Monday, November 27, 2017

Birthday Week, a Turkey Trot, and Happy Thanksgiving

This is a super long blog post so kick back and enjoy!

I have heard that many runners will take one or two weeks off from running.  They are pretty smart for sure.  Especially when they might be harboring a virus.   Let me back up a bit.  On my last post I hit send before I made the decision to get out and wog for a bit with Melly.  While I wasn't feeling very good, all the congestion was in my head and I was not running fever, so I was given the green light to do a super easy run.  The weather was perfect and we were talking and talking and talking.   Then this happened.


I fell.  On a piece of rebar that sticks out of my running route that I have run on and jumped over or ran past for years.  Every time I run past it, I seriously say to myself, don't trip Michelle.  Not sure if it was my head cold or the great discussion that I was having with Melly, but all of the sudden I was seeing the sky and then I was on the ground.  Mel immediately grabbed me and pulled me up, and I just needed a hug, so I clung to her like a kola bear.  She wanted to walk all the way back (~1.5 miles out), but I figured we should use the adrenaline coursing through my body and run back before it wore off.  As soon as we got back, I cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide and then took a long hot bath in epsom's salt.


After my long bath, I put neosporin on a big bandage and bandaged up my knee.  I was pretty sore, but more from the impact and the lack of skin thanks to the rocks.  I didn't seem to have any gravel in any of my wounds, including my hands.  I had planned on running back on a semi normal schedule this week, including a turkey trot on Thanksgiving day.  So much for that idea I guess.


Tuesday was my 40th birthday and I had a BIG day!  My hubby had me a Garmin 235 first thing in the morning and then roses and cheesecake post work.  I also had meal number 2 of my freezer meal class and we added mashed sweet potatoes, corn, and green beans.   Cranberry pork roast was amazing!!!!


I decided to play it safe and wait till Wednesday to get out on my knee.  The swelling was pretty much gone, and the only issue was the rubbing of anything on the raw skin and scabs.  I covered it and headed out to test out my knee and my new watch.  While I feel very out of shape right now, I got four miles in.  I almost tripped several times though looking at my watch.  So many cool things to look at!  I was fascinated at my heart rate and how long it told me I needed to recovery for.  For just a 4 mile easy run, it told me I needed to recover for 34 hours, YIKES!  It also said my heart rate was through the roof,  though when I checked my pulse, it was NO WHERE NEAR what the heart rate monitor was claiming to be.  Any ideas of how to make sure my heart rate monitor is working correctly?


We also had the annual cutting of the hair prior to wrestling season.  It always makes me cry a little to see all of the curls get cut off, but I know they will always grow back.



Thanksgiving morning meant some Turkey Trotting!  And BONUS, they allowed dogs and there were TONS there.  Next year we need to dress up for sure.


I am still on cloud nine from this race.  I got a HUGE PR for my 5K distance and 3rd in my newly minted age group.  I am just SO happy with my performance.  I got two miles under 9, 8:20 and 8:34 and the final one at 9.  I will take it!!!!  Of course the conditions were perfect for a PR, super duper flat course, cold but not too cold temps, and lots of other peeps to keep Stella pulling comfortably hard.  Chip time was 26:55!  My first time breaking into the 26s!





Post running, we chowed down on all the fixings!  Tony and his brother Cayce cooked for two days (and I cleaned because that is what I do), and the fruits of their labor were amazing.  The only picture I got was the turkey in the infrared cooker.  Mom and Tommy got this for Tony for either his birthday or Christmas last year and it was a great buy!  Way easier than the turkey frier and tastes just as good!


We hadn't really planned on doing any black Friday shopping, as we order most all of Andrew's Christmas via Amazon these days or shop small business as much as possible.  We did plan on getting out to see Coco, since it was finally out at the theaters.  


We had our first mishap at the movies.  I think the popcorn + coke icee was just not a good combo for Andrew's tummy that day.  About half way through the movie, he freaked out and we had to rush to the bathroom.  He dry heaved a few times and then declared himself fine.  We did that two more times before I just gave up and took him to the car.  He never did throw up, just burped and freaked out.  We saw most of the movie or at least the important parts:) .   That was one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen and I can't wait to finish watching it once it comes out on DVD.  


