Thank you so much for posting your adventures and pictures of trail running, folks ... I've had a great time playing around in the woods this last month or so ... did my first FA at the end of May and my first official trail race last Saturday <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"><br><br>
we started our drive to Charleston, WV around 1 p.m. on Friday to make it to the Kanawha State Park in time for the pre-race meal and bib pick-up that night ... got in with enough time to set up at the hotel before the dinner, so that was nice ... me a Maniac at dinner and saw another lady I'd met while helping out at Mohican <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"> ... scarfed down some pizza and snagged a map of the trail to study a little before going to bed ... found out hubby would have access to me at each of the 9 aid stations if he was willing to drive around to them <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/banana.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="banana"> he was happy and so was I ... he'd have something to do and I could scoot through more stations without stopping at all if I wanted <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> ... my pre-race plan was to carry enough fluids with me to make it at least an hour and also 5 gels and 2 energy bars ... at 15 mile station you could leave a drop box, so I made one in case I needed it ...<br><br><br>
back to the hotel after picking up some sausage egg muffins, a blueberry king sized muffin, some OJ and a couple tall boy Bud Lights <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> oh yeah ... and a chicken salad from wendy's to top off the pizza dinner <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/huh.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="huh"><br><br><br>
I was tired and went to sleep by 9 or so ... the race would start at 6:30 and we wanted to be at the park by 6 a.m. ... things in the morning went smoothly and on schedule ... we got a few pics before taking off ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/003-9.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
the first 'mountain' we had to run up ... Yeah, I know, that's a foothill ... but it's a mountain to me <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/002-9.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br>
we lined up and with a 3-2-1, we were off ... here's a pic of us rounding the first bend on the way to our beginning trail ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/006-10.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
it wasn't pitch black but it was still dim in the woods .. here's me (with doctored image to lighten it up some) coming down the first mountain path into aid station #1<br><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/010-7-1.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
here's a little better one of same station stop ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/007-7.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br><br>
Okay ... so ... as soon as we got into the woods on the first trail it was a steep uphill and single file hike up the hilly switchbacks ... a little frustrating but managable ... it was going to be a long day and no use letting anything get to you at this point ... when we finally reached the ridge some smallish groups separated out and stayed that way for the first few stops ... I was near a couple college aged guys in front and another couple behind ... by the 3rd aid station the ones in front had fallen back and I was leap frogging with the other set ...<br><br><br>
here's a pic coming into either the 4th aid station ....<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/014-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
here's the guys I leap frogged with from station 4-8 or so ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/012-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br>
hubby was doing a good job switching my drink bottles out for me ahead of my arrival at the stations ... he also took pics till then ... he stayed with me jogging for a little after the 4th stop and I told him he might want to get back so he'd make it to the next station ...<br><br>
I started doing every uphill in a kareoka (grapevinish) step alternating sides every dozen or so steps around this point in the race ... I'd read about doing this on a link HERE and it made sense to me since I naturally do similar when hiking steep up or downhills ... I felt a little odd but it sure left my legs feeling better than they did the first few inclines <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"><br><br>
yep ... he missed me at the 5th stop, haha ... I just smiled at the helpers and asked them to look for a really tall guy in a grey tech shirt and black shorts and let him know I'd gone thru ... I had enough fluids to carry me to the next stop ... BUT .... he wasn't there either! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/uhoh2.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="uhoh2"> haha ... I was too fast for him (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) ... some had seen him and knew he wasn't still back at stop 5, so I was sure he'd catch up with me soon ... I had a volunteer fill one of my bottles with gatorade and I filled mine with water and I was off again ... I had taken water and watered-down FOCUS gatorade with me up to then and taken a gel every 1/2 hour or so starting after the first aid station and 3 endurotabs right before reaching each aid station ... I started to eat some of my fruit smoothie energy bar after the 6th stop but too much sugar ..<br><br><br><br>
