I think hiking 2009 is over

and I have no complains, and its sort of high time! This has been a amazing season. I checked off more things from my list than I could put up there. We did the big Enchantments which was definitely the best backpacking. I finally finished St Helens too. Also checked off Half-Dome which was a nice surprise. There were some surprisingly nice hikes like Navaho Peak and berries at Shriner Peak. We managed to go everywhere this season starting from Columbia River Gorge, St Helens, Mt Rainier, Olympic, Baker, Wenatchee. Now its time to give legs some rest and concentrate on dancing before running begins. (ok, none of these is actually giving any rest to the legs!). Things left on list for next seaon will be - Lake Chelan, Glacier once more, Ingalls, a pretty short list :)

Weekly running route

So I am hoping to do a 7.5 - 8 mile run on weekly basis till I start training for next marathon. Here is the weekly route -URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3217262 through beautiful Kirkland waterfront.

A summer of hiking

This had been a beautiful summer in Seattle. We broke the record of highest temperature and if anyone was counting, we must have also broken the record for highest number of sunny days. If it was not for yesterday, I was almost forgetting what a cloudy day looks like. Needless to mention, with warm sunny summer days, comes the opportunities for hiking. It has been full on this season, going away almost every weekend. I already have 4 backpacking trips, including Enchantments and 3 day hikes under my belt, not to mention Rock'n'Roll full marathon which though has nothing to do with summer, I would have ran it even if it was raining. Hopefully there are more to come and we will be hiking well into October, don't we just love global warming!!

Fundraising

So, why indeed am I running. It all started with a goal to raise some money for Asha for Education. The achievement of raising $1000+ was even bigger than actually finishing the marathon. So this year when I decided to run the full 26.2 miles, I also decided that I am going to put 100% effort in fundraising. This is especially important because of the way economy is going, most non-profits are in a cash crunch.

This year I was torn between 2 causes. Recently I got a chance to attend some International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) programs and also got to meet with couple of people visiting from Bhopal, including a 14 year old girl who is heading the Children for Bhopal campaign in India. This got me really thinking about the cause and I wanted to get involved and help.

I am sure most of us know that nearly 25 years ago, a Union Carbide (now Dow Chemical) pesticide factory in Bhopal sent a cloud of poisonous gas over a sleeping city and killed thousands in one night. It is one of the biggest industrial disaster to date. What is harder to imagine is that, after all of these years, second and third generations of Bhopali children are still being poisoned by toxins left at the factory that have been steadily seeping into their water supply.

* International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal is a organization working in US, India and several other countries to spread the awareness, build pressure on Indian government and Dow Chemicals to fulfill the basic demands of the victims.
* Sambhavana clinic is a free medicial clinic working to treat the victims.

I have set a goal to raise $2620 for the cause. Help me reach my fund raising goal by donating for my marathon. The donations can be made by:

* Check made to "Pesticide Action Network North America" with ICJB in memo. Check is preferred as it saves the organization 3% credit card fee. They can be mailed to me.
* Online credit card donation from PANNA's secure site - https://www.panna.org/system/give/onlineDonationICJB.php. Please add "Tulika Agrawal" to comments in Section 2.

Finished!

Done! Finished! Over! The marathon is finally over! And I completed it in a respectable time of 5:24:07. All the 6 month of training definitely paid off. I did not find the course that hilly, heat was also not that big a problem. Biggest problem was definitely the distance!

The part of course till mile 9 was quite good. We ran from Tukwila to Seward park. There was only one hill which I did not even feel until someone said you are almost at the top, and I was like top of what!! Having run the course once helped. From Seward park it was Lake Washington Blvd. Nice cool and in shade. I have run that multiple times and I was overtaking people left and right. It was great!

Then we went on I90 about which I was really excited. That bags both 520 and I90 bridges for me. I was exciting to see Rainier and other mountains around. The excitement was short lived though as I soon realized the full blast of sun on the bridge. It was getting really hot by now. Returning from the bridge we get into a tunnel which was nice and cool. Still looking good. From there we soon reach Qwest Field for the first time. It was around mile 14 and feeling great to be more than half way there.

