St Patrick's Day 10k Race Report

 Kadena holds a St Patrick's Race in Mach.  They do a 5k, 10k and half marathon. Marian and I signed up to do the 10k.  It was held on March 14.... Pie Day!

I was thrilled to pick up my race packet and discover my number was 314!!  How appropriate for Pi Day!  Delaney added the pi symbol for me.

It was a gross and rainy morning.  I would not normally run in that sort of weather- I hate having squishy, wet shoes!  But we had a race, so off we went.  This is our pre-race selfie as we huddled under the trees. 

Official race photographer took this and I swiped it from the FB page.  

The race was awesome for the first half.... because it was pretty much 3 miles of downhill.  That really really stunk when we turned around and had to then run back up the hills.  It was pretty brutal.  But we did not walk and we finished, and it was a good race.  Marian finished about 5-10 seconds faster than me because she ha more sprint left at the end!

We had hoped to be faster, but those awful hills killed us.  Still happy with the time though!

Ragnar!!

 Dan and I both ran the Ragnar this year.  I had so much fun last year, I really really really wanted to do it again.  I was disappointed that the rest of my cousins didn't come back and do it again, but we still had a fun team.  And a much faster one!

Dan and I had an incredibly long and complicated journey to get there.We left Portland around 11:30 on Thursday July 17.  Traffic up to Seattle was horrid.  We dropped the dog off at his doggie sitter at 3:30.  (Levi will stay there will we fly back to Seattle and we'll pick him up just before we fly over to Japan. Trust me, this was the simplest solution!)

We then drove to Everett base and parked the van.  We took a taxi to the ferry station and caught the 6:30 ferry over to Whidbey Island.  (Yes, a taxi was better than waiting eternity to drive on the ferry.) Cousin Heidi picked us up on the other side and we headed to her house.  She thoughtfully kicked her kids out of their room and Dan and I stayed the night there.  We were up at 6am to drive over to meet up with the rest of the team and to drive to the Canadian Border  Our race started at the very last freeway exit before Canada.  Our start time was 9:30.  We arrived in time, checked in, got our goody bag, and did our safety brief and got all ready.  We sent our first runner off and the race had begun!!

It was crazy and fun!  It was kind of nice to do it with Dan too.  He enjoyed this one much more than his first (Ultra!) Ragnar experience.  He was runner #5 and I was #6.  I did the same legs I did last year, which I liked.  Mine were 6.5 miles, 5.5 miles and 2.5 miles.  I did not feel like I had put in the training on the long miles as much as I should have, but my stupid foot still hurts, so I wasn't quite as prepared as I wanted to be.  I started my first run a little after 2pm and it was a hot, sunny afternoon.  I did 6.54 miles in 1:05:13, which I was quite pleased with, especially since I spent 5 minutes of that waiting at an incredibly long light.

When I finished, our van was done, while Van 2 ran their part.  They were a lot faster and we only had about 4 hours of down time.  We spent that going out to lunch (Red Robin) and then relaxing the gym at the next main exchange.  I did not bother to shower, but lay down.  I couldn't sleep, but it was nice to rest. Dan took the shower before resting.

We kicked off  the second leg about 7:30pm.  I was smarter this year.  I had a headlight that clipped onto my hat.  Last year the headlamp was incredibly annoying and uncomfortable after a couple miles.  The clip on with the hat was perfect and I didn't feel it at all.  It may not have been as bright, but it worked nicely.  My night run  started at 10:30, I think. It went pretty well.  It was chilly.  It had been misting and drizzling slightly, but not enough to make it miserable to run in.  The wet weather stopped by my run and I warmed up quickly.  I was glad I packed my mp3 with audiobook, as it got quite boring for me and I was losing motivation.  With my audiobook, I found a nice rhythm and was satisfied with my time of 58:20:30.  We headed back to Heidi's house after that for some shut-eye.  I debated the shower, but decided spending 15 minutes getting clean and then sleeping on wet hair wasn't worth it.  So I just went to bed, all gross and nasty, yes, I did.  I only had 2 or so hours.  The depressing thing is that Van 2 was running slower than anticipated and we could have had another hour of sleep.  Ah, well.  We'd gotten up to be ready for a 4:45am departure, but didn't actually need to be there till a bit later.

We drove back to the big exchange and started our third leg around 6:30 in the morning. My right heel was really sore, and I was a little concerned about it.  It had been pretty painful for most of my second run, but my third leg was only 2.5 miles, so I figured, even if it hurt, I'd get it done.  We had a good time.  Mandy cranked up the music, we did some cheering, we busted out the sidewalk chalk for motivational messages for our runners, and enjoyed the near-doneness.

