five things friday

what better way to ease back into blogging than an easy list? :) i've missed posting, but let me just tell you, falling asleep between 830-930 every night is not conducive to blogging!


first….
this has been a crazy week at our house. on saturday i was on my way home from work when brad called and asked if our vet's office was open (side note… isn't this such a guy thing? call me to see if the office is open rather than just calling the office. ahh, i digress). immediately i'm ask what was wrong. long story short, lyla had ripped off an accessory pad on her front paw while playing with riley in the back yard and was bleeding like crazy.

we took her to our local emergency vet and they stitched her up, good as new. she got a cute little leg bandage that brad claimed make her look like a filly ready for the races (can you tell we're from KY?). 

unfortunately, for her and her mischievous ways, she also came home the owner of a brand new cone of shame. it's been a big old pain in the you know what, but oh how we've laughed at her. (keep all your comments about what horrible parents we're going to be to yourselves ;) )

i mean, come on. that's funny. 

second…

we're doing a challenge at pure barre asheville: 20 classes in 30 days. just what i needed to give me some extra motivation to get my butt to the barre. my inner teacher's pet loves getting to put a star by my name before every class. yes, i'm weird. 

i've completed 5 so far (it was my on week at work), and am hoping to complete 7 in the next 7 days, wish me luck!

third…

i celebrated my 31st birthday on monday! brad totally spoiled me and even sent me these beautiful flowers:

my awesome brother sent me some super comfortable socks and a gift card to sonic (he knows of my major addiction to diet cherry limeades). i know i brag on him all the time, but truly, he's the best. i'm so proud to call him my brother  :) i'd love the show you the picture, but my computer is being STUPID and won't let me upload it.

my friend shannon also sent me these awesome forever stamps:

LOVE them.

fourth...
i'm still in love with pure barre. it rocks my sticky socks. and speaking of sticky socks, check out the ones that brad put in my stocking:

fifth and final...

aren't they the cutest??

summary sunday

the week of september 23-29

monday:  pure barre
tuesday:  pure barre, 3 mile run
wednesday: pure barre
thursday:  rest day
friday:  pure barre
saturday:  ran 3 miles
sunday:  pure barre

hmm, i distinctly remember saying i'd run 10 miles this week. obviously, that didn't happen. i had planned on running 3 on thursday and 4 on saturday, but i decided my body wanted a rest day (and brad wanted to go out to eat when i got home from work).

so i'll shoot for 10 again this next week.

and just because this post is super boring, here are some cute pup pics!

cradle to the grave 30k, pisgah forest, nc

cradle to the grave 30k trail race

pisgah forest, nc

4:48:00 

i survived the cradle to the grave 30k on saturday! so if you read this post you know that i was waffling about the race BIG TIME. saturday morning i get up and it is POURING the rain. i just laughed to myself, what else can you do?

we got packed up and headed down to brevard. we got a little lost but made it to the cradle of forestry just fine. i've been in pisgah forest before, but never this part. it continued to pour while we checked in and picked up our packets. 

the shirts for the race are super nice, columbia omni freeze, gender specific shirts (they retail for $50!). 

i don't really have any rainy day running gear, so i was just hoping that we'd have tree cover for most of the race. i wore my Earth Fare Athlete Ambassador shirt and capris, and Brooks Cascadias [ps - brooks is my favorite for trails shoes!].

the 30k was supposed to start at 8am and the 5K at 830am. i walked over to the start line and they announced that they were delaying the start by 10 minutes to wait on some people who were still coming in. that's frustrating. 

the race ended up actually starting about 15-20 minutes late. i had no way to let brad know because i had no cell service AND i didn't want to even get it out because i was already afraid i was going to ruin it in the rain.

the race itself? it was HARD. 

notable moments:

• lots of water crossings. some had wooden footbridges, some had logs that you had to balance on single file, and then the granddaddy of them all, one with just a tow rope. it was really funny because it made me think of this picture that i saw when i was reading scott jurek's eat and run of him doing something similar [stream v. river, 30k v. 100 miles of course though!]. i thought it was so cool and i couldn't wait to tell brad all about it!
• going up pilot mountain. holy hell. 
• coming down pilot mountain. i still can't run because it's so muddy and there are too many roots!
• sink holes. 
• beautiful scenery
• great aid stations. there were 3 that was stopped at two times each, so 6 aid stations. i had already been to them all once when i see a different one. apparently i was brain dead and stopped, thinking it was for us. nope, it was for a mountain bike race that was also going on, whoops! 
• strawberry fig newtons taste amazing after about 15 miles. 
• looking up around mile 18 and seeing brad on the trail waiting for me. i thought i was hallucinating. 
• mentally this race was a continuous struggle. i mean, add 10 minutes to my finish time and you have my marathon time. that'll mess with your head!

