You guessed it - I PR'd yesterday! 
This was an amazing race. What a beautiful beautiful course down in the heart of the Redwoods Forest. It was absolutely breathtaking!
I headed out Saturday a.m. for the approximate 3.5 to 4 hr drive down to Eureka (where I was staying) and then to Weott - the little town where this event takes place. John was my pacer on the way down so I wouldn't speed
We arrived in Eureka about mid afternoon, each checked in to our respective hotels and then drove down to the campsite where we met up with the Lab's, SloJim and his wife and a bit later, Econo and LittleEcono arrived (ok - LilEcono is not little - he's the same height as mom!), also met up with Ilene, Mr. Forward and his brother. Karl and Sherie also arrived around the same time. We chatted a bit at SloJim's campsite where he gave us all a very very cool Boomer's tshirt designed by his son. Thank you again! I love the shirt.
We went to the pasta dinner provided by the town of Weott - nice carbo-loaded dinner - spaghetti with either meat or vegetarian sauce, bread, salad.
Sherie, John and I left after dinner for the 45 mile drive back up to Eureka. Sherie and I shared a room and it was great meeting her and spending time with her. She is very very easy to talk with and get to know and I'm so glad we had a chance to spend this time together. Thank you again Sherie for sharing your room with me.
The following a.m., we headed back down to Weott and arrived about 1.5 hrs prior to the start. We met Hup there that morning. Nice meeting you Hup!! The weather conditions were perfect - about mid/upper 40's to start and I think it was about low 60's at the end of the Half - but under the canopy of the forest, it felt ideal. I bet it got a bit warm for those doing the full.
Fashion Report: Black Triks Running skirt - had compression shorts underneath, so no FUG's, pink Nike tech shirt, white Nike visor, Asics Gel Foundation shoes. For our pre-race photo shoot, I adorned myself in a pink boa, compliments of John. I did not bring a camera so will have to await the photos from John and one of us will post those later.
The vast majority of runners here are doing the Half Marathon, so the start was pretty bunched up and took a few miles for it to spread out. And the Avenue of the Giants that goes through the Redwoods is not a very smooth surface - divets and moguls litter the roadways for almost the entire course of the Half Marathon. There are a few stretches around mile 5 through 10 that are smoother, but for the most part I felt like I had to keep my eye on the ground to avoid stepping in a divet and leap over the moguls. I'm blaming the lack of smooth surface and my need to zig zag back and forth across the roadway for my slower than anticipated time in this race.
The Half was an out-and-back course and there were aid stations about every 2-3 miles. I carried my own 20 oz bottle of water with my mixture of Goddess Endurance Elixir in it. I did not carry any other nutritional supplements with me such as sport beans or Gu's. Afterall, Ribs says I don't need it .
By about mile 8.5 to 9, my right calf was cramping real bad. I didn't want to stop though because I was afraid that would make it tighten up even more. I've never had calf cramps before, even when I did my 11.5 training run, so I think the cause of the cramping was possibly due to having to jockey around the divets and moguls, rather than just running on a smooth surface. I don't know, . . maybe that's not it. I really wasn't going any faster than I do on training runs so it sort of surprised me how bad my right calf felt.
My plan was to really dig in and pick up the pace for the last 5K but I just couldn't. My calf was killing me and I felt the beginnings of a blister on the bottom of the toe next to pinky toe on my right foot. So the right foot and the right calf were making my run uncomfortable and my pace was slower than I wanted. So that part was disappointing. The last .5 mile or so is where I started swearing about how **** hard this was!
I didn't do as much socializing on the course as I normally do in races. Around mile 3 I did chat with one guy, but his pace was a bit faster, so I ran a little faster to keep up with him for about 3/4 of a mile, then I dropped back to my regular pace again. And there was a very nice British gentleman running the half, who I had actually met at the Portland 5 miler - we chatted prior to the start of that race and he flew out from London to race in the Avenue as well. We chatted very briefly on the course, but I didn't slow my pace and kept moving on. He thanked me, in his wonderful british accent, for wearing such a sexy little skirt and providing him some inspiration to keep up with me.
My finishing time was 2:11:4x (I think it was 43?) . gave me an average pace of 10:03. I am satisfied with my performance, but I know I can do better. I plan on going back to do the Half marathon they offer in the fall so I can beat this course. I feel like this time, the course got the best of me, so I need to re-pay it a little visit!
ETA: official results off the website:
my time: 2:11:43
AG: 24/57
OA: 347/883
SEX: 164/599
eta: good grief - this is longer than I thought it would be. If you are actually reading all this, Thank You! I also wanted to add about my ankle because a few of you inquired about it. My ankle didn't bother me at all during the race. Afterwards, it started hurting a bit but I walked around in the ice cold river afterwards and now today it's barely even noticeable. My right achilles tendon is tight today and my hamstrings are a bit sore, but other than that I feel great.
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TamAveLina[/URL" target="_blank">
http://This message has been edited by TammyM (edited May-07-2007).
