Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Hinson Lake and other races i ran since i last posted a blog entry, et cetera



What we runnin 4 if it ain't 4 fun?

- it was late aug and I wanted to run really well at greek festival 5k. reputedly one of the fastest races in CLT. Didn't feel so great and ran poorly. some folks I wanted to beat, beat me by a lot.
but that's alright, because my wife ran really well.

- then it was time for sept. Shaped up to be a busy month.
My friends Meg and Bill talked me and jinnie into going up to charleston, WV to run America's 15 Miler. Well it turned out to be a really cool trip.
except i ran poorly, due to illness.
i liked the northern Charleston, it is interesting to think of it in juxtaposition to the southern Charleston in South carolina.
charleston, sc was the birthplace of the civil war. Which was not civil.
But Charleston WV is the state capital of that oddly shaped coal state up there. The only state BORN of the civil war, proclaimed by honest abe, who probably wasn't any more honest than millard fillmore or ike (the president, not tina turner's husband).
WV is like kinda southern, but not really, because it was part of the North in the War Between The States. But it is appalachian, with a lot of mountains. Not the highest mountains, much shorter than most in NC. But almost the entire state up there is covered with hills or mountains, hence: "the mountain state". Oh and my dear wife is from WV. it was nice to visit - I would do this race again....
it's really hilly for the first few miles then it's really flat for the last 9 or so.
I think everyone who went on our trip would agree it was fun, though we didn't meet our goals on that day.

- so only a few days later it was time to be on the crazy legs team and run the Blue Ridge Relay. it's one of my favorite events of the year, no doubt.
Crazy Legs had a goal of 24 hours and 30 minutes, but we went right under 24 hours (!) and we finished 5th overall.
Now the lady crazy legs put us to shame, because they won the women's category by a huge margin and set the race record.
there is much more I could say but blah blah blah

- Then in another week it was time for Hit the Brixx 10K. i did a little bit better than last year.
Later I decided i'd go try to win some cash at an afternoon race, but Megan and Bill and Mike all showed up and won a lot of it.
anyway, I didn't run great, but it was a nice double effort. and I really enjoyed seeing those people, they are nice to me

- and then it was time for the Hinson Lake 24 Hour race. my only available weekend in september to get my monthly marathon or ultra marathon done.
i figured this might be a good training run for next month's Ridge To Bridge (Fridge) Marathon. So I ran solidly past the marathon distance on the sandy course. It was a 1.5 mile loop. I brought four dozen doughnuts. that equals 48 for the mathematically challenged.
i ate one during the race and it was alright
Now after I got beyond the 26.2 distance, i started walking up Mount Hinson (LOL). it really seems like a huge hill after umpteen laps y'all.
it was nice to see a bunch of peeps i know running well. I felt like a slacker compared to them.
my wife and i were going to come home after I ran 29 miles, but a hot dog and tater tots and milkshake and peach tea turned me around and I went back to the lake and ran/walked/hobbled/jogged to the 41 mile mark.
my little dog Roxy got her best mileage day ever, it was 15+ miles, way to go, u my dawg.
Shout out to everyone I know who ran well at hinson lake, y'all inspire me, I wanna go back and do it all over (but I can't go back I know). But I will go back in 2012 hopefully.
i saw a beaver cross the course right in front of me, it was way cool, it looked like a cross between a seal (not the singer) and a dog (not roxy); it had a wide tail.

- in summary, running lately has been fun. i hope to continue running and add even more fun.

- So now I've run 12 marathons in the past 12 months. i still have to run 3 more in october, november, and december to make my goal of 12 in 12 for 2011. (guess i should have waited a year so i could say 12 in 12 in '12, oh well)
the 3 i have planned are the same 3 that i ended last year with, R2B, Thunder Road, and Art Loeb Trail Adventure Run (ALTAR)

So I will rank the 12 marathons i've run in the past 365 days for you because like most americans i like to list things.
Drumroll.....in order of how hard it was for me to finish on that day:

Roan adventure marathon (29 miles)
ALTAR 50k
mount mitchell challenge 40 miler
boston marathon
Ridge to Bridge marathon
Laurel valley 35 miler
Crowders mountain 50k
grandfather mountain 26.2
hinson lake 24 hour (i totaled 41 miles)
may mountain marathon aka assault on mount pisgah
charleston 26.2
thunder road 26.2

(but the list is subject to editing, you should come back and check this blog entry every day to see if i changed the order, my memory is selective)

that is all
sorry for the punctuation, it's MY blog. maybe i'll try next time

(i will try to run as fast as i can at ridge to fridge marathon, will report back)