you get out of it what you put into it

Let me preface by saying I hate the treadmill.  Hate it.  I can't seem to run as far on it as I do on the road.  I know it is all mental which is frustrating to me.  It is what it is... I'm working on it.  I ran 2 miles without stopping (a huge accomplishment for me on the treadmill.  heck, it's a huge accomplishment for me period) in 20 minutes... 10 minute miles is also pretty quick for me.  Then I walked another 10 minutes bringing my total to 2.55.  I was sweating and dying and I had a married man (he was wearing a wedding ring!) hit on me tonight.  Lovely.

Also did 70 crunch thingies... I'm trying to strengthen my core a bit.  Now on to stats homework.  Anyone wanna help me?  Ugh.  

Dreadmill.  Lunch.  Now what do I want to eat???

Treadmill.  Honestly one of the best workouts I've had in a while.  It was short, but I pushed the pace (for me) and actually enjoyed it!  And you know what, enjoying it is all that matters...

Ran 1 mile @ 10:30 pace

Ran .5 mile @ 8:30 pace

Alternated running .10 @ 7:30 pace and walking .10 @ 15:00 pace.

Total 3.1 for that little workout.  Then I walked until my BFF on the treadmill hit 2.25.  I was at 3.52 at that point.

Then did some core work which was h-a-r-d.  I think I've decided to give up my dream of having abs (I have a LONG ways to go...) and just have a fat stomach and look not-so-cute in my bikini this summer. 

Since I haven't been running long, I don't have much to compare today's run to.  But, I will just go ahead and state that it was my best run ever!  Felt great.  Could've gone longer but my girls and I had a free pancake breakfast to attend.  You clearly see where our priorities are...  My only complaint would be that I was burping beer, pizza, and cake the whole time.  I guess that's what I get for having that stuff at 1AM (while watching a special on the Real Housewives series) when we were running at 7AM.  Fun night - totally worth the burping.  :) 

This is what I looked like:   

1 week until I'm participating in (notice I didn't say running??) Delano.  What am I getting myself into?  

Very slow run with my girls on the trails of Monte Sano.  Absolutely gorgeous day.  I think (and hope) that Spring is finally here.  I'm sure we'll have a few more cold days, but I'm ready for the pleasant temps that Alabama is accustom to for this time of year.

This is the first time I've ran trails since hurting my IT band (like 2 months) and it was much more painful than the road (I'm pretty much pain-free on the road now...).  I guess it is the constant up and down and steep hills and jumping over rocks, etc.  My right knee was hurting pretty badly and then I twisted my right ankle which caused an interesting limping situation.  I was trying to put more weight on my left leg which somehow caused me to rub a blister onto the ball of my left foot even though I was wearing smartwools.  Darn.  Oh well... I still had an excellent morning and an excellent run with my friends.  In 3 weeks we'll be doubling this distance and running McKay Hollow; should be fun (and slow and painful)!  As usual, we went to Starbucks after our run.  I then came home and took an absolutely wonderful nap.  Lovely.  Now:  Homework (booooooo...) and, later: yoga!

Hope y'all are having a nice weekend!  

Short version:  

I shuffled my feet for 32 miles. 

Long version:   

I had soooooo many concerns going into this race.  What am I thinking?  Is my goal of 31 miles out of reach?  How will my stomach handle having to eat while running?  Did I seriously sign up for an ultra when the most I've ever raced is a 5k?  Will I break down mentally?  What am I thinking?  What if the weather is bad?  Can I run a 1-mile loop over and over again all day without getting bored?  WHAT AM I THINKING?  

The Delano 12 is a 12-hour event on a certified 1-mile loop course.  You run the circle as many times as you can.  It's a perfect venue for someone like myself to try something a bit more "challenging" than I'm used to.  Aid is available every mile.  If for some reason I feel I can't go on, my car is literally right there where the aid is.  Perfect.  Plus, all my buddies were doing it.  So it was like social hour X 12.  Even better.

 The event really began when FRB's very own, John Nevels, started running at 6PM on Friday night in an attempt to run 100 miles in 24 hours or less.  My buddies and I went over to cheer him on for his first mile and then went to a lovely little pasta dinner that was being put on by the RD's.  I had a goal of being in a drug-induced coma (tylenol pm) by 9PM Friday night.  Well, I finally took the drugs about 10:30PM and still really couldn't sleep.  I would think about John or what I was getting myself into in a few hours or how I was absolutely nuts, etc.... not a good night of sleep.

