Saturday, September 29, 2018

Flat rock 25 K Race report


Initially when Cindy told me about this race I thought not only no, but hell NO!  I don't do well on rocks and generally wuss out when I have to go up or down.  Well, after some careful consideration and looking at fall races, I figured why the hell not?  They allowed dogs so that is a big plus for me.  The race is an out and back which I kind of like.  Plus, I had heard the trail was "rugged" but beautiful.  Shall we dive in???


We got into town Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel, which was about 9 minutes from the race start.  They had a spaghetti feed at packet pick up, which was yummy, but something in the spaghetti gave me HORRIBLE gas.  We got a very nice shirt that has the course profile on it (holy moly) and our bibs.

I sat flat Michelle and flat stella out.  This was my first time using tail wind in a race, so I had a mix of singles and some already scooped into ziplocs.  I only had two bottles, which wasn't enough, but I am jumping ahead.  We had a quick beer  while sitting outside the hotel and had some nice unwinding time.  Back in to take some melatonin and hit the hay early.  It would have been perfect except both of my pillows were as hard as rocks and stella kept barking at every single noise.  She was really keyed up for some reason and I couldn't seem to get her to relax.  We finally drifted off around 10 something, but she was on guard most of the night.  


We started at 8:00 with a briefing, so we actually got to sleep in!  We headed over around 7 am so we could see the 50K runners start at 7:30.  My friend Cindy was doing the 50K with Miles and we wanted to help cheer them on.  Not sure why I have such a funny look on my face in this picture!  It was cool but not cold so I left my jacket and ran in arm warmers, which i quickly took off and stored in my pack.

This race is nice and small and it seemed like most were entered in the 50K.  We talked to a few new friends pre race and of course stella always draws people in.  She is so fluffy that people just have to pet her!

Of course this is one of her favorite people Pat.  I always get lots of questions about her running. Most people can't believe a dog can do races like this.  Yes, I was a little worried about the course for her, but only because of the rock climbing.  We run on rocks daily, so I know her paws are pretty tough, but we don't climb up or down boulders on the regular.  Fancy Creek has a few rocky parts, but NOTHING like Flat Rock!

Right at 8:30 we were herding up and headed off.  The first part of the race is on a road as we go out to the trail, and of course like always Stella tried to pull me to the front.  It takes her a while to figure out that we are doing a long race and as always people worry about her because she is pulling like a crazy dog.  I try to assure them she will settle in but no one ever believes us.  We luckily had a very cool and over cast day.  The toughest and rockiest part is at the start of the race and then subsequently at the end since it is an out and back.  Here are a few pictures that I tried to take on the course and honestly they don't do it justice.  








There were lots of ups and downs at first that meant a ton of climbing and not a ton of running.  We finally seemed to get high enough to be in a prairie like area that had few trees and nice places to run.  The course is REALLY well marked with marking on the ground as well as up.  Kudos to whomever marked it.  We did get lost twice, once stella went the right way and we figured out she wasn't with us. She was just standing at the top of the hill looking down like, where are you idiots going?  The second time we all went the wrong way and suddenly were down by the water.  We quickly figured out our mistake and righted our selves.


We only had one hiccup.  Devil's butt crack.  Here is what it looks like from down low as my new friend Kris climbed up.


Stella would not squeeze down the smaller part to get to the wider park to get down.  She wanted to jump from way up top, and I was terrified she was going to hurt herself.  I kept trying to let her off so she might find the way, but she just couldn't.  FINALLY a big group of ladies caught up to us and we all worked together to get her down.  One lady pushed from the top, I kept her from splaying her legs out like spiderman to get her through the narrow part, and another lady held my back so if stella jumped I wouldn't fall and hit my head.  We were a well oiled machine.  She of course had no issues getting back up it and just scampered up after Kris. 