Post movie we opted outside.  Full disclosure, I had kind of wanted to stop at Academy on our way home, but little man couldn't tell if he was really going to barf or not.  When we got home, he seemed fine, and the 70 degree day was still calling our name.  We loaded up and headed out to Mt. Mitchell, which is not very far from our house.  I have never noticed before, but there is a trail that leads to the top via going around the mound from the bottom up (The normal trail winds right up the side).  We decided to check it out, and other than some falls and some naughty dogs, we had so much fun!  Of course neither of us looked at our watch, so not sure how long it took us to get to the top, but I am going to go back and run it and see what the mileage may be.


Later that night we wrote our first official letter to Santa.  Boy does this kid want a lot of things!  We explained that a list is a suggestion, not a guarantee, and he seemed to have understood.  Although he still hasn't forgotten that Santa forgot a stuffed Picachu last year LOL!!!


The little town near us, Manhattan, does a Festival of Lights in the Blue Earth Plaza.  We never go to the big tree lighting, but we try to go by a few times when they have events.  We headed out Saturday night to check out the tree and mail off our letter to Santa.  The best part?  They had glasses that you put on kind of like 3-D glasses but instead every where there was a light, you saw snowmen.  It was the COOLEST thing EVER!



Oh and I forgot, Stella and I headed back out to Mt. Mitchell for some running.  Unfortunately, the trail is only about 1.5 miles, so my long run that I had hoped to get in didn't happen, but we had fun running and re running the trail again to get more mileage and got some good elevation gain, which is non existence mostly on my running route.  I think we finished up with 4.5 miles, with some serious back tracking to even get that much, but again, I didn't mind.


I was in shorts and a tech T....In November.  This is weird weather for sure!  


On Sunday, same thing. Shorts and a tech T.  Did 6 miles with both pups and called that a long run.  

Next week, I will be back on a more regularly scheduled program.  I am going to be loosey goosey till official time for training to start, but I did ask my coach to give me guidelines of mileage that would be beneficial to keep me in shape.   I can tell this week that I am still recovering or slightly out of shape because running hasn't been the easiest, even low mileage runs.  My hip is still a little sore at times but not near what it was so hoping the stretching and exercises will keep that in check.  Have a great week!!!!











Sunday, November 26, 2017

December Runfessions

Ah, time for some runfessions!  Grab a beer or whatever your favorite poison is, and cuddle up for some confessing via me :)


As I sip on my Leine's Snowdrift Vanilla Porter, I runfess that I have really, really enjoyed all of these days off with my kiddo.  I may have kidded that I was loosing my mind on Facebook, but honestly, I really loved every minute of it (well maybe not when cleaning up puke but...). When he wasn't sick, we have gotten some super fun things done together and when he was sick, I did some major deep cleaning, purging of clothing and other non used items, blog writing, and was in general very productive around the house.  I kind of enjoyed it and kind of wished I didn't have to work outside of the house, but alas, the bills don't disappear and our company isn't to the point where I can be a full time employee or stay at home mom, so back to work I go.  I am very thankful though that I do have a super flexible job and boss that understands that yes my kid is still running a fever over and over and over.

My fav meal thus far.  Cranberry Pork Roast

It smelled awesome cooking!




















Now switching to some Shiner's Cheer.  I runfess that the freezer prep meals that I have actually cooked (yes, me cook if you count dumping stuff in the slow cooker cooking!) haven't been all that great.  We realized after the first two that all of the ingredients are super healthy. While there is NOTHING wrong with no salt, or low sodium broth, or low fat this and that, I do like flavor and so does my hubby.  He has started looking at the recipes prior to me "cooking" and doctoring the dishes.  Thus far we have made the cranberry pork which I thought was wonderful, the mac and cheese bake, which was not really a meal in itself, and the slow cooker southwestern casserole, which was enough to feed an army and had no flavor but smelled really good cooking.  However, Hyvee is doing another class and I am tempted to sign up again, because these dishes have been SUPER easy to cook, and so nice to have ready to go.  I really think even though they aren't very super flavorful, they are worth the money and time.  Plus, these are recipes my hubby would never have cooked and now we have a couple we would like to do again our way :)

My last runfession is about pacing!  I am SO excited to be pacing two races this spring.  We have a ton of new pacers so I knew I wouldn't get all of the races that I had hoped to pace.

