Slow & Steady Wins the Race :-)

Did Seattle's inaugural Hell Run (a Warrior Dash look-a-like, obstacle course race) this morning with Justin.  It was a BLAST!  Let's see if I can remember everything (I'm sure these are out of order)...

405N was randomly closed and we had to wait for the shuttle and in the huge gear check line so we were unfortunately kind of late.  We sprinted over to the start as they were started and so we were in the back of a huge pack (500 runners per wave) which ended up being SO annoying for the first mile or so.  You ran on trails and in a corn maze type thing so it was so narrow and congested that we were walking for some of the first mile.  I made us sprint any time we could to get around as many people as we could so that made it interesting!

Obstacle #1: The first of several mud pits.  This one was the worst because it had all these slopes you had to get in and out of the mud and it was SO slippery and impossible for me to get out.  Plus it was congested so people were falling on you and I was falling on other people so it was really funny but I also for a minute actually didn't think I would EVER be able to get out of the pit because I kept sliding back down the mud hill!

Obstacle #2: Climbing over a big wall (20 feet?).  You had to wait in a line to climb the wall because it was still congested at this point. There were slats for you to grab ahold of, but it was scary going over and coming back down!

Obstacle #3: The dreaded icy river.  UGH SO COLD!  We had to wade waist deep through the icy river for at least 10 minutes.  I was like LET'S GO FASTER because I wanted to get out so bad, but since it was still congested the only way to get around was to go out in the current which I wasn't going to do.  So I braved it, it was so cold!

Obstacle #4: Climb under barbed wire.  The wire was actually pretty high, probably for safety reason, so I was able to do a squat type thing under them (there were probably 10 to crawl under) - Justin's too tall so he had to crawl.

Obstacle #5: Cross slippery beams across a mini stream.  This was kind of scary, they were a good 4 feet above the ground and it would not have felt good if you fell!

Obstacle #6: Another mud pit.  So many mud pits to crawl through!  All the mud was of varying consistency which was interesting!  This one (the middle one) wasn't that bad. 

Obstacle #7: Vault 4 walls and crawl under 4 barbed wire walls.  Justin was dominating those walls, he had this whole jump clean over thing basically going on, while I was all awkward and crawling and NOT fast, he dominated me on this part!

Obstacle #8: Climb over boulders.  We actually skipped this on accident because we thought they were just random rocks and there was a path carved into the dirt around them that we followed, but then a volunteer yelled at us for not climbing them so we climbed the last of them.

Obstacle #9: Crawl through a dark tunnel, this was kind of stupid because it was like made out of cardboard boxes or something.  

Obstacle #10:  Mud pit #3.  When you came out of the dark tunnel though you fell into the worst of the 3 mud pits, where the mud just suctioned you in and wouldn't let go.  Basically my whole legs from the knee down got suctioned in and I didn't think I was going to get out!  Guess that's how dinosaur fossils got made?!  This was the dirtiest of the mud, it was pretty much liquid manure, and there was LOTS of it.  Seriously, you've never seen so much mud covering people before.

Obstacle #11:  Climb huge wall #2, this time with a rope.  The insides of my wrists were sore the next day and this must be from this, it was kind of scary because using the rope makes you not very close to the wall, and you're pretty high (20 feet?)!

Obstacle #12:  Jump over a huge wall of fire.  The fire was actually quite high!  I hope they got a good picture of us (especially since we were late and then checked our bag so we have 0 pictures from the race).  It was kind of scary!

I had a blast, and I REALLY wanted to run the course again after we finished and would have if Justin hadn't been there!   Then we finished, except Obstacle #13 involved waiting in a 40 minute line to wash off in freezing cold water and then shivering to death while waiting in another line to get our clean clothes back.  BRRRR!!  This would be better as as summer race, that's for sure!  Most of the running part was on dirt, grass, or meadow (that was a rolled ankle waiting to happen!) with a little bit of asphalt path since it was through this Remlinger Farms where lots of people go to pick pumpkins and such (there was even a cute little train that people were riding!).  Everyone there said it was better than Warrior Dash, I would definitely do it again, I had a blast.     Only I would get there earlier and elbow my way to the front of the line.    This type of race seems to attract a lot of non-runners so I think that made the congestion worse as well.  We got sweet medals, CAPES, and tshirts! 

Missoula for Grandma Froggie's funeral.  She was an amazing lady, and it was great to see that so many other people thought so too.  

