Activity
Ran 14 miles today with Drusy! She's a friend from England. I "met" her last year when, on a message board, she posted asking for ideas of good running stores in the Seattle/Bellevue area. We had planned to get together last year when she was here, but she got sick. She's training for the London Marathon (her first) so we decided we'd get together for 12 miles. (That was on my schedule.) We met at Marymoore Park. Roy brought the dogs so he could take them to the dog park while we ran. We talked the ENTIRE way! At one point she attached her J-River audio recorder to me and did some interviews. We were talking so much that we missed the six mile turnaround point. Okay, so plan changed. Now the goal is to run THIRTEEN miles! What's a mile between two chatty friends? And then well...nobody ever accused me of being Magellan. So I took a wrong turn...and, uh, plan changed. Hey, why not FOURTEEN miles? It felt REALLY good! No pain on the run at all, not even in the belly! I still get sore and swollen at night, but pretty much I feel back to normal! Hally-loo-yah! I still have a little swelling where the hematoma hasn't completely absorbed (Roy calls it my Alien Baby...hawt!) but oh well! I'm just happy to be feeling good!   
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Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Whew! Another long run in the bag, and this one really went great from beginning to end. Oh sure, some ouches here and there, but nothing important. Set up a workout with a half mile warm up then .5 mile run at a 10:00 pace and .1 mile walk. Plan was for 11 miles, so I decided to map out an 11 mile run. When I put it into www.mapmyrun.com it came out to a bit over 12. I figured I'd play it by ear when I got out near the outlet mall and cut it short to hit 11 if I wanted to, or go for the whole 12 if I wanted to. Well you know me! I never cut anything short...although I really AM working on being sensible. I really WAS feeling good. The weather was amazing! Very cold when we started about 35 degrees, but warmed up to the mid-40s and sunny sunny sunny! Gorgeous beautiful sunny! I saw lots of birds and hawks, and really only missed death once when an old lady nearly mowed me down in a crosswalk. I do understand that those thick white lines and that sign that says "Crosswalk" can be confusing and misinterpreted as "HIT THE GAS!!!!" So I forgave her! Ran 9.75 then stopped in at Starbucks and enjoyed a short coffee, a butterhorn (their little ones), and read the paper a bit. The girl, new one who doesn't know me, waiting on me asked if I had gone for a run. I said I was in the middle of one. She asked how far and when I said "About 10 with a bit over 2 to go" she nearly fell over. I heard her still talking about it five minutes later. The other employees, who know me, were like "Yeah, she does that. She's crazy." I'm totally feeling ready for my half marathon on March 9! Woohooo! I'll still do a run/walk dealio, but maybe I'll set my goals a bit higher with a 9:00 min run pace. I'd like to come in under 2:00 hours, but I shouldn't try to push it too soon. Still have some pain in my lower right quadrant of my stomachal area. I braced it with my SI belt today. Hee hee. It worked VERY well. Since the belt has rubbery stuff on it, it didn't slip plus unlike neoprene, it doesn't make me sweat. Finished with a cool down and stretches as I made my way around my little front garden and squee-ed over my crocuses and the little bumblebees dancing in my crocuses. I love spring and I am SO thrilled that it's finally arriving!!!! Activity
  
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Sunday, February 3, 2008
Activity
This was my first long run since surgery on Dec 18. I'm still having a bit of abdominal pain, so I wear a stabilizer while I run and it allows me to run without pain. It's interesting getting back into running. It's like I expect to just be able to go out and run like I used to. But no! I've walked all through the recovery, and then started back running 1 minute, walking 2 and working up from there. Today was 4:1 for the first five miles. I knew that 8 miles was pretty aggressive, since my legs have been wearing out in the last mile of my five mile runs lately, so I planned it as a Starbucks run. We stopped after 5.7 miles and had breakfast. I ran the remainder home and then did a cool down walk. I'm really trying to pay attention to warming up and cooling down, as well as how long I'm in oxygen debt at beginning and end of the workout. I won't say this was an easy run, it wasn't. I felt it in my quads, tight hams, and even my back (I race walked to loosen up and that helped). This is why I like staying in half marathon condition. Getting back into it kind of sucks... But I did it! This is my official first long run training for Grandmas! Right now I'm registered for Grandmas and for the Chicago Marathon. I hope to be able to do San Antonio as well, and a few others. My marathon goals this year are: 1. Train using a real training plan, that includes some hill and speed work. 2. Qualify for marathon maniacs 3. Knock 3 more states off my list. I have 6 states down! 4. Have fun! It'll be interesting once I also start training for the half IM, but I know it's just a matter of modifying running to include cycling as my cross training. I already swim, so that's not an issue.   
