Hood to Coast - done!

Super fun year running Hood to Coast! Traffic was the worst it's ever been, weather was crazy, but as always had so so so much fun! Longer post later, but just wanted to say I LOVE THIS RACE!

What kind of name is Deetaling anyway?

Hood to Coast is coming up this week, and I am so excited. It is such a fun race and the team aspect of it makes it something really special. My team consists mostly of friends, and while people have come and gone, the core group has remained the same for the last 16 years. We aren't fast by any stretch, but we always have a good time. Case in point, Hood to Coast 2002, but first a little back story...

My maiden name is Deitering. On one of our first dates, Brian and I were having some "getting to know you" chit chat and I had asked him if his last name was German. He answered me, and then followed up with, "What kind of name is Deetaling anyway?" To which I replied, "Well, I have no idea, since my last name is DEITERING". This was probably a little embarrassing for him, but good for a laugh and a funny story to pass along to our friends.

Fast forward a few years, and we are engaged, and the week before our wedding was Hood to Coast. Of course we are running (you think I'd let planning our wedding stop me from running H2C? No way!) Brian and I show up to meet the team and were surprised to be presented with team t-shirts that one of my friends had made. From the front, they looked basic enough:

but then here's the back:

Don't you love it? The t-shirts were just the first part though. In celebration of our upcoming nuptials, our team also made me wear a veil and Brian wear a tie/cumberbund for our first leg. I have a feeling they were just trying to embarrass us, but we were good sports about it. I definitely think I got the better end of the deal - you really can't see my veil all that well, but there is no hiding Brian's get up!

(BTW, like the big huge t-shirt I'm wearing? That's because at the last minute I realized that the tank I was planning to run in would have given me tan lines that wouldn't look so good with the strapless dress I would be parading around in the next weekend. So, big floppy t-shirt it was.)

Wasn't this just awesome? I love that my team celebrated our upcoming wedding in such a fun way. I run a lot, but most of my teammates really don't. I could definitely jump onto a more competitive team if I wanted to - but for me, Hood to Coast isn't about competing, it's about running with my friends, encouraging them and enjoying our time together. Running is so often a solo sport and Hood to Coast (and other relays, obvs) allows you to be part of something bigger.

A week later, on August 31, 2002 this happened:

And, of course, our team was there to celebrate with us.

Leg 7 - in pictures

On Saturday morning M and I drove out to Sandy to do Leg 7 of Hood to Coast as a training run. We've done a lot of training out in Sandy as it's not too far from where we live, and it's beautiful countryside to run in (although pretty hilly!). Anyway, M is running Leg 7 this year and wanted to check it out again before the race.
The description from the H2C website says "Rolling hills along Highway 26 on paved shoulder and country roads." It is 6.32 miles long and rated "Hard" according to H2C. I've run leg 7 a few times, and I know that the first time I ran it, I didn't take the "rolling hills" very seriously. I regretted it later after going out too fast. Since I know others out there in blog world, like Jess here, are running Leg 7, I thought this might be helpful to give a preview of what leg 7 is all about.

So, here is Leg 7 in pictures...

Starts at the Safeway on Highway 26 in Sandy (it used to start at the Fred Meyer a little further down the road, so this is a change for this year):

The leg starts on a nice slow downhill along Highway 26 to Orient Drive. Here's the view looking from Safeway down Highway 26:

After the turn onto Orient (at 1.3 miles in), the "rolling hills" begin. Here's what they look like as you make the turn:

Intersection of Orient to Kelso road (2.03 miles):

View looking down Kelso road:

Kelso road to 362nd (2.89 miles):

View looking down 362nd:

362nd and Dunn Road (3.63 miles):

View looking down Dunn road:

Dunn/352nd (4.12 mi):

View down 352nd:

352nd/Hauglum Rd. (4.61 miles)

View down Hauglum Road:

For some reason, I didn't get a picture of the intersection of Hauglum Road/362nd (5.10 miles) but here is a picture of the last hill on that road (it's about a mile from the finish):

And the exchange point at Cottrell School (6.3 miles):

So that's leg 7! M is a stud and ran the route both ways to get in about 13 miles. I only ran it one direction because of my stupid foot which is healing, but not as fast as my impatient self would like.

