Catching up..

So, oh my goodness its been long..My husband stumbled upon my blog the other night and reminded me I even had one!

So where did I leave off, oh yes, the tarheel 10 miler...3 years ago!?  Wow slacking, well really its been busy.  So in the meantime since the 10 mile race, I discovered a new love...ULTRA races!

Technically an Ultra is any race distance further than 26 miles (a marathon) but most of them start around 50k, and go up from there.  I ran my first 50k to celebrate the new year, 2012 and placed 2nd overall, of course this was a fat ass race so out of the 60+ runners that started only a dozen actually ran the whole distance.  It was mostly friends and friends-of-friends getting together to eat, run, and hang out.  This was really just a training run for the Uwharrie Mt Race in February.

Signing up for a 40 mile race I though, 'OHH what have I gotten myself into." I can get quite competitive with myself, and am barely ever able to just go out and run a race for fun, so I knew I had to train hard in order to finish and be proud (and still walking)  Fortunately, the Trailheads, offered up plenty of support, tips, and running buddies to get me to the starting line feeling good.

There was a bit of a mix up at the start, and so it was delayed just long enough for the sun to come up.  Which was pretty nice considering that the start (and finish) is straight up (or down when you finish) a very rocky, rooty hill.  I kept telling myself to take it slow, I wanted to average a 9:30 min pace..On a side note, as I found when I transitioned from running road races to trail races, just because I can run a sub 7 min/mile marathon does NOT mean I can or should do the same on trails.

So I started out conservatively, losing all my Trailhead friends who were also running the race, and as I got to the top of that first climb, all of the adrenaline that was sitting like a rock in my stomach shot out into my legs, and I bolted down the hill about a 7 min pace..oops.  On the plus side I finally caught up to two other Trailheads Wackus, and Willow (obviously not their real names, but they are their real Trailhead names!)  Anyway, it was really great getting pushed along with the two people I had been spending most of my training runs with.  For the first 30ish miles it was pretty thrilling to switch off with Willow as the first female runner.  Uwharrie is an out and back course, 20(ish) miles out and then back, so when you turn around, the 20 mile racers who started an hour after are all finishing their races.  Its a trade off, good and bad, since you are running at all these people now, but thrilling to cheer and be cheered for by each trail runner.

As I said, I was upfront for 30 miles, and then superstar Marie Ange just flew past Willow and I.  At one point I was ahead and was just leaving an aid station and Willow was getting to it, she looked at me and said "go, there is a girl right on my tail..."  Needless to say at that point there was no holding Marie Ange off, shes an incredible runner and I was just happy to run in front of her at all.

The last 10 miles went by in a blur of nasty gu's, boiled potatoes and flat cola.  Though it was a hard race, I actually didn't feel as bad as I thought I would.  No hitting a wall, no puking, crying or even really stopping along the way.  I was thrilled to come in second, followed very closely by Willow in third.

Since the race in Feb I have been battling achillies tendonitis, so the only race I have run since was the local 4 (miles) on the 4th (of july) Strangely enough I placed 3rd overall for women.  It did actually help to buoy my spirits since running has been so sparse, I have been on the bike and swimming/aqua jogging while my PT and I try to fix my achillies problems.

Anyway, that about sums up my running to date.  My DH, DK, has signed up for his first marathon.  I think he curses the day he signed up for it...distance running is, shall we say, not his bag.  I have been going along with him for his long runs, and he has been doing great, even though he's not really loving any part of the training.  I think he'll do well if he sticks to the plan and keeps it up.

ta-ta for now...

Tarheel 10 miler surprise

Well what a surprise, I actually did so much better than expected. Last week my husband and I were talking about how we should have probably trained for the race, we were reading an article in the paper about how there is a mile uphill challenge at mile 8.5?! what?! I know Chapel Hill, is, well a HILL, but didn't realize it was going to be thrown in as a challenge at the end!

I should clarify, I am a dog runner, my furry running buddies keep me active but their paces are all around a 10 min mile. I do run by myself some days, but lately have been anywhere from a 7min/mi-8:30 min/mi pace. The last race and the last time I actually trained was nearly 3 years ago, and as age 31 is fast approaching I never wanted to race assuming that my fitness level would have dropped enormously.

As usual, I had my prerace jitters, though we left the house at 6:40 for a 7:30 race so there wasn't too much time to get nervous (thats the great thing about living 15 min from the starting line)

Anyway, so I came in 2nd in my age group, 10th female overall with a time of 1:09 and as for that mile uphill I was so scared of...I ran a 6:28 split!

Guess I should sign up for some more races, there is some life left in these leggies :)

What a difference a week can make!

Being sick will really slow a girl down..

