The Zen of Ultra Running

Monster Dash race was advertised as the fast and fun race that you could get your PR because the course is flat and beautiful. I registered for the race early in August and only wanted to run 10 miles. I thought I would be too busy to train for the half marathon (13.1 miles). It turned out to be on the same day as Carson 5 & 10, the race organized by Indianhead track club. I spent about 2 months training for this race but my training was on and off because of a couple of injuries. This semester work had been crazy for me as well. Luckily, I started joining the ITC group runs, which made me commit to the long run on Saturdays. Monster Dash has 3 distances - 5K, 10 miles, and half marathon. This year it was the largest road race with approx. 18,000 people signed up for the race! It's on the halloween so people dressed up in costumes. The race also had prizes for winning costumes. This is my in my bumble bee costume that I got from Walmart the night before. Due to road...

We saw an article from Volume One in the summer that Lucette Brewery in Menomonie opened a woodfire pizza restaurant in addition to the tap room. Because it's in Menomonie, we always forgot about this new place when we thought about restaurants. Last week we had a chance to visit this restaurant after work. We were really impressed with the decoration and ambience when we walked in. This restaurant only serves woodfire pizza and beer. It's simple and the ambience was inviting. The background music was not too loud so you could still get conversation going. In addition of their own beers, they also have other guest beers on tap and you can choose to order a pint or a flight of 4 7-oz glasses. The pizza came in a good size (one person size). The good thing was that the crust was thin (like a typical italian pizza, not Wisconsin pizza), which we really liked (and couldn't find that often in WI). In the picture, we ordered pesto pizza. They used pesto sauce ins...

Finally, I could do the Eight Angle pose - Astavakrasana! even though I still need more practice to perfect the pose. This is one of the poses that I'd always wanted to do (besides headstand away from the wall and handstand). Thanks to Wenday Oberg yoga at Dragonfly for introducing this pose to me! Love power yoga :)

This weekend other runners are in Ashland, WI for Whistlestop marathon. So, I have to do my long run by myself (and it's homecoming weekend). Since last week I did 8 miles, I decided to run 9 miles this week because why not? ;) Someone has talked about running the bridges in EC and I think that idea is fantastic. So, I mapped my route around bridges in EC. Managed to run through 3 today. At mile 7, my left knee started to hurt so had to walk for about .5 mile. Think I'm gonna take it easy next week. Eau Claire in fall is very beautiful with fall foliage colors. The temperature was also perfect for a run (about high 50s).

I'd always run by myself for a long time - either at the gym or outside. Why? I thought that I needed time for myself to relax and to hide from other people. It's also convenient. I could run anytime I wanted anywhere I wanted. Recently, I started going to a group run (pub run), which we start at a brewery, run 3-4 miles, and come back to drink beer ;) I realized the benefits of group run. With the right people, it's fun and it's a social activity. Everyone talks about running, their races, and gives me very helpful tips. Running has become another social activity that I enjoy. We get together, run AND chat (at the same time). I still need to work toward running and talking simultaneously because it's HARD! Long runs seem shorter with a group run. Yesterday I wanted to go only 6 miles but ended doing 8 miles because the group talked me into it ;)