Yep, life is good

This weekend, I matured as a dog parent.  All of Lucy's life, I haven't been able to trust her off leash.  This is partially due to her distractibility, love of chasing things, and love of being chased.  But mainly it's due to my anxiety as a doggy mom.  I have nightmarish images of her chasing a squirrel on a hike and not being able to find her way back (yes, I know she's a hound dog with an amazing sense of smell) or jumping in the lake for a swim, taking off, and never making it back (again, silly, because she has some pretty extreme separation anxiety issues with me).  So most of her life, she hasn't been able to spend much time off leash.  This weekend was different though.

We spent the last 2 days at my friends' lake lot about 45 minutes outside of Seattle, which is a plot of land that is fenced in on 3 sides and then goes out to the lake on the 4th side.  So in all reality, she doesn't have many places to go when let off leash.  Except way far out into the lake, which she seemed to have no interest in doing.  Still, I was anxious about letting her off the 30 foot tether I brought with me.  Nevertheless, I did, and we were both all the happier for it.

Lucy loves to swim.  She might currently be a little anti-running, but stick her in a lake and she will go for hours.

Mid-ear flapping head shake.

Swimming with mom.

Swimming with Frani.

Swimming with Ryan.

Caught by mom and made to stop swimming
for a picture.  Must. Keep. Swimming.

Lucy and I both had a great time hanging out at the lake, swimming, playing games, sitting by the campfire, and generally enjoying the summertime.  And the best part is, we got back about 3 hours ago and Lucy promptly went to her bed, passed out, and literally hasn't moved a muscle since.  Tired doggies are happy doggies.  And Lucy is one happy doggy right now.

So while Lucy continues sleeping, let's talk about running.  Because even though my entire last blog post was all about how awesome riding a bike is and how much running sucks in the summertime, I had 3 days in a row of some really great running.

After writing my "I love biking" post, the next day I thought to myself Tessa, you should go out for a run on this really hot day and try to enjoy it.  Because you love running and you need to remember that.  So I set out for a 5 mile run with a goal in mind.  I wanted to start off slow at about a 9:30 min/mile pace and then increase my pace by 15 seconds each mile.  Here's how I did:

You might notice that I flip-flopped the first 2 miles.  Oops, the rest was
great though.

By the end of this run, I felt really good.  I felt like I had pushed myself harder on my run than I had in a really long time, and it felt great to log an 8:36 mile.  By the time I had hit mile 4, I decided that instead of limiting myself to 8:45, I'd just give all I had.  It worked out nicely, I think.  And of course mile 5 was my cool down, so that 9:28 was perfect.

On Friday, after having this run under my belt from the day before, I decided to do an easier, shorter run.  I had decided that the reason I felt so good on Thursday's run was the negative splits.  I used to be good at doing negative splits (holding back a little in the first half of the run, then speeding up in the second half), but in the past few months I feel like I've lost focus with this skill.  It's something I really want to focus on again, because I think it totally affects my attitude in the second half of the run.  So on Friday's run, my goal was to take it easy, but still focus on getting a negative split.  I ended up logging 3.7 miles and here are my paces for the first 3 miles:

The Nike+ pace charts won't show me my pace for partial miles at the end.
Kind of annoying, Nike should fix this.

I maintained my 9:30 pace for a good warm up mile and then just tried to run comfortably for the next couple miles without looking at my watch or focusing on a goal pace.  I'm happy to see that I'm comfortable at a pace just above a 9:00 min/mile.  

After these 2 confidence-boosting, reminding-myself-how-much-I-love-running runs, I was excited to take on the Torchlight 8K race on Saturday night with some friends.

Good friends.  Beautiful sunshine.  Fun race.  What more
could you ask for?

The Torchlight 8K is a race that takes place on the route of the Torchlight Parade, which is the kickoff to Seafair week in Seattle.  This is my 3rd year doing this race, and I've loved it every time.  The best part of the race is that it happens just prior to the start of the parade, so there are thousands of people lined up along the streets, camped out in chairs, ready to watch the parade.  As you run through, they cheer for you, give you high fives, and for a little while convince you that they are there simply to cheer you on, not watch a parade.  And there's lot of pirates.  Because Seafair is all about pirates.  I got festive and re-wore my red pirate bandanna and red and black striped socks that I got for last year's race.

Last year, I remember struggling through this race a little bit.  It was around a time when I was learning to run faster, but wasn't quite comfortable at the faster paces.  And there are some pretty hefty Seattle hills, especially at the finish.  But this year, I felt great.  I started off the first half of the race with my friend Mark, an old TNT teammate who I haven't run with in a while, and probably ran a little bit slower than I would have by myself.  But that was a good thing, because it helped me conserve energy for the final hills and helped me have my 3rd run in a row with a negative split.

My finishing time was 45:33, an average pace of 8:54.

Could I have run this race faster?  Probably.  Did I need to?  Not really.  Not right now.  Instead, I enjoyed the race.  I enjoyed running.  I remembered why it is that I keep doing this.

