Running away from August! Onward into September!

[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!