Recipe: DIY fuel bars

I think Bugaboo could eat me out of house and home with her ferocity for Lara bars or Picky Bars and the cost to keep them in the house in ready supply.  So... why buy them (or any bar that hefts a heavy price) and why not make your own for a fraction of the cost?  Also, getting to control the ingredients and make fuel organic is a big bonus for me.  (Especially if I'm going to share them with my little running partners.)

 Bugaboo has named them "Running Cookies" because she only gets one when we are out on a run together.

Outrunning The Rain's "Running Cookies"

• 1 Cup dry (old fashioned) oats
• 2/3 Cup coconut flakes
• 1/4 Cup Pumpkin Seed Protein Powder (or wheat germ or other dry ingredient of your choice)
• 2 Tablespoons Chia seeds
• 1/4 Cup cocoa powder (instant coffee might be a good substitute.)
• 10 ounces Medjool dates (without pits)
• 1/4 Cup dried fruit (such as cranberries or cherries... whatever you enjoy)
• 1 Tablespoons coarse salt (or more. 2T will taste salty, but I use that much because I sweat a lot...  If you don't sweat much or don't want to taste salt, try just 1T.)
• 1/2 Cup Peanut butter (I prefer crunchy, but creamy is fine.)
• 1/3 Cup Honey
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla

If your food processor won't be temperamental with you, throw the pit-free dates in and coarsely chop them up.  My ancient machine prefers I do that first before adding them into the mix.  

Mix dry ingredients with the dates and pulse together in food processor.  Then add in wet ingredients (p.b., honey and vanilla.) and mix together.

The mixture should be like a thick cookie dough.  (If it's too dry, the bars will fall apart on your run and you'll have a baggie full of crumbs.  If it's too wet, you'll have a gooey mess and be sucking the "fuel" off your fingers.  Eww.

Press the mixture into an 8x8 glass baking dish and refrigerate overnight.  I like to score the pressed mixture so that it's easier to cut the cold dough and pry out the bars for the next morning's run.

After they have refrigerated, store in air tight container in refrigerator.  I don't know how long you'd want to keep them around, but I usually eat mine up in about 2 weeks, depending on the miles covered in each week.  I like to eat one pre run and then again every 3 miles or every 30-40 minutes... which ever happens first, I suppose.)

It's a forgiving recipe that can have substitutions and lots of combinations, but this is the ratios that have worked for me and been easily transportable on a half marathon.  I put the bars in a zip lock baggie and carry them in my flip belt.

Mixture pressed into an 8x8 pan before being placed in the fridge. 

I hope you enjoy them!
Do you make your own fuel/running food?  I'd love to hear your recipes!

Run Like Hell (and then stop for the train!) half marathon recap (and update 10/21)

Dressing the family up as characters from Jim Henson's "Labyrinth"

October 20th has been a day that I've been looking forward to for a long time... When I started running seriously at the beginning of the year, I set my sights on running the Half at "Run Like Hell".  This race was my very first race experience ever as the 5k in 2011.  

It's a race for letting go of inhibitions and being silly in costume, grab a couple of free beers at the finish and kick back to listen to some local bands... but serious enough that runner's fight for their PRs and take their times seriously.  

Early morning fog giving the camera trouble

The weather had been very warm and favorable the last few days, but it's always a good idea to dress warmly when getting up before the sun.  Besides, we all know that there is ALWAYS a "chance" of rain...

We did escape the rain, but if runner's weren't wet from sweat, they surely were from the moisture in the fog.

Half marathoners getting ready to run in the fog

The course began in downtown Portland and wound it's way through some of the industrial parts and areas that made a small town girl like me feel like I was on the wrong side of the tracks.  When we literally crossed the tracks, we could forget the worries of city life and enjoy not having to worry too much about traffic on such an early Sunday morning.

A very polite Candy Corn Witch zoomed past me and chatted up the runners near her pace before she'd speed off again.  I later found out that she is a contributor on one of the blogs I've been following.  I met a celebrity and didn't know it until after the meeting!

We wound up some inclines, but i didn't think much of it... until I overheard runners asking each other "Is this the hill i keep hearing about?"  "Is this the hill everyone complains about?"  The Candy Corn Witch smiles and says "Nope!  That would be the hill around mile 5."

Mile 5.  No problem.

I was worried though.  I killed my hamstrings last week trying to survive a hoard of zombies...  and though the inclines leading up to this point didn't seem like too much work on my quads and hammys, I was loosing confidence.  

