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.