I get to take fitness classes at work for free, so I usually try to do something that lands around lunchtime. It's a good break, I don't have to work out when I get home, and it keeps me awake through the afternoon. Thursdays, I try to go to a class that is a combination of cardio and strength training. I go because I need the strength training. Unfortunately, the instructor is also a step instructor, so once in awhile she pulls the steps out.
I'm not a coordinated person. I can't dance, I don't pick up on footwork too easily and I'm not good at falling properly. So step + me = bad, bad idea.
This past Thursday, the instructor pulled out the steps. I'm already there, I can't just leave, so whatever, I'll try it. We didn't do anything complicated (grapevines and whatever else those crazy step people do), and I didn't even have my step up on risers (not making myself look good here). Despite all that, I managed to misstep and miss the step, rolling my right ankle. Of course, another woman fell and hit her head, so I probably got off easier, but still. If we wanted a step class, we'd take a step class. Plenty are offered. Keep the steps in storage on Thursdays, please?
I felt fine Thursday and finished the class. Then yesterday after work I went to the Capitol Hill Block Party. As with all concerts, I wore boots with no support, really, and was standing for hours. By the time I got home, my poor ankle was definitely swollen. And this morning, its tender.
So no running for me, AGAIN. This is getting old. Maybe it'll feel better tomorrow if I ice it and stay off of it today.
I dislike step.
7.24.2010
7.17.2010
Cross training to Monte Cristo
We'll call it cross training, but really we just needed to get out of the city and into the trees.
I had read about this hike last year, and we never made it out, so today we went. Monte Cristo is an old abandoned ghost town about two hours (driving, plus a four-mile hike) outside of Seattle in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It was a mining town, but floods kept taking out the road, so now the forest has taken over again. It's a pretty easy hike, as most of it follows the old road. You do get to cross a river on a giant log, which is kind of exciting, and there are a couple big hills, but there isn't any climbing or long switchbacks like some of the trails out here.
Being in the woods, listening to the river, was wonderful. I forget how much I like the trees until we go to the middle of a forest again. The town itself has an old railroad turntable, a few buildings that were down by the tracks, and pretty much only one building left up in the actual town site—though they've labeled where a lot of the houses used to be. The main street was named Dumas Street, appropriate in a town called Monte Cristo. There are a few other odds and ends strewn about—wheels and tools—but the forest has pretty much taken over once again.
We ate lunch once we got to Monte Cristo, I had a lovely TLT (tempeh, lettuce, tomato), though I probably could have eaten two.
Four miles in and four miles out, and we were ready to come home and eat again.
I had read about this hike last year, and we never made it out, so today we went. Monte Cristo is an old abandoned ghost town about two hours (driving, plus a four-mile hike) outside of Seattle in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. It was a mining town, but floods kept taking out the road, so now the forest has taken over again. It's a pretty easy hike, as most of it follows the old road. You do get to cross a river on a giant log, which is kind of exciting, and there are a couple big hills, but there isn't any climbing or long switchbacks like some of the trails out here.
Being in the woods, listening to the river, was wonderful. I forget how much I like the trees until we go to the middle of a forest again. The town itself has an old railroad turntable, a few buildings that were down by the tracks, and pretty much only one building left up in the actual town site—though they've labeled where a lot of the houses used to be. The main street was named Dumas Street, appropriate in a town called Monte Cristo. There are a few other odds and ends strewn about—wheels and tools—but the forest has pretty much taken over once again.
We ate lunch once we got to Monte Cristo, I had a lovely TLT (tempeh, lettuce, tomato), though I probably could have eaten two.
Four miles in and four miles out, and we were ready to come home and eat again.
7.10.2010
Kinda want to be a Warrior ...
I'm thinking about attempting the Warrior Dash in September. While the run is only 3 or 4 miles, its the obstacles along the route that are the most intriguing and the most daunting. Here's the run closest to me. And it isn't even all the obstacles--mostly its the rappelling (hello, twig arms!) and the fire jumping. Oh, and maybe the hay climb, but only because the rest of the race will involve hay in the pants which is not pleasant.
