New Year's Double

A couple months ago, I came across some information about a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day race. You had the choice of running any combination of a 5k, 1/2 marathon, 1/2 marathon relay and a full marathon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Being the overachiever I am (and knowing my training was seriously lacking), I registered to run the half marathon both days. 

No problem, I thought. I've got the training in the bag. Yeah right. My longest run was 2 weeks before the race and that was only 10 miles. Not once did I do any type of back to back long runs. I knew this was going to be a painful experience. But, I wasn't going to not run and I wasn't going to change what I had registered for. 

New Year's Eve morning dawned bright and chilly. But as soon as the sun came up, it started warming up =) 

The motley looking crew that ran that day... 

 

Spark John and Agent J were dressed in their finest and Coach Nancy and I are just naturally that gorgeous- the tiaras just enhanced it =) 

The race started and I had to keep telling myself to slow day and take it easy. The course was a two loop course along biking/ hiking trails. It was actually pretty nice. Just one tunnel (went through 4 times) that messed with everyone's Garmins. 

I was pretty happy with my time. It wasn't my fastest, but it wasn't my slowest either. And considering that I haven't run a half since right before I found out I was pregnant (August 2010)... 

Results from New Year's Eve: 

TT: 2:04:22 (my Garmin had me at 13.57 miles) 

103 out of 411 

59 out of 279 females 

20 out of 85 age group 

AP: 9:30 (9:09 my Garmin) 

And what do you do after running a half marathon on New Year's Eve? Why, pop open a bottle of champagne and enjoy a toast with your crazy running peeps! 

 

I had great plans of getting to bed early and getting enough sleep, but my kids all conspired against me. Sweet Pea didn't want to sleep because she was all snuffed up and couldn't breathe and the other 3 were so excited about being able to stay up that they kept blowing their horns. I think I finally managed to get a couple hours sleep before the alarm went off. Up and at it, I got moving- just a wee bit slower than the day before =) 

Got to the race site and realized it was windier than the day before. It would have been nice to have a windbreaker... But, no matter. My running peeps were there ready to run again. Well, all except Agent J- he seemed to think that celebrating his anniversary was more important than running with us ;) 

Knowing that I was a bit sore from the day before, I gave myself "permission" to take it easier. You know, run 10 minute miles instead of 9 =) But, I actually felt pretty good once I got going, so increased my average pace. Two loops seemed to go by pretty fast. Or maybe it was just the de je vue I was experiencing... 

Results from New Year's Day 1/2 Marathon: 

TT: 2:09:18 (my Garmin had me at 13.49 miles) 

116 out of 354 

53 out of 215 females 

14 out of 69 age group 

AP: 9:52 (9:34 my Garmin) 

And the main reason for torturing myself like this: 

 

Yup, it's all about the bling =) Three medals- one for each day and then the challenge plate to display them both. 

And I also go two very nice tech shirts- one short sleeved and one long sleeved. 

So, there you have it. A great way to close out 2011 and a great way to kick off 2012. If your in the Dallas area this time next year, this race should make your list.

Eisenbahn Half Marathon

The last 2 weeks I've been off vacationing in northern MN and southern WI. While I was visiting my parents, I had the opportunity to run a half marathon with my dad.

The Eisenbahn Half was almost a comedy in errors. We left the finish area to be bussed to the start, except for the fact that our bus driver didn't know where the start was. Thankfully we ran into a couple ladies who lived close to the start and were walking there as a warm up. They were able to direct us to the start.

The start line was on a little country road out in the middle of nowhere. There would have been barely enough room for two cars to pass each other. The port-o-potties were all lined up on the side of the road. Add 200 runners, and you have very little room for cars to get by. Every time a car came through, the line pressed up as close to the port-o-potties as possible. Thankfully I was one of the first in line and didn't have to experience that =)

My dad and I at the start line.

Once the race started and the crowd thinned out, it got a lot better. My dad and I took off and the first 2 miles were on country roads. Right around 2 miles, the course joined up with the Eisenbahn Trail system. It's a converted rail bed made of crushed/ packed limestone. Not too much of a challenge for a normal runner, but I was wearing my VFF's =). My pace slowed a bit as a had to watch the trail closely to make sure I wasn't stepping on any large rocks. The next 9 miles were on this trail with a few road crossings.

Just past mile 11, the trail switched from gravel to paved. Oh, it felt like heaven lol! My pace drastically improved and my dad had a hard time keeping up =)

My dad and I at the finish.

Official stats:
Time: 1:47: 28
AP: 8:12 (although the last 2 miles were @ 7:40)
overall place: 18/ 197
females: 5/ 134
age group: 1/ 56

My dad and I were a little bummed to hear that they weren't giving out age group awards. We both took first (he was first for M60-99) and it would have been nice to get something. Or maybe I've just gotten spoiled at all the other races I've run this year =)

Grasslands... er, Mudlands Half Marathon Fun Run

Friday was a beautiful day here in the Metroplex. Sunny and 70 degrees. Unfortunately, that's not what was predicted for Saturday. Highs in the 40's with a chance of rain.


Saturday morning I woke up about 4:45. It was quiet. I peaked outside, no rain and about 45 degrees. Perfect, I thought. Not even 10 minutes later the rain is coming down so hard I can hear it pounding on the roof. Uh oh. I don't want to run in the rain. Well, at least it's still in the upper 40's.

