kirsten's thoughts, mostly running-related

Just another blog ~ some helpful stuff ~ some feelings etc

Tag: trail

pretty sure Im doing it

August 25, 2015 /

So the skinny on the training run I keep talking about goes like this.
I finished dead last. Yes I know its not a race, it’s a training run.
My excuses range from, I haven’t been training that hard, I didn’t sleep or eat properly beforehand and didn’t eat one bit that day – I also didn’t drink much and didn’t pee for over 9 hrs (déjà vu).

AND my fear of falling, mixed with this being the hardest terrain I have ever been on.
(more technical than NorthFace and JFK and BTTB and ATR combined)
It wasn’t even so much the elevation that killed me – it really wasn’t – it was the terrain and my lack of grace.

I have a 12 Hour race in a couple weeks and a half the following week. I have tweaks here and there but am otherwise uninjured and feeling good. I want to keep it that way and a training run is not the place to wipe out (like I have in the past). If youre going to break something or gash something open, do it on race day.

A stick that I picked up along the way that was my savoir I cant tell you how many times. I am a klutz in the best of circumstances, never mind on a loose rock incline or decline with trunks and stumps and vines galore. That stick was my friend and I brought it home 😉

My phone says I only ran one of the 7 hours out there – that’s sad but hey, to meet all the hard race day cut offs you have to maintain a 22 min/mile, which, is a fast walk.

Im sure I can make the ultimate cut off – hell if I had to bet on it, Im sure I can keep going for days nonstop – that isn’t the point tho – can I make the cut offs along the way though? Im not sure. I cant realistically say that I can. Not after Sunday.
I’ll say this though, I was telling myself over and over again throughout the day (I was alone the majority of the time) that I did NOT want to do this again – nevermind times five – but the moment I reached the end – and the director and a few other people cheered and called my name (someone cheered at every checkpoint for me) I was like IM GOING TO DO IT – HELL YES.

“What hurts?” they asked me. “Nothing, just my pride” And really, I wasn’t tired or hurt. And I’m only slightly sore now. I can do this.
Or at least say I tried.
Yep.
That.
It will be a Happy 5th Marathoniversary to me – closing out a year with 1 half, 1 full, 2 50ks and a 100k and at least an attempted 100 Miler!
(if it doesnt work out I’ll just stick around and help the crews)

*Pretty sure the below picture depicts the run on Sunday*

grindstone training run
LezGo

Easy is boring ;)

August 20, 2015 /

Well, Ive had the Grindstone 100 page bookmarked for quite a while now (literally and figuratively). Im not in my best shape. I was for a minute there but my training has gone down the tubes. But – this weekend, Im going to do a 22 mile training run on the Grindstone course. This run will be less than a quarter of the actual race. If I cant handle it, Im one week away from the chance to change my mind and get a refund, and try again another year.

Someone recently said, and to a point I agreed – that a 100 miler is more achievable than a BQ. Depends on the race. In some cases yes. I went and picked one of the hardest. A bonafide Western States Qualifier with not one inch of flat.

We’ll see how I feel after the training run. Im also registered for a 12 Hr in a couple weeks and a half a week later. I do have around 6 weeks to train my guts out for the big day. I have a feeling that unless something catastrophic happens this weekend, Im going to just go for it!

I got nothing to lose right. I either win now, or learn a lesson and win later.

And if all else fails, I should get some great pics 😉

dnf

June 8, 2014 /

I didn’t run the Zooma Half last weekend so I’d be ready & healthy for the North Face EC today.  And I was ready.   It started out great, I had good coffee, I got to see Dean Karnazes again and the weather was perfect.

More than half way through, I felt good and I was doing well.  When I was approaching the turning point in the course, the two course workers were clapping and shouting “There she is, she’s looking great”

I assumed they were speaking about someone behind me that they knew but I didn’t do my usual smile or look back.  The course looked a little different than I remembered it from 3 years ago.

After they marked my bib and sent me on my way, I turned and realized they’d been speaking to me.

I felt excited and proud.  I looked at my watch and realized I was on point to finish in under 8 hours  which gave me an hour of leeway and put me way under the deadline.  In that moment I was elated.

I’d not run since the 50 miles a month before other than a few one mile light jogs here and there, and had been primarily just doing strength and core at home.  And yet I was going to finish strong.

I waved and thanked them for cheering for me.  I started to almost leap carelessly for just a bit.

Then I lost my footing on one of the most technical and rocky stretches.  I had just taken off my gloves (because my hands were swelling) and I felt myself flying forward.  I screamed.

Suddenly there were other runners coming towards me.  One by one they started to show and stand around me.  I didn’t realize how bad it was.  They were looking for tissues and asking me what they could do.  They moved me off to the side.  The crowd was growing.  I literally believed I would just wrap it up and be on my way.

I kept telling them to leave me and not mess up their times.  I wish I could remember all their names and thank them.

The two guys who were cheering for me called the medical emergency staff to come get me.  It took them  a while to arrive, because the course was super narrow and I was clear out in the middle of no darn where.

The jeep arrived and the EMTs rinsed off my knee.  I was squeezing someone’s hand off from the pain.  They wrapped it up tight and said it definitely needed to be stitched but that they couldn’t stitch it because it was full of rocks and it needed to be cleaned out, and they weren’t equipped to do that in the field.

“But I want to finish, you wrapped it, I’m more than half done, let me finish, its just a couple more hours”

“You’re bleeding right through the bandages, we’ve already called an ambulance and you need to go to a  hospital”

And just like that I was a DNF.

The jeep ride back was an adventure to say the least.  Runners who were wearing headphones despite the rule not to, couldnt hear us beeping.  The trail was barely as wide as the jeep and the drop was hundreds of feet if we were to go over the edge.

That wasn’t the scariest part of the afternoon though.  After an enjoyable ambulance ride, I had to sit and wait for hours for them to clean all the rocks out of my knee.

I wont go into many more details or share the pictures that Im not sure why I took (and if youre super lucky I txt’d to you today).  I sure was nervous though.

My normally low 77/52 bloodpressure spiked when they started messing w it to 115/80 (normal for some people but not me).

At this point I was squeezing Steve’s hand and watching w/ terror every poke, scrub, prod and clip.   The doctor thought I should look away but I just couldn’t.

Again I wish I knew everyone’s name so I could send thank you cards.  I know they were all just doing their jobs but I appreciated them all very much.

Now I have to monitor my knee closely for two wks for signs of infection, as so much flesh is gone there is only so much that could be done and it is basically a raw, seeping wound for now.

This is the part in the story where I say Everything Happens for a Reason and There’s Always a Next Time and {fill in all the similar comments} – yeah, I get it and guess what, I know and I understand and it will all be ok and I need to heal and so on – but today – Im sad – Im very sad – I keep randomly crying.

But I’ll get over it….and I’ll run again.

 

dnf1 dnf3 dnf2

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