Monday, May 31, 2010

Busy Bee

Pretty solid week for me! I’m no where near Alisa’s level of training (I should hope not, she is training for a half-ironman!) but if you read her blog, this may sound a little bit familiar. We buddied up for several workouts this week including 70 miles of cycling in two rides. Let’s get to the recap and then there are a few pictures:

Monday: rest/Vinyasa yoga

Tuesday
4.0 miles/34:29/8:37 average pace
Track with Alisa and Amy. I only did 3 x 800m repeats because my stomach was acting up. Let’s just say thank God there is a bathroom at the track. My times were 3:23, 3:28, and 3:31. Average 3:27=6:55 pace. Not bad for my first track workout since the Eugene marathon a month ago!

+ Yin yoga with Amy and Alisa

Wednesday
7.0 miles/1:02:52/8:59 average pace
Thankfully no tummy issues. I ran really easy by myself out on the waterfront trail, I was about 9:20ish pace. Then I ran into Zach doing his recovery run and we finished up together. My last mile came in at a very non-recovery 7:25.

Thursday: bike
21.2 miles/1:34:39/13.4 MPH
Great ride with Alisa out on the Springwater trail. We were just cruising along talking and the miles flew by. Zach had walked down to the trail with the camera and got some fun pictures of us toward the end of our ride (see below).

Friday
6.0 miles/48:01/8:00 average pace
Forest Park Friday. YAY! It was cold and rainy and super muddy, and I loved it. I ran the first 3 miles at an 8:46 pace and the last 3 miles at a 7:14 pace. I was flying. Unfortunately, the stomach issues from earlier in the week made a reappearance near the end. I think my stomach doesn’t like running fast this week. This time, there was no bathroom. Enough said.

Saturday: bike
47.7 miles/3:32:10/13.4 MPH
Another ride with Alisa, but this one was huge. Considering Thursday’s 21 miler was my longest (and only, um 4th?) bike ride in over 6th months, this long ride was going to be a leap of faith. I assumed that even though it’d been a while, I had some residual bike endurance from last year’s Ironman, and my running fitness would fill in the gaps. Thankfully, it turned out great!! It helped that this was one of my go-to rides last year and I did it at least 4 or 5 times so I know the hills and the route in general well. We had a great time riding through the country side and I loved every minute of it (ok, maybe not every minute…). Alisa is getting to be a really strong cyclist and I love riding with her!

Sunday
13.0 miles/1:56:20/8:57 average pace
Saturday night we all went to Amy’s for a big party for her husband’s birthday. She put together a great party with snacks, desserts, mojitos, beer, and even a piƱata. It was a  blast! I mention this because all of this (specifically the mojitos and beer) had a significant impact on my long run. At first, it almost didn’t happen at all. We slept in and debated and complained and finally talked ourselves into it sometime after noon. Zach ran with me (his marathon is next weekend!) and I’m so glad- I don’t think I could have done it alone. I was feeling the late night and the long bike ride and also I didn’t have enough to eat before hand. It was brutal! But, I did it.

We spent the rest of the day working at our friends’ new house doing yard work so it was a completely exhausting day overall. I was very glad it was a holiday weekend and I made the most of the extra day off by sleeping in, taking a nap, and generally being lazy. I did accomplish one big thing- we booked our flights and hotel for our trip to Paris this September! Weeee!

total miles for the week: 30!

Plus 68.9 miles bike :)

Phototime!

Thursday bike ride with Alisa:

DSC_0041

DSC_0044

DSC_0055

 

Saturday bike ride with Alisa:

  North Plains Ride5 5 29 10

North Plains Ride 5 29 10North Plains Ride6 5 29 10

 

Party at Amy’s Saturday night:

IMG_2738

IMG_2763  IMG_2768 IMG_2793IMG_2808 

We’re heading down to Newport next weekend for Zach’s big goal marathon. He’s going to kick ass! Check out his blog for a great recap of his training, and then check back for a race report next weekend. :)

Thanks for reading! Happy Memorial Day.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Comeback

 Marine Dr2 5 23 10

The skies have been crazy lately. It's very “active” weather around here that has included lots of rain, wind, hail, thunderstorms, and low temps. Yuck. I’m watching the news right now and it looks like more of the same this week. I’m over it!

