Across the Years (Race Recap)

Glendale, AZ
Friday, December 30 - Sunday, January 1
Ultra marathon #21
Weather - Pleasant day 1, then #alltherain

Packing

In a moment of insanity (and ok, thriftiness) I booked my outbound flight on Frontier. With all the drama over Christmas about people having missed and incredibly delayed flights, I was really stressed out. I was also a bit panicky about the baggage rules. I studied the "personal item" information pretty carefully and decided that I could totally pack everything I needed into that so I wouldn't have to pay for a carry-on. See?

Thursday

Went to work in the morning. Headed out to the airport around lunch time. The lines at security were not very long and I was at the gate in plenty of time. I was incredibly amazed that the plane was there on time, we boarded on-time and we departed on time. However, it's been a LONG time since I flew Frontier. The seats are completely different. No more TV's on the back. No cushioning and the tiniest "tray tables" ever. I'm a tiny person and I hated this. It was so uncomfortable. However, I only paid $18.10 for the flight, and at least it was short, so there's that. Arrived a few minutes early and took the shuttle to pick up my rental car. Like last year I had to keep checking for a reasonable rate. Knowing I'm only driving about 50 miles total, I hate paying a ton for it, but know I need the heater for nighttime. Not as inexpensive as last year, but booked a piece of crap car (Chevy Spark) for the whole weekend for $83. Again, like last year, I stopped at In-n-Out for dinner, then headed to the local Wal-Mart for dessert (cheesecake) and beer. Arrived at the race and got my tent assignment. It seemed warmer than last year, which was nice. However, unlike last year I didn't have a sleeping bag/pillow. I did have a space blanket, but that didn't seem enough for me to actually fall asleep. So... Groundhog Day, try to sleep in the tiniest/most uncomfortable vehicle ever. Sigh.

Friday

Got about 12 minutes of sleep. (Well, maybe an hour here and there, but nothing to brag about). The race was scheduled to start at 9:00. I went to the food tent and got some french toast, part of a quesadilla and coffee. As I was getting dressed, I noticed I already had a small blood blister on one of my toes. Yippee! Went to the medical tent to see if there was anything I could/should do with it, and it was recommended that I leave it alone. Ok then. Picked up my bib, and it's time to go...

We started out running clockwise. Having run the race before, I had no plans of "racing." I took a walk break at least once every loop, hoping to save my legs. Within a few hours, I was already feeling pretty terrible. Back in the beginning of November, I rolled my right ankle and it was screaming at me. I also felt that I was developing blisters on my right pinkie toe and possibly my right heel. So basically, my whole right side was... wrong. I recognized many of the same people from last year, which was fun.

The only food I think I did NOT have.

Storm is rolling in...

What's not really fun? Running around in circles... I know, I know, what was I thinking? Anyway, I was feeling pretty terrible very early on, which doesn't bode well for a very long day. I was super disgruntled to not hit my 50 miles in 12 hours. I was not happy when it started to rain. I was also INCREDIBLY upset when I went to change into my warmer clothes for night and discover that my tent was flooded!! The rain flap wasn't attached on one side and pretty much everything got soaked. DAMN IT!! I had to gather up all my stuff and bring it to the car. I sat in the car for a bit (I think I was at mile 46) to get dry and to try to nap. DID NOT WORK.

Saturday

Didn't even pretend to try to get any real sleep. Any time I went to the car I would set my alarm for about a half hour. If I was still awake after 10-15 minutes I went back out. It was so muddy from the earlier rain, and my feet were really screaming at me now. I did not do much running. I know in an event like this that even walking and continuing to keep moving makes a huge difference. I really had a pretty terrible night. Unlike last year, however, I didn't have any issues actually being cold when I was out. In fact, one of the only things I brought with me that I never used were my gloves!

By the time the sun came up I was so blah. I decided to start my day off with one of my beers and some pumpkin pie. I walked a LOT. The most interesting part of the day was watching the course get squeegeed!

