Oct 14-28 : 10,000 Pageviews! Hiking; Spinx Volunteering; Last bit of Philly Training!

Big recap; lots to catch up on.

Before I begin, though, here's a rave for post-long run re-fueling.  Stuff tastes sooo good after long runs.  Sometimes, I get into moods where even though I think my body may be ready for refueling, nothing seems particularly appetizing.  After very long runs, everything seems delightful, and it's like a kid going to Disneyland, deciding what ride to try first.  I did my final 20 miler today, and I finished stronger than I normally do, I think, but I was feeling kinda run down afterwards as I refueled a bit with a pear and 1/2 a protein shake and drove home.  On my way home, though, I remembered that I had pickles, and the anticipation of getting home, having a hot shower, and eating pickles gave me a big buzz.  After my shower and the pickle, I had smoked salmon and garlic on tortilla chips and lentil and onion soup.  Oh man, soooo good.

Ok, going back...

Oct 14th, Sunday:

The day after the iRecycle Half marathon PR.  Still feeling really strong.  Did 9.0 in 1:16:28, 8:30 ave, in the park in 67 degree cloudy weather.  Legs were still feeling like they were recovering, but it felt good.  Just cranked it out, without needing any fuel or water (was a big hungry at mile 2, but could manage fine without fuel).

Oct 15, Monday:
Upper arms are sore, from the race, maybe, but that's good conditioning for the marathon.  I had started on the treadmill and ran 2 minutes, but I was feeling just a bit too bangy, so I biked instead.  I did 45:30, and I would've gone on longer, but the gym closed.  Legs are a bit sore from the past 2 days, but still solid. 

Oct 16, Tuesday:
60 min strength session.

Oct 18, Thursday:
6 on the treadmill in 48:48, 8:08 ave.  It was cardiovascularly tough!!!  Is it because I'm kinda tired?

Oct 19, Friday:
7.5 in 1:03:00.  So tired during the drive to the park and during the run that I was afraid I'd fall asleep while driving or running.  Ok once I got going, though.  The first lap, I was clumsy and stumbled a few times - seems to happen when I'm tired and not paying attention to footing.  Company coming later that night.

Oct 20, Saturday:
Minor hiking (1.4 mi) with family friends on the Blue Ridge Parkway, at the Craggy Pinnacle trail.  One of the friends has a really cute dog who's obsessed with food and spins around to get your attention so that you'll give her food, whenver she sees you eating or opening a package or the fridge.  We carried the dog along the trail in a little basket house.  We also went on walks with the dog.

(Cooked carrot)

(Looking up to the summit of Craggy Pinnacle)

View from the summit (~6K feet of elevation)

View from the summit (~6K feet of elevation)

(LION KIIING!!!  - for all you The Office or Modern Family fans.  Lion King used to be my favorite movie as a kid)

We also went on walks around the city.

(Mice on Main - it was really hard to get Stella interested in the brass mouse - we had to put food on the mouse to get this picture)

 

(Had to dangle turkey jerky for this picture)



Oct 21, Sunday:

Had to do a midnight run because the gym's 1 treadmill was occupied.  Bother.  Fartlek, as usual, for this course.  Wore a light jacket, since it was chilly at 54 degrees.  Got a bit warm later, but I just unzipped halfway down and tolerated it.  4.4 in 32:35, 7:24 ave.

 

Week's recap:

Man, this week, night calls for work mess up my schedule (very tired) and make runs hard to get in.  Just gotta get it done, though.  Home stretch.

 

Oct 22, Monday:

Did a mini marathon-simulator hill workout on the treadmill.  1 mile warmup in 8:22 at 1 degree, then [1.5mi @ 3 degrees (actual will be 1.3 mi of 2.5 degrees); 0.25 mi @ 1 degree recovery; 0.5 mi @ 7 degrees (actual will be 0.3mi); 0.25 @ 1 degree recovery; 1.1 mi @ 3 degrees] @ 7.5mph.  Had to cut that last rep short because the gym closed on me.... bother.

 

Oct 23, Tuesday:

6.4 mi in 52:53, 8:16.  Left knee's been acting up a bit for over a week now.  Landing under my body and not overstriding seems to help.  I think I compensate for it, which isn't good. 

 

Oct 25, Thursday:

60 min strength session.  Performance was very much lacking.  I don't know why I was so sapped today.  I lost strength!  Was it because of lunches I had to skip during the past 2 days b/c work was so busy I had not time even to eat while working?  Was it because of recent races?  The knee thing?  Don't think it was sleep... that's kind of as poor as usual.

