Hills, Hail, **** and a PR ...

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21 Replies Last post: May 15, 2007 4:58 AM by SMP 1 2 Previous Next

mariposai

821 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

Dec 22, 2007 11:58 PM

Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Happy mother?s day to each of the goddesses in Boomersville. I hope all the mothers in this forum were treated like a Queen today.
One way I celebrated my day was by running the Grand Coulee Dam HM.

Grand Coulee Dam is the largest electric power producing facility in the United States and the largest concrete structure in the United States.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Coulee_Dam[/URL" target="_blank">
Ironically, I come from Paraguay, where the largest dam in the world, the Itaipu Dam is located.

Since I am still recuperating from the Eugene Marathon and my saga with IT band problem, I treated this HM as a SLD run. My decision to run it even at a slower pace and bellow any IT band discomfort was set more in concrete once I drove up to the starting line and looked at the race course. This was a nasty course to run? it started downhill for around half a mile and then it immediately gained elevation to run up the top and over the dam. The weather was cloudy at the start of the race, but as soon as the runners crossed the dam it started to rain and to later hail. Those darn things do hurt when it hits ones? bare legs and arms. At this time I overheard a runner saying? this is like ****. Thus the tile of my RR (hill, hail and ****)

Running over Grand Coulee Dam is a very special event since the only time a mortal soul can cross the dam by foot is during this race, needless to say we were well watched by the security staff.

After crossing the dam the route took us on rather flat, gravel path (which was rather hard to run on) along side the Columbia River. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/earthpulse/columbia/index_flash-feature-light.html[/URL" target="_blank">

I felt very lucky as a runner to be kept company by two rivers on my last two races, there is something soothing it.

Unlike the Eugene Marathon, the finish line of this race required another extreme effort to run up the hill to the finish line. I was pleasantly surprised at my finish time: 2:17:08, which is a 3 minutes PR from my last HM. I was shocked when they called my name as a third place winner in my AG since I have not invested much effort into the whole race. I was just having a great time running at a slow pace and drinking up on the beauty that surrounded me. I thought about the thousands of workers who moved out west to build the dam. I thought of Pt. Roosevelt who dared his physical condition to come here in this inhospitable land for the inauguration of the dam. I thought of the few men who lost their lives while working to built the dam. I thought about my responsibility as a citizen to be a conscientious consumer of electricity and other natural resources. I thought....

I had three goals for this race. One of my goals was to run across the dam in 8 minutes or less, which I did. I also wanted to put the infamous IT band to the test and run without any pain at any given time, which I did. And of course, no matter what, I just wanted to celebrate being a woman, being a mother, being a runner, which you bit I did.

Fashion report: blue NB skort, white tank top, blue Balga sock, NB white and blue shoes, Red Door perfume, and pink lipsticks. (I will post pics later, if someone tells me how to post them)

------------------
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the Gift." Prefontaine

http://This message has been edited by mariposai (edited May-14-2007).

Spareribs049

1,701 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

1. May 13, 2007 9:51 PM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Sometimes just after a big race, you find yourself running another great race, not because you are fresh but because you are in great shape. You ran well. Good job. Spareribs

deez4boyz

63 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

2. May 13, 2007 11:09 PM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Nice job!! Sounds like a great way to celebrate Mother's Day!!

Tetsujin30

945 posts since
Jan 1, 2006

3. May 14, 2007 1:01 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

mariposai -

You're not only accumulating impressive running credentials but your reflections on the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam reminded me of doing a book report on "Hail Columbia" back in high school days and Woody Guthrie's Columbia River ballads too.

However, maybe someone forgot to mention it, but I don't think that injury-laden running at a slower pace and below any IT band discomfort is generally supposed to be associated with PR's and AG hardware, especially in the middle of a hail storm.

Now go out and run a marathon[/URL" target="_blank"> somewhere nice and soon and get completely healed!

jura

574 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

4. May 14, 2007 1:11 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Mariposai,
sounds like a spectacular course to run at. A great result, PR and AG award despite the "hellish" conditions. Your RR gives me hope that there is life after ITBS

.
Congratulations!
j

fjordrunner

306 posts since
Jul 28, 2006

5. May 14, 2007 7:42 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

sounds like an amazing experience, mariposai! great RR and i hope we can run together soon - that is, if you really want to experience slow running

------------------
susan[/URL" target="_blank">

tomwhite

1,993 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

6. May 14, 2007 7:49 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

........tough enuff without Ice bouncing off ya//..........nice running.......

UncleSteve59

135 posts since
Aug 14, 2007

7. May 14, 2007 8:47 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Hills, hail and ****...just another day for us crazy runners. Nice work mariposai. Plus a PR and an AG on top of a being able to run a unique course. Sounds like a great day. Congratulations.

Steve

rochrunner

935 posts since
Aug 14, 2007

8. May 14, 2007 9:15 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Sounds like quite an adventure. I'm glad that you were able to score some AG hardware while still being able to enjoy the ambience of the course (other than the hailstorm, that is!).

------------------
- Runnin' in Rochester

Rochrunner[/URL" target="_blank">

Live and Learn

303 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

9. Dec 22, 2007 11:58 PM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Congratulations Mariposie!! Wow taking it easy and getting a PR & a AG award.. you da bomb!

So happy for you.

http://This message has been edited by Live and Learn (edited May-14-2007).

tselbs

1,215 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

10. May 14, 2007 9:48 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Great job, mariposai. With almost everything against you, you enjoyed the scenic course, set a PR, and got an AG award. Congratulations.

TomS

------------------
My Profile[/URL" target="_blank">

the Crow

1,911 posts since
Nov 9, 2007

11. May 14, 2007 11:28 AM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Slow easy running and you get a 3 minute PR and an age group award? sweet! I hope that makes up for going through **** to get there. Hail chunks hitting you while you run across the top of a hugh dam? Wow, you are one tough lady! But at least you were beautiful and smelled good too.

posting pictures: Go to the tinypic.com website, and click on the button that says, browse;
find your picture in your harddrive and click on it (or click 'open") that should take you back to the tinypic site, where you click on Upload.
When it is done you copy the code in the middle box, the one that starts

and paste it into your post here.

pfriese

273 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

12. May 14, 2007 12:01 PM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

This sounds like a beautiful race to run. Taking it EZ and finishing 3rd with a PB, how cool! Thanks for the report.

Paul

evanflein

1,279 posts since
Aug 14, 2007

13. May 14, 2007 12:12 PM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Nice job! Never would've thought of hail for that course though. Wow, and a PR and AG award to boot. Sounds like quite the Mother's Day activity. Congratulations!

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evanflein[/URL" target="_blank">

Iapetus999

165 posts since
Dec 14, 2007

14. May 14, 2007 12:43 PM

in response to: mariposai

Re: Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

Kewl

or cold...

I've been wanting to run over therer...just haven't had a chance.
Sounds like a great run!

------------------
-Andy
Competing in 5Ks

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Dec 22, 2007 11:58 PM

Hills, Hail, **** and a PR

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