After the race, we met up with some other Team in Training folks in the beer garden.  We claimed a corner and waited for all of our friends to come trickling in from the race.  After hanging out for about an hour, talking to teammates and friends from older teams and newer teams, I sat back for a minute and looked around me.  I had a moment where suddenly I was overcome with how happy I was to be where I was, doing what I was doing.  And I didn't want to be anywhere else.  I was in the midst of about 20 friends, happily chatting, catching up, planning new races, and sharing running stories.  And as I sat back and looked around, it occurred to me that all of these amazing people, including me, were brought together by this crazy sport.  Without running (and without Team in Training), it's unlikely that any of us would have ever crossed paths.  If I hadn't started running over 4 years ago, I wouldn't have known a single one of those friends.  I would never have heard their stories, been inspired by their running, or experienced the indescribable feeling of being on a true team.   Because even though our training seasons together have come to an end, we are still here, together, as a strongly bonded team.

And then, I started to get really excited about being a part of the upcoming winter team.  Because now I have another season to look forward to where I get to be a part of this amazing team.  And on the team will be many old teammates and friends, but I will also have to chance to meet new ones.  And hear their stories.  And watch them grow and struggle and succeed and experience the life changing effect that running has on people.  And I will continue to grow and struggle and succeed and change my life by doing so.  The season won't officially start until September (still lots of time for anyone thinking about signing up!), but I'll be counting down the days until I get to do it all over again.  Can't wait.

P.S.  Even though the season doesn't start until September, I'd love to get a jumpstart on my fundraising.  So if you're interested in helping to find a cure for blood cancers and supporting me as I tackle the Goofy Challenge is Disney World, you can donate here!

Life with Lucy: Line of Sight

Peek-a-boo!  I'm watching you!

I'm on a bike!

I'm on a bike!  I'm on a bike!

Everybody look at me

Cause I'm riding on a bike!

I'm on a bike!  I'm on a bike!

Take a good hard look

at the really awesome bike!

I realize I'm not actually on a bike here, but I felt a visual
was necessary.  And I know what you're thinking...it
would be way cooler if it was a bicycle built for 2 and
T-Pain was riding on the back wearing a helmet shaped
like a top hat.  Unfortunately, he has not responded to
my emails.

Why am I so excited about being on a bike?  Because recently I have decided that I really like being on a bike.  You may have thought, based on my mileage build-up this summer, that I had made this decision a long time ago.  But, in truth, it only happened in the past week or so.  

I feel this new love for cycling may have been born out of my extreme aversion to summertime running.  On a day like today, where the temperature in Seattle reached an oh-so-hot 80 degrees, I kind of dread running.  While I fully realize that I spend a great deal of my life pushing myself beyond the point of discomfort, running in the heat is a discomfort I don't withstand easily.  I feel like I can't breathe as easily or run as fast as I want to.  And I'm not a fan of the "drenched in sweat" feeling.  Lucy also does not like summertime running.  I have trouble keeping her motivated to keep going on summer runs, and she also runs a lot slower.  I've kind of given up on trying to make her run until things cool down again.

In summers past, I've kept myself pounding the pavement by either running earlier in the morning or later in the evening.  And last summer was easier to get through because I was training for the Victoria Marathon with TNT.  This gave me a group of friends to train with, a schedule to follow, and a goal to achieve.  This summer I have no such motivation.

Instead, I've found other, more enjoyable ways to keep active in the heat.  Like swimming.  And being on a bike.  And making lists in my head.  Which I then post here.

Reasons Why Being on a Bike is Awesome

1)  No matter how hot it is, you will always feel a cool breeze.  I cannot attest to the occurrence of this biking phenomenon in temperatures above 80 degrees, but I imagine it to be reasonably accurate unless you are on the east coast and the humidity is 100%.  

2)  Going uphill is hard, but satisfying.  I'm not a fan of hills in running or biking, but I know that they are good for me.  And when I push my way up to the top of a hill on my bike, I feel as though I've accomplished something.

3)  Going downhill is fun.  It's taken me a little while to be comfortable with gaining speed on downhills, but  now that I'm feeling more confident, it's pretty exhilarating zooming down a hill in a crouched position, head low, hands low on the handlebars, butt up so as not to feel the bumps.  Kind of like riding a roller coaster without actually being on a roller coaster.

4)  Watching the mileage tick away is satisfying.  My longest run ever, which I've done 3 times, was 26.2 miles.  It took me, consecutively, 4 hours and 52 minutes, then 4 hours and 28 minutes, and then 4 hours and 18 minutes to run that distance.  Today I went on my longest bike ride ever, which was 60 miles.  It took about 5 hours, and was no where near as hard as running 26.2 miles.  I haven't been training for 5 months to ride 60 miles, I just simply wanted a really good bagel from Blazing Bagels which happens to be 30 miles away from my apartment.  So why not go for a bike ride?

5)  Biking with friends is fun.  Not that running with friends isn't fun too.  It's just another excuse to get out there and have some good conversations with some good friends (which MacKenzie and I did on our bikes for 3.5 hours today).

6)  You can eat real food and then ride a bike.  Before a run, you have to be really careful about what you eat.  All that jostling around inside your belly/intestines can result in some pretty unfortunate happenings if you aren't smart about your food intake before and during runs.  But on a bike, you can stop in the middle of a 60 mile bike ride and eat a very large, very tasty bagel sandwich complete with jalapenos.  Yum.

