running stories

Busy Girl

2012-02-20T08:54:00.001-08:00

A lot has been happening in my belly lately. I’m 18 weeks pregnant and baby is huge! In fact, baby is big enough to clearly tell on an ultrasound…

That we are having a little girl:

She was moving all around during the ultrasound!

Stretching out:

Sucking her thumb:

Smiling?! (probably just yawning):

So cute! We are so excited. I had a “feeling” it was a girl, but not a super strong feeling or anything. And hey, I had a 50% chance of being right.

I will still get a full anatomy scan in a couple weeks when they measure all baby’s parts to make sure she is growing ok. But the sonographer told me she perused everything and that it all looks great, so there should be no surprises. Good news!

My belly is getting big!! Here I am last Friday:

Taking baby girl for a swim:

Weekly profile shot:

Compare that 18 week picture to this old one taken at 13 weeks:

I feel like my belly got a lot bigger in the last week or so. I don’t know if I look obviously pregnant and not just chubby to people that don’t know me, I haven’t had anyone comment on it out in public or anything. But my friends have definitely commented this weekend when they saw me. Emily just said “Wow.” and Deana said “Look at you! You’re so pregnant!” ha! Love it.

I am almost halfway through this pregnancy and I feel right on track with everything. I’m feeling great and am so grateful for this healthy and happy experience.

One last picture- for Valentine’s Day, Zach bought a onesie for me/baby that says “I love my mom and dad.” Cute!

We immediately put it on our fat cat (who happened to have a birthday on February 14th as well. Happy 11th birthday big man!).

Turns out he’s more of a “12 months,” this “3 months” outfit was a bit snug:

Thank you for reading. Next post will be another running update! Have a great week everyone!

Picture Perfect Weekend

2012-02-12T19:59:00.001-08:00

What a weekend! I had so much fun and got in 2 amazing runs. And after my last no-photo post, I’m making up for it here. Pictures galore!

Saturday

We drove down to Eugene to spend the day with my brother and sister in law. But my first stop was a run with a new friend! I met up with blogger buddy Lauren, at Sassy Mollassy http://justcallmesassy.blogspot.com/, and as expected we hit it off and chatted nonstop the whole time.

My talking was in between huffing-and-puffing breaths, because although it was an easy jog for speedy Lauren, we were flying by my standards!! I was feeling great though and definitely felt comfortable. But it did feel good to push a bit. I like to have one “fast” run a month or so and this definitely qualified- 5.0 miles at 10:09 pace. Weeee!

Photo proof:

Eugene run with Lauren! We covered Pre’s trail and a bit of the riverfront path:

After the great run, we spent the day with my brother and sister in law. They were in town from California for a big roller derby invitational tournament. My brother Jon is a ref, and Bri skates for the Silicon Valley Roller Girls in the Bay Area. I love derby and especially love watching these guys in action. I absolutely insist you all go out and watch a local derby bout- it’s a growing sport that needs your support! It’s way more exciting than you might expect, and is far more skilled, professional, and legit than you might imagine.

Bionic Babydoll (Bri) in action: (center)

Johnny Demonic- ref with arm up on left:

Family!

More picture-perfectness- Gorgeous sunset on the drive home:

The only bad part of the day was hearing on the way home that Whitney Houston had passed away. I loved Whitney when I was a little girl- my mom had the record and I listened to it all the time. I learned “Greatest Love of All” by heart when I was in grade school and still sing it all the time! She was absolutely one of the greatest of all time. Rest in Peace, Whitney.

Sunday

Today was quite an adventure. I drove out to the gorge with Zach, Alisa, and Alisa’s husband. We dropped Zach off at a trailhead along the way and he began his 25 mile trail run. Go Zach! He had his own adventure, of course. In the meantime, Alisa and I drove on to the Historic Columbia River Highway trail and covered all 9 miles of it (including an extra bit to hit up a restroom). Justin ran this trail too, on his own.

This trail is one of my favorites and one of the things is how different it is at all different times of year. I’ve been there lots of times, but this time was kind of crazy. The paved path was in rough shape. It was covered in fallen tree branches, rock slides, and even ice and snow. We made our way around the obstacles and carefully past the icy spots and enjoyed the journey. We walked several of the hills but cruised on the few flats and the downhills. We ended up with 9.15 miles at about a 12:30 pace! Nearly 2 hour long run, not bad for this 4 months pregnant chick.

Lots of great photos of this run:

Long run done! Momma and baby both had fun:

Delicious coffee and breakfast after:

We headed back and picked up Zach about 5 hours after he started. He encountered some extremely challenging, basically impassable terrain in the last few miles and ended up taking nearly an hour longer than he planned. This is the course he’ll be running in a few weeks, so the race directors need to figure out an alternate route or something! We’ll see what happens.

Gorge waterfall on Zach’s run:

Having fun after 20 miles:

The last couple of miles… do you see the trail? There is none. Zach said “it’s not even just like the trees had fallen, it was like a bomb went off in the forest.” This is all damage from a big snow, ice, and wind event a few weeks ago. YIKES.

That about wraps it up! Thanks for reading and looking at all my purdy pics.

Exciting baby update coming in a couple of days! Lots of good stuff has been going on. We even found out if our little gummy bear is a boy or girl! Anyone care to guess before I reveal?

Lil swimmer!

2012-02-10T15:06:00.000-08:00

I mentioned this briefly in my last post- but now I've been swimming 3 times in the last 2 weeks, which I think deserves it's very own post! I've really enjoyed these recent swims and am hoping I stay motivated to keep at it.

I feel like swimming is something pregnant women are supposed to do. All the books and websites recommend it (right after walking, of course none dare mention running) and I suppose it just makes sense, especially late in pregnancy when all you want is to feel weightless and semi-normal. So, I felt like I should start swimming so I could be a proper pregnant person!

It had been a couple months since I'd gone swimming (and really I'd only gone swimming maybe a dozen times in 2011 total) so I was a little rusty. One key that got me back in the pool: finding a swimsuit that FIT. My old Ironman two-piece was embarrassingly tight and my not-yet-popped tummy just looked gross in it. Alisa loaned me one of her full-piece suits and I'm loving it. I am going to try a 2-piece again, just need one that actually fits.

My first time back I was surprised to feel totally normal and just like my "old self" in the pool! In fact, when timing a single lap, I was barely any slower than before! Very unlike running, where I'm 1-2 minutes per mile slower than before. (Um, to be fair, I was a rather slow swimmer to begin with) In that first workout, I was just so proud of myself for showing up that I considered it a big success. I swam 1,000 yards with a mix of freestyle and breastroke. It took me about 25 minutes of swimming and I was probably in the pool an additional 10 minutes, resting and feeling proud of myself (and of course rubbing my belly affectionately, so no one thought it was a beer gut).

A few days later, I was back and I had a GOAL! I was going to swim 200's. No idea where I got this. I ended up doing 3 of these repeats with easy breastroke 100's in between, and minimal rest, and WOW that was a wake up call. When swimming the 200's I would be tired by the first 100 and the last 100 was a sloppy strugglefest. Not pretty! I realized that while a 50 might take me my usual 1:00-1:05 ish, when I string together more than one I slow way down and my form falls apart. I have zero endurance! It's amazing to think I swam 4,000 yards without stopping a couple years ago (in training a couple times, and in the Ironman). I ended up doing 1,000 total again in about 25 minutes (mix of free and breast) but with way less rest, maybe 5 minutes total.

Then? I went again! Look at me!! I had the day off work (ahem, hookey) and that time I went nuts and swam 1,200 yards. I did the 200's again and while they were just as hard, I was a smidge faster. Then I did some sets of pulling which was fun! That whole workout took me about 28 minutes (plus a few minutes of rest). I am certainly not fast but that's fine! I think I'll get a little faster with practice, but who cares. I am having fun!

Speaking of swimming.... the baby inside of me is definitely doing some amniotic-fluid ballet and today for the first time I really could feel it for sure!! It is SO weird, but I love it. :)

Back with more updates soon! I'm doing a couple runs this weekend that are destined to be awesome- one is with a blogger that I'll be meeting in person for the first time (!!!) and the other is a long run with Alisa on one of the most scenic trails in Oregon! Also back with some pictures of said runs and my growing gut!

Have a wonderful weekend friends.

Random with a theme

2012-02-04T08:56:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago I was tagged by Kristen with that fun 11 things thing going around. I did not do it! Big surprise. I'm going to do a version of it as a way of sharing the mish-mash of thoughts floating around my skull!

11 random things (mostly about being pregnant) with lots of exclamation points.

1) Running! is still going well! I have been running 4 days a week and did 8 miles last weekend with Alisa. It was gorgeous and such great company. I'm still slow, and getting slower, but feeling good. That's what matters.

2) Bumpdate! (bump update)- I feel like it's huge but it weirdly doesn't show as much in photos. So weird. I'm definitely getting bigger though. And I love it!

3) Flutter Watch! I'm on high alert for any kind of fetus movement. Apparently he/she is thrashing around like mad in there, and soon I should be able to feel it. Twice this week I've had "maybe" movement but it was probably just gas. Could be a couple more weeks before it's obvious. Who knows. All the descriptions are useless and weird "bubbles popping, butterflies fluttering, goldfish swimming." How the F do you know how a goldfish swimming FEELS? Stop describing it to me! I'm just going to wait for a full on kung-fu kick where I can see the footprint before I can say for sure.

4) SUN! nice weather in the northwest this week and weekend! Sunny and low 50's. It's blowing my mind. I'm determined to run in shorts this weekend sometime.

5) Swimming! I did it! I went swimming for the first time in 2 months. It was great. I swam 1000 yards with lots of breaks. I did about half freestyle and half breastroke (love me some breastroke). I am surprisingly NOT much slower than when I was training regularly and not pregnant. I was rather slow to begin with, that might be it. I'm definitely going to keep swimming as often as I can. Once a week is good!

6) Umm! Totally lost my train of thought. This happens a lot. Of course it always has, I'm kind of an airhead. But I get to blame everything on being pregnant: being an airhead, being lazy, being awful to my husband, being a slow runner, eating as much as I want, etc.

7) Television! I've watched a LOT of TV since I have been pregnant. No two-a-day workouts or beer-drinking means lots of couch time with the Roku. Especially the first few weeks, it's getting slightly less now. Anyway, what I've been watching: Mad Men (re-watched the entire series), Downton Abbey, AFV (America's Funniest Home Videos- it's streaming on Netflix, folks. It's just basically You-tube and it makes me laugh a lot. That's got to be good for baby!), Walking Dead, Battlestar Gallactica (those last two are Zach pics but I'm into them). I've also been playing a LOT of Jetpack Joyride on my iPhone. It's so fun, you gotta check it out. The guy's name is Barry Steakfries. BARRY STEAKFRIES!

8) Oh ya! I remember what I was going to say before. After that awesome swim session, I actually went bowling with Zach and his bowling buddies! I can't believe I actually went out and did something social on a wednesday night. I was very proud of myself.

9) Ultra-husband! Zach is going strong with his training- last weekend he did a 24 mile long run in Forest Park, and this weekend is doing 10 and 20 back to back. Every weekend brings some kind of craziness. His first race of the ultra season is late March, a 50k out in the gorge. Then he's doing a 40 miler in April, and a 50 miler in May. NUTS. Between him, Alisa's husband (who has been a great training partner for Zach), and Aron, I feel surrounded by crazies. I figure they are running enough miles for all of us, and I am more than content with my 20 mpw.

10) Umm! 11 things is hard.

11) Well I did my best. Gotta get ready and head to prenatal yoga and then running in the sunshine! Have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for stopping by! :)

Running for Two

2012-01-25T20:05:00.001-08:00

Thanks for all the comments and congratulations! Telling my friends has definitely been fun, and the blog and facebook reveals were just as gratifying as I'd hoped. I love the attention, however fleeting.

I am really interested in sharing details about running during pregnancy, so this will be the first of many posts on the topic. I know I won't be doing weekly updates (sadly, my blog hasn't been updated that often in months) so I won't bother with general pregnancy updates. If you want to know where the baby is at developmentally, or what gross symptoms I am having, check out www.babycenter.com or a similar website. I'll always post how many weeks pregnant I am and it's easy to look up online. I will certainly post lots of belly shots, because who doesn't love that.

So, running! Let's recap.

Weeks 0-4 (not really pregnant/didn't know I was pregnant yet/beat up from overtraining)

I got pregnant right after running the Portland Marathon on October 9th. I took a couple weeks off to recover, and got knocked up during that time. I started running again, but it was slow and my body felt wrecked. I had soreness and aches all over and felt like garbage. I pushed my body through that marathon 4 weeks after running my first "ultra" (a solo 31 miler) and it was all too much. I allowed myself the time to recover, which was a piece of cake because I didn't even WANT to run. I was completely burnt out.

This was perfect! Yes, this was exactly what I planned. I ran a ton all summer and did two big events basically back-to-back in a specific effort to run myself into the ground. I knew when I got pregnant I would have a long break from racing and I wanted to need it. Or needed to want it. Whatever. It completely worked.

After a couple weeks off, I was out running again but my pace had tanked. Running trails all summer had slowed me down in general, and the post-marathon break sealed the deal. I think I managed a couple 5 milers around 9:45 pace and was at my limit. As my soreness finally faded, I was happy to run short, easy runs but my pace stayed in that range.

I passed on participating in the Silver Falls Trail Half Marathon because I knew I wasn't up for the distance. I was pregnant but didn’t know it yet. It's funny to look back on how much I struggled with that decision, when it seems so obvious now! I went and cheered for Zach and did a 4.5 mile run on my own (9:53 pace).

3 weeks pregnant?

Weeks 5-7 (I'm pregnant! Recovered and feeling good!)

I found out I was pregnant on November 12. Yay! We were excited. Zach and I went running together that day, at 4 weeks pregnant: 4.1 miles at 9:25 pace. Weee!

I was feeling recovered from the marathon and feeling good on my runs. Now that I knew I was pregnant, I was purposefully taking it easy. I have read up on running during pregnancy, and while the 140 heart rate limit is officially outdated, the message is still the same- take it easy! No problem. I ran slowly but didn't really take many walk breaks or anything. My body felt pretty tired and my breathing was definitely a bit more labored, but not too bad. When we traveled down to San Diego for Thanksgiving I had a couple good runs, and one crappy one. At 6 weeks pregnant, I did 6 miles along the beach at a 9:40 pace, but also slogged through a 3 miler at 11:17 pace the next day.

I was running 3-4 times a week for around 15-20 mpw total. I was doing about 6 miles for my "long" run. My pace was right in that 10:00 ish range for the most part and I wasn't needing many walking breaks. I actually felt good, just slow.

On December 3rd, at 7 weeks pregnant, I "ran" a very challenging 7 mile trail race. I didn't write a report because I thought people would guess that I was pregnant. Haha. I walked about half of the course, which was really hilly (1,400 ft of gain, mainly in one climb). According to my Garmin, I ran 6.6 miles in 1:38 (14:53 pace). Zach ran it in 54 minutes, finishing 15th out of 209. I finished 185th.

Weeks 8-15 (Slowing down, but going longer)

We had our first doctor appointment on December 14th, when I was 8.5 weeks pregnant. At this appointment we saw the healthy little gummy bear on the ultrasound, and I asked all my questions about everything. Including running. My doctor said "as long as it feels ok, it's ok." I told her I'd been running 6 miles at the most and would it be ok to run a little further than that if it felt ok and she said "Sure." (She's very laid back)

After that appointment, I bumped up my weekend long run. At 9 weeks pregnant, I ran 7.0 miles at 10:10 pace. I had such a runner's high! I felt like I'd just won a marathon. It was awesome. My weekend runs became, and have remained the highlight of my week. I've increased the distance a bit but not every week. Details:

10 weeks pregnant: 8.0 miles at 10:30 pace
11 weeks pregnant: 8.0 miles at 10:14 pace
12 weeks pregnant: 8.1 miles at 11:22 pace (with Alisa!)
13 weeks pregnant: 8.2 miles at 11:39 pace (with Alisa again!)
14 weeks pregnant: 10.0 miles at 10:55 pace

But, while the weekend runs were going great, my weekday runs were a different story. I was so tired that it was a huge chore to drag myself out the door after work at all. I have established a handful of 3-3.75 mile routes that I do twice a week. I think I have only run more than 4 miles maybe 4 times on a weeknight in two months. I don't know why I don't notice it as much on weekend days, but on weeknights I feel so tired, heavy, sluggish. My breathing is labored, I sound like I'm sprinting when I'm running an 11:00 pace! It's HARD work. So to take it "easy" I have to reeeeeally slow down (and it's still hard). My neighborhood is rather hilly so I walk on the hills. And my definition of "hill" has certainly changed, so I'm walking a lot. My pace on weeknight runs has drifted to about 11:00 average for these 3-ish milers.

Even with the weeknight runs being rough, I’ve been getting out there. I’ve run 4 days a week consistently for the past several week, with a weekly total of about 18-20 miles.

Cross-training?

I have also started going to prenatal yoga, and I still to Yin yoga once a week too. My best friend Inga just sent me a prenatal yoga DVD that I want to start doing once a week too. I love the way yoga feels and I feel like it is going to bring me a lot of peace and strength in my pregnancy.

I aspire to do some swimming too, but have only been like twice since I got pregnant. Part of that is that my only swimsuits are little (now TOO little) two-pieces. I finally got a swimming suit that fits, so I want to go soon!

I’m certainly not overdoing it though, believe me. I usually have two days completely off. And on days I work out, I generally spend the rest of the day resting. I’m very thankful that Zach does almost all the cooking and cleaning and that I get to spend so much time resting on the couch. I do what I can, but it’s not much. As I said in my last post, most of my energy goes to working full-time and getting regular exercise. It takes a little extra energy but I still do get out and socialize sometimes!

Food, Weight, Body Changes

One last thing I will mention is my diet. Since I never had serious morning sickness or many food aversions in my first trimester, I have been able to eat a healthy diet consistently. I do eat more now, I’m always hungry! But I eat the same healthy meals and snacks I was eating before, with a couple additions. I bring my own food to work every day and Zach and I rarely eat out. So in summary, I eat a lot, but it’s mostly healthy.

I’ve gained about 6 pounds so far, which is average. I should gain about a pound a week for the rest of the pregnancy! I kind of love it. I like seeing my belly grow. I bought and inherited some maternity pants which are amazing, because I outgrew my regular pants weeks ago. I am sure I’ll have some issues or complaints with my expanding body at some point, but that’s ok. Everyone is different, and I just have to remember that my body is doing what it needs. I can’t really control it, I can just do my best to be healthy and take care of myself and my gummy bear.

That’s it for now! Thank you for reading. Please let me know if you have any specific questions or things you’d like to hear more about. I know I always found this stuff really interesting, so I want to be as helpful as I can be to others.

One big 2012 goal

2012-01-22T13:52:00.001-08:00

July 21st-ish, give birth to a healthy baby:

We sent this ultrasound picture to our parents on Christmas, they were so surprised and thrilled:

10 miles in Forest Park with my new running buddy:

Ultrasound taken at 8 1/2 weeks on December 14th. Belly picture taken at 12 weeks on January 7th. Running pictures taken today, January 22nd, at 14 weeks.

So much more to come, but I couldn’t wait any longer to make the announcement! I’m in the second trimester so figured the time was right.

I’m feeling great, still running quite a bit (slow!), and we are so excited. We were trying, but were lucky to get pregnant right away. We’ll find out if it’s a boy or girl in a few weeks!

Zach has been amazing, no surprise there. He’s in full training for a string of 3 ultras this spring and still taking care of things around the house and letting me rest a lot. I do what I can but most of my energy goes to going to work and getting regular exercise.

It’s been incredible so far and I can’t wait to share the details with you all. I know I won’t get around to updates every single week, but will do my best.

YAY!

New Years at Cannon Beach

2012-01-07T18:31:00.001-08:00

For the New Year’s holiday weekend, we rented a beautiful house right on the beach with a group of our closest friends. We spent most of the weekend visiting, playing tons of board games, and eating amazing food. On New Year’s Day all of us girls went for a 2 mile walk on the beach together, and we all did yoga later in the house while the guys were playing poker. There was plenty of drinking too, of course. Overall it was a very refreshing, renewing, joyful way to ring in the new year.

It was so gorgeous, I have to share some pictures. The house looked right onto Haystack Rock, so picturesque at all times of day.

December 31, 2011:

January 1, 2012

2011 in Review

2011-12-29T18:45:00.001-08:00

It was a great year. It really was. There were certainly rough spots, but we made it through that and came out stronger, happier, and more grateful than ever.

