Mile 0 Flint Hill's Trail Race 50K

 Where to start?  I guess the night before?  Let's do this!

Started by laying everything out first.  It was suppose to be cold at the start with a little bit of warm up to the lower 50s by the end.  I decided to go with shorts, a long sleeved light weight tech T and my wind breaker Brooks jacket.  I decided against my new Brooks bra, but went with a tried and true newer bra by runderware that I had road tested quite a bit.  I had some sweat pants to go over my shorts till go time and my gloves.   Fuel was honeystinger that I cut in half and eat a half every 30 minutes.  I had one bottle of water and one bottle of tailwind to supplement and get caffeine in me.  I packed in my drop box some more tail wind/funnel, the second half of my fuel, and band aides, tums, and some other small things I always think I need and I don't.  Stella was NOT happy that I was packing.  I think she knows that she doesn't get to go anymore and she is NOT having it.  Sorry baby girl, you have earned your rest!

The night before I needed to be in bed by 8 pm to get up at 3:00 am so we could head out around 4ish.  I had had several nights of good sleep with no issues, so I figured this would be much the same.  Took my CBD full spectrum gummy around 8 pm when I got in bed, played on my phone, sat the phone down around 9 and.......nothing.  I wasn't nervous, I wasn't stressed about anything, just nothing, no sleepiness and no sleep.  I figured laying there quietly was better than getting up and doing stuff, so I did just that. I am sure I did get some sort of sleep in and out, but I am pretty sure there wasn't much continual deep sleep till about 1 am, as that was the last time I remember looking at the clock till my alarm went off.  

Up at 3:00 to drink some coffee and try and eat a little to make my tummy not so mad.  These early morning drives always tear up my stomach as it gets so confused (isn't it time to fuel brain since we are up?), so I was hoping that if I got something in, maybe it wouldn't be so angry.  I was also hoping by doing some fueling that I would also get some pooping.  Nope, that's a negative ghost rider.  Anyway, got everything ready to go, met Robin at the curb at 4:20 am and we headed out to Osawatomie Kansas.  

The drive was uneventful and the parking was plentiful.  Next time we know to park a little closer to the start/finish LOL.  We were greeted with a beautiful full moon at the start/finish.  I am hoping Mile 90 got some better shots than me of it as they were both standing in my picture looking at it.  I will probably put those pictures in my good:bad:ugly post.  

It was pretty cold to start out and even my legs were a little red from the wind.  I am totally fine with cold and cross wind any day as it keeps the dogs cool.  The trail is pretty flat, but very scenic, much like the rails to trail trail we run on in Marysville Kansas.  Lots of streams, a river, lots of cool old bridges, and farmland.  Boom got to see cows and horses and unfortunately a few loose dogs.

  

We were cruising along doing our 4 minute run: 1 minute walk that helped so much on our last 50K.  I noticed when we got to the aid station at mile 15 that I had a little dull headache.  Nothing bad, more annoying than anything.  On the way back from the turn around at mile 15.5, we shed our jackets to go into our drop box, and I contemplated taking Advil. I know it's a big no no, but I wanted to quell the headache before it got worse.  I was still fueling fine, taking tailwind in with no issues and goodies at the aid stations, and we were cruising.  

I noticed as we continued, I started having bouts with dizziness and nausea.  Every time I would will it away, keep pushing forward, and it would quiet down.  About 6 miles to go, it won, whatever it was.  I had at this point fully started my period so maybe that was what was happening?  I knew I needed to keep fueling to finish strong, but my stomach had a closed for business sign.  

 

I could no longer run, as running exacerbated the symptoms, so I had to settle for power walking. I kept telling my brain that was saying this will take forever and you should just give up to SHUT UP.  I even told Rockin Robin to go ahead and finish strong, but she refused to leave me.  I laughed and told her to just call 911 if I passed out and she did NOT think that was funny.  I turned on my headphones and tried to find any music I had downloaded.  The only thing that worked was Hamilton and I took it as a sign.

At one time I thought we might have a chance at a time PR.  We really were keeping some great paces.  Then the wheels fell off and my goal was to keep it below 20 mph, so we only had 2 more hours till finishing. I liked seeing 16-17 on my watch and that became my new goal.  Between Boom pulling, Robin rocking it out keeping my spirits up, and me just wanting to be done so I could sit down and maybe puke, we crossed the line at 7 hours and 13 minutes and 13 seconds for me and 12 seconds for Robin.  

