Dropped Off...

I kind of lost all enthusiasm for running after my last race in July....well, the last big race.

See Jane Run Bling

That was See Jane Run which I did not enjoy one bit. Go here to check it out. I do not wish to re-live that one.

Decent pic from See Jane Run!

Another thing that is happening or not happening would be the Runner's World Half & Festival. About a month ago it became very clear that I am not going to be ready to do any big events anytime soon. Let alone a Hat Trick. Tom and I talked about it and he could see how I was not feeling so great about this event and agreed that we would skip it this year and look to going sometime in the future.

This year just did not start out well and here we are in October (?!) and the last month ended with low mileage. So, I am realizing that this is definitely a down year for me. It had to happen sometime I guess. My running is better than the average person, but still not great. Just as long as I get out and try and do something I usually don't feel so bad about myself. I always think that I might add some sort of strength training or whatever to help things along, but when we don't have a training run I am more than happy to hang out and drink coffee and catch up with Words with Friends on the kindle.

Consolation prize for dropping down to the 5k

I should have known that the year would not go well. I missed the first race that I signed up for in March - can't remember if it was a 5k or 12k. Either way, I ended up a little under the weather. Enough to know better and not  push it. Event #2 was a few weeks later and was the Hop Hop Half in Portland. Since my running was already derailed because of a little illness I made the decision to do the 5k instead of the half. On top of that Tom was home sick this time. So I decided it would be best to do the easy race and head home.

Home Town Goodness

The race that I did do in which I didn't feel like a major loser would be the Vancouver USA Half Marathon. Even though I didn't have enough training for this race this year, I didn't feel horrible. There is a big ol' hill around mile five and a half and I was pretty proud of myself because I actually ran more of that hill this year than I did last year!! I had Tom with me to motivate me a bit too. So that's my happy moment of that day. The rest of that route isn't too bad, but I did start having spasms in my calf. Fortunately they were not bad and once we reach Evergreen Blvd and the last hill was all done, it was easy-peasy to the finish. AND I finally passed a woman that we could not shake for the previous couple of miles...pretty much left her in the dust Wahoo!

Race for the Homeless

The other race that was pretty fun and easy to boot, was the Race for the Homeless. A charity run for a local shelter here in Vancouver. The race was being put on by a local church and 100% of the race fees were designated to Open House Ministries. The 5k route was basically the same out and back route that we have done in other races so we knew exactly what to expect. It was a fun morning and we actually saw some of "our" people that we were able to get to commit to the event which made for a fun morning.

So, now we currently have nothing scheduled, but are planning to run Hot Buttered Run the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Always a good race! Another run that we might do, the Ugly Sweater Run in Ridgefield. It might be one of those things that we have to decide on ONE event. Don't want to over extend ourselves now...

What's on the agenda for 2017? Well, I have been intrigued with doing some sort of series and I think I have the perfect one already picked out. The Oregon Half Marathon series which is organized and put on by Uberthons. The races are Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. I think the timing of the events will still allow us to do shorter races in between the big races. As excited as I was about the idea of doing the Hat Trick in PA this month, I think am more excited for this series. I am really looking forward to tackling 4 separate races in the series and adding to the hardware collection!

Until then my mantra for the rest of the year...

"I will not beat myself up. I am not a loser" 

Now go run and repeat mantra all the way until it sticks!

March...Nothing Good Came from March

This month has been a rough one. First, I was sick and I ended up taking a couple of days off from work and went back the following week only to go home early on that Monday. THEN I was okay enough to go to work the next day to do the Accounts Payables transmittal that I have to complete for the first meeting of the month.

My sickly time was at the beginning of the month and I ended up missing the first run of the year which was okay, because I wasn't feel up for it. Tom went and without really trying ended up 3rd in his age division! The medal followed via our buddy who works for Energy Events. Yay Tom!

After I was mostly better from my illness - which I think was just a nasty cold - Tom promptly got sick and spent a few days down. It's been a terrible month!

SO - what running we did do was very little. We pushed out an 8 miler only for Tom to relapse just in time for the Hop Hop Half this past Saturday. So this time HE missed  a race that we had on the calendar. I decided to go ahead and do the event, but made up my mind before I arrived at the venue to switch from doing the half - which I was not prepared for at all - and ran the 5k race. It was a good decision and I didn't feel bad about not doing my first half for the year.

