Running Journey

The Runner

Saturday I was fortunate to meet one of the true legends in Ultra Running - David Horton.  Julie and I drove up to the Mountain Hardwear store in Portland to catch a talk he did (and narration while watching the film "The Runner").  It was truly inspiring and certainly a unique way to watch the film if you ever get the chance!  After the film we all drove out to the gorge for a VERY wet run on the Eagle Creek Trail.

Watching a film like this and talking to the "star" of the film really helps put things in perspective like - just what exactly CAN you accomplish?  That goes for running or any other endeavor in your life.  Ability to success in running long distance and succeed in life can both be tied back almost exclusively to how you let your brain function and what perspective you have at any given time.

This summer a new attempt will be made at the PCT speed record.  David currently has that set at 66 days.  The person attempting this record (I forget his name) has completed the entire trail many times, including once in 71 days.

Who said all things aren't possible if we really put our mind to it?

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Blog Neglect & 15 Miles

I've been neglecting my blog as of late.  I would say there is a lot going on in my life but isn't that usually the case for all of us at any given time?  I'm in heavy training for the Orange County Marathon which happens the first Sunday of May.  Last weekend I got out for a 15 mile "Tour De Lake Oswego" which took me through the Mountain Park Neighborhood then to Tryon Creek State Park where I ran the 4 trail miles of my run.  After that it was on to downtown Lake Oswego before looping around the south end of the lake and finally back home.

The start of the run was brutal.  It was maybe 40 degrees and the rain hit pretty hard within my first few minutes.  Less than a mile later I was already looking like a drowned rat and the rain had a "lovely" mix of sleet and hail.  Beautiful day for a run eh?  I help out looking forward to Tryon and some relative safety in the trees.  The rain either seemed to mostly stop or the trees helped quite a bit as I ran through Tryon because when I exited it started dumping on me once again.  I was wet and cold.  How much longer?  Why do I do this again??

The run around the lake was tough and hilly.  Fortunately at about mile 13 the sun came out.  Yay sun!!  You never know how much you appreciate the sun when you don't have it more than 75% of the time in the winter here.  It did help my spirits and help dry me out and warm me up a bit. 

The run was at 5 hour marathon pace.  My main marathon goal is just to finish.  Ideally I'd like to be closer to 4:45 and break my previous PR of 4:58.  But finishing will be good.  It's a long training run in my plans to get into shape for the Lake Tahoe 50 Miler in July.  I have a 12 miler planned this weekend then a 30K next weekend at the Peterson Ridge Rumble followed by a 21ish mile run the next week before I taper for a few weeks.

Good luck to you racers tomorrow.   In SoCal it's the Old Goat 50 as well as the PCTR Sycamore Canyon runs.  I'm sure there is more going on somewhere :)

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Chuckanut 50K Volunteer Report

I first thought about running Chuckanut back in 2008 when I was still living in Orange County.  Moving to Portland put the race within an easy drive's reach but plans to run in 2009 were quickly scrapped due to lack of winter training.  Darn cold and rain! I emailed Krissy to tell her I wanted to volunteer and still experience the race.  It turned out to be one great 24 hour trip while meeting lots of great people including Dagan (whom I met briefly at Hagg Lake), Scott, Eric, Devon, Glenn, and a whole slew of other great runners and volunteers.

The day started early and cold.  When I got out to my car at about 5:30AM there was ice that needed to be scrapped off. I showed up to start just ahead of Dagan and Krissy was the only one there doing her RD thing and getting everything all in order.

 

I was put to task as a traffic director and greeter at the door letting runners know where to get their bags, bibs and timing chips.  The whole process was pretty smooth and before long 280 people had come through the doors to pick up their bibs (350 signed up).

As the sun came up it was looking like a clear sunny day and for most of the day that is exactly what the runners got.  Couldn't have asked for much better weather despite a very chilly start!

