dora the explorer: dirty girls run

check out the very kool arm sleeves we got at the dirty girls run on the weekend! SO much more practical than another lame t-shirt in my opinion!!

so the idea behind this race was to see how many 10k loops you could complete in your choice of time - 6 hour, 12 or 24. i was in for the 12 hour.

had a great day - well, actually i should say night. i headed up to mansfield just after 6 in hopes of catching my sexy friend alistair and my TRR buddy kim who were doing the 24 hour. as luck would have it, ali was just coming in from his 8th lap, and kim was having a little nap in the tent, having completed 6. it had been stinky hot all day, and a lot of the runners were suffering. big hats off to them - i don't know how they ran in that humidity!

the 12 hour runners got going at 8pm. neat concept as it made for a bunch of fresh bodies on the trail at night to keep the 24 hour people company. i had to turn on my headlamp after about 30 minutes, as it got dark early in the forest. i really liked the course - it was nice and hilly, and there were some good technical sections you really had to pay attention on. very easy to yard sale if you weren't looking down. one guy running behind me fell twice over the same root 2 laps in a row. we had great laugh over that! i saw some neat wildlife on the trail during the night too - a big milk snake, a raccoon and a bunch of toads - and no - i wasn't hallucinating, as i heard others had seen them too! the 5k aid station was incredible - cooking up grilled cheese sandwiches and pancakes at 2 in the morning! mmmm - ultra food is the best!

i don't have my exact lap times yet, but they started at 1:20 and kept getting a little slower each go around. i believe 4 and 5 were 1:55, with 6 being a little faster at 1:48, as i had to walk some of the hills at this point. at the end of 6 i could feel a few stoopid blisters on the bottom of my toes. i had been running for 10:10 - giving me 1:50 to complete one more lap. i seriously doubted i could do it, but ali convinced me i could - what a sweetie! so off i went, muttering away to myself as usual! had some cranking tunes on the i-pod too, hoping it would help. i reached the 5k aid station in 50 minutes, giving me an hour to finish. still not sure, i quickly grabbed some water and took off. my feet were killing me, but i was pushing as fast as i could, even running some of the hills. at the 7.5k mark i started up the BIG hill - again - muttering that i wouldn't get done in time. thanks to charlotte vasarhelyi who was standing at the bottom, yelling at me to get going!! and so kool - as soon as i got to the top it was as if all the sore stuff and tired legs went away. i picked up the pace and coasted to the finish, even booking it the last hundred yards. yeehaw! waytogo dora! lap time - 1:31 !!!!!!!!! and of course, it wouldn't have been complete without - you got it - the dance party! fucking love this song !!!

so i got in my 70k with 17 minutes to spare! wtf? where did that come from??!! i was one happy smelly runner for sure! i placed 3rd female and 12th overall !

great shot of me and ali after i finished. did i mention he did 120k ! love the hat sexy - even if richard doesn't!

we all looked a little bagged here! when i asked kim if i looked really bad, she graciously answered, 'as good as one can expect after having run for 12 hours'. ahahhaa! classic! she managed an amazing 90k! great job my little blond amiga!

ali's partner richard - after having run 50k in the 6 hour and placing 6th i believe!

and of course i had to get the traditional 'post-race mangled feet shot' . . .

what a fun event! had a large chocolate milk and a burger at the finish. stopped at the hockley store on the way home for a coffee and a monster choco-chip cookie, and eventually finished with a large cappuccino skor blizzard from the dq ! ultras are the BEST excuse for post-run feeding frenzies!

on another note - huge congrats to my awesome crossfit buddy marsala who passed her police physical test on saturday! KILLED the beep test and crushed the circuit! i guess all those stoopid pull-ups paid off . . .