Running away from August! Onward into September!

[GLC1968]

Hellish run yesterday. I managed the full 11 miles (more like 11.5 but I was too cold to walk at the end so I just kept running).

It started out nice - 58F and cloudy. It was windy (had to put my head-down and drive into the gusts on occasion) but it was at least dry and I was perfectly comfortable. At about mile 5, the rain came. Sideways, down pours, crazy gusts, branches and sticks banging into me....and I can only image what all those who saw me out thought about the crazy lady wearing only a t-shirt in this weather! I was seriously considering calling my husband to come pick me up (and bring a big towel) but when I was really critical about how I felt, I was just unhappy...I was not actually that cold. I kept going. Then at about mile 9 - I started to get really cold. My arms felt like ice blocks and I couldn't use my fingers at all. I was still soaked, my feet were sloshing and I was flat out miserable. If I thought I could have operated my phone, I would have dialed it in but since I couldn't, I figured it would be faster to just keep going.

Made it home, took a hot shower and then hobbled around all afternoon and into the evening. I was not prepared to have been running for 2 hours and 40 minutes and my legs/feet were not happy with me.

I guess that's what I get for complaining about the heat the previous week, huh?!

So for future reference, how would one dress for that kind of weather? A jacket would have been too warm for all but the last couple of miles, a light wool jersey would have been horribly water-logged. I should have worn my winter shoes (more water resistant) had I been planning ahead but I don't know how I should have dressed my upper body. Oh, my legs were fine - capri's were the right choice there...

[yellow]

Oh, GLC, sorry you had a nasty run. Hopefully you are feeling better today.

So for future reference, how would one dress for that kind of weather?

I have a super duper light rain jacket that I either stick in my pack (if I am going really far) or simply tie around my waist if I don't have a pack. It's not a full-on shell, but it has saved me more than once. I hatehatehate running in the rain (give me snow any day over rain!) but when I do (or know that there is a good chance that I could get caught in it), I will wear wool socks (they do very well when wet!) and usually a thin, short-sleeved wool t-shirt. If it's cold enough for a long sleeved wool shirt (again, very light), then it's usually snowing where I live I seem to do OK with the short sleeves and the light rain coat.

Here is the coat I have. Not cheap but I'd buy one again in a heartbeat. You might be able to find it on Amazon or something like that:

http://www.goreapparel.com/gore-runn...efault,pd.html

I adore every single piece of Gore running wear that I own. They totally have it dialed. I absolutely love this jacket.

BUT! Your next run will be much better. I am sure of it!

[OakLeaf]

Ugh GLC. That sounds awful.

Personally when I started yesterday it was 57 and cloudy, and it stayed that way through my whole run, and I never so much as rolled down my arm warmers or felt my gloves were overly warm. You and I are on different planes when it comes to hypothermia... but I can't see running in those conditions without being able to add and remove at least a hat and probably an outer layer too. I'd start with a microweight wool base layer under a long sleeve technical top ... of which my favorite one is also long discontinued.

I did poke around the internets this morning looking for the jacket Yellow linked to and found a site in the UK that still has them, but only in black (plus one XL in blue). Not for me, not in black, but just for reference, are they true to size? From Gore's US size chart it looks like I should take a medium, where I take a small in most tops.

[GLC1968]

Thanks Yellow and Oak. I have a local friend who is a Gore rep, so I'm going to send her that link and ask her if she knows of anywhere I can get myself one of those!

I was wearing a baseball style running hat which successfully kept the rain out of my eyes/face and I'm sure it kept me a bit warmer. I was also wearing wool socks (the only socks I ever wear running!), so at least my feet survived, despite the wet. I was worried about sloughing off all my skin, but they were fine once they dried out. Go wool!

Sounds like I now have a reason to buy more wool t's! I think I can handle wool t's and a light jacket until winter gets here. I'm ok with running in the rain, but typically if it's raining here, it's quite a bit colder than it was on Sunday and I think that's what threw me.

[rocknrollgirl]

Call me crazy, but I do not mind running in the rain at all. I have a super light wool l/s zip neck for days like that. Now that being said, I have not run 11.5 miles in rain like that. hmmm...

Well today was our last run before our race on Saturday. I really am going in just to finish. I am hoping for 4 hours, it is somewhere between 26 and 27k, so 16-17 miles, rough terrain, all single track. I will be trudging for sure and remaining of cookies.

Run when you can, walk when you have to, crawl when you must!

I will report back after the race. Wish me luck. Please send good trail karma between 10am and 2pm est on Saturday.

[OakLeaf]

Good luck rnrgirl! Have fun!

[GLC1968]

Please send good trail karma between 10am and 2pm est on Saturday.

Trail happy karma coming your way. Have a good time and eat some cookies for me! ;-)

[yellow]

Ooooooo, RnR. Have a great race. I will carb up on some cookies for you this week TRUDGE ON!

Oak, the Gore jacket is true to size. I pretty much always wear a small and it is a small and fits perfectly. I also have this one, which I find too warm for running but I have worn it on colder, windy-er days when skate skiing. I luv it too.

http://www.goreapparel.com/gore-runn...vid=xsellpdprp

Yeah, I have a sh!t ton of jackets.

As for running, I went for a run in the mountains after work this evening and someone flipped the autumn switch over the last day or so. Wow. Absolutely stunning colors--aspens, maples, mountain ash, all kinds of yellow and orange and red and green going on. I am tired and really needed a rest day (haven't had one in a week), but knowing it's supposed to rain (snow in the mts) tomorrow and figuring that it was probably pretty lovely up there, I just had to go. Didn't have my camera. Stupid move. I hope the weather coming in doesn't put out that fire of color--I want to go see it again over the weekend.

