What Is TOO Early?

Today is December 3 and as of this very moment as I sit here and type this, Tom and I are already registered for 3 events and planning to register for one HUUUUGE event. I'm pretty sure that the other events that we have run will make it onto the calendar, but this girl just can't pass up a good deal!

That's right people...a DEAL.

Well, two were a good deal, one was just making sure that we got a spot in a certain race held in March.

Not long after the Vancouver USA Marathon weekend was over, registration opened up again for the following year and was offering a super early bird starting in August (I think) and I couldn't pass up the $49 half marathon fee - I really liked this event that much! This might be the event that I try to PR in next year. This year I got a PR for the Half Marathon distance as I posted a time 10 minutes faster than the Holiday Half last December. Woo Hoo!

The next race we signed up for was the Shamrock Run Half Marathon - with a field limit of 2,500. Since we weren't sure how popular this particular distance would be, we decided to go ahead and register on October 1 to secure a couple of spots for ourselves. This one was $70, but it's the Shamrock and Doernbecher's is the charity so really, it's a good thing.

Until this year I didn't know that there were Black Friday specials for races. An email popped up in my inbox from Energy Events for 3 different deals that they would have for a couple of days....whaaat?! $20 Fort Vancouver Run?! Sign. Me. Up. The distances for this race have changed and they now will feature a 12k and 5k instead of 15k and 6k (the 6k is a weird distance anyway). Hoping that the day isn't TOO cold and wet. Sometimes we forget how cold we were when a low price is dangling in front of our noses...haha.

As a crazy bonus for ourselves we are seriously considering registering for the Runner's World Half Marathon & Festival that is held in Bethlehem, PA. Now THAT is a destination run! The race registration will be the least expensive that we will pay out of the whole trip, but it will be worth it. Tom is pretty excited about this as it will be smack dab in the middle of a steel mill...the Bethlehem Steel Mill! To me this would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. There are so many events to try I would want to go somewhere else next time.

I'm pretty sure that the other races that have become regular events on our calendar will make it on the calendar in addition to these that we are registered for already.

It's never too early to plan, plan....PLAN!

2014 Running Events are DONE

Wow...look at what we did this year!

March 2nd - Fort Vancouver Run 10k, Vancouver, WA

This event was just plain cold and miserable. I'm glad that we did it, but still...SO, SO COLD! It felt good to stop, but it felt even better to get a cup of coffee at Thatcher's afterwards.

Hot Buttered Run - cold and rainy, yeah that's a good combo!

March 16th - Shamrock Run 15k, Portland, OR

This year's Shamrock was supposed to be my last Shamrock....I had declared that over and over. We had a great group of people sign up to run and I finally bumped up to the 15k instead of settling for what I know and stick with the 8k. It was a grind, but I can say that I did it!

Good looking crew - we had a few new faces this year!

June 15th - Vancouver Half Marathon, Vancouver, WA 

This race was Tom's first half and my second. I really liked this route a lot and we both felt pretty good all the way to the finish!

before the event

At home all blinged out!

Oh yeah..I like me a half marathon

June 21 - MarriageTeam, Saving Marriages 5k, Vancouver, WA

This was a fun run to help promote MarriageTeam here in Clark County - I was able to round up some of my church peeps for this one. I really liked that this race was close to home and it was also free. We did make a donation to the organization, but even so...we could have just done the run and called it good. It was the first event that Mary did with us and I think she enjoyed it. 

Hanging out afterwards with Kristen and Bobbi

Tom and Cam are gettingready to race!

July 4th, - Independence Run 5k, Ridgefield, WA

We hadn't planned on getting anyone together for this one, but Suzy and the Trujillos ran so we go to hang out afterwards.  Everyone (except for me) placed in their age divisions. I guess I'm just gonna have to run until there is no one else in my age division to take home a ribbon!

Me, Tom, Judy, Norm and Suzy

August 2nd - Wahine 5k, Fairview, OR

I really wanted to do a duathlon, but the training for that just wasn't going to happen. So I was able to get a couple of other of my girl peeps interested and I did the 5k "with" Mary and Julie (friend of Mary) and Kristen did the Duathlon.

Mary, me,  Julie and another runner whose name I don't remember.

September 13th - Fairhaven 15k, Bellingham, WA

For something a little different we decided to try a "destination" event. So off to Bellingham for a quick weekend get away. I really like Bellingham! It's laid back there, perfect weather not overly hot or anything. Boy howdy we didn't realize how much of a running community they have there! Not just the young college kids, even the "seasoned" runners are FAST! We were both a little dismayed at just how fast the race was there! It was a lot of fun and I'm glad that we made the trip to experience the running community in B-ham.

Runner Man!

I tried really hard to look decent for this picture

Sure I'm ready to go...why not?

