Hagg Lake 50K Trail Run

I paced my friend, her brother and their friend who ran the 50K last Saturday, February 20, 2010. I was pacing and taking pictures of them as well as the scenery during the last 10 miles. It was a gorgeous day. Actually, gorgeous was understatement to describe that day. I have not participated in a trail run race so, running with them gave me a preview of the course. The course was muddy as expected and lots of hills! I will definitely put this event on my event calendar next year. The question is, 25K or 50K? We’ll see... In the meantime, here’s a photo video:

SURF CITY 2010

Here is my race review, well really race video. I make video's better then I write. So enjoy and hope to see you at my next race April 11, 2010 Santa Cruz, Calif.

Dirdy Birdy 2009

Dirdy Birdy is Portland’s muddiest 5K run held at the Portland International Raceway. Watch the video and see how fun it was! Make sure you participate next year!

Thanks to Celia of Road Runners Sports for the awesome photos.

There's Something About PDX Mary!

This year will be my fourth consecutive year to run Portland Marathon. I think, there’s something about PDX Mary that I PR’d every time I run it.... well... so far.

In 2006, it was my first year to run it and happens to be my first marathon. I don’t remember hitting the wall but I remember mile 21 when my gluteus maximus (aka buttocks) cramped and it was a struggle from there all the way to the finish line. I finished at 5:45:39.

In 2007, I followed the same training as I did in 2006 incorporating some speed workout. This year was worst than 2006 because my IT bands started to bother me at mile 18 and, of course, it was a struggle from there to the finish line. Despite the misery I felt for the remaining of the run and to my surprise, I PR’d and finished at 5:31:40.

Last year, I caught a bad cold and headache three days before the race. While treating my cold and headache vigorously, I also told myself, “Come hell or high water, I’ll finish that race.” I ran with a little bit of cold but ran conservatively and I finished at 5:03:41.

In May this year, I ran the Newport Marathon and finished at 5:05:14 so, I did not PR.

May be PDX Mary will be nice to me this year and let me PR again. We'll see...

Run on friends!
meechellee

Hood to Coast Report: Swift Justice

Hood to Coast is my most favorite race event of all time. I describe it as a slumber party without the slumber. It’s my 4th year to run with hubby's team Swift Justice and the team has been running HTC for more than 15 years.

I’ve always ran with Van 2 and this year my assigned legs were the same as last year’s: 7, 19, 31. Even though I ran these legs last year, I still got a bit surprised on how hilly the first two legs than what I remembered them to be. Me---no---like-y---hilly.

First Leg (7): I started running my first leg around 12:30 p.m. It was HOT like hell! I felt really good and nervous at the same time but my run went well. One of the two things I remember during this run was this 5 year-old-girl with her mom filling dixie cups with water and handing them to runners. Even though I have my own hydration bottle, I took one cup from the girl and she asked, "Do you want a refill?" I told her, "No, sweetie but thank you for asking." I thought that was very thoughtful and nice. The other one was the sprinklers were directed toward the road for the runners. Running briefly through the sprinklers was refreshing! I don't mind having my personal sprinkler guy running with me at that time. =P

It was around 6:30 p.m. by the time we finished running our first legs. We went to our place to shower, eat, and chillax and wait until we get a call from Van 1 to tell us it’s time for us to leave. Well, we didn’t receive the call until 9:30 p.m. so, we were late at the exchange point.

Second Leg (19): Since we left our place a little late, I was 12 minutes late from the hand-off. Ugggh!!! It’s the worst thing to be late at the exchange point. It was around 10:30 p.m. by the time I started running. I thought it coolish enough that I wore my light long sleeved shirt... bad idea. I flagged my van & quickly changed to a tank top. I was truly sweating like a pig! I felt really good before, during and after the run. It was probably around 3:30 a.m. by the time we finished our second legs, so we head down to the next exchange point and rested there.