Kris and I kept leap frogging each other and we finally decided to just run together.  She was very tolerant of stella running right behind her and drooling on her calf muscle.  She even shared water with her when I ran out.  I really am going to have to get either two more bottles OR a bladder so she always has water.  The aid stations were too far apart and I mostly had tail wind in my bottles so couldn't share.  While the weather was nice and cool, I think she needs her own water source no matter what.  Funny story, we had a collapsible bowl, but one of the aid stations we passed decided to make her a water bowl for on the way back...except she would NOT drink from it LOL!!!!!  I felt so bad but she just wouldn't! 

We finished back on the road and when stella heard the music and the cow bells she turned on the jets!!!!!


I can't wait to see the amazing pictures from Mile 90.  They caught us in two places and at the finish.  We didn't come in last like I thought we would, but my legs, specifically my hip flexors were not feeling the hard on the way out.  I needed more technical trail practice and a little more cross fit, but maybe I can come back next year and do better.  




Till next year Flatrock!  We are sore, we are tired, but we had a great time!  If you are looking for a gem of a race in a small town in KS with a small group of very nice, very dedicated trial runners, come to Flatrock!!!!









Sunday, September 23, 2018

T minus 2 weeks till Flat Rock 25K!

Wow, I didn't realize I could get this SORE!  From starting my on ramp, to getting a pretty intense massage, and then running 14 miles, I think I gave myself some pretty bad muscle strain in both of my quads and or IT band.  BOO! This is not what I wanted!  While my back/hip feels one thousand times better, now going down the steps is torture.  WHY!  This is suppose to help me with injuries not make them!  This is my biggest concern that doing anything intense like this will hinder, not improve my running.  I have three more classes (2 this week), so keep your fingers crossed that I do no more damage.

wonky ear says WHAT?
Monday:  Ice the quads and try not to cry.  I am not kidding, I could barely walk down the stairs in the morning and that scared the HELL out of me.  I have a race in two weeks that is pretty much nothing but hills!!! Maybe i should have started this journey post race?  I need my quads to function at 100%, not make me cry every time I try to step down!  I am toast if I can't get this under control!  I skipped most of squats in GOTR just to try and give anything time to heal and did minimal running during coaching.

Proof

Tuesday:  8 miles of speed work.  SAY WHAT?   I think my coach has lost her mind.  We are two weeks out, and I know this has been an odd training cycle but still WHAT?  My first inclination was to say not doing it.  It wasn't hard even though  she wanted mile repeats, and I got to choose the pace, and the speed was anything harder than easy.  Of course I had my on ramp planned that night, so had to get up and get it done before hubby had to go to work.  I decided to get up at 4 am, fuel, let stuff digest for an hour and head out.  Whatever I could get done before 7 am was the best I could do, and I could finish post dropping Andrew off at school.  Right before I headed out, I checked the weather.  Hmmmm....85% humidity and real feel temp around 75 so dew point was at 70.  To the mill I went.  The more I ran, the more my body hurt ALL over.  WHY???  I just had had the first run on Sunday where nothing hurt for the entire run, so why is this happening now?  I am hoping it was just running on the treadmill that did it versus my body just not being happy.  My quads were silent, but my hip and back flared again so badly I didn't think I would make it to mile 7.    I needed one more mile, but also needed to get my kid ready for school so I could be at the shop to meet our new employee for paper work.  While the watch data won't make sense, I did 4.2 mph for the easy, 3.2 for the recovery, and 5.3-5.5 mph for the hard.  My watch was about .5-.4 tenths of a mile off at any given time.  I am watching the series The Deuce (NSFW or for that matter when any littles are around) and somehow that is keeping me sane on my runs on the mill.  I can't wait to watch Ozarks season 2!!!!!

we lost another tooth!
Wednesday: Rest.  Again, let me back up.  I did my second on ramp class at Rising strong fitness Tuesday night.  While it was SUPER hot again, we worked more on shoulders and the form that goes with all of the shoulder raises.  Plus, we worked on proper form for rowing and riding the assault bike.  I was dripping sweat the whole entire time, but I made it through and even had a better time with the AMRAP.  The only difference I can think of is NO burpees, so I wasn't going from down on the floor to up in the air.  I rowed for 200 meters, did 10 shoulder presses with 10 lb dumb bells, and 10 step ups on the box.  I did feel like I worked really hard, but I didn't feel sick or get a headache.  WIN!