7)  Biking alone is also enjoyable.  I learned this today.  In the past, I have been very scared to bike alone, simply because I was not prepared for getting a flat.  I didn't have the supplies to fix a flat on my bike and I was unsure I could actually do it on my own (despite Ironman Jason's tutorial in flat fixing at the beginning of my biking adventures this spring).  And getting a flat even just 10 miles away from my house would be unfortunate and require a lot of phone calls and awkward requests.  But now I have the necessary supplies on my bike and I've changed a flat basically on my own.  So when MacKenzie asked me to meet her on the trail by her place (which I've since learned is about 11 miles, or 45 minutes, from my place), I didn't hesitate to say ok.  And now I've experienced in 2 separate 45 minute chunks what it's like to ride a bike solo.  I found that I get the same satisfaction out of solo riding as I do out of solo running.  I enjoy my surroundings, push myself simply for myself, and get a lot of good contemplative think time.  So much think time in fact, that I am able to rewrite the lyrics to fun songs in my head (see above).

There are probably other things I could add to this list, but I feel as though I've rounded it out nicely.  I must be fair and admit to some of the things about cycling that aren't so much fun:

1)  Biking outfits aren't super attractive.  The shirts are too short.  The waistlines are too low.  The length of the shorts is awkward and the seams are constricting.  And you wear a helmet.  It's hard to be pretty on a bike.  Although I can't say I've ever felt pretty while running either.

2)  You can still get blisters.  Today I developed and then popped 2 small matching blisters on the insides of my pinky fingers.  Not sure how I did this.  And now it's slightly painful to do things like shower and wash the dishes.  Developing battle wounds are just part of exercising I guess.

3)  I don't think it will ever be comfortable to sit on a bike for extended periods of time.  Private areas hurt.  Enough said.

4)  Bonking on a bike isn't fun, because you are probably still really far from home.  This happens when you suddenly lose all energy and feel yourself slowing considerably.  I did this for the first time a few weeks ago.  It wasn't fun, and it took a good amount of mental and physical energy to push through it.

All in all, I'd say the pros outweigh the cons.  Conclusion: being on a bike is great.

This of course does not mean that running has been dropped from my repertoire.  Running will always be first and foremost my #1, but for now I'm enjoying trying other things.  Fairly soon, I'm going to need to start upping my running mileage and doing hill repeats in preparation for the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  But until then, I'm going to enjoy mixing things up a bit.

And now for some interactive fun.  I would like to break the record of responses on a single post with this post (I know, it might be really hard to break my record of 2 responses, but I think you all can do it).  You don't have to have an account to comment.  Just do it.  Here's what I'm interested in hearing from you: How do you stay motivated in the heat of summer to get out there and run/walk/bike/swim/move your body?  Or are you one of those crazy people that actually likes the heat?  If so, tell me why.

Respond away!

I smell like duck poop and neoprene

Just kidding...kind of.  Cause yesterday I did smell like duck poop and neoprene for about an hour.  And I will tomorrow too for about another hour.  If you are hoping to experience this smell, I'll be at (and by at, I mean in) Green Lake tomorrow morning.  Feel free to come see.  But we'll come back to that.

First, and most importantly, I went to the zoo on Monday.  And here is a picture of a hungry hippo:

He opened his mouth each time we reached
our hands out over him.

And I think he looks pretty similar to an attention starved Lucy.

From now on, I call this couch position the
"hungry, hungry hippo."  Because she is
hungry for attention.  Because she obviously
does NOT get enough.

Second, I am happy to announce that after a week of being laid up on the couch (annoying, lingering, hacking cough be damned), I am back in the game.  And by "the game," I mean pretending to train for a triathlon somewhere in the future because it's summer and I don't have a lot of other better things to do.  And also because many of my friends who also have the summer off are triathletes in training for an Ironman.  So I tag along.  Because apparently I like to feel inferior.


Nonetheless, I am happy to be back.  As I sat feverish on the couch for several days, and then waited a few more days to see if the cough would go away (it hasn't), I think I could literally feel my muscles disintegrating. I also didn't eat a lot during what we will now term "the dark sad time," so when I finally put on a pair of jeans to go take Lucy for a walk on Sunday, they felt at least a size too big.  


But now I'm back in the game and regrowing my muscles.  And what was the first thing I did to get back in the game, you may be wondering (hint, hint...it has to do with duck poop and neoprene)?  If you haven't guessed it from those two very clear hints, you either a) have never heard of Green Lake, or b) couldn't imagine why anyone in their right mind would want to swim in Green Lake.  But I did.  And it was my first open water swim.  Ever.


