Sunday, July 22, 2012

Race Report: Lacamas Lake 4 Miler

Date: 7/22/2012
Finish time = 1:13:03 (18:16/mile pace)
Pretty speedy pace, huh?  To be fair, this isn't a very easy course and it's actually a bit longer than advertised.  And, you know, that whole being 33 weeks pregnant thing.  I first ran this race back in 2007 when it was a 5k and a totally different course.  I don't remember much about it other than the route was sort of "meh" and the hill at the end was a total bitch.  The new course is pretty awesome, but the hill at the end is still there and is definitely still a total bitch.  However, you quickly forget about the hill once you get your cute little medal and stock up on the finish line freebies (Dave's Killer Bread, Muscle Milk, and Kind bars to name a few).  This year I was joined by Nads (aka Nadine aka Louise Farmer) and my awesome hubby Ken.  Nadine had a great race, and Ken stuck with me and helped to fend off the weird looks from spectators.

The 4-miler starts at the Camas High School track, heads out on paved back roads, winds through the trails of Round Lake, and then wraps up back at the track.  The trails are nice and wide, hills keep things interesting, and I imagine that even on a hot day (today was definitely not hot) that the trees would offer quite a bit of shade.  I managed to run maybe about half of the distance, but took it easy on the hills.  Baby girl is making it a lot more difficult these days - she likes to wedge/brace herself diagonally into my hips and ribs, and my lungs are pretty much out of space - but it did feel good to move my legs and get the heart rate up a bit.
I'm pretty sure this is the last race until post-baby.  Next expected race report: labor & delivery!

Weekend Inspiration

1) Badwater was this past week.  135 miles of running through Death Valley in temperatures up to 130°F.  This years winner finished in 22 hours and 52 minutes.  The last finisher finished in 47 hours 8 minutes.  I highly recommend watching the documentary "Running on the Sun".

2) Funny.

3) An alarm clock shaped as a dumbbell that requires you to do 30 bicep curls before the alarm goes off.  It's not heavy enough to count as a workout, but I bet it wakes you up and gets you thinking about fitness first thing in the morning.

4) Hard to do, but true.

5) Wiggins for the win!  Now onward to the Olympics.