Week in Review (May 18 - May 24)

Tuesday (16,309 steps) - Work in the office. I had planned on running 4.3(ish) miles at lunch for my 43rd birthday. Lucky me, it was drizzling rain when I headed out. I figured it wouldn't be "that bad" - but it unfortunately started pouring and I got completely drenched. The good thing about that is there wasn't a million people on the bike path. I did see my first set of goslings for the year - they are pretty adorable.

Headed home to find that A had lettered in orchestra, which was pretty exciting!

Ben planned a surprise "birthday party" for me at the house. Kristin & Doug, Jeramiah & Eleanor and Tyler came over for pizza and beers in the backyard. I forgot to get a picture of the German Chocolate cake that Kristin made - it was DELICIOUS.

Wednesday (20,842 steps) - Work from home. Kristin sent me a last minute text to ask if I wanted to  join her and Tyler for a run at lunch. I didn't want to run a lot, but I joined them for the first couple miles until they took off for the tempo part of the run. I felt really slow, but my pace overall was good, and my paces are still trending down, which is fun. Took Pika for a walk. The end?

Thursday (17,730 steps) - Work from home. 

Packed for our trip and took Pika for a walk. Lake is finally filling up, it's looking better!

The owls are back!

Maureen came over after she dropped Colfax off with Kristin to spend the night so we could all ride to the airport together. Ended up being a much later night than I planned.

Friday (11,825 steps) - We had to be up around 4 am to get ready and go to the airport. We were a bit worried when we saw the line for security, but it moved really fast. We met up with Mike at the gate and then headed to the bar to grab a beer (yes, at 7:00 am) before boarding our flight.

Don't remember too much about the flight, other than it was a little turbulent, but I feel like my last few flights have all been like that. Once we deplaned I got A a coffee from Dunkin, and we had plans to stop at a brewery on our way to Graford. We had to take a shuttle to get our rental car, and that took a lot longer than we planned. When we arrived, it was PACKED. I had reserved through Thrifty, and when I got to their counter they were directing everyone to go to the Dollar line. THAT HAD A MILLION PEOPLE IN IT AND TWO PEOPLE WORKING. I flipped out and after 10 minutes we had not moved in the line, so I had Ben go over to the Alamo counter to see if they 1). had any cars and 2). how many billions of dollars they might cost. He was able to reserve a car while in line (only one person ahead of him) for "only" $120 more (for a total of $406 for two days). We got the second to last car on the lot, a Toyota Camry. By now it's already almost noon (after having landed at 10:40). Traffic was awful and there was a lot of construction, plus Ben said the car was a piece of crap and when we stopped at Whataburger to get a quick bite to eat, he stayed in the car to call roadside to ask what to do.

We finally got a gal on the phone that asked what zip code we were in and directed us to a car rental location inside a car dealership in Ft. Worth. She told us we would be able to "swap out cars." As we were pulling into the lot, Ben got a call from the on-site manager at the car rental location that swapping out cars would NOT be an option because they don't operate off the same computer system. He suggested we visit the NTB across the parking lot and have them assess what was going on, and anything that needed to be done could be "billed to Alamo." The girls decided to go for a walk while the car was being looked at. 

After an hour(ish), the guy comes out, telling us the rear tires are separated and he is working with Alamo to get the repairs authorized by Alamo. Alamo refuses to authorize and we are back on the phone figuring out what to do. Now that we know what is wrong, we certainly are not going to drive it all the way back to the airport like they suggest. Their next best solution is "maybe we can get a replacement car to you in 4-6 hours." Meanwhile, it is now after 3:00, and we have been dealing with this for HOURS. More phone calls, being on hold, no answers. I've put out a request on FB, and my friend who lives in Dallas has asked for ride availability for people heading to Graford, but time is ticking and we are running out of options. We got back to the car dealership and Ben talks face to face with the on-site manager and basically is defeated and asking for ANY help. They are not able to rent us a car from there because they are not open on Sunday and we can't return at the airport. A mom/son behind him hears the story and offers to give us a ride back to the airport, but we still have to figure out what to do with the other car. Finally we have a solution that we can leave the car at the dealership (where they will have it towed, even though they wanted us to drive it) and they will send an Uber to get us back to the airport. We get the Uber text and it says that our driver will be there in 29 minutes (it's after 4 pm now) with his CR-V. Immediately I'm like, wtf, a CR-V is not big enough for this many people... The mom/son ask if we need a ride and are willing to wait while we confirm the Uber vehicle. Ben keeps calling and the guy is not answering. He texts back a few minutes before arriving that he cannot call because he is deaf. He doesn't answer regarding vehicle type, so we wait for him to arrive, and yes, the car is too small. Ariel tries to communicate via ASL and guy tries to sign that we can just squeeze in. No.

We accept the offer from complete strangers for the 30 minute ride back to the airport. Turns out they were SUPER nice. The girls rode with the woman, Kathy, who is a retired nurse. The guys rode with Dustin, the son, who is a realtor and opened a successful restaurant (during COVID!) They wouldn't take any money from us, but asked if we would want to stop by for food on our way to of town on Sunday. It's about 5:15 at this point.

