Well, I'm back.
Guess I don't have any excuses now that I have DSL and a newer computer!
I can't believe the last time I blogged, it was April. Heck I even had to think for minute what my user name and password was. Yikes. I promise, I'll be back more regularily now.
This last weekend (saturday) I ran a marathon on Grand Island in Lake Superior. Just off the shore of Munising, MI. Let me tell you - from the Twin Cities, that is a LONG drive!! 9 hours, half of which was 2 lane road. Boring!
It could have been a great race, and I think I might have even been able to P.R it - or at least come close. Except for the fact that it poured rain the ENTIRE time! Take the rain, add 300 runners on a dirt trail, and wa-la you have a slippery muddy mess. Then send them out onto the beach in the deep sand for a few hundred yards, and well... it proves to be a bit more challenging than you'd like. Even staying upright was a challenge. The good news is, I only fell once, skinned me knees long about mile 14, but was able to rinse one layer of mud out of them with my water bottle. Tweeked my ankle, but not severly - just made it a little sore to run up hill with much power. And didn't come home with a single blister! Not sure how that happened, given my feet were wet for 4 hours and I had enough sand in my shoes to build a sandcastle. Good socks! But I finished, in 4:40. When the footing was good and nothing was hurting too badly, I could maintain a 9:30 pace easy. But with it being so slippery, I had to slow to a walk in many places.
It was good experience, I guess.... Having not run a marathon in over a year, I had forgotten how much the last couple miles can hurt! But overall I felt strong, and my nutrition was the best it's ever been (I'm starting to really like Hammer Products). I never once felt delirious!
My next challenge is the Lake Geneva Half Ironman on the 9th of sept. Then 3 weeks later is Twin Cities Marathon. No marathons for over a year, and here I go throwing 2 marathons and a half ironman into a 3 month period of time. Heck, no one ever said I was totally logical!!
Well, I'd better get going. Time to head out on the bike for a 30 mile "recovery" ride!
Catch ya'll later!
-Kate
