Ah the trail that I love

I went to the trail this morning and met up with a friend. I haven’t been trail running in a hot minute because of marathon tapering and such. The trail was new to me and I have never been there. I normally hit the trail by my house that is rocky and not too fun but close. I have to say that this trail was beautiful and great. About 720 feet of gain in 6.5 miles, a little technical but nothing crazy. It’s great to get back out there. I live here! It’s hard to appreciate it when it’s the dog days of summer and over 100 degrees. I do appreciate it today. 

  

The Chicago Marathon

It’s been almost one week since the Chicago Marathon. The marathon was an interesting experience. I have completed, successfully I might add, a 18 week training plan. I executed the plan to a tee. I tapered perfectly and things went great. We left Friday morning and headed to the Windy City. I ate well and hydrated. Nothing too crazy. We went and walked around the expo which was crowded but I did pick up a lot of great apparel and a new pair of my favorite shoes.

Sunday morning:

I ate a bagel and had a cup of coffee. Got dressed and walked over to the start line. It was crowded and crazy but I got through the gate. Checked my bag, which was easy. Then I went and waited.

The race started well. I was right on pace and feeling great. I believe around mile 4 I accidentally took a Gatorade cup. I didn’t think much about it even though I do not drink Gatorade. At mile 16 I started feeling sick. Sometimes when I race my stomach flips so it wasn’t too unusual that I felt that way. It turned from feeling sick to me needing to find somewhere to get sick. It was an awful feeling. For 10 miles I fought the urge to get sick. It was the worse feeling ever. At 400 meters to go i was struggling to finish without getting sick.

At the end, yes I pushed through, i was running everything through my head about what changed or happened and I realized the culprit might be the Gatorade. I’m not a Gatorade drinker. I’m a coconut water or Nuun lover so I think the sugar did not sit well.

I felt a wave of disappointment even though I still finished a few ticks over 4 hours but I know I was tough and this day made me a mentally stronger runner. The plus side is that I get to race again in id November at Rock and Roll Vegas! I do have to say I had a great time and I get to redeem myself and not drink Gatorade in a few weeks!

  

Has it really been this long?

So I have kind of gotten away from the blogging game. Between getting through my last few courses of grad school (I start my last ever class next Wednesday), working part (to almost full) time, and training for not one but three fall marathons things have been hectic and crazy. I have been tweeting daily, so follow me over there (tcross1124) if you want to be kept abreast of all my shenanigans or also over on instagram (justkeeprunning) if you find pictures to be more your speed. I’ll be posting via both places this weekend at the CHICAGO MARATHON. What?!? Have I really made it through 4 tough months of training with several hundred miles run? I think I have. I am very excited to recap that race. Promise I will! 

To preface my weekend of all things running, I have to begin by discussing a couple things. I have never really trained for a marathon before. I know, I know, it sounds crazy but I am a last minute sign up for a race type of gal and never have time to fully commit to training for a marathon, so this spring after I was cleared by my doctor and given the go-ahead to resume normal activity after my eye surgery (more on that later) I decided to sign up for the Las Vegas Rock and Roll Marathon. Literally the next day, Chicago open it’s random draw. Not thinking I would ever get in because I mean that race is huge and a lot of people want to run it, I decided to put my name in. Well a few short weeks later, I find out I get to run that one too! So here we go. I have over 4 months to actually train and focus on getting stronger and faster. I think that it is safe to say I am both and maybe even a little mentally tougher. So that’s where we are. Oh, you are wondering about that 3rd marathon I mentioned. Well my running friend asked me if I thought I would be up for it to run the Tuscan Marathon with her in December. She convinced me with the negative elevation gain and the all downhill business. So, I signed up for that one. So thats where I am at. Running three races this fall with the first starting this weekend. I will keep you updated with little race recaps after each one and then maybe a discussion after the Tuscan race, since I’m not sure I would ever recommend running three that close together, but hey it’s the crazy ultra runner in me that really can not resist doing weird stuff.

See you after this weekend!!! Tell me would you ever consider running so many long races so close together?

What I’ve been up to

I’m still recovering but I am running and slowly getting back into the swing of things. I feel good just a little dose of tired legs. No soreness or pain. I am anxious to get back into those long runs and such but I’m being smart about it and not doing too much too soon.

What do you do to recover from a long race?

I’m over here, still recovering

I’m over here… Week 2 of recovery. Still feel really good. Few nagging aches and pains. Nothing crazy. I’m pretty anxious to jump back into everything but my husband reminded me its a process and I have a good mileage base still. Only about 8 weeks until the 50k so I need a couple longer runs to get back to it. I really want to just be training again…

Blah blah

Who’s a runner

I posted the following on my tumblr page and it was a little controversial. I either follow some of the wrong folks on all my social media accounts. I just feel like lately people have been saying / posting Boston or nothing. I merit my runs based on many factors, least of all those factors is my time. I run because I love to. Life is so much better when I run.

“I used to think that the only way you were a true marathon runner is if you qualified for Boston. After my running adventures last weekend I’m re-thinking that idea.

I’m a marathon runner because I run marathons.

I’m runner because I run.

I have fully decided that I want to be an ultra runner who sometimes runs marathons now. I just love to run and run. For me, it’s not about how fast but about how far I can run at once.

What say you, are you only a marathon runner if you qualify for Boston?”

Race review September 20, 2014

As many of you know I signed up to run a marathon as a mid training cycle race for the 50k I signed up for. About a week before the race I received an email, that I had talked about in a previous post, letting us know the race course was changing because city officials were going to back out if it wasn’t changed. Later I found out it was because the race didn’t supply enough volunteers to help police man the roads. This is just one thing of many that was messed up about this race.

So I’m just going to list the pros and cons of this race.

Run Then Wine- Las Cruces,NM

Cons
– The race didn’t start on time
– No gels at aid stations
– BIG ONE– the course was not 26.2 (look at the picture of my watch)
– They didn’t warn about the bugs. I got bit probably 50 times all over my legs
– Disorganized from start to finish

Pros
– Close to home
– I know I can run a 50k now

Would I recommend traveling for this race— heck no!

Don’t waste your time or money.

Panic

Yesterday I received an email from the race director of the marathon I’m running on Saturday. It said urgent. I panicked a little because a friend of mine told me that this race was cancelled last year due to lack of participants. The email talked about how the course would need to be changed to an out and back because state officials couldn’t agree on the old course. They threatened to cancel the race if a new course wasn’t developed. This all happened Monday! But alas thankfully the show must go on. The race is being run on an out and back course which I rather enjoy. The turn around means I’m half way done.

So now I can stop worrying about it being cancelled and see how my training is panning out for the 50k in less then 12 weeks (gulp).

Who knew there where politics when it came to race course, too??!!!

This week

The week is upon me. I run my 9th marathon in 5 short days. In the middle of the training I didn’t think I would make it. I thought my motivation and drive would end but it didn’t. Week in, week out I got out there and worked hard, even when I didn’t want to. I can’t wait to lace up and put all that hard work to good use. The marathon is only the half way point in my 50k training so I just want to have a good solid race and feel good the entire time.

My husband convinced me to run an 8k race on Saturday evening. My plan was to tempo run but it ended up being way faster then I thought but it felt good and I feel good today.

I have a 3 mile run on Tuesday and a 2 mile shake out run on Thursday then it’s go time. After that my husband and I are off to the Gulf of Mexico for a week! Yippie this week is going to be a good one!

12 days

In 12 days I lace up to run my 9th marathon. I had a great cycle of training. This is the first time I’ve been this focused on quality training. Pr or not I know I will have a great time!

On a side note 90 days till I’m an ultra runner 🙂