Yep, this guy is using a squeegee to get standing water/mud off the course!

That helped a lot, and the course did dry out quite a bit. By late afternoon I was at about 83 miles. However, I was moving SO DAMN SLOW. I couldn't even believe how long it was taking me at this point.

#allthemud

There was more rain in the forecast, so I went to the car to change clothes again and hoped for a quick nap before heading out for my second night. The biggest catastrophe of the day was when I headed back out. I got to the timing mat on the opposite side of the course and didn't beep. I looked down and realized I didn't have my chip on. OH NO. A few other runners convinced me it was fine and if I just talked to the timing people they would give me credit for the lap. Got back to the start and they said that was fine. I went back to the car to get my chip and COULD NOT FIND IT. I looked for about 15 minutes - throwing things around - remember, everything I have is now in the car because of the flooded tent. In hysterics, I go to the timing tent and tell them I lost the chip. They get me another one to use and warn me I'll have to pay $75 for the other one if I can't find it. I head back out and I'm looking everywhere... there is only a small section of the course where it COULD be, because I had done only half a loop before realizing it was gone. NOTHING. It was getting dark, so I figured now that I have calmed down a bit that I will go look one more time in the car. I mean really, where could it have gone??? Then I see it. I had put it around the emergency brake, for safe-keeping. Son of a... I turn that timing chip back in and off I go. Geez.
Hooray for pizza!!!! Another few hours and my feet are just pissed. I decide to go for my spare pair in hopes that I feel a little better. Just before 8 pm and I'm finally at mile 90. And then the longest night ever. Because of all the mud and my aching feet, I was barely moving at a 20 minute mile pace. Around 9 and the rain started again. Man, I can't catch a break!! Ugh. Lots of complaining and resting and just suffering to get it done. Right around midnight I headed out for my "last" loop. My "A" goal had been to beat last year, with 116+ miles. I was perfectly ok with stopping at just over 100 miles.

As soon as I finished I sat in the warming tent and chatted with some runners, and apparently, I was also just in time to spectate the "underwear beer mile." LOL. And most of these people had been out running for at LEAST 15 hours at this point. Crazy. Around 1:30 I went to the car to "sleep."

Sunday

It POURED all night. I was really happy I stopped when I did, because before I even got situated the rain had started. I dozed on and off until maybe 7:30. I decided to go out and do a lap or two since I had time. I was running pretty good the first loop, stopping to take a picture of how badly the course had flooded during the night.

I got halfway through my second loop and it started pouring again. OH COME ON, HAVEN'T WE HAD ENOUGH? So I ended with a total of about 103 miles. Not anywhere close to my goal, but damn it, I fought really hard through this one. I collected my buckle and then headed to the car to pack up all my stuff.

I guess it doesn't look too bad in the picture. But for real, everything I had was on this seat or the floor

At 10 I went over to the awards ceremony. Unlike last year, they only announced top three for each race. As an aside, had I hit my "A" goal, I would have been on the podium. Ah, maybe next year. I already have runnesia.

