My very first marathon

After months of training this past Saturday the day had finally arrived. The North Face Endurance Challenge Marathon in Madison - or to be more accurate Eagle, WI which is about 2 hours away from Madison (but Madison is hip and sells better on the advertisement). I had been getting more and more nervous the week of the race, where my thoughts would not allow anything other to be processed than visualizing the course and making sure I knew all the things I had to prepare and how I would handle them.

Surprisingly enough, I slept really well the night before and as I was preparing my breakfast on race day and getting the last things together, I felt really calm. Since there was also a 50 mile and 50k race that day, my starting time was not until 9am. On the one had, I was glad, because it meant I didn't have to get up at the crack of dawn, but on the other hand, it posed a problem. I had never done any of my long runs this late in the morning, so I didn't know how to properly fill my stomach to not get too hungry, since it would be later, when I finish and not overfill it.

I had asked Homebody and the little one to just greet me at the finish line, since I knew it would be many hours between the start and my finish and I didn't want them to have to drive out twice or hang out for such a long time. I drove myself to the race. The morning was very beautiful. After the weather forecast changing on me many times and me going "Oh, no not rain!", "Okay, that's better", "Wait, not that hot" the morning started off nicely! When I arrived the 50k and 50mile runners had already left and the marathoners were starting to trickle in. You could sense that everyone was a bit nervous and that combined with the fact that many people didn't know each other yet, there was an abundance of cell phones on the scene. I swear each runner was updating their Facebook status "Okay, marathon day is here" or "I am about to hit the trails - marathon style" or something like that or just texting or surfing the internet. Even more telling was that I only saw smart phones. If I would be doing a survey on the most popular phone, this would have been a good place to start.

Speaking of start, after waiting around for a while, walking, jogging and stretching to get ready, all of the sudden the race was about to start. Countdown and off we went. Or at least for 50 steps, then everybody reached a bottle neck and we already had to walk. People were joking and saying stuff like "Here goes the minute I counted on" or "Geez, I thought I would make it farther running than that". Those jokes set the stage for the kind of people that were part of this race.

It didn't take me long to find somebody who was running my pace and following him in his footsteps to not take off too fast. Since after a while, there weren't too many people around us, I decided to pull up next to him and introduce myself: "Hey just wanted to say thanks for pacing, and no I am not a creep following you so closely". Luckily he was happy to serve and for the better part of 10 miles we stuck more or less together. Our new found "friendship" almost went sour, when he paced right to the first aid station's bathroom and took it before me. I "hmpfed" and decided I could wait another 5 miles. For a short while thereafter our pacing group increased to six people. I didn't like the feeling of having somebody directly behind me and placed myself at the end of the group.

When I reached the next aid station, I started making the first mistake of my race. I felt like I needed more than just water an pretzels and drank something with flavor. Between this and the next aid station my stomach started to hurt when I was running. I had to walk here and there, but ran once I saw the next aid station. Second mistake: Now that my stomach hurt, I felt like it needed food and I ate a little bit of a PBJ. BIG mistake. Not only did my stomach not like it, but I actually hate PBJ and it took all my might to swallow and not spit things out in front of a group of people. After mile 17.5 it went downhill. My stomach never felt upset, but whenever I forced myself to run for a little while, it felt like I had a spleen in the front of my stomach that was about to rupture. Walking did not aggravate it and so the last 8.7 miles were spent mostly walking.

I promised myself to stay in good spirits and enjoy this adventure, because I knew it would be a while before I embark on a marathon journey again. Those distances just take too much time away from the little one and make things rougher on Homebody. I absolutely loved the company of all the other runners around. Everybody was cheering each other on and you could rely on people watching out for each other. My pacing buddy turned around a couple of times, when I scraped a rock with my shoe to make sure I hadn't bit the dust. One of our six team pace runners, hit the ground a couple of times and we were all there to get him back up and check that he was okay. Later in the race another lady and I checked in with somebody hunched over at the side of the road re-checking if he had the right food intake, which he obviously didn't since it was hitting the ground again. Oddly enough, it wasn't even weird at that moment - although I do think he was a little embarrassed. I had lots of nice conversations along the way and whenever people were asking me, how many marathons I had done and I said that this was my first one, they looked at my astonished and said "and you chose this one?".

Yes, I did and I proudly crossed the finish line near the end of the pack. I accomplished my goal. I finished 26.2 miles. I learned a lot and I loved all the people I met.

And the best of it all, I got to go to the runners tent afterward and get myself a free massage. Heaven I say. We should all be so lucky!

