The Triples!

Let's add more crazy into the mix shall we?  How about football and racing in one day? Just for fun let's also add in racing on Sunday as well.  Nothing bad will happen right?

This week and last week had no long runs.  I got in three runs total last week and 2 runs total this week.  Again, it is what it is and I am just going to go with the flow.   I ran with my girls twice and then came home and finished out.  One day it was feels like 103 outside!!!!  WTH Kansas?  The girls and I did a more walking than running, but still got 1 mile in.  I skipped running post football that night and ran the next night when the temps were down in the 50s.  Talk about a BIG change.  4 miles felt effortless.  Thursday we got almost 2 in together and I finished out the night getting 3 more.   

Football was good and bad this week.  They did lots of drills which are good for Andrew's brain, but also bad because he really doesn't like open field tackling or to be open field tackled, both of which he had to do this week.  They continue to put my big marshmallow on defense, not sure why.  He's really good at pushing people around, but tackling, not so much.  He also got his first injury of the year.  He took a helmet to his knee and it left a beautiful bruise.

The game was a blow out and all three levels of Junior Raiders got the W.  Andrew got to play the second half on defense and even got to play 2 offensive plays running the ball.  That is him with half of the team trying to bring him down.  He didn't get very far, but I hope it helps his confidence.  He even got a fumble recovery thanks to one of his teammates stripping the ball.  I am SO stinking proud of him and how hard he worked.  He still has a long way to go but he has made so much progress already.    

Afterwards we loaded up and jetted to Topeka to try and get racing in.  We are down to the final 3 races and he is SO close to beating the two drivers ahead of him in points.  

He wasn't super happy to play and then race BUT he managed to get some good placing in both of his classes and Tony was able to tune the cars up for the next day.  It would help if we could get to Topeka to practice, but y'all some nights I just need a night to get stuff done when we aren't practicing football. 

Day 2 racing was MUCH better with him driving his cars HARD!!!!  He had the fastest times of all year and PASSED some cars!!!!  I am so excited to end the year on a high and can't wait till next year to move up to the heavy classes and see what he can do.   

Have a great week y'all!  Looking forward to maybe getting some running done this coming week!
 

The doubles

We have reached the portion of summer/early fall I like to call double weekenders meaning football on Saturday and racing on Sunday.  Y'all, just say a prayer for us.  Honestly, I don't know how some of these parents do multiple kids and multiple sports because just one kid and multiple activities are driving me nuts.  Needless to say, as I type this up, I am very exhausted, send caffiene.

All the feels during football practices this week.  He's working hard, getting better, but still has a ways to go.  Thank GOD for great coaches who see the potential is there and aren't giving up on him.  

She sleeps the sleep of the dead most days.  Pretty sure she has lost all of her hearing at this point.  Some days she doesn't even stir when I come in, she is in that deep of slumber.  I am not ready for my best red girl to age this much, even though I knew it was coming.

Night runs it is thanks to hotter temps, lack of sleep, and football practices.  Nothing like good true crime podcasts to keep me scared to death while running.

Won our first fantasy football game.  Pretty sure I am getting way more into this than both of the boys.  Let's just say I am a wee bit competitive when it comes to, well, anything.

We weren't really looking for a new house BUT this one has a GIANT garage that we could run Coleman electric out of and have Coleman electric pay rent on.  Stay tuned, we are suppose to find out soon if we can run a business in this neighborhood.  If the answer is no, then we won't pursue because personally we can't afford a mortgage that high and we certainly don't need that many bedrooms, but if the answer is yes, well then.  One can dream right?

Someone got his first official chiropractic adjustment and was a HUGE baby about it.  Sigh.  Men and boy dogs can be huge drama queens.  He has the same issues as Stella with the SI joint, but other than that, we couldn't really find a glaring cause for his random limping other than a tiny tiny scab on one of his paw pads on his front right leg that looked mostly healed. Can you say big baby????

 

One of my friends takes old furniture and refinishes/paints into lovely pieces.  I loved what she did with this particular piece, so I bought it to put our shoes in to try and corral them from being all over my living room floor.  Turns out when I got it home, the shoes didn't really fit in there nicely, so I pivoted and made it a storage spot for my biking and running stuff.  

Then I took what I had been using as storage for my running gear and made it into an art storage for Andrew's art stuff.  I felt hugely productive as all of this stuff had lived on our dining room table and had to constantly be moved when we had big meals or played games on the table.  

Saturday was football.  We had a non conference game and we got our butts handed to us.  While it was hard to watch, I think it was very useful and our coaches and kids learned a lot about what we need to work on.  Last year we won every game except the last and then had a huge let down to end the season.  I am glad that we hopefully got that over with for the year. 

