i hope that i can pepper it through every other day or something right now... we will see.

i post this (for one) because i want you to know that you are not alone. 
i post this (for two) because i want you to know that it's ok to have mental illness
i post this (for three) because i want you to know that there is nothing wrong with you if you too have a mental illness

i don't really talk about this garbage ever because i don't want anyone to look at me with pity or in a different way because my brain works differently.  i don't want to be viewed as weaker or broken because of my brain.  i went many years believing that i was broken and that something was wrong with me, and even tho' i KNOW that there isn't anything wrong with me... i still need to maintain the things that help keep my brain in check and KNOWING that i need to do these things is important in keeping nothing wrong with me.  i hope that makes sense.

right now i feel a little panicky and just needed to put it down somewhere.  lastly, today's short run was the best and i'm so glad i did it.

Instep Trail Races - 7Miler

InStep Trail Races, 7 miler - September 14, 2019
time = 1:05:33
pace = 9:48
placed 1 in my age group (45-49) out of 7
placed 4 in women out of 43
placed 15 overall out of 70
link to strava data

please note:  this is the fastest i've run this race in the past 3 years... yay!

the start of this report is going to look remarkably like last year's report in that i didn't run much prior to this race.  in fact, my last run prior to this race was the sunday before... so 5 full days with no running.  this is because about 2 weeks ago i ran this course (minus the tower) in new shoes/insoles (same shoes and insoles as always... just a new pair of each) and for whatever reason, my right shin got very very sore.  i mean, tender to the touch sore.  this, in turn, affected the rest of the lower leg on that side and i opted to see my physical therapist last friday as a ditch effort for some magical cure.  he said my soleus muscle was all jacked and was likely affecting the rest of the leg.  he did some deep tissue massage that left me hella sore the rest of the week and i opted for a short run on that sunday post PT, but rest the remaining days of the week.

i got to lapham early so that i could warm up incase everything was still jacked.  i ran a loop around the parking lot and wouldn't you know it... my stupid leg was weird.  now, i say it was "weird" because it wasn't painful.  it was weak feeling... like a pinched nerve sort of... or like it was going to give out and not hold my weight sort of.  i walked it off, stretched, stretched my ankle specifically, and then figured i was going to have to wing it.

i ran into the only other person i knew was running the same race, candice, and we talked and commiserated about our injuries.  then it was almost time to race.  incidentally, this is the last year that russ is directing the race.  instep was bought out by PRO so there would be no more of this race... until it was announced that silver circle sports events is going to take it over.  not sure what they will call it or how it will be run, but since this is my favorite course and favorite race of the year... i'm glad they're going to continue it.

so candice and i started the race together and nursed our injuries for about the first 1/2 mile and then we separated.  i had a time goal for this race and once my leg felt fine... i decided i was going to still shoot for it.  so off i went.

i try to run the whole first mile of the course (race or no race) and that means that i run approximately the last .25 uphill.  i know that doesn't sound difficult but that is very difficult for me.  i am not good at running uphill.  in fact, i would say that i am absolutely terrible at it and can't figure out how to get better.

so i hit 1 mile on my watch and promptly started walking.  oh sweet relief!  walking is wonderful... until it's not.  so i walk a little ways up to a specific dip in the trail where it sort of becomes a gentle incline instead of an actual hill and then i start running again.  this particular hill is called gut buster and is approximately .78 of a mile up.  it seems not so hard when you're looking at it but when you're trying to run it... it's very difficult.  for me at least...

so i run/walk up this hill and try to run as much as i can with certain spots where i take walk breaks to help get my heart rate back down and to not feel like i'm dying.

then the top comes and the sweet sweet joy of bombing the downhills begins.  i LOVE, absolutely LOVE bombing down.  it is my reward for trying to run up. lol!  i also make up significant time by doing this - quads be damned!


