What would you do for a medal?

I don't know if you remember, but back in February I found a link to a Washington half/full marathon series.  The Tri-Cities marathon is part of that series, so I thought it would be "fun" to see if I could get 3 more half marathons done this year as part of that series.  Well, the thing is, I have to actually run specific races, not just any half marathon (so my January half marathon doesn't count), but I ran the San Juan half specifically because of this series.  That was a hard half, and I have no desire to do it again.

I had decided to The Happy Girls Run in Spokane as my second race of the series.  I had originally decided to do that one because it was in Spokane. I wasn't thrilled about going to Spokane (it's a 6-7 hour drive) but I have an aunt that lives there so I could stay with her.  Every other race I saw was in an area where I knew no one and was too far for a day trip.  Well, then about a month ago I was looking at it and noticed it's a trail run, which I don't do . . . I was going to, but was really not looking forward to it.

Then I was looking at what other races, and the same weekend as the The Happy Girls run was the North Country Wine Run.  Wine run?  of course I'm going to look at that.  That one was south, near Portland, Oregon, but still in Washington.  Well, while Chris was in the hospital I had a talk with his brother about an aunt and uncle of theirs that has been disappointed that we haven't seen them when we are down in that area.  I didn't know they lived close to where we go every winter with my family, but I thought, well, if they live close to where this run is, maybe they'll let me stay there.  And then I didn't call them.  And then I sorta forgot (procrastinated) to register for the race. 

Both of those races were last weekend.  Which means I missed them.  Which means if I don't find another race, I will have run the San Juan Half for nothing (well, bragging rights, but does that really count when you were planning on getting a medal?).  So I was looking at other half marathons through the end of the year, and the pickings are slim.  There's the Seattle Marathon in November, but if you've been to Seattle, you know it's pretty hilly, and it's Thanksgiving weekend, and it's our year to go to eastern WA for Thanksgiving. There's another trail run at Lake Padden, but again, it's a trail run, and the difficulty is hard. . . So that brings me to the Leavenworth Oktoberfest Half . . . This Saturday, 2 1/2 hours from my house. 

Benefits: 

• It says it's an easy race. 
• It's only 2 1/2 hours from home (which isn't bad compared to most others). 
• It starts at 9am, instead of earlier. 
• Fried green beans . . . (see photo below)

Cons:

• It's 2 1/2 hours from home.
• I'd have to wake up at week day time, not weekend time.
• It's 4 days away, so the price is pretty spendy.
• It's Oktoberfest in Leavenworth (which equals busy).
• I'd have to come home right after the race because it's Oktoberfest and there's no way I'd find a room (or be able to afford one).

So I could leave home at 5:30am (very early), but I could eat and drink in the car, so that's a benefit, and then run, then drive home.  I could potentially be home before 3pm, so I would still have the late afternoon/evening at home.  And I've definitely woken up early on a weekend to go running before, so that wouldn't be a big deal . . . well, maybe not that early, but on weekdays I wake up at 430, so my body is used to it. 

I'm thinking I'm going to do it.  I would love it if I had company for the drive, but both Damian and Chris have to work and my sister is coming back from Hawaii Friday night, so no way she wants to go.  I asked a friend, who said she would . . . if she wasn't going to Las Vegas for her boyfriend's birthday.  So this is another lonely running trip just for a medal.  ; )

This year's wine walk with my sister in Leavenworth

OHHH!  I could get these fried green beans at
one of my sister's and mine favorite restaurants.
Yum! =)

P.S.  If someone reads this and wants to go, I'm taking any and all offers.  ; )

Another failed long run

I'm rather disappointed in having to take so much time off for my hip issues.  My 3 weeks off made me slower, which is understandable, of course it's going to affect my time and distance, but it's frustrating.  And honestly, I'm looking at my training schedule and I should have already done a 20 mile run . . . 3 weeks ago.

Yesterday I went out to run 19 miles, why 19?  Well, because I've been behind and I haven't been pushing myself, and last week I did 16.  I don't know if I can jump 4 miles in one week, so I decided 3 miles would be an okay jump .  . . except I didn't make it to 19. 

I guess, since I didn't post last week, I will back up a little.  A week ago yesterday I ran 16 miles, and while I felt it was hard, it wasn't that bad.  I finished, and felt good about it.  It was the first run since July 23rd that I ran the distance I set out to run.  I even went grocery shopping afterwards, don't get me wrong, my feet were really tired, but I did it. 
Then on Tuesday while I was running I felt a sharp pain in my right knee as I stepped down, and then again on the next step with the right foot.  I stopped, assessed, and it didn't feel bad, ran a few steps and it was gone, so I finished my 5 mile run.  On Wednesday I woke up and it was a little sore, but I was planning on resting that day anyway, so I didn't worry about it.  However, on Thursday it was really sore so I decided I should take that day off as well.  Friday came, and it felt better, but was still giving me a little irritation, so again I rested.