September 27th - North County Wine Run Half Marathon, Battle Ground, WA

I had a little bit of an idea of what run might be, but you just never know until you get out there. I declare here and now that hills are not my friend. I've got some serious work to do! This is a race that I will likely not do again. It is nice and close to home, but the course is very much open to traffic and there are lots of big pick-up truck owners in North Clark County! I didn't feel 100% safe during this event.

The coolest race bling - wine bottle stopper that actually works!

Before the race, still happy, happy!

November - Hot Buttered Run 5k, Vancouver, WA

It has been a couple of years since we did this run last - and this year I opted to put together a team. Team members receive a $5 discount if there are at least 4 team members. Score! Tom and I and just two more, not a problem! In the beginning we signed up for the 12k race which is what we did the first time we did HBR, but we switched to the 5k since Tom had a fractured rib. The good thing is that he was able to get through the race without too much discomfort. Also, it seemed wrong to pay for a race, get a shirt, but not run it. He felt that he needed to "earn" the right to wear the shirt.

The obligatory selfie

This isn't even a professional photo - those usually stink anyway. Tom will be my pro photog from now on!

Now that I see what all we have done this year it makes sense that I feel tired, both physically and mentally. We were either training or running in events. Pretty much all year long. There were some down weeks for silly things like illness and physical aches and pains, but really, we were on the move all year long! 

Besides the running events I did add to my running gear...

Brooks Ghost 7

Okay, so I didn't spontaneously add shoes to my running gear, but I did change the type of shoe - I was running in Stability shoes for a  few years. This summer I switched (per the suggestion of the FitRight dude) to a neutral shoe. I LOVE THESE SHOES! Very comfortable, lightweight and cool looking!

Nathan Hydration Belt

It occurred to me after the Holiday Half last year that carrying water or other beverage wouldn't be a bad idea. So the first hydration belt I got Tom had used so much and got used to carrying that he thought he would like to use it for his first half...excellent choice! So I went out and got this baby right before the Vancouver USA Half Marathon. I LOVE IT!

Nike+ Sport Watch

At some point earlier this year I decided that it was time to upgrade from a watch that just tracks time and choose something that would do SO MUCH MORE. This was presented to me just a couple of days before the Vancouver Half an early birthday gift from my awesome hubby!


So, now that this year is nearly over and we have all of these races behind us, it's time to take time to reflect on those races and see what we can do to improve - pretty much everything! We will start preparing for the first race of the year: Even though the Fort Vancouver Run was miserable...there was a Black Friday deal and I just couldn't pass it up! $20 registrations! Well start training for that in the next few weeks - maybe start in January, but for now I am in rest mode, probably for another couple of days. Then back to an easy running schedule for a couple of weeks and then maybe ramp up again. We will see.

WEEEEEEE................

 run, Run, RUN!

Mission Accomplished

As we get closer to our final event of the year I can look back at our year and declare "Mission Accomplished." At the beginning of the year I had some high hopes to do more than just running events, but life happens and sometimes priorities have to be changed.

When January rolled around it seemed like we had all sorts of time to plan the different events that would be fun to get back into again...like doing a multisport event at Blue Lake. The problem is that I REALLY like the Blue Lake Weekend events in June, but that would have been way too close to my first Vancouver Half and I was pretty sure that I didn't want to be dead during the month of June. So that plan was out, but it's not totally out of mind.

The All Womens event is at the end of July - beginning of August AT Blue Lake each year. SO, if I can't do a multisport event I can at least be in the middle of all that activity. So, I recruited Mary and challenged her to do the 5k event with me. She in turn invited people from her office and we were set! Since she had a friend from the clinic to run with I kind of abandoned them and tried to run my own race. Blah Blah Blah....

So, just being at Blue Lake in August really got me thinking about what I need to do to get into the pool. Still working on that one! I have decided that I will put the Girlfriends and Dudes triathlon on the calendar for next year. How difficult can it be swimming WITH the current down the Columbia River?! I'm in! Well, at this point I think I'm in...

The Hot Buttered run is less than 30 days away and we are just now getting back on track with our training. I'm not going to get all weird about it - I've done more on less training and didn't die.

I'm SO looking forward to next year! A new year and new goals! Oh Yeah...baby!

Running has never been so much fun!

North County Wine Run

Photo Credit: Get Bold Events

This past weekend we did the North County Wine run - Half Marathon. This was my third half since doing the Holiday Half in December. I was trying out this half marathon idea back in December and decided that I liked it - even though I was majorly sore the next day and the day after and so on.

A half marathon is great because training for it doesn't take over your life - if you mean to do well. Since I have adequate ability I figured that doing half marathons would be a nice challenge. After all I have already conquered Duathlons and have done a couple of Triathlons, as well as a Century bike ride - so I can suffer with the best of them. The other thing that is not necessarily unique to me, but I do suffer from exercise induced asthma and the longer distance races are harder for me to do, but I don't let that stop me! I figure I'll just keep doing all these things until something goes out of order and is not fixable.

