The gulf stream may actually be slowing.

I can walk again, so I'm going to work this morning. The IT-band problem is still sort of there but not nearly to the extent of before. Having this time "home" helped me get some domestic stuff done. All my bills are mailed off now and I have food for the work week. I also brought in the plants I'd like to keep. It was a good thing I signed the lease for another year when I did. These apartments were sold, and through the new management company they are raising the rents significantly. This place isn't worth what they want, but if the housing market lets them do it that is where they will go. Now, out into the cold....

I couldn't go to work today. My legs are shot. The outside of my right knee is especially painful. I sent my boss a text message last night saying that I wasn't sure whether I would be able to walk the next day. I can barely walk but working at landscaping is out of the question. I'd have to be able to climb up and down off of and into the truck. No frickin' way. Thankfully, I don't think that my chronic knee injury has surfaced this time. I think what this is is the inflamation if the "it band" (iliotibial band). It is described here. It took six hours for the nausea from testerday to subside. That was pleasant. Y'all have a nice week out there.

From "Loomings", via Kos:

"The world is a large, large place, and ripples will not change its course, though the occasional tsunami makes it wobble slightly. There are days, like today, when I wonder at the landscape, and imagine the whole besotted world to be dashed up against the rocks, and wonder if any of us will ever gain our bearings again."

Go read.

I have good news and not so good news. I finished the race in good time (so I am told) 3:31:51, but boy did I pay for it. I was doing well until mile 17 or so. I guess the first half was too fast. The way I feel now I wonder that any speed for the first half would have spared me from my screaming legs and post race nausea. My legs still hurt. I didn't qualify for Boston, not with the second half of the race I put in. I finished 50th out of my age group of 187 and 331st* of the males in general. Seasoned marathoners (I know) were impressed with my time in my first marathon. I appreciate that.

I don't think people are supposed to run 26 miles. That was the distinct feeling I got at mile 17 or so, where I sort of woke up, fully comprehending what I had gotten myself into. I was thinking, "this sucks now and it is only going to get worse." I tried to rally my body a few times, but to little avail. I was spent, too early. And it all happened just how I had been told. "The first one is a learning experience" and "don't go out too fast," they said. I'd like to keep that good pace throughout the whole race the next time. "Next time?" Yup, I just wrote that.

Uli Steidl won again in 2:24:24. The next guy was 10 minutes behind him.

*update: 334th

Well, this is it. It seems easy to forget all the miles which have added up to get here. They really don't add up. They are done in segments or groups. This race is then adding them up in quantity and quality. I have to go 26.2 miles in distance and also at a relatively good speed. My average minute/mile needs to be 7:38. I've chipped my half speed down to below 7:10. Here is to hoping that my body can do the former for an extended period of time. All in all, not bad at all for being over 40. It is strange reading that.

I was up at about 4:30 this morning. I wasn't as anxious last night. I took a pre-race shower and then started the coffee/small b'fast/computer regimen I have. I think I got the rest I need. I'll see.

Here is the present, at this writing, radar:



The race starts and ends between I90 and 520 in the middle of the green blob. That is kind of funny, because it starts next to the EMP blob.

I bought something today I should have listened to my gut about. I don't know how people run with tights, and to be truthful I never thought I would even entertain the thought of buying them, but stupid me did. They constrict movement and are a fashion faux pas (at least to me). What was I thinking? Oh, I know, how freezing it will be on Sunday. I might give them another try. I'd prefer it if young women wore these things. Sorry, but I would.

This is a test because I can't seem to see my blog right now.

I haven't felt much like writing in here lately, obviously. I "ran" against some advice yesterday and put in about 40 minutes here in Bellevue. Some say to run a little as close as the day before the race. I'm hoping that a moderate run close to my race pace three days before the event will be ok. I gauged the run by my breath. I felt I had to shake out my legs a bit. I didn't think that not running at all for the week before the marathon would be a good idea. I'm having a minor concern in my knee again. If I start off easy on Sunday I should be all right. I've been trying to figure my pace from the pace charts and calculators available on running web sites.

