Ault Park Switchback Trail Race

This is the second race in the local Dirt Days trail series.This year was my second time doing it. The race is mostly on the trails in the park right next to my house---in fact, you can see my house at one point about a half-mile into the race, less than a tenth of a mile off the course. But I skipped it the first few years. Probably had a dog show.

But this morning it did occur to me that I actually like racing better than dog shows.

Anyway, I'm four pounds fatter than I was a year ago, but I'm actually in a little better shape running-wise. The past few weeks, since the chiropractor fixed me up, I've even been able to get a few sessions of speedwork in, and I haven't done that kind of thing in years. I don't know what I'm really capable of since I skipped that 5k last weekend, but I've been doing some hard running and maybe it will pay off.

Well, it should pay off eventually but it is still a bit soon for that.

We've had a lot of rain the past few days, so I knew the trails were going to be a muddy mess. The sun was out this morning but the temperature was in the low 40s with windchills in the 30s.

When You Know Where You're Going You Know What to Wear
I thought the biggest decision was what shoes to wear. Tommy thought this was ridiculous. He said that muddy shoes were the point of trail running, and I should just wear my designated trail running shoes and I could certainly clean them off later, no big deal. I said that my favorite and best trail running shoes have lately become my favorite agility shoes, and I did not want to risk trashing them in this race, especially when I have a trial next weekend. And I pointed out that I really did not think he understood, since although he occasionally runs on the trails he probably would not go out on them if he knew there was going to be a lot of mud. He responded with some story about hiking through the mud when he was in the army. My comeback to this was that I have a vast number of old running shoes in various states of decay, and there was no reason to ruin a good pair of shoes in this race when I could wear some old pair and just throw them away when I was done.

He did not understand the concept of "throw them away" but we had to agree to disagree.

The race started at 9 am. I got up around 6 am to make coffee and check the weather and feed the dogs. Hung out for awhile until it was time to get dressed. Went with my CW-X capris (so good for my knees), a thin, longsleeved technical top (race shirt from Disney half) and a longish jacket that covered my butt. Also, cotton gloves and of course, I never run without a hat.

I waited until the last minute to decide about the shoes. I was thinking of wearing an old pair of Nike Pegasus all-weather shoes that had pretty good tread on them. I am not sure if I ever actually wore these shoes for running. I wore them mostly for walking the dogs and it has over a year since I last wore them. (Why do I still have these things? Will I appear soon on one of those TV shows about the hoarders? A special show about people who hoard old sporting equipment?).

These shoes did not feel great. I decided there was a reason I had never run in these shoes.

So next, I put on my old pair of Brooks Adrenaline trail shoes. I have worn these for trail running, but it has been awhile. In fact, I think I wore them last year for this race, after which (or maybe even during the race) I vowed to get a new pair of trail running shoes with better traction. They then did some time as dog walking shoes, until the weather got cold and wet---they are not water repellant, and there is a big hole in the upper over the area of my left bunion.

They felt very broken in!

I considered some other options, including my old pair of New Balance 1063s that have over 500 miles on them and almost no tread (and are not actually trail shoes but in a short race like this it doesn't matter). The Adrenalines did have a little more tread on them, still.

So that is what I wore out the door. As I walked up the trail to the race start and felt myself slipping around in the mud, I wondered if I should turn around and put on my good trail shoes.

Getting in the Zone
Got up to the race start, picked up my number, and was still thinking about going home and switching shoes. But by then we were probably talking 20 minutes if I hustled, and it was getting a little too close to the start time. But I was looking around at other people's shoes, and for once it seemed like most of the people there were actually in serious trail shoes. There were even people in gaiters! (I think that is kind of overkill for a 3.6 mile race. Not too likely you are going to get a rock in your shoe when the trails are as wet as this. If you get one, you can just suck it up. Seriously. Gaiters?)

Went for a little warmup jog around the pavilion, mostly on pavement, but did a little on the grass to see what it felt like. Went okay. Back at the start, took a stroll through the a grove of Japanese cherry trees with a little woodchip trail winding through them, and a Japanese-style wooden arch of the Centennial Garden. The garden and the new picnic shelter were dedicated last weekend. I thought about Japan, how lucky I was to be able to run this race and to live next to this lovely park, and generally tried to get in a peaceful frame of mind. Zen, zen, zen.

Which is not to say that I was not focused on doing well in the race. Last year I finished in 40:49 and was 32 of 51 women--which was my worst placement in the series. For the Dirty Dozen calculations, the finish time doesn't matter but the placement does. I was hoping to improve some on that placement and see if I could move up from last year's 7th place in the Dirty Dozen. After finishing 70th in the trail race last month, I have some work to do. It was my bad luck that a race with a large number of women entrants happened to be also the race where I was going to run a sucky time.

I knew I was capable of a faster run today than last month, but it would still help me in the standings if it was a smaller crowd. So I stood in the start area and counted the number of women. I counted about 35. That was the good news. They also looked to be in a lot better shape overall than the women at last month's race. That was the bad news. But even if I finished last, it would still be better than 70th.

There was a woman who might have been Brenda W. but I wasn't sure, and if so, she has had been the victim of a really bad perm and dye job. She was not at the first race either and I wonder what is up with that.

Just before the start, I took my jacket off and tied it around my waist. It was pretty long, and I wondered if that was going to bother me. I took my house key out of my jacket pocket and put it in the pocket of my tights, just in case.

Although I am extremely familiar with these trails, last year I didn't know the route we were going to take on them. This year I knew exactly where we would be when, but I also was worried about slipping on the mud. So I wasn't going to be able to attack the downhills as I might have liked. I decided that as far as strategy, 1) I would go out aggressively to get a good position at the bottleneck heading into the woods; 2) I would push a little more on the uphills than usual; and 3) I would not let anybody pass me at the end when we looped back around the soccer field. By doing those three things, I would correct all the mistakes I made last year when I was inexperienced at trail racing.

Run and Don't Look Back
The first loop around the soccer field went well. I did feel like I was going faster with less effort than last year. I was passing people. I was passing guys! My jacket started to bother me and I threw it under a cherry tree as we finished the first loop of the soccer field.

I knew I had succeeded in getting a good position heading into the woods, because I did not have to stop and wait for the backup to clear. Unfortunately, we were soon into a steep downhill that was very muddy, so I had to let a bunch of people go by me anyway. Better safe than sorry.

Every time I got to a flat stretch or someplace dry I tried to open it up.

There is a sharp turn right at the spot where you can see my house. I have fallen down there on training runs, so I slowed down to take it easy.

About one mile in, we had to go up a long hill (the "Ridge Trail") that I never run up when I am just out training. I marveled at the fact that in this race I was able to run up the whole thing.

Then there was some deep mud and a short, steep descent out to the street, before we turned back in to go down a gravel path that is called the "Valley Trail". I passed a few people on this section.

Things were going well. I seemed to be in with a fitter and faster group of runners than I remembered from last year, and nobody was passing me.

We crossed the creek, and headed uphill to the section (the "Tree Trail") that is always muddy even when the weather is dry. The advantage I had compared to most of the other runners was that I knew where the mud was and even what tree branches it might help me to hang on to going around certain bends.

A couple of women passed me but they didn't get too far ahead.

We swung back across the last stretch of trail, just above the Tree Trail, and I noticed that there was no sign designating one mile to go, which they had posted last year.

Finally, we reached the very steep climb that puts you out behind the pavilion. The two women who had passed me on the Tree Trail were still ahead of me but I was catching up to them as we climbed the hill. At the very top, I took off running and left them behind. At first, I worried that they would catch me but then I remembered to focus instead on the next woman in front of me. Rather than worrying about being passed, it is better to work on passing people!

So now we just had to make a loop of the soccer field and that would be it. There was a woman ahead of me and I didn't think I could catch her, but every time I looked up, the gap was getting smaller. I hadn't looked at my watch in awhile but I knew I wasn't going to be much slower than last year, if at all. I tried to work on catching the woman in front of me. It wasn't going to happen. I needed another quarter mile or so. Still, I really tried to push through the finish. I could see the clock and it looked like I might break 40 minutes.

Which I did. My official time was 39:59. That, as it turns out, was 50 seconds faster than last year. I was pretty happy with that, considering my weight gain, being another year older, and also that the trails were in worse shape.

I picked up my jacket from under the tree, drank some Gatorade, grabbed a chocolate chip bagel (in case there is any question about why I can't lose weight, this is the answer), and ambled about for 10 minutes or so. I wasn't sure if I wanted to stay for the awards. They don't have age group awards at this race, just something for the top ten age-graded runners, and even with a better time than last year I knew that was not going to be happening. I did see a printout of the results just before I left so I know that I was the 18th woman to finish. It really doesn't matter how many women I beat, what matters is that there were only 17 in front of me.

Later when I checked the results I found out that woman just ahead of me was in my age group, and she beat me by 6 or 7 seconds. This bums me out greatly and I wonder if I could have caught her if I had just pushed a little harder, a little sooner. I didn't throw up when I finished so I must have had something left. Oh well. I guess I will have to let it go.

Things I learned this time around:

1) When it's muddy, run straight through the deepest part of the mud. Don't bother trying to go around it. You will be more stable if you just run straight through.

