Fresh week, fresh start!

Last Monday started off super fab-with an easy run with ESpeed which was going so well I turned it into my progression run which accidentally ended up a little on the fast side with a 7:16 avg for the first 7 miles before easing off coming up the hill to the office.

Then I awoke Tuesday feeling very off and reset my alarm to skip my morning workout.  I continued to feel worse as the day went on just wanting to lay down under my desk for the day.  When 5 o clock hit, it took every bit I had left to drive home and make my way to the couch and I did not move.  I knew then I was sick.

After a sleepless night, I rolled over and could not move.  I was coughing, freezing and had body aches so bad I was ready to cry.  I called off sick for the first time since I had been with the company back in 2007.  I have been sick off and on throughout the year and my husband was adamant that it was time to see a doctor and back off.  I called the Dr.  I had to go downstairs to pull out my medical insurance and just the process of making an appointment with half a voice was pretty much beyond what I could endure.  I laid in bed all morning, sweating and freezing before getting out of bed at noon to get ready to go to the Dr.  It required more than I had in me.  It was cold out, making my chills and body aches worse.  I sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes feeling tortured every second of it.  Finally I saw the Dr who confirmed what I already knew.  101 fever and I had the flu.  It was off to the drug store for some Tamiflu before returning to my couch.

I was not really optimistic about making it to work Thursday but guilt forced me to try.  I was overdue for a shower anyways so I thought I would see if I could handle getting ready.  I figured if I could handle that, maybe I could try to go to work.  The shower was a job and half way through drying my hair, I was done and needed to sit down.  I called the boss and returned to bed to continue the process of sweating and then freezing.  It was another lazy day and day 3 of no workouts.  Thursday night, I took a my new sleeping aids and finally slept like a rock.  I believe much of me being sick lately is due to my lack of sleep...just been having a lot of issues with not sleeping well lately.  I am so happy as I sit here right now after having 4 nights in a row of hard core sleeping!

Friday, I was feeling maybe 75% with a partial voice and nice sinus infection, but made my way to work as I had two big meetings.  On the mend and was tired of feeling like a lazy blob.  Day 4, no workouts!  Honestly I think that laying on the couch watching movies all the time was currently kind of to my liking.  Guess I must have really been sick!   A wild and crazy night (not!) on the couch Friday before going to bed around 9.  I was pretty resolved that unless I felt horrible, I needed to workout Saturday.

Saturday, woke up early and ended up pinch hitting and led the last 2 hour east side cycling class with half a voice and no microphone.  It was fine tho.  Then as usual, hopped in the pool for 2000 yards and then decided I would do a nice easy 4 mi run on the track.  Oh working out just makes me feel good again and like the poisons are being sweat out!  I stopped by the new Fleet Feet store in Pepper Pike and chatted there awhile and then headed up to NC Multisports Retro Day at Northface.  Between all the talking, my voice was soooo shot by the time I got home.  So the husband and I relaxed watching more movies and hit the hay by 9pm or so again.

Sunday, I woke up early as I really felt I wanted to get in a long run.  I headed to SERC in Solon and arrived early so that I could get in 5 mi before the 8am start.  The plan was run 8:20-8:30 pace for 20 miles.  The first 5 I ran a little fast which I chalked up to fun fast music and having no one to talk to.  My sister had class all weekend so she was out this day.  As the group started to run, my friend AH asked my plan and I said, I just wanted to run with company and was thinking I could run anywhere between 7:45 - 8:30.  I knew I would probably have to run faster to run with the SERC gang as everyone there is generally pretty quick.  As it turned out, I ran with AH the whole way feeling good, chatting and not paying much mind to pace.  I knew I was running a little faster but when I looked at the average pace upon completion, I was pretty much shocked to see my average pace for the entire 20 which had some good elevation changes was 7:40 flat!

This was waaay faster than I should have ran it per coach but sort of a nice confidence boost in terms of where I am at in my training.

I am glad to start this week fresh.  Not 100% but all in all, feeling ok!

The weekly rundown....er stepback week!

So the past week was a rough one!

There was Saturday's Malachi race followed by the day long party.  Sunday awoke to drag my dog tired body on a long run with sis and completed 16.7 miles at a 8:30ish pace.  Monday, slept in and just came home and cleaned the house.  The legs felt so sore and tired that I decided and OFF day was in order and just hit the hay early after a nice long recovery pump session!

Tuesday, I thought I would get in one of my key runs but 2.5 miles in, my legs were aching and lately I would rather error on the cautious side so I hopped off the treadmill and got in a good upper body weight workout.  Evening was heading over to the husband's family as he was helping his dad with drywall.

Wednesday morning, I woke up early for a 1 hour good quality bike before meeting ESpeed to hit the pool.  She was struggling with a little trouble with her leg and I could not have been happier to have a swim buddy!  While I feel for her struggling with her injury, maybe this will work out to my advantage as she ended up joining my gym and now I think I will often have company on the swim which may prove to be HUGE for me! She has always been faster than me in the water so while she has not swam in awhile, she does not appear to have missed a beat.  Having her there keeps me honest and pushing through the sets and even this morning, she gave me a tip which may prove to be helpful!  Wednesday evening, we again went over to my husband's moms as his aunt was in town and it was the last night before my father in law was to have surgery.

Thursday was an absolute disaster.  I overslept my planned run and got up late to be driven to work by my husband.  He was coming downtown as his dad was having a rather serious open heart surgery that day at University Hospitals 4.5 miles down the road from my office.  We parked in my parking lot and he hopped on the bicycle to go to UH.  On my lunch break, I rushed to my car to go be with his family.  Now I think Cleveland ranks 3rd in terms of the St. Patricks Day festivities and being a gorgeous day the party-goers were out in full force.  The drive to UH was OK getting there (and thankfully surgery went well) but getting back was a disaster as the parade was just getting going.

My boss asked what kept me, thinking I was out taking in the parade but explained the situation and my boss said he was leaving early and for me to feel free to as well, which was nice.  The city was so loud with the parade and sirens, audible even up on our 24th floor.  So about 3:15, I grab all my bags and blast out the door walking as quick as I could with my cell in my front pants pocket.  Downtown was now in full madness and I power-walked the few blocks to my car trying to get out of dodge.  I drove down St. Clair as I could not cross the parade route to get to Chester (which was how I went earlier) and traffic was thick as the parade was just ending.  Next thing I know I crushed a pothole and sure as can be, got a flat tire.  CRAP!!!  So I go to grab my cell phone only to realize when I was power walking to my car, it must have fell out of my front pocket as it was a shallow pocket that I probably should not have put it in to begin with.  Oh and I am broke down at E30th and St Clair which is sort of ghetto....JUST GREAT!