From Qwest field, we go upto Aurora bridge. This is where I hit a rock and fell and grazed my knee on pavement. Luckily it was not bad and I could get up and keep running the same. By this time there were other aches and pains that knee did not even feel anything. Ran couple of miles till a medical station and got it cleaned. Tried to get a bandaid on, but it won't stay. Now was the really looong rolling hill stretch on Aurora Ave. This stretch was full of rolling hills and there was almost no shade. Definitely the worst park of the course. It was suppose to be beautiful, with views of Puget sound and view from high Aurora bridge. But there was no time to enjoy any of that. By the time we come back to Qwest field, I was really tired. It was already 22+ mile by then so its understandable.

Once back near Qwest field, there was another to and fro stretch. But before starting it, I could see the 26 mile marker, and it was all downhill. This felt great! But there were still 4+ more miles to go. The trip to was difficult but managable as it was mostly downhill. I managed to run it, though much slower. By now everything was hurting and I had decided this is the last full marathon. Then reached the final turn around point and it was about 2 more miles to go. This was definitely a stretch. I could feel that I am really pushing myself. I was focusing on somehow getting to the beginning of the downhill and then it will be done. It was mostly flat to 25 mile marker and I managed to run it. Just after 25, there was a hill. Well, we ran downhill before, so! But it was totally crazy, what sane organizers put hill at 25 mile! I ran walked this one. There was no way I could muster the courage to run it. By this time, definitely close to my edge. If I stopped, I could feel everything revolving. I have no idea what and who was around it. It was pretty much like, keep running, one foot in front of other and you will reach! After runwalking the hill, took my last sip of water and then decided to run the last one mile and finish it off. This was easier as it was mostly flat or downhill and 26 mile marker was visible.

Finally, 26 mile! And then around the block to finish line!

Splits: 5 Km 10 Km 9 mi Half Way 30 Km 24 Mile Finish
Times: 35:14 1:12:43 1:47:03 2:35:29 3:45:35 5:05:05 5:24:04
Pace: 11:21 11:43 11:54 11:52 12:07 12:43 12:22

Saturday - 70 F chance rain

The temperature was Sunny 80F couple of days ago. Then it was 70F and 20% chance of rain. Now its 68F and 20% chance of rain. At this rate after practicing in perfectly sunny weather, we will be running in cold. Thankfully I have done practice runs in 3 different outfits, one for each weather.
4 day to go.....

the hills of Kikland

So today was last practice long run. It was not really long, probably ran close to 6 miles, but it was tough, tiring. I decided to run in Seattle, finally see the neighborhood. Since I am suppose to avoid running on hard surface, I decided to go and run at Bridle Trails State Park. ya, there is a state park smack in the middle of Redmond/Kirkland/Bellevue. Running up the the park was mostly uphill, not very bad. There is a footbrdige to cross 405. The view of Lake and Seattle was awesome from the bridge. I also saw a glimpse of Space Needle. If it was a clear day, view of Olympics would have been great too.

The State Park is really a jungle! As soon as I entered the park, it felt like I am in a jungle, no sign of city anywhere and any momemt a wild animal will jump on my path! Once I reached the proper trail, it was better. The rain from yesterday had made everything very wet. Soon I figured out the different between trail running and street running. Trail, though softer, but still is no level and there are stones, things on the trail which needed to be avoided. Few minutes of running lead to the main entrance and a map. Now I was a bit confused where I was. So I ran in one direction, it did not seem right, the trail was narrow and feeling overgrown. So then I started in the other direction, this also did not feel good. So I gave up, its better to just go out and run on the pavement. While going out, I changed my mind and decided to finish at least one loop. It was looking nice wide trail. That was a mistake. Few minutes on the trail, it climbed steeply. That must have been the hill between 116th and 120th Ave. After the climb, it leveled off and surprisingly I reached the junction of couger and some other trail. First I thought I would take Couger trail as originally planned, its 3.5 mile into the park. But I was feeling claustrophobic by now, surrounded by too many trees. So I decided to just get out of there. That's when panic began! I am lost! Its a labyrinth of trails and with so many trees just cannot figure out where u r. I started in one direction and it did not look right. So I thought lets just retrace your steps.  But then there was a junction and I did not at all remember from which direction I came, everything was looking the same. Finally I chose one way and it looked about right. I was so happy to finally get out of the park!