  

I never did puke my stomach would not accept much of anything till about 9 pm that night.  I have heard others have this problem but this is a first for me.  I couldn't even stomach Tailwind or bananas.  Nothing.

It was so weird because at a point post race, I was super hungry, but everything I put in my mouth, my stomach threatened to evict quickly.  I finally managed to eat three lays chips at a time and wait a bit and eat three more on the ride home and maybe got 12 down.  Post race they had a huge variety of free food for the runners, which I thought was a very nice touch, even thought I couldn't eat.  This race was very well organized.  There were several places for pictures with backdrops, nice BIG porta potties, post race food, and vendors including my favorite CBD ZO CBD.  

The medals were very unique, the shirts super soft, and the swag bag was full of goodies.  I saw Mile 90 out on the course numerous places, so I know the photos will be AMAZING.  Every aid station was full of very enthusiastic, happy volunteers and many ultra runners themselves who could take care of you.  This type of course is my kind of jam, so I may have to come back and avenge our time next year.  Winter/early spring are the best times for me to train with how crazy our lives are lately with sports and racing.  

April is a crap shoot in Kansas, we could have 80 degrees or 30 degrees.  We got lucky and got 0 humidity and 30s.  

God Bless Happy Hawk massage for working on my nasty feet.  David got a good tip post massage for helping me out.  Rockin Robin and I both got massages and I am glad we did because running 31 miles and then riding in a car for 2 hours equals lots of soreness.

Right after the race and most of the night I thought, why do I do this to myself?  I was horribly sore and running a low grade fever.  My body couldn't seem to stop shaking post a good warm shower.  I took one CBD gummy and it did nothing.  My neighbors new dog was crying and screaming in the back yard preventing me from sleeping.  BUT I finally got some significant food down around 9 pm, which made my stomach stop hurting due to hunger, I took some Advil finally and the headache went away, and I took a second CBD gummy which finally did the trick and knocked me out.  As I am sitting here on Easter Sunday I am already planning my next ultra :)  And rockin Robin even said she was run 20 miles or less or crew me for longer races.  I am back to being all in!  Boom needs redemption on a race we run the entire race.  I need redemption.  I also need to loose 30 lbs and strength train but I digress.  Onwards!!!!

Look for my the good: the bad: the ugly post with amazing mile 90 photos!  This truly is a great race for someone like me who loves trails but isn't a mountain goat.  The 50K had a very generous 10 hour cut off.  The trail is gorgeous even if it's flat.  Congrats to Midwest Endurance for one heck of an amazing well ran race!

Week 12: RACE WEEK

 WE MADE IT!  Of course not without Kansas trying to throw some major curveballs at us and derail our week.  First we had an 85 degree day without any heat acclimation at all and 55 mph wind gusts. 

 

Then we had snow and freezing temps all within 24 hours of each other.  I was suppose to run Monday and Tuesday and again, weather and time just didn't work for me.  I finally got a four miler on Wednesday and called it good enough.  

With spring sports starting and me coaching/shuttling my own kid around, I am going to have to start going to bed at 8 or 9 so I can start getting up at 4 am again.  Not looking forward to it, but it will have to be.  It's kind of like dieting, it sucks at first, but then it gets easier once I get in the habit.

Towards the end of the week I started not feeling so great.  Just super tired even though I was sleeping good and having stomach issues.  I started taking all of the things to try and get ahead of whatever could be brewing.  Lots of Liquid IV, Tums, and CBD at night.  My body also decided that maybe I needed to start my period a week and a half early since I had been around others starting their period.  I forgot how fickle my body is when I am around other women who still have periods.  Sigh.  

I'm going to write a recap of the race so stay tuned.  It started out amazing and my body decided it was done at mile 25.  I am SO thankful for my running partner for making me finish even though I really wanted to throw in the towel at the last manned aid station.  We power walked the last 6 and still got done in a decent amount of time.  More later.  

Have a great week y'all!  