Still considering it. I have until Aug. 30 to decide.
Still considering it. I have until Aug. 30 to decide.
6.27.2010
Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon
I finished. The 12 weeks of training are done, the final goal is accomplished.
Saturday the alarm went off at 3:15 in the morning. After shoving some oatmeal into my stomach when I wasn't hungry, my hubby and I caught the bus downtown, where we caught a shuttle bus (a school bus, I could barely get my knees in the seat it was so small) down to Tukwila. We then had about two hours to wait until the start of the race at 7. Because of the wave start, I wouldn't be starting for another HOUR after that. The weather wasn't too terrible. The sun was barely up, with cloud cover. It was probably in the 50s. There were already people everywhere, though by 7 it definitely was more difficult to walk around. I don't know an exact number, but there were at least 27,000 people running either the half or full marathon.
Almost one hour to the minute after the very first runners started, my corral (moo) was released to start the race. The tracking system they use is nice--even though all the clocks at the mile markers start with the first group, the tracker on your shoe only starts when you actually cross the finish line. We also got 5k, 10k and 9 mile splits. By the way, the guy that won the half marathon ran it in 1:04:55—he could see the finish line by the time I was starting.
The course goes from Tukwila to Qwest Field in Seattle. It was pretty easy to pick out the out-of-towners during the run. They'd start talking about the terrible uphills when I hadn't even really noticed we were going uphill. On the flip side, they thought it was great running weather, I thought it was really muggy. (But at least the sun wasn't out, and it was good running weather overall.)
There were 9 bands along the half marathon course, which was cool. There was only one boy-with-guitar (really? C'mon, we need drums, people), the rest were pretty good, I guess. You don't really hear much as you're going past. There were also probably 9 cheer squads and a ton of water stations. They also had this Cytomax energy drink stuff, which just made the road sticky when you had to run past the tables.
Best part of the race for me was running through the Mount Baker Tunnel on I-90. It was cool since I drive that everyday (seems much shorter in a car...) and also because they had a DJ in there, so the sound was booming everywhere. As a person that cranks the iPod as high as it can possibly go when running somewhere without traffic, it was nice to have it so loud nothing else could be in my head. And how fun for that guy to DJ in a freeway tunnel? He looked like he was having a blast anyway.
For some reason, I couldn't really get my head into the run. The first three miles were spent dodging people on the route (I started too far back in the corrals), and then I think it was just that there were always people everywhere. I always run by myself, and our other races weren't that big--eventually I'd pretty much be running alone. Not this time (but I should have expected this with 27,000 people signed up). Miles 7-9 weren't fun since my head wasn't in it, I couldn't relax into my pace. Then, at mile 10 I hit the wall big time. Ten miles was the most I'd ran in training, so that had something to do with it, but also I think I had burned everything in my body to burn. Other people were hitting the wall, too. Somewhere between miles 10 and 13 we had to run up an onramp. I love uphills because they kick my muscles into gear and my knees feel better. However, one woman (who I really think was loopy) started sprinting up the onramp yelling as loud as she could "it's a flat, it's a flat!" Hope she was OK ...
The worst part of the race (besides knowing how far I was from Qwest Field and thus the finish line, since I always drive through there) was that we ran past Qwest Field, up through Pioneer Square and back around to the stadium. The finish line is in sight, but we're only at mile 11 or something. That was about where I started getting passed by speed walkers. But dammit, I was going to finish jogging, even if it was a very sloooooww jog. My knees hurt, my feet hurt, my toes hurt, my ankles hurt ...
I wonder if it would have been different had I had some goo or a granola bar or something. They were taking photos at the finish line, and I was willing myself not to be crying in the photos (which now makes me laugh, but really ... there wasn't nothing left).
I got my medal, got the finisher photo taken (I REALLY wonder what that is going to look like) and chugged water, finally tried some Cytomax—I was scared to drink it during the race since I had never had it before—and ate a bagel, and felt a little better.
