Seattle Half Marathon

We went to packet pick up on Friday morning.  We got our bibs and chips and shirt (teal? really?) and headed out to the expo.  Lots of vendors but no free swag except a few samples of granola or recovery beverages or dried cherries.  There were a lot of people in a space much smaller than the Danskin expo.  It didn’t translate to me then that these people were going to be running with me in a few days.

After we left the expo we went to Bambuza to get a bite to eat. Delicious as usual. I had the Ginger Claypot Chicken. Then we headed up to REI for some last minute shopping. We left REI and caught a bus back home. Downtown traffic was crazy. Turns out they were lighting the stupid tree at Westlake Center or somewhere.

Saturday morning we realized the clothing drop bags were not part of our packet so we drove back downtown to the Westin and I ran in to get them. Turns out they were nothing more than garbage bags. We went home and had steaks, sweet potatoes and a salad for our dinner. We laid out our clothes and gear and then off to bed fairly early.

Sunday morning the wind was blowing but not too hard. At least it wasn’t raining. Yet. It was overcast. We had a 7:30am start time and we figured we needed to catch the 6:03 bus to Key Arena. We got on the bus and the driver commented on us running the marathon. We let her know we were only doing the half, like that might make us sound less crazy. A few stops later another woman got on with her race bib on. We toodled down First Ave. and a gentleman got on and sat with us. He struck up a conversation about the race and laundry’s on Queen Anne. As we exited the bus he wished us luck.

We checked our clothes in and made one last stop at the Honey Buckets then off we went toward the start line. It was starting to mist by then and I was hoping it would let up soon. I saw a few Half Fanatic shirts and a few Marathon Maniacs too. Pretty soon it was time for us to line up. We were way back, well behind the 2hour 45minute pacer and there were still tons of people behind us. We saw our old Weight Watchers leader, Phil and our neighbor Lori but they were the only people we recognized.

After the singing of “America the Beautiful” and the announcements of who won the Baghdad Shadow half marathon, the airhorn sounded and we were off. Down Fifth Avenue. The Monorail went by overhead at one point early on and some people hooted and hollered. The entire width of Fifth Ave. was packed with people. People darting in and out, around other people. I nearly stepped on several people. I passed by a dropped glove. And then a knit hat. And a packet of Clif Blocks. Another glove. A sweatshirt? An asthma inhaler.

Finally we hit the entrance to I-90. I looked around the big, gentle turn and saw nothing but people. Lots and lots of people. We got to the top of what the Seattle Marathon map referred to as a gentle slope. There were people lined up for the Honey Bucket. There were so many people. Then I heard a thud and looked over to see about 6 or 7 people lifting an elderly woman to her feet. She put her hand to her mouth several times, like she was checking for blood. I didn’t see any on her face but maybe her mouth was bleeding on the inside. There seemed to be enough people there to take care of her so I didn’t feel too bad about continuing to run. We continued on I-90 for a little while eventually going through the Mt. Baker tunnel where two women had hopped over the jersey barrier to pee. Well, I assume they were doing #1. Hard to say since I didn’t stop for them either.

After exiting the tunnel we also exited I-90 and went down toward Lake Washington Blvd. I’m feeling pretty good at this point but I know there are hills coming up. I had already eaten some Sports Beans but was really waiting for the Gu station between mile 5 and 6. Finally it came and I grabbed a Vanilla Bean flavored Gu. It didn’t taste half bad. I didn’t care for the thick, gooeyness but beggars can’t be choosers I guess. It was supposed to have caffeine in it but I didn’t feel any better after taking it.

We came upon the halfway mark where they had a big ballooned arch with a timer. I thought I was doing pretty good crossing the halfway mark at 1:25 (gun time). If I could maintain my current pace (which I was pretty sure I couldn’t) I would come in at 2:50:something. My legs were starting to fatigue and I knew the hills were coming. I planned on walking up them unless they were sloped. First came Galer. Oh lord. This 1 1/2 block long hill is straight up. I walked it. As I turned the corner I looked back to see if I could see Morrie. She had fallen behind me a little earlier. There she was, walking up the hill, taking a sip of water. Ok, I felt better. I hit Madison and continued to walk for awhile but then decided this counted more as a slope than a hill so I started to run. After cresting the Madison portion we rounded the corner into the Arboretum. The rest of the race is pretty much a blur.

