Week(s) in Review (March 3 - March 16)

Tuesday, March 3 (17,661 steps) - 50 minutes on the Crossramp and an upper body video.

Wednesday, March 4 (16,750 steps) - 4 miles on the treadmill. Felt dizzy and slightly sick the whole time so it was not a great time.

Thursday, March 5 (19,201 steps) - Yet another blah run on the treadmill, 5 miles.

Friday, March 6 (8,664 steps) - Clearly, I did nothing.

Saturday, March 7 (20,994 steps) - An "unofficial" Runners Roost run was planned for Waterton Canyon. I wanted to go but didn't want to pawn A off on my parents. I was given the suggestion to bring A along with her bike, so I did. Ended up running late because A's bike had a flat and I don't have a bike pump so my dad had to come over.

 

 

It was a gorgeous day for running. I was way overdressed and my legs were SO ANGRY - return of the FIRE CALVES. I was chatting with Laura (one of the Roost ladies) and was telling her about my symptoms with my angry calves. She though it sounded a lot like exertion compartment syndrome. When I got back to the car and looked it up, it sounded about right. The tightness, the pain and the numbness - all signs. Anyway, we got just over 6 miles in and A had a great time.

 

 

Kids were panning for gold...

 

 

Sunday, March 8 (10,798 steps) Got a text from my older sister asking if we wanted to go to the climbing gym with her in Boulder. Sounded like fun, so of course we went up there.

 

 

 

A pretty much had no fear. I freaked out about a third of the way into my first climb. After I got used to it, it wasn't nearly as bad. We both had a great time and I could not believe how sore my inner arms were (for daaaays). We went to lunch together with my sister, her husband and kids. Always nice to see them, we need to do it more often. A and I were pretty tired but we still did a short run at the lake.

 

 

We were both exhausted and ended up playing with Legos for a bulk of the evening. I think these "bad guys" from the Minecraft sets are adorable.

 

 

Monday, March 9 (14,967 steps) - So my legs were dead. Still. I walked for a bit on the treadmill at the gym. I made an appointment to go to Accelerate Health to have them possible test my legs for this compartment syndrome.

Tuesday, March 10 (18,123 steps) - I had an appointment during lunch to have my legs looked at. The therapist agreed that my legs were ridiculously tight. She did some ART therapy (essentially a form of deep tissue massage) and suggested that I come back in a few days. More walking.

Wednesday, March 11 (11,967 steps) Open house at work now that we have been in our new space for a few months.

 

 

Thursday, March 12 (11,383 steps) Went back to get more ART done during lunch. She also did some dry needling, which left my calves VERY tender. Finally finally FINALLY - we had our team meeting for the Runners Roost race team!! I was so excited to meet all my teammates and to finally get my gear for the season. I was really pleased to find out that our color this year is NEON YELLOW!! Neon is my favorite :)

 

 

 

Came down with a full-blown cold. By the time I got home I was congested and having a hard time breathing. More tired than usual and feeling lethargic.

Friday, March 13 (12,615 steps) Worked, popped zinc and cold medicine all day long, ate pizza, drove to Salida.

Saturday, March 14 (35,791 steps) Run Through Time half marathon.

 

 

 

When we got back to Denver I picked up A at my parents, took a super fast shower and met up with Jessa and Lisa for the St. Patrick's Day festival in Olde Town for Jessa's birthday/St. Patricks. We spent most of the time at the festival standing in line for face painting for Jessa's son. When the festival was done we went to get dinner, ice cream and a beer at the Arvada Brewery. Fun day!

 

 

 

Sunday, March 15 (15,219 steps) Run around Sloans Lake with A in the morning. For the first time I had to tell A to slow down. My legs were still so pissed at me. Running a trail half with a crapload of gain was probably not the smartest and maybe my "shake out" run not a great idea either...

 

 

We spent the afternoon with Jessa and her son - a few hours of that was at the park. Such a gorgeous day for Colorado "spring."

 

 

Monday, March 16 (18,258 steps) Still no running. A walk on the treadmill at the gym. Did a legs/squats video.

