I'm not certain where to start his post, but think I should probably thank a friend who did more than her fair share of listening to me worry and whine about this race. Thank you Melissa for being my go to reference person about Flatrock. I'm certain all my newbie questions and worry while you handled your own race prep (She ran the 50k, because she flipping rocks. You can read about her adventure here) was annoying at best, but you answered all my questions and reassured me at every turn anyway. Thank you.
Monday I realized that the pre-race dinner was at 6pm Friday night which meant I needed to leave by 3pm. This posed a problem since the planned babysitter (sweet and awesome mother-in-law) wouldn't be off work in time to pick the boys up from their respective schools. So, instead of sweet husband coming with me he stayed here to take care of the boys while I went off to have an adventure by myself.
Friday came and I promptly freaked out that I was going to run my longest run ever on the least amount of training ever. I think repeated something to the effect of, "this is going to flipping hurt. I know that and I'm okay with it" over and over again in an effort to make myself okay with it (it didn't work). Add that to sweet husband not coming with me as planned, and the forecast which called for 80% chance of rain and my head was a mess. I packed up way too much gear, dropped S off at pre-school (had a hard time leaving), then realized I forgot my shoes (dude...seriously??). I went back to the house to retrieve the shoes and then headed out for Elk City.
Three hours later I checked in to the hotel and realized how quiet it was without the boys. Silence is something I never paid attention to until I had kids. When the boys aren't around it's like the world stops because the noise level is so low (can you tell my boys are loud?). After finding my room I unpacked, sort of organized stuff and then headed to the dinner to see Melissa, pick up my packet, buy a flatrock hoodie, and eat some tasty spaghetti & salad.
Sunset on Flatrock Friday Night
After the dinner I finished organizing everything, took a picture for the boys (I had promised that a stormtrooper would run the race with me and that I would send them pictures. See below for the adventure of the stormtrooper), sent a goodnight message to sweet husband and tried to fall asleep. The night before race day is never a good nights sleep for me, and sweet husband likes to joke that I can hear a mouse fart miles away, so when the people in the hotel r`oom next to me got up at 3am I was awake too. I checked the weather one more time in the fruitless hope that it had changed (it hadn't) and got up to take a shower (still not sure why), got dressed, ate some breakfast and left the hotel to find coffee (side note: I rode the elevator with a cute looking chihuahua and his family. The cute chihuahua then tried to attack me...like trying to bite my face...and I promptly wigged out. Not a fun way to start race day).
Ready to go on race morning.
After finding coffee, I pulled into the start/finish area, parked and it started to rain. Damn it. Pulled my gear out and headed to the packet pickup tent since the shelter was packed full of 50ker's getting ready for their pre-race briefing I had wanted to say hi & good luck to all my friends running the 50k, but I was cold, wet, and had an hour to wait before my own prerace briefing. Sorry guys...I'm a wuss or at least I was before the race started. I chatted with others that popped into the tent, talked to the nice volunteers, and even got to give the RD Eric some hell about his knack for epic weather (I swear he has a deal with mother nature) and then it was time for my own race briefing and to get going to the start line.
Cheryl and I in the first mile or so
The rain had slowed a bit since the 50kers had taken off which was nice, but we still got soaked. In the few minutes while waiting for the start I met Cheryl from Oklahoma who I would spend nearly the entire first half of the race with. The gun went off, and we were on our way. Cheryl and I chatted while everyone else took off ahead of us. I was fine with that (did I mention the lack of training?) I knew that this was my longest run ever and had no desire to burn out earlier than I likely would anyway. Once we got into the trees the wind died down and the rain was more like a light shower thanks to tree filters and I enjoyed those first 3 miles just like I had the last time I ran this trail (WinterRock)....except that this time I could see the trail a bit easier due to a lack of leaves on it, all the mud, and the 50k er's leaving a nice track to follow. The mud was slippy, but not too bad, the rocks were wet, but not coated in mud yet. Mostly it was cool, drizzly, beautiful morning on a gorgeous trail and I was having fun. Once the trail dumped out into the grassy sections though the mud really got awful.
Mud....So much mud.
Shoe sucking, drenching, slipping everywhere awful. I tried to go up on the side of the trail in the taller grass, but one foot would always slip back into the mud which was far worse than just clomping through it. We made it to the first aide station and since I had everything I needed I just headed on through after thanking the volunteers and making sure they had my number (I actually had to go back and make sure they had it since I headed straight through before I remembered). More mud, lots more mud. Tons of slipping around and trying like hell not to fall on the downhills. At this point all the rocks that everybody usually curses were turning into blessings. At least where there was rocks there was sure footing. At some point in this section there was a lovely gravelish covered downhill that I ran a quickly as I could. It felt good to be able to run without so much effort of making sure you had footing. For every down hill there's an uphill, or two, at Flatrock. The uphill was a rooty, muddy, slippy mess and honestly the rest of course was that way. I don't remember much from this section except that a song from Monty Python popped into my head. This song:
I actually can't place this section of trail, but
trust me most of it looked like this.
