Helvetia Half Marathon (aka... Massive Hills Half)

Way back in December, my sister in law invited me to run the Helvetia Half Marathon with her.  It was well before my Surf City Marathon date and I kind of thought I would still be in top shape by then, ready to run.  After all, how hard is a half after a full, right?  Wrong.  A half is a long, long way to run and that top shape I envisioned... well... anyway. 

Today was the big day, and the first sunny day in what felt like weeks.  George and I drove to the Hillsboro Stadium for the start of the race, meeting up there with Lis, Connie and several of their other friends.  I kind of knew the course was going to be hilly ~ I just decided to ignore that fact. 

Nearly 5,000 people ran the 10k and the half today, several wearing "Find Kyron" signs pinned to their backs.  Not only is a majority of the state concerned for our little missing man, but we were also running in the general vicinity of the search.  My prayers are with them and I sure hope they find the little guy.

With a big group wave to the helicopter flying over our heads, we took off from the stadium on lightly rolling hills for a few miles.  The start was pretty crowded but we weren't trying to set any speed records on this thing so we just made our way along.  I didn't expect to stay with Connie and Lis, I just decided to see how long I could hang with them.  We ran across the overpass on Hwy 26 and out into the countryside.  After a couple of miles of rolling hills, we hit the big nasties.  Lots of them. Up and down, up and down.  We ran quite a bit of those hills, but took a few walk breaks on them, too.  Connie had just run the Newport Marathon last weekend, so she was taking it easy and me, well, I just like to take it easy.  ;)  Not that it was.  Sheesh ~ did I mention up and down, up and down.  I hung with them, though.  There was one uphill where I stopped for a little walk break and realized this was the point where I was going to let them go, or I had to catch up and stay there.  I decided to catch up.  (pat on the back, thankyouverymuch). 

I was surprised when we ran past Roloff Farms.  The Roloffs are the subjects of TLC's reality show, Little People, Big World . I knew their farm was out there somewhere.  I just didn't realize we would run right past.  If I were a Roloff I would've set up a a little lemonade stand out there and cheered us on, but hey.  I'm just sayin'.

According to the elevation map I'd glanced at, I thought the hills would be behind us at mile 8.  I kept focusing on making it to mile 8 and the smooth sailing that would follow.  That would have been great if it were true.  However, it was not.  Yes, the big hills were behind us, but there's not much out there that's flat.  It rolled along for the next 5 miles in a series of small but torturous hills.  It was hot out there.  Turns out the 4-bottle nerd pack was a smart idea as I sucked down all 40 ounces of liquid and munched my way through lots of Sport Beans and such.

Somewhere around mile 10 Connie checked her Garmin and told me if I went hard the rest of the way I could likely set a new PR.  I had no idea I could even come close to that on this run and wasn't remotely trying for it.  Oh man, that was tempting, but I knew our final push took us uphill (again) onto the overpass and then up a gradual incline nearly all the way in, so I decided to stick with Lis and Connie and leave the PR for another day.  I had already done so much better than I thought I would, I was proud of myself.

The finish was inside the stadium  ~ there was a loudspeaker calling our names, a crowd cheering, George and my nieces and nephews just inside taking our picture, my brother in law a little farther down doing the same, and my 11 year old niece chased us hard to the finish line.  As always, the very best part of the race is having it behind you.  :)

We collected medals, posed for pictures, then climbed the stadium steps (whose idea was that?!?) to get our Jamba Juice and hamburgers.  I chatted with my 5 year old nephew about Elmo and aliens and showed off the giant blister on my toe. 

 Such a great day.  :)   

oh... and I missed my PR by 4 minutes.  Not too bad considering those hills!

Sarah Runs, Too. (sort of )

Today was my 11 year old Sarah's first 5k. 

She's been interested in my running since I started a few years ago and has dabbled a little tiny bit here and there.  She talks about the mile training they're doing in P.E., she asks me about my runs, and she even ran a 1k at a race last fall.  Her big focus has been on her outfit.  The girl is a self-proclaimed fashionista and when asked if she wanted to run that 1k, her first question was, "Will you buy me running pants?"  (thank you, Target, for stocking girls size athletic gear).

So today, in her little spandex shorts, her tech tee and her sunglasses, we headed out to her first 5k.  The race of choice was the New Balance Girls on the Run 5k in Corvallis.  It was the perfect race because while plenty of fast and serious runners turn out, it's also packed full of girls of all shapes and sizes who participate in the Girls on the Run program.  Sarah was excited, and a little nervous.  I was happy we were going to run together, and her dad came along to cheer for her and take pictures. 

At the start signal we began to run.  Sarah was wearing an interval timer on her wrist, which I had set to run 3 minutes and walk 1.  I thought that was probably conservative, but better to start easy.  As soon as the crowd cleared out, Sarah took off sprinting.  I hollered at her to slow down, save her energy.  We went through a few cycles of walk/run, each time with me telling her to slow down.  Finally I said, "You're getting annoyed when I say that, aren't you?"  YES.  Okay, fine.  I won't say that anymore.  So we run along, then we walk.  Pretty soon she's getting cranky.  I'm feeling her out ~ trying to decide if she chatting will help or not.  Judging by the growling responses, I'm thinking not.  By the first mile marker she is scowling and complaining she's hot.  We're no longer running on our 3/1 plan ~ we're reduced to running to the next tree.

At about mile 1.5 she growls at me, "Mom ~ I am SWEATING!"  I replied, "You're supposed to sweat.  You're exercising and it's a sunny day.  Everyone is sweating."  She snarls back, "It is NOT ATTRACTIVE."  lol  At this point her crankiness is getting humorous. 

Around the 2 mile mark she is growling at the watch every time it beeps an interval and finally starts trying to rip it off.  "Do you want me to wear it?"  I ask.  "YES!"  No friendly inflection there, by the way.  So I take the beeping watch while she is muttering about that dumb thing.  The girl is cracking me up.  She's generally quite the trooper and pretty amiable ~ I really wasn't expecting the attitude. 

The last mile is pure misery.  She's sweating, she's snarky, she's cranky and she wants to walk.  We get to a downhill and I make her run ~ "let the gravity do the work" ~ "I don't WANT to let the gravity do the work." 

So finally after what seemed like an eternity the 3 mile mark appeared and she took off at a sprint.  I think she wanted that sucker over NOW.  It was all I could do to keep up with her.  We crossed the finish line where they immediately handed her a hot pink water bottle full of ice water.  She took a big drink, then turned to me and said, "I have to give this back, right?"  I said, "Nope, you get to keep it.  Now you have a t-shirt AND a water bottle."  And the spark returned. 

The shopping queen began to recover her good humor as she discovered there was a treasure trove of goodies to collect.  Armed with her new reusable shopping bag, she happily spent an hour collecting goodies.  By the time we left she was a happy thing, proud of her first 5k, but really more thrilled with her grocery bag, her t-shirt, her water bottle, her chapstick, her can of Amp, her energy gum, and her coupon for a free Jamba Juice. 

Sarah, girl, you made me laugh today.  Running with you was not exactly what I expected, Miss Snarky, but it was a lot of fun and yes, you will do it again.  Think of the goodies at the end!