I figured it was going to be about a 90 minute drive to get to the race. Torrential downpour the entire drive over. And the temperature continued to drop. By the time we got to the address listed on the website, it was still raining and it was now 32 degrees.

But, the address we were at wasn't where the race was starting. The address was just the headquarters building. The race start was another 15 miles away... But we had no idea how to get there! We finally found someone who could point us in the right direction.

By 8:15 the rain had stopped. but it wasn't any warmer. The half marathon started at 8:30. By the time we finally got to the start, it was 8:45. But hey, this was their "fun" run. The other races were a 50 miler (started at 7:15) and a marathon (started at 7:30). So, once we got our numbers and decided that as long as it wasn't raining we might as well run it was about 8:50.

They led us to the trail head and as soon as I took my first step, I fell. Luckily I landed on my hands (otherwise my butt would have been covered in mud!). With all the mud- did I mention it was shoe sucking mud? You know, the kind when you step in it you're can feel your shoes being pulled off? Yeah, try that for 13.1 miles. Except...

Around 4.5 miles we got off the trail. Not sure how that happened, so we wandered around for a bit. Said hello to a couple cows and finally picked up the trail again. And even managed to head off in the right direction again. Passed a few runners/ walkers we had passed earlier (and got laughed at for getting lost).

We had to open and close our own gates during the race.  Didn't want the cows to get out afterall lol!

So, after spending 2:47 and 14.12 miles out in the mud, we made it to the finish line. Collected our finisher's medals and grabbed our BBQ lunch. We were so cold and covered in mud that we weren't even sure how to get clean enough to get back in the car to drive home.

After the race. Hmm... We don't look that muddy...

At this wasn't even that bad. We had a stream crossing (or was it just a washout from all the rain?) not too far from the finish that washed off most of the mud off our shoes.

When we got home and I had a chance to shower, this is what I found under the caked on mud...

So, what did we get for our little adventure in the mud? How about a sweet t-shirt and finisher's medal?

And of course, the satisfaction of knowing I completed my first trail race. As one of the runners we passed said... "You'll probably never run another Grasslands like this one."

Oh, I was really glad we finished before this moved in...

Tempus fugit

Farmer Junior

Harvesting flowers for me.

Girly- girl's turn =)

Another trip to the zoo.  We have a membership now, so if you're ever in the area I can get you in for free.

Can't tell if this is supposed to be an egg or Mork's spaceship...

The kids helping Papa with some landscaping.

My dad's down for a visit too.  We have a full house this week.

That's about it for this week.  I'm running another half marathon this coming weekend- which is why my dad is here.  It should be a fun race =)  So next week will probably include some pictures of race hardware.

The Week in Review

This last week was mostly about me =)  I ran the Cowtown Half Marathon in Fort Worth on Saturday.

My goodie bag...  Along with the usualy assortment of race fliers and Bio- Freeze,  a t-shirt, a nice little bag, a sample of brown rice and a bottle of Muscle Milk.  Because every runner wants to drink a bottle of protein before they run.

I tried to get to bed early Friday night, but it just didn't work. I tossed and turned for a few hours, got up, walked around a bit, laid back down... Finally about 1:30 I grabbed my blanket and pillow and laid down on the couch and fell asleep... For about 2 1/2 hrs. Then the alarm went off.  I was not ready to wake up and get moving. But, Sarge got up, we got ready and headed out.

Traffic was at a standstill going into Fort Worth. The downtown exit we were supposed to take was not moving, so we forged ahead *hoping* that the next one would be less crowded. Success! And we even ended up parking only about 8 blocks from the start/ finish area.

The whole time we're waiting for the start, I'm debating if I should even run... You know, lack of sleep, feeling a tad dizzy... But, I did it. I striped down to my skirt and long sleeve shirt (and gloves) hopped into my starting corral and... waited... and waited... 16 minutes after the first wave went off, I finally got moving.

The first couple miles were slow going dodging around slow runners/ walkers who put themselves in the wrong corral (grr!). About the only pet peeve I have is runners and walkers lining up in the wrong area because they somehow think it's going to give them a better chance... That and my DH driving with the windows down in the middle of winter =P

Finally around 4 miles I settled into a good pace. A little water at 5 miles, a shot block and water at 8 miles and more water around 12 miles. Sarge saw me coming in about 0.5 miles before the finish and said "See, I told you it was a good day to run" As I rounded the corner to the finish, I saw by my watch, that my goal time was within reach. The clock at the finish line read 2:01 something, but my Garmin had me at 1:45:18. Woo hoo! A new PR!!

After the usual collect your finisher's medal and shirt and grabbing a bag of food (yes, they had the food bagged for runners to grab!) I wandered around looking for Sarge. I finally just decided to head to the car and hope he had the same thought The really nice thing about where we ended up parking was that we were on the interstate headed home within minutes of getting in the car.

The official results:
Gun Time: 2:01:29
Chip Time: 1:45:18
Overall place: 433/ 4777 (top 10%)
Gender place: 78/ 2443 (top 3%)
Age division: 23/ 440 (top 5%)

And now for the usual cute assortment of pictures of the kids at the park.  Papa came with us this time =)