Wrist Pocket - Your New Best Friend

As you may recall, last fall I was wondering how to efficiently carry a small amount of necessary items (Tums and Pepto tablets) during my long workouts. I forgot to update the blog with the solution I found: a wearable wrist pocket. I bought a two-pack on Amazon, on sale, for $9. The pocket is water-resistant and your sweat won't get through it. Unlike with a waistpack, what you put in there will not get hot and disgusting from your body heat. It is just large enough to fit a packet of gel or Sport Beans, plus a couple Tums and Pepto tablets. It is extremely comfortable, lightweight, and you won't really notice it much. It is machine-washable. What a godsend this little gizmo has been. Highly recommended for minimalists like me who just want a few "emergency items."

Spartan Sprint Stadium Series – Lambeau Field 2017 Review

I had never done a Spartan race before – I figured it was the domain of ultra-buff Crossfitters who think ball slams and box jumps are a really good time. So naturally, it sounded like the ideal challenge for someone who was, let’s face it, a bit burned out on distance walking. The first few months of 2017 were spent bulking up my muscle mass, then with 5 weeks until race day I realized “I better do some burpees, and lose some weight so I can capitalize on my strength.” Crammed in some great training and an excellent diet, and lost 11 lb before the race and had a combination of leanness and brute strength that I hadn’t had in years. The week before the race, I felt like some sort of jungle cat, so ready for this challenge that I knew almost nothing about. It is distinctly un-Spartan-like to even ask what the obstacles will be. They will be discovered on the course, which, it turns out, means you have to be very smart about pacing. (Spoiler: I was very smart about pacing.)

My sister-in-law (SIL) and I showed up for our afternoon start time about an hour early and wandered around the lower level of Lambeau Field, looking at the visible obstacles and the countless Spartans running up and down the (approximately) eleventy billion stairs of one of the NFL’s largest stadiums. Being a massive Packers fan, it is always a pleasure to visit Lambeau. “Aaron Rodgers has STOOD RIGHT THERE!” No Packers were standing there today, and no lines were on the field…no Spartans, either, which some folks were disappointed about. But the hallowed turf of Lambeau is no place for us mortals, so I was not upset. Jordy Nelson is worthy; I am not.

At about 2:20 PM we headed up the ramps to the start line with the rest of our wave. For no discernable reason, we had to hop over a 4’ wooden wall to get to the start corral. A taste of things to come! Finally SIL and I were placed in our group of 15 (released every minute) and it was our time to go! Power walking up the ramp was easy peasy, until we got to the cords, which were laced at about waist-level across the entire ramp. Squat and side-waddle underneath…over…and over…for about a football-field distance of uphill ramp. NOW we’re cookin’ with gas. “My hammies!” I was heard to remark. SIL and I were heard to remark a LOT of things in this race, most of them devastatingly hilarious and ribald. We heard many fellow Spartans laughing at our obviously-rookie shenanigans and skylarkings.

At the top of the ramp, there were a series of four 4’ walls like we had encountered earlier. Hopped over them with as much spry ease as a middle-aged woman can muster. Then we encountered our first official “someone is telling us what to do” obstacle: 20 hand-release pushups (where your chest touches the ground and you lift your hands on each rep). I did these modified, as did the other lady Spartans, because I am not stupid and we were just getting started.

First impression of Spartan: they love little walls.

We went out into the bowl for our first set of stadium stairs. We quickly realized that stadium stairs are longer and deeper (that’s what SHE said) than regular stairs. Fortunately, with my nearly 6-foot height, I had the option of taking long bounding steps down the stairs, taking care to land properly with flexed knees and straight ankles. As a result, I flew by everybody on the way down, only to have them easily jog past me on the way up. Fortunately, no Spartans were dicks about being held up (in too-narrow sections) or asking to pass. There was a real sense of camaraderie, as well as a real sense of “STAIRS ARE HARD.”

We came out of our first stair section only to encounter…having to pick up a 25-lb sandbag and run around ANOTHER stair section! Calgon, take me away! Fortunately carrying my 32-lb toddler prepared me for that. 

Easier than juggling a tray of beers on these steps.

