2023 Year in Review - barely made it!

 

In January 2023, I wrote:

I don't plan to run 100 miles again until 2024, and will spend 2023 building mileage and working on my race day weaknesses. Mileage wise, I will stick with running 2023 miles (3256K) and anything beyond that will be bonus. 

 January 2023 Patty thought that running 2023 miles/3256K would be a walk in the park compared to 3650K, but she didn't count on my left piriformis being, well, a pain in the ass most of the year. This injury started mid-2022 and crept up on me like a...something scary and pounced during one awful run at the end of March, where I also tweaked a muscle in my left foot, rendering the entire left side of my body useless. On doctor's orders, I took an entire week off running and started physio. Unfortunately, I only got better up to a point and there was no more improvement, and the physio only recommended more frequent sessions, which set off alarm bells. This past month, I have started with a new physio, and while I am still having bad days, I have made noticeable improvement in only 3 sessions. I hit my 2023 mile goal on Christmas Day after reduced mileage the first half of the year.

Race wise, I ran The Flurry Not A Snowshoe Race in February, followed by the 2 months of being in massive pain/low mileage. I recovered enough to run 50K at Conquer the Canuck, then celebrated my birthday by WINNING A RACE!

In August, I ran my longest distance of the year at Tally 12 hour and recovered with hydrotherapy.

My fall race was the 50K at Allegany State Park in Salamanca, NY, but DNF'd due to getting turned around on the course, so my race season ended on a low note.

Due to my IPOS state, I will most definitely NOT be running 100 miles in January 2024 as I originally planned. I'd like to have a really solid year of training down before my brain can even think about 100 miles again. My A race for the first half of 2024 is Sulphur 100K..then we shall see.

I had a "come to Jesus" moment with drinking in October, and I have greatly cut down alcohol consumption, which feels good.

To finish, a selection of Harry's costumes, and Yours Truly as Sexy Laz.

Tally 12 hour day

 I have mostly recovered from the piriformis syndrome that knocked me out during the early spring. In the thick of working through the injury, I barely felt like a runner, so I dropped down to 12 hour day for Tally, because the thought of running 24 hours was overwhelming. 

The training went smoothly, although I felt more tired than usual, maybe because I didn't have as much of a mileage base?

I already knew it would be a challenge to go for a mileage PB for 12 hours on the clockwise course, plus the weather forecast wasn't looking great either. Nevertheless, time to try out my goal minimizing rest between loops. 

There was no Burly tent, and I didn't bring mine, so I walked around for a bit looking for someone to tent share with, and found Hanna. It was an absolute downpour before the start, and I decided to go with my inov-8 shoes with the fantastic grip, even though they are narrow in the toe box and I haven't worn them for longer than 20K. In the past, my big toe was irritated when I wore those shoes, so I bought toe condoms to cushion. 

After 3 loops, I was totally done with those shoes (save for my big toes which felt great) and switched to Topos. That was also when the route change was announced, which included an extra kilometre uphill on the rail trail, but left out the big and extremely muddy hills on Sawmill.

"The Swamp"

Previously, at every timed event, I just ran without any specific plan. This time, I thought I should do the math (1:12/loop for 70K) and debated different ways of tracking this but settled on, race starts at 9, so start loop 2 by 10:12, loop 3 at 11:24, loop 4 at 12:48...

.

.

Obviously, I should never try to math while running ever again, because I didn't realize my mistake until 6 loops in. With the course change, my watch was measuring the reroute loop a bit longer, and while I hit 42K in time, I was still 1K out from the start/finish. 

The rain and mud made it a pretty easy decision to take a longer break and not bust my ass to the finish. Greg brought me a slushie and did loop 7 with me, his longest run in a year.

Step in time.

I was really considering stopping after 8 loops, but I met a lady (Natalie) who had been in the Gong Show and she reminded me that there was still 1:40 left, plenty of time to do 1 more loop, even if it was only walking. I bumped into Jer as I was finishing loop 8 and asked him to keep me company, he was volunteering at the aid station but sent Robin to pace me instead.

The silver lining of the course reroute was that there was a nice out and back to see people, and then the last km almost entirely downhill to the start/finish. Robin and I picked up the pace at the end, and I finished in 11:55, perfect timing!

I'm Number One!

 I don't even remember why I was browsing Race Guide, but I found a new race: Run Forest Run. I sent the link to Shannon because it's close to where she is currently and she and Darek signed up. Then she asked me to go too, and I couldn't refuse, seeing The Jenny as an option, and I love me a timed race.

My first shock via the pre-race email:

I'm the least elite runner, how did 

I end up with bib #1?

Looking at the list of participants, I was the only "out of towner", despite a 1:45 drive. Race morning was cool and cloudy. I arrived at the trailhead and skeeters swarmed the car the moment I opened the door, so I doused myself liberally with bug spray.

The blue crew.

The events had different start times, and there were 2 other people besides me doing the 4 hour - a woman and her teen son. The woman told me that they were only going to run "a few" loops and took off VERY fast, while I settled into my easy trot. I had been told by Shannon and Varty that the 3K loop was very runnable. I ran the entire loop save a few steps, but hiked the hills on the subsequent laps, just to have a little break. 

At the start of the second loop, I thought I could just keep my head down, feeling settled in, and just run. But soon after the start of the lap, I was running up a gradual sandy incline that didn't seem familiar. Checked my watch and sure enough I had missed a turn.

Jenny, right; Everyone else, left. 

I backtracked at top speed but at the end of the loop, I had done more than 1K extra. The lady and her son passed me again at the start of my third loop and I didn't see them on course again.

I'm very pleased that my splits for each loop were very even. By the last few loops, the RD and the Full Gump finishers knew my name and were cheering me on every time I finished another loop. 

With about 1K left in the final loop, 3 runners came to run me in. They said they just wanted to have more fun. I'm down with that.

It's hard to believe, but I WON A RACE! Shannon won a box of chocolates "you never know what you're gonna git" and I won a can of peas and carrots because..

Email shock #2 - I made the post-race roundup. Just call me Fireball Patty from now on.

I'm leveling up to a new age group this week, and *fingers crossed* I seem to be on the road to recovery from the horrific bout of piriformis syndrome and training for Tally 12 hour.

2022 Year In Review

Well. It has been another year. I ran 3600 and 3622K in 2020 and 2021 respectively, and Steve put the idea in my head that I should run 3650K in 2022, for a nice even 10K/day average. I was surpassing that pace in October, then taper and recovery from 3DiP put me way behind, so I ended up having to run 70K+ weeks for the last 6 weeks of the year. Some off season! 

Race-wise, I focused on improving my night running, with 2 night-only events (Sulphur relay; Tally 12 hour night). However from observing others at long races, I think the secret is less moving fast through the night and rather just keep moving steadily through the night. Therefore, my main goal in 2023 is to fuck around a lot less at aid stops and do less aid stops, period.

In 2022, I tackled my first stage race, and it was much harder than I expected, especially with the longer distance on the 2nd day. My current favourite "distance" is 12 hours - but somehow thinking that 15:23 was not much longer than 12 hours messed me up in the head big time.

 I don't plan to run 100 miles again until 2024, and will spend 2023 building mileage and working on my race day weaknesses. Mileage wise, I will stick with running 2023 miles (3256K) and anything beyond that will be bonus. 

I'd like to work up the guts to try biking on (easy) singletrack.

My last run of the year was once again the beer mile - I hate it so much but it is the worst habit I can't break.

happy 2023, mothafockers!