I'm having a much more leisurely weekend this year than last. I moved this weekend last year, then ran the Seattle Half and then had to contend with a big test the following Monday. It was harrowing and exhausting. I couldn't properly train for the race because I needed to study for the test and all the other tests in the course. I'm hoping this year will be different. I try to avoid the perfect storm weekends like that now. Sleep last night wasn't that fitfull. I had a crazy mix of work and the race combining to make a truly bizarre mix of dreams. There were monkeys, monsters, and wars. We were told to do a five days worth of properties in three. Presently I can't complete the schedule I have now. This leads to anxiety. The sheer length of the marathon is leading to it's own anxiety as I try to put it into perspective.

Maybe going to the expo today to pick up my bib, shirt and stuff will help me wrap my head around this. I might also run down to Fry's to see what they have for sales. I know this is not exactly the best day to do this, but at least it will get me out of the apartment.

I just checked the weather for Sunday, and this is what they have to say:

"Sunday is the annual running of the Seattle Marathon. It will be a cold and damp race. Temperatures should be in the middle to upper 30s at the starting line Sunday morning."

Lovely.

Here is "little" Nicky on my bike. These pictures don't show how big he's gotten. I had time today so I cleaned up the bike a little, lubed the chain and connected the heating element controller for my gloves and socks (I didn't use them today). For some reason he stayed on the bike long enough for me to get these pictures.

Well, I'm registered.

This journal is turning into a running log. Friday we went 7+ miles on Cougar, Saturday's run was 6 and this morning in the misty rain at Redmond Watershed two of us went 23 miles while a few others did similar distances. This morning there were 10 of us out there. The last 5 miles were (as you would imagine) cold and wet. My shoes were soaked through as was pretty much the rest of me. We were all in a similar condition. I should have taken pictures but I was quite happy to get out of the wet clothes quickly. We went right to our cars. I didn't really notice this on the drive home, but my hands were still a bit numb in the shower. I ran through another turn of the ankle yesterday and continued on it today. It protested but I thought I could get the miles in without too much of a problem. It'll be all right in a few days. I think we crossed the line into hardcore this morning, but it was cool.

I guess once a year I do this; I called in sick today. Last year I was able to get this apartment on my sick day. Today I'll be able to get some miles in on Cougar Mountain. We were raised to always attend to our responsibilities. This includes going to work, always, going to school/class or whatever else. The result is that we as a family are very dependable and easily taken for granted.

Our yankee upbringing keeps us out of the spotlight - doing otherwise would be bringing attention to oneself. Can't be doing that. That is one area where Mom's yankee work ethic jibed with Dad's Polish farmwork ethic (for lack of a better term). The Poles I used to know in Western Massachusetts were peerless in fieldwork.

Aaaanyways...no work for me today. I need these miles for the Seattle Marathon. Most runners start tapering three weeks before the race, not two. Gotta sign up for the thing too. My track workout went well on Wednesday. I'll get three solid days in this weekend and then I can taper. Y'all have a great weekend.

This was what greeted us the morning after the race. The rest of the day was beautiful.

I'll be running in a relay in Canada on Saturday. There are eight legs to the 100km course. It is the Haney to Harrison Relay in Vancouver, British Columbia. I haven't been up there on this side of the continent yet. I looked at a map of the area and a lot of the street names are very English. As close culturally as we all are, just to be able to get out of town to see new landscape (not in the landscaping sense) will be refreshing. I dug out my passport (makes re-entry a lot easier) and I think I have most of my other things lined up. I really need to get away. We'll travel up there Friday, run Saturday and return Sunday. It'll prove to be an expensive outing (for me) but I haven't let that snag me.

We all worked on the same property, Shorewood, yesterday. Steady rain started after mid-day. Some of us were kept late. I wasn't asked about that. Because of this I wasn't able to get to the Redmond run on time. I tried to run the small group down but was unable to follow. On my return to Town Center I turned my ankle a bit. It will be better in a few days. That is one of the reasons I don't like to run in the dark.

The next week and a half look very wet. The new boots from REI aren't all that. I can still get wet. A Soggy, soggy Pacific Northwest.