I spy a bunny...hop hop!

We now have the time to get healthy and start training for the Vancouver USA Half Marathon in June. That one will be a good one - nice and close to home! A favorite of mine :)

My mileage for the month has been very low - only a measly 17 miles (actually 19). I'm not going to beat myself up. Being sick and getting well is more important than logging miles just because I'm a numbers person.

I'm not proud of this, but at least I logged a few miles.

Gazelles

Man, I'm slacking here lately!

The last couple of weeks have been a little busy. I did have a week off, but even then I was going the whole time!

So, to end my week off Tom and I traveled to Bellingham for a 15k race, the Fairhaven Waterfront 15k. Saturday is normally our long run day, and we had 8 on the schedule...so 9 would do! Goodness those people in Bellingham must run ALL. THE. TIME! They are fast, fast, FAST! Thus the post title of GAZELLES!

I started my race out too fast and didn't necessarily run out early, but I was tired when I got to the last couple of miles. The temperature was good, but the sun was out and the one thing that I do not enjoy is having the sun beating down on me while I run. So, I was feeling the heat, except when we were along the water. I love running along the water, it was a little cooler and very pleasant. My next favorite part of the route was in the last couple of miles it was a very steady climb - BUT in the shade. Running in the shade felt soooo good...I was able to run the majority of the trail - which was packed gravel - and made it through the park with what little umph I had left. Within a quarter mile of the finish there was more gravel path and I just couldn't get it together to run anymore...so I walked the rest of the gravel and ran through the finish. Hot and tired, but I did it AND actually posted a decent time for my second 15k - about 3 minutes faster than the Shamrock 15k.

The reality of the whole matter is that Bellingham has a pretty significant running thing going on there. Not just because there's a college there or anything, EVERYONE was posting pretty fast times with the averages being in the 6-8 minute per mile range. Tom was happy to have hit his goal of a 9 minute pace...I was happy to finish, even though it doesn't look like it. My official time was 2:01:44. I'm happy with that it was about 3 minutes faster than the Shamrock - tired legs, not enough sleep and not enough time to fuel up before heading from our room to the venue - which was only across the street :)

The other thing that I liked about this particular race is that the photos were available pretty quick AND free to download. That's how it should be! I'm not looking to frame any of these shots, so why would I want to pay for these? I have purchased a digital copy just for posting here though. I made an effort to look a little happy in the first photo, not bad!

In the end it was a fun race to do and it was pretty cool to be in the midst of some pretty athletic people. I am thrilled that I wasn't last in my age division or the race over all. Overall I was #552 out of 599 runners. If we do this again I know what to look forward to, nothing will be a surprise. Although the route could change and that would mess me up!

We were only in B-ham one full day, but it was fun! Maybe we'll go back for another race...who knows.

Next up - the North County Wine Run, Half Marathon!

Week 7 & HM Registration

Week 7

This week is 7 (!) of my Half Marathon training  plan as prescribed by Runner's World SmartCoach. Overall, I'm happy with how things are going, but the past couple of weeks I've been feeling a fair amount of pain in my shoulder and neck. Something that spontaneously went away when I took the day off from work last Friday and then with as much spontaneity resurfaced after I returned to work this week. I think maybe work might have something to do with this issue. Just a thought.

Anyway, last week's training runs were less than stellar and I'm glad that we have moved on and this week is all "easy" running.

Monday two miles, not good...something was off. I felt that things should have been good because it was ONLY two miles. However, my breathing was REALLY bad. I'll have to take a puff of albuterol upon rising to get ready to run I guess, at least until the majority of the early Spring pollen is past. The other thing I'll have to deal with tomorrow is pain. Maybe something will pop into place between now and tomorrow morning. A girl can hope!

Tomorrow is a 4 mile tempo run, we'll take it on the road. I might have enough focus to do the 2 miles at tempo and revel in the warm down on the way back to the house. We did this a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome! Which is crazy because I have never really been a big fan of tempo running. I've always favored Speed Work.

This week we officially add a Thursday run and I have deemed Thursday my running date with Mary. We started last week on the hottest day so far this year. I'm pretty sure that the temperature will be more to our liking maybe even a little on the wet side. We'll see. So, we'll get out for an easy couple of miles of walking with running mixed in there too :)

Saturday is Long Run day! Eight Miles BABY! I've got the route all mapped out, hoping that my body will cooperate this weekend. I'm hopeful.

