Hill Cramming

In June, prior to starting to train for the Twin Cities 10 Miler (actually before we even got in to the lottery for the race) I re-read my blog post from 2010, and was reminded of how hilly the route was. I sent a panicked text to Toni that there were ZOMG HILLS in the TC10 and I suck at hills, and I was going to die.

She calmly replied that we'd make sure to integrate all the hill running into our training. Because she's smart. And knows exactly what to say to calm the crazy. We had a lot of endurance runs with 100 meter pick ups in them, as well as ones with 12 second hill repeats.

But as I was driving to work this week, I thought to myself, "self, have you been doing diligent hill work as promised?" and my answer was, "shit, no!" So we're 2 weeks out from the race, and I know you can't cram train for a race, but can you hill cram for a race? Because I'm going to try.

We're going to pick hillier routes for our last two long runs, which should be easy since the bike trail (my beloved flat bike path where I don't have to worry about stopping at stop lights and getting hit by vehicles) is under construction. We also do a hilly route with the group run on Wednesday nights, so we might do 3.5-4 miles with the group instead of the usual 3 to take advantage of the hilly parts, and taking a hillier route during our regular runs from the library. Eeps.

So hill cramming. TBD if that works out or if we should've started in June AS PREVIOUSLY DISCUSSED. This will serve as a reminder for next year when we're doing the marathon instead of the ten miler. Mark my words (and someone actually remind me in June, please).

New Favorite Workout

I have always been a faithful tempo run and mile repeat hater.  For awhile I was also a mega-long run hater as well.  AKA last spring and fall when I dropped down from marathons to half marathon.  Running for three hours?  No thanks.  I've always loved interval runs because I love to go fast!  Especially when I get to recover after.  But run hard, continuously, for what feels like forever?  I'll pass.

Outside of the recent 10k, I haven't done anything resembling a tempo run in a long, LONG time.  I'm currently following some semblance of Hal Higdon's Intermediate 10k training program, and his plan toggles from intervals one week to tempo runs the next.  I haven't done a tempo run yet.  Ooops.  BUT, I've been implementing my new favorite workout instead.  My intention is that this workout will help me improve my fitness levels so that the tempo doesn't feel so hard, and isn't so daunting to think about.

Ok, so my favesies workout lately is hills.  Gross, right??  I used to hate hills because they'd destroy my IT bands, and my knees, and usually my hips, and probably my calves.  Sooooo essentially my entire lower body.  After signing up for the Madison Marathon, Krittabug kindly informed me that "dude, this course is hilly."  And then I got a'scurred.

Clearly if I start tackling hills NOW five months out from race day, I'll be golden for the marathon, no?

My real problem with hills stems from my poor running form.  Combine my heavy heel striking, straight legged landing form with the already downward momentum, and the impact I was feeling on a regular run was compounded 100x.  I've had races where my quads and IT bands essentially seized up and stopped firing, forcing my hammies and calves to do all the work.  Sidenote:  My calves and hammies are weak as hell.  Also, ouch.

Where I live, there are rolling hills going from either direction from me.  I've been running 6-7 miles for these runs and charging up the uphills, and recovering and super focusing on form on the downhills and flat areas.  These runs have ended up near the overall pace that a tempo run with a warm up would equate to, which is good, and are great in a way that I don't think a straight tempo workout would be for me currently.

On Thursday night's run, on the steepest hill on the route, and also my final hill of the route, I felt my glutes engage in a run for the first time since approximately May 2002.  Has anyone raced the 400m or 300m hurdles and experienced the booty lock or glute lock that results from that?  Yowza.  Our foursome raced the 1600m. relay at the state meet my senior year, and my booty was locked for probably 10x longer than it took me to sprint that lap around the track.  End sidenote.  So this is good, right?  Hopefully.  And maybe I'll try a tempo run shortly as prescribed by my plan, but I will surely be working this workout into my training for this fall as well.

Transportation on Foot + Weekly Wishlist

Tuesday night I had a bit of a conundrum to attend to. After work I needed to run 6-7 miles and I wanted to hang out with Kyle, and also see his softball game.  I thought about running right after work but the heat was in the 90s, and then I wouldn't get to hang out with Kyle.  I thought about skipping the softball game to run during his game, but if they lost they wouldn't make it in to the tourney, and I wouldn't want to miss his final game of the season.