I have no idea where that song came from. I'm not really a monty python fan, but I was thankful for that song. It got me all the way to the turn around aide station. At this point I realized that I had maybe taken two drinks of water in 7.whatever miles. Hmmm...not good. I was feeling pretty tired and my fingers were starting to not have knuckles anymore due to swelling. If it had been hot that would have been normal-ish for me, but on this cool (almost cold in places) day it was not a good sign. I paused for a minute, chatted with the volunteers about how this day didn't even compare to their being stranded in the blizzard at Prairie Spirit, thanked them profusely and then headed back out. Cheryl headed out of this station before me and she was moving faster at this point so I let her go on and headed out on my own.
The stone arch is one of my favorite features
of the flatrock trail.
More mud, some rocks and, you guessed it, more mud. It was still raining at this point and in the sections without trees it was actually a bit chilly (yeah, I was moving slooooow) due to the wind so I tried to hurry through them as much as the mud would allow me. Several times people from the 50k passed me and I just marveled at their ability to remain upright in the muck. I also realized on a few of the downhills in this section that my left ITband was tightening up. I've dealt with this before and hoped I could just stretch it out on some of the rocks along the way back to get me back to the finish line. So at every downhill I paused and stretched it out before heading down (if there was a rock or tree handy). If not, I gritted and hobbled my way down. Thankfully the ups didn't hurt at all so I powered up them....well...powered might not be the right word, but I wasn't crawling so I called it good. At some point I passed Rick, Melissa's husband, who was also doing the 25k. Chatted for a minute, he said he was doing okay, and parted ways. One of the things I like about this trail is that you can see people coming and going (depending on their race) and it's always nice to see a friendly face out there even if they are passing you. Finally I made it back to the last aide station which meant I only had 4ish miles left. A hard and absolutely beautiful 4 miles that includes the iconic stone arch. I ate some chips, thanked the volunteers and headed out.
Totally mentally done and almost out of the trail.
I kind of lost myself in my own head in the next section. I wasn't feeling good in anyway, but I thought about the boys and thought a lot about J. About how he fights everyday and about how well he's doing with all of the challenges he's blessed with (more on that here). About how he's my other "marathon" and about I would never give up on him, so why would I give up on this (besides, the only way out is through the trail anyway). At this point everything hurt and I was a bit...fuzzy, but I remember stopping at the bench to take a picture for my boys and at some point I realized I hadn't climbed the crack yet. Splish, splosh, slip, slide...always look on the sunny side. Then the crack was there, all slippery and knee breaking. I remember seeing the photographer and thinking that picture would be the worst picture ever (it is horrible), and I remember Candi passing me not too far after that and telling me I was almost there (thank you Candi I needed that).
I did take a small wrong turn in the last 2ish miles...still not sure how I did it...probably the fuzzy headed bit. I backtracked found the blue and very, very slowly made my way down the last extremely slippy hill. When I popped out of the trees and into the grass I nearly cried. I have never been so happy to see a road. I walked the grassy bit through the ditch and up onto the road. There was a lady up there waiting for somebody who said, "You did it. You're almost there". I said something about being uber-happy to see the road, kept walking and starting crying. Me...crying. I am rarely a crier, but I was on this day. I was crying because I was almost done & crying because the people I loved the most weren't there. I don't think I realized how much I wanted sweet husband and the boys to be at the finish line until I was almost there and they weren't.
Anyway...I knew what was coming...as soon as I hit the clearing the airhorn blasted and the cowbells starting dinging. I knew I should run if only so that Eric and crew didn't have to ring the cow bells for so long, but I couldn't do it (sorry guys). I walked up the dirt road smiled as everybody screamed for me to high five "the hand". I was so very happy to be done. Eric ran over and handed me my plaque and a photographer told me take a picture behind a sign. I think I was too out of it to argue.
I saw Rick come in and cheered him on then I rinsed off as much mud as I could, changed into dry clothes and shoes, got some food and pulled up a chair to wait for Melissa, Joell, and Justin to come in from the 50k.
I figured they'd be a couple of hours behind me, but I didn't want to miss them so I stayed. It was a bit of a wait. My legs started to hurt from sitting so I went up and asked Eric if I could help ring the cow bells. He, of course, said yes and then chatted with me for awhile. I got to hear about his experience with the prairie spirit blizzard, his love/hate relationship with mother nature, and how he hates it when other races take down the finish line before the cut off (I could not agree more on this one). We cheered everyone in and the time got closer and closer to the cut off. I asked how many people were still out on the course and learned that the cutoffs had been extended an hour because of all the rain. At the time there were 38 people still out on the course with an hour or so to go to the cut off.