 

Oct 27, Friday:

Carefully executed the 5 mi, with 3 @ 8:20 pace that the schedule called for.  My knee is still kind of wacky, and it started at mile 1.5.  Good form still helps, but it's still scary.

 

Oct 28, Saturday:

Because I had my last 20 scheduled for this weekend, and because I wouldn't be able to run in a race without trying to be competitve, I decided it would be a good opportunity to volunteer.  I've never volunteered in a race before, but it's been something I've always wanted to do.  For a long time, I thought that it would be very difficult to volunteer because the whole time, I'd be really wishing that I was running too, but I had good reasons not to this time.  It was good, anyway, because I was in no mood to race that day.  Still feeling a bit banged up; don't know if it's a result of compensations for my left knee.

 

I got to try lots of different race activities, actually, so it was a really well-rounded experience.  I got there at 6:20.  I was actually so excited about getting to volunteer that the night before, I breifly considered camping out at the parking lot, so that I could be there early and soak more of it in.  Anyway, they were going to start me off with starting line activities, since that was what I signed up for.  I like pre-race excitement, with everyone walking around in their gear and getting ramped up. 

 

There was some time before the race starts, so I helped to loop medals around their medal keeper, for easy access later on during distribution.

My job was to check that peoples' bibs were in the front, and if it was on shorts, that it was on the right leg and not the left leg.  Don't know why that's the case.  Don't understand the technology enough.  The readers looked like they were positioned flat overhead... maybe it's the placement of the chip or something on the bib.  Dunno.  I saw off the marathoners at 7:30, the halfers at 8:00, the kids' run (helping to make sure that the kids did a u-turn at the traffic light instead of running loose into the city) at 8:15, then the 5K at 8:30.  

 

(Marathon)

(Half Marathon)

(Kids' Run - the little kids running around in costume were ADORABLE)

(5K)

After that, I helped to hand out bracelets for the 5K finishers.  Before the halfers started coming in, though, I volunteered to help marshall at the last turn, where they had run out of cones and needed people to help point the way. That ended up being my favorite part.  One of my pet peeves during races is marshalls who don't point the way.  They just stand there, and you have no idea where to go, and you have to actually stop or at least slow down to ask them.  Ideally, they point it out even while you're kinda far away, because you want to be able to run tangents, and finding out if you should go left or right when you're 10 feet from the turn is waaay too late.  So, I waved my hands wildly for about 2 hours (fortunately, without back strain), and even recruited my red-socks legs just to make it more interesting.  It was fun to see in the back of the pack of the 5Kers, most of the halfers, and the front of the pack of the marathoners.  I wonder how far my arms ran, if you had put a gps or pedometer on my arms...

As I was leaving, I saw runners who had gotten caught behind a train... ouch.

Oct 28, Sunday:

Time for the last 20!!!  I really wasn't sure if I'd be able to run at all the night before and the day of, with how my left knee was whenever I tried to extend my lower leg.  But, somehow, praise God, I was able to run.  On long runs, you run slowly, and your legs stay more under you instead of over-striding, so it worked out.  I had 1 strawberry Clif Blok at mile 5, another at mile 10, and a Powerbar vanilla gel at mile 15.  I had water + lemon juice + salt at miles 2, 10, 15, and 18ish.  It rained for a couple of miles... way outer bands of Hurrican Sandy, I think.  It was also much windier than normal at times... not too bad, though.  It did get chilly during the rainy/windy part, but the sports bra was good the rest of the time.  So happy just to finish.  I also felt stronger at the end than I normally do.  Main bulk of training, DONE AND DONE.  Thank, you, God.

20.7 in 3:10:45, 9:12 ave.

And that brings us back to the pickles and good food.  The end.

In other exciting news, the stats tracker on Blogger showed exactly 1,000 [10/30/12 update - haha... read it wrong... it's actually 10,000 pageviews. I think it must be counting web crawlers, then] pageviews since whenever they started tracking.  Dunno what counts as a pageview.  Thanks for reading, everyone!  (all 5 of you, haha)

RACE REPORT: iRecycle Half Marathon 2012

Training this week:

Monday, rest day to recover from the 5K race on Saturday and the 20 miler on Sunday.

Tuesday, Oct 9:
6.2 in 51:10, 8:15 ave.  Tired and kinda unintentionally tried to nap during the run.  I don't try to nap while I run often, maybe only a few times per year, but normally, it's kind of intentional, and I close my eyes and try to rest a bit.  This time, I'd naturally close my eyes for moments to try to sleep.  Night-time calls for work (after the usual work+ day).   It makes you appreciate nights where you don't have to continue to work after work.