Check out their Facebook page for more cool pictures like this one!

I will be pacing the 2:40 group at the 2018 Liberty Half Marathon this year!

 

I will also be pacing the 2:35 group for the Bill Synder Highway Half!  Come join me and run these great races!!!!  I didn't get Running with the Cows, but since I love it so much, I may have to enter and run it anyway!

Anyway, have a great December. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  See you in January for more runfessions and more yummy winter brews!

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Recovery week + FLU????


This week is brought to you by the letter R and F or maybe V.  As in RECOVERY and then FLU/Virus!  Remember last week when I was thinking about staying or going as Andrew was sick and then I went hoping I wouldn't get sick on the way to the race or at the race? Well, that worked out for me at the race.  Unfortunately for little man, he was finally after a whole weekend of fevers, diagnosed with the Flu.  Part of me wanted to take him to Convenient care on the weekend, but he had no other symptoms and I didn't want to look like that parent that took her kid in even though it was a viral thing and basically untreatable.  Then Sunday night, he threw up again and just couldn't keep his fever down, so I made an appointment for first thing Monday morning to see his Dr.   After it was confirmed flu, I had the choice to take Tamiflu or roll the dice and see what happened.  I took Tamiflu last time and didn't get sick, but felt horrible as the Tamiflu really kicked my butt in itself.   Then fast forward to a few hours later, I got a call from the Dr's office that the test was mis read and he didn't in fact have Flu.  What???  Okay, glad it was a mistake.  The Dr did say that he had seen several others just like him that morning, so something viral is going around.


Okay, so I am seriously still on cloud nine.  We got our photos from the race, and yes I am smiling or trying not to smile in every shot.   Yes, these were at the beginning, and I think it would be funny to see my face after running the same circle for 6 straight hours.  


 It's pretty easy to spot myself in the pictures.  Hot pink stands out on a background of the grey day!



Not sure why I had such goofy looks on my face the entire time.  Right now, the worst aftermath of this is the blisters.  I have never had blisters so bad and one popped on it's own and let me tell you, I can barely walk!!!!  I have it covered now because it was oozing so much fluid that it was grossing me out.  I don't know how these ultra runners run with these things popped open, because I can barely walk right now and this one is only about the size of a quarter.  I haven't popped the other one on the other foot and it hasn't on it's on and I am hoping it doesn't pop . I guess every race brings forth a new challenge and new aftermath!

ALERT!  I have included a gross foot/blister pic so  if you don't like that kind of thing scroll down fast!!!  I will keep it super small.  It actually looks way better than it did but it still super hurts.  And yes, I have two huge calluses too but I usually have those.


As the week went by, it was obvious that this viral mess was not going anywhere.  While it was nice to be able to recover from my race by lots of resting, drinking lots of water, and lots of tv/movie watching, I am a do-er.  I was ready to pull my hair out by day 6 of this mess!  I did get to get out briefly and see other humans on Wednesday night.  I signed up to take a freezer meal class.  



We each were tasked at making one meal for the entire group.  I am NOT a cook or a preparer of food, and I was very honest with the leader of the class about this fact.  She quickly found me the easiest of all of the recipes.  Basically, I had to put a pre portioned 1 lb of steak in a bag and add half a package of fajita liquid mix.  Easy peasy!  I walked away with 10 meals, which adds up to about 14 dollars per meal for a family of 4!!!!!  I can't wait to do this again and I can't wait to dig into some of these recipes!  They all looked incredibly yummy, except maybe the fish, BUT I am willing to try something new.  I wish we could get a group together in the community and do this.  I hear these freezer prep parties are fun and very doable if you get a good group together and find some good recipes!


