Idaho Runcation - Part 2

Race: M.A.D. Marathon
Date: Saturday, July 27, 2013 @ 6am
Location: Idaho Falls, ID

OK, I'll be honest, I'm writing this almost 4 months after the fact so I'm not going to follow my normal day to day narrative because honestly I don't remember what we did. Actually, we didn't do much of anything while in Idaho. The week after the half marathon was a lot of panicking about the full marathon coming up, visiting with my brother-in-law and his family plus a trip to Twin Falls to visit the guys grandmother, aunts and uncles, father and his family.

The one thing I did manage to do just about every day was to go for short runs mostly along the Great Blackfoot Area Greenbelt and to the gym. This is a relatively new, paved loop that travels north for about 5 miles to Rose Pond before turning around for the return trip. I never went to the end but I did go about 3 miles out and back. The trail is beautiful and the sights in the early morning are quite inspiring.

We spent most of the week just chilling at the house. David, the BIL, and his family came by on Wednesday and we made plans to drive to Twin Falls to see their grandmother, aunts/uncles and dad. Our nieces by the hubs little brother, Vince, came by most days and we'd play croquet, do a T25 video, go swimming and just goofed off at the house. That night the whole family went out to dinner at a local restaurant that the hubs and I had never been to.

On Thursday we made the trip to Twin Falls. Our first stop was at the guys aunts house where we had lunch and caught up with everyone. Since the day was nice we were all siting or standing on the back porch when we noticed to humming birds buzzing by chasing each other. I know I got some pictures of them, but I can't find them anywhere. All the time that I was trying to get pictures I was, literally, getting dive bombed by one of the crazy birds. After several hours visiting we took our leave and headed over to the father-in-laws house.

It had probably been 15 or so years since we'd seen the guys dad. This trip we were lucky enough to see their step brother, Tuan, whom we hadn't seen since the early 80's when we were all active duty military. I know I took some pictures but I'll be damned if I can find them anywhere. We spent the day eating crawfish and just talking around the table. Their step mother is Vietnamese so you know that the food was never ending as it is in most Asian households when visitors are expected (or even when they're not). We ended up heading back to Blackfoot around 4pm.

Friday the girls came by and it was packet pick up day in Idaho Falls for the M.A.D. Marathon and Half Marathon. This was the race that I had been dreading, my second full marathon. After driving the course I knew that I was in trouble. You've probably read my previous post where I'm in total panic mode. If not, you can read it here.

M.A.D. Marathon swag.

Saturday, race day at 0 dark 30. We met the Marathon Maniacs, we were the only 2 Half Fanatics to take a group picture as is tradition with most races.

I was bused to the start of the full marathon, Troy would be bused to the half marathon start an hour later. I had a sheer few minutes of panic thinking that I couldn't do this, but when it came time to line up I did so all the while telling myself to just do the best I could. Almost the whole time of the race I was in the last 5. It seemed that me and an older gentleman who was walking were taking turns passing each other...yes, by this time (about mile 15) I had started walking more than running. By mile 18 I felt as if I was leaning to the left, much like I did at the TinkerBell HM earlier in the year. By mile 19 I was stumbling and off balance. At mile 20 I threw in the towel and called it quits...better to be safe than sorry since a diagnosis had still not yet been made (and never has been). I have to admit, I was in tears at having to quit only 10K away from the finish but there were no more water stops and there was only one car driving the course to pick up anyone. I figured that we'd be up in Idaho eventually and I could just catch a different marathon for the state at that time. Yes, I was disappointed but like I said...better to be safe than sorry.

Finishing Time:  DNF

We spent the next day just hanging out doing laundry and packing. We took off before dawn on Monday for the 16 or so hour drive home. It's funny but I feel differently about Blackfoot, a small town, than I did when we were living in California. I always thought I'd never be able to live in such a small town but after living here in Clovis, NM I kinda like it. Who knows maybe one day we'll move up to Idaho...

Runcation 2013 - Part 1

Travel Day - Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Well, the trip started off rough when we overslept about an hour and a half and instead of leaving at 3am we ended up leaving at 4:30am. When we head up to Idaho we plan on an 16 hour drive but the older we get the longer the drive gets, this time it took us a total of 18 hours. It was an uneventful drive but it seemed to take forever. One thing that we did differently was to stop and eat in instead of eating on the road…that probably account for one of the extra hours of the drive. I don’t know where the 2^nd hour came from. We finally arrived at my mother in law’s house at about 10:30pm. The hubs spent about 2 ½ hours just talking and catching up with his mom while I was unpacking and going on a 1 mile run to start up my run streak again…hopefully to last until Labor Day. I also did the scheduled workout for Focus T25 and got my ass handed to me, but it wasn’t bad considering that I had been on my butt for 18 hours. I got both the run in well before midnight and finished the workout just after midnight. It was time to head to bed because I was finally feeling sleepy.

