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.