So yay! I did it. My overall pace was about 12:30. I had wanted to run 12-minute miles, and considering how slow I was at the end, I would guess for most of the race I was. Now I've done it once, next time won't be so bad. And there will probably be a next time since I want to qualify for the Disney World Marathon eventually.
I didn't see many costumes in the race, I'm not really sure why. Lots of T-shirts from other places: Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, BC Canada. I guess all 50 states were there as well as 23 countries or something. I also had an old man blow his nose into his hand then fling the contents off to the side. Ew. Really, people. And a guy answered his phone while he was running. That was kind of funny. Running along, chatting on the phone. Lots of people also took photos while they ran, or stopped to take photos.
We did not stay for the after-race concert, but headed downtown for some food, then home, when I could finally take my shoes off and found blisters that were bigger than the toes they were on. I'm on the hunt for new running shoes.
Final time: 2:45:18.
Do I look tired? Because I was. This was around mile 11, taken by my dear hubby, who waiting like two hours for me to finish. I'm in the white hat, black shorts, gray T-shirt.
A blurry photo of the medal we got.
Saturday the alarm went off at 3:15 in the morning. After shoving some oatmeal into my stomach when I wasn't hungry, my hubby and I caught the bus downtown, where we caught a shuttle bus (a school bus, I could barely get my knees in the seat it was so small) down to Tukwila. We then had about two hours to wait until the start of the race at 7. Because of the wave start, I wouldn't be starting for another HOUR after that. The weather wasn't too terrible. The sun was barely up, with cloud cover. It was probably in the 50s. There were already people everywhere, though by 7 it definitely was more difficult to walk around. I don't know an exact number, but there were at least 27,000 people running either the half or full marathon.
Almost one hour to the minute after the very first runners started, my corral (moo) was released to start the race. The tracking system they use is nice--even though all the clocks at the mile markers start with the first group, the tracker on your shoe only starts when you actually cross the finish line. We also got 5k, 10k and 9 mile splits. By the way, the guy that won the half marathon ran it in 1:04:55—he could see the finish line by the time I was starting.
The course goes from Tukwila to Qwest Field in Seattle. It was pretty easy to pick out the out-of-towners during the run. They'd start talking about the terrible uphills when I hadn't even really noticed we were going uphill. On the flip side, they thought it was great running weather, I thought it was really muggy. (But at least the sun wasn't out, and it was good running weather overall.)
There were 9 bands along the half marathon course, which was cool. There was only one boy-with-guitar (really? C'mon, we need drums, people), the rest were pretty good, I guess. You don't really hear much as you're going past. There were also probably 9 cheer squads and a ton of water stations. They also had this Cytomax energy drink stuff, which just made the road sticky when you had to run past the tables.
Best part of the race for me was running through the Mount Baker Tunnel on I-90. It was cool since I drive that everyday (seems much shorter in a car...) and also because they had a DJ in there, so the sound was booming everywhere. As a person that cranks the iPod as high as it can possibly go when running somewhere without traffic, it was nice to have it so loud nothing else could be in my head. And how fun for that guy to DJ in a freeway tunnel? He looked like he was having a blast anyway.
For some reason, I couldn't really get my head into the run. The first three miles were spent dodging people on the route (I started too far back in the corrals), and then I think it was just that there were always people everywhere. I always run by myself, and our other races weren't that big--eventually I'd pretty much be running alone. Not this time (but I should have expected this with 27,000 people signed up). Miles 7-9 weren't fun since my head wasn't in it, I couldn't relax into my pace. Then, at mile 10 I hit the wall big time. Ten miles was the most I'd ran in training, so that had something to do with it, but also I think I had burned everything in my body to burn. Other people were hitting the wall, too. Somewhere between miles 10 and 13 we had to run up an onramp. I love uphills because they kick my muscles into gear and my knees feel better. However, one woman (who I really think was loopy) started sprinting up the onramp yelling as loud as she could "it's a flat, it's a flat!" Hope she was OK ...
