Portland to Coast

I just registered this morning for the Portland to Coast Relay and I'm partly very excited and partly very terrifed. If you had told me two years ago that I'd be doing this I'd have thought you were insane, but here I am.

Most PTC teams have 12 members. Ours has 8. Why? I'm convinced it's because we're nuts, that's why. Honestly, I don't know. Gluttons for punishment? As a result of the smaller group, we each walk 3 legs of the race rather than two. I've been given the go-easy-on-her legs of the race and I'm not complaining one bit about that.

My first leg is 5.69 miles and very flat and easy. My second leg is 3.75 miles and also easy. My last leg (why'd it have to be the last one?) is 7.72 miles and described as "hard". It's up and down the whole way, but no huge hills to climb, just lots of rolling stuff.

I've got a lot of training to do!

Shin Splints

I knew going into the 10k that I wasn't as prepared as I should be. I had only run 6 miles once before with considerable soreness afterward. My 10k went really well, but I was so sore that week! As the pain subsided I did a little research and I really think I have shin splints. Darn it. It's my own fault ~ I think I'm the classic "too much too soon" scenario. I tried to run about 5 days after the race, thinking I could work out the soreness, but it actually was pretty painful. Since then I've been sidelined, trying to let myself recover fully this time. I think I'm just about all better and I've come out the other side with a new commitment to stretching, not pushing myself quite so hard (don't like that one a bit), and hydrating more. I'm not going to beat myself up about this, just learn from it and move forward. I've been anxious to get back out on the road, so hopefully this week I can venture out a little.

I'm supposed to run a hilly 5k next weekend at the Zena Road Runs and I'm really hoping I'll be ready for that. I may have to force myself to walk parts of it, which really burns me, but I know I have to be smart. I'll see how this week goes.

Great Book

I'm not even remotely seriously considering a marathon at this point, but I picked up this book based on the reviews and really loved it. I'm not recommending it as a training guide ~ goodness knows I'm not qualified to do that ~ but it's a great read. You know how they say you ought to laugh so many minutes per day? This will help.

Cascade 10k

I was completely terrified yesterday morning, so nervous that I actually tossed my cookies before we left the house. I was so relieved to get to the race and find out Running Partner's friend had tossed hers as well. She was telling the story to a man at the race wearing a Boston Marathon jacket and he said that was good, he'd thrown up before his first 9 marathons. Oh boy.

My husband went with me to this event, which somehow scared me. It was like what I was doing suddenly became real and public, not hidden and private. Made me nervous, but I wanted him there. I met my RP and her friend at the race, but we weren't planning to run together. We hung out, though, excited and nervous. My sister in law and her friend also were there, but they were running the half marathon. Since I was on my own they invited me to run the first half of the 10k with them, an offer I gratefully accepted.

I was so happy with how this race turned out for me. I rested hard to prepare, drank a ton of water, ate my carbs like a good girl, and got a lot of sleep. I knew I was going to need every little help I could get after Monday's pretty disastrous 6 mile run. I'm not sure if any one thing paid off, or if all of my efforts combined made a difference, but I felt really strong at Cascade.

The first 3.2 miles I ran with my sister in law and her friend. They were running 5 minutes, walking 30 seconds, running 5 minutes. I knew that would be a smart move for me and that on my own I wouldn't do intervals. It turned out to be a good plan because by the time I turned around at the halfway mark and headed back without them, I was still feeling good and knew I could finish okay.

When I turned around and headed back on my own, I picked out RP's friend out of the crowd ahead of me. She was in bright blue and easy to spot, and she was also a long way ahead of me. I don't know if you'd call this a strength or a weakness, but I really hate to lose. At the 5k I was 3rd of the three of us running and I was determined not to be this time. My goal? Overtake RP's friend and soundly beat her. She was a long way off, so I just kept my eyes on her. Instead of periods where I'd slow down, I added hurry-it-up sections. I did walk for a few seconds a couple of times, but not because I was desperate to stop, just because I knew it would help me later.