Krissy had a short respite after the race kicked off so Dagan, Krissy, Devon, and I took a quick trip to a local coffee shop for some much need caffeine and some snacks.  We sped (literally) over to aid station 1 to catch the runners on their way up their first climb.  We spent some time hanging out there with others like Matt Hart and a friend of his (whose name I forgot) that I gave a ride up to aid station #3.  The drive up was fun...  Despite the sunny weather the roads were covered in mud a felt a bit like driving on ice.  I wonder what it was like to run down that??

Aid Station #4 @ mile 21.5

The aid station 4 crew was great!  I was in charge of this little corner of the course (the best aid station at Chuckanut :)  Tim and his two sons, as well as Vicki and Barb were a great group of volunteers.  We even had a couple whose names I forget help us out for a while.  The runners were all extra happy to see us since there was no aid station in this spot last year and it had been 8 miles since their last stop.

After refilling their spirits, bottles, and stomachs they had to ascend up their last climb of the day which apparently was not as little as the sign would have you believe.  By about 2PM all the runners had passed through and the happy sweeps came through at about 2:30PM to help us clear out some of the rest of our food and drink.  We packed up and headed back to the finish line to see tons of  runners roaming around in the midday sun.

A short while later I was back on the road to Portland.  It was quite the fun trip even though it was so short!  Sometimes I don't know who has more fun - the runners or volunteers??  I'm sure some of you reading this post have never volunteered and I say - DO IT!  You will be so happy you did and you may even get addicted to it :)

Great job to Krissy and all the crew and volunteers that made this such a great race!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Chuckanut 50K Race results

Interesting Relations

Here are some interesting relations I have found in my family ancestry search.  I listed them in order of closed blood relative to furthest away. 

John Hancock / Jessica
2nd Cousin 8x Removed through Matthew Hawke
1    Jessica
2    Parents
3    Grandparents
4    Winslow Thomas DeLine & Daisy Irene McKinney
5    Zacheus C DeLine & Lucy Nona Moore
6    Mary R Stetson & William Moore
7    Winslow Stetson & Prudence Ralph
8    Matthew Stetson & Mary Randall
9    Matthew Stetson & Hannah Lincoln
10    Benjamin Stetson & Grace Turner
11    Benjamin Stetson & Bethia Hawke
12    Matthew Hawke & Margaret Nelson
   
1    John Hancock
2    Rev John Hancock & Mary Hawke
3    James Hawke & Sarah Jacob
4    Matthew Hawke & Margaret Nelson

----------------------------------------
John B Stetson (Stetson Hats) / Jessica 
6th Cousin 4x Removed through Cornet Robert Stetson   
1    Jessica    
2    Parents    
3    Grandparents    
4    Winslow Thomas DeLine & Daisy Irene McKinney    
5    Zacheus C DeLine & Lucy Nona Moore    
6    Mary R Stetson & William Moore    
7    Winslow Stetson & Prudence Ralph    
8    Matthew Stetson & Mary Randall    
9    Matthew Stetson & Hannah Lincoln    
10    Benjamin Stetson & Grace Turner    
11    Benjamin Stetson & Bethia Hawke    
12    Cornet Robert Stetson & Honor Tucker   
   
1    John B Stetson    
2    Stephen Stetson & Susanna Batterson    
3    Stephen Stetson & Mary Aderton    
4    Stephen Stetson & Dorcas Hall    
5    Cornelius Stetson & Thankful Saunders    
6    Isaac Stetson & Elizabeth Pray    
7    Robert Stetson & Deborah Brooks    
8    Cornet Robert Stetson & Honor Tucker    

President George W Bush / Jessica   
10th Cousins through Augstine Bearse 
(I'm probably flagged by the Secret Service now for researching this one :)
1    Jessica    
2    Parents    
3    Grandparents    
4    Winslow Thomas DeLine & Daisy Irene McKinney    
5    Zacheus C DeLine & Lucy Nona Moore    
6    Mary R Stetson & William Moore    
7    Winslow Stetson & Prudence Ralph    
8    Matthew Stetson & Mary Randall    
9    Job Randall & Deborah Lewis    
10    Job Randall & Alice Hunter    
11    William Hunger & Rebecca Bearse    
12    Augstine Bearse & Mary Hyanno    

