Today's run was a slow 12 mile recovery / long slow distance run. Again I found it difficult to map out a route that wasn't so familiar for two reasons: (1) it is boring; (2) knowing the exact route enables my mind to know when I am approaching the finish so I can take my foot off the gas! So I do have a GPS watch that tells me when I am close to the end of my workout, however I can choose to not look at my watch! For this run I choose to run on some familiar segments, but branched out to south of town hitting the trails at Willamette Park. I have only ran on these trails once because I don't like running on S. 3rd St. Today I made an exception, and I am glad I did.
The run out to S. 3rd was predictable and boring. The miles clipped off, and I hit the park around mile four. The temperature was in the mid 60's, and the sunny was out. It wasn't too hot, the shade on the trails was nice. Halfway through the trails I was getting a bit hungry, but I forgot to buy any cliff shots or energy gu. Luckily there were ripe blackberries throughout the trail! I picked and ate a couple of handfuls, drank some water, and continued on the path.
The scenery on the trail was beautiful! The Willamette river was running on the left surrounded by farm land and trees. I kept running down the path until hitting Riverside Dr, and then I ran from Riverside back to 3rd and back to the boring bike path! I ran behind the Corvallis Country Club on SW Brooklance Dr. I was about 1:20 minutes into my run, and needed more fuel. I found some more blackberries, and ate probably four or five handfuls this time. Later I found that Safeway sells about one half a hand full for about $6! I hit the gold mind I guess. I was about ten miles in at this point, and I was a bit spent. Include those ten miles I had run over forty miles in four days. I thought about walking it in, but I had motivation to keep pushing.
Going over the next couple of hills was tough, and I had to take a water break a few times. I made it past the hills, and coasted the rest of the way to the end of the course, 12.54 miles. I was relieved, and I felt good that I finished the course.
Tomorrow will be fairly easy, three miles at a brisk pack (6:58 - 7:18 min/mi) along with a one mile warm up and cool down.
Please consider donating for my effort to raise $2,012 to support Christina during my run of the Portland Marathon in 2012.
http://gogetfunding.com/project/running-against-tnbc-portland-2012
Showing posts with label Snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snow. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Friday, January 20, 2012
Run through the flooded waters
| Today
is January 20th 2012. The mild temperatures in the
mountains and torrential rain led to rivers cresting their
banks, and flooding in many citiies in the valley. I decide
to go for a run near Mary's River and the Willamette to check it out.
I took a few videos along the way. I hope you enjoy. See you next time! |
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
Water logged
|
As many of you know, the flooding conditions in the valley are getting
pretty bad. Around our neck of the woods the Willamette river
is very high, and there is some major flooding in Philomath causing
some road closure. After the half marathon last Sunday, I
completed a couple of runs out in the rain trying to avoid the small
ponds in the roads, overflowing culverts, and oncoming vechicles
dousing with road grim as they plow through the aforementioned ponds in
the road. The plus side is that the temperature has risen, so the runs
have been pleasant. With all the rain, I haven't created in
new videos for fear to water logging my camera/phone!
Yesterday I ran 9 miles at a pretty good
pace, 7:38/mi. My workout schedule doesnt' start for about a
week, however I felt good so I ran at a best that felt good. Today I
decided to switch it up and go to the gym at the HP site, free is a
really good price! I hit the weights, and did the elliptical. Over the last couple of days, Christina have been talking more about creating our own race. Something came to be the other day; what about having a race at the beach? We love the coast, we were married at the coast, why not have our race there? Christina though it was a great idea, and we are making a few calls to see what it would take. If you know of someone that has created a 5k/10k fundraiser, please let us know. In the meantime, we are going to the coast this weekend and I hope to do a run on the beach. I'll post some videos weather permitting. See you next time! |
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Monday, January 16, 2012
Half Marathon, Snow in Corvallis, How to start our own race
| I
completed another half marathon this weekend, hooray! A few
days leading up to the race, the event website noted the forecast for
the race as I shared previously. The forecaster was dead on!
We saw the snow on the ground the night before, and in the
morning I tested my footing as I went to warm up the car.
