February Report

12 Months, 12 Trails, 3 Sole Sisters!!!!

This month was Michele's turn to pick and theme our trail run.  She titled her theme.....

Heart and Sole

She made us this col magnet for our fridge and also gave us some Ghirardelli chocolates (Dark chocolate with sea salt and roasted almonds! YUM!)

Before we left her house we learned how to get swimsuit ready in 3 months from her husband.  He warned us as we went out the door that sugar is more addictive than cocaine!  As we drove we realized that today was the day that Robie was holding it's 10 minutes of registration.  Both Kris and Michele talked about how their husbands were wondering why they weren't going to do it again.  Are they daft?  Why would we WANT to do it again??  Michele said she heard the theme was something like, "to Robie or not to Robie?"

"That's not even a question."  I replied. "To NOT."

Michele's trail pick was for us to run Corrals out and back.  We drove to the first trail head (the one NOT with the bathroom).  Before we even got started Kris chugged an energy drink.....

This made here really wired before we hit the trail.

Oh boy...Heaven help us!

The run was great.  A bit chilly but a beautiful morning.  At about 2.5 miles though we hit ICE!  Lots of Ice!  This turned our run into a careful walk.  The ice lasted quite a while too.  Kris was getting a little bit annoyed at the ice.  I felt sorry for the ice because you don't want to have Kris annoyed at you, EVER.

Finally the ice disappeared as we climbed out of the canyon.  Here is where the "Shrine" is.  I'm not sure what other runners call it, but we do have our own name for everything. 

Here we each placed a stone and added to the shrine.  It is our new tradition.  Every time we trail run past it we will add a stone.

We enjoyed a glorious downhill from here.  It felt so good to open it up an bit and really run!  Especially after all of that icy walking!!

Eventually we did come to ice again.  This was at mile 3.6.  I stopped and called out, "This is it, time to turn around and head back!"  I did not feel like walking on ice again for another half mile!  So we "gathered our thoughts" got a drink, and turned back.  This is when I decided to do something really stupid.  I told Michele and Kris to run ahead so I could get some pics.

The reason this was a stupid idea was that I then had to really run hard and fast to catch up to them.  AND it was ALL UPHILL!  DO you think either of them waited for me to catch up?  If you thought they did then you haven't been reading this blog.

We enjoyed a laugh as we counted how many times Kris has fallen while running. I think we came up with FIVE or SIX! I started bragging about how I had NEVER fallen. Then we hit the ice again.  Our confidence was higher and we kept running and didn't walk.  That's when my feet when one way, my body another, my arms did a few windmills and.......

I DID NOT FALL!!  Just call me Mrs. Balance!  Still no falls for me!

It was a great day and a great run! 7.3 miles.  Afterwards Michele had treats for us!

A baby sprite and white chocolate stuffed raspberries!

YUMMY!!!

Back on trails....FINALLY!!

After it being too cold, too crazy, too muddy and a number of other reasons.....we finally got back on the trails today!  As I was driving to Michele's I realized why I like them so much....

1) No pace goal
2) No distance goal
3)  No music
4)  Slow pace, easy going, social time

It is just completely therapeutic!!  Especially with all of the intense marathon training I have been doing!  Found this great quote last week that basically sums it all up.....

"No Excuses! Get up! Get out! Run! There will come a day when I can no longer run.... Today is not that day" - Lisa Tamati (ultra marathoner)

We ran the Seaman's Gulch trails today, looped around a couple times to get it close to a 5-miler.  When we first got out of the car and had a bathroom stop, I bent down to lace my shoes tighter.  Oh boy, here comes a dog!  "Get out the pepper spray."  I told Michele.  Then I hear a voice saying "he's friendly."  And a man walker appears (the source of the voice).  The dog sniffs around me, which I do NOT like.  Shoe tied I stand up.  This "friendly" dog then starts barking and sorta growling at me!  What in the world!!  The owner calls him away from me as the dog is still barking at me.  "Sorry, he's really friendly, he just doesn't like black clothes or sunglasses."  Great so apparently I need to run in pastel colors and without eye protection on sunny days to be safe now!

Side bar:  I don't know why he made to comment about sunglasses because I actually wasn't wearing any.

We were hoping the trails would still be frozen and dry.  The temp was 27 degrees so we were pretty confident they would be good.

It's too bad that some people are disrespectful of staying off the trails when they are muddy.  It makes it become "ankle breaking" for others.

But for us the trails were frozen and really nice except for the few spots where they were abused like this picture.

There wasn't a lot to take a picture of today,  So here is our view of the dump!

Great day to run with my best running partner!!  My only dislike about Seaman's... a lot of dog owners use this area.  Me and dogs are not BFF's.

RUN 4 LUV!!!

Today was my second race for 2013.  In continuing with my marathon training I ran a 10K today.  My son signed up for the 5K and Michele and Kris the 10K.  Some life events prevented Michele from joining us but she was there in spirit!

My race prep actually began the night before.  I lay in bed listening to the wind howl like the big bad wolf trying to blow my house down.  "Dear Heavenly Father," I prayed, " Please don't have this wind tomorrow.

