Coming to my senses...

So I didn’t enter the half marathon I’ve been mentioning in my previous posts this morning. Oh how I wish I could’ve, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. It’s probably a good thing that how it worked out because as I mentioned before too that I haven’t been running a whole lot lately. I probably saved myself from embarrassing myself especially after the way a five miler nearly left me in shreds on Wednesday. It felt really good for the first mile, then my lungs started burning with heavy breaths and my legs brought me to a shuffling fashion especially during the last mile. I guess that’s bound to happen after five weeks of sporadic workouts, cardiowise anyways. My pace went from 8:50 per a mile to 11:00s that day.

I just been on the go nonstop beginning mid November, doc appts, vet appts, dental appts, other interruptions(weather), volunteer work, etc, that it’s gotten a bit out of control it seems. Just when it seems like when I going to have a moment to catch my breath and organize, another thing pops up like a couple of appts that didn’t make it into my planner. Thank god for the reminder calls the day before the appts. So it was like Tuesday evening while I was rehearsing the songs for this Christmas program with Sunny D, I started thinking about the upcoming race and the Christmas program. It dawned on me that the race is Sunday morning and so was the play! And it’s my daughter’s first time participating! Not only that, but she has a major role! No way was I going to miss her performance, but still I took in a breath of prayer as I got up from my seat to double check race date in hopes that I misread it and it’s actually on Saturday the 15th. I race into my office and quickly pulled up the race website, nope, no luck, it even state “Sunday, December 16, 2007”! Like a desperate fool, next I went on to compare the start time for the race and Christmas play time. The race start is half an hour earlier than the play, wouldn’t work. After all of this, looking back I still can’t believe I still held out for the possibility that I was still going to enter and run in this event. I mentioned the schedule conflict to my husband as soon as he walked in the door after returning from an aid call with the fire dept. I was delighted to hear him say that I should go ahead with my half marathon plans because I’ve looking forward to that for awhile and he was going to take lots of pictures & record our daughter’s Christmas play. And of course like a spoil selfish person, I was relieved to have my running event restored that night before going to bed.

It was during Wednesday’s noon run, that I finally came to my senses…probably when I was really started to hurt everywhere. I couldn’t believe myself. When did I become so self absorbed that I had actually made a choice to skip my child’s first major event!? What kind of a mother does that? I mean there’s always another race around the corner, but my daughter’s first play! Once you miss out, that’s it, no do-overs. Pathetic and unbelievable!

It’s almost like an addiction, where I had this compulsive desire to run in this race even with the lack of training. I had blocked out everything else and I was going to do whatever it took and cost to get myself there to take part. Mostly, I think because how busy my home and work life has been lately, I’ve been looking forward to this event to briefly take me away from the “real world”. A time not to be on the go with a ‘to-do’ list, a ‘get list’, a ‘to do’ list, and never feeling like you’re catching up. Half of it, I bring it upon myself, stuff I volunteer for, projects I dream up for myself, etc...some of you might have an idea of what I’m talking about. Something about racing, poor or strong performance, it always revitalized me.

As my daughter entered a packed sanctuary on her way to the stage with the rest of the kids, I knew I was where I should be no question about it. And she did one of those:
“Hi mom! I’m up here on stage mom!” as she’s waving her arms and hands with excitement. And the whole congregation laughed. I was one proud momma!

Aftermath....

It looks like I’m going to try something new this coming weekend. I’m going to enter a ½ marathon after long extended weeks of tapering! Or I could just pull out of another running event, but I think I want to go for it anyways. With all of the recent disruptions, I finally set foot outside with my running shoes on Saturday morning for seven miles around town.

The story of the recent storm is old news, but the aftermath is still very much alive. Cleanup is a slow progress, but well on it’s way. It seems like almost every waken moment is spent outdoors in grungy clothes and work gloves sprucing up the landscape. You cannot imagine all the trees taken down by the windstorm. I discovered that I won’t be running two of my favorite running routes for a while. Up rooted trees blanket the trails from the trailhead heads at both places I’ve learn as I jogged to these locations on Saturday morning. I started praying while I started jogging towards to the second spot where the trail winds around a wooded lake with campgrounds lined on one side, but my hopes were dashed as soon as I crushed the hill just before dropping down towards the lake. There was a ‘road close’ sign with trees and power lines mingled across the road behind the sign. After I crawled through one side of the heaping pile of mess opposite side of the power lines, I jogged half mile down to the lake where I found that the destruction was much worse. The entrance trees that greeted you with the park signs are all blown down or uprooted. It was a very sad moment. I stood on the bridge for a long while taking in the grim scenery then I finally went on to explore a bit more on the campground side of the lake, same story.

