There's something about the Plaza 10K!

The short:
Mother Nature didn't want the Plaza 10K runners to have it easy this year, so she gave us 71 degrees with thunderstorms in the area and a dew point of 68.  Historically I haven't raced well in these conditions, so I lined up ready to give it my all and to be thankful for whatever that was, without any specific time or pace expectations.  I ran by effort and ignored my watch, and although I had an idea where I was at since the race had a course clock at the 5K mark, I was thrilled to see the finishing clock in the 36s as I came down the final stretch.  My official time of 36:52 is 18 seconds off my PR, which I ran in 56 degrees on the same course last year, but it almost felt like a PR because it was much faster than I thought I would run in the weather we had.  It is by far the best I've raced anything in temperatures over 70, and it felt so good after a disappointing 5K in similar conditions the previous weekend.

My official results are here, and my Strava activity of the race can be seen here.

I remembered not to stop my watch for once!

On my drive to the race, Psalm 23 popped into my head

The long:
I had a hard time getting pumped up for this race because of the forecast.  I was still feeling discouraged from the Brookhaven 5K, and the weather conditions were shaping up to be nearly identical for this race.  I thought my fitness was there, but I didn't feel good about showing it in crap weather - plus optimism and denial hadn't worked the previous weekend!

I was at this race solo, so this was my race day pic!

However, as always I got excited when I got in the race environment and began warming up.  This race is very competitive, so as usual one of my goals was to place as high as I could.  My other goals were to get the best out of myself that day, and to not be afraid to hurt.

The race started and I settled into the effort level that felt maintainable for 6.2 miles.  Several women went out ahead of me, and I began setting my eyes on the ponytail closest to me and working towards it.  I latched onto men here and there to help pull me up to the next ponytail.  I passed Chander, who I ran most of Grandma's Marathon with, shortly after the mile mark and encouraged her to work her way up with me.  The familiar course was comforting, although I caught myself thinking, "I remember how much cooler it was last year" a few times.

Mid-race focus

I was nearing a woman and feeling strong when we passed the 5K clock in 18:24.  I wasn't sure whether to laugh or to breathe a sign of relief, since the pace felt hard but it also felt do-able, whereas the previous week I'd been nearly dead after racing a flatter 5K in 18:23.  That gave me a nice boost and I accelerated past that women, encouraging her to work with me to catch the two ponytails ahead of us.

A couple of my male pace buddies around mile 4

After that point I worked with a couple of men for the second half of the race.  The effort was hard but I kept telling myself just to stay with them; they would get me in the 36s.  Although I didn't have a time goal when I started the race, I sure had one after I saw my 5K course split, and that was to run something starting with a 36!  I knew that wouldn't be an easy task, because the final 2 miles of this course have a lot of uphill and I've always positive split on it.  Also, my coach told me that humidity affects us most in the second half of a race, which seems like a good explanation for why I positive split everything in the summer even though in general I consider myself a good negative splitter...

I started to hurt really bad with 1.5 miles to go, but I was gaining slightly on a ponytail about 30 seconds ahead and wouldn't let myself give up, just in case!  Running near the men helped a lot, but as they sprinted in the final 0.2 I didn't have much left to give - by that point I also knew that I wasn't going to move up or get caught in my female position.  As I came down the final stretch, I saw that I was going to make it in the 36s and broke out in a smile!

I remembered to not stop my watch right at the
line in hopes of getting good finishing photos!

The woman who won my age group was from Flagstaff, AZ

Post-race, I ran an 8 mile cool down with great company, which has become tradition for this Sunday race that always coincides with marathon training (probably because I am always marathon training, bahaha!)!  I felt pretty good on the slow cool down until we climbed a massive steep hill in the final mile, in search of Sharon's car...

The race took about 8 photos of us finishing our cool down, hah!

The more I reflected on my race, the better I felt about it.  The woman who won the race last year in 34:36 ran 35:24 this time for second place, and she is in top shape preparing for the Twin Cities Marathon.  Another fast female who ran 35:09 last year finished in 36:09 this year.  I finished in front of a women I've never beat before, who ran 36:10 last year and 37:27 this time.  Thinking about it that way, I felt that being 18 seconds slower than my 2018 time was perhaps equivalent to a 30-40 second PR, and this was sure a better checkpoint than my race the weekend before!