Something else giving me some unease was I felt naked and lost without my garmin.  This is stupid, I know... and a great opportunity for me to just feel my pace and trust the course... but what if I stopped for an injured runner or something... I'd like to... well, pause it to better know my running time.  Stupid and silly, I know.  But with the buildings and fog, it just wasn't gonna sync up.  

Mile 5 came upon us and I traveled up an incline that seemed unending.  And I didn't die.  I didn't have one foul thought or negative banter about it at all.  I just kept on going, concentrating on the sound my feet made when hitting the pavement and watching my surroundings.     

We traveled up Terwilliger under the canopy of trees on the side of the road and a forest below us.  It was beautiful, but the trees were wet from the fog and rained down their moisture on the runners below... reminding me of my costume choice for such an early morning, fall run.  Besides this set back, it really wasn't uncomfortable or cold.  Those arm warmers really did their job! 

Aid stations were about every 2-3 miles and accompanied by live bands playing music for us.  That was fun.  But by mile 7, my heel started to kill me.  I injured it back at a 5k in May and thought it was muscle strain... but with the ongoing pain going on so long and completely unbearable on this race, I've gone ahead and scheduled a dreaded doctor's appointment.  

I started to pay more attention to tired shuffling and making sure my foot was striking at the front and not heel striking.  i suppose it must have helped, because by mile 8 i was cheering the people I was passing and telling them we were on the home stretch.  

My garmin was useless accept to tell me what time it was, and I was certain it was failing me at that, because How could I be nearing mile 10 and still be under 2 hours?   

4 weeks ago I ran my first half marathon and finished well over 3 hours later.  With hornets.  An extra mile and torrential downpours.  How could i be doing this well?  I felt amazing!

And then I saw a large group of people ahead... a cheering section?  No one is cheering... what the...

A train was slowly rambling it's way along the track... blocking our route to finish the race.  I had under a 5k left to get this thing done!  Don't get discouraged... take a deep breath...

"How long have you been here?'  I asked the first runner I saw at the back of the crowd.  

"Me?  30 minutes now."

My heart sank.  At this point, my character in her movie would shrilly holler "It's not fair!"

I wandered up to the volunteer standing on the concrete wall next to the road.  Just me looking up at him had him tell me "This is gonna take about an hour and 10 minutes."  An hour and ten minutes, from this very moment?  Subtracting the 30 minutes from the girl at the back?  Wha-?  I need more info than that... But I wasn't going to get it... so I fought back my tears of frustration as some cramps set in between my shoulder blades and started to use the concrete wall to stretch my quads, hamstrings and calves.

I remember someone asking me the time and I told them "ten o'clock" and then I remember her asking again and it was 10:15am.  Was I still going to be able to finish this before the roads were unblocked and opened to traffic?  

Soon after taking a mental note that it was 10:15 a.m., the train passed and we all took off even before the rail gate was fully extended.  We were told that the timing belt laid down before the train track would stop our timing chip and reactivate again on the other side of the track when we ran over it again.  

The timing mat was unplugged and laid off to the side, mostly out of the course.  I cursed out loud and tried again not to cry.  No garmin working.  Was my chip working?  Would the time be accurate? 

I was flying before this.  It was a PR, but by how much?

I tried to think of how "nice" it was to finish with everyone as one big group effort and see the speedy athletes finish that i would have missed out on since I'm not that speedy gazelle at the front of the pack.   I won't lie.  It was difficult to fight my way through the crowds again and  my muscles were cold and sore.  I can't even imagine what it must have been like for those who had been there longer than me.  

I crossed the finisher's line and was happy to see most of my friends who had ran the 10k still there waiting for me.  Most of the 5k runners were still out... their start time having been delayed by a whole hour.

There are some seriously negative comments on Terrapin Event's facebook page that has me questioning future races with them.  They may have no control over the trains and their schedule... I hear even the Portland Marathon can be stalled by trains... but it seems that they could post something to try and explain that to us or apologize or something.  Anything. 

I got my medal, and I am thrilled.  I know, bling chaser.  Did I mention it glows in the dark?  

Finisher's Medal

How cool is a finisher's medal that glows in the dark?

  

 While the 10k was finishing up, the 5k was free to go.  My husband, "The Goblin King", was asked by "The Dread Pirate Roberts" to take the kids away until "Princess Buttercup" returned from her race.

"The Dread Pirate Roberts" leaves his companions in the care of "The Goblin King"

 When I finished, everyone was already done, except The Dread Pirate Roberts who had such a late start.

We grabbed our grub and tried to warm up with a hot bowl of chill and I redeemed my two cups of free beer.  My "Princess Bride" friends won the group costume contest and a friend who ran the 10K won the "Best Unicorn" contest.