The rest of my run was unusual as well. The whole place was roaring with the sounds of saws and other machineries at 7 am in the morning. Utility crews were still out hard at work too in the outlining areas of town too.

Sunday morning, I took advantage of getting some much needed ZZzzzs. It seemed like every bone in my body ached from the nonstop physical labor…which I’m not used to. I was gonna go for another run Sunday afternoon but it didn’t happen, time got away. My lower back has been killing me too from all the heavy lifting and carrying. It’s pretty sad that one has to look forward to going to work(office), so they can get recuperated.

It’s going to take me while to get back on a running routine. I also need to get back to my holiday planning as well, the shopping, the decorating, all the fun stuff

p/s I'll get back to reading and commenting on your entries as soon as I get up to speed. Btw, sorry about the lame invite, it'll be temporary, I had to delete a bunch of spam(blogspot sites) attack comments.

Raging Storm

It just seems like we’ve been left out the loop with the whole rest of the world since Sunday night. We’ve been without power since then. Much of western Washington state got hit with a massive storm with winds gusting to 81 mph, taking down trees, power lines, blowing off roofs, etc. I received very little sleep Sunday night listening to the howling wind blowing everything from pieces of fence, tree limbs, roofing materails against our house and shaking it. I was afraid that it was going to take out one of our south facing windows or blow something into our house any moment. I was also worried about the hubby responding to 911 calls from people having run ins with the weather. He came home briefly before 6 AM Monday and told me that they lost a patient during a transport to a hospital. And it was taking 2-3 hours longer getting there because of trees across the roads. They were cutting their way out and back to their destinations. It was just insane.

It seemed like it took forever for daylight to break. When it finally did, it was still blowing hard and raining, but just from looking out the windows I can see quite a bit of damage; mostly trees down, partially of neighbors roofing missing, a fir tree laying over a house down the road from us. The local radio stations were down until about noon. We eventually ventured out a bit and the devastation was unreal; power poles snapped in half as if they were toothpicks making all but one of the roads out of town accessible. We stayed home most of the time, made use of the fireplace for cooking, heat, and we shared a generator with the grandparents by taking turns to keep the freezers/frig from thawing out.

Between all the family and friends, we've been taking turns hosting potlucks, giving water, helping fix a wells, clearing away the driveways full of trees, or inviting everyone over for a dinner & “shower” because you’ve received power back before them, it’s an awesome feeling.

Anyways the kid especially had a great time. She set up her tent right in the living room with a sleeping bag and her little canvas camping chair. We had so much fun with flashlights, packing out all board games, playing cards, roasting marshmallows and hotdogs in the fireplace. She never made one mention of watching one of her Disney movies until of course the power came back on! Funny how that is.

We received power back at 7:25 Tuesday evening and taking a warm shower was the first thing I did. Hopefully the rest of the folks that live quite a ways out of town will get their power back soon as well. And I’ve miss two days of work so far. I’m planning on going to today(Wednesday). It’s amazing how the weather changes so rapidly over the course of a weekend. Saturday, it was calm and snowing. By Sunday morning it was raining with increasing winds. And now the water levels are rising, flood warnings in effect in our surrounding areas. Hopefully, this will turn around for the better.

I apologize if this hardly makes any sense because I'm exhausted and I just sat down, started typing away.

5 facts tag, but I'm doing 6...

As most of you already know and have participated in some serious blog tagging game swirling around the blogsphere. I was tagged some time ago by Deene, then just recently by C. Thanks for thinking of me, I guess I’ll play.

rules: • link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. • share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. • tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. • let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. First in the family to graduate from college(& graduate school) and I have a jumble of older siblings.
2. 
   I love the outdoors. Plain and simple. I love to hike, backpack, camp, fish, run, etc. Starbucks is probably the only thing I’d miss about city life if I end up living out in the mountains somewhere in a cozy cabin with my family. Of course I wouldn’t miss it too much because I’d hit up the coffee house during my race travels.
3. 
   I miss coaching little league soccer. Before I became a mommy, I coached for three years after my then seven year old cousin asked me if I coach her soccer team. Previous coach quit after one season with 1 win record. Well after countless drill experiments, we made playoff every season and came very close to claiming the championship title once.
4. 
   I have a tattoo – a beaded leather armband with arrowheads and feathers. At the time(college) I wanted to get something that had some significance to my native background. Ironically, tattoos clash with my traditional upbringings.
5. 
   My husband and I met for the first time in a computer lab in college through a mutual friend. My friend and I decided to meet at school one evening after work to complete our lab assignment. And it so happened that we bumped into a friend of his. We hit it off so well that I was ready to call my boyfriend at the time to break up with him, well it eventually came to that a few weeks later for mostly other reasons.