Week 11: Training for the 0 Mile Flint Hills 50K

 

I never truly understood what wind was till I moved to the prairies of Kansas.  Sustained winds of 25-30 mph daily for most of spring?  Sure why not!  Wind gusts of 50 mph?  Splendid, let's do this!

Show me a picture of how windy it is without telling me how windy it is.  Geez.  Of course our east/west route is no go right now with the huge rocks and boom's foot.  While his foot seems to be good to go, every time I think we over over whatever it is that is going on, he starts licking it again out of the blue.  

We also went to the brewery again on Wednesday night to support our friends at the DoughBro and try some new beers.  This one was a tropical sour and it was SO out of my comfort zone, but SO good! 

Track club was dare I say miserable Thursday night.  We had a mix of snow, ice, rain, and horrible wind. I am so proud of my kids for toughing it out.  I was so frozen post coaching that I put my run off till the next day!!!!

Sometimes lunch runs are what you have to do.  Still windy but at least the sun was out and temps were a little bit warmer.  

We only had a 9 miler on tap for the weekend and we were blessed with less wind and colder temps and some less chunky gravel.  

Post a target trip and some pizza at AJ's in downtown, we spent most of the rest of the day working on our race cars.  We have had 0 time this year to practice or do any work, which meant my poor hubby had a TON to do before race day Sunday.  The wind picked up over the course of the day, but the shop blocked the southern wind, which meant I could listen to the band at the winery down the street (and enjoy the food truck food), play with my dogs, and watch the boys work on cars comfortably.

Race day!!!!   I had 0 expectations of Andrew and while he had moments of brilliance, he was also very rusty and looked very nervous at times.  He was on the pole for Sr Animal and while super duper nervous, he held his own for many laps and didn't just move over and let them have it.  He even had the second fastest time in Sr Honda with his white car.  He was lapped in both races, but we need to get out to the track and practice and I hope this will give him a big boost of confidence that he can do this!

Before I launch into my diatribe, I will say I did not get my fourth run in.  I was suppose to do 4 miles post race and after the day I had, I chose to have a beer, go to my friend's house, and sit down and talk through things versus pounding the pavement.  Here is what I feel in a meme.

I work my ass off as a volunteer for our club, yet all I get is complaints and insinuations that I am somehow cheating for my kid's benefit (my kid, the one who has NEVER won a checkered flag and probably never will).  I am sometimes the first to get to the track and usually the last to leave.  I don't get to see my kid all day as I am working in the tower. I don't get to strap him in, give him hi fives when when does well, or hug him post race.  I am working my butt off for this club to make race day smooth, so I don't have to hear bitching and moaning on that end (the tower somehow always gets the blame).  We have many in our club who don't lift a finger.  Their entire families are there, it's an all day event hanging out, and they relish in it. I get none of that.  Now let me say, I do sound very petty and jealous and it is my choice to volunteer, but I am tired of being the 10 percent that does everything for the 90% who just complain.  It makes me so sad that we are all there for a common goal, to have fun and our kids have fun and a small minority is ruining it for the majority.  There are options, none of which are pleasant or good but I don't think I can take another season of this mentally.  If I have to walk away and leave the club in a bad spot, I may have to chose my sanity over the club and walk away.  

Have a great week y'all!  I am looking forward to 2 runs and RACE DAY!

Week 10: Training for the 0 Mile Flint Hills 50K

This is so true right now.   I am SO confused Kansas as to what season we might be in.  I guess we will just take it day by day at this point.

 

I swear the week after peak week may have also been just as bad mileage wise based on how it was set up.  Five runs again, stupid Kansas wind and rain, an 83 degree day followed by snow???  WTH Kansas?

We threaded the needle of those two storms luckily

It's tornado time here in Kansas and we had our first bout of severe storms.....right after we finished our run Tuesday.  I am so glad we got home in time because radar indicated that we wouldn't get hit till 8 pm, but those babies fired up around 6:30 pm instead.  We had hail, super gusty wind, rain, and some hellacious lightning.  

Wednesday night we had 45 mph wind gusts and it was super duper cold and after running in 83 degrees the day before, even this team winter girl was like nah.  Don't dangle some shorts and tank weather in my face and then take it away.  Instead we headed to Manhattan to check out Science on Tap at the Manhattan Brewing Company (as seen in Bridgett Everett's new HBO show) and have some tasty beers and some food from our new friends at TheDoughBro. Manhattan Brewing company really is my happy place and I wish I could figure out a way to open a tasting room like MBC in Wamego.  Any home brewers out there want to go in and invest with me in a tasting room????

