7 days, 21 hours and counting

That's how close my marathon is; it will be here before I know it.  I really felt like I was ready and then......I went to weather.com and saw this:

Sat
Oct 2

Mostly Sunny

HIGH 95°
LOW 66°

0%

YUCK, with a 6:45 a.m. start it is going to warm for the entire 26.2 miles; at least they are mostly downhill miles.

Happy running this weekend.

22-miler is in the books!

It is officially taper time; St. George is a mere 17 days away and I feel like I am ready, or at least as ready as I can be.

On Saturday morning I did a 4-mile pace run and am happy with the results:

1-1/2 mile warm-up
Mile 1:  8:04
Mile 2:  8:14
Mile 3:  8:10
Mile 4:  8:12
1/2 mile cool down

I was supposed to stay in the 8:20 - 8:25 range, which is about 20 seconds faster than my goal pace; obviously I didn't do too well in that respect.  Maybe this means I am going to bust out an unbelievable marathon or maybe it means I need to work on my pacing......

On Sunday morning I was up & out the door bright and early to meet Vicki for our 22 miler; she mapped out a great course in the Wilsonville/Sherwood area, which is just a little South of Portland.  It is a beautiful, more "pastoral", area and a very nice change from the city.  Our friend Pat met us for the first 8-mile loop so we donned our safety vests & head lamps and headed out into the darkness; we enjoyed a nice and easy pace for this portion of the run.  This part of the course was relatively flat, but I knew the hills were coming.  We dropped Pat off at the car, grabbed our sunglasses, hit the restroom at Starbucks and took back off. 

The next 18 miles clicked by as we chatted and enjoyed the beautiful countryside; it was a spectacular morning in the Northwest and just a pleasure to be outside.  We climbed some pretty good hills and I found a nice little 12 acre piece of property, with a house, that could be mine for a mere 1.2 million :-)

We made it back to the cars (and Starbucks) with an average pace of 9:37 for the distance; we even ended up with negative splits, I don't think I have ever had negative splits on a long run before.  I was tired when I finished but knew I could have gone 26.2

It was intentional that I did my pace run on Saturday and my long run on Sunday; I was supposed to be fatigued for Sunday's run.  I was supposed to run on Monday, but I decided to take a rest day, I was tired and will run Tuesday instead. 

It is all coming together; we will see how I fare on race day.  I decided to run with the 3:50 pace group, my goal for St. George is 3:53.  I think it is a realistic goal.  Check out the elevation map of the course:



 There is a 2,600 foot elevation loss over the length of the race; I think it is going to be a good PR course for me.  I may not be able to walk on Sunday morning though; as this much downhill could take a toll on my knees and quads.

As an extra added bonus, the race is on my birthday - a birthday PR would be the best!

Hood to Coast Race Report

Another Hood to Coast (HTC) has been completed; this was my 7th HTC and the 7th different leg I have run.  My long term goal for HTC is to run every leg; I would then honestly be able to say I've experienced the entire race.

Here are some stats:

Fastest Team Finish:                 17:24
Slowest Team Finish:                33:19
"Our" Team Finish:                   28:54

Our team (Van 1) started at Timberline Lodge at noon on Friday, August 27th; I was in Van 2 and we took over from Van 1 around 5:00 p.m. Friday afternoon in beautiful Sandy, Oregon.  I was running leg 10 so I had a while to wait for my first leg.  There are 6 runners per van so Van 1 runs legs 1-6, 13-18, and 25-30; this leaves Van 2 to run legs 7-12, 19-24 and 31-36.

Rea and I waiting at one of the exchanges during our first set of legs

Rob rocked the pink safety vest; his manhood remained intact

My goal for HTC was to run all my legs at an 8:30 pace; you could argue either that I failed or that I succeeded.  Here are the numbers:

Leg 10
6.18 miles
8:14 average pace

Leg 22
6.93 miles
8:20 average pace

Leg 34
4.11 miles
8:31 average pace

As you can see two of the three runs were less than an 8:30 pace, but one was very slightly over (8:31).  So, they were not all 8:30 or better, but the average was better than 8:30 :-)  I'm really mad at myself because on my third leg I walked a bit up one hill; had I not done this I would have gotten my sub-8:30's on all three legs.  I was really tired by this point and while this leg was the shortest of my legs, there were three hills; one at the beginning, one in the middle and one at the end.

