Browsed by
Tag: running

race report: granddad half

race report: granddad half

for some reason, i think it’s a good idea to run two half marathons two weeks apart (and bring liz and doug along for the ride). now, the good news with that is that you’re trained already, so it should be easy. and given the horrible weather we had for the half two weeks prior, anything would be a cakewalk.

so, i left central mn, where we’ve been waiting for spring for 84 years, and right around maple grove, suddenly everything was GREEN. unbelievable!!! what was this miracle? axial tilt for the win! it was so verdant that i stopped at the great river road information center in prescott WI so i could admire the greenage on the river.

the drawback to the granddad half is that it starts at 7 a.m. in a spot nowhere near the finish line. so you have to be at the shuttle pickup at 5:45 a.m. what a racket! we made it there, coffee in hand, and headed to the start line, an unnervingly long distance from the finish.

as you can ascertain, the weather was much more pleasant.

and our pace started off great! we had a great first 7 miles. the incline was downhill and flat-ish, and we ran on a gravel path next to a train track through some very scenic marshland. heard some frogs, saw some green stuff, got passed by some very fast marathoners. (marathoners started an hour before we did.)

then quinn started having some knee and hip issues, and we ended up stopping and stretching and walking for a lot of the second half, which was ok because we made such great time in the first half that our final time was still under three hours (always the goal). also, it let me take a pause to smell some LILACS THAT WERE ALREADY IN BLOOM!!!!

😮

overall, the weather was much better, but it was very muggy. and given how much i like to sweat, i ended up having soaked-through shorts by mile 4. how fashionable.

after we finished up, we got our free beers and headed home as fast as possible so liz and doug could get craig to his soccer game. hannah stayed home with me while i took a shower and a short nap, then we met up with everyone to eat some food and a bloody mary (a tradition now).

i left about 2:15ish then stopped at my parents’ house AND jane’s house to say hi on my way home.

overall, race was good. liz and i thought from here on out we will only run 10k races, but i think we both know that isn’t true and we’ll likely sign up for another half next year. who knows what will happen!

an item of note: i’m going to knock on wood for this one, but my muscles, joints, tendons, ligaments, etc. have all be really good this year, and i hope they hold up. i don’t know what i’ve been doing, but i’ll keep on doing it.

race report: earth day half

race report: earth day half

i thought complaining enough about last year’s half marathon weather would have appealed to the weather gods enough to give me excellent weather this year, but that was not the case! april is so fickle.

liz and doug came up for the annual earth day half marathon, and doug was definitely the best trained and most excited about running this morning. i guess the plus side to this race is that it has an 8:30 a.m. start, which is later than a lot of HM starts! anyway, some highlights:

  1. liz and i started off slow. too slow, we think. when you take off for a race with that many people, you have to consciously make an effort to not overdo it right away, and i think we overdid our overthinking.
  2. the first half of the race, we had a leapfrogger who was SUPER annoying. liz and i run, or try our best to run, the entire race, especially at the beginning. this means we go a little slower, but we have a consistent pace. many people at the back of the pack are walk-run-walk-run-walk-run, which is really annoying in a race this length. a woman would run past us, then stop to walk about 6 feet in front of us. she leapfrogged us probably 10 times. super annoying.
  3. our best mile was mile 7-8! usually it’s mile 4, but i guess we were still stuck in slow mode.
  4. the water stations on this course are FANTASTIC. they have one every 2 miles. usually it’s every 3 miles.
  5. the back half of the race, we were running straight into some godawful wind. 15mph wind this morning, and 30-ish degrees. it was not fun, and my lips were numb. when i tried to chew my mid-race fuel gummies, they were almost frozen, and my jaw was so cold i couldn’t chew them.
  6. but we had hot-hands thingies, which was really helpful. i held one up to my jaw so it could warm up to chew.
  7. why oh why is there a giant hill at mile 11? please, someone reverse the race so we can go down that hill instead of up.
  8. we finished sub-3 hours! which is all we ask for. we were walking a lot more toward the end, and i peer-pressured liz into running the last 3/4 mile or so.
  9. my SKIRT was super handy. i was still a little chilly, but not as cold as i could have been!
  10. this was the first time, i think, that i ran a HM with no braces, tape, wraps, or toe assists. in fact, my legs, knees, and feet have been surprisingly good feeling for a while now. *knock on wood*
  11. of course we went to a bar afterward and had greasy food and bloody marys.
  12. after we got back to my house, we promptly fell asleep for like, an hour. i didn’t even take a shower first. just zonked on out.
  13. i don’t know why, but after HMs, my muscles are just sore, which is really weird because i train faster and on similar terrain. i’m not sure if it’s because it was colder, or earlier, or what. but it usually happens in all conditions!
  14. and now to prepare for the next HM in two weeks!
    😑

