Shamrock Run
Back in December, my coworker, Kathryn, and I signed up for this year’s 15k Shamrock Run. We both wanted the motivation to start training/running again.
For the first several weeks of training, I did well. I was getting to the gym a few nights per week and getting time in on the treadmill. But over the past month or so, things changed and my training went rather poorly, and I seriously considered bailing on the day, but my friend, Tyson convinced me to follow through with my plan, and I’m glad I did. To be honest though, if the forecast had indicated that it would be raining, I would have stayed home in bed for sure! As it was, the day was a mix of clouds and sun. The morning started off cold, but as usual, I warmed up pretty quickly once I started moving. By mile 2, I surely wished I had not worn a long sleeved shirt.
The map to the right shows my gps tracking for the course. Everything up through about mile 4 was mostly a gradual uphill run. The downhill portion was all in the latter half, for which I suppose I am grateful.
My official time was 2:01:25, which works out to be 13:01/mile. That’s not great, but I’m pretty much just glad I finished. At the end of the run, my knees were sore, as were my hips and back. Today, those parts feel ok, but my quadriceps are feeling it. I’m sure that tomorrow, my whole body will once again be aching.
Kathryn is already talking about the ‘next’ race. We’re looking at half marathons in the fall, as well as some triathlons that we would enter as a team (along with Alexis, our boss). It’s strange. As much as I sort of dreaded this run as the date approached, now that it’s completed, it’s frightfully easy to contemplate doing something similar in the future. What is wrong with me?!?!
Driving home after the race took about an hour. When I exited my car at my apartment, walking was a challenge as my legs had stiffened up. I thought about going to the gym to sit and soak in the hot tub, but I wanted to watch some Iron Fist, so I parked myself on the couch, put my feet up, and watched 3 episodes. Then I went to Geoff and Jackie’s for family dinner of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, carrots, and corn bread. Jackie sent some extra corned beef home with me, so that’s lunch today. I should probably go to Safeway and get some bananas to assist with my recovery.
St. Paul – Day 2
Did MUCH better with my position today. Felt like I shook off the cobwebs and remembered how to do this job. Before this weekend, I hadn’t been a scorekeeper for a sanctioned/regulation game since May.
Here’s a photo of the only two officials from Rose City (hell, Oregon) to work Championships this year.
sHellcat and Seán-Quad
Went to breakfast at a tiny little train car diner this morning.
Reed’s crew at breakfast
Finished the day by hitting the treadmill at the hotel. I walked/jogged a bit over 2 miles in about 45 minutes. A TERRIBLE pace, but one has to start (again) somewhere.
Full, but not too busy
Had a good weekend.
Friday after work I went over to Liz’s place to feed her cat, water her plant, and do laundry. Watched an 80s movie on Netflix while I waited for clothes to cycle. Had plans to meet some people for dinner at Don Pedro’s Time on Portland Road that night, and in order to get in my scheduled run, I timed my departure to put me at the restaurant (3.4 miles away) at the correct time. Had a couple tacos, rice & beans. The point of going to this place was to check out their alleged cabbage salsa. #fail 😉 My source had mistaken what was available there. The food was good nonetheless. Afterwards, I ran back to pick up my car and laundry, taking a shorter route (2 miles). Rather surprised that I was able to do the distance and especially that running after I ate seemed easier than the first leg!
Saturday I went to help paint at the Mad House, then tried another Mexican place, El Grullense, for lunch. No cabbage salsa there, but a delicious fried chicken meal! Later in the afternoon I rode up to the Grand Lodge in Forest Grove to complete my passport. Nice place. Fed cat, watered plant.
Couple hours later, rode in to Portland to Darth Bling/Andy Oakley’s place to stay the night. Bling had fixed up some rice and curry (which was delicious) and we spent the evening watching derby movies (Brutal Beauty and Blood on the Flat Track).
Early Sunday AM, Bling and I rode our bikes up to Centralia to get some breakfast. The Rainy City Roller Girls were doing a fundraiser at Applebees. Nice ride. Cold on the way up, but pleasant on the ride back.
Made it back to Portland by 12:15/12:30, took a few minutes to stretch, then back to Salem. Fed cat, watered plant.
Spent the late afternoon/early evening with my gaming group getting started with Shadowrun. I think I’m going to like this game. Finished off the evening by re-watching the last 3 episodes of series 1 of Dr Who and watching episode 1 of series 2. That endeavor is going to be painful.
Mid-week hike
Went to Silver Falls yesterday for a make-up/second chance hike. Actually, here’s what happened. A woman in the meetup group was supposed to go with the group to Silver Falls on Saturday. She asked for a ride, and the guy who agreed to pick her up was quite late. So when the two of them got to the State Park, the group was already out on the trail. She called me that afternoon sounding pretty upset at the whole situation. I felt bad for her, but what could I do about it? I suggested that, as she doesn’t work during the week, we could take a trip to the falls on Wednesday. She seemed to think that was a swell idea, so I began arranging a group to go to the falls during the week. At one point, I had 4 people planning to come with me for the hike.
