Fifteen.15. 10 + 5

Wow. Running 15 miles is hard. Who'd a thought? We started at 6:40am at Zuanich Park, ran to Chuckanut Crest (near the Teddy Bear Cove Parking Lot on Chuckanut Drive) and ran back. I had a lovely running partner; I think I talked her ear off. For some reason I just couldn't shut-up.

The run was good, I felt okay during it and immediatly after. However, now at 2:30 I am pretty sore! Mostly my feet, but also my butt and legs. I more worried about tomorrow though, the soreness tends to wait a day or two to really kick in!

The cuts on my feet didn't bleed, so all is well there.

When we got done we remarked that it was fantastic that we ran that far, but can't imagine tacking 11 more miles on. 2 months to go!

A Year Older, a new group

I did not realize this until a few months ago, but women in their thirties are extremely competitive and fast. Looking at the top times for races for women in their 20's compared to 30's is unreal. If only I had decided to start running a few years ago!

To top it off, I sliced my foot open in three places today. I was trying to hydrate myself for the big 15 mile run tomorrow. I dropped a glass and it shattered sending shards of glass everywhere. Thankfully nothing was cut deep.

Happy Birthday to me!

Run 542

also known as CRAZY GIRL WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?

For some reason I cannot explain, I decided to do the Run 542. It's only 7 miles, yes I can say only 7 with confidence now. However, it's the 3,000 ft elevation gain that's got me worried!.

RUN542 climbs nearly 3000 total feet over 7.2 miles of very rough access roads and technical single track in, around and through the legendary Mt Baker Ski Area and the Mt. Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest. Starting at the White Salmon Base Area (el. 3500ft), under the magnificent glaciers of Mt. Shuksan, the course climbs 5 separate and challenging ascents, laced with 4 descents, and tops out at Artist Point (el. 5140ft.).

Again, what was I thinking?

I did sign up for a class through the YMCA to train for the run, which is great. There are 6 other awesome ladies also in the class.
It should be fun!

Lake Padden Hill Run

A weird thing happened to me on my run up to the Lake. I thought to myself, "I kinda enjoy this". Am I actually starting to like running? I mean really like it? Not just like the challenge and the fitness aspect, not to mention the weight loss and muscle gain.

Crazy again, I know, I'm turning into someone I don't even recognize.

A short run?

Who am I? I don't even recognize myself anymore.

Today I thought, oh cool, we only have to run 10 miles.

ONLY!!!

Ha! That's a lot, but I guess when you're going for 26.2, it does seem small.

My running group started meeting at 7am on Saturdays, which is nice. I was home by about 9:45am, compared to the usual 10:30 or 10:45.

10.4 Miles

10.4 miles is a long way to run. Especially if you live in a small town with a good number of hills. It's hard to plan a route that doesn't involve hills, is primarily on trails or a minor arterial.
My challenge: to plan a 10.4 mile route that ended at my apartment and hopefully started near the YMCA (where Izzie goes before school). I had hoped to include the railroad trail, however, that was a few miles (all on street) from the YMCA.
I finally decided to start at the YMCA, run to Boulevard Park, follow the trail to the Village Green in Fairhaven, hop onto the Interurban Trail for a couple miles, run UP Fairhaven Parkway to 34th, turn right, get on the new trail that goes UP to Lake Padden. Once I arrived at Padden my plan was to eat (consume?) a GU energy packet, fill my water bottle, then run down Samish Road, to Lincoln, right on Fraser and head home. However, I realized at about mile 8 that I was too close to home, so I had to take some roundabout ways to get home and still get my distance in.
It was a warm, sunny day. A hot day, we would say in Bellingham, since it got over 70 degrees!
I had to stop and take a picture of the Lake, this was the view I had running up the trail, after the most brutal part of the run, an elevation gain of about 450 feet, straight up from sea level.Pretty isn't it?

