The Time I Signed Up for a 4+ Hour Race

On Saturday I did my first real trail run. Not the flat, neatly limestone packed trails that I'm used to, but the out in the middle of the woods, gotta jump over logs and rocks trail. Oh my Lordy, I never dreamed it would be so hard! I could not mentally get over it. I was slow, I walked way too often and just had a pretty hard time about it.

There is a beautiful river down there. I promise.

The start of a rather bigger hill. You can't see it, but I promise, its there.

Yes it was peaceful and great to be out in the woods, but it took me two hours to do 7.5 miles!! That's walking pace! If I do that three weeks from now it will take over FOUR HOURS to finish the 25K! That's people's marathon times! To say that I'm freaking out is an understatement. Facing the mental battle of the run taking that long and using different methods of running, I just felt drained when I was done. I even had to stop at my car and eat half a granola bar in between the two loops, I felt that bad.

Do I have the stamina for the race? What do I bring to eat on that long of a run? What if the weather is complete crap and I'm stuck running in snow, ice, or both? I'm so not trained properly for this! I'm really regretting the couple of short runs that I've skipped. I know it wouldn't make a real difference, but I just feel so slow and not in the best of shape after Saturday's run.

I have 12 miles scheduled for this coming weekend (I was supposed to do 11 miles Saturday, but after it took that long to 7.5 miles, I called it a day). I'm hoping that I can do it outside to get more practice on the trails.

The trail is only about a mile and a half from my house and it made a 3.5 mile loop. It'll be really nice to train on this summer. Just wish I had found it sooner. Not that it would have mattered much because it's been looking like this most days:

My view today. Under those few inches of snow is lots of ice, so I decided to stay home.

I'm not sure I'll ever pick a big event in the Spring again. It's nice to have something to look forward to and to train for, but it's not fun having to do it all inside!

I also broke down and bought some trail shoes this past Friday. I tested them out on Saturday, I had planned on doing 5 miles in the new shoes on the trails and then switching shoes to run 6 miles on the road. Obviously that didn't happen. I shouldn't have gone that long in them so new, they started rubbing spots on my big toes. I had put band aids on the back of my heels, since that is where I usually get blisters, but didn't think about my big toes. I thankfully didn't get actual blisters, it had just rubbed them some and now I feel fine.

Source

These are the shoes I bought. Nike Flex Trail. Good thing I like them pretty well, since they are now absolutely covered in mud. I'm really glad I bought them though. I could really feel them digging/clasping the ground so that I didn't slide. They are very different to run in versus my Brooks Pure Flows since they are more clunky. They are not made for road running that is for sure. I'm a little worried that my legs won't be used to the extra weight, not that they are really heavy, but I like my Brooks since they are so lite. Should have gotten them sooner! But as long as the hot spots go away with more wear, then they will be great.

I guess I will just have to put my big girls pants on this weekend and train on the trails no matter the conditions. It'll be good to prepared no matter the situation right?? Oh goodness, what have I gotten myself into??