You'd think this would be the end of our drama... We get back in line at Alamo, and when Ben gets to the counter, the guy had no idea who we were, so even though we were told a car would be ready he had to go through the whole store again. The guy has to talk to the manager, and disappears for about a half hour. He comes back at 5:57 (I know, because I looked) indicating that there is a problem, because they cannot locate the car we left at the dealership. Thankfully, Ben had taken the manager's business cards, and they were able to get him on the phone - they closed at 6 pm and if they would have been even a few minutes slower, who knows how we would have gotten this resolved. Another 15-20 minutes and the Alamo onsite manager gets us into a Jeep Grand Cherokee, insisting that our whole car rental would be comped. Once again, we are on the road...

Our brewery idea scrapped, because even if we didn't stop at all, it would be after 8 before we arrived at our cabin. We stopped for pizza in a tiny town about 15 minutes away from Possum Kingdom, and it was delicious.

We had just enough time to stop at a small liquor store to buy some beer. We got to the cabin at 9:15, after meeting up with Lisa to get our keys. We had barely enough time to get everything ready for morning, since we had a 4 am wake up call.

Saturday (113,038 steps) - Possum's Revenge 52 Mile. 

Sunday (12,711 steps) - People started moving around about 9:30, which meant that Ben and I had only gotten 2-3 hours of very restless sleep. Everyone was piddling around, and I was trying to pack and organize. Even with our $300 a night cabin, we had to take all the trash out and clean everything up so as not to get charged even more. Lisa had bought me a birthday cake and we ate as much as we could before heading out.

It poured the whole drive, and we stopped in Ft. Worth at Dustin's restaurant, the Blue Mound Cafe. Maureen and I split French toast and a smother biscuit/gravy/hashbrown thing. It was DELICIOUS.

We decided we had enough time for a quick beer and stopped at False Idol, which had both tasty beer and a great patio. 

Our flight was a tad turbulent, but nothing crazy. We arrived home on time, with Ben dropping Maureen off at Kristin's to pick up the dogs. We walked them home while Ben and Ariel picked up wings for a LATE dinner.

Monday (11,254 steps) - Dead. Work from home, and exhausted all morning. Took Pika for a walk.

Tyler came over after work for happy hour, and as a result we ate dinner really late, which meant bed was late too.

Stats:

• 203,709 steps
• 57.99 miles run
• 0 minutes of Peloton
• 0 minutes rowing
• 5 minutes of strength training

Possum's Revenge 52 Miler (Race Recap)

Graford, TX

Saturday, May 22

Weather - Overcast and humid

We had originally signed up to run this in 2020, and when the race gave us the opportunity to roll our entry over to this year, we jumped on the opportunity. I had planned on doing the 69 miler for the amazing buckled, but a week out, I opted to drop down to the 52 miler.

Most of our friends that were signed up last year opted to join us, and we were excited to hit the trails! I had planned to run the 69 miler with Lesley, and even though I had dropped distances, we planned to stick together since our races started at the same time.

Race Day

I had the alarm set for 4:15, but shockingly, I woke up before the alarm went off. Since we had arrived so late the night before, I wanted to be sure I had time to get ready and take a quick shower before heading out. I had laid out most of my stuff, but wanted to double check my gear before leaving. Even though I was "only" running 52 miles, I still planned on having a drop bag with a change of clothes - mostly because I was starting in a sleeveless top and I wasn't sure if I was going to have my underarm chafing.

Thankfully, we were staying very close to the start line, and the map that was included was helpful in getting to the start line - especially since it was pitch black! We parked the car with plenty of time to find out where to leave my drop bag and use the bathroom a few times. I wasn't sure how dark it was going to be when we started (at 6:00), so I had my headlamp ready to go. Lesley found us before the race briefing and I got to meet her husband. (As a side note, Lesley is really tall, and her husband is even taller - 6'4"!)

Pre-race selfie!

Loop 1 (4:34:46)

Lesley convinced me that I could start without actually needing my headlamp, and she was right. She thought that even though it had been raining for a week, that the trail would be pretty dry - and at least the sand wouldn't be as bad. Within a mile, I was ecstatic that I had dropped distances. It was so humid, and the trail was way different than I expected. There was sand. Tree roots. Rocks. More climbing than I thought there would be. I was in a great mood because I was able to spend time with Lesley AND I was no longer worried about cutoffs, nor did I have to run nearly 70 miles.

The plan was to take it easy, and keep the pace where Lesley would be on pace for a finish. We had a blast chatting and the first loop went by without anything exciting happening. I don't think I even took any pictures the first loop. A guy named Eric latched onto us early in - he was also running the 52 miler. He kept up with us until the second to last aid station in the loop, where he said he was going to hang back and get more fuel.

We saw Ben a few times, and he was looking good the first loop.