The party wound down pretty quickly, as I'm sure their rent on the square was beginning to end.  The food court started giving away as many bowls of chili as we wanted and having secured a table next to the beer garden, some very friendly unicorns started filling "our" table up with free beers.

All in all, it was fun... but I'm not too terribly sure if I'd do this race again.  It is sentimental because it was my very first race ever.  Since then, I've started taking running seriously, lost 60 lbs and looking at making my body stronger.

The train might not be their fault, and maybe many races deal with the train as an issue.... but now I'm seeing repeated complaints on social media about how Terrapin Events treats their volunteers.
"Happy 10th anniversary" Run Like Hell.  For 10 years, it seems like at least the public relations would be on top of addressing concerns with race hiccups or complaints about being mistreated.

(As of this writing, the results page says I've shaved 47 minutes off my fiasco of a first half last month.  That's amazing!  The chip timing company says I finished in 2 hours, 38 minutes and 5 sec.  My gun time, they claim, is 2 hours, 38 minutes and 43 seconds.  This is an edited lie, since I finished at 2:51:??.  I wish they didn't change the gun time to try and pretend like the train had never really happened.)

What would you do?  Run it again and the risk of trains be damned?  Or forget any seemingly unorganized race that presumably treats their volunteers badly?

(Update:  Terrapin Events issued a statement on their Facebook page and in an e-mail to participants that stated "Thank you all for participating in this year's 10th anniversry of the Run Like Hell half marathon. While a little chilly, overall the weather was great for running! It was so fun to see everyones costumes, especially those dressed up in groups! We will be posting some photos to Facebook over the next few days, so be sure to check to see if we have one of you! Also, feel free to post any photos you might have taken. 

We would like to take a minute to thank our volunteers! We really value their time and efforts in coming out to help. We truly couldn't have done this race without them. We would also like to thank Molly's Fund Fighting Lupus. As the beneficiary of this event they provide us with great support and we are able to donate to their great cause! Last, but not least we would like to thank our sponsors. Lagunitas provided plenty of excellent beer and Madison's Grillprovided that nice, hot soup to enjoy after the race!

We would like to appologize for the train delay. We understand that many of you were stopped for a very long time and how hard that is after already running 11 miles. We truly wish this wouldn't have happened, but there was nothing we could have done to prevent this or shorten the delay. While the City limits which roads we can use (why so many Portland races use Naito) we are going to try to avoid or reduce any rail crossings next year. ..."  

I think it's worth noting, since some races could chose not to address the issue(s) at all or ignoring anyone's complaints.  After sleeping on it and thinking it over, this isn't a race I'd want to miss.  Maybe any future delays by a train would just be part of the adventure of the whole experience.  One thing for sure though, I'm going to have to learn some tricks on getting a garmin to connect on foggy streets containing tall buildings... (If such a trick exists.) 

Living The Crazy Life... (Running, zombies and birthday parties, oh my!)

I guess I should start this post out as a race recap.  So much has been going on, I could write about my crazy life and how it has been a whirl wind of events lately... along with grating nerves.  I'm tapering for my half marathon this weekend and stressing out about the costume I'm intending to run 13.1 miles in...

Then it was my Squeaker's first birthday this last weekend.  The same weekend that I was given a race entry to be chased by zombies by a fellow injured runner.  I probably should have said, "No.  I can't do it... I'm so busy as it is..."  But it was a free race!  The transfer was okay'd by the race officials and I'd be running for me, under my name and getting the pee scared out of me by zombies chasing after my two plastic lifelines hanging around my waist.  

How could I resist?

Saturday evening, left me and the family traveling over to Dayton, Oregon for the Zombie Apocalypse Run.  

You can see the fun from the year past here:

So after getting the house set up for Squeaker's party the next morning....

Squeakers enjoying her first Birthday Cake

...the family boogied out the door to check out the party going on pre race that evening.

This event is very much about a family environment, being held on a local pumpkin patch-farm.  The farm's market was open for local goods, a petting zoo was on site with a small hay maze, jack-o-lantern jumping house, large slide for the kiddies to play on and all sorts of amusements.  The local fire department had a fire engine they were giving kids a lift on to circle the property (adding to the atmosphere that the area needed to be contained from zombies...) and there was a vintage tank in the distance along with the local national guard with their trucks and troops ready to help out.  If that isn't enough to get you in the mood to run for your life, a helicopter is on site too.  (You can pay $20 to ride in it post race.)

I really wish I had my camera available to snap some photos of the amazing costumes I saw on the run...

