Conference Final Ahead

So here I am once again on a long bus ride with the cross country team, which seems to be the only time I ever feel like writing anything. We are currently making the 6+ hour trek to Western GA to compete in the conference final. This will be my last race of the season, as I decided to opt out of competing at regionals. So I sit here and reflect on my first season as a harrier for Meredith and everything I went through to get me to this point.

I am a runner. I’ve been a runner for years now. I never had raced on a team until I transferred to Meredith and joined the Track & Field team. It is probably apparent to everyone but me that running for a college team is different than training on your own all the time. I’ve cranked out some tough workouts on my own, but never in a schedule quite the same as this. 7am practice to go run hill repeats at Dix? Set time paces that you have to hit every time? Going hard several times a week and sometimes back to back days? I loved being able to show up and not have to plan my own training, all I had to do was follow Coach’s instructions and put my head down and work hard. I had a team around me to push me, which is so much nicer than attempting to hit hard paces on your own. You can rely on your teammates to pull you with them or for them to push you harder. The sense of belonging of being a part of a team has been so rewarding for all the hard work you have to put in.

So why was it so hard for me to reach this final race of the season? I will not hide the truth that I thought about quitting the team a lot. In fact I even went so far as to meet with my coaches and discuss it. I was stressed out, I was emotionally exhausted, and I had let personal experiences affect my running to the point that I couldn’t see the value in it. I ran a whole week thinking it was my last and that I would never go to practice again. Instead I walked out of the office after talking to my coaches and decided that if I quit the team I would regret it. I needed to see this through the end to prove to myself that I am stronger than what I had been going through and that I had 16 teammates who cared about me and wanted me there.

Now I am on my way to a conference final that 4 weeks ago I was positive I wouldn’t run in. I am ready to race for my team and for myself and to end the season on a positive note. 4 weeks ago I did not want to run this race and now I am ready to prove to myself that I am stronger that I can.

2015: Peaks and Valleys

2015 is coming to a close and I guess I am obligated excited to review what my year has looked like as far as running is concerned. This past year went completely opposite to how I thought it was going to go, and ended up with some big goals accomplished just at a time when I wasn’t expecting it.

So when the year opened I was focused on having a strong spring season, since I had missed the fall due to my stress fracture suffered in Chicago ’14 training. Of course, since I am a human disaster, I ended up pushing too far waaaay too fast and once again was out of commission thanks to anemia and exhaustion.

After focusing on my nutrition and a proper training program with hard/easy days built in, I was able to bounce back in the last summer with a winning race and discover that trail running is the shit and I love it.

Sadly, once again I suffered a minor set-back, and had to rush through my Chicago training in order to get fit for the big race. This meant I had absolutely zero expectations and was able to enjoy the race and experience for what it is… which resulted in a new and unexpected PR and Boston 2017 qualification. Favorite race ever? You better fucking believe it.

2015 ended the same way it began, with pain and injury. Being forced to take some time off from running has been hard (you think I would be used to it by now), but I have learned that I have other athletic pursuits that I really enjoy. My love of cycling is only just starting to sprout, and I am devouring any and all knowledge I can get my hands on.

If I can say anything, it’s that this year I learned some big lessons on patience and to trust the training process. I learned that I really enjoy hard workouts, and need to learn to enjoy the easy runs as well. I learned that I can live without running (but who wants too?) but that I am not the happiest person when I am not running. I also have to say that looking back I have a lot more hard times than good ones, but it was all worth it to get that solid BQ.  I would say over all my running has improved, my paces are faster, the races that I did run I placed extremely well, but I tried to do too much and missed out on a lot due to lack of proper recovery and focus. Hopefully with 2016 I will use this experience to avoid so many problems and setbacks, but knowing myself I won’t. 😉

To anyone who has bothered to read this blog for this year – thanks for your support and I hope you were at least entertained by my journey this year. Here’s to a better 2016!

 

Downtime Adventures

So late as usual but here is a quick recap of some of the adventures I have been having as I close out the fall racing season.

With my big race out of the way and slowing down the training for a bit, I have been focused on taking it easy and having as much fun as possible. I haven’t done any speed work (which is nice because I am at the stage where I am starting to miss it) and it is nice to see that the accumulative fatigue hasn’t hurt my paces at all. Without speed work and long runs by easy paces have fallen back to the 7:30 range which is pleasant especially with the fall weather.