Lightbulb!

I could run to his game!

I ran near the fields this winter/spring on an 18 and 20 miler and realized that it would easily be a bikeable distance (if the g.d. bike trails ever got fixed) and was even a runnable distance.  Since they usually have 2 games an hour apart, I haven't felt the need to sit around in my sweat for 3+ hours.  However, they only had 1 game tonight.  A quick mapquest revealed I was correct, and it was 7.1 miles from my doorstep.  YAYZIES!

Kyle came over after work and I unloaded a bag of stuff for him to schlep to the field for me, including my keys, phone, and a change of clothes.  I set out for my run about 80 minutes before their game was to start, and it was a much cooler 80 degrees with a side breeze.  Heaven.  And I could BREATHE so I knew the humidity had dropped.

The route is extremely hilly so I just tried to focus on my form on both the uphill and downhills since Mankato will have its fair share of rollers.  I got to enjoy several sets of sprinklers along the way, and probably grinned for the entire run. IT'S SO NICE TO RUN WHEN IT'S NOT A SAUNA OUTSIDE, FYI.

During the last mile I did my 4x100 m. strides on a slight incline, but still managed a pretty okay pace 7:24, 7:11, 7:09, 7:42.

I ended up with 7.28 miles in 1:09:20 for a pace of 9:32.  And the boys won!

And I forgot to show this, but this was during the game last Monday when I thought the end of the world was on the horizon and the boys continued to play softball.  This was taken from the truck because I haz a scurred.

And now for some fun online shopping!

Buy it here.

(found via outblush)

I'm not a huge jewelery girl, so I like pieces that make a bit of a statement.  And I'm obsessed with this gem.

Buy it here.

Love this simple long sleeve top.  Actually even like it with the colored pants. That's almost fashion forward of me.  YIKES!

Buy it here.

This is a shirt that I need, along with Susan, Sam, and Sam (although it might look weird on a dude).

Buy it here.

I almost pulled the trigger on this adorable bag.  I contacted the website to request the dimensions of the bag, because I want to use it for a school bag, meaning it needs to fit my books+laptop.  They never got back to me.  Sad day.

Buy it here.

I need this. Not want, need.  If Kyle doesn't buy it for me, I'm getting it myself.  I'm obsessed with the infinity sign.  And I feel like a girl needs something from Tiffany's, right?

Weekly Wish List + Hill Repeats = EEP!

Time for this week's installment of my Wish List.  As predicted, knowing I can't spend any money has wanted me to spend sooooo much money.  Luckily a lot of this stuff I found on modcloth for the mondo sale they're having, and the items were already sold out.  Phew!

Buy it here.

I've held out on buying a pair of boots.  These ones would've almost made the cut. Just not a fan of the heel.  Adore the excessive buckles though.

Buy it here.

Future librarian Jeri has an un-healthy obsession with cardigans.

Buy it here.

I'm slightly obsessed with this coat.  And then I realized there are approximately 12 days of the year that aren't too hot or too cold to don it, and I talked myself out of it.  Phew.

Buy it Here

I love books.  I love bookshelves.  I love bookends.  The end.  Bahahahah punny, get it?

Buy it here.

I don't even like gold jewelery, but this reminds me of the children's book that I have brewing in the back of my head that I need.to.write at some point.

Buy it here.

If I wasn't on a self-imposed spending freeze, I'd totes get this.

Buy it here.

It's sad that I still can't afford anthropologie stuff even when it's on sale.  No surprise I love this green dress.  Do you know how hard it is to find that perfect color of green in a dress?  Because I do....

Alright, I hope you guys don't hate this weekly segment, because I'm kind of loving doing it.  Usually when I'm feeling the itch to shop I'll go to a bunch of my favorite online stores and put a bunch of stuff in my shopping cart and not buy any of them, and that is sufficient for me.  But this?  This is oh so much better to get to share everything.  Plus if you hate it you can just scroll through it.  Plus if you love me, you can buy them all for me since I'm on a spending freeze.  YAYZIES!!!!

