Pandora Box of Rox

Cool Medal, Yeah !

I have been looking forward to going back to Reveille Ranch since Captain Karl last year. I I did not get a chance to enjoy the view from the dome last year as it was a night race and really wanted to go back again.

The hubby and I decided to drive up the same day vs staying a hotel which we always do for the Teja Trail races. It seemed just too frivolous to spend on a hotel for a marathon. But bad decision as we had to wake up at 4am. Both the hubby and I were blurry and zombies despite having coffee. I could hardly open my eyes in the car. The first thought that came to my mind was that it gonna be a bad run.. considering how sleepy we were.

Arrived at Ranch about 40 minutes before start and gosh it was BBBBBBBBBrrrrrrrrrr at 37 degree. I was freezing and shivering cold. We collected our race packs and went on the routine of mixing our drinks and bottles. I told the hubby that I did not want to carry water for the race since it was cold and the aid stations were about 3-4 miles apart. He said that he had same thoughts. So we decided to put our bottles with our drop bags just in case we need it for the second loop.  ( good decision on hind side).

7 am and the race started. The first 1.5 miles was pretty flat with just some bumps. I was surprised that my body woke up for the race. The legs felts good and achilles did not hurt at all. It usually does for the first 3 miles. The lungs felt good.  I looked at my watch and saw that I was at 11.15 min pace. I knew I had to slow down as this was going to be a long race and I needed the energy for the next loop. The hubby and I stayed for about 1 mile and then he was gone.  We decided to run our own race for this. I tried to stay close to him but got worried when my pace dropped. So I decided to stick to my own race plan and slow my pace. The goal was to finish within 6 hours.

The course started to change after the second mile. The legendary granite rocks started to appear as we started our ascend to the dome. Contrary to the peeps who complained about the rocks, I actually love them. They make the course less boring and more challenging and definitely provide a change in scenery. We were probably in the dome for 3 miles before we got out of it.

I was surprised when I landed at the next aid station at about mile 5. The 5 miles seemed to go past so fast in the dome. More surprise to see David Jacobson manning the station. We got to know David during last year Captain Karl series and had pretty much ran many races with him since (or rather behind him since he is much faster than us).  I did not stay long at the aid station. The cooler weather helped and I am not missing my water bottles.

The next part of the course was a mixed of rocks and trails and more down hill compare to the first part. It was a nice change of pace and course. I started to get worried when I did not see any sight of the hubby. I began to wonder whether I was going too slow. I checked my watch and saw that I was on pace and decided to keep to my pace.

Fatigue started to set in at mile 8. I knew I need another boost of Ucan ( my race energy drink) soon and was keeping my finger cross that I would be able to last another 5 miles. I have a bottle of Ucan at the start/finish line waiting for me.  The aid station at mile 8.5 was a welcome sight. I drowned down 2 cups of heeds and went on my mission of chasing the hubby.

The trail from this aid station to finish was pretty much runnable with little bumps. I continued to keep my pace and tried to power walk the bumps to save energy. Having the mission of chasing the hubby seemed to make the time and distance goes by fast. Before I know, I was at the last aid station on the course. I knew I was 1.5 miles from the start/finish. I saw a few runners going out for the second loop and was expecting to see the Hubby. But still no sight.

Arrived at the start/finish at 2hrs and 45 mins. I saw the hubby standing there and I knew that he had drop to half. He handed me my water bottle and Ucan. I debated whether to take the water bottles for a minute and decided to carry them as the weather was getting hot.

