This is the second week for Deb’s new Wednesday Word linkup. This week’s word is spontaneous. As runners, I think we often find ourselves following regimented training programs while preparing for the next big race. Training can get monotonous, but mixing in a little spontaneity (be it the place you run, the time of day you run, or who you run with) can keep things interesting.

Last weekend, in the spirit of being spontaneous, I decided to do something I’ve never done before and volunteered at a local race. Without further ado, I give you my volunteer recap…

This past weekend I was at yet another Mountain Junkies RNUTS trail race – the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10K in Roanoke. For the first time ever, I found myself on the volunteer side of things. I’m just like Katniss now. And I still got a shirt, which I was not expecting!

Barry and I arrived in Roanoke about 30 minutes before the start of the race. He grabbed his packet and got ready to go for the race. A little before 9 AM the runners made their way from race headquarters up to the actual race start. I took advantage of the now free porta potties and then hiked up a trail towards the start. It was a pretty trail and had me itching to run.

It was about a quarter to half mile walk to the start. About an hour later, runners would be storming down this trail on their way to the finish. I wasn’t sure if I would make it up to the road in time for the start, but the race ended up starting about 6 minutes late so I got to see Barry off.

After the runners took off I had about 35 minutes or so to mentally prepare and get my head in the game. I jogged around a bit, stretched, and got loose and ready to go. This was it.

 

Armed with my safety vest and stop sign in hand, I took to the road and stopped my first car as the lead runner came blazing through. From there on, I worked with my traffic control partner Renee, of Roanoke City Parks & Rec. More and more runners came through, and I saw Barry cruise by solidly in 13th place. The runners started to come by with more frequency after that, often in large groups. Each time a runner appeared Renee would yell “runner up!.” I continued to wield my stop sign each time. It was coming easier now, and my stop sign flew into the air without hesitation.

After the first two hours I felt my energy start to drop and feared I was about to hit the wall. I dug deep and persevered, getting a boost when Barry came back up the trail to see how things were going. He informed me that he had placed 2nd in his age group! Our final runner came through around 2 hours and 40 minutes after the start of the race. We saw him across the road and then got a ride with Renee back to race headquarters.

All in all it was a great day for both Barry and me. We headed home from Roanoke tired but satisfied with our morning’s work. My first time volunteering was a great experience and I fully intend to do more of it in the future!

*Note: In no way did I intend to denounce the importance or hard work of race volunteers. I thought it would be fun to write a volunteer recap the same way a race recap would be written. Hopefully it gave you a laugh, unless you spent the whole time thinking I was crazy for recapping my volunteer experience!

Have you ever volunteered at a race or other sporting event?

This past weekend had plenty of stuff going on, with a good balance of down time mixed in. Not too shabby. It got started on Saturday morning with the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10K trail run in Roanoke. Barry ran the race, while I volunteered as crossing guard at the road crossing near the finish line. It was my first time volunteering at a race and I had a good time.

Barry had a great race day, and finished in 13th place overall. It was also good for 2nd in his age group and he took home some pretty sweet hardware.

I was surprised that I felt pretty tired after finishing my volunteer job, but I guess it makes sense since I was on my feet directing traffic for the better part of the morning. Luckily, I had plans to meet Kim in the afternoon for a run which kept me accountable. We ran 5 miles together on our usual trail. The weather was really nice, albeit a bit warm.

I got nearly 10 hours of sleep Saturday night, which I really needed, and I woke up feeling refreshed on Sunday morning. Partway through the morning Barry and I headed up to Salem for a Blue Ridge Bloodhound training session. There was a lot of this one the way up:

 

We had a great training session and both dogs did a few trails each. It was a challenging day for them because it was windy, which can blow the scent around a lot on each trail. But the dogs were still able to work things out, and they’re always so proud of themselves after running a successful trail.

Our training lasted about 3 to 4 hours, and the dogs were worn out afterwards. That’s the norm after a training session, though. On the way home there was a lot of this:

Once we got home I got started on the laundry and then gave each of the dogs a bath. They are always exhausted after a bath, so they were practically comatose after training and baths. Barry and I spent the evening doing stuff around the house and then watched the movie ‘The Judge’ to closeout the weekend.