I also have had the opportunity to do more fun running related things like actually getting my ass to run club, and pacing my friend for the City of Oaks Half Marathon last weekend. I love the City of Oaks course since it is basically a mash up of my favorite running routes downtown. Yes, the course is hilly, but Raleigh is hilly. The running theme of my training is “The More Hills The Better” and I love love love running hilly races (and crushing people’s spirits as I pass them on them). So when my friend mentioned he wanted to go for a PR of 1:50 I of course jumped at the chance to help him to this goal (and get a quality long run in with support haha). Also the start finish is only about 10 minutes from my house so #winning. The race day weather was brilliant (started in the upper 40’s-50’s, overcast, spotty light rain) and I enjoyed settling in and providing support. I focused on making sure we were running his race pace, while also preparing for the tougher portions of the race to come. My friend absolutely #crushedit and went all the way to a 1:44 PR which was 25 minutes better than his last effort. I was more than proud and happy to have been of help.

So I only have a couple small races to wrap up the rest of the year. I am looking at a 10 Miler and possibly a 12k with some sort of Thanksgiving race (or it would be fun to just do a nice long trail run with friends). After that it is time to look to keeping myself keen over the winter and deciding on a goal for the spring.

Race Recap: Bank of America Chicago Marathon

How do I recap the most amazing race of my running life so far? How do I recap the most amazing trip and weekend in a city I completely fell in love with? I don’t even know where to start and I am sure that this needs to be done in parts. For now, I will recap the actual race and then hopefully remember to recap the entire trip. More for my own memories sake that anything else.

Looking back on my other posts, you can see that my confidence on a qualifying time much less a PR were pretty much in the realm of don’t-get-your-hopes-up territory. I felt strong, I felt confidant, but I didn’t feel like I had enough training behind me. If anything this race proves to me that you never really know what you are capable of until you shut up and go for it.

The start corral..

Is there anything more exhilarating than lining up with 45,000 other runners and a crowd of 1.2 million supporters around you? I don’t think so. Not after this race. I had decided to not try and stick anywhere near the pacers, I had a bad experience trying that before and besides I wanted to gauge my own pace through out the race. My plan was to run purely by feel and not bother checking my watch for anything other than when to use fuel. So when the gun went off and my corral was released I focused on finding my rhythm and just taking in the sights and sounds of the city (which is of course amazing and gorgeous). I wasn’t even worried about the fact that I hadn’t bothered with a warm up besides walking to the start corrals and some light stretching. Not my usual plan but like I said, there was zero pressure on myself today. I don’t even remember my legs feeling stiff at all in the beginning miles. I think I was possible to starry-eyed over how amazing the crowd support was to even notice. I must have been excited because even though I was holding back the pace from sprinting off like I normally do, I still managed a PR in the mile and 5k during the first 4-5… Whoops.

Once I calmed down I quickly found a pace I would call “comfy” and got down to business. I passed the 3:35, 3:30, then 3:25 pacers and realized that I didn’t even feel like I was running too fast or too hard. It was just the most natural thing in the world. I enjoyed the first portion of the race as we ran over the river and up Michigan Avenue. Miles were just clipping by like it was no ones business. I had a fueling strategy worked out beforehand and planned to alternate between water and Gatorade at every stop. I wanted to be sure and take enough liquids since the high was going to be 77 degrees and there wouldn’t be much shade for the later portions of the race. I also had planned to combat the nausea I always feel when I take a lot of Guu, and so I planned on eating some Scratch gummies for the first miles between 5-10. This turned out to be perfect because it meant I got plenty of fuel and was able to keep down Guu in the later stages of the race. So basically, I was having a blast running all over my most magical playground while snacking on fruit drops. Fucking amazing.

For the middle portion of the race (10-20 miles), I just kept plugging along at my new-found happy pace. I knew it was staying around 7:30ish but I felt so good I wasn’t even worried about hitting the wall later. It was just sunshine and butterflies. I took my first Guu at mile 15 but made sure to make it last about a half mile in order to not feel gross later. I had one more Guu for mile 20 if I needed it since I felt like in my last marathons that was the point that I struggled at.

