Rugged Maniac 5K!

I'm not sure if you'd call this a "guest post" but this one is all about my partner T.


T did the Rugged Maniac 5K in Louisville Kentucky last Saturday.

 
In case you don't know about this type of race, here's the description given by the website:
 
"Designed with the assistance of Navy SEALs*, Rugged Maniac is a running event that combines the most rugged terrain and burly obstacles to allow those with a sense of adventure to define themselves, then bask in glory at an after party with live music, food and beer."
"Each Rugged Maniac features at least fifteen obstacles constructed by an experienced crew of licensed contractors. These aren’t the pop-up kiddie obstacles you’ll see at other races. You’ll climb over walls up to 7’ high, crawl through mud under barbed wire, hop from stump to stump over a pit of water, slide down a 60’ water slide, navigate a web of pipes, jump over fire and face many other challenges all while running through a combination of forests, fields, motocross tracks and ski slopes.
Unlike other races, we won’t run you around a glorified golf course and proclaim it rugged. We won’t make you wait in ridiculous lines mid-course and pretend you’ve been challenged. We won’t tack on additional parking fees to the cost of registration. Instead, we offer a truly challenging and well-organized course that beats all others."

Wow....after reading that, I can't believe she still went through with it!  At first, I thought it sounded like fun, and then she told me all about it after words....I think I changed my mind!! lol

BEFORE

Brad (T's friend) T, and her daughter A.  Sooo cute!

Waves of runners leave every 30 minutes, this was T's "wave". 

Getting ready to start.

And they're off!

These were the obstacles involved: 

1 down hill, up hill

2 rope climb a wall

3 climb rope ladder

4 wet slide

5 muddy water pool

 

6 climb up and over 4 wooden walls [this was my least favorite!!]

 7 carry log up rock stairs

8 walk through river

9 crawl through barrel

10 get through rope web

11 crawl through tractor tire

12 crawl through mud under barbwire

13 jump over fire pit!
I think this is most all of them, in between all of these were more and more HILLS!!!

Good

I completed!

time 1:13:56

Finished 455/498 females in the race!

I didn't skip any obstacles!!

Awesome Swag!

Got a Beer at the end.

BAD:

Was totally not prepared for the soreness that came from using muscles I forgot I had. I am from flat Land.

The only other Bad was one of the obsticles, a huge wall you had to get over. If I wouldnt have had two Awesome guys with me, I would have had to skip the walls.

I was reading afterwards about another Muddy Race, and it said that you get a medal for finishing. I kind of wish I had got a medal. But I can say I did it and completed it. So that is good enough bragging rights for me!!

&UGLY:: Hills, Hills and more HILLS /~'^\-/^'\

But when it's all said and done.....

There's a smile on her face!!!

So proud of my partner!  She's a RUGGED MANIAC!!!!

Just singing in the rain...what a wonderful feeling....

Okay, due to this AWESOME (note the sarcasm) Indiana weather, our five mile run and 13 mile run are not going to happen this week.

Also, due to the incredible amount of people lacking common sense, T and I have made a mutual agreement that if one of us needs to change the schedule and do what we call an "angry run", then we skip the intervals, decrease the mileage, and flat out run the frustration out.  On an angry run...talking is optional, speed is not.  I had one of these days not too long ago, and T didn't like that I did it alone.  So now we have an understand and a standard in place when these things happen.  Sometimes you just don't want to talk about your day, but skipping the run isn't an option either.  Now, we can just run in silence...run until we curse, sweat, bleed, and possibly cry....or 3 out of 4 isn't bad.  lol

Last night I got an email from T saying she needed an angry run.  I said "okay, 'nuf said...I understand".  I went home, got ready...was EXTREMELY pumped for a run in the rain....purposefully running in rain hasn't happened for us yet.  By the time she got off of work, she was in a better mood...but the running was on.  She was running late, so I took off and did a lap around my addition...something like 3/4 mile..probably a little less than that.  It was a good warm up.  Once she got off of work, I headed to her house and we were off.  The misty rain felt great!  We got some funny looks from people passing in their cars...but who cares?!  We set out to only run a mile and ended up doing over 2!  I ran home after words, making my total RUN for the night just shy of 3.5 miles!  Saaweeett!



