March Gladness!!

The snow has melted and spring has sprung in Iowa!... and just a year after my "Spring Straining" post where I went into March with an injured lumbar disc followed by a nasty flu followed by a hamstring injury; I'm happy to report I have bounced back am craving some action!!!...  with the temps above freezing again I steered my runs this week to revisit a few of my favorite hot spots on the roads and trails of DBQ country that have been somewhat inaccessible the last few months.  Here are some photos from my last week of fun on the run...
- Happy Running! Cory

Great views but last time I ran by this farm I was attacked by a hord of Jack Russell Terriers...  there was also a dead rotting cow on the side of the road here one time when Hunter and I ran by haha

Did you ever have an art class where you had to draw a train track fading into the distance?  This is what this photo reminds me of in a way, all in all makes me just plain happy to think about how far I've come... side note my quads were freaking killing me as the pitch of this road got pretty extreme!

Rocking my Simple Hydration Bottle once again, it perfect for runs in the country where drinking from creeks is not "advised"... as a bonus leaves my hands free to take my action photos!

Turnaround point of the route, about 500 feet up from my start at the Durango Valley below.  It was misty from the rain today but still a great view!

Literally running on clouds!... is this Heaven?.. no it's Iowa! 

I'll never take a bridge over a creek crossing, even on my lunchbreak! (sockless the rest of the day at the office)

Mature Forest trail... my personal favorite as it's the one I take my girls running on in the summer!

The contrasts of the bare trees, green grass, cold wind and warm sun makes me feel completely in my element, such a great time of year!

That is our local ski slopes in the background, the only place in DBQ Country with snow still clinging to the ground.

At this same location 25 years ago my older brother Nate and I spot an animal in the distance... he says it's a horse, I know it's a cow... we yell back in forth arguing for some time before we are interrupted by a clear "MOOOOOOOO"... I turn to Nate and "udder"... "HI-YO BESSIE AWAY" hahaha... got him good :)   

Got the headphones in doing some cadence drills with a metronome, been paying off as my cadence lately as been pushing 185+ on workouts!

Carried the action cam for 10 miles this morning forgetting to take pictures again except for this one which ended up blurry... regardless it was just a great run with two awesome runners and friends!

Race Review "2016 Gaelic Gallop"

Not sure whether to chalk it up to the luck of the Irish or my lucky homemade kilt but I finally made a return trip to PR City last Saturday at the 2016 Gaelic Gallop!  After a 2015 shadowed by an early spring back injury (injured lumbar disc), I could not be happier to come back to the G.G. and beat my previous 8K PR achieved in 2014 and gain some much needed confidence to catapult me into a great 2016!  Sorry, getting ahead a little of myself so let's backup and talk about the race....

The Gaelic Gallop is an 8K Road Race held annually in the town of Dyersville, Iowa... a small Iowa town well known for it's Irish Heritage, EPIC Saint Patty's Day Festivities and of course "The Field of Dreams" movie site.  Being of Irish decent with very strong admiration for the country (my wife and I spent a couple weeks traveling the countryside in 2006), I have a special love for all things green including this race.  Adding to my race day excitement was the fact I missed last year due to a nasty flu... well in full disclosure I still showed up and tried to run despite being sick but that ended in me yacking all over the venue (I am very stubborn).

So on race day I was feeling pretty good other than I didn't get but a couple hours sleep since it took me all night to finish sewing my kilt haha (yeah I attempted to sew it myself over many failed attempts).... lucky for me I require much less sleep than a normal human so I was chipper as normal.  I was also a bit surprised at my fresh legs thinking I would be a little more tired coming off of my highest elevation and mileage week this year but I did cut back on the cross training so it must have balanced out nicely.  My goal was to beat my 2014 PR which I thought was a 6:13 average pace until I looked at my Garmin data the day before the race and saw the course was off so my pace that year was a 6:06 so I readjusted.

Right before the gun sent us to work there was a delay at the starting line due to a timing mat issue and I had a few minutes to chat with the other runners around me.  This reminded me why this is one of my favorite races of the year.  So many of my running friends show up to this event to gauge their spring fitness and when I looked around the pack of runners I really felt at home and very relaxed... but then... BLAST!