ps: it’s almost 9 p.m., and the horizon still has a glimmer of gloaming on it!

race report: ragnar 2022

race report: ragnar 2022

first report: i am home and injury free! had a minor scuffle in the dark on the green with my right ankle flipping toward a sprain/roll, but my ligaments and tendons were like, NOT TODAY, SPRAIN. so i flexed my ankle a few times after that near miss and was on my merry way.

second report: HUZZAH FOR OUR CAMPSITE. we killed it this year on the tent setup.

after how many years, we figured out how to get the tents configured so that you can just walk into a main living space. and quinn’s pop-up gazebo was the bomb – it kept heat in and was a fantastic lounging area, especially with the rug in there (it tied it together).

note the heater in the middle of the pic – even with more reasonable temps, it was the big winner of the race. which brings us to…

race report three: the weather was not great but it wasn’t bad, either. thursday night, which was non-running and just setup night, it got down to below 40 and with the risk of patchy frost, but we were prepared with the heater, a giant box of hot hands, and all the clothes. i never felt miserable in my sleeping bag this year as i have in years past, so i’ll take that as a win.

friday started off chilly for liz at 8:40, but it warmed up close to 60, which isn’t bad for running at all. the wind stayed calm and it was overcast, but you don’t get much sun running through the trees anyway.

it did start to rain at about midnight on friday/saturday, and it continued to mist for almost the entirety of the rest of the runs. which isn’t the best for trying to stay warm, but at least it never got below 49 while we were running. i can’t imagine if it were freezing rain. what a nightmare that would be!

race report four: the ragnar experience has gone downhill. liz mentioned that they likely lost a lot of money in 2020, and they haven’t sold out in the past two years, but if they don’t up their game, they’ll likely continue to not sell out. thursday night, there was one food vendor and everyone was in line for it. i was standing in line for about 10-15 minutes and had moved four feet. so we ordered pizza from wausau instead! good on quinn for figuring that one out and making the call!

ragnar also stopped serving a meal on friday, which was always nice as an option apart from the food vendors (it was more “real food” than greasy food). and on top of that, they’re charging more for the event.

the pretty lighted-up arch was gone, but we figured it was there last year because it had been sponsored by a company. but it was so pretty in the night and a beacon of “i’m almost done” that they should bring back. i’ll sponsor it. the generators shorted out one of the TVs where you track your team, so that was also cool. it just seemed a lot less professional this year.

one good thing though on the experience is that they did bring back the cotton shirts, which fit better and which i will actually wear out and about! #thosecowsmycows

race report five: five being the number of loops that many of us has to do! we were down two team members this year, and instead of just asking to skip some loops, other members (not me or liz) wanted to pick up the extra. good on them, i guess? not my thing. after 15 miles, i’m done-zo! but, the yellow loop was pleasant as always, the green loop almost got me injured, and the red loop we can now rename evil loop because they decided to send us through a section they had just clearcut that was nothing but a muddy mess with the rain and whatever they’re trying to do. i ended up fording my own trail along the side of the mud because i didn’t need an injury from slipping and biffing it in the mud.

race report six: i sprung for the unlimited elevated legs experience, which are things that compress your legs to get the lactic acid out and blood moving. it was glorious! i definitely got my money’s worth, and i would do it again. overall, recovery was pretty good, though my quads are killing me this morning. there is so much more up and down than my training areas have, plus i’m just pounding on the downhills while i’m out there.