Thursday:  An easy 6, GOTR coaching, and my 3rd On ramp.  I am not sure if that should be in all caps, one word or what, so cross fitters, please feel free to hit me up and correct me if I am writing it wrong.  Several people on FB asked if I was working out on an On ramp on the road so...  Run was nice, coaching was fun other than having 3 girls fall (uh, we aren't running on ice ladies, stay on your feet), and the On ramp was fine until I did my timed thingy again.  This time it was 10 deadlifts,  a number of kettle bell swings (i think 14), and 21 jump ropes (single under thank goodness).  I was fine during my first round, got to the kettle bell swings during the second round and the blinding headache came rushing back.  WTF?????  My coach asked if i wanted to stop and I said no, so she substituted a strict press with dumbells and I was fine?   We are thinking vertigo of some sort at this time, but really not sure.  I am pretty sure that the going all the way down and getting all the way back up in the burpees was what got me the first time, but not sure.  Eliminating that swinging of my head and body sure did cure it this time, so who knows.  This is super frustrating because how am I going to know what moves aggravate this and how am I going to substitute constantly?  I am in need of a good total physical, so I guess this motivates me to get it done and make sure I am okay. I have done strength for years now including classes where you are timed or pushed and or just doing this kind of stuff in my bedroom and NEVER had any issues so really puzzled.  It was very hot in the gym again and I was pouring sweat, but none of the other moves bothered me so who knows?

Billy Joel at the K!
Friday:  Long run 12.  We had a crazy weekend coming up, so I HAD to get my long run done.  We had a upcoming concert in KC Friday night, which meant a long night into early Saturday morning of driving back, so no time for early morning Saturday long run.  Plus,  I was volunteering for Konquer the Konza Sunday morning, so no long run then.  I had full intentions of getting up at 4 am, fueling, and then getting in as much as possible before taking andrew to school, but after a long night of hot flashes and very little sleep, I gave up on that idea.  Not sure how much sleep I got, maybe 3 very broken hours at the most.  Menopause, if this is you I HATE you already.  Anyway, we had a big cool down happen and running later was amazing.  Stella and I almost got back to our normal 5 mph and I tried some new Tailwind flavors.  I didn't try the whole super concentrate the bottles trick this time, to try and cut down on the number i had to carry.  I did try the Naked version of Tailwind, and while it tasted super weird at first, I got use to it and liked it WAY more than the uber flavored versions.  Although, I wouldn't mind doing one bottle with caffeine in it to start out the run.  I still need to figure out carrying water for stella and am eyeing possibly getting a bladder for her water.


Saturday:  Soccer, sleeping, and being outside, oh my.  We got in from the Billy Joel concert around 1:30 am, so sleeping was the first thing I tried to accomplish. Of course the puppy was up at 6 am, but I managed to let tony sleep a little bit and then trade out for another hour or so.  Back up again, the concert was AMAZING!  Billy Joel has been on my bucket list for years, so when I saw he was coming to the K, I was like sign me up, here is my credit card!  We had amazing seats and had such a great time.  Tony and I really need to get away more often.  Minus the horrible traffic in and out of the parking lots, and the wall to wall people going into the stadium, it really was the perfect night.  After getting some sleep, we headed out for soccer and then we attended a Mine craft event at target.  While the soccer game wasn't that great in that we just couldn't score and the other team was full of awesome players and the mine craft event was just eh, we headed to firehouse subs (new in our town) to eat and then back home to nap.  I had some inkling that I would get my easy 6 in today, but that just didn't happen.  I ended up cleaning and doing laundry and then taking it easy and going to bed early.