I remember coming out of the arboretum and crossing 24th with it’s weird zig-zag police tape aisle and then off the street and onto a paved trail I never knew existed. This part was more uphill and I continued to look back for Morrie. I stopped to use the Honey Bucket at around mile 9 and since I didn’t see her I thought maybe she had passed me. I kept looking back for her just in case. Pretty soon an ambulance went past me, on the trail. When I came up on it there was a woman laying on the ground covered in blankets with one runner holding her feet up and another at her head. Soon, I came down onto Roanoke. I was getting close. But Lakeview Drive was the worst part of the run for me. I kept thinking, “This is not fun”. But I kept running anyway. I was hurting by now. My right knee had a sharp pain when I stepped on that side and my right foot also had shooting pain. The hamstrings were getting tighter and tighter but they actually felt better than other races.

Once I conquered Lakeview Drive it was literally downhill from there. I crossed over I-5 and turned down Republican. Oh glory, downhill. Oh, except downhill hurts now. Thanks, Universe, for ruining something so sweet as the downhills. I rounded the corner and went one block, turned right and there it was. The final little hill. I ran down it and started running up the other side but walkers were passing me so I figured it counted as a hill. As soon as I reached the top I started running and when I turned the final corner toward Memorial Stadium I finally got my second wind. I kicked it up a little bit. Then I hit the artificial turf and kicked it up a little more. Finally, the finish line! After 2:53:43 (chip time) it was over.

I stumbled over to the chip removal person where Susan was standing. We exchanged tired woo-hoo’s and I went to get water and my space blanket. We stood around waiting for Morrie. I figured if she wasn’t ahead of me then she was right behind me. We waited. And waited. The security guy came along and made people get out of the area. We went over to the bleachers to sit. We had been seated for about 2 minutes and then we saw Morrie coming down the chute. We packed up our water and waddled our way over to her. We all went up to the Recovery area. There were about 50 chairs in the whole place and most of those were occupied by non runners. Hello? Get your ass out of that seat. We got some chocolate milk, bananas and a few other things. We stayed about 10 minutes then headed up to get our clothes from the drop off. Getting up the stairs of the stadium was a chore but getting back down them was hell. We made it though and eventually made our way to the bus stop.

We had to transfer busses so it took a little longer to get home than I had hoped. We made some tea and took turns taking an ice bath. After that, hot showers for everyone and then off to Zeek’s Pizza for the Cherry Bomb, Wild Green Salads and a Manny’s. Mmmmm.

My legs were restless for the rest of the day. I could not get comfortable. I hopped into the hot tub with Susan and that felt good and later we watched an episode of The Biggest Loser. The last time I had a big run I had a hard time sleeping so this time I took a sleep aid and was in bed by 8:30. I slept pretty well but woke up tired. As the day progresses I’m getting more sore. Each time I get up I discover a new muscle group that hurts.

Our next race is a cute little 5k – going back to our humble beginnings.

I want to beat John Curley!

So back in July we ran the Seafair Torchlight 5k.  When I signed up I noticed there was a link to something called “Challenge Curley“.  I went to the link, read it and decided that even though I probably couldn’t beat him I could at least slow him down so others could. It was easy to do since I really didn’t care for the guy anyway.

Race day came and John Curley ended up not showing up. So he DNF’d the race and everyone got a shirt. Except they ran out by the time we waded through the clusterf*ck that was the drop bag retrieval so they had me put my name on a piece of paper that I swear was torn off an envelope. I waited patiently and sent a few reminder emails. Someone who signed the email “John” guaranteed it was in the mail, all he needed was my address. I provided it along with my size. Anyway, that was July and I’m still waiting for my effing shirt.

Yesterday we went to the Seattle Half Marathon race packet pickup and low and behold there’s John Curley spewing on about if we beat him we’ll get a shirt. Liar. But since I hate him now more than ever I have registered to slow him down again. I’m not going to beat him in a race, but I would like to push him down a flight of stairs. He can keep his stupid shirt.

Nine miles. NINE MILES!!!