Pretty happy with these grade-adjusted paces except for mile 6 and the final 0.24 -
those show I didn't have much left to give!

I wish mile 4 was instead mile 6

I wrote about my Plaza 2018 race here and my Plaza 2017 race here.  Clearly I need to keep running this race every year, because I have never come away thinking it could have gone any better.  I'm thankful I returned for the Plaza 10K magic in 2019.

Psalm 23:1:  The Lord is my Shepard, I shall not want...  23:6:  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

My course 5K splits were 18:24 and 18:27!

Post-race brunch company

Hahaha!

Brookhaven 5K: Fitness & optimism don't always = PR, & disappointed doesn't mean upset

For the first time in years, I was very excited to race a 5K!  The Brookhaven Run in Norman, Oklahoma seemed to be my best chance around for a fast one:  it was a flat course, it was very competitive, and I'd been running faster speed workouts this summer than I'd done since high school.  I thought this would be my chance to have a real 5K PR in the 17s (versus having run in the 17s only as part of a 10K, unofficially).  My main objective for the race was to run something starting with a 17, but my coach thought I was in shape to run under 17:30, which became my A goal.  I also wanted to get in there and compete in the competitive women's field.

Pushing it

My week leading up to the race was far from ideal; it was one of the most stressful work weeks I've ever had, and I lost a lot of sleep due to an event that occurred on Monday that snowballed into issues every subsequent day.  Travel to the race also wasn't ideal; we arrived at our hotel to find out they had no water and didn't know when it would be back on, so we found a different hotel.  My parents were joining us for the race and weekend get away, and their RV brakes went out when they parked at packet pick up.  With these snafus I didn't eat dinner the night before the race until about 9:00 p.m., after becoming quite hangry (advice: don't try to call hotels.com to make sure you don't get charged for a reservation when extremely hungry!), and I also didn't eat enough at that point.  At times I'm pretty good at denying all problems and continuing to be optimistic about a race no matter what, so I chose blissful ignorance and decided I could still PR on Saturday morning..."because it's only a 5K."

When I woke up at 5:45 a.m. on Saturday to see the dew point of 70 degrees and temperature of 71 degrees, I continued to choose optimism.  Although historically I really suffer when the dew point is 70+, I decided that since it was "only a 5K", I'd be fine.

When we arrived at the race site, we found my parent's broken down RV in the finish chute (I am not kidding, but at least it was near the food and drinks instead of impeding the course).  I found the elite athlete check-in, and as I was getting my number I heard a man saying "This is Sarah Kiptoo, your overall female winner and soon-to-be Oklahoma state record holder" to one of the race organizers as an introduction.  That was a pretty bold statement, but I think it was pretty easy to assume she would win overall female, and there was a very nice financial incentive for anyone who broke the record, so I am sure that is why she came to the race (she is a professional who I believe trains in New Mexico).  I got a peak at the list of the elite female field, which was pretty intimidating, but I hoped it would pull me to a fast time!

With Albani & my mom pre-race

Despite suffocating in the humidity on my warm-up, I still told myself I'd be fine in the weather ("just a 5K").  I ran most of the course to warm up, did some drills and strides, and jumped in the elite corral.  The race did some detailed call-outs for some elite entrants.  In addition to Sarah Kiptoo, Brooks Beasts professional runner Hannah Fields was also in the field, plus about 5 others ladies with a lot of running credentials attached to their names.

At 8:00 a.m. (which seemed like mid-day to this 5:00 a.m. runner!), we were off!  The course was very crowded initially, and it was by far the thickest field I've ever run in during a 5K, which was mostly nice but resulted in more weaving than I'd have liked, particularly as some of the high school boys who went out very hard fell off.  The course had clocks at every 1K, and I knew to run 17:30 I would need to run 3:30 kilometers, or for 17:55 I would need 3:35.  I was solely focused on effort - at sustaining what felt maintainable for a 5K - but I knew I'd end up doing the math at every clock I saw so I wanted to be prepared.  I passed the first clock in around 3:36, which I figured was perfect to start.  I heard my watch beep so I knew when I hit the mile but didn't look at my split until after the race (it was 5:48).  My 2K was 7:12ish, so my pace was consistent.  I was hurting pretty bad at halfway, but I just kept thinking about how my coach said that it was supposed to hurt really bad from 1.5-2.5, and I kept pressing towards runners ahead of me, passing a couple of women and several men, all of whom were apparently slowing worse than me.