Sunday:  Volunteer for Konquer the Konza and easy 6.  I had my usual spot on top of the monster hill that we runners lovingly call the stairs.  We had amazing weather, but the humidity was tough and I saw many runner soaked coming up that hill.  Most of the runners this year were in the 10K and the weather being nice helped get the 25 K runners to the finish line much quicker than previous years in my opinion.  I enjoyed ringing my bell and cheering those on because I know how much it means to me to hear a cowbell ringing and encouraging me on.  My plan was to run to my post which was about a mile away, cheer till the last runner came through, run a mile back to my car and drop off some stuff and then get 4 more miles to finish up my 6.  I got the first two runs done but when I went out to get my final 4, I got a raging headache that just wouldn't go away (different than the ones i get from working out).  I got my 4.5 and called it good.  I think lack of sleep finally caught up to me and i am hoping this week will be better. 

i love races that give out things other than shirts.  I LOVE this hat!

Short on sleep probably was my enemy this week and maybe even caused my headaches.  I can't win right now with a puppy that is up bright and early every morning and then activities that keep me up late at night.  I am looking forward to a light week this coming week, my last on ramp, and my fall goal race!  Flat rock 25K, here  stella and I come!



Sunday, September 16, 2018

T minus 3 weekends till Flatrock 25K


I am not sure what this week will bring since I didn't do a long run last weekend and am now suffering from a little bit of a Hawk Hangover :) Up for 2 days with only 3 hours, if that much of sleep will do it to you, BUT I had so much fun crewing and doing a tiny bit of pacing that I would totally do it again.  I am going to do a separate post on crewing and what we learned so look forward to that.

Monday:  Rest day.  First day coaching Girls on the Run 2018. We have a very large group this year and 4 coaches!  I am so excited to see these new girls grow and enjoy running/walking and excited to see the returning girls continue and be leaders for the new girls.  I am also really excited to coach with a new coach who is in grad school for ag ed.  I have a feeling we will have a lot in common (my BS is in ag:animal science)

Tuesday: I didn't have anything on my schedule, since I didn't know if or how much I would be running.  Coach said rest day, but I woke up feeling 1000 times better after two nights of getting pretty good pretty hard sleep.  I was a little sore from running in the wrong shoes the day before at GOTR, which makes sense because we were on concrete.   I also didn't realize it but I was super sore from all of the squats we did.  One of our work outs was a getting to know you work out and two of the activity stations were partner squats.  My quads were on fire, but at the time I was blaming the road and not the exercise the day before :)  Since my favorite new sort of trail at Annenburg Park was still shut down, thanks to the flooding on labor day, I had to hit Cico park again, which is all concrete sidewalks.  OUCH.  I put in my favorite podcast and headed out to just deal.  While the mornings have been wonderful lately with regard to temps, the days are still getting up into the 80s so I was a sweaty mess quickly.  I got my easy 6 done, with a few of the steeper hills being walking hills on the last 2 miles.

Wednesday: Rest day.  I am still catching up with sleep and sanity and laundry, so rest day it is.  I am starting my cross fit fun soon so no excuses right?  We also had soccer practice in which Andrew scored two goals.  Maybe we are finally getting it?

Thursday:  I had nothing on my schedule so decided another easy 6 couldn't hurt.  After the multiple squats I did Monday i have to say, my back was feeling much better this run.  My quads also had adjusted and were quiet.  My feet felt great as I ran on mostly gravel.  The temperature was wonderful, but the dang humidity was up around 100%.  URGH. 

After my run, I had my first evaluation or ON RAMP with a local Cross Fit coach.  My BRF Mel has been doing Cross Fit for a few months and LOVES it, and I had noticed they had a kettlebell class they were offering.  When I sent in an email to find out more details, the head coach emailed me back and wanted to talk.  She felt like the kettlebell class probably wasn't the best fit for me and it was also during the day in manhattan, which doesn't work with me working in Wamego.  She talked me into doing this ON RAMP program for four sessions and then we could go from there.  I KNOW doing strength work will significantly help me and I am sure that is why I have been continually injured lately.  I am hoping this will jump start my desire to get back in the saddle and the gym.  The only thing that is making me a bit  scared right now?  The cost!!!!!  I would probably only want to go to one or two sessions a week and that  works out to about 15 dollars a class IF i sign up for the total package at 120 a month OR180 dollars if I do one PT session a week for four weeks.  The punch card is 10 sessions for 20 = 200 bucks.  I am not sure where this is going to go and won't make a decision until the ON RAMP is done, but I really am not leaning towards Cross Fit classes.  Let's see if I change my mind :)