finishing was a great feeling as always. the post race party was one of the best i've seen, especially for a local race. one of my favorite local restaurants, Hob Nob, gave the all the racers a free meal, and we got a free beer from one of my favorite local breweries, Oskar Blues. not bad!

i was a little muddy :)

and some other great news? brad got first place in his age group in the 5K! so proud of him!

we came home and i made myself take an ice bath. bleh. 

then we laid on the couch for the rest of the day and watched about 10 episodes of breaking bad. great day!

2013 spartan sprint carolinas :::: recap & review

spartan sprint carolinas

march 23, 2013

time: 1:34:13

my brother and i ran this race last year, if you want you can read about it here. this year we dragged brad along too :)

our heat was scheduled for 10a so we drove to charlotte that morning. we got to the race site [us national whitewater center] and went up the hill to get checked in. i had ezekiel toast with PB before we left asheville and that seemed to do a lot better than last year's clif bar.

of note::: it was COLD this year. i was not looking forward to the water obstacles!

we made ourselves get out of the car and get our bibs on, then we headed up to get marked up. volunteers write your bib number on your face, arm, and leg [from what i can tell this is mostly for pictures because bibs tend to be covered in mud].

then we headed to the start line. i believe they release heats of 200 every 30 minutes. i don't normally start near the front of any race, but we lined up pretty far up for this. last year we got behind a lot of people on a single track trail at the beginning so we wanted to avoid that.

.: obstacles that i remember :.

• up and down a set of stairs
• pretty technical trail running
• set of 4 foot [i think] walls, one you go over, one under, then one through the middle
• the trenches [barbed wire mud pit] i'm talking mud up to your chest. 
• the mud pit led into the river, which we waded in for a bit
• one seven foot wall followed by an 8 foot wall
• obviously matthew and brad helped me here. matthew gave me a knee then they made sure i was steady at the top. i slipped coming off the back side and hurt my palm pretty badly. i should have just let go when i slipped but my reaction was instead to grip harder.  it immediately started turning blue so i skipped the second wall and went to do burpees. 
• tractor pull [i managed this one all by myself this year!]
• back to the river for some more wading
• three mud pits that were shaped like this VVV you walked down into them then had to climb up the other side. it looked super easy but was actually pretty hard. it was slippery but that's where the teamwork comes in. [TMI alert - i ripped my bootie to shreds sliding into the pits, OUCH!]
• barbed wire crawl
• monkey bars = my second set of burpees
• bucket pulley - they actually had girl and boy buckets this year and i was so happy to be able to complete this obstacle. 
• climb through a concrete tunnel
• cargo net climbs
• sandbag carry [they also had added a girl version of this, last year we all carried the same sandbags]
• traverse wall [burpees for me]
• tire flip
• spear throw [30 more burpees]
• rope climb [umm... burpees]
• a ladder type wall that you climbed up, over and down
• an incline wall that you used a rope to climb over
• fire jump
• gladiator pit

.:my race:.

• i felt like it was easier this year [matthew said the same]. 
• i feel like i could do another one and let the boys go on ahead of me. while it was nice to have them as my safety net and cheering me on, i know they would like to see how fast they could actually do a course. 
• i was disappointed in myself for skipping that second wall. i let my fear get the best of me and i regret it. 
• i made a point to stop and help people when and where i could. i love the camaraderie that comes with spartan race. it's all about getting everyone across the finish line. 
• i did two obstacles that i wasn't able to do last year.
• once again, my brother stepped up big for me. he and brad went ahead and finished because the they thought i could do the final obstacles myself.
•  matthew ran back to encourage me, telling me i was almost there and giving me tips on the final wall. 
• last year i burpeed out of this wall because people were killing themselves on it. they had put dish liquid on it to make it super slick and i have this unrational fear of busting my teeth out!
•  matthew told me that i could do it so i said i'd try even though i wanted to burpee out of it.
• i started up it and started to have a mini freak out because my feet started slipping out from under me. i was about to let myself slide down when i heard my brother at the top of it telling me to lean into my heels and that i could do it. 
• i climbed up to him and he helped me over the top. he had come back onto the course to help me. love him. 

this was after we hosed off. still freezing our tails off. and here are some pics from the race photographers:

i think brad win's for best picture! side note::: they allow you to download hi res copies of these pics FOR FREE. huge kudos to spartan race for providing that. 

