Tag Archives: WTF Half Marathon

Mileage Recap ~ Winter Trail Frosty (WTF) Half Marathon

Posted on by

The first word is always the hardest to write.  Hmmm, ok let’s go for the utterly mundane and say I have completed my third half marathon.  I would have tried to bang this post out yesterday, but I was tired and hungry.  Oh so very hungry.  Where to begin…”It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….”  Oh very sorry, wrong story.

On Sunday I completed the Winter Trail Frosty Trail Half Marathon that took place in Papago Park in Tempe, Arizona.  I get a lot of junk email for different types of races. I searched for races that take place in January in Arizona and the WTF came up.  I thought it would be cool to do one closer to home.  This race is hosted by 131 Event Productions, who sponsor similar races across the country.  I guess it would be safe to say they are a franchise.  I signed up originally because I wanted to do another trail race.  I have done a few trails before with the last one, the Grand Canyon Half, in 2016.  So, I was ready to try another trail run.

About a couple of weeks before the race an update was sent out that mentioned something about insurance and injury and that the run wouldn’t  take place through the park but around the lake area closer to the city.  I was surprised and a little put out but it was a chance to get some miles in and to focus on PRing my fastest half time.

I had been good with hydrating and eating the whole week.  Focusing on good energy foods.  The morning of I did have this:

No, it’s not just ordinary toast…it’s cinnamon sugar toast.  I had it growing up as a kid and had been craving it so I made it for part of my breakfast.  The other part was a Kashi cereal that tastes like Captain Crunch™.  Don’t judge.  Packed about two gels for every two miles and headed out the door around 7:15.

Arrive at the venue and begin to drive to the parking lot only to see cars driving back.  A sure sign that there are no more parking spaces.  I was beginning to realize that  maybe I should have left a little earlier.  I found myself parking in a park down the road with others about a mile from the start.  Park the car and realize that I need to step up my game.  In other words, girlfren you need to start wogging to the start line.  I needed to get there because I wanted to get one last bathroom break in before the race starts.  Get to the start line and look for portos.  What!!??!!  Looking….looking…oh there…they…are….  WTFrack!  There were only six portos and the line was out the…well you know.  I mean come on!!!  Six?  Heck, women alone need six!  Now we have to share them?  So, there I stood and I’ll tell you I wasn’t happy.  If I someone shooting the shyster I know my ice eyes were beaming through the back of their heads.  STOP TALKING….”five minutes till race start” the announcer bellows.  No way was I going to get this done.  I made the call to get out of the line and go back to the start.  Once the race began I ran to the porto and waited for six minutes, then I started my race.  Yeah.  Awesome.

The race

The race was a combination of a quarter and half marathon.  The half marathoners (me) got to do the course…you guessed it, twice.  As my readers well know, there is nothing I hate more than a lapped run.  It’s boring.  Did I say it’s boring?  But sometimes you just have to deal.  I start running down a small path and the next thing I know it’s starts to go through the park!  A real trail run.  Uh, hmmm what about the insurance blah, blah, death, blah blah…???  Yes, ladies and gentleman, we have ourselves a real trail run. I was happy, but a bit shocked.  I sure as heck wouldn’t have worn my Hokas ya’ll!  But there I was hopping over rock and sand.  The majority of the trail was single person wide with a few concrete cross overs and some flat areas.  You know what that means right?  Here’s a hint:

Can you guess?  It was a caterpillar run.  Meaning, you’re only going as fast as the person in front of you.  A lot of stop and starting.  Awesome!  One thing I will say, the difficulty was higher than the Grand Canyon Half.  You had to be careful where you stepped and it was constantly up and down.  I was very careful on descending because I didn’t want to hurt my knee again.  That’s what got me in trouble last time.  It was a tough course.

Here is a picture I took on one of the few places that was flatter.  Mind you I was already halfway up the hill.