If you've never run a relay, you can't appreciate how important porta potties become to you and how much you love the guys that keep them clean for you along the course

Post race at the beach, this guy ran dressed like this - you see it all at HTC!

I never saw these gals on the course, but they rocked it at the finish line.  By this time I had run 18+ miles, hadn't had any sleep and had consumed two beers; I was feeling no pain.  Obviously Andrew and Mark (from my team) enjoyed these ladies

Seaside, Oregon

A team mate of the dude in the earlier photo

Great music and cold beer; what more could you ask for?

This was taken at the last major exchange and is one of the "sleeping" areas; although not much sleeping happened here.

I can't wait for next year........happy running!

Hood to Coast

My Hood to Coast team starts at 12:00 (noon) tomorrow; the weather is supposed to be perfect for running, I'm really excited.  My goal is to run an 8:30 average pace for my three legs; I think this is doable but we will see for sure.

Leg descriptions:
Leg 10                     6.19 miles Moderate
Begin at approximately 7:43 p.m. Friday evening
Long leg mostly along Springwater Trail then city streets over relatively rolling and flat terrain. Water will not
be provided. Plan ahead if needed.

Leg 22                     6.81 Hard
Begin at approximately 5:15 a.m. Saturday
Gradual up and downhills on paved but narrow back country roads.

Leg 34                     4.13 Moderate
Begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. Saturday
Very short leg in length with gently rolling hills along paved country roads.

We are projected to finish around 4:51 p.m. Saturday; of course, this implies that EVERYONE runs the EXACT pace they submitted. Yeah right...

I wish I could figure out how to paste in the elevation charts, but I can't - EPIC FAIL. I have a pretty good climb on my second leg, but is has an awesome and long downhill that follows the evil climb.

Hopefully I will have fun photos and a great race report next week.  Have a great weekend.

My 15 minutes of fame

I had the opportunity to do something really neat the other day; I was on the radio.  I participated on a panel with two other runners; it was really pretty fun.  I was so nervous, totally pitting out the whole time.  We received the topics in advance; they were:

Why do you love your favorite training course? Why is it perfect for you? Is it convenient? Scenic? Combo of hilly and flat? Just the right distance?

What are two marathons you would run if money was no object? What do you know about them that makes you want to run them?

What food or treats do you crave after your race? Do you have a "go-to" post race basket of food? Do you eat the things they hand you after you get your medal or wait to get to your car for a picnic? How do you eat in the days after a race?

The last segment was called the 5k; we could pick any topic (about running please) that's on our mind - it might be a question you have, it could be an opinion you have, it could be an observation.

Go check it out; if you have an hour to spare :-)  Also, go find "The Marathon Show" on Facebook; they are doing lots of great things within the running community and the topics are many & varied.

http://m.blogtalkradio.com/themarathonshow/2010/08/18/the-runners-chat-show

Have a great day!

Garmin question

Does anyone know how to export or download data from a Garmin Forerunner 305 and save it in Excel?  You just have to be able to do it, but I can't seem to figure it out.

Thanks and happy weekend!

3 weeks in the San Francisco area in photos

I have been attending a training class in San Francisco, today is my 13th day of class and my 17th day in a hotel; to say that I am more than ready to go home would be an understatement.  I've done an o.k. job with my running while here, but I haven't done such a great job on the eating component :(  Oh well.

My husband flew down for the first weekend and we did a little sightseeing in Marin County; it was a great weekend and probably saved my sanity.........enjoy the photos!

Runing across the Golden Gate Bridge - pretty darn awesome

The gardens at our  B&B first weekend

The fog rolling in...Point Reyes

Point Reyes National Seashore - Morgan Horse Ranch

Point Reyes National Seashore

Point Reyes Light House

Tule Elk Preserve - Point Reyes National Seashore

Infamous Lombard Street

Muir Woods