Saturday I got up bright and early and went for a 5 mile run.  No issues with my knee at all.  So it's a go for Sunday's long run.  Except I woke up on Sunday and didn't really feel like running.  I laid in bed, watched Orange is the New Black (why did I wait so long to watch the new season?!) and thought about skipping my run.  At about 9am Chris came in and asked me about my run, and I shrugged and said I didn't want to run.

Finally I got out of bed and got dressed and left for my run at about 9:45am.  Still not sure how far I was going to go.  Thinking I may cut it short and call it good.  Well, that's exactly what I did.  At about mile 9 I came to a road where I had to turn left to go farther, I was moving really slow at this point, or I could turn right and head home.  The thought of running 10 more miles seriously made me want to cry so I looked at mapmyrun, then Google Maps to figure out how far I was from home. I decided running 5 more miles to make 14 total sounded way better than running 10 more miles, so I turned right. 

I got about 2 miles down the road and realized I really, really had to use a bathroom.  Like now!  I text Chris, asked him to come get me, he didn't respond, then I remembered there was a church not very far ahead and thought I could maybe make it there.  I ended up walking to the church and thankfully was able to use the bathroom.  (This was eerily similar to my story 2 years ago. . . however, there were people there and I was able to ask, and I didn't spend the rest of my day in the bathroom, thankfully, oh and it wasn't a great run . . . so maybe not so similar.)  While I was sitting on the toilet I called Chris and asked him to come get me, but then I got out of the church and felt good.  I could have run the 2 more miles to the park where Chris was meeting me with Maddox.  =/  Oh well, I got 12 miles in. Honestly, I didn't feel bummed about not doing 19 miles, but I felt really upset that I didn't do 14.

You know what is usually the start of a bad run?  Me telling myself over and over that I don't want to run, and not telling myself that I'm going to run 19 miles no matter what.  Also, reading my old posts from marathon training 2 years ago today has made me realize that I am not fueling the same way, and maybe that's why I'm so tired.  2 years ago what I found best was 3 honey stingers every 2 miles, I am currently only doing 2 honey stingers every 2 miles.  I just bought some Nuun for last week's run, so I'm sipping that whenever I want, but maybe the honey stingers are another thing that's going wrong for me.

Once again, I am no where near where I should be in training for a marathon.  Maybe if I do enough of them, I will have figured it out and followed a training plan.  This year was going to be the year I followed the plan exactly, and I was going to run it under 4 hours . . .that is not going to happen.  I can't go back and fix my hip, I can't go back and make myself run more on my long runs, so I just need to go forward.  I saw on Facebook that they've added a half marathon option to the Tri-Cities Marathon, so maybe I'll do that.  I have until October 14th to decide (the last day of registering for the marathon) and I'll have gotten in 2 more long runs before that, so I'll know where I stand. 

One last thing before I'm done.  My failed 19 mile run yesterday was along the beginning of my long runs from 2 years ago.  I was a little leery about running that way because there were a couple houses with dogs, and I have definitely developed an aversion to dogs while I run (honestly, they scare me more than being attacked by humans), I like dogs, I'm not scared of them, but farm dogs are territorial and usually not on leashes or fenced in, and no one is around.  Anyway, I did it and passed Donald again.  I had forgotten about Donald and his peanut wagon.

 

They've definitely done more work to him and cleaned up the area around him.  =)

From 2015

I noticed the solar panel yesterday, I didn't remember it from 2 years ago, and now I'm curious what it is powering.  Maybe I'll have to drive out there one evening to see.

Leavenworth weekend

I have a standing desk at work, well it adjusts to a standing or sitting desk.  I've wanted one for years and years, and finally got one at this job.  I find that when I stand at my desk I tend to move around more.  I tend to go for walks down the hall (mostly to look for someone to talk to) ; ) but also just more fidgety at my desk than if I sit.  I think that is actually the reason they say you should use a standing desk. 

Anyway, this weekend my sister and I went to Leavenworth for the Wine Walk.  My post last week talked about this being the 5th year we've done it (I found pictures for 5 years, and skipped one year) but then I was talking to my sister and I was right originally, this is the 4th year we've done it.  It's the 6th year we've done a trip just her and I.  The very first year we did a trip was to Leavenworth, but not for the Wine Walk, we didn't know about it yet.  The second year we went to Winthrop which is why I couldn't find a picture of our Leavenworth trip in 2013, we didn't go there.  =) 