Wednesday night I had my first real hill workout in... technically ever.  While training for the Wild West Relay, I made an effort to run hillier routes, but never have I done hill repeats.  Ohhhhhh crap.  I take that back.  In high school we had this TERRIBLE workout we had to do once per track season.  First we'd have to run 2 miles (or so) out to this GIANT HILL (clay hill; actually made out of clay and what our county is named for, dontcha know?!?) (correction:  the distance kids would have to run all the way out there, us lazy sprinters would have to run half the way and then we got to hop in the truck of the hurdle coach and ride the rest of the way)... uh... yeah.

Anyway.  Once we got there we had to do all these hill repeats up this lower incline hill.  And then we thought we'd be done.  But nooooo then we'd have to do repeats up this crazy steep hill, which again I should mention, is made out of CLAY.  In case you had forgotten.  And THEN when we thought we were done we had to run back in to town.  Or at least we had to run halfway back in to town because we're lazy sprinters.  :)

Ok, so Wednesday night I took on my first hill repeats since high school (phew glad we got that cleared up).  According to good ol' Hal, I was to find a hill approximately a quarter of a mile long to fly up 5 times.  Well Hal, it's pretty dog gone cold here, and since things had thawed slightly they're now a solid sheet of ice.  I can only imagine the comedy that would ensue if I tried to run up a steep ass hill covered in solid ice.  (This would be an excellent place to include one of my delightful drawings.  Too bad I'm lazy and tired.  Also, I'm out of Starburst jelly beans and it's causing me major anxiety.)

So I went to the gym.  After consulting twitter, most of my super smart runner friends suggested an incline of 4.  So I went with that.  I did a 2 mile warm up then 5 x 400 m (with 400 jogs in between) and a half mile cool down.  I wasn't sure how fast to do the repeats, so I did 8:00 pace for the first 3 and 7:52 pace for the last 2.  I definitely could've done them faster (for the record I was still sucking wind and wanting my life to be over at the end of each one), but I'm already very very scared as to the pain my legs will be in tomorrow since they haven't done a workout like this for 9 years.... eep!  I can always speed up on the next ones! :)

Memory Lane

Thursday night I had an easy 9 mile run to do.  I let someone with an infinity for hills map out my run so it turned out to be less than easy.  Hills = hell to me.  I didn't even know there were that many hills in this town!  Give me my flat bike path any day.  I ended up cutting the run short to 7 miles because I stupidly got my flu shot Thursday morning and my entire upper body felt like it got hit by a bus.

I did 7 miles in 1:08:15 for a pace of 9:45.

A good chunk of my run was spent running around my alma mater.  I ran around some old party houses surrounding school and the campus, and it was a ridiculous run through memory lane.  I'm definitely one of those people that loooooooooved college.  I would go back in 12 seconds (if someone else was paying for it, of course).  I started tabulating a list of things that I loooooooved and miss about college and that got me through a good 2 miles worth of hells.  ;)

Things I miss about college:

• Having your best friend live 10 feet away.  I'm not sure how many times Megan could hear me sprint down the hall before the typical two knock and enter to tell her whatever story of the day.
• 1am coffee and junk food runs.  I'm a girl that loves my junk food.  And it's just dandy to have someone join you for those.  :)
• Cute smart football players.  I went to a super smart school, so 90% of the football players were actually super duper smart as well.  Where do I sign up for my jersey chasing card? :p  Sidenote:  This ruined me for real life.  Where are all the real world smart football players?!?!? :(
• Theme parties.  I swear my friends would throw a theme party every other weekend.  Here's just a few pictures I was able to find.

Anything but clothes party senior year.  Scarf+pillow case for me.  PACE flag for Meg-o.  Green fabric to cover the bum.

80's theme sophomore year.  Sidenote: Most of my guy friends wore pairs of my shorty shorts with their outfits.  :)

Golf hoes/Tennis pros party senior year.  Sadly this was the night before me and Meg's first half marathon, so we were hydrating the whole night.  Still couldn't pass up a good theme party!