And I'll throw in another one....

• I have yet to master a consistent nutritional streak. It’s the one thing I continue to struggle with. I mean I go for weeks being smart about when and what I feed my body, then like without even realizing it I take a nose dive. It’s a lot of little things that add up, like eating bits off the kid’s plate when she doesn’t want anymore. Or snacking on the ingredients while I’m cooking, then not hungry when the meal is done. Just having coffee for breakfast, topped with eating a LATE lunch(2-3pm) because I get so consumed with work stuff. Which means I’m not fueling my body efficiently. Because of that, I end up bonking miserably in my workouts and my attitude sticks too.
  

And since I'm so late on this, if you haven't been tagged already and would like to be, consider yourself tagged!

Bogged down with a cold...

My running clothes remained untouched in the closet all last week and all weekend long! My ugly sweatpants that for some reason I can’t bring myself to toss out and takes up space finally got some use along with my oversized cotton t-shirts that I hardly wear. I started coming down with some awful bug Thanksgiving day. By Friday morning, I was running a temp range of 101.2, sneezing, coughing, sore throat, dripping in sweat as if I was out running in some heat blast, going through Kleenexes boxes, not a pretty scene.

Frankly, I was in no shape to do any form of workouts. The only form of workout for me was crawling out of bed, travel to the bathroom, and back. Oh I really felt it in my arms when I brushed my teeth and pulling my hair back to tie it. I broke out in sweat every time I tried gagging down over the counter drugs to loosen up my clogged sinuses.

I was not my normal multi tasking self that’s for sure. Luckily, I have such a sweet husband that made me soups, bought cart loads of juice, bathed the kid, dressed and fixed the kid’s hair daily. It was cute and funny watching the two ‘running’ the house, you know just the little things. Especially when it comes to 3 yr olds. I heard her telling her dad one evening, “mommy brushes her teeth while I’m taking a bath.” And another evening, “mommy washes the pans as soon she’s done using them, she doesn’t pile them in the sink like that daddy, I’ll show you how.” After they took the last package of crackers out of the box she says “you have to put it on the grocery list so we can buy some more, daddy.” And one that took me by surprise, she told her dad that when the hamper is getting full, it’s means it’s time to do a load of laundry.

I did get in some TV time. I came across this show on Discovery channel; Everest: Beyond the limit and I was glued to the screen all day long either on Saturday or Sunday, can’t remember exactly which They were doing re-runs up to the current show which airs tonight(Tuesday). It’s a pretty captivating show where they are following separate teams(fast & slow team) making their summit bid on different days. Climbers have to deal with high altitudes, icy and windy conditions, and unpredictable weather. Fatality is there, people die each season. And even those that live to tell about the experience are very susceptible to losing toes and fingers to frostbite. But if you have the chance to sit down to watch a bit of tv, I highly recommend this show. As many of you are outdoor lovers, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Hopefully, I’ll get over this cold in the next day or so. I want to get out in the frosty weather. Btw, as you probably already noticed, but I just found out that the registration for Chuckanut Mountain 50K has been moved to January 1st. And the course is changing too. Doesn’t make any difference for me because I’ve never run it before, so I have no opinion on the change.

Resting and pondering the 5-0 miles that is....

Well, here we go again with sporadic updates. I swear time been like a rocket lately. Haven’t really had the opportunity to take a moment to really take in anything, it’s all been a blur until the other day when I realized that we have a major holiday THIS week! After replaying voice mails, emails, and notes, I managed to jot down a grocery list for all that I’m suppose to make for three separate family gatherings starting with breakfast on Thursday. We are so blessed to be part of a large family, keep in mind this is just the hubby’s side of the family, too. We’re not talking about my side of the family, but it’s not much different. He’s got three sets of grandparents and they all live in the same county which works in our favor for traveling but foodwise, it can be a bit of challenge. By the end of the day, the best we could do is waddle around like penguins!

And this should be a good time to put in some extra miles to offset that extra helping of grandma’s delicious gravy but I’m afraid that will not be the case for me. I have done almost no running(2 or 3 miles here & there) since doing the 50K run to take a break in hope that it will cure my IT Band issues. The problem’s been minimal, I could continue running but I thought it was time give it some much needed rest. So I’ve been taking it easy, still attending the spinning class twice a week and doing the hip strengthening exercises twice a week as well. Yesterday was the first time I felt the best, felt balanced in both legs. I’ll take a few more days off until Saturday where I’ll try 6-8 miles. And I also pulled out of doing the Seattle ½ marathon this Sunday. As you might have noticed that I removed the link off my sidebar last week when I came to terms with my decision. I’m totally calm with decision, no achy feelings about it. I’m just thankful that I got in a 2nd 50K before the end of the year. That’s enough to satisfy me for awhile. Now I did add another ½ marathon(Christmas) to my list happening next month, so we’ll see how that works out. Again, I’ll play it by ear.

I also would like to address something that came up several times in the comments to my previous post. The topic can’t be ignored, well I probably could but then that wouldn’t be very nice to the folks that live, breath, eat 50 milers because they’re either clinically insane or it really is exciting, rewarding, and fulfilling as they claim! I won’t lie and say I never given it any thought because there’s a few times, it has entered my mind but yet to speak of it until now. However, the thought of going another nearly 19 miles after a 50K is a bit daunting but exhilarating if I think about the exploration side of it left to do. The interest is there, a great goal for later in 2008 for training purposes. So I’ll have to learn more about White River before I take the plunge as far as the terrain, elevation gain & loss. The timing is ideal, end of July. But is it ideal for a first timer?? And I know I’ve been warned by BackOfPack, talk about preying on a docile newbie to the ultra madness!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and many thanks to you all for reading and sharing road/trail journey with me.

Ron Herzog 50k report

For some reason I’ve been too darn lazy to write a recap of yesterday’s trail run. The event was a blast, don’t let me throw you off there. I really enjoyed myself out there and had a good run.

I went into this race without any real goals, mostly just to finish and check off one more 50K run for the year. I’ve been itching to enter another trail run before the end of the year to confirm with myself if that’s what I truly enjoy. And I realize that I didn’t put in the training like I did for the Cle Elum 50K in September, but I knew I was strong enough to pull through. Let’s see, with my IT Band acting up, last Tuesday was my last run of 7 miles and 15 miles Saturday before that.

Friday night, my little one and I spent the night at my in-laws in the Seattle area so I wouldn’t have to get up extremely early Saturday morning to drive to Granite Falls. I had all my stuff ready that all I had to do was get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, and head out after my alarm went off at 6am.

I arrived at the trailhead a little after 7 am. Saw some familiar faces, chatted until race time, plus paid extra attention to the IT Band by stretching it and stretching it. I was feeling a slight touch of irritation to the side of my knee, but that was all. 8 am, we’re off up a logging road. I was relieved about leaving my water resistant jacket behind because it was warm enough to remove my gloves and headband before the 2nd mile. It wasn’t raining, but with the clouds overhead, it looked like it could pour buckets any minute.
I was indecisive at first about climbing the hills, whether I should hike or jog(run) it. Eventually I settled with jogging, better on my breathing. Jess M and I stuck together until midway(aid station), we chatted about different races, she gave me ideas of which new races to enter, itb issues, family stuff, trips, etc. About five miles into the run, I was dealing with a new issue; my left groin/hip area was tight, almost painful. I tried rubbing it out, pounding it with my fist, but wouldn’t let up so I took it easy until it started working itself out during the next three miles. Much to my relief, no itb noise. By time we entered the brush whacking, a.k.a tank trap section, I was feeling good, no kinks or soreness! We took a wrong route at one point, following these tape markings straight into the wood with no path/trail to the edge of a ridge! Luckily we didn’t spend much time there, we hurried back and found the right path eventually. We worked our way back by passing 4 people to get back into our position were in before we got lost.

I really didn’t mind the shoe sucking mud section even though I lost my left shoe at one point. Though the twigs, rocks that were glued to my sock didn’t feel good(blisters) because I stepped in the mud with my sock when I stepped out of my shoe stuck in the mud. I did the best I could by squeezing off the excess mud before pulling my shoe back on, didn’t get all. We had lots of variety in this part of the course, forking a creek, dealing with tree blow downs, overgrown mess that slap you in the face, all an adventure.