my memory isn't good at this stop but somewhere around here is where we got rained on (hit and miss showers) for nearly 1 1/2 hours ... not a downpour but enough that the trail got good and slick right in time for the hardest decline down a rocky streambed ... scariest decent of the day ... they'd sent a couple volunteers to the bottom of that mess to keep an eye for injured runners ...<br><br><br>
I had stopped and retied my shoes after the 3rd incline and had to do it again here, after the 7th ... hubby saw me and told me I wasn't at the aid station yet ... I knew that, I just needed to keep my feet from shifting forward .... I lost some time here and the first female I'd seen since the first hill of the race passed me here ... I also opted to use the flush toilets at this particular stop <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> ... lost a little more time ... I caught up with the girl and her friends easily ... grabbed some combos and cheese chunks since sugary stuff wasn't as agreeable anymore and I didn't want a repeat of the tummy issues at Hatfield and McCoy in June <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/uhoh2.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="uhoh2"> .... it was hard to choke down those combos while hiking fairly hard uphill, haha .... but I did it somehow ...<br><br><br>
Beth was the lady I leap-frogged with the remainder of the race ... I wasn't feeling overly competitive I was just wanting to feel that refreshed feeling on the ridges and downhills like I had earlier in the race ... every uphill left me wondering if I had it in me to finish anywhere near where I'd thought I was capable of ... I had a goofy smile on my face much of the time ... especially on the more technical downhills requiring a balance of caution and speed ... my speed may improve with time but the aches of my falls in May are still lingering enough to remind me to be careful! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/huh.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="huh"><br><br><br>
by the last station I knew that Beth and I had 4 & 5 female in the bag ... not sure who'd pull it out ... and I also knew the only other older woman was in the top 3 and that I'd have Masters Female whether I finished 4 or 5 ... Beth is an experienced ultra runner ... something like 7-9 of them last year and this was her 5th already this year ... I figured she had more in stores than me and if I were to push the pace chances were that she'd still be able to kick it in and beat me anyways ... and then I may feel wrecked and not enjoy the rest of my vacation with my bro's family in TN ... and I really wanted to do some hiking in the Smokey's <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> ... so I let her set the pace and go ahead, telling her the truth, that she looked like she could run the remainder and that I may need to take some walk breaks ... on our last rocky streambed decline I was still in front of her and her friend ... I hit a slippery rock and skidded a bit, felt a twinge in my left quad but didn't fall all the way back, barely touched my hand down ... then a few steps later was a giant boulder covered in wet moss that had skid marks on it and I had to slow way down for it and still slipped a teesy bit on that Goliath <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"> ...<br><br><br>
here are some pics of the chute and finish line ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/017-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
my goody bag with finishers metal canteen and local art glass creation ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/019-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br>
me and my 'crew'/personal photographer with my Master's Plaque <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/024-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br><br>
Me and Beth, my pacing buddy for the last 10 miles or so ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/020-6.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br><br><br>
I had a great time ...<br><br><br>
my hopes going in were<br><br>
1 - finish<br>
2- finish under 8 hours<br>
3- secretly hoping to finish under 6 hours<br><br><br><br>
finish time was 5:45:20 (Beth's was 5:45:10)<br><br>
I was 5th out of about 25 finishing women<br>
and 24th out of about 97 finishing men<br><br><br><br>
and ... then I got to recover in a beautiful cabin in TN near the Smokies ... and hiked a little up that mountain every day ... and also hubby and I went to the Smokies and hiked the Rainbow Falls/Mount Le Conte trail on Monday <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"><br><br><br>
lots of coolio pics in the Post Race Tent of the mountains ...<br><br>
and editing to add the one I just scanned from our whitewater rafting sidetrip on the way back home Wednesday!<br><br><a href="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54568" target="_blank">http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54568</a><br><br><br><br><br>
thanks for reading the novella ... and inspiring me to try this!<br><br><br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy">
