THE TOUGHEST 10K in the WORLD!!!!

Doesn't that sound like something you would love to jump up and tackle?  Well, apparently it sounded appealing to us because while others were home in their warm beds listening to the wind howl and rain beat on their windows..... we were headed to Bruneau Sand Dunes!

Kris is turning 55 tomorrow so this was her "birthday" run.  We showered her with gifts and poems and lots of love!!!  Then we got ready to torture her on the hardest run ever imagined!

A little but about Bruneau Sand Dunes first.

Bruneau Dunes State Park boasts the tallest single-structured dune in North America with a peak rising 470 feet above the surrounding desert floor. Doesn't sound too terrible does it?  Hmm well we will see!

I woke up while it was still dark and so cold!  Gathering my things I headed to Michele's.  I have been nursing a sprained knee since last weekend's Half-Marathon. It was still hurting and I had only gotten 2 runs in this week because of it!  I am supposed to be training for a marathon in May that I want to have  a big PR at.  I was worried about running this race and wrecking my knee even more.  So, the idea began to bounce around in my mind of only doing the 10K and not the 20K.  I decided to wait and see.

Kris was driving so I went to climb into her car.  What in the world?

 

 

Kris had put some sort of water proof doggie pee-pad all over the back seat?  Does she think I can't hold it for the hour and 20 minute drive???

 

Then I look up front!

 

 

 

There is stuff up on Michele's seat too!!  Well, at least hers is soft and fluffy!  Mine is plastic!!

"Hey!" Kris yells, "I don't want my car dirty and sandy!!"

 

As we headed out of town, Michele presented Kris with her birthday present. 

"Now Kris I am going to open it FOR you.  Then when you get home you can open it again."  What a good friend!  Then I read my Humpty Dumpty "the runner" poem for her.  It is a glorious 5 page tribute to her as a runner! Kris laughed so hard I thought she may wreck the car!   Unfortunately it will not be posted here on the blog.  This type of humor is not meant for public consumption.

 

 

The car ride conversation jumped around and was a little bit scattered. 

"I didn't bring race confirmation."

"What if they don't have our names?"

"Then we go home!"

"Do you know where you are going?"

"No I thought you knew!"

"Well use your phone techie!"

"Should we run with a timing chip?"

"Why? I'll be so slow I won't place."

"Well, we are sticking together so no one will place but me!! The slowest!"

"Look at this weather, who's dumb idea was this anyway?"

"It's going to clear up."

"No, it is not!"

 

I'll let you guess which comments were made by whom.

 

 

When we got to the park, we were FREEZING!!  The rain was pelting down and the wind was blowing strong.  We ran over to packet pickup, jumped in place to stay warm.  I overheard the race director ask someone, "Should we worry about lighnting?"  Oh man, what have we gotten ourselves into this time?  When they asked what race we were running and our last name I wanted to say, 20K last name Stupid!  But I didn't.  We got our "AWESOME" hats and race numbers, then ran back to the car!

 

 

 

 



We all had on Capris.  Those of us who had thought ahead (ahem) also had tights.  So Michele and I quickly changed into tights since it was so cold.  We started to layer up.  Kris decided to chug a weird Dragon Energy Drink.  I'm not sure what was in it but all of the sudden it was a belch fest in the car!  Holy Cow was she burping up a storm!

 

It will be important to note at this point that this drink did not help Kris in the race at all.  The only thing it helped her do was to burp like an old man watching football in his lazy boy!

 

Now we all layer our clothes for cold wet weather in a different way.  I guess you can say we each have our own unique "Style".

 

Jodi hasn't got much to choose from.  Usually it is whatever is clean and bright colors are enjoyed.

Michele likes to color coordinate as much as possible, shoes included.

Kris? Well, Kris has a style that is difficult to describe.  It's something that you just have to see...

 

 

 

First - We wear the race hat because it will keep the rain and sand off your face.

Next - Place rubber latex gloves OVER your regular knit gloves to promote extra dryness.

Third - Stuff everything you can possibly imagine into your back jacket pocket. Don't hold back, just put it all in there!  Extra socks, another hat, energy drinks, GU, etc. You never know what you might need!

Fourth - For neck warmth place TWO headbands around your neck.  Make sure the hat is cinched around them too!

I could go on and on but you get the idea....



 

 

Always be sure to flip Michele off when she laughs at your "look"!

At the start, the race director said you could run any distance that you wanted dispite what you registered for.  That means we had the option of the 5K, 10K, or 20K.  Kris announced right then and there that she was doing the 10K.  There was NO WAY she was doing the 20K.  Michele and I decided to wait and see.

