Well, We'll See How This Goes...

So, the Eugene Marathon is this Sunday (finally!) and here I am, injured, sick as a dog, and generally filled with malaise. Such a bummer.

First up, the injury: These past few months, I've gotten injured a few time, and I've taken anywhere from a few days to a few weeks off from training. Some of the injuries I knew would heal with time (quad strain), whereas others scared me a bit (anterior tibial tendonitis).

But all was fine about 1.5 weeks ago until I finished a curvy trail run. Once I started my cooldown, my inner left knee felt like it was on fire. And had a knife stuck in it. The pain has since faded into an intermittent stabbing/burning pain, but I still haven't run. A knee injury? Really?! Never once have I had a knee injury! Hip, ankle, foot, shin, quad, hamstring, yes. Knee, no.

My PT thinks it's a minor (yay!) MCL sprain and said that we'll try to tape up my arch (which collapses, along with my knee, when I step) so that I can run the marathon. Bad idea? Maybe. Do I care right now after I've tried for years and years and years to run a marathon and I'm a measly one week out and injured? No.

No more running until race day (which puts me at two weeks of no running--so...much...fitness...lost) and fingers crossed that I feel good!

Next up, the sickness: So, I've been stressed lately. On my plate: teaching, taking a grad class, coaching track, and training for a marathon (or not, since I've been injured). Too much for little old me who likes to keep it simple. So, this weekend I wake up with an excrutiating headache, congestion, and body aches. Blarg. Then yesterday my entire back cramps up and it literally hurts if I breathe too deeply. Agh! Of all the times to get sick!

Anyhoo, here's to hoping that my illness and injury resolve themselves by Sunday and I'm able to run.

Otherwise, I'll be the deranged person dressed like Stewie, tripping runners along the course.





Or maybe I'll just dress up like this guy.

Lincoln City Half Marathon...My First Half!

This weekend Ian and five of our friends headed over to the coast to stay in a yurt, kayak, and run the Lincoln City Half Marathon. The makings of a fantastic weekend, no?

On Saturday, Ian, Kalin, Denise, and I kayaked in sunny, warm weather on Devil's Lake, located right off the coast. Ian wanted to kayak the "world's shortest river" (D River, about 200 feet long) into the ocean but couldn't because of shallowness...which is a blessing since he probably would've drowned once he hit the 20-foot swells of the ocean. (Um, okay, maybe the swells weren't 20 feet tall, but that's neither here nor there).

On Sunday, I ran the Lincoln City Half Marathon with Shawna, Denise, Kalin, and Sam while Ian and Keith drove around like goofballs and took photos of us. This past week I've been feeling sore as I will have completed another 50-mile week, including a 20-miler last weekend and a 14-miler Tuesday. I definitely didn't taper for this half, but I felt great the morning of the race so I decided to actually "race" instead of make the race a slower training run.

The course was pretty hilly throughout, as it climbed into the hills away from the coast. The darling race organizers even took care to make the last mile a fairly steep uphill climb. So thoughtful. The weather was top notch running weather: about 45 degrees, cloudly, no rain, and a light wind. Ian and Keith win the awards for the "greatest spectators ever," as they drove the course in my SUV with huge kayaks strapped to the top, stopping to take pictures, make hilarious comments, and feed an unnamed friend whisky while he ran. I wasn't hard to spot...I was the one wearing the almost-inappropriately-ill-fitting, blindingly bright neon yellow and black outfit, courtesy of Brooks. Gotta love Brooks gear, especially when I get it 40% off, but feel a bit ridiculous in the too-small racing outfit.

Skip to the good stuff: I placed 2nd female overall, running the 13.1 miles in 1:38:05 (7:30 pace) and feeling great the entire time. I'm pretty sure I could shave a few minutes off that time if I run a flatter course and I taper. I'm thrilled!!! Shawna, Denise, Sam, and Kalin rocked the race, too!

I'm so excited that I felt so strong the entire race, didn't feel any "injury" pains, and got to practice my drinking (nothing fun, just water) and gel-eating technique. (Grabbing a cup out of someone's hand while running is harder than it looks. Lots of spilled water. Sorry, Mother Earth.)

So, I'm feeling great for the Eugene Marathon, which is about two months away and I can't wait!

Fall In Corvallis

Fun times in Corvallis, per usual! Ian came home for the weekend (in the middle of about 5 weeks away for work), and we spent the time doing fun, autumny things like pumpkin-carving with friends and kayaking the Mary's River. I heart my life. ; )

Eugene Marathon 2010

The Eugene Marathon! I finally did it!

...Okay, no, I didn't run the marathon...but I registered for it!

I've wanted to run a marathon for the past six years, but I've always gotten injured during training, to the point where I can't run one.

I've finally decided that I'm just going to take it easy with training (no pressure to run fast), listen to my body, follow a sound training program, and just do it.

I decided on the Eugene Marathon because it's a beautiful course with sections on trail (good for my old-man spinal arthritis). The marathon is also well-organized, medium-sized, and nearby. All good for a first-time one.