Luckily I don’t mind running in the rain, so I got out there several times. I’m feeling good and I’m glad to be recovered from the marathon and ramping back up. I also practiced yoga several times so it was a good week overall despite the weather.

Here is the recap from where we left off:

Sunday
8.0 miles/1:10:27/8:49 average pace
Long-ish run at Banks Vernonia Trail last weekend while Zach was doing his 21 miler. Great weather- last of it for a while!

Total miles for that week: 17.5

Monday
Rest, Skype yoga with Mom ♥ , Yoga with Zach at home

Tuesday
3.0 miles/29:13/9:45
Started off with Deana, and then caught up with Alisa and Amy about a mile in. Fun group run in Northwest.

Tuesday: Yin Yoga with Alisa and Amy 

Wednesday
Rest. Wine and cheese and girl talk night with Emily.

Thursday
4.5 miles/38:45/8:37
Solo run along the waterfront in the rain and hail. Running in the rain can be fun. Even tiny hail, or brief hail is kind of cute. But pea-sized hail for 20+ minutes is kind of scary. And all of this happening while the sun is somehow shining brightly is just plain weird.

Thursday: Self Defense class with Amy. We graduated, yay! Don’t mess with us.

Thursday bonus story: On my lunch break I was surprised to see a large group of people down on the waterfront, and figured out they were there filming an episode of the Biggest Loser! I love that show and so I was very excited. I was especially surprised and excited to see Bob standing just a few feet away from me signing autographs! I got a couple pictures of him but didn’t meet him. I gathered that this will be the first episode of next season. As far as this season goes, I am rooting for Ashley!

Friday
7.0 miles/59:58/8:34 average pace
Waterfront/Springwater run with Zach. I don’t get to run with him very often, but now that he’s tapering for Newport we could work it out. It was great. We saw a very, very cool thing- a hawk caught a small mole and killed it and ate it right off the trail and we stood there watching the whole thing. We were stopped and watching the bird because it was so close to the trail, then he dove and caught the rodent. It was amazing to watch him catch and consume it right before our eyes. It was obviously unusual for him do that so close to the trail, not sure why he did. But it was awesome.

Friday: Skype yoga with Mom ♥

Saturday
Vinyasa Yoga. I was going to go for a bike ride, but I was very tired after yoga and decided I needed a rest day. This week I was feeling really run down and it kind of caught up to me. Also the weather was crap. I took a 2 hour nap and watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Sunday
11.0 miles/1:33:29/8:30 average pace
Long run up on Marine Drive. I was going to go out to Hagg Lake and watch Alisa and Amy and Kristen do the Open Water Swim race, but I was still feeling pretty tired and knew I wouldn’t be able to get up that early. So about 10:30 we finally made it up to the trail for the long run. Zach did 15 and I did 11. It was rainy at times and pretty chilly but it was a great run. I enjoyed the scenery and felt strong. I was running 8:30-8:50 pace and then ran a 7:40 last mile. I did a long stretching and yoga session next to the trail while I waited for Zach to finish.

Sunday: Yin Yoga with Alisa. She’s actually on her way over right now so this hasn’t happened yet but is about to!

Total miles for this week: 25.5

I’m getting the mileage back up there and feeling great!

OH- and I signed up for a race! The Helvetia Half Marathon on June 12th. It’s a hilly course but I’m going to do my best!

Picture time!

Zach halfway through his 21 miler on the Banks Vernonia Trail: 

BV Trail 5 16 10

Trainer and super cutie Bob Harper at a filming of Biggest Loser in downtown Portland:

Bob 5

Marine Drive run today (Sunday):

 Marine Dr3 5 23 10

I was standing up on a cement block stretching so I got a pic of Zach from above:

Marine Dr 5 23 10

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Like riding a bike

 Bike 5 8 10

I can’t believe it’s been two weeks since the marathon! It has gone by fast. I’ve been a busy girl. This calls for bullet points!

- Recovery: I was super sore the day after the marathon. My knees and back mostly. I felt better the next day and haven’t had any particular aches or pains since. I took a couple days to be super lazy and eat tons of food and then I decided to get off my ass and do some fun post-marathon stuff.