it was at this point that i caught up to a couple of guys as i bombed down a hill.  i kept trading places with them for a bit and started to get annoyed and too focused on where they were.  they were ahead of me for the whole first part of the race, but after gut buster i passed them on the down hill and then when i walked they passed me on the up and this went on for several different hills until i was finally tired and annoyed enough of being so close to them that i  took off on the flat at the top of asthma hill to get some space between us.  i lost them in the hills just prior to the tower, and i managed to maintain pretty good splits even with running up the tower in mile 4.  i meant to count the sets of stairs up the tower but forgot... i think there are 5 flights but i have no idea how many actual stairs.  once at the top i turn around and fly down... holding on so that if i eat it... i won't fall far.

i saw candice on my way from the tower as she was heading to the tower.  since i am so competitive and she was the only person i knew personally who was running the race i really wanted to stay ahead of her.  she is a much better runner than me and she kicked my ass at high cliff passing me in the last mile and beating me in the race so this time... i wanted to stay ahead... cuz... competitive.  duh...

thankfully right after the tower is the downhill (the big slide?) that parallels gut buster and is similar length so almost a mile downhill... running at full speed and making up time.  i passed a few people but this race is 3 different races at the same time on the same course so it's hard to determine who's in your race and who's running the 1/2 or the full marathon distances... and trying to look at someone's bib is just too tough so i have no idea if i was passing people in my race or not.  no matter... it feels good to pass people cuz... competitive.

i hit the bottom of the hill and at that point it's about 1.5 miles to the finish with another long hill (aptly named 2 tier because there are 2 parts of the hill with a small sort of flatish incline between them).  i passed a guy on the flat who passed me right back on the first portion of 2 tier, and back and forth until the downhill called magic carpet ride.  i zoomed past him on magic carpet ride because who cares about quads, and then there was one more man in front of me.  he seemed to be running faster than me but when we hit the final flat at the same time i pulled ahead by a hair.  it was then that i decided to try and stay ahead of him.  it was SO HARD!  i was literally only a breath ahead of him... i could hear him breathing on my right the whole time.  when we both hit the final straightaway and i could see the finish i started sprinting.  normally i do not do this because i simply do not have it in me.  normally i feel so bad at the end of a race that it takes all that i have just to keep running, however this time... i RAN!

i ran as hard and as fast as i could with him on my heels the whole time.  i came in first with only a 2 second different between our times!  TWO SECONDS!  man... that felt really good.  it felt really good to run as hard as i could and do as well as i did coming off a stupid weird injury.  i'm hoping that the injury is gone for good and that tomorrow when i wake up i will feel great and will be able to run a nice run with frank.

i've got some big goals for 2020 and need to go into the new year fresh and injury free!

as always i love the shit out of this race.  i love lapham and love running there as much as i can.  i'm not sure what the race will be called next year but i hope it's put on with just as much love and care as russ put into it all these years.

High Cliff Ultra 25K

High Cliff Ultra 25K - August 3rd 2019

time = 2:49:52
pace = 10:56
placed 1 in my age group (45-49) out of 15
placed 12 in women out of 76
placed 25 overall out of 124
link to strava data


what to say about this... well, i've DNS'd the past 2 years in a row due to my near-constant injury after injury.  this year i really wanted to run this so i waited until 3 weeks before the race and signed up.  i suppose i should mention that when i signed up the longest distance i had run since may was maybe 10 miles.  i figured i would run it and not really race it and just make sure that i finished as the goal.

i ran a 15 mile training run out at nordic with sid the saturday before and it went well with no aches or pains but we took it really easy and ran pretty slow.  then on my tuesday run the next week my left leg felt so bad!  my quad was all kinds of knotted up and i could barely roll it without tears.  because i wanted to run this race i decided not to run the rest of last week (leading up to the race) so i could just roll the knots out of my quad and be good for the race.  it proved to be the right tactic because my legs felt great going into the race!

high cliff state park is approximately 1:47 minutes from my house.  i drove up the morning of the race since my race didn't start until 9am so i could get up at a decent time and make it there with time to spare.  my gps sent me to the wrong place at first but it must happen all the time because that place is a storage area for the park and they have a sign right out front that says so much and gives directions on how to get to the actual park entrance.  so i turned around and headed into the quaint little village of sherwood, wi.  i finally found the park and drove up to where all the hand written signs were telling me to go.