Final stretch

I thought my stride looked good at least!

I can't remember my 3K split, but I knew I was going to need a negative split to break 18 at that point.  My Garmin split for mile 2 was 5:48.  A man passed me around that time and I told myself to go with him, which helped me keep my turnover going to some degree.  The 4K came in 14:45, and then I knew my sub-18 had slipped away; I couldn't run the final K in 3:14 or under (I just don't have that kind of speed, nor did I have enough left in the tank).  I tried to press as hard as I could anyway, focusing on a woman in front of me and trying to catch her, but I had to hold back disappointment about not breaking 18.

Spoiler: that guy out-kicked me

I finished in 18:23 (official results are here), with a 5:15 pace final 0.15 (the course was certified but I couldn't run the tangents in the crowd - and for comparison, my Garmin read 26.20 in Grandma's Marathon!).  I was 6th overall female and I had ladies in my sights who I hadn't been close to before.  Our bib numbers were our rankings in the field, and later Albani asked me, "How did they know what order people were going to finish in??" since female bibs 1-2-3-4-5 finished in that order, and I think it was similar for the men.  I was happy about my placing and mostly happy with my race execution, but I was disappointed that my time was so far off what we thought I had in me, and that my 10K PR is still a faster pace than my official 5K PR.  I have also run pretty close to this 5K time for the final 5K in half marathons and during tempo runs.

Top 7 women

The upsides are that this is my fastest certified 5K ever (I have run 18:16-18:19 three times but none were certified courses), and this is faster than any 5K I ran in high school or college, at age 38!  My coach did a couple humidity calculators for me and said she thought the conditions added about 20 seconds/mile, or a minute to my race time, showing that I was in sub-17:30 shape (I also did the math on 5% from this humidity calculator).  Although I don't like anyone to miss their goals, I felt better that Sarah Kiptoo missed her goal by over a minute (she ran 16:31, trying for the 15:28 state record).  But, calculations and comparisons don't get you a PR or the confidence that comes with one.

My times in training tell me that my training is working, but I'd hoped to have a race to confirm it - but I am fortunate that I'll have a couple more tries before The Big One (Indy Monumental Marathon).  I also think back to October 2018 through March 2019 when I would have given almost anything to run a 5K like this, or to run a 5K at all.  I promised myself during my fall injury that I would never get so caught up in performances again, but that is admittedly easier said than done.  I want to be thankful - so I am aiming to continue with my sometimes blissfully ignorant optimism!

Plus you can't be upset if you did your best, and I did.  It took me about 25 years of running to learn that you can't bully yourself into performing or force anything on race days!

I would have been somewhat happier
if mile 3 had been 5:48.3, haha!

Any day I'm healthy enough to toe the line is one I'm thankful for, and I feel better about my training overall than I feel about this race.  I also trust that I'm where God wants me to be, so onto the next!

Anatomy of a 96 mile week

I was going to wait until I ran a 100 mile week to write this post, but since we aren't guaranteed tomorrow, here goes!  I ran 96 miles the week of August 12-18 (a.k.a. the hottest week of our summer so far), and it looked like this:

Monday 
AM run: 9.2 miles easy (7:50)
PM run: 4.2 miles, HR < 132 (8:14) in 108* heat index
Extras:  core work after AM run
Life: Worked 8:00 a.m.-5:30 p.m. with no breaks, starting with driving to my company's Kansas City division for a 3-day stint in that location.