Dress your Own Theme party night before graduation.

We dressed up as two of our good guy friends (Megan's had a mustache obviously).  Somehow a food fight broke out.... The details are hazy.

Toga party during homecoming senior year.  Again..... a pillow case for me.  

And a flower stolen out of someone's garden.

Toga party junior year.  I remember walking blocks to the party in a blizzard.  What a treat.

• Being able to procrastinate starting a paper until the night before it was due, knocking out 15 pages, and pulling off an A-.  Hmmm... maybe if I had tried, I would've gotten a 4.0.  Details.....
• Intramurals.  I was an intramural nut!  Not only did I work at our rec department creating all of the intramural schedules for 70-80 intramural events, but I also participated in...uh... almost everything.  Take my competitiveness for running and multiply that times 100.  I have at least 15 intramural championship shirts under my belt.

Our stellar women's volleyball team.

 Our super tall 3 on 3 team. We averaged about 5'3" I think. DOMINATION.

And our B.A. co-ed volleyball team.

• Having someone else prepare your meals for you.  Even if they were garbage 90% of the time.
• Spending 90 minutes studying for a test and doing well on it (I have extreme test anxiety, so this was quite the feat for me).
• Being around a ton of people that have common interests.  Being in an office where I'm essentially the only non-married, non-parent makes me long for the days where everyone was the same.  Hah.

Alright.  Thanks for walking down memory lane with me.  :)

Gooooooooooooo VIKES!

Speedy Legs + Inspiration

Wednesday I had the dreaded 1600 m. intervals on the schedule.  Of course we were under a wind advisory, because that seems to be the name of the game lately.  I decided to head to the gym.  Speed workouts are actually kind of fun on the treadmill.  When I started the run I was shocked at how great my legs felt.  I seriously felt like I could've BQ'd if I had tried.  (Ok, not at all, but you get the idea.)  I hope my legs feel that fresh and great race day.  Wowsers!  My iPod decided to putz out and me after my warm up mile, so I chose to sing Blink 182 - Miss You over and over in my head during my repeats.  

I did 7 miles in 1:02:29 for a pace of 8:56.  Average interval pace was 7:47.

Warm Up	1 Mi	9:39	9:39	9:39
Interval	1 Mi	7:47	17:26	7:47
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:29	22:55	10:58
Interval	1 Mi	7:48	30:43	7:48
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:25	36:08	10:50
Interval	1 Mi	7:52	44:00	7:52
Recovery	0.5 Mi	5:26	49:26	10:52
Interval	1 Mi	7:44	57:10	7:44
Cool Down	0.5 Mi	5:13	1:02:23	10:26

The once hated 1600 m. repeats are now actually --dare I say it?-- fun.  Oy.  When did I become a distance runner?!?!?!?!

Thursday night I headed out for an easy 8 miler.  Since it was late and already dark when I headed out, I had to run a pretty hilly route to run through a super safe part of town.  My legs were feeling the speed workout from the night before.  I ran to my old apartment and ran an old route from a few years ago.  I love the area of town because it is super safe and there's almost zero traffic, so I don't have to worry about dodging cars.  About halfway through the run, it started to rain lightly.  I've said it before but I l-o-v-e running in warm rain.  It was seriously such a beautiful run.

I did 8 miles in 1:15:23 for a pace of 9:26.

I have a list of things I want to do/need to do in my spare time.  Last weekend I finally got around to doing one of the things in the "want to do" category:  my inspiration board!  Over the last year I've been putting my race bibs on my refrigerator post-race.  Well it's getting a bit full, so I wanted to do something with them but to display them a bit better.  Behold the board.  :)

I have all of the race bibs from every race I ran in that required a bib, including 3 from high school (bottom left corner 2000, middle bottom, and the GREEN one from the state track meet my senior year)! As you can see I've done quite a fit of the races multiple times.  I also included some fun inspirational words/quotes/sayings.

Some highlights/closeups:

My favorite bib because it A) has my name on it B) is not boring and WHITE and C) makes me look FAST because I was in corral A.  Haha.  Also, Race Like a Girl....you know it!