Packet Pickup Day - Thursday, July 18, 2013

After getting a few hours of much needed sleep, about 4 hours actually, we went out for a 3 mile run and did the scheduled T25 workout right after getting back. We hung out at the house and relaxed for most of the day until the MIL drove us out to the greenway so we could have a place to run without worrying about the traffic on her busy country roads. The greenway goes around/by a lake and some canals and runs about a 7 mile loop. Did I mention there are trees, shade and nice scenery here in Idaho…totally different from the high desert of New Mexico. We also stopped by Anytime Fitness to pick up two temporary memberships so that we could work out, especially since I had just had a workout plan designed for me by a trainer at home.

We headed up to Idaho Falls (about 30 minutes away) at about 3:30pm to go to packet pickup which was starting at 5pm. We were about 45 minutes early so we looked around the store where the pickup was and then drove the course for the Idaho Falls 13.1. We got back to the store at about 5:10pm and went into the store. The pick-up was kind of weird in that you chose your own bib and entered your own name and bib number into the computer. It seemed like a kind of self service registration. There wasn’t much (really anything) for swag aside from the shirts and a water bottle. We were going to stay for the guest speaker at 7pm, but I got to antsy and didn’t want to wait another hour and a half so we headed back to the MILs house.

I decided that we needed to start some carb loading and we made some baked rigatoni and sautéed squash/zucchini for the in-laws and ourselves. We just spent the rest of the night just hanging out before everyone headed to bed. Of course, I couldn’t sleep so I headed out to the gym (24/7) and did my prescribed workout and by the time I got back to the house I was ready to sleep.

Rest Day (Sort of) – Friday, July 19, 2013

With nothing on the agenda we planned to take it easy for the day and just relax. Our nieces came to the house while their parents were at work and we ended up playing croquet with them and MIL outside in the 90°+ degree temperature. I never realized that croquet took so much time. I was doing a load of laundry (tech stuff from previous days) and sat out the second game to hang the clothes to dry. Wow! Imagine that, you can actually hang clothes on a outdoor clothes line and not have them be dirtier than when you hung them up (never ending blowing dust/dirt in our neck of the woods). After getting the clothes hung I decided it was time for a nap, I must have been out for close to 2 hours because the girls mom was there to pick them up very shortly after I got up. The hubs mom had made some tapioca so they were all having some (I don’t like the stuff) and the girls were headed home about 20 minutes after I woke up.

The MIL ordered pizza for dinner and I prepped a chicken with the rub from Roast Sticky Chicken. We just sat and watched TV until about 9pm when the hubs and I went to sleep. The big question was if I’d sleep more than my traditional 3 hours of pre-race sleep.

Half Marathon Race Day - Saturday, July 20, 2013

The hubs and I woke up at 3am after he had slept for at least 6 hours and I had managed to get just over 5 hours in. We were both ready to go and had eaten breakfast (whole wheat English muffin and OJ for me) by 4:15am so it was time to leave for the Idaho Falls 13.1. We did a double check of everything and headed out for the approximately 30 minute drive to the finish line where we would be bused to the start. I had to answer the call of mother nature and the race info said that permanent, real restrooms would be available at the finish line…well, they were locked. Bummer. I ended up having to use the port-a-john which I really dislike except in emergencies so I guess I’d count this visit as an emergency. 

Flatrunner Beth (my gear for the day).

By the time I had made my way back to the car, the buses had arrived and I saw the hubs heading over to get on one…he didn’t even wait for me! Lol! Anyway, we were bused 13.1 miles to the start of the race right amongst a windmill farm. The weather wasn’t  bad…a very light breeze and temps in the high 50s. On the ride up a small group of us were talking about the race and other races we had done and just enjoying the company. We arrived at about 6am, start time was 6:30am, and took pictures talked with more people…one guy was intrigued with my Bataan Memorial Death March tattoo since he was a history buff and had grandfathers who were at Pearl Harbor and another base during WWII. 

As the start time got closer, we all inched our way towards the start. The hubs and I knew we’d be back of the packers so we were in no hurry to get to the front. All of a sudden everyone started running! We, and others around us, never heard a “Ready, Get Set, Go!” or a starting gun going off. We took our time and were actually DFL for the first 3 miles. At the water stop a group of 5 guys stopped and we passed them as well as a couple who were also doing run/walk/run.  Also at the 3 mile mark was the one uphill section. It wasn’t a small uphill either, it was pretty steep but we managed to run about half before beginning to walk. We continued our run/walk/run, the other couple eventually passed us up at around mile 7-8 and the group of guys was nowhere to be seen. At least we weren’t DFL, close to it but still not DFL.