I don’t even really know what to say… I haven’t been blogging much lately and I think my writing muscles are rusty. Last year I had a lovely recap of my New Year perspective, and I just can’t come up with anything like that right now. Although reading through that, I did pretty good with my 2011 goals! I stayed centered and positive, I spent time outdoors, with friends, family, and with my super husband. I ran a bunch! I really had a great year. For 2012, I want to do all of that again, and more. I have so much to be grateful for and will not let a day pass by without remembering that. Life is good.

Here are a few photos from the blog that highlight the beauty and adventure of 2011. Going back to find these I am just so happy about all the good times we had. I had to skip over a lot to only pick one picture per month! But that’s a good thing. An overabundance of joy:

January:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

December:

Happy New Year! Have a safe and fun holiday!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T15:52:00.001-08:00

I have been such a slacker with posting, but couldn’t let the holiday go by without sending out a Christmas greeting to all of you. I hope you have a wonderful holiday and enjoy lots of delicious food, time with friends and family, and all your favorite traditions.

It’s my favorite time of year and this year is no different. It was so fun to decorate our house- it’s our first Christmas since we moved in! Zach hung lights outside, we got a big tree, and put up lots of decorations.

No big race reports or training to report- I’ve been enjoying this cut-back phase since the Portland Marathon and am feeling great. I’m still running consistently 3-4 times a week and doing yoga. No races on the schedule but am starting to think of signing up for at least a shorter distance in the next couple of months. Zach is already full into his training for a spring and summer of crazy ultra marathons- a 50k in March, a 40 miler in April, and a 50 miler in May! I’ll have more details on those races as they approach. He’s loving it.

Well I have a bunch of photos from the last few weeks but I’ll limit myself to ones I took today, Christmas Eve. I started the day with a lovely 8 mile run in Forest Park, then spent the afternoon recovering and lounging around. I busted out the violin for my annual Christmas recital (so rusty!) and now Zach is in the kitchen getting dinner ready. I have to go pick up Deana and Dana so I better get going! Merry Christmas everyone, and Happy New Year!!! :)

San Diego

2011-11-28T18:01:00.001-08:00

So much sunshine! Here are a few pictures. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

Thanksgiving dinner at the 94th Aero Squadron:

Friday trip up the coast to meet with Maritza and Mario:

Saturday Mission Beach run:

1 year after their motorcycle accident, Melanie and William renewed their vows with a simple ceremony and reception:

What a great trip. So much to be thankful for, indeed. We are very blessed.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-20T17:48:00.001-08:00

I am thankful for my friends and family. I am surrounded by so much love.

I am thankful for our beautiful home, our jobs, and the life we have made here in Portland. It is a perfect place to live.

I am thankful for my health and my happiness. I will not take it for granted.

I am thankful for Zach, my wonderful partner for 14 years.

I am thankful for running. I am thankful, specifically, for running in Forest Park.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Where I’m At

2011-11-06T10:05:00.001-08:00

After the big summer of racing, things around here have settled down. It’s been really nice. I have found a level of contentment, not complete by any means, but a level of comfort that I have been seeking for a long time. I have no big races on the schedule and don’t plan on signing up for anything. It is such a relief and it’s exactly what I need right now.

I've been pushing myself for about 6 years non-stop with running marathons, doing triathlons, striving, striving, striving. The last couple of years (post-Ironman) I've definitely found a better balance, integrating yoga and worrying less about speed. But I still ran marathons and ultra-distance trail runs, and worked toward my limits. Right now, I’m over it. I don't want to race or push that hard for a while. I want to do yoga, go for easy runs, hike, walk, whatever. I’ll definitely stay active and try to keep a good base so when I get the itch to race again, I won’t have to dig myself out of a massive hole.

A lot of this is just a feeling, but there is a physical aspect too. I took a couple weeks off after the Portland Marathon, but it wasn't enough. Random aches and pains pop up every time I run. I struggled through that trail race and have felt slow and sore on the short runs I've done since. A month post-marathon my body is demanding some more rest and recovery, which is totally reasonable. I’m definitely improving but it’s taking a while.

I don't know, maybe this is just a phase. Maybe I'll get sick of yoga and 5 mile runs and sign up for a half marathon or something. I am open to that! We’re signed up for a few short trail races over the winter which will be fun no matter how slow I am, and I will definitely post race reports.

I do have a bunch of great photos that I never got around to posting, so here is a random collection! Working backwards-

Yesterday Zach ran the Silver Falls Half Marathon. We both ran this race last year, and I was signed up to run yesterday. But, like I said, it was just too much for me and I decided to DNS. Better than a DNF! I know I keep gushing about how great I think Zach is, but yesterday he seriously blew me away. He beat his time from last year by 8 minutes and finished in 1:32:51. On this:

That’s a 7:05 pace, on a challenging trail course. The field was much faster this year, he finished 26th overall with a much faster time versus 21st last year. It’s such a fun and beautiful race, I was sorry to miss it. I did go down there with him though to cheer and take pictures. I also went for a short run on the bike paths around the park while he was out running. I barely made it back in time to see him finish.

Start- 37 degrees and drizzling:

Mile 3:

My run:

Are you kidding me:

Post race chili by the fire:

Congrats Zach! You make me sick!

Another fun set of pictures- we went to Montana last month to visit our family. Everyone is doing really good and it was a very nice visit. The fall colors in Montana were so beautiful:

Me and my dad:

Zach went for a 10 mile run on the Helena Ridge Trail:

While I went for a hike with Zach’s parents:

Mom and Dad, they love their NASCAR:

Zach and his momma:

Helena, Montana:

It has been beautiful here too- a shot from Forest Park last weekend:

And finally, how about this great finisher photo from the Portland Marathon:

Thanks for stopping by!

Portland Trail Series Report

2011-10-28T20:31:00.001-07:00

This last week we completed the final race in the inaugural Portland Trail Series. The races were held on the various trails in Forest Park every other Wednesday night at 6:15 from late August through late October, with 5 races total. At only $50 for the series, it was a bargain! And we can't get enough of Forest Park, so of course we were in. Zach and I signed up and our friend Justin (Alisa's husband) did too. The way it works is you earn points for every race and they use your best 4 scores to rank you overall. It was neat to see the same people out there and to get to know a few new faces.

Unfortunately, I only completed 3 races so I was out of the overall running. The series spans a big chunk of most people's peak training, so it was interesting to see how people's performance changed each time. For me, the races caught me right after my two big events (the 50k run and the Portland Marathon) as well as one in the middle of my training where I was in top shape. To be able to place in the overall rankings, it is important to be able to actually run all of them. Sounds obvious, but it is surprisingly difficult!

The time span of the races also includes a pretty significant change of seasons... August had warm weather, green leaves , and full sunlight. By this week we were racing in tights, among fallen leaves, in the PITCH BLACK. Another big factor!

Race #1- August 31- No report. We missed the first race because it fell in the middle of our vacation in Central Oregon. Justin was also out of town that week running a 50k.

Race #2 September 14
5.18 miles, 877 ft elevation gain

This race was 4 days after my big 31 miler. I was actually feeling pretty recovered but planned to take it easy. That plan went out the window when the race started. I got caught up and had a blast running hard. I discovered that among the mid-pack ladies I actually am a pretty strong climber! I was happy to pass quite a few gals up the big hill. They caught up to me on the flat and downhill, but I turned my burners on and dropped the pack I was running with in the steep downhill at the end. The last quarter mile was on Leif Erickson which is a slightly downhill dirt road, and that stretch is home to my fastest running of all time, so I was loving it. Eat my dust!

47:39 (9:12 pace)
5/18 AG (30-39), 10/31 Females, 43/67 overall

Race #3 September 28
4.97 miles, 645 ft elevation gain

My second race of the series fell at a great time for me training-wise. I was all recovered from the 50k run and tuning up for the Portland Marathon. I used this race as speed work. We got off to a rocky start- Zach and I picked Justin up and we were running very late... we literally parked and ran up to the start as they were counting down. Good warm up I guess! I grabbed my race number and folded it up and shoved it in my bra. I'm sure the guy at the finish line liked that. Hehe. It was less hilly with just the one climb so it was a fast race. It felt like a 5k. There was a girl trailing me the whole time but I could tell she was working hard to keep up so it didn't bother me. I eventually asked her how old she was, ha! She said 27 so I welcomed her to tag along. I dropped her as I bombed down the Wild Cherry trail again and sprinted to the finish on Leif. Weee!

40:28 (8:08 pace)
6/16 AG, 10/27 Females, 38/58 overall

Race #4- October 12 -No report. This was 3 days after my marathon and I was way too sore. My foot was feeling better but I still had some pain and I knew there was no way I could run. I ended up taking off two full weeks so this was obviously way too soon. I hated to miss it, especially because I knew it took me out of the running for the series standings. Even though I had finished 5th and 6th in my Age Group in the previous races, the girls who finished ahead of me were not necessarily doing all the races and weren't going for the series points. Plus, one girl was the overall leader and was therefore out of the AG rankings. Anyway... woulda, coulda, shoulda, etc. Zach and Justin ran the race and had a blast. It was 8 miles and got very dark by the end, sounds exciting! I stayed home and made fall crafts.

Race #5 October 26
5.37 miles, 896 ft elevation gain

The final race was this past Wednesday. It was twilight as we lined up at 6:15 and dark already in the forest. As the race went on, it managed to get even darker and became pitch black. It was SO weird! Everyone had headlamps. I had only run one time since the marathon and that was only 3 miles. My foot is better but I'm just still feeling a little achy and sore all over. My body is still very much in recovery mode, so I went into this race knowing I needed to go easy. Since I was out of the running for series points, that was fine. It kind of stung though to hang back as the faces I'd gotten familiar with ran past me. Whatever! Not only was I nursing a sore body, the dark was a total factor. It was a trip. I ran really slow and careful and just tried not to fall. My ankle and hip hurt quite a bit, especially on the downhills. I was running so slow I didn't feel like I was breathing hard at all, except on the climbs. It was weird. When we hit the Leif Erickson trail I did run faster but didn't push too much.

55:03 (10:15 pace)
9/13 AG, 13/22 Females, 38/49 overall

After this last race we headed down to the Lucky Lab, a local brewery with good food, for the post-series party and awards banquet. It was super fun! The people were all really nice and it was cool to acknowledge everyone's hard work.

I should go back and point out some of Zach's highlights from the series. He did so good. So good!

    Race #2- 8th place, 6:59 pace

    Race #3- 11th place, 6:21 pace

    Race #4- (The race I skipped, it was 8 miles with plenty of climbing) 11th place, 7:05 pace

    Race #5- 6th place, 7:01 pace.

That's overall place, not Age Group. Of course a lot of the guys in the 30-39 AG are super fast, so I think he generally finished about 5th or 6th in his AG. But as I pointed out before, a couple of those guys weren't in the series points race, and two of them were top finishers overall. In the end, drumroll please.......

Zach placed 3rd in his AG for the Portland Trail Race Series!!! And that's among a field of really fast guys (ahem, like Justin! who finished a couple spots back). Yay Zach! He won a nice Nathan fuel belt and got a nice round of applause as he collected his prize. I was so proud!!

He has really found his place in trail running and continues to improve. It's pretty amazing actually. He is both fast AND an excellent trail runner/climber and really stands to be competitive in some of these local races. He nearly finished in the top 10 of his first 50k for cryin out loud! He's very talented and it's cool to watch. Of course I'm a little bitter about him stealing my thunder and all that, but what are you gonna do. He's supported me for years of racing and I'm happy to let him have the spotlight.... for a while.

The race director said they are looking to put on a spring trail series next year, so you bet we'll be signing up! I can't wait. :)

A few pictures:

Trail in the light:

Trail in the dark:

Zach going to retrieve his award (bad picture):

Major Award! Nathan Fuel Belt for 3rd Place in AG:

Raffle prizes- we all got socks!

Trail running buddies- Justin, Zach, and me:

Thanks for reading!

Portland Marathon Race Report

2011-10-11T19:23:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I ran my 10th marathon here in Portland. It was my first time running the Portland Marathon and it was a race I will definitely be running again. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing event right here at my doorstep! I would recommend this race to anyone- the course was fast but interesting, the crowd support was phenomenal, and the weather was perfect. I got to enjoy all this, plus the benefit of having dinner at home and a full night's sleep in my own bed. PLUS I knew a bunch of people that were also running the race and a ton of friends were out cheering at multiple places on the course! It was a perfect setup for a great race.

Background

I signed up for this race in a frenzy of peer pressure a few months ago. It was definitely a gamble. My focus all summer was trail running, specifically training for a 50k run on my birthday. Zach and I did almost all our runs on the trails and I built up spectacular endurance. I ended up running a solo 31 miler on my birthday in 6 hours and 19 minutes, and finished with a huge smile on my face and felt great. My pace was just over 12:00 which was my goal and the pace at which I did most of those long, hilly, beautiful trail runs. From time to time I ran with Zach and would run a 9:00-10:00 pace, but that was about as speedy as it got on the trails. I kept my overall mileage pretty low and focused on those epic long runs. I didn't even have a Garmin for the summer and was feeling very free and relaxed. I really found a love of trail running this summer.

The Portland Marathon fell one month exactly after that 50k run. Thankfully I recovered quickly and only took a couple days off, and was able to squeeze in some "marathon training" in the following 4 weeks. I made a point to stay OFF the trails and get my legs used to pounding the pavement again. I also tried my darndest to whip some speed into my legs. So long free-running forest girl, hello intervals and pace analysis. I got a new Garmin (I'd lost my old one at the Cascade Lakes Relay), busted out my road running shoes, put on my game face, and crammed for this race.

It was interesting. Obviously 4 weeks isn't sufficient to "train" for a marathon, but coming off that big base of endurance I figured it was enough time to fine-tune a bit. I still only ran about 35 miles per week but plugged in some speedwork and marathon-pace stuff. It was definitely a wake up call. Once I did some 800's and could barely hold a 7:30 pace where I used to run closer to 6:30 pace for those. Ouch. On GA or Long runs, I struggled to get my pace under 9:00. I was feeling good, just didn't have the speed (You'll hear this sentence again later). The road did take a bit of a toll on my legs- I noticed shin splints and other soreness that I hadn't dealt with all summer. I was reminded why I had backed off from road running/racing. But, I was signed up for this thing, and with no valid excuse not to, I was going to run it.

Goals

As I mentioned in my previous post, I had no idea. I was hoping for under 3:55 (my slowest time) or at least a sub-4. But I didn't know- maybe some speed would appear and I would have a great day, or maybe I would fall apart and crawl in. I had been dealing with a pain in my right foot all week and had only run twice all week in hopes of it feeling better, so that was a factor for me too. My main goal was to finish my 10th marathon and have fun.

Pre-Race

I went to the race expo Friday after work. It was just a few blocks from my office - so nice! There weren't many people there so I really got to enjoy it. It was a great expo- one of the best I've been to! They had a huge merchandise section with really nice stuff and not overpriced. I got a pint glass and a t-shirt with the marathon logo. I got some samples and visited with a few vendors.

At one table I noticed the sign said "Legends of running" and who do I see standing there but my old friend, Bill Rodgers!! I'd met him at the 2007 Boston Marathon, so we go way back. There were just a couple people at the table so I wandered over and just listened in on his conversation. He was talking about one of his legendary classic races with another older runner- it was great. I started chatting with a gal standing there and found out it was Bill's girlfriend! She was so nice. She told me about her family there and we talked about running. She was asking about places to run besides the waterfront so I mentioned Forest Park. She said, "Oh you should tell Bill about that..." so as soon as he was done talking with the other guy, I shook his hand and filled him in on Forest Park. He hasn't spent much time in Portland at all and hadn't heard of Forest Park. I gave him directions and told him about the Leif Erickson trail. I could have died!! Telling one of the best marathoners in American history about one of the best running routes in the Northwest! It was seriously a moment I will never forget. So cool!! He signed my bib and wished me luck. I finally picked up my goodie bag- which included a nice technical t-shirt. Which is in addition to the finisher's shirt you get after the race! Two shirts! I shoved everything into my reusable goodie bag and practically skipped to the bus stop.

Since I hit up the expo on Friday, I had all day Saturday to chill out at home. It was a gorgeous day with lots of sun. I got my race stuff ready first, and then I walked up to the bagel shop, met up with Alisa and walked with her and her puppy for a bit, then went and got a pedicure. I ate lunch in my garden and read for a couple of hours. Finally I did some chores, Zach made a delicious pasta dinner and I took a bath. Perfect! I have only ever slept in my own bed ONE time before a marathon and that was my first one in San Francisco. It was great. I slept like a baby and woke up a little before the alarm at 4:00 am.

Race Day

I ate oatmeal and a half a piece of toast and checked the weather. It had rained overnight but had stopped, and the temperature was in the upper 50's. It looked like it might drizzle a bit but no heavy rain, and no chance of the sun coming out. Good! Zach had his support-crew bag loaded up and put his bike on the car- he would be riding all over the course getting pics, cheering me and our friends on, and passing off water bottles to me. We left the house about 5:40. We drove to our friend's apartment downtown, where we used to live (that's how we met them). I used their bathroom and we all walked to the start together at about 6:15. It was our good friends Brant and Emily, and their friends from out of town, Laura and Colin. All of us were running the marathon, and besides Emily, it was everyone's first. So exciting!! I felt like such a veteran and really enjoyed sharing their pre-race moments. So cute.

It was really crowded as we got toward the start - so many runners! I think 15,000 total (the half had a couple thousand). They had a pretty good corral system going so we all split off and hugged and said good luck. Laura and I were in the same corral "B." We found the porto-potty line in our area and chatted while we waited. We made it with just a couple minutes to spare. (after letting a Wave "A" guy go ahead of us, he was cutting it super close and needed to warmup because his goal was 2:40! Go him!) She revealed her super-secret goal to me- to run a 3:30! WOW! I had put 3:40 on my entry form (hey, this was months ago and I was playing the odds) so I was in her wave. I ended up kind of regretting this decision because I was passed by a LOT of people. Which is never fun. Laura went with the 3:30 pace group and I wished her luck and moved back.

Finally, our wave was off. There were tons of people around me, the downtown lights were twinkling, I could already hear the first band ahead, and the energy was amazing. I was totally in the moment and feeling so blessed. I didn't know what to expect for a finish time, but I knew it was going to be a fun day.

The Race

( Click here for link to Course Map and Profile)

Miles 1-5

It was crowded, and for the first few hundred yards, I was mainly focusing on not tripping on someone's feet. There were puddles, manhole covers, and train tracks to dodge as well. The first mile was downhill-y and flew by. We made a couple of turns through downtown and it all felt very urban and exciting. This was the first time I've ever run a race where I was super familiar with the area- it was weird! There were several cool bands and dj's all along the course and in the first few miles it seemed they were non-stop. As soon as one fell out earshot a new musician could be heard.

I had lined up around the 3:40 pace group (because I was too lazy to work my way farther back in the corral) and generally felt like everyone was moving a little faster than me. I let that happen. I was so caught up in the moment and not too focused on my pace. I was hoping for 8:30's-8:40's, at least in the early miles, but I knew a crowded start and a couple hills could slow me at times.

We made our way down to Naito Parkway- the wide road along the Willamette River. I saw Alisa and Lisa right around mile 3. The first of many, many friends I would see along the course. I was in with the 3:40 people at that moment and I hoped they didn't think that meant anything about my pace. The 3:40 group pulled away quickly. We made our way up a gradual hill which I was very familiar with, but the turn to head down hill came quicker than I thought. A nice surprise! The downhill was long and I opened up a bit, loving the speed. It was the fastest I'd run all day. There was a neat band on a pedestrian overpass and we all waved up at them.

I was carrying a regular plastic water bottle that Zach had outfitted with a duct tape handle- we've done this a few times and it's the awesomest. I reminded myself to drink a bit at each mile and was glad to avoid the aid stations which were crowded. I ate a Gu at mile 5.

Oh, and just past the 5 mile marker, I almost got stopped by a train! Ha! It was pretty awesome. I'm sure if I was fast or more invested in this race I would have been bothered by it, but I thought it was cool. I am stopped by trains at that spot all the time and I knew it was a possibility today too. It's all part of the fun. I didn't actually have to stop though- people just ahead of me did, but by the time I reached the gates they were going up and people we moving though again. It was only about a minute or so (it was an Amtrak) so I don't think I would have cared. I've been stopped by freight trains for 20 minutes at that spot before!

Mile 1: 8:48
Mile 2: 9:09 - slight hill
Mile 3: 9:05 - slight hill
Mile 4: 8:34 (average) - up then down
Mile 5: 8:34 (average) – down

Miles 6-10

After the initial excitement faded away and I was less distracted, I noticed something Not Good. My right foot was hurting. This was the pain that had bothered me some for the last week or so, but I really didn't expect it to crop up this early in the race. It was quite sore... like a 4 on a scale of 1-10. This worried me. I couldn't imagine that it was going to get better, and was scared to think how it was going to feel in an hour, two hours... I realized that this might end entirely differently than I'd ever imagined- I might have to drop out. This was the LOW point for sure. I knew I was ok at the moment and told myself just to take it mile by mile. Don't make any decisions now.

