Here I go again!

Boring travel day... that's what sucks about going West, you have to spend an entire day getting there and another getting back...

Will took me to the airport early morning and I left for Missoula. Uneventful flight. My roommate Betsy picked me up from Missoula and we drove to her cousin's house in Kalispell, where we spent the night. I cannot begin to tell you how beautiful that house was. It has a view of the whole city with the mountains in the back... need I say more? Very cool people, very generous. Packed our backpacks for a 2-night, 3-day trip, checked out possible routes, and went to sleep.

Woke up early and drove to Glacier NP. Went to the backcountry office in the park where they told us about snow conditions (snow in July, yes!) and we figured out a nice 2-night, 3-day trip.

The one-way route started in St. Mary and ends at Two Medicine, so we parked the car at TM and took a shuttle to St Mary.

Thursday, Day 1: 9 flat miles from St. Mary to Red Eagle lake; camp by Red Eagle Lake.
Friday, Day 2: 14 difficult miles from RE to Morning Star, via the Triple Divide pass, elevation gain of 3,000 feet; camp at Morning Star lake.
Saturday, Day 3: 12 difficult miles from MS to our car in Two Medicine, via Pitamakan pass, 2,000 ft. elevation gain and about the same drop.

Heavy packs, even though we are light-weight campers. Sad that we can't make fires in the park... but after the fires in 2003, it makes sense. I worked in the park in 2003, when almost the entire park burned. The place where I worked, Rising Sun, was the ONLY place that remained open the entire season. All other hotels in the park were closed because of the fires. It was so smokey!

The hike was great, blue skies, beautiful weather. Sad to see everything burned down, it takes so long for the forest to recover!

Had some breakfast and left for the next campsite... Very hard day. Almost ran into a moose and saw 6 sheep, three little ones and three adults. Very cute. Got to campsite and jumped into Morning Star Lake - I have pictures to prove it. There was still snow surrounding the lake. It was cold. We were the only ones at that campground that night, which was nice but a bit scary at the same time.

Happy Independence Day!

A bit of rain in the morning - amazing how fast the weather changes there, it was blue skies and the next thing you know, it's raining. It didn't last long though, and the rest of the hike had great weather. Very difficult hike due to lots of snowfields, but at least there were tracks to follow. Gorgeous gorgeous views, breathtaking, literally! Betsy's achilles is hurting, but she's so tough, she didn't complain much. Finally we made it to the car and jumped into Two Medicine Lake.

We went to get Betsy a nice steak at the famous Cattle Baron steakhouse, I had fish, very good. Then we camped at St. Mary's campground, a bit crowded but it was ok. Fireworks from the town of St Mary's were nice!

Last day! So sad!

Drove to Logan Pass and hiked the Highline trail to Granite Park Chalet and back down to The Loop trailhead. It was nice not to have to hike with heavy backpacks! We saw tons of mountain goats, one almost killed Betsy, and lots of marmots. Blue skies when we left... we were not following our own advice and didn't carry warm clothes or rain gear... and surely enough, a huge thunderstorm developed right above us as we were hiking down. Amazing how fast it happened... shoud've learned from the day before, right? NOT! Lightning was falling so close, it was scary! Rain and hail... Finally we got to the shuttle stop and took it back to the car in Logan Pass. Drove to Lake McDonald and sat at the shore to write some postcards, then drove back to Kalispell where we stayed the night again at Betsy's cousin's place. Perfect end to a great journey!

Got up early, drove from Kalispell to Missoula airport, spent the entire day travelling back to DC, got here at 10 pm. No running. Lazy.

So, so very tired! Ran with my co-worker Allison after work - went to her house on the Palisades, about 3 miles, very slow, then I came back to the office alone, a bit faster. Feet hurts, not sure if it's the shoes?

Biked home from the office, 5.5 miles

Was planning to run to work... too tired... was going to go at lunch... too busy... class afterwards... Yes school started again, Microeconometrics, only 1.5 months thank goodness. Professor seems nice but not sure if he's very knowledgeable, probably he's new to teaching so we should give him a break, though we want to learn too!

Biked from school home, 5-ish miles.

5.2 miles from my house to the office in 47:47... how do I know that? Because I wore my new GARMIN!!! Yeah! I like it... it keeps me entertained so I don't think about how exhausted I am or how hot it is...

I didn't read the manual yet... too anxious to use it... will read it this weekend for sure, don't worry JD!!!

Average pace: 9:12. Don't know how to make it lap every mile yet :)

Wore Adidas instead of Mizuno and feet didn't hurt. May be getting used to wearing running shoes after hiking shoes...

Meeting an old friend from childhood after work, cannot wait!

From Chevy Chase to the office on Connecticut/Reno Road and into the park. Slow but feeling good. A little plantar on the left heel... 

Forgot to take the Garmin with me already :)

Fourteen big ones from my house to the Arboretum, around the Arboretum and back home. Beautiful day, just gorgeous, hot but not too hot, sunny... a nice cold breeze... just perfect!

This was probably the best hydrated run of all times. I had a bottle of water before leaving, carried one that drank in the first hour, refilled it when I got to the Arboretum, drank the whole thing, and got a Vitamin Water around mile 9.

Felt really good till about mile 8... then I thought I'd start to get sluggish so I decided to go back to the visitor center and get a vitamin water. So after that I felt good again.

Average pace, exactly 10 min/miles... which is what I suspected. Average heart rate: 168 bpm. Not quite sure what that means, will have to do more research on that. 1,446 calories burned, really? That seems a bit too much...

Laps (thanks for the tip Jun!) 10:24, 11:07, 9:52, 9:32, 9:47, 9:04, 10:06, 9:32, 10:22, 10:06, 10:21, 9:40, 9:48, 10:05.

It was nice knowing the distance, and nice to confirm that I do indeed 10 min miles on my long runs...

Obviously, I dropped my Garmin when I was taking it off... still works... I knew this would happen! I can't find the manual either... I am the worse!

Can't wait to see how April did on her race, not sure who else was racing... fun!

I am not sure if I should do that very hilly half marathon in july 26... I did it last year and it was fun, but it's not a course where you can PR. I have never "raced" a relatively flat half marathon, but I can't really find any around. There's another one in September that is very hilly as well... I should probably run them, just to get in better shape, even if I can't PR or get a good idea of what I can do in Marine Corps...

Happy weekend!

Went to Annapolis with Will - beautiful day, a bit humid but not bad. Rode 13.7 miles on the Annapolis/Baltimore trail, soooo nice! Rode back to the car and went back home to do some studying and watch the Tour de France. Very exciting!

Average heart rate: 155 bpm, with the last 3 miles at over 175 bpm.

Average speed: not sure, I had it set up for running so it says 4:05 min/mile...  so that's 14.8 miles per hour, I guess... I'm still not sure how the Garmin counts pauses or when you stop.... need to look it up.

What a nice day to end a great weekend.

Biked from Chevy Chase to the office on the Capitol Crescent trail. Another great day. Will came with me the first 5-ish miles and went back home. I was able to catch a fast guy and hang behind him so he was breaking the wind, ha!

Time: 30:30
Average speedL 17.8 miles/hr - didn't wear heart rate monitor.
Calories burned: 500
Calories recovered by having a chocolate chip cookie when I got to the office: 100,000

:)

Thinking of running on lunch break cause I have school after work... not sure if that will work out... but I feel good about my fitness level, and I have so much to do for work and school, I feel I need to get my priorities straight and do more efficient runs instead of more miles... we shall see...

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Too much work... Had lunch at 4 PM - boss was grumpy today. Grrrrrrrr... Biked to school after work, and then home. Long day.

I have a race this evening, the Bastille Day 4-miler. Last year I ran 3 miles slowly to the start line, ran the race, and ran back to the office... This year I'd like to get a PR so maybe I should bike to the start line instead, or at least bike 2 miles and run only 1 mile as a warm-up? Thoughts?

I ran it in 30:57 last year, 7:44 min/miles... I'd like to do 7:30 min/miles this year...

