Madison Mini Race Report

I'm really trying to make an effort to catch up on race reports for 2015 by the time the year ends. That's two more months. I can do it.

So last time I blogged, I told you about running--err, trudging--up a bluff for some fantastic views at Dances with Dirt.

August brought the Madison Mini. I love this race. I missed doing it in 2014 because I hadn't completely recovered from the car accident, so I was excited to run it this year. And play hostess to three good friends.

The race itself was a struggle. From the get-go. Like 3 miles in I just wanted to quit. But I kept putting one foot in front of the other. Covered some miles. Got a popsicle from a little kid around Mile 10. Cursed the slight course change over the final miles that made me run up the back of Bascom Hill. Longed for the final miles on the Lakeshore Path that were missing this year. And had a smile on my face when I crossed the finish line.

Most of my struggles were mental. I put in some decent training this summer, got some long runs in the 9 and 10 mile range in. Just mentally didn't have it. I need to work on that.

But the race got run, we enjoyed the post-race party on the terrace and had a fabulous weekend with friends. Looking forward to the 2016 version!

Race Report: Dances With Dirt Half Marathon

I'll just say it.

This was the hardest thing I've ever done.

I don't remember what I was thinking when I signed up for this race. Oh wait. A weekend with friends. Some running. A beautiful setting. It would be fun.

Even though I had heard about how brutal this course was during the first four miles, I didn't think twice when I hit the "submit" button on my registration. But it was. Brutal. And in a sadistic way, pretty fun.

The weekend started with the drive up to Devil's Head ski resort, where the race started. You can't really argue with a road trip that involve a ferry ride.

I ran with four other friends for the first 5 miles or so. Actually, I'm not sure "ran" is an appropriate word. Especially since the first two miles consists of something crazy like 800 feet of elevation gain. Yeah. There's no running on stuff like that. More like a slow trudge while hoping there's a branch you can grab on to to pull yourself up.

Our little group split into two groups somewhere around mile 5. Surprisingly this was a fairly flat section of the course. Ha. It was just lulling you into a comfort zone before you turned a corner and were faced with another steep uphill climb. This was like 200 feet of elevation gain in just a half mile. Crazy.

But once you got to the top of the bluff. The view.

It made all those hills worth it.

Yes, I may have just wanted to sit down on the bluff and hang out there the rest of the day, but I had to keep running.

I stuck with my friend Erica until Mile 10 and then headed off on my own for the final three miles. That massive two-mile long uphill at the beginning? Well, I got to run down it. It was a little scary at times, but kind of fun to run downhill while avoiding the rocks. Of course, since my banged up knee from Ragnar was finally starting to heal (in other words, no scabs and I could bend it with screaming in pain), I was a little cautious. Didn't want more of that.

So I finished. Eventually. There was a lot of walking. Some running. But overall it was a fun trail race, even if it was the hardest thing I've ever done.

Up next: The Madison Mini

Race Report: Ragnar Chicago

So during a seven-day span in June I:

• Moved from Oshkosh to Madison on a Tuesday;
• Unpacked an entire apartment;
• Left for Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon;
• Picked up a swanky 15-passenger van, gathered all my teammates and drove BACK to Madison Thursday night;
• Ran Ragnar Chicago on Friday and Saturday;
• Drove back to Madison Saturday night;
• Slept like a brick; and 
• Started a new job on Monday.

Looking back, I'm not sure I'd recommend anyone else do that. You kind of forget what city you're in.

But I couldn't pass up Ragnar Chicago. I mean, I didn't want to let my teammates down. And besides, it's one of the most fun weekends of the year.

I was runner 2 this year. New to me legs and the first time I actually got to run in the city of Madison! We woke up Friday morning and it wasn't raining. By the time we got to the start line and had to check-in, the rain was coming down pretty steady. Great.

