Snake Run 3 Hour Team

Last year they added a team option to the 3 hour and 6 hour races at the Snake Run. Thomas and I ran on a team together and missed 11 laps by 3 seconds! He started the race late and I had a bit of a tough race because I had a bit too much fun at Viva Zarrow the night before. I felt confident we could make 11 laps (22 miles) this year. I did a tempo and hill combo workout the Sunday before the race and felt really strong. Then the group I run with at TOTs on Tuesday evenings ran really fast a couple days later. We normally run 10 minute pace, 9 minute pace at the fastest. On this Tuesday we ran mid-8:00 pace for the first couple miles. It was so fast, I was seconds off my PRs on Strava segments I ran during races there. It was way too much and running in the dark with a headlamp, I came down wrong on a few rocks and tweaked my ankle. All the way up the outside of my left leg was really sore and tight after. I had planned to do speedwork the following day, but scrapped it and just ran some strides. I probably shouldn't have done the strides. The day after doing strides was my day off running and that evening, it suddenly hurt to walk. My foot was in a lot of pain. I freaked out and started going ham with stretching. I did yoga, foam rolled extra, used my massage gun, and did some scraping. It still hurt while walking the following day and I ended up cutting my run short at 2 miles because it hurt the whole first mile and while it did get better during the 2nd mile, it still hurt quite a bit. I kept up with the yoga, foam rolling, massage gun, and scraping. On Saturday it hurt less to walk and when I was running it felt better than when walking. I was hoping with continued stretching, it would continue to get better. I also planned to wear KT tape like I do for paved races to help hold everything where it needed to be.

The race starts at 9:00 and falls the Sunday after daylight savings. I planned to wake up at 8:00 so I could do yoga before Ty put on my KT tape and he was planning to leave at 8:30 to play disc golf. I woke up at 7:30 wide awake so went ahead and started getting ready. I just had one drink at Viva Zarrow the night before and was feeling great. I made oatmeal with pb fit and honey mixed in, poured a travel mug of coffee, and we headed out around 8:50. It was a little later than I had planned because I forgot something in the house, but I don't remember what it was. I dropped Thomas right at the start and parked the car. I watched them take off at the start and cheered for everyone. Then I went back to my car and got my oatmeal and coffee so I could finish eating as I spectated. It was a little chilly at the start. I was wearing sweatpants, a sweatshirt, gloves, and a headband. Thomas said he wasn't in as good of shape as last year and wasn't sure if he wanted to run 5 laps for 10 miles or 6 laps for 12 miles. I was surprised when he came through the first lap in under 16 minutes because that was around the pace he ran last year. I had a lot of fun cheering for everyone and chatting with my friends who were there. When Thomas came through 4 laps, I asked him if he wanted to do one more lap or 2. He said 2 more laps so I decided to wait to run my warm up.

Thomas taking off at the start.

He ran his 2 mile loops in 15:52, 15:53, 16:04, 16:18, 16:14, and 16:36. I knew he was running his loops in around 16 minutes so I started my warm up before he finished his 5th loop. I ended up running almost a 2 mile warm up because I needed 11.7 miles for the day. I ran my warm up with a long sleeved on and it was too much so I took it off. I ended up taking off my gloves too and then after my warm up, I took off my headband. It was 54 degrees and perfect running weather by the time I started running my portion of the race. We botched our bib hand off last year, dropping a pin and searching for it. This year I helped him take the bib off and took off with the bib in my hand and just attached the bib as I ran. I didn't want to leave any seconds out there because I was determined to make 11 laps this year. Thomas came through 6 laps in around 1:36. I knew that was right around what his time was last year. I knew I had 1:24 to finish my 5 laps. I was calculating in my head what pace that was and estimated it was around 8:20 pace. I was pretty sure I could do that and I was pleased my ankle was feeling really good. I went through my first 2 miles in 7:37 and 7:42 for a first lap of 15:37. That lap included our bib hand off so I know it was faster than that. I was looking at the clock each time I went through and was calculating what I would go through the next time if I could stay steady at 16:00 per loop and what I needed to come through in to finish 11 loops in under 3 hours.

Miles 3 and 4 were 7:57 and 7:56 for a 2nd loop in 15:40. Based on the mile splits and my splits for the loop, I would guess it took us about 30 seconds to exchange the bib. During the next loop I ate a Gu right around mile 5 of the race. I didn't think about it being around 7 miles into my run with my warm up included, but I figured it was okay since I got a good deal of food in with my oatmeal before the race. I carried a water bottle in my pocket and ended up drinking around every 2 miles. Miles 5 and 6 were 7:52 and 8:00 for my 3rd lap in 15:57. I was feeling strong and was super excited my foot wasn't hurting. Miles 7 and 8 were 8:09 and 8:13. I didn't notice I had slowed down, but I was also lapping a lot of runners and there were some times I had to slow down behind them for a moment until there was a clear spot to pass. My 4th loop was my slowest at 16:23. When I came through with a lap to go, I knew we were going to make 11 laps and would be decently under 3 hours. I went through right around 2:40 so I had 20 minutes to finish. Miles 9 and 10 were 8:10 and 7:46 for my last lap in 16:09. We easily made 11 laps this year, finishing in 2:56:38! I was so proud of myself and excited for our time. Thomas ran pretty much what he did last year. I ran my section around 4 minutes faster than last year. Thomas said at one point I came through hauling ass and he knew we were going to make 11 laps and I could slow down. I wanted to keep clipping off 16 minute loops, if I could. Last year my fastest lap was 16:37 and this year my slowest lap was 16:23! I was so excited with my performance. I finished 10 miles in 1:19:28 which was an average of 7:57 pace. Last year I averaged 8:25 pace. Read last year's race recap here and 2024's race recap from when I ran the 3 hour race solo here.

