Autumn Leaves 50k Race Report

Originally I wasn’t going to run this race. But then I started hearing about how much fun it was, how great it would be to run a race the day before my birthday (instead of being happily inebriated), and then Sarah Duncan tempted me with a birthday cake. So I caved to the pressure (of cake!!) and signed up knowing that it would be my last race of 2011. Well, maybe my last race.

My goal for Autumn Leaves was to have fun and run this 50k faster than I ran Hagg Lake back in February. I ran that race so slowly I knew I could do it. After the Bend Marathon, I didn’t run all that much. I hurt my knee three weeks ago when I fell at the bowling alley. That really concerned me because my knees were really starting to hurt again. And then there was the plantar fasciitis that was starting to develop in my left foot.

Friday evening, I got all of my stuff ready including my drop bag and food. I ate my usual dinner of pizza and beer and was in bed before 9pm. I actually got a great nights sleep thanks to the sleeping pill I took. Usually I can get to sleep but will wake up several times during the night and at least one hour before my alarm is set to go off. I got up at 4am and ate my banana, hard boiled egg, and cheese. I drank my large cup of coffee and met my ride: Kristin.

It was foggy at 5:15am. Really, really foggy. We finally found Champoeg State Park and were greeted by two enthusiastic members of our running group: Gina and Travis. It was colder at Champoeg than at my house. Thankfully I had brought a pair of long stretchy pants, a jacket, and a long sleeved shirt for after the race. I put the pants on and ended up wearing them for 95% of the day. During check in (number 212), we saw so many people we knew. It was like a big party…with running…and fog.

It was a 50k and 50 mile run. You ran out 3.x miles and then ran back. So each loop was 6.x miles. To get my 50k in, I needed to do this 5 times. 90% of it was on asphault with 10% of it on trail. There were a few hilly areas but mostly it was flat. We started off running with our headlamps on and it was so foggy you couldn’t see much. So we all joked that it would be great because by the time we woke up and the fog cleared up, we’d have at least 2 loops in!

There were so many supportive families and friends that parked their cars in the lot. It was almost like a tailgating event but without the face painting and beer. Someone even had a fire in a little pit. It was pretty awesome. The aid stations had the best food: Paydays, Coke, candy, sandwiches, fruit, chips, gels, etc. I felt very confident in my decision not to carry anything with me.

The first two loops, I felt very slow and sluggish. My legs just didn’t want to go any faster. Kristin’s pace was faster than mine so she ran ahead. Poor thing was suffering from some type of intestinal distress so there were quite a few porta-potty stops for her. She would run ahead and visit the porta-potty and by the time I got up there, she was ready to run again. By the time we hit the 3rd loop, we had lost each other. The third loop was definitely my best loop. I had grabbed my iPod, dropped my long sleeved shirt and was making a pretty decent pace. A lot of my friends were out volunteering at our running group’s own aid station which was also stocked with cupcakes, bread, chips, etc. (This race had the BEST volunteers of any race I’ve ever run!)

By the 4th loop, I was starting to feel the mileage in my hips, legs, and specifically my knees. My pace had slowed but I was still in good spirits knowing that I had less than 13 miles to go. I kept chanting to myself “This is better than being at work, this is better than being on the couch.” I kept reminding myself how good it was going to feel to sit down and drink a beer after I was done. I constantly checked my watch it see where I was at goal wise. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping to finish the race in 7 hours. But as I finished up my 4th loop, I knew I wasn’t going to make it.

For my 5th and final loop, I ditched my iPod, hip pack, and pants. Thank goodness Rose Bak was there to let me balance against her while I was taking off my pants. A good friend helps you take off your pants after you’ve run 25 miles.Sarah Duncan asked me if I’d like her company during my last loop and of course I said yes! I love running and hanging out with her. She’s such a laid back person. She’s awesome. Then before I knew it, Lynne Gibson was out there with us after finishing her 50k!

Sarah and Lynne were fantastic. They kept up lively conversation which really helped pass the time. We gossiped and joked about a variety of topics. They kept telling me how great and strong I looked. I was so happy to have them with me. The last mile of the race was super tough. The finish line seemed to get farther and farther away!

