GOATZ 50k, Year 2, The Training

Hey there! 

I just completed my second 50k trail race. It was the same race as last year's, the GOATZ 50k. You may recall from last year that I blogged about each long run and then the race. And now, surprise, an entire training season, well, actually two seasons have come and gone! Sometimes life happens that way. Read as you please. 

I knew within a couple days of finishing last year that I would want to run the 50k distance again. As a reminder, that's 31 miles. Previously, I hadn't raced anything longer than 17 miles and the jump to 31 was significant but still I knew I liked the challenge. There was something very scary and very compelling at the same time about it all. After much reflection and a muddy trail marathon in the spring (nope, haven't told you about that one), I decided that I needed to re-visit the GOATZ race. I wanted to see if I could be stronger and faster and I needed the same race to do it at.

The season of training went well. I saw the earth turn green and warm. Summer training is my favorite. I think in part because the wardrobe is so easy. I don't have to decide how to layer as I do in the spring or late fall. It's a tank and shorts every day. The humidity is it's own creature. During some runs this summer, I felt as if I've hardly run a day of my life. But because I've run through nearly all of the coldest days of the past two winters, I would take sweat stinging my eyes, clothes drenched, salt caked skin any day. I stuck to my training plan and strength routines as best I could. I could tell the hill repeats were working as I cranked out a personal best during the 4th of July 5k race my mom and I did. It only served as fuel for the fire. I was getting stronger. I was getting smarter. And I might just be getting faster even though I hadn't been working on speed primarily. 

Two hour long runs turned over into longer and longer runs. I took my legs and my racing mindset over to Dubuque and ran the Mines of Spain half marathon. My goal was to do better than last year. I kept my heart rate low and my pace patient. It helped tremendously that I knew the course so I knew where the difficult sections were. At one point I passed a guy walking and I implored him to run now because very soon he would be down to a crawl up a short but steep climb. Later he told me I was correct. I raced smartly and had a faster time than the year before. This is a great park and a really great race.

The 13.1 miles of the half marathon spilled into 15 miles and then 18 and then 20 miles. Each time the mileage jumped up, it caught me a little bit. I wanted to run it and I wasn't scared but I didn't want to run it alone. The other five days of the week when it was just me and my heart rate monitor and watch I was fine. But on long run days, the aloneness caught up to me. I marvel looking back at it now. I did do plenty of solo runs but even those were with someone in someway. Julia would be out in the heat and humidity and we would text each other about how the weather was killing us or how sweat had just shot out from my forehead and blinded me for a quarter of a mile. I would park at my friend's house for miles of hills and then chat with her afterwards in her cool air conditioning. By the time Anne and I would meet up, we'd already be sweaty but it didn't matter. We needed each other to talk through what life was throwing our way or to be each other's cheerleaders and confidants. I dragged her and Kristy out of their warm beds in the wee hours to run in the dark. The dark is not scary when you can only hear the banter of friends. When I danced a little too closely with lightening (a strike about 50 yards away), Angie flew to my rescue. When I needed to beat back the demons, Amanda helped navigate me around the very same lake I would run in a few weeks. We later moaned and laid about, eating far too much guacamole while Margot "helped" me foam roll. My mom congratulated me via Map My Run where she and I could see each other's progress. Dawn met me for a morning of barefoot drills at the track. I don't know if she liked the drills or ended up thinking I was nuts after experiencing it for herself but it doesn't matter, she was with me. I would say I ran with the high school cross country team but rather I got out of the way as they moved past like a herd of gazelles- so young, so swift, so free. I met up with Turkey friends and made new GOATZ friends as we conquered the hills of the Hitchcock Nature Preserve. I was not alone.

I'll insert a bit about other goals I had for this training cycle. After some experimenting this Spring, I worked on finding a balance for food. I needed food as fuel and as enjoyment and I needed it to be functional for the whole family. I didn't become strict about it. I didn't freak out. I didn't count calories or other things and I didn't step on the scale once. I have lots to say about this but I won't and these were my main guidelines. Because every major race I have done in the past two years with distances greater than 13 miles has found me down to a walk because of knee pain, I worked diligently on foot strength, honing my running form and strengthening my core. When I was done with my run, I wasn't done for the day. I used many exercises from Eric Orton's book, The Cool Impossible. All of these things were small adjustments, little tweaks instead of giant swings which tends to be my norm. I didn't need to reinvent running or eating or anything else. What I needed to be was more mindful and it worked.

