The week before race week?

I don't even know what to title this post.  We are kind of in the in between again as i have a 5K November 3rd and another trail 25K November 10th with a final 5K the day of Thanksgiving.  I can't promise I might jump into some smaller stuff this fall/winter, but it looks like my training cycle is going to be a 20 week cycle and will start the week of Thanksgiving for my next trail marathon.

Monday:  Rest day.  GOTR day.  We did a loop course today instead of laps and most of the girls did wonderful!  Unfortunately that meant I did some running to block traffic at a couple of crossing spots and at the top of the few hills we did.  I actually felt pretty good considering how sore I was post race.  I think my new Tart Cherry Juice I am drinking is really, really helping!

Tuesday:  Easy recovery run.  I didn't have an exact mileage in mind, but I figured 4 or 5 would do with some walking breaks.  Since I was feeling good, I decided to go ahead and get my 5. I had Cross fit scheduled that night.  We worked on the clean from a mid and low hang and then we did a tabata of superman and hollow body poses for time.  My WOD was 15 minutes of 1 minute-Assault bike for 10 calories (WAAAAY harder than I thought it would be), 1 minute of picking up a 40 lb sand bag and throwing it over the bar and repeat again and again, and 1 minute of rest.  Doesn't sound like much, but that dang assault bike KILLED me.  The last two reps on the bike, I only got in about 8 calories in that 1 minute, and I was really struggling to get even that.  Then when I would get off, I would be huffing and puffing like i had just run sprints!  Afterwards I felt really, really good and strong!  I know I have just started this journey, but i am already seeing big changes in my body and in my running!

Wednesday:  Rest day.  We had our last soccer practice and his coach forgot that the sun now sets at 6:30 pm, whoops.  We got there early and luckily she had too, so the early kids got in a good hour of practice.  I am ready for this season to be done, but am proud of the progress made by andrew.  He still can't dribble fast, it's either dribble very slow and control it, or fast and kick it half way across the field.  His shooting is getting better as well as his defense, so maybe we will try one more fall season.

Thursday:  5 easy miles and Cross Fit + GOTR.  That is a lot in one day, but I got it done.  We got to run inside for GOTR, which the girls love, but the teachers still in the building don't and most if not all of the girls did well.  I have been battling some weird tummy issues and I almost texted Erin to cancel for cross fit, but I stuck it out and was fine.  We did some front squatting and some dead lifts and then some sand bag carries.  I ended up dead lifting 100 lbs on my last sets!!!!!  Although I felt strong, my dang wrists hated the front squats.  I need to look into taping them or some sort of support to help them get use to it. I ended with the sand bag carry for distance, and started out with the 45 lb bag and ended with the 65 lb.  I just LOVE working with Erin and I think I am going to be able to continue to work with her for at least one more month :)

Friday:  Rest day.  Yes, I know.  I need to get back to cross training, but I just haven't felt like riding my bike.  I will be glad when Robin moves back to Wamego so we can hit our bikes together.

Saturday:  short run....that never happened.  Hubby had to work all day so no run for me.  Instead of being mad about it, I just enjoyed the day.  Yes, I could have gotten on the mill, but it was a gorgeous fall day and I just wanted to be outside.

We started out the day with some soccer.  Last game, which wasn't the bes,t but wasn't horrible either. I really think all of the kids are on the brink of really understanding this game and it's kind of cool to watch.  The other team posted a goalie, which drives me nuts, but I am pretty sure they got around the rules by having the kid stand outside of the box instead of in the goal box.  Kudos to her for having 6 year olds play positions I guess.  

I think this season was an overall success.  No crying, no laying on the field, some pretty good hustle, and some goals attempted/scored.  Some defense was played, and while there is a ton of room for improvement, I am really happy at where we ended (and SO glad we didn't have to play a double header).  As for the future in soccer?  Will probably continue to play fall soccer until football becomes bigger in his life, but probably not spring.  I am just too busy in the spring and would miss a huge number of his games.  I missed quite a few this fall and I HATED IT!

After soccer we headed to Manhattan for Story Time with Drag Queens.  I feel very strongly about my son getting as much diversity in his life as possible and this was a great introduction into meeting Drag queens.  He loved it and loved the craft and thought Medusa was the best!  

And BONUS, when you are around drag queens, they can help you fix wardrobe malfunctions like the fact that our mustache wouldn't stay on.  