Our last long run before the Seattle Half Marathon came on Sunday.  We planned to run from Stan Sayers pits to Seward Park, around twice including the hill, then back to the pits.  We chose Sunday because it had the better weather forecast.  What to weather forecasters know?  We got up and delayed our start time by about 2 hours in the hopes that the wind and rain would ease up.  Luckily it did.  Ease up.  It rained, or maybe it was technically a sprinkle,  for the first little bit then stopped for the majority of our run.

I had shoe issues within the first mile.  I had to pull over and loosen my laces on the left shoe and then I was as good as new.  We stopped at the bathroom when we entered Seward Park.  I didn’t have to go that bad but went anyway in order to have a clean slate.  We headed out clockwise around the park.  We passed a few people walking, some with and some without dogs.  We rounded the corner at what I thought was the road up the hill.  But it wasn’t it so we continued on.  Pretty soon, there it was.  I trotted up about half way then stopped to walk.  I took the opportunity to dig in my pack for some energy chewables.  I found some sample that we had gotten from some race or another and chewed the tablets.  They were supposed to be mocha flavored but to me they tasted like a kinda sweet aspirin.  Anyway, they worked because I felt much better on the second lap.

Until I got back around to the hill again.  This time I managed to run only 1/3rd of the way up.  My legs weren’t all that sore, just tired.  But before I knew it I was coasting down the other side.  Susan was a little bit in front of me and Morrie was about that distance behind me.  Only 2+ miles to go!

Morrie caught up to me and we went the rest of the way together.  We chit-chatted about strategy, how the energy chews were working, where we were going to eat after the run.  Important things.  The down side to running this route, since we are unfamiliar with it so far, is that there are several corners to turn and each one you think the end is just around this corner.  Except it isn’t.  And it usually isn’t around the one after that, either.  So that’s how it goes for about 2 miles.  Then suddenly, there is the end.  We picked up the pace a little, not much, but a little.  And we finished at 1:53:31.  Not too bad.  But mostly we were surprised that we went 9 miles without having to stop (barring the bathroom break and the two times to stretch).  Now I’m wondering if I can run the entire 13.1 next Sunday.

After our run we went to Both Ways cafe for food.  I had a delicious curry chicken sandwich on their housemade honey wheat bread.  Then we headed home for a soak in the hot tub.  I was tired then but managed to stay awake.  We went grocery shopping later that evening and Morrie whipped up some tasty veggie soup.  We hit the hay early though we read our various running magazines for about half an hour then lights out.  I slept about 4 hours then at around 1:15am I woke up.  Wide awake.  And didn’t sleep again.  I tossed and turned for two hours then decided hell with it and went out to the couch to read.  I read for about an hour then decided to try sleeping again.  It was a no-go but I made myself lay in bed so I could at least rest for the last hour before the alarm went off.  Today might be a long day.

Veteran’s Day Half Marathon

Something possessed us after the Mud and Chocolate Half Marathon so we signed up for the Veteran’s Day Half Marathon.  That gave us 2 days rest.  I think that qualifies us for the “crazy” label.  Seriously.

We signed up because Susan was going to do it.  I would have been ok just running half the distance with her and letting Morrie run the other half but no, peer pressure got the best of me and I did the entire distance.

The race was billed as a fun run with “no frills”.  We got our numbers at the self serve table and made all the necessary trips to the bathrooms before the race began.  The organizer didn’t have a stop watch so we went by clock.  The race was to begin promptly at 8am.  We received a last minute overview of the course and then we were off.

The first mile or so was tough.  It was pretty chilly out and I had my gloves on.  I think that helped alot.  My IT band hurt at the beginning and my feet were pretty sore but they all warmed up and around mile 2 I took my gloves off.  We stuck to our 8 minutes running, 2 minutes walking plan though Susan had her own agenda and not too long after the start she was ahead of us.

It didn’t take too long for my hamstrings to start getting tight but this time it was on the upper part.  They really hurt when we would resume running after our 2 minute break.  But we continued on.  There was a woman behind us and my plan was to keep her there though I had doubts if I could keep up my pace.

