The Golden Shore

This last week I was in Palo Alto, California talking with a colleague. It was my first trip to the bay area in my adult life and my first ever trip to Palo Alto. Stanford put me up at a nice hotel in downtown Palo Alto and I was able to find time to go on some runs. My first run on Monday afternoon I ran around the "dish". I had heard from several people before I went to Stanford about this open space area behind the campus. It has a paved loop trail taking you around a satellite dish. On Monday evening there were lots of people using the trail. In areas like California where so many people exercise, people never acknowledge your presence, looking down and away from you as you pass and wave. After saying "hi" to the first dozen or so people I passed and not receiving one response, I gave up trying. The running community in Oklahoma is small and so friendly that everyone waves and smiles when we see another runner on the roads.

The next morning I had made some running arrangements with a friend from Utah who is now living in Palo Alto. He took me to some trails further behind the "dish" area. I really agree with his observation:

The problem with the open spaces in California is that they are all so formal.

Wednesday I went by myself up to the "dish" area again but took a different turn and ended up on a really busy two-lane road. It was jammed packed with commuters all heading into town. Every car I saw only had a single occupant. Argh... How much does gas need to cost before people start carpooling? I couldn't stop thinking about the John Denver song "Rocky Mountain High."

Now his life is full of wonder but his heart still knows some fear
Of a simple thing he cannot comprehend
Why they try to tear the mountains down to bring in a couple more
More people, more scars upon the land

California, eh? ... They can keep it, I'll take the red clay dirt anytime.

Running moment of the week: On Saturday morning I went for a run out at Lake Thunderbird. I didn't see a soul except for deer, rabbits, squirrels and a turtle. It's good to be home.

4/21 - 4/27
total miles: 61.1
time: 7:54

YTD miles: 914.1

Happy Birthday to me!

I turned 30 this week on Wednesday. Surprisingly, I didn't become an amazing distance runner the next day. That's too bad since now I'm going to get my butt kicked in the 30-39 age group. There's a few races/runs I found online this week I think I'm going to sign up for. First off in June, there's the Greenpeople run up at Lake Hefner in OKC. It's a four hour lap run for fun. I think you're supposed to eat a hot dog every lap you go around or something like that. I'm planning on run there from our house Norman and then running a few laps. In July, there's Cap't Karl's Run outside of Austin, Texas. It is a 12 hour night run on a ~5 mile loop. I ran this last year and put in 50 miles. Somewhere around mile 8 I twisted my ankle and had to stop an hour early when my ankle was the size of a softball. I hope to run at least 60 miles this year. July in Texas, it will be a sizzler!

Running moment of the week: Lying around in bed on Sunday morning watching the Woman's Olympic Marathon Trials on nbc.com. The USA is going to have great distance team in Beijing, it will be fun to watch them go head to head with the world's best. Go USA!

4/14 - 4/20
total miles: 49.9
time: 6:25

YTD miles: 853.0

Lake McMurtry Trail Run

I ran with Gina up at Lake McMurtry by Stillwater as she rocked out her first 50K. The race consists of two figure eight laps. We ran this race last year, I ran the full 50K and Gina ran the 25K. Last year it was a dreary, cold and windy mudfest and with the torrential downpours we had here in the first part of last week we thought we were in for similar conditions. The sun came out though on Friday as it warmed up and it looked like at least we we're going to have gorgeous running weather. On the drive up to Stillwater we saw some swollen lakes and streams, a little foreshadowing of what was to come. Earl Blewitt (race director) postponed the race for thirty minutes since some of the roads heading into the park were flooded. As for the course, I think a quote from Earl sums it up the best:

"The trail is in good shape where it isn't covered in water."



I'll let Gina tell you the whole story:

Gina's race report:This is my first (and hopefully not my last) race report. Matt suggested I tell you a bit about how I felt during, before and after the race. So hear it goes..

Before the race, I honestly felt alright about everything. I actually wasn't thinking about it too much, because I had had a very busy week - getting back from Seattle after a cancelled flight and a red-eye, I started a new program at work, and then I had to come back to my computer that had crashed right before I left for Seattle. So, yeah, the race wasn't at the tip top most of my mind. But I was excited and looking forward to the challenge. I tried to get Matt to go to bed early on Friday night, but he was basking in the humor of "Still Standing" (ask Matt). So off to bed I went, because we had to wake up at the early morning hour of 5AM. During the very peaceful drive up to Lake McMurtry, I tried not to get to antsy or too nervous. I really just wanted to get things started, so I didn't have to think about the next 31.1 miles. But, it was not to be. We got there and the race was postponed for a half hour because of flooded roads. Well, I tried to keep my cool and take a forty minute nap, but my nerves coupled with Matt's java drinking kept the sleep at bay. No worries, though because the race started soon enough and we were off.