Post story time, we headed to get coffee and then to the park to play. The boys had a ton of energy that needed to be expounded and we needed some mom time.  I am so glad Andrew is of the age now where he can make friends at the park and just play without my assistance.  Lindsey and I had some relaxing conversation.  We headed out to have lunch and get back to Wamego for some laundry/house cleaning/massaging.

I begged Trina to find what the heck is bothering my foot.  I feel like we have been battling this long enough and I didn't care how long it took, I wanted her to find what stupid muscle/tendon/whatever was causing my foot to still hurt and make it submit.  She obliged and found a very knotty tendon in  my ankle area and gave it the riot act.  I had her take a pic of the cupping she did because it's kind of cool to have cups all over you, plus it feels SO good after she has used them.  I highly recommend cupping if you haven't had it yet.  I was pretty crunchy in my shoulders/trap area (thanks cross fit) so she had fun being the bringer of the pain.  I am so excited that she is going to be full time in Wamego starting in November!  I know what everyone is getting for Christmas this year!

Sunday:  Hopefully long run.  Hubby had to work again and i was just crossing my fingers that I would get a long run in.  Andrew had his first sleep over at the house with his little friend Oakely and they stayed up till around 11pm talking about poops and farts.  When I reminded them that doughnuts would not be happening in the morning unless they got some sleep, they quickly quieted down and were out in a few seconds.   I ended up sleeping on the couch outside the guest room, which probably wasn't the best idea post super duper massage, but I wanted to be close just in case the boys needed me during the night.  I think the dogs thought it would be fun to wake me up every so many hours just to make sure I was alive and then the dogs woke me fully up at 5:30.  I don't mind getting up that early to run, but that early for no reason, no thank you!  The boys were up an hour later ready for some cartoons and doughnuts of course.  The plan was that Lindsey would come and sit with the boys while I ran and while Tony was at work.  Luck would have it that Tony didn't have to work all day and Lindsey showed up right after he got off!  

I had no clue how far really to run so settled in on the number 10.  I have another race in two weeks that is a 25 K, so figured I could do a 10 this week and then maybe a 12 or 13 next weekend on the trails.   My legs were pretty sore from the massage and even though the weather was so perfect, my heart rate was super high and my pace was SUPER slow.  I figure it was probably 1)the mcdonalds we ate for dinner the night before and b)the poor sleep.  No mind, got it done, enjoyed the beautiful fall weather and scenery, and stella and I got some good mom and me time.  

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Afterwards I just sat on the deck and enjoyed the beauty of the day with the dogs.  The leaves have turned and now are falling in earnest, so I wanted to enjoy it while I could and the boys were asleep anyway so I could be a lazy slug without guilt!  

Have a great week!  I have a dog themed 5K this weekend and then a nice long run coming up hopefully on the trails.   Plus since we are done with soccer, adventures abound on the weekend before winter sets in.  

Why I started running!

I saw this running prompt and thought I would jump on and tell my readers why I started running because it's kind of a fun journey to talk about. 

I actually started running in 2009 because of this crazy dog.

We were a foster home for ARPH and we got this crazy tailed aussie into our program.  Bella, or hell's bells as I liked to call her was probably the closest I ever got to a foster fail.  She was always on the go and nothing wore her out, but I loved her dearly.  We did tricks, we did agility, we did obedience, and she was still go, go, go.  The problem was at night she would NOT sleep.  This was of course pre kiddo, so I didn't really know what sleep deprivation really was, but it was enough that I needed to do something.  We have a concrete "track" that goes around our recreation complex that is not quite a mile long, and it's only about two blocks away.  I would take my cotton shorts/shirt/socks and my pretty whatever brand was the cheapest and looked the cutest shoes and head out around 9 pm at night.  I didn't have a smart phone, I didn't have a watch, I had no clue how far we were going, but I knew about 3-4 laps of walking/running would wear her out and then we would both sleep.

I even taught her how to run on the treadmill so if we couldn't go to the track, she could still get her run in.  Unfortunately I hurt my quad running and walking with her on the mill, and around that time we also found the perfect forever home for her and adopted her out instead of keeping her so we could foster more (we had 3 dogs already and she would make 4 which was more than enough for us).  I was intrigued with running, but not addicted.  I did the PT to get my quad happy again and then kind of drifted away from running.  

