Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

9:00pm, 4 miles while doing my laundry (very productive, on the first little lap I ran to the store to mail my postcards, then came back and changed my laundry to the dryer, then ran to the track, then came back right when my laundry was done!).  Not feeling that good today.  My left shin was bothering me almost the whole time (and worrying me) and my huge blister on my right foot is still annoying me.  I did a million lunges and calf raises and calf stretching afterwards in the hopes of helping my shin out.  

TT: 42:32   AP: 10:37 

6:40pm.  THERE IS NO TIME FOR RUNNING!  3 miles at the track with Gitt. I'm having another super low mileage week, not very good coming up on Hood to Coast, where I'm going to have to run 20 (ughhhh, Chris screwed me by leaving the team because he was our strongest runner and now I have to step up).  Ran barefoot at the track because I feel like I really need new shoes, the Merrells just don't seem to be the right shoe for me (the VFFs are better).  Felt a lot better than yesterday though, no shin pain.  Some burning on the bottoms of my feet! :-)

TT: 29:31   AP: 9:44

THREE MORE DAYS!  I can't wait.  Too much to do before then though. 

1:15am, yes, you read that right.  Last run in Singapore, 4 laps around the little loop since it's better lit and safer-feeling.  Got home from our celebratory dinner and wasn't sure what to do - to sleep or not to sleep, that is the question.  Needed to get up by 3:30am and it was already 1am.  Was really tired but felt like my sleep wouldn't be fruitful because I'd be too worried about waking up.  So I decided to head out for a run instead.  First run over 4 miles since the half, I have been such a slacker the past 2 weeks!  Just too busy, I hope I don't die at Hood to Coast.  Go convince Rachael to switch legs with me.  

TT: 1:17:19    AP: 11:xx    

HOME HOME HOME HOME HOME HOME! 

I forgot to add that I swam in the NTU pool for the first and last time today.  First time in an Olympic sized pool!  Just 5 laps (500m), my shoulders were so tired and I felt really out of shape.  I also saw a snake on this run and I did NOT like it.  At least it wasn't another monitor lizard.

Oh my gosh.  Running in Seattle weather with Justin and Cooper = GLORIOUS.  I do not miss that humidity... not one.little.bit!  It was just so refreshing and we'd hit cool patches of air and the sun was setting and the moon was out and it was AMAZING!!!!!  I missed my VFFs!  

3 loops around the neighborhood (2 with Justin and Cooper) plus a little extra to get to 5.   Then I foam rolled for the first time in 8 weeks and nearly died from the torturous pain.  Clearly I need that thing.

Jet lag is the worst.  It is 4:00am and I have to work tomorrow but after laying in bed since 2:30am I finally just got up and came downstairs.  Today is going to SUCK.  

10 lovely miles with Lisa, Anya, and Jordanne at BPA trail. Okay, the 10 miles weren't so lovely, it was super hard and my left shin was hurting, but the company was lovely!

Met Jordanne, ran to the bathroom and back, then Lisa and Denali were there, so ran one big loop, then Denali started having a sad crying attack so they left, but Anya got there, and ran one more big loop with Anya and Jordanne.  Then had some DELICIOUS pizza at Scoreboard afterwards, yum. 

TT: 1:42:xx   AP: 10:15 or something

I feel a little more prepared for H2C, but not much, and why does my shin hurt?  Oh yeah, probably because I wore the VFFs for 5 miles on Sunday after not wearing them all summer, because the Merrells are supposed to simulate barefoot running but I already know they don't because that's why I don't like them.  Moral of the story, I"m an idiot. 

I really wanted to get one or two double run days in in preparation for H2C and since I worked from home today seemed like a great day to do it.  

AM - 3.01 miles.  2 laps around the neighborhood.  Just kidding, I felt super slow, sluggish, and did NOT feel like running.  It's not much of a double run when one of the runs isn't even half as long as one leg during H2C!  

