This year was the inaugural Hop Hop Half and 5k race. I'm typically a little nervous about new races, but this one was inexpensive, nearby, small (under 1500 runners total), flat, and scenic (along the river). AND came with a tech t-shirt, a medal, a mimosa, yummy snacks and egg decorating! 

It was just above freezing as the race started, but we did get a pic with the Easter bunny!

My goals for this race were to beat my PR of 2:04, and finish under two hours. I started out a little fast but felt good for about the first nine miles, although I did start to slow my pace a bit. The last 4.1 miles were a bit tough since we were running into the wind, and I was tired. My hips and calves were getting a little tight.

It was the last mile that was the worst. I could see the finish line. I knew I was close to making my goal. But I suddenly got very very nauseous and had to throw up. I'd feel fine for a bit and then throw up again seconds later. I probably threw up about eight times during that last mile. 

I ended up finishing in 2 hours, and 15 seconds. Sixteen seconds too slow. 

I'm really, really disappointed. But the afterparty was fun (there was also free beer!) and I bought myself a cool sweatshirt because I was freezing and I felt like my PR/barfing fiasco warranted a souvenir.  ;) 

Overall, it was a great race. It was well-organized, there were TONS of very helpful volunteers (a special thank you to all of the police officers!), and really fun. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Readers, how was your weekend?

Holiday runs are all about cold toes waiting for the race to start and warm drinks at the end! :) I haven't done a race in a long time. I did Hood to Coast relay in August, but the last race I ran as an individual runner was in July 2011! Wow, time flies.

My good friend Cari convinced me to sign up for Hot Buttered Run 12K, since we love hot buttered rum, and we haven't run a race in awhile, and this was a nice sized event in our own city. I had been doing pretty well with the training until the last few weeks--all of the delicious holiday treats and  The conditions weren't ideal, but I just wanted to have a good run. The weather was cold but dry, and I listened to Pandora while I ran. MapMyRun gave me my pace while I was running, which helped keep me motivated from mile to mile. I was able to keep a consistent pace, ran pretty quick, and felt good when I crossed the finish line :) Not because I won anything (I didn't), but it's just that runner's high when you ran hard and just put your all out there. 

I forgot how much I missed races. I had a long stretch of disappointing ones, and then just stopped running altogether after an injury. I still set goals during regular running workouts, but there's something about a race that just really gets me going. It's fun being with other runners, it's fun competing, it's fun getting a race t-shirt, and it's fun having HOT BUTTERED RUM! :)

Have you done any races this season? Do you have any coming up?

I meant to update from my iPhone during the race using the Weebly app, but coverage was spotty to nonexistant for most of the race. So here's what happened to Team 518 - the Trail Nuts.

Our van felt pretty good after our first set of six legs. All of us had run strong and fast. We grabbed dinner and took showers at a teammate's house, and then went to meet up with Van 2 near OMSI for the exchange.

I ran Leg 13 (4.21 mi) through downtown Portland around 7pm. The temperature was just right and it was a nice, fairly flat run. My legs were a little tired and stiff, but I managed to finish in 39:45 (9:22 min/mile pace). I got a little sleep in the van while my teammates ran their legs, and on our way to the next major exchange. A fire had shut down part of highway 30 and caused a couple of changes. Traffic was pretty bad along other parts of the course anyway, so it got a little stressful in our van. Everything was kind of a blur until I had to run my last leg at 5am.

Leg 25 (3.75 miles) is in the middle of nowhere on a country road (technically from Mist to Birkenfeld, OR). It was dark and I was tired and just wanted to sleep and eat and sleep some more. I ran as fast as I could make myself run, which ended up being kind of slow (10:30-11:00 min miles I think?). I was really glad to be done, and slept some more until our van finished our last set of legs and could head to the beach to wait for Van 2 to finish.

Once Van 2 arrived at the beach, and the last runner came in, we all crossed the finish line together. Our team was 350th overall (out of 1070 total teams), and 77th out of 362 teams in the Mixed Open. We skipped the beach party in favor of the food and drinks that were waiting for us at the beach house we rented, where we ate and drank and fell asleep by 9pm. 

Yep. We were pretty tired. 

We came home from the beach mid day, and I'm going to try and get back on track with eating healthy (basically the past two and half days have been nothing but eating and running. And more eating. And more running.) 

I almost didn't run Hood to Coast this year, but my team pretty much made me do it. Who you run/live with in a van for three days makes all the difference in the world, and I'm lucky to have such awesome running buddies. We all ran hard and had a good time, in spite of all of the crazy stuff and lack of sleep. We were all pretty disappointed by how Hood to Coast was run this year (although the volunteers did an awesome job, as always--thank you so much!), so we're considering finding a different relay for next year.

Have you run a relay? Or is it too crazy to even think about? :)

I was incredibly excited when YMX offered to send me a Tribal Sea Running Tee and Tribal Sea Arm Warmers to review, and even MORE excited when they said they would provide a shirt for a giveaway as well!

I both thought I was better prepared for this marathon than my first, and I also knew the last month of training had been pretty shoddy. I still felt like I was a faster runner overall, and hoped to beat my previous time of 4 hours and 30 minutes.

Unfortunately, the Eugene Marathon was a bust in a lot of ways.