Besides my foot, I was feeling kind of meh in this stretch anyway. I wasn't running fast and knew I wouldn't be speeding up. The crowd of runners was also still moving past me which was discouraging. I should have started further back. I was doing a really even pace but it was slower than the paces around me. I was generally just really aware of how far I had to run still and was not into it.

I did get to see lots of friends- I saw Zach right after mile 5, then I saw Tommy and Madeline, and then I saw Anne right after that. This stretch was flat, flat, flat and along the boring industrial section. It was an out-and-back which was cool because we got to see the race leaders. I was calling out people's names and the woman next to me complimented my eyesight. I yelled "Go Katherine" and then immediately realized that is Aron's friend Katie! She ended up finishing in just over 3 hours- amazing. I got to see Brant, Emily, and Laura too (she was still with the 3:30 pace group). There was a great DJ along this stretch with a crazy guy dancing on the top of this painted bus. Yay Portland. As we finished the out-and-back and made our turn into Northwest I saw Anne, Zach, Tommy, and Madeline again and gave them high-fives.

Mile 6: 8:33 (rest of downhill, then flat)
Mile 7: 9:01
Mile 8: 8:56
Mile 9: 8:52
Mile 10: 8:57

Miles 11-15

My foot wasn't getting any worse really and I tried to put it out of my mind. I decided that I had to shake off the bad attitude and set about enjoying this race. I figured it wasn't going to be a fast one, but I could at least have a good time. I let go of any real pace goals and just kept moving forward. We wound through the Northwest neighborhood and there were a lot of people. People were calling my name out all day - either the "Jennifer" on my bib or the "Jen" on my shirt. That was fun! I saw Sarah and Michael and ran over to high-five them.

It was kind of hilly through here but it went by quickly. After a couple of miles of that neighborhood, the route spit us out on Highway 30 where we would stay for several miles to the bridge. This stretch was pretty boring but not bad- Forest Park is on the left and far ahead in the mist you could see the St. John's Bridge. It's definitely got that highway-feel though. I saw Zach again and told him my foot hurt, which somehow helped. Just to get it out there.

I was surprised to see my friend Emily come running by me! I stayed with her for a mile or so and we chatted a bit. She had started out really fast (like just over 8:00 pace) and was slowing down. She was still faster than me though, and I let her (ha, "let her?") go ahead. I guess she stopped for the bathroom a little while after that and I ran past, and she never caught up again. So I guess she really did slow down (still beat me by several minutes chip-time though!). Zach was riding along the road and got tons of pictures and gave me a new water bottle. I had taken a Gu at 10 and another at 15, and was tossing the water bottles after I finished the Gu- I just didn't feel like carrying it more than I had to. I ran through the aid stations to supplement and got water there.

Mile 11: 8:54
Mile 12: 9:28 (northwest hilly-ish)
Mile 13: 8:50 (with Emily)
Mile 14: 9:06 (average)
Mile 15: 9:06 (average)

Miles 16-20

Sometime after the 15 mile mark, still cruising along Highway 30, Brant caught up to me! That was a really nice surprise. He had also started off really fast and was now running around 9:00 miles. I was hovering in that range too so we stuck together for a while. He slowed down a bit actually, which I really appreciated. It was nice having some company. We compared aches and pains and I realized my foot wasn't bothering me that bad anymore. The bottoms of my feet were really hurting- not used to so much pavement I guess- and that kind of masked the foot pain. I'll take it!

We hit the 16 mile mark and began the climb up the St. John's Bridge. It wasn't that bad really, but definitely slowed us down. Brant stuck with me and we encouraged each other. At the top we got a nice view of the rainy river and foggy downtown. A couple (yes, runners) was making out at the top of the bridge and we all yelled and teased them. Up ahead we saw Zach with his camera and we hammed it up! We were having fun. We hit the 17 mile mark at the top, and it was a great relief to know that the course was almost all flat to downhill for the last 9 miles. Brant said goodbye and took off a little ahead, but I kept him in view for a couple miles before losing sight of him.

The next part was through a cute neighborhood, right over by Amy's house. There were a few blocks of uphill which was a bummer, but the street was lined with people. A lot of people were shouting my name and cheering us all on! I was waving back and having fun. I saw Zach again, and right after that saw a big group of friends- Alisa, Justin, Amy, Brad, and Lisa. Yay! Alisa had a water bottle for me but I didn't need it. I still had the last one from Zach and was planning on using the water stops for the rest of the race. I high fived them and waved! Right after that, I saw Emily and Anne again! Emily jumped in and ran with me for a block or two, it was so fun. Zach took a couple pictures of us and then I was on my own again.

This whole stretch after the 18 mile mark was super flat and continued through the neighborhood. You could see the river and the city down the bluff to the right also. I was really having fun at this point- I was still running (no walk breaks), my foot felt better, and I was really enjoying the crowd support. I had slowed down though, and it seemed like my goals were passing me by. But I was ok with that. I wasn't even really hurting at all, or all that tired. I just didn't have the speed. The runners around me were starting to fade- I started to see lots of people walking or stretching out cramped muscles. I felt strong and was really proud of myself for that!

Mile 16: 9:19
Mile 17: 9:57 (Bridge!)
Mile 18: 9:17 (average)
Mile 19: 9:17 (average)
Mile 20: 9:48

Miles 21-26.2

The last stretch I was on my own. All my spectating friends had headed to the finish to post up and watch everyone come through. I definitely missed them but I knew I was almost done. I was still feeling very good and continued to run strong as others around me were fading. My pace had slowed after the bridge but it plateaued- I wasn't really slowing down any more. I tried picking up the pace, but after a while I would look down and my pace was barely lower, so it didn't seem worth it. I hadn't walked at all yet and with a few miles to go I made it my goal to run every step of the entire marathon. I think I've only ever done that 3 times before.

Around mile 23 or so I think, there was a table that said "Beer Stop!" and had an aid station set up with little cups of beer. I hesitated and then thought, "Why not??" I've always wanted to do that, it seems so crazy. So I ran up and said "Don't mind if I do!" and downed the beer in two swallows as I kept running. Hehe! Thankfully it didn't bother my stomach at all.

We enjoyed (?) a long downhill in the final miles but I could see it wasn't agreeing with everyone. Several people were pulled off to the side. Finally we hit the bottom of the hill and had a little incline up and over the Broadway Bridge. I still felt good, but again any effort to speed up was a total bust. As we came off the bridge we were right in my old neighborhood- in fact, this was my old daily running route! It was so neat to truly be on home turf. There were pretty good crowds as we neared the finish and I was waving and smiling and just loving it. I've never really been in that position- usually I'm gutting out those last few miles to hit a PR or a certain time. I have always really left it all out on the course. Somehow that just wasn't really the case this time. I couldn't bring myself to run faster, but I had quite a bit of energy for smiling and waving. I was really working the crowd too- I yelled "Make some noise!" and did the classic "make some noise" arm movement. I was running the show.

Right off the waterfront onto Salmon, and the crowds were thick. I saw Alisa and everyone else and they all yelled and cheered! A final left turn and sprint to the finish!

Mile 21: 9:47 (average)
Mile 22: 9:47 (average)
Mile 23: 9:57
Mile 24: 9:44
Mile 25: 9:55
Mile 26: 9:34
Last 0.2: 2:00 (8:40 pace)

Official Finish Time: 4:02:27 (9:15 pace)

First Half: 1:56:50 (8:55 pace)
Second Half: 2:05:37 (9:35 pace)

Post Race

I got my medal and a space blanket and caught my breath. I was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion and needed a moment... so I walked over to the side, wrapped my blanket over my face and cried. I didn't want anyone to think I was hurt or anything so I pulled it together and headed back into the crowd. I quickly ran into Brant, who had finished right ahead of me, and Emily who was right behind us. Hugs and congratulations all around. They did so great. We all made our way through the long finishers area, getting water, juice, fruit, candy, a popsicle! We got a rose, a douglas fir seedling, commemorative coins, and finisher's shirts. They really should have given us a bag for all this stuff! We tried to stick together, but decided just to meet at the place we'd discussed that morning. I got there first and there was Deana and Emily, and Zach! Laura and Colin were there already too- She finished in 3:35:16- an incredible time for a first marathon!! But missed BQ by a few seconds. She'll obviously get it next time. Colin ran 3:41. So amazing! Brant and Emily came over and we got a few pics and talked about the race. He finished in 3:54 and she ran 3:57. We were getting cold and still had to walk over a mile back to the apartment, so we began our slow, hobbling journey.

We all went out to Deschutes for beer and food and then took a soak in the hot tub (boy I miss that hot tub). It was fun to sit around talking about it and just marinate in the day. Zach and I hurried back to the house and got ready for softball. Yep, softball! I felt fine- better than I had for many of the games this year (after the relay, after my 31 miler, etc) and was looking forward to seeing everyone. We went out for dinner and drinks after and just had a blast. We got home and I was in bed by 8:30.

Reflections

I missed my goals, all of them. I set a new PW and for the first time, finished in over 4 hours. I knew there was a chance that this would happen and I was really worried how I would feel. But you know what, I actually AM ok with it! I think honestly this went just about as well as it could have. After a summer of endurance-focused trail running and only a few weeks of road training, I think I pulled out a pretty good time. Looking at my final pace of 9:15, I am pretty amazed.

This really was one of the most fun marathons I've done. I am glad that I made the decision to MAKE that happen. I could have focused on the race, and maybe I could have pushed a little harder, but for what? What's the difference between a 3:58 or a 4:01 or a 4:02. That's ridiculous. I'm proud of my time and how I did. It was neat being able to cruise along feeling great 4 hours into the run. My endurance training really paid off.

To be honest, I wasn't thrilled to be the slowest person in our group. But I was proud of everyone. And really, part of what takes the "sting" out of a PW and a 4:xx finish is knowing that this is my 10th marathon, and that I've run a bunch of fast marathons in the past. Most people know that, and I'm not afraid to tell those that don't. My PR is 3:36. I've run Boston twice. I've done an Ironman. I'm awesome. It's going to take more than a 4:02 marathon to deflate my ego.

Oh, an update on my foot. Well, it didn't bother me for the rest of the race, or even that afternoon. I was fine and actually forgot about it at softball. But once I went to bed the soreness set in. When I got up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night it hurt BAD. I couldn't really put any weight on it. By morning it wasn't as bad but still super sore. I was really worried and made a pact with myself to take a nice long break from running to let it heal. Over the last two days it is much better, thankfully! I don't think there is anything seriously wrong, but I know I can't run anytime soon. Honestly though, it was worth it.

What's next? Well, even before my foot injury came up, I was planning on taking some time off running after this marathon. I trained straight through this whole year- Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 miler in April, Newport Marathon in June, Cascade Lakes Relay in August, 50k run in September, and then this! Whew. I need a break. I miss yoga! I miss climbing. I really had a great year but I'm looking forward to stepping back and going back to a more balanced routine.

Thanks so much to my super amazing friends for coming out to cheer me on. It meant so much to me. Also thank you all for reading, and for all your cheers and support! I was hoping a few of you were tracking me online. I know the tracking had a blip at one point, the 21.8 mile split was way off I think. Go figure! As far as I can tell that was the only problem on their end, it was a spectacular event. You should all run it next year! :)

Pictures!!

Emily, Laura, Colin, Brant, and me, pre-race:

These were all over downtown:

Mile 5.5

High-fiving Tommy and Madeleine around mile 11:

Running with Emily along Hwy 30 around mile 13:

Running with Emily toward the St. John’s Bridge:

Cruising along the highway:

Socked-in view from the bridge:

Brant and I on the bridge at mile 17:

Zoomed in- look how fun we are!

Heading down the bridge toward the east side neighborhoods:

Feeling strong a couple miles later (18.5 ish):

My crew! Brad, Justin, Lisa, Alisa, and Amy. Love them!!

Blurry pic of Emily running with me around mile 20:

Emily and Anne:

Heading toward the finish- all smiles!!

Super strong!

More crew around the finish line- Michael, Sarah, and T.C.:

Lisa, Sarah, and T.C.:

Deana and Emily waiting for me at the meeting place:

Colin and Laura- first time marathon finishers!! Congrats!!

There I am! Holding all my stuff from the finish area:

Me and Embo:

The crew, After!

The crew at the brewery:

Gorgeous Medal:

And since we somehow didn’t get any pics of me and Zach together, here is one from the archives. Thanks baby!! I love you!!!

Marathon Goals and other stuff

2011-10-05T18:45:00.001-07:00

It’s here! The Portland Marathon is this weekend.

I’m excited to finally run the hometown marathon. It has happened 3 times since I moved here and every year couldn’t make it happen. This year, I’ll be out there! It will be my 10th marathon.

I’m excited to run a “big city” marathon –it’s been a while. I guess it’s been since Eugene in May 2010- I’ve done quite a few other races since then, but all trail runs or in small towns. This will be fun.

Zach will be out riding his bike along the course getting pictures and handing off water. It’ll be great to have a personal support crew. There are quite a few other friends in town spectating and running as well. I can’t wait to see them out there and celebrate with them after.

I haven’t really trained specifically for this race, but I feel pretty well trained. I built up a ton of endurance training for the 50k last month, and I’ve kind of tuned up over the past 4 weeks with speed work and lots of road runs. I’ve also done 2 trail races as part of the Portland Trail Series. Even though I’ve been running a lot, I still don’t know what to expect on race day.

I’d be very happy with a finish in the 3:45-3:55 range. My slowest marathon time is 3:55 and I’d like to not set a new PW. Not that I’m ashamed of that time at all, I mean it’s still really solid! And to be honest, I’d be happy with a sub-4 finish, PW or not.

So there it is! Pretty boring. I don’t know if I’m past the PR days forever but certainly for now I am. I really just want to have fun out there and run a solid race and not embarrass myself. :)

I’m currently sitting here on my couch watching the Simpsons and icing my foot. It’s been kind of sore since my last long run. It’s nothing major and only hurts after a run, not during. I’m sure it will be fine! Something always crops up in the taper. Especially since I haven’t really been tapering at all… I ran quite a bit the previous two weeks. So I’m taking some much-needed rest days, finally.

Well that is it for now. I’ve been meaning to post more but I come up blank every time. I have a lot of miscellaneous thoughts and worries floating around in my head but I can’t seem to find a way to express them. There are a lot of big things going on in my life and they are not all good. It’s overwhelming. I don’t know if my blog is the place for it anyway. I think what I DO need my blog for, and what I need running for, is an escape. Running is stress relief, it’s fun, and it’s something to focus on. I need all of that.

So I’m going to give this marathon my all and enjoy every minute of it. It’s going to be great. And I have a personal photographer out there so the race report will be spectacular. Good luck to everyone else racing this weekend!

Another 50k

2011-09-25T18:01:00.001-07:00

I have another 50k to tell you about! No, no, not me. I didn’t do another 50k. Zach did one! I forgot to mention on my 50k run report that Zach also made alternate plans after missing the McKenzie River race. He signed up for the Cle Elum Ridge 50k in central Washington. It was held on on September 17, one week after our planned race.

We drove up to Cle Elum the night before the race. It was a gorgeous drive and as we got closer we started seeing some rather large mountains around. Those were the ones Zach would be running up! We headed up to the race start about 7:00 am. There were a few early starters already out, and the rest began at 8:00. There were 80 or so runners doing the 50k, and another 100 or so doing the 25k. It was a really friendly group of runners and everyone was excited when Zach said it was his first ultra. All of the others seemed to have run several 50k, 50 milers, or even 100 milers already this year.

I can’t really write a race report for his race, but I can tell you this. I went for a short 4 miler on the race course while I was waiting, and it was brutal. I walked most of the big climbs and had to be really careful heading downhill. The trail was steep and very rocky and rutted out. I had 800 feet of elevation gain on my little run. Zach’s race had 7,000.

I read in the car for a few hours and took a nap. I headed over to the finish area at about 4 1/2 hours since I had no idea when Zach would be finishing. I saw the first few runners come through and the bulk of the 25k runners finish as well (they started 1 hour after the 50k start).

After a while, Zach was running toward the finish. I was so excited and cheered him through. He looked so tired, I can’t even explain it. He was absolutely exhausted. He finished in 5 hours and 40 minutes. He was the 12th runner to come in. 12th! Amazing. He was 4/20 in the 30-39 AG.

We hung out for quite a while and ate some sausages and other great race food. He told me all about the race and talked with a lot of the others about it. I loved hearing all the details- endless climbs, technical trail, the cold, exposed section on the ridge, the creek crossings, and the brutal descents. It sounds so hard. I am so proud of him! Here are some pictures I took that day:

Pretty great!

It’s kind of nice to have our big trail runs out of the way. We are doing some more trail events this fall but nothing over a half marathon.

Of course, I am doing one more big event this year, the Portland Marathon on October 9th. Since I recovered from my 31 mile run really quickly, I have been getting in a lot of good training on the roads. Even though I have a ton of endurance from my trail training, I have definitely lost some speed. I am doing a lot of speed type training to wake the legs back up before Portland. Over the last couple weeks I’ve done a long tempo run, intervals, a quick run with Zach, and a great long run today. All on the roads and all at a good pace. I have 2 weeks left and will be cutting the mileage back but keeping some speed sessions in there. We’ll see how it works out! It’s going to be interesting.

Thanks for reading!

50k Run Report

2011-09-14T20:31:00.001-07:00

This isn't the race report I was expecting to write. It actually isn't a race report at all. Last week, in the days before the McKenzie River 50k that I've been training for all summer, something came up. And that something was a forest fire. After spending over a week in Central Oregon recently, we knew the fires were pretty bad out there and the air was very smoky and hazy. But it never occurred to me that this may affect the 50k until we got an email from the race directors 3 days before the race. There was a new fire burning very close to the race course and they would be at the very least changing the course, or at the most cancelling the race. They linked the fire info site and said they would update us the next day. That email confirmed that the course had been changed to eliminate the section closest to the fire, but also informed us that the air quality was predicted to be poor and that the race was still subject to last-minute cancellation. At that point, the fire was about 3-4 miles from the original course and moving in that direction, over 5,000 acres, and 0% contained.

Zach told me it was my decision to run the race or not. We had planned on driving down Friday afternoon, before the next update would be arriving. I was really worried that we'd get all the way down there and the race would be cancelled at the last minute. I was determined to run 31 miles that day and if that happened, it would be too late to do a different run on my own. But mostly, I was concerned about the smoke. I'm not asthmatic or anything, but I don't think it's good to breathe in that stuff for hours of strenuous exercise. Also, after spending several summers with severe forest fires and air quality warnings in Montana, I have a real aversion to all that. I get really anxious and claustrophobic when it is very smoky. I felt that way pretty often when we were on vacation there and it sucked. I was already so nervous about running 50 kilometers, I couldn't handle any more stress. And with family coming to town and travel plans, I just couldn't wait until the last minute to make a decision.

All this is to say, I decided to skip it. Zach supported my decision because this race was always meant to be a special birthday thing and that was more important to him than doing a race. He's the best, obviously. While the fire did get worse (and is still going!), the race was not cancelled. And while the revised course was arguably more challenging and not as scenic, it appeared to go off pretty smoothly.

Part of me is definitely disappointed in my decision and the whole situation. But, I had to make a call and I have to live with that. I do think the smoke, while minor, would have caused me a lot of stress and anxiety if I had gone. And really, I just had no way of knowing what was going to happen. At this point, there is nothing I can do to change it, so that's it!

Now that I've given the whole back story and drama, let's flip this to the positive. Because I have a pretty great run to tell you about.

On Saturday, September 10th, I ran 31 miles.

This was the farthest and longest I have ever run. I've completed 9 marathons and an Ironman, but I've never ran more than 26.2 miles. I've never run more than 22 miles on my own or on a trail. This was a big, bold adventure and I was going to do it completely on my own.
When I decided not to run the McKenzie River 50k, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. One of my big goals for the past couple of years has been to one day run the entire Wildwood Trail in Forest Park. This is the 30-mile long single track trail that I've done most of my training on, up to 22 miles at a time. I've run most of it at some point along with lots of the other trails that it connects with. I've heard several people - both friends (Amy!) and in random conversations around town- mention doing this. It's kind of a Portland "thing" but not that many people have done it! I knew this would be the perfect place to do my 31 mile birthday run.

Zach helped me plan the run (more on his plans later) including start time, aid stations, finish area, post-run plans, etc. He took the role as "race director" and did a great job. It was last minute, of course, so many of my friends already had other plans, but quite a few people came out to support me! Zach and my friends met me at 4 places along the trail, and Zach met me to run the last 3.5 miles or so with me. I carried my fuel belt with Gu and water, and refilled the water and ate other nutrition at the aid stations. Zach also provided "official race clock" along with my watch, since I would be running my time non-stop until I reached the finish. Even though it wasn't a race, I wanted to try to simulate it as best as I could.

