Warrior Dash - Recap

And this is how these things start:

Arm twisted and Jennifer signed me up.   I was dubious about this whole thing.  Obviously.

Started my day with the intention of a 30 mile or 2 hour bike ride.  I managed 28 miles, plus a couple stops to enjoy the beauty of this area of New England and have one of the most sugary and buttery croissant I've ever had.  Plus one of those Starbucks frappachino thingies.  I really wanted a chocolate milk, this was the closest I could find at the little market where I stopped.  I didn't want to clunk around too much in my bike shoes.  Plus I really only had two hours to ride and be home so I could at least rinse off and change before heading out to the Warrior Dash. 

After a conversation only women would have about which Park and Ride we were meeting at, we were off to Madison, CT for the Warrior Dash.  

Met up with Jennifer's friend Susan, her daughter and two of her daughters friends.  To make up the team of 6.

Sarah, Nicole, Mark, Susan, Jennifer, Me - Photo Credit Donnie

Truthfully, this was all a little overwhelming.  Lots of people and my un-sureness about this submerging in mud.  I'll run though it,  I'll get it kicked in my face yet the whole submerging in it.  

3.1 miles 12 obstacles - there was real running involved, some nice trails too!!

Obstacles:  Swim out to a dock climb up on it jump back in the water swim out.  It was more of a wade, damn the water was cold.  Several knee deep mud areas to wade through.  I slipped in one and fell up to my elbows.  Lots of things to climb up and over.  Mud pit to slide down into wade across and climb out of.  Rope walls to climb and a slide down into, yes another watery mud pit, and you went in and under. Rope tunnels to crawl through.  Fire to jump over. Mud to wallow through and duck under barbed wire.  Covered trenches to crawl through.  

Seriously this should have been a mud run not a Warrior Dash.  The obstacles were not difficult or challenging for any of us.  Well Susan and Jennifer are short so this made some easier and the climbing ones require a boost up!  Team work!

Me, Jennifer, Susan, Sarah, Nicole, Mark - Photo credit Donnie

Jennifer and I managed to get cleaned up with a hose and the others went to swim in the pond to clean up.  We parted ways, and Jennifer, her son Donnie (chief bag holder and picture taker), and I went back to Jennifer's vehicle changed clothes, clean clothes even on a still somewhat muddy body is better than wet and muddy.  Got some food and beer.  Nice to get to know her son.  

All in all it was fun.  Will I do it again?  Dunno.  Both Jennifer and I agreed this could have been a lot more physically challenging and the runs in the woods were great.  A good beginner obstacle course run.  Maybe one more challenging with less of the ick factor of mud submersion.

Sincerely, 

Beth, who confesses the mud submersion wasn't all that bad... fun day with friends!

Weekly Recap - 9/15 - 9/21 - Final

Monday  - TRX  / 2.8 dog walk

Back to the usual TRX routine.  OUCH!

Moose (the rabbit) was neutered.  We all wondered if Joy bought him some tiny frozen peas so he could put them on his crotch....  ha ha ha... yeah that is probably only funny to women.  Hopefully this will calm him down.

Gizzy was in rare form, having his usual Sunday routine of pizza crusts and a tromp through fields on Sunday night interrupted by Jax's recovery.  He would have walked longer, I finally had to call it quits.

The story on Jax:  Thursday a.m. Jax's stomach flipped.  Not a good thing.  Dave got him to the local vet, x-ray confirmed the suspicion and off to Ocean State Veterinary hospital.  He was released late on Friday.  Talking to a vet friend she said usually the stomach flips after bed time and the dog never wakes up.  We were lucky.  Although in the back of my mind I wonder if this is the start of the 2 year clock we had with Diesel and Sage.  Jax turns 4 this month, surely 6 is far to young?

2 days post recovery and someone wants to play!

Recuperation is a lot of rest for two weeks and feeding every couple hours because his stomach is sensitive having to be un-flipped and then tacked to the inside of his abdomen so it doesn't happen again.  He is a trooper.  At least this is easier than the surgery he had at 8 months old putting his busted leg back together.  This is how he ended up with us.  He was supposed to be a short term medical foster three years ago.

