Timberline Marathon

Whew! I finally have a chance to write a report! A whirlwind trip to Mt. Hood and a visit with friends. In the bag.

I did manage to stop off at the bike shop for some Nuun before heading out into Friday night traffic and a long drive south. We left at 4:30pm and pulled into our friend's home in Underwood, Wa. On the Washington side of Hood River, Oregon at 8:30pm. We kept checking in with them as we drove because there was a fire in Hood river along highway 84 and they kept thinking they might have to close the road and we'd have to take The Bridge of the Gods closer to the Bonneville Dam than the toll bridge in Hood River to cross back over into Washington. Anyway, no roads were closed, but we did get to see the fire up close and tons of firefighters working to contain it.

Once we arrived, essentially we said hello and worked on getting all the kids to bed. I laid out all my gear for the morning and went downstairs to hang out with our hosts, Jim and Mari. At about 10:50pm Mari and I called it a night and left the guys to go to bed. I set the alarm for 5:30am. I slept well, which you never know about when you are in a strange bed.

I awoke before the alarm went off and got myself ready and went downstairs to eat and wait for Jim to take me down the road to meet my ride. Jim works with a gal named Anna who was also running the marathon so he hooked me up with her to carpool. I ended up with some new running buddies, Stan and Ester Holman and Anna Bates. Cool people. As with most crazy distance runners, we were fast friends. Photo of Mt. Hood as we crossed the Toll Bridge from Washington into Oregon.

Top of Mt. Hood from parking lot outside Timberline Wy'east Day Lodge before start.

Me before the race. It looks warm out, but it was chillly at 6,000 feet! I started in sleeves, beanie and gloves!
Runners heading up to the staggered start. One runner started at a time every 30 seconds or so. More waiting in line to get to the start.
This is the trail at the start...the rocks are just some of what's to come!

Just after the start was this barren moonscape where it was basically sand and a fast downhill (with an amazing view).
Linda from the Y run club is in the pink.

Looking back up at the mountain.It quickly gets too rocky and rooty to have my camera out, but every once in a while I'd take it out and chance a look back towards to mountain for a beautiful view.
It seemed as if we had run so far from the mountain here, but it must have been only about 10 miles or so. I kept the camera put away until the end. Once in the trees it just became too difficult to run with a camera in hand for fear of falling and breaking it. The course was gorgeous, but tough. There is a 3000 foot net loss in elevation, but there was still climbing to be done. I think I may have gone too fast on the initial downhill section and my quads were not trashed, but very tired during the climbs. I preferred the flats and downhills still because they made it easier to maneuver around all the rocks and roots. I never fell, but came very close about 6 times. I think I caught myself each time by taking my knee in the chest and then regaining my balance.

Linda and I ran together off and on as well as another woman, Tracy I think. It was nice to have solitude as well as some chatter those rough last miles to get to the finish.

Linda and I crossed the finish line together in 5:08, slower than I would have liked, but it was a tougher run than I really anticipated.

Finishing with Linda. Photo courtesty of Rich walter, Linda's husband. Thanks for your volunteering out there too! It was nice to hand off my hat and gloves to you!

Marathon finish at Clackamas Ranger station.

I got some food and drink and then went to watch the finish and was able to see a friend from high school finish her first marathon! A tough first effort! Well done Jen! Soon after I ran in to Anna again who ran a fast 4:18, but she was bummed because she got the same time last year! I asked her to direct me to the nearest COLD water to sit in. She walked with me over to the creek where there was a waist deep pool and I went right in! I stood there for almost 15 minutes, until my toes were about to freeze off! But it felt sooooo good.

Just before I went in another runner was going all the way under! I couldn't barely even put my hands in and I was wishing I had my sleeves! The sun helped, but not too much.

Overall I had a great time. I went for a long walk the next day, was able to run on Monday a few miles and took a yoga class on Tuesday. I was pretty sore going down the stairs on Monday, but am fine now.
Here are some photos from the long walk on Sunday with the God family. Left to right, my daughter Annika, God Daughter Sidra, Son Michael and God Son, Jed. We took a hike down a closed road towards the White Salmon river near a closed bridge and power house.