Next I decided to run down to Kirkland waterfront. Open lake would be a good change. The way from 108th ave down to water is all steep downhill. I cannot believe that we actually live on a hill. Whole of kirkland is a hill! If this city was not there, this would have been a beautiful forest area which we would have been hiking to get to lake washington :). alas! its all been destroyed now. Once reaching the waterfront, I was nice. I ran along the water for a bit. Took a 10 min break near the lake, just relaxing. After that ran all uphill back to the apartment.

better better

As you can see from frequency of blog post that my training has reduced so I suddenly have a LOT of free time at hand. Today finally got back on the treadmill. It felt apprehensively good. Leg was fine mostly. Ran / walked for 30 min. It was good to feel that I can still run! Took extra precaution to warm up for 10 min, then stretch the calf muscles. Then ran for 20 min @5, the normal speed. That did not even come close in intensity to regular workout, but it gave me some more confidence that I can go out and do my 8 mile run tomorrow.
After that to complete the cardio, decided to bike for 20 min. uff! its hard! Whatever doubts I had in my mind about trying STP are totally cleared now.
Hopefully off to 8 miler tomorrow!

getting better

Maybe I am speaking too early, but at least today morning there was almost no pain while walking down to office. Maybe its the shoes, I switched back to my Nike walkers for whole day walking, they are in really old shape now, but I have total trust on Nike now. Maybe its the mustard oil which I have been applying religiously to the foot now. Or its just time and rest, or its fake! Anyhow, I decided not to run again today, so that's 5 days in a row without running. Instead worked out on eliptical, no where close to the usual workout I was getting. The big decision now is what to do with Saturday. I am support to run 8 miles, and I want to run 8 miles but where. Is treadmill any better than road? Where am I going to find non-paved road trail to run on.

Shin Splint!

The thing that most runners dread happened, and I don't want to talk about it.

Its called shin splint, though doctors give it fancier name to scare you even more. Mine is in on the upper part of the leg, mid-way between foot and knee. So I kind of know its weaker and stressed calf muscles, plus wrong footing, I don't know. Its the kind that gets better after you have run a couple of miles as the muscles warm up, and also the kind which comes back once the intense activity is over. I have been running through it for a few weeks now because it always got better in the Sunday. But not this time, less than 2 weeks for marathon, this is the last thing I need. Morale and confidence is at a all time low, even lower than what it was before my first 15 miler. For the first time I can see myself collapsing mid way with a broken leg / muscles / shin or whatever. There is also the doubt that what being out of action for almost 2 weeks will do to my fitness. Tried biking today as its non-weight-bearing thing that you can do, and man! it sucks! I just could not get my heart rate up to normal running aerobic level without killing my legs. I don't think I can do it 2 days in a row. I was sitting there on that stupid bike, watching this other person running away on the treadmill! Oh hell, I even miss the treadmill now. Will give running another shot tomorrow, and then Friday break and then hopefully a 7 - 8 miler on Saturday. Running outside is out of question, so its probably going to be on the treadmill.

13 miler

This week was 13 mile day as part of taper down. I decided to run in Seattle again, close to lake Union. This time the plan was to run it the other way, starting from Lake Wash Blvd to UW. Happy to note that I found the run easy. There were hills and flats, the usual of Seattle. After a 2 mile warm up, hills were not so hard. So I can run 13 miles easily, the real question is if I can still complete the full 26.2 miles!