The view towards Idaho Falls.

Sunrise behind the windmill farm.

2nd bus walking down to the start.

Yours truly.

Pretty bling

During the race I had one GU and sucked down 4 packets of mustard. Yes, mustard to help alleviate and prevent any cramping. Now, I’m not a fan of mustard but this is the first race that I had only one tiny moment of cramping and nothing else. It wasn’t very smart of me to try the mustard for the first time during the race, but it worked effectively with minimal GI issues. Mustard packets will now be on my person for any future races…now I just need to figure out where to buy/confiscate some!

We didn’t make our sub-3 hour goal, missing it by less than 2 minutes but we did finish and that’s all that matters. After getting my neck adjusted by the chiropractor on site, we made our way to the car and stopped at a convenience store to get some chocolate milk to drink. After the drive back and getting cleaned up we headed to a local restaurant with the MIL and had lunch. The hubs went for a huge Louisiana style burger while I opted for a prime rib  sandwich with sautéed onions and mushrooms.

After lunch we just hung out at the house with the old man complaining of his sore calves. We eventually decided to use some leftover hamburger to make nachos for dinner along with shrimp and deviled eggs…yup, weird combination! Now I’m just typing this up and getting ready to watch “21 &Over” on my laptop since I don’t think the in-laws would enjoy the movie and the rough language in it. So I guess that’s it for now, more later…The M.A.D. Marathon is next on the book next Saturday. Whoa.

Video: Troy and I crossing the finish line.

Finishing Time:  3:01:45

What did I like about this race?
Scenery is pretty, even running through the shopping district wasn't bad. Great volunteers and police traffic control. It was mostly downhill! Nice medal.

What did I not like about this race?
The big hill that we had to go up. The fact that my GI tract did not agree with the mustard too well. There was one turn that wasn't marked well and no one was there to make sure you went the right way. The starting gun/yell/whatever was not loud enough for everyone to hear.

Would I do this race again?
Yes, it's a nice course and it would work into a visit with the in-laws so it's a 2 for 1 type situation.

A Blast from the Past!

I got a surprise friend request on my Facebook account from one of the daughters (there are six) of a couple of my best friends while they were stationed here at Cannon AFB. I last saw this family when the oldest graduated from high school out in California several years ago. That was the first time I had seen them since they transferred to Japan in 1997-ish. The timing was great because I was back and home visiting and I was able to meet up with them and attend the eldest's graduation. I was also able to meet the last 2 additions (including my god daughter) to the family who had been born since they left New Mexico. Now, the fourth daughter is getting ready to graduate high school. When the family left New Mexico, this young lady was a feisty toddler. Geez, I feel so old! LOL!

There were a core of four families: my own, these friends, my cousin's family and another family. We used to do so much together probably the most memorable being a caravan up to Santa Fe to take the kids (8 total for all the families) to the Children's Museum there. We'd rotate houses to have potlucks or parties, we'd take the kids on walks on the fitness trail (but these walks were supposed to the moms exercise...yeah, right!). We were just really tight.

I'm just sitting here reminiscing about those days. They saw me in my earliest stages of the bipolar disorder and even in a severe enough depression that they feared for my life and called an ambulance. We saw our kids grow up together for several years. The fact that we were mostly Filipino, of course, meant that all the adults were automatically "auntie" or "uncle." We all became each other's surrogate families since our own blood family, aside from my cousin, wasn't around. Heck, even my cousin and I had only met by chance while they were here. My mother had told me I had a cousin whose husband was stationed here but if I remember correctly it wasn't until the mother of the young lady who contacted me introduced us to each other. I may be a little foggy on that, but that's how I remember it anyway.

I really miss those days. To have a close knit group of people that you could count on at anytime. I have a few friends now that I could confide in but they each have their own things going on. But there's nothing like our little band of families was. We were a family whether related by blood or not. I can't wait until one day when we can all have a reunion and have all of us on one place again, even if for just a day or two...

Race Recap: Spartan Sprint - Arizona

Race Day: Saturday, February 9, 2013
Location: McDowell Mt. Regional Park, Ft. McDowell, AZ (Venue change)

Race Day -1 (Friday, Feb 8, 2013)

I've driven to Arizona on my own and with the old man several times, but this time was the first time I've driven for a race. And it wasn't just for any race...this was Spartan Sprint my first obstacle course since USAF basic training some 30 odd years ago! My nerves were already on edge wondering why the hell I actually chose to do this on my own...no coercing from anyone. If anything, I coerced my team mates to do it with me! lol! So I picked up my friend, Jeff who I met at the YMCA a little over a year ago and who is less than half my age, to make what I had thought would be an 11-12 hour drive to Phoenix. Instead we made it in about 10 hours through the hellacious wind of eastern Arizona along I-40, the beautiful melting snow and mountains of northeastern Arizona and the beautiful desert of the Phoenix area. I simply love Phoenix and wouldn't mind living here if it wasn't for the blasted guaranteed triple digits in the summer! Some 20+ years ago we could've been assigned to Luke AFB here, but it never came to pass and we ended up in New Mexico instead...just not the same. The trip went smoothly with just a couple of stops for breakfast and gassing up. Jeff had pulled one of those "young people" all nighters...I do the "old people" version, lol! So he slept almost the whole trip.