giant foam willie claw and new KSU shirt, CHECK!
Friday:  Cross train. Let's back up a bit.  After my ON RAMP, which was hard, amazing, fun and SWEATY, I got a blinding headache.  I noticed it when I was doing my final part of my timed event at the end.  I am not sure what caused it or why it came on, but it kicked my ass.  I was suppose to meet up with my hubby post work out for dinner and as soon as i pulled in the parking lot, I immediately got super sick to my stomach.  I made it home without passing out or puking, but felt pretty out of it the rest of the night and into the next day. I couldn't get rid of the headache and actually woke up with it as well.  I felt like i was more than hydrated and I had eaten a honey stinger waffle upon leaving GOTR and heading to Manhattan, so I wasn't working out on an empty stomach.  The gym was hot, as I have learned most Cross Fit gyms are, so that could have been it.  I don't run well in heat and I certainly don't work out well in heat.  The temperature didn't really bother me till we did the timed event (i am sure it has a sexy Cross Fit name).  I have three more classes, so I am interested to see if the other three go like this one.  Friday was a wash with regards to cross, but I am hoping we are moving back in the right direction.
heading to the stadium
Saturday:  easy 6.  This was one  of those days where everything had to go according to a very tight plan.  I needed to get a short long run in, had a massage scheduled again in wamego at 9 am, soccer at 11:30 am and then needed to head to the KSU game to do a brief tailgate before heading to the stadium.  I got up super early to run and my tummy had other plans, so I had to eat and then wait an hour before I could run.  Bleh.


Back in time to quickly shower and head to the massage lady.  We did some more cupping and did cupping of my legs and feet.  It was super painful, BUT I could tell a HUGE difference post doing it.  Cupping of the sore and tight IT band was the worst.  Cross Fit did a number on me for sure, but still no pain in my back or hip thus far, so I will take it!


Soccer was interesting as it was SUPER hot and the kids kind of wilted in the first quarter, but Andrew played decent and hustled as he could for as hot as he was (and as short as the practices have been but I digress).  After soccer we loaded up to head to the KSU stadium for some tail gating and football.  Andrew had never been to a game and I figured this would be a good one to go to.  


It was super hot and we were packed in like sardines, but after half time the crowd thinned (we were in the band parent section LOL) and we had a better time.  We lasted about 3 quarters before Andrew was completely done and we headed back to our special parking spot near Blue Stem grill for dinner to let the traffic thin out.  I enjoyed parking there and how easy it was to get out and they are running a special right now that if you get a parking pass, you get a 20 dollar gift card, so it was worth it. 


Sunday:  Long run day.  I got in bed reasonably early with hopes of getting up and getting out to some trails.  When I woke up, I had no desire to drive anywhere so I just hit up my normal route.  I know this is going to kill me when I run Flat Rock but so be it.  Right now I can't make plans to meet up with anyone since I never know how the puppy is going to do overnight and how much sleep I am going to get.  

I decided to try to fuel with tail wind because A) i have been wanting to and B) i had no other fuel to last for at least 3 hours of running.  I had no clue what to do other than I wanted 200 calories per hour.  I loaded up with some run gum and a water bottle with tailwind berry + caffeine and a water bottle with water.  I figured out real quickly I needed four bottles honestly, 2 with tail wind and 2 with just water because after 1 hour, I was no where near the house and I needed to refuel.  I probably should have held off on TW till after the first hour but oh well, live and learn.  I tried to get a bottle per hour (i had powder on me so I just added it to the water I had left) and ended up needing to make a pit stop at the house to re fill water bottles.  I learned for sure that using the flavored TW is too much for me.  While my stomach was fine, my brain kept saying too much sweet, too much sweet.  My teeth also started hurting pretty badly so I will try the naked next time.  I did LOVE the way it made me feel = constant energy versus a spike and then a let down.  I also loved how the caffeine kept me awake and alert.  I am willing to try again and I don't mind making a pit stop at the house to re fuel (and pee in a flush toilet:).  I liked that instead of not really hydrating, I downed at least three 17 oz bottles of water plus just the regular water I drank to bring the sweet down a little.  The biggest down side? I have to figure out how to carry enough water for me and stella.  I think having four bottles will help and in the race we will have aid stations.  

