With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams...

Nice long run for a holiday Monday.  MR was my waterboy again, so grateful for good company and for the fact that I don't have to drag around 3 waterbottles myself.  The last 2 miles I was getting hot and low on water, so he rode home and got me some sweet ice water hook-ups. 

30.8 mile bike ride with MR.  Drink break around mile 16. Wore my cool jersey from Bye-Wing.

4 miles in the morning around the hood with MR.  Supposed to be 4 in the evening too, but Wyatt and I got so busy talking that I missed the last 3 cul-de-sacs we were supposed to run.  My legs weren't complaining about ending early.

Stupid humidity and heat- why won't you let me alone?  I had 3 water bottles with me and had empited them all by the time I got home.  I sweat SO MUCH that I have to keep putting fluids back in.  I even had a bit of gatorade in one of them. 

It wasn't even really a high temperature thing, it was only in the 70's, but it was so flipping humid and the sun made everything catch on fire- including my brain.  I did get to run past the dogs that "won't bother me."  They ran out into the road again today and barked & chased me.  But this time I had my pepper spray and that seemed to help them bother me less (after a shot of red hot love).  I only regret that it was dogs who had to get sprayed and not their owner.  I'll be adding animal control's # to my cell phone and call them the next time those dogs don't "bother" me.

I did get a chance to run by one of my favorite cypress swamps.  The lilly pads are all sporting beautiful blossoms.  You can't see them very well in the photo, but they are pretty.  You can see the beaver dam, which reminds me of something Si says about beavers and the Viet Cong.  "Beavers are just like the Viet Cong.  They hide in holes and only come out at night."  All I can say is that I've never seen a live beaver out during the day. 

Greek Festival- Baklava Ice Cream Sundae, Souvlaki Gyro, Spinach & Cheese pastery, more Baklava, then home for more ice cream.  Carb loading :-)

Early morning at the ball field before our run.  A beautiful orange sun coming up through the trees a while later.  Beautiful morning- in the 60s.  Just amazing.  The kind of morning made for runners. 

I ran .23 waiting for Wyatt to show up.  Then we ran 9 miles together.  I had to hurry home and so mile 9-10 I ran ahead myself while Wyatt walked due to a side ache.  I wonder if the Apostle Paul was a runner- it would explain the thorn in his flesh.

 After hurring home to drive mini-me to a church activity, I decided to run a few more miles.  Parked next to the hilly road and ran hills.  Sidewalks almost the whole way.  Only 1.4 miles of the 7.65 were grass and dirt.  It got warm and I stopped at a BBQ restaurant for some cold water around mile 5.25.  It's amazing how wonderful a bit of cold water can work like magic in the middle of a run.

Dead cat, snake, frogs, and a huge spider waiting on the road to catch and eat me.    There were also hundreds of caterpillars everywhere.  Why do they want to crawl on the road when they have acres of grees stuff to eat where they are?

Lovely run on the P-town loop.  Nice drivers on the road and great weather. 
 

Early dark and foggy run.  I recharged the batteries on my headlamp so it was bright to let the cars know I was coming.  It worked pretty well.  It was cool enough to wear short sleeves instead of a tank.  I didn't watch the pace on my watch, just ran what felt good.  I was thrilled to see that my pace was faster than it's been all summer.  I think it helped that I was only carring one waterbottle on my belt and left the 2 hand bottles at home.  I've been needing that much fluid on long runs (9+ miles) and it felt good to leave them at home today.  Beautiful views when the sun came up and I could see the different layers of fog over the fields. Soybeans, corn, and cotton. 

I did hear the chupakabra in the ditch along the cornfield today.  It's been a while since he came to say hello in his mysterious ways.

Early swamp loop.  Nice and dar, but the constellations were bright in the sky.  Fog on the ground, but not up high.  Cars weren't as polite today as they were yesterday or Monday.  Maybe everyone felt as tired as I did.

