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This is the image of the race shirt. Yes, there is a statue of Lenin in Fremont. It’s as glorious as you might imagine. Unfortunately, the shirts are GINORMOUS so it fits Husband and not me. Until I take my scissors and sewing machine to it. 

I love this 5K. I never spend any time in this neighborhood because the parking situation is atrocious, but note to self, it’s a fun place to run.

I had a time goal in mind for this race. But I also wanted to have fun. I mean, come on. It’s a Friday evening 5K. You just can’t take that too seriously. So I did the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my racing career: I left my garmin at home. Intentionally. I stopped, took it off my wrist, and then walked out the door. I run without it maybe 1/3 of my regular runs, but I haven’t raced without it since I bought it. 

Anyway. 

A goal: meet my time goal and have fun doing it

B goal: PR and have fun doing it

Definitely met my B goal. And I was a measly 15 seconds from my time goal. 

This is where I would normally drop into a self loathing examination of what I did wrong (eating nothing but kettle corn for the entire day before a race is neither a healthy nor wise decision, wasn’t as hydrated as I should have been, should have gone with shorts over capris because it was so warm, if I’d worn my garmin I would have known how close I was and I easily could have pushed for those 15 seconds)

but I’m not doing that. I haven’t been training for speed. At all. I shaved 1:16 off my previous 5K PR and I’m pretty very happy about that. 

More importantly, I want to race again. So excuse me, but I have hours to waste over at gametiime plotting my imaginary race schedule for the rest of the year. 

tl; dr: missed time goal by xx:15, but PR’d. Happy about it. 

I spontaneously registered for a 5K on Friday evening. I’m looking forward to it, since I’ve run it before and the weather will be perfect (Seattle late spring perfect in the low 70s, not my 45 and sprinkling definition of perfect race weather but close enough I guess).

Send all your allergy-free thoughts my way, because I need them. This week has been the opening of grass season and I’m paying in spades for the last 10 years being mild (at least for me). 

I’m really enjoying creating new running routes at this house. Two directions involve steep climbs from the end of my block. South is much more intimidating than west, but west is no joke. North is a slow, gradual hill that looks nearly flat but you can tell it isn’t based on effort. East is a park which I will get more use out of once the weather turns cold again and all the people go away. If I skirt the park there is long flat route I can take or yay! more hills. 

Tonight, I’ll be celebrating National Running Day with a 10K starting with a giant hill. 

Tara posted a reminder to health and fitness bloggers that it’s important for us to keep blogging even when things are stalled or back sliding.

(X)

It’s only taken me 3 weeks of thinking about, but hey guess what? I had a back slide.

I was having some serious calf/shin issues going on and I took a week off to rest and heal.

Then it was moving week. While I didn’t run an inch, I was walking about 5 miles a day, and doing plenty of heavy lifting of boxes of stuff I’m sure we don’t need (and didn’t I throw that away the last time we moved?)

Then it was a bad habit. 

But I’m tired of feeling guilty for not running and subsequently not blogging. (Geez, guys, quit pressuring me all the time!)

Today more or less, started off with what was going to be an easy, flat 4 miles. 

It rapidly became 5 miles, with the middle 2 being hill repeats. 

I did 8 consecutive streets, with the first being the steepest hill, down to the last two which barely pass for hills in Seattle. 

  1. 12.8% grade 
  2. 10.9%
  3. 8.5%
  4. 7.8%
  5. 7.9%
  6. 9.3% (I feel justified in what I tell you next after calculating this)
  7. 6.7%
  8. 5.8% (see? that’s like a bump in the road around here)

Highlight of the run:

Reaching hill #6, which had a nice gradual climb before a sudden sharp climb. Looking up about 1/3 of the way up the hill and saying out loud ‘oh shit’ before charging on. 

I LOVE hills. 

More posts to come. 

Soon.