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Hiking Cougar Mountain
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Hiking Cougar Mountain
I am feeling SO much better, lately, that I told Roy that this weekend I wanted to do something, anything, that would be:
a) Active
b) Get me out of the house
I figured I've had enough of walking (I've been walking every day since I got out of the hospital). I can't run, climb mountains, bike, or swim yet but I can hike! So we drove up to Cougar Mountain and went on a six mile hike up to the Anti-Aircraft field, where (apparently) there were AA turrets during WWII. I'm sure they weren't ever really USED, but it's up on top of the mountain (it's a small mountain).
We started at the Redtown Trailhead. I like the other trailheads better, but there is more parking up there. It's up for about 3/4 of a mile to start. This was actually where I did my first trail run, and I remember hating it because it was up for so long and it's "okay pretty" but not "wow pretty" in that area. We had grabbed a map at the trailhead and chose our route. First we'd go to the cave holes and see how we were feeling from there. If I was feeling good, we'd keep going.
Obviously I was feeling good, so we kept going. As we got higher it got colder, but I'd dressed in plenty of layers (although somehow I brought two left handed gloves, so I had one on backwards), so I was nice a nd warm. The foliage was just beautiful. In the lower levels it was very green and damp. The sun was breaking through in parts, illuminating the drops on the greenery. That was just what I wanted to see...something other than the inside of my livingroom and the television.
We had considered going towards the snow, but I didn't want to go somewhere where I might slip. Plus I wanted GREEN, not just white. White and green would be even better.
As we moved further up the mountain we'd see smatterings of snow left over from last week's snow. (We didn't get any, but they did.) It was so pretty covering the deep green of the moss, dusted all over the trees. We also ascended into the clouds, so there was a misty ethereal feel to the hike.
There were a lot of other people on the mountain today, but most of the time we were completely alone. We did greet a lot of folks and a lot of dogs. Everyone was friendly and, save three teenage boys, every single person bid us a good morning or hello (and we, them...of course).
Down was a lot more challenging than up because of how slick it was. VERY wet, lots of boggy areas. But I loved every single minute of it. I even got to run some! This is the first running I've done in five weeks! Five weeks ago I ran a marathon, and since then all I've done is walk.
When we finished I was happier than I've been in over a month, but tired. Not "I shouldn't have done that" tired, but just "Wow, that was a fun challenge" tired. In fact, of the two of us, I was the one in the least amount of pain. Poor Roy had some knee pain on the way down. But he did it!
We finished off our day with a well earned meal at Spaghetti Factory. It was just a great day...a "normal" day. I am SO happy to be well on the way to mending...no, mendED!
Hiking Cougar Mountain
I am feeling SO much better, lately, that I told Roy that this weekend I wanted to do something, anything, that would be:
a) Active
b) Get me out of the house
I figured I've had enough of walking (I've been walking every day since I got out of the hospital). I can't run, climb mountains, bike, or swim yet but I can hike! So we drove up to Cougar Mountain and went on a six mile hike up to the Anti-Aircraft field, where (apparently) there were AA turrets during WWII. I'm sure they weren't ever really USED, but it's up on top of the mountain (it's a small mountain).
We started at the Redtown Trailhead. I like the other trailheads better, but there is more parking up there. It's up for about 3/4 of a mile to start. This was actually where I did my first trail run, and I remember hating it because it was up for so long and it's "okay pretty" but not "wow pretty" in that area. We had grabbed a map at the trailhead and chose our route. First we'd go to the cave holes and see how we were feeling from there. If I was feeling good, we'd keep going.
Obviously I was feeling good, so we kept going. As we got higher it got colder, but I'd dressed in plenty of layers (although somehow I brought two left handed gloves, so I had one on backwards), so I was nice a nd warm. The foliage was just beautiful. In the lower levels it was very green and damp. The sun was breaking through in parts, illuminating the drops on the greenery. That was just what I wanted to see...something other than the inside of my livingroom and the television.