My plan was to run the trail from the "30" mile marker at Newbury Road back to the "0" in Washington Park, and to double back at some point on the trail to add one mile. The far end of Forest Park is very quiet and feels really remote, while the other end is right in town (still surrounded by forest though) and is much busier. To me it seemed "right" to run it this direction. Part of this reasoning is because the last couple miles near mile 30 are rather technical and a little hilly. I hadn't run the other end very much and I thought it would be better to end there. I very wrongly assumed it couldn't be as hard. Anyway, the way I was running, the mile markers would be going backwards, counting down the miles I had left to run.

My goal.... well I wasn't sure if I should throw it away since I wasn't in a race. I didn't know if I would go slower without the excitement and all the other runners. Or would I go faster because I know the trail? My goal for the 50k had previously been something around 6:10-6:30. I've been doing about 12:00 pace on my longest trail runs, give or take, which would be 6:12 finish time. Plus stops for food and bathroom, etc... I'd be happy with anything under 6:30. Also, that is just a ridiculous amount of time to run, so I wanted to draw the line somewhere!

Saturday morning I got up around 6:30 and had breakfast and prepared for the run. We left the house at arrived at the trailhead a few minutes before 8:00. Zach took a picture and we simultaneously started our watches. I was off!

As I mentioned, there are some really rocky and tough sections in the first few miles. I took it nice and slow and even walked up a couple hills. I was feeling really good and excited for what lay ahead. It was early, and I felt like I had the whole forest to myself. I soon realized this was not entirely true. I may have been the only person out there, but there were So. Many. Spiders. Blech!!! I hate spiders. A lot. I tried to not freak out but there were a couple times I felt like just stopping in the middle of the trail and crying or throwing up. It was awful! I guess I am probably exaggerating a little... I mean, I probably only ran through about 6 spider webs all day but 4 of them were in the first hour. And a couple of them were definitely occupied. Eww. I'm getting all twitchy and sick just thinking about it. I was freaking out! I was running spastically and making little whimpering noises and just trying not to lose my shit. Finally, after about an hour, I saw some runners coming toward me! I was SO happy! It was four guys and they said "Good morning!" and I said "I got all the spider webs going that direction," pointing behind me. They laughed and said "Thanks!" and then they all high fived me. It was hilarious. I was so completely relieved to not have to think about the spiders and I really picked up the pace. I had so much energy without having to worry about that! I ate a Gu and was feeling great. A little more than 5 miles in, Zach was waiting for me at the Germantown Road crossing. He took a few pics and filled my water. I was only stopped for about a minute.

The next section is much smoother and less rocky so I was just cruising along. I was really feeling good and was running a good pace. In my training runs I usually averaged around 12 ish minute miles, but I could see I was running around 11:00 pace. Nice! I only saw a few more runners and hikers in this section and it still felt pretty quiet and peaceful. I was glad for the solitude as I used the forest for a pee stop a couple of times throughout the morning. I cruised along and ate another Gu. I expected to see Zach at mile 11 at the Trillium Trail, but when I got there he was no where to be seen. I decided to use this opportunity to add my extra mile, but when I returned back to the trail crossing he was still not there. I yelled out his name in case he was just almost there, but nothing. It turned out the road he needed to take was closed due to a downed power line! I only had a little water and was a little worried, since the next meeting point was 5 miles away. But just a couple miles later, I saw Zach running down the trail toward me! He had found a different trail to access Wildwood and ran with a the backpack full of stuff at least 2 miles to meet me. What a relief! I let him refill my water and gave me a couple more Gu's. I was really glad to have his company for a couple of miles as he ran back toward his trail with me. Especially because I didn't really have to stop at all for this "aid station." Back at his turnoff, he got a picture of me and gave me a quick smooch and I continued on my way.

Since he changed his planned meeting point, it was now going to be about 7 miles until I saw him again. And I had the biggest hills of the course (I thought) just ahead of me. I kept cruising along and noticed the 15 1/2 mile marker- since I'd already added my mile, this was half way! I looked at my watch and I was at 3 hours exactly. Nice! This was an 11:37 pace even with my stops. I knew I couldn't possibly run an even split though but was still really happy with my projected time.

There were several big hills and I powered through them. I walked when I needed too but was still making good time. I couldn't believe I had been running over 4 hours already and still felt so good! After making it up the last big hill I ran a couple of flat miles to the next meeting point. There was Zach, just as planned! I knew I was going to take advantage of this aid station and spend some time, so I shouted ahead what I wanted, just to make the most of my time. I was HUNGRY! I'd been eating gel every 45 minutes but my stomach wanted real food. Gatorade also sounded delicious! Zach got that out, along with an orange and some pretzels. I was shoving my face and gulping Gatorade like a maniac. What a sight! Then all of a sudden, some good friends from out of town pulled up in their truck! I hadn't seen them in over a year so we had a quick mini-reunion and hug! So fun. They had talked to Zach and were there to surprise me and cheer me on. I told everyone goodbye and ran on down the trail.

I was in the final 10 miles of my run, and I knew this is where it would get interesting. I was excited but a little nervous. The thing I didn't realize at the time was how challenging the next 10 miles were. First off were some gentle downhills. Felt nice! Then it got steeper and steeper. I was running down switchbacks around mile 24. Ouch. I kept going down until mile 25.5 where the trail hits the junction with Lower Maclay at the Stone House. The downhills had worn my legs out quite a bit, but I had no idea what was ahead. I mean, I've run this part of the trail but I think I was ignoring the knowledge I had. After the Stone House, I headed up. It's not only steep, but very rocky and technical. I had to walk much of the next half mile. I knew a break was ahead, because at the 26 mile mark I knew Sarah and Michael would be waiting! I ran/walked up and up and finally reached the parking lot. I was worried when I didn't see them at first, but then they appeared around a corner, cheering and holding a sign! They had a cooler full of goodies, too. I chugged more gatorade and ate part of a clif bar, stashing the remainder in my fuel belt. Another photo and I was off. I noted at this point that I had been running for 5 hours and 10 minutes. That is an 11:55 pace, and I later calculated that the last 10.5 miles were run at a 12:23 pace. That climb had cost me some time. I'll stop with all the foreshadowing I swear, but let me say one last time, that last climb was nothing.

After leaving the Sarah and Michael aid station, I was moving into uncharted territory. I was about to run further than I’d ever run before, passing the 26.2 mile mark. I was pretty excited, but the run was becoming exponentially more difficult. As I was entering the last 5 miles, the trail was getting seriously hilly. For more than a mile after that stop up to Pittock Mansion, it was a straight climb, gaining several hundred feet of elevation. It was switchbacky, steep, and just brutal. I walked a lot, probably most of it, and I think that mile took me 15 minutes. When I finally reached the top at Pittock Mansion, I was sooooo glad. I knew it was not flat after that, but that was the major climb. I also knew I would be seeing Zach soon. He was going to park at the end and run towards me. I crossed the parking lot at Pittock Mansion with just under 4 miles to go, and immediately hit more steep switchbacks. These were even more brutal, because these were going DOWN. My legs locked up. Actually, my right leg really locked up but the whole system was definitely hurting. I was forced to walk some of this descent and that was pretty frustrating.

Finally, with about 3 miles to go, I saw my sweet, shirtless husband running toward me. Yay! My spirits were boosted and I was all excited to tell him about my run. He started running with me, but I told him right away there wasn’t that much running happening. We ran and walked together and he made me stay on top of my nutrition and hydration. He encouraged me to start running again after each walk break and really just kept me moving. I was very grateful for his company. He also directed me along the trail, as this part of the Wildwood through Washington Park can be pretty confusing. We kept moving, with lots of walking and lots of encouragement from Zach, toward the finish. It wasn’t that hilly but I was really sore and tired. We picked a random time goal and worked toward beating it. Whatever it takes! Finally, I see my friends waiting for me and they started cheering. They pointed me to the right tree with the “0” marker on it and I ran to it and stopped my watch.

Official Birthday 50k Finish Time: 6:19:12 (12:14 average pace)

1st Place Overall! :P

I got hugs and congratulations from my good buddies, and flowers from Amy, and I told them about my adventure. Then Zach appeared with cupcakes and champagne and they all sang me happy birthday!! So fun. We chatted for a bit and then all met up down at Rogue for a celebratory beer. A bunch more of my friends, as well as Zach’s dad and stepmom were there!! It was great to celebrate with everyone.

It truly was an amazing experience. I had so much fun that I really can’t regret missing the McKenzie River 50k. I really pushed beyond what I thought was my limit, and it wasn’t even that hard. I admit, it leaves me wondering…. what is my limit? Maybe I could run 50 miles??

My legs have recovered super fast. I was really sore that night, but by Sunday I felt a lot better and even played softball that night (we won). I ran 5 miles Tuesday and then tonight (Wednesday) I ran a 5ish mile trail race and actually kicked some ass. It was great!! It was a small race (under 100 people) but I was the 10th female and 5th in the 30-39 AG. Not bad for having run 31 miles 4 days ago! I’m really, really proud of myself and everything I have accomplished.

Thank you as always for reading and for supporting and inspiring me!!

Stay tuned… I’ll be running the Portland Marathon on October 9th! Bring it!

Central Oregon Vacation

2011-09-07T20:06:00.001-07:00

We got back yesterday from a wonderful 10 day vacation. We stayed at a condo on a golf course right in the heart of Central Oregon. Zach and I had 5 days to ourselves and we made the most of it. We spent every day completing some big, ambitious adventure, really pushing our limits. It was amazing.

Later in the week, our families arrived from all over. Zach’s mom and stepdad from Montana, my mom and dad from Montana, my brother and sister-in-law from San Jose, and my cousin from Nevada. Plus some family friends drove down for the day from Seattle. It was so great! I haven’t talked about it much, but my mom isn’t doing very well and this was a very important time for our family. It was hard, but I’m so glad we did it.

I ran a few times, three long-ish runs and a couple shorter ones. Mostly on trails but a couple just on the bike paths around the resort. I spent way more energy on the epic hike we did when we climbed South Sister and on our several shorter hikes and other adventures. I’m not sure if I overdid it or if I should have run more… but either way the 50k is in a couple of days. I am nervous but I guess that is normal!

Well I will try to pick just a few highlights… there are more photos then I know what to do with. Enjoy!

Saturday 8/27

Trail run along McKenzie River Trail and around Clear Lake (most of this was a preview of part of the 50k course. The summary: beautiful, and very challenging)

Sunday 8/28

Trail run along Paulina Creek, including quick swim in a waterfall pool.

Monday 8/29

Climbed South Sister, Oregon’s 3rd highest mountain at 10,358 feet elevation. Very tough, but not technical besides a couple snow/glacier crossings. A bit scary but so fun. 12.5 miles total, 5,500 elevation gain, took about 8 hours total.

Tuesday 8/30

Rock Climbing at Smith Rock State Park. I can’t even describe how amazing this was. It was challenging, exhilarating, and just completely awesome. Zach really blew us away- the guide couldn’t believe it was his first time climbing outdoors. He is a natural!

Wednesday 8/31

Hiked Black Butte with Zach’s mom and stepdad

Thursday 9/1

Hiked around Paulina Lake at Newberry Crater National Monument

Friday 9/2

Trail run with my brother Jon and his wife Bri, then kayaking, swimming, and relaxing all afternoon at Elk Lake

Saturday 9/3

Another workout with Jon and Bri, this time their Crossfit-inspired roller derby workout. Ouch. Later, we went and hiked through a one-mile long Lava Cave… it was freezing (40 degrees) in there, but so cool.

Sunday 9/4

Long run around the resort. I may have gotten a little lost. Later, we floated the Deschutes River in Bend- along with about 1000 other people. So fun! Then we had a pizza party and surprise early-birthday party for me. :)

Monday 9/5 we headed home. It was so hard to go home! We had such a great time. The best part of the whole trip can’t be captured with a camera- the time I got to spend visiting with my family. I will always remember this vacation.

Thanks for reading- I will be back with a 50k race report as soon as possible. :)

Peak Ultra Training

2011-08-22T17:38:00.001-07:00

The last two weeks have been the peak of my training for the 50k. While my overall mileage wasn’t all that high, my back-to-back long runs were huge and I’m feeling very ready to take on the ultra!

First of all, I finally did officially get into the McKenzie River 50k. We entered the lottery this spring, and while Zach got in, I didn’t. I had been on the waiting list all summer, but I finally received my official entry a couple weeks ago. They only took the first 10 or so people out of about 90 on the waiting list, so I lucked out!

This training cycle has been very different than any major race I’ve done. I am at this weird junction where I’m interested in long trail races, but I’m NOT interested in really intense, high-mileage training. I’ve been running 4 days a week, with most of that being in the long runs. I’ve alternated back-to-back runs (like 10 and 14 miles for example) and a single long run (16+ miles). My mileage was in the upper 30’s until these last two weeks when I ran in the low 40’s.

It’s a different approach to training for me, for sure. In training for a marathon I usually used the 55 miles per week plan and ran 5 days a week. And this is 5 miles longer than a marathon! So yes, I feel a bit nervous about this. But, it’s perfect for me. I don’t want to make running my WHOLE life, I need some balance. I want to enjoy other activities, other hobbies, my house, my friends! It’s been great. And really, it’s not like I am doing the bare minimum. I have put a lot of effort into my training. And any worry I have is definitely eased by the long runs I’ve done. Here are the details of the last couple of weeks.

Coming off the Cascade Lakes Relay a couple weeks ago, I was feeling good. I ran twice during the week on the roads in town and kept a really good pace. My 5 miler was around 8:45 and felt nice. Then I ran a hilly 8 miler at 8:40 pace with a crazy negative split- 9:30 pace on the way out, and 7:50 pace on the way back (mostly downhill). Wee!

That Saturday, I ran 10 miles on the Leif Erickson trail. I haven’t been running there lately but it was perfect. It’s a wide trail, basically a road, but it is unpaved and through the forest, so it is similar to trail running. I definitely used to consider it a hard run, but it is cake compared to the singletrack trails. I ran about 9:15 pace for the 10 miler.

The next day, we headed up to the Wildwood Trail for 20 miles. We did a double out-and-back in different directions so we could stop at the car halfway and refill our waters. I felt SO great on this run! I walked up a few of the hills in the early miles, but otherwise kept a comfortable pace the whole time. Unfortunately, I did trip and fall about mile 14. I got some mild scrapes and bruises but I shook it off and kept running no problem. I sped up a bit at the very end and finished feeling great! The 20 miles took me 3 hours and 49 minutes, almost as long as my last marathon! That’s just under 11:30 pace, which I’m definitely happy with. Slow and steady!

This week I only ran one time during the week. That was definitely not planned! After the 20 miler, I got sick. I think I caught a little cold or something and I was laid up for a couple of days with a sore throat and sniffles. Thankfully I felt better and on Wednesday got in an easy 8 miler on the hilly road route. I could have crammed more miles in, but with a big back-to-back run coming up I didn’t want to take any chances.

Friday I only had a half-day of work, and I once again headed up to the Leif Erickson trail. I ran 12 miles at about 9:30 pace and felt great. It was hot and sunny but it’s always really shady and comfortable in Forest Park.

Saturday was the BIG run. 22 miles on the Wildwood. I was really nervous, I got myself all worked up the night before. This would be the farthest I’d ever run in training, and because of my slow trail pace, I knew it would take me HOURS. And I was worried about falling again. But, Zach encouraged me and we got out the door ready to hit the trails Saturday morning. It kind of freaked me out when we were about to start and Zach said “Ok, it’s 9:30, so you’ll be done about 2:00?” YIKES. I could tell from the beginning I was running pretty slow but I was being careful of all the rocks and roots to avoid a fall, and I was also pacing myself for the loooooong run ahead. Back at the car about halfway through I filled my water and was feeling great. I ran the second part (not exactly halfway – the second part was about a mile longer than the first) in the same amount of time as the first part- so a negative split! The whole run ended up taking 4 hours and 30 minutes, about a 12:15 pace. WOW- that is the second longest I have EVER ran! The only longer run was my 4:43 Ironman marathon. And there I actually walked every aid station, so plenty of walking. This 22 miler? I ran the whole thing. I didn’t even walk up any hills! That’s crazy! I definitely felt very tired toward the end but I did it. And I didn’t trip or stumble at all! Success!

These last couple weekends have definitely built my confidence for the 50k. I know I can complete the distance and I am excited for the experience! Training for this ultramarathon has been really great – I love the trails, I love not worrying obsessively about my splits or pace, I love just running and running for hours in the forest.

Quick shout out here to my super trail runner husband, Zach… this guy just continues to amaze me. He has been running all these same long runs (and usually trail runs during the week by himself too) and is just a natural out there. He is so speedy. Out on the trails, he is just unstoppable. It’s great! Unfortunately this means he has to wait a long time for me – he finished the 22 miler an hour and 10 minutes before me. Wow! I’m so proud of him and it is so fun to have a trail buddy.

The 50k is in less than 3 weeks, which means I am tapering! We will be spending a big chunk of this taper in eastern Oregon on vacation. It’s going to be incredible – plenty of trail running, of course, but also rock climbing at Smith Rock, climbing mountains, swimming in lakes, and more. Plus plenty of relaxing time too. Our families are coming up for a few days also which is going to be great. I will have a full report with plenty of photos when we get back.

This week, however, no photos. I’ve been doing all these long runs pretty “naked” – no Garmin, just a watch (the trails are marked), and not carrying my phone or anything. It is very freeing, but I do miss taking all the pics! Here is one Zach took of me a few weeks ago at the end of a short run on Wildwood.

Thanks so much for reading! :)

Cascade Lakes Relay Race Report

2011-08-11T20:02:00.001-07:00

Cascade Lakes was my first relay race. It was very different from any other race I've ever done, in so many ways.

One big difference is that you are on a team, and it is ALL about the team. No one person's time is very important and the focus is only ever briefly on any one person. It ends up being MORE about supporting other runners than running yourself!

The other thing that is unlike any other event I've done is the duration. The legs themselves aren't necessarily all that challenging. Yes there are hills, and yes the conditions can be tough, but the biggest challenge is running for the third time in a day in a half on maybe 1-2 hours of sleep. It's an endurance event in a very different way. You are outside, exposed to the elements, for about 30 hours straight. You're either running or waiting/crewing in the heat of the day and in the surprisingly cold nights, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes and eating the most random assortment of food, with very little rest and if you are lucky a brief shower. Everything about your typical "race preparation" goes out the window.

This relay was by far the most fun I've ever had in a race. Maybe of the most fun things I’ve ever done. It was indescribably awesome. My teammates were so funny and cool, we were talking and laughing and just going non-stop the whole time. I got to share this experience with my husband and a couple of my closest friends, but I also got to know two people I hardly knew before. By the end, we had nicknames and inside jokes to the moon and back. Dogalope. Throat waffle. Etc.

Surprisingly, I felt really great the whole time. A couple of the runs were tough, but not too long and I got through them ok. I didn't run very fast, just about average training pace, which I think helped me feel good throughout. I did OK on no sleep, and my stomach tolerated the grab bag of snacks just fine. I was happy I didn't have any issues with that stuff. And I even held up emotionally - I got a little snappy at Zach and I was definitely a bit loopy toward the end, but no major breakdowns. Win win win.

Here are some details of the event and summaries of my legs, but then I'll let the pictures tell the play-by-play. The scenery was a significant part of the event so the pictures are key.

Summary:
Cascade Lakes Relay
216.6 Miles
12 runners
36 legs
Start: Diamond Lake Resort (5,200 ft elevation)
End: Bend, OR (3,700 ft elevation)
Total Elevation Gain: 8,195 feet
Total Elevation Loss: 9,740 feet

Team Left, Right, Repeat finished in 31 hours 04 minutes
Placed 25/107 in the Open Co-Ed Division

My legs:
#3
7.5 miles, moderate
approx 10:30 am Friday, very warm
elevation loss 429 feet (slight decline most of the way)
paved shoulder of highway
8:48 average pace
Lowlights: big semi trucks buzzing right by me, being super hot and thirsty
Highlights: seeing my team drive by! Finishing.

