Runnin' Races and Goin' Places

Sometimes, it can be difficult to do something if you don't have a goal you're working towards. Many runners including myself need races to work towards, to motivate them to keep going. Want to make sure you train through the winter holidays? Schedule a January or February race. Want to make sure you get out there even if the summers are hot? Schedule a fall race. I've talked about the other reason why you should sign up for races, which is because they're so fun!

Right now, I'm stuck. Indeed, I do want to sign up for another race, but I'm not sure what.
I did have a race I was going to do with a team, but the team kind of fell apart. Thinking I would sign up solo, I found that the race was already filled up.
Too bad. I wanted a bottle opener medal. Darn.

So now I'm stuck without a race. I'm also $30 richer from not paying a racing fee, but still it's no fun.

The next race I'm looking for would be something either or the obstacle course variety, themed variety, or both. Preferably mid to long distance. ...No more marathons for awhile though. I have to do another before I turn 30, but I've got awhile. Remember my personal goal of doing a marathon for each decade of my life? Yeah, that's a thing.

One of the biggest things that sticks out to me for races is registration price. If it's a 5k, I don't want to be spending as much on that as a half marathon. I don't think it's worth it. I suppose I could have looked for a cheaper marathon, but the Portland marathon is THE marathon of Oregon in my humble opinion. Plus, it was the 40th year. I think it would be awesome to run the 50th anniversary marathon... We've got awhile.
For instance, I was looking at this race that looked pretty cool. It's called "Run for your Lives", and it's a zombie obstacle course 5k. How awesome does that sound? Then I saw that registration was $77 bucks and thought "No way." It may be themed, but I'm not paying that much for a 5K.

The other race thing I've been thinking about lately is running while abroad. I really want to sign up for a race while I'm abroad, because I think it would be cool to run a race in another country. Spreading my running around the world. I've run while in Canada, and ran in Mexico, why not in another continent?
I won't register for one yet, because I need to learn more about how my schedule is going to work while studying abroad. But it's still a thought.

For now, I'll just keep running. We'll see where it takes me next.

What's your favorite type of race to run?

2012 Cascade Half Marathon

Well, today was certainly interesting.

Today was the 13th Annual Cascade Half Marathon, and it started off with a bang.
Y'see, this whole winter, it hasn't snowed. Guess what day it decided to start snowing?

Yup. The day of the race. In which neither my sister nor I had any training in snow. The last time I ran in snow was last year (think way before December), so... snow was an interesting greeting.

The race started off with the snow coming down, and we weren't sure if it was going to stop. Funny thing is, it stopped about 15 minutes in. Plus, it actually got kind of warm. Therefore the layers got pretty hot for a bit.

Overall, it was a decent race... for the most part. There was just one thing that made me very angry, and it affected my whole race.
My shoelace came untied in the first mile.

This might have been a minor annoyance. Just like, "Oh, that's bothersome." But the reason I'm so ticked about it? My time was 2 hours, 20 seconds. If I didn't have to stop, I would have probably had a sub two hour race. Like last year. FFFFFFFFFFFFF-

Okay okay, I shouldn't be that irked about it. But it does irk me. Nothing I can do now. Besides, I think the weather affected my run a bit as well. I had to take little steps to make sure I didn't slip. Still a decent time.

Still, the day was more about my sister running her first half marathon! Hurrah! She finished about a minute after I did, and she felt pretty good afterwards! Weird. My legs were dead when I finished last year. They're fine now, and were fine after the race.

I then proceeded to have sweets for dinner. I really have to learn some self control around the sweets though.

As for other stuff, it's been a very award-show induced weekend. Last night watched Miss America get crowned, tonight watched The Golden Globes. Yup.

Glad I have tomorrow off though. Ah, the joys of school.

What's something annoying that's happened to you in a race?

Here We Go Again

Wow, it's been over a month since my big race, hasn't it? And I said I would stop talking about it. Alas, here we are.

Indeed, I've been back to running for awhile, but it's been very relaxed. It's like I wish I had something to motivate me to train...

Oh wait. I do.

Yes, I'm going to be running the Cascade Half Marathon again, hooray! I always like being signed up for races. There's just something about them that helps with the motivation. Especially since I forgot what it's like to run when it's cold out.

I know, running my next half on the first ever half marathon course I ever did again? How boring. Still, I'm a little sentimental. I mean, it was my first ever half marathon! Plus the course is completely flat which is really nice. (A good way to block out the fact that it was pouring the entire time last year.)

Those are not the only reasons I'm running this race again though. There's actually a bigger reason, which is... My sister is running it! Yeah!
I know you might not want me talking about this on the blog Chloe, but it deserves to be said. Besides, it's a good thing.

This will be her first half marathon, which is so cool! Then again, she's already run that distance in her life before, so she'll kill it.