We had considered going towards the snow, but I didn't want to go somewhere where I might slip. Plus I wanted GREEN, not just white. White and green would be even better.
As we moved further up the mountain we'd see smatterings of snow left over from last week's snow. (We didn't get any, but they did.) It was so pretty covering the deep green of the moss, dusted all over the trees. We also ascended into the clouds, so there was a misty ethereal feel to the hike.
There were a lot of other people on the mountain today, but most of the time we were completely alone. We did greet a lot of folks and a lot of dogs. Everyone was friendly and, save three teenage boys, every single person bid us a good morning or hello (and we, them...of course).
Down was a lot more challenging than up because of how slick it was. VERY wet, lots of boggy areas. But I loved every single minute of it. I even got to run some! This is the first running I've done in five weeks! Five weeks ago I ran a marathon, and since then all I've done is walk.
When we finished I was happier than I've been in over a month, but tired. Not "I shouldn't have done that" tired, but just "Wow, that was a fun challenge" tired. In fact, of the two of us, I was the one in the least amount of pain. Poor Roy had some knee pain on the way down. But he did it!
We finished off our day with a well earned meal at Spaghetti Factory. It was just a great day...a "normal" day. I am SO happy to be well on the way to mending...no, mendED!
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Activity
Christmas Marathon 2007-12-16 Olympia, Washington United States 42F / 6C Overcast Run - Marathon Total Time = 5h 11m 39s Overall Rank = / Age Group = 40-44 Age Group Rank = 0/ Pre-race routine: Saturday I woke up with a lot of plans. I needed to run some errands, finish some Christmas shopping, and carbo load! I was looking forward to a fun day, but it wasn't to be so. Hank hit again. I ended up spending much of the afternoon and evening with a high fever, moaning on the couch. On Tuesday I have surgery that will keep me in the hospital for 4-7 days and off running for six weeks. So this marathon was very important to me! I was so frustrated and flat out angry. Why do I have to deal with this? I'm a good person. I work SO hard to live a healthy life and limit the impact my diet might have on my health. And yet every 4-6 weeks (and sometimes more often) I end up with this. But even so, I decided to prep for the race just in case. I set out my gu, running belt, mixed up the gatorade, and laid out my clothing. If I couldn't run the marathon, it wasn't going to be because I wasn't ready. Sometimes the next morning I'll wake up feeling totally normal. So I decided to go with that plan. My pre-race routine was anything but normal. I was under-fueled the day before (I was feeling slightly better in the evening and downed some granola bars trying to get some carbs in). I was definitely under-hydrated. I was, however, very well rested! Got up Sunday morning feeling great! Aches and pains and fever, gone! I knew the race started a little later, so I had a big bowl of cereal and brought a breakfast cookie with me so I could eat that an hour before the start. Event warmup: What a low-key event! My last race was the New York Marathon and this was the complete opposite. We arrived for packet pickup at 8:30 after driving around Millersylvania campground for awhile looking for the registration. Got my packet; a cute t-shirt with Santa on it, a generic race number, and that was it! Not elite runners signing autographs, no racks of goodies to buy, no free samples of Soy Joy (always a good thing, in my book...nothing like reconstituted cardboard for a snack). Just a shirt, a number, and the great outdoors! I decided to take the early start since I wasn't entirely sure I would be able to run the entire thing at all, much less in under five hours. Curiously, about half the runners took the first start, and well over half were Marathon Maniacs. I was prepared to be one of the last, if not the last runner in. At 9:30 we congregated around a chalk start line. No bands, no anthem, no Sinatra, no throngs. Just a bunch of people standing around, stepping aside for cars going through, and one guy saying, "Okay...Go." and we were off! Run Comments: I am so glad I did this marathon. It was what it was. It wasn't flashy or fancy. It was just "nice". I loved my experiences this year in New York and San Diego. There was never a dull moment! There was also rarely a point where I could just get into my head and think. This was a thinking marathon. I ran alone for the first eight miles thinking about my upcoming surgery and how I was going to feel being off running for six weeks. I thought about people I love and dedicated miles to them. I try to do that in every marathon, but this one was "quiet" enough to really get to do that. I listened to music and the birds singing and looked at the scenery. (I