The Longer Version

I'm back from my retreat - it was wonderful. It was right at the base of Mt. Si, within a few miles of the start/finish of the 50K. This retreat was a two-day meeting for our state organization of Parent Education Coordinators and only the second of meeting of this group that I have attended. I was surprised to be approached last night by an executive board member and asked to serve on the board next year - they said they liked my enthusiasm and willingness to share and embrace new ideas. I feel very honored to be asked in my first year of coordinating. Add that to my good experience in Eugene, and it has been a great few days for me.

I'm a little behind in life right now - work, home and blogging. I'll be getting to everyone's posts in the next few days. Don't worry though - I have my priorities in order: first, race report, second, groceries, third, laundry...

So the long story about Eugene. I'm going to let you read Jenny's post to hear about the drive down and the evening before the race. After Jenny dropped me back at the hotel, I spent sometime working on my feet. First, I soaked in Epsom salts - which I had been doing twice a day all week. After my feet dried out, I made two doughnuts from moleskin - one for the ball of my right foot where I caused injury to the new skin on my Friday night test run, and one for the injured second toe of my right foot. I was feeling very nervous about both. Then I kind of puttered around, getting my food ready (when you run as long as I do, you pretty much pack lunch), pinning my bib to my fuel belt and getting the chip on my shoe. I really missed having Eric there to chat with during the race prep. He called about 9:00 and said they were in town - he was going to drop Rob off, then be over. He got a little lost though, so it was closer to 10:00 by the time he rolled in. I was tired and grouchy by then, yet Eric, the 50 mile runner, was cheery. Poor guy. I went to bed while he worked on his pre-race prep. Not my best wifely moment - sorry honey!

We were up and getting ready at 4:30 the next morning. (And I was restored to my usual morning self (please note I did not say "cheerful morning self" - that takes a while)). I put on my Injinji's and shoes - they felt tight and uncomfortable. I took them off and added a band-aid over the moleskin. Tried again - it was worse. Took the band-aid off and figured I'd live with it as it was. The good news is, within 10 minutes or so everything settled down and my foot felt okay. We got to the parking lot in time to catch the first bus to the start. We waited at the corner for the rest of the gang - they started trickling in and the fun began. We fought our way back through the crowds to the potty lines - we had 20 minutes to the start and were worried if we'd make it through the lines. We did with about five minutes to spare. Melissa, Michelle and I found the 5:30 pace group and fell in behind them. I ran over to Mike and Frank to hand off my coat. Then we waited for the start. Judging by the clock time compared to chip time, it took us almost five minutes to cross the start mat.

We started off well, and enjoyed the first few miles. Michelle and Melissa ducked into a park to hit the restrooms - it was almost a walk break, so I said I'd keep going and they would catch up. Imagine my surprise when I went through a walk-run-walk cycle and was two minutes into the next run before they caught me! About mile five, Michelle decided to go off on her own. I've been encouraging Melissa to leave me and go out alone, because I know she has speed in her, but she said she was going to wait till the last five miles or so. We saw Mike and Frank on the side and got to shed a little clothing and leave it with them. I forgot that my gloves were tucked into my waist band - which would come back to bite me later. Eugene had great support from the town - everywhere we went residents were on the street cheering us on, holding up signs, playing music and some even had food and water stations for us. I think the whole town truly got behind the race.

I took my one-and-only restroom break about mile 12. This is where forgetting the gloves tucked into my shorts comes in. It was a dry and sunny day in Eugene, but for some reason, the floor of the porta-potty was...wet. Right under that little thing hanging on the wall. The forgotten gloves fell out of my waistband and landed right in the puddle. I was thoroughly grossed out and disgusted. But they were my best gloves, and I sure wasn't going to leave them... I picked them up by the very edge and jammed them into the net side pocket of my fuel belt, feeling yukked out by the whole thing. And the worst thing is...there they stayed till today, when I finally remembered...

About mile 12 Melissa said she was thinking of leaving me at 13. Once we passed the half mark, I tried to get her to go, but she said she needed a "good-bye" picture. A short while later, I asked a guy on the side of the trail to take our picture, and then encouraged Melissa to leave. She wasn't going, so I slowed down - and she slowed down with me. I laughed and told her I was trying to give her the chance to pull away. I went into my Mom-mode and gave her a little pep-talk (I bet she is laughing at this whole description) and finally, at mile 14 when I took my walk break, she continued without me. It wasn't long before she was out of sight. This was new territory for both of us. I have had someone with me on every long run and every marathon and both ultras I have done in the last year. I was a little worried myself - worried I'd slack off, walk too much, give up or hate it. Luckily, none of that happened. I discovered that little voice in my head - it said things like: "10 more miles? That's a Saturday morning run with the gang, oh, 8 more miles? You've done that with Rick and Rob - with the hill run tacked on, oh, four more miles - that's an easy run"...It also said things like "two more minutes to the walk break - you can do anything for two minutes". I've discovered that every time I take an s-cap or eat something, I feel a little queasy - but it will pass in about five minutes. The voice reminded me of that too. I kind of enjoyed the quiet, and enjoyed the other runners around me.

Two high points: one was the chalk message on the sidewalk "Go Maniacs Rob Michelle Eric" - I don't know who wrote it, but I think I grinned for the next two miles over that one. The second was Bob Dolphin. Bob is the 77-or-so-year-old race director of the Yakima River Canyon Marathon, and has run over 400 marathons. Needless to say, he is a Maniac and was wearing the yellow jersey. When I passed him he was walking - I said something like "you're doing good Bob" as I went by. A couple miles later I hear a bellow "Watch out - Maniac coming through" and Bob runs by me - arms out to the side, a slap on my shoulder as he goes by and a big grin. He's a tall guy and looked like a great blue heron loping down the trail with his wings out. I laughed out loud and got a real boost from that one.

(See the wheelchair behind me? That's Mike - talk about dedicated race support!)

Anyway, you know the rest of the story. I finished in 5:29:30 - compared to 5:31:58 in Yakima. Not a huge PR, but not bad considering the 50K the previous Sunday. This was supposed to be my big week and big accomplishment - two weekend's back to back. But if you look at the sidebar...or if you read Eric's blog...you'll notice that we (Eric and I) slipped another marathon into the schedule. So now my big challenge is four back-to-back weekends, which, by the way, will put me at four Maniac stars. And there I will probably stay - looking at the criteria for everything above that...those people are nuts!