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Too busy at work, couldn't get out in time to make it to the race. Didn't even have time for a proper lunch, so it probably was a good idea not to run it. Very upsetting. Got off finally at 7 pm, went for a run on the "Montelepsy loop". Feeling very sluggish, but pushed on. Garmin of course doesn't account for elevation or for difficult trails, so it shows a very slow pace. Don't care. Made it back to the office and biked to Chevy Chase.

I got pink eye! Ughhh... Will and my co-workers are freaked out... I'm wondering if I should skip school? I've had pink eye many, many times and nobody in my family or housemates ever got it... Got some eye drops and feel better already.

Biked to the office in the morning and in the middle of the way my bike broke down! Something shifted in the derrailour and I have no idea why, it didn't look like it should have been able to move, and I couldn't move it back! Someone stopped and couldn't figure it out either. Finally we were able to get it to work very clumsily, I had to keep a thumb on the button that changes the gears and it made a lot of noise cause the chain rubbed against the derrailour thingy, so I looked ridiculous and was going very slow, but at least I made it to work in time...

Too busy at work for a lunchtime run... Will attempt to run home after school tonight... should I go to school, seriously?

Didn't go to school, didn't run, just did nothing, feeling blahhhhh 

Worked from home. I need to get a mouse, I don't like the laptop thingy...

Went for a run around 3 pm. NOT a good idea. Very hot, very muggy. Not a great run.  

Worked from home again. Seriously, pink eye is not that bad, I barely have any discharge. Went to urgent care to get some antibiotic drops. Came back home and went for a run by the Anacostia trail to the Capitol and back. Feeling good, not as hot as yesterday, with a nice cool breeze. 

What a beautiful day!

Ran to the office the long way to pick up my bike to go biking with Will tomorrow - from there I did a loop I used to do when I was married and lived in Cleveland Park... Dumbarton Oaks park to Glover Park up to Wisconsin, Marvin Hazen trail to Rock Creek, down all the way back to the office... it's about 9 miles, according to my Garmin, 10 counting some detours I took. I went slow, cause the trails are very rooty and rocky. I had several falls there before... and I had a very close call this time, but thankfully I didn't fall.

There was a biking accident on the trail, people go too fast on that turn, I don't know what happened but when I got there, I saw some blood on the trail (paved bike trail) and a guy was on the floor on the side of the trail, several people were around and had called 911... It gave me chills and I almost started to cry, thinking he may have to go through what my ex-husband went through... I saw a helmet next to him, so I'd hope he didn't hurt his head, and I heard people say he was breathing and he had a sip of water someone offered him, so at least he didn't seem to be unconscious. Scary stuff...

Felt good most of the time, but went very slow. I hydrated very well, I think, had some very watered-down G2 on the way to the office, some watered-down vitamin water on the first 10 miles, stopped at a 7-eleven to fill my bottle with ice and got another gatorade for the last 5 miles, a good plan overall. I almost wonder if it's worth running with my own water bottle during the marathon, it's nice not having to stop to drink, and being able to drink a few zips here and there instead of having to gulp a glass every few miles... probably not worth the effort?

This was not a very good week... I'm glad it's over. Tuesday I will do speed work I WILL DO SPEEDWORK ON TUESDAY!

Happy Saturday!

Kayaked for 2 hours in the Potomac with Will - beautiful day. Then we drove to Schaeffer farms to do some biking - my bike broke down the other day so I borrowed my co-workers road bike. Will was on his mountain bike, so he was working a lot harder than me, I liked that! Hank's bike has cages on the pedals. I was trying to figure out how his gears worked and the chain got screwed up, so the bike stopped and I got one foot out of the cage but not the other, so I slowly fell on my side. Funny stuff! We watched the Tour de France afterwards. So much drama! We'll see what happens this week. So exciting!

Biked from Chevy Chase to the office this morning, super fast on the road bike, awesome, passed everyone and nobody passed me! I need to get one of these...

Did the bridges run at lunchtime - a gorgeous day, a bit cloudy but not too humid or hot.

Speed work tomorrow!!! I need to read up on that, I have no idea how to do real speedwork...