Here's me before the race:

my DIY attempt at being a "Sugar Skull"

I queued up with a woman in a 50's house coat, hair in curlers and a fake cigarette hanging out of her mouth.  Some chose to wear camouflage and one person had a back pack on full of water balloons that his family would grab and throw at any passing zombies.

The zombies were forced to wait a whole two minutes while the runners were given their head start.  The vintage tank fired a shot in the distance and that was our cue to start running.  It was pretty difficult to get past the hoards of survivors.  It didn't take long for there to be lots of walkers jamming some of the narrow trails and it was difficult to get past them.

There were just over 800 participants, though I can't tell you how many of them started out as survivors or were held back 2 minutes as zombies.

After our two minute head start was over, the sirens exploded in the distance to let us know that the zombies had been released.  When those sirens started going crazy in the distance, my mouth went dry and my heart froze.  I was scared.   I hauled myself as fast as I could go, and I knew I was burning myself out fast.  There was no pacing myself out... I had to get out of there!  My first mile was done in 10:13 minutes, which is completely phenomenal for me with my average being 12:30.  As my garmin beeped that I was at a mile and going crazy with excitement for setting a new record, I hit a very clogged piece of trail and could not edge around the groups of walkers.  As i tried to politely nudge my way through, a hand brushed my waist.  Damn it!  First flag was gone and the zombie with it.

It was not long at all and the second flag was gone too by the time I was half way through the course.

Beyond not having a chance to survive, the race is a lot of fun.  A helicopter (the very one you can pay to take a joy ride in) circled above us and shouted directions and warnings as we ran from the zombies.

The course takes you on dirt trails, open fields (with uneven footing on long grass) and through dark woods with fake fog and zombies behind a chain link fence leering and grabbing at you.

I saw a devil in a suit and tie standing in the distance just staring at us, and I was pretty terrified.  His eyes were white and just little black dots for his pupils.  Some zombie volunteers were in the path and pretending to make a grab for the runners who whipped by.  My favorite zombie I passed was a zombie Mario playing the 8-bit dungeon music from Super Mario Brothers.  That made me laugh out loud... Until he leered at me.  Then I passed a runner dressed in a silver wig in a bun, little wire frame glasses and running with a wooden, bloody, rolling pin in her hands.

Nearing the end of the course, the path lead us through a road with fields of pumpkins on either side of us and then though a field of tall corn.  I was certain I'd hear zombie moans or have one jump out at me... but neither happened.  An opportunity lost, perhaps, but the anticipation of it was just as scary.  After that, I rounded a bend and saw a barn with terrible laughter noises inside, machinery and screams of agony and horror to fill your imagination for the home stretch.

With that, I picked up the pace again and finished strong.  The course ended up being 3.4 miles, but I still PR'd for a 3.1 race... :)

I guess all I needed was some zombies to scare me?  Now to gear up for my half on Sunday, and baby my tight hamstrings for way overdoing it on those trail inclines at top speed.

Have you been chased by zombies?  Or looking forward to any Halloween type races coming up (or do you avoid them)?

DIY Race Bib and Medal display (cost about $17.00)

Outrunning The Rain's bling

 In a couple hours, I knocked this out and found it pretty easy and cost efficient.  There are some really beautiful, but pretty expensive race bib holders and medal displays...  So I decided to make my own.

This is how I did it:

Supplies and relative cost

Supplies needed:

• Wood for the medals and bibs to be on display.  I got a 11x12 inch MDF scrap of wood for $0.51 at Home Depot (in the scrap lumber section) as well as a long plank of wood (2X4?) for the medals and cut it down to about 18 inches long.   
• Knobs for the medals to be hung from on the plank of wood.  If you have the patience, you can find some fantastic vintage and rustic distressed knobs that aren't matchy-matchy at places like the Habitat for Humanity Restore.  Otherwise, you can get basic wooden ones at the hardware store for about a dollar each.  If you're really lucky, the previous homeowner left all sorts of goodies like this in your garage when you moved in.  
• Picture hanger hooks to nail on the back of each display so you can easily hang it on the wall.  This was $2.97 at my Home Depot.  
• Cup Hooks or the like to hang race bibs on.  Another option would be to line the bottom of the race bib display with the cup hooks to hang medals from there too.  Cost $3.48.
•  Acrylic paint to paint the endges of the wood.  Unless you are talented at folding the scrapbook paper over the edges and make it look clean and nice.  Paint might want to be a complentary color to the scrapbook paper colors.
• Scrap book paper.  This will be mod-podged on the wood surface.  You could also just paint it or leave it with wood grain.  This would be especially nice with a rustic piece of distressed drift wood or old wood from a weathered barn.  You could also use an old map instead of scrap book paper.  The options are endless.  Request samples of wall paper from a designer store and collage that on there?  Whatever you heart is content with. 
• A "paper friendly glue" to put on your background paper.  Mod Podge is generally the go-to glue for this, but I actually had issues with my paper wrinkling.  This is probably because my mod podge had been sitting in the craft closet for ages and settled a bit.  I ended up using rubber cement and it's working great.  
• Exacto knife
• Ruler
• Drill

I think that covers the basic supplies.  I did need a drill, so a drill would be good and a stencil for my mantra... but hopefully this DIY will make sense and not be too difficult to follow with more and more supplies being added on.

