Well it looks like my first trail race ever is going to be a half marathon. I guess it’s fitting, since my first road race ever was a half marathon back in April 2007.

FYI- my official time was 2:07. That tells you how long it took my corral to cross the start line!

I have done my best to prepare myself for this race, by doing a handful of long runs on trails. I would have liked to get some actual trail race experience with a shorter race, but it just didn’t work out. There is a nearby trail 10K this weekend, but it looks to be a very challenging course and I was worried about wearing out my legs the weekend before the trail half. Not to mention the Blacksburg Classic 10 Miler got rescheduled to this Sunday due to snow. So that takes up this weekend. Plus I’m running another half marathon the weekend after the trail half.

March 8

March 16

I had an amazing experience at my first road race, and it got me hooked on half marathons. I’m hoping I’ll have a similar experience with my first trail race. Bring it on Green Legs and Hamstrings Half Marathon. Even if I end up lost in the woods, I’ll still love the name of this race!

Tips for running a race on trails. Ready… go!
I’m worried about the fact that a lot of the race is on single track trails, and I don’t want to get in anyone’s way.
If you run trails, tell me about your first trail race. 
  

I am over halfway through the 30 Day Shred, now, and I am getting tired. After awhile it just wears on me to be doing a short but intense workout in the morning in addition to maintaining my usual running schedule. But there’s only ten days to go, so I’m sticking with it! Luckily the 30 Day Shred is going to wrap up right before I have 3 longer races back to back to back (10 miler on 3/2, trail half on 3/8, road half on 3/16). The first thing I’m going to do when this is over is take a complete rest day!

Monday- AM: 30 Day Shred, day 13 level 2 workout.

PM: Took advantage of the extra day off of work and went for a 5 mile run in the late afternoon on the roads around our house. My legs were a bit tired from Saturday’s 13 miler, but not too bad. There was still plenty of snow on the ground at this point.

Tuesday- AM: 30 Day Shred, day 14 level 2 workout.

Wednesday- AM: 30 Day Shred, level 2 day 15

PM: 3.5 mile run with Kim. We started out on the Dora Trail, but it was still snow covered in several places. It was 50 degrees outside, which felt glorious. However, the warmer temperatures were melting the snow, and we were running on a mix of snow, ice, and slush. After a little over 2 miles we got off of the trail and ran around town instead.

Thursday- AM: 30 Day Shred, level 2 day 16

PM: 4 mile run on the roads around our house. It was in the 50’s outside and I ran in shorts. It felt a bit like spring, but we’re not quite there yet. The people that live down the road from us recently put this sign up. It’s a funny sign, but it’s no joke.

“Do not cross this pasture unless you can do it in 9 seconds. The bull can do it in 10”

Friday- 30 Day Shred, level 2 day 17

Saturday- AM: 8 mile run. This run was split into two parts that were only about 20 minutes apart. I put in 3 miles on the treadmill and then headed into town to run 5 more miles with Kim. It was in the 50’s and really felt like spring outside. Its a short reprieve, though, because it’s supposed to get really cold and possibly snow again this week. After our run I went over to Kim’s house to visit her baby 🙂 She’s a little over 2 months old now!

I got home from running and visiting the baby, had a quick snack, and then got my 30 Day Shred workout done. It was another level 2 workout, and day 18.

Sunday- 30 Day Shred, level 2 workout. Day 19.

Total Miles: 20.5 miles

Just a few random things from this week… may as well make it a list post.

1. I’ve been watching plenty of Olympics coverage. Earlier this week, I watched the gold medal final for the men’s speedskating 10,000 meters. You can imagine my excitement when they announced the name of the skater from the Netherlands: Sven Kramer! That happens to be the name of my treadmill.

Back in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympics, Sven was robbed of a gold medal in the 10,000 meters due to a mistake by his coach. He was out for redemption this year, but ended up taking the silver medal and second place to his fellow teammate.

2. This past Wednesday, the registration for the Marine Corps 17.75K opened at noon. Gaining entry into, and finishing, this race guarantees entry into the Marine Corps Marathon. I want to make MCM my second full marathon this fall, and luckily I secured a spot in the MC 17.75K! I got really lucky, because the race sold out in NINE minutes. This means I won’t have to throw my hat into the MCM lottery this year.

Instagram {turkeyrunner}

I roped my dad into helping me get into this race. Luckily, he found out in advance that you can set up an MCM account, which saved me precious time for registration. He set up a “ghost” account with my first and middle initial instead of my first name. At noon on Wednesday we were on the phone together and both went through the registration process. He followed me through, so that he could register me if I ran into connectivity issues. But I made it through. I thought getting to the point of putting in credit card information meant I was in, and as I was reviewing my info before clicking the final submit my dad was yelling “click submit, click submit!” It’s a good thing I did, because just moments later his registration kicked him back to the main screen and said the race was full. My heart was beating as fast as it does during a track workout going through that registration process!

3. This morning I ran 8 miles. I ran the first 3 miles with Sven (the treadmill, not the speedskater). Then I headed in to town and met up with Kim for another 5 miles. As we suspected, we found that the low water bridge was underwater on the trail.

There’s so much water rushing by that some of the trail is getting washed out, too. We could see other areas where the creek had been up over the trail. I guess that’s what happens when you have over 18 inches of snow melt, along with two days of heavy rain in the morning. This bridge was 2 miles into our run, though, so we just headed back to the parking lot and ran our last mile around town. No big deal. It was a gorgeous day outside, too. I got to run in shorts and a t-shirt!

