Patapsco Trail Fest

Brian and I signed up for the Patapsco Trail Fest which was a 13.9 Half Marathon Course.  Little did we know that course was actually a full 15 miles (we found that information out at the starting line). 

This was going to be an overnight trip as Patapsco is located in Maryland and is about 3 hours and 45 mins away if you take the turnpike… which by the way, costs almost $20.00 to take.

So we asked Linda and Ed to see if they could watch the dogs and when they said yes, we booked the trip.  A camping trip.  Yep, tent and all! This would be officially my first time really being far from home and camping in a tent.  I was excited!

So after training for a few weeks and getting in the mindset to do a Half Marathon the day finally came.  We packed up the car with food, water, camping and hiking gear and were on our way to Patapsco State Park. 

When we arrived, we checked in and then went to set up camp.  We found a perfect spot that wasn’t too far from everyone but still far enough to have our space.  The tent was so easy to set up and we then we took an adapter for my car and blew up my air mattress.  We really got some strange looks but we were sure sleeping comfortably.  It was nice because they did have restrooms with a potty. 

When we checked in we each received two beer tickets and one food ticket.  We immediately grabbed a beer and relaxed as we settled in our surroundings for the weekend.  We ended up using my food ticket for pizza and that filled us up for dinner.

We did explore the trails a bit and went to bed super early for a 5:45am wake up. 

It was morning before we knew it and the tent was COVERED in spiders but I was still having a blast and so was Brian.  We got up, did our business packed up all we could into the car and ventured to do the day of check in.  We were both nervous as we approached the starting line at 7:50am for a pre-race briefing.  They gave us the briefing, let us know we would be doing an extra mile that we didn’t know about and countdown began.  We started with a slow run and then were bottle necked down our first trail. 

The next thing that happened scared all the runners on the trail.  A blood curdling scream… what was that?! Then we saw them… DEER!  Three of them running up the side of the hill but the screaming didn’t stop.  That’s when we realize that a runner was actually hit by one of them and pushed down a hill that was a pretty far fall.  Luckily a fallen tree stopped her from going all the way down and there was an EMT that was actually running that tended to her.  We tried to stop to help but we were made to move along.  All of us were in shock for a little… not really able to believe what just happened!

We came to our first river crossing and I took off my shoes as we went through.  The current was so strong and Bri held my hand the whole time we crossed.  I put on my shoes and we were on our way.  Bri wore his shoes and he was a trooper as we pushed on.  We both crashed at about 7 miles in after some really brutal hills.  The sun was out and it was HUMID.  The trail was extremely technical with rocks and boulders you had to maneuver around. We finally, after what seemed like forever, were approaching mile 10 where a water station would be and we would turn around and head back to the starting line. 

I fell.  I don’t know what happened but my foot caught a tree root and I went DOWN.  My knee was bruise and my arms hurt but Brian helped me up and we pushed on.  After the aid station where I had a few pickles and Brian chose chocolate chip cookies we moved to the next river crossing which reached my waist this time! I couldn’t believe how deep it was and that this was all part of the race… I also loved it.  I love me a good challenge. 

So we get down to a flat area and we were going without signs for a long time.  I was getting nervous that we missed something.  We finally reached the last aid station and had about a mile to go.  We crossed a crick and were on paved road when we realized that the hill to the entrance of the park was the one that we were going to have to run up.   I remembered driving up it and knew it would be absolutely brutal.  It was. There was no quitting.  We pushed and pushed and pushed and made it to the top.  We could see the finish line.  We were almost there!  We decided to jog- I don’t know how we were running but we were and we crossed the finish line just over 5 hours. 

We did it.  A Half Marathon together!

We were handed our medals (which actually were the wrong ones and they gave ours to other people by mistake but at least it was still half marathon ones- As I write this, Brian is trying to get us the ones we should have gotten).  We got another pizza to celebrate, packed up the car and headed home to shower.  We are so proud. It was truly a challenge…. CAN’T WAIT FOR OUR NEXT ONE!

Glacier Ridge Trail 30k

My husband and I don't have a lot in common (we actually love that about each other) but we do love to hike together.  It's becoming a serious passion of ours.   Last year I had witnessed hikers at a local park with bib numbers and exhaustion on their faces so I looked up the race- they were doing an ultra hike and I was dying to sign up.  Why not challenge yourself to the point of absolute exhaustion and burning muscles and pain... yeah, that's the way I work.   Problem was it was the end of summer and when I googled races to see what I could sign up for, they were all too far away and we would have to drive a few hours for them.  So... we decided to sign up the following year.  When I went to sign up I was disappointed as you have to earn something they like to call Karma which they use towards a lottery and pull your name to see if you get into the race - then you pay to sign up - so therefore, you're not even guaranteed to hike with the person you want to hike with because their name may not be pulled.  I was bummed but if you know me, you know that did not stop me from finding a race.  In January of this year we signed up for the Glacier Ridge Endurance Hike 30k.  So that's about 18.7 miles.  They also had a 50k but we wanted to make sure we could do the 30k first. 