Blaahhhhhh.  Woke up at 6am, still pitch black out, so I let myself snooze until 6:30am, in which it was still pitch black out, apparently I am in extreme denial about this whole winter thing.  Forced myself out there, and knew it wouldn't be good when my legs felt like lead from the beginning.  Legs felt heavy, ITB felt tight, felt my shin sometimes (how are these overuse injuries sticking around when I've been doing anything BUT using them!), blisters all over my feet were bothering me, and my arch skin was hating the new modified insoles.  So overall, a total success.  Quit after 3. 

TT: 29:11

AM - 45 minutes on the bike trainer while watching Gossip Girl.  I should do a bike race, I've never biked this much in my life!  

AM - 45 minutes on the bike trainer while watching The Biggest Loser.  I just don't know what to think about my ankle.  So, since I didn't know if I should even run it, I decided to brilliantly order a lederhosen costume to wear during the half marathon.  Don't worry, I used a forgotten tippr credit, a groupon to Halloween Mart, and overall it cost about $5.  You don't have to say it, I already know, I'm awesome! 

I'm a lazy bum.

AM - 37 minutes on the bike trainer while watching Project Runway.  

PM - Took Cooper on a walk and decided to do some walk/running to test my leg.  Did 60 seconds of running then 60 seconds of walking (just counting in my head, which became tedious!) for 2 laps.  Probably 2 miles of running to 1 mile of walking, but then Justin was home so we did one more walking mini-loop for 1.7 miles of walking.  No pain!  Okay that's a lie, major blister pain.  

Yay for the weekend! 

AM - Lovely crisp, sunny morning for a run.  Walked for 30 seconds at the end of every mile.  No shin/ankle pain!  My legs felt tired and reminded me that running a half marathon next weekend is NOT going to be easy.  I just hope that the pain stays away and I don't undo all the good I've done by resting.  Which is why I wanted to do more today, but didn't.  If I wasn't hurt I would have run 12, but if I wasn't running a half I would have tested it with 3, so 6 is a compromise I guess.  MAJOR blister pain at every step, ugh, my arches do NOT like the new modified insoles.  

Now time for lots of work, so I can be rewarded with a Corn Maze and the Puyallup Oktoberfest tonight!   

TT: 1:01:32   AP: 9:51  (includes all walking, which is why the splits are so erratic, they were actually pretty consistent)

Splits:  10:12, 10:10, 9:20, 9:39, 10:03, 9:24

Holy blisters batman.  They do NOT feel good.  In fact, they feel TERRIBLE, and are more painful than my shin ever was.  I can barely put weight on my right foot right now, I must get some mole skin or some other magic potion tomorrow.

Took Cooper on a .7 mile walk, was going to be more but then we found a stray dog and were trying to figure out what to do, but then it escaped from our back yard and I saw another lady took over the responsibility, SCORE!  Then I walked 4.3 miles on the treadmill while watching The Amazing Race, alternating every .25 between 4% incline and 12% incline - 12% is a serious workout! 

AM - 45 minutes on the bike trainer.

PM - 1.5 miles walking Cooper, 35 minutes on the elliptical at the gym, 10 minutes weight lifting.

The monster blister is slowly killing me.  Every. Step. Excrutiating.  

PM - No rain and no pain!  

Horrible off and on downpour all day but it was dry and nice for this 40 minutes, 2.5 loops around the neighborhood, last one with Cooper.  

TT: 36:10   AP: 9:36

Splits: 9:58, 9:27, 9:11

AM - 60 minutes on the bike trainer while watching the Biggest Loser

PM - met Jordanne and Lisa (and Denali!) for some lovely BPA trail running.  5.07 miles, though at least a half mile was walking, but whatever.

TT: 1:00:29   AP: 11:56

Going to die at the half marathon this weekend!  But at least we'll have fun doing it.

PM - 5 miles walking on the TM, alternating between 4% and 12% incline.  12% is rough!  Drenched in sweat.  

AM - 50 minutes on the bike trainer.

