Writing While Running

New Blog!

2013-08-15T12:15:00.002-04:00

I have been working on changing to a new blog and a new domain.

You can now find me at

http://runwritehike.com/

I'll be working through glitches over the next few days/weeks so I welcome any troubleshooting comments you may have.

Rockies v. Pirates and Duke City Marathon Week 8

2013-08-12T12:28:00.002-04:00

I had a really busy weekend. I woke up early on Saturday and ran a long-ish run.

Then I rested and headed down to Denver for dinner and the Rockies-Pirates game. Every once in a while I love a good baseball game. When the Pirates are actually doing well for once, it is even more exciting. The game was delayed by 2 hours at the start because of thunderstorms.

We waited it out, and by the time the game started my legs were very uncomfortable from sitting on that hard seat. Each time I got up to move, my legs had stiffened from my run that morning.

That cloud was there when we sat down. It stayed for about an hour and a half.

Unfortunately, the Pirates did not keep up their good playing and lost. We stayed through 9 innings though, hoping the game might turn around. By the time we got home it was late and we needed to be up early.

Sunday we drove up to see my cousin and her family, who are on a Colorado vacation from Virginia this week. They had just flown in the day before and were ready for a hike! We hiked and had a chance to get home to rest and shower before meeting a good friend of mine who was in town for dinner. After dinner (and fro-yo dessert), I came home and crashed.

All of my big plans to make wedding plans this weekend were crushed. Oh well, I have plenty of time for wedding plans.

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Total Miles: 48.7
Running Miles: 36
Hiking Miles: 12.7

Monday: 5.5 hilly miles
Ran uphill for 2.5 straight miles, then picked up pace for the 2.5 miles downhill, then a half mile cool down.

Tuesday: 3.5 miles
Thunder and lightening cut this speed session short for me. It kind of ruined my day. I got one speedy mile in, then had to speed it home before the lightening was right over my head. The treadmills at the gym in my condo complex were not working, either. Bummer.

Wednesday: 8.5 miles, 3 mile hike
6 miles @ tempo pace. This run felt awesome! My paces were faster than they should have been, but I did not care. The weather was cool and breezy and that helped a lot. I finished, came home, showered, ate, then headed off to a 3 mile hike with D. Perfect :)

Thursday: 4 easy miles
This was supposed to be a rest day, but I wanted to add some extra miles in after I cut my Tuesday run short. I think it was a bad idea because then I did not run on Friday. Lesson learned.

Friday: 3.5 mile hike
I was supposed to run today to make up for my shortened days earlier in the week, but after 5 straight days of running in a row (including my long run on Sunday of last week), I needed a break. Luckily, D got off work early in the afternoon and we hiked Mt. Sanitas-one of my favorite Boulder hikes. I loved it and I loved that I was sweating and using my legs, but could take a break from running for the day.

Saturday: 14.5 miles
I got up early to head to the Boulder reservoir to run. I was able to get 9 great miles in before meeting a friend for about 5 more miles. We were running around an obstacle course race that happened to be going on at the same time. Gotta love it when you get multiple people yelling "you are going the wrong way!" at you. We were just going our own way. And we did not get covered in mud.

Sunday: 6.2 mile hike
My cousin, her husband, and their 3 young kids (elementary age) were in town and staying in Estes Park, CO. D and I wanted to go see them, so we made it a hike. At first, I had no idea if 3 young children could handle a 6 mile hike, but we decided to try it and would head back if anyone was feeling tired. Those kids rocked this hike.

Cool Weather, Jetboil, and SteriPEN

2013-08-08T15:58:00.000-04:00

For once, August in Colorado is cool. The weather is reversed: June was pretty hot this year and now August is cooling down. I hope it stays like this!

I took advantage of the cooler temps by getting a good tempo run in yesterday afternoon. I ran 8.5 miles with 6 at tempo pace. I came home and managed to grab a small snack and take a quick shower before heading out for a short 3 mile hike in this great weather.

Perfect view of Boulder's flatirons.

I want to briefly highlight two fun camping/backpacking gadgets we picked up at the show last weekend. As I mentioned, Saturday, the final day of OR, had a few sales going on. You had to know where to look or just ask around to find out who was selling what.

We managed to walk away with some pretty awesome gear.

We first stopped at the booth where Jetboil was. Jetboil is pretty much the best, most compact cooking system out there for backpackers. With just a small amount of gas, you can boil all the water you need. We have been using an old system that is not as efficient as this, so seeing it at a good deal was too hard to pass up.

The guys selling it to us went out of their way to get a full, complete system for us even as they were in the midst of packing up to leave. They even gave us T-shirts and an extra container of gas. What makes me very happy about it is that it has a built in french press with it, so I can easily make coffee while in the backcountry. Yes!

All of this fits together into a nice, compact container, easy to throw in your pack.

After picking this up, we thought about what other backpacking gear we ~~needed~~ wanted that might be on sale. We headed over to the SteriPEN exhibit to see what they had for sale. SteriPENs have got to be one of the coolest inventions out there. I first heard about them from an alumni updates because the guy who invented it is an alumni of the small school in Maine where I earned my master's degree. Over the past few years, this little gadget has grown tremendously.

SteriPENs are advertised as an ultraviolet (UV) portable water purifier, meaning that it is a pen-shaped gadget with a UV light on it that can instantly (well, about 90 seconds) purify your water. No more pumping and boiling water. Just hold this pen in a glass or bottle of water and it will kill everything in the water. It is perfect for backpacking and traveling abroad to places where the water might not be safe to drink.

I wanted to mention this because Logan recently mentioned her slow water filtration system. I think this is a great, lightweight, fast method of purifying water in the backcountry. Of course, now we are planning our next camping trip (hopefully next weekend!) to use this gear. Then I suppose I can give you a full review, but for now, I just wanted to share my fun new toys!

Besides Logan, does anyone else go on backpacking trips? What is your favorite camping gear?

Zero Drop Cushioned Running Shoes

2013-08-07T15:27:00.001-04:00

I posted a few days ago about the latest trends in running shoes that are coming out next spring. I mentioned that a trend at the show was combining ideas of minimalist shoes with cushioning.

To begin, let's talk about cushioned running shoes. We all know and like cushioning in our shoes, minus the small amount of people who are still vigilant about true minimalist running shoes. The trend at Outdoor Retailer this year points to shoes that have been influenced by minimalist shoes, but have moved away from being truly minimalist or barefoot. Basically, the trend is taking the ideas of minimalist shoes and mixing them with maximum cushioning (think: Hokas). This is mix and match at its finest inspired by both Vibram and Hoka shoes. What?

Source
How can this....

Source
...be combined with this?

Enter the zero- or low-drop shoe. Most running shoes are made with a drop between the heel and the toe. This can run anywhere from 0 mm to 15 mm. Traditional shoes have been made with a 12-15 mm heel to toe drop. A zero heel to toe drop indicates a level shoe with no drop. This does not necessarily need to be minimalist, but it tends to attract runners who have tried minimalist shoes.

After a few years of many runners trying various forms of minimalist shoes, running shoe designers have learned that cushioning is important to many runners. This is especially true for trail runners who do not want or need stability that comes with man road running shoes, so they tend to gravitate toward the minimalist shoes. But with trails come a number of different obstacle (roots, rocks, gravel, etc.) where some cushioning under the foot is appreciated.

So what companies, exactly, are making these zero-drop cushioned shoes?