I took off too fast (surprise surprise) which led to some unexpected race strategy changes.  About a mile in I chose to back off a bit on an incline rather than hold pace with the other two runners I was with.  In retrospect I regret that decision as I kept up with them the rest of the race just fine finishing about 10 seconds behind... not that I was trying to beat them but running in a pack is so much better than chasing from behind.  After that I was a little hard on myself mentally, really overthinking my prior year's splits and trying to do unneeded math on the run and coming up with the inevitable conclusion that I blew it... it probably took me until mile 5 to relax again but once I reached the out"skirts" of town it all came together as my kilt saved the day!  The crowd roared as my kilt flapped in the wind like Superman's cape! :)... the reaction and funny comments immediately knocked me out of my funk and I finished with my fastest mile and a smile on my face!

It wasn't until I got home when I realized I beat my 2014 PR, a race where I felt amazing from start to finish!  It was a great reminder that every run/race/challenge is it's own journey and although it might not start, continue or even finish as expected, it just might lead you to that Pot O' Gold you are searching for!... until next time...

"Stay lucky my friends"... and Happy Running!

-Cory

Giving my signature "thumbs up" as the race takes off!

Rounding the last corner, loving the support as friend's Jason Charley and RJ Montes pushed me to finish strong!

Classic American flag garage, reminds me that Iowa is a pretty darn great place to be!

2016 Dubuque Area Triathlon Club Gaelic Gallop Crew

2016 Dubuque Running Club Gaelic Gallop Crew

Rocking my home-made kilt!

Runcation Recap: Pikes Peak State Park - McGregor, Iowa

Today was what I commonly refer to as a "Runcation Day"... an occasional day I schedule off work which I spend running on the trails far away from anyone and everything.  Today's runcation came via a road trip to McGregor, Iowa where I explored the trails of Pikes Peak State Park.  

Pikes Peak is a little over an hour north of us in the town of McGregor.  The park is perched high along the Mississippi River bluffs and is known for it's views from several points along the ridge.  My journey through the park took me from end to end which clocked right over double digits for my round trip with fun and challenging trails which hugged the bluff ridges and dipped down some of the valleys making for some amazing views.  

I arrived around 9am and had the place to myself today which surprised me being such a nice day, but it is a Monday morning after all so understandable.  I wandered around aimlessly for the first mile or so until I found a park map which pointed me to the main trail-head which led north toward Point Ann which is the other far end of the park.  After reading the map I assumed it would be about a 5 mile round trip(ended up being 10 aka "Cory Math") so I left my pack back at the "General Pre"(the Corymobile) and headed on my way.  

The trails were diverse, mixing mostly dirt and grass footing with occasional crushed gravel and a section of wooden stairs strung along the south bluff.  I was cautious with the spring thaw and did have to veer off into the brush a couple times as not to leave prints in the thawing mud but overall the trails were in great shape.  Upon reaching the far end of the park I found the views to be just as great as the south end and being the north side was less accessible I found the seclusion pretty amazing.. I spent a few minutes here enjoying the sun and the silence before I jetted back.  

Other than a self-caused hard fall near the end of the run which left me with a few pretty gnarly battle wounds I had nothing but a great experience on my visit, I highly recommend giving this park a visit if you are able to!  I'm already eyeing a couple more fairly close trail systems for my next road trip so I'll keep you all in the loop!  

Until next time Happy Running and bring on the spring! - Cory

https://www.strava.com/activities/510983951

View from "The Crow's Nest" at the South side of the park.

Listened to some tunes for the first mile before I ditched the ear buds for a more natural and ultimately better run.

Can't say I was real happy when I turned the corner and saw this mess of stairs haha

I almost tried to climb down for a better picture but I haven't been in the E.R. for some time now so I'd like to keep it that way!

Sunny side of the bluff was great, you can already see some trees budding.

It's not a hill as much as a mound of opportunity!

Had to stop and look at the map a few times today, nicely marked intersections helped a ton!

Tried to get a picture hanging upside down from this sweet looking tree but after one pretty horrible attempt I moved on.

First time I actually got the timer on my action cam to work right!

... and the second time, leveled up on photo skills today! :) 

about 10 seconds before I biffed it, too busy looking around to realize the trail turned haha

Just nice to be running on solid ground again!

Cory's Mantra here... don't trip, don't trip, don't trip, don't trip!

My destination, "Point Ann" at the North end of the park 

Views on the North side are just as awesome as the South!

My Monday > Your Monday ;)

Inside I'm incredibly freaked out here standing so close the edge but it made for a nice picture so I manned up

Trail runners camo recipe - just add 10 miles to any shoes on a wet spring day.

Relaxing in the sun next to "The General Pre" before heading back to DBQ.