Now, the marathon is a mere nine months away (May 2, 2010), so I figured I'd better get on it and register. Don't want it to pass me by or anything. Hmm, okay, I'm a little early, but better safe than sorry.

I'd like to run the marathon if I can, but if I'm not physically up to it (i.e. I have bouts of sciatica during training that hinder me from completing the training cycle), then I'll walk. I'll even stop and smell the roses, darn it, but I'm going to complete the entire marathon! Stay tuned...

Alaska and New Mexico and the Sierras, Oh My!

I've spent a good chunk of my summer in some awesome places: camping/kayaking in Alaska with five buds, road-tripping through Boulder, CO and Taos, New Mexico with Ariel, and camping (well, in a luxe cabin) in the Sierras with Ian. Life has been awesome...

...so awesome that I just can't even begin to recount it! Okay, I'm too lazy to do so. Read Ian's blog (July 30 entry) at www.funholesunite.blogspot.com to get the entire (well, some of) the scoop.

Above are three pics from Alaska, one pic in New Mexico with Ariel, and one pic with Ian in the Sierras.

Reason #392 I Love Ian (Or, Garden Veggies Rock!)

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, aka Ian and my 1st-year anniversary! We celebrated like we have so many times before--a trip to sushi (veggie-style for me, of course, as I just celebrated another anniversary: being a vegetarian for 11 years). In the evening, as the sun was low in the sky, we hiked to the top of Chip Ross Park to watch the fading sunlight glint off the roof tops of Corvallis homes and to drink some delish champagne courtesy of Ian's mom. (Thanks, mom-in-law!)

This whole anniversary thing got me thinking about how awesome Ian is and how much he does (for me included). He is such a hard-worker! I'm so lucky.

Take, for instance, our huge garden in our backyard--almost all created and TLCed by Ian.

The plants we've got are grapes, blueberries, squash, eggplant, pumpkin, peppers, sugar snap peas, beans, carrots, lettuce, leeks, green onions, zucchinis, tomatoes, onions, garlic, mint, lavender, cilantro, parsley, chamomile, rosemary, thyme...and others I'm forgetting. It's so rad to have so much to choose from in making yummy, healthy meals. And to just spend time outside.

Oh, and Ian hand-built our composter barrel so that we can send unused goods right back into the earth. Recycling. Sweet.

Here are some pics:

OMC Sunriver Weekend

Like every year, the OMC took over a home in Sunriver in order to maximize the long-weekend awesomeness that is MLK, JR. weekend. Per usual, we had about 35 people rocking the outdoors with cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowboarding, ice skating, naked hot tubbing, etc. This year, due to a weird weather inversion in which Bend and Smith Rock had 25-degree, freezing-fog weather, there was no climbing...which, of course, didn't bother me in the least! We had beautiful weather in Sunriver and the Mount Bachelor area...good times were all around.

On Saturday, a group of people (Ian, Ariel, Rachel, Jake, Kalin, Denise, Keith, John, Becca, Garrett, and me) skied/snowshoed into Nordeen shelter, where we ate lunch and (Garrett) flipped off rocks. On Sunday, the same group plus some others skied/snowshoed/ran (me) Tumalo Falls. These mild day activities were balanced by the craaazy night activities such as dance parties, obstacle courses (only got to the planning stages, unfortunately), nekkid hot tubbing, pictionary telephone, spoons (that's right, spoons), leg wrestling (involving a very nekkid Will...eeewwww), etc. All in all, a great weekend.

Corvallis Winter Wonderland

It's been gloriously snowing here in Corvallis (and most of the Pacific Northwest) for the past five days, which has equated to three no school, snow days for me! (We'll have to make some of them up at the end of the year, though...booo!)

Yep, we've gotten a few inches of the white stuff so far and I'm sure we'll get some more in the next few days.

Ian and I went out our front door, up into the Chip Ross/MacDonald Forest area for a little cross country skiing. Even though Mac Forest had throngs of kiddos sledding, it's big enough to provide seclusion so Ian and I could embarrass ourselves in private. Man, our falls were ridiculously hilarious!

Christmas Treeing

Yep, it's the most wonderful time of the year, and what better way to celebrate than to go chainsaw down an innocent, wild tree to put on display in our house?

So, Ian, Will, Katie, and I did just that on Mary's Peak. We bagged ourselves a good one too!

I'm so excited that Ian and I have our very own tree in our house, complete with DollarStore ornaments, half-eaten candy canes, gazillions of lights, and a homemade tree stand (courtesy of Ian).

Kitties!!

Scary but true: Ian and I got two adorable kitties from the humane society in Corvallis today! We've wanted a cat for months and months, but we hadn't found the right one. Today we decided to go "take a look" with innocent intentions. Once we were inside, though, it was a slippery slope.

We really connected with two kitties and got them both: Bonkers, a one-year-old gray tabby gal; and Dexter, a five-month-old "buff"/orange boy.

Baxter is very mellow and loves to be cuddled, while Bonkers is...well, look at the name we gave her. She vacillates between bouncing around gracefully/neurotically with lying down on her back, waiting for a belly scratch. Adorable. Just adorable.

We're letting them get used to their new home slowly, and they seem to be having a grand ol' time. So are we.