While it still wasn't as warm, the wind was only 12 mph and the sun was out for our Thursday speed sesh.   Boom has a paw he has been licking and while I can't find anything wrong on the paw, I am worried that the re rocking of our running route is bothering his feet.  We may have to spend some time on road running as this progresses or he may have to take some time off as I want him 100 percent for the race.  I love progress and am glad our tiny town is doing some work on the roads, but they have the main way into our gravel blocked meaning we have to run on a busy highway with tiny shoulders to get to our gravel and now many many cars are using our gravel road which is tearing it up.  The response is to dump more and more gravel down which makes it super hard for us runners to run.  In the grand scheme of life this is no big deal, it's just a tiny annoyance that I hope they get fixed soon.  I am tired of drivers not paying attention to us runners and driving 100 mph on the gravel, and I am tired of the new gravel killing our feet, our dog's feet, and our ankles.  

To avoid rocks we headed out to Tuttle Creek to stay on either soft trail or pavement.  I am not a fan of pavement at all thanks to my newly angry shins, but I need Boom 100%.  We saw eagles and lots of vultures and a huge Boy Scout camping jamboree.  We went on a couple of the short trails and only had to do a little bit of doubling back.  It was the perfect day for a long run and I am just praying this weather holds up for our race and doesn't turn super hot super quick like Kansas likes to do.

The rest of Saturday was spent eating ice cream, hanging out at promenade and seeing Melly's boy walk with his beautiful girlfriend,  and spending time at my version of heaven, Target.  

I love our little town and it's traditions.  In the afternoon of prom they have all the couples going to prom walk across the bridge and take pictures both professionally and their parents.  My prom was such a disaster so I hope and pray in a few years Andrew's prom is amazing!

Sunday was our last run and our last time running 5 days a week.  My body was tired and I was dreading it.  We picked a route with again mostly pavement to try and let boom's foot heal.  We had to do some gravel to get our out and back done but he seemed okay.  

Post running, the hubs started getting the cars ready to go to the track.  Usually by now we have practiced several times but the weather has not been conducive to that.  Cold track equals angry tires and angry tires don't grip meaning lots of spin outs.  My kiddo is still pretty uptight about not having a loose race car so that means no practicing unless the track is plenty warm.

I am not sure what this season will bring.  We are doing track club, baseball, and racing and we would like to focus more on sports this year for him.  We have several families in the same boat as us that may have to miss some races due to spring sports. Plus gas prices will dictate when we can head over because we go over multiple times a week and it's about an hour drive and lots of gas pulling a heavy trailer.  

I just love this picture so much.  These two have been racing together for four years now and I love seeing them grow up together.  Plus, I love how cute they are in their fire suits.  Practice wasn't great but the name of the game was get in the car and make sure it still runs and that was accomplished.  

We ended the weekend winding down at Happy Bassett before heading back to Wamego.  I just love this place and again, if I had the money and the brewer that brewed good beer, would totally open up a tasting room in our little town.

  

And there you have it, week after peak week week LOL!  To me this was worse than peak week.  Glad to be firmly in the taper and on the downside as track club, racing, and baseball all start up in the evenings.  Have a great week y'all!

Week 9: Training for the 0 Mile 50K (PEAK WEEK)

Peak week is always tough no matter how you try to ease into it.  With the plan I am using, peak week includes 5 runs a week instead of 4, including a 5, 4, 21, and 3.  Of course mother nature blessed us with several days of cold, super windy and rainy days that totally blew my plan out of the water, plus my monthly friend decided it was time to also join the party.  I needed to run Tuesday through Thursday, cross train and then 21 and 3 on the weekend.  

Who wants to eat post scope?  This man, that is who!