Thursday found us with much lower temperatures in the morning and mostly fever free the majority of the day.  I had hoped that we would be ready to go back to school Friday, so I could actually get back to being a normal non feral human being.   When he woke up Friday morning, he was fever free, but still coughing horribly.  I decided another day off and weekend was probably the best.  Plus, he had technically spike a small low grade fever before bed, so not in the whole 24 hours fever free zone yet.  

By Saturday, it was obvious that all of my attempts to thwart this virus from attacking me was all for naught.  Luckily, I just had the congestion, coughing, and snot blowing versus the high fever.  Thanks to airborne and Zicam for tempering this mess down.  I had plans though for Saturday nignt and I was not going to miss.  With good drugs on board, I headed out to see Bad Moms 2 with my bestie.


Not only where we going to see a super funny movie, BUT we were in the dine in theater that also included some adult drinks.  I had had a super late lunch, so I opted for some dark chocolate churros with amazing whipped cream and a mango Margarita.  I couldn't really taste the drink, but I could taste the dark chocolate and it was AMAZING!


Sunday dawned with little man and I sleeping in.  This whole week has been nothing but sleeping in and going to bed early.  Next week is going to be super tough getting back into the grind, but I miss people and my beetles and life in general :) 0 miles this week minus a little wogging with my GOTR girls, but that is okay. I needed some down time and obviously my body had plans of it's own.  Looking forward to some wogging next week and my first official turkey trot!

Have a great week and stay virus free!!!!


Monday, November 13, 2017

Spring Racing 2018

Okay I thought I had this written down somewhere in a post but I can't find it.  I really, really need to go back and tag my posts so I can search them :) . I needed to make some decisions on races for the spring, so I could figure out a nice break to heal up my hip for good, and work hard on strength so this doesn't happen again!

A race for the Spring!  Flint Hills 50 and Trail Marathon April 21st, 2018


Credit: Flint Hill's 50 FB page

The Flint Hill's 50 and marathon is my A race.  At this point, I would like to do this race as a marathon and not the 50 miler.  I need some recovery time from the past few races, and in order to do this race and be totally recovered, I need most of November and some of December with no structured training.  That is a long way around saying I don't have enough training time for this to be my first 50 miler.  This race is about 10 minutes from my house, so no need for a hotel room.  My family can be out on the course at the crew stations to wave and say hi and at the end.  This is typical to what I train on and I am pretty sure I can bring Stella.  It will be her first marathon and while weather will decide ultimately if she gets to run, I am counting on her being there.  This race is April 21st and is my goal race.  My actual goal is to be determined, but usually it is to finish in one piece with a smile on my face :)

PsychoWyco 10 miler, February 24th, 2018
Credit: Trail Nerds FB page
This one is a maybe. This is a race I have been wanting to do for years.  The only problem?  It's in February in Kansas and over 2 hours away. You know me, miss snow driving freak out.  The entry fee is 85 bucks, so a little much if the weather is bad and we can't get down.  The course is difficult and tough but SUPER fun, and one that I would have done at the Chili run (that I now can't do because of the Girls on the Run 5K being the same day).  I would like to do the 10 mile race, but the 20 mile is tempting, although I probably won't be up to my 20 milers by then.

The Bill Snyder Half May 19th, 2018

credit: Manhattan Running Company FB page

This is my other maybe,  but I am strongly leaning towards it.  I would like to either pace this one or run it for a PR:).  The problem?  There is a trail half marathon the same weekend in Omaha NE that is for dogs and their owners.  It's going to be a hard decision because I loved running this race last year and it's in my own backyard, so no hotel room or gas for drives, BUT the Bill allows dogs due to the amount of runners present.  Decisions.  I wanted this year to be about as many races as I could get to with my dogs, but it seems that most if not all dog themed or dog friendly races conflict with my schedule of just plain old life.  It makes more sense to stay local and save money (and put my money towards local charities) so in the end, I will probably be pacing or running the Bill.  

What I won't be running this year but would love to?