Ahh the inevitable winter illness...Well, really, I think its been years since I was sick...so this is the first of quite a while.

Its been going on for almost 2 weeks now, headaches, coughing, sore throat, and lots of yucky phlegm. On the plus side, it seems winter here is coming to a close. We had cold and rain and a tiny bit of snow in December and early Jan...but its been in the 50s and 60s more and more consistently. I think by the end of last February it was spring here. I did see my daffodils peeking up this morning in my front garden! Yeah! Spring is on its wayyy!

Gosh its been a LONG time!

Well it has been quite some time since I wrote...or maybe had time to write.
This Wednesday will be our 1 year anniversary of living in Chapel Hill..and Drew jokes we haven't gone bankrupt or lost the house :)
The last year has been filled with dogs, home improvement projects, but mostly dogs.

For weeks Drew has been counting down to Thanksgiving, "5 whole days of no work!" I was looking forward to having some free time with him as well, or so I thought. Monday my sister went out of town (Disney..lucky girl!) so I had to rush through all my dogs to cover for her and nanny her 2 girls she usually has every afternoon. I know them well, so it was no big deal. It was sunny and 75 and Thanksgiving break was nearing....
And then it happened, a neighbor went into labor at 3am, and another decided they needed dog help last min, and another...and it went downhill from there...The dogs were all packed up and gone Sunday at 6pm, just in time for grocery shopping and getting ready for the next week!

Well, at least I will finally get a break in Dec, going home to MA and will only have Emmitt! YAY!

Our House has gone to the DOGS!

So summer is here, people are going away, and leaving their dogs....at our house!
Yesterday we had Roma and Bentley two 6 month old lab/German shepherd mixes. They are about Emmitt's size, but probably outweigh him by 15 lbs each. They are some of my regulars, I run them together on Monday and Wednesday mornings, however, their family went away all day yesterday so they came to stay with Emmitt and I.

Emmitt took one look and decided.."OOH boy, two dogs to chase me!" It was like being at the race track, around and around he ran, while the puppies stumbled over eachother trying to catch him. After 30 minutes of this, and two bathroom walks, the puppies passed out for almost 3 hours! Boy were they TIRED! It was great, they crack me up and entertain me for hours!

Emmitt, of course, really liked Roma. He rolled on his back and started playing with her the way he and Ellie used to play. Ear nibbling, ankle biting, so cute!

I would say we should get Emmitt another dog to play with, but at this rate, we have another dog coming to stay for 3 days...we do have other dogs for him to play with, and the days inbetween are for him to rest!

Trails and tails

So Emmitt and I have been doing some trail exploring lately. There are about 15 miles of trails that are attached to the end of our little road. They wind up and around hills and streams, and are frequented by many bike clubs, neighbors, and running groups.

As the weather gets hotter and hotter many outdoor enthusiasts flock to these wooded trails (the Carolina North Forest) to keep them cool on their walks, runs or bike rides.
Once a week, on the warmest morning, I will take Emmitt. He's great off leash, he either stays at my heels or right in front of me, depending on his mood, and mine. I know the trails nearest our house the best, there are probably about 45 min of running trails, but I wanted to go further the other morning. There is a road that splits the middle of this forest, so Emmitt and I decided to explore the other side of the road yesterday. An hour into the run and Emmitt was wayy behind, and I was wayy confused. The trails aren't marked, and a few of them are small narrow switchbacks up a hill, so it can be very confusing....tho the breeze and nature, and fellow dogs for Emmitt to play with (everyone else who has a friendly dog leaves them off the leash as well) it all kept us entertained for almost 2 hrs. We probably didn't go as far as we could on the road in 2 hrs, but it was fun anyway.

He was, however, exhausted...which was my goal since this weekend is going to be HOT and HUUMID and we aren't going to be out walking and playing in the afternoons when the day is at its hottest. I wanted him to be nice and relaxed, and he was last night, and this morning, and this afternoon...and wait....yup still snoring over there on his pillow!

A typical morning for us is he goes to the bathroom, he eats, he cleans himself after breakfast while watching me make drew's lunch, he follows me up and wait for me to get dressed and brush my teeth etc. Finally, while I put on my sunscreen and hat (he doesn't like the smell so he leaves me alone for this part) He sits by the door and waits, at attention, for our (usually 30min to an hr) morning run....buuut not this morning. I finished with my sunscreen routine and went to the door...NO Emmitt....looked on his pillow, checked his food bowl....he was in his crate, wayy in back, hoping I wasn't going to take him on another long trail run...haha! Guess he learned his lesson! :)

Tomorrow is another day, I'm sure he will be ready to go run again after he gets his recharge!