Well, in the end, the aforementioned girl ended up not wanting/being able to come (why did I go to all this trouble anyway??) and another friend dropped out. Three of us ended up driving to the park but one woman anticipated that she wouldn’t be feeling too well and didn’t plan on staying long. That left 2 of us to make the hike.
Our plan/goal: hike the Trail of Ten Falls. As the two of us remaining had already seen the South Falls, we decided to walk the loop in an anti-clockwise direction. We passed by Winter Falls and arrived at North Falls (at 3 on the map below) with no problem. But thereafter, we ended up going completely in the wrong direction.
We didn’t notice any trail other than one marked Perimeter Trail, so that’s the one we took. Rather than loop us back around to the north and west, we traveled south and east (as can be seen in the map).
So, we didn’t get to see many waterfalls, but it was a pleasant hike. A touch warm for my taste, but mostly under canopy.
This just means we’ll have to give it another try.
Running route (for all my stalkers)
Here’s a visual on the route I run every day. The runs are of different durations, but this is fairly representative.
Another Monday home
Without the previous intention to do so, I called in to work and stayed home again today. As appealing as that may sound, I rather do not like it. I’d rather be at work. But I’m having a bit of trouble sleeping, perhaps due to anxiety, or maybe running after 9 PM is detrimental. Either way, when I woke up this morning, I was definitely feeling sleep deprived. I am determined to go to work tomorrow.
So instead, I played LOTRO, did laundry, watched tv, walked across the street for some groceries, and had a conversation with my apartment complex’s property manager. I asked about getting the nails of the landing outside my front door hammered down, and I explained my pending employment situation and asked if something could possibly be done to reduce my monthly rent, for example, by signing a new lease. She gave me reason to be hopeful, so I am. Stay tuned.
I smell like smoke
Got up at 6 AM this morning when I received a phone call from Jose asking about how to unlock the gate behind the community center. Too damn early! By 7 AM, I was down there to help get the day going. The bbqing and sales went well; at one point I even had to go get 50 more lbs of meat. Even with that, we ran out after the noon Mass. So sorry 2:00 Mass.
In the middle of it all, I had to step away and do the music for the 10 AM. You know what? I fricking rock at leading music for Mass. Mike is a way better guitarist than me, but I kick ass at leading.
Went for my run tonight. Was a bit harder than I’d like. Part of the problem his how arid the weather is. It gets difficult to breathe as my throat dries out. Despite my poverty, I’ll have to see about getting a hydration belt or something. Carp.
And the straw boss said well a bless my soul
I had to do a bit of running around today including going to Cash & Carry to buy 125 lbs of tri-tip, 6 flats of soda, 2 flats of water, and various other supplies. I then had to fit it all into my car and drive it over to the community center whereupon I had to unload and tote all of it upstairs to the Knights room. All by myself. I should probably log all those trips up and down the stairs as a workout.
Did my run tonight. Tried to increase my speed a little. Getting there.
All those amino acids
Not quite as easy to make it out of bed this morning, but I made it in to work, no problem.
Work was essentially uneventful. Got some work done and was released to come home early.
I continue to feel good after yesterday’s run. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I need to figure out how to get more protein into my diet. Protein bars would be great, but they can be kinda pricey. I’m also wondering how far I could stretch a bag of protein powder. See, I want to include some protein with every snack and meal. Cooking something for each of those occasions isn’t practical. And, since I love soup, I want to make sure I’m getting protein there too.
Topic stew
What the heck? Second day in a row of nearly effortless awakening in the AM. I think I’m doing something wrong.
Actually felt like I got some work done today. Got some things done for the curriculum website and worked with Letitia on how she can take over responsibility for its maintenance once I’m separated from the organization. Add to that some exchanges with Governet, scheduling a years worth of meeting space, and some more data entry into CurricUNET. Yep, I rock.
Sent a résumé up to the diocese today; an Administrative Assistant Position. We shall see. I think it’s helpful to be proactive. Helpful but quite difficult for me as it turns out.
Ok, know what else I pretty much suck at? Trick question. I only had one thing in mind. The correct answer is: follow-through. We’re having a tri-tip sandwich sale on Sunday. I’m sort of in charge so I should have had more of the details locked down before today. Well, it’s not too late or anything, just tardy. I think I pulled it together sufficiently though. I will have to do a crapload of running around. 🙁 But I will be getting a Costco card out of the process.
Got a semi-random email today from a woman asking if I could get together with her to do a photoshoot. She’s a bodybuilder and wants some shots for her portfolio. I totally would do this, but I’m not feeling excited about TFP (time for photos) right now. If this were a paid gig, yeah. I did tell her that if the shoot were really close by, and she was in a bind, I’d do it, but that she should look for another photographer who’d be more into free work right now.
*Several hours later*
Did my run tonight. Went SO much better than last Friday. The extra rest seems to really have helped. I ran 10 minutes, walked 1 minute, then ran 30 minutes. 3.55 miles. Breathing was amazingly easy!! Getting better!
Dinner post-run was rice, steamed vegetables, and steak. The rice came out perfect! And the steak too. I’m calling this a good day.
Good day.