The second loop seemed to go as fast as the second loop. Before I knew, I was at the dome. I was pretty much running alone with no souls around me. I did the dome on the first loop with other runners around me. I started to get worried when I went round and round the dome. I almost thought that I was lost as I was getting longer to get out of it compare to the first loop. There was a few spots where I could not see the reflectives and had to stop for a while to look for them. Took me a while but I manage to get out of it. *phew*

Arrived at the second aid station and David shouted "you are down to single digit. Just 8.5 miles to go"... and he kept repeating it. Yeah... I heard you David.. but 8.5 miles on the trails is forever:)

For some reason, mile 20 kept sticking into my head. I decided to open my gu at mile 20. So I kept looking at my watch for mile 20 to come. So it was mile 16, then mile 17 and mile 18 and I was a happy person when I saw mile 19. I knew mile 20 would be next. And yeah me... at Mile 20, I opened my gu and I was happy again.  Yeah.. do not ask me why mile 20 is a magic number to drink my gu... it is just me... I have a plan for everything on the trails... call this OCD :)

I began to see other runners at mile 20. I passed a few and a few passed me. Finally, back to civilization. I must be on high and happy that I had only 5 miles to go only that I kept telling everyone I met on the course "Almost there. We are almost there.. just a few more miles".  LOL.... yeah.. I said that to everyone I met.

A runner in white came from behind me and pretty much play tac toe for next 3 miles. He picked up speed at the last 2 miles and left me. I was still passing some souls and telling them that we were almost done.

The last aid station finally appeared and I knew I was 1.5 miles out. Joyce was there and asked me what I need. I waved a no and yelled that I am not stopping. I just wanted to finish the last 1.5 miles.

It was slightly bumpy 1.5 miles but nothing bad. I saw another runner walking at 1 miles out from finish. I passed him and yelled to him that we are almost done and no walking. He heard me and started running. So both of us started running and we hit a big bump. I just had to stop and walk a bit. He came passed me and yelled back to me that we are almost done and no walking.  I started to run and both of us ran towards the finish... well he ahead of me slightly.

It was a welcome sight to see the finish line. Time : 5 hrs and 40 mins... way ahead of my goal time and 8th female. Yes. I am happy.... one of my better training run for last 3 weeks.

The A race for 2013

Hurray ! I think we have found the race for 2013 for us. The hubby and I talked to our coach earlier this week and I think this is becoming a reality.

But No... we are not saying which race, where or what distance at this moment till we are sure that this is what we want. We are now just starting our training for this race. It is  hard to get back to training routine and we are struggling quite a bit. Hopefully, we can get over this initial obstacle soon. Yeah.. it hard to wake up early on a weekend to run. We have been sleeping-in most weekends last 3 months when we took a break from serious running.

I can only say that we are very excited by the decision and happy that our coach thinks that this race is possible :)

Stay tune... for more

Nueces 50 KM

 

 

 

Wow... the last entry to this Blog was in Nov 2012 ! This really tells how much we have been running. We took a long break from serious running and races after the hubby's Cactus 50 Miler in Nov last year. We were still running but just not as much. The longest run I ever did in last 4 months was 16 miles and this was the week before Nueces 50km :)

And consequently... both of us went to Nueces with minimal or rather in sufficient training. We were mentally prepared to suffer on the course. (finger biting....nervous nervous). We figured that we really need a BAD race to motivate us to go back into serious running. 

Nueces is almost legendary.. at least to me. Almost every one I know claims it to be one of the prettiest course... and of course also one of the toughest course here with comparison to Cactus Rose and Bandera.  I have not done Neuces, Cactus Rose or Bandera.. and was almost curious to know how bad was bad and how tough and treacherous the hills are. ( nervous !). 

The plan was to finish between 7 to 8 hours. The goal was to use this race as a supported training run and hence we were not to race hard.

The week into Nueces was probably not the best for me. I had to go for vaccines for my visa. This means 1 MMR shot, I flu shot, 2 TB test and 4 tubes of blood for some tests. In additional, my allergy doctor wanted me to do a methacholin test for my asthma. This is a test to clinically induced asthma on patients to confirm that patient has asthma. I took the test and technically had an asthma attack in the clinic lab... which was a big boo because my lungs did not recover from the attack for the race. My body was in a big mess from all the shots and tests. I figured I could survive it as a training run :)

We arrived at Camp Eagle on Friday evening. We had a dorm just next to the start/ finish line which was a big thumb up which means minimal travel on race day.There were 12 of us in the dorm from the running group. We went for a walk around the camp after dropping our stuff. WOW ! this place is awesome  !