Support

This is where things get a little iffy and I really want to say something about this because I have noticed this happening in MANY events I’ve taken part over the years.  For the first part there was heavy support.  The trail was marked okay, not great.  They marked it with bright green tape (the route to follow) and orange tape (where not to go).  There were volunteer guides to set you on the right path at some of the more tricky parts.  After the first round, i.e. the quarter marathoners completed their race, the volunteers magically disappeared.  Now you would think, well you ran it once surely you would know where to go.  Not so.  Runners were getting tired and paying attention to foot strike.  I saw a lot of people get turned around at some of the more confusing points, myself included.  Then the ultimate no no, they took away some of the water points.  Look, I didn’t bring my water belt.  I train with one, but I look forward to running a race without one, especially if there is water support.  Right or wrong, we can discuss that in the comments section.  A lot of people had their belts or hydration packs.  Maybe I should have brought mine.  The water points were about every two miles for the first part of the race, but seemed to disappear the second half.  This is what I find at a lot of these events.  You have the fast people who will finish the race in one hour, but then the other 90% don’t.  The other 90% paid for this experience too and therefore, the event managers need to follow through and support until the last man or woman crosses the finish line.  Some of these races are expensive.  This one wasn’t too bad, but still the support needs to be the same for all.  Unless there are some stipulations in the event rules that state support cuts off after a certain time, support the runners.  I was really counting on one of the water points only to find it packed up and gone.  Not cool.  I will be writing 131 productions.

The finish

The finish was great and well supported.  They had lots of food and water to refuel and the bling wasn’t too bad either.  The medal was crazy big and a little heavy!  I wonder sometimes if you can get addicted to the bling.  My body was a little sore, but overall this was a pain free race!

I was pleased with my performance.  I was going to say I didn’t PR but I guess I did because this was my second trail half.  I ran 3 hours and some change for the Grand Canyon and I finished this run at 2:59.  Granted the elevation differences are not the same with two very different environments.  I came in 9th in my age group for this run.  Don’t get excited, there were eleven in my age group.

After the run I was really hungry even after eating cake and a banana at the finish, so I treated myself to Culvers.  I hadn’t been there in a while and needed something good!

And here I thought they did the pickle like that especially for me….no, it’s everyone.

I completed 27.45 miles this week bringing me to 5110.36 miles completed in my journey with 6204.64 gratefully remaining.  I hope this post finds you surrounded by the people you love.  Happy Miles to You!!

Once again I felt like I was on the moon.  I got in the car to go home and this was on the radio….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mileage Recap ~ 8 – 14 Jan WTF Half Marathon Training…Fly Me To The Moon

Posted on by

I had a good training week.  Meaning, I did everything I set out to do.  Whether that means I did it well, you can judge for yourself:-) Definitely more miles this week but I still didn’t get out on the bike.  Definitely, will be changing that next week for sure.

I have added three to four days a week of weight training to my program and happy to say I have stuck to it.  I have always lifted weights in the past, but sometimes when you’re training for a long race it’s easy to put that on the back burner.  Getting in the car, driving to the gym, etc, etc.  So this year, I’m determined stick with it and this week was a banner week.

Started off with two smaller runs of around 3 and 4 miles each.  The weather is still cool here (in the morning) and I was able to keep a good steady pace around 10:37.  I was happy with that pace because it’s usually up around a 11 or 12 minute pace.  One of my running goals is to keep the pace constant around 10:30 this year.  Working hard!

My long run was not so great.  What’s good about writing about all this is, if you’re a runner or cyclist, you can feel good in knowing that some days aren’t the best.  Everybody has those days.  This weeks long run was around 6 miles and I waited a little later in the day to run.  First, I was tired.  Didn’t get a lot of sleep the night before and I’m an early riser.  Around 5 am.  I have four cats, so you get my drift there.  I could really feel the drag after mile two.  Legs were just heavy.  After around mile two it was the run some walk some day.  Second, it was hot.  Oh yes….it’s back.  I started off without any water.  You know it’s funny.  During this time of year when it’s colder in the morning and hot in the afternoon I always play this game with myself.  Hmmm, can I do it?  Can I do it without water?  And always the answer is…….NO!  Every dang time.  But that doesn’t stop me from going and trying.  It’s only six miles.  My mind says ~ “you got this girl” and my dehydrated mouth says “no, no you don’t”.  On one of my routes I make a pass by my house at mile two and I swung in to get my water belt.  It was thrown in the back of the pantry looking at me like…yeah that’s what you get.  So I strapped her on and finished the run.  Good grief.

Normally Sunday is my rest day, but I wanted to keep going.  One thing I do like hiking.  I went out to one of our trails today and decided to do the mountain rim and one of the trails to the base of another mountain.

Mountain ridge.

