Race Recap: Run with Scissors

Highlights of last year's Run with Scissors:

1. Rain

2. Crying

3. Getting lost 1/2 mile from the finish

4. Running 3-4 extra miles

Because I've got some extra rage going on (How about you? Are you angry? No? Just me? Ok.), I signed up to take the whammy off the race.

Because I like to share my pain, I bullied persuaded the Trail Sisters to run it with me.

Of course the weather was the same: 43 degrees and rainy. Yuck. Luckily, we run in the woods, so we wouldn't get that wet from above. Running through the mud, however, was quite a different story. If mud baths are supposed to be good for the skin, I guarantee you that my feet and legs are glorious.

I found Mandy and Pam, my long-lost friends.

Early Trail Sisters selfie: Wendy, Nancy, Marta

Official Trail Sisters Selfie: Marta, Nicole, Laura, Me, Nancy, Wendy

We gathered at Pine Hollow at 9 AM to hear the Grim Reaper, Roy Heger, give us explanations of the course markings. Not wanting to get lost yet again, I listened very closely. The signs were very complicated:

What does he actually mean by that????

And then we took off. The first two miles are always difficult for me. I remember calling out, "Why are we even doing this???"

The response was a chorus of "Because you made us, you jerk!"

Oh yeah.

We hit the aid station at Pine Hollow, where Sydney and Sarah had some awesome food for us, including donuts! Then we quickly took off again.

We are already disregarding the trail markings. We are supposed to be running in the grass.

I started to feel really good, so I ran ahead a bit with Nicole, Dave, and Katrina (who ran dressed as Notorious RBG).  I decided to run by feel, meaning that if I felt angry/energized/angsty/good I would run faster, and if I felt tired/sluggish/sad I would run slower. We reached the halfway point, where we pulled out our scissors and cut a page from the book to prove that we were there.

Nicole 

Dammit, my eyes are closed.

Wendy and Marta demonstrate the proper way to run with scissors.

And now they cut their pages.

After that, Nicole and I decided that we wanted to be done with this race. I was getting cold and tired and hangry. We ran back to Pine Hollow for some bacon and love. Or bacony love. Then we took off up and down the Sound of Music Hills and back towards the Ledges. 

Oh, Ledges. You are so difficult with your sharp rocks and hidden roots. This is always where I get super-paranoid because I am afraid I'll break a foot or fall and hurt myself. I slowed down considerably, but Nicole was consumed by the desire to finish, so she pulled ahead. She was worried that I'd take a wrong turn (because this is where I went wrong last year), so I kept hearing her yell back, "Turn left!!! Turn here!" I told her to just go and stop worrying about me. She finished like a true Badass. 

Meanwhile, Wendy happened by, and we finished together. 

After crossing the finish line (this time running 13.4, not 17 miles), we filled our Run with Scissors mugs with yummy potato soup. Then I got to see Marta, Laura, and Nancy come in:

And we took our finish line picture with Roy:

I'm glad I ran this race, especially since the rumor is that we won't have it at the Ledges anymore. The park system is gorgeous in the fall, even in the rain and mud. The volunteers for this race were so kind and happy, and I love any aid station that serves up bacon.  Thank you, Running Forward and Giving Back, for a fun experience and the opportunity to pre-emptively burn calories before my Halloween shenanigans that night.

This is EXACTLY how I look when I go grocery shopping.

Are you running in costume this year, Peeps? Whether you are or not, I hope you run happy!

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Race Recap: Burning River 8 Person Relay

Burning River is a 100 mile race largely on trails. You can run the whole thing (if you are crazy), the front half or the back half (if you are half-crazy), or in a 4-person or 8-person relay. This year I ran Leg 5 of the 8-person relay with the Mother Runners.

I met the Mother Runners for drinks and dinner at the Sheraton on Friday evening after packet pickup. We had a great time together despite the lousy food. Paying 26 bucks for lukewarm pasta and peanut butter cookies is not my idea of a great food experience. For sure next time I will be spending that money elsewhere.

Remember my friend Joy? She ran Leg 7 this year.

The Mother Runners

The Mother Runners had a lot of teams this year, and it got very confusing as we neared race day. The initial goal was for Teams 3, 4, and 5 to run together the whole way; this was why I signed up to run with the Mother Runners. Anyone can run a trail race solo. Joy and I both did it when we ran the Ragnar West Virginia Ultra Trail Relay. I wanted to enjoy myself for this race, and I wanted to run 16.2 miles with my sisters. It took some finagling because some people weren't on board with the Mother Runners' goals, but Leg 5 managed to stick together.

This is EXACTLY how we look when we are NOT running BR. Candice, me, Kristin.

 We showed up at the Ledges in Peninsula, which would be our ending point, and then I drove us to the beginning point, Boston Mills Ski Resort, where we prepped for our leg.

I look confused, right?

After a bit of waiting, the runners from Leg 4 came in, and we took some pictures together:

This is EXACTLY how we look when we are fresh and ready, not tired and stinky.

 The atmosphere at Boston Mills was a big party with lots of people, noise, music, and food.  It really got me pumped up for the run. When Leg 4 came in, we had just a few minutes to change the batteries on the group Go-Pro and make sure we had everything and then BOOM!  We were off at 5:30 pm.

The first stretch of the run was Towpath--nice and flat. Then we turned onto the Bridle Trail for a while. The first aid station came really soon--too soon for me--at 3.5 miles, which was just after Brandywine Falls. Of course, we had to get pictures at the Falls:

Kristin is in charge of the Go Pro.