I think I was more wet from sweat than the rain!!

I wore my new shoes with new insoles...they felt great with one exception.  The backs are too high and they rubbed my Achilles tendon raw.  I'm going to work on stretching that part of the shoe to counter act that.  But otherwise, awesome shoe!

LOOOOOVE the color of these bold new kickers!

I got home just in time to cook a healthy dinner for my hubs.  Now I don't usually post food stuff...but the kitchen is really my home.  So here's what I made....doesn't really have a name.

Slice up and cook some turkey sausage in a little olive oil.

Use a can of sliced new potatoes and brown until crispy...salt and pepper.

In a separate pan, add a can of corn and green beans.

Once everything has been cooked, mix everything together.  Add a little dried onions and parsley and let boil for a few more minutes.  Serve.

MM..MM...good.

NEW KICKERS!!!!

I'm sooo excited for the new kickers I ordered! 



Women's Nike Dual Fusion ST 2

 I went through Dick's Sporting Goods because I had a $15 coupon and a $25 gift card to use.  These bad boys were originally $69.99.  I searched for a cheaper price, but since they are a newer design, the price is pretty much the same no matter where you go.  I ended up paying something like $32.09!!!  Rock on!!!  Dick's was currently running a deal for free shipping on all shoes....double score!  I only have a couple of weeks to get them broken in before Fort 4 Fitness...so I plan to jump right on that as soon as I can.  I think our 3 mile walk is canceled for tonight due to rain..but there's always things we can do in doors.  Core muscles need some work out too.  I read up on it on Runner's World today...very interesting stuff!!!

I love these shoes!!  I know that they are BOLD...but THAT'S ME!!!!  :D

PCT race recap part 2

The good/what worked:

We fueled at miles 3 and 6.  I felt a difference after fueling.

Our pace and intervals were good.  We'll be using the same interval, or something close to it for F4F.

We knew the area, we were very familiar with the trails...so we didn't get lost like so many other runners.

Bug spray!  We knew we'd be going through the woods and that we'd just had a good rain.  We both put some on and we were glad we did!  They weren't bad...but we were ready if they had been.

Cheering friends!  Always a plus!  We encouraged others as we passed them and they cheered us on as well.  Always gives you a good boost of energy to hear that you are doing a good job.

It was suggested to me to take immodium before the race.  GOOD suggestion.  I get nervous before races and I was a little worried about needing a potty break along the way.  It never crossed my mind once.  It was nice not to have to worry about it.

I tried something different this time.  I applied some Glide to my eye brows to keep the sweat from going into my eyes.  I've seen wresslers do this...so why not runners?  It worked!  Just be careful not to rub it into your eyes.

We didn't walk through any intervals!

The bad/what didn't work:

We took water at every station, plus we carried water on our fuel belts.  I started to feel water logged after a while.  Might consider taking water from every other station and using my bottles in between when needed.

We fueled at miles 3 and 6.  I had a hard time with the consistancy of the Bloks at mile 6.  I might need to look in to another type of fuel. 

The skirt...cute...but what a mistake!  I put tons of glide on...which only made my huge thighs feel like they were welded together.  Even when running, there was no seperating those suckers!  I kept pulling the shorts down....annoying!  Might be better suited for shorter distances.

Gatorade is a NO.  Even though I drink it all of the time...it's best not to drink it on runs. I discovered this about 2 miles after it went down and came back up.  Yuck.

Don't over do it 2 or 3 days before the race...I felt the residual pain in my legs.


Do you have any secrets or tips that you use on race day?

Race ReCap!!!

Our first 10 mile race and we knocked it out of the park!!! 

Man...I'm not awake.  Funny how ppl are different..even family.



Check out the gun show!!!  Oh yea baby!!



New skirt...will never wear it at this distance again!!

Our goals/plan:  Finish in 2hrs and 40 min. doing 16 min./miles with 1:05/2:45 run/walk intervals.  Walk through water stations, walk/stretch through interval only twice if needed, and fuel at miles 3, 6, and 9.

