Muddy Buddy Race

After posting about the Henricus Dauber Dash, I realized that I never posted about a similar race I ran a couple months ago. In April, Tristan and I ran the Muddy Buddy race at Pocahontas State Park. It was a 4 mile race with obstacles. The cool part was that you had to run it as a team because some of the obstacles required two people. The muddy buddy has been a bike/run race in the past, but this year they had an option where you could do the course with two runners as a team.

The day of the race was miserable. It was rainy and dreary and COLD. I figured I was going to get weighed down by mud, so I had on minimal clothing- a sleeveless shirt and shorts- and I was pretty darn cold by the start of the race. We got there about an hour early, so we got our race bibs and t-shirts, then found a dry spot under a tent and huddled under there for awhile. We were in the 9am group, so we got to see some of the 8am finishers go through the final mud pit. It was fun to watch people finish!

When they called the 9am group, we headed over to the start. It was drizzling again and we jumped around to stay warm. They started us in a few waves and we were in front of the second wave. We started off fast because we were so excited to be running after waiting all that time. And because we had to keep moving to stay warm! The trails were really muddy so we had to be careful. I kept slipping in the mud and nearly twisted my ankle a few times. Of course I was wearing old shoes that I was going to throw out after the race, so it didn't help that the soles of my shoes were worn out- no traction.

The trails were covered in thick mud and puddles. At first I tried to avoid splashing through the puddles as much as possible, but after awhile I just gave up and went with it. It was kind of  nice to be able to run through mud and not worry about ruining my shoes. I felt like a little kid again!

The obstacles were really fun. My favorite was a huge blow-up slide. There was a cargo net that you had to climb up on one side, then we got to slide down the other side. The buddy obstacles were fun too. There were parallel balance beams that we had to cross while holding on to each other's arms, and we had to walk along a wall together holding on to each other for support. There was also a rope climb, a wall climb, cargo nets to crawl under, and a spider web to go through.

The hardest obstacle was called "slippery mountain". It was an angled wall that you had to climb up holding a rope. The tricky part was that it was soaped down and very slippery! Tristan fell down the slope and cut her knee open. She had blood running down her leg! But she's hardcore and finished the race anyway. The last obstacle was the mud pit, which was really fun. We got down and dirty.

Overall, a fun race and a great day, despite the injury. After we hosed off, Tristan and I were freezing! We changed clothes in the parking lot behind my car and ended up just leaving our shoes there because we didn't want to get mud in the car. When we got in the car, we turned the heat on full blast. Then we stopped at Starbucks to get coffee to warm us up. Tristan got hers free because the Starbucks guy felt bad that she got injured! Yay for free coffee! Almost makes it worth it. We had fun!

Dauber Dash

This morning Kelly and I ran the Henricus Dauber Dash! It was a 5 mile trail race with obstacles along the way. There were hay bales to climb over, mud pits to crawl through, picnic tables to "scramble" over, and a run through the James. The obstacles were cool, but not quite as fun or as difficult as the obstacles in the Muddy Buddy race.

The race was small and well organized and things got started right on time. The biggest drawback of the day: it was really hot and humid. The race didn't start until 9am so by then it had gotten up to at least 80 degrees. Definitely a change from the last mud run I did where it was freezing cold and drizzling rain the whole time. The heat and obstacles slowed my pace a little bit but I managed to finish 18th in my age group!

Here are my results:
Age group finish place: 18 (out of 111 finishers in the 20-29 group)
Gender finish place: 60
Overall finish place: 199

My time: 52:26.20
My pace: 10:29 per mile

Overall, it was fun despite the heat and humidity. I'm glad it was only five miles though because running more in that heat would have been brutal. I definitely got muddy, but there was water after each mud pit to help wash some mud off and prevent chafing. After the first mud pit, we ran through the James river. After the final mud pit, there were hoses to wash off all the mud. The cold water felt so good! The race was a fun start to my weekend. I'm really excited about getting 18th place in my age group!

Halfway done

I'm now more than halfway done with my outpatient orthopedic clinical rotation. I'm learning a lot and I feel more comfortable treating patients in the outpatient setting, but to be honest, I hate it.

I just don't feel like I'm accomplishing enough with my patients. I love inpatient rehab and acute care because I see results quickly. I like that feeling of satisfaction when I've made great progress with a patient. It's not the same in outpatient. Patients make very small gains over a long period of time and sometimes I wonder if they would've gotten better on their own anyway. I don't feel like I'm making as much of a difference in people's lives.

Also, sometimes I just can't stand chronic pain patients. They come into the clinic walking around just fine, then claim they're in 10/10 pain. They say they're desperate to get better, but then they don't do any of their home exercises. During PT sessions in the clinic, a lot of patients seem more interested in talking to you and telling you about their pain than in doing the exercises.

I have no patience for it. I don't want to baby people who always say they're in 10/10 pain. I don't want to go through easy low-level exercises and pretend that it's going to help with core strength. I don't want to sit around and chat with patients about their lives. I don't want to lie to patients about what will help them.

