Morning Run With Gretchen

Yay!!! My back has healed enough to let me do some longer distances- this morning I made the beautiful drive up to Donner to run with ultra-runner Gretchen. She is as nice as she is fast, and this morning's run was well matched since she was sore from the Diablo Marathon, and I am still working on my endurance (and being careful with my achy back). (Not to mention that I'm slow anyway.) We mostly chatted around the lake, and it was the perfect day for a nice easy run-about 6.5 to 7 miles around. It was beautiful out! Here is a picture of... well, of a tree, but I meant to get the road shoulder that we set out on.

We also ran on a nice stretch of trail on the east side of the lake by the park too, and it made me wish I had brought my camera on the run. There was a little bit of snow that we had to walk over, but for the most part, can I just say how lovely it was to run on pine needles? So soft and cushion-y, and fragrant! Here is a quick picture when we got back to the car, thirsty, but not too sweaty:

I meant to take a picture of the mountains on the the west side of Donner, but forgot. Instead I took a picture on the way back out the front of my windshield just to give a taste of how beautiful it was today~

Thanks Gretchen for the invite! Hope your soreness is all gone now, and that we can run together again soon~ :)

Run Around Donner Lake. Twice.

Well, I didn't make it up to Tahoe for the half marathon this year, but a friend of mine and fellow library worker, Dave, invited me to go run around Donner Lake. That was awesome of him because I was really quite depressed about not getting to compete. The plan was three trips around but we settled for two after the knees started protesting (on my part, anyway). It's almost exactly 7 miles around (7.05 his Garmin said). He has a training regime where he runs slowish and stops at each mile to finish out what ever is left of that minute before starting up again. I could have run the first lap around the lake quite easily without stopping, but this type of training surprisingly agreed with me, because it gave me the energy to keep going through the second lap with a good amount of energy. It was a beautiful morning, and the perfect temperature for a nice long run. And I made a great discovery: I LOVE running on pine needles! They are soft to run on, and have a very satisfying crunch. Not to mention the pleasant sappy smell they release when cracked open. I even found myself swerving for patches of them just so I could run on them. The other thing I noticed today was how LOW the lake was! The spot where they have the swimming start for the Donner Lake Triathlon (which was sadly, but justly, canceled due to smoke from the thousands of California fires this summer) was almost empty! There was a spot in the middle that was just an island of mud. I wonder if they drained it or something?

Anyway, back to running. Today set a new PR for me. Not in time, but in distance. While I definitely didn't break any records in the running-without-stopping department, but this is the furthest I've ever gone in one go. Here are Dave and I post-run, and feeling good! Thanks for pushing me Dave. :) I owe ya one...



Even though I wasn't up at Tahoe today in person, I was there in spirit- congrats and great job to all who ran today!

26th Annual Donner Lake Triathlon

This was my fourth year doing the Donner Lake Triathlon. (Although last year I could only do the bike leg of a relay team because of my shoulder surgery in January. Still counts though!) Here are the stats: 1/4 mile swim (400 meters), 6 mile bike, 2 mile run. It's a pretty quick race, and a select few even finish in under 40 minutes. I however tried my best to stay under an hour. The bike alone takes me almost that long. The lake was really nice this year- MUCH warmer than in previous years, and it was glassy smooth. There must have been about 50 other girls in my wave (32 and under), and I got kicked quite a bit at the start, before it thinned out a bit. One girl even knocked my right arm which gave my bad shoulder a little twinge. I quickly decided to let her pass. I could tell that I haven't been doing much swimming lately and found myself breathing every other stroke instead of every three, rotating from side to side. I was happy to get out of the water, even though that is usually my best leg. On to the bike! It is a grueling 3 mile bike up with a 1200 foot climb on Old Hwy 40 up to the bridge. I think that took me about 30 minutes to climb, and 5 minutes to peddaling furiously on the way back down. The only times I used my brakes were for the right curves in the road. For some reason, I just don't feel as comfortable going 35-40 mph downhill turning to the right as I do to the left. Half way up, I remembered I forgot to tie my bib number on. Oops! I meant to put it on after the bike, but then I forgot it again. I think those are mostly for the cameras anyway- I was wearing a chip on my ankle, plus I had my number (1186) inked on both shoulders and legs. I had a pretty strong bike, despite the short trainings I've been doing. I kept telling myself, "Almost to the run!" That is where I have been doing the most training for this year- running 3 to 5 times a week between 3 and 6 miles per workout. (When I don't get a bad stitch in my side, anyway.) So I took off for my run, and I didn't hold back after the first quarter mile. I was passing people right and left, especially on the uphill. It wasn't much of an uphill, but man was that a great feeling! I know I dropped time on my run, if nothing else. I don't know what my race results are yet (they didn't have them posted when I left, although someone said that my name wasn't on the list- hopefully that wasn't because I forgot to put my bib on!). Another thing I forgot to bring was a towel. I like to dry off my feet before I put shoes and socks on, but I think because I didn't pause to do that this year my transistion times were faster too. My official time was 1:07.11, which is only 39 seconds faster than I did it in 2005. Oh well. Good thing I ran fast! They some how lost my times, but finally posted my overall time, although no splits. Better than nothing, I guess. Here are a few pictures: First, Sara and I before the race started, about 6:45 a.m.

Here I am, getting out of the water on my way to the bike.Here are Scott and Sara, post race:

I'd like to take the opportunity to congratulate my entire family as well- both of my parents participated in 2 separate relays, along with my husband and his dad, my older brother, and my Aunt. My little brother and his girlfriend did the full triathlon with me (and probably both placed in their age groups)! Yeah us!