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.