Hope that helps anyone who is running Leg 7 to feel a little more prepared for what is in store. It's a very pretty run through some beautiful countryside.
See? Isn't this a pretty view? Plus, if you look close...cows!

M and I at the finish (M looks super cute. I look like a bug).

Two more weeks until h2c! Can't wait!

PF

Betcha thought that PF stood for plantar fasciitis, didn't ya? WRONG! PF = Pain Free baby! I ran this morning. Three whole miles and guess what? PAIN FREE! So happy! I was kind of falling into a funk worrying that things weren't going to get back to normal - but I'm feeling optimistic now. Yippee! (This pic is from last year's hood to coast, but the smile adequately reflects how I was feeling this morning!).

I'm going to Tahoe tomorrow with these two monkeys:

and this babe:

We rented a house with some friends and it should be a great time. I am so excited for the vacay and also to get a few runs in with my friends. Hope everyone has a good week - and I hope when I get back I can report that the pain free running trend has continued!

Memories of a long run - the Banks to Vernonia Trail

Since I'm laid up with Plantar Fasciitis and can't run on an actual road (the pool has got nothing on me though) - I was reminiscing about some of the long runs I took in marathon training. I think my favorite long run was on the Banks to Vernonia path. As I mentioned in my previous post, M and I are always on the lookout for new places to run. So we met somes friends and Clark (the wonder dog) to run the paved path from the town of Banks to Vernonia. One of our friends has run and biked the trail previously and knew that we could get 22 miles in if we went all the way to Vernonia lake, so that was the plan. We met at the Banks trailhead at 7am and left a car there. Since we were doing a point to point run, our friend Heather's husband drove her car to the end point and biked back home from there. The trail is completely paved and has restrooms along the way. The only thing missing? Water. Luckily, we had Clark! Heather's dog carried our water, gu's and everything we needed on the run. It was pretty awesome. This trail is really beautiful!


After the first few miles, the trail starts a long uphill for the about 10 miles. It's pretty gradual, but definitely uphill. We all stayed together until about Mile 6, and then we kind of split up according to pace. Clark pretty much ran ahead of us the whole time. Heather really should put a garmin on Clark sometime to see how far he actually runs with going ahead and coming back - it's pretty impressive. We started fairly slow, in the low 10's - but by the end we were clipping along pretty consistantly in the mid-9's. I felt pretty good and strong and really just enjoyed the scenery and the company. At Mile twelve you go down a steep hill and then climb up another one, but after that the trail goes flat or slightly downhill until the end.
I have to admit I was glad to stop the uphill. We crossed a bunch of bridges and two trestles. We also saw some wildlife! One deer, a snake and M saw a lizard. We left pretty early and the trail wasn't crowded at all, which was nice.

The trail ends in Vernonia at a park, but we continued on past the park and ran to the lake to get the extra mileage we we wanted to get. The lake was very pretty, although we didn't get a chance to look around very long (we were DONE!).




After our run we went into Vernonia and got coffee/sandwiches at Black Bear Coffee shop, which really hit the spot. This is a beautiful path to run on and I definitely recommend anyone who needs to get a long run in try it out. I will see if Clark is available to carry your water. Hopefully I'll get this PF injury cleared up soon and I will be out there running in these beautiful spots again!

I went and did some pool running this morning - it wasn't too bad! I'll post more on that later!

Plantar F#*@#$*itis

So - I'm pretty sure I have plantar fasciitis. I've felt it since I ran the marathon on June 20th and I have only run 3 times since then - all with pain in my heel. I'm pretty stubborn, and usually ignore aches and pains, but when your foot hurts every time you run you've got to pay attention. Feet are kind of critical to the entire process.

