Rewind: Howl at the Moon

I had a few things that I had been intending to blog about.  I had a big detour and change of plans when my father in law passed away a few weeks ago.  Since then, things had been a little topsy turvy and then you add in the emotional upheaval of it all and my blogging just got a little out of whack.  So I wanted to go back and talk about/mention a few things.

Howl at the Moon

Every year that I have raced Howl I feel like I learn something new that I then apply to the next year to make my run more successful.  I'm not a huge hat person, but I knew that some proper cover was needed for this day.  The last 2 years were at least partly cloudy.  This year the sun was bright and strong all day long.

Finding a good hat is hard to find.  Partly why I'm not a hat person.  They irritate my forehead and make it all itchy.  Honestly I've never tried to find a hat that would suit me.  In my mind I'm just not a hat person, I've never wore one to run in, so why even consider it.  In this push come to shove situation I turned to my favorite running store Go Outside and Play.  I love Nick, Tracy & Matt because they really know their stuff when it comes to running shoes, gear & apparel.  (No they didn't pay me to say that....I really do love 'em!) 

Being a last minute gal I strolled into the store when Connie & I were on our way out of town for the race.  I was stopped dead in my tracks when Nick told me they didn't have any hats in stock (note: I said they really know their stuff, not have everything imaginable in stock or for sale).  My stomach about hit the ground.  What am I going to do?!?!??!!?  My whole race strategy was based on a hat!  Yes, that sounds silly, but I kid you not, I give big credit to that hat for my sucessful race that day!

Before I had a full out panic attack there in the store Nick quickly remembered that last week a Merrel rep had been to the store and left some freebie giveaway stuff.  One of those items: A HAT!!!!  I was pretty skeptical when he handed me a black hat.  I didn't mean to question him, but aren't you suppose to wear white, not black to keep cool.  Doesn't black make you hot?  Nick reassurred me that it would be a great hat & do the job.  I trust Nick with me life (no pressure man in case it ever comes to that) so I trusted him about the hat.

Know what.....best idea ever!!!!  I LOVED the hat!  It was wonderful and perfect.  And the fact that it was free made it all the more better!  Here we are posing with our hats later that evening:

Here is Connie & I at the start of the race.  I didn't wear the hat the whole day.  The morning air was quite cool so I didn't feel it was needed.  I started off my with usual Bondi Band.  I wore several Bondi Bands through out the day.  Once I added the hat it fit over it perfectly.  You couldn't see all my cute sayings on my band, but it did the job of absorbing sweat & keeping it out of my eyes.

Some other notable things about my race is the food that I ate.  The day before my race I was having a conversation with a friend about running.  She asked a common question of what do I do to fuel up?  How do I eat through out the day?  I certainly can't go 8 hours with no food, right?  I assured her no I can not go without food....can't even do that on days when I don't' run.  I love me some food!!!!  She found it very amusing that I literally run and eat at the same time.  Now, not all runners do this, but I do.  Since I was taking this race very seriously I was not stopping long enough to eat.  It was all grab and literally eat on the run.  My friend found the idea to be completely hilarious.  Eating while running......hahahahahahahahaha!

During Howl every time I ate something I would think of my friend and our conversation.  I decided to keep track of all the food I ate on the run.

1.  Bacon - seriously!  I. love. bacon!!!!  I came around the corner and could smell it.  I figured it was someone camping out fixing themselves some breakfast.  As I approached the fuel tent they had someone there frying the bacon & setting it out for us.  I was jumping up and down screaming with excitment!  I stopped long enough to grab some, profusely thank the volunteers and kept running.  It was all gone by time I came around again.  Must of been a big hit!

2.  banana, ok I had to be responsible and eat some "healthy" stuff.

3. apple, ditto.

4. pb & j, this was an extra yummy sandwich because I brought my own stuff from home.  I had extra crunchy peanut butter & my own homemade strawberry rhubarb jam.  Becky (Muscatine Running Friend) was a great support person who helped out when she could and made my sandwich while I was out on a loop.  I remember eating this after I had run my marathon & I was ready for something a little more heavy.

5. Twizzlers, one of my favorite junk food pleasures.

6. pizza, another jumping up and down with excitement because I love it so much moment.  Yes, I. love. pizza!!!!  By this point I had burned well over 3,000 and would end up burning oh, roughly 4,500 calories during the 8 hours.  I really could care less about all the bad notions behind pizza.  I really wish I could have gotten a picture of me running while eating pizza.  I sure would make a great poster child!!

Here I am after the race.  I hope you can "see" how great & awesome I felt after running 45.77 miles.  Next year, my goal is to hit 50 miles!!!!

I had another great run in with my "twin" Carmin Peterson.  We actually found ourselves earlier in the race.  We passed the start/finish line at the same time.  When you do that you connect with your scorer.  Make eye contact, yell out to them, etc.  Basically make sure they see you so that your lap gets counted.  This is VERY important!  Anyway, I heard my name yelled out twice.  That is when I saw that Carmin was just in front of me a little bit.  From then on when we saw each other we made sure to give a shout out.  She was such a great encouragement to me!  Next year I hope to connect with her sooner.  I have a feeling we'd have a great time sitting and talking.  So far we've only really been able to chat during the award ceremony and there is so much going on it's hard to really carry on.  So next year Carmin (she told me she found my blog, so I hope she's reading) it's you & me (oh and I suppose your boyfriend too, he can be part of the Carmen/Carmin party : ))

I can't wait to see her next year!!!!

I received 3 awards this year.  The purple award is the "I reached my goal".  When you sign up for the race you have to set a goal then if you reach it you are awarded the medal, which always doubles as a bottle opener and this year when you took off the lanyard it was a key chain.  The little paw print medal was awarded to all those that run over 35 miles.  It was to honor Scott Hathway, the person who the race is in honor of.  He would have turned 35 years old this year so that set the bench mark for getting this award.  The paw print trophy on the left is what I was given for being 5th female overall.

I'm pretty sure I can keep talking about Howl, but I'll let it at that.  I'm always willing to talk it up if you know/see me in person and want to hear about it.  Who doesn't want to hear/talk about running?!?!?  Wait....some of you don't need to answer that ; )