In comparison to last year's 50k training, my body endured the training better. My friend, Jessica, said it most likely would as my body would get stronger over time. My family is happy to report that for the most part, Mom did okay. She wasn't napping nearly as much as last year and more cookies were made although she did go to bed early and one time fell asleep despite the camper being packed full with six boys. In the toughest of weeks when the training was highest, I was able to recognize it and give myself more of a break (only one meltdown). Thankfully, most of my long run weeks alternated with very busy family schedules for the most part. It did help that I kept a training journal. It's not perfectly filled out and still has good portions of blank spaces but the act of writing down my training, what I need to work on, what I ate, what the weather was, race outcomes, or whatever helped. I could see the big picture. When a run was just terrible, I could look back and see that it was okay to not have a perfect day every day. I could write down inspirational quotes or Scripture to help keep my perspective in check. I will continue to journal because it has been so helpful. 

By the end of October, I felt I was strong and ready to tackle 31 miles. 

Me and hill repeats. Breathing over smiling.

I can't help but stop and take pictures of my trail. I have about 50 of them. Here's one.

Oh the potential each day holds.

When the second run of the day hurts, it helps to take in the view.

Wet, grassy feet are difficult to stuff into toe socks. I should know that by now.

Celebrating the annual Kaelman and my mom's first 5k! 

How now, er, black cow? 

This humidity probably represents some sort of life lesson. To me it mostly means humidity. 

I don't know about you but when I watch the Trails in Motion film tour with my husband, I like my taxidermied friends to be there too. 

The Turkeys representing at Mines of Spain

Race day concentration

You never know what you'll see on a run.

The littlest trail runner and his dog.

Why, yes, Mindy, we'll gladly meet you at 5 am for 6 miles in the dark. And a selfie? No problem. 

This is what 5 am looks like.

This is the Coke can I saw a couple miles before the lightening encounter. Ha!

Miles of smiles when you have a matching running friend. 

I can't even tell you how happy I feel to be strong enough to run with this group. 

See? I'm happy. I'm running. 

Nebraska, we will meet again very soon. 

Prom, 2015

A girl. Her date. A fancy dress. Her friends. A beautiful day. This is our Prom Story.

Audrey was asked by her boyfriend to prom with a cheesy breakfast pizza prom-posal to which she said yes (and I said thank you because I had just finished up a long run and was starving). 

Then she and I dress shopped. If you recall from last year, we discovered prom dresses can  cost more than yours and mine wedding dresses did. That didn't change this year. However, armed with that knowledge we explored more avenues, found some disappointing dead-ends and walked away from more than one gorgeous but over-our budget dress before finding one. And we found shoes. And she already had jewelry she was willing to wear again. And the next day we ordered flowers. It was like a prom miracle!

Her date had to do some shopping too and oh the angst we (meaning the rest of us enduring her woeful tales) went through discovering how stores display their ties and that we (meaning her) don't like patterned ties but stores don't... blah, blah, blah... He (meaning first his mom and then her) finally found both a suit and a tie that coordinated. Bless us all!

The day of prom a pile of girls came over and overtook her bathroom and bedroom and street parking. There was hairspray, nail polish, curling irons, bobby pins, hairspray, makeup, jewelry and hairspray aplenty. It was as if Claires, Ulta and a department store dressing room collided. Their small group leader did the girls' hair while I consulted, helped make adjustments and fed them. Then all at once they scattered to pick up dates or be picked up and off we went for pictures. 

 We all met up again, this time with the boys and flowers and parents and siblings for pictures. These are the order of pictures that were on my camera and there is no use arranging them in any other order. 

I snagged this one testing out camera settings and lighting and such.

 This is one of the best candid ones. You see Audrey's natural gift for drama- some girls just have it. Also, let's note the tall boy's hair- some guys just have it. 

