I did Rocky Raccoon this weekend - my first 50-miler. Had a blast - perfect weather, wonderful volunteers, and an ankle that finally deigned to let me run. (I think I may have mentioned that I sprained it at HUFF in December and haven't really been able to run since. Although, I did squeeze out a pair of long runs/walks at 3 and 2 weeks out from RR.)

 

Managed to eke out an 11:17 finish - not what I was hoping for, but better than I expected given my utter lack of training going in.

 

There's hope for me yet in April!

 

BUDDO!!!!  Where ya been, dude?  Cripes, you pop in for a post or two, then you leave forever, then you pop back in.  What's up?

 

Did 10 trail miles today out at Headwaters.  Lots of mud and HU-MID.  Ugh!  I think I got really dehydrated, even though I kept drinking, 'cause I was getting that weird not quite dizzy feeling, but your eyes don't seem to want to work exactly right, and once I got home, it was hard to eat, even though I was really hungry.  And I could drink a whole more water, but I feel bloated.  But it was a good run!   Going into Headwaters, after the first 3 miles, is a pain 'cause it's almost all up hill.  Coming out, though, it's tons of fun.  The back held out, got a little tight when we stopped at the top to eat and drink, but doesn't feel too bad.

 

Tomorrow 10 easy, then it's the last week before our run at Hagg Lake.  Woo hoo!

I got a short trail run in on Saturday.  I was planning something longer, but it snowed here on Friday. I was concerned about the trail conditions on Saturday and put off the run until the afternoon, and by then the snow was fully melted and the trail was muddy and very slippery.  I had a road half-marathon on Sunday and I didn't want to twist my ankle or anything, so I called it quits after about 4 miles.

Next weekend my ultra season starts.  I've got a trail race planned almost every weekend for a while and I can't wait!  This weekend is Black Warrior 50K in Moulton, AL.  Looking at last year's results, the median female finish time is like 5:30.  My current 50K PR is 7:09, so unless there's just an unusually fast field for this course, maybe I'll get a new PR.

I was bummed last week to learn that I will be traveling for work over the weekend for the Oak Mountain ~50K.  That's my main training ground so I hoping to do really well at that one.  I'll be in the Minneapolis area that weekend (March 20th) instead, so if there's not a layer of snow, maybe I'll find a nice trail up there to run my own little 50K.

Myrtle Beach Marathon was canceled due to snow storm. They didn't announce the cancellation until after 10 pm the night before (that was last night); race was supposed to have taken place this morning. I had already traveled to Myrtle Beach earlier in the day yesterday and checked into the Hotel before we knew of the cancellation. It didn't start to snow in Myrtle Beach until around 6 or 7 pm right before dark but then it snowed all night.

It was a huge let down - kind of hard to deal with the emotions and the change of mind set. Had not been running much the last 2 weeks, trying to taper and keep my feet healthy/injury free. Now it turns out it was all in vain. I couldn't get myself psyched up to run the marathon - there were many runners outside running all day long today. Some of them probably covered the distance. I ran 6 miles and then had to get back and check out of the hotel before 11 am.

 

Aww, sorry to hear that, flower.  I grew up about an hour away from Myrtle Beach and it doesn't surprise me a bit.   They get snow there so infrequently that everyone completely freaks out.  Not that it's much different here in AL...here they cancel school when snow is even forecasted.

Hi guys - I had a fun 8 mile run at a new trail today.  Nice to have sunshine again, and everything was so green today!  The new trail (well, new to me) is a little bit of a drive, about 30 minutes, so I don't think I'll get there often, and it will be HOT in the summer.  But it's a nice change of pace.

 

flower - That's really too bad they cancelled the marathon.  Were the conditons so bad that it would have really been a hazard for the runners or the volunteers? 

 

 

Trails, _ I am glad you took the time to drive to the trail and try something different; sounds like you had fun!

_

No the conditions weren't really that bad but the timing of the storm was just about as difficult and inconvenient as could possibly be. Weather is such a fickle entity - never can quite count on the weather to cooperate. I was prepared to run the marathon - bib attached to the shirt, cliff shot blocks and s-caps in the pockets, all the clothes laid out on a chair in the hotel room. I imagine 6000 other runners having done the same thing and sitting up watching the local news or getting phone calls from friends and family alerting them to the latest storm news and the latest updates on the official marathon site. There was a lot of buzz and a good spirit at the Expo where I had picked up my bib and timing chip around 6 pm. It wasn't yet snowing at that time. It was cold and windy however. My husband had been calling me during the ride down to let me know that they had already received 2 inches of snow in Columbia by the time I reached Myrtle Beach. (approx 3-3.5 hour drive between the two cities).