Afterward we took a long ramp down and encountered a 6’ wooden wall. Let’s do this! We sprinted for the wall and immediately realized “oh, this is harder than it looks.” The wall was sanded and finished and quite slippery, so there was no chance of taking a step in the middle to help yourself up. A nearby lady named Jamie said we should boost each other up, and so she boosted me, then I went back around and boosted her. Teamwork makes the dream work!

Next up was a water stop, where a fabulous volunteer with a man bun made conversation about Jelly Belly Sport Beans (which I was carrying and using to supplement with the provided water). Then it was the rope climb, where there were no knotted ropes for ladies, so it went extremely poorly and we joined the approximately 95% of participants who were doing burpees. Since we were on textured concrete, I modified the burpees, as unmodified burpees would have made my knees bloody and that would be unhygienic and/or gross. Total burpees count: 30.

After the burpees, we encountered the Rolling Epic, which I had read about and figured was probably the worst possible obstacle to do right after burpees. You put your toes on a small (about 8” square) four-wheeled scooter and walk on your hands about 30 feet to a painted line on the ground. The main challenge here is core strength, which had just been sapped a bit during the burpees. Fortunately it seemed to be within the rules to “rest” during the obstacle by drawing your knees in and basically crouching on the scooter for a bit. Managed to make it across the line without falling! Immediately afterward, we did 20 box jumps onto a platform that was about 18 inches high (for the women). Not terribly difficult when you’re tall, at least.

Another long ramp back up! At this point SIL was asking me “what’s next? How far have we gone?” and I was like “stop asking me stupid questions! They don’t tell you ANYTHING around here!” Spirits were still high and we were still joking around. Then we did our third trip around the stadium stairs (our second unencumbered by sandbags). MY HAMMIES. Lots of Spartans were resting during the stairs, which is totally understandable. We had to take a few breaks on the stairs during the day, though not as many as I thought we would!

After the stairs, we came across a line of rings hanging from above that we were meant to swing across. LOLOLOL OMG. I hopped onto the first rings, made it nowhere (as expected), and did my burpees (as probably 95% of the Spartans were doing). I knew if I had to do anything monkey bar-adjacent, I’d burpee out, so I was prepared. SIL and I banged ‘em out. At this point we decided it would be inspiring to yell to each other, "what would (insert Packer here) do?!" Unfortunately I started with "what would Eddie Lacy do?" and a nearby burpee-ing guy said "probably eat a cheeseburger!" LOLZ all around! Total burpees count: 60.

Next were, you guessed it, stairs! For the fourth time! This set of stairs seemed longer and harder, that’s what SHE said. At this point in the race I said something I can’t remember and SIL yells at me “SHUT YOUR WHORE MOUTH! …I’m sorry.” It honestly didn’t even occur to me to be offended. If we do this race again we will call our team The Whoremouths. At the bottom of the stairs we found a much-needed water stop. Stairs dry out the mouth badly. From the water stop we could see a giant wall coming up, and we started speculating about whether we’d be willing to show our boobs to lean young men to get a boost up the wall. Consensus: hell yes.

Randall Cobb's got nothing on us

But first, we went outside! Huzzah! First up in this section: a traverse wall. This was a zig-zag wall with outcroppings of wood for the hands and feet. After figuring out how to place my feet (tip: make sure your dominant foot can come around the outside of the zig-zag), it was really fun and not too difficult. Then we climbed this gigantic cargo net on an A-frame, which was about 30 feet high or so. I am afraid of heights, but when in Sparta. The net was not loose enough to fall through, so that helps. At the top I said “I wonder how many swamp crotches have straddled this apex today? Don’t think about it.” We made it back to the bottom without plummeting to our deaths, so no burpees for us!

We put the "BAMFs" in "A-FraMe...Bs?"

Then: the spear throw. I had heard of this, but had no clue how to prepare for such a ridiculous thing. I watched others do it and figured holding it in the middle and whipping the thing was a good strategy, so I did. And I broke the tip of the spear off on the target. Oops. It must have been broken before I got to it, because I am not some sort of Hulk monster. The spear was promptly replaced and I tried two more times but, while I could hit the target with the tip, I could not make it stick (neither could SIL). I decided doing half the burpees would be punishment enough for my lamentable lack of spear-throwing talent. Total burpees count: 75.

