Blue Line 20 Miler!

The moment I have been dreading anticipating had finally arrived this morning: my first 20 mile training run.  I saved this moment for the Vertical Runner/NEOFit Blue Line Run, an annual tradition in Akron where about 300 runners follow a shortened version of the Akron Half or Full Marathon by running the Blue Line painted on the course.

It is literally a blue line painted throughout Akron.

It is really a wonderful event.  Vertical Runner raffles an entry to the Akron Marathon, and NEOFit mans the fluid stations on the course, and it's all free!

I was nervous about this run because the longest run I had done previous to it was 17 miles.  I thought I would feel confident after completing the Ragnar WV Trail Relay, but actually I felt worse because I was worried that I might have jacked up my foot on the trail.  Plus, I had the most exhausting week EVER: three open houses + my daughter's first football game in the marching band.  I didn't go to the game, but I waited up until she got home around midnight.  I don't think I got more than four hours of sleep on any given night this week.  All of these factors combined made for a very anxious Stephani this morning at 7:00.

Do you see me in this picture?  You shouldn't because somehow I missed the photo-opp.

I ran with Shelby and Sydney for the first ten miles.  We took it nice and slow, stopping to fuel at the first NEOFit aid station at 6.5 miles.  We kept up our predicted marathon pace for a while, and at mile 10 Sydney decided to drop back.

Honestly, I felt great up until mile 15; then I started aching, and I could feel a lot chafing in areas where you really don't want to feel anything at all.  It was hot, and the hills were starting.  Shelby could sense that I was shutting down, so she tried to distract me by talking about food, which normally works.  This time, though, I just couldn't concentrate enough to talk or even think about anything.  I needed to "go dark," which is my way of shutting down and concentrating on my breathing and my body.  I told Shelby what I was doing, and luckily she understood.  I just concentrated on making it to the mile 17 aid station, where I would allow myself to fuel and stretch.

One of my goals for the marathon is to only walk during fueling, and today I failed.  There were three short hills in miles 16, 18, and 19 where I just needed to walk a bit.  In mile 16 I needed to stretch my hamstrings, so I walked to take long strides. In miles 18 and 19 I was in a lot of pain and I needed to take some walking breaks.  None of them lasted more than a quarter mile, but there it is.

We finished twenty miles in 3:35:54.  Not bad, really.  I felt terrible when we finished--dizzy, lots of pain in my calves and my chafing areas.  Shelby and I stretched while I drank a protein shake, and then we celebrated with a selfie:

Post 20 miler on the Blue Line with Shelby. Everything hurts and I'm dying. @akronmarathon @verticalrunner03 #akrun

A photo posted by Stephani Itibrout (@itibrout) on Aug 27, 2016 at 9:28am PDT

I would like to say that this run gave me a lot of confidence for the marathon, but it really hasn't.  The whole day I've been wondering how I can possibly do SIX-POINT-TWO MORE MILES than I did today.  Shelby reminded me that the weather will be much better at the end of September, and it is true that my runs are pretty much bound by the weather.  The responses to my social media posts have also shown me that others (who are much more experienced than I am) were in just as much pain, so maybe it isn't just me, and maybe this is a typical experience.  If so, I hope it bodes well for the marathon.

I have spent the day alternating between moving around and resting:

Recovery from my first 20 miler with my @bondi_band compression socks. Want some of your own? Discount with my code TroubleRun.

A photo posted by Stephani Itibrout (@itibrout) on Aug 27, 2016 at 9:23am PDT

And I finished my day with a dirty martini:




I'd like to thank Vertical Runner and NEOFit for a great event.  The volunteers were so great, and the water was cold! Now I'm going to "go dark" and stop analyzing everything I do. I've got four weeks until the race, and I will continue to do my best to train for it.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Race Recap: Ragnar Trail Relay Appalachians WV

Jen.  She talked me into this, and because of her strength, I completed the race.

