A little over a week ago I found myself getting a little tired of running around Portland and Vancouver... finally.
I found a little run on the coast this weekend called the Tillamook Bay Run, and I went ahead and mailed in a registration form & check for the run. I figured, why not? It'll be refreshingly NOT portland!
The TBR race included a 5 and 10 mile length (10 miles was just running the 5 mile course twice). Since I only was slated for a 6 mile run this weekend, AND I have a major event next weekend, I opted for only the 5 mile distance... altho I did consider running 10 for a moment.
After checking the weather forecast for Tillamook in the morning and trying to call it a night early last night... this morning I was up bright and early (6am?). I got ready to go, had a big helping of oatmeal, stopped by my local Starbuckia on my way out of town, and hit the road. I've never had to drive anywhere for a run before. Google maps predicted a 2 hour drive for me. ugh.
Luckily it didn't take QUITE as long as they predicted to get out there.
I was rolling through Tillamook (if you aren't familiar, Tillamook is home of THE MOST AMAZING CHEESE. I've been a fan of their Special Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar since I was a kid... I consider Tillamook something akin to the promised land) this morning just before 9am... and noticed a cute little farmer's market set up in their little historical downtown area. The run was located on the Bayocean spit on the far side of the Tillamook bay, so I kept going.
I got to the start line/finish line/race central a tad early it turns out.
Also, I was surprised to find the place was completely surrounded by fog. The forecast the night before hadn't mentioned fog.
But it wasn't TOO terrible. Heck, this weekend is a heat wave in Portland. When I was driving out, the NPR news was all about how temperatures were going to be in the 3-digits today, and there were signs up on the highways warning of high smog levels today, and to keep driving to a minimum. I felt kinda lucky to be getting out of town actually.
I got my race-day packet, and since I had an hour to kill, I brought it back to my car and went through it.
There was some random stuff in it, like a pad of post-it notes, but I was happy to find a sample of Tillamook cheese included. :)
Anyway, after anxiously awaiting the race start for a while, it was time to go to the start line. I was TOTally surprised to find only a handful of people there. Note my race bib number was 301! Well, turns out they're still using the race bibs from the first year they held this race. There were only like 57 people in this race.
They explained to us how the race was going to work (out and back, how hard is that?) and then counted down to the start. I had on my new New Balance flair running skirt (love it), my ultimate frisbee jersey, and, as a last minute addition due to the weather, I decided to keep my polar fleece on... but ended up needing to remove it and tie it around my waist before the turn around.
There was a group of like 10 or so highschool runners, who were clearly being coached, and a group of walkers that were referred to as TLC (who I later found out was a credit union in Tillamook and Lincoln County). Other than that, there were just some random people. We all set off. I tried my best to keep up with the gaggle of highschoolers at the start. Why? I'm not sure actually. Near 1/2 mile I had to slack off a touch tho, and they passed me. However, sticking with them in the first 1/2 mile separated me from the other runners, and I was kinda keeping the rear of the first group of runners. Not a bad spot.
For a 5 mile race, this is a pretty fricken good time for me. Ok, sure, I beat the pace in the Reach the Bridge run, but that was ALL downhill... this race wasn't. If I can keep that pace up for an additional 1.2 miles or so, I think that would meet my under-an-hour 10K goal.
The course was dirt, gravel, bigger rocks, sand... nothing good lets just say. Luckily I had worn my trail running shoes which has greater stability. I also worked hard to find the hardest packed, least rocky line along the access road that the out and back was along. I was pre-occupied in this race watching the ground trying to plot the least dangerous route along the road. I enjoyed the view less often than I would have liked... however that's fine, since the fog never burnt off. On occasion we could see a sea kayaker or a sailboat in the fog, but for the most part there was nothing to see. More often there was the smell of fish and seaweed. Definitely not in Portland. :)
The course was along the bay-side of the Bayocean spit.
Funny, apparently my garmin doesn't have the spit on its maps... according to my gamin my run was on water this morning...
Cool.
I was, at first, trying to keep track of the ladies in front of me who looked approximately 30-39 years old... since I knew there were age-group/gender awards, and not many people. After a while tho I just was running and not looking at the other people. The weather (cooler, humid) did NOT jive with my bad knee, and with 2 miles left, it started to stiffen up a touch, but I decided to ignore it and just keep going. It loosened up a little after a while, but it was complaining to me the rest of the day. I was kinda glad on the home stretch that I wasn't doing the 10 mile run. My knee was not up for it.
I went ahead and stopped at all of the water stations and stood around while I drank water for a couple of seconds, and then thanked the volunteers for being out there. I told them I was in no hurry... which was only partly true. I had a good enough lead on the people behind me that it didn't hurt me to take those little breathers, and there was NO way I'd catch those in front of me. :)
I got to run alone for most of the race. It wasn't bad!
At 1/4th mile to the turn around, the leaders were headed back. I complimented the lead runners on their effort, but they ignored me. ahh well. They were all kids anyway: no manners. When I was about 1/2 mile to the finish, the lead 10 milers passed me on their second circuit of the course. So, that tells me I was a pretty consistent pace behind the leaders for the entire run. :)
The final mile was deceiving. It was flat and striaght, but I kept THINKING I saw the gate that was the trailhead, and ineffect the finish line... so I kept putting in a little more energy than I woulda if I knew the finish was still .66 miles off. You can't really SEE .66 miles off. Roughly, the furthest you can see at any given time down a relativly straight flat street is 1/4th mile. I kept forgetting that, and kept pushing myself a little, hurt knee and all.
