Whidbey Island Marathon

I skipped my 5k Friday night.  I was planning a 25-30 mile training run over the weekend in preparation for my 50k next week, so I thought it might be more fun and make more sense to run a marathon instead.  (I'm not very good at tapering.)

Thursday night I started looking for marathons in the area.  And since there were no marathons near me, I started looking for any marathons within driving distance.  And since "within driving distance" is relative for a last minute weekend trip, I figured the Whidbey Island Marathon (400 miles away) was the perfect choice - so I signed up and packed my bags.  I had never been to any of the islands in the Puget Sound, so I was excited.

I had only a few goals for the race:
1. Take some good photos.
2. Listen to my body - not my watch or Garmin. (I left my watch and Garmin at the hotel.)
3. Test out a new pair of shoes.
4. Don't hurt myself.
5. See a whale.

It was cold at the start, but the spectacular scenery was worth the pre-race shivers.  I didn't know much about the course, but the elevation chart on the website gave me a heads-up that there might be a hill or two.

It was also nice to see Eric and Michelle at the start.  They're on my short list of running heroes.

Deception Pass - near start line

Part of my pre-race ritual is interpretive dance,
though it's gennerally not interpreted as dance.
(Really, I'm graceful.)

Chatting with Michelle

Start of the race

Skagit Bay

View from the course

This is the last section of a climb
that lasted about 2 miles

U-S-A!   U-S-A!

The lei is from around mile 4 

Oak Harbor

Crossing the finish line.
I had fans I didn't even know existed.

Sadie's still mad that she didn't get to run

The race went well.  Other than a few minutes around mile 12 when I thought I had bonked, I felt good most of the way.  I think I accomplished what I set out to accomplish.

1. Take some good photos?
success
2. Listen to my body, not my watch or Garmin?
success
3. Test out a new pair of shoes?
success
4. Don't hurt myself?
success
5. See a whale?
bald eagle?

I even pulled a 15-minute PR out of it with a time of 3:34:00 (results).  Maybe one of these days I'll find a flat course and see how fast I can run a marathon.  Yeah, it would be nice to have a marathon excuse for a Boston trip...

Keep running!

-Scott

Some New Trails, Some Old Trails

I did some exploring this past week and found two new trails.  The John Wayne Pioneer Trail follows 300 miles of an old railroad through Washington.  The section closest to me is mostly gravel with a few very short section of smooth and packed dirt.  It's very flat and has wonderful views of the Palouse.  Sadie and I ran a 20 mile section.

We had this all to ourselves.

Gravel's great for on-the-run foot massages.

The next day, we drove south for a recovery run on another new trail up to Puffer Butte in Fields Spring State Park near the Oregon border.  A friend came with us to check it out.  We didn't get much running in though; most of the trail was on the north slope of the butte and still under a lot of snow - the frozen, jagged, unstable, hard-to-run-on kind.  Of course, it was worth the views:

Near the overlook (with 30+ mph gusts).

Idaho and Oregon are visible from here.

Puffer Butte summit

All this spring-like weather has gotten me a bit ambitious.  I had another long run scheduled for yesterday, and I thought we could test out the higher trails on Moscow Mt.  But what was a little rain/sleet Friday night at home, was a lot of snow up on the trails.  The lower elevation trails received an inch or two of snow, but were still runnable.  The higher elevation trails weren't so runnable.  But Sadie loved it.

Winter still making its presence felt.

I might do another 5k this Friday night, and next Sunday (18th) is my 50k.  It feels good to run.  :)

Keep running!

 

-Scott

New Shoes

My feet and Green Silence

Here's my first shoe review:

Shoe: Brooks Green Silence.

Review: I like them a lot.  

Back to running!

-Scott

Running the Deschutes River Trail

I finally feel 100% healthy after my nasty Feb/March sinus infection.  Winter has been very mild in the Northwest this year and many winter trails are displaying spring conditions!  (I'll happily let my sister in Dallas get all the snow.) 

I spent a few days in Bend, OR over the weekend.  Sadie and I ran 21 miles (10.5 out and back) on the beautiful Deschutes River Trail.  Enjoy some photos:

Running past an open meadow with
snow-capped Mt. Bachelor(?) in the background.

View from Deschutes River Trail.

View from Deschutes River Trail.

Sadie taking a river break.

Ancient lava flow.

Deschutes River

Benham Falls

We love to run.

Keep running!

Scott

Making Some Plans, and a Podium Finish

A nasty sinus infection kept me on the couch for about 3 weeks, but I'm getting back into speed and making up for lost training time. Maybe I'm crawling out of my winter blogging blues too.

Last year was a quiet year for me in terms of races. I'm feeling a bit recharged and have a couple big races on tap the next few months. I've been wanting to do the Spokane River 50k the last two years but haven't been able to fit it in my schedule, so I'm making that my priority spring race.

I'm not sure if I can swing an epic overseas trip this year, but I still want to get out of the States for a race and I've been looking at some races within driving distance in British Columbia. At the top of my list is the Edge to Edge Marathon in BC's Pacific Rim National Park Reserve.

Yesterday, while researching races in the area, I came across a St. Paddy's Day 5k just down the road from me on the Snake River in Clarkston, WA. Though I woke up to snow this morning (the weather had been so beautiful until the last few days), I thought it might be fun to push my long run until tomorrow and drive down for the race.

I'm not big on speed workouts or wearing a watch while I run (if you've read my blog long enough you know the reasons why I run), so I had few expectations for the race. I'd run a 5k a couple years ago and clocked in at 22:41. I thought for sure I could better that, but my legs have been a little dead this last week and I really don't have a good grasp on my short distance paces.

My pre-race goals were simple:
1. Start off really fast, and then try to speed up along the way.
2. Beat my PR.

So I ran hard, and it hurt. The most amazing part of the entire race is when I didn't puke with about 100 meters left. Another fellow ultrarunner told me a couple years ago that if you didn't feel like your lungs are going to come out of your throat in a 5k, then you weren't running hard enough. Well, that's how I felt. And on this day it paid off. I placed 3rd overall (out of 110) and 1st in my age group with a 19:30 (results). This is my highest finish since I beat my little brother in a race across the street 25 years ago.

Playing with Sadie before start.
No snow in the valley.

Races are fun, aren't they?

After-race finish board and snack station.

3rd place medal.
Keep smiling!

And keep running!

-Scott