While running I was with a little next of running buddies  one of whom was named Doug according to his shirt. This was cool at first but after 3 hours of strangers yelling “YAY GO DOUG!” “THATS MY DOUGGIE BOY!” etc I wanted to shove Doug to the ground. I was saved my moment of madness when Doug finally faded away at mile 18 to never reappear again (RIP Doug???).

Around mile 20 is when my legs finally decided to make their plight be heard, and although it was more of a “hey I’ve been moving for over two hours and am le tired” and not “I can’t take another step and I am threatening to break down on you.” Therefore I was able to ignore them and instead just focused on the scenery and people in the crowd around me. It was also starting to warm up at this point, but since I had been running heat equivalent to the fires of hell all summer I already knew how to handle this. I loved that there were sprinklers set up on the course (I ran through them mostly to wash off the Gatorade I was talented at spilling on myself) and there were bright blue water sponges being handed out (I saw several women shove them down their bras… anything to stay cool?). I can see how this is a great idea to help with the heat, but I then had a really fun game of “dodge-the-blue-sponges” for the next half mile after every station.

The last six miles I lied to myself that it was really just two 5k’s back to back. It was nice because we were also heading back towards the downtown area and Grant Park. It was weird in that I was happy the race and therefore physical effort was coming to an end, but I was also a bit sad because it meant that the race experience was coming to an end. I still was just fatigued and had no tightness/cramping/niggling injuries popping up, which was very unlike past marathons. Before long it was time to run the long straightaway to the finish shoot and although my legs didn’t have much kick left, I picked it up a tiny bit to cruise over the finish line. Looking up at the clock I saw it flashing 3:30 and change but I knew that I had a couple mins less than that because of the wave start. I was more than pleased! It wasn’t until I walked back to the finish area that my friends informed me that my official finishing time was actually 3:26!!!!??!!! MIND BLOWN. That is an 8 minute PR??? a BOSTON QUALIFIER with an 8 MINUTE CUSHION?? I never expected that. I never expected that time to feel that comfortable. I never expected to enjoy this race as I had and achieve that much. I had to just lay there for a while in the grass and let it all sink in and process.

I never thought that this marathon would go this way. I had hope and felt an excitement and confidence that I was hoping would translate to a good result, but I never expected quite this much. This training cycle was hard, it was too short, I only did one 20 mile run, I never took a cut back week, I didn’t do any tempo runs, and yet it worked. For whatever reason I was able to rise above all these factors that I thought would only produce a finish of around 3:45 and instead ended up punching my ticket to Boston 2017. Unbelievable!

I know I have said it probably a million times plus two more, but I loved this marathon. I loved every single detail and every single moment of it. I want to do it all right this second. I want to relive it again and again. Will I be back to run Chicago again? You bet your ass I will. I want to run and scream and tell everyone to run this race because I hope that every runner is able to experience what I did. It outlived any expectation I could ever imagine and I am more than happy to have my PR live in Chicago.. for a little while at least. 😉

Happiest little anti-social punk ever

 

Training log: Week 18

Well, it’s here! It is officially race week and so I am just going to recap the first portion of the week and hopefully do I proper recap of the entire race weekend once I am back. I fly out in just a few hours (I’ve never flown before.. yikes) and all my easy prep runs are taken care of now. As they say “the hay is in the barn blah blah blah” but I like to say that at this point, there is nothing left to do. I have put in all the work I could whether it was enough or not doesn’t matter anymore. All that is left is to have a really fun vacation and see a brand new city by running 26.2 miles through it. I wouldn’t want it any other way!

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all easy runs of either 6 or 5 miles. It is weird because with the taper I felt really fresh and there are no issues concerning me right now. I remember feeling it was strange because usually my body feels like it is begging for a rest day but that didn’t happen at all. Probably because of the decrease in mileage? I mean I still hit 45 last week but if I can feel that good with a “taper” of 45 miles I take it as a good sign.

I always take two days rest before my shake out run the day before the race. I don’t know if it really matters most physically but I feel like it mentally prepares me better. I am also a little weirded out because this is the first time I have felt this calm before a big race. Maybe it is from the lack of pressure I am putting on myself to preform (since I don’t have any set goal time), or maybe it is because I have been under a lot of stress from other real life stuff (transferring and graduating at the end of semester), but I am just so calm and ready to run. There isn’t any second guessing or worries. It is just a focus on shutting up and running.

