Beat the Bridge 8K Recap

Oh YEAH!

4th year running this race, and my goal was to 1) beat the bridge (which is raised 20 minutes after the start at the 2 mile mark...but the race is staggered so the people at the end have less time to beat it) and 2) run faster than my "fastest" course time of 40:11 (2009).  Mission accomplished X2!

First of all, the weather was completely crummy: soggy, cold, and just dumping buckets the entire time.  Poor Trav and Goober!  They were such great sports coming with me for this race, and Goober was amazing.  Apparently she hardly cried, and just cuddled with daddy and a bunch of blankets under the awning of Husky Stadium.  I love my little cheering section!

Jeff and I in 2009.  He's lost quite a bit of weight since then!

Second of all, our friend Jeff (big dude) was running his first ever race and his ultimate goal was to beat the bridge, and well, just finish. :)  He did it!  He freaking beat the bridge!  I'm so incredibly proud of him because he is not a runner, but he's been working really hard training for this race and just getting healthy.

The start of the race was a huge disaster.  There are supposed to be three waves, but everyone starts wherever and it's just a mess of people.  They even "delay" the runners and release them in short intervals to prevent traffic jams--and that doesn't work at ALL.  When I crossed the starting mat I was stuck behind a ton of slower runners and casual joggers.  It was awful.  I ran in deep puddles to get around everyone, and a part of me was worried that I was going to miss the bridge.  It was a MESS.  If there's one thing I'd change about this race, it's the start for sure.  Luckily I found some more gaps and got around people easier around the .75 mile mark.  My pace was steady, and I was breathing easy.  Good!
My blue shirt was riding up on the sides and bugging the crap out of me...and I kept pulling it down (it failed the soggy race test).  Finally the bridge was in sight and after I went over the metal grating (which, by the way, is NOT fun for a sensitive foot) I slowed my pace down a tad to regain some of my energy.  Mile 3 was my slowest.  Then the hill came and I picked up the pace.  I wasn't sure if Trav and Goober were going to be where I thought they'd spectate, but I kept a sunny disposition nonetheless.  Then I realized that I had more energy and starting going faster.  1 mile left and my pace was great.  Sabra people were giving out hummus and pita chips to runners about a 3/4 mile to the finish...and I thought that was really really weird.  Hummus is the last thing I'd want to eat after a race!  Home stretch and I kicked it in as these dudes were yelling at the people in the finishing chute "Sprint!  SPRINT!"  I pretended they were yelling at me, and I smashed it.  Stopped Gus and his awesome clock-face said 39:10.  HECK YES!  Despite a crappy start, I still PR'd the course.  Sweet.

After I finished I ran back and paced Jeff the last mile to the end.  He ran/jogged the entire time with me, despite his heart rate monitor freaking out that he was at 100%.  I even got him to kick it at the end and pass a woman!  It was awesome to see him cross that finish line.

I'm glad that I finally got to see Meredith, from a distance, at the start.  She should have been in the second wave because she's faster than she thinks!  Also, I ran into Larissa aka Nordic Moxie, as I was going to find Jeff on the course.  I honestly think we were the two most stylish runners at the race in our Running Skirts!  She got 5th in her AG, which is awesome.

Unfortunately we didn't get to stick around campus because it was still raining and freezing.  Plus, Goober was hungry and her bottle spilled everywhere. :(  When we got home my lips were still purple and it took me awhile to regain feeling my hands and feet.  Argh!  And it's MAY, for goodness sake!

Final Stats:
Mileage - 4.98
Time - 39:09
Overall - 712 out of 4320
Division Place - 38 out of 524 (F25-29)
Sex Place - 146 out of 2274
Pace - 7:53

 

Does Mattress Hauling Count?

Didn't have a moment to run yesterday, however, I did manage to get some exercise in with my buddy Jeff.  We set up Trav & my brand new KING mattress yesterday evening.  HOLY CRAP!  Since it was only Jeff and myself (Goober was too sore from her lifting workout to help out this time), it was quite the sight to see us haul this GIANT mattress up 1.5 flights of stairs.  I yelled "Pivot!" at one point, which only made me laugh, thus rendering my strength completely useless and Jeff face-planted on the hardwood.  He was ok, but it was TOO funny.  We both got a good laugh.  In the process I got 5 papercut-like cuts on my fingers, a cut on my forearm and a banged up tricep (man, the mattress pinned me between the door jam and wall---owie!).  And, it was a workout, so I'm counting it. :P

New bed! Goober is enjoying it, and so is Murphy (who is the lump to the left of Goob)

Got a little run on the treadmill in after I put Goober to bed tonight.  Now that I purchased a jogging stroller rain cover, I'm hoping to use it.  That, or the weather could cooperate?  Wishful thinking.