So I do what any normal person would do and start running back.  Due to St. Pats, we had a casual day at the office so I am running in jeans, with my hair down, jewelry, big purple glasses and I am sure most would assume I was some drunk chick on this day.  Lots of strange looks and hollers as I ran the ~1.5miles back to my parking lot hoping the phone fell out as I threw my bags in the car.  No such luck. Not only is all this going on but all the people screaming "Happy St Patricks Day" was making me even more annoyed because I don't want to acknowledge them and everything is just making my mood worse.   So I walked back to the office, now just totally upset to call my husband (my poor husband who is already having a stressful day).  I called my sis first by accident which leads me to start crying and now call my husband telling him I need help and I am having a bad day which stressed him out fast as I never call up crying.  St. Husband says don't worry, he will meet me at the car.  So I run along back to my car and start pacing back and forth waiting for him, as I watch for the shady characters walking by.

The tire was ruined and I had just bought it back in August.  The husband got the tiny little donut on but this baby tire really did not like it over 45 mph.  We went back to the hospital and I made some calls on his phone trying to find tires and call about a phone (after calling my old number a million times).  It was all just so frustrating and I felt so terrible as we went into see his dad who was struggling with the respirator tube and just coming out of recovery and really the focus should have been on him.

Friday was more dealing with the fallout.  Husband took me to work in his truck and went back to the hospital and then over lunch, he went to go get my tire from the shop that had come in.  I actually went out for a run at lunch which I felt bad taking the time for (as I should have worked through lunch) but I just needed a vent with ESpeed.   My replacement phone came via UPS around 2 and I got it all synched up.  Finally I was back to normal but just wasted a ton of money and was just reeling from the stress of those days.  Then I had to leave work early as I still needed to get to the bmv to spend more money on license plates for my car and motorcycle.  Then I was supposed to have a houseful Saturday and pretty much had the whole house to clean Friday night.

Yet, Saturday, my birthday, ended up being a pretty darn good day!  I woke up early to head to east side cycling.  I had put together a very hard 2 hour workout for class and gave myself a good birthday spanking before hitting the pool.  It was a perfect way to start the day.  I opted to skip the run in favor of having lunch with my parents and sisters family in Ravenna.  It was nice, although A&W is not the healthiest meal!  Then I got my hair done for the first time in forever, so that was fun!  I hit the store before heading home home for a few last minute preparations.  I was in a super fabulous mood, loving the weather, listening to good music and was ready for the big party!

The turnout was awesome and I had WAAAAY too much fun resulting in going to bed early and feeling like a big pile of poooo on Sunday.  Boy, did I feel OLD on Sunday or maybe young like I was a hungover college student again!  BLAH!!!  I was sooo hungry so we went to lunch at the country restaurant in town and I had the very delicious country fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy.  Not sure if it was the food or the alcohol, but I tried to run with sis an hour later and MISERABLE does not even begin to describe how bad I felt.  I called it after suffering through 4.5 miles of the planned 18 mile run.  The drive home was equally rough!

Then to make matters worse, I never did get a nap in yesterday and could not get any rest last night.  I so would have slept in today (and I did skip my bike), but I got myself up to go swim (only because I had told ESpeed I would meet her) and surprisingly, I felt pretty good.  Then I snuck out at lunch thinking I would do an easy run with ESpeed.  Yet as we glanced down at the garmins, we realized we were running waayy  fast for my easy run so I opted to make it my PCR (Progress Calibration Run) in which I was supposed to increase my pace per mile throughout the run.  It ended up being a little fast but we were just feeling good and I needed a good run!  I LOVE IT WHEN THESE THINGS HAPPEN!


So hopefully I can get back on track this week.  I am a bit behind as my weeks generally start on Sundays, so now I already owe a long run!  I am seriously now in buckle down mode and ready to put in the work to get ready for the big spring events.  Now if only the 10 day forecast did not look so dismal!

First Endurance Delivery!

Up until last year, my nutrition could more or less have been called, 'Operation Wing-It'.  I have always been sort of a minimalist in terms of nutrition.  Sometimes this had bit me in the butt when my energy reserves hit rock bottom.  I also think this led to some subpar performances due to the fact that I was inefficiently fueled.  Further, I think I was not recovering as quickly from key workouts / races, as I was not replenishing efficiently either.  (Note to self, beer does not equal recovery drink!)

Yet, last year in training for my first full distance, I decided it was time to focus on my nutrition, knowing it could make or break a race.  Over the years I have tried out numerous brands and varieties of products.  Some I liked.  Some I hated.  Others just caused me issues!  Last year, I was so fortunate to get linked up with First Endurance through Team Trakkers and I have been forever thankful.  

Throughout the course of my training, I really worked on practicing what I would use on race day.  My favorites included-

First Endurance EFS Fruit Punch Flavor

Perhaps some may think it is on the sweet side, but this is easily my favorite tasting sports drink I have tried.  Never have I had an issue with cramping or dehydration when I was armed with this in my water bottles.  This is in no small part to the fact that I think I drink more when I have it because I like the taste so much.  Also important to note when comparing EFS to some competitors, EFS has the highest electrolyte content available (1160mg of all 5 electrolytes/serving).  

First Endurance EFS Liquid Shot

Last year it was all about the Vanilla which went down super easy.  It's called liquid shot because it doesn't contain gelling agents which can slow down absorption and digestion.  This year I am so excited because Wild Berry Flavor is now available and I have waited for this flavor since I got to try it out last year at REV3 Knoxville!   While I like the Vanilla (as I hummed Vanilla Pudding to the the Banana Puddin song through much of last year as I took in the Vanilla Shots), I am a fruity sort of girl!!!  Yeah Wild Berry!  


Not only did I keep my Vanilla liquid shot with me on the bike last year at REV3Cedar Point, I carried my flask throughout the whole 26.2 miles and felt properly fueled the entire way with no issues whatsoever!  Last year,  I spent a lot of time planning and practicing my nutrition leading up to the big day.  I read quite a few of the articles such as the Kona Nutrition Report posted by Team First Endurance Athlete, Donna Phelan.  I had a set nutrition plan and followed it to a tee!  If you are new to long course, it is so worth checking out some of these posts and giving some serious thought to your nutrition and SOONER rather than LATER!