It also took a few days to get settled down emotionally after the race. I admit I had some moments of disappointment over the next couple of days. I was initially very OK with missing my goal of the BQ, because I knew I ran a smart race and did my best. But, the next day it kind of weighed on me. I mean, 17 seconds, are you kidding me? I knew I did all I could but I was SO close. Oh well. I realized it is ok, and the BQ is just an arbitrary number and can’t take away from my accomplishment. It was a great finish time and my 3rd fastest marathon! Final decision: I’m ok with it.

- Yoga: I went to a 90 minute Vinyasa class three days after the marathon and did what I could. Lunges and such were not easy! It got easier and I’ve gone to 6 classes over the last two weeks from easy meditation classes to challenging Ashtanga and Vinyasa classes. I also did yoga at home once with Zach and did a Skype yoga with my mom. Yoga yoga yoga.

- Cycling: I rode my bike! I literally dusted it off and took it out for a spin the weekend after the marathon (picture above). I had to take my Ironman numbers off of it – I have not ridden it once since November 22nd. I rode 12 miles that first time on the Springwater trail and enjoyed it very much. I forgot how fun it is! There were tons of people on the trail and I took it very easy, averaging 13 MPH.

Feeling motivated and confident after that little test ride, I made a bike date with Alisa for Wednesday of this week. We did 17 miles on the Springwater at about 14 MPH. We had a great time chatting and are pretty evenly matched cycling speeds so it was perfect. I had promised her that when I was done with the marathon I would ride with her as she trains for her first half-ironman and I am excited to follow through on that promise! The highlight of the ride was my demonstration of how to change a flat tire. Her rear tire went flat and being a relative newbie she didn’t know what to do. Jen to the rescue! I had to kind of guess my way through it but I got it and felt like a hero. I got all greasy and everything, it was rad. We have a tire-changing lesson planned so she can learn this skill too.

Today (Saturday) I had another cycling date with Alisa in which I would join her for the last 20 miles of her long bike ride (ended up being 20.6). She rode 30 miles out to Hagg Lake where I met her and we did 2 loops around the lake. It’s quite hilly out there and was a challenging ride, I think we averaged about 12 MPH (her first 30 miles were much faster). The weather was great and her husband was there too along with a couple of friends and we all had a great time. Alisa was a super tough cookie and did her longest ride ever today! I was very proud of her. I was proud of myself too for tackling such a tough ride just for fun.

More bike rides are definitely in my future, probably mostly with Alisa but maybe also with Anne or Deana or whoever is in. Zach is excited to get back into it after his marathon (June 5).

- Swimming: I was completely satisfied with cycling being my big non-running endeavor for now and haven’t really had an interest in swimming. Like cycling, I hadn’t even considered it since the Ironman six months ago. I actually quit the gym (to put the money toward the much pricier yoga membership) anyway so I have nowhere to swim. Well, that is not completely true. I swam today… in the lake! Yes, I did a little open water swim as my first swim back. It was so fun. I probably only swam a couple hundred yards but it felt really good. I was really comfortable in the open water and my form felt good. I don’t know if I’m going to go to a pool anytime soon but might jump in next time I am at a lake. :)

- Running: Oh ya, running! That too. I’ve run three times so far. I ran the weekend after the race with Deana and Dana (Dana is a New Runner!!) for 3 easy miles. Tuesday I ran with Amy and Alisa. We did 4.5 miles at a 10:15 pace. I ran again on Friday, this time with Zach. It was his easy day so I decided I would try to keep up. I ended up running 5 miles (he did 6, I took a break in the middle while he did an extra out-and-back) at an 8:16 pace. It was HARD. Probably wasn’t the best idea but I got through it. I’m running again tomorrow and definitely will keep the pace slower but will try to run a bit longer.

- Race plans: Despite all the biking and swim talk, I’m not planning on doing a triathlon this summer. Well, maybe, but probably not. I am planning on a couple running races though- a half marathon on June 12 is the only sure thing. I’d like to do a 5k too and a trail race, but that is tbd. I’m throwing around fall marathon plans but am entirely undecided. I’ll keep you updated.

 

That’s all for now! Here’s a picture of me and Alisa from today’s bike ride. Check out my Ironman bike jersey:

Hagg Lake 5 15 10

Thanks for reading!!