Glad it's Friday tomorrow!  YAY!  Happy almost Friday everyone!

Night Ninja Runner & her Trusty Sidekick

I've mentioned my friend Jeff before in posts.  He is Trav and my friend, and he lifts weights with Trav regularly in our garage.  Well, Jeff's been on a crazy diet to lose some weight and hasn't been able to lift with Trav.  In fact, if Jeff were to take a pregnancy test, I think it might turn out positive!  Ha ha!  He was doing the crazy hgc hormone diet...and it actually worked for him.  He's lost 42 pounds!

So, Jeff challenged me to run with him tonight.  Ok!  Yes, he may have had a few drinks while at a dinner party with Trav, Liz, E and me, but that was probably the reason behind the challenge.  I think he may have thought I would forget the challenge after the party...nope!  When Trav, Jeff and I returned to my house...the run is on!

And Jeff didn't YAK!  I'm impressed.  We walked, jogged, walked, jogged, etc.  He did really well.  We ended up going 2.31 miles in 32:38, with an average pace of 14:08/mi.  Not too bad for a guy who doesn't run at all!

Here's a pic of Jeff and myself after our one mile run way back in May of last year:

We were trying to be as "big as possible"

And here's a goofy pic from before our run tonight:

I'm a ninja, he's wicked retahded.

BOO YA JEFF!  And congrats dude.  Great run. :)

What a Weekend!

One word summaries (& pictures too!)

Friday:

Pasta - Carbed up for the long Saturday run with whole wheat pasta and some marinara sauce (& lots of black pepper)...still tasted like cardboard.

Bed - I actually went to sleep at 9:30 on a Friday night.  WOAH.

Saturday:

Fire - The sunrise was epic.  It looked like the Cascade mountains were on fire.  Amazing.  I took two pics while driving (I know)- one of the "fire" and the other of Mt. Rainier.

Mel - I got to the trail at the same time as Mel for the 8am 13.1 miler. She was wearing a matching blue outfit and cool patterned Bondi Band.  We rocked the mileage and our total time for this "training" half marathon was 2:02:20. G 

She didn't know I took this after the run! Sneaky me!

Freezing - Um, the temperature at my house said 45...apparently 20 miles south of me it was 34.  And I was wearing my capris, tee and vest.  No gloves, no hat, no sanity.  People thought I was a weird-o.  But, I warm up pretty quickly and I assured them by mile 2 I'd be toasty, and I was.  However, the first two miles I was moving my arms around and shaking my numbing hands kind of Phoebe-style. Nice.

Dye - Ah yes, the lovely purple Champion bra is awesome, so awesome that it left a little bit of its purple-ness on my favorite white Adidas tee (and I've washed the bra already).  Not so awesome. This post brought to you by SHOUT stain remover...

Lioness - Janna joined Mel and I on the run on Saturday and her hair is out of control funky, especially when her headband falls out.  Mel dubbed her the lioness because of her wicked "mane." :)

Janna's lioness look

Dogs - The same barking dog at a farm house (near the private water ski lake) was there and barking away again.  BUT, we saw the reason for the barking...about five or six cute little stumbling puppies were outside this time.  So cute!  No wonder!  Momma is just protecting her babes. Also, the owner of Fleet Feet (Paul) brought his canine companion with him again--a really pretty chocolate colored Doberman that runs jogs along with Paul for miles (they went 16 miles that day!). Guess what his name is?  Appropriately, it's Miles. :)

Sam - Hurray!  Sam made an appearance on this gorgeous day!  I think Mel and I guilt-tripped him a bit much for leaving us behind last week. Oh well, whatever works, huh?

What's up, Sam?

Butt - Janna has a glute injury and talked about her "butt" alot on the run.  So Mel and I decided to count how many times she said BUTT during the 13.1 miles.  Eight. And that was after she knew she was being counted. Heh heh.

Coach - One of Janna and Mel's Fleet Feet training coaches came up to us at around mile 7 making sure that their pace was on par.  Apparently we were all going too fast, and didn't realize that when the coach was around, our pace was 8:30 but should have been between 9 and 9:15. Oops. Guess we were trying to run away?

Murphy - My little "compression kitty" kept my legs warm after the long run and added that much-needed compression.  Oh, and I caught him sleeping on my Champion Fleece...he loves it too. :)

My little Champion compression cat, Murph

Epsom Salt (ok, two words) - Soaked in an epsom salt bath for twenty minutes. Good grief, I love that stuff.

