Eugene Half Training: Week 5

The hard work is done! This might be the last recap blog before the Eugene Half Marathon. I plan on some more easy running between now and then, but would it be worthy of writing about? I guess we will find out together. So let's get this going. I have a lot to talk about today!

I needed some running motivation BAD after having some difficulties with running because of my good ol' Meniere's Disease. Unexpectedly joining a Ragnar team seemed to do the trick! (Remember Ragnar? That crazy relay I did last year in Washington and a few years ago in California? You'll hear more.. trust me!) For my first run I was busy daydreaming about prior relays and the upcoming one. Who would be in my van? Will they like me? Hate me? Will we have a cool, fun name and be one of those awesome teams the other teams wish they could be like?? Name idea floated through my head, with coordinating van decorations and race attire. But we still had one issue... we needed one more person. I asked a friend from high school, and she was thinking it over.... and that's when I had the idea to do my own promposal, er, Ragnarposal. I'm kind of happy with how well I made the Ragnar logo in the ground. Back up - I started at one of my favorite locations and was repeating the 5 mile run down to a park by the river through farm land, and back. I did this at the turn around down near the river. It was a beautiful run. I was actually too hot! I have been carrying around a bag of clothes to run in for a few days, but it had always been cold. So when I opened my bag to get changed I found I only had knee high compression socks and full pants. So yeah, it was toasty!

That first run was really what I needed. It got me back to feeling like myself again. My friend wasn't able to join me this year for Ragnar (but I'm not giving up for future races!), but I was able to get creative and fill the open spot... with my husband! HA! He hasn't been running much, but I know he can handle what he was to run. Plus he is awesome at driving those big vans around, so that will be handy I imagine. So we are going to discuss Ragnar a little bit because it sets up the last two runs and the future of my running. Check out this photo below. See those hills? Those are only SOME of my hills from my first leg of Ragnar last year. *Fellow future teammate running leg 3, yeah, enjoy!

Okay, so we saw what I did last year - and let me tell you, these photos don't do the hills justice. I remember at one point I called my mom and we just chatted while I chugged my way up. BUT also important to remember is that I had 5 days warning that I was doing Ragnar and this was the leg I was assigned. I hadn't been running really AT ALL. So I had 8 miles uphill without any prep. What does that have to do with now?

The new Ragnar team was officially established and registered and we need to all finish signing up and selecting which runner number we would be. I was browsing the 5 available spots in our van (we have 6 runners in each van - Shawn and I are in van 2). Runner 8 gets to run along the water a lot on the second leg (we all run 3 times). I didn't really get any water views last year except for the very beginning of my final leg. So I thought hey, I can do that. I looked at the other legs and the distances didn't frighten me. I have plenty of time to train. The first leg does have quite the elevation change, but the picture on the app seemed doable. Look at the photo above. The first box is the picture in the app. It says 225 for elevation. That's it? No problem. So I want to be runner 8. Good views, doable hills, longer distances that I can handle yet will still feel challenged. I'm all in! Well THEN I was looking at more things because it is all I think about right now... and I saw the big elevation chart along the bottom. That says 750? WHAT?!?! Yeah, so I did the conversion and on some of the maps they use meters, while the detailed one is in feet. So that 225 is meters. Now, let's go to the top right square in this collage. See that first peak at 112 meters? That was me last year. Now, see the tallest crazy spike all by itself there? Yeah... that is yours truly this year! WHO USES METERS AND FEET?? Pick one and stick with it, Ragnar!! Challenge accepted!

That brings us to my long run. I tweaked my training plan and did my long run a day early. It was such a nice day. I never felt scared for my safety, so that's always a plus! I stuck to paths that I know well, and just set off to enjoy myself. My legs felt awesome. The time was flying by. And on this run I had a new goal.... I did not walk up any incline. Every hill I encountered I ran up. It was the sole focus of my run... hills. I even chose my route just to make sure I would hit some hills - and be able to refill my water along the way. As I was nearly 6 miles a couple of women on their bikes came toward me on the path. They totally cheered me on and seriously made me smile and feel like I wasn't sucking. I loved it! That's something you only get during a race, so it was kind of a nice preview for next weekend! In the end I ran and felt so happy with how everything went. I feel ready for Eugene, and ready for the new challenge of hill training!

During a relay you live in a van, you run 3 times, and you pretty much don't get to sleep. Sure, you try, but do you get quality sleep? If you can, go you!! I could have called yesterday's double digit run (my longest run since before IVF and having a baby!!) enough and been done for this week, but I deliberately did it a day early so I could run again today. I wanted to run again to get my legs ready for the back to back work we will do at the relay. Again, I felt awesome! The only issue I had was some Meniere's stuff around mile 2. I'm starting to wonder if it is all the crazy shadows at that spot, because this is maybe the 3rd time in a row that I have had trouble in that same spot. I going to keep monitoring that for future runs. Also I didn't let myself walk during any incline - I hope to keep this going and keep searching out new places where I can do hill training between now and July.

I'm ending this blog with photos of my mini me. This was right before my 10 miler, and this was a big motivator during that run. I was excited to finish so I could go spend more time with her... because 20 hours a day with her every day isn't enough??

So perhaps the next time we meet to discuss running it will be the race recap. My 31st half marathon, but the first since pre-IVF and baby life. I'm so ready to be back!!

Race Countdown:  6 days 13 hours 49 minutes