My alarm went off at 4:04AM on Saturday and I grabbed a quick shower and was then on my way to Decatur.  After about an hour or so drive I arrive at Delano Park approx 40 minutes prior to the start.  The place is already packed.  People are unloading tents to prepare for the long day and all that goes with them: chairs, blankets, aid, drinks, tables, heaters, tarps, coolers, etc.  At this point, John is still running circles.  Crazy!

It's 6AM and we're off!  My plan for the entire day was to do a run/walk combo, as I knew I was in way over my head on the whole running thing.  So when my friend Brandi asked me to run the first 2 miles with her I had a real internal struggle.  Brandi was on a relay team and is just returning from an injury.  She has run a total of 10ish miles since being cleared by the doctor to run again.  I didn't want to mess up my "plan" but thought that it would be nice to run with her for a few miles to get warmed up.  So, from the very beginning I screwed the plan and just went on how I felt.

After my 2 miles with Brandi I thought I'd go back to my original plan, which was to run 5/1's (run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute) for as long as I could.  Well, I don't mind running them with a group... but they are pure torture to run alone.  That didn't last 30ish minutes and then I went to running landmarks.  For the remainder of the day (and it was a long day) I ran the "zig-zag section" and from the "water fountain" to the "75" marker.  Then I ran the final stretch from "the tree" through the "finish line" on every single lap for the rest of the day.  I know that means nothing to you unless you were there.  But mentally, this was huge for me.  I knew where I had to run and where I got to walk on every lap and it was awesome.  I loved it.  It basically equaled me running about 1/2 mile and walking about 1/2 mile for the entire course.  It worked really well for me.

I stopped to call my mom at a half marathon and give her an update.  I changed socks at this time too and put band-aid's on my feet as I could already feel the blisters forming.  This was a nice little break.  I didn't really have any pain issues until mile 20ish.  About that time my hips really started to hurt and my feet...  Oh my pitiful feet.  They were killing me.  At a marathon I took off my old shoes (with no inserts - probably where the pain is from) and put on my trail shoes.  I wore my old shoes for the day because I didn't want to get my new shoes muddy and ruin them.  At that point my feet were already swollen and very much in pain.  So, the trail shoes just hurt them in different areas.  No biggie.  I had 5 laps to go and I was going to get to 31 miles even if I had to crawl.  After I reached a marathon I slowed down considerably.  I stopped to stretch my hips some and just took it easy chatting with some of my friends that had already quit for the day.  I knew I had enough time to finish and I just relaxed a bit.  About this time I rested for a few extra minutes to watch John finish up his 100-mile feat in a huge PR for him of 19:42:53.  Awesome!  I was so proud of him!

The last 6 miles (I did an extra mile just for good measure) were torture.  That darn foot pain.  I can tell you that looking at my feet right now I have huge bruises on them.  How did that happen?  My buddy Joey started running again after a 2ish hour break on mile 30 with me.  I was glad to have him there on my last 2 laps.  We crossed the finish/start line with 14ish minutes left on the clock until it hit 9 hours.  I told him that I wanted to get one more mile in by that time and for him to push me as my pace had slowed considerably.  We did my first normal walk break but skipped the other one.  He had me going at like a 9:00 pace.  It was hurting badly that late in the day.  We were already running quickly as we approached "the tree" where I would normally start running for the final stretch.  At that point I started to sprint I was so relieved to be done.  The end was in sight.  It was an absolutely fantastic feeling.  We made 9 hours with a little bit of time to spare.  I was thrilled.

 Joey pushing me on my final lap.  Contrary to what this picture may make you believe, I do, in fact, have a neck...  

I sat down in a lovely little chair by a heater after that and cheered on my crazy friends that still ran for the next 3 hours.  I know that a 9-hour 50k is nothing to write home about to all your "serious runners" but I could not be more proud of myself.  I thought that a 50k was somewhat doable in 12; I never in a million years thought that I'd get it in 9.  Fantastic!!!  

