A Little of This, A Little of That

Whew! Last week the temperatures dropped and I had three great runs in a row! I ran slow - over a 12 minute mile, and up until Saturday morning, stuck to the 4/1 run/walk. Saturday I bumped the timer up to a 9/1 and finished my run with energy to spare - yay! Hopefully, my pace will improve over the next few weeks. I find it amazing that having the temps right around 50 can make such a difference to me. Much higher than that and I start to have difficulties. I had another nuclear stress test, a 24 hour monitor and an echo a week ago, and though I haven't heard the results of the echo, the others were fine. Once again the cardiologist told me that they don't know what the problem is, but that they have eliminated anything like blockages. He also said (again) that joe average cardiologist doesn't usually get patients in my physical condition and that I blow away all their normal parameters. Without doing an invasive test, they just aren't going to find out what the problem is. I already knew that - I've heard it before. As Eric said, it had been four years since I had the last round of testing, and a year and a half since the last echo, so it is probably good to check it all again. Sigh...

After our run on Saturday we loaded up the car and drove into the mountains for the Cascade Crest 100. I have crewed there for the last five years, but this year we didn't have a runner in the race so I was able to help out at the aid station. What a blast that was! We arrived in Easton about a half hour before the start, saw the runners off, loaded up with aid station supplies, drop bags and a pacer in need of a ride, then headed off to a local burger joint. After lunch we dropped Jenny's car and the pacer at Hyak, then Jenny, Rob, Eric and I headed off to mark 15 miles of trail. Jenny and I ripped off lengths of marking tape and attached reflective tags, while Eric and Rob hopped in and out of the car to attach them to trees. We all kind of wished we could run the section, but time was short, so we drove. This is one section where the runners are on forest service road for quite a while, which is why we could drive it.

After that, we went back to Hyak and began setting up. More Y Run Club runners arrived, including one friend who brings a girls high school soccer team to help out. We set up canopies, multiple cook stoves, and tons of food. We laid out drop bags, set up an area for runners to sit if needed, and put cots and blankets in Eric's and my tent for sick runners. Thank goodness we never needed it. We saw the first runner right around 7:00 pm and the last runner around 2:45 am. We had a runner with an allergic reaction returned to our station to meet an aid car around 3:30 am. She was checked out and returned to the start with a friend. Tons of runners and crew in the hours between - it was so much fun!

The wind was blowing hard when we set up, but died down in the early evening. It stayed dry all night, though the temperature dropped to around 40. I had on two pairs of socks, running tights with sweats over the top, a shirt, a fleece pullover, a windbreaker, a coat and a hat. I also had hand warmers in my pockets and gloves. It sure felt good to finally crawl into a warm sleeping bag!

We crawled into the tent for about three hours of sleep before getting up to pack up the aid station and drop bags. Jenny and I went back to the start to return the gear and drop bags, just in time to see a friend finishing. Eric drove back up the course to take down all the ribbons we had put up the day before and met us back at the start a bit later. Jenny and I decided to head back home early, while Eric waited for Steve, who was pacing another friend. All in all, it was a great and fun weekend.

I start my classes at NEU two weeks from today, and my Pierce classes (that I teach) a week after that. We are heading north for a family gathering this weekend, then the next weekend I'll go up again - my sister will be having surgery, followed soon after that by the Bellingham Marathon. Life continues to be busy, so my posts are becoming farther and farther apart. I intend to keep blogging though, even if it is only once a month. In the meantime, I'm wishing you all a happy September!