The three friends. 

 What the guys do while waiting for all the girl pictures to be taken.

 I'm really grateful someone suggested Audrey and I get a picture together. You see, I dressed up extra nice for the occasion. Not really. It was also the weekend of the Zumbro races and I didn't run it because of prom so I wore my shirt in honor of my friends who were. (I'll be back in two years, Zumbro, in two years.)

 And then someone's heels had to get stuck in the soft dirt. 

 Better lighting, more relaxed kids.

 We snapped picture after picture of friends, family, flowers before some final group shots.

 That lasted like two seconds. 

 The Grand March went swiftly along considering how many students participated and soon we were taking final pictures. All day, while the flurry of prom preparation whirred in the basement, Bill was prepping bikes and packing the camper for a race he and Ben were leaving for right after the Grand March but thankfully he cleaned himself up and loved on his girl. 

 They had a really nice night eating out, going to the dance, making good choices for themselves and for their friends, going to after prom and winning gift cards and giant tubs of candy, playing lazer tag, coming home super late and sleeping all afternoon the next day. 

The end.

Joe Fox and Engage

I wrote this back in December but never finished it. The lesson I learned that day has stuck with me and it was time to finish it and share it with you.

Today I stood in line at a bookstore and witnessed a scene that made me sad. Actually it made me mad. Really mad.

I had popped into the bookstore to grab a couple of magazines to read during an upcoming road trip. I noticed there was a line to the cashiers and hoped it would dwindle by the time I was ready to check out. As it turns out, the line had not only not dwindled it had in fact gotten longer. I took my place in the queue and perused the impulse items. I noticed that the line was incredibly quiet and no one seemed to be engaging in any small talk. (As you remember from my 50k race, I like to indulge in the small talk now and then.) My wait was a little over five minutes before I reached the cashiers and was third in line.

It was then that a woman caught my attention, really all of our attentions. She was voicing her frustration that a busy bookstore with more than enough employees to wander around (and apparently bothering her) asking if she needed help couldn't seem to get a clue that maybe they should put some of those employees on more registers. She really laid into the guy while simultaneously saying it wasn't his fault but the manager's and also that this was the only bookstore in town so she had to shop there. She turned to the woman next to her and apologized saying it just had to be said. The cashier muttered a few things to her but that did not appease her. I believe she huffed out of the store but I don't really know as I think I might have momentarily passed out from anger, shock and disbelief that that really just happened. 

My mind reeled with what to do with the whole thing. Indeed, there was a line and we all were witness to the whole scene and the tension was thick. I could crack a joke but what would I say? Should I sing? We all know the best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing loudly for all to hear. All it would take would be one zinger and we would all feel better and have put her in her place. Or something. As it turned out, I ended up being checked out by the same guy and I didn't say much. I was as kind as I could be, said thank you and gave him a smile. He was obviously still upset. I had planned on grabbing a coffee on the way out and decided he needed one as well. I told the woman serving me that whatever the cashier liked to drink I would buy for him. They had heard the whole thing also. I told them that no one ever should be treated like that and that if you are going to go shopping on December 23 you should expect to stand in lines. They said I was the best customer of the day and I said I wasn't.

I told the world via Facebook how it should be. But even that has made me sad. I spent the rest of the afternoon fuming and thinking about the whole thing and a few things finally came to mind.

For one, I really, really wish I had spoke directly to that cashier about the situation or at least said something more. I have been under scrutiny with an audience before and it is a hot feeling to have yourself be laid open like that. You desperately want out but what would help in the meantime is to know that someone is on your side. I can't speak for the other people in line, but I did not feel the same way as that woman. By not speaking directly to him, I feel like I conveyed I was on Team Impatient.

Secondly, I wish, wish, wish I had thought of how to diffuse the situation in the middle of it. I wish I had Joe Foxed it today. 

While this scene isn't directly related, its what played over in my mind while thinking through today. And what I mean by Joe Foxed it (my own made up term) is I wish I could have engaged the woman right there. It took me a good couple of hours to come up with what I wish I would have done, which was to start talking to that woman about what she was buying and whom the book was for and other such non-confrontational conversations. 

