Catching up

Well, I forget where I left off….somewhere after the Dirty Dash I think.  After that we had the See Jane Run half marathon.  That was Morrie’s birthday run and you’d think it would have been warm considering it was mid-July.  No.  Not so much here in Seattle.

We arrived at Gasworks Park early enough to get into the Half Fanatics group photo.  We had hit the port-a-potty line just before that when it was relatively short and by the time we were done it was rather lengthy.  We found other Fanatics and took several photos then we decided that another bathroom break was in order.  Problem was:  the line was even longer now and we wouldn’t have time to wait in it and still make the start.  So, we did what apparently many other people were doing and we headed toward the trees.

I’m not sure why, at an all women’s event, you’d only order a handful of Honeybuckets but I suppose they didn’t consult me.  Anyway, it was overcast and kinda chilly that day.  We headed out at the start and ran into a bunch of walkers who started at the front and, as is standard, walked 4 abreast down the path.  We got by most of them by the time we were out onto the street.  We headed across the Fremont bridge and then onto a portion of the trail that was blocked off.  When we were getting toward the turn around we started running into the faster runners coming back.  The trail isn’t very wide here, about three feet or so, and when you are trying to pass someone and another person is coming at you trying to pass someone on their side it can get kindof exciting.  Lots of shoulder brushing.  We turned around and eventually broke out of the out and back portion and headed south along the west side of Lake Union.

Soon we were around to the other side of the lake and there was a honeybucket so we hopped in line.  That took about 20 minutes to get through and then we were off.  It was a nice little jaunt after that.  I’d never been to that part of the lake before and it was interesting to see other areas from that angle.  Soon, we were up on the University bridge and almost back to the finish. My legs were getting sore and tired but we finally crossed the finish line.  One of the things you get for finishing is a champagne flute with a few chocolates in it.  Then you can get champagne in your flute.  Yay! 

After the See Jane Run, Nic talked Morrie and I into signing up for the Fat Glass 50k.  We weren’t going to sign up because we knew there was no way we could finish the whole 50k.  But then the organizers decided that DNF’s were ENCOURAGED!  What kind of race was this?  So the basic idea was that we would run about 5+ miles through Bridle Trails park and when we got back to the start we had to drink a glass of Mac & Jack’s Amber beer.  When the glass was finished we would head out for another loop and when we got back to the start from that one, we had to drink another glass of beer.  And so on until you either dropped out or finished the 50k. 

Since Morrie and I were undertrained we figured we’d only do two loops and let Nic run his 50k.  But we didn’t tell him our plans because we didn’t want him to feel like he needed to drop.  So we pretended to go along with him thinking we were doing the whole thing.  All that was fine until the end of our second loop.  I had nearly finished my glass but didn’t want Nic to show up and have him hurry because he’d head out with us.  So, I went ahead and filled up my glass again.  But then he didn’t show up and by the time that he did, my glass was close to empty.  I was going to have to come clean.  When he got ready to head out we broke it to him and then he squirted us with his water bottle.  We grabbed a handful of pretzels and walked him up the hill then sent him on his merry way.  We went back and dished up our heaping plates of bbq.  They got some bbq place to cater and they had brisket, ribs, chicken, corn bread, mac and cheese, etc.  I was sad that my stomach could only hold so much food.

We ate, and drank, and ate some more while Nic continued running.  He finally finished and grabbed something to eat.  It became apparent that no women were going to finish the 50k so he went and asked if he could have the first place women’s trophy:  a large mug engraved with “Queen of Beers” on it.  And they gave it to him.
After that we went down to Portland for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k that we have run the last three years.  At our annual bbq our guests generously donated $100 to the cause.  We run the 5k every year and then walk with the team.  This year was special because my cousin Deb, who is a breast cancer survivor and our team’s captain, decided to run it.  She trained for several weeks and finished with a very respectable time.  She decided after that to do the Komen in Eugene the following month and did that one all on her own.  She’s also signed up to run a Turkey Trot this Thanksgiving.

And that reminds me.  Apparently I’ve had a serious lapse in judgement and have signed up for not one, not two, not three, but four, count ‘em, four 1/2 marathons over Thanksgiving weekend.  So stay tuned to hear all about that!  It is my hope to write about them after each run but I’m not sure how I’ll feel so I’m giving myself up to a week after to get them posted.  See you soon!

Time to call in a salvage crew

In my last post I claimed it was time to turn the ship around. Well, I made some half-assed attempts to do so but my spirit wasn’t in it and that ship took on too much water and sank quickly. And it sank in some deep, deep waters. But the beacons are still on, beeping, sending signals to the surface, S-O-S! S-O-S!

I know I’ll feel better if I start running. I’ve been in the dumps lately. The grey Seattle skies don’t help. We’ve been traveling to sunnier climes and I enjoy being there but coming home always makes me angry. I just don’t want to be cold anymore. We had a 77 degree day yesterday and it was glorious! Can Seattle string together a few more days like that? We will see.

After the Phoenix Rock n’ Roll we ran the First Call Presidents Day half marathon along the good, ol’ Samammish River Trail.  I don’t remember it.

Then in March, we went to Vancouver, Canada to revisit the Dirty Duo.  I remember this one, all too clearly. This year the run was on my actual birthday.  Happy frigging birthday to me.   It started off innocently enough.  I was cranky because it was cold and I could see snow on top of Mt. Seymour.

Morrie and Susan at the start

Morrie and me at the start. See the smiles?

We started the run and it was fine, I guess.  I don’t really recall.  The trail seemed muddier than the previous year but that wasn’t a problem.  It was much colder and it was misting.  The forest was pretty, though.

Pretty forest and nice trail.

But that was the first 5 miles or so.  And then we went up, and up, and up toward Ned’s and that’s where we ran into snow.  It was also no longer misting but full on raining.  And that’s where the breakdown really peaked.

Commencing breakdown, full steam ahead.

Morrie and I had plans to drop from the race at the top of Ned’s.  Except when we got there the volunteer at the aid station told us we couldn’t drop here and would have to go to the bridge to drop.  Crap!  So, we descended the freaking mountain to the bridge aid station.  It was easier going down than it was to go up so that was a positive.  Anyway, we got to the bridge aid station and they had packed up.  WTF?  So that meant that we were in this thing for the long haul.  In the end we managed to shave only 15 minutes off last years time.  But we did get dirty.

