Saturday Night Skyline Run

AM: 30 mins. core/yoga
10 mins. stretching
PM: 46 mins. (6 miles)

Whether due to New Year's resolutions, an influx of gift cards, or some other unrelated cause, business was booming at Run For Your Life this afternoon. We were packed with customers well past closing time, which meant I didn't get out the door until after 5:30. Normally I wouldn't mind, but I'd hoped to both run and go feed Coach Simmons' dogs (whom I'm watching all weekend while he's out of town), as well as shower and clean up the apartment a bit before some of our friends came over at 7:30. With less than two hours to accomplish all that, there wasn't any time to waste, so I decided to combine the first two duties by running over to Simmons' house to give Jackie and Sidney their tasty dinners. Despite having already run over 15 miles on the day, Jordan was game to come along, so 10 minutes later we were bundled up and headed out the door.

The run took us through the usual territory, running to the end of Freedom Park before crossing East and continuing down Kings to our destination. Despite my familiarity with our surroundings, it was a bit disconcerting to run through Freedom Park in the almost pitch darkness. Not that Jordan would've been able to fend off any attackers (in fact, he'd be more likely to outrun them and leave me behind), but I was pretty glad to have him along. As a reward for our sense of adventure, we were treated to a spectacular view of the downtown skyline with lights ablaze. Not something you see on a morning run (unless you go as early as Jordan did this week). The doggies were happy to see us when we arrived at our halfway point, and after a few minutes thawing out indoors we were retracing our steps home. In an impressive burst of productivity, I managed to accomplish all my goals with time to spare before our guests came. Not too shabby.


Uptown skyline view

Oh, and I can't believe it's taken me this long to mention it, but my leg felt great! More or less completely normal on tonight's run. I guess whatever I'm doing is working, so let's keep our fingers crossed that this positive trend continues.

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Hood to Coast: Second Leg, or "In the Still of the Night"

~2 min. w/u
6.06 miles @ 39:35 (~6:35 pace)
~8 min. c/d
Total: 8 miles
Course map

After a fitful two-hour nap, our van rolled into downtown Portland around 2am to make the second exchange with Van 2. I was groggy, stiff, and completely uninterested in running any time in the near future. Unfortunately, Tara only had a four mile leg and then it was my turn again. At this point it was obviously pitch black and quite chilly outside, so I probably should've taken a longer warm up, but honestly I was just not in the mood. I took off from the outskirts of downtown Portland and ran through the streets of an industrial area pretty much the entire way. Had this run taken place in daylight it wouldn't have been described as scenic, but at 3am I didn't really care that much. I was just grateful that the streets were well lit and the footing was even, because I needed all the help I could get at that point. The darkness deceives you into thinking you're moving at a faster rate than you actually are, so while I felt like I was flying I was actually plodding along at a fairly pedestrian pace. Unlike my first leg, I actually saw a few other runners on this route, and passed 4-5 people along the way. My legs grew heavy toward the end and all I could focus on was grinding it out and handing off the bracelet to Alex as soon as possible. After I finally reached my destination and made it through the transition zone, I jogged down the road a bit to cool down before the van picked me up. I was now 2/3 of the way done and had nothing to do but play the waiting game for another six hours.

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Hood to Coast: First Leg, or "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain"

~5 min w/u
5.67 miles @ 33:30 (~5:52 pace)
~5 min c/d
Total: 7 miles
Course map


Van 1 teammates at Brooks headquarters before our journey
L to R: Liz, Rick, Alex, Bri, Tara, me

After a traffic-intensive drive from Seattle to Portland, we arrived at the top of Mt. Hood around 6:30 pm. What a breathtaking view! Since I was in Van 2 last year (which doesn't go to the start of the race), this was my first time to journey to the top of the mountain and witness our team's sendoff. Through a combination of predicted time and lottery, we literally were among the final 7-8 teams to start the race, and our Hood to Coast experience kicked off at exactly 7:45pm. Tara Schwager, one of our customer service girls, ran the first leg and would hand off to me after about six miles. I would then continue down the mountain (literally) for another ~6 before handing off to a guy named Alex who works at our outlet store in Bothell. He handed off to Bri (customer service), who passed to Rick (sales VP), who passed to Liz (apparel sales), who then handed off to the first person on Van 2. Such would be the rotation throughout the entire race.


The ladies of Van 1 at the start: Liz, Bri, myself, Tara

By the time I got the baton (read: slap bracelet) circa 8:30, daylight was waning rapidly. Though temperatures were in the upper 50s at this point, the humidity was rather high and I worked up a sweat pretty quickly. Race rules mandated that each of us wear a reflective vest and carry a flashlight during the night runs, and I was glad to have both as I weaved down the mountain around hairpin turns amid relatively heavy traffic. Everyone had warned me to neither push nor hold back on this leg, but rather to let the mountain carry me in hopes of preserving my quads for the next two legs. I tried to take this advice and concentrated on maintaining relaxed breathing and a comfortable stride. I also opted to wear a heavier shoe instead of a racing flat on this leg, which proved to be a wise decision. I've never run downhill for six miles straight before and it was definitely a strange feeling. It would've taken a tremendous effort to stop my downward propulsion; fortunately I didn't trip or stub a toe or anything because it would've been all over.


Van 1 at the start line

When I handed off to Alex at the next exchange I was shocked to see my split. If only running 5:50 pace could feel that effortless all the time! I jogged around for a few minutes and immediately popped an ibuprofen to prevent some soreness in my quads, but I could tell almost immediately that I was pretty toasted. At this point it was time to rest, hydrate and refuel for approximately six hours before my next run. I was just hoping to still be able to walk by then. Remind me again why I signed up for this??

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