race report seven: we finished EARLY! since our two team members who were out were slower and the fast runners picked up the extra loops, we got done in about 24 hours. we were back in our tent and lounging in front of the heater by 10 a.m. and took some time before packing up to get out.

after we packed up and loaded up, we went to wausau for lunch before heading home.

race report eight: too little sleep (this always happens). yikes! i slept an ok amount thursday night, but with only 4ish hours on friday night and no nap, i was struggling to stay awake on the road! at the first rest stop, i pulled over and took a 30-min nap, which was exactly what i needed to get home. last night i slept 10.5 hours in my own bed with my own pillow (oh did i mention i forgot my pillow? *eye roll*).

and with that, another ragnar under the belt. until next year, maybe. stay hydrated!

run gear$$$

run gear$$$

first and foremost, happy solstice! the lightest day of the year, and i’m here for it. this is the best.

so i was out running the other day, and i was taking stock of what i had with me. i leave my phone at home and use a GPS watch to track my runs, so it’s not as expensive as it could be, but let’s take a look at retail for my gear:

  • shoes: $160
  • socks: $18
  • headphones: $90
  • shorts: $50
  • shirt: $30
  • underwear: $65
  • watch: $300
  • hat: $30

$660 just running down the road! and that’s without my phone! so then i started wondering, at what point does the rungear life sort of overtake?

what put me over the edge into something beyond a thing i tried out to see if i could do? i know i’ve been at this for a while, and i’ve been slowly upgrading, making things easier or tracked better or lighter or better for my body.

  • i sure could wear $50 run shoes, but the $160 variety support my feet and keep them cushioned.
  • i sure could wear $3 cotton socks, but the bombas run socks wick and provide a level of arch support.
  • i sure could continue to wear $25 wired headphones that break after a year, but i upgraded to bluetooth in-ear that have lasted me 3 years and i just upgraded to a pair of aftershox that allow me to hear what’s going on on the busy 55-mph road i run the shoulder of.
  • i sure could strugglebus with a pair of $15 walmart shorts, but oiselle makes a fantastic 4″ short that doesn’t ride up my thighs.
  • i sure could wear my $15 walmart shirt, and heck, i still do. shirts are the one item that i am ok cheaping out on. the retail on my shirt tonight was $30, but i got it for $15. i wear jcpenney $8 sale shirts. yep, cheap out on the shirts as long as they work for you and keep you cool.
  • but heck, don’t cheap out on runderwear. keeping the chestal area contained is of utmost importance, so make sure you spend money there.
  • i sure could carry my phone, and i still do sometimes. actually, the watch is the one item i could do without. but i wanted the option to leave the phone at home since some of my shorts don’t have pockets, and it gets clunky. plus, sometimes it’s nice to not have it with to get the interruptions.
  • i sure could not wear a hat, but that would require more money spent on contacts so i could wear sunglasses. and i’ve worn a visor in the past, and now i just got an actual runner’s hat that has cute little turtles on it.

it’s just odd because somewhere along the way, i became a person who just amasses running gear. which is ok, but nothing i expected. i always knew i’d spend money on shoes and runderwear, but never expected to spend the sort of money on other items.

enough about running!

I’m close to getting my yoga training done. i just have one class left, and i’m blowing through my two classes i’m taking this summer. just another couple weeks and hopefully i’ll get it all submitted.

we had an early reunion this year (last week) and i just loved the week at the lake! how glorious. tomorrow it’s time to head back to work and the grind (and a regular food schedule). summer’s flyin too fast.

sunday runday

sunday runday

my blog posting month has been really bad lately! i think this is the worst i’ve done for a kablpomo. ah well. stuff happens.

it’s 2021. that means it’s been 10 – TEN – years since i started running. color me impressed with myself. i was actually just on the treadmill having a beast of a time because i got my covid booster* and am feeling ultra sluggish today, but thought i’d give a run a go.

not going well, but i’ll do it in pieces.

so, to celebrate 10 – TEN – years running, here are my 5 top takeaways and tips.