Wendesday, Oct 10:
Another night call.  Thought I'd just have to miss the workout.  My legs were kinda recovering anyway.  I figured I'd get it in the next day.  While I was taking out the trash, though, I noticed that the gym hadn't been locked up, so I did a bike session, 60 min, at midnight.

Thursday and Friday, planned rest days.  I skipped this week's strength session because I wanted this to be a somewhat tapered race.  No speedwork or hills, either.  The only non-taper factor was the 20 miler.

Night before:
Trouble sleeping, because I had a decent amount the night before.  Continued to fuel.  Glad that I didn't overfuel.  Eventually, got about 4.5 hours.

Morning of:
Most of a Cool Mint Clif bar, several cups of decaf.  Warmup shower.  Packed the morning of (didn't work well last time, but it was fine this time).

Drove out to S-burg.  They have one of the nicer race packets, with a drawstring bag and mini-face towel from Academy Sports, plus a long-sleeve cotton shirt whose logo looks like a race number.  Pinned my number to my sports bra.  Mid 50s were expected, and sunny.  Sunrise was only 30 min before the race, though, so sun wasn't too big of a factor.  Went to the bathroom 3x - nice.  1 hour pre-run, I had one choc-covered expresso bean, and I had a second about 30 min pre-run. I wanted an extra boost, so I had a caffeinated Powerbar gel 15 min before the start, too.  12 min before start, ran a wee, wee bit, and super-quick dynamic stretching.   I put off the warmup this time, because it was a longer race.  Just wanted to make sure my muscles were loosened up a bit. 

Race:
Chilly at the start, but that's perfect.  The start would be a big downhill.  Miss SC started us off, and out we went.  For the first 0.1, I was second (among women).  Over the next mile, I was passed by another 5 women.  The top-three spot was slipping away so quickly!  The runners in this race all looked really fit.  I hung at around that spot for a while as we did some up and downhills.

 

(Photo credit: iRecycle)

There was Powerade and water every 2-ish miles, which was nice.  I tended to want to alternate between the two.  Powerade for blasts of energy, and water when I just wanted a bit of hydration.  This race allows me to practice and figure out what works for race day in Philly.  The only difference would be the pace, most likely.  My legs felt a bit sapped/dulled even in mile 2, and I figured that it was leftover from the 20.

At about mile 4, I realized that about 4 women were strung out across about 1.5 blocks ahead of me, and I seemed to be gaining ground bit by bit, which was encouraging.  We still had 8 miles to go, so there was still time to pac-man through.  It took about 4 miles to work through 3 of them.   Then, it was about 4 miles of leap-frogging on the hills with one fit girl.  I'd think that I had her, then she'd be right there.  We were gaining on the guys ahead of us, too, so we weren't slowing down, either.   I think we had put up a gap on the others, so that provided some piece of mind as the miles ticked down and we continued to battle it out.  I started wondering a bit if I'd be able to hand, or if I'd blow up at some point, because I had put in a faster mile at one point when I was feeling good and warmed up and starting to pass people (at about mile 5-6).  Could've just been faster from an elevation change benefit, though.  Dunno.  If I wondered what it felt like for elites to race side-by-side in the Olympics or big city marathons, I figured that this was something similar.  Running alongside your competition, who also kind of became a friend in the process.

Anyway, at about mile 10, wondered if I could hang in there.  I figured that if the others had slowed already, then the gap would protect me if I started slowing myself.  Mile 11, and still chugging along.  Mile 12, and I was feeling strong, maybe stronger than ever, since I still had a good chunk left in the tank, and now I could feel free to spend it!  Passed a couple of guys in the final mile.  Then, the final 0.3 was a big downhill followed by a big uphill, as a grand finale, haha.  During the hills, I had shuffled up to conserve energy, and I seem to have the advantage on downhills.  I knew that I'd have to put up a gap towards the end if I wanted to make sure I wasn't overtaken on the last uphill.  I was still feeling strong, though, so I was able to turn on the burners for the last half-mile of the race.  I finished in 1:35:43, about a 17s PR!  On a hilly course, 1 week after a 20!  Good stuff.  Weather was perfect.  On-course support from the marshalls, townspeople, and fuel stations were great.  My new friend wasn't too far behind, and we exchanged congratulations afterwards.

(Photo credit: iRecycle)

 

(Photo credit: iRecycle)

 (Photo credit: iRecycle)

Extra story:
When I was picking up my number early in the morning, I must've had a strange expression on my face, and maybe the volunteer wondered what was wrong.  But it's because the number seemed very familiar...