Loop 2 (5:15:46)

We were in and out of the start/finish pretty quick after the first loop. Slowed down a bit, but not by too much. Lesley was starting to suffer a bit more, she was having some breathing issues. The other distances had started at staggering times after us, and the first person we saw that I knew was Lisa! Lesley knew a TON of people on the course (which makes sense, the race was only a few hours from where she lives). 

I finally took some pictures during this loop, although I didn't get any great shots of just how technical the trails actually were.

Because of the "complicated" route that was a lot of "crazy 8's" and loops, we saw people we knew! First was Mike, who was running the 17 miler, and then later we ran into Annette and Maureen - who were also running the 17 miler.

Every time I saw this I thought it looked like Jason's mask - scary!

This also looked like a scary cactus, haha

I wasn't sure that Lesley was going to continue. By mile-ish 32 she was in pretty rough shape. She said she was taking it aid station by aid station, but I wasn't super optimistic. We walked a LOT towards the end of this loop. I had noticed I was chafing under my arms mid-loop, so I planned on swapping shirts after coming in. The Colorado friends were all hanging out waiting for me (dawwww) and got some pictures.

Not a great picture...

This is better... I'm happy to see people!

Lesley veered off to chat with her husband and I opted to have a beer with my friends before heading back out for my last loop.

Loop 3 (5:29:31)

Lesley decided to go back out, which was nice! Between all of the walking and the extended aid station breaks, she was really going to need to pick it up to stay on pace for a finish. We had banked enough time that a brisk walk was fine. We were a few miles into our loop when we saw two girls walking towards us - on a section where there shouldn't have been two-way traffic. They were running the 52K and had missed the turn off for the finish line! We offered to let them stick with us until we could get them back to where they missed the turn. They were pretty upset about the additional mileage, and commented that we walked really fast. We got them on their way, and we continued on. We hit the first aid station of the loop and Lesley was in pretty rough shape. She still headed out, but we were really going to need to move it. We had walked the whole first 6.5 mile section, and continued walking.

About halfway to the next aid station, she decided to drop. We were at a trailhead that was accessible by car, so she used my phone to call her husband to pick her up. Once I was confident that she was going to be ok, I headed back in to finish things up. After walking so long I was in the mood to run, and the rest of the race went by pretty quick. I was in and out of aid stations fast and feeling good! At this point, the main goal was to try to finish before it got too dark so my headlamp time would be limited.

When I returned to the same aid station where Lesley had dropped, Maureen, Annette & Lisa were there! They told me that Ben had just been there maybe 10 minutes earlier... That boosted my spirits so I headed out in a run to see if I could catch him. I saw him sitting at the final aid station and I figured it would motivate him to get moving if he saw me come in, but he still sat there. I grabbed a cup of coke and told him I would see him at the finish line. I had to use my head lamp the last couple miles since I was in a wooded area. The girl who left right before me was someone we had met at Rocky Raccoon a few years ago - she apparently hadn't planned on being out that late as she was using her phone for light!

I ran pretty strong into the finish - and everyone was STILL waiting for me to come in!! It was really sweet.

Not QUITE as cool as the buckle, but still pretty nifty.

I had a beer, and Lesley had brought me a burger and fries (isn't she sweet??) It was another 15-20 minutes before Ben came in, and I think he was irritated that I hadn't waited and/or run with him for those few miles. He asked if I could come back with a battery for his Kogalla, so we would need to come back at some point.

Official Time - 15:20:03

Overall Place - 17/23

Gender Place - 5/8

Garmin Time - 15:19:51

Miles 1-5 - 15:34, 16:44, 16:36, 15:28, 14:40

Miles 6-10 - 17:34, 18:02, 17:21, 15:24, 18:01

Miles 11-15 - 17:27, 16:53, 18:28, 14:56, 18:27

Miles 16-20 - 16:02, 19:30, 18:08, 17:24, 17:54

Miles 21-25 - 16:51, 18:24, 21:46, 18:54, 17:55

Miles 26-30 - 18:47, 21:35, 17:18, 20:08, 17:43

Miles 31-35 - 23:26, 20:58, 16:45, 28:03, 20:39

Miles 36-40 - 20:39, 20:36, 19:17, 21:56, 26:57

Miles 41-45 - 21:24, 23:54, 16:04, 19:34, 15:10

Miles 46-50ish - 17:13, 15:48, 17:30, 17:25, 12:36

 

Ariel ran the 8 miler and did really well! She got 22nd overall and 7th female! She actually could have probably been a half dozen people up, but she ran into Ben and walked with him for a bit. Sharing the below picture of her with our friend Greg, who also did the 8 miler. Aren't they adorable?! 

Thoughts:

• The medal/buckle was what enticed us to run this in the first place. I'm a bit jealous of Ben's buckle, but the medal is cool too.
• Shirt is meh - cute pattern, but a unisex cotton tee, so I'll never wear it.
• TROT puts on amazing events! Great aid stations and good trail markings. I doubt I'll run THIS race again, but if there is ever a great airfare deal and car rental costs ever go back down I'd do another event with them.