I did 2 of the 3 trail run races this summer (one on Mt. Lemmon and one at the Wild Burro TH at Dove Mtn.). I figured this was a great way to continue running and it also allows me to be slow because trail running is typically a bit slower paced than road running.
After raining for practically 2 days and the snow the mountains were getting, I was questioning whether this even would even get held. Ott (the RD) assured us that the wash didn't have water flowing and everything was good to go. So I forced myself out of bed at 5:45 am on Sat to get to the TH in time for a 7am start. As I was driving there I really was thinking that I should have brought a headlight and I was trying to remember if it was even light when we get to work at about 7:15?? (I tend to space out in the morning on the way to work.) I get to the TH where it is dark and very cold. Ott's wife is manning the check-in table and I pick up my number and tshirt.
These races are awesome because they are very low-key, usually less than 30 people and Ott takes really good care of the runners. He usually has water & coffee at the start while we're waiting and he sends his wife and kids out to a point along the trail with a water bag as well as a 2nd person if the course needs it.
We headed to the start and determined that only 2 of us were doing the short course (~4.5 miles as compared to 10.2 mi). That is also another perk, Ott will set up a shorter course (usually around 4-5 miles) for people who don't feel like doing the whole thing or those newer to trail running. We got off about 7:15 (it was light) and I had picked a 2 min run/1 min walk for this because I had been experiencing some hamstring pain in my left leg after PF Changs. I also didn't run the whole week so I figured I wouldn't be feeling too hot.
Almost immediately my left leg started hurting but it wasn't excruciating so I kept going and just tried to slow down a bit. Of course I also intentionally or unintentionally started to favor my right leg which would lead to later fun. The first 1.25-1.5 mi is flat winding on a broken up cart path through the wash. I actually chose to run in the wash since the rain has packed a lot of the sand down and it wasn't too hard to run in.
I got to the turnoff and stopped to get some water before continuing. This course was the opposite side of the race I did last year, so we took the Lower Javalina West trail. Most of the trail was pretty easy running with some ups/downs thrown in. I finally hit the rockier section where the trail started to climb from the wash floor and I had to slow down to a walk in most cases just due to climbing up the rocks. It was about this point where I noticed my right hip was starting to hurt. I also noticed that if I wasn't careful and landed a little hard on either side (stepping off rocks wrong, jogging downhills) that I would get a nice sharp pain in either one of my legs. Awesome.
I tried to slow down and just jog slowly on the downhill sections. Thankfully since it had rained the rocks were a little more slick and that slowed me down anyway. As I was headed up another uphill, I heard someone say "good morning" and I nearly jumped a foot because I had been looking down at the trail and a trail guide was coming towards me! After he apologized and I laughed it off I realized just how peaceful this run was. I had no idea where the other woman doing the short course was (she was behind me), and I started to notice that the clouds were dropping down over the mountain and I was wondering if the long course people were going to get caught in them.
I finally got back down to the wash and decided to try out the Wild Burro trail rather than taking the wash back. This was a really fun section where I was able to pick up the pace (and ignore whatever pain I had) and I felt pretty good. I eventually got back to the water stop, filled up my cup (I carried the empty cup in my pocket...where was I going to throw it??) and started the last 1.25 mi back to the finish. By the way, this is the longest 1.25 mi ever! The wash just keeps going and it is so easy to get off track. After taking a wrong turn and adding a bit of distance to my race last year, I switched to the map on my garmin so I could stay near my outbound track. Even so, I managed to miss a turn and had to backtrack a little bit.
I hit the finish in 1:08, which for 4.3 miles isn't too bad given the pain I was enjoying. The finish line food is always fun, we had bagels w/butter or PB, turkey slices, apple slices, cheese wheels, reeses pieces, cinna-sticks, water, FRS, powerbar endurance drink mix, etc. It really is a good, small race. Plus the price isn't too shabby. The only thing about these races is that it is so easy to vary from the advertised distance due to taking wrong turns in the wash or taking the cart path rather than straight back.
