Fairhaven Waterfront 15K

It's about 6 pm and I am sitting outside Fairhaven Fish & Chips (in an old London-style red bus), waiting to pick up four orders to take back to the hotel. Why is this our plan for dinner in a town with a dozen good restaurants? Well, my family LOVES fish & chips, but more importantly, at least half my travel party is busy watching college football, one room tuned to the Oregon-Tennessee game and the other to the Washington-Syracuse game (with channel switching as well). When I left, the Oregon game was in a weather hiatus but resumed shortly thereafter.

But I'm not here to write about football! We're up here because I ran the Fairhaven Waterfront 15K this morning, one of my favorite races and my fourth consecutive year doing it.

Last year was a FABULOUS PR but sadly, I didn't match it today. My time was about two minutes slower, 1:19:33 this morning (8:33 pace). I was running really strong in the first 10K, and somehow flagged in the final 5K. I didn't feel like I was falling apart or anything, but I was just pushing hard and going slower. Still, I am quite happy with my performance and felt GOOD at the end (though quite red in the face!).

We were also lucky to have beautiful weather today, sandwiched between yesterday's yucky rain and probably more rain tomorrow (though who knows what will happen).

I may write a longer race report this week but in case I don't, that's what happened in Fairhaven! Hope everyone's having a great weekend!
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Beet chips!

My latest sensation, oven baked beet chips. I thought I invented this idea, but a quick google search demonstrated that in fact others have done the same thing. The recipes/methods are pretty much the same as mine, although I probably baked mine longer.

The ones in the picture are mostly stripey candy cane beets, but you can see at least one dark red piece in the middle of the plate. That was my first batch, on Tuesday. Tonight I made another batch with the dark beets, but in the picture I took (not posted) they look black and more burned than they really were. The dark red beets do work really well, even if they don't photograph so well.

INSTRUCTIONS:

You will probably use 3-4 medium small beets for one baking sheet. Line baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil or canola spray. Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice beets very thinly with a knife or mandoline. The thinner they are, the crispier and more chip-like they will get, but they will also be more likely to burn, so watch carefully!

Arrange slices on baking sheet, as close to single layered as you can. You will probably have to overlap a little. As they bake and dehydrate, the chips will shrink and you can rearrange them into a single layer. Spray everything with oil spray and sprinkle with kosher salt (or any kind of salt) and pepper if desired.

Bake on the first side until the chips start to brown a little and curl around the edges. Start out with 15 minutes and add 5 minute segments until they seem almost done. Then turn them with a fork or spatula, spray again, and maybe add another dash of salt.

Bake, checking every five minutes, until they are chip like. They will crisp up after they cool for a minute. You will probably want to remove the smaller, more cooked pieces first and let the bigger ones cook longer. A little burning on the edges is not a bad thing!

Enjoy them while they are crisp! Leftovers can be stored in the fridge, but they will be soft and chewy, not crispy, the next day. Still good though!
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Pics from Super Jock 'n Jill Half

I kind of look like I'm walking here, but I promise, I ran the whole way!
See? Running. (No, I am not about to puke!)
Don't I look like I am really about to pass that guy? Well, I didn't. He finished about 15 seconds ahead of me.
But no one else is going to pass me, darn it! (Don't know why my pants look like they're falling down....)

Super Jock 'n Jill Half Marathon

On Monday, Labor Day, I ran the Super Jock 'n Jill Half Marathon as a marathon-pace training run. In that sense, it was a success. Actually, I would consider it a success overall, except in delivering any great surprises, such as a PR. It was also my ninth half marathon this year, including at least one every month since April (with two in May and July).*

On Sunday afternoon I invited my mother to come with me for the drive, so she picked me up at 7 a.m. and we headed southeast to Woodinville, coffee and power scone with almond butter in hand for breakfast on the road. The race started at 9:00, but I always like to be early! Since it was Labor Day morning, there was little traffic and we arrived pretty speedily by 7:45 (maybe earlier, even). As we approached Red Hook Brewery (where the race started and ended), I noticed that a lot of wineries have sprung up in Woodinville since I was last there, about ten years ago or more. Back then it was just Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia. I was about to say that there are at least a dozen now, but I just found this website which claims more than 60 wineries in "Woodinville Wine Country"!