Then in the end of 2010 beginning of 2011 I decided I wanted to try again.  I had heard about the couch to 5 K program from a friend who was doing it that i did agility with.   I didn't have a smartphone still, but she showed me how to download the PDF of the walk run intervals from the website.  I used our treadmill once again and slowly started working towards being able to run a 5K.  I transitioned from mill running to running outside in the KS spring, which was BRUTAL with the wind, so I re did one of the weeks and then ran my first 5K once I was done.  Yes, I was covered in cotton, but at least I had gone an gotten proper shoes at this point :)

I finished in 31:47 and I was HOOKED!  I can still remember how I felt, the smells as we ran through the campground, and hearing someone say that if you can run a 5k in 30 minutes or under that you are a real runner (and no this didn't get me down, just motivated me).  I then found a coach and off I went to try and get faster.  Now I had no fancy smart ways to figure out pace or anything. I had map my run and I would map out my routes and do what my coach told me to do (usually run for time not distance).  This was also before the running boom in our area, so finding more 5Ks to run was hard.  I found another one a month later and an hour away.  

It was a TINY race and I somehow managed to eek out a 2nd place in my age group, thanks to it being so tiny.  I think my time was about 30 minutes, but I am not sure.  If I wasn't hooked before, I was majorly hooked now.  I quickly signed up for more races but again, before the boom had hit our area, so about once a month was all i could find in our area.  Believe me, active.com was my most searched webpage at the time.  Then I found out about a 10k in my own town.  WHAT????  My coach at the time wasn't keen on it, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.  

I loved this course and it is part of my regular running route now.  I don't mind running on gravel and did this first 10K in less than an hour.  

Then I found out I was preggers a few weeks later.  My first trimester was filled with all day sickness but my second trimester was much better.  I tried to run/walk with my hubby, as he was going through the couch to 5K at the time.  I did so until my belly got too big and uncomfortable to do so.  I ended up having a C-section with my son, so a much longer recovery time was needed.  As soon as the Dr said it was okay to get back to it, I was back out there.  NOTHING felt right though.  I struggled with injuries and just not feeling great.  I had had the runner's high but now I seemed that i couldn't find it anymore.  Each run was just a struggle-fest.  Then I met Doug at Body First thanks to some friends giving me a gift certificate.  He told me that I should give my body grace and that I needed to do strength training to get it back to where it once was.  I thought he was crazy, but found a boot camp class in my town that met 5 days a week at the gymnastics gym down the road.  Every morning, no matter what, I was there working out, getting everything back strong again. This is where i met Robin.  Robin and I shared the same goals for our fitness.  She wanted to do a 25k and i had decided that I wanted to train for a half.  We quickly decided we were very compatible training wise and that with the help of a coach, we could both train together with her doing her race a month before my race.  

I did my first 13.1 at the St. Louis Rock and Roll half marathon.  I am SO glad my running friends talked me into going out of town for my first half because I will always remember this trip!  It was my first big expo, my first big race, and our first big family vacation with a 1 year old.  I spent waaaay too much money at the Expo, but I still have the jacket in the picture and still wear it every single winter while I run.  I also met Another Mother Runner and Gypsy runner, both of which I still follow and buy products from.   From there I started running the Heartland Series (3 half marathons in 5 weeks) every year and then in 2015 the Chicago Marathon.  Then it was onwards and upwards with 50ks being my favorite new distance.  I can't wait to do more trail and ultra runs this year and hopefully get my first 50 mile buckle! Including the races I hope to do the rest of the year, I will have done 15 five Ks, 13 ten Ks, 22 half marathons, 4 twenty five Ks, 4 full marathons, 3 50Ks and then 1five miler, 1 two miler, and one 6 miler.  That's 64 races since I started in 2013!!!!  Kind of fun to look back!

Always remember it never gets easy but it does get easier so keep plugging at it and make it fun!!! 

October runfessions

Going to do a better job this month and not be late with my runfessions.  Here is a good ole pumpkin patch full of them!

I runfess, I feel very behind in training my puppy and very lazy and I fear that may bite me in the ass later literally.  With my other sport puppies we had tons of skills already in our tool box by this time and I am feeling so behind.  I honestly am just enjoying getting to know Boom and all of his weirdness and letting him get use to our routine and pack.  I am also still pretty tired from the amount of training I do, so yes, I let some things slide.  I do runfess we are going to have to go back to crating him at night.  Yes, I said go back to.  We have been lazy in letting him do a few things including not being crated at night.  He can already jump on and off of our bed, so he does a pretty good job of sleeping in our bed with the other two dogs and getting off and going downstairs when he needs to potty.  So far he has only had a couple of accidents in the bedroom (that i have found).  He does have a bad habit of peeing in our bed and on my hubby's side, so I do have to watch that, but that is usually when we are still awake.  He is such a quirky little guy.  He is slowly starting to love being cuddled and loved on, but it has taken a ton of time.  My other two aussies i currently have are big snugglers, so that is a change.  As I have said before, I really think he is an old soul and much like my miller man if we had had miller as a puppy.  We also need to rethink the X pen.  He knows how to get out now, so it is pretty useless.  I know he can go longer without needing a litter box, so I think the time now is to transition away from the pen and more to a day time crate.  He isn't crated very long anyway, thanks to me being able to have him at work.  We crate him for our lunch time if we go out, and then maybe a couple of hours while I head to Manhattan for training or for Andrew's activities.  I haven't done much shaping with him either and I worry that he is already kind of clueless when we do work.  I have shaped a sit and tony shaped a wait, but the down has required some luring and i hate that.