once i arrived i got a primo parking spot right at the starting line.  i think people thought it was a handicap spot as it was right next to the actual handicap spot, but it was not... don't worry i checked... it was just for me!

i got there just in time to see the 50K start.  denny was running that and i cheered him on, but alas... he did not hear me.  after that i went looking for my bib.

got my bib and noticed that there was no timing chip!  what the hell?!?  i got all nervous and fb'd a friend who told me that Mark, the race director, does it old school and they write down your time as you come through the finish.  craziness... hard for my type-A personality to be ok with it but what the hell?!?  i went with it and hoped that they got it right.

the race starts pretty bare-bones... like a lot of trail races i've run... just a little yell and off we went.

the first 2/10 of a mile was a steep service road downhill.  it spread people out but only by a smidge.  then we ran a bit of flat paved trail for the other 8/10 of the first mile to go ahead and start climbing single track trail back to the bluff.  to be honest... i don't remember the flat being that long but in all the excitement things get weird.

the single track was frustrating because it was up down up down up down and i was stuck behind a couple of people.  when i'd finally get past them there'd be an incline and we all know how well i "run" those... so i'd be walking and they'd pass me again.  i make up my walking time on the downs so i was really frustrated that i couldn't get away from these people so that i could really open up my downs.  finally, we got to some flat area (maybe near mile 4?), and i was able to give it some gas and put a little space between us.  i ended up running with a really nice woman until about mile 6 or so.  we kept passing each other as one of us would walk and the other would run by and this went on for a couple of miles until at an aid station in the prairie i lost her for good.  it's too bad too because i was really enjoying her company and it would have been nice to run with her through the prairie that came next.

miles 6-12 were basically scorching hot as balls prairie in full sun and about 85º with very very short brakes of woods for about a stride or two throughout.  to say the prairie was hot as balls is an understatement.  it was more like running on a treadmill in an oven with a heat lamp beating down on you.  there were very short bursts of a gentle cool breeze but they were few and far between.  it was freaking hot!  when i was coming back around to the aid station between miles 12 and 13 i noticed that my fingers were swollen up like sausages.  i needed some salt.

i want to take a moment to thank the volunteers at this aid station.  they were absolutely the best and really boosted my mood both times i went through.  they worked tirelessly to make sure that each and every runner that came through felt special and cared for and it was just what i needed at that moment.  so the space between 12 and 13... i asked one of the volunteers if anyone had any s-tabs and no one did but he offered me a potato.  here's the thing about trail races (if you've never done one)... they have real food.  real good food.  all of the things really...

so i took a tiny potato out of the water it was hanging out in and dipped it in the bowl of salt sitting next to it.  there was so much salt on that damn potato but i sure as hell popped it in my mouth and got it into my belly.  grimace and all.

then i chugged some water, ate some watermelon, and was on my way.  the sign leaving the aid station says 2.3 miles left so i thought... i got this.

my hips had started hurting a couple miles back so i was walking a lot more than anticipated but i felt good and wasn't crying.  i kept running when i could and taking walk breaks when i needed to.  i didn't think i would be winning any placements so i really wasn't pushing through the pain.  i walked a lot in those last 2 miles.

i passed a couple of dudes who smoked me earlier in the race... they were walking now.  the heat really got to a lot of people i think.  i just kept drinking like crazy and making sure my bottle was filled up each chance i got to fill it.  thankfully they had tailwind so i didn't take in anything weird that my belly isn't used to.

so i'm run-walking through the 2.3 miles to the finish and i realize i'm walking more than i'm running so i push a bit harder and that's when i trip.  i saved myself so all was well with the world but i tend to not lift my feet when i get tired so i started paying a little more attention to that so i wouldn't actually fall.

when i'm about a mile out (or so i thought based on what a 25K distance is supposed to be and comparing that to what my watch was telling me) i am passed by 3 women. one right after the other...