As a side note, the guy who won the long course finished in 1:27....10.2 miles in 1:27. On a trail. With lots of climbing. Yeah, that isn't cool. He'd scare me on a road. :-)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Sunday, January 17, 2010
P.F. Chang's Half Marathon - January 17
Ok, I dislike running. It's a chore and I normally don't enjoy it. So I usually get asked why I do it? Well, its a necessary evil of triathlon and someday, I keep telling myself, I will have that moment - runner's high or something - where I like running and it becomes less of a chose. Still waiting.
So Robin was turning 40 on race day and wanted to do her first marathon. The gullible friend I am, I signed up for the marathon with her and then set out to find a training plan with the least amount of training required. I faithfully went to track practices and even attempted to run on other days. I raced a lot and did mountain biking and other stuff which I believe should help my running. Yep.
Robin conned me out to run with her one day because she believes I'm not training enough. Pffft! So we head out and she goes at my pace (a good 3+ min/mi slower than her pace) and we tough out 12.5 miles in about 2:30. I'm feeling ok about this but then continue to not train. I did about 7 days of the Dec runathon and then maybe another 5-6 miles between then and race day. I'm ready!
So Friday, Robin and I head to Phoenix to do some damage at the expo and pick up our RV for the weekend. Damage was done and I am enjoying my plentiful supply of new running shirts. We raced across town (what should have been a 20 min drive was more like an hour) and picked up the RV. We headed to the RV park for the night and got things set up. Mea was flying in and we decided to make a quick trip to Costco before we got her. 12 mins - and we got more stuff than planned. The zen of Costco. With Mea collected and all of us starving we headed back to Apache Palms to drop off the car and change. We hopped the light rail to Mill Ave and headed to P.F. Chang's. They are sponsoring the race afterall. So we all get our drinks and head to our table. 1 small & 2 tall PF-X's later and I'm pretty happy. We head to a local drinking establishment where we proceed to be hit on by college guys and dance. I also made it through 2 more beers. I feel awesome. We get to the light rail and realize we'd bought all-day passes but it was now past midnight thus rendering our previous pass invalid. We finally get back to the RV and go to sleep since we have spa appointments in the morning. I'm dizzy but rarely get hung over any more so I don't worry about it.
Get up in the am and we're getting ready when I start not feeling well. So I make a visit to the RV toilet...great to sit in the shower be right next to the toilet? I feel better so we head out. Halfway to the spa I start to feel sick again (I'm driving mind you). Robin dumps out her bag of clothes and I manage to puke and drive. I'm multi-talented. We finally get to the spa, right on time, and I end up switching with Mea so I could sit around for an extra half hour. So I sit around in the bathroom and make friends with the spa toilet. Fantastic. I head to my massage and all I can think about is "please don't puke on the table, please don't puke on table." There were a couple iffy moments, but the massage was fantastic and I did actually feel a bit better. I grabbed some water and ended up falling asleep on one of the chairs. After I woke up I hit the shower for a few and then ordered some lunch. Food was a godsend by that point and I really did feel a ton better. We headed out to go get Mea's packet from the expo and buy more stuff!
We headed to dinner after that, but as expected everywhere was packed so Mea and I ended up having dinner by ourselves with some tasty bread & pasta. Got back to the RV and got our stuff together for the next day.
Race day is here! I'm oddly not nervous because I had no goal. I didn't train, why should I expect anything? I just wanted to beat last year (2:53) on improved fitness alone. Secretly, I hoped to get closer to 2:40. The purple posse assembled, took pictures and then headed downtown. Shortly after arriving the gun went off and we started moving up in the corral chain. Our group stayed together for 4 minutes after the start. :-) I stuck with a 4 min run/1 min walk and hoped that would be good enough. Let's just say, I wasn't moving super fast (my 5k was ~38 mins), but I was feeling good. Relaxed, I could breath, my HR was holding pretty steady. This went on for the first 10 miles. At this point, I was starting to see that 2:40 was a real possibility, and if I was a little faster, 2:30-2:35 could be in my future. This is the part of the race where my legs magically become lead. I kept telling myself to turn my legs over faster but I couldn't. Last year at this point I just gave up on myself and started walking more. Not this year, I wouldn't let myself quit. I just told myself to slow down a little - keep pushing - but I could back off just a bit and I was going to make it. I kept this up until we turned on to Rio Salado and I was within .5 mi of the finish. At that point, I literally couldn't keep my legs moving so I walked the last minute of a run interval and started running on the next beep. I think, I ended up running the rest of the race although I wanted to stop badly. Back with .5 to go I saw I had 2 mins to make 2:40 and knew I couldn't do it. After the fact, I realized that my pace actually picked up on the runs in the last 3 miles and I was moving faster than I thought at the finish. I crossed the finish in 2:42:45....exactly 11 minutes faster than last year - and I felt better longer.
