In Leavenworth a few weeks ago, it felt like my allergies were bothering me. They bothered me less while I was on Whidbey Island, though. In the week before the Multnomah Falls Trail Run, I did a couple of easy, 4-mile runs. I’d already decided to treat Multnomah Falls as a workout, not a race. It’s the last long run before the Leavenworth Oktoberfest Half Marathon, and I figured all that descending would be a good leg workout.

Continue reading →

I’m currently in Leavenworth, WA, about a three-hour drive from my home. I’m attending a conference. Many people love Leavenworth. Decades ago, in a bid to improve the struggling mountain village’s chances for survival, the town adopted a Bavarian theme. It’s charming. Years of trying to drive through Leavenworth during my treks from one end of the State to the other – and cursing the bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway – have lead me to find it less than charming. The fact that I don’t like German food or hefeweizen only compounds this. Not such a big fan of kitsch, either.

Because I’m already half-way across the State, I’ll be heading over to my parents’ house Friday evening. I hope to do some work around their house. Normally, I do my long runs on the weekend, but this week’s endurance run is eleven miles. If I did that run Saturday morning, I’d likely be too tired to do any work around my parents’ place. I decided to do it while in Leavenworth. Continue reading →

I’ve  learned another valuable lesson.

In twelve days, I’ll be returning to the Multnomah Falls Trail Run. Six days after that, I’ll be running my second half-marathon. Multnomah Falls is about six miles, with 1800′ of elevation gain and loss. (It’s straight up, and then straight back down.) The Leavenworth half-marathon is pretty flat.

So, which is more important: bettering my trail run time, or my HM time? Continue reading →

I didn’t sleep much last night. I’d planned to get in a strength workout before court this morning, but I got very little sleep. On the plus side? I should sleep really well tonight. Continue reading →

This’ll be a loooong post. I wanted to write a few blog posts over the weekend, and I never got around to it. So it’s all going on the interwebz today.

Continue reading →

Nothing nefarious is afoot, I promise.

This past weekend, I attended training to be a coach with Girls on the Run.  http://www.gotrsewa.org/ I’ll be coaching the older girls, so I’m a Heart & Sole coach, but the program is essential the same. I’ll admit to feeling a little overwhelmed and questioning what I’ve gotten myself into. It doesn’t help that I’ve spent the last week putting my training schedule for the Badger Mountain Challenge 50K into my Training Peaks calendar. Ay yi yi! How is all this stuff gonna fit? Continue reading →

Wow – not sure how, but this blog post has been languishing in the “Drafts” files for several months now. It’s incomplete, but I’m going to leave it as is; there’s no way I can finish that thought that trails off at the end.

And I have the finisher’s medal to prove it.

Yesterday was the Dirty Rat Trail Run. It wasn’t really a trail: the run started in Prosser, and the first section & last sections – it’s an out & back – are on pavement. That’s about a mile, and then the road turns skyward. The road is a dusty gravel road leading up into Horse Heaven Hills. The views were worth the climb! Continue reading →

Last summer, I volunteered  at Ironman Coeur d’Alene. One of the results of that experience was my deciding I will never do a 140.6. I wrote a blog about this on another site. Reading my coach’s IM race report reified that decision. I figured I’d transfer that 13-month old blog post to here, just in case the conversation comes up. Continue reading →

I frequently say I’d rather things go poorly during workouts, because it gives me the opportunity to react & adapt; I’d rather that not happen for the first time during the race. That doesn’t mean I enjoy it when a workout sucks, but it is a small comfort.

Today was one of those days. Continue reading →

Yesterday was the CFF Cycle for Life. There’s more on that topic further along in this post, if you’re interested. Short version: opted out of the last 19 miles, so I rode about 48 miles plus the 6 miles to ride to the staging area. I wanted to save my legs for today. I decided to not set an alarm this morning. If I needed the sleep, I’d sleep, even if that meant pushing my run into the heat of the day.

I woke up a little before six. I guess that means I chose wisely! Continue reading →