The parking area was at least a quarter mile from the site, and at first this felt like a difficulty, because it was a cool and damp morning, and I guess I was feeling lazy. But it turns out that the five-minute walk to and from the car wasn't a problem at all. I headed over right after we parked, to pick up my bib and stuff and make a first visit to the porta potties (only a few people in line at that time.

I picked up a bag from the gear check station because my plan at that time was to leave my jacket there while I ran. But on the walk back to the car it seemed so cold and windy that I changed my mind and decided to wear the jacket...plus gloves.

I sat in the car for a while, but when 8:30 neared I braved the weather (still not raining, and not really that cold), and headed back to take my place in the much longer potty line. The situation was such that I was not going to leave that line until I went (if you know what I mean). Luckily that was not a problem, and I had my turn in the potty in 20 minutes or less.

By that time I realized it really wasn't too cold (mid-50s, I think), and got another bag and left both my jacket and gloves with the bag check. I only had a few minutes before I really needed to be in the starting area, so I jogged around the parking lot in one of my shortest ever warm-ups--about .35 mile.

Then I lined up in the area where the eight-minute and nine-minute-mile pace signs joined. Basically back of the eights, front of the nines. If I had been pushing for a faster time, I would have gone near the front of the eights, in hopes that the faster runners up there would push me to keep up.

I had no idea as the race began that there were no chip mats at the beginning, only the end. I had my Garmin set to go, but was waiting till I crossed the mat to start it. Well, I ran, and I ran, and eventually I decided there was no mat and pushed the start button! I was a little pissed about not only the lack of mats (I figure there was at least 15 seconds delay from that, maybe more, and much more for people starting behind me!), but with myself because now my splits would be off.

I fixed the splits problem as best I could by hitting the lap button when I passed the first mile marker. My first "mile" was .89 long, so I was off by about .11. At least the laps would be correct from then on. My pace for the .89 mile was 8:55 average, but I figure that it was a little slower for the actual first mile, because there was a little walking in the approach to the start, and I noticed that my pace was a little slow in the beginning so I tried to pick it up.

"Everyone" describes this race as flat, but that is not completely true. The first six miles are pretty flat, with a few bumps in elevation. But there is a significant hill in mile seven, and in fact miles seven through nine were full of modest ups and downs! Not enough to be a problem or anything, but it did put a damper on my "race plan."

So, about that "race plan." My only plan was to run it at goal marathon pace and hopefully do it fairly easily. I suppose there's always an underlying hope that one's legs will want to go faster than expected, but that certainly didn't happen to me. While I don't think I was struggling to run a 9-minute(ish) pace, I certainly had no inclination to go faster. Nor, I fear, much ability. I am assuming--hoping--that this was because my legs were still tired from the 22 miles on Friday, plus the run-elliptical-walk on Saturday morning, plus the walking and standing at Bumbershoot Saturday night, despite the rest day on Sunday.

As I found myself chugging along in the nine-minute neighborhood, I developed my race plan. It was based on my general running scheme of, "the first five miles are warm-up" and "the second five miles are easy." So my plan was to run the first five at about nine-minute pace (or at least sub-9:09), then pick it up a little to 8:45 pace for the next five, then really put a push on for the final 5K, maybe even 8:30-ish pace if possible.

First five went as planned. 8:55, 9:03, 8:58, 9:00, 9:08.

Then let me tell you about the next five. Not only was this the "hilly" section, it also included numerous hairpin turns and back and forths and a run through the Cascadia College Campus and past the UW Bothell campus; in short, lots of things to slow me down. I feel like I did increase my effort during those five miles, but my times don't reflect it. They look like someone who is getting tired...but really, that was not the case. 9:12, 9:23 (the hill), 8:57 (the other side of the hill, down), 9:19, 9:10.