I started my last leg around 9:30 and yep, my heel really hurt. I hobbled along a bit and finally decided it wasn't going to get better, so suck it up and go faster.  I surprised myself my running my fastest time.  My legs just got into a rhythm and I let them go.  That and the guy in front of me was motivating me to go fast enough to pass him.  And I did.  Then I had to stay ahead of him.  And I did!

Ragnar has an awesome pace projector based on the time you give as your average pace.  They had been pretty close to what we actually did in our van, since we'd been pretty honest and I know I gave myself an additional 10 seconds per mile on my pace.  Ragnar adds in factors like hills and stuff and comes up with how long they think it will take you to run your leg.  They guestimated 30 minutes for my final 2.5 miles.  My van went with that number, which I also expected.  However, I was feeling so great, I knocked it out in 23 minutes and got to the exchange to see.... no one from either van.  Van 2 was napping and didn't get there till exactly when they thought I would be there, and my van never passed me and stopped a bit before the exchange, to cheer me on- but I'd already finished.  So I wandered around for 7 minutes waiting for someone to give my slap-bracelet to!  Oops.

And then I was done!  We made the trek back to Heidi's house and I did get an awesome shower.  I had time to rearrange my bags and sort through my gear before we left.  Heidi stopped by the awesome ice cream place and I got my coveted cone of deliciousness and I was happy.  Very happy.  Unfortunately, Van 2 was erratic in their projections of when they would finish the race and they raced across the finish line 15 minutes before we got there.  Oops!  We went ahead and did a re-enactment and then got our official photos and medals and pizza.   We officially finished around 2:45pm on Saturday.

So, stats....
There were 504 teams in the race.
We were 155 out of those 504 teams.
 We were in the "mixed open" category, meaning we had both men and women on the team.
There were 333 mixed teams and we were 96th out of that.
 The fastest team overall ran 196 miles in 21:53:02
Our team ran it in 29:14:18, nearly 7 1/2 hours longer.
(Slowest team was 38:38:52, but they finished so they still rock!)

Anyway, after the race and grand finale, Dan and I had no desire to hang around.  We had to get back Portland!  Heidi drove us back to the ferry, where we bypassed the 2 hour wait for cars, and we walked on.  We got a cab back to our van and hit the road back to Portland.  Thank goodness we had much better traffic and we made it to Adam and Savannah's before 10pm.  Hooray! The kids had a marvelous time in our absence.  As Callie told me with a huge grin, "Uncle Adam is AWESOME!"  And "They are awesome parents."

And then I fell into bed and went to sleep.  The end.
Oh, except for pictures.

 This was the van.  We need to find some more Narwhal -themed stuff!

Lani, our first runner, looking cool and relaxed.

First hand-off at the first exchange.  Lani is handing off to Mandy.

One of my favorite teams was "Buns on the Run" and they each wore a set of buns on their runs.  It was awesome and hilarious!

The  "Juragnar Park" team had these inflatable dinos they would run with.  Here, the rest of the team is making a dino bridge for their runner to run under.  It was cute.

We were also highly motivating!  Yeah, we had a Narwhal mask and we used it!  

(Okay, if you check amazon, it is a "narwhalicorn" mask and it was awesome!

 I thought this was the greatest picture!  This is Mandy, running her first leg.

Narwhal selfie of me and Dan!

I took this narwhal selfie on the beach, cuz we were there!

Scot was runner #3.  Mandy is his mom.  And he is 15.  Oh, and he totally rocked his runs!

Cousin Heidi, heading down the homestretch of her first leg!

Dan was runner #5, and he was excited.  Mostly!

Mandy, sporting the hot night gear.

This was awesome.  For his third leg, which was comparatively short, Scot wore this awesome wig. His mom was the runner just before him.  She nearly ran right by him, because she didn't recognize him with the hair! 

Ragnarwhals on the loose!

I love that Heidi is smiling in every photo.  She is awesome.

Most motivating picture of the race.  Heidi's third leg is a miserable 8 miles of brutal hills, but it goes right by her house.  Her kids came out to cheer her on and run to the finish with her.  Seriously, how do you NOT tear up at this?!

Scot, representing.

The mask was a lot of fun and there were a lot of people who commented on it and our shirt.  

It was great!

 And here Dan is, handing the slap-bracelet off to me, for my final leg. His distances were 5, 8 and 4.5 miles and he was happy with his times.

In case you missed it before, I ran 7 minutes faster than the projected 30 minutes and beat my team to the exchange.  So no pictures of my triumphal finish. (sad sad face.)

Our group photo at the end.  Yeah, we look good!

This is how I feel abut the race and getting my medal!

And now, I will show you some pix of some of the fun stuff the other teams had.

The Dino-weilding group made this awesome sign for their team.

