Helgramite Hustle Mud Run 2014

This past weekend sure was a busy one for us!  On Saturday, Mr. Marathon hit the mud at the Helgramite Hustle Mud Run at the Smith River Fest in Martinsville.  Because of all the rain from the previous days, the mud run was EXTRA muddy... in places that weren't really intended to be muddy.  The more mud the merrier, though, right?  Mr. Marathon was the reigning champ for the race, seeing as he came in first overall last year (READ ABOUT IT HERE!).  But this year was a little more challenging, because of the extra mud caused by the rain as well as a couple of other factors.

First of all, we need to back up a week to last Sunday... a week before Mr. Marathon's busy weekend.  After a Sunday morning training run with some friends, a bumble bee decided that it was in the mood for some Mexican.  Kidding!  But seriously.  It stung Mr. Marathon, and he had never been stung by a BUMBLE BEE before.  Wasps, yes.  Yellow jackets, yes.  Sweat bees, yes.  But a bumble bee?  Never!  If anybody has told you that they don't sting, THEY ARE LYING.  Because they do.  And it did.  It stung him right in the hand on his right index finger.  It was totally painful when it happened, but the after effects were a little more serious.  His hand swelled up to like twice its natural size and it was itchy and hot for a couple of days.  After copious amounts of Benadryl and cortisone cream, his hand started to feel better (and look better).

Lining up to start

Now fast forward to Saturday.  While running this mud run, Mr. Marathon was running and performing the obstacles just fine and dandy.  Until after the first major uphill in the first half a mile, that is.  That's when he started noticing something a little off.  His breathing was affecting him at this point.  His throat felt as though it was closing up, and he started wheezing A LOT.  However, he is pretty good about controlling his breathing, which helped him to not panic while this was going on.  He made the connection between this breathing issue and his bee sting after the run.  After spending lots and lots of quality time in an allergy center (for all my testing) he considered maybe it was an after-effect of being stung, because he obviously had some kind of reaction to it.  I think I'm going to chalk this one up to sympathy asthma because of me.

Climbing the cargo net

Splish splash... but he was NOT taking a bath!

The scene of the crime:
notice his soapy, slippery left hand!

But that's just one extra challenge he faced at the mud run.  The other one is my personal favorite.  There was a large slip-and-slide about halfway through the course.  Mr. Marathon breezed down the slide looking strong and holding on to a close third place overall spot. When he got to the bottom of the slide, he put his hand down to slow himself down and prop himself up when all of a sudden, he popped up to take off running and something felt odd on his left hand.  No, he didn't get stung by another bee, don't worry!  But it's worse.  Kidding.  Kind of.  Anyway, he felt that something was missing from his ring finger on his left hand.  Yes, I'm talking about his WEDDING RING.  He immediately turned around and raced back to the slide, which fortunately was still close by because he realized this pretty quick.  As he was frantically looking for it, there was a photographer who also helped him dig through the mud (the same one that took that picture of him on the slide!).  A good minute later the photographer found it!  He slapped it back on his finger (tightly and cautiously, with love, of course) and balled up his fist tight for the rest of the race and he was off!  However, by that point, he managed to make his way to fifth place and decided to just cruise and maintain his fifth place, which he did.  Fifth place overall, but first place in his age group ain't too shabby considering everything he went through!

Smiling coming to the finishing chute....
despite everything

Some of the age group winners

Axton Fire Department had their trucks there to hose off participants

Ramiro sliding down
the slip and slide

On a more positive note, Mr. Marathon's brother, Ramiro decided to participate as well!  This was his first 5K, let alone a 5K mud run.  He had a great time participating, AND he won 3rd place in his age group!  Wowie zowie!  Speed must RUN in their genes... get it.... RUN?  HAH.






Another positive note about Saturday was my dad ran this race as well.  Even though he's run 5Ks and 10Ks and all that good stuff, he got to run a MUD RUN!  Pretty awesome for an old man!  Not to mention the fact that he placed first in his age group, AND he helped an older woman over an obstacle.  A winner AND a gentleman!

That's my dad in the gray shirt!

Sunday was an eventful day for Mr. Marathon as well, but this post is long enough, so be on the lookout for Part II, coming soon!