Tuesday
AM run: Track workout of 3 x (600 m, 30 sec., 600 m, 30 sec., 600 m) with 3 min. between sets in 2:07, 2:06, 2:08, 2:08, 2:08, 2:10, 2:11, 2:11, 2:11 - 10.5 miles total with warm-up and cool-down, in The Dew Point of Death (75*, air temp 78*)
PM run: 5.2 miles, HR < 132 (8:09)
Extras: strength workout after PM run
Life:  Worked 8:00 a.m.-5:20 p.m. in Kansas City, and after finishing my second run and strength workout I spent $28 at the Hyvee food bar and ate every bit of those 3.9 lbs of food before passing out in my hotel bed (did I mention I also got up at 4:30 a.m. most days this week?).

Wednesday
AM run: 9.3 miles, HR < 132 (8:32), mostly on gravel
Extras:  Glute yoga video (34 min.) following run
Life:  Again worked in Kansas City, and returned to Springfield to drop off the company car around 5:45 p.m. before happily going home.

Thursday
AM run: 12.4 miles total with an 8 mile workout, alternating 0.5 at tempo and 0.5 at marathon pace in paces of 5:56, 6:15, 5:55, 6:15, 6:04, 6:11, 6:03, 6:19, 6:05, 6:27, 5:58, 6:27, 6:08, 6:23, 6:21, 5:58 - 6:10 average for all 8 miles, otherwise known as 6:10 pace the hard way.
PM run: 4.3 miles, HR < 132 (8:20)
Extras:  core work at lunch
Life:  This was Albani's first day of the new school year, so I started my run extra early so I could be home by 6:30 a.m. since her bus now comes at 6:45 a.m.!  I worked a pretty normal 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. day in Springfield.

Friday
AM run: 7.2 miles easy (7:57)
PM run:  4.2 miles, HR <132 (8:34) - I ran this on my lunch break.
Extras:  strength workout after AM run
Life:  I worked 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m. so got to use a little comp time from my work travel earlier in the week, although I went home and prepared for our weekend visitors instead of resting like I wanted/needed.

Saturday
AM 20.3 miles easy (7:49)
Extras:  Yoga for tight hamstrings video (36 min.) following run
Life:  My brother-in-law and his family (wife and 4 children, ages 18 months, 3, 5, and 8) visited us for the weekend.  Part of the group went to the movies on Saturday evening, and the other group (which I was part of) got take-out for dinner and went to bed early.

Sunday
AM 9.1 miles easy (8:10)
Extras: none, unless you count walking or spending the day in the heat
Life: We went to the theme park Silver Dollar City with our visitors, pretty much the whole time the park was open.  I was exhausted by the end of the day and had to get a Powerade to make it through the last few hours!  I think the upside is that when I run a 100 mile week, if I do not go to SDC and travel for work that week, it's going to be easier than this one was (not to mention the weather)!

What I did differently than my coach recommended:

Monday I split my runs 9 and 4 instead of 8 and 5, because there was an extreme heat advisory in the afternoon so I thought I'd appreciate one less mile.  I sometimes add a mile to my first run and take one off my second like this when my morning group is going a mile farther than I'm scheduled.

I was scheduled to run 8 and 5 on Sunday and for just one run on Thursday, but due to family plans (i.e. there was no way I was running after a full day in the heat at SDC), I ran a 4 mile double on Thursday and ran 9 in the morning on Sunday.  This is the first time I've made a switch like this in months; usually I try not to change days on anything (the exception to that is winter weather).

I'm pretty excited to hit triple digit weekly mileage at two points in this training cycle, God-willing, but I'm also pretty excited about this mileage PR and I will never forget how blessed I am to do this!

Sweatfest: The race lived up to its name!

The short:

I decided to jump into a race that my local running club OMRR hosts, accurately called Sweatfest, in Missouri's July heat and humidity.  Albani and I both ran the 2 mile, which started at 8 p.m., and I ran the 10 mile, starting at 9 p.m.  The state records in both events for my age were very weak, so I was able to break them.  I also broke the overall female 2 mile state record (which was also clearly very weak - we all know short races are not my forte!) with 11:37 chip/11:39 gun (I should have gotten farther up on the starting line!).  But the largest success of the night was that I actually fell asleep when we got home from the races!

Official results are here.
State records are here:  2 mile and 10 mile.