I crossed the finish to a small crowd of clapping strangers and was disappointed to find no water for the runners. booo!
Luckily I had tossed some in my car, so I wandered over there... and then took some pictures. It had warmed up a LITTLE, and you were starting to be able to see through the fog, but not really...
Here is the start/finish trail from the parking lot...
I had about an hour to kill before the awards ceremony, so I stretched a lot, ate a banana and a mini blueberry muffin (complimentary after-run food), and just kinda, hovered nearby... the fogged burned off a touch more... LOOK! you can almost see land on the other side of the bay!!!
Behind me is a typical landscape for the Oregon coast.
I learned while hovering that not only were there NO women doing the 10 mile run, but there were only 5 women in my age group in the 5 mile run, and out of them I was 3rd!!! I've NEVER been a contender for top 3 before!! woo hoo! Ofcourse, if I had done the 10 mile run, I would have been a gold medallist AND the all-around top 10 miler woman. Eh, hind sight is 20/20. My knee wasn't quite up for it anyhow.
I stuck around for the award ceremony shortly after noon, and then the fog started rolling back in some. Some of the local Tillamook runners took interest in me (only person who drove in for this event!), and I had some nice conversations. The Gold winner in my age group and her boyfriend asked what else I was planning to do while I was out there. I admitted I had never been to Tillamook before. I told them I was considering seeing the lighthouse, since it was like, right near us. They suggested before I leave I swing by Oceanside, a little coastal town nearby, and have a meal at Roseanna's Cafe. I said, "cool!"
Driving off of the spit, this was my view...
I followed the Cape loop further away from Tillamook and eventually found Cape Meares. The fog was pretty thick at this point. You could hear the sea, but you just couldn't see it. I was kinda enjoying the fog... made for some special views.
Funny story: when I got out of the car to take that first photo, I hadn't realized I was still wearing my bronze medal that I won in the awards ceremony. I got some funny looks from some other tourists, but didn't much think about it till I was back at my car and was like, "OH! whoops!"
I hobbled on my stiffened knee down to the lighthouse. I know I was walking like a gimp, but I didn't much care. I WAS going to see the lighthouse...
cute little lighthouse!
Altho all you see is fog behind the lighthouse, I SWEAR there is the Pacific Ocean there!
On my way back to the car I spotted a little snake, but wasn't able to get a pic. I did get a picture of this guy hanging out on a thistle tho!
After this, I made my way along the winding coastal 2-lane road to Oceanside, OR.
I love how the houses are stacked up along the hillside like that!
I was happy to see the beach well attended...
I easily found Roeseanna's
The establishment was packed, but the servers were friendly. I went ahead and got the white albacore tuna salad special (as a melt on sourdough bread w/tillamook cheese), with a side cup of vegetarian vegetable soup.
It was AMAZINGLY good! I was eyeing the dessert menu the entire time I was there too... but alas I had no room. I TOTALLY would have been all over that bread pudding otherwise...
I was having fun watching the kites pass the window of Roseanna's while I was eating. As I sat there eating, the fog burnt off some more, and I was shocked to spot some massive Oregon Coast-typical rock formations offshore from Oceanside. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but I just didn't see them earlier, so they kinda came out of nowhere! You can KINDA see em in this pic. Also there is a kite in this picture! :)
Also I got a quick vid of a dragonfly kite I was enjoying from the cafe. As I was filming, a mother dragged her screaming kid by me. Ignore that.
On the way back to my car, I spotted the CUTEST little sea side cabins for rent:
Dog friendly!?!? Oh man, I'm SO coming back here!
While driving home, I tried to snap pics of the fields of dairy cows I passed (without looking) with mixed success. The cows are the black and white blurs...
In Tillamook, while stopping to refill my gas tank for the drive home, I noticed they were closing down the little farmer's market that I had spotted earlier. I snapped some photos of that too!
All in all a GREAT day. I'll leave you with some shots of my brand spanking new bronze medal!!
On Aug 2, me and 3 friends came together as the Rock'n Relay team: The Roundabouts- three girls and a guy.
What's the Rock'n Relay? It's a 2 mile loop course, up and over the Terwilliger hill starting and ending at Upper Duniway Park. The full race is marathon-length, but you run it in teams of four. Three runners do the 2 mile loop three times, and one person (the anchor) does that loop 4 times. The anchor starts and finishes the race, and each team member runs the loop in turns.
At a 10 minute mile, which is roughly what each of us on my team thought they could run, that gives you roughly 1 hour between runs. Not bad. All of us were wondering how that would affect our ability to run the loop. Would it hurt us? Help us? Hell if I knew, I'd never run a tough 2 miles, then waited an hour, then ran that 2 miles again, then waited an hour, etc.
Ahhh... so what's so "rock'n" about that? Well, the event has bands playing the duration of the race at Upper Duniway Park, plus food and beer booths. :D
Anyway, just cause I'd done a 1/2 marathon the weekend prior (unlike everyone else on my team) I was designated the anchor. After my 1/2 marathon time, I was totally pumped for this run.
Basically we just camped out all afternoon on Saturday, Aug 2, listened to music, enjoyed the weather and views, and ran a big hill repeatedly.
Here, meet the team: This is Robin (avid Roundabout fan), Bryce, and Robin's border collie-flat coated terrier mix, Juno... and then Dayna and Sheryl.