Dirty Dirty Duo legs

Then, we decided to do something entirely different.  We signed up for the Big Climb, a benefit for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  We ran up 69 flights of stairs in about 18 minutes.  It was hot and stuffy in the stairwells and when I got to the top I had a weird copper taste in my mouth and I couldn’t stop coughing.

Susan picked the Squak Mountain 1/2 marathon for her birthday run.  We’d never been to Squak Mountain before so we didn’t know what to expect.  Well, we knew it was steep but other than that, we didn’t know much.  It was really chilly in the beginning but the sun came out and it was really pleasant.

Sunny trail

I felt pretty good on this run.  I didn’t get emotional or depressed like I normally do.  I don’t know if the weather made the difference or what.

Me and Morrie on the trail. I don't know who to credit for this photo.

Me (nice belly) and the birthday girl.

It was a good run but when we went out afterward to celebrate Susan’s birthday I got pretty sore and was really tired.

And naturally, since we did the Redmond Watershed Preserve 12 hour (check out this years race story on the website for a special treat) run last year, we had to sign up for it again this year.  Last year was nice and sunny.  This year it was cold and misty.  I didn’t know how far I would get but I wasn’t expecting to match last years 50k distance.

Which way?

It started out ok.

Morrie and Susan

Susan and me. Happy-ish times.

And then lap 5 happened.

The End is Near

Susan finished her first marathon distance, 5 full loops.

This about sums it up.

And I finished 5 full loops.

The happy look means nothing.

Morrie managed just over a 50k.

Morrie does a 50k plus one little loop.

For some reason we didn’t get it together to sign up for a run in June.  We did sign up for the Furry 5k but we walked that because we took the dogs.  They were both adopted from the Seattle Animal Shelter.

Me with Murphy, Rudy and Lucy

Lucy and Murphy

We also volunteered for the Vashon Island Ultra.  It was a nice chance to pay back the running community.

Volunteer Zale

Volunteer Morrie

It was a little cold and drizzly but it was fun and it kinda made me wish I had signed up for the 10 miler.

"Respect my author-i-TAY" says the safety vest.

Susan finished in just over 2 hours and has vowed not to give blood 2 days before a run again.

Tired runner

So, we’re not scheduled for anything until Morrie’s birthday run, See Jane Run, on July 17th.  I did manage to get my ass out of bed the other morning at 4:45 and went for a little 3 miler.  My feet were so hot and it felt like my socks were sawing into my tender feet.  They seem to have lost some of the toughness that I once had.  I didn’t run this morning but plan on going again tomorrow morning.  We’ll see.

Phoenix Rock ‘n Roll 1/2 marathon

I really needed a sun break from the cold and snowy Seattle winter.  When we arrived in Phoenix it was about 75 degrees.  I had arrived in heaven.  We got off the plane, picked up our bags and headed out to the car rental area, located some distance from the airport.  We got our car, (a Nissan Versa), and headed to our hotel.

We got to our hotel and were happy to see a familiar corporate logo right outside our door:  Starbucks.  At least we would be able to get a decent cup of coffee while we were here.  Unfortunately, our joy was short-lived.  We opened the door and were slammed with the scent of about 5,000 Glade air fresheners.  We aired out the room a bit and then decided to hunt down some dinner.  We went to some pub and had burgers.  Or maybe we had sandwiches.  I don’t remember.  But we drove around ASU and Sun Devil Stadium and through Scottsdale.  We got very little sleep that night.  We had a double bed but are used to a queen and the noise from the freeway was deafening.

We got up the next morning, grabbed something from Starbucks and headed out to packet pickup.  The expo hadn’t started yet but already there was a line.  We finally go inside and picked up our packets.  Then we were off to get our shirts.  Then we picked up our goody bag.  We wandered around the expo; picked up a t-shirt at the Brook’s exhibit, several mini-energy bars, a small taste of Miller Genuine Draft 64 (awful!), filled out some entry forms and then headed out.  By the time we left it was getting busy.

We headed out to Piestewa Peak (the locals still call it Squaw Peak) for a hike.  By the time we got to the parking lot it was time to unzip the convertible pants.  Very warm, and considering we were going to hike 2.4 miles up we figured it’d be best to go in shorts.  That was one of the best decisions we made.  We took a few breaks on the climb up.  We were used to 26 degree temperatures, not 76.  But the sky was blue and nearly cloudless.  It was wonderful.  We kept thinking we were near the summit but we weren’t.  The entire way up, people were running up and down.  Obviously they were used to the temperatures.  Finally, we made it to the top.  The view was awesome.  We stayed at the top for about 10-15 minutes and started to head back down.

The going down was almost as difficult as going up.  It was so steep in places and the trail consisted of jagged rock.  But we finally made it back to the car.  We headed out to pick Susan up from the airport.  We found her at the baggage claim and off we went.  We went to dinner but I can’t remember where we went.  Again, the bed was too small and the freeway noise was, well, noisy.  I didn’t sleep very well.

The next morning was a repeat of the day before:  Starbucks and packet pickup for Susan.  We roamed around the Expo and managed to buy a few things that we’d seen the day before.  I don’t remember what we did right after packet pickup.  Eventually we went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.  Along with all 50,000 other Phoenix Rock ‘n Roll participants.  We waited for quite some time to be seated.  We finally did get a table and gobbled down our pasta.  Then we headed back to our hotel for another night of fitful sleep.

The next morning we were up and at ‘em!  Went across the street and got a breakfast of oatmeal and coffee at Starbucks then drove off to where we thought we could park.  Except all the streets were blocked off so we couldn’t park there.  So we drove around.  And around.  We finally settled on a spot about a mile from the train station.  So, we walked.  And walked. And walked some more.  Finally arrived at the train and hopped on.  We hopped off near the convention center and had to walk some more toward the start line.  The start time was getting closer but we still had to check our gear bags and go to the bathroom.

We checked our gear.  That was pretty uneventful.  Then we queued up for the port-a-potties.  This is usually an endurance event all its own.  But it moved fairly quickly this time.  The only issue was that they were out of toilet paper in most of them but the one Morrie went into had seen better days.  Before we knew it we were lined up in our start corrals.  More or less.  I decided that I was going to line up with Morrie instead of the corral behind her.  Just let them try to stop me!