Here's what happened:
1)  I met Jason and MacKenzie at Green Lake, where I promptly realized that I forgot to take my glasses off and put my contacts in (so I could see in my goggles), so I quick drove back up the hill to my apartment to remedy the problem.  Not a good start.
2)  I took close to 20 minutes to get my borrowed wetsuit (thanks MacKenzie!) on.  Jason and MacKenzie watched me struggle and work up a sweat while doing this.  I also coughed a little.
3)  Once I got the wetsuit on, Jason and MacKenzie worked together to get it zipped.  Confidence.  Booster.
4)  I got into Green Lake.  This was something I never really thought I'd do.  But I just did a little bit of quick research on the King County website and apparently the "Fecal Coliform" levels are of "Low Concern."  So now I am assured that I won't die of duck poop disease.
5)  I swam for 40 minutes around the edge of the lake, trying my best not to stray too far from MacKenzie or Jason (which is harder than it seems because there are no lane lines to bump into and no painted line on the bottom of the lake to help you swim straight).  I intermittently stopped swimming so I could cough.  And make sure I wasn't lost in the middle of the lake.
6)  I tried really hard not to touch any seaweed, even though I could see it through my goggles and it kinda freaked me out.
7)  I decided that I kind of like open water swimming.  I had no idea how far I was going, I didn't get bored, and the wetsuit made me float.  Which seemed to make the swimming much easier.
8)  After the 20 minute turn around on the way back, the wetsuit started hurting my neck a little and I swallowed a little bit of Green Lake accidentally (eeewwwww) because my lungs weren't working as well as I wanted them to.  So made a bee line back to shore instead of following the perimeter of the lake.  MacKenzie thought I was so awesome that I beat her back.  I reassured her that I cheated.
9)  I took the wetsuit off, which was much easier than putting it on.
10)  MacKenzie gave me a bottle of some sort of spray to put on that makes putting wetsuits on easier (does this seem out of order?  Because, logically, it is).  


Overall, I count my first open water swim as a success.  I think I swam about a mile, and my arms didn't die on me like I thought they might.  Tomorrow I'm trying again, and I'm guessing it'll be a bit of a longer swim.  I'm also crossing my fingers that the "Fecal Coliform" levels remain of "Low Concern" cause I consider duck poop disease to be a legitimate and scary threat.

After yesterday's successful swim, today I decided to take on both a bike ride and a run.  Again, with MacKenzie and Jason as my partners in lung killing, we did a pretty hilly, albeit shorter ride from my place to and around Magnolia and back again.  Then we did a quick transition (fancy tri word, which I'm pretty sure just means changing clothes) into running gear and drove up to Run26 (Coach Shelby's running store) for an Adventure Run.  This run is very similar to the Roadrunner Adventure Run that I talked about a month or so  ago, but the Run26 run is smaller, family friendly, less running, and more relaxed.  The less running part was great (I did about 2.5 miles) because, while my lungs protested a little on the bike ride, they really did not like running.  I think I coughed up half a lung in the beer garden after.  It may not be time to run again yet.

Third (remember, there was a first a second somewhere in here), I am also happy to announce that I have officially been convinced to take on Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge in Disney World on January 12 and 13.  Seeing as my birthday is January 16th, I now will officially be celebrating my birthday weekend in Disney World by running a half marathon on January 12 followed by a full marathon on January 13.  Yep, that's a half and then a full.  THE NEXT DAY.  I write that in caps because I don't think that it's sunken in what I've signed up for yet.  Capital letters might help me process this.

How did I get convinced to do this?  Team in Training.  Of course.  And MacKenzie, who decided that she wanted to captain the winter team season.  And she only really wanted to captain if I did it with her.  And somehow I was easily convinced.  Because there are a lot of awesome people already signed up for the season, and then we convinced a lot more awesome people to sign up too.  And because of course, I want to go to Disney World with lots of good friends and run a marathon and a half (if you do the math, that's 39.3 miles in 2 days), and of course I want to help organize the entire season, and of course I want to raise another $2,600 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (Side note: If you planned to get me a Christmas and/or Birthday present this year, only donations will be accepted.  Website to be posted soon).


And, family members, if you know your geography, you may notice that this will be my first East Coast marathon.  In Florida.  Disney World in January?  I know you want to come see me.  Just putting it out there.

With commitments now building up for the beginning half of the school year, I want even more to enjoy my relaxing summer.  So I'm going to go read a book (I will finish Clash of Kings in the next week), recharge, and mentally prep for trying to encase myself in neoprene again tomorrow morning, followed by immersing myself in more duck poop.  Cross your fingers that the seaweed doesn't pull me under.

Life is unpredictable

Things should have gone very differently this week.  I should have gotten in few shorter runs, a couple low intensity bike rides, and maybe even a swim.  I should have been staying just active enough while still keeping my legs fairly rested.  I should have been preloading carbs and calories and hydrating well throughout the week.

Because today, I should be halfway to Portland on my bike.  But instead, I've been spending lots of quality cuddle time with this lady:

Such a good cuddle buddy.

We've had 4 straight days to experiment with how many ways an 80 lb dog and a full grown human can share a small couch.

"The Chin Rest"

"The Exasperated Body Flop"

"The Full Relaxation"

Others not picture here include "The Pillow," "The Foot Rest," and "The Head Flop Off the Couch."

So why have Lucy and I had so much time to explore the many variations of the couch cuddle?  Because this week life said no.  No running.  No biking.  No swimming.  Very little walking even (anyone want to come give this poor housebound pup a long walk??).  