I just love this picture. It shows Mr. Marathon's
good sportsmanship and great attitude. :)

Setbacks

I realize that as runners, we will all experience some type of setback every now and then.  So often, runners will experience overuse injuries, sore muscles, tendinitis, and oh so much more, I'm sure.  I have been so lucky to not experience any major setback since I began running three years ago.  However, lately I have been really struggling with my breathing.  I stopped running a little bit over the past school year.  Yes, I admit I slacked off significantly.  However, when I bounced back and began running again, I was unable to get a good breath in while I was running.  My chest felt tight, and I had to "yawn" to get a deep breath, which wasn't really a yawn but rather it was more of a gasp for air.

Post run hot mess....
typical!

This began my adventure to find a diagnosis.  The doctors tried me out on some different medications for some different conditions.  After taking various medication for about six months with no relief related to my breathing and chest pain/tightness that after many visits and follow-ups, my doctor finally decided to try a PFT, which is a pulmonary function test, to see if there was any obstruction in my lungs.

That test was conclusive.  

I have asthma.

Despite my breathing issues, we both got new shoes!

I was very relieved to get this diagnosis, but I was also a little bummed.  Asthma means you can't breathe, and if you can't breathe, you can't run, right?!?!?!  Well, fortunately since I have been running with no issues previously and the onset of my asthma symptoms was so sudden, my doctor referred me to an allergist to do some tests.  Just this past Friday, I had my appointment with the allergist.  After tons of pricks and pokes of shots, he determined that I am highly, highly allergic to some very ordinary, everyday things, including dust mites and tons of different kinds of pollen.  Apparently, this season's pollen counts were higher than they have been, so the fact that I'm so highly allergic to most trees, weeds, and grass, caused me to develop allergic asthma.  Allergic asthma?  So my allergies got so bad they gave me asthma?  Whaaaaat?  Anyway, because this is allergic asthma, there are things I can try to hopefully reduce asthma symptoms or even maybe get rid of it altogether!  Allergy shots can lessen the effect that the allergens have on me, since I can't really avoid pollen and stuff while running, and dust mites are everywhere.  Yeah, I can do things to reduce my contact with these allergens, but I can't get rid of them all.  So allergy shots are worth a try.  Most allergy shots are given in a determined interval of time, like twice a week for the first round, then once a week, then up to once a month!  However, this process can take years.  Wah wah!  But wait- there's more!  My doctor then told me about a process called rush immunotherapy.  This type of immunotherapy is like the allergy shots, but (obviously) rushed.  So instead of getting shots over a lengthy period of time, I can get a lot in one day, every half hour.  So, that's exactly what I'm going to do!


So that's that, then.  For now, anyway.  I'm trying to work through it right now, back from square one, or at least it feels like it.  For the past three months now, I have been on two daily asthma medicines, and I also have a rescue inhaler for when I'm running.  I have been working through it, and I've been running a little slower than I used to, but I've been running nonetheless.  In fact, just yesterday, I did 7 miles!  Very very slowly, but I did it!  Hopefully after my immunotherapy will help... we'll see!

I really love this verse... it gives me motivation and hope!

Inaugural Martinsville Mustangs 5K

This past Friday, July 11, Mr. Marathon and I decided to run the Inaugural Martinsville Mustangs 5K.  The Martinsville Mustangs are the local baseball team, and this 5K partnered with them to put on this great event.   The run started around the baseball field, then went around a part of Martinsville that neither of us have ever run around before.  There hasn't been a race around this area, and it was around my old high school, which I thought was really cool!  Then, it ended back on the baseball field, crossing home plate.  It was a lot of fun because after the run, awards were given on the field, and then all the runners got tickets to the Mustangs' double header game that evening.  The atmosphere of this whole event was just super fun.  We always love our small-town races, because they are the friendliest, and this was no exception!

Oh, and of course Mr. Marathon did awesome.  He finished first overall, with a new PR of 18:47!!!!!  He managed to do that in the 6:00 PM heat in July!  Crazy.  Oh, and I got a medal too!  Second place in my age group! :)  This race was featured in our local paper, the Martinsville Bulletin.  Check out the article!  My favorite part of the article is a quote by my eloquent husband:

"To be honest, I don’t consider myself the winner because everyone is doing the same course, in the same humidity, with the same sun, and that makes everyone a winner.”