One new shoe company that is making huge leaps in the running shoe industry is Altra, based out of Utah. At OR I spoke with one of the founders of this company, Brian Beckstead. He told me that just three years ago, Altra was three guys operating out of a basement. Today they have some very successful shoes on the market. Their three selling points are: foot-shaped toe box, zero drop, and fully cushioned. They offer neutral and stability road running shoes, as well as trail running shoes. They do offer the Delilah women's shoe which is advertised as minimalist, but most of their shoes are advertised as natural, not minimal. Case in point is the Olympus shoe which is max-cushioned, designed for rugged trails, but maintains a 0 mm drop. [These may look big and cushioned like the Hoka One One, but the Hokas have a 4 mm heel to toe drop.]

Source

As for the more traditional running companies, I mentioned that Brooks unveiled the new Transcend shoe to hit store in Feb. 2014. This is not a 0 drop shoe (8 mm drop in fact), but it is also max cushioned and meant to incorporate elements of the more minimalist PureProject line. One of the people at Brooks told me that they do not believe in pure minimalist shoes, but in incorporating the minimalist aspects of shoes into more traditional running shoes. Other companies at the show like New Balance and Saucony had low drop shoes (NB MT 110 v2, NB Fresh Foam980, and Saucony Virrata 2) with cushioning, but not maximum cushioning. Sketchers even has a 4 mm drop cushioned shoe named the "Go Meb" after Meb Keflezighi.

SolSource One Earth Designs and Duke City Training Week 7

2013-08-05T14:57:00.003-04:00

Since everyone was interested in the solar-powered cooker I had in my post yesterday, I will give you some more information about it. My bad for skimping on that information-I was just so excited to show you the picture, I forgot to include basic facts.

The cooker is called SolSource and made by One Earth Designs. They have worked a lot in Qinghai province in China at the base of the Himalayas and the Himalayan Plateau where there is a need for renewable and sustainable energy sources. They are just now opening the market in the US. Here is a video about the project and the stove on kickstarter. It is still not small enough to use on a quick camping trip, but it is being marketed as an alternative to backyard grills and indoor non-renewable based-cooking sources. Even if you live in a location where there is little sunlight, it can still reach high temperatures to cook food and boil water as long as an outline of the sun is visible behind clouds.

It looks like the price will be around $400. They were selling it for the base price of $250 (I believe) at the show, but of course those are the types of pro deal discounts you can get at a trade show. It is just now hitting the US market, so it will be interesting to see how popular it becomes in the next few years. Of course, I am supportive of renewable energy products; I just wish I had a backyard where I could use it right now!

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Onto my training for this past week. Like anyone with big goals that I set for myself, I am a little mad that I missed a workout this week. It has been a while since I only ran 4 times a week, but that is OK. My week involved a lot of walking around, mostly on hard Chaco sandals. Don't get me wrong: I love Chacos, but their soles are hard and my entire body feels it after 2-3 days. My legs were very sore after my run followed by a full day of walking on Wednesday, so I took Thursday off. By Thursday night, my right foot was sore and I had a tendon (maybe?) connecting my leg to my foot that was painful with each step. I took Friday off running to rest it. Saturday was a busy day of walking the floor show, dealing with a dead car battery, and driving 8+ hours home, but my foot felt better. Needless to say, I was so excited to get out for a long run on Sunday that I almost did not care I went out at 2 pm in 87 degree temperatures for 16 miles.

Total Running Miles: 38

Monday: 4.5 miles, progression
After sitting in the car for 8 hours, the first thing I did was hit up the hotel fitness center. I didn't have much time, so a fast progression run was the right thing for me. I did 1.5 miles warm-up at 6.8. Each half mile after that, I upped the speed by .2 mph up to 7.8. I felt like I could have gone longer, farther, and faster, but I needed to take a shower and meet people.

Tuesday: 7.5 easy, hilly miles
I ran up the City Creek canyon in Salt Lake City, then back down. It was hot and hilly, but luckily most of the canyon was in the shade.

Wednesday: 10 easy, hilly miles
My infamous Runner's World/Running Skirts morning run. After this run, I showered and spend the rest of the day walking and standing on my feet.

Thursday-Saturday: Rest
This "rest" included tons of city walking, most likely around 10 miles altogether, but I have no way to make a better estimate.

Sunday: 16 easy, hilly miles
I was definitely ready for a nice, easy run after 3 days of not running. It was hot and sunny in the middle of the afternoon. I took my time, did not push the pace at all, and ended up feeling fantastic after I was done! Water, fueling, stomach all worked very well.

A Sneak Preview of Brooks Transcend

2013-08-04T13:59:00.001-04:00

We made it home last night at approximately 1:30 am. The drive from SLC is long, but beautiful. It did not help that we had a number of car issues. Either the battery or the alternator in the Jeep is about to die, so each time we turned the car off, we were afraid about whether or not it would turn back on. We had a Jeep loaded with boxes from D's work and had to stop in Glenwood Springs in western CO to drop off his co-worker who found a way to squish in a space in the back seat. The drive on I-70 through Colorado sure is long when it is dark and late.

Yesterday was the final day of OR and by far, the most relaxed. Early in the show, people are running around trying to meet with one another. People are catching up and trying to be the first ones to see the latest gear. But by Day 4, many people have gone home. Others are busy closing up shop. Some are selling their leftover gear at reduced prices. Others are running around trying to find the best deals on things. Many dogs were on the show floor yesterday (since we had left the dogs at home, I was excited to get my doggie fix).

I am so excited to write and share my upcoming posts on hydration systems (lots of information!), trail and running shoes, apparel (unfortunately not too much on this as most companies were busy promoting gear other than clothes), socks, and backpacking gear. In the meantime, I got to catch a sneak preview of Brooks' new Transcend shoe to come out in stores in February 2014.

Brooks Transcend

Brooks had a gospel choir there on Friday morning to introduce the shoe. This shoe is heavily cushioned (more so than their other shoes) and lightweight, while adding stability and cushion. I definitely found that lightweight and cushioned running shoes are new trend for the coming season. While minimalist and stability shoes remain popular to many, cushioning seems to have taken over the latest trends. Many companies remain committed to offering shoes that are minimalist, but are adding more cushioning to them. I will talk more about this in one of my upcoming posts on shoes.

I will leave you with an image of a solar-powered cooking station. I walked past this demonstration one day and smelled food cooking before I realized what it was. The food cooked in a pan on the hottest part of the stove in just about 5 minutes. It was fast and hot. I stuck my hand around the pan (though not directly under it) and was amazed at this technology.

Do you like cushioned running shoes?

Would you get a solar-powered stove for your backyard?

Outdoor Retailer: Waterproof Cases for Phones

2013-08-02T11:30:00.003-04:00

This is the third day of OR and things are getting exciting! My legs have taken quite a beating from all the walking around, but otherwise things in this city and the show are fantastic.

Today I want to give you a brief overview of waterproof sacks and covers to hold phones and money when we are out running on wet or humid days. I spent some time on Day 1 looking at small waterproof covers that can hold a phone and some other small items and stay completely dry. My inspiration for looking at these items was that Holly lives in the tropics where she gets covered with 225% humidity and sweat each time she runs. She asked me to look for bags or packs that might work for her. My inclination was to look simply at small case covers for phones and other valuables because everyone has a different preference for the type of running belt/bag/pack they carry with them. There are plenty of option available to keep your smaller valuable dry when they are in a larger pack.

Well, was she ever lucky that I happened to walk past a ton of paddle sport exhibitors my first day. Since her challenge was small, I took it on. Those participating in any kind of paddling sport need waterproof bags and sacks all the time. Here are the top three options I found:

SPIbelt sells a belt like their other products, but it comes with a sturdy and reusable plastic bag inside called a Loksak. While this might be a good option for a runner in a rainy or humid location, I am not sure the entire belt is necessary (unless you need a belt to carry your stuff anyway). Together the belt and waterproof Loksack run around $29 or the sack can be purchased for $12.99. The sack is held together with what looks like a heavy-duty zip-lock bag. While it is a great option, I am not sure it will last longer than a season or two with extensive use.