did keep the volume low and one ear open to listen for traffic.) At mile eight I ran past a man who commented on my hat. I was wearing a Stitch Santa Hat. He was running my pace so we fell in together and for the rest of the race I had a partner! I love running with other people, but I also love running alone. I was blessed to get to do both on this race. I particularly like meeting new people on races. I don't think we planned to finish the race together, but once we started talking we just kept a pace and kept going. My run/walk was out the window, but that was okay. His pace was very well matched to mine, although I imagine that I might not have slowed as much at the end if I'd kept the run/walk going. Oh well! He was an older man who had lots of great stories, so he was very pleasant to run with. The last three miles were tough. Both of us were having significant knee pain. We hit the water stop at mile 24 and he asked if I minded walking for awhile. I didn't mind at all, so we walked much of the last two miles. At that point I wasn't going to abandon him! Mile 26 we headed back into the park. My Roy was there to cheer me in! He was the ONLY cheer I got on the entire route (unless you count barking and mooing). What a welcome sight! We ran into the park and almost immediately took a wrong turn! It added almost half a mile to our race because we got completely turned around! It was only when I saw Roy's coat through the trees that I figured out where we went wrong. Oh well! It added about 5 minutes onto our time because we entered the park at 5:03 and ended at 5:11:39! Oh well! What would you do differently?: I think pace-wise I would have done the run/walk the entire time if the speed concerned me. It didn't. I actually just wanted to have one last hurrah before my surgery. Post race Warm down: The finish was hilarious. We ran towards the "finish line" which was another chalk line on the ground. We kind of stood there looking around and a girl looked up and said, "Oh! Here! I need your tags." No cheers, not a single soul to welcome us. Just "Oh! Here! I need your tags." Roy was behind us, so he wasn't there to cheer me in (we passed him running in, which confused him since we were ahead of him when he started back, then behind him after we got lost...yes, he is still teasing me about this). There was a table that had been mostly picked over (by the kids of volunteers and runners...thanks a lot. I'm sure the RACERS didn't need food you selfish bastards...bring your own damn food for your kids...that is one of my MAJOR pet peeves. Roy said he saw one lady take her two fat little boys back to the table THREE times where each time they filled up on cookies, candy, and chili). There was no chili left (thanks again, jerks), and very few cookies (another thank you). There was, however, lunch meats and bread so I slapped two pieces of Wonder Bread together with some ham and honey mustard and it was the BEST thing ever! It's a darn good thing that Mother of the Year wasn't too concerned that her little chubs get some nutritious food! There were also bananas and a giant bag of pretzels. There had been donuts, chips, and candy as well. Thanks again. I don't blame the organizers for this. I blame the people who are ignorant and selfish and completely thoughtless. I swear if even ONE person reads my race reports and says to themselves, "Oh wow, I never thought of that. I won't feed my kids off the racers' food ever again" it thrills me. My own husband hadn't thought to bring food with him (because he thought I'd never run) and there was nothing around, so he sat in the car starving for five hours. He didn't eat anything! I even offered him something and he said "No, I didn't pay the entry fee so that's not for me." Exactly. If you didn't pay $70 to run the race, the food IS NOT FOR YOU! What limited your ability to perform faster: Being slow, being sick yesterday, just having run a marathon in the last five weeks. Mostly being slow. Event comments: I am going to be laid up for the next six weeks so this race was very important to me. Running is more than just a way to keep my body fat low. It is my mental health break. It is my meditation. It is the time I think through problems, make plans, and reflect. It is also a big part of my personal identity. I am a runner. So who will I be when I can't run? I know I'll suffer from a bit of depression. Even short term illnesses find me depressed. I know I'll feel a little lost. I know I'll be a lot cranky. You may want to pray for my poor husband. So running a marathon two days before surgery, and a day after my nasty bout of pancreatitis was a personal coup. I am going to take my shirt to the hospital to remind me that I am STILL a runner and marathoner. I know in my head that I have years of running ahead of me. But my heart fears "this is it." I *know* that isn't true. I just wish I knew it weren't true.   
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