Even though my pace was all over the place in that section, I think it still reflects a fairly even effort. There were at least two other runners that I kept pace with throughout most of the run, so if I was slowing and speeding up, so were they! They were a very tall man and short woman, running together, with the male probably pacing the female as he ran slightly ahead of her throughout. At least one of them was also hearing impaired (I believe), as the male ran with his hands in a position that seemed strange until I saw him occasionally signing...he probably kept his hands out so they were visible.

The final part of my race plan was to kick it in the last 5K. Well, I did do that, even though the paces that resulted were not the 8:30s I had hoped for. But I did increase my pace for every single split! 8:50, 8:44, 8:38, and the final .20 at 8:26 pace.

I also manage to pass a few people in the last three miles. First the man and woman who had been my unintentional companions for so many miles. Left them in my dust...well, sort of. Then there was a man in a blue shirt, who managed to hold his lead on me for quite awhile. Eventually, however, I pulled ahead and left him behind too. I'm actually not sure who else I might have passed. Those three were my targets. I do know that there was a guy (not one of them) who passed me fast at the very end...there's always some guy who apparently was running at a nine-minute pace for about thirteen miles and somehow finds his seven-minute-mile in the final tenth!

I should also concede that those last three-plus miles were on a pancake flat running trail. It also helped that there were lots of good markers on the way, so I could run from marker to marker quite easily.

At the very end of the race there is a sharp turn and slight uphill before the semi-finishing stretch, then another turn into the finish area. So by the time I was able to see the clock I was quite close to it...but not close enough to beat the clock turning from 1:58 to 1:59, unfortunately! My finish time, which is not improved by the use of the chips as they did not provide a net time, was 1:59:11. That makes a 9:06 average pace overall.

My only regrets are that I could have gone under 1:59 if I had tried a little harder on the course not to waste time. I had forgotten my handheld water bottle, so I got water at three of the water stops (not stopping of course). That was good for a few seconds. My worst dilly-dally was at the mile 6 water station, where they were giving out Gu. I took a vanilla Gu when it was handed to me, but I've never used vanilla. I shouted at the next person, "whadda you got?" and when she said coffee, I paused, turned back, and traded mine in to her. Without that little exchange, I would have been several seconds faster, I am sure.

And, of course, if there had been chip mats at the start, those 12 seconds would have been gone just like that.

Oh well, hindsight and all that.

I picked up my bag and put on my jacket, then walked around the vendors a bit. I used my bag to collect a couple(ish) Top Pot doughnuts (individually wrapped), some mini-Larabars (yea!), some fiber gummies (they forced them on me, really), and a couple bags of Maui potato chips which I sent home to my dad. Along with a doughnut for each of my parents. My mother and I split one of the doughnuts, and after reading the 450 calorie count for one old-fashioned doughnut, I couldn't bare to keep any more.**

On the drive home it really started pouring, and I was so relieved that the rain had held off for the run!

There were photographers on the course (I saw them and tried to smile), so I will be curious to if any pictures of me came out. I decided not to delay this post waiting for pictures...sometimes that kind of delay turns into forever! (No, I really am going to finish my Newport Marathon post!)

*I have one more scheduled in October and plan to do one (maybe two) in November, after which I will update my Half Fanatics streak info!

**By the way, I consider samples given out at race expos or after races to be marketing ploys, not post-race food, so I have no qualms about sharing what I take.

Happy with a cherry on top

I am quite excited that P from Adventures of an Average Athlete has bestowed the Cherry on Top and Happy 101 awards on me, so that I, too, can spend a few minutes talking about myself. (Wait, don't I do that all the time anyway?)

For the Cherry on Top award you are supposed to write about one thing you would go back and change in your life. Then you thank the person who awarded you and pass it on to six others.

I've actually thought about this question a lot as I've read the various answers by other bloggers. Almost everyone ultimately says that they wouldn't change anything, because everything they've done has made them the person they are today. You know, the butterfly effect, and all that.

Bah! Cowards! Change the world, I say!

Well, maybe not.

I have a couple of answers to this question of what I might change in my past. The first is that I would not have let myself gain a lot of weight after law school. This is truly an area where I have two minds. Obviously, it was not a good thing to gain weight, and it put certain dampers on my life for more than ten years. (Not as much as you'd think; I had a good life during that time!) But certainly, it would have been better for me not to gain weight.