Okay, so I grew up here in Clark County and I know what the terrain is like in east county and I have HEARD of the terrain in North Clark County, but had not in all my years experienced it up close and personal. Let's just say that the terrain is pretty similar. Hills are hills wherever you go...some are rolling, others are steep...short, looong...but in the end they are HILLS! Are you seeing the trend here...there were some hills :) check out the profile -

Photo Credit: Get Bold Events

I want to say that the original route might have been slightly better, but I don't know. The race venue changed a couple of weeks before the race so that meant that the route was re-vamped as well. Had I been on the ball I would have saved the profile for the original route, although I don't know that I would feel better about it or not. Hills are hills!

Tom and I ran our own races, which was good for him because he would have gotten some attitude from me and I was seriously not happy. Like I mentioned before I have adequate ability and if I were to actually do things that would give me more strength then I would probably do better (make mental note...). We'll have to try to work those into our non-running days. Anway, in all the activities I have done I don't think I have ever thought to myself, "Oh, I wish someone would just stop and pick me up and take me to the finish." This one was different, I felt a lot of tiredness and I actually thought that it would be nice to climb into one of the support vehicles and be whisked off to the finish. However, to do that would mean a DNF and no race bling. Which was pretty cool...

Oh yeah...wine bottle stopper!

In the end, as hard as this race was, I DID enjoy it, but I don't think that I would do it again. There were a few spots along the route where the shoulder was either very narrow or non-existent and many people in Battle Ground drive BIG pick-up trucks! They also don't slow down a whole lot AND some of them might be pulling a trailer of some sort. I don't want to be the person that gets clipped by a motorist that is probably unhappy that "their" road is being taken over by runners. I know what it is like in rural Clark County. 

Finish times - Tom was just over a minute fast than the Vancouver Half and I was 2 minutes slower than Vancouver. If the sun had not been beaming down on me while I was within a mile of the finish I might have come in under 3 hours. One of the cadets who volunteered to be a course marshal near the finish called out that I was really close to the finish and I had to tell him that it wasn't close enough for me. I wished at that point that I was done, but I did it I ran through the finish because I don't believe in walking through a finish arch - that's just wrong!  I'm not going to beat myself up over this. In fact, I'm sooo over this race now. However, now we can measure all other races (until the next hard race) against this one and we can say, "Nothing can be as hard as the North County Wine run" and it would be mostly true. 

We'll be taking a few days off and allowing our bodies to rest and repair themselves. Next up will be the Hot Buttered Run on November and I do believe that it will be our last run for the year. 

A selfie waaay before the race started - we are still all smiles!

Gazelles

Man, I'm slacking here lately!

The last couple of weeks have been a little busy. I did have a week off, but even then I was going the whole time!

So, to end my week off Tom and I traveled to Bellingham for a 15k race, the Fairhaven Waterfront 15k. Saturday is normally our long run day, and we had 8 on the schedule...so 9 would do! Goodness those people in Bellingham must run ALL. THE. TIME! They are fast, fast, FAST! Thus the post title of GAZELLES!

I started my race out too fast and didn't necessarily run out early, but I was tired when I got to the last couple of miles. The temperature was good, but the sun was out and the one thing that I do not enjoy is having the sun beating down on me while I run. So, I was feeling the heat, except when we were along the water. I love running along the water, it was a little cooler and very pleasant. My next favorite part of the route was in the last couple of miles it was a very steady climb - BUT in the shade. Running in the shade felt soooo good...I was able to run the majority of the trail - which was packed gravel - and made it through the park with what little umph I had left. Within a quarter mile of the finish there was more gravel path and I just couldn't get it together to run anymore...so I walked the rest of the gravel and ran through the finish. Hot and tired, but I did it AND actually posted a decent time for my second 15k - about 3 minutes faster than the Shamrock 15k.

The reality of the whole matter is that Bellingham has a pretty significant running thing going on there. Not just because there's a college there or anything, EVERYONE was posting pretty fast times with the averages being in the 6-8 minute per mile range. Tom was happy to have hit his goal of a 9 minute pace...I was happy to finish, even though it doesn't look like it. My official time was 2:01:44. I'm happy with that it was about 3 minutes faster than the Shamrock - tired legs, not enough sleep and not enough time to fuel up before heading from our room to the venue - which was only across the street :)

The other thing that I liked about this particular race is that the photos were available pretty quick AND free to download. That's how it should be! I'm not looking to frame any of these shots, so why would I want to pay for these? I have purchased a digital copy just for posting here though. I made an effort to look a little happy in the first photo, not bad!

In the end it was a fun race to do and it was pretty cool to be in the midst of some pretty athletic people. I am thrilled that I wasn't last in my age division or the race over all. Overall I was #552 out of 599 runners. If we do this again I know what to look forward to, nothing will be a surprise. Although the route could change and that would mess me up!

We were only in B-ham one full day, but it was fun! Maybe we'll go back for another race...who knows.

Next up - the North County Wine Run, Half Marathon!