Goodbye, shoes! 400+ miles and two 100+ miles races later, these guys were TOAST

Miles 1-10 - 12:43, 12:51, 12:10, 12:18, 12:01, 12:01, 11:45, 12:18, 11:59, 12:46
Miles 11-20 - 15:14, 13:50, 12:39, 12:57, 13:17, 13:35, 15:06, 13:05, 13:11, 17:11
Miles 21-30 - 14:18, 15:32, 15:02, 14:41, 14:31, 15:30, 18:04, 14:54, 14:37, 14:49
Miles 31-40 - 14:29, 14:42, 17:28, 15:02, 14:57, 14:49, 16:34, 17:30, 15:35, 14:49
Miles 41-50 - 15:34, 19:12, 17:59, 15:48, 14:39, 59:28, 19:24, 17:22, 19:11, 18:16
Miles 51-60 - 17:51, 18:28, 1:34:01, 18:29, 17:08, 18:07, 19:03, 25:03, 18:53, 18:04
Miles 61-70 - 23:11, 18:57, 20:16, 2:01:42, 22:59, 20:28, 20:03, 20:00, 1:38:10, 17:39
Miles 71-80 - 15:53, 17:43, 20:49, 1:00:57, 21:33, 20:14, 20:04, 19:38, 20:03, 1:25:41
Miles 81-90 - 18:57, 18:36, 19:38, 20:12, 23:01, 49:24, 23:01, 32:14, 27:34, 30:25
Miles 91-100 - 23:00, 43:54, 21:10, 22:51, 28:30, 20:41, 31:31, 24:20, 28:19, 37:03
Miles 100-103ish - 23:32, 25:36, 25:31, 20:16

I did not stop/pause my watch at all while I was running, until I was finished. The incredibly long split times are when I was in the car trying to rest. I do not have any data from  the last two loops I did in the morning, I had forgotten to put my watch back on.

Stopped at In-n-Out on my way to the airport, dropped off the car, and went to the gate. Plane was on time and landed in Denver on time as well. All in all, the travel aspect was uneventful.

Thoughts

• As I mentioned above, I ran with my Garmin Fenix 3 and it recorded my entire run. I did not have it on ultra mode this time. Once I realized it could be charged on the run, I would wait until the battery got to about 50% (because I'm paranoid), charge it. It worked perfectly.
• I still have to say that this is one of the most organized events I have ever run. I love that there is an aid station that I can hit every single mile. The food is phenomenal, I never went hungry! I also like that I don't have to actually carry anything on me. 
• The race did an excellent job again of ensuring the course was well lit at night. And again, having someone out there to squeegee some of the mud/standing water off the course was amazingly awesome. 
• I actually got another awesome race picture! I haven't bought it yet, but I will. 

• Bummed to not have hit my goal, but I worked really hard at this race and I know a lot of people modified their goals because of the weather/course conditions.
• The only problem this year was with the live tracking. Last year it was spot-on, no issues. This year, there were major delays in the timing on the TVs at the start/finish, and they never did get it resolved this year. Not a huge deal, but I really wanted to know where I was at mileage-wise and with that not available, I had to complete another loop to find out.

Week in Review (December 6 - December 12)

Tuesday (11,479 steps) - Up early to get A to student council. Barre class at lunch with Laura.

A had gymnastics after school and I got her a new leotard. It was a deal at only $25! We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and then wanted to get dinner at Torchy's Tacos, but they were "unexpectedly" closed. Womp. Very late dinner.
Wednesday (15,549 steps) - First real snow of the year. A got up before me and shoveled the walk and lot and scraped off the car. THEN, she made eggs for breakfast (and did dishes). Seriously, how did I get so lucky with this one? The commute was wretched, I was 15 minutes late into the office. Deep freeze all day, with temperatures hovering around 10 degrees, so I didn't even get outside for a walk break. We still went to run club after work. Mo came a bit late with Colfax, we did a small loop just to get him out. It was slick (A fell twice) and COLD.

I immediately went in and asked Amy what the warmest tights were - the ones I have just won't cut it in single digits. Brrr. Once at home we set up my new Elevated Legs that (finally) came. Man, these things are so great.
Thursday (9,663 steps) - Finally, finally, FINALLY, the Runners Roost team was announced! Happy to say that even A made the team (as an honorary member).

After work we went to a Trail Sisters event - it was a lot of fun to see everyone.

Roost team attendees

Then we stopped by Rocko's on the way home for nachos and a beer.
Friday (12,807 steps) - Took Bee Rad in for an oil change and walked into work. Annoyed that I got a parking ticket because their lot was full - at least they cut me a deal on the oil change. I did, however, also find out that I needed new brakes. OF COURSE I DO. After work A and I went to her Girl Scout mystery dinner. A has gone every year, but this was the first time I joined her. It was fun to see the weird combination of foods. Kids were pretty goofy.
Saturday (21,929 steps) - Got to Runners Roost in Lakewood just before 8 for the Runners Edge Toys for Tots run. I had not really run since the marathon and I was hoping to run about 10 miles. It was a lot colder than the forecast had said, so I only did the big 7 mile loop (and I was FINE with that).