So, we hung out a touch before the race started. Other teams were setting up a "base camp" like we did. Some of them even got all dressed up for the race. There was a bouncy palace for the kids. And this was our view of the stage from our "base camp" location. The Portland Cello Project was performing.
The anchor got the purple team bib, and the others got white. The Roundabouts ran in the order: me, sheryl, dayna, bryce.
Here are some pics of us on the course...
Sheryl: Sheryl, on loop 2, started cramping in her legs. She was disappointed, but had to walk, and was clearly in a decent amount of pain. Ugh... poor thing.
Dayna:
Bryce: Bryce had some great times. He kept showing up before we were expecting him.
And then, ofcourse, me! I was dressed in all black, cause I thought it'd make me look ominous. This is loop 1
loop 2
loop 3
loop 4
hehehe, my team greeted me at the finish with beer. Great team!
For me, loop 1 was weird... running in the pack, and trying to slow myself down... ignoring the excitement. I ended up pushing too hard up till the hill, and had to walk up the hill a bit. I resolved to NOT walk up the hill on loop 2 & 3 though, and I was able to manage that. I did walk a touch on loop 4 tho. Just a little bit. Once you hit the 1 mile mark on the loop, it was ALL downhill till the finish.
On loop 1, I ended up getting a side cramp at the top of the hill, and had to walk a bit on the downhill to get rid of it. After that, I also decided to "warm up" as much as a could before my other loops... and could be seen jogging in place while my teammate before me was running the loop. It helped a lot.
Between loops I stretched, slammed electrolyte snacks, drank water, and tried to stay warm.
Loops 2-4? I was basically around no one else. Ok, loop 2 there were some quick runners passing me, but after that, no one.
We finished in 4:18:58... slightly faster than a 10 minute mile as a team. Neat! My own personal times: Mile 1 8:27 minutes Mile 2 10:00 minutes Mile 3 9:00 minutes Mile 4 9:15 minutes Mile 5 9:16 minutes Mile 6 8:55 minutes Mile 7 9:48 minutes Mile 8 8:44 minutes
My average pace- 9:12 minute miles, or for me, 8 miles in 1:13:29!! Not bad!! I think I hit like 5:30 minute miles on my sprints to the finish too. Zoom!!!
I'm pretty happy with both my team and my own effort on this run. It felt really good.
Here are some more pictures from the day... Note the long-hair chihuahua on the guy's chest laying on the ground... hee!
And, the music
What a fun event.
I even won a $10 gift certificate to Foot Traffic, and a coupon for $10 off registration for another Terrapin Event run.
Here is us doing that warm-up thing at the start line...
I'm not in that pic. The start line photos are kinda a "where's waldo" exercise for me actually. I put together a handy slide show with some of the shots I'm in. Can you find me?
Here are some shots of the pretty views of the course. Note the complete lack of shoulder on the 2-lane rural highway.
And here is me running on the course. This is around mile 11, and I'm feeling pretty derned good. I think you can tell.
And here is my run to the finish line... I think the photographer caught me giving my victory "whoop!" too. heheheh
So... this is the event I've been training for more or less since the Race for the Roses. I devised a schedule and mostly stuck to it... making adjustments to make sure I don't over train or so that I could run smaller events and still feel like I'm preparing for the half.
This was kind of a big milestone for me in my short running career (16 months so far and counting). This was the first goal running event (8Ks, 10Ks, and even 15Ks don't count) that I trained myself for, instead of leaning on TNT to train me. Granted, I was leaning heavily on the running foundation that training for the Race for the Roses half in April gave me, but I learned from experience last winter that if you stop running, even for only a month, it's really hard to pick it back up again, and it's almost like starting over. I made sure to not let that happen this time around. I put together my schedule and stuck to it.
Between Race for the Roses and the Lacamas Lake halves, I ran no less than 6 organized smaller runs. Crazy how I caught the running bug!! Every one of them has been worth it tho!
Sunday morning, I feel like I outdid myself all over again, on many fronts.
I'll admit. I didn't quite know how things were going to go. Not only did I train myself, but I never managed a continuous run beyond 10 miles in my training, altho 2 were scheduled. If you recall, my 12 mile run was intolerably miserable, hot, and stifling on a treadmill in my mom's garage. I managed the total distance in 2 shifts tho, walking a not insignificant distance in the process.
My 14 mile run landed on the same weekend as the run like a girl 10K trail run. I attempted an 8 mile run following the 10K, but that quickly bottomed out, and I turned around at about 2.7 miles due to side cramps and straight up exhaustion... I had used too much of my energy in the 10K trail run earlier that morning and the second run simply wasn't going to happen. The trail run was a challenging course, and I totally forgot to "take it easy" and "save my strength" for the longer run later that day. I got swept up in the excitement of the event and put in everything I had. Oops.
So, with really only a 10 mile run under my belt (albeit an excitingly optimistic 10 mile run) I ventured headlong into this weekend.
Sunday morning, bright and early, my mom and I get up and get ready for the event. Forecast was low to mid 60's, mostly cloudy, and drizzly rain in the afternoon (after the event was over). Because of this, I chose basically the same outfit I ran the Cane 10 10K in: longer running skort and a T. My mom had gotten the event technical T with her registration, I had not (I think cause I was disappointed by how fricken large the Cinco de Mayo shirts were). Turned out tho, for this event, they got different shirts for men and women, and the women shirts ran on the small side. My mom had gotten a M, but she thought it was too tight for her, so she gave it to me (or frustratingly tossed it in my direction is more like it). I chose to run in it... just cause. My mom saw me dressed in it on race day and gave me a grunt that pretty much said, "you're welcome. don't you have a nice mom?" I also threw a polar fleece pullover on top to keep me warm till I ran.
The drive out to Camas High School was 28 minutes, so we had to be out the door by 6:15am. The half marathon walk began at 7am, half marathon run at 8am, 4 mile run/walk at 8:30am, and the 1K kid run at 10:30am.
We get to the highschool (after a little confusion over the mapquest directions) with plenty of time before the walker start (for my mom). We got decent parking, walked over to the track and milled around a bit checking out the location. The expo booths were still setting up, and there were only really a handful of people standing around looking ready to walk a half marathon. We visited the row of porta potties, and then came back to the track. The walkers were asked to line up at the start while they were still setting up the big digital race clock. I swear the clock only was set up entirely 10 seconds before the start. Finally at 7:05am or so the walkers were set off. This was the first event I've seen where they let the walkers loose first... and I think it makes a lot of sense really.
Earlier my mom and I noticed that the event wasn't timing chip timed, so the "timing" of the event was going to rely ENTIRELY on "gun time"... i.e. the clock starts for EVERYONE when they say "go." Because of this, there is a distinct disadvantage to your time if you hang out at the back and be polite letting the faster peeps go first. If you care about YOUR time, you want to cross that start line as close to the beginning of the race as you can.
My mom and I decided to do this, and I noticed she was on the outside ring of the track, right at the start line during the countdown.
The walkers took off. There was a handful of faster walkers that had separated themselves from the rest of the walkers by a quarter of the way around the track already. My mom was right at the front of everyone else looking strong. In the group of walkers was one runner: some tall lanky teen-aged kid in a blue shirt and yellow split-side running shorts... who bore an uncanny resemblance to that runner kid in Juno. On the go, he started jogging in the pack, and looked around REALLY confused that no one else was running. He ran with the pack of walkers around the track, out of the stadium and then re-entered the stadium from the main entrance. He had figured out that he was the only runner, and that wasn't right.
I laughed and laughed at this poor kid's expense.
An older man near me clearly dressed to run said something like, "well, runners don't always read very well..."
hee!
Then, I had about an hour to kill.
I walked around the expo booths, then I visited the porta potties again. Because I wasn't sure how well I had prepared myself for the run, I made myself feel better during the 12 hours leading up to the run by drinking as much water and electrolytes as I could manage. The sum results were needing to pee more than I normally do before a race.
Finally I wandered back to the car to get my arm wallet containing my cell phone and my jelly belly sport beans, my ipod shuffle, and to ditch my pullover. I also ate a black cherry shot blok while in the car and washed it down with more water. It was still only 7:15am. The parking lot was beginning to fill up, and more and more people were arriving. I realized right around then how good my parking spot was. I just sat in the car and stared at nothing for a while... I was a little tired, and somewhat surprised how much this event snuck up on me, unlike Race for the Roses. I kept wondering whether I did enough to prepare myself. Am I really ready?? Then I think about my mom, and how she's already on the course, and how nervous SHE was the night before (albeit somewhat due to the 2 cups of coffee she had at dinner, but she just couldn't sleep the night before. She was up half the night reading up more about the half marathon route). I silently wish her luck and decide to just go ahead and face the music. I get out of the car sans pullover (not as cold as I was anticipating), lock the door, and head back to the track... it's about 7:30am.
The line for the porta potties is like, 50 people long, and I have to pee again. Eh, I've got time. I get in line.
At 7:45am I'm standing on the track stretching. A nice older gentleman next to me asks if I've done the Lacamas run before. I admit I haven't, so he tells me the course is mostly flat with a couple serious hills. The most notable hills are the way out on the 3 mile out and back (obviously coupled with a serious downhill on the way "back"), and then the 1/2 mile ascent at mile 12 back up to the high school (which is coupled by the 1/2 mile downhill at the very beginning of the race once out on the street). He wishes me luck when the announcer guy asks the runners to line up on the track to do some pre-run warm-ups. Most everyone seems confused, but everyone obliges. We line up, and a guy from some physical therapy business starts leading us through a ~5 minute session explaining how by doing some simple exercises, we can warm up our muscles, activate our nerve endings, and be more-ready to run. Some of the moves remind me of Tae Bo. Some of the people around me were complaining that they were getting too tired to run by doing the exercises (but I think they were just joking).
Eventually we're asked to move to the start line. Following my mom's lead, I find myself edging forward to the very side of the track, but the inner side. Most people are happily chatting and didn't hear the national anthem being sung... but by halfway through the song a hush came over the runners, and we all listen to the song. After the song is sung, we then are given a 10 second countdown to our start at 8:05am.
GO!!!
We start running around the track, the same course the walkers took 1 hour earlier. I think about my mom for a second and realize she's probably more than 4 miles ahead of me just then. Cool.
My goal for this run was to simply beat my PR (personal record) for the distance, which I believe was a 12 minute mile pace (2 hour 36 minute half marathon time) that I was never able to run faster than during the portland marathon training, and certainly not after the portland marathon was over. My Race for the Roses finish time was approx 2 hours and 42 minutes... or a 12:30 minute mile pace.
Needless to say, the runners that show up to a small half marathon like this one are the ones who are serious runners. I can't imagine a beginner runner earmarking the Lacamas Lake half as their first half marathon, and a half-marathon isn't really a distance that less-serious runners decide to do off the cuff (like, say, a 5K or a 10K might be). So, I was surrounded by some pretty hard-core looking people... and well... at the beginning I had intentionally placed myself INFRONT of them all to try to get a good time. heh.
So yeah, people were FLYING past me at the start. I got caught up in the race start excitement, and then, ofcourse, the 1/2 mile downhill on the street, so it wasn't until mile 1 that I was able to work on slowing myself down a touch to be able to maintain my strength. My garmin informed me that I did the first mile in roughly 8 minutes. oops. By then tho we were on this nice flat 2-lane highway along the calm shore of Lacamas Lake. Things were going well... altho I remember thinking I had to pee again, but I told myself to ignore that. People were still just flying past me tho. I did my best to not weave and maintain a straight line so that it would be easier on runners passing me.
I was SO in the way.
I keep checking my pace tho on my Garmin. I figured as long as I was feeling good in my heart, lungs, and muscles, and wasn't going TOO fast, I should be ok, but I was seriously questioning my ability to keep up this pace for 13.1 miles.
I force myself to ignore the people passing me and slow down to a 10 minute mile.
That took A LOT of will power.
at about 3 miles, we go up a little hill and turn onto another highway. We're no longer in sight of the lake. This road is a bit busier, and the local traffic seems annoyed that our event is taking up a whole lane of the 2-lane highway. I move over a little more to the shoulder.
I hear someone coming up behind me having a conversation... asking someone's age. A woman informs the questioner that, "she's 10." The questioner is very enthusiastic, and reminisces that he was 10 when he started running. Shortly after that a mom runs by me with 2 daughters at her side. The three of them are wearing matching purple t shirts, and the youngest girl has the smallest pair of Reebok running shorts I've ever seen. Cool!
At the second aid station at mile 4, the TNT run aid station, the last water-hand-outer person in the line recognizes me as I walk past while gulping water from a paper cup. It's Maddie. She takes one look at me and says, "JACKIE!!!" I try to say "hi" with my eyes and eyebrows, and wave at her with my free hand while I swallow, but I don't stop to chat. I am concerned about my time, and take off from my water break with new gusto, passing a number of people including the mother and daughters in purple.
We run past fields with hay bales laying in them, and rolling hills, and many many cows. If it weren't for the 2-way traffic trying to eek around us in the 1 lane we weren't taking up, I think I'd be enjoying the view a lot more. A couple times we had to compress as far as we could onto the inexistent shoulder to avoid being hit by a truck pulling a horse trailer, passing a car going the other direction or whatever. It's a shame the event wasn't able to close off the roads for us.
Shortly after mile 4, it started raining. Not hard, but definitely more than a drizzle.
I am glad my clothing choice for this morning is holding up well to the rain. I'm still perfectly comfortable. I notice some guys near me squinting through the rain, and I'm glad once again for my running cap that's saving me from that. My ipod shuffle was good company too... giving me a little extra energy on some of my favorite songs.
At one corner, we came across one of the volunteers looking out for us on a bike (there was a whole crew of them that I saw at the walker start), and I was so happy from the music I was listening to that I clapped 4 times in rhythm with my music, smiling big. Shortly after that realizing that no one else could hear the music, and I was being a total dork.
I was approaching the out and back with the big hill. Mile 5. I also could finally see some walkers heading "back" at this point, and I start searching through them to find my mom. There she is!! I wave my arms and say "mom!" but she doesn't see me. She's still looking strong tho as she moves in amongst the trees and out of sight. Technically she's exactly 3 miles ahead of me right then. Now embarrassed a second time in the same 1/2 mile stretch of the scene I was making, I dig back in to my run. I've got a hill to climb. The rain is starting to subside now, and is much less of a concern, but I notice with a little dismay: my socks are a bit wet. This could be bad, but I decide to have a little faith in my bolga socks. So far they are my favorite running socks for their thinness and softness. I need more pairs cause I currently save the one pair I have every week after laundry day for my most demanding foot activity of the week.
Up the hill. A number of the runners ahead of me are slowing down and walking, and I don't. I chug up the hill and around the corner. Down a long gradual slope passing some slow walkers still on the "out" of the out and back, around some construction barriers where the 6 and 7 mile markers are. There are a number of walkers and serious-looking fast runners headed back. Once past the construction barriers and across a cul-de-sac, there is a right turn and infront of me is one serious looking hill. I take a deep breath, thankful for the uplifting song on my shuffle, and chug up it. I pass dozens of people. At the top I feel my heart pounding, but there is a nice flat section of road before the turn around, where I'm able to get my heart rate down. Some people pass me. I get a quick drink of water at the turn around, and then head back to the downhill.
I learned in the Run Like a Girl 10K trail run: I like downhills. I let myself go on the downhill to just FLY past people. Once back on the flatish gradual uphill section, I bring myself back down to a reasonable 10 minute mile and realize... I'm still going strong and I'm about halfway done! Neat! Oh, right about then I wonder about my time/pace. I look at my garmin and notice I'm at 6.61 miles (.4 miles past a 10K distance or so) and my garmin is reading 1:04:15. I start to wonder what my 10K time was.... is it possible I just did a 1 hour 10K?!?! Thats a tough call. I FEEL like it's entirely possible that I did a 10K in an hour tho. I also wasn't totally bottomed out of energy either... so I'm starting to consider a 1 hour 10K totally within reach, if not unofficially already achieved! I make a mental note to also check my time at 10 miles. I have a funny feeling I'm going to set a new PR for that distance for myself this morning.
*** note: I just checked my Garmin results from this run, and determined that YES! I hit the 10K mark in EXACTLY 1 hour!!! NEW PR FOR 10K TODAY!
After the gradual uphill, we make a right back onto a busy 2-lane highway, still sharing the road with people still on the out, and go down the other bigger hill to mile 8. Wee!
About this point, I pull out my bag of orange flavored sport beans and start munching away on them, careful to not inhale the electrolyte jelly beans or my own saliva as I run. It's kinda tricky. Luckily I timed it right, cause I come upon the next water station shortly. I figure I'm feeling good now energy-wise, but in 30 minutes more without a fuel boost I'm going to be slowing down a touch. And, that's about how long it'll take for me to get the jelly beans into my blood stream.
Here we branch off to the Lacamas Lake discovery trail. I realize slowly, I've run this stretch of trail before, just after the Portland Marathon. This trail is narrower, and hard packed dirt and gravel. Plus, there are now a good number of walkers on the trail that we have to pass, as we've caught up to a lot of them. It's small rolling hills, and VERY scenic. Old growth forest, the lake shore just to your left. It's all very nice.
I'm noticing the runners around me starting to poop out a bit. We are kinda forced to run single file along this trail due to lack of space... and I find myself getting annoyed whenever I end up behind someone who is slowing down to an 11 minute mile or so, and after putting up with it for a while, I finally pass these people when I have a good opportunity. I'm also wondering at myself. Where did I get this kind of energy!?!
The rolling hills of the trail fly by, and I scuttle up the uphills with shorter determined steps, and let myself fly down the downhills with the same happy abandon I learned in the Run Like a Girl 10K. I feel like I OWN this stretch of the route. I'm definitely feeling stronger than many of the other runners around me look. I've also notice I've been around some of the same people now for a couple miles in a row. It seems I've found my running pace group finally. I pass mile marker 10 and hit my lap button on my Garmin to save this. 1:38:47. Yep. A 10 mile PR for me. Beat my old PR by 7 minutes!
We emerge from the trail, back onto the street. There is a cop stopping cars at least so we can run nonstop as we cross the street to the right-hand side of the road. I thank him as I trot past. The traffic is REALLY backed up in this little rural intersection. Poor drivers. This stretch of road is a little more commercial, but there is still no shoulder and LOADS of cars. It's a little nerve wrecking to be as far over as you can like that. We follow this road for a touch, and finally turn right. We've reached mile 12. This is the dreaded uphill I've been hearing about.
I see it looming in front of me. A veritable pilgrimage of walkers and runners are slowly climbing this slope. There is no traffic at least, and our event is taking up the entire road as everyone creeps upward however they can manage. Most are walking... slowly. This is a serious grade.
I run for a bit... but at about half way up, I can't anymore. I also hear one participant laugh at her friend about how, if you walk up the hill, you can save your energy for an impressive finish... as the finish line is only like 3 blocks further once you're at the top. I walk up the second half of the hill with long strides. Surprisingly I'm still passing loads of other people while I walk up the hill.
Some people I passed on the trail run past me on this portion. Notably a father and teen-aged daughter who I've been around a lot during the entire run... also I recognize some purple shirted girls. The youngest is tearing up the hill, her mom and sister left behind her.
At the top, I try trotting again, but my heart and lungs take a bit to catch up. I pass some of the people who ran up the hill (father and daughter), but they pass me again quickly as I try to recover my strength. Then... unfortuneately, with the highschool back in sight, not only do I feel my knee twinge, but I start dealing with a side cramp.
dangit.
I struggle to control my breathing to conquer the side cramp, and slow to a walk for a little while. I want to sprint across the finish, but that is SO not going to happen with a bad knee and a side cramp!
Finally, entering the stadium the way we left, I step it back up to a run. The track surface feels good under my feet, and my knee stops protesting at least, but my heart and lungs still aren't up to a legit sprint. I just run as fast as I can at this point... approx an 8:30 minute mile. I spot my mom, she's done with the race and sees me. She gets her blackberry out and moves to the finish line to snap a photo of me. There are no other runners around me in at least 100 feet in either direction actually, so I can't exactly catch anyone at this point, and there is no one trying to catch me. I just cruise in to the finish. I smile at my mom's blackberry as she takes a photo, and then smile at the Evan Pilchik photographer with my arms raised in victory as I cruise in to the finish line, whooping a bit in triumph. I hear the announcer say on the loud speaker, "Good job number 47!" That's me!
In the chute after the finish line, I hand the official guy my tag from my bib, and then stop my garmin at 2:10:50.
Wait... 2:10:50?? Holy cow! I check my garmin facts about the run, and it says that is a 10 minute mile pace!!! WHAT!?!? I just ran a half marathon at a 10 minute mile pace??? Jebus!
I meant to beat my old half time, but I never expected to beat it by 32 minutes!!!!!
According the official race results, my time was 2:10:45.... a 9:58 minute mile pace.
My mom finished literally 5 minutes before me in 3:06:05.
I wasn't very high up in the runner standings... as I mentioned before the runners all looked very serious. I was still extremely proud of my results though. How could I not be!?!! Especially considering how challenging the course turned out to be! Hey, that was more hills than the portland marathon!
My mom, on the other hand, was in the top quarter of the walkers. Heck, she was 9th place in her age division!! Next year, if she walks the same speed in this race she'll probably be in the top 3!