TT: 30:26    AP: 10:07

PM - 6.11 miles.  After a long day of data entry (no I did not meet my goal of finishing today, sadly), and cleaning the house (I did make some time to lay out in the sun!), Justin, Cooper, and I headed out for a run around 8:00pm.  Very lovely temperature, full moon, AND... I FELT GREAT!  It was a MIRACLE!  I seriously felt the best I have running since before I left for Singapore, probably the best I have in 10 weeks!  Did the first two loops with Justin and Cooper, then 2 more loops in which I focused on putting in some effort.  Last mile was pretty much a time trial, and yes I keeled over and died afterwards, but 7:10!!!!!  Yessss.

TT: 55:29   AP: 9:05

Splits: 10:08, 9:40, 9:43, 8:58, 8:46, 7:10

7:10, Booyah.   

9:00am, 5 lovely miles with Lisa and Cooper at BPA trail.  Thanks lady!

On the way home I was thinking of running some more when I got back because I was feeling really good but then I checked myself, was like you're an idiot, you've already run nearly 30 miles this week, stop being an idiot.   Sure enough, my ankle feels week today (Sunday).   Good thing I listened to myself for once. 

1:30pm.  22 miles of biking at Cedar River Trail - very lovely day for biking along the river, but I was not in shape for this and I will certainly feel it tomorrow.  My quads/hammies were VERY ready to be done around 17 and the last 5 were a nice death march.  Still felt good, did the entire paved stretch from the Renton parking lot to the gravel in Maple Valley!  

TT: 1:34:28   AP: 14.1 mph

Splits: 11.6, 14.0, 13.9, 13.8, 13.8, 14.5, 13.3, 12.5, 13.4, 12.8, 13.4, 15.6, 18.6, 18.7, 15.8, 15.4, 17.0, 15.5, 15.2, 13.9, 13.6, 13.7

Coming back is WAY easier than going out (because its very gradually almost visually unnoticeably gradual uphill). 

Sad to end a GREAT weekend: the drive-in, running with Lisa, Wild Waves, bbqing, blackberry picking, blackberry cobbler & blackberry freezer jam making, biking, poker tournaments, fun shenanigans with Portland friends, etc.  Still to come: Mariners game and bonfires.   

4 miles, 4:30pm.  So yesterday I got some new shoes: the Mizuno Wave Inspire 7.  They felt great in the store, very cushy and good.  I have been wanting to get some more substantial shoes for awhile both because I think it would be good for me to not run in the VFFs/Merrells on every single run but mostly because I have to do a gravel leg on H2C and those do NOT do well on rocks (ouch ouch ouch).  

So I took the new shoes out for a spin, ugh, it was horrible.  Calf pain and my legs just felt sooo heavy.  Plus the sun was beating down on me (shocking, right?) and it was so hot (had to run in the afternoon because of date night) so this was just a poor run overall.  Was going to stop after 2 but then I decided to put the VFFs on and I toughed out 2.17 more.

TT: 39:59   AP: 9:36

Mariners Game!  They actually won and it was actually exciting (at least in the second half!).

8:00pm, headed out for a run with Justin (sorry Cooper, was not up to you yanking my shoulder out of the socket today).  I went back to the running store and exchanged the Mizunos for a pair of Saucony Mirage, which are kind of like the Kinvara and supposed to be kind of minimalist.  They're better, but I still don't think they're the one for me, but the people will murder me if I take another worn pair back!  Ran 3 miles in them, my legs felt so freaking heavy.  Perhaps I am officially a minimalist runner these days, because I just can't handle shoes.  Was going to stop for good but decided to put on my Merrells and do another lap, which turned into like 3 more laps, and I got up to 8 miles, which makes me happy since that's the length of two of my legs at H2C (i'm freaking out about not being ready to do that kind of mileage).  