I cheered Justin in and asked him about Melissa. He said she wasn't too far behind. Then I cheered Joell (Justin's wife...yeah they are both badass) in and asked her where Melissa was since I thought they were running together. She thought Melissa was only a quarter mile behind her or so. Not long now. I see Rick standing by the road watching and I'm really starting to worry about time and where Mel is. It's down to 10 minutes to cut off. I ask Eric what happens if she finishes after the cut off. Will it still count for her "hall of pain" finishes? Nope, but she'd still get a buckle. Rick hustles over and tells me that there are 4 people on the road, but he can't tell if she's one of them. I look at Eric and say, "I hope one of them is her". He says, "she'll make it. She has to." One, two, three people make the turn....not her. Cheer them in. The fourth person is MEL!! Eric looks at me and says, "go GET her and tell her to RUN!" There was only a minute left. I ran out, still ringing the cow bell, and started yelling. "Run Mel! You have one minute, RUN!" She made it and got her second FlatRock 50k buckle and her second notch into the "hall of pain". I hugged her and told her how proud I was and watched dozens of people do the same. It was quite impressive to watch.
All in all a satisfying if sad finish for me (5.34 something if you want the time) and an inspiring finish for Mel. A day I doubt I will ever forget. Thank you Eric, the Epic Ultra Brigade, all the volunteers, and the flatrock trail for the amazing memories.
Epic Indeed.
The Stormtroopers Journey:
For my boys, who asked me to take the stormtrooper along and take pictures. For you I would
I read once that times of trial tend to bring out your "foxhole friends". Friends that maybe you didn't even realize had your back all of a sudden step up when you need them the most. I've been blessed enough to find several recently and I couldn't be more grateful. One in particular, who I talk to a lot...like a lot, a lot...recently sent me a gift that made my day. It wasn't the gift itself that really lifted my spirits so much as the message. It was a "I am stronger than I thought" shirt from Another Mother Runner. Along with that was a note, transcribed from sweet friend's email by SBS of Another Mother Runner, that I will keep forever. It said, "You will come out stronger for this, if that's even possible. Thank you for your friendship. I'm here if you need me."
Thank you sweet friend for being there to lift me up when I needed it, and thank you to all my foxhole friends who listen, hug, ask what they can do, and ask me how it's going. You are all lights in my times of darkness.
... regardless of the level of their special needs, is the hardest thing I've ever experienced. Prior to that all the oddities were just quirks, he was his version of normal and would be okay or grow out of it. Now though...it's like mourning the loss of something intangible. Mourning the loss of normal. No, we never really had normal and technically nothing has changed, but it has changed. These things are not just quirks of his personality. They are neurological disorders. Neurological disorders that will last his entire life.
Could it be worse? YES, it could be so much worse, but that doesn't take away the feelings of hurt and sadness over the loss of the life you thought this child would have. The loss of the things you'd get to do with them. This fact also doesn't make it okay that you now have to do therapy with them every.single.day just so they can have a decent day (which for the record effing sucks and it's okay to think it effing sucks).
So...my suggestions to people who have a friend going through this. Don't dismiss their feelings whatever they are. Don't tell them their kid will be fine. Don't say things like "Oh, my kid(s) do that too. It's normal", "But he's just a kid. I don't see XYZ disorder so he must be fine" or "Boy there's a diagnosis for everything these days". DON'T tell them it could be worse. WE KNOW. Just give them an open place to talk, scream, cry, whatever and above all else don't make them feel guilty or wrong for however they are feeling. They have enough guilt as it is.
A friend of mine posted in a mommy group posted a challenge for August saying simply, "whatever movement, whatever goal, do it and let's help keep each other accountable", then another friend in the same group said, "BURPEES! I'll do burpees." Now this friend happens to be Kris from In the Kitchen with Audrey whom I ran my half marathon with last year and we happen to have a friendly competitiveness about these kinds of things. So...while cursing under my breath I said, "Fine...I'll do burpees too". So everyday in August we agreed to do 20 burpees....or at least 20 for the first week and 25 for the second week. I'm not sure of the plan after that.
Now might be a good time to say that I hate burpees. Loath burpees might be a better description, but I am competitive and I honestly probably need to do some burpees. As I've said before I have the Flat Rock 25k coming up and while it's a trail run there is a fair bit of hands and feet crawling up giant rocks to do on that trail so burpees are probably a good choice for some crosstraining. Also, since I started running in the mornings again I haven't been doing my strength training after my runs (since the getting the kids moving day starts pretty much as soon as I get back home). Based on my track record of injuries I'm certain that any amount of strength training is a good idea, so....burpees (Damn you Kris ;)).
I snoozed through my alarm this morning after being up half the night so I missed my run...well sort of...I had planned to ride my short runs this week since "the ankle" is a bit colorful after running last Saturday and Sunday. After spending all morning at summer school with J & S and then school supply shopping with them in tow I was ready for some out of the house without kiddo time when sweet husband got home.
