u/natalieksteel

I work blue collar (always have) and am a runner, I constantly feel “gross” because I’m either at work or working out lol. I recently had a friend take some pics of me at the farm (pics of me in dress) and I realized how much I felt like a fraud/not pretty. I have never put effort in to things like my hair/eyebrows/etc and don’t know where to start!! PLEASE be as brutal as you can, I struggle to even know what I actually look like most of the time!

Had so much fun with this!! @pepper_kittycat is so talented and it was great seeing both of our interpretations! Mine is on the right :)

So relaxing I love this book! Any advice on really… everything though?? I don’t know how you guys make everything look so lovely and cohesive 🤣

Holy shit!! I need to preface that I was incredibly unprepared for this race, but wanted to give my review of the Thunderbunny 50k in Athens, OH! I have never raced before (not even a 5k) so didn’t know exactly what to expect but I was blown away by how well organized this 50k was.

Setup: As a runner, the course was very well marked. You would have to try to get lost. My watch died halfway through so I didn’t know what mileage I was at and I lost the Strava map that I had downloaded but it was zero problem! The aid stations were incredibly well stocked and everyone was so nice and supportive! I don’t drink but some of them even had beer and bourbon 🤣

I had an amazing crew of supporters and they said that the info they got made it super easy for them to navigate, they had GPS coordinates to every aid station they could meet me at so it made navigating the park super easy for them!

The course: like I said, I was unprepared. It was rainy and muddy and it made for some slick mud spots. The majority of the course is single track “silt like” footing, I’ve never ran on anything like that so I was struggling with traction at points but it was still super fun! The first 15ish miles felt great but after the 50k breaks off from the 25k course I was blissfully unaware of the torture I was about to experience. There was intense elevation and climbing that I had never experienced before. The Finger Rock and Hope Drive segments killed me physically and mentally, the climbs were so steep and felt never ending and I never recovered from them. My pace dropped down to painful walking and I knew my hopes of making even a decent time on this course were gone. But I knew I wasn’t going to quit. Things settled down around the 23 mile marker and then you just have some hilly switchbacks to run to finish. Like I said, I was cooked by this point so I struggled a lot but it was still an incredible experience. It took me 9 hours to finish the course but everyone (runners and event volunteers) were so so nice and encouraging!!

Things I learned: I believed I could survive off of gels and water like I do on my training runs at home and I was incredibly wrong. After about mile 16ish I was nauseous and gels seemed disgusting so I was reliant on the food they had at aid stations. I had zero actual plan so would just eat whatever I could stomach 🤣 definitely need to lock in on my nutrition and find a better game plan. I also need to bump my weekly mileage up by a TON to feel more comfortable. I average about 25 miles a week and I feel like even just going up to 35 miles a week would’ve shaved at least an hour off of my time. But hey, learning for the future is what this is all about!! I’m very new to running and just wanted to do this as a mental battle for myself, despite my slow time I’m still super proud!!

If you’re looking for a fun, encouraging, and challenging 50k I highly recommend Thunderbunny!! All in all it was an incredible experience that both broke me down and lifted me up mentally the whole time!!