Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon, Zen Swimming

Last Sunday I ran my first trail half marathon. It was the inaugural event for this venue, Cheatham Wildlife Preserve,outside of Ashland City. We decided to go up Saturday and spend the night, rather than get up before the butt crack of dawn and drive 120 miles to the race. We have a wonderful dog nanny who comes to the house and takes care of the crew while we are gone. We were almost ready to go when I noticed Emmylou the Wild Thing Pittie, laying on the den floor chewing on something. Turns out that something was one of my partner's eyebrow thinning razor things. I got the handle out of her mouth, but we couldn't find the razor part. So off to the vet we go. They X-rayed her belly and there it was, plain as day. Sooooo, the vet induced vomiting and thank the gods she puked it up. So $190 later and an hour and a half late, we headed up I-24. We stopped in East Nashville to pick up my race packet at the Nashville Running Company on Woodland Ave (LOVE that store) then we had lunch at one of our favorite spots, The Sky Blue Cafe. Got to Ashland City and checked in to our hotel, the recently renovated Border's Inn. Nice hotel, reasonable rates and only 10 miles from the race site. We had dinner at Riverview Restaurant, decent food at a decent price. I couldn't keep to my new No Sugar, No Grains there, but I did the best I could. Up early the next day and off to the race. I already had my bib number and stuff so we got a few extra minutes of sleep before heading out. It was a gorgeous morning, sunny, in the 40's, with a high of around 60 forecast for the day. I thought it was a nice turn out for a new race. It was also very well organized and supported with aid stations approximately every four miles. It was my first "no cup" race, meaning you had to supply your own means of carrying water or sports drink. I opted for my Nathan race belt with one 20 oz water bottle and one flask holder. It worked quite well. The gun went off at 8 am sharp and off we went. I was unsure of what the course would entail so I wore my Salomon Fellraisers. BIG MISTAKE! Only about 1.5 miles of the run was actually on trail, the rest was a mix of Jeep roads and gravel roads. The Fellraiser has a very aggressive tread that is awesome for sloppy, muddy, rocky, root covered trail. But for this course it was like running in soccer cleats for most of the race! I KNEW I should have packed my Hoka Mafate 2's but like a big ole dummy, I didn't!
     That was my only complaint about this race. I had FUN and finished my longest off road distance yet. The fact that my feet hurt so bad, is no one's fault but mine. My finish time was about 3 hours, 13 minutes. I want to go back next year and try to break 3 hours. The course was fairly flat and fast with only one serious climb at about mile 4-5. Plenty of after race food and they drew some bib numbers and I won a pair of Pearl Izumi arm warmers and a Pearl Izumi running cap. That was cool! I kept the arm warmers and gave Miz Pinky the hat. We left shortly after I finished. We needed to get back home to the Furbags and get ready for the work week. Stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Smyrna and I ate all of my lunch and part of Pinky's. All in all a great race weekend and I will go back next year!
     Monday morning was back to swim practice. I have a motto I LOVE to repeat to my swim coach, Miss Sue. "Swimming Don't Care". Swimming Don't Care if you ran a trail race that weekend, all swimming cares about is swimming. Since my BIG THING for this season is a 10 mile swim race, there will be very few missed swim days. 3400 yards later, my workout was done. The roughest part was 60, yes 60, 25 yard repeats, done on 40 seconds. It was hard for me to even keep up with how many I had done! But I got it all done and felt much better for doing it. Great way to just Zen out and shake out the kinks from all that running in the wrong shoes! Tuesday was a super easy 2 miler in the woods with the dogs. Right back into a 2 mile swim workout Wednesday and 1hour of interval running on the trail today. Just getting it done and loving life! Next up is the McKay Hollow Madness 25K in March. Right back to Monte Sano State Park in Huntsville for that one. It's a tougher, much more technical course with LOTS of climbing. I can't wait! So until next time, y'all take care and get out and DO WHAT MOVES YOU!

LIVE Every Day!