Finally I started seeing cars and then friends cheering for me. Honestly, hearing people cheer your name is one of the greatest things in the world. At that moment nothing else matters. It doesn’t matter how you feel, how slow you are, or how exhausted you think you are. You actually speed up as if drawing from their enthusiasm. And I sped up. Not a lot but I sped up. I also starting smiling again because damn it, I was going to finish the race with a smile on my face (thank you Anna!)

Then I saw Andy. And my heart leaped up into my throat. I wanted him to see me finish the race. I wanted him to see me accomplish this.

DONE!

Nothing has ever tasted better!

Everyone who volunteered was awesome: Anna, Garth, Travis, Gina, and Sarah. My fellow runners were inspirational: Amy, Liz, Lynne, Sarah, Karen, Dorothy,Mark and Steve Walters. I don’t usually want to run the same race twice but I’m going back next year! And hopefully Jodi Cullen will be there too. You were missed Jodi!

And yes, I hit a personal record with this race with an official time of 7:35:13. So I beat my Hagg 50K time by an hour and ten minutes.

Autumn Leaves 50K Teaser

Finished!

Post race celebration

Running in the Dark

Last night was the final race of the Portland Trail Series. I had my first running in the dark experience. I’ve run at dusk and early in the morning but not in the pitch black of a forest…on a trail….by myself…with only a headlamp and courage. It was a little scary, creepy, and somewhat exciting.

Portland Running Chicks

I have my 50k race on Saturday so I wasn’t going to go full out on this race. I was the slowest in the group (at least I thought so) and ran by myself which wasn’t so bad. It was around 5.3 something in terms of mileage so it wasn’t too hard. The race was an out and back. It was really cool to see all of the headlamps snake their way around the turns and up and down the hills. Until the fast ones aka everyone in the race, made their way back. I got spotlighted by numerous headlamps and had to jump to the side of the trail to let faster runners pass – something I dislike doing.

I turned around and told the volunteer that I thought someone might be behind me but I wasn’t sure. As I continued to run back, I didn’t see anyone else. So I told the last volunteer that I was the last one so she left her post and followed me to the finish line. It turned out that there was someone else on the trail. How I didn’t see her, I don’t know. I should have.

Along the trail, I only tripped a handful of times which is normal for me. I didn’t fall. Yay! I did get creeped out by the sounds I heard and at times, wondered if I was still on the trail. I learned that its not the best idea to listen to music while running in the dark by yourself so I put my iPod away pretty early on in the race.

I’m glad I got the chance to finally run in the dark. If you run in the dark on trails, run up the hills and go slow on the descents. But that’s just my advice.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Last night I tried this recipe from Poor Girl Eats Well. It didn’t come out all that well for me.

I sauteed onion, mushrooms, and garlic which were awesome. The addition of the frozen mixed veggies. Not so much. I think this recipe is really a matter of taste. Andy doesn’t like frozen veggies. And I could take them or leave them. I used rice instead of quinoa which was fine. I did top them with Parmesan cheese which is delicious!

I will try to make this recipe again but will stick with fresh vegetables and double or triple the amount of mushrooms I used as they were fantastic with the sweet flesh of the squash. It was fun to try something new even if it didn’t totally work out the way I wanted it to.

Christmas Count Down

There is something like 67 days until Christmas. I know, I know. This year (like every year) I vow to be more organized. You know and actually send Christmas gifts before December 25th. In previous years, it has been hit or miss. Thanks to companies like Amazon, I have been able to have my gifts under the tree before the big day.

This year, I started saving money a few months ago. Granted, its only been like $10 per paycheck. But after a few months, its added up to more than 0. As with each year, I wonder about how to address the question of gifts for the nephews. Last year, we decided to give them money. I never know what to get them or if the gifts I’ve given were a hit. It would be great to hear from them if they liked what we sent. (*HINT*) But in the absence of correspondence or a phone call, we decided that money was just easier. Maybe I’ll send gift cards to Walmart or something. I don’t know.