Another option I found was a British company based out of London, called Aquapac. They have a distributor in Singapore, so Holly may be in luck in finding their product locally! They have both a small camera/cell phone case and an armband case that are submersible up to 15 feet of water. Their small sacks for phones have a plastic lock system and run around $30 each.

Finally, a guy at Australian-based Sea to Summit gave me excellent customer service (when I was not even a customer and he was clearly busy making big plans with retailers). He showed me a waterproof case for an iphone as well as a small accessory case. The iphone case fits an iphone 5 without a case and no room for other things. But you can still talk through the case. The small accessory case has room for a few other goods aside from a smart phone. The representative at Sea to Summit explained how they use Thermaplastic Urethane (TPU) in their case covers and then the covers are designed to fold over several times to prevent leakage (rather than a simple lock system that Aquapac uses). I have seen this work effectively with larger dry sacks taken on canoeing or hiking trips and am impressed that they are able to keep this design with something as small as a phone cover. These run around $30 as well.

{Holly-if you are interested I even got the name and email of their Singapore distributor. Email me for details].

While the SPIbelt offers the most affordability, I think the Aquapac and Sea to Summit options are better in the long run if you plan on using your case day after day. I had an extra-positive experience with the rep from Sea to Summit and I have heard good reviews of their other products, so I would most likely want to go with them. However, I am sure Aquapac would be a fine alternative as well.

I have more exciting details on trail running shoes, hydration packs, and running apparel, which I will share over the next week.

Do you run with a phone? What do you do with your phone on rainy or extra humid days?

Running in Salt Lake City

2013-07-31T20:06:00.000-04:00

I am exhausted after Day 1 of Outdoor Retailer. The good news is that it was a success! I scoped out a lot of fun booths and met many people. I did a lot of research and soon (once I have time to breath), I will be posting some of the things I learned. PS-Holly I have lots of good product suggestions for you!

Yesterday afternoon, I went for a run. After some research, I decided the City Creek Canyon was the best place to run. It took me about a mile of running (and stopping) on city blocks to get to the park which leads to the canyon. From there it was all uphill. I started to have flashbacks of my relay last week, but figured I would be OK. The area was mostly shaded and the grade was not as steep. I went up 4 miles, turned around when the road became exposed and steeper, then came down 3 and a half miles. Views from my turn-around point:

Last night, D mentioned that this morning there was a Runner's World sponsored run happening at 7 am this morning that he had to go to and I should come to run. Um, if I must...He mentioned he thought it was a 5K. Although I had hoped to run farther today (technically I had 8 miles with 6 at tempo), I figured I could run with them and add more later on.

So we met up with the Runner's World tent at 7 and I was pleased to hear there were a couple different groups running and one was running for about an hour. OK, if I must, I will go with them. Adam Chase of Running Times and one of the twin sisters of the San Diego-based Running Skirts. Adam mentioned we were heading up the canyon again. I groaned thinking this might be tough to do with these awesome runners, but I accepted the challenge.

Once we got to the park with the gradual slope where I ran yesterday, I was surprised to see us taking a different route. This route was entirely up a very steep paved path with switchbacks. In my mind, I was thinking that maybe we were getting all of the elevation gain out of the way. Oh was I wrong. That path took us to a neighborhood with really steep hills which we continued to run for a while. There was one other woman who, like me was struggling on the hills, but still enjoying it. We started ~~walking~~ running together. It turns out she, too, is from Colorado. She races triathlons and is attempting to BQ this fall. In other words, she is a solid athlete and these hills were ridiculously steep for the both of us. We were in awe of the woman from San Diego who was climbing these hills with no problem.

Anyway, my new running buddy needed to run 10 miles today. By the time we got back to the Runner's World tent (and gulped down water which we did not think we would need for a leisurely hour run), we had completed 8. She asked me if I wanted to do 2 more with her. Never one to turn down an opportunity to run with a solid running partner, I said sure. I definitely did not get my tempo run in today, but I got my hill training in for sure! Then I stood around on my legs all day at the show and walked around a lot more in this town.

Outdoor Retailer, Day 0

2013-07-30T15:41:00.000-04:00

Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2013

Hello from beautiful Salt Lake City! After a long drive (@ 8 hours) yesterday, we finally made it here just in time to start getting everything organized for the show. As I mentioned yesterday, I am here helping out with D's work for the summer trade show. Twice a year the Outdoor Retailer show meets in Salt Lake City to display next year's latest outdoor gear. Since this show is aimed entirely at retailers and not consumers, it is different than a race expo or any other expo aimed at consumers. All of the big--and many new, smaller companies--will be displaying their summer gear for next season (2014).

The entire city is ready for this show.

The convention center looks ready on the outside.

Today was Day 0 of the show, so that means that people are traveling here and getting in today as many of the companies start to set up their displays and exhibitions. I did not attend any of the demos (they were outside of town), so I stayed around and watched all the work that goes into setting up for the show.

Inside the exhibition hall. It was difficult to walk without running into a forklift or other machine moving heavy equipment around. This scene will look quite different tomorrow.

These white tents are for some of the smaller exhibitors. They, too, were setting up today in preparation for Day 1 tomorrow.

I plan to head out later this afternoon for a run. I have scoped out some trails and I ma pretty excited to see where they take me. After the long drive yesterday, I managed to go to the hotel gym and get a few miles done on the treadmill. I have to say, this hotel has some lovely treadmills. I ran 4+ miles of speed and I felt like I was flying. It is amazing what kind of difference a newer, nice treadmill can make. Although it is tempting to hit the treadmill again, I will be running outside to explore this cool town.

Oh and a quick view of the temple.

Over the next few days of the trade show, I will be going around and meeting with different companies to learn about next season's products. I will learn about new trends in gear and report back to you. Some of the products I am particularly interested in are running shorts, sports bras, and hydration systems, but I am open to investigating new topics. That is where you come in: What gear trends are you interested in learning about for next year?

Comment and let me know and I will look into it for you and report back here.

Duke City Training Week 6 and Salt Lake City

2013-07-29T07:00:00.000-04:00

Is it really Week 6? Am I really one third of the way done with training? I can do this. During my long run on Friday evening, I had plenty of time to think about where I was with my training and what I need to work on. On the one hand, everything feels good, but on the other hand, I tend to lose it during my long runs. After I hit the 10 mile mark, I just feel drained and my legs are dragging. My stomach almost always starts to get angry at this point, too. Grrr. It is frustrating, but I think I really need to calm down and try to take these long runs slow and easy. I am looking forward to some long and slow runs in the future, combined with longer tempo runs at race pace during the week to help me build/maintain stamina.

This week started a bit slow. I wanted to make sure I was recovered after the relay last weekend. As a result, I missed a tempo session this week, but I feel fine about it. I also did a lot of hiking and did not have much of a rest day.

I think I might have tried to make up for missing a tempo by pushing my speed a bit on easy runs. I am kind of beating myself up about this because I had a coach once tell me if I am not taking my easy runs slow enough, I am not running my fast runs fast enough. True enough given that my speed work was limited this week. My goal for the next few weeks is to take the speed work fast and the easy runs slow. My average pace for 3 of my easy runs (Mon, Thurs, and 10 miles of my long run on Friday) this week was 9:40 and it should be over 10.

Week Total: 53 Miles
Running: 40.5 Miles
Hiking: 12.5 Miles

Monday: 6 easy miles
It was hot, but I was feeling good.

Tuesday: 6 hiking/walking miles
This was a long, exhausting and frustrating day. I won't get into the details, but I got stuck somewhere in the middle of the day (HOT!) with plenty of time to kill and no running clothes. Argh. I walked for 3 miles on a bike path in my flip flops to kill time and get some exercise in. When I got home that night, I was exhausted but needed to exercise. So I made D go on a hike around the loop near our home for 3 miles.