This is not to say that I've given up sweating.  I've alternated many times between full body chills and sheet-soaking sweats.  Wednesday night, in fact, I had to get up in the middle of the night and get a towel to put between me and my soaked sheets to absorb more sweat (pleasant, I know).  And then in the morning, I woke up with chills.

My lungs have also continued to get a workout.  In fact, they're actually sore from all the work they been doing trying to cough themselves up through my mouth (again with the pleasantries).  My head also must be working hard because it has been pounding for about 4 days straight.  

It seems as though the only things that have been getting rest this week are my legs.  And my arms too I guess, but they don't do much most of the time anyways.  They're pretty weak and flimsy.  Oh, and also my tummy.  It hasn't had to digest much besides a limited amount of soup and popsicles for 4 days.  Your welcome, tummy.

Normally, any other week, this sort of setback for me would be disappointing, but not heartbreaking.  But this week, this week this illness is heartbreaking.  Because right now I should be halfway to Portland on my bike doing the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic.  But instead, I'm cuddling with Lucy and writing about being sick.  I am not going to sleep on the floor of a small church in Chehalis tonight and then ride another 100 miles in the morning.  No, I am going to sleep in my comfy bed and probably sweat through my sheets.  Again.

I haven't been this sick, or sick for this long, anywhere in my clear memories.  I don't get sick often.  And when I do, I power through it like Wonder Woman with my first-grader tested immune system of steel.  I am constantly around sick children, and over the years, I think I've developed immunity to almost every kind of illness.  So of course, when I get the sickest I can remember being in a very long time, it's over the summer when I'm only seeing kids 2.5 hours a day twice a week.

It started on Monday with a slight throat soreness.  I tried to ignore this and went to bed early.  Tuesday, I went to school, taught my reading groups (I hope I didn't infect any of them!), and ran with our teacher running club after.  My lungs felt funny and my throat was still sore, so again I went home and tried to rest.  Erica had asked me to go for a bike ride with her Tuesday night, and we had this optimistic conversation:

Oh how little we knew...

Wednesday morning I woke up feeling worse.  I put a plea out on facebook for a free slurpee delivery (if you didn't know that 7-11 gives out free slurpees on 7/11, you lost out), and awesome friend Cristin brought one over for me.  And then that was all I ate until about 5:00 that day when I had a banana and an orange.  Another awesome friend Ryan brought me soup and popsicles around 7:00 and I managed a bowl of soup and a Popsicle or two.  My tummy wasn't hurting, I just had absolutely no appetite.

Then Wednesday night I sweat through my sheets.  Thursday was pretty similar and so was Thursday night.  So when a I woke up Friday morning looking at the prospect of packing my bags for STP, picking up my race packet, and prepping my bike, I didn't know what to do.  I wanted to ride STP and have been training for it for quite a while, but I knew my body was not going to handle it.  So I called my wise friend MacKenzie who did exactly what I needed her to--she told me not to go.  And with a little coaxing and resistence, Erica (who had been suffering the same ailments as me all week) came to the same decision as well.  Is it selfish to say that I'm glad I have a friend sharing my misery?  At least we're in it together??  I'm sure Erica feels the same way...

And so, with dreams of STP gone, I've had another wonderful day of watching endless episodes of 30 Rock (I started with episode 1, and am now on Season 5) and cuddling with Lucy.  Instead of celebrating the completion of the first hundred miles, I'm celebrating not having a headache.  Instead of carb loading for another hundred miles, I'm going to load up on more soup.  And instead of giving you an STP recap post, you're getting a sick week recap.  Be excited.

I could try to read some "reason" into why I got sick this week.  Invent some sort of story about how I wasn't meant to do STP or how by not doing STP fate helped me avoid a tragic injury.  But really, life is just unpredictable.  Sometimes good things happen and sometimes bad things happen.  It's kind of the way life goes.  As prepared as you think you may be, life can always draw an extra corner, turn, or dead end into the maze.  And that's ok.  Because it keeps things interesting.  And usually, second chances happen.  STP will be here next year.  And even the year after.  Maybe I'll even train a little better.  No matter what, life will go on and the world will not end because I couldn't do STP.

And now, in an Advil-induced state of temporary health, I'm going to attempt to take this cuddle buddy for a walk.

Try to ignore the pretty foot.

How to trick your legs into thinking they've run a marathon

My legs are currently very sore.  In fact, it feels like I ran a marathon about 4 days ago.  Which is funny, because the last time I ran a marathon was actually about 5 weeks ago.  I'm experiencing a kind of pain that I only associate with post-marathon recovery and have never felt at any other time.

So today's post is a step by step guide for how to trick your muscles into thinking that you did run a marathon, when in fact you did not.

Step 1 (Monday):  Take a long, leisurely 30 mile bike ride to Alki.

My brother Ian and his friend Lowell came to visit this week, fresh off the plane from Nepal.  The one thing that Ian told me he wanted to do while in Seattle was ride around Seattle on a bike.  And seeing as I've been such a bike-riding fiend lately, I whole-heartedly wanted to make this happen.  So I called around to all my bike riding friends, got my hands on Erica's beautiful blue butterfly bike and MacKenzie's hybrid "extra" bike.  I also borrowed a helmet from MacKenzie and a helmet from Ironman Joe.  And just as I was going to pick up the helmet from Joe, we suddenly realized that with Erica's bike that had clip-in pedals, we were going to need an extra pair of clip in shoes.  So we borrowed a pair of Joe's very large clip in shoes as well.

