Joy Is. . . Racing With Your Daughter. AKA Mud and Muck Race Report

About a week ago, I asked my darling daughter how she would feel about running the Mud and Muck run . To my surprise, she said, "YES!"

As it turns out, my husband and my Ashley had been sneakily planning for her to come visit as my birthday present! Woohoo! She surprised me on Thursday evening by coming up the stairs while I was home alone with the kids folding laundry in just a big teeshirt and undies.

So, she was happy to come along and be our personal photographer.

Friday, Ashley and I went to packet pick up. Packet pick up was right by Target, so I had to get Lauren some "running clothes." Yes, "running clothes" knowing full well the purpose of this run was to get muddy. And, mucky.

Saturday morning, we all got up and left the house around 7:45.

Once there, Lauren got pretty nervous. She was scared to be around the people and was anxious about losing me (though I told her that I would be right next to her the whole entire mile we were running). We also lost Eric and Jonathan (who had, apparently, told me that he was walking out to the mud pit).

Time for the start.

Since we were only doing one mile, it didn't take us all that long to get to the mud pit. Lauren fell on the way there and scrapped her hand, but she was able to recover and get back to running.

We finished with a PR of 18:00 (approximately - I wasn't wearing my Garmin ;) ). With my big girlie! I was so very proud of her.

We were so muddy! It was fun, but muddy, so we got clean.

With Ashley!

(all pictures by Ashley with the exception of this one that was by Eric).

Sandy, Three Months, One Week

Okay, this dog took a step back yesterday. It is likely my fault. I say the following: "I think that she is 95% housebroken and any mistakes will likely be ours."

Since then, we've had MULTIPLE accidents. Including poop all over our bathroom. Ugh.

And, this dog refuses to go on walks and chews everything she isn't supposed to chew.

So, it is, as I said, likely my fault.

She is in the crate right now. She isn't allowed free in the house until she has peed outside. I'm taking her out every 15 minutes and she is playing, but not peeing. So, back to the crate.

I'm watching all the Dog Whisperer I can and have finished his book about puppies. I'm working on being Calm Assertive and I think that it will not be a problem for me.

But, we have a couple of goals for this week. The first, most important, is the walk. She has got to get to walking. A well exercised dog is a good dog and I want her to be a good dog. So, that is primary. Secondary is the housetraining. Third is the chewing on people. Redirect, redirect, redirect.

Love this dog. Love this dog.

Trying out Roctane

Well, what do you know?!? It has been far too long. I need to get back to this.

I've been running, but not well and not to target. I have a marathon (will be my third) in October and my goal is going to be 4:30 (a) slow, I know; b) you don't have to be fast to be a marathoner). But, I switched my long run from Saturday to Friday as that way it will less affect my family's weekend time. When I do my long run, not only am I physically gone for three to four hours, but then I'm wasted for much of the rest of the day. Given that both kids are in school on Fridays now, I figure I'll burn that day instead and then be present on Saturday. It also means doing my hills workout on Sunday. I hope God will understand.

Anyway, I've been thinking about my marathon fueling, hydration, and electrolyte intake. After listening to someone from Gu talking about Roctane on the recent Marathon Show, I decided to give Roctane a roll in the hay. My goal is to try several different gels out to see what works best for me. Today was to be Roctane.

Given that I was not going to be doing a sports drink, I also had to figure out electrolytes. I purchased Hammer electrolyte after talking to the guy at the running store. So, I had my plan: 15 miles with a Roctane every 45 minutes and an electrolyte tab every 30 minutes.

But, there is an extraneous variable in this experiment: it was freakin' hot and humid even at 9:00 a.m. Maybe the humidity would be ESPECIALLY at 9:00 a.m. So, my feeling like crap and walking far too much of this run could be more reflective of the weather than my fuel/hydration/electrolyte situation, but I was not wowed by Roctane. I intend on trying again when the weather improves.

I will say, however, that I think the Hammer electrolytes REALLY made a difference. Which surprised me. I didn't think I'd notice a difference with them; I only thought they would prevent me from bonking. I think I'm sold on those.

But, I "ran" (if you want to call it that, she says as she rolls her eyes) 15 miles in 3:21.16.28 which translates to a pace of 13:22/mile. SUCKS. I will say that I notice that I'm about 25% faster with less effort when I run in the evening and I'm attributing that to humidity. When I arrived home, my clothing was as wet as if I had stood in a shower for five minutes. No joke. You could, literally, wring the sweat out of my clothing. Yum!

That's the end of my week. Next up: hills!