so i start to run.  i start to run as hard as i can because hell... i'm almost done and i should be able to run a mile without stopping... right?  i pass 2 of the women who just passed me and then my right hip was all... nah... we're gonna walk.

so i walked.  my watch clocked the course at 15.67 which is why i got confused when i didn't see the finish at 15.5.  it's prairie and then woods and then prairie and then turn into the woods and finally some single track and poof!  we're out of the woods and back at the start/finish where i'm proud to say i ran it in.

i'm pretty proud of this race.  i don't think i was properly trained to be racing this distance and even tho' i said i would go in and just run it... i've never gone in and just run a race.  i race all races.

i did race it conservatively tho' in that i didn't finish with tears or so spent that i couldn't have run a few more miles if necessary.  my hips were hurting which is why i would have had any trouble running farther otherwise i felt pretty good.

this was a really fun race.  it was a lot harder than i thought it would be and i would absolutely run it again.  they had stone-fired pizzas at the end and that was amazing!  i also drank a can of coke which also tasted amazing.

the race director sends out a handwritten note to each participant when they register which i think is a really great touch.  it's meaningful and really drives the olive garden feel home...

"when you're here, you're family"

the bullshit elevation profile for the first 5 miles

all of the next photos were taken by ohwow images.  you can see all the photos they took here

coming down

... and going back up

Walk Run Wag 5K

Walk, Run, Wag for MADACC 5K - July 13, 2019

time = 25:52
pace = 8:19
placed 1 in my age group (40-49) out of 6
placed 6 in women out of 62
placed 15 overall out of 99
link to strava data

i signed up for this race on a whim.  i've been feeling pretty good lately and thought why the hell not?  it's right down the hill from my house and for a good cause... so i ran.

it's a pretty tiny race and turns out... had the exact same number of finishers as the last time i ran it back in 2014.  i was a hell of a lot faster in 2014 tho' and try as hard as i could this time... there was no way in hell i was going to clock a 7:35 average for this race.  granted, i'm 5 years older and man... i'm slower.  i'm even a bit embarrassed to say that i actually WALKED during mile 2 for a bit there...  yes, i walked in a 5K thank you very much.

2 women passed me while i was walking and that second woman... well, she was someone's grandma so i started running again.  no way was i gonna let grandma beat me.  so i ran as hard as i could for that last mile and 1/2 and smoked the grandma by a few minutes.  i count it a win.

it's hard to wrap my head around my slower "fast" but i'm hoping that i can bump that up still.  i know that as we age we naturally get slower but that doesn't account for all those folks older than me that are hella faster than me so i still have to try.  

all in all i feel like i did well.  i tried as hard as i could and can safely say i did my best and that's all i can hope for.  

next race up is High Cliff Ultras 25K... we'll see if i can finally make it there this time.  i've DNS'd twice due to injury so i just have to stay injury free for the next couple of weeks.   here's to staying injury free!

sitting is such a pain in the butt

so... the week before i went on vacation to florida i was hella busy.  so busy in fact that i went to crossfit once (it hurt and i was SOOOOOPPPPPER sore the next day) and ran zero times that week.  this proved to be my downfall as i would find out a few weeks later.

because i did basically nothing for the 4 days before we left my glutes (which were in a shitton, yes that's a word, of pain after that crossfit class) got really really tight which then transferred that tightness to my hamstrings.  all of this was unbeknownst to me until i tried to run 20miles upon my florida arrival.  (strava data here)

that run started a domino effect of ailments that have now culminated into some serious pain in the ass.  i'm literally UNABLE to run without pain and certainly not at the level i've grown back to over the past 6 or so months.

notably, i also think that the fact that i have a sitting job attributes to the nerve pain i've been experiencing again.

today i went to see jerome for a sports massage at body wise milwaukee.  it was fantastic.  some of my pain is relieved, and i'm interested to see how running is tomorrow.  i'm not expecting any miracles but i'm hoping that the pain is lessened.

it is so amazing to me how, as i've gotten older, my body no longer recovers like when i was in my 20's.  of course, i rarely moved my body in my 20's other than to walk a lot of places (necessity not choice) and to shake my rump-ah in a well lubricated white girl way.