We are very sweaty

The long:

The perk of running a Saturday night race:  my house was spotless by 10:30 a.m.  The downsides of running a Saturday night race:  I spent most of the day not resting, and also worrying that I was either eating too much or too little or the wrong things (spoiler: it was the third).  I remembered why I don't want to do any evening goal races; someone suggested the Rock 'n' Roll Vegas marathon to me for an OTQ attempt, but I think I'd have to be carted off to the looney bin by noon on race day if I tried that!

I hadn't run this race before, but I usually volunteer at it, so I was familiar with the event area and course.  Part of the "fun" of the race is that it takes place mid-July when it's inevitably steamy.  They even have a contest for who loses the most water weight in sweat!  There are 2 mile, 5 mile, and 10 mile distance options, with the 5 and 10 starting together and running the same course.  OMRR selected these distances because there are not very many certified courses of these distance in Missouri, so the state records are easily attainable.  The records for my age were 15:39 and 1:19:22, meaning that I could run my easy training pace and break them - if they had been fast I wouldn't have tried to break them in an oppressive summer night race!

I ran the 2 mile course for my "warm up" (it was 85 degrees with a dew point of 76, so I was sweating just walking across the parking lot), did a few strides and drills, and lined up to see what these marathon legs would do.  I didn't really know what to expect considering a) the weather, b) the time of the race, c) I hadn't run anything hard since Grandma's Marathon 3 weeks prior, and d) I sure hadn't done any training for a 2 mile since, oh, high school!  I also hadn't raced anything shorter than a half marathon in 10 months.  I decided I was going to just run hard and see what happened.

Thinking about lining up

The first bit of the 2 mile

Chasing two females

Ditto

As we took off, two females went out fast.  One looked high school aged and the other looked around my age and very fit.  There isn't much time to make up ground in a race like this, so I tried to stay relatively close.  I passed the older of the two within a half mile, and then passed the 14-year-old at around 0.75 mile and told myself "now you have to hang on to this!"  I tried to work up to each man who was ahead of me.  The course had a hair pin turn at halfway, which was not easy to navigate running fast, but after I got around it I kept reminding myself to keep the pedal to the metal because the end was already close.  I didn't look at my watch during the race, but my first mile was 5:39 per my Garmin.

Towards the end of the 2 mile

This turn was terrifying

Final stretch

As we headed back to the finish line, my legs started to remind me that this is not what we do!  I kept trying to work up towards a man ahead of me, and caught him as I turned to go up an incline towards the finish (spoiler: he then out-kicked me going into the finish).  I knew I had a solid female lead at that point, and the upcoming 10 mile was in the back of my mind, so I eased off going up the hill.  When we turned down the final stretch towards the finish and I saw the clock in the 11:20s, I tried to really notch it down, although I'm not sure if I actually did.  I finished in 11:37 chip time, which also meant I positive split like a champ (5:58 second mile per my Garmin, but Strava short-changed me and said the course was 1.99).  It is always more difficult for me to negative split in any distance in the heat - hot races often end up being more like regression runs, haha!

Seeing the clock at 11:29

Done!

That's my fastest 2 miler as an adult, although I've run workouts pretty close to that (in better weather).  All-considering I was happy with it, especially because the overall state record was 12:00.  I am sure there are hundreds of females in Missouri who could run faster than I did, but lucky for me they haven't run a certified 2 mile road race in the state!  It was also a good confidence boost that I may be able to try for a 5K PR this season, because I think I could have averaged about the pace I did for this race for another mile if it had been cooler and I hadn't been holding back for the upcoming 10 mile (plus I am actually doing a speed work block at the beginning of my next training cycle, which can't hurt).

Albani ran the whole way in her 2 mile (no walk breaks) and finished in 22:06, for 4th in the 14 and under age group.  She hasn't been running at all, but was really excited to do this race and is already asking to repeat it next year!  She was disappointed that she didn't win an award, but I gave her my 2 mile trophy - we also realized that if I hadn't run she would have gotten 3rd in her age group, because the second overall female was 14, but don't tell her this.  After watching her finish, I drank some water and ate some watermelon, we took some photos, I received my award, and then I headed out to jog a mile cool-down/warm-up.

