The Run I Almost Didn't Do/Almost Cut Short

First of all, I ALMOST forgot about the yoga challenge yesterday. I was in my jammies, watch Project Runway, when I realized, CRAP, I haven't done yoga yet. No prob...jammies = yoga gear, right? No hair tie to be found? Free hair, free spirit. :) I did a 20-ish minute Yoga for Feet and Ankles series that felt great after the pounding I gave my feet during yesterdays long run. By then it was 10:30am, and I was dreading the 5am alarm.

I slept horribly last night. Just tossed and turned the whole time, never able to find that comfy spot. Every time I stretched out my legs they hurt, and I had a weird twinge in my right knee. When the alarm finally went off, I told Taylor how crappy I slept and how I REALLY didn't want to run today.

He called me 2 minutes after leaving for work--
Taylor: Hey Jeri. It's raining pretty good outside.

Jeri: ........?

Taylor: You know....raining. So maybe you shouldn't run today. Because of the rain. Ya know? It might even get worse. Or it could get better. But probably worse.

Jeri: OH! The rain. Well yes...that is a good reason not to run isn't it. Thanks babe.

And then I thought about it. I haven't been able to sleep all night, what makes me think I'll be able to for the next 2 hours? Along with, what run hasn't been done in the rain this week (I have some sweet blisters to prove it)? So I laced up my shoes and out the door I went.

I usually have a rest day after my long runs, so I wasn't sure how my legs were going to take it. I was supposed to do 5 miles at an easy pace, but had convinced myself that 3 was sufficient. Junk miles are junk miles eh? Immediately after starting my poor middle toe on the right foot HURT. I had gross blister-like spots on the tips of them after the wet runs this week, and after the long run yesterday they hardened into a plastic-like consistency (my God I hope you're not eating as you're reading this) so I started picking at them. WHOOPS. Big mistake. Tender city, occupancy: 1.

It was completely black out, and of course the rain did get worse as I was going (go figure. should've listened to meteorologist Taylor) but my legs felt pretty good. Definitely not as springy as yesterday, but not bed. I got to 1 1/2 miles and decided to do 4 miles instead of 3. Then I got to 2 miles and decided that I might as well stick it out to 5. As soon as I turned around at 2 1/2 I realized that I had a nice gentle (read: heavy) wind at my back and would now have to trudge through it. Luckily I was good and warmed up at this point, so I just powered through it. It ended up being a great run, so I'm glad I didn't skip it or shorten it.

I ran 5 miles in 48:19 for a pace of, yes, you guessed it 9:40. It's kind of becoming creepy now, no?

1. 9:37

2. 9:46

3. 9:45

4. 9:41

5. 9:28

Post run, I hauled booty to get in some yoga before work, since I will have no time to do it before the birthday BBQ I have to attend this evening. I did Yoga for Upper body Strength. Um, holy crap. This was the hardest thing I've ever done. If I'm ever able to do that series in it's entirety I'll probably retire as a yogi. Does anyone have any tips on conquering the crow's pose? I feel like I was really close but struggle with the final balancing. I dunno.

Also, I hope you have all finally enjoyed my Wild West Relay Race Reports. If you missed any of them (or thought they were such masterful creations that you need to read them again) you can assess them here: I, II, III, IV, V, VI. (Really Jeri? 6 part recap? Who do you think you are??)

For Foto Friday, I will share a couple of pics from the Bachelorette Party from last weekend. There are hundreds taken, but only a couple are probably blog appropriate. Jk, we're good kids. :p

Part of the crew--pink & black themed.

The bachelorette and myself. One of the gals bought her some pink furry handcuffs. We were going to take a "cute" pic when the one side broke off in my mouth. Whoops.

Wild West Relay Report: Time to Celebrate (And Shower!!!)

Once we had crossed the finish line, the kids in Van #1 decided to hang out in the hotel bar while waiting for the Van #2 kids to get showered and beautified. Really we were just ready to start some celebratory drinking. What's that? That was only me that was ready? No biggie. :D The hotel bar was actually really classy and there were a few other teams that had also congregated down there. I had the most delicious beer ever, but for some reason I can't think of what it was now. Eh oh well. A Blue Moon perhaps?

We took some pics to prove that we don't always look like sweaty/salty women. Here's Shannon and I looking cute.
And Julie and I cheersing to a race well down, while Amanda is just smiling. :)

You can barely see us in this one, but this is after some Van #2 folks had finally started to trickle downstairs. Amanda, myself, Steve, and Julie looking dark. Ha.