The rain stopped right away, but the wind didn't.  We took off for the first dune.  Holy Cow this is hard!!!   After the first dune I stopped to wait for Michele and Kris and looked ahead of me.  It was just dune after dune after dune.  They never ended and each one was taller than the next.  My knee was holding up but I wasn't sure if it would last the whole race.

And so we went.  Climb the dune, wait for each other, run down.  Climb the dune, wait for each other, run down.  Later Kris complained saying,  "You two wait for me and then when I catch up you barely let me breathe before you start up again.  I NEVER GOT A REST!"  oops.

Here are some pictures to tell the story of these dunes.

Waiting for Kris!

 After waiting for Kris to catch up we sang "Happy-Birthday" to Kris as loud as we could.  It was fun.  When we stopped she said, "Oh thank you. Now bury me here."

This is after like the 800th dune!  I am beat!!!

Yep! This one is a "W"!

There was this guy we met named Garrett who was doing the 5K.  He ended up right in front of Kris.  He was trying to be helpful and telling her to just step in his footprints.  Kris politely replied, "What I really need you to do is move so I can pass you!" (It goes pink shirt, Garrett, then Kris).



 


FINALLY, the end of the dunes!  I think we each had about 5 pounds of sand in our shoes!  When we hit this last stretch the dirt felt even harder than pavement.  It kind of hurt at first!  The worst feeling was all that sand compacted at the tip of your big toe!

At last!  Now we can run!  Oh how wrong we were.  WE had this "crazy" idea that the next half of the 10K would be a regular trail to run on.  NOPE!  It was more sand!  This sand was soft and you would sink about 6 inches every time you took a step.  This was actually harder on my knee than the actual dunes.  To complete the 20K we would need to do this entire loop twice, including the dunes again!  I knew right away that my injured knee would be worse if I did the 20K, and possibly blow my chances at a PR in the marathon that I have been training for.  Kris was already on board and it didn't take much to convince Michele. The 10K it is!!

So we plugged along.  There were no other runners in sight except for one lady behind us in blue.  The sand was deep and the way was slow but we made our own fun!

This part of the race is called:

INDIANA RYALS AND HER TRUSTY

SIDE KICK FLAMING HAIR!!

 

Those are the killer dunes in the distance!!

One of our greatest skills, is getting lost!  We were running along and I noticed that there weren't as many footprints in the sand as before.  Where did all the runners go?  Did they just vanish?  Michele also thought that was odd.  Then Kris pointed off to our left and said, "Aren't those the pink trail markers over there?"  Sure enough they were and somehow, somewhere we had taken a wrong turn.  We had to now go cross country to get to the correct trail. We were sage brush hoppin', hole steppin', sand kickin' a good football field length to get back on track.  Phew!

As we turned back to see where we had been, we saw the lone lady in blue.  Guess where she was.....on the wrong trail too!!!  We started yelling and waving our hands and shouting.  But she had headphones in and was looking at the ground.  So, I tromped back cross country to retrieve her.  She was grateful. 

Kris said I needed to include the fact the SHE is the one who noticed we were lost, thus saving all of our lives.  Assignment complete.

We came to the one and only aid station on our course.  Two guys sat there looking cold and bored.  We knew we were dead last of these crazy 10K runners.  "What would you say if I told you we were first in the 20K?"  I shouted out.   He actually looked quite impressed.  Then before he could answer I continued, "Well we are not. We are LAST place in the 10K."  and then I laughed and laughed and laughed.  I honestly think that at this point I had crossed into the realm of delirium.  I was so tired and there was so much sand!  And it was taking FOREVER!  I could honestly lay down and take a nap at any moment! It was exhausting!!  But I will say, it was fun!  SO, that must make me crazy.



FINISH LINE!!!

This was the hardest run we have ever done.  It makes Robie Creek seem like a speed bump!  We were so happy to be able to say we had done it!!

So, when will you find us back on the dunes?  Not any time soon!

I'll take a carrot cookie with a side order of PR!!!

Well, it was time for another RACE!  This was one that we have all done before.  I ran it in the fall of 2010 and 2011.  Michele and Kris had run it in 2009 and with me in 2011.  Last year it conflicted with the Race to Robie Creek.  This year....I don't exactly remember why we decided to run it.  It may have been because I needed a half marathon for my marathon training.  I don't remember exactly the reasoning but here we were.

