Weekend ~ whew!!

So glad it's Friday!

Thursdays are my long day - 10am to 10pm, 8 hours of class. Fridays are only 2 hours of classes, one at noon and one at 4pm. Besides less time in class, we also only had one assignment due and one quiz. Whew! I didn't study for the quiz (I decided to take a shower and clean my room instead last night), but I think I did pretty well on it and I think we get the lowest score dropped for the term. The assignment for writing was just a journal. So I just blabbered in Japanese for a few pages and called it good.

Now it's on to week 3! Going to use my weekend to get completely caught up and hopefully get a little ahead.

It's also time to get back into the running groove. I took a few days off to recover after the marathon, but I'm looking forward to getting out on my favorite paths around Eugene.

The Portland Marathon was awesome! I went into the race treating it like a training run. I didn't have a goal time in mind and I wasn't nervous at all. Just out there to enjoy a run.

I love the start of the race - one of my favorite moments of all the races I've done. Right after the start, in the middle of downtown is a drum corps. The power and rhythym of the drums echoing off the buildings. Simply amazing.

The first half the race just flew by. In sections I swear they measured the course short lol I even forgot I was on mile 11, I thought I was still on mile 10 and I was shocked to see the mile 12 marker. Then somewhere around 14 or 15, I had a little runner's high. I felt like the luckiest girl in the world! :)

At Checkpoint Charlie (mile 16.5-ish) before the St John's Bridge, my legs started getting a little cranky. Walking all the way up and over the bridge was a killer, but I knew Chris was waiting for me on the other side of the bridge (with a Coke and chips!) that really cheered me up. I love this part of the Portland Marathon because you know that every step after the St John's Bridge is a step closer to home. There was a lot of fog race morning and I couldn't see the bridge until we were about a mile from it. Watching the bridge slowly emerge from the fog was another amazing memory from this race.

Besides some fog, there was a bit of rain during the marathon too. I still had my long sleeve warm-up top and the rain was nothing more than a sprinkle, so I was toasty and dry - except for my feet. My socks got soaked early on, luckily no blisters but my feet felt pretty raw almost the whole way through. I was hoping Chris would be close enough to the car to grab another pair of socks, but no luck.

Mentally things got a little rough about mile 19. No surprises there. I told the whiny voice in my head to shut up; I wasn't going to listen to that "this sucks, why am I doing this, I want to go home" crappola today. I told myself there's only two things you can think about: eating my mini-bag of Fritos at mile 20 and making a honey bucket stop near the U of Portland campus. By mile 21, I felt back in the groove.

Right before mile 24 and the Steel Bridge, the rain started coming down again. Great, just great. I'm this close the finish and now I'm going to get soaked. Grrrr. This time the little voice said, "I wouldn't want to be in the rain anywhere else in the world right now." Damn skippy! I'm in my home, I've got a healthy body and I am so fortunate to have this day. You don't have a web-footed mascot for nothing. A little liquid sunshine? Ha! Let's do the damn thing!! Feeling great, I ran up the on-ramp and across the bridge. Down the other side (ahhhhh ~ I love down hills!) then bam! A volunteer was yelling that we had to stop, there's a train >:( We had to wait for the guards to go back up but it was only a minute or two and stretching out my legs did feel pretty good. Then I got right back into running and on to Front Street.

Usually right before mile 26, I walk. It's an annoying habit. I know I'm close enough to finish but by that point I just don't give a fuck anymore (ie me at this very spot in 2006, and earlier this year at the Eugene Marathon.) Well not this time. When things started getting a little rough, Jobber got me going with "A Little Less Conversation". (The marathon's big selling point was being MP3 player friendly this year, so I couldn't leave Jobber at home all alone.) With a few blocks to go, the Chili Pepper's "Can't Stop" ~ gawd, I luv you Jobber! You're like a miniature buddha covered in plastic! I crossed the finish line with a big goofy grin on my face and without stopping for the last 2.2 miles :) Fan-freakin-tastic!

Now here's where I hate the Portland Marathon - the chaos that is the finish line. We had some new disposable chip system this year, so no waiting in line to get your chip cut off. I also had a space blanket wrapped around me and the volunteer even offered to tie it around my neck for me. Cool beans. But trying to get a medal from one of the clueless middle school chicks was frustrating. There was like 6 of them standing around with armfuls of medals but they were all spacing off. I actually had to stop and ask one of them for my medal. Not cool. Then trying to find food is like playing where's waldo. There's tables set up along both sides of the street with people milling around and a mess of random boxes everywhere. Some people were drinking chocolate milk and eating ice cream, but I couldn't figure out where those were coming from. I found a big table of yogurt (urp!) and some chocolate candies thrown down in piles on another table. I prefer Disney's food area that's just a couple of small, well stocked tables that you have to walk past. No hunting around for some grub. The Eugene Marathon had people handing out chips and water bottles. Arg Portland. Not the worst finish area I've ever been in, but you can do better.

I got my rose from a nice Girl Scout and the guy at the finisher's shirt table was really helpful. He suggested an XS and it fits wonderfully :) I've never worn my shirt from 2006, which was way too big, the sleeves just flop around and the mock turtle neck reminds me a dickey. I skipped the finisher's pictures (there were only two stations set up and a line of people waiting, no thank you). I saw some booths with kiddie pools filled with ice and one with massage tables set up (I think they were free but I'm just not a fan of strangers touching me).

I made it to the reunion area around the block from the finish line. I didn't see him at all coming into the finish line, so I was hoping Hubby was waiting for me there. No Hubby :( I wrapped my blanket around my backside, sat down on the curb and rested against a garbage can. I took my shoes off to discover my feet were completely white and covered in the pruney-est skin I've ever seen. I threw my wet socks away and wished that I had brought some flip flops. After about 10 minutes and still no Hubby, I decided I should be walking around anyways and got up to go look for him.

I walked nearly down to Salmon Street Springs. Still no Hubby :_( I knew he had Hank-dogs with him, so I was looking at people's feet because spotting a dog is easier than spotting my medium built, average height, brown haired white guy of a husband in a crowd. But no Hanker-stanks either. At this point, I'm starting to get very emotional. Where could he be? Why isn't he here? I have no cell phone to call him with. And the thought of asking a stranger to use their phone is too terrifying. I just want to go home! I put my hands on my knees and bent over ready to start bawling. I realized that I must have looked pretty pathetic when some guy crossed the street to ask me if I was okay. So I sucked my crocodile tears up and started walking back to the reunion area. Finally at the last turn of the race, I see him! I must have somehow walked right past him when I first left the reunion area :)

I changed in the car on the way to Jack in the Box. Curly fries -mmmmmmmmmmmm. I napped in the car on the way down to Corvallis. I showered then slept some more at home before heading back down to Eugene.

Another great marathon (no wonder these things are addicting!) and a great weekend at home :)

PDX Tri

Saturday afternoon I picked up my packet for the tri. I was surprised to not see that many people there; I thought the tri would be much busier. I switched from the Olympic to the sprint distance. Even without the staples in my noggin, I think 1/2 mile swim is barely doable for me. There's no way I was going from the 1/4 mile swim at the Midsummer tri to a 1k swim :P

After the packet pick up, we headed to Psycho Safeway downtown for a little brown bag lunch/breakfast. That place never changes. Even though it's been very nicely remodled, it's still a swirling malestrom of the unwashed/elderly masses (and a richy rich down from Goose Hollow every now and again).

The wedding went nicely. The Marine wives got to sit around and chat while our hubbies were getting dressed in their blues and taking pictures. The coordinator was a little odd. She would not let Nikki and I sit with Jiana in the church, so Jiana had to sneak across the aisle like we were in grade school or something. The ceremony was beautiful, especially the touching homily. I always cry at weddings! :_) lol

The reception had the most delicious peach, vodka, and sparkling wine cocktails at the hosted bar, so of course I had to drink plenty of those lol Chris helped himself to lots of Black Butte Porter too. For some reason, Chris and I kept getting bugged by the bartenders about getting two drinks when we're the oldest Marine couple there. Even our friend Ed, who is married to someone under 21, wasn't getting harrassed about double fisting. Guess you gotta keep an eye on us "skeezy eastsiders" as Ian put it lol (Ian also grew up in ghetto fabulous SE Portland, although I think I'm the only official Felony Flater, and the reception was held at the Multnomah Althetic Club in the afore-mentioned Goose Hollow neighborhood.)

Chris decided it was time leave about 9:30pm. He said that he was only thinking about getting me to bed for the tri in the morning, but it was suspeciously after the host bar closed and as soon as the dancing began. Hmmmmm....

Even with the help of some Tylenol PM's, I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight. Waking up about 4am sucks. I think that's the worst part of racing - tearing yourself out of bed at an ungodly hour. Why can't more races be like Boston and not start until noon??

We get to the race and find a great parking space under the Hawthorne Bridge. I get my transition area all set up, got a latte from Starbucks, then just waited for my wave to begin. (Although a good thing to note: go to the honey bucket before you put your wetsuit on.)

I didn't get nervous until we had to head down to the dock. I suddenly felt like calling the whole thing off and hiding under the bed with Hank.

The best part of the swim (besides when it's over): wetsuit=awesome! I wasn't sure what to expect, how warm it would keep me, how that water would feel, ect. I cautiously put a foot in Willamette. Yeah, it's officially cold. But there was no delicate way of slowing getting into the water, so sploosh - off the dock I went. And yay! the wetsuit made the water nice and snuggly :) I felt even warmer than getting into the pool sometimes.

The gun went off and I clung to the side of the dock for a moment letting most of the wave leave. I instantly hated putting my face in the water again. And as a bonus surprise, my goggles decide to fog up too. I tried to rinse them out like I do in the pool but without a bottom to rest on that wasn't happening. I gave up and decided to lick them. I went from foggy whiteness to spitty glopness. Ug. Well, I wasn't out there to sight see. As long as I can head in the direction of the blurry orange buoy I'll be alright. (Now I know that you can take a break on one of the kayaks, but at the time I thought that just touching one of the helpers would mean a DQ.)

I was cruising towards the turn around buoy. I wasn't setting any records but it didn't feel like I'd never reach the buoy either. Zoom under the bridge. Zoom to the turn around. Then, wait a minute, what the hell is this? Why do I keep getting closer and closer to the seawall? Why is getting back to the bridge taking so freakin long?? Oh. That's right, the current. I forgot, I'm now headed against the current >:( I tried telling myself it's no different than when you're running and there's a little head wind, but I kept feeling like I was just treading water.

Finally I'm passed the bridge, finally finally finally I reach the last buoy. Then it was time to get out of river. And my legs refused to work. The rocks were especially slippery and even though there were volunteers to help you stand up and reach the shore, I kept flopping back into the water. Reaching solid land, I'm usually overjoyed to begin the bike. This time, I left everything I had in the water.

I slogged through the bike. Two loops of ug. The hills killed me. If I had a cadence counter, I think it would be at 12. My derailer kept making an evil noise. I was scared to switch gears. Although, the sights were wonderful. I went past the new Andaluz house, where I hope to have our little Mulk munchkin at. The gardens, the OHSU trams, the Chart House.

One loop on the run. Down to the Steel, up to the Hawthorne. And I was finished :)

No finisher's medals for us :( We got a frisbee printed with "Yes, I swam in the Williamette". And yes, I've hung it on the wall with all my medals and certificates lol

1/2 mile swim - 31:22
T1 - 4:04
16.4 mile bike - 1:28:53
T2 - 1:29
5k run - 32:41

Hood to Coast pictures (finally)

Headed up to Mt Hood (some of the road I'll soon be running)

When we arrived at Timberline Lodge, I had a sense of deja vu. Except the last time I was at this spot it looked like this:

The start for Timberline Marathon, September 2006. We need to stop meeting like this lol

Ready to start this bitch, about 6pm

The clock on the right shows how much time has passed since the first teams left that morning

Handing off to Dan in exchange 1

My first road kill

Meeting up with Van 2 at exchange 6 in Sandy, about midnight

My vanmates trying to sleep under the Hawthrone Bridge in Portland, about 1am

One of the tallbike jousters. I wonder what they were thinking of us lol

The exchange marker spray painted under the bridge. If I were the tattooing sort of chick, this would be a great design

Taking pictures of myself in front of the OMSI sign, then I went off to do some dancing in the parking lot, about 2:30am

The sun rising over Mt Hood, near Scappose (sorry it's so blurry, couldn't find a good spot to balance my camera)

Watching the sun rise from the van on Hwy 30

Vans and runners in exchange 24, about 10am. (This is only about a fifth of the vans stopped at this exchange. Hood to Coast has over 1000 teams, which means more than 2000 vans and 12,000 runners will be passing through this weekend.)

One of the most beloved Hood to Coast traditions: In line for the honey buckets. The clouds soon disappeared then the day got very hot and sunny

My blister and a view of the van's floor.

Resting and waiting for Van 2 (I was using one hoodie for a top, one for a blanket, and a packet of toliet paper as a pillow)

Dan, me, Jeff, Kim, Brian still waiting for Van 2, about noon.

Some of the roads in our last legs

The chick in the white t-shirt holding the clip board passed me up like I was standing still, then wasn't even sweating. Damn I hate Nike sponsered teams lol

Smoochies from Chris when we arrived in Seaside

Me and Kim at the after party waiting for Van 2 to officially finish

Watching the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, about 7pm

Finally! We crossed the finish line as a team about 8pm (27 hours after I started at Mt Hood)

Hood to Coast recap (part 1)

(I'll add pictures soon, but right now the memory card reader is having technical difficulties...)




Leg 1 - "Get outta here!"

Friday afternoon, my van 1 teammates gathered up in Portland and headed up to Timberline Lodge. We were given an extremely late start time of 6:15pm. Last year we had basically the same team, started at 2pm and finished in about 27 hours. This year we were more than a little worried about finishing before the race ended at 9pm on Saturday.

I tried to sleep on the way up the mountain, but as usual on HTC, all I could really do was just close my eyes. We arrived at Timberline, checked in, loaded up on free Shot Bloks and Clif Bars, then killed time before the start by taking pictures and hitting the honey buckets. I felt much more relaxed and un-stressed after doing some jogging in the parking lot. I was more worried about the altitude than the downhill slope, but from doing a little warm up I found that neither were going to bug me on Leg 1.

Finally, our time had come. A few minutes before 6:15 our team number was called to the start line. As I was walking to the start I suddenly remembered - I hadn't put any Body Glide on my feet. Too late now. I shook hands with the runners around me, wishing each other luck.

The announcer counted us down then shouted "Get outta here! See you in Seaside!!" No horns, no fireworks, no canons. A deceptively low-key start for the largest relay race in the world.

Leg 1 was gorgeous! I am so glad that I choose this leg. The road's mile markers perfectly synced up with my distance so I knew how far I had to go (most of HTC isn't marked at all, so having some reassurance as to where you are is nice to have). The view from the mountain was amazing, the forest and waterfalls next to the road were beautiful. I was able to relax and enjoy the ride down Mt Hood.

I only passed one roadkill. And then I got passed by a runner who started 15 minutes after I did. He looked just like Ryan Hall too, so I couldn't feel too bad about being roadkilled

Before I knew it, I had arrived in Government Camp. There was one nasty little uphill before the exchange. My legs had spent the last 5 miles going downhill and did not want to cooperate going uphill. I passed off our braclet to Dan and with that, Hood to Coast 2008 was officially under way for Team #820.

Leg 13 - Living in a van down by the river

We stopped for dinner at exchange 6 in Sandy. Subway was a much, much better choice for running food than last year's pick of Doug Fir lol (I was Leg 12 last year, so while I was out running, the team decided to go to Doug Fir. Well, Audrey and the other guy who's name I can't remember decided to go to Doug Fir. Chris, Dan and Jessica had never heard of Doug Fir and just assumed the two people from Portland knew a good place for chow. Imagine 6 tired, sweaty runners in a trendy packed bar on a Friday night. While I was trying to stretch, a brawl started outside and about 10 police cars showed up. Ahhh good times! lol)

Our van rolled out of Sandy and down into Portland. We had about 3 hours before Van 2 was expected to arrive. Everyone else wanted to get some sleep, but I decided to stay up. I forgot to pack earplugs so I knew trying to sleep was going to be pointless and frustrating. While everyone else laid down, I listened to my iPod, played some sudoku, walked around, nibbled on a Powerbar and Gatorade, danced in the OMSI parking lot, changed clothes, took a bunch of stupid pictures, watched some ZooBomber-sorts tallbike joust. I love Portland! Nothing like running around underneath the Hawthorn Bridge in the middle of the night to make you feel 15 again :)

Sure enough, only one of my vanmates (who did remember to bring earplugs) was able to get a decent amount of sleep (if you can call less than 2 hours a decent amount of sleep lol).

After waiting and waiting to hear from the second van, Renae came into exchange 12 about 3:15am and I was off again.

Leg 13 follows the eastbank of the Willamette. I haven't ran the new esplanade because it was finished while we were at Camp Lejeune. I was surprised how pretty it is with sculptures every few feet, plenty of lights and the view of downtown Portland was wonderful. I look forward to running it again next week in the Portland Triathlon. We crossed the Steel bridge, made our way past the Fremont bridge, and into the industrial area. This leg follows the same streets as part of the Portland Marathon, so no surprises and not much to look at after leaving downtown. (Although yet again, Jenn did not have cookies for me as I ran past her apartment on Front St. One of these days, Jenn - sheesh! lol)

My hips felt a little tight, but otherwise I felt good after Leg 1. I know a lot of people get pounded on the downhills and my vanmates who ran legs 2 and 3 were no exception. My knees, shins and quads felt just fine though. My only complaint - I had the worst blister I've ever gotten and it was getting worse. The area underneath my big toe was one giant blister. I cut out a patch of moleskin while waiting for Leg 13 to start, but it wasn't helping.

I was so happy to finally see the exchange and to give the braclet away to Dan.


Alrighty, off to drink some more lemon drops and watch Colbert Report. I'll post Leg 25 and pictures tomorrow.

Oh yeah, and wooooooohooo!!! Yay for being able to vote for 88 years! :D Gotta get check on the pie now. (Seriously, I'm baking a pie with apples I picked from our yard this afternoon. Yum!)

Double or nothing

I have the greatest hubby ever!

Chris and I talked about doing the second triathlon after he woke up Saturday afternoon. When I told him how much the entry fee was, he said to do what I needed to do. Sunday morning at the lake, I was supposed to be doing some practice swimming before the tri but the water was too cold. I got about chest deep and refused to do anything else. Chris actually took off his shirt and shoes and jumped into the lake to swim with me. I'm sure the people on the shore thought we were crazy!

We did some swimming together. I felt fine about putting my face in the water and my stroke was smooth. I wasn't loving the dark, greenish water but if I watched the bubbles on my hands I felt just fine. Chris reassured me about the cold weather and I signed up for the Tri-it distance. (The swim is 1/4 mile instead of 1/2 mile, but the bike is still 12 miles and the run a 5k.)

I told myself that Saturday's race was just a warm-up and today was my day. The other people in the Tri-It distance were all really cool and we were chatting waiting for our wave to start. I entered into the start chute feeling good. I swam out to the start line and found a nice place for me at the back of the pack. Unfortunately, as soon as the gun went off, I instantly found putting my face in the water scary. I felt claustrophobic when my head was down and all I could focus on was that I couldn't breath. I tried to freestyle with my head out of the water, but I was just getting splashed in the face. So I flipped over and did the elementary backstroke. I'd do about 10 strokes on my back, then turn over to do a couple of front crawl strokes to sight. It was slow going but at least I was going.

There was some bumping about half way through the swim. A girl swimming next to me seemed to have a hard time sighting, so she was kinda all over the place. At one point she even swam right over the top of me. But I just kept doing my thing. After we turned the last buoy, I was doing more and more front crawl. I think I could smell the barn doors and just wanted to get out of the water as quickly as possible lol I stood up a little earlier than I should have, but I was just so relieved to be on land again that I didn't care about wasting the extra couple of seconds running instead of swimming.

T1 went well and I was off on the bike. I love to bike! So much faster than running and it makes me feel like a kid again :) The ride was pretty uneventful, which is so awesome! I forgot my bike's fanny pack with the flat tire repair kit and I swear I rode through every bit of broken glass on Marine Drive lol I did get a little bit of chub rub on my thigh from the seat, so lots more Body Glide next time. Before I knew it, we hit the turn around by PDX and were back to Blue Lake park. I was too nervous to try the trick of leaving my shoes on the bike and coming into T2 barefoot. Maybe next time.

The 5k went well. I hadn't eaten much because my ShotBloks were tasting like wax :P I was a little slower than I wanted to be, but I was in a nice groove by the end of the run.

Swim - 0:14:42

T1- 3:23

Bike - 0:50:17

T2 - 2:11

Run - 0:32:34

Total - 1:43:07

The only cruddy thing about the Sunday's race - I actually got an age group award! I was thrilled with just finishing and I've only gotten one other AG award ever before (and this was the 40th race I've finished), I didn't even bother checking the results before we left yesterday. When I checked my times this morning, I took 4th place in the Tri-It women's overall and 2nd in my age group. So even though I placed, I didn't get my award :( But I can't be too disappointed - going from a DNF to 4th overall is a nice way to end the weekend.

Yesterday I wanted to get into the pool to see what was going on with putting my face in the water. Without hesitation I was able to push off from the wall and start stroking away. No scary feelings about having my face down. Now I'm wondering if maybe I was holding my breath during the races. Hmmmm. My legs were pretty tired yesterday, so I just did a bunch of swimming with the pull-buoy focusing on zipper drills and bilateral breathing. Felt really good.

Another reason why my hubby is crazy awesome - I was feeling really bad about I how I looked in my swimsuit. There were chicks at the races who looked like they just finished a game of beach volleyball. Tanned, washboard stomaches, cute little tattoos, sporty bikinis, ect. Blah. When I started complaining about them yesterday, Chris hadn't even noticed them. He had been too busy looking at all the different wetsuits people were wearing so he'd know which kind I should buy lol

DNF

I'm very disappointed to say, I couldn't finish the swim at this morning's triathlon.

Not long after the start, I inhaled a bunch of water. I tried to catch my breath and get back into a rythym, but every time I put my face in the water it just got worse and worse. I ran into a patch of seaweed (which I know doesn't sound that scary sitting in front of a computer, but out there in the cold and murk, it was very unsettling to me). I started having a panic attack not even half way to the first buoy. I decided to drop out and swim back to shore before I got even further out and worse off.

I think Chris is relieved to see that I do have limits. I'm not happy about my first DNF, in fact I'm pretty distraught about it and been crying all morning. I hate that fear got the better of me.

Even though I failed, I tried. And I will be out there again. Now I know that I need open water swimming in my training and I had already reserved a wetsuit for the Portland Tri. Also, the Portland Tri just announced a sprint distance along with the olympic, so I'll be switching to the shorter course.

There's another triathlon at the same lake ran by the same people tomorrow morning. I'm not sure about spending even more money on another entry fee, but not getting right back out there is going to upset me. Chris is still asleep (I think he might be coming down with something), so I haven't talked it over with him yet.

We'll see. But for now, I have seaweed goo to wash out of my swimsuit. (Some of it even ended up on my back! Wtf!)

Life's a beach

We had a really good weekend in Lincoln City. Thursday afternoon, I baked up some raspberry muffins and raspberry scones (my parents have raspberry canes in their yard so using the berries up makes my mom happy). Then Chris and I (and Hank) drove out to the coast after school.

Thursday night we couldn't get a lot done in the house because my dad wasn't down from Portland yet. But my mom has done a really good job of getting the cat smell out of the house. (Before he died, Grandpa D took in Jack, my cousin Jill's tom cat. Jack used the house, especially the upstairs bedrooms and the livingroom, as his litter box. It happens. Grandpa really loved Jack and it made him happy to have the cat around, but as people get older they just can't keep up on some things. Mom was able to get a lot cleaned up, but we still need to replace some carpets and pads and maybe even some flooring.)

Friday morning my dad arrived and arranged to have us all go out on a boat from Newport. We cruised out of the harbor and into the ocean. Just outside the jetties, a grey whale and her calf were swimming around. Chris wasn't too impressed. I guess floating across the Atlantic twice will do that to a guy lol On the way back in, the boat's crew pulled up a couple of pots and dumped the crabs into a box. One crab was upside down and Dad dared Chris to filp it over. Of course Chris did and the two crabs started fighting. One pulled off the other one's leg. Pretty gnarly but I guess it doesn't hurt the crabs at all.


At one point the captain said we were a mile off the shore. I look out and think to myself, "better jump in and start swimming. And if you like that, swim back. And you like that, bike from here to Corvallis. We'll have a marathon waiting for you when you get back." Which led me to think about how I should give in and get a bikini wax so I don't have to worry about shaving before I go swimming. My first thought was, "but a bikini wax is gonna hurt!"

Why can I size up an Ironman without blinking, then turn around and be completely scared crapless over a few minutes of waxing?? Chris always teases me because I'll do a marathon and I'm gung-ho for natural childbirth, but then whine and fuss when one of my toe nails had to be taken off or when I have to put hydrogen peroxide on a cut. Maybe those t-shirts and medals really do make the difference lol

After lunch in Newport, we headed back to Lincoln City and continued on the house. We were able to move all the new appliances into the kitchen, get about 75% of the house cleaned out (there's still the rooms in the basement, a few closets and some scary attic spaces left to go through), get the back yard cleaned up and yard debris hauled away, and get some of the old furniture to the dump.

The weekend wasn't all work though. One night we played my family's favorite board game, Parcheesi. Sadly, I think that's the most fun I've ever had at my grandparents's house.

My mom and I also finished a puzzle which we haven't been able to do in a long time. Back in high school, we used to put puzzles together over winter break. Now I have a cat that likes to eat puzzle pieces and Mom's too busy working with the Post Office, so doing the jigsaw puzzle was a lot of fun. We don't have a lot of time left in Oregon, so helping my family clean up the house and spending time with them means a lot to us.

Saturday morning I drove back to Corvallis for the OSU Youth Program's Running with Hat-titude 5k. Got my butt handed to me by some little kids, but overall not too shabby and none of the problems I had in the 10k. Chris and my dad still had a lot of work to do, so Chris stayed in Lincoln City and drove back after the 5k. The majority of the time we're either riding our bikes or walking somewhere, so I don't feel bad about spending a little extra for the gas.

Can't wait to get back to the beach :)

Bad times, good times

Saturday was the Midsummer Night's 10k in Corvallis. Worst. 10k. Ever. Not only did I set a PW (personal worst), I wanted to DNF but the course sweeper wouldn't let me. The race itself would have been a good, hilly course and all the volunteers and other runners were great. I was just having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

I was feeling pretty tired during my swim practice on Friday. Just not able to keep a breath for very long, being sloppy in my drills, sucking down water because I wasn't turning enough, ect. I decided to skip my bike and swim on Saturday to rest up before the 10k. But all day Saturday I felt half awake and hungry. I was klutzy and grouchy, even slicing my palm open on the medicine cabinet's latch. (I still don't know how I managed that one because it'd be like cutting your hand open on a spoon.) I took a nap before the 10k and felt really good heading out to the start line. I planned on taking the race at a nice, slow long run pace. The field was pretty small so I knew I'd be in the back of the pack. No worries, this one's just for the t-shirt. Started off nothing out of the ordinary, but after 2 miles, I felt like I had nothing to give mentally or physically. Near the end, with the course sweeper following me on his bicycle I wanted to cut off the final loop and head to the finish. DNF be damned. I know I can endure, I know I can gut out some shit, I have nothing to prove to myself or anyone else. But the course sweeper was like nope, keep going. So I did. Very embarrassing to have all the finish line volunteers cheering for me as I ran in. They're all like, "good for you! way to go!" when I'm feeling like "don't look at me, I'm pathetic." Blah. I haven't checked my official finish time (and I probably never will), but I'm guessing it was around 1:10-1:15 and 15-20 minutes after the last runner. Double blah.

Then the cherry on my poop sundae - I forgot my snowcone ticket at home! No postrace snowcone for me. And I bet they had bubblegum flavor too :_(

But it happens. I'm not going to let one craptacular run turn into weeks of crappy attitude. Moving on...

We had our Hood to Coast team meeting yesterday. After 3 cocktails, I decided that I'm going for it - I'm taking Leg 1!

At our meeting yesterday, only one other runner from Van 1 attended and she wanted Leg 6. The team captain gave Leg 5 to one of our stronger runners (who I believe ran the same leg last year), which left me to pick from legs 1-4. At first I thought I'd take Leg 4, but since no one at the meeting was opposed to me taking Leg 1 and I was Leg 12 last year, I figured how fun will it be to end last year's race and begin this year's? And even if I'm able to run Hood to Coast again, what are the chances of being offered Leg 1??

I know my first section is a pretty gnarly downhill. Hell, I don't even like driving up to Timberline Lodge - and I'm going to run that?? lol But even with my shin and knee problems, I usually don't have a problem with running downhills. I ran the Timberline Marathon in 2006 that drops appox. 2000ft from the Timberline Lodge to Barlow Pass in about 5 miles without any trouble. That's pretty much what I'm looking at with the HTC first leg. Yeah, the marathon was on trails not paved roads, details details details lol

I am really looking forward to HTC this year. Next year we could be in Quantico, we could be parents, who knows what a year and the Marine Corps can bring, so this is probably our last HTC for a long time. It's interesting remembering back to last year's run and the trippy feeling that the only thing that exists is the van. Real time doesn't matter, just whatever the stopwatch in the van says. Where you are doesn't matter, just make it out of the van and back into the van. Eat when you can, drink when you can, sleep if you can, stand in line for the potties before you think you have to go. Last year, we were in the "Real World" van. Besides the two couples (me and Chris, Dan and Jessica) our van had never met each other before. We had one HTC vetran and the rest of us were noobs. Crazy good times and I've never appreciated a bed so much. Can't wait to do it all again this year!

I gotta get going. We're helping my parents clean my grandparents house in Lincoln City.

C'est la vie

I just get home and start getting back into the training groove, so now I'm sick :P Ug

The Mt Tabor Doggy Dash last weekend was a lot of fun. At the last minute, Chris decided he wanted to run too. (We have pretty different running styles, speeds and goals, which usual leading to more fighting than running.) I'm glad he did because it was such a nice day for a race. I had forgotten how beautiful the views are and being up there brought back a lot of good high school memories. We wore Hank out pretty good too. Poor poochy isn't big on running anyways and he had worn himself out making new friends all morning, so by the end of the race we were practically dragging Hank up the final hills. Didn't help that we took a wrong turn half way through the race turning the 8k turned into more like a 10k. But all in all, we had a lot of fun.

I got my bike tuned up and just got her back yesterday afternoon. I wanted to take her for a ride today, but now I'm not sure with being sick. I went out for my run after dinner yesteday; I had to fight to finish 2 miles then I got sick afterwards :S So we'll see how I'm feeling before heading out on a bike ride.

Although I haven't had a chance to get back into the pool yet (working on the membership thing with Oregon State's rec center), I've ordered some new goodies :) For starters - I am so ready for a new suit. Chris says my old one looks like I've been dragging my butt across the carpet. Thanks, hon! That's a great mental image lol I think my old suit worn out from sitting on the bleechers before swim class then not properly rinsing out the clorine afterwards. But anyways, my new summer treat:

I also ordered a little lap counter from Sport Count. I can never keep track of my laps either in the pool or on the track. I got the problem solved by either wearing my Polar monitor which counts laps for me or wearing rubber bands around my wrists when I'm at the track (for each lap I just move a rubber band from one wrist to the other until I'm done. It's ghetto but it works lol), but I hadn't figured out what to do in the pool. My Polar is too bulky for the pool and my mind wanders way too much. Hopefully the smaller lap counter is a good solution.

I've been wanting to get a real triathlon suit too, but I'm not sure which one to get. Been looking at a couple of TYR and Zoot models. I think I'm going to order some clipless pedals and shoes soon. Then I can be cool too :)

I think my Nyquil is wearing off. I'd better take another hit and get off to bed...

Jog for Jim

The Jog for Jim 5k was fun this morning. We got some pimptastic gold safety pins for the bibs - sweet! A little bling before 9am is always nice :) The heat was a little troublesome since I'm not used to it yet. I finished in 28 minutes and change. Not a PR, but not too shabby either.

This morning convinced me to break from running before Newport. My right ITB is acting up again and my left arch is barking at me. Iya da. I think a rest from the pounding will do some good, plus I need to get cranking on my bike and in the pool.

I've got 4 good pages and one very rough page done on my paper. Only one left to go. But now I'm behind on my Lit reading. We're supposed to have Socrates in Love (I've heard it described as the Japanese The Notebook) read by tomorrow night. Don't think that's going to happen. C'est la vie.

Ohhhh ~ something smells like fried Chinese food. Alrighty, I'm off to bed before I eat my keyboard...

Eugene Marathon

Yesterday's run was so amazing! I can't wait to do another marathon :D

I wasn't extremely nervous until I woke up. Then all the butterflies hit me hard. Thankfully, I live in the dorms just up the street from the start line, so I just sat around watching TV until the very last minute. Chris, Jason, and Erin were coming down from Corvallis. They were running late from all the traffic surrounding Autzen. Chris had also brought our dog Hank, so instead of waiting for one of the shuttle buses he just walked over to the start. I got to see him with minutes to spare. I stepped into the corral literally second before the gun went off.

