Hood to Coast

The annual Hood to Coast relay was this weekend. It is the largest relay in North America and the 12 person teams cover a total of 197 miles. Each member runs 3 legs of the race which range from 3+ to almost 8 miles. It kicks off Friday morning atop Mt. Hood and finshes Saturday in Seaside, Oregon.

Friday night we stood at a nearby park to cheer on the runners. I realized then that it was my first time actually cheering for runners and not being somehow involved in the running. Kind of a cool experience. My 15mo clapped, blew kisses and waved at the runners. One guy even stopped to give him a "high five". It was fun but I stood there feeling envious of all these runners and not being a part of it myself.

However, when I crawled into bed that night I was glad to not be on some gravel road in the dark running by myself or trying to catch a few zzzzs while traveling down the road in a van full of sweaty, smelly people... Maybe next year.

Happy Feet! - part deux

Happy Feet likes the new shoes! Got out for a second short run today -- 3 miles at a 9 minute mile pace with one of my dogs. Bela is totally wiped out.

Happy Feet!

I bought new NIKEs today and I'm so excited to try them out. They are the same shoe as before, but a half size larger and in a new color. In honor of the new shoes, I thought I'd post a toenail update. There are additional photos in the archives (May 2006) if you want to see just how far this toenail has come.

May 2006
The pointer toenail was purple. No soreness or lifting at this point, just an undeniable color change in the nail. The big toenail is disgusting. Having fallen partially off, it's a mess. Original trauma was in February and some of the new nail has come in, but I wasn't able to cut all of the old nail off because it started to bleed. Yuck.

August 2006
The pointer toenail has fallen off and a new toenail was waiting below! It's shorter than I'd normally keep it, but it's a toenail! Complete and absolutely normal. The big toenail is also looking good. There is a ridge about halfway down the nail. The cuticle side of this ridge is totally normal and smooth; the other half of the nail is bumpy and still weird. But, it's growing in and it appears that it'll all look normal and healthy in the end. [Note: I say this because M also lost his big toenail during a marathon and it has not grown back in normally. It's been six years.]

July: 89 miles

This is the second month in a row that I did not log 100 miles. So what's a girl to do? Change her goals! I didn't say it, but my goal this month was to actually log around 75 to 80 miles. It's tough to get the miles in when you aren't running long runs anymore so somewhere around 75 to 80 miles is a more attainable goal for me right now. Yes, no long runs. My runs are generally between 4 and 6 miles these days. This is the sort of mileage I'd like to continue running for the long haul just to keep the blood pumping and myself healthy so when when I'm like 80 years old and my grandchildren want to run the local 5K, I can run it with them.