Overall, even with a hawk hang over, I felt pretty good.  I would like to think I am tapering next week but I never know what my coach is thinking so I guess I will check final surge and be surprised either way :)  

Have a great week!!!!




Wednesday, September 12, 2018

What I learned crewing a runner for her first 100 miler


When I was asked to crew/pace my friend Lindsey at livinglovingrunner I didn't hesitate to say yes.  I have never crewed or paced for a long distance like that, but I knew I could do it.  After saying yes then the reality hit me.  This is a SERIOUS job!  Your runner is your sole focus from the minute she or he starts till they finish and you can't think of anything else.  That means you have to be on your game and theirs.  You don't need to leave, or be tired, or forgot anything! You also have to adapt to anything including the weather, the runner and his or her needs, or even  if the course throws something odd your way.  If you know me, I like a good plan, but I am not the best at changing said plan.  I guess flexibility is very important as well, so I tried to prepare myself for change.  Here are some of the most important lessons I learned this weekend!


1.  Preparation, preparation, preparation.  Have LOTS of meetings, some in person and some via messenger.  Go over stupid details.  Write lots of notes.  Change your mind and change it again, but get it down in a game plan.  Have a notebook with every note, every detail.  Have a google docs where you can edit meeting notes so they stay current.  Study the map so you know exactly how the course plays out and where crew access points would be.  We all had no clue how this was going to go, but Lindsey tried her best to write up exactly what we would need and not need for each loop.  We got lucky in that we could meet her at 2 crew access places, with one place being twice in a matter of an hour.  By having exactly what she thought she would need at each stop and each loop, we were able to be prepared to the highest degree.  Overall, she guessed exactly right as to what she needed and when, but we always had back ups just in case.

2.  Organization is key.  The night before, we as a crew went through all the gear and all of the stuff we were bringing out for her, and organized everything by type of stuff (extra clothes, food, essentials for each loop).  Each type of stuff had a plastic box, which was a life saver due to the moisture in the air, that was labeled and stacked.  We had one vehicle that stayed put at base camp and was for sleeping in, and one vehicle (a truck) for hauling the boxes out to the crew spots.  We had a main box for each loop, but brought the extra boxes as well and left them in the truck bed, and I am glad that we did because we did forget a couple of things on the last loop in the main box. Way to sprint in tall grass Mel :)


I also had a notebook where I took notes every time we saw her and noted exactly what we needed in the main box before and after each loop.  I also kept track of her calories (rough estimate) based on what I unloaded from her pack each time, and how much tailwind she was going through. We wanted her to be getting roughly 200 calories per hour and she did that most times, exceeding it actually.  I always noted time in and out to track our performance as well and as to help us estimate when we might see her again, and how her loops were speeding up/slowing down. Math when you are tired is very hard, so try and write as much as you can so you don't have to recall times or anything.

3.  Bring everything you need to be a good crew member.  We had Mel's jeep loaded down, BUT we never had to leave the field for anything, which kept our head in the game.


I would rather say, "I really didn't need that", versus "wow, I wish I would have brought that".  We had clothes for every temperature, raincoats, food, drinks with and without caffeine, bedding, pop up tent, very portable chairs, toiletries, reading material, electronics and chargers, and chargers to charge chargers.  We also had uncrustables via Mel for meals, and while most people probably wouldn't want to eat the same meal over and over, it was a perfect quick meal to shove in our faces and I honestly never got tired of it.  


