Summer Days

I recently spent a couple of nice summer days with my nephew Jacob and some of my grandsons, enjoying the kid side of summer. 

Steph and family had us over for backyard badminton followed by burgers and potato salad - yum!

Jake, Sean, Shea and I headed for OMSI Monday morning. 

Jake wanted to see an exhibit in the Life area; unfortunately, it had been discontinued.  Sean and Shea seemed most interested in the Turbine room exhibits - these are very hands-on!  I was most interested in the Natural Disasters exhibit - earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, etc.  This is very well done.  And we toured the Blueback submarine - only Sean was willing to sign up for an extended tour of duty.

We left OMSI and headed to Steakburger in Hazel Dell for a brief round of miniature golf - and a milkshake!

We were a little more low-key the next day.  Jake, Cody, Sean and I headed to Wintler Park, which is very small and about the only area in Vancouver where you can go to "the beach."  Luckily we got there early and even so, I was surprised it wasn't more crowded as the morning went on.  Cody read for a while, and the boys adventured up and down the beach, dug in the sand, and pretty much got soaking wet.  I relaxed and listened to an audio book - a novel about people in Dublin.  The book made me think of my mom, because it was all about how people came together in their common interest and love in taking care of a baby.  ("Minding Frankie" by Maeve Binchy.)  That isn't us paddling up and down the river, but we did see quite a variety of vessels go by, not to mention the steady stream of air traffic coming and going from both the Portland Airport and the Portland Air Base right across the river.

We dragged ourselves away from the river, hot-footing it up the beach, and stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch.  After a video game break, Jake and I headed off to pack up for the return trip home, by way of a walking tour of Portland's Old Town/Chinatown area - the Shanghai Tunnels tour.  This was interesting, educational, and a little entertaining, but certainly nothing on the scale of Seattle's underground tour.

  Who knows what our next summer adventure might be?

 Beach Trip - June 2012




Half dollar?
Autumn and Steph

 Tim and Cody

 Steph and Autumn

 "Mom, you'll never believe this..."

 Shea running on the beach

 Sean and Michayla

 Photo finish

Digging to China

Soaking Wet July

Today is Sunday, so of course it was a running day. I mapped out my 6.75 mile hill run - familiar and comfortable territory starting at the Grand Central Fred Meyer, up Grand, down 18th, up Brandt, down Mill Plain to what is now "where the library used to be" as of yesterday. Then down Fort Vancouver Way, through the barracks "established 1849," to the Fort Vancouver replica, through the apple orchard to the Land Bridge. Down the Renaissance Trail to where I can cross under the railroad dike to get back to Columbia House Way and to Fred Meyer. One of the freight trains was pulling out as I ran by, so that slow but cranking up rhythm was great to run along to.


Besides really enjoying this run (taking two rest days back to back undoubtedly upped my enthusiasm), today was the day I finally made it all the way up the Brandt Road hill, from 18th Street to Mill Plain. It isn't that it is so terribly steep, but I did check on mapmyrun.com and learned that it is 1/2 mile of steady incline - most of my other hills are up and then level off for a bit before they incline again.

Rained the whole time, but it wasn't cold out, so it was somewhat like running through a sprinkler - not a bad environment for "a woman of a certain age."
Although I could start an office pool to bet on what day my shoes might possibly dry out, I admit the kid in me enjoyed stomping through some of the puddles!