So with much excitement, I am happy to report that the new stash is here and just in time to fuel me for the big events coming up this spring!   I am ready to have my nutrition dialed with First Endurance!  As a matter of fact, I am really looking forward to doing my first full marathon (since I started with FE) and a repeat of the 100K mtn bike now armed with FE!

St. Malachi Race Report

Wow, it is hard to believe this was the eighth year running this race!  Time flies when you are having fun.  This year will go down as my second fastest.


This race has grown over the years as lots of people come out to kick off the St. Patty's Day celebrations early with a run and then a big post race party.  The last several years a few other traditions have started of our own.


1.  A few of my friends and I have worked to use this race as spring board to get our old highschool friends running. 
2.  Cleveland Triathlon Club has gotten involved to use the big crowds to promote the club so it is super fun that there is always a huge group there!!!


So needless to say, I always look forward to this race.  This year I was having some difficulty in gauging what sort of time goal I was shooting for.  I have been following the Lydiard training principles for the last 2 months or so and while my running mileage has been increasing, I have not really done any real speedwork as I prepare for Nashville marathon on April 30th.  


In late months of 2010, I was doing some speedwork and it seemed to be making me faster.  However I was growing very concerned when the tenderness in my tibia seemed to increase and it made sense to me to follow the coaches plan of this higher mileage, slower running plan.  Yet, wow does it seem hard to go from running 8:30 pace all the time to sub 7s.


In my head, my A goal was to break 32 and run a 6:23 pace.  I thought given I had ran a 19:18 at Reindeer Run 5K back in December, that it was an ambitious yet possible goal.  But Saturday was not my day.


The weather was pretty darn nice for running with a wind out of the southwest of probably 15-20 mph so definitely was noticeable throughout the course.  After getting to warm up with LP and EM, I learned they were both similar in their pace goals so I thought this would be fun to have them near and see what I could do.  


This year the course was very different from years past and I was not super excited about the changes but figured everyone would be dealing with the same course so let's just roll with it.  I lined up towards the front of the 3000 + racing field and with the count down, I tore off down the hill getting swept up in the fast downhill start.  I made one hard right at the bottom of the hill and then another quick hard right heading right back up a pretty decent sized hill.  I was thinking I felt so good but why am I so near SI, who is a waaay faster female.  Guess I should've known then that I already started too fast!  As we climbed the hill LP went around me and I knew I needed to reel in the heart rate.  I hit mile one at 6:14 which seemed on target or perhaps a little fast given the big climb. EM was now ahead and another girl passed and while I was trying to stick with them, I was already fading and losing ground fast.   I currently was sitting in 5th place for females.  As we headed into mile 2, I was trying to take advantage of the big downhill by W3rd to calm down.  I heard 12:13 at mile 2 and was wishing badly it was a 5k but I am not even halfway done and suffering badly.  


Once I turned the corner at Browns stadium I was missing the downhill assistance and headed up the incline into the wind up toward the Great Lakes Science Center.  I knew these roads and had run them a million times and all I could think it that climb up W3rd is so going to stink feeling so bad already.  As we made the turn out to Voinivich park I was trying to be careful of my footing as it was icy and then made the U turn at the turnaround.    I was not too far back from a lot of the lead women but I knew this second half, I was likely to really struggle.  I hurt.  I wanted to stop and just run it in with my sister.  I was trying to self talk myself into continuing and put my head down.  I heard so many friends cheering my name but I was in such a miserable fog, I had no idea who most of the people were cheering.  


The climb back up hurt.  I felt like I was not moving and was frustrated  and lost another place as we made our way down W9th street.  I had nothing left.  To crest the uphill grade on the Superior bridge also seemed to take forever.  I tried to pick it up once we got the downhill grade and then I got totally stuck in the traffic jam of walking 2 milers coming into the finish with the 5 milers.  I got stopped dead in my tracks, sidestepped left aways, while a bunch of other 5 miler guys closed in on me hard. In trying to get around the walkers, I got tripped up by the guys who were angrily yelling at the walking 2 milers jamming the whole finish.  Bad planning here but finally I made my way to the finish line with a time of 33:48 and supposedly a pace of 6:46.  I got a pace of 6:51 with the course being 4.91 on my garmin.  Ended 7th overall female and 5th in my AG (They only did top overall female and wouldn't ya know every other girl except LP, who just aged up, was in my ag!)


My friend Kara said she saw me finish and I did not look happy.  While I was not pleased, it was more a look of being miserable.  I could not catch my breathe even though I had hit the inhaler before the race.  I think my stupid cold was not helping as I have struggled a lot lately with this cold to feel like I could just get in as much oxygen in.  I walked for a long time when I was done to catch my breathe.  


That 33:48 was no where close to the sub 32 I had hoped for.  But, it gives me a look at where I was at on that given day and now I will work from there.  I must say I think the old course is easier.  If I look at the elevation changes this course makes you climb more and on the old course while you have a big climb, you get the recovery back right away which helps.  Overall, I am a little disappointed but I am not training to run fast short course runs right now.  The goal is to arrive at Nashville mary healthy to run that B race and then be in great shape to do TTT in May which is the A goal.  I feel like I am building a pretty good base right now and it will come.


On the plus side, after the race, I had an absolutely awesome day getting to hang out with many other racers and friends.  I enjoyed the entire day rolling into the evening just celebrating and I awoke Sunday feeling like an exhausted piece of crap.  I SOOO wanted to lay on the couch all day and do nothing.  Thank goodness for sis though as she really wanted to run so I went with her for a 16 mile jog to Middlefield.  I actually felt pretty good despite my calves feeling like tight lillte baseballs and sweating out all the toxins from the prior day!


Garmin Stats:
Total time:33:48
Avg Pace: 6:51
Elevation Gain:  506
Elevation Loss: 443
Avg HR:  184--I think this is the highest average i have seen in race, no wonder why I hurt!
Max HR:  189

Total Randomness!

It’s another crummy weather day in Cleveland, Ohio.  Rainy, windy, gray and upper thirties.  I am trying to keep in mind the quote I saw recently on Dirt Diva’s blog which I really liked.