How was the weather this past weekend where you live?
If you have pets, do they get tired when you travel in a vehicle?
What’s the longest you can sleep at a time? 10 hours is pretty much my max

I had a handful of good runs this week, including yesterday’s trail run. Despite it being pretty warm outside (upper 70’s) and my calves feeling very tight, I was having a good time out on the local mountain bike trails. Can you spot the owl? (It’s actually a trail cam used for surveillance…)

Unfortunately, my run had to be cut a mile short due to a storm that quickly moved in during my run. It started thundering, and as the thunder got closer and became more frequent I decided to turn around. I figured if I made it back to my car before the storm actually hit I could do another short out and back. But that didn’t happen.

Instead, I got rained and hailed on the entire way back to my car, as the thunder boomed and lightning flashed around me. I’m all for running in the rain, but when a storm like that moves in I seek shelter.

I had one heart stopping moment on my way back to my car where I thought my key had fallen out of my water bottle pouch. Luckily, it was in there and I just didn’t notice it at first. That would not have been good! (fyi – all photos taken before said hail storm)

I’ve got a couple of new trail experiences coming up in the near future that I’m pretty excited about (and one I’m a bit scared about, but that’s okay!).

Tomorrow morning I’ll be volunteering at the Mill Mountain Mayhem 10K trail race, while Barry runs the race. This is another race that’s part of the RNUTS series by Mountain Junkies. I opted out of it, since Blue Ridge is next weekend, but still wanted to volunteer.

This will be my first time volunteering at a race and I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve always wanted to give back to the sport that has given so much to me. So tomorrow morning they will arm me with a safety vest and a stop sign. My job will be to control traffic at the road crossing near the finish line. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at being a crossing guard 🙂

It’s a good thing that I decided to sign up for the RNUTS trail race series. For one, I’m having a lot of fun with it despite my training not being what I had envisioned thus far for 2015. Secondly, this is happening now:

Debbie had a spot open up on her MRTT team and she invited me to join. Last fall, I had the opportunity to join Debbie’s ‘Cruisers Rockin’ the Relay’ team at the road Ragnar Relay. I had an absolute blast, and I’m excited to take part in the trail version of the relay this June. I’ll be shaking in my Hokas when it comes time to run my night leg in the woods by myself. But as long as I don’t fall off a cliff, it’ll all be good.

Have you ever lost your keys while running?
Ever get caught in a hail storm? It’s not as fun as it sounds.
Who has done a Ragnar Relay?

Today I am joining in on a new link up hosted by my friend, and fellow blogger, Deb. It’s called ‘Wednesday Word’ and it’s a link up for bloggers from all walks of life (not just running/healthy living bloggers). Each week, one word will be given as a prompt to write about. I think it will be really interesting to see the different takes each person will have on a given word.

This week’s word is Solitude, which handily ties in with my long trail run recap. I think solitude is definitely something a lot of runners pursue. The most solitude I can get while running is definitely on my treadmill, but trail running is a close second. I like trails that have a good balance of solitude, while still seeing someone every now and then. I’m not looking for desolation, but a little peace and quiet amidst the flora and fauna for a few hours is just what I’m looking for in a trail run. And that’s exactly what I got this past Sunday.

I headed up to the Blacksburg area for a long trail run at Pandapas Pond on the Poverty Creek Trail System late Sunday morning. It had been awhile (since January, I think) since I ran here and I missed it. It’s definitely my favorite trail system. We had some great spring weather on Sunday, and it was breezy and in the mid-50’s. Pretty decent weather for running around in the woods! I got started on a trail with some gentle rolling hills, with plans to make an ascent up Brush Mountain along the way.

After about two miles, I hopped on a trail that takes a little over two miles to climb to the top of Brush Mountain. It’s a tough climb but I had a pretty good rhythm going. I would run for one tenth of a mile, and then hike for one tenth of a mile. I felt like this was a pretty good strategy, and I may use it for Blue Ridge in two weekends.

Three quarters of the way up the mountain it got really steep. So for the final half mile of the climb I was running when I could and hiking when I had to. That final stretch was tough and it had my legs and lungs burning (in a good way).