She begged to run this race, then made this face

See, this turn was terrifying!

Focus

Look at that stride!

Happiness

Great finishing clock shot

Me being a dork at the 2 mile awards

I also wasn't sure how the 10 mile would go, considering a) the weather, b) it started at my bedtime, c) I hadn't run any long runs or workouts since Grandma's Marathon 3 weeks prior, and d) it was my first time racing with a headlamp.  I figured I'd start out at 6:30 pace and try to work down, maybe getting in a solid progression run and finishing at 6:00 pace, but I thought if I could average my marathon pace I'd be doing good (spoiler: I couldn't).  Nick, a friend through my running club, was also running it with a similar pace in mind and we decided to run together.

First 100 m of the 10 miler

After the start there were 4 men ahead of Nick and I, but we didn't know who was in the 10 mile and who was in the 5.  By the turn around at 2.5 miles we'd passed 2 of the men and were gaining on the others.  I looked at my first split (6:23), told Nick I didn't want to go any faster, then just followed him.  Coming back to finish our first tour of the 5 mile course, we passed another man and pulled up with another.  The second went with us, and told us he was running the 5 mile.  We ran with him until he started his finishing sprint and pulled ahead.  Then we went through the finish line to start the second lap of the course.

My headlamp is intense!

I felt okay on the first lap, but I wasn't sure if I had the reserves to run a good second lap.  I felt pretty dehydrated and took water 7 times during this race, which I have never done before in anything except a marathon!  I could tell Nick felt a lot better than me, but I just kept telling myself to stick with him until the next mile.  Then we'd get to the next mile and I'd tell myself, "okay, just until the next mile...okay, just until the turn around, etc."  I was slowing down but I wasn't looking at my watch (it would not have mattered if I did).

Around the halfway point of the 10 mile

Just after the turn around at 7.5, I suddenly needed an urgent bathroom stop!  I told myself, "Only a little over 2 miles left...you can run straight to the porta-potty by the finish line..." but as we came up on the mile 8 mark I knew there was no way I was going to make it.  I told Nick I had to stop because it was happening one way or another, and I wasn't pooping myself unless it was en route to a 2:45 marathon!  The perk of it being pitch dark out and not having any other runners close to us was that I just had to take one step off the course into the ditch.  This has never happened to me before in a race except when I had cryptosporidum, and I blame it completely on the fact that I ate 2 full meals that included fresh garden produce before the race.  But after I went, I felt much better!  We won't talk about that car that suddenly drove by and honked at me (they were honking at everyone running though, at least)...

Although I felt immensely better after my pit stop, I was still fading (the 10 miler was another solid regression run for me, hah!).  Nick had generously run up a little ways and eased off the pace while I stopped, so I caught back up with him.  I told him he could feel free to go ahead; I could tell he was much stronger than me.  He said there wasn't any reason to; we would finish together (he also had a huge overall male lead and even if he kicked it in he wasn't going to run a great time for him).  Although my last few miles weren't pretty, they would have been much worse if I hadn't been trying to hang onto him!  Around mile 9 my shoe came untied, and by that point nothing really mattered so I quickly tied it.  I was pretty glad to see the finish line coming closer, and I told Nick, "I am not kicking", hah.  We finished side-by-side, although my chip read 0.22 faster than his so I technically won overall.  I felt bad about that because he would have had absolutely no trouble smoking me if he'd wanted to!  My time of 1:06:16 was a new single age state record for females age 38, despite being a slower pace than my half marathon state record.  I stopped my Garmin for my pit stop and shoe tying, which took exactly 45 seconds together.

I cooled down for a mile, which gave me 16.5 for the night and for my first long run after Grandma's.  I grabbed my 10 mile award as soon as I could, but we still didn't make it home until about 11:15, so by the time I made a smoothie and showered it was midnight, i.e., way too late for me!

The best thing about the race was our awesome running community and club.  Albani said the best part of the race was the ice cream truck!

Overall record

Twins!

After Grandma's Marathon, we vacation!