Jess and I separated at the aid station, she got her water, took off, while I did that plus change into dry socks and shoes, then eating my PB&J sandwich on the fly. I felt good for that first descending section, then back to the climb I was started to feel it, less energy. But I pressed on, passed some early starters. The last downhill section is where my IT Band started to complain a bit, not majors, so I backed off the pace, took it easy, pass a couple more people. I was still having a good time until I reached the pavement section, it was like HELLO! My IT Band was ok, but my groin/hip pain was back making it difficult to extend my stride. That felt like the longest portion of the course. I was glad to be done!

The good news was I felt no pain or strains after I completed the run, a very good sign in my book. And the best news of all, I even surprised myself. A new PR, 5h 47mins!! Results here.

I’m sorry to say no pictures. I know! I remembered to bring the camera but dead battery. Bummer! Not only did I not bring the extra battery, but also the charger! So you’ll have to head over to "Trail Scat" because he’s got some awesome images from the event.

Until next time, happy runnings.

Alive and well!

Quick update to say that I’m still around!

I’m happy to report that my ITBand is feeling much better these days. The pain is gone, no stabbing pains to the knee for a whole week now. I’ve been taking extra time each day to stretch the problem area, doing hip strengthening exercise that I found on several internet sites, and cross training(spinning classes). Cut back on the running to every other day as well. Progress is good.

Now the decision about the 50K tomorrow. Well, I signed up and am proceeding to go forth with it. This could be my undoing, we’ll find out. My plan is to take it easy out on the course. From what I’ve been told, the course is on the friendlier side, not too technical with major climbs and descends. I simply just want to go out there and have a blast!

On to other news, work has been busy and just wrapped up a 4 day training course. But now that I’m back to my regularly scheduled program, I’ll be catching up on blogs and commenting again.

Still trying to shake it...ITB issues that is.

As you can see from my previous post, I was a having a bad week last week in terms of running. And the timing didn’t help matters at all. The weather was perfect, little rain and lots of sunshine. As if there is a good time for incurring an injury that puts a holt to your running activities, that statement didn’t make sense. But you know what I mean. It probably wouldn’t have bothered me the same as if the weather was terrible all week long and life on the home front was quiet. However, this was not the case at all. With some added pressure at work, and dealing with family issues(relatives), plus five days of ZERO running can really bring out the emotional side of me!

As with work, it’s all good, the pace has picked up, exciting things are happening and I am coping with the tempo rather well…but as you should know there’s always one that doesn’t adapt quick enough, therefore causing a few sputters.

Family, huh, the same culprits trying to cause a stir. Only this time they’ve succeeded in striking a sensitive nerve of mine. It’s all immature, selfish, spoil, and stupid; mind games by the same old THREE that seem have nothing better to do than keep tabs about gifts, invitations, getting ‘news’, cards, dinner invites…blah, blah, BLAH! I don’t have time for this nonsense and so I have always ignored it, used my fuel for rather more interesting and useful missions than idiotic family drama! Running has always been my release valve, but this was all stacking up over the course of last week each day because I couldn’t find another outlet. By Friday, I had it up to here(to my head), exhausted, almost lifeless!

By Friday, I was withdrawing pretty bad. My body, everything in my body was asking; where is the running? Where is the damn running to unleash this dirty load? All I kept thinking was about how I was going to handle the situation because even though I wasn’t responding to it or confronting the problem in any fashion, it was on my mind. I have had it! I was craving a run to think things through. I kept myself going by telling myself to keep busy. I made an appt for a massage later in the afternoon after work as another way to loosen up the sore ITB. My IT Band was feeling much better(Chiropractic seemed to help a lot) but I wanted to give myself at least another day to rest before doing a trial run on Saturday. But the time stood still and I’d caught myself staring at the walls of my office with pin-pointed pupils without blinking that afternoon a couple times before heading out for my appt….trying to stay positive about everything.

Saturday morning I woke up feeling fresh, pain-free, and energized. All signs pointing to a GO as far as running! I didn’t waste anytime. The dense fog and the chilly 37 degrees F didn’t deter me away from heading out before 7 AM. Those first few steps were bit a rough, uneasy, with lots of anticipation for fear of the pain showing back up before I hit the first mile. It was all relief. Each step I took gave me a warm euphoric feeling that made me calm and relaxed. Time flew by. The first hour felt like minutes. Finally, I was able to process my thoughts clearly. This unsure butterfly feeling that hung over me like a storm cloud began to lift. Every breath left more peace and quiet in my heart. Aw, this was comfort, my escape that transports me away far enough to see what’s going on, to see the whole picture to help me make the better decisions. Two and half hours later I was finally home, on the front porch stretching.

Sunday, I played it safe by cutting my recovery run short as soon as I felt the first sign of ITB trouble to the same leg. I was happy enough with three miles.