 

W/E March 9

• 109,035 steps
• 16.4 miles run
• 2 hours, 50 minutes of cross training
• 31 minutes of strength/stretching

W/E March 16

• 123,356 steps
• 15.8 miles run
• No cross training, but lots of boring treadmill walks
• 12 minutes of strength stretching

Everything Else

• Certainly a busy few weeks. Lots of stuff going on! Heading into the long spring/summer race season and getting all the little things done.
• A and I have been "clean sweeping" the last few weeks. We have donated an embarrassing amount of clothes and toys and books, etc. It certainly is a reminder (if only for a while) of how much stuff we accumulate and how much we DO NOT NEED.
• Still trying to figure out what is going on with my legs. Really need to be better about doing the videos and cross training, using my Roll 8 or stick and STRETCHING... I have barely been doing any running at all the last few weeks.
• With ^ that said, of course you know that I have to follow-up with my next idiotic statement. I am heading back to Moab this weekend for my 24 hours race. It will be interesting to see what I can get done...
• Work is still great by the way.
• Nothing else.

Run Through Time Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Saturday, March 14
Salida, CO
Half Marathon #127
Colorado Half #60
Weather - mild and sunny

L had not done the Run Through Time half marathon yet (I ran it alone in 2012), so I agreed to join her - since I love trail running! Even though when I ran I just drove up in the morning, L wanted to drive down on Friday night. After a quick pizza dinner after I got home from work, we started the drive and arrived in Salida around 9 pm. Ironically, we ended up at the same hotel where we stayed when we ran the Autumn Color Run last fall. I wasn't in bed until about 11 but the race didn't start until 9 so it wasn't too late.

The marathon started at 8 and the half started at 9. We were only a few miles from the start so we got up around 7:15 and headed over to the SteamPlant arriving just before 8. It was a bit chilly so we stayed in the car for a bit before heading in to get our bibs. On the way in I ran into Fort Collins Roost teammate Melody (and her husband Joel). Yep, the mountain behind us we would be running up...

We picked up our bibs and used the indoor bathrooms before heading back to the car to get the rest of our stuff. Another trip to the bathroom left us getting to the start only a few minutes before the start.

I had NO idea what to expect, in terms of my legs. I am ridiculously far behind in blogging, but my legs (specifically my calves) have been AWFUL, so I had been in to get ART and dry needling and had not run all week. Well, the plan was to start out slow and hopefully not be in too much pain. Combine all that with the cold I had been suffering from for the last few days and you can imagine I wasn't super pumped about all the climbing.

I started in the back and had to take my first walk break in the first mile (an early climb). I had started out wearing my long sleeve, but it was already too hot. I had to stop to take off my vest to get the long sleeve shirt off. Then the fastest mile of the day along the road before we began the climb up:

The trail is not that technical in this section. It is just a bit narrow and it is steep. My legs are angry. Why are they so awful??? I thankfully was not the last person up, but I wasn't having an easy time. It's already so hard to remember last weekend, I really should not wait so long to post.

The race director had emailed us to let us know that the trail was going to be muddy and icy and spots and I was surprised that this side of the course was BONE DRY.

The views out here are amazing. I got a bit of running before heading into mile 4, where the climbs REALLY start... We get to the top of a pretty intense climb and have a nice downhill before going into the worst climb of the race. Like 500 feet of gain in one mile up a jeep trail to get back to the aid station. So hard. So tired! Legs so angry :(

Heading into the aid station I see a big 2 liter of soda and I was thinking how tasty Mountain Dew would taste. BUT THEN I SAW PBR!!! BEER!!! A cute couple that was visiting from Florida had a volunteer take their picture with the snow capped mountains in the background and I had her take mine as well:

I was confused and thought the worst of it was done. We had a nice "flatter" and somewhat "downhill" section, but this is where the slog really started! There was a lot of snow and ice and therefore... mud.

I had forgotten that there as another decent climb around mile 8. Then some downhills and rollers.

I wish I could remember more, but I can't. I think I passed a half dozen people. With the marathon starting an hour earlier I actually was getting passed by the super fast marathoners. That isn't fun on a muddy single track. I tripped a few times but no fall, so that was nice.

I was slogging from the cold, from the lack of fitness and from the dumb angry stupid leg situation I have going on. But I really could not have asked for a more beautiful day on the trails, even IF I did run about 9 minutes slower than the previous year. (Of course that was the year I for real TRAINED for a 100 and was pretty healthy).

No medals apparently means I am awkward and don't know what to do with my hands

Roost team! (Amy on my left was 4th female in the marathon!)