When I was out on the longest stretch between houses, with one house 1/2 a mile behind me and the next house 1/2 a mile in front of me, I found myself terrified of whatever was making that noise in the trees at the edge of the filed.  I tossed around some idea- first coyotes came to mind, but I didn't think they were pack animals, and there was certainly more than 1 thing out there howling/screeching.  So then I thought it could be an eastern wolf, which is a wolf that has coyote bred with it, but I know what a wolf sounds like and this wasn't any wolf.  The only other reasonable explaination is chupakabra.  I guess his little hello yesterday wasn't making enough of an impression.  I was seriously afraid that whatever it was would be coming across the filed after me at any moment.  I could feel my heart racing and kept looking over my shoulder hoping (and not hoping) that I'd catch a reflection of my headlamp in their eyes so I'd have something to aim at.  Once I got to the church down the street, I knew I would be okay since it's common knowledge that chupakabras are not allowed on holy ground.

The rest of the run seemed rather uneventful after that little episode of "Who's being crazy inside my head now?"

Running early again.  Just before the turn around point, some dogs came out toward the road from a tall corn field.  I could hear them barking the whole time, so I knew they were far enough away that I'd have time to get past their "yard."  Until I realized it was time to turn around.  They'd just headed back to toward the house when I had to run past their property again.  I was a little worried that I couldn't see or hear them anymore, so I ran fast.  It was nice though, because it helped me pick up the pace and I had some very nice paces on my last 2 miles.  I was really running, not just doing my usual jog.

Slept in later than I should have, but managed to get to the trail while it was still nice outside.  The trees provided shade almost the entire time, and there was an occasional cool breeze that felt fabulous.

Just after starting out, there were 2 girls headed back to the parking lot.  I didn't see anyone again until mile 11.  Seriously.  No one else out on the trail.  It was a beautiful day out- where was everyone?  I guess most of the serious runners were already done with their run for the day and were home showering by then.  Between mile 4.5 and 5.5, I almost ran into this little guy.  I am used to seeing dead snakes, but live ones make me a little uneasy.  I should have kept running,  but I wanted proof. 

As I was putting my ipod away, I hear a noise and he's taken off in a flash.  Luckily he took off away from me and not toward me.  That's a long way to run back to the car with a mess in your shorts.

I found the end of the trail at mile 5.5.  Ran out to the road and turned around.  Here's the trail head at the far end (I started in the middle).

It's mostly packed dirt.  Some sandy spots, some rocky spots, and some ravines from water runoff - especially on the hills.  I headed back to the car and stopped for some gu on the boardwalk that runs through a swampy spot next to a creek.

Other than being the only one out on the far end of the trail today and having to find all the spider webs myself, it was beautiful.

I stopped at the car after seeing the 2nd set of people.  I re-filled my water, gatorade, and had a couple bites of my pb&j before heading the other direction on the trail. 

I went out 1 miles shy of the other trail head and turned around.  I saw one man with his dog on that side of the trail.  Still can't figure out why no one was enjoying the day on the trail.  It'll be closed in 2 weeks for hunting season (till January), so this will probably be my last time on the trail for the year.  A guy ran on it 2 days before it opened a couple years ago and was shot & killed by hunters (on accident).  I ran past the memorial that was set up for him.  Such a shame.  But lesson learned - stay off the trail during hunting season.

After the run, I had some shopping I needed to do on base, so I tried changing in the back of my car.  My muscles starting cramping up every time I tried to move.  I was certain I would go into total body charile horse and be stuck like that half way undressed until someone came to rescue me the next day.  Grateful I won that battle :-)

Dark morning run down to the blinking light and back.  It felt like a Monday morning run- took a while to get my legs working after the week-end.  Seemed like there were too many cars on the road for the first mile, and then nothing for 2 miles, followed by 3 more miles of too many cars on the road.  Why can't people stay home and let me run in peace?  AAARRRGGGHHHHH.

No chupakabras today.  They're smart and sleep in on Monday morning.

When I woke up this morning, I realized, to my dismay, that my alarm had been going off for 50 minutes before it woke me up.  It was on the radio setting, but that's always done the trick before.  I took it as a sign that my body was tired and needed sleep more than running.  Tried to get a little more sleep before starting my day off, but the sleep fairy ship had sailed and I didn't get any more sleep or any running in.