Exploration - Ventured to the International District in downtown Seattle with Trav and Jeff.  Went to Uwajimaya to check out all the cool produce, noodles and meat they had.  Trav's yakisoba noodles were a wicked deal at this market.  He had to stock up. :)  I tried not to look at the roasted ducks hanging in the meat department.  I love ducks.  Sad.

Sunday:

Saints - WOW!  Awesome game!  I was rooting for the underdog Saints to win their first Super Bowl and it was impressive.

Friends - Had a great time hanging out with friends during the game.  Everyone came to our house and we enjoyed Lil Smokies, beer and chips/guac. Lunch of champions.

Calves - Holy hell, my calves are still sore from Saturday's run. Three Salonpas patches were on each leg, working their magic.

Recovery - Went for a slow 3 miles before the Super Bowl festivities began. Felt great to get outside. Ahhhh.

Sleep! - Bed at 9pm again. Weekend zapped my energy. *phew*

Strength & Muscles

Here's the scoop: I'm wicked sore from lifting weights this weekend, and of course, running 10 hilly miles with Mel.  You know what got me?  Squats with 65 lbs.  Wow.  I don't even like the word "squat."  Seriously though, I know that it's really important to have your muscles be strong as a runner...especially those legs and core.  Since I don't have set resolutions, I am just aiming on lifting whenever Trav and Jeff do.  Um, just look at these crazies:

My husband, Travis, and our friend/lifting buddy, Jeff...that's 80 lbs on a dumbbell!

These guys know what they're doing and they are incredibly dedicated.  I've dubbed Trav my "Lifting Coach," so he's been telling me what I should work on for the day.  Today was a Rest Day because both of us feel like we were flattened by a giant rolling pin (or nekkid semi, perhaps??).  Holy soreness!  However, I am continuing with the Whittle My Middle challenge by Oh She Glows.  So far I'm on Day 3, and it's a fantastic burn!

Now, please don't judge/laugh/scoff when I put this into writing.  At my starting point I needed to record my measurements and I want to keep track of them here, along with my before pictures.  I'm just looking to increase some core strength.  I believe that I am at  an ideal weight for my body and plan on staying here.

Before:

"Smallest" part of waist: 26.5 inches

"Widest" part of waist (couple inches below belly button): 35 inches

Hips: 36 inches

Tomorrow, I run. :)

Scotch & Cabbage

Sounds appetizing right? Let me explain...

Tomorrow is my department's holiday potluck and I signed up to bring a dish. Since you all know I don't cook (except if you count pouring milk into a bowl full of cereal or adding the heaping scoops of coffee to the machine), I wanted to bring a dish that I do know how to make: Ramen Cabbage Salad. Liz's mom got me straight up HOOKED to this salad, it's absolutely delicious. Not sure if the dressing is particularly good for you, but I decided to forgo making it from scratch and bought an equivalent. There is cooking involved however...browning the sesame seeds, raw ramen noodles and seasoning over the stove (you know, that hot thing I don't mess around with often). The rest is chopping the napa and savoy cabbage and green onions. *phew* I'm tired now!

I did learn that Murphy likes cabbage, especially the stalks of the savoy--here's to hoping he doesn't get sick. He tried to be all slick when I stepped out of the kitchen for a moment, but I caught him and he left behind these:
See those sneaky little paw prints? Yeah, Murph's not very good at getting away with something. He's like me: he can't lie to save his life. :)

Now onto the Scotch. This isn't just your average scotch...it's the Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Why did I partake in a little bitty sipping drink of this $200 bottle of liquor? Well, the Blue makes his debut when milestones are hit by Jeff or Travis (or any other event that is worthy--which isn't many). Today, us three celebrated Jeff attaining his bench lifting max weight of 315 lbs. Woo hoo! He's been working towards this goal for a loooooong time, so that drink was well deserved.

See? It kinda has something to do with fitness. Kinda.

Other than "cooking" tonight, I took a rest day on running. My foot has been a little mean the past couple of days, so I've got my eye on it. Grrrr. But I'm definitely looking forward to running with Mel on Saturday and then Liz on Sunday. :D

And so I leave you with some fellow blogger giveaways:

• Rachael from The Beginning Runner's Blog is giving away a signed copy of Mark Remy's book, The Runner's Rule Book: Everything a Runner Needs to Know -- And Then Some
  on 12/21
• Marcia from Running Off at the Mouth is giving away a $15 Starbucks gift card tomorrow, 12/18!
• Mel from Tall Mom on the Run has TWO giveaways: Winter Scents ends tomorrow, 12/18, and Loose Knits ends 12/19

Alright folks, I'm out. G'night!