Now 24+ hours and 2 gruesome ice baths later I can honestly say that I feel pretty good.  My feet are still killing me.  Other than that, I have no muscle or joint issues to speak of.  My IT band isn't bothering me; nor my hips.  I am glad that my feet are my only issue and I hope they are feeling better tomorrow, as I have to run with a training group... Oh boy!  On second thought, I might just walk it...

To address the concerns I had prior to the race, I thought I'd give you a little break down: 

Is my goal of 31 miles out of reach?  31 miles definitely wasn't a ludicrous goal like I had originally though it would be.  If I had really wanted to torture myself I think I could've made 40.  I don't regret my decision to call it a day at 32 one bit, though.

How will my stomach handle having to eat while running?  I probably ate less than most of the other folks out there, but it was A LOT for me.  I had 3-4 bottles of water throughout the 9 hours, some chocolate chip cookies, and a little individual package of nuts.  Oh, and a piece of pizza after mile 20.  No stomach issues whatsoever.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Did I seriously sign up for an ultra when the most I've ever raced is a 5k?  Yep.  I sure did.  It was a bit out of my box.  I have only raced (slowly) one 5k and the most I'd ever run in a day was 9 miles.  That was back in January when I hurt my IT band.  A friend really encouraged me to do it; without him I probably would've just sat home all day.  I am eternally grateful that he pestered me about it until I registered. 

Will I break down mentally?  I was really worried about breaking down mentally.  I prepared my iPod with lots of good songs incase I needed it.  I never once faltered or doubted myself the entire race, which was a fantastic feeling.  If anything, I would think about the pain towards the end.  At that point I would just say to myself "suck it up Kristen... only 4 miles to go..."  I just kept repeating those words in my head.  If I was feeling crappy towards the finish line I just kept on moving right past the aid station without even saying hello to my friends.  They were a bit worried about me.  I was simply "in the zone".  I didn't use my iPod either.  I enjoyed looking around and listening to people as they passed and would've missed all that had I been jammin' in my own little world.   

What if the weather is bad?  The weather.  Oh my.  Well, Delano isn't known for falling on nice weather days.  They've had snow and torrential rains the past few years.  This year was no different.  It was sprinkling when I left the house about 4:30am and it was pouring on much of my drive.  That was not a good feeling.  It had let up by the time I arrived at Delano Park.  It was sprinkling at the 6am start time; nothing too bad though.  The first few miles were fine.  Then it started to rain harder.  Everything felt fine except for my hands.  They were like ice-cubes.  It was horrible.  I had on gloves but they weren't helping any.  I did have another pair but I hated to get them out less than 10 miles into the race if it was going to be like this all day.  So I toughed it out and the rain let up.  The sun even came out for a few minutes; just enough to dry us off a bit.  Then the rain started again.  It was like this all day long.  Rain, sun, rain, sun, rain, sun.  Oh, and throw in a 10-15 minute hailstorm right in the middle.  That was fun (and extremely painful).  I was running next to a guy that had just ditched his shirt at that time and he was not a happy camper.  I zipped my jacket all the way up, popped my collar, and ran with my head down.  The hail really hurt when it hit my neck!  The course did get quite muddy with 200 feet trampling it for hours on end.  I, personally, thought it was fun.  In one particular section you have to make a sharp turn in what is probably the muddiest portion of the course and people kept swinging out wider and wider.  This amused me for some reason.  I just plowed right through it every time.  That mud wasn't making me slower to go through it and it wasn't making them faster to go around it. 

Can I run a 1-mile loop over and over again all day without getting bored?  I can honestly say that with 32 miles I didn't get bored once.  Had I, I would've gotten out my iPod.  I had it charged and ready to go, just incase.  I loved this race. 

After the race, the RD's had another pasta dinner for all the participants and crew and volunteers and spectators and families.  It was nice to sit down and chat with everyone and recap the day.  After that some of us headed to a local bar for a few beers.  It was a good ending to a lovely day. 

I couldn't be happier.  Great day.  Great race.  I look forward to doing it again.  

ouch.

ouch x 2

I'm going to say this was right around 2 miles.  I went sans Garmin.

Took my friends 2 beagles on a run/walk.  It was lovely outside.  70 degrees lovely.  PERFECTION.

