St. Jude marathon weekend!!

What a weekend for running! The weather on Saturday was awesome - lows in the 40s and highs in the 60s. For me, I ran the Grizzles 5K with about 12 students. For my loyal readers, it was definitely a saga trying to figure out what I should run and my body was adamant about just doing the 5K. I've been running about 20 slow miles a week and biking about 20 miles a week for a little over two weeks now and my legs are finally starting to feel much better. I'm going to start pushing for 25-30 slow miles a week for the month of December plus continuing to bike and strengthen.

Alright, so I ran this race last year and it was my first race EVER in my life. I had never ran a race before and my time was 27:31. Yesterday I ran the 5K in 25:29 - a whole 2:02 better than last year and good enough for 3rd in my age group! And I felt good while I was running. It was about 13 seconds off my PR, but I'll take it considering how I've been feeling. This is also the first race my parents have been too and they had a good time and snapped a few pics for me. My dad is even talking about running the 5K next year!!






After the 5K I ran to various points in the marathon to watch Laura, Michael, Patrick, and John run. I caught Laura at miles 3, 5, 12, and the finish and caught the others at mile 12 and the finish. Let me tell you about Laura! She ran the marathon here last year in 5:20 and this year she did it in 4:14!!!! How is that for a PR - she ran it 1:06 faster! She has been working hard since then and it all paid off. We are going to run the Nashville marathon in April together and she is looking to break 4:00!!

Now let's talk about Michael's marathon debut of 3:47 - even with a bathroom break! When I saw him at mile 12 he was up with the 3:35 pace group looking strong. I did not expect to see him there at all! He said he just felt great and he just ran as strong as he could. John and Patrick finished around 4:12 and they felt like they had a good race.

All in all it was a good weekend for everyone!

Laura at mile 5 - she has on the yellow hat and is waving at me!


Mile 12 pics:



Finish line pics - Michael, then Patrick and John, then Laura.

Wade's Big Adventure

What a great fall weekend so far!! Drew and I went to Oxford last night and watched the Rebel soccer team defeat Mississippi State. I got to commentate the game and had a blast doing that. Last night was also senior night for the team and it was nice to be there for that group of seniors. I coached two of them in high school, so I've been watching them play for quite sometime now. The two players actually committed to Ole Miss on my cell phone under my desk at school, so there is a lot of history there.

This morning we woke up and headed out to the Wolf River Trails (WRT) and met up with other members of our running group. I ran the 8 mile option and Drew, Michael, Patrick, John, Vinnie, Chris, and Patrick's dad ran the 18 mile option. I woke up feeling surprisingly good. I've been very diligent about icing, stretching, and taking celebrex or Advil, so it was nice to finally feel my legs loosening up some.

The race started at 8 and all runners ran an 8 mile loop first then the 18 milers went on another trail for a 10 mile loop. I ran the first couple of miles with Michael and then we met up with another runner named Laura and we began talking with her. Michael dropped off to wait on the other guys so I stayed with Laura from about mile 2 to mile 6 1/2. That is one thing I love about running - you always meet some great people at these races. We chatted about all kinds of things and she helped me push my pace some. I wasn't planning on going that fast, but I didn't want to run alone, so I decided to stay with her until about mile 6 1/2 and I told her to go on. I got lost briefly and then pushed in to finish in about 1:19. So a big thanks to Laura for making the race go by faster!!

Overall I felt okay. My calves and hamstrings were a little tight and now my quads and groin are a tad sore. 8 miles is the most I've run since the 50K a month ago. I'm going to rest up for the remainder of the day and I should be okay for tomorrow's half marathon. Again, I'm not racing it at all - just going to use it to train.

Here are a few pics from after the race of our group who now are so official that we had shirts printed up!! Here are the founding members of the Memphis Ultra Runners:

Stumpjump results

The results are finally up. Out of 248 starters, only 173 finished - 75 people DNF. Is this normal for an ultra or is this high? I finished 166, Michael 151, and Drew finished 106. Super fast Chris finished 17 and Lauren came in at 167. My official time is 8:52. I'll say it again I'm glad I finished, but that time bothers me because I know I'm faster than that. My next 50K will be in February in Arkansas at the Sylamore 50K. I feel good about the fitness base I've established up to this point and once this soreness is gone, I'm going to get back on it. I rode the bike Monday and Tuesday and today Toddy and I went for a 20 minute jog.