Leg 2: 4.5 miles

It's still raining. I opt for no jacket or anything. Just my shorts and tank. Hey, if I'm going to get wet, I'm going to get wet. Renee comes in the chute, I get the slap bracelet and I'm off. I got less than 100 yards and get to a crosswalk staffed with volunteers and controlled with traffic lights. The volunteer waves me through. The light says "walk" so I start to run through the intersection.

And a stupid woman decides I don't deserve the right-of-way and decides to turn right in front of me. Almost hits me. What is it with me and drivers who refuse to wait an extra 10 seconds? Luckily I saw her, otherwise I would have been hit.

Rattled, I continued through the intersection. I get to the other side and promptly get attacked by a sidewalk. Face planted. Stunned, I sit up. Check my palms (not bleeding), gather my stuff and stand up. I check my Garmin (yes, yes I did). I'm one-tenth of a mile into my 2015 Ragnar Chicago and I've already almost been hit by a car and took a digger on the sidewalk. Great. My teammates aren't around, so I did the only thing I could. I started to run.

My knee, which took the brunt of the damage from the sidewalk, is bleeding. The blood is running down my leg (some guy filling up his gas tank yelled at me that my knee "didn't look too good." Really? I didn't know.), and it's a little sore. But really, what could I do? I didn't have my phone with me.

I eventually make it to the exchange zone, run up to Erica to pass off the slap bracelet and am met with, "Yay, Jen! What did you do?"

First aid? Anyone?

I met up with the rest of my team, explain what happened and do a quick clean up with the limited first aid kit that we have in the van. Once I get to the first major exchange at Lake Mills High School, I seek out some actual medical attention from the first aid tent, where they patched up my knee and elbow pretty good (it stayed on through the rest of Ragnar).

Leg 14: 4.5 miles

I tried to keep the knee pretty loose during the day. Thankfully getting in and out of the van to cheer on runners helped. So it wasn't as stiff as I thought it would be for this leg.

The run itself went pretty well. The rain finally quit (right after I finished my first leg), and the temperatures were perfect for a late June afternoon. This leg was mostly on the Glacial Drumlin Trail and just had a little bit of city sidewalks when I got into Waukesha. I was very, very careful on the sidewalks. I didn't want to get into anymore fights with them.

Leg 26: 6.3 miles

I started this leg at 3:30 a.m. It's pretty dark at 3:30 a.m. And it was kind of foggy and SUPER humid. I've never actually had a Ragnar leg in the actual middle of the night before, so this was a first. I left from a school in the Racine area and the first 3 miles or so of my leg was along a recreational path. Bordered on both sides by woods. So I'm running in the dark along a path with heavy trees and it seems like my headlamp is on the verge of dying.

Of course I'm thinking animals are going to come out and attack me.

So I try to run faster. And since this is my final leg and my bloody, wrapped knee is finally starting to get stiff, my legs decide somewhere around Mile 3.5 that they're done. No more. Thankfully I'm off the wooded trail and back on city sidewalks (again, watching them carefully!). So I do the run-walk thing.

I make a turn and pass the "Welcome to Carthage College" sign in Kenosha at Mile 5 and I see three fat rain drops. Which immediately turn into a torrential downpour.

Really? More rain? And not just a nice, soothing light rain. A cold, downpour.

Well, I'm going to get wet anyway, so who cares if I walk some, right? Only 1.3 more miles to go. If anything, that cold rain definitely wakes you up at 5 a.m. when you're working on 2 hours of Ragnar sleep.

I finally hand off the slap bracelet, get back into the van and set about trying to find some dry clothes. Oh, and it was the downpour that finally was too much for my bandaged knee. At the next major exchange (before we headed off to our post-Ragnar breakfast feast), I had another  stop at a medical tent for some re-bandaging.

Aside from the sidewalk attacking me a tenth-of-a-mile into my Ragnar and having two of my three legs run in the rain, it was a great Ragnar. Can't wait for 2016.

Up next: I climb a freaking mountain (OK, more like a bluff) during a trail half marathon

Race Reports: Wisconsin and Cellcom Green Bay half marathons

Let's play a little catch up.