Pace band for 3:40.  Someday. :)

I've had this Green Bay Cellcom Marathon ad cut out of a Runners World magazine for 4 years (hence the super old logo).  

Run happy. :)  

I went over 900 miles for 2009.

Friday.  Was.  Awesome.  I think all Fridays should be half days with the afternoon spent at the theater watching a highly anticipated movie.  :)  Really makes for a great day.  I loved the movie (as was to be expected, because I really enjoyed the books), and turns out I'm Team Jacob.  Who knew?  I feel wrong for saying this because, he's only 17, but my GOD that boy is Hottie McHotHot.  Easily the sexiest Taylor I know.  Ow ow!  Haha.  Ok, I'm done being a hormonal teen now, as I am no longer a hormonal teen, and that's just not as cool as a 25 year old lady.

I was sitting by my manager during the movie, and during the previews, she was concerned, "I feel like I'm going to have a huge outburst when the movie starts going!"  To which I replied, "Guaranteed my outburst comes with Jacob's first shirtless scene!"  Well wouldn't you know, that came true.  Hah.

Ok, focus Jeri.  This is a running blog.  :)  So the other part about Friday being so great, is that I got done with the movie at about 4:30pm and it was time to go run....while the sun was still out!  It was awesome.  I had an easy 5 miles on the scheduled, but since I was a bit lazy on Thursday, I did 6 miles instead.  I mapped out a route near my old apartment and set off in a light jacket and capris.  EXPOSED FLESH!  Hurrah.  I had to run quite a ways to the west to get to my old stomping grounds, so I was literally running off into the sunset.  The sun was HUGE and gorgeous, so you gotta love that, right?

I don't know what my deal was, but even on the crazy hills for the first 2 and last 2 miles, my legs were just flying.  If I had to guess, I would say I was running 9:30-9:45 pace.  Boy was I wrong.

I did my 6 miles in 55:05 for a pace of 9:11.

1. 9:12
2. 9:16
3. 9:16
4. 9:17
5. 9:16
6. 8:46 

Uh ya...that last mile?  WTF?  I was hoping that the speedier than intended hilly/easy run wouldn't spell disaster for my 12 mile long run on Saturday.

I was the biggest loser ever Friday night, and passed out on my couch at 8pm....then quickly moved to my bed for a glorious 12 hours of slumber.  Apparently my body forgot how tired it got from running.  Also, it's probably making up for almost 2 weeks of no sleep.  Damn you insomnia!!

Ahem.  I woke up at 7:15am on Saturday morning (and yes, that was after making myself go back to sleep).  I was actually wide awake at 5am!  I had planned on taking advantage of the mid-50 temps around noon to do my long run, but then there was some schedule rearranging where I thought I was going to have to leave town around lunch, so why not start the run at 8:30am?  Suuuuuure why not?  Wind chill of 27?  No prob.

I actually ate before this long run (+2 points for me!) and got bundled up for my run.  I also had to figure out how to rig up my normal iPod as my shuffle is dead and doesn't have a charger since I stepped on, and broke the one for it.  (-2 points for me).  I know you're not supposed to run with those since they have movable hard drives, but I couldn't imagine going 12 miles without tunes.

I started off the run, and the miles were flying by with no effort from me.  And I started to get freaked.  These are the paces I usually rock the last part of my long runs.
1. 9:01
2. 9:01
3. 9:11
4. 9:04 

What are the odds that I'll be able to maintain this pace for 12 miles?  The answer to this:  not likely.  Extra credit answer:  You will probably die a slow and painful death via long run.
5. 9:11
6. 9:13
7. 9:08
8. 9:19 


I was just not into this run mentally.  The biggest thing I've noticed from my time off for my injury is that I'm not in tune to my pace anymore.  I used to be able to run within about 5-10 seconds of a pace without fail, and now my pacing is all over the pace.  I'm not too concerned, because I know that will come back, but I didn't realize how great it was to have that ability until it was gone.