Right before dark it started to snow in Myrtle Beach. They were predicting 3-5" of snow to fall between sundown and sunrise - perhaps the snow was going to continue to fall in the morning hours too. The Marathon had decided to push the start time to 7 am, rather than the original start time of 6:30 am. 

It turned out that the final cancellation notice came from the City Officials - they did not think it was going to be safe for the runners, the volunteers, and all the other people involved. For security/safety reasons they decided to cancel it. 

In many ways I understand the dilemma they were faced with. It wasn't an easy call as obviously it was a very disappointing turn of events for many more people than the 6000 runners that were cooped up in hotel rooms all over Myrtle Beach. But many volunteers and other people would have to have been driving to Myrtle Beach in order to be there before the start of the race - not safe with snow and possibly icy areas on the roads. Could they have delayed the start? I wonder why not? Maybe it is just too difficult to do such a thing on such a short notice.

Flower, sorry about the race. I had several local friends that were there this weekend. One stayed and did some running and the other had breakfast with her college friend she was to run it with and then came home. She said it was a long way to drive for some breakfast. Sounds like the road conditions would have been fine for running since everyone seemed to get out that morning to run anyway.

 

I've come down with a cold. This sunday was going to be my last long run before my half but all I did was 4.5 miles. It was a nice pretty 4.5 miles. There was still snow in the woods and a bit on the trail. I'm hoping to squeeze in at least 10 miles one day during this week once my cold has cleared out, if not then I might be doing more walking than originally planned at my first half marathon in two weeks.

 

Runs, sorry about the cold!!  Don't worry about the 1/2 in two weeks; you're in fine shape and the rest that you get now while nursing your cold might be exactly what you need to be fresh on race day. Your training has been going very well - try to remind yourself of that when you stand on the starting line and when/if the going gets tough during the race. You are well prepared 

___

I ran on the beach in the snow/sand and on the roads with  hundreds of other runners Saturday morning after getting up and realizing that I would need to check out of the hotel a few hours later. Might as well go for a little run, right?! It was fun to see so many other marathoners and 1/2s out there in the early snow. All was white and fresh and gorgeous. I ran North and after a few miles got away from the long row of high-rise hotels on the beach front into a residential area with homes lining both sides of the road. I don't know if you can picture the Live Oaks covered in snow? The long long old branches with all the leaves still on during the winter - they held a lot of snow on them. It was truly a fairy tale sight for the ages. I love the beauty of freshly fallen snow.

 Jen, - How did your road 1/2 go?

I know I shouldn't be so bummed...I got a 9 min PR, but it wasn't the race I was hoping for. I planned to run with the 3:40 marathon pace group for a 1:50 half-marathon, but the guy who was supposed to lead it got injured and they didn't get a replacement. There were no pace groups at all below the 4:00 marathon time, so basically I was on my own. I ran the first 3 miles waaaaaay too fast (for me), and by the first 10K I was at 48 minutes or so. My current 10K PR is 55 minutes. Needless to say, by the end of the race, it was a death march. Lots of walking on any minor hills (must be the ultra runner in me). Finished in 1:53:4x. I should have set up my Garmin to have a virtual pacer, but I don't know the menus well enough and I didn't want to screw anything up. I guess the silver lining is that I'm not sore at all so hopefully it won't affect this weekend's race (which I care a lot more about than the half-marathon).

Reading about your trail races - one almost every week end - makes me jealous!! Please, don't forget that we are on pins and needles for race reports  I am crossing my fingers for your sub 7:09 50K in Moulton, AL

 

I will definitely put up a race report for the Black Warrior and Mount Cheaha races that I'm doing the next two weekends! You're doing the SC Ultra Series races right? I will definitely see you there for most of them. I think the only one I'm missing is Buncombe.

Hope your back feels better soon, Leslie.  I'm in the same boat w/ a recurrent SI joint problem... so I feel your pain. 

 

 

Hey, if it's your left side (mine's on the right), maybe we could partner up at a race and lean on one another.

 

haha!  Funny... it IS on my left side!  Skiing injury from about 4 years ago.  This weekend's race destroyed it... all that uneven stuff on the slick rock (Moab Red Hot race was last weekend).