"Just run and jump"

This morning I headed out for my second to last really long run, before the marathon. 19 miles were on the menu. Since Homebody and I spent so much time ziplining yesterday as a celebration of our 10th wedding anniversary, I didn't want to take up too much time driving anywhere for my run today, so he could return to his studies. Instead I decided on running three loops (just over 6 miles each) in the county park behind our house.
When I walked out the door I made up my mind that I would try to do the first approximately 14 miles, without stopping at all (not even a potty break. For those who don't know, I have been known for designing my runs around the best pit stops). A little bit of stretching and loosening up and off I went.
I like heading out early in the morning, especially when I run in this park. I calculated that starting at 6am would give me at least one complete loop, without having to face too many owners with their dogs off leash (yes, there are many signs around the park asking specifically that dogs be kept on a leash, but even a picture does not seem to help the blatantly ignorant, which seems to calculate in almost any dog owner you meet in the park).
I was lucky. For almost the first two rounds, I only came across two. Once little fellow jumped up my leg, while Ms. Owner yelled at the dog to come back. It is kind of amusing that people do that, because you know that the owners who yell the loudest are the ones that have the littlest control over their canines. I especially laugh inside, when the dog decides that I am going faster than their owner and that it would be much more fun to run alongside me than going with them.

When I reached my goal point of 14 miles, I decided that I had already made it this far without stopping and might as well make it the whole way. During the last round especially, I could feel myself hitting walls much quicker than before. From the very beginning I had found my mantra of the run (one that I think I would like to keep for the future). Yesterday during the zipline tour after the initial nerves of being a little afraid of heights had settled, I had done really well throughout the tour and gotten to totally enjoy zipping among trees. For most of the ziplines, you get prepared and just slowly sit down in your harness and go. Not so for the very last one. It is called the "Dual Racing zipline" and you race your partner on the zipline right next to you. You can gain speeds up to 45mph and are caught be a breaking system in the end rather than having to break yourself. For this zipline, you are asked to not slowly sit down in your harness and instead run down two steps, along the platform and jump as far out as possible. Homebody and I were the first ones to go and to my own surprise, I didn't hesitate at all. All the details of my thoughts weren't clear to me in that moment, but I remembered every second of it during my run today. Whenever I felt myself being hesitate about continuing during those 19 miles, I kept telling myself to "just run and jump". I remembered the moment, I left the platform and the thought of "wow, I really did it", before I was caught be the harness. As soon as the harness caught me and I started zipping along, all I could think about was how much fun it was. That's what I visualized during my run today as well.

It worked for the most part. When I really hit the wall, I pictured myself as a football player pushing the blocking sled across the field. Except mine was a wall. There was one point at about mile 17, where I was caught off guard. My brain suddenly screamed "STOP" and my body was still moving. I must have looked very funny, because I stumbled and caught myself and kept going. I stuffed a salt pretzel in my mouth and pushed forward until the feeling vanished and I just became amused by myself.

If I could have, I would have high-fived myself, when I reached the end. Instead I just ran and jumped.

Still there

This past week has been a dreadful one in my running history. I couldn't quite figure out what was wrong. All I know is that despite my strongest efforts to keep running, I kept finding myself stopping long before my runs where over. On some days, I ran-walked to the end. On one day, I knew my brain was still way too cluttered from work and I accepted the fact that I simply needed to walk the miles to clear my head.

After that, I wasn't quite sure how to feel about setting out this morning for the 17 miles that where on my running schedule. I hadn't even made it a quarter of this distance this week. I told myself that I would just blame the week on the super hot weather (having my running time right after work, when it is still way too hot outside, is definitely a good excuse for this). And this morning I wasn't about to let that deter me.

So I sat my alarm at 4:30am. I thought I woke up before it, but once I got up realized that the alarm was on, but that it had been outdone by the air conditioner. I managed to get out of bed without the little one waking up. Success number 1!

At around 5:30am I started my journey on the Scuppernong section of the Ice Age trail. In not even half a mile I had already stopped again. The water in my hydration pack was sloshing left and right and I felt like I was being forced to sway side to side with the rhythm of the water. I feared I would run an extra couple miles (or I would be pulled over for drunk running) swaying so much, so I stopped and took the bladder out of the hydration pack to make sure all the air was sucked out. Aah, better! Note to self: Run around before the actual marathon and make sure the hyrdation pack bladder has no more air in it or you will be sorry! At about mile one, the Ice Age trail goes straight through the Pinewoods Campground. A very popular place this weekend. When I made my way through only a couple of people had embraced the way like me. The first one started it with a very important session at the closest pit toilet, while the other was farther away practicing Tai Chi in the field. The only one who actually saw me, was the faithful little dog who was waiting outside the bathroom for his owner. I think he was way to worried about his companion inside though to care about me passing by.