Hurray for parades! Here's a picture of Izzie and I that my coworker took. It was so fun seeing people we knew on the streets. Izzie was saying hi to her friends and they were excited to know someone in the parade. A good time was had by all.
As you can see, there was a truck in the back. What you can't see are the pieces of wood that extended three feet out, to show the minimum 3 foot safe passing distance.

Back into the run of things

After my race I decided to take some time off. The run was on May 3rd, I didn't run again until May 9th, once around Lake Padden, an easy 2.6 miles. I thought I'd try to ease back into things and run a couple times during the proceeding week, but who was I kidding? It was Bike to Work and School Day on May 15th.

There was NO way I could manage being one of the lead organizers for a County wide event (over 8,500 participants!!), bike commute, run, be a wife and mom, and still stay upright and not exhaust myself.

So, for my own health, I didn't run.

Until yesterday, May 23rd.

I guess I took a little longer off then I should have, seeing that I'm still in training, now for the full marathon.

The group was running 9 miles yesterday, which seemed like a bit much to ease myself back into things, so I started off thinking I'd run about 6 or 7. However, I was having so much fun chatting with my very good friend that I just kept running. I did take a little short cut at the end, so my total distance was closer to 8.5, not 9.

So far I'm a little sore, but not too bad. As crazy as it sounds (and I KNOW it's crazy) it actually felt good to be out running again.

I suppose that would be a good end to this story, however, it continues!

After the run I headed home, ate, showered, ate some more, then Izzie and I rode our bikes to the staging area for the Ski to Sea Grand Parade. We, along with about 10 other youth and adults rode our bikes for the "Share the Road...and the Rules" float, sponsored by the City of Bellingham and the Whatcom County Traffic Safety Task Force. I don't have any pictures of the parade, so you'll have to make do with this:

A side affect of running

I started out this whole half marathon and marathon goal as simply that, a goal. I've wanted to run a marathon for a few years now. Don't ask me why, it just sounded like an amazing thing that people do, and I wanted to see if I could do it too. I've never been particularly 'sporty'. Sure I played softball growing up, hockey for a year and ride my bike a lot, but I have never excelled in any sport or really set any sport or fitness goals.

The timing just seemed right to do these races, I had an okay fitness base due to all the bicycling I do, however I knew that if I wanted to run these races and not seriously hurt myself I'd have to kick it up a few dozen notches and run at least 4 times a week. So I did. And guess what happened. I started to develop defined muscles in my legs. Crazy, I've never had that before. I have also lost about 15 pounds since January. Crazy again, because I didn't start this as a weight loose goal, it just happened.

With all that said, I feel great! And I am only 8 pounds heavier than when I got pregnant. Sure it has taken me 6.5 years to get back to that point, but whose counting? For me, it's more about being healthy than a number on the scale.

Mission Accomplished!

I did it! I ran a half marathon!!


I ran the Tacoma City Marathon on May 3rd, 2009 in 2 hours 7 minutes and 51 seconds!! That is 9:46/mile.

I may look like hell here, but what do you expect after 13.1 miles? Cool super hero cape, huh?!

The 100 mile club!

http://nikeplus.nike.com/nikeplus/v1/html/milestones/print_certif.html?id=2028043409&region=us&language=en&locale=en_us&dateFormat=MM/DD/YY

Volunteering and being sick

Today was the first time I've ran since March 14th. Shocker!! What's happening to me? Well, I've been a little bit sick and really busy. I can say though, that I rode my bike to work 3/5 days last week, so that should count for something.

Wanna hear something crazy?

I knew you did.

I volunteered at a 50K race yesterday.
That's 31 miles!!
I can hardly believe I'm training for a 13.1 mile race, and these guys ran 31!!

AMAZING!! Perhaps someday in the far and distant future I will be one of them, perhaps.

