Mini Marathon: 2.62 miles

 Where:  Independence, OR
When:  July 4, 2011
Statistics:  23:55 minutes  
              57/220 gender   205/442 overall


This is a fun run through our community...at noon....in the heat....what am I thinking!  But I ran from my house to the start (warm up of 3.5 miles!) and then ran the race.  After that I cooled down and watched the parade!

 My cheering squad...who else gets 1,000 follwed by a 9 and $$$?

 The parade is an old-fashioned one with no bands, lots of firetrucks, dalmations, and old trucks.

 

This is a great parade and a race I might...just might...do again.

Seattle Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon

When: June 25, 2011
Where: Seattle, WA
Details: Bib # 27474 2:21:24
Overall ranking: 8996/17401 Age division 222/729 Gender 5084/11465
This was a great 1/2 marathon for me. I felt so good after I finished! The race was extremely well run and scenery was grand. Definitely one for a do-over!!!

Yep, we got up at 3:32am to drive up to Safeco field so I could catch the shuttle to the start! Mom and Dad joined us....not sure they liked the "start" time, though!

There were 32 corrals and the first two numbers of the bib numbers was your corral.  Yep, I was in corral 27 based on my estimated finish time!

The sea of people!

Getting ready to start....

Took over 45 minutes for me to reach the start line....

And I'm off!

Seriously.....10 more miles?????!!!!

Lovely Lake Washington

This was quite the view...soldiers and their families lined the street with flags and pictures of fallen soldiers from the area.  Hard to focus on running at this point.  Said a prayer for all of them. 

The finish line...only 3 more miles!

On the home stretch..I feel good!

THE FINISH LINE!

Medal in hand.

My support team! 

The end(s)!!

Silver Falls State Park - Training Run

So.....living in Oregon means rain....and that means running in the rain....no matter what.....no matter where.....no matter when!  So like all good Oregon runners, a 9.5 mile trail run/walk in the rain is in order!
Where:  Silver Falls State Park, Silverton, OR
When:  June 18, 2011 at 8am
How far:  9.5 miles through 10 waterfall areas

I ran with my running buddies....me, Karla, Delmy, Kym and Sharon.  My best friend, Eileen and her sister, Don, also hiked the falls but did a shorter distance.

We hiked behind these falls and then circled around....

to the front of them.

More falls.....

And the rain brings out the snails....can you say escargot???  We grow them big in Oregon.

The misty rain didn't keep us from finishing but we were ready for our coffee and warm, dry clothes at the end!

Corvallis Half-Marathon

Where:  Corvallis, OR
When:  April 10, 2011
What:  13.1 miles
Stats:  Bib number 1474    Time:  2:28:53   Pace:  11:22 min/mile
           Place:  28/100 for female age group; total runners: 1600

I began my journey with this race.  It was an inaugural 1/2 marathon, which made it fun!  The course was mostly flat through the campus of Oregon State University, along the rural areas, back into the city, and finishing at the football stadium on the 50 yard line!

The start.......

Getting ready.......

The band warming up......

Lining up in our corrals......

Mile 12....almost done.....this is getting hard!

Done....really done.....and finished better than I expected.  My goal was 2:30:00.  I was tired, sore and not sure what I had gotten myself into!  But there are 9 months to go and a lot of racing and training ahead of me...I'm thinking I'm really GOOFY!

Oops.....fell down....and broke my...

foot.   On January 9, 2011, I missed a step in our friends' sunken living room and broke my ankle.  It was 6 days before I was scheduled to run my first 10k race in preparation for the Goofy Challenge.

 It's hard to see where the break was but it's on the talus at the top of the ankle/foot area. 

So I was put in a soft, expanding cast for almost 3 weeks and then came the boot!  This was a highly sophisticated support boot that actually pumped up air into chambers to keep my ankle in alignment for the next 5 weeks.  I can tell you, I wasn't happy about this at all.  I did manage to get my shirt and bib number for the race but no running for me that day!  Not.a.happy.camper.

I couldn't manage the stairs with my crutches...oh yeah....I was non-weightbearing for the entire 3 weeks until I was put in the boot.....so I scooted up and down the steps on my rear.  I used a walker and crutches to go get around.  Greg had to take me to work for the first week until the dr. cleared me to drive.  I was thankful it was my left leg.  Only missed one day of work, too!

The story begins....

I decided a few years ago that I needed to add The Goofy Challenge to my bucket list.  What is the Goofy Challenge you ask?  Well, it's a 1/2 marathon on Saturday, followed by a full marathon on Sunday in Disney World.  It has taken me until now to figure out that I need to get this done!  Not sure how to go about it but just "get 'er done!" 

I started training in November, 2010.  Short runs; after all, it had been 5 years since I ran my first and only marathon and I didn't want to get too excited all at once.  After discussing this endeavor with my husband (who thought I was just plain crazy!), I knew I really wanted to do this.

Now, I can tell you Greg wasn't all that keen on the idea of me training for this run.  But after sharing with him how much it meant to me and mentioning I didn't give him much grief about building an airplane that we actually are going to fly in, he became much more supportive.  So the training began in earnest.   

This blog will capture the trials, triumphs and course of training through the next year.  Can't wait for the adventure, goofy though it is!!