I grabbed my water and medal and got in line for my picture. I tried to keep moving my legs since as soon as I stopped I could feel them tightning up. I got through the food line and met up with Jess & Andrea and finally made my way to the UPS truck where I smartly chose not to sit down to change my shoes this year. Last year I could barely get up and I wanted to cry. I trudged back to the RV with my legs starting to stiffen up - I didn't realize the extent until I tried to climb the steps into the RV and then later try to sit down!
This was a good race, better than last year because I finally felt ok. I had a few moments where running was fun and I considered doing more of it. Those were fleeting. I think the massage the day before did actually help because my shoulders weren't as tense as normal and that probably helped my breathing quite a bit.
So here I am, 3 days post and I can sit down with holding on to walls, bars or door frames for dear life. Monday was painful but I think Tuesday was worse. Got a trail run this weekend so we'll see how I far. Now to start not training for the Mt. Lemmon 1/2 in Oct. I think I'm taking the day off after that race!
So Robin was turning 40 on race day and wanted to do her first marathon. The gullible friend I am, I signed up for the marathon with her and then set out to find a training plan with the least amount of training required. I faithfully went to track practices and even attempted to run on other days. I raced a lot and did mountain biking and other stuff which I believe should help my running. Yep.
Robin conned me out to run with her one day because she believes I'm not training enough. Pffft! So we head out and she goes at my pace (a good 3+ min/mi slower than her pace) and we tough out 12.5 miles in about 2:30. I'm feeling ok about this but then continue to not train. I did about 7 days of the Dec runathon and then maybe another 5-6 miles between then and race day. I'm ready!
So Friday, Robin and I head to Phoenix to do some damage at the expo and pick up our RV for the weekend. Damage was done and I am enjoying my plentiful supply of new running shirts. We raced across town (what should have been a 20 min drive was more like an hour) and picked up the RV. We headed to the RV park for the night and got things set up. Mea was flying in and we decided to make a quick trip to Costco before we got her. 12 mins - and we got more stuff than planned. The zen of Costco. With Mea collected and all of us starving we headed back to Apache Palms to drop off the car and change. We hopped the light rail to Mill Ave and headed to P.F. Chang's. They are sponsoring the race afterall. So we all get our drinks and head to our table. 1 small & 2 tall PF-X's later and I'm pretty happy. We head to a local drinking establishment where we proceed to be hit on by college guys and dance. I also made it through 2 more beers. I feel awesome. We get to the light rail and realize we'd bought all-day passes but it was now past midnight thus rendering our previous pass invalid. We finally get back to the RV and go to sleep since we have spa appointments in the morning. I'm dizzy but rarely get hung over any more so I don't worry about it.
Get up in the am and we're getting ready when I start not feeling well. So I make a visit to the RV toilet...great to sit in the shower be right next to the toilet? I feel better so we head out. Halfway to the spa I start to feel sick again (I'm driving mind you). Robin dumps out her bag of clothes and I manage to puke and drive. I'm multi-talented. We finally get to the spa, right on time, and I end up switching with Mea so I could sit around for an extra half hour. So I sit around in the bathroom and make friends with the spa toilet. Fantastic. I head to my massage and all I can think about is "please don't puke on the table, please don't puke on table." There were a couple iffy moments, but the massage was fantastic and I did actually feel a bit better. I grabbed some water and ended up falling asleep on one of the chairs. After I woke up I hit the shower for a few and then ordered some lunch. Food was a godsend by that point and I really did feel a ton better. We headed out to go get Mea's packet from the expo and buy more stuff!
We headed to dinner after that, but as expected everywhere was packed so Mea and I ended up having dinner by ourselves with some tasty bread & pasta. Got back to the RV and got our stuff together for the next day.
