I DID IT! 26.2 MILES

I am alive and well. Definitely not 100%. I feel like I need a forklift to get up and out of chairs. My legs don't want to work anymore.
The race went phenomenal. I don't know if I'll be planning on participating in next years race though ;)
It went like this:
Got up at 5:00am
Ate some toast
Brock drove me down to the Hilton at 6:15am to meet my training partner Jen.
It was dark, 45 degrees, and the adrenaline was pumping.
Gun goes off at 7:00am but I don't cross the starting line until 7:10.
My wonderful dad and stepmom came to town to support me and cheered me on from mile 1, mile 5, and the finish.



Jen and I split up around mile 13.
My good friends Ivy and Myron came out to support me around mile 14. It was so nice to see supportive faces.

The hill.... St. Johns bridge is not easy. Especially when it comes along around mile 17. I was already exhausted and it took everything I had to climb that hill without stopping to walk. My bones and joints ached. My muscles were tight and spasiming. And I had the sudden urge to lean over the side of the bridge and upchuck my dinner. (I didn't ;)
I passed numerous ambulances hooking runners up to IV's and tried to stay out of the way of the runners that weren't able to hold their dinner.
I made it to the crest of the bridge and knew that my friends, Sean, Kim, Wanda, and Martina would be waiting for me. Wanda and Martina ran with me until University of Portland and then my boyfriend Brock ran the rest of the way in (He was only planning on running a couple of miles) I made it to the finish line with a tortoise pace of 5.4 mph.



My whole body is in pain today, but it is over, my family, friends, and colleagues helped to raise close to $2900 for the kids at St. Andrew Nativity School. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.
Overall, a huge success...

Getting Nervous, Getting Anxious

About 4 days until I'm standing amongst thousands of people in downtown Portland waiting to run a hellish 26.2 miles. All for what?
Well... I'm having to go over that in my head this week.
I'm running for:

First and foremost the kids at St Andrews.
(The money raised through my fundraiser will go towards after school programs)
My family
All the people that put down their names with a little bit or a lot of money. I'm running for you.
My Stepdad Frank, who I know will be with me on the run.
and myself, I really want to prove to myself I can do this.
I've been training now for a little over 5 months, running 4 times a week, I'm ready for the culmination of my hard work.

Thank you again for your support.

Starting to taper off. YEAH!

I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't have any more long runs until the marathon in two weeks. (wow, I think that's the first time I've realized the race is so close)
Today was a beautiful morning...7 miles on the waterfront can never be bad.

For next week's run I'll be in Boise for a good girlfriend's wedding so I'll get to run on my old stompin grounds along the Boise River Greenbelt (5 miler) Should be relaxing and easy.

Study hall starts again this coming week at St. Andrews Nativity School. I'll be continuing working with the kids every Wed. on Math, English, and maybe a little Spanish.
Right now I am currently at 82% of my fundraising goal so If you're reading this and you feel like bugging your friends to donate I certainly would not object.
Again, thank you for all your support.

I have to say I'm proud of myself ....

They say if you can complete 21 miles, you can complete the marathon. My confidence is renewed! I have been having trouble this week with the short distance runs ( getting tired, losing motivation, etc) but I kept a very slow pace for this benchmark and I felt really good at the end. Well...I can't say I felt 'really' good, the ankles were in severe pain. But emotionally and mentally I felt fricking amazing! I even missed my turn! The route went down by the waterfront and it just so happened that there was a massive dragon boat race occurring. Amongst all the people I missed the volunteer giving directions to turn right and continued straight.....1/2 a mile later.... I'm looking around and don't recognize any of the runners. No Portland Fit Shoe tags or T-shirts.... I'm starting to wonder... I pull out the map that our leaders gave us at the begining and have to stop running to figure out where the heck I am. Sure enough... ran 1/2 a mile out of the way.... turn around to backtrack... 'Hey, what's another mile?!' F*$%!!!!
So you might think I'm a little cuckoo after reading this next story but...
In between mile 18 and mile 19 I was all by myself. The group had spaced out enough where there was a decent distance between the person in front of me and no one behind me. About this time, Frank ran with me. For those of you who don't know Frank, he is my deceased step dad. So... one might ask, "How in the heck is this possible?" ... Heck if I know. I do know the man running beside me was a younger version of my S. Dad with the same crazy personality. He was there with me for no longer than a couple minutes. It was such an intense feeling After his 'image' left my side I was grinning ear to ear with tears in my eyes. Even now as I'm describing it I feel emotional. The final 3 miles I had a new found energy and the pain seemed to be less. I know you're body and mind do crazy things went you push them to a physical limit. I'm hoping I'll see him again on the marathon.

Now time for the ice bath :)

Easy 11 miler

Ernst, the 70 year old veteran marathoner

<--- Jen, my awesome running buddy.

I Did It!!!!! 18.6 Miles

I am so ecstatic, tired, and sore. Woke up this morning at 5:15 am to head to Vancouver, WA.
Why would I cross the river? Today was our next benchmark=30 kilometers aka a freaking long way.

Started out kind of groggy but by mile 5 I had a good rhythm.
Mile 10 I hit the one and only hill in the course. Had to bite down and push through for a mile of uphill climb. I was hurting by the time I got to the top.
Did a 2 mile loop at the top of the hill and headed back in the other direction for the final 4.6. My hips pulsed with pain and every footstep caused me to cringe a bit.
With a mile and 1/2 left I kept my head down and kept my pace. 3 hours 5 minutes!

Picked up 4 bags of ice on the way home and tossed it in the bath tub. I was only able to stick with it for 10 minutes, but I think it did the trick for the sore joints.
Again guys, Thanks for all your support. I can't do it without you.

Surprise, Surprise

Friday night.. I think ..Hey I only have to run 7 miles tomorrow morning I'm going to sit back watch a movie, drink a beer, and stay up late.

I wake up, drive down to meet my group for my easy run... surprise, surprise I misread the schedule and I'm informed by another runner that we are doing a 10 miler up Leif Erikson trail in Forest Park. Ahhhhh!

I pulled it together and ended up finishing with an average of a 9minute mile. Not bad :)

Next weekend won't be so easy. I definitely have to get my rest and load up on the food the night before. Sunday the 16th is our next benchmark: 30K = 18.6 Miles. Wish me luck :(