As we inched our way up to the start line, we laughed at the people decked out in gloves and sweatpants.  Didn’t these people know 50 degrees is a warm summer morning in Seattle?  Anyway, soon we were off running down the street.  My foot felt pretty good and there was a band just around the corner.  And then another band just a little bit later.  Aid stations were all very well stocked and frequent.  We were always in a crowd of people, despite running down a 6 lane street most of the way.  We ran into a few Half Fanatics whose names I forget.  At about mile 5 we stopped to use the port-a-pottie.  The break was nice.  Then we were off again.  My foot started hurting somewhere between mile 5 and 6.  But it wasn’t too bad.  The sun was out full force and the temps. began to rise.  Do I need to mention that there’s no shade in Arizona?  At the aid stations I’d drink electrolyte and dump water on my head.  It felt good for a few minutes but then I was back to being hot.

Finally, we got to mile 11 and were in the home stretch.  The home stretch seemed to really stretch, too.  We could catch glimpses of the Stadium but didn’t seem to be getting any closer.  And even when we were next to it we discovered the entrance was on the other side!  We crossed the finish line in just under 3 hours, got our picture taken and headed for the food.  Bananas, some sort of bar, water.  All delicious.  Then we picked up our gear and they had bagles there.  Also delicious.

We staggered back to the train station and waited for the next train.  But the next train filled up before we got on so we waited for the next one.  We forced our way onto the train but we had to stand.  Susan had hurt her ankle so when a seat became available, she sat down.  I sat in the next available seat.  At some point, a woman standing in front of us passed out.  Twice.  After the first one someone sat her in the seat next to me.  But it was too soon and down she went.  We put her on the floor and she came around.  It was weird to see her come out of it.  You could tell the minute she became aware that she was on the floor.  Anyway, she laid there until her stop and someone helped her off.  It was all very exciting.

I forget what happened the rest of the day but in the morning we got up and packed our bags for home.  We drove around Phoenix, Tempe and Scottsdale one last time.  We drove past a gas station with an electronic reader board.  It boasted 82 degrees.  We dropped Susan off at the airport (her flight left before ours) and we took the car back to Hertz.  We boarded the shuttle back to the airport and checked in.  I was sad to leave and even threatened to not get on the plane.  But I did and we arrived home to cold and rain.

Did I mention that during the Expo we managed to sign up for the 2012 Phoenix Rock and Roll Half Marathon?  See you in January, Arizona!

Me on Piestewa Peak

Morrie on Piestewa Peak

Sunshine and blue sky

Three Fatty-Bo-Batties at the finish!

And we’re off!

On January 1st we ran the First Call Half Marathon.  It’s one of our standard races and there’s one every holiday.  They are essentially free but donations are accepted.  The support for these runs are usually hit and miss but everyone comes prepared to be self sufficient.  Normally there is a nice spread at the end because the race director is a Marathon Maniac and he’s got all kinds of ultra-running food for everyone.  Cakes, candy, soda, chips.  Yum.

It was very cold that day.  So cold that the water in the hose of my hydration pack froze.  I sipped on ice chunks the entire way.  I decided to wear my microfleece jacket and boy, am I glad I did.  I thought I’d warm up at some point and need to take it off but I never did take it off.

Somewhere around mile 5 my foot started to hurt.  We had run 6 miles on Christmas day and afterward I had gone downstairs to do laundry and twisted a little funny, heard a pop and then had sharp pain in my foot.  It had died down but now was starting to hurt.  And it wasn’t going to get any better.

We hit the turnaround point and headed back.  Just on the other side of the halfway point there was an aid station.  It had bagels and cream cheese and hot chocolate.  We hung out there for about 5 minutes, chatting with the volunteer and emptying rocks from my shoe.  But then we had to start running again.  And we had stopped just long enough for my muscles to stiffen up.  Ow.

We hit the bathroom around mile 8.  It was heated, which was surprising.  And I didn’t want to leave it.  It felt nice to be warm all around.  But we did leave it and away we went.  Around mile 9 or so is when my foot really began hurting.  It was a sharp pain.  So I altered my gait.  And it still hurt.  I managed to limp the remaining distance in an abysmal 3:10:10.  One of my worst times ever.  But there were cookies and chips and candy and other bad things to eat so I consoled myself that way.

We have decided to have a contest with another friend.  Basically, we each pitched in $100 and it goes to the winner.  We weighed ourselves, took photos, and measured certain points on our body.  The contest ends on February 27, 2011.  I can’t run (and refuse to swim!) so I’m not expecting to walk away with a wad of cash in my pocket.

Tomorrow we leave for the sunshine and warm temperatures of Phoenix.  I needed a respite from the dreary Pacific Northwest so we made reservations a few months ago.  We will also participate in the Phoenix Rock and Roll Half Marathon.  Let’s see how my foot does.

Turning the ship around

A lot has happened since the last post.  I got a new job.  I took an all day Saturday Chemistry class.  It was stressful.  But then I was fired.  And in between I did some running.

Shortly after the Redmond Watershed 12 hour we ran our first official 50k.  The Vashon 50k.  The course was to be three 10-mile loops, mostly on trails but there were a few road sections.  The first loop started off ok.  We were at the back of the pack, naturally.   We headed down the road and turned onto a gravel road with enormous puddles.  Then onto more paved road.  Then up a trail, winding our way through a forest.  Onto the road, another gravel road, and another trail through forest.  That’s about as much as I can remember.  That’s the downside to posting so long after a run.  I do remember a hill toward the end of the loop.  We came out at the first gravel road and made it back to the aid station.  We grabbed some food and water.  We may have changed shirts, I don’t know.  And then we were off again.  Somewhere during lap two I started to fade.  The trails were a bit more technical than I was used to and there was more walking this loop than the first.  At one point I think just before the final hill I crashed.  Morrie accused me of giving up.  Yes, I was.  But fine, you want to run, then let’s run!  I got to the top of the hill and took off.  I couldn’t breathe very well and I was going all out.  Morrie was left behind to catch up.  We made it to the aid station and the second loop cutoff with just minutes to spare.  I was angry with Morrie and determined to finish this miserable race if it killed me.  We headed out for loop three.  I think we made it about 100 yards and I had an emotional breakdown.  My foot was extremely sore; so sore it hurt to take my sock off.  I knew I wouldn’t make it the 10 miles and certainly didn’t want to get some miles out and have to wait for someone to pick me up.  Morrie finally gave it and we quit the run.  They gave us finishers medals anyway.  They were the bottoms of bottles etched with the run details.