#15
6.4 miles, moderate
approx 10:30 pm, pitch black and chilly
elevation gain 37 feet (flat)
dirt road in the middle of nowhere, dusty
8:52 average pace
Lowlights: inhaling so much dust
Highlights: SO many stars! Running alone in the middle of the night, seeing a jackrabbit and an owl

#27
7.5 miles, hard
approx 8:30 am, sunny but cool
elevation gain 253 (slight, persistent uphill for last 3 miles)
paved road in middle of nowhere (no traffic except vans)
pace?? 9:15 ish? (lost garmin)
Lowlights: long hill, didn't know when it was going to end, exhausted overall
Highlights: last leg! Gorgeous scenery along a river, legs felt really good

A few random final thoughts and then pictures I promise-

Zach has done Hood to Coast, and so had a lot of other people we met out there. The consensus was clear that CLR is by far the better event. Of course there is a bias I'm sure, but I can see their point. There are 10x as many teams at HTC. (175 vs. 1200!!) Zach said it is very crowded and very stressful. That sometimes you can't physically drive to each exchange point in time and people have to jump out of the van and run TO the exchange points. Stuff like that. It sounds like a total cluster. Plus it's impossible to get in. I haven't personally done HTC, so I can't judge. I know it's a neat race with a lot of history, and I'm sure it has it's perks. I'm sure any relay is awesome. But this race was absolutely perfect and I highly recommend it.

I lost my Garmin. The van became a black hole and everything kept going missing. So frustrating! I'm a super organized person but I just couldn't stay ahead of it. I also lost my camera but found it when I was unpacking. But the Garmin is gone. Not even sure I"I'll replace it anytime soon- might be a good move to let that go? Of course it’s also a great excuse to get a fancy new one! We'll see.

The elevation didn't really affect me too much. Then again, I wasn't running fast. I wasn’t really trying to push it, because of my utter lack of speed training. Also, If I had bigger hills I may have noticed it.

I just cruised along at a comfortable pace and didn't push it. I was 100% ok with this strategy. Everyone in our van was very casual about their pace and we hardly discussed it. Zach was obviously fast, but I'm not even sure what his paces were (high 7's?). The other two guys in our van hadn't trained at all but mostly ran sub-9 paces. Deana and Petra cruised along in the 9:00's and I ran about 9:00 give or take. It was a really even group and our times were pretty predictable which was nice. I was glad that no one was particularly competitive or braggy. It just wasn't a concern!

The other van definitely had some speedy people - a bit faster than we were (excluding Zach) and they had one really fast guy who is running the Leadville 100 in a couple weeks. The definitely helped our team's average! I think each van was matched up just right.

Most of the race is spent with just the people in your van. The other van is doing their own thing and you only see them briefly. I definitely wished we could have spent more time with them, but it's just the nature of the event. We all rented a house in Bend so we had dinner the night we finished, but we were all so tired it was a short party. But it was really cool to hear their experiences since they had such different times/legs/etc.

There were quite a few mosquitoes in some places, and I did get a lot of bites. Like 15-20. But thankfully, the bites didn’t swell up like the ones I had earlier this summer. I was really afraid of that. I think they were a different kind of mosquito or something.

After my final leg was done, I ran a short ways with both Petra and Kevin to support them and keep them company on their last legs. I was on such a high from finishing this great event, I still had plenty of energy, and I just didn’t want it to be over. I think I was the only person who ran extra in this thing. :D (actually, Petra ran with me for a bit when we accompanied Kevin)

Finally, I have to give some shout-outs to my friends. Of course they were fun and amazing to spend time with, but I have to give them all major props for their stellar running performances. Zach was the fastest person in our van and really just blew through his legs. It was so fun to watch him! Deana did amazing – she ran three legs (2 about 5.5 miles and the shortest leg of 2.1 miles) and was SO strong and hard core. The girl runs quite a bit, but shorter runs and she has only ever done one 10k- so this was HUGE for her! She rocked it to say the least. Petra ran 3 long legs of around 6-7 miles each and kept a really strong pace. After coming back from a long illness this spring she did amazing. The heat, the altitude, and the hills were a challenge (for all of us) but she owned it. Everyone did great, and I’m really proud of myself too. I just can’t say enough about this event. So great. So great!!

Ok ok, enough gushing. Pictures! With an unprecedented amount of captioning, to tell the story of the race. Enjoy!

Driving to the start early Friday morning (from left: Petra, Sean, Kevin, Deana):

Zach, our Driver:

Decorating our van at the start:

Our team! Van 1 of “Left, Right, Repeat!” Zach, me, Deana, Petra, Sean, Kevin and our slap bracelet (we were “the team that slaps” none of this BS handing-off!)

The start line- Sean ran the first leg at 8:20 am:

The girls of Van 1!

Kevin handing off to me for my first leg:

Done with leg 1. Hot!

Zach waiting for his first leg to start:

Here comes Petra! Done with her first leg:

Zach’s dusty and hot first leg:

Van 1 buddies- waiting for Deana’s first leg. This area was really beautiful:

Zach’s done!

Deana running her first leg (I’m behind her there, just refilled her water):

Van 1 done with our first leg! Being goofy.

Petra getting some well-deserved rest (Zach’s mom commented on FB “it looks like she is timing herself” haha)

Rested at a park in Silver Lake for a couple of hours. Most people slept for a short bit but I didn’t get any sleep here:

The girls- Deana stretching, Petra eating, and all of us being really sunburned and exhausted. Ready to start running over night?!

Waiting for our Van 2 buddies to finish up so we can begin our 2nd leg- all through the night!

Me handing off to Kevin after leg 2. SO MANY STARS. It was amazing running at night all alone out there:

Leg 2 done!

After everyone finished their second leg, we made our way to La Pine High School about 3:00 am, where we showered in the locker room and slept for an hour or two on the gym floor. Not comfortable, but we were so tired:

6:00 am Saturday- McDonalds. Best. Breakfast. Ever.

Deana, Me, and Petra. Showered, kinda rested, and with coffee! Ready to start our final leg shortly:

My 3rd leg.. absolutely gorgeous. Nice and cool early morning run:

Had to stop for some bug spray. Zach was quick!

Last leg of our van – Petra ran 4+ HILLY miles. I joined her for one hill! She did so awesome:

After our van was all done, we stayed at Elk Lake for a couple of hours while Van 2 reached the finish. We drank beer, swam in the lake (swam out to that dock!) and just giggled and acted like the sleep-deprived, crazy runners we are. It was my favorite part of the whole event:

Well, that is all! Will be back for more updates soon of my ultra training and other summer activities. Hope you are all having a great summer too.

Thanks for reading. :)

August 1, 2003

2011-07-31T19:36:00.001-07:00

Happy 8th Anniversary, Zach.

Thank you for making my dreams come true. Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for caring for me when I could not care for myself. Thank you for every second of every day.

I love you more today than ever. We have been together for nearly half of my life, but you are my whole life. I don’t know why God chose us to find the world’s most perfect love but I am grateful for it every moment.

You are the strongest, smartest, funniest, most loving man on earth and I am blessed to be your wife. I could go on and on, I could stay up all night writing about you and describing in detail how wonderful our life is. But you are in the kitchen, cooking me dinner, and I am going to go in there and kiss your warm, smiling, perfect face.

Girlfriends and Dudes Sprint Tri Race Report

2011-07-18T21:06:00.001-07:00

I signed up for this race on a whim a couple of weeks ago after just a couple swim and bike workouts, and just wanted to do it for fun. I am in the midst of ultra training and ran 16 miles the day before the race so this definitely wasn’t a main focus. But still, I was really excited to do my first tri in a couple of seasons!

It’s been kind of a rough week for me, physically and mentally. I had a couple big trail runs Thursday and Saturday – which went ok except that on both of those runs I took big falls. Same kind of fall both times - caught my foot and straight up belly-flopped onto the trail. No harm done but I was shaken up. Anyway, a bit of family stress in the mix and I was pretty worn out. Saturday night we went to an Avett Brothers concert and didn’t get to bed till about midnight. So worth it though, they are amazing. I knew I would be a bit tired for the race but it was just for fun so who cares!

The real excuse came on Sunday morning when I woke up.

Barf. It was POURING. At 7:00, when I was supposed to be leaving the house, I was sitting on the couch in my robe watching the rain pour down.

I had pretty much talked myself out of going. I texted Emily and Amy and told them I probably wasn’t going and that they shouldn’t bother coming to cheer. Finally, about a half hour later, at the last possible minute I decided Fuck it! Let’s do this. I told Zach - guess I don’t have to bother with sunscreen!

We drove up to Vancouver and the rain had let up a bit. I set up my transition area, using a plastic drop cloth in place of a towel as a base and threw a small towel over top of my stuff. I listened to the pre-race meeting and we all walked a half-mile up the river to the start.

Swim: 1/2 mile

The water was cold, but this swim course was the awesomest. Like I said, we walked 1/2 mile up to the start. Meaning we swam a half mile downstream in the Columbia. On the walk I talked to a guy who did the race last year, and said my swim would probably take 5 minutes less than normal. Whaaa? I got in the water and it was very cold. My wave was second and not that large.

Off we went! I felt really good the whole time and could tell I was moving fast. I wasn’t pushing hard, but I was breathing every two strokes so I must have been working. I didn’t bump into anyone or freak out or anything. I had no trouble sighting since we were just along the shore and there were swimmers all around me. Oh and I could see Zach the whole time, walking along the shore! I even waved once.

Swim time: 12:42

For SURE 5 minutes faster than normal, if not more. Yay current!

I saw Emily and Amy by my spot in transition. So nice of them to come cheer for me!! I was really quick in transition and felt good.

T1: 1:38

Bike: 12.5 miles

The bike course was super flat. The road was wet but there were only a couple turns so it wasn’t much of a concern. I haven’t been on my road bike much so I figured I wouldn’t be terribly fast but wanted to push it as much as I could. My speedometer said 16-18 mph for the most part which was good. I was having a lot of fun and all the athletes were cheering each other on.

The friendliness ended briefly when I was passed by a group of women who were quite bunched up. I know that happens sometimes, but after they passed me they kept right on riding together. WTF? I hollered out “Are we passing or drafting, ladies?” and it looked like a couple of them tried to move past of fall back. But for the most part they stuck together. Real close too, very intentional. I was pissed. So after a couple minutes I geared down and sped up, standing up to gain speed. I yelled out “on your left!” and proceeded to lecture the half dozen women about the rules of triathlon as I passed them. I was friendly enough, I started out my monologue with “I don’t want to be a dick, but…” I was pretty fired up so I rode fast for a while after that, but several of the women passed me back later. At least most of them weren’t drafting as much. I didn’t see a single official on the course which I thought was a weakness of the event. But still, official or no, stick to the rules. This applies to everyone, especially people who think they are faster than me.

It as a great ride though and I didn’t let that get to me. I did my best to let them know the rules, but then I moved on. It’s such a short ride I was not too tired toward the end. It started raining again with a couple miles to go.

Bike time: 43:19 (17.3 mph)

More cheers from my crew in T2 and I was in and out. I wished that I had put quick laces in my running shoes because tying my shoes took some effort. The rain really started picking up.

T2: 0:57

The run was tough. My legs felt like lead for the first mile or so. I felt simultaneously like I was running through molasses and like I was working way too hard. I focused on picking off women ahead of me. I assumed that they were all part of the drafting pack and felt very determined to pass them back. There’s no cheating in the run! I got passed by two women, a super leggy and fast 25 year old and a ridiculously athletic 46 year old. Plus a number of guys. I passed quite a few people too. My first mile was 8:10 and my second mile was 7:55. Right about where I hoped to be! I knew I was doing really good and was getting close to the finish. I saw one girl who I know was one of the drafters and barely passed her with a few hundred yards from the finish. I said mean things in my head. I sprinted to the finish with cheers from Emily, Amy, and Zach!

Run time: 24:32 (8:10 pace)

Total time: 1:23:08

A sprint distance PR! I was super psyched. I was tired but not too bad! I got a medal and a souvanier water bottle too then met up with my fans.

The girls had to take off and Zach went to get the car. I walked over to the results area and saw that I had placed in my age group!!! When Zach pulled up I told him to park and we would wait for the award ceremony. It was absolutely dumping rain and we stood around for about a half hour. It was worth it though! I got a bad ass trophy for placing 2nd in the F30-34 AG. I even got to stand on a podium!

Official results: 1:28:03

2/24 AG

22/134 Females

I was SO cold and wet, so of course the post-race priority was a long, hot shower. Then we walked down to the pizza place and ate a ton of food while watching the soccer game. I followed that off with the perfect race-day treat: a 2 hour nap. We went over to Deana and Dana’s house for dinner and I got to rock the race numbers and boots:

It was a really great day. Not sure if I’ll do any more tri stuff this summer so I’m glad I sucked it up and completed this race. Now I’m back to trail running until September!

Thanks so much for reading and for all the support!

Let it ride

2011-07-12T20:50:00.001-07:00

I'm feeling super run down today and maybe even on the verge of getting sick… but it's not bad enough to know for sure. I am probably just tired and whiny. Hard to tell. I HAVE been doing a lot of stuff lately. It's true that I have been pushing myself to enjoy every waking hour of these beautiful (and looong) summer days. I've not only been spending hours outside every day running, swimming, playing softball, etc, but also spending the evenings drinking and socializing and staying up late.

I'm sunburned (ok just really tan), dehydrated, and exhausted.

But I kind of love it. And I'm not going to stop! It's a gamble, but I think I’m going to suck it up and let it ride. I know if my body sends me real signals of "SERIOUSLY " then I will rest. Until then I'm going to make sure to get to bed early, drink tons of water, lay off the beers, and try to find a level I can maintain for another few weeks.
We did have an insanely fun weekend with lots of quality workouts and fun. Here's a quick rundown-

Friday, as I mentioned in my last post, I rode my bike home and then rode to the pool and swam 800 yards without a break. Success! I did 1000 yards total and called it good. I rode home and even went for the world's shortest run, just to try a "brick." I literally ran around the block. I survived. Success #2! We had friends over for dinner and game night and got to bed late (as usual).

Saturday, we slept in. Yay! We spent a couple hours doing errands and chores and then finally made it to Forest Park for a trail run. We're alternating back-to-back trail runs with one single longer trail run every other weekend. This was a back to backer. So I ran 9 miles on the Wildwood and I was just cruising! I ended up with a 9:30 ish average which is blazing fast for me on a trail! Fun fun.

We grabbed a sandwich and then met our softball team at the park for some practice. It was very hot in the sun and practice lasted a couple of hours so I was pretty tired by the end. But there was a beer festival! So we stopped by there for a bit. More sun, lots of beer, some fried pickles and more beer. I was toast. But some of our friends were grilling! So we stopped by there next. I borrowed their shower and switched to water and managed to have a really good time. We got to bed late again!

Sunday, again with the sleeping in. This is a dangerous cycle. Especially when you have a long run to do and it's going to be a HOT day. We did chores and errands again before finally heading out to do our trail run. We drove out to Hagg Lake and got started a bit before noon. We weren't sure what the distance was but I was prepared to run 15. It ended up being less then 14 and thanks be to God for that. It was HARD! I employed a strategy of walking up the (MANY) short, steep hills. This worked out pretty well but even the non-hills were tough. It was a pretty technical trail and largely exposed to the sun. I ran out of water at one point for a couple of miles which was scary. It was really warm (80 ish) and I was working so hard. When I finally hit a picnic area I chugged a bottle full and refilled to go. It's so hard not to do that, but ohhh the sloshing. Anyway, I made it! Zach seemed to have a good run too and I couldn’t believe he said he didn't walk AT ALL. WTF? Who is this guy?! Well, I was happy with my strategy though and I finished strong (ish). I ended up with an 11:20 pace over all which includes all the walking. Not bad! The key was "walking with purpose" or "power hiking" or whatever you want to call it. It's not a lazy stroll, it's a pump-the-arms march.

After the run I changed into my swimsuit and grabbed my goggles etc and went for a short swim. It felt great to cool off, but it was really so that I could get in an open water swim before the tri next weekend. I had plans to go on Monday too but it was a good chance so I took it. I didn't bother with my wetsuit but only swam a few minutes so it was fine. I felt great in the water! We headed back to town, grabbed lunch (I love you, Pizza Bagel!), and showered. Next stop: softball game. We rocked it. Our guy hit a big homerun in the extra inning. So great! Suck it!! (<team motto) Then we hosted the team for a bbq at our house. And you know what? You guessed it! We stayed up late.

Monday, sadly, no sleeping in. Got up at 5:15 or whatever. I stuck with my plans to do an open water swim with Amy and am so glad I did. We had a great time! She has dramatically improved since starting open water swimming - she used to get so nervous! We swam side by side around the lake twice. We swam for about 35 minutes! I felt very comfortable and am ready for the race this weekend. Thanks Amy!

I fell asleep on the couch when I got home. I tried to go to bed early after dinner and chores but it was late again. Frick.

So that brings us to today. I'm tired, my throat kind of hurts, and I'm tired. Did I mention I'm tired. But there is no rest in sight… 8 mile run tonight (edit to add- run done, felt Ok!), bike ride and climbing tomorrow, trail run on Thursday, swimming on Friday, long trail run Saturday (concert that night down in Salem), and then triathlon on Sunday. And then a big softball double header.

I figure if I got through 6 months of Ironman training I can certainly handle this. But, then again, I don't HAVE to do any of this either. So I am going to listen to my body and all that. If it's not fun, then I'm not doing it. That's the take home here: Keep it fun and don't be dumb! That's my new mantra, feel free to borrow it!

Pictures!

Super sunny Saturday afternoon:

boys:

Hagg Lake (looks cloudier then it was!)

Team bbq! Save the Whales Motherf#%*er! (team name)

Iron Beginner

2011-07-08T19:08:00.001-07:00

I did something spontaneous yesterday- I signed up for a triathlon! It’s next weekend!

I haven’t been training for it obviously, and I didn’t think I would even do a tri this summer. But I have gone swimming a couple times. Today I went and swam the race distance (1/2 mile) in the pool without stopping, so that makes me feel good. I have also been riding my bike quite a bit – sure, mostly my mountain bike, and sure mainly just to and from work and the rock gym a couple times a week. But I’ve been running a ton! I am not the most prepared I could be, but it sounded fun so I’m doing it.

I am a little nervous, especially about the swim. I’m going to do an OWS next week with Alisa and Amy to practice. I am also going to get on my road bike once next week since I’ve only been on it twice this year. Meanwhile, I’m getting into the thick of my ultra training so I will need to be keeping up on that mileage.

I am just going to do it “for fun” and just try to finish. I feel like such a beginner. I haven’t done a triathlon for over a year and a half, but I need to remember the last one was an Ironman. I think I can handle this!

4th of July Super Weekend

2011-07-05T21:18:00.001-07:00

Weekends like this remind me why I live here. We put up with months of grey, rainy weather for these glorious summer days. Portland really shines and there is just so much to do. We definitely took full advantage of the beautiful weather and the extra long weekend! Here are some highlights and lots of pictures:

Friday I got off work early and went for a summeriffic walkabout (um, hike) in Washington Park with Amy. We visited the Aboriteium and the International Rose Garden with great views of Mt Hood. After that, we went to my house and sat in the garden there drinking lemonade and relaxing in the sun. We met Alisa for a nice swim in the local outdoor pool and I swam 1000 yards! Yay swimming 2 Fridays in a row! Zach met us after and I ran home alongside him as he rode his bike. It was my day off running , but it's just about a mile home so no big deal.

Saturday we had our long trail run. We drove up to Forest Park and ran on the Wildwood. I did 14 miles in about 2 1/2 hours and felt great. So beautiful - it went by really fast! It was the perfect place to run on a hot day. This finished off the week of running for me with 33.6 miles total: one 6 mile run with my new speedy running buddy on the waterfront (low 8's pace), one easy solo 5.1 miler, one fast-paced 7.5 mile trail run with Zach, one mile run home from the pool, and then the 14 mile trail run. Good week of running!

(no pictures from the trail, refer to the millions I’ve posted before)

We stopped at the farmer’s market, and then spent the rest of the day doing stuff around the house and then having friends over for a dinner party. I got my sofa delivered finally (I ordered it 3 (!!!) months ago) and hung up some purdy new artwork. Zach cooked some amazing food- veal osso bucco and parmesan orzo and sausage stuffed-shrimp and almond tortes and wine pairings for everything. Ah. Mazing.

PSU Farmer's market:

Sofa and art:

Dinner:

Sunday we slept in, walked to breakfast, and then to the farmers market. We spent a few hours on some more fun crafty/decorating/gardening stuff around the house and I took a long nap. Finally we got out of the house and drove up to Sauvie Island for a bike ride! I've only been on my road bike once this year for a couple miles so this was my first real ride in months. We did 18 miles and it was just so fun and gorgeous up there. I even saw a bald eagle! USA! After the ride we stopped at one of the little farms and picked a bunch of strawberries and bought some veggies at their market. Back home we bbq'd and ate the veggies and watched a movie on our comfy new couch.

Sauvie Island:

Monday - fourth of july! I lit some sparklers in the morning, my favorite. We lounged around and I sat in the sun reading all morning. I finished up my craft projects and made a pie from the berries we'd picked and some rhubarb we bought at the farmers market. We went to a bbq at Amy's where we at tons (tons) of great food and lit fireworks and drank beer and all that. It was a late night but the perfect end to the holiday weekend.