Run went relatively well until the younger of the 2 beagles (7 months or so) who was all over the place when running darted right in front of me and I tripped over her leash.  Needless to say I took a nice fall.  I have a pretty scratched up hand and elbow.  I was actually quite pleased with it though; I was on the ground just long enough to hit my hand and elbow and land on my hip (which is now hurting) before I rolled right out of it just like in my old volleyball days.  I managed to let go of both leashes when I fell so I quickly grabbed them and took off running again; bloody hand and all.  Of course, I fell right in front of a little girl and mom out playing in their front yard.  They just stared at me and I waved to them with blood running down my hand.  Nice.  

"Life is tough, and if you have the ability to laugh at it you have the ability to enjoy it."

So a new training group started last week that I'm helping to coach.  It's for a 5k that is in 10 weeks.  We were supposed to do run/walk as 1/2 (run 1 minute/walk 2 minutes) for 1 mile which is quite boring.  But, this is week 2 and a lot of these people have never ever ever run before and are out of shape.  So, they start off easy the first 2 weeks and then start doing all running for those that want it and increasing the mileage.  Well, one girl in my group was doing really well and I asked her if she wanted to keep running rather than walk when we were supposed to stop to walk (whoops - I'll probably get in trouble for that.  Bad KP.  She said she was bored too, though) and she quickly agreed.  So we ran a mile in a 9-minute pace.  I was very impressed with her.  It was nice to have someone to chat with.  And, she was close to my age!  I'll have to find out more info about her (like her name...).  But, I have a feeling we'll be running together a lot through this program and I'm looking forward to it.

So, basically a not-challenging night at all mileage wise, but it was nice to chit-chat with someone. 

So, tonight was another training group that I kinda help with some.  It's a 10k program on Tuesday nights and Saturday mornings.  I normally can only make Saturday's as I have class on Tuesday nights.  It's spring break this week (yippee!!!!) so I went out with a friend that could kick my butt any day yet she is still actually in the program.  She is seriously way overqualified for it.  The loop was supposed to be 3 miles.  Obviously it was a little short.  I ran 2.85 in 26:20 which is huge for me.  Y'all know I'm slow.  REAL SLOW.  I didn't know I had that in me.  I wish I would've kept going around the parking lot in order to get a full 5k in.  It would've been around 28 minutes; relatively slow compared to y'all.  But, that is zooming for me.  Needless to say, I was quite happy.  I seriously didn't know if I'd ever break 30 minutes in a 5k.  I guess that this running crap really is paying off   ;-)

I was pretty tired at the end.  My legs felt very heavy.  How do y'all maintain that pace (actually much much MUCH faster) for 26.2 miles (or more)?  Wow.  I see where I am on the running totem pole.  I'm not even the dirt at the base of it...  

Unexpected run with a buddy that lives close by.  We passed each other on the way home and I called him and said "wanna run" and he quickly agreed.  Big mistake, KP.  Big mistake.

He kicked my butt.  I am exhausted. 

Oh, and he complimented my calf muscles.  Calf muscles!  If that doesn't make me feel attractive, I don't know what does!  HA! 

A little advice from the man, the myth, the legend, Garth Brooks, for the day: 

“Happiness isn’t getting what you want; it’s wanting what you’ve got.”

Taking a lovely little 0 for the day.  Race tomorrow!  Or, should I say, feet shuffle tomorrow because y'all know I don't "race" at all.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

All you really need to know:  Shuffle, ouch, mud, shuffle, walk, ouch, ouch, ouch, blister, walk, mud, shuffle, mud, ouch, walk, mud, exhausted... 

If you're really bored:  

I would advise you not read this, as it is VERY long.  Apparently I had lots to say.  I think Chris M’s work is more interesting than this (see "Personal" section).  When you finish that, (it'll never happen…) come back to this.

This race is what made me decide I wanted to start upping my mileage a bit.  I ran 2-3 miles 2 or so times a week.  Nothing special.  I often walked, and as always, was slow.  I love the outdoors and have always enjoyed hiking.  I knew of longer trail runs from friends (I’m talking 50k+) and wanted something shorter.  Well, McKay Hollow Madness is as short as it gets around here for trail races.  14.2 miles.  Okay, I can do that.  I just needed to increase my mileage a little.  I started running more right around the holidays.  Of course, with that mileage increase came a painful IT band injury.  After taking several weeks off and easing back into running, I registered for McKay, very VERY unprepared.

