Yup, still here.

Still planning to show up at the start line for Timberline. But I'll be prepared to stay on the course for six or seven hours rather than four.

In some ways walking a marathon seems more daunting than running. You're on the course a lot longer, and being at the back of the pack must wreck havoc on motivation. Yet I really can't take it as seriously as I've taken running marathons. I'm only walking twice or occasionally three times a week (though of course that isn't really true – I walk two miles a day getting to and from work). And one of those is a 3-mile loop around the waterfront at lunchtime. With five and a half weeks to go I've only gotten up to 18.5 miles walking. (That was last weekend on the Hunchback trail – pictures below.) I suppose it's because I think of it "only" walking. I do wonder if this marathon is going to school me.

Suppose I'll have to wait and see. I'm planning on getting in two 20+ miles hikes before the 19th, so I'll be marginally better prepared. At least I've been enjoying my time on the trails.

Pictures from last weekend:

Update

I'm going to try some light jogging on the treadmill after work today. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, eyes crossed, etc. that my tendon cooperates. I'm actually quite nervous. I've been RICE-ing the thing religiously and haven't run in nine days. (ACK!) If it isn't feeling better today it will definitely be time to visit Dr. Awesome, aka my chiropractor. I emailed my GP (aka Dr. Useless) last week and he was (one guess) useless. I'm trying very hard to keep perspective and not freak out about skipping all these runs, but man it's hard.

I had been semi-planning on doing the Autumn Leaves 50k after Timberline. If I can start running easy again after today I might stick to that plan. But if not it seems wise to take it off the table. In any case I'll be planning a hiatus from racing for a while after this fall. (Famous last words, right?) I enjoy running, but I hate feeling nervous and fail-y when I have to skip runs, even for a good reason. It's extra stress I really don't need in my life. It's nice to have a running goal, but when it starts causing more misery than motivation its time to reevaluate.

Catch ya later

Hard to be upset when the forecast looks like that. I'm off to have fun!

GODDAMIT

I have some mild tendonitis in my right Achilles. Sigh. Whatever was bothering my calf has migrated south. I have a feeling it was the addition of speedwork into my routine, but regardless of the reason it both sucks and blows. God bless the internets for allowing me to do some dubious scientific research and figure out that the worst thing to do would be to run on it. So I gritted my teeth and skipped yesterday's run. Instead I rode the stationary bike at the gym for an hour and was rewarded with a terribly sore ass this morning.

Now I have to figure out what to do with myself tomorrow. Here’s the thing:
I need I'm supposed to run 20 this weekend. I know that it won't kill me to not run twenty. In fact, in the grand scheme of things I know that never being able to run again wouldn’t kill me (though it might make me get fat, which is, of course, a fate worse than death). I know that I have to be smart here, and not aggravate the tendonitis and make it a true problem. I'd like to try running, but I'm afraid I'd have to stop right away, meaning I don't want to drive all the way down to Champoeg only to turn right around. But I don't want to try and run on like, asphalt either – not real forgiving. I could always run on the track, but can you imagine? 80 laps?? Good lord. But sadly, that might be the best option. It's close to home, flat, and forgiving. Of course, really…really I should probably not run at all. (AAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO) The tendon is feeling a lot better, a lot less tender to the pinch test. But still tender. Really, I should take the weekend off. I should. Really. Just not run this weekend. Just not run. I shouldn't run.


...My god, I'm a total addict.

Zigzag Mountain trail run

Another gorgeous trail run. I headed due east out of town this time, heading straight toward the mountain. About a mile off Highway 26 I found the trailhead and got started. I had planned a 20-mile loop, and was carrying LOTS of water and food in my pack. I didn't know how far I would actually get, though, since I had 4th of July plans and needed to get back to my car by three-ish.

The trail started with an extended series of switchbacks - snooze. Also, wheeze. The first five miles (all switchbacks) gained about 4500' in elevation. I ran about 40% of this section. After the switchbacks the trail opened up a little bit. I was still in the trees, crossing back and forth over the top of the ridge. Above about 3000' the rhododendrons were still blooming:

I finally cleared the trees and got a great view to the southwest. There were all sorts of wildflowers out once the trees thinned. I also got to the top of a ridge and saw this great rock formation. It's hard to tell from this angle, but if you were to get closer to the edge you could look straight down several thousand feet - the area I was standing on was an overhang. Needless to say, I stayed well back. I crossed around to the north side again and got a great view of three other Cascade peaks. They don't show well in the photo, but L-R it's St. Helens, Rainier, and Adams. At this point I knew that I must be getting pretty close to Mt. Hood and would have an amazing view. But the trail was basically pointing right at the summit, so as long as I was climbing and crossing the ridge I wouldn't get a view. Ho hum. I kept running, dropping down a bit along the north side. Finally I could see a break in the trees up ahead:

Hello there! Let's go in the for the close-up.

Ahhh. Pay dirt. I kept going another couple of miles, until it was time to turn around. Didn't make it to the loop, so I made it an out-and-back, taking a few more pictures of wildflowers on the way.

I had about five and a half hours to spend trail running. The switchbacks had eaten up a lot of time heading up, but I hoped to make it up going back down. I started running at 9:15, turned around at noon, and made it back to the car at 2:03. So what took me 2:45 to climb up, took 2:03 to climb down (and that included two potty breaks - I was well-hydrated this time). I could've continued running for another few miles and still made it back by 3. Good to know - next time I'll have a better understanding of how much faster the downhills can be. Oh, and just because trail running is easier on the body doesn't mean that 5 miles of downhill switchbacks are "easy". My quads were cooperative but unhappy. Good practice, though, since Timberline loses 3000' of elevation along the course.

Of course, the requisite dirty foot shot:

Rockin'.

*

Despite last weekend's near-tragedy, I've been having a lot of fun with this training. It's really nice to look forward to a long run itself - not "getting it done" or putting in the distance, but the actual experience of running. And since trail running forces you to use all sorts of different muscles and take breaks for downed trees, bad footing, steep bits, etc., I haven't been nearly as sore. I've kind of fallen back in love with running, after being totally sick of it near the end of training for Newport. Hurrah!