Morrie wanted to sign up for the Soaring Eagle 50k for her birthday.  And so we did.  It was a new trail for us.  Still, it was 50k and only about a month after the failed Vashon 50k.  It was a nice day.  The loops were about 10 miles and there was an aid station about every 5 miles.  We headed out, again, at the back of the pack.  Very technical trail and it slowed us down.  We wound our way through the woods and brushed up against a golf course.  We got to the back side and decided to re-name the trail from Soaring Eagle to Stinging Nettle. They were so high they got our hands.  We made it through loop one, took some time at the aid station and headed out.  We got back to the stinging nettle section and some hiker was there.  He tried to show us a plant that was good for stinging nettles but to be honest I didn’t really care about a remedy as I did about never coming back to this trail again.  At least not without some gloves or a machete.  At some point we started walking and decided that when we got back to the main aid station we’d see if we could do the marathon instead.  We got there and he said we wouldn’t have time to finish so we just packed it up.  A little disappointing to be sure but I think we were a bit ambitious to begin with.

Three fatty-bo-batties

Later that month we ran the Wild Thing Summer Fling half marathon.

Tasks to be completed after finishing a loop.

It was quite a drive on race morning.  The run took place up in Bellingham at Lake Padden.  It was a really nice trail; gravelly and mostly flat with some short, rolling hills on the back side.  One requirement was that you had to wear a dress the whole race.

After the two disastrous 50k’s we decided to tone it down a bit.  We had signed up last year for the Danskin Triathlon and I was not looking forward to it at all.

My goggles are on upside down!

If there’s one thing I hate, well, to be honest, I can’t narrow it down to just one thing.

I can't see anything.

Morrie says "Carpe Diem"!

Let me rephrase:  One thing I hate is getting into cold water and I don’t care who you are, Lake Washington is cold, even in August.  It turned out to be a nice day.  I managed to cut some time off my transitions and that helped.  But I was also faster in each event.  I won’t be signing up for any more triathlons though.

We participated in the Iron Girl again this year. They changed the route a little bit from last years event.

Pink faces; it's what's in.

I think it was a better deal even if we did have to run in the street.

Lining up.

They did block it off to traffic so that was nice.  The start was again congested as some of the walkers managed to start at the front, slowing us down.  I tried to push myself a little harder this year, figuring I wasn’t running a 50k so I could run a bit faster than normal.  I managed to shave about 10 minutes off my time from last year.

A week after the Iron Girl we ran the Susan G. Komen 5k in Portland.  I had a personal record that day coming in at just over 27 minutes.  After the run we walked the 5k with my cousin and family.

We had planned on returning to run our very first half marathon, Salty’s, but didn’t quite get it together before it sold out!  I can’t remember if we did a run in October or not.  But, foolishly, we did sign up for the  full Seattle Marathon.  Not just the half, the full version.

I hate being cold. I hate running.

I didn’t have very high expectations and I knew it was going to be difficult.  I didn’t know exactly how difficult it would be.  It was a chilly morning and we lined up to start.  The gun sounded and soon we were heading down 5th Avenue.  We went up the ramp to I-90.  Everything was fine.  Across I-90 bridge and things were still going well.  Spirits were good and the legs were holding up.  We turned around and headed back across the bridge.  Still good.  Down along Lake Washington Boulevard.  Still ok.  Into Seward Park.  Ok, now the legs are starting to tire.  But still making progress.  Out of Seward Park.  Somewhere along Lake Washington Blvd. and mile 16 it all came crashing down.  I told Morrie to continue without me, that I wasn’t going to make it.  My shoes were suddenly way too tight and I needed to loosen my laces.  One look at my face and Morrie directed me to eat my Gu.  The entire thing!  She loosened up my shoe laces while I gagged down the Gu.  We ended up walking the rest of the way.  I had shorts on and a vest so I got cold pretty quickly.  We stopped and picked up a jacket that someone discarded along the route.  We made one of the Starbucks along the way an unofficial aid station.  We bought scones and coffee to keep us warm.  It was a really long walk, that last 10 miles.  But we eventually made it to Memorial Stadium (as they were removing the crowd barriers).

Morrie, ready to tear it up.

There was no food left by the time we got there.  No surprise really since it took us over 7 hours to complete the race.  Bob Dolphin beat us across the finish line. 

We had many training runs at Carkeek Park including one fateful run where Susan fell and cut a gash into her knee, requiring stitches and everything!

Owwwie!

The accident came exactly one day after she did an endo on her bike.  There have been other injuries that weren’t visible like sore hips and feet, chafing, and bruised egos.

After I was fired from my job I lost a bit of my motivation.  For everything.  I spent most days laying on the couch watching Netflix or Hulu, finally changing out of my pajamas sometime around 2pm.  I complained about being bored but didn’t want to do anything about it.  And we were entering the holiday season at this time so I ate.  And I ate.  And I drank beer.  And I ate more food when I drank beer.  I stepped on the scale this morning and I’ve gained 4 lbs in the last week.  I’ll be heading back to Weight Watchers in January.  I had stopped going because of the Chemistry class but it’s time to turn this sinking ship around and point it toward calmer waters.

Redmond Watershed 12 hour run. 12 hours, not miles.

I’m not sure how or when it all occurred but we decided to sign up for a 12 hour run.  Because, you know, running for 3-ish hours so far had been so much fun, why not quadruple the time?  I had run my first 5k on May 16th, 2009; the UW Bothell 5k.  The Redmond Watershed 12-hour would take place exactly 364 days later.  I must be crazy.  Confirming the craziness was the fact that we had scheduled a 7 day vacation in Mazatlan and would return to Seattle just days before the event.  Do you suppose we trained at all while we were in Mexico?

Everyone getting ready to run for the next 12 hours

Race morning came up quickly.  The forecast was for sunny weather; a tad unusual for spring in Seattle.  It was a bit chilly when we picked up Nic and by the 7am start it was still what I would call a little brisk.  The course included the same trail that the Mud and Chocolate uses plus it added a smaller loop on another trail.  The total for both loops was 5.38miles.  Our goal was to do at least a 50k.

Nic, doing his special warm ups.