From now until Sylamore I'm going to use different races as training runs. I'm going to run the Midsouth Marathon with Laura on November 3, the St. Jude Marathon the first weekend in December, then the Swampstomper 25K in January. Plus throw in some long training runs here and there. I know Midsouth and St. Jude are road races, but they will be good to run for training. After this weekend I know I'm not a road runner - I am a trail runner through and through. So qualifying for Boston isn't nearly as important to me as it will be to knock at least an hour off my 50K time. Or as important as possibly building up to run a 50 miler!!

Good luck to Addy as she rocks out on her first 50 miler this weekend!

Happy running - get those feet dirty!!

StumpJump 50K Report

Ultrahard, ultramad, ultrathirsty, ultrahot, ultrahungry, ultrydirty, ultrasore, and ultrarelieved - these are all the words that can be used to describe this race experience. So here goes a long, but concise report.

Drew, Michael, Patrick, and I left for Chattanooga around 8:30 Friday morning and we arrived around 1:30, so we went to RockCreek to pick up our race packets and walk around the store and the expo. We got some great swag for this race: technical tee, North Face bag, smartwool socks, endurolytes, and some other knickknacks like water bottles and stickers. Everything was great except my t-shirt which was a women's small and up to my bellybutton. I tried to trade it out, but they would not let me despite the fact I held it up and they saw how it fit. So my mom is going to cut it up and sew it on another shirt because I finished this mother and I'm wearing the shirt.


We relaxed for a bit then went back up to the store for the pre-race meeting and dinner, which was awesome! It was here that we met up with the four other Memphis runners we knew: Lauren, Elle, Chris, and John. We had a great dinner and good company, then we headed back to the hotel where Patrick and Michael entertained us. I've always heard people don't sleep well the night before, but we were all out by 9:00 and we all slept pretty soundly until the alarms went off at 5:30.



We arrived at the start around 6:45 where we did last minute preparations and used the bathroom a couple of times. I made sure to have toilet paper because I wanted no Nashville incidents to occur on this race. I think the fact that I took Pepto the night before also helped. I took it for indigestion, but it helped in other areas as well. I'll leave it at that.



Michael's parents and twin came up for the race, so it was nice to have some faces cheering us on as we left the start line right at 8:00. I could probably write a book about the race itself, so I'm going to try to be as concise as possible. I started off conservatively because that is what they tell you to do. I was behind Michael, Drew, Lauren, and Elle, but ahead of Patrick and John. We all basically were within a minute of each other for the first 10 miles. Our pace was really slow because we all agreed after the race that this course was probably 70% unrunnable. It was that rocky and that steep, so even going down some hills were slow because of that. But by mile ten we were in the middle of the pack. Drew took off at that point and Elle fell behind so it was Michael, Lauren, and myself. We made it to the next aid station which was about at mile 12 and the next one was at mile 16. This is where things got squirrelly.


12-16 was difficult to we drained our water bottles by the time we got to 16. We got to the aid station at mile 16 and THEY WERE OUT OF WATER. Two guys, sitting on a truck, telling us they were out of water. YOU HAVE A TRUCK - FREAKING GO GET SOME WATER. Needless to say we were furious. Patrick and John catch us here, so it's the five of us plus another lady. The next aid station was at mile 21. 5 miles away. The temps were high that day - I think 86 with high humidity, so they were unprepared for the amount of water people were drinking. Many people dropped here, but we decided to press on. We left the aid station and were all talking and being mad, and missed the turn for the course. THE AID STATION PEOPLE SAW US DO THIS. So we ran about 30 minutes out of our way before we realized what had happened. So we were even more mad by this point.