Saturday (packet pickup):  The website promised three different parking locations at the expo, so I figured parking wouldn't be a problem. NOPE. "Wicked" was playing in the venue next door, and we had to find parking elsewhere. Fortunately, it wasn't too far away. Once inside the expo, I found out that they had run out of t-shirts in every size except L and XL.The other merch with "Eugene Marathon" on it was ugly. I was upset, and about to rant about how I paid for this race months ago, and they should have my t-shirt, when my boyfriend placated me by promising a stop at the outlet mall on the way home from the marathon. Went to dinner with some friends--it was difficult finding a place with less than an hour wait!

Sunday (race day):  Woke up nice and early, 5:40 am! Threw on my clothes and choked down a little oatmeal. My boyfriend attempted to drop me off near the start, only to find that the road was blocked. I jumped out of the car, thinking I had everything... but realized later that I'd forgotten my iPod. Walked and jogged to the start area and tried to find my friends. Eventually found both of them, and ran w/my training buddy. We started out a little faster than our goal pace, but held steady. Then things went downhill, and fast. Our pace continued to drop steadily. By mile 13, I realized I wouldn't make my goal time of 4:15, nor would I beat my previous time of 4:30. I continued to run with my friend until mile 19, when another friend joined us as a bandit. I took off, hoping to minimize the damage, but mentally, I was beat. My feet were blistering, and I felt sluggish. There were many times when I wanted to give up, to stop and walk. I told myself that the only goal I could meet was that I would RUN the ENTIRE race, and that I hadn't trained this hard to walk, or give up.

Entering Autzen Stadium, approaching the finish line, I wanted to cry. Not in the way I did with my first marathon, which was a feeling of overwhelming amazement that I had actually run a marathon. It was a feeling of humility. Of failure. I tried to remind myself that I had still run an entire marathon, that I had just finished my SECOND marathon, that it was still an accomplishment.

I didn't get any pictures at the race either. I really wish I had, since it was the first race that my boyfriend had gone to.

Do I want to do another marathon? No... and yes. I'm still dealing with my disappointment from Eugene. I probably wouldn't do this particular race again. But I really want to hit 4:15. I'm toying with the idea of doing another marathon in two months--the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon, the same marathon I ran last year. But it'd be nice to be out of training mode for awhile, to refocus on the other areas of my life.


Did anyone else race this past weekend? Any good marathon stories?

That's a quote from Clarence DeMar, seven time winner of the Boston Marathon. That's pretty much how I feel about races. You can't move the finish line any closer, but you can get there faster!

Over Thanksgiving break, I had two races. The first, on Thanksgiving morning, was a 10K Turkey Trot. Although I'd been training, I didn't think I'd PR because it's a crowded race and I hadn't really focused on speed during training, just maintaining my current fitness level. And it was 30 degrees that day, so I told myself to just run my best, and try to come in around an hour. I pushed it pretty hard, and tried to stay with two of my faster running buddies. Even so, I was really surprised when I ran across the finish line and saw that I'd PR'd! YAYYY!!!

Then today's 12K race. I felt emotionally drained from a confrontation with a friend the day before, I was physically feeling ill (I hadn't eaten dinner because of the stress, and was having GI problems), and I was considering dropping down to the 5K distance. But I hadn't trained for speed. I'd trained for distance. And so I decided to tough it out. There were several points during the race when I seriously thought about quitting. (I always think about quitting, but for once, it seemed like the most logical plan). I just kept running. I just wanted to be done. And I ended up running a pretty good pace (almost the same as my 10K pace).

So now I'm going to take the rest of the day to rest, and get stuff done around the house.

How was your Thanksgiving break?

This week has sucked. In a really epic sort of way. Work has been crazy, life has been crazy, and I haven't been sleeping well. And I ate a lot of unhealthy stuff, and only got in two workouts this week.  And when I was laying in bed Friday morning, hoping that things wouldn't get too much worse, they did. I started to feel sick.

I hate being sick. And I'm pretty good at fighting off all the crud at the middle school where I work, so when I do get sick, I'm pretty grumpy about it.

But I needed to run this weekend. I wasn't sick enough to bail on my running group, and I knew it would make me feel better mentally and physically. Saturday we ran my favorite 7 mile route along a lake, and I was a little tired, but it felt good after I was done. Today we ran some hilly trails that kicked my butt, but invigorated me.  The rain cleared and the sun shone just for the hour we were running, but moments after we finished it was pouring again. I'm taking it as a sign. :)

I wanted to post a pic, but Flash isn't working on my computer. :( I've tried reinstalling it, and uninstalling/reinstalling, but no luck. :(

Are you sick right now? Do you still work out?

Today was my last long run before my half marathon next weekend! It was pouring rain when I woke up at 6:30 and I thought about canceling my run, or doing it on the treadmill again. But I knew my friend Bre wanted to get in a long run today too, and she's an awesome running partner who never bails on me, and helps me pace myself. So I just hoped the rain would lessen a little.

Thankfully it did, so we ran about 10 miles in the light rain. It was hard. Not eating right and not sleeping enough have really taken a toll on my body. Funny how sometimes you don't notice these things until you go for a run.

This is how I looked after 10 miles in the rain. Notice the crazy hair (I did not know my hair could get that big!). And the latte from Starbucks. Yep. That's how I roll.

Sorry for the poor picture quality. Had to use my cell phone. Because my little Nikon Cool Pix is a piece of crap, and my mom stole my dSLR again.

The truly sad news is that I probably won't PR or get under 2 hours next weekend. My body just isn't in shape for it. It's kind of a bummer, but I'm going to focus on just putting out a good solid effort and hopefully just pace myself with Bre.

How are you guys doing this weekend? Anyone have a race? :)