Ten Days And Counting... (Week 15)

Another week is in the books... Plenty of events and milestones both on and off the running trail were successfully achieved.

Saturday helped mark the end to the week with friends and much merriment. The Glick/Gast house hosted the final tailgate of the year and UW Football team actually won (they stunk this year... but the games were fun!)

Sunday Mo and I set out for Indain Lake and a goal of keeping me on my feet from ~9:30am-3:00pm. Note Indian Lake is the route that there is some unknown in exact mileage (see Week 9) but as I've been taught through this whole thing, it's not as much about mileage as the fact we went 5.5 hours, and six loops of the trail (2 more than we've ever done before.) It should also be noted it is now deer season, so a new addition to the running gear was a bright orange hat provided by Gar. Gun shots off in the distance are quite the distraction from you feet and legs hurting!

Try as she might, I have not taken Mo's lead to trip on the trail. Since this was the last run on the trails before the "big event" Mo took one last digger to show me proper tripping/landing form. But I really don't think she was into it, while she did have an audience of two other strangers, she was upright in short order, and barely scratched her knee, so not even picture worthy.

Week 14 (T-15Days/11Hours/36Minutes)

So, if you would have told me 4 months ago I would wake up on a Saturday morning at 5:00am, to run at 6:30 at 27 degrees, with 14mph winds, yeah, well, I think we all know what I would have said... NO THANKS! But that's not the case on Saturday 11/15, I got up, took the dogs for a walk and prepared for a long run... Keep in mind a long run 20 weeks ago was 3.5 miles as opposed to 3.1 miles.

Mo and I set out at 6:33 for our long run for the week. Time was short cause UW football was to start at 2:30pm, and in order to allow for proper football prep (shower, drive, drinking, burger) the run needed to wrap up a bit after 11:00am. Since I'm not one to be late for drinking and a burger I was good with 11:00am stop time. We started out Hwy 12 for the first leg of the run, wind to our backs (note this would make for an interesting return...) Made it out to the Missouri Tap and made the trip back with a stop at the Mobile Mart. The second leg included 1/2 of the Pheasant Branch Conservatory. I guess it's interesting statement in itself that an 18 mile run just included the normal milestones and landmarks:
- Out/back on two routes that used to be done independently and seen as an accomplishment.
- The quickest way to pee on the side of the road with out 1.) exposing yourself 2.) exposing yourself in the minimum amount of time, to avoid frost bite where you don't want it.
- Missouri Tap (note week 8)
- Mobile Mart: It is NOT easy to cross a four lane highway at 8:00 in the morning and not be considered a target.
- Stiff back legs. Seriously after running as much as I have, they are getting a little sore.
- Frozen Pop-Tarts. Honestly, they aren't have bad.
- Chocolate Chip Cookies at mile 13, come on that has to be a reason to run all by itself!

We rounded that Parmenter/Kenyon corner at 11:00 and moved right on through phase II and III of the day! Ok, I might have gotten an hour nap from 11:30-12:30, but I did play soccer until midnight the night before. With out skipping a beat we were at the UW football game for kick off (Phase II) and even found energy for after hour drinks at Claddagh (Phase III.) Ok, I realize for the youngen's in the crowd after hours is >2am, but after an 18 mile run, a Bloody Mary, 5 beers, a burger, 2 Jamison's and cheesy fries, 10:00pm is pretty darn late!

But in the end here's to the two significant others that love us and support this crazy activity:

Tyranena 1/2 Marathon (Week 13)

Well, it's the beginning of the end! This weekend marked a huge milestone, the Tyranena 1/2 marathon (http://www.tyranena.com/beerrun/website.htm) I know, I know, 13.1 miles what's the big deal, when last week we did >18?? Yeah, I don't know, it's just different dynamics you got:
1.) Running with a couple hundred folks that you don't know (ok, I knew 6 of them.)
2.) In 5 days we went from 70 degree weather down to 37, windy and rain/sleet/snow!
3.) There were t-shirts and awards involved!

The weekend was kicked off Friday night with a pasta feast, cooked by yours truly, and to my knowledge no one was hurt from the event! We had a house full of runners and birthday well wishers and associated partners. The b-day well wishers were for my wonderful partner who marked another year on 11/6 and who is putting up with all these running shenanigans. All in all the crowd was well behaved, the most notable beverage drank was a full 5 gallon jug of water!

Saturday, the day of the race, started with the normal pomp and circumstance of a Saturday, a dog walk and a trip to the grocery store. But driving to this Saturday's run would be in style, not only was this prep for the 12/6 marathon, it was also the dress rehearsal for the Majestic Flyer (MF), which is the support vehicle (RV owned/operated by the Fraleys) for the runners and non-runners at the marathon.

