Monster on the road

I really love trail races. It's such a laid back atmosphere and I love feeling relaxed (except for the nagging "Will I be able to run that far?" feeling). Road races are a different story. Every lines up by pace at the start line and Garmin splits are scrutinized post race. Most people run through the aid stations in road races and grab a cup of liquid and drink while running. There are no M&Ms or Coke at the aid stations and people actually care about their age group place.

Alyssa and I have done 2 trail races together, but Sunday will be our first road race. If we don't get it right, we have another chance when we race together again the next weekend and if we still need more work, then the following weekend, we'll run a marathon together. I'm hoping she still likes me after doing this first road race with me!

Intellectually I understand the concept of running a race for "fun", but that never actually happens for me. Even the Pet Day 5K, which I said I wasn't going to "race", was a full out effort for me. There's just something about the race atmosphere that brings out my need for speed. I'm not super fast, but I still really enjoy passing people or making someone have to work really hard to pass me.

This Metric Marathon on Sunday won't be too bad because I promised Alyssa that we'd do a 9:20 average pace, even though I know from her half marathon time that she could run 16 miles at breakneck pace. :) I want  her to still like me after the race, so I'll try to contain my inner race bitch for the day.

On an unrelated note, Faith and I made the journey to magical Waldorf, MD to pick up my bridesmaid dress yesterday. It took over 2 hours in the car (round trip) for a 5 minute dress pick up, but that's the price I pay for living in the boondocks. Faith was pretty good considering how much time we spent in the car, and I fully credit Cinnamon Toast Crunch for at least 30 minutes of quiet time. Bonus, my car now smells like a Cinnabon.

My best friend is getting married in November and I'm her maid of honor and in her defense, I think she tried to pick a nice dress. I really like the color and the top part is cute. The bottom part is cute too...it's the just the middle section that's problematic.

Pockets deflect attention from my flip flop tan lines

Is that pouf or are you just happy to see me?

I found out last night that she never actually saw the dress in person, so that explains a lot. Maybe I can take it to get it altered so I pouf out less? Or should I use that pouf to smuggle extra food into the wedding? The wedding is a week before the JFK 50, so carb loading will be a priority.

Are you a monster on the road during races or do you sometimes run races for fun?


Does my flip flop tan line deflect enough attention from the waist pouf?

Why 50 mile training rocks

Since I do occasionally post about how 50 mile training can suck at times (here and here are two examples), I thought it was time for a "Reasons ultra training rocks!" list.

1. You can sign up for races on a whim. Yesterday, I decided to run a Metric Marathon on Sunday. I'm not saying running 16.3 miles is no big deal, but the decision to sign up is no big deal because I've been clocking some pretty good mileage lately and I don't have to worry "Am I trained for this?" Well, if I didn't think I was trained for a 16 mile race now, then I'd really have a rude awakening at the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October. Also, I'm considering running the Baltimore Marathon because I don't want to do a 4 hour run on my own (which is on my training schedule if I don't do a marathon that day). I don't really have to decide until the last minute because it's not going to change my training at all.

2. What does an ultra marathoner eat? Whatever the hell they want. Seriously, I really do. I know some people (like Alyssa) still care about nutrition and all that jazz, but I just live by my cravings. If I want a hamburger, I eat one, not some pansy turkey burger or even worse, a "veggie" burger. Don't lie to me, it's a mushroom burger.

Also, I don't eat fruit and call it dessert. There's breakfast dessert, lunch dessert and dinner dessert, but none of those are fruit. My fruit eating is pretty much confined to splitting apples with Faith. This is a just a selection of my idea of an acceptable dessert:

I've learned that one is never enough

I'm sure it's SOMEone's birthday.

3. People's reactions to the statement "I'm training for a 50 mile race". Seriously, this never gets old for me. When I did the 50Ks over the summer, most people seemed pretty shocked at the idea, but 50 MILES carries a different weight. This is probably because it's exponentially stupider, but no one has ever said "That Kara, she sure does the sensible thing."

4. You have a good comeback for the "What did you do today?" For people other than my husband, telling them I ran 9 miles that morning will deflect their attention from the unwashed dishes in the sink.