This was an amazing race. What a beautiful beautiful course down in the heart of the Redwoods Forest. It was absolutely breathtaking!
I headed out Saturday a.m. for the approximate 3.5 to 4 hr drive down to Eureka (where I was staying) and then to Weott - the little town where this event takes place. John was my pacer on the way down so I wouldn't speed
We arrived in Eureka about mid afternoon, each checked in to our respective hotels and then drove down to the campsite where we met up with the Lab's, SloJim and his wife and a bit later, Econo and LittleEcono arrived (ok - LilEcono is not little - he's the same height as mom!), also met up with Ilene, Mr. Forward and his brother. Karl and Sherie also arrived around the same time. We chatted a bit at SloJim's campsite where he gave us all a very very cool Boomer's tshirt designed by his son. Thank you again! I love the shirt.
We went to the pasta dinner provided by the town of Weott - nice carbo-loaded dinner - spaghetti with either meat or vegetarian sauce, bread, salad.
Sherie, John and I left after dinner for the 45 mile drive back up to Eureka. Sherie and I shared a room and it was great meeting her and spending time with her. She is very very easy to talk with and get to know and I'm so glad we had a chance to spend this time together. Thank you again Sherie for sharing your room with me.
The following a.m., we headed back down to Weott and arrived about 1.5 hrs prior to the start. We met Hup there that morning. Nice meeting you Hup!! The weather conditions were perfect - about mid/upper 40's to start and I think it was about low 60's at the end of the Half - but under the canopy of the forest, it felt ideal. I bet it got a bit warm for those doing the full.
Fashion Report: Black Triks Running skirt - had compression shorts underneath, so no FUG's, pink Nike tech shirt, white Nike visor, Asics Gel Foundation shoes. For our pre-race photo shoot, I adorned myself in a pink boa, compliments of John. I did not bring a camera so will have to await the photos from John and one of us will post those later.
The vast majority of runners here are doing the Half Marathon, so the start was pretty bunched up and took a few miles for it to spread out. And the Avenue of the Giants that goes through the Redwoods is not a very smooth surface - divets and moguls litter the roadways for almost the entire course of the Half Marathon. There are a few stretches around mile 5 through 10 that are smoother, but for the most part I felt like I had to keep my eye on the ground to avoid stepping in a divet and leap over the moguls. I'm blaming the lack of smooth surface and my need to zig zag back and forth across the roadway for my slower than anticipated time in this race.
The Half was an out-and-back course and there were aid stations about every 2-3 miles. I carried my own 20 oz bottle of water with my mixture of Goddess Endurance Elixir in it. I did not carry any other nutritional supplements with me such as sport beans or Gu's. Afterall, Ribs says I don't need it
. By about mile 8.5 to 9, my right calf was cramping real bad. I didn't want to stop though because I was afraid that would make it tighten up even more. I've never had calf cramps before, even when I did my 11.5 training run, so I think the cause of the cramping was possibly due to having to jockey around the divets and moguls, rather than just running on a smooth surface. I don't know, . . maybe that's not it. I really wasn't going any faster than I do on training runs so it sort of surprised me how bad my right calf felt.
My plan was to really dig in and pick up the pace for the last 5K but I just couldn't. My calf was killing me and I felt the beginnings of a blister on the bottom of the toe next to pinky toe on my right foot. So the right foot and the right calf were making my run uncomfortable and my pace was slower than I wanted. So that part was disappointing. The last .5 mile or so is where I started swearing about how **** hard this was!
I didn't do as much socializing on the course as I normally do in races. Around mile 3 I did chat with one guy, but his pace was a bit faster, so I ran a little faster to keep up with him for about 3/4 of a mile, then I dropped back to my regular pace again. And there was a very nice British gentleman running the half, who I had actually met at the Portland 5 miler - we chatted prior to the start of that race and he flew out from London to race in the Avenue as well. We chatted very briefly on the course, but I didn't slow my pace and kept moving on. He thanked me, in his wonderful british accent, for wearing such a sexy little skirt and providing him some inspiration to keep up with me.
My finishing time was 2:11:4x (I think it was 43?) . gave me an average pace of 10:03. I am satisfied with my performance, but I know I can do better. I plan on going back to do the Half marathon they offer in the fall so I can beat this course. I feel like this time, the course got the best of me, so I need to re-pay it a little visit!
ETA: official results off the website:
my time: 2:11:43
AG: 24/57
OA: 347/883
SEX: 164/599
eta: good grief - this is longer than I thought it would be. If you are actually reading all this, Thank You! I also wanted to add about my ankle because a few of you inquired about it. My ankle didn't bother me at all during the race. Afterwards, it started hurting a bit but I walked around in the ice cold river afterwards and now today it's barely even noticeable. My right achilles tendon is tight today and my hamstrings are a bit sore, but other than that I feel great.
------------------
TamAveLina[/URL" target="_blank">
http://This message has been edited by TammyM (edited May-07-2007).