we started our drive to Charleston, WV around 1 p.m. on Friday to make it to the Kanawha State Park in time for the pre-race meal and bib pick-up that night ... got in with enough time to set up at the hotel before the dinner, so that was nice ... me a Maniac at dinner and saw another lady I'd met while helping out at Mohican <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"> ... scarfed down some pizza and snagged a map of the trail to study a little before going to bed ... found out hubby would have access to me at each of the 9 aid stations if he was willing to drive around to them <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/banana.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="banana"> he was happy and so was I ... he'd have something to do and I could scoot through more stations without stopping at all if I wanted <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> ... my pre-race plan was to carry enough fluids with me to make it at least an hour and also 5 gels and 2 energy bars ... at 15 mile station you could leave a drop box, so I made one in case I needed it ...<br><br><br>
back to the hotel after picking up some sausage egg muffins, a blueberry king sized muffin, some OJ and a couple tall boy Bud Lights <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> oh yeah ... and a chicken salad from wendy's to top off the pizza dinner <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/huh.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="huh"><br><br><br>
I was tired and went to sleep by 9 or so ... the race would start at 6:30 and we wanted to be at the park by 6 a.m. ... things in the morning went smoothly and on schedule ... we got a few pics before taking off ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/003-9.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
the first 'mountain' we had to run up ... Yeah, I know, that's a foothill ... but it's a mountain to me <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/002-9.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br>
we lined up and with a 3-2-1, we were off ... here's a pic of us rounding the first bend on the way to our beginning trail ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/006-10.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
it wasn't pitch black but it was still dim in the woods .. here's me (with doctored image to lighten it up some) coming down the first mountain path into aid station #1<br><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/010-7-1.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
here's a little better one of same station stop ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/007-7.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br><br>
Okay ... so ... as soon as we got into the woods on the first trail it was a steep uphill and single file hike up the hilly switchbacks ... a little frustrating but managable ... it was going to be a long day and no use letting anything get to you at this point ... when we finally reached the ridge some smallish groups separated out and stayed that way for the first few stops ... I was near a couple college aged guys in front and another couple behind ... by the 3rd aid station the ones in front had fallen back and I was leap frogging with the other set ...<br><br><br>
here's a pic coming into either the 4th aid station ....<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/014-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
here's the guys I leap frogged with from station 4-8 or so ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/012-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br>
hubby was doing a good job switching my drink bottles out for me ahead of my arrival at the stations ... he also took pics till then ... he stayed with me jogging for a little after the 4th stop and I told him he might want to get back so he'd make it to the next station ...<br><br>
I started doing every uphill in a kareoka (grapevinish) step alternating sides every dozen or so steps around this point in the race ... I'd read about doing this on a link HERE and it made sense to me since I naturally do similar when hiking steep up or downhills ... I felt a little odd but it sure left my legs feeling better than they did the first few inclines <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"><br><br>
yep ... he missed me at the 5th stop, haha ... I just smiled at the helpers and asked them to look for a really tall guy in a grey tech shirt and black shorts and let him know I'd gone thru ... I had enough fluids to carry me to the next stop ... BUT .... he wasn't there either! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/uhoh2.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="uhoh2"> haha ... I was too fast for him (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) ... some had seen him and knew he wasn't still back at stop 5, so I was sure he'd catch up with me soon ... I had a volunteer fill one of my bottles with gatorade and I filled mine with water and I was off again ... I had taken water and watered-down FOCUS gatorade with me up to then and taken a gel every 1/2 hour or so starting after the first aid station and 3 endurotabs right before reaching each aid station ... I started to eat some of my fruit smoothie energy bar after the 6th stop but too much sugar ..<br><br><br><br>
