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 :(

10 Miler up Leif Erikson! Ugh

Almost, almost missed my run this morning. Overslept my alarm and woke up with 10 minutes to spare. Threw on some clothes, ran out the door and made it to the meeting point right when my group was leaving the parking lot. Didn't give myself any time for stretching so I assume I might be a little sore tomorrow. The big 27 is coming up next weekend, the perfect gift would be a donation! wink, wink. :)

I DID IT!

This past Saturday I rolled out of bed at 5:30am to make it to my 6am 25K group run (15.5miles)
I am very happy and proud to say that I made it! 2 hrs 30 min. Averaging just under a 10 min mile. Not too bad considering my whole body felt like it had been hit by a semi by mile 12.
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. This would be a lot harder with out you.

I promise... I'm still running!.... Reluctantly

Ok, ok, ok I know I haven't updated the blog in a few, but I promise I've been running! I admit I skipped my group run on the 4th of July because.... Come on, who runs 9 miles on the 4th of July! I did make it up with my running partner Jen that next Wed.
The next weekend my housemates and I planned a camping trip to the Coast preventing me from making my weekly group run. However, I think my choice of running 10 miles on the coastline was a much better idea than sticking around to run in the streets of Portland







This coming Saturday, which I WILL be making, is our next benchmark. 15.5 miles!!! Holy you know what!
Thanks to all of you for your support

Back at it.

Week 13...Half way through the training. I swear it feels like I've been training a lot longer. I actually woke up this week on time for my group run on Sat. I was lucky enough to bump into my pace buddy from before I left on my trip and she kept me company for the 10 miler that day. It seems so much easier to run when you have somebody to talk to. This next Sat (4th of July) is a 12 miler and I'm pretty much dreading it, but 12 miles should seem like a piece of cake in a month right? right?......right?

The Wall

After 13.1 miles last Saturday this weekend's 8 miler should have been a piece of cake.
Not so. First off I over slept and missed my group run at 7:45am. Then the sky became really dark and started to pour. Now I have to run alone...and in the rain. Not too motivating of a situation.
I took two naps, watched an episode of Family Guy, and made a pot of coffee before I was able to coerce myself into putting on my running clothes. Then it took another half an hour of procrastination before I made it out the door....and by quarter to six that night I was running!!! Better late than never I guess.

Helvetia 1/2 Marathon!!

Hills, hills, and more hills, that is the Helvetia Half. Around mile marker 10 my whole body started to tingle from what I assumed to be exhaustion, but I managed to tell myself only 3 more miles to go. This is definitely one of the hardest physical challenges I've experienced and right now I feel proud and exhausted but most of all I'm thinking...'Holy 'you know what' I have to do this distance twice in October??!'

<----------My Godson Owen wearing my finisher medal.

Finished!!!!----->

Back in Portland

After a wonderful road trip and a very sad goodbye to Brock in Idaho I got on a plane for Portland.


Back at the training... Luckily the scheduled runs for this week were a bit shorter (30-35min) My body needs a break after the killer 11 miler in Lowman.


This coming Saturday is my first Benchmark.
The Helevetia Half-Marathon!!!!
13.1 Miles. Pictures to come...

Final Destination, Final Run of the Trip

Made it back to Idaho Friday night and decided to make it a short day of driving and overnight in Ketchum. We had a great sushi dinner and an even better breakfast. Goodness I love food.

We made it to Lowman, ID (our final destination) Saturday and I completed my 11 miler the next day. It was brutal! In the Boise National Forest there are no flat roads so I had to resort to the 5.5 miles mostly uphill and then the 5.5 down. By the time I reached the top I was certain I was going to lose my breakfast. Luckily Brock gave me a short breather and no food was lost. All in all we completed the 11 miles in 1 hr 47 min.
Longest run yet!

Wyoming

Stayed one night in Rock Springs, WY and took advantage of the hotel treadmill.

8,000 ft is a little tougher

So we made it into Estes Park, CO and fell in love with the area. It was only 3pm when we drove through the town but we decided to call it a day for driving and find a nice place to spend the night.
We found a nice cabin right on the river outside of town.
The next morning I had to get my run in for the day. 40 minutes doesn't seem so bad these days, but at 8000 ft elevation it hurts like hell.

