Mounds DINO: A friendly fierce competition

 March 30, 2013

We went to the DINO race up in Anderson today at Mounds State Park. Just a bit about the park by the state park service:

    "Mounds state park features 10 unique "earthworks" built by a group of prehistoric Indians known as the Adena-Hopewell people. The largest earthwork "The Great Mound" is believed to have been built around 160 B.C. Archeological studies seem to suggest they were used for religious ceremonies"

The morning sun as we were driving up to Mounds. I must have took about 10 pictures of it trying to capture how beautiful it was. Just a great big brilliant orange ball. It seemed close enough to drive to it. I was a bit obsessed for awhile. We got up there about 8 am and I signed up. For the first time I signed up at the race. I also got one of the cool t-shirts there. They were nice! I decided to wear mine. While I was waiting to go into the bathroom I saw a nice woman I had seen at the last DINO. She said "hey how are you?" and we talked for a bit. I told her I bet it will be warm by next race and she said "That's what you said at the last race!" and laughed. so we took our pre-race pictures and prepped to run the race. It was nice. The sun was coming out, there was no wind. A bit chilly at the beginning but I have found that is actually better because once you get going you warm up pretty quickly.

Christy and I at the start of the race. Lovely morning! The race started and I decided to chance starting at the front...relatively. It was actually a good move. Although I had to work very, very hard at the beginning I was able, suprisingly, to keep that pace up pretty much the whole race. I had my heart rate monitor on but was not paying attention to it today. At first it just started beeping continuously which started a brief exchange between another runner and I about heart rate training and how I was totally ignoring it right now. He joked "people can hear you coming" because it wouldn't shut up. I was probably at 150 to 160 the whole race! I finally found the silence button but kept the heart rate thing going so I could check in on it. 80% pretty much the entire time. But I will go back to the training this week. I have decided to give myself a break for DINO races. The thought of walking and having people pass me is unacceptable. The lady at the beginning by the bathroom was my "competition" practically the whole race. We briefly talked here and there....bitching about the stairs, I told her once when she was going down a particularly rooty hill she looked like she was skiing! I would run a bit past her then she would catch up and so on. I got some
Go for it! As I raced past some of the younger guys. I caught up and passed someone I dearly wanted to and that was awesome. I must have pulled a sub-8 sprint to get past them and stay past them. The stairs were a bit limiting. I don't always do stairs well.

So the lady I had been "battling with" the entire race beat me by 30 seconds and placed 1st to my 2nd. Brian said it was possibly the closest race so far. A photo finish! When we passed each other at the awards ceremony we slapped hands high five. I like a good competitor and a good sport! Perhaps next time I will be ahead. And then after the DINO of course we had to have Qdoba. They didn't have any there so we went on our own and got a very good, Metabolic Efficiency approved, meal. YUM! and coffee...and a shower when I came home.

Good stuff!

First week down with heart rate training and diet

       First week of heart rate training almost done. I have run two runs and am going on the third run tonight. I am impressed by what it is doing for fellow runners so have decided to do it too. Not as a copy cat thing but when you see results with something it makes sense to give it a try. So now I am becoming one of those "Special" people who argue with my heart rate monitor as it beeps and I can't run that little hill i know I could take. But just like everything I have done thus far putting in the work will pay off. And I will be a better athlete because of it.
       I decided to set my heart rate at 135 as the math stated to subtract my age from 180 so that is 137. Then it said to take away 5 if I had not run very long or had recently gotten hurt and add 5 if I had run longer. So since it has been 2 years now but I did get recently hurt I decided to settle on 135 which was 
kind of in between. It's okay if the math isn't perfect. It is a good number and I am doing pretty good staying under it. I have to walk a few times but I think I will get used to the pacing and then my watch won't have to argue with me so much! 
       I feel now that I am back to running regularly and have decided the 50K is back on the table now it is time to get serious. 6 months passes in the blink of an eye and the stuff I am reading about Flatrock is it is a B*^$@ of a course...like "wear a helmet" hard. But also the GREATEST thing I will ever have done.....so far.

Another thing I am doing..........which this is crazy...is giving up sugar and flour for 40 days. I hope I can do it because I love, love, love sugar. In fact I have had headaches from sugar cravings this week. But I am staying strong thus far and know from past experience that if I just hang with it (ahem...quitting smoking) the really sucky parts will get gradually better and the habit will go away. Just have to get through the sucky parts first. I was eating far too much junk and if I am to be a true distance athlete I must adopt a mentality that may be slightly off course for a lot of people. Be strong! Just say NO..to breads and sugar.

I DID go in Bakehouse today and I DID NOT eat a cupcake even though I had to divert my eyes. Oh i love cupcakes.
   Won't it be great when I am even healthier and can say I no longer eat crappy food at all?? Maybe will happen..maybe I will cave. I hope I don't. I hope I can be strong like my strong friends and give it up and give this a real go because I see how all this training and nutrition plan is really making a difference for people. I want to be an ultra marathoner. And not just once but hope to do it a few times. Maybe a 50K this year, maybe a 50 mile next? Just have to see.


Okay...time to get ready to go out and run.

Running, racing and taking it easy...trust me.