The route took us down the Sammamish River Trail, along what I suspect was the Sammamish River.  When we started out there was a light fog hanging just over the river and in some of the fields.  We heard a rooster crowing at one point and saw a heron flying down by the river.  We also saw lots of people walking their dogs.  But no horses this time.

At around mile 4-ish we started seeing other racers heading back.  First one guy, then another, and another.  Then a couple women.  Then a big group of people.  All of them cheering us on.  Pretty soon we met up with Susan and she gave us the old, “the turnaround is literally right there”.  Which, of course, it wasn’t.  We reached it soon enough though and I kinda got a second wind.  Which lasted about a second.

As we rounded the cones we turned back and met the woman who was behind us.  We exchanged cheers and continued on.  We came up to a restroom and I couldn’t hold it any longer so we made a pit stop.  By the time we got out the woman was in front of us.  It took us about 35 minutes to catch up to her.  When we did we chatted a little bit.  She was 67 years old and had been running half marathons for 30 years.  She was coming up on her 100th race soon.  I was a little disappointed that we were having a hard time keeping up with a 67 year old but was also inspired by her.  We stopped to get some water at the aid station and she left us standing there.  We eventually did catch up to her again.

When we got to within 1 mile we decided to just stay running so we did and right at the end there was a bridge that we had to cross.  I could walk faster than I could run which was unfortunate since all the finishers were right there clapping for me as I walked up to the peak of the bridge.  Then I trotted down the other side and tried to pick it up a little.  Morrie was motioning for me to catch up and we crossed the finish line together at 3:02:14.  Slightly slower than our first half marathon but a time that I’m happy with considering we had just done one 3 days earlier.

The 67 year old, who’s name I never did get, crossed just a little bit after we did.  We all had some pretzels and bananas and soup and hot chocolate.  The 67 year old mentioned that we now qualified for Half Fanatics.  Someone asked us if we were going to join and we said yeah.  Apparently someone there was in the group and took our photo.  Then made our way to the car.  After that we went to Jalisco’s on Lake City Way for camarones Jalisco with macha sauce and margaritas.  Mmmmm.  After that, it was back home and ice baths and hot tea all around.

Mud and Chocolate Half Marathon

Leading up to the Mud and Chocolate Half Marathon I was a little concerned about my back.  After my massage it felt much better and it really felt better when I ran as opposed to walking or sitting around.  Ok, so I was also a little concerned about the weather – the forecast wasn’t all that great.  And I was a more than a little concerned that this was a trail run – our first ever trail experience.

We had a busy night on Saturday.  We went to Tulalip Bingo where we came within one or two daubs of winning the whole thing.  We sat in the non smoking area which was located on the other side of the smoking area.  Also, the bathrooms were in the smoking area too.  WTF Tulalip?  Anyway, after bingo we went to eat at a cajun restaurant called Alligator Soul.  We were meeting other people there at 7pm and we didn’t have reservations.  The place was packed when we arrived at 6:20 so we waited at the bar for the rest of our party.  They arrived about 7:20 and we were seated soon after that.  Dinner was lovely.  I had shrimp creole and Morrie had ribs.  Both were delicious.  Morrie ordered the brownie for dessert but was disappointed in the dryness. We finally arrived home at 11pm.  Thankfully we had prepared our running gear earlier in the day so we could fall right into bed.

Me and Morrie

We got up around 6:45 on Sunday morning and got the coffee going.   Morrie had cooked up some bacon the day before so we had some of that and finalized some of the preparations.  Susan had volunteered to be our pit crew and she came over around 8am.  We printed off the directions and headed out.  It was cold out and I was starting to dread taking my coat and pants off.  We arrived at the Redmond Watershed Preserve at around 8:45 and the parking lot was already full so we had to park on the side of the road.  We got out and got into the bib line to check in.  Race numbers in hand we headed back to the car to assemble ourselves.  We made one last pit stop at the bathrooms then mosied on down to the race start where the organizers were giving the logistics.