Funny Stuff

Elise to Annie: Close your eyes. See what you can see.
Carter: How can you see if your eyes are closed?
Ty: I swear to God.

Carter at bedtime while at Gma and Gpa's: I forgot my book in the car.

Me: And you want me to have to go out in the cold to get it?

Carter: No, I don't want you to have to get it. That's why I called for dad.

Elise: I wish I could just knock myself out like daddy does.

Me: What?

Elise: You know, fall asleep really fast like daddy.

"If we boycotted McDonald's, they would be so depressed because they love talking to Opa." -Elise

Elise: What's your favorite restaurant?

Me: I don't know, it would depend on the day and my mood.

Elise: Yeah, you do have a lot of moods.

Carter: Give me a character to do their voice.

Elise: Snoopy

Watching the Olympics with the kids.

"She has a six pack on her back!" -Carter

"She must be so cold!" -Carter about figure skater

"That thing you use to put your running bib on." -Elise talking about a safety pin

"I have to confirm, horizontal lines don't make you look fat." -Carter

The new dress I had just gotten at Sam's Club when Carter said that. Elise took the picture and made sure to get Milo photo bombing in it!

"I wonder if I invented that virus."-Elise talking about what she was sick with. We know think it was likely adenovirus.

"He has a wife so he's happy now, instead of being a bald, old, grumpy man." -Elise talking about one of her teachers

This was a student in my class, but it was so funny, I had to share it.

Student: I think I have magic arm hair.

Me: Oh really?

Student: Yes, watch what happens. (puts his arm by a chair and his hairs stick to the chair). Anytime I put my arm by something, my arm hair sticks out and sticks to it.

Me: Explains Static Electricity

What I Read: February

I wasn't in the mood for romance books so I didn't read many, but I did make a cute little decoration with books on our fireplace. We had a romance we read for book club and one that I didn't realize was a romance when I checked it out. I was so not in the mood for romance that I felt like I couldn't honestly review them because I think I would have liked them more if I was in the mood for romance. February ended up being a pretty blah month for reading. I only had a couple books I really liked and ended up with quite a few I probably should have quite because I didn't enjoy them very much.

Books:

• Your Students, My Students, Our Students: Rethinking Equitable and Inclusive Classrooms by Lee Ann Jung, Nancy Frey, and Douglas Fisher- I was disappointed in this book. There was no actual data to support their ideas. There was only anecdotal evidence. That's the biggest issue with education is that we make sweeping changes and adopt philosophies or curriculums based solely on anecdotal evidence and not sound data and research. There were some really good resources in this book and some ideas I think would be wonderful in practice. Overall the book was hard to get through and frustrating at times.

• Redwood Court by DeLana R.A. Dameron- I loved her descriptions of things and her writing was beautiful. I just had a hard time getting into the book and staying focused when I was reading.

• All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks- I've seen this book recommended so many places, but I found it super boring and struggled to finish it. It all felt either super obvious and common sense or overblown. There were some sections where she used her experience to then extrapolate to people as a whole which was a stretch and she made a lot of assumptions about her partners' motives. There was nothing new, surprising, or enlightening in this book. I'm annoyed I wasted time reading it when I could have been reading something good. I should have quit it when I lost interest a couple chapters in.

• A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers- This was a bit slow to start. The robot wasn't introduced until page 50 of a 150 page book! I expected it to be faster paced since it was so short. I ended up really enjoying it and the ending left me with a warm, happy feeling. I'm excited to read the next book in the series.

• The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton- This was a long and twisted journey to get to the eventual ending, but it was worth it.

eBooks:

• The One by John Marrs- In the vein of They Both Die at the End where the day of your death can be predicted and The Measure where the length of your life has been determined, The One focuses on a gene discovery that can match you to your perfect love match. It was an interesting concept and the couples he chose to showcase all had interesting stories. This was my least favorite of the 3 books I mentioned.

• With These Hands by T.R. Motley- This was our book club pick that was tagged as a romance. It kind of was but it was set within a cartel family so it was also a thriller and a bit of a mystery thrown all in one. The first chapter was really good and had me reeled in, but then it went back in time and the sections where she was a teenager were written more like a young adult book and were pretty cringy in parts. We picked this book because it was written by a Tulsa native and it was okay.

Audiobooks:

• Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai- I love Malala and I loved reading about her life after her initial fame.

• I Choose Darkness by Jenny Lawson- This was a Kindle Unlimited short that I wanted to listen to before I canceled my membership once my 99 cent trial was over. It was funny. I didn't track it in my year reading since it was so short, but wanted to note it so I know I read it if I see it pop up again.

• Before Her by Jacqueline Woodson- This was another Kindle Unlimited short I wanted to get to before my trail ran out. It was good. I didn't count either of these in my yearly reading goal, but wanted to track them so I'll remember I've already read them.

• One Death at a Time by Abi Waxman- I was a bit hesitant to give Waxman another chance with how much I hated Christa Comes Out of Her Shell, but I'm so glad I did. I loved this book and it had me laughing throughout. It had some Thursday Murder Club vibes and I pictured Rosa from Brooklyn 99 as Mason.

• August Lane by Regina Black- I started this an ebook and when I saw the format of the story, I looked and saw it had a full cast of narrators, so I switched to the audiobook. The storyline hit even stronger with the othering that happened with Bad Bunny performing the halftime show at the Super Bowl. I was hoping for something more like Daisy Jones and the Six so I was a little bummed it had such a strong romance storyline. It was really good though.

• Katabasis by R.F. Kuang- I loved this wild and twisting ride through hell with Alice and Peter. There was magick, mythology, mystery, and suspense. This was my favorite of her books I've read.