Have you been watching the coverage of the Olympics? What has been your favorite? 

Have you ever had a race registration experience like mine? 

Anyone racing this weekend? 
Next weekend kicks off three weekends in a row of racing for me!

I recently read a post by Cait @ The Arty Runnerchick about why failures rock. Cait talked about how we can learn from our failures and how they also often make us stronger. Having a failure, be it a bad workout or a race that didn’t go as planned, can make you feel defeated or even angry. But you can channel those feelings into the next time. Cait invited her readers to share their epic fails that turned into epic wins.

The first thing that came to mind for me was the Blue Ridge Half Marathon. This race totes itself as the toughest road marathon in the country. The marathon has nearly 7,500 feet in elevation change, while the half marathon has more than 3,600 feet in elevation change.

I first ran the half marathon in 2012 and then ran it again last year. This race kicked my butt the first time I ran it, and I ran nearly a personal worst time. My strategy the first time around was to just get up the mountain (roughly mile 4) and then the rest of the race would be like any other race. But it was actually coming down the mountain from miles 4 through 6 that tore up my legs and left me feeling sick to my stomach. I ended up alternating between running and walking for the rest of the race. My running buddy Nicki, who now lives in Texas, stuck with me the whole time even though I kept telling her she should go on.

Me, Nicki, and Kim at the finish of the 2012 Blue Ridge Half

The 2012 race left me hungry for another shot at conquering the mountain, and I took that shot last year. I don’t know exactly what I did different, but I do know that I was mentally more prepared for the difficulty of the course. I also hooked up with new running friends Glenda and Anita, whom I had met a couple of weeks before the race. The 2013 course ended up being even hillier than the 2012 course, but the three of us kept each other going.

2013 elevation

 I managed to take 22 minutes off of my time from 2012, thus making the 2013 race a ‘redemption race.’ And there you have my epic fail win.

Anita, Glenda, and me at the finish in 2013

 This year they added another mountain to the half marathon course, so we will see how I handle it! Maybe I will rise to the challenge and improve my time on this course again.

———————————————–
From Cait:

I want you to now share with me YOUR epic fails turned epic wins. Share your stories about an obstacle you faced, overcame, and came out a stronger runner and person because of it. Tell me also about your epic fail of a race, and either tell me how you came back later to make it a ‘redemption race’ epic win…OR…if you just had this epic fail tell me how you’re going to use that in a way to reach an epic win.

You can blog about, post a picture, make some artage (you know how much I’d really love that!) and then tweet me @caitlinchock with the hashtag #epicfailWIN and a link to your epic fail win moment/story/picture/etc.

Tell me about an epic fail turned epic win that you have had.
Or if you have a blog, are on Twitter, what have you, join in! 
 

As you may or may not have guessed by the title, I have jumped on the Hoka band wagon. They caught my eye early on in 2013 and have been on my radar ever since. Recently I read more about them, talked to a few folks who run in them, and then checked them out at my local running store. I got a pair of Stinsons in mid-January.

I have had ongoing issues with shin pain for years. Sometimes it will be gone for months and other times it plagues me constantly. I figured why not give some maximum cushioned shoes a try. The above picture is from a 10 mile treadmill run at the end of January, after which I didn’t have any shin pain at all.

They are like running on clouds, marshmallows, etc. just like everyone says. It has gotten to where it feels normal to me, now, but at first the extra cushioning was very noticeable and very strange feeling. Switching to these shoes has been a bit of an adjustment for me, since the heel to toe drop is much less than my Asics that I usually run in. The Stinsons have a 7mm drop, while the Asics have an 11 mm drop. My calves were screaming in my first run, but over time they have adjusted.

The first full week that I had them, I put in 22 miles. Now I have been doing almost every run in them, except trail runs. The running store employee that I worked with warned me about the hazards of tripping on trails due to the larger sole. I already trip on trails enough in ‘normal’ shoes, so for now I am sticking with my Asics on trails. My shins still seem to do well, thanks to the softer surface.

Overall, the main reason I gave these shoes a try was to see if they would help with my shin pain. So far they seem to. I am still being diligent with my stretching and icing. Maybe (hopefully) I’ve found a solution to help me run the miles I want to run. I’ve read some criticism that the extra cushioning actually causes runners to heel strike, but I feel like I land more on my mid-foot.

At first, I was a little self conscious about how big the shoes are and how I looked in them. But I’ve been so happy in the shoes that it no longer matters what they look like. I needed a full size smaller in the Stinsons than I usually wear in traditional running shoes. I also decided to give the Kailua’s a try and ordered a pair online since they were on super sale and I had a gift card.

I ordered a size down, but they ended up being too small. So I returned them to exchange for my normal running shoe size. It’s strange how for one model (Stinsons) I needed a full size down, but for another one (Kailua) I needed my regular size.

The Blacksburg Classic 10 Miler was supposed to be this past weekend, and was going to be my first race in my new Hoka One One’s. However, it got postponed due to the snow we had last week. They have rescheduled the race for March 2, so hopefully that will hold up and I will get to try out my Hoka’s in a race for the first time!

What type of shoes do you run in- minimal, traditional, cushioned, other?