Crafts: painted frames for Paris photos

Painted old Paris map/poster onto canvas (idea from HERE):

Pie project (baking a pie in your bikini is so 4th of July):

That's it! Whew! I am looking forward to lots more weekends like this. I love summer. I love my house. I love Portland! I want to bottle this feeling and sprinkle it on the winter weekends when I need it. I wish it worked that way…

Back to reality now, a busy week at work but at least a short one. Have a great week, thanks for reading.

Paris flashback

2011-06-30T21:37:00.001-07:00

I edited and saved a few pictures from our trip to Paris to be printed up. I have a semi-ambitious craft project planned for them which I’ll try to remember to share. Anyway, these are the 6 pictures I selected and they just make me so happy I wanted to share. Plus this goes toward my goal of updating my blog more than every 3 weeks.

September 2010

Summertime

2011-06-26T20:33:00.001-07:00

I always do this to myself… the longer I wait to post, the more there is to recap and the more pressure I put on myself. I need to start posting more regularly! I can’t believe it’s been 3 weeks, that might be a record. So sorry! I have had a few things pop into my head for blog posts, but I haven’t had a chance to sit down and type or I’m just not feeling it. I’m not really in the mood to write right now either but I’m hoping once I start going it’ll come together. I’m going to include lots of randomness as usual so here we go, in no particular order.

- Thanks for all the replies on the Newport Race Report! It was great and I felt good about my effort after. Sorry I wasn’t able to include any pics, my Windows Live Writer was being fussy. I’m trying to include a few here so hopefully it works.

- My recovery from the marathon went really well. I took one week off and then ran 3 times the next week. My legs were tired but no pains, so that’s great!

- I am officially training for the McKenzie River 50k as of this week and so far so good. It feels like a fast ramp-up after Newport, I don’t think I’ve ever started training for something so soon after a big event. The plan I’m following is totally flexible and conservative, only 4 runs a week and weekly mileage topping out in the 40’s. I’m going for quality over quantity with lots of long trail runs.

- Zach’s back in action after several weeks off with a knee injury. He’s training for the 50k also and is wisely following the same conservative plan. Yay Zach!

- Our good friend’s fiancé just moved to town this weekend and not only is she super sweet and a great new friend, but she’s a runner and exactly my speed so we’re going to start running together. Score!! She’s training for Portland Marathon in October (which I’m also doing, after the 50k) so I think this will work out great.

- We’re doing the 4 day a week plan not only to avoid injury, but so we can do all the summer activities we want to do and boy are there a LOT. We have so many things, our weekends are already booked all summer for real! Softball, cycling trips, concerts, day trips, dinner parties, bbq’s, wine tasting, rafting, camping, beer festivals, etc. And that’s in addition to the everyday activities of yoga and climbing and biking. It’s going to be a busy and awesome summer.

- Man I love trail running. Yesterday I couldn’t stop thinking about how much I love running in Forest Park and how beautiful it is. Of all the things I love about Portland, Forest Park tops the list. I genuinely feel like it makes me a happier person. I have always loved spending time in nature and I can’t explain it but it does something very important to my spirit and soul.

- I’ve ridden my bike to work a couple times and it’s so great. It takes about 45 minutes and is really fun. I feel my bike fitness coming back! In addition to riding to work I’ve been getting around town on the bike too- up to the rock gym, to yoga, to Alisa’s house, etc. Love it!

- I’m back in the climbing gym after a two-month break and it’s just as fun as ever. It took a few times to get my courage back but I’m getting there now. It’s such a fun activity and challenges me in such a different way, physically and mentally.

- I went swimming with Alisa last week at a local outdoor pool. Can you believe it was the first time I’ve gone swimming since the Ironman? Crazy. I wore the new Ironman swimsuit I paid all that money for in November 2009 and I felt very cool. I was surprised how quickly the swimming came back to me! It was a blast and we plan to go again this week.

- Last sport I’ll mention is softball. We all had so much fun in the spring league that we signed up again for summer league. We are all getting a little better and we have all become such good friends, it’s a blast. We still aren’t good, but we always have fun. And we always go get beer after which is probably the best part!

- As far as yoga… I am still going regularly to the meditative/restorative class but have fallen off the wagon with Vinyasa. I am more into the mental aspect of it anyway, so I’m ok with my practice right now but do miss the active stuff. I’ll get around to it I’m sure.

- We are falling deeper in love with our beautiful little house every day. It is just perfect and so lovely and so US. We had a housewarming party and it felt great to fill the house with friends and food and love. The furnishing and decorating is coming together, although I admit I lost some steam after the big move and all that. I don’t even mind though, I love it just as it is. We spend so much time out in the yard and these long summer days are just heaven. Summers in Portland are just the bees knees I tell you.

- Speaking of bugs and summer, I apparently have developed a pretty serious allergy to mosquitoes. I got bit a couple times over the last week and the little bites turned into huge swollen welts. Yikes!! I heard I can take Benadryl or Zyrtec so I might try that. For now I’m just bundling up or coming inside when the bugs come out. I always got big huge bites but this is worse than ever.

- Well, I think that’s it. There are other things but they seem silly to go on about. Like I got an iPhone, congratulations to me? It is fun though and I can’t get enough of the twitter and the angry birds. :D Better late then never right? Anyway, I will try to update weekly and will be posting about the trail running and all the other fun stuff!

Everyone have a great week and I hope you are enjoying your summer so far! Here are a few pictures, I hope they work this time. Thanks for reading!

Newport Marathon June 4th:

Bike commuters:

Forest Park:

Softball team:

Home:

Newport Marathon Race Report

2011-06-06T18:28:00.001-07:00

My 9th marathon is in the books! It was a doozy. It was a long, hot, exhausting run and I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to finish. But overall I’m very happy with how it went and proud of my performance.

We left for Newport about noon on Friday (it’s a rare Saturday race) and the weather was gorgeous. Warm and sunny. It’s been an especially cold and rainy spring here in Portland and the sun felt great. But by the time we got to Newport and checked in I was starting to worry about how warm it was. It was only supposed to be in the 60’s that day and it was mid to upper 70’s. Even at the coast where it is usually really mild. The forecast for race day was mid 60’s as well but I could tell that was going to be way off. I haven’t run in any kind of heat this year and was worried about the race.

Zach and I checked into the hotel and I picked up my number. Zach told the volunteer that he wouldn’t be running so they set his number aside. He was bummed but knew he had made the right decision. It was early in the afternoon so we had tons of time to kill. It was totally hot in our room (AC is generally not a thing on the coast) and that made me nervous. We walked down to the beach and it was much cooler and windy there. We walked around some shops and saw some of the course that runs through town. I was in a pretty bad mood – super nervous and anxious about the race in general but specifically the heat. Zach was really patient with me and did make me feel better. We decided that I would just adjust my plan and be ready for the heat and it would be ok. We went out to dinner and had a really nice time and I even had some wine. We went back to the hotel and lounged around, got all my race stuff ready, and went to bed.

The alarm went off and I woke up to a beautiful morning. There were a few clouds but it was already 63 degrees and it was clearly going to be a hot one. The race started at 7:00 which was nice. I ate oatmeal and half a piece of toast and we headed out. Last year when Zach ran this marathon, he missed the shuttle and didn’t want to wait for the next one, so we walked the one mile to the start. We decided to do that again this year again- it’s a nice warm up and I got to hang out with Zach instead of randoms. We got to the starting area with about 20 minutes to spare – just enough time to wait in a long porto potty line and use the restroom before the start. Zach got a bunch of pictures and wished me luck.

My plan was to run a pace in the 8:30’s from the beginning. This is much slower than I usually start my marathons, but I was hoping that by starting slower I would be able to maintain that to the end rather than crash and burn. I was hoping to finish about 3:45 which is an average finish time for my previous 8 marathons (PR is 3:36 and PW is 3:55). I was wearing a watch so I could keep my splits but wasn’t wearing my garmin, which left a little more of my pacing up to me. I was worried I’d go out too fast. The race doesn’t have chip timing so when the gun went off I started my watch. It took me about 15 seconds to cross the starting line.

The first three or so miles wind through town and the Nye Beach area. It has a couple little hills and lots of turns. I started mid-pack and had to dodge around a lot of people. It was rather crowded with lots of slow people ahead of me. It was beautiful and fun and the first few miles went by fast. I was very happy to see my first mile was right on pace, and I kept it there for this first section. There was a long downhill in mile 4 and my pace reflects that. Otherwise I was super consistent and felt good. Zach was waiting along the boardwalk just after the mile 4 marker and got some pictures and cheered me on!

1- 8:36
2- 8:23
3- 8:25
4- 8:00

After seeing Zach along the boardwalk, we headed back past our hotel and the finish line and then out on the long out-and-back along the bay/slough/river thing. It was nice that it isn’t a true out and back – when you turn around you have just over 10 miles to go. There’s a hill right at the finish line which was not too bad going up and I knew it would be nice to finish downhill in a few hours. The other side of that hill was more gradual so it was fun to cruise down and I hoped wouldn’t be too bad on the way back (mile 25 is no time for a big hill).

The next several miles were nice. I was still right on pace and feeling good. There was quite a bit of shade along the road and the temps were decent, like mid 60’s. There was a bit of a breeze too. I was keeping pace with a few people and that was nice, they were really consistent. I had one slow mile and that surprised me, so I made an effort to pick it up and thankfully that worked. The aid stations were pretty few and far between, but well stocked and friendly. Even though I was carrying my 20 oz. water bottle in my fuel belt AND started off with a little tiny water bottle in my hand, I still took a sip of water at every aid station. I knew it was going to be very warm and I needed it. I ate a Gu every 5 miles. It was pretty easy to take the Gu because I wasn’t running super hard and there weren’t any hills (you know how sometimes they can be hard to eat while running/breathing hard?). The few times we were out in the full sun I noticed it was getting really warm and it worried me a bit. I knew the shade we had been enjoying would certainly be gone when we passed through here on the way back.

5- 8:44
6- 8:33
7- 8:21
8- 9:02
9- 8:32

I was looking forward to hitting the halfway point of the race. They didn’t actually have the half marked, but I took my split at mile 13 and was right on pace. I was already starting to get kind of tired and was surprised every time I saw that I hadn’t slowed down yet. I figured at this point that the second half of the race was going to be interesting. I was worried but tried to stay in the present, where I was actually feeling ok.

I knew Zach would be near the turnaround (about mile 15.5) or even closer so I started looking for him after about mile 14. I was looking forward to seeing him and getting a full water bottle. I was feeling good and right on pace and wanted to share that with him so he could update my friends via text. I didn’t see him, didn’t see him, and by the time I did I actually was feeling slightly less good. But I stuck with my story and told him the planned “feeling good, right on pace” message. It wasn’t very shaded anymore and was very warm. Zach told me it was about 64 but later he admitted he lied to make feel better and it was 70. I’m glad I didn’t know that. It was warming up fast too considering this was only like 9:00 am. A few people were already walking.

10- 8:36
11- 8:33
12- 8:36
13- 8:36
14- 8:40

I hit the turn around and looked for Zach again after a few minutes. By the time I saw him again I was feeling quite a bit more tired. I waved and he took a picture and I continued my run. Now I was heading back toward the finish which was nice. I lapped my watch at the mile 16 marker and was very glad to only have 10 to go. My pace had slipped in the last couple miles and I could feel myself slowing and growing tired. After mile 16 I decided I would no longer look at my mile splits. I knew it was going to get slow and I didn’t want to fight the disappointment or worry about my finish time. I accepted that I would slow down but became determined to finish no matter how long it took me.

Over the next few miles I just kept chugging along. I ate my Gu and drank my water and just kept going. I actually felt ok but was anticipating feeling awful soon… I wasted a lot of energy worrying about the future! It was hard not to think about it though because it was VERY warm and a lot of people were already walking and cramping up and stuff. Even people still on the way OUT, several miles behind me! I saw an ambulance pass by and that freaked me out a bit. I was still doing ok but I was in “no man’s land” with a long way to go and not much company besides the people I was passing and the occasional aid station. I hadn’t walked at all but grabbed a couple cups at every aid station. One in my mouth and one on my head. I also would swerve to find any shade I could. Zach passed me in the car about mile 19 or so and I smiled and gave him a wave. He kept driving next to me and I told him to go away, ha! For some reason it made it harder to have him there. I needed to concentrate, whatever that means.

As I grew more tired, I thought a lot about my Ironman and the two half-ironman races I’ve done. For some reason those experiences really came back to me and this felt really similar. I think it was because in marathons I have always been focused on my pace and my finish time, where in those triathlons I was really only thinking “just keep running.” I kept telling myself to keep moving forward and that I was doing really good. I was passing a lot of fit looking people, which I did in those triathlons too! Those two half ironmans were super hot and I reminded myself how I finished those. And I thought a lot about the Ironman, and how far that was and how good I did. It really helped to know I had accomplished those things and all those other marathons. I knew I was strong and experienced, and even though this sucked, I could do it.

15- 8:44
16- 8:51
17- 8:55
18- 8:59
19- 9:03

I had been bargaining with myself to keep running until mile 20, where it was acceptable to walk if I needed to. So many people had been walking for miles already. I knew I wasn’t going to give up yet, but I left myself the option of giving up later. I saw the 20 mile marker and kept running… I asked myself if I could keep running until mile 21. At this point I was really bargaining with myself and focusing on little chunks of time. I still didn’t know what was ahead for me but I knew it wasn’t good. I was feeling very tired and warm and I was so ready to be done. I had given up on my goal time of 3:45 and had accepted that I might even finish with a personal worst time. But I was determined to finish. I was still running and passing a lot of people, which was encouraging.

Around mile 20 my stomach cramped up really bad. I had eaten my 4th Gu around mile 19 because I was hoping to take a 5th around mile 22-23. Not sure if it was the Gu, the heat, the 20+ miles or all of the above, but my stomach was suddenly not happy. It was a weird feeling – not exactly a side stitch, not the too-full/sick feeling, not bathroom-emergency, just general clenching of the gut. It hurt really bad and I just breathed through it. I sipped some water still because I knew I had to, but my stomach was really uncomfortable. Of all the discomfort I was in, this was the big winner.

When I saw an aid station ahead I decided I would walk through it. I hoped a little walk break would help my stomach. I took a few cups of water: drink, pour on head, repeat and then I started running again as soon as I finished the last cup. My stomach did not feel any better. I continued on in the full sun, passing people, cringing in pain over my stomach, and just wanting it to be over. I determined at some point that my stomach pain was not getting any worse, and I decided that it was bearable and I would be ok. I didn’t eat any more Gu after that though.

The last few miles were really rough. I played some games with myself, anything to keep going. I counted to 100 about 15 times. That’s about all I could do. I was so tired and incredibly bored. It was so lonely and boring and hot. I walked through the last two aid stations in miles 23 and 25 as well, but otherwise kept running. I just wanted to be done as soon as possible.

I did look at my watch eventually and even though I hadn’t seen what any of my mile splits were, I looked at my total time and tried to do some math as far as finish times. I figured I could run the last x miles in x time and finish under 3:55 (my PW). I did that a couple times over the last few miles. I knew I was going to finish when I got to mile 24 or so- I figured I could even walk the last bit if I had to. I was so happy it was going to be over soon! Someone said “a mile and a half to go” and I could have kissed them. When I hit mile 25 I realized I had tons of time to beat my PW and was super happy about that. This whole time I thought I was really looking at either a very, very slow time or not even finishing, and here I was about to finish in a decent time! My stomach had finally started feeling better in the last mile too!

I got a little surge of energy and ran strong up that last hill. At the crest of the hill is the 26 mile marker and I yelled “YAY!” I continued to yell “YAY!” and pump my arms as I ran down that big hill. I even did the “make some noise” arm gesture to the large crowd at the bottom of the hill. I was SO happy. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to be done with a race!! I saw Zach and waved. YAY! It’s over!!!

20- 9:04
21- 9:18 (water stop)
22- 9:17
23- 9:43 (water stop)
24- 9:20
25- 9:31 (water stop)
26- 9:23
.2- 1:36 (8:00 pace)

Official finish time: 3:51:35 (8:50 pace)

First 13 miles: 1:51:03 (8:33 pace)
Last 13.2 miles: 2:00:30 (9:08 pace)

156/673 Overall
15/55 (F30-34 AG)

As I crossed the finish line, a big friendly volunteer guy grabbed onto me and walked me through to get a medal and tear the bottom of my bib off (remember, no chip timing). He held onto me until I got a cup of water and then he asked if I was ok and let me go. I really appreciated it as I am prone to collapsing at the finish line! I wandered around in a little daze for a second and then looked around for Zach. He waved and took my picture. We talked for a minute and then I wandered over to get some oranges and watermelon. They had a water misting station set up and I sat in a metal folding chair downwind of it for a few minutes. Divine! I got my t-shirt and then went and found Zach again. We talked a bit and I told him a little about the race (all the details would come out over the next several hours of course!). He was saying that it was very, very warm and many people were commenting on it. I think it was nearly 80 degrees by the time I finished just before 11 am.

We walked back to the hotel room and I showered – surprisingly no major damage but I did have a bloody blister situation on one foot. That’s about it though. I was generally very achy and sore but no sunburn, no chafing, no pains.

We had a great rest of the day and weekend. We had lunch and beer at Rogue brewery and then had an ice cream and walked around. I slept most of the way home. By the time we got to Portland it was 90 degrees! We had a bbq at our neighbor’s house and then met Deana for drinks later. It was a great summery day for hanging out, just not the greatest day for running. I was incredibly sore that night and Sunday morning but nothing unusual. Sunday we walked to a neighborhood café for breakfast (and mimosas) and then went to our softball game where I felt good enough to play. I actually felt much better by the end of the game. We won by a lot and went out for beers after. So fun! Later we rode our bikes up to Alisa’s house for dinner where we bbq’d and sat on the porch as a thunderstorm rolled through.

It was a very fun weekend and a good race experience. It was definitely hard, much harder than I thought it would be. It wasn’t exactly “fun” but I’m glad I did it and very proud of myself. Even though it was my 3rd slowest finish time, it was a race where I showed a lot of guts and determination. I dug deep and never gave up. I paced myself and ran smart, which I owe to a lot of race experience and a lot of smart runner friends (Zach, Aron!) who gave me advice about the day.

I supposed I would recommend this race to other people, but I have no interest in doing it again. The weather is too iffy that time of year (it was not quite as hot, but still very warm last year for Zach’s run too) and the course is pretty lonely and boring. It is pretty but not in any kind of distracting way! I don’t know, I used to like that kind of thing (Avenue of the Giants was very similar, and I really enjoyed it) but it just didn’t do it for me this time.

I should add that after all of Zach’s lamenting of his injury and missing the race, he was pretty glad in the end that he didn’t run it. Ha! Someone may have been looking out for him.

I’m looking forward to a nice break and recovery. The 50k that I’m on the waiting list for is in 14 weeks, so I’ll start training soon for that. I’m really looking forward to trail running! I’ll also be doing more cross training – cycling, climbing, yoga. And lots of fun summer stuff! Thanks so much for following along with me and reading this long report. Thanks as always for your support.

So. Many. Pictures. BUT am having trouble loading them from Live Writer. If they don’t work on this post I will make another soon. Thanks!

Newport Marathon Goals

2011-06-01T21:03:00.001-07:00

Final countdown! Only a couple more days until the Newport Marathon. I’m getting so nervous! This will be my 9th stand-alone marathon and my first time running Newport.

This has been a really different training cycle than anything I’ve done before. Mainly because since the beginning of 2011 we’ve been at some stage of the homebuying process. Looking, negotiating the purchase, renovating the house, and moving in. There has definitely not been a dull moment.

It was never really difficult to get the training in, but I just feel like in general I was never 100% focused on it. It was more something I worked in around all this house stuff. It was kind of nice in a way, because I never got obsessed with it or over-thought anything. I just did the run, showered, and went to Home Depot. I think this was helpful because in the past I tend to over-analyze all my runs which was mentally very draining. In fact, this time I sort of kept forgetting about the race altogether, especially as I tapered down my mileage and spent less time running.

But now that the marathon is only a few days off… I’m kind of freaking out! I’m very nervous and excited. It’s like all the mental energy that was diverted throughout my training is coming back to me! I’m obsessing about the weather, talking non-stop about my strategy, and just generally feeling very antsy and anxious. It’s good though! I recognize this feeling from previous big events and I know it’s normal.

The other thing that has makes this marathon very different is that Zach and I were both going to run it. In fact I really only signed up because he was. But he came down with some kind of over-use injury with his knee a few weeks ago and has (wisely) decided to not run on Saturday. So now I’m doing it alone. I feel really bad- I mean, I’ve been injured before and I know how frustrating and depressing it is! So it’s been hard for me to get excited. I feel guilty. Zach has been nothing but supportive and is being his usual super-husband self, helping me get ready and listening to my rambles. But I still feel bad.