5. You know that one day, you'll get to say things like this:

Technically, I've already run two ultras but a 50 mile is almost double a marathon and that carries more weight. Not that I think running 26.2 miles is easy, but I like messing with people.

Today is my rest day from running so I'm doing exciting things like driving 45 minutes each way to a David's Bridal to pick up a bridesmaid dress with the baby, so that will be like a workout.

I'm also putting together a "Frequently Asked Questions" page for the blog today. By "frequently" I mean the question has been asked at least twice. Here is a preliminary list of questions I'm planning on answering:

• What kind of dog is Peanut and why is she such a kick ass runner?
• What training plan are you following for the JFK 50?
• Did you run while pregnant with Faith?
• Why on earth did you decide to run a 50 mile race?

Here is your chance to add your burning question to my list! What have you always wondered? 

If you tell an engineer to play with a baby...

This is what happens:

Daddy, are you magic?

One of the many reasons why my husband is way more fun than me. I usually make her create her own block towers and then I knock them down and laugh. I'm teaching her life lessons.

Yesterday was extremely humid, which makes for a fussy stroller run. Faith doesn't like sitting in the stroller when it's hot or humid, even if we go early. She soaked herself with water from her sippy cup and that kept her content until we got 4 miles done. Technically my run was a recovery run, but I finished up 8 miles at a 9:15 pace, so we'll leave the option open that if today's run is slow, I can call that a "recovery run" instead of "failure to maintain pace".

Even though it was overcast and looked like rain, we still managed a trip to a park. Every time we go to the park, Faith gets a little more adventurous. For the first time she actually climbed up the steps to the elevated play areas and that just about gave me a heart attack. I need to put her in one of those inflatable sumo suits so I can relax while she plays.

What is this place and why have you brought me here?

Are those other children? I don't mix with commonfolk

I'm not so sure about this...

Yes I am! This is AWESOME!!

It's like a baby Mt. Everest

Eeyore must suffer for my teething pains

After her exciting afternoon at the park, Faith had a very important job of picking the winner for the RelaxReflect giveaway! She hit the button on Random.org all by herself...and also the caps lock button and the button that turns off my Wifi. The winner was comment number 13, Shelly from It's Just One Foot in Front of the Other! I know she'll get a lot of use out of this since she runs way more than me and always logs awesome miles in the dark! Shelly, just email me at kara975 at gmail.com with your information!

What's your favorite profession-based joke? These are a few of my favorites:

A optimist thinks the glass is half full, a pessimist thinks the glass is half empty, and an engineer thinks the glass is just two times as large as needed for the task.

What do you call 50 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.


The Soldier says "My tank broke down!"
The Sailor says "My ship is sinking!"
The Marine says "My rifle is jammed!"
The Airman says "Hey, the cable is out again!"

Things I don't understand

On Saturday, it will be October and yet it's still in the 80s and really humid. This is how I looked after 4 miles at 7:30am. Unacceptable fall, unacceptable.

This is why the neighbors look at me funny

The reminder of my run on the treadmill (during nap time) should have been cooler in theory, but we have large de-humidifiers running constantly since the Hurricane Irene flooding, so it's like running in a desert down there. Anyone who wants to train for Badwater, come on over.

I don't understand how someone so cute:

I'm not supposed to be up here!

Can drive me to the point of wanting to pull out my own hair in just a few hours:

Ironic because hair pulling is one of the baby's favorite games

Mondays are generally fussy days for Faith, mostly due to the harsh realization that she's stuck with just me all day instead of "Fun Daddy". It was worse than usual yesterday because on Sunday she had spent time with TWO grandmothers, one of whom had mini Oreos in her purse. Can you blame her for being bummed when she was stuck with boring old me the next day?

Also, my husband is in the process of getting a (second) master's degree and he has class after work on Mondays, so that means that it doesn't feel like my day ever ends. Normally he gets home at 5pm, and he always helps me with Faith and lets me take a breather. Also, "Fun Daddy" distracts the kid from scowling at me and trying to take flying leaps onto the poor sleeping dog. Faith's new favorite "Drive Mommy Crazy" game is to harass Peanut when she's sleeping. By harass, I mean body slam. I feel really bad for the dog and I'm trying to keep Faith from pushing her buttons, but "Let sleeping dogs lie" is a big thought for a one year old. (I try to make Peanut go sleep in our bed upstairs, but she just whines until I let her back downstairs).

