Earth Day Run Volunteer Report + Long Run Lessons Learned

We had a busy weekend!

Saturday, we volunteered at the bag check for the Earth Day Run in Tigard. We had a lot of fun, and got to talk to a lot of runners. We were also able to enjoy some delicious beer (specially brewed for the Earth Day Run) from Hopworks. I've never had Hopworks beer before, but I can now say it is delicious! Now I'm even more excited to stop by their restaurant after the Girls on the Run practice 5k this Thursday!

Arriving bright and early:

Checking a bag.

Letting J do all the work! ;)

It had rained for about 10 minutes randomly, but we were able to warm up with some beer:

Since we were “in the area”, we drove over to Dundee for some wine tasting. (Delicious, of course!) Then relaxed (and napped) for the rest of the day.

Since Saturday was so busy, we saved our long run for Sunday. I was looking forward to this run all morning. My legs were finally feeling fresh, but I would soon realize that we shouldn't have waited so long to start our run! (This would be our first mistake.) We ended up heading out after lunch (on full stomachs, our second mistake). We decided to try out the Maple Trail in Forest Park (our third mistake). This trail was much too hilly and difficult for me after the past week. All week my legs have felt like lead, and I decided to finish them off with a super tough run. Not a good idea. I was miserable. My legs were tired, my stomach was upset (ugh!), my Garmin was feeding me weird numbers, and I soon lost all desire to complete our planned 7 miles.

We each took a Gu somewhere in the middle. I was hoping it would make me feel better, but it only seemed to make me feel worse. I tried the chocolate mint flavor, and it felt like I was choking down thick frosting. Blech. I don't think I gave it a fair chance, since I was already feeling pretty terrible, so I'll give it another go sometime in the future.

After the Gu, we found ourselves on the Leif Erickson Trail. We decided to change our path, here, thank goodness. This trail seemed to be much more up my alley, today. By the end of the run, my legs actually felt pretty good, but I still felt like I was going to hurl. I didn't, but the feeling wouldn't go away. We ended up walking the remaining 1.5-2 miles back to the car, since my stomach was giving me so much trouble. This was not the best week for my digestive tract, and it was definitely not the best week for my running.

I'm not going to let this week of running get me down. It was kind of a “recovery” week after last Sundays 10k (which capped off a great week). Everyone has great and not-so-great weeks. You just gotta work with what your body gives you!

Sunday:
5.32 miles (measured out later with maps)
1:18:57 (this includes walking and stopping, at least my Garmin could still measure time...)

We also walked another 2-ish miles. Meh.

Anyway, this upcoming week is going to be great! At least, that's how I've planned it to be! ;) Here's the plan, as of right now.

Monday:
3 miles

Tuesday:
5 miles (We're going to try to make it to a track workout! :)

Wednesday:
Rest Day

Thursday:
5k with GOTR

Friday:
Rest Day

Saturday:
Flying down to SoCal (again!)
8 miles (on nothing but flat pavement!)

Sunday:
Rest Day/Kid's Bday party, so not much rest, I guess ;)

Here's to a better week!