The Anti-Running Runner

The hubby and I took a week-long trip to Oregon in December that included a three-night stay at a cabin on Mt. Hood. Cousin Alyssa and I thoroughly enjoyed a jog on the back roads near the cabin. I'll let the pictures tell the story. It was awesome. Next up, race report of the Clearwater Half Marathon.

Today, Lance (my dog) and I got up and ran three miles. We do a certain route that involves circling the big park near our house and some running through neighborhoods. At one point, I thought Lance could run without his gentle leader. Gentle leader. You can barely see it, but there's a silver river hanging down where leash attaches. However, as soon as I took it off, he slipped his collar. I tried walking on and calling him after me, which often works, but he decided to play keep away. Of course, this made me nervous. Thankfully, we weren't beside a busy road. He stayed in the grass, and soon had to pee. When he squatted, I darted up and got the collar and leash back on. Disaster averted! That is until we finished. In the vlog, I explain our next disaster. Thank you, Jesus, that the iTouch could pick up our wifi outside! Hubby came home and saved the day. Next time, I'm tying the key to my shoelaces.

I've been MIA on this blog for a while. My focus has been writing and editing my fiction efforts, but I promised to share my first marathon adventure, so I'm finally going to do it. AIR: My First Marathon Disney January 2009. It was the week before my wedding. No lie. Seven days after running my first marathon, I walked down the aisle and married my best friend. I DO NOT recommend this to anyone. Wedding time frame part, not the marrying best friend part. That I highly recommend. In my defense, I signed up for the marathon prior to getting engaged. The wedding date worked out best for whatever reasons. I can't even remember why now. The six months leading up to the marathon/wedding were probably the most stressful of my entire life. Marathon training takes so much time and energy. So does wedding planning. On a positive side, most of my family came to cheer my marathon finish because they were already in town for the wedding. That was a huge blessing. My dearest...

I almost forgot to write about this race. Maybe because I ran it alone, which I almost never do. Of course, I ran into some wonderful friends like Karen and her family and Dawn and her family, so I didn't really feel alone. That's the great thing about racing locally. I can pretty much count on running into a friend or two. I started this post to complain about my terrible attempt to run eight miles today, which turned into a sluggish six miles where my face cracked under the heat of the sun (like a dummy, I forgot sunscreen). When did complaining ever help me anyway? Instead I'll mention that I did the Honda Grand Prix 5K last Friday in a chip time of 26:56. Pretty great for me! I was feeling good at first, probably started a little faster than normal, but for the most part I think I held the pace well. According to the calculator, I ran 8.68 minute/miles. Really, that's fantastic for me. Praise Jesus for consistency and persistence even when I have a rough ru...

That's right. I'm doing it again. And hubby is doing his first marathon. What marathon are we signed up for and when? The X-Country Marathon on Nov 17, 2013 This is a trail marathon in beautiful Alafia River State Park (east of Tampa). Same place where we run The Claw Run 10 Miles. We're signed up for that race again at the end of April. Hubby doesn't like road races, but has wanted to run a marathon. When we found out about this trail marathon not too far from us, he said he would be interested in doing it someday. That day is now officially on the calendar. And it's not expensive. Only $55 for early sign-up. Hea and Mike are signed up. Hopefully, Alyssa will be able to join us, too. I once swore that I would never run a marathon. And then Alyssa talked me into Disney 2009 which was the week before my wedding. I don't recommend that, by the way. After the Disney Marathon, I swore that I would never run another ma...

I left off the last post sharing my first Hood 2 Coast experience. In the dark, I got through my second leg (something like 4 miles), but I was starting to feel sick to my stomach. I was exhausted. I couldn't believe I had to run one last time. Slight tangent: Each Hood 2 Coast team decides whether the runners will do the driving or whether someone who is not running will drive. My sister had raced the year before, and decided to volunteer to drive instead of run this time. She says it's actually more stressful being a driver than being a runner. My parents decided to follow our van (van 1) since both my sister and I were there just to spend time with us and the family. They had borrowed my uncle's mini van. In this post-second leg time frame, I had to visit the Honey Bucket a few times. This in itself is not a pleasant experience. In the dark, after some hundreds of runners have already visited the port-a-potty before me...you can imagine. I rea...

My first Hood 2 Coast continued... The relay is over and I would bet people are already planning for next year. I left off the Pt 1 post with the Wonder Women. This was the shirt for our team in 2004: front back Because my family had been doing the race for years, I got to jump on board the team of mostly family members. I can't quite remember who talked me into it, but I know my cousin, Alyssa, and many of my aunts gave me great advice on how to train. My sister, Larisa, had done it the year before, and I wanted to try it. I started long-distance running in college. After college (I had no job except jewelry-making at the time), I spent a month in Oregon visiting family and training on the hills around my aunt's house. There is one really huge hill that is the perfect trainer for a Florida girl coming to do Hood 2 Coast. I did a lot of stairs during the months leading up to my trip, which helped. The relay begins at Timberline on Mt Hood. I was in van 1, le...

Part 1 of...who knows how many When it comes to relays, Hood 2 Coast is the largest in the country. World maybe? I should really fact check before I start throwing out statistics. Mt. Hood is near Portland, Oregon. My place of birth. For the race, they created a trek from Timberline on Mt. Hood to Seaside (on the coast, naturally) about 200 miles away. I think. Again, I should fact check. I do know that the race is happening AS I TYPE. It is very fitting that I reminisce about Hood 2 Coast while thousands of people are running, driving, not sleeping, watering their runners, cheering their runners, finding places to park, finding places to sleep briefly, loading up on Gatorade and Imodium, trying not to smell while using the Honey Buckets, searching for flashlights to carry, and running some more.  And I found it. Something with facts on it. At least in 2006 it was the largest relay in the world. They have a website and I particularly enjoyed reading about the history...

As promised, another tale of my past running adventures. I had to share the story of my first half marathon because it will forever stand out in my mind. Disclaimer: I do not condone "rogue running" or whatever it's called when you race without a number. But these were extreme circumstances. So I do not apologize for what happened in the following story. And neither do my heroes: Alyssa and Jenni. In 2008, I was signed up to run the Disney Half Marathon. I had run a 15K before, so I felt confident that I could make it, especially because my dear cousin, Alyssa, would be running with me. Alone meant possible failure. With her, I could do anything. My dad drove us to the race, and Alyssa's best friend, Jenni, joined us. This is the same Alyssa and Jenni who ran the Miami Marathon, and I ran the half and blogged about that crazy adventure earlier this year. In fact, Alyssa and Jenni just moved into a house together. Hubby and I went to help them with some pr...

I've been wanting to write some of my past running stories. In particular, events or things that happened before I started the blog. I have fond memories of my first half marathon, Hood 2 Coast, some not-so-fond memories of my first marathon, and other running tales I could share. To get the ball rolling, I wanted to explain what happened to me on my run today. On Tuesday, I finally managed to run five miles with the Vibrams. Yay! It was a humid day, but cloudy. Not so much blazing hot sun beating down. But for some reason every gnat in Florida was out for an evening...stroll flight?....on my running route to the St. Pete Pier. I have a bug phobia, so that wasn't fun, but I was glad that my toes didn't hurt. Today, I left work intending to run the same route. It was sunny and hot at first, but I noticed some dark clouds in the distance. They moved in and I had that glorious sensation of cooler air for about a mile before the rain began. It felt so good. I was loving i...