Pic taken by my friend Mike

We woke up at 5.30 ish on race day. Breakfast, shower, dressed .... all ready for the race at 7am. The hubby and I were probably the last person to arrive at the start line.. which was right below our dorm. It was cold and we were trying to keep warm in the dorm :)

Probably not a good idea to be the last person to arrive. The course started with a single up hill dirt track... and most people were walking up the hill. We had a hard time trying to pass people. The hubby managed to catch up with our friend Alex. I was still behind trying to catch up and pass. I had a hard time trying to focus. It was cold and breathing was hard and my body was tired. The thought of not be able to finish creep into my brain. It kept talking to me and I had a hard time fighting back the thoughts of DNF

Took me a while to catch up with them. But I was still not able to focus. But it was definitely easier to fight back by trying to keep pace with them. The first few miles were up hill dirt track and some runnable stretch of switch back... and of course many rocks in between. The three of us kept together. It was fun to have Alex around for a change... ;)

It was a relieve to see the first aid station at THE WALL. By then, I was feeling better and managed to focus better. It helped a lot that we kept to an easy conversational pace. The stretch after THE WALL was pretty much runnable sprinkled with rocks and hills. The next aid station Fiesta was about 4 miles away. The Fiesta aid station was managed by the ARB running group and it was definitely nice to see familiar faces. 

We managed to catch up with our friend Michele who was running the 25 K after the Fiesta aid station. So our group of 3 becomes a group of 4. And yeah.. Michele was a nice addition to the group. It was kinda fun to run together. 

The treacherous stretch started after the Fiesta aid station.  We reached the legendary fence line... and I looked up.... Bad decision to look up. The hill was almost vertical ! So we hiked and puff and puff up the hills. Certainly treacherous... because the hills never ends..it went up and up. and slight flat and then up and up again. ! Geezeeeee ! 

We caught up with another friend Herb on the hills and we ran together for a while. After the uphill was a stretch of steep down hill... which a great relieve and then up hill again :(

We puff and huff to the THE WALL aid station. By then, we knew that we are almost there for the first loop. THE WALL is 1.5 miles away from the start/finish. The course changed for the better,.. easy and runnable !

The four of us - Hubby, Alex and Michele and I..on the home stretch of the first loop

And we finally reach the start/finish line... time on my watch 3 hr 20 mins. One loop done and one more to go. 

Michele and Alex dropped off for the 25 km finish. The hubby and I went out for the second loop. I was not feeling too good for the second loop. The hubby, on the other hand, was feeling awesome.  He stayed with me for a while and then he told me that we could make it in less than 7 hours if we keep the same pace. Nice thoughts !

Then he suddenly realized that he had a chance for a 50K PR if he pushed the pace. I  told him to go and I would catch up. He left me and disappeared in the trail. I was alone all of a sudden. So I decided to make catching up with my hubby as my next goal. I forced myself to run all the runnable stretches and walked only the uphills. 

This new goal kept me motivated. At mile 20, I pull apart my first GU and drown it. I figured that I would take another one at mile 25 to sustain energy. The GU helped a lot... new energy.

The second loop was not that bad after all. It seemed much rockier but manageable. It went by really fast. I finally arrived at the Fiesta aid station and my friend Jazzy told me that hubby was 10 mins away. I told her that I am trying to catch up and she told me he was chasing a PR and told me not to hurt myself chasing him :)

I left the Fiesta station and entered the treacherous hills.  It was not so bad the second time. I was still passing people on the course which gave me an assurance that I was doing good. An Open Category participant caught up from behind and we talked for a while. He told me we have less than 5 miles to go. Wow.. just 5 more miles ! 

I counted mentally and knew that I have a chance to make it be before 7 hours if I keep pace. So I force myself to keep pace and go faster. 