[GLC1968]

Yellow - I just ordered that one off Amazon (previous year, for cheap)! Good to hear that it's slightly heavier since I just discovered that I already have a super lightweight water resistant jacket from Nike that I've never worn. It would have been perfect for Sunday's conditions had I thought to bring it with me! duh.

Next run will be tonight...but late, so I'll probably have to treadmill it. Poo.

[skhill]

Today was going to be 7 miles, but at 3.5 a piece of sidewalk reached up and tripped me. It's not too bad, some road rash on my left forearm and right palm, and a massive bruise coming up on my left hip. It happened near a firehouse, so I walked over there and checked that I was only oozing a little blood, not dripping. Since nothing was broken, I ran on home from there (the cute young paramedic suggested I call someone for a ride but it was 6:30 am and that's not nice). Ended up running about 5 miles. I was expecting my hip to be barking on my bike ride to work a little later, but that was fine; it was the scraped palm that was an issue. I'm sure everything will be more sore tomorrow...

Earlier on, I'd run in to a team for the upcoming Bourbon Chase, out for a group run in their matching team shirts. It's a 200 mile relay, usually teams of 12. Pretty cool. Someday I hope to be able to be a last minute replacement for an injured runner-- that's the bargain way to participate!

[rocknrollgirl]

I hate to taper...just sayin'........

[yellow]

I hate to taper...just sayin'........

LOL! I love the taper. Usually when I get there I am so tired that I am ecstatic about the volume reduction.

skhill, hopefully you are feeling OK after that fall! I will never forget the time I fell years ago, on a sidewalk: I looked at the sidewalk pothole, told myself I would not step in it, and what do you think I did? Yep, stepped in it, and broke my foot (I knew better than to look at where I did NOT want to go)! I stick to falls on the trail now (generally softer). I haven't broken anything since the sidewalk incident (although I have torn a few things, but we won't talk about that).

I really wanted to go for a bike ride today but it was raining/snowing so I decided a run would be better. I went up high to try to get out of the rain and into all snow. The snow ended up stopping about 10 minutes in, so the rest of the run was slosh-splash-grin. The sun even peeked out a little. The trail was actually quite good, since it was mostly covered with leaves (and a little snow in places). Aaaaaaand I saw 0 people. Still lots of fall color. Quite a lovely evening, about 8 miles.

[skhill]

I hate to taper too.

Funny thing after my fall, my bruised hip doesn't hurt walking or on the bike, but only when running. I ran anyway today, but took it easy, just 6 miles.

My Garmin went screwy though, somehow missed about a quarter mile. The weird thing is that it happened around the spot where we had our neighborhood monthly street party last night. The only other time it's done this before was the morning after the August edition. I have no idea why.

[rocknrollgirl]

Well. I survived. It was brutal. The hardest race we have ever done. I told a friend last night that we pushed the limit and it pushed back.

17.2 miles. Of that 17.2 miles there was only about a mile total that was actually runable. The course was very hill and very technical. Rock, rocks and more rocks. For some reason, I was having trouble getting gels or anything else semi-solid down. I had a liter or sports drink in my pack and that went down fine. I managed two gels for 4.5 hours and lots of coke. I was not nauseous, they just would not go down. Probably because there was no zone 2. Does that make sense? We were pegged the entire time because of the terrain.

Anyhoo, I passed my hubs on his way back from AS#2, and we figured he was at that time, about 10 miles in, around 20 mins ahead. That was exactly what we thought. I figured by the time the race was over he would be 40 mins or so in front.

At 12 miles they took us up a wall, super steep. Right after that I lost my "stuff' for a bit. I was really loopy and stumbly, so I just stopped running ( which was laughable to begin with) and walked as fast as I could. I was so light headed I was paranoid about going down and cracking my skull.

At 14 miles I forced a gel and kept it down. Three miles to go. Hubs will be waiting, and I know he will take care of me when I get to the end. At 15 miles I am trudging up a hill and I look up and there is a guy in the middle of the trail with his hands on his knees bent over. Just finished barfing. I look again...My hubs! Oh nooooooo. He was a mess. He had been vomiting for 4 miles. Even water came right back up.

So now even though I felt like crap, I had to get him out. So I walked him the last two miles. I could see his quads just spasm in cramps. He had to sit down multiple times and put his head between his knees. Now I am 5'3" and he is 6'6" and 220 pounds. If he goes down I am screwed. I kept him going and we walked it out together. Got him across the finish line asked for medical and they replied, " medical?, we do not have medical. Search and rescue is here, maybe they can help."

WHAT? on a course like this no medical? So I got the search and rescue guys and they took his vitals and we got a coke down him. Got him cleaned up and changed. More coke and some water. Got clean clothes on, and got in the car and drove 2 hours home. I got some chicken soup down him last night and he rallied, polished off half a bag of chips and went to bed.

So we are both very sore today and tired, but no injuries, which is a miracle. It was the hardest race mentally I have ever done. I have never wanted to just stop before. Not in any adventure races or in both 1/2 irons. I think because you could not get into a pace and relax. It was exhausting. The North Face Challenge was tough, this was just brutal. Not doing this one again.

We have no idea what happened to him. He was fine until mile 12. I checked his hydration pack. He drank 1.5 liters of sports drink. He said he drank at the aid stations, took his S-caps for salt. No idea. He feels really bad about it, but I told him heck, it happens to everyone eventually. He is a big guy and has lots of surface area so it is harder for him with sweat loss than us smaller folks.

My goal today is to move enough to not freeze in place! And eat!

[Crankin]

That sounds just dangerous. I hope your husband feels better.
No medical help? I wonder what the sponsors were thinking? Definitely not about liability!