Anyway, we have a few down weeks until the Helgramite Hustle Mud Run!

August 9th!

July 4th Spectacular 4 Miler

The view of Charlotte from our 12th floor hotel room

Last Thursday, July 3, Mr. Marathon and I traveled south a couple of hours to the big city of Charlotte, NC for the July 4th Spectacular 4 Miler.  We traveled the night before so we could relax at a hotel and get a good night's sleep, considering the run would start at 7:30 AM.  After an enjoyable, stormy evening the night before, we woke up bright and early on the 4th of July, ready to run.  We put on our homemade Captain America-inspired tanks and patriotically made our way to the starting location.

Our homemade Captain America tanks

This race was a fairly big production!  There were over 600 runners in this event, but fortunately it was chip-timed.  Mr. Marathon still started close the front and I still started closer to the back, and we were off!  The weather was perfect in the morning.  Despite the horrendous Hurricane Arthur-related storms the night before, the humidity level was pleasantly low and the temperature was in the mid 60s..... ahhhhh perfect!  And it really showed in my attitude and my time.  I kept a wonderful pace of about 10 and a half minutes per mile, which put me at hitting the 3 mile mark at about 31 minutes!!!!!  That's the best I've seen in a while.  I ended up finishing 42:41, which I was totally happy with, considering I wanted to finish faster than 45 minutes.  Mr. Marathon was obviously awesome as well (like always).  He finished in 24:58, which he was satisfied with, too.  He had a goal to finish between 25 and 30 minutes, so he beat his goal, too!

Mr. Marathon got some good pictures of me coming in to the finish!

After crossing through the finishing chute, we were pleasantly surprised at what was waiting for us.  But let me back up first.  At packet pickup the day before, there were no packets.  All we picked up were bibs and tshirts.  No swag.  No bag.  No nothing.  We were a little bummed.  Now fast forward to the end of the race.  We crossed through the finish line, received a bag with a banana, bagel, and chewy bar in it, then we continued on around the bend to a whole EXPO!  There were lots of vendors lining the parking lot giving away tons of freebies.  So even though we didn't get a swag bag the day before, we sure got one then.  There was also a band playing, which added a fun atmosphere.  It was fantastic!

Panoramic of the vendors and the band and the crowd!

Our swag!

On the way home from all the race shenanigans, we were talking and we decided that this race was one of the best we've ever done.  I came to the realization that I had nothing, NOTHING to complain about regarding this race and my performance in it.  Usually, I think to myself, "Oh, I could have done better" or "My (insert name of a body part) was bothering me halfway through" or "My breathing was weird" or "It was too hot" (you get the idea....), but this race was different.  I felt like I had pushed myself as hard as I could, I was pleased with my time, and most importantly, I enjoyed myself.  Mr. Marathon agreed, and even though he placed 4th in his age group (no award....aww!) he really enjoyed this event.  But turns out, this was a good thing because he came in 4th place in his age group.... on a 4 miler.... on the 4th of July... cool right??We are even hoping to do it again next year!

The next race on the calendar is the Inaugural Martinsville Mustangs 5K this Friday!

Double Header! (Run for Justice 5K/10K and Light Up the Night 5K)

This past Saturday, Mr. Marathon and I tackled our first ever double header.  What exactly do we consider to be a double header?  That's two races in one day.  And that's exactly what we did.

The gang at Run for Justice

In the morning, Mr. Marathon, his family, and I headed east to Danville, VA, for the Run for Justice 5k/10k. Mr. Marathon did the 10k and I did the 5k.  We had heard from a couple of people that this particular race was nice and flat. Good news, right?!?  Well, we were just so excited about the flat course that we didn't even think about the fact that the humidity has been ridiculously high in the mornings.  And this race was in the morning.  Next to a river.  On a cloudy humid day. Of course. The humidity causes us all to start sweating before the run even started!  And once the run began, the humidity felt like it was slowly suffocating us.  Regardless, it was indeed a nice, flat course with only a couple of modest inclines, which was nice.  I was concerned that because it was mostly flat, I would tire more easily and my pace would suffer.  However, I managed to maintain a fairly consistent pace and I only walked once!  Mr. Marathon enjoyed the perks of the flat race for his 10k as well, however, the heat and humidity got to him too, despite his amazing third place overall finish.  Oh yeah! well I placed second in my age group, too!