Wednesday: 7.25 miles
Speed: 2 easy warm-up miles, 2 fast miles, 1 recovery, 1 fast, 1.25 cool-down

Thursday: 5.25 miles
Easy.

Friday: 15 miles
I love doing my long runs on Friday late afternoon/evening to get them over with before the weekend. I ran on the bike paths around town. 10 miles in the middle averaged a 9:40 pace. My pace for my next long run is going to average over 10 min/miles because I have to keep it easy. This run was not too hard, but I was feeling pretty bad for the last 2-3 miles.

Saturday: 6.5 miles hiking
D's sister flew in from CA the night before, so we wanted to take her on a nice, long hike to a mountain lake at 10,000 feet. It was a lot of fun and we stopped off in Boulder to get a Snarf's sandwich after the hike. We headed home to nap and shower before going to Denver later for a couple drinks and dinner. Perfect Colorado Day.

Sunday: 7 easy miles
Unlike all my other runs this week, I made sure these miles were really easy.

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Did anyone follow the Ironman Lake Placid? Those pro athletes are beasts! I saw the online coverage as the winners came across the finish line. Andy Potts was great, but the look of a champion came from first-time Ironman Champion Jennie Hansen. She was amazing!

Photo Credit: Nils Nilsen

I am off to Salk Lake City this week for the 2013 Outdoor Retailer trade show! I am excited to see the latest trends in outdoor and running(!) gear for the next year. I will definitely have a lot of updates throughout the week. I am also very, very excited to be running through the trails of Salt Lake over the week. The last time I was there was in 2005 when I lived in Maine and I loved how the mountains were so close to the city.

Anyone been to SLC and have advice about running trails or paths?

EPIC Rocky Mountain Relay Re-Cap

2013-07-28T12:50:00.000-04:00

As you know, I ran theEPIC Rocky Mountain Relay last weekend. It was a beautiful, but challenging course. Getting to bond with a van full of girls while doing so made the experience that much better!

Although we were Van #2 and did not have to be ready to run at 6 am on Friday, we were still up early to get our van packed and ready. It just so happened that right across the street from our hotel in Canon City was a dinosaur! Since we were Team Supersaurus, we took this a good sign.

Team Supersaurus For the Win!

We drove to the first transition area where we waited for Van #1 to roll in. They came in around 1 pm and I had to be ready to go. Their last runner was about a mile away.

Here I am waiting for the hand-off.

As I may have mentioned, my first leg was killer. I started at about 1 PM in the middle of the heat. I was running straight up for 3.7 miles and I literally had no flat or downhill the entire way. There were maybe 4 trees along the way providing just the slightest bit of relief from the sun. I might have had to stop for a few extra seconds under the trees. My van met me about a mile and a half into my run to pour water on me. I had my Camelbak with me, but needed extra water on me to soak up the sun. I wish I would have had them stop again for me because the last mile was rough. But I survived!

For the pass-off EPIC gave us slap bracelets. When I finally got to the top I had to pass it off to my teammate but I was too busy yelling dramatic stuff about how that was hell and it was dangerous to be out there in the sun. Anyway, I did not put enough energy into slapping the bracelet so it just fell on the ground. We captured it on video, but the video is too big to share here :(

Our van's first legs all went well. Just after I finished, the clouds rolled in and cooled it down, but luckily we did not have any major thunderstorms. We passed off to Van #1 later in the afternoon and all was well.

Our views.

Scenery from the road

We pulled into Salida, CO and had a few hours to kill. The van was hungry and wanted food, but because I did not want to eat since I would be the first runner. I had eaten a lot after my first leg and was feeling OK. Many other runners had the same idea as us and most of the good restaurants in town were crowded. We ended up going to a Subway which was quick. I got a coffee to get myself ready for the long night.

My second leg was close to sunset, so when I started it was just getting dark and it was fully dark after my 3 and a half miles. I was along the side of a fairly flat highway and the weather was cool and perfect. Basically, everything was different about this leg than the previous one and I embraced it! I felt like I was fast and flying down the road. My teammates did have to stop me halfway to remind me to turn on my lights and to run on the other side of the highway. I was so focused on having a good run that I forgot all about my safety. Oops. I was so happy when I finished because everything about that leg was perfect.

At the beginning of my second leg.

By then it was getting dark so I had to change my clothes into dry, warm clothes since I knew it would be a long and cold night. After all 6 of our van members finished our runs (we basically ran the highway from Salida to Buena Vista that night), we exchanged with Van #1 around midnight. They had a long night of climbing over Cottonwood Pass ahead of them. We drove the pass and found the next morning's exchange point. At about 2:45 am, I finally set out my sleeping pad and bag and got about 2 and a half hours of sleep. By 5:15 I was actually much more awake than I thought I would be. The only problem was that it was so cold outside of my sleeping bag that I did not want to get out.

Being the first runner in our van, I changed into my clothes and had to mentally prepare myself for what was next. All I knew was that it was long and hilly. But after I had completed the first leg, I knew I could do it.

Well it was long and difficult, but my van was great. They stopped to support me 3 times as I was going up. By the middle, my hamstrings were screaming at me for all this climbing. I felt like they were seizing or cramping up and all I wanted was to be in the van icing them. I had to stop and stretch a few times even though I just wanted to be done. The last time my van stopped was here at the top of the pass.

I am on the right. Do I look like I am stumbling or about to puke?

Then one of my teammates yelled to me "Did you look behind you?" I panicked and thought another runner was making his or her way to pass me. I turned and saw no one. But then I saw the views and knew what she meant. I had come to the top of this pass and was rewarded with beautiful views.

Yay! The top felt so good.

I had about a mile left to go down and my quads were certainly feeling it. It was a long mile down, but I was so glad to see the van. They had an ice pack waiting for me.

Our awesome van!

We had a long morning ahead of us, as the other 5 runners in our van each had long runs ahead of them. As we were starting to come into Crested Butte, our lack of sleep was catching up with us. All we wanted was iced coffee but we were stuck in the van and needed to support our runners. Until one of the girls mentioned her husband was in town hanging out waiting for us. She got right on her phone and put in an order for 5 iced coffees. Amazing!

Cheering for runners...or for coffee?

This really helped us during the last exchange just as we were entering into Crested Butte. We knew our Van #1 teammates were waiting for us. Our final runner just had a long climb in town to the base of the resort.

Once our final runner started going, we drove to the finish and met up with our other team members. They were rested, showered, and already enjoying their finish line beers! We were so happy to see our final runner approaching. We all met her at the finish and, as planned, we PRANCERCIZED across the finish line! It was so much fun and some people even knew what we were doing.

Team Supersaurus!

And the best news is that we found out our team won First Place for Best Van decoration. This means we get a discount on next year's race. Yes!

Supersaurus Van #2

Hiking in Colorado: Highlights From June 2013

2013-07-25T18:21:00.001-04:00

Good photos take a while to get. So, by popular demand, I am going to show you some good, quality pictures of some of my favorite hikes this summer. I have probably told you about most of them, but did not have D's awesome pictures to accompany my posts. Here are the highlights of some of the hikes we did in June.

On June 1, we were in Steamboat Springs, so we headed up to Fish Creek Falls, where there is a scenic waterfall. You reach the falls after half a mile, but we continued hiking for about 2 miles in to get some better views and to avoid the crowds. Most people hiked in to see the falls, then hiked back out.

The falls.

Hiking with the aspens in the background.

On June 9, we headed out for a short hike in Boulder, but decided it was just too hot to stay in town. We headed up to the Ceran St. Vrain Trail just past Jamestown, a small town to the NW of Boulder in the Foothills. The trail was great because there was not too much elevation loss/gain and it was pretty shaded.