My beloved Wicked half and full that I have either volunteered at or run for the past several years or since it's inception conflicts with Andrew's spring break.  We had planned on heading to Jackson for his spring break to spend time with his grandmas.  At this point, our trip is still a go, but if anything changes, I will be running this race as it is my backyard.  Please, if you want a fun race, do this race!  March 24th in beautiful Wamego Kansas!  Plus the pasta feed this year is down at Iron Clad which is a beautiful old preserved building smack dab in down town Wamego!

Running With the Cows, May 12th 2018


 This is the weekend before The Bill Snyder Half.  This is the race where I have my current half PR.  I love the course and love the swag and the post race party.  If I am pacing the Bill or if I can pace this race, I might move this up to a do race :) . I am going to apply for both Running with the Cows and The Bill and see what I get pacing wise.

What about a 50K?

I haven't really looked at all the close 50Ks yet, so there is always a chance I could find one to slide up and mix things up.  The two "local" 50ks that I have done are on March 24th (spring break) and May 5th, which is too close to The Bill and RWTC.  While I love the distance more than any other, probably not a bad thing to take a break and just do a marathon this spring.  I am not saying "No" at this point but I am saying probably not:)

Okay there are my ideas about spring races.  Come say hi if you see me pacing or running!!!!



Sunday, November 12, 2017

6/12/24 Week! Race Week is here!

More random pictures for the week:).  Enjoy.


First off I am SO excited to say that I am a Honey Stinger Ambassador for 2018!!!!  I am so excited, because I totally LOVE their products!  I use their waffles on all of my long runs and love the flavors and how they sit in my tummy post consumption.  I honestly didn't think I would get this because well, unlike the prez, I don't really do twitter.  This was a very pleasant surprise to be picked!


I totally forgot to talk about this in my last blog since this technically happened last week, but another season of soccer is done.  We are still on the fence about spring soccer.  I am not sure I can coach due to my running schedule, as it was during the majority of my spring races last year, and I am sure that won't change this year.  I love, love coaching, and Andrew kind of likes playing a tiny bit more as he has gotten older.  We shall see closer till time for starting back up again.  



We are now starting wrestling season and are doing the free clinic again this year before the season starts.  He has talked about nothing but wrestling for some time now, and was delighted to be 30 minutes early for the first night (whoops that one is on daddy).  As you can see, he was pretty much smiling the entire time.  Many of his friends showed up and also tried the free clinic, and from what I have heard, thoroughly enjoyed it!!!!


The time change has all of us totally confused.  The dogs are dying for food at their normal times (TOO EARLY) and Andrew has been falling asleep randomly.  This was post wrestling meeting on Monday.  He INSISTED he had to go to the meeting, even though I knew it would be super boring for him.  He had a hard time sitting still and then promptly fell asleep when we went to dinner.

Ah, running.  Well, I did a practice 5K with the GOTR group I coach on Monday.  I was assigned the coach for the speed walking group.  Even with some brief slow running sprinkled in, my girl who stayed in my group did not finish the full 5K distance.  We got about 2.2 miles done:( She didn't seem too bummed, and i am sure she will complete the entire 5K distance come race day.  On Tuesday, since I really didn't run per se on Monday, I did the group run with the Manhattan Running Company.  Tuesday night was safety night and we did a 5 K with the group.  My hip felt fine during and after the run, go figure.

Wrestling season started!  New singlet, new head gear, and new shoes!
I had my final check up with my chiro Dr. Needles on Wednesday.  He gave me the green light to race with the caveat that we have a ton of work to do post race.  My bursitis seems to have cleared up with the help of my low mileage, lots of tart cherry juice, and my stretches he prescribed.  I wish I could be as religious about strength and stretches when I am not hurt. Anyway, we will probably have to start over at square one post the race, or maybe I should be optimistic and think we are in a better place.  Either way I am super excited to run this race now and feel super positive about my time goal!