Clear roads in the Arizona mountains.

What a view! What are those green things?
And those tall things in the background?

We arrived in Phoenix at about 4:30pm, checked into the hotel and since we hadn't had lunch I promptly took him to Ono Hawaiian BBQ for a mini meal...one of my must do places to eat anywhere...any kind of Hawaiian BBQ joint. We then headed over to my son's place (the only reason I'd drive 10 hours for a short, supposedly 5K race...to visit family/friends) sat around for a bit and then headed to dinner at Buca de Beppo's within 2 hours of having our last meal.

After a meal of lasagna and baked rigattoni we indulged in a super sized hot fudge brownie sundae...3 scoops of chocolate, 3 scoops of vanilla, 12 brownie pieces, hot fudge and plenty of whipped cream and sprinkles. Yum!! Out of the five of us eating 4 of us had lactose intolerance issues so it was a good thing that I had plenty of generic Lactaid in my purse! It would not have been pretty otherwise, lol!

I was forced to participate in the infamous phone stack. :(

 

Really, we ALL shared this...

Way too full after dinner!

To kill time and not rest before what was sure to be a grueling race the next day we headed over to Dave & Busters at Tempe Marketplace. This was a first time venture for myself, Noemi and Jeff. I felt like I was back in junior high/high school hanging out at the local video arcade or with my kids at Chuck E. Cheese's. We played for about 1-2 hours and instead of keeping the tickets from the games I gave them to Jeff as did Noemi. It's been so long since I've played any video games (I think the last console we had at home was an old Nintendo that actually belonged to the son) in over a decade...if not two. It was really fun to get back into that frame of mind and not have any worries for a few minutes.

Happy winner!

End of the night...

I think we finally called it a night about midnight and headed out to drop everyone off at the apartment to make final plans for the next day and finally Jeff and I headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Race Day

I didn't sleep well as usual getting only about 3-4 hours of sleep waking up at around 4:30 am. I did my usual hotel routine when I have a roomie of playing on the computer/phone/tablet and watching Pitch Perfect until it was a decent time to start getting ready. I did take off for a few to head to Target to look for some energy snacks for the race and maybe a small backpack or waist pack to carry some stuff during the race. That plan pretty much fell through but I did manage to get a couple of packs of Shotz Bloks and a quart of chocolate milk for my post race drink.

My race gear.

By the time I got back to the hotel it was time to start getting ready so that we could go grab some breakfast before heading out to the race. Just about the time I had finished getting dressed the son called and recommended just eating locally instead of going out for dim sum since the race venue had been changed to a location north of Pheonix instead of in Chandler. We ended up at a little sandwich shop not too far from the apartment and then headed out to the race around noon-ish.

The weather wasn't all that great...and it only got worse. It was cold, windy, overcast and just blah. The line to get on the shuttle didn't take too long (parking was a few miles away from the venue) and it was kind of surreal watching all the people who had already finished in various states of wet, muddiness. Some looked like they had even barely gotten wet or muddy while others were just totally
drenched/filthy. By the time we got checked in, numbers marked on our bodies and gear turned in we had about 20 minutes to kill before our heat started. We did some weak attempts at warming up, I was acting like an idiot trying to get the others hyped up but mostly we were just freezing our butts off.

Cold, windy and totally oblivious to what's in store!

When we did finally take off the guys basically left Noemi and I in the dust. So we just hung together and walked/jogged until we started hitting the obstacles. Now, I'm not going to do a play by play of the obstacles so here's a quick breakdown of what I can remember:

• Upright walls x3 ...5-6' high
• Monkey bars...fail (too far apart for my short arms, instead carried each other across touching each rung as we went) no burpees for punishement
• Upright walls...8' high used "cheater" steps (2 tiny 2x4 strips) and worked as a team to get over by giving a hand/shoulder to step on and a push on the backside
• Weight carry ~15-20# for females + 5 burpees and carry weight back to starting pt
• Crawl under barbed wire fences x 2 or 3
• Rock drag...up hill and back down
• Wall bouldering going sideways...worked as a team to support each other so we wouldn't fall
• Sandbag carry...up/down hill
• Javelin throw...fail (severe rt calf cramping...ended up on ground in pain had to stretch for about 5 minutes and kept going still cramping) = 30 punishment burpees
• Rope climb ~20' w/ water pit underneath...fail = 30 punishment burpees
• Barb wire mud crawl ~100-150' FAVORITE OBSTACLE!! Lost bib, went back to find it!
• Mud hills/pits x 5 - Slid down the mud hills on my rear...fastest way down
• Rope net climb up and over
• Angled wall/rope climb (3rd favorite)
• Fire pit jump

Numerous steep uphill and downhill climbs, single track trail/washouts primarily and plenty of cacti...just seriously hardcore! I'm not a trail runner so I ended up walking most of the race which was just fine with me. All I wanted to do was finish with minimal injuries and get the bling!

