Race Report: Inaugural Geist Half Marathon

I am FINALLY getting around to my second race report in the last two weekends...

After my Dances With Dirt experience I took it easy for a couple of days - mainly to let my legs heal. Oh they were sore... anyway I got in one run mid-week and it felt just fine so I thought I would be okay for another race on the weekend. Besides, I did not have plans to PR, but just to finish without embarrassing myself too much.

I arrived an hour early to park and use the bathrooms. Then took a leisurely stroll to the finish line since it was a mile away from the parking. They offered shuttle buses, but I thought a walk/jog would be best. Of course, I could have been wrong too... on my way to the start line my ankle started aching and my hip... surely casualties from the previous weekends race. It wasn't painful enough to stop running, so I kept going and then stretched a little when I got to the start line.

It was a beautiful sunny morning, about 55 degrees with a good wind. The line up was not organized to the point where they had pace signs up to line up with, so I just lined up in the front-middle and decided to start out easy and work into a pace that felt comfortable.

The race started on time and out I went, slowly at first (10:00/mile pace), then settled into a very comfortable 9:00/mile pace. The course was very scenic - starting on a bridge over the reservoir and then winding through some neighborhoods, crossing the reservoir a few more times and finishing up right on the reservoir. One could not have asked for a more beautiful day.

My pace remained pretty consistent mile to mile. I checked at each mile marker because they had clocks at each one which was nice. The first 6-7 miles were not bad. I had my ipod going and I was just cruising along feeling good and enjoying the run. Just past the mile 7 mark, I met up with Brooke who said she'd join me for the last 5-6 miles of the race, which was great. We hadn't run at all since November so we had a little catching up to do. So for the next 5-6 miles we talked and ran like old times.

The next thing I knew we were approaching the bridge to the finish line so I picked up the pace because I still had the energy to do it (plus I wanted to make sure I finished in under 2 hours). We get over the bridge and turn the corner to the finish, Brooke drops off to the side and I head on in to finish in 1:59:31... not bad for no specific half marathon training... though not close to a PR, but it was a great day for a run.

The rest and recovery area was well organized and we hung around for about a 1/2 hour or so talking and stretching. Then we boarded the shuttle bus back to my car (about 3 miles away... probably could have run it back, but it was already the farthest run I had done in over 6 months).

I am actually looking forward to running this race next year, but for now need to set my sights on something closer. I am now debating the 42k relay in July, but will probably still do it... I need some more races throughout the summer to keep me motivated. More on these to follow when I find some interesting races to do.

Until then, keep on running...

Race Report: Dances With Dirt 100k Team Relay

It was a cool, crisp, foggy morning. We loaded up the van and headed to the start/finish area. We arrive to a sea of vehicles with people milling about, getting ready for the long day. We walked over to the start line and sized up the other teams. We saw a few serious teams, and quite a few not as serious teams wearing some interesting costumes.

It was finally time for the start. Our first team member headed out - a quick 2.5 mile loop with incredible hills. He returned well ahead of the majority of the other runners. Then our second runner headed out on the second leg - a 2.75 mile loop with more hills and plenty of water. She gets back and our third runner heads out for a 6.5 mile point to point leg. The rest of us clambered into the van and headed to the next exchange point where I would be the next runner.

Leg 4 Description: "Shoot Me Now (They shoot horses don’t they?) – 3.2 Miles – Follow Blue - Nature Center to Hoosiers Nest – Reverse of Stairway to Heaven (Leg 13), you go … down a ton of steps to shatter your quads, a quick view of the lake then bushwhack up and down a serious hill to a mucked up horse trail filled with horse remnants, muddy hoof prints and several creek crossings (rivers if it rains). You will leave this trail onto a poorly maintained trail that goes … straight up! At the top you will roll along up and down through some nice pines but tricky footing to the exchange. If you end up lame, the team might have to put you down!"

My adrenaline level was at a high point when it was my turn to run. As he description says, I took off going down a trail that led right to a set of steps that seemed to keep going down. When I got to the bottom I ran along the edge of a beautiful lake only to head back into the woods for rolling hills. I didn't keep track of my pace during this run, but I felt good until I hit my second hill that seemed to go straight up. It was then I decided to walk up it -- a strategy I thought would prove to keep me from fading too much at the end. I soon learned that no trail run I had done to date had come close to preparing me for this race. At the end of my leg, I ran from the woods out into an open field where I became slightly disoriented from the change in scenery and had to focus on where I needed to go. I made the exchange and then headed over to the van to change my socks and dry out my shoes.