This year Andy and I will be attempting to create several gifts for family members over the age of 25. I’m not giving anything away but the gifts will be simple and from the heart. Hopefully family will like them. What are your plans for Christmas and how do you handle the kid gift giving?

Run to Failure Maintenance

Andy and I were discussing a certain business’s strategy: run operations until the machine breaks and then try to fix it. The machine in question is a human being a worker. Despite all pleas for help and additional assistance, additional resources were never provided. And as expected something bad happened. Really bad. A mistake that could have been easily prevented if additional resources had been provided and a system had been implemented that would have mitigated human error. But instead the business decided to use the run to failure maintenance.

This strategy is being used in Fortune 500 companies across the globe and in many human lives. How many people do you know that make no lifestyle changes until a diagnosis of cancer, diabetes or heart disease? How many athletes continue to push their bodies until something breaks? I know that I have been guilty of this in the past. I would run and run and run some more until my IT Band flared up or something would swell up.

When I trained for the 2010 marathon, I had a great routine of running and lifting weights. After the marathon was done, I reduced my weight lifting due to time constraints. I never spent much time stretching but in early 2011, I pretty much quit. My foam roller which helped me through my initial IT Band flare up in May 2010, was stored in my closet unused. It has taken several doctor and physical therapy appointments for me to realize that this run to failure maintenance strategy has costs that are too high for me.

I’ve started doing yoga. I know I’m late to the party but yoga is incredible if you have the right teacher. On Sunday, I had an instructor who was sent from Heaven. She lead us through an amazing hip routine that left me feeling better than I had in months. I’ve also started my weight lifting routine again. I stopped doing my spin classes when work became too hectic and it was just too much for me to try and schedule. This week I have one spin class in my future. My new strategy is to give up the run to failure maintenance and to take care of my body just a bit better.

Silliness

Andy loves to be silly.

Cats, Cats, and more Cats

Andy and I have two cats: Shem and Bitty. Bitty has been with me for over ten years. He originally came with his brother Nibbles, who passed away years ago from complications caused by diabetes. Bitty is one of the sweetest cats you will ever meet. He just wants attention. He doesn’t care who its from. When your sick, Bitty will come and lay next to you. If you are sad, he’ll come and keep you company.

Then there is Shem. Seven pounds of vocal, demanding kitty. He keeps a very strict schedule that looks something like this:

1-4am – sleep on Aleta’s legs causing her back to hurt the next morning.
4:01-5:30am – step on Aleta’s face and hair purring loudly in her ear.
5:31-5:40am – stand on the bottom of the bed and meow loudly to wake up Andy and Aleta.
5:41-6am – sleep on Aleta’s legs
6:01-6:10am – demand that Andy and Aleta get up.
6:11-6:12am – be really sweet to Andy and Aleta
6:13-11am – take a nap
11:01-11:15am – demand to be petted.
11:16-11:20pm – torment Bitty by biting his ears and tail
11:21-11:23pm – eat and drink
11:24-1pm – nap
1:01-1:05pm – think about world economics
1:06-1:07pm – think about the underprivileged
1:08-7pm – nap
7:01-7:15pm – demand to be petted
7:16-7:20pm -torment Bitty by biting his ears and tail
7:21-7:23pm – eat and drink
7:24-10pm – nap
10:01-10:30pm – demand that Aleta and Andy go to bed
10:31-10:40pm – sit in the hallway hoping they will get the hint and come to bed
10:41pm-11pm – meow at Andy to finish setting coffee up for the night and come to bed
11:01-12pm – try to get comfy on the bed

Shem

So when you see something like this, you just kinda stop and say ‘ahhhhhh.’

Bend – The other side of the marathon

While I was running, Andy was out and about in the wooded area around Bend enjoying himself. And by enjoying himself I mean freezing his ass off fishing. As usual he took some great photos.

Oh yeah!

Bend Marathon Race Recap

All through running the race I kept trying to think of funny names for this post. I came up with quite a few and it was dependent upon exhaustion level as to how funny they were. Names like: “Oh my God will it ever end” and “There is a small child on my chest preventing me from breathing”. Yeah. I guess you had to have been there.