Now picture this: Ian on Erica's too small blue butterfly bike, wearing MacKenzie's blue helmet, and Joe's shoes that were 2 sizes too big.  Unfortunately, I do not have a good picture of this image, but luckily Ian is one to roll with the punches, and he proudly rode the entire 7 hours it took us to make it out to Alki and back.

We took a detour to the Ballard Locks on the way out to
Alki, which was great because there were TONS of fish
running upstream.  I've never seen the fish ladder so full.

I thought this ride was great.  We stopped for food, coffee, and even a little trip to Sierra's who happened to be just getting home as we were relaxing and eating.  They boys, who hadn't been on bikes in quite a while, were struggling a little on the way back (especially Lowell who got stuck with the hybrid and no clip-ins, which makes a huge difference), so we rode much slower than I'm used to riding with my other biking friends.  By the time we got home around 8:00, I was feeling great and happy to have been on the bike for so long.  The boys had some sore seats, but other than that I'm pretty sure they enjoyed the day as well.

Step 2 (Wednesday): Try to ride a bike, fail miserably, and go for a run instead.

Yes, I realize I skipped Tuesday, but nothing super athletic happened that day.  Unless you consider that I made Ian come volunteer at summer school in the morning.  He may have considered helping to wrangle 43 kindergartners and 1st graders an athletic feat.  Who knows?  We also visited the downtown public library, which Ian and Lowell found exciting, being the architects that they are.

Seattle Public Library--apparently an amazing architectural
accomplishment that many architecture students dream of
seeing.  I thought it was pretty cool.

But by Wednesday, I was itching to get out in the gorgeous sun that had suddenly arrived in Seattle, so when MacKenzie asked if I wanted to go for a 4 hour bike ride, I said sure.  We had planned on a 9:00 start time, and the first set-back happened just before then.  MacKenzie sent me a text informing me that she had a flat and needed to change a tire.  Fine, no biggie.  I pulled my bike out of my storage and happened to have Erica's pump that she'd let me borrow with her bike, so I decided to quick check my tire pressure.  After filling up the first tire, I released the pump and suddenly the entire tire deflated.  Apparently the valve just decided to completely give out.

This put me in a bit of a predicament, being the uber prepared bicyclist that I am.  I had no spare tube or tools for changing my tire, and it happened to be 4th of July (you know, when all the stores are closed), so I couldn't do much about it.  I called Ironman Jason to see if he was home and I could wrangle him to help, but no luck.  So instead I threw my bike into my car and drove up to MacKenzie's, because she actually had 2 spare tubes and could help me change my tire if I forgot any steps.

I got to MacKenzie's, changed my tire with minimal help (yay first tire change, go me!), and then we were ready to go.  We get all prepared, gloves on, helmets on, water bottles ready, and then MacKenzie takes one look at her bike and realizes that the tire she had just changed on her bike had suddenly popped.  Yep, that's right.  3 flat tires in about an hour.  So we decided to listen to whatever fate was trying to tell us and went for a 6 mile run instead.

We drove out to Marymoor Park because after the first 2 tire changes, we had decided to alter our route plan and stop at Blazing Bagels.  When the 3rd tire popped, we were a little bummed we wouldn't be getting bagels, so we decided to drive out to the park, run there, and then stop at Blazing Bagels after.  So worth it. Those bagels are amazing.

The run was good, and it was nice to mix up the typical route a bit.  I'm getting just a little sick of Green Lake.  We took it easy, not pushing too hard, not running too far.  All in all, not bad after our flat tire disaster.

Step 3 (Thursday): Hike Mailbox Peak.

If you've never heard of Mailbox Peak, here's the Washington Trails Association description.  The website says, and I quote "Wimpy hikers, turn the page.  This trail offers nothing for you but pain and heartbreak."  That sounds hopeful, right?  Luckily I'm a marathoner and a bicyclist, which makes me an unwimpy hiker.  The trail is a 6 mile out and back.  The first 3 miles takes you up 4100 feet of elevation to the summit where there's a cute little mailbox filled with letters and trinkets at the top.

Baby baby mailbox inside Baby mailbox inside
Mama mailbox.  We left a note on one of the
notebooks, archiving our hike.

The view from the top is absolutely gorgeous.

360 degree views of the surrounding mountains.

Snow!  And trees!  And blue sky!

We made it all the way to the top in 2 hours and 40 minutes.  And to be honest, I felt great.  My brother admitted later that he was very surprised that MacKenzie and I (you know, girls) made it all the way up without a complaint.  Him and his friend had come from treks in Nepal through the Himalayas and were impressed that we mere marathoners could keep up.

Making friends with the mailbox.  Those smiles were not
forced at all.  We were actually happy here.

Going back down the 4100 feet was a little bit different.  It took us about an hour and half, but as I had forseen on the the way up, the way down was way harder on the body.  By the bottom, my knees wanted to kill me and my quads had pretty much nothing left.