The next obstacle in the outdoor parking-lot section was the Atlas carry, which involved carrying a big block of concrete (I don’t remember the weight – maybe 50 lb?) about 40 feet, doing 5 burpees, then carrying it back. This was easy as hell, since I know how to pick up a large weight with my legs. Do not use your back. You will die. Total burpees count: 80 (and this is where we would end! No more burpees for us Spartan goddesses).

When we came back inside, we went for the giant wall we had seen. Turns out it was 7’ tall. Thankfully, Jamie was there waiting for us! Another group of two ladies joined our crew and we all hauled each other over the wall. On this one, we needed another girl to catch us as we fell off the other side. Then an 8’ wall. I experienced two different injuries on this obstacle, both mild: I pulled my right hip abductor as I mounted the wall. “MY ABDUCTOR!” I called out in a realistic fashion. Fortunately once I hit the ground, it eased up and was totally fine. I am guessing it was also on the 8’ wall that I bruised and chafed my right bicep, which I did not notice until hours later. Water break afterward, wherein I finished up my packet of fruit punch Sport Beans.

Next up: the Hercules hoist! I had heard that this one was a real killer. You use a rope and pulley to haul a 100-lb sandbag into the air and lower it down in a controlled manner. This was SO EASY it’s not even funny. Apparently I have a really strong back and naturally good technique, wherein I held the rope and let my body fall back, then grabbed the rope higher and repeated the process. Basically my 174-lb body weight did all the work for me, although the rope tore my hands up a bit on the lowering-down part. SIL and I helped Jamie do her hoist, then we all moved on to the next obstacle: 20 reps of ball slams with a 15-lb medicine ball. Easy. I was impressed too with how smartly the course was designed, to have a pull obstacle immediately followed by a push obstacle so that your muscle groups were alternated.

We came to another stairwell, but surprise! There were cords crisscrossing here as well! It was a nice callback to our initial ramp. We crawled up the stairs and I felt my foot contact someone behind me. I said “I’m so sorry, did I kick you?” and she snotted “yeah.” Lady, it is YOUR job to watch where MY feet are, since I am crawling up stairs and you are behind me and crowding me. That was the one and only rude idiot I encountered on the course. Everyone else was so nice it was almost eerie. At the top of the stairs we found heavy jump ropes and had to use giant rubber bands to bind our ankles together for 20 jumps. “This is some 50 Shades shit,” I was heard to remark. I did my jumps without totally eating it, thankfully, because that would be slightly embarrassing. Then out for our fifth and final set of stairs in the stadium, which felt like it took forever, but at least by now we had found our groove and were not complaining about “whore mouths” nearly as much.

At the top of the stairs a fellow Spartan informed us that we only had down stairs from then on. Praise Jesus! We went down one last set of stairs, then passed through the last obstacle, the Gladiator Gauntlet. This was basically a gauntlet of heavy punching bags that we just had to pass through. Super easy. My SIL joked with a volunteer, “that’s too hard, I have to do the burpees instead.” Twenty yards past the gauntlet, I crossed the finish line hand-in-hand with my luminous SIL and we got our free Miller Lite (tip: bring your ID! We had to go out to bag check to fetch ours) and stretched.

The greatest victory at Lambeau since the Ice Bowl.

Consensus: we had so much fun. Knowing almost nothing about the race, we were so open to the whole process, and it turned out that we really enjoyed encountering these strange obstacles and just trying to muddle through. We did pretty well, too, considering we only did burpees 2.5 times for a 20-obstacle race. My muscles were so warm and pummeled that it felt like I’d gotten an amazing massage. (I was sore the following day, though.) The post-race food spread is fairly pathetic (Clif Builder Bars, bananas, water, and a free Miller Lite with ID…other food costs big money), but the medal is DA BOMB. Heavy and a nice stadium-specific ribbon. Marriot handed out a bunch of free little black Spartan towels, so I got a set of two. Logistically this race was pretty good. Despite the utter lack of information (there was no course map even AT THE EVENT ITSELF), it was very smooth to check in and fairly easy to find everything. Parking was free and we were able to park very close to the race entrance in Lambeau’s Lot 1. And most importantly, everyone was nice. Nobody was snobby or elitist. We were all in it together, for one blissful 70-degree breezy afternoon in Green Bay.