Don't be fooled by the blue skies. Super chilly and the sunshine didn't last.

Did more shopping (ugh, 40% off if I bought 2 or more apparel items?) and then went to the Egg & I with Mo for breakfast. A decided that we needed to rearrange the living room so that we could both sit in the recliners. This took most of the afternoon. At 6 we went to Jessa's house for pizza and cake before going bowling for Jackson's birthday. A LONG NIGHT, I was up until almost 1 am!

Sunday (13,799 steps) - Somehow I was actually able to stay in bed until about 8:45. We went to Torchy's Tacos for breakfast and then went to Just Brakes to get my car done. Long story short, it took 3 times as long as I was quoted and cost $100 more. I hate everyone. Squeezed in a short, chilly loop around the neighborhood - don't I look festive?

Went to barre and then Denver Beer for a drink. Lisa met Heather and Mo and I there, so that was fun. Picked up Tokyo Joe's on the way home and then watched the fall finale of Walking Dead.

Monday (13,101 steps) - Ate a million cookies at work. One of the attorneys hosted a cookie exchange and brought in dozens of various holiday cookies. Being the only person without any self-control meant I ate them ALL.DAY.LONG. And then got a cookie hangover. After school/work we went grocery shopping at Target. I randomly decided to make chimichangas, and thankfully, A liked them.

Stats:

• 98,327 steps. This disgusting cold weather certainly ruins my motivation. Obviously.
• 11 miles run
• 3 barre classes
• Current weight - ??? - Still not weighing in.

Everything Else:

• Work is kinda awful right now. It's just so slow around the holidays and it's super slow.

California International Marathon (Race Recap)

Sacramento,  CA
Sunday, December 4
Marathon #30
Weather - Overcast and chilly

After running the California International Marathon in the 2012 monsoon, Heather really wanted to run it again, in better weather. We were originally registered to run in 2015, but after a lack of training, we deferred to 2016.

Saturday

A was already at Heather's house, I had taken her over the night before. I got up a bit later than I should have, made coffee, and drove to the off-site lot to drop off the car. I arrived at the airport a little over an hour before my flight, but security was a breeze, so it was no big deal. Charged my phone a bit before boarding, and even though I was in "B," managed to get a window seat in the second row. Now that Netflix has the download option, I was able to watch the Amanda Knox documentary and the first episode of Bates Motel. Both were good.

Heather had already landed and was waiting outside my gate. We took an Uber to the host hotel, the Sheraton across from the finish, and checked in. We went to the expo and picked up our packets without any issues.

Phew! I actually registered!

"California fall" outside the convention center - this is the last quarter mile of the course

Neither of us had eaten, so we walked to The Patio and got lunch. Mmmm, mac and cheese and cornbread.

We were both pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and watched TV until about 5 when it was time to walk to meet some of my teammates for dinner at The Waterboy. The food was good, but it was a lot pricier (and more fancy) than I expected. Ah well.

Sunset from our hotel room

Spent the rest of the evening getting gear ready and watching TV. Lights out around 9.

Sunday, Race Day

Alarm was set for 4:40. However, I hadn't slept well and had gotten up around 4:15. By the time the alarm went off I was ready to go. We made coffee in the room and walked down the street to the shuttle bus pick up at the convention center at 5:00 am. The bus ride sure seemed long, and NOTHING looked familiar. Had we really run this before??