 

We started training at home on our stationary bike and eventually to our treadmill and when there was the first bit of spring we were in the woods hiking as much as possible to get prepared.  I had a countdown going for work and I really couldn't wait for race day.  I was so excited!

Then... we did a practice hike on the race trail a week before the race (luckily Moraine State Park is only about 40 mins north of us so we could drive up and see what we were in for. 

We hiked 10 miles and it felt great...

I woke up on Sunday sick.  Thought maybe it was allergies- HOPED it was allergies ... then I accepted it.  I had a major head cold with snot and coughing and phlegm ... was I not going to be able to race?  After all this time??!!!

I tried EVERYTHING.  I did sinus rinses, tried nasal sprays, blew my nose until it hurt, I used Vicks Vapor Rub, ate healthy and drank so much water!  But - I realized it had to run it course and I didn't know how it was going to go.  On top of all of this... I had my monthly visitor show up the day before the race. Great. Now I have to deal with that too (that's a whole other story by the way- I used a Diva Cup for the first time and it was totally worth it.  If you are running a long race/marathon, look into this!). 

 

The morning of the race we woke up at 5:45am and had to be out the door by 6:30am.  We packed everything the night before and drove up to Moraine for our first Endurance 30k hike.  Check in for the race was quick and went smooth, parking was easy and everyone was so kind!  They really put on a beautiful race and it was so well organized! We got over our nerves and warmed our muscles for a little and enjoyed the chilly morning in front of the lake before we lined up at the starting line.

Just look at how beautiful this morning was!

The countdown to start commenced and before we knew it, we where on our way.. 18.7 miles and a long day laid ahead of us.  I have a way of turning that off in my brain though and listening to my body and working in the moment so I know I was enjoying it already!

A thing I didn't mention earlier was that we have a time limit for the race.  7 hours.  We have 7 hours to complete it - so that means we have to do over 2 ... close to 3 miles every hour to finish on time and the course was muddy (it had rained every day that week, I swear it) and the hills/elevation change was no joke.   

The course was muddy.  The hills were hard and we hit the mile 10 turn around to head back. They had a nice station set up at mile 10 with all sorts of food and refreshments to keep us motivated.  I personally wanted to stay and continue to eat but we had to make our way back.  It was rough. One of the hardest things we have ever pushed our bodies to do.  At this point we were getting moody and purely exhausted but my body just kept pushing me forward.  My good to me body that I sometimes have to remember to be better to. 

About 5 miles left

The photo below was the best part of the day... and it pushed me to quicken my step- at this pace I would finish in a little over 6 hours.  Everything in my body was cheering me on and my heart was pounding... were we doing this!? Where we really hiking 18.7 miles!? To make up on time for some of the uphill struggles we actually ran every downhill or flat levels that we could... it was so difficult but I seriously was LOVING it!

Crossing that finish line was one rewarding feeling complete with utter exhaustion.  You cross the finish line and your body almost knows it and just starts to shut you down.  Thankfully, there was pizza and the 30k finisher medal to keep our spirits up ... along with all the candy you could dream of!

Finishing in 6hrs and 15mins!

Here are some of my stats for the day... I did forget to turn off my fitbit after crossing the finish line for a little... lol

I am still riding on cloud 9 and it's the Thursday after the race. I am just so so happy and CAN NOT WAIT TO DO ANOTHER RACE! 

The biggest advice is (besides training properly) WATER! You literally can't have enough of it!

Thanks for reading my post guys and letting me tell you about my latest adventure. Life can be incredible!

Here is a little video showing the anxiety surrounding the race and me being sick- they were on my instagram stories so I thought I'd post them here too!



Catch up post

So.  This summer has pretty much flown by and I'm not truly ready to let it go- though- I LOVE Autumn.  Mabon is on Saturday and that is the official start to the season.  It's the balance between light and dark, equal day and night.  It should be a time to honor the dark as without it, we have no light :)

 

So- We may do a bonfire this weekend, go pick some apples or celebrate with some wine and truly enjoy the balance before the winter comes in and takes over.

 

In the meantime here are some things we have been up to.

 

I am currently painting our dining room furniture and I'm super proud of this piece as it was a real bitch to paint...

The set was handed down to us by my mother-in-law and it just needed a little love: 

 

I have also been exploring some trails close to my work that I can explore on my lunch break- I found one about 15 mins away so it gives me 30 mins to check out the trails :)

Oh and My husband and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary! YAY - we actually had very heavy rains and were pretty much cleaning up the flooding basement but hey- marriage lol!

And my girlfriends at work even celebrated :) I am very lucky to have them!