Today, I’ve been spending most of my ‘free time’ thinking about where my running life is and where I’m going with it. I’ll be the first to admit, I haven’t been the smartest with my running lately. In fact, I’m probably one of the worse when it comes to handling an injury. It’s either all out or nothing…it seems. Almost like a drug addict experiencing a relapse. Take this past Saturday in particular, I probably should have kept the mileage under ten miles or even half of that…but instead I took it to mere extreme by taking a full plunge until I was physically spent. Anyways, I’m still thinking, even with a (new)nagging injury, there’s still ample opportunity to do another 50K in a couple weeks…it’s part of my wish list on the sidebar there. As you might ask, had I had sufficient training…that’s probably a big fat N.O. But what the heck…it won’t be the first time I’ve done that.

Sidelined....

I want to lace up my shoes, refill my hydration pack, and get out the door! I want to greet and taking in the autumn nature. I want sail amongst the leaves along one of my favorite routes up 3rd Street, maybe even earn me a runner partner; a choc lab who sometimes greets me by running out of the trees as I start up the hill towards the lake. She’s such a good dog, runs either on my right or left side like she’s been with a runner before, and always meets me about the same spot. I even started packing a treat for her. Not very good with names so I started calling her Brownie(doesn’t sport a collar or tag). I may never know where she makes her home but I always look forward to her company, especially on days when I’m dragging. She’s my motivation factor. A comforting note is that I do know that she’s well fed and groomed by her muscular form, silky shiny coat and her happiness. And I bet she’s waiting for me…I just hope she’s patient and doesn’t give up on me as I normally run that route on Wednesday evenings. I didn’t this week.

Zero running since Sunday’s five mile recovery effort. I’ve been nursing an inflamed IT band. Stairs, hills, slopes, basically any walking surfaces that isn’t horizontal are my enemies right now. This really aches my heart especially after a strong run on Saturday. The burning friction on the outside of my left knee is not easing fast enough despite countless stretching every night since Sunday. And I’ve been sneaking in some at my office desk throughout each day. Monday was the worse day, limp, limp. I was walking normal again Wednesday, but the pain is still there. And today, the pain is almost gone, but when I did a few test jogs, Painful! Let’s see, I feel like I’m taking the right steps as suggested on numerous websites; no running, icing, new shoes, stretching to target the it band, but relief is slow.

Made an appt with my chiropractor after work today. I’m crossing my fingers that an adjustment to my hips will be the answer.

I need my drug(running). Give me a swift, trudging on my feet, autumn day! Give me a crispy air! Give me a hellish hill full of huff and puffing. Give me my magic run…just let me have my run back!!

I so want to come back through the sliding glass doors from a run and to hear my 3 yr old daughter look up at me and say something to the effects of “mommy, you’re all sweaty!”

A surprised PR!

Two words about yesterday’s race; rain and RAIN! With some wind and lots of leaves, a true autumn experience. But overall it was a beautiful race. The race took place south of Olympia at Millersylviana State Park. And out and back course with smooth rolling hills. By smooth I mean long gradual inclines and it would come back down in a friendly manner. A nice turnout too, it really put a boost in my mood to see plenty of familiar faces.

Took it real easy for the first few miles, 9:30 to 9:45 a mile pace, got passed by some people. And I had a new issue, my left IT band was hurting. I did the best I could by stretching it in the car, not easy. The pain was on the outer of my knee instead the typical shooting pains on the inner side of the knee due to the cartilage damage. The ITB syndrome was a surprise because I’ve really cut back on my weekly mileage since Portland Marathon and just purchased two new pairs of shoes a week ago to rotate. My hamstrings were on the stiff side as well, which was probably due to my return to spinning(cycling) classes on Thursday morning. I felt so better by the turn around point and that’s where I started working it, kicked up a gear a bit, passed the gal back that went by me before mile five. She asked me how many miles we still had to go as I was going by her. I informed her we were approaching seven miles…I think she was disappointed. Passed two more people before I eased up on a group of six mixed in with 3 full marathon runners and 3 half a$$ers like myself. Two of them were clothed in the Portland finisher’s shirt. I stayed with them for the next mile, they picked up the pace too when I caught them. I enjoyed the conversations and with four miles to go I decided to make my next move and proceeded to go by them. For about half a mile they hung with me(almost at my heels) before the Full folks(two guys & a gal) dropped back...which makes sense since they had to come back out again to finish off their distance. It must have been that gel I gagged down at the turn around point or the Thai food I had for dinning the night before giving me the boost because I never felt so good despite some headwinds and nonstop rain. Now, I’ve NEVER been in a situation where I was sort of leading a pack..mind you not a lead(er) pack, but none the less, still a pack. A bit nerve wracking to be honest! We passed a few more people as a group(a gal & 2 guys) as we approached the 10K turn around point(apprx 3 miles to go). The whole time I flirted with the idea of turning it up another notch and I even tested it twice, but the group stuck with me like glue. All the while the rain turned to a sprinkle, a nice change.