Haha, it turned out to be the exact same one from last year!  Even having duplicates from different races would've been special, but I had a feeling that the prior 85 was from this race.  I think it was coincidental.  But maybe, like the Comrades marathon, they retire your number and permanently allocate it for you if you place, haha.  Not.  But it's a funny coincidence.

Actually, I ended up getting the same place both years, too.  (2nd).  $150 instead of $75 this time, though!  Sweet :)

Also kind of funny, last night, while I was not sleeping, I was kind of hoping for the rare chance that they would have a rectangle-shaped medal, instead of a duplicate of last year's circular one, just to have something different.  And it turned out to be just that!

(yes, my apartment is messy)

The mens' winners were wearing Boston jackets.  I hope to join them officially soon. 

I want this kind of dog (a running kind):

Memorable finishes:

A woman was finishing on the big uphill, and her son ran about 10 yards out to her from the finish line to where his mom was.  They were both so happy as she scooped him up and continued towards the line.  Then, her daughter, who had been handing out medals, ran out to her, too, to finish with her mom, clutching a medal in her hand.  It made everyone go "awww". 

There was also this dad, and his kids were all there at the 0.3-to-go turning point, screaming "run, Dad, run!".  And the dad, who was probably pretty tired at this point, chuckled "I am running!" and his kids ran to the finish next to him as he finished.  So sweet.

RACE REPORT: Benson Twilight 5K

Training the previous week:

Sep 30, Sunday:
I had to make up some miles for the week.  The 16 mi long-run was replaced bya 11.3 mi trail run at 13:30 pace, so I did 6.7 in the grassy park in 1:02:06, 9:11 average.  Felt almost slightly sore from the trail run in my lower legs.  Started slow.  It was somewhat of a recovery run.

Oct 2, Tuesday:
65 min strength session.  For goal races, I'd do my last strength session at least 10 days out.  I decided that I needed a re-set of my muscles, and I didn't feel like running.

Oct 3, Wednesday:
Only able to get 4.2 miles on the treadmill.  The girl who was on it before run/walked for an hour while I watched the presidential debate, and then the guy who came to lock up at closing time came 10 minutes early.  It was frustrating, but I forced myself to look at the bright side... it maybe forced me to take it easy a bit so that I could have more stored up for the race.  4.2 in 34:06, 8:07 ave.

Oct 4, Thursday:
I normally like 2 off days before a race, but the race was in the evening, and I had to get in some miles for the week.  I ended up doing a mini-hill simulator for the marathon.  The marathon has a 2.5 degree for 1.2 mi and a 7 degree for 0.3 mi.  I held 7mph steady and did 1 degree for 1.5 mi, 3 degrees for 1.5 mi, 1 degree for 1 mi, 7 degrees for 0.5 mi, 1 degree for 0.5 mi, 3 degrees for 1 mi for good measure, and 1 degree for the final 0.2 mi.  Hill workouts are no way to taper, but other than the 7 degree portion, it wasn't too intense.  I figured that after the trail run, my legs were more used to hills than normal anyway.

RACE REPORT:
It was a 5pm race.  In the morning, I had WW pasta with tomato sauce, feta, and garlic.  I had a veggie burger pattie.  And I had most of a Cherry Almond Clif bar about 2 hours before the race.  I think I had a nap before the Clif bar.  Less food than normal, maybe, but I didn't want to feel too full during the race.

Drove over... at first it was sunny and hot, hot, hot.  After picking up my number, I waited in the car.  It got cloudy quickly, and I encouraged the cooling down by splashing water on myself.  I was eager to start the warmup (always am), so I started with about 20 min to go.  Lots of people were already warming up, and I was getting antsy.  I figured that as long as I kept it light, that starting 5 min early (or doing 5 min extra) wouldn't hurt.  Jogged a bit, did a bit of dynamic stretching and RoM stuff, a couple of strides.

There were cash prizes in this race ($250 for 1st, $100 for 2nd, $75 for 3rd, $50 for 4th, and $25 for 5th).  In 2010, 1st for the women was a little under 21:00, so going in, I thought I had a shot, but once everyone was there, I could see that there was a lot of good competition out there, including 2 super speedy girls who ran and won the mile race that I did earlier this year.  There was also Brooks ID gear woman, the TROAD winner, and another woman who looked fast.  Not to mention a number of others who looked fast. 

A group of people I know from work actually helped to organize the race, so it was good to see a number of them out there, too, to walk, to cheer, and to support the Greer Food ministries. 