The last part of the run was truly brutal.  It seemed like every mile just kept getting slower and brutally more painful.
9. 9:18
10: 9:29
11. 9:18
12. 8:55

I finished the 12 miles in 1:50:13 for a pace of 9:12.  Not a bad pace at all, don't get me wrong, because this was easily the worst long run I've had for as long as I can remember.  I just never felt "into it" like I usually am, I never reached the zone, and I just hurt for 90% of it.

When I got home, I checked the temp/weather/etc. and saw that the wind gusts were 25+ mph, so that was definitely some of the crap factor for the run, but I saw something else interesting.  When I got home, the winds were out of the SSW, but when I started the run, they were out of the SSE.  Well when I run, I run first to the east for 6 miles, than back home to the west for 6 miles.  I literally ran almost the entire 12 miles against the wind.  NO WONDER IT WAS SO BRUTAL.  Eff.

Oh well, I survived and lived to tell about it.  When I got home I filled up the bath, and had the most amazing ice bath ever.  It felt sooooooooooo good.  My legs are still really tight and sore today, so I can't imagine how bad they would've been without.  The other thing that sucks, is that my digestive system was just tore up big time during the run, immediately after the run, and for most of Saturday day and night.  I'm sure it was just that I haven't done a long run for 3 weeks, and my body was pissssssed at me, but wow, that's never a good feeling.

The one gleaming highlight of my poopy long run, was that I went over 900 miles for the year during the middle of it.  I totally forgot until I was about 5 miles in (I hit 900 at 4.4) so I did a little booty shake on the trail while running, because...well...why not?  :)

Running Hills with Glasses On

I've been the proud owner of an astigmatism since age 8, that's approximately 17 years. I grew up playing sports, starting basketball in the 4th grade. From 4th grade on, countless basketballs smashed into my face, crushing my glasses, and giving me black eyes. The summer before 7th grade (the year we could try out for the JV squad) the basketball coach approached my mom and TOLD her she needed to get me contacts. Even though money was pretty tight in my family, especially at that time with my bro just leaving for college, my mom somehow managed to make it work, and rid me of my 4-eyed ways.

Now since this time, 13 years ago, I have yet to wear my glasses to work out. After suffering through the poor peripheral vision and my over perspiration causing the glasses to slip down my nose and off my face, why would I go back? Well, a stupid eye infection. I get eye infections like no one's business. Just look at me funny and my eye will turn bright red and gunk up. (Sexy, no?) This current infection has been on again off again for the last 6 weeks. After wearing my contacts for a couple of hours on Monday, I knew there was no way I was going to shove them back in my eye for a run.

Since my last 3 training runs for the half marathon are all easy 4 milers, I decided to spice up Monday's run a bit by doing hills. Since I've neglected the hills since the horror that was the WWR, my legs were finally up for them. I started off running, and immediately started freaking out. I'm a bit...well..blind, and running at night, in glasses will FREAK YOU OUT! I couldn't see anything except for straight in front of me. One dude passed me on a bike, and I almost decked him for "sneaking" up on me. Peripheral vision, I miss you so!

At the one mile mark, I stopped to stretch out the legs, and also de-sweat the nose pad on the glasses and my nose, to cut down on the slippage. Well I didn't account for the extreme slippage of my sweaty hands and almost dropped them! I did some crazy ninja/globetrotter catch, but if I would've dropped them I would've been SCREWED. Down on all fours, feeling around in the grass/sidewalk at 9:30pm is not my idea of fun.

Throughout the run I got to practice the nerdy glass push up, exhibited in the above picture. Especially when I started doing the downhill portions of the extreme uphills. I must've looked liked a fool with my body going down, but my head leaning up. :p Luckily, there weren't too many other follies for the run and I (and my glasses) made it home safe. Safe to say that I won't be wearing them again (hopefully).

I did 4 miles of hills in 38:14 for a pace of 9:34. Not too shabby.

1. 10:01 
2. 9:31 
3. 9:30 
4. 9:09

When I walked in the door, the following convo ensued:

Taylor: How was your run?

Me: It was awesome. First time doing hills since the Wild West Relay.

Taylor: It kind of took you awhile didn't it? I thought you'd be back in about 28 minutes...