And here we are again after demolishing a hummus platter sampler. We were a little on the ravenous side.On the way out of our hotel to get in our sweet minivans and head to dinner, I spotted this SUV. After 2 beers on a fairly empty tummy this was the funniest thing that I had ever seen. I've seen fully camoued hunting vehicles, I do live in SoDak for goodness sake, but a random 8 inch tall paneling? Just the gas lid? So you probably can't see me in this photo, but I'm blending in with the SUV and my surroundings. Too. Funny.

Again another dark pic, but here is part of the crew at an Italian restaurant in Steamboat Springs. There wasn't seating for 1 hour+ for a party our size, so we decided to take up the whole bar area. No way were we waiting that long for food!

Pretty ladies. :) After dinner, most of the group called it a night as they had to get up around 4am to head back to Denver for their crazy early flights. I didn't have to get up until 7:30am, so I was ready to socialize. Except mostly everyone else was ready to crash. :( So I hung out with a couple of our sweet volunteers playing Colorku (like sudoku but with colors) and drinking a Skinny Dip. Yum. Carly let me have one that she bought from the brewery in Ft. Collins that I had to miss. I was so tired that I drank half and called it a night also. Hah.

The next morning Bobbi was bummed that she didn't get a pic of our gorgeous hotel room. I offered up my modeling skills for her. I call this pose, "I just woke up. Let me fluff my hair for you." Do you like? Contact my Agent.

I hope you enjoyed my recap. Clearly there are many things left out, but that's what happens when you wait almost 2 weeks to do your recap. :p I would suggest Wild West Relay to anyone out there who is interested. But if you're coming from a pancake flat area, maybe think twice. Or do some training on a treadmill so you can practice a 2 mile incline. ;)

The question that was on everyone's mind is: When's the next one? Whenever/wherever, I'm in.*

*Unless it's in the mountains. Then I'm out. :p

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)

Wild West Relay Report: Cheer Time + Down Time + Leg 2

Alright kids, when I last left you, I was a sweaty/salty mess from conquering an insane hill (mountain). After a quick meeting with 7-8 handy wipes, I had de-sweated (kinda), stretched, and was back to cheer on our final runner of Leg 1, Julie. :)



See look I barely even look sweaty anymore. It's MAGIC.



Then it was time for some more road kill tallies. Julie had a couple.



And Amanda had a few more to add. It was at this point that the tallies started to look (unintentionally of course) like dripping blood. Dramatic effect? Apparently we were the talk of the relay for this. Whoops!



It was on our way to the rest area that we ran by our first runner of the second van, Cynthia!! We drove by as she dumped her water bottle on her head, and I was worried that she would die without water. I got to practice my official water station girl skillz. It was a pretty swift hand off of the handheld. :)



Then it was finally time to eat and replace the ~700 calories I had burned off on my morning "jog." They had a special on wraps, so I dug in. They were pretty tasty but definitely not filling enough. The seasoned fries I had with them were AMAZING. Nom nom.





Then it was naptime. Except for the stupid kid playing the recorder. I swear if I would've had more energy, I would've beat him up. But alas, gotta save the legs. :)





Me, Shannon, and Julie take a break from waiting for our team's second van to come through to take a pic. And then it was our turn again!



While waiting for Melissa to come through on her second leg that, (and I quote) "Effing sucks!" we found this sweet rock to pose on. I had planned on squirting Melissa with the sweet squirt gun, but instead shot the sky Calamity Jane style. This is the wild west, after all.





And again taking some photos. Taking pictures is way easier than running up mountains.



While waiting for Bobbi to finish up her insane 9 mile uphill run, Melissa and I decided to take a pic.



Before Amanda's night time (second leg) we huddled to keep her warm while we waited for Shannon to come barreling through.

After Amanda was my turn. I started running around 10:30pm. It was dark. And there were numerous cattle guards on the route. I got to wear a sweet handlamp, flashing LED light, and reflective vest. On top of running tights, a long sleeved shirt, and track jacket. It was COLD! Quite a difference from my 80ish run from earlier that day. A



At first I started out running with a girl (or a girl quickly caught up to me) and we ran together for about a mile which was awesome. Then she said her pace was around 8:00, so we quickly said buh bye, as I knew I wouldn't be running close to that. :p The first 5 miles were pretty great, but I did notice that it was more difficult to breathe, even with the decline that I got to enjoy.