We tried to take several photos of the kids, Jed is in the "no photos of me" stage.

My family, Paul, Jenny, Michael and Annika. A very blessed weekend, Family, Friends and a marathon in a beautiful part of the world.


Grace and peace to you.

Getting Ready for Timberline

Well, as the week has progressed I have looked more and more forward to the weekend.

School is super busy and I find myself swamped. I actually have more time to spend at school this year with both kids at the YMCA daycare after school. Which is good and bad. I can get more done, but who wants to stay at school beyond contracted hours and work for free?

Anyway, the kiddos are also keeping me busy. My daughter who just started 1st grade and my son in 3rd grade are busy with reading homework after school and other homework too. Annika, my daughter also started ballet and tap dancing lessons on Mondays and soon flag football will rule for my Michael. Ahhh, back to school.

Actually, I am really looking forward to running the Timberline Marathon this weekend. The family is coming down too and we are staying in Underwood, WA. It's on the Washington side of the Columbia a bit west of Hood River, Oregon. My husband's best friend and my son's Godparents are the host. My husband and I are also their daughter's Godparent's. So we call them our God Family. :) We are excited for the visit as we haven't had a chance to see their new house (they've lived there for a while now so it's not really new anymore, we are just slackers in the visiting department). Paul's best Friend, Jim actually works with another gal who is also running the marathon and hooked me up for a carpool. So we've been emailing and I am excited to meet her.

The Marathon is point to point so there is a parking spot and a shuttle to the start at Timberline Lodge. The weather looks to be warm at about 75 for the high at the nearest town, Government Camp. That'll be a bit warm. I'll have to think about a tank. I'm not really a tank fan. I'll also have to decide between two 10oz. handhelds or two 20oz handhelds. The aide stations are about 5 milesish apart. I'll take both. OOHHH I just remembered I'll need to make a stop at the bike shop for some Nuun on my way home from school before we leave. Mental note made. Besides the water bottle and tank issues Everything else is ready, but of course I'll double check! I plan to carry the camera and take lots of photos along the course. I grew up skiing on Mt. hood and some hiking but I've never been on the Pacific Crest Trail on Mt. Hood as far as I can recall. So I am totally pumped! I don't really have a huge goal, just to be under 5 hours. I know this is not a problem in a regular marathon, but I've never been on this course and trails are slower. I'd really like to be under 4:30 But I don't want to push it too hard either. I've been having an issue with some medial shin tendinitis on my right leg and don't want it to flare up too bad as I do have a time goal for the Portland Marathon on Oct. 5th. So I'll probably tape up with my favorite kinesio tape before the run just for added support.

Okay- I'm rambling now so I'm going to go check on the kids and their chores.

Grace and Peace to you.

Michelle's Grande Ass Marathon

It was Venti sized fun at the Grande Ass and post race BBQ.

I'll do my best to relive the run a few days late. School has begun and things are quite hectic!

I showed up at 5am to help Michelle and Eric out however I could. I ended up following Rick down to the second Starbucks aide station for him to leave his car after he ran 11.5 miles. Once back at the home Starbucks and race start, I helped Michelle check runners in while she used the facilities. I signed up two more unregistered runners! Whew! I think we had 35 runners with just a few no shows!

After the official race photo, I needed to drop my bag at the car, as I came back the official start cow bell rang and I had to scurry to catch up! After making way to into "sweep" position with Michelle, Rob, and Margaret we settled in to a nice conversation pace. It was fun to actually run down a few new roads through Puyallup and Sumner on our way to our first Starbucks aide Station in Downtown Sumner.

Making our way to the Downtown Fred Myers and the Starbucks there, we encountered a bit more drizzle. Nothing too heavy, just enough to keep us cool. It was great. The stop here took us a few more minutes as we refilled our bottles and chatted with the volunteers. We decided not to dawdle quite so much in the future!