Did it work? We finished just under the wire with a 15:58 min/mile pace!  T and I finished 4th and 5th in our age group!  Granted, we were second to last in the entire day...but who cares?!  We finished UNDER our goal time (so what if it was by a hair?!).

My morning didn't start out quite like I'd planned it.  Even though I had layed everything out like you're supposed to, I ended up changing shirts 3 times.  I decided to wash my hair, which was not in the schedule.  I tried the new insoles that I had bought...but as I walked around while getting ready...I decided they were TOO different from what I was used to...so I switched back to the old ones.  I ran out of time to eat cereal like I had planned, so I grabbed oatmeal.  I was supposed to ride my bike to meet up with my partner, but I couldn't find the chain and lock...so I packed up my bike in the back of my car and drove to her house....eating on my way.  We decided to just drive there.  I felt rushed and unprepared...but it didn't give me time to feel nervous...so that was good.

We got there and stretched quickly.  We got to registration, hit the potty, and got to the starting line just in time to hit the ground running.  I had forgot to re-adjust our intervals so we'd be starting out running instead of walking...oops!  So we ran with the crowd until we made our first turn off the main road and then got back into the groove with our intervals.

There was a point where a police officer pulled up to us and said "We're asking all of the walkers to get over so we can get traffic flowing better....hopefully they'll go slow."  Uummm...thanks mister, for insulting us!  First off...we might have been walking when he said that to us...but we're not "walkers" (not that there's anything wrong with that...we get PASSED by walkers).  Secondly...thanks for emphasising that traffic would have to be sllllooooowww to pass us slow walkers. :p  Obviously he didn't mean anything by it...but it OBVIOUSLY struck a nerve.  lol  We thanked him for helping and let it drop after a few minutes of frustration. 

The first mile or two, I realized that Wednesday's RUN was obviously a mistake.  My legs were already hurting and it was definitely affecting my speed.  My poor partner...she was all set to hit the ground running and all I had in me was little baby jiggle jogs.  We passed a nice lady that was walking the 10 mile.  She was skinny as a rail and T and I decided she might be anorexic by the looks of her.  She was super sweet and we enjoyed our short conversation with her.

When we hit the park entrance, T's family was there to cheer us on.  T's little daughter "A" ran to join us.... so.freakin'.cute.  It gave us a nice boost of energy. 

Shortly after that, we hit our second water station and then we entered the actual forest part of our run.  We talked a bit here and there.  We started passing other runners that were on their way to the finish line from the 10 mile and some from the half marathon.  It was clear to us that we were bringing up the rear of our race...but we were in our time frame.  I had made a time split card, which was useful.  For our first 3-5 miles, we were pretty steady at a 15 min/mile pace.  That's about as good as we get when running as a pair.  I know that I hold T back, but this is a team effort...plus...it's our first 10 mile, so we're bound to get a PR no matter what time we finished! 


Yeah...sweating a lot.  See the eye candy in the back ground?  I'm married...but T needs a man.  I think a race would be a good place for her to do that. ;)  That was one of our topics of convo. during the race.  :D



Beautiful.

Somewhere around mile 6 and the turn around, we starting losing our awesome time.  We settled (or should I say I settled into a 16 min/mile pace).  T would get ahead of me, and then turn around and wait.  She's so awesome, I really appreciated that she'd wait up for me.  I knew she had much more in her than I did.  I was in a lot of pain, and I felt exhausted.  Somewhere in there, we had lost all of the other runners...they were way ahead of us.  It looked as if we were alone on the final trail out of the park.  That's about when the bordum sank in and we started singing Pocahontas songs like, "Just around the river bend!"  lol  She has a little girl...but I knew the song just as well...I was little girl when that movie came out.  It kept our mind off of things and had us laughing. 


Stopped to snap a pic of the pretty flowers...it was an awesome trail!