Tuesday - Run 5.5 / Walk 2.7

Ran in to Steve in front of the Firehouse and he wanted to run easy.  Sure, I'm all about 'easy' Grrrrrr...  I had planned on 6 and thought the route I had in my mind was that.  I needed to go down to the corner of Rainville...  whoopsie.  Anyhow.  Nice to run and talk. Mile 5, that damn hill on Meech, we walked it.  Looking at the splits all were so smooth and even.  I won't kick myself, but damn it.  The curse of the lazy runner.   Maybe I need to suck it up and run up the slow climb on Shennecosett?

Good run,  I was hoping for consistency and had it all but mile 5.   We had a few sprinkles during the run, completely welcome.

Gizzy is really enjoying this cool weather.  I'm happy for that.  He is an old guy and well you just never know.  I am certain the walks help the old curmudgeon.

Wednesday -  Run 3.6

Oh someones attitude needed to be adjusted for sure.  My usual lunch run was interrupted by lunch out.  Under normal attitude I'm all whoop!  Let's go!  On this day, not so much.  As we drove out to Par 4 I looked longingly out the window at all the runners on a pristine and perfect September mid day.  It wasn't the company, it was me. 

I got out at 2, giving lunch time to digest.  No point in spilling "The Murph" all down Eastern Point Road right?  The usual button hook loop down to the beach and back and I felt so much better when I got back.  Ready to finish the projects for the day and go out with the girls for some food, drinks, and jibber jabber.  I probably wouldn't have even enjoyed girls night out with out the run, yeah, I was that much of a GROUCH!

Gizzy didn't get his walk and he, Jax, and Gus were pretty pissed to smell another dog on me.  Whoopsie! 

Thursday - 5K at lunch  /  5K Sneekers fun run w/Ro  /  Dog walk 1

Another picture perfect September day.  Mike B ran over the bridge.  I considered that, especially with the wind coming from the North, a nice push for the way back to campus.  However, I had plans to run with Ro after work and that 8 mile loop would make the evening run miserable. 

Quick run to the beach and back, ahhh...

Ran another 3 with Ro, still coming back from injury.

Gizzy whined his way to a mile walk.

Friday - Run 6

Monthly girls lunch!  Salad, Pizza, and Beer....   Jennifer bailed on the run.  Her father had an accident.  Girls need to be with their Daddys when they are in pain.  I totally understand!

Got home, took my usual Friday afternoon nap.  Dave just laughed as I laid down on the couch, I'm going to run to Watch Hill I said and BOOM O.U.T.  He woke me up around 4:30 suggesting I didn't have enough time to go stalk Taylor Swift but was I going to run before we went out to dinner.  Oh yeah...

Went out for what I thought would be 5 or less and then was inspired to run up Oak Street and the 'hills' on Tower before going home.  Surprisingly peppy legs for a couple of heavy stouts, pizza, salad and a cupcake...

Saturday - 28 Bike / 3.1 run @ Warrior Dash / 1.6 dog walk

Been too long since I've been on the bike, the sun is setting earlier and earlier and my work schedule is a little nutsy to be able to ride the bike to work...  Maybe I'll ride the Rhode Warrior route just for the fun of it?

Warrior Dash in Madison CT with team Sole Runners.  I was the free entry.  I've never done one of these obstacle things, not sure if it is my thing or not.  For a free entry, what the hell I'll give it a shot. Write up here.

Sunday -  22 Bike / 1 Run

Rest wasn't on the schedule.  Went out for a bike ride, and managed to not get flagged into transition for the Mystic Y Tri going on at the beach.  Cheered on Shara and decided I should go home and get away from all these athletes doing their thing.

Loaded the ride in Strava, noted I met my now reduced cycling goal and was a mile off of my running goal.   Went out and ran the 1 mile.  Time to get serious about these goals...

The afternoon was spent in Mystic and the John J. Kelley statue dedication and reception. Quite an amazing man and athlete who inspired so many and gave so much.  Give the link a peek.  The unveiling ceremony was very well done.  Huge congratulations to Jim Roy!

Sincerely,
Beth, enjoying this weather!