We ran two more legs from this exchange point and then it was time to head to the next exchange where we ran two more legs. It was once again time for my second run.

Leg 9 Description: "Gnaw Boned – 3.1 Miles - Follow White - North Gate To Opry – 1.5 miles of good trail then right into a bushwhack. Some of it’s very runnable and all of it is beautiful, some hills. You will run along a thorny ridge before plunging down to the highway and the exchange to the left. May of may not be a river to cross at the exchange"

This started out as a great trail run - just as described - beautiful, some hills. Then it turned into the woods where it had me going through briers down a hill and then onto a trail with rolling hills until it turned once again into the woods where it headed straight down a hill through more briers (and with runners coming up the hill on a different leg of the race) only to kick me out onto the road side about a 1/ mile form the exchange point. I turn on the speed and head to the exchange point. A runner heading out on the next leg shouts out to me as I approach the exchange: "it's not that deep". I wasn't sure exactly what he meant, but soon saw what he was talking about. The exchange had me crossing a river that didn't quite come up to my waste, but nonetheless had me going through it and up the other side of the bank to tag my team member. He, unfortunately, had to start his leg going through it, while I was lucky enough to finish on it. It actually felt pretty good.

We end up at a couple of more exchange points and run our other legs and then end up back at an exchange point we had been earlier in the day -- in fact the one where I started out on my first leg, but this time I was running a 6.2 mile point to point leg back to the start/finish.

Leg 14 Description: "Boned Again – 6.2 Miles - Follow Blue – Billy’s 2, down the road behind the Dance Barn. The reverse of Leg 3, start with ½ mile of road then left on to funky horse trails all the way to “The Plunge”, deadly downhill and finish in the field a ¼ mile behind the Dance Barn."

I was still pretty anxious to run my final leg - and all of a sudden they call out "legal cheat!" Which allowed the remainder of us still waiting for our runner to tag us to go ahead and leave now so we could finish up the relay around 6:00 pm. So I take off, this time armed with my GPS so I could track my pace and distance. I look down once I started and saw a 6:34/mile pace... what? I couldn't possibly have done that... I calmed down and settled into a rhythm - about a 8:30/mile. The other thing? I was running on road. I was getting comfortable with this thought until about 1.5 miles into my run it headed onto a trail, but it was an well maintained trail, so it wasn't bad. But that didn't last long... after two miles, I was once again going through briers, but my legs no longer felt the scratches I was on a mission to finish. After surviving the briers, I was back on a trail - a horse trail. It looked familiar... in fact it was the horse trail John and I had ended up on when we over shot our turn around point a few weeks back when we tried to run the first leg. Unfortunately it didn't help me much to be on familiar ground because it had rained two days prior to the race, there was almost nothing but mud on the trail. It was next to impossible to actually run through most of it, and I had to walk through these patches so I could keep my footing. One runner had lost his shoe to the mud just as I was passing him. I was actually catching up to some of the other runners when we were going through the mud. We finally got past the "bad spots" and turn onto a quasi-logging road filled with ruts and roots. I followed this out of the woods make a turn and find myself looking down a 250' drop down to a field. At this point my calves are balling up into knots, but I take off down the hill and get to the bottom pretty quickly and felt a surge of energy as I ran across the field. I caught up with the last two runners I had been following and pass them on the road and then turn back into the field to the exchange zone to finish my final leg. As I approached the end my calves were on the verge of seizing up. I finally made it and it was all I could do to not just fall down -- 12.5 miles completed and it felt like a lot more.

It was tough, at times painful, but wow it was sure fun. I think I would do it again, but I would definitely train more and differently.

Dances With Dirt Photos

Here are just a few photos... plenty more and the race report will follow soon...

The Schwag

Umm, Slight disclaimer...

Cool Nike Race shirts

Team Shirts

Team "We've Got The Runs" (L-R): Ben, John, Dave, Paula and Jason

Happy Mother's Day

I Survived DWD

Well, we finished. Just when I am comfortable with running, I am humbled by a new experience.
It was tough, but it was fun... Race report to follow.

