Giving Back

This week didn't start out very good. At work, 8 people in my department were laid off, part of a company-wide layoff. I had survivor's guilt and felt overwelmed with the burden of missing them and more work than I could even comprehend.

Tuesday morning my neighbor didn't get up to run and the other guy we run with had just had a funeral for the unexpected death of his father and he was headed out to California. Since I fell a couple of weeks ago, I don't feel safe running by myself. I finally got to run on Thursday and had a good run although my neighbor frets everytime she hears my feet shuffle because she is worried I am going to fall.

Yesterday, I did not do a long Saturday run, actually, I didn't run at all. I volunteered at the Post Oak Trail Marathon by working the aid station at the Pole Barn, directing weary runners to the aid station and then directing them back out to the trail, cheering them on. This was a whole lot of fun, observing the different running attire, looking at the various running bodies, young & forever young, some lean, some mean and meeting other people in the running community. This is an inagural event and Tulsa Running Club went overboard to get this event off the ground. The weather was perfect, almost 50, clear skies, light wind. About 200 people signed up for the trail marathon and there were 300 signed for the 10, 25 and 50K on Sunday. These trails are new, they had to be marked, and then there's the aid stations to be set up and manned. Then they have to do it all again on Sunday for the 10, 25 and 50K races.

Trail running is a different running event, very slow. They didn't even take off fast from the starting line, one of my friends, just stood there fiddling with his Garmin, since the satelite hadn't kicked in, he didn't seem one bit concerned that he was the last person to start. As many of the runners came out of the trail to go to the aid station, they took their time. This was not a race, it was an event to finish, without regard for time. The trails are rigorous and to complete these events, without injury, takes focus and endurance. The main reason I volunteered was to support some friends of mine and I was totally impressed as I saw them come out of the trails, looking like they were having a very good time, at least at that point in the event which was 12.5 miles. Look at them, don't you agree? By the time I needed to leave (12:20), I had seen almost everyone-Jason, Lisa, Carmie, Chris, Donna, Mary, Teresa, Carolyn, Ken and Charlie. The only one I missed was Greg, the Garmin guy.

I was a little torn with not running, but this was not the weekend for me to tackle this. I needed to be available for phone calls on a database conversion at work and I think I would have ended up getting injured but I was a little envious as I watched my friends making their way on the trail. Well, missing this one and next week's Little Rock will make the next marathon, Oklahoma City, all the sweeter. There will be many more marathons for me, for now, I will pray for my friends as they recover from this race of endurance, actually, 2 races, they were daring enough to do the 10K on Sunday too.

Post Oak Trails

Saturday I went out to Post Oak Lodge to do a trail run out there. They are having a trail marathon on February 26, I am not a trail runner and do not aspire to be one but I wanted to have some variety in my training. It had rained most of the night and was very foggy on Saturday morning. About 45 people came out for training run and we separated into groups based on our 5K pace, but we wouldn't be anywhere near that pace, more like 15 min. mile. For the most part I was dressed appropriately. I had a waterproof North Face jacket and a light jacket underneath it and a technical shirt. I have a great wide brimmed waterproof hat. I had trail running shoes. The only mistake I made was to wear my capri pants and socks that didn't cover my ankles. I received only a few scratches though.
It was very muddy, sticky, slippery and cold even though it was about 42. It was a constant drizzle. You don't race on these, you pick your way through and hope you can stay up with everyone and look behind you to make sure no one else is getting too far behind. Some people had a really good time doing this, I did not. I like to move, maybe it will be better when it is drier. I value my history of non-injury, I'm concerned that I could get hurt very easily out here. But, I want to stretch myself so I'm still planning on doing this as long as my schedule permits. There is another training run on February 6 and I hope it is drier so I can get a better idea of what it would be like on firmer ground.
What I learned from this:

• Protect your ankles with ankle socks
• Bring a change of clothes, including shoes & socks (I did) and a plastic bag for dirty stuff (thanks Tess)
• Bring something to eat or gu, even if is only 6 miles, you will get famished
• Make sure you are with someone and have your cell phone (we got far behind and everyone was looking for us)

My ankles were really sore on Sunday, I dread to think what they will feel like after 26 miles. I need to put in more miles on trails if I'm going to do this. Hopefully, Feb. 6 will be a longer run. I wonder how longer this marathon will take? It took us 2 hours to go six miles but we were sloshing through muck.

The best thing about the day was that I didn't fall and the coffee and fellowship at Starbucks was a great way to wrap it up.

I can't wait to run on solid ground on Tuesday.