Keep your finger's crossed for this one!

I got shot down for another ambassador program. I don't know why I keep applying for these things.  I don't have many products that I fiercely love, but this was one of them and I knew that it would be a long shot, but I tried anyway and nope, no thank you. It makes me sad, but I keep plugging along. I know I am not the best at these applications and my social media followers aren't in the thousands, but I just wish I could do an oral interview so I could really shine :) I just applied to be a BAMR ambassador for the second year, so fingers crossed because again, this is a brand I am VERY passionate about.

I runfess I was much more confident going into parent teacher conferences this year. I haven't had many emails from the teacher and there have been very little tears if any post school.  BUT, i didn't know if this teacher kept it all in till the conferences or what.  I am pleased to say that most all of the talk was about how he was progressing and how he loved of all things math!  I HATED math, so this makes me so happy that maybe he got his daddy's brain for math, because even to this day I struggle with math.  He is still behind in reading compared to the standard, but this year they aren't pushing the standard as much as they are rewarding and being happy about progress.  I LOVE this strategy, but I hate that his first year was all about the push to the standard, which turned him off to pretty much any reading.  We are slowly building that love back up, and I am happy to say he is reading all the time now, not really books, but just anything he sees when we are out and about.    There was some talk about his focus.  They admitted he has good days and bad days and that they still feel like he doesn't have the ability to focus.  Whether that is because of ADHD or confidence, we are all still kind of unsure.  We are going to give him to Christmas time and if the problem is still there, then think about having him tested for ADHD:(


I think that is all for the month of October!  See ya in November and enjoy all the pumpkin and fall things!!  I know I will be sitting on my deck, drinking my pumpkin beer and watching the leaves turn and fall cuddled up in a warm fuzzy blanket!

Race week.....again!

Randolph's Revenge week!  I am so excited to try a new to me race that is close by.  Stella and I are excited since we train on the Fancy Creek side which is just right across the road.  I am hoping the trails will treat us kindly as the weather this week is going to be awesome!

age group awards!  I won't be getting one but how cool is this???

Monday:  GOTR day and Cross Fit.  I don't like doing cross fit on my rest day, but this week we had parent teacher conferences on Tuesday and Erin my trainer had something going on in her life too that night.  The girls did an amazing job again and Cross Fit was hard but fun.  We worked on squatting, both back squats and over head squats, tweaking my positioning and increasing the weight.  I think I ended my back squats with 65 lbs, but I could be wrong.  My work out was 21 pull ups (band assisted) 21 wall ball sit ups, and then 15 and 15, and ending on 9 and 9.  Hard but doable.  We also worked more on the Turkish get up with increasing weights.  I can tell my balance is getting better but this exercise really is dependent on how loose or tight my hips are.  We are finding that my hips take forever to loosen up and this may be problematic if I take a real class because you need to do what you need to do pretty quickly.

Tuesday:  Easy run.  I decided on 4 miles and went with it.  This run was a SLOG!  I honestly thought maybe the humidity was high or something, but nope it wasn't.  My legs felt like lead and my breathing was way off.  I am going to blame it on the cross fit for the legs but not so sure about the breathing part.  We also had parent teacher conferences.  I will post about it in my runfessions.  95% of it was amazing and just 5% bad and I will take it!

i love this photo even though I look preggers and dimnity is making a super funny face!

Wednesday:  Rest day and AMR LIVE! When the AMR ladies announced they were coming to KC for a live podcast party, I was all in.  The problem?  My van loves to break down lately and they were down on the plaza, a part of KC I know NOTHING about.  Enter in my wonderful hubby!!!!  He decided that he and Andrew could go with me, so I wouldn't be driving in a place I don't know.