We headed out promptly at 7am.  The field thinned out as we plodded along at the back of the pack.  My legs weren’t feeling all that good but I figured they’d warm up eventually.  I had 12-hours to do so, after all.  But my calves were kinda crampy so Nic gave me a couple S-Caps.  They felt better but they still didn’t feel great.

We ran most of the first loop.  It was our first time on the little loop at the end.  It was narrower than the bigger loop.  I think we finished the first 5.38 miles in about 1hour, 15 minutes.  Not a bad time.  We stopped at the well stocked aid station and had some fruit, pretzels filled with peanut butter and a boiled potato with salt and then we went back out for another loop.

The neverending trail

The second loop didn’t go as well.  There was a lot more walking.  My legs just weren’t getting into the groove.  It was ok though, because we had 12-hours to reach our goal.  At the rate we were moving we would get 50k in 8 hours.  We hit the aid station and had a coke, more pretzels, cookies, fruit and then hit the trail.

Morrie on the trail

The third loop began a downward spiral for me.  There was a lot of walking this loop and I found myself walking along, staring at the ground.  I felt a bit depressed.  Morrie had to stop and give me a hug at one point.  I had a blister forming on the outside of my right heel.  My legs hurt, from the hamstrings to the outside of my calf muscles.  We managed to get back to the start but my mental state was in bad shape.  We went to the restroom after this loop.  As I sat there and stared at the door I had a weird visual effect.  I saw stars moving rapidly toward the center of my vision.  Except they weren’t bright like stars.  They were more like tiny black dots.  We had a peanut butter and jelly tortilla wrap at the aid station and part of a Red Bull and I sat down to put a bandage on my blister.

Blister

Redmond Watershed Preserve

We were falling behind in obtaining our goal.  We were sitting at about 9-10 hours for a 50k.

We headed out on the fourth loop.  We walked the whole way.  The downhills got to be too much for my legs and toes to handle.  We even walked backwards in some sections thinking it would provide relief for our legs.  Nope.  My toes we jamming into the front of my shoes and that was very painful.  My hamstrings were about 1/8″ long at this point.  The muscles on the front of my calf were screaming.  I was finding it difficult to hold a conversation.  Finally, loop 4 was over.  We spent way too much time at the aid station.  Not just after this loop, but after each one.  And all too soon we were off for the next loop.

The fifth, and final loop.  Nervous breakdown loop.  Whatever.  I didn’t think I was going to be able to finish this loop, let alone make it to a 50k.  We were moving really slowly by now.  My legs were burning; my toes hurt and my blister felt like it was growing with each step.  I don’t know how we managed to do it but we finished the fifth loop.  We pulled into the aid station with just over 2 hours remaining and we were only at 26.9 miles.  We needed something like 7 small loops to get our 50k.  My hands and fingers were so swollen that I couldn’t make a fist.  We grabbed some things to eat and drank some coke.

We had two hours left and at this point we didn’t think we could make the big loop in that time so we opted to run the little loops.  We needed something like 6 loops to get our 50k in.  We headed out for the first little loop.  I was still walking at this point but Morrie did a combination of walking and running.  Soon, she was ahead of me but not by far.  I came in after the second loop and met Morrie on her way out for another pass.  I told her that I thought I was done.  It didn’t last long.  It was hard to stay at the aid station with everyone encouraging (pushing) you to go out for one more.  So I went back out.  I had done four loops when this guy came running past me.  Turns out he’s some sort of elite-ish runner.  He asked how many loops I had left and I responded, “Two”.  He said, “You can do it” and I said no, but he insisted.  Something happened.  I started to run.  Well, I started the motion of running.  I wasn’t going very fast but it was a bit faster than walking.  My blister felt like it had popped but when I got home I found that it had just grown bigger.  I was getting a bit hysterical.  I wasn’t crying or laughing (yet) but my mind was going.

I managed to run most of the last two loops.  I had to walk on the downhills because my toenail was killing me.  Plus, there were more people on the little loop now and I kept pulling off to the side to let them go by me.  I crossed the line, completing my first 50k, in 11 hours and 42 minutes.  Give or take.  My legs were wobbly.  Some kind woman gave me her folding chair to sit in.  Nic was there and was asking me if I needed anything; Coke, cookies, Gu, etc.  I said no and as soon as I sat down I started to shut down.  I could tell I was going to cry if I didn’t pull myself back so I forced myself into conversation.  We talked about chafing and about how good Coke tastes after a run.  There was much cheering as people ran out for another loop with just minutes to go.  And then the 12 hours was up.

Soon, the woman who lent me her chair needed it so she could leave.  It felt like it took me 20 minutes to get out of the chair.  Morrie, Nic and I walked gingerly to the car.  I don’t remember much of the ride home or the ice bath or the dinner afterward.  Can’t even remember where we ate.  But I do remember the people at the run were very nice.  The recovery week wasn’t even all the way through and we had already signed up for the Vashon 50k.  Ahhh, runners amnesia!

What have I gotten myself into?

Top Pot 5k

Keeping with the new birthday tradition, Susan wanted to do a run for her birthday.  We looked around for a half marathon but then the Top Pot Doughnut 5k revealed itself and the case was settled.  What could be better than having a doughnut and coffee after a run?

Registration was an anxiety inducing event in and of itself.  We went to Jock n’ Jill to register in person and they only took cash, which I did not have.  So, we went around the corner to an ATM, paid our $85 service fee and got our cash.  I had illegally parked and I know those meter maids lurk just waiting for the opportunity to generate revenue.  We went back to the store and I registered for me, Morrie and Marti and Susan took care of herself.  We went back to the car and I was ticket free!

The race was actually the day after Susan’s birthday, on a nice Sunday morning.  Morrie mentioned that there were supposed to be 3,000 people at the event but there were only just over 2,000.  Not that that made a difference.  There were still a ton of people there.  The set-up was similar to the Iron Girl 10k in that they wanted everyone to line up according to pace.  I find that nobody ever abides by this as walkers mingle with the runners.  Oh well, we squeezed into the 11 minute milers and called it good.

We eventually started.  There were significantly fewer people than at the Iron Girl and I was not nearly as irritated by the walkers.  It was still packed with people in the beginning and we had to run off the trail occasionally to pass folks pushing their strollers and/or walking.  Eventually the crowd thinned out.  I was going along at a pretty good clip.  I felt good considering we were out late the night before.  Before I knew it we were at mile 1.

