Tag Archives: port angeles

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When I last left off, I had just finished a half-marathon and was mentally preparing myself for a hike the next day. I’m happy to say that the hike didn’t happen as my legs were angry enough with me as it was. We did, however, go up to Hurricane Ridge to check out the views.

There was lots of snow (yes, that’s my 12-year-old son dwarfing his grandmother and father):

Lots of wildlife:

A clear view of Mt. Baker, 180 miles away:

And lots of trees:

I even got to try the infamous Starbucks Mint Frappacino (it was heavenly and I earned it) while the boys had quite a bit of fun goofing around with the outback hats:

The view of Port Angeles at the base of the Olympics:

But alas, all good things and all holidays must eventually come to an end. My mother-in-law went back to the Motherland this past Saturday… but not before we went out to dinner to celebrate both our milestone birthdays this year (we split this delicious morsel 3 ways):

And today was business as usual, or Week 0 Day 1 of marathon training, to which I went out and completed 5 miles plus 1. James is still hurt, but he’s in the process of formulating my training plan as I write this. He’s such a good sport. He actually just gave me a breakdown of my long runs for August and September, including (but not limited to) the 2 back-to-back half-marathons I’m signed up for, preceded and followed by those gnarly 20-mile runs… dear, oh dear, let the games begin…

Have a fabulous week!!

North Olympic Discovery Half Marathon

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As some of you may know by now, James wasn’t able to run this marathon Sunday (June 4). If you’re perplexed, you can read about his unfortunate outcome/circumstances here, which means I was on my own. As history dictates, James usually passes me during these events, so I missed him greatly on the course.

That being said, virtually he was with me the whole way. He was a great cheerleader… even if I did stop talking to him during mile 10 (details to come, 😀 )

Pre-race, he got me super close to the start line, dropped me off 1/2-mile away. Definitely much better than a shuttle bus, and I needed a warm-up, so I jogged to the field where the race started. I immediately went to the portaloo line. Pretty standard in that line… not enough potties, and by the time I reached them, the Star-Bangled Banner was being played. Then it became a race all in itself to get to the start line.

The gun sounded, and all went well until 5K, never mind the powerful head wind.

I texted James at 5K and informed him I just ran into an evil hill. I said some mighty nasty words… then I soon realized that mile 3 to 4 was all uphill, which is about when I also realized that this was actually a trail race and not just a road race. Huge difference. I didn’t train for a trail race, and I didn’t train on hills, especially the gut-wrenching hills I was running up. I thought I was just going to run a nice trail/pathway next to the ocean… but noooo… that wasn’t the case. My bad.

Eventually I texted James and asked when my pain was going to end. He did a quick reconnaissance and informed me I was in hill hell until after mile 8. Awesome.

Shortly after mile 8, maybe mile 9 (I’ve lost my senses at this point, so I can’t remember), it became a nice downhill path. I was so relieved. Down I went… until the shift at mile 10. All uphill. I was spent. I texted James and said, “Not going to make my time. 5K left. Head wind. Gassed. Still going.”

Up, up, up we go!

Despite the course “description” on the website of being flat, the last 3 miles were a painful and gradual uphill climb. I kept saying to myself, “Okay, once I get past this hill, I’ll take off again and redeem myself.” It never happened because the hill never ended.

I was very thankful to see James at about 12.75 miles as he ran a little bit with me to keep me going, at least until we reached the finisher’s chute, and then the crowd cheered me in across the finish line. Such great support for an extremely challenging course.

The bottom line… beautiful scenery, beautiful people, really hard course. But I finished. At the end of the day, I clocked in over 15 miles/24 km (over 32,000 steps on the FitBit).

As for the The Whole 30 having an effect… I believe it helped. I still felt strong and ready to go, even after miles 8 and 9… it was only after the mile 10 hill that I had a bit of an emotional breakdown and just couldn’t handle any more hills.

The elevation profile. The drop from 220 to 0 was at about mile 8 or 9. The tiny (but huge) bump towards the end left me deflated.