Engage seems to be one of the words being impressed upon me for this year. At first I thought that it would mean to seek out new relationships and get all up in them. But right now, over a month into 2015 and longer since this bookstore scene, God has shown me a little differently. I'm leaving my definition of engage a little more open and allowing Him to guide me through. 

Sole Hope, 2014

I recently discovered that I've gone through four pairs of running shoes in the past year. It came as a shock to me, really. I guess it is like tires on a dirt bike (they go through a lot) or or charging cords/earbuds on a teenager (she goes through a lot). All that being said, I am grateful my feet are healthy to run and that I have shoes to protect them when I run.

In November my friend Kate hosted another Sole Hope shoe cutting party. You may recall that she did this last year and how enthusiastic I was about the organization and their mission. I've spent the last year following them through social media (all links below) and continue to be impressed with them.

A few weeks later Kate took her Sole Hope party on the road to our church. 

Here are a few high school boys and a mom tracing and cutting. Girls- be on the lookout for guys like these. 

See? The woman in the striped shirt found an awesome guy! And little Bre is not going to let her age stop her from helping.

I don't know these people from our church but they make my heart burst with happiness!

Because so very little is needed to put on a shoe cutting party and the actual job is so easy, it is the perfect thing to do while chatting and sharing life. In other words, this provides both face to face and side by side interactions. 

These girls went from table to table picking up the cut out pieces, tossing scraps, and in general being great helpers and obviously super cute. (So sorry for the blurriness.)

I ended up working at the table where we took all the individual pieces and pinned them together into completed sets of a pair of shoes. 

I followed up with Kate recently and she told me that between the Saturday morning gathering, the Wednesday night gathering and a few other random times, she will be sending over 120 pairs to be sewn! 240 shoes!! WOW!!!

Here are all the links

Sole Hope Organization -Here you can find all the information about the organization, their mission, how to contribute and more.

Sole Hope Store -Just in case you want to do some shopping and own or give some Sole Hope items, it's all here. Buy a shirt (me + the baseball tee = gonna happen), sandals, water bottles or even baby shoes.

If you are on the social media outlets, follow them to see what life looks like day to day, to be encouraged and spurred on and to use it as a reminder to pray for them. (I feel like they do not use their photos to exploit the people they are serving which is awesome!)

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram - They are on here under Sole Hope.

I know I speak for Kate as well, I'm so thankful for all the hearts and hands and worn out jeans and empty milk jugs!!

Superior 25k Trail Race, 2014

• If you never tried things that intimidate or scare you, you'd never see how far you could go.- Coach Amber

This is what my coach told me between my Zumbro 17 and Superior 25k races. I was nervous. I was recovering from one race. I was scared for the next. 

This Superior 25k race re-cap is a long time coming since the race was in May.

It's going to be long. I'm going to share a lot. Mostly because I don't want to forget but also because it was and is an amazing run.

This video is from a 50k runner who shared it on the race's Facebook page. The first 2:25 minutes show what I ran up to the Oberg Mtn aid station. The 50k'ers continued further down the trail before turning around while the 25k'ers turned around at the Oberg station to head back.

The race coincided on the same weekend the boys were going to Zumbro to ride their bikes. Apparently (and I do not remember this but Bill says so) I agreed that he would come with me to the Zumbro race but not necessarily the Superior race. As I mentioned, I did not remember this detail and as the race got nearer and I was planning travel logistics, Bill said he would be going to Zumbro (Theilman) to ride and not to the race with me. After much crying and so on, I asked my friend, Jenn, if she would in any way be willing to drive with me to the northern shore of Minnesota for seven hours, be left for four hours or so on her own and then drive me back another seven hours. Miraculously, she said she would love to!! For this favor and for being my dear, dear friend, I am forever in debt to her.
The weather up there is tricky. Near the shoreline it is almost always cool because of the wind off the lake but warms up significantly once away from the lake. You feel that part way up the ski road and of course it was morning. Layers, but how many and what kind? I chatted with a very chatty runner and she was going to wear a wind jacket. I had everything with me but went with what I had on. I shed my long sleeve shirt and gloves not half way up Mystery Mountain. Since I knew there was still snow on the course and not sure how much, I couldn't bring myself to not wear capris. If it had warmed up any more than it did, I would have preferred shorts. As it was, I made good clothing choices. (Seriously, months of training and I'm hooked up over what to wear?)