Showing off his first 3rd place medal of the day!

Sorry I cut off part of my medal.

As the sun was going down
before LIGHTING UP THE NIGHT!

After all the fun in Danville, we headed home to freshen up and nap for a bit until we headed north to Roanoke, VA, for the Light Up the Night 5k.  We arrived in time to pick up packets and hang out for a little while before the race began. The evening air was cooling off and the humidity was decreasing, which was more than welcome! We had done this race two years ago, so we were familiar with the course.  The morning run was flat and fast, but we knew that this race would be significantly hillier.  But that didn't stop us!  Mr. Marathon finished in 19 minutes and some seconds, which landed him 3rd place overall, and I managed to finish almost a minute faster than my morning run (which doesn't sound like much to non-runners, but a minute difference in a 5k is enough!).  After this race, we attended the after party which, if I'm honest, made me feel like P. Diddy or something.  It was ballin'.  It was held on the rooftop of a museum in downtown Roanoke, and there was food, beverages, a DJ, and an awesome view of the city!

Rooftop View!

The after party was on top of the Center in the Square Museum.

Mr. Marathon and his 3rd place medal!

After all the fun and excitement, we made our way back home and slept like little babies.  Sunday was a rest day, but believe you me, we will be back at it this upcoming week, preparing for the next race, which is probably going to be a 4th of July run (to be determined!).

Run Wild! 5K

Today, Mr. Marathon and I took off to RUN WILD through the North Carolina Zoo.  We had another early morning this morning.  We woke up at 4 AM to hit the road by 5 AM.  Mr. Marathon, his mom, his 2 nieces, and I arrived at the zoo before 7.  We picked up packets, stood in a ridiculously long porta-potty line, then lined up at the start and took off.  Mr. Marathon obviously started at the front of the pack, but his mom and nieces started more towards the middle with me.

Nadyra, Alheli, Teresa (Mr. Marathon's mom) and Mrs. Marathon

I was really looking forward to this run because it's not just a normal 5K.  This run took place through the actual zoo!  So obviously, I was looking forward to seeing some animals, and I brought my camera on the course with me just in case.  Well, I guess the 7:30 AM start time was too early for the animals, because none of them were out!  Except for 1 zebra, and I wasn't quick enough with the camera to get a picture of it.  Oh, well.  Besides the disappointment of not seeing animals, it was a nice day to run a 5K.  The weather was perfect this morning.  It was fairly cool with some clouds, and it was shady along the trails through the zoo, so it felt good.  The only surprising thing was the difficulty of the course.  We knew it would be a little hilly because we know the area, and we've visited that zoo before.  However, running it is very different from walking around looking at the animals.  Between mile 2-2.5 the hills were a little more intense than anticipated.  The slow inclines were unrelenting!  But, after the awful terrible horrible uphills, there was a nice, steady downhill from about 2.5 to pretty much the end of the race, which was very nice!

All of us after the race!

Now, I have to take a minute to brag about Mr. Marathon.  He's an amazing runner, anyway, let's be honest.  However, if you asked me yesterday, "How do you think he's going to do in the Run Wild 5K tomorrow?" I would have said, "You know, he probably won't do all that great..."  Why you ask?  Because he had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day yesterday!  To sum it up, he re-dislocated his shoulder (remember the first time that happened?), his drive home from work was tragic, his phone screen shattered, and he got a toothache.  A lot happened yesterday to him.  Despite his terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, he kept a good attitude today.  But that's not all.  He decided give it his all today, and it paid off.  It paid off with a finish time and new PR of 18 minutes 53 seconds!!!!!!!!!  And he brought home 1st place in his age group!!!!!!! WOWIE.  And to think, a fellow runner warned Mr. Marathon that this is NOT a course to PR on.   He says CHALLENGE ACCEPTED lol.

Oh, and you know I ran too.  I finished in 35:48, which put me at finishing 40th out of 83.  This race was huge!  It was almost 500 people!

