Trail Race #2

Ok so today's race had some good points:

• It was not subzero temperature like it felt in January
• It was not muddy on the trail
• A buddy was experience his first race (shout out to Paul)
• My work buddy coach (shout out to Tom)
• I was defiant and brought my ipod

A few lessons were learned:

• It is not really a bad thing if you have not seen the course.  It made the run enjoyable and exciting.
• When you FACEPLANT like I did, get your butt up check and make sure you can move, then start back up again.  Don't think about it too much otherwise you will wuss out.  Fortunately I did continue on and finish the race. 

Scraped up the knee and hands but all in all pleased with the progress. Definitely better than my first trail race.

Next week I go to Greenville, SC to join my brother in his first race.  I still can't believe he signed up for a 10K.    I wonder if I will be able to drive home. 

And my knee: 

Build the strength challenge

So it is official - I do have a new PR after completing the Cupid's Cup. Yay!

So about the other goal/challenge/whatever you want to call it.   A friend of mine posted about this not so long ago as he was debating it too.

Running and core strength building are suppose to go hand in hand.  Getting better at running but my strength building has been slacking a bit lately.  Remember unless someone is standing over me - sometimes I'm a bit of a slacker.   I come home and well, quite frankly with all the channels I have, how could I not want to become a couch potato.  Hmm potatoes...I'm hungry..oh wait that's not what this is about....

So...I'm debating.....the 100 Push Up Challenge....it is a six week program.

http://hundredpushups.com/index.html

Still debating....any takers out there?

Cupid's Cup Update

Decided to sign up and run the Cupid's Cup 5K in Charlotte.  No pink t-shirts please (they were white by the way).  As far as courses go, it was pretty flat.  The results have not posted but I'm pretty sure I had a new personal record.  This is mostly because as I turned a corner I saw my buddy Tom and his lovely wife Mary.   This was timely as they both helped me focus and continued to move.  Tom was in coaching mode but I did take the opportunity to look at Mary when he was telling us to pick up and ask her if she had ever punched him at the end of a run.  She said no but I'm thinking it has crossed her mind.   Nevertheless without their help I'm pretty sure I would not have that assumed new personal record.


Let's take a minute to talk about preparation.  Now the night before a race I usually know what I'm wearing, make sure my ipod and garmin are charged and generally have a target time of when I am leaving the house.   That much I have down.  So...here's what I learned this time.   1) Make sure there is gas in the car.  My car is in the shop and when I got into the Xterra I found it to be empty.  And oh by the way - I did not notice till after I left the house which sucked more because I didn't carry credit cards with me.  2) Know exactly where you are going and when they are planning to block off the roads or you will end up driving around looking for a parking space somewhere, anywhere so you don't miss the race. I finally found a space on a side street, dumped the car and ran to the start line just as the race was beginning.  Brilliant stroke of luck I remembered where I parked it.  


This meant however no warm up and today....I'm feeling it.


Next race is in two weeks and it's a 5K trail one.  My buddy Paul is joining this one and it will be his first trail race.  So exciting!


I'm looking at another goal/challenge...maybe I will blog about it later.....

Up your Game and the Holy Grail Shoe

February has arrived.   To keep my focus I have signed up for a 5K Trail race on 2/26 in Huntersville.  I continue to try and apply peer pressure on one of my newbie running buddies to sign up for his first trail race (Yes, u Santos if you are reading this). I also signed up for the Bear at Grandfather Mountain.  While my buddies are at the Scotch tasting I will be enduring a five mile uphill climb to the top of Grandfather.   A friend of mine said she heard most people hurl at the top but that she would hold my hair for me (thanks Karla!).  Isn't that sweet?

With February comes the pressure, Kelly the Magnificent is upping the mileage.  I was finally warming up to the 5K mileage and now suddenly (or it feels like that) it's time to move it up.  I knew this was coming but my body isn't on board completely with this idea.  Thus the 4 miles starts.  Actually I'm a little behind I probably should be doing at least 4.5 now and realistically should be at the 5 mile marker but alas....I am slow and a bit of a slacker.  After the 4 mile trail race though, I no longer have any excuses.

Ok so now to most important part of this post.  I run on the road with Nike Free - they are awesome shoes.  My trail shoes however are lacking.  They are heavy and clunky at best.  Enter the Merrell trail barefoot shoes which just came out.    I ordered the Pace Glove.  Now...I can tell you I have built up in my mind these are the Holy Grail of trail shoes...so I'm REALLY hoping they are wonderful.   I have been flashing back to a scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Office where Ferris looks at the camera and says "Cameron has never been in love. At least, nobody's ever been in love with him. If things don't change for him, he's gonna marry the first girl he lays, and she's gonna treat him like shit, because she will have given him what he has built up in his mind as the end-all, be-all of human existence. She won't respect him, 'cause you can't respect somebody who kisses your ass. It just doesn't work".   I hope my new trail shoes don't disappoint because I have surely built them up to be the end-all.  