I thoroughly enjoyed the shade!

The trail ends at Miller's Rock, a big rock you can climb. On top there are great views of Longs Peak and other mountains in the area.

Shrek was busy chasing all the flies on top of the rock. He likes to pretend he's a wolf.

Climbing down the rock.

Just a few days later, on June 12, D's sister was in town so we took them up to Brainard Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area just to the west of Boulder. Normally,we would have driven to the lake and hiked up from there. However, the road was still closed off for the winter season so we had to hike up the road just to get to the lake.

In front of Brainard Lake. We tried to go farther, but there was too much snow in mid-June!

On June 23, we drove up to Mt. Evans on the highest paved road in the country that takes you to the top of a 14-er. I told you about a hike we did that was 1,000 ft down and back up over one mile to Chicago Lakes.

Going down to the lake...

This is the view from the lake of what we had just walked down.

Stopping to take it all in at the bottom.

Why is Kara Goucher So Popular?

2013-07-24T13:41:00.002-04:00

**My full EPIC relay recap is still on the way. I am waiting to exchange photos with some of my teammates before I do a full recap. Thanks for your patience!

Last week, I was feeling bored so I stopped at my local library to pick up some books. In the Running section (of course I went there), I found Kara Goucher's book.

I had heard a lot about it so I picked it up. I have been skimming through it over the past week and I have to say, I am not that impressed.

Even though there are a lot of things I can recognize (she often talks about running in Boulder), there is little I can relate to as my life is not driven by running. Maybe I read a lot about running, so this book has not taught me anything new. Maybe I had higher expectations. Maybe her writing style annoys me. Yes, actually, the writing style annoys me a lot. The writing is short and almost sounds like a person is talking to me, rather than writing. Writing aside, the information available in it is pretty generic information that can be found all across the internet. So why is this book popular?

Because it has Kara's name on it. Over the past 5 years Kara has replaced Deena Kastor as America's running sweetheart. Desi Davila and Shalane Flanagan are also up on this list. These women are powerful and hard-core and awesome runners. So they have gained attention for their training, their racing, and their life stories. What does it take to be elite? How did they get to where they are? What is their daily/weekly routine? These are answers we fellow American women runners want to know because we can relate to them.

Of course, it is great to have running heroes to look up to when we are runners. However, I think it is sad that in all of our hype of these American runners, there are runners from around the world that are stronger and faster runners. But they come from different places, they are raised in different environments, have different training regimes, and (yes I am going to go here) they look different from us.

How many people can name the top three female (or male) finishers of this year's Boston marathon? Most reports of people watching the marathon (before the bombs) that I read were tracking Kara and Shalane, leaving out Rita, Meseret, and Sharon from Kenya, Ethiopia, and Kenya (yes, I had to look this information up myself). I remember appreciating that Debbie @ DebRuns had a great post on the winners way back in April. Sure, a lot of this has to do more with nationality and relate-ability than it does with race, but those women worked just as hard and executed awesome races as our American girls. Yet, Kara gets a book deal because she is cute, accessible, relate-able, and all-American.

OK, my rant is over. I hope I did not offend any hard core Kara Goucher fans out there. I just think that making one or two people heroes and running experts dismisses all of the other hard working runners out there. Please tell me if you have read and like Kara's book - I want to remain open-minded and hear all sides and opinions!

Epic Rocky Mountain Relay and Duke City Training Week #5

2013-07-22T12:16:00.000-04:00

I survived the Epic Rocky Mountain Relay this past weekend. My team started Saturday morning at 6 am in Canon City and we finished at 3:30 pm on Saturday in Crested Butte at the base of the ski resort.

I will have more to re-cap this week, but here are some of the basic facts you need to know:

1. Our team came in third place for all-women teams (never mind that there were 3 all-women teams in this category).

2. Two of my legs completely kicked my butt, but that made my other leg that much better because it went so well!

3. I met up with Beth from Shut Up and Run at the first major exchange point. She had already run her first leg and I was super nervous as I was waiting for my team and about to run up 1,000 ft of elevation.

4. We were Team Supersaurus!

Team Supersaurus for the win!
(Barbie is wearing her tutu and riding the dinosaur. They stayed like this for our entire journey).

5. This course was absolutely beautiful (I will make you wit for those pictures)!

6. I slept about 2.5 hours Friday night under the Colorado stars. Then I woke up and had to run up a mountain pass.

7. There will be plenty more recap action coming your way this week!

Last week also completed 5 weeks of Duke City Marathon training. I knew this week was going to be a cut-back week and although I had hoped for more miles, I am sure that the 10+ miles of completely uphill altitude running I did this weekend were intense enough even if the numbers do not reflect it.

Week Total: 30 miles running

Monday: 6 easy and hilly miles

The hills on this trail were good practice for what was to come this weekend.

Tuesday: 8 miles

3 x 1 mile repeats. This felt great and was easy as I was running, but after I completed the repeats, I was about to fall over. Stupid Heat.

Wednesday and Thursday: Rest
Had to give my legs a break for the relay this weekend

Friday: 8.75 miles
1.25 mile warm-up before I started running uphill.
3.9 miles completely uphill in the blaring hot sun.
3.6 miles just as the sun was setting. Fairly flat run in cool temperatures. Consider my 8:30 miles during this run my tempo for the week.

Saturday: 7.5 miles
6.5 miles up from 9,700 to 10,600, crossed a beautiful mountain pass, then about 1 mile downhill after the pass.

Sunday: Rest

This week was awesome and I definitely got my hill workouts for the entire training season in! I understand why coaches advise not to race during marathon training because this relay race certainly took energy and focus away from my marathon. But running has to be fun and enjoyable and I have to take the opportunity to run across the mountains when I have it, don't I?

Packing for a Mountain Relay

2013-07-19T20:00:00.000-04:00

Hello from the road of my relay race. I wrote this before I left and scheduled it to appear on Friday while I am in the midst of a long two-day race. We can all hope all is going well with the race at this point :)

Thursday night we drove to Canon City, Colorado to stay overnight Thursday. Van #1 left from Canon City at 6 am on Friday morning. Van #2 (aka the cool van that I am on) was supposed to start around 12:30-1:00 pm. Since I am runner #7 and the first runner of Van #2, I will be running in the middle of the day. My leg is about 3.7 miles and is straight uphill. I gain a total of 1,000 feet during the first run. Way to start out easy to keep my legs fresh for my next two runs....not.

The last time I did one of these relays, I felt unprepared; this lack of preparation was not in terms of running, but in packing. Instead of thinking of it as a camping trip, I was thinking of it as a long road trip. I did have a sleeping bag and a pad with me, but overall, I could have used a lot more warm clothes. When I had to run my 3rd and final leg, it was 4 am and in the mountains, that is COLD. I did not have capris or tights with me, so I had to run in my (slightly too large) yoga pants. I wished I'd had gloves with me, too. My meal planning was poor, too. I packed a bunch of crackers and bars and hoped that would be enough. It was sufficient when combined with all of the other food in the van, but boring.

So for what I have packed this year:

Clothes

3 sets of running outfits
2 extra T-shirts to wear in the van while not running
2 long-sleeve mid-layer shirts for warmth
1 pair of non-running shorts
1 pair capris
1 pair winter running tights
1 puffy jacket for warmth
1 raincoat
1 pair compression socks and 1 pair of warm hiking socks
Hat and gloves
2 pairs of running shoes (Mizuno Wave Riders)
Sandals/flip flops for the van

Food and Drink

Bananas
Luna bars
Granola bars (Nature Valley so basically like sugar)
Sesame sticks (these things are like crack to me)
Almonds
Peanut Butter
Rice crackers
Cheese sticks
Random running fuels gels and chews
Fresh veggies to snack on
Pre-made rice and tofu to eat during the first day
Camelbak for waater
Handheld Nathan water bottle
2 Nalgenes to fill with extra water

This is really only a handful of what I have.

