Twin Lakes: Interrupted; or How I Nearly Became a Darwin-Award Nominee

Yeah. The scoreboard of Saturday's trail run would read: Trails 1, Becca 0 (although I didn't actually die, so maybe it would be a tie instead). Basically, through my own stupidity I almost got in real trouble. And I didn't even get to see a single lake, let alone Twins! Here's what happened:
Good friend and running buddy Tina got to my house around 7:45. We took off south toward Bull of the Woods wilderness area in Mt. Hood National Forest. I will definitely be heading back there this summer – the drive from my house to the ranger station was easy and gorgeous. Classic Oregon brochure scenery: the rushing, rocky Clackamas river surrounded by steep, green mountain walls; and every time we crested a ridge there were views of dozens of green foothills fading into the horizon. And that was just the drive! I was excited.

Trying to find the Whetstone Mountain trailhead (above) was an adventure. We got on unpaved FR 7020 and drove….and drove…and drove. At one point we saw relatively fresh horse manure and figured we must be close to the trail, only to turn a corner and see a wild horse – seriously! It was a bit creepy really, and I kept expecting it to crash out of the brush in front of my car. Mount Hood isn't know for its wild horses, so we asked the rangers on the way out what the scoop was. Apparently, horses escape from local towns every now and then and make their way up into the mountains. They were very interested in our report and had us locate on the map approximately where we saw it.

Rhododendrons

Eventually we found the trailhead, about half an hour later than planned. Tina is a bit slower than I am, and she was only planning on 12 miles while I wanted to make 16, so I got started before her. At first I tried to jog up at least part of the uphills, knowing full well I wouldn't be running up all of them at 4500'-6000' of elevation. I ran all the flats and downhills unless the footing was uncertain. I'd guesstimate that I ran about 75% of the length of the trail, which translated to about 60% of the time I spent on the trail, as the lengths I had to walk obviously took a lot longer to get through.

The trail was overgrown in parts

The weather was perfect, although I was surprised how hot it was given our elevation. High seventies or 80 degrees, I'd guess. I was drinking water responsibly, and was thirstier than I'd expected. That, unfortunately, was the problem. Normally when I'm running 16 miles I would fill all four bottles of my fuel belt, totaling 32 ounces, and that would be sufficient. But if I was planning to hike 16 miles, I would have brought at least 64 ounces of water. I don't know why I thought the lesser amount would suffice, but I left the car with only about 40 ounces of water. And I didn't pay close attention to how much water I had left until I turned around and realized that I had to run all the way back with about 12 ounces of water. I immediately realized what a stupid decision I had made and hurried to try and catch up with Tina, who had turned around earlier than me.

Lots of nice views of the lumpy, slightly homlier side of Mt. Hood

Well, long story short(er), I managed to crawl back to the car, but only because I swallowed my pride (or it evaporated out of me) and begged water off another lady on the trail. If I hadn't passed her, I am sure that I would have either given in and drunk from the next stream I passed (in which case I'd probably still be huddled close to a toilet somewhere) or lost my mind and done something dangerous.

The sky was so blue it seemed almost purple - the camera didn't get it

Could I have died? Hiking or trail running always carries risks, of course. Probably not of dehydration in this case, as Tina would have come to find me eventually. But I had gotten to the point that I wasn't thinking clearly, increasing the likelihood that I would do something terminally dumb. Plus, I spent the entire second half of the run preoccupied with how dehydrated I was getting, rather than enjoying being out in nature. I'm just very angry at myself – I like to think I'm a pretty smart cookie but you wouldn't know it from this. Anyway, I made it back to the car, slowly drank a ton of water, and went to bed at 7:30. I could not make myself eat that night, so I was famished the next morning and promptly ate everything in site, washed down with about 100 ounces of Propel. After that I felt pretty much fine. I consider it a lesson very well learned.

Dirty and scratched up and happy to be alive!

Oh, and why didn't I see the Twin Lakes? I missed the marker. Tina did too, so I don't feel bad about it. :-)

I kind of loved intervals last night.

Who knew? I would've loved them more if not for some nagging pain in my right calf. I'm hoping it's nothing serious…I rested up so much after Newport because I wanted to get rid of these nagging pains. Why does the universe never listen?

Anyway, intervals = fun, at least when you aren't timing yourself or pushing so hard you melvin. I couldn’t find my watch last night, and the calf kept me from going balls-to-the-wall, so I had somewhat leisurely 4x1K intervals with 400m rest. I did ramp up my speed considerably during the intervals, and really wanted to stop at the end of the fourth one, but didn't kill myself. Again, I'm trying to enjoy my training more this go-round, not necessarily get faster or hit a time goal. I liked the intervals because I wasn't so focused on how long I'd been running (i.e. how soon can I stop). It broke up the monotony of a flat six mile run and actually made it enjoyable. Plus it was nice to run on the track, outside, in the sun. Happiness.