I get that people want to show their support and that we’re taught from a young age the soothing power of spending money… 

But I’m not gonna lie. I’m a little grossed out with all the merchandise available in the aftermath of Monday’s events. I really don’t care if the business is donating all net proceeds or not. How about you just spread the word about reputable places to send donations to, and keep your business out of it? Or something like “join the [business name] family in donating to ___, other options include ____”

I’m happy to show my solidarity by wearing my race shirts, or my blue and yellow. But I’m really uncomfortable with buying a shirt (or any of the other products that I’ve seen and don’t want to name because I’m not trying to call individual small businesses out because that just isn’t who I am) to commemorate what happened. I do not understand the desire to get a physical thing to show that you indirectly helped. I can attribute this directly to a certain organization related to a cancer strongly, though not exclusively, associated with women who has trade marked a you-know-what-color ribbon. Tons and tons of marketing and such a piddly amount going to where the money would be most effective. 

Cut out the middle man and donate directly to the families or a reputable charity involved. It’s your responsibility to research organizations, but since I love you, I’ve done a very quick search for you and come up with these:

Religious? Your religious leader will likely have contacts in Boston. This Sunday’s collection plate might be sent on to Boston to help, and it wouldn’t hurt for you to call and ask if this possibility can become a reality. 

Atheist? Atheists Giving Aid (who raised $25,000 for families of Sandy Hook victims) is raising funds again. 

Somewhere in between?

The Red Cross, blood or money, but remember to wait a couple weeks on the blood. Blood is shelf stable for a limited time and often times hospitals run low a few weeks later. If you’re eligible, donate often. Accidents and emergencies happen. It’s easy to do, even for this blood and needle phobic individual. 

The One Fund, set up by MA’s governor and Boston’s mayor.

The Richard Family Fund (contact Meetinghouse Bank or Vargas & Vargas Insurance for more information).

The Salvation Army, if you don’t find them to be morally reprehensible. 

We live in a world where people bomb marathon finish lines. We also live in a world where some people are so desperate for quick money that they are more than happy to try and capitalize on the grief of others. In your desire to help, please be smart about it. 

*I’m not passing judgement if you buy a shirt or other product. I’m just saying there’s another way. 

petty things

Remember 1000 years ago when I talked about getting a third pair of Brooks Pure Flows? 

Well, it’s about to be four. At least temporarily. 

That pair I ordered never showed up. My shoes made it to Seattle, then to a suburb for sorting and then 

Long story short, the company I bought the shoes from sent a second pair and then today I got an email from UPS saying they got their act together and are shipping the shoes from San Diego despite the fact that they were 15 miles from me yesterday. 

I don’t care. I did yesterday until about 11:30 when I heard the news, but 

The shoes I don’t even need are such a trivial thing. 

On a more positive note: 

I’m signing up for a trail race series. It’s gonna hurt like crazy since I haven’t even looked at a real trail since my Tiger Mountain trail half last April. 

I’m going to rearrange my schedule and try to get up into the mountains once a week-ish. I talk about doing this every few weeks, but less talk more action. This will be getting up at before the crack of dawn to eat breakfast and hit the road before traffic happens. And then to be back not too much after lunch time (normal human lunch time, not Sharla lunch time which would optimally be 3-4 pm).

Yes. 

This is a plan. 

boston marathon

I’m not sure what to say. My heart hurts. I have cried for strangers, but that is not new for me. I have cried for the pain, the fear, the survivors’ guilt that is bound to be felt in the days/weeks/months to come. I have cried over the senselessness of violence. 

I have also cried tears of relief at watching the outpouring of love and support within this running community. We are strong. We are united. We are family. 

I ask a lot of questions. Questions breed questions in my mind. When you ask questions you learn that sometimes you don’t like the answer and sometimes there isn’t an answer. I’m not asking questions today. Even when more details are made available, there is nothing that can justify what happened yesterday. I won’t be taking solace in additional information, like I would in happier circumstances.

I am reaching out with love. Because in my mind, that is all there is. My conscious decision to seek the goodness, love, and beauty we are capable of does not blind me to our ability to hurt, hate, and be cruel to each other. But I believe there is much more love in this world. 

If you need love today and in the future, seek it out. Give it when and where you can. Tragedies remind us that our time here is limited and to love as much as we can. The trick is to keep loving as much as you can when the urgency passes. We are more a like than we are different. 

This is the time to be gentle with each other. Everyone processes at different rates. Some people are ready to move forward and not look back. Some people can’t imagine ever reaching that point. No matter where you fall on that spectrum, that’s okay. Please remember that it’s okay for other people to be where they are, too. We all cope in our own ways. We are a community. Our sorrows and triumphs are what bind us together.