Race Recap: Run with Scissors

The subtitle to this post is "How I Ran More than a 25K when I Just Wanted to Run a Half Marathon."

This is the first time I've ever done Run with Scissors. You see, it has a reputation, and the crazies who embrace this trail race love the misery involved with it.

1. The weather will suck on the day of the race.
2. The trail markings will be confusing.
3. You will most likely get lost.
4. You will definitely get cold and muddy.

On the other hand, there are plusses:

1. You will get bacon.
2. See #1.

I decided to try the race this year just to have a long trail run. Some of the Burning River Goddesses signed up, too, so I figured it would be a fun time. . . and it was.  Sort of.

There are three races here: a half marathon (me), a marathon, and a double marathon (for people who generally like to be spanked, I guess). The half marathon started at 9:00, which was nice because I didn't have to get up too early to run it. I still didn't want to get out of the car and go out into the cold when I arrived at The Ledges Shelter.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I don't want to get out of the car. I really need to reconsider my life choices.

We listened to directions from the RD, Roy Heger; well, we pretended to listen to directions. Mostly people just looked at the runners who decided to run in Halloween costumes. I do distinctly remember Roy telling us to follow signs and markers on the right side of the trail. Pay attention because this becomes relevant later.

I took our obligatory selfie just before the start:

Me, Marta, and Nicole. Tracy and Katrina were also there. Katrina was a taco.

 Then we took off into the woods. 

It was a nice run during the first half of it. We stopped at the aid station located at Pine Hollow, and I ate bacon and grilled cheese and cherry licorice. The volunteers were amazing, especially considering they were standing in the damp and cold.

When we got to the halfway point, we were supposed to use our scissors to cut a page from the book there to prove that we made it that far. I just ripped the page out because although I ran with my scissors, I forgot to take them out of the plastic wrap, and I didn't want to deal with it.

And I STILL haven't taken them out of the plastic!

My page: Nietzsche

We ran back together towards the Pine Hollow aid station, but I was getting a bit fatigued. I hadn't fueled at the proper times for me, and it was wearing me down. When we got back to Pine Hollow, I knew that I had just over 3 miles left, and I felt that with another slice of bacon and some M&Ms I would get there. And then things got weird.

Nicole ran ahead of Marta and me a bit, and Tracy was behind us a bit. Marta and I were deep in conversation, and we weren't really paying attention to our surroundings. In my defense, I am constantly looking at the trail instead of around me because I don't want to fall. We saw a sign on the right of the trail pointing downhill for one of the intersections, and although it seemed counter intuitive to us since the finish was higher up, we followed the trail marking. This was a half mile from the finish line.

When we found ourselves at Kendall Lake, we knew we had screwed up, but there were more trail markings (on the right) directing us around the Lake loop.  We stopped and looked at some maps, but we were puzzled. Two marathoners and two half-marathoners approached us and told us we had taken a wrong turn and we had to double back to get on track, so we did. As we ran, we called our loved ones and  told them we loved them and we wanted to be buried together when they find our bodies covered in leaves.

We made it back to The Ledges Shelter after 16.55 miles, tired, hungry, thirsty, muddy, and a bit embarrassed.

Just a wee bit of mud

The Goddesses had been somewhat worried because we didn't come in when we should have, so we were all relieved to be reunited. I felt much better after eating a grilled cheese sandwich (prepared by the beautiful Stacy, who was volunteering) and some chili. We agreed that we had more than earned whatever treats we gave ourselves this weekend.

It was a spooky finish!

After following social media posts, I realized that many runners went the extra mile (or three!), including my friend Sydney, who ran the double marathon and decided to throw in some extra mileage when she turned off course.

Will I run this race again? Honestly, I don't know. I don't like running in cold rain.  The race itself was very nice: the woods are beautiful, and the volunteers and runners were all amazing. If you like to feel like a badass, and/or if you are a masochist, this race is for you. Consider the double marathon.

The swag is sweet, too!

I love my mug!

Next up: I laugh at the fools who will be running the Bills' Bad Ass 50K in a few weeks. I will be volunteering and reporting on their shenanigans. Will I see you there?

I hope wherever you run, you run happy, Peeps!

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Relax, Max

I've been trying to cut down my mileage and relax, but I am stuck in this awful cycle of feeling guilty for doing less mileage. I did 11 miles today on the trails, and I feel like I should have done more. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME????

