on Thursday, I slammed my finger in the car door. I don’t know how I did that, and I don’t recommend anyone else try. It was horrible and my finger instantly looked terrible. My co-workers insisted on taking me to the ER to get it checked out, and it was probably a good thing that we did since I broke it! I ended up with a clunky metal brace on my left pointer finger. I specifically asked about my triathlon, and I was cleared to swim as long as I took precautions to protect my hand. (I spoke with the event organizations beforehand to alert them to the situation).

Friday, I took my tri bike for a short spin to see if I could operate the brakes and shifters. I was able to reach over with my right hand to operate the left shifter, so I was pretty much good to go… until I was almost home and stopped at a stop sign. I was in the left turn lane, waiting for traffic to clear. A silver car pulled up beside me in the straight lane. When traffic cleared, I started my turn and the silver car went around me and made a left in front of me, cutting me off. I had to slam on the brakes to keep from running into the side of their car, and had no opportunity to unclip. I went down hard on my left side. I ended up with a bumps, bruises and road rash, but seemed OK still.

We went to packet pick-up that night and I decided to drop from sprint to super sprint to give myself more space in the pool for the race, as well as cut down on the abuse my hand would take on the swim and bike legs. I debated using a paddle on my left hand, but when I test fitted it at home, it seemed like it would push the brace off my finger which would not be good!

My birthday was Friday, so I was up a little late opening presents and eating cake. (My oldest son made me a German Chocolate cake from scratch so that was pretty awesome!) I must point out that it was too great of a birthday, crashing my bike with a freshly broken finger. Just sayin.

k… Saturday, race day. I got up early and got dressed. I put on my trisuit that I had laid out the night before. I filled a water bottle with ice water since it was going to be another super hot day. I couldn’t convince myself to eat anything. I made an English muffin and even that wouldn’t settle.

I grabbed my backpack and headed to the transition area set up outside the Baldwin City pool. After I set up my gear (check the picture below… can you spot the big mistake I made?) I headed to get my body marking and ankle chip. I decided not to do any swim warm-up because I didn’t want to abuse my poor hand anymore than I needed to.

The sprint course started first. The sprint course required swimmers to circle the lanes (do a down and back) before ducking under the lane divider to swim the next lane down. They spaced the swimmers out 10 seconds, so it was pretty tight. I watched as some swimmers bunched up and bumped off each other, and decided I made the wise decision in dropping down.

The super sprint course went next. We didn’t circle lanes, so we had more breathing room in the lanes. The RD suggested I go last and when I stepped up to swim, I gave the swimmers before me a lane and a half head-start. (Which was good since I ended up leaving the water right after them.)

I scurried to transition, stripping up my cap and goggles as I made my way to my bike. I slipped on my cycling shoes, which I had left unfastened, threw on a helmet and grabbed my bike. As I started to leave transition, a volunteer told me I needed my bib. (I actually asked about this ahead of time and was told I only needed it for the run. I wasn’t going to argue, so I ran back and grabbed my race belt. My bib flapped around and annoyed me the entire ride).

Once I made it to the cones and timing mat, I mounted my bike and was off. We took a left single left turn onto the course and headed two miles straight out of town on the hilly county road locals refer to as Le Loup Road.

I found the fun part about starting dead last was that you got to do all kinds of passing! I was having a great time reeling the other bikes in and telling them, “On your left! Thank you! Great job!” as I sped by.

As I reached the turn-around, there was a younger guy in front of me. I could have passed him but I wanted to give him some space to turnaround so I slowed down and tucked in behind him. (This was a mistake). He slowed me down quite a bit. He made the turn and I noticed a fast rider on the sprint course coming thru, so I stopped and let that cyclist go by. (I felt it would be rude to cut him off). By not passing the slower rider, it made me slow way down, and then need to stop for the faster rider, which cost me a bit of time.

After I made the turn back, I passed the younger rider and rode right behind the Speedy McSpeederson guy as we passed more riders. I was having a great time but really ended up trashing my legs for the run. Big mistake.

I made it to the dismount (as a couple cyclists failed to unclip and crashed behind me. I feel your pain, people. I do). and ran back to my spot. As I grabbed my running shoes, I noticed my BIGGEST mistake that day. I hadn’t untied my shoes AND they were in a double-knot. I struggled to untie my shoes with my clunky brace and finally got the laces apart. I knew I would never be able to tie my shoes, so I called out for help with my shoes. A member of a relay team came over and double-knotted my shoes for me. I grabbed my hat (didn’t grab a drink… mistake) and was off. I knew I had spent at least 4 minutes puttering around in T2 and I was feeling pretty dumb about that.