(Photo credit: Pace Running Magazine, who's awesome about taking pics at races and supporting the running community)

There were some little, little kids at the start who lined up at the front, but it worked out ok.  We were off, and after 0.1 mi, I counted 12 women in front of me.  I could have a lot on my hands, but if I pace as planned, I could probably reel a number of them in.  So, I started counting.  It's kind of like Pac-Man.  Gobble, gobble, gobble.  Down to 6 ahead after about a mile.  It was a fairly flat course, with only minor grades, and the first and last mile were along a straight road, so that you could see everyone.  In the next 0.5 mi, I caught up to another 2.  With about 2/3 of a mile to go, I caught up to one last girl.  She had been holding her side, so I think she probably got a little stitch.  She was really nice, though, and she encouraged me as I went by. 

There were a few men ahead, but no more women in sight, even on the long stretches.  Before long, the church came into view, and I knew the finish was close.  Long stretches are really awesome, for judging placing and distance remaining.  Finishing kick.  I barely tucked under 21:00... with 20:58.  No PR, but I'll take it.  The weather was 79 degrees, but the clouds made it feel cooler. 

(Photo Credit: Pace Running Magazine)

Afterwards, I enjoyed oranges and cheering people in at the finish.  I especially like cheering for the little kids, and this one woman who was pushing a jogging stroller with 3 kids in it!!!  Haha.  I also got to catch up with Lindsay from chasingthekenyans.com, who clocked in an awesome time in her comeback.  Afterwards, I took a peek at the Oktoberfest festival a couple of blocks away before heading home.

20:58, 6:46 ave.

Oct 7, Sunday:
My second 20er in the training plan.  I used the race to substitute the speed session that I was supposed to do this week.  I was supposed to do 4x7:03 with 800m jogs, but 3.1x6:46 is a fair trade, I think.  In the morning, I was a bit stiff, but by noon, I felt ok enough to head out.  Cloudy again - yes.  Started slow, on the super-spongy section of the Swamp Rabbit trail.  Did 6 laps (of the 0.9 mi stretch), then I did 2 laps plus a bit of padding of my usual out-and-back loop, for a total of 20.4.  I was feeling good and easy until the last 2 miles.

I ate a bit of dried apple and 4 Strawberry Clif Shot Bloks that I got as a sample (166 cal for the Bloks).  A bit too sweet for me, and I was wishing I had something not so sweet.  I drank lots of water.  I left my big bottle next to a rock next to the trash can when I did the spongy out-and-backs, and on my final lap, the bottle was gone, because a good citizen had put it in the trash can, haha.  So I fished it out, drank, and continued on with it, carrying it to my next drop-off spot along the usual loop.  Good thing the stuff in the trash can was fresh and harmless. 

20.4 in 3:05:13, 9:05 ave.  It was cool today (60-62-63-65), with the heat picking up a bit at the end.  But I actually kind of welcomed the heat, so that I'd be prepared in case of fluke weather in Philly.  The coolness, and maybe better fitness following the trail run?, helped me go 30s/mi faster this time around, compared to 3 weeks ago.  It was hotter then, though, with 67-69-70 degrees.  We'll see!

I'm racing a HM next weekend, so I was careful about recovery, trying to move a bit more post-run to flush stuff out and to not get stiff.  I also refueled with a carrot, 1/2 an apple, a homemade chocolate banana bread that's more like plain bread because of the meager amounts of agave nectar that I used, and a protein shake.

Sep 23-Sep 29: Tender Legs, then TRAIL RUN!

Sep 23, Sunday:
The day after the TROAD, I had to make up some miles, since I had subbed a bike in for a run earlier in the week.  I didn't make up for them all... about 3 short, but that's ok.  The bike session's good.  Did 9.6 in the park in 1:28:02, 9:07 ave.  Finished my 3/4 scoop of Sustained Energy+ water blend within the first 4 miles b/c needed the fuel.  The 1 bottle of water was plenty on the hydration front, though, since it was 57 degrees.  I don't normally see runners at the park... it's a softball park that ocassionally has football or soccer players.  There were 2 young XC runners doing laps in the opposite direction as me... 1 in middle school and 1 in high school, I think.  The MS boy was faster than me, judging from the fact that we'd always meet up a little bit earlier in the lap every time, and the girl was a bit slower.  It's inspirational to see other runners out there, getting it done.

Sep 24, Monday:
Felt kinda banged up after 2 days of fairly hard running, so I really needed the 60 min strength session to re-set my muscle balances... it always does a good job of working out tightness and imbalances.

