Running Chick

My second half marathon is done. I ran in the Journeys Half Marathon on Saturday May 10th in Eagle River, WI.

My time wasn't as good as I was hoping it'd be. It was probably because I started out too conservatively with my pace and couldn't make it up in the later miles. That's annoying. The course was pretty flat aside from a moderate hill on mile 7. Thanks to my hill training, I passed quite a few folks on this hill. That was nice. There was about a half-mile stretch of the last two miles that was torn up due to construction. The ground switched from hard-packed to loose and rocky numerous times, which got really annoying. Good thing it was only a half-mile because anything longer would have been harder to take.

I was in much better condition for this race than the Fox Cities HM, which I ran back in September. My legs held out pretty well. My quads got a bit tight in the later miles but I was able to manage them doing some light stretching at the water stops. Last year, my legs gave out around the 9th mile and I did a ton of walking in the last two miles. That sucked.

My pre-race fuel was one and a half Pemmican bars. I had two Hammer Gels during the run, at miles 5 and 9. I also had one Shot Block for each mile that I didn't take gels, starting at mile 4. I probably didn't need to take that many Blocks, but I was bored. I had water at each aid station after the first one and had Gatorade at the mile 10 station. I walked for about one minute every mile, but after an hour, I think I may have walked longer than than. It was harder to tell because my 205 doesn't display seconds once it hits an hour and I had to estimate my time. I know I was over on some. I ended up with one blister on the second toe of my left foot which was caused by the tape on my big toe rubbing against it. I noticed it at mile 4 and finally stopped to fix it at mile 6. I didn't have any bandages with me, so I ended up taking the tape off of my big toe completely. Note to self: carry bandages next time.

Here are my results (12 minutes faster than my last race):

overall place:	299 out of 388
division place:	28 out of 37
time:	2:30:38
pace:	11:30

I'm taking the next week or two off while Josh and I finish up the drywall on my bathroom then it's back into training for the Fox Cities HM on September 21. I'm considering doing the Hodag 10k on June 28th. I might attempt a race in July and another in August, if I can find something interesting.

We hauled the trailer home in a snowstorm yesterday. A snowstorm in May! Honestly.

It's pretty much ready to go. I didn't have much more to do other than put the stuff back in it. I cleaned it really well last fall before it went into storage so I didn't have much to do on that front. A big bonus was that we successfully plugged all the holes where the mice were getting in and I didn't have any mice poop to clean up this year. The only thing I really had to do was take the bedding home and wash it all, which I did last night. It's ready to go back in the trailer. There are a few things that Josh wants to do before we leave - check the wheel bearings and tire pressure, and grease the jacks and hitch. Oh, and my Tahoe needs it's oil changed and the summer tires put on. Hmm. I guess we're not doing as well as I thought we were. Oh well, still lots of time.

I got my 10-mile run in this morning. The first six miles went pretty well. Then when I turned the corner from Denton Road onto US41 toward Houghton I was met with a gale-force wind and the last four miles completely sucked. The wind relentless! I had to keep my head down to use the brim of my hat as a buffer because when I didn't, the wind made my eyes water. My legs were aching trying to keep my forward momentum and finally, with about a mile left to go and mentally and physically exhausted, I gave up and turned around and ran the last bit with the wind. I felt completely exhausted when I finished. More so than when I ran my 9-miler out to Chassell and that was completely uphill! I've decided that I'll take uphills over wind any day. That's my last long run before next weekend. I'll probably run three days next week, but only a couple of miles each time.

My hip didn't bother me too much, just enough to remind me that it was there. My blister situation is much improved, but I did get two small ones on my big toes. I'm not worried about them, I'll just tape up my toes on race day and I'll be just fine.

Six days to go!

The weather is not cooperating for anything I need to get done before we leave for Eagle River next week.

I need to get in a final long run this weekend but the weather has been awful. It's been cold, windy and rainy for the last two days. Tomorrow isn't looking any better. I don't want to have to run in this type of weather, but I may be forced to, I have to get those miles in.

I need to get the trailer out of storage and get it ready for the trip, which I was hoping to do last night but we decided to change our minds due to the giant thunderstorm that came through. I don't have a ton to do with the trailer because I always give it a good cleaning before I put it into storage in the fall, but there's still a lot of trailer-related things that need to get done before we take off.

Plus, now there's a chance I may need to work on Wednesday morning so our customer service department can send out the student bills. I'm the only one who can load and process the billing download into our billing system, yay. I guess it's my fault for telling them that I probably wouldn't be heading out of town until late morning/early afternoon on Wednesday. I told them that I'd come in if it was critical, but I'd prefer not to. We'll see how things go.

I've been obsessively checking the long-range forecast for Eagle River on the day of the race. There's three different weather sites I look at and each one of them has a different forecast. It'll either be sunny and in the 60s or rainy and in the 50s. This means that I have absolutely no clue what to wear on race day and I'm going to have to take all my running gear in order to be prepared to any type of weather. Bah.

I have a feeling that these next few days are going to be a crazy and I'm not going to be happy until we're settled in the campground.