For whatever reason, on Monday when I woke up, I had decided to take the day off.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t going to run.\u00a0 But the minute I stepped outside and saw how nice it was, that idea completely left me.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t long before I laced up and headed to my secret spot.\u00a0 I had to alter my route just slightly due to some snow on the road, but ended up with 6 miles and saw a grand total of one other person on my route.<\/p>\n
There is something really special about a Monday run.\u00a0 I typically don\u2019t worry too much about speed or distance, I just run\u00a0while I\u00a0process the events of the weekend.<\/p>\n
This was a really special weekend.\u00a0 The four of us who had a cancelled marathon the previous weekend, we\u2019re also signed up for the Pere Marquette Endurance Trail Race.\u00a0 This is only a 7.8 mile race, but is dubbed the hardest race in the Midwest.\u00a0 And for good reason.\u00a0 The elevation on this course is intense.\u00a0 But the challenge doesn\u2019t always lie just in the course alone.<\/p>\n
On Friday, the crew of us that had all registered together for this event began a group message to line up our car pool assignments and determine meeting spots.\u00a0 It was decided that Shalini and Tony would go to Wes\u2019s house to ride with him.\u00a0 I would meet Chad and Nick at Starbucks in the valley.\u00a0 And Sparky was planning to drive out on his own.\u00a0 However, sometimes plans are made to be broken.\u00a0 Friday night as the snow began to fall, our intentions started to get shaky.\u00a0 Chad texted me to say he wasn\u2019t sure about driving all the way over to Grafton, IL in nasty weather.\u00a0 Shortly after that, Nick confessed that he was having a better time than expected at his company Christmas party and he was iffy.\u00a0 I had a feeling I was about to be left on my own, so I texted Wes to create a back up plan.<\/p>\n
Sure enough, when Saturday morning rolled around, I was fending for myself.\u00a0 I left early enough to drop the kids off at their dad\u2019s house before making my way to a spot just off 270 where Wes and co. could intercept me.\u00a0 The roads weren\u2019t great since it had been snowing all night and people in Missouri aren\u2019t known for having \u201csnow driving\u201d listed as one of their strengths.\u00a0 But as Wes said, part of the adventure, is getting to the race.\u00a0 And considering that we\u2019d had one race cancelled already in December, we sure weren\u2019t going to let a little snow stand in our way of tackling that already intimidating trail.<\/p>\n
Warning: Gross Runner Girl Alert! \u00a0I will spare you the details, but as we drove, my stomach started to get a little questionable.\u00a0 When we arrived at the Pere Marquette lodge, I jumped out and high tailed it up the hill.\u00a0 I was having runner issues and girl issues simultaneously and I needed a bathroom.\u00a0 Quickly.<\/p>\n
After tending to my issues and getting my bib, I gathered with my crew in the hallway of the lodge.\u00a0 Shalini and Wes had both crossed paths with Shane, but we weren\u2019t quite sure where he had made off to.\u00a0 We predicted that he had decided to go ahead and start, we were correct.\u00a0 We had all missed our assigned start waves, so we all started together with the \u201clast chance\u201d wave after Wes dropped our extra gear at the car.\u00a0 With a trail race like this, it would be impossible to have 700 runners start at the same time, so they break it down into about 30 smaller groups that start every 30 seconds in an effort to spread everyone out a little better.\u00a0 However, on Saturday only about 450 runners showed at the start line.\u00a0 We had at least completed the part of the battle that is Showing Up.<\/p>\n
On our way to the start, we asked a nice gentleman to take our picture.\u00a0 I asked if we should smile or make a badass type face.\u00a0 I was pretty sure I was scowling.\u00a0 To which the nice gentleman said, \u201cScowl before you growl!\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s right, he knew what we were out there to do and we were ready to get it done.<\/p>\n
Before long, they sent us on our way.\u00a0 And we ran.\u00a0 Only about a third of a mile into the race the ascent begins.\u00a0 So we climbed.\u00a0 Wes and I were together for the majority of the race.\u00a0 He would run the down hills with reckless abandon, but I would catch him on the uphills.\u00a0 And so the race went as such.<\/p>\n
It was absolutely beautiful.\u00a0 Everything was snow covered and magical.\u00a0 There were downed trees blocking the course at points, so we had to climb over, under and literally through the obstacles in our path.\u00a0 Near mile 4, we could look down onto a snow covered clearing.\u00a0 I passed a couple girls going up the hill and they yelled some kind of encouragement.\u00a0 I called over my shoulder, \u201cDon\u2019t forget to take it all in!\u201d\u00a0 I was staring off at the scenery and a few steps later I was running in almost knee deep snow because in not paying attention to where I was going I had gotten off the path of packed down snow.\u00a0 That happened multiple times during the race.\u00a0 And running downhill got a little tricky at times.\u00a0 I had to avoid the slick spots by running up on the snow bank.\u00a0 I managed to stay vertical the entire race, but it sure got interesting.\u00a0 And I had a couple close calls.<\/p>\n