Yip, there was ice under the snow, so I fear for a very
slippery race. As traveled to Turner for the race, the
weather cleared up outside of Albany. Unfortunately as we
entered Turner the snow was blanketing the streets. Runners
in the gym were all hoping the snow would melt off before the 9AM
start. Close to race time the snow started to fall again!
When the cattle bells rang, big flakes of snow floated across
the starting shoot. Fortunately the roads were not too terrible, patches of ice and slush, and patches of bare wet pavement. I set my watch to alert me when my pace was outside the range of 6:54/mi and 6:34/m. I started easy ensure I could get good traction, and once I was more comfortable I settling into a pace of about 6:54/mi. My watch buzzed every few seconds telling my to "speed up!", until I finally got my pace within range. The air was very cool with blasts of 8-10mph winds every once in a while, but after about 2 miles my body was heated up to the point that I didn't notice the cold too much. I picked off quite a few runners in the beginning, and settled behind a small group of runners that were about twenty yards head. As the runners ahead of me passed the turnaround, I counted them to determine were I was placing. I was in 31st or 32nd place out of ~880 runners! That was motivation for me to keep pushing, and keep my pace within range. At the turn-around we headed into the wind gusts. This slowed me down enough for my pace to fall below 6:54, and my watch told me to speed up! My body was telling me to slow down, take a break, take it easy, or even to stop and walk. My brain was telling me to keep pushing, you are past half way, and this is nothing compared to battles others are facing. It is hard to put into words of the actual movitating thoughts, but that is the best way I can put it. I notice I had a picked up a drafter at about mile 5 or 6, and he drafted behind me for a couple miles. He passed me on a straight stretched a mile or so after the turnaround. I don't like being passed, and in my younger years I would have tried to keep pace with him so I could pass him back. Today I just let him go and continued to run my race. I noticed another runner about 100m heading of me that I was closing on, but I just continued to run my pace. As I started to pace him he started speeding up, but he couldn't keep the pace and would slow down, and then speed up as I started moving past him again. This lasted about a 200m, and then I just had to stride out to pick up my pace a bit because he was throwing off my pace. That was at about mile 11. Two miles to go. My abs were tighening a bit, legs were a little heavy, and my breathing was I bit labored. Two miles is nothing I told myself, and thought about when or if I was going to start my kick. The one mile mark? Half mile? Finish chute? As I came through a series of s-curves, I looked back briefly to see if there was anyone close to me. The guy that I passed was about 200 to 300m behind me, and the guy that passed me was about 300 - 400m ahead of me. Since I had no feasiable target, and no immediate threats I decided to start picking up my pace a touch with about one mile before the finish. With about a quarter of a mile to go I shifted into fourth gear, striding out, and picking up the tempo. Going into the last turn, a volunteer was waving me in, yelling something, but I had my earphones in so not exactly sure what he was saying - I am sure something like, "Your almost there, good job, keep it up!" I was now in fifth gear, didn't have the RPM's for sixth ;-) Breathing was tough, heart rate threw the roof, and legs feeling like cement, I kept pumping through the finish line! Clicked stop on the watch, and looked for my family. My wife and kids congradulated me, and I just wanted water. I was really driven to hit 1:30, so I didn't stop at the water stations. I was a little nauseated from the tough race. Jackson went to the car to get my gatorade, and then we went to the post race area to get some food. I chatted with some racers, got some food, and left. Later I found online that I was 31 of 396 runners, and 9th of 44 in my age group! Pretty good I guess. "31 253 Curtis Garrett 44 M 9/41 M4044 Corvallis OR 3 0:07 1:31:25 6:59 1:31:32 7:00" Christina and I met with our neighbor the sponsor a 5k run about how to create our own run to raise funds for Christina's treatment, and to raise awareness of the benefits of alternative treatment modalities. Amy gave us some resources to help us get started, and offered her assistance when or if we decided to create our own race. Very exciting stuff! My next race is in April, the Corvallis Half Marathon. I have created a new workout plan that will start on the 25th, until then I will just do a few easy runs. See you next time! |
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