A New Running Experience

One of the things that I enjoy about this blog, is that I can report on new experiences.  This weekend, I had two.  Wonder if I should split this post into 2?

And the answer is yes!  After I finished writing about one experience, I realized I have enough material for 2 posts!

Experience 1

I used to go to track workout with my husband religiously on Wednesday evenings.  But then things got in the way…I got a part time evening job, I started running in the morning and so on: in other words excuse excuse excuse.  I really enjoyed it when I went.  There is a whole crew that goes regularly, and all very nice people.  My husband still goes.  My group of ‘chatty kathies’ doesn’t go so much anymore.  I’m hoping I can get back to it at some point b/c it really really does make me faster, but I’m not doing anything to make it happen!

Anyway, my son works at the running store.  One of his co-workers is a  former collegiate runner who currently competes at the national level in the over 70 age group and  is also the leader of the Wednesday night track workouts.  He invited my son and husband to a Sunday morning 1 mile time trail.  It sounded fun, and new, and different, so I invited myself along. 

About twenty of us showed up.  The usual fasties who go every week were there as were some of my friends from the ultra. And there were also several people that I didn’t know.

Anyway, after what felt like an interminable amount of time (warm up mile, stretching, strides…) we all lined up at once.  Four laps around the high school track and we were done.

The goal that I set for myself was 7:20.  I hit 7:22, so not awful.  But I think I didn’t run it too smartly.  I got behind a lady that I didn’t know (turns out she also works at the running store).  She was clearly younger than me and had on very revealing Lycra shorts, and not the tight ‘keep-every-thing-in-place’ type, but the ‘shows-everything-you don’t-want-seen’ type.  Since I was behind her, I could see that her rear-end was really flabby (not that mine isn’t, but no one could see it).  I decided that someone with a rear-end that flabby was not going to be allowed to beat me.  I jack rabbited ahead of her.  But then she passed me and stayed ahead for the rest of the time trial.  I guess someone with a flabby rear end can beat me!

The results were a little bit ego busting.  I finished third from last.  Not my normal spot to finish, but like I said, a lot of fasties, and more men than women. The last three of us were all in the 7 minute range and we were as follows: A 60+ year old female and 2 women in their early 50’s.  So realistically, nothing to complain about.  Plus it was fun!

I would do it again.  Maybe I should quite my P/T job, and get back into it??

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Race Report – A Timed Ultra Marathon

Well, you already know the end of this story.  I ended up surprising myself and running 50 miles in my first ultra marathon.  My goal was to run 50k (or 31 miles), so it was a real shocker to end up doing 50 miles!!

It was an absolutely awesome experience, and I will definitely do it again.  Especially this one.  It was 15 minutes from my house!!

 

The trail.  It was close to parking, so we could all set up our own stations right out the back of our cars

First, a bit of the particulars:  The 12 hour event was held in a park that had a .75 mile hard packed sand track loop.  To make each lap a full mile, there was a .25 out/back trip to a bridge added on.  There were 54 participants who ran the gamut in age (20-69) and fitness levels.  30 of the participants were female (two of whom were 67 years old and one who was 68!!!).  The one mile laps were counted by volunteers, who tracked a set number of runners all 12 hours long!

 

The ‘to the bridge’ portion of the loop

 

Let me tell you, this was one of the most inspirational events I’ve ever witnessed/participated in.  (Boston Marathon being the other one).  This was not like a regular race.  While regular races really are fun, they are competitive (which don’t get me wrong, I like!) vs. cooperative.  Everyone at this event was so supportive of everyone else.  In the course of the twelve hours, we all got to know/run with many of the other runners.  These are people who  never would have met each other in our everyday lives. And here we were, running with and encouraging each other for hours!! As you can image, we’re all now best friends forever on Facebook!

 

Since the event was in “our territory”, 10 of the runners were from the same run group. Many of us already knew each other. And the ones who didn’t know each other at the start did by the end! Also, since we were so close to home, many more runners from our run group stopped by to cheer or run with us!

Steve and I ran the event, and ran together for the first 28 miles.  My best running friend Maria (in the tigger capris) showed up to run a bit with us!

Runners and supporters from our run group!

All that support made this event super!
As I already said, my goal was initially to do 31 miles. But, once I reached that goal, I felt like I could keep going. My next goal was 40 miles.

