In Every Run That Must Be Done; There is an Element of Fun (comments welcome)

[Naomeri]

Lola’s Lake Waconia Half: Race Pics

Here are a few pics I took along the course:









Goats on the roof!!



2022 workout data to date: 139h 31m 9s of exercise; 60,954 active calories burned; 74,184 total calories burned

 

[azrivest]

Congratulations Maureen!

That rough road is terrible! And the street not even blocked off for cars. Your PR is even more impressive considering the conditions.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Way to go!

 

[Naomeri]

29 Days Until: Excelsior Firecracker 10K

I’m a little sore today, more than I was after the Princess Half. So now I know: don’t go sit around at a garage sale after a race Of course, it could also be all those stupid hills yesterday too.

Now that it’s summer(ish) again, it’s tree-trimming time again! This time, it was half dead pine trees that are too tall for us to cut down on our own, and too expensive at the moment to get cut down professionally. So my grandma had me cut off all the branches I could reach, and it really made a huge difference. And we have a big pile of branches to deal with at a later date.



After dinner, I did a half hour on the bike and got 8.28 miles.

When I wasn’t playing with trees, I was feeding chipmunks. The garden chipmunks were swarming today, since they hadn’t been out much during all the windy days. I could barely step out the patio door without three chipmunks running up to me begging.





A baby red squirrel was curious about what the chipmunks were so excited about, but not enough to come to me. I threw some nuts on the ground and the squirrel thought that was an okay thing.



2022 workout data to date: 140h 2m 17s of exercise; 61,117 active calories burned; 74,399 total calories burned

 

[Cabius]

Congrats on the race!!

 

[striker1064]

Congrats on your race! Great job. Looks like a super scenic course too! Aside from the dodging traffic part.

 

[avondale]

Lola’s Lake Waconia Half: Race Report

I’m never running this course again!! I don’t care that I smashed my PR (by 12 minutes if you go by a 1:1 comparison, since the previous PR was virtual, so I stopped at exactly 13.1, or by 5 minutes if you go by today’s on-course time)—there were nasty hills, and changing road surfaces. There’s nothing worse on sore feet than running on a dirt road and hitting large stones. Also, I don’t like running along active highways.

Anyway, I got to Waconia a little less than a half hour before the start, and parked a couple blocks away. I got a warm up stretch in just by walking up a giant steep hill to get from where I parked to the race I checked my bag (really glad I packed my stuff in a bag at home, since they didn’t have any). The start chute wasn’t particularly organized, so I stuck myself between the 2:20 pace group (which was the slowest one, but much too fast for me) and the “Last Runner” lady, who was only about 20 feet behind the pacer lady.

This is technically a picture of the back of the start line, but it was what I could get easily.
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We hit the first hill of the race not far past the start, and then we got on a bike path and ran through a park, then onto the first dirt road, then back onto a bike path, then onto the first highway. This one wasn’t too bad because it had a real shoulder lane, so we had space to pass people if needed. Then we hit the second dirt road, and that was a longer stretch and I hated it. Then we hit a lakeside residential road which was hilly and in bad shape. They actually had a sign about how bad it was:
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So we had to avoid potholes, gravel that was supposed to be in the potholes, vehicular traffic, and the fast runners that had emerged from a loop. I dunno who thought it was a brilliant idea to have the course loop back on itself so the fast runners came back to mix in with the slow runners. Then we were going up another steep hill, with a water stop in the middle. As a half runner, I got to turn left at the top of the hill to do the loop back to the dirt road and the pothole road. Then go back up the awful hill with the water stop. I refilled my water bottle on the second time through this stop, and had a cup of water and a cup of Gatorade. The Gatorade was a mistake—warm blue Gatorade made from powder was the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted

Then it was time for more busy highway running, this time into the wind. Yay Then there was a more residential highway, but no longer into the wind. You’d think it would start feeling good to hit the home stretch, except that there was a giant nasty hill in the last mile I finally got back onto the city streets, and more hills, but no traffic. Lots of finished runners walking around and cheering us stragglers on. I stopped for a few seconds when my watch hit 13.1 miles so I could get a shot of my exact half marathon time
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I still had a half mile to go at this point, but I finished strong and almost broke 3 hours on the course. If there hadn’t been so many steep hills that I had to walk up, I probably could have done it. I grabbed my bag and switched into my Sanuks (still the best feeling in the world, taking the race shoes off). On my way out of the park, I got to ring the PR bell, which is fun. There was free food available at a local restaurant, but that involved walking down a bunch of hills in the opposite direction of my car, so I chose that instead and went to Dairy Queen for a hot dog and fries (and an Oreo blizzard, but that was a bit too much for my stomach, so it’s still 3/4 full in my freezer).
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My feet are a little sore, but I’m otherwise doing just fine. I hit the segment function on my watch when I hit each mile marker, so I could see afterward how my watch miles stacked up against the course miles.
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2022 workout data to date: 139h 31m 9s of exercise; 60,954 active calories burned; 74,184 total calories burned

Congratulations on the new PR! Fantastic!