After a few minutes of learning about their signage, horse right-of-way, and confidence markers, we all filled into the trail.  They picked this section to begin because it was the widest part of the trail.  Seriously it was about 2 1/2 – 3 feet wide.  Before we knew it the race had begun.  The line thinned out a bit.  Actually it just elongated.  There was a line of single file runners heading down the trail.  We kept to our standard run 8 minutes, walk two for the first loop.  FYI, the loops were 4.25 miles each.  After about 30 minutes I developed a sharp pain from my low back down my right butt cheek.  This is the opposite side that had been bothering me.  I briefly entertained the idea of quitting at the aid station.  We finished the first loop in 1 hour and a few seconds.  Susan cheered us into the aid station then we were off again.

Me on the trail. Loop #1

We ran into a couple horses so we stopped and let them go by.  We had to make a pit stop to pee just before the first big hill.  We walked up the hill and tried to stick to the 8 minutes on, two minutes off but we decided to walk the up hills and save our energy.  We walked a lot more on this loop and had to stop to empty shoes and stretch more.  At one point Morrie developed a cramp in her leg and I wondered if we were going to finish the race. We made it to the aid station and to my surprise, three other women came in behind us.  They didn’t stay long and were off  on their third loop.  We never saw them again.

We headed out on the third and final loop and we managed to run about 5 minutes before we had to walk.  We made another pit stop to pee and this time I wasn’t the only one.  We talked about how Morrie learned, via Youtube, how to properly pee in the woods.  That was one advantage I had at growing up in the country I guess.  We walked up the hill then started running.  At this point our leg cramps and shooting pain were just about too much.  We decided to walk up all the hills regardless of the time.  That lasted until about the first downhill and that’s when we decided to walk the rest of the way.  We had no sense of direction and no sense of how far we had gone or how far we had to go.  It was a long walk.  And because we weren’t running we started to cool down.  My hands were getting cold and Morrie was wearing just a short sleeved shirt.  I had put one short sleeved tech shirt on underneath my long sleeved tech shirt so I was ok there.  Pretty soon we heard someone come up behind us.  The sweepers.  They were picking up the markers and signs.  We chit-chatted for a while then then held back a little.  We got to the turn by the aid station and we stopped to stretch.  We took off and rounded the corner.  Just the two aid station guys were there along with Morrie’s mom.  We painfully jogged along past them and up the little incline to the finish.

With our chocolate finishers medals.

bike ride in the storm and upcoming half marathon

We’ve got a busy weekend coming up.  Our friend Jackie has a birthday and we’ll head up to the Tulalip Casino for some Bingo then to Alligator Soul for some dinner.  Susan and I decided to go for a bike ride, hoping to offset some of those impending calories.

The sky was black when we arrived on Harbor Ave.  We should have known not to ride but we headed out anyway.  It was a littly rainy and a little breezy but not too bad.  The lights from downtown Seattle were pretty clear as the wind had moved any low clouds off the water.  As soon as we rounded the point that’s when it hit.  The wind practically blew me backwards.  Well, that’s what it felt like anyway.  There were a few times when I was blown sideways too.  The nice part was that there were very few people out on the trail.

We headed toward Alki.  I looked out across the Sound toward Bainbridge Island.  The lights there were crystal clear too.  Ferries coming and going were all lit up.  There were logs in the water but the waves were pretty subdued here.  Actually, the water seemed to swell and heave gently with the current.  Seemed pretty inviting except it looked cold and dark.

We regrouped and decided to keep going.  That is, until we rounded the corner onto Beach Drive.  Not only was the wind whipping at us, it was throwing the rain into our faces and the waves crashing into the seawall were spraying us.  We went a block and decided to turn around.  With the wind at our backs, the ride was pretty nice.  Though that didn’t last long.  We rounded the corner and were blasted again on the Elliott Bay side.

We pushed on and eventually made it back to the truck and in the process nearly had to run over a f*cktard in all black running on the trail going from side to side.  Still, I’ll feel pretty good about the seafood gumbo I’ll be enjoying tomorrow evening.  And if the bike ride wasn’t enough to zero out the calories, Sundays Mud and Chocolate half marathon should.

This will be our second Half Marathon but our first trail run.  We are looking forward to it even though the weather is supposed to be miserable.  Guess that’s where the Mud will come in.  Apparently it’ll be three loops at 4.4 miles each.  Susan has offered to be our “crew”.  Of course, there’s a price for her services:  we have to pay her in chocolate.  Shouldn’t be difficult since they’ll be offering it at every aid station.