I don’t know what this will translate as far as results go, but a finish is all I am aiming for. I can’t wait to be in an atmosphere with that many other people and just soaking in all that adrenaline.

Race Recap: Oktoberfest 8k

Last Saturday was the Oktoberfest Run Green 8k put on by a local running club that I am a part of, the Nog Run Club. I always try to do the Nog races partially out a sense of loyalty to the club that helped me meet a lot of cool running people, and partially because it is a really good excuse to meet friends downtown on a weekend afternoon to run and drink beer. A win-win situation! Every year this race always falls in the middle of my taper and so I usually am running a long run and then tacking this race onto the end. This was the first time that I didn’t plan to run 7-9 miles beforehand because of my 20 miler the next day and so my plan was to just use it as a tempo run to practice “race pace” aka see where my fitness level was at and what I could expect to run in Chicago.

To try and deter myself from trying to race and to also add in some extra miles to the day, I woke up and went for an easy shake out run on the trails to remind my legs that hills are a thing that we like. The Oktoberfest uses the same course every year (and it is the same course for the sister race, the Saint Patty’s Run Green 8k) and it is one that I have also run a million times. I already knew it was a hilly course and so there were no surprises to be had when running it. I was pretty tired in the morning and very unenthusiastic about running a race later since I was more focused on the long run the next day.

Since this was my first race since joining the running team at Fleet Feet Raleigh/Morrisville I was also using this as an opportunity to run in my race day gear and make sure it was comfortable and would work. There was also photos to be had with fellow team members and so I ended up arriving to the race about an hour early to hang out and say hello to people which was fun even for antisocial me, because I haven’t been to any run clubs in ages (Look! I am still alive!). The only thing I didn’t plan on was how hot it was going to be and how I was going to stand around like an idiot in the sun for an hour without water. Dehydration isn’t a thing, right?

So at the last second I jumped in the start corral with a plan to stick to a conservative 7:45 pace and test how hard of an effort that would be for a possible 26 miles. I can be massively competitive so I knew sticking to this pace and not racing was going to be extremely hard. So 1-2-3-Go and I was off.

Look! I do run!

I was just running by mostly feel and not looking at my Garmin at all. I felt like I was doing a nice comfortably hard pace but nothing too extreme. It was hot, it was hilly, and I was just focused on staying consistent and maintaining that pace throughout the entire race. I love, love, love racing hills and so I was having fun picking off other runners who were having a not-so-fun time on them. The good thing about running a course a lot is that you know exactly where every turn and hill is and so you avoid blowing your energy away right out the gate. This course is also deceptive in that you pass by the finish and then loop back towards it, so many people think they are almost done when there is about half a mile left to actually go. I was already expecting this but not expecting my stupidly at standing in the hot sunshine to cause me to start cramping up at this point. Add into this that I also skipped the water stops because I usually don’t bother with water on a run this short. At this point I could see the finish was almost over and so I pulled back and decided to just jog the last since I wasn’t racing anyway and didn’t care about getting passed.

I guess strength training is paying off with those quads…

I ended up finishing in 37:20 minutes which put my average around 7:20-30 minute per mile. Whoops. There goes my “keep a conservative” pace strategy. In all honesty I was pretty surprised since I was never at a point that I felt like I was really running that hard. I finished with some cramping but feeling like I still had plenty in the tank to go. In fact I am pretty proud of myself that there were several women there who I really wanted to race and beat, but I held back in order to stick to my plan.

So after it was all said and done I was happy with using the race as a test run. I ended up winning my Age Group and placing 8th Woman overall, which for a day I wasn’t actually racing I can’t complain about. I was proud of the fact I held back and have a bit of confidence knowing that I ran that pace and it felt a lot easier that I would have expected on a hilly course (and a hot day). I am still planning to shoot for a 7:45 at Chicago so maybe it isn’t quite as out of reach as I was thinking it might be.

My German heritage approves of this medal

Training log: Week 14

We are currently sitting at less than a month until Chicago. I would pay good money to have one more month of training to make up for time I lost, but at this point there is nothing I can do about it. I just hope to not have any regrets once this race is over about what could have been…

Side note – Hi anyone that is reading this from my real life. I am sorry I am so lame.