As we headed down the last descent into the finish, I could no longer see Wes in front of me.\u00a0 That guy has no fear on the downhills.\u00a0 Sometimes I wish I had a little more of his reckless abandon, but we all have our own strengths.\u00a0 He was waiting for me at the finish.\u00a0 We went and grabbed the bags from the car and went into the lodge to change and get warm.\u00a0 That was where we found Shane.\u00a0 Slowly our little group began to grow.\u00a0 Shalini and Tony showed up.\u00a0 Then Brian and a few others.\u00a0 We got our complimentary beers, checked our official results and listened to the awards ceremony.\u00a0 After a while we were all starving so we decided to head over to Fast Eddies.\u00a0 I grabbed my bag and rode over with Shane.\u00a0 We met up with the others at the restaurant.<\/p>\n
We ordered our burgers and fries and beers.\u00a0 Fast Eddie\u2019s was crawling with other Pere Marquette runners.\u00a0 We had received a jacket with our registration and as I looked across the enclosed patio area, I tried to figure out the design on the back.\u00a0 It looked like 4 Christmas trees side by side.\u00a0 Then it occurred to me.\u00a0 That was the elevation map of the race we had just completed.\u00a0 Outstanding.<\/p>\n
We recapped the race, mingled with other runners, commenced in downing our food.\u00a0 We reminisced about the obstacles and scenic views on the course. \u00a0We also discussed where the slick spots were and whether we had all managed to stay upright.\u00a0 We all had a few near misses, but as it turned out Tony was the only one who really bit it on Saturday.\u00a0 He managed a somewhat glorious face plant in the snow. \u00a0\u00a0To sum up our experience, Wes said, \u201cIt\u2019s a balance of taking it all in, and trying not to fall on your ass.\u201d\u00a0 Right on, Vega.\u00a0 Right on\u2026<\/p>\n
Eventually, we all had to go on our merry way.\u00a0 Shane drove me back to my car.\u00a0 From there, I picked up my kids and we went to 4:30 church, then Target, then home to have Hot Chocolate and watch Elf.\u00a0 Sunday started with the custody swap.\u00a0 Then I headed off to work for a few hours.\u00a0 After work I went off to my kiddos\u2019 Christmas program at school.\u00a0 It\u2019s still tough to go to those events alone, but as a mom sometimes you just have to suck it up and do what you have to do for your kids.\u00a0 Especially when you have to face a whole table of people who you used to spend holidays with, but no longer do.\u00a0 But totally worth it to have my baby present the gift to his teacher that he picked out just for her.\u00a0 A sock monkey, named Sock, because she loves sock monkeys.\u00a0 After the program, I went to Katrina\u2019s for a girls night full of Christmas Vacation, loaded hot chocolate and other treats.<\/p>\n
As I ran on Monday, I tried to avoid slipping on some icy spots while I took in the snow covered trees.\u00a0 Vega\u2019s words rang in my head, \u201cIt\u2019s a balance of taking it all in, and trying not to fall on your ass.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was taking it all in.\u00a0 The good, the bad and the ugly.\u00a0 I took in the excitement and anticipation of lining up for a race with my friends.\u00a0 I took in the adventure of a snow covered trail.\u00a0 I took in the thrill of going from 9th<\/sup> in my age group last year, to 7th<\/sup> this year.\u00a0 I took in the joy of laughing with my friends at Fast Eddies. \u00a0The disappointment of realizing I had left my favorite gloves at the lodge. I took in the beauty of listening to my kids sing about the birth of Jesus.\u00a0 The pain of knowing I won\u2019t spend Christmas Even with my babies this year.\u00a0 I felt my heart warm at my baby presenting \u201cSock\u201d to his teacher. \u00a0I took in the comfort of spending a cold night having fun with my girlfriends.\u00a0 And through it all, I was still trying really hard not to fall on my ass.<\/p>\n I know I\u2019m not guaranteed not to fall down once in a while.\u00a0 But I\u2019m willing to risk the occasional wipe out to ensure that I never miss a thing.\u00a0 If taking it all in means I end up doing a face plant once in a while, it\u2019s still totally worth it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For whatever reason, on Monday when I woke up, I had decided to take the day off.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t going to run.\u00a0 But the minute I stepped outside and saw how nice it was, that idea completely left me.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t long before I laced up and headed to my secret spot.\u00a0 I had to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"aside","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-571","post","type-post","status-publish","format-aside","hentry","category-randomthoughts","post_format-post-format-aside"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-9d","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=571"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":572,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571\/revisions\/572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}