Finally reached THE WALL.. the last aid station. I knew I have 1.5 miles to go and my watch shows 6 hr and 26 minutes. I knew I had this below 7 hrs.. Horray !!!

The last 1.5 miles was probably my best run for the second loop !

And I crossed at 6 hrs and 46 mins on my watch...and my medal :)

 

For the record, the hubby finished in 6 hrs and 29 mins.. a new PR ! 

Cactus Rose 50 Milers

Back again.. been a long while. I have been trying to get my running passion back. Somehow.. I seem to lose it along the way. It does not help that I have to abandon the White Rock Marathon in December because I have to go back to Singapore.

However, my fiance's 50 Miler this past weekend re-inspired me. I think I want to do a 50 miler sometime next year.

This is his first 50 milers... and we were both excited about it. I was a nervous wreck. I knew that he wanted this badly.

The day started at 3am when we woke up to make the long drive up to Bandera. The boy made me worried when he refused any breakfast. I bought some Lara Bars and Banana and he had it on the way there and it made me feel better.

We arrived at Bandera at 4.30am.  Gosh.. it was cold. Near 40F is no fun... I was freezing. This was an unsupported race so we had to place the drop bags and supplies at the aid stations. There were 4 aid stations and we placed 2 drop bags in 2 of them.

The plan was to see him start at 5am, drive back to San Antonio for my run and head out again with a burger. Yes... the boy asked for a burger which was surprising. I was to wait for him at the Lodge aid station with the burger between 11am to 12pm.

Everything went as plan. I saw the boy off at the start and headed back to San Antonio for my run. Came back from my run, shower and head out to McDonald to get burger... but darn I waited for 10 minutes and they do not serve burger till 11am. Next option: Sonic.

I looked at the time and knew that I may not be able to make it at 11am. I just had to fly my way there. Arrived at the park at 11am sharp and the ranger stopped me and told me " Mam, I need you to do 2 things. One, go to the office and get your vehicle registered. Two, you have to drive slower. 20mile per hour is strictly enforced here..".. yeah... this was how fast I was flying.

I arrived at the Lodge station  at 11.05am. I looked around and everyone I know tell me " scott came through and ask for you and his burger..." Darn... I miss the boy by 10 minutes. He came through at 10.55am.

I felt so bad. I went to the aid station with burger and coke to wait for him. So happy that he came in one hour later ( at Mile 30) I was so happy to see him. He took some coke and could hardly swallow any burger ( lol... I wa not expecting him to eat any.. knowing that he has this thing of not able to eat on the course)

Doing a Gangham at Mile 30....

At mile 35 .. still looking good

 He left the aid station and went to the next one to wait for him. So the day was spent going from aid station to aid station to wait for him. He was looking great at mile 35. I knew that we had this.

Mile 45.5... getting very tired

At mile 40,  I could see that he was losing energy. But I was not worry... he could still make it even if he had to walk the next 10 miles .At mile 45.5... he was exhausted. He sat at the aid station for a while. I gave him some ginger ale and grapes.. and chased him out of the aid station. Just need to get him out before he got too comfortable

Finish Line !!!!!!!

The last 4.5 miles was probably the slowest and the toughest. I knew he had a big hill ( lucky) to cross and expected him to take at least 2 hours. But he beat my expectation and came in earlier than that.

Gosh .. I was so happy. 12 hours and 25 minutes... way ahead of our expected. Both of us were expecting 13-14 hrs finished. So proud and so happy ! First 50 Milers done !!!

Captain Karl's Reveille Ranch

 Easy fast course ( in my opinion) + Bad Pace = unhappy me ! Shoot me !

After two 60Ks at Muleshoe and Colorado Bend, I was tempted to do another 60K. But it seems "kinda" crazy to do three 60Ks out of the 4 races in the series and miss the buckle by a 30K. ( I did 30K at Pedernales). So I convinced myself to "just" do a 30K.