Because even though my life was undergoing some major changes, I still had races on my calendar for the summer. I ran them, although not particularly well, but I ran them and had fun.

Wisconsin Half Marathon

So first up was the Wisconsin Marathon in Kenosha on May 2, I headed down to Milwaukee Friday night to crash at my friend Erica's place. I remember having problems deciding what to wear - short sleeves? Tank? Tank and arm warmers? I went with the tank and arm warmers, shed the warmers by Mile 2 and tossed them to a friend at Mile 5.

I don't remember much about the race itself. I ran with Erica for the first 4 or 5 miles and then we split apart. I always had her in sight thought, which was good, since I finally caught back up with her around Mile 9. We both looked at each other, realized both of us had stopped sweating miles ago and we just decided to shut it down and walk it in. It had gotten REALLY warm during the first 9 miles of the race. Like sunshine, not a cloud in the sky and warm temperatures. And water stops were really far apart. So we pulled out the "run to the stop sign" and then walk method.

It was a nice course and well organized event. I just wasn't ready for the heat in early May. And I may have been a tiny bit undertrained.

Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon

Oh Green Bay. I missed you in 2014. Stupid teenage girl who couldn't wait 10 more seconds at a stop sign.

Another half marathon, another race where weather was troublesome. The first 5 miles were brutal. No wind. Sunshine. No clouds and warm. A struggle-fest from the get go. Thankfully some clouds appeared and the wind kicked in for the second half.

They got rid of the industrial park this year. Yay!

Otherwise, I finished. That's all.

That takes care of May.

Up next: Ragnar.

Tyranena Beer Run race report

The calendar says I'm getting this race report written before the race was technically a month ago, so that's a win, right?

I went into the Tyranena Beer Run with absolutely no expectations. I mean, I hadn’t run in a month. I was going to be fighting a steady 20 mile per hour wind. I didn’t have a clue what to expect on the course since I’ve never run the sixth-barrel at Tyranena before. Lots of unknowns.

All I wanted to do was finish. And have fun with my friends.

And I did.

But if you really want to know, I finished in 54 minutes, a solid 12:00 minute/mile pace. Which yes, is a little slow. But remember, no expectations. And that does include a couple of walk breaks. I’m proud to say I ran most of the hills.

Like I said, the route was new to me. It started out the same 1.5 miles or so through downtown that the half marathon runs, but then it makes a left hand turn uphill into a neighborhood. This was the only hill that I walked in its entirety. It was long. And kind of steep. The course stayed in neighborhoods, winding its way passed some pretty houses to a lakeside park, where there was a water stop at Mile 2. I then ran along the lake for a bit more and eventually ran back up a long hill into some more neighborhoods and suddenly found myself running passed Lake Mills High School, the site of Exchange 6 for Ragnar. Unlike the half marathon route, we never got dumped into the industrial park, and the one small section where it had that little bit of an industrial park feel, it was still pretty. If that makes any sense. Then one last turn and I was back at the brewery.

Can I let you in on a secret? Yes. I didn’t get a medal and there was no unofficial beer stop on the race route. And yes, it was kind of annoying that we had to wait an hour after the half marathoners started before we could run, but I liked this option.

So many times I say I’m going to keep training after Fox Cities, but I always end up going into Tyranena kind of undertrained and not quite in race shape. So it takes me longer than normal to finish. And by that time, my friends have all been done for up to 45 minutes, they’ve inhaled their post-race lasagna and are nearing the time when they pack up and are getting ready to go home.

In other words, I miss out on some of the post-race fun.

This year? We all finished within 15 minutes of each other. So we were all basically sitting down to enjoy our beer, lasagna and post-race fun at the same time. It was great. If I had to register tomorrow for the 2015 race, chances are I’d sign up for the sixth-barrel option, unless I am certain that I’m going to be in race-ready shape to run 13.1 miles. It’ll be a decision I’ll make next summer though.

Fox Cities Half Marathon race recap

I guess I should write something about my sixth attempt at the Fox Cities Half Marathon. After all, it is my favorite race.