Last week I ran ten miles of trails, the first five with Marta, Nicole, and Jen, and then the last five with Jen. This week I ran with Marta, Kate, Renee, Carrie, and Nicole, and I finished the back seven with Nicole. This is great mileage; I feel good. Why do I feel like I'm slacking, then?


I know I need to allow my body time to relax; I'm just not used to relaxing. I'm one of those people who can't do shavasana at the end of the yoga session without wondering how much longer I have to lay there like that.  It's important, though, to counterbalance the time and energy I spend training with some other activities so I don't burn out or injure myself. I plan to chill until January, when I will need to start training again. In the meantime, it's Relax, Max, and have fun.

Today I started a Goddess run from the Boston Store to Brandywine Falls and back.

Kate, Marta, Nicole, Renee, Carrie. This is EXACTLY how I look when I am happy to run with Goddesses.

 As we ran, Marta pointed out to me where I went wrong on my infamous "I'm an adult and I can run by myself just fine" run to Brandywine.  We did a lot of talking and laughing. I love the dynamic on group runs when people pair up to chat for a while and then the pairs mix. It's so cool to talk one on one with everyone there at some time or another.

Burning River Goddesses in front of Brandywine Falls. I'm taking the picture.

We dropped the group off at the Boston Store, and Nicole and I decided to test our senses of direction by running the Buckeye Trail. We missed a turn halfway through and started up again in a different place.  Then we saw him:

It's Sasquatch!  Run for your life!

As we approached, Nicole started laughing and said, "Look at that tree. It looks just like a bear."

I squinted and said, "Yeah, it looks like Sasquatch. . .wait a minute.  It IS Sasquatch!"

We have no idea what he was doing there, but it made my day.

Nicole ran me back to the Boston Store for a total of 11.25 miles, and she continued on to 15.

Overall, considering we were able to find our way around Peninsula, I'm really pleased with my running adventure today.  I really need to continue this idea of "chill" so that I can learn to love training again.

When is your season to chill? Do you ever shut it down for a while?

Regardless of how much you run, I hope you run happy, Peeps!

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Oh, Those Trails!

I am directionally challenged. When you are with me, don't use words like "north" or "east" to tell me where to go. Tell me to turn left at the McDonald's or drive straight for twenty minutes.

Knowing this, Marta still told me that I could run the Brandywine loop from the Boston Store. Oh, she also ran the loop once with me before she left. She has such faith in me.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I tell Marta, "Oh yeah, I got this."  Yeah.

So, I left the Boston Store, turned onto the trail to Brandywine. .  .and I made it there.  Great! Now all I needed to do was complete the loop, and THAT IS WHERE IT ALL FELL APART.  I couldn't find the turn-off to go back toward the Towpath, so I ended up running a mile-long loop back to the falls.  Then I did it again.  On the third lap, people started actively mocking me, even though I told them I MEANT to do that.

I started texting Marta (what did I think she was going to do???), I guess because it would make her laugh.  On my next lap, I turned off the trail onto an unmarked section, and I found the way back.  Whew. Now I know--lesson learned.

This week I started part of the Run with Scissors course with Tracy, Ken, and Nicole. Three miles in Tracy fell on the stairs, which were really slippery with leaves. She grabbed her wrist and said she was hurt. This reminded me of the time I broke my foot on a run; I immediately stopped and said, "I'm hurt.  I'm really hurt." I knew the difference between being scared and superficially hurt and scared and truly injured. I took off my FlipBelt and used it to prop her arm against her chest. Looks like all that Girl Scout training paid off--thanks, Mrs. Mejia! Then we walked her back to the nearest parking lot, where a fellow runner picked her and Ken up so she could go to the emergency room. Poor Tracy now has a sprained wrist.

Nicole and I powered on by running the Ledges, the Octagon, and Boston Run to get a total of ten miles. She and I had a nice long-run talk, and I managed to burn off some crazy. Thanks, Nicole!

This is EXACTLY how I look when I have just burned off some crazy. 

So, lessons learned from the trails:

1. Don't get lost. Pay attention. (Honestly, I don't know if I can follow this rule.)
2. Don't get injured. Be particularly careful around steps. (I'm already afraid of going down steps, so I will continue to be cautious.)

Are you enjoying some beautiful trails right now? Regardless of where you run, I hope you run happy, Peeps!

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