My hubby is so awesome.  I love him SO much.  We were able to get down to the Plaza in time to eat and then get gelato before the podcast started.  We had a 30 minute meet and mingle where there was food and drink (but i never did see where it was, not that i needed it) and then we had to sit on the floor.  You see this podcast was in a lululemon store and there were no chairs, so young and old had to sit their butts on a the hard floor.  I will be honest in saying it was pretty hard to sit still as my butt and back were killing me pretty quickly.

We had not been given a head's up about the topic, so we quickly found out it was about using technology in our runs i.e. Aftershokz head phones and garmin watches.  Well hello, i know a thing or two about both of those things :)  They had three mother runners come up and talk about using the technology I just mentioned.  So many times I wanted to yell out answers though as I do use my garmin for pace, programming specific work outs, heart rate, and also training effect and cadence.  Oh well, maybe some day I will get to be on a podcast :)  They had a guy from Garmin talk about specifics to garmin watches and this part I LOVED! I learned about so many features I didn't know about, specifically the target finish time, which will be perfect if and when I pace again!  All in all I walked away learning some new tricks and WINNING an Aftershokz bundle!!!!

I am not usually a winner of the things so this came as quite a shock.  Plus, our swag bags that we got to take home included a tube of Nuun, Balega socks (too big for my little feet but perfect for my mom), GU samples, and a really cool running waist belt from Aftershokz.  For a minute i contemplated seeing if someone would trade me for a gift card to the Lululemon store, but then I thought no, it wouldn't hurt to have a back up pair and maybe I could get tony addicted to them as much as I am!  Plus, he did all the driving and kept Andrew occupied at the movies while I was at the podcast so he deserves something :).  It was SO good to see both Dimity and SBS as they were both at my first half and then SBS was at first marathon.  I kind of get choked up when I see them because they are kind of like goddesses to me and I would LOVE to be on their podcast someday to talk about running and racing with dogs.  I get pretty star struck and kind of stumble over what to say and then I feel like I come across as kind of an idiot.  Oh well, maybe I should just do my own podcast and my mom can download and listen LOL!  Other than a sore butt from sitting on the hard floor, I kind of floated home and then couldn't sleep till after midnight.  

Thursday:  short run and Cross Fit.  Andrew was out of school so running after dropping him off wasn't an option but after I had trouble sleeping, getting up at 4 am and running with Amber and Mel wasn't either.  We slept in a little and then went to work.  We had sylvan since parent teacher conferences were on our normal nights.  I had my Cross Fit session during his tutoring and Erin just about killed me in a good way.  We worked on our cleans, breaking it down into small portions and then putting it all together and adding weight.  I think I got up to 65 lbs but I could be completely wrong.  The bar felt a little light so she may have had me on the trainer bar and i just didn't know it.  I seem to do better when I am almost at max with regards to form because then I can't cheat.  The AMRAMP was 10 minutes of 10 kettle bell pulls, 250 meters of rows without arms, and 10 cleans.  I felt like JELLO post work out!  I sure do love lifting!  By the time we were done and I got back over to pick up Andrew, I ran out of time to run.  I decided not to freak out but instead get an easy shake out run friday at some point and then either just getting 3 runs in this week or running sunday post race day.  

Friday: Unintentional rest day again.  Sigh.  Just didn't get it done, life got in the way. Figured I could run Sat and sun and be okay.  We instead went to the Pumpkin Patch and had fun with one of Andrew's classmates Charlotte.  They had so much fun and played together so well.  I love that Andrew is friends with so many of his little love bug's classmates.

Saturday: Race day!  I will post a recap here.  Highlights include getting lost 3 times and coming in dead last but it was a fun race and I don't care what place I come in.

Sunday:  Rest day.  Yeah, two runs this week is where it is at.  I was pretty sore in the am and then we got busy and I just didn't get a run in.  Oh well, there is always next week.  I will be back on my normal cross fit schedule of Tuesday/Thursday which will help.  I did spend a huge part of my day with my Melly and I needed it.  We are on different running schedules right now and sometimes see each other at Cross fit IF she sleeps in and has to do the night class.  My hubby was a hero of the day though.  Even though he had been up since 3 am, he took the kiddo to the pumpkin patch and to a movie while I had my girl's day.  He really is the best in the whole wide world!!!!!


What a crazy week!  Can't wait to be back on a "normal schedule".  In being at the podcast, one of the ladies was asked how many races she had done.  I had to go back and count :)  I do have a races page if you like to see what I have done and see links back to specific race reports.  Including the races I hope to do the rest of the year, I will have done 15 five Ks, 13 ten Ks, 22 half marathons, 4 twenty five Ks, 4 full marathons, 3 50Ks and then 1five miler, 1 two miler, and one 6 miler.  That's 64 races since I started in 2013!!!!  Kind of fun to look back!