2) Don't stop forward motion. Well, I already knew this but I thought some more about it as I passed people on the uphills. Even if you have to go slow, you can maintain your position in the pack if you just keep moving forward. Don't stop, and pick up the pace again as you recover.

3) Don't look back. I wanted to make sure those two women behind me weren't going to pass me, but it was better to focus on the woman in front of me.

Back home, a bit tired but uninjured, I took the dogs for a nice long walk around the neighborhood.

My next race will probably be the Kilgour 5k on May 13. The next trail race is two days later, in Mt. Airy forest. I will skip the Pig this year and instead be a good girl and just go for an 8-miler that day, in keeping with my training schedule.

Oh, and the shoes. I'm not sure about the shoes. I might be keeping them. If so, I guess it might mean that I need professional help or some sort of intervention. Anyway, right now they are parked on the side porch, drying out. I keep trying to upload a picture of them from after but Blogger doesn't want to let me do that. Oh well.

Sarann Mock reports that she is officially "old"

While walking the dogs in the park this morning, I "ran into" my "old" friend, Sarann Mock. In the manner of people who were formerly accustomed to traversing vast distances at sprightly paces, Sarann now always seems a bit apologetic at what she sees as her now "decrepit" condition.

Which you would probably think is ridiculous if you were just meeting her. Trim and fit and full of energy, Sarann looks like she is somewhere in upper 50s. Very healthy upper 50s. Which is pretty good, considering that in a few weeks Sarann will turn...80! Eighty!

Anyway, she says she now considers herself officially "old" and so she is giving herself permission to not do as much or go as fast as she used to be able to do. She is only doing the half-marathon this year at the Flying Pig. She is also planning to run a team relay race in the near future with her daughters and some other fast women (or formerly fast women) but she is worried about slowing the team down.

Sarann has done stuff like run a marathon on all 7 continents, and numerous ultras and long trail races. But every time I see her she seems to be making plans to scale it back. I guess we all have to eventually. But Sarann and I do agree that we need to keep moving forward, however slow, as long as we can.

So, someday I hope I can be old like Sarann.

Unfortunately, I am even now probably already older physically than Sarann! At least, I know that I am in worse shape than she was at my age.

In other news, I may have spoken too soon about those new Nikes. They were okay for a couple of days but when I tried to wear them for a long run on Sunday, I had to change out of them right away because I was getting a pain on the top of my left foot. Haven't had them back on since but will probably try again next week. I think I may have had them tied to tight to try to combat heel slippage on that foot---which is a little smaller than my right foot.

Sunday I am doing the Ault Park Switchback Trail race right here in the park next to my house. We're supposed to have heavy rain later today and all day tomorrow, I think, so the trails are going to be a mess. I am trying to decide which shoes I want to sacrifice to the cause. I am pretty sure whatever pair I wear will end up trashed, so I don't think I want to wear my "good" trail shoes.

test run in the new shoes

They felt great! And how often does that ever happen? Hardly ever. Anyway, unlike the last time I tried a new pair (back in January), these are keepers.

New Shoes Came Today

I am trying out my new shoes, Nike Structures. I have worn these before but it's been a few years. Went back up a half size to 7s and glad I did. They are so pretty and white! We will have to do something about that soon. Look at them, they glow in the dark! Here they are pictured next to the shoes I've been wearing, the New Balance 1063s on the left, and the hideous Saucony Shadow 6000s on the right. I ran New Orleans and New Hampshire in the NBs, and Fargo and Little Rock in the Shadows. Based on those experiences, maybe I should be sticking with the Shadows, the best technology that 1996 had to offer. But they are so ugly. Normally I don't care that much what my running shoes look like but the Shadows are just embarrassing to be seen in, like clown shoes. Well, we'll see about these new Structures. Was feeling like maybe I needed a little more stability for awhile, or at least to change off from the more neutral shoes. And I don't think I would like the latest re-design of the New Balances. I have a pair of the 1064s and I am not crazy about them. Now they've changed the name of the series and that is never a good sign.

Run for the Green

Before I totally forget everything about it I really should write about the trail race I did a few weeks ago. It was the week after the Little Rock Marathon, and before I had those sessions with the chiropractor, so I really wasn't feeling so hot but I wanted to do the race because it is part of the local trail running series, and unless you do six races you don't get a participation award.


This race, "Run for the Green," is held on trails in a park in Landen/Deerfield park. Like many of the other races, it is a little over three miles in distance. Landen is not an especially hilly area, but the trail sections of the race do have some hills and even a couple of knee-high creek crossings.

The weather was not bad, but the course was pretty muddy after all the rain we had been having and the melted snow. I guess they had rain last year and that would have been a lot worse. I got there about a half hour before the start to pick up my bib and shirt. The goody bag had more stuff in it than the bag at Little Rock. The shirt was white cotton, but longsleeved, and the race logo in green and black was not too bad.

A quick scan of the crowd told me that Brenda W., my old lady age-group trail running competition, was not around, and there weren't too many other old ladies.

Between my injuries and the marathon recovery, I had to take it really easy. I just wanted to finish, get a time, and not hurt myself, i.e, not slip in the mud and pull something else. I limped through a very slow warmup mile, wondering what people thought about the gimpy old fat lady in their midst.

I was wearing my old pair of Salomon trail shoes. They don't have any tread left on them, but they do drain water pretty well, and I figured once they were covered in mud it wouldn't matter about the lack of tread so much. The first part of the race is a little run around a grassy field, and it was soaked with water, so my feet were totally wet from the very first steps of the race. I knew then that I had made the right choice.

The course was pretty. There was a treacherous little section on the trails with a sharp drop off on the right overlooking the river (Little Miami? Miami Whitewater? which one, I am not sure, Little Miami I guess). Take one wrong step and you would be rolling down the hill into the river. Otherwise the trail was wide enough. There were some slick spots and it was hard to get any kind of speed up, which was just as well considering my condition.

We did cross the creek twice, and it was cold and deep. It would feel great on a hot day, but even on this mild morning in early spring it was not bad.

I did manage to pass a couple of people and remain upright. Almost slipped a couple of times but survived. At the end you come back out of the woods and have to run a circle around the grassy field again. I pushed hard then to stay ahead of the woman just behind me, who as it turns out is somebody I used to work with and I am glad that we did not recognize each other because it would just be too embarrassing.

Some skinny little fast runner type took my tag after I crossed the finish line and she congratulated me and I said something like, you have no idea, because really I am sure she had not idea that I had done a marathon the week before and I was doing this race even though I could hardly walk.

After the race I had some Starbucks (another great thing about this little race) and a decent cinnamon raisin bagel. I walked back to the car and took off my shoes and socks and decided they were not salvageable and I would be throwing them away. I had brought clean shoes and dry socks just for this reason. Shielded by my car and with a towel wrapped around me, I managed to quickly change into dry clothes without giving any residents of Warren County an eyeful. I was too tired to walk back to the bathrooms.

But after I got into the dry clothes I felt better and headed back up to the awards ceremony. I thought I might have placed in my age group, since there were not many old ladies there. And I was definitely the only one who bothered to stay for the awards. So I was really surprised when the got to my age group and then said there weren't any finishers! So in classic, cranky old lady fashion, I had to go up to the race director and his assistant (the skinny woman who had taken my tag when I crossed the finish line) and complain about why I wasn't in the results. They tried to shut me up by throwing a medal at me, as if that was all I cared about.

No, what I wanted, and the reason I had gone all the way up there to do this race, was an official finish time. So after some deliberation and their scanning of the results---they kept blaming it on the age-graded timing system, which didn't make sense---they did find me in there. I guess if you are really slow, it assumes you are dead and didn't finish? Aren't still breathing so don't deserve a time?

Officially, I was 1 of 1 in the age group, 70 of 87 women (this part does not bode well for my dirty dozen chances this year!) and 179 of 208 people. But I did get an official time. My time was 50:15, which was about what I had expected given my condition. Age-graded, this is a 43:49 or 33.76% (i.e., barely alive), which  moves me up to 158 of 208. I would like to go back next year and try to do better.

Ramping Up

I am looking forward to the official start of my next marathon training program on April 18. Working on getting back on a regular schedule. The leg/thigh pain is pretty much gone. I felt a little twinge late in the day Saturday at an agility trial but it didn't stay around. Got a good five miler in yesterday. Going to do 6 next weekend, maybe 6 the following weekend, and then I'll be ready for 7 at the end of the first week of the schedule.

Just for kicks I tried a little bit of intervals at the end of my run today on the treadmill. The schedule I am going to be using calls for fartlek-style pickups at the end of the easy runs on Mondays. So today I did 6 at 7 mph, which is about an 8:35 pace, for 30 seconds. That's more like a 5k pace, or it used to be, so I guess I should have done them faster. They did feel pretty easy after the first one. But I didn't want to push the knee too hard. Have been icing after my runs and that is helping.

So maybe next week I'll do them faster. Or maybe I'll just keep it where it is. It's still faster than I've gone in awhile.

Thinking about a 5k next weekend since I don't have a dog show. Might be good to run a race now to get a gauge on appropriate training paces for all the speedwork I'm supposedly going to make myself do over the next few months.

My Sessions with the Chiropractor

As of a week or so ago, the sore muscle in my thigh was getting worse and worse, and it was taking longer and longer to get warmed up. On a painful 3 miler around the park, I ran into a friend from my dog training club who lives in my 'hood. In addition to dog training, she is a ski instructor, golfer and line dancer.

