DINO at Mounds State Park

Christy Victor and I at the Mounds State Park DINO race. The race Run the Mounds had added a 5K and 15K just for DINO to make up for Avon's complete lack of understanding and having to cancel at the last minute.

 This was just a little picture of the grassy part leading up the starting line. A lot of the course was wide, straight paths that were very well groomed. It felt kind of like the Rail Trail here in Bloomington.

 Here is the starting line for itty bitty DINO race. It was not well attended I think because so many runners attended the Monumental Marathon the day before and were smarter than us and decided to give themselves a day off! The guy in the yellow I have seen many times before. He is VERY fast and I noticed today he had wings tattooed up his calves from his feet...maybe like a mercury symbol..not the substance but the roman deity.Oh and on the path?? I saw a completely BLACK SQUIRREL! Never have seen a black squirrel before.

My friend Mory shot this picture at the finish line. I felt great during this run which was cool because the day before I had run the Monumental Half Marathon up in Indy.

My friend Christy took this picture at the starting line. I really liked the shirts for this race. Really cool looking!

I don't have much else to say about this race.
It was a fun way to spend the day with my friend.
We took first and second place in our age group. I believe our age group was small as the group was small but still it's a nice thing to get a medal.

All in all a successful little race. We had fun, got medals and felt proud of doing a "two-fer" of Monumental then DINO the next day. We felt definitely hard core!!

Monumental Half Marathon

     Yesterday I ran the Monumental Half Marathon. It was fun! There were so many people that at first at the starting gate we had to walk/shuffle until we could find some space to start running. I was so keyed up at the starting line it was like I had had tons of caffeine but I had only allowed myself half a cup because I didn't want to spend half the race in the porta potty. I felt really good during this race. I felt I had really no trouble keeping up a good pace. I put my GPS on when I started and the pace was almost always between mid-8s to low 9s. The best part was I really picked up speed on the last two miles. It was like I suddenly had wings on my feet! My last two miles: mile 12 was 7:45 pace, mile 13 to the finish line was at 7:44 pace. It is amazing how much progress you can make when you listen to your running elders and train properly.
    There were tons of friends there as well. I felt part of a group even when I was running alone I knew they were out there sharing the experience. My friend Evan was on his bike, riding along cheering people on. Chris Basham was dressed in his Chuck Norris outfit and I got to give him a high five around mile 10. I saw some people I knew out on the course...people from BARA and ran into my boss who was running the half. That was cool too! And there were SO MANY people. I met one lady in her 60's who had run 329 marathons in her lifetime. WHOA!!!  She just casually said "Oh i run about 20 a year" .  I saw a guy who was running his first marathon and I saw him later on in the course and said "Good Job!!"
   After I finished I had made a big mistake though and left all my warm clothes in Miranda's car. So Erin took pity on me and gave me an extra shirt to wear but BRRRR I was cold! Next time I will remember gear check. YEP. It was great to catch some people crossing the finish line though: Emily, Christy, Miranda, Melanie, Mariluz, Cliff. I was SO proud of the BARA group. We  all had good showings.

So here are the final stats on the Monumental race. As you know I am a stickler for figures when it comes to my racing. It says my pace was average 8:58. I finished in 1:51:42. I was 1138 out of 4985. I was 38th place out of the 40-44 group, was 321 out of overall women to cross the finish line.

So great! I am so glad I took up distance running. It has completely changed my life!!

     
  

Knobstone Mini

 So the Knobstone Mini was today at Morgan Monroe Forest out by Martinsville. It started out VERY cold! But there was a fire to stand by and I brought my big comfy sweatshirt to wear until it was time to run. Here are my friends Craig, Miranda and Chris being extra shivery cold pre-race. Miranda eventually came over to the fire which I really didn't like to leave for very long! Ahhh fire......so nice when you are so cold.

 Here is a bit of a blurry picture of the crew again. Everyone was really happy to be there even though it was cold. And the Hoosier Hikers Council sure puts on a great race!

Here is the absolutely Deelicious fire they had going and wow did it smell good! It made me long for a tent and a guitar. I pretty much stood by it as long as I could until the race was just about to start. I got to talk to some people about the Eagle Creek Half Marathon in January that I did because they saw my shirt I wore from it. I saw another person with the same shirt. It started quite a few conversations among the other runners! I am going to do it again this year I think. If it is not sold out by December. 

The Thoughtful Craig Kinney

 Here is Chris who just started really trail running not too long ago but is getting good at it fast. He has been running the McCreek (McCormick's Creek Trail) with the aforementioned Craig Kinney and has been doing multiple loops at Paynetown (pain--town) that has some mega hills and switchbacks in it and it is no easy task to run more than one loop. He has run 3 loops at a time! Erin, his wife, trained with me and ran the Eagle Creek Marathon in August with me and Christy Victor. She is a great trail runner too! She was out running Paynetown this morning but hubby ran the Knobstone race. I got to give her a big hug after I crossed the finish line.

