Dogwood Canyon 25k 10-25-09

First of all I want to say I think my best friend and running buddy tells this story so much better...so you can link to her blog for an excellent race review

http://amesbegonia.blogspot.com/2009/11/dogwood-canyon-25k-trail-race.html

or you can continue to read mine...which will be...all about me :)

10-24-09
The day before the race. Amy is of course completely packed and ready for race day. Her camelback is filled and resting in the fridge her meals are packed in her nathan pack and I am playing on facebook....yes I am addicted. Finally at 10pm Amy asks me if I am packed and ready. Of course the answer is no. Not only do I not have my meals packed I dont even have them picked out, the camelback is not only not filled it hasnt even had the iraqi sand cleaned off and out of it (I borrowed it from a dear friend who had used it when he was in the marines and served over in iraq) and in addition to that I hadnt even thought about what I was going to wear! Truth is I was overwhelmed and didnt know where to start and procrastinating was way easier than facing the problem. Amy immediately banned me from my computer but I whimpered and managed to get her to at least let me get some music playing. Whew. She cracked the whip and I finished preparing for race day and finally made it to bed.
10-25-09
RACE DAY YAY!!!
Finally the day was here that we had trained and prepared for soooo long! We woke up blurry eyed and stumbling around the house I somehow managed to get my hair into pigtails. After checking the weather channel I decided a change of wardrobe was necessary, shorts....I did throw on some over clothes to keep me warm until the race began. Coffee was brewed and ready I poured it in my mug grabbed my camelback packed with food and beverage and ran out the door with Amy again cracking the whip on me.
The drive there seemed to take forever my nerves were on edge and I was so excited I couldnt hardly stand myself. We left the house in complete and total darkness and arrived at dogwood canyon in time to see a gorgeous sunrise. We finished our coffee, registered and peed about a million times...seriously. Finally we posed for a prerace pic


Finally we headed out for the race and off we went. Early on in the race like maybe a mile or 2 we came to the biggest baddest mud puddle I have ever seen....it provided no way around and was too big to jump across. Realizing I was going to get my nice pretty running shoes muddy I figured I better at least have fun with it. So I jumped in and splashed around in the mud....boy did I feel like a kid again! By the end of the race they looked pretty nasty...seeeeeeee!!!


The water crossings began and boy were they fun! The deepest one was up to my knees and even though the water was freezing your legs went numb pretty quickly. It was kinda tough running after going through the water with your feet so bogged down and squishy. Thankfully all of the 15 water crossings were done in the first 8 miles....14 of them in the first 5 miles.


ok so the workers at all of the aide stations were fabulous...the hills kicked my butt hardcore.....oh and I had more fun than probably ever...oh did I mention the place was unbelievably gorgeous? Yeah it was...I dont have enough space on here to post all the gorgeous pics I got! It was the perfect weekend to see the trees showing their gorgeous colors as they were changing and the place was laced with waterfalls all over the place...ok I will try to limit myself to 2 pics...lets see here hmmmmmm....
Oh yeah and my lovely parents showed up to catch me cross the finish line...they are so sweet I adore them!

whoa where did I go

So it seems I dropped off the face of the earth....cant believe it has been so long since I have posted. I have since finished my first ever 25k trail run! Prior to this I had only completed 5k road races YAY! I will try to remember to post a full race report from the 25k soon...it was amazing!

the impossible 13 miler

Yesterday I was set for a 13 mile run. The morning start out normal enough except I woke up a few minutes late then as I was eating my larabar and preparing to walk out the door i heard the sound that every dog owner knows....the sound of a dog about to vomit. I grabbed Daphne as quick as I could and threw her up on the kitchen counter so she could puke in the sink. A few minutes later all was better and I was now 20 minutes late. I finally made it into town and the temperature was perfect for a 13 mile run day and for that I was thankful. Starting off at the Springfield nature center I headed off in search of my 13 miles. All was going smoothly now and the morning was beautiful. A dense fog covered the area and it was nice and cool perfect for running 13 miles. I was just a little ways down the trail when I stumbled across 2 deers and a baby deer I was literally maybe 10 feet from them and just stood there in awe gazing upon them. A little bit further down the road I headed over the railroad tracks to find a turkey with a baby turkey beside...I have never seen a baby turkey so again there I was in awe. I wish I could say the rest of my run went as well as this first little part. I headed on down the trail and headed in the direction where the nature trail meets up with the ozark greenways trail all was well until....the trail ended due to construction :( I turned around not knowing how much mileage I had put in up to that point. I found another paved trail jotting off and it had a starting mile marker so off I headed I made it a little ways before..it ended due to construction. I found another trail I could take and headed off until it ended due to construction. 3 strikes I decided God was telling me my body needed a rest so I decided to enjoy the rest of the run or walk or whatever it ended up being. Then we found the trail heading off thru the woods barely wide enough for feet and off we set exploring. It was a neat little trail and we enjoyed it for a bit until it began to get sparse then we turned around and headed back to the trail. When we finally made it back to the nature center trails we took the long way around so we could enjoy some real true not paved trails. We were having so much fun running around that all of a sudden I just took off racing past Mason running as fast and as hard as I could it was almost like an adult game of tag. We continued to do that the rest of the trail walking when needed of course I must say it was the most fun speed drills I have ever done and definitely the way to do speed drills to make them fun!

sisters run 1st ever

Last night I drug my sister out for a mile run/walk. I have convinced her to train for a 5k so this was our first training run and she did great! She did way better than either of us thought she would do! It is nice to see my sister being active and I hope she continues with training even after she has completed her first 5k.

6 miles solo longest solo yet

so saturday 8-23-09 I did my longest solo run so far....a total of 6 miles. I went to the ozark greenways trail for this and the first bit was tough. But as I got further into my run I began to feel better and better and before I knew it I felt great and then a very sad thing happened....my run....ended. My six miles was finished. I stretched out at the pet cemetary laying beneath a tree and looking up at the branches covered still with dew and the great green foilage. I wished I could have just layed their for hours. It was so peaceful and serene. I was proud of myself and happy.

A run with Amy

did another 4 mile run with Amy tonight on the Ozark Greenways trail. It was fabulous! So nice to be running with my friend!

Amy Run!!!

I took Amy to run on the ozark greenways trail today. That is where I have been doing my long runs. We started at Sequiota park and headed out. We got 4 miles in today and it was so nice to enjoy the scenery and show Amy a big part of my life when it comes to my running.