Running Chick

Hey, remember when I was going to be all productive during my post race running hiatus?  Do some house projects, ride my bike, yadda yadda. Guess how many of those things I got done. One? Nope, sorry loser. ZERO. And I don’t feel bad about it, either because I believe we set a new personal record in going to the bar & eating out this week, and that took up some serious time & effort.  Priorities, man. Priorities.

Some race highlights/lowlights -

• Surprisingly consistent splits. I went out too fast for the first two miles, but dialed it in by the fourth.
• Almost choking on a crumbly Fig Newton. It’s probably time to experiment with gels again.
• Seeing “One Walker is beats [insert some number which I can’t remember] runners” chalked all over the road, thinking WTF? and then getting a lesson in Wisconsin politics from the dude running next to me who was definitely voting to oust Cheeseland Gov Scott Walker in the upcoming recall election.
• Eagle themed aid stations.  One had a old dude wearing a George Washington-looking wig, yelling into a PA system and waving an eagle puppet at all the runners.  Josh said he high-fived the eagle. I ran to the other side of the road. Creepy.  The other had a little kid sitting on the pavement on a pile of sticks that was supposed to look like a nest. She had cardboard wings strapped to her arms and sprung up from her nest and made screeching eagle noises when runners went by.
• Have any beer? I heard it at almost every aid station, but the only one which could have honored the request was the aid station at the bar and they could barely get water out in time. Sorry, lushes.

Soda Pops restaurant.  It’s a soda fountain!  Lots of fun drinks and yummy food. It was so good we went there twice.

The Hodag in Rhinelander, WI. We zipped over there to find me some shorts because it was going to be warmer than I anticipated and didn’t bring any. It was a bust. I have the absolute worst time finding shorts that fit my thunder thighs. Grumble.

Cocktails and sandwiches! I so wanted to go there, they were closed.

Strangest mannequins I’ve ever seen. The first one reminds me of the Joker.

Post race bar crawl photo at the Black Forest Pub in Three Lakes, WI. Drinks were expensive, food was good.

Compression socks & moccasins. My sexiness is beyond compare.

The view from our little cabin. Pretty, but that was about the only nice thing I have to say about that place. It was a serious dump.

Next week, running! Biking! Or, something.

The first race of the season is over. It was a lot warmer & hillier than I remembered, but I ended up with a new (and unexpected) PR, so I’m happy.

The course starts in Conover, WI and meanders it’s way down several country roads which probably don’t see much traffic other than fishermen and the few local residents who live out in the boonies.

Josh and I and around 400 other half-marathoners were bussed to the starting line, which was literally a line spray painted on the road.  The road wasn’t closed to traffic, so every time a car had to go through, somebody would yell Car! and people would move to either side of the road to make a path through. I’m pretty sure the parting of the Red Sea happened the same way.  Surprisingly, for that many people milling about, we never had to wait more than a few minutes for a porta-potty. I think we have the trees to thank for that.

The course is pretty quiet and desolate.

The county was doing some ditch work, so that just added to the post-apocalyptic vibe.

This turkey was also out doing some course checks.

The very small Eagle River, WI airport had some activity when we drove by, but it was quiet on race day.

We got to do some off-roading on the final stretch to the finish line.

The finish line at Riverside Park.

Race day weather was sunny and warm. The course didn’t have much shade so by the mid-way point, I was feeling pretty toasty and eventually ended up with a zorched nose & shoulders. 

Even though this was my third time doing this event, I’d completely forgotten how hilly it was.  There’s a couple of larger extended hills around miles 7-9, but the rest of the course is full of rollers that didn’t seem like much of a bother, until I hit mile 10 and wondered why my quads felt so trashed.  However, I will proudly admit that all the hill training I did this winter paid off because while most people where walking up those larger hills, I was zipping up them without any problems.  I guess I’ll just have to remind myself of this achievement during this summer’s hill sessions when I’m doubled over at the top, gasping for breath and feeling like I’m about to toss my cookies.

The last mile is through a residential area and lots of people were out offering encouraging advice, which was nice, but I swear, if I heard You’re almost done! Keep going! The finish is just around the corner! one more time I was going to have to kill someone.  One lady told me that I had a quarter mile to the corner, then a few more corners and I was done.  It’s really funny now, but then? Not so much.  Anyway, I finished feeling pretty wasted, and I had absolutely no clue what my time was.  Of the twelve different fields I have on my gps watch, I didn’t think to set one of them to elapsed time.  Pretty smart.  Fortunately, my watch does have a history and I was shocked to find that it read 2:17:45.  That’s a completely unexpected 2 minute PR for me, so I was very pleased.

I slammed a couple cups of Gatorade, crammed a few bananas into my mouth then headed back up course to find Josh.  He had about three-quarters of a mile to go when I found him.  I didn’t want to confuse the finish volunteers by coming through a second time, so I stayed with him as long as I could, then ran ahead and met him at the finish line.  It was pretty awesome to see him cross. He put a lot of work into his training and has improved quite a bit in the short time he’s been at it. He laments about how slow he thinks he is, but I predict that before long it’ll be me struggling to keep up with him. Good job, Josh!

Looking forward, I’m planning on taking a short running break for the next week, maybe two, to tackle some projects around the house and possibly spend some quality time with my road bike.  We’re registered for the Fox Cities Half Marathon in Appleton, WI in mid-September and are contemplating doing the Canal Run in mid-July, but that’s about it.  I’m glad to be done with training!

Remember the song “The Final Countdown” from way back in 1980-something by Europe? They were a hair band from Sweden and pretty typical of all the other hair bands in the 80’s – big, teased blonde hair & tight leather pants. I never really liked the band or the song, but I heard it on the radio the other day and it’s been annoyingly rolling around in my head ever since.  However, it’s conveniently apropos, so here’s hoping that using it as the inspiration for my title will purge it from my brain.  Or, at least pass it into yours. Ha!

My first tapering week has come to a close. Thanks to a bout of food poisoning (thanks a lot Pilgrim River Steakhouse), I was only able to complete two of my runs – Monday & today.  Oh well, I suppose the extra tapering can’t hurt.

So, weekly recap: Monday,  @ 10:08; Saturday, 5 @ 11:08.  Monday’s run finalized the month of April where I logged 77 miles.  That’s my highest monthly running mileage ever, which is pretty major milestone for me.  Usually at this point in my training, I’m usually injured and looking at the upcoming race with a “fingers-crossed I hope this works out” mentality.  But today, I’m healthy and injury-free.  Oh, and looking for some wood to knock on. Or, as Josh mentioned, a bubble to walk around in.

Next week, we have two very short 2 mile runs and that’s all until race day.  Feels good to be (almost) done!

Random, we used to have a dog that slept with his legs straight out behind him, but I’ve never seen a cat do it until Pippen.

He also chews on sticks, plays fetch and makes “barooo” noises like a hound.  Maybe he really is part dog?