I was suppose to leave Friday mid day to head down to Wichita to check into my hotel room and to chill till bib pick up and race start on Saturday.   The school called when I was at the Manhattan Running Company getting fuel for the race to tell me that my kiddo had puked.  In her words, a copious amount of vomit came out of his mouth and nose.  YIKES!  He was also running a low grade fever.  Luckily daddy was in Wamego and got him before I could even leave the store.  I headed home with much trepidation.  I had woke up not feeling 100% myself, but not GI issues, more head cold issues.  I had already taken my temp a few times just to convince myself I was fine.  So the decision became, leave and get down there and then get sick, or stay and run the risk of nothing happening and drive down early, early in the morning.  I don't know about you but when fluids are coming out of me like that, I prefer to be at home praying to my own porcelain god.


Fast forward to the night time.  Andrew finally passed out and was resting and I wasn't sick YET.  I made the decision to eat first, then head out to Wichita. I got in around 9:30 pm and after some unwinding time, was out like a light at 10:30.  Up at 5 am and out the door by 6.  I am going to do a separate post for the race which will probably come out before this post posts so stay tuned:)


Sunday we woke up pretty early, courtesy of little man's fever spiking.  I was sore but nothing horrible. I actually feel the best when I am up and moving, not sitting.  Spoiler alert:  While I didn't make the 6 hour cut off, I still was able complete the distance and get a huge unofficial PR (unofficial since it was via my watch and not via their timing).  I sent Tony out to go to the grocery store to get provisions just in case both of us were stuck in the house all week.  We have a super busy week this coming week, so I am praying this is just a bad cold and nothing else.  Seriously every single night we have something and I have a huge experiment that should be coming to completion this week.  Sigh.  Life with kids. 

Have a great week this week!  I am looking forward to some recovery time, lots of sleep, and hopefully NO ILLNESS!!!!




6/12/24 Run 2017

When I found out about this race a while back, I have to say I was intrigued.  A 1.356 mile loop, done 23 times, with aid station and crew tents at the start/finish was a very interesting idea.  Would I be bored to death? Would i mentally go insane?  Would I have friends to run with?  The premise is that you have to run a 50K in 6 hours a 50 miler in 12 hours and 100 miler in 24 hours to qualify for the respective buckles.  You also would get a 50K buckle in the 12 and 24 hour race if you got a 50 K inside that time (which I would think most would).    Let's begin with the start of the story :)



If you read my weekly blog post or if you know me, you will know my kiddo came home sick Friday unexpectedly.  The plan was to head out in the daylight to avoid deer and such, and get to my hotel to eat and chill.  Unfortunately, until I felt like Andrew's fever was under control, I refused to leave.  I kind of set an ultimatum for myself in that if I couldn't get out by 7:30 pm, that I needed to stay home and get up at 3 am and drive.  Lucky for me, Andrew finally went to sleep around 6 pm, and I was able to eat and get on the road.  The drive was a little slow as my GPS took me down some 2 lane highways in back woods KS that had 0 amount of lighting, and I don't like guessing which way the road goes at 70 mph, so I kept it slow.  I got in around 9:30 pm and took some time to unwind and had no issues falling asleep.  As with some low key ultras, we didn't have packet pick up the night before.  Instead, we had to be at the park and checked in by 6:45 am and my hotel was 7 minutes and one weird U turn away.  I got up, fueled, sat around and checked social media, took a few bathroom breaks, and then hit the road.  Checking in was easy, and I got my shirt, coffee mug and number, and still had almost an hour to kill.  I just sat in the car and read a book via headlamp.  I was a little worried though at first.  I wore my Mizuno winter tights, mizuno long sleeved shirt, and my brooks light weight coat.  I had lobster gloves (gloves where your hand is all together except your pointer finger and your thumb) courtesy of Mizuno, my head band that covers my ears, and my balega socks. I felt I was dressed for the wind and cold appropriately.