Race Grade: A-. Besides a few tiny things (I didn’t see many, or any, bathrooms open on the course, and Gatorade would have been nice, as well as a bigger post-race spread), it was very well done. Oh, and a free bag check would be nice too. It cost $5. But oh well, no race is perfect, and this race was awesome. SIL and I will probably be back next year. Hope to see you guys there. We will be the ones making extremely inappropriate jokes and yelling “BIIIIITCH, get your ass up these stairs, bitch!” Come say hi. We'll haul you over a wall if you want.

Spartan Coming Up

Hey folks! Have not updated in a while. Too busy developing my burpees. Seriously, I have spent the last several weeks "cramming" for the Spartan race, and rule #1 is: do burpees. Do more burpees. Do burpees until you want to faint or die. Currently I do 100 burpees (in sets of 10) every few days, recording the total amount of time it takes me to do them, including breaks between sets. The quicker your recovery, the better shape you are in. I have gone from doing them in 40 minutes to doing them in 15 minutes. This all bodes very well for the Spartan Stadium Sprint, which is in about ten days.

I have also been developing upper body strength in general, and more recently I have been doing hot-weather cardio workouts to acclimate. Although the weather looks like it will be very mild, it always helps to train in heat. There will be no opportunity to "put it all together" before the race itself, but so far all signs point to a finish, which is all we can ask for.

Post-Spartan, I am looking to a return to the Des Moines Half Marathon, just for fun (no PR attempt this year). Will write a recap of the Spartan Sprint Lambeau Field for the blog in a couple weeks. Since the Spartan website doesn't give much information about the races (they claim being surprised is part of the fun...), I have enjoyed reading Stadium Sprint recaps online as my only source of tips. It is my duty to contribute!

Spartan Training For Dummies

I have not posted in a while, mostly because I have not been walking very much. Instead, I am in the initial stages of training for...dun dun DUN...my first-ever obstacle course race! I have chosen a Spartan Stadium Sprint event in late June. No mud, which is a plus. Lots of stairs, which will be a plus once I get in "stair-climbing shape."

So how does a distance walker train for a Spartan race? I have been taking strength training VERY seriously. My goal is to increase my raw strength and power to levels I have not previously seen in myself. I can lift a LOT of weight at the moment, and I want to increase that further. Unfortunately, this is not entirely compatible with staying in half marathon shape, but that will come later. I plan to do the Des Moines Half Marathon again in October, so I will get back to long workouts in July.

Here are my Spartan Secrets:

1) Research. The Spartan race website is extremely secretive about what sorts of obstacles you will encounter, to a pathological and obnoxious degree, so I have been googling race reviews of previous stadium Spartan events to know what to expect. I have found out that rowing machines, stairs, and non-muddy climbing obstacles are very likely.

2) Development. Figure out my weaknesses and pick them off one by one. This will include, for me, grip strength; rowing (I am a great rower but not as great as they expect me to be); upper body strength; stairs; BURPEES (holy shit, the burpees are brutal, and if I can't pass an obstacle I have to do thirty of them); and doing all of this in the heat of a late June afternoon.

3) Burpee Development. It requires its own damn number. Last week I did a total of 60 Spartan burpees during a 40-minute workout (with weights training between every 5 burpees) and I legit almost fainted. I need to be able to do sets of 30, probably a solid 5 times, in late June heat. The level of cardiovascular conditioning this will require is extreme, folks. Also, one thing you may not realize is that many "hit the deck" burpees will fail your biceps pretty quickly. That is the muscle group most responsible for making sure you don't break your nose on the floor.

So wish me luck as I prepare for taking my walking and racing to a whole other level. Eeek. And once the weather finally warms up, I'll be back outside for my 6-mile jogging-stroller loop.