This will also be my first race with my hydration backpack.  I’ve worn it 2-3 times while running and it’s worked out pretty well except the plastic taste and that it wears on my tech shirts something fierce.

Motivation

*knock-knock-knock* is usually how it begins.  Nic walks into my cube and asks if I’ve read the email that he just sent.  So I go to my email and sure enough, there’s an email.  Sometimes it’s a video of Raul Ibanez fielding a perfectly good ground ball only to throw it into the ground 6 feet in front of him.  Sometimes it’s some stupid video he’s found on some college humor website.  Sometimes it’s a comic strip he thinks I’ll enjoy.  But more often than not it’s got something to do with running.

One link sent me to a clip about some crazy endurance race where people crawl through creek beds on their bellies and run all hours of the day and night.  Sometimes it’s a link to a group he wants me to join or to a photo album showing me how fun it is to collect race numbers. Other times it’s some video of pretty mountain scenery that one might encounter on an ultra marathon.  That was in the beginning.  Now I get sent to photo albums of bloody nipples.  I was just really happy for that sports bra after I viewed that page.  Then along came the awareness of toenail disasters and blister popping.

Ok, so he didn’t send me the video of the blister popping.  He made me come to his cubicle to watch it with him.  It was disgusting and I’ll spare you all (all 5 of you who read this blog) the link.  Morrie and I watched the documentary “Running on the Sun” about the Badwater 135 and part of that video showed several runners popping blisters.  That was mild compared to the video he showed me.  I’ll never be the same again.

Does this guy want me to continue running?  Because if he does, he shouldn’t show me these types of things.  Pretty mountain trails, ok.  Hypodermic needles to gigantic toe blisters, not ok.  He can keep sending the bloody nipple photos though, because those just make me smile.

Back troubles

After the Salty’s Half Marathon I had a little sciatica in my left butt cheek so I decided to go to my chiropractor and have him give me an adjustment.  I went and he gave me a hard time for not having seen him in nearly a year.  Really?  Had it been that long?  Well, in any event he ushered me into the room and we exchanged pleasentrys.  I laid down on his table, face down, and apparently my left leg was shorter than my right.  Crack, adjust, crack some more and I’m out of there.

The next morning I had my Weight Watchers meeting (down 0.2 lbs this week) and I squirm in my chair.  My lower back aches.  I finish the meeting and head home.  Morrie and I get our stuff ready and we head out for a 6 mile run at Seward Park.  The road in the park is slanted to the right and my right knee begins to hurt.  I switch over to the other side of the road where it’s flatter.  That seems to help.

We finish our run (we actually call it a shuffle.  The Shuffle of Death to be exact) and we head home.  I do some tree trimming and yard work.  My back is stiff and a little sore when I bend over to pick up branches.  It sucks getting old.

Sunday was a little worse.   I went to Target with a friend and we walked around Westwood Village.  I was a bit stiff and sore getting in and out of the car and I had sharp pains every so often in my lower abdomen.

Then came Monday morning.  I couldn’t bend over to put my socks on without having a searing pain shoot through my low back.  I had to walk with my hips way forward.  I went to work but instantly regretted the decision and made Morrie come get me and take me home.  I took some Flexeril and went to bed laying on an ice pack.  It felt a little better but then the muscle relaxer wore off and I had pain in my low back and low abdomen.  I laid around and took several Ibuprofen and iced my back several times.  Nothing seemed to be helping.  Morrie came home around 9pm and we debated over whether or not I should take a whole muscle relaxer or just 1/2.  We opted for half since I might need the whole one the next day.

Tuesday was worse yet.  I woke up and tried to get out of bed.  I couldn’t use any of my back muscles to help myself sit up.  I finally stood up and couldn’t put any weight on my left leg without having a shooting pain down my leg.  I hobbled to the bathroom and sitting was just as bad.  I had to hang onto the door handle and the sink and ease myself down.  And the dogs were of little help.