On other running related news, I'm quite excited to have been invited to the 2nd Annual Treadmill in the Basement Turkey Trot by Kat. I don't think I'll be running a half marathon, but I think a ten miler may be in the cards for the 24th of November. Five at the lowest.

The only thing I can really think about right now is how on earth did it already get to be almost 9:00PM? We are not amused. (Who is this we?)

I think any day that I go for a run is a productive one in some sense. It might have seemed like the day disappeared, but I did do something, right? We're going to say yes even though it doesn't feel like it. Buh.

Do you have any fun races coming up?

The Little Green Guy

It's nice to know that this bloated feeling will pass. You know, if I don't continue stuffing my face like a crazy. Or whatever. Geez, I get off track before I even start talking, don't I?

Did I say I received a tree from the race? Yes, yes I did.

This is a Douglas Fir. It is the official state tree of Oregon. I have no idea where to plant it. At first it was alright, sitting in a cool area in my house. However, I started to worry about the life of this tree. How long could it last not being in some soil?

I decided that this little guy needed to be planted, but where? I don't know any good places down here for my little tree to live, there's no place here that's special to me yet. On the other hand, this guy needed to be planted.

Now he's in a cup. In my windowsill. Did I mention that this is a Douglas Fir? Yeah, the stupidity of the situation is understood. It's almost like one of those movies where a person takes in an exotic animal and takes care of them. The situation is adorable until the creature becomes an adult lion/gorilla/bear/elephant/whatever. Except this is a freakin' tree. I cannot keep a tree that will "grow between 80-200 feet tall" in my apartment. My life does not need to become a family friendly film where a crazy woman decides to let a tree grow out of her apartment, letting it take over the whole place.

I can honestly say I did not expect this to become a post about a tree, but here we are. This is becoming a strange week indeed, and it's only Tuesday.

Where should I plant this tree?

So That Happened.

Yesterday, I became one of the 1%. The 1% of the population that has run a marathon.

Now I'm not going to go into some emotional essay about what the whole thing means, or any of that. Really, I'm not sure I feel the emotional storm brewin' like that. Hell, I thought I was going to cry at the end because of how crazy the whole thing was, but that didn't really go through my mind at that moment. So here we go, a recap of my first marathon.

The night of, I was already working on a delightful cold. My forehead was burning up, and was thinking, "Crap, should I even be running? Don't they say it's a bad idea to run with a fever? Oh god."
I started getting ready two times that night, thinking it was time to get up. No, it wasn't at 1:00 AM nor was it at 2:30 AM time to get ready. For some reason, I thought it was.

For the first few miles, things were great. I was feeling good, legs were good, all that jazz. By mile nine, that feeling was starting to go. Weirdly enough, the whole time my legs were fine. It was my stomach that was giving me issues.


This picture of joy is a lie... Sort of.

 For most of the race, I felt really nauseous. I think it was too much sugar the week before? I have no idea. All I know is that it was not a good feeling.

Other than that, things were pretty good. I continuously ran the whole time except for dashing to a bathroom and out. That's probably why at the end of the race, my legs suddenly went, "What the hell have you been doing?" and started aching like crazy. That plus the already upset stomach? Not a good combo. A lady in the bathroom next to me asked if I was okay because I was repeating "Ohgodohgodohgod" over and over again. That's not awkward at all.

Who cares about all of that? I ran a freakin' marathon! Plus, I happened to see some pretty crazy/wonderful/bizarre/cool things. Like:

Before the race seeing all of the people for one.

• Musicians playing everywhere, including a bus blasting the song "I'm Sexy and I Know It", great for getting pumped up
• Some awesome signs, like "Your legs are sore because you're kicking ass-phalt!" and others I can't remember now.
• Justin Bieber running. Well, it looked a lot like him just will a pre-puberty voice.
• People giving out the craziest snacks, including bananas, apples, oranges, skittles, pretzels, candy corn, and beer.
• A random hobo peeing by the side of the course. Told you there were some weird things, it's Portland.

There was a lot to see. It is a big city, after all. I managed to get one mid-running picture on the bridge. Cool thing was, only marathon participants were allowed on it. How exclusive.

The ending shoot was very cool, simply because there was so much stuff. There was a ton of food, but because I felt so sick I didn't want to eat. There was a lot of other stuff though that was super cool. For instance, the Portland marathon finishers get no only a shirt before the race, but they get a shirt afterwards that says " Portland Marathon Finisher" on it. We also received our medals, a medallion, a necklace charm, a rose, and a tree. Yes, a tree. Currently my Douglas Fir is sitting in my house, waiting to be planted. I have no idea where. The other part of the finish included getting a finisher's picture, which I've been waiting for impatiently to be put online.

It was nice that a lot of my family members came out to see me. This came in handy when tired legs wanted a break and had a piggyback ride available.