The aftermath!

Jeff came in first on the team in something like 1:21, Darryl was at 2:05 or so, Noemi at 2:23 or so and I came in at 2:39.01 which actually included me walking up and down the length of the barb wire crawl looking for my lost bib for about 10 minutes. Most of us weren't fast, but we all finished...in a standing position even!

Finisher's medal and my bibs...

We hung around a little bit to take pictures and grab gear but for the most part we just headed back to the shuttles to get back to a warm heater in the car. A quick stop at In-n-Out to pick up some burgers for lunch and then we dropped the others off at the apartment while Jeff and I went back to the hotel to get cleaned up. We were supposed to get together again in the evening to head out to City Center to go to the Mardi Gras Festival, but by the time I was cleaned up I was way too tired to do anything else. I arranged for Jeff to hang out with the others while I played the old fogie roll and stayed at the hotel to wash the race gear and go to sleep early. I was so tired that I didn't even have the energy to eat the burger that we had brought for lunch and just barely managed to stay awake to run the gear through the wash cycle a couple of times and through the dryer. In order to stay awake during that time I relied on watching Pitch Perfect (go figure) and starting this write up while conversing on Facebook and Twitter. I'm pretty sure that as soon as my head finally hit the pillow I was out like a light. I don't even remember when Jeff got back to the room and I'm usually a very light sleeper...Yup, I guess I was freakin' tired! lol!

Race Day +1

Well, the original plan had been to be on the road home by about 8am but even though I woke up at 6am I was just not in the mood to be driving that early because I was so sore. Instead we had homemade Eggs Benedict that my son made at about 10am and then we headed out to C-Fu Gourmet to pick up some dim sum to celebrate Chinese New Year when I got home (hubs and I love dim sum and we can't get any decent dim sum here in New Mexico). After waiting close to an hour for the food (the place was packed because of it being Chinese New Year) we were finally on our way back home.

Offering for Year of the Snake

Not quite San Francisco Chinatown, but close enough for now.

As we hit the mountains there was a pretty significant amount of snow that hadn't been there on the drive in. The higher the more heavy the snowfall got. We finally hit Heber -Odegaard where the snow almost stopped and the drive became pretty easy again. Just before the AZ-NM border the weather changed and there was a point around Gallup that I really thought that we'd have to pull over and hunker down for the night because the snow was starting to come down pretty heavy. Luckily, after about 75 miles the snow cleared up and it was smooth sailing again.

Um, yeah...there was very little snow here on the trip up to Phoenix.

Snow on I-40 west of Gallup...and this wasn't the worst of it!

We stopped for dinner and gas in Albuqerque originally planning to eat at a Japanese place on Central Ave that I had been to once, but they were close so we ended up at Fuddrucker's instead. A quick stop in a book store and to gas up and we were back on the road or the last leg of the trip home. A little over 3 hours later we arrived back in town just before midnight and the quick and somewhat painful weekend trip was over. Goal of completing Spartan Sprint accomplished, new bling, plans to move up the Spartan Race ladder to the next level...Super Spartan, an 8+ mile mud/obstacle course, is now in the planning. A weekend of good food, fun, new/old friends and family and a bunch of  "firsts" for Jeff (Spartan race, trip to Pheonix, In-n-Out meal, etc.)...all in all it was a resounding success.

What did I like about this race?
The main thing is that this race was a serious challenge. The last time I even did anything resembling it was the obstacle course in USAF basic training which was only 1.5 miles long and actually quite easy. This race really put me up against a wall to see how well I could push myself to reach the goal I wanted. I succeeded so it's all good.

What did I not like about this race?
I am not a fan of trail running, in fact I hate it. So I trail walked/hiked instead for most of the race. If only it could be a nicely packed wide trail without the loose rocks, steep hills and such I probably would have been a very happy camper! lol.

Would I do this race again?
Ummmm...YES!! In fact, I just signed the husband and I up for the 2014 race this afternoon, so I definitely WILL be doing it again! The big difference will be that I will train for it next time! lol.