  1. shoes matter. i don’t care if you need a barefoot shoe, a complete support shoe, a neutral hot pink shoe, or what, but you need to find the right shoe for you. and sometimes you need to reassess what your feet need. i had to change my shoe type 2 years ago due to a wonky nerve heel issue, and i went from a 13mm heel drop to a 5 or 0mm heel drop. that somehow miraculously cured all my foot ailments after years of dealing with plantar fasciitis. i wish i had done that sooner. try out different shoes.
  2. support matters. meaning in the underwear department. spend the money on a good bra if you’re a lady.
  3. i can tell if i’m going to have a good run within the first 5 minutes. my legs are either cooperating or they aren’t. i know a lot of people say the first mile is a lie, and it is to an extent, but for the most part i will know sooner rather than later if this is going to be an excellent run, a mediocre run, or an awful run. most runs fall in the mediocre camp.
  4. i’ve said this so many times, but slow down. this isn’t a land race. so many runners starting out think they need to run a 9- or 10-minute pace. no wonder you hate running and rage quit! slow down and it’ll be a lot easier on the legs and the lungs, not to mention your head. focus on distance instead. i started at probably a 14-min mile and have worked my way up to an average 12-min mile. if i’m having a great run, it’ll be 11:30. i can count on one hand the number of times it’s been close to 11-min miles. slooooooow always wins.
  5. enjoy it! sure, have goals, too, but the best way to get them is to take a moment to enjoy it. i run through the woods. i like to have a running buddy for half marathons. run in the springtime next to ponds and marshes to hear the frogs croak. stop to take a pic of the sunset. wave at the other people you see along the way. run past houses and admire the architecture (or lack of). if your legs are willing, run as many miles as they like and zoom down the last decline on your way back from the long run.

* i am super scared of getting covid and then coming back from it and trying to run. i’ve heard horror stories and know the problem with lungs. i’ll try to avoid that, please.

ragnar 2021: NO INJURIES

ragnar 2021: NO INJURIES

my constant vigilance paid off!

(and so did my propane heater!)

thursday

after a hiatus in 2020 because 2020, we were back for ragnar trail wisconsin 2021. and i was prepared. after the cold year, i knew that i did NOT want to be cold again because that sucks. sure, running in the cold is something everyone’s like, yeah! so much better than running in the heat! but when you’re tenting, you don’t get to go into your warm house and take a warm shower after your cold run.  personally, i’d rather run in the hot during ragnar trail at that point.

BUT i had been monitoring the weather and what do you know, it was going to get down to the 40s at night, and no way was i gonna deal with that noise. so i bought a propane heater to go on top of a 20 lb propane tank.

it was a lifesaver both nights. best purchase for ragnar.

i also packed plenty of layers and what i thought was more clothes than i needed, but better to be safe than sorry.

so off i went thursday around 11, picked up jane, and we headed out to wausau, which is in the middle of wisconsin. we got into line right at 4 p.m., and once the line started moving, we were moving pretty quickly. got in, unloaded, and i took the car to parking while jane hauled our crap down to our campsite.

we hung out for a bit until liz, doug, and quinn showed up with the tents, and then we were really able to set up camp in earnest.

that night it was just us five, but we got to test out the new heater and managed to remember why we brought so many layers. it’s no fun being cold at camp! i managed to get a decent amount of sleep, though i ended up waking up every 2 hours or so to roll over and had to get up once to use the porta-loo to pee (it was 4 a.m.- no way was i holding it). (also, hydration is KEY the day before race day, so i wasn’t surprised i had to get up in the middle of the night to pee.)

then it was race day…

friday

liz was set to start the first loop at 9:40 a.m., which seemed awfully early for our fast-ish team, but we took it. matt left early so he could get to camp before his loop, and our remaining two teammembers were on the way to be there a little later in the day.

i decided to opt for a later loop than i normally do, because i wanted to do the red (read: hard) loop in the daylight. that loop has been an arch nemesis in the past when i fell and sprained my ankle right at the beginning of the loop. in the past, i ran it during sunrise, which was nice, but our timing was weird, so i chose runner 5 this year.

yellow loop

oh, so fresh, so ready to take on a run. the yellow loop has always been 5.5 miles, but only this year did they figure that out. it’d always been advertised as 4.5 miles, and every time i ran it i wondering, how is my running time so slow? it’s my first run, on fresh, pampered legs, with trail running that i’ve been killing lately. so, imagine my happiness when it’s actually a MILE LONGER. (well, not happy because of that extra mile; just happy because my time isn’t abysmal.)