It’s amazing what goes through your mind as you observe other’s breathing, their strides, and how they respond when one makes a move. I could say it’s like reaching a whole new plateau. Things are bit shaky. And I know that we’re a bunch of ‘middle of the packers’ who happened to come together on a course where the conversations had eventually died off, things were getting serious, and we all had on our game faces. After the 10 mile water stop, I made the ultimate decision to shake things a little to see what we were all made up. Dropped the pace down to 7:30ish a mile pace. I regretted the decision at first, the pace was a bit blistering for me and I thought for sure I was gonna be toast before we reached the next mile marker. The gal and one of the guys fell off the pace and so it was just two of us. The concentration on the breathing helped a lot and telling myself to let the downhill do the work, to relax. Before you know it, we reached mile 11 and I had still had plenty left in the tank so I held onto the pace as we face another slight incline before coming back down to some railroad tracks. This is where the person that was keeping me company started to fade but I pressed on. I did the best I could by sucking down some water with one mile to go where the volunteer told me the two females up ahead were in position 2nd and 3rd overall for the half marathon. I could tell the 3rd place gal was really slowing down so I overtook her right after the water station. But the next gal took some work, even my breath became very labor some. It didn’t help when she glanced back with a ½ mile to go and she started pumping her arms and working it. I finally chased her down as we entered the campground and we went stride for stride for about a hundred meters when I finally dug deep but she wasn’t giving up as I could hear her footsteps and breathing right behind me. The reason why I wanted to make up some ground on her was because I’m NO sprinter! No can do! I try but that’s where I get passed a lot when it comes down to a sprint fest. Luckily, I must done good putting some distance between us because she didn’t come back to challenge me at the end. I don’t know my exact finish time because I forgot to stop my watch and I think the race clock at the finish line read 1:50:2#(?), which equals a new PR by a minute or so! Woohoo!

It wasn’t exactly easy stretching in the cold wet weather. I chill so fast that I have to make sure to change into dry clothes right away. I thought I was going to pull a muscle or something from shivering so bad while I was changing my clothes. And I only stuck around for a few minutes chit chatting with some people I haven’t seen in quite a while. Most of them did the 10 miler too, probably smarter too. And I’ve never had chili beans that tasted so good in my life! I savored every bite it as I dished myself a bowl topped with shredded cheese and corn tortilla chips that was provided by the race coordinators. Mmmm!

The birthday party was a success. The house was nice and clean when I returned home from picking up the cake and some bread from a favorite bakery of ours after leaving the race scene. We had someone, only this time, come clean our home so I wouldn’t run around like a chicken with its head cut off. I took a few minutes to relax and unwind before I got to preparing two different kinds of lasagnas; vegetable and meat. Steamed veggies, and a fresh garden salad completed the menu. It was a big hit, some asked for the recipes.

And I just got done with a five mile recovery run…in the rain. Very cleansing.

3-0 and 1/2 in the works for this weekend

My hubby’s birthday is this weekend.

It’s a major one…you know the BIG 3-0.

That’s means, yes, I’m older than him. What do they say?

“My old lady!”

I still remember a time when my grandpa used that on grandma. He almost took a big purse to the side of the head. But I think she spared him the bloody blow because I was in their presence. At the time, I didn’t understand why it rubbed grandma the wrong way.

So far he’s(hub) handling it well… for all I know he maybe spoofing me. He’s not having panic attacks about turning 30, sort of like someone else did. It didn’t help at the time when the hub and everyone else…mostly younger friends asked me how it felt.

But I got over it real fast. I think the guys handler it rather well. It’s just like another passing day for them.

So this Saturday evening is reserved for the celebration. Normally, we would go out to dinner at a nice restaurant, but this time I have decided to craft up something with my own hands in our kitchen and invite family and friends over to our house for dinner, cake & ice cream.

But you have to know that I planned this very carefully so that I could participate in a half marathon in the morning in Olympia, about 45 min drive from our home. It’s one of the low key local events that most runners enter for training purposes. Plus it’s fun to mingle and catch up familiar faces at these events. Beside the birthday boy won’t be around most the day anyways. He’s after some wild game with his grandfather.