The evening was nice and cool out with a gentle breeze that made it perfect running weather.  I was surprised that my run today was even tougher than my run yesterday.  I expected sore legs on Monday, but thought my run today would be better.  Boy was I wrong.  I was so slow, but I kept plugging away and enjoying the podcast stories and the scenery.  The sunset was beautiful-

The dark fields and tree lines are misleading - it really wasn't this dark, my camera just made the ground area dark when it captured the sky's colors.  A couple of miles later I took this photo of the eastern sky.  Evidently the forecast tonight was cloudy with a chance of cotton candy.

Splitting my run up so I can do some early, play chauffer, then finish up the rest in the daylight.  3.25 in the hood- got some speedy miles in.  After the seminary drop off, I ran another 5.10 for a total of 8.35.

Some of that cotton candy colored cloud wisp was still in the sky.  Mmm...

Had to split my time up again.  I got 2.15 before seminary, then I had to go to walmart to pick up oreos but had time for a quick lap around the park before seminary ended so I got another 1.10 in then.  After dropping kiddo off at school, I ran the last 6 miles for a total of 9.2 miles.  Speed work on the first 2 runs, tempo run on the last one.  My knee started feeling sore with 2 miles left till home.  Too much speed work this week, I think.  Ice and rest for a couple of days.  No reason to mess things up at this point.

Ran 3.5 with MR and 2.5 solo.  Nice and easy, 55 degrees outside- just perfect.

Early run in the dark, moon light was perfect- just stayed in the hood and used the red headbeam to help cars see me. 

PF acting crazy this week.  Some weeks if it's not one thing, it's another.  Ran 4 with MR down to the tracks & back.  Then an hour or so of yard work followed by Iron Man 3.  A couple hours of work somewhere in between all the fun.

Ran while MR rode the bike.  It was an easy paced run, just getting out & enjoying the beautiful morning.  I remembered that I'd seen a fox on that same road a while back- but I'd forgotten about it till now. The last time I saw a fox while I was out was when I was hiking with RAD.  Ah, good times.

Drove to Rockingham's famous Hinson Lake for the big run tomorrow.  Got out tent/canopy set up (had to tie them to big rocks so they wouldn't blow away into the wetlands), checked into the hotel, got out packets picked up, and enjoyed a $7 spaghetti dinner at the local Moose Lodge.

After dinner, we went for a walk on the course.  It is a 1.52 mile dirt trail that goes around the lake,  crosses over it on one end with a long wooden bridge & has a dam on the other end - (where our canopy was set up).

We took this photo of the sunset on the lake.  It is taken from the wooden bridge looking towards the dam.  We saw ducks, frogs, and a beaver- or some large brown water rodent.

What was I thinking?  Run for 24 hours, they said.  It'll be fun, they said.  Well- it was fun in a kind of sadistic way.

This race is simple.  There's a 1.52 mile trail that loops around a lake.  There is wooden bridge across one end of the lake, and an earthen dam across the other end.  You start at the end near the dam, and you run in circles, as many times as you can, for 24 hours.  When it's over, they tally your laps and your final distance (based on where you left your banana with your # on it) if you were still out on the course, and voila!, you're finished.  You get a t-shirt and a bucket full of memories.  For the 22 lucky souls who managed 100+ miles, there's a belt buckle involved.  They certainly earned it.

We finished getting our little spot ready before the race.  A covered cot (someone said, "cool- you brought a coffin"), a canopy for shade, 2 chairs for sitting, a cooler for beverages, extra clothes for when it gets cooler at night, and an endless supply of various medical remedies for whatever may come up, or out.

There are only 275 participants allowed to register.  The first year we showed up, we registered the day of the event.  The last 3 years, it sells out in January.  Everyone gathers around the dam, a big timer is set, and they blow a horn.  Then the fun begins.  Some people just walk the whole time.  Some people run almost the whole time.  Others leave after a while, some stay all 24 hours.  There's a lot of folks who run a bunch a walk some too.  That's the category I was in.