Here is my route - URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2917188

the hills i hate

or like. I have had this hate - like relationship with hills since I started running. First I obviously hated them. Till I actually started running on absolutely flat grounds of New Jersey. That is when I missed them, and started liking them (note, its not possible to love hills, however hard you try). Hills are "good" change, they suddenly wake you up, you need to start putting more effort and concentration on running, as oppose to running on flat, where after a while its just mindless robotic action of putting one foot in front of other. And there is almost always a nice downhill to look forward to. Not to mention when you are on top of the hill, its a good sense of achievement.
But today the story was different. For whatever reason, it was not a day to run. I started half heartedly, though there was no reason for that. I finally had 8 hours of sleep. I should be up awake and refreshed. Still with every step, I just wanted to go back, call it quits. My left leg had started bothering again. I am sure more than half of the pain was imaginary! At one point, I started walking back, giving myself reasons that I need the rest, I can do this tomorrow, this Saturday is only 13 miles, I can do this on Sunday. Still somehow I managed to reach the start of hill. Good thing is that you start going downhill and then turn back to run uphill. So I managed to go down. Made the first uphill trip. It felt like a mile and I had to stop in between. Made a second trip too. At this point, all doubts were back and I wanted to call it quits. 3 is a good number. Still somehow managed to convince myself that if I did 2 more, I will actually be done with hill training for the week! So somehow I managed the 5 trips up and down the stupid hill.

I hope its better tomorrow.

15 miles

When running downhill becomes harder and more painful than running uphill, then you know you have had it! That was the experience in my last 3 runs of 18, 21 and 20 miles. No so today. Today was an "easy" 15. I wanted to make sure that I find it easy, so that I am not demoralized. So I chose to run the familiar Sammamish River Trail. Its flat, I have been there many times, its familiar ground. The strategy worked. For the first time I ran at a pace faster than 12, I finished my run in 2 hr 50 min as oppose to 3 hrs. I would not say it was easy. Nothing is easy beyond 13 miles. But it was not grueling or painful. I remember my first 15 mile run. After that I was almost dead, I had come home and slept whole day helucinating. This was nothing like that. I was in pretty good shape after the run, and spent rest of the day cleaning the apartment. The only nuisance throughout the run was waterbottle. I hate carrying it in my hand, and it keeps bouncing on the back.

Donation number 1

Now that I have some confidence and feel like I would actually finish the marathon, 50% of the work is done. The next 50% of work to achieve my goal is the actual fund raising. Started sending out e-mails today, and very encouragingly got my first donation within an hour! Googlers just rock when it comes to turn around time :) Still long way to go both in donation and for actual run. Lets just hope and wish that I can make it from start line to finish line!

4 more weeks to go

a 13 mile route for next to next week.
URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2879890

A weekend of perfection

This weekend was a weekend of never ending fun and activity. I still cannot believe that so much can be compressed in 2 & 1/2 days. Summer has arrived and days are getting longer!
It started with awesome sunny Friday. When its sunny outside Seatlites cannot think of anything but going out and enjoying the sun. So that's what we did Friday evening getting off from work early. We went on a short hike to Cedar Butte, 3 miles 900ft. The hike was good, nothing remarkable, but definitely refreshing.

Saturday is running day. It was warm and cloudy, best weather to run. We decided to go to Seward Park and do some running on the actual trail. It was just 2 of us, me and a walker. So I did my run by myself, the way I like it. Most of the run was on Seward Park Ave with its awesome peak-a-boo views of the lake and trees and houses beyond. As expected, the street is also lined with beautiful houses with immaculate lawns and gardens. It was just a very relaxing run. When I reached Seward Park, I was totally blown away by the surrounding beauty. It seemed to good to be true that I was there in that beautiful place, on my own, free and running! So I ran some more.
10:30am - was back at home and had my usual big bowl of milk and cereal.
12:50pm - Saturday is also Salsa day. Though I was a little tired, but I decided to go for the class anyway.
2:15pm - was back from dance class. Activities of the weekend over. So I did some housekeeping work. Finally tried to take a nap and then heard that Harry Potter is on TV @8.
7:50pm - Harry Potter

Sunday - another beautiful sunny day. Took my time to get up.
10:00am - Started doing some cooking for the week etc.
12:00noon - BITSian lunch. Met a bunch of BITSians in Seattle. For the first time in gathering, I was actually the oldest one. But its always fun to meet folks from BITS.
3:00pm - Ended the long lunch. It was at a Italian place afterall. Then we headed over to to get together to decide where to go, how to make the best use of this sunny Sunday.
5:00 - Finally decided to head to Seward Park again. I was anyway totally blown away by its beauty yesterday.
8:00pm - Back to eastside for a home cooked dinner. Perfect end to a perfect weekend.