 The above logo is for an inaugural 5 mile swim, to take place in the Tennessee River, just outside Huntsville AL and I AM IN! It will be a great warm up for the 10 mile Swim the Suck, approximately 1 month prior to the Big Swim. It will give me a chance to perfect my nutrition, get a feel for being in the water for a lonnnggg time and it's a circle swim, so there may be some current to swim against, depending on what TVA is letting off at the dam upstream. This seems to be a year of inaugural events for me. Hobbs Island is new, Tick Ridge was new, and my next race, the Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon is new. There has to be a meaning to that. I think it may be that I'm branching out and moving away from strictly road triathlon to trail racing, off road triathlon and trying to be PRESENT in every moment of each event, with no thought for what comes next on my race calendar. Once again today, the lesson of LIVE EVERY DAY was put right in my face. For anyone reading this post who doesn't know me, I am a physical therapist assistant and I work in the home health sector of our profession. Today I received the saddening news that a patient of mine who is younger than me had died last night. Privacy laws won't let me elaborate on this patient but it floored me. It's always hard to lose a patient to death. Most of our patients are in the geriatric sector and you can kind of reconcile yourself to losing a patient in the twilight of their life. It's much harder when it is someone who you think has lots of years left on earth. None of us have an expiration date stamped on our bodies. None of us know when the lessons we came to learn and the lessons we came to teach are done and it's time for us to move beyond this life to the next. So LIVE EVERY DAY! Don't exist,LIVE. Do what you love as often as you can. LOVE your family like there is no tomorrow and hug their necks every chance you get. Laugh till your face hurts;  be kind to someone who will never have the chance to return the kindness.Hold dear the real friends who are family by choice and release any grudges you may hold against anyone:they steal your power and your joy. Leave no doubt that when your time comes that you lived and laughed and loved with all the power in your body. I have always said that I don't want to live a pristine life. I want to slide into the next life, bruised and used up, laughing like hell and saying "WHEEEE…That was a HELLUVA ride". Today I did zero training, but I received another life lesson in following my passion and being blessed with a healthy body to do this crazy stuff I love. So if you read this, I hope it helps awaken you to LIVE and DO WHAT MOVES YOU!

Tick Ridge Trek 10K, Running by Feel and Second Chances

My view today at about Mile 3 of the inaugural Tick Ridge Trek 10K/25K trail run. It took place in Elkton TN and was put on by TeamRocketTri Club and the Huntsville Track Club. Excellent event! Well organized, sweet route, great volunteers and tons of after race grub to enjoy around a campfire or in a warming tent. Beautiful weather today for trail running; overcast, mid 30's, and a few snow flurries. The route was mostly tractor trails and double track with a bit of single track, a bit of asphalt and a bit of concrete golf cart track. It was very beginner friendly, non-technical with enough climbing to make your quads stand up and take notice. I will definitely go back next year. I am going to e-mail the race director and see if it will be dog friendly. I would LOVE to take Emmylou to a race. That distance and that much climbing may be a bit beyond Brando's limit. He would do it to please me, but I would never try to push him so hard that he hurt himself. Today I used nothing to tell me my pace,time, etc. I had my Cyclemeter program running on my iPhone so I could look at it later, but no spoken announcements. I believe my finishing time was 1:42. That was about 1:24 running time and 17 plus minutes of stop time to catch my breath at the tops of hills, get some water at aid stations and take pictures. I love running by feel. I'm not trying to win and I'm my only competitor, so it's good to just RUN. I did listen to music during the race. It's funny how the right song usually pops up at just the right time. Somewhere around mile 4 there was a big climb with several switchbacks and Johnny Cash's "Hurt" was just the right song. At about Mile 5.25 Macklemore's "Same Love" came on and it was at a spot that truly went thru the woods and was great for contemplation. Then right at Mile 6, with the finish line within sight up pops Kid Rock's "Cocky" and I actually passed 3 people I had been following the whole race. Good times! Next up is the Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon on February 23 at Cheatham Wildlife Preserve outside Ashland City, TN. I'll get in a 10 miler next Saturday then taper off the following week.
     Andddd drum roll please…I got into the Swim the Suck 10 Mile swim race in the Tennessee River on October 11! Thank goodness my better half is so danged fast on a keyboard. The race sold out in 27 minutes and she busted her ass to get me in! So looking forward to that big challenge. My tradition is to do some big epic challenge that scares the shit out of me, somewhere close to my birthday. I will be 47 years old on October 7, so this event is the perfect challenge. I want to train really hard and validate my swimming abilities. I am an adult onset swimmer and I want to return all the faith, hard work and knowledge that Coach Sue has invested in me to prove that I can swim 10 miles in under 6 hours. I LOVE long distance swimming. I can just get into a Zen state and concentrate on nothing but the next stroke, the next kick, the next yard. So that training will crank up as the year goes on.
    One last thing to mention. We have a new family member. We rescued a 10 year old Black Labrador. Her owners were going to put her down, simply because she has arthritis. Long story short, she is now on an anti-inflammatory, a prescription diet to help her drop about 25 lbs and is doing well. I am SO happy I made the trip to Tuscumbia AL and took her out of that dog pound. She bonded with me immediately and has become a happy member of our Pack with a lot of love to give and a lot of life left to live. Everybody deserves a second chance. Aunt Bee got hers and we couldn't be happier with this sweet, laid back well behaved senior girl! Tomorrow morning I'm taking the dogs for a short slow recovery run before a full day's work at the nursing home. Thanks for checking out my blog and get out and do WHAT MOVES YOU!