Runnin' O' the Green

What a fun race! The City of Bellingham puts on a St. Patrick's Day race every year, the Saturday before St. Patty's Day. This year it fell on March 14th. One may choose to either run 2 miles or 5 miles. I was ecstatic that Jeff and Izabelle run the 2 miles while I ran the 5 miles!
Being Bellingham, and being that it was an Irish themed race, it rained.
No it poured.
No it rained cat's and dog's.
We were all soaked by the time the race was over, but in good spirits.
Unfortunatly they didn't serve beer at the aid stations, but they did have cool shirts and lots of fun prizes to give away.
Oh, and don't forget Maggie's Furry, an awesome local Irish band.
I finished in 46:52!! A 9:18 min/mile. MUCH better than I had hoped.
To see a photo click here.

Fun Run, Snow Run, Trail Run

Carl Cozier had a fun run! You could either run 2 miles or walk 1 or 2 miles. Naturally we all ran the 2 miles. It was a fun run, the name being correct. The course was 95% on trails, trails we take every day when walking or biking home from school.
The only thing is....
RIGHT when the race started....
it started to SNOW!!!

Go figure!

I bought some tickets to win a Kayak, donated by the local warehouse of Johnson Outdoors.
Wish me luck!

10K

Today I ran the Skagit Symphony Smelt Run, 10k. It was a pretty flat course, which is nice, however it did wind around on the roads (including the main hwy out of town) and there was a bit of traffic, which isn't too fun.
The highlight was seeing the swans in the soon to be tulip fields and finishing in 1 hr 6 minutes.
The lowlight was running on concrete, thus I now have sore calves, shins.

Day of Rest

Hurray! Today is my day of rest, although I did walk 1.5 miles to work and ride my bike home, but that's nothing compared to what I've been doing.
Hopefully I can actually relax some.....

8:56

Yes, that's right, I was running at a pace of 8:56 for about .75 miles. Crazy. I should sleep well tonight!!
Ran a 5K in about 33 minutes, so overall pace was 10 min mile, which I'm still happy with.
Hopefully the snow and ice will go away so I can do my long run outside on Saturday.
I don't think anyone actually reads this, but if you do and you have some good running music you can recommend, I'd appreciate it.

10.5 hrs, 2 miles, 2 meetings and a cake

Whew! What a busy day. It all started with a very wet ride into work, it wasn't just raining, it was pouring. I got in around 8:40am, had a meeting from 9am-11:25am, went to the gym and ran 2 miles, worked some more, taught a bicycle commuter class from 5:30-7:30, was dumbfounded by the snow, who ordered that? Got home and Jeff and Izzie baked me a cake! What a sweet surprise after a super long day at work!!

9.5

Not miles, but I did kick it up a notch and run faster. I ran a 9.5 minute mile for about 1 or 1.5 miles. It's an improvement, not fast, I know that, but getting there.......

Ran 4 miles, staying on track with the training schedule.

Getin' Ready

I'm about to head over to the clubhouse with Izabelle to run on the treadmill. I'm supposed to run 4 miles today. I'm going to try and kick it up a notch and run a little bit faster, we'll see how that goes.

In the meantime I'm boiling some eggs to make deviled eggs. Someone mentioned hardboiled eggs at work today and deviled eggs sounded really good.

Oh, I found out that my B-12 is low, might explain why I'm always so tired. I'm going to take some vitamins and hopefully that'll help.

2.25

A short run today on the treadmill (yuck), however, these crazy treadmills have their own t.v. on them. I've never seen that before, who knew?!

Oh, happily I had a massage today and felt much better afterward, the massage therapist said it should be fine to run, so I did. I just decided to take it easy. What's great is that the massage therapist is a runner herself. I am so grateful that my insurance will cover some massages as I train for the half marathon. I can't really believe it myself, but like I said, I'm very grateful!!

Winner!