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine. 
~Anthony J. D'Angelo

Random fact that some of you may not know.  When I was on my spring break in Mazatlan, Mexico, I drew my own tattoo design out at had it put on squeezing my partner in crime, Kate’s hand and while she poured beer down my throat with her other hand.  Oh, how I loved the sunshine and I just felt it belonged on me!  Years later, I covered that tattoo over with my larger hibiscus flowers.

Back to Dirt Diva, I caught her name, Catra Corbett, in the book, Born to Run which I finally started over the past weekend …which I could not put down until I finished.    Amazon.com posted this summary of the book,

“Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt?   In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.” 

For the first time in a long time, I truly enjoyed reading a book....lately I start one, get bored and that's it.  I was skeptical of all the hype surrounding the book, but found it very inspiring, interesting and just plain enjoyable....definitely worth checking out!   I had lots of time to read over the past weekend as I had been down in Alabama so my husband could attend a training class.  I had hoped to get in some good training.  I did ok putting in 60 miles on the road bike Friday and  following that up with 45 minutes of running hill repeats, Saturday was a 12 mile run that was supposed to be 19 or 20, but after major stomach issues and bathroom stops I was very content to cut it short.  Sunday, the weather was so crummy that I was happy I had my trainer, as I hopped on for a hardcore 1 hour and 45 minute interval bicycle set.

Sunday after finally feeling good for 4 days or so, my stupid cold returned with a vengeance.  I am never sick, but have probably only felt normal 8 days in 2011 and just have had a cold the rest of the time.  What gives?  It really is driving me mental.  The past couple days have been the worst.  Monday was the 10.5 hour drive home and Tuesday, I opted to sleep in over working out….so no work outs either day!

Today, I dragged my guilt ridden butt out.  As I stripped down to my shorts at the gym just after 6am in Cleveland, I saw my friend CV heading out for an easy run.  I threw my pants back on and opted to join her.  It was windy, rainy and dark becoming cloudy, but running with my friend made it all seem pretty darn good.  We ran just under 6 miles including 6-30 second strides then I headed inside with her and hopped onto the treadmill for another hour to get in some miles.  My Avia Bolt II’s felt so squishy on the treadmill as they were soaking wet…not a normal occurrence on the treadmill, but my DJ Muz-X-Zone kept me moving.  I had that cold slick sweat all over me as I felt like I was sweating out my germ poisons, just happy to have my airways open and feel like a normal person for the time being. 

On a sidenote, CV and I ran many of the roads that will be on Saturday’s St. Malachi Race.  I am so looking forward to seeing soo many friends out there including some high school newbie runners who are doing their first race.  I am hoping to run a respectable time but I am not sure how I will fare as I have not been doing much speedwork....that said my volume has been looking up and (knocking on wood) the legs have been feeling good.  Guess we shall see!  I really cannot wait, FUNNEST race of the year due to the gigantic post race party and subsequent pub crawl my peeps and I will do!

Heading south

Well in just over 2 hours from now I will be picked up from work and head directly to Ider, AL.


An Alabama State trooper pulls over a pickup truck on I-20. He says to the driver, "Got any ID?" The driver says, "Bout what?"  :-)


My husband is doing a weekend training class and so I am brought along for the ride.  We stay at my husband's aunt and uncles about 45 minutes outside of Chattanooga, TN close to the TN, AL, GA border on a gorgeous piece of property.  


I suppose I owe my husband a couple weekends here and there after forever dragging him to my never ending list of them.  I am sad to miss the good rundown of activities that I would have done at home this weekend including the interclub social, east side cycling, youngstown half marathon and most of all, the SERC banquet.   But, there will be more fun to come when I get back in town like my favorite road race of the year, St. Malachi next weekend!!!!


So this leaves me pretty much to my own devices down there which ='s hard core training weekend!  


I was really hoping for some sunny 60's, but it looks more like 40s and 50s and rain.  Yet, I am sort of gun-hoe to get it in though, as there will not be that much else to do.  Not only that, upper 40's and 50's should feel like a heat wave to this northerner!  So I packed up some warmer stuff and am ready to tough it out.  I am really looking forward to my 60 mile road ride along the Desoto Parkways and climbing some super big hills.  


I also have my dog mace all packed up as I prepare for the usual AL dogs that always want to say hi.


I am also packed up with a stash from the Trakkers Sponsors including some trial SBR shampoos and conditioners, some First Endurance EFS drink and Liquid Shots and (after a fair amount of groaning from my husband due to the volume of stuff I was bringing for a long weekend) the RECOVERY PUMP pants!!!!

I just figure these will be great to have, given the volume I am hoping to get in!


Next stop, Bama!  

ABC's of DD!

I was pondering what I might blog about today and saw this fun idea from Big Daddy Diesel!

A~Age: 33...for 18 more days!

B~ Bed Size: Queen, which barely fit up the stairs of my 200 year old house!

C~Chore you hate: Cleaning the bathroom...especially the shower.  Every blue moon I can con the hubby into doing the shower for me!

D~Dogs: one, Matches my golden retriever!  I forever want more!  Thank goodness my MIL breeds and shows these cuties so Matches has a place 3 miles away to go play whenever we go out of town!

E~Essential Start your Day Item: Bathroom, Toothbrush, Coffee!

F~Favorite Color: Hot Pink!

G~Gold or Silver: Silver for sure!  But let's not forget my sportswatch which I never take off in addition to my pink plastic HTFU bracelet and yellow Livestrong bracelet

H~Height: 5'5 feet

I~Instruments you play: Used to play to trumpet....hated it and band which mom made me do!

J~Job Title: Director of Operations, Chief Compliance Officer

K~Kids: None, but my sister's 4 year old twin girls love their aunt janet (almost as much I love them!)

L~Live: TOTALLY STEALING from BDD here -"O-H-I-O, I swear this state has an unhealthy love of spelling out where they live"

M~Mom’s Name:Connie 

N~Nicknames: Daisy Duc, The F-ing Terminator (long story)

O~Overnight Hospital Stays: Just when I was a little girls getting my tonsils out.  It hurt so bad I had to stay an extra day because I would not even eat icecream!

P~Pet Peeve: People not moving out of the fast lane EVER when they drive like turtles.  I have a long list of pet peeves in the car, probably due to my 80 mile roundtrip commute daily!