I wanted to drop some paperwork off to a friend that lives about a mile away so I headed over to her house first, then out of town on a road that quickly turns to gravel. I stopped to send gravel grinder husband, he blogs at Pedal Constantly, the picture below. He was jealous.
Two-ish miles out of town the gravel got really loose. Which was sort of fun on the uphills and a bit scary on the downhills. Made it two more miles before starting to head back to town since I hadn't brought my light and since I only needed to make up for a 4 mile run. The sunset was beautiful on the way back into town, so stopped to get a quick picture.
It wasn't actually as dark as this picture would lead you to believe.
Back to town and up and down my mile long street of rolling hills back to our house. I have a new appreciation for the 200 miles sweet husband did at the DK200, and maybe a re-invigorated love of gravel roads (I grew up on one and learned to ride my bike on one).
So far this blog has only been about my running...which as an often injured mother runner there hasn't always been much of...or at least not blog worthy. However, even when I'm not running for runnings sake I'm still running. Running kids to school, running to get them from school, and lately running to figure out "what's up" with our oldest kiddo J (aka Buddy, sweetheart, or "the big one"). Now let me start by saying that I've suspected something was different about him for years...I'd say from about 1.5 -2 years old. We knew he was different from some other babies & toddlers but thought he'd grow out of it or that it wasn't a big deal. I mean everybody has nursing problems, a kid that wakes up SCREAMING (every.single.time) for years, and an infant that would prefer to be alone in his pack and play at daycare than playing with the other kids right (J was in daycare for about a year before I started staying home)?? Oh hindsight...20/20 as always.
Nearly two years later we had kiddo number two and we started to realize just how different two kids could be. S (aka second Kiddo, pumpkin pie, or "the monitor lizard"), in comparison, was the perfect infant. He cried when you'd expect him to cry instead of ALL.THE.TIME (seriously if J was awake for 6 hours he cried for at least 4). He nursed like a champ from day one. He still didn't sleep all night for two years, but when he did get up it was easy to get him back to sleep instead of being up for hours at a time like I had been with J. At that time we were getting J services for speech delay which we thought was due to constant fluid in his ears and ear infections. Once we got him tubes his speech delay cleared up, some of his behaviors cleared up, and he magically slept through the night for the first time ever. We thought that maybe we had him figured out. We were wrong.
Pre-school started and he learned a lot. He loved it, but had a constant problem focusing and keeping his hands to himself. He also refused to do any fine motor work or to get his hands messy, but since we was making big strides in other areas we never suspected anything additional was up. I remember saying, "he'll get there one of these years".
When he started Kindergarten I knew he was behind in a few areas (socialization & fine motor skills), but figured he'd even out and be okay. As the year went on I realized I was very, very wrong. At some point the school OT (occupational therapist) was brought in and mentioned "motor planning delays". I did some googling. I found out that there was a reason my kid didn't like getting his hands messy (to the point of he MUST wash his hands or he will meltdown). A reason he ran, and ran, and ran all day without seeming to be able to stop. A reason he needed to be coached on how to talk nicely and appropriately to other people. A reason he couldn't get to sleep. A reason he screamed all the time as a baby. A reason he couldn't write his name, tie his shoes, ride a bike, or fasten a button at 5 years old. After an evaluation with a private OT we confirmed it. He has sensory processing disorder (his brain and nervous system do not communicate well with each other) and developmental dyspraxia (his limbs don't always do what he wants them to do when he wants them to do it and due to low muscle tone he gets tired quickly). As I understand it dyspraxia is technically a subdivision of SPD under SBMD (sensory based motor disorders).
If it was so bad why didn't we figure it out before?? From the outside looking in I imagine it was easier to see, since we found out we've had people coming out of the woodwork telling us they just *knew* something was wrong with him or maybe we didn't want to see. Mostly I think we just had no clue what SPD and Dyspraxia were. I'd read every symptom list I knew to look at (ADD, ADHD, Autism Spectrum, etc.) if it was plausible and I'd heard of it I read the symptom list. The problem was that they didn't fit enough for to warrant further investigation. I dearly wish I'd heard of SPD &/or Dyspraxia earlier in his life, but as I can't fix that now I feel strongly that my job is to help spread the word about it. If I can save one parent one day of worry about their kid then I will have done my job.
Further information about SPD & Dyspraxia can be found at the links below.
Why did this happen? We don't know. As far as we can tell we had none of the typical precursors for this. Healthy pregnancy, normal delivery, full term baby. He was pretty jaundiced, but didn't require the billi-lights.
