And you thought that was muddy!!!

Last weekend was Capital Peak Mega Fat Ass (has anyone out there googled Fat Ass? - third hit is some porn site) in Capital Forest down by Olympia. The course had been rerouted due to too much snow on top and was a figure 8 of two loops for half and four for full.

I ran at Cougar for two hours on Friday with some of the gang, and felt okay for Saturday, though my stomach rebeled at getting up so darn early. I carpooled down with Dan and Kathleen, and enjoyed listening to them chat, while trying to ignore the lead, er, breakfast sitting in my stomach. We made it to the start, where it was raining/snowing and a little cold, but not too bad. After John said go we headed off to the first loop, and faced an uphill climb for a couple miles (maybe less). I still wasn't awake and had to step aside several times to let the speedier ones pass. We had already started to hit mud, and I saw it suck the shoe off a gal in front of me. Hoo boy! This was not a course for tired ankles! My stomach still was rebeling and a gel helped- either it pushed the "lump" through or my symptoms were those of bonking. From then on I was pretty good about eating every 35 minutes or so and felt fine, digestively speaking.

The disadvantage of letting all those people pass is by the time you get to the muddy part, it's REALLY muddy, with all the feet mashing it up. I was doing as best I could and was able to get through the mud, but when I hit "level" ground (not muddy) my ankle must have gotten used to moving around, and I rolled it pretty good. Felt the ripping below the ankle bone - ugh! I spat out a lot of profanities and a gal in front of me turned around to see if I was okay. Turned out to be Jenny, #401, whom I had been hoping to meet! We ran together a little bit, until I stopped to walk and eat some more. She was trying to break 4 hours for the first loop to make an eight hour 55K. Along the way every now and then, my ankle would painfully roll. I decided finally that I would bag the rest of the race when I got to the aid station. Having made that decision, I decided to work on my hill climbing. It's my goal this year to get stronger on the hills, and we have plenty around here to work on. As long as the ankle said it was okay, I ran up all I could, or power hiked them. It was good fun! I came upon another guy, Eric, who had rolled his ankle and was bagging at the aid station too. He had more trouble walking and/or running than I so I told him I'd save him a beer and ran on. I limped into the aid station and gave the time keeper my name, got the car keys and after changing, alternated between standing in the rain by the fire and sitting under the tarp, where it was much colder. I cleaned off as much mud as I could and taped my ankle and proceeded to wait for Dan and Kathleen to finish their second loop. I think I spent more time socializing than I did running, which was a lot of fun, as I got to know some of the other runners more. Some of them I will see at Orcas; hopefully Tim Stroh will bring more mulled wine - that was good!

The ankle isn't too bad - still a little sore - and I got the mud finally cleaned out with a little pedicure on Sunday after swimming. It's bad when there is still mud ground in and chlorine doesn't clear it out! I got a massage from Alison at SRC and afterwards Donn and I marched with the AFMB in the MLK Day parade. First time I've played my horn since December, and it wasn't too lame! Back home I worked on a hat I'm knitting and learned to crochet (for the edge). It'll look cool when I am done!

This morning (it was DAMN COLD!!) I attended a miniclass of Kinesis (a strength training system utilizing pulleys and weights) at 5 Focus, which my friends Laura, Jeff and Beth recently opened. I did one circuit of the workout - all upper body. It was quite good and I am looking forward to doing more, though I am pretty sore, between that and the horn playing and knitting. Time to lay on the yoga bolster and stretch out the pecs!

Lastly, I broke my mile-a-day streak today because I decided the ankle needed to rest, as did I. Back on the wagon tomorrow!