She suggested I visit her chiropractor. She said this particular chiropractor works on a lot of runners, including a locally famous Olympic marathoner.

I have been taking the dogs to a chiropractor for a couple of years now, and have been impressed with how much it seems to help them, but for some reason I had never considered this for myself.

I made an appointment for a few days later, and subsequently discovered that several other dog friends also went to this same human chiropractor for treatment, and all spoke highly of her.

Went last Thursday. Generally liked her, and had an overall positive impression. She spent a long time taking my history. The treatment consisted of some work on my spine and pelvis, and some deep tissue massage of the sore muscle. After she worked on me, I spent twelve minutes hooked up to one of those electrical stimulation devices with an ice pack on the area as well. She said she wanted to see me again the next day, and possibly three times the following week.

This seemed a little extreme to me but I figured it was worth a shot.

On the negative side, like so many medical practicioners, she quickly became obsessed with the idea that running was bad for my knee. It did not seem to matter how many times I explained that the knee surgery was back in 2003, and that the knee is really not the problem that brought me there---although the muscle pull did seem to be aggravating it---and that although I do FINISH marathons, I am not out there training excessively, blah, blah, blah. I get tired of having to explain it.

I thought the current medical research was all about how running was not bad for your knees at all. Anyway, this is an agility injury. Happened during agility and is aggravated by agility. Running in a straight line is not a problem. Kneeling, deep knee bends, skiing---those are the problems, and I don't do that stuff anymore.

The treatment had an immediate positive affect on the muscle soreness. In fact, the pain went away almost entirely. I was able to run agility in class Thursday night without pain for the first time in weeks. The knee, however, did not care for it much. In fact, the knee was slighly swollen and a little stiff when I returned for the next session the following day.

She did not want to believe me when I told her that my knee had not been this swollen in years. But we decided that she just needed to be extra careful in how she worked on me to avoid aggravating the knee, and I needed to tell her right away if something didn't feel right. And we iced the knee in addition to the thigh during the electro stimulation.

She still could not get that "running is bad for you" thing out of her head. Well, who has time to run when you are spending all this time in physical therapy? But, because the muscle pain was so much better, she said I probably only needed to come back twice the next week.

Later in the afternoon, bending slightly to assemble a dog crate, I felt a sharp pain in the knee at a level that I had not felt since before the 2003 surgery. This ticked me off. Fix one thing, screw up another?

But my knee is a funny thing, very susceptible to subtle psychological changes. Sometimes it hurts on the start line of a race, just because I am a little nervous. That's mostly why I still wear the knee brace for agility. It's my security blanket.

But I felt fabulous all weekend at the UKC conformation show with Eddy and Zen. I was able to run around the ring counterclockwise  and move freely without pain, again for the first time in maybe six weeks. And the knee was fine, too.

Monday morning, as I prepared to return to the chiropractor for session # 3, my knee started talking to me. It seems my knee has developed a phobia of chiropractic care. As she worked on me, being even more careful than previously to avoid things that the knee disliked (hah! she is what the knee dislikes! the knee wants to avoid visiting the chiropractor entirely!), we discussed running shoes and orthotics. I told her about my latest theory of running in the cheapest shoes I can find, and switching them out whenever I feel a little pain. She told me about the new type of orthotics that are developed for the body in motion rather than based on a stationary cast of a foot. I told her about how I no longer stretch, and I find that I am less injured that way. I can tell she thinks I am crazy.

Anyway, after working on me briefly, she pronounced me released from treatment and said I did not need to return later in the week. We discussed ongoing care, and she said I might want to come in every six to eight weeks for an adjustment, and to call her right away if I start to feel anything going on. Which I will, unless it involves my knee!

Knee did not feel so hot on a 2 mile walk with the dogs right after the chiropractor visit. But after some ice and Aleve it was much improved. Going to maybe go for a run later today, first time in a week. My knee is happy that we are done with the chiropractor for the moment, and the rest of my body feels pretty good for a change.

So I guess I am sold on chiropractic, more or less---but don't tell that to my knee!

It's not as big as I expected, but then is it ever?

The medal, that is.

Summary: nice mid-sized, well-organized race, reasonably scenic, urban course with good crowd support. Friendly and plentiful volunteers, aid stations where promised, hills also where promised, huge and ugly medal (that’s their thing). I am in horrible shape but the weather is good and I make it through. Oh yeah, and a shout out to my old training partner, Aleve, aka Vitamin A.

A Medal of Mythic Proportions (that’s their slogan this year)
For my 40th marathon and 35th state, I travelled to Little Rock, AR. I picked this one now because it was one of the few left within reasonably comfortable driving distance from Cincinnati (under 11 hours). I wasn’t too happy about the timing because it conflicted with an agility trial at my dog training club. Not for the first time, I really would have liked to have been in two places at once.

Training (or lack thereof)
Despite the long, cold winter, my training was going well until one morning in early February when I slipped on a patch of ice while walking the dogs. I had done 14 and 16 milers on the treadmill, and I even finished the 16 miles in less time than it took to do the 14. I was thinking I might even get an 18 or a 20 in. I haven’t gone further than 15 as a training run since probably 2002, so things were looking very good. I was definitely in shape to do a 4:30 comfortably, and maybe even go faster.

At first, the injury didn’t seem like such a big deal. I made note of it in my training log, but I continued training. The 18 miler wasn’t happening but I got some 5 and 6 milers in. What seemed to aggravate things the most was the sudden accelerations of agility class. It seemed to be a problem with the hip flexor that threw off my stride and created problems for my knee (the bad knee that I had surgery on in 2003) and my lower back. It was taking me longer and longer to warm up on my runs. After a few miles it got better, but I was starting to question what I was really doing out there and even considering a doctor visit. Really! Things were bad.

So I was thinking about cancelling the trip, and saving all the money on the hotel and the meals and the gasoline and the kennel reservation for the dogs. But I realized that if I stayed home I would be really depressed about it. Fortunately, Tommy realized that too. I managed an 8-miler the week before the race, and the hip really did feel better the longer I ran. So I decided we would make the trip, and I would start the race, and just drop out if I had to. It might not work for everyone, but for me that was better than staying home.

I had tried to get Tommy interested in doing the half-marathon, but he is not as much into running through injury as I am, and then it filled anyway so he didn’t have a choice about it.

Travel
We left Cincinnati on the Friday afternoon and stopped for the night in Jackson, TN. This is the home of Carl Perkins, and I am sure there are things to see in Jackson, but we did not have time for that. We stayed at a comfortable and very reasonable LaQuinta in a motel hell, and dined at a Logan’s Roadhouse.

While Tommy drove, I tried to familiarize myself with the upcoming race as best I could. I read a 2005 article from Marathon & Beyond, and also my friend Ken’s race report from 2008. I am not good at interpreting elevation maps, but Tommy helped me with that, and Ken’s report was especially enlightening. I don’t mind hills if I know where they are going to be. It’s when I am not expecting them and it turns out they are there that I get angry about it. So I knew to expect a fairly long climb in the middle of the race, followed by a short, steep downhill, and a couple of hills near the end. The hill in the mid-section was on a street named “Kavanaugh” and I learned there was a saying that “What’s said on Kavanaugh, stays on Kavanaugh.” I found this amusing, as my maiden name is “Cavanagh,” just another spelling of the same name.

Hotel, Expo & Pasta Dinner
We arrived in Little Rock midday on Saturday and checked into The Peabody (race hotel). The Peabody was the site of the pasta dinner and is connected to the convention center where the race expo was held. When I made the reservation, I didn’t know if I would be travelling alone, so not knowing the city very well, I thought this was the safest bet for me. Plus, there are the ducks. (But am I the only one bothered by the statement that when they retire from their “jobs,” they are returned to the wild? I am wondering if a working life as a Peabody duck prepares one adequately for life in the wild.)

The Peabody is nice enough but a little long in the tooth. Built (I am guessing) in the 1970s, it is in need of a bit of remodeling. I would suspect it began life as a Hyatt, based on the elevators. If I did this race again, I would go for The Capitol Hotel (directly across the street from The Peabody and a lot fancier looking from the outside) or the Marriott Courtyard (down the street, and closer to the start and finish of the race). You can still visit with the ducks before and after the pasta dinner!

Off to the expo we went. Based on statements in the race info booklet that I got in the mail a few weeks beforehand, I was expecting strict attention to detail, and perhaps a bit too regimented a check in process. Fortunately, it was not like that at all. They didn’t even ask me for photo ID at check in, and they looked at me funny when I handed them the confirmation email that we were supposed to sign and hand in to get our packets.

This led me to wonder about the possibility of taking the early start option, an idea I had been mulling over for a couple of weeks. The Little Rock Marathon offers an early start (two hours before the official start) for people who expect to take more than six hours to finish. The problem is the language in the race info book made it sound like there was no middle ground. If you wanted to do the early start, and it turned out that you went faster than a 14-minute pace, the race info booklet said that you would be held back at the first relay exchange station, and might be disqualified from the race. And possibly executed on the spot. Well, it didn’t say that last part but it was implied.