Half Marathon #9 is in the books!  It may tie for my slowest half (with the 2003 half I did before I was a runner, don't know the seconds of that race but it was 2:10:xx EDIT - I lied, I actually went and looked it up and the 2003 half was 2:12:47!) but this is definitely up there with the most fun half I've ever done!  Jordanne, Lisa, and I all made the trek to Leavenworth (aka the most adorable town of all time!) and had a blast in our lederhosen.  We were all pretty undertrained for this race which was unfortunate because it was pretty flat (surprisingly, given the mountainous terrain of Leavenworth!) and would have been a good opportunity for PRs, except for the last 3 miles, which were on basically loose sand trail, and had us all cursing the race directors.  A trip through the adorable town would definitely be an improved 2 miles rather than crazy out and backs on this terrible sand which zapped all your energy (and caused Jordanne to fall).  The rest of the race was gorgeous though, trails through forests, along the river, through the country farmland with mountain views, meadows, and horses, and just plain loveliness.  

We ran the first 10 miles together, constantly commenting on how lovely it was!  It was about 40 degrees at the start but I was very glad Jordanne convinced me I didn't need the long sleeve after a mile or two.  I had to pee before the race but figured it was just nerves and dealing with that lederhosen was annoying (especially since it was so big so I'd pinned it in a million places to make it fit better and not fall off!) but by mile 4 or so I decided I had to stop, so I sent Jordanne and Lisa on and told them I'd catch up as I'd be quick.  Unfortunately the two people in line in front of me must have not been doing so well because they took FOREVER in the bathroom, and this had me worried I'd never catch up.  This was either the 9:16 mile or the 8:51 mile, but I worked so hard to catch them and it probably took more than half a mile.  Saw Justin and gave Cooper a pat here (thanks for cheering us!).  

Took a gu at mile 7 (vanilla bean is the best EVER, I will be buying some of those for my general snacking!), but it was an unfortunate aid station because this was the only gu and it was at the bottom of the one massive hill of the race.  So you were already walking to eat your gu and drink your water and then you were expected to run up this huge steep hill.  Uh, no.  I think I saw one person actually run up it.  That was probably one of the 11 minute miles.  I drank as much water and powerade as I could but I sure didn't get much, I wonder if I was dehydrated by the end.   

At mile 10 I decided I wanted to see what I could do in the last 5k, I really wanted to suffer more!  So I finally turned on my ipod and took off, and felt GREAT for mile 11, wow that was a great mile.  I passed probably 100 people in this last 5k and most were in this mile.  Then we hit the loose sand which instantly drained me, especially because to keep passing people I had to run in the even looser section that hadn't been run on by all the people ahead of me.  I was also starting to feel tired, but I kept pushing.  Forced myself to sprint it in, but could only pull a 6:52 average for the last .1.   I was TIRED.  Nice spread of food, finisher tshirts, medals with bottle openers on them, but poor showing of drinks overall.  Needed more water stations that were manned with more volunteers, most of them you had to wait for a cup of water which was usually only 1/4 of the way full, and I was constantly thirsty and wishing I had carried a bottle.  Even at the end when I was dying there was no water at the finish, you had to walk a quarter of a mile to get a tiny cup of gatorade.  I need a full bottle people!  On the drive back to the hotel I really thought I was going to throw up, but an hour later or so I felt much better, so we headed off to Munchenhaus (for the best brats and pretzels ever), the hat shop (for the best hats ever!, yes, somewhere in America a hat shop is thriving), the CheeseMonger (for the best cheese ever, hello more garlic cheese to bring home), and for some general Oktoberfest shenanigans which of course involved chicken dancing.  

I was so proud of all of us finishing well despite being undertrained, and really proud of Lisa for persevering despite wanting to walk.  We all dominate! 

TT: 2:10:23   AP: 9:56

Splits: 10:20, 10:19, 10:12, 9:16, 11:40, 8:51, 10:29, 11:03, 10:13, 11:00, 8:47, 8:37, 8:50

Before:

After: 

So that's a wrap!  That's the last race planned for the 2011 race season, though of course I hope to do a few more (already have my red striped tights ready for Jingle Bell!).  To I'm sure the relief of my husband and parents, I think I need to focus on getting faster at short distances (aka 5ks) since that seems to be my downfall - my 5k PR is way more than what is predicted by my half marathon PR.  Even though I'm dying to do a full marathon, maybe its best to let my legs get healed and stronger first.  Plus its winter (proof in that I just turned on the heat for the first time).  

Work work nap work.

PM - 45 minutes on the elliptical at the gym, 7 minutes of quick quick quick weights (wanted to do more but the gym was closing, it closes too early on Sundays, 6pm). Then came home and took Cooper on a 3 mile (2 loop) walk.

AM - 50 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - 2.2 miles walking Cooper around the neighborhood, about 1 mile of this was running but I quickly realized my shins (especially my right) were really tight.