Race Recap: St. Jude (Half) Marathon

St. Jude Half Marathon Race Report

When: Saturday, December 3, 2016

Where: Memphis, TN

Weather: 40s, raining

Division: Open

This was my A-race for the year, the one I had trained for. Unfortunately, I had trained for the full marathon and ended up completing the half. First rule of endurance sport: shit happens! I will get into all that later, but for now I will just recap the event before I forget (it's been a while - two horrible colds and lots of travel got in the way of my blogging).

The expo was at the convention center downtown. It was very easy to locate, but parking...probably the WORST parking garage I have ever seen in my life. Extremely confusing, no flow whatsoever, no signs whatsoever to tell you which way to go to exit or change levels, no signs pointing you towards the convention center itself, and I could go on and on. It was a travesty, an ABORTION, of a parking garage. Fortunately the parking garage was free, or I would have flipped out even more. Once we finally found parking (on the bottom, most rapist-y level of the structure), the expo itself was decent. Very spread-out and not a lot of free samples, but I've seen worse. The shirt was a phenomenal long-sleeve, thin fabric but the women's has longer sleeves to accommodate a thumbhole (which I am pleased to see is becoming a race-shirt trend - otherwise the sleeves are always too short). 

On race day we didn't have to deal with parking, because we had friends drop us off, but the whole race start was a bit of a disaster. Bag drop was easy to find, and we managed to stay warm in a stairwell of the baseball stadium, but once you got towards the corrals, forget it. Wall to wall people and you could barely move. Absolutely terrible organization. There were about 14 different corrals that started 3 minutes apart, which is a terrible, terrible way to start a race. It took. FOREVER. I was back at like corral 13. It was so bad that I was starting to actually get hungry again before the race even friggin' started. Tip, St. Jude: do a damn mass start. It'll take about 1/3 the time.

As for the ten-cent version of my switch from full to half, I will say this, I just didn't have it that day. I thought I'd do the full. I certainly had every intention. But although my walking felt fast, my watch said otherwise. It kept telling me my mile splits were around 14:30, and I felt like I was walking a 13:30. That is a big discrepancy and usually a bad sign. I saw the 5:45, then 6-hour pace groups disappear into the distance and I just thought "what the f***, I feel like I'm walking faster than this." I knew I wouldn't finish in the time limit, and between the rain and the cold and the fact that I didn't seem to know my own body that day, I spent several miles mulling over my choices - take the mile 11 half marathon split, or try to gut out the full. By mile 9 I made my decision to split at 11 and finish the half. No regrets, no sorrow. Live to race another day!

The half marathon ended up being a lot of fun, actually. Besides the chilly and damp weather, which didn't affect me much because I dressed perfectly (tank top with a long-sleeve over it, headband, gloves, and capri tights), the race itself was neat. It was a lovely tour of Memphis, which is a city I'd been to before but never really explored on foot. Going through the St. Jude Children's Hospital campus between miles 5 and 6 was emotional. If we had gone through there later in the race (which I think would be a great idea, actually, if they could change the course), I would have ugly-cried. It is REALLY difficult to feel sorry for yourself when you see kids with cancer cheering you on. The people of Memphis are very friendly and make great spectators, except for the occasional screaming homeless person (ah, the joys of the urban marathon!). The course itself had the perfect amount of hills, in my opinion. Not flat but not too hilly. 

We finished the race in a baseball stadium outfield, whereupon we immediately had to climb a large flight of stairs to get to the upper level where the food and exits were. NO, MA'AM. This was so mean. This was CRUEL and UNUSUAL. I have never, and I mean never, seen a race where you were forced to climb stairs at the finish. I honestly don't even know what the wheelchair finishers did. Maybe there weren't any. I mean, I had no problem with the stairs, but then I'd only walked a half marathon. The full marathon finishers were being pushed up the stairs by other Concerned Citizens. And these were the people in good enough shape to do a marathon in 3 hours. No. St. Jude, WHY? Oh, it was bad. Once you got to the top, though, there were immediately bags of food, and you could get Domino's pizza two slices at a time and Krispy Kreme donuts, which really hit the spot. Those are probably two of my favorite types of food, and I ate ravenously. Piles of whole, unpeeled bananas, great to steal for the next day's breakfast. They also had a variety of beverages including beer, Powerade, and chocolate milk. It was a good spread. By the time I'd wolfed down a slice of pizza I heard the announcer say my husband's name as a full marathon finisher, so I was able to help him out (the weather hit him harder than it hit me, and he was pretty effed up, at least until I got some pizza and donuts into him. Yet again, those foods save the day).