For me, the concern was that if I decided to walk the whole thing, or most of it, it was going to take me over six hours. And I might not know that until I’d covered a few miles. I don’t mind being left out of potential age group awards (as if, right?) and I understand the street closure and aid station operating dilemmas, but I didn’t want to have to crawl the whole way just because I took the early start.

Oh, and if you were going to do the early start, there was a mandatory pre-race meeting to attend at the expo, but you would only know what time that was taking place if you had signed up ahead of time for the early start. Which I hadn’t.

I still wasn’t sure if I would even be finishing period, so I decided to just go ahead and start at the official time and hope I made it.

The expo was not very exciting. I’ve seen worse, I’ve seen better. I bought a tee-shirt that has the names of the major running routes in Little Rock (including Kavanaugh) printed on the back. The race tee was a short sleeve technical top in light blue, also not very exciting. No swag in the race packet. Ipico timing chip (small piece of cardboard) with one twist tie to strap it to your shoelaces---not the best way.

We had no time to do any sightseeing in Little Rock. Before dinner, we caught the 5 pm duck parade---this is when the ducks march out and go back to their Royal Duck Palace for the night (their workday is 11 am – 5 pm). Then we had dinner in the ballroom of the hotel. Decent pasta feed, as one tends to find at race hotels. Self-serve buffet, all you could eat. Choice of bowties and whole wheat rotini, meat sauce and butter sauce, rolls and salad, ice tea and coffee. All the skinny women runners carefully measured themselves a half cup of pasta and a tiny bit of sauce. I filled my plate and went back for seconds. This is why I am 20 pounds overweight. For dessert, there was a choice of blueberry/apple and peach cobbler.

During dinner, we were entertained by a guy playing guitar and singing songs that were hits when we were in college---so of course we enjoyed that. He was accompanied by a background recording of other instruments and backup singers so it sounded like a full band. He would change costume and put on wigs depending on which artist he was impersonating at the time. He sounded so much like the actual vocalists that I wonder if he was even really singing or just playing air guitar and lip synching.

During a break in the music, there was a brief speech by Bart Yasso of Runner’s World and some other guy, but fortunately they did not talk for long and I do not remember what they said.

We finished dinner and after a brief return to the expo to pick up some more GU Chomps, went to bed early. Before turning out the lights, I read some inspirational stories from various running magazines, and the last thing I said to myself was that I was going to finish the race.

I Bet the Marriott has Coffee Makers in the Rooms
I didn’t sleep well. Besides my stress about the race itself, I was worried about the morning coffee situation. There was no coffee maker in the room. They hadn’t said anything about setting up a coffee bar in the lobby. Surely they would, though, right? Many of us marathoners need our coffee. Caffeine is my performance enhancing drug of choice! In addition to Aleve, that is. It occurred to me that maybe they had just forgotten to put the coffeemaker in the room. I have a travel coffeemaker but I have stopped bringing it because there is always one in the room (plus I am trying to be less high-maintenance).

I could have ordered room service coffee, but it was $8.50 a pot plus 20% gratuity plus $3.00 service charge plus outrageous hotel tax.

So when I got up at 5:30 am first thing I did was call the concierge and ask about the coffeemaker. He told me that if you want a coffeemaker, you have to make arrangements ahead of time! Seriously. But he said they did have coffee in the lobby. So I went downstairs, and I saw that they were serving coffee and breakfast items in the lobby bar. For which you had to pay. And you couldn’t just charge it to your room. So I had to go back upstairs to get some cash. And on the way back, tucked into a corner by the elevators, I saw they had set up a couple of coffee urns where you could get free coffee. They did not have this the next morning---I checked---so I guess free coffee is not a regular deal at the four-star Peabody. Huh. I guess I have just gotten to used to the conveniences of the Red Roofs and the LaQuintas I stay at for dog shows.

I got some coffee (no lids though!) and took it back up to the room. So, for breakfast I had this coffee, a banana I had brought from home, and some Chomps. And one Aleve. Should have had two.

Read an article in the local newspaper about Leah Thorvilson, a local runner who would win the women’s division of the race for the 3rd year in a row. Coincidentally, she was also the winner at Fargo when I was there last May.

The temperature outside was in the upper 30s, with a high of low 50s and a little sun predicted for the day. No rain, fortunately. After some debate about what to wear, I decided on my long CW-X tights instead of capris, because they were more supportive of my knee and I was going to be slow enough that I wouldn’t overheat. On top, I wore my thin technical long-sleeved top from the Flying Monkey race, and a thin nylon jacket that I like because it covers my butt. I also had my hat from Oklahoma City, and an old pair of running gloves. I wore a fanny pack to carry my Chomps, room key, chapstick and cellphone.

Over all of this, I threw on an old jacket with a broken zipper that I had tried to pitch in New Orleans last year, but somehow they mailed it back to me anyway. This time it was not coming home.

Perks Pavillion
I just want to say something about this. One of the race sponsors had arranged a special pavilion at the start/finish area where you could pay an extra $25 to take advantage of “perks” like “special” bathrooms and food. I find this to be a very disturbing trend. I dislike this way of scrounging extra money out of runners. I can understand that elite and invited runners should get some special treatment. But I don’t think they should establish a tiered pricing system for the rest of us. Anyway, I did not participate in the “perks.” I do wonder if they had coffee in there, though.

Off and “Running”
At around 7:30 I headed for the start line. I was in corral D, which was for people who expected to be under 4:30. Just behind corral D was the “open” section for people who didn’t designate a time or were even slower than 4:30 (as I fully expected to be). I was surrounded by half-marathoners and relay runners. Including walkers, there were over 3000 half-marathon finishers, 223 relay teams, and just under 2000 marathoners.

It took about five minutes to reach the start line, which is pretty slow for such a small race and considering I wasn’t really that far back. I actually walked the whole way until I crossed the start line.

I was immediately in a lot of pain. The first mile was horrible. I hoped that it would get better as I warmed up, just as it had on recent training runs. If I wasn’t feeling a whole lot better by mile 5, I was going to drop out there because that was close to the hotel. I would have another opportunity around mile 8. After that, the course went out away from the city and I would not have a graceful way to DNF.

I ditched my throwaway jacket before we even reached the first mile marker. But the rest of my attire would serve me well for the balance of the race. It never got that warm, and when the wind kicked up it was a bit chilly. The sun didn’t come out until I was on my last six miles or so, and it wasn’t very strong. Good marathon weather, actually.

I reached the first mile marker in 11:23. Too soon to quit.

The early section of the race reminded me very much of parts of Cincinnati’s Flying Pig Marathon. We ran through downtown, then crossed a bridge into North Little Rock---very much like crossing over into Newport, KY when you do the Pig, except the bridge was a bit smaller. We ran around a little over there and then it was back over the same bridge, retracing our steps a bit. Got to see the race leaders and eventual winners, already miles ahead of me.

I was holding an 11 minute pace, drinking mostly Gatorade every couple miles at the aid stations, and having my Chomps with water every 3-4 miles. Again, no wonder I can’t lose weight.

Not Dropping Out After All
Came through mile 5 feeling pretty good. Waved to Tommy and kept on going. One mile at a time, I told myself. I had my running watch set up so I was only seeing the elapsed time of the current mile. I didn’t want to focus on how long I had been out there or how far I still had to go---although I did peek occasionally.

One nice thing was how many of the spectators would read my name off my bib and call out to me. On one corner, a group of guys started chanting “Mon-ic-a! Mon-ic-a!” as I ran by. That really gave me a lift.

I don’t remember much about miles 5 through 10. Around ten, we were in the neighborhood of the Governor’s Mansion. I guess the current Governor was outside waving but I didn’t really know who he was. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee ran the race in 2005 after he lost over 100 pounds. He’s since put back on a lot of that weight, it seems to me when I see him on TV. Anyway, this is a neighborhood of large, old homes. Somewhere in here, we split off from the half-marathoners and I was happy to see them go. Unfortunately, we would rejoin them in a few miles for a short stretch, but I would be happy again when they were gone for good. I just find myself getting irritated with the half-marathoners who are back there slogging at my pace and complaining about how hard it is. Especially when I am not even half done yet with MY race. I know everybody has to start somewhere but stop whining about it, will ya? Suck it up and run.

What’s Said on Kavanaugh, Stays on Kavanaugh
At about the halfway mark, we ran by the State Capitol, and then we hit the hill. Since I was expecting it, it didn’t throw me. Plus, it had “my name” on it. How can you not enjoy a hill with your name on it? And I found the neighborhood quite pleasant. The cute little shops and small, interesting homes, as well as all the crowd support in this section reminded me of my neighborhood in Cincinnati, and I knew that if we lived in Little Rock this would be the place. This was my favorite part of the race.

My steady 11 minute pace gave way to 12s on the hill but otherwise I felt okay. Around mile 17 we hit the short but steep downhill. If I wasn’t so injured, and if it was a shorter race, I would love to fly down that hill. But at mile 17 of a marathon in my current state, I walked most of it.

On the River Trail
After the hill, we had a long, flat, out and back section along a paved bike trail. This is a really nice feature of Little Rock, the Arkansas River Trail. It will be 24 miles when it is completed. The sun had come out a bit but fortunately not too much because there was not much shade (too early in the season) along the trail. I hooked up with the five hour pace team, which had been behind me up to this point. I normally hate pace teams but this was a more pleasant bunch than usual. They were taking walk breaks roughly every 11 minutes. I also finally caught up to and passed the 8-hour pace team---that is, the slowest people among those who had taken the two hour early start. I was now really glad that I had not started with them!