And as always, just crafting away.  I don't know where I'm trying to get with it all as I haven't been posting on Etsy but I do want to do a few craft shows in the near future so I guess I'm stocking up! Here's something I found on Pinterest that I just wanted to do for myself:

 

I also have been working on a pretty big project for a while and I have part of it completed and coming on the 28th!  I want to film a short video about it, my process and show you how to get the final product so stayed tuned, be excited- cause I am- and I can't wait to show you!  

10 Mile Hike at Hell's Hollow

So I got this bright idea that I wanted to do an extreme hike- like a competition hike- a 30 mile hike...

                   Brian, who is a little more realistic than I am, decided we should take a hike near our home so we could get some miles towards thechallenges we entered for the year and to see just how far we could make it. 

 

Good thing we did cause it's FREAKING HARD!  We hiked about 10 miles and we were feeling it big time. I do have to say that it was hot and extremely humid but we hiked for 4 straight hours.  There is a time limit on the 30 mile hikes which you have to complete within 12 hours.  So that means you have to do at least 2.5 miles every hour to finish on time.  We did 10 miles in 4 hours which was great, but I honestly don't know if I could keep up that pace for 30 miles.  I know it seems like it's a slow pace to keep but when you are hiking up hills and over tree branches and on slippery paths, it's not. 

 

So- we decided to enter into the 15 mile competition in October!  https://sites.google.com/site/greenmonstertrailchallengepa/

 

The only problem is it's a 4 hour drive so we may camp out the night before and then head back home after the hike.  I'm pretty excited!

 

I also have to add that I'm pretty damn proud of us hiking the 10miles.  My legs felt it and I came home and napped afterwards but we did it! :) And we did it together! <3

 

I didn't take many photos of our hike since we were on a time limit but here are a few and then my screen shots from my Fitbit for the day! Most steps I've gotten in one day! WOO HOO!

Our Hiking Adventures

     Brian and I found a hobby that we both LOVE to do together and that would be HIKING!  We are getting super into it after visiting West Virginia.  Every time we are in the woods and around nature we get all giggly and excited and we love to exercise- it's truly a win/win.  So we signed up for two challenges:
1.  The North Country Trail Challenge which you can read about here
2.  The Rachel Carson Trail Challenge which you can read about here

We are really motivated to earn these patches if we complete these challenges! 

We really want to train to do a long 18 or 32 mile hiking challenge- we have missed all the ones around our area but there is always next year!  (one of our goals is to do one of these!)

I was thinking about blogging our hiking trips.  I usually only bring my cell phone and my polaroid camera because I scrapbook/keep track of our hikes in a really cool little journal so the photos are NOT the best quality but I'm thinking about lugging one of my better cameras around with me so I can get some really nice nature shots.   That got me thinking of blogging our hikes and I think it would be fun to share it on here!

We have done three hikes since signing up for the challenges so I will write about all three of them in this post then the rest will be separate posts. 


-Our first hike for the challenge was in North Park on the Rachel Carson Trail- we ended up on a really beautiful section of the trail with a creek - we love to be near water on trails!  We spent a good amount of time exploring and enjoying the scenery instead of actually hiking but we did about 4.5 miles total and put that on our trail log! These are a few of my photos I took with my cell phone during our hike:

     -Our second hike was on the North Country Trail and we picked up the trail at Moraine State Park.  We hiked a little over 4 miles and the trail was right around the lake so it offered beautiful views!  It was an easier hike than we were use to as it was pretty flat and not very challenging - but that's okay too!  We plan to go back and do a different section of the trail this weekend. 

Again, sucky cell phone photos but hey- it is what it is.


     -The last hike in this post was our first ever night hike and it was a group hike lead by a guide for the Rachel Carson Trail - so we got some more miles in for the RCTC!  We met at the park at 9pm and hiked until 11:30.  It was titled, "Full Moon Summer Hike" and it was pretty epic!  We did about 5 miles total and it was under the full moon (mars was out and very bright too- I think it was the closest to Earth in a long time) and there was lighting in the distance so it made for an erie feeling.   We all had flashlights and headlamps!  We ended up hiking right behind our guide and got to talk to him a bit about any pointers he had.  He was in his mid 60's and could really move- I did wonder if we could keep up with him!  He told us how to read the blazes on the trail (there is a little bit of science there!)  and what headlamps to invest in if we wanted to do more night hikes.  It was really a unique hike- you would shine your flashlight into the woods and see 20 glowing eyes staring back at you!  The deer were EVERYWHERE! 

Once we got back to the park, they had snacks waiting for us and the guide even offered us some beer- it was really fun!  We totally passed out for the night when we got home!  I tried to film and take some photos but it was really hard when walking and taking photos with just a flashlight in hand in the pitch black- so I did my best to document it below!

Here are some videos from the NCT in Moraine as well (very short clips):

  I will be sure to keep updating the blog with our hikes, I know I have kind of fallen off the blog wheel but I'm going to try to keep up with it a little better ( I think I say that in every post! lol)

Hope you all have a great week and see you all soon!