The race director stood on a ladder to share last minute details. The 50k racers had started earlier that morning and were reporting that there was giant, shoe-sucking mud holes with dangerous rocks in them. Awesome. Really couldn't expect anything else since the week before there was still snow up to four feet deep in some places. 

A section of the trail a week before the race

All the evening before and the morning of, I was nervous. I was trying to be cool but Jenn could totally tell. She made me go to bed but was asleep before me. She sat I while I fiddled with stuff. I couldn't bluff her. However, once I got to the starting line, I felt a strange sense of calm. I was here and I was going to do this. I held back at the start even though this time I placed myself mid-pack. I'm okay with getting passed but there is something to not starting at the back. I knew how I sort of wanted to run the start and stuck to it.

Can you spot me?

We quickly log-jammed once on the trail because of the mud. Running was down to picking through the mud. I walked only a bit because of just trying to not go out too quick but by the second mud hole, I couldn't take it anymore. There was going to be mud all over this course and there wasn't a way to avoid it. Since I had my fair share in Zumbro, I was already over it and shot up the middle and passed probably 10 people. It was a great move. I got to the first camping spot and shed my long sleeves and gloves. I remembered all the gnarly roots and rocks from Bill and my run last fall and said hello to them. Climbed some steep parts, then made it to the overlook to the southeast. That is pretty much the summit of the trail. Whooped and hollered and headed down being careful with my form. Slippery mud, slippery planks over mud. 

The second pair of shoes I trashed in two months time.

The climb up Moose Mtn was an adventure since I've never been on that section. I took it all in. One thing I noticed right away was that the smell had changed to pine. It hit me and, while not refreshing, took on a significance of its own. I always notice changes in scent on the trails. (insert farting joke)

This isn't taken at an angle. This is the angle of the trail. 

The trail was quite steep and I was sometimes face to foot with the person ahead of me. The top of Moose is so different than I expected. Grasses and less gnarly trail. I loved that section and cruised along, chatting with someone from Mpls who was with someone from Des Moines. We headed down and I made a mental note about the trail. Essentially, it wasn't going to be all that fun going back up. A long decent. I couldn't really place where the aid station was in correlation to Oberg Mtn. and the kind of elevation we encountered when my family hiked there a couple years ago. Well, it turns out that Oberg is its own little fun time of a climb.
The man I had been chatting with had passed me but was only slightly ahead of me. We came to a fork in the trail where we were to turn right. There was a big sign with trail and information about Oberg Mountain on it. He turned to look at it and tripped over the most obvious rock in the middle of the trail. He turned head over heels, tried popping up only to go back over again. It wasn't necessarily graceful but it did happen fast. He said he was okay but I've taken a tumble before (not of that magnitude) and it leaves you shaken up for a while. Trail running tip- keep your eyes on the ground.
I got to the aid station and grabbed a gel and some pretzels. I learned from Zumbro that I can shave some time off just getting in and out faster, which is something I've heard and read before as well. I decided I didn't need to hang around anymore and back in I went.
All along the trail are low sections that are covered with planks to keep one out of the water. The Spring had been unusually cold and the snow was still melting so there was a lot of standing water in the low sections. With runners bouncing across the planks, it made them wet, muddy and slippery. Plus, the planks weren't secured at both ends and so sometimes there was a teeter totter effect- me being the lightweight and a guy runner being the heavier weight. Yikes! Well this time I was crossing a plank over standing water when my right toe caught on basically nothing and I hurtled towards the water. Behind me I heard all the runners gasp as they watch me fall. But I didn't fall. I landed upright on my feet. Standing there in the water I assessed the situation and announced that that could have gone a lot worse than what it did and hopped back on the plank and kept moving!