I had no idea where Morrie or Susan were.  They could have been in front of me for all I knew.  There were so many people that I had to watch for kids suddenly stopping in front of me or people stopping suddenly to pick up their MP3 player that they dropped.  I couldn’t watch for these people and keep an eye on my friends.  I felt strong and was still pushing myself.  At mile 2 a very nice volunteer, who, it turns out, was my co-workers son, yelled encouraging words to us.  All the volunteers were really nice.

Finally I rounded the corner by the pool and knew the end was near.  I entered the finish chute and picked up my stride.  The ground here was a bit rolly and it would be an easy, yet embarrassing place to trip.  I concentrated on the ground and I glanced up just in time to see my friend Danielle on the sidelines cheering me on.  That was nice.  I finished strong at a personal 5k record of 29:55.  My first sub 30 minute 5k.

I got my chip removed from my foot and went to immediately get a bottle of water.  We were to meet over by the porta-potties.  By the time everyone had finished I wandered over to get my doughnut and don’t you know they had run out!  Can you believe it?  Run out of doughnuts?  At a run for doughnuts?  Well, Morrie had managed to snag 2 of them so we shared.  As it turns out, doughnuts aren’t as good as a banana after a run.

We had fun though and the run was a benefit for Childhaven so it’s all good. After we made our way back to the car, we went to Mae’s Phinney Ridge Cafe for breakfast. Yummy!

More Mud and Chocolate. Except without the mud.

We took a long break after the Dirty Duo.  We let Susan rest her injury (still not healed) and took it easy.  But we did sign up for the second Mud and Chocolate half marathon.  Morrie and I had done this race back in November and it was only our second half marathon.  We wanted to die by the third lap.  We were interested how the trail would look after having done the Dirty Duo.

We arrived at the Redmond Watershed Preserve and actually found a place to park in the parking lot.  Would this be an omen of things to come?  We checked in, got our bibs and affixed them to our clothes.  We found Morrie’s mom and got her outfitted.  She was going to do the one loop 4.25 miler for sure and was hoping to do two loops.  One last bathroom run where the line was out the door and up the trail.  A few women, including Morrie, Susan and I, commandeered the men’s room.  After that we were off to the start.

We got the usual rundown:  Don’t scare the horses, share the trail, markers are pink.  Then we were all stuffing ourselves onto the narrow trail for the official start.  We were so far back that we never did hear them say “Go”!  But we were off.

I took off, feeling pretty good and that was the last time I saw Morrie and Susan.  I worried though, that they were right behind me.  And that just made me more determined to run the whole first loop, no matter what.

I got to the first big hill and I couldn’t believe it.  I sorta chuckled that I had remembered this as a gigantic hill when it was really nothing.  Well, nothing compared to anything the Dirty Duo had to offer.  This was going to be a cinch.  I plowed up, and around, and past.  I was feeling really good.  The trail was different this time.  No big leaves on the trail covering the rocks.  I kept trying to remember what was next and I never managed to guess right.  The horse gates were much further in than I remembered and there was a complete section that I had forgotten about.  But, soon enough I was back at the aid station.  One loop down and it only took me 45 minutes.

I emptied my shoe of rocks and had an Honest Tea and grabbed an Agave gel.   I spent about 5-8 minutes at the aid station and figured if I waited around too long then Morrie and Susan would catch up to me.  Unacceptable!  So I hit the trail.

There were fewer people on the trail now.  Everyone had thinned out and a bunch of people were only doing the one loop.  I decided to take this loop a little more leisurely.  I walked a bit on the hills and slowed my running down a little.  I had to pull over for mountain bikers once or twice.  They think they own the whole road.

There is a section of the run that fakes me out a little.  When I get to it I always think that I’m just about to pop out at the aid station.  I call this section the fake forest.  I am always surprised when I get to it and it isn’t the section that I thought it was.  When will I learn?  And this section always seems longer than I think it was last time.  Probably because I’m still confusing it with the actual end forest, which is much smaller.  Finally, I pop out of the fake forest and into the end forest then out to the aid station.  The second loop is complete in one hour.  I’m only 1:45 into the run and here comes the winner passing me.  I still have one loop left so I grab some more Honest Tea and an Agave gel and hit the road.  I’m convinced Susan and Morrie are going to pop around the corner any minute.

Even with the thought of Morrie and Susan being right behind me, I did end up walking more on the third loop.  I figured they would be slowing down too.  I toodled my way through the forest but I don’t really remember anything about the loop.  I was tired and my knees were a bit tender but other than that I still felt pretty good.  I finished the third loop in about 1:07 for a final finish of 2:52:33.  That’s almost 55 minutes faster than the last time I ran the course so I feel pretty good about that.

Dirty Duo birthday run!

Some time ago I thought it would be fun to do a run for my birthday.  We looked on the Half Fanatics calendar and couldn’t find anything.  Then Morrie found this.  I didn’t know if I was ready to run 15.5 miles on a trail yet so we didn’t sign up.  As time went by we ran a few more half marathons and were going to sign up for the Dizzy Daze 25k but they changed it to a half marathon so we opted out of that one.  Which brings us back to the Dirty Duo.

I was feeling pretty confident, especially after having shaved 15 minutes off my time at the Historic Half.  We signed up to do the 25k run.  I had looked at the web site a few times but mostly just to look at how much it cost and where could we lodge.  I neglected to read the details of the course or look at the photos of previous years.  Big mistake.  No, actually it was for the best that I didn’t look at those things because if I had, I would never have signed up for it. The route is described as, “very technical” and “challenging”.  To say the least.

My birthday was the day before the race so the plan was to go to breakfast at Easy Street Cafe.  Yummy!  After we ate, we packed our bags and loaded up the dogs and their overnight stuff.  Morrie took the dogs in the truck and I went to pick up Susan.  Susan and I were going to meet Morrie at her moms and we’d leave from there.  We got to the high point of the West Seattle bridge and discovered that Susan didn’t have her passport.  At least we realized it only 10 minutes from home instead of, say, at the border.   We turned around to get it.

We arrived at Morrie’s moms house and the dogs had been able to get out of the back yard and Morrie had spent some time bolstering up the weak part of the fence.  She rounded them up and put them in their room and we were off to Canada.