A billion buses and a California sunrise

We stayed on the bus until about 15 minutes before the race started. I had been using my addaday massager on my right calf all day Saturday because it was crazy tight and achy after my crazy training session with Junko on Thursday. We used the bathroom, I picked up gloves off the ground since I had accidentally left mine on the bus (wah!!) and squeezed in around the 5:08 pace group. 5:08 pace group? Such a weird time!

Start line

The first 5 or so miles were fine. We were running a fairly comfortable pace. I was pleased that my calf did not seem to be acting up. Shortly after the section aid station (maybe mile 5.5), Heather asked if I minded if we started a run/walk. I did not mind, and we began doing 4:1 intervals. This worked well for the next few miles. We saw Libby working the aid station at mile 8.4 (random to see a friend from Texas working an aid station in California), and kept going. We adjusted the run/walk a bit for aid stations and hills.

So pretty!

Turns out, Heather was NOT imagining chickens on the course (we saw them around mile 9 I think). Then, we saw a guy with two goats spectating. Of course we had to get a picture with them, HOW COULD YOU NOT?? We seemed a lot more excited than the goats, though.

GOATS!!! PET GOATS!!!

There was  nice downhill after mile 10, and I made a comment that it was unfortunate that we had a walk break on the awesome downhill. That was when Heather told me that her left hip was bothering her and that running downhill was actually pretty painful. Uh oh. I've been there. I asked her if she wanted to walk a bit more, and she joked that maybe she would just quit. We did a few more intervals, and there was a climb near mile 12 where she said that she was indeed quitting. Oh no! I asked her if she was serious about quitting, if it was that bad. If she planned on just a lot of walking I had  no problems staying with her, but I did want to finish. She said the pain had spread to her IT band and that walking also hurt so she was going to walk to the relay exchange and stop. :(

Dang! Bummer! I told her I would text her later and hoped she felt better and moved on. I felt pretty good for a while, stopping around mile 16 to use the bathroom (the only one on the whole course that did not seem to have a line). Somewhere around mile 19 or so, my lack of road running and actual distance running caught up with me. I decided I would attempt to do intervals, running 5 or 6 minutes with a quick walk break.

At the "wall" around mile 20

The last "hill" - bridge at mile 22ish

This worked pretty good until maybe mile 23. I was really done by then. It was a lot colder than I had anticipated, and while I normally do really well in colder weather, I just felt... well, cold. I didn't want to put gloves on, but I kinda wished I had worn arm sleeves.

Action shot from Heather just before mile 26

I sent Heather a text at mile 24 to let her know that I was close, and she said she would be near the finish line. The last mile of the course seemed to go on forever.
There was a big blue arch that you would THINK indicated the end, but NO. The sign right after said mile 26, yet when I crossed the finish line I was closer to 26.5. The race has the strangest finish line ever, with men and women finishing in different chutes.

Got my medal and then met up with Heather. Thankfully, she had brought my jacket. We went and got some post-race food and beers before heading back to the hotel. I actually was not able to finish my brunch, which was weird because I was REALLY hungry the last few miles of the race.

This is actually a breakfast burrito, NOT a panini

Showered and checked out at 3:00. We didn't head to the airport until 5, and I was very sad to see my flight was delayed. By the time I got to the airport, picked up A, and got home it was 1:20 in the morning.  Blah.

Official Time - 5:14:23
Official 10K - 1:10:24
Official 13.1 - 2:35:29
Official 20 Mile - 3:57:31
Overall Place - 5186/6174
Gender Place - 2227/2838
Division Place - 401/505

Thoughts:

• The race caps at 7,500 runners. According to results, there were about 1,300 runners that either didn't start the race, or didn't finish. The race does allow deferrals, I believe it cost another $40 to register, on top of whatever we paid last year.
• Expo is in a nice, spacious location at the convention center. Packet pick up was a breeze. There were not too many vendors I was interested in. Unsure what parking would have cost if we hadn't been able to just walk there.
• The shuttles are organized incredibly well. They were loaded efficiently and got us all to the race in plenty of time.
• PLENTY of port-o-potties. Supposedly they had 300! We only waited a few minutes to use one. They also had quite a few on the course, there were always lines for those though.
• The course is very runnable - I didn't find any of the hills very long or unmanageable. 
• Tons of aid stations. More sparse in the beginning, with two sections where there was more than 3 miles between them. By the second half they were pretty much every mile - 17 aid stations in all. Plenty of volunteers, with Nuun and water. There were also a few "food" stations - some had GU, bananas, oranges and even baked goods.
• Every mile was marked, with a handful of timing mats on the course. Lots of crowd support and music and "energy."
• Medal is big, but not very interested. Kind of wish the cityscape had a more "bold" outline.
• Nice, long sleeve and gender specific shirt.
• Finish are is a cluster. Super crowded. And the beer was non-alcoholic.
• Would I run again? No. But it's more because it was just "meh" to me, and I've now run it twice. Too many marathons to run this one a third time.

Week(s) in Review (June 9 - June 22)

Tuesday, June 9 (19,412 steps) - I really cannot remember this far back and looking at Strava doesn't do much to refresh my memory. I wrote that I did a mile and a half, but I have no idea if that was on the treadmill at home or at the gym. I think I vaguely recall doing it at home.

Wednesday, June 10 (18,450 steps) - A finally FINALLY got her (second) cast off. However... she is now in a brace, at least through the end of July, which means one more doctor's visit and another set of x-rays. Run club!! Traffic was a wretched horrible mess so it took forever to get there. We ended up missing starting the run with the group but walked about a mile with Heather, who injured her collarbone and can't run anyway. I ran a mile loop when I got home.

 

Thursday, June 11 (16,562 steps) - Again, it says I ran about a mile on the treadmill. No recollection. Things kicked into high gear with the packing - fast tracking the sale of the house to two weeks earlier than planned - sign (hopefully) going in the yard on Tuesday, June 23.

Friday, June 12 (8,396 steps) - No exercise. More packing. Dinner and hanging out with Jessa.

Saturday, June 13 (13,659 steps) - Jessa was so kind as to spend most of the day with me and A packing and cleaning. Turns out there was a bit of water damage from when the basement flooded in the spare room so we had to rip out the carpet and padding. Bought fans to dry the flooring. Smells a bit musty but caught it all before there was any lasting damage. The most progress was in A's room. Wish she always kept it this clean and uncluttered!

Sunday, June 14 (17,592 steps) - Skirt Sports 5k with A and then driving to Moab.

Monday, June 15 (51,044 steps) - Desert RATS Stage 1.

Tuesday, June 16 (77,537 steps) - Desert RATS Stage 2.

Wednesday, June 17 (32,030 steps) - Desert RATS Stage 3.

Thursday, June 18 (99,377 steps) - Desert RATS Stage 4.

Friday, June 19 (15,236 steps) - Sleeping. Drinking beer. Tending to blisters.

Saturday, June 20 (63,235 steps) - Desert RATS Stage 5.

Sunday, June 21 (12,825 steps) - Long, long, LONG drive back to Denver. Lots of cleaning and continued packing.

Monday, June 22 (13,928 steps) - Back to work. More cleaning, more packing. House 85-90% packed. My realtor offered to have cleaners come in so that I didn't have to make time for that as well, thankfully. We weren't able to get the carpet shampooed (and honestly, anyone who purchases this home will want to replace all the carpet anyway), but the place looked good enough for interior pictures for the online listing.

 

Week Ending 6/15

• 145,115 steps
• 28 miles run
• No cross training
• No strength/stretching

Week Ending 6/22

• 314,168 steps
• 113.75 miles run
• No cross training (although, let's be real, I did a LOT of hiking/walking)
• No strength/stretching (I had two 30 minute massages though!)

Everything Else

• As of the last date in this blog the house was mostly in selling condition, just waiting for some cleaners to come in and do things that I did not have time for. That's the big thing going on in my life right now!