Will he ever "grow out of it" or be "normal"? I'm not even sure what normal means anymore. Is anybody actually normal?? If you mean will he ever be nuero-typical, as in will his brain re-grow those missing or malformed neurons, then no. SPD and Dyspraxia are life long conditions. There are things we can do to help him and there are "work arounds" we can teach him so that the world will be easier for him, but no he will never be neuro-typical and you know what? That's okay, because he is AMAZING just the way he is and, if you ask me, the world do with a little more amazing.
What do we do now? He'll start OT & first grade in August. He'll also go to see a sensory motor eye doctor since his eyes don't track correctly which is leading to trouble reading (he can sound out words with the best of them, but putting together sentences is difficult when your eyes can't follow the whole sentence). I can only hope that with more knowledge, some intervention, and some prodding on my part that 1st grade will be better for him than Kindergarten was. If not....I'm not sure what we'll do, but we'll figure it out when we get there.
As the proud Mama that I am I have to show them off....here's my determined, amazing kiddos. J in blue, S in "monitor lizard" green.
Summer arrived in Kansas...and while I've been in the basement on the treadmill happily for a month or so a dear friend reminded that Flat Rock isn't run on a treadmill so I'd better get my behind outside if I didn't want to kill myself on that trail. Thanks to her gentle prodding and her agreeing to check in and see if I actually got up early I started doing 5AM runs this week. Thanks dear friend!!
Monday was an uneventful 3 miler with a beautiful sunrise over my sleepy little town.
Wednesday was slightly more eventful 3.5 miler with another beautiful sunrise as a reward for getting up and for not giving up...even when I fell and scraped up my leg (watch your step when climbing rock stairs people). Thankfully it seems that I managed to NOT fully injure myself (Knock on wood), and as Story Hawk likes to tell me at least I had some practice falling and not giving up.
My homepage ticker is taunting me with it's countdown to Flat Rock so I hope to keep the 5AM run routine until September. Now to add in the 5AM strength routine and I might actually survive 15-16 miles on the Flat Rock trail.
The drive to Scandia, KS (a 3.5 hr trip for me) was uneventful except for the rain storms I drove through on the way there. The upside to driving through storms was that it cooled off by about 20 degrees in a bout 5 miles. Since it had been 100+ degrees all day I had no hard feelings about the drop in temperature. I got to the highschool a bit earlier than I thought I would and went inside to get my packet. Once I had my packet and had checked out the race map (which was hand drawn BTW) the race people informed me that I could use the highschools showers after my race. I think my face said everything for me as I was transported back to a time of mandatory after gym showers....ummm...no thank you....No Thank You EVER AGAIN.
I went back out to wait for Mish who I knew from text messaging was about an hour behind me. I ate a Pb&J since I hadn't eaten dinner yet and talked to a gal doing the 100k. She was there on the 100k from Michigan. She was training for Leadville. THE LEADVILLE 100. I think I geeked out a little. In the meantime a guy pulled in with a trailhawks (my local trail runner group) sticker on his truck, so I talked to him a bit about who all was coming out for the run. He informed me that our "fearless leader" Gary would be joining us that night as well, he was doing the 50K. YAY! Two people I know and get to watch come in on a race distance I would love to do someday.
After Mish arrived we talked about who was doing what and when we (her husband Rick and I) would meet her. We stared at the handdrawn map a bit more and tried to decide the best way to meet her at the halfway point. We were told that a lot of the roads were too muddy to drive on thanks to the recent rain so we would have to drive the course to get there.
We went back outside, chatted, took some pics, and sat around waiting for the start. At some point people started heading around to the other side of the school so we followed. SURPRISE! The rest of the field of runners was there. I was shocked as I didn't think there'd been that many people in and out of the school while we were standing there. Anyway, they shot off a firework and the race was off...faster than I'd like as usual, but the first part was all downhill. I was in the back and wasn't really running with anybody so I tried to slow up a bit and run my own race...especially since I'm STILL babying the ankle I twisted back in November and my longest run before this 10k was a 4 miler that was mainly walked.
So down the hill, around the corner, and right back up a hill...I'm cursing already at whoever laid out the course. Up the hill trying not to walk, but knowing I probably should. About half way up I slow to a walk. The next couple of miles consisted of rolling hills on wet mostly sand roads, so I ran down the hills and walked all the ups. At one point under a trestle bridge I noticed that I could see my breath, but thought I was seeing things (There's no way I could be seeing my breathe in 80ish degree weather right?) I hit the aide station and headed straight through as there were a couple of girls in front of me that I wanted to pass since we'd been leapfrogging for the last 2ish miles. At the turnaround for the 10k I gave the gatekeeper my number and managed to pass the gals and keep going. The middle section for me was just kind of blah. Not feeling bad, but tired (it was midnight afterall), and just kind of I want to be done. Back to the aide station filled my waterbottle and took off before the gals following me made it in. Back to the trestle bridge I realized I was actually seeing my breath...so bizarre. Managed to stay ahead of the gals all the way back to the turn up into the school. That last hill into the parking lot of the school was far too steep and I walked it while they ran it. I managed a weak "great job" ladies as they passed and ran the flat section around the school and across the finish line with them.