The race was on Sept. 21 and even though I had told myself earlier that month that I was going to get a long run or two in between the Lake Michigan Trail Half and Fox Cities, I didn't. So it was another race that I was super under trained for. Oh well. At least I knew it wasn't going to be fast.

The forecast for race day wasn't all that ideal, with rain chances in the morning. When I woke up at 5 a.m. I could hear the rain falling. Great. Thirteen miles in the rain and slightly chilly temperatures. Wonderful.

My Mom, who was playing photographer and chauffeur, and I headed out at 5:30 to pick up my brother and sister-in-law and two of my nephews. My brother was going to be running his first full marathon that day.

We did the typical pre-race stuff. Port-a-potties, stretching, photos. The rain had died down a bit, but it was sill kind of windy and chilly and misting, making it hard to decide what to run in. Long-sleeves? Arm sleeves? Just my tank top? I ended up going with my arm sleeves, but tossed those to my mom when I went past her at the starting line.

Like I said, I had no expectations for time since I wasn't prepared for this. So there was no pressure. I planned on walking the aide stations and whenever I needed to. I just wanted to run, finish the race, collect my medal, have a good time and cheer on my brother to his first marathon finish.

Thoughts from the course:

Mile 1: Running feels hard. This is going got be a long day.
Mile 6ish: Oh, great. The first race walker just passed me. Usually that happens around Mile 7.
Mile 6-7: This is the worst stretch of the course. I hate it.
Mile 7.5: "Eye of the Tiger" comes on my playlist. Reminds me of Lake Michigan Trail Half Eve with my friend Erica. Alabama Week! 

Mile 8: I see my mom and two nephews. This is the first time I've seen my family since the start and makes me happy. Also get an update that my brother's through Mile 10 and doing well. Then I get told that I need to beat him to the finish.
Mile 8.3: Oh. It's starting to rain harder.
Mile 8.5: Menasha is a freaking long city. That, or I'm running really slow.
Mile 9: Still raining. The drips off the brim of my hat are coming faster.
Mile 10: There's Mom and the Rugrats again. Three miles to go.
Mile 11.5: There goes the marathon pace car. Kind of thought the leader would have passed me sooner.

Mile 12.25: Oh, it's the Capt. America-clad Rugrats again. I wasn't expecting to see them, but then I glance left. There's the finish line and I've still got to run around the park. Sigh.
Mile 13.1: Finish!

Overall, I never really felt bad during the race. Sure, I got into a few mental dark spots, but they were short lived. My legs? I think I did a good job of mixing in the walk breaks with my runs to keep them somewhat feeling fresh given the lack of training.

It was my fastest half of the year (OK, OK, so I only ran two of them), but the finish time (2:47) gave me hope that if I just buckle down and actually, you know, train next spring, I can maybe be "fast" again next spring/fall.

After I finished, it was time to get some food, change into some dry (although not much warmer) clothes and wait for my brother to come in. And the wind? Let's just say I was glad I finished when I did, because holy windy.

Soon my brother came across the finish line, crossing it in around 4:15, looking great for his first marathon finish. After pictures it was time to head home, shower and then over to his house for some pizza and Packers. It was a good day.

Lake Michigan Trail Half Marathon race report

I was totally unprepared, but I went and ran a half marathon last weekend.

Last winter, it was announced there was going to be a new race in Milwaukee that was going to utilize county parks and trails. Along with a bunch of friends, I signed up. At that point, I figured it was going to be half marathon 2 of 3 during a one month period for me.

Well, it's turned into my first half marathon of the year since I was in a car crash the day before the Green Bay Half Marathon and I decided to take a DNS at the Madison Mini in mid-August because I didn't want to hate the race that I love so much.

So the Lake Michigan Trail Half Marathon was going to be my first attempt at 13.1 miles this years. The race also offered a full marathon, 50K and 20-mile training run option, so there was no worry about coming in dead last.

But still. I was woefully under trained. Oops.

I went to the starting line with no expectations other than to eventually finish and have a good time.