TT: 1:17:51   AP: 9:40 or something

Splits: 10:00, 9:26, 10:02, 9:31, 9:42, 9:29, 8:54

11 miles at interurban trail with Lisa, Denali, and Jordanne (in combinations).  Okay, so next weekend I have to run 20 miles in about 29 hours, and between yesterday and today I ran 19 miles in about 24 hours.  Not the same, and its in place of a double run, but close, and a good preparation workout I think.  

5:20pm.  Got there 10 minutes early so did 1 mile alone before meeting Jordanne and Lisa (Jordanne is amazing and ran 13 today!).  Then did 3 more miles with them for a total of 4.  

6:30pm.  Did the Interurban Running Club's Summer Sizzler 5k (it costs $5 and there were about 25 people there, including only 7 women!).   My plan was to push Denali and pace Lisa to a hard PR we can use for planning speed workouts to get her to a sub 2 half marathon.  EPIC FAIL.  I suck at pacing and paced too hard and she stopped halfway and took Denali.  I'M SO SORRY LISA!  I felt sooo bad, I wasn't trying to kill her, I swear, I was trying to just stay a little bit in front of her to push her.  I'm the worst.  Anyway, then there was a woman like a quarter of a mile ahead of me so of course I decided I should catch her.  I did, but then I started feeling so hot and tired and just wanted to be done and you could see the finish line from so far away, it was taunting you!  They said I got 1st overall female but I swear this 16 year old beat me.  My first first place?  Who cares there were only 7 of us! :-)

TT: 23:43   AP: 7:38

Splits: 8:20, 6:46, 7:47, 7:26 (.11)

My watch said 2.94 but they said it was certified and Jordanne's watch showed 3.1 so somehow those splits work out, obviously the 2nd mile is wrong.

Then we did 1 more mile, then Jordanne left, then I did one more mile with Lisa, then she left, and then I did 2 more miles on my own (kind of sketchy at sunset on the trail alone though) to round it out at 11.  After the race my calf/ankle was SO tight and I felt pretty bad the last 4 miles!  But we did it! 

**UPDATE.  After checking my past races I guess 23:43 was a PR by 10 seconds.  I guess that means I should register for and train for a real 5K, because a real PR might be in my future.  This assumes this was a real 5k and not really 2.94 miles, which I think is a big IF!

Hood to Coast tshirt making. :-)  I'm an idiot.

6:30am, 3 laps around the neighborhood sans Cooper (he's not feeling too well, Justin is taking him to the vet in a little bit), 5 miles.  Felt really sluggish the first 2 miles but then felt okay.  Some little dog tried to bite me again, LEASH YOUR DOG LADY!  It's weird I love dogs so much because I hate 99% of them when I'm running. 

Whoops, I ran too much this week.  7:30am.  4 miles in Post Falls, Idaho.  Found a loop from the hotel past all the abandoned sad looking outlet mall stores back by the University of Idaho satellite campus, it was about 2 miles so I did it twice.  Beautiful blue-skyed morning.  Felt in need of some rest.  

7:30am.  11 lovely miles on my bike this morning from the hotel in Post Falls on the Centennial trail - thought I was headed to CDA but I'm an idiot and turns out I was headed to Spokane!  Lovely blue sky, crossing a river, the Washington-Idaho state line, etc.  More beautiful blue sky.  Saw a pack of turkeys or quail or something and a jackrabbit.  

7:15pm.  Ugh this SUCKED.  Was drizzling when we left (in the summer! Why?) and was full-on raining by the end, and my right calf was super tight for some reason, it's worrying me, and blah.  After Justin left after 3 I was done for, but forced myself through one more mile (with a walk-break as incentive).  BLAH!

5:00pm.  Okay this wasn't nearly the 8 miles I'd hoped for.  But it was SO HOT, the sun beating down on your face, and all I could think was I am going to DIE during Hood to Coast.  It was 80 today and is supposed to be nearly 90 on Friday during my 3pm 7 miler on the hot pavement of Portland.  Ughhhhhh.  But I am still SO excited (and even more excited that I won a "Widmer Van Decorating Kit" for my team!).  