my memory isn't good at this stop but somewhere around here is where we got rained on (hit and miss showers) for nearly 1 1/2 hours ... not a downpour but enough that the trail got good and slick right in time for the hardest decline down a rocky streambed ... scariest decent of the day ... they'd sent a couple volunteers to the bottom of that mess to keep an eye for injured runners ...<br><br><br>
I had stopped and retied my shoes after the 3rd incline and had to do it again here, after the 7th ... hubby saw me and told me I wasn't at the aid station yet ... I knew that, I just needed to keep my feet from shifting forward .... I lost some time here and the first female I'd seen since the first hill of the race passed me here ... I also opted to use the flush toilets at this particular stop <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy"> ... lost a little more time ... I caught up with the girl and her friends easily ... grabbed some combos and cheese chunks since sugary stuff wasn't as agreeable anymore and I didn't want a repeat of the tummy issues at Hatfield and McCoy in June <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/uhoh2.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="uhoh2"> .... it was hard to choke down those combos while hiking fairly hard uphill, haha .... but I did it somehow ...<br><br><br>
Beth was the lady I leap-frogged with the remainder of the race ... I wasn't feeling overly competitive I was just wanting to feel that refreshed feeling on the ridges and downhills like I had earlier in the race ... every uphill left me wondering if I had it in me to finish anywhere near where I'd thought I was capable of ... I had a goofy smile on my face much of the time ... especially on the more technical downhills requiring a balance of caution and speed ... my speed may improve with time but the aches of my falls in May are still lingering enough to remind me to be careful! <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/huh.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="huh"><br><br><br>
by the last station I knew that Beth and I had 4 & 5 female in the bag ... not sure who'd pull it out ... and I also knew the only other older woman was in the top 3 and that I'd have Masters Female whether I finished 4 or 5 ... Beth is an experienced ultra runner ... something like 7-9 of them last year and this was her 5th already this year ... I figured she had more in stores than me and if I were to push the pace chances were that she'd still be able to kick it in and beat me anyways ... and then I may feel wrecked and not enjoy the rest of my vacation with my bro's family in TN ... and I really wanted to do some hiking in the Smokey's <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"> ... so I let her set the pace and go ahead, telling her the truth, that she looked like she could run the remainder and that I may need to take some walk breaks ... on our last rocky streambed decline I was still in front of her and her friend ... I hit a slippery rock and skidded a bit, felt a twinge in my left quad but didn't fall all the way back, barely touched my hand down ... then a few steps later was a giant boulder covered in wet moss that had skid marks on it and I had to slow way down for it and still slipped a teesy bit on that Goliath <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Smile"> ...<br><br><br>
here are some pics of the chute and finish line ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/017-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br>
my goody bag with finishers metal canteen and local art glass creation ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/019-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br>
me and my 'crew'/personal photographer with my Master's Plaque <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"><br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/024-5.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br><br>
Me and Beth, my pacing buddy for the last 10 miles or so ...<br><br><img alt="" src="http://i332.photobucket.com/albums/m331/KB40Sporti/020-6.jpg" style="border:0px solid;"><br><br><br><br><br>
I had a great time ...<br><br><br>
my hopes going in were<br><br>
1 - finish<br>
2- finish under 8 hours<br>
3- secretly hoping to finish under 6 hours<br><br><br><br>
finish time was 5:45:20 (Beth's was 5:45:10)<br><br>
I was 5th out of about 25 finishing women<br>
and 24th out of about 97 finishing men<br><br><br><br>
and ... then I got to recover in a beautiful cabin in TN near the Smokies ... and hiked a little up that mountain every day ... and also hubby and I went to the Smokies and hiked the Rainbow Falls/Mount Le Conte trail on Monday <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/cool.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Cool"><br><br><br>
lots of coolio pics in the Post Race Tent of the mountains ...<br><br>
and editing to add the one I just scanned from our whitewater rafting sidetrip on the way back home Wednesday!<br><br><a href="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54568" target="_blank">http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=54568</a><br><br><br><br><br>
thanks for reading the novella ... and inspiring me to try this!<br><br><br><br><img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.kickrunners.com/forum/images/smilies/biggrin.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="Very Happy">