First Aid

Advil/Ibuprofen for pains
Imodium for belly
Claritin for allergies
Blister-specific band-aids
Plus a full first aid kit for all that other stuff you may need

Other

Sleeping Bag (15 degrees)
Down camping pillow
Sleeping pad
Headlamp
Baby wipes
Hand sanitizer
AC adapted for the van to charge electronic items
Camera
Garmin
Reflective vest for running at night (most relays require this)

Somehow I managed to fit all of this in the red bag.

Ready to go!

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Maybe I Should Not Have Done That

2013-07-18T15:27:00.002-04:00

Tuesday night it was hot and steamy. I waited until 6:30 to run and I wanted to get 8-9 miles in. I also thought it would be a good idea to add in some mile repeats. Not too fast; I was aiming for a 8:20-8:30 pace.

What happened? After a solid 2-mile warm-up and three mile repeats (8:20, 8:19, 8:17 with 3:00 rest in between) I thought I was going to have to pick my body up from the ground. I was far from where I started and I knew there was no way I was ever going to be able to pick the pace back up to fit in any more than a slow jog back to the car. I completed 8 miles and my body was shot. The next morning my legs were sore. This pace was nothing new to me, but I guess the heat had taken its toll on me.

So because I am leaving tonight for my relay race (!!!), I actually took 2 days of rest (Wed and Thurs) in a row. I want to feel good starting tomorrow afternoon and figured I needed the extra rest.

Lesson learned. 8 easy miles would have been much better than 8 miles with 3 mile intervals. My 3 runs this weekend for the relay are going to be intense enough; I did not need to add more intensity the week of a race.

Relay Details...

Yesterday I checked my email. Tons of last minute details about the relay have been coming in from my teammates. Someone sent our projected times. When I looked at our sheet of projected paces, I saw it had me at an 8:30 pace. What?!?!?!? Given how I nearly killed myself with 3 miles just under this pace, there is no way, I am running anything close to this pace. I will be running straight uphill and gaining plenty of elevation.

When I signed up for the race, they asked me my 10K time. Well, stupid me thought to give them the best time I have run recently, which happened to be back in March at my 20K race. During that 20K, I ran a 51:16 10K in the middle. It makes sense that my time was fast because a) that course was flat, b) the weather was chilly and a bit windy but nearly perfect, c) it was at sea level, and d) I was warmed up since the 10K time came in between the 20K race. Now, I guess they were nice enough to add some time (10-15 seconds?) to my pace, but not nearly enough. Believe me, what I am about to run is much closer to trail running where my average pace is much, much slower. Oh well. Such is life. Luckily this team is all about doing this for fun and no one really cares about our times.

I leave tonight and won't be back until Sunday, so please excuse my absence from the blogosphere for the next few days.

My Latest Scenery

2013-07-16T15:36:00.000-04:00

Greetings from Lyons, Colorado. Lyons is just about 15 miles from Boulder, but in many ways feels like a different world. It is a small town with a cute little downtown area and it seems like everyone knows one another.

I am here for a few days hanging out with this guy.

Sydney

Sydney is my PhD advisor's dog. I have stayed with Sydney for a week or two since about 2007 or 2008 when I was a grad student. It is nice to be reunited with the little dude. He loves Lemon and has been very friendly to her as she is healing. Sydney likes to run trails, so yesterday we went to Lion Gulch Trail near Estes Park.

At the Homestead Meadows on the other side of the trail.

We ran 3 miles into the trail (about 1,000 feet elevation gain) to the meadows where there are old, historic remnants of homesteads form the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Where we turned around 3 miles into our journey.

Most of the trail was covered in forest so it was shady and cool. This is the view at the end where it opens up to the meadow. The trail was really technical so although I was running, I was running SLOW. And that was perfect for an easy 6 mile run.

The fun thing about hanging out with Sydney is he shares his home with me. The home comes with an amazing deck with awesome views of the mountains.

I might have chosen this spot to do some early morning yoga stretches.

Not a bad view

This is where you can find me for the next few days.

I am going to make an effort to take more pictures of hikes and trail runs that I do lately since I have had requests for more mountain and trail pictures. Sometimes when I am running, I have a hard time stopping and getting myself out of the zone to snap a few pictures. I will work harder on that (this is for Jeano and Logan, specifically :).

Take a minute to stop and enjoy your scenery today!

Duke City Training Week 4

2013-07-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

Has it really been 4 weeks already? I hope they all continue to go as great as the past 4.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning and somehow putzed around, drank coffee, read blogs/the news and did not start running until 7 when the sun was really starting to shine. However, I got my 15.5 miles in and I felt fantastic.

I am proud of myself for this week. Next week will be a cut-back week since I will be running a relay on Friday-Saturday. I will do 3 legs, totaling about 15 miles, so I will use those instead of a long run, even though they are much shorter. I figure the speed and intensity (the legs are HILLY) will be enough of a workout.

Total Miles: 46
Running: 40.5
Hiking: 5.5

Monday: 6 easy and hilly miles
I usually do speed on Mondays, but wanted to give myself an easy day since I had run a half marathon 2 days before.

Tuesday: 7 miles
Speed work: 2 x 1 mile and 2 x .5 miles

Wednesday: 3 easy miles

Thursday: Hiking 5.5 miles
I did 3 miles on a pretty flat trail loop near me in the afternoon. Then D came home and wanted to hike, so we headed to Chautauqua for 2 and a half miles in the mountains.

Friday: 9 miles
5 miles at marathon pace tempo. I am getting used to doing a slower tempo run, but I will be increasing this distance so I know it will pay off to keep the pace slower.

Saturday: Rest

Sunday: 15.5 easy and hilly miles
I had planned on making this long run 16, but the loop I planned was just short of 16. I knew I would not be able to pass my car to do an extra quarter mile and then turn back, so I cut it short at 15.5. I also ran out of water at 12 miles in my Camelbak, which has never happened to me before. The extra water in the water bottle in my car never tasted so good, even though it was warm.

Running and Flexibility

2013-07-13T19:57:00.000-04:00

Flexibility. No, I don't mean touch-your-toes yoga flexibility (though that topic could be another post). I am talking about being flexible with your time. I am very proud of myself this evening.

See, it is 6:00 on Saturday night. All day I had planned to be heading out for a long run at 5:30. That was the plan and I made sure I rested on the couch all day because I did a long tempo run last night and I wanted my legs to feel good for the 16 miles I wanted to run. I know it is not a good idea to run a tempo and a long run together, but that was the way my schedule worked.

At 4:30 I even got dressed in my running clothes and was mentally prepared to go. It had rained earlier in the day and it was cool. My run last night was in the rain and I loved it and thought it would be nice to re-create that. But then the thunder came. It was in the distance but it was rumbling pretty hard. I checked the radar online. It confirmed my fear: thunderstorms are heading towards Boulder. I spent 10 minutes contemplating whether or not I should go. In my head, I had to go because it was planned and I was ready to go. But the logical side of my head told me that running in an open space near water (where I had planned to be) was not a good choice. Sadly, I changed out of my running clothes and set them aside and plan to go first thing tomorrow morning.

I was looking forward to making tomorrow a solid rest day, as I have a few things planned for tomorrow and nothing planned for today. But, it actually makes sense that today is my rest day. I ran hard last night, and I woke up with tired legs and was lazy all day. David and Shrek are out hiking/camping this evening and I opted to stay home with the Lemon dog, as she is still recovering. I thought my perfect alone Saturday night would be a long run. But instead, my perfect alone Saturday night will be Netflix and carb-loading so I can wake up early tomorrow and run 16 miles.