Have a great week!

Randolph's Revenge Half Marathon Recap

I entered this race because well, I am addicted to trail races right now.  This one is semi-local (about a 41 minute drive) and put on by a really nice local group, and I figured why not. I would be running that distance right now anyway and probably on trails, so let's get something for doing it (and a little aid station support). 

Let's start at the beginning shall we?   There was no packet pick up the day before, so we had to be there the morning of to get our packets.  No big deal, I didn't set out a flat Michelle, but I did gather everything and put it in a pile.  I got my tailwind bottles filled and in the fridge, and got my other tail wind scooped and in bags. I always feel like a drug dealer doing this LOL!

We got to bed fairly early for a wake up call of 5:30 am.  We planned on leaving at 6:15 am to head out. Lucky for me, Teri agreed to drive, again, since I have the propensity to get lost.  Now that i know where the trail is, it was actually pretty easy to get to since it was just right before you went over the bridge to go to Fancy Creek.  

A beautiful start!

We got there with plenty of time and had a potty break and then sat in the car for a little bit staying warm.  They had a fire going but it was super smoky.  Even though it was chilly then, we all knew it would be warming up later.  I chose to wear a long sleeve shirt (my new shirt I got from the AMR podcast) and tights with my normal trucker hat and no gloves (yeah thumb holes).  I wished I had layered a tech T or a tank under my long sleeves, but I  was able to push up the sleeves and it was okay for the most part.  It was a SUPER small race with I think most people in the 10K option.  

Before I start the story about the race, let me tell you a little bit about me.  I am a natural blonde.  I can get lost in a paper sack.  My sense of direction is horrible.  This is a problem when I run by myself at the back of the pack of a trail race.  No other runner should ever listen to me. Now let's start the real story.

The race starts out by doing a few miles around a camp ground with you being on trail and then mowed grass.  I started at the back to be respectful of all. Of course Stella did her war whoop at the beginning and then proceeded to pull like a crazed oxen for the first 3 or so miles.  By then most of the people had left us and we were alone in the forest. 

I don't mind being alone when I know where I am going.  I started getting a little freaked out.  I had in my mind that the first water stop was at mile 4 and it was past mile 4 and I hadn't seen ANYONE, let alone an aid station.  I was having to really watch and find the blue flags that sometimes were tiny or wrapped around trees up high.  I run looking at my feet mostly so I miss the high up flags or I trip constantly looking for them.  Since there are TONS of switch backs, I called out to a girl behind me and asked if we were lost. She said she was getting concerned since we hadn't see the aid station yet.  I let her catch up to me and we stuck together for a while.  I read my email again on my phone, and still thought the aid station was at mile 4 and that we had totally missed it.  This was NOT good because I only had 2 bottles and needed refills on one and water for Stella.  

Since she pulled like a crazy dog the first 3 or so miles, she was ready for some water and I was beginning to get panicky.  How far off were we???  We were still on the blue trail so how did we miss anything???  We came to a spot with signs.  One was a letter Q (which looked like a D to me) and one said this way.  We knew at some point we were to turn left and the 10K runners were to turn right so we interpreted that this was the spot.  Except we went under the highway bridge when we were suppose to go over it the first time.  WHAT?   Now we are really confused.  We have runners coming at us from the half  and they are confused.  Well, what to do? I told my new friend that we should back track and go up and if we hit the start/finish then we would get a 10K and be done.  She liked that idea, so we headed back.  Except some how I got way ahead of her and she got side tracked again.  Followed the signs and finally found the aid station which was just a water jug and a few people standing around.  Got Stella to drink (she drank 4 bowls full of water!) and then filled my bottles up and argued with the guy about where we were.  He very nicely but firmly convinced us that we were in fact okay and just needed to finish 6 more miles by turning left.  I was getting very nervous about going back on the course if I had already gotten lost twice (got lost in a smaller spot and did some minor back tracking before getting majorly lost or so I thought).

We decided to go on even though we were both kind of nervous.  We headed down a road, over the high way and back out onto mowed grass.  Once again we came to a big fork in the road with no clue which way to go.  I think I vaguely remember the guy at the aid station saying something about stay left, but of course i ignored him and went right.  I saw the white flags but there weren't in the right place, so once again I back tracked and headed down the hopefully correct path. I was rewarded with a sign at the trail head saying this way, WHEW.  