they also send you a video of yourself completing some of the obstacles. here's mine, if you're so inclined you can see me crawling through the barbed wire pit, finishing the last incline wall, and running through the gladiator pit:::: click for video.

improvements from last year:

• ladies versions of some obstacles
• mile markers
• more water stations
• the shirts said 'finisher' on them. however they still give them to you at the end of the race when you're covered in mud. they're still black cotton. yuck. 
• bibs were nicer

oskar blues 4 miler:::: brevard, nc

oskar blues 4 miler

brevard, north carolina
sunday march 17, 2013

time:::: 37:38

i was so excited when i saw this race because brad LOVES oskar blues and we haven't been able to make it down to their brewery since it opened in december. i figured the promise of post race beer might just convince him to join me for the race [so far i had only been able to talk him into 5Ks]. i was right, he was in!

i didn't realize we'd have to miss church to go though. i ASSUMED that since the race was at the brewery that the start time would be later [you can't serve alcohol in NC until after noon on sundays], but i was wrong. whoops.

here was my original outfit [and our unmade bed]:

at the very last minute i changed into my usual capris... it was a little chilly outside... and while i've ran 4 miles in this skirt before, unfortunately my legs have changed shape a little since i haven't been lifting legs, so i was worried about chaffing]. we made it down to brevard and got checked it and picked up our packets. i loved the race shirts [and they're north face technical shirts!]

john tuttle, an olympic marathoner, started the race for us. the race was really fairly flat for a race here. there was one big hill, but it wasn't bad and there was a nice downhill following it.

during the first mile i felt horrible. when my watch beeped my first mile i figured out why... i was running way too fast for me!

don't get me wrong, i'm pumped that i'm even able to run that fast [i had no idea that was even possible for me!] but i wasn't running this race seriously, it was just something fun for us to do together [and by "together" i mean we both had a bib. i saw brad at the start line and then again at the finish. he's way to competitive to stick with me]. i had run 3 miles since the marathon, obviously i was not training!

i slowed down so my heart didn't explode and started to feel a lot better. there was a water stop around mile 2 then we finished the loop back to the brewery. i finished strong [even though i really wanted to walk at about 3.8 miles]. the race was run entirely on the roads, and while it wasn't terribly scenic, it was a really great, relatively flat course.

after the race we got some water and we decided to wait around for awards [we should definitely do this more often, especially for smaller races!]. they also had 'medals' for us which i though was super cute. they were unique!

fyi - brad did have on some green... one measly stripe on his shorts. he's a party pooper. and there were like 5 people with the same RNR savannah shirt on, random!

during the awards,  i won a door prize (25 bucks to a local outdoor store, black dome!) and brad found out that he missed 3rd place in his age group by 3 seconds! it sucked a little, but i think it actually encouraged him a lot. he's really competitive and i think he knows if had trained for more than 1 week for this race that he'd have easily placed. i hope it'll give him the bug to start running with me more!

after awards we went to get breakfast [i'll post on this later this week, i want to start posting more info on local eats] then came back to the brewery tasting room [the tasty weasel]. we enjoyed some fresh oskar blues brews.

such a great day and i cannot wait to do this race again next year. pisgah running organized the race and i thought they did a wonderful job! great course, well organized, and wonderful volunteers.

Tsali Frosty Foot 30K Recap

disclaimer::: this recap is going to be a change in format from usual... if you're looking for the details of the race without my rambling and personal nonsense, scroll to the bottom and you'll hopefully find exactly what you're looking for. 

on saturday brad, riley, and i loaded up and made the trip out to bryson city for the tsali frosty foot race. i'm so horrible about signing up for these random races that are kind of close to home, but not really close enough to drive the morning of, and i was very grateful that brad came with! i don't like to feel like i take over his whole weekend [pretty much his only time off], but it calmed my nerves to have him there.

we got into bryson city around 7pm and checked into our motel. we stayed at the ridgetop motel at the suggestion of microtel bryson city [the host hotel, but it was booked by the time i called]. they matched the discounted race rate that microtel was offering and it was only 9.99 extra to bring riley. it was an older motel, but it was clean and we appreciated being able to bring riley and also the owner told us not to worry if we needed to stay a little longer than the normal check out because he knew we were racing.

after we checked in we headed out the the nantahala brewing company. we watched the football games on their big screen and brad tried a bunch of their beers. he was really impressed with the flavors and i just loved the whole feel of the place. it was super outdoorsy/natural and you can even bring your dog [always a huge selling point for me if you haven't already noticed!].