Time: 1.28...something. 10 min slower than my road 10k time. Not awful considering my lack of running and training prior to this race.
Overall it was a great time (the 3hr drive home on next to no sleep...not so much). Not a great race on my part but I'm glad I went and I'm really glad I helped to crew Mish in her 50k. I now know what I need to do to crew her for her 50 miler, and it will be so much fun.
It's been far too long since I posted. I had so many ideas on what to post for my official runiversary (1/16/13 in case you were curious) and then I got injured and got mad at the running world. Other peoples posts about running made me seethe with anger over my second injury in a year. Why me? It doesn't flipping matter why, I'm on the way back. Today I'm being brave and picking the abandoned blog back up. Below are the details....all of them.
The week before the Pilgrim Pacer 1/2 Marathon I told you all that I twisted my ankle, but wasn't worried about it since I finished the run and it didn't really hurt. I should have known better. The next week I ran the Pilgrim Pacer and something in my right knee/shin area started to hurt. It was close enough to my knee that I thought it was my ITband which both ticked me off and confused me. I did all that physical therapy on both sides shouldn't my right side be "immune" to ITband issues after all that? Yeah...it wasn't my ITband. Fast forward to Sander's Saunter (which I still haven't written up yet...I'm not a good blogger) and it started to hurt more. I still thought it was ITband. The week after Sander's Saunter I met up with Mish for a 14 mile cluster of a training run at a trail in my hometown. It hurt a lot and all the stretches I'd learned for ITband issues didn't seem to be helping. Hmmm...
Maybe you're thinking I should have stopped running, or gone to the doctor...yeah me too. Keep reading.
Then I ran an impromptu half marathon over two locations in one day. It still hurt, doubt about ITband was starting to creep in and I twisted the ankle again on the Flatrock trail. No big deal...I've twisted that ankle a hundred times...it's still runnable.
Winter hit. Snow, ice, blurg. Run a bit, rest a lot, run a bit. Full on denial mode. Blurg...I'm seriously thick sometimes. Just call me Mrs. thick thickety thick face from thicktown thickannia.
Ran the Groundhog run 10K in the caves under KC (which I wrote up later and which you can find here). It hurt and I noticed that my foot, at about 4 miles in, felt floppy like I didn't have control of it anymore. Damn...maybe I really need to see somebody about this.
After that race on a Wednesday night @ Clinton Lake with Story hawk I twisted my ankle for the third time. By Friday I was at the doctor requesting a PT consult. Running through it didn't heal it. Denial didn't heal it. Honestly PT didn't heal it, but it helped. A break from running and the addition of PT helped the most. To be truthful I'm still working on it. It still hurts, it still sucks, but I won't give up. I will resurrect my ankle, my running life & I will get to FlatRock in September.
For a change I got to get up at a normal time instead of before the rest of the house since the 10k race waves started at 10am. The boys were my alarm clock and as usual they got up and dropped every toy in their beds on the floor precisely at 7am (we have wood floors so it reverberates through the whole house and scares me to death). After hearing two Millennium Falcons, a Y-wing, a book (not sure which one), and a rescue bot hit the floor I figured it was time to get up.
Sweet husband took the dogs for a walk quickly while I tried to get dressed and managed the demands of the just woken up children (never an easy task, less easy when you REALLY need to get somewhere). My friend Kris was meeting me at my house and we were planning to ride over together so I got dressed as quickly as I could. It was a bit difficult to dress for two seasons (30-40 degrees on the walk from the car to the race start, 60-70 degrees in the caves during the race). I ended up in a skirtsports skirt, my badass mother runner short sleeve with a long sleeved hoodie over the top, and my brooks adrenaline road shoes). I drank half a cup of coffee, kisses the boys and sweet husband, and headed off with Kris.
I was familiar with the route to get there since we were supposed to part in the Ameristar casino parking lot (I don't gamble, but I used to work for a sign company and we did all the signs for the casino). I realized about half way there I would have to stop for gas and Kris mentioned wanting coffee so we found a QT and did both (and stocked up on pretzel M&M's for after the race). We got to the race, parked on the access road (instead of in the Ameristar parking lot), and walked accross the street to the caves...well...I keep calling them caves and they technically are, but they are not at all like the caves you think of when somebody says "cave". They are paved, lit, the pillars are painted in reflective (think road signs) paint and the ceiling is painted in white. It's really like an underground city down there.
