Nanny Goat 12 Hour Race Report

On Saturday, I ran my second 12 Hour run - The Nanny Goat in Riverside, CA. I had the option of starting at 8am or at 8pm. I was leaning toward running at night but the weather forecast said it would be cool & partly cloudy so I decided to run it during the day and I'm really glad I did.

Pre-Race
Since I decided to do the 8am start, I carbo loaded on Friday and I think I did a pretty good job of it. On Saturday morning, I got up at 5, ate breakfast, and got dressed. Then I packed my backpack and a chair for the day. I made sure to pack a couple extra pairs of shoes and socks along with food, Scaps, Aleve, and body glide.

Once I got to the ranch where the race was at, I set up my chair in a strategic location - close to the porta-potties and the food! :) Then I checked in, got my bib, timing chip, shirt, and mug.

The Plan
My training for this was pretty much non-existent because I hurt my foot back in March. My longest run in the last 2 months was the 19 mile run/hike on my birthday last weekend. I also had one 16.5 mile run and a handful of half marathons and that's it. No back-to-backs either. Like I mentioned before, I wasn't scared about this but honestly didn't know what to expect. I dreamed about hitting 50 miles (A goal), or my age (B goal), but hoped to just be on my feet all 12 hours (C goal). With that in mind I decided my plan for this would be 5 min running/1 min walking. It felt doable. I hoped. :)

Race
Steve, the RD, gathered us in the barn for last minute instructions and then we were off! Lucy Jacobs (carrying the flag below) led us out of the barn. It was a reminder of why and who we were running for at the Nanny Goat. FYI - Lucy did the 24 Hour and she carried the flag the entire time!

I ran the entire first loop to get the excitement out of my system. When I came to the barn (where the timing mat was), I heard "Hey, Run It Fast." and then "Go Lisa!". I looked and it was Kylie! I knew she would be there. :) On the second loop, I started the interval timer on my watch and started the plan. I had to stop and say hello to Kylie and give her a hug when I got back to the barn but other than that, I kept to the plan for the first 30 miles.

I did have some extra breaks in there - bathroom breaks (damn hamster bladder), 2 shoe/sock changes. Also, about 2 hours into it, I walked a little bit with Kylie who, by the way, went into labor last night and little Mackenzie was born this morning! Congrats Kylie and Mike! See, my plan to help her start labor totally worked. ;)

Back to the race... My feet started hurting around 3 hours into the race. I'd brought 2 other pairs of shoes with me because I wasn't sure which I would want and I decided to change shoes at 3.5 hours to see if it would help. It did for a little while though not much but I stuck with the plan. Those laps seemed to go by quickly but things were starting to go south. Every lap, my feet felt heavier and heavier. I changed my shoes and socks again at 6.5 hours and I think that was a mistake. The sock change was good but I saw I already had a blister on each foot. Even with the gaiters, the dust/sand got in my shoes. I think once I knew for sure they were there it was harder to ignore them.

I told myself I had to stick to the plan for at least 50K but I couldn't resist the hamburgers they were barbecuing and grabbed 1/2 a cheeseburger as I finished lap 30. I walked while I ate it and then finished a run/walk for the lap but not really the plan schedule. Probably more walk than run. After that, I thought maybe walking a couple of laps would give my feet a rest. I grabbed my camera as I finished lap 31 so I could take some pics of the course while I walked.

There were basically 3 types of terrain there: the grassy/gopher hole section (above right), the dirt orchard lane section (right), and a stretch of road (below).

That's Run It Fast - The Club Member #121 Ed Ettinghausen in the Jester costume! He had a whole bunch of hats and changed them throughout the day. When I heard a jingle, I'd know it was him and check to see what he was wearing next. His hats:

One more thing about Ed. He was a fabulous cheerleader on the course. He learned everyone's name and he greeted you by name every time he saw you and offered encouragement. Totally cool! Here's a few more pics of the ranch:

Nice course, huh? Interesting stuff to see and different surfaces to keep you paying attention. Though I think the gopher hole section contributed to my calf problems later I enjoyed it. After this, I put my camera away but continued walking. I was at the 8 hour mark and sort of resigned myself to walking the rest of the day. The next 90 minutes were all walking. I am a slow walker but I was trying to do at least 3 laps per hour. Each lap, my feet felt more and more like bricks and I was so frustrated. It wasn't just the blisters but the whole foot and ankle that were hurting. I didn't even pay attention to laps but I think it was lap 36 were I seriously considered stopping. In my mind, I said I would rest for 30 min or an hour and then start again but I kind of figured if I did that, I wouldn't go back out. :(