Posted 9/18
Updated 9/19
Final 9/21

Weekly Recap: 9/8 - 9/14 - Final

Monday - Walk 2

TRX was on a hiatus due to a terminal kitty cat.  Coco Chanel crossed the rainbow bridge on 8/30 after a very long happy life.   Figuring we were back on scheduled I bopped over to Joy's and she said, yeah we are having class, well if the other two show up.  Well they didn't, we had a nice time playing with her rabbit Moose (he is a pistol) and talking about Coco and other furry family members and their passing.

Moose can jump up in the chair, who knew!!

Walked Giz when I got home, he was happy for a walk after missing an outing to the RC field on Sunday evening due to me being a bit tired from my first Century ride.  How dare I mess with HIS schedule!  

Tuesday - Run 4

An unintentional progression run.  I wasn't sure how my knees were going to be after Sunday.  My knees are just going to ache due to my love of a high gear and low cadence on the bike.  Eventually that will suss itself out, however it will take time.  The first few steps were a bit ouchy and then everything fell into place.  I went my usual right out of the guard shack and clicked mile 1 at 10:27  that one usually dictates the over all pace for the run.  My legs felt peppy for mile 2 9:33, this is not unusual as there is a gradual downhill along this mile, and mile 3 is usually somewhere between the mile 1 and mile 2 pace.  The surprise came at the point where I usually slow up a small grade and I didn't, and didn't feel like I needed to or wanted to (hey, I'm a lazy runner, usually taking the easy way out!).  I peeked at my watch and was seeing a pace in the 8s for mile 3.  Really?  Is that possible? Checked a few more times still saw that 8.  Holy cow.. I kept pushing through and said mile 4 you get to walk for one minute, you earned it.  Mile 4 9:22.  9:29 pace.  I'm pleased.

Wednesday - Walk 3.1 / Run 8 / Walk 1.8

During ultra training Wednesday was usually a higher than normal mileage day, it tended to be what ever the total was for the Tue & Thur run.  I kinda dreaded this during training, however I seem to be keeping up the pattern for the most part.

Jennifer and I met to run 8 at Misquamicut.  I think she said she wanted to run 7 at a 10:45, well we ran 8 at a 10:28 (well a little less but that is neither here nor there)  Saw lots of negative splits as first she dragged me along then I dragged her along and by the time mile 7 clicked I had enough and one of the times I ducked back behind her to not get hit by an approaching car I just couldn't speed back up to run beside her.  Even using the watching the feet trick.  I was done, which was fine.  Keep going till that watch ticks 8 miles and you completed your commitment.  Jennifer said she noticed the gap grow wider and knew that she just wanted to be done and at that point in the run knew I'd rather her keep plowing forward.

Jennifer had run Bird in Hand half in Harrisburg PA.  Nice run through Amish country and supported by the Amish.  The conditions were brutal with many ending up in the hospital from the heat and humidity.  I bow to her toughness to gut out that 1/2 and follow it up with a spectacular mid week 8 miler! 

Thursday -  3 miles 1.7 mile walk (two dogs)

OUCH!  My right shin was not happy.  Doubtful it is anything more than just being angry because I have increased my mileage by a big step change.  It hurt and I finally had enough and fed it some Vitamin I, that helped.  What helped more was a power nap when I got home from work.  I got home early.

We had a little excitment in the morning.  Or rather Dave had a little excitment with Jax.  He wasn't looking so good and vomited up his breakfast and his abdomen was hard.  He (Jax not Dave) likes to eat paper.  He especially likes the 'single serving' tissue dispensers, but will root through the garbage looking for an equally tasty piece of paper.  He has expelled quite the glob in the past and we've been fairly good about keeping the tissues above dog height and garbage behind closed doors, every once in a while we slip, obviously.  So he had a glob of something and his stomach flipped.  I know I didn't think stomach flipping was a real thing.  But there it was on the x-ray.  Dave took him up to Ocean State Veterinary hospital to have surgery to remove the mass of what we believe to be paper and put his stomach right and they actually tack the stomach down so it won't flip again, guess if it does it once it will do it again.  