After the race, I got a nice thai massage for free. That was nice since I was totally stiff. Today? yeah forget about it. I am walking funny for sure.
So, on Sunday, July 13 I ran the Montrail Run Like a Girl 10K trail run in Forest Park.
GREAT weather for a trail run. Must have been 80 degrees at 9am when the race started. The route was on a narrow trail in Forest Park mostly... not terribly wide, and VERY steep at times. I understand that last year this was a problem with creating traffic jams and whatnot.
This year, with our registration, we had to put down our estimated running pace. From that we were separated into something like 11 waves of approx 50 women in each wave. About 250 ladies registered for the race, but opted to not "compete" in the race... and instead got to start on the course around 7:30am at their own leisure, and weren't timed. So, all together there were approx 750 ladies doing this event, which is phenomenal.
I parked at Montgomery Park around 8:30am with all the other ladies... there wasn't really any parking at Lower Macleay Park where the race started and ended... so we had to walk up to the park from there... about a 5 minute walk, nothing terrible.
I milled around for a bit, stretched some. I was in the eighth wave, so I had some time to kill. I knew that Lori was also at this run, but I was having a hard time spotting her.
Finally when I was in line for the start with my wave group, I spotted her in the ninth wave. She trotted over to me to wish me luck. Then it was a matter of waiting till we were told we could leave. Finally the eighth wave was able to set out around 9:12am.
This is me starting the race. I'm placidly looking up at the photographer and smiling to the right of the girl in blue.
We got into single file pretty quickly, and I stayed behind the girl who ended up infront of me for a while, but then I finally decided to start trying to pass girls on this run. Passing is kinda tricky on a trail... you have to not only make sure there is enough room and no one is coming from the other direction, but you have to closely watch the trail at all times for rocks, roots, or loose dirt that could make you trip, slip, or otherwise lose control while you're running. It's crazy!
I ran for maybe the first 1/3 mile until I was in a line of girls who all were stuck behind a slower girl, and we had just hit a steep uphill in the trail. I finally caved and walked for a bit until it was possible to pass the slower girl and keep hussling.
On the first half of the run, I mostly only walked when I was kinda forced to via crowding concerns... but then, in the second half of the run I found myself walking up the steep bits to keep my heart rate and breathing in check. There would have been no way my body could have handled me running that entire course!
Ofcourse, what goes up must come down! At nearly the halfway point, the trail pointed downhill finally... and man did I fly!! I learned the real joy of trail running with the downhill. It's a matter of searching for your footings on the trail REALLY quickly as you basically allow your body to free fall down the slope. ZOOM! It was brilliant.
I think I was getting into the downhills more than other girls, as I ended up passing LOADS of runners on the steep downhill portions of the run. I was barreling down the hillside like an avalanche... er, well, a rather controlled one atleast. My knees held up great too! No worries at all!
Here are two pics of me along the run... they were taken at pretty much the same spot. One was while I was headed out...
And the other was taken on my way back to the finish...
you can tell I've only recently started wearing shorts that short. My upper thigh is kinda pale compared to the rest of my leg. heh.
Finally, after continually pushing myself and passing loads of girls, I sprinted over the finish line!
My time was 1:07:55, or a 10:56 minute mile. I don't mind that it was slower than my last 10K, cause according to my Garmin this run also involved 3,500 ft elevation gain. Whew!!
It was one tough run, that's for sure!
Here is what my Garmin recorded for the run
heh. Looks right!
I met up with Lori after the run, she finished in 1:18:14. Crossed the finish line probably 10 minutes after me I think. We milled around after the race for a touch, and talked about what might be our next big run event. It's kinda still up in the air right now I think. Well, MY next big event will probably be the Lacamas Lake half on July 27th actually.
Anyway, in the Run Like a Girl results, it turns out I was 214th place overall (out of approx 500 racers), and in my age group I was 47th place out of 100. I'm pretty happy with these results!
It was a great run!! Totally want to do it next year, and hey! Who knows? Maybe I'll even train on trails prior to the race!!
AND, if you're wondering what's strapped to my upper arm in the pics? That's my arm wallet. It's easier to run with than something around my waist I think. I can keep my car key, ID, credit card, and a little cash in there just in case while I run.
On June 6 I ran a 10 mile training run around the Willamette River.
I decided to do the same route as the 8 mile run I did... only include the Willamette Esplanade and cross at the Steele Bridge instead of the Hawthorne... effectively adding 2 more miles.
It was a cooler weekend than the one before... so by 11am, it was still low 70's. Sunny but with a nice breeze. It was perfect running weather, and people were out in great numbers because of it!
So, the route was from the OMSI, go south along the Springwater corridor, over the Sellwood Bridge, north up the Willamette Greenway trail to the westside esplanade, over the Steele Bridge, south along the eastside esplanade back to OMSI. Pretty easy. I ended up having to do a silly little detour around the esplanade at the Hawthorne bridge on the west side because the side walk was blocked off for a big blues festival on the waterfront. I was happily listening to my ipod shuffle tho, and didn't hear any of the music. I was able to get back onto the esplanade around the big fountain.
I had a GREAT run. It went so much better than I was expecting, and I was able to run strong at mostly a 10 minute mile... a touch slower at times. I finished in 1:45:45... a 10:35 minute mile average pace!! For a 10 mile run, I think that may be a PR for me!