1    President George W Bush    
2    President George H. W. Bush & Barbara Pierce    
3    Sen. Prescott Sheldon Bush & Dorothy Walker    
4    George Herbert Walker & Lucretia Wear
5    David Davis Walker & Martha Adela Beaky
6    Joseph Ambrose Beaky & Mary Ann Bangs
7    Elijah Keeler Bangs & Esther Stackhouse
8    Lemuel Bangs & Rebecca Keeler
9    Joseph Bangs & Thankful Hamblen
10    Ebenezer Hamblen & Thankful
11    John Hamblin & Sarah Bearse
12    Augustine Bearse & Mary Hyanno (Mary Hyanno was an Indian Princess though some believe Augustine married an English Woman.  The truth is not 100% certain)

Who else will I find?  I did trace one part of my tree all the way back to 1066 when the Norman's invasion first brought the name Cokayne to England.  I am the 26th great grandchild of one of the original English Cokayne's on my father's side.  That's pretty far removed but still interesting!

110% Effort - 50% Return

I'm increasing miles in effort to train for the fast approaching Orange County marathon.  Friday was supposed to be 14, with 15-16 planned for this weekend and a 30K trail race in a couple weeks.  Nickie started with me on my run Friday for the fist couple miles before she turned to head home.   I was feeling pretty crappy all afternoon on Friday and didn't really know what was wrong.  I wasn't sure how my run was going to turn out but I was determined to run my 14 miles.  It sort of felt like a mix between being really hung over and getting the flu.  Yuck.

I was feeling okay those first couple miles but after Nickie turned around I went downhill quickly.  I started to crash around mile 3 and managed to recover a bit going into mile 4 since it was mostly downhill and my loop took me into my Tryon Creek State Park section.  Trails!!  However, within another mile I crashed again - this time hard.  I texted Nickie and told her she might have to pick me up.  I struggled through the next couple miles before Nickie picked me up at 7 - 50% short of my goal for the day.  Wise runners, including Bill Ramsey, have told me some days when you just aren't feeling it you should call it a day because your body isn't ready for training that day and pushing it isn't going to help anything.

It was easily one of the top 3 worst feeling runs I've EVER had.  The worst training run in probably over a year.  I thought I was going to pass out.  I was a bit nauseus and even a little dizzy.  I was a mess and didn't really recover until Sunday.  I'm not sure what happened but hopefully I've gotten my really crappy training run out of the way now for at least a while.  I know they have to happen but why now with my marathon so quickly approaching?  I need to have a word with that Murphy guy.  Onward and upward in my training. 

Nickie and I had a great weekend down on the Oregon Coast.  It was very rainy (surprise!) but we took Tobey down to visit some friends on the coast in southern Oregon.  It was a nice get away and needed change of scenary.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Fancy a move to Detroit?

Apparently you can get a home there for as little as $1.  Arguably the hardest hit economy in the country, the question is will other cities hit this kind of bottom before we bounce back?  Go ahead and do a yahoo real estate search on Detroit for homes less than 5K.  You will be amazed.  Seriously - who sells a house for that cheap??

Last week I managed to run about 22 miles with a long run of 12.  My previous longest run since moving to Portland has been 11.5 miles so that made it my longest run since August!  I've already run 31 miles in March (only 21 in all of February) and am on track for about 90 or so in my ramp up to the OC Marathon and Lake Tahoe.  It feels good for sure.

Finally, check out this list and realendurance.  You can sort this year's Western States runners by previous best times on the course.  It's sure to be a great race!!