          This week for the first week in a long time I hit over 40 miles. I was very proud of myself but I felt people didn't trust me to be able to handle this. I wonder if I have shown people I am not able to control my mileage greed? Or do they just love me and want me to be able to run for a long, long time. I do know that I have shown compulsiveness in the past with my running and have really gone in with both feet AND hands but also I want to show people that now I have learned something as we all do and that is to be a better listener to body signals. I will not push through actual pain and think I am invincible. But I WILL continue to challenge my body bit by bit because only through occasional overload will my body improve and get stronger. And I WILL continue to expect great things of my body. It has come so far and I know it has farther still to go to get better. I will not quit just because i am tired. I will not quit just because I would rather be doing something else right then. I will not quit because I am over 40. I will not quit for anything unless it involves pain...pain in my knees, pain in my feet, pain anywhere. And even then I will not stop for good just stop until the problem is handled to where I can start again pain-free.
   I am also so thankful that there ARE people out there who care enough to question me now and then and to care at all about me and my health and well-being. I am very lucky to have that. I guess my big thing is to prove that I can be as good about caring for my body as I am at pushing it past it's limitations.

 This was me back in 2008. I do not show these pictures easily but I want to make a point that you can do anything you set your mind to. ANYTHING.
   I wanted a new life and I worked to have a new life. Now I want to bring you all into my inner circle and show you how things WERE and how things ARE.




I am  a runner now. I never thought I could do much more than walk but here I am running...long races...and doing what I want to with my life and it is a gift. Believe me!

 Here was my first 5K on 9/10/11. I loved it. I ran it in 26 minutes and it was hard and I was hooked!
The picture on the right was my second race the YMCA 10K. Hard! Loved it!

 More races to follow. Smiths Sport and Show 3 mile footrace, first half marathon out at Eagle Creek at night. DINO races through the woods.
Winning 3rd female overall at the DINO series alongside Christy who won her Age Group award..and should have gotten a singlet too in my opinion!

Monumental Half Marathon

      DINO at Mounds







I met a lot of great friends. I got to see some of the trails I would have never seen had I not taken up trail running. I got to feel the joy of the  finish line! Learn the rules of the race. Learn what I could push with myself and what I had to hold back. Which was I didn't want to hold back anything! I had found what made me happy and didn't want to slow down for fear of losing it.


Some pictures from Tecumseh Marathon and Knobstone Half,
McCormick's Creek DINO race, my running group at the start of a DINO race.

 More fun with friends. Town Run Trail DINO, Mounds DINO, second time running the Planet Adventure Night Trail Half Marathon.

My friend Mel and I at the Tecumseh marathon training run.

 It is good to be able to run again after having the knee problems and I know they are not fixed for good. I know I have to be careful of them and everything with my body. Pushing it is good, pushing it is what got me here but the next lesson is letting the recovery mean as much, if not more, as the workout. Give my muscles that time to repair, grow and change. Make sure I do what I have to do to keep running until I am very old, gray and more senile than I am now.

              

Two races in two days

   This weekend I had a lot of fun running. I ran the first DINO of the season out at good ol' Eagle Creek State Park. I went up there with several friends and met some new friends too. It felt especially great since a month ago I wasn't quite sure I would even do it. OH and on the way up there we saw a DINO Sticker on a car ahead of us and it turned out to be Alicia! We surprised her! It was funny.

The race was very muddy...I mean VERY muddy...from the moment we got out of the starting gate we pounded through sloppy mud. And that was a continuing trend through the whole thing. Squelch, squelch. It was the muddiest race I have ever run. Anyone who wanted to stay looking nice had better just turned around at the beginning! Anyway I finished in 1:29 and got second place in my age group so it was a good start to the new season.
Hip Hip Hooray for running, racing, muddy trails and adventure!

Pi(e) Run artist mention Courtney Packard.

Today I went to the Pi(e) Run at Bryan Park. It is an annual, very fun, race that my friend Mollie organizes and it is a celebration of Pi, Pie and having fun! I ran it really fast and hard and it was great to be able to do that although my allergies almost gave me an asthma attack. Spring, spring, lovely spring! I love you even if you make me sniffle and sneeze!

It was awesome to see my bud Christine and one of my favorite dogs Hamilton (AKA Pudge) I ended up getting 16 miles in this weekend and feel great.

I'm BACK!

      Back in the saddle again...yes I did over 8 miles today with a lovely new friend and I was so happy about it! I felt like skipping and singing all evening that finally...after a long time..finally I was able to do a pain-free long run. THANK GOD! And I feel awesome! Some soreness but that is to be expected after my first longer run in awhile. But no pain. Knees. Quiet as churchmice. After a few months of ouch ouch now I can run! Really run. I will be aware though of my tendency to get cocky. Surprise surprise. I have picked the mother of all supplements...for me at least..and that is the glucosomine/chondroitin. I cannot sing it's praises enough. I have described as feeling like there is just a new cushioning in there that was missing. Yesterday I also added tumeric and omega-3 fish oil supplements too. I am not saying this is for everyone but for me it has been a saving grace.

    I feel like a runner again! I was avoiding the whole subject of running for awhile because I didn't feel like a runner anymore. And I told my friend today that there is nothing bitchier than a runner that can't run. grrrrr...may bite.

I am planning on some more mileage tomorrow. I will then take some more rest days until the DINO Race next weekend. Now I will listen to my body more. Now if i am hurting I won't try to tough through the pain but decide my body is saying hey let's take a break here okay? Maybe do some aqua jogging or something? chill for awhile?

Meantime I plan my races and TRY not to get too carried away by the upcoming racing season. 


                            Yipeee..Okay I lied. Can't not be excited about racing season!!