I started off by climbing a couple of the mountain ridge lines.  I know this picture doesn’t really look high but I was pretty high up!  It’s nice to be out there because even though there are plenty of people hiking, cycling and running you still have plenty of path to yourself.  Plenty of time to think and just be.  I originally thought to bring music but decided against it.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes to disconnect is the best option.  I like hearing all the sounds, especially any animals that might want to sneak up behind me!  For the most part the path is good footing.  When you are climbing and descending it can be a bit daring!

 

 

 

Even when a cactus is dying it is pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sat down to do some journal writing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my favorites…

It’s like I’m on the moon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hiked a total of 4.63 miles this time around.  I logged a total of 19.22 miles this week with 6253.12 gratefully waiting and 3111.53 for the year.  (I hear you laughing….don’t count me out).

I do find some beauty in the desert.  Sometimes when I’m walking or running it’s invigorating other times when I look out its easy for a wave of sadness to rush over me.  I sometimes see just rock, but I know there is beauty in all things, sometimes you just need to look a little harder to find it.  When I got back in the car to go home this song was playing.  I laughed because I thought it was appropriate.  Happy Miles to You!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mileage Recap ~ 1 – 7 Jan WTF Half Marathon Training

Posted on by

How was everyone’s first week of 2018?  I hope that so far, everything is going well.  I’m excited to get some more miles under my belt this year.  One good milestone that will happen is I will make my half-way mark.  I can remember when I was just starting out and 11,315 miles didn’t seem like that long of a way, but…. it’s long.  Very long.

I started this week off with training runs around the neighborhood with the longer run on an actual trail to prepare myself for the WTF Half Marathon.  My first two runs went well and I’m maintaining a solid pace around 10:30.  Here we are just in January and guess what is beginning to happen?  Surely, you must know….It’s already starting to get….hot.  When I was training for the Dublin Marathon, I followed a flatter route closer to home and this time I decided to do one of the mid-week runs on more of an incline.  I have run this route before but it takes me closer to the mountains.  Half-way through I could really feel the heat.  It wasn’t really hot, but it’s already starting.  Still a good run.

I made goal of going to the gym three days a week for strength training.  I really love to strength train, but sometimes you get busy and getting there can fall by the wayside.  I have been going pretty regularly and I’m already beginning to see a difference.  I’m one of these people I go in do what I have to do then I’m out.  I’m in there from 30 – 45 minutes then done.  Arms, legs, abs/back each have their own day and that makes it easy.  Sunday I’m leaving for a rest day.  Which is hard because I feel like I should be doing something.  It’s important to rest.  Too much can leave you with injuries and then the rest is just a struggle.

I went down to Pima canyon trail for this weeks long run only to find the park closed.  It was kind of funny because everyone was parking out on the street and I just thought it was full.  It’s very popular and since the temperature is pristine right now everyone is out and about.  I attached my water belt and started running from the car.  I get about half a mile down the pavement right before the entrance and it’s all blocked off.  Under construction until Fall.  Hmmm.  With that I turned on my heel with the annoying sloshing of the water belt and ran back to my car.

I won’t lie, I was thinking…just go back home, but ain’t nobody got time for that.  There are miles waiting.  I drove to the next trail head I knew that is actually a little closer to the house.  The last time I ran “off-road” was the Grand Canyon Half and that was no joke.  It was in May, snowing, muddy and 6804′ elevation.  It took me almost as long as a regular marathon.  I believe it was around 3:45 or somewhere close.  So, I am always very impressed when people talk about trail running.

This weeks longer run was good.  I really had never run there so I wasn’t sure how many miles it was to the mountain.  I also wasn’t very familiar with the terrain so that cause a little bit of nervousness on how far I wanted to go.  There were moments that I was all alone and a few times I heard noises that actually made me stop and turn around.  Nervous much….uh yes.  I was grateful for the occasional cyclist or people walking. This trail was hilly so there was a lot of energy expended.  It’s just amazing the difference mile 2 to 3 can be as far as burning energy and the body getting tired.  It’s also a little harder on the body and I made sure to concentrate on how hard I was pounding.  Consistency breeds success.

A few photos:

Action video!!!

That’s really funny.  I took a lot of pictures.  I guess I’m more interested in the experience and process than the time.

I was able to finish 10.84 miles this week.  I have 6272.34 miles waiting and 3130.75 for the yearly goal.

Happy Miles to You!!

I thought this was appropriate: