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 :)