Nonetheless, I still felt pretty great and quite proud of myself.  I think I may have tricked myself into thinking that this was a pretty easy hike, simply because I did not get out of breath.  In running and biking and swimming, when you're working hard, your breathing increases and your heart rate goes up.  This doesn't happen when hiking.  Things move more slowly, but you're working just as hard.  Apparently.

Step 4 (Friday): Go on a 57 mile bike ride.

I felt pretty good all of Thursday night, but when I woke up Friday morning, my legs were SORE.  My quads didn't want to walk down stairs and my calves were super stiff.  So of course, the most sensible thing for me to do was to go for a long, hard bike ride.

This was no ride like the one out to Alki.  MacKenzie, Jason, and another of MacKenzie's friends that is in training for an Ironman were ready to push hard on this ride.  So yes, little me who's not done a ton of riding went for a nice long ride with 3 other people who are about a month and a half out from completing an Ironman.  That means they are pretty much at the peak of their training.  I am at the peak of nothing right now.  I'm coming down from the recent full and half marathons and crossing my fingers I'll make it through STP next weekend.

The ride didn't start out too bad.  We cruised through Madison, crossed the 90 bridge, crossed over Mercer Island, and headed south along Lake Washington to Renton.  My legs were stiff, but I sometimes find that when I'm already sore, I can push through pain a little more easily.  Because it already hurts, and will hurt no matter what, so may as well keep pushing.  We did an out and back along the Cedar River Trail in Renton, which was fun, and MacKenzie and her friend were doing speed training, so I tried my best to keep up.

Then we headed back north along the west side of Lake Washington, and this is the point where I completely bonked.  This was the first ride I had ever done without stopping for a meal mid-ride.  I had some food on me, but definitely did not do a good job of eating it in the first half of the ride.  As we came up the hill towards Seward Park, my legs had very little left in them.  We bumped into one of MacKenzie's Cycle U coaches and he talked me up the hill, reminded me to downshift and make it easier on myself.  We passed through Seward Park and I tried to eat as much as I could.

As we were coming up through Leschi, MacKenzie hit crack in the road and got yet another flat tire.  Her 3rd for the week.  I have to admit I was kind of excited to have a mini break during the tire change and continued to cram my face with GU chomps, Honey Stingers, and Clif Bars.  But the Cycle U coach changed the tire in no time, so were back and riding fairly quickly.

I think all the food kicked in by the time we hit the big hills up into the Arboretum, because I felt a little better on those.  Nonetheless, I made it through, made it home, and crashed.  I was happy that Ian and Lowell were content to make dinner and relax for the evening.

Step 5: Don't take an ice bath.

I'm pretty sure that had I taken an ice bath either Thursday or Friday evening, my legs would not have felt crippled when I woke up Saturday morning.  But it didn't even cross my mind to do so, and therefore Saturday morning rolled around, I stepped out of bed, and my legs suddenly thought they had run a marathon.  My quads were completely stiff and suddenly couldn't tackle those 3 little stairs in front my apartment again.  I tried to take Lucy for a walk that morning and the downhills were excruciating.  I went to the Sounders game Saturday night and walking up the stairs in the stadium was only made a little less painful after a few beers.

Sunday wasn't much better.  My legs felt like day 2 post marathon, which is always the worst.  I didn't really do much the whole day besides watch a bunch of old Project Runway episodes and nurse the headache I had.

And then today, not only did I wake up feeling still sore (although slightly better), I had a sore throat too.  Boo.  Still, I attempted a run this morning.  I actually tried to run down the huge hill to Greenlake and gave up on that after the first block.  Even walking down it was still painful.  But I did make it the 3 miles around the lake, albeit slowly.  Then I came home and foam rolled (OUCH!), and I'm thinking things are starting to loosen up again.

Now, my only hope is that things are completely back to normal by the time I hop on a bike this coming Saturday to ride 200 miles down to Portland.  Oh, and I'm also hoping I haven't overdone it and injured myself in some sneaky way.  Another crazy, exercised filled summer week in the books?  Check.

I'm going to treat my legs very kindly over the next few days with easy bike rides, easy runs, and maybe even a low-impact swim.  Then I'll cross my fingers and hope that my legs can carry me all the way to Portland this weekend.  Wish me luck.

I am thankful for...

There's a blogger I follow who religiously posts every Thursday with the title "Thankful Things Thursday" (you can find her here) and lists out all the things she is thankful for.  Even in the toughest weeks (she's a dedicated runner who also has Crohn's Disease), she unfailingly lists out all that she is thankful for.  So today, I am "borrowing" her idea and sharing with you all of the things I am thankful for.  Because, if you remember from my last post, I mentioned that I felt I had good things coming my way.  And well, a few of those good things have managed to show up in the past few days.  So on this wonderful Sunday--I know, not a Thursday, but still--I present to you a list of things I am thankful for.  Not because it's Thanksgiving, or even because it's any sort of holiday/birthday/life celebration that requires thanks.  Just because I'm thankful.