On the way back (other side of the trail) there was a golf course on our left. I was struggling now to hold that 12 minute pace, and I had to bid farewell to the 5-hour pace team. I was not going to break five. I called Tommy when I passed mile 23 to let him know approximately when to expect me.

The Last of the Hills
And then there it was, that hill I had heard they threw in at the end. It looked worse from a distance. It wasn’t that long and it wasn’t that steep. I thought that was the last of the hills, but there was one more, shorter but steeper, in mile 25. That one surprised me. Really Little Rock? Isn’t there any other way to design this course? Why don’t you reverse it so we do the hills first? I guess because you want to get the ugly part over first? I had a few 13ers from 23-25.

Near the 26 mile mark, they had a lipstick stop, sponsored by L’Oreal. You are supposed to put lipstick on so you look good for your finish line photo. I did not stop. It hurt more when I stopped. Got back down to 12 for the last mile, and 2:25 for the last .2, for a final time of 5:06.12. Considering my horrendous physical condition, I am more than okay with that. I was actually even a bit proud of myself for about 30 seconds.

#35 in the Bag
Gave back the chip, got that hideous medal (really heavy around my neck!) space blanket, and then even stopped for one of those posed pics with the medal. Outside the finisher’s area, I found the promised chocolate milk. Otherwise, it was pretty slim pickings. Some fruit, and some Little Debbie snacks. As many other marathoners have complained, I would rather have better food at the finish and forget about the damn medal.

Found Tommy, who had purchased not one but two different turkey sandwiches for me to pick from. Unfortunately, I picked wrong, and ended up with a mild bout of food poisoning! But once that bad sandwich was out of my system, I was fine, and perfectly able to enjoy the barbeque at the post race party. But maybe he really is permanently barred from turkey sandwich duty.

Post race party was held at the Clinton Presidential Library. This is straight down the road from The Peabody, past the start line of the race. From the outside, it is a rather ugly building that reminded me of an airline terminal. But from the inside, there are great views of the river. The food at the party was decent, but there was no place to sit, so we ended up on the floor with our backs against the wall. That is not how you want to sit right after a marathon! Getting up was especially fun.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped in at the Flying Saucer bar. Fun place, with dozens of beers on tap. I had one of the 5-beer samplers. Back at the hotel, I indulged my craving for chocolate with a couple of truffles from the gift shop. And that was that.

It’s been a couple of days and I’m still limping around but not much worse than usual. Need to recover by Saturday for a trail race!

Ran outside today

Have mostly recovered from the cold/flu that hit me last week, and it got up in the mid-30s today, so I decided a little jaunt around the park was in order.

I did four on the treadmill yesterday afternoon and that was okay but outside is so much better if I can avoid the ice.

Did a mile warmup on the treadmill first, and then out for the three miles around the park. Wore moderately heavy tights and my heaviest running top, gloves and my nike cap---just about right for the temp and the distance.

Went okay. Going to try to build back up to a decent long run this weekend. Yesterday I took out the schedule and tried to see if it was still possible to get some decent training in before Little Rock. It appears that it will be but who knows if I will actually do it.

Dirty Dozen Trail Awards

This morning I attended a brunch at The Running Spot, where we got our awards for the trail running series. If you did at least six races, you got a participation award---the vase-type item on the right in the pic. The urn-like item on the left is for placing in the top 12 runners based on your best five placements. I guess I have to mention that on the men's side it is fairly competititve, but as few women currently compete in these events, it is a lot easier for us chicks. There were only ten women who completed at least five races, so everyone of us who did that made the Dirty Dozen.

If I had tried harder in the first few races, I would have finished in 6th place, but the women in the top five actually were pretty quick, so I probably couldn't have beaten them even if I tried. The women behind me, however, were well back.

It's a treadmill week

Well, it does warm up to about 30 during the days, and sometimes there is even a bit of sun. But I am so paranoid about ice that I've been sticking to the mill.

Today sucks because I am waiting for the Duke Energy guy to come and "upgrade" our gas and electric meters. The time window for this visit is 12-4. It is past 3 pm now and now sign of him (I assume it is a him). I am afraid to venture too far from the front door, in order to intercept and turn off the dog alarm (as best I can). The treadmill is in the basement so I can't get on it until after the guy leaves. Because, I am not running on it while he is here! But first he has to arrive.

Not to mention that I haven't showered or changed out of my dog walking clothes, because the plan was to run after the Duke guy left and then shower. I figured he would show up close to noon or even before (like last time they were supposed to come). But no.

I also have turned up the heat upstairs because Tommy says when they do this meter thing they are going to turn off the gas, so the pilot will go out in the upstairs furnace. And if figured if I let it be a little warmer up there than it would be warm enough until Tommy gets home to light the pilot again. The downstairs furnace is not a problem but the hot water heater will be. Oh yeah, hot water. I guess if the Duke guy ever comes I will have him light the pilot on the hot watr heater.

Been thinking about maybe doing a 5k this weekend but haven't signed up for anything. Not bringing Ed. His feet have been irritated by the salt on the roads, and I am having a heck of a time keeping them clean and dry. He gets a soak in epson salts every morning after our walk, and then I blow dry his feet and after that he has to wear his cone if it looks like he is going to start chewing on his feet. So no running for him.

I have a headache

Which can be an excuse for a lot of things that I am not getting done today. I did run 3 miles around the park with Ed, faster than usual despite a few Ed-imposed "breaks." I gave Maggie a bath. I folded some laundry.

Maggie had diarrhea this afternoon and that is stressing me out. Is it something she picked up at the agility trial this weekend? Is it stress-related? Is it from eating too much "junk" all weekend?

Will my headache go away soon? Do I need to make more coffee?

The rest of the world knows

The rest of the world knows who won the NYC marathon today, but since I've been up in Mason, OH running a half-marathon, and have been avoiding news sources since I finished, I don't know yet. Am getting ready to watch the taped coverage on NBC beginning at 2 pm. I hope Meb, Ritz & Shalane had good races. Don't spoil it for me!

I had a great half-marathon. 2:06 and change, did not slow down in the second half but finished strong, my best half in a long time. I have to look it up, but I think it's been a few years. It was a beautiful morning to run. Really glad I went up to Mason and did that race. Sure beat the 8 miler I was scheduled to run by myself.

Why are running shorts getting smaller?

I stopped by Fleet Feet to pick up my race number for the half marathon tomorrow. The shirt is a lot nicer than last time I did this race. It's a shortsleeved black technical top in a woman's cut.

Anyway, browsed the sale rack for a few minutes. Mostly running shorts on sale now that winter is a'coming. I haven't bought any shorts for awhile, and my casual observation is that they seem to be getting smaller. Shorter. Not just lower cut but with very tiny inseams. Since I am not getting any smaller myself, I view this as a very disturbing development.

I did not buy anything.

Mt. Airy 27k trail race

This was the final race in the Dirt Days Trail series. For this one, we returned to Mt. Airy Forest, on the west side of Cincinnati. Mt. Airy is the largest US park located within a city limits. It's bigger than Central Park. I did the 5.6 mile race here back in April.

The 27k has been added on to an already existing event, the Stone Steps 50k race. I've attended and participated in that one a couple of times but never finished. In fact, I've never gotten past the first 8.5 mile lap. The first year (2003) it was just shortly after my knee surgery, so I showed up to volunteer for awhile. I returned to run in 2006 & 2007, hoping to get a long run in but never expecting to finish. I had hoped to get a little further than one lap in 2007, but it was not to be.

The last few years, there have been other events---dog shows, probably---that kept me from running. Plus the probability that I would not be able to finish a 50k race within the time allowed. So I was excited when they added the 27k event, because I thought that was something within the realm of possibility for me.

And so it was, but it wasn't pretty.

I've never run farther than that 8.5 mile loop on any trails. My longest "training" run for this event was about seven or so in Ault Park last week. So, I went into this long trail run about as trained as I ever seem to be for my marathons---not much. Just another exercise in mind over matter.

This is one part of the trail series that I could have skipped and still maintained my standing in the "Dirty Dozen" of the top 12 women in the series. I would improve my point total by completing it---knocking out 30 points from one of those early jogs and replacing it with a number less than 20. There were just 20 women registered for this race, so even if I was last, I would improve my point total.

Since you have to complete five races in the series to be ranked, I also figured out that I could not be knocked out of the rankings, no matter who showed up to do this last race. There were just four or five women who had done four races, which meant that they could possibly get in the Dirty Dozen if they did this one. But all except one of them was slower than me, so they wouldn't be able to knock me out of my spot. (The one exception is a speedster who actually did show up and won the race, which put her in first place and moved me down to seventh.)

I also couldn't possibly move ahead of the woman who was just ahead of me in the rankings. Well, it would be theoretically possible but it would require me to finish twelve places ahead of her among the women. Since we seem to run about the same pace, and there were only twenty women registrered for the race, this was really not going to be happening.

I didn't need to run the race to be in the Dirty Dozen, or to have finished the required six races to get the special "participation" award, and finishing it wouldn't make any difference to anybody...except me.