A view of the post-race hullabaloo

Next up on our race calendar, we have a double header: Run for Justice 5K/10K in the morning, and Light up the Night 5K at night, both on June 21.  We'll be working hard getting ready for the next 2 weeks!

Mr. Triathlon??

This past weekend, I participated in the Off The Rails Triathlon in Roanoke, VA.  It was the inaugural event for this particular race, so it is really cool that I got to participate in it.  I had seen it a couple of months ago advertised on a sign in Roanoke, and intended to sign up if I had enough time to train after my two April marathons.  However, things did not work out this way.  Last weekend at the Tuff Strutter 5K, apparently a friend of mine and my lovely wife made plans that I was not aware of while running.  I had forgotten all about this race, but it was a nice reminder, but a rude awakening as well.  They decided that ready or not, I was going to participate in this triathlon, even though it was only a week away.  But with the help of my friend, I was able to get three practice swims in at the local YMCA during my week of training.  I also took a practice bike ride one day, as well as two training runs.  Fortunately this specific triathlon was a sprint triathlon, which means it was short in comparison to others.  Even though it was shorter, I still shouldn't have skimped on the training.  If I had remembered about the race, I would have started training way sooner.  And I would have registered earlier than mere hours before registration closed.

Team MHC Inspired! (Martinsville/Henry County)

Anyway, the actual event was quite the experience.  I began my morning with my chauffeur (Mrs. Marathon) driving me and my bike to Roanoke.  We woke up at 4 to hit the road by 5.  Yes, in the morning.  We arrived by 6 in time to meet a group of other local triathletes, some relay and others individual.  It was between 20 and 30 people from our little area, which is really impressive!  After we picked up our packets, got our numbers, and got body marked, we all set up our transition spots.  This was the newest part for me.  Fortunately, there were some experienced triathletes in the group with me who were more than willing to help me prepare for my first.

Mr. Marathon caught with his pants down!
He was getting tatted-up! (or just body marked...)

Once everyone was all ready to go, we lined up to start at the pool.  We started in 15 second waves, two individuals at a time.  Finally, after 18 and a half minutes and over 100 participants later, it was my turn to swim.  The swim was a 300 meter swim, which was three laps down and back of the 50 meter pool.

Mr. Marathon's swim

After the swim, I hopped out and walked leisurely to the transition area because I swear I heard someone say you must walk between events.  However, people were blowing past me, and I figured out that I heard wrong.  So then I put some pep in my step to transition to the bike ride, which was a small train wreck.  Since I was woozy from the swim (sea-legs?) and I had literally no idea what to expect, I fumbled my way through the transition until I was dry, clothed, and walking my bike to the mounting area (because LORD HELP ANYBODY who decided to mount their bike before that line....).  I took off on the 15K bike ride trying to find my groove.  After about 3 miles, I got my groove and I felt good about the rest of the ride.  Even though the course was a little confusing and lacked directional assistance, I managed to make it back to the transition area for the last leg of the race.

After I figured out I didn't have to walk

Transition time!

Ready to bike

And I'm off!  But not until I pass the line....

This transition went a lot smoother because I knew what I was doing and I was fumbling everything around like a drunk pirate.  Even though my legs felt heavy and drunk, I managed to rack my bike, change my shirt, and take off on the 5K run.  So even though there were a lot of participants walking, there was no way I was going to walk on the last event, considering it is my strongest area.  So to say the least, I did not walk!  But instead, I stayed strong and pushed hard.  I passed many people that had started way before me, which motivated me to push even harder!  But even when I passed them, I made sure to give them a thumbs-up and some words of encouragement.  I ran up the last hill as hard as I could because I knew that it was downhill all the way to the finish.  I managed to finish strong, or at least it felt like it!

Coming in after my run

My overall place was 33rd out of 133 finishers, with a total time of 1:03:19, which earned me 2nd place in my age group.  Not too bad for my first one right?  Especially with how little training I had!  I can't wait for the next one, as long as I have enough training under my belt!

Accepting my award for 2nd place in my age group.
All the chlorine I swallowed in the pool must have whitened my teeth or something??

After such an eventful morning, Team MHC Inspired got together for a post-race celebration, complete with cake!  The cake made it all worth it.  And going with such an amazing group definitely helped as well. :)