now... if i don't stretch an appropriate amount of time after physical activity... my body rebels and i'm in a world of hurt a couple of months later.  aging is a bitch.

i have bryce in approximately 3 weeks (20 days to be exact).  i'm working on transferring my 50K entry to the 1/2 marathon distance.  we'll see if i get to do that.  i've been patiently working with someone at vacation races but the communication is sporadic at best given that they are always gone on location at other races.  we'll see... if i am unable to transfer to the shorter distance i am going to stick it out for the 50K and hope to god my body holds up.  i am not ready for that distance given i've run only a handful of miles since my ice age DNF.  life is cruel sometimes.  *sigh*

i mean... worst case scenario... i walk the whole 50K.  the cut off is 11 hours.  that's like 21min/mile pace.  i'm pretty sure i can manage that with some running thrown in there for good measure.  do i WANT to walk a whole 50K?  hell no... but if i don't have a choice i don't have a choice and i will tough that shit out like a champ.

next year i think i might have to strive for short(er) distances and see how my body tolerates that.  until then... i will take this race season and try to run/race for love and not be so broken up about the competition aspect of it all.  i always want to win so maybe this is a lesson in humility, slowing my roll, and learning how to love the journey.

4 more sleeps...

the last time i ran this race i had an injury that sidelined me for the 3 weeks prior to the race.  this time around i'm definitely more prepared but nursing a different injury altogether that cropped up approximately 3 weeks ago.  maybe a bit longer ago but it didn't hurt enough for me to count it as an injury... more of an annoyance.

today i feel ok.  it still hurts but not enough for concern.  i'm stretching a lot every night and also at crossfit.  i've made the conscious decision not to run at all this week.  as always... my training is there so the one week of no running prior to the race isn't going to make that much of a difference in my performance.  in fact... it might be the thing that helps me perform better... it certainly isn't going to make or break me.

my strategy this time around is to temper my pace, not go out too fast, and try to stay steady for the out and back.  it is going to be difficult because i LOVE this section of trail.  LOVE IT!  i tend to bomb the downhills and this, in turn, fries my quads and wrecks my toes.  i need to go moderately effectively saving it for the loops.  the loops are deceptively difficult.  they're difficult because of the rollers.  it's hard to run up and down and up and down and up and down... hard on the body.

right now a friend of mine is running the entire length of the iceage trail in wisconsin.  1,200 miles with the goal of completing it in 19 days.  she's on day 8 right now.  you can read about her progress here on her boyfriend (and crew support) brian's blog.  it's really such an impressive, inspiring, and amazing feat of the human spirit.  i will be channeling annie's strength on saturday for sure.

in order to meet one of my goals for this race, i need to maintain a pace of 10:37min/mile.  so the strategy is to run the first 13 closer to just under 10 to make up for the ascents.  the theory is that at this pace i should feel pretty comfortable on the loops and maybe just maybe i will feel good enough to push the pace on the final loop.  we will see.  i'm really going to try and keep that strategy.

i suppose that's all i can do now... it's a wait and see.

Beartrax 20K

Beartrax 20K - April 30, 2017
time = 1:58:14 (chip time)
pace = 9:30
placed 7 in my age group (40-49) out of 15
placed 11 in women out of 36
placed 36 overall out of 76
link to strava data
(i'm not 100% positive on these numbers as i had to tally them myself)

pre-race sporting my dirtbag runner's trucker hat

i ran this race last sunday and the plan was to utilize it as a training run and not race it.  i had run 19mi the previous day (strava data here) on the iceage course and my legs were feeling it.  i want to mention that it's really challenging to change the race mindset but i was happy that i did it.  the weather was less than awesome in that it had been raining all night and now was lightly misting with a temperature hovering around 39º.  when i woke up i was still on the fence about going to the race but since i had a generously comped entry from instep physical therapy & running center (who's trail team i am on) i felt more inclined to go than not.  besides lapham peak is one of my very most favorite places to run.