Registration

Last week I sent off a registration for Tom to run the Vancouver USA Half Marathon. Since his upcoming employment will keep him home I decided he should do it! He's been running along with me and my plan so why not right? I've already encouraged him to run his own race so he'll know what he can do - so exciting! I'm REALLY looking forward to this race now. My first half was just me - now that he'll be running too we'll have stories to exchange of our experiences! Yay :)

Look at that happiness...

Shamrock 2014

The 36th Annual Shamrock Run Portland has come and gone. My last Shamrock for a year or so as I would like to focus on training for the Spring Classic Duathlon in 2015. I may consider going back to the Shamrock in 2016 - we'll just have to see how things go with multisport first ;)

This year the Shamrock people decided to put photographers all along the route - in years past I don't believe that there were any. The photos were published on Facebook today and I decided to see how awful err, wonderful the photos were.

As it turns out...no one really looks good in running photos - although there is one of me from 3 or 4 years ago that was pretty good, but no more! Of the half dozen or so pics that they took of me I would say that the following one was the best. I don't look overly tired, I appear to be moving and I don't look like I want to die. Seriously, not flattering...not even a little...

Heading up Broadway - more than 2 miles into the 9.3 mile route

So, I searched for photos of Tom and Drew and man, those two looked GOOD! Check it out...

Check out the half clothed dude - that's not right!

Look at Drew...show off! He obviously did not get the memo that says no smiling during an event! Drew is awesome...love hanging out with him! Except during races because he is just too happy - haha. It's good that he runs with Tom, that way they can run a decent race and do well. Something that wouldn't be possible if they stuck with me.

I don't have much of a race report - just race photos to share. Running events are the same in one way or another - we train, we go, we conquer. The fun is being with our people!

We got to hang out with these cool people which we haven't really done in the past - we are very much go and run and then go home people - BUT afterwards Drew, Andy, Tom and I made a pit stop for a little food and coffee at Starbucks.

front row - Drew Swanson, Me, Alisha Smith, Alayna Salvato
back row - Andy Schultz, Mike Graves, Nate Smith

(photo was taken by Tom)

Fort Vancouver Run 10k - DONE

There isn't a lot to say other than:

It was WET. 

It was COLD. 

It was MISERABLE.

BUT...We did it and I posted a decent time according to the actual distance of 6.4 instead of a 10k distance of 6.2 - final time 1:20:41 or 12:37 pace. That's a decent time for me in the crummy weather. After I had a chance to think about it I decided I was pretty happy with that result. It is the time that I will now gauge the rest of my races against!

Tom went all out to see how he would do and actually did quite well with a final time of 59:33 around 9:19 pace for him. Now - Tom's goal was to see if he could get top 3 in his age division. He would have been 3rd in his division IF there wasn't a morning of registration in his group WHO happened to finish first.

Oh well...there's always next year!

Needed to post a picture...not terribly flattering, but I made it over the timing strip!

Shamrock is coming up fast...but first I need a couple of days to rest - or at least one day. We'll see how I feel when I get up tomorrow morning.

Get out and run people!

So I DID register

I was starting to wonder if I actually registered for this event, especially when I got an email right away when I registered for the Vancouver Half  - which was just at the end of August. I probably did get a receipt for the payment, but I forwarded that to Tom so he could record it in the check register. So two months later and I finally got a congratulations email :) Here it is...proof that I AM crazy!

CONGRATULATIONS on your 2013 registration! Congratulations on your registration for one of the most FESTIVE events in Portland! Holiday costume contest, caroling, Santa photos, exclusive quarter-zip, long-sleeved event shirts, custom/commemorative bibs, and much more await you!

Good To Go!

(photo credit runridgefield.com)

I was thinking about how this year I'm pretty much prepared for tomorrow...which is very unlike me for this particular event. The route for the Independence Day Run in Ridgefield is always the same - ALWAYS. There really isn't a way to change that, it's out and back - heading north out of town and then back to town. Even with the hills, it's a fairly quick run if you think running under 40 minutes is quick ;)

2009 was the first year that we ran this I was waaay unprepared for the hills. I should have known better that there would be hills, rural Clark County is like that. So, as surprising as that was I still managed to run the route in 38:19. For some crazy reason I did not record my time for the 2010 race. The following two years were 40:50 and 40:55. 