Bust a Mile

Mile Time Trial #1

Trav wanted to see how fast he could run a mile, and so him, Jeff and I were on a mission today. First stop was the local HS track...but of course the gate was locked and the sign said "Jogging Only." HA HA! The track couldn't handle some sprints! :)

We lucked out and went to the HS that Trav, Luke & I played softball at over the summer. Fortunately the security guard was waiting for a soccer game that didn't look like it was happening. He let us in and the track was all ours for 20 minutes.

It's seriously been since Sr. year of high school cross-country since I ran a mile trial. I was NERVOUS this morning! Just thinking about it made my heart pound and palms sweat. But hey, I need to do some sprints. So, I stepped on that track with my game face on.

My time was 7:17. Woo hoo!

Trav started ahead of me, but walked twice. :( Jeff ran the first lap then walked the last three...but I made him jog with me the last 200 meters. Dude...we ALL needed the inhaler, I swear! I was wheezing hardcore. *phew*

However, I felt invincible! Now, tomorrow is an 11 miler with Kerrie. Yay! Can't wait to meet her! Happy Saturday!

Sprint finish!

Yesterday's 8

My goodness, did that 8 miles feel good! I think I would have kept going if it weren't raining and dark (and Travis had already called me with a "you're still running??"). I was even under a 9 minute mile pace! To me, this is awesome. Now it makes me think that a half marathon would not be as bad as I imagine it in my head. :)

Today's run = not so great. I felt like my entire upper body was hit with a Mack truck and the wind was knocked out of me. Perhaps the 8 miler was the culprit? Either way, I only went a little over 2 miles and actually walked some of it (which I hate to do). However, I made up for it with an intense lifting session with Travis and Jeff. Bench, deadlifts, powerlifts, punching bag. Oh boy, I feel like even typing is work right now!

Talked to my Uncle Doug about the Cape Cod trip Trav and I are taking at the end of next month. It would be cool to run a race with Doug while we're over there, but there's nothing scheduled. Bummah! He said he'd run with me at 5:30am, so we'll see how that goes! 2:30am Seattle time??? Say what?! It should be a fun trip.

G'night!

I have an a$$ on my bruise...

Heh heh. Well, more of the other way around! And I don't bruise easily at all. :P

Mt. Rainier was AMAZING, and this time around it was definitely up there on the difficulty scale, despite this being year 3. The snow wasn't at the start of the hike like last year (it was right next to the Paradise Visitor Center), but waaaay up by Pebble Creek. I think that the lack of snow made the temperature feel even worse. Blech! Also, the biting bugs were out in full force and Trav and I have some battle wounds to prove it. Sneaky little buggers. We got up to Muir at around 3pm, which was right on par with our goal. It's strange to have the temperature change so much in a short time span! Sliding down the snow field caused my lovely butt bruise (see my awesome garbage bag shorts? yeah, they are new from the MC Hammer line).

Travis and I an hour into the hike


Looking down the snowfield from a pit-stop.


Trav and I at Camp Muir (2nd time!)


The view from Muir (see the little speck people?)


Coming back down the mountain. :)

We ended up coming back to the car around 6pm. On our way down the road to the car, though, Matt and I ran into two men in their 50's drinking some beers in the back of their pickup truck. We said "Oh man, that looks NICE!" and they gave us both a beer (good beer too!). They said they were from Maine and that they had just hiked to Muir too. We chatted with them for a little bit and finished our cold beers (oh my, I'm not a big beer drinker...but that HIT the spot, I say!). It was a cool little ending to our day.

Then it was off to the Railroad Car Restaurant in Elbe for some greasy burgers/chicken and homemade fries...it was fun! Unfortunately on our way back through Orting the power was out for some reason...but the road ended up being closed (I think some idiot ran into a telephone pole), so that detour cost some time. AND, then Jeff and I were pulled over in Jeff's black (ninja) loud Mustang...and was written a ridiculous ticket for something he totally didn't do. :( It was a major bummer and Jeff was wicked upset the rest of the way back to our meeting point.

All in all, Trav and I got home at around 10:30pm and pretty much crashed into bed. SO tired, but it is SO worth it. ;)

See more pictures on my Flickr page

"Workin' on our fitness"

Not necessarily to do with running, but these are the "fitness" pictures from last night (after my 4.5 mile run and Trav & Jeff's lifting):

Trav -- Jeff (all blown up) -- Jeff compared to me