We decided to go through the main border crossing at Blaine.  We pulled up to the window and the border agent asked us the usual questions:  Where are you going? Are you meeting anyone?  Are you bringing coffee or cigarettes?  How long are you staying?  Are you bringing coffee or cigarettes?  Apparently there’s a problem with coffee and cigarette smuggling.  After a few minutes we were on our merry way.  Since this was a new way of entering Canada for us we were a bit discombobulated.  I had printed off Google directions to packet pickup at some store in North Vancouver.  I also printed off directions from packet pickup to our hotel.

What I didn’t know is that the printer used both sides of the page so when I got to the end of the first page, I went to the top of the next page.  Oops.  We drove out to packet pickup and almost made it but then the directions told us to basically go back to where we came from.  This made no sense and I was getting cranky.  The directions took us right to our hotel, as they were meant to, and then I realized what I had done.  So, back to packet pickup.  We checked in, got a map that none of us could read and were handed our Dirty Duo hoodies, 3 sizes too big.

Back to the hotel to check in.  I was getting pretty hungry and more cranky so we checked in, threw our bags in the room and went to the little pub located next to the hotel.  We had a lovely dinner and I opened my presents.  Lots of running things this year, surprise.  I got a watch so I can keep track of my time.  And I got a gift certificate to REI.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and crawled into bed.  The race started the next day at 11am but we wanted to get up early and get something to eat.

We woke up the next morning and slowly got dressed.  We headed back out to where we picked up our packets because we saw a Tim Horton’s where we could get some food.  We got our bagels and coffees and headed back to the hotel.  The race start was only about a half mile from the hotel and parking at the start was already full so we just walked to it.  We went into the meeting area and put our bags against the wall.  Soon, the director gave us her spiel which included the dreadful news that there were 4 inches of snow at Ned’s. (Because of their cute little accent I kept thinking they were saying Nad’s).  Snow.  Great.  I was wearing my usual running attire:  wool socks, shorts, long sleeved tech shirt over a short sleeved tech shirt.  Not exactly prepared for snow.  But I figured it was just part of the race and I could suffer through that section.

Soon we were all headed out to the start line.  A little cold out but not too bad.  And we were off.  Out of the parking lot and onto the road down the hill.  Through a gravel lot and onto a gravel trail.  Down the trail and onto a path that followed the river and then, into the woods.

Just inside the woods. Fresh legs.

That was the last time I had any sense of what time it was.  We ran through the woods.  Over boardwalks and through mud.  Up hills; down hills.  Through more mud.  Then a very steep down hill.  There was no way to run this section.  Steps were about 1 1/2 feet from each other.  And what goes down, must come up.  Ugh!  Steps up the other side were just as big.

Up, up, up.

My calves were burning. We reached the top and got to actually run for a little while on flat, groomed trails.  We finally came out at a very welcome aid station.

Susan revealed that her injury was flaring up.  We asked her if she wanted to continue and she said yes so we had a few Mars bars and some energy drink and hit the trail.  But first, a pit stop at the restrooms.  Then we re-hit the trail.  The next section was wide, like a forest service road, and gravelly.  And downhill.  And we popped out at another aid station.  We had more snacks and Susan had a mini breakdown because she was in pain and we asked her if she wanted to continue.  She said yes, got a hug and off we went.

Across the bridge, down a gravel road and then up a trail.  This section wound its way through the forest.  It wasn’t too steep and we could run a good portion of this section.  We walked part of it and started talking to a woman who was in the race with us.  She had fallen down a hill at the beginning of the race and was a bit muddy on one side.  She wasn’t hurt though.  We learned that she lived in North Vancouver.  Susan felt better going up hill so she ran most of the way in this area.  We chose to walk it.  Eventually we caught up to her and came up to another aid station.  This one was pretty picked over.  Very little water left over so we could only fill our bottles a little.  I had my backpack so I was still ok on water.

After this aid station it looked like it was straight up the mountain.  We headed up the hill walking.  It was getting cooler and muddier.  And then snow started to appear on the sides of the trail.  Nobody at any of the aid stations knew how far in they were so that made me a little crazy since I didn’t know how I should pace myself.  We went up.  And up.  And up some more.  The snow covered more of the area around us now and it was chilly.

Up, to Ned's.

We came to a clearing and there was a Dirty Duo arrow pointing our way.  There was some debate as to which way the arrow was pointing but we went the least likely way anyway, through what we now refer to as the rabbit hole.

The rabbit hole

After entering the rabbit hole, the entire landscape changed.  Jagged rocks; no foliage; very large trees.  Were we on the right trail?  I maintained yes, we were.  Morrie was skeptical and said she didn’t want to go the wrong way only to backtrack.  Interesting, the way she wanted to go was actually the wrong way but down hill, she would have had to backtrack if she had gone that way but I think the mountain madness had gotten to her and she just wanted off Ned’s.  I don’t blame her for that.  I do blame her for arguing with my superior sense of direction though.  She went ahead up the trail like she knew she wouldn’t find any trail markers and guess what?  She found one.  Told ya.

This section might be where I got a little hysterical.  I can’t remember much of it except that it was eerie and cold.  The trail had a river of melted snow running down the center of it so my feet were wet but thanks to my wool socks they weren’t cold.  My torso and arms were getting very cold.  My legs were ok, even though I was wearing shorts.  We came to another aid station.  I can’t believe the guy had been there all day, freezing!  There wasn’t much to eat and a bit of water but not much.  We needed to keep moving so we’d stay warm so we headed out.

Snow.

Going downhill was harder for Susan because of her injury.  Morrie and I helped her down some of the bigger steps but she managed quite well on her own.  And it started to hail.  Right.  Thanks.  Is this the insult added to the injury or just more insult?  Morrie commented that all we needed now was a lightning strike or a wild animal.  We were losing it.

We continued down the trail.  Down. Down.  And more down.  I remember thinking, “I was just saying how tired I was of all the up and now I’m just as tired of the down”.  It just wouldn’t end.  How far did we have to go?  Nobody knew.  I guessed. And re-guessed.  I could never remember what answer I came up with the first time so I’d have to calculate all over again.