Final 20 mile

.... before the final 26.2.
This Saturday I ran my last 20 mile of the training. It was a very heartening 20 mile because I ran it with little difficulty. To be modest I would say, its mainly because the last 10 mile was almost flat, running around lake Union.
I started heading towards UW from Montlake bridge. Soon I was on the old Burke-Gilman trail, running the same route I ran for training in 2005. I ran upto Revenna Park, and then Greenlake. At Greenlake, met chuck and other folks from his group. From Greenlake, I was heading towards Golden Garden Beach, via 80th St. If you have ever been on that street, you know its made up of grueling hills after hills. While still in my first 8 mile, I ran those hills with the same zeal as I run the flats of West Lake Sammamish. After every hill, I had a peak-a-boo view of the Olympic mountains. It was just a perfect cloudless day, and I was happy that I started early.
At the end of 80th, I reach a short road that leads me to the windy hill road down to Golden Garden beach. I ran down that nicely, not at all envying the people running up the road. I was over my only hilly stretch and its all a easy cruise from here. After some time, the road becomes narrow with no side walk. So I ran down fast, faster than I have run any downhill and soon realized that its not a good idea, its more taxing on knees and legs than running uphill. So I slowed down and took a set of stairs down till it was safe to run on the road again. I reached the beach easily, very little tiredness till now. The beach was really refreshing. Beautiful view of all sailboats in water, Olympic mountains in horizon. I just wished, I could sit there and spend the afternoon.
But no can do. After lingering enough to get some rest, I started running Seaside Ave towards Lake union. This was the route we took when running the first 10 mile. It seemed so easy now :). Once I reached Ballard, all my excitment of running by the lake vanished. Lake Union must be one of the most.

20 mile route UW - Green Lake - Lake Union

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2861706

Easy 5 miler

I cannot believe how easy 5 mile running is now. Ran a easy 5 mile, though still at a place of 12. Don't know how to improve that speed. This will drop down to 4 mile an hour when getting into mile 20 and 6 hr target would be a problem. My leg is bothering me too, so will have to do something about that, its really disheartening.

An easy 10 mile

This was a easy weekend. I decided to run 10 miles on East Lake Sammamish trail. This was a perfect day for that since most of the trail is in shade. I started off lazily around 7:30. Ran through Marymoor Park and only East Lake Sammamish trail. It a nice gravel trail, I am guessing better for the feet than the hard tar road. 10 mile was quite easy. My right leg and knee has been troubling me though. I probably should put an end to hiking for now, cannot let the knee trouble go into June. The next 2 months are going to be all about running and nothing else.

21 mile weekend

Finally, I crossed the 20 mile barrier and in style with hills! Initially I had decided to drive down to Seward Park in Seattle. From there I could run down and back to Rainier Ave, taking the actual marathon course I ran last weekend, and then run up to Montlake Blvd on Lake Washington Blvd, take the bus and back. Seemed like a reasonable route for first 20 miler. But as it happens, the driving plans fell thru in the morning. It was disappointing, as I was really excited to run that beautiful trail. So I decided, ok, I will take the bus to Montlake and then run down and back to Seward Park. Its about 20 miles with the Madison Ave hill, but that is ok.

