Five Mile Fun Run--and the day after

Background info for those who don't know me well or don't live in the area.

I grew up in a small town, and the town of W was our main rival. All the while, we were also friends through sports and whatever else. So as fate would have it, year 7 of my teaching career was a side stop at W. My family had moved and I wanted to teach closer to our new home. W was a 30 min drive literally over the river and through the woods. I only spent one year there, but I met wonderful people that I still love to this day.

So when I found out a few weeks ago that they did a fun run every year to benefit Relay for Life, which is a big event that raises money for cancer research, I was in! My former students--fourth graders at the time--are now Seniors there!

I posted the race to my running group, and I was so excited that a few of them came out in support as well. I think we all just enjoy races in general and who could pass up a beautiful crisp morning to go run and up and back on a rural road? I couldn't!

The race was a 3mi/5mi fun run/walk. There were turnarounds at 1.5 and 2.5 miles. It started at the school and went up the valley. To be honest, I hadn't really driven past the school much, so I thought I remembered it being fairly flat.

I was wrong.

Well, anyway, my awesome friend D.G. was there with her wonderful daughter, and we sported our Q gear, but it was to show solidarity between communities. We are rivals, but friends too! But I swear, I will never run in cotton again! OK, we all know I will, but not if I have to. I was cold at the end!

So off we went, and immediately I could tell it was going to be bad because my iPod decided to go haywire. That woman who talks on it once in awhile decides to read my playlists during the music, or she'll stop my music all together, thus stopping my time on Nike Plus. Therefore, I had NO idea of my time. Immediately, I'm mad. "Oh Well, ENJOY YOURSELF!" I said to myself. I looked up and saw blue sky, runners, and realized how healthy I am and I thanked the good Lord for such a beautiful day. So I kept running. I tried keeping up with one runner, A.J., but after a water stop at 2.5 mi, she kept her pace, but I fell back. I had no idea how many rolling hills there were on this little jaunt! It was definitely not flat, but nothing too killer either. Just rolling hills.

On the last straight stretch, I could see the signs to the school, but it was deceiving. No matter how fast I ran, I didn't feel like I was getting there fast enough. Down on myself, I just kept at it. I had no idea what my time was, but considering I ran a 48.07 5 mi on a fairly flat course 2 months ago, and a 49:45 on a fairly flat course a month ago, I figured this had to be in the 53ish minute mark...

So imagine my surprise when I got up there and saw 49.25....26....27....

I crossed at 49:30. I was seriously shocked. I kept my pace right at 10 mile min. Surprised. HAPPY! This means I am on my way back! I had run several 5 milers leading up to this, and most times were around 53 min. A.J. finished about 2 minutes ahead of me, and I figure keeping up with her both helped my time and killed me in the end because I was DEAD.

Here are the two awesome ladies I had the honor hanging out with at the race from my running group. I'm the slow one of the three, but they seem to keep me around anyway :)

And again, here's D.G. and me after the race. Friends for life! And we will be rocking it on the Astoria-Megler bridge next week---ooooh YEAH!

Which brings me to today, and my blog is updated! But my run today was an interesting one. I wasn't sure if today should be a recovery 3 miles, a regular tempo run for 5 miles, hills for 4 miles, or a long run of 7ish miles. Last Saturday was a non-race weekend, and I went out for 7.2 flat miles and finished in 1:16. That was my longest run since the half marathon in June, and it felt good. But keep in mind that word "flat". I wasn't sure if today would be "recovery" even though I ran faster yesterday than normal, it was still only 5 miles. So I decided on the 6-7 mile option with rolling hills. Say WHAT? Yep, I'm that stupid. I finished 6.55 miles, totally dead at the end. Lots inclines, and I had to walk twice. Finished in 1:15. Not pretty, but it's done. My legs felt very heavy by the end, which I attribute to yesterday's harder than normal run for me.

On tomorrow's agenda: Work out at home--arm weights and elliptical as recovery. Probably a smart plan. Then Tues-Wed-Thurs a little harder. Friday will be a shorter easier run, then Sunday is the Bridge! Full report when I get back! My goal is to run the whole thing. On fresh legs, it could happen...or not. We shall see!

My first 10K!

