ATTENTION: Motivation Has Gone MIA... HELP!

Oregon in the fall. Does it get better than that?

Wow, I can't believe I have gone over a month without blogging about something. Well, I feel I better get back on the wagon so to speak both with my blogging and my running. And for that matter my diet too. With the cold, rainy, and dreary weather comes a sudden lack of motivation to do much beyond sitting on the couch cuddled up in a hoodie, eating Halloween candy and watching Biggest Loser. Yes, I see the irony in this and yes, watching these people work their asses off should motivate me to do the same. Unfortunately it has not.

We have been fortunate enough to have experienced a few beautiful, sunny, crisp fall days here in Portland and I have tried taking every advantage of those few days we have been blessed with. Honestly I can't imagine a more perfect running day than when it is sunny and brisk out. To me that is running heaven. And although it seems the weather has been my motivating factor these days, the lack of having a race to keep my training "honest" has definitely been the down fall of my running. I have a Turkey Run on Thanksgiving planned (10k) and a half marathon in December, but they seem so far away that the urgency to train hasn't set in yet.

Anyway, after this week I am removing all the Halloween candy (yes, even the hidden bag of Twix in my office) from my diet and setting a training plan to actually stick with for the dreaded rainy season of Portland. Maybe I will throw a few more races on the calendar to keep me motivated when the weather just won't cooperate.

So what do you do when you lose motivation as the days get shorter and the weather becomes less forgiving? I can use all the help I can get right now.

Race Recap - Eugene Women's Half Marathon and Bachelorette Run

On Saturday, September 3rd my mom Betsy, aunt Angela, cousin Savannah, sister Dana, and I all headed south from Portland to Eugene to run the 2nd annual Eugene Women's Half Marathon to celebrate Dana's upcoming wedding. This run was to be her bachelorette party and it was also Savannah and Angela's first half marathons! I had "team" tank tops made for us. Dana's race tank had Bride on the back and I got her a white Skirt Sports running skirt so she could be all in white.

We stayed at the Eugene Hilton downtown as it was close to the start of the race which meant we didn't have to drive (always a plus for an out of town race). However, I do not recommend staying at that hotel. The Phoenix Inn we stayed further down the street for the Eugene Marathon was MUCH better.

We got to the packet pick-up about an hour before it was to be over. The directions around the 5th street market were not exactly easy to follow so we got a pretty good tour of the place before we had race number, goody bag, and t-shirt in hand. I usually love doing races where the shirts are awesome. This shirt was ok, not as good as I had expected considering that the race logo is pretty sweet. By the time we grabbed our shirts they were out of smalls so Dana was stuck with a medium which ran big as it was so for her bachelorette run her race shirt was a dress! Kind of a bummer when you pay $85 for a race to NOT get the size you ordered. Whatever, we had our sweet team shirts anyway.

Dana's full outfit from the front. She looked so cute and got so many compliments and words of congratulations. She was a total rockstar that day. It was perfect.

The front of our team shirts - I designed them. Pretty proud of myself for that. The bottom says, "13.1 Before the Big Day"

The Bride-to-Be in her race shirt. The perfect match to the shirt was the Skirt Sports running skirt.

Pre-race in our "team tanks" - Mother Daughter Duo Savannah and Angela before they became Half Marathoners

So needless to say, we were not overly impressed with our initial experience with the race. Although, the goody bag was a cool reusable orange zebra print bag that actually is really sturdy. Total plus!

The race started at 8:00 am so not too early but early enough to beat the heat of the day that would eventually come. About 1200 women (and some brave or stupid men depending on how you look at it) lined up at the start. Weather was sunny, a bit chilly, and absolutely perfect in my mind. Although at 0.6 miles we were stopped by a train passing through town that lasted over 8 minutes! That would have been annoying if I had a time goal in mind, however, this race was about being together as a group and having fun. Especially since this was a week after Hood to Coast. Yikes.

I won't do a play by play of the course, but in a nutshell it is amazing! I have always said that the Eugene Half is always my favorite 1/2 marathon, but this is it now. Essentially it is the reverse of the Eugene Marathon (at least the back half). Most of it is along the river and totally flat! This is the perfect course to PR on. I may try next year to go under 1:50 on it next year. The course more than made up for the somewhat disappointing packet pick-up experience. Lots of aid stations, lots of people cheering us on, plenty of room to run, it was perfect. There was a man out in his riding gear at around mile 3 and I think 7 or 8 with an amp and a mike tied to his bike and he was singing and cheering us on, it was absolutely hilarious!

The five of us all finished together which was so much fun. When we finished we were greeted by men handing out our finisher's charms (pretty cute) and So Delicious ice cream sandwiches, which I thought were in fact So Delicious! The post race booths and food were incredible. Probably the most post race goodies I have ever had. And so much food. Total plus as I was starving at this point.

All and all I would definitely do this race again. I would give it 4 1/2 stars only because their shirts were slightly disappointing and not the right sizes. Oh well, the rest totally rocked. I think this race has spawned a new tradition of girl's half marathon weekend. We are on the hunt for the next one. Maybe somewhere a bit more exciting than Eugene.

Any suggestions on women's only races for us to try next year?

Post race brunch at Keystone Cafe - Biscuits and Gravy were AMAZING! - Dana, Betsy, Savannah, and me

The Crew upon our return home - Angela, Savannah, Dana, me, and Betsy

Race Report - Recap of the 2011 Hood to Coast Relay

Two reasons why this post is a bit "late" 1. I needed to cool off from my bitterness towards the race organizers 2. Life just got in the way this week (basically I have been slacking). So, here it is in all it's glory, my recap of the 2011 Hood to Coast "Mother of All Relays" that took place on the 26th and 27th of August.

Basic race description - 2011 marked the 30th year of this event. It is a 200 mile running relay that starts up at Mt. Hood and finishes on the beach in Seaside. Teams typically consist of 12 runners and each runner runs three legs. This year there were 1250 running teams, typically this is about 1000. Needless to say, this is a HUGE event in Portland especially if you are a runner. This year there were teams from every state and 14 countries. I definitely heard a lot of foreign languages that weekend.

This is my fourth year as team captain and third year racing it. I took 2009 off because I was five months pregnant (although I did see at least one pregnant woman running this year). I have a love hate relationship with being captain. I have a type A- personality (the minus because I am not a total control freak) and I don't trust too many other people to get it done and or do it. There, I said it. But it's a lot of work and sometimes the stress of planning/organizing the team can take some of the fun out of running. With that said, I have an AWESOME team that makes doing all that work so worth it. This year's team consisted of the following people.

Jeff - my husband

Betsy - my mom

Dana - my twin sister

Anne - my younger sister

Darin - Dana's husband

Meaghan - my cousin

Gage - Meaghan's husband

Amy - Good friend

Jen - Co-worker/friend

Ryan - Co-worker/friend

Scott - Co-worker/friend

These are some of my favorite people to run with. They range in skill from newbie to Ironman but despite the level of running ability we are just a great group of people that like to run and encourage others to run too. They are the reason I will probably be crazy enough to do this again next year.

For the sake of keeping this post on the shorter side, I will spare all the details of the race. You can look at all the pictures instead. Bottom line, it was a BLAST - we ran, we ate, kinda slept, sat in a lot of traffic, and it was really hot.

In case you interested, ok maybe I want to brag just a bit too, here are my times;

• First leg - leg #3 - 4.26 miles (according to my Garmin, more than what HTC says) @ 7:45 pace at 12:12:pm - mind you this leg was all downhill. I am not normally that fast... I wish!



• Second leg - leg #15 - 7.26 miles (and it was SO boring) @ 8:52 pace at 10:22 pm and it was freaking HOT still.



• Third leg - leg #27 - 5.98 miles @8:48 pace at 8:15 am - this is always my favorite leg b/c I love the countryside in Mist.



• Overall, our team did pretty darn good! We finished the race in 29:54:46 ( I think, HTC took down the unofficial times) and we placed higher than the top half in our division! I'll take it.
  

Has anyone else out there done a relay race before? Which ones? Would you do it again? What did you love/hate about your experience?

The Start up at Mt. Hood - First time it's ever been hot at the start at 10:45 am. Not a good sign.



You can't do your night leg without some glow sticks! Jen and Scott getting ready for the evening.


Gee, I wonder why they call it Mist? Such a beautiful place to do a morning run. Especially as the sun starts to come up.


Getting ready for my last leg. Barely made it out of the porto potty before Ryan handed off to me.

Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number - HoneyMilk Blog

As some of you may know, I love HoneyMilk! I was introduced to it through my involvement with Marathon Makeover. It tastes a million times better than Muscle Milk and provides a good amount of protein post workout. But I digress, there will be another post about HoneyMilk down the road, but this post is about something else. HoneyMilk asked guest bloggers to write a 300 word blog about fitness, nutrition, etc. and it needed to include pictures. Below is the post I submitted to HoneyMilk about how awesome my mom is. As a bonus they are sending me a free case of their product. SCORE!

"I'm too old to start running now." I call BS on this lame excuse and here's why:

Early last year my fifty-six year old mother decided she wanted to start running. In the thirty years I had known this woman, she had rarely kept a workout regime longer than a few weeks. She has always been thin and never really cared for exercise so, since her clothes continued to fit as they always had, why do something that really wasn't much fun anyway?

However, in January 2010, my mom, Betsy, bought herself some proper running shoes and made the decision she wanted to start running. In party because it was an activity she could enjoy with my sister and me. Fast-forward to today and my mom just completed her 2nd Hood to Coast Relay this past weekend, running a team with both my sisters and myself. Not to mention, she completed the Portland Marathon in less than 5 hours (her 2010 goal), multiple half marathons, and various other shorter races.

Just like those gross peas mom used to put on your plate as a kid, running can be more an acquired taste. Sometimes we fall in love with the sport as a young child, but for some of us, it takes years to "acquire" the taste for running. However, no matter what age you decide you are going to willingly take a helping of running, you are never too old to say, "I would like some more, please."

My mom cruising past the vineyards during the 2011 Fueled by Fine Wine 1/2 Marathon

My mom and I after our third legs of the 2011 Hood to Coast



My sister, Dana, my mom, and I after the 2010 Hood to Coast

Why the Heck Do the Interwebs Need Another Running Blog?

For the most part the answer is, they don't. But that is not going to stop me from taking the time to set up one of these darn things and make regular posts about running. As I discussed with my fellow colleague and runner-friend, Heidi, who is also going to start blogging about running, everyone has their own experiences and everyone can offer a different perspective on the sport. I think people just like reading about other people like them and how they handle the day to day struggles we all face, especially when it comes to running. Long story short, I just want to throw my two cents out into the world in the hopes that someone finds what I have to say, motivating, encouraging, inspiring, informative, and maybe from time to time even a bit witty.

I am just going to throw this out there as the typical disclaimer - I am NOT a:

• Doctor
• Nutritionist
• Personal Trainer
• Physical Therapist
• Psychologist
• Running expert
• Elite Athlete

However, in a nutshell here is what I am:

• Wife
• Mother Who Works Outside the Home
• Runner (duh)
• Type I Diabetic
• Volunteer Coach for Marathon Makeover
• Twin - figured I should throw that out there as it freaks people out who don't know this little tid bit about me

That's probably enough for now as I hate reading long blogs and I am sure others do too. I look forward to sharing my war stories from the road, and maybe the occasional trail.