Lose Yourself

Yesterday the dogs and I hit the trail for our usual Thursday morning run. It was a chilly 19 degrees and my legs felt a bit heavy from the night before at the gym. I was only planning our usual 2 or 3 miler, so I'm cruising along watching the Brando and Emmylou snuffle every bit of ground they could get their noses on. It was so cold my phone died. It shut down right in the middle of Eminem's "Lose Yourself". So I stopped for a minute and then thought, 'do what the song said, lose yourself'. I had a short day of only 3 patients so I wasn't pressed for time. I know those trails well enough to find my way back to the trailhead at any time, so I lost myself. The rhythm of the run was just so head clearing. I started thinking of a friend of mine, a cycling buddy and a very nice lady. Her mother is dying from brain cancer. I lost my Daddy to brain cancer in 1996 at the fairly young age of 63, and there isn't a day that goes by that I wouldn't give everything I have to spend one more day with him. Everyone's experience is different, but I can really empathize with what my friend and her family are going through right now. I have never met my friend's mother, but I know she raised a fine daughter; a positive person who has a good heart and a ready smile. So I lost myself and meditated on her Mom. I prayed that her passing is easy and she is surrounded by people who she loves and who love her. I prayed that as she soars free of the surly bonds of this earthly existence, she will be greeted with the eternal light and eternal freedom from pain that awaits us all. Before I knew it we had been running for about an hour and a half, maybe five miles or so, and were almost back at the trailhead. I stretched my arms to the wonderfully cold and clear morning sky and hoped that when my friend's mother's race is run and she is in Heaven maybe she will meet my Daddy. Look for him Mrs C. He will be the barrel chested fellow with piercing green eyes, sipping good whiskey, reading a book or working the NY Times crossword puzzle in ink. When you both look down on the ones you loved, who think of you every day, know that you were and will always be loved and remembered, forever.

I Need to Learn to Run Like My Dogs

Today it was a chilly 22 degrees when the pups and I hit the trail for a short run. My ankle is still pretty sore and last night was leg night at the gym, so I was not really feeling it today. But I plodded along anyway; no music today, just trying to concentrate on high cadence and hip extension to limit my time on the ground with each step. Then I got lost in watching the dogs as they ran along. Brando never more than 20 feet away from me, Emmylou romping wildly through the woods and coming back to check on us every now and then. Then it hit me. They don't look any further than the next place their feet are going to land. There is no worry about what comes next on the trail or what comes next in the day. They are present and living in the RIGHT NOW. I am running along with 25 other thoughts going through my mind: work, things to do at home before work, things to do at home after work, BLAH, BLAH, BLAH. So for as long as my "monkey mind" would let me, I just shut out everything and felt every step, in the NOW. It lasted for about a quarter mile but it felt GOOD! I've found a new goal in my running. To run in the NOW. Sometimes a frontal lobe and opposable thumbs simply get in the way of just being and enjoying each moment as it comes.

Running on the Coldest Day of the Year and the Monte Sano 15K Race Report

This past Tuesday, Jan 7, was one of the coldest days we have had in our neck of the woods in about two decades. On a dare, I took the challenge to either ride my bike or run. I chose running so I could take the dogs with me. Here is a couple of pics of our 2 mile, 2 degree, 2 dog trail run.