Ran from the ofice after work to the Mandarin Oriental hotel to meet with my friend that works there. Was going to do some intervals but my right calf felt really tight, my left leg hurt on the side, and my knee was feeling funny. Boohoo!

My friend Sangeeta is new to running and trying to get in shape, so I'm trying to give her some pointers and encouragement. We did about 2 miles together, slow and taking a lot of walking breaks. I ran home from there, legs feel better.

So, no speed work - i am the worst...

Sooooo busy, sooooo tired...

Ran home from school, a beautiful evening in DC. Felt squeezy, weird during the 2nd mile, stomach cramps too, so I went slow and took walking breaks. Weird. I made it in 38 minutes, so I guess I wasn't going as slow as I thought. 

Ladies and gentlemen, this Rocket is reluctantly but officially in love... geez, this sucks...

: )

From the office to Chevy Chase after work, feeling good, took me exactly 1 hour. Some tummy issues at the very end... made me think about Eric... maybe there's something going around? :)  Big thunderstorms around, I got completely soaked and worried about my Garmin, but it made it ok.

From Chevy Chase to the office in the morning. Feeling sluggish. Very humid. Stomach cramps... Saw my friend Ashley on Reno Rd., she lives nearby - that was nice.

I'm probably going to do a hilly half marathon on Sunday near Schaeffer farms... it's very very hilly, so I'm a bit scared... I ran it last year so I was hoping to compare my times and do better, but they changed the course this time.

Did I tell you the course is very hilly? In any case it'll be a nice training.

Two hours mountain biking in Patapsco with Will - rocky, rooty, hilly, tough, hot... awesome!

Lots of hills. Rained lots. Was hoping to do 1:46 but with the longer course and the hills, that wasn't possible. Everyone was talking after the race about how difficult the course was. Some of the top runners were saying they finished 5 or 10 minutes slower than in their flat halves.

Started slow and a lot of people past me, but I caught up around mile 3 when I warmed up, and I passed at least 4 girls in the last 3 miles and was able to hold the speed even though it was super hilly.  The worst part was that we went downhill the first 3 miles, knowing we'd have to come back up them in the last 3 miles... yikes!

Splits:

1 - 8:36
2 - 8:17
3 - 7:50
4 - 8:03
5 - 8:03
6 - 7:58
7 - 8:38 (must've stopped for water)
8 - 8:08
9 - 8:09
10 - 7:51
11 - 7:43
12 - 8:24
13 - 8:11

I looked at my watch at 13.1 and it said 1:46... bummer on the longer course!!! On the positive side, I beat my friends Chris and John. ha ha ha ha! (evil laughter).

Pretty happy overall - if I had not had that pint of ice cream last night I may've done even better. Lots of cool people on the finish line. I love this race! Now I really want to find a flat half marathon to see what I can do!

Happy Sunday bloggers!

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Official results: I got 12th girl (out of 236), 1:48:56, and apparently 2nd in my age group (though it looks like they screw that up and I may be 3rd; either way I'll take it!) Last year I finished 17th girl, although my time was 1:48:30, so I think there was some improvement, maybe.

Biked to the office and will bike home after school. No running. No remorse. Have a bit of plantar fasciitis on my left heel so i'm going to do lots of cross-training this week.

Two hilarious pics from yesterday's race...

First: here I am posing as Schwartzenegger's daughter... seriously, are those really my arms??? I know I was flexing the muscles on purpose, but those are some serious arms... I look like a man for crying out loud! Note to self: wear shirts with sleeves next time...

Biked

The second one is even funnier because I wasn't posing! I was just complaining to the volunteers about the course being long, that was about .4 miles from the finish line and I was not happy that I wasn't getting an "official" PR. My face and hand say it all!

Don't remember what I did... I think I biked to the office and that's it - I had to leave work early to meet my friends and go to the Depeche Mode concert, which was AWESOME!

I think I ran at lunch to almost Fletcher's and back...

Biked to the office, ran at lunch, had dinner with Sangeeta, metroed to Bethesda with my bike, and biked from the metro to Chevy Chase.

Biked to the office from Chevy Chase, was going to run but didn't, biked to Chevy Chase after work. Lazy week...