Team Loco Half Marathon

The Team Loco Half Marathon is a race that got started one year that a few Team Loco members were planning to use St. Judes to qualify for Half Fanatics and Marathon Maniacs, but the race had to cancel due to a severe winter storm (severe for our area of the nation). Team Loco was just a bunch of runners who loved to have fun and started this unofficial group where we celebrated each other and never left anyone behind. The race is a loop-de-loop style that takes place on Tucker Creek Trail in Conway, Arkansas. This is a paved trail running through the city. It is a very laid back race where most everyone knows everyone and the aid stations are about every five miles, full of local runners/walkers. There is a generous eight-hour limit as Papa Loco was a walker and this race has always made sure it was walker friendly. Papa Loco was one of the team loco members that was planning to maniac at St. Judes. This year I ran this race to support my friend and in memory of his dad, Papa Loco. I was just running to run it for them. I decided a couple of miles in that I would just move my legs and enjoy the race. I had no idea what the outcome was going to be. 

By three miles in I knew I had started way fast and would not last at that pace. I was running an average of 9:25 miles and I do not do that. If I hit 10:00 miles I'm usually very excited. By the time I hit the 10k distance I realized I would have PR'd that distance by about 45 seconds. That was huge for me as I've never gotten close to the one hour mark for a 10k since I PR'd 59:59 in 2014 or 2015. At this point, I still felt really good and decided to just see how long I could keep up what I was doing. I also typically run an interval for long runs and had decided to just walk when I wanted instead of having set intervals for this race. 

This race was a blast as always. It is an out-and-back which you do either five or ten times depending on which race you are running. I hate out-and-backs and I hate loops. The joy of it though is I knew people at every aid station and they are some of the most fun people I've met. I met someone from Philly that I actually stayed with for several miles. The aid stations are always a party so you're getting to party every half mile. They were stocked with all the favorite goodies runners enjoy including shots of beer and shots of fireball. There were also all the normal potato chips, pickles, pretzels, etc. Oh and water and Gatorade of course. 

Once I finished the third loop and was still feeling great, still keeping this insane-for-me pace, I found a new strength to see what I was capable of. I decided in the middle of my fourth loop that it had gotten hot and if I was going to keep the pace I had to shed some clothes. The weather started cooling back off right at the end of the race. The great thing is you are never more than about 1.3 miles away from your things when you drop them. I came upon the aid station at one of the turnarounds on my last loop and told a friend there that I was set to PR and only had just over a mile left. I could walk in and still PR. She handed me a shot of fireball and told me to go get that PR...you could hear her cheering me on as I ran off. With these loops you are constantly with people and constantly see everyone. It was awesome because you got to watch the emotions people go through and lift them up when you could tell they were struggling. It is one of the most uplifting races ever. 

End results: A NEW PERSONAL BEST!!! My record was at RussVegas Half from April 2014 with a time of 2:13:30. I beat that by more than 5 minutes!!!! My official time is 2:08:17!!! Not only that, but I was 5th overall female and 14th overall! Me...middle of the packer!!! I have always, even at my peak, seemed to fall in the dead center...always that middle third. But I PR'd and I did so all with a pace that stayed under 9:47 for every mile! I'm beside myself still three days later! I got to talk a lot at this race about Vespa All-Natural Amino Acids to all the people who kept asking me what I've been doing to lean up and improve so much...and still be walking so well afterwards. Most of the people there used to run with me in 2014-2015 when I was peaked and running a lot. They were surprised by how much improvement and leaned out I was compared to them. It's not my current training as I've not been running like I should. I'm still a bit shocked seeing these results! So, it was great getting to share what has helped me and where I'm headed. 

This race will forever hold a spot in my heart. 

Woolly Hollow Inaugural Half Marathon

This morning was the Inaugural Woolly Hollow Half Marathon, which is also the first race of my 2020 season and crazy running goals I've set. It is all single-track. This race was one that I wasn't planning to sign-up for, but one of my close friends loves these trails and really wanted to do it. She is my trail running buddy and so we've been out there many times to run. I love inaugural races too so she didn't have to twist my arm much to get me to give in.

A little backstory...on December 22nd we went out to the trails there to get a long run in. As we were coming down one of the hills her knee just quit. She wasn't able to bend it at all, could barely walk, and was in quite a bit of pain. We made our way back to the car and cut our 10 mile run down to about 8.5 miles. For the most part, she rested and felt like it would be okay today and, like me, she's a bit stubborn and so not trying was out of the question.