I started off just like I planned by walking up the hill during the first mile, then again during the second mile. I cruised along trying to keep my heart rate in the high 160's, low 170's. Before I knew it, we were at mile 5 - time to eat my first gel. (The Vanilla PowerGel that was my bread and butter during my first round of marathons and training back in 2005-2006 just does not agree with me any more. The texture makes me gag while the Gu seems to be something I can actually chew on. I was able to eat one PowerGel but vowed it would be my last.) Then we were at the high school - such an amazing crowd with awesome energy! Loved seeing everyone out there cheering and giving us high fives. I stopped for a quick potty break, then walked up the biggest hill on the course to find Chris and Jason at the top.

Then it was down the hill to the Williamette. Before I knew it, the half marathoners split away and we were into Springfield. This part of the course eerily reminded me of being back in NC. The ugly, cheap little housing development with stupid names that must have been picked out by a fifth grade girl like Rainbow Street and Diamond Way :P Ug. Then we were back into the park and bike paths. A hippie couple complete with dreds and bongos were playing some music for us from a park bench. I'm not sure if they were official course entertainment (which seemed to sorely be lacking), but they were quiet entertaining and fitting for Eugene.

This marathon was flying by so quick and easy - I was extremely surprised. For the first 19 miles, I felt like every time I turned a corner another mile sign popped up. They must have measured this course short because that did not feel like a mile, I kept telling myself. (This is much improved from the usual feelings of swearing you've ran two miles and you still haven't seen the next mile marker yet.) I met Chris and Hank behind the mall at mile 18 for a quick boost. He was playing some country music from the car's stereo, which he told me plenty of the ladies were liking lol

The out and back then over the bridge between mile 20-21 was when I really started mentally going down. I felt like I had been sticking to my fuel plan nicely, but my legs just felt like death. Definitely one of those moments where I couldn't keep my pace and I no longer cared. I was pretty disappointed because before mile 23, I felt like I was going to be able to finish and say I RAN a marathon. Not that I walk and ran a marathon, but that I actually ran the majority of the course. Frustrating to because mentally you know there's less than a 5k left, can't you just suck it up for another 30 minutes? But it just wasn't happening. And was it just me or was the south bank trail all up hill?? lol Looking back, I'm very thankful that my only problems were in the last 3 miles. With the amount of training I did, especially lacking in long runs, I'm very surprised and happy with how nicely the day went.

We finally crossed over the Willamette one last time. Autzen stadium appeared and I was at the finish line :) Marathon #5 - mission accomplished!!

The marathon may not have been my best PR-wise, but I think this was the most enjoyable. I felt relaxed like I had a smile on my face for most of the day. My A-goal was 4:50, my B-goal was 5:00, and my C-goal was 5:15, so I'm very happy with 5:02. Erin finished her half marathon in 2:30 - she totally rocks!! :) I'm hoping she's caught the half-marathon bug so we can do more races in the future lol

Marathon #6 in just 26 days...

Happy Trees

I wake up this morning to find a little surprise - snow! :) I've never seen it snow this much in the Willamette valley, let alone at the end of April. Crazy! I wanted to take some pictures, but the batteries in my camera were dead. Again. Stupid POS camera :P

The Recycle Run 15k was nice but a little lonely. I did this race as a fun alternative to doing a training run by myself yet ended up spending 99% of the race alone lol We separated from the 5k'ers within the first mile. I passed a lady about mile 3, then another after the turn around by the mall. Other than that, just me and my heart rate monitor.

My goal for the race was to practice for Eugene Marathon by keeping my heart rate at 160. But no matter what I just couldn't slow myself down to more than 172-ish. No major problems though. Even got in some negative splits. My feet were a little cranky by the end, but that's to be expected (they always start barking at mile 9).

I decided right after the start my other goal was only positive thoughts. No getting on myself for being slow or having 5k gazelles pass me like I'm running backwards. I told the pissy voice to stfu. If she wanted to be nasty, she should have stayed in bed. Worked pretty well, kept my mind enjoying what was left of the snow and the spring flowers in the parks. Near the end when I was hoping the course went straight back to the park and instead turned up to the canals, the other voice started up again. I Bob Rossed right over her by saying, "hey, this runner needs a little friend. Let's put a happy little stream with our happy hills and happy trees. There we go...beautiful..." And just kept talking like that until I saw mile marker 9. Whatever gets you to the finish line I guess lol

I finished just in time to grab some apple newtons then the awards ceremony started. Not to sound like a sore loser - but I was robbed! lol The overall runners weren't taken out of the age group awards. There were 5 in my age group and without the overall winners, I would have gotten 3rd place - my second AG hardware ever :( Poop.

Next Sunday the Leadership Dash 5k. Should be a fun little race (ah! I can't make it stop lol), then it's A-Team time with the Eugene Marathon in just 12 days :)