the yellow loop is probably the least hazardous of the loops – fewer roots and not as many rocks. there are a lot of switchbacks and some minor slopes to run up, but overall, it’s a pleasant route. they did a little rerouting and i didn’t have to deal with the bridge that i fell off three years ago.

it was about 70º when i went out, which was nearly perfect for me. i was able to wear a tank and shorts and not sweat too badly during my run.

here i am: a vision in sherbert.

note my knees! i was so worried. i decided to see what happened on the yellow loop to figure out the other two. i taped the crap out of them and wrapped the right one. after my run, they weren’t horrible, but they weren’t too happy. i stopped at the medic tent and grabbed a bag of ice. after stretching and icing, i decided to give the next loop a go.

they yellow loop was the best as far as weather and speediness. i was booking it at the end. i finished 5.5 miles in 1:07, which i right about where i expect that to be.

time for a break! i ate some food, drank a lot of electrolytes (which, i think, saved me), and then we lived through a big rainstorm. liz was running during the rain, and with the rain, the temps dropped. i had to figure out what to wear in the night at 50º-ish degrees. trying to figure out what to wear to run in anything 40s and 50s is the worst. ugh.

green loop

i ended up taking off on my green loop around 10:45 after matt came in a little later than i’d expected from his red. that red loop is just a beast. anyway, i ended up wearing a long-sleeved wool shirt, a poly tank, a poly tshirt, and then a pullover poly long sleeved 3/4 zip that i had just purchased! good call on that. i also pulled on a brace over my long pants on the one knee and then slipped a knee wrap on the other one.

off i went into the cold on the green loop.

THEY SAY the green loop is only 3.35 miles.

THEY SAID it used to be 3 miles.

we think they’re wrong. i ran that whole dang loop, and there’s no way i’m running a 14.5-minute mile running all the time. that’s about where i was at when i first started running! plus, that loop always seems to go on and on, and i run 3 miles ALL THE TIME. it’s my minimum mileage these days.

i think the green loop is closer to 4 than 3 miles. but whatever.

i have no pics because it was dead dark out, but there were some pretty awesome lit-up arches that matt managed to sort of get a pic of!

i was expecting a lot of puddles on the loop since it had rained, and doug gave good advice to just run through the puddles that were there to avoid the mud. i think a lot of them had been soaked up but there were still some that i had to just splash through. good thing i brought two pairs of shoes.

the coolest thing about the green loop was that i was pacing a dude. i asked him a couple times if he wanted to get past me, and he said nope, he was good. the trails through the woods on ragnar are single-file bike trails, so when you really get in there, it’s hard to pass without moving over/stopping. and since i am a slowbie, i end up doing that quite a bit. so, pacing someone in the woods is actually pretty cool. it forced me to just keep on running, which also kept me warm.

i finished up green in 48 minutes. totally closer to 4 miles than 3. i ended up getting done a little bit quicker than expected, and i must have just missed quinn in the transition list. i waited for maybe 5 minutes, then i had to go. i was going to get chilled. i hung my bib on a rack for times like this, took a glance at people watching screens and didn’t see her. so i went back and told the dude on deck about quinn, and he went to take a look. meanwhile, she responded to a text i sent her, and she got going about 15 mins later.

and THANK GOD FOR THAT HEATER. holy cats, what a phenomenal investment. i ran (yes, ran) back to the tent, changed into my wool under layer shirt, wool sweater, down vest, wool socks, two pairs of pants, and fleece jacket and then camped out in front of the heater for about 30 minutes while i ate some oatmeal, cheese, and some protein, then drank more electrolytes, chatted with a semicolon aficionado teammate, stretched, and then decided to call it and try to sleep.

surprisingly, my knees weren’t screaming at me too badly. so i was gonna do the red loop.

saturday

i maybe got 3-4 hours of sleep after crawling into my 400 layers of warmth in my sleeping bag. the unfortunate thing about that was that my pillow got damp from my sweaty head, so every time i rolled over, my face was on chilly wet pillow until it warmed up. yuck-o.

and in and out went teammates on their runs. liz got up and came back, jane got up and came back. but i slept, and that was a good thing. this was probably my best year for sleep. (although, i was lying there thinking, what am i doing? i could be at home, in my bed, in my warm house, and be comfortable. why am i doing this?)

i woke up to go pee at 5:30ish (again). there’s always a bit of hum during the night because the relay is constant, so there are people out and about. the moon was bright enough overhead to not need a headlamp to see, and on my way back, i saw a shooting star. the stars in general were great.