I took more Ibuprofen and iced the heck out of my back.  It did feel good to put the cold pack on it.  I imagine it was pretty inflamed.  I laid around the house all day making sure to get up every once in awhile to move around and limber up.  I took a walk around the block just to get away from the computer (one can only lose so many games of Solitare before it starts to wear on a person).  I went two blocks down and one up and by the time I got home it was time to ice again.   I iced and took Ibuprofen all day.  When Morrie got home we had dinner then we decided to hit the hot tub.  Now *that* really felt good on the back.  I loosened right up and I could stand up without grabbing onto things.  When it came time for bed I laid on an ice pack for good measure.

Wednesday morning I felt pretty good.  The back was a bit stiff and a little tender still but nothing like it was.  I went to work.  We went to get coffee and as we stood around chit-chatting I could feel my back getting tighter and tighter.  I was so distracted by it that I didn’t hear someone saying my name repeatedly (he apparently said it about 5 times).  This is going to be a long day.  I’ve been sitting in my chair for 6 hours and my back is very sore.  I miss my ice packs and I want to lay on the floor of my cube, flat on my back.  I get up for little jaunts to the water fountain or the fax machine but they don’t help much.

 

Running interstate.

So we missed the Trek Triathlon because we were signed up to do the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.  But not in our home city of Seattle.  And not even in our state of Washington.  We were taking this business out of state.  Ok, so barely out of state.  Portland, Oregon to be exact.  It’s different.  They won’t let you pump your own gas there.  Anyway, my cousin is a breast cancer survivor and she has a team every year and we were on it.  I had heard it’s a good time for everyone.  Again, someone lied to me.  More on that later.

I knew Seattle had a good showing for their race in June.  It was held the same day as the Furry 5k and though I briefly had aspirations of running both races I stuck to just the Furry 5k. I figured the Portland race would be a quaint affair, maybe 8,000 people.  No.  I had to log onto my fundraising site and then I saw the participant numbers.  OMG!  35,000?  Was that right?  could it be a typo?  A serious mistake?  How could I possibly be around that many people at one time?  Then, after some searching around the internet it got worse.  Apparently Portland has the 2nd or 3rd largest event in the nation and they estimate 46,000 participants.  Oh god.  This is going to be worse than the Danskin.

I tried to put the amount of people out of my mind.  This was a fundraising event and I would spend time with my family.  I tried to make that my focus.  But 46,000 people?  And 22 of those would be my teammates.

the team

Twenty two people at once are hard enough for me to handle.  Maybe if I raise enough money I can buy my way out of it.  Nope, I guess not.

We headed down to Vancouver – we were staying with friends (thanks Carla and Dany) – on Saturday morning.  We made a quick pit stop at the local REI which ended up with me throwing a temper tantrum (hardly my first, or my last) and not buying anything and swearing I would never buy anything there again.  Words I would eat in less than a month.  Well, anyway, we found out that we needed to check in on Sunday morning to get our timing chips and race bibs.  Why they couldn’t put them in with our packets I’ll never know.  We had dinner at carb load central – The Old Spaghetti Factory – and met a childhood friend at a tavern for a beer.  Then off to bed for a 4:30am wake-up.

As it turns out, the wake-up happened around 4:15.  We got up and got our shorts on.  Shirts, hats, long pants and sweatshirts, shoes, too.  We headed out to the nearest Starbucks for coffee and something to hold me over.  We arrived at the shuttle just before 6am.  We checked in with my cousin who had not yet arrived at the mall parking lot.  I told her about having to get our timing chip so we decided it would be best to take the shuttle without them and meet everyone over at the race.

We get to the expo and there are alread a ton of people there.  We check in and get our chips and bibs and get them put on.  Then we try to find our teammates.  It wasn’t all that difficult actually.  My cousin had a sign with our team name on it and it was easy to pick out.  We gathered around and chit chatted for a while.  Our race was about to begin so we shedded our long pants and sweatshirts and handed them over to our friend Dany.  Our plan was to run the 5k then reassemble with our team and walk the 5k together.

Again we are asked to queue up according to our pace times.  There is a large gap between us and the group in front of us at first but it eventually fills up.  And the next thing I know, we are off.  Away we go.  Through the balloon arches and down the street.  Four lanes of road all to us.  We pass an inhaler, broken and strewn on the road.  Hope nobody needs that later.  We go a few blocks then make a right turn.  Then it’s a long, straight stretch for some distance.  And then, what’s this?  Is that a hill-like incline?  Oh, it’s the exit from a bridge that we need to run up.  Yippee!  But it doesn’t last long then we go back down the other side and then another right turn.