I felt good after the run too! Not too worn out or anything. My feet didn't even hurt like they did following the 8 mile run 2 weeks prior. I now feel like a 12 minute mile half marathon is WELL within reach!!
Next weekend I'm supposed to do a 14 mile training run... but I'm also signed up for a 10K trail run event. I'm thinking since 7+5 miles the previous week for my 12 mile run treated me so well, I might as well do 6+8 next weekend (i.e. after the 10k, run an additional 8 mile run... probably around the Willamette River like before since I like that run). After the 14 miles I taper for a week before the half marathon on July 27th.
So, on Sunday June 29 I ran the Reach the Bridge 8K run.
What a fun idea! The whole premise is that the Burnside Bridge is to be raised at 9am sharp. The finish line is on the other side. You can start whenever you like, but you've got to try to beat the bridge raising! The run starts at the zoo forestry center, and ends under the east side of the Burnside Bridge. The extra special thing about this run is it is entirely downhill, and they close off Burnside Ave for it.
I wanted to try to challenge myself, but after my sad 12 mile attempt, I wasn't about to get cocky. I decided to try for 10 minute miles.
Sunday bright and early: By 7am I was parking near the race finish line. From there I walked over the burnside bridge to the Old Town/China Town MAX stop, and got a 2 zone adult pass for $1.75. There were a handful of other people there also dressed in running gear. Since the weather was forecasted to be identical to the Cane 10 10K run, I wore the same thing that I did on that run: green shirt and a running skort.
There were some homeless guys kinda curious about the runners, and one of them came down to the MAX stop first yelling at us about how lonely he was (I ignored him, I knew he would focus on the people who outwardly showed their uneasiness with him), and then he started singing loudly. A police officer on a bike rode past while the homeless guy was bugging us, but did nothing about it.
The first train to arrive was a yellow line train, and many of the nervous runners boarded that one. Since it was going in a circle and then back north to the expo center, it was NOT the correct train to get on. The singing homeless guy followed those poor nervous runners onto the MAX train, continuing to sign for them. Those of us who didn't get on the train sighed with relief when it left... and laughed at the poor runners who got on it.
The next train to show up was the correct red line train. I got on and watched out the window as we sped to Washington Park... arriving around 7:30am.
Up the elevator, we emerged at the forestry center. There was music playing, a long line for the porta potties, and some water dispensers set up on a table. I decided to use the honey bucket first since I needed to, and since the line was ridiculously long. Turned out it was also very slow-moving. For some reason the race organizers only decided to provide 3 honey buckets at the start line. It took me 20 minutes or more to get through that restroom line. During this time I had a chance to look around and see that the start line was right next to the elevator... and beside that was a digital clock counting down the remaining time until 9am.
After relieved, I got my race bib, pinned it on, and then checked my polar fleece pullover into the equipment check. Then I slammed some water (it was already 80 degrees), and stretched... and nervously watched the clock. I was waiting for 8:10am to start my run.
While stretching and waiting, I talked to another guy who was also waiting for a certain time to begin running. He assured me it was an easy run, and mostly downhill, that there was a 1/4th mile uphill section before you were out of the park, and then the uphill to get on the bridge. He also assured me the route was well marked.
Finally at 8:10am, I set off. And was immediately passed by faster runners. I was wondering about that... shouldn't they be timing themselves to leave later if they wanted to run that quickly?? I thought the idea was to challenge your pace and get as close to finishing at 9am as you dared... wasn't it?
It was a beautiful run through Washington Park tho. down down down. Nothing remarkable to say besides the fact that I don't think other people approached this race the same way I did. Several walkers were lagging behind, and you KNEW they weren't going to make the 9am bridge raising. Many faster runners passed me in the first half of the run... and you knew they should have left later. Most the people who left around me were running faster than a 10 minute mile pace (heck, I was too, and was still getting passed).
This is what my garmin recorded.
It was a fun run tho, and running down burnside was neat. The trek up the west side of the bridge was rough... and I caught up to lots of slower runners around that area. There was a drum line at the top of the bridge drumming the last couple of minutes before the bridge opened. It added a touch of drama to the situation. I crossed the drawbridge portion, and was disappointed that I still had another half mile to go till the run was over. You feel like the finish line should be right there instead.
I finished in about 43:15. MUCH better than I was expecting. That came out to a 9:03 minute mile pace for 4.8 miles. Finished a good 7 minutes before the bridge went up!
At the finish, I immediately got in line for the finisher T. When I finally got to the front of the line, I was informed that they only had L and XL shirts left. WHAT?!? Wait, who are all these small people who finished way early?? I didn't quite get that. That's not how this run was supposed to go... PLUS I registered for a S shirt (like normal) and I thought this MIGHT be one race in which I get the right sized shirt. but, no. nope. After getting the Large shirt, I went and retrieved my polar fleece from the equiptment check.
Our stuff was just sitting there, no one was watching it to make sure people didn't steal anything.
The finish line area had some food there tho. Bagels, bananas, the like. The neat addition was the iced mochas they were pouring. I got myself 2 servings of that.
We watched the bridge go up. I think I was the most excited about that actually. No one else around me seemed to care all that much. The bridge came back down, and some walkers finished after that, clearly blocked by the bridge raising. The drum line then marched down the bridge and played a cool riff for us under the bridge. That was awesome. After that was over tho, there didn't seem to be much of a reason to hang out, so I left.
It was a pretty run, but I question the organization of the event a bit. For only 600 participants, you'd think they could put on a really organized event! ah well.
