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May 28, 2006

Big week and an oldy moldy race report

We had a big week this week: full time work for me and part-time day care for MG. Both were ok. I didn't manage to make it to work before 9:30 - it was hard to get everything organized and even harder to say goodbye to her once we got to daycare, even though I like her "teachers" so far and am comfortable leaving her in their hands.

On her first day there they sent me a video of her having a good time in a bouncy seat, checking out some dangling toys. It was a nice touch. On her second day they asked me if she had colic when I called to check in on her. She wasn't having a good day. So Andy went to pick her up. When he got there she was sitting in the same bouncy seat with a pouty lip and tears in her eyes. On Friday when we went to pick her up she was having a blast in that same bouncy seat, hanging out with her new boyfriend. They were both playing with the dangling toys on the bouncy seat and squealing at one another. It was a nice end to the week.

Not surprisingly, she seems to now have a permanently runny nose. And earlier in the week she had a little cough, too. She still has a little cough, but now she's faking it - there's no substance to it. She likes the way it sounds I think.

I'm very very glad to have a three-day weekend this week. We both need to recover!

And now ... the oldy moldy race report. Last weekend I ran the 10K version of "The Loop," a Rogue Trail Series race:

I spent my high school years in a town whose motto was that it was the "Gateway to Yosemite." The town was smallish and our mall sucked. My friends and I spent a lot of weekends in Yosemite and in the areas around the park. We hiked a lot. I wasn't a runner then but my strengths and limitations were the same - strength and endurance to spare on the way up, and then we'd get to the top of whatever trail we were climbing and have to turn around and my palms would get all sweaty. First of my friends up, last of them down. Scooting on my butt while the other girls leapt from rock to rock like little mountain goats (I'm sure they'd love that analogy.)

I had two reasons to be anxious about The Loop on Sunday. First, I'd had a few mishaps at the Maze, the first race in the series. I'd made a bold (?) move to pass several women I'd been running with to go with another woman, and ended up twisting my ankle and standing around watching them all pass me back. *Smite* I had also later run off course and ended up standing on a fire road with my hands on my hips looking side to side waiting for somebody to come by. I didn't want that to happen again. Second, Steve kept announcing that the course was "difficult" and I didn't know what that meant.

So I started off running easy and talking incessantly out of nervousness. After the initial crowd thinned out I ended up running with another woman behind me who had to listen to my nonstop chatter. When we got to the aid station she went ahead, and I wanted to stay with her. Which meant I had to stop talking. I ran hard and I loved it. I was frustrated, though, to watch her slowly slip away from me as she scooted over rocks and I thumped and skidded and spazzed. And then we got to that last steep decline and I just didn't have it in me to charge down. I put my hand down but did NOT scoot on my butt.

I was amazed at how wobbly my legs were near the end. And how sore my ankles were all week.

I'm definitely a better road runner than trail runner, but I think trail running is more fun, with one very big exception: passing. I find that totally stressful. I always find passing people awkward, even on the roads, and on the trail, not only do you have to announce your intention, if you don't time it right you may not be able to completely pull off the pass and then you feel like an ass (like if you start to pass and then come up on a technical stretch where the other person is better than you are.) I also feel bad announcing my intention to pass on a trail like The Loop where there's not enough room for both of you so *somebody's* going to have to run in the rocks. And if they don't move over quite enough you end up trying to pass while you're running on rocks and they're running on trails. Yuck.

The last race in the series has no 10K event. Only 30K. I ain't ready for that yet.

Posted by jenandmats at May 28, 2006 8:57 PM

Comments

Your trail running sounds like quite the adventure! I'm glad to see your back at it, since I'm guessing your low on sleep these days!

Posted by: Caitlin at May 30, 2006 4:52 PM

My kids noses ran for three years straight. I think that is why in Italian we call kids "mocciosi" which literally means "snot makers." It wasn't a great consolation but...

Posted by: corrado giambalvo at June 1, 2006 7:52 AM

Awesome race, and good write-up of it, also. I think it's sweet that you're getting into trail running. Hope the Texas heat and humidity continues to treat you well!

Posted by: Meghan at June 6, 2006 8:04 PM