Racing also had lots of ups and downs.  We haven't practiced at all, Tony still needed to do tons of work on the cars, and Andrew is up and down with his confidence.  We had to have two heats in both of his classes, thanks to having over 8 cars in the senior classes.  I am focusing on the good as I always try to do.  He made SEVERAL passes, even if they passed him back.  He was faster than a couple of cars that he wouldn't pass, but progress is slow with him and I will take the passes he did do.  He was smart on his starts and was brave and didn't just give up positions without a fight.  We only have 3 more races, but I am so proud of how far he has come this year.  He even drove through a big wreck and came out ahead of several drivers that had previously passed him.  I call that a win!

Have a great week y'all!  I have heard a rumor that a major temp shift is coming and I can't wait!  

False fall?

This week was about recovery and taking it easy before i headed back into "training".  I put quotes around this because I really haven't followed a training plan, more just my gut and what I could get done in this summer of heat from hell.  

It's been a week with lots of sad events.  One of my friends lost her baby this week.  The queen of England passed away at 96.  We remembered 9/11. We were also yet again exposed to Covid as a close contact.  AND another runner was brutally murdered for no reason.  My heart was hurting most of the week for others and terrified we were once again going to come down with Covid.  Then on Friday with a full weekend of events planned, I fell in a parking lot.  One minute I was up and the next I was on ground.  Still not sure exactly what happened but I think my super flexible ankles gave out thanks to stepping on a rock and I was so off balance I went down.  I was very sore that night and sat in the chair with ice packs.  

None of us have developed symptoms thus far (writing this on Sunday morning), but we played it safe and skipped Huff and Puff, a local hot air balloon event we sponsor, and also a birthday/coming out party.  I have been told to live my life and not live it in fear, but the thought of getting someone else sick that can't handle Covid terrifies me.  

I was very lucky in that many people at the event got pictures and video!  That is our electrician Brian flying his balloon!  

I did get four runs in a 1.5, a 3, 3, and a 5.  While the temps are much nicer right now, the humidity is still kicking and kicking my butt when it comes to breathing.  Boom is also having some weird issues and I have him scheduled for an adjustment next week.  He isn't overtly limping but I see a change to his stride that I can't pin point.  I haven't found anything wrong per se, but I would rather his chiro go over every inch of him to be sure.   

We also had our first 5th grade football game.  This picture is blurry but it's one I am most proud of.  Andrew is going against their biggest guy and fighting with every inch of his body. This guy made one of our other kids cry.  For Andrew to be brave and go toe to toe with this kid is amazing.  The old Andrew would have been crying and sick to his stomach.  Not the new Andrew. I am loving the bravery and the confidence.  His team won 40-0 and they still have a lot to work on BUT I am hoping this is the start of a lot of people gaining confidence and playing as a team.  Andrew played most of the 2 and 3rd quarter and then was coming out the fourth when he had to go back in for his teammate.   

It's going to a be a super busy week with Girls on the run kicking off, a home football game, and a race.  Pray for us!

And say a little prayer for boom that we can figure out what is going on.  Now more than ever I need my partner out there with me running all of the miles.  

Race pictures: Ultrapoolza 2022

 As always I love the Mile 90 photos.  For some reason they loaded backwards but you get what you get :)

Dang dogs would NOT look at the camera thanks to the large dogs the cops had at their cop car off to the side.  

Nope.  Not looking at you Kristi.

Oh Hi Kristi.

Let me run straight into your camera!

Hi BOOM!

Most humid race EVER and glad to be done!  Look at that tongue!

No train this race at the finish. Bummer.

Still pretty bunched up here.  Also a guy on a bike had just ridden through.

Kristi said it was a weird day for pictures with the overcast skies and the humidity mist.  

Normally with pictures I would write a a post about the good, the bad, and the ugly.  Here is the super condensed version.  The good: no tummy issues, no potty breaks on the trail, and no issues with gear, plus I love the merch and the uber cute medal that is also a belt buckle.  The bad and the ugly can be combined into 100 percent humidity the ENTIRE race.  The constant being wet caused some minor chaffing, probably would have been worse if the race was longer.  There was a very small crowd size this year, but I hope that increases as they put on an amazing race.  Unfortunately a lot of the runners were doing the half and a lot of the runners were doing intervals like us, so the dogs took forever to settle in as they were trying to pick off runners.  On a day like that, not settling for several miles was not good, but we made it work.  While I have decided no more September races for the near future, I hope others partake in this really lovely trail race.  The RDs are amazing and really take care of you and the volunteers also were super duper amazing.  

Race week!

Decisions were tough this week.  The weather forecast changed constantly from cooler temps and no humidity to higher temps and 100 percent humidity to just higher temps.  I only got 2 runs plus the race thanks to horrible heat and humidity yet again.  It's September weather, get with it!

Here are some highlights from the week and then a race report.

Crazy storms that stayed south

Lots of football including 3 practices, 1 high school game, and the KSU game.  Got to meet Big Andrew who is a senior on the Red Raider football team.  

Big andrew and little andrew.  Both lineman!

