Ocean Shores 1/2 Marathon

On July 10th, I finished my 6th 1/2 marathon in 6 consecutive months.  It graduated me up to two moon status on the Half Fanatics...which everyone dreads because it landed me on Uranus LOL!  This was the last race that my sister-in-law, Andrea, needed to qualify for the Half Fanatics and also my stepson's first 1/2 marathon in over 6 months. 

We chose to go to Ocean Shores the day before and enjoy the beach.  The weather was perfect all weekend so all the kids came down with me and even my father-in-law came down for the day.  I have never been to Ocean Shores on such a warm day. 

The downfall to bringing everyone was that we had to share beds and a room.  It was tight quarters which causes me to get VERY little sleep.  Bryce (my 3 year old) didn't do to well going to bed.  He was up until midnight and finally fell asleep on the floor with my pillow.  I shared my bed with my 12 year old, Ashley, but she moves around a lot in her sleep.  Bryce had several nightmares all night and kept screaming out.  Needless to say, VERY little sleep for me.  I had to be up at 5:30am.

Morning came way to quick!  I arose in the morning and tiptoed around Bryce.  He was laying right in front of the only bathroom door.  I grabbed my clothes and changed in the bathroom as quietly as possible.  I snuck into the living room area and woke up Andrea and Devin.  They also snuck around Bryce and we got out of the room as quickly as possible before waking anyone else up.

We hit the Tully's for water then went to the park to wait for the race to begin.  I ran into a few other Half Fanatics including #10 Bullseye Bob Martin.  Thank goodness we got there early because they actually started the race about 15 minutes early.  The first 1.5 miles of the race were spent weaving through town towards the ocean.  Very flat and nice, open spaces to run in...just the way I like it.  I was hoping for a PR today if all went well.  As soon as we saw the beach ahead I prepared for the worst. 

The beach entrance was loose sand that filled my shoes early.  Big divets made it hard to maneuver through and I spent a lot of the time just trying to bunny hop into the holes that other runners already created.  Once we got to the hard packed sand, running was easier.  Felt almost like a trail run (which reminds me, I need to train with the Dirty Girls more!).  The best sight on the beach was about a mile into it...there was a baby seal sunbathing. 

So, the total distance on the beach was 1.5 miles then back on to the soft, sinking sand until we hit the pavement again.  Too bad for me my stomach was starting to act up so I hit the honeybucket.  I felt my PR slipping away. :(  Back on the pavement, Andrea and I kept running along.  Devin passed us and as far as we could tell, he was in 12th place!  Bullseye Bob high-fived us too.  At the halfway mark, we turned around and started back.  Andrea told me to go ahead. 

The next 1.5 miles were pretty uneventful until... I almost got trampled to death by two young deer!  I am not even exaggerating!  They went hopping across the road like a game of tag only feet from me.  My heart was beating so fast and I couldn't stop shaking.  Oh no, stomach started to act up again.  Must have been the terrible dinner from the night before.  I hit the same honeybucket as before.  When I was waiting in line, Andrea wished me luck and went ahead.

Several minutes later, I was finally back bunny hopping over the sand dunes to get to the ocean.  I wish I lived closer to the beach.  It was very peaceful to see and hear the waves as I ran by.  The seal was still sunbathing on the beach too.  Brought a smile to my face.  It wasn't until I came up to the soft sand again that I finally started walking. 

I was suffering from my usual leg "tingling" so I couldn't feel my right foot/leg.  My stomach was killing me and my mind was starting to give in to it all.  I forced myself to run again and was able to run the for a while.  As I hit the bridge on the home stretch, I finally had to stop and stretch my foot out.  The arch of my right foot was cramping so bad I was almost in tears.  The sand had taken up any spare room in my shoe and it was suffering.  No PR for me :(

I crossed the finish line at 2:15:12.  Not my best, not my worst.  I wish I could take off the time for the honeybuckets.  That would have dropped me down to the 2:10 range, but oh well.  Devin ended up finishing with a PR and 17th place overall!  Andrea got a new PR as well.  I was just happy to finish.  I highly recommend this course to others but be prepared for the sand!

Tacoma City Marathon

What a great last minute decision!  I got invited to run on a relay team with the Dirty Girls (a local group who does trail running).  The race was divided between 5 legs that varied between 3.9 and 6 miles.  My leg was leg 2 and it was 4.8 miles long. 