In order to make this run easier on my brain, I told myself that I was running only 8.5 miles ---twice. It seemed to work. The only thing I still had to block out was the thought about having to come back the route, whenever I hit a set of downhills. I had never been on this part of the Ice Age Trail and didn't know it would have several downhill switchbacks on my way out. I just told myself that on the way back at least my legs would be completely warmed up and coming back uphill would be much easier.

It was a great run. I just flew fairly easy. The variety of terrain kept my interest and I was glad to discover that the section that I would be doing for my marathon was less hilly than the one I had decided to start with today. I am very excited to see the single track trail that I will be taking.

At the end of my first 8.5 miles, I took a little spur trail up do to a scenic overlook.

The second 8.5 miles where not as bad as I had pictured them to be, when I made my way out. I was surprised to see how many downhills where in that section. They must have rebuild the trail while I was running, because I was sure I went mostly downhill on the way out and couldn't possibly have this many downhills on the way back. Amazing what they can do nowadays!

It was a great finish to a doubtful running week and I was glad to see that I still have it in me!

Change of plans

So I started my journey bright and early this morning. After discovering last week how wonderful it was to get my long run done at the crack of dawn, I decided to continue the trend. I am not sure though how many more times I will get away with it, as the little one just seems to have an internal sensor when I want to get up and doesn't let Homebody sleep any longer either. But for this morning, I was out the door by 5:30am. I drove the 10 minutes to the Ice Age Trail trail head, but as soon as I had stopped the car in the parking lot, I discovered that my plans were in need of adjustment. I hadn't even gotten out of the car, when it was swarmed with biting flies. They were everywhere. For a moment I contemplated stepping out of the car to see how bad they really were. But on second thought realized that there were too many and that the car would be filled with them, before I would have a chance to get back in. I drove out of the parking lot and to the trail head. Since it was so early in the morning, no other cars where on the road. I stopped the car at the trail head, in hopes that I would find less biting flies here. Yeah, wasn't happening. Knowing that the trail would lead along the Oconomowoc river, I knew I had no chance of escaping. So I turned around and drove back home. But I was determined to not give up on my Sunday morning 16 mile run. As I was driving, I already planned the route through the park next to our apartment complex in my head. I knew I could do 6 miles without having to repeat a trail. Do that twice and another four---mind you, my math isn't the greatest, but I think I got that one right--- makes 16 miles. Since it was still early, I got the first round and a half all to myself, before people started waking up and walking their dogs. But the first round I only shared with some deer, and a very skittish buck. The doe was very curious watching me run for a while, the buck ran away (or maybe he just crossed the pass really fast to show off and make a point in showing me that there was no way I could catch up with him). I also came across a wild turkey with about 6 or 7 little ones. Although it wasn't nice of me to scare them, it was nonetheless pretty breathtaking to see all the little ones flutter into a nearby tree. The adult took a little longer and then heavily followed after them. The rabbits, I think where the most annoyed by my early morning run. Especially the ones, I came across more than ones (since I was repeating rounds). I swear they sat at the exact same spot and gave me a look of "it's Sunday, chill out. Just go play somewhere else, but give me the peace I deserve, for crying out loud" (well, I never listened to my parents, so why would I listen to a bunny). No pictures were taken on this run, because I needed to proof to myself that I would do these 16 miles without much stopping and since I run in this park all the time, I didn't take any pictures today. You just have to imagine it this time....

Decisions

Things have been different, ever since I finished the trail half marathon in May and had to switch gears to start thinking about the marathon I signed up for. This one was going to take place on Milwaukee city streets. Because I had almost exclusively trained on trails I had to make the conscious choice to add some asphalt runs back into the game.
You can probably tell by my approach to writing this introduction that I didn't like it. Motivation started lacking and I found reasons left and right to do "just this one" on the trail. I had build up expectations of how exciting it would be to run one of the local bike trails 15 miles from end to end. Well, it sucked. Almost from beginning to end. I didn't like it. I walked good portions of it dreading every step of the final 15th mile, determined to at least not have it beat me completely. I high-fived the number 15 marker and was glad to see Homebody and the little one at the end.

Whether it was my bad attitude about this last run or it really was the harder surface, my ankles took at toll from this run and I had to stop completely for a week, as I was afraid I would mess up something so badly, I wouldn't even get to marathon time.