I like attention, any attention

One last thing I don't understand? Why people continue to insist that "running is free/cheap!" when that's just a ridiculous statement. Yes, you can do it anywhere and you don't need a gym membership, but races are expensive the shoes, oh the shoes. I've had a pair of shoes for less than two months and they have 438 miles on them already (yes, I keep track). If a pair of shoes only lasts me 2 months, that means it costs at least 50 dollars a month to run and that's not even touching the grocery bill increase that comes with 50+ mile weeks. :)

What day of the week feels the longest to you?


Is your hobby expensive? 

Rainbows and sunshine and unicorn tears

I know for a large portion of Americans, this is considered "being active":

I'd love to write about how running is always bunny snuggles and unicorn farts so more people would try it, but I think full disclosure is critical and more importantly, often hilarious.

I had one pretty good run and one soul crushing run this weekend. The first happened on Friday when I had to run 10 miles. I know I regularly run 9 miles when I'm home (alone) with the baby, but I usually get that done by the skin of my teeth, so 10 miles stresses me out. My husband has every other Friday off per his compressed work schedule, but it wasn't his day off.

I set my alarm for an early hour and planned to hit the road at 5am to get 6 miles done before my husband had to get up for work. When I got up, it was pouring rain and we've had so much rain lately that standing water in the road is an issue, so I decided to not tackle that in the dark. As a compromise, I ran on my treadmill in the basement in the pitch darkness with just my iPod. It added an element of danger. :)

I planned to finish up the run as soon as the baby woke up, but she woke up ANGRY. We have more new teeth (seriously, this ends at some point, right?) and she was pretty miserable already so I didn't want to take her out in the rain for the rest of my run. I ended up having to wait about 4 hours to finish my run. It's good training for stopping at aid stations and having to start running again...or at least that's what I told myself.

On Saturday, I met up with a good group of people for my long run. For the last three weeks, I've done a 20+ mile run on the weekend and I'm here to tell you: there's probably a reason why most training plans aren't structured that way. It's really hard mentally to approach a 3+ hour run, much harder than it is physically to run it. I "only" have to run 16 this weekend and I'm giddy, which is probably a sign of mental illness.

Some people were running pansy distances like 13 miles, so we stuck close to the starting point instead of doing a straight out and back. No one knew the neighborhood except for 2 people, so we were at their mercy and they abused our trust by taking through every single cul-de-sac in their entire neighborhood. Doesn't sound too bad to you? We ran THIRTEEN miles of cul-de-sacs. Yeah, go try that. I'll wait.

I told our brave run leader that I was going to skin him and wear his hide as a trophy and warning to other cul-de-sac lovers if he didn't take us out onto the main road for the remainder of the run, so we headed out on a seemingly uphill all the way, both ways route.

I learned a very important lesson (for like the 88th time) that it does matter what you eat the night before a long run. Apparently a meal like this doesn't agree with me:

Not my actual food. I take eating too seriously to waste time on picture taking.

The cul-de-sac thing worked out in my favor when I had pressing bathroom needs at mile 12.5 and once I took care of that, I just had intestinal cramping as a fun souvenir. As we headed out to the main road, I moved on to a "I wonder if I know these people well enough to get them to hold my hair back as I regurgitate Gu and egg rolls on the side of the road?" Don't worry, I only threw up into my mouth a couple of times and when I ran out of water, it started to rain a lot harder, so that's like nature's water fountain. The dehydration also made my post-run Coke taste like unicorn tears, so bonus.

I made the group walk a few times, but I told them it was part of ultra training, not because I was considering curling into a fetal position in the bushes and calling my husband to come get me. We finished up 22 miles in 3:36 (9:50 average), which isn't my fastest ever but I'm not going to cry myself to sleep about it. At least I know to just say no to delicious Chinese take out the night before a race. I think this isn't the first time I've done that exact mistake either, but now I've put my husband in charge of remembering that for the future because I'll probably be like "Ohhh, lo mein? Yes, please" instead of saying "No, I have a long run tomorrow, I'll pass".