Hope you’re all having a great & fun Fall running season

Plagued by migraines

Those of you who never experience or rarely have migraines I truly hope that you never will. It’s the pits, totally! I had my bouts with one over the weekend. It starts with a mild headache from the back of my head, then eventually pulsates through my head coming out right above my eyes. Well, my attack began Sunday morning as soon as I woke up, dashing my plans to enter a 10K run out on the coast about an hour drive from where we live. It sounded like a fun event to do. According to the course description, part of the course was beach and through cranberry bogs. And the weather was perfect too, clear day…well except for the morning fog. I decided to pop in one of my pills that is suppose to relieve the worst migraines which by far has been ineffective for me since I picked it up from the pharmacy last spring, but I thought I give it another try. You never know why, right?

The kid and I downed a bowl of cereal, banana, and glass of juice, I had three hours until race time. But by the time I made arrangements to meet up with an aunt who lives in that town so she could hang out with the kid(the spouse is out of town on weeklong hunting trip), gathered my gear and stuff, my head was throbbing. I kept imagining this vision like a blood vessel was ready to burst any minute in my head. It’s that kind of pain. Truthfully, I was in denial until I was walking out to the car…there was no way this was letting up anytime soon. So instead, I called it off, gave the aunt the sad news, she said she’d come out instead, but we all met at grandma’s instead. So later in the day it got the best of me, brought me to my knees over the toilet. Applying heat pad to my neck and forehead only brought more nausea.

To this day, I’m not exactly sure what triggers it. I know that I started getting them after I was involved in a bad car accident almost ten year ago. Going to the chiropractor helps sometimes, but they’re hard to get a hold of on weekends. And it’s been awhile since I’ve been to the chiropractor. I always try to get some decent sleep and eat more healthy food. One thing I know for sure is most perfumes are not my friend, plus strong scented lotions too.

Anyhow that’s my sad tale over such a gorgeous weekend here in rain country. Other than that I managed to push out 7.5 miles Sunday evening. It was my revenge against the migraine. The first two miles are bit rough(pounding pain in the head), but eventually it smoothed out. The route took me two miles out of town to this park with a two mile trail loop around the lake. I got out a bit late and so I was pushing for time and distance to make the most of the daylight I had left. So I start doing the loop around the lake, about half mile into it, I pass another female jogger running in the opposite direction dressed in a black running attired(black Capri & black long sleeve top), and ipod gadget, her blond hair tied back. We wave ‘hi’ and go about our business. Well like a half mile later, here she comes again! I was stunned! I looked at my watch and quickly do the math, I’m doing about 7:45 min pace. WTF! I continue my run puzzled because she didn’t have the sprint blazing pace or flying running form. So I wondered how this could be possible. And there is no other way to access this trail. A river borders one side of this lake so there’s a section of boardwalk path. The only other way is to go across the lake…not possible. Half mile later, there she is again! And I pick up my pace substantially and proceed to do the 2nd lap and same thing happens again, again, and again while my lungs are almost screaming. The last time she goes by me, I notice that we have the same shoe. As I was going by the parking lot, I notice that she’s already back at her car stretching. I couldn’t help myself. I stopped and ask her how many laps she’s done and how fast. She tells me four and it took her almost 40 minutes! Just then I look down at her shoes and notice that they’re different. I give her a confused look. She then chuckles and tells me that she’s waiting for her twin sister to finish up. “Aha! Gotcha!”

Post Portland

Recovery is going well, moving forward from Portland marathon. Done zero running since crossing the finish line Sunday until this morning. Covered three miles slowly and patiently around the neighborhood before I headed out for work. It was a great way to awaken my quads especially. The soreness left my body by Wednesday but I've been busy diving into work life and spending some extra time with the kid gathering pumpkins, harvesting the last bit of vegetables, and so forth.

In thinking about future races, I think I'll stick with the shorter stuff throughout this winter time. The 45 minute commuting each way to work and back eats up most of my daylight time and I'm not a big fan of running in the dark alone. And I'll make an attempt to take advantage of running during the lunch hour once or twice a week depending on the weather and my work pile.

Seattle half is the next big race on my reschedule during Thanksgiving weekend. I might also enter a few local run events between now and then to give me that extra boost to stay in the game so to speak.

Again, thank you so much for bearing with me about the move. I really didn't want to do that, but I hope this will be my home for good.