I've never really been this excited about a pair of shoes but we shall see....should have them in a week.  Here they are....

The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The BAD  and the UGLY- One of the biggest challenges I have is doing anything during the week.  A lot of people have Sunday as their "rest" day.  Me? It's mondays.  I hate mondays.   Without fail work sucks me in and by the time I get home I just want to faceplant (can you tell this is my new favorite word?) in my bed.  It's even MORE challenging in the winter because I do not like exercising in the dark.  Nooooo.  My neighborhood has only a few street lights and a lot of older people that I'm convinced are out to hit me or at the least make me dive for a ditch.   Let's face it - winter sucks. Wah!  However if I'm ever going to make it to that 13.1 trail run alive I need to not wuss out during the winter.   I was doing ok until the snow.  The snow really threw me for a loop.  Slippery conditions and darkness = ...wait for it...yes you know....FACEPLANT.   I probably should talk to someone about this faceplant obsession.   So this is the part I think everyone faces when they are trying to either start exercising or step up their game.  EXCUSES.  Yes people that's what I'm talkin about.   AND guess what I'm southern which means I can excuse it up with the best of them.   My grandmother use to refer to my mother as a widow after my father died....even though Daddy was married to someone else at the time of his death.  Denial and excuses, we southerners wrote the book.

THE GOOD - I've been focusing on taking away the excuses.  So Kelly the Magnificant helps a lot as when you pay somebody for a service it's good if you actually show up.  Kelly is so cool I rather look forward to those sessions.  But as wonderful as he is, he can't be there every day.  Bad weather excuse? Well I've got options now so that's out.   Tired - aren't we all? That's out.  No time?  Well I got time to write this blog so that's out.  General laziness - hmm.....this one continues to fight.....

Rome wasn't built in a day....MARCH ON.....September and that half-marathon will be here before I know it....

I leave you with a pic from the 1st trail race.....  Although not my best look, definitely better than most of them I've seen in the past... Less zombie more stepping up....

The 1st Trail Race

Greetings All -

So the first trail race was this past Saturday....   The weather has been working against me for the last couple of weeks and I was not able to actually check out what the map looked like prior to the race.  The whitewater center trails have been closed for several weeks.   I was anticipating slippery conditions.  My goals were simple as I was considering this "practice" for the trail series that starts in March.

1. Do not FACEPLANT (visions of chipping a front tooth kept coming to mind)
2. Do not twist or sprain an ankle (I consider this not as bad as my chip tooth fear)
3. Finish

Normally I say Finish and not finish last but hey I was trying to keep those expectations low like I do at work.  I did not finished last but I was damn close to last.

So...how did I do?  Well, I met all 3 goals successfully but I was not very happy with myself afterwards.   My head was definitely not in the game. I should have been at least 8-10 minutes faster on my time.  I had a bad week (brother in hospital - he's ok) and rattled at work a bit.  On Friday I ran with my trainer Kelly the Magnificent and could definitely tell I had a focus problem.   I guess I know now how important having your head in the game is prior to trying to kill yourself on a run.   This also was the first race I attempted without my ipod.  That was one of the rules (they want you to be able to hear if someone is trying to pass you), however there were plenty of rulebreakers with ipods.   I am comfortable with being a rulebreaker (all that morally flexibility you know) so I think I will having the ipod with me next time.   Biggest lesson learned: focus on the task at hand not the assholes in your life when you are running race.

What did I sign up for again?

Ok so now that you know some background, let's look ahead.   Remember I said that Coworker...er...Pushy Tom convinced me that signing up for the trail series was a good idea.   The RiverBound Race Series consists of four trail races, with each one increasing in distance.

March 12  - 8K
May 21 - 10K
July 16 - 15K
September - Half marathon - yep 13.1 miles on a TRAIL.

I should note now that every one of these in the series has a 5K option.  If I ever take the 5K option I'm pretty sure I would get weeks of grief from Coworker Tom.  Don't be a wuss....and that would be some of the nicer of the comments.

Since I have not run a trail race yet, Kelly the Magnificent thought it would be a good idea to do one before the series starts...thus the 4 mile run Charlotte Running Company trail race at the Whitewater center on January 22nd.  This should be good practice.

Many of you know I attend the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games every July.   They have a insane marathon but they also have The Bear which is a 5 mile run straight up the mountain.   I'm inclined to sign up for the Bear.  I have two friends I'm pretty sure that are going to go for it as well, one who is a first timer like myself (Hi Dave if you are reading this)  and the other has run it several times (Hi Kirk if you are reading this).   I cannot tell you how many times that I looked at those people coming back from the Bear and said "you are nuts".    Hmm, I still think a 5 mile run up a mountain is nuts.  

I haven't really planned anything past September because I'm not entirely sure that I won't still be in the woods of the Whitewater Center passed out while attempting the 13.1 miles.   

I leave you with a picture the shirt that I will likely be using to run the Bear and the 13.1 (if I survive that long).