I got up at 4:30am to get ready and go meet my team in Gig Harbor.  I drove to Starbucks for my usual pre-race tradition...bad news, they weren't open!!!  Ugh.  I tried Cutter's Point...no go.  I even tried Fred Meyer...same thing.  Apparently, nothing opens by 5:30am in Gig Harbor on a Sunday morning.  I guess I was running the race  with no food or coffee.  Thank goodness my leg was less than 5 miles.

Oh yeah, this was our ride for the race:

We got to the art museum and met up with the rest of the other Dirty Girls Relay Team #1 for a photo shoot.  Alexa Martin wrote a book called "Girl Wonder" and Gateway was taking photos for it. :)  It was a lot of fun to be a part of this wonderful group.  Especially since I really didn't know anyone leading up to today.  They were very kind and greeted me like I had known them forever!

Jina Benson took leg 1.  It was 5.7 miles long.  We stood at the start line and cheered her on as she took off.  As soon as she was out of our sight, we headed to our leg 2 hand off destination.  It was here that we decided to add some warrior paint to ourselves.  Why not?  Let's make this race fun!  As we were standing at the hand off spot, I saw a few people I know come running by and was able to cheer them on.  I saw my online friend Claudia, 4:15 pacer Ginger, several people from the Route 16 crew, and of course tons of Marathon Maniacs and Half Fanatics!  Then around the corner we saw Jina!  We yelled for her and she finished so strong.  She did awesome!  We tagged off and I took off!

My leg was flat and pretty!  I ran along the water on Ruston Way for several miles.  It's funny running in a relay, you have fresh legs so you are able to pass people when they are tired.  It's a good and a bad feeling.  Good because you feel even stronger and you push harder...bad because you know you haven't been running nearly as long as them :)  I was able to pound up the first hill rather quickly passing several men along the way.  The funniest sight here was the police man with the speed gun faced at me!  Also, as I ran along Ruston I had several people calling out, "go Sexy Girl!" becuase of my war paint on my face :)

I was pacing in the high 8 minute miles for the first 4 miles.  Then as I passed through the tunnel something bad happened.  I'm not sure if it was the fumes, the sounds, the motion of the speeding car flying by me, or the fact I hadn't eaten but I got out of the tunnel and started gagging!  Uncontrollably!!!  Ugh, I hate my stomach sometimes.  I continued to walk but it definitely slowed my pace for about 30 seconds to a minute.  Once I was finally able to catch my breath, I started running again.  The final hill was a doozy.  I passed people who were walking up it and turned the corner.  There were my Dirty Girls cheering me on!  I willed my legs to sprint and finished as strong as I could and tagged Gwen so she could take on the 5 mile drive leg though Pt. Defiance. 

I stopped running and tried to catch my breath.  I then realized I had forgotten to stop my watch.  So my GPS said I finished in 44:10.  I think with the gagging and forgetting it really was about a minute less than that.  We didn't have far to drive for the next hand off.  I was able to stretch in the van and enjoy some Gatorade.  At the next hand off we decided to goof-off a little and take some pics.

When Gwen came out of the park she tagged Kjerstin.  We all hopped in the Dirty Van and took off to Cheney Stadium.  It's amazing how much territory we covered!  At Cheney, Nichole was able to get out and stretch.  She did all the driving leading up to this point so she really wanted to focus here.  We were watching the volunteer at the water station struggle to get the cups filled.  There were only 2 volunteers at this stop.  One for the Gatorade and one for the water.  Gwen and I stepped in and helped him fill cups.  Another guy from a relay team also jumped in to help.  Between the 3 of us, we were able to help him get the 3 bottles emptied and fill an entire table with cups of water.

At the final leg, Kjerstin tagged Nichole and we hopped in the Dirty Van to head back into downtown.  Our plan was to finish as a group.  The only rule was that Nichole had to cross the finish line before any of us or else it would register a false time.  We didn't have a lot of time because this leg was only 3.9 miles but we made it in time.  We saw Nichole running hard!  I gave Alexa my jacket and we all finished as a team. :)  It was so much fun!!!

Our Dirty Girls #2 Team finished in a time of 4:02:14 with a pace of 9:15! We came in 4th place of 8 teams!  We also came in 14th of 26 teams. The Dirty Girls #1 Team took home 1st place with a time of 3:33:33!!! Nice job ladies!