We had great weather for a change this year---high 50s-low 60s at the start, and it didn't get much warmer, a little sun and dry. Arrived at the start a little before 8 am for the 8:30 race. The 50k runners started at 8 am and the "trekkers" (just two of them this year) started at 7. If I ever do the 50k, I might have to do it as a trekker in order to get that extra hour.

I wore my CW-X compression capri tights that are so kind to my knees and a short sleeve top. On my feet, I went with the Saucony Xodus trail shoes. I did have my thin tyvek jacket from the Las Vegas marathon on as well, but I took it off right before the start. I had a parking space in the oval right near the road crossing where we came out of the shorter loop, so I could have left my gear in the car, but instead I put a bag up in the shelter area with everybody else's. That was just a tad more convenient. I had to pass through the shelter at the completion of each loop, so if I needed anything it would be handy. I had packed a spare pair of shoes (my Salomons) and socks, and it's always comforting to have the option of making a switch mid-race if you want.

I wore my old fanny pack that holds a 20-ounce water bottle, and I brought along a couple of GUs and a pack of GU Chomps (strawberry flavor, yum). I decided to have a gel or some chomps every three to four miles or so, and I needed to carry the water to wash it all down. Also, I couldn't make it through a 17 mile race without having some water every mile or so, and this was the only way to get it. There weren't any aid stations out on the trails, so without my water bottle I would only be able to drink when I cam though the shelter after each loop. I did need to refill it each time but that was no big deal.

Chatted a bit with Brenda W., tried to absorb the instructions from the race directors (I was still going to need help after each loop trying to figure out which way to run next!) and at 8:30 we were off. I quickly fell to the back of the 50-person pack. I was not going to push it. By the time we hit the actual trails, there were probably only about 10 people behind me, and after about a mile or so I let most of them go by. Brenda was ahead of me but I didn't care. This was just about finishing, I kept telling myself.

The trails in this park are, from my perspective, rather technical. There are some fairly steep sections, a lot of singletrack with loose rocks, and then there are the infamous Stone Steps. Not to mention, something called Gummy Bear Hill that I thought was worse than the steps. You climb up the steps, so it's not like you're going to fall. But you run down this Gummy Bear Hill thing (before you run up it!) and you actually could fall. I didn't feel comfortable running freely in my decrepit, elderly state, so the necessary braking action really took a toll on my quads. I am wondering if that is where the Gummy Bear name comes from.

There were mile makers---red paper plates attached to the trees---so I could keep track of my pace. Mile 1 was 10:08---probably faster than advisable for me and still I was almost in last place even then! Mile 2 was 10:31. In mile 3, we climbed the Stone Steps for the first time, so that was a 14:03. Mile 4 was an 11:26, and mile 5 (including the Gummy Bear Hill) was 14:31.

We came out of the first loop in the middle of mile 5 (approximately 5.3 miles), crossed the timing mats and passed through the shelter, where I had a cup of Heed and refilled my water bottle. My time for the first loop was 1:04:43. I took off in the wrong direction for the short loop, and had to turn around and come back. A bit embarrassing!

Sometime during miles 2-5, I had actually managed to pass a couple of people, including Brenda. Going into the second loop, I was two minutes ahead of her. That would soon change.

The second loop is what I guess you call a lollipop loop, so there is this section in the beginning where you have to get out of the way of the faster runners who are coming toward you. For me, this was not just the 27k runners but also the 50k runners. A lot of getting out of the way. I was also beginning to get lapped by some of the 50k runners coming up behind me. I don't even know what loop they were on at that point.

Mile 6 was 19:32---this included my refueling stop and my little detour, but still seems a bit ridiculously long. I guess I was getting fried already at that point. So, I'm only good for about 5 miles of trail running! Mile 7 was 20:57. Oh yeah, I got lost during this mile, in about the same place that I managed to get lost in 2006, so that did account for a couple of minutes of it. When I got back on the course, Brenda was just ahead of me and that was the closest I would get to her.

(I know, it is quite ridiculous to be obsessed with my position in this race relative to this nice person that I barely know, but really, I'm just using this as a yardstick of my own fitness. Really.)

Seems like the mile 7 marker was in the wrong place, because mile 8 was 6:38. After the 3.2 mile second loop, I came through the shelter again in a combined time of 1:51:50. Slow as this is, it is still quite a bit faster than my time for my previous two attempts at the 50k race. The first year it took me 2:25, and the second time it took me 2:09. So 1:51 is a huge improvement.

My left foot had really started to bother me during this second loop, so I decided to change shoes while passing through the shelter. The right foot felt fine, so I just switched the left one. Yes, this meant I was wearing mismatched shoes, but it's not the first time. I figured that in a trail race, on terrain that is uneven to begin with, it would make even less difference than usual. I think this whole idea that your shoes have to match is just to make it easier for the shoe companies, anyway.

Also, the chip was on my right shoe, and it would have been a major PITA to change that over to another shoe.

This time I took off in the correct direction. Mile 9 was 16:19 (including the time it took to change my shoe). Mile 10 was 15:10. Mile 11 (Stone Steps again) was 20:15. Mile 12 was 16:37. Things were getting bad, but not as bad as they would become. The shoe change didn't really seem to help. It wasn't any worse, but it wasn't any better. I was glad I had switched, though, because if I hadn't I would have thought that I should have and been regretting it. But basically I was just dragging that poor left leg around. It's not just the foot, but that poor old arthritic knee, which had already barked at me a few times when I landed on the loose rocks and slipped a bit.

I was considering dropping out. I was weighing the possibility that I was doing serious damage to my body, and also again realizing that I didn't NEED to finish this race. But I kept going.

Mile 13 (Gummy Bear again) was 21:15. I made it back to the shelter from loop 3 in a total combined time of 3:27:04. The first two times in the shelter, I refilled my own water bottle, but this time I let a volunteer do it for me. Just 3.2 miles to go. Too bad it was going to take an hour!

Mile 14 was about 18 minutes (12:24 from the shelter). Mile 15 (which I assumed was at the # 7 marker, which was now laying on the ground somewhere) was 13:44, but that was obviously wrong because it wasn't like I was getting faster. Mile 16 was 26:04! I think if you just combine miles 15 and 16, it comes out to me toodling around at about 20 minute pace. I got passed here by one woman whom I had been ahead of the entire race. She told me that I was "a really fast walker" --- I think she meant this as a compliment but it was hard to take it that way.

And then, it was another 8:08 for the last little bit which must have been less than a mile. And finally it was over, in a total time of 4:27:26.

Bob Roncker took my picture at the finish line and I think he even gave me a hug, but I'm not sure because I was a touch delirious. There wasn't much left in the way of food. I had a handful of Oreo cookies and a few orange slices. So much for all the hype about the great food at the ultras. Imagine if I had actually been doing the 50k. There really wouldn't have been anything left.

As I was walking down the hill to the car, I heard them announcing the name of someone who actually finished behind me in the race. So I wasn't last, but almost. 45 of 46 finishers and 14 of 15 women. There were a couple of people who DNF'd so I guess you could say I beat them too. Age-graded, my time was 35 of 46 runners, a little bit better but not much.

At the time I am finishing this post, a couple of weeks after the race, we are still waiting to hear about when we will get our completion awards and whatever they are giving out for the Dirty Dozen. I am guessing it will be sports bags for the completion awards, and like I really need another sports bag. I hope it is something more interesting for the Dirty Dozen. I am a trail goddess, dammit, and I demand a Shiny Metal Object!

Running with my best buddy

Thinking about taking Eddy along to NJ for Thanksgiving, and maybe doing the annual 5-mile race with him on the Friday. I have never gone over 4 miles with him but I think it would be okay if we go slow.

Today I decided it is finally cool enough to start taking him along on short runs again. He always wants to come along! So I took him out for a 2 1/2 mile loop of the park, very slow and easy. After all, we are both still tired from the weekend of agility. And he was so sick last month. But I think he has recovered.

After we finished, I went back out for a one mile trail loop by myself. I am going to gradually increase his distance as the weather gets colder. I am looking forward to bringing him along on a few of the fall and winter races.

Harbin Park XC Maze

This was the next-to-last race in the trail series, on Sunday, Oct. 10. I love how these little trail races are getting me out to places that I'v never run before. This one was in Harbin Park, in Fairfield, OH.

I guess there are actually some real trails in this park based on my Google search, but our race took place on a double-loop maze marked out on the grassy open fields with yellow caution tape. The course was actually set up for a bike race, part of a cyclocross festival. I know very little about this event but I guess it was kind of a big deal. A much bigger deal, I suspect, than our little trail race.

Anyway, we got to run on the course before the bike races started, and they didn't start until an hour after we were done, so I didn't hang around. Supposedly there were 450 people entered in that (vs. 51 runners in our race).

Enough about the bikes.

I got there about 45 minutes before the race. We had to park in a little lot downhill from the packet pickup and start/finish of our race, so I got a bit of warmup jogging back and forth. Then I set out for a more proper warmup on the trails, so I could get a feel for what was to come. Basically non-stop rolling hills, mostly on a relatively packed and dry grass surface, but with a few sharp turms around trees/roots, one stretch of tall grass (did they forget to mow this part or was it intentionally left that way?). Also, a couple of  "sand pits"---these I did not include in my warmup. They were really no big deal, just a bit of sandy area outside some playground equipment. Maybe 100 feet each time? Or less.