For the medal display, the first thing I did was layout my knobs and evenly space them apart.  After marking where I wanted them, I had my husband drill a hole for the screw to be placed in the plank of wood and into the knob.  He drilled the base of the hole larger than needed so that the head of the screw would be recessed into the wood and the wood could sit flush against the wall.

I then painted the knobs and set them aside to dry and then coated them with a coat of mod podge so that they'd have a slight gloss and be a little protected from knicks and scratches on my craft paint coat.

While that's all drying, lay the plank of wood over the scrapbook paper and trace out a section of your plank of wood.  If your paper has a specific design (like mine), you'll want to cut out that rectangle and glue it on the paper again so that the designs match up and that the paper is long enough to cover your plank of wood. 

 I glued on my paper onto the wood and stacked lots and lots of heavy books onto it and left it to dry.  (While it's drying you can go work on the bib display.)

After it's dry, I cut off the edges of the paper hanging over the edges of the wood with an exacto knife.  Then nail on the picture hanging hooks on each corner.

For the bib display, I had two sizes of bibs.  The standard size for races like "Color Me Rad" or the huge ones like my "Run Like Hell" bib.  I laid each size down and marked where the upper holes on the bib were.

The smaller bib will be places a little bit higher and the larger bib a little bit lower.

The larger bib is placed below the smaller ones and placed a little bit lower to make flipping through the bibs a bit easier.  I suppose you could just punch new holes into any funky shaped bibs, but I can't bare the thought!

You can also run an iron on nylon setting over your really wrinkled bibs, but beware that resting the iron for the briefest of moments may result in a brown spot on your bib.  

Before displaying your bibs, you'll also want to tear away the "Do Not Tear" foam bits for your timing chips. 

Anyway, after marking the bib places on the board, whip out the drill and put some holes in your board.  Your cup hooks might be the kind you can drill in by hand, but save your hand some work.... especially if you have MDF.  

Place the hooks in and make sure your bibs hang the way you wanted.... or that you didn't mis-measure something.  

Then I removed the hooks, measured where the holes were on my board and marked the "top" on the back of my board.  Glue on the scrapbook paper, pile books on and wait to dry.  This could be where you iron or rip timing chips off your bibs.  

When the glue is dry, cut excess paper off with the exacto knife and stencil on a mantra if you desire.  

    

I stenciled first on scratch paper so I could get an idea of which details on letters might shift and which letters needed to be adjusted for height.  

I then traced my stencils (purchased for $0.10 at Scrap PDX) and painted my letters on.

Bugaboo used my extra paint to paint some letters of her own. 

After it's done, you can coat with a layer of mod podge and replace hooks and display!

I placed bibs on some rings left over from my college flashcard days, but decided to just leave the bibs on the hook.  

I might replace these small hooks with larger hooks or just split the growing pile of small bibs for each flash card ring and hang each ring on the hook.  We'll see.  

So, easy enough?  I really hope I explained that well enough to understand.

How do you display your medals and/or bibs?  

Race Recap: The Happy Girls Run Forest Grove. (I'm not exactly a "happy girl", but I am a half marathoner!)

 

I was fortunate enough to run the Happy Girls Run at Hagg Lake for free (minus state park parking fees) after winning a contest they had on their facebook page!

Packet pickup swag

At packet pick up in downtown Portland, I got my tech shirt (also free for half marathon participants) and my free Sock Guy socks!  (I can't wait to try those out!)  The swag is your typical fare, with ads for other races, a protein bar and such... but I feel like I'm in the big times now that a tech shirt comes FREE with registration!  Yeah!  (It's the little things that make me happy.)

Extra swag bag!

 Then I won another contest on their facebook page for submitting a picture of my outfit for the race.  Part of the spoils' description was a "race and lifestyle" goodies bag (with an LE Bandz headband... but I didn't get the headband.  It was a free prize so I'm not going to go complain to them about it.  Maybe they'll find it and pass it along to another lucky gal.)  Some of the prizes are a little silly, like a kazoo with one of the sponsor's logo on it.  Also, a pretty neat tech shirt... in size "Women's small".  I'm very happily plugging along on my weight loss journey, but that isn't a fat issue, that's a frame issue!  I don't think I'll ever be a "small".  Oh well, my daughter can have a new running shirt when she rides around in the jogging stroller.

