Big Frog Half Marathon

Who da thunk I would skip a mountain bike race on Saturday to run a foot race on Sunday?  Ten years ago, running was not even on my radar.  Today, it is a regular part of my fitness routine, along with lifting heavy sh!t.  Part of that is just wanting to new challenges, and part of it is because of Honcho.

Today was the third race in Mountain Goat Adventures Trail Running Series.  It was held at the Ocoee Whitewater Center. It was drizzling and 46 degrees when I arrived and pretty much stayed that way the entirety of the race.  I was not too enthused, as I have been dealing with a 3 week hamstring injury.  How I got it, I do not know ... at my age now, I probably rolled over wrong in my sleep.  But seriously, it probably has something to do with my ongoing grumpy L4-L5 facet joint, which has been plaguing me on and off for the past 5 years.  

After a 20 minute bundled up warm up, I stripped down to a T-shirt and shorts.  At 8:30 am, Lisa released us and we began with an immediate climb up Bear Paw.  I went by both perceived exertion and heart rate, keeping myself in the low to mid-tempo range.  I stayed conservative, as the trail was wet and the roots and rocks were slick.  The last thing I wanted to happen was to further injure myself and say good-bye to my upcoming races War Daddy and PMBAR.  Today was all about good training and not aggravating my hammy.

I saw Zeke as I turned onto Lower Chestnut.  He was a course marshal and told me that I was second woman and 6th overall at this point.  Still, so many miles to go.  With that initial 1.5 mile climb, I was perfectly comfortable and the body was feeling good.  I did get passed by a group of guys midway through this section; I was just glad  to be by myself at this point, as I had paced them up the mountain.

I am a terrible descender, so Thunder Rock was meh.  I tip-toed across both bridges as they were skating rinks.  At the bottom, I took a cup of water and a gel.  Then began a 2.7 mile climb back up the mountain.  Running back up the mountain felt good.  All body parts were happy; I was happy.  It was good for my soul to be in the forest.

I stopped at the second aid station and repeated.  The Quartz Loop was a little tricky as the single track was tight; half-track in places, which made for focused foot placement.  Once I was on Bypass, there was only a little more climbing to go and then I could "send it" back down to the finish.  Back on Chestnut, I wanted to go fast, but I kept the strides short.  I did not want to trash the quads, fearing this could affect next weekend's race, the War Daddy.  I kept it chill, passed by Zeke, who was walking up and down his posted area, trying to stay warm.

Once on Bear Paw it was about a mile to the finish.  At this point, I opened it up a bit and kept saying out loud, "Pick up your feet."  So close to the finish, I did not want to trip now.  I came through the finish line with a time of 2:24.   Prior to my grumpy hammy, I had hoped to run close to 2:05-2:10.  Yeah, I was a little frustrated at being slow, but I had to keep the long game in the picture.  This running thing is not my primary goal.  I am doing it for funsies.

Adele schooled me today with a time of 2:05 that gave her a 5th overall.  It is going to be an exciting final at Rope Mill next month ... I hope.  I just need to get this ischial tuberosity/hamstring attachment inflammation thingy resolved.

Thanks to Mountain Goat Adventures once again for a fun day.  I am slowly collecting enough Fleet Feet gift cards to buy a new pair of shoes.  And I have a good Ka'Chava stock for my lunch time smoothies.