However, had I not gone through that I am pretty sure that I would not be where I am today. If I'd managed to avoid weight gain, I might have just stayed where I was, about 30 pounds more than I weigh now (as I recall), dieting sporadically (as you do), and certainly not rediscovering running at the age of almost 40. (Or maybe I would have...who know?)

Answer number two is something I would change, and I can't see any downside to that...which is, I would never have spent so much money at Macy's. Damn their one-day sales anyway! I have given away and discarded so much stuff from those years of shopping sprees and I truly regret the money gone with the wind.

Okay, on to a more cheery subject! The Happy 101 award has you list 10 things that make you happy, again thank the giver, then pass it on to ten people.

I love to list things that make me happy. That in itself makes me happy! I am going to omit the mandatory friends, family, and loved ones, you can just assume that they are at the top of the list. (Most of the time.)

1. Running. Yes, it probably just have been in the "assumed" category as well, because don't you expect that from a running blogger? But running does make me happy, sometimes while I'm doing it, sometimes when I'm done. :)
2. Food and eating. Should I be embarrassed by this? Probably. But a good meal really rocks my world. Not just the naughty stuff (like cake)...things like oven roasted broccoli, sauteed spinach, Kabocha squash soup, and (oven) sweet potato fries thrill me to no end. (I could do a whole post on my love affair with vegetables!) Tonight I am planning on experimenting with making oven roasted beet "chips." I'm trembling with anticipation! (Okay, that's a small exaggeration.)
3. Great clothes, especially if they are on sale! Yes, despite my regrets over the Macy's debacle, I still love to shop.
4. Books and reading. Another topic I could write an entire post about, or many. I love reading magazines as well, but books are my life. Current "can't put down" read: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman. (Prior to that, Fly Away Home: A Novel by Jennifer Weiner, and Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen.)
5. My cats, sweet Sammy, Sophie and Libby. (They also make me very unhappy at times, due to certain behaviors which are damaging my house and driving me slightly crazy, but let's not go there.)
6. Coastal Maine and New England in general. I guess it's a little weird to live on the Pacific Coast (and love it here), but yet be so drawn to the other side of the country. There is something about the history and ambience of New England that just speaks to my soul. Harbors, big white houses, little white churches, lobster, and the home of so many great American writers.
7. England, my other spiritual home. Again, I could never choose to live there (even for a sabbatical period, because of my cats), but traveling in England is like going home to me.
8. Gardens. In my own life obsessive running has displaced obsessive gardening, but I still love to visit and tour the gardens of others, or even just admire them as I run by.
9. Good movies. And by "good movies," I mean movies that I enjoy watching. I don't go to the movies often enough, because somehow it seems like such a big time commitment if I am going to go on my own, and if I am going with someone else (e.g. Rod), there is the whole ordeal of finding a movie we both want to see...etc. Here are some movies that, after I saw them, I walked out of the movie theatre feeling happy for seeing the movie (even if it wasn't a "happy" movie). Bridget Jones's Diary, About a Boy, Sense and Sensibility, Hannah and Her Sisters, Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral, When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, It's Complicated (saw this on PPV, would have loved it even more in a theatre), Julie and Julia (same), The Informant!, The Proposal, Valentine's Day, Sex and the City, Sex and the City 2, Out of Africa, Little Shop of Horrors, The Devil Wears Prada, The Sure Thing (in college, along with Out of Africa and Little Shop of Horrors), Miss Potter, Spirit of the Marathon, Run Fat Boy Run. Very random list, and there are more, these are just the ones that came immediately to mind! Sorry I didn't take the time to do all the links, but I'm sure almost all can be found on Amazon if you are interested.
10. Blogging. It makes me feel like a writer, and that makes me happy.

So, after all that, Thank You, P, for passing this on to me!

I don't think I could find as many as ten bloggers to list that haven't already done this, but if you haven't, and you are interested, I pass this to these people and anyone else who reads this! (And don't feel obligated to do it if you don't want to. Also, don't feel obligated to pass it on either, I know it's kind of like a chain letter in that fashion.)

