It's Just me, V

What a busy couple of weeks we have had! From training runs to school volunteering, from work to leaving on vacation!

Let’s start with the Spring Fling Prairie Dog 1/2 Marathon put on by my favorite race company (and run family) 3W Races. Let’s just say that this race didn’t go as planned. My planned run buddy, J decided that he really wasn’t in to running the 1/2, so he dropped his distance down and I went ahead by myself. I was ready to run – in a somewhat grumpy mood – when a friend of ours from our ambassador crew said that she was interested in running intervals with me. Well, we toed the start line and soon enough, we were off! This course in Arvada is a hilly, tough, and fun course. We start off running out on a green belt through some really pretty houses and a golf course, we walked up the hill to what many of my tribe has named “the lake of death”. This hill is a tough up followed by a mostly muddy and usually windy round about the lake followed by a super fun down hill. And then more winding up hill to the final turnaround. Like I said, this course is a tough one, but it was made so much better with the army of volunteers for course support with plenty of water and Nuun, and a friend by my side to chat it up with and pass this time along with the miles. As I had said before, I wasn’t as well trained as I had wanted to be for this race, but we still came in with a pretty respectable time (around 2:40) and were super happy about that! Afterwards my feet were killing me, I’m sure it was a combination of my lack of training and my newer shoes. I really hand’t much time for breaking them in since I had just purchased them a few days before the race. I was able to recover relatively quickly.

On Mother’s Day, I ran the 10 mile distance with my daughter-in-law, in a wonderful all women’s race also put on by my 3W family! The Colorado Women’s Classic is a super fun event! The expo area for this event is always blast, there is a massage tent, Skirt Sports tent with so many styles and patterns to purchase, vendors with makeup and home improvement things, hoopla-hoops and a kids fun run! This race takes place in Westminster, Colorado, on Big Dry Creek. It’s a slightly hilly out and back course that is well supported by volunteers with water and Nuun, We ran past prairie dogs and flowers, and were able to catch glimpses of quite a few different birds. My daughter-in-law-in-law and I made our way along this course running 5 minutes then walking 1 – this interval technique seems to really help to not only get the job done, but forces me to stop and check my gait and posture regularly. We came rolling into the finish at just less than 2 hours, which is what we were aiming for.

One week after the Colorado Women’s Classic, I find myself in Minnesota preparing for another 10 miler, this time there were hypothermia warnings in my email box two days before, then the night before… I was in my hotel room thinking… “Holy cow! I have never had a white flag warning for a race before.” I have raced longer distances in colder weather – but I guess that just seeing that word “hypothermia” did worry me. The rains had started on Friday night, when I got up at 6am on Saturday for a little shake out run, before my future daughter-in-law’s graduation from college I was ready to run, opened the curtain, saw lightning and said to myself, “Nope” then promptly crawled back into bed and slept another hour. I did get an easy 2 miles in the second time I got up. It was drizzly but bright out. The weather for the rest of Saturday was damp but comfortably cool. On Sunday morning, I woke up – nervous but ready to rock n roll. There was an email on my phone, “White flag warning…” I was not going to be deterred by anything. I went down to the lobby where breakfast was being served and ate my usual pre run meal of peanut butter, wheat toast and a banana with a fresh juice. My son, husband, and daughter drove me to the race venue, Minnehaha Park, it was drizzling, breezy and cold. All of the runners were packed into a small building and were covered in rain ponchos and plastic bags. My family and I stood near a window and discussed what they would do while I was running, they wanted to see the falls and get coffee — I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little jealous of their plans, they sounded WARM. Finally a man with a bull horn walks through announcing that the race is about to start, runners should head to the start line. I walk over to the start line, stopping to pet a wet black lab on the way, the owner was at a tent advertising “cryotherapy” and promised to be there after the race. I laughed, already wet from the rain, and said, “Naw… I’m getting my cryotherapy DURING the race”. We both laughed and I kept heading to the the start. Pretty soon, I had my watch set for interval 5:1, and we were off! It didn’t take long for me to feel comfortable in my pace. Trotting along, listening to all the sounds of rustling plastic covers and the Mississippi River making it’s soothing sounds was music to my ears. About 3.5 miles into the race, I slowed to fuel and decided that I would stop at the next port-o-john and remove my rain poncho, it was choking me and I was already soaked from trampling through the puddles. After freeing myself from the poncho, I felt my stride lengthen and my shoulders relax. I was smiling and happy, enjoying my down hills, looking at the river to my right, the trees to the left, and really just enjoying the moment. I got to the turnaround and there were two volunteers cheering and playing “Who Run the World? Girls!” I gave some high fives and turned to go back up the hill I just came down. I ran happily back up that hill, and I got to run next to the Mississippi and cross it twice before I came up on the home stretch. Such a fun course, Minnesota you did not disappoint! I even managed a PR (personal record) on the distance! It was indeed a “Soggy Joggy”, but damn, that was fun!

Tomorrow, I get to toe yet another start line, this time for the Bolder Boulder 1ok… that race report to follow this one. See you on the trails!!!