So this week's run was in Columbia Valley Wine Country and we started from Redhook Brewery. Temps were okay at 45-50F and the rain managed to wait until the end of the run. One thing I forgot about this trail..it's abutted by a river and so there tends to be a lot of slugs, especially when it rains, which was apropos as I was feeling very sluggish today. As the fam was already at Grandma's for Easter I was home alone and the peace of the house plus the warm bed sure made it a challenge to rise at 545am on Saturday, but I did it and boy was I glad that I did...and why do you ask (I'm sure you were going to)? Because today the coaches and mentors planned something really cool. And had it not rained I would have tried to get some pics but alas was not in the cards...anywhoo, the really cool thing they did today was the Mission Mile. And what is this you ask? I'll tell you...for the first mile of our run today we walked in silence and on the trail was inscribed the names of all those we were running for. It was a bit overwhelming to see all the names on the trail and to think about the battles these people had to fight to survive and those that had to fight only to lose. It was a very humbling journey and made me feel lucky to be able to be there doing what I am doing to raise awareness and money. Speaking of money, I'm very close to my minimum goal of $1000. If you haven't had an opportunity yet to donate please go to my page at: http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/rnrseatl09/awestwood
Otherwise as far as training goes, lately has been really awesome. I've been managing to get good recovery runs in on Sundays. During the week I've been managing to get up before work on Tuesday and Thursday when I've been getting just over 4 miles in. It's really affected my energy and I'm looking forward to sticking with this for awhile. I get my hill workouts in on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm hoping to get a good morning run in and then walk in the evening with Pam, one of our mentors. Wednesdays hopefully I can start getting a run in at lunch with the running club at work. Tuesdays I do yoga at lunch with the yoga club and its been great! Look forward to another long run with the team next Saturday, then we head out to Oklahoma for a two week visit.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Urban Running
So today we trekked into Seattle and started our run from Gasworks Park. I had never been there before and was eager to see it. As we started from the parking lot though, I had to do my sight seeing post run.
The day was absolutely amazingly beautiful. After nearly a week of rain which I think was contributing to my bad attitude (well along with the PMS) it was awesome to see the sunshine. Even though I was up before the sun, I had a beautiful drive in and was teezing fritties before we got started, it didn't take long to find a rhythm, settle in and enjoy the Pacific Northwest on a sunny day. The most amazing news was that our meager team of 600 has raised nearly $400,000 to date so we've nearly reached our goal of half a million. We're still not there though so if you've yet to make your donation it's not too late (http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/rnrseatl09/awestwood).
As for me personally, I'm experiencing my best season to date. The training is going amazingly well (I logged almost 75 miles last month, a new record) and I've started the weekday attempts at early rising to get my runs in pre-work so I have more energy during the day and more time in the evening with my family. So far I've managed to get one in, mostly because I couldn't fathom running first thing in the morning with dumping buckets of rain on me on Thursday. This week though, the goal is Tuesday am run (so I can yoga with my boss at lunch) and Thursday am run (so I can walk with one of the mentors in the pm). April's goal is 125 miles!
The fundraising though has also been fantastic! I'm bonding with my teammates on a new level and meeting some truly amazing people. This morning as I was running I encountered Stu. He came up behind me with the traditional "GO TEAM" and we proceeded to swap event histories and such. I asked him how many marathons he'd done and he told me a staggering 26. 26, I couldn't believe it! So you must assume he's a fellow in his mid 50's who got started early on but you'd be wrong. He's 76 and he didn't start running until he was 47. The guy left me in the dust. He was totally awesome and paced with me for awhile.
I've included some photos from today's run from the park and surrounding area. I didn't take my camera with me and I didn't have it in me to go back out on the course to take some shots but these are still pretty cool and hopefully entertaining.
GO TEAM!
The day was absolutely amazingly beautiful. After nearly a week of rain which I think was contributing to my bad attitude (well along with the PMS) it was awesome to see the sunshine. Even though I was up before the sun, I had a beautiful drive in and was teezing fritties before we got started, it didn't take long to find a rhythm, settle in and enjoy the Pacific Northwest on a sunny day. The most amazing news was that our meager team of 600 has raised nearly $400,000 to date so we've nearly reached our goal of half a million. We're still not there though so if you've yet to make your donation it's not too late (http://pages.teamintraining.org/wa/rnrseatl09/awestwood).
As for me personally, I'm experiencing my best season to date. The training is going amazingly well (I logged almost 75 miles last month, a new record) and I've started the weekday attempts at early rising to get my runs in pre-work so I have more energy during the day and more time in the evening with my family. So far I've managed to get one in, mostly because I couldn't fathom running first thing in the morning with dumping buckets of rain on me on Thursday. This week though, the goal is Tuesday am run (so I can yoga with my boss at lunch) and Thursday am run (so I can walk with one of the mentors in the pm). April's goal is 125 miles!
The fundraising though has also been fantastic! I'm bonding with my teammates on a new level and meeting some truly amazing people. This morning as I was running I encountered Stu. He came up behind me with the traditional "GO TEAM" and we proceeded to swap event histories and such. I asked him how many marathons he'd done and he told me a staggering 26. 26, I couldn't believe it! So you must assume he's a fellow in his mid 50's who got started early on but you'd be wrong. He's 76 and he didn't start running until he was 47. The guy left me in the dust. He was totally awesome and paced with me for awhile.
I've included some photos from today's run from the park and surrounding area. I didn't take my camera with me and I didn't have it in me to go back out on the course to take some shots but these are still pretty cool and hopefully entertaining.
GO TEAM!
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