 

[Naomeri]

27 Days Until: Excelsior Firecracker 10K

I didn’t run yesterday because I’m an idiot My big toes curve upward just a bit, and if I don’t keep my nails trimmed correctly, they will rub against the inside of the top of my shoes, which will make my toes feel bruised after a long walk or run. My left toenail had a snag a couple weeks ago, so I trimmed that knee, but forgot to trim the right one at the same time. So after the half, my toe was sore, and I trimmed my nail, and like an idiot, I trimmed it too short and exposed some of the sore area, and every time I walked around in the yard yesterday, my shoe was irritating my toe more.

Today, I put a bandaid over the end of my toe, and avoided wearing shoes, and my toe felt much better, so I went for a run about 10pm tonight, and it was fine.



I saw a bunny tonight! My light gave him a bit of demon-eye though



I got the official results from Lola’s, and I’m happy to see I wasn’t last in any category. I liked the unofficial results better though—they still had all the DNS/DNF people included, so it looked like I was faster than over 100 people! Alas, I was only faster than 17 people.



I also got my one and only course photo, from just before the finish line.



2022 workout data to date: 141h 7m 55s of exercise; 61,657 active calories burned; 75,030 total calories burned

 

[JAMIESMITH]

You definitely outperformed those DNS/DNF folks!

 

[avondale]

Nice race photo! It's an action shot, and you're smiling. Mine always look like I hate the world. lol

 

[HangWithMerida]

Congrats on your new PR!

 

[Naomeri]

Nice race photo! It's an action shot, and you're smiling. Mine always look like I hate the world. lol

Disney taught me to watch for the photographers and smile, even if I didn’t feel like smiling, because it actually helps change my attitude (not that it mattered in this case, since I was like 50 feet from the finish line )

 

[Naomeri]

26 Days Until: Excelsior Firecracker 10K

I had thought about doing Monday’s run today, but I’m a little sore, and I just didn’t want to. I’m not going to run tomorrow, because we’re getting a giant order of mulch (500 bags) and my uncle is flying in from out of time to help with it, and I have to go out and pick him up after work. I think I’ll be able to run Friday morning before we start working on mulch. Who knows what I’ll do over the weekend??

I got my rooms booked for Princess and Springtime Surprise this morning. I originally planned to just book Pop for all 3 of my 2023 runDisney weekends, but decided to do Movies for Princess, Pop for Springtime, and Coronado for Wine & Dine (that trip is one day shorter than the other 2, so the slight splurge doesn’t make a huge difference). It’s always possible I’ll switch it around as Disney adds deals.

I was out feeding chipmunks today, and there were a couple chasing each other around the shed under our porch. We have a window screen that fell out of an upper story window tucked between the shed and the house, and the chipmunks decided to climb it.



2022 workout data to date: 141h 39m 55s of exercise; 61,882 active calories burned; 75,277 total calories burned

 

[Herding_Cats]

500 bags of mulch???? How big are these bags? We had BIL deliver a few cubic yards of mulch (loose, not bagged) last year and let me just say that my back and shoulders already hurt on your behalf.

 

[Naomeri]

500 bags of mulch???? How big are these bags? We had BIL deliver a few cubic yards of mulch (loose, not bagged) last year and let me just say that my back and shoulders already hurt on your behalf.

Each bag has 2 cubic feet of mulch, and weighs about 20lbs. We have a cart that goes behind the lawnmower, so we can haul the mulch to where it needs to go. Bags are less work than loose mulch, since you don’t have to shovel it up from the delivery pile (we’ve gone that route in the past)

 

[WillRunForPizza]

10,000 lbs of mulch??? Wow that's a lot!

 

[Herding_Cats]

I wanna see a picture of this mountain of mulch bags you’re getting! (I’m guessing it’s going to be on pallets)

 

[Naomeri]

I’ve been informed that it’s actually only 400 bags of mulch (5 pallets of 80). I will definitely be taking a picture after delivery.

 

[Naomeri]

25 Days Until: Excelsior Firecracker 10K

I didn’t do much of a workout today, just a little stretching.

Duchess the chipmunk had 2 babies this year, and they’re old enough to be out and about, but not old enough that she’s kicking them out of her territory. They are very timid and not ready to take any food from me, despite watching Duchess sit in my hand and eat.





The news (or at least the picture) you’ve all been waiting for: The mulch arrived!



After work, I ran out to the airport to pick up my uncle, and about 2 and a half hours after I left, we got home (he just had to arrive right in the middle of the afternoon rush hour ). After dinner, we decided to get a start on the mulch work.

New mulch:



Old mulch:







My uncle learned that bug spray and mulch bags are a bad mix:





Progress has been made!



2022 workout data to date: 141h 56m 59s of exercise; 61,989 active calories burned; 75,399 total calories burned

 

[lookingforsunshine]

only 400 bags

“Only” made me laugh.

Good job on your recent races!