Lucky for me my boss was a physical therapist in his former life and I asked him for advice ('cause as everyone who knows me knows, I wasn't going to see a doctor). He pulled out his anatomy book and showed me exactly which ligament it is that is causing the issue. He said that I could continue running on it and showed me some exercises that I can do to prepare them for better running. Done. That evening I was back on the trail.

My thoughts have since circled around saying goodbye to the road marathon and instead signing up for the one I had eyed from the beginning. A trail marathon in September. But I since my last long run didn't exactly go so well, I wanted to wait until I set out for another longer distance this weekend.

I decided to explore a new section of our local "Ice Age Trail", a single track hiking trail. I was sold before I came to the turn around point. I left just at sun rise (5am) on a Saturday morning (yes, I am crazy, no need to ask). But seeing the first rays of the orange morning sun through the trees and running along the Oconomowoc river, was breathtaking. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do it any justice.


I didn't see a single human. My acquaintances were deer, wild turkey, chipmunks (one kamikaze one that dared to run out right in front of my foot to see if it could be faster across than I would be forward. It made it, but I sure hope it was worth the adrenaline for that little guy), squirrels and a frog. I knew then what I had missed on the road (yes, you can see all these animals on the road, but I do prefer them alive). The decision as been made and this morning I signed up for the marathon at the North Face Endurance Challenge in Madison (although it isn't really in Madison, but I guess that's what they like to call it).

New Horizons

Last weekend I went running with my two best friends. It was great fun and I was happy to see both of them enjoy my favorite trail just as much as I do. I got to show them everything trail running, even how to stumble and fall.

Was it graceful and a superb example? Honestly, I have no idea, because I can't remember how I fell. All I remember is that on the way down I was contemplating the best way to catch myself and by the time I hit the ground, I was laughing internally about my stupidity. I must have been inspiring though, because both of my friends tried to imitate and might I say, even tried to outdo me in my fall. Didn't quite hit the tree there, Erin and Dave didn't make it all the way to the ground either :-) Thank you for joining me on the run. I hope after my thoughts out loud here, you will do it again.

Today I meant to go running in the morning, but we were awoken by thunderstorms that lasted a good portion of the morning. So I had to switch things up and plan for a run in the afternoon. That meant more time to get nervous and think about the fact that my longer runs from this point forward are venturing out further than I have ever run before. I almost psyched myself out before it was time to go, but I just put my fingers in my ears and went "lalala", so I wouldn't listen to my own thoughts and went out the door.

Because the marathon I am training for will not be on trails, I now have to put some asphalt running back into my training, which to be honest, I am not too excited about at this point. So I decided to create a 14 mile run for myself today that incorporated both paved biking trails and a run along my favorite hiking trail in my absolutely favorite park. I started out running 3 miles on a paved biking trail. The sun was hammering down on the pavement and it didn't take long to feel sweaty and just a little uncomfortable. The weirdest thing about this run was that I was the only runner among tons of families out for a bike ride. They all seemed to look at me funny, but I just smiled and nodded and imagined that they were just all astonished that I was doing the distance on foot instead of on a bike and that they were glad they didn't have to be me. I switched from a side road biking trail to the major biking trail that I think I could take all the way to Madison if I would feel so inclined (which at this point I do not, just in case you were wondering).

The Ice Age Trail, my favorite long distance hiking trail in this area, turns off from the bike trail into Lapham Peak State Park. I was quite happy to take a turn from the bike trail and enter into single lane hiking trial mode. Because of the rainy morning not many people were out hiking.

I took some sections a little slower as the rocks were still really wet and I didn't want to add to the fall from last week. Being baptized into trail running once is enough for at least a little while (I can save the bloody knees and hands for the next trail race, because I am sure then it will look tough...). Now I felt like I was back at home. I took the trail the whole way through the park and out the back end.

A quick wave to the car that was parked at the other end of the park and then I ignored it as I ran by to continue my journey. I didn't want it to get too excited and give me a disappointed look if I didn't stop - like my daughter when I don't do exactly what she wants me to do. If I would have seen that look on the car, I might have changed my mind about continuing. But I knew it would get over the hurt by the time I return and so I kept going.

Although this continuing route is still the Ice Age Trail at this point it joints paths with yet another biking trail (there are tons of those around in this area). The scenery here was completely different. Roads, cars, and even some cute little restaurants to run by.

When I finished the 14 miles and got back in the car after stretching out (I was afraid that if I didn't stretch, I wouldn't be able to bend my knees and I wasn't sure the police officer would buy my story, if I get pulled over for speeding), all I wanted is to go home and get myself a high five from the little one and Homebody. I had to beg for the high five, but it still felt good.

