But wait there's more...

Instead of groussing with Seattle about the first big storm with rain at the end of August (!), I snuck off to San Diego for fun in the sun at the Mason Boys Summer Resort.  And it really was a wonderful vacation with a trip to the San Diego Wild Animal Park or was that the Escondido Safari Experience?  No matter.  I saw a lion and a giraffe and wild boys playing in water and it was a idyllic, relaxing day.  If you go, pay the three bucks for the lorikeet nectar.  You won't regret it. 

I went to the beach, had In-n-Out, got a pedicure and had fun with my favorite kindergartener and preschooler.  The pork belly tacos at El Take it Easy are worth going for at any time but especially on the 30th on 30th. 

I even tried my first hill repeat workout on Upas Street by Morely Field Sports Complex the morning after having many margaritas.  ah.  that's living.

There are definitely things which remind me of Southern California and make me wistful. 

• The sound of crickets in the evening.
• The smell of eucalyptus trees especially when they area is being watered.
• Flowering bougainvilleas and oleanders. 

I can't wait to go back but it is never soon enough to see those Mason boys.

Lake Union 10k revisted

This time I was ready for this race.  I had enjoyed last year's race and was looking forward to seeing what some more consistent strength work was doing.  Last year I still felt speedy and strong.  This year, I've struggled with finding my groove and have lost speed and strength. After readjusting my training (thanks Coach Lesley), I was curious how this race would go.

Coach Lesley signed up for this race herself.  I picked her up and we carpooled down to the start.  After finally hitting some summer weather, this day was rainy!  It hadn't been rainy at my house but it was farther south and I was a bit dismayed by this.  I'd not brought a hat.  Oh well, at least it was a warm rain.  We did a warm-up and seeded ourselves into the very crowded and confusing start.  This year, they tried a wave start but without warning everyone of this before hand, well, people were confused.

And we were off.  It was pretty crowded.  I knew I was going faster than I wanted (I'd started in the first group but towards the back) but I wasn't too concerned.  We had a tailwind and it is flat here.  After about a quarter mile, I was starting to look at my garmin for pace information and was surprised to see I'd not started it correctly.  Oh well.  I started it and saw that yes I was fast but was settling into a good pace and I was not concerned.  They had kilometer markings so I started hitting those for reference.  But now I wish I'd left the mile markers as is as I think the kilometer marks were a bit off.

Soon we were climbing towards the Fremont bridge.  I'd been pretty quick for the first section (7:40) and expected to slow a bit here but didn't.  I very gradually passed people here and there and got passed occasionally as all.  At the 5k mark I thought that a 10k seemed excessively far and it would be really nice to be done.  This race is about as flat as you get here but that means you still get some hills that frighten a lot of runners in the rest of the country.  The first one wasn't too bad by the University Bridge.  I just tried to power up it as i knew I'd like the downhill to the bridge.  Last year some of the steep downhill sections bothered me and felt tough.  This year I could use them better.

Last wicked hill and I can't say I was fast up it but I didn't completely bog down.  I did feel stronger.  There were not too many runners around me at this point.  i could see a guy ahead and assumed I'd have a few people behind.  I just tried to stay in contact with this guy ahead and not let him pull away.  This worked and then at about mile 5, I realized my shoe was coming loose and was untied.  Dangit!  I've never had this happen in a race before.  It got looser and looser and then I could feel the ends slapping at my other leg.  I debated stopping to tie it but knew I'd not get started running well again.

the challenge then became trying not to let the loose shoe change my running gait.  And it was hard!  I really wanted to favor that leg and not let the laces whip me.  I was also afraid of stepping on them but was pretty certain that was impossible at the pace I was going.  I do fear that I lost time here.  I was also tiring.  as we came to the finish, I got passed by three women (grrr..they were all younger though) and was shocked to see the time on the clock as 47:XX.  My goal was to beat the June 10k time of 49:2X and last year's 49:1X and try and come in under 49.

Done!  Coach Lesley herself had run this race and was at the finished.  She laughed with me about the silly shoe lace issue.  Oh well.  Like last year the finish area was very crowded.  The new South Lake Union Park should be finished this year and that will alleviate this problem.  I waited around for results to be posted and found another friend who'd raced and has gotten so fast.  I'm so happy for her as things have turned around after some injury frustrations.  We waited and waited and they tried to announce overall winners but then realized there were some serious scoring issues.

I had some pancakes with whipped cream and berries provided by a Portage Bay Cafe, a sponsor.  They were delicious and since I normally have pancakes after weekend runs, i was in heaven.  I waited some more and gave up.

47?  Maybe?  But really?  I know I'd run well and hard and felt stronger and felt great about that.  Finally results were posted the next day.  chip time was listed as 48:52 and I was third master female overall.

Hahaha!  After some hints of timing and scoring issues, I contacted the timing company and confirmed that clock time at the finish was off by a minute (how?) and posted race results were correct.  Not under 48 but solidly under 49 and 30 seconds faster than the 10k in May.  Things are starting to go the way I want and I'm happy about that.

And summer is done...

August always is over in a blur.  Between work (covering vacation time from coworkers), house projects, running and my own vacation plans it gets a little busy around here. 