The next day, though, my lower leg ligaments were tender, so even the strength session didn't fix whatever either the 5 mile race or the park run had done.  I didn't do anything that differently during those two runs, so I don't know what it was.

Sep 26, Wednesday:
Treadmill time.  Tired at work today, so it was tough to force myself to go out to the gym.  Run went by very slowly for the first 2 miles, then it got better.  Modern Family!  Had to use the bathroom really bad during the last mile... another kind of endurance.  7 in 57:33, 8:13 ave.

Sep 27, Thursday:
Treamill again.  Super tired again - 12 hr day.  Tough to get out again.  First mile went by slowly again, but then The Office started, and just the theme song caused a release of endorphins... that show makes me happy.

Heard about plans to go hiking with friends from church on Saturday.  Had to get in 16 miles by the end of the week.  Too tired on Friday to get in the 4 miler.  Considered waking up at 4am on Saturday to do the run before the hiking trip, but too tired, so I figured I'd do it on Sunday or something.

Sep 29: Saturday:
Woke up at 5:30.  I was soo looking forward to the hike.  A couple of weeks ago, I was feeling a bit weary - work has been non-stop.  I suddenly realized, as I was driving and happened to focus for a moment on the trees on the side of the highway, that I missed seeing trees and being in nature.  I packed my usual workweek lunch (mixed greens, tortilla chips and 75% light cheddar, raspberries, banana, protein powder+decaf+coca+cinnamon, peanuts) and packed gear.  There was like a 30% chance of rain forecasted, so I packed a rainjacket.  I was surprised that the hiking trip was still planned despite the weather.  After I took a shower, I watched this:

That is SO AMAZING.  Hearing him breathe, seeing the incredible vistas... how could someone watch that and not want to go trail running, right then?

Then, 7 minutes before I would head out to our meeting point, I got a text - cancelled.  I had kind of already made up my mind that I was going to go no matter what though.  I had considered driving on my own so that after the group hike, I could get in a run. 

Drove to Pisgah National Forest.  I was sooooo happy on the drive over.  It was cloudy (= good running weather), and I had an adventure ahead of me.  There's also just something about mountains that just tugs at my heart.

Went to the Ranger Station to look at a map and plot out a course.  Found a ___ loop that strung together a number of trail sections.  It was complex, so I copied the map... took a while. 

Drove out to the trailhead, then fueled up.  I tend to eat every few hours, and with the drive and the prep time, I needed fuel.  Had the protein shake and the salad, with a few Goldfish and peanuts.  I packed a GU and I brought my Nathan Quickdraw hand-held, which I'd be trying for the first time.  Didn't really want a big backpack with a heavy Nalgene bouncing around for miles and miles on uneven trail.  I drank before leaving, and since the trail was just 11.3 mi, I figured I should be ok with just the hand-held.

Started off... trails tend to start off with little elevation gain, then it picks up quickly.  There were some fun stream-crossings, although the logs were narrow and wobbly.  There was always a hand-rail, though.  I stuck the map in my hand-held's pocket.  I also had a compass+whistle around my neck, in case of emergency.  No cell signal, anyway, so I didnt' bring that.  Brought my camera for pics.

I could kind of tell how tough the trail would be based on whether it was designated as "hiker only" or "hiker and biker allowed".  I personally don't see how bikers could go on some of those trails in any case.  They were all marked as medium.  I tended to have to power-hike the steep parts, and stretch it out (such a free feeling after trudging uphill slowly) on the flats.  There weren't very many flats. 

After the first mile, settling in, I started to turn on my iPod shuffle, but immediately, I shut it off because it ruined a beautiful thing.  I almost always listen to podcasts, but I had no desire to here.

Here's the first vista I hit, at about 30% of the way into the run.

(Colors are only starting to pop up with select trees.)

Continued along.  Started encountering some light downhills, too.  On the way up, I actually saw one couple, and one guy... alll three of them also seemed to be trail running, and all just had a single hand-held.  I wasn't the only oddball!  There was a dog, too.  The dogs always impress me.  They climb and descend some steep stuff, and they're little and low-to-the ground!

Here's the half-way point, where I turned around on a somewhat parallel trail back.  Someone had very gingerly constructed carins!

(I picked up a hiking stick about 40% of the way through.  I got a hiking stick medallion from Valley Forge, and I bought Pisgah and AT ones today.  It may be a nice display piece/collection holder.)