The half Marathoners starting their race

We got a bit turned around on our way to the race, but we definitely got there before the start!  Woo Hoo!  The website said that "Happy Girls" are known for their pre and post race festivities.  I guess getting there 40 minutes before start was too late to party with the Happy Girls?  Or maybe the party was just not festive with all the rain?

We're all from Oregon, we don't rust.   What's a little rain?  No big deal!  But, I just let the pre race party roll off like water on a duck's back.  No big deal.  Maybe a little disappointment, but I needed to stretch and enjoy my family before my first half marathon anyway.  :)  

After the start, we ran on the road for 4 miles.  The first mile was a pretty steep incline and I was impressed!  That was a tough way to start out a half marathon, but I was ready and excited for the challenge.  

The race venue is a small, intimate one.  The 5K had around 87 participants, the 10K had 76 participants and the half had 203 participants.  I stayed with the same group of ladies ahead and behind me for the beginning of the race, and it made me feel like I was figuring out this whole pace thing.  

At mile 4 we got to hit the trail!  This was what I had been looking forward to.  The canopy from the trees was lush enough that I could flip my hat backwards and enjoy the view without the rain pelting me.

Rain and mud and seeing where I was going was the least of my worries....

 

After plugging away on the trail for about a mile I start to hear what I thought were cheers.  Maybe the next aid station was getting pretty excited?  I got further on the trail and heard for sure screams of terror.  Someone screamed to me to "RUN!" and I was so confused.   My thoughts were "I am... running.  Run back for help?  Keep running and get away from you.  What the....  OUCH!  What the hell!?!"  My bum was hurting.  I was going to keep forward and get the hell out of there!  OUCH!  What the hell was going on?

And then I saw one of the women screaming.  She was no longer on the path... in fact she was quite a ways from it and screaming and tearing her clothes off.  Bees.

I heard more screaming and came to another group of girls.  They were screaming and instructing me to get out of there.  We all needed to get out of there!  As I passed by one of the girls, she screamed "oh my god!" and started swatting at my back and legs.  I overheard her later tell another runner that I had "hundreds" of them on my back.  Yea.

That fun fiasco was around mile 5.  I trotted ahead with the woman who rescued me from all the hornets clinging to me.  I'm not sure where the other six or seven ladies were, but we needed to get out of there fast.  

As we made a bend in the trail we saw a young woman wondering in the path.  She seemed drunk.  This race was only getting "better".   

I called out to her, "Are you okay?"
"No.  I don't know..."
As I got closer I asked if she had been stung.
"Yes!  All over!"  And the poor thing started to weep.  It became clear fast that she had been in a daze from shock.  We all were taken by surprise by it.  Then she started screaming, "My mom!  We have to go back for my mom!  She's allergic!"

Crap.

Me or my new running friend said something like, "I think the best thing for us is to move forward so we don't get stung anymore and go get help."

I lead the way while my rescuer explained very soothingly to the young girl that her stings looked very small "like mosquito bites" and she was going to be okay.  I told her we were just going to take this one mile at a time and hope for an aid station at mile 6.

It honestly seemed to take forever, but I started to hear cars again on the road aove us and started screaming at the top of my lungs for help.  No answer.  "Can you hear me?"  And I got an answer! "Yes!"

At mile 5.5 we had finished that bit of trail and were on a wide shoulder of the road.  Two race volunteers or officials were parked there greeting us with big smiles on their faces.  I wanted to smack them!  Did they not hear me saying "help" not, "Hi, how are you?" ?  They were just sitting in their trucks with the doors open with ear-to-ear grins.

"There's..."
"Bees.  Yeah we know."  He cut me off.
"There's people injured!  They need help!  They are still back there!  Her mother is allergic to bees and still back there!"
Then my poor little friend went frantic again.

One of the men asked his coworker, "Should we call 911?"

A pause of thought and then "Yeah."  and he pulled out his walkie talkie and called for help.

If they knew there was an issue of bees from other runners passing through, why on earth did they not send an official down there to see if they could see any runners down or injured or in need of assistance?  

With my backside inflamed, I ran on and hoped that the young lady was going to be okay and that her mom and her would be reunited (safely) very soon.