i can't wait to come back here in the summertime! it would the perfect hangout after a day on the river!

sunday we got up around 7 and brad drove me out to tsali [about 15 minutes from the hotel]. he dropped me off and i picked up my packet then gave him all the extra stuff i didn't need. he headed back to the hotel to lay around and i got ready to run!

this is a picture of the start line and you can see the race director, aaron up front (in the black facing us) giving directions. aaron owns foot rx in asheville, which is a great local running store. they are the ones that put on the black jack 5K that i did in december [which resulted in me running this race in the first place].

after a short run up that paved street you can see in the pic, we hit the trails. words can not even do justice to describing how wonderful these trails were! they were a little muddy from all the rain we've had, but they were totally manageable. and the views!! i only stopped to take one picture, but i thought it was a pretty good one, just to give you an idea.

we ran all around fontana lake, it was hard to keep my eyes on the trail instead of all the beautiful scenery. as far as the trail went, it was mostly technical, single track... but it was very runner friendly for  the most part. some climbs, and some rutted out biking grooves, but very rolling for the most part.

here's the elevation chart [which can i just mention how PROUD i am that after having my garmin for almost 2 years i figured out how to upload my data]:

there were 3 aid stations along the course [i think] and the volunteers were amazing. they refilled our handhelds and offered to help in any way they could. i chose to use the nathan quickdraw handheld and it worked really well. i filled it with water and refilled it at every aid station. i also drank 2 cups of whatever sport drink was available at each station.

in addition, i had 3 gu's along the course, at miles 6, 11, and 15. that seemed to work pretty well for me, although i noticed a couple of times that i felt 'empty hungry' like i needed some solid food.

this race was a mental one for me, but any time i started to feel down or think negatively i just reminded myself that i GET to do this. God ALLOWS me to do this. and it was just what i needed. in the past month 2 past classmates of mine have passed away in car accidents. such terrible tragedies that are hard to wrap your head around. it's a somber reminder that nothing is promised to us in this life and we need to soak up every minute, so i tried to do that.

i mostly ran alone during this race, however i followed a group of 4 women for much of the middle. we ended up talking at one of the aid stations and two of them were actually in the pace group i ran with for my first half! such a small world! one of them is trying to get accepted to pace the biltmore marathon in march, how great would that be!?

it was a long race and it hurt. i had to stop several times to attempt to stretch out my hips, they were what gave me the most trouble. as with any new race distance, my goal is just to finish with a smile on my face. so when i rolled in and saw my boys there waiting on me, i did just that. one of the volunteers even made a comment to me when she was giving me a water about still smiling and that's one of the best compliments she could have given me!

there was a lot of great food after the race, a local cafe, The Green Sage, even had chili for all the runners. i was really excited about that because i love their food, but after the race i just couldn't stomach the thought of eating it. do you ever get like that post race? i've been doing it more and more lately. nothing sounds good and sometimes just the thought of eating upsets my stomach. it usually goes away after about an hour or two, but it's weird.

this was right before we loaded up the car to head back to asheville. i'm pretty dang proud of myself for running this race and really like that i can always look back on my 30th birthday and know that i accomplished something to remember!

when we got home i MADE myself take an ice bath. i didn't even wash the mud off before getting in.

then i showered and got ready so we could go eat and see zero dark thirty [it was great, and jessica chastain was wonderful]. check out our sweet shirts from the race:

.:race details:.

date: january 12th and 13th (50K on saturday, 30K and 8K on sunday)
race organizer:  foot rx asheville
race day pick up? yes or you could pick up the night before at the host hotel
start time:  8:30 (30K)
did race start on time? yes
adequate restrooms?  yes, i think there were 3-4 port-o-potties
aid stations:  3, stocked with water, sports drink, GU chomps and roctane, bonk breaker bars
course spectator support: i actually saw more people than i thought i would considering it was a trail race
course terrain:  technical, single track. several tough inclines but mostly rolling
shirts:  30K runners received Mountain Hard Wear half zip technical shirts (each distance got something different)
medals:  none
would i race again?  absolutely
any complaints?  my only complaint is that the finish line is right in the middle of the post race area. i literally was dodging children and adults to finish. it would have helped to have it roped off. i know that most everyone was finished already, but it sucked a little.
what you need to know:  you'll definitely need a hydration plan for this race, most runners carried their own (handhelds, belts or backpacks), parking is a little difficult so get there in time to park and take care of whatever you need). sign up early!!! the 8K and 30K sell out, i was only allowed to sign up because someone else dropped out!