Yesterday we got up at 5am to drive up to northern VA to make the 8am church service for my mom's birthday. It was the first time I've ever woken up Faith in the morning and she was surprisingly ok with it. She was actually surprisingly ok with everything yesterday. Like, no screaming in the car, she made it through the whole church service and lunch out...with no screaming. I think she's planning something.

I've stumbled upon a critical parenting skill: toddlers seem to eat more if you use a fun plate.

Don't get too impressed, it's just a cereal bar and cheese. 

A seasonal sectional plate? My favorite!

You didn't think I was actually going to EAT off that plate, did you?

Drinking water is HILARIOUS.

I need to get more of those plates (found that one in the dollar bin at Target) because when I feed her off that plate, she eats everything. Sure, it takes forever because she's constantly taking the food off the plate and then putting it back on the plate and then nibbling just a little bit at a time, but I get to sit down so she can take her sweet time for all I care.

I finished up Week 9 of JFK 50 training with 58 miles. This wasn't an easy week, but that's ok because I'm pretty sure this won't be an easy race, unless I've been really misled by accounts of "indescribable pain" in 50 mile race recaps.

What would I do without Daily Mile?

I'm picking a winner for the RelaxReflect giveaway tomorrow, so you still have time to enter!

What was your worst run/workout experience you've ever had?

Nothing but normal around here

My kid has pretty strong opinions about games she likes to play. One of her favorite games (and my least favorite) is putting a towel or blanket over her head and toddling as fast as she can go until she runs into a wall or furniture. Understandably, that is one of those baby games that combines crazy giggling, screaming, AND crying.

Yesterday she was putting a pair of her pants over her head and I decided to put them on her in a way that would allow her to still see which way she was going (and avoid furniture collisions). The result was pretty hilarious. My kid has such a huge head that these pants are actually tighter on her head than they are on her waist. :)

I'm a nun in the Gray Fleece Order

Is this what having hair would be like?

Wait, I have an idea....

Hehehe

Dang! I thought my head would fit through here!

Yesterday was a rest day from running, but I managed to find things to fill the day without a problem. I spent a good hour on Wednesday sweeping and mopping, but yesterday morning Faith snatched the salt shaker off the table and ran around the whole kitchen shaking it as hard as she could, so I got to re-sweep everything. Yay! You'd think the dog would take one for the team and lick up the salt, but she was content to just watch me clean it up. Even after two Swifferings (is that a word?), I'm still finding patches in my kitchen that make me feel like I just walked on the beach.

I took Faith to the park yesterday afternoon and there was a lacrosse game going on in the adjacent field. There were two other moms there and as I put Faith in the baby swings, I noticed that one of the lacrosse players was practicing his goal shot and the balls were ricocheting into the "Tot Lot" area of the park. The other moms were just moving to the other side of the park (perhaps the "normal" reaction?), but that's not how I roll. Sure, the guy was easily twice my size but I wasn't going to just be quiet about it. If you know me, you're not surprised by this. :) Really, it just took a minimal amount of yelling to get him to stop and I didn't even get a chance to use my favorite phrase "Won't someone please think of the children??"



The other moms thanked me for getting that guy to stop his baby target practice, so I felt like less of a crazy bitch for screaming at some random dude wearing lacrosse pads. Considering that Buckcherry's song "Crazy Bitch" is like my anthem for running, I'm pretty used to that label. :)

Are you the one who speaks up or the move quietly away type?


Have you ever put your pants on your head and run around your house? You can admit it, this is a safe place.

Crazy zebras love cookies

Before we get started, this picture is for Alyssa and Kari, who are both giving up sweets until their marathons:

Faith approved the making of these cookies

Personally, you could never talk me into giving up sweets during training. Even if you told me not eating sweets for a month would take 5 minutes off my marathon time, it's still not worth it. This is why I'm being a supportive friend and eating even more sweets than usual, you know, for them.