Not only were my feet killing me but so were my calves and my legs were complete noodles because after the cheeseburger, I hadn't felt like eating and all I was doing when I stopped was a cup of coke or sprite and  a slice of fruit. I decided I would try changing my shoes one more time and take some Aleve and see how it went. I changed back into pair #2 for the day but didn't want to take my socks off  (or look at my feet). I also grabbed some peanut butter & jelly crackers. I tweeted my frustration while I was sitting there but then I made myself get up and start walking again.

I walked for about half that lap, read the encouragement from my tweeps and then a funny thing happened. I decided to see if I could start running again. And I did! Woo! Maybe it was the Aleve kicking in or the pb&j crackers or a second wind. Whatever it was, I was so happy. I was running! :) So then I decided that I didn't want to risk walking again and I finished that lap without walking again and then ran the next 5 laps. They were slow but I didn't care because I was running.

Towards the end of lap 42, my stomach started feeling not so good and my right calf started to twinge like it wanted to cramp. It was getting close to the 11th hour and I think I burned up whatever second wind I had because I started feeling noodley again. I was so happy to finish lap 42 and see I only had 1 hour left! I ran/walked the last hour and got 3 more laps in. I finished lap 45 at 11 hours and 53 minutes so not enough time for another lap or new PR. :( But hello, I ran 45 miles! I was so sure I wouldn't even make it to 40 that I was thrilled with 45. I had run the last part of that lap with another runner and when we finished we congratulated each other. Turns out we both ran 45 miles. He said "We could have run the whole thing together." and I wondered to myself how different our paths were to the same place.

Post Race & Thoughts
My second 12 Hour was in the books! They took my chip and gave me my medal:

The medal also has a magnet on the back and can be used as a refrigerator magnet. I think it's a fun medal. This is what the 12 & 24 hour people got. If you ran the 100 miler, then you got a buckle. Once I had my medal, I went back to the barbecue and grabbed a piece of tri-tip (no bread or anything else - coyote style ;) ) that I had been smelling for the last few laps and ate that while I rested for a little while. I was starting to get cold so I packed up my stuff and headed home to clean up and take care of my feet.

So...I reached my B goal for the night. My age - 44 plus 1 to grow on. :) I was really surprised that I ran 45 miles yesterday when I considered myself undertrained vs. 45.6 miles for the New Years 1 Day where I considered my training just about perfect. I wonder if it's just that I had done it before so knew I could do it again? What do you think?

All I know is that though I had not so much fun with my feet, I had fun talking to the other runners, watching the horses, the dogs, & crazy guard chickens on the farm, seeing the runner's family cheering everyone on, that it was a beautiful day to run, and it gave me an opportunity to battle some demons. When I was getting frustrated, I tried to remind myself that I was lucky that I COULD put myself thru that torture, I mean, fun. I would see Lucy on the course, carrying that flag and not complaining, and just keep moving forward. I thought of my grandpa walking everywhere. I thought of Joshua and Naresh running Vol State 500 last year when they were tired and their feet hurt. I thought of all my twitter friends who've run 100 miles and suffered more than I did. But most of all, I tried not to think at all and just keep moving.

This was the first race in a long time where I listed to music (last 8 hours) to fill my mind with something else besides my feet. I had to laugh because the song that was playing when I finished was Fallin' by Alica Keys.

Oh, oh, I never felt this way / How do you give me so much pleasure and cause me so much pain? / Just when I think I've taken more than would a fool / I start fallin' back in love with you

Definitely some lows/pain during the day but a happy ending. Running can be a bitch but you gotta love something that can give you such amazing experiences and teach you lessons like this. :)  

Thanks for reading!

Safari Park Wild Thoughts

So why was the Safari Park Half Marathon my favorite half marathon to date? I mean, I didn't PR, I didn't travel out of the state to run it, and I didn't win (ha!). But none of that matters. The reason I sign up for races is to experience new things - new places, new challenges, meet new people, and have fun while I'm doing it. This fit all of that.