During that final half mile, there’s a great view of a distant valley. I’ve never been able to figure out what it is, but I think it’s towards Pembroke (if I’ve got my bearings right). You’ll only see it if you remember to look over your right shoulder as you’re hiking up the steepest part of the trail.

Once I got to the top I did another short out and back before arriving at the gravel forest road. I was just shy of 5 miles and decided to stop briefly to have a gel (root beer flavor!). Before I started running again, I tried to capture a panoramic photo of the view. It’s a great view, looking the opposite direction of the above photo. Unfortunately, I didn’t do a very good job of capturing it.

From there, I started making my way down the mountain. For the next mile or so I was on the forest service road, which has large rolling hills. Then it was back onto the trail for a winding sharp descent back to the pond.

As I approached mile 7, my legs started to get really tired and I really started to feel the warm weather and the time on my feet. But I kept trucking along.

When I arrived back to “ground level” I headed over towards the pond for a lap around so that I could use the restroom (they have vault toilets). From there I made my way back to the parking lot with 8 miles down and two to go.

When I made it back to the parking lot I stopped at my car, stretched briefly, and had another gel (salted caramel this time). My legs were feeling completely gassed and I seriously debated just calling the run at 8 miles. But then I thought no way, I came here to do 10 miles and that’s what I’m going to do. Especially after having to cut last week’s long run short due to breathing issues. So I headed back out onto the trail I started on to get the final two miles done.

The first half mile was really, really tough. But after that I felt like I got a small second wind and I was able to work through the final mile and a half. It was a beautiful day to be out on the trails, and I had a great run, but boy was I happy to finally arrive back at the parking lot.

I’m happy to report that I didn’t have any wheezing or breathing issues during this run. I took one puff from my new inhaler and I was good to go the whole run. After months of breathing issues (again, I don’t know why I put off a trip to the doctor for so long), it was so refreshing to have the only limiting factor on the run be my own fitness level. This run was a lot of work – the good kind – and hopefully it helped prepare me a bit for Blue Ridge in two weeks and the Conquer the Cove 25K trail race at the end of May.

What’s your favorite workout spot? Describe it!

This past weekend was a pretty good one. A bunch of my friends came to Blacksburg to visit for the weekend, and I got to hang out with them Friday night and during the day on Saturday (Barry had to work all weekend). Officially, we were celebrating my best friend’s 27th birthday. So things got started Friday night with some shenanigans at a mutual friend’s house. We were all friends in college, and it’s so much fun when we get together again.

I stayed up way past my bedtime on Friday night so I was pretty tired on Saturday. After a 5 mile run on the treadmill, I headed up to Blacksburg again to hang out. We were all tired so we kept things low key. First we watched Top Gun and then we headed to this new place that opened recently. It was really neat and I’ve never been anywhere like it before. It was a combo restaurant, movie theater, bowling alley, and arcade.

It was mid-afternoon and we were all starving, so we decided to have a late lunch in the restaurant first. I got a “grownup grilled cheese” which was a grilled cheese on multigrain bread with avocado and tomato. Surprisingly, everything was really reasonably priced despite how fancy it looked in there.

Once we were all fed and watered, we headed upstairs to the arcade area. Initially, the plan was to play air hockey. We did that for a bit, and it was really fun.

From there, we got sucked into the arcade. My best friend and I went around and played a bunch of games. It was a lot of fun, and we only spent about $10 each. I don’t think that’s so bad for an afternoon of entertainment. There were a lot of traditional arcade games, but one game we played was called ‘sink it.’ Kind of reminded me of a game I used to play in college…

I headed home Saturday evening to spend some time with Barry (we didn’t see each other at all on Friday since I got home so late). Then on Sunday morning I headed back to the Blacksburg area again – this time for a long trail run at Pandapas Pond. I think this is still my favorite spot for a trail run! I got in 10 miles without any wheezing. More on that Wednesday.

Yesterday evening, Barry and I had a nice Easter dinner of pot roast. It was a bit of a tough Easter, though, because it was also Sara’s 28th birthday. It’s hard that her birthday is so soon after losing her. But we know that she got to celebrate Easter in heaven with her Savior.

Did you celebrate Easter this weekend? If so, what did you do?
Have you ever been to a combo restaurant like the one we went to on Saturday?