Where Did July Go?

Where did July go?  I look and I have not blogged since July 9th maybe because I was getting ready for my second trip of the summer to Montana.  I loved running in the UP and also had a great time running in Montana while I was there but nothing compares to the stress free, familiar course where I can get lost in my thoughts and lifes worries just seem to disappear here at home.

So after I ran the Bear Run in the UP on the 4th I was experiencing pain in my left hip.  I felt it was from running on the very uneven landscape during the trail run and also that hard as a rock bed i was sleeping on.  I was nursing it before I went out to Montana riding my bike more, taking a few days off and stretching.  I think the 3 days in the car helped to since it kept me from running.  I felt great in Montana even did a "rave run" on the Rimrock in Billings.  I felt great when I got home also and then Friday came I did my run in the morning and then went to town.  I got out of the car and bam I could not move my hip it was like it was out of joint.  Damn I had to make myself walk on it and it popped back into place and of course hurt like hell after that.  I ran this morning it was sore but I was able to get through it.  It feels ok this evening as well.  So hopefully all is well.

So now as the month comes to an end and I go back to work on Monday I realize I have only 15 more days until the Chicago Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon!  I do not know how well I will run it with my hip and the humidity lately.  We will see, I always run much faster on race days with all the excitement and adrenaline running through me.  So I will just rely on my smart training and my natural ability to run to get me through.  My goal is a 1:50.



Blister in the Sun

It's been awhile....well I was out of town in the UP running during the nice cool UP mornings.  Ah how I miss the coolness up there just to come home and be engulfed in heat once again and the nasty deerfly. 

So I had a nice training week while visiting the Upper Penisula of Michigan.  Ran in an awesome trail race on the 4th of July.  The Black Bear 12k Trail Run.  The first 2k or so was down a paved road running into the morning sun we turned left into the Hiawatha National Forest and was greeted with ice cold water and a hard limestone packed trail.  The trails we ran on are ones used by four wheelers.  Then about 4k into the race the trail turned to sand.  OMG is that the hardest thing to run through.  It pulls at your hips, begs you to stop but I kept plugging away.  Picking people off as I went, I was not in a hurry at the start I still cannot figure out why people kill themselves at the begining.  Well I guess they just do not understand how to race.  Finally we turned a corner and there it was the mud the starter told us about.  Not too bad but there were logs down on the ground and it was not safe to run on so i walked through this area only about 20 feet or so of this and took off up the hill.  Ah the hill, a nice rocky, sandy, crappy beat up by 4 wheelers hill.  I started running up it and then it got too steep so I walked the rest of the way up got a drink and started on my last 3 miles or so through the nice hard packed trail through the hardwoods that made a wonderful cool canopy over our heads.  I had my eye on the guy in front of me I knew I had to get him, he kept slowing down I kept speeding up I got him in the last 2k stretch.  We come out of the woods onto a paved road that went downhill and around a loop to the finish.  I was really bookin' then!  My brother yelled go Cathy only 100 more yards!!  I was sprinting to the finish.  I felt great!  First in age group, 12th overall and there were only 35 runners in the 12k....everyone else ran in the 6k which had over 100 runners in it.  Hmm wonder why?

I had some good runs while in the UP and did a lot of hiking on the Pictured Rock Lakeshore.  Nice get away.  Time to gear up and get ready for the next trip out to Montana.  Try some running in the higher elevations see how that goes.  I will be running with my high school running buddy Amy I cannot wait.