My lungs burned and my legs felt like heavy bricks. Needless to say I'm looking forward to getting back to Portland elevation.


We did have and interesting encounter with a cow elk in town. Brock and I were walking by the river and we noticed a cow near the visitor center. We were a good 40 yards away from her but she must have thought I gave her a bad look because she took off in a full charge towards us. Before we knew it she was a few steps behind andwe were at a full sprint. We took a chance and crossed a busy intersection and the traffic was enough to stop the elk in its tracks.
Good practice for the marathon ;)

Kansas Tornado!

We did everything you're supposed to do in Kansas... Go through a massive weather system, eat a tasty steak, and pick up a family from Alabama that had broken down on the side of the road. All in all the ideal Kansas day.

Due to the weather.. training was postponed until tomorrow. 45 minutes to come in Colorado.

Really Spoiled

Lyons Twin Mansion Bed & Breakfast
Fort Scott, KS

If you are ever anywhere near this state, this town, this region for that matter you have to visit this town and stay here. The place is phenomenal, the hospitality from Miss Pat is nothing short of perfect, and the breakfast by Miss Lorrie is to die for.

The stranded puppy picked up by the owners.
We fell in love and wanted to take him with us so bad.

Theodore the Mansion's resident golden retriever.

Spoiled

Making it through the Midwest!
After the long run in Athens I took advantage of the treadmill in Vincennes, IN for my shorter run of 30 minutes.
Along the way we became tourists at the arch in St. Louis. It's pretty amazing if you've never been. We took the tram up inside the arch all the way to the top.

After a very sad goodbye to Brock's friends and family in Gettysburg we began our trek on Route 50 headed towards good ol' Idaho.

Driving through West Virginia off the beaten track turned out to be a great choice. The scenery was gorgeous and there were many many interesting people and places to check out.

The first night we made it to Athens, OH (Home of University of Ohio) By crazy luck Brock ran into an old friend from high school at our hotel! Small world.

We were very fortunate the next morning because according to my schedule I had to run 10 longggg miles that morning before we hit the road and there happened to be a very picturesque and longgg bike path that was near our hotel.


------------------------------------->>>
Before shot (Oh my goodness, can I really do this?)








<<<----------------------------
Heck yeah!!!! Furthest I've ever run!






Back on the road again made it through Ohio and into Indiana.
Restin up in Vincennes, IN tonight and will give Brock's body a break and use the hotel treadmill tomorrow morning.

St. Louis here I come!

Gettysburg!

Great runs this week!

I had a short run this past Wed through the great battlefields of Gettysburg. It was a such an incredible feeling running through the area where so much American History was made

This Saturday will be the next big run. 11 miles!

Went from Charlotte up to Chantilly, VA to visit mom. Got a run in right before the thunderstorms hit (45 min)

And the East Coast training begins...

On the road and still running!
The 7 Miler in Charlotte, NC...hot and humid as all get- out.
Soaked in sweat and loving it!

Road Trip!

Leaving on a jet plane don't know when I'll be back again.... Actually I'm headed to Asheville, NC will proceed to road trip across the country and then fly from Boise back to Portland.
How will this affect my training you might ask?
I just figure Brock will drive and I'll run behind it... just kiddin ;)
I've printed off all of my training schedules for the time I'll be gone and I've recruited Brock to train with me during the mornings before we take off on the road.
Pictures to come!

I survived the nine miler!!! 4.5 miles uphill, but after that it was smooth sailing. My quads definitely feel it today!

The Portland Marathon Course --->

Welcome!

This week at St. Andrew Nativity School I worked with Laprincia, a great student in the sixth grade, on mathematical word problems. I can remember how difficult math was for me in grade school and I am astonished I am able to teach someone else. It's such a great feeling to see her grasp a difficult concept and be able to do it on her own.

As far as the running is going... I think I'm over the high of beginning this challenge and now the looming reality is setting in. My body will run 26.2 miles on October 4th...I just have to convince my head that it's going along for the ride as well.

My training schedule consists of running a certain amount of minutes during the week (Mon, Tues, and Thurs) and then doing a longer run on Saturday mornings. This week will be a hefty 9 miler. I'll let you know how it goes :) Thanks for stopping by...