These are the elements of the race that I loved:

• The course was interesting - it included road and dirt and hills. I like variety in my races.
• The course had great views - there was lots to see and Curious Lisa loved seeing all of it. I have to say that I loved the ostrich farm. The ostriches were wacky. I didn't know they made sounds like that and to see them watching us and running around was fun.
• The race was really well organized - Everything went off without a hitch this year. I heard they had problems with parking last year but there were none this year. The race started on time and the buses back to our cars after were easy peasy to catch.
• They also had really well organized aid stations. It was doubly nice that they sent out an email before the race telling us that water would be in clear cups and the electorlyte drink would be in solid cups. Except for the aid station outside the winery that was serving drinks up in wine glasses! Sorry, but I think it was just water and electorlyte drink. ;)
• Packet pickup, the drop bags, post food/water, directions/support on the course were all excellent too.
• There weren't a lot of spectators, practically none actually except for the families that were bused into the park and the one housing tract we went thru, but I didn't care. I don't need crowd support. And less crowds means you can focus easier. At least I can.
• One of the runners complained that she'd never been in a such a "chatty" race but I loved it. She's right, there was a lot of talking going on between the runners but isn't that why we race? To run with others? I had a lot of fun talking to various people on the course. It's always disappointing when you talk to someone and they are wearing headphones. But it was fun to be in awe of something we saw and to have someone else acknowledge they were thinking the same thing.
• The race had Race Guards running with us. There were also some on bikes out on the course. I'd never seen that before and I thought it was a very cool idea. A couple of them were running around my pace so I saw them all the way up until the end. I would like to look into doing something like this.
• The Wild Animal Park was VERY welcoming to us. All day, the people at the park congratulated me or asked me how I did. It was fun to see the shirts/medals all day too. Like a not-so-secret club. Also, a good conversation opener with strangers.
• A lot of the runners dressed with ears/tails/animal prints so that was fun too. I was mostly glad that I beat Tony the Tiger. :)
• Um, did I mention there were elephants and lions and cheetahs? Seriously, how cool is that!!! :) I am still going through my photos for that day! Hopefully, I'll have them ready tonight.

So yes, I absolutely will do this race again. Next time, I'm going to do the Roar and Snore and spend the night before in the park. I talked to some of the runners who had done it and they said it was a ton of fun to hear the lions and other animals at night and that the dinner had been yummy. I think it would be a blast. Who's going to join me?

February Recap

My February was a pretty darn good month, I'd have to say. It was jam packed with all kinds of adventure and new experiences. Oh yeah, and a little bit of running! Cycling...not so much. That's probably the only low point for the month.

In February, I ran 232.7 miles and rode 159 miles. <--That bike mileage was my normal WEEKLY mileage last year and I haven't had a month that low since I started bike commuting almost 4 years ago.

But I'm not going to freak out about it. A few things, good things, happened in February that kept that number low. These are the highlights:

*I ran my 1st 50K on 2/4! In the mud! And I survived. :)
*I ran my 2nd 50K on 2/25! With lots of hills! And I survived. :)
*I ran my 1st solo trail run up a mountain in February. And I survived. ;)
*I continued run commuting to work a couple days a week. I may even go to 3 days in March. We'll see.
*I visited Tennessee and got to hang out with friends and make new ones. Saw Graceland and other cool stuff.
*I was interviewed by Ultra Chicks Unite and the site was shared by the head of AdventureCorps so it was seen by a lot of people! (kind of a weird feeling).
*I joined the Run It Fast Running Club! I hope to get really involved in it this year and I hope you'll join me in that.

So...a pretty awesome month, eh?

Anyway, the tapering for 2 50Ks, travelling to TN, and run commuting meant that I was off the bike for a lot of February. I have a feeling the rest of the year isn't going to be much better since I plan on running a LOT more.

This creates a dilemma for me with my life goal. In case you don't know...my life goal is to be less dependent on my car and only use it one day a week. The way I "judged" achieving my goal in the past was to ride more miles than I drive. Last year, I rode 6,500 miles so it wasn't a problem. I may only do half of that this year on the bike. So I'm thinking of including my running miles in achieving my goal. I think that's fair, don't you? My goal for 2012 will change to "more miles human powered than motor powered". What do you think?