It was so cold that by the end of the run, I had frozen eyelashes and the dogs had frost all over their muzzles. But it felt SO good to feel and hear the crunch of snow under my feet and watch the dogs running and tumbling and playing in the frigid air.

Up today was the Monte Sano 15K Trail Run at the State Park in Huntsville. It rained all night so I knew it was going to be muddy, sloppy, slick and hilly. It was all of the above. Our "adopted son", Matt and his girlfriend Leanna, were nice enough to drive me down there. My gorgeous other half opted to stay home today. I can't say that I blame her, three hours of standing on the top of a mountain or hanging out in the car waiting on someone to finish a trail race isn't much fun in cool weather. I wore my Salomon Fellraiser shoes and a set of Salomon short gaiters that a running buddy was nice enough to loan to me. Very happy with the performance of both the shoes and the gaiters. My only expectations going into this race were to have fun, finish, enjoy the scenery and learn more about my new sport. We started at 8 am on the dot. The rain had cleared out but it left plenty of wet trail and slick rocks to challenge everyone. The first really cool feature was running thru a rock tunnel at about mile 2. This is a picture showing the outside of the tunnel. It was too dark inside to get a decent shot.

I got into a good groove early, running the flats, easing down some gnarly downhills and running/power walking the hills. There were PLENTY of those. It seemed like 90% of this trail was either up or down. Lots of deep water and MUD,MUD,MUD. The second pic is about 4 miles into the race, this waterfall formed a calf deep creek crossing at it's bottom. 

I kept on  keeping on, listening to my music, enjoying the scenery and just generally having a great day in the woods. My shoes were great! Other runners were slipping and sliding badly in the muddy stretches but those Fellraisers just chewed it up and spit it out. The gaiters were great too. One drawback to having 4x4 type shoes is that they toss rocks and small pieces of wood from underfoot. Some of these will inevitably find their way INTO your shoes. The gaiters stopped that. I DID wind up with sandy mud under the balls of my feet inside my socks, but with all the water and mud, that was to be expected. I stopped at the aid station at mile 5.5 to refill my Camelbak and clean out my shoes. I was moving right along when I misjudged the depth of a mud hole at mile 7 and twisted my right ankle pretty hard. I just kept on running after tightening my shoes. What can you do? 2.4 miles from the finish, out in the middle of the woods. It was painful but not debilitating, so DRIVE ON! I took this picture at the base of a waterfall at about mile 8. I stopped to soak my ankle in the cold water to keep it numb.

Mile 8 to 9 was ROUGH! Lots of climbing and scrambling to the top of the hollow, to make a flat finish back to the stone pavilion start/finish. I had a blast at this event. The course was definitely challenging, made doubly so by the torrential rain the night before the race. The course was well marked and there were volunteers at some of the more obscure turns to make sure we headed in the right direction. My unofficial finish time was 3:06:30. Since I was one of the last to finish, the event crew had already taken down the finish line clock. I will be returning to this trail for the McKay Hollow Madness 25K in March. That will be my last trail race, as triathlon season will be upon us. I have the Dry Creek Trail Half Marathon at the Cheatham Wildlife Mgmt Area, just north of Nashville, in February. But the big event I am trying to get into is the 10 mile Swim the Suck race. It's in October in the Tennessee River Gorge area north of Chattanooga. Only 75 swimmers get to race. I will be on my computer at midnight, February 1 to try to get entered. Then I may have to chance the name of the blog to Turtle Slow Soul Swimmer! I REALLY want to get into this race. When I first starting doing triathlon I could barely swim. I want to train really hard and prove that I can go this distance. But for now, I'm going the distance it takes to stretch out on my couch and prop my right foot up on some pillows. Today was an excellent adventure! Tomorrow go outside and do WHAT MOVES YOU!!