The race continued again back on the trail and I watched the ground, looking for holes that might be hornet nests.  I was a bundle of nerves.  I started to settle into a peace of mind and calmer demeanor when I noticed some garbage in the bushes bearing the Xterra logo from my last race in August.  Bummer!  Just as I was reaching for it to minimize the footprint racing in the area is causing, I heard screaming.

Mile 7 was un passable and another woman was covered in stings... or bites.... or whatever it is these tough yellow and black fighters do.  It hurts bad!  She instructed me that no one should under any circumstances attempt to get past mile 7 on this path.

So, I turned around and told every runner I passed to do the same.
"Turn around!  Bees on mile 7!  We can't get past.  Go to mile 5.5 and take the raod!"

When I got back to mile 5.5 where the guys had so chivalrously called 911, there were paramedics and firetrucks on the scene checking the runners over.   They asked me "Are you stung?"
"Yes, but there are more bees at mile 7!  We can't get past them and more runners have been stung down there!  We need to take the road past this section."  So, with that, the race had been rerouted.

We ran on the road again until mile... well, according to my garmin, I had gone 12 miles.  Someone ahead of me stopped during a torrential downpour to put on her jacket.  She turned around and saw me and exclaimed, "It's so good to see you still smiling!"  I think I might have been gritting my teeth with the pouring rain and the chills setting in, but I'm glad she thought it was a smile.

Smile, because you never know who you are inspiring.

We got back on the trail at mile 12, I think mile 10 of the race course and stayed there for 2 miles.  It's amazing how much can happen in a little space of distance.  I was getting very turned around with the poor marked trail.  There were some places where the trail forked in three directions and I had no idea which path to choose.  Remembering my 10k race, I tried to hug the paths closest to the lake.  I remember the Xterra race mentioning to stay away from the stream.  The stream meant we had gone the wrong way.  Well, another three part fork and I look over to see the stream.  I cursed out loud and was feeling completely lost and angry since I had already done more than 13 miles and looking forward to some warm clothes and someone to check over these damn bee stings.  What was i supposed to do?

"Are we lost?"  We?  What?  I turned around.  A group of women had been following me.  Crap.
"Yup!  Which way do you think we should go?"  What was I going to do?  I didn't want to lead anymore.  I was tired and cold and getting disheartened.  Someone looked to the steep monster of a path on the far left and we saw a small white sign on the top.  I ran up it and could see the happy girl logo.   "Mile 12".

We weren't going to freeze to death at Hagg Lake!

We entered back out onto the road and finished our race...

I hurt so bad, but I gave it my all at the end.

 The icing on the cake for this race was when I crossed the finish line, I asked the gal running the packet pickup from the day before where the "first aid tent" was.  "Oh.  Are you stung?"  I replied I was and would like some help.
"Well, if you go down there, someone will get you an ice pack."
Perfect.
I go "down there" where the awards assembly was held earlier and where the vendors used to be.  Everyone was packing up to go.  The brewery who was a sponsor had cosmos and cocktails lining his card table, so i asked him, "Do you know where to get an ice pack for injuries down here?"
He had no idea.  He was clearly the only one in the area with any ice at all, so he gave me a cup of ice.

A cup of ice.  Lovely.  Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but that was a little more awkward and hard to deal with for icing injuries on the back of me.  The website stated this would be a "fully supported race."  I guess they define that by having water tables, porta potties and booze at the end.  I'd think it meant having a cooler full of ice packs... if not an actual first aid station.

It's a race on a trail, for goodness sake!  Apparently no other sport has as many injuries as running does, and on a muddy, wet trail nonetheless.  It would be very beneficial to have a first aid station for those sprained ankles, sore IT bands... and god forbid, attacks from hornets or other wildlife.  

I didn't finish with a stellar time, 14+ miles in 3 1/2 hours, but wasn't the race cut off 4 hours with the finish line open for 5?  Where was everyone?  I guess if you're slow and have to back track to avoid being attacked, you miss out on the after party.  So, I took my ice, that the bartender kindly dumped into a soggy cocktail napkin and snapped a few pictures before going home to recoup there.

If you sign up for a race for the "bling", you can pass on this one.  It is poorly made, with pockmarks on it's surface from the mold it was made with.  It's on a cotton thread of a cord and the words are too small to read.  The letters run together.  

Which is bigger?  My finisher's medal or the welts from my adventure?

This is a poor picture, but you can take my word for it that the welts are bigger.

If this race has you interested for the view, just go run Hagg Lake on a weekend and save the registration fee for another race.   If this race has you interested for their festive environment, there is none.

But to be fair, everyone's spirits were pretty damp with the rain and the hornets... which are two things that are not the race director's fault.

One girl crossed the finish line with a hornet still in her shoe!  Ewww!