(the portapotties were also pretty great this year. clean, well-ventilated, and emptied often. TP was always stocked.)

when i got back, liz had come back from her last run, and jane was awake, so i just stayed awake. i wasn’t feeling too bad. dressing myself was going to be a different matter!

red loop

i was going to, once again, be running at the low-temp time of the day. fortunately, it didn’t get as cold as expected, and it was a whopping 43º instead of 39º. i didn’t realize that i was going to be running this early, so i hadn’t packed the right pants for cold weather, so instead, i wore my long shorts and my calf compression socks. wool tank, wool shirt, long sleeved poly shirt, and a short sleeved poly shirt. i wore liz’s ragnar cap, which i think actually helped quite a bit.

time for the last loop. the red loop is not only the longest, but possibly the most treacherous. there are sections of giant boulders and small rocks and middling rocks on the path that you have to hop your way through. then there are sections of roots and roots and more roots sticking out of the dirt path. and, if you’re like me, you don’t pick your feet up well enough, and the toes of your shoes just catch the edge of the root.

but first, the red loops starts out nice. a wide, open, grassy path where you can warm up, get your bearings, think you’re doing great. there are a couple of long, slopey hills that are more work than you want them to be, but generally they are followed by a nice downhill. then BAM.  we enter the single-file forest rock city.

this is pretty tame.

there are two bridges on the red loop, and i walked both of them. they were full of mud from the trail. and if the roots were too much, i walked that too. i tried to run through the rocks; generally, the rocks were better for me than the roots. maybe because they were obvious? i’m not sure. but the last leg of single file dangerousness was rooty rooty rooty.

also not too bad. this pic courtesy of matt!!

but after you get through the roots sent from hell, you get back into wide-open grassy paths where you get a little too confident in your running.

side story! so quinn was telling us about her fall on her first run, where she landed on her face. she was describing it and said, “you know when you trip and you throw your hands back like this?” and she demonstrated by throwing her arms along her sides and backwards, like reverse superman.

in my head, i was thinking, “i don’t do that. i throw my hands forward to stop the fall what is she talking about.”

so i am just rolling out into wide-open plains for running, and i do NOT constant vigilance, and i trip over something. and i THROW MY ARMS BACK TO COUNTER BALANCE. in my head, i’m not thinking about the possible trip and fall of this, but rather, WHAT??? QUINN WAS RIGHT!!!

(i did manage to pull out of that fall, though my lower back did a LOT of work to prevent that.)

and when i told the others about this? they all said that they, too, were skeptical of quinn’s arm position, and liz actually had the same experience that i did! so, that’s the side story. and the closest i came to injury.

the final slopey section is about a mile or so long, but it’s nice because you aren’t hemmed in by trees and switchbacked trails. there’s more freedom in the run, and you can lengthen your stride. there’s a GIANT HILL that you basically just power walk up, cuz ain’t no one gonn run up that thing.

and then you come into the final stretch where all three loops’ runners converge, run through a short leg in the woods, and come out to cheers in the transition tent.

then i was DONE!!

i finished up the red loop, 6.75 miles through rocky, rooty mess, in 1:33. and that was with a lot of walking through obstacles!

we had three more runners after me, and then we got our medals and pics.

matt did the volunteer shift while the rest of us packed up and hauled everything over to the drop site. by the time we were done, almost 2 p.m., nearly all the teams had finished up. it was probably the earliest that i’d ever seen us finish up our relay – i think in the hot year (2017?) we didn’t finish the last runner til almost 3 p.m.

then it was time to get out. i was tired, needed a shower, and also needed food. liz, jane, doug, quinn, and i stopped in wausau for lunch, then it was time to head out.