Monday, May 03, 2010

2010 Eugene Marathon Race Report and Photos

Eugene was my 8th marathon and my first stand-alone marathon since December 2008. I took a year “off” and did my first Ironman in 2009 and I was thinking of this as my comeback race. I was so excited to be back to running and had no interest in swimming or biking ever again (I haven’t done either since the Ironman). I had easily the best marathon training cycle of my life. It was just so fun! I had a new perspective after training for the Ironman and enjoyed the simplicity and flexibility of run training. My training paces were strong and besides some foot issues the first couple of weeks, I had no injuries. The main thing was that I didn’t stress out about my training and just had fun with it! As mentioned in my previous posts, I also made other changes in my life that impacted my training, the biggest one being yoga. It helped keep my body flexible and my mind focused.

pre-race

We headed down to Eugene Saturday morning and got to the expo about noon. Zach was running the half marathon so we each picked up our race packets and shirts. The expo was pretty big but kind of cramped and crowded. The shirts are awesome though! After we left the expo we walked downtown and got a sandwich for lunch and then walked through the Saturday market. There were tons of people and local stuff for sale and musicians and everything. I bought a bunch of lavender to bring back to the hotel. Then we walked over to a plaza where there was a big drum circle going, it was awesome. I haven’t seen a drum circle since I lived in Missoula. We hung out there for a while enjoying the sounds and watching all the people and then finally made our way back to the car.

We drove across town and checked into our hotel- Best Western New Oregon Motel. It’s about 4 blocks from the University and the race start. We stayed at a different hotel just a couple blocks away last year but this one was way nicer. I highly recommend it! We walked over to the race start just outside of Hayward Field and it took about 5 minutes- perfect race morning commute! There was a high school track meet going on at Hayward and it was free, so we went in and watched for a while. The sun was shining and I just relaxed while Zach took some photos. I should mention that we got a NEW camera last week – a Nikon D5000. This was our first time really using it and it is RAD. Anyway, we finally left and walked back toward our hotel. The next thing we did was walk across the river to where Zach was going to try to catch me about mile 16 after he finished the half. It was good to see where he’d be. We headed back to the hotel and finally put our feet up for a while. Zach took a nap and I watched Dirty Dancing which I realized I’d never really seen from start to finish. Great movie, haha!

After his nap, Zach made a really clever thing for our water bottles- we were planning on carrying mini water bottles in our hands in addition to the fuel belts. So, he used duct tape to make a strap which he taped to the bottle. A homemade, disposable handheld water bottle! Genius. We both started with one, and then he handed me off a new one at mile 16. I should have taken more pics of this, but I’m sure we’ll do it again and I’ll post pics and instructions. It was a great idea!

For dinner we just went down to the Market of Choice which is a Whole-Foods like supermarket. We got some pasta salad and some chicken from the deli counter and grabbed a loaf of french bread. We just ate it picnic style back at our hotel and it was perfect. After dinner we got all our race stuff ready – chips on shoes, numbers on shirts, etc. Then I put on my iPod and did a little quiet meditation while Zach read. We got to bed about 10:30 and I actually slept really good.

The alarm went off about 5:00 but I had been awake for a few minutes. We got up and ate breakfast- I had some oatmeal with raisins and later ate a pack of Luna Moons. I got all lubed and sunscreened up and used the bathroom a bunch of times. We didn’t leave the hotel until about 20 minutes till the start since, well, since we could! It was nice not to bother with the loooong porto potty line. We got right in the starting corral and worked our way up to our proper pace area. Zach gave me a kiss and made his way up closer to the starting line. I chatted with some people around me and then we heard a beautiful rendition of the national anthem. I teared up! But then I put on my game face. Let’s do this!!

(for reference: Course Map and Course Profile)

Miles 1-5

It was a pretty crowded race start but everyone was courteous and safe. We made our way through a nice neighborhood for the first few miles and a few of the neighbors were out cheering. The morning was beautiful with some clouds but mostly blue sky and it’s such a cute city, I was really enjoying my surroundings.

My goal was to not start out too fast so I was using my garmin to monitor my pace every half mile. I wanted to average about 8:20 overall so I figured I’d try to run the first half in about 8:10-8:15 to give myself a little room to fade at the end. A few of the first miles were a bit faster than that but not dangerously so. It seemed like it was a little downhill in places. And it felt easy!