Race morning.  Hunter and I left the house at 8:30 AM.  The entire drive to Ann Morrison park I kept analyzing the wind.  Trying to figure out which direction it was blowing, if it seemed to decrease in strength as we got closer to Boise.  Would we had a head wind for the first half or second half of the race?   Finally Hunter had enough and said, "Mom, in this wind it will be a headwind both ways."  That sounded like how it usually is around here.

We got to the race early enough to park right near the porta-pottys.  That's great because I get race jitters and have to 'go' a lot before race start!  It was so cold and windy.  Hunter didn't want to get out of the car but I made him.  He hasn't been feeling well for the past few weeks and so his training has been slim to none.  But give him credit, he was here.

Then Hunter asked the same question he asked at the Hot Chocolate Fun Run in December... "Why are races always held in the morning!?!?!?!" Typical teenager question. Then he thought about it and said, "Hey, no matter  how terrible I run I will still win my age group because no other teenager is going to be up this early on a cold Saturday!"

Kris met us at the start and we all bounced around trying to stay warm while we waited for the race to start.   Race Director Wayne was taking photos of runners.  Hunter and I posed for a "thumbs up" picture.  Kris was working on getting her watch on.  After he took it she realized that she missed the photo and yelled at him.  "Hey! I always get missed in the pictures! Take another one!"  So laughing we posed for one more.  Only Kris would yell at a perfect stranger.  Poor Wayne.

When they said "Faster runners get to the front"  we wished Hunter good luck and sent him on his way.  The course was an out and back so we knew we would see him out there at some point.
GO!

I took off fast, like any one would do with the race adrenaline pumping through their veins.  I had to keep reminding myself not to look at my watch and just focus on how I FELT as I ran.
Here are some pictures of us for the first half of the race.

Hunter said he enjoyed running with this guy.  But then at the 5K turn around he kept going.  He was doing the 10K and Hunter was totally alone the rest of the race.  

After only about 10-11 minutes of running here comes Hunter on his way BACK on the 5K.  He was in 2nd place.  There was no one behind him!  He looked good and smiled!  I was so proud to see him run by with such a strong lead.  As he passed Kris she gave him a high five.  Then she worried that she may have slowed him down!! No worries it didn't!!  He ended up in second place EASILY.  So much for being sick and not training! And as a side note, he was right.  He was the only one in his age group. No other teenager was crazy enough to get up that early and run in the cold wind!!

The head wind was pretty tough.  But I kept hoping that eventually I would get to turn around to a tailwind!!

At the 5K turn around I was already feeling winded.  That was probably because I had so much WIND blasting in my face!  I just tried to focus on my stride and my music and enjoy myself.

When I was finally closing in on the 10 K turn around I started to count females in front of me.  Oh darn!  I was in fifth place!!  I knew that final kick events had some awesome prizes for the top three male and female.  I didn't think I could catch anyone because they were a good distance ahead of me.  Trying not to be discouraged I just focused on my stride.

I passed Kris and she gave me the waving, shouting, smiling motivation needed to carry on.  I was feeling the mental push to slow down, but I had to fight through it!  Then along comes a woman who I had never seen before.  As I pass her she yells out...you are number 5!  Look lady. I know that.  Are you rubbing it in or encouraging me?  Then BAM! It hits me. That is what Michele always does to me on races that are an out and back.  She counts the women in front of me to motivate me to push it.  She did it on Les Bois, then again at Race to the Summit.  It works too.  So I was no longer grumpy at the stranger, today she was my Michele.



I started to focus in and see if I could pick up my pace a little. and then......

Wait a minute!!  That lady ahead of me is getting closer!  I had kept my steady pace and she was slowing down!!  Soon I was passing her.  WooHoo!  Now I was in fourth place and I could see the third and second female in front of me.  I was really running harder than I had planned but felt OK. One more cheerleader pushed me on, Christie Ebenroth was running back through the course in a tutu.   A shout and cheer from her and I knew I had it in me.  Then before you know it, I was in third place!!!!  It was so awesome and rewarding.  I pushed through something that was hard for me.  I have never been a short distance speed runner. 5K's and 10K's are not my thing.  But I did it!!!

Here are my results:

Jodi :  Time- 48:38
 3rd place female,
 1st in age group,
and 12th overall!
Yes that is 12th in the overall race of women AND men!!  I was so proud of myself.

But the best part?  Seeing my son cheer for me at the finish line.  Then come up to me and say, "Wow mom you really did a good job!"  That was better than any prize or PR.  Spending the time with my son at these races is priceless.




But I am still going to brag about the awesome prizes we got!!  They really rocked!  Socks, gift cards, water bottle, stuffed animal, pillow, blanket, watch, candy!  We were set!!

I LOVE MY PILLOW!!!!

Now we were watching for Kris.  She said she was going to finish in 1 hour and 8 minutes and  she was not going to be any faster!  At one hour we decided to head to the finish line to watch for her.  And there she was!!!  She finished in an incredible 1:02:32!!  She did incredible!!!

I am happy to say that today was a successful race day for all of us!  Big thanks to Final kick events for putting on such a great race for us to enjoy.  Now all I need is for the trails to dry up!