I had wanted to race this since this was the last one in the series. But I felt sick during my run on Friday ( the day before the race). I was out doing m 8miles run and was running good till mile 3 when my asthma came to haunt me. I had to struggle ( walk /run) 2 miles to get back to the car. My inhaler did not make me any better for the rest of the day.

Panicked ! I really want to finish this race. I had to pull out my emergency kits.- 2 puffs of Albuterol every 4 hours, 2 cups of tumeric tea and a bag of onion. Yes onion ! I always feel better after chopping onion.- somehow the onion seems to open the air way... so I was chopping lots of onion on Friday night and Saturday morning.

Felt much better on Saturday. However, I was not sure how my lungs will react and hence decided to "take it easy".

I have not done this course before. But I heard my "horror" stories from peeps who did the Pandora Box. Major complaint was the granite rocks and the dome. The most technical part seems to be the dome and only the 60Ks runners get to go to the dome.  I was sorta disappointed to miss the dome.
 
There are 2 loops for the 30Ks runners with 4 aid stations in the course. The first 1.25 miles was pretty flat with some bumps.  The first aid station was about 1.25 from the start. The course started to get technical one mile after the first aid station... granites started to surface. It was actually not too bad- still runnable with day light. It was only more difficult in the second loop when the darkness made it difficult for one to focus on  the uneven ground.  The third aid station was about 3.5 miles after the second aid station.  The granites started to disappear after the third aid station. The course was pretty much runnable with some rocks, switch backs and hills. The last aid station was the same as the first aid station - 1.25 miles from start/finish line. It was a welcome sight to see the third aid station.. knowing that it was only 1.25 miles out from finish. The 1.25 miles back was the best stretch.. almost flat, downhill and runnable dirt track.

I started the race slow.. really slow as I did not know how my lungs will react.  I kept to very low heart rate - pretty much breathing in and out  through the nose throughout the race. I was trying to focus on getting a right easy breathing rhythm for first 4 miles.  Then I caught up with a friend - Michelle-and we decided to run together. It was getting dark and definitely a good decision to run with someone.

Michelle was trying to break 4hr and 27 min in this race. I told her that I will pace her and get her to finish with a PR. We ran the rest of the first together. We finished the first loop in 1hr 58min. I stopped my garmin by mistake at the end of the first loop and hence was unable to tell our pace and time for the second loop. I had to go by "feel" and push whenever I could and still maintaining a low heart rate.

Michelle followed the the pace really good till mile 15 when she started to slow down. For some reason, my right feet started to hurt. I could feel the top of my feet swelling. I knew that I had to keep running to keep the momentum. The feet will hurt more if I stopped or go slow. I decided to pick up pace and hoped that Michelle would be able to keep pace. But I knew that she is on track for a PR even if she did not keep up with my pace.

Michelle fell back when I picked up the pace. Luckily, the last 3 miles are easy and runnable.

Done in 4hrs, 11mins - 8th female.

Not exactly happy with time. I knew I could have done faster. My heart rate was real low and I was not even panting or grasping for breathe. I felt that I could have gone for another loop after finishing the 30Ks. Bad strategy to go on low heart rate... but then again.. I was not sure how my lungs will react if I had gone faster.

Very unhappy with myself... but I was very happy and excited for my BF who did the 60Ks. His 4th 60k... which means a buckle if he finished.

I waited at the start/finish line for him to come in for his third loop. I had promised him that I would pace him if he needs company on his third loop. He came in.. looked strong and he was running with someone he met on the course. I was really happy that he was running with someone... I did not think my body would want to go out again.. and my plantar hurt !

The boy came in at 9 hr and 27 mins....his second fastest in the series. And he earned his buckle !!!

The buckle... aren't it pretty ?

Captain Karl's- Colorado Bend 11 Aug 2012

Captain Karl -Colorado Bend (11 Aug 2012)

Second 60k ! I was not sure about this one. My plantar and my asthma were giving me problem the whole week. I had no confident in this race with so many odds against me. But I wanted to do this badly and so decided to just do it.