Q~Quote from a Movie: I don't know how many times I have watched Super Troopers but it always makes me laugh.  "The Snozzberries taste like Snozzberries."  "Say Car Ram Rod"  "Who wants a moustache ride"  "Do I look like a cat to you boy?  Am I jumpin around all nimbly bimbly from tree to tree?  Am I drinking milk from a saucer?  Do you see me eating MICE?"  Oh I think I need to go watch this movie again as it never gets old!

R~Right or Left Handed: Right

S~Siblings: Sister, 16 months younger and always has been my best friend

T~Time you wake up: 4:50 AM...at least the first normal alarm!

U~Underwear: ;-)  hmmm depends!

V~Vegetable you Dislike: Olives...with a passion!  Especially the big brown greek ones!  SO GROSS!

W~What Makes You Late: The Husband, traffic, workouts!

X~X-rays You’ve had Done: Tibia, Elbow...both last year!

Y~Yummy Food you Make: Lots especially anything grilled!

Z~Zoo Animal Favorite: Monkeys because they like fooling around!

Mad Monday Update

Haven't had one of these for awhile but here is sort of the state of where I am at currently.

The Stupid Cold-  I am pretty sure it has been about 4 weeks now of dealing with the funk.  I hate it.  It is not horrible that I cannot do anything, just a general tightness in the lungs and the nasty drainage in the nose / throat which torments me constantly.  It never goes away, never gets better, just there and always annoying!

Some missed / shortened morning workouts - The primary workout time in my world is first thing in the morning.  Yet, due to stupid cold, several mornings I have slept in or overslept in the hopes of staying rested and hopefully getting rid of it someday!  (Usually these seem to be biking or swim mornings...go figure!)

All in all tho, no real complaints, except the general sickness and being ready for spring.  (Knocking on wood) the tibia has been feeling fine.  The coach specified Lydiard training has helped me to increase my run mileage without aggravation.

So the prior weekend was super fab as it was a 4 day one!
Friday morning run (6.5 miles) followed by an entire day of playing at Rays Indoor Mountain Bike Park.  Saturday was Twinsburg East Side Cycling,  2 hour indoor cycling, 1650 yards in the pool followed by 5 mile easy jog.  Then it was off to the USAT rules seminar.
Sunday was a 16.7 mile hilly long run with sis (8:30ish pace) into the wind to my house from hers after a late night out.
Monday (off for Presidents Day!)was a 11.25 mile out and back run (8:30 first 30 min, 8:00 next 30minutes, 7:39 pace last 30 minutes), then 2000 meters in the pool
Tuesday was a shortened hard interval bike workout of ~16 miles and a evening 45 minute Extreme Conditioning Class
Wednesday, slept in through morning workout and ran 8.5 miles or so at lunch throwing in some strides at the end
Thursday, ended up as an OFF day as I was totally busy
Friday, another 8 mile run which was supposed to be more like 12 but I just kept getting interrupted and ran out of time (the issue of doing these at home!)
Saturday- East Side Cycling- 2 hours, 1650 in pool, 5.5 miles ran
Sunday - 19 miles ran with SERC incl 15 with sis (8:13 avg)  All in all, feeling good and it was way to easy.  I check my workout sheet and I was supposed to stick to 8:36 at fast end so I was too fast.

In general I am really good at getting all my runs in and have been feeling fantastic there.  I have been struggling on getting in my two quality workouts outside of Saturday morning on the bike.  Also not getting in as many swims as I should be.  Just having more motivation trouble there.

I guess this week, I am starting a new training block running so I am excited about that.  Nashville Mary will be 4/30 so that gives me 2 months to start to try to really lean out for the race.  As much as I would like to do well there, it is a B race as Triple T is one 3 weeks after it and it the focus of my early season training.

This weekend I will head south to AL to visit family and so my husband can do his thing.  I am hoping we will get some nice weather and I can run in shorts and ride my bike outside for awhile.  More than anything, I want this dumb cold to go away too!

My flashy cute new Avia Bolt II's!

So two weeks ago or so, brown Santa brought me a present!

Like a kid on Xmas morning, I ripped it open to find some super sweet looking shoes from new Trakkers Sponsor, Avia!

So the first thing I did was take a picture, of course, and then toss them in my bag to try out on my morning run!

As I put them on my feet, I immediately was a fan of the heel tab to quickly pull on the shoes.  This should prove to be very helpful during triathlon transitions and they even came with cute little speed lacking with the locking lace toggle! 

Years ago I self diagnosed myself as overpronator and wore the heaviest stability shoes.  I am not sure how much my running style has changed over the last 7 years or so that I have been running but I am guessing I never needed all that stability and the more minimal, the better they seem to feel to me.  Yet, I want shoes to have enough to them that I can wear them in any distance and not worry about them not having enough support and leading to injury if I were to wear them on a longer run.

Day 1 they were put to the test.  I hopped onto the treadmill for my 2 hour aerobic run.  The shoes felt very good right out of the gate with some cushion but overall a nice lightweight feel.   As I cruised through a nice moderate 14 mile run, I had no issues whatsoever with my shoes and at the end was very pleased with the first test run.

As I wrapped up my run, I went over to the stretching machine and stretched out just checking out the look of the shoes.  I am forever a girly girl and I just love the look of these shoes.  I love the red, pink and black look….SUPER CUTE!  I even like the little pirate on the inside when I take them off.

Overall I am very satisfied with these shoes.  They must be quite cute as I have had lots of people asking me about my shoes when I have worn them, what kind they were, and where they could get them!

I have since worn them out on the roads for several runs with no issue except right now I have managed to get them a wee bit muddy on a dark early morning run.  Booo!  Guess I might have to try to rinse off the lil things!  

CTC Valentine's Indoor Triathlon

This weekend I participated in my first ever indoor triathlon at Twinsburg Fitness Center.  It seemed strange that after volunteering and being around several of these, that I had never actually participated but I decided to shake things up a bit!

Twinsburg had reached out to CTC awhile back about hosting an indoor triathlon.  This was fabulous because at times securing venues has been difficult.  Twinsburg Fitness Center really seems to go above and beyond in what they do for the community.  They put on a duathlon in the summer, a turkey trot, provide CTC space for indoor cycling and now this!  They really have been so good to us!