 We didn't waste too much time at the first aid station because we were just getting warmed up, so we took off in a timely fashion after cramming some chips and peanut M&Ms in our mouths. I LOVE the fuel in trail race aid stations. Nobody eats gels here; it's all peanut butter and jelly, candy, pop, chips.  So much awesome.

We had some long uphills on the trails, and there was a looooonnnngggg, sunny, gravelly hill right by the expressway. After slogging up that hill, I asked Kristin to film my signature move: I threw my fists in the air and yelled, "Yes! I made this hill my bitch!"  I don't know why other people don't see how funny this is.

Our next stop was at Pine Lane, which came after miles of uphill trails. We stuffed our pie-holes there  with junk food, wiped our faces and necks with iced towels (thank you, Volunteers, for being geniuses!), and refilled our water bottles.  That was our last aid station until the end of the leg.

Let me pause a moment and thank all volunteers in the Burning River race. You were all amazing. I felt a little awkward asking for food and water considering I wasn't running 100 or even 50 miles, but you never made me feel like I was unworthy. You commented on our shirts and told us how fabulous we are. Races can't work without volunteers, and you guys are the best.

Ok, I'm done being sentimental now. We left Pine Lane and hit the trails for a while. We passed quite a few 100 milers, and they all seemed to be in great shape. One of those 100 milers was Ron Ross, who is a school board member at the district where I teach, and this year he ran his 10th 100-miler. Amazing! He wasn't even grouchy when we saw him; in fact, none of them were ever grouchy when we passed. We were able to joke with some of the runners because we kept crossing each other, and I even discussed the Ragnar WV Trail with a nice man whom I threatened to smack on the butt as I passed.

One thing I really love about Leg 5 is that there were at least three long stretches of flat road or path that allowed me to stretch my legs: there was the Towpath, a road, and the Bike and Hike. Candice and I took turns going full steam and then walking until everyone was together again. I consider this interval fat-burning work.

About 2.5 miles away from the finish, we turned back into the woods, and this was the point where we needed our headlamps. Once we were in the woods it got dark pretty quickly. I tripped once, but I managed to regain my footing without hitting the ground. Luckily, none of us had a spill, and we made it to the Ledges safely and happily where a huge party awaited us. We took pictures and handed off to Leg 6:

We are a little delirious right now.

And voila! 4 hours, 5 minutes, 20 seconds later it was all over for us.

Candice took me back to my car, and I got home at the same time as my husband, who saw I was whipped and made me a quesadilla while I showered off the bugs and sweat. And then I crawled into bed, exhausted but too excited to sleep deeply.

I got up at 5:30 AM to get to the finish line with the other Mother Runners.

Joy looks like a rock star after her leg. I had time to shower and comb my hair and I still look like a hot mess.

We ate breakfast at the Sheraton (which was better than the pasta dinner) and then waited for our last Mothers to come in. During that time I saw my friend and fellow Cleveland Ambassador Pam (@HopRunner) bring in her superstar husband Steve, who completed his first 100 miler. I can't believe he was coherent and smiling when he came in!

This weekend was definitely a whirlwind, but I so enjoyed it. The philosophy behind the Mother Runners is that women empower women. We stick together and we raise each other up, and that is what I experienced at this race. Special thanks goes to Kristin, who made me a Mother Runner and stuck with me. Thank you to Candice for jumping in when we needed you and not bailing on us when things got funky. Thank you, Mother Runners, for the fun and for the inspiration. You are all amazing.

By the way, I'm thinking of forming a 4-person relay next year. Who's in? Anyone? Well, regardless of your racing or running plans, I hope you Run Happy, Peeps!

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Race Recap: The Ohio Outdoor Series #1

Saturday I ran my second-ever trail race (the first was the Ragnar Trail Relay in West Virginia), and it was a lot of fun!

The race was at Munroe Falls Metropark, which is close enough for me to take some extra time to sleep in the morning.  The race started around 8:30, and I arrived for my bib pick-up just before 8:00. The colors of the trees are starting to change, and the view of the mist coming off the lake was breath-taking and maybe just a bit eerie:

The race was very informal; there were just over 200 people running.  The race director told us to be careful on the steps around the trail and to let him know if anyone decided to bail after the first loop.  Then he gave us a "On your mark, get set, go!" and we ran for the woods.

The loop is about 2.2 miles, and we ran it twice plus a run to and from the trail.  My first goal was to get it done in under fifty minutes, and then I adjusted my goals to 1. never walking a hill and 2. keeping my pace to about a ten minute mile.  I think I did pretty well on both counts; I ran all the hills, and I finished 4.61 miles in 46:29.  Not bad!

The finish line was pretty informal, too, although the race was chip-timed.

 After the race, there was a great spread: breakfast burritos, delicious cookies with things like oatmeal, carrots, and dates in them, hot cider, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  I ate some yummy food, but I wasn't digging the cider; I like my cider cold. . . and fermented.

This is EXACTLY how I look after running 4.61 miles and eating yummy food.

I liked this race because I was able to roll in at the last minute without my usual parking and bathroom anxieties, and I was able to be back home by the time my kids were thinking about changing out of their pajamas.  To be fair, I warned them before I left.  I also love my hoodie and beer glass.

I'll be running  this race two more times in November and December, so I'll post pictures of the hoodie and glasses then.

Today I ran 9.24 more trail miles with Mandy.  It was absolutely gorgeous:

The Ledges

Pine Lane

I definitely didn't run all the hills.

I'm feeling more relaxed with these trail runs.  Even though Saturday's run was a race, I am not feeling the usual pressure I put on myself.  I'm actually enjoying myself and recovering.

How are you loving your runs?  Hitting the trails?  What are your fall racing plans?

I'm going to work on reaching my mileage goal for the end of the year.  Until then, run happy, Peeps!

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