READY OR NOT HERE I COME

Saturday was the final part of my "training" for Miami. And by "training" I mean make sure I could run a half marathon without major issue. After this run I feel pretty solid about that. However, I am not near properly trained for a half marathon. If you've been reading my blog, you are aware why. It does feel good that all my training for the two marathons last fall still lingers though. As you'll see, this eleven mile test run went pretty well, so despite my time off my legs still have some distance in them. They just don't have near the speed of half marathons past.

Katie was unable to run with us on Saturday because of some work commitments, so it was just Matt and I for the second straight weekend. It has been fun getting back into these longer runs on the weekends and good to have a buddy to do them with. I plotted a new route that covered mostly familiar territory just to mix things up a little. There was some new ground we covered on SW North Dakota Street (milepost 6 to 7), so that was fun. We also ran through Fanno Creek and boy was it flooded. My shoes got totally soaked. There were giant lakes on the trail we just couldn't avoid.

It was also my second consecutive long run where I needed to poop during the run. So that was pretty unwelcome. As someone who rarely poops on any run, the sudden need to be on the lookout for bathrooms was concerning. Hopefully my body will adjust back into this whole "long run" thing and solve that problem. Other than that, the run was great. We took an easy-ish pace of 9:15/mile and just knocked it out. My legs felt pretty good until the last mile or so, when they began to tire. Not bad though. I could have done another two miles if I needed.

Selfie showing how drenched I was.

Something to note during the run was the absolute DOWNPOUR that occurred at mile 9. I was prepared for some sprinkles based on a glance at the weather app on my phone and was pleasantly surprised by the mild, dry, overcast conditions we had for the majority of the run. I think I may have commented on it during mile 8 or so, thus dooming us to get drenched. It started sprinkling and then within a few minutes it was pouring down very hard. About as hard as it can rain in Oregon. We're talking tropical thunderstorm like downpour, instant makeshift streams being formed.

In addition to the rain, the wind was howling too and then temperature felt like it dropped a few degrees. So what was a pleasant 48 degree dry run became just a really ridiculous situation to be outside in. The rain was so thick and plentiful we had to talk louder to hear each other, the wind was super cold and mixed with our wet clothes to create a rather chilly experience. Neither of us wanted to be out there at the moment, but we really didn't have a choice. We survived though (it switched to just normal rain after a mile or so) and it was one of those runs that is fun to look back on.

Another highlight of this run was almost being ran over by a car. We were running along and this car is pulling out of a neighborhood to turn onto a main road. The driver is fixated to his left, scanning traffic for a hole, not even looking to the right for pedestrians. Well, I like to learn folks a lesson, so I darted out in front, assuming he'd stop. Let's just call it a "California Stop" and I don't think the fucker even saw me until I passed into his driver side window. I had to sport some NFL moves and change my route but honestly I was never in danger of getting hit. Didn't even get an adrenaline rush. However, according to Matt, it looked scary. Cards and sympathy chocolate can be mailed directly to my home.