The worst part of the race (besides knowing how far I was from Qwest Field and thus the finish line, since I always drive through there) was that we ran past Qwest Field, up through Pioneer Square and back around to the stadium. The finish line is in sight, but we're only at mile 11 or something. That was about where I started getting passed by speed walkers. But dammit, I was going to finish jogging, even if it was a very sloooooww jog. My knees hurt, my feet hurt, my toes hurt, my ankles hurt ...
I wonder if it would have been different had I had some goo or a granola bar or something. They were taking photos at the finish line, and I was willing myself not to be crying in the photos (which now makes me laugh, but really ... there wasn't nothing left).
I got my medal, got the finisher photo taken (I REALLY wonder what that is going to look like) and chugged water, finally tried some Cytomax—I was scared to drink it during the race since I had never had it before—and ate a bagel, and felt a little better.
So yay! I did it. My overall pace was about 12:30. I had wanted to run 12-minute miles, and considering how slow I was at the end, I would guess for most of the race I was. Now I've done it once, next time won't be so bad. And there will probably be a next time since I want to qualify for the Disney World Marathon eventually.
I didn't see many costumes in the race, I'm not really sure why. Lots of T-shirts from other places: Texas, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, BC Canada. I guess all 50 states were there as well as 23 countries or something. I also had an old man blow his nose into his hand then fling the contents off to the side. Ew. Really, people. And a guy answered his phone while he was running. That was kind of funny. Running along, chatting on the phone. Lots of people also took photos while they ran, or stopped to take photos.
We did not stay for the after-race concert, but headed downtown for some food, then home, when I could finally take my shoes off and found blisters that were bigger than the toes they were on. I'm on the hunt for new running shoes.
Final time: 2:45:18.
Do I look tired? Because I was. This was around mile 11, taken by my dear hubby, who waiting like two hours for me to finish. I'm in the white hat, black shorts, gray T-shirt.
6.22.2010
The 10-miler
How come my long runs always end up happening when its pouring outside? Sunday was a 10 mile run, and it went well but it started off drizzling and ended up pouring for most of the time. I came home dripping wet again, and as of this morning my tennis shoes still weren't dry.
I started in Magnuson Park and ran home, only getting lost once in Ravenna Park, which is MUCH larger than the map indicates. The map also indicates that you can turn left onto 15th from the park. I found out, however, that you actually run UNDER 15th. Oh well. Made it home in one piece, and neither my knees nor my feet felt too bad. I think I might actually be ready for this run on Saturday! Really hope it doesn't rain. So tired of the rain.
So this week is protein and carb loading. I don't know if it works or not, but its a good excuse to eat pasta. Race time is 7 a.m. on Saturday, we will be heading to the shuttle busses sometime around 4 in the morning. I'm in one of the last corrals, so I would guess it'll be an hour after the race starts before I hit the starting line, giving me about four hours to kill. Wonder if they put chairs in the corrals while we wait?
I started in Magnuson Park and ran home, only getting lost once in Ravenna Park, which is MUCH larger than the map indicates. The map also indicates that you can turn left onto 15th from the park. I found out, however, that you actually run UNDER 15th. Oh well. Made it home in one piece, and neither my knees nor my feet felt too bad. I think I might actually be ready for this run on Saturday! Really hope it doesn't rain. So tired of the rain.
So this week is protein and carb loading. I don't know if it works or not, but its a good excuse to eat pasta. Race time is 7 a.m. on Saturday, we will be heading to the shuttle busses sometime around 4 in the morning. I'm in one of the last corrals, so I would guess it'll be an hour after the race starts before I hit the starting line, giving me about four hours to kill. Wonder if they put chairs in the corrals while we wait?
6.15.2010
Hmm
My body is rebelling from all this running. Or at least, my feet are. I skipped my run today because of pain (and swelling, awesome) in the top of my right foot. I can't win. I iced it at work today--this still hurts from the race on Sunday--and that helped, I think. But its just a running thing, so even though I didn't run, I still did a workout over lunch, using minimal impact machines so I can keep strengthening my muscles up until it won't do any more good without hurting my foot.