I' ve never had this before, and so I've been doing extensive research (googling)to figure out how to get it under control. On the advice of my physician (ok, not really, he's just my friend Matt who is a doctor and a runner who I called and he talked me down from freaking out and agreed with me that it sounds like Plantar Fasciitis) I am taking ibuprofen 3x daily, icing, rolling my foot and (gulp) NOT RUNNING. I've got two races coming up - one is the Lacamas Lake Half Marathon and the other one is this little race you might have heard of called Hood to Coast.

LaCamas Lake was just a race I signed up for to stay motivated post marathon and to be ready for Hood to Coast - so I will not be devestated if I can't run it. My husband is running, but we don't run together anyway, so it's not like he'll miss me and my charming personality. Hood to Coast though is one of my favorite things in the world. The goal is to get this fixed and ready for this race. So, to make sure I don't completely lose my fitness while I'm recovering I'm looking at...pool running. Hello SUAR, I'm about to feel your pain.

Yesterday I called around to pools to find out where I could go to do pool running. I found one right by my sister's house which is great because she will watch my kiddos while I get in the pool and run to....the exact same place in the pool. I have a great attitude about this - clearly it's going to be awesome.

Oh my god this is hard! I don't know what to do with myself without running! I will also keep up with yoga and I'm a pretty big devotee of Jillian Michael's DVD's because they are hard and keep you moving, so I'll probably be doing more of those as well. I tried one out yesterday (and oh yeah, feeling sore today in a good way!) so I'll be doing those more regularly as well.

So - this is my sob story. I need to try to maintain a good attitude through this and remind myself that it's going to be worth it to be able to run Hood to Coast pain free.

Vancouver USA marathon - Race Report

On Sunday, I ran the inaugural Vancouver USA Marathon. My goal going into this marathon was to break 4 hours. In 2010 at the Portland Marathon I had run a 4:07, so I thought breaking 4 was do-able. Running buddy M was running as well - her goal was around 4:15, but she mainly just wanted to feel comfortable and run easy.

So, we left at the crack of dawn (ok, not really, it was completely light out) at 5:30 am to meet some other running friends at the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver at 6. The weather was perfect - overcast and low 60's. The Hilton was right by the start line, so it was the perfect place. We found parking really easily, and walked over to the hotel. The first thing I noticed was how un-crowded everything was. It was great. We used the facilities (3 times?) and then walked over to bag check. Everything was really organized and easy.

They had pacers for this race, so I lined up with the 4:00 pace group. My "strategy" if you will, was to run 9 minute miles for the first 20 and then assess how I felt and push it if I felt ok at the end. I usually run faster at the end because I get into "let's just get this done" mode - but in a marathon you never know how it will go. Plus, this would be my first time pushing this pace for that long, so I wasn't sure how my body would respond.

Miles 1-6
8:59
8:49
8:59
9:04
9:03
9:07

The beginning of this race winds through downtown Vancouver for a few turns and then goes out onto the main part of the course that you stay on for the first half of the race. They had us up on the sidewalk for the first few miles, which I didn't really like. If the race gets any bigger they are going to have to shut down one lane of traffic for runners because it was tight on Sunday. But, it's nice and flat for the most part. The road goes out into the country and you see Vancouver lake, and then wind into Frenchman's bar which follows the Columbia for a bit. We (my friend Ed and I were running together)were tucked in with the 4:00 pacer, and she was doing a good job keeping consistent miles. But, it was crowded with all the runners around her, and I wanted to get out of the congestion.

Miles 7 - 12
8:52
8:58
8:58
8:42
9:00
9:00

Around Mile 10 we got in front of the group after an aid station, and I felt much more comfortable. This part of the race loops back around on the road we ran in on and then up and over an overpass into downtown Vancouver again. These miles felt really good and comfortable. I was so happy to be away from the pace group and feeling a little space.