Official Time - 3:11:14 (gun time)
Overall Place - 111/141
Garmin Time - 3:10:29
Garmin Distance - 13.34 miles
Garmin Pace - 14:17
Mile 1 - 13:12
Mile 2 - 11:33
Mile 3 - 13:42
Mile 4 - 15:25
Mile 5 - 14:54
Mile 6 - 12:26
Mile 7 - 20:52 (including beer slamming and picture)
Mile 8 - 16:12
Mile 9 - 14:16
Mile 10 - 14:08
Mile 11 - 14:41
Mile 12 - 13:15
Mile 13 - 12:14
Mile 13.3ish - 10:55

Thoughts:

• Last time I ran this they had a tee shirt. This year, a tech shirt - bright pink for females and bright orange for males. I opted not to take mine since I have so many shirts I don't wear.

• No medal, but I expected that.
• I registered at the end of January and think I only paid about $45, so it is a great price. The marathon wasn't too much more - maybe $65 or $70?
• Three aid stations on the course - all cup free. Which is nice! I didn't see any litter on the course. I think they probably had good food but I didn't take any. Wasn't super hungry for once.
• Good post-race food and had beers for purchase.
• I would run this again for sure! Only downfall is the drive to and from. It is doable to drive in the morning as long as the weather cooperates.

Autumn Color Run (Race Recap)

Saturday, September 20
Buena Vista, CO
Half Marathon #117
Colorado Half #53
Weather - ALL OF THE SUN

I was really looking forward to a fast, pretty and "cooler" fall-ish race. 1 out of 3?

I left work at 2:45 so that we could make the drive to Buena Vista without driving in the dark. Most of the drive is on a two-lane road and we still ended up hitting substantial amounts of traffic. It took much longer to get there than we would have liked. There was no way we were going to have enough time to pick up our packets, as that was only open until 5:00 pm.We didn't arrive until close to 7. L had suggested that we eat at the Eddyline Brewery - and I certainly wasn't going to object. As is our luck, the line was OUT THE DOOR, but there was nowhere else to really go. They were serving drinks if you were waiting in the lobby, so I got the Pumpkin Patch beer that was on tap - pretty good, and it saved me from getting really hangry. The wait for the food was long, but not unreasonable considering how busy they were. We got side salads and split a small pizza. I had a second beer. All in all, food is good, but they are severely understaffed.

We still had about a 25 minute drive to our hotel in Salida (a LOT cheaper than staying in Buena Vista). We got to the hotel around 9:00, and went right to bed.

Race Day

Already irritated with a 9 am start. WHY SO LATE??? The shuttle buses to the start were to leave at 8:15, so we figured with only about 250 runners, allowing 30 minutes to park and pick up our stuff would be PLENTY of time. Turns out, no.

First issue. This race doesn't sell "registrations" - they sell "tickets" - like a concert ticket. They want you to print out said ticket, print out and fill out a waiver and have all that ready when you pick up your bib. It's 2014. Why on earth are we duplicating everything? Why isn't all the information I entered online still there? So they DID require you to have all this, yet most people didn't. So all the people waiting in line are filling this out when they get to the front. They have the half marathon pick up divided into two lines. A-J and everyone else. Everyone but L seemed to be in the second half. And the volunteer for the A-J people couldn't seem to assist. With only about a half dozen people in front of me, it took almost 20 minutes to get my bib.

Went through the bathroom line and then we had to run back to the car to get our stuff and get back to the buses. We had 7 minutes to do that. We were parked over a quarter mile away, so we had to book it...

Get to the bus with 2 minutes to spare. And then we sit. And sit. And sit. And sit. And sit. The buses didn't leave until after 8:30. We had to drive out of town, up into the hills on a dirt road. Did you know that school buses don't go especially fast? We arrive at 9:01. Remember that the race was supposed to start at 9?

So there are only 2 bathrooms at the start, but I really have to pee, and bouncing up and down for 30 minutes only made it worse. There is no signage where the start is. There is no one telling us when the race is going to start, because obviously it is going to start late.

Pretty view in line for the bathroom

There are a lot of people in front of us and behind us as well. The buses have started to turn around but most have not left yet. We know we are going to be running down the road we just came in on, but don't know how far down. We start walking to the start, about 9:10.

A woman yells - they are getting ready to start. Uh. That's nice. WHERE? WHEN? We see a guy with a camera. "IS THIS THE START??" Apparently. No start line. Great. The race is not chip timed, we have no idea how long people have been running. I am trying to take it easy, I am feeling rushed, and it is already so hot and sunny. The views were amazing though, so I took quite a few pictures.

