Proper Fraction 5/12

Work, work, work.  I haven't found the time to blog lately, so here's a catch-up:

The Pooper and I went for an easy 5 miler early yesterday morning.  To water works, through silver lake and back.  Easy, slow, and it felt good.  After that I repaired the breaks, front this time, on the new P.O.S.  Have I mentioned cars suck?  It only took me a few hours as apposed to my marathon 4 day ordeal with the rear breaks a few weeks ago.  Nothing went right with the drums.

Oh yeah, Race Report:
I was disappointed in my performance at the No Frills, Just Hills last Saturday.  I started the morning with little sleep the night before.  Guess I was nervous as well as anxious and excited.  Got up at 6 and made a big salad.  Packed all my stuff; change of clothes, food for the run, chia fresca, water, sunglasses.

The turn-out was impressive.  Over 30 people showed up.  I spoke with Bob and Brian and complemented them on their recent completion of the MMT 100.  We had 6 finishers from our club in that race.  This club is more extreme than I thought.

The air was clear and warm and the sun would soon beat down on our efforts.  Luckily half of the trail was in the woods so there would be relief. The reason the race has the word Hill in it wasn't just for fun.  There were many hills that no one ran.

My plan was to complete 2 loops an hour.  So if I lasted 6 hours, I would complete 12 loops for a total of 24 miles.  The "winner" of the race completed 17 loops - 34 miles!  My first loop was under a half hour: so far, so good.  I felt good.  I was lightly running the trail, exploring my endurance and strength.  The trail surface turned out to be mostly a pleasure to run on.  The first half mile was grass followed by another half of dirt through the woods. Then more grass and the gravel began.  The section around the lake was mostly gravel with a little bit of pavement and some dirt.  And then - the horror, the horror - we ran across the dam holding back the lake.  It was paved with #57 limestone.  This is the absolute hardest surface to run barefoot.  Oh well.  I ran very gently.

On my second and third loop, I ran with Julie.  She finished 10 loops.  She's a nurse from Dublin, Ohio.  She came up with her husband Sam who sat in his easy recliner, mocking us every 2 miles.  We had a great conversation and were perfectly matched pace-wise.  I asked if I was holding her back, but she insisted not.  On the second and third loops, I tried to find a path on the edge of the dam that wasn't paved.  There was a small section that was grass, but it was knee high and therefore hard to run through.  I did run through it and proceeded to open the scab on my toe.  It's amazing how sharp grass can be.  The toe started bleeding.  We finished the third loop in 1:32 and I told Julie to go ahead because I needed to repair the toe.

15 minuets later I had a new toe bandage.  I checked with the race director to make sure I still qualified as "barefoot" with the bandage.  He assured me that I did.  I grabbed my cornbread and headed out for the fourth.  Other that the toe blood, my feet were holding up great.  Bruce the Moose and I ran togeather for about half the loop.  He is an awesome runner.   He looks so effortless.  I finished loop 4 in about a half.

I grabbed my bean and rice burrito at the start of the fifth felling good and ready for more.  The hills were starting to get hard to walk up and the heat was building.  On the last hill climb for the loop, I realized I was having an allergic reaction to something I ate - and no, Julie, it wasn't the morning glory.  I finished the loop and hung out for a bit to see if it was going to be a full out reaction, or just a minor annoyance.  Turns out it was full on.  Fuck!  I had to call it a day.

So I finished 5 of the planned 12 laps in 2:45.  I feel I didn't "represent" as a barefooter.  All the same, it was a great race and a great day.  I will last next year.