when i arrived the weather wasn't as bad as i expected it to be and i came prepared with a raincoat & trusty trucker hat.  i would have never worn that jacket if i had been racing the race because it was much too hot... but since the plan was to run it comfortably... i was not concerned and just wanted to stay as dry as i could.

i've never run the 20K before but have run the brownie shuffle several years.  i love this race.  the 20K course is fantastic.  you get a little bit of everything in the park and that was fun.  it begins in the middle of the park at homestead hollow and heads uphill right away.  the first two miles course through a bit of trail near the butterfly garden, and then loops back through the start.  once back through the start, the race goes backward on the black loop down to evergreen grove and then winds back up on the iceage trail where it again loops back down on the black loop towards two-tier turning off on the blue loop connector hopping back on magic carpet ride towards evergreen grove again.  once passed evergreen grove it's back on the black loop the right way back to the start/finish.  while my pace was all over the place my heart rate stayed pretty steady until the last little burst.

because of all the rain, there was ankle deep standing water and mud in the lower sections of the park.  i managed to not submerge my feet until the second time through those sections with less than 1/3 of the race to go.  i was jack rabbit-ing two women for most of the race and some strides behind a man the whole time.  when we hit the ankle deep section i was in front of the women and had caught up to the man.  we commiserated on having both gotten submerged and then we chatted for a bit until he got away from me heading up gut buster.  again i traded places back and forth with the two women until we hit a good downhill and i got ahead.  i caught up to the man, scott, and we ran together and chatted.  just before the finish was in view i blurted to scott that i just didn't want the two women to beat me.  he glanced behind us and said "they wont", and we rounded the corner to the straightaway before the finish.

scott & i at the finish

as we ran towards the finish he said to me "you're not going to let me beat you are you?" and that's right there was all the push i needed to sprint to the end.  (he still beat me).

i remember thinking to myself as he said that... "man, now i really have to go!"

i cannot stress enough how much i love racing and running at lapham peak.  it is a beautiful place so close to home.  lapham is where i learned to love trail running and it will always be my home trails.

i'm glad that i didn't try to race this per se.  my legs were so shot at the end and in mile 11 i rolled my ankle on a downhill and it was really throbbing once i stood around for a minute waiting on the results.  i was worried that i had actually hurt it but by monday it was fine.

i have the iceage 50K next and have decided to reassess my goals.  i've developed some really strange pain at the base of my left glute where it attaches to my hamstring (and a myriad of other things).  i want to enjoy the race more than i want to kill the time.  the original goals for iceage were as follows:

A goal = 5 hours
B goal = PR 2015's time of 5:34
C goal = finish the race

i want to finish the race with a smile on my face and enjoy my time out on the trails that i love.  i always always want to be fast, but under the circumstances, i don't think that's in my cards for next weekend.  running has become quite painful and i'm not sure that the two physical therapy appointments i have lined up next week are going to help all that much.  it is so hard for me to let go of those goals.  so hard...

so the new goals are as follows:

A goal = finish with a smile on my face
B goal = PR my time
C goal = finish the race

best picture of me from the race, feeling awesome!

but i digress...

all in all, beartrax was a lot of fun (as is evident by my face in the picture to the right).  it waited to really rain until i had completed the race which was nice.  this race is now run by silver circle sports events.  sometimes i wonder if these guys are even runners.  this is the 3rd race i've run of theirs and honestly... it's hard for me to want to run another.  their timing leaves something to be desired.  as a runner, it is important to me to have the stats from my races.  quite frankly, i like that shit.  for each race i've run of theirs there was some sort of issue with the timing.  i'm tired of hassling them for the information that every other race i've ever run has provided as customary.  they don't post overall results and it is frustrating to have to add up the people in the race and try to figure out what everything means so that i can get accurate stats. *sigh*

beyond that... the course support was great, volunteers are always great, and obviously, the location of the race is beautiful.

dave, myself, and nichole pre-race

a little stretch of the painful butt at the start

a bear-y fun high five as i ran back through the start around mile 2