Today I took a free weights class at the gym during lunch. I LOVE and ADORE and HATE this class. Like a lot of women I feel self-conscious using the free weight area on my own because it's full of grunting, sweaty guys making odd faces and checking themselves out. (And what is with those sleeveless shirts where the arms holes sag down to their belly button? Flank cleavage, not so great actually.) This class is held in the group exercise room separate from the weight floor and run by this tiny woman who must have about 2 percent body fat. She pushes and pushes and pushes until we're all trembling and broken and full of hate. It's awesome. I would never on my own find the motivation to work so hard.

First trail run of the season! With mixed results

First of all, Powell Butte is gorgeous. Totally, amazingly beautiful. As I was confronted with one striking view after another I really wished I'd brought a camera (pic above from flickr - one of the "domesticated" trails). It didn't hurt that all the wildflowers were blooming, and the mountains kept ducking in and out of the scattered clouds. I was reminded of why I decided to move out here in the first place.

The run itself wasn't great. The trails on Powell Butte all loop back on each other making it hard to track mileage, so I was thinking I'd just lope around for 2.5 hours. Well, I made it an hour and forty minutes. Fail. I probably should've realized I'd never make it ~15 miles on the first trail run of the year, in new shoes, while nursing a sake hangover (NEVER AGAIN!) and battling dehydration. Um, duh? How long have I been running?? Sometimes I wonder about myself. Anyway I'm just going to move on and work on improving this week. Today is 30-40 minutes on the stair master (my arch-nemesis! hiss!) and boat practice. Tuesday I try intervals – kind of dreading it. Okay, really dreading it. There is a track right around the corner from my house, so I'm going to head home after work and put off going as long as possible. Oh wait, no, I mean, "get right to it". I really hope the middle school marching band isn't practicing there Tuesday nights this year.

I'm curious to see how well I do under this training plan. Hopefully I will stay nagging-ache-free, which will be a vast improvement. But a big part of why I didn't plan a full fall marathon last year was that summertime equals overbooked for me -could be difficult to fit in the required cross-training. I think (sigh) I will have to start bike commuting again. I live far enough away from work that it could be my cross-training Mondays and Wednesdays. Here's the thing though…don't tell anyone… I don't really like bike commuting. (In Portland that's tantamount to sacrilege.) A couple of reasons: it's long enough that I work up a sweat both ways (although obviously more so on the way home since its about 40 degrees warmer) so I have to get to work with time enough to shower; there is a weird woman who is always in the showers at the same time as I am and it makes me uncomfortable (she's SO unfriendly!); and I don't like getting stressed out (by cars passing too close or running stop signs, inconsiderate cyclists, super-fast down hills, dogs, buses, dump trucks, street corners full of seasonal workers with nothing better to do than leer, etc.) before I even get to work.

Oh yeah, one more thing. New shoes! I mentioned it in passing, but here they be:

The Salomon XT Whisper. So far so good. I very rarely get blisters (KNOCK ON WOOD EXTREMELY HARD) so no issues there. The back half of the sole is thicker than I'm used to, but that's not a big deal on trails since they really force you to hit with your forefoot. The only possible issue for me is the tongue. The shoe has one of those pulley-deals that tightens the laces for you. You then tuck the pulley mechanism and the excess lace into a little pouch in the tongue. It ended up bulging enough to occasionally rub against the skin right above the shoe a few times when I was heading up a steep incline. It wasn't too bad on this run, but on longer outings it might drive me insane. We'll see this weekend, when I head out to Bull Mountain for 16 miles.

Better late than never, right?

Three days after Newport I flew home to NY for work & a few vacation days, so I'm just now getting around to a race report. Overall I had a great weekend, and would recommend Newport to pretty much anyone.

I took a half-day at work and carpooled out to the coast with my friend Sandy. She spent the night camping with a bunch of other friends that night at Beverly Beach, while I opted for a real bed and a quiet night at the Shilo Inn. (Totally the right call!) I drank a ton of water and mindlessly watched TV to calm down. I had no problem getting to sleep around 10, and woke up at 5:15 am relatively bright and cheery. I got all packed up and checked out, and made it to the Embarcadero Resort by ten after six. The Embarcadero is the finish line of the marathon; there were shuttle buses to the start line about a mile and half away. My hotel was actually quite close to the start, but there was no way to get back to the start from the finish. So rather than worry about it, I just parked at the finish (whew, tired already).

I met up with Tina and Dan to catch a shuttle to the start. It was chilly but I was comfortable enough in shorts and t-shirt. The ocean was theoretically to our left, but thick fog socked in the entire point. About 800 people lined up at the start. I was ready to go but seven AM came and went with no horn…just more time to get nervous. Eep. I was glad I knew the majority of the course, but still…26.2 miles is a long way. Why do I do this again?