However, since there is nothing we can do about the situation, I will admit I am very excited that he will be there to support me. Not only will he be able to watch the race and wave hello, but also be standing by with refills of water and whatnot! Last year when he ran and I spectated, we did the same in reverse. He will be able to see me about mile 15 at the turnaround point (actually he’ll probably wait a ways up the course so he can see me two times) and give me a fresh water bottle. Perfect! And then he can get lots of pictures too. It will be fun.

So- goals! This is another example of how this race is going to be very different than the ones before. For the first time in a great long while, I am NOT trying to BQ. And it goes without saying, I am most certainly not trying to PR either! I know that technically a sub-3:40 is still a qualifying time for 2012, but with the whole rolling registration thing and yadda yadda…screw it. I am not interested in trying for it. For the first time in ages, I will be running this race sans pace band! Get this, people… I will be running this marathon sans garmin! Gasp! Oh, I’ll be wearing a watch. I’m not crazy. But the garmin is not necessary. I am going to keep my splits but run mostly “by feel,” whatever that means.

I’m excited to not have to run a super grueling pace. I have this theory that if I don’t run the first part of the race so fast, I will not suffer as much toward the end. This is based on every single race experience I have had where I have done the opposite. It’s this little plan I have called “pacing myself” and it just might be crazy enough to work.

I think I can run about a 3:45. I would be happy with anything under 3:50 and thrilled with something closer to 3:40. I honestly have no idea what to expect- I have done enough of these to know that anything can happen. My #1 goal is to stick to my strategy of starting off conservatively and trying to run strong to the end. I want to have fun and finish with a smile on my face!

Will update asap after! Thanks as always for all your support and encouragement!

Pics from Zach’s race last year:

The Move

2011-05-27T05:57:00.001-07:00

We are officially 100% actually living in our new house! It’s been about 6 weeks since we closed, so there has been a lot of time spent in the new house, working, painting and hanging out. But as of Saturday, we actually sleep there. We’ll turn in the keys to our apartment by the end of the month but otherwise it is done. Exciting!

I can summarize the experience with two different sentiments. 1: Ugh. 2. LOVE!

I will break it down further though. Here are a few random thoughts which I will share with you now in bullet point format:

- We have a lot of great friends who helped us move. Amy, Alisa, Justin, Sarah, Michael, Lisa, Andrew, Taylor and Josh all put in a lot of time and effort over the weekend to make it happen. They are wonderful and I owe them all big time! So grateful. Moving is the worst and I appreciate them lightening our load a bit.

- I missed my last real long run of 16 miles on Sunday. I was exhausted from moving the day before, we had a softball game at noon, and I was just not feeling it. But it was 2 weeks out from the marathon and I figured it didn’t matter. I ran 10 miles the next day to sort of make up for it and feel OK with this decision. I’ve been a trooper getting my miles in through this process, so one miss ain’t bad.

- We have So. Much. Stuff. I can’t believe it. It’s all going to fit wonderfully when all is said and done, but what a giant project. Unpacking can be fun, but it is a lot of work. I am finding it to be a lot more logistically challenging then I remember. Like you have 3 boxes of stuff and one bathroom vanity. GO. It is a puzzle. Zach did the kitchen which may have been the hardest puzzle yet, but there are lots of other rooms and tons of stuff left to unpack.

- I’m really looking forward to the decorating part of it! I’ve been planning it out for months with the help of my interior designer friend Inga, and my super creative friend Emily. They all have great taste and insight, I love it.

- My cat did not enjoy the ride over to the new house, but seemed to settle in OK once we were there. SEEMED to. A couple days later he found hidey hole in the crawl space and spent the next day and a half in there. We finally lured him out but I’m sure he’ll find another place to disappear soon. He’s so weird.

- I’ve run a couple times from the new house after work and I love it! The area around the house is so beautiful but quite hilly. I am ok with that for the most part. My favorite part is being able to set my Garmin outside while I get ready (used to not even be able to get a signal downtown most times) and stretching out after the run in the backyard.

= Zach has been commuting by bicycle! He rides about 8-9 miles each way, mostly on the paved trail which is nice. He even rode yesterday in the rain. He’s such a Portlander!

- On the other hand, I have been commuting by bus. (we both used to walk when we lived downtown). It’s actually pretty great! It’s a short, direct ride and I get to read. I like it so far!

- My favorite things in the house so far: 1) The Bath… Huge, claw-foot tub and I can see the stars through my window. Ahhh. Sorry, water bill. 2) Laundry room… an actual laundry room! Not a stackable in the closet in the bathroom. I even have a folding table! 3) Kitchen… I cooked a meal last night for the first time since we moved in and it was maybe the most delicious thing ever. Yes we had to sit on the floor but we didn’t care.

- I went to the apartment to clean it before we turn in the keys and it was weird. It made me a little sad. I’ve loved living there, it’s been a great experience. It is such a beautiful building in a great neighborhood downtown, it’s been very cool. I’ll miss it. Especially the rooftop hot tub.

- Even though our house is still about 50% chaos, the beginnings of a routine are taking shape and WOW is that nice. I feel like we’ve been so uprooted for the last few weeks, going back and forth between the houses. One big thing is we haven’t had to eat out all week which has been a relief. It was getting ugly.

- The Newport marathon is now like 10 days away! I kind of keep forgetting about it. Not only have we been so busy, but I’ve been running less (taper), Zach isn’t running at all (pretty much decided he’ll not run the marathon). It’s just slipped my mind. I need to rally some excitement and get pumped up! This has been a very different training cycle in general and I’m interested to see how it plays out on race day.

That is all for now! Here are a few pictures. Sorry for the lack of posting and the lack of pictures lately (and as always, the lack of commenting…. I do still read your blogs!)…. I hope to have more time as we get settled in. Thanks for reading.

En route:

Kitty in his hidey hole:

Done moving boxes!

Ugh:

Love:

Sad empty apartment:

Bike commuter:

Newport Training schedule almost all marked off!

Twenty Twenties

2011-05-17T18:27:00.001-07:00

Sunday was my last 20 miler of this training cycle and it was the awesomest run ever. It capped off a great training week altogether- it was a total 180 from my previous week (see previous whiny post). I ended up with 52 miles total for the week. Besides this great 20 miler I ran an 11 mile trail run, a 10 mile tempo-type run, and a couple easy shorter runs.

Some details on this run while I’m still feeling the runner’s high (2 days later!) – I drove out to the Banks-Vernonia trail by myself because Zach was being cautious with his sore knee and went cycling instead of running. I parked at a mid-point on the trail so I could stop at the car and refill my water mid-run. I was a little nervous about the long run as usual, and the weather wasn’t helping. It was only in the upper 40’s and pouring!

The first part of the run was about 8 miles total. I hit up the restroom at the turnaround point and headed back towards the car. This section was very flat. The temperature at the start was 50 degrees and the rain had let up a bit. I was comfortable in my capri tights, short-sleeves, and gloves. I ate my first Gu at mile 5 or so.

After refilling my water at the car, I headed out in the other direction. I needed to run 12 more miles so I would be running out for 6 and then turning around. Heading this way, trail begins climbing after about a mile and then doesn’t stop (gaining about 500 feet maybe) so this next stretch was tough. Also it was pouring again. I felt pretty good though and didn’t feel like I slowed down too much. I ate another Gu around mile 12 and managed to get it all over my gloves and face. Also since it was cold and rainy, my nose was really running so I was snot-rocketing and wiping my nose on my gloves. And of course, I was completely soaked from the rain. Quite a sight I’m sure.

I turned around at mile 14 and began the descent back to the car. I was still feeling great with tons of energy so I just cruised along. I didn’t try to run hard until the very end, but kept a quick pace. I never really felt tired even at mile 17,18,19! I think the downhill was helping. I ate my last Gu at mile 16. The rain let up a bit again and it was just a light drizzle. I pushed it toward the end because I still had so much energy! I finished with a smile on my face for sure. I had done my out-and-back math wrong so I had to walk/jog about a half mile back to the car.

20.0 miles in 2:50:01 (8:30 average pace)

First 8 miles: 8:35 average

Next 6 miles (uphill): 8:58 average

Last 6 miles (downhill): 7:56 average

(last mile 7:22!)

I thought for sure it was my fastest 20 mile training run ever, but in fact back in March of 2008 I ran 20 miles exactly 10 seconds faster. D’oh! Still, I’m happy with it of course. Especially because back in 2008 I ended up running one of my best marathons – a 3:44 at Boston! (pause to read entire Boston Marathon race report, wipe tears)

As I was looking back to check the times of my 20 mile training runs, I made a list. It turns out, this week’s run was my 20^th 20 mile training run.

Behold:

For Newport
#20 May 2011 – Banks Vernonia – 8:30 average (2:50:01)
#19 May 2011 – Springwater – 8:58 average

For Lost Dutchman (DNS)
#18 Dec 2010 - Sellwood Bridge out and back – 8:55 average
#17 November 2010 – Banks Vernonia point to point – 9:08 average

For Eugene (3:41:17)
#16 April 2010 - Banks Vernonia - 8:43 average
#15 March 2010 – SF with Aron – 9:01 average

For Ironman Arizona (13:41:09 – marathon 4:42:43)
#14 October 2009 – Springwater point to point – 8:54 average

For CIM 2008 (3:45:00)
#13 November 2008 – Marine Dr with Zach – 8:38 average
#12 November 2008 – Springwater with Zach – 8:54 average

For Boston 2008 (3:44:56)
#11 March 2008 – San Francisco – 8:30 average (2:49:51 – fastest by 10 seconds)
#10 March 2008 – Los Gatos Creek Trail – 9:21 average
#9 March 2008 – Tiburon – 8:48 average

For CIM 2007 (3:36:47 – PR)
#8 November 2007 – San Francisco – 8:49 average
#7 October 2007 – Los Gatos Creek Trail - 8:54 average

For Boston 2007 (3:55:18 – PW)
#6 March 2007 – Los Gatos Creek Trail – 9:10 average (20.25 miles)

For CIM 2006 (3:39:22)
#5 November 2007 – Spokane, WA with Dad – 9:08 average
#4 October 2006 – Los Gatos Creek Trail – 9:16 average

For Avenue of the Giants (3:45:14)
#3 April 2006 – Iron Horse/Crow Canyon Loop – 9:12 average (21 miles)
#2 April 2006 – location unknown – 9:11 average

For Nike Women’s Marathon (3:55:10 – First Marathon)
#1 September 2005 – Los Gatos Creek Trail? with Maritza - 10:00 average (est)

If you add together:

20 20-mile training runs + 8 marathons + 1 Ironman marathon + 1 20 mile trail race =

I have run 20 miles 30 times! WTF!

Anyway, all of this is just an overly-detailed breakdown of one incredible run. It was one of those runs that makes me think “No matter what happens in the marathon, I’ll always have this run!” I am not changing my goals for the marathon (still hoping to run a 8:30-8:45 ish pace or so) but I am feeling super confident in my ability to do that. Now I just have to take good care of myself in the taper and arrive at the starting line with healthy and happy legs and attitude!

Thanks for reading!

Peak Training Madness and San Diego Pics

2011-05-10T22:08:00.001-07:00

Newport is now less than 4 weeks away and I’m in the peak of my training. I just finished my second consecutive 50 mile week and have 52 on the schedule this coming week. Whew! It’s going OK but I’m struggling a bit with my attitude about it.

I always get to a point in my training where I question my ability and look back at previous training cycles for comparison. I inevitably am shocked at how fast I was before and feel like a total failure and slacker now. Although I haven’t really gotten that much slower at all, I achieve this conclusion by focusing on my few super great runs from previous years and compare them to my crappiest runs of late. Dumb. Anyway, even though I know this is a flawed and useless exercise, I’m more convinced then ever that it is true!

This training cycle is definitely a bit different from any before, and so it is hard to compare. For one, I trained for and ran a 20 mile trail race 8 weeks out from the marathon. So my training was focused on that for several weeks, and then I recovered and ramped back up for a shorter marathon-focused training. The other big difference is that we just bought a house and most of my focus and energy is going toward that. Running has been a great distraction, but I know I’m not giving the training the attention I have in the past.

Maybe the biggest change this time around, and the thing I’m struggling with the most, is my general attitude about training. Of course I still love running as much as I always have, but I just don’t have the desire to push myself as hard anymore. I have lost my enthusiasm for suffering. I don’t care to race as often, I don’t put much effort into speed workouts, and in general I like to take it easy. I’ve struggled though enough intervals and injuries and ice baths to know how I feel about them. Meh. I just love running and I don’t feel the need to push it. I like long runs, I like trail runs, I like running with friends. But lately I haven’t felt the need to crank up my power mix and hammer out a fast pace. I know this is going to affect my speed and I thought I was ok with that. But I’m at that point in my training where I need to reflect back and judge myself and I’m kind of freaked out. I said from the beginning I wasn’t even planning on trying to BQ or PR or anything, so why am I feeling so bad about it now?? My goal was to run a 3:45-3:50 marathon and that is what I’ve been training for. I’m definitely capable of it, and it’s a fine goal! But I can’t help but get down on myself for not training on par with my 3:36 or 3:39 marathon finish times.

……

I wrote the previous paragraphs this morning and have thought about this all day. I talked to Aron, Emily, and Zach about it, and also thought about it during yoga tonight. I think between writing it out and then bouncing this off my friends and in meditation I have some clarity on it. Really, this comes down to the same search for balance that I have been working toward the last year or so. This is the essential conflict I have going on all the time. I want to just have fun with running, to entertain other hobbies and interests. But I have a hard time letting go of that side that constantly compares and competes and strives to be better.

Emily had this great reading today in yoga that I will try to paraphrase. It is that within ourselves we have a paradox. On the one hand, we have the need to strive for perfection, to challenge and push ourselves to be better. On the other hand, we are content with things exactly as they are. We are at peace in the present moment with no desire for change. I am working to balance these two sides and to find peace and happiness in my life. I know that right now, I don’t need to be running more/harder/faster. That isn’t the problem. What I need to do is accept myself, and love myself, exactly as I am.

……

Anyway, that is what I am hung up on at the moment. I am working on it and writing this out has helped. Now I have 4 weeks to get my mind set on a positive attitude and have a great race.

Here is a quick summary of my week to show what I was talking about before (and also one run that completely disproves my theory)

Monday: rest

Tuesday: 8 miles at 9:08 pace. This was supposed to be an intervals run, and I kind of did it. I didn’t have my garmin so I ran some half-assed ½ mile intervals based on landmarks I knew. I sort of checked my watch and I think they were around 7:30 ish pace.

Wednesday: 4.0 miles at 7:25 pace. Forest Park run – this was supposed to be an easy run but I was in a great mood and feeling super springy and happy and hammered it out. It was fun! So clearly I am capable of running fast, but I really have to be in the mood.

Thursday: 11 miles at 9:37 pace. Medium long run and I ran slowwww. Felt Ok though.

Friday: rest (fly to San Diego)

Saturday: 10 miles at 9:00 pace along Mission Beach in San Diego. Fun!

Sunday: 17 miles at 9:10 pace on Coronado Island in SD. Tired toward the end but actually felt pretty good. First couple miles were slow and then I was running consistently right at 9:00.

Total: 50 miles! Perfect. I will try to adjust my perspective on that and just be happy with it!

One thing that did give me some perspective is that Zach’s knee started bothering him last week, and he wasn’t able to run at all in San Diego. He was super frustrated at missing the long run and is worried about the marathon. I know he’ll be fine but it sucks and I know how he feels. So I did feel grateful that I was at least healthy and able to run. (Update: he ran tonight and had no pain. Yay!)

Well here are a few pictures from our weekend in San Diego. It was a really wonderful visit, I can’t even explain it. William and Melanie are both doing amazing. Melanie has been home from the hospital for a few weeks and while she still has some issues with her hip (will need another surgery soon) and her eye, she is otherwise fine. It’s amazing. We spent a lot of quality time together and I think it was great for all of us. It’s been a rough road and I think this was the really fun and positive weekend we all needed. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers, I really believe it made a difference in their recovery.

Lots of pictures!

Saturday morning run on Mission Beach:

Saturday afternoon - Melanie’s “Welcome Home” party:

Sunday – William and Zach smoke cigars on the patio

Monday – hanging out on Mission Beach

Thanks for reading! :)

Summer Race Plans

2011-05-02T18:32:00.001-07:00

Well the Newport Marathon is 5 weeks away! It is coming fast. I have mixed feelings about it. I’m kind of burnt out in general right now, between marathon training and getting the new house ready to move in. Zach and I have been working so hard, and while it is really rewarding, it is exhausting. Right now we are giving everything we have to the house and whatever is left is going to running. It’s totally not a sustainable lifestyle and I am looking forward to getting our lives back! I know it’s going to be worth it so I’m trying to keep that in mind.

My training itself is actually going good. I ran a 20 miler yesterday at 8:58 pace – certainly not my fastest but it felt good and I’m happy with where I’m at. I hit 50 miles for the week and will have 2 more big weeks before tapering. I think I can do it! I’m not going to try to run a PR or anything at Newport so I am ok with my training paces. It will be interesting to run a marathon without a lot of pressure to PR or BQ or anything, I am very curious how it will go!

Beyond Newport, Zach and I have been cooking up something BIG! It’s not quite official yet, but I am going to announce it anyway. It looks like we will both be running the McKenzie River 50k later this summer! The coolest thing is that this race falls on my 31st birthday – September 10th. How cool will it be for me to run 31 miles on my 31st birthday!! This race caps at 200 runners and fills up fast, so this year they did a lottery entry. Zach got in and I am on the waiting list. I am the 3rd person out of 77 on the list so I’m pretty sure I’ll get in. They probably won’t notify me until later this summer so I’m going to proceed as if I’m in. I figure why would they even have a waiting list if they aren’t going to let in at least 3 people? I’ll keep you posted.

And beyond THAT, I even have plans. Last Friday I got caught up in a whirlwind of excitement and ended up registering for the Portland Marathon! It’s only a month after the 50k! I have never done anything like that but I’m excited. I know I will be able to finish and will just run it “for fun.” I’m super excited because several of my friends are running it- 5 of my good friends here and even friends coming in from out of state! It’ll be great. It is going to be my 10th full marathon (not counting the Ironman or the 50k) and I think it will be really special to do my hometown marathon for that big landmark!

Well that’s the update… I also want to mention that the only reason I even have time to blog is that my wonderful husband gave me the night off! He is over at the house finishing up the painting and I am at the apartment doing laundry and cleaning up. Even though I’m doing chores it feels like a real treat because it’s not nearly as hard as painting! And I actually get to watch TV! Oh Real Housewives and Teen Moms, I have missed you.

Here are a couple pictures of me and Zach hard at work. I promise some great before and after pictures will be coming soon! Have a great week everyone!

Go Bruins! (my painting clothes are my old gym clothes from high school):

Zach giving me tips on my first day of painting (10 days later I’m practically a pro):

Handyman!

Coming up for air

2011-04-26T06:21:00.001-07:00

So much to say, so little time or energy. I can’t even compose a complete sentence (see previous sentence). This calls for bullet points!

- Metaphors/Phrases I would use in sentences about how busy I am, if I could compose a complete sentence: A lot on my plate, Juggling, Spinning Plates (you know, like the circus thing? This lookss really weird written down), Busy Bee, Over-extended, Spread thin, Etc..

- My life is now officially centered around the new house and the 1,000 things that need to be done. We are about 75% done with painting – we are painting the entire interior. Literally every single non-floor surface in the house. It’s a lot of work but it looks amazing. Once that is done the other 999 projects can begin. Like moving. A more complete house update with lots of pictures will eventually be posted.

- Things I would not have committed to if I had known we were buying a house/if I knew how much work it would be: Book Club, Yogathon, (plea for donations will eventually be posted), Marathon Training, Softball League

- Yoga and climbing are both officially on the back burner. Instead of feeling bad about it, I just decided to take a few weeks off so I can take care of these initial big house projects and moving.

- I’m training for a marathon! I may shelve yoga and climbing, but no one puts running in a corner. It takes a lot of energy to run 16 miles and then paint for 8 hours but I’m doing it (so is Zach). This is the first time my marathon training is not my primary focus in life. We’ll see how that affects the outcome. I’m getting my miles in and it’s actually going pretty great.

- Some highlights from last week’s training:

---- My first speed work in like a year! 6 x 0.5 mile intervals at something like a 7:15 pace average. Not bad!

---- Long run of 16 miles with 10 at 8:24 pace. They were supposed to be “Goal Pace” but I don’t really have a goal yet. So I just went for it! Felt great and just cruised along.