By special request, here is my blog about my adventure in the inaugural Vancouver USA Marathon, June 19, 2011.
After completing the 2010 Helvetia Half-Marathon in June 2010, having a better time and a better timing than I expected, I began to see that a full marathon was within my potential. I spent most of last summer being overwhelmed by work, and got back to more serious physical training in the fall and winter. After a set-back with the flu and several weeks of mostly down time in January and February, I began to wonder if I had spent my registration money in vain - marathons are on the spendier end of the registration fee scale.
Through a lot of the winter and cool, rainy spring months, I struggled with what I thought were leg cramps or shin splints - turns out these were the common, garden variety IT band problems. In the last weeks leading up to June 19, I was seeing my massage therapist (Casey) for hour-long massages on just my legs, getting stretching exercises from both my trainer (Rey) and the internet, and using a foam roller to roll out my IT bands morning and night.
I prayed fervently regarding the weather for race day - I have never been a hot weather person. One of my fears was that after having trained through the cool, rainy spring, we would suddenly have a hot sunny, barbecue worthy Father's Day, and my running would be doomed! The Lord answered my prayers, and race day was cool, overcast, with just a slight mist or drizzle at the outset of the race. My kind of weather!
The race was very well organized and there were pace leaders - individuals carrying signs (I don't know how they do this, but they do it well!), and I got in with the 5:00 hour group. The race started and we were off (this is the photo on page 1 of The Columbian). Using the Jeff Galloway run-walk-run method, I stayed with the group until the half-marathon point. Whenever the sun broke through the clouds, I felt as if my energy was sapped. I fell behind the group, and for a while, coming back into town on west Mill Plain, I felt really alone - it was a bit disheartening.
Throughout the run, although there were plenty of familiar sights, I realized I had lived in this town for 25 years, and yet was seeing things and places I had never seen before. We had never been out to Frenchman's Bar park. There were volunteers in the park who said, "Water's just around the corner." There was a bend in the path in the park, and when we went around that bend, the Columbia River was right there! I thought, wow, she was right - water right around the corner! Actually, about another 100 yards ahead was a water station. The water stations were frequent enough even for me and there were many volunteers. In this race - maybe most marathons? - bib numbers come with your first name pre-printed. This made it easy for the volunteers at aid stations to call out and encourage you by name - I loved this!
Back into downtown Vancouver, the route was twisting and turny, and I began to wonder if I was still on course - I was running not quite alone by this time, but certainly not in a pack of people. On McLoughlin Boulevard, approaching mile 16, a familiar face and voice beckoned to me, and my good friend Maryann Velez, from work, jumped off the sideline with her bicycle and came to cheer me on. She had a couple of friends in the Half-Marathon and had been cheering them on as well. She rode with me down to Fort Vancouver, and then headed back to cheer her other friends at the finish line.
After the familiarity of Fort Vancouver, I once again was in unfamiliar territory, feeling fatigued, and wondering if I was still in the right race - maybe there was a run in Camas on the same day and I had accidentally run too far east and was now continuing in a different race?
Eventually I could see how we were going to get across Highway 14, down to the waterfront, so we could run back in along the Renaissance Trail and get to the land bridge. At the bottom of a hill, I thought I was going to get a rest - I could see a freight train blocking the crossing while a guy in a kilt played a bag pipe to entertain passing runners. But the train backed up, and we stragglers made it across.
At about mile 22, Maryann showed up again, and from there until the finish line, we continued together. To have a friendly face, an encouraging word, and even a bit of a distraction - I can't say enough what a difference she made when I was pretty fatigued. She was with me when at about mile 24, all of a sudden it felt like the end of my little toe had exploded off my foot. I stopped dead in my tracks.
As this happened, a young man, Scott Collier, from Mt. Hood Ski Patrol (volunteering on bikes), road by and asked if I needed help. Scott bandaged my toe and expressed his hope that I could hobble in to the finish line. He is a veteran of about 10 marathons, himself.
I did walk about a mile and a half or so - my foot really hurt and I didn't think I had the pain tolerance to run on it.
I was still walking when Maryann asked me, "Do you see that sign?" It was the 26 mile marker. "Yes, I see that beautiful sign!" "Do you see that number?" "Yes, I see that beautiful number!" At that point, I knew I had only 385 yards to go - if my foot hurt too bad, I would stop - and if not, I would be done! I kissed my hand and tapped the mile marker sign and said, "I'm going in." I took off running and hit it just a little harder when I saw I would be finishing in just under 5 and a half hours.
It took longer than I had hoped, but still a respectable finish for a 54-year-old gramma of 8, running her first marathon.
I cannot describe the feeling when I crossed the finish line - I just kept waving my finisher's medal in the air and saying, "I did it! I did it!" Part ridiculous smile, part brink of tears.
Next - part 2 - lessons learned.

Running Through Time

One of the things I like about Vancouver is the historical element. Most of Vancouver is pretty flat, so when my training schedule calls for a hill run, I need to head downtown to effectively work in more than one hill. I park at the Grand Central Fred Meyer store, then head up the Grand hill. It is a good feeling that my town has the state Deaf School and the state Blind school - I passed both of them on my Sunday run. I am still working on the Brandt Road hill - I don't know whether it is actually steeper or longer than other roads on my run, or if it is just where it falls in my route, but I find it to be a real challenge.

On Sunday's run, there was a mix of history-history and my personal history to think about. I ran down Mill Plain past the main branch of the Fort Vancouver Regional Library; this was the scene of many homeschool outings in the years that we were a homeschool family - some of the best years of my life. The library is getting ready to relocate to a great new location down the street. I'm sure this is needed, but I will miss the familiarity of my "home" library since 1986.

I ran through Vancouver Barracks - a military post from around Civil War times through World War 2, and still going. This week I didn't run through Officers' Row, but I ran past this beautiful street and row of Civil War-era homes. I ran down to 5th Street to get to the path that meets up with our infamous land bridge.

To get to the land bridge, I had to pass by Pearson Field, an active airfield and also home to a small flight museum. My grandson Cody and I took an opportunity to visit the museum a few years ago. I also got to jog by the Fort Vancouver national historic site - the reconstructed fort. Then on to the land bridge. The land bridge is landscaped with native plants and "decorated" with historic photos and information spanning the decades and centuries. Sunday when I noticed the photo of the Kaiser Shipyards during WWII, I realized based on a recent conversation with my parents, that it's possible my grandfather could be in the photo.

The land bridge is a safe walkway from the Fort Vancouver side of state highway 14 to the Columbia River side. Coming down on the river side, it looks like a finish line (but it wasn't mine on this particular day!), and comes out by the Old Apple Tree (grown from seed planted in 1826).