On the way back, much more downhill.  Sometimes very steep.  Trails tend to be like that, since the cars will go part of the way up the mountain, and you continue to hike up.  You still tend to go faster on the downhills, though, even if it is rough on the legs.  I got to practice hill running techniques today... I found power-walking uphills (sometimes, small steps helps) most efficient, and small steps low-to-the-ground tended to work well for me on the downhills, to prevent excessive uncontorllable momentum from building up.  I was careful about steep parts, though, and I'd essentially be stepping down step-by-step slowly.

About 65% of the way through, a wasp or a bee flew onto my hair, a little behind my left temple.  I hoped it would fly away, and I tried speeding up to get the wind to blow him off.   Leave... leave... leave... then, I started feeling it.... no, no, no, don't do it, don't do it.... but it had made up its mind.  It stung.  and kept stinging.  and yet it stayed in my hair.  I think it had gotten caught.  I kept running, but it stayed. 

I got stung by a bee on a run once before... on my tongue, 1 mile into a 6-7 mile run.  After stopping by a gas station that happened to be right there and getting help from gas station attendants in tweezing out the stinger, I continued.  My tongue was numb, and a bump developed, but it was bearable.  No pain, only numbness.

This time, it kept stinging.  It kind of felt like the bee or wasp was still in my hair... it had stopped buzzing, with the buzzy dying down in three long buzzes.  I figured (and was hoping) that it was dying... I think sometimes when a bee stings someone it dies.  I still felt something, and it kept stinging, as if I was getting stung constantly... maybe the stinger or the entire bee/wasp was still stuck in my head.  I finally decided to stop and to try to get it out.  Didn't want to continue on with a bee/wasp stuck into my scalp.  I finally figured out that it would be wise to let loose my hair, which had been in a pony-tail.  Waved my hair around.  Didn't see any bee/wasp fall out.  Used my front-facing-dual-screen camera to try to see if I could see a bee/wasp still in there.  I tried taking some pics, too, since the display screen on the back is larger than the front-facing screen.  And now you get to see what it looked like...

It wasn't easy... trying to take pictures of the right spot with one hand, pulling back portions of my hair with another, and grimacing because of the sting, 4 miles from my car.  I tried using the hiking stick to push out any bee/wasp that might be in there... didn't see anything fall off.  Oh well... tied my hair back up and continued along.  Just bear it.  It would throb a bit, and the stinger might still be in there... at least it felt like it as the sting would re-sting along with the throbs every so often.

I found myself getting into a rhythm... stick in one hand, bottle in the other.  Balanced... going on in auto-pilot... I would have to remind myself to try to put in surges every now and then to challenge myself more than I naturally would on the uphills sometimes.  And it does require a lot more concentration going down the steep downhills.  Your feet have to react very quickly to the slightest uneven-ness, to counter-balance whatever you need to to not roll ankles. 

I did come across people and cars at sections of the trail that met roads during the run back, but the sting was fine, so I just kept on.  Got hungry towards the end, but the trailhead was close.  Could've eaten the gel if I wanted to, but I preferred to wait for tortilla chips and cheese and raspberries.  MMMM.  My water situation was still fine, in any case.

Had to do a good bit more uphill, then downhill.  Finally, happy to see the trail's end.

If you want to try it, too:

Coontree Loop Trail

Buckhorn Gap Trail

Buckwheat Knob Trail

Avery Creek Trail

After eating (so good) and changing shirts, I drove a mile up to a waterfall (Looking Glass Falls) and just took in the beauty for a while.

What a pleasant day, huh?  And not a drop of rain.

But the adventure wasn't over yet.



It was National Park Day or something, so a couple of attractions that typically cost money were free.  I decided to take advantage of the rare opportunity and drove an extra 6 mi to go to the Cradle of Forestry.  It's like a museum + trails that teach you about forestry.   It had some pleasant surprises, like a tunnel that you can crawl into to see what animals underground look like, a forest fire-fighting helicopter simulator, and trails with some activities/attractions along the way.  It's geared towards kids, but I'm very much kid on the inside.

They close at 5, and I got there at 4, so I nearly ran my way in flip-flops through the Adventure Trail.  Got back with minutes to spare.  On my way home, I was hungry, so I stopped by Zaxby's.  I had never been before.  I had been craving Subway (specifically, pickles... my post-run treat), but I came across Zaxby's and had a gift card that would start expiring soon. 