At mile 3 or 4 we started a running up Amazon Drive which is really green and lovely. It’s a gradual incline but I hardly noticed it (last  year when I was running the half and pushing the pace I definitely noticed it more!). Just before mile 5 it makes a noticeable climb before you turn around and head down the other side of the park. I ate my first Gu at mile 5 and was drinking water from my homemade handheld. I was feeling great.

Mile 1  8:05
Mile 2  8:07
Mile 3  8:19
Mile 4  8:07
Mile 5  8:27 (hill)

Miles 6-10

After leaving Amazon Drive, we got on a narrow bike path and made our way through the park. There were still a lot of people (the half marathoners don’t split off until like mile 10) but it wasn’t too crowded on the path. I tossed my handheld bottle at the aid station at mile 8. Immediately past the aid station, I saw Alisa! She and I had gone over plans for her to have water bottles to hand off to me if I needed them. I didn’t expect to see her at this stop because it is quite busy but since I did I went ahead and got a bottle from her. Thanks Alisa!! I know Amy and Brad were there too but I didn’t see them.

I was still right on pace and feeling great. The 3:40 pace group actually passed me right after I saw Alisa but I didn’t worry about it at all. I knew I was a minute or two ahead of pace and stuck to my plan. A short while later we were back out on city streets and we hit the only big hill in the whole course. Last year when I was doing the half this thing kicked my ass, but this time I just chugged up it. I remembered what Aron told me about keeping an even effort. After that we had a nice downhill and I took my second Gu.

Mile 6  8:11
Mile 7  8:09
Mile 8  8:24 (saw Alisa)
Mile 9  8:15 (hill)
Mile 10  8:13

Miles 10-15

We ran down toward the river but not along the path. It was pretty sunny at this point which I didn’t love, but there were clouds hanging around and I was hoping they would block the sun soon. The half marathon split off in the 10th mile which was a total mess- they didn’t have any signs! Only a couple of volunteers telling us at the very last second which way to go. I asked as I ran by “Full?” and figured it out. Annoying! The crowd definitely thinned out once we lost the half marathon runners. We ran the next couple of miles along this ugly industrial area and the sun was still shining down. This was one of the lower moments but I tried to remember that I’ll bounce back and not to worry. I could see the 3:40 group running ahead of me about a quarter mile and just kept them in sight. My pace was still good I just wasn’t feeling so hot. I wondered if I had gone out too fast? There was a little climb up and over a bridge which kind of sucked but I made it.

On the other side of the river I knew I was about half way and that was nice. We were in a nicer area too- the downtown streets and neighborhoods of Springfield. I started feeling better about mile 14. They didn’t have the half marathon marked (It says that in the results, but that was the 13 mile split) but I knew I was on track. My stomach was feeling kind of full but I forced myself to eat my Gu at mile 15- I had promised Emily that I would! (stay tuned for her Boston report which addresses this issue). I tossed the bottle Alisa had given me after finishing it- again, my stomach didn’t really want more of anything but I knew I had to take it.

Mile 11  8:19
Mile 12  8:29
Mile 13  8:22
Mile 14  8:27
Mile 15  8:26

Miles 16-20

I knew I would be seeing Zach soon which gave me a huge boost. Also, the clouds had moved in!! YAY! And the course had really flattened out and I knew that the next several miles were actually very slightly downhill. I was energized and running strong. My legs were feeling good too, although I did have a little side stitch at one point. When I saw Zach at mile 16.5 I was so excited and I waved!! He got some pics of me and then jumped in and ran with me. He handed me a fresh homemade handheld bottle. I asked how his half went and he said good! BIG PR. He’s crazy. Check out his blog for a race report soon. I told him I was feeling good and that I was just about a minute or two ahead of the 3:40 pace. He told me I looked strong and that he loved me. He ran up ahead and got a couple more pics and I told him “See you at the finish!” Not even a mile later, I saw Alisa again and this time I definitely saw Amy too and high fived them both. I didn’t need a water from them, just their cheers! It was so great to have friends out on the course.