So that morning I show up and things quickly get busy as it was the best indoor tri turnout that CTC has hosted with 36 participants.  I was planning to go in the last wave so that I could check in any last minute arrivals and get the sports drink mixed and food out while the other volunteers got the show on the road!

Personally I was not feeling super race ready as I have been fighting a cold over the past week and worked pretty hard cycling the day before and my legs felt far from fresh.  On the running front, I have been following the Lydiard Running Principles and have not been doing any running speedwork so I was not quite sure how that would play out but coach said feel free to roll with however I felt.

So after some words from our leader for the day, I hopped in the pool to start my 20 minute swim.  I swam 41 lengths or 1025 yards which tied me for 2nd place OAF.  I should have tried to swim harder as 42 was the best.   I just took the swim at a nice medium pace.  All and all, I felt comfortable and the 20 minutes was not too bad, albeit I sure just don't swim very fast as some guys were over 60 lengths in the 25 yard pool.

We had 10 minutes to change before hopping on the spin bikes as I was just sipping on some delicious fruit punch FE EFS sports drink ready to go.  There were two awesome things about this venue vs. some of the others.  They had bikes set up with computers (so the bike would count) which they carefully calibrated that morning and they had the sound system out there (which just so happened to be playing my Ipod playlist).  With the bike start, I let my legs fly.  Resistance was pre-set and there was VERY little.  It was pretty much, let's see how fast these legs can spin which is hard for me as I think I naturally load a little more resistance and run a slightly lower cadence.  The funny thing is over 120 rpm, the computers just flash 120 and mine did the whole time.  Thank goodness I had grabbed my stinky mtn bike shoes to clip in or I bet I would have lost the pedals more than once!  While I would like to say I went 10.03 miles in 20 minutes, clearly I think 30 mph is a little generous for how fast I really went.  Either way, it was good enough for top female distance.  I was going about as fast as I could spin those pedals and I sure was a disgusting sweaty mess already!

Another 5 minute transition to switch shoes and then it was time to run on the indoor track.  We ran in the outside lane so some people said it was 8 laps to a mile (but it might have been 8.5 laps to a mile).  Regardless, with the siren, I was off.  Oh, how I loved the feel of the springy indoor track.  I was excited to run whatever pace I felt like and my first couple laps or so, I felt like I was just shot out of a cannon.  Then I realized my HR was sky high on the garmin and tried to reel in the pace a bit.  I felt like I stayed pretty well within my zone not pushing too hard and finished with 25 laps in the 20 minutes so we will call it around a 5K....not bad for no recent speedwork!  Not only that, it was the most laps for a female and I think tied with the highest male, who incidentally is my TTT teammate-to-be....so guess I may have a good comparable partner on my hands!  The best thing was it did not bother my leg at all!  I soooo enjoyed that run!

All in all, it was a fun different way to get in some harder training over the winter!  What a great 60 minutes of high quality exercise!  I think these indoor tris can be great for anyone as it is all about how much you want to put in!

Finally, these events are made possible by the many volunteers that count swim laps, run laps and help out where ever is needed.  Many thanks to all of them that came out that morning including my husband, who I twisted his arm as we were worried about being a little short!  What a fun morning and even managed to snag the 1st place OAF award!

Rocking through a Friday!

So it is Friday night and I am just sitting at home playing on the computer.  Yes, it sounds very lame!

Yet, I have my Budweiser next to me and I am compiling a fire it up playlist for our east side cycling in the morning and I am rocking in my little desk chair to my new super favorite podcasts- DJ Mux-X-Zone-, tonight being the Dance Party November 30Th, 2010 and let me tell you, it will have you dancing in your seat.  Let me tell ya, listening to these podcasts have me so highly motivated on my indoor workouts where I am running on the treadmill doing the best I can not to be raising the roof while I run!  And they are free and come right to Itunes.  (Zero affiliation but I just friggin love it and DJCity.com podcasts!)  Trust me, living in snowy frigid OH, I am spending waaaay to much time inside by myself!

But not all the time! Today I had the pleasure of running with one of my best friends, Espeed.  We used to run together a lot but she has got so darn fast and my running schedule that afforded flexibility to do the lunch runs has changed but today the stars aligned!  We almost both passed.  She had a tweaked hammie and I have been fighting a cold but after my lackluster morning workout, I decided let's go anyways!  So glad I did.

It was a nice easy run and just felt so good to take in some cold air in the sunshine as we trotted around downtown Cleveland in my new Avia Bolts!   I will do these justice in a full shoe review, but I will just it out there right now that I'M A FAN!

Peace...back to that playlist!

I'll have some handicapped bars for the toilet please!

I am feeling all kinds of sore at the moment!

After a great week last week, I have continued to try to build on that momentum.  But in the spirit of being honest, I still want to cry most mornings when my alarm goes off and I just wish I could spend more time in bed instead of getting up to workout!

Sundays 10K swim gave way to Monday's long run (weekend makeup) of 15 miles on the treadmill.  Snow foiled my best laid out plans for Tuesday's workout  which ended up just being a slow 4 mi recovery run.  Wednesday's bike workout from Coach G about killed me so my subsequent swim was a lackluster 1000 yard effort!  I tried to redeem myself with my prescribed out and back run when I got home from work only to lose my motivation and hop off the treadmill after 5.5 miles.  I awoke early Thursday to put in another 9 mile aerobic run.

Then came the real kicker, the Fit Extreme Conditioning Class on Thursday night.  I had met the owner of Fit Cleveland, Kevin, back in November at one of the Cleveland Triathlon Club meetings and he was looking to get more involved with the tri community.  Never one to pass on the notion of a hard workout, I headed over to check out the class.  The studio is in Ohio City and is small in size but very trendy and has a nice warm feel.  Loved the design!

So, as the class newbie, I got to check out a variety of new things in the circuits we went through including TRX, lots of balance / stability drills, a good amount of pushups and lunges and more!  Fun thing about the class it that every week is something different.  This was right up my alley and I look forward to checking it out again!

Oh but my body is all kinds of sore today.  My hammies are super tight.  Then to add insult I had another very difficult bike on tap for this morning.  Eeeks....I did not make it all the way through the planned torture sets!  Thankfully everything is a good sore and nothing too terrible!  Got a busy weekend of workouts planned too....I am thinking an easy day should be around the corner!

Off to Rays MTB for another fun Friday night!

Trakkers Info

On the Trakkers front, here are some exciting developments that may benefit you!  

