Mt. Si - Our first group hike of the season

Our first group hike of the season took us to Mt. Si in North Bend, Washington.

The climb is 4,167 feet and 4 miles from the parking lot to the summit plateau. Vertical elevation change is about 3700 feet and starts at about 700 feet. Going up wasn't that bad at all but coming down just seemed like it took forever. The weather was a little cool but at least it didn't rain on us.

2009 Sound to Narrows 12K

So my friends at the club and I had a blast at the 2009 Sound to Narrows 12k run (7.45 miles)! It was so much fun cheering one another on coming to the finish line. We all did it in under 1:15 and I came in at 54:33. This was a very hilly course and it was pretty much a full on sprint for me at the start and finish. I got up to 13mph (going downhill in a tailwind :) but my average pace turned out to be 7:19 (8.20 mph) which was good for me.

This was really a good distance because it was over before I knew it and I wasn't sore after the run. Basically it was just like a real intense bootcamp class which is about 50 minutes long.

Oh the weather was perfect! About 55-62f and overcast. Great job team!!!

2009 North Olympic Discovery Marathon

Ok, this is getting out of control.... I just ran the North Olympic Discovery Marathon. That is 3 full marathons in 5 weeks. Well this one kicked my butt. I guess I should have listened to my friends saying that maybe this is too much and give it a rest. Well for one it was a 3 hour drive and I had to go by myself. But I really wanted to beat my last time of 3:33 to get the Boston qualifier of 3:32. So in thinking I was doing everything right I ate spaghetti for lunch and dinner I drank cytromax energy drink for a couple of days and drank about 64 oz of the stuff that morning because I woke up at 3:30am and didn't race until 9am. Plus I had breakfast at 5:00am then had to catch the bus at 6:30 to get to the start. Then waited for 2 hours before the start of the race. I think I made about 5 trips to the restroom.

The race started off very well. I actually made 13.1 miles at 1:39 which was the best time out of the 3. But then at about mile 20 I ran out of gas and my calf started locking up and so I slowed down. Then when I realized I wasn't going to get 3:32 I thought about the long drive home and so I walked the last 2 miles. Then about .75 miles from the finish a friend comes walking down the path and I was surprised they drove all that ways for me. What friends!!! So he walked with me until the last .1 miles and I ran up to and across the finish line just to look good for my other friend at the finish line. Anyways my final time was 4:05. The slowest of the 3. Oh well. Then get this we went and had dinner and he drove me home in my car.... Such awesome friends!!!!

What I learned from this one is to test out the head phones before a run... I used the iPhone headphones so I can take a call while running... Well they didn't fit my ear right so they kept falling out. Maybe not run so many marathons in a row. Maybe not drink so much energy drink before a race. Don't drive 3 hours alone thinking you can drive back after a run. It was a beautiful course though. The last 5 miles was right along the ocean.