Training Log Archive: Funderstormin

Got a real ass kicking this morning.

Strength and conditioning class at Depth. Super fun, except the bear crawl.

Some of my Michigan friends enter a team every year into the Dances with Dirt Relay in Hell. I had seen this event a couple of years ago when I went down to run the ultra and thought that driving around all day in a van with my friends sounded way more fun than running by myself for hours. They have had the same team for years but I got lucky as one of the team members got afflicted with pregnancy and I got to take her place this year!

The race has 15 legs and everyone is supposed to run 3 of them. My team likes to keep it interesting by drawing names out of a hat, so you don't know until a leg or two before if you are running or not. Given the heat, I got SUPER lucky by drawing all three of my legs before 1:00, which meant I got to relax after that and drink beer.

Each leg has a name based on the features of that leg: http://dwdhell.com/index.php/relay/course-descript...

I ran the very first leg, appropriately called Stampede, which was fast and furious and a nice mixture of double and singletrack with a little off trail thrown in at the end.

C • afflicted with pregnancy 1

The second leg that I ran was called Dirty Blonde. Mostly singletrack with lots of off trail and climbing over stuff. Super fun!

The final leg I drew was called "Stripper Sucks," and I was glad that it was the last one for the day as it was blazing hot at this point and this was the hardest of the three that I had done, even though it wasn't all that long. "Stripper Pole" is a steep gnarly climb and the "Sucks" part was because there were a few hundred metres where you were going through sometimes knee high bog trying to hang on to your shoes.

Having run my three legs, I got to spend the rest of the day cleaning up, cooling off and cheering on my friends. I really enjoyed seeing the teams that went all out costume-wise for this event. My favourite was a team called "It's Britney, Bitch!" where all team members dressed up as Britney Spears from a different video. There was also a team dressed up as the Donner party, which I thought was quite clever.

Saw a Don't Get Lost team flying by a couple of times too!

Trit trot around Breithaupt to loosen up my achilles and try out some new shoes. If anyone is in the market for new Speed or Spikecross at a decent price, I got a pair of both through Sportchek (last year's models) for about $200!

"Weightlifting Wednesday" class at Depth training. Gonna hurt tomorrow!

Was all amped up after ARK for some reason so when I went home I went for a little jig jog. My achilles has not been good since my last race but I have another one this weekend so it's just gonna have to go ahead and suck it up for a few more days.

Yin yoga at Cambridge Good Life.

Took my brother and nephew for their first ride out at Puslinch. I promised I'd stick to easy trails, but sure enough, there we were, pushing our bikes up a big ass hill because I saw a trail that looked enticing. Hudson only had one spill and was super excited that I had a first aid kit on the trail to patch him up on the spot. Post-ride lunch at the Old Marina.

DD11 told me midweek that there were some folks riding the Albion Enduro this past weekend. Sure, I haven't barely ridden my bike this season, but it was an excuse to go camping!

This probably went better than I expected in that I didn't fall off and I wasn't as much of a chicken as I thought I'd be. But it also felt really hard! The course was super fun and I had forgotten how nice the trails in Palgrave were. We picked a pretty sweet loop for camping and both nights were beautiful to sit out around the fire.

Spin around the Hydrocut. Since I signed up for a bike riding event this weekend, I thought I should see if I still remember how to bike ride. Jury is still out!

Earl headed home after a great US adventure. I am always a bit distraught when a big adventure comes to an end, and this one was no exception. In fact, when I arrived home, rather than check out the house and see how much mail I had received or how long my grass was, I just hung out in the back of the van, had a beer, and did some thinking about thinking. It was a great trip!

C • PPD 3

I was signed up for the half-marathon today and by this point, I was used to the antibiotics and the side effects were minimal, so I decided to give it a go. The first half of the course was kinda boring but the second half was lovely, and it was all very runnable. I hadn't run this far since April, because of my Achilles more so than laziness, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go. My hips felt really sore after the first half, but my Achilles kept itself to a dull roar and I was pretty pleased with how I felt.

By this point in the trip Earl was back in Michigan. We did a one night stopover in Flat Rock to clean up and restock, then headed out to Hell for Run Woodstock. I've always wanted to do this event but the timing never seems to work out, so I was very excited to check it out as I had heard that it was kind of like Born to Run, which turned out to be a fair comparison, although perhaps with slightly less debauchery and Fireball.

The highlight of the weekend for me without a doubt was the Friday night "natural" run option, which coincided with a legit timed 5k. Everyone lined up (in clothes) together, and then about a mile down the trail, the natural runners split and went in a different direction. You came to an "aid station," which featured wine and beer (and the Race Director in the buff) and mats to take off your clothes. Once disrobed, you ran a mile or so loop, then hung out at the naked table and rehydrated, and got your natural run award (but where to put it???). Then you put your clothes back on and ran to the finish. I've run around naked before but never really legally. SO MUCH FUN!!!

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A couple of long days of driving meant a couple of missed days of trail time, so I was itching to get out by today. Exploring the very cool trails at Clinton State Park in Kansas.

Jim Creek Trail to Jim Creek Falls with my friend Erinn. I was disappointed that I didn't get all up on a mountain top on this trip but that was the one disadvantage to having Earl there - he wasn't able to get to some of the trailheads easily. And the days just flew by! This was my third trip to Winter Park and I really like the feeling that I'm getting a sense of where everything is, but also, that there is so much more to explore!

This was a beautiful warm sunny day and the falls exceeded our expectations.

Group hike out to an overlook for happy hour and the sunset. A lovely way to end our final evening in Winter Park!

Was supposed to be running a half-marathon today but while driving through Nebraska, I got a call from my doctor letting me know I'd tested positive for Lyme disease. I was weirdly relieved to hear this as it at least gave me an answer about what had been going on for the better part of two months now. It meant having to negotiate the American medical system when I got to Winter Park and getting on another antibiotic. I started it Friday and even though I was feeling fine, was worried about taxing my system and getting sick on the second week of the trip. So I hung out and volunteered instead, and spent the entire day debating if I'd made the right decision!

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A few of us had the brilliant idea to wake up at 5:00 a.m. to drive up a sketchy mountain road to try to hike out to a pass to catch the sunrise. It sounded brilliant in theory! The drive, which we thought was about 30 minutes, was an hour, and the hike, which we thought was 1 mile, was about 3 each way, so I guess it's a good thing it was foggy and overcast and there was no sunrise! It was still a very cool way to start the day. :-)