Volunteering

 

The kids are out of school this week for Thanksgiving. Even though I'm not doing the Quadzukilla, I figured I could volunteer at one of the races, and bring the kids along for some running culture. We dressed up as pilgrims and headed to the Redmond River Half Marathon. We did some check-in duty before the start of the race, did some course marking with chalk, and cheered people through the finish line.

 

Ross Comer, you make a fine race director! And I hope you do this again next year. By then, maybe my family will let me ruin their Thanksgiving week/weekend by running a bunch of races.

 

And for volunteering, we received these beautiful mugs!

 

 



Ravena Refresher 4K

This is the start of my Girl's winter trail series. She has to do at least 4 of the 7 Northwest Trail Runs races to be ranked.

It was a cool morning, but dry and clear! We ran in Ravena Park in Seattle. It's is a beautiful spot and it was hard to believe we were right in the city. We brought Hero along for some fresh air, too.

 

This day was the start of the Quadzukilla. That was something I really wanted to do (4 half marathons and 4 marathons in 9 days). But I am sticking to my promise that I made last year after running through the Thanksgiving weekend. Good luck to everyone running over the next week!!

In Unity We Run

 

I ran the In Unity We Run Half Marathon last weekend. This is my second time running this race (see first time here). It started raining about 30 seconds before the race started and didn't stop. We were dog sitting Baxter for the weekend so I brought him and Hero along for some exercise. It was a slow start--one dog pooped twice, the other pooped once, and I stopped at an outhouse at a golf course to do the same. It became clear after the first mile that Baxter might not make it for the long haul. Fortunately, we have friends that live along the course at mile 2, and they were home! They happily took Baxter in and warmed him up while I continued on the course to the turn-around with Hero.

Baxter lounging with Butler while Hero and I ran.

I picked up Baxter on my way back to the start/finish. We were soaked to the bone and ready to head home right away!

Carkeek 12-Hour

(Photo courtesy of Glenn Tachiyama)

I've been looking forward to writing about the Carkeek 12-Hour race as soon as I could find time. So, here I am, writing during commercials between SNL skits. Does anyone else notice the volumes of commercials that air during Saturday Night Live??

Back to the race. I don't know how I learned about the Carkeek 12-Hour, but I do remember drooling over the idea of running a 2-mile loop on a hilly trail for 12 whole hours, IN A COSTUME on Halloween day! I sheepishly mentioned the race to my husband to get his buy-in (since I would be gone ALL day) and then signed up!

The race started at 6 am, in the dark, and finished at 6pm when it was almost dark again. I was planning to bring a headlamp, but on the night before the race I had not yet pulled it out of my camping gear. My husband suggested I use the hand-held Nathan flashlight I recently purchased, and I decided that was good enough. I also packed some roasted baby potatoes, and mixed up a couple of Nalgene bottles of water with Tailwind. (I think I've finally decided that Tailwind is my endurance drink of choice.) The weather was supposed to be moist, so I packed extra shoes, socks, shirt, and jacket. Everything went in a big cooler. It's a great place to store things so they don't get wet in the rain, and you can sit on it as your chair. Most importantly, I had my skeleton costume ready to go. I spent about 4 hours during the week preceding the race painting the design on an old pair of running tights (they were too big so I put a big safety pin in the waist band to keep them on) and a race shirt that I turned inside out to paint on. I also had temporary tattoos to put on my face to look like a Day of the Dead skull (but more about that in the next paragraph).

Here is the hand-held flashlight that I used. The brightness was good--it illuminated the trail well. But the beam was constantly moving as I pumped my arms while running. If I am going to run for hours in the dark, I would prefer a head lamp. The beam from a head lamp is much more steady.

I planned on getting up at 4am Saturday and leaving the house by 5am. That would give me time to drive the 30 minutes to the start of the race. But I set my WEEKDAY alarm for 4 am rather than my WEEKEND alarm. My husband work me up at 5:15am. Yikes!! I got dressed and ran out the door--no breakfast, no time to put temporary tattoos on my face, no time to go to the bathroom. I arrived at the race as the race director was giving a 2 minute pre-race speech, and then we started running.

I had never run at this park so I just followed everyone in the dark. After a hour and one half, the sky started to lighten. Soon, I could turn off my flashlight and see the trail and the orange flags that were marking trail. And, at this point, everyone was strung out on the trail and I was running alone. It was peaceful, and raining. The wind blew as a leaf skittered across the trail like a little field mouse. Or maybe it was a mouse.

By the time it was completely light out, I had run 4 laps and the route was starting to feel like an old familiar friend. Here was the course.

The loop started out in the parking lot, next to the ocean and the train tracks.

Right away, the trail crossed a field and started heading uphill.

Uphill. The stairs say it all.

A peek-a-boo view of the ocean near the top of the hill.

The trail meandered through the trees. It was a very nice path with few rocks or roots.

First bridge.

Almost immediately after, second bridge.

This section of the trail was paved. It was short and flat, and near a sewage treatment plant perhaps.

Lovely stream.

Next stream. Another runner saw salmon running up it!

This rock was named the "happy rock" by another runner because it is just a few feet before the top of the last hill. It's all downhill from here to the start/finish/super-awesome-aid-station.

Super-awesome-aid-station. Around lunchtime, they warmed up home-made soup. I had Chicken Noodle and Butternut Squash with Fennel. Not only did the warm soup feel good, it was also a really nice break from the Gu. I think I had 18 packs of Gu that day!

There was so much more to the course that I didn't capture on film unfortunately. I ran 20 long (2-mile) laps and 3 short (.5 mile laps) for a total of 40.22 miles. The course is forever engrained in my brain. Throughout the day, I saw the daily life-cycle of the park. There were morning runners on the trail getting their exercise, late morning parents with babies strapped to their chests and Starbucks in their cups getting a little fresh air, and dog owners walking dogs of all sizes all day long. Every now and then I would end up running a lap with another 6- or 12-hour participant. Those miles always seem to go the fastest, probably because I am pleasantly distracted with light conversation. My last few laps were with Ellen Lavoie, my new trail running friend. We pushed each other along and tied for second place together!

Lap counting score board.

Check back in March when I hope to report in on the Cottontail 12-hour race on the same course!

Me and Ellen at 6:00 pm.