Race Recap: Earth Day 15 mile trail race

For the past couple of years, I've had my eye on the Earth Day Trail races, held at the same trails where I ran the Frozen Gnome 10k in January. The pandemic put those plans on hold, but this year, the race was a go. Several of the women from my Trail Sisters group were planning on running, so it made it easy for me to commit. There are 3 distances: 50k, 15 miles, and 5 miles. I optimistically signed up for the 15 mile (25k) distance--thinking it would be a good training run for Ice Age in May. I've been building my miles over the past couple of months, spending most of my time on trails. Having run these trails before, I knew to expect a lot of hills. I felt both mentally and physically strong and ready for this race. 

Another Week of Effing Crazy Weather

Excuse me if I've offended anyone with the title of this post. But the weather this spring has been ridiculous. It's been colder than average and we've had a lot of rain and snow. I've already whined about the mud. This week, I ran in fairly normal conditions on Sunday, warm and rainy on Wednesday, and really cold and sunny for my race on Saturday. Fortunately, I dodged the 60 mph wind gusts we had on Thursday. Although that could have been darned good resistance training, am I right?

I guess the silver lining of this weather whiplash is that it does keep me ready for anything that Mother Nature throws our way! I wouldn't mind some normal weather but does anyone even know what that is anymore?

I wore shorts and a tank on Wednesday!

Finding Confidence in the Mud

"In Just-spring when the world is mud-luscious...and the world is puddle-wonderful."~ee cummings

Trying to find something positive to say about this spring. It's been muddy and puddly for sure.

This is the wettest spring I can remember in a long time. I guess I just have to embrace it, considering that my trail race next Saturday is going to be muddy. I am certainly well-prepared. Of all the places to find the confidence to tackle a 15 mile hilly trail race, who knew it was going to be in the mud?

Can't you just hear the squishing sound under my shoes?

Enjoying the Ride

For this old runner who is training for back-to-back races without a formal training plan, things are progressing nicely! I added up my miles for March and I hit 100 miles this week. The last time I ran 100 miles in a month was 1 year ago! I'm only running 3 days per week, so I'm really happy about this. In addition, I'm feeling stronger on my runs. The extra day of CrossFit has definitely made me stronger and has helped me improve my speed on the road and the trails. While my goal isn't to run faster, I do want to run more consistently and pace myself better, and that is happening. 

My main goal is always to have fun when I'm running. I also have to protect myself from injury. Personally, I'm just happy to be running again and running well. I'm enjoying this 'freeform' training and it will get me to the finish lines of my races. 

Now, if only the mud would dry up! Rain rain go away!

Ice Age Trail Lodi Marsh Segment

Coffee Talk

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Let's catch up over coffee! I was so happy to find that Starbucks Spring Day Blend again this year at Target. I've got that brewing and as always, I'm adding a scoop of GLG collagen and a splash of half and half. What are you having? 

Mini Book Reviews March 2022

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So little time, but so many books this month! I'm not sure how it happened, but I have 8 reviews to share. Maybe it's because they were all page-turners that I couldn't put down. My reads this month span the genres--I've got fantasy, an epic novel, literary fiction, a couple of thrillers, a biography, and a women's fiction novel. 

If I had to pick a favorite, I don't know that I could! 

A Week of Challenges

This week, I continued to up my mileage in preparation for my back to back long distance races next month. I have mentioned the Earth Day 15 mile trail race that I am running on April 16. In Friday's runfessions post, I shared that I signed up for the Teardrop half marathon in Georgia without realizing that it was the weekend after Earth Day! Oops! All I was worried about was that the weekend was free for me to travel, lol. I think it will be fine, as I was planning on using the trail race as a training race for the Ice Age half marathon in May. I am not using a formal training plan, but am making sure to mix up my runs on dirt and pavement. I'm actually really enjoying training like this! We'll see how it pays off in a few weeks. 

My main running challenges this week were the increased mileage and distances and MUD. Oh my goodness are the trails mucky. This is my third spring running trails and it is definitely my most difficult because of the conditions. Strength and agility are all being put into play as I work to stay upright and move forward. Running on pavement feels relatively easy! And when have I ever said that?

Saw this crayfish on my trail run this week. He was pretty fierce, lol