This week I was driving the struggle bus yet again. I literally hate running in humidity so much at this point I could and probably have cried. There were quite a few easy runs that felt like death all thanks to the 100% humidity that was going on and I hated and cursed every decision in my life that lead to me running this race. Then I sucked it up and ran anyway and loved every minute of it. Running doesn’t make any sense.

I knew I was hitting a key mileage week, with 60+ to go and a long run of 18 miles staring me in the face. Usually I don’t get dramatic about super long runs, you just suck it up and do them, but with my hasty preparation for Chicago I have been increasing my long runs quite quickly and not having any cut backs. This basically means that every long run I am pushing myself right to the point of what I think I can handle. With the weather being the worst and then realizing I was doing my 18 solo, I was really getting way too wrapped up in my head about it. I took some kind advice from a fellow bad ass runner friend, and waited until Sunday to hammer it out when it would be much more pleasant.

So a week of a few easy runs, a decent ladder workout on the track, a 2-a-day, and a make shift 10 mile tempo to test the legs, meant that I was ready to tackle that long run. Now, I’ve never been a person that listens to music or anything while I run, but I decided to try listening to some podcasts for this one since I was solo and the trail I was running can be mind numbingly boring. I plugged a few Runners Connect podcasts that sounded neat on it and at 6:30 I started running…. and it wasn’t bad. I had spent a lot of time being focused on the negative side that I forgot that at the end of the day I was going to just switch off and start running. 18 miles finished with no issues and when I was cooling down a fellow cyclist on the trail even remarked “You sure don’t look like you just finished 18 miles!” Maybe my fitness is a little better than I think it is.

I decided I hadn’t had enough physical exertion yet, so I spent another portion of the day packing and unpacking some things in preparation for my move.

Most prize possessions getting safely packed away

I wish I had something else remarkable to post, but I spent the rest of the weekend either sleeping, eating, or doing school work. I missed all of the Hopsctoch music festival because I knew standing on feet for hours on end would have been a very bad idea.. Maybe once this marathon is over I can have time for a social life again.. until then I will be eating, sleeping, or running.

The Race That Wasn’t

So tomorrow I am registered for a race, but I will not be partaking in it. I mentioned in my last post that I was having issues with my hip since my fall when I won the Gamelands 10 Miler like a total badass. Sadly, since then the old hip has been increasingly annoyed at being asked to run. I am pretty sure that I had a very deep tissue bruise that was covering up some sort of pulled ligament, because now that all the swelling is gone I still don’t have normal range of motion. When I do run there is pain on my take off and my range of motion is being compromised. I would rather not subject my body to 13.1 miles at a short, choppy, unnatural gait, so I am holding up my hand and taking myself out of the game.

It is slightly aggravating, because this race was the goal race of my short training cycle that I was trying out more speed work. I know that if I was healthy I would be eyeing a very sweet PR, but it is not in the cards for me. I don’t know why I have such rotten luck when it comes to half marathons (I haven’t been able to race one healthy since about two years ago). I am taking this a little better  (probably because I am used to being let down) I know that my training for Chicago starts on the 11th and I do not want to screw that up this go around. I know that by resting now my body will be prepared for it and I will be mentally prepared since I have already adapted to the training.

In the meantime, I am taking a few days to refocus and do some other non-running related fitness. I don’t have any issues when it comes to cycling, strength work, or yoga (hence the annoyance at the running), so I am going to allow my running muscles to rest and enjoy not running the same routes over and over. I am crossing my fingers this will all blow over and I will be happy that I made this decision. I have agonized over it enough already!

Race Recap: Gamelands 10 Miler

This recap is a little behind, since this race actually took place last week, but I wanted to make sure and chronicle it for prosperity.

It is no secret that I really, really, really, like trail running. I don’t have a ton of experience with it yet, but every race I do I just fall more and more in love with running batshit crazy through the woods. I think a lot has to do with rekindling my memories of my old horse sports of eventing and CDE driving. Two disciplines that require a lot of excitement of high speeds adventures through the woods. Also any good rider will tell you that the best thing for a horse is to get it out of the arena (or day to day hard work) and into the open trails for the horses mental well being. I feel like this applies to running as well, as most of a runners hard work is done on the track or roads. There is something mentally refreshing about breaking out of that monotony and just being in nature and having something else to focus on mentally. Anyway I am rambling, so back to the actual recap.