Race Recap: FMB Southwest HM

Race Day - 5/6/12

Today was an early start with us having to check out at 4:30am to make the 1+ hour drive to the start of the FMB Southwest HM. Once we arrived after having to figure out how to get to the parking/starting area the daughter stayed in the car to sleep while I checking and got my packet and finished getting ready for the race.

Thankfully the weather was cooperating for the day. Although it was cool and a bit humid (something I'm not used to) I was fairly comfortable. I met another future (this was her qualifying race) Half Fanatic/Bling Whore sister, Susan, and her husband at the starting line...talked running for a while before I headed to the back of the starting pack (yes, I know where I belong...not at the front!) to await the gun.

The course is a beautiful run along Route 83 which is closed for race so the only traffic that is present is from race vehicles...mostly police cruisers. As the race started we left Memorial Park and ran through a mostly medically related business area before running through a slightly more residential portion. As the course left town, the route was a 2 lane, tree lined road. The area was green and plush although I did have a heck of a time having to occasionally swat at gnats or some other little insects throughout the run. I think this was mostly due to the humidity...something I don't deal with frequently or well. The road just seemed to go on and on with some low to very moderate hills...nothing I could really complain about. We crossed the overpass above Rte 45 during which someone on the highway below started blowing their horn and waving as they saw runners crossing above them. We continued on our way on the course which seemed like it was straight most of the way with only a few curves that were so extended in length that you didn't even know you were on a curve. At the halfway point on the out-and-back route we made the turn in the parking lot of Camp Sagawau before going back the way we came. At points in the run you could see the river or the nearby interstate but for the most part it was trees, trees and more trees although it wasn't necessarily a shaded run.

Yet again...going the wrong way!

I was so tired, worn out during this run that I think I began walking around mile 7 with only short jogs thereafter. Another female, fully geared out Half Fanatic ran up to me at around mile 8 or 9 and we talked awhile and maybe walked together for a mile before she took off running again. I can't remember her name, but I do remember that she was from Illinois and was surprised by the humidity as well. When I did run I started counting my steps as a way of doing intervals just to break the boredom...200 steps running then 100 steps walking. I did this for awhile then just started walking only at mile 11 or so. I didn't start running again until about a quarter mile from the finish line! Between just being tired and the family drama of the night before I was just glad to finish. After picking up my medal I just hung around the finish area for a bit and then headed back to the car to change and hit the road for the 5 hour drive back to my cousin's house in southern Illinois.

What I liked about this race: No pressure race, simple course, nice bling (finisher's medal).

What I didn't like about this race: Since it was out and back the scenery was repetitive...trees almost anywhere you looked, very little change in scenery. The little insects drove me crazy as well.





Would I do this race again? Probably, but I'm not in any hurry to do so just because of the limited scenery.

Race Recap: GO! St. Louis HM

4/15/12 - Race Day

Race day gear.

 For some reason I had a really good night's sleep! Woke up easily and even just slightly before my alarm at 3:30am. Did my getting ready necessaries (shower, eat, Facebook...not necessarily in that order) but luckily I didn't have to tape up since I had taped up fully the day before, all that was required was some trimming of lifted areas.

Driving into St. Louis from IL.

I was on the road by 5am and had planned for a 40 minute drive which in all actuality only took about 30 minutes. Parking was pretty simple, although I did have to hang around the Explorer and ask a couple of people if the meters were actually free on Sundays...come on St. Louis, put up some signage for us out of towners! I managed to park on the street just 2 blocks from the starting area...score! Once I was sure I had all the gear and my gear bag...yes, I was actually going to use gear check for the second time in my running career, I headed towards the venue. The weather was cooperating, no need for my garbage bag on this day. I wandered around for a bit before noticing that one or maybe both of the silicone toe sleeves on my right foot felt wrong. I use these, or try to use them, to protect from anymore black toenails. I stopped and adjusted them and put my sock and shoe back on. I wandered around while eating a banana trying to figure out where the gear check area was. I finally found a volunteer who directed me towards city hall...yay!! Once I dropped off my gear I headed for what I knew would likely be the last indoor restrooms available. The line was loooong! I had been waiting about 15 minutes with another 20 or so in line before me, to top it off it was nearly 6:30am already. They wanted us in our corrals by 6:40am or we risked having to start in the last corral. A few ladies came by and told us that there was another restroom on the other end of the building and I made a beeline over to it...the line was much shorter, but I still had about a 5 minute wait. After I visited Mother Nature I  headed at a light jog to my corral..."D" out of "E" corrals...yes, I was just about in the last starting block since I'm so slow!! lol! This race was huge...something like 15,000+ participants it was by far the biggest race I've participated in. Now, waiting in the corral is a great place to people watch. Because they were offering free beer I was looking for someone who looked like they were active duty to give my beer coupon to since I don't drink. No luck...anyone who fit the description was either too far from me to hear me over the din or I really can't pick out my active duty people anymore because guys are wearing their hair short again. Oh, and if they're females it's almost impossible to tell who's active duty when there out of uniform!