I went out way too fast on the run. I was feeling good, I thought. It caught up with me half-way thru. It was a hilly course. I was hot. I hadn’t had a drink since T1 (I couldn’t get my bottle out while cycling). I paid for all my earlier mistakes and ended up with a crummy run leg. I ended up needing to walk a few seconds a few times in the second half. I was really disappointed in myself since running is my best discipline and I tanked it.

I made it up the final hill and headed into Baker U’s Liston Stadium to do a lap on the track to the finish line. I was able to muster a small kick at the end. I collected my medal and bottle of water, and laid on the turf to catch my breath. I was tired and covered in sweat.

Once I caught my breath, I checked my results at the booth. I saw I was 3rd overall, 1st female and 1st age group and walked away… and then I processed that in my head a bit. what? So I went back and checked again, thinking maybe I put my bib number in wrong… But still. 3rd overall, 1st woman. OMG! That put a pep in my step and gave me a second wind!

For preparation of the race, I treated my shoes and socks with permethrin spray. (This seems to have worked well because I didn’t have any ticks after the race!)

We started off and I mixed in toward the back of the pack, not realizing they were hikers and walking right off the start line. Oops. So I expended come energy weaving around a bit to get to an easy running pace. I thought everything was fine the first couple miles, but then I noticed I was sweating a lot already. Yuck. I slowed down a bit and threw some walking breaks in. And I just felt something was not right.

An important note to make here relates to my shoe selection. I hadn’t ran white trail in ages… Apparently the recently rain caused erosion and the trail which was already rocky was now super rocky. I hadn’t thought to wear my trail shoes. I was wearing my regular shoes, which seem to do just fine on regular trail… but with the technical trail, my feet were hurting. (Even days later, my arches felt bruised and sore). So maybe my overall enjoyment would have been increased by wearing trail shoes and actually eating properly.

I was mistaken in thinking that the aid station would be at the half-way point (5 miles). I kept checking my Garmin and cursing that I had to keep going out on white trail. I wasn’t doing well and even went off-course, mistaking a big rock wall for the trail and started climbing up. The runners behind me snapped me out of it and I realized my mistake. It was like I was on some sort of auto-pilot. I looked down and noticed I could not bend my fingers. My hands had swollen up into Hamburger Helper hands. My skin was covered in sweat that felt like boogers. (Yes. Gross). After a bit, I had stopped sweating and I felt cold and shivery. My hands were ice cubes, which I am used to from my Raynaud’s, but my entire body felt cold.

Finally at 6 or 6.5, we hit Land’s End aid station. I stumbled in and decided I wanted to quit. I asked if there was a road nearby that someone could get me. They said there was, I mean, obviously they got all the aid station stuff there without going far. But one of the volunteers offered me a jelly sandwich and salted potatoes. I sat down and ate those, then found some Coke and perked up just a bit. I was given a cold wet towel and was talked into finishing. (I have to say, Trail Hawks put on the best aid stations ever. Tailwind, soda, food, snacks, all that. They got it. The volunteers are very knowledgeable and if anyone is going to set you back straight, these are the guys.)

I jogged out on the blue trail… and half mile later, I regretted that decision. I was hot. I was tired. The bugs were swarming me. I just wasn’t happy.

Soon another runner stumbled out of the brush and asked if he was going the right way. Apparently he got turned around a bit, so I pointed him in the right direction and I kept running.

Finally, I totally bonked. I felt like I was just done. I fished my phone out of my hydration vest and called my husband to get me. I had my location tracking on, so he could see I was near the road. When I made it to the road, the volunteers offered me a chair while I waited for my ride. I ended up vomiting on the side of the trail a few times. (Apologies to the course monitors for that). Finally, I was picked up and we drove back to the start / finish to let them know I was dropping. I felt ok doing 8 of the 10 considering I stopped having fun at 2.

Steven got me home, I took a shower (how amazing that felt!) and he made me a sandwich. Nothing like eating dinner at 1:00 in the morning, but it was like the best sammich ever!

So, things to take away. Wear trail shoes. Fuel properly. Aid stations are awesome. Try not to puke on the trail if at all possible. Bug spray doesn’t keep gnats away.

After Bowie’s strong showing at the Skyline Shuffle, I wanted to sign him up for a road 5K to see where he was at. I also thought he might like getting a finisher’s medal, since trail races around here do not tend to award them. I started researching options and found the Scout Strong Challenge Half and 5K. I ran the Scout Strong Challenge half marathon in its inaugural year. The course was different this year – but I knew it was a fun race. I also checked out the previous year’s results and saw Bowie had a good chance of placing, so I signed us both up for the 5K.'