...Which then stretched out my inner thighs in a hurt so good kind of way. My cousin is a creeper.

 What wasn't so good about a lot of people was too many people freaking out about what to do when all I wanted to do was sit and warm up. Big groups can't decide things very well. What made me sad was that a lot of my friends really didn't seem to care, and it's just because it's an important thing to me. I've been talking about it, but many of my friends didn't even acknowledge it. Except Aaron, who ran it as well. Boy is a beast!

Oh, and I must not forget the swag. Most of my swag came from the race day, but I did get some things at the expo. Mostly magazines. I bought the mug, sticker, and bondiband myself.

Right now, I feel like I should be feeling a lot more special. That might sound weird, but it's a pretty big deal. However, it just feels like it's Monday. No biggie. I just wanted someone to comment on my shirt. (I wore my finisher shirt.)

Something no one ever told me about running a marathon? You get totally bloated afterwards. Or maybe that's just me. At least I don't think it's fat. My stomach feels too full of air for that. I think.

Will I ever do a marathon again? I hope so. What I'd like to do is a marathon for every decade of my life, starting with the teens. Now I've got ten years until I have to do one for my twenties. Perhaps the 50th anniversary? (This was the 40th anniversary)

For now, I just need to crash. I had to stay up late last night to finish homework, and because I was so tired I ended up sobbing about how tired I was when I got to bed. Yeah, I wish I were joking. I was sobbing because I wasn't going to get sleep, which kept me from falling asleep. We can be stupid when we're tired.

Really, all I can say is I can't believe I did that.

Just a Few Little Things

Welp, I suppose I have a few things to talk about, so let's get started shall we?

First of all, there is an epidemic going on in the blog world. (In the blogs I read, anyway.) First there was Ashley, the very sporty blogger who got into a terrible accident on her bike. Now Kat, who was training for a marathon has been injured! It's scary seeing people who inspire you to reach for big goals get injured. It's not like they're not human, but still it feels like it shouldn't happen.
But seriously, if you're blog-savvy, you should go wish them well.

Today was the Race for the Cure, and it was quite lovely. Cold, but lovely. Truth be told, my favorite part of the race is seeing the huge crowd of people running in the street. It's just a wave of people.

It's strange to be home still, because the majority of FB statuses that I've been seeing have to do with moving in and such. Did I catch on the wave late or something? Perhaps it has to do with the fact that I've been in school all summer. Well, I'll be there by at least Wednesday.
Wait a tic... School's already that close? Goodness, I don't feel ready at all!

I know there were other things that I was going to talk about, but right now I'm completely exhausted. I think I'm going to sleep in forever tomorrow.

I hope everyone ends up having a lovely evening!

Getting Back to Tennis, and Following Dreams For Yourself

I remembered why I started thinking about my changes since high school in the first place. I was thinking about tennis.

When I was in high school, my sport of choice was tennis. Sure I ran, but I was actually doing something in tennis. I went to state last year, and I was a big deal.

I played tennis for the first time since October today. How depressing is that? I was definitely rusty, I can tell you that. I struggled with my follow through. My thumb began to callous again, or at least tried to. I never really thought about how that disappeared until today, when my thumb started to hurt because of it. 

I still won though. Haha.

Despite all of that talk the other day about how I'm not much for the competition of running, I love the idea of races. I was skimming through a magazine listing all sorts of runs coming up, and I was thinking about runs that would be fun. Truthfully, it's not the concept of the race that's fun, it's the experience of a race. Sometimes they're themed, occasionally people dress up... Races can be a blast! There are tons of people around who happen to find running as a source of entertainment like you do. Plus, you can get some cool things from runs. Like in the Truffle Shuffle, I got chocolate. And it was delicious.

Geez, I have got to stop talking about running so much! It's getting ridiculous.Who do I think I am?

It's Monday, so that means I have a lesson that I have learned from a fictional character. Today's lesson is sort of backwards, but it all adds up in the end. Today's lesson comes from Legally Blonde. Yes, really.

Our heroine starts out with a goal. She plans to go to Harvard Law School to reclaim the love of her ex. However, as she continues on in her journey, she discovers that going to Harvard isn't going to get her ex back. Instead, she realizes it's something she wants to do, and she wants to do the best she can.

The lesson is that you shouldn't follow dreams for others, but for yourself. Yeah, I guess that doesn't really come to light necessarily in that movie, but the idea stuck with me. I've heard sad tales of following loved ones to places, then breaking up and being left with nothing. Alone in a place they didn't even want to be in the first place.
I just know that I never am going to let someone else cancel out my dreams so I can be with them. If they really cared, they'd wait for me. Maybe it wouldn't work out, but it might also not work out even if I did cancel out my dreams for you. It might sound a little selfish, but we all need to have a little selfishness in our lives.

What is a dream you could never give up for someone else? Is there a dream you would give up?