My heart sank when we arrived at the start line. The start line was at the bottom of the "hill'. Darn... I knew that this would be a uphill course. I started to question whether I can complete this.

The race director was not very encouraging at the race briefing. He described this course as the most difficult of the whole Captain Karl series ( There are 4 races in the series.. each about 3 weeks apart). He warned the participants of the the hills and the heat  ( we started out at almost 105F).

Surprisingly, despite all my worries, I felt good when I started. The strategy was to go "slow" and easy on the first loop ( 2 loops- each 30k) The BF and I went too fast in the last race and we suffered greatly in the latter part of the race.  We decided that we would go easy for the first loop for this race. We saw a cluster of runners at easy pace and decided to stick with them. The first 3 miles ( from start to first aid station)  was pretty much uphill. We followed the group which run/walk it.

We broke free from the group 2 miles after the first aid station.  The next 5 miles after the first station was pretty much runnable which was surprising as I expected the course to be "hard". Of course, this was just a tease. The terrain changed after we past the second aid station. Rocks and more rocks started to surface on the course. Big rock, steep inclined/declined for the next 5 miles between the second and third aid stations.

I struggled a bit during this stretch. I wore my powerstep. I had wore  it for 2 months but started to wean it off the week before this race. However, I decided to wear it for this race to as I was not sure how my plantar will react.  Big mistake ! The powerstep for some reason "over corrected" my pronation and cause my feet to slip the other direction. I never had this problem when I was wearing it in the last 2 months.  It was very uncomfortable. My left knee started to hurt and I could feel pain on my right ankle. I started to contemplate whether to stop after the first loop. I was in a mental wreak as the thoughts of stopping kept creeping into my head,  Luckily the terrain changed for the better after the third aid station. It started with steep rocky inclined, followed by steep rock declined and then a good 3 miles of runnable stretch.

We completed the first 30K in 4 hr 25 mins. Slow but decent split. My left knee was hurting a lot and I could feel my right ankle swelling. " Stop" or "Go"....... I knew I was taking a risk if I continue. But I really wanted to finish this.. so I chose "GO"

The second loop was done via power walk and slow run. The pain in the knee and ankle started to play mind games with me. I had to push the thoughts of DNF out of my head. It was a blessing that that I was running with the BF. It helped a lot as we pushed each other.

It took a lot of mental will to complete the second loop. I had to  block off the pain in my left knee and right ankle and the thoughts of DNF.  I was so happy when the BF told me that we have about 3 more miles to finish. My body woke up and started to run ... I just wanted to finished fast. I picked up pace and the BF followed.  We ran at 9.30ish pace for the last 3 miles to bring it home.

Done my second Utra ! in 9 hrs 43 mins ! I survived.. so did my knee and ankle. And Yes.. I am ditching the powerstep for good

First Race !

Since this is the Lazy Runner's first post, I thought that sharing my first race would be most appropriate.

My first race was the Paris half marathon in 2008.  I was in school in Paris and was running leisurely with a school mate. He decided to do the Paris Half Marathon and enticed me to do the same.

I did not know what I was getting myself into. We had no training plan. I did not know that one needs a training plan. I had no Garmin and did not know 13.1 or 21km is really a distance. We just ran whenever we had time. The longest we ever did was probably 8 miles.

Race day was fun. We drove from school to the start. I remembered that it was very cold and I was shivering at the start line. I knew that I had to run when the race started. I did not know how far we were to go... just ran !

It was probably a blessing in disguise that I did not know how far 13.1 miles was and that I had no Garmin. It just make it much easier to run and not be a slave to the watch.

I finished the race in 2 hr 2 min ! Decent good time , I think, for a rookie.

This was probably one of the best race I ever had. There was no pressure. Just run !

Life is more complicated today. I have made myself a slave to the Garmin. Time, pace and distance seem to guide my runs. It is just not so right. Isn't running suppose to be fun and easy. We have made it complicated, didn't we!