Saturday, January 4, 2014

Saving the Best for Last



That's the way to do it, right?  When doing a half marathon every month for the year, it doesn't make sense to do the scenic races early. On paper, that seems like the way to do it, but I'll this is the real world and it doesn't work out that way.  Today, is a trail race where I've maybe logged six miles total in the summer and today is winter. Lets see what happens.

Not only did my cheering section accompany me, but she also chauffeured. As we sat in the car, trying to keep warm before the start, I thought back to why I signed up for this run. Oh, how much difference a year makes. Looking at the pictures from the previous year, there wasn't more than a dusting of snow. Heck, that looks easy, I can do that! Staring out the window, not the same! I think I should be skiing, not running.  Did I really sign up for this? Did I miss the "no snowdrifts" option when filled out the form?

Scraaaape, goes the shovel to start the race. The first mile was on a two track that had been driven on, so it was almost like running on snow covered roads.  The traction of the new shoes felt good. While it wasn't prefect, it wasn't bad and only added a little extra effort.  Then mile two started the trail. Conditions quickly changed, to a single path of footprints in probably six to eight inches of powder.  At this point I quickly decided there wasn't any point wasting energy trying to pass people. At times, it felt very frustrating not to go faster, but I kept telling myself it's okay and it's better to save energy for the end because it's still very early in this race and even though it seems to be going alright, never know what's to come.

At the first water stop, I got the typical question of "where are you from, Alaska"? Somewhere after this stop, I noticed that my calves were starting to hurt. It would be one thing it were because it was super hilly, but I know this pain, I've felt it before.  This is the tell tail sign where my shoes are brushing my calves as I struggle to keep my footing. While it's still early, this is going to be a problem, maybe this is why people wear pants.  About this same time, the guy behind me says "woah dude, your leg is bleeding, that last stick got you".  My response was no, it's just my calves starting to get raw from the scraping of my shoes, don't worry about it.  Fast forward to the end, sure enough I had two puncture wounds from that stick. It looked like a cool battle wound, but the sad reality is the rubbing from my shoes totally masked getting stabbed by a stick.

Mile eight is where the "saving the best for last", stopped.  This is a damn nightmare, crazy, what was I thinking, my ankles hurt so bad from all the excess twisting, my calves are on fire, lord I'm only halfway through this.  Being fast, attempting to place thoughts were gone. Survival mode is here, and I know that because I'm walking up this hill while texting CT how awful I feel and how hard this is.

Mile ten, more of the same. This is the first race where I've had three different text conversations, with three different people, all going on the middle of a race before. I had the time, each mile seemed like it was taking forever. Before you say, you should have been running harder, maybe you'd be right, but my legs were done and fear of injuring my legs anymore than they already were telling me didn't make sense.  At the last water stop, again I did something I've never done before, I grabbed a chair and sat down.  My secret weapon for this race was going to be running with a spare pair of socks, figuring my feet would be soaking wet from the snow, switching them out would be a nice backup.  While sitting, it was a challenge to even change my socks, my legs were cramping and even had my abs locking up in kind of a charlie horse. One would think this would be a nice break to regroup and finish this thing, but instead every second felt like torture.

The final miles were spent reflecting. I've had some very tough runs, the one that I thought would live in infamy forever as the most horrid one...just got passed by this one.  I can't think of a race where I've been more excited to see the finish line. Crossed the line, can't even remember if I gave CT a hug, got my post race snow globe finisher medal, and practically fell into the car and let my chauffeur drive me home.

My injury report goes like this, two calves that burned something awful for two days post race from the slashing they endured trying to stay upright.  Right calf, two pencil sized holes from a stick. Didn't even notice this until the following day because the pain from everything else, but a good sized blood blister on my right little toe.  Then finally, the sore muscles that lasted all week.  But hey, it was a pretty run. Think I'm going to pass on this one next year and will really save this race for never.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

One One Fun/Fame



That didn't take long, less than 24 hours to be exact! I haven't even had my new shoes long enough to name them and they already got me in the local paper. That's impressive. Talk about pressure to aptly name them.

The Article

If you took the time to read the article, then you've probably figured out that it really wasn't my shoes that got me noticed, but my shorts, again. Lets face it, giving my shorts credit is hardly fun at all! People sure love to make a big deal of it, though CT's favorite story of the day was passing a couple of women who made it a point to say "it didn't impress them much" under their breaths. Meanwhile my mind drifts of Shania singing that to me...oh back to reality.

This run certainly wasn't meant to get noticed for wearing shorts on a cold winter day.  The goal of the day was testing out my new shoes!  With my trail run this weekend, I've been nervous about the conditions playing much more of a factor than I had anticipated. Of course, it was silly of me to expect the mild winter conditions we had last year to repeat this year, but I fully expected to be running the trails with not much more than a dusting of snow. When the race director sends out an email a week before asking for volunteers with chainsaws to help clear the course, things might be a little dicey.  I love my Green Mambas, but I've been slipping and sliding in the snow like crazy.  Even short runs have seemed like a chore with all the extra effort needed to keep going and upright.  The time has come for something with a little more traction, enter the unnamed.

I've looked for a while, but nothing jumped out said "buy me", plus I feel loyalty to the Green Mambas. It's not like I'd replace them, but it would be good to have a good trail shoe. After another attempt of surveying all the shoes, I was almost set to leave again empty handed when one of my Gazelle buddies got excited to show me a shoe on the clearance rack.  First impression, that's "flashy", upon opening box. Not sure if bright red is the statement I'm going for, but then again I'm the guy who wears shorts in the winter. One shoe on, this feels so good, much better than I expected.  Hmm, let me try them both on. A short test sprint in the store, sold! Jiminy Christmas these feel fast. Maybe, it's simply trying new shoes after years of wearing the same style. This running thing is so mental, I don't care if it's pure BS, psychologically it felt like I could chase down a cheetah in these things. Quickest sales job ever.

A twenty foot test run and a sixteen mile trail run in the middle of a blizzard are two different things. Now, it becomes do I bend the cardinal rule of never racing in new gear. I say bend, not break, because I obviously used the unnamed for the One One run. How did they do? Completely different ride. While not a trail run, the conditions were horrible, a good four inches of snow with all kinds of foot prints all over in it.  The start was fairly flat and I could already tell the immediate improvement in traction, but the game changer was on the first hill, people were sliding all over the place and had to really slow down, I could actually increase my speed going up. This is where the sky opens up and the awwwwwwww sound comes with the light shining down, but this is Michigan where we are getting blasted with a storm, so just pretend. I'm calling this a very successful first test. It only would have been better had the unnamed melted the snow behind me.

What does the future hold for the unnamed, I'm not sure, but it's a New Year!