Last year in June I ran as part of an 8-person team in the Ragnar Trail Relay Appalachians WV.  There were a few problems, which you can read about here.  I knew that I had to go back and take the whammy off the race, so when the organizers moved the race to August (to avoid the monsoons) I took that as a sign. With Jen's encouragement, I formed an ultra team, the Mudtastic Muthas.

Leigh.  So strong and steady. She is tiny but fierce.

Joy.  She gutted out 29 miles with almost no training.  What a badass!

Ragnar Trail Relays are a bit different than other relay races, and they are especially different from their road relays.  There are three loops: Green (3.5 miles, easy), Yellow (4.5 miles, medium difficulty), and Red (6.5 miles, also called Mother of Crack.  I kid you not.), and each team member takes turns running one of the loops until every team member has run each loop.  We signed up as a 4-member ultra team, so we had to run every loop twice.  We decided to do it by combining loops; for example, my schedule was as follows:

Leg 1: 9:30 AM.  Green + Yellow. 8 miles.

Wait for Joy, Leigh, and Jen to complete two loops each.

Leg 2: 7:30 PM.  Red + Green. 10 miles.

Wait for team members to rotate through the loops.

Leg 3: 8:00 AM. Yellow + Red. 11 miles.

Trail runners know that it takes longer to run trails, especially at night, and especially when there are lots of hills, and boy, were there hills.  So. Many. Hills. In theory we were all supposed to have trained for this, but life got in the way, and none of us felt as prepared as we could have been.  I was pretty confident after my Burning River Relay last week, but I soon learned that this was hubris.

I continued my tradition of idiocy by getting us lost on the way to the campsite.  Just like last year.  We didn't make it there until 9:30 PM, but luckily Jen and Leigh had staked out a good site for us.  They helped us pitch my GINORMOUS tent (which got us a few smirks from the people camping around us).  I don't care.  I love my tent palace.

My tent is the green one.  It looks smaller here, but believe me,  it's the Taj Majal of tents!

We drank a quick beer and then got to bed.  I had the first leg at 8:30 AM, and I wanted to be fresh for it.  At 7:30 AM the skies opened up, and the evil poured down, exactly like last year.  Freaking Ragnar.  Freaking West Virginia.  The storms delayed the race start times by a half hour, and then I managed to delay our start time by another half hour because I was required to watch the safety video before I left.  GRRRRR. (That is my bear impression.)

The first leg (Green + Yellow) was muggy but manageable.  I felt relaxed, and I was really glad that the trail wasn't trashed from the rain.  Running through riverbeds and knee-deep, sucking mud was not my idea of safety last year.  This year is gonna be GREAT, I thought.

My second leg (Red + Green) was at night, and I was really looking forward to it.  I purposely tried to schedule myself for the night run on the Red Loop because I was so horrible and freaked-out about it last year.  I even bought a new headlamp and knuckle lights.  For one glorious moment my knuckle lights lit up the trail, and then they dimmed to a faint glow so I STILL couldn't see a damn thing.  GRRRRR. Getting through the Green Loop that night took everything I had.  And then I had the melt-down.  After handing off my belt to Joy, I told Jen and Leigh (who were kind enough to see me in and send off Joy), "That's it.  I'm done.  I don't know why I thought I could do this.  I can't.  I'm not trained.  I'm not doing my last leg.  I can't.  You guys don't have to even do this anymore.  I'm sorry I brought you into this."

Ok, at least I didn't cry.  I was pretty negative, though.  Jen and Leigh just smiled and told me to stretch out, hydrate, and go to sleep.  They were kind enough to assure me that I didn't drag them there; they were crazy enough to sign up on their own. After they went to bed, I went to the bonfire and ate a smore, watched some Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, cocooned myself in a hammock, and thought about my life.  Then I went back to the tent, changed, and fell into an exhausted sleep.