 We saw this van in most of the same exchanges.   The Mortal Wombats.... hee hee hee!

This was a fun team  "For Whom the Cowbell Tolls".  They clanged bells and that was pretty fun.

What a great name. I love it!

This was the team called "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" and while their name may have been questionable in the tasteful department, they were a super fun group.  They sang and danced and cheered.  And I really want a giant pointer like the driver has.  An inflatable hobby horse is nice, but a giant pointer.... way cool.

Yeah, I ran that!

6 pm Saturday was the Crescent City Connection Bridge race.  It is the main bridge into New Orleans from the Westbank and the most well known. The race was a 4 miler and I was really excited about it.  Why 6pm in June?  I do not know.  

I do know that it was 92 degrees.  I do know that the humidity was a brutal 85% and the sun was burning me to a crisp.  In case you haven't already guessed, this was an awful run for me.  I had hydrated well throughout the day, because I'm good like that.  I know I had a solid 80 oz of water in me before I left for the race.  But that run still kicked my bum.

It wasn't a bad start, but a mile in, I knew it was not going to go well for me.  I made it to a mile and a half and walked.  I walked and ran the rest of the race, and it was ugly.  I was so overheated, despite having done everything I could to keep that from happening. I had my salt stick (electrolyte replacement) capsules and took one 2 miles in and the other at the end.  I still ended up with a massive headache.  It was the yuckiest run I think I have ever had.  It was a fail for me.  Okay, not a total fail.  I finished!  It just took me 50:13 to run/walk 4.13 miles.  And I felt horrid.  But I finished it and I finished on my feet. 

Half a mile in, and we're approaching the carpool on-ranp for the bridge.  I liked the flag there.

Me, totally dying and miserably hot, a mile into the race.  Yeah, it was ugly and I really was that red.

The west-bound bridge.  We ran on the carpool lane of the eastbound bridge.

The "I was there" selfie.  I was too hot and miserable to even try to smile.

Nola skyline.  See the Superdome?  Or, as my kids like to call it, the "Mega-Pie"!

Wheee, I'm going downhill, I'm having fun, really, I am.... (I'm totally not, but I'm faking it.)

The finish is in sight  I'm almost done! 

The bridge I just ran across, with celebratory red, white and blue water spraying from the boat.

Hee hee hee, I crack myself up!

The Great Huey P Long Bridge Race

I may have mentioned that there is a 3 bridge race series, where you can race over the 3 bridges that span the Mississippi River.  I ran the St Charles Bridge last month and really enjoyed the 10k.  This month was the Huey P. Long Bridge 5k.  I had wanted to run it, but none of my friends signed up for it and I didn't want to do it alone.  Plus, we had 2 extra kids hanging around and I felt guilt at the thought of asking Dan to handle things while I went racing.

At the last minute, some ladies in my running group decided to run it.  Dan encouraged me to join them.  Isn't he the best?!!  I paid my $35 and I was in!

Sadly, I have zero photos.  My lovely, easy-to-hold camera that I usually use in races is the self same camera that  got lost in the mud pit at the Warrior Dash.  So I was camera-less and sad about that.  There was a delightful couple we met in the parking lot and my friend Andie asked if they would take a photo.  It was dang funny.  The wife aid, "Only if I can be in it!" and she was serious!

The race started on the west bank and you ran just about a mile before you reached the on ramp.  Then it was a mile up, and a mile down.  Somehow, this uphill felt harder than the last bridge I ran!  And I could not get much speed on the downhill.  It was a little disappointing for me.  I was slower than I thought I would be, but not horribly so.

I clocked a time of 30:58 for 3.14 miles.  I was 439 out of 1228 total runners.  (The winner did it in 16:10).  I was 29th in my age category, but I don't know how many there were in the 35-40 age group. My friend Andie won the 40-45 ladies category, which was pretty cool!

This race had no medal.  The finisher's prize was a class.  I think they called it a lager glass?  you could take it and get it filled with beer.  The after party was smooshed in to an area way too small for all those people, and I had zero desire to wait in a lengthy line for jambalaya, and even less to wait for beer.  So I headed home.

It was a good race.  It was on my bucket list, and I'm glad I did it. It wasn't stellar in any way, other than it was a bridge across the MS River.  Would I do it again?  Only if I was trying to run all 3 bridges in the season, and if my friends were going.  I wouldn't do it just for myself, by myself.

(The third bridge in the series is the one I am saddest to miss again this year- the Crescent City Connection.  It is in June, after we move away.)