So that is what I did. I took the 7:30 545 to go to Seattle. I was on train by 7:50am starting at E Lake Wash Blvd from Montlake bridge. It starts out flat and very soon hits the Arboretum. At that place there is no way to run on Lake Wash Blvd anymore, it has not side walk as it winds down sharply. But there are trails inside Arboretum which I though should just lead me to other side and back on Lake Wash blvd. But within 10 min I was lost in that jungle. There are trails that lead to no where and trails that seem to be going noth whole actually going east. Somehow I ended up on a paved motor road. With no clue as to which direction i should be going to join Lake Wash blvd and also if I join it would there be a way to run on it! So I ask someone walking there, where the hell is LWB! They point me to a direction which looks all wrong! I should be going towards the lake, but this seems to be going away. Maybe I am totally disoriented here. I start the way they tell me and soon its not a flat road anymore, its up and down and down and up (well, not that much, but it seems like that when u r running in doubt). But I keep running and hoping its the right direction and I don't end up at the beginning of LWB again! Then I spot a water fountain and that just helps, at least there is water. I take 2 min rest, refill my bottle. Another 5 min and I see a map. Oh great! bless the soul that bothered to put it there with "You are here" marker. Its clear now that LWB is 500 ft away, what's still not clear is if it has side walk to run on. So I run upto the road, and there is a sidewalk to run on. Awesome.

Now I am at LWB, just couple of miles into my run, its looking nice. Another 10 min of running and I hit Madison Ave. Awesome! Now I know where I am. Cool.

Beyond Madison Ave, LWB starts winding down steeply and there is no sidewalk. So cannot run that way. No problem, I know I can take Madison Ave, and then McGulliver (or sthg like that) and that will take me back to LWB. So I happily head right on Madison Ave. Hmm, there is this huge hill. Oh! the Madison Ave Hill, I know all about it, we used to dread it while training for Seattle half. Still, something is not right. I am suppose to go towards 42nd St and number are decreasing here. So I did the only logical thing I could do, ran up that steep hill to see where is the lake! On top of the hill, I am pretty much dead from the steep uphill run by now, totally demoralized as I am lost in space. I see a waterbody behind me. So that should be the lake. Wait a minute, is that Puget Sound? More confusion! So finally I ask someone on the street, where the hell is that lake! And as feared, I was running in wrong direction, the lake is on the other side, so I climbed that stupid hill for no reason. No worries, its practice and from now on its all downhill. Running back towards LWB, crossing it and heading in right direction this time. And wait, one more hill, so that is the Madison Ave Hil!!!. Anyway, its fine, I know where I am, things are looking good. I am back on Seattle Marathon course and that makes me feel good.

Things are looking familiar now, so I know I am going in right direction. Soon I hit Galer, and all purani yadein aare taza. How we used to run up Galer to practice hills. This time, I am running down it, onto McGuliver blvd. From there is a easy-breezy 8 mile run down to Seward Park. There are minor hills here, but mostly flat along the lake. Running is fun again. As I hit I90, I realize the long way I have come since starting Seattle Marathon 2 years ago. I love the part after I90, its beautiful. Most of the cherry flowers are gone, still there are petals on the road, and shade of trees, its a beautiful sunny day. As I near Seward Park, I am hitting the 11th mile. Things obviously start getting tough now. I feel like turning back, still I want to get there, I have to get there, I have to complete my 20 mile today. So I get there.

At Seward Park I meet Atul. He is also still doing his run. After I stop, talk to him, eat GU, drink water, I have new energy. I am feeling good, a little fatigue, but not much. And well, at this point I only have to run 10 mile back to the bus! I run a little bit into the park as I want to make sure that I am not even 100 meter below 20 mile. I want to run upto 1/2 mile mark to give me that extra buffer, still it seems pointless after a bit and I give up and return.

Run back from Seward Park was uneventful and long. There was one person I overtook and that felt awesome. Once I reached I-90, I had new energy, its not far now another 5 miles max. So I keep running. GU and inertia has kicked in by now and stopping or walking is more painful that running. Back on McGulliver, I feel great. Not far now. I am definitely walking up the hill of Galer to Madison. Now things get fuzzy and dizzy. My legs are really tired and won't let me run anymore. On top of that its hilly, God! send a bus, do something. Nothing happens. There is still the uncertainty of finding my way back from the mess of Arboretum. I see a bench and shade. So I sit down. I am sure I am still at least 4 miles away. So I sit for few minutes, drink some water and then start again. I am at my 17th or 18th mile and things are outright nasty at this point. Even running downhill is a pain. I cannot believe I am doing this, I am still running! Somehow I reach LWB. Ah! bless that sight. There is shade and downhill run. From there Arboretum drive comes really quickly. I have new energy now. I am going to make it! Somehow I cross the road and start running on Arboretum Dr. I refill my bottle on a water fountain and keep running. Soon I find the point where I am suppose to get into the Arboretum, its marked by Japanese Maple sign. I love that sign, I want to hug it and tell it how much it means to me. From here I know that I am trust my direction sense to take me back to LWB, from where I can easily go down to bus stop. And I am right. Once on the trail, it was not hard to find my way out. I was soon running the last 1 mile on LWB headed towards 545 bus stop. It was just awesome! I managed to survive and I knew that at this point if there were 5 more miles to run, I could do it.