Met Lisa (and Denali!) and Jordanne at Interurban, ran 1.5, then Lisa, who is a rockstar and had already done 5 this morning, stopped to pick blackberries and we continued.  Picked a few blackberries ourselves for a little energy boost but it wasn't much help.  Ran into Lisa again at the end.  Lots of walking and breaks.

Then went to see One Day - I think I only liked it because I am obsessed with this book, READ IT if you haven't!  Especially if you liked Time Traveler's Wife.  Anne Hathaway's accent is pretty terrible though - just ignore that part.  

THREE DAYS UNTIL H2C! 

6:30am, 30 minutes on the bike trainer while watching Teen Mom.  I'm cool. 

Hood to Coast 2011 is in the book and team Run, I will (a Yoda specialty) rocked it! 

This year the traffic was a serious problem from leg 24 to the finish, which caused us to get literally zero minutes of sleep, as it took 3 hours to get from 24 to the sleeping field (leaving just 45 minutes before our runner had to start, just enough time to get ready and chug some caffeine).  Vans were repeatedly not being able to go fast enough to meet their runner during this time and at the finish we were about an hour late while we just sat in horrible traffic.  Apparently they added 250 teams this year and that greedy move probably caused this.  We tried not to let it get us down though, and of course we still had a blast!  I loved our van, we had the best group of awesome rockin' girls.  Although we seemed to constantly FAIL at many of the tasks (such as driving, following directions, drinking enough, sleeping, etc.) we DOMINATED the actual running part.  Lisa was especially a trooper as she picked up an extra leg!  Everyone was just amazing and they are all my heroes. 

Leg #1 - Friday, 3:49pm, Gresham, OR, Springwater Corridor Trail

One word to describe it = HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT.  The car says it was 92-94 degrees, and I felt it!  We saw about 15 ambulances (including one on my leg) carting heat exhausted runners off the course.  This run was on the road for about .5-1 mile, then on 3 miles of terrible rocky gravel (which it did NOT say in the course handbook!) and then 3 more miles on the paved trail.  Some shade because of all the trees and blackberry bushes which was nice, kind of boring scenery but I liked it, very nice and flat!  I only passed 3 people and I got passed by a lot of people, I was hot and the weakest link in this leg - I was the one who was 8 minutes over their prediction! I had to wait at a stoplight for 30 seconds or a minute so that was probably in mile 2's time.  My water bottle (I am never running without a handheld water bottle again, I love that thing!) was gone by the end and I was seriously thirsty, but they did have a water stop which I used to throw on my head, which seriously gave me a boost for mile 6 (my fastest time).

TT: 1:01:32   TD: 6.97 miles   AP: 8:49

Splits: 8:52, 9:13, 8:38, 8:50, 8:53, 8:36, 8:44

After our first set of legs Kasey was nice enough to let us crash in her condo, where we enjoyed some Pizza Schmizza, took showers, and laid on her couch for a bit.  Then we picked up Laura (we had a runner drop at the last minute so we were able to snag a great runner from last year!) and headed to the St. Helens fairgrounds.