I got through the first mile feeling mostly ok. But it was ALL DOWNHILL FROM THERE (literally?) I was thinking that I might have a decent race. Mostly downhill. However, I did NOT count on the extra late start and the fact that it was the sunniest ever ever ever. My legs started cramping very early on, so I had a very rough second mile. Happy I got this shot of Cottonwood Lake:

The road was not closed to traffic, and it was pretty wide so there wasn't really a safety issue with cars. However, a lot of dirt got kicked up, which wasn't fun. The road was also extremely grooved and rutted. It felt a lot like downhill skiing over moguls. Not fun.

The couple miles until the first aid station went mostly ok. I passed a few people on the downhill. Aid station around mile 4. TINIEST CUPS EVER. 2 oz cups? Maybe??? There were no gels, but I think there were cut up bananas and oranges. I took a miniature cup of water and kept going. Shortly after the aid station we had a few decent uphills. Walked a bit, but still managed a decent pace with the accompanying downhill. Around mile 6 is when we came out of the semi-shaded hills. AND IT WAS THE HOTTEST AND SUNNIEST EVER. We moved briefly onto the main road. NOT closed to traffic and a super tiny bike lane. I ran ok until the next aid station around mile 7 or 7.5. And then I pretty much died. We ran a loop on a country dirt road for about 3 miles. It was hot. It was exposed. It was supposedly downhill-ish, but my legs were TRASHED. Everyone near me was complaining about the heat and the altitude (apparently the city of Buena Vista is about 8,000' and we started closer to 9,500').

I just wanted to be done. I walked SO SO SO much. It helped for a bit, then I would try to run and I would only be able to manage a few minutes before my legs wanted to quit. The views were still nice, even once we were out of the hills.

Last aid station was about mile 10.5. The last 3 miles was ALL on the main road. Which I really hated. Again, a super narrow bike path and open to traffic. It was hard to pass (I somehow actually DID pass a few people).

The race counted down miles left, which I found annoying. I knew I was close to town and thought I could run it in strong. Nope. I was walking with less than a quarter mile to go. There were TONS of people hanging out in the park by the finish and it was crowded and all of a sudden I had a volunteer grab my arm and yell about needing the tag of the bottom of my bib. There was no actual finish line, and I hadn't even STOPPED MOVING. I snapped back that he needed to wait a second. It was for real the most angry I have ever been at a finish line. If you don't want an actual finish line, THAT IS FINE. But wait until someone has stopped MOVING before you assault them. A kid tossed my medal at me and I moved off to find L.

Found L and a friend we met at Runapalooza (David? I am so bad with names). Grabbed a quick treat from the finish area and agreed that we would eat at the brewery in town again before heading back home.

Bib Number - 262
Official Time - 2:17:11 (Not sure how this is faster than my Garmin time since we missed the start it should be at least a few minutes slower?)
Overall Place - 184/263
Gender Place - 124/190
Division Place - 46/66
Garmin Time - 2:18:01
Mile 1- 9:58
Mile 2 - 11:57
Mile 3 - 9:03
Mile 4 - 9:24
Mile 5 - 10:09
Mile 6 - 9:53
Mile 7 - 9:42
Mile 8 - 12:00
Mile 9 - 10:34
Mile 10 - 11:10
Mile 11 - 11:28
Mile 12 - 11:22
Mile 13 - 11:13
Mile 13xx - 9:20

Thoughts:

• WTF. So complicated and disorganized. How on earth this race has been put on for 30 years is beyond me. The tickets. The waivers. The shuttle bus fiasco. Bathroom shortages (NONE on course either).
• Aid stations - Volunteers seemed friendly enough. Small cups = stupid, especially when there are only THREE aid stations. Bring your own nutrition, no  gels on course either.
• So glad I had my Orange Mud vest. I would have perished without my liquids. Only 3 aid stations with it starting that late and being so not. NO!
• Holy crap with the late start. So hot and sunny. Should have started NO LATER than 7:30 (I would prefer just after sunrise, but that's just me). Running on hot asphalt with NO shade after 11 in the morning is lunacy.
• The finish line was so crowded and a complete cluster. I did NOT like being grabbed, I did NOT like being rushed. I don't understand why that was so disorganized as well.
• The course itself was nice, but at least part of the road should have been blocked off, with at least safety cones or SOMETHING. Some of those vehicles got pretty darn close.
• The shirt looks like it might be nice (soft cottony-y, not like a tech tee), although I have not worn it.
• IMO - not worth it. While I LOVED the scenery, I was so irritated with the other aspects of the race that I just did not have a good time. I will not run this event again.
• L, however, ran a faux PR!!