I enjoyed the next section from Downtown Puyallup into Fife. We ran along the Levee road. It was pretty cool to see so many people salmon fishing along the river. Not only along this section, but into and out of Sumner as well. Coming into Fife you run through a myriad of landscape, from farm fields and neighborhoods to industrial parks and city. By this time, around mile 17 I think, my knees were beginning to feel the wrath of running on concrete and I tried hard to run on the asphalt road or in the grass/dirt as much as possible to give the knees a break. It was difficult but I was only achy. It was great to be greeted by Mike at the Fife Starbucks as he and all the other volunteers are always so eager to help fill bottles and get the photo of all the runners.

Arriving at the downtown Tacoma Starbucks was a welcome change from running along the seemingly endless Puyallup Ave coming out of Fife. Not the world's greatest neck of the woods and straight as an arrow. It also meant that we would hit the waterfront of Commencement Bay soon. Downtown Tacoma is really a pretty place to run. We were welcomed here by Eric and Michelle's son Riley and his roommate. They did a great job, especially because some of us made them carry gear back!

We headed out towards Dock street where there was a non-Starbucks aide station put on by Tony Philippi of the Marathon Maniacs and a friend. It was nice to have him out. Thanks TP!

Now, on to the waterfront! It was getting sunny and a bit warmer out now. We slowed a bit a Michelle was feeling tired. We chastised Rob for dawdling back with Tony at the previous aide station. He must've had to sprint (or run as fast as his hundred miler a week before legs could carry him) at least a mile to catch back up to us! He was ready to take it easier too! We were getting closer to the last Starbucks, which we had to pass by and do a 2.2 mile out and back to complete the marathon. Michelle needed to run/walk about every 50 yards now so we were taking it pretty easy. Michelle had been sick earlier in the week as well as having no sleep last weekend crewing for Rob during his 100 miler at Cascade Crest.

We made it to the fire boat turn around and headed back. I noticed a co-worker and her family taking a walk and she asked me "what is up with this grande ass thing?" I had to stop a moment to explain before catching up and heading to the finish. There were still plenty of people hanging out to see the Race Princess finish official DFL or "Sweep" as we like to claim. We received our precious medals made from Starbucks cup sleeves and had our finishers photo taken. It was time to get a cup of Starbucks coffee! I did, and we headed home to clean up for the awesome BBQ aat Cat's.

Here we ate and ate and ate and laughed and laughed and laughed. It was a fabulous time. I can't wait to do it all again.

On to Timberline Marathon on September 13th and then the Portland Marathon on October 5th. There will be others to come I am sure! I think Rob even heard me say I'd like to try for 50 at Autumn Leaves if I can get my husband to drive down too so I don't have to drive back!
We'll see.

Grace and Peace to you.

Cascade Crest 100--Hyak Aid Station

What fun it is to work at the mid-way aid station for a 100 mile endurance run! Above is the snowman and candy cane lane that greeted runners and directed them to our aid station.

Here you see several of our Y running club members waiting on runners in the middle of the night as they took a short stop at mile 53 on their way to 100!

Mrs. Claus was a memorable part of the station for many weary runners!

Even the Pugs were in the spirit!
The Y run Club's favorite 100 mile runner Rob and his awesome pacer, Eric come into the aid station that Rob originally organized.

Rob being tended to by Olga at Hyak.

Watch Rob's strong finish for his 2nd 100.

It was a blast working at the aid station, marking the trail from the rope section to Hyak with glow sticks, hanging out with friends at the aid station and finish line. Can't wait till next year.

Grace and Peace to you.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

What a cool (not literally) marathon! Literally it was HOT and HUMID!

Woke up at 3am thanks to a thunder and lightning storm and lay in bed until 4am. Left to meet the gang at Michelle's house stopping for an americano along the way and was loading up the vehicle at 4:45am. Also along for the ride was Cat (whose vehicle, named Sully we piled into), Michelle, Margaret, Abi, and Marco. We got to see lots more beautiful lightning on our way up to North Bend about an hours drive away.

I wasn't really ready to go when we arrived. I hadn't had much time to organize because I was in Seattle for a meeting/training with my new judge partner for teaching Street Law at the Washington State Bar Association. So when they said the bus was leaving I had to take everything with me.