When Leigh woke me to tell me that Jen had left for her leg, I felt better.  I decided that if I didn't finish the race I would never forgive myself.  I reminded myself why I wanted to run this. I decided that I was going to finish and be a badass ultra runner. I ate some breakfast and let it digest, and when Jen came back in, I was waiting for her.

The last leg was hard.  And miserable. And pretty awful.  I had decided to run without music, so it took everything I had to keep the Voices at bay. I fell once, and my Garmin crapped out, but I did it.  I finished the relay.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm pleased that I finished the relay.  On a side note, look at the woman over my shoulder.  

Most disgusting photo-bomb ever.

When I left the transition tent, I walked to the nearest shady area (the Salomon's tent), and I burst into tears.  Relief? Pain? Exhaustion? Dehydration?  Yes to all of them.  Then I hosed off, changed my clothes, and ate some food.

Here are some thoughts on the race itself:

Good: Kudos to Ragnar for making some changes to the race.  August was hot, but it was better than the cold rains of June.  Also, the catering company did a great job, and there was plenty of decent coffee and hot chocolate for the whole race. This time the portapotties were emptied sooner, and we never ran out of water.  These were all deal-breakers for me, and Ragnar fixed the problems.

Sign in the middle of Ragnar Village

Better: We all agreed that finishing each loop by running through the ultra-runners' tent city was the best part of each run.  The runners there cheered on every single runner at any time, day or night.  It was really uplifting.  During my last loop, a whole line of ultra runners were handing out shots just before the finish.  I didn't indulge because I didn't want to throw up on one of those kind people.  There was another tent-full of runners who were handing out beer to finishers just before the chute.  I didn't take that either, but I wish I had.  Honestly, the thought of running through the ultra-village was what kept me going each time at the end.  They were awesome!

Also, apparently there was a fabulous laser show in the pine forest on the Yellow Loop at night.  I missed that, but Joy and Leigh said it was cool.

The Pine Forest of the Yellow Loop during the day.  Imagine this at night with a laser show and a disco ball.

Best: The best part is that I met my goals, and I did it with my friends.  Thank you Jen, Joy, and Leigh for running this race with me.  Thank you for encouraging me, and thank you for putting up with my bullshit.  I promise I will never ask you to do this again.  I've scratched that itch.

We are the Mudtastic Muthas, and we ROCK!!!

Now I'm going to find something even tougher and scarier for us to do.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I'm thinking of something tougher and scarier to do.

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Race Recap: Burning River 8-person 100 Mile Relay

I am writing this post with about three hours sleep.  Last night I ran Leg 7 of the Burning River Relay with the Mother Runners.  The 16.1 mile leg starts at Pine Hollow and finishes at Botzum.  There are lots of hills and stream crossings in between.  So. Many. Hills.

I met many of the Mother Runners at the pasta dinner on Friday night.  They were super-nice and supportive, but that didn't alleviate my anxiety about looking like a rookie.  The margaritas helped, though.

Mother Runners before dinner.  We look like this when we run, too.

Originally we had predicted the start time for my leg to be at 10:17 PM.  I like running at night, and I don't mind trail running at night, so I purposely chose this leg in the relay.  Well, things happen in trail races, and at midnight I was sitting in my car thinking about my life choices:

This is EXACTLY how I look at midnight when I am re-thinking my life choices.

Three of the Mother Runner teams had decided to run together, and this wasn't necessarily a comfort to me.  Could I keep up with these women?  What if I fell? What if I couldn't handle 16 trail miles?

I tend to put a lot of pressure on myself (I'm sure nobody has ever noticed this about me), and I often have to remind myself that NOBODY IS THINKING ABOUT ME AT ALL.  This often helps me to chill out and JUST DO IT.




At 1:00 AM, I was still waiting, and then the drama started: One of the three women with whom I was running Leg 7 lost her mind and punked out on the race.  Just handed me her bib and bailed.

WTF.