That lack of expectations was a good thing since it was super warm and humid. As in, just standing at the starting line I could see the salt crystals starting to form on my arms. Oh boy.

And did I mention it was foggy? Yeah. A good portion of the route was along Lake Michigan (hence the name), but given the amount of fog, if you didn't know you were running next to a big ole lake, you would have never realized it. So much thick fog.

Kind of made it a little eerie, but oh so cool at the same time.

So like I said. No expectations. I just decided to aim for getting 7 or 8 miles in without feeling like I was going to die and then just coast until the finish line.

The first five miles were on a pave multi-purpose trail that ran through some of the parks. Then we got to play on the trails in the woods. And oh my gosh. Was it gorgeous. Even with all the fog.

Somewhere around mile 8.5ish, the wheels started to fall off. My legs were getting cranky and tired, it was hot and I was rationing water because I wasn't quite sure when I was going to be coming up upon the next aid station. So I started adding in more walking. On the final back portion of an out and back, I ran into my friend Erica, who was struggling with an injury. We walked it in the final three-quarters of a mile and called it a day.

 In the end, it was my worst time ever for a half marathon. But I enjoyed my time out there. The route was gorgeous, it was a good weekend with friends and after we had some food and drink, Erica and I went to go float in the pool at her condo for a good chunk of the afternoon.

I'm hoping to go back next year and actually be prepared to run the race for a decent time.

Chickenfest 5K Race Report

In another installment of "race reports from a month ago," I bring you the Chickenfest 5K.

Every year, there's a  small community festival called Chickenfest in my parents' neighborhood. It's held at the park that's a 5 minute walk from my mom and dad's. It's your typical Wisconsin festival. Beer, food, music, kids' rides and (because we're lucky) fireworks. Oh, and they do the chicken dance every hour, on the hour.

Fun times.

This year, they added a 5K run and since it's Chickenfest and the route is on roads I run regularly when I'm at mom and dad's, I had to do it. Plus it was cheap.

Going into the run, I was a bit worried. Remember, car accident. Hurt back. And heading down to the park and walking on the uneven, muddy ground for the fireworks the night before didn't do it any favors. In other words, it was already angry with me.

Dad was walking the race and I was running, so we headed down to the start line. It was pretty low key start. A state trooper who lost his leg when he was hit by another car while responding to an accident earlier this year basically yelled "go" into the bullhorn. And we were off.

And pretty much immediately I thought I might have to pull out. My back hurt so bad. Like, sharp, throbbing pain. When I got to my mom, who was standing at the end of her block less than a half-mile into the race, I briefly considered stopping. But I kept running.

About a mile in, the pain subsided a bit and I was able to run a bit more comfortably. But it still hurt a bit. I ended up finishing the race, grabbing my cookie and water and went to wait for my dad.

It was a fun little community 5K. I kind of hope they bring it back next year.

Ragnar Chicago recap

If I don't write this soon, I should just wait until next year's version of Ragnar Chicago.

For the third year in a row, I packed up my duffel bag and embarked on a 36-hour journey in a big white 15-passenger van with five of my running friends, set out to run the 200ish miles from Madison to Chicago.

Because it's been almost two months, I'm going with the short and sweet version.

I met up with my friends in Milwaukee on Thursday night. We had beer and pizza and then set off for Madison, where we checked into our hotel for the night and were greeted with hotel rooms the size of matchboxes.

Sure. Three people. One bed. And barely any floor space? And they called this a handicapped accessible room. Ummm, no. But I like these girls. And all we were doing was sleeping.

The next morning Ragnar started bright and early. I think we had a 6 a.m. start. Or maybe 6:30. I told you, it's been a while.

I was in Van 1, a first for me at this race, so I was excited to see all the new areas that I hadn't seen before. As Runner 3, my first leg was just a short 2.7 miles jaunt with some baby hills. In the sun, with no clouds and it was starting to get a bit warm. I managed to forget to hit start on the Garmin, so I have no idea how long this took me.