Fried Chicken Fingers and Fried Mushrooms... gotta say, I think I'm more of a Subway person than a Zaxby's person, but the chicken hit the spot and was a rare treat after a day of adventure.  11.3 in 2:32:28, 13:30 ave (excluding stops for pics, bees, map checks)

RACE REPORT: TROAD 8K 2012

Signed up for the race because it was one that I didn't do before (and it was the first year that they offered an 8K in addition to the innaurugal year's 5K), because I had a pull-back week scheduled (4x6 mi over the course of the week), and I was curious to see where my fitness was.  In the lead-up week, I planned to take the usual 2 days b/f the race completely off.

Tuesday, Sep 18:
6.1 in 53:05, 8:42 ave, at the park.  Legs were still kinda recovering from the 20er from 2 days ago, so I took it easy.

Wednesday, Sep 19:
Legs still recovering today, so I biked instead of running.  50 min.  Took it easy again.  My hunger levels increased this week, maybe because the 20er kicked up my metabolism.

Thursday and Friday, off.  Even though I only biked Wednesday, my legs were still feeling like they had run on Wedesnday.

Saturday morning...

Woke at 5:15, took my warmup shower, had dry Cheerios and a banana.  Normally, I like a good combo of carbs, protein, calcium, and healthy fat.  But oddly, on race day, I'm always feeling more like carbs.  That's a good thing - it knows what works.

I drove out early so that I could get a good t-shirt size... 2nd one there.  Nice porta-potties with the portable-sinks, too.  Sat in my car, studying the map, which I drew out on a piece of paper.  Didn't record elevation, although a note during packet pickup warned that there was a big hill, with hills in the back half, too.  "Don't Croak!" it warned.  Also assembled my number, iPod shuffle, socks, etc.  Had 1 chocolate-covered expresso bean 1 hr before the race start... studies show that 1 hr is optimal.

Ran into a couple of friends while warming up. 

There were bagpipes at the start - cool.  We started off.  I think I paced pretty well, although in the mile, I might've slowed.  It's hard to tell, because of the hills.  The course went down a main road, turned into some residential areas, went through a cemetary, went around office buildilngs, finished with like a mile of moderate uphill on a medium-sized but deserted road, then a sharp downhill.  It even went by one of the offices of my company! 

I passed 2 girls at about the halfway point, and I was mostly alone after that.  In the last mile and a half, the volunteers along the course and a couple of cyclists told me that I was second and cheered me on - that was nice of them.  At the very end, in the last 0.3 mi, we intersected with the 5Kers, who had started at the same time as us.  A guy from that group gave me a good run at the end for the finishing kick, and he outkicked me.  It was exhilirating because of the steepness of the downhill.  It was a "screaming downhill finish", just like the pre-race notes promised.  I finished in 35:03, 7:01 ave.  If it really was 8K, that's a good time for me - near my potential (which would've been about 6:53 pace), given the warmth (67 degrees + some sun) and the hills.

The race website (which is one of the best I've seen for a 5K... videos and lots of info available) showed a pic of and described last year's prize... a giant concrete toad.  They were back this year!

They also had a fun game involving a rando guy named "Jack".  It's called "You don't know Jack".  If your 5K split (for either 8Kers or 5Kers) is faster than Jack's, your name gets put in a lottery for a prize.  That's cool.

I get squirmy and jump and run away at the first sight of snakes, frogs, and the like.  The TROADS were laid out prior to the race, so I knew what I had a shot of winning... kinda wanted to win, to get my very own TROAD, and kind of didn't want to win, so that I didn't have to get a TROAD, haha.

My friend's boyfriend had an awesome time, finishing in 31ish, I think.  He got 1st AG.

The TROAD was 30 lbs.  It was funny to see the winners get their TROADS plopped into their arms.

There were a few winner's pics taken after the ceremony (and the great raffles sponsored by Fleet Feet).

I realized when people were getting TROADS that it was just like Harry Potter 3, during the choir performance!  I soooo hoped that we would be able to do that too.  The 5K pics were taken first, and they decided to put theirs on the ground.  #WASTEDOPPORTUNITY.

By the time they got around to the 8K pics, only 2 of us were left... so it was also somewhat of a choir fail.

It was a fun day.  I don't know what I'm going to do with the TROAD. 

On the way home, I put the TROAD on the floor of the passenger side of my car.  I stopped by a shop afterwards, and when I came back to put the merchandise in the car, I audibly gasped in fear when I saw the TROAD.  It was funny.  When I was little, one time, I think I saw a bullfrog that was probably 75% (at least in my mind) of the size of the TROAD.  The first day the TROAD was in my apartment, it scared me a few times.  I think I'll see if I can give it to my dad.  Or, I'll hide it somewhere for my dad to find next time I visit my parents.