For some reason over the last couple of years I've had really good luck, I've won numerous drawings that I've entered. In the summer of 2007 I won a drawing for taking an online survey for a local magazine, then I won a book from a local radio station who did a drawing at a community pic-nic, about a month later I won a dinner for two after buying a raffle ticket to support a non-profit organization.
But that's not all, the same year I also won tickets to see a really cool Irish band who was playing locally.
I'm sure there's more, but m0st significantly I just won a drawing for a THREE MONTH FAMILY MEMBERSHIP TO BELLINGHAM ATHLETIC CLUB!!!!!!
or BAC, this couldn't come at a better time. Training for a half marathon requires a lot of hard work and well, running. I don't have the time or the daylight to get a lot of runs in, so having the gym membership will allow me to workout on the treadmill.
Let me just say something about treadmills.
I HATE THEM.
Hate, hate hate them.
I can easily and somewhat happily run 5 miles outside, no problem. But put me on a treadmill and after 5 minutes I want to stop.
Hard work and dedication will help me make my goal of running a half marathon, and if I have to train on a treadmill to reach that goal so be it.

I redeemed my gift certificate, they have two locations, one downtown just a few blocks from my work and one on Meridian, just a few blocks from Jeff's work.

I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, I also rode my bike to meet Suzanne earlier in the day, so got about 4.5 miles of biking in too.

Burke Gilman

I was in Seattle visiting with my marathon runner cousin so naturally we went for a run. She lives in beautiful Fremont .25 miles from the Burke Gilman Trail. It is an amazing trail system that winds it way through Seattle. We saw many bicyclists and runners, people walking there dogs and parents with kids, it was great! It was also SUNNY! What Luck!!
We ran 5 miles, started at her house headed down to the trail, under the Fremont Bridge and Aurora Bridge, past Gasworks Park, witnessed a ditsy runner almost get nailed by a bicyclists (it was totally the runners fault, her group was taking up the entire width of the trail, about 6 or 7 across and she wasn't paying attention). Then we turned around and headed home. It was a great run, we did it at a 10:36 pace, which makes me happy.

Fragrance Lake

The fabulous group of women that I run with on Sundays decided on Fragrance Lake for a fun trail run. We met at the village green then carpooled to the trail head. We didn't run up the switch backs, we actually went a little further to another trail head and entered there. Confusing to read, but it makes sense when you're actually there, I promise.

Now, it's a relativity steep incline, 1100 ft, so we power walked up to the Lake. We then proceeded to run around the Lake and back down, by way of the switchbacks. It was SO fun!!! Total distance was about 5.5 miles.

Rainy Day Bike Ride

Well, it was supposed to be a bike ride and a run, but I was running late (no pun intended) and missed the group. It was a beautiful morning, misty rain, my favorite. It's funny how it doesn't seem like it's even raining, but you still get pretty wet. At least I have awesome rain gear, so I can't complain too much.
I left my apartment a little late and didn't allow enough time to ride to the meeting spot, so alas, I did not run today. OR any day in the last month. Unless you count running to the bus stop.
I figured that since I was already out and didn't have to be back home for awhile I'd ride around and get some exercise and at the same time check out the trails/flooding situation.
I went to the Whatcom Creek Trail behind our apartments. What I found was Whatcom River!

Weird Things Happen Around Here

My turkey baster got stuck in my coffee pot.
I'm not kidding.
The story:
We don't have a lot of coffee left, about enough for four more pots. Jeff had left for the day and I wanted to make some coffee, so I poured the water in and put the ground coffee in. But then I realized that I put too much water in. I was only going to make 4 cups, since it was just me. However, I poured in a full pot of water like I usually do when Jeff's here.
What to do, what to do.
I could make a huge mess and try to dump the water out by lifting the whole coffee pot up and tipping it.
NO, that wouldn't work.
I know! I'll use my turkey baster to suck the water out! What a great idea!!
It was, until the turkey baster got wedged in there somehow and got stuck; (it has this little attachment on it that allows it to not just sit on the counter, but to be elevated, if that makes sense).
No worries, I got it out, unharmed, but I was concerned for a little while that 1. I wasn't going to be drinking any coffee today and 2. That Jeff would come home and wonder what the heck happened in the kitchen while he was at work.
I'm sure this weirdness only happens to me.