Spotted my age group competitor. I had decided on a strategy of running just behind her and kicking past her at the end. That was the tentative strategy, anyway. It really didn't matter too much where I finished in this race if I just want to stay in the Dirty Dozen. With so few women in the race, I could finish last and still improve on my 32nd place from the Ault Park Race. And no matter how far ahead I finished from my competition, it wouldn't change my spot in the Dirty Dozen because my first few placements were so uncompetitive.

But I wanted to do as well as I could, for myself.

The course was set up so we first ran around on one side of the park, then crossed over the road and hit the other side (where I had done most of my warmup). Then we would cross through the start/finish area again, and repeat the whole thing.

My competitor (whose name is Brenda), chatted me up a bit at the start. Asked me about my shoes (Saucony Grid Xodus). It's true, you don't see them much. She admired the pink soles, said they had street cred. Shouldn't that be "trail cred"?

And then we were off, and I just tried to keep her in sight. I didn't want to be too obvious about hanging off her shoulder, so I let her have a little distance in front of me. Basically, I was just not going to pass her. It was a challenging course, but the pace was not too uncomfortable for me. The sand pits and the grass were all on the back half of the course. The front half did have one very steep downhill section.

I learned that the best way to run through the sand is on your toes. No big deal even if you aren't trained for it if it's only for a short distance. The tall grass was no fun but at least I was prepared for it. There were also two little segments on the asphalt and it felt good to stretch out my legs and glide through those sections.

As we came out of the tall grass the first time, I pulled up closer to Brenda. Her breathing sounded pretty labored to me. Mine wasn't as bad, especially since I was trying not to sound so tired! So I pulled up even with her, and then, just after we passed the start line and began our second lap, I pulled ahead. I decided that she sounded so fatigued I would push the pace and see what happened. She did not go with me.

My first lap was 19:25. Since each lap was supposed to be a bit over two miles, I was pretty pleased with that considering the terrain. On the second lap, I really pushed on the downhills. I discovered that the best way to run them was to sort of leap in the air and skip down, rather than trying to maintain an even stride. There is so much about trail running that I still have to learn! How come I did not figure this part out until just now?

So, between really pushing the downhills and also anytime we went around a corner and I figured Brenda couldn't see me (something I learned from reading accounts of some elite races), I had soon pretty much dropped her. I didn't want to be so obvious as to turn my head to look, but with all the twists and turns and doubling back, I could pretty much check on her location without turning my head.

Managed to also pass a few old men before the finish. Didn't have to kick this time so didn't puke. Second loop was 19:11 (negative splits!), for an official time of 38:36. Interesting that it felt like I was pushing so much harder in the second half, but my time was just 14 seconds faster. It takes more effort and concentration to maintain the same pace in the second half of a race. Duh.

My latest nemesis finished about 1:30 behind me. So, I beat her by seconds two races ago, about 30 seconds last time, and 1:30 this time. Has she figured out yet that we are racing?

We chatted a bit after the race and formally introduced ourselves. She seems like a very nice lady. She works with someone I know from the dog world. She asked me for pre-race diet advice. I gave her my honest opinion (yogurt, banana, coffee), rather than trying to throw her off by telling her to eat a big steak five minutes before the start.

My finish put me 6 of 14 women and 37 of 51 runners (19 of 51 based on age-grading). Although this finish allowed me to lose my 32 points from the Ault Park Race, replacing it with the 6, it is still not enough to move me ahead of Brenda in the standings. At this point, I don't see that happening, unless there is some ridiculously large number of women showing up for the 27k race and a whole bunch of them finish in between me and Brenda. Actually, it's probably not even mathematically possible for me to pass her, no matter what.

In any case, it's unlikely, because the 27k field is limited to just 50 people and most of them will probably be men. And I'm going to have to take it really easy since I am intimidated by the distance. I have never run that far on trails before. There will be no deliberately hanging off Brenda's shoulder and hoping to kick past her at the end. I will start slow and just hope to finish. If I am able to run aggressively at all, it won't be until the second half of the race on the last small loop. But mainly I just have to finish. Any finish at all, even last place in the race, should improve my point total by replacing my 30th place points from the French Park race with some smaller number. It will keep me in the Dirty Dozen, probably still in 6th place, but not ahead of Brenda. Good enough.

New Hampshire Marathon

Ok, it's been just a little over a week since this race on Oct. 2, and I find I am already forgetting a lot about it. It was a tough course, it was a nice day, I got it done. That's most of what I remember!

This was state #34, marathon #39 for me. Picked it because it fit my schedule and could be combined with a visit to see my daughter, Susan. She drove up with me from Boston and did the accompanying 10k. We tried to get my sister to come along also but that didn't happen.

The original plan was that we would drive up on Friday so we could attend the pasta dinner, but Sooze had to work. But with race day packet pickup available, that was no big deal.

Dinner with Sooze
I arrived Thursday evening, got the rental car and drove Susan home from work. I was all stressed out about driving in Boston, at night and in the rain, but it was honestly a pleasant surprise. Maybe it is because people in Boston actually know how to drive, unlike the drivers in Cincinnati? Parked on the street in Somerville, also no big deal.

We had dinner at Posto, an upscale pizza place a few blocks from Susan's apartment, and similar to this place. Our waitress, unfortunately, encouraged us to over-order by making it sound like the portions were small. We will blame it on her. We ordered two appetizers: meatballs and another type of balls that were made out of fried polenta with a rather unpleasant and heavy handed lemon flavoring. And we each had our own pizza. Sooze had one with sopressatta that she thought was a bit too spicy. I went with the mushroom pizza, which I did enjoy. We also had two draft beers (Smuttynose Pale Ale) each---big mistake.

The Day Before---Not Off to An Auspicious Start
I felt okay the next morning when Susan left for work but a little while later I began feeling awful. Needed coffee but Susan doesn't have a coffeemaker, and it took awhile before I felt strong enough to go outside. Had three cups of Via. Still had a pounding headache, accompanied by nausea and the sweats. Spent a lot of Friday in the bathroom. Food poisoning? Some weird 24-hour bug? Later, we determined that it was just a hangover. Susan had one also, but she had to suck it up because she was at work.

Okay, I had meant to spend a fairly low key day anyway but this was ridiculous. Hung out in Susan's apartment until I felt well enough to venture out and put our suitcases in the car. Watched some New England cable news station, where they kept predicting torrential rainfall. They were making it sound like it was time to build an ark. So I wanted to get the bags in the car before the rain started since the car was a couple of blocks away.

I did this in two trips. On the way back from the first excursion, I stopped in the corner store and picked up some Gatorade, Lipton teabags, and bananas. Two cups of tea later, I was ready to take the second bag to the car. I was caffeinated, yes, are we keeping track? Three cups of Via, two strong cups of tea.

In the afternoon, as I began to feel a bit better, I was able to distract myself with a little television. I watched the Temple Grandin movie, starring Claire Danes. Pretty good. I had forgotten I wanted to see that, and there it was. And next, I watched a true classic of its genre, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, starring a very young Keanu Reeves and some other guy who was, I think, more famous at the time but now nobody can remember who he is. This is the one where the evil robot likenesses kill Bill & Ted and try to rewrite history by wreaking havoc at the Battle of the Bands. In the meantime, Bill & Ted play games with Death in an attempt to win back their lives. Instead of chess, they play games that Bill & Ted have a shot at winning, including Battleship and Twister.

Susan's roommate came home just before I started watching Bill & Ted. She immediately retreated to her room for a nap, leaving me alone with Bill & Ted.

At the appointed hour, I got in the car and drove downtown to pick up the Sooze. Thank goodness for the GPS. This accomplished, we headed out to I-93, New Hampshire-bound. It was supposed to be a two hour drive, and it only took us about two and a half hours. In the rain. On a Friday night. I don't think that is so bad. I am really wondering what all the whining about Boston/New England driving is about. Seriously.

We arrived a little after 9 pm, and found a little family-style Italian restaurant down the road from our hotel. We were both hungry now so that worked out great. We took our doggy bags back to the room because we had a microwave and fridge, and I knew I would want to finish this food up after the race.

We were staying at a Comfort Inn, one exit up the highway from Bristol and an easy 10 mile drive. It had been recently remodeled and was very satisfactory. I had thought about booking us at a B&B but that can be such a crapshoot, and everything looked kind of scary/sketchy on the web sites. In any case, I knew at any B&B we'd end up with a cramped little room and maybe just a double bed to share, perhaps not even our own bathroom. We were a lot more comfortable at the Comfort Inn, and the breakfast was not bad, either.

Race Morning
The race didn't start until 9 am, which was great. We could get a good night's sleep and even eat breakfast in the morning. We departed around 7:45, and arrived around 8 am. We were directed to park behind the middle school that served as the staging area for the race. The atmosphere was not unlike a good-sized neighborhood 5k, with packet pickup in the school cafeteria, and small groups of runners gathered outside.

Susan was amused at the Marathon Maniacs (easy to spot in their bright yellow attire) and various other members of the 50 States Club whom I pointed out to her. Chuck Engle seemed to be the only person doing a proper race warmup, and I correctly predicted that he would win the race. It did seem that the vast majority of the marathon runners were members of the Maniacs or the 50 States or both. And most of them were doing a "double," with the Portland, ME race the next day. Susan told me that I should wear my gear Maniac gear, too, so I could properly "represent."