A 20 mile route from Seward park to 520

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2804461
This is a 20 mile route starting from Seward Park, one way up to Montlake Blvd bridge (to catch 545 back to Redmond). It covers part of Rock'n'Roll (till I90) and part of Seattle marathon (after I90) course and all of it is really beautiful. The best thing is that its one-way!

20 mile on Lake Wash Blvd

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2790804 + another round of Seward Park.
An out and back path starting from Seward Park. Covers part of Rock'n'Roll course.

18 mile!

Finished a 18 mile run today + 1 mile walk. Went all the way to mile 10 at Sammamish River Trail which is suppose to be the end of it.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/wa/redmond/513124046910459067
Pace was slow, but hopefully it will improve as there are still 8 more weeks. Till 8 mile it was alright, easy coasting. After that it was getting a little difficult. By the time I reached the park which is at 9.5 mile mark, it was tiring. Then I took a break at the park, refill water, eat a GU. Then restarted to reach the 10 mile mark. The small rest definitely helped, and plus the scenic flat route made it easier to cover the distance. Also I noticed that I am running quite slow, close to 13.2 pace as oppose to my regular 12. The actual course has so many hills that I really need to work on speed if I want to finish this in under 6hrs.

The summer of 2009

Summer is still kind of far. But I am here sitting at this All-Hands meeting and planning for summer is best way to kill time. This summer is probably one of the last couple in Seattle, and in US, so a lot needs to be compressed in the short 3 months. And I totally live by moto - Dream big, plan for the best, hope for the best, be prepared for the worst (like breaking hand on a stupid hike).
So what's in store for summer of 2009.

* Enchantments backpack - plans to apply for permit already in place
* St Helens - its time to climb it!
* Mailbox peak
* Granite Mtn
* Half-dome
* Bryce and Zion canyons

And I hope I can finish the season with a trip to Patagonia or Killi!!

Whidbey marathon course map

URL for this route is: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2533538
Could not run this one, but its suppose to be one of the most beautiful marathons. Maybe do the half next year!

Uphill running

So all this running and training and weight lifting seems to be paying off. I can not only call 8 mile an easy 8 miles, yesterday I managed to run the 1/2 miles uphill from my place to 148th in one go, and did not even break a sweat. Ok, so the latter part could be because it was so cold. Last summer when I was doing my hill training here, I could not even cover half that distance before stopping to catch my breath. Running all the way to 148th used to be an achievement in itself. This Wednesday it was an easy run up there, and I no more dread getting up to Grasslawns park.

--
tuls

15 miles!

I ran like 15 miles today! unbelievable! This is the first time I ran over half-marathon distance. The first 12 miles were not easy, but quite doable. The last 3 miles were really hard. I finished it in a good 3hr 15min. The fact that I already had 12 miles behind me just kept me going. I did not want to give up and I made it alive. It was near perfect day to run, temp 10C, perfectly sunny, though a little bit of clouds would have helped.

12 miles

After missing long runs because of snow and vacation, today was time to do 13 miles. The day was cold and very cloudy, suppose to rain. Still it seemed like a good day to run. I started late, 10ish. Immediately outside I could feel a light misty drizzle, a typical of Seattle day. I had to wear a light waterproof jacket, not breathable. I first ran a small 2 miler, and then another 10 miles. First time reached the 5&1/2 mile mark. It was fun, difficult, but not killing.