He was not feeling jersey Friday because his jeans were too tight.  Whoops.  Guess we need to go jean shopping.  

couldn't get him to smile for love nor money

Got to go sit at club level at the KSU game and tailgate with several of his football buddies.  This is our second time getting to go to a college football game and sit club, and now I am ruined don't think I can ever go back to regular seating.

Had 2 runs both at night post football.  A four and a three.  I am SOOOOO ready for fall/winter running.   I am also ready for the gnats to be dead.  I need to run with a mask and safety glasses on at night to try and not swallow a million of them.

Okay now for a race review.  If you remember, I did this exact course in the spring as a 50K. Midwest Endurance puts on a great race and I love the trail, so after I did the 50K in the spring, I had to sign up for Ultrapoolza (their fall race). They offered a half marathon distance which was something I thought I could commit to training for during the horrible summer heat and humidity.  

Plus, I just love the logo and all of  the swag that goes with this race.  Spoiler alert, having a shorter distance and a goal race did not in fact cause me to train very well, but most weeks I got at least 3 runs with one being a tempo run, one being an easy run, and one being a long run.  

Way to early to be this chipper

While I do love this trail, it is 2 hours away and that means a super duper early leave time.  I wish Boom traveled better and didn't pee everywhere as we would just stay at a hotel closer the night before.  Anyways, I got up at 3:45 am and got ready to go.  Of course the night before we were up late at the football game and then I was wide awake till past 11.  Yeah for 4ish hours of sleep!!!!!  Robin volunteered to drive thankfully so I could sit and slowly wake up.    The problem with me getting up super duper early is I have trained my body to eat as soon as I get up and when I need to hold off till closer till race start time, my body gets very angry and sometimes makes me super nauseous effecting my fueling pre race.   I was able to sip on a diet Dr. Pepper and then finally ate around 5:30 am without getting sick this time.  I like to eat an hour before start time, but something is better than nothing. 

Was looking at the start/finish then refused to once the camera came out

We had honestly talked about either not running with the dogs at all or us not running either due to the humidity.  We had hoped with the temps being cooler than we might be okay even with higher humidity.  We were totally wrong.  There were not too many people running the half, a lot less than I anticipated for sure.  The trail is very flat but very scenic and much like what we train/run on at home.  

We fought the dogs wanting to pull and race everyone at the beginning.  We were super worried that they would gas too quickly with the humidity.  At that point humidity was at 100 percent and it was basically misting with all of the moisture in the air.  Surprisingly, I wasn't having issues breathing, but we were having a hard time getting the dogs to calm down.  A lot of people were doing intervals  like us, which made finding out own little spot difficult.  Once the speedier people were out of sight, the dogs calmed down quite a bit and settled in.  We never really plan stops, we mainly just let the dogs tell us when they need water, and we stick to our walk/run intervals.    

I'm use to seeing these bikes when a biker has died.  I was a little disconcerted at first seeing these all over the place and then realized that they were just decorations.  Whew.  

Luckily for us, the clouds stuck around and the leaves were still mostly on the trees  even with the drought we have been in, making it nice and shaded for us.  There were only a few parts with open access to sun and those parts were super short.  We both remarked if the sun had been out we would have thrown in the towel or walked the whole thing.  We had to be super careful with the dogs the entire race with lots of water breaks and lots of time at the one aid station.  I almost ran out of water in both of my bottles and was down to the last drop at one point.  The last race on this course had water jugs on the course for non manned aid stations and there were none this time.  We just didn't pay attention to the race booklet I guess as far as where aid was, but we did fill completely up at the one manned aid station so maybe we were just sucking down the water?

I did it mom!

It wasn't long till we were turned around and headed back.  I think worrying about the dogs the entire race made the miles fly by.  Before we knew it, we had 2 miles to go to finish.  We both were suffering a little from lack of the best training, but we got it done!

I am not sure if we got an official time because our bibs didn't have timing chips, but for the amount of stopping we had to do for the dogs, I think we finished in around 2 hours and  36 minutes.  I can't wait for the photographs as Kristi from Mile 90 was on the course at the start and at the finish when we crossed.

 

Pre race and pre sweaty messes

 I do feel that this cements the fact that September races are not for me.  I have tried numerous times in years past and they have all still been super humid and not fun.  Next year Sanders Saunter may be it for me and fall or maybe a late October race.  Definitely not any ultras or anything over a 25K.  The races themselves are amazing, but the conditions are not and it's not fair for Boom or Miss Kitty.  I may not get to race Sanders this year due to football if we go to the tournament, but I am not making a decision till closer to time.  I hate summer training and running and I don't want to hate running.  I think I can stay motivated without paying for a race to be in.  I do love the races that Midwest Endurance puts on. Like I said, the swag is amazing, the race director is amazing, it's a me not you kind of situation.  

it's a belt buckle!

Back at it next week just in case I do get to race Sanders Saunter.  Hoping for cooler weather and some fall like conditions!