Race day is here! I'm oddly not nervous because I had no goal. I didn't train, why should I expect anything? I just wanted to beat last year (2:53) on improved fitness alone. Secretly, I hoped to get closer to 2:40. The purple posse assembled, took pictures and then headed downtown. Shortly after arriving the gun went off and we started moving up in the corral chain. Our group stayed together for 4 minutes after the start. :-) I stuck with a 4 min run/1 min walk and hoped that would be good enough. Let's just say, I wasn't moving super fast (my 5k was ~38 mins), but I was feeling good. Relaxed, I could breath, my HR was holding pretty steady. This went on for the first 10 miles. At this point, I was starting to see that 2:40 was a real possibility, and if I was a little faster, 2:30-2:35 could be in my future. This is the part of the race where my legs magically become lead. I kept telling myself to turn my legs over faster but I couldn't. Last year at this point I just gave up on myself and started walking more. Not this year, I wouldn't let myself quit. I just told myself to slow down a little - keep pushing - but I could back off just a bit and I was going to make it. I kept this up until we turned on to Rio Salado and I was within .5 mi of the finish. At that point, I literally couldn't keep my legs moving so I walked the last minute of a run interval and started running on the next beep. I think, I ended up running the rest of the race although I wanted to stop badly. Back with .5 to go I saw I had 2 mins to make 2:40 and knew I couldn't do it. After the fact, I realized that my pace actually picked up on the runs in the last 3 miles and I was moving faster than I thought at the finish. I crossed the finish in 2:42:45....exactly 11 minutes faster than last year - and I felt better longer.
I grabbed my water and medal and got in line for my picture. I tried to keep moving my legs since as soon as I stopped I could feel them tightning up. I got through the food line and met up with Jess & Andrea and finally made my way to the UPS truck where I smartly chose not to sit down to change my shoes this year. Last year I could barely get up and I wanted to cry. I trudged back to the RV with my legs starting to stiffen up - I didn't realize the extent until I tried to climb the steps into the RV and then later try to sit down!
This was a good race, better than last year because I finally felt ok. I had a few moments where running was fun and I considered doing more of it. Those were fleeting. I think the massage the day before did actually help because my shoulders weren't as tense as normal and that probably helped my breathing quite a bit.
So here I am, 3 days post and I can sit down with holding on to walls, bars or door frames for dear life. Monday was painful but I think Tuesday was worse. Got a trail run this weekend so we'll see how I far. Now to start not training for the Mt. Lemmon 1/2 in Oct. I think I'm taking the day off after that race!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Tour de Cookie - January 10
So, I'm sure I've missed some races at the end of last year - well tough cookies. Time to start over in 2010, hopefully I can keep up better! Tour de Cookie became a favorite event last year when the weather was cold and the cookies plentiful. I talked Erik into riding with us this year and signed up a team. No idea what a team got you, but it was cheaper so we went with it. We got to Brandi Fenton park on Sunday morning and got a great parking spot right by the start/finish line. I had put some purple ribbons on my bike & helmet, had my basket w/Elmo ready to go and was dressed in purple fashion. If purple fashion includes a TTG jersey, black cycling capris, knee high black/purple striped socks and a purple tutu. Yeah, I'm high class fashion! 
We set off on the course that had been mapped out for us. This year that meant the first stop was Body Central up on Oracle/Magee. We took 1st up to Ina and then over to Oracle. I amazingly got up the hills without feeling like I was going to die, in fact in many places I was spinning pretty happily. Damn training. Our little group passed Elaine & Co heading south on Oracle and they were yelling something about no cookies. Since we weren't far away, we continued on to discover that there was no one at the Body Central stand. No cars, no people, no clue. I pedaled up hills for cookies damnit!
We headed down Oracle to hit the next stand at River (Children's Park). Now, we weren't moving nearly as slow as last year, certainly not super quick paced as this is a fun, social ride and there were tons of people still behind us. We got to the Oracle/River stand and they had run out of cookies. This running out of cookies became a common theme. So now quite hungry as I should have consumed many cookies by now, we set off towards Stone and the next stand. On the way down Stone I get splattered with something wet. I look up and discover the rows of birds sitting on the power lines. Seriously? A bird pissed on me? This may not be a good day.