A friend showed up at mile 38 and told me I was doing 50. Another one of the runners started saying that too. I wasn’t interested, but kept on running. By mile 43, I agreed to 50!  And by the time I committed, I just barely had enough time to finish.  I completed 50 with 8 minutes to spare!

My friend ran with me….or i should say ran/walked all 12 of those last miles! She was my cheerleader and encourager. Without her, it truly wouldn’t have happened!

There is so much more I have to say about this race. But I think I’ll save it for another post. In parting, I want to say, that when it was over, I took a shower.

2nd Race of the Year – A Success – Sort of

Last week was my second race of the year.  Another 5k, another repeat race.  I ran it the year before last, and remembered that I liked it.  It is a favorable course with more downhills than up. And for this reason it attracts many of the fasties in the city.  Since it is such a favorable course, I persuaded several friends to race it too.

The race, and course, and friends were awesome!  The course was even better than I remembered.  I hit my race goal, as did 4 of the 5 friends who raced too!  And my performance truly gave me hope that maybe I haven’t lost all my speed to the large quantity of junk miles I’ve been running.

The only regrettable thing about the whole race was that I forgot to double knot my shoes!  Rookie mistake!  At exactly the start of mile 2, I realized my shoe had come untied.  I tried to ignore it for a bit, but that wasn’t working.  I pulled off to the side to tie, and I’m pretty sure that was a 30 second mistake.

My goal was for my finish time to start with a 23.  I finished in 23:45.  So, goal accomplished.  If you subtract the 30 second mistake, and add that to the fact that I should have lined up closer to the front to start (could have cost me 10 seconds of initial weaving), I came really really close to finishing the race in the 22s!  I’ve only done that twice before.  So I’m really happy about the race.  And, a feeling that I’ve never had before:  As I turned the corner towards the finish, I actually felt disappointed that the race would be over soon!!

 

Downhill finish…I thought I was smiling as I passed the photographer.  This looks more like a grimace.

This weekend I’ve got my 12 hour race.  I’m looking forward to it.  The weather forecast is going to be a bit hot…mid 70’s, but the course is shaded.  And speed isn’t the priority.  So I think I can handle the heat.

An Inspiring Weekend Encounter

As I was starting my run on Saturday, I noticed my neighbor finishing hers.  Well…at least I thought it was her.  As she got closer, I doubted myself.  But I’d already waved, and stopped my run to greet her.  Is this L? I kept wondering to myself.  It kind of looked like her, but not really.  L is not a close friend, and I hadn’t seen her in probably 6 months.    When she stopped running and started chatting with me, I realized it actually was her.  Just a MUCH diminished her.

A little back story here.  I know from Facebook that she is my age (53).  A few years ago, I noticed that she and her husband had really gained quite a bit of weight.  Well it turns out that their youngest (and only boy), a teenager had some health issues that required a kidney transplant!!  After a lot of prayer, one of their daughters offered her kidney to her brother.  I can only imagine the fear and worry for both of their children these parents had to go through.  Not only the operation, but also the worry about rejection and infection…(It has been several years now, and both son and daughter are healthy).

Really, no wonder the parents gained weight!

Now back to this Saturday: During the course of my  conversation with L, I learned that she had started running and had dropped 50 pounds!!! Wow!  50 pounds alone is truly inspiring.  Then combine it with the fact that she is WELL into middle age and lost the weight!  It seems like it would have been so easy for her to just slide into her senior years overweight.

Three days later, I still feel inspired by her accomplishment!  What an awesome lady.

Now here’s the tear-jeryky part.  She said I inspire her.

Sights Seen on my Morning Runs

I usually do my long runs on Sunday.  Since I’m not training for anything, I don’t have any set mileage that I “HAVE” to cover. I just pick what I want and go.  Or really, go and pick what I want while I’m out.

This past Sunday, I had a  goal of going 12 miles.  But I was kind of grumpy about it when I first started.  Everything was bothering me during  mile 1.  I was obsessing about what I was wearing.  Did I under dress?  Did I over dress (more likely)? How was I going to get 12 miles in? Why didn’t I bring any money for water?….blah, blah, blah.