Once at Hyak and the start, I was able to get organized and was able to leave my bag for it to be transported back to the finish. Whew!

Here we are at the start, from the left: Cat, Margaret, me, Marco (back), Michelle, and Abi.

Unfortunately it was already just under 70 degrees at the start. We knew it would only get warmer. We just hoped it would stay overcast and we were thankful we decided to take the early start.

Here we are in the tunnel, which is 2 miles long and begins within the first mile of the marathon. It is pitch black inside and lights are a must! I switched mine over to the red lens for the photo only. It was very humid inside and extra drippy. I think it is always somewhat wet, but it was extra wet on Sunday!

Here it is, "The Light at the End of the Tunnel!"

It really was neat to run through this old train tunnel, it's name is the Snoqualmie Tunnel and was built in the early 1900's prior to the first world war.

View outside tunnel at first aid station.

Much of the trail was surrounded by beautiful fir trees. We are blessed to live in such a beautiful place. Wow!

One of the many bridges with awesome views.

A self portrait along one of the tressel bridges.

Cat was "product testing" Michelle's pack (she tested mine too), and Michelle had to "nurse" when she needed a drink!

The day was really a great day. Albeit a difficult marathon due to the warmth and humidity the company was the best! I would definitely run this marathon again. What is better than being surrounded by breathtaking views, the wonderful smell of the forest in the warm summer, running and being with friends? Doesn't get a whole lot better! And lastly, a thank you to Paul for hanging out with the kiddos for the weekend while I had both a full day meeting and the marathon. I Love you!

Grace and peace to you.

Tacoma Narrows Half

I've been super busy lately! Painting, painting, cleaning and getting ready for family visits.

My 11 year old nephew is visiting with my parents and came up to spend a couple of nights with us. Grandma and Grandpa took my son and my nephew into Seattle for a trip up the Space Needle and to a Mariners game. They had a blast. Now it's the other side's turn. Paul's sister and family are in town from Arlington, Texas. Later today we are off to Northwest Trek. A wildlife park to see all of the animals native to the Pacific Northwest. Should be a great day.

Saturday was the inaugural Tacoma Narrows Half. I ran with Rob and Margaret. The weather was perfect and we had a nice run. No one was out for a race, so we took it easy. Rob sped up after about 9.5 miles to get in under 2 hours. I decided to wait until I knew all the hills were completed, and picked up the pace just after mile 10 to finish (my slowest, but Really I wasn't going for any time) in 2:02. Margaret took it easy and finished a few minutes later. There were also some other familiar faces running... Monica did well, Jesse and Anna too. The race was pretty good. I took the first shuttle from the finish to the start and had lots of time to hang out and use the port-a-potties. Overall it was fun to run over the new Tacoma Narrows bridge and get in a good run as well with friends to boot!

I'm now focusing on continuing to build strength by trying to squeeze in another day of weights, from one to two along with running. I am trying to avoid injury and lose a few pounds at the same time. I think I am down 5 pounds now. Still struggling to lose with my hashimoto's Thyroiditis. My husband is doing really well in this department, almost down 20 pounds! 2 hours and the gym and golfing tons is doing well for him! I wish it were so easy for me!
I'm trying to squeeze in Light at the End of the Tunnel into my schedule and helping at Cascade Crest 100 in addition to Michelle's Grande Ass. I am squeezing these in around Paul's golf tournaments and the kids' activities. Should be okay. I wanted to join the group this weekend for the Cougar mountain 13, but again, Paul has a golf tournament, and as it is his birthday too, I'll let him have the fun that day. :)

So, all is well.

A shout out to Eric Barnes for doing AWESOME at the Canadian Death race! Well done!

Grace and peace to you.

All's Well

The whirlwind is over and I am feeling recovered.