First up.  Happy Birthday to the Puddlethumper household.  Both K and I celebrate August birthdays.  On the tail end of the hottest days of the year, we grilled some salmon and celebrated in style out on the deck.  Mom came over and it was ever so pleasant out on the deck in the evening.  We opened a bottle we'd gotten from our trip out to Lake Chelan.

I was driven to finish putting up siding on the new porch and paint.  I wanted it done before the end of the month.  Fortunately it went quick and after siding the whole house I do consider myself pretty good at this task.  I was able to get a coat of finish paint up before some of the rains came.  The area up around the soffit still requires some work but will need some tricky cutting of boards to get them to fit.  And we'll need ironwork for railing and the front section of the porch to complete this project.  Plantings are probably going to wait as I think about how I want to approach the changes to the pathways around the house and the new access via the stairs to the side yard.  I'm really pleased with how it looks now though.   

And if that wasn't enough, a very good friend of a very good friend was recently diagnosed with cancer and started chemotherapy immediately.  What I found knitting this chemo cap is that it really focuses your attention on the person's battle.  Good thoughts to her!  And F You, Cancer! 

The "5k"

Things are ticking along here in PuddleThumper land.  The porch is looking great.  More on that later.  Lots to do in the garden and the house and physical therapy for the recalcitrant hip seems to be going well too.  I'm been averaging 30 miles per week running and feeling good.  The hip really is fine for shorter stuff, even shorter faster stuff.  I've run up to 10 and felt good.

A breakthrough of sorts at the PT's office the other day.  He found an exquisitely sore spot right on the ischial tuberosity (that's the sit bone and also called sitz bone oddly enough).  Once he had me move through a bit and pinning that spot, magically everything on that side up through my low back relaxed.  It was very strange.  And discussing day-to-day activities as running doesn't seem to bother it, he helped me see that my positioning when sitting at work probably wasn't helping thing.  I have a good chair and sit upright but i sit on the edge of my seat leaning forward.  Evidently that is bad!  I've been constantly reminding myself at work to use the lumbar support of my chair at work and amazingly enough, things seem to feel better. 

Reach the Beach is around the corner so this is all very good news.  I decided purely based on the not three bazillion degree temps we had on Saturday to jump in and do the Seafair Torchlight 5k run.  I've never done this one and have wanted to do it for years as it has an afternoon race time. I heard nighmares about traffic as the downtown seafiar parade goes right after the race.  but I knew I could take the bus, keep everything simple and race. 

this year they changed the course and were starting over in belltown.  There was both an 8k and 5k and i was downtown (after a very good nap on the bus!) in good time to walk over, register and get ready.  I ran into a R2R buddy who was volunteering so that was nice to see a friendly face!  And I was amazed at how large an event this was.  Who knew?

• Tough to get everyone lined up and then still had to make room for the elites/invited runners in the front.  The announcer had everyone" take a step back and then another." 
• I have never been so crowded at the start and no pace markers. 
• The course starts uphill and then gets onto the parade route.  I set a new course record for number of kids' hands hi-fived in a race. 
• I thought I was in 7:20 - 7:30 shape but with uphill start was aiming for 7:40 first mile.  With much dodging of very slow people the first half mile (!) and a fairly steep uphill section, i hit exactly 7:40 and felt like crap. 
• The turnaround point on the course came really early (ha!) and there was not much room for the 5k'ers going back along the same route.  I felt great in here though and got in a very pleasant 7:09 mile.
• One of the elite finishers was jogging back along the course the last couple of blocks cheering for the runners.
• I'd seen somebody's t-shirt with teh quote something like "ask yourself if you can dig deeper and the answer is usually yes" (no idea who now) at mile 2, i asked myself this and the answer was yes. 
• Turned the corner to the finish and saw the clock at 19:XX.  And realized the course must be way short.
• I got passed by a lot of the guys in the final sprint but did manage to pass and stay ahead of a gal my age the last quarter mile. 
• Got a very nice technical shirt from this race plus the finish line had small bags of pirate booty (mmm salt) and half pints of blueberries they were giving out. 
• There was nobody ready to take chips from this race at the finish.

2.65 garmin miles @ 19:13 chip time for 7:17 pace.

Woohoo!  I raced. it has been a heckuva long time since I've felt that I have raced and I am delighted.  for 3.2 actual miles, I probably would've been 7:20-7:25 but who knows.  I felt very strong in the middle mile and even strong on the uphill section.  The consistent core/agility class I've been doing is definitely helping.

After grabbing some snacks, i did a half mile jog back to the bus and was home within 30 minutes.  It was a perfect way to do this race.

And then the dilemma.  On course, I turned around when I saw a sign indicating 8k straight and 5k u-turn.  Evidently there might have been a first sign which said "ahead" and then the actual turn came later.  I never saw a sign which said the turn was ahead.  I was racing and you just don't notice things so well when running hard.  I just turned at the first sign I could see and followed other runners doing the same.  I came in first in my age group (and the course is still listed as a 5k with subsequent pace) but really feel uncomfortable about this.  I emailed the chip company about the question in results and they forwarded this to the race company but I've not heard anything yet.

At this point, I'd prefer the (first ever) DQ and knowing that I raced well.  It was the workout I needed both physically and mentally regardless of what my place was in the race.  And the shirt with a stylized pirate logo is a hoot!  I'll wear that one a lot 'cause it does actually fit!