I am usually pretty good with decision making... if I want to do something, and it feels right, and I can afford it (ok, this is more of a nice to have than a need to have)... I usually go for it.
So, I WANT to do a 100 mile race, it definitely FEELS right, and I can sort of afford the added costs... BUT it means a pretty messed up travel schedule (Mpls-Boston-work 1 day then DC-Virginia-run 100M then DC-Boston-Dublin the next day) and more importantly missing a family commitment back home. It can be done and my family are very supportive of my running... in fact my mother got me pretty choked up on the phone this morning when she was telling me to go ahead and do the race because "I know how much running means to you".
The race is Grindstone 100 and is one of my top "to do" races so it would be awesome if the timing were all good. But I don't know if it's the right thing to do. Couldn't I just be okay with the 50 mile races on the calendar? I guess I need another day or two to figure stuff out. And maybe another 50K run. Yeah, so yesterday, after a few long days and late nights of work I decided to skip a team builder day out from work and go run instead. Team Helen decided that I'd be a much nicer person to work with if I ran for 5 hours as opposed to played golf... so I took myself off to Murphy-Hanrehan Park... and ran, and ran, and ran.
I had originally planned to do my last long hill workout this weekend for AC-100 but then had friends coming into town last night for a few days so when the 'opportunity' to take yesterday 'off' came up I figured I'd make the most of it! Then the race was cancelled and I just felt like running without any real 'workout' in mind. I have been meaning to check out this park for ages and just signed up to do an AS at Surf the Murph' (runners - please send along any special food requests!) - so I wanted to scope out the trails.
I figured I'd try for about 5 hours which I thought would get me around 30 miles - I ended up with 31 in 4:29 (no, I did not set out to compete with Nic's weekend run!). However, I can't claim a 50K PR as my breaks probably added up to about 30 minutes... between refueling, checking emails and a few calls to work (to relieve the guilt) - and chatting to a few mountain bikers. I started out around 10:30AM on the bike trails (the bikers said they didn't mind runners on the trails at all just not ones with dogs - fair enough - and the horses were a bit of issue too - seriously, who brings horses on the MTB trails???!!). With a repeat of one of the loops this got me 12 miles. Picked up my water bottle and headed off on the hiking trails. Another 6 miles or so around the north end - back to the car to refuel - and off towards the southern sections. Heading out this time I figured I'd do another hour or so and finish up around 25 miles but I loved the prairie sections and after finding the water fountain in the horsecamp I was able do a few different loops down there and ended up at exactly 31 for the day.
Ahh... nothing like new trails to refresh the soul. Life has been a bit all over the place of late with crazy work hours and personal stuff and then the race being cancelled. This was just what I needed.
To add to the few posts/comments on nutrition here's my intake for the run...
Pre-run: Large americano, choclate croissant (I know!), granola bar
Run: 4 nuun tabs, loadsa water, 1 can sf red bull, 2 gels, 6oz strawberries, 2oz grilled chicken (try 1 thing new every day/every run)
Post-run: 1 can sf red bull, 2oz grilled chicken, 4oz blueberries, 8fl.oz soy choc milk
And for the post-run run I headed out to Hyland this morning for a very fun 6M in the KSO's - oh I do love running in the wet grass in these shoes! And Hyland is a great location for some 'barefoot' miles with the soft wood chip and the grassy trails. Had two beautiful deer and a whole tribe of squirrels and rabbits for company. My calves were feeling it a bit this evening in yoga - but in a good way. Of course.
Now, from surfing the murph to more surfing the net... to see how much I can possibly add to NWA/Delta's profits.
p.s. the jury is still out on whether or not I'm a nicer person to work with!
