Tap into it.

I almost always stick to the trails. For a variety of reasons. The first and foremost, I have a hard time mentally running on pavement. I don’t know what it is, but I have a really, really hard time running roads. It almost makes me wanna go insane. I can’t find the peacefulness in my mind and body that I usually find and often crave on the trails. Instead, I find that I’m screaming on the inside, like a toddler having a tantrum.

Yesterday, I found myself running on the lakewalk with my Tuesday running group of girlfriends. I knew that we had plans to run pavement. All day I hemmed and hawed, trying to decide what to do. I had run a paved bike trail up by my parent’s house the day before; the hard stuff was fresh in my mind and my legs. I was longing for the soft muddiness of the earth beneath my feet and the smell of rainy woods filling my senses. I wasn’t feeling well either and haven’t been 100% for almost a week. And, I was in a grumpy mood, which doesn’t happen all that often. Pull yourself together, get over it and suck it up, I told myself. Have I become a trail snob I wondered? Do I need to flex my mental and physical road running muscles? It hurts to run roads and my shoes are worn out. Am I just making up a ton of stupid excuses not to run roads? The answer to all of my questions was an obvious yes. But above all, the one thing that rings the truest and most important is pure and simple: spending time with my girlfriends and sharing what we all love to do. Running. So I went.

Despite trying to talk myself into a better mood as I jogged over to our meeting point, I still managed to show up for the run a bit of a sourpatch. I was in a foul mood and I hate feeling like that. We took off down to the lakewalk and ran east, I felt a little better. The pace picked up and we collectively decided to take it down a notch, we were still holding a steady 8:00/mile pace. I felt a little better. A quote came to mind, if you can’t get out of it, you better get into it. Boy, did that hit home! I relaxed into my stride and just let go. Just. Let. Go. There it is. I found the peacefulness.

Something dawned on me last night as I was laying in bed icing my right knee (it didn’t quite find the peacefulness the rest of me found). And maybe I’m a bit slow at just figuring this out. But, the peacefulness or whatever it is we crave from running doesn’t exist on the roads or in the woods, although it may be easier to find it one way or another. It resides within, you just have to figure out how to tap into it. And having friends to run with when you’re grumpy always helps, too. Thanks for the run!

Born Ruffians

Here’s Friday’s tune. I like the style of this band. They are kinda funky and I dig ‘em. There’s hand clapping at the end of this song, too! I must be on a hand clapping binge as of late. Happy Weekending!

Can’t Stop

This song has been stuck in my head for a while now. It’s probably my favorite song on the new TBT album. I don’t know what that instrument is in the background, but it gives me the chills. Enjoy!

In other news, I went for my first run last night after the race and I’m feeling pretty decent! I’ve got a little glitch in my giddy-up from the right leg feeling a bit wonky, but I’m sure it’ll work itself out alright. A few more days off and I’ll go back to running this weekend most likely. I also have a sore, scratchy throat and some fatigue that I’m fighting. This means plenty of fluids and rest over the weekend, i.e. beer and sleeping in. Yay!

The Dreamer

I’m getting my dose of The Tallest Man on Earth this morning. His voice and music keep growing on me. This is a great tune.

Painfully Funny

This is what I feel I look like at work today, minus the business suit and plastic hair clip. My legs really hurt! This pic totally cracks me up.

Photo via BuzzFeed, which also happens to be the best site. Ever.

Superior 50K

Well, it’s been a couple of days to let the race sink in and the quads to tighten up. Overall, I’d say I’m content with how the race turned out considering a few factors. Looking back, I’d say I went out a little too fast, but I was feeling good and just went with it. I hit the turn around in about 2:45. I’m still trying to figure out how fast to take out the first part of an ultra. I want to push myself a little to see if I can hang on. Sometimes I feel like I’ve gone out way too conservatively. With only four 50k’s under my belt, only time and more races will help develop my racing style.

The heat of the day played a big factor for me and many others on Saturday. We hadn’t seen heat like that since last summer and I wasn’t acclimated at all. The temps reached the low-mid 80s with no clouds and no breeze. I held on as long as I could, drinking lots of fluids at the aid stations, but by mile 23 I was starting to hurt. Real bad. I spent a long time at the final aid station talking to my mom and trying to ingest anything that was left over for the final stretch of the race. Much of the station had been picked over by the time I arrived and so I left to gut out the last 7.75 miles. That’s where I fell apart pretty hard. My body was exhausted. I just wanted to lay down in the woods, kick my shoes off and take a nap. I’ve never experienced that before. I actually felt better running, but had a hard time motivating my mind to do anything but a death march. At that point it was all mind games and I did a lot of pep talks to myself to get me through the rough patches. I wanted to cry a few times, but never did. I did do a few of the heavy, gasping sobs, but no tears fell. I think I was so dehydrated that I couldn’t even cry! The heat was very frustrating to say the least. I don’t do well in it unless I’m laying on the beach with Lake Superior only footsteps away or sitting in the sauna with a cold beer in hand. I rounded out the race in 6:24:00 and placed 10th out of the women’s field and 69th overall. I’ll take it!

Start of the race and feeling fresh.

Marcus and I at the finish. Not feeling quite as peppy and a little sweaty. Photo by Mary Jo Taintor.

 

 

Get Squirrely!

Today I entered a coaster design contest for Surly Beer, a hands-down favorite brew of mine. I whipped this baby out in a matter of minutes. Who doesn’t love happy, beer drinking squirrels?! I mean, come on!! You can vote for my design via facebook starting next week I think.

In other news, I’m getting mighty squirrely for the race this Saturday. I’m buzzing with excitement and nervousness!

Clap Your Hands

This is a good one by Dan Mangan.

4.5 …

The countdown begins today for Saturday’s 50k race up at Lutsen. I feel myself getting ancy and jittery when I stop to think about it. My energy levels are surging as I haven’t run much lately and I hope that I’m prepared well enough for Saturday. This is a common doubt that I come across before each race, but I know I’ve put my time and distance in. I’ve done more long runs than usual this time around, but my running schedule has overall seemed more relaxed and laid back. I don’t think my highest total weekly distances racked up to more than 45 miles per week. Which is okay with me, as I feel like I’ve been doing battle with a few tweaks in the lower half of my body for a while now. My plan for Saturday is to run like the hunted, have fun and see what happens out there. My legs can’t stop bouncing as I sit at my desk, the energy is flowing fast and silently.

On a side note, here’s a pic I took out at Brighton Beach yesterday while I sat on a swing.

Feels Like Summer

Just a few snaps from the weekend. It felt like summer for the first time in a long time this weekend and I’m not gonna lie, it felt good.