Then we hit the river green way...a path we know allllllll too well.  We knew that this was the home stretch...so that was somewhat comforting.  We saw T's family again.  That's when they said..."Come on, we'll meet you at the finish."  That's when we noticed that it was just ahead.  T shouted "April, this is the finish right up here...this is it!!!"  I put my head down and said "Let's do it!"  I was in sooo much pain...and my jiggle jog was even less than that....it was an old lady shuffle.  I honestly misjudged the distance and thought about walking again.  Instead, I dug my fingernails into my hands and picked up the speed.  When I saw the blue mats and the time clock that read 2:39:01.00 or something like that, I let out a moan and sprinted for the mats!  I have no idea where that strength came from...but DANG IT....I was gonna finish under the wire if I had a fighting chance!  And we did.  I high 5'd T and then bent over to catch my breath.  Wells L and her partner "C" were there to give us hugs and high 5's. 
My mother asked me the next day what it felt like once you were finished...besides the physical.  Seriously, once you're done...you don't dwell on mile 8, where you threw up your Bloks and Gatorade or look at mile 6 where you wanted to sit on the enticing park bench and say "screw it".  You look back on the 10 miles that you just finished without walking through a single interval.  The 10 miles that you just did while 99% of the town was still laying in bed.  The 10 miles that you just did and you're still standing (well, sorta).  The 10 miles that you just raced...for the first time EVER.  Yeah...it's a high like no other.  A huge sense of pride and accomplishment.  When I made the same New Year's resolution this year like I did every year since my butt got huge...I never would have imagined that I'd actually be doing it...getting healthy...working out...running RACES!!!  Yeah...that one was NEVER one the menu...but always in the back of my mind to try...SOMEDAY.  Well....this year...same day is here.  And in two weeks...I'll be running my first marathon with my cousin/partner/friend T.  It doesn't get any better than this!

 Oh yeah....my final time was 2:39:37.5!!!!!

T:  2:39:36.0....oh yeah...PR BABY!!! 

Friendly advice

Friday night, my partner T and her little daughter A met up with Wells L, her partner C, and we got to meet their friend L for the first time. It was a lot of fun and VERY educational. I absolutely LOVED chit chatting with these girls about race experiences and listening to their advice.

As you know, T and I have the Fort 4 Fitness 1/2 marathon coming up in a few weeks...which is what we've been training for for the past 5 or so months. This will be our first mini. We'll be running a 10 mile race Saturday to get a feel for actually racing at that distance. We've trained at all distances up to 13 miles, so this run will truly be a practice test for what is to come in the near future.

Here is some pointers that the girls gave us:

Race day prep:

Figure out how you are going to start the race. (We usually start out running for 5K's, but on these long runs, we decided to just start the race out with our run interval as apposed to running with the group for as long as we can.)

When are you going to fuel?  We use Bloks when we fuel.  We discussed the intervals for fueling when on long distance races.  It was decided that mile 3,6,9, and 12 or 4,8, and 12 would be best and is what the girls have used.  Saturday, we will be fueling at miles 3,6, and 9. 

What is your interval?  This is something that changes often.  Due to the heat of the day, we decided to go for 1:05/2:45 run/walk intervals.

Much much much more information, tips, and questions were asked/given at our dinner with friends..but there is only so much room on my blog.  :)  All of it was taken to heart and discussed between my partner and I.

Saturday morning, 7:30AM, T and I will be kicking off our 10 mile Parlor City Trot run!!!  Rock on!!!

Ummmm...really?!

Wrote this post Friday and I'm just now posting....oops.


Soooo disappointed!  I went home after dinner with some awesome gals (more on that to follow) to lay out my outfit for the Parlor City Trot 10 mile I have tomorrow.  I have new knee high socks that I have not tried before...so now was a good time to start trying if I'm thinking of wearing some for F4F 1/2 marathon.  No one told me that big girls not only have to endure finding special shops for their specials sizes, funny looks when you buy the running clothing/apparel, no we also have to buy special SOCKS?!  I tried the socks on and my fabulous calves had them puppies stretched to the max....NICE.  :( 


I was disappointed that they didn't look like I wanted them to, so I started thinking of other options.  I could turn them into arm warmers....?


What would you do?  Wear them anyway?  Try to turn them into something else?  Accept the loss and throw them in the donation bin?