We also snacked and tried to have mostly healthy snacks, but I did slip in some M&Ms and some brownie brittle for those times where I needed something sweet.  Matt, Lindsey's hubby who was the photographer and official roller man, had a jet boil and it came in handy when we needed overnight coffee breaks to stay awake.  Plus, we all packed red bull to give us wings to stay awake and alert.  

our crew junk at the road aid station that she saw twice per loop
4.  Always be early.  The main crew spot was the start/finish area and we were just about a tenth of a mile away with our pop up right off of our jeep.   We had a few things we would haul each time to the main aid station and we were always super early.  We also made sure to leave for the road station, where we had crew access, earlier than we needed to, as it was about a 5-7 minute drive away.  Again I would rather sit in a field with a blanket and wait, versus being hurried and possibly missing our runner.  Since this was a loop course, it did make it easier to get to spots quickly and efficiently, but we still tried to be early even though she had given us estimates and we were estimating on the fly as well.    I had heard too many stories of crews missing their runners and then their runners crashing and burning since they didn't have what they needed.  We did have a drop box at one of the inaccessible aid stations, and she took most of her nutrition from the aid station itself, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  

5.  Give out specific job roles and stick to them.  I was the person who took her pack and loaded unloaded and refilled anything on the spot.  Mel was the medic and the body person, who handled feet inspection and prep, lube, and massages.  I was the bug spray person and the arnica applier.  Matt was the photographer and roller and get anything extra we needed.  We didn't swap jobs, we kept what we did every time we saw her, and we did it well.  When we would get back to base camp, we would quickly re stock the main aid box that we took around, take out dirty clothes or buffs that needed to be aired out and dried, and re fill the bottles with tail wind. I think the only thing we would change would be to pre make the tail wind in jugs to just fill the bottles as they came in.  We had two coolers: one to keep food, drinks, and our crew needs in that stayed at base camp, and one for bottles that needed to go back into packs and had wheels, that we traveled with.  


6.  Use some sort of tracking device.  We used the Find Friends app on our apple phones.  While sometimes it was a bit off since she was in the woods mostly (and not in the water strangely enough unlike what the app said), it gave us piece of mind seeing that head move closer to our blue dot.  Some races have timer mats down so you can kind of track that way as well, but since this is a trail race, the only mat was at the start finish. This race also had HAM operators at each aid station so that the runners could be tracked for when they checked in and out of the aid stations.  We utilized this once when we were getting slightly close to cut off times to make sure she was through the final aid station that had a cut off (she had 40 minutes to spare, so not an issue).


7.  Have fun.  Mel brought battleship (and she kicked my ass), I brought the card game exploding kittens, and we did lots and lots of talking (and farting eh hem, mel and matt).  We had phone signal so we could read email and FB, but I had books and magazines just in case.  You as a crew member may have long stretches of waiting so be prepared to keep you mind busy.  Some of the other crew members decorated their tents and had alcohol and music, but for me, alcohol = sleepy so no thanks this time.  We took one major nap, (if you can count 2.5 hours as major) and the other guys took a 30 minute nap later (i stayed up because if I would have slept then I would not have gotten up).  We did not have a shower house handy, but since we were more cold than hot, we didn't really get funky fresh.


Honestly other than forgetting a few items for the last loop (that thankfully were all in the bed of the truck, just short sprint away) I think our first pacing job went splendidly well.  Our runner Lindsey kept a wonderful attitude the entire run, even when she was in pain and peeing blood.  She had one of the best pacers in the world who kept pushing her and figured out how to keep her on track when she really was tired and not wanting to push.  We got to do a short loop with her on Bunker hill and then Wael took over again to push her to the finish.  We met them about a mile out from the finish and ran/power hiked it in.  I would gladly do this again and take everything I learned in stride to be an even better crew member.  The weather gods blessed us with mostly cool and wonderful weather and I am sure that played a huge part in the success but our runner was totally ready and we were as well.  We were a team and I wouldn't hesitate to do it again!!!!!