Bend Marathon was hard. I knew it was going to be but man. It was hard.

Getting ready

The hard part of the race was two things: 1) Running at a higher altitude. I knew it would affect me but didn’t really know how to prepare for the affects.2) The climbs. There were two mighty climbs that came at cruel moments. The first big climb was at at 9.9 mile mark. I had to walk part of this as it was a hilly 2 mile climb. By the time I hit this climb I had all ready gone through the serious doubt I had from miles 3-6 as to what business I had being out there. There I was all alone except for another runner who was dialed into her iPod. I was struggling for breathe and trying to glide. I ate a gel and from mile 6 to about 8 I felt really good. Starting at 8 there was a slight incline that got much steeper at the 9.9. At mile 10 I walked because I felt like I was dying of thirst and my heart was beating really fast. At the next aid station I stopped and drank several glasses of water. I felt better but my heart was still beating too fast and my stomach hurt.

That lasted until I got to the halfway mark. My goal was to run the marathon in less than 6 hours. I wanted to cross the finish line with a smile on my face and to have a good time. I hit 13 miles at around 2:38 or so. I felt pretty awesome. I ran more and more still feeling pretty good until I got to about 16 miles. Then I started seeing the dogs. At first I thought I might be hallucinating. I mean there were like 6 of them and they all looked the same. Then I saw a creepy guy standing in the middle of the farm road with all these dogs. Then I knew I was just in the country. The dogs followed him to a small house off of the road. I started running again.

At 16 miles I started to alternate walking and running. I knew I had a huge climb at the end of the race and needed to save a bit of strength for that. From there until 19.3 not much happened. I ran, I walked, I waved at people, I jumped into the ditch when drivers didn’t want to share the road, I groaned, and tried to smile.

Then I hit mile 20. There was no wall. Only the beginning of a very long hill. It was one of those that just seems to go on and on and on and on. Each mile I ran/walked seemed like a huge victory. I was tired. Very tired. And I still had over and hour and a half to go before I’d be done. I ate a fig bar. It was pretty awesome. My back hurt, my lungs hurt, my IT Bands hurt…..I could go on and on about what hurt. I remember at one point muttering to myself, “Well, you wanted a challenge…”And challenge I got.

I was monitoring my pace very carefully to ensure that I would make my goal. On the downhills I ran as fast as I could without blowing out my legs. This is much more difficult than it sounds. Your legs are shaky and not at all dependable. You just kinda pray that your knees will be captain and keep everything in line. On the inclines, I walked as fast as I could. It was hard.

From miles 23-25, it was the hardest part of any race that I’ve ever done. It was a monster of a hill that was long, windy, and just sucked. I just kept going telling myself that in less than an hour I could sit down and have a beer.
I didn’t really care about the beer. I just wanted to be done with running. At mile 24 I burst into tears. Usually I don’t cry. I’m too tired or too dehydrated. But not this time. I had a mini melt down. I kept chanting how much farther I had to go. And doing my weird little run shuffle up the hill.

So I get to a traffic circle where there are flaggers directing traffic away from the construction equipment. I didn’t realize that the young lady jumping up and down with the stop sign was trying to get my attention. It appeared that I was running the wrong direction. My bad. So I followed there direction and ran up a sidewalk to God knows where hoping that I was on the right path. The path that would lead me to a chair, finishers medal and a glass of water. Finally I saw a young woman who let me know I was right in front of the 26 mile mark. I wanted to hug and kiss her.

I saw the chute and my husbands car. Eureka!! I was almost done. I turned the corner and ran for the finish line spotting Andy and his camera along the way.

So I didn’t quite my make goal of six hours. I finished at 6:01:10. Over all I’m pretty pleased with my performance. There was no 3 mph death march at the end.I ran a pretty consistent speed the last half of the marathon which is something I’ve never really done. I realize that I should have had a handheld water bottle as I was dehydrated for the race due to a stomach ailment I had been battling for the last few days. I’m pretty sore and tired but think I may like to run the marathon next year. If I do, I will go out to Bend and run a few times.

After the race, I got cleaned up and Andy took me out for some pizza and beer.