Luckily, beautiful Monte Sano State Park is in my hometown.  A quick 20-minute drive to town and I could be there to run the course.  My friends and I ran it several times prior to my IT issues.  That injury happened and they started training for the New Orleans half which meant no more trail runs for a while (unless I wanted to go alone).  So, going into this race, I had only seen a little over half of the course.  They ran the back 5ish miles twice and both times I was out of town.  No big deal though.

5:05AM – My alarm goes off.  I shower, dress, and drive to Monte Sano arriving just after 6AM for a 7AM start.  About the time I arrived at the park I realized I left my “hat” at home.  Leaving just my hat at home would be no big deal as I have extras in my car.  But, inside my hat were body glide, my Garmin, and my camera; all at home.  I try not to look at my Garmin while running (don’t want to look at my pace and get depressed about how slow it is), but I like to have it with me so I can look at my total distance and possibly look at my splits after the race.  My Type A personality didn’t like that I wouldn’t be running with something that I always have for races.  Oh well, moving on…  I socialized with my friends for a while when I arrived.  It was supposed to be a nice day out, but man was it windy and chilly that morning.  Did I mention the wind?  Wow.  About 10 minutes before the start I stripped off my sweats and very warm jacket and put on an extra hat I had in my car.  Some of my friends had been standing around in just their race clothes for an hour.  I don’t see how they did that!

7AM – And we’re off!  We start in the parking lot and run about a mile or so (probably less – no Garmin, I don’t know for sure) down the road in the park until we drop off onto a trail.  I got at the back of the pack and didn’t even here the RD say, “go” to start the race.  I just followed everyone.  I started off with 2 girlfriends that I run with on a regular basis but I left them before we even dropped into the woods.  I had been debating for a while about if I should run with them (likely a little slower than I could do) or if I should run my own race and not worry about them.  I literally decided to run my own race when I pulled away from them on the road.  I figured I had nothing to lose.

We dropped into the woods and immediately were on a very runable, single-track, downhill section.  A lady about 5 people in front of me was walking.  WALKING!  It was like a conga line behind me because we could’ve definitely been moving faster than that.  It was like this for probably a half mile before she finally moved over and let us pass.  That frustrated me quite a bit.  I knew I’d be walking a lot during the day but I sure didn’t want to be walking that early on; especially on a section I should be cruising down.  The girl right in front of me was running with what I assume was her dad.  She looked young (17 or so) and had on brand new road shoes.  Big mistake.  She was still in front of me when we encountered our first bit of mud.  Her shoes were ruined.  She was trying to tiptoe around it as I was splashing right through it.  This is a very muddy course.  Very muddy.  In my opinion, the mud makes it more fun though.  It wasn’t too long before I passed her and her dad and I could tell she was struggling already.  (They ended up being some of the last finishers, but I'm proud that she fought to the end.  I honestly thought she'd drop from the way she looked at that point.)  I stayed with the same core group of women for several miles; all of us leap-frogging one another throughout the course.  I was in the front for a while and was gaining a lead on them but then I lost my shoe in the mud, twice.  It was thick and sticky and the kind of Alabama mud that suctions to your shoes.  I HATE having my shoes tied tight and actually rarely retie them.  I just slip them on and off all the time.  I decided after having to stop for the second time to fix my shoe and get passed by my group of 7 or so women that it was time to suck it up and double-tie them.  I took a moment to do that and was off to catch back up with them.  I had caught all but 3 of them when I got to aid station #1.  5.1 miles.  I looked down at my watch, (just a regular old Timex – not my Garmin) 1:10 had passed.  That’s much faster than I normally run when I’m with my friends.  I was pleased to say the least.