I Am Thankful For:

1) Good Health.  I am healthy.  My body is in one piece.  I am not sick.  I am not broken.  I can walk out my door on 2 legs and breathe deeply with 2 lungs.  I can run, I can ride, and I can swim.  And sometimes I can do more than one of those things in one day, like this past Friday when I ran 4.5 miles and then swam 1500 yards, .  I am thankful that my body lets me do these things and will forever be thankful until it does not.  And when it doesn't, I will be thankful for all of the years it gave me; and I will be thankful that I took full advantage of those years.

2) Bananas.  They are an awesome fruit.  They are tasty, plentiful, inexpensive, and they help contribute to item #1.  I failed to do proper grocery shopping in the past week and therefore have not eaten a banana in over a week.  On my last 2 runs, I've had awful sidestitches for the first half of the run, especially going downhill.  Even sitting still on my couch, if I breathe deeply, I can feel that sidestitch almost 12 hours after my last run.  I attribute this entirely to the fact that I haven't eaten my morning banana this entire week.  Perhaps there is another reason for this awful sidestitch occurrence, but I'm sticking with bananas.  And after I eat a banana tomorrow morning and go for a comfy run in the next few days, I will prove myself correct.  In a highly scientific way.  Obviously.

3) Lucy.  But you knew that.  No explanation required.

She loves me.  I love her too.

4) Free shoes!!!  On Friday, I woke up to one of the most amazing emails ever.  Brooks Running emailed to inform me that I had won a free pair of shoes from the Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon Expo, where I apparently entered into a free shoe drawing.  All I had to do was respond with my address, the style, and the color I wanted and they'd be on the way.  Seeing as how I have worn the same style of Brooks running shoes for the past 2 years, I was able to respond within about 3 minutes.  I quickly got an email back saying my shoes are on the way!  I don't usually win things.  Especially not awesome useful things like running shoes.  Yay, free shoes!

5)  Not working on Friday nights.  As much as I like my Friday night job and how it supplements me through the weekend, a lot of times it generally sucks to have to work on Friday nights.  So it was pretty awesome to get a phone call around 4:00 on Friday afternoon from my manager at the restaurant saying, "I don't think we'll be busy tonight, you don't need to come in."  Then I proceeded to buy lots of food and wine and invite friends over and stay up way too late.  But that's ok, because I didn't have to work.  And THEN, when I popped in for a beer this evening with my brother who's in town (that will be another item on this list in a moment), my manager pulled me aside to say: "Well, we won't be busy this summer, so why don't you just take a hiatus from your Fridays for a while.  Give us a call in the fall when things start picking up again."  SERIOUSLY??  Now I don't have to worry about taking mini weekend vacations this summer and having to take off on Fridays.  And, I can actually enjoy Friday nights for the summer.  Awesome.

6)  Farmer's Markets.  I live about 2 blocks away from a farmer's market that happens once a week.  I finally was able to go this Friday, and I picked up lots of yummy, fresh fruits and veggies.  If you have never eaten a tomato purchased at a farmer's market, you haven't lived.  On Saturday, I got to make my first Caprese Salad for the summer with some amazing tomatoes and basil. 

Tomatoes.  Basil.  Mozzarella.  Balsamic Vinegar.  Olive Oil.
Fancy Salt.  Pepper.  More Fancy Salt.  Simple Deliciousness.

Next time, I'll actually make a pesto instead of just the basil leaves.  Even More Deliciousness.

7)  Seattle weather.  I know, that's weird.  Today looked like this:

View through my window:
Grey.  Gloomy.  Rainy.

But, if it were 80 to 90 degrees and sunny outside, I probably wouldn't have gone on a 5 mile run with Lucy this morning.  I hate running in the heat.  So does Lucy.  This weather lets us keep running year round.  Also, the next few days may not be sunny, but the rain is going away.  I even looked down at my feet the other day, and they looked like this:

See the pink feet?  And the awkward mustard
colored legs?  That is what I call a farmer's
tan.  Which means...the sun has been out
just enough.

By the end of the summer, that farmer's tan will probably be ridiculous.  But it's ok.  Because I'll be thankful that I got to be out in the sun enough this summer to get a farmer's tan.  And don't worry, I don't walk out of my door without 30 SPF sunblock.  This has happened even with sunblock on.  The sun actually does exist in Seattle sometimes.

8)  Family Visits.  My brother Ian just arrived today straight from Nepal.  He has high ambitions for his first trip to Seattle where he will be here for a few days, then head out to hike around the Cascades for a bit, then come back for a while, then maybe head out to the Olympics, then come back again, then leave again for some other adventure.  While he's here, he wants to see Seattle by bike.  So today I managed to borrow 2 extra bikes (one for Ian, one for his friend), 2 extra helmets, and a pair of clip on shoes.  Luckily, I have friends who like bike riding and have lots of extra gear (I could put these friends as another item on the list, but the list seems to be getting pretty long so I'll save that for another day).  Even though Ian will have to ride around Seattle on a blue bike with butterflies wearing shoes that are almost 2 sizes too big, we will make it work.  And it will be exciting. 

So I'll leave it at that exciting note.  I have a week to look forward to with my little bro which will include only a half day of work, lots of bike riding, some hiking, and 4th of July celebrations.  Good things have arrived.  And I'm thankful for that.