I also had some hot hands in my drop box and some other goodies too.  Again, totally spoiled with drop boxes at ultras. I can put as much junk in there as I want to and no one cares :)


When I got out of my car to check in, most people were in shorts and tanks.  Hmmmm....Must be an ultra thing?  I will go ahead and say here, most everyone put on more clothes as the day went on, so I feel like I dressed correctly, but I was a little worried maybe I was over dressed at first.  That is the beauty of light layers though, you can take things off and push up sleeves if need be.  Anyway, as I was looking for a table to put my drop box on, one of the other runners told me to just set it up by the trail.  Okie dokie, done. I grabbed a chair from my van and set my box in the seat.   I will say this is the part of the race that made it so much fun.  I didn't have to carry anything, as I was by my very close drop bag every lap (~1.3 miles).  I never had to worry about not having X or Y or when the next bathroom break might be.  There were porta potties right past the start/finish, as well as at another area of the trail.  I could just concentrate on running and nothing else.  

I don't have any pics from the race because soon after we started, it started drizzly rain and it didn't stop the entire time I was there.  The wind blew, not sure how hard, but hard enough to be uncomfortable and make me feel like I made a good decision on my clothes.  I was quickly drenched from head to toe, which once again made some super creative chaffing.  Both of my feet had huge blisters and callouses on the big toe and below my big toe, I guess from being wet for so long.  Live and learn.  Okay, another reason why I so love ultras, especially looped ones now and out and backs.  Every time one of the fast ultra runners lapped me,  they would call out something like "looking strong!" or "good work!" or something inspirational or something to make me laugh.  I LOVE that!  Anyway, my phone kept dying, even thought I had it in an internal jacket pocket, and it had a hot hand in it.  Stupid Iphone 5 batteries!!!!!  Apparently on the second time it died, my head phones also shorted out and burned a black spot in my coat.  


Boo head phones!  I have some wireless ones, I guess I just need to use them more often.  I listened to some Another Mother runner podcasts that I had kept just for this race.  Those ladies gabbing seems to take my mind off of the pain and monotony.  After one of the times my phone died, I hooked up with a girl going a bit slower than me  and talked for a lap or two.  I needed to talk for my mental health and didn't mind going a little slower.  She had just run a half and decided that this race sounded like fun.  Might I add she had never run a full!!!!  SUPER SUPER GIRL POWER!  My plan at first was to run everything including the two hills and try and stay under the 11:20 pace that I needed to in order to get a 50K in 6 hours.  I started out great and kept battling, but overall I just couldn't do it fast enough.  Even though the time shut off as I was on my 22 lap of 23 (so it only counted what I had up until the 21 lap, since that was the last lap completed), I saw that I wasn't too far from finishing up the total 50K, so kept running until I did.  My watch says i hit 31.11 miles in 6 hours and 8 minutes.

Okay here is the weird part.  I only ran maybe a quarter of the third lap and I hit 31 miles.   Technically, each lap is 1.356 miles and you should complete 23 laps to get a full 31.07 miles.  I have calculated, poured over data, and double checked everything.  Usually when my watch hiccups, you notice, because I will have a 5 minute mile or a mile that is unusually fast.  I don't see that on the data on my watch or on garmin connect.  I only left the trail to go to a porta potty that was maybe 5 feet off the trail, and to my drop box which was in a chair that was also maybe 5 feet if that much off of the trail.  I honestly don't know how I could have gotten 31 miles without the full 23 laps.  Oh well, what do you do? That is a HUGE PR for me, but I felt like it was doable with the weather being on the cold side.  Even if I had finished the entire lap, I would have still had a pretty big PR since my previous PR for the 50K is 6 hours and 50 minutes (thanks to the heat that day and me peeing blood) I guess I am going to go with my watch and celebrate, and try not to figure out why I was so short on laps, but full on miles.  I need to find more fall or late fall 50Ks to do next year!  I am for sure a winter weather runner!


Even though I didn't get the buckle, I did get a PR (I think) and I got a super cute blue pull over and a new coffee mug.  I loved the race (minus the rain) and I loved the concept.  I was never bored.  I liked the looping because I knew where I could make up time and where I would have to walk.  There was no cover, so if it were a sunny or hot day, you would roast, but that wasn't an issue.  The aid spread was amazing and I tried Mt. Dew for the first time while running and loved it.  Honestly, I can't do races anymore that don't have coke or mt dew at the water stops, or I need to start carrying coke in my handheld!  I should have signed up for the 12 hour race, as there was an option that as soon as you hit the 50K mark, you could quit and get your buckle.  It looks like only 1 person actually did that, and I would feel horrible for doing that, but it was an option.  I would like to say that I would be back but I kind of like trying new races every year (with the exception of Chicago:) .  I am really, really glad I tried this race and would highly recommend to others! We shall see how next year plays out!