Marie, Every Day is a Miracle
Lisa, Discovering the Meaning of Stonehenge
Lifestudent, A Marathon Leap
Alice, Hefferblog
Sassy Molassey
Terri, Middle of the Pack Girl

I didn't think I could do it, but I did

This post is about my speedwork* run on Wednesday. It seems a bit odd to be doing it now, after I've already moved on to my long run on Friday, and beyond, but I actually wrote most of it on Thursday and just didn't have time to finish. So a little editing later, I'll just finish it now.

On Wednesday morning I decided to do my run in the afternoon. It was a pretty silly decision because I was wide awake and my legs felt okay, but I decided that it would be better for my body and mental health to loll in bed instead getting dressed and hitting the still-dark streets. (This dark morning thing? Gonna be hard to get used to.) One of the primary rationales I used (and it wasn't bad) was that the track for my planned 800's would be wet and muddy after a night of rainfall (true) and it would be in better shape by the forecasted sunny afternoon (also true).

Let me not say that it was a completely bad decision, because I certainly did enjoy the extra bed time, reading and eventually watching the Today Show. It was a little unfortunate that I'd already had a pre-run snack at 5:30 (half a PR bar). But I still had my full breakfast at 8, of course.

Then I went about the day setting myself up for run failure in the afternoon. Not intentionally of course. But I knew I was making things harder for myself...but yet went forward with my reckless behavior.

The main problem I created was overeating at lunch and not stopping eating during the afternoon. Okay, I wasn't quite as bad as that sounds. My office was hosting a lunch party so the menu was a little more lavish than I am used to at lunch. I wasn't too excessive. I ate lightly dressed Caesar salad and a serving of chicken salad, fruit and just a dab of potato salad and pasta salad. And, er, two rolls...legit carb loading, I would say. A little more troublesome but still acceptable (dietwise) was a sliver of red velvet cake and an even smaller sliver of carrot cake.

The real downfall was the cookies I kept nibbling at, breaking off pieces until I finished the entire cookie...at least a couple of times.

After lunch I was comfortably full and I knew the best thing to do was not eat for the rest of the afternoon so my stomach could empty before I ran.

BUT after I went to a long meeting then returned to the office, there were those cookies, just waiting. More breaking and nibbling commenced (though I resisted the other leftovers and cake!). End result was that my stomach never felt empty, even when I left the office after 5:00.

On the positive side, my legs still felt good (the extra rest helped, I'm sure), and I felt less beat up and emotionally drained than I usually do at the end of a work day.

I hustled home and changed my clothes with only a little bit of second thinking. I made it out the door around 6:00. It was still sunny and pretty warm (though not hot). I didn't bother with sunglasses because I knew the sun would drop before the end of my run, but I experienced quite a bit of squinting during the first few miles, especially on stretches when I was running west!

It was speedwork Wednesday, which meant 800's** this week (eight???). I decided to start out with three miles of warm-up around my neighborhood. And oh, did my legs feel sluggish and heavy. I chugged along, pushing to get near a 10-minute pace. By the end of the 5K warm-up I was doing about 9:30 (still only averaged 10:05 per mile for that chunk of mileage) and despaired at the idea of doing any kind of fast track work.

I considered so many alternatives. Well, primarily one alternative, which was skipping the 800's and just doing a regular medium-length run. Where I got stuck was how to make up the 800's. It would be pointless to plan for Thursday morning, because that would just put me into too many consecutive running days, especially with a loooong run planned for Friday. I didn't want to do them next week because it will be too close to the Fairhaven 15K on Saturday to stress my legs in that fashion.

So I settled on giving it a try and seeing what happened. I hit the track, reset my Garmin, and pushed off my first lap around the track. And what happened? To my great shock, 3:55 (.51 mile at 7:38 pace). (From now on I'll just refer to the pace for each split, as the distance varies slightly, which affects the actual time.) I never start out that fast! Usually I start slower and then pick up the pace. This time my pace actually slowed a little bit throughout the duration of my 800's, but I did stay under 8-minute pace for each, and finally picked it up again at the end.