For fueling during the race I carried 2 packages of Clif Shot Bloks with me. The aid stations had water and gatorade for fueling and they were also passing out Clif Gels during the race. I took water and/or Gatorade at every station. I starting chomping on Shot bloks around mile 6 and just took a few throughout the race. I didn't really have a set time to take them, just a few before I took on water usually. By the end I had 3 left, so two packages was perfect.

Miles 13-18
8:56
8:47
9:14
8:39
9:08
8:42

In the first half of the race I didn't walk through any of the aid stations. In the second half I walked through a few. You can see from the pacing where the aid stations were because those miles are a little slower. I also stopped for a quick port-a-potty stop at mile 15, but I knew I was still easily on pace. This part of the race had a few little rolling hills, which was a nice break really after the flat first half. The course wound around through Fort Vancouver which had a nice long down hill as well.

Miles 19-24
9:06
9:08
8:45
8:48
9:11
8:36

M and I were lucky that we trained with some friends who live in Vancouver and knew the route well, so we had run the last half of the race with them in training. Because of this I knew that at mile 20 there was a big ass hill. From about Mile 15 on I started concentrating on Mile 20 - "just get past the hill and you're golden" type of thinking. The hill was kind of tough - not too bad, and I ran the whole way up. A guy said "way to attack the hill" to me and I grunted back at him - sorry guy! and thanks for the encouragement! The hill is 3 tiered where it goes up then plateaus, goes up/plateaus, etc. Also during this part of the race we met the half marathon walkers/slower runners in full force. This was kind of brutal because some of them were walking 4 across and I had to go around them. I'm all for people getting out there and exercising, but c'mon don't take up the whole road when you know there are faster people on the route as well.

After the hill there is a big downhill where you go over a train track (I guess some people actually did get stopped by a train, which would SUCK!) and then goes into a nice path that follows the Columbia for a while. At mile 23 I walked through an aid station and told myself that I couldn't walk anymore until the end. I was starting to run on fumes here and just wanted to get the race over with.

Miles 25-26.2
8:43
8:39
.2 = 2:52

As I came up and over a little overpass on mile 25 back by Fort Vancouver who did I see? My husband and kids! I didn't expect to see them on the course at all, so this was such an awesome surprise! I was so happy/tired/delirious, I'm surprised I didn't burst into tears right there. Brian yelled to me that there was one more hill and then the finish. I was so tired, this hill was just brutal - but I knew if I kept going I could finish strong and easily meet my goal. As I was running up I looked to my right and my son was trying to catch me to run with me. I just couldn't stop though, I waved to him and he laughed and rolled back down the hill. I got to the top, ran through the aid station and wound my way back down to the finish.

Done! Finish time: 3:54:45! 13 minute PR!

So happy, so tired and very proud of myself for meeting my goal. During the taper all the doubts had been creeping in, so it was very gratifying to achieve what I set out to do. I waited in the finish for my friends who I expected to come in just behind me, but they didn't come in. Turns out that two of them had very unexpectedly bad races (my friend Ed had bad cramping from mile 18 on and walked the last 6 miles, my other friend had very bad stomach issues and DNF). Running buddy M came in at 4:26 and was very happy with her race - she has battled injuries all through training and she ran it just as she wanted to. The finish was a little bittersweet because of how badly my friend's races went. They trained so hard and the result definitely didn't reflect their ability/training/fitness. Just goes to show anything can happen on any given day.

M& I:


Happy family:


After the race M, Ed and I went and got Starbucks (our usual routine post long run) and then M and I headed home (Brian took the kids home to get lunch while I stretched earlier). All in all I thought this was a great race and well organized. I would be concerned if it got bigger with the sidewalk/space issues and also with the half marathoners meeting the full marathoners causing congestion. But, the aid stations were well stocked and well supported, the miles and turns were well marked and I really had a great time out there. I would run it again for sure.

Next marathon goal? Maybe Boston? hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....