Too much beer and a 10 mile trail run

Yesterday Chris and I headed downtown to watch the Detroit Tigers take on the Cleveland Indians at the opening day game. I told myself only 1 beer during the game. Period. We ended up getting downtown with enough time to hang out at one of our favorite sports bars prior to heading to the ballpark. I drank 2-22 ounce Miller Lites. Um, yeah talk about a buzz! I am not used to drinking anymore. We headed over to the ballpark and it was freezing! You know those little toy teeth that you wind up and the chatter repeatedly? That was me! During the 6th inning we had to leave. They were up 4-2, so we had the comfort of knowing we could make it back to our favorite sports bar and still be able to catch the rest of the game. Of course the place was packed, but we lucked out and scored a table. We both ordered a beer, and another, and another. My mom, step dad, brother and his girlfriend met us there when the game was over. At this point, I was buzzed and starving! Chris and I decided to share a pizza; Greek sausage and mushroom. I proceed to scarf down half a pie, covering each piece with loads of Franks hot sauce. Some of our friends from Chicago were in town for the game so they ended up meeting us at the bar. and again, I continued to drink more beer. What was I thinking? I had to be up the next day to meet my dad & his friend to run 10.5 miles on a brutal trail. Finally at 7:30pm we called it a night. I, again, made a horrible decision.

I ate Taco Bell...

I have not had any fast food in forever. I truly can not recall the last time I've touched any fast food, let alone craved it! I ended up in bed at 9pm feeling sick to my stomach knowing I had to be up early the next day to run. I made sure I took 2 aspirin (just in case) and drank a ton of water.

Well, I woke up today feeling good. Not great, just good. I had a slight headache but I got dressed, filled my travel mug with coffee, grabbed a clif bar & banana and made the 40 minute drive to meet my dad and Dave.

We hit the trail at about 8:45-9am and it felt great!! The first couple miles were rough, but fell into a comfortable pace and ended up having a great run. I managed to only trip once but was able to catch myself and not fall. We finished the 10.5 miles in 1:44, 12 minutes fast then we did last week.

Today is when I finally realized what trail running is. I made sure to constantly pay attention to my footing without worrying about my time. Trail running is not meant for speed. I get that now and will make sure I remind myself again and again leading up to the race.

I guess this is all kind of pointless. I am just glad that the multiple beers and nasty taco hell didn't affect me the way I thought it would. I figured I would puke at least once. But that didn't happen. I felt great! And we'll be doing it all over again next Saturday. This time, it will be 12-ish miles. One last big trail run before race day.

oh and how can not mention my new shoes. They arrived yesterday! I didn't wear them on the trail but fully intend to wear them tomorrow. It's supposed to be a strength training day, but an easy 3 miles won't hurt. I just have to put those new shoes on. My feet are going to be so happy.

10 mile trail report

As I stated in my previous post, my dad and I hit the Potawatomi Trail on Thursday afternoon. This trail is like nothing I have ever ran on before. The terrain was much more difficult than the previous trails. It's extremely narrow, lots of up and down, rocks, sand, tree roots, logs, man made wooden bridges, etc... Definitely a hard route to run.

My dad says it usually takes him about 1:40 to run this 10+ mile route. So that was my goal. To be able to run with him in his normal finishing time. about 1 hour into the run I fell. I didn't have any time to react so I planted my knees and face straight into the dirt. I must have tripped over a tree root. My dad was ahead of me, so I shouted out to him and he came sprinting back to me. I wiped my face and noticed blood all over my hands. I freaked. I could feel my lip getting fat. I grabbed my water bottle and used it to wet my face. I asked my dad to inspect my lip to make sure I did not need stitches. I thought for sure my teeth went through my lip. They didn't. It was split but on the inside. I had dirt all over my white running shirt, my hands were covered in sand, my face was dirty & scratched, my knees were scraped and I had a scrape on my right shoulder. I asked my dad what we should do and since he has never had to bail off this trail, he had no idea how to get back other then finishing the run. so we did. He would look back every few minutes or so to make sure I was ok. We ended up finishing the route in 1:56. Not too bad for falling and stopping at a well to wash my face and hands.

I felt so bad that I slowed down my dads run. He felt bad that I fell. I kind of feel a little hard core for falling and still being able to pick myself back up and run for another hour. And I will be back out on this same trail for another 10 miles on April 10th and to run my trail half marathon on April 25th.

Here are a few pictures of my injuries after I was able to clean them off. Sorry for the poor quality, they are from my camera phone.

Ignore the "deer in head lights" look on my face.


You can't see how fat my lip really was, but you can see the scratches above my lip, on the tip of my nose and on the bridge of my nose between my eyes.


Right Knee- which also happens to be what I call "my bad knee". Luckily, I landed on the fleshy part because as of today, I am pain free!!









Left knee- not nearly as bad as the right!

Hit'in the Trails

I am meeting my dad this afternoon to do a 10+ mile trail run. This time we are headed to the Potawatomi Trail, also know as, the Pota. It's a great day to run this trail. 77 degrees and sunshine! bring on the shorts and short sleeve running gear!

http://www.trails-edge.com/mtb/mi/poto/poto_description.htm