Two in two weeks- yep.

After a disappointing Rock n Roll I had a "fun run" planned. It was the Diva Half in northern VA wine country. I say fun run because I had no finish time goals. I just wanted to run with my BRF in beautiful country and drink wine. I also wanted to see if I had the recovery it took to run two in two weeks. Supposedly you are suppose to rest a certain amount of time for a certain amount of miles. I suck at waiting. Point in case, I am currently signed up for a half at the Outer Banks and the following weekend I will be running the half in Richmond. Bummer they only schedule these things on the weekends, or maybe that's to force crazy people like me to rest.

Diva was everything I was looking forward to, except traffic. Two lane roads and an antique care show the same day in the same area, did NOT bode well for in and out traffic. My BRF was onboard for this trip. After confusing my GPS on the beltway we followed the map in my head towards Leesburg and then GPS caught up. Thank goodness I can still read a paper map and remember what I saw on said map. Technology is great, but sometimes you gotta go old school. After that little adventure where I showed my New England manners by physically waiving thank you in the rearview along with saying it, we arrived at the expo. I got my lovely daughter a shirt, we got our numbers, tried some wine we hated and decided we were done. Off to the hotel, which was easy enough to find.

Jessica (said BRF) went to get the key. I sat and guarded our stuff awaiting her return. Back she came and in went the key...that didn't work. Double check numbers, rooms and keys...still a no go. Back down she goes and get the key redone. This time it works BUT someone else's stuff is in our/their room. What the heck?! Did we get double booked? Did the maids forget to clean. No. The front desk person is slightly dyslexic. WRONG ROOM! After finally getting the right key to the right room, we dump our stuff and go looking for food. Syri (iPhone help person) and I got in an argument about pizza. I wanted some and she couldn't find a location in a good neighborhood fast enough. Grrrr. Finally we were fed and then off to bed with an early morning wake up. I had brought coffee, the good stuff and had it ready to go in the morning.

Crack of dawn wake up, sleepy coffee and we were off. We made it most of the way there and then stopped in traffic that creeped along. Which was still ok. We had left early enough that even with inching traffic we would be ok for the start. Apparently, we were in the minority. Hello people! Country lanes and lots of cars equals grid lock. Parking was plentiful at the Tarara Winery and well directed, though I clearly have issued following directions when two people are directing me and I left a whole parking spot next to me, which was filled, of course. We rounded up our stuff and hiked off through the field to the start.

At the start we jumped in the porta potty line and caught up with some other MRTT'ers (Moms Run This Town-best running group ever!). We then ran into Michelle (a fellow MRTT'er) and her entourage. (husband and two boys who provide awesome support!). Just when we are heading for one last porta potty trip they announce the race is delayed. Whats! Its cool and pretty and perfect running weather-RIGHT NOW. However, they want to make sure everyone makes it in for the race. Those who didn't plan as well are still stuck in traffic. Then there was an accident. You are going two miles and hour. How the heck does that happen?!

And thus we wait, and chat and hit the porta potty line, and chat some more.

And as we wait, it gets warmer...but finally the national anthem plays and we start. The roads are loose gravel and pavement. Rolling hills are really rolling hills, but the company of Michelle and Jessica and wonderful. We are a funny group, cracking jokes, yet support each other and other runners. The Galloway method makes the hills easier to contend with. But hills are hills and we are fund Virginia Beach where it is FLAT. The way is beautifully amazing. I love it. My fellow runners, no so much. Those around us seemed to have a lot of complaints. I stopped for pictures. I really did enjoy it and would live to run that area again, without the two and a half hour delay.

After awhile, I apparently had noticeable itchy legs. Michelle and Jessica insisted I go ahead of them so I finished out the race. Just before the end, I dropped my ID. Slick, right? I had to back track to find and then finally finished the race. A water, bagel and banana later and I had my very large medal, my friends and it was time for wine.

Traffic out was worse then the way in. By the time we got to the intersection we were hungry and desperate to get out of the traffic. Syri, where is the closest winery? Syri came through and we pulled u-turn and off we went. First winery was good, and was selling food. Having had a good experience, we hit another one. Lost Creek was YUMMY! Two more and we decided since we were driving we were done for the day. It was off to dinner. Syri found us a hole in the wall that was also good. The pizza we had been looking for the first night was yummy. Back to the hotel for some DCC on tv and home the next morning. I really did enjoy this race and the whole trip that went with it. I hope I can sucker someone into going with me again next year. Maybe we will buy the wine first.

 

Catching Up

So I have been slacking. Completely and totally slacking. I have since run the Rock 'N' Roll, Diva and the Crab...and I'm not dead yet! Actually, I have signed up for the Southern Fried Challenge in NC which consists of a 5k on Saturday and a 1/2 on Sunday and then a week later I have signed up for the half in Richmond. Its for the blanket, I swear. In the midst of signing up and running I haven't been writing. Shame on me. I have some catching up to do.

First and most awful and yet somehow, my most proudest race was the Rock N Roll, Virginia Beach. My gallant BRF joined me in early morning, hot humid long runs that were so sticky you expanded more energy pushing through the air then actually running. I get a double calorie count for those runs. We were determined to be ready for all the horror stories we had heard. Then it cooled down. We danced, we ran and I doggedly checked the chameleon weather every morning. I couldn't possible get that lucky. And I wasn't.

At 3am I got up, desperately berated the coffee to percolate faster and tried to be happy that I was up to run that early. For whatever reason, the City of Virginia Beach ha decided it was better to park up 15 minutes away and bus us to and from the race, which meant you had a deadline to make the last bus. Needless to say, we were there waaaaaay early for a 7:30 race. And the heat and more importantly, the humidity were back with a sock to the gut. So much for cool and rainy. We were even there early enough for me to eat breakfast, or at least my version of it, which was water and a bagel. Normally, I don't eat before a race, because my tummy doesn't have time to settle before I start. This time I did. So we are there early and we are tired. Its humid enough to make you think you had extra clothes on, and I ate breakfast. Not a good start.

 But thanks to my BRF, I got to potty like a rock star. I highly recommend buying Brooks shoes for the potty pass. You'll eventually need the shoes anyway and its worth it. My BRF thought she would be able to use it because she was running the second half of the relay and gave it to me. She gets double BRF points for that. You will never want to use a normal port a potty again.  She gave me that wonder piece of sunshine that morning. It flushed. It had soap, sanitizer, snacks on the way out and even better- no line.

Brooks Potty Paper.

It did not make me a faster runner though. I totally, completely hit the humid wall at about mile 8.5/9. The sun came out, there was no shade and I just felt done. Instead, I popped a Gu, slugged some Gatorade, called myself a wussy and told my self to suck it up. A salt packet later and I was moving again. Once I was back on the main road I hit shade and picked up the pace. I finished. It was my worst time but I had tackled the beast and won. My feet in the ocean at the end had never felt so good.

 

 

Next up was Diva. I had totally planned on enjoying this race. It was to be a fun run with my BRF and I was totally looking forward to it and the wine we would be tasting after. Yeah for running road trips involving wine. Why don't they have a vodka or rum race?