Later PM - 4 miles walking on the TM while I watched Gossip Girl. No energy for inclines today. Hamstrings and calves a little tight, shins really tight, foamrolled a lot.

As you can tell I've been working out a decent amount lately - I am trying for real this time to get my Singapore "rice" weight off. I've also decided that I have no time for watching bad tv so it's only allowed when I'm working out, how convenient that these two things overlap! :-) What's good tv you ask? Things my husband also likes: How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Parks & Rec, The Office. And I'm in love with that new show The New Girl, now that is a girl after my own heart.

AM - 45 mins on the bike trainer.

PM - I had such lovely visions of a nice outdoor run since it was uncharacteristically beautiful today. But then a huge accident on I5 happened and therefore a 90 minute commute home from class happened and bye-bye daylight. So I did 4.5 miles at the gym track, miles 2 and 4 were one lap fast one lap recovery. Although the track is way less boring than the TM I think I need to make my peace with the TM, since the track is concrete and 60+ laps the same direction can't be good for my legs. Followed it up with some squats and lunges.

AM - 45 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - 4 mile walk on the TM

AM - 45 mins on the bike trainer

PM - 3 mile run outside.  Remember those squats and lunges I did on Tuesday?  I barely do, but my legs sure do.  Ouch.  My ankle kind of hurt and made me sad.  

Later PM - 3 miles walking on the TM while I watched Revenge.  Kind of like that show.  It's more like a movie than a TV show though, I don't know how it can be sustainable more than one season.

AM - 30 minutes on the bike trainer.  

And that's it!  Light workout day.  Though I did clean the whole house so that should count for something.   

AM - 50 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - Went to Sky High and trampolined for 45 minutes!  We felt a little like pedophiles since we were definitely the only adults there without children but it was soooo fun.  And somehow SO much of a workout - we were both dripping in sweat and it was like doing sprints - your heart rate would get so high.  I finally did a few front flips by the end on the tramp, plus we both did flips into the foam pit.  AWESOME!  I must go back for either their "AIRrobics" class or when there are 90% less birthday parties going on. 

Late late PM - some Wii fun with Just Dance 3.   We are party animals.  

Ankle not good.  Running and I are on a break for awhile.  I may try and finagle the doctor into ordering me an MRI as well.   

Work work work today.

PM - 35 minutes on the elliptical (they had a Runner's World there! That made my day), then 5 minutes of hurried weights (it was closing again, can they please stay open until 8pm on Sundays?).  Came home and walked 2 more miles on the TM while I watched The Amazing Race.

AND I just found Sugar Free Peppermint Mocha creamer!!!!  Woot woot.  

AM - 50 minutes on the bike trainer.  

PM - 60 minutes on the elliptical while I finished Kara Goucher's new book - I love her!  She has had probably more injuries than I, as shocking as that is (of course, she is a professional).  

Then we babysat the cutest little baby in the world (okay she's not that little anymore), Denali!

AM - 40 minutes on the bike trainer.

It took me 75 minutes to get home from class again.  I was NOT pleased.  

PM - 6 miles walking on the TM while watching the Biggest Loser (I LOVE BL romances!) - first 5 miles alternated every .25 between 4% and 12% incline, major sweat.  

AM - 35 minutes on the bike trainer

60 minutes elliptical at the gym, 3 miles walking on the TM while watching TV.

Got up SUPER early before one of the most stressful days of the year because I didn't think I'd have time to work out after work.

AM - 30 minutes on the bike trainer

PM - Ended up going home before Justin and he was late because of traffic, so I walked 3 miles on the TM waiting for him so we could leave for Oregon.

AM - Poor Cooper was locked away in the in-laws bedroom and I didn't want to wake him, so I headed to the dog park trail solo.  Ended up running 3 miles because I couldn't take the running hiatus anymore!  Walked another 3 miles too.

PM - Lincoln City walking on the beautiful beach and painted a huge room, that's got to count for something right?!

AM - Painted a mini room.

PM - After we got home I walked 5 miles on the TM while watching TV.

CANDY BINGE!  Baaaddd.  I told Justin to get candy I don't love and what does he do?  Bring home the mother of all candy bags with the best candies of all time - peanut butter cups, almond joys, twix.  BAD!  

AM - 40 minutes on the bike trainer.

PM - 45 minutes on the elliptical, some weights after. 

Had probably 60 trick-or-treaters, pretty good turn out!