Objective: progression on mostly flat terrain
7:10 AM: Low 40sF, rising to low 60s, mostly sunny, variable wind 0-15 mph
I made some big mistakes today. The first was wearing my Camelbak
fanny pack for hydration. Venturing out of my nice,
drinking-fountain-endowed neighborhood, I knew it would get warm today
and smugly filled up the little bladder, figuring I was all set! The
fanny pack was awful. Oh yeah, this is why I stopped wearing it. It
chafed and bounced, unless I cinched it up so tightly that it
interfered with my belly breathing, sometimes even producing side
stitches. So I did my best with that.
(Before I describe the second mistake, lest you think I had a miserable
time today, I should note that it was mostly a really fun run with some
beautiful moments, and a good workout.)
Would it have taken that much time to look at a map with regard to
distance and topography? I did take the trouble to call the City of
North Bend to inquire about the construction over the bridge on Boalch
Ave, but even that did not completely keep me out of trouble. It was
morning service at the Church of the Unwarranted Assumption, as I went
trotting off on what I thought would be a) flat, and b) 8-9 miles each
direction. Neither was true. For your amusement, here is the blow by
blow....
Mile 1 & 2 (11:34, 11:02) Warm up, starting from my parked car down
in old Snoqualmie. Took stupid wrong turn and went the long way around
the high school, into 40 mph traffic. Found my way back, and noticed a
lot of people at Centennial Park. Maybe it's always this way? (no)
Some guy says to me in a cranky tone, "You better save it for later!"
huh? whatever. (Later, all is explained.)
(10:30, 10:31, 10:59) I head down Boalch, finding it to be so deserted
that I might as well be on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, but everything
feels good except that I'm running into a stiff headwind all of a
sudden. I get to the bridge, where the aforementioned construction
work is blocking car traffic, and I find the "scaffolding that you can
cross on." I guess I was expecting something a little bit wider and
more stable? It was about 20 inches wide, 12 feet long, crossing a deep chasm.
Dead stop. Oh my goodness I was frightened. Turn back? No, I can do
this. Slowly, easy... Funny, because I just watched the movie "Man on
Wire" a couple of nights ago. Further down Boalch I had to run on Hwy
202 (cars 50 mph), where the shoulder seemed a lot smaller than it
always has from my car. After going through part of North Bend, I
decided to get on the SV trail after all. Ug- gravel. How I hate it.
It saps my energy and I feel every pebble underfoot.
(10:43, 10:47, 11:29) Some time during mile 5 I started up the Mt. Si
road. Last night this seemed like such a fun idea. And in many ways it
was. But it is not flat. I found myself surprised by the incline,
partly because it gets steeper as you go up and I underestimated how
far I would have to go up to get the miles. Maps, Snoqualmie,
maps! They're incredibly useful, and easy to find on this very computer
in front of you. The cars were whizzing by, so I had to keep going
into the gravel on the shoulder (more gravel - ug) and the headwind was
worse than ever here. As slow as that mile 8 pace looks, it was worse
on the Garmin. I can laugh now, but the wooded road blocked the signal
so much that at one point it said pace = 18:35! And the % grade read
minus 37%! Crazy Garmin.
(9:44, 9:41, 10:16) The turnaround was a welcome change as I now
headed downhill, with the tailwind, and fewer cars in this direction.
I intentionally slowed a couple of times, once to look at the river
through the woods - gorgeous! - and once to jog up the short driveway
to the horse barn where my daughter rides. I thought I'd say hello but
no one was around. At the bottom of Mt. Si Road I learned the reason
for the weird comment of that guy at mile 2. A huge crowd of runners
with bib #s was coming out of the SV trail as I was going in. I asked
a volunteer at the street crossing -- it was the "Mt Si Relay and
50K." It was fun to run "against" them and see their faces. Lots of
Marathon Maniac singlets, lots of friendly greetings. But I was back
on the gravel, and it was time to kick into a higher gear. :(
(9:21, 9:13, 9:54 (oops), 9:03) About 1.5 miles on the gravel before I
could break free back onto the roads since I didn't want to "walk the
plank" again. But the new route shortened the run too. :( Maps,
Snoqualmie! When I got back onto the asphalt it was such a relief,
but I was definitely tiring and the warm air was affecting me a lot. I
am so unaccustomed to running in anything above 45F; Eugene could be a
real disaster if it's warm. I don't know why that 14th mile (the oops)
got slower; I wasn't looking at the Garmin very much here. The last
half mile of the 15th was positively anaerobic. And I'm supposed to do
that for 26.2? I don't know, I don't know.
(11:54) Cooldown for a few minutes by going around the block at my car. Feet hurt. (gravel?) I feel too hot.
Well, I don't know why I had to make this so long, but I learned a lot
and I hope it was a workout that will help me on race day, two weeks
from today. I now enter my taper. Oh! My eyes teared up when I typed
that. I wonder what my brain can be up to. Although I'm kicking
myself for not consulting a map before going out, I might not have
picked this route at all if I had. And I would have missed a good
adventure.
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