After that I was feeling really good and my pace felt really smooth for the next few miles. We were running along the river path and it was very beautiful. I was enjoying the scenery. There weren’t as many runners around me but I was able to pace off of a few from time to time. I continued to feel good and my stomach felt better so I drank my water. I ate my last Gu at mile 20. My pace was a bit slower but I knew I could afford it. I hadn’t walked at all and wanted to make it to the finish with out walking at all – I’ve only ever done that 3 times before.

Mile 16  8:21
Mile 17  8:22 (saw Zach)
Mile 18  8:36  (saw Amy and Alisa)
Mile 19  8:33
Mile 20  8:37

Miles 21-26.2

We crossed the river on a footbridge and started working our way back toward the university. The nice little downhill was over and now there was even a bit of an incline in places. I tossed my handheld water bottle since I hadn’t even touched the bottles in my fuel belt and knew they would be enough now.

Not surprisingly, I started to get tired. My spirits were good because I knew I only had a few miles left and that I was doing good, but my “bank” of time was shrinking and I knew it was going to be close. I tried to pick it up a bit and I did have a couple faster miles, but I think that just drained me further. My brain resorted to those little tricks like for a couple miles I was just chanting to myself in time with my steps “Mile 23, just keep running. Mile 23, just keep running.” I knew I was so close but I was slipping. The weird thing was that I was passing tons of people. It kind of threw me off because I knew I was going slower.

I knew Amy and Alisa were supposed to be around mile 23/24 and when I hadn’t seen them I was actually glad. I knew I didn’t look as perky and that I couldn’t fake it. But, there they were, about mile 24.5. I think I smiled but it was minimal. Alisa jumped in and ran with me and told me I looked strong. I told her I wanted to die. I said if I can just keep running I will make it (under 3:40) she encouraged me along and was great. She gave me a slap on the ass and a little “go get ‘er done” and I was on my own again.

After that, it got ugly. I passed the 25 mile marker and still had over a minute in the bank (counting the :59 seconds they give you.. I was just going for 3:40:59 at this point). I was trying to count my steps to distract myself but couldn’t even do that. I felt awful. Within the span of about a quarter mile things just completely deteriorated. My legs got so tired and heavy, they just wouldn’t move. I hit the WALL. I could feel it happening. I could feel my  body switching over to fat as a fuel source because I was OUT of glycogen. It was textbook wall hitting and it was UGLY. There is a little incline as you turn off the bike path and head up the street toward Hayward Field and that was about where it really hit. I ran up that hill but then my body slowed to a walk. I was done. I knew I was so close, only a half a mile left! I tried to tell myself “GO! JUST GO!” but it wasn’t happening. The legs and the mind were not communicating and there was no amount of willpower that could have moved my legs faster. I started running again but it was so bad, I had to walk again. I probably walked four times in that last half a mile. I hit the 26 mile mark and without really even looking I knew I wasn’t going to make it in the BQ time. I saw the field and it seemed like a thousand miles away. I ran into the stadium and struggled to pick up the pace to the finish. I flailed my arms and legs and just gave it every last ounce of energy I had. My form was total shit, my mouth was hanging open, I was a mess.

I crossed the finish line and immediately just collapsed. I didn’t pass out, but almost. It was a little scary. There were volunteers watching me come in and they saw it coming, and they caught me in their arms. I saw another volunteer coming with a wheelchair and they put me in it and wheeled me to the med tent. Somewhere in these few seconds someone put a medal around my neck. I noticed my watch was still running and I mashed it with my hand.

Mile 21  8:33 
Mile 22  8:25
Mile 23  8:29
Mile 24  8:32
Mile 25  8:36 (saw Amy and Alisa)
Mile 26  9:17 (halfway through, WALL)
last 0.2  2:26 (10:00+ pace)

Official finish time: 3:41:17
8:27 pace

35/197 Age Group
170/1,081 Females
708/2,333 Overall

Once on the cot in the medical tent I felt quite a bit better. I was just so exhausted. The volunteers were great and got me water and gatorade. I saw Zach right away and was so glad he was able to get into the med tent and know that I was ok. I told the volunteers I felt better and they said I need to stay a couple minutes to make sure. They asked if anything hurt and I told them not really, I never did cramp up or anything. The guy a couple of cots down sure was cramping up though, and vomiting violently. Nice! As soon as they would let me I got out of there. We walked out and they clipped my chip off and I finally got a hug from Zach. I told him what happened and that I gave it my all. He was so proud of me.