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica

Eagle Creek Trail - Gorge Run

Saturday Tony and I went for a run in The Gorge on the Eagle Creak Trail.  I almost cancelled last minute do to lack of sleep but figured hey - 5 hours of sleep in 2 days followed by a 12 mile run might help prep me for 50 Mile + races :)

It wasn't quite as cold as we thought it might be but was probably in the mid 30's.  It drizzled on us the entire run and I basically looked like a drowned rat when I finished!  We had a good run and I managed to survive the 12 miles in decent shape.  The Eagle Creek Trail is aboslutely gorgeous with dozens of small waterfalls and 3 or 4 large ones including Punch Bowl falls and Tunnel Falls (with a tunnel running under the large waterfall).  The trail runs along the creek/river the entire distance so you constantly hear the rushing of water.

We had a few patchy snow spots but the trail was pretty runable.  Here are some pics and a video from our excursion:

 
Start of Eagle Creek Trail

   

 
Punchbowl Falls

 
Bits of snow on the trail

 

 

 

Happy Running & Dirty Feet, Jessica

Crash

During the time when I was actually sleeping tonight I had a dream.  You know how tall building sway from side to side when it's really windy?  They are designed to do that.  But in my dream one swayed too far and came crashing down to the ground.  The building was a financial center and probably somewhat related to the current state of the economy but the imagery wasn't lost on me.  I certainly did my share of helping the building sway too far.  I never wanted a crash.  Who does?  The building shatters into a million pieces, it takes a long time to clean up, and the lives of those touched by the incident are never the same...

Distant Relatives?

After doing some research over the past few days I have discovered that John Hancock (yes THE John Hancock) and I share that same relatives in Matthew Hawke (1610-1684) and Margaret Nelson (1614-1684) of England.  The relation comes through their children and through my grandmother Deline.  My Grandmother's Great Grandmother was a Stetson which is where the family links into the Stetson-Hawke Lineage.

My Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather (Benjamin Stetson, 1641-1711) is the Great Uncle of John Hancock.  Who knew?  I think that makes him the cousin of my Great, Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather (Matthew Stetson, 1690-1730) but I'm horrible in figuring out relations like this.  I know the first one is correct at least.  Maybe someone better versed in this stuff can tell me by looking at the attached image?  (click on it for full size).

A very distant relative I know, but it's cool to see trees like this and find out who you are related to .  Fortunately for me someone had done quite a good tree on ancestry.com of the Deline family which linked into the good tree for the Stetson family and for John Hancock's ancestors.  That groundwork and little bit of searching the internet for some of my Stetson relatives linked me into the John Hancock connection! 

UPDATE:  I found a great relationship calculator and discovered that John Hancock is my Second Cousin 8x Removed.  First cousins share grandparents.  Second cousins share great grandparents.  The removal refers to generations so if you go back 8 generations I share a great grandparent with John Hancock.

Anyone else have cool relative connections?  I know Nickie is related to Davy Crockett but I'm not sure the exact relation.

Jessica

Schedule Taking Shape

My race schedule is finally starting to take shape this year which is great considering it's March already :)  The last week of April I'll be in Orange County for training which happens to coincide with the OC Marathon.  So my schedule is looking something like this:

April 5 - Peterson Ridge Rumble 30K (Sisters, OR) - My birthday run!
May 3 - Orange County Marathon (Newport Beach, CA)- New course this year
May 24 - PCTR 30K (Portland, OR) - This race is in Forest Park
July 18 - Lake Tahoe 50 Mile (Tahoe, CA) - My revenge race - I'm coming back!

The race distances all play into each other nicely so this schedule works great so far.  It means I need to whip my butt into shape.  Saturday Julie and I ran 10 miles in Forest Park.  Yesterday I did a 3.3ish psuedo marathon pace run with Tobey.  I'm going to try to incorporate some pace runs in an attempt to get a bit faster.  So far I have run 3 marathons and set 3 PRs so I would like to keep that streak going.  I have to ramp up to 18 pretty fast for Peterson Ridge but I'm using it as a marathon training run more than anything.  I'm looking for to 12 miles out in The Gorge this weekend and 14 in the Gorge next weekend.  Hopefully both routes are relatively runnable with the snow they have above 1200-1500'.

Happy Running & Dirty Feet,
Jessica