Third Leg (31): After my 2nd leg, I ate a little too much of salt & vinegar flavored potato chips... another bad idea. My stomach got upset and I was dry heaving. I told my friend, I don't want to run my 3rd leg. I had a few bites of bagel and water to settle my stomach. It was 9:30 a.m. by the time I started running my last leg. It was drizzling heavily (not quite a rain) during my run and I just loved it! As it turned out, it was my best leg!

My total mileage at the end of the day was 15.54 and total time was 2:38. I got another HTC medal to add to my bling collection plus a neon shirt that's so bright that I can easily be spotted through Google earth. Swift Justice placed 227 out of 313 in the Mixed Corporate Open and finished in 30:17:33.

First Triathlon

Marathoners to Triathletes……

On June 13th my good friend @meecheele and I added a bike, and swim to our run. We thought it would be fun to try out the sport we have heard so much about. I thought I would share this video with you and let the pictures tell the story. Special Thanks go to my friend Nancy who with out her talent these pictures would not be possible. Thank you to my friend Cathy for always believing in me. I also want to Thank two special ladies @Erin337 (http://www.elementsoferin337.blogspot.com/) and
@kelownagurl(http://kelownagurl.blogspot.com)for there knowledge, encouragement and always willing to answer my questions and of course my friend @meecheele. With out all of you I may still be wondering if I could do a triathlon.

1:48:13 3 0:14:11 87 6:12 0:49:52 76 5:05 84 0:32:53 53

SoloRunner

Now Go Out and Do A Tri!

Newport Report (by meechellee)

After months of training with my friends, the day has come. Saturday, May 30th, Newport, Oregon. The race started at 7:00 a.m. It was 55° and foggy. I was wearing a short sleeves shirt under a long sleeves shirt and long tights under short tights. While the rest of my girlfriends, including @SoloRunner looked half-naked compared to what I was wearing. I don’t like to start running feeling cold that’s why I bundle up. It only took me about a mile when I handed over my long sleeves shirt to my husband* because I was warm already. The first three miles, of course, was fun because the adrenaline rush was still there. I was running a decent 10± all the way to mile 9. By that time, the sun was shining so bright. We ran along the bay and even though it was a little breezy, it wasn’t enough to beat the sun’s rays. I was feeling really hot come mile 10, so I had to stop at a porta potty to take off my long tights. I was the second person in line and the gal who was inside the porta potty was in there for 3 minutes! So, by the time I was done, I lost a total of 5 minutes. Some of you are probably thinking, “You should have gone to the next porta potty.” Well, the porta potties were 2 or 3 miles apart. In any event, I clocked in 2:15 at mile 13 and started to feel and more and more tired and hot, so I slowed down. By the time I got to mile 16 which was the turnaround point, I got all excited, and told myself, “Only 10 more miles.” Yeah, right. My excitement didn’t give me any boost at all because at that point I was wading. I was really tired and miserable. Though not too long after the turnaround point, I was pleased to see @SoloRunner, Kathy, and Nancy again making their way to the turnaround point. I kept going and slowly passed mile marker after mile marker. I stopped a few times to stretch my legs and just to catch my breath. At mile 22, I wanted to cry so badly because I was so tired and miserable. It almost felt like I wanted to have tantrums. There wasn’t much I could do at that point so I told myself, "Just deal with it." I kept reminding myself that the finish line is getting closer. I continued on and just past 25 mile marker, I saw my friend’s husband who told me that my husband was just behind him. Sure enough, there was my hero! I saw my husband. That was the second time I wanted to cry because I was so happy to see him. My husband cheered me on and told me that after we pass 26 mile marker, everything is all downhill. And sure it was! Downhill all the way to the finish line. Whew! I survived!

Out of 800 runners who registered, 711 finished and I was one of them. I finished at 5:05:14. No PR this time but I was happy to be 2 minutes slower than my last marathon given how I felt during the race.

After the race, I asked my friends if they are going to do another marathon again. A couple of my friends including @SoloRunner’s response were, “I’m done.” I told them that I’ll check on them in a couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure they’ll change their minds. And my response to that question is, "Hell, yeah! "





My husband was supposed to run this race but he broke his foot in early March and his doctor told him that the next marathon he’s going to run is not until Fall.