It took me all the way to the last mile marker, but I caught up to her. I wasn't trying to run with her, I was trying to pass her, but she stayed with me all the way to the last 1/4 mile. I was trying to reconcile coming in behind her after all when she took off at a sprint I just didn't have in me. She only sprinted a few feet and then she dropped almost to a walk, at which point I took off with everything I had. I ended up beating her by 11 seconds. It's amazing how good 11 seconds can feel!

Hubby ran over, gave me a huge hug, and the first thing I said to him was, "I just beat RP's friend ~ did you see that? I beat her!" LOL Does that make me a real runner, or just sort of sad? :)

I finished the race in 1:07:49, a 10:56 mile. I was #139 out of 211 and I'm pretty darn happy. Today I can hardly walk, but I'm online looking for my races to run. How did this happen to me?

Backwards

That's how I feel with these races I seem to be getting myself into. I keep pinching myself to make sure it's really me doing this, and yep, it is. Actually the pinching isn't necessary today because I have enough aches and pains to prove it's really me.

I do feel like I'm doing things a bit backwards, though. I really, really wanted to run my first 5k last spring at the Keizer Iris Festival, but it just didn't work out. After that fell through I slacked off on my running, just focusing more on weight training and trying like heck not to put on poundage. That being quite unsuccessful, I really wasn't physically ready to be running yet when I found my running partner. I knew it was a good match, though, so I threw myself back into it, no doubt faster than I should have. In hindsight I'm lucky I didn't have a massive coronary on that first 3 mile run up and over the top of a very steep hill!

When I finally did run my first 5k, I hadn't ever actually run 3 miles without stopping. I'd done interval work up to 4 or 5 miles at that point, I think, but no straight 3 milers. The whole way into the race I really was feeling like I was way out of my league and totally unprepared. I did manage to meet my goal, which was to run the entire thing, no walking, but I didn't have a sense of being well trained.

So now I'm staring down the barrel of a 10k (ack!) wondering, once again, how the heck this happened! I feel completely unprepared. I haven't been training for a 10k ~ I was thinking a few more 5k's and I'd feel like a runner. I'm still hobbling from my first ever 6 mile run this week and wondering if I'll even be recovered enough by Sunday to run the race. I really feel way over my head.

I guess there's no point to this post, except to say that I don't feel ready. I'm mentally wading through the muck trying to get to the toughness.

My first 6-miler

Having been talked into running a 10k this Sunday with my running partner, and having never actually run that far in my life, I decided it was time. Today was the day. I honestly had no idea what to expect and my hopes were not high. Glass was not looking half full to me one bit. Gotta work on that. Up to today, the farthest I had ever run without stopping was 3 miles. I've done interval work up to 5 miles, but nothing over.

My RP (running partner) and I met at the hospital, fiddled with our Nike+ 's for a few, then set off running. We've discovered that running from the hospital is good, first because there are no log trucks trying to wipe us out as there were on our other route, plus if we pass out we're close to the hospital. Seriously.

RP ran a full 6 miles last Saturday without me, so she knew she could do it. I felt decently good until about the 2.5 mile mark, at which point I was struggling to keep up with RP. She was just booking today! I wanted to check our pace on my iPod, but it was tucked into a pocket on my rear and awkward to get out. I finally told her I really had to walk for a minute (note: at the farthest point from the hospital, not good). We walked for a few seconds and then tweaked our running ~ tried to slow our pace, but lengthen our stride. She always has to remind me to get my arms out of my armpits, too, as I tend to tuck them higher and higher as I run. So, arms down, close to body, longer stride, slower pace. This worked pretty well as we headed back toward town. Miles 4 and 5 were doable. We walked one more time because it was that or roll me off the edge of the road into the ditch, but when I tried to wimp out and walk again a half mile later, RP wouldn't let me. I started to focus on the next tree, then the next mailbox, then the blue truck, etc, until we finally made it.

All in all it was pretty successful, I think. I was miserable in the middle ~ miserable! I kept wondering why on earth I was doing this and how the heck did I ever get tricked into thinking I like to run? But the end... oh, it was so worth it! Even with the spurts of walking and the adjusted pace, I set a new mile record for myself of 10.39/mile AND I burned like 800 calories. Par-tay!