The MF arrived at 9am to collect Susan and I, with Mo at the helm. We arrived at Lake Mills, location of the Tyranena Brewery, in time for packet gathering, stretching, coffee making/drinking, two potty breaks, just in time carbo loading, attire deciding, and general revelry with our co-runners and supporters. At 11:30 we started, what would be for Mo and I a 2:39:36 (but who's counting) run. It was a pretty successful run, Mo didn't fall down, there were plenty of aid stations and port-a-johns. There was some precipitation, and the wind was a bit strong on some stretches, but it was good to know we can survive running in crappy weather.

I'd say the highlight was for ALL the time Mo and I have spent running, and although we were on a very wide open space, and the wind was at our back, Mo noted "Man, it smells like farts!" So, ok, maybe some of you reading this may not know me, but some certainly do, and certainly Mo has gotten acquainted with my 12 year old boy humor (as mom said: Katie you'd be perfect if you weren't so damn vulgar!) So come on, if I was right next to you and you smelled a foul odor, I'm definitely the first one to blame. Now, I'll give you in this situation, I had not started giggling (cause I was too focused on using my oxygen to survive) which is normally the dead give away. But yeah, it was me, and there's nothing like two grown women trying to run while giggling cause of a fart!

The last mile was tough, but Mo inspired me to keep running by threats of her singing. We came to the finish line to cheers of our follow coworker/runner Chris and his family. After a quick costume change in the MF we preceded to the beer tent for a beer and lasagna. Unfortunately due to the weeks events I was pooped! So the festivities were a bit short lived (so I'll definitely be working on my post-race tolerance!) The return trip in the MF got us safely home, and only took out a few curbs on those darn right hand turns...

All the gory details:
http://onlineraceresults.com/race/view_individual.php?make_printable=1&bib_num=387&race_id=9728&type=result

25 Days, 12 Hours, and 48 Minutes until the Marathon!!

Renee, Wes, Mo, Katie, Chris, Kate and MF in the background

Mo (clapping/way too much energy), Katie (yellow), and Chris (back to us/finished the 1/2 an hour before...)

“It's kind of fun to do the impossible.” - W. Disney (Week 12)

18.62 miles: average pace 13.29 (including stops) 1:18/1:24/1:27 per 10k.


You can't make up numbers like that... Well at least you wouldn't, cause they aren't the fastest, but still not bad for those of us QUICKLY approaching 40. Since the overall goal is to be able to run a long ways and still be able to hold true to my Irish heritage (i.e. have a pint or two at the end) I'd say it was quite the successful training day!

Master Mo had positioned this as the "eating run", sound like a good run to me!! So, I set out the night before to find/purchase the junk food that you feel justified paying $6 for 4 small morsels, cause damit I'm gonna run 16+ miles (note 16+ miles, NOT 18+, it was all a ploy!) The end result was $32 spent at Target for pop-tarts (brown sugar/cinnamon), cheese & peanut butter crackers, berry/pomegranate juice, uncrustables (peanut butter/grape jelly), some kind of nut energy mix, chocolate milk, waffles (pre-run), and raisins. I know! It doesn't seem like you get much for $32, but I swear this did not include beer.

Due to the length of run and the fact there is only so much witty banter Mo and I can exchange it was decided singing would be involved in this run. No not me! I've retired my boots... And, well, Mo really can't carry a tune, so we resorted to iPods. We started out around 7am and it was low 40's and did 3 rounds of the Arboretum loop, which is a regular 10K loop (i.e. Zoo Run Run, Jingle Bell Run...) :
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/wi/madison/688136879

There was wildlife abound (but NO snakes!) wild turkeys, rutting deers (both does and bucks, people we live in Madison, have an open mind....) and random humans. The first loop was around the Arb. clock wise (note to self, bad things happen to those that go counter to society, i.e. a tree off the road does NOT mean a private place to relieve yourself, ESPECIALLY where 4 walking trails come together, amazing how at 8am the moon can shine in WI.) Loops 2 & 3 were done counter clockwise, which doesn't cause you to be in a socially awkward situation for lots of reasons.

Second loop started after a pop tart and juice, pop tarts are the food of the running goddesses! (Note to self, don't enter a port-a-john on a construction site, down on campus, on Saturday morning after Halloween... it ain't pretty.) The third loop was fueled by a PBJ uncrustable (NOT just for 10 year olds!)

End result was we went 18+ miles in ~4 hours! (Note to self, allow NO money to be carried on the run, else there is risk you will continue to do loops until that damn $20 bill is found.) All in all I felt good, my legs were a bit tired, but if we HAD to find the $20 I could of made one more loop. But, there was definitely enough energy reserved for a night of Halloween frivolity. I'm happy to report after 17 years, yes I CAN fit in my wedding dress!