Once you were ready to leave, the exit was really far to walk. You had to go all the way around the stadium perimeter. But the bag pickup was very quick and easy, and we stretched in that same heated stairwell we spent time in pre-race. Had a friend pick us up on a nearby side street and poof, we were gone. 

Good: 

-shirt and medal were top-notch.

-spectators were great, especially considering the bad weather. 

-post-race food was awesome. Pizza and donuts? YES. And they weren't stingy with the portions, either.

Bad:

-that damn parking garage at the expo. ARGH.
-the start was a disaster. Legit disaster.

-the roads themselves were not in great shape. Lots of potholes and slippery when wet.

-not as many aid stations as there should have been. Fortunately I packed my own Gatorade, but still, put 'em every mile, bitches.

-STAIRS?! Sweet Neptune's trident, what the f*** were they thinking?

Race Grade: B. Like Des Moines, what is good is very very good, and what is bad (start? STAIRS?!) is insane. I would definitely recommend the half marathon, but cannot in good conscience tell people to do a full marathon where you will be immediately asked to scale a large amount of stairs upon finishing. 

Race Recap: Hungry Turkey Half Marathon

Hungry Turkey Half Marathon Race Report

When: Saturday, November 26, 2016

Where: Des Moines, IA

Weather: 30s-40s, mildly windy

Division: Open

The Hungry Turkey is a race series across the country that takes place the Saturday after Thanksgiving. This was to be my last half marathon before my full, so I had three goals in mind. First, I wanted to finish in under 3 hours. Call me a slave to my watch, but I figured finishing under 3 hours would bode well for about a 6-hour marathon. Second, I wanted to have even pacing. I didn't want to start out fast and end up limping. Third, I wanted to finish feeling good. Like I could go several more miles.

With those three goals in mind, I set out on my morning road trip to Des Moines (it's a couple hours drive). My outfit had been carefully plotted all week, since it was going to be chilly and windy out of the SSW. Since the race was an out-and-back that goes SSW for the first half, I knew I'd need long sleeves, gloves, and a headband to keep warm for the first part of the race. I wanted to wear a tank top underneath a light long-sleeve that would be easy for me to remove the top layer and tie off around my waist. I ended up doing this around mile 7, plus removing my gloves around the same time. Along with my capri tights, my outfit ended up being absolutely perfect, and I was pleased with how well-planned that aspect was. It had been a while since I'd raced in those weather conditions but I nailed it.

I knew it'd be a small race, and it was. Very small! Awesomely small! Maybe 500 participants or so, perhaps fewer. We started in a parking lot and there was therefore plenty of parking right next to the start line, plus tons of port-a-potties with no lines. Spending an hour pre-race in my car was just fine with me. There was morning packet pickup (I opted out of the mail option, but it was available) and it went smoothly. This race was very well-organized and, being small, super easy in and out. That's important to me when I'm driving in from out of town. 

The course was very rural considering we were in the middle of Des Moines. It was easy to totally forget you were in a city, because you were really in the middle of the woods on recreation trails adjacent to the river. Only around miles 3-7 (when you come into neighborhoods and then downtown Des Moines for the turnaround) do you feel any kind of urban environment. I love races that "break down into sections," and this was so perfect for that. Plus the out-and-backs gave me ample opportunity to see everyone in the race, which in a small race like this (where the back of the pack can get lonely) is important for motivation. As it was, there was still a stretch between mile 7 and mile 9 where I didn't see anyone, and it was kind of a trip. Then I hit another out-and-back section and saw tons of folks again. 

As for the course itself, it was just hilly enough. It was almost exclusively on paved recreation trail that was in good shape for the most part. It was easy to keep pace and the hills were well-spaced. The participants were very friendly (thank god, since the Des Moines Half Marathon in the same town was a total bitchfest) and everyone was in a great mood despite the chilly weather. 