This year, the race started and finished at the Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR track. Right away, the event parking was super convenient. There were attendants directing traffic, and we parked in a lot right by the track. We hit the port-a-potty with no line at all and walked less than a block to get to the track entrance.

The race started on on the paved road course in the infield. (The area inside the big oval track). I was not sure how Bowie would do pacing himself. (At Skyline Shuffle, I put him behind some fast friends and told him to follow them). I had talked to him about not going out too fast — but how is a 9 year old going to “feel” that? I decided to run my butt off to get him started. I am no where in the shape to do much running in the morning. In fact, most of my morning runs have been a horrible, slow sweaty disaster. But I thought even if I could get a quarter mile at his pace, he could take over from there. Based on his Skyline Shuffle time, I felt I would shoot for a sub-9:00 pace and have him pick it up himself when he hit miles 2 and 3.

Surprisingly, I was able to truck along for 3/4 of a mile before I felt like I needed to slow down. I told Bowie that I was cutting him loose and he needed to go chase people down. He picked up the pace a little bit and I followed along behind him, making sure he turned left for 5K instead of right for the half course that left the stadium.

was able to keep running at a decent pace. Obviously, not the pace I was running last year before I got sick, but I was running surprisingly strong. I took 2 small walk breaks to catch my breath when I felt I was pushing too hard.

The race finished with a full loop of the oval track, which was pretty cool. In the homestretch, I kept looking down at my Garmin and thought it would be a really good showing for me to go sub-30:00. With as fatigued as I have been lately, that would be really awesome. I kicked a bit at the end and squeaked in with 29:54.

I grabbed my medal and found Bowie waiting with our “crew” (who gave us a ride to the race). Bowie wasn’t sure of his finish time. He said that he felt like he didn’t run his fastest because he was hungry. (I will work on his pre-race nutrition. I guess he needs a bigger breakfast). I was pretty confident he placed, as I was keeping an eye on the other kids in the race.

We made it to the media center building and looked up our times. Bowie ran 27:19 (8:48 pace) and took 2nd place in his age group. (52nd male and 61st overall). For fun, I looked up mine and was amazed to see I got 4th age group, 17th female and 88th overall. Not too shabby for a good-sized race! There were a lot of snacks offered, but we just grabbed mini muffins and water.

The awards ceremony was supposed to start at 8:30 and we waited and waited. (My oldest was graduating and we really needed to hurry back!) Finally, someone told us the awards would be outside in a few minutes. So we all went outside into the cold to wait while they laid the medals out on the table. Seriously. This took 15 minutes and we were all getting crabby because we were cold. A woman beside me finally spoke up and asked if we could just grab our medals and leave! (Yay for her!) They started handing out medals so we needed to wait for them to get through female awards before Bowie got his medal.

Thankfully, we were parked right by the area the awards were in, so we got back to the car and on the road quickly.

First of all, I have to say Eric Steele of Epic Ultra puts on one hell of a race. This is my second race with Epic Ultras and both have been great experiences. I actually won this entry as part of a photo contest. I had registered for the 40 miler, but dropped to the marathon. (I now know that this was the start of my thyroid issues… I was becoming increasingly fatigued and a few later would be my first DNS). You have to love a race that the race packet tells you not to whine or be an asshole. Haha.

I am lucky that the Flint Hills trail is nearby and I had the opportunity to run different sections of the trail as part of my training runs. I felt like I had a good expectation of what I would be in for. I had actually trained for the 40 miler, so I was pretty confident that I could hit my goal pace. The only unknown I really had is what would happen after 18 miles. My previous marathon’s course wasn’t runnable after 16 miles, so this was unchartered mileage for me running-wise.

My fellow Skora (and now Orange Mud) ambassador, Geoffrey, was signed up for the race as well. He said he was good with a 11:00 pace on the trail, so we decided to run together. This would be my first time running a “long” race with anyone, other than pacers at a half. It was encouraging to have a buddy to run with!

The actual trail was not muddy (YAY! After Free State trail marathon, I would have been so mad!). The only really wet place was the start line, go figure. So we start the race and run through ankle deep water, immediately getting our shoes and socks soaked. I hadn’t considered the option of trying to go all the way around. I figured, might as well plow right through.

The race started at Celebration Hall in Ottawa, Kansas. From there, you run the paved part of Prairie Spirit Trail out of town before hitting the Flint Hills trail. I think we managed to make most of the lights out of town. I know I was trying really hard to not go out to fast and kept having to pull myself back. It is easier to run pavement and the 11:00 pace felt S-L-O-W. I would check my Garmin and dial back.