To get to aid station 1 you have to climb the first big hill of the day.  And although most would argue that it is not the toughest, it is by far my least favorite.  Leaving the aid station, I went ahead of all those women except for 1.  I had 3 pretzels at my stop (and actually ate them on the run) and that was it.  It’s nice and flat for about half a mile or so.  Then, we drop back down into the hollow.  Right before we drop off onto Rest Shelter trail, the main trail keeps going straight.  2 people in front of me kept going.  I almost said something to them about going the wrong way.  But, then I figured they were dropping, as this was the best place to do that if you felt you couldn’t make it.  I know that I certainly wouldn’t want to hear “hey you’re going the wrong way” if I were quitting.  So, I decided to mind my own business since the course was clearly marked.  I had a blast going down Rest Shelter!  It’s a downhill section that I normally just about walk I’m going so slowly down it with my friends.  We’re all a bit apprehensive about letting gravity take over and just running on these rocky downhill sections.  I was right on the lady in front of me heels and I liked chasing her.  I moved much faster than I ever had before and thought to myself during this downhill section that I could maybe make a halfway decent trail runner if I could increase my stamina and not suck so much at the uphill portions.

You are officially in the hollow once you reach the bottom of Rest Shelter.  This now becomes “slush mile” because it is wet and mud and deep and cold and mud and mud and slush and mud.  Thankfully, it is flat!  This is my favorite part of the course.  Mud really isn’t too bad; actually, I’d say its fun.  I lost the lady I’d been following in this section as I stopped to walk for a minute and she kept on trucking along.  I never saw her for the rest of the day.  You wind your way through the valley for quite a while until you reach a Y in the trail.  To the right is the final climb to the finish.  To the left are the 5 or so miles of the course that I’d never ran.  Okay, here we go…       

The 5 miles really weren’t too bad.  We had a long, but gradual climb to the next aid station.  This was a bit wider, more like an old jeep road.  I walked the entire uphill, as I didn’t want to waste any energy on it although it is a very runable section for people that are in shape.  Once at the top it flattens out and really has a slight downhill angle for a half-mile or so until the next aid station.  At this point you’re also passing people who are headed back to the single-track trails to the finish.  Seeing other people and hearing a million “good job” or “you’re doing great” comments really lifted my spirits.  I moved through this section pretty quickly (for me) and really wish I had my Garmin so I could’ve seen my pace.  It felt like it was in the high 8’s/low 9’s, but I guess I’ll never know.  Oh well.  My favorite comment was from a guy that told me I was almost there, referring to the aid station and the turn-around point.  I was glad to hear it.  To get to the aid station 2 you have to cross a huge ditch.  I lost my balance here and caught myself with one hand in the mud.  Muddy hand… nice!  I am proud to say that was my only "fall" of the day and I caught myself.  That is unusual for me as I am normally clumsy.  At the aid station I got 3 more pretzels and headed back out (to cross the ditch again!).

Aid Station 2 – 9.3 miles - 2:20.  I could tell that my pace had slowed a bit, but I was still really pleased with how I was doing.  I did a run/walk combo back up the slight downhill I had just cruised down.  It wasn’t as much fun going the other way…  At this point I passed my 2 girlfriends I normally run with.  They seemed to be struggling a little, but perked up when I cheered for them and told them it was less than a half-mile to the aid station.  Turning off the jeep road, it was back to single-track trails.  These were downhill for the start too and I was glad.  I had never run these before and made pretty good time down them as well.  I even passed a few people through this section that never caught back up with me.  I like that! 

Somewhere through this section I wasn’t familiar with I was thinking about how awesome my time was.  I couldn’t believe I was going this quickly since I only 3 miles to go from aid station 2 to the finish.  WRONG!  It was 5 miles!  That hit me during a walk break in the middle of the woods.  I loved the solitude and being able to think to myself.  I kept thinking the whole day it was a 12 miles race rather than 14 miles.  Why?  I know the RD very well and knew a lot about this race going in.  I guess its just games your mind plays on you.  Anyways, I realized this and it was a very depressing moment for me.  I realized I wasn’t doing super-duper awesome although I was still on track to beat my goal.  So, all was good.  I pressed on…

