Don't Try This At Home

A year ago, I ran my first half marathon.  I was pretty pleased to have finished, and signed up for it again this year.  Started running, took a break some time before the 400k, and finally made myself start running again, in September.  Right.  Get myself in shape for a half in less than two months.  Clearly spending too much time on the bicycle.



Longest run since September was 8 miles; most were between 4 and 5 miles.  A total of 11 runs.  Denial works really well, it does.

Yesterday Cecil and I rode out from her house to pick up our race packets in Vancouver, WA.  We took the scenic route (well, mostly scenic; not possible to make Hayden Island or parts of Interstate Blvd scenic), including two crossings of the I-5 bridge and a stop for late lunch at Cup and Saucer in Kenton.  All told, about 35 miles.

Bonus encounter - riding into Vancouver... Cecil: "I recognize the fairings on those bents!".  Yes, indeed.  Random, unannounced ride on the east side (ok, this ride east side AND Vancouver), and yes, we run into Dave and/or Edna.  Every single time.  Went inside and visited for a bit, then went and picked up our race packets.



Heading out of Vancouver, I heard a "Lynne!  Lynne!"...  Whereupon a person I had never met before introduced himself and said he recognized the bear. (!)





Great ride with Cecil.  We should do this more often.  I think we will.
 (oh, right, I was talking about a run.)

Met Cecil right at 7am at Kettleman's for pre-race bagels and coffee.  About 7:45, we thought we should go North.

Parking was a teeny bit of a challenge; we got a space 3 (or so) blocks away.  Stood around.  Dropped my bag in the bag drop.  Visiting with Laura R.  We knew other folks were running, but did not see them beforehand.  Half-heartedly participated in the pre-race warmup.  Got our iPods going (me - Box of Rain.  Cecil - Velvet Underground.  I do not think there is any intersection at all on our iPods)

13.1 miles in front of me, and face it, I had not properly trained.  All I could count on was that I had run the distance before, had done a bit of running, and had the endurance from all that cycling.  Finishing would be good.

We filtered up to the front, to get out ahead of the walkers.  Aaaaand we were off.  Cecil zipped off (she's a real jackrabbit), and I plonked along at a relatively steady pace.  Got passed by all the fast girls.  Out east along the river, through an industrial park, keep going...  I walked through the water stops (roughly every two miles) and got some water, and sucked down a gel every 30 minutes (roughly every three miles).  What?  Every three miles?  I was running right at 10:00?  I could tell when the gel kicked in.  I could also tell when it was wearing off.  Turn around and head back.  Lots of folks still heading out.

Plonk plonk plonk...  Right around mile 9, we turned right, ran up a ramp, and down into Fort Vancouver.  Well, the park that is Fort Vancouver - the fort (or a reasonably accurate reproduction) is over a bit to the east in the park.  East past Pearson Field (airport).  East out of the park/airfield, past some malls, then north (and up a bit of a hill), and....turning west for the last time.  Still keeping close to that 10 minute mile.  I don't reliably run that fast in training.

Lots of little kids all holding out their hands for high fives.  Fun for both of us.  West back into Fort Vancouver, then up another hill, past Officers' Row, across I-5.  Getting close now!

A few more blocks, crowds getting larger, then right, up one block, right again and done!

I just finished! (picture by Susan Otcenas)

Susan O was cheering from the sidelines.  Gave them back my timing chip, and went off to find Cecil and food.  Also found Susan O, Linda and Scott (Linda ran fast!  Scott cheered.), Jill and Catherine.

Jill, Catherine, Cecil and me at the finish (picture by Susan Otcenas)

Much hugging and picture taking!

And, checking my time...
bib number: 820
age: 55
gender: F
location: Portland, OR
overall place: 722 out of 1922
division place: 25 out of 86
time: 2:12:30
pace: 10:07

new personal record!

But, about that don't try this at home...  Aftermath.  More than 24 hours after, I still hurt.  Don't skimp on the training and think your awesome endurance will carry you through.  I mean, it WILL, but, at least in my case, I was writing checks my legs couldn't cash.

Things I Did Not Know Were On My Bucket List

(me, run a half marathon?  No way!)

Way back last fall, friend Susan guilted peer-pressured recruited me and some other friends to join her in running the Girlfriend's Half Marathon.  I dutifully started running again, starting from nothing (run 0:30, walk 4:30) x 10 and got myself up to a 10K distance.  Then backslid (running by myself is LONELY.  Running after work isn't gonna happen.  I despise getting up early and running by myself in the DARK).  Then, noticing that dates in the calendar were closer than they appeared, started running again in July.  3 times a week, two shorter runs (4+ miles) and a longer run with Susan, starting at 6 miles and going up every week - 8, 9, 10, 6 (rest week), 12, 6, 6.  I was toast after that 12 mile run.  Fortunately I am working at a place where they understand runners. :-)

The Sunday before, Cecil, Susan and I ran 5.9 miles on the Wildwood trail in Forest Park.  In the rain.  There are muscles used in trail running that are not used for road running.  Ow.  Was I going to feel better by the next Sunday?  I got in one more run in the Nature Park over lunch.  (Another good thing about where I am working - easy access to my favorite trails in the Nature Park.  I have missed running there)

Ok, so night before, gear all collected for a run that would be done in temperatures from 42 to 46 deg F, no rain (yay!), and a lot of time thinking I'd really rather ride a 200k...





Nice bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee.  Susan and Jill appeared, we piled into Susan's car and drove over to Vancouver.  It was cold.  Really cold.  There were runners walking around in SHORTS and SPORTS BRAS!  I got hypothermia just looking at them!  Mostly we stayed in the car; Jill and Susan discussed pre-race anti-inflammatories.  I had already taken my Advil.





My former co-worker Jerry was there volunteering; we caught up.  He runs a marathon pretty much every weekend (!)  Cecil and her friend Judy found me right before the start.  We jumped around trying to warm up.  Finally, it was TIME!  We had all split up before starting, so I didn't see anyone for awhile.  First mile was gently downhill.  I had to thread my way among the walkers.  We ran by the Vancouver Farmer's Market and then down to the Columbia River and headed east for about 4 or so miles.  There was mist on the river, the sun was just above the horizon, and it was completely gorgeous.  As I approached the turnaround, I saw Linda, Susan, Jill and Cecil. Heading back myself, I saw Judy.

We eventually split off from the outgoing runners and ran west along a parallel street, then did a hard right turn into Historic Fort Vancouver.  Ran by the old fort, Pearson Airfield, Officers Row, then out the east side of the fort, north a few blocks, then turned back west and through the fort again.  There were some little hills here, nothing to get excited about.

My little toe felt a bit disturbed around mile 9.  About mile 12, my right quad spoke up.  At that point it was "suck it up, almost done".

Lots of families out along the course, cheering on their runners.  Little kids wanted to high five everyone :-)  And then we crossed back over I-5, into downtown, around the block and FINISHED!

Fitz was there waiting (yay! plane landed in time!), and Susan, Jill, and Cecil were there.  I finished only 1:17 behind Cecil...

picture courtesy of Cecil R-S

We hugged.  We took pictures.  We ate and made plans to meet at Gordito Taco in Portland and eat some more.  Changed out of the running gear into dry clothes, adjourned to Gordito Taco (where Linda, Scott and Fitz joined us) for more yummy food outside in the sunshine.

Details:
bib number:514
overall place:597 out of 1394
division place:48 out of 111
time:2:16:11
pace:10:24


The average time was 2:30:26.


My pace was reasonably consistent throughout.  I walked through each water station (every 2 miles) to drink some water and ate a gel every 3 miles.  Never felt bad, never had to have arguments with myself.  HR Avg was 155, which, for me, running is pretty decent.  My pace was the best in a very long time for anything over 5 miles.


Race pics here


It is now over a week since the race.  I have been heard to utter the words... next time.

On Training

By now, some of you have noticed that I might ride my bikes a bit, now and then, and sometimes go for a run.  Organized training?  Not so much.

There is a half marathon with my name on it in 5 weeks.  I am not running intervals.  I am not following the "4 runs a week" plan.  I am trying to get out 3 times a week, 2 medium kinds of run (intervals?  what, are you kidding?), and one really long one (10 miles last week!) with a friend who really does train.  I figure, at this rate, I will be able to finish.  Not so worried about time.  I run to, well, run.  Plonk plonk plonk plonk plonk...

And that bicycling stuff?  Again, I don't train.  No intervals.  No plans.  I commute to work 4 days a week (10 miles RT, with a hill).  I try to do something on weekends, but it usually a club ride or something with Cecil (something with Cecil is always longer and harder than the club ride.  But definitely fun).  Or I might think I should be working on the climbing, and go ride up some hills - we've got some nice ones within easy riding distance of my house.

I have been averaging about 400 miles a month, except for August.  Somehow I found myself, at the end of the last week, with only 3.5 miles to go to hit 700 miles.  One bike commute later, and there I was.

Last week, I wondered if Cecil wanted to ride somewhere.  Her weekend schedule was such that "if you wanted to do hill repeats for a couple of hours on Mt Tabor early Saturday..."

As I still think I should be working on my climbing, we arranged to meet up at Kettleman's at 6am for bagel and hot beverage of choice, then head over to Mt Tabor at 6:30.  Left my house at 5am on Sweetpea (very dark!  good test of the Supernova E3!), up over Sylvan, and arrived at 5:55am.  A minute or two later, another bright bike headlight appeared.

Then over to Mt Tabor.  I have never ridden loops around it.  We ride over a lower part of it on our way out to the Gorge, and that's it.  Two loops so I'd know where I was going (I have no illusions about keeping up with Cecil on a climb.  Few people do.)  She only lapped me once over the two hours.  I got in 10.5 repeats.

Then, of course, I had to ride home, again, up over Sylvan.

Being the number crunching sort, I now know that the loop is 2.24 miles, and I averaged 11:11 around it.  (If you don't do a baseline, you'll never really know if you are getting better).



For me it was a 49+ mile ride, with almost 4300 vertical feet.  That's a lot of climbing.

Next time I do this (when?  good question?), I can see if I got any faster.