Anyway, this weekend was the Wine Walk, and it was fun.  The Wine Walk is exactly what it sounds like.  It's a town-wide wine tasting.  Different wineries set up booths in stores in downtown Leavenworth, some have actual tasting rooms that are there all year round (more now than 4 years ago).  At the beginning of the day you get a map with the locations of the wineries that are participating and a wine glass and you walk from place to place and taste their wines.  I always buy a couple of bottles, and I save the bottles that I get from this weekend.  I'm developing quite a collection.  =)  I have no idea what I'm going to use the bottles of wine for, but I don't want to open them.  I always say they're for a special occasion but I have yet to meet an occasion special enough.  ; ) 

Anyway, this year we went a day earlier than we have in the past.  We left Thursday after work so we would have a full day to enjoy the sun and the pool, which we totally did.  Friday morning we went to breakfast (the hotel we've stayed at last year and this year has a great complimentary breakfast) and Nancy asked me if I was going to go run.  I said I hadn't really decided yet, and she told me to go, I would regret it if I didn't.  So I went for a run.

I ran 6 miles out of town, and it didn't suck.  ; ) 

After my run I convinced my sister to get in the outside pool (she did lap swim in the inside pool while I was running . . . she's a swimmer, not a runner), so we lounged around for an hour or so and then went looking for food.  We found a sandwich place that she LOVES (which is strange because she doesn't like sandwiches) a couple years ago, so now we go there once a trip. After lunch we went for a walk on a trail that goes by a river and loops through an island, and then we went back to the pool for the afternoon.  It was a very nice way to spend Friday.  =) 

Saturday was the Wine Walk which is best expressed in pictures. =)

And then back to the hotel to sober up a little.  We got in the hot tub for a short time, and then went back to our room and watched some TV. 

We finally decided we should eat dinner, so we tried somewhere new.  I'll admit, we mostly chose the place because of the name, which was "Wok About Mongolian Grill" and had cool names for their drinks like "Wok-a-tini." =)  I got a much needed fortune, which I'm sure will come true!

It says "You will inherit an unexpected
sum of money within the year."

On our walk back to the hotel we saw a quartet playing Alpen horns, which was really, really cool.

Then back to the hotel where we drank some more wine and passed out.  =)

And Sunday we came home.  Damian was late leaving Mount Vernon to pick me up, so we stopped and got pedicures while we waited for him.

All-in-all, it was a good weekend.  I was not ready to come to work today, but I guess that's where I'm at.

Running and Leavenworth

So I just posted a post that I wrote last week but hadn't quite finished it yet (mostly just adding pictures) and then forgot about it.  I actually was getting on to write about what's been going on in the last week, so you'll get two posts in a row.  =)

I think I ended my last post (that I literally just looked at and posted, but don't remember) with my 7 mile run on August 20th.  So that week I ran 3 miles, then 5 miles and then 5 miles race pace . . . Nope, I lied, I ended with my 11 mile run on the 27th.  I was feeling good about that particular run, I had been thinking 8, then switched it to 11.  I was tired afterwards, but I did it without problems. 

Last week I ran in the gym for 3 miles.  I'm not going to lie, my last 5 mile run on the trail near my work freaked me out a little.  I didn't like the trail before, but then to see the 3 people shooting up at the end of the trail made me think maybe I shouldn't run that trail. 

Don't get me wrong, I work in the social service field, I am well used to seeing people high.  I have been working with homeless adults about 7 years now, I know how they live and what they do to survive.  But meeting with my clients and working with them (even driving them places) is different than running into strangers while running.  My clients know me and (I hope) respect me, I'm not scared of them.  Strangers are a different matter.

Anyway, I was going to run on that trail last week, but I decided I really didn't want to this time.  I don't know if I will again. . .

Five miles on Thursday . . . with the plan to do 6 mile race pace on Saturday.  Well, Damian wasn't home Saturday morning and he's been watching Maddox a lot lately, so I didn't want to make him come home.  I decided to run with Maddox on his bike, I knew it wouldn't be race pace, but I thought it sounded fun.  He was pretty much done at 3 miles so we went home (up hill for the last half mile, poor kid).  My neighbors agreed to watch him for a little bit so I did 3 miles at race pace, which sadly wasn't any faster than my normal race pace even though it was shorter.  I did those 3 miles on my normally hilly route and not my normal flat race pace route (I did that for Maddox's 3 miles). 

The run with Maddox was pretty fun.  I think he enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it, even if it was a little slow.  =)  I think I will do that more often with him.

Sunday I was going to run 15 miles.  My schedule (if I had stayed on the schedule) says I should be at 19 miles, but obviously that isn't happening.  I was trying to catch up and thought 15 miles this week, 18 next week (when I should be at 20) and I'd probably hit 20 before the end of September.  Well, I was pretty tired on my run and knew I wouldn't get 15 done.  So I thought that 14 would be okay.  I called Chris to see if someone could pick me up, but doing math in my head when I'm tired isn't good, and I ended up with only 13 miles at my pick up point.  I walked away from that run thinking that I could have done another mile.  I hate that feeling.

