Trail running

Yesterday I completed my first trail half marathon, which was also my fifth half marathon for the year! Now I can check off one of my goals for 2013... to complete five half marathons.

I know I haven't posted for a while. I've tried sitting down to write a post, but alas I haven't been able to. I either haven't had the time or I get writer's block or not sure of how I want to write something out. Today I will try again and I have pictures to share, just not much from this trail event (will explain).

I have been having to combine my training for this trail event and for some street events coming up. I haven't had too many long runs on the trail. It has been a challenge to train for both, but the last few weeks I've been more focused on the trail running. I've ran trails at Smithville, Shawnee Mission Park and Wynadotte County Lake Park.

Smithville Lake:
I fell each of my first two runs at Smithville and not in the same place! I met up with the Thursday night Trail Nerds the first time out there. Luckily, someone was kind enough to keep it slow enough for me to stay with her. There are a couple of spots that are a steady uphill, but I really enjoyed the run. I did fall, as mentioned previously. This was my first time falling on a run, I tripped over a tree root. It was a tight S turn and I just didn't pick up my feet enough. I ended up with bruses on my arm and on both legs. This happened about half way through the run. I was more careful after that and I did hurt a little, but not enough to slow me down too much.

 

The second time I went out there was on a Sunday evening (two weeks ago) and I took Keeli with me. She really seemed to enjoy it and did very well. We were doing really good. Got though the long gradual uphill and was on nearly smooth surface in a pretty open area and BAM! I tripped and fell! This time I had scrapes and blood on my right shoulder. If I wasn't wearing my leg compression sleeve, my legs might have gotten scraped up as well. I fell face first with my hands stretched out in front of me. Luckily Keeli stopped and looked at me, because her leash came off my wrist. I got up and then she started going... I had to rush after her. I don't think she realized that she wasn't being held. She was just trotting along at what pace we were going at prior to me falling. I ended up with stickies all over and splitters in my shoulder, which the last one didn't come out until five days later.

 

My palms and shoulder were a little sore the next day, but other than that, I was okay. One might consider not running this route again, I mean two runs on this trail and two falls... well less than a week later I went out there again and did the route a third time with the Trail Nerds group. I did not fall and I ended up doing the last part of the trail alone, because the lady that I was running with brought her dog and he pooped out at about mile 2. She took him back to the paved trail and headed back. I did great and felt great.

 

Shawnee Mission Park:

The first time I ran this, I did the orange loop at a Wednesday night Trail Nerds group run. I was fairly easy, but I had done the July Trail Nerds 5k at Wyandotte County Lake and that's all I had to compare it to. I enjoyed the run and decided to go back again a week and a half ago. I was going to wait for the group run, but decided to go ahead and head out after work. I also decided to add the purple loop. Shortly after entering the purple loop, I came across this:

 

Yes, those are two piles of rocks! This should be a forewarning of what's to come. Really, seriously, this was a very technical trail. Rocks, rocks and more rocks! Want to see... well here's a couple more pics:

 

Here's the picture of the trail map:

 

 

Wyandotte County Park Lake (aka WyCO):

My first experience of this trail was a 5K Trail Nerds event in July. It was tough and made me question myself about doing a trail half marathon. It was very technical and had several steep hills. I did not like it and I came in last and it was probably the first time I actually cried out on the course. I finished though. I wasn't sure I'd ever go back to WyCo, but I did!

 

Last weekend a Trail Nerd friend of mine mentioned on FB that he was going to go run the trails at WyCo, so I decided, why not and went with him, his girlfriend, and his two dogs. I thought I would hold them back, but he assured me that I wouldn't. I enjoyed it and it was a slow enough pace that I was more than capable of staying caught up. I did really good, I was enjoying the trail, it was a beautiful day, Chiefs had won and then I felt a pop in my right calf. Then there was pain. We were about 2.5 miles into the run, after that we ended up walking most of the last mile. I was really worried about being able to run my trail event that was less than a week away. It was painful just to walk.

 

I went home and iced it. Put my compression sleeve on. Relaxed. I went to see my mom the next day, as she is a massage therapist. She checked it out and said it wasn't warm and not really swollen. She said it didn't feel like I tore anything. I took the next couple days slow and easy. Walked Keeli around the apartment complex on Wednesday and it felt okay. Thursday I walked Keeli some more, still felt okay, maybe a little tight, but I stretched.

 

F*L*A*T*S Half Marathon:

 

The above picture includes my finisher shirt and my packet goodie bag. Yes, that's a beanie hat and it's embroidered! I don't think I have ever stressed so much about a race, I even had dreams about this race. I wasn't sure about the logistics. I ended up driving up that morning, it's about a three hour drive. I had asked if anyone would be willing to go with me, but no one did. I asked my mom to go with me and possible drive back and she did go with me. She ended up not feeling good most of the day and I even drove back home afterwards.

 

It had rained earlier in the week and even the night before. It's been really dry here, so it soaked up fast so the course wasn't too bad, a little tacky in some places. It was questionable on if it would rain during the event, but it didn't. Here's the only picture I got, which was taken before the race started:

I was the first one to sign up for this event and I was able to pick my bib number, so I picked 24. The first mile and some was on pavement, which my shin did not like at all. I wore my trail shoes, which cause me pain when I am on pavement. I was the last one to get to the trail. Once I hit the trail, I was able to get moving faster, at least for a little while. If I wasn't the last runner, I might have stopped to take some pictures, however, I didn't feel that I should. Plus I had the sweepers on their bikes right behind me and they stayed with me most of the race. They stayed at the 7 something mile aid station, so I did get a little reprieve from them breathing down my neck. It was a beautiful course. At about 6 miles, I started hurting and started thinking about quitting. Then I considered, is it my mind that wants to quit or my body. I just kept going, one foot in front of the other. My back started hurting, my knees started hurting, my muscles were starting to burn more and more, my mind was wanting to quit, and I kept going. I didn't want to have to tell everyone that I didn't finish. Between mile 9 and 10, I hit a wall. There was a long gradual up hill climb, my legs wanted to quit, they were getting heavy and it was getting harder and harder to keep picking them up. So I walked and walked and walked some more. Finally, I picked up my sped and started climbing some more. There was a little bit of a down hill and then another daunting up hill. That last 3 miles was tough and once we came off the trail, it was gravel the last half mile or so. I was glad to be done. I was the last runner to come in, but even being last, I finished and it wasn't as difficult on my mind as the first time I was the last runner.

Here's the events facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/FLATS-Trail-Half-Marathon/251720808185656

I might be slow. I wanted to quit. I kept going. I crossed the finish line!

I am sore today, but not as bad as I thought I would be. Will I do this race again, probably. I actually considered going out for a run today, just to loosen up some muscles. I won't, although, I will take Keeli for a walk.

Here's couple more pics from other runs I've done:

 English Landing - Parkville, MO

 English Landing - Parkville, MO

 Roe Park - Overland Park, KS

Thank you goes out to all of those who have supported me and encouraged me. I still have two more half marathons to go, Kansas City (October 19th) and Bass Pro (November 3). I am also part a Bison Relay Team (October 27).