No timing chips for this little marathon. Can't remember the last time I ran a race without a chip. They even use them at some of our local 5ks now. The race shirts were kind of disappointing, light-blue, long-sleeved cotton with an orange, red & black (fall colors?) design that clashed with the light blue. Not much else in the goody bag, except a coupon for a free ice cream cone at the Newfound Bakery, which we made use of later in the afternoon.

The half-marathoners took a bus out to the mararthon turnaround at the Sculptured Rocks, which departed at 8:30 am. The 10k runners would start with the marathoners, and turn around just past the 3 mile mark.

We hung out in the car until it was time to line up at the start line in front of the school. Shared a laugh about one guy who was wearing a very threadbare pair of bike shorts. When he bent over, you could totally see right through them, and when he stood up, they were very saggy in the butt. Maybe they were his lucky shorts, but I think it is time to retire them anyway.

The Race
The start, like most of the race, was uphill (as I ponder once again how it is that a loop course can be net uphill). Susan stayed with me for about the first mile, then wisely dropped back. She was taking it easy. I was, too, but nothing was going to be easy enough. Mile 1 was a 10:57, mile 2 was a 10:15.

As we passed the mile 2 marker, I started looking for a water stop, which was supposed to appear every two miles. Nothing. Tried not to let myself get too irriated by this, but began to wish that I had carried my own water. After we passed mile 3 and still no water, I was becoming concerned. Also, worried for Susan, whom I assumed was having to run a 10k with no water. Finally at about 3 1/2 miles, we found the first water stop. Turns out this was really the second stop. The first one was at 1 1/2 miles, but it was on the opposite side of the street from where we were running, and we all missed it---or at least all the people running near me did.

From this point on, however, the water stops did come every two miles with regularity, so that was a relief. Mile 3 was an 11:25; mile 4 was 11:42. Mile 5 was 10:07---guess that must have been downhill. Mile 6 was 11:25; mile 7 was 11:16; mile 8 was 11:59.

The course was scenic but hillier than I expected. For some reason, although I knew New Hampshire was hilly, I thought that we were literally running around Newfound Lake which to me meant flat, despite what the elevation chart said. Plus there is the fact that I seem to be hopeless at interpreting elevation charts. Fortunately, I train on hills and I was not expecting to have an easy time of it anyway. But it was kind of crazy how hilly the course was versus my preconceptions of how it was going to be.

We passed an inn/restaurant with a big sign out front advertising a Japanese steak house with fine Italian cuisine. I puzzled over this and decided we would have to check it out later.

Here's a little bit about the people around me through most of the race:

There was a tall, thin woman dressed (overdressed, I thought) in long navy blue flared pants and a blue turtleneck. She had what looked like a space blanket tucked into her fanny pack. There was another woman with blond hair in turquoise shorts. Both these women looked like they should have been going faster than back there with me, but perhaps they were saving themselves for Portland.

There was a couple, from Australia I surmise from their accents, wearing 100 Marathon Club singlets.

Mostly we were running in the road beside a heavily wooded area with the trees just starting to change color, and occasional glimpses of the lake below us to the left. At this point I was really thinking give me an urban, flat marathon any day over hills and scenery, especially if it is the same scenery all the time.

At about mile 8 1/2, we made a left turn for an out-and-back segment with the turnaround at the Sculptured Rocks. This was probably the flattest portion of the race, but even this was not that flat.

On the out-and-back, I got to see most of the people who were ahead of me---although, not Chuck Engle, who had probably already gone by. There were a lot of people ahead of me, and none of them looked like they were exactly flying, either. It's a toughie, this one.

Mile 9 was 10:31; mile 10 was 13:06; mile 11 was 12:11, mile 12 was 12:07; mile 13 was 13:23.

Things I do remember from this stretch: a Boston Terrier in a yard, barking. A couple of Pomeranians chained up (who chains up Pomeranians?) in front of a very slummy looking shack. The chains were bigger than the Pomeranians. Seriously, Pomeranians? Figures that most of what I would remember are the dogs. A Golden Retriever laying at the feet of some spectators, its head turned away from the action. Reminded me of Libby. Dog was not interested in the race at all--unlike the Boston Terrier and the Pomeranians.

The wind picked up and I had to put my jacket back on. Thought a few times about the possibility of turning around early and cutting a few miles off this race. But since I am only doing the 50 states for myself, it would mean I'd only have to come back to New Hampshire and run another marathon anyway. This is not something I am doing to impress anybody except myself, and I'm not lying to myself about what I have done and what I haven't.

At the turnaround, a woman with a clipboard recorded our race numbers. I guess that is how they controlled for cheating. It was somewhat comforting to know that they were not just relying on the honor system and honest people like me.

Mile 14 (14:57!) was not too long after the turnaround. I called Susan, to let her know that things were not going well, and it could be as much as 6 hours. Mile 15 was 13:44; mile 16 was 14:20; mile 17 was 15:50.

Mile 18 was 13:04. At this point, I was thrilled with any time below 14 minutes. Somewhere in here, we left the out-and-back and made a right turn to return to Bristol on the other side of the lake. The scenery was a little different now, as we were actually running closer to the lakeshore, and there were many little cottages (some even painted red) that reminded me of Sweden. On the other side of the street were (no doubt) expensive condos that reminded me that I was not in Sweden.

A complication which made for some unpleasantness in the latter miles of this race was the rather heavy traffic coming towards us. I understand that they can't close a lane to traffic for this tiny little race. So it is what it is. But it was kind of scary and not fun. There was really no berm for much of this stretch, so when you had to get out of the road there was often nowhere to go. This would be my only real complaint about this race. I don't think there is anything that can be done about it, so I would just warn people attempting the race to be ready for it.

Mile 19 was 14:30 and mile 20 was 14:38. A guy running in Vibrams commented that we just had a couple of 5ks to go. I told him that I preferred to think of it as just an hour and a half to go. That's because when you say 5k to me, I think it means that I have to run fast. And that was for sure not happening. An hour and a half is a long time, but it was realistic.

I keep using the word "running" but I guess it goes without saying that we weren't really "running" the way most non-runners think of it. We were making the motions of running, but in slow motion.

Mile 21 was 14:22; mile 22 was 13:18; mile 23 was 15:34; mile 24 was 15:04. Just a half hour to go! I called Susan again to let her know of my impending arrival.

I was passed by a woman who agreed with me about the traffic and said that the race was certainly not her favorite. Then I was passed by the woman in navy blue. The final woman to pass me was wearing a Maniac shirt with 8 stars or so on the back. As I am only a one-star Maniac myself, I was quite impressed. Mile 25 was 15:05; mile 26 was 14:10.

Sooze was standing by the side of the road. She tried to take my pic but said it didn't come out. I made the turn down into the parking lot and across the grass of the little park behind the middle school to the finish line. Somebody told me to smile but I didn't see a photographer. Last .2 took me 2:50, for a final, official time of 5:41:50..One of my worst times ever! Worse than Flying Monkey! Worse than Humpy's after Logan died! I think actually my second slowest ever.

I will blame it on being untrained, sick for a month before the race, sick the day before the race, and the race itself being quite challenging. The woman's winner didn't even qualify for Boston! That says something about the degree of difficulty.

Like the race shirt, the medal was nothing remarkable. This is a fairly low-cost marathon, so I guess you can't expect much, but they didn't even have the year engraved on it (it was printed on the ribbon instead), and it had a rather generic look.

Susan had my turkey sandwich ready and waiting, which was a good thing since there was not much food left. I was officially 211 of 246 marathoners, 59 of 71 women and 16 of 24 women in my age group.

Post-Race
We drove (that is, I drove, which is so much fun after a lengthy slog-fest) back to the hotel but at least it was not too far. After cleaning up and eating "lunch" of our leftovers from the night before, we decided to drive back to the Bristol area for our free ice cream cones. Unfortunately, the GPS decided that the best way to go to the bakery was over the backroads. Off-roading in the Yaris! Turns out there are a lot of unpaved roads in the Bristol area. It was like a roller coaster ride.

Found the bakery and got our ice cream plus coffee. The ice cream was disappointing. Seemed like they were trying to use it all up before shutting down for the season. Had a stale taste. We didn't finish our cones. Spotted the Italian/Japanese steakhouse across the street and decided on that for dinner.

What it was: a restaurant inside an inn which included a cozy inner room with American-style cuisine, a small room off to the side with a hibachi grill and a Japanese guy doing the steakhouse thing for people seated at a table around him, and a larger room that opened to a big deck where you could order American, Italian or Japanese. Oh, and what looked like a biker bar upstairs. Very confused place.

We sat in the larger, outside room and ordered steaks. They were okay. We took our leftovers back to the hotel to eat with breakfast. Steak and eggs!

Sunday morning, after breakfast, we drove back along the race course so I could show Susan what she missed by not doing the marathon. We stopped at Sculptured Rocks. Small, and quite underwhelming. Looked kind of like a section of an amusement park water ride. Or Class 5 rapids for Barbie and Ken? So after a couple of minutes of looking at that, it was time to hit the highway.

And that's the story. In summary: a nice little race but nothing fabulous. But overall, not bad. Challenging course. I stunk, but that was not unexpected.