Physically and mentally I felt very good. The wind was at my back for the last half. My hips stayed loose and fast. It felt as though I was well-trained, which is exactly how I wanted to feel. I hit all three of my aforementioned goals. And I got a delicious cinnamon roll at the end!

Good: 

-course. I love me a rural racecourse, and the little urban section was also fantastic. 

-start/finish organization. Loved having parking so close to the start line (literally a 40-second walk). And after the race, it was great to just stroll over to my car in under a minute and GTFO. Lots of port-a-potties.

-participants. Everyone was nice! Probably because they were still high on stuffing and green bean casserole. I know I was!

-shirt. A glorious 1/4-zip long sleeve fleece. Very comfy and warm.

-cinnamon rolls at the end! They were cold, but delicious.

Bad:

-we got lucky, but the weather can be unpredictable in late November. It is definitely a "do at your own risk" situation, but that's not the race's fault!

-not a huge post-race spread, but it's better than most races I do that are that small. If you hate cinnamon rolls, you might be slightly SOL. They also had granola bars. No Gatorade or chocolate milk, which would have been nice.

-they ran out of medals, which I thought was odd. They did say they would mail them out, though. As a walker, I've been in the "we're out of medals" situation before, and sometimes they aren't so courteous to order more, so getting a medal in the mail is just fine with me. If having that thing draped on your neck is important to you, though, caveat emptor.

Race Grade: A-. Not perfect, but close enough. Lots of fun, not expensive, well-organized and logistically very easy. A great fall race, and a great way to burn off your Thanksgiving carbo-load. I will hopefully be doing this one again!

Loving Your Twenties

I am in the throes of 20-Miler Madness! That is where, every weekend, you walk for 4 1/2 hours and discover the answer to the age-old question: "how many of my Lever 2000 parts can hurt at once?" Today, the answer was: my glutes; my hip abductors; my lower back; my mid back; my upper back; my neck; and my tummy (ooooog). My legs and hip flexors were blessedly normal, so it was definitely better than last week!

A few random thoughts as I am in the Madness.

1) Packing light. I have started bringing a few essentials with me - a wet-nap (usually stolen from a BBQ joint), two chewable Pepto, and two Tums. The wet-nap is because you might need it. Like, NEED it. Don't make me spell things out for you. The Pepto is for when the Dreadnought Nausea hits you, which it WILL, if you are going 20 miles. I took mine at mile 14 today which was way too early, because around mile 19 I was negotiating with the Lord so that I would not start dry-heaving. That's when you take the Tums, which have electrolytes (calcium) and tummy-settling powers, although not as much as the Pepto. How do I carry this crap around? I used to bring a fuel belt, but it's a bit rough on the back and I like to travel light. So now I put my little items into a plastic ziploc, then fold it up so that the corners do not stab me, then I stick it in the side of my bra under my armpit. It works. It works great. I don't even notice the plastic baggie at all, if it's properly folded. If you are not a lady, you can probably get away with stuffing such a thing into your hat or your shoelaces. The bag keeps sweat from getting all up in your Tums.

2) Decide how many 20-milers you want to do. I had originally planned on 2, then moving up to 22 for two weeks. Now I am going to do 20 miles four times. I want to really master this distance. Going farther will probably not be helpful for the race. I don't expect this race to be a PR, anyway. My new goal is to finish my final 20-miler with minimal limping, groaning, and holding my back like a pregnant woman.

3) You are at the point in your training where you can basically eat anything you want in the days surrounding your long workout. Go for it. Seriously. Indulge. Diets are great and all, but you cannot lose enough weight to make a difference in your performance at this point. You need the carbs and the salt. If you feel bloated, you know it's working.

4) In the weeks before a race, you must be vigilant about avoiding sickness. Especially if you are racing at a time of year where colds are rampant. Don't touch your face. Wash your hands frequently. Avoid sick people. Illness can cause you to skip a long workout, and you don't want it to screw up your race. You CAN work out with a head cold, but if you have a fever, chest cough, or a stomach bug, do NOT work out. Better to skip a long workout than to try and gut it out through a workout that takes a lot out of you on a GOOD day.