Oh wooden planks. You look so dry and runnable here. 

As I suspected, going back up Moose was a challenge. I hit the stair section and just kept climbing. I knew they would have to end. I kept going even though my legs were on fire. It's interesting but always at the top I have to take a few more steps but then I'm ready to resume running. So I did. I didn't feel like I was flying through this section in the same way as out but kept going. The rocks and roots take on a new face when looked at from a different direction. By now my right knee is definitely making itself known. I pressed when I could. I was on the backside of things and I knew if I could make it down Moose without too much more pain, I could probably endure whatever happened on Mystery. At the top or near the top since I'm not sure exactly where that was, I knew I was finishing this and finishing it well. My mind was a party of "You're doing it!" I was going to leave it all out there even if it meant hobbling for a week after.
Early on, I had challenged myself to not walk or hike Mystery at all coming back- that I would run it. Well, as would happen, I met up with a group of people who slowed to a walk. Some of them were 50k's and I think they earned their walking. I stayed with them for a while. It turns out, my Garmin became more and more out of sync with the mileage. In my mind, I knew the race didn't have four miles more to go, but my watch said so. But I also realized uphill at that point for me was my strength. I could climb/hike/run faster than those around me, so I passed a few people and got going. Downhill was so hard. My knees were painful but I was determined to leave it all out there. I slowed down quite a bit more than I wanted too but kept going. At some points I would realize my knees didn't hurt only to have them immediately start hurting again. Mental? Several people passed me and they probably would have anyway and I tried to not let it bother me. I was still running what I thought was my best race and I wasn't going to begrudge them for wanting to get it over with as well.

I've found that during training runs I can focus enough to pray but during races I can't focus like that. Maybe it's because I want to get a "good' prayer in? Whatever. What I can do is focus on shorter things. During this section while I was trying not to think of my knee, I started on working my way through the attributes of God alphabetically. "A"- God you are Awesome. "B"- God you are Beautiful. "C"- God you are Creator. I never made it farther than "C" because I started having a little worship session in my heart and mind. The man I told you about earlier had shared with me that he was out running because he was on a spiritual journey. He was worshipping the created when he should have been worshipping the Creator. When you see a beautiful tree, sunrise, sunset, vista, or even a cloudy and blown over day with cold piercing through- its all to point to the One who created it! "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." Genesis 1:1 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- his eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:20 I loved being up there, running up and down those mountains, mucking in the mud, balancing over slippery boards, testing my resolve on rocks and stairs but in my last miles back, I worshipped. I worshipped the Loving Creator who made me and all that I was experiencing.   

Poplar River is breathtaking any time of year

An interesting sensation started once I crossed the bridge until I reached the parking lot- my left (right? don't remember now) butt started feeling flabby. Sort of tingly but more like someone was taking my butt cheek and the back of my thigh and jiggling it around. I'm only believing this is a real running symptom of some kind since just about everything else I've mentioned to my coach, she's come back with an answer. Well, it stopped or I stopped paying attention to it once I hit the pavement. (My coach got back to me and said she hadn't any idea about this so now you know about my weird butt thing.) Also, running pavement after running all that trail wasn't nearly as easy as you might think. I wanted to bolt to the finish line but my body wasn't playing. I just kept going. Amazingly, I hated the finish area. It's tucked behind the condos and I really didn't know where it went. Also, there was about 10 feet of really slippery snow as you go from road to the path and that's just stupid for not clearing that. 

I finished this race in 3 hours, 44 minutes. This finish placed me about halfway for overall finishers, female finishers, and age group finishers for the 25k. I was really happy with my effort. My friend, Jenn, was there to meet me at the end and give me a huge hug. It was so nice to have her there to be my friend, cheer me on and help me out while my brain, emotions and body turned to mush.

Jenn and I

I really couldn't believe I was ran a race that I only hoped I could do one day. A race that made my stomach do flip-flops when I looked at the elevation chart. This race was my biggest dream and I did it!!

A majority of these pictures were taken from other the race or runners' sharing on the Superior Trail race Facebook page.

Superior Trail Race website and Facebook page