My last 13 mile run was an average 9.28 min/mile, so I've gotten slower.  It was also in July when I was still on track for the marathon.  I think I can get my mileage up to marathon ready, but I don't think I'm going to get my pace up to be under a 4 hour marathon.  =(  Oh well.  Plus, with the heat and the bad smoke in the air, I'm not running as often as I "should" be.  My midweek runs are not up to what they should be either.  I'm getting 4 runs in a week, not 5 and I'm at about 25 miles a week instead of 39.

Yesterday I ran 5 miles which I extended during my run.  I actually was going to run my normal route but I wanted some comparison pictures of the smoke in the air so I ran to the river instead. 

 Yesterdays run is above.
August 20th is below.

The air is very, very smokey here right now from all the fires that are pretty much surrounding us.

Today I'm going to Leavenworth with my sister for the weekend.  So that means that I'll be running less than I usually do.  I'm going to go to the gym today during lunch and do 3 (maybe 4) miles.  I don't know if I'll run while I'm there.  My sister suggested the treadmill while she walks, but she also said she'd swim if I ran outside . . . so I guess I'll have to do something since she wants to.  =) 

We are going over there for our annual trip to the Wine Walk.  This will be our 4th year.  It's a blast and I look forward to it every year.  I actually just searched my posts for Leavenworth and the first year we went was in 2012, so this is our 5th year.  I can't believe we've been going so long.  =)  Well, I can't find a picture from 2013, so maybe we didn't go that year.  But here are all the others. =)

2012

2014



2015

2016

Forgotten post

I didn't realize I didn't finish this.  I started this last week.  Sorry!

My last post was really heavy.  My home life is in a difficult spot, but we will survive.  Chris is okay, he is working part time and has another round of dr appts coming up, we are pretty lucky his eyesight was the only thing affected by his stroke and one way or another, his heart will get better (they are talking pacemaker if the meds don't work). 

I'll keep my (2) readers updated on Chris, but this post is about running.  ; )

While Chris was in the hospital I started running again.  I couldn't handle not running while there was so much stress going on in my life. Chris was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday night and I went for a run on Thursday.  I didn't feel like I could go run after work, so I decided to go to the gym and run, but I got on the treadmill and decided that it wasn't going to work for me.  Thankfully all of my outside running stuff was still in my gym bag from our vacation (I took it just in case, but never ran on vacation). 

I went back to the locker room and grabbed my pepper spray (Everett is not the greatest town, and the mall, where my gym is, is in one of the worst areas), Garmin, and sunglasses.  I decided I was just going to run through some neighborhoods, however as soon as I left the mall parking lot I saw a sign for a trail, which I went down.  I will say, that trail is probably the sketchiest trail I've ever been on.  That run was the first in close to 3 and a half weeks. 

I went for another run that Saturday.  I felt a little bad, but I needed those runs badly.  Plus, Chris's Dad and brother had come into town on Friday night, so I figured they were at the hospital first thing.  I had to wait until I had someone to watch Maddox, so I didn't get out and run until 9am.  I got to the hospital at about 10, and Chris's Dad and brother had only been there about 20 min.  And waiting in the lobby was his Mom and step-dad.   Let me tell you, that was an interesting day.  Chris's Dad, brother, Mom and step-dad for 8 hours or more. 

Sunday I didn't know how far I should run.  My hip has been doing okay.  I've been icing it and taking ibuprofen (when needed, usually only once a day or less) and it doesn't bother me a lot.  I decided I'd try for 7 miles and see how I felt.  After no long runs for 3 weeks I figured I shouldn't try to go out and run 17 miles (which was what was on the schedule for marathon training).  7 miles turned out okay.  My hip didn't bother me much afterwards, or the next day.  Although I might have taken  more ibuprofen that day. 

Last week (this is actually 2 weeks ago) I ran on the trail in Everett again 2 times, one 3 miles and one 5 miles.  That trail is skeeeetchyyyy!  at the end of the trail, just before turning around I passed 3 people shooting up (drugs).  I won't go that far again.  I am very glad that I have had my pepper spray in my bag. 

I decided last (2) Saturday(s ago) that I would try to do a marathon pace run to see where I was at.  I didn't know how far I could go, but I decided on 5 miles.  My last one was 6 miles at a 8.49 min/mile, but that was 4 (5) weeks ago.  I was able to do 5 miles at a 8.42 min/mile, but I was dead, I don't know if I could have gone another mile.  I'm supposed to be up to 9 miles for my pace runs, but that's not happening, at least not yet.

On (2) Sunday(s ago), I again didn't know how far I should attempt to run.  I was supposed to run a half marathon, which I probably could have done, but I also would like to get up to marathon distance (with only 8 weeks or so left).  I decided I'd go for 8 miles, but was thinking maybe 12 miles and ended up with 11 miles.