We had such a great time vacationing last year after Grandma's that we decided to do it again!  I always enjoy combining marathons with additional touring, plus it means there is no pressure on the race because no matter how it goes, you get a family trip out of the deal.

This year it was just me and my parents, because Jon and Albani stayed in Missouri to handle one of Jon's business endeavors, selling blackberries that we grow on our acreage at a farmers market.  Side notes: I have been amazed at how quickly we have sold out each market!  I've helped at the Saturday markets, but during the week I am at work.

My parents and I started our vacationing in Duluth the day before Grandma's Marathon.  We visited Enger Tower and Park, including climbing the tower for some of the best views of the area.  It was extremely windy and chilly in the tower.  We took a train ride along Lake Superior (also chilly), and we visited the Duluth Rose Garden and Lief Erickson Park (still windy and chilly).  It was a balance of vacationing but trying not to do too much the day before the race.

Enger Tower

This picture does not do the view justice

Enger Tower

Kicking my legs up at the top of Enger Tower

My mom ringing a Japanese peace bell at Enger Park

Scenic Railroad

The train we rode is behind us

"It's mostly trees" - train ride review by Dave Major

More putting my feet up

There were a lot of trees, but it was pretty

Lake Superior in Leif Erickson Park

Duluth Rose Garden area (the roses were 1-2
weeks away from blooming)

After the race on Saturday, we drove over to Bayfield, Wisconsin.  We spent that afternoon and evening walking around and exploring the cute little touristy town.  We popped into a few shops and walked along Lake Superior.  We found a beach that was less than 40 feet long, and kids were swimming in the freezing lake!

Cute area in Bayfield

Aww

The beach started about 30 feet away

You don't see solar phone charging stations everywhere!

On Sunday, I did a 15 minute super easy run and found a great little wooded trail in Bayfield.  We started our touring at a visitor's center in Bayfield, then continued with a boat tour of the Apostle Islands (21 islands in Lake Superior - although there were only 12 Apostles).  I was pretty zonked out from the marathon and 6+ miles of walking on Saturday followed by a night of minimal sleep (post-marathon insomnia is a thing), so I didn't enjoy this as much as I would have under normal circumstances, but it was nice to do something seated!  Afterward we had lunch at a lakeside restaurant, and we all sampled fresh-caught white fish (fish tacos for me). We then drove on to Ashland, Wisconsin.  My parents checked out their extensive visitors center while I took a nap!  That afternoon we hiked around on the trails in the campground that we stayed in until it began raining.

My dad in front of our tour boat

I look more alert than I was

One of the Islands behind my beautiful mama

National Park Visitors Center

On Monday we woke up to more rain.  I did a 20 minute run on another great trail that wound through woods and along Lake Superior.  We then filled our bottles up from their Artesian water attraction, and drove most of the Ashland Mural Walk.  I was disappointed we didn't get to walk it and take more photos, but I also had no desire to be outside in 50 degrees and heavy rain!  We'd planned to see some waterfalls in the area, but it was supposed to rain all day so we began driving back towards Kansas City, then stopped for the night in Des Moins.

The tour guides made this sound like a much
bigger deal than it was

Mural walk/drive in Ashland

A rest stop in Iowa

Tuesday morning in Des Moines I found yet another beautiful trail, this one a Greenway trail running through the city.  We spent nearly 5 hours at the Living History Farms in Urbandale.  It was quite the live museum, and I was glad our changed plans led us to see it.  I took about 10 times the photos that I posted here at the attraction; there was a lot to see!

Living History Farms

1920s farm

1800s farm

1920s farm

This was a treadmill for sheep!

Tuesday evening we arrived back in Kansas City!  I'd scheduled to work on Wednesday at my company's Kansas City division, which I knew I'd regret, but it only made sense (I'd also spent a day there prior to leaving on this trip, since I was driving up there anyway).  Wednesday evening I arrived truly at home, feeling like I'd experienced a year in the week I was away!

Trips with these two are the best!

I'm a big proponent of marathons + vacations, so another benefit of Grandma's is that you have many vacations options to tack on afterward.  We haven't done anything in Minneapolis before or after the race yet, so I think that's reason enough to go back to it next year!