Other than baking and eating cookies, I decided that I had waited long enough and I finally got Faith her Halloween costume. Last year, Faith was an angry cow:

Moo moo bitches

Faith didn't get a say in her costume last year, so I decided to let her choose her own at Target. Once we got in front of the display, she made up her mind pretty quickly. My excessive pushing of horses on her paid off and she chose the zebra. I tried the costume on her at the store to check that she would walk in it and she wouldn't walk in it....she only wants to RUN in it. I guess she wants to be an accurate zebra. :)

Of course I put the costume back on her so I could show my husband and I took a video of her attacking Peanut in her costume. I guess zebras hunt coonhounds?



I get a little overzealous about the holidays now that we have Faith. It used to be "Oh, there's candy corn on that lady's desk, I guess it's Halloween season" and now I'm contemplating costume choices for over a month before the day. Also (don't tell my husband) but I've already started listening to Christmas carols. Faith doesn't mind, in fact she seems to really enjoy "Jingle Bells". :)

Do you get excited for holidays or are you like the old me and complain how Christmas displays seem to pop up earlier and earlier every year? 


Have you ever given up sweets? 

You love America, don't you?

Remember this lovely ensemble?

Such a fashion icon

There are better ways to be visible to cars and avoid that embarrassing "run of shame" back into your neighborhood after the sun has risen. Jean from RelaxReflect sent me two items to try out so I could ditch the crossing guard vest.

Last Friday, it was finally cold enough for me to bust out these running tights.

Hopefully this won't be one of Faith's first words

Baby and dog photobomb

I really liked these tights! They didn't ride up (or fall down) at all. The weight would be good for any temps above 30, mostly because they aren't wind resistant or thermal. I think they made me faster because I ran 10 miles in them at a sub-9 minutes pace, which is much faster than my usual. I guess if your pants say "Badass" then you have to act the part.

I haven't actually worn the other item on a run yet, only because it's been so warm here. However, I have worn it around the house and I'm a big fan!

Faith insisted on "helping" with the review

Same design on the back!

I love this shirt because the owner of the company made the design after talking to me. :) If you run more than 26.2 miles, you want a shirt that shouts that fact to the world! Never mind the fact that most people don't know what an "ultra marathon" actually is. :P This is a very warm shirt and I know I'll wear it a lot when it cools down. In my mind, it doesn't have to be dark to wear this shirt!

This clothing is a great quality and it washes well, but it does cost a little more than other running gear. With that little extra in price, you are paying for a product made in America! With our current economic troubles, I love the idea of supporting American small businesses.

Jean from RelaxReflect has offered an item of clothing to one of my readers! We're going to streamline this giveaway because if you're like me, you're tired of the same 4 steps for every single blog giveaway.

For entry: Go to the RelaxReflect website and tell me which item you'd want to win! (They have men's and women's clothing)

They are also on Facebook and Twitter, but only follow/like them if you so desire. Personally, I enjoy following RelaxReflect on Facebook because they ask for opinions on new designs and I'm full of uninformed opinions.

I will select a winner on Tuesday, September 27th. Actually, I'll let Faith select the winner, so you know it will truly be random.

If it feels easy, you're probably doing it wrong

One of my favorite running mantras that I repeat to myself at 5am on a weekend when the alarm goes off is: "If it was easy, then everyone would do it and it wouldn't matter so much to have done it". Every time I hit a tough patch in training, I remind myself that training for a 50 mile race isn't supposed to be easy, which is why people look at you like you're absolutely insane when you say you're training for a 50 mile race.

My run yesterday was pretty painful. My quads and hamstrings were shot from the trail run on Sunday, but the real issue was what happened when my sweat hit all my chafed and scraped areas from the trail run. It was a lot like this, except I didn't eat my own leg, I only thought about it:





I did finish up my 9 miles, even though I had deep thoughts at mile 6.5 about how that was probably good enough. I swear Buffy the Vampire Slayer is going to get credit for my 50 mile finish. It's so much easier to run on the treadmill when I'm watching her kick some vampire ass.

I think the main issue on my run yesterday (other than the burning searing pain, did I mention that I chafed until I bled on multiple spots on my body?) was fuel. It's really hard for me to refuel adequately in one afternoon/evening after a 4 hour run, all while taking care of a baby and doing stupid stuff like laundry. I really need to devote more time to stuffing my face. In that vein, I did purchase some fun stuff at the store yesterday:

Chocolate and PB covered Chex? Don't mind if I do...