Tuesday was not a good day for me and I was exhausted most of the day, thanks to a super early wake up time.  We had Tony's scope in Manhattan (25ish minutes away) and had to be there at 6:30 am.  Tony is perpetually late, so even though I was in the car and ready to go, he was still getting dressed, running around finding things, and not ready.  I needed to get him dropped off and checked in so I could drive back to Wamego to get Andrew dropped off at school and then drive like hell back to pick him up.  We really need family closer, but I digress.  Starting off late put everything else late and add some bumper to bumper non moving traffic thanks to the damn never ending road construction on Highway 24 created a fair amount of stress.  The good news was though the scope only found evidence of acid reflux and that is an easy fix.  The surgeon even thought that may have caused the nausea and the vomiting as well the day we went to the ER.  After all of that running around, trying to catch up on emails and calls I missed, blustery wet cold weather, and just a crappy afternoon at work, I was just not in the mood at all to run.  I chose a good meal, a beer, and bed.  Except I laid in bed wide awake not sleeping.  Sigh.

Please don't kill your brother

Wednesday dawned with very little sleep, but I was determined to get my run week started.  I couldn't run before work as I had my weekly business networking meeting.  I couldn't run after work as we had to head to Manhattan to get fitted for our Girls on the Run modeling gig.  That meant a lunch time run it was the only option.  It was still very cold and windy, but it at least had stopped raining.  I headed home to change and get ready to head out and got the dreaded call that my kiddo was in the office with a tummy ache. They wanted to monitor him for a bit as his anxiety has been high lately causing some stomach issues, so I changed into shorts and a tank to run on the mill so I would be closer to school if he needed me.  I lasted about 5 minutes on the mill and said screw it.  I constantly now feel like I am falling and I have NO clue why.  I couldn't do speedwork hanging onto the railings, so had to give up and change again and head out and pray they didn't call me to come pick Andrew up.  The wind was relentless (hello 40 mph gusts) but I am use to it since this is my 22nd year living on the prairie.    The dogs were being absolute aussholes, wanting to play and attack each other and continuedly stopping in front of me.  Stella at one point started limping on a front leg again, but she shortly stopped limping, so I think it was maybe just something she stepped on.  Way to continually give me a heart attack Stella ella.  

Thursday was still cold and blustery, but not rainy.  I just took Boom with the intention of doing speedwork except when I stepped on the gas to get going, nothing was there.  I decided one more day of easy running was okay and not doing speedwork wouldn't hurt.  Again, lack of sleep this entire week really kicked my ass and honestly I am not even stressed about anything right now.

I need to live life more like Buck!

Friday was a wash.  I was slammed all day at work, so I couldn't get away.  My tummy was super upset the entire day meaning when I wasn't at the computer working like a mad man, I was in the bathroom.  I was unable to eat much thanks to my stomach rolling and having therapy at 4:30 pm on the other side of  Manhattan.  I planned on running as soon as I got home from therapy, but therapy was super rough for me and I just needed to get some food in my tummy and get to bed.  I missed my 4 miler this week completely, but I will not fret. I am sure it will be fine.  Reliving some past trauma is proving to be very hard for me, but I have to do it to finally heal myself and change my present day behaviors.  I am committed to getting through this and to the other side a better person.

21 miles with Queen C and the doodle girls.  We were blessed with amazing weather, cold at the start with a gradual warm up, very little wind, and no humidity.  Can I please order up this weather for race day?  Fueling was good although ran out of tailwind and just had to make do on water from a spigot.  Saw an eagle, lots of hawks, and the cops.  We were doing some short loops out at the airport aka the tiny runway on our running route and the cops showed up.  There are cameras on several of the buildings, so not sure if they saw us and thought we were up to no good, but they should know us after 10 + years of running out there.  For many years that was the only porta potty on our route and then they got rid of it :(  I as well as several other runners would love to donate to have it back versus squatting in ditches.  

Sunday was rough, no lie.  I again got no sleep (why brain, why) and couldn't sleep in due to texts coming in on my phone and buzzing my watch waking me up.  I couldn't let another day go without a run, so I drug myself out of bed, drank my coffee, and headed out with miss stella ella.  I was sore, it was a slog, but I rewarded my effort with a dirty chai and a small piece of lemon bread at the Brew post run.  

There you have it, peak week.  Not the way I wanted it to go at all thanks to lack of sleep and typical Kanas spring weather, but it's all downhill from here till race day.  I am hoping a little less wind and rain for the next week however it's Kansas and it's spring, so I probably won't get my wish.  Have a great week y'all!