It was a great day, a great race, and quite frankly, it was my own “un”doing by not training properly for an extremely hilly course. If you ever run this race… do 10 to 20 miles on a mountain trail for training (numerous times), and you’ll be fully prepared.

Now on to enjoy the beautiful town and area of Port Angeles… I think there was talk of a hike up to Hurricane Ridge tomorrow, or something stupid like that… 😀

From Sequim to Port Angeles

Food Boredom

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Salmon, veggies, and a nectarine for dessert. All of 400 calories, filling, and loaded with nothing but goodness.

Day 26 of The Whole 30. The book said this would happen. You feel kind of blah with not a lot of interest in food… and with me, I’m really fed up with cooking as I’m not one of those happy chefs. The book goes so far as to say that you may lose your appetite, which basically I have. I have no taste for anything. Oh, I eat plenty as I have to keep my energy up, but I’m not all that excited about it. Guess I’ve discovered what it means to eat to live as opposed to live to eat. It gets terribly boring… but onward I go. Four more days.

Janet playing around on her visit last year. She wears a hat well.

My mother-in-law from the UK has hopped the pond for her yearly visit. We went to lunch at The Macaroni Grill this past Saturday (day 25 of my diet). It was the first time I had eaten out since starting this program. I ordered a Chicken Caesar salad, minus the cheese, minus the croutons, and minus the dressing, with a couple of slices of lemon that I could squeeze over the top (so basically it was romaine lettuce and chicken, flavored with lemon). Gotta get creative, people. Boring, yes, but I ate out and remained true to my diet.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca as seen from Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles. I took this picture after one helluva hike.

One week from now is the North Olympic Discovery Marathon and Half. All of us will be heading off to the lovely town of Port Angeles to give this sweet little race a go (two of us will be racing, two of us will not, 😀 ). Even though Thursday marks the end of The Whole 30 for me, I have no choice but to continue the program until after the race so I don’t sabotage all the good I’ve done. Although, I do have to say, my pre-race breakfast will consist of the same thing I usually eat pre-race which is a package of Belvita biscuits. We’ll see how that goes.

Thursday night I will post the stats for my diet, plus the pros and cons from the last 30 days. You might be amazed by a couple of the numbers.

Meep, my card-playing buddy. Just because.

Until then, have a Happy Memorial Day and a great week!

Hurricane Ridge

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We’ve left the real world for a few days and have hopped on over to Port Angeles for a short break before school starts up again. Port Angeles is about 100 miles from where we live (by ferry) and it’s right next to the Olympic National Park. It sits on the Strait of Juan de Fuca (the waterway that represents the border between the U.S. and Canada), and Victoria, B.C. is only 20 miles by ferry.

Okay, all that being said, we had a very full first day. Before heading up to Hurricane Ridge, we stopped in Sequim (pronounced ‘skwim’) at this charming little ’50s diner to have lunch. AJ wants to go back for the milkshakes alone:

After lunch, we headed up to Hurricane Ridge for a little hike. They call it that because of the 75+ mph winds that blow through there. It was indeed a hike, and once again, I wish I hadn’t worn my running shoes (she will never, ever learn).

The views at the top were just amazing:

You can look down and see Port Angeles, as well as Victoria, B.C. on the other side of the water.

Views of the strait:

You can just see the hiking trail we used to get to the top of the mountain (there are fires burning on the range right now, hence, the haze):

Going back down, James made a comment that the only exciting animal we got to see all day was a chipmunk. Not 5 minutes later, we got to see this (can you see him?):

James found a charming, 2-bedroom, vacation home to rent while we are here. So after a long day of being out, tired and grimy, we got to come back to this (which was a very pleasant surprise as we hadn’t seen it yet):

With fabulous views of the water (#spottedtheship):

Next up, Lake Crescent… 🙂

Never A Dull Bling

The trials and tribulations of a 40-something novice runner

Tag Archives: port angeles

Back To Normal

North Olympic Discovery Half Marathon

Food Boredom

Hurricane Ridge

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