When we hit the levee that meets up with Flint, it was a bit more work. The trail was canted and I worked to find a good place to run where I didn’t feel like I was leaving or twisting my ankles. I was really happy when we entered the trail system.

Geoffrey and I gabbed and ran along. I had brought a handheld, after my Camelbak chafing debacle, and planned to just refill at aid stations as I needed to. I also failed to bring any fuel since I knew the aid stations were stocked really well. Around 6 miles, I topped off my water and grabbed a Hammer Gel.

I am not sure the point that I lost him, but I noticed Geoffrey was getting farther and farther behind me. At mile 9, I was on my own and was kicking myself for not bringing my phone and headphones. I got lonely!

s I was getting close to the turnaround in Rantoul, I crossed a few runners heading back… But really, I was wondering, where is everybody? I was on my own and there were not many runners around. Not that I could get lost – I was just getting paranoid. I ran through some ankle deep water in a rather barren stretch along a field. Finally, there was an aid station in Rantoul, and I stopped for a minute to refill my water and drink a couple cups of Coke. I probably grabbed some Pringles as well, but I can’t remember for sure. I headed out back toward Ottawa to finish.

I was cruising along pretty well. At some point I crossed Geoffrey as I was heading back. Somewhere around mile 18 I noticed my legs and hips were getting sore. I didn’t really think I was tired – just sore. And ready to be done. Too bad I had 10 miles to go. I started throwing in some walk breaks, as I cursed my legs and wondered why I thought this was a good idea. I could have used some music here.

I was so happy to see the next aid station. I didn’t realize it, but I was hungry. I hadn’t eaten anything but the Hammer Gel early in the race. The volunteer offered me some watermelon, and it was like the greatest thing I had ever eaten. I set back to finish the race. I left the trail system and hit the levee…. To run straight into the wind for what felt like forever. This really drained the life out of me. I wasn’t a fan. The wind definitely slowed me down. From the levee, I headed back into town. I hit a few red lights and stood awkwardly. I felt like the drivers were just staring at me since I am guessing they don’t get too many races going on there. Soon, I was back on the paved path that would take me to the finish. This is where things fell apart for me.

The sidewalk seemed to go on and on. I kept checking my Garmin and I was just miserable. I didn’t seem to be getting anywhere. That last mile, I stopped and cried a couple times. I think I did more walking than running. As I was stopped to feel sorry for myself, a woman passed me. That snapped me out of it. Why did I let this woman pass me? What the heck was I thinking? I started to run. And around the corner was the finish line.

crossed the finish and was so happy to see my family waiting for me. The race director, Eric, asked me to take a quick picture, and then I hugged my kids. I came in at 5:07:49, just over 5 hours. With my pouty-walking last mile, it brought me down to 11:32 pace overall. I kicked myself for letting my consistent pace go to pot in the last mile. I soon learned I was 2nd AG, 5th female and 14th overall. I was seconds away from being on the race all-time leaderboard. Lesson learned – suck it up. HTFU. Don’t fall apart in the last mile.

My sons were really excited about this race. I had some reservations. First, the race time started at 9:00. I knew it would be toasty. Second, the race was entirely run in the stadium parking lot on blacktop. Again, toasty. The race was to finish on the football field and the boys were pretty excited about that. There were also to be players working the aid stations and taking pictures with fans. Also cool.

My two sons and I met up with my friend Vicki and her son before the race. We took a few pictures with the Chiefs mascot and headed to the starting line. The start seemed rather unorganized and had a pretty big delay. Bowie, Dane and I took off a bit faster than Vicki and her son. (Her son was a newbie runner. Note: he had more fun than we did). We made our way through the parking lot, and I have to say that there was really nothing remarkable to note. It was blacktop. And a stadium parking lot. We stopped at the aid stations for water because it was blazing hot, and there were no Chiefs players. (But thank you, volunteers!)

We did get to run on the field for our finish and got our medals which were neat. The race was not timed (the first finisher won a prize based on who crossed the line first).

Afterward we could tour the stadium and locker rooms. We did look around the displays abut did not go to the locker room because the line was ridiculously long.

Vicki reported back later than when she and her son stopped at the an aid station, there was a Chiefs player there. So the early bird didn’t get the worm, in this case. Very neat that Nate got a picture with a player. (I think they also did the locker room tour and said it was still packed).

So on the upside, if you have a young sports fan who just wants a fun run and likes football, this is a nice race. If you care at all about timing or scenery, notsomuch.