Running Journey

Kevin's Cup 8K Race Report

I had the pleasure bittersweet memory of running the Kevin's Cup 8K 9.5K race this morning in West Linn, OR.  Unfortunately, Friday night saw the coldest overnight low temperature we have had here since last winter.  Somewhere around 30 degrees by my reckoning. My estimate was a temp at race start of 32 chilly degrees.  Brr!!  When I first got out of my car to grab my bib and pint glass I almost turned around and went home.  Yes I am that much of a cold wimp!  I was bundled up from head to two with gloves, hat - the works.  I froze up pretty fast and even my feet went a bit numb - so I spent most of the time until the race in the comfort of my car keeping my muscles warm.

We were off and running just after 10AM.  The first flat-ish loop back through the start/finish area had me lung screaming in pain. My body parts were all numb and my longs were pissed.  They actually hurt as I took in each breathe.  Seriously - who likes running in these temps??  In contrast I saw a pic Billy posted on Facebook just before the start of the race of a gorgeous day in Santa Barbara and a status update from Sarah (also in Portland) about how it was a gorgeous day for a run.  If by gorgeous you mean it wasn't also dropping freezing rain on me - then yes okay - I'll buy that.  It's all relative I guess!!

After our first loop we went down to the "fun" part of the course.  I was a bit frustrated barreling down the single track as I got hung up behind people practically walking.  People that beat me probably but that don't know how to run downhill very well.  We emerged from this section onto the beach where we had to leap a creek and go uphill on the other side.  The group in front of my stopping and did standing leaps while I kept going.  Only problem is that I ran into the group in front of me and almost went tumbling back into the creek.  Keep it moving people! :)  From here we had beautiful views of the Willamette River as we ran along the banks and through fields of rocks.  Again, with lots of people walking and me dodging around them.  Not long after this section we hit out first hill.  Short, but pretty much straight up.  20+ degrees I'm guessing.  After that we climbed a section of stairs, another short hill (all the hills were fairly short but SUPER steep).  I was feeling pretty good at this point and still hoping to break 60 minutes.  I was warmed up but also still had numb body parts if that makes any sense.  My face was frozen!  If the sun had not been out it would have been a truly miserable experience.  Thank you sun!

As I passed through the start/finish are for my last loop, the winners were flying across the line.  That's always encouraging when you get lapped!  On my way down to the beach this time I had pretty smooth sailing so that was nice.  I started to struggle on this last lap and pushed it hard.  I felt like I was going to throw up for most of it so I knew I was pushing about as hard as I could :)  Somehow I managed to pass about 5 people in the last half mile which was slightly downhill and I couldn't even stand after I crossed the line in 1:07.  Not my goal but as good of a race as I could have done today.

Hopefully I won't be in chilly Oregon next November but if I were, I would definitely run this race again.  My only complaint is the water situation which was zero on the course and they were out of cups by the time I finished so I couldn't even get any after I was done.  It would have been pretty easy to have a few more cups and set up a table as you pass by the start/finish area so you can hydrate.  Pushing hard for an hour with no water isn't a whole lot of fun!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

This is not the droid you are looking for

Saturday I meandered into my local Verizon store to get an up-close look at the new Motorolla Droid phone.  While I was there, I also took a gander at the HTC Eris.  After I fought through the lines (waiting for the two people in front of me), I checked out the Droid first. 

My first thought - ugly!  Yes this DOES matter in a cell phone, and not just for girls from what I'm reading online in the reviews.  Second thought - gorgeous, clear, and large touch screen. Arguablly better looking than the iPhone screen (as the guy next to me with an iPhone said)  The phone was a little tricky to navigate at first but I picked up on it pretty fast.  There is no "Pinch" feature to zoom in on web pages and/or pictures.  You also have to scroll through your photo album with buttons and don't have the ability to drag the screen to see your next picture.  iPhone killer?  I think not.  I do like that the camera has a flash, separate processors for voice and data, and google voice with navigation.  Say "Bar" to your phone and it will quickly come up with a list of the nearest bars to your current location.  Click on one and away you go.  You might have to throw out your regular GPS in your car if you pick up this phone.  That being said, I was disappointed in the ugly design of this phone.  The pull-out keyboard is very flat and not super user friend.  It is very thin though.  The on-screen qwerty is not very usable in vertical mode (too small) but not bad in horizontal mode.  I never have been a fan of Motorolla and the Droid is just one more nail in their long buried coffin in my mind.  But WOW - cool videos on the Verizon site.  Nice marketing Verizon/Google!

I actually liked the cheaper HTC Eris better in many regards.  The interface was easier to use, the phone had a more sexy look, and it included the pinch and drag functions familiar to iPhone users.  Aside from not really have the money to drop on a new phone right now, the reasons I did not buy this phone is the screen is only 3.2" (vs. 3.7" on the Droid) and it does not include google voice or the newer version of the Android operating system.  Still - not a bad phone and if Verizon doesn't come out with their rumored HTC Passion (think Eris but bigger, beefier, better screen, new operating system) in the next few weeks then I may opt for the Eris.  After all, my current phone does like to shut itself off at random, among other things and my "new in two" has been up for a couple weeks.

In running news I managed to run run 5 Yasso 800s yesterday @ 6.7-6.9MPH (8:40-9:00 pace).  I separated them by jogging 3-3.5 minutes between @ 4.5MPH.  Felt good!  I even ran almost half of the last interval @ 7.0MPH.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

The Wallflowers

Last night I went to go do my Yasso 800s at our gym.  It was closed at 7:30PM.  WTF?  It is supposed to be 24 hours but it was locked up.  That reminds me I need to call management and complain :)  Christina offered to go on a run outside with me in the dark.  It was raining hard.  We grabbed Tobey and went out for 2.3 miles.  It was slightly warm at first but we quickly got cold with the wind and dropping temps (48ish + strong winds).  We ran the 2.3 miles in 22 minutes.  She's pretty fast for not running all that much!  I couldn't find a working headlamp so one section near the end was a bit rough on the paved path that had buckled in several places.  No one tripped fortunately!

The weather is changing for sure and over the weekend there will be several feet of snow at the 3000-4000' level.  Not so good for mountain running but good for the ski and snowboard season.

I came across this song recently.  I like the Wallflowers and while most of you have probably heard "One Headlight" you probably haven't heard this one:

10ish more months baby!!