View from Corral D

As I people watched I realized that I still had my phone with me. Now I don't typically run with my phone anymore since I got my MotoACTV. I was a bit irritated that I had forgotten to stash it in my gear bag and that it was too big for the case for my camera that I wear on my hydration belt. Hey, if I'm not going to win the race I'll take pictures while I run the race! ;) I was wearing my running skort that has fairly large pockets so I stashed it in the one on my right leg and hoped for the best. I snapped a couple of pictures and then the national anthem started. I could barely hear the singer or the announcer since I was so far back in the crowd. I heard them start the race, but it took a full 8 minutes for me to actually get across the starting line...that's how big the race was.

Around mile 8, I think.

We started down towards the Anheuser-Busch brewery where there was...wait for it...hills! They also had one of the Clydesdales out there to cheer us on...why didn't I stop for a picture? Once down those hills we headed down closer to the river and before turning I noticed that the toe caps were bothering me again. I finally had to come to a full stop and sit on the sidewalk to check them. Since I had had the same problem in Indiana (but didn't notice until I got to the hotel) I just went ahead and took them off hoping for no problems. I joined the race again and kept to a pretty steady 4 min:1 min run walk interval. Did I mention that the fastest marathoners and half marathoners passed me when I had barely passed the 2 or 3 mile mark? Ugh. Anyway, I ran on dealing with some relatively low hills without much problem...actually running up most of each of them. There seemed to be quite a lot of flat areas in the downtown portion but it was also at this time that I saw a woman fall down for the first time during the race. The weather wasn't too hot, maybe in the high 60's but it was pretty humid at around 60% if I remember correctly. As I ran on I began seeing a few more people pulled off to the side being attended to by race monitors or EMS. At some point, later in the race, I saw the same woman fall again. I was feeling pretty good myself sipping on my G2 and using a Hammer Endurolyte capsule each hour that I was on the course. At around mile 8 I check the time on my watch versus my projected pace and found that I was actually 10 ahead of pace!! I was shooting for a 2:40 finish but I was running 10 minutes ahead of what I needed to be. Whoohoo!! Possible new PR!! Especially on a course with hills!! But my joy turned to irritation when I hit that dreaded wall again at 9 miles. Boy, that was some shortlived joy! lol! The hills started up again...walk up, jog down. Watched the new relay members join the race after the transfer looking all relaxed and stuff. Jerks!! lol, just kidding! :) We were heading back into downtown and I had thought we had finished with the hills, then I saw a downward slope leading to a decently sloped overpass. Damn! Made it over that obstacle and turned the corner...and there it was, probably the biggest hill in the race at around mile 11...NO FAIR!!! I struggled up that long hill and at the top all I heard was "You're almost there!" They weren't lying...the last 1.1 miles was ahead of me. I decided that I was so tired that I'd just walk so that I could at least run the last quarter of a mile or so to the finish line. Time didn't matter anymore. I crossed the line jogging and almost as soon as I got over the timing mechanism I slowed to a walk. I ended up finishing 13 minutes after my goal time. I got my medal (a nice one, my second favorite behind Tink!), took a finisher's photo and grabbed some snacks. I immediately headed back to city hall while munching a banana to grab my gear and my much needed chocolate milk.

I sat down on the marble steps and grabbed my "The Stick" (a massaging stick) and began using it on my legs. Ahhhhhhh! I'm going to have to remember to keep that in my bag every race. I drank my chocolate milk, had some beef jerky and another banana. A few more girls (in their 20's I think) sat nearby and we were soon talking about the race and our future goals. One was another nurse who had lost over 100 pounds and began to run, another was going to be joining Half Fanatics after this race as her qualifyer, I gave some of them the name to our Facebook Bling Whore group and we just enjoyed each others company for probably close to 30 minutes just commensurating about our aches and pains.

Finishers medal, new #2 fave.

One of the cheer squads on the course.
Love the signs!