Before I could sneak away and hide the horn went off. There were no timing chips, but it only took about 20 seconds to cross the start. The first five miles or so are made up of rolling hills as you go down to the water and back up toward Highway 101 in Newport. It wasn't terribly scenic, as the ocean was still M.I.A. and we were running behind houses and hotels. I found my first pace bunny at this point, a tiny little woman wearing a Maniacs singlet. I unobtrusively mimicked her pace. Soon we looped around past the starting point and down to the boardwalk. We headed up the one "major" hill in front of the Embarcadero and then were on the Bay Road proper, our home for the next ~20 miles. Right after the hill I started chatting with my Maniac pacer, and a few other ladies who'd settled in around us. I don't really remember most of it, just general marathon chat. We were doing around 8:50/min miles. Knowing I would slow down in the second half, I figured that would still be good for an under-four hour finish. As I told one of the ladies, I really just wanted to finish feeling good and happy. I lost most of them around mile 11 when I grabbed a cup of HEED on the go rather than stop.

I was glad to have people to talk to, because miles 7 through 9 are the ones I struggle with the most. By that point I've started to get tired, but there is nothing to "celebrate" yet – I haven't made it halfway, or even to the double digits. Thinking of the miles or time I have left is just depressing, as is trying to imagine passing these same landmarks again on the way back, two hours from now. Ugh. Miles 11-17 (the turnaround) are a blur…I honestly don't remember much. Once we got away from the ocean the fog lifted and it was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. Around mile 15 the lead runners starting passing us coming back. My lower back started to hurt, which was odd – I don't normally have any back problems. Luckily it didn't get beyond a vague ache. I also got a butt cramp – WTF? I've never in my life gotten a literal pain in my ass. Weird. It was totally bearable, and went away after a few minutes, but still weird.

I got something of a second wind after the turnaround, always pleasant. I'd say that carried me through to about 21-22, at which point I went on autopilot. One foot in front of the other. Motivational strategies: "Just a typical lunch-time run left;" "Just a quick run to 148th and back left;" "ONLY TWO G-D MILES LEFT". I did actually find myself saying "living in a VAN down by the RIVER" a couple of times. Awesome.

I lucked out at the end of the marathon. I'd been sticking with an older woman, not letting her getting too far ahead of me. About two miles out her boyfriend met her to pace her in to the finish. I let him pace me in too, of course! That definitely kept me from fading in the home stretch. I made sure to thank them in the finisher's area.

The last .2 miles is a steep downhill, which actually sucked. My quads were dead, and I didn't want to risk any knee issues by taking it too fast. I tried to find my friends at the finish as I came around the corner but there was a pretty big crowd. I could see the clock as I entered the chute. 3:57! Yay! My immediate need was for water. Water water water. I'd been careful to get a full drink of water or HEED at each aid station and sip from my fuel belt, up until the last four or so miles. At that point I just couldn’t stand the thought of water or HEED or Gatorade, or anything other than "FINISH LINE, KEEP MOVING, FINISH LINE, KEEP MOVING."

I showered and hung out with Tina and Dan (and got my yummy finisher's beer) until after the awards ceremony. (I won a raffle prize! A giant bottle of Hammer Gel, woohoo!) The rest of the weekend I spent sitting and/or shuffling around the campground. Oh and eating, of couse. Good times.

I took a couple of things away from this race. One, I'd really like to try a marathon without my fuel belt. That thing just cramps my style. I'm always aware that it's on, and jostling, and I never even finish the Gatorade. I'm contemplating buying a hand-held bottle. Second, I need to figure out how to get more even split times in the big M. I don't hit the wall exactly. It's more like each mile from 18 on hands me a brick that slows me down by 5 seconds. I sort of putter out.

Next up is the Timberline Marathon September 19th. Technically I should've started training last week, but I'm not running until this Saturday, when I'll head up to Powell Butte for 15 miles. I've been doing the Stairmaster, elliptical, weight training, etc., just not running. I did a couple of quick 3-5 mile runs the week after Newport and felt pretty good. I just don't want to push it. Timberline is going to be an experi-marathon. I'm using a three-day program with FIVE twenty-milers (yikes). The distance doesn't worry me though, because I'll never run two days in a row – goodbye overuse problems! Also, I'm going to try to do all my long runs either on trails or at elevation in preparation. (I already know one 20-miler will be on pavement at sea level, because I'll be in Victoria, BC that weekend.) We'll see. I'm looking forward to getting in some great trail runs around the area, and having the freedom to have fun this summer and not be chained to a training schedule.

3:57:39

And I finished feeling good! Yay!

Still a bit gimpy but feeling awesome.