All3Sports.com is back as an official team sponsor!  Not only are they supporting us, but they are extending discounts for our friends, family and YOU!  So next time you find yourself in need of Tri equipment go to www.all3sports.com and enter this code: GOTRAKKERS for 15% off your entire purchase.   Follow them on Twitter@All3Sportscom.

Rev3 is also in on the friends and family discount action. You can get $10 off your Rev3 registration using this code: TRAKKERS14.  You'll be prompted to enter as you register on Active.com. To keep up on all things Rev3 please follow on Twitter @Rev3Tri.

SBR Sports is also back on as a sponsor and tody only you get 40% OFF all TRISWIM, TRISLIDE & FOGGLE Products for the next 24 hours! Go to www.sbrsportsinc.com or www.triswimbeauty.com and enter this code at checkout: FEB0140 Free Shipping every day if you spend $50 & up!  Lord knows I need to stock up on this stuff with my pasty dry winter skin!

Also just announced, REV3 Coaching!  Did you know that @rev3tri offers free training plans? They also offer advanced plans as well created by Joanna Zeiger and Carole Sharpless!  More info can be found here!  http://www.rev3tri.com/!/coaching/plans.htm

Let's get pruny!

It has been a hectic week.  Got a few things in the wind outside of training which have me stressed and excited at the same time.  Fingers crossed!

The past week was an awesome one.  I did a pretty good job at executing key workouts and the leg seems to be holding up fine.  I really don't get it but have been taking extra care to stretch, ice and take my vitamins (for Hulk).

I am slightly messed up lately with the way my program is laid out as I am used to Monday - Sunday but my new stuff has all been Sunday-Saturday.  Yet, I am getting used to it.

So I have commenced Operation Ramp Up.  I am trying to get in 3 swims, 3 bikes and 5 runs per week.  Also trying to get in some core and strength too.  I am ramping up my running in the hopes that perhaps I can run Nashville Marathon on April 30th (my anniversary) but if I have any concern with the leg I will just do the half like last year (not worth long term injury).

The nice thing about the running program I am following based on Arthur Lydiard philosophies is that while I am running more, it seems pretty easy.  The pacing is so much easier than the fast speedwork I was putting myself through and typically my HR sits in Zone 2 for the most part.  I think right now this is good for a couple reasons.

1.  It does not seem to bother my leg.
2.  It does not wreck my legs so I can still hit my quality bikes (which are grueling toughies).

Last week went as such-

Sunday - 9mile ran at 8:33 pace, 1100m swam, 45 min core circuit at LFT
Monday-19 mile bike, 2000 m swam
Tuesday- 14 miles ran at 8:35
Wednesday- Gorris Bike W/O #1 (21 M Biked), 2000 m swam
Thursday- 7 miles ran (short)
Friday - 22 miles bikes (gorris #2)
Saturday - 31 miles biked, 2000 yards swam
and Sunday 10,000 yards swam at CTC Swim Challenge!!!

(Short 2 runs, but wanted to make sure I eased in a bit)

So the swim challenge:  I had not really said much about it.  Mostly I think because I think so little of my swimming.  I always feel slow and it is my limiter.  Last year with a broken elbow, I did not get to work on my swimming like I should have.  This winter I have seen some improvements, yet no where near where I would like to be.

So back to the challenge, we had 3.5 hours to get it done.  2:15 intervals would put me over 3.5 hours so I decided I would shoot for 2 min repeats.  This was good for a couple reasons.  This really helped me to pace myself.  My lane mates were both faster than me but I decided to stick with the plan.  I am sure I could have tried to stick with them for a little bit and would have totally crashed and burned.  Also, staying on 2 min made counting so easy.  Every 20 minutes was 1000 down.  I started into the day just set on following my plan and everything was going well.  I also decided I would follow the set plan put out by our challenge coordinator which broke everything up into sets of 10.


100x100 - 1 minutes rest between sets (optional)
1-10 warm up of your choice - free
11-20 50 pull/50 swim
21-30 50 kick with fins / 50 swim with fins   
31-40 50 swim / 50 pull
41-50 swim
51-60 choice (fins and pull optional)
61-70 pull
71-80 swim (fins optional)
81-90 swim or pull of your choice
91-100 survival swim- do whatever you need to finish!!!!


I enjoyed doing the sets like this.  The zoomers and pull buoy on some sets definitely made it WAAAY easier.  (Definitely felt like cheating compared to people who did the whole 10,000 free).  So I was chugging along, not taking any additional rests beyond a couple quick sips of my First Endurance EFS drink to stay right on my 2 min interval.  It had become a mission to be right around there every 100.  Sometimes a little ahead or behind depending on where my lane mates were.  As I really had no breaks more than 20 seconds or so, I made a deal with myself that I would take a short break at 7000 and hopped out, hit the rr, grabbed a fig newton and some more EFS and was back at it in 4 minutes.  The break felt good for and the last 3000 went by pretty painlessly.  I picked it up the last 400 or so and finished in 3:18:33 or 3:22:33 with my 4 min break. YEAH!!!  I did it!  That is really far by the way- 10,000 yards is also 400 lengths, 200 laps, 5.68 miles!

Overall, my upper body muscles are less fatigued than after a upper body workout (maybe I am not working those muscles hard enough in the swim).  The only real source of discomfort is my neck from turning it left a million times.  Seriously I wonder how many times I breathed!  The other glaring takeaway is I NEED TO LEARN FLIP TURNS.  I lose soooo much there comparatively!

Overall the swim challenge was a huge success for CTC and it was really fun to participate!  Next year I will try to do it faster!

Did I mention how pruny I felt when I was done?  Thank goodness I had my TriSwim lotion to help my poor dry skin when I was done!

This morning it was back to it and I hopped on the treadmill for 15 miles which was the long run I would usually do over the weekend!  That felt good but I was crazy bored and happy to get off that dumb thing after 2:05.  Not only was I happy to get off the thing out of boredom, but my stupid arm and legs both are really chaffed!

Happy Monday!

Type, delete, start again, over and over

That is pretty much this post.

I have tried to post a few times over the last several days.  I start typing and decide I am not sure where I want to go with it and delete.

I guess I feel pulled in too many directions at the moment to put down a cohesive focused post so these are just some of the random Monday thoughts in my head-

-  I hate that my leg concerns me so much.  I did not run at all last Money - Saturday hoping my leg issue would clear up, but no change.  Finally could not take it and ran 9 on treadmill easy Sunday.  No change.  Not sure what to make of it.