I know that without kids I have the luxury of time to be flexible in my running. I am grateful for that so when I am confronted with a situation (i.e. thunderstorms) that may get in the way of my run, I know I should not take too many risks and just find another time to fit the run in.

For me, tonight was a case of the weather getting in the way of my run. Kristen just had a good post on how to fit in running when travelling. That is another big one for me when I need to be flexible. I am sure moms with young children need to be flexible when things come up with kids as they often do. What are other times and examples of times when we as runners need to be flexible with our scheduled running time?

Fitness Classes in Public Space

2013-07-12T15:30:00.001-04:00

First, thanks for all the heartwarming comments on the Lemon Dog. She continues to amaze me.

I wanted to share an article I saw in the NY Times the other day about exercise classes in Denver's parks. You should read it, but basically the article reports how the city is restricting any type of paid class activity in the city's parks. The irony, as the article points out, is how health-conscious Denver is and how popular these classes are.

From the NY Times article

Since D and I would love to buy a house in Denver, I am intrigued by this. Denver has some pretty awesome parks and paths that I would be excited to use for my training if I live there. I can see many sides of this issue.

On the one hand, why shouldn't classes be held in public spaces? Although I am not necessarily one to join fitness classes, the idea of doing them outdoors is much more appealing than in a gym. Plus, a lot of the instructors do not have to hand over a big chunk of their $ to gyms if they can hold classes outside. Using public spaces for classes essentially takes away the middle man in any transactions between students and instructors and I appreciate that.

But on the other hand, the city created these public spaces for the public to use. When classes get too big or the instructors get too loud, it can start to deter other people who are not paying for the classes to not want to be there or to feel excluded. As an individual runner, I do get annoyed by large groups of bikers or even runners and walkers that pass me on a path. They stick together as a group and making passing difficult. This is particularly a problem on Boulder's many bike paths when groups and teams of bikers ride together on what many use as commuter (i.e. individual) bike, running, and walking paths.

I think the article ends on an interesting note when it mentions that some instructors are simply taking their classes elsewhere and are being welcomed in these other areas. Of course, these other places are the suburbs. What appeals to D and I about living in Dever is the urban-ness. Having both grown up in the suburbs, we like the idea of living in an urban place where it is easy to commute by bike and by foot. We love the public spaces in Denver and the initiatives that the city has taken to help make it a more fun, young, and urban. By regulating fitness classes, the city is simply exerting more control over public spaces. That begs the question: who are they protecting by doing so?

It is a tough issue, but maybe you guys have an opinion about this? Have you ever attended and paid for an outdoor fitness class in a public space?

Lemon the Tri-Dog!

2013-07-11T13:52:00.001-04:00

I have talked about my greyhound (Liz) Lemon on here before. She is the funniest, laziest dog ever and is some of the best company I have. She may not aways be up for a run or a hike with me, but she loves to lay and cuddle on the couch.

Well, sometimes she cuddles by herself on the couch.

Sometimes I join her at her level to get some extra cuddles.

Or, sometimes, if we are in a Motel 6 on a cross-country road trip, she claims a bed for herself.

When she is in the right mood, this dog can run and jump.

She likes the water, too.

Can she bike? Is that why I have chosen to call this post Lemon the Tri-Dog? No, biking is not really her thing.

She's a tri-dog because just the other day, she had to have surgery to amputate one of her hind legs. So Lemon is now officially a 3-legged dog. A tripod dog.

Poor girl is only 6 years old, but the vets found what they thought was a bone tumor in her left hind leg. She was walking on the affected leg painfully. When she started to hop on 3 legs, I knew that amputation was a good choice for her.

It has only been 3 days since surgery and she is already charging around on 3 legs like it has always been that way. She is getting up and down stairs just fine. The only thing is that she has to wear a cone and she is not thrilled about that. It gets in the way of everything, but will be off in week and a half once the staples are removed.

I have to admit, I was hesitant to go forward with the amputation for a few reasons. The first was that I really did not want to traumatize her. But, as I said, once she stopped putting weight on the leg and was hopping on 3 legs, I knew she would be OK. The second reason was because of other peoples' reactions. I mean, I don't care too much what others think or say, but I really don't want to be walking around getting sympathetic looks all the time for my mutant 3-legged dog.

But then I read a post on Ali on the Run's blog. Poor Ali is going through some major health issues right now and has been struggling a lot. She managed to get out for a run recently (yay Ali!) and mentioned how 3-legged dogs have been her running inspiration. I have also watched a number of videos of 3-legged dogs running around as happy as can be. In fact, in many of them it is hard to tell they are missing a limb.

So these signs sealed the deal and we went ahead with the surgery. Lemon is recovering at a remarkable rate and I am so happy for her.

Once the fur grows back and the staples are removed, you won't even be able to tell she is missing a limb!

I hope the 3-legged Lemon Dog can be inspiration for others. Think of her when you are struggling during your next long run :)

Running and Nausea

2013-07-10T15:11:00.002-04:00

I have a fun topic to discuss today! Well, maybe not fun, but important. You know that nauseous, sick-to-your-stomach feeling that running causes? Yeah, I am sure most of us have experienced that. Yet, despite it, we still continue to run, each time determined to forget the nasty side effects of running. Now that it is summer, it seems we can get more nauseous more often. So let's discuss.

The other day after after my half marathon, I finished feeling great. I did not completely push myself in that race. I finished feeling like I could do anything for the rest of the day. My stomach felt fine, which is surprising following a race. I drank water and snacked on some of the fruit that was being offered before getting in the car to go home. One of the things I ate was a biscuit from Chick-Fil-A. I have never eaten there, but an adorable little kid came running up to me and gave me the biscuit. How could I say no?

Anyway, it was dry and crumbly, so I kind of had to force it down. But I felt I should eat it to get some more food besides fruit in my system. And I had just raced, so I could eat anything, right?

We drove 25 minutes to get home and by the last 5 minutes, my stomach was feeling upset. I thought getting out of the car and laying down would help. Once we got home, I paused at the bottom of the stairs (1.5 flights to get up to our place). I could do this and then go lie down. I managed to get home and make my way to the couch. Before I knew it, I was asking for a trash bag and then I was running to the bathroom to lose my breakfast.

Apparently, the biscuit was not a good idea. Usually after races, I don't feel hungry and almost always feel sick to my stomach, but I make myself eat. This time when I did not feel sick, I ate and I do not think it was a good idea. However, once I rested and drank a lot more, I was good to go for the rest of the day.

Was it the heat or dehydration that made me sick? Probably, although most of what came up was all the post-race water, fruit, and the dreaded biscuit I consumed. That leads me to believe I should have been drinking more during the race. I walked at each of the water stops and took 2 waters: one for under my hat and one to gulp. The water stops were at least every 1-2 miles, but the final stretch in the sun was 2 miles with the final water stop being at mile 11. I can usually handle 2 miles without water, but I guess all of the miles outside in the sun accumulated.

It was a weird experience because it occurred a bit after the race once I already declared myself as feeling good. Something similar had happened to me right when I came back to Colorado and attempted a longish run in the heat. It is like I am no longer feeling sick during or immediately following races, but it is delayed an hour and I am actually getting sick.

Do you get sick to you stomach during or after races? Anyone get a delayed response like me?

For what it is worth, I will be bringing plenty of water (thanks to my trusty Camelbak) with me on my relay race in 2 weeks when I will have some runs in the middle of the day!

Duke City Training Week #3

2013-07-08T12:30:00.000-04:00

Three weeks of Marathon #6 (Duke City in Albuquerque) training down! Although I would have liked a few more miles this past week, I told myself that running a half marathon race (even if I was not racing at full effort) was enough to warrant some cut-back.

Total Miles: 39
Running: 34.5
Hiking: 4.5

Monday: 6 miles
Speed work included 4 x 800 (with 400 recovery) and 1 x 1 mile.