The stand at Stone had cookies, they were running out quickly, but cookies were had and they were quite tasty for having waited as long as I did. We headed off towards downtown and the Roller Derby stand. Those girls are awesome! They knew how to have fun and someone can bake! Their cookies were probably the best and the brownies were phenom. From the Roller Derby girls we headed towards the UofA mall to visit the TTG tent. Even our tent was running low on cookies and had to make an emergency Safeway run for more. I stocked up and we headed east to visit the women's rugby team. Got my milk shot and played a hand of blackjack (I won!) and we were back on the road towards Craycroft.
The next stop had cool cookies shaped like bikes and fresh lemonade. Plus if you bought $3 in cookies you could spin the wheel and some volunteers would do some funny gags - sing like opera singers, make animal sounds, etc. From there we headed up Craycroft until Anne got a flat. Seems I'm always around for her flats. She got it fixed (while Erik and I watched...such good friends) and by then another group of TTGs had joined us and we decided to head back to the start, making a quick stop at another stand on the way. When we got to McCormick park, we discovered the stand already packed up and unwilling to dish out any cookies. So sadly we headed back to the start/finish in hopes that unlike last year, the finish line would still be standing! With great luck it was, but the TriSports booth was already packed up. We all got our cookie medals and then someone mentioned a stop we had missed that was just down the river path.
So a few of us set off for the elusive stand and were pleased to discover that they were still open and still had tasty cookies. We then headed back and crossed the finish line a second time. To make up for last year of course! A couple of us packed up and then headed off to Brushfire BBQ for some well deserved lunch. Even though this race lacked some organization this year (stands not showing up, running out of cookies) it's still a favorite ride and I'll be back next year!
We set off on the course that had been mapped out for us. This year that meant the first stop was Body Central up on Oracle/Magee. We took 1st up to Ina and then over to Oracle. I amazingly got up the hills without feeling like I was going to die, in fact in many places I was spinning pretty happily. Damn training. Our little group passed Elaine & Co heading south on Oracle and they were yelling something about no cookies. Since we weren't far away, we continued on to discover that there was no one at the Body Central stand. No cars, no people, no clue. I pedaled up hills for cookies damnit! We headed down Oracle to hit the next stand at River (Children's Park). Now, we weren't moving nearly as slow as last year, certainly not super quick paced as this is a fun, social ride and there were tons of people still behind us. We got to the Oracle/River stand and they had run out of cookies. This running out of cookies became a common theme. So now quite hungry as I should have consumed many cookies by now, we set off towards Stone and the next stand. On the way down Stone I get splattered with something wet. I look up and discover the rows of birds sitting on the power lines. Seriously? A bird pissed on me? This may not be a good day.
The stand at Stone had cookies, they were running out quickly, but cookies were had and they were quite tasty for having waited as long as I did. We headed off towards downtown and the Roller Derby stand. Those girls are awesome! They knew how to have fun and someone can bake! Their cookies were probably the best and the brownies were phenom. From the Roller Derby girls we headed towards the UofA mall to visit the TTG tent. Even our tent was running low on cookies and had to make an emergency Safeway run for more. I stocked up and we headed east to visit the women's rugby team. Got my milk shot and played a hand of blackjack (I won!) and we were back on the road towards Craycroft.
The next stop had cool cookies shaped like bikes and fresh lemonade. Plus if you bought $3 in cookies you could spin the wheel and some volunteers would do some funny gags - sing like opera singers, make animal sounds, etc. From there we headed up Craycroft until Anne got a flat. Seems I'm always around for her flats. She got it fixed (while Erik and I watched...such good friends) and by then another group of TTGs had joined us and we decided to head back to the start, making a quick stop at another stand on the way. When we got to McCormick park, we discovered the stand already packed up and unwilling to dish out any cookies. So sadly we headed back to the start/finish in hopes that unlike last year, the finish line would still be standing! With great luck it was, but the TriSports booth was already packed up. We all got our cookie medals and then someone mentioned a stop we had missed that was just down the river path.
So a few of us set off for the elusive stand and were pleased to discover that they were still open and still had tasty cookies. We then headed back and crossed the finish line a second time. To make up for last year of course! A couple of us packed up and then headed off to Brushfire BBQ for some well deserved lunch. Even though this race lacked some organization this year (stands not showing up, running out of cookies) it's still a favorite ride and I'll be back next year!
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