We were gingerly coming down the hill and I heard a thump-thump, like something falling.  I immediately thought that Susan had fallen but I didn’t hear any yelps.  I whipped around to see two mountain bikers right on my tail.  They had come over a jump and landed right behind us.  Scared the bejesus out of me.  We let them pass and in seconds they were gone.  I couldn’t  imagine what it must be like to come down that trail on a mountain bike but I did a search on the good ol’ internets and found this.  Crazy.  We eased ourselves down the trail.  At some point Susan had a little breakdown, got some hugs and we were on our way again.

The trail down from Ned's

Eventually it happened.  It happened at the inaugural Mud and Chocolate and it happened at Nookachamps.  The sweepers came up behind us.  Fine.  We are no stranger to bringing up the rear.  It’s a role that we are comfortable with.  There were two of them with cute little Canadian accents.  They stayed behind us, politely.  Suddenly we plopped out onto a road.  We had been on it before.  The aid station was right there.  I thought we might be close to the finish.  The aid station was pretty deplete of supplies.  Some Mars bars and maybe some energy drink, I don’t remember.  Susan made the decision to drop out.  A decision she regrets.  I think she made the right decision considering her injury which still has not healed.  Morrie and I continued on.

The last leg was pretty much going back down then up the same way we came.  The sweeper would stop for a bit and let us get ahead, then catch up to us again, stop for a bit and let us get ahead.  Repeat.  By this time though my hamstrings were about 1/8″ long.  And then came the big climb back out of the ravine.  We practically had to crawl up.  I used my hands several times to hoist myself up.  At the top of the hill we took a left instead of going right, which was the way we came in.  It was nice because now I didn’t know what to expect and wouldn’t be dreading anything except the unknown.  It was really muddy here and my shoe almost came off more than once.  We ran.  And ran. And ran some more.  Finally, the trail spit us out at a road.  An actual paved road with stripes painted on it.  I was overjoyed.  I recognized the area from when we were looking for a parking spot so I knew we were close to the finish.  Morrie was a bit ahead of me but I caught up to her when she stopped to take a picture of a cemetery.  Some comments were made about could someone just dig a hole now for us?  And we were back at it.  She got ahead of me again.  Soon, we heard people cheering and what did Morrie do?  She sped up!  Hello?  It’s *my* birthday!  Do you think she slowed down and let me cross the finish line first?  No, she didn’t!  Unbelievable.  What mattered most was that we did cross the finish line and that the run was over.  Now, food.

Oh, except everything was packed up since it took us 6 hours and 15 minutes to run this damn thing.  The organizer did give me a beer though.  The best tasting beer I’ve ever had.

We went back to the hotel, showered, dressed and went back to the pub for dinner.  It was hockey night in Canada so the place was packed.  We sat down near the restroom and ordered.  We chit chatted about the run and watched hockey and watched the Canadians watch hockey.  We noticed a woman walking toward us.  She was actually heading to the restroom.  We all smiled at her because she had that ginger walk that we were also experiencing.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch this.

We had a great dinner and another beverage before heading back to the hotel.  We crawled into bed and passed out.  I can’t wait to do this run again next year.

Dirty Duo legs

The shoes are not returnable.

Mt. Seymour and Ned's Atomic Dustbin

Run for the Honeywagons!

Another road trip for a race, this time North to Everson, WA.  We’ve driven passed Everson on the way to Canada many times but I never knew it existed.  We hit the road around 7:15 but had to stop off at Tully’s for coffee.  We told Marti to be ready at 7:25 but we arrived later;  it was closer to 7:45.  She futzed around with her GPS and Susan slept in the back seat.

We passed Lynnwood, Everett, Tulalip Casino, Arlington, Mt. Vernon.  My bladder was hurting by the time we reached Bellingham and we still had 1/2 hour to go.   Finally we pulled into the parking lot.  It was full but Morrie wedged the car into a tight spot by the bus barn.  We went in to register and my heart sunk when I saw the line to the bathrooms.  We filled out our registration, got in line, paid and went to the back of the bathroom line.  We waited for a few minutes and I decided to go out to the car.  Maybe I could sneak in front of the car, between the front bumper and the bus barn and go out there.  Nope, too many people milling about.  We headed back to the gym and the porta-potty line only had 5 people in it.  Make that 7 after Susan and I hopped in line.  By the time everyone was done in the bathroom the race had already begun.  We headed out at about the 6 minute mark.  We got to the front of the school and there was nobody around.  Which way did they go?  Someone yelled at us, “They went that-a-way” so off we went.  We toodled off and then about three minutes into the run I realized that I hadn’t set my watch to start.  Grr!

After a few minutes we caught up to the walkers.  We even managed to pass a few of them.  We saw a bald eagle fly overhead.  And plenty of interesting smells.  We ran passed dairy farms with cows lined up.  Some of them mooed at us and we mooed back.  And we ran passed horses, alpacas, (we had a conversation with them too) and barking dogs.  We saw a few more bald eagles.

The run was sort of a loop.  Actually kinda like two loops connected by a straight line.  We only ran on the same road once for a short distance.  People in Everson were courteous in getting over into the other lane as they went by us.  Though they were still hurtling by at 50mph!  We caught up to the first person at around mile 7.  We slowed down to take a Gu but we caught her again around mile 8 and managed to get by her.  We set our sights on the next one and soon passed her too.  The next woman in line was kinda weaving all over the road and I was a bit concerned but she was listening to her headphones and didn’t seem to be distressed so we left her in our dust too.

There was another long stretch where we gained some ground on people but remained behind them.  Once we got down the hill to the last aid station we turned it on.  This race needed to be over!  We passed three more people with about a mile left.  Plodding along we came up on the last two.  As soon as I got within arms distance of them they started running.  Biotches!  I wasn’t having any of that so I poured it on and moved in front.  As I did so, one of them said to the other, “Nice and easy, like you do”, to which the other responded, “I don’t know what that means”.  The first one admitted that she didn’t know either but still, “nice and easy, like you do”.

Finally, the turn into the parking lot appeared.  As I rounded the corner I spotted the speed bump and wondered how I was going to lift my feet high enough to get over it.  I managed somehow and came across the finish line.  We staggered over to the food counter where they had some bread, ginger snaps, pretzels, juice (no water) and the ass-end of an orange or two.

We sat outside on one of the picnic benches and got into a conversation with a fellow Fanatic.  We talked for some time and finally decided to head out to get potato burritos at Casa Que Pasa.  Mmmmm.

I never did find out the history of this run or exactly what a honeywagon is and I may never know.