Ice Age Trail - Half Marathon

Yesterday I had the honor of running my very first trail race. It seems like my half marathons are supposed to be surrounded by impossible events. The first time the morning of my marathon started with a huge thunderstorm and branches still had to be cleared out of the way before the race could start. This time, it was a little less dramatic. The little one has been sick for a good portion of the week leading up to my big race and the night before the race, she had the worst cough and could not sleep (and thus neither could I). An alarm was not needed to make sure I get up in time. I kept telling myself that I have read in several books that you should try to get enough sleep in the week leading up to a big race and that this should make up for a lack of sleep the night before the race. I was just hoping this would be true. Because of the little ones sickness, I drove alone to the race. She was in not so great shape, when I left and so we thought, they shouldn't come. It was sad to think that I wouldn't see Homebody and little one at the finish line, but if she wasn't feeling any better, we didn't want to have her out there for that long.

I have never run a trail race, so I wasn't sure what to expect in comparison to a road race. I can affirm now that the atmosphere at a trail is indeed more relaxed. There were only 160 half marathoners which made it much more intimate. When everybody was lined up at the start, the crowd could even quiet down enough to listen to the race director explaining the route and giving last words of advice. He didn't even need a speaker system, which apparently had experienced some issues after the 50 mile and 50K runners had started earlier.

He just counted down and off we went. The first big difference to a road race I noticed was that there was not such a great sense of urgency as you always experience in a road race. In a road race as soon as it starts, people are impatiently passing each other and trying to make sure to get in the right spot for their pace. This time this happened in a much more calm way. There was no rush to get ahead and this made me much more calm about first figuring out what my comfortable pace feels like.

The very beginning part of the race led us through a fairly flat area of the moraines. At the beginning there were three tattooed ladies in front of me who just chatted away. I could here them talk that they had been afraid this would be too difficult hill wise, because they hadn't run many hills, but that (at about mile 1) it wasn't that bad. I think I wasn't the only one grinning at their words, knowing that this was just a side shoot trail and the big portion of the trail with all the rolling hills was still ahead of us. After passing them, I actually didn't see them again.

The course consisted of two loops. My first loop went really well. I felt good and once the field had cleared out a little, I started to enjoy the beauty of the trail. At the end of the first round, there was a photographer laying on the grass taking picture. I didn't see him at first and jokingly said to him while passing "You're like a cop-car hiding in the grass". I hope it put a smile on my face, when he took the picture, because I just saw his work for other races on his page today and he takes awesome shots. If my shots turn out that good, he can hide in the grass for any races I do.

The second loop provided more challenges than the first one. My lack of sleep started to become apparent. I could feel fatigue set in. My hydration pack became my life line. I ate some saltine crackers I had brought with me. My mouth felt so dry at that moment that I must have looked like cookie monster, with dry pieces of saltine cracker flying everywhere out of my mouth (maybe actual cookies would have worked better...). Note to self, find something more moist for the next race. Every runner that I passed or that passed me was as encouraging as possible. We all told each other what a great job the other was doing. On some parts of the race, the longer distance runners had to come from ahead of us and we knew to cheer them on. The funny thing was that I congratulated several runners on their great performance and as they ran by noticed that they didn't have a race number on. I wondered if these were runners that were just out on a training run today and chose the route, because they knew everybody would cheer them on for their great effort. I mean that's not usually something you can get otherwise on a regular training run :-)

My last two miles were a challenge of willpower. Luckily, I came across the "lady in black" who helped me stay motivated for these last efforts. We played leap frog for quite some time. She sprint down the hills and pass me, during the next up hill I would pass her. At one point we ran next to each other and she said "You are such a killer on those uphills. You catch me every time". I said that I am so terribly slow at walking any hills that I don't know what else to do but run them. I thanked her for keeping me going and she did the same. It was nice to share that moment and it was nice to have somebody compliment you on running hills, when you already feel really exhausted. It sure helped me to not even think about walking the last three hills that led up to the finish line. It felt so good to cross. And "the lady in black" and I found each other afterward to congratulate each other on a good finish.

Beside the "lady in black" I was also welcomed by my friends (thanks for coming out!) and to my surprise by Homebody and the little one. They decided they didn't want to stay away and I was so happy for it. During the last hills, I had hoped to see their smiling faces. Thanks to all four of you for cheering me on and making my finish special!!!

I think, despite the more challenging terrain of rolling hills that I haven't experienced in road races and my exhaustion at the end, my vote is for trail races. The people seemed so much more relaxed and you just can't beat the serenity and beauty of the trail!