Last Weekend

Ken and I made a quick trip to South Lake Tahoe...for my little brother's wedding! The weather was gorgeous, it was wonderful to see my family, and fun to meet all the new people. While we were there, my Mom and I attempted to do some workouts. I say "attempted" because we were kung-foo'd by the elevation. I did manage a swim and about 7 miles of running. Here are some of the views:This was our hotel lobby. Three flat-screen televisions, a channel with crackling fire and sound effects with toads and owls, birch bark scattered around, and random green balls stacked on top. Weird.Some select photos from the wedding day (since we took hundreds)...

My beautiful mother.Ken and I waiting for everyone to get ready.The happy couple.Mom and I dogpiling JoshyPoo after the ceremony.

And...

...in case you were wondering, I ran the additional 4 miles today for a total of 16 miles. All that time on the pavement did a number on my feet, so to prevent more chaffing on the blisters, I switched to my VFFs for the last part. Good call. I would rather have achy feet than more angry blisters.

I am so lucky to be able to run where I do. Here are some views (and me) from tonight.

Me, by Officers Row (bad picture, but it's a good chance to show off the IM hat):

The landbridge by Ft. Vancouver that crosses over SR-14 and looks over Pearson airfield:The multi-use path along the Columbia River:

Training totals for the week:
Swim - 2700 m (bad, but getting better...)
Bike - 40.5 miles (trainer miles, so this doesn't mean a whole lot)
Run - 23.3 miles (is that all? it seemed like more.)
Plus some other miscellaneous crap like lifting
Total = 8.9 hours

Marathon Training Run

Today was my first "long" run this season that wasn't a race. A few months back, a bunch of us agreed to run the Shamrock Run in downtown Portland. But I had also signed up for the Eugene Marathon and needed to bust out a 16 mile run today. While I was deciding what to do, Shamrock sold out. Decision made! I opted to do my long run from our house in Vancouver to the race in downtown Portland. What's better than a long run with friends and a beer garden at the end?!?

This being the first day of Daylight Savings Time, it was pretty dark this morning when I headed out. The first 4-5 miles of the route had me going through some skeevy, sketchy neighborhoods. Thankfully The Hubs didn't mind too much when I roused him out of bed at 6am wanting him to ride his bike next to me until the sun came up.

Here I am about to cross the I-5 bridge. I guess the reflective vest is pretty reflective!

Sunrise while crossing the bridge into Oregon.

Best husband ever. I swear, he is the most patient person. No way in hell would I get out of bed on a Sunday morning before sunrise to ride 5mph. I should mention that it was 32 degrees with frost on the ground and windshields iced over.

Random marine propeller on Marine Drive.Ken hung with me until about mile 10 and took a quick pic before he headed the other direction. I then proceeded to get lost trying to find the right bridge to cross into SW Portland. Oh well, I needed some extra mileage anyway.Looking north while crossing the Burnside Bridge.Looking south while crossing the Burnside Bridge.

After arriving in downtown, and after getting stuck at a railroad crossing for over 10 minutes, I quickly met up with Jeff, Jon and Jessica and enjoyed some warm chowder in the beer garden. After they left, I met up with Jenn and Kevin and enjoyed a tasty beverage. Total mileage ended up being just a hair longer than 12 miles. Now I need to find the motivation to go back out this evening for another 4 miles to make it over 16 for the day. At least the sun decided to finally make it's way through the clouds!

March

How did it become March already? And it's already half-way over!

So first, a review of February... My goals were to 1) swim 2x/week, 2) ride 50mi/week, and 3) lose 5 pounds. How did I do? I swam, um, twice. I rode whenever I felt like it. And mega-stress led me to eat ice cream almost every night when I got home. But let's focus on the positive, shall we? For starters, I ran about 60 miles, including my very first trail run where I finished 15.5 miles of epic hilly muddiness. I did ride my bike about 100 miles. Even though I was doing triple this...per week...during IM training, it's a start. And despite not losing any weight last month, I didn't gain any.

And now for March... I have managed to lose a few pounds so far. Take that, Chub! I have been to the pool more frequently. I got an actual membership at the gym by my house (finally). I signed up for the Portland Marathon (that makes 3 marathons so far for 2010). And I'm starting to feel stronger and less out-of-shape. Now hopefully I can keep this good-groove going!