I'm shooting for at least 38:19. Which would be awesome because that time was from 4 years ago and I wasn't terribly fast. However,  in the last few months, I have been actually running pretty well. So I'm excited about that. In the big picture I do not want to post a time more than 40 minutes. That is my ultimate goal!

4 Weeks

So, earlier this week I had mentioned that I needed an event to give all this running a sense of purpose.

Well, after some surfin' around yesterday I decided that I should register to do the Freedom 5k on June 15. I thought about doing this run last year, but I don't remember why I didn't. No matter, I'm good to go this year.

I have 4 weeks to get race ready - as in reach my runnersworld.com time goal of 37:10. I can't remember the last time I ran a 5k in a time close to that (although I think my first run at one of my Duathlons may have been an 11+ minute mile). The first two weeks I have speedwork sessions for my second run of the week and then a tempo run in the 3rd week and the final week before the event is SUPER easy and one last speedwork session. Long runs on Saturdays will be either 4 or 5 miles. For once I'm looking forward to Speedwork - go figure. Should be fun - trying to psyche myself into fun training mode.

Tom will be coming with me to the track at the middle school to time my intervals for me, that way I can will know how I'm doing right away and make adjustments as needed. The one thing I'm not terribly excited about is that the intervals are 800s and I will have to do 3 during those particular runs. We'll see how things go - I'm good at making some training days shorter than they should be. However, this morning I did a four mile tempo run (mostly) and managed to do the 4 miles. So really, anything is possible. Just gotta be mentally tough and not let my whimpy body take over, because I KNOW that I'm capable of so much more!

My goal is to keep to the training schedule and not sleep in on Monday because that's what I've been doing. I want the option to do some cross-training on my off days.

Besides the Freedom 5k I'm planning to run the 4th of July run in Ridgefield on the 4th of July (duh) and then I'm hoping to do the Run Girl Run in August. Nothing in September...yet. Run Like Hell in October and then the last run for the year Hot Buttered Run.

The disappointing thing for me is that Tom has not been released to run by his doctor yet so I've been doing a lot of running around the neighborhood by myself. It looks like I may be running a lot of these events by myself, unless he gets a green light before October and he might be able to do Run Like Hell...hoping and praying...

With all these possibilities in place I'm feeling a little more complete as far as what run events I have in mind. Now, if I could only get myself out on the time trial course with the bike club...that would be PERFECT!

This is as of today (May 16)
I'm ahead of pace bunny by 2 miles!

Run, Baby, Run!

Duathlons are...

MUCH easier to pack for! All I need for a duathlon are my bike and shoes...and clothes for post race.

BUT

This is just a part of the stuff that I pack for triathlon...

Just in case you are wondering the following are the items that I have laid out so far to pack up - 

Race Shirt

Swim Cap

Swim Goggles

Body Glide

Flip Flops

Running Shoes

Cycling Shoes

Bike Helmet

NUUN

ShotBloks

Transition Mat

Race Number/Belt

A couple of optional hygiene items to get the lake cooties off of me

My wet suit is hanging up in the hall and I still need to find my race shorts and gather up some clothes to wear afterwards. Until tomorrow evening I'll just let things sit while I check and re-check my items against the list and then eliminate items that I probably won't need - I tend to bring more stuff than I really need. 

I already have my bike ready to load onto the rack...so I'm good there. Oooh...maybe I should consider a my CO2 inflator and an extra tube. This would be the time that I get a flat tire! 

Tom will be an event volunteer Sunday morning which means he needs to be at Blue Lake at 5:30 to check in at the Volunteer Tent. That means that I'll be traveling to Blue Lake extra early - woo hoo. I think it will be okay, I'll just get lots of sleep the night before and then I'll just rest when we get there. When I am allowed to set up in the transition area I'll just mosey my stuff over there and chill until race time. I just hope that he isn't too far away when I need to pull on my wet suit...it is possible that I'll have to ask someone to help me in zipping up my suit....UGH!

Looking forward to my second tri...after I'm done with that I'll have about 6 weeks to prepare for Run Like Hell!