10 people, or one hungry ultra marathoner

It's such a "first world problem" to complain that I don't have enough time to sit down and enjoy my large quantities of high quality food, huh? :)

I tried to get cute pictures of Faith wearing jeans and looking grown up, but she decided to pout like a teenager at the prospect of Mommy forcing her to sit still for a freaking minute:

You are like the lamest Mommy EVER

I do have cute pictures of Faith from the 5K on Saturday. After the race, she was out of her stroller for the awards ceremony and once she got my medal on, she went pretty nuts. She thought everyone was standing around in a circle to watch her, not see some silly medals get handed out. (Photos courtesy of Jeanne Larrison, aka the running club's photographer)

I'm the fastest baby here!

That dog's facial expression is priceless

What's your favorite running mantra? 


Have you ever tried Chex "Muddy Buddy"? I've had it before, but it was called "Puppy Chow". :)

I always leave a little piece of me on the trails

Or in this case, I leave lots of little pieces of my thigh:

You know you wanted a picture

It's funny that I was so concerned about Peanut tripping me on our 5K on Saturday when I know I don't need a dog around to trip.

Trying to wave while running = huge dork

I was actually excited to get up early on Sunday (5am) to drive to run. Why was I excited? Because I was meeting all of these great people for 21 miles of fun!

After the run. I swear we looked prettier at the start...if possible

It was a gray, cool morning, the kind that makes you want to snuggle in bed and then drink hot chocolate. Or run through the mud and endless hills! 

We did the 10ish mile loop twice, which meant we had to run by this creepy thing two times:

I'm ok with everything except that baby head on a stick

Most of us took a tumble on the first loop (including me), but no one fell on the second loop. Sometimes running on the trail is like getting used to being on a boat: you need to get your "sea legs". After the first loop, we took a snack break at the cars:

The most important part of trail running

Everyone brought something, so we had an awesome "aid station" in my car. Halloween double stuff Oreos, boiled potatoes and salt, more than one kind of peanut butter and Gatorade, Coke and water. We know how to trail run. :)

It's been really wet around here lately between the hurricane and tropical storm, so some of the stream crossings were washed out. Perry and Phil tried to McGuyver a solution, but no one was brave enough to try it. We all preferred just saying a little prayer and taking a leap. 

I think we need a bigger branch

This run was really hard, but it was also really fun. Alyssa and I chatted a lot and that really made the miles fly by. Everyone else got the privilege of listening to us talk, we should charge for such entertainment. :)

At the park there was a horse event going on and we took a break to watch. It took everything I had not to yell out corrections to one girl who couldn't get her horse to take a fence over a water obstacle, but I restrained myself (She didn't even have her heels down and she wasn't collecting her horse at ALL). The rest of the group had to enjoy my commentary instead. I can't wait for Faith to be old enough to ride so I can start lobbying for a "family" horse. Yeah, I'll share....sure.

Around mile 16 we crossed a small road and Perry wanted us to all see a historical mansion up the road. It was all uphill to get there and I don't think we were suitably impressed, but we tried to fake it:

Look! A large house!

This run felt really good and other than being REALLY hungry (like growling stomach hungry), I felt like I could have kept going. We did 21 miles in 4:14, which is a 12:00 minute average pace, which is really good for a trail run, especially one as hilly and muddy as that. We barely walked at all, mostly because all the hills are little (but relentless) and it's hard to justify breaking stride to walk unless it's a big hill. 

This run wrapped up week 8 of JFK 50 training. I ran 61 miles this week, which is a new record for me! That's a lot of time on my feet, but I know it will pay off in the race. This week was a little higher than it otherwise would have been because I did that 5K on my rest day (since I didn't intend to run it as fast as I did).

No wonder I'm so hungry

What food do you usually crave after a long workout? Yesterday, it was a cheeseburger. I had one for dinner and it was as awesome as I had imagined.

Have you ever ridden a horse?

Alyssa also did a recap of this run AND she's doing a fun giveaway, so check it out!