I had to get in my car and drive back to Wamego post race, since my crew wasn't with me.  While it wasn't the most fun thing in the world, I did it and am super sore as I type this.  My hip isn't happy, the chaffing sucks, and my blisters are popped, but I am still smiling!!!!   A PR is a fun thing to help carry you home!!!!  I got a large sweet tea and drank every drop of it, and then ate the ice to stay awake and engaged while driving and when I got home, I took a nice long epsoms salt bath.  I hate to say my kiddo is still incredibly sick and I am hoping my post run immune system can fight off whatever he has.  If not, this is a nice long recovery week and if I have to spend it in bed, so be it.  Looking forward to the pictures I saw them out taking and looking forward to some down time before my next training cycle picks up!  Congrats to all of the runners who got buckles and won awards and a HUGE congrats to my new friend Jacalyn who battled through and got 104 miles in 24 hours!!!!

            5TH ANNUAL
                           KUS 6/12/24 HOUR RUN
                       CHAPIN PARK, WICHITA, KANSAS
                             NOVEMBER 11, 2017
                       USATF CERTIFICATION KS15022KH
                               6 HOUR RESULTS

Place Bib Name               Ag S City         St Laps Dist       Time       
===== === ================== == = ============ == ==== ======= ======= 
    1 108 RYAN HAHN          28 M BERRYTON     KS   32 43.3984 5:52:14 
    2 106 MATT DORSEY        36 M GRAND ISLAND NE   30 40.6860 5:49:02 
    3 117 ERICH RANZ         40 M WICHITA      KS   27 36.6174 5:49:48 
    4 118 ELLA REUSSER       31 F WICHITA      KS   26 35.2612 5:53:14 
    5 122 MIKE STOUT         39 M WICHITA      KS   25 33.9050 5:44:49 
    6 107 ZACK GINGRICH-GAYL 38 M WICHITA      KS   25 33.9050 5:48:05 
    7 123 CURTIS WHITTIT     29 M WICHITA      KS   25 33.9050 5:51:42 
    8 121 MINDY SELF         31 F WICHITA      KS   24 32.5488 5:54:51 
    9 116 TYLER PATTERSON    33 M WICHITA      KS   24 32.5488 5:57:43 
   10 101 AARON ASHWORTH     35 M WICHITA      KS   23 31.1926 5:45:00 
   11 111 ELIZABETH MACKENZI 44 F WICHITA      KS   23 31.1926 5:51:14 
   12 112 JOEL MACY          18 M WICHITA      KS   23 31.1926 5:52:43 
   13 113 ADAM MONAGHAN      34 M WICHITA      KS   23 31.1926 5:52:43 
   14 110 GARY LIND          44 M INDEPENDENCE MO   23 31.1926 5:53:07 
   15 119 DONNA SCHMIDT      54 F WICHITA      KS   23 31.1926 5:58:24 
   16 105 CASSONDRA COLEMAN  39 F WAMEGO       KS   21 28.4802 5:46:22 
   17 109 MICHAEL JOHNSON    55 M SALINA       KS   21 28.4802 5:49:57 
   18 120 LYNDA SCHULTZ      54 F WELLINGTON   KS   19 25.7678 5:51:58 
   19 115 JESSICA PARKER     39 F ANDOVER      KS   19 25.7678 5:57:01 
   20 103 DAVID BOLE         34 M WICHITA      KS   18 24.4116 5:47:58 
   21 114 JESSICA MORIN      50 F HALSTEAD     KS   12 16.2744 3:13:18 
  11/11/2017  1:00PM


Results by Timer Guys (Posted at www.timerguys.com)