Dirt Cheap

I decided to run the Dirt Cheap trail race the other day.  It was the 2nd of the 6 part series.  You can run them all or pick a few and the price is "dirt cheap."  At $12 for the single race or $50 for the series you really can't go wrong.  There is no shirt unless you are part of the series.  Well, I thought for sure they were going to cancel the race.  You could hear thunder (but there was no visible lightning) and the clouds were dark.  Plus the fact we had a bunch of rain that just went through the area and more on the way (it was going to happen in a matter of minutes and pour buckets).

 Before the race I met up with some of the lovely ladies from Moms Run This Town in our area.  My own mom thinks I am crazy for deciding to run on this day after we hear the "warning beeps" on the radio with an advisory about the storm rolling in.  The races are held on Wednesday nights at various local parks and earlier in the day temps were in the 80's.  Storm rolled through and continued to roll through, brining temps into the low 50's and ideal running conditions (for some serious muddy fun).

 Minutes before the race went off the rain came and kept coming strong (fortunately we were in the trails for most of the race sort of protected.  We huddled under the eves of the lodge until it was 1 minute 'til the start of the race.

I stopped to take one, lonely photo along the course.  I was having so much fun and couldn't wait to see what was next.  We were on a single trek trail most of the race and this part was running up the creek bed.  So much fun.

 The women started 8 minutes after the men and we had no idea how long the race was going to be.  All of the races in the series are from 4-6 miles in length.  Someone said their Garmin said they ran 5.2 miles.  So we will go with that.  This was a tough course too with lots of mud (duh) and hills.  We had 2 killer hills the last 1/2 mile of the race.

 I spotted my mom on the hill hootin' and hollerin' so my grin became even better as I started to shout at her about how much fun it was with ankle deep mud and running in the creek.  At this time it was just a misting rain.

 The modified the finish to loop up suicide hill (part of the high school cross country course) in stead of straight up the "cliff."  Obviously a smart choice for safety reasons and still a killer hill within 100 feet of the finish.

 I crossed in just over 55 minutes and am pleased with my time.  I started out kind of slow and built up speed as I went, passing people when I was able to.  I am now looking forward to a 12 mile trail run in June but I might need to go get some other trail shoes and start running on the grass instead of the roads for most of my runs.

 My hips were a little sore the next day but not really bad at all.  I think it was just from helping pull my feet out of the mud and the slight slipping movement as I ran through.

 After the race we were treated to grilled hot dogs, cookies, pretzels and carrot sticks and celery.  For the price of the race I was impressed and had so much fun.  Very much looking forward to a few more trail races if the weather is right (not wanting to traipse through the woods with hot, humid, mosquito days).

A big thanks to my mom for rinsing the mud out of my skirt immediately after and washing all my muddy gear from the race--including those shoes!  Mom's like her rock and maybe she really does miss my cross country running days where shoes would need to be washed every Tuesday after meets to get the mud out.

Running in Circles

Sorry about the lack of posting but Manfriend and I went on a cruise and I was confined to running on the upper deck of the ship.  Grand total of running this trip was 1 hour 40 minutes.  At 9 laps per mile I wasn't going to even try and test the limits of my hips and knee after 42 miles on a cruise ship with 7 laps per mile in December.

 I ran 30 minutes 2 times and the last night of the cruise I ran 40 minutes.  Fortunately it was a "down" mileage week for me so I wasn't too worried.  I am starting to build miles again now in preparation for some late spring and summer races.

 And I was fortunate enough to have my handsome Manfriend chilling in a lounge chair on the deck with my water bottle.  I stopped for a quick photo before finishing my run just as the sun set, leaving exactly 7 minutes to shower and make it to dinner... which we did make but were 4 minutes late.

Lost toenails

So many people seem to talk about losing toenails after some distance events (such as a half marathon or marathon).  They seem to think it is just something that comes with the territory of being a "runner" and proudly claim that they just lost one or have lost x many over the years.  Did I miss something in running 101 way back in the day?  I call myself a runner but have never lost a toenail.  I've been running since 1993.  Am I doing something wrong or are that many people doing something right and I missed the boat?  If I am wrong I should also state for the record that I have no desire to join the club of, "I've lost toenails,"  just so I can be right.  There have been times my toes hurt from blisters after a hot and humid run, but still those nails cling to my toes.   Do you think lost toenails is a cause for celebration or that you might need to make a change so you keep those little buggers?