Me: You think I run 7 minute miles? You're so cute. :)

And that is why I love him....because he accidentally thinks I'm soooooo much faster than I really am.  :)

Wild West Relay Report: Leg 3 + Team Finish

Shannon woke up and checked her twitter to see that Alesha was getting ready for her final leg. It was showtime. Everyone was up and at 'em to get ready for her to run through and do the van exchange. After getting ready, we couldn't understand why she wasn't there yet. Someone was finally able to get cell service and found out that she had just started her leg--about 45 minutes after we thought she had. AHHH! Oh well, it's not like anyone was really sleeping anyway. We handed off roughly around sun rise and Melissa got going on her almost 10k.





She rocked it pretty hard and looked STRONG on her finish.





We are all looking oh so jealous that she's finished and we still have to do our legs. :)


I started my third leg at about 10am, less than 24 hours after my first run had started. I had studied my elevation map quite a bit before the run to mentally psych myself up for my final run. I knew the last mile would be rough, but figured the adrenaline of being finished would push me through it.





Had to stretch the hamstrings before the run. Take note of the strong breeze causing it to look like I'm giving the volunteers a show. Hey ladies. ;)





The handoff from Amanda to me. 4.2 miles here I come!





Amanda looks ecstatic to be finished up with her final leg.


As soon as I started out, I was taken aback by how strong the wind was. Normally I don't mind wind because I know if I start out running into it, I'll get the benefit of it at my back at the end. Not the case with this run, unfortunately. It felt like I was climbing up, up, up for about 90% of this leg. I'd get to the top, enjoy a short downhill, and then start trekking up again.

At one cheering point (about 2.5 miles in) I was struggling to keep going up, when Amanda, like an angel from the sky, yelled out that as soon as I finished going up, I'd get to enjoy a nice downhill stretch. I almost started to cry I was so happy. I kept had kept looking at this huge mountain in front of me thinking that I had to continue up THAT, and didn't see a small fork in the run where I got to go doooooooown. I think I almost kissed her I was so happy. Luckily for her I was running low on energy so I didn't. :p
I really tried to enjoy the downhill. And it was VERY nice change of pace from the up. But I just kept looking at where the bottom was and where the up started again. I tried to look at the fields and the mountains surrounding me, but kept coming back to the Up. Stupid Up. :)

When I did have to start the final incline, I was beat. I really thought I could kick in my final gears to have a strong, fast finish since I knew I was going to be done-done, but the final gears weren't there. I started getting very winded because of the altitude, and light-headed because of how hard I was breathing, but not getting enough oxygen in. Stupid altitude. Haha. Plus, the higher I got up, the stronger the wind was.

Giving what I have left on the final stretch. Hint: It wasn't much. :p

Melissa came back to run me in. Thank God. I was about to start walking. jk. THANKS MELISSA! You helped so much. I did have to fight the urge to ask her to run in front of me to block the wind for the last few yards. Didn't want her to get in the way of any finishing pics, ya know? Hah.

Also, for some reason, I thought I got to finish on a short decline, but that was not the case. Still going up on the handoff. :p

And then it was time to do the classic-hands-on-the-knees-dear-God-I-want-oxygen pose.
Here it is in another angle. Almost looks like wow-I'm-going-to-hurl-pose. But it's not. Just to clarify.

After walking around for a few minutes, I felt GREAT (now that my brain was finally getting oxygen again) and realized how b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l it was UP there. :) I had to take some pics (from far away so you can't see what a hot mess I was at this point of running 18.7 miles sans shower).

Apparently this is what I look like in a "runners pose." I'm such a loser.

Julie was the final leg from Van #1 and us gals were ready at the van exchange to run her booty in. Well, most of us were ready. I had changed into flip flops so I could lance the ginormo blister I had on my big toe, but no biggie. :p

Here's the team (minus Julie who was still finishing up her leg) at the final van exchange.

And the whole awesome crew at the finish line about 33 hours after starting. Don't ask me what our finishing time was, because I couldn't tell you. With all the stop watch errors, plus leap frogging, I'd be shocked if anyone figured it out, to be honest.

Next up: Celebration!! Stay tuned. (yes I realize that it's ridiculous that I'm still working on these reports. leave me alone. :p)