Looking Ahead

The Western States lottery opened yesterday. I put my name in. I'm back to only one ticket, so chances are really really slim this year 😉 and I'm not expecting anything out of the lottery. As Ryan said, I used up all my lottery karma last year. Ha! 😆 Honestly, after the race, I felt satisfied with having been able to experience and run such a historic and iconic race, and I didn't think I would put my name in again. But Ryan convinced me that I should think long-term about it, and as there was a kernel in the back of my mind that acknowledges that I would love the chance to run Western States again at some point, I decided to bite the bullet and put my name in this year since I have my qualifier. The idea of course is just to work on building tickets up again in the hopes that someday I might get the opportunity to run the course again. Even though I am not expecting anything to come of it, I will certainly be watching the lottery on December 7th, which interestingly once again falls during one of Sam's swim meets!

So, back to reality, I signed up for a race that I've been eyeing for the past few years - No Business 100! It is one big, glorious looking, mostly singletrack loop through Kentucky and Tennessee. Yes, I do so love to drag Ryan off to random, rural places 😂 But seriously, it looks like a really cool course and I'm excited about the prospect of exploring a new race in a different place!

Training for New Business won't start for a while since the race isn't until mid-October, but as we have the Frozen Yeti coming up the first weekend of February and I'm pondering a 100k down in SC in April, it's time to get back to work! This week marked the first week of introducing either speed or hills back into the schedule. It was also time for a new watch, as the Suunto, which I really have loved, has started to be rather finicky and I was getting nervous that as an older watch it was not going to pair well with their new app that will be replacing Movescount soon. So I'm joining the Coros band wagon and got their Apex watch. New gear is always exciting!

The watch is super comfortable and offers some interesting data in terms of sleep tracking and heart rate monitor, although of course all to be taken with a grain of salt. It's pretty amazing in terms of supposed battery life (35 hours!), and it syncs incredibly quickly to the phone/Strava. So far I'd say it seems to have run slightly short of the Suunto and I'm still getting used to the knob versus a more traditional button, but otherwise I'm liking it just fine. It arrived on Monday with 85% battery and I've used it on all 5 runs this week, totaling 43 miles and 7+ hours and have had it on continually even while sleeping and the battery is still at 45%. Impressive.

Tuesday morning, I headed out onto the cart paths for an easy run. Although overcast, there was enough light to turn off my headlamp 3 miles in. Hurray for daylight savings! Three deer seen. Had a bit of trouble actually getting the watch to stop after my run was done which was frustrating! (6.0 miles)

Wednesday was hillwork day. Back to Mt. A! Got in 5x Chicken and Suicide hills as the sun lit up the sky through the trees. Felt a bit sluggish and s-l-o-w, but gotta start somewhere! Took Peter's suggestion and disabled the auto-lock and as a result, it was much easier stopping the watch at the end of the run. (6.0 miles)

It was nasty and rainy and cold on Thursday and overnight into early Friday morning. However, at least it didn't snow like the early weather predictions indicated! With the forecast looking so grim, I had already decided to move my long run to Saturday so I took my time getting out on Friday morning. A cold, bright and windy morning, with ice apparent in the shallow puddles and a lot of slick slightly iced over bog bridges. But the river was flowing nicely and the woods are always pretty! Ran the cart paths and out into the Cathance. (8.0 miles)

Unrelated: it's been consistently cold enough out that the heat is up and running in the house, and the cats are in heaven 😻

Yesterday morning, I headed out around 7:15. Anther cold and bright morning. Brrr! Ran down to the river, added in a few holes on the golf course, meandered around on the roads through town and added in loop through the Highlands trails for a nice mellow run. Right hip was a bit stiff but otherwise, felt decent. (15.0 miles)

This morning, Sam had a well-child check-up/flu shot scheduled for 8:30 and Ryan was headed to Brad for the Sunday morning group run. I didn't sleep well and really didn't want to get out of bed when the alarm went off, so I rolled over and went back to sleep instead. Thus, it was an afternoon run kind of day. Legs felt less than spry but it was lovely out in the woods and nice to get farther out in the trail system - thank goodness for hunting-free Sundays this time of year! Temps were in the mid-40s, which felt balmy despite the wind, and the bog bridges were nice and dry. I love the subtle beauty to be found along with the showy bright red winterberries that really stand out against all the earthy tones at this time of year. Happy to get out and wrap up a solid weekend and week of running. (8.0 miles)

Oh, and Sam is now 4' 5.5" and 73 lbs. Crazy! But she's growing just like she should be!! 💗