Been a while since I posted. I'm going to try to post a few times from here on out in case you folks who follow my intended live blog during the race want a little entertainment in between posts.
So, to catch you up, training was going great until I rolled my ankle at the end of April running a trail from Amicalola Falls to the top of Springer Mountain that is affectionately called 'The Meat Grinder'. That put me out of commission for a bit and I, fittingly, missed the Twisted Ankle Marathon that I had been intending to do in mid-May. A week later I was cleared by the podiatrist and back at it.
Fast forward a few weeks and I'm in peak training period. 34 days from race day. Here/s what this weekend looked like. On Saturday Troy Blackman (also running the Tahoe 50 miler with me), Rami Odeh (ultrarunner & owner of Formwell Fitness) and I headed back up to The Meat Grinder to avenge ourselves. We got up at 3am to meet at 4am and drive up for a 5am start. About 20 minutes into the run, I tripped on a root and slammed into the tree that was apparently the owner of said root and received a nice-sized bruise to start the run. On the way down from Springer Mountain, Troy fell and gashed open his knee and nearly broke his collarbone. Still, we were unbeaten and carried on. We stopped at 'The Hike Inn' for what turned out to be the world's best (legal) brownie and then continued on. Less than a mile later, Troy rolled his ankle in a bad way. We were still about 5 miles out and, like last time, he didn't have much choice but to hobble back. Over 5 hours later we finished a ~21 mile run. Tough day for Troy. Later I get a text that he's out for tomorrow.
Tomorrow you say? But you just ran for 5+ hours? Isn't that enough. Apparently not, if you're training for a 50 miler.
So, this morning I wake up. For the record, my legs are sore as hell and everything between my knees and my belly button is seriously chafed from yesterday, and I have a blister forming on my right foot. Great. Luckily, I only have to go out for 4 hours today. Since Troy is out due to the ankle, I get lazy and sleep in a bit and get out of bed at 4:30 for a 5:30 start at Kennesaw Mountain. The good thing about leaving out in the dark at 5:30 in the morning is that I get the first parking spot, so that's something. Off I go, headlamp on, covered in baby oil and body glide to keep today's chafing to a minimum. Usually about 40-60 minutes into a run, I warm up and really enjoy the 2nd and 3rd hour. Maybe that will happen today too.
A couple notes about the first loop. There's a section where you have to jump from rock to rock to cross a shallow stream. It's a nice diversion in daylight. It's...a bit dicey when it's pitch black out. Huge sigh of relief when I make it across that. Shortly afterward, without Troy I took a wrong turn and got mildly lost - which is saying something on trails I've run this many times. How do I have such a bad sense of direction? I don't worry too much about it. After all, I'm going for 4 hours today. Surely I'll find my way by then. It just adds to the sense of adventure. (In the end, it wasn't a big deal - I just ran the loop in the reverse direction from what I had intended.)
Funny aside here - so, I did about a 10 mile loop from my car and then back. As I run by my car I think I should put some more baby oil on because I've still got a long way to go and if my chafing gets any worse I'm going to be in bad shape. So I stop and get in my car - it's daylight now, by the way, and a lot of people are around - I get in my car and the windows fog up immediately. I then grab the baby oil and start placing it in unmentionable locations. 2 women hurry by and it occurs to me what they appear to be seeing. I decide I better get out of the car and take off running before the police arrive.
I down a 5 hour energy (this is something new I tried and it tasted like hell but seemed to help) and a peanut butter, banana, sea salt, and honey sandwich), and off I go. By the way, I am carrying a 'Camelbak' (basically a backpack that holds 70 ounces of water), I borrowed from Troy which I have now filled 3 times. I have bandaids on my nipples or they would chafe and bleed and for the first hour of my run, I held a stick in front of my face to break the cobwebs to minimize the number of spiders I eat. Something that I never saw flew into and stung the beejeezus out of my arm 15 minutes into my run. I went old school and sucked the poison out and spit. Nice. (Note - It actually worked. My arm was on fire when I got stung and tonight there's not even a bump. Just a red mark where the stinger went in)
Heading out for the 2nd loop, I'm now 2 hours into my run and more sore than I was when I started. Chafing isn't worse, but it sure as hell isn't magically better either. So much for 'getting warmed up'.
I always say hi to people as I run by them. I usually am talking with the guys and don't pay much attention to people's responses, but I was alone and trying to entertain myself today, so I started to notice that the guys will say hi back, but when a creepy, sweaty guy who reeks of baby oil says hi to women...not so much. I try to count who does and doesn't respond, but my mind is so tired I literally lose count before I get to 5. So much for that. One lady I run by is running with her young daughter. They say hi.
There is a bathroom at the Kennesaw Mountain visitor's center. and that is a very good thing. You drink a lot of water trail running. Most of the time I just stop and go on the side of the trail, but on the heavily trafficked trails around Kennesaw Mtn, I'm sensitive to the fact that the nice ladies walking their dogs have no interest in coming around the corner to that sight. After a LOT of water consumed this morning, I barely make it to the Visitor's Center, but I do and all is well. Time to go up and over the mountain. A couple months ago, I ran up and down Kennesaw Mountain 3 times in a row. That sucked. Today is harder.
I get to the top of mountain, and am feeling a bit studly. Then I see the lady with her daughter again. The daughter is 9 years old and is running over the top and has barely broken a sweat. They say hi again. I don't respond. I hate them.
Weird coincidence, we went running at Red Top last weekend and met a few other runners. On the way down the mountain I run into 2 of them - John and Ruth Ann - and run with them for a while. It is nice to have the company for the last stretch. (Note: Troy did a good write-up of our Red Top run and a couple other longer runs. If I get time and can find them, I'll post his write-ups here later this week.)
In the end, I make it back to my car - still sore & chafed but happy. I've made it through my biggest training weekend. The ankle held up. I might just be able to make it through this race yet.
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