It was an incredible race. I can’t believe I hit the wall SO late in the race- so close to the finish! I felt just amazing the whole time up until then. Who knows what happened. I don’t think I did anything wrong- I followed my plan to a T. I think the only thing “wrong” was that 26.2 miles is a ridiculous distance to run, ha ha!!

I feel really proud of my run and the effort I put in. I am really happy with how well I executed my plan and I really did run a smart race. At the finish I gave it everything I had and I know I could not have pushed it anymore. And hey, not too shabby of a finish time! It was  my 3rd fastest time out of 8 marathons!!

It sucks that I was sooo close to the BQ time, I’m honestly not disappointed at all. I have run Boston twice and even though I would love to run it again someday, it isn’t a huge goal anymore. I would love to run it with Zach or at least watch him run it. But I have moved on and just want to keep running marathons and having fun. It’s kind of funny that since the BQ time is so close to my ability level that it is just always right there in my face, but I can choose to ignore that. That’s not what it’s about.

We had a great celebration after the race. I stretched out a bit and then we walked over to the hotel. I wasn’t hobbling too bad but was still really tired. I showered and we drove downtown to the Steelhead Brewer where Alisa, Amy, Brad, and Lori and her family were waiting. Lori had completed her first marathon! We had a great time talking about the race while eating food and drinking good beer. It was really fun. We drove home and of course I zonked out and slept the whole way. We spent the evening watching hockey – the Sharks beat Detroit again – and wrapped up a perfect day with a huge amount of Thai food.

I’m really sore today and thankfully have the day off work. Emily is coming over shortly and we’re going out for brunch. :) I’m going to try to do some gentle yoga later to stretch out.

I don’t know exactly what is next for me… I know a lot of yoga and running this summer, along with some backpacking and hiking and I think I’ll finally get back on the bike! We have a big trip to Europe planned for September so not sure what fall marathon plans look like, but there’s lots of time to figure that out. I know I want to run another marathon soon! I think that is another mark of my success at Eugene, that I finished wanting to do another. I just love it so much.

Thanks for reading, and for all your encouragement and inspiration!! Big thanks so much to Zach for all his love and support, and to Alisa and Amy for supporting me out on the course (and always).

And now, pictures. LOTS of pictures.

Pre-race

Driving down to Eugene:

DSC_0003 DSC_0010 

Expo:

 DSC_0014DSC_0015

Downtown Eugene:

DSC_0022

Farmer’s Market:

DSC_0027 DSC_0032 DSC_0035

Hayward Field:

DSC_0046 DSC_0053 DSC_0064

Willamette River:

DSC_0084 

In the hotel, our new camera!

DSC_0091 

Dirty Dancing:

DSC_0095 

Relaxing, emailing or facebooking or something:

DSC_0098

Race Day:

Morning forecast:

DSC_0106 

Super jacked!

DSC_0109 

Somewhat jacked:

DSC_0110

Race!

Mile 8 (that’s the 3:40 group right behind me)

 Amys IMG_3188

Getting ready to grab bottle from Alisa:

Amys IMG_3189

Mile 16.5:

DSC_0126

Feeling strong:

DSC_0135 DSC_0136 DSC_0137

Mile 24.5:

Amys IMG_3208

Not feeling so good:

Amys IMG_3209

Finish:

DSC_0159 

Zoomed in on my wonky form and slack-jaw face:

DSC_0160 crop 

Approaching finish line:

DSC_0164

DSC_0171  

Done and done.

DSC_0175 crop DSC_0176 crop

DSC_0181 DSC_0185

Hey I bounce back quick!!

DSC_0190

Another with Hayward Field behind me:

DSC_0194

DSC_0196

 DSC_0199 DSC_0200

I’m the most flexible person in the finish area:

DSC_0206 

Walking back to the hotel I stopped to cheer some runners to the finish:

DSC_0215 

And now, we celebrate:

DSC_0216 

Heading straight to give Alisa a big hug:

DSC_0218

Then I shoved my face full of nachos:

 DSC_0219

Hoposaurous Rex:

DSC_0223

A couple of race champions ready to head back to Portland:

DSC_0228

DSC_0232

 

Thanks for reading!!