---- Total miles for last week: 45! The next three weeks are 50+ and then I taper. Yikes.

- We DNS a trail race we were signed up for on Saturday (see all previous posts about being over-extended, having an entire house to paint, etc). It was 2+ hours away and we just didn’t have the time to spare. We got our miles in near home and then got back to work. It was a cheap entry fee so that’s fine. Moving on.

- Going with the flow! Taking it day by day! Trying to enjoy the process and remember this is a GOOD thing and quit complaining! ETC!

- Well I think that’s it for now. Sorry no photos! There will be plenty soon. Thanks for reading!

running stories

2011-04-17T10:21:00.001-07:00

A quick note- I changed the title of my blog back to "running stories." My mind was wandering as I was out for a run this week, and I was thinking about my most recent blog post and the blog in general. I decided that I really like the name "running stories" and that it should keep that original title. I had that name for so long, and just changed it to "creating space" last June, but I was ready to change it back.

When I first posted about going in a New Direction, I was in a place where I really needed a change in my life. I wanted to take my focus away from training hard and racing, and spend more time looking inward and figuring out what really drives me. I knew running was important to me, but I felt like it was covering up a deeper need for validation. I specifically felt like I was reaching out for validation from my readers hoping that your words would fill something inside of me. I renamed the blog because needed "permission" from myself to stop posting the stats of every single run. I hoped that would help me take the emphasis and importance off of my running performance, and force me to find that satisfaction from other sources.

Not sure I figured it out just yet, but I do think I made some progress. I do think that changing the name allowed me to open up quite a bit about my feelings and my life, and I am happy with that change. I also like not posting as much about my running, because that always felt like such an obligation.

That said, I have also realized that running IS important to me. I have started expanding my horizons with yoga, climbing, etc.. but the truth is I am a runner through and through. As things change in my life, running is the thread that follows through it all. I do still think that I need to find satisfaction in a broader range of activities, but I still want to run, train, and race. I love posting my race reports and occasionally posting about specific runs. And darnit, this is my blog and I'll do what I want!

So that's the update. It's "running stories" again. I will continue creating space in my life for other pursuits and loves, and I will keep trying to find room in my life for the present. I haven't lost sight of that goal. But in seeking that balance, I decided I do want to tip the scales back towards running just a little.

Thanks for reading. :)

Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 Miler Race Report

2011-04-12T06:24:00.001-07:00

Zach and I spent a wonderful weekend in eastern Oregon for the Peterson Ridge Rumble. The race was awesome, the people were all very nice, and the landscape out there is breathtaking.

On our way into Bend, we stopped at Smith Rock State Park for a bit to take some pictures and check out the climbers. Smith Rock is one of the great places for rock climbing in the western US and we are planning on going climbing there this summer. Exciting! After that quick stop, we spent the afternoon in Bend which has a super cute downtown area and a kickass running store where we picked up our race numbers. While there, the nice folks at Foot Zone helped me find a new pair of trail shoes (which I did not wear for the race- I know that’s rule #1 about racing but they are amazing and I was tempted!) and hooked me up with a free pair of socks and a t-shirt for Zach. Love that place. Zach had been there a couple times and couldn’t stop talking about how great they were and he was right! We checked out a couple antique stores and hit the road.

Late in the afternoon we drove to the tiny town of Sisters, about 20 miles away. I took a few pictures on the way, the sky was amazing and the views of the mountains were just incredible. Sisters is just as cute as little western towns come and we quickly found our hotel. They had upgraded us to a suite which was gorgeous! It was huge and fancy and had a Jacuzzi tub. We went out for dinner at Three Creeks Brewing where we met a couple other runners and listened to some interesting live local music.

So in summary, before I get to the race report, I highly recommend the following things: Smith Rock, Foot Zone running store, Best Western Ponderosa Inn, and Three Creeks Brewing. As well as the towns of Bend and Sisters, the state of Oregon in general, and the sport of rock climbing.

Sunday morning we got up and fixed ourselves breakfast in our deluxe suite’s kitchen. We checked the weather and it was in the upper 30s with temps rising gradually throughout the morning. The sky was partly cloudy and it looked like we were going to stay dry which is always a treat. I wore capri tights, a short-sleeve shirt, arm warmers and gloves. We both also carried Gu and our own water since there were only 3 or 4 aid stations out there several miles apart. We drove the short distance to the start at Sisters Middle School and used the restrooms in the gym. We waited in there until 10 minutes before 9:00 and walked to the start. There were less than a couple hundred people doing the 20 miler (the 40 milers took off an hour earlier) so it was intimate. We listened to the instructions (“follow the yellow Montrail ribbons”) and then we were off!

My plan was to run pretty conservatively since I didn’t know how big the hills would be. I was also slightly concerned that the elevation (about 3500 ft) would cost me some time but that turned out to be a total non-issue. I figured I would have to walk some of the hills, plus stop at the aid stations, so I was hoping to average under 11:00 pace with all that.

The first three or so miles were really flat and mostly on a dirt road. I kept the pace easy- 8:30-9:00 according to my Garmin (which would become useless later, stay tuned!). Finally we turned onto a single track trail and the real trail running began. We immediately hit a little ridge that we had to climb up and then down the other side. There were switchbacks for a bit and then it got a little steep and rocky, but I didn’t have to walk. I was in a line of people which makes pacing easy (you have no options!). The descent on the other side was pretty technical too so we weren’t going that fast. Finally, the ridge was behind us and the trail flattened out for the most part.

We climbed gradually for several miles and the crowd thinned out. The forest was pretty open (not super dense like around here) so I could mostly see runners a ways ahead of me. This was important because there were several places where I almost turned the wrong way. The ribbons were there, but not always very obvious. I had people behind me though and they kept me on track. This was kind of the trend for the next several miles- a couple of people pacing off me and no one in sight ahead of me. Every once in a while I caught up to someone, like after aid stations, or someone passed me and I could just follow them for a while.

My Garmin was telling me I was running between 8:30 and 10:30 pace, depending on the hills, but most were coming in around 9:30. At mile 12 my average pace was 9:30 but then the GPS lost its signal and never got it back. This was a challenging thing because after that I had no idea how far we had left or what pace I was running. As the second half of the course descended again I kept a good pace and ran along with most of the same people from before. I figured I was keeping a 9:30 pace and thought I would finish in 3:10, so I rationed out my energy based on that.

I did stop at the aid stations as planned: drank water twice and refilled my fuel belt once. I ate 3 Gu’s along the way too. The course was really beautiful and I was enjoying the scenery. There were never any really tough climbs, but the trail was rather technical and rocky in many places. In fact, I tripped and fell a few times. I scraped my leg on one fall (landed on a stick I think) but otherwise no harm done. The weird thing was that the trail was not muddy at all so I got covered in regular dirt. Not mud! Fascinating.

We hit the little ridge again and I was able to run up it and back down. Some people were walking at this point so I felt really proud that I was still running. I kept thinking “Good thing I’ve been doing all those runs on the Wildwood!” which I think is a much more difficult trail.

Finally I got back to the dirt road and knew the finish was a couple miles away. I was still operating under the assumption that I would finish in about 3:10, so I started picking up the pace a bit. I was definitely tired, but still had enough gas in the tank to pick off a few runners and push to the finish. As I was passing this older guy I joked “are we there yet?” and he said “just over a mile to go!” and I laughed. Wait, what? I thought we were way closer. We were still in the forest but I figured the school would pop out around the corner any moment now. Well I was pretty disappointed as I kept running and the old guy was right, we were NOT close to the finish. At this point I was really hurting due to my ridiculous pace. I finally saw Zach and he was taking pictures, and told me the finish was just across the road and through the school parking lot. I pushed through, saw the finish banner along the track and someone yelled “Just once around and you’re done!” What?? FML! I couldn’t believe it. Stupid track finish. All the way around and finally I crossed the finish line.

Official finish time: 3:19:44 (9:59 pace)

91/193 overall

34/91 Females

18/46 (30-39 AG)

So clearly I miscalculated somewhere… I think my Garmin was off for the first part and the 9:30 was not quite right. The course could have been long, but not by much. It is listed on the website as being 20.3 miles which would give me a 9:50 pace but still. Anyway, I learned my lesson: pay attention on the way out so you know when to expect the finish line on your return. Pretty funny. I guess it’s good because I left it all out there and pushed for longer than I thought I could. I actually felt really good the whole time until that last bit, so I think I was going a little easy on myself.

I finished and got a pair of “Ridge Rumble” socks and a bottle of water. After cooling down for a bit I talked to Zach and we shared our race stories. He did really awesome- finished in 2:45 with an 8:15 pace. He is an amazing trail runner!! A few minutes later the first and second place 40 mile guys came in- crazy! They had started one hour earlier but that is still crazy fast. I talked to them both and the race director and they were all cool. That’s the nice thing about doing small races!
We hit up the burrito bar- an actual full-on burrito bar from a local restaurant! I made a huge burrito and drank a coke, delicious! Best post race food ever. They had brownies too which I snagged for later. We headed back to our hotel where we had a late 2:00 check out and took a soak in the Jacuzzi tub. When we checked out we thanked the manager for the upgraded suite and the great service. We’ll definitely stay there if we go back next year!

We drove back to Portland and talked about our races and enjoyed the scenery again. Back home we stuffed ourselves with pizza and beer and crashed into bed early. We had a really amazing weekend from start to finish- it was a nice getaway weekend and awesome trail run. I would highly recommend this race to everyone!!

My legs feel great today, just a little sore. I’m taking this week easy to fully recover and then hitting the marathon training hard for the next few weeks. The Newport Marathon is 8 weeks away and based on this weekend I’m feeling great about my training!

Thanks for reading everyone!

Lots of pictures:

Me

2011-04-08T16:06:00.001-07:00

I made an observation this week. It’s pretty abstract and probably hard to articulate, but I feel like exploring it and sharing so let’s give it a shot.

I’ve been reading back through my blog the last couple of weeks- I did a post for Aron’s blog about my first Boston Marathon, so I was reading back to April 2007 to refresh my memory. It was interesting to see what was going on with my running and in my life in general. It kind of hooked me, and so during slow times at work I read more old posts.

A few things jumped out at me. First, a running observation: I run the same pace now as I when I was a new runner. I started my blog in November 2005 after running my first marathon. I may have done some slower training runs back then, but my race paces were identical to times I have run in the last two years. My fastest and slowest times in all distances are super close. I think the more interesting part of this is that I was kind of fast from the very beginning. I got a little faster, but never made those double-digit PR’s that most people get in their first years of running. My focus has changed a lot and I would say that technically, looking at the numbers, I have “peaked” but that is mostly because I am not as motivated to push myself as hard and suffer as much in racing. I decided it’s not that fun and I’d rather pursue other goals. (for more on this topic, see all my posts over the last two years)

My other observation is a bigger, more universal-truth type thing. (This is where it’s going to get abstract and kind of stream-of-consciousness so buckle up.) Reading back over 5 ½ years of blog entries, I had this weird sense of recognition. I felt a familiarity with the writing and the stories. I remembered writing them, and I remember the feelings I had. I saw where I had perfectly articulated the emotions of a certain event, and I vaguely recalled that some of my sentiments were actually lies.

I saw a trend in openness, a real range of the availability of my true self. At first, I was super cagey and didn’t even allow comments. I never even hinted at where I lived, and never posted pictures. Hey, it was early in the blog trend and I was paranoid! This was pre-facebook and people still had a sense of privacy. Clearly, that dissolved and while I’ll never post my address or pictures of me in my underwear, I’m pretty open. But beyond that, I used to hide an enormous portion of my personal life and feelings. I only blogged about running and running-related things. Maybe some vacation pictures here and there, and I would hint at big events in my life, but that’s it. Eventually, the line between my “personal” and “running” life became blurry and I shared more. Then I took a big leap last year when I changed the name of this blog and opened WAY up about all the stuff going on in my life. You still don’t get all the nitty-gritty, and believe me, you don’t want to. This will never be a Stress and Anxiety blog. That would be no fun for anyone! I like this as an outlet to share the highlights of my life, the big accomplishments and beautiful places and good times. But, I’ll never hide the truth when I’m going through a rough time.

No matter how I presented myself and my life through all those posts, there was a true voice there. As I read through them, I recognized myself.

I sensed my personality coming through in every sentence. I laughed at my jokes, and remembered thinking that was hilarious when I wrote it. I felt my pain as I read about struggling though a tough race or a scary event in my life. I recognized the pride I felt… the pride that was sometimes so completely pure and sometimes entirely manufactured and false. I recognized times when I was absolutely sure of myself and times when my identity was hanging by a thread.

I guess what I’m saying is that reading back through my blog gave me a pretty good idea of who I am. It sounds weird that I could learn such a valuable thing from a silly running blog, but maybe not. I mean, it is essentially a journal, which is of course a brilliant tool for that. It is a tool for introspection, and then later, retrospection.

This blog has served different purposes through its life- at first as a just-the-facts running log, then a place to seek out feedback and advice, and finally just an all-out mind dump. To be honest, I don’t really care too much anymore about the feedback. I know this isn’t the most popular blog and I don’t get tons of comments, but that’s fine. I love sharing pictures and stories and posting about whatever I want. The true and only audience of this blog is me.

The one thing that has been present and obvious from the very beginning is that I love to write. I don’t want to be a writer or have to meet any standards whatsoever (ha!) but I just want to write. It’s a creative outlet, it’s fun, and I love it. And I’m good at it. More than anything, when I was reading back through all my posts, I was just enjoying the writing. I guess I never really gave myself credit for that before.

I realize that I never gave myself credit for a lot of things, really.

I learned a lot about myself through this exercise of studying the blog archives. I got a sense of myself, of my personality. I’ve always struggled with my self-esteem and maybe this is a bit of a breakthrough? I liked the person I read about. She’s got a good sense of humor, a generous spirit, and a sense of adventure. She’s a good athlete and a good writer.

If I can accept that She is Me, that would be everything.

Home Sweet Home

2011-04-05T21:29:00.001-07:00

Last Friday we got the key to our new home.

We spent the evening just exploring around, thinking about how to make it Ours.

Zach’s kitchen:

Zach immediately started digging into some yard work:

I drank a beer above a sea of lilies:

And Zach smoked a celebratory cigar

We stayed the night on an air mattress and woke up early to get started on a busy day. We headed out for an 8 mile run to explore the neighborhood and I took along my camera:

Leaving the house around 7:00 am

Beautiful Reed College:

Golf course:

Zach freezing along the route:

Beautiful trees in the park (I actually took this pic later in the day, it was not sunny when we were running):

On the Springwater trail – I’ve been here lots of times!

Johnson Creek:

Back along the golf course:

It was a gorgeous run!! But it was quite hilly too- I figure this will force me to be a better hill runner (looking on the bright side).

We spent the weekend moving a few things from storage, getting flooring estimates, and doing other errands. We got a few things done but not much… it is going to be a long process. Turns out, even with this big change, our lives still include all the things they did before (marathon training schedules, jobs, social life, volunteering responsibilities, travel plans, etc etc etc).

We are not going to move in for a while, at least a few weeks. We are doing a few minor renovations and then need to furnish and decorate the entire house, plus move all our stuff from the apartment. We’re going to take our time and do this right. I am so excited – we both are. We feel like we found our perfect house and can’t wait to get settled in. I will post lots more pics as we make progress!

I’m skipping any running updates here- will catch up next time. The training is coming right along and I’m feeling good. We are running the Peterson Ridge Rumble 20 mile trail race this Sunday and I will post a report asap. It’s going to be fun!

Here are a few last pics- I took them today along the waterfront. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom and are just breathtaking. Such a wonderful place to run. I love Portland!

Thank you for reading! :)

Getting it done

2011-03-27T19:54:00.001-07:00

It’s already been a couple weeks already since my last post? I guess I’ve been busy! I am ramping up my training and it’s going great. We’ve spent a lot of time outside running and trying to take advantage anytime it’s not raining (rare). I have tons of great pictures! But first let me recap my training. Good stuff!

Last week I ran about 37 miles total in 4 runs.

* Tues: easy 6 miler
* Thurs: speedy 8 miler with Zach on Leif Erickson trail in FP (8:17 pace)
* Sat: 8 miles with my dad – he rode Zach’s mountain bike. Fun!! The sun was out and he took some great pics. My parents were in town for the weekend and we had a really nice visit.
* Sun: 15.25 mile long run on the Wildwood trail in Forest Park. Muddy, hilly, and I felt great. Ran a 10:20 pace which is a great trail pace for me (neg split too- last few miles were sub 10!)

This week I got in 41 miles in 5 days! A big step up and I can feel it.

*Tues: 4.5 miles
*Weds: 6.5 easy miles with Zach
*Thurs: 6 miles in FP with Zach
*Sat: 6 hilly miles on Wildwood
*Sun: 18 miles long run on the road with a terrible hangover

Ya… today’s run was rough. We had way too much fun (wine) with our friends last night and stayed up really late. There was karaoke and french toast at midnight, that kind of thing. I don’t do it often and I paid for it today. It was worth it though, we had a blast! We slept in late and took our time recovering for a few hours. Finally, after convincing each other we HAD to get the run in, we started the long run after 1:00 pm. It was weird to finish at like 4:00 pm and then have brunch at 5:00. Ha! It actually wasn’t all that bad, I’ve had worse runs. Ended up with a 8:53 pace but I slowed down a lot in the last few miles. Whatever, I’ll take it!

I’ve also been having some great climbing sessions lately. I feel like I’m back to where I was pre- rib injury. Zach is getting really good too, it’s fun to watch. We took some friends to the gym lately- Alisa, and then Deana and Dana yesterday. It’s fun to watch new people try it! I was proud of them all. The consensus was “it’s a lot harder than it looks.”

The climbing is taking up some time and energy away from yoga, but I have still been going to the meditative/restorative class twice a week. So I’ve just not been going to the active classes, but that’s fine. It’s more of a mental thing for me anyway. Emily says Yin yoga is not a “workout” but a “work IN” .. I like that. :) She’s great.

One last update- we are still supposedly closing on our house at the end of next week! We’ve had a rocky week with the final details which lead to a few angry emails sent to our idiot mortgage broker (by me) and a lot of tears (again, all me), but I think it’s all going to work out. I’ll believe it when I have the keys in my hand! It’s been a real headache but I can’t complain too much. I feel very lucky and blessed to be able to buy a beautiful home with my wonderful husband… I don’t have much to complain about.

Expect some house pics in the next post!

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last two weeks. Enjoy! Thanks so much for reading. Have a great week!

Run with Dad last weekend:

Spending tons of time on muddy trails in Forest Park:

More signs of spring around Portland…

Some red buds on these trees:

A little green on these trees:

White blossoms:

Sunbreaks at the Farmer’s Market downtown!

Climbing with Deana and Dana yesterday:

Bouldering:

Self-portrait after today’s 18 miler:

Spring Training

2011-03-13T17:45:00.001-07:00

I’m a couple of weeks into my spring training plan, and so far so good! My first race is the 20 mile Peterson Ridge Rumble on April 10 (4 weeks away), and then the Newport Marathon is June 4 (8 weeks later). Zach made a training plan that covers both races, and I’m just copying him because I’m too lazy to make my own! Also, he did a pretty great job setting it up. We’re alternating our Sunday long runs between trails and road, but also doing trail runs on Saturdays.

We’re getting a lot of rain here in Oregon these days (really!) and so many of our runs have been pretty wet. The trail runs have been very, very muddy. It’s pretty great. It definitely makes it a little more challenging but it’s fun.

I’ve done 14 mile long runs two weeks in a row- last Sunday on the Wildwood and today out at Banks Vernonia. Yesterday I did a very hilly and muddy 7.5 miles and I felt it on today’s long run. Along with a couple mid-week runs I ended up with 34 miles total this week which I’m very happy with. I don’t want to peak too soon- being ready for this 20 mile trail race without over-training way before Newport is going to be a delicate balance. I’m really enjoying the variety though!

I am definitely getting sick of the rain, but what can you do. Hopefully we’ll get a break eventually and the sun will come out. The trees are starting to bloom and the sun is setting later so we’re all set up for spring… just need that sun!

Before I get to pictures, a quick house update! We’re pretty much done with all the negotiating and other BS, and we’re set to close the first week of April. We’re going to do a few renovations right away(refinish floors, paint, etc) so we’ll probably be moving in early May or so. I’ll definitely have plenty of pictures then. This whole process has been SO nerve-wracking and just exhausting, but it’ll be worth it.

Thanks for reading. I decided I’m going to start commenting on your blogs soon (I never stopped reading, just commenting!), because I am starting to miss the friendships I have with my blogger friends. ♥

Pictures! The theme is MUD and RAIN. Enjoy!

14 mi. Trail Run Sunday March 6

14 mi. Long Run on Banks-Vernonia Trail Sunday March 13