We finally made it and John, Patrick, and Michael got ahead of us. So Lauren and I had a death march between miles 16-21 with no water. No water means no eating, taking endurolytes, etc. That was horrible and I was mad as heck. We finally make it to the aid station at mile 21 where we met up with Elle. Turns out the people behind us were told to drop or get a ride to the next aid station and you can finish the race if you want. So she got a ride and finished up with us. We sat at the aid station for about 10-15 minutes just trying to get oriented again. I was determined to finish - no way I was coming back with a DNF - I had trained too hard for this. I ran with Elle and Lauren until about mile 27ish, and then I took off. I was ready to be done. The last three miles are runnable and I ran as fast as possible to the finish. I crossed the finish line in 8:50. Chris finished in 5:44, Drew finished in 7:30, and Michael in 8:20. Lauren right under 9:00 and Elle, Patrick, and John came in a little after 9:00.

I'm pumped I finished for sure. The results still aren't up yet, but what I heard is that of the approx. 200 runners who started, 60-70 DNF. But I'm disappointed in the lack of preparation on the race course. I knew at the beginning of the week that it was going to be hot, so surely the race people could see that also. We are all fired up and we are doing another one in February. I'm interested to see how I could do on a more runnable course and one with more water. I thought maybe after this race that I would not want to do another one, but it's the exact opposite - I'm ready for my next!!

Here are the rest of the pics:









I carried my camera on the entire run, but it was too much trying to run, survive, and take pictures. I'll have more when Michael and his parents develop theirs and when the race pics are posted. So pics are to be continued...

A big thanks goes out to all my fellow runners who helped me before, during, and after the race. Another thanks goes to my fellow bloggers who cheered me on. And a huge thanks to all my family, friends, and students who prayed for me to survive!!! I couldn't have done it without all of you guys!!

Happy running!

Ultra running, baby

I'm officially an ultrarunner - 50K done!! We all finished - me, Drew, Michael, Patrick, Lauren, Elle, and Chris. All the Memphis runners finished! Race report to follow - maybe tomorrow, depending on how much I can move. Holy super sore, but pumped I finished!

It's here

Tomorrow morning we leave for Chattanooga.

My goal is to just finish.

Constant forward motion is what I must tell myself.

I've told most of the kids in my school and they are all pulling for me.

If I finish I'm wearing the medal to school Monday.

Holy nerves!!!

Good luck to everyone running in Chicago this weekend!!

MRRS 10K #1

What a day for a race!! I woke up this morning to a torrential downpour, but I decided to head out anyway for the race because my mileage last week was lacking due to my cold, which I think is a virus I can't shake, and the rain. Drew and Laura skipped out on the race, so it was just Michael and me. It rained the entire time, which was not too terribly bad - at least it wasn't humid. This virus needs to hurry up and pass on through me because I gagged on snot quite a few times and I had to keep checking over my shoulder to make sure I wasn't blowing my nose on anyone. I sure was a site to behold during the race!! My time ended up at 57:09, which is about a 9:11 pace and considering all the circumstances, I'm fine with that. I'll try to pick it up for the second 10K in two weeks.

So it's a new week for me and I've got 6.2 in the books so far. I'm going to run 4-6 miles about three nights this week, then Laura and I are going for 24 on Saturday. The Stumpjump is I think only 27 days away!!! Time to dig in and get it done!!

Happy running!

MRRS 5 miler #2

Well, today was the second of the five mile races and my debate yesterday was whether to treat it as a 5 mile recovery run or a 5 mile LT run. After yesterday's 14, I decided it was going to be a recovery run for sure. Then this morning the debate was whether or not I even wanted to get out of bed!! Drew tried to convince me to get up, but it wasn't until Laura called me at 6:30 and asked where to park that I quickly dashed out of bed. The race started at 7, so I grabbed all my clothes and some water and got dressed on the way over there. Which is fine, but I did not eat or use the bathroom!!

