Reunion & Long Run

Before I get to the long run I have to share with you the good time I had Friday night. I've mentioned before that back in the day when I was in Jr. high/High school I played on a competitive fastpitch team. This team consumed my summers (happily) with softball tournaments EVERY weekend all over the Pacific NW since I was 13 and even traveling nationally a couple of times. Some players came and went because you had to 'try-out' every year to make the team, but there was a core group of us that were mainstays. After the team disbanded we all kind of went our separate ways, many played in college, or just moved away. Over the years we all kind of lost touch until recently and under not so great conditions. Our head softball coach's, "Coach D," wife died of cancer a few months ago and we began finding each other (thank-you Facebook). Many of us live spread apart, but a few of us still in the area were able to come to the funeral and be reunited. It was a very emotional time obviously and Coach D was pretty out of it. It was the first time we had seen him in years.

Coach D and his wife were such huge impacts in all our lives. Every summer for years we were under his tutelage. We were family. Although the circumstances were grim it gave us a chance to be reunited.

One of the girls "Brew" (we all had nicknames) who lives in China was visiting so we took the opportunity to have a "Scorps" reunion. (team name was Scorpions). There were only four of us girls and Coach D, but it was a blast! They rode a boat up to Gig Harbor (where I live) and we met at a local killer bar - Tides Tavern.

This is Coach D and I. He was such a huge impact in all our lives. Even though I had a present and very involved father in my life growing up, he was still a father figure and we were his kids. He was a retired drill Sergeant in the Army and he ran our team like a tight ship. I think that's probably why I am so disciplined when it comes to my running to this day!

Coach D taking a Tequila Shot. This was the first time we'd ever been able to drink with him. So funny! After a few + beers I decided to hitch a ride back to Olympia with them in the boat. I left my car parked downtown. Crazy!! I just wasn't ready to end the party. Plus the boat ride sounded so fun and I had never done that trip before. Teammate, me, Coach D

As a sidenote - the girl on my left, "Bulldog" was our pitcher and we were the biggest troublemakers on the team. Bad as in you probably didn't want your kids hanging out with us. We were trouble. One time at a tournament in Eastern Washington we stole alcohol from some of the parents and tried to get our team drunk. So bad. This totally contradicts the tight ship comment I made earlier, but on the field it was all about serious play - off the field, after hours...another story. To this day, I live by the motto: work hard - play hard. The girl in the front "Brew" was our catcher. She's was a blast.

Olympic Mountains straight away

For the record, this is NOT me. It's my trouble maker friend. The guy carrying her is Brew's brother (who was also a mainstay surrogate brother to the team). She was so shitfaced. He drove her home and I followed in her car back to her house.

He and I proceeded to hack into her facebook account and change her profile pic to this:

So funny. So mean. Such trouble makers.

Overall, it was the absolute best time and I'm so glad were able to reunite and stay in touch.

________________________________ So, the next day......

I got a ride back to my car the next morning about 7:30 and blew my chance to run with the group at 7:00. No problem, got this. I only had to run 14 miles which didn't really seem very far so I went home ate, hydrated, etc...

There were a couple of dicey moments, but overall it went pretty good.

14 miles/2:36

11:09 av pace/3,056 ft in elevation gain/163 bpm

I'm going to run down my mile splits and the elevation gain:

Mile 1 - 10:24/114 ft.

Mile 2 - 10:25/252 ft.

Mile 3 - 10:49/238 ft.

Mile 4 - 11:02/355 ft. Mile 5 - 11:18/169 ft. Mile 6 - 11:51/278 ft. (took salt tablets) Mile 7 - 11:10/244 ft. Mile 8 - 11:06/317 ft.

Mile 9 - 10:52/151 ft.

Mile 10 - 11:12/144 ft.

Mile 11 - 12:24/267 ft. (stopped to refill water bottles)

Mile 12 - 11:01/79 ft.

Mile 13 - 11:09/186 ft.

Mile 14 - 11:26/267 ft. So basically I can't get into a steady pace. I think for my longer runs of 18, 20, and 22 I will have to travel to run somewhere relatively flat. I think it's important to get my legs used to running on a flat course since I use my quads so much during runs around here and I wont be able to rely on them during the race.

I was super sore after this run. I took an ice bath so I'd hate to know what I would've felt like had I not. I guess it's has been a long time since I've run for 2 + hours. I did also tried some new fueling techniques that I want to document

FUELING:

toasted English muffin w/peanut butter & 1/2 banana

2 salt tablets before run

1 gel at 45 minutes (GU espresso love)

2 salt tablets at 1 hour

1/2 gel at 1:15 (Hammer raspberry)

1/2 gel at 1: 45

2 salt tablets at 2:00

slowly took gel throughout rest of run Last year I couldn't' take a whole hammer get, but this time around I don't think 1/2 is enough. I do like slowly taking a gel in over a five minute period. I think that's much easier on my stomach.

I also sipped on Ultima. It was good. Yay for no stomach problems.

Sorry this post was so long. Thanks for reading.