I just have to figure out if it's more in the spirit of the goal to count run miles 1 to 1 or to use, say, a 2 to 1 ratio. For example, today's commute would count as 27 miles instead of 13.5? Still have to think about that I guess. Ha. Life is good when that's your biggest worry!

I hope you all had a great February and you have an even better March!

Santa Rosa Marathon Race Report

My 4th Marathon is done. I ran it in Snoopy's home town, Santa Rosa CA, on Sunday in 4:06:18. I'd been hoping to go sub-4 but instead I'll take the 8 minute PR! Here is my recap of the weekend.

Pre-Race
Santa Rosa is 460 miles from where I live. I decided to drive there instead of fly so I only worked half day on Friday to drive up there. I thought I might run into traffic when I got to Oakland so I was going to do the drive in two stages. But I didn't really have any traffic so I drove all the way to Santa Rosa on Friday. 8 hours on the road (two stops). That was a long, long drive.

I got a little lost looking for the hotel and arrived at 8:30. And when I went to check in they said they were having a problem with their key machine. But I eventually got into my room. I was pretty tired.

On Saturday morning, I went to the hotel's cafe for their pancake breakfast. This was probably the only carbo loading I did for the race and I think that came back to bite me on race-day. After that, I went to pick up my race packet. It was a very small expo so I didn't spend much time there at all. Just got my bib, chip, and shirt and then talked to Marshall Ullrich for a little bit (he signed his book for me!). I think I was out of there in 20 minutes. After that, I got a pedicure (green toes!), had a sandwich for lunch, and then went back to the hotel and made like a spud.

I was still tired on Saturday night and I fell asleep around 8:30. But then some party revelers returned to the room next door to me at 1 am and I couldn't go back to sleep. I tried just resting my eyes and I think I got about another 45 minutes of sleep because the alarm woke me at 4 am.

Race Morning
So, I woke up at 4 and had a banana, 2 mini bagels, and 20 oz of Gu Brew. I could tell I was nervous because my stomach was a little upset but it soon settled down. I got my food and drink ready for the race, packed a bag for after, and then got dressed. Then I listened to some Daft Punk and Austra while I studied the course map and waited til it was time to leave. At 5:30, I headed over to the race start which was only a few miles away. I drank another 12 ounces of water on the way.

When I got there, I went into the Church of One Tree (The church was built using just one redwood tree! It's pretty small but it still must have been a big tree!) where the 5K registration was to wait and use the restroom. After that, I downed a Gu and had one last gulp of water, did a short warm-up, and it was time to head to the start line! I got into the section for 9 min miles and waited. I wasn't nervous at the start and spent most of my time looking at the shoes everyone was wearing. I didn't see any barefoot runners or minimalist shoes which I thought was weird. I thought about that later during the marathon.

The Race
The gun went off at 7 sharp and we were off! The start was narrow to string us out because the river trail was pretty narrow so it was a little crowded. This kept me from going out too fast and my first mile was 9:01, a little faster than the 9:08 planned but not too much. I thought I did pretty good.

The course was a double out and back along the river and it was really pretty and quiet. There wasn't a lot of people along the route cheering but I kind of liked it that way. Once again, I was surprised by how many people ran with headphones so I didn't really get to talk to anyone. The miles passed pretty quickly. Just me and my thoughts and the scenery - river, trees, vineyards, fields with horses. Plenty to keep me occupied. :) The only thing I didn't like about it was that half of the course was dirt and a little uneven in places. I only tripped once though. Which is good for me. Anyway, part of the trail was gravely and I figured that might be why I didn't see any barefooters or VFFers running.

Soon enough, I was at the turnaround (6.5 miles). My Garmin was beeping a little earlier than the mile markers (about .10 of a mile) and I realized I wasn't doing a good job of running the tangents. Darn it. After that, I really tried to run them but the path was winding and it was hard. I didn't lose much more distance getting back to the start for the halfway point so I was at least doing better. I realized that with the extra distance I'd run, I would be cutting it close to 4 hours but at the time I was feeling pretty good and had visions of picking up the pace for the last few miles (ha!). When I got to the turnaround at 19.6, I was .16 miles ahead of the mile markers so I'd lost a little bit to the tangents again but at least not as much.