I had decided to run the Gamelands 10 Miler in order to get a nice pace run in before my main spring(ish) race in the first week of June. Plus I wanted to get in some more trail experience and this race seemed like a fairly low key and inviting event to try out. It was said to be flat, sandy, and really fun and it did not disappoint. Plus there was also a 50k attached and that is a distance that is intriguing to me. So off I drove the hour or so to the sandhills.

Now I expected the race to be fairly small (since most trail races in the area are), but there was a very “home town” local club feel to the race. Almost everyone that is part of the club was running and volunteering at the race and so it was fun seeing such a fun and passionate group of runners (I have since joined the club as well). Everyone was milling about and picking up packets and I retired to me car to get myself sorted for the race. I was also using this to test out a different nutrition strategy for my goal race, and so I made sure and followed my plan accordingly (I plan to make a post about this unless I get lazy or forget…). Also I am really glad that I decided to wear my compression calf sleeves, although I am not a huge believer in there being that big a difference wearing them (I feel like it is a placebo effect for me) they helped TREMENDOUSLY at keeping the sand out of my shoes and off my legs.

Anyway, my legs had felt pretty dull the last few days so I wasn’t expecting much out of them today. My warm up was pretty lame of only a light jog out and some stretching (I usually have a terrible attitude the morning of races). I went to line and pretty grudgingly placed myself near the front but wasn’t expecting to stay there since the field had quite a few men that looked speedy. The count down started and I took off and set to work, focused on an easy but competitive pace (but vowing to run on feel and not look at my watch). Imagine my surprise (and horror) when I ended up completely on my own in front. Spoiler alert: this has never happened to me before (and will probably never happen again). I checked over my shoulder and sure enough, I was way ahead. There were two water crossings, the first of which you had to slow down and traverse a narrow board, and both times I took a moment to glance over my shoulder to check that yes, this is real life and I am the rabbit. Holy hell.

I kept on a decent pace with the new mindset of maintaining my lead but saving enough in the tank in case I was overtaken later in the race. Since I was running without water and it was getting quite warm I did make myself actually stop and walk water stops in order to get some fluids in me properly. The greatest thing about the course was that you were running the same loop as the Ultra runners doing the 50k, so I at least had some runners to catch and pass (though it was a little mean because, hello! 50k! Real bad ass people!). I had the very surreal experience of being cheered on by the Ultra’s since I was the leader and received plenty of “congrats!” and “Good jobs!” as well as some “Go rabbit!” that made me chuckle.

I really loved the course as well. I have never run on a sandy course and it was a little challenging especially in the looser and deeper sections around the fields we went through. It was so beautiful and scenic though that it was worth it. A nice portion took you into some shady, pine tree laden, sparse forests where the footing was really nice (and the reason this part of the sandhills is so popular with horse sports) and made for some great running. I checked my watch and I was hitting some nice paces in the 7:40’s range (which I was happy with considering the trail). Once you exit the woods, it was into a grassy field where thankfully the Ultras had tramped a nice path through it (thanks dudes). I did have a brilliant moment where I didn’t see a large stump hidden in the grass and took a hard fall right in front of one of the Ultra runners. I landed HARD on my left knee and hip, and scrapped myself up quite spectacularly. Immediately I jumped up and checked behind me to see if anyone had caught up when I was on the ground (luckily I still had a nice lead) and only after the Ultra showed concern did I notice that I was bleeding and covered in dirt. I knew I was too full of adrenaline to know if anything was actually hurt (I am still dealing with some issues from this even a week later) but I knew that I could last the last few miles I had left. So I thanked the Ultra and took off once again.

The last 4 miles flew by even with a quick stop at the last water station. I hit my last miles in the 7:30’s and under (HOW I don’t know) and started to realize I was actually going to WIN win this thing. Not just top female finisher but TOP OVERALL WINNER. I know this will never happen again in my life and so I really just enjoyed it and soaked it all in. I crossed the finish all alone without anyone near me in fact the second place runner was about 7 minutes behind me. Coolest thing was that we didn’t get medals when we finished but super cool little wooden axes (trail runners are the coolest). My top female award was a nice coaster just like the one I received at my last trail race so I have a nice little collection forming.

Me in the middle looking like a total dork minus the blood.