- I hate cold and dark.  Normally I tolerate and get out and run in it anyways but right now what I really want is a nice soft easy towpath run.  I don't want the pounding of the pavement or some crazy uneven footing to try to contend with as I sort this leg thing out.  Spring can not come soon enough.

- With the lightened running load, I have returned to a bike focus.  Coach G kicks my butt in our required bike workouts.  East side cycling got a taste of part of one this weekend...it was a doozy!  I biked the most I have in a long time this past week and feel even more motivated to keep it up!

- This weekend is CTC's 2nd annual swim challenge / swim clinic.  Leah from Liquid Lifestyles is running the swim clinic which will be awesome I'm sure.  I am opting for the challenge.  Challenge is choice of 25x100, 50x100, 75x 100 or 100x100's.  I am not sure I can do the 100 but curious to see how far I will go! Gonna be fun!

-  REV3's blogtalk radio  is back this week.  Tune in 1/26 at 8PM to hear about 2011 season, highlighting REV3 Costa Rica and the chance to hear Pro Triathlete, Bree Wee. I am excited to tune in as listening to these last year always got me pumped up.

- On the Trakkers front, I am super excited that First Endurance and TriSwim are back on board as official team sponsors.

- Congrats to running friends, ESpeed and NC for tearing it up this weekend at the Case Spartan relays.  If only my leg was not such a concern....it sounds like great fun to go see what kind of time I could try to throw down at some short distances!

-  I take almost as much pleasure in my sister's newfound running as my own.  She is well on her way executing her marathon training plan as we prepare for Nashville in April.  I already see that she has the heart, discipline and potential to go far!  Speaking of sis, I had a awesome time with her twins 4 yr old girls yday at my cousins 1 yr old bday party.  They now can say they played Angry Birds on the Iphone and I can't help but laugh as they celebrate when taking down the pigs....which leads me to my final note

-  In spite of feeling like you are juggling too many things, quality time with family just seems to make everything better!

Run for Regis Race Report

First off, I love this race!  This was the first time I have "raced" this course.  I was used to the old course on the Buckeye Trail.  I ran it in 2008 which was my first 50K, which I ran the majority with two of my close friends, Amie and Elizabeth!!!  Then in 2009, I killed myself in very snowy conditions to come up a little short as 2nd overall female.  2010, I signed up, only to sit out with a tibia stress fracture.  This yr, 2011 , I feared I was borderline tibia stress fracture re-occurence and opted to just do 13.1 (or 13.34 according to my garmin) and play it safe!

I think this was a good idea and I REALLY enjoyed my day!  My plan was to go out easy and just enjoy myself.  Yet, as usual we started off and the atmosphere caught up with me and I was running faster than planned!  We started off slipping and sliding through the snowy field.  My first thought was pretty much, holy sh!t, this is going to be some rough footing.  I was pretty much running at race pace, which for mile 1 was only 9:08 in that snow.  One of my training partners, CK, was just in front of me, and for some reason I just felt compelled to stick in that pack with 3 guys.  As we got into the trail the footing was slightly better, but my body was getting one heck of a workout with all the sliding.

In my head, I was just happy to be running this year but I kept thinking, "what are you doing, plan is easy run...no injuries".  Splits for 2, 3, and 4 were 9:21, 9:50, 9:53 and my respective avg HR, those miles 172, 170, 166, which for me is clearly not in my easy run range.  Around this point, the guy in front of CK let him pass and CK started to pick it up more and I opted to let them go.  My high school friend, GT closed the gap and then we started to run together and chat for awhile.  It was sooo nice to just slow down a bit and enjoy the day a little more rather than feel like I was pushing so hard.  It was actually aggravating my leg a bit when I was running hard and during the first 8 mile loop, I was considering not doing the 5 mile loop.  However, as the pace relaxed, my leg felt fine.  GT had me in good spirits and I was enjoying seeing the many friends out on the course, volunteering and running.

The course is just amazing and throws a little bit of everything at you-rocks, bridges, stairs, hills and that day, LOTS OF SNOW!

At the start, the 50k and marathoners headed right at the split to do the 5 mile loop first and halfers like me went left.  So it was fun to cross them a couple times and get to see a lot of the field.  The only issue was there was getting to be a couple packed down areas to run in and when we were passing, one of us was off in the snow trekking through deep footing which was a lot more work!  I usually popped off to the side, figuring they had a lot further to go!

GT and I rolled into the start point together and I grabbed a delicious glass of coke slushy and was off for the second loop.  The scenery is fabulous and I just settled in to a nice conservative stride watching GT take off after about a 1.5 miles, content to just enjoy the last bit.  As I headed back and hit the last big climb into the rocks, I hit an overlook.  I paused at the overlook as I had ran the course a couple times previously and knew this was not on the course.  So I backtracked and found where I missed my turn.  It was not the first time I had missed the hard left after all the rocks on the return from Happy Days.  I was glad I was pretty familiar with the course and realized my mistake early on.

As I headed into the finish I saw GT coming from the opposite direction.  He must have messed up somewhere, which is par for the course for him!  ;-)  Anyways, I was glad to be done.  For a half marathon, it was a lot of work!  That and the temps were dropping.  I think the start was 17 and it was probably 13 at the finish....my guess but somewhere around that!

So at the end of the day, I was the first female back for the half, 12th person overall with a time of 2:24....perhaps my slowest half ever!  Not too shabby, all things considered tho in those conditions!  Snow, cold and garmin says ~2800 ft of climbing (about the same descending).   Lots of other great female performances at other distances!!!

There were many people that did not even start due to the cold and snow and many people who had dropped down distances from the 50k/ mary to the half....so it was definitely an accomplishment for all racers out there to get in those miles!

I went into the shelter to stand by the fire for a minute before collecting my super sweet BRIGHT NEON green and black shirt/jacket.  LOVE IT!  I collected this from Tanya Cady, the race director who really puts her heart into the race.  She deserves mad credit for all of her efforts.  Lots of others deserve props too like Nick with all his tech help, Vince for all the support and all the volunteers that must have froze their little tails off helping us out!  THANKS TO ALL!


Glad I made the call to play it safe and just really enjoy a fun morning run with friends!