A Whole Lot of Nothing

It has been quite awhile since I have posted anything, and quite a long time since I posted anything interesting... though I am not sure I ever had anything interesting to post anyway.

I guess I'll start with last weekend:

John and I had decided it would be a good idea to go down to Brown County and scope out the race location and maybe run the first leg to get an idea of the hills. Well, let's file this under, "It seemed a good idea at the time..."

We found Mike's Dance Barn (the home base for the race) and proceeded to look for orange ribbons that mark the first leg of the race. After finding a couple that didn't seem to go anywhere, we went off the course description and felt comfortable that we were on the right track. Climbing up a 250' abandoned double black diamond ski slope was quite a challenge, but we got to the top only to have to go down a hill and then back up another, though not as steep. Once on top of the ridge, we found the trail that lead us through the woods and onto a trail. We were convinced we were on the trail and proceeded to follow it out since it was just under a 3 mile loop. The terrain wasn't bad at all. There were a few hills, but nothing compared to what we had just encountered, or anything we hadn't been running on for the last month. We continue to follow the trail, I kept track of our distance and it seemed we "lost" the trail. Now, we never left it, but it turned into a fire road and we thought we were still on it, but there were no tell tale orange ribbons to guide us. Had we brought the quasi-course map, we might have noticed we needed to loop back and head back to where we started right then and there, but the road seemed to curve around and we thought we were headed in the right direction, all along just getting farther from where we started... what kept us going was the fact we saw blue and pink ribbons, which marked other legs of the course, so we knew we weren't lost. We kept going looking for the orange ribbons and we found some, so started following them, but each time we found a series of them, they seemed to just stop in the middle of the woods, and we had to back track.

Now, by this time we were at 3 miles or more and no clear sight of where we started from. I wasn't concerned, but I do remember saying that I didn't want to become the lead story on the 11 o'clock news... not long after this we ran across a hunter who was in the woods, his ATV with gun case strapped to the front was parked on the fire road. At this point we should have turned around and retraced our steps back to the start, but we kept going, never thinking about that hunter and whether or not we were in danger of being shot accidentally...

We found some more ribbons and tried following them, hoping the end of the trail was just around the bend, so we then decided if we didn't see anything in 5 more minutes, we would turn around and run double time back. About 4-1/2 minutes later we run into 2 more hunters who were sitting on the side of the horse trail taking a break. We decided to ask them where we were and if we were getting close to Mike's Dance Barn. They looked at us incredulously and said that we were far from there. John and I looked at each other in amazement... they offered to walk us out to their camp as they were headed back anyway and give us a ride back to our car. When it was all said and done, we had gone 8 miles and somehow gone form one side of Brown County State Park to the other. We later found out that we were on one of the other legs of the race and had come across yet another leg that happened to be marked with orange ribbons too... oops.

Lesson learned. In hindsight, we should have turned around after a mile and a half, but we were so sure were were curving around the ridge... we also should have had that quasi-map that show the shape of the path, it would have indicated the sharp turn back towards the beginning that we ran past and dismissed as the wrong way -- which brings me to another point - my directional instinct is non-existent (as is John's). Anytime my instinct tells me to go right, I should go left...

So that was last weekend... well, most of it. I then relapsed and became sick again on Sunday, with the same chills and congestion I had previously. Most likely due to too many hours at work and not enough time sleeping. I never really recovered. Currently, I am still feeling congested in my head and am having trouble hearing out of my left ear. I am on a stronger anti-biotic and a few other medicines to combat this "creeping crud" I have. I don't think it will affect my race next weekend, but I haven't run in a week... I hope to get out for at least a few miles to loosen up. If it is nice enough, I am planning on getting the jog stroller out for the first time and Lilli and I will go for a run together.

Oh, and Lilli turned 6 months this past week! Wow, how time has flown by. She's been eating baby food for the last month and has graduated to peas... kind of gross looking, but she likes them. So far, she's like everything, though the fruits tend to be a bit too sweet for her to eat them straight.

That is all for now I guess. I am looking forward to next weekend's race and blogging about it... then the following week is a half marathon that I am not sure I am ready for, but I am running it anyway...stayed tuned for that experience.

Until then, keep on running.