This is definitely a race I will add to my calendar as well as a couple more that the club puts on (I feel like now I have a reputation to uphold). Something about trail running just makes my competitive side come out and I feel like such a bad ass finishing and being covered in sand and dirt (and in this case blood as well at the end…).

It is not a week later I am enjoying some tapering before my next race on June 6th and I am hoping that by using the confidence from this to motivate me to push for a nice PR.

Race Recap: Charlotte Trail Race

I am uber late recapping this race, but better late than never. Hopefully I can remember enough details to make this as entertaining as possible. Even though it was only the 17th of January my brain cells have been thoroughly taken over by school work since then.

So first of all I have to mention that my main motivation for running this race, besides the fact I have never run an actual trail race, was that I really wanted an excuse to take a weekend trip to Charlotte. There is an Ikea there (I had never been to Ikea – I’m failing as a hipster twenty-something), and also there is a brewery that makes their own kombucha and I had growlers to fill. My lovely family actually gifted me the race entry for Christmas and so I was very happy to have a reason to get away for a weekend.

Now first I will start off with two realizations that I made over the course of this race and weekend, #1) make sure you are well prepared and have some experience with what you are about to tackle. As I mentioned before I have never actually taken part in a trail race and although I have been running a lot of trails and single track since returning from injury I was completely unprepared for how hilly, technical, and tiring 13 miles of trails would be. In hindsight I should have run more single track because the elevation coupled with the twisty-turnyness or course (although SUPER FUN TIMES) about destroyed my spirit. I kept thinking to myself “I run marathons! I run sub 7 minute miles! WHY IS THIS SO HARD?!” but my overinflated ego was preventing me from being aware of the effect of constantly changing pace, cadence, and elevation would have on my body. I was seriously sore for about 3 days after this race.

Realization #2) never joke around about how you might break your ankle/fall down/get lost in the woods and then over estimate your time by 10 minutes leading to your family members thinking you are dead. Since I had no experience with trails races I kept joking about how I might get hurt or lost and in about the first couple of miles I realized that no joke I could really get hurt if I didn’t stay 100% mentally alert of what my body was doing every second of the race. The mental fatigue from this was crazy but also a big confidence boost going into my next marathon. Maintaining that focus for 13 miles was tough but I managed. Also, for once I was traveling with a family member because my Mother was also looking to use this trip as an excuse to shop in Charlotte. Being a genius I estimated my finish time to be off of my usual half time by 5 minutes (again the overinflated ego thing), and when I hadn’t crossed even 5 minutes past that my Mother was starting to think that with all my joking I actually had been eaten by bears in the woods. When I finally crossed the finish her words where “Thank God, I actually thought you were dead out there! AND WHY ARE YOU COVERED IN MUD?”. Luckily her anger was replaced with proud mama vibes when she told me that I had finished as the third overall woman. Yay!

Third Overall Woman and Winner of my Age Group! Happy Face.

Some highlights from the race:

1. SWAG FOR DAYS. Instead of yet another race shirt you will never wear, you get an amazingly soft and super cool hoody sweatshirt. I have literally worn mine constantly and I am afraid people are going to think I don’t own any over clothes.

2. Such fun. Such mud. 13 miles on trails is super hard but it was so much fun. The National White Water Rafting Center is beautiful. Like so, so, so, gorgeous that I really wanted to just stop and take in the sights around me (and also just to stop). I know people like to run flat easy courses that are usually beachy suburban highways because of speed but if we are talking aesthetics and experience I would rather a course like this one. Plus just running, sliding, stumbling, splashing, and jumping liek a wild animal through the woods is a huge adrenaline rush.

3. For a January race the weather was great. If this was held in the summer you would have bugs and critters to worry about, but in the winter it is great. I don’t mind the chill and even being in the low thirties I was fine racing in just shorts and a long sleeve. Also you don’t have to worry about rock hard cold concrete and asphalt.

4. The trails were so well marked and everything was extremely well organized. Although I joked about getting lost there was really zero possibility of that happening. There were officials at major intersections, tape and markers on the entire course, and even places where different distances split off were so well marked it was never confusing.

Would I do this race again? Of course. I hope maybe next year to run more single track and be better prepared for the intensity of the whole thing so that I can improve my time even more (there was only a minute between the first woman and I!). I also hope to recruit more friends for a drive out to Charlotte to run like bats out of hell through the woods. The mud and fun is worth it.