As we slowly broke up the group I headed back to my car...very slowly. I looked up the nearest YMCA so that I could take a shower and luckily it was only less than a 5 minute drive away. I got there, filled in the guest use form (I'm a YMCA member at home) proceeded to the showers. While the shower felt great just to wash all the dried salt from my skin, it would've been nice for there to actually be some water pressure!! lol! I contemplated what I wanted to do in town as a tourist.  One of the girls, a local, recommended the old location of the World's Fair but I wasn't really in a mood to walk around. So, I figured I'd just go see the Gateway Arch and find a nice steak for lunch. I got to the parking lot for the arch and headed in. The visitor's center was actually underground and you have to purchase tickets to go to the top of the arch as well as for some of the movie presentations. I hung out since I only had to wait about 20 minutes and looked in the gift shop and having a soda before getting into line (they assign times for your tours). I have to say that it's not really all that exciting...you take the "train" (really some tiny pods) to the top where you look out of 16 tiny windows and you come down. The swaying of the arch was pretty pronounced since it was so windy that day. After taking a few pictures and noticing that there was a Cardinals game in progress I headed down after less than 10 minutes (translation my whole stay cost more than $1/minute). I headed back outside to take some exterior shots but felt so tired that I even took a few minutes to lay down on one of the stone benches for a quick few minutes (literally) of napping. Food then became the focus. I didn't have the energy to walk around downtown to find a steakhouse and parking on the street was rough so I decided to find a steakhouse close to my cousin's house and eat there.

Inside the visitor center.

The Gateway Arch and I.

I drove back to the town where my cousin lives and found the restaurant...but it was closed either permanently or for remodeling. I got back on my phone and Google maps and since there was no other steakhouse that sounded good I went to a Japanese restaurant that had good reviews and a moderately priced menu. Good choice! After having my fill of shrimp/veggie tempura, soup, 12 piece sashimi and a new type of roll I headed back to my cousin's. It seemed that everyone was either gone or in their rooms so I headed downstairs and watched TV for a few before heading to bed for a nap. I'm not sure how long I slept but when I woke up I still wasn't the least bit hungry so I just watched more TV and chatted with my cousin and bid an early goodbye to the family. I went to bed pretty early after packing as I wanted to be on the road around 5am.

Cardinal game in progress.

View to East of the Arch.

Boy that's tall!

4/16/12 - Race Day +1

I managed to wake up and get on the road as planned but realized that I should have filled up before leaving St. Louis. I had to fill up in Illinios (I probably could've made St. Louis but I didn't want to deal with Monday commute) at nearly $4/gallon. I got back on the road and once I reached Six Flags St. Louis I pulled off to have breakfast at Denny's. Now, the weather was cold and I was wearing shorts, a tank top and sandals. I was thankful that I had 2 race shirts and grabbed one to wear just to be a bit warmer. The drive was pretty routine, but as I got closer to Oklahoma City about 9 hours later I decided that it would be smarter for me to stop overnight and get a good night's rest before finishing the last 5 hours of driving. I managed to get a room on Tinker AFB then went to the BX/Commissary mall initially to buy a steak and fixins since I was in temporary family lodging and had a full kitchen at my disposal. I walked around the BX first and noticed that they had a Popeye's in the food court...the idea of cooking quickly went out of my head. I got the meal to go and headed back to the room kicking up my feet, playing on Facebook and eating. I then decided that since it was light out that I'd print up the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon/Half Marathon map and go drive the route. I drove to the memorial and followed the course as best I could. I'm okay with it, yes there are some hills but nothing huge (I actually think my perception is changing or at least becoming more accepting) and fairly pretty as well. It was dark by the time I got back on base so I just headed to the room and crashed out for the night thinking that maybe, just maybe I'd take a short 5K run on the running path that I had noticed on base in the morning.

4/17/12 - Race Day +2

View on the Greenway just before getting lost!

I woke up at around 5:30am and decided to indeed hit the trail. I got dressed and walked the few blocks to the lodging office to see if they had a map of the trail since the one that was supposed to be in my room was gone. I got the map and began on my run. Now, let me explain, this map was a full page but the print was minuscule and you had to have a magnifying glass to read it. I managed to go where I planned on the Urban Greenway (reclaimed land) but got lost so bad in base housing that my run ended up being over a mile longer and 20 minutes longer than planned. By the time I got back to the room it was nearly 9:30am and I still had to shower, eat and pack. I managed to get that all that done by 10:50am and headed out to the office to checkout. I got through the first half of the drive with relatively no problem but had to stop at the Texas Welcome Center in Gray County to wake up a bit. As I headed into Amarillo I decided that since I had to go right by the Big Texan (a restaurant known for it's 72 oz. steak challenge and featured on many food shows) I'd just stop and get that steak I've been craving since Saturday. Yep...a nice, thick, somewhat "mooing", 18 oz rib eye!! Yeeeeeha! After that big meal (bread, salad, steak, loaded baked potato) I walked around the gift shop to let nature do it's thing before heading back on the road. I think I got home around 6pm and almost immediately went to bed! I had survived my first lone, long distance road trip of over 2,000 miles for a run...

This is what where I live looks like...except FLAT!

Yep...Texas shaped BBQ grill! lol!

Nice welcome center at Gray County 60 miles east of Amarillo.
Free wifi but you have to be outside near that big white thing to the left.

Not an uncommon sign in this region...the rattlesnakes, not the climbing.

My 18oz rib eye at the Big Texan!