After all of our runners were done with their first legs, we took off to get some food. And make a backup plan just in case that stabbing pain Renee was feeling in her foot meant she wouldn't be able to run the rest of her legs. (Spoiler: She couldn't run.) After that we headed to the next major exchange and hung out in the grass underneath a tent. It was glorious.

Our second set of legs were our night legs. Mine was 5.5 miles through Waukesha and New Berlin. Let's just say it really seemed like I ran uphill for all those miles. So many uphills, but not downhill. What the heck? But I ran. Even when I was trying to run on the tiny little shoulder of the road and I feared for a few minutes that I was going to get schmucked by the the cars, which were driving really fast and coming straight at me.

Then we got to sleep. Like 3 hours next to the lake in Racine. The rhythmic blowing of the light house put me to sleep and I was dead to the world. Also, this sleeping thing during Ragnar? Fabulous. Before Key West I had never really gotten to sleep. Amazing.

Way too soon we had to wake up and run some more.

Sunrise in Racine. Not quite Key West, but still beautiful.

My final leg was another 5.5 through Kenosha. I'm not going to lie. This sucked.

I think 24 hours of running and sitting in a 15-passenger van was finally starting to make my back mad. Remember, I was in a car accident 3 weeks before Ragnar and was still dealing with a fairly messed up back.

During this run through Kenosha, it reminded me it was still hurt and it was getting angry. I ran the first half of the run, being distracted by the ginormous houses along the lake was helpful. But sometime around Mile 3 I just couldn't do it anymore. Every step hurt my back. And it didn't help that I hadn't had decent food since lunchtime the day before.

So I walked. I tried to run at times, but it wasn't going to happen. Too bad I was running through a commercial district, so I didn't even have pretty scenery to distract myself. Oh well. I eventually finished and got some food and water in me.

After our last runner finished, we headed off to a swanky Chicago suburb for this amazing breakfast at a waffle house. So much food. So many dishes. Really. They brought our drinks to us in a glass, in a small (warm) bowl. What? But so, so good.

After we were in a food coma, it was back to the van to navigate our way to the finish line, where we got our free beer and pizza and then found ourselves a spot of grass to hang out and chat with other friends until our team came running in.

Overall, another great Ragnar Chicago is in the books. Can't wait for 2015.

Three letters: DNS

DNS.

As in, did not start.

That's all you really need to know about the Green Bay Half Marathon. But of course I'll tell you more.

Sunday I was supposed to toe the starting line for my fourth Cellcom Green Bay Half Marathon. It's quickly become my favorite spring half marathon. I mean, who can argue with a race that finishes with a lap around Lambeau Field? After a lackluster spring training cycle - one with a few too many missed long runs and the cruddy weather - I knew I was prepared to "race" the 13.1 miles. But I knew I could finish it. So my goal was merely to go out, cover the distance and have a good time.

I never even got to the starting line.

Saturday I was in my car heading up to Green Bay to wander the expo, pick up my race packet, drive the new course and then meet up with friends for a pre-race dinner. I was driving. I hadn't even gotten 5 miles from my parents' house when it happened.

BAM!

I found myself in a car accident. Long story short, I was driving (and had the right-of-way) when another driver pulled out from a stop sign and turned in front of me, hitting my car in the process.

So instead of heading up to Green Bay, I watched my little blue Focus get loaded up on a tow truck and hauled away. And I was left pretty sore and stiff in my back, neck and chest. Obviously in no condition to run 13.1 miles the next morning.

I pulled the DNS. It's only the second time I've ever done it (the other was Thanksgiving 2010 when it was pouring rain and I didn't want to get sick 2 weeks before Rock n Roll Las Vegas). And I'm not going to lie, it was hard seeing all the happy Tweets, Instagrams and Facebook posts of happy runners after Green Bay. Still stings a bit.

But I'll be back in 2015 for a lap around Lambeau. And if anything, it should give me the kick in the butt I need to have a decent training cycle for my fall races. No faking it for me this fall.