I was still feeling good all the way thru mile 21 and I'd averaged 9:08 for all those miles and then bam!... I started slowing. :( Mile 22 was 9:24, mile 23 was 9:42, mile 24 was 9:57, and mile 25 was 9:59! I don't know what the last mile and change was because my Garmin lost the satellite during the last mile! But it was probably around 10:20, I think. Those miles felt a lot slower than the actual pace and it was so frustrating! I kept telling myself to pick up the pace but my legs chose to ignore me and do their own thing. I mean, come on! Who's the boss here? Apparently, not me.

The one bright spot during that time was Dan from Sacramento. We were running about the same pace and I was a little behind him. The back of his shirt said "Why do you run marathons?" so as I came up to him during mile 20, I told him "I run marathons for pancakes". He laughed and we started talking. We ran together until the last couple miles and he pulled me along. He asked me what my goal was and I told him 4 hours and he said he would help me and he kept giving me encouragement and pushing me. He kept me from walking and slowing down even more. Finally, I told him to go ahead since he was doing better than I was but I kept him in my sights and that helped keep me running and lessened the disappointment once I saw I wasn't going to hit 4. He finished about 1 1/2 minutes ahead of me and met me at the finish line. I am so grateful for his encouragement out there. Thank you Dan! I wish I'd remembered to thank you when I saw you at the finish. (bad Lisa!)

The Finish and Beyond
This marathon definitely hurt more than the Lost Dutchman in February. I was hot, covered with salt, and my legs were super tight. When I crossed the finish line, I was more concerned about getting water than my medal (pretty cool though, eh?) and I had to keep moving because both hamstrings and calves were trying to cramp. But I also really needed to sit and rest so I was just wandering around trying to decide what to do. Finally, I just stretched out in the grass and drank lots of water. When I felt I could get up without my legs cramping, I made my way over to the pancakes and wolfed 'em down. Hey, a girl's got to have her priorities! Let me tell you, they tasted delicious. I could have eaten another one but I thought I better let that settle. So I went over to the results to see my official time since my Garmin had gone bonkers. 4:06:18. An 8 minute PR! Frankly, I wasn't even sure if I was going to get that! But I did it. I finished my 4th marathon and got a PR out of it. :) Thank God, I didn't walk. Thank God for Dan!

After getting my results, I walked back to my car but I didn't think it would be wise to drive yet. Instead, I grabbed my gear bag and went into the mall (where the race parking was), changed, did a little shopping, and got a Turkey & Avocado sandwich,pretzels, and a peanut butter cookie. I sometimes have trouble keeping food in after a long run so again I didn't want to eat too much. My celebratory meal would have to wait until dinner.

Once I ate, I felt like a normal human being again and that I would be able to drive back to the hotel. So I went back to the hotel to put my feet up for a little bit. But only a tiny little bit because I wanted to go to the Charles Schulz Museum and Sunday afternoon was my only chance. Luckily, it's not too big and wasn't too far away. There's no way I could go to Santa Rosa and not go there! Have I mentioned that my nickname is Snoopy? And that I have Snoopy tattoo (pic on the right) on my ankle? I'm glad I went. Although my wallet may not be because well, I bought a few souvenirs. Okay, more than a few. ;)

I went back to the hotel and then went over to Applebee's for my celebratory dinner. I had tortilla soup, steak, garlic mashed potatoes, veggies, and a hot fudge sundae! I made sure I wore my medal so if anyone saw me chowing down, they'd know I earned it!

And then my adventure was over and I drove home yesterday. My legs were still stiff so I went for a ride when I got home and then got a massage later. Both helped. I actually felt pretty good. Not tired or drained so I think I'm recovering pretty well. My left foot hurt a little on the outside and my left knee was a little sore from the trail being concatenated, I think. Also, my arms/shoulders were sore which is weird. Never had that before. At least, I don't think. I guess it has been long enough since the last one to forget how much it hurts! ;)

Overall, I would say this was a successful trip. I ran a marathon along a beautiful river, visited Snoopy's home town, met some great people, and got an 8 minute PR! What more could a girl ask for?

P.S. I'll post a Random Thoughts blog tomorrow about the Santa Rosa and it will have my thoughts on what I think went wrong. Because I still think I had a 4 hr marathon in me. It just wasn't meant to be at the Santa Rosa Marathon.