I found Laura at the start and said I was just taking it easy, but we ended up running together most of the race. I wasn't sure what would happen or how fast I would go. Mile 1 was in 9:43 and I felt alright - my hips and knees were really sore from yesterday. Mile 2 was in 9:25 and I was still feeling okay so I thought maybe we would run negative splits for all 5 miles. Mile 3 was in 9:19 and then I had flashbacks to Nashville and the negative splits were out the window!!! My stomach started to cramp up and I was super hungry, so when we hit that mile marker 3 I walked for about 30 seconds, so mile 4 was in 9:53 - still under 10:00. Then I walked for 45 seconds at mile marker 4 and I just jogged in for the finish. Mile 5 was in 10:23 for a total of 48:44. That time is fine with me - that is a good recovery run pace. I really had no need to run negative splits today because I really feel like my legs need a break. Plus I was satisfied with my first 5 mile time of 42:58, which puts me in sixth place overall in this series. My goals for this series are to run my marathon pace (9:00/miles) or under for one race at each distance and to place in the top ten. Two distances down and my goals are being hit so far.

We came home and ate some breakfast and I've been laying around watching Jack Bauer kick some arse on 24 and doing school work all day!! My legs are loving this time spent laying around.

Stanky Creek Satellite Image

Drew, Michael, and I set off to Stanky Creek again tonight. Our run was delayed by a brief storm, so we headed off on the trail around 6:20ish. I was hoping to get 16 in, but I knew it was going to get dark quick because of the weather, so we cut it to 12. According to the P-diddy plan 12 is supposed to be my longest run this week anyways, so I'm satisfied with tonight.


Our pace while it was still light out was between 10:45 and 11:00, but when it got dark and we had to use our headlamps (that needed new batteries so the light was minimal), our pace slowed to 12:00. That pace sounds slow, but check out the elevation changes on the trail.


I know that it is nothing compared to other places in America that have crazy nuts elevation, but this is the best Memphis has to offer.

After we were done we headed to get an all-American healthy meal at McDonalds. For some reason I always crave McDonalds french fries after a long run. Horrible, I know.

Happy running!

PMS (Post Marathon Slump)

I think that is what I have right now. The half marathon was not just physically exhausting, but psychologically exhausting. I know I need to just let what happened go, but everyday a different student, teacher, or friend asks me how the race went so I keep thinking about how much time and effort I went into preparing for the race only to have toilet paper bring me down. I am NOT a person that people would consider to be a downer - in fact, I am quite the opposite. So from this point on, I choose not to think about it. One of my favorite stories comes from a book by Anson Dorrance, the head soccer coach at UNC:

There is another aspect of soccer, and sports, that entails adversity. This is the struggle to succeed. Every single player, no matter what her level, has faced it. And it is a never-ending struggle. Even Mia Hamm, who scored the only goal in the 2000 Olympic semifinal, allowing the US to advance to the final, is not immune. At the postgame press conference, she was asked whether her talent had begun to erode. According to the New York Times, "Her answer was as direct as her play had been. All I have to say is that every single day I wake up, I commit myself to being better. Some days it happens and some days it doesn't. I'm still committed to that. There are games where I'm going to dominate and games I'm going to struggle. It doesn't mean I give up."
- The Vision of a Champion

So I struggled in the half marathon. I'm certainly not giving up and I'm committed to being better.

Nashville Pictures

Drew's parents were at about mile 12 and at that point Drew was kicking it to the end. Check out Drew's description of his race.


Drew and me after the race. I look a lot happier than I feel!


Drew was starving so we went to Cracker Barrel with his family immediately after the race. He said I looked miserable as we were waiting for our names to be called. Considering the fact I barely ate and spent most of my time in the bathroom, I would say yeah, I felt pretty miseable!

Lessons from Nashville...

The number one lesson I learned this weekend was this: bring toilet paper!!!

Drew and I left Memphis around 2:30 Friday afternoon and we made it to Nashville in plenty of time to get to the expo, pick up our packets, and walk around to check out all of the vendors. I had an ominous feeling from the beginning because I am a very even numbered person – I know that sounds weird, but I always like things in even numbers (my jersey number in high school was 4 and it was 8 in college). I got my bib number first and it was an odd number and then I got my chip and it was odd also! I did not like it all, but I shrugged it off and tried to ignore it.