Friday, I set off early for the relay and had a blast. It was far too short for me and I was sad at having to leave my team. Pictured is Margaret, Michelle, Rob and Rick. Steve is out running, so I included a photo of him driving the Yeti. I decided I wanted to increase my mileage because I'd miss three legs, so I ran 3.7 of Michelle's first leg with her and 1.5 miles of Rick's second leg with him. So I ran approximately 20.5 miles of the relay.























After my third leg of the relay into Rochester, my husband Paul came and picked me up. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed home. I took a shower and got some sleep for a few hours. By 3:00am we were on our way to the airport and Nashville, Tennessee.

The flights were thankfully uneventful and the 2 hour drive into McKenzie went quick. Paul and I did a quick change of clothes in the front seat of our car and headed into the funeral home for the viewing. It was good to see family and have a quick update since the last time we saw each other or spoke. My aunt and Uncle and cousins drove in from the Houston area, my older brother and his family drove in from the Atlanta area and Paul and I, as well as my brother flew in from Washington and my parents from Oregon. There were lots of other relatives form the local area, second cousins, great aunts and uncles etc... Family was surely one of the most important things to both my grandfather and grandmother. This value has been passed down through the generations and hopefully will be present in my own children's lives.

We had a great dinner after the viewing at a local Mexican restaurant. I really wanted a margarita after the long trip. It was then difficult to swallow that the establishment had no liquor license.

Sunday came and I managed to get my husband out for a run with me. Now the roads in the south have no shoulders. It's the white fog line and then grass or bushes of some sort. There is usually a steep grade into a deep ditch to collect the storm runoff. Paul was skeptical of running on these roads. I just told him to get behind me. Now we left at about 6:55am. It was already 80 degrees and quite humid. I had tried to get my twin brother to come out with us, but he wanted to run at about 8am. Later he commented on how hard it was to breathe. That's the humidity. It sucks the breath out of you. You never feel like you can get a full breath. Paul and I ran 6.2 miles at his pace. I was tired at the end. The road was rolling hills. I think the locals thought we were nuts. They went around us and I gave the customary wave and in the south they actually wave back without giving you the finger too.

When it was time to eat breakfast, we wanted to go to a restaurant. But the thing is, this is a pretty small rural town. EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays. Most restaurants don't open till 11am for the after church rush. We found our choices to be either Sonic or McDonald's. Since we had to be back at the funeral home by 11:30am, we chose Sonic. This one even has an inside sit down area in addition to the regular drive in areas.

We proceeded to the church for the funeral service after one last viewing session. My Dad, the eldest son spoke after the pastor and then my Uncle. Each of the grandchildren were given the opportunity to speak and most of us did. We relayed our thanks for teaching us the values of family, Church, frugality, education, travel, living by the Boy Scout law, community, volunteering, and loyalty. My grandfather was an amazing man. He lived a full 95 years, was married to my grandmother who passed away one year ago for 67 years. He was many things to many people. An amazing man.

After the internment service we headed back to the church for a meal. This is where I really needed to remember the phrase "portion control." I love southern food. I limited myself and let my brothers and cousins eat all the extra corn lite bread. I only had seconds on the delicious homegrown tomatoes and sweet tea.

It was time to say goodbye to my cousins who were headed home early in the morning to get home by 6pm the next evening. We plan on getting together in Estes Park, CO at the YMCA of the Rockies as we used to do so long ago in the summer of 2010. It will be great to play together again as we used to do as kids.

Paul and I helped my parents and aunt and uncle clean out my grandpa's apartment and move furniture into storage to be moved in about a month. Most of the work had already been done after my grandmother's death, but it was still a bittersweet job to do.

Paul and I then said our goodbyes to the rest of the family and drove back to Nashville to head home. Thankfully the flights were again uneventful and we made it safely home very late Monday night.

Tuesday was for recuperation. Today I hit the road again with Michelle, Rob, Jamal and Laurie. They filled me in on the rest of the relay and we pushed through the hill run. The kids and I spent some great time together today too. They had been with Paul's parents over the weekend. We went to story time at Borders and had ice cream treats afterwards, then came home for lunch and had some craft time. Yesterday we bought some treasure boxes to paint and decorate. It was good together time fun.















Grace and peace to you.