i got home at 9 p.m., took a shower, threw my sweaty clothes in the wash, then promptly passed out. i slept 11 hours last night. and, weirdly enough, all that running seemed to have healed my knee issues?? what the heck.

til next year, ragnar!

i kneed

i kneed

welp, if it’s not one thing it’s another, right? my feet have been pretty decent lately on the run front, but of course my knees have decided to crap out. exciting times in the ramp up to ragnar trail, of course!

i started gathering my gear for ragnar.  i packed my headlamp, then decided to go for a run in the dark tonight. which doesn’t take much these days; thanks, axial tilt. but here’s some new gear for this year!

  1. i bought a propane tank heater. lows are going to be in the 40s, which doesn’t sound bad for running, but it sure sounds bad if you’re camping. so i got a nice heater and it works great. no freezing for me.
  2. a nice wool blanket to wrap up in while i’m sitting around and also in my sleeping bag. like i said, no freezing for me.
  3. pedialyte galore.
  4. a crapton of food. no free supper at ragnar this year, and i have trouble eating enough anyway, so i’m going to just bring a bunch of food and hope i eat enough.

training has been pretty good up until the knee issue, so i’m not worried about finishing. kind of worried about finishing with reasonable knees. hopefully it’s just runner’s knee and it’ll just sort itself out. otherwise, i have an appointment in october with my GP and if they’re still annoying then, maybe i can get into PT or something for them.

ragnar update to come afterward!

oh to find a running shoe

oh to find a running shoe

oh hi there! i come to you with shoe review 42.

(i don’t know if i’ve reviewed shoes that many times or if it just seems like that many times.)

in a quest for a comfy, cushy, low-drop shoe that has a nice room toebox, i think i’ve purchased and returned 5 pairs of shoes over the past 2 months.

when i found out that asics had a lower drop shoes than the last time i’d worn them, i decided to give them another go. a low-drop shoe means the distance between the heel and the front as far as how far off the ground. a zero-drop shoe is like going barefoot. high heel would have a ginormous heel drop. my asics i wore for years had a 12mm drop. when i started having super weird foot problems a couple years ago, a lower-drop shoe helped out a ton. the hokas i’d been running in for the past year or so have a 5mm drop, but the toe box is just a bit too narrow for my tastes. the wide is super loose in the heel.

so the asics novablast had an 8mm drop, which i tried and actually ran one run in, and it just was too much of a drop. then i tried out the magic speeds, which have a steel plate (!) in them at a reasonable(ish) cost. the drop was excellent. the space for my toes was good. but they had NO arch support at all. so back to the asics factory those two pairs of shoes went.

after reading for years about altras, which are a zero drop shoe, i thought that now was the time to try them out. they look like no other running shoe out there – probably because they actually look like your foot shape.

the first pair i got had medium cushion and high support, which is excellent for trail running. i love these in the woods. i got a second pair with high cushion and high support, but the 11 was a half size too small, and this company doesn’t make an 11.5???? what legit running shoe company doesn’t do that!! so have a pair of the men’s shoe on their way here, and they should be here tomorrow. i’m hopeful that they should work well, even if they aren’t the more fun colors of the women’s shoe.

ok, so the grey/lime isn’t so bad.

i hope i run like the wind! because ragnar training has begun and i’m going to run 2 runs this saturday in the 70º weather*!!!

*ugh i really want to write about our stupid hot weather and climate change but i feel like i will get so severely depressed.

late june running updates!

late june running updates!

i gotta say, so far i was enjoying our relatively humid-free summer. even though it has been HOT, it’s been pretty dry, and i’ve been at least not dying on my runs. some highlights from the past month, which i’m really sad that i hadn’t written about earlier:

  1. ragnar sunset was in early june. liz, jane, doug, and i relayed and each ran 2 loops of about 4 miles. while jane was out there, it hit 100º. and the sun was bearing down! to prepare for the run, i bought a long-sleeved white wicking shirt and a light colored baseball hat. both EXCELLENT purchases. the long sleeve white really does make a difference; it keeps the sun from hitting your skin and eliminating radiant heat. my first run was pretty unshaded, so yes yes yes. my second run of the day was more shaded and it actually got a little cloud, so i pulled out a run tank for that one instead. i also chugged pedialyte, which i’d never tried before. that was an excellent choice. good news on this race: we FINISHED and we were hydrated.
  2. outrun bigfoot was the third week in june, a virtual on-your-own race. basically you had to run a distance in the top 2/3 of all the runners registered for it over the course of 4-5 days (can’t remember). the top runner ran more than 100 miles during the days, which is insane. i managed to run 27, which was pretty insane for me. that week was probably the most miles i’ve run in a week ever. i ran the 27 and then also 4 miles the day before it started. i’ve been just chugging through my running shoes these days.
  3. i’m signed up for the firecracker 4-mile on the fourth of july down in la crosse, which should be a breeze. the only downside to it is that it starts at 7 a.m. which i will be grateful for at the time because of the high of 90º it’s supposed to get to that day, but still, 7 a.m.?? good thing the adrenaline of a race sort of wakes me up.
  4. then it’ll be time to start training for ragnar trail! oof duh.

yesterday i went for a run. after a month of dry runs, i’d gotten used to the non humidity. but last night it was 70º and humid. i thought it’d be great with the 70º, and the temp WAS great. but my run clothes were just sopping wet from my sweat that wasn’t evaporating. thanks to my mom’s sweaty genes. anyway, that was a gross thing to share, but something that is pretty typical if you run and sweat.

that’s all i’ve got! i might actually head out for a run right now!

expensive shorts: a review

expensive shorts: a review

i grew up in a family needing to be frugal, with a propensity for instant gratification (last name starts with W – go check out the research on this). so my entire life consists of internal conflicts about things that i WANT vs. spending the money for these items. i have a winter parka that’s in its 9th winter and going strong. i also buy $150 running shoes twice a year. my jewelry is nothing extravagant or expensive. my camera gear is top notch. i have trouble justifying spending more than $20 on a pair of jeans, or any piece of clothing really, but i will gladly part with $75 for a nice meal with nate.

the mental gymnastics are really something else.

so, when i am in search of specific running gear, price is generally a mental hurdle i have to overcome.

especially when i find shorts with a long inseam in colors other than black (a rare find).

enter oiselle, a woman-owned company that makes clothing designed by women for women. i was intrigued if their shorts would be a utilitarian addition to my relatively cheap run wardrobe.

oh, and they have 6″ inseam running shorts that come in one of my favorite colors (evidenced by the matching phone case). (also, sorry for the bathroom pic – it’s the only place in my house with a full-length mirror.)

the bad news about these shorts? $62. yep, you heard that right. luckily, i had a coupon, but STILL. $62 for a pair of shorts??

besides the length and the color, these shorts have a couple other significant advantages:

1- CHECK OUT THIS POCKET.

not only is a SIDE pocket on a pair of women’s shorts with a ZIPPER, but check out the REAL ESTATE.

this pocket has more space than most of my pants pockets. my entire phone can fit in it and zip up!

2- the material is really nice. it’s soft and sort of flowy. while i was running, i kept waiting for the inside to ride up, as i expect with any sort of shorts, but they didn’t. i even spent some time deliberately trying to get them to ride up, and it just didn’t happen.

3- they are not high rise. holy cats, i hate trying to find shorts these days because everything is high rise. these are mid-rise; they sit below my belly button and stay there

4- have i mention that they’re orange?? usually the only fun colored short have a 2″ inseam, so this is amazing.

5- there were some arm warmers on clearance that i got at the same time (arm warmers are nice when it’s transition weather and you want to wear a tshirt or tank top but will have chilly arms for a bit). these were a more reasonable price and i didn’t feel bad spending the money on these.

check out the little birds on the warmers! they’re reflective! and they match the shorts! and those thumbholes! i do love me some thumbholes on running stuff.

oiselle sells more than just shorts – they’ve got sweatshirts, winter wear, wool shirts, tights, underwear, tanks, tshirts, sleepwear, etc. plus clearance stuff and a lot items that cheaper than $62 run shorts.

so, here’s a $20 coupon if you want to try them out! you get $20 off and i get $20 to spend in the future.