2 Not-So-Rave-Runs

It has been mighty humid here as of late, resulting in 2 less than stellar runs!  The first was the Esprit de She 10K on Thursday, sponsored by Athlete (and a buncha other folks!).  The good first:

1. Fairly nice course, even if it was 2 loops.
2. Parking was easy enough
3. Great swag!  The tanks are super cute, it's one of my favorite race tops!
4. Immediately after crossing the finish, we were handed a bottle of nice cold water, a banana, Tru Moo chocolate milk (YUM!), and Trader Joe's trail mix.  That was before we actually got to the party!
5. Nice after-party!  Even for the slowbies, there was plenty to go around.  There were adult beverages available (2 glasses of wine included in your race fee), sandwiches and baked goods from La Farm, and lots of other booths with yogurt and stuff.  There was also a live band with a VERY diverse portfolio!  They covered Michael Jackson, Nirvana, Ratt, and a ton of other random stuff!
6. This probably belongs in the "not so great" (for out-of-towners for sure!), but it worked out well for those of us IN town - the tanks were late.  They didn't come in until Sunday, so you had to go to the store over the weekend to get them.  Bonus: for our trouble, they also handed out $15 gift certs... and of course there was a sale going on.. sure that worked out for them in the long run!

My only real complaint about the race was the fact that it and packet pick up were on week nights.  Granted, I knew that when I signed up for, but when it came time to deal with those logistics in the middle of the week, I realized that I probably would not do this one again.  The fact that it was an evening race in JUNE also made it super hot!  Too bad.. I liked the race, and would probably do it again, but the timing is really stinky!

Not even going to tell you what my time was.. my Bia must have been prepping for an upgrade after, because the mileage was off  quite a bit. By the time we finished, I'd done 7.6 miles!  (made my finish time look much more respectable!).

Not-so-rave-run #2 (appropriately numbered) was a 10 miler through Umstead on Sat with the Cheap Bait ladies.  It was humid, hilly, and slow.  Unfortunately my Bia worked just fine, so I'm not sharing that time, either! 

Embrace the Hills

Thistles and Fog-Good Morning Run

Sunday Kelly and I headed out for a 9ish mile run. We decided to take it to the trails of Umstead because after all we were training for a downhill half marathon and Umstead has lots of good downhill’s and even better uphill’s.

I like to consider myself a mountain goat. I long ago embraced hills. Hello people, we do live in the Piedmont and we have a few hills. I love the challenge of a good hill. I may not be fast but I can climb with the best of them. I have done 2 half marathons in the mountains of NC so I consider myself somewhat of a hill badass. However on this run we met a gentleman that I bow down to.

We will call said gentleman Mr. Pikes Peak.  Kelly and I meet up with him on the last half of our run on Turkey Creek trail. We kept seeing him in the distance and occasionally he would walk (don’t we all?) but he kept trucking along the trail. We finally trotted up beside him and exchanged a few words. He asked us what we were training for and we told him about our downhill race coming up in a few weekends. We also talked about other races and I mentioned mountain races. Well, folks let me tell you I feel humbled. Our gentleman runner said he was training for Pikes Peak. WHAT!?! Pikes Peak marathon is touted as one of America’s toughest marathons. There is a 7,815 foot climb to the top of the 14,115 foot peak. I like a climb but good grief! I think this one would cripple me. Before I forget to mention, Mr. Pikes Peak had to be in his 60’s yet another reason why I feel less of a badass. I asked him later on how many times he had run Pikes Peak and he said he couldn’t remember but he had run it EVERY year since 1997. For those of you who don’t want to do the math that is 17 years. Holy Hell! He told me about his training and told me to add this race to my bucket list. I may be crazy folks but I don’t know if I am that crazy. The whole time talking to him he was smiling which I imagine he does when running Pikes Peak. His smile was contagious and yes I probably wasn’t smiling any more than when I started but I felt my attitude change.

As we went our separate ways on the trail he said he hoped to see us again and I sure the heck hope so. This man probably has some great stories that I would love to hear. As I was climbing the last hill before leaving the park I thought about the pain this man goes through every year to run the marathon. I think even the most elite athlete would struggle. I made it up that hill and felt good because I figured if Mr. Pikes Peak could get out there and climb the toughest mountain then this hill would not kill me. I felt motivated and inspired and humbled all at the same time. I know when I am running the last leg of the Tuna 200 and I fill like crap I will think back to this man and get my arse moving. So thank you Mr. Pikes Peak for the inspiration. Happy trails!

Uphill climb

Mother of pearl, fitness goes quickly when it is not maintained!  In addition to our penchant for relays, some of us Cheap Baiters also dig tris.  And one of us (this girl!) was recently struck down by two viruses / bugs - a cold about 4 weeks ago, followed by a GI bug about 2 weeks ago (rock on, right?).  In workout speak, that's 1 week off, 1 week at recovery pace, 1 more week off, 1 more week at recovery pace.  Seemed like a no-brained to jump into a 20 mile bike ride this weekend with two ladies who are coached by an IronMan (IronWoman?).

Dumbass.  The rolling hills were nice, the climbs sucked.  The worst part was the feeling that I was slowing down others.  They were such good sports about it, though, and was relieved when the other lady Sara and I were riding with said, "wow, that was a fast pace!".

Redemption came in the form of a solid swim workout yesterday - about 1500m with no laps interrupted by coughs!  Time to rebuild.. hopefully in time for Buckner Mission Man on July 26th (yikes!  first open water tri, too!).

Are ya'll ready for this?

Although we're only just now creating our blog, this journey began around this time last year, when a few brave ladies said, "let's do a relay".  Friends told friends, and before we knew it, we had critical mass!  We met at a local taproom (because duh, running = beer), and got down to important discussion points.. what should we name our team?

We threw out several proposals (the only one I can remember is "Chicken or Tuna?" - a nod to that stupid Jessica Simpson commercial!), but we settled on Cheap Bait.  It was fun, but not dirty.  Our team tees, however, did include "mudflap girls", and I still forget that it's probably not the best choice to wear to the Y!

Here we are, a year later, forming our 2014 Tuna Team!  We'll try to keep this blog current as we prepare for this year's funk and fun.  Disclaimer - it might not always be clean or politically correct.  Buckle up, Buttercup - it's Tuna Time!