Warrior Dash .... The Second Annual Family Event

So, the catalyst for the family get-together was the Warrior Dash.  We had a great time last year and wanted to do it again.  We were suppose to have 6 of us:  Me, Miranda, her hubby, Dad, Andy and his daughter, Katie.  Andy dropped out due to a scout camp out conflict, so we were down to 5.  But what a 5!  A fabulous Five!

We ran in the Jackson, Mississippi Warrior Dash on Saturday April 26. We had originally planned for a cheering squad but my mom didn't feel comfortable ditching Kera with all the kids (who are mostly under the age of 8!), so she abandoned us instead.  It was a good thing.  The race was great, but the parking situation left a LOT to be desired.  We were parked at 8:15, but then had to take a shuttle bus, and we had to walk the last 3/4 mile to the event start.  It would not have been good for my mom to try to wrangle a couple small children through that.  So it worked out well for everyone that she stayed home.

Due to the hassle of getting to the start, we did not get on course till 9:25, and thus missed out official 9:30 start.  This race they did not time.  No record keeping at all, which was mildly disappointing.  But it also meant they were lax about start times.  We slid into the 9:45 group, and off we went!

This race was tougher.  More hills, more mud, more slick ground, harder obstacles.  I thought.  It was great to run it with Dad, Katie, Miranda and Dan though!  Partly because Dan ran in full Gladiator costume, and partly because it made good conversation and was nice to have helping hands.  The mud was unbelievable!  There was lots of it, and the parts where they wanted it, it was thick, deep, and sucked you in.  I had a bit of panic when I realized there was a distinct possibility I might not get my leg back.

I have a sad tale as well.  Last year, I brought my water proof camera.  It was cracked, so it took pictures till I submerged it, and then it died. I got the photos, but lost the camera.  This year I thought I was prepared.  I wore a skort with a drawstring so I wouldn't lose my pants this year.  I made sure I had a good pocket for the camera, and I thought I was good to go.  Sadly, I was not.  I lost the camera on the 20 foot waterslide.  The swoosh into the chest deep mud and water popped the camera out of my pocket and it was lost.  Since the water was chest deep and the bottom 3" was mud, I'm pretty sure it will be dug up as a fossil in 300 years.  I'm so sad I lost it, because I had taken a lot of pictures.  Thank goodness for Dan!  He took a bunch of pictures, and his camera had better quality ones.  And he shared.  So all photos are by Dan and Miranda and I am eternally grateful that they documented this awesome occasion!

For anyone ever planning to run a Dash, be warned, they do NOT provide a cleaning off station.  They provide a pond.  Possibly a muddy pond. For the pleasure of running, you get muddy.  You get an awesome medal.  You get a cool warrior hat and shirt.  And you get bragging rights, a collection of bruises, and some awesomely sore muscles.

Fresh, clean and ready to run!

Katie, Miranda and Dan.  Love these guys!

Me, my dad and Katie.

The first obstacle.  Climbing was easy.  Getting over the lip at the top put my legs in a stretch they haven't done in decades.

Crawling under barb wire.

Note the thigh deep mud.  This is where I nearly couldn't get out.  It is thick and feels like cement once you put your foot in it.  Note I'm trying to grab Katie, who is trying to grab Miranda, and my dad is just trying to keep his feet moving. It was tough!

MORE mud.  And do you see how deep it is?!

This was my favorite one.  I felt all cool as I ran up and then pulled myself up with the rope.

I feel victorious!  The cameraman asked Dan to go back down and do it again so he could get a photo of him.  Everyone loves a gladiator!

Feeling awesome right now!

Rocking the cape. I so want one.

This was nasty.  The mud wasn't so horrid.  Trying to climb up the 10 foot wall of it was.  I'm not sure you could even do that without help.  This is when a group comes in handy.  We boosted, shoved and pulled each other up, and the last man standing had help from random fellow racers.  

When you got to the top, you had to slide back down 10 feet into this, and climb up the other side.  This part wasn't quite so bad.  Having perpetually muddy hands was.  Dan is rinsing his hands off in that water.

Emerging from the mud tunnel. Again, check out the nearly knee deep mud.

Look at me!  I'm going up the cargo net!  And Dad's bum is photobombing.

This was my nemesis.  I'm afraid of heights, so I have been practicing my balancing. Thankfully, this year, they had the ropes to hold onto.  If you look, you can see me slow breathing through it.

And then the big slide where I lost my camera.  Weeeeeeee!

If you look, you can see Katie catching air.  She's in the red/brown shirt.  The muddy water was chest deep and kind of cold and there was no escape from the mud.

No pix of the leap over fire, but here we are after the low crawl under barb wire through the mud pit. It was incredibly muddy mud and it coated you quite thoroughly.

Hail the conquering warriors! This is us, pre-pond soak.

Would I do it again?  Absolutely!  Every year if I had a crew like this to do it with!