As we pulled out, a runner called out in general "I'm NOT a 'Happy Girl'!"
That pretty much sums it up.

At least this race was free?

Have any race horror stories or mishaps to make me feel better about this one?
What do you think about races not having medical staff, basic first aid or anything like that?  Is that fair to the participants?  Or is it a silly request that races have that?

It's the final countdown! I'll be running a half marathon in the morning...

This is it!  All my hard training, pounding the pavement (despite sun allergies or soggy feet from the rain) and long runs while pushing a jogging stroller... it's time to test that dedication and see how it works out for me on a hilly trail tomorrow.  13 miles of hills and mud from all our rain and then more hills.  I think I should have done more hill work?  It's the final countdown.... can you guess what's going on in my head?  Well, besides sheer panic.

You're welcome.  :)

Happy Girls Run hosted yet another giveaway and announced their winner yesterday. (The first giveaway you can read about here.)  They asked that race participants post on their facebook page pictures of their race outfits and gear for Sunday.  "Our favorite submission will win a prize pack filled with race and lifestyle goodies.  They will also receive a custom LE Bandz headband for the 2013 race!" 

Since one of the race is hosted at Henry Hagg Lake, the second largest habitat for the Fenders Blue Butterfly, it made sense to wear my favorite running shirt and add a butterfly to my water pack.  The Fenders Blue is an endangered butterfly only found in the Willamette Valley.  (However, the race beneficiaries are Raphael House of Portland and Girls Inc.)

Well, I won again.

I'm off now to the expo and to check out the fantastic goodies.  More to come later... but for now, I need to get my stuff together and my nerves under control for the race!

Here's my packing list:

• Running Shoes
• Socks
• Capris
•  Arm Sleeves/Arm Warmers
• Jacket for post race warm up
• Change of clothes post race
• Garmin
• Hat
• Phone with Charity Miles app running in the background
• Bodyglide
• Flipbelt full of my homemade fuel (recipe to be posted soon!)
• Hydration pack with water and Nuun tablets
• Road ID
• My fantastic family
• And finally my Race bib and any other paperwork

 Wish me luck!!!

What items are on your packing list for race day? Most importantly, what am I forgetting?  (Don't freak out... Don't freak out....)

Gearing up for my first half marathon.... this weekend. Wait? WHAT!?!

I know....  I started this blog as a sounding board and community to vent some of my fears and hopes as I started running again and started to prepare for my first half marathon.  Which was "Run Like Hell" in October.  Well, one thing lead to another... and when I see a giveaway I have to enter it.

This giveaway was that each entry was to nominate someone who was deserving of a free race entry.  I nominated a good friend, and the one who introduced me to the idea of running and a training plan that gave me hope that it was doable.  We won!  Well, Happy Girls Run couldn't pick just one fabulous lady who deserved a free race entry, so they ALL won!  One thing lead to another, and my buddy couldn't race, so she gave me the free entry back to me.  (Insert huge smiley face here.  I was beyond excited.)  

When I wanted to "jog" in high school to attempt to get my weight problem under control, I gave up right away.  My high school sweet heart drove to my house every morning at the crack of dawn for three days.  Every morning I heaved and gasped for breath and hoped I wouldn't die of a heart attack while he kept a pace with me similar to speed walking.  It was too humiliating and I gave up.

Speed up the clock 15 years later, and I still had that weight problem and still wanted to do "something" about it.  more than anything, I wanted to prove that I could do this.  I CAN run.  I can!  Well, week one of couch to 5k just about killed me.  It certainly killed my pride.  In a group of 5 other lovely ladies, I limped and lamented and when my 30 seconds of running was done, I cried at the idea of the walk times getting shorter and the run times getting longer.  I'm not even kidding.  You can ask them, but I'm too embarrassed about it to give you their contact info.  ;-)

Well, they didn't give up on me and I didn't give up on myself this time.... so now I'm running a free race on Sunday!  Why not go for the sweet swag and run a half?

Sneak Peak of the sterling silver bling awaiting half marathon finishers

I'll let you know on Monday how much I regret that decision.  I am full of hope though, because I am trained for a half right now with Hal Higdon's training plan.  I did great on my 10 miler last weekend.  The question is... How I'll do for 13 miles on a trail.  The very same trail I did a 10k on last month.  

This will be interesting.  Hopefully I don't face plant it too bad!

Any advice or anecdotes for a first half marathon?
Trail running?

Have a fatastic weekend and I'll keep you posted!  By the way, I hung out with SBS and Dimity of Another Mother Runner today.... that'll be a post for another day.  ;-)  Stay tuned!