Leg #2 - Saturday, 2:37am, The middle of absolute nowhere, Vernonia, OR

One word to describe it = TERRIFYING.  I absolutely hated this leg, which was a shame because the gravel wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (yes, all on gravel, very loose in spots which was very hard but most of the time was decent, the problem was seeing the bigger rocks and potholes so you could avoid them), I didn't even wear the bandana I stole from Cooper, though I did wear it around my neck just like he does, and the weather was absolutely perfect (it said 54 but I though it felt warmer than that, I was still warm while running even in just a tshirt and shorts).  But it was DARK.  As dark as dark gets.  I guess because there was no moon, we were literally on a tiny gravel road in the middle of nowhere forest in Oregon (you should have seen the stars!), and I was pretty much waiting for a coyote / bear / bobcat / etc. to jump out of the woods 1 foot from me and take me down (it didn't help that I kept hearing rustling!).  I had been warned about hillbillies and shacks (ha!) but that was not an issue, just the complete darkness so much so that I could barely run because I couldn't see where my feet were landing or what was ahead of me.  I wish I'd carried more light somehow.  I passed one lady almost immediately (one of my only 2 roadkills on this leg) and I knew I should just slow way down and run with her but I'm stupid and didn't because I just wanted it to be over.  In the first mile I felt extremely alone and wanted to cry and even walked for a bit because I couldn't see ANYTHING.  Then I took my headlamp off and used it like a flashlight instead and then I could at least see a little.  After that I would try and keep up with the guys that would pass me for as long as I could, desperately wanting a buddy and some extra light from their headlamps, but I just couldn't keep up.  Every time they came or a van came (rarely!) I would sprint while I had the light.  I've never been so happy to be done!  It's a shame I was so slow because I felt like I was going as fast as I possibly could since I just wanted to be done!  I guess the gravel, the darkness, and I think it was a gradual uphill the second half, took its toll.

TT: 43:30   TD: 5.00 miles    AP: 8:42

Splits: 9:02, 8:35, 8:29, 8:30, 8:57

Leg #3 - Saturday, 11:41am, the middle of nowhere, Astoria, OR

One word to describe it = HILLY.  I need to upload my splits to the computer so I can see my ascent.  Definitely challenging rolling hills, you were either always going up or going down, and the leg was so long that this never seemed like it was going to end!  It was about 75 outside which felt great if you were just hanging out but running plus the direct overhead sun made it quite hot.  Thank you handheld water bottle again.   Some kids were spraying runners with water which was greatly appreciated except the last set of two boys who whipped out their POWER SPRAYER and sprayed me at point-blank range (felt like they were beating me up!) and then violently threw two cups of water as hard-as-they-possibly-could right in my face!  The spectators (there were several at this point!) were very entertained by me getting beat up by two little boys and water.  I ended up passing 20 people here which made me feel way better (until Jordanne passed 20 people on a leg half as long as this!), although by now we were catching up with some of the walkers.  The scenery on this leg was beautiful - beautiful sun and blue skies, cows, rivers, meadows, etc.  General loveliness, except for the hills!

TT: 1:07:52   TD: 7.73 miles   AP: 8:47

Splits: 9:03, 9:12, 8:43, 8:28, 8:41, 8:49, 8:48, 8:25

Then we headed to Seaside - so glad we stayed the night there this year.  Our room was very luxurious and we could see the fireworks from the balcony! 

Wow, what consistency throughout those 3 legs! I ran way way WAY faster last year which makes me a little sad (I do feel more out of shape this year in terms of speed, I think Singapore killed it) but in my defense, the heat, gravel, and hills really played a factor as well.  Too bad this can't count as a real 20 miler, since I think I've decided on doing a fall marathon!  Whoops... Justin's going to kill me!  Another epic adventure, can't wait until next year already!

5:00pm, 3.5 terrible miles around the neighborhood.  There was multiple periods of walking, a stop to change from the VFFs to the Merrells, and finally just quitting to pick blackberries.  Numerous things were bothering me, including my left ankle, right calf, and left knee (I woke up this morning and my left leg was SO stiff I could barely bend it, so horrible).  This is all so weird because I've been feeling pretty good and non-sore and didn't go all-out like last year!  So why am I being punished?  Hopefully it will be short-lived.

Then after a short-snafu did our fantasy football draft, and then hopped on the bike trainer for 45 minutes while I watched Bachelor Pad.  That's right, summer TV sucks and I soak it up.  

30 minutes on the bike trainer while watching Curb your Enthusiasm (HBO GO is AWESOME, thank you in-laws for providing us with it unknowingly, haha). Oh yeah, I mowed the lawn for like the 2nd time ever, I was proud. Justin supervised.