After mile 5 things started to get a bit brutal. I just felt like I couldn't catch my breath. Plus, my stomach was pretty upset. BUT I did get to run in Wyoming during this part, which was awesome. The van drove up to me at this point, hoping to get a pick of me and a Wyoming sign, but for some reason there wasn't one. (???) All of a sudden we started seeing Wyoming 10 Highway mile markers, so we knew we were in Wyo. but wtf? Where's my grand entrance!??! :p



1. 9:27

2. 9:28

3. 9:43

4. 9:43

5. 10:11

6. 11:59

7. 10:28

.2 1:00



I ended up having to walk once or twice during the 6th mile, but was pretty happy with my time otherwise. I did the 7.2 miles in 1:12:00 for a 10:00 pace. Whoo! 10:00 pace goal still in tact. :D




I don't really remember Julie's leg, (sorry Julie!) but I do remember STARVING. When we got to the next van exchange there was a little restaurant doing an all you can eat spaghetti dinner for $10. Let me tell you that was the most amazing midnight dinner I've ever eaten! Smart me brought white sweat pants to an adventure race. Ha. Luckily my normally klutzy self didn't show through. We ate while traveling to the next van exchange where we were told we could sleep in an elementary school. Which was great because it was pitch black out, cold, and no one wanted to put a tent.

I walked into the room and people were sleeping head to tail to dirty running shoe. The chorus of snores prompted me to immediately turn back around and head for the van. I'm the lightest sleeper ever and knew I would not be "lulled" to sleep by the snores, no matter how exhausted I was. I fell asleep shortly after my head hit the beach towel (my impromptu pillow for the weekend), and was awoken about one hour later to the sounds of our walkie talkie. I kept freaking out that our team would somehow come in earlier than planned and that we would miss them, so I stayed up until our team was ready to go.

Stay tuned for Leg 3!!

Wild West Relay Report: Day 1 Continued + Leg 1

After our first 4 runners were finished, it was my turn. As each team member would hand off, I would get just a wee bit more nervous. I think I used the portapotties 27 times in preparation. I even resorted to stretching to calm my nerves. I remember starting to stretch at least an hour and half before my races in high school (yes, I stretched that long for a race that last less than 13 seconds, and around 27 seconds!) I was also pretty jealous that there were freezy pops at this exchange. Probably not the greatest pre-run snack. :(

Stretching on the gravel feels awesome.

Look at me. I'm bendy. Hah. (I think I actually said that as the photo was taken :p)

And I was off! Buh bye portapoopers, I got 7.3 miles to conquer.

Here's the elevation according to my Garmin. The first part is just a subtle uphill, but it didn't feel very subtle. Everyone who had ran before me said it took the first mile to get used to breathing the air, so I was thankful for the slow incline to get me acclimated. The worst part about this race: no iPods/headphones. Although, many others didn't follow the rules, tsk tsk, I did and I'll tell ya...it sucks listening to yourself breathe! It totally messes with your head hearing how labored your breathing is. I didn't feel tired/winded, but I sure as heck sounded like it. Ay ay ay.

The team drove ahead a couple of miles to park and morph into the sweetest cheering section EVER! Seriously, it was great getting to see them every couple of miles. They would crank up some sweet tunes (on the awesome playlist created by yours truly), bust out some sweet cheers/yells, and snap a gazillion awesome photos in the process.
This is probably my new fave running photo. Thanks Amanda. It makes me look like I'm flying. Uh...I mean, I WAS flying, and she managed to capture the photo as proof. :p

Someone else managed to snag my best angle. Thanks again team. :D And I kept running....

The run was really great until I encountered the first, seemingly endless, hill. I can rock hills. Because "I am a machine," a mantra I said over and over while running it. But uff da, it was getting difficult to breathe! As I was running up, I was catching up to a girl in front of me. We had a mid-way up the hill chat.

Me: Wowsers, is this hill ever gonna end????

Girl: I know...it's....

Me: .....brutal.

Apparently there were some beautiful views on the way up the hill. Unfortunately I was just focused on the top of the hill and taking air into my lungs. Lucky for you all, my teammates snapped some shots. :)

I started getting a bit dizzy and light headed while trudging up, but judging by my Garmin I knew I only had a little ways to go to get to the top. Once I did I was rewarded by a pretty sweet downhill portion.

Wheeee!!

Dunno why this is such a small picture. :( Grrr....

The handoff to Julie, our van's final runner for Leg 1.

And I'm done. Sweaty. Salty. But done.

And another with the mountain I conquered behind me. You might be able to take the wind out of the beast, mountain, but you can't take the BEAST out of the beast. :p

How many road kills did I garner, you ask? 3. Boom.

Run Stats:

7.3 miles in 1:10:32 for an average pace of 9:40. My goal was 10:00 miles, so take that mountain. :p

1. 9:11

2. 9:30

3. 9:35

4. 9:31

5. 9:37

6. 9:58

7. 10:40

.3 2:27 (8:07 pace)

*Can you tell at which point I wanted to jump off the mountain? If you answered mile 7, you are RIGHT! :)

Plenty more to come so stay tuned. :)