So it took 8 days after the hike to finally run again. I felt like I had to start back at square one, and it was humbling. My first day back to hitting the pavement was Sept. 1st. I had been looking forward to running my first 10K on Sept. 8th for quite awhile. It was a local run that went along with some festivities in our community. This event includes a 2mi run/walk; a 5K; and a 10K. I was contemplating the 5K just based on the fact that by Sept. 5th the most I had run was 4.5 miles, and I just didn't feel ready for 6.2 mi.

But by the Thursday, I decided what the heck, I'd go for the 10K. The worst that could happen was I'd have to walk, and since technically it was my first 10K, it would be a PR no matter what!

So we made it a family event, and my husband and daughter walked the 2 mile race while I ran the 10K. I would guess there were around 30ish participants from ages 4-??? I won't bore you with the details, other than I was totally right, I was NOT ready, and at just after the 5 mile mark there is a good hill, and I had to walk-jog it. I was more upset about that than I was about my time. My chip time was 1:05.55. For not running much up to that point, I wasn't upset with my time. I was upset with having to walk though.

I was one of the last two finish, but evidently it wasn't horrible because I was third in my age group and got a bronze medal--Ha! But of course I had to hear about it from Dan and Kacie, both who got Gold medals in their age groups for the 2 mi--oh, and did I mention there was only 1 person in those groups--both of them! I am honestly not sure on my age group. A few people finished behind me, but I don't know their age groups.

Below is my friend R.R. and myself sporting our medals, but mine is backward, like the dork that I am. R got 2nd in the 5K for age group. She and I started running at about the same time last winter.

And this is my friend R.J., who I have been friends with since FIRST GRADE! She was maid of honor in my wedding, and I love her to death. I was so happy to see her at this race. She took first in the 5K in her age group (ahead of R.R.)--the girl can run!

Here's what I took away from this experience:

Like I said, I'm not upset with my almost 11 min/mi pace. I was upset that I had to walk that last hill. But...had I been training for that? Not in the last three weeks! Even the week before my hike I only ran 3 times because they week before I had logged 23 miles and was feeling some aches and pains. So I really hadn't worked for this. So how could I be upset? I couldn't...but it motivated me to get back to work!

My next race was a 5 mi fun run for a great cause, and it will be my next post! And it all leads up to the end of September for the Great Columbia Crossing. Yes, that's THREE RACES in one month. I can't help it, I love it.

Thanks for reading and following my journey...which by the way, I'm down another 2 pounds, making weightloss now -46 lbs! I might hit that -50 mark yet!

The Great Hike, and my afterthoughts

Summer came to an end, and school had a chaotic beginning, to say the least.

We had our last summer outing on Aug. 25th. My husband and I hiked up to a Mountain in the Olympics known as Colonel Bob. There are two routes up: One side known as Pete's Creek, which is about 4 miles virtually straight up. The other route is known as the "Quinault side" which is 7 miles from the summit. I need to give some background info before you get the real story--I'll make a long story short.

I grew up in Quinault, yet I had never hiked up to Col Bob. Dan and I did a basic hike through the long switch backs of the Quinault side when we were first married, but we stopped at the creek. In 2007, the area experienced a horrible storm, and it destroyed the trail. Due to government red tape and lack of common sense, the trail could only be cleared with hand tools--no power machinery, including chain saws. Finally in 2011, a crew went up and began the job of clearing the trail. But we heard there was another blow down, but it was passable. My original plan was to hike up and back on the Quinault side since that was where I grew up and originally was my first partial hike in the wilderness area. I remembered those switch backs, but hey, I'm in shape now, right? I'll be OK!

But then we realized that we had a unique opportunity. Because my parents live in the area, my dad could drive us the 20-30 miles to the Pete's Creek trail, drop us off, then my parents could leave our truck on the Quinault side. We could experience the ENTIRE trail! So that's what we did, and here we are, getting ready for our adventure.

When we waved good bye to my dad, this feeling of, "OMGosh, we are in the middle of no where...we are really doing this!" set in...So with our packs packed with food, 6 water bottles each, and emergency supplies, At 6:50AM away we went, and up, and up, and up. The only thing we forgot was our camera. We each had our iPhones, so at least we got some pictures.

One advantage to hiking in late August is that the creeks are pretty well dried up, like this one.

This is what most of the terrain on the Pete's Creek side looks like.

There is a point at which the Quinault side and Pete's creek side merge into the same trail, and then there is only one way up. The Mulkey Shelter is on the Quinault side.