Patients need to realize that if they want to get better, they need to make some lifestyle changes. They need to exercise at home. They need to join a gym. They need to have better posture. They need to control their weight. Physical therapy is not a magical cure. It takes work and time and effort.

There are some patients who do very well in physical therapy. That's because they're motivated to put in the time and effort necessary to succeed. They are the ones who are actually independent in their HOME exercise program. Those patients do great in therapy and progress quickly. Then they're discharged and we're stuck treating the ones who aren't getting any better.

I know a lot of PT's love outpatient orthopedics, but it's just not my thing. Three more weeks till I get a much needed summer vacation!

Fellowship

I've finally been able to start going to my small group church Bible study again. I hadn't been for over a month due to tests and projects and other school-related obligations. Man, I forgot how good it is to have fellowship with other Christians! It absolutely lifts my spirits and encourages me and helps me see the big picture when I'm bogged down by all the tiny details of life. I love the people in my small group. They all love God and strive to live for him. There are many different viewpoints and opinions among people in my small group- and I love it because it gives me new perspectives!  Yet even though we may differ on certain topics, we all have the same heart for Jesus and that's what's important. My small group has been a wonderful blessing in my life!

MTT

This was my second week running with the Marathon Training Team (MTT). It's been really fun running with a group. I like it better than I thought I would! Sometimes when I run by myself I end up slowing down without even realizing it, but running with other people forces me to keep pace with them. I feel like I'm running faster and better. It's also been fun meeting people and getting some fun insights from running veterans. I love to talk about all things running!

 Smiles after six miles!

Running continues to challenge me and grow me. It's never easy. But today when I was running I was thinking about how far I've come. Last year at this time I couldn't even run three miles! Today six miles at a 9:00-9:30 pace felt comfortable. I'm excited to see where running will take me and to find out what I can do!

Greek Festival

Audrey and I went to a Greek Festival last weekend! It was a great opportunity to try some authentic Greek food.

I used to be a really picky eater, but I've gotten a lot better as I've gotten older. I used to hate branching out of my comfort zone and eating foods from different cultures. Now I will at least try something before I decide I don't like it. I haven't eaten Greek food very many times, so I tried some new things.

Pastichio: Layers of imported Greek Pasta, grated cheese, and sautéed ground beef topped with a rich cream sauce (béchamel) and baked. It was kind of like lasagna with a lot of meat in it. Really good.

Spanakopita: A blend of spinach, cheeses and herbs wrapped in a buttered fillo dough. This was my favorite! The dough was flaky and delicious and the spinach and cheese was the perfect combo.

Galaktoboureko: Delicately flavored custard baked in fillo pastry topped with a delicate syrup. I liked this better than I thought I would. I usually don't like custard that much, but this was good, and the perfect amount of sweetness.

Everything was delicious! I don't even want to think about how many calories we consumed with that meal! But I'm glad it was good because we had to wait in line for 30 minutes to get our food. It turns out the Greek Festival was a lot more popular than we had anticipated!

Marathon Training

Awhile ago I posted about the races I had planned for the spring. Since then I have added several races to my schedule. Here's the plan for the rest of the year!

June 23: Dauber Dash. 5 miles with obstacles. Richmond, VA. (possibly)
July 22: Old Port Half Marathon. 13.1 miles. Portland, ME.
Sept 2: Rock N Roll Half Marathon. 13.1 miles. Virginia Beach, VA.
Sept 29: The Genworth Virginia 10 miler. Lynchburg, VA.
Nov 10: Anthem Richmond Marathon. 26.2 miles. Richmond, VA.

Did you notice that last one? I'm signed up for the Richmond marathon in November! Crazy, I know. A year after running my first race ever (the Richmond half marathon) I will be toeing the line to run a full marathon. If you asked me a year ago, I would've said that I'd never be able to run that far. I'm still not completely sure if I'll make it, but the thing is, I want to try!

To make my training easier, I signed up for the Marathon Training Team. It's a running group led by several coaches who pace you during training runs and cheer you on during the marathon. The first training run was today. We ran 7 miles and it was awesome! It's the best I've felt on a run in awhile. My legs felt strong, the pace was brisk (for me), which made me keep pushing myself, and there were people to chat with as I ran. I fell into pace with another woman and we chatted on and off for the first 5 or so miles. Then I started to get my second wind and she started falling behind. She could tell I was kind of hanging back to stay with her, so she urged me to keep going.

After running the next mile or so by myself, I caught up to another group of people and ran the last mile with another nice woman. Running people are so friendly! I loved running with the MTT more than I thought I would. It was fun just to be outside with other runners. I didn't feel so alone and I had motivation to stay with the pack and not get left behind! I think it will be fun to meet other runners and I'm excited to run with a group every weekend, especially when the runs get long.

We met at Sportsbackers stadium for a brief meeting before our first run.