 This is Alicia and Adam Stout. They were nice enough to give me a ride out to the race. Alicia is an anthropologist and has been to Africa. She and Adam just got married not too long ago. They make a cute couple and are great at trail running and racing.

All of us pre-race! Ready to get running already and warm up!

I saw many friends there. Mory who works with Planet Adventure and has been a big cheerleader of mine...she is trying to get me in on an Ultra with her!....Allison who runs Urban Cycle, the local Spinning gym. I saw Cheryl who is training for Tecumseh. She was rocking it out on the trail and as always looked so bright and sunny!
  The woods were themselves amazing! The path was mostly covered by fallen leaves which made for a few slippery spots but also made the path nice and soft. I believe it was easier on the feet. There were some decent hills....big long ones and a few switchbacks.....but there were also lots of nice flat places where you could really put on some speed and pass some slower folks. Always with a friendly "good job!" and a thank you. People are generally so nice on these trail races. They always let you pass if you want and are so sweet about it. I got to talk to a few people..some of whom had done the Eagle Creek marathon, some had done the January half marathon there as well.
   I didn't have too much trouble running it at all. I think it was because I had carb loaded appropriately and had made myself rest for at least a day before it and on the Thursday group run had only done a few easy B-line miles. At one point I almost wiped out getting tangled in a limb on the path but did some fancy footwork and managed to stay upright and blaze on.
    I finished in about 2:20...some seconds...so that was good time. And at the finish line I got to see my friends Emily and Andrew and they served us hot soup, coffee, hot cider, cookies and donuts. MMMMMMMM! Yum!

I have to thank the folks at Hoosier Hikers Council. They worked very hard to make sure the course was well flagged, the roads were monitored for crossing and then aid stations were first rate. Everyone was friendly and positive. Great Race overall!

Tecumseh and other stuff

      So I have this thing coming up in December called the Tecumseh Trail Marathon that I am kind of nervous about. I did do one trail marathon but that is no guarantee I can do it again. I also have been going kind of crazy with the races leading up to it. Although the race I am doing tomorrow is just about the length of the run I was going to take tomorrow it is still a good distance on a trail I do not know so well.  It is just SO GREAT to be out in the forests, see the beauty of nature while testing your endurance and strength. I am looking forward to all these races even though they are a challenge. I like a challenge!
      Next weekend will be Monumental Marathon up in Indy which I am excited about as everyone is going up there it seems like. I think it will be a great experience. Then next Sunday a DINO race followed the week after with another DINO race in McCormicks Creek. Then only two weeks to taper until Tecumseh.
    The thing I am most nervous about is that I really haven't run this trail (tecumseh trail) at all. Even though I had not run the exact Eagle Creek trail we used for the marathon I HAD run two other races there so had an idea of the terrain. Here I have NONE really and I am dependent upon the kindness of others to get me out to these trails. Hence...a little anxiety.
At least I feel good that I have done enough trail running/racing now that I at least know some points on how to do that. Plus I will have friends with me so that will be good too.

So to reiterate:   Knobstone tomorrow
                         Monumental Nov. 3rnd
                         DINO Nov. 4th
                         DINO Nov. 10th
                         Tecumseh December 2nd.

WOW what have I gotten myself into??  So glad I am not the only crazy person I know who has schedules similar to this. We can commiserate together.

my Griffy Lake/Cascades long run

This was my best long run in awhile. The temp  was perfect...cool but not too cold. Crisp morning, gorgeous trees! I loved running around Griffy and even though my map didn't have it on it I went through the trails anyway. How can I get so close to any trail and not take a jaunt down it? I was happy I got some lovely pictures too.
The one on the right side is the tree line of the drained Griffy Lake at dawn. The one underneath is along the trail and the other one is at one of the trail heads by the boathouse.

 They have drained Griffy Lake for some dam repairs. It is still quite a weird sight to go by there and see only a field where the lake used to be. I hope they can get it filled up again before winter but do not know if that will be possible now.
   Anyway it made for some interesting photos.

 This picture I created by gathering up the leaves I liked and placing them on the log. I sometimes just like to experiment with images to see if I can make them turn out really nice. My phone camera is actually a very good one. It's nice to have it with me on these runs.

 Here are some more photos of the drained lake and gorgeous trees (above) , the valley in Wier Trail that I ran along. This was up by the pavilian where you can have cookouts and stuff. It is hard to completely capture what it looked like. Looking down on this amazing valley with the multi-colored treeline in the distance. The hills were covered in reds, yellows, golden brilliance. I thought of lots of poetry while standing here.

 Here were some Hilly Hundred riders I believe as that is going on this weekend. I liked that i was able to catch them as they dashed by. They were FAST!
I waved to a few of them as I saw them pass me this morning. I like the bright colors they wear and how nice their bikes are. Someday maybe I will have a nice road bike and I can learn how to do gears and stuff.

 Here were some curious cows along Bethel Lane. So peaceful out in this little bit of country road right next to town. Amazing how you can go from town to country so easily here. In Chicago that was NOT possible!

Some fallen trees on the trail

Cascades playground

I wonder if change is on sale this week??