Well, those who run with me know that I am a pretty big race T-Shirt critic. This shirt was long sleeves and better than some of their past ones.  Unfortunately mine was WAY TOO BIG!  I did not realize that they were uni-sex sizes and ordered a small.  I needed an XS.  My biggest gripe about their past shirts was that there was no date on them.  This year they had improved on that issue and I really liked the back.

It looks like we are real prisoners and this is our inmate number, pretty cool design!

Our race chatter actually started a few days before the race day.  Race time was to be 10:00 AM.  We needed to get their in time to get our packets and warm up etc.  I wanted to leave at 8:15 from Michele's.  Kris wanted to leave at 8:45 AM.  Let the battle begin.  I finally offered 8:30 as a compromise.  Then Kris started to send my hate texts yelling at me!

Kris "NOT SURE WHY YOU WANT TO STAND AROUND FOR OVER AN HOUR. IT ONLY TAKES 20 MIN TO GET THERE! :-) BUT WHAT EVER YOU WANT.

Me: "Hey!!!  It takes longer than 20 minutes.  Michele will probably get lost! Don't get snarky!"

Kris: "SNARKY? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM MY QUEEN? I KNOW THE WAY SHE WON'T GET LOST. MAYBE 23 MIN,"

Me: "We need bonding time."

Kris: "WE DO? Well, if that's the reason the BONDING TIME IT IS!!  :-P"

Now I did not know how long it would take, So we agreed on 8:35.  Ironically after we pulled away from Michele's house at 8:37, Kris realized that she had "forgotten" her peanut butter toast. Luckily we were close enough to turn around and go get it.  She ran in grabbed it and got back to the car.  What time did we officially pull out of the driveway at then?    8:45!!  That stinker.

It was raining before we even arrived at the prison.  Michele and I debated several times on what to wear, jacket on or off.  Eventually we both opted for jacket off.  Kris scolded us telling us how cold we were going to get.  We had already made her change out of tights into capris earlier that morning and we were STILL hearing about it almost an hour later.  

Jackets On??

JACKETS OFF!!

While it was rainy and cold we knew we would warm up.  It is easier to run while feeling chilly than it is when you are HOT!

Before the start there was an actual "high speed pursuit" that they staged.  A car drove by really fast being pursued by several police cars with their lights and sirens going.  That was kind of cool.  Then there was a BLAST (gunshot?) and we were off!!  We ran through the prison SWAT team lining the first few yards of the course.

The surface we started on wasn't road, but it wasn't trail either.  It was like a canal access road.  The dirt was soft, rocky and uneven, full of holes.  I was trucking along when all of the sudden....ZING!  I felt a shooting pain in my left knee.  Oh no.

To say the next 5 miles were hard would be a vast understatement.  The sharp pain in my knee would not dull, would not go away!  I even stopped and rubbed Biofreeze on it at mile 4.5.  That did absolutely NOTHING except make my hand smell like biofreeze.  Could I do this?

For this race I had two goals; one that I told everyone, and another that I secretly had with myself.  I told everyone that I wanted to PR on this course.  In 2010 I ran a 1:55:15.  In 2011 I ran a 1:54:50.  So, my goal was to beat that time.  But I also had this "secret" goal.  I really, really, really wanted to break 1:50 and be in the 1:40's.  

When I hit mile 6 in the race, I began to realize that my secret goal was not going to happen.  I began to have doubts that I would be even able to beat my previous time. I did some calculations in my head and figured at the pace I was going, I would be lucky to come in at 1:56.  (Note:  you would think I have learned by now from previous experiences.  Even though I have a college degree in mathematics, I am incapable of doing math on long runs.)

I will admit I had thoughts of just pulling back and taking walk breaks.  If I wasn't going to PR then what was the point.  I said a prayer in my head pleading for strength to do this.  And then I just plugged along.

Suddenly, I saw the sign for mile 10.  Hey, 3 miles left.  I can do this. I can finish! In fact I realized the chance to still PR existed.  I had done enough hard training runs that I in fact knew I could pick up my pace.  Besides I figured the faster I ran the sooner I would be done!  So I put my head down, stopped looking at my watch and began to push.

It was GREAT weather for a race.  There was constant rain and a breeze but no heavy winds.  I would much prefer that over a blazing sun.  I did not ever get cold, in fact I worked up quite a good sweat.  At mile 12 I reached the "killer" hill that is on this race.  I dug into the last reserves I had and just looked at my feet as I headed up.

Turning the last corner, I could see the finish line.  About 2 tenths of a mile to go. I finally stole a look at my watch.  I could not believe what I saw.......