White trail was hard, not going to lie.  Mel had warned me about the switchbacks and she wasn't joking.  I don't mind running up hill but running downhill on loose rocks is not my thing, so lots of walking happened.  I was still able to keep my 3 mph goal though.  I would catch glimpses of my new friend so I knew she was still behind me.  

Don't let this pic fool you, Stella mostly was on leash or very close. I let her get a little ahead to take a pic.  We came up on some horse and riders, so I called out and let them know I was coming up and that i had a dog.  They were super nice and got off of the trail.  I honestly don't know how they ride on this trail.   The pics I took were when it was wider, but it was a ton of little narrow rutty stuff that I am not sure how a horse would even navigate.  

Pretty soon we were going back under the bridge the correct way and back up to the aid station again.  One more bottle fill and more water for Stella before heading back around the camp grounds backwards and right by the finish line.  I so wanted to be done and so did a confused Stella, but we had 2 miles to go.  There was a TON of up and down and my right hip was feeling it.  Plus, I had kicked a root and instead of stubbing my toe, my whole foot felt like it scrapped over the top of the root and was on fire.  I really, really, really need new trail shoes.  It was starting to warm up and most of this part of the course was mowed grassy area  with no tree cover, so we were both getting hot.  

I LOVE this picture and wished it really did the scenery justice.  It is turning into a beautiful fall in the Flint hills.  The reds, yellows, and oranges are amazing.  Before we knew it, we were back on pavement headed home.  

We finished DFL = DEAD FUCKING LAST, but we had fun doing it, minus the minor panic a few times when I felt lost. The other runner that was behind me finally just got lost one too many times and gave up and came to the start/finish.  I hate that we couldn't stick together so she could finish.  My BRF's hubby got first place overall and my travel mate Teri got one of those awesome age group awards I posted about in my weekly wrap up.  I am SO proud of both of them.  They are awesome!!!!! I am SO thankful that Teri doesn't mind hanging out waiting on me, since she finished a good hour and 15 minutes ahead of me.  

The swag was awesome, the one trail station had some really helpful volunteers (thanks for getting my VERY impatient dog some water both times), the photographers took a ton of pictures, and the race director (who was almost 9 months preggers WOW) stayed till the bitter end to wait for me:) .   She not only had doughnuts but also burritos and beer.  This is a fun, very small trail race so close to home with some pretty technical trails. I can't wait to go out and run the trails more often and get a little better at those crazy switchbacks.  Till next year Randolph's Revenge!

A 5K that benefits Dogs? Sign me UP!

official race shirt from the FB event page

I am so excited to do a dog themed race this weekend, even if it is just a 5K!  I did this race years ago with miss stella ella and loved it.  It just never fits into my schedule thanks to Chicago and the other big races I have done.  While I am not specifically trained for this distance or for speed, I am a sucker for dog races so here we go!

Monday: Rest day.  GOTR day.  Rain, rain, go away!  We had to run inside thanks to the rain.  I am sure all of the teachers still in the building loved us.  The girls wanted music, so I allowed a few of them to have very quiet music on their phones.  Then they all wanted to take off their shoes...and run on the hard floor.  I told them this was a terrible idea, but if they were dead set, go for it.  I will be curious to see how their feet and ankles feel in a couple of days.

this is pretty much what the radar looked like all week

Tuesday:  I woke up to yet more rain.  It's been raining for quite a few days, so most of my running routes were under water.  Stella and I debated about waiting another day to run when it might not be raining, but I wanted to keep my rest days truly rest days since I am doing my cross fit on Tuesdays and Thursdays with my running.  Lucky for us, when we headed out there was just a nice slow gentle rain falling.  We kept on mostly pavement and since we didn't have an exact mileage to go, when we hit home, we stopped.  In some ways it was very freeing to just run as much as I wanted and to not have a specific number to hit.  In other ways my scientific brain was going nuts about the what ifs.  What If this isn't enough to get me through my next race, what if this is too much, what if I injure myself because I don't have a coach looking over my stats and numbers?  I finally had to tell my science brain to shut up.  I have been doing this since 2009 so I got this.

After work I did my next Cross Fit session.  We worked on the snatch and the elements that make it correct and then we worked on an AMRAMP that included toes to bar (I am scaled and doing knees up at this point), dumbbell snatches, and jump squats.  I think I did 7 minutes for time, but I honestly can't remember.  It didn't seem horrible hard, but I was sweating my butt off and was super tired afterwards.  Again, I need to quit overthinking everything.

Boom, that doesn't look very comfortable!