He breezed through surgery and was in recovery by 5 p.m. and they noted some Mast Cell Tumors on his legs, we had felt them but weren't sure if they were normal moles or a rash from who knows what.  Jax is going to be just like Diesel, very expensive, after getting very sick, and very fun.  The more fun the dog the more expensive they seem to be.  Feh, it is what it is and he is worth every penny so far.  He will get the small mole sized tumors on his leg removed in the next couple weeks.  They didn't do this while he was under for the abdominal surgery.

Jax will be home on Friday complete with the cone of shame (picture to follow).  All is fine and Dave is extremely observant what gets past him isn't much and it doesn't get past me. 

Took Gus with on the Giz walk, he misses his buddy, they were both very surprised when Jax didn't come bounding in with me.  They spent some time looking for him and probably noted we aren't to concerned about his disappearance plus the walk tuckered them both out.  They are happily snoring away after cooling off from a muggy walk.

Friday -  Run 3 / Bike 12

Charlie Stavros run at the beach!  I wasn't sure if I wanted to go or not.  Crutch texted asking if I was going to go. I wasn't sure.  Jax was due to be released at 7:30, so I probably should go do something.  Minimally a bike ride would do me some good to get fresh air.   No issues from the Century, knees - good, butt - good, elbows - good, neck - good.  

Crutch and I ran the cone out to the turn around point for the Charlie Stavros run at the beach.  Always good to have a nice chat with him. 

I snapped some pictures at the cone and Crutch called out times. 

The bike ride back was peppy, first it was chilly, second it was getting dusky (the most dangerous time), and third I really was anxious to see Jax.  

He was in a lot of pain and not moving when Dave saw him in the a.m. by 5 p.m. the vet tech reported he was up and moving around and eating and being a general pest.  All good things.  It will be a long road for recovery as they had to cut his abdomen open to right his stomach, there was no blockage reported in the surgical notes.  Two weeks of minimal activity.  Easier said than done.   Definitely not them long a road to recovery when we first fostered him and he had to be crated 24x7 so his back leg could mend.  He was run over by his owner who decided rather than deal with recovery Jax should be destroyed.  I can't even imagine what Jax thought for those 8 weeks being crated in the basement only let out for brief periods of time so we could scratch him and cuddle with him (and of course he could go out and do his business).  Not really surprising it took him an extremely long time to warm up to both of us. SO anyhow it takes muscle a while to mend and get strong again.  He is home and moving very slowly and looks like he is having a mellow trip all glaze eyed and droopy.  No cone of shame!  Quite a surprise, for now he is leaving his incision alone.  Then again he is pretty exhausted and doped up.  He snuggled up with me for 1/2 hour and then moved over to his chair.  

Saturday -  Trail run - 8 miles

The rain over night didn't happen.  I'm sure I read somewhere it was supposed to rain.  Oh well.  Took me a long time to get moving in the morning.  Jax had his breakfast and was up to snuggle and who am I to refuse a convalescing boxer boy? 

Eventually I did get up and out to Burlingame.  Nothing in mind other than to enjoy the Vin Gormley / Yellow Dot loop.  I did.  I ran the first three, hiked a bit in the middle, ran a bit and ran the last couple miles.  It was just what the doctor ordered.  

My new shoes were perfect.  I didn't slide on the dry rocks like I do with my street shoes, so maybe I'm on to something here?  Can't wait to try them out when the rocks are wet, or as Dave calls them, greasy.

I stayed in with Jax the rest of the day, we didn't want to leave  him alone and Dave committed to course marking at Arcadia for a fun ride on Sunday.

Sunday - 4 hike Bluff Point

I went out to Surftown 1/2 as earl as I could get out, between Dave scrambling to leave and Jax's schedule, he needs to eat every 2ish hours.  I got out and down on Fisherman St by 8:15 just in time to see the police car and the lead runner.   Gazelle was firmly in 3rd and from the look of it loving the perfect running conditions!

I stuck around to get pictures of hundreds of people I don't know and a few people I do know and cheer.  Then went down towards the finish to see several people finishing and Mike B, Gazelle, and Matthew heading out for their cool down run.

The afternoon I hiked in Bluff Point and went on some trails I had never been on. The adventure was fun, however my time was limited as it was getting close to Jax feeding time.  

Sincerely, 
Beth, counting down to Newport, I can still recover my training plan, right?

Posted 9/11
Updated 9/12
Final 9/14