After we left the expo we headed to Olive Garden to meet Drew’s parents who came in town for the weekend to watch us race. We mowed down some pasta, then headed back to the hotel to get some sleep. I was out by 9:30 and Drew finally went to sleep at 10:30.

On race day, our wake up call came at 4:15 and we got up and immediately ate something so that we would have it digested by the time we raced. We got to the race about an hour early, which is good because the lines for the porta potties were extremely long. We waited in line for about 30 minutes and by the time we got up there, I had to go (if you know what I mean). This is where I learned my lesson – there was no toilet paper in any of the porta potties! None! Zero! Zilch! So needless to say I was extremely aggravated, nervous, and freaking out. I got to my coral to meet my brother-in-law Michael and I told him what happened and his response was – you’re just going to have to hold it! Argh.

The race started in a wave start, so we finally got moving at around 7:20. We hit the first mile at around 8:54 and consistently had around a 9-9:15 pace until mile six. The first six miles weren’t too bad on me, but around mile six, my stomach and intestines started to curl up. I pushed through until about mile 9 and I finally told Michael I had to go to the bathroom because I was cramping and thought I was going to puke. He waited on me despite me telling him to go on.

We got started again and I did not feel much better at all. I pushed on and everytime I tried to speed up I felt worse. Michael finally left me and he finished in 2:02. I pushed through it all and finished in 2:05. Needless to say I was disappointed because I know I could have done better if I had just had some dern toilet paper. Michael and I ran almost 11 miles two weeks ago and we basically sprinted the last two miles. That is what our plan was for Nashville. Hit 9-9:15 miles and then kill the last 2 miles or so.

My splits:
5k – 28:43 (9:14)
6M – 55:18 (9:13)
10 M – 1:34 (9:27) **9:27 is for 10M, but I did the split between miles 6 and 10 and it was over 10:00. Boo bathroom break!
13.1 – 2:05 (9:33)

I’m trying not to let it bother me too much and maybe I psyched myself out beforehand. Exactly what I was worried about happened – do all that training and then something silly like that happens. I need to not worry and do what my sister says – just run!!!

On a happier note - my husband kicked this half marathon’s arse. He ran it in 1:31!!!!! Out of 19,000 runners he was 189. So he is fired up now and is going to try to qualify for Boston at the Memphis Marathon.

I'll post pics tomorrow!

Death Run 07

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my brother-in-law Michael has been running about a month. He didn't tells us because he wanted to get in shape and enter a race that Drew was in and blow by him, which would have shocked Drew. But there really are no races coming up that they would be in together, so the secret is slowly coming out. Michael ran in the Mayors Cup 5K a couple of weeks ago and got third in his age group. It's nice to have more people I know running.

So I called my sister this afternoon, as I normally do after school, and as we were talking I heard Michael yell something about a death run. We got to talking and there is a race this Sunday called the Death Run, or for the dangerous, the Double Death Run. Translation: 15 miles or 30 miles. Michael has some friends that are going to run the Double, but we are just going to run the single death - that is enough for us. I'm a little scared - I've never gone further than about ten miles, but I'm going to give it a whirl. I felt good after 8.4, so what is 6.6 more miles? I'll let you know once I know!

Since I'm running that, I need to rearrange my training for the week. I was going to run almost ten Thursday night, but I think doing ten, then 15 would not be good for my skinny ole legs! I ran almost three today at Shelby Farms. The trails there are getting very crowded now that the weather is warm - lots of bikers and runners. I was actually hit by a bike Friday night. Some kid came flying around the corner and luckily I saw him coming and only his tired hit my shin, so no harm done. Hopefully I won't be mowed down by a bike anytime soon. Wish me luck.

10K results!

Yesterday was the last race in the winter cross country series and I did better than I thought I would. I ran 6.2 miles in 57:50, which is a 9:18 pace. I didn't think I was going to do very well at all for numerous reasons. One being that I really haven't ran that much at all in two weeks and I've only done over 6 miles maybe 8-9 times. I also did not get a lot of sleep the night before because of a soccer tournament and we had a game at 8am and I shivered in the cold for two hours. I was worried about my achilles and it was WAY windy on the course. I just did not have a good feeling at all.