Of Trail Dogs and Runners High

So today I took the dogs to AEDC mountain bike trail for a 5K run. There were a couple of mountain bikers I know already out on the trail so I leashed the dogs instead of letting them run loose. I use a combo belt leash for Brando,the Perfect Trail Dog and attach a long lead to Emmylou, the Wild Thing Puppy. She wears a standard harness and leads the way. Brando stays right at my side as if he is off leash trained. I realized something today. Emmy LOVES to pull and she was attempting to pull 200 lbs of me for 3.1 miles. This wore her out as well as her running loose for 6 miles! She has been tired and very well behaved all day! From day one of running with me, Brando has always been the perfect trail partner, stays right at my side, on leash or off and never runs off. Of course he was 6 years old when he started running with me and is the best behaved dog I have ever had. Emmylou is a work in progress. She started running with us at about 6 months of age. She loves to run over, around, under or through anything in her path when off leash. But today she showed just how smart she is. When I leashed her, she stayed right on the trail, never veering left or right or entangling us all into a heap of arms and legs. So proud of her!
     Almost everyone who runs or who knows someone who runs has heard the term "runners high". It supposedly happens when the endorphins produced by intense exercise causes a feeling of well-being, pain free, effortless movement. It's usually associated with long distance running. Let me preface my thoughts with a bit of my love/hate relationship with running. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do triathlons. Anyone who knows me well knows that running is my least favorite of the 3 disciplines. I am built like a linebacker, not a runner, and I am SLOWWWWW!! But today I realized that for me, the runner's high isn't about distance, speed or form. I literally felt my chest open up, my breathing became effortless and for a brief time I felt as if I could fly. THAT is the runner's high. It might last a minute or an hour; a hundred yards or several miles. But it's THAT feeling that I unconsciously chase every time I lace up and go. For that brief time I feel like a runner and not like a cinder block with arms and legs. It's freedom. It's the freedom that only comes from moving one's body through space and time using this perfectly imperfect human form that we borrow for our brief time on the planet. So everyone bundle up and stay warm through these next few days of intense cold in the South and always do WHAT MOVES YOU!

Testing New Shoes and Enjoying the Windy Woods

So the plan today was to get up early and take the dogs for a short run at AEDC mountain bike trail then join my buddy, Matt, for a longer run at Tims Ford State Park Shoreline Trail later in the day. Sometimes plans get changed. I made it to bed by 10 pm, but when that alarm went off at 6, I slapped snooze and didn't even here it go off the second time. So I guess I needed rest more than I needed an early run. I had a new pair of shoes to test out today, the Salomon Fellraiser. These shoes are designed for muddy, sloppy conditions. I never again want to go through what I went through at the Lookout 10K. I wore Salomon XR Missions. It's advertised as their "door to trail" shoe and that's exactly what it is. It was NOT designed for the wet, muddy conditions in Chattanooga. So enter the Fellraiser. I met up with Matt and we hit the trail at Tims Ford. The first mile is paved and I could definitely tell that these shoes are made for MUD. They are very lightweight and flexible. Just enough padding but there isn't much medial support. I overpronate on my right foot quite a bit and was worried this would be an issue. After we left the pavement and hit the real trail I fell in love with these shoes. They grip everything! Rocks, mud, roots, it was like I had 4x4's on my feet. But they also have good trail feel and never felt clunky. Where they came up a bit short was in keeping stuff out of the shoes. They are a mesh-like material across the top and some small twigs and dirt found their way in. The fit is true to size but they are a bit narrow. I have long skinny feet so it's not an issue, but runners with a wider mid to forefoot might find them too tight. They also cup the heel well. These will be my go to shoe for wet conditions.

It's always fun to be out in the woods running. It's double fun when it's a purely social run with a good friend. Matt and I kept a mellow pace and talked our faces off. We walked when we wanted and ran when we wanted. I truly enjoy this special young man's company. It was especially windy today. I purposely waited until the "hottest" part of this cold winter day to go run. Even the trees couldn't block all the wind. UnderArmour is a gift from the gods! Out in those woods is the best I've felt all week. But a promise is a promise, so tomorrow I take the dogs to AEDC for more shoe testing and to let them run loose in the woods. Watching their enjoyment of the trail never fails to make me smile BIG. Till next time, do what moves YOU!

So I'm sitting here this evening, exhausted from a LONG week at work. Planning on doubling down on my trail running tomorrow. A short one with the dogs in the early morning and a longer one with a running buddy at around noon. I'm entered in the Monte Sano 15K, next Saturday, 1/11/13 and I'm SO undertrained. But I always finish what I start, so I'll get it done. It may be a fugly race, but I won't quit. This entry is short and sweet, I'm off to bed. Welcome to my blog!