Honestly, my favorite part of the run was crossing the "river." Water up to mid-thigh, kept me alert and made me feel tough. It was also like a nice cold ice bath, that soothed my muscles, which I really appreciated on the second loop. I'd like to say that this run was fun the whole time and that I had a stellar performance, but ...well it wouldn't be the truth and it wouldn't be as interesting! I did have fun and I did meet one of my goals (to finish under 6hr 30 min.). I also felt like crap, and wasn't sure I was going to finish. Half way (ok, not even half way) through the race my legs felt like lead and I felt so tired. I just lost all my energy and it was pretty demoralizing because I knew I had 15 more miles to go. Luckily, I had the just the thing I needed to get through the race...Matt. He was the best cheerleader, crew master, pacer you can imagine. He advised me to keep going, even if I was just walking, to try eating whatever and whenever I wanted (there's a reason they put potatoes out on these long races), and to just try to enjoy the scenery. And you know what? I did all those things and I had a good time. I walked a lot over the next 8 miles, ate a bunch of things from pretzels and potatoes, to animal crackers and lots of GU, and I was able to move from a tired walk to a slow shuffle, and eventually even picked up my feet for some actual trail 'running!' My last 7 miles I think were some of my best, because I stayed focus and just tried to listen to my body. There are probably a lot more moments I could recount, like the people who hitched a ride on the back of a truck for 10ft to avoid getting their feet wet, passing someone in the last mile who had passed me at the half way point, almost falling on my face after a root jumped up and grabbed my shoe, and the joy of never getting lapped, but if I kept going you'd be reading a novel.


So, how did I feel after the race? Tired, sore, happy. Amazingly I didn't cry at the finish, though I was pretty emotionally spent. I popped some Vitamin I (ibuprofen) pretty quickly, but the next 24 hours were a bit rough as I was definitely sore. Yeah, I pretty much felt like an old lady, with bones cracking and an early bed time! But, surprisingly 48 hours or so later, I'm feeling a little bit better, a little less sore and more than a little excited to go out on a run on Wednesday (I figure one more day of rest would do me good!).

Running moment of the week: Watching Gina finish her first ultra! Check it out below. Don't mind my heavy breathing and woo-hoo's, I had just run for the past 6+ hours, I'm allowed to sound like a dork.




4/7 - 4/13
total miles: 49.6
time: 8:50

YTD miles: 803.1

Red Bud Classic

Thursday afternoon:

Me: Chisholm, do you want to go on a run this weekend?
Chisholm: Actually, I'm going to run the Red Bud 50 on Saturday morning.
Me: What's that?
Chisholm: It's a 50 mile bike ride, but I'm going to run it. I plan on starting at 2 AM. You interested?
Me: Let me think about it.

Thursday evening:

Me: Sure. I mean what else would I be doing at 2 AM on Saturday morning?

And so it began, Chisholm had a crazy idea and I was crazy enough to go along with it. We drove part of the course on Friday evening, planting some food and water along the way. 1:30 AM came really quickly, by 2:15 AM we were off and running. In my mind's eye picturing the run I imagined running along country roads, a low sun and pleasant tshirt running temps. Somehow that fact we would be running for almost five hours before the sun rose slipped right past me. Oops. I actually wasn't even planning on wearing anything over my tanktop. Chisholm lent me a long sleeve shirt and I'm glad I used it, it was in the upper 30's at the start and it went down to 32 before it started to get warmer.

The course is made for bikers, as such it is entirely on pavement (Chisholm's training for Badwater this summer and doesn't want to step on trail until it's over) and features very few turns. I think there is like 10 turns total, one of which we missed and ended up running on I-44 for a short while before we hopped a fence to get on the service road. Good thing is was 3:00 AM and there was very little traffic.

Around 6:30 AM the temperature got low as it was going to, I was starting to feel tired and I was definitely wishing I brought the gloves Chisholm set out for me. He let me borrow his hat as an insulator between my hand and my water bottle, that helped. The sun just started to shed some light when we got to the corner of NE 36th and Triple X (such a bad ass name for a road, I told Chisholm I want to steal the sign). Here the road actually curves a little as it crosses the North Canadian River. The sun was cresting the horizon and I was starting to feel better although it wasn't until 7 miles later, at the corner of Wilshire and Hiawassee when we first saw some bikers heading the other direction that I really picked up.

Everyone was waving to us, saying hi. I don't think anyone knew that we had started over 6 hours ago and were planning on running as far as they were biking! Some people asked us where our bikes were. Our best responses:

"Free your bike, your mind will follow."
"It's more fun to run."

It was harder on the way back. Now that it was light we could see how far the straight-a-ways were and how far we had to go. We just had to keep our eyes on the road and put on foot in front of the other. Bikers now were passing us on the way back in. We were feeling tired, but we finished in 9 hours and 20 minutes. We snagged a finisher medal and went to grab a burger. Good times to be had by all.



Running moment of the week: Besides the above (which was definitely the run of the week), today I had a great run with Maia out at Lake Thunderbird. She did awesome, no slacking and she seemed to always have smile on her face.

3/31 - 4/6
total miles: 71.8
time: 12:20

March miles: 221.4
YTD miles: 753.6

On the road

Last weekend I was in Baton Rouge for an AMS (American Mathematical Society) conference at LSU. I was staying at a hotel right off of the interstate which normally involves traffic dodging while running along roads that were definitely not made for pedestrians. When I arrived on Friday, I found an hour to go for a quick run before we headed to campus. I decided to head away from the interstate and quickly found a nice quiet neighborhood. There was a baptist church cooking up some amazing barbecue, huge live oak trees lining the streets and gorgeous old French homes. The following and subsequent mornings I ran around a lake near the LSU campus. There is not a continuous path around the lake, but when the adjacent road is busy there is a wide path. I was pleasantly surprised to find such a great spot to run.

Running moment of the week: While running around the lake I saw some spray paint markings, some for a marathon and half-marathon they most put on using the road around the lake. But also I saw a solid line with the words "Endurance 50", it's good to see that there are ultrarunners in Baton Rouge.

3/24 - 3/30
total miles: 42.9
time: 5:14

YTD miles: 681.8