I hate being inside when its nice out. And someone today had stepped in a dog deposit (or something) without realizing it because it was rather smelly in there--and it wasn't my shoes, I checked. Yuck. Once the pressure is off, I can just go for a walk instead of a run if its nice and my feet hurt.
I'm excited for the race, but at the moment I don't know if I'm more excited to do it or for it to be over. I know I'm going to have fun while at the race but these last two weeks are killing me. I'm sure its going to be over faster than I'd like.
Talking to some coworkers who ran the race last year, it sounds like I'm going to be in the back with all the crazy people. Sweet. I need to figure out how to run with a camera in my hands to capture what I'm sure is going to be great fodder for my fiction writing. Maybe I can end up in some photos. I'm hoping to wear my Realtor's (he's also a friend) T-shirt as some free advertising. Its an adorable shirt (designed by his wife, a very talented graphic designer ... plug, plug, plug), so if I can end up in photos ... I need a crazy hat or something, I guess.
One long run left on Sunday, I'm going to try and get a five-miler in before that. Our last round of guests for a few months shows up tomorrow night, so it'll have to be during lunch, which is becoming harder for me than running after work. Hopefully the sun will shine, that always helps. I'm tired of this Seattle "Juneuary."
I hate being inside when its nice out. And someone today had stepped in a dog deposit (or something) without realizing it because it was rather smelly in there--and it wasn't my shoes, I checked. Yuck. Once the pressure is off, I can just go for a walk instead of a run if its nice and my feet hurt.
I'm excited for the race, but at the moment I don't know if I'm more excited to do it or for it to be over. I know I'm going to have fun while at the race but these last two weeks are killing me. I'm sure its going to be over faster than I'd like.
Talking to some coworkers who ran the race last year, it sounds like I'm going to be in the back with all the crazy people. Sweet. I need to figure out how to run with a camera in my hands to capture what I'm sure is going to be great fodder for my fiction writing. Maybe I can end up in some photos. I'm hoping to wear my Realtor's (he's also a friend) T-shirt as some free advertising. Its an adorable shirt (designed by his wife, a very talented graphic designer ... plug, plug, plug), so if I can end up in photos ... I need a crazy hat or something, I guess.
One long run left on Sunday, I'm going to try and get a five-miler in before that. Our last round of guests for a few months shows up tomorrow night, so it'll have to be during lunch, which is becoming harder for me than running after work. Hopefully the sun will shine, that always helps. I'm tired of this Seattle "Juneuary."
6.13.2010
10k--check!
It was a great day for a 10k. The sun was out, but it was only in the high sixties with a breeze, so it wasn't too hot. My husband and I were both doing our first 10k, the Shore Run/Walk that benefits Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research. Not a bad place to spend $35 or whatever it was. AND we got a free shirt (long sleeved, or at least it is on people that don't have monkey arms). If we keep up a racing schedule, I'm starting to wonder where all these T-shirts are going to go ...
I managed to pace myself much better than at the last race, ending up with just under a 12 minute mile, which is right where I am. I finished at the back of the pack, but wasn't last, and wasn't even last in my age group. I'll take it.
The run goes along Lake Washington, and I was a bit worried there would be a lot of hills. There were really only two, and only one was big. I think I have living on Phinney Ridge to thank for those hills not being very difficult for me. I'm starting to really like hills, I tend to pass people :) Its too bad Lake Washington Boulevard has pot holes in it because if I wouldn't have had to pay such close attention to the road, I could have watched more of the view.
Only one long run left, on Sunday, before the half marathon.
I managed to pace myself much better than at the last race, ending up with just under a 12 minute mile, which is right where I am. I finished at the back of the pack, but wasn't last, and wasn't even last in my age group. I'll take it.
The run goes along Lake Washington, and I was a bit worried there would be a lot of hills. There were really only two, and only one was big. I think I have living on Phinney Ridge to thank for those hills not being very difficult for me. I'm starting to really like hills, I tend to pass people :) Its too bad Lake Washington Boulevard has pot holes in it because if I wouldn't have had to pay such close attention to the road, I could have watched more of the view.
Only one long run left, on Sunday, before the half marathon.
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