Going up was great, but I realized I made three rookie-hiker mistakes. Mistake #1: I was getting a blister on my left foot around mile 2, which without realizing it meant that I was putting more force on my right leg...so soon my right knee started giving me fits. I was so worried about keeping my feet dry that I wore running socks instead of hiking socks--Mistake #2. Luckily I brought an extra pair of socks, so that seemed to help. But Mistake #3 was we forgot our trekking poles. UGH! That would prove to be one of the biggest mistakes of the day. And the last mistake, which isn't really a mistake, is that I wore my old running shoes, not hiking shoes. I don't own hiking shoes! But you'd better believe I will next time!

Getting closer to the top!

Snow near Moonshine Flats. This was all the snow we saw that day. Just a month prior, hikers were still hiking THROUGH the snow!

And at 10:30, we made it to the top of Col Bob. 4 miles, just over 3.5 hours. We sat and had lunch on top of the world, 360 degree views including Mt. Olympus, Lake Quinault, Mt. Rainier, and if you looked hard...the Pacific Ocean! Not to mention the amazing Mountains of the Olympics.

Dan with Lake Quinault in the background.

Not a great picture, but it proves that we did it!

So after a nice lunch and signing the book at the top, we started our decent, and here's where my exhilarating experience becomes something out of a Good-Hike-Gone-Bad story. First, going down is TOUGH! It doesn't matter how many miles you can run, you are in for a tough downhill hike. My husband had to hold my hand several times, and once I fell on a rock hard, and I just missed my tailbone, but I did manage to mess up my wrist a little bit.

When we finally got to Moonshine flats, we breathed a sigh of relief. We knew the terrain would get better and softer on the Quinault side (or so we "thought" we knew) because Dan had done the hike from that side several times many years ago. At Moonshine Flats we met up with a family who had come up the Quinault side, and they said it was brutal, and at points you have follow ribbon to find the trail. We sort of played it off, and off we went...but once again, we were going UP another mountain to get to the Quinault side. Should have seen it coming...

We had to climb a few logs, no big deal, and we thought, "Is this the blow down those kids were talking about? This is NOTHING!" We rested at Mulkey shelter, thinking we had about 3.5 miles to go. We'd be done in a few hours. My knees and toes were aching. And at this point, our iPhones died, so no more pics. Little did I know...

We got to the blow down area. We were walking along the side of the mountain, and at first I said, "Well, this is so pretty! This blow down area makes for a nice view." Such a tourist remark, I'm embarrassed to say. Like those people who think Wild Olympics is a good idea...but I digress. Anyway, there were places were logs were cut, and then there could be a 3-4 foot drop, which doesn't sound like much, but do this times 15, and add in dirt, no place to hold on, brush, logs etc...and we'd get out of one area and think we were through it...then there'd be another one! I wondered if I was being secretly taped for survivor. I would have failed.

Finally we knew we were off the side of the mountain when we got to the creek that we had turned around at many years before. We had no idea how much farther, but soon we hit the switch backs, but our pace had slowed considerably. I had lost my footing several times, and I stepped in a hole and rolled my ankle. But I'm tough and got back up.

Finally, at 5pm, we walked off the mountain. 3.5 hours up, .5 hour up there, 6 brutal hours down. I would NEVER tell anyone to hike the Quinault side until it is cleaned up, unless you enjoy that kind of thing. I couldn't walk right for 6 days, and it took a full week until I could run again. I lost a lot of progress in my running. But once again, I did something I never could have done one year ago.

I need to make one more rant about Wild Olympics: Wild Olympics is a plan for the Park Service to take more control of wild land. While the Col Bob area is not Park area, it is government owned. I experienced that blow-down area and thought, "THIS is how the government takes care of wilderness areas--they don't!" People enjoy spending time in the outdoors, and trails are a great way to do that. That means less people out getting lost, creating their own trails, camping in areas they shouldn't be, etc...It is important for people to experience nature so that the next generation will respect it. Yet I saw first hand how the government manages and takes care of wilderness areas. THEY DON'T! Please, please, if you are a Washingtonian, do not support this plan! Wild Olympics is a wolf in sheep's clothing. I love nature as much as the next person. I grew up fishing, camping, hiking, and experiencing the outdoors. I want it protected more than anyone else. But I need to see that the government can manage what it has, and it is obvious that they can't. If it's lack of resources, then fine...but why give them more land? It makes no sense to me!

Overall, it was a great experience. But next year, I'll stick to the Pete's Creek side!