Michele also loved the weather.  She has been following some of my marathon training an has really increased her pace.  She said near the end she started to pace with a guy.  He really helped push her in.  She even ran the entire hill!!  I was standing under the tent shelter trying to warm up.  I was soaking wet, all the way down to my shoes!  My dry clothes were in her car.  I thought I had until around 2:10 before I started looking for her.  Suddenly I saw her coming across the line!  I wasn't there to cheer her in!  I tried to run towards the finish but couldn't.  My knee was now iced and wrapped in syran wrap.  It was so stiff and sore that even walking hurt.  I hobbled towards her just as she was getting her finisher medal.  

She did AMAZING!  She came in at 2:05:35!  That was a PR for this course for her!! We then cheered in the guy who pushed her in!  

Thankfully I was able to FINALLY get on some dry clothes.  We huddled back in the tent to wait for Kris.  She said not to expect her a second before 2:30.  SO we tried to get warm while we watched them hand out awards.

When they got to my age group they announced "Third place with a time of 1:47:31, from Middleton, Jodi Meine!" That's right!  Not only did I PR on this course, I destroyed my previous time by over 7 minutes!  The best part was that I achieved my secret goal.  It was a big time mental victory as well.  And further evidence that I am incapable of doing math when running.

I was so proud of myself and of Michele and....Wait! Here comes Kris!!  We cheered on that gal as she trotted in at a 2:28:10!  WOW!  We are one rockin group of runners today for sure!!!  I told Kris we needed to check if she placed in her age group but she said, NO.  And we got ready to leave.

Michele had some yummy Carrot Cake Victory Cookies and a baby sprite for our celebratory drive home!  We all PR-ed for this course and had an awesome time!

I must say I have the greatest running partners around!  As I type this my knee is killing and I am hoping it feels better soon!  The results are in (see them here) and wouldn't you know it......

Kris got SECOND in her age group!!  When will she learn to just listen to what I tell her to do???

STATS:

111 Half Marathon Finishers

57 Women

19 Jodi's Age Group

13 Michele's Age Group

5 Kris' Age Group

Jodi......Age Group 3rd.......Gender Place 8th.....Overall Place 38th

Michele ....Age Group 5th....Gender Place 23rd......Overall Place 68th

Kris .....Age Group 2nd.....Gender Place 39th .....Overall Place 89th

WE ARE FABULOUS!!!!!

 One more really neat thing.....as I was driving home, the clock on the car hit my race time!!  :)

April Fool's...Kickin It Old School!!

Michele and I have been trail running together for just about 2 years.  When we first started, we knew nothing! The only runs we knew of were, Mtn Cove (because of the Les Bois 10K) and Rocky Canyon Rd (because of the Race to Robie Creek).  The most used and well known trail was Camel's Back and Hull's Gulch as a loop.  We would park at the Camel's Back parking lot, run up Hull's Gulch, then back down into Camels Back on what many refer to as the "highway".  We knew nothing else so this is what we did.  Eventually we learned that it was EASIER if we went the other direction.

Then we slowly fell in love with the trails, bought the Ridge To Rivers Trail Map and last year successfully ran EVER SINGLE trail in the 152 miles system!  That is in fact what started this blog.  It is cool to see how far we have come!  We used to get lost, write trail head numbers on sticky notes or on our hands so we knew where we were going.  Now we know, and we just go!

So, we thought it would be fun to go back to the start and run our old loop.  We rarely do this loop anymore because honestly there are so many better ones out there!

It's amazing that is is the first day of April and we are already in Capris and short sleeves for our runs!  We were really warm too by the end!  We had both run a really hard run on Saturday, me 18 and 16 for Michele. Our legs were really tired after only one recovery day.  Michele was also feeling under the weather, like she may be coming down with something.  SO, we took it slow and just enjoyed ourselves.  We did have a great time too.  It was very Nostalgic.  Sometimes you just need those types of runs.

This is the "W" sign when it is time to walk!

Beautiful day to run!!

The Grove

Secret Bathroom

Fast Cory Jump

Water was really flowing today

Michele is sick

We refer to this part of Hull's as "little Zion"

It was all in all a good run.  We ran slow and easy and had a good time.  I swear at "little Zion" I did about 10 Fast Cory jumps before Michele figured out my camera.  It's a miracle that no one happened to pass by to look at us strangely.  The best part of running Lower Hulls was because of all the warm weather the stream is starting to run.  We had a beautiful nature musical to accompany us as we ran!

So this run wasn't funny or filled with new discoveries.  It was a very reflective run to see how far we have come as runners, and how much further we want to go!!