At exactly the end of my first mile, I encountered a family of deer.  Six of them.  About ten feet from me, lined up in a row, and all facing me!  Two were even wagging their tails.

Not my pic…but this is what our deer look like

Ah.  That got me out of my whiny phase!  Such a treat!!  A woman  drove by speeding along in her mini van, talking on her phone.  I signaled to her to stop and look to her left. She did and rewarded me with a big smile.  The deer made my day, and I’ll bet they made hers too.

This morning, I saw something else that was pretty awesome too.  OK, I admit it…I didn’t go outside to run today.  Somehow if it is under 40 degrees  and still dark, I just can’t make myself get out of my nice cozy bed to run outside.  I know, wimpy.

But I went to the gym in our neighborhood, and worked out on the elliptical, and stairmaster (argh!).  When I was leaving, the sun still hadn’t risen.  The sky was clear, the moon was bright, and I knew to look for this.  

All the planets were lined up to the left of and below the moon.  I’d been looking for it for several days, but today was the first time I saw it.  Pretty awesome! And I got to share it with one of the trainers who happened to be in the parking lot.  It’s always nice to share a cool sight with someone else.  He liked it too.  You can see this too.  At least in North America through Feb. 20. Look to the east 45 minutes before sunrise.

I hope you get to see some awesome sights this weekend too, and I look forward to catching up with everyone’s blogs.

A Trip to Africa and a Race in Atlanta

This blog is entitled travelrunstyle.  My original intention was to have a combo blog that featured all three of those subjects.  Somehow, I haven’t really lived up to the name of the blog, especially in the style area.  Mostly, this has become a blog about running, with a little bit of travel too.  And that’s what this post is going to be about.  (Maybe someday I’ll write a style blog).

A few years ago, we went on safari in South Africa.  My family flew ahead of me and broke up the long flight with a stopover in Paris.  A few days later, I took a direct flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg.  This was by far the longest flight I’ve ever taken – 17 hours! We also had a 2 hour ground delay in Atlanta due to rain!!  19 hours sitting in coach was a really really long time!

I had a window seat, which I prefer.  The seats were off-set a bit, so the person in the middle seat in front of me was visible as well as audible.  At first I was excited when I overheard him talking to his seat mate about running.  I hoped that maybe I could get in on the conversation!

Then he started talking about religion too. He kept on talking about running, and religion. And ON and ON and ON. FOR HOURS.  And I don’t sleep on planes.  Oh my goodness.  I can safely say he NEVER shut up.  Well…ok he did for a bit after he took a sleeping pill.  But still.  And it was loud!

Eventually, I made it to the lodge at Krueger Park and met up with my family.  I had travelled with my running shoes, in hopes of getting a few miles in Africa.

Ya…No.

You don’t run while on safari.  Too dangerous.  Even without a run though it was an awesome trip.  So awesome, that we went again the next year to a nearby country, Botswana.

African wild dogs…very rare.  We watched them make a kill, which was really gruesome.

In between the two trips to Africa, we ran some races here in Atlanta.  One of them was a small local race.  Both my husband and I usually line up towards the front in local races.  While we were waiting to start, I noticed someone on the front line that I recognized.  When I asked my husband who the guy was, he said he didn’t know.  Even before I could think to stop myself from talking, I thought I recognized that he was the loudmouth from the plane, and I asked him if he’d gone to Africa last year.  It was him.

Oh geez…why did I strike up a conversation with him?? What if he started a loud on going conversation that lasted the whole race.  I felt panicked!! Luckily, he must have been nervous about racing because the conversation was brief.

Small world…but I don’t think I’ve seen him since.  Or at least I know I haven’t HEARD him!

Hope you all have a nice weekend, and I’m looking forward to catching up on your posts!

Devised by Me: A New Training Plan for 2016

I call it the ‘I Want’ training plan.  And it means just that, I’m going to do whatever I want!

Without any big races on the horizon (like last year this time, I was marathon training),

Medal from last year’s marathon

 

and without a burning desire to plan any big races, I’m just going to train in ways that make me happy.

Here’s a for instance…yesterday it was warm outside.  My rational brain said ‘Oh you better run outside…it may be raining the rest of the week.’ But, I didn’t feel like it.   So instead, I went to our gym, and rode on the Arc Trainer for 7.2 miles.  My hair still sweat, so I know I got a good work out.  Plus I had total control of the TV remote, and watched silly shows like Love it or List it, and Judge Judy!