I ran the first 26 miles, then had to stop and rub vaseline & body glide on my foot.  Already getting a hot spot- not a good thing.  I ran most of the next 24 miles, but walked a couple laps too.  I walked more than I physically needed to, but I was enjoying the company I was with at the time.  There are so many amazing stores out there, and people from all different walks of life.  The great thing is, they're all really down to earth and friendly.  I am in awe of them.  There was a really awesome masseuse there too.  Free massages all 24 hours for anyone who wanted one.  I hit her up for a leg massage somewhere in between 30 and 50 miles.  15 minutes of glorious love.

After I hit mile 50, I took a break.  It had turned dark and was getting chilly outside.  So I changed into my warmer clothes.  Or I tried.  It took me forever to try and put my running tights on.  I think I almost took up residency in the large bathroom stall since I was in there so long.  After changing,  I got some stuff to eat, and put my feet up for a while.  MR rolled off the cot for a few hours to let me sleep.  After he got 19 miles in, he threw in the towel and spent the rest of the time sleeping, drinking, and visiting the food tent. 

And let me tell you about the food tent.  It is 3 long tables of glorious nourishment.  They have everything.  One table is just for drinks.  Gatorade, Mt Dew, Pepsi, Ginger Ale, Coke, hot cocoa, coffee, etc.  Then, there's a couple tables of snacks.  A few of the things I remember are: gummy bears, peanut and plain m&m's, pretzels, candy corns, chips, pickles, oranges, bananas, cake- white and chocolate, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza- pepperoni or cheese, and hamburgers.  They also had soup.  Chicken noodle or a bean/barley/lentil vegetarian number.  Everything was delicious.  I will say though, it made me burp a lot when I was running.  Totally worth it.

Around 12:30, I felt rested enough to get back out on the trail.  I pulled my skunk hat on, threw on a head lamp, and headed out.  They had tied chem lights to the tree branches and posted them along the trail.  So you shouldn't have lost your way in the dark.  I will admit on my first go-around in the dark I almost went into a ditch because I was so busy looking for tree roots that I didn't look ahead to see that the trail turned a little.  Lucky think I caught myself before I rolled into the troll lair under the ditch bridge.  I'm used to running in the dark, but I'm not used to running for 6 hours in the dark on a trail with obstacles like tree roots, wash out areas, and sandy patches. There was a beautiful crescent moon that came up, but it wasn't enough light to help with the running in the dark bit.  I had a couple of scares when I was running alone in the dark - couldn't see anyone else in front of me or behind me- and I heard my old friend chupakabra in the trees.  He was following me and was going to devour me before I got a chance to meet my goal.  I'm pretty sure it wasn't the same one that lives near my home, but his half-breed cousin that is more bear and less wildcat.

At 75 miles, or 50 laps, I met my goal, with time to spare.  It was so satisfying!!!  MR had woken up around the same time, so we spent the rest of the time walking together.  The sun rise was beautiful.  We managed 1-1/2 loops before the horn went off and we left our bananas in the dirt next to Mt. Hinson (the "hill" on the trail- which isn't a hill at all, but the most incline we got in one place).

Total miles was 78.22.  Then we got to pack up.  Which isn't easy to do when your body is done playing nice.  But we managed.  The hardest part was having to put the big rocks back that we'd borrowed to use as anchors for the canopy.  And then we had to haul it all back to the car, which was probably 1/2 a mile away from the camp site.  And bless his heart, MR had to drag it all in one trip.  I didn't want to walk back for a 2nd trip either, but that was a lot of crap to haul up the hill to the car.  I slept almost the whole way home. 

Some photos from the event:

1- MR on the wooden bridge the night before the run.

2- Lilly pads in the lake (the blossoms opened up in the daytime- really pretty)

3-Sunset on the lake- you can see the tents/canopies set up on the dam in the distance

4- feet at 50 miles & ready for a shoe & sock change

6- MR & I on our final "banana lap"- I was tired, if you can't tell.

7- our bananas :-) ,,,,,, with the clouds reflecting in the lake.