Sandrat Trail Race and September Training Recap

Hmmm…where to start?

Let’s recap first since its been..well about a month since I last blogged. Its been a busy month with life and work, but  my training did take step back.

I had some foot pain after the North Face Challenge Half Marathon which I ran late August. It wasn’t really bothering me the week after the race, But I felt something was wrong about 8 days after. The bottom of my right foot would get really tight along the outer edge and underneath my foot close to my heel. While I could run, the next day it would get pretty tight and painful. I iced and rolled and used the little nubby ball and nothing! So finally, I decided to go see a podiatrist and get to the source quickly. Well…long story short it was an issue with a tendon that ran under the Plantar Fascia which pretty much was pissed at me! It was likely the switch in shoes and the pavement pounding that did me in . That’s the bad news!

Good news is that a cortisone shot (which I didn’t even feel going on, but hurt like a  b*!#h for two weeks after) and a week off running later, I was able to get back out there and start building back again. Problem was I had about a month to go to Dogwood and I was seriously lacking in the long run department! I had one less week since I would be out of town at a Conference and no trails! On top of all that I lost a weekend to being sick! My longest since the half marathon was about 10miles on trail..Yikes!!! I was seriously considering if I could do this?!! The foot was feeling better. I alternated between my Saucony Peregrines and Mizuno Cabrakans (w/orthotics once again) in an effort to give my foot some support and that seems to be helping. Lots of icing and yoga mixed in certainly helps as well! 4 weeks out from when I toe the line at Dogwood I started a revised plan which instead of running long, emphasized running back to back day so I get my legs used to running tired!

So last week following the revised plan I logged 41miles…without doing a run longer than 10miles! The last 9.3miles were run at the Sandrat Trail Race held on the River trails in Lawrence, Kansas on Sunday!

Running the Sandrat Trail Race was kind of a last minute decision..well Lisa and I decided Friday to be exact. I had promised the hubby that we would go do the Halloween Haunt at Worlds of Fun the night before. I knew it would be a LOT of walking and a very late night! But eventually decided that this would be a more miles on legs and more miles on very tired legs at that..so all good training! So my running partner Lisa and I were signed up! Of course Sunday morning came around and I was not sure how this would go! Hubby and I easily spent 6plus hours having fun and when I got home my feet were pretty tired! That coupled with about 4hrs of sleep would be an interesting combination to attempt a trail race a little shy of 9.5miles!

I carpooled with Lisa to the race location about 40mins away. Bagel eaten along the way would fuel me for a little awhile at least! I decided to wear the Cabrakans on this one.

Lisa and I Pre-Race! It was a pretty chilling morning with temps in the mid 40s!

Mudbabes and Mr. Mudbabe, Danny of course, Kicking it up pre-race!

We started off about a little under a mile on the roads and then headed into the River trails. These trails are far less technical than the Shawnee Mission Park trails we regularly run. They are sandy with some hidden roots which can get you and pretty decent short rolling up/down section as it was built for mountain biking! We kept a steady pace and incorporated walk breaks when needed and had lots of great conversation!! Always a Plus!

About 4miles into it, Lisa’s phone began to alert her that her office servers were down. She runs her own IT business so this is pretty critical! So we ran and power walked so she could make sure things were being looked at while she was out. Before we knew it we were at the aid station again which would be Mile 6! We were chatting and distracted by the server issue that we did not feel those miles go by. Of course this does mean I would recommend a work emergency to keep you pre-occupied .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We picked it back up and kept moving at some points wondering is we got lost..but then we kept seeing the orange marker flags and the mile markers which were really nice to see!! A little past Mile 8, Mudbabes Sophia and Erica came out after finishing and ran back to the finish line with us. A little more road and we were DONE!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finish Time: 1:59:20!! Sure not fast by most runners standards, But it was a great run and I figured not bad at all for running after 6hrs of walking and 4hrs of sleep!! Post race brekky with a few Mudbabes and we headed home. I felt pretty good about the race! Its been sometime since I ran a trail race and it was good to get one in headed into Dogwood. I was tired, but considering it all I think we had a pretty good time considering we walked a decent chunk in the middle…and managed to keep a decent pace for us! Great run, great weather and a great running partner…now that’s a great race morning!!  

Let’s see what this week brings….Happy Trails everyone!