Here’s another for instance.  On Sunday (after a Saturday run with some intentional speedwork), I decided this was going to be an easy junk mile run, or if you want to sound more fancy, a LSD (long slow day).

 

Blah BLah BLah…This guy seems a little uptight!  Who cares if you’re out for head clearing junk miles!

But, toward the end of my run, I started feeling pretty good.  I sped up and finished my 9th mile FAST.  Because that’s what I wanted!

One of the best things about running and training is the goal setting.  So don’t get me wrong, I’m still going to set goals.  Right now, the goal that is exciting me is achieving a weekly/annual mileage.  I’ve set these type of goals for the past 2 years, and enjoyed achieving/surpassing them.

No I didn’t run 70,000 miles this year!

I’ll keep you posted if I change my training plan.  And check out this site for similar sentiments, and my inspiration for today’s post! http://slackerrunner.com/

 

Today I am trying a  link up with  Patty, Erika, and Marcia!  Thank you ladies!!

The CRAZIEST Run of My Entire Life

Today started out fairly normal…I got up and had my cookies, then started to procrastinate my run.

During my procrastination phase, I was texting with a friend. She was telling me about another friend of ours…D.  D is a 40 something hard charging, high level corporate executive who tackles full iron man length triathlons for fun! Well it turns out D is 5 months pregnant with her first child!! I started out my run thinking  about how happy I am for D. She preoccupied my thoughts for the first few miles.

At mile three, it was time to implement my new strategy for regaining some speed. This is a highly complex, advanced strategy, so of you’re a newbie, you may not want to try it until you have some more experience.  But here it is….I’ve decided that you have to go fast if you want to go fast! So I ran speedy for my next mile and a half. Two and a half more laps around the park at a slower speed, a few stops at the water fountain, and then I turned out of the park to go home with the intention of doing my last mile (9) speedy too.

I passed the fire station, and was trying to pump myself up to do a fast mile, and wondering what I could write a blog post about when a car that was going in my same direction about 20 feet in front of me jumped the curb, crossed the side walk, ran into some crepe myrtle tree stalks, and then FLIPPED completely over!! It was completely upside down, the roof was totally crushed in, and the car impacted with an electric pole. The transformer on the top of the pole exploded twice, sparks flying everywhere!! I kept running. But faster now, toward the car. A man driving in another car who had witnessed everything yelled at me not to touch the car….it could be live. I didn’t.  I saw a lifeless arm in the car and prayed that no one was dead.  I yelled inside that we were calling for help, but that we didn’t want to touch the car. I saw movement in the car. At least one person was alive. I ran back to the man in the car who had yelled at me not to touch it..his wife was calling 911.  Then I remembered the fire station. It was about 1/10 of a mile away. A boy in a jeep took off.  For some stupid reason, so did I. Anyway, the fire engines got to the accident scene within about three minutes of the accident. By the time I got back, they already had a chain saw out to cut through the car to get to the man. It turns out there was only one person in the car…so he was alive.

I hung around for a few minutes, then feeling pretty shook up, decided to head home. I had to run through the scene to get home. Needless to say I didn’t feel up to a speedy last mile either.

The electric pole to the left was the site where the car flipped over.

When I got home, and was telling my family about the accident, we realized I would have been killed if I’d been running a bit faster in my third and fourth park laps…or if I hadn’t stopped for water.

I pray that the man will be OK. Incidents like this make you put life’s petty issues into perspective.

The chunked up grass must be where the wrecker pulled in…b/c  there was absolutely no braking when the car jumped the curb.

Today I am trying a link up for the Weekly Wrap hosted by Holly @ HoHoRuns and Tricia @ MissSippiPiddlin.   See rules here. Thank you ladies!

Thanksgiving Half Race Review

My husband and I ran a half marathon this past Thursday, and it was a great way to start our Thanksgiving! The following is a recap of the race:

Race course

I had previously run a half on this same course.  It was on a greenway that took us across meadows, through woods, and alongside a creek. Very scenic.
And quite a bit of it was on elevated boardwalks that were somewhat springy. The course was a straightaway, with 2 U-turns. Not hilly at all either! Plus the day was perfect! Sunny, but in the high 40s to start.