I tried to concentrate my form and foot strike, instead of just trying to "run fast," but it's always a challenge. For most of my laps there were two women walking the track with their dogs, and though they always let me pass I am convinced I slowed a tiny bit while going around them.

As usual, through at least the first five I was completely uncertain that I could make it to eight. Thoughts of cutting short ran rampant! But after five, there is nothing to do but stick it out. For the final one, I turned off my iPod and, as usual, finished faster. My splits overall were half miles at paces of: 7:38, 7:42, 7:50, 7:51, 7:51, 7:58, 7:54, 7:38.

Between each 800 I jogged about a quarter of a mile back around the track in the opposite direction. I eventually figured that my total distance, with the 800's and approximately 400 meter recovery jogs, would be six miles. So, what if I added a fast 400 at the end and make it 10K total? So I did.

Final quarter mile sprint 1:53, which was .26 mile at 7:10 pace. Total distance (for the speedwork and recovery)--10K (6.22 miles) in 52:14, average pace 8:23. That's doesn't include the time I spent standing at the beginning of each 800, gazing around the circumference of the track. Procrastination or mental preparation? You be the judge.

Afterwards I jogged about .75 mile home (to make 10 miles total) and then walked about a quarter mile around the block. Just 'cause. That 1.02 mile, with .75 jogging and .27 walking, took 13:02.

So, to go back to the title of this post, I was sure this speedwork would be a complete FAIL, and instead, it was a complete success! Hurrah!

After the long run on Friday I was going to take Saturday off, but decided instead to just take today off. On Saturday I ran 3.1 miles to the Y (30:01), did an hour on the elliptical, then walked home and to Starbucks (2.75 miles). Then spent the evening at Bumbershoot, culminating in the Bob Dylan performance that night. Several hours standing during the concert must be good training for the legs, right? They were certainly tired enough after!

Tomorrow (which at the time of this writing is Monday, Labor Day), I am doing the Super Jock & Jill Half Marathon. My plan (hope?) is to do it as a marathon-pace training run. Just to remind myself that I can run a long distance at 9:00 pace. I CAN!

Have great Labor Day!


*Is it speedwork or speed work? I'm never quite sure, but at least I will try to be consistent within a post, if not from one to the next.

**A friend of mine wrote a mildly ranting :) blog post about the misuse of apostrophes. I give my credit for knowing all the rules of apostrophe use and think I always do it right; however, there is one situation where I am perennially confused, and that is the plural for numbers. Is it 800s or 800's? Well, the rule is clear, but it doesn't answer my debate:

Rule 11.
The plurals for capital letters and numbers used as nouns are not formed with apostrophes.
Examples:

She consulted with three M.D.s. BUT She went to three M.D.s' offices. The apostrophe is needed here to show plural possessive.
She learned her ABCs.
the 1990s not the 1990's
the '90s or the mid-'70s not the '90's or the mid-'70's
She learned her times tables for 6s and 7s.

Exception:
Use apostrophes with capital letters and numbers when the meaning would be unclear otherwise.

Examples:
Please dot your i's.

You don't mean is.

Ted couldn't distinguish between his 6's and 0's.

You need to use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of zero or it will look like the word Os. To be consistent within a sentence, you would also use the apostrophe to indicate the plural of 6's.

Got it? So, 800's or 800s????

22 miles

Blogging from the bath! I finally took the ice bath plunge. Granted, I'm a little skimpy on ice, since I didn't feel like hauling a whole bag from the store after my run. I just used what I had stashed in big ziplocs in the freezer. Enough to help keep a good chill on the water, without actually inducing hypothermia. I like! I have a long sleeved fleece on my top half, which is keeping me cozy (along with the hot drink and the body heat still lingering from my run). Just need to avoid dipping my elbows in the water!

About the run, in brief. 22 miles. (That's brief!) It felt much less difficult that my 20-miler two weeks ago. My average pace was about the same, something under 10:30. I was a little faster overall today.

I could actually linger in the cold bath a lot longer than I have time for today. I'm enjoying it! (Next time, more ice.) Unfortunately, the 22 miles sucked up the whole morning and I actually have to go to work this afternoon!
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