We got there really early so we did a photo, walked around, and found the potties, found the start line and waited. We saw this gal with really cute running skirt (periwinkle and white with pleats...adorable) so I had to go tell her so and we ended up chatting and talking to her until the race started (as much as I don't really like crowds I sure do love to meet new people). Due to the nature of the course, they started the race in waves spaced 5 minutes apart. We were in the last wave. Once we got started we held a comfortable pass (able to chat easily). Until the second water station at about 2.5 miles. The road was all wet and slick so we walked carefully through the water station and then started running again. I didn't start hurting until about mile 3, and I noticed it in the turns first (I'm guessing the extra muscles involved in keeping everything in-line through a turn just started to pull). After mile 3 (it was two loops of the same course, which I didn't know before the race), I started to wish I'd dropped to the 5k. It wasn't hurting that bad, but I knew I wasn't doing myself any favors either. I ran what I could walked all the turns and water stations and about a mile out from the finish I told Kris to go on and run her own race. She took off and bested her 10k time by 2+ minutes (YAY!!). I took my time and tried not to further injure myself and finished 3 minutes slower than my previous 10k time.
I finished. Not so happily, but I finished.
Kris and I at the the opening of the "caves".
The "caves" in case you were wondering what they looked like.
Now for PT (my appt is this afternoon wish me luck...I have to take the 3yr old with me...wish me LOTS of luck).
Since the post about WinterRock & Coleen's Frozen Fatass was ridiculously long I thought I'd do a separate post for the pictures. Sadly I don't have many from Coleen's. It was dark, dark, dark by the time I made it there so I only got a couple. At any rate the pictures mostly speak for themselves. Enjoy.
FlatRock-WinterRock:
Shelter & Race Start
Through a divide in the rocks.
The top of the first hill.
You're climbing, climbing over the rocks through the trees and then you get rewarded with this beautiful view of the lake.
Over the rocks through the blue blazes. One hell of a trail.
Somebody built this little Christmas tree out of rocks.
It was sitting on top of a 4 foot high rock wall just waiting to cheer me up.
Can you find the trail? Follow the blue blazes.
This is one of those pictures that does no justice to how steep this really was.
I literally stood there for a minute trying to figure out the best way down.
See the blue mark on the tree at the top?
Yep, the trail goes up through the crevice Rock climbing and trail running all in one!
A beautiful path through the giant rocks.
Evidently it's always 5 o'clock at FlatRock.
At the end/beginning of the trail there is this giant stone tunnel to go through which is what you see behind me.
Coleen's Frozen Fatass
The outdoor hydration & fuel station. The house was also full of food and drink.
After two laps at Coleen's. Nine miles for Kris, 13 for me.
This is a ridiculously long report about the WinterRock Fatass & Coleen's Frozen Fatass from last Saturday.
FlatRock - WinterRock
I got up way too early, got dressed, snuck out of the house magically without waking up the kids or the dogs thinking only about how crazy I was to be heading out for a three hour drive just to run a trail. Tossed everything in the car and headed out after a quick stop for gas and coffee. The drive was thankfully uneventful. I got to Independence a bit early and stopped for breakfast at a little coffee shop while waiting for Mish to get there (she had kindly agreed to meet me in Indy and let me follow her to the race start). A 5-10 minute drive later we pull into the parking lot I'd seen in several FlatRock photos and videos.
After a trip to the bathroom, a few pictures of the grounds, and some chatting with Mish and some of the other runners the RD called us all around for the rules and tips about the trail. Mainly...follow the blue and don't complain. We lined up on the gravel road and took off up the black top for the start. I ran with Mish and let all the fast people pass me. It was freezing on the road thanks to the wind, but the second we dropped down into the grass and started the trail I had to start peeling layers off (the sleeves of my jacket/vest, gloves and buff all came off with in minutes). Once the actual trail started I think I said something to the effect of, "Holy crap Mish" and that was about the end of running with Mish. I had to slow to remove layers and climb a rock/moss/rain slick hill at the same time and Mish just powered on which was totally fine as I didn't expect her to hang with slow flatrock newbie picture taking me.
I think I hiked most of the first section trying to run where I felt I could safely and trying to not fall too far back. However when I came up into the huge rock formations and the vista views I slowed considerably to take pictures. If I remember correctly the first 2 miles were pretty much up and down rocks with small bits of trail that are runable-ish. Most of the rocks at on the trail move and they were covered in a thick layer of leaves so I had a hard time telling which rocks were sturdy and which ones would roll my ankles...again. Not so amusingly at one point I rolled a rock over with the toe of my right shoe and it hit the inside of my left ankle. My left ankle is more of a purple Cankle now, but unless I hit it on something it doesn't hurt. All the bad stuff being said, the trail is incredibly beautiful. Anytime I felt safe looking up I was rewarded with a beautiful view of the lake or a rock formation or just a giant rock wall 5-6 times as high as I am tall, and the next thing I knew I was at the turn around for the 12k. I actually stood there for a few minutes talking to the volunteer and debating about heading on through for the 25k. In the end I decided that I, A: really shouldn't do 15 miles on that trail that day, and B: really still wanted to go to Coleen's Frozen Fatass later that day (slightly influenced by the fact that I had posted I was doing both on FB) so I headed back. Most of the return trip was spent by myself on the trail and again it was just beautiful. I saw things on the way back that I missed on the way out and took even more pictures (I literally probably lost 15 mins of time just taking pictures of the trail).