We started the run and it wasn't long before she said she was kind of feeling her knee. By 2.4 miles into the run, her knee did the same thing it did on our long run a few weeks earlier. Unfortunately, it was time for her to drop. She told me she would be mad at me if I didn't finish what we started and I know her well enough to know she was serious. There is a lot of things she and I know about each other and some recent experiences that we've been through that she knew it was meant for me to keep going. I would've made her go on as well if it would have been me hurt instead.

So, after a few minutes stepped off the trail talking to her and letting her stretch, I got back on the trail and took off. I was behind a group of nine that were running, but very slowly. I walked a lot and was keeping up with them slow. At 3.75 miles the whole line of nine started running on the side to stay out of the mud and water that covered the trail. I took this as my opportunity to pass them. When I got to the eighth person, he slipped and fell in front of me. I am still not sure how I avoided stepping on him, or tripping over him. Maybe those hurdles from junior high paid off...I seriously have no idea how I didn't end up on the ground the way he fell. I checked to make sure he was okay, because I honestly felt bad since I was passing him, although he was already off the trail running on the slick leaves before I ever got to him.

Mile 4.0 was our first true creek crossing. It was just at calf-deep so nothing too bad. By mile 4.2, we crossed that creek at that depth four times. I didn't really mind much though because it was 64 degrees and felt great. The whole trail was pretty much water and mud so there wasn't much chance at keeping dry feet regardless. Every time your feet would start to feel warm again, you would come to more water whether it was a mud hole, drainage down the hills, or a creek. I've not mentioned this yet, but totally my happy place!!!

This race that started out all about getting my friend through it turned into my race. It became about running the last 10.8 miles for me and at my best. That meant I continued to push and pick people off when I needed to or could. It was around mile 5.8 that I kept coming up on a group of four guys and one gal. They walked most hills and were staying about 15-20 yards in front of me. The next incline I decided to see if I could push through and get up it, passing them. I did! At this point, I just passed my 12th-16th persons...and on a hill, which is a weak area for me really. I passed a few more and had a few times I found my pace and had no one coming up on me or in front of me to worry about. The trails weaved through so much that you could see people a mile in front of you at times and that far behind you. Although it would appear they were just yards in front of you. There were people always there...until the last half mile, which I will get to shortly.

Somewhere around mile 6 or so, I came upon an older lady that was running with some vengeance. She was running like she had something to prove. I eventually passed her; she was number 20. She stayed with me for the most part the rest of the run, especially by around mile 8 she was right with me. We had a similar stride and pace. We passed a few more, for a total of 24 runners passed by me. This lady was from Little Rock and ended up being awesome! At first I wasn't so sure about her, but when things were getting difficult, she was right there and ended up being one of the most friendly and enjoyable people. I usually don't chat while running, but we did. And she was a great running partner. I was setting our pace, and she was speaking encouraging words to keep us going.

The last few miles the temperatures drastically dropped and did so quickly. I went from warm and sweating, to putting my hat and jacket back on and still so cold. I know I ran the Iceland year of Sylamore, but I felt colder at this point than I ever did at that race. We got on the lake side of the trail and the winds were so strong, it was raining and felt like sleet even though I don't think it really could've been. At one point a chunk of a tree limb about two foot long and around 2.5 or 3 inches in diameter came across in front of me at chest height. The wind was tough through that section! Rain was sideways and muscles and hands were getting so cold.

We will just skip through those three or so miles of horrible cold. It really was just brutal. Temperatures dropped 19 degrees by the finish line, but I am not sure what wind chill and wind speed was, just actual temperatures. By this point I had the lady from earlier behind me and two men. We hit mile 12.5 and the four of us just stopped. There was no one around to tell us where to go and the green markers we were to follow went in all different directions. We knew where we came from and where we'd been already, but still had no idea where to go to finish this thing. We were cold, wet, and really wanting tacos and warm clothes. We saw the aid station from earlier a little ways up so we asked them. At first they pointed us the wrong direction, then we told them we had half a mile left and so they had us run through their aid tent and another aid tent to the trail leading to the finish line. We spent probably three minutes at least trying to figure that out.

So, my end time was around 2:46 including the stops from early on and late. There was probably around 3 or 4 minutes total not running between the two stops. It was a great race and knowing that even with the necessary stops, I still was only around 20 minutes slower than my last half road race. I'm ecstatic with that time. The experience was awesome. Trails are my happy place, especially single track. I love the focus it takes to make sure your feet land in the right places, I love the mud and water that we run through, I love how free and fun trail runners are, I love being surrounded by trees, I love that my mind is so lost in the enjoyment and focus that every stress in life fades away for the time I'm there.