A few early resolutions

Back from a sunny 3 mile run along the Burke-Gilman this morning and a nice relaxing 800M swim at the gym. I've decided to start working on some "New Year's" resolutions a little bit early!

1. Run at least 3x a week

2. Yoga at least 1x a week

3. Strength train at least 1x a week

4. Swim or bike at least 2x a week

Number 4 will obviously be updated once it comes closer to tri season! I just feel like I need to get started early because I need some motivation to keep getting me out there now that it's dark and rainy so much of the time. Wish me luck!

Have I mentioned yet...

how much I love my new neighborhood? For running, for how close/convenient it is to everything, and for how cute/cozy it is??

The view from my front porch during November's snow storm

One of the main streets of Wallingford... so many cute little shops and restaurants.

The trail around Green Lake

The view of downtown Seattle from Gasworks Park

And of course, the beautiful Burke-Gilman trail. <3

Upcoming race plans

Only one race left for 2010, pretty crazy to think how fast this year has flown by and how much has happened in it!


December - Jingle Bell Run 5K
January - Resolution Run 5K
Lake Youngs Pigtails race (19.6 miles)

February - Port Gamble 25K
Last Call Marathon

March - Chuckanut 50K

April - Wenatchee Marathon


And then switching focus to tri season for the summer. Pretty ambitious, I know, but I'll just take it one step at a time and do the best I can. I'll have to start hitting the trails at Tiger Mountain, Cougar Mountain, etc soon to get some more practice in!

Seattle 1/2 Marathon race report

There weren't very many good pictures of me from this race because it was so crowded... oh well.

Background - I trained a lot better for this half than the last few I've ran, including a few tempo runs, a few good hill runs, and long runs of up to 12 miles.

The race - So glad the weather cooperated after all the snow of the past week - it ended up being cool and overcast, with the sun coming out right at the finish line. I started the race off with my friend T, who was aiming for a sub 2 half - we stuck together for almost the first mile until the 2 hour pace group caught us (we started in a really weird spot) and he took off with them.

The first 4-5 miles were strong and steady, keeping a pretty decent pace without pushing too hard. A nice change from those other halfs that I hadn't trained for at all! When I hit mile 5-6, my left inner thigh/groin/hip and the inside of my left knee started cramping up so badly I could barely run. This happens occasionally, but usually I can just run it off in a few minutes. This one lasted for almost an entire mile, and at some points I was literally kind of just dragging my left leg along. I started getting kind of frustrated - NO WAY would this happen during this race that I'd actually trained for!

I was really thankful to hit the uphill part of the course starting with the Galer Street hill. I ran up it, and up Madison, with no walk breaks, and it really helped seem to loosen up that hip/thigh. They still never really felt 100% for the rest of the race, but at least I was able to run steadily again. I maintained my pace pretty well up Interlaken hills (despite an extra mile or so back to the med tent to get help for a runner that passed out on the course in front of me - YIKES - I think he ended up being ok though), and over the rolling hills over the freeway and back towards downtown. I hit the mile 12 marker and pushed pretty hard through the downhills and up that steep, obnoxious hill on Mercer Street to the finish. My mom and DBF were at the top of the Mercer Street hill, so that gave me a nice little boost to the finish.

Final time - 2:18:52 for ~14 miles. That's only 6 minutes off my PR time for 13.1 miles, so I'll definitely take it. I also negative split the course by 2 minutes, which I am pretty pleased with given all the hills in the second half! Definitely one of the strongest halfs I've run aside from that stupid leg cramp - I need to figure out how to avoid those once and for all (more strength training, probably).