I do love the Renaissance Trail along the river. It evokes a lot of good memories from childhood about the times I spent with my immediate family and with my grandfathers - on or along the Columbia River.

I can see that I am not capturing in words the feelings that I get when "running through time;" the sense that "it doesn't take much to see that the problems of three little people doesn't add up to a hill of beans in this crazy world." And yet the value of each person living their humble life against the panorama of history.

A Spa Stay-Cation

My spring vacation is coming to an end and it will be back to work on Monday. I am at a point in my longevity at work where I have a great benefit of earning a lot of vacation leave. But we are at a point in the economy where having the money to get away for every vacation is not affordable, and maybe not even desirable. Like other people, I find that get-away vacations can be pretty spendy. And I should not feel too sorry for myself, since we were blessed to be able to spend over 2 weeks in Ireland just last fall! So, like many other people are doing these days, I have been taking one of the very popular "stay-cations."

If I had chosen to afford to go away to a dream destination somewhere, I would have chosen some kind of spa resort. Since instead I would be home-based, I had to ask myself, "Why?" What would I expect if I went to a spa resort? What would be the benefit? And what would I expect to experience there?

My main thoughts on that were: I would expect to work out quite a bit, to get a massage, to eat some healthy and attractive "spa" cuisine, and get a facial.

I experienced all those things over the course of the two weeks. I worked out a lot, in addition to running according to my Jeff Galloway schedule - including a 20-miler. In keeping with the budget theme, from the library I checked out a cookbook from Canyon Ranch Spa. I haven't tried all the recipes I tagged, but my favorite was a grilled vegetable and goat cheese sandwich wrap. The sea scallop stir-fry was a winner too. I booked a massage and when Casey got to my left shoulder, it was a good reminder how long it had been since I had a massage. Far and away the most deliciously decadent thing I did, however, turned out to be the facial.

I haven't had a salon facial for about 25 years. For this one, Connie had me lie on a massage table, cozy between two downy comforters, under which there must have been a heating pad on to cozy it up. It was instant relaxation. I'm not sure what all potions and lotions she used, and I didn't really care - it was just an hour of bliss, with relaxation-type music playing in the background with windchimes and birds chirping. In a lull while one of the masks or moisturizers must have been doing its magic, Connie put some lotion on my feet and gave me a little foot rub. The facial also included a little neck and shoulder massage. I almost fell asleep.

This Thursday, I had a fun workout at the gym with my personal trainer, Rey. Rey is a very encouraging guy, a good listener, and good at selecting exercises to help each of his clients meet their personal goals.

As a task-oriented list-maker, it wouldn't have been a vacation if I hadn't done a little - very little - spring cleaning, made some cookie dough to put in the freezer, and gotten the dishwasher repaired. And I only did work-work a little over 1 day of the two weeks. We started the vacation with a visit to the Egyptian exhibit at OMSI; I got a book at the library to help me get started with this blog process; I visited my friend Marilyn, formerly of DMV, now of Evergreen Bible Church, and showed her some of my Ireland photos; and I bought some pansies at Shorty's nursery and finally got them planted yesterday - today, Nature is doing the watering and then some!

I have enjoyed my "spa vacation," and accomplished most of what I wanted to. With every vacation it gets a little harder to go back to work, and I am glad we have a mutual target of retiring in 4 years. My next stay-cation is coming up for 1 week, the end of May-first of June. Hmm...what should my theme be?

Nice Day for a Run!

Wasn't Sunday the quintessential gorgeous Northwest spring day? Sundays are my long run days, and the beautiful weather made it a little easier to hit the road. The previous Sunday's combination of cold, rain, and leg cramps was one of the worst runs I have had, so I needed a little extra motivation to get out and try again.

When I say "run," I really mean run-walk-run, the Jeff Galloway technique of running a few minutes then walking a minute, repeat.

This Sunday I ran from home, out 112th/Gher Rd/94th (is there a road in Vancouver that goes any distance without changing its name?), to Padden Parkway, west to Hazel Dell, looping back at 99th Street and Hwy 99, back to 78th/Padden and returning home the way I came.

I have run along Padden Parkway several times now, and I really enjoy the parts along the wetlands. I have seen ducks, Canadian geese, a heron, and many types of birds, including my favorite - the redwinged blackbird. The part I don't enjoy as much is the intersection at Andresen, where there are so many lanes and so much traffic due to Costco and Home Depot.

On a long run, it can be important to have some mental distraction. There are a couple of things I have seen on pretty much every long run that add some humor to the exercise: a banana peel and an ambulance. The banana peel has humor just as part of classic comedy; the ambulance is maybe a little dark humor, when I imagine myself hitching a ride home in case I get too tired.

Where Padden Parkway crosses over I-205, the bike path has a foot bridge that goes up and over, and comes down almost in the backyard of Crossroads Community Church. On the way home I was thinking of stopping to do my Jimmy Cagney impersonation ("Look Ma, top of the world!"), but there were a bunch of bicyclists coming and going, and I just had to say it to myself.

I felt on top of the world, completing my chosen route, logging my miles, being on track for my race day 9 weeks away, even if I did get a little sunburned!