Considering all that, I did better in this race that I did in the 5 and 8K races. I was not properly dressed for this race at all! I wore pants and a pullover because the start was so cold and by the time the race was over I was sweating like crazy. I was way too hot running that race and there was nothing I could do about it. I need to learn that for long races even though you start freezing, you'll warm up quick. The wind was whipping around the course yesterday, so I think I could have gone a bit faster if not for that. My achilles held up okay - it's really sore today, but I have no more races until the half marathon, so I'm going to get this thing better and get back to training for that.

Overall, I'm pleased. A 9:18 pace for 6.2 miles for me is respectable. I'm hoping to run the half marathon in a 9:00/mile pace. I'll post pictures as soon as they are up!

Stanky Creek 8k++ Pics

These are the pictures of the creek that we had to jump at the very end of the race. Luckily it did not rain too much during the week, so the creek was fairly small!

5K pics

The 5K pictures were just released at memphisrunners.com, so that is why this post is out of order, plus I did not have this blog when the 5K took place! The wonderful people at memphis runners have volunteers at every race and there are always men there with cameras to capture the events. The 5K race took place at the Lakeland trails, which have some great elevation changes - the best in Memphis.

Going back to what I said in my last post about mentally preparing myself on race day - I need to learn how to do it! The weather was pretty good for this race - it was sunny, but extremely, extremely cold. I started off pretty fast, following Drew, as you can see in the picture below, and I was feeling fine for the first 12 minutes or so.





As we got further into the forest and starting the quick elevation changes, things went downhill for me. About 15 minutes into it, I got an AWFUL stitch in my side! I don't know if it was the cold air, the adrenaline, the elevation changes, or what, but I could not stand up straight. It was probably all of those things combined. I had to stop and walk twice! Needless to say I was a bit aggravated because I know I am in shape - I run three miles or more with no problem often and there I was race day, bending over with a stitch. The last picture I am about to cross the finish and you can't really tell, but my left hand was trying to hold my side.

I still got second for my age group and once the stitch went away, I felt fine. I'm new to this sport and I'm learning things about it and myself everyday. I need race day mentality!!!

8++K

The 8(+) K of the winter cross country series was Sunday and I placed third in my age group! I waited until today to post at school so I could load pictures as I posted.



The race. We got loads of sleep Saturday night, so I was fully rested on Sunday. I had an early breakfast and an early lunch of mac and cheese. I'm not a big fan of these races being at 2pm because I don't want to eat too much, yet I don't want to starve. We left around one so we could get there early and have a decent warmup. The weather was unbelievable on Sunday - lots of sun, but not too hot. I'm just glad the weather wasn't like it was all week - EXTREMELY cold!

My plan for this race was to start off fairly conservative - not up with the fast cross country guys, but not all the way in the back. This being my fourth race ever, I'm still trying to figure out how to strategize on race days. I started conservative, then I picked up my pace as I went. My goal was to run the course at around a nine minute pace. I felt good starting - my heel was aching some and it continued to stretch/ache through the entire race. I did not get the gosh awful stitch in my side that I got in the 5K so that was a plus, but I felt as though I could get one at any minute. I think I need to mentally prepare myself better on race days - I get excited, the adrenaline pumps, and I get all out of whack and I end up performing worse in the race than I do in my training runs.

There are no mile markers on these courses, so throughout the race I was not sure of my pace, and I was not sure when I should push and when I shouldn't. For the most part, I ran alone. I passed a few people here and there, but other than that it was just me and the trail. The race ends with a creek crossing and I'll try to post a picture of that later. I crossed the finish line at 49:33, which is not as fast as I would like. The pace ended up being around a 9:43 mile, which I am not happy with at all. I have trained with Drew on those same trails going for upwards of 7-9 miles very close to a 9 minute mile pace, which reinforces my belief that I need to better prepared mentally for these races. I am still in second place overall in my age group with the last race on Sunday (10K). My achilles was way sore after the race, so this week I will probably bike and stretch a lot to get ready for Sunday.