The photographer is dead ahead and I try my best to ignore him, as I usually do.  I see a left turn ahead.  This must be the down and back portion as there are already people coming back down it.  I make the turn carefull not to trip over the train tracks.  Finally, I’m at the turn-around.  I guess it must be about a mile to the finish.  Oh how wrong I was.  It was closer to 1 3/4 mile probably.  Morrie was right behind me as we trotted along.  Then, up ahead, the railroad crossing arms started coming down, lights flashing and alarms sounding.  Here comes the Coast Starlight (or was it the Empire Builder) into Portland.  We timed it so we didn’t need to stop.  The train passed and the arms lifted in plenty of time.

I keep thinking the finish line must be getting close, but it isn’t.  I can’t even see it.  There is a group of drummers playing so I figure this must be the last push but where is it?  I’m starting to hear announcers and there are more and more people so yes, this is it!  Oh, the finish line, I can see it!  I start to pour it on and I’m almost to the blue mats when the woman who is running in front of me stops on the mats.  Hello?  Do you think you are the only person in this race?   I nearly run into her but she’s still oblivious which irritates me to no end.  I want to push her over.  But I don’t because this is a fundraiser.

ribbon

Morrie and I immediately head over to the water bottle and banana area.  My goal for the race was to beat my best 5k time by one minute.  I didn’t make it.  I beat it by a mere 27 seconds, but still, a personal best.  We gather up with our teammates and we’ve got about 30 minutes to kill before the walk starts.  By now there are a lot more people here and it’s starting to warm up a bit.  We meander around and meet up with more teammates.  There is some talk about getting into the line for the walk since it starts in 10 minutes.  But nobody moves.

Finally we decide to get in line and when we get over there I can’t believe the amount of people.  The walk starts and they have us diverted down two different streets.  Half turn onto the first one and we head up to the next block.  Oh, and it’s less of a walk as it turns out and more of a shuffle.  There are so many people here that it’s difficult to move.

several of the 50,000 people in my way

I can see how someone could be crushed or stampeded.  We finally make it to the first real turn and omg!  All 4 lanes of the street plus the turn lane are shoulder to shoulder with people!  I decide that this is the perfect time and pace to take photos so I dig the camera out and start snapping.  One team has turtle balloons.  Another team has horse heads.

We make our way to the bridge incline and people are starting to spread out now.  Thankfully.  But it’s still pretty crowded.  We go up the incline and down the other side.  By the time we make it to where the run turned left toward the turn-around they had eliminated that from the route.  Ok by me.  Pretty soon the finish line was near.  A welcome sight let me tell you.  As we cross the finish line, a mere 1 hour 49 minutes after starting, the announcer claims there were 50,000 participants.

What’s a girl to do?

I got on the scale this morning.  152.something pounds.  WTF?  I’m staying within my points and I’m exercising like a woman possessed, why am I not losing weight?  I’m going to try cutting down on the fruit intake.  Yeah, that’s right, fruit is doing me in.  I’m chubby because I like apples.

I’m reading “Shape Up with the Slow Fat Triathlete:  50 Ways to Kick Butt on the Field, in the Pool, or at the Gym–No Matter What Your Size or Shape” by Jayne Williams.  She says that getting your core into shape will help you in your athleticism.  So, as a follower of the Slow Fat Triathlete, I’m checking out the local Pilates place.  I’m going from apple core to my core.

The Slow Fat Triathlete also says to eschew diets.  Well that isn’t good news for Weight Watchers.  But I’m inclined to believe her.  I mean, really, I’m not losing weight and I’m running several times a week with a long bike ride thrown in for good measure.  And I’m hungry.  And I need to cut back on my fruit.  So what’s the point?  Ok, yeah, I’m gaining muscle and that weighs more than fat.  The thing on the front of my belly that flops around when I run isn’t muscle, I can guarantee that.  I really miss pizza.  And Jalisco’s Camarones con macho sauce.  What’s a girl to do?