Wednesday:  Complete rest day.  I probably should be cross training, but with all of the rain and now the cold, that just wasn't in the books.  I also had a full and very complete physical complete with iron testing, thyroid testing, and hormone testing since I am having some signs of menopause.  Hopefully I will have an update in the next few days as to what they find!

I never can get both of them in the same photo post run!

Thursday:  GOTR day.  Easy 5.  Cross Fit!  I didn't get up early, but instead dropped off Andrew at school and headed out.  Again, I am totally off any plan, so I just kind of came up with a number and went with it.   My run felt like a slog and i think my flu shot probably had something to do with it or so I hope so.   I wasn't really sore from X fit thank goodness.  It was feels like 32 degrees out and it was magical.  I so love winter running.  Coaching went a little better, I had to do several jobs including counting laps, giving out bracelets, and writing words, so I couldn't really watch all of them.  Our other coach thought they were walking a little too much, so we made the laps distance shorter so we could do more running and less walking.  Since we stopped counting laps and giving out lap counters, I could run with the girls.  Post coaching I headed to Cross fit to get my weights on! Y'all, I dead lifted 85 lbs on my last set of 5 x 5!  That is a LOT for me!  We did a skill drill (10 minutes of hollow body/superman plus TGU one per side) then we did strength with dead lifts 5 x 5 and then finished with a WOD including burpees, deadlifts with the kettle bell, and weighted step ups.  It was fun, I was soaked with sweat, and I learned a ton!

Friday:  Rest day!  Andrew was off of school so we decided to do fun things that included a target trip, lunch with daddy, and an afternoon at Widgets.  I did get my labs back and everything is within range except one of my liver values and of course my cholesterol.  I have to do a recheck in a month to see if my liver values are within range then but between Trina and I, we have found several articles about liver values being out of whack for runners/weight lifters.  Do I take these in to show my Dr or do I just let her do her thing?  My normal DR is a runner but she is not so not sure what to do.  

Saturday:  5K day!  I had 0 expectations of what Stella and I could do post Flatrock.  My only hope was that we could stay upright on the wet grass.   This course is trail with most of it being mowed grass and hills, which equals me on my butt with the amount of pulling she does.  Add in two kind of scary bridges and  some single track through trees and you have a ton of fun.  The trail was muddy and wet, but not horrible.  I had to be careful because the downhills were pretty sketchy, but we made it through and got a 1st place in our age group!  Yeah for super small 5ks :)  I also totally left the house without my bib, a first for me.  Thank goodness I know the RD and he is super nice so he just got me a new one.  

One of my very few podium shots.  Stella just wanted to back out on the trail.  I think she was confused that we stopped at 3.  My watch said it was short, but I have no clue if that is right or not.  I did try wearing true trail shoes and I really think they made a difference. I guess I need to try them out on more of my trail long runs and see if they still feel good.

After the race we had soccer and then I had a wonderful massage and sauna visit.  Trina sure is hooking me up wonderfully right now.  Over an hour massage and then 30 minutes in the sauna to detox.  Lots of cupping on my feet too.  After massage I just felt kind of eh.  Not good, not bad, just wanting to hang out in my sweats and do nothing.  For those of you who know me, this is not me at all.  I spent the rest of day lounging around and not doing a dang thing.  I went to bed early and hoped this was nothing.  

Sunday:   Long run day???  Other than getting up at 6:20 am to let the dogs out and clean up some messes, I went back to bed and slept in till 9:20 am.  I haven't slept in that long in a long long time!  Then the debate started.  Should I take another day off and lay in and do nothing and kick whatever this is that I am getting, or have or should I get out and slog it through?  I had no real symptoms, maybe a little bit of drainage, feeling tired, and feeling like I had a hang over even though I have not had a beer in several days!

I decided to go and just see how I felt.  The weather change was quite drastically during my run and I am really, really glad i over dressed.  I always over dress for a while when the seasons change, but since we are skipping fall this year and going straight to winter, I think this strategy is going to work for me for once LOL!  It was feels like 42 when i started, but I still wore tights, long sleeved shirt, light jacket, buff, and gloves. I  figured I could shed stuff and put it in my pack versus being cold.  The above picture is what it was at at the end.  BRRRR! The wind was horrible and the little bitty stingy rain was rough but we got in 10 and had a blast doing it!  I was perfectly dressed this time!

A great week of training even though I seemed to be fighting something off.  I hope this translates to an even better week next week since i have yet another trail run coming up.  Hopefully this will be my last until my next training cycle beings for the Rocking K trail marathon in april but you know me, SQUIRREL!

Have a great week!