‘Celebrity’ Sighting

There were about 300 people racing in the half. For the first few miles, I was trying to see if there was anyone going about my speed so we could run together. The last time I had raced there, I got into a group of 4 others, and they seemed to carry me along.

I wasn’t having much luck, so just decided to enjoy the sites. There weren’t many spectators, but I spied 2 at around mile 2.5. A boy and man. The boy looked familiar. I stared at him for clues as I ran by. He had a letter jacket on. I saw his name on the jacket and realized that he was the boy who’d recently made national news for having been disqualified from the Georgia state high school xc championship race for having a bible verse on his headband. He had finished third, but was disqualified to last place! It was a big controversy.

(See story here: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/11/11/was-it-bible-verse-teen-runner-disqualified-from-state-meet-over-religious-headband.html)

Race Encounters

I was so excited about my ‘celebrity’ sighting, that I made friends with the girl next to me to tell her about it. She was a nice girl and we ran together for a bit. While we were running, the leader, who had already passed the first U-turn and was now running past us in the opposite direction appeared. I cheered for him. And she said that was her brother! Later, I mentioned that I had noticed at least 3 ladies ahead of us who might be in my age group. She said her mother was ahead of us, and we determined that mother and I were in fact in the same age group.

I never did ask her name, but learned that her goal was to finish in under 2 for the first time.  At the time we were going at about a 1:48 pace. I told she had it. Eventually, I lost track of her b/c she faded a bit.

Another Fall

Really, who falls in a RACE?? A dork. I cannot believe I fell!! This is the second fall in the past 2 weeks. And only my 3rd overall. So I’m wondering if its my new shoes? Or the boardwalk? It was a little uneven with boards sticking up. Or is it just me not picking my feet up? Anyway, I slid onto my front and knees, but got right up and started running again. No major damage! Thank goodness!! I am SO lucky. I fall all the time on the tennis court and don’t ever seem to get hurt too bad (knock on wood).

Finish

My goal was to finish in the high 140s…but at mile 11/12, I started fading pretty bad. I realized that my finish time was going to start with a 1:5-something. 7 people passed me in mile 13 (yes I counted). For the last 1/4, I was just dying.  We were finishing on a track and I had turned my tunes off….sounds were bothering me. I heard someone behind me getting closer. After 7 people had already passed me, I thought “THE HELL YOU ARE” on this one. And dug deep. Somehow, I got a bit of a kick. I also noticed the photographer near the finish line. I was able to have the coherent thought to pick up my feet b/c in most finish line photos, it looks like I’m barely moving.

I am glad my feet are lifted!

Finished with a strong kick. After passing across the timing mats, the lady who had been running behind me congratulated me for the kick, then immediately asked me my age. We were in the same age group, and I’d beaten her by 2 seconds! We chatted for a bit until I saw my husband. He had PRd by 6 minutes!! I am really proud of him!

We wandered around while chatting  with the lady who was in my age group then I remembered my other friend. I wanted to see if she could hit her goal. We caught her just as she was finishing…in under 2 hours!! I was super happy for her and congratulated her. So was the lady in my age group…..her mother!! And then the brother came over to congratulate his sister who had beaten her PR by 12 full minutes!! And it turns out the brother had won the whole thing! So that was fun.

I won 2nd place in my AG, but we didn’t stick around for the awards. We were both starting to get cold, and it was only going to get worse if we waited around for awards time. Plus, it turns out the awards were sorta weird looking.

I DID NOT win this award…but you can see they’re a bit odd looking!

Today I am trying a link up for the Weekly Wrap hosted by Holly @ HoHoRuns and Tricia @ MissSippiPiddlin.   See rules here. Thank you ladies!

So….Not a Real Post. But I Do Have a question

I’m a stickler for mileage goals. I truly plan everything around how to get in my weekly mileage. I have a 5k on Saturday, and I’m planning on nothing, Or really light tomorrow (so that I can have fresh legs for the race). So it doesn’t look like I will hit my mileage goal for the week.

So here is my question… I played tennis on Sunday. My friend kept her Garmin on while we played. And it registered 3 miles. Do these 3 miles count towards my mileage? My inclination is no.

Your thoughts?