In the end I got back to the shelter in 2:14...something with a total mileage of 7.38. Not bad for my first trip on a trail with sometimes precarious footing.
After I got done I had some fabulous chicken noodle soup & probably 4-5 cups of hot chocolate while waiting for Mish. I really wanted to see her finish and it was fun cheering in all the other people (cowbells and all!). Plus I got to hang out with the RD's and chat with them about their adventures. After Mish got back and we chatted a few minutes she was kind enough to drive me back to the highway so I could head off to Coleen's. Thank you Mish!!
Coleen's Frozen Fatass:
The drive from Independence to Olathe for Coleen's Frozen Fatass took FOREVER. Or at least it felt that way. I had to stop about 15 times to pee and walk around. It probably didn't help that it was dark, and I got lost twice. The getting lost is not a surprise so much since I do that on a fairly regular basis anyway, and the first time it wasn't a big deal at all, only lost 15 min going down the wrong highway. The second was FAR more annoying as I was lost about a mile from where I needed to be and google kept telling me different ways to get there. Thankfully I was only a little bit late and the run was a 12 hr thing more about running however many loops you wanted instead of running a prescribed distance.
I got there, got signed in, got my number and chatted with some friends while trying to figure out when or if my friend Kris had gotten there. For the record, at this point nearly the only reason I went was because I told Kris I was going to. Ah, the benefit of friends. Magically Kris came in from her first loop just as I was about to head out for mine. She needed a breather and some food so we hung out in the little house there for a bit and then headed out. The run here was SO completely different than at FlatRock. Continuous running felt good and not having to run over moving rocks and climb stuff was nice. Picking our way through the icy patches and water crossings not so much. Chatting with Kris made the first lap go by quickly and we got back to the house in 34 something (it was a 3 mile loop). More food for Kris (I was a bit off food at that point) and we headed back out for our last loop which I only did because Kris needed someone to make her do it. I am far more motivated to do something if it will help somebody else get it done too. Thanks for letting me be "drill sargent" Kris!!
About half way through the last loop I realized that I would do a half marathon that day. This was totally unintentional and honestly a bit surprising. I kept shaking my head like it couldn't really be 13 some odd miles for the day (admittedly I'm not good at math when I'm running so I was also trying to make sure I didn't screw up carrying a number over or whatever). I felt okay at that point, but the half marathon realization made me feel wonderful/strange/crazy/amazingly badass all at once which helped me finish that loop. Admittedly the hills where difficult on the last lap and I walked to the "finish line".
Total miles at Coleen's 5.86. Total time 1:21 something.
Total miles for the day 13.28. Total time for the day 3:35 something
It was a pretty awesome day, that I'm still recovering from. I spent most of today trying to do as little as possible and to drink as much water as possible. I think I was pretty close to dehydration after the last loop at coleen's, and spending Sunday in the car and at my FIL's house didn't help. In the end though not bad for my first trail half total mileage 13.24 and a total time of 3:35 something. The road half I did was 3:18 so I'm super happy with that time...especially given that I didn't really plan on doing a half marathon Saturday and I sure as heck didn't fuel for one.
Opted out of my Speedy Wednesday morning run this morning as it was 9 degrees...actually I opted out last night out of fear of ice on the roads. The fact that it was 9 degrees when I woke up this morning and I didn't have to get up and go run in it was a bonus. So...to get my miles in for today I went out to Clinton lake for the Hawks Wednesday night run. It's usually a 4.5-5 mile traipse through the woods, but tonight Gary (the run leader, and awesome guy) wanted to take it easy on Lambchop (his dog and unofficial Hawk mascot). He just learned today that Lambchop has arthritis (she's only 3, poor sweet girl) and so we ran shorter and slower than normal....well they did. I ran about as fast as I always do.
Kris, Gary, Craig and I chatted about food, running, races, & books as the miles flew by. I kind of got lost in the conversation until Gary said," There's only about one mile left. Soak it up, enjoy it." Wonderful point well said Gary. I have a tendency to kind of wish away runs, but tonight I just soaked it all up and embraced it. The run ended up about 3.5 miles and was truly beautiful in the snow. The trail wasn't slick and was still totally covered in snow. Just gorgeous. The sound of our shoes crunch, crunch, crunch through the woods was like a song or mantra. To top it off at the end we got rewarded with a beautifully clear view of the stars & Jupiter. It was just one of those runs you want to bottle and uncork later after a crappy run (or series of them as I'm prone to).