I caught up with 2 guys that were moving s-l-o-w.  I stayed behind them for far too long.  They were walking the entire time; even the flat sections.  It was a slow walk, too!  After probably close to a half mile I finally said, “do you mind if I get by” to them.  I didn’t want to seem rude and that is why I waited so long to say anything.  But, I was in a race… not a Sunday stroll.  I wasted so much time behind them.  When I think about it now I should’ve said something much sooner; I just didn’t want to seem mean.  Oh well…. Moving on.  I got past them and finally picked up the pace.  I got back to “death trail” which is the final climb to the finish line.  I knew it would be all walking.  I looked at my watch for the 3^rd and final time for the day (other 2 times were at the aid stations).  I had exactly 20 minutes to get to the top and make my “in my dreams” goal.  Oh boy!  It’s a tough climb, but I thought it was doable.  I knew I would walk the entire thing.  I just had to keep moving.  I passed a guy right at the beginning of this.  He was nice enough to move over and let me by when he saw that I was going faster than him.  Thank you!  I trudged up that hill slowly.  But, I kept moving.  They had funny signs posted along the way.  I remember laughing at all of them, but the only one that I remember what it said specifically was “ain’t this a b***h?” or something along those lines.  Yes, it was indeed!!  A big one!  After about a half mile climb (maybe a little more…), death trail finally somewhat flattens out for probably less than .10 to go to the finish line.  I knew I had to run to meet my goal.  So I tried… and my calves started cramping like crazy!  I’ve never had a pain like that before.  My right one did it first and after 2-3 steps my left one joined in.  OUCH!  It was painful, but I still tried to “run” at that point because I knew the finish line was so close.  I could hear the music and people cheering for other finishers.  I said to myself, “suck it up, Kristen” and kept moving. 

I crossed the finish line in 3:45:05.  My goal was to finish somewhere between 3:45-4:00.  Needless to say, I was thrilled!  I learned that my calf cramping was from a lack of salt.  Apparently 6 pretzels and only ¾ a bottle of water for the whole race wasn’t enough.  I’ll learn about hydration/nutrition while running one of these days…  I had a delicious piece of pizza and cookie cake after the race and hung out with my friends.  I enjoyed watching my other friends finish including my 2 girlfriends who came in around 4:10:xx (still waiting on official results to be posted…).  A friend was taking pictures of everyone as they crossed the finish line.  If mine isn’t too horrible, I’ll post it up here.  I’m not making any promises though…

Okay... The pic is so bad and made me laugh so much that I had to share.  Here I am in all my glory.  Please notice how muddy I am from the knee down:

I drove home long enough to take the following pics, take a 20-minute shower, and hop back in the car to go back to town for the after-party.

I think I need to iron my skirt...

Some of the mud aftermath:

Next year the race is supposed to be a 25k, I’m definitely looking forward to it!  A friend of mine races for team inov-8 (trail shoes if you aren’t familiar with them…).  The inov-8 rep came and did this race.  I don’t know him personally, but I’m thinking to be a rep for an elite trail running brand you are probably a pretty good ultrarunner.  Here is his quote about the race:  “Most difficult course I’ve ever raced.  Only way to make the course tougher would’ve been to add elevation.”  The race used to be known as the toughest half marathon in the SE.  Since it is no longer a half, it doesn’t get that title anymore, but it’s still tough.  My aftermath is one gnarly blister that is so bad it popped itself while running!  You know what that means?  Mud got in it.  So, it's now brown.  Sweet!  I'm also a bit sore today as I didn't have the time nor the desire to take an ice bath.  Yoga tonight was a bit challenging, but I feel it was helpful in my recovery.  

Great race!  Great volunteers!  Great course!  Great weather!  Way toooooo long of a recap…   

Busy.  Busy.  Busy.  Busy.  BUSY.

Stress level is about 104 on a scale of 1-10.

Busy day.  Had to go to class and give a speech.  Made a 95%!  WAHOO!  I am so glad that is over with.  Only one more to go.  Thank goodness.

Hour long commute back home.  Ate KFC for dinner.  Yum.  Planned to run with my friend (the guy that complimented my calf muscles) on a full belly... for both of us.  We did it intentionally.  I ran the .35 to his house and talked for a minute before we set out to make ourselves sick.  I succeeded.  8:05 pace was VERY hard for me.  I love that he pushes me...  I'll never improve otherwise.  I threw up at 1.15 distance.  In his neighbors front yard.  I felt bad.  Disgusting.  I figured it would happen though.  I wanted to see how my stomach could handle eating and running.  I'm pretty sure I just shattered my dreams of an ultra.  Dang. 

Weather is great here in AL.  I wore shorts and a tech shirt tonight and was sweating.  I also have lots of mosquito bites already... it's too early for that!