Tuesday: 7.5 easy miles

Wednesday: 5 miles
3.5 at "easy tempo"
I made this easy tempo term up to say that I wanted to push the pace of my run, but thought my normal tempo runs of 8:35-8:45 would be too much since I had a race coming up in 3 days. I let myself go an extra 20 seconds/mile slower.

Thursday: 4.5 mile hike
We started at 11,116 ft elevation and maxed out at 12,306. So we gained 1,200 ft over about 2 miles. Definitely felt this hike in my lungs and legs!

Friday: 3 easy miles
After picking up my race packet, I headed to an area where there are trails and I thought the race course covered. I saw signs directing runners for the next day, so I was right. It felt good to do 3 easy miles the day before the race on the course itself.

Saturday: 13.1 mile race
I ran this closer to my marathon pace than my half pace, but it was still a long run at a faster pace than most of my long training runs. Felt good!

Sunday: REST
Well-deserved. This included eating, sleeping, resting, and some easy, refreshing swimming. The end.

What to Do the Day After a Race

2013-07-07T23:25:00.002-04:00

After yesterday's race, I tried to nap to make up for the lack of sleep I got the night before by going to bed at 11 and waking up at 3 (I woke up and could not fall back asleep and had to leave by 5 anyway). It worked a little bit, but I was still pretty tired.

I was lazy most of the day until we had a birthday party to attend last night. The birthday party ended up being about 12 people sitting outside on a long picnic table playing Cards Against Humanity for hours into the night and sipping cocktails. If you are familiar with Cards Against Humanity, you will understand the direction this night took. If you have never heard of it, don't say I did not warn you.

So by the time we got home, I crawled into bed and never wanted to wake up. Well, that did not go as planned, as one of the dogs was having a bad night and needed attention. Oh well. I managed to sleep in pretty late this morning and did not want to wake up. We D made a nice big breakfast and we decided it was a good day to keep being lazy. For us, lazy means no running and no hiking. Instead, we went to the beach.

The "beach" is a sandy portion of the Boulder reservoir roped off for swimming. It is the perfect place to sit back and relax in the sun, people watch, lay on the sand, and take a few lazy strokes in the water. It felt great on my tired legs to not only have a day off, but also to soak in some cool water.

Redline 13.1 Longmont Race Re-Cap

2013-07-06T15:50:00.000-04:00

Redline 13.1 Longmont will go down in history as a fun race!

I almost wanted to name this post "How to Execute a Perfect Non-Racing Race," but that would be too long. Instead, I will say I ran a half marathon this morning and it was awesome. I knew because of the heat and the elevation, this would not be a PR race, so racing it for a PR was not a goal. Instead, I saw it as a good opportunity for me to get in a good, long marathon training run, to test my racing/running at elevation and to test my marathon race pace.

Since I have been back in CO at elevation for the past month, I still feel that my paces are slower than at sea level. Some of my easy runs have been at a really easy pace, but that might be because I poorly choose to run them in the middle of the day in the sun and heat. I needed a race to check and make sure I can run distance and maintain a solid, sub-9 min mile over distance at altitude. My goal was to run with about an average 9 minute mile, with at least 6-7 of the middle miles near an 8:45 pace. This was my first race with my Garmin, also, so I wanted to see how much it would help or hurt me.

Packet Pick-Up.

This option was offered on race morning, but I like to do it ahead of time. Friday afternoon, I dragged D with me to pick up the packet and scope out the race course. We then found a small piece of the race path to do an easy 3 mile shake out run (well, a shake-out run for me, a run for D). A Mile 6 mile-marker was set up, so I knew this would be just about halfway through the race.It later came in handy that we saw this because D then stopped here to wait for me to run by the next day.

The Race.

It was in Longmont, a town about 25 minutes north of Boulder. It started at 6 am. Parking was at the Finish Line only and buses could take you to the Start Line at 4:40 or 5:20. I was planning to do this (which would mean leaving home well before 5 am) until the night before when we were picking up my packet and my awesome man insisted he wake up and drive me to the start line, then meet me at the finish. I tried to tell him to sleep (he is NOT an early morning person), but he insisted. This allowed me to leave home about an hour later than I had planned.

We got to the start line at 5:30 and I saw a long line for the porta-potties. He waited in the car and I got in line. I met some friends in line who had run other local races put on by the Redline Running Company, a local running store and had excellent things to say about the organization. Because it was a small race, she assured us they would wait until the porta potty line was empty before starting the race.

Sure enough we all gathered around the start line at 6 and the race director talked to us for a few minutes as he waited to hear the bathroom line was gone. Apparently the start line had blown away (it was windy in the morning and we were near a lake) so I was a little unsure about where we actually began. As a result, my Garmin was about .1 mile back throughout the race.

The Course.

The two awesome things about this course were that we were on bike paths the entire time and most of it was a gradual downhill. The bike paths also had gravel next to them so you could choose to run on concrete or gravel. Because it was a small race, the crowd thinned out within the first half mile. One not-so-awesome thing about the course was that we were running east, so the mountains were always at our back. Oh well.

The first few miles I may have been obsessively checking my Garmin and driving myself crazy. Really, I was just trying to settle into a good pace and see how that felt. By about the 4th mile, I needed a distraction from checking my watch and from worrying about the increasing heat we were running in. Sure enough, one of the women I spoke with in the bathroom line before the race ran up to me. We started chatting about all of our different races and running in general and the time just flew by.

We came to mile 6 where David and Shrek were waiting for me. I was too busy running and chatting to my new friend to stop and say hi but I waved and he took some pictures. Apparently Shrek was not happy that I kept running and did not take him with me, D reported later.

Here I come!

Race pictures are much more fun when you know the photographer.

I kept running with Tammy until about mile 10. I could not believe how fast the miles went by with a distraction. I was not checking my Garmin much, but knew we were around a consistent 8:45 pace. We started to slow and I eventually pulled away from her just past mile 10 and said I would see her at the finish. Then we were on a straight-away and even though my pace had dropped (it was getting hot and we had pulled away from the shaded path to a fully exposed one), I was passing a lot of people.

So great to meet new friends on the course.

The only thing that got in my way between me and the finish line was a steep hill right at the end of the 13th mile. I was feeling good and knew I could do it, but figured I would be slow. Sure enough the hill came and I tried to keep the pace up, but I was so hot and thirsty at that point. I made it up, saw the 13 mile marker and tried to run it home for the final .1 mile.

As promised, David and Shrek were right there at the finish. My unofficial time according to my watch was 1:56:24, but I honestly have no idea where the start line was so it could be way off. The Garmin said I ran 13.04 miles. Here are my splits:

Mile 1 8:59
Mile 2 8:39
Mile 3 8:50
Mile 4 8:37
Mile 5 8:44
Mile 6 8:41
Mile 7 8:54
Mile 8 8:47
Mile 9 9:04
Mile 10 8:59
Mile 11 9:18
Mile 12 9:07
Mile 13 9:31

I knew I slowed down, but just about everyone had by the end there. They warned us at the beginning the temperatures were going to go from 61 to 78 degrees over the course of the race and that the last few miles were fully exposed to the sun. I was so grateful for the 6 am start at that point. It is supposed to get to 97 degrees today.

The Finish.

I am squinting in the sun. Not ready to cry, even though I look like it.

At the finish line, I waited to see Tammy. She was filled with nice, congratulatory words at the end. She told David to keep driving me to the start line and supporting me, which was sweet. He was pretty awesome to drive around the race course.

Overall, an excellent course and a well-organized race. I was pretty happy with my time given that I treated it as a training run and had not tapered for the race at all.

Pretty sweet goodies for a small race.

Kind of nice to have a different shaped medal.