I had to text my team captain to let her know.  I felt terrible for her team because they had to take care of it, but my other Leg 7 partner Didi and I agreed that we were glad we wouldn't be running with her for 16.1 miles since she was a piece of work.

Leg 6 runners handed off to Didi and me around 1:10, and we were off.  Didi is just a damned kid, by the way, so I had to tell her to remember that I'm an old lady and rein it in somewhat. She was a fabulous running partner--very kind and very chill.  We kept each others' spirits up, and I think we were BADASSES.  The last 1.5 miles were on the road and Towpath, and we decided to pull out all the stops.  I'm really proud to say that I was running 9:17 miles at the end.  The runner's high was incredible; I think I could have done a few more miles.

This gave me a lot of confidence for my future Akron Marathon and more importantly for next week's Ragnar Trail Relay in West Virginia.  I've been dissecting the run, trying to figure out why I felt so good, and I think I've pinpointed three reasons:

1.  Freaking BADASS and awesomely-zen running partner.

2.  Temps were just right--mid fifties with low humidity.

3.  Since Saturday morning, I had not stopped stuffing my face.  Seriously, I ate EVERYTHING: pasta, zucchini, tomatoes, avocados, cucumbers, green beans, roasted turkey. . .also ice cream. I didn't manage to really take a good nap on Saturday, so I think the food carried me through.  I ate a few cookies and a small triangle of grilled cheese, and I drank ginger ale at the two aid stations, and that fueled me better than GU. I need to remember to eat more at Ragnar; I know I didn't fuel sufficiently last year.

Anyway, this was a wonderful experience, and if the Mother Runners invite me back, I intend to choose Leg 7 again. . .unless I decide to try for a 4-person relay.  What????

Thank you to all the volunteers in this race; you are the soul of the race, and I was so grateful for your cheerfulness (and ginger ale) in the wee hours of the morning.  Thank you to the Mother Runners for including me in this empowering experience.  Thank you Didi, for sticking with me.

To conclude, Peeps, I suggest you take my friend Shia LaBeouf's advice.  You may be surprised at what you can achieve.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!

Going Long

This week my long run was supposed to be 14 miles.  I was worried because I've already done 16, and there was no buffer zone in my training between that 16 and the 20 miler I have planned in three weeks.  This is because I'm running leg 7 of the Burning River relay (16.1 trail miles) this weekend and 3 sets of 10 trail miles for the Ragnar Trail Appalachians race the following week.

It was Shelby's week to plan, and she had the brilliant idea to run the back half of the Akron Marathon, since I have never run that part of the course. She told me that she added in a tiny bit so we could hit 14 miles, and I was really grateful. . .

Until we hit 14 miles. . .

And we were a LONG way from our cars.

WHAT?????

This is EXACTLY how I look when I realize we are far away from our cars.

Needless to say, I got my buffer zone. . . right in the ass.  We ran 17 miles when I was really only mentally prepared for 14 or so.  One part of me is pleased as punch because A) I ran more than 16 miles, as I originally wanted to do, and B) I was able to pull it out when I wasn't at my prime mentally.  Shelby is a big help with that; she is really good at shrugging her shoulders and sucking it up, and that is what we did.

Had I realized earlier on that we were going to run 17 miles, I would have fueled differently, and that would have made a big difference in my attitude, but guess what?  I DID IT ANYWAY.

This is EXACTLY how Shelby and I look after 17 miles in extremely hot, muggy weather.
We even still like each other here!

I gotta give a shout-out to BondiBand.  I wear their headbands for every run because I sweat like a pig (even though pigs don't sweat) even in the coldest weather.  This run would have been intolerable without a BondiBand to keep the sweat from my eyes.  If you want to order your own BondiBand products (think compression-wear, too), check out their website and use my code (TroubleRun) to get a 10% discount.

Until then, run happy, Peeps!

Like what you read?  Follow me on Twitter @itibrout!