But not for me! Today’s long weekly run was my running partner’s last long one before a taper week and then the San Francisco February 7th. She is a bit nervous about what pace she should do, a knowledgeable running store worker recommended pushing for 9:20 but she thinks that is too fast. I think she is going to try for that at points in the race but accept a slower pace at times, probably averaging 9:30 – 9:45. She is going to fuel up well beforehand both with sleep, food and water so I am sure she’ll do a really good job. She is also going to sport a waterbelt with two 8 ounces bottles of H20 and two of Orange Gatorade G2 which is the replacement drink they are serving. We both know its crap, but it will be flavored and have some good stuff to counter its ton of sugar. She is also going to take 3-4 gel packs. I am encouraging her to take one before she starts and she wants to take them every 45 minutes after that. They are serving the G2 later in the race (I forget exactly where) so she plans to space out her own bottles around that drink station. I’m really proud of her hard work, she is all set!

In other racing news, I have a third race to do this spring. Sean’s Run from Autism. I have done this race twice before, it’s a really nice 10K along the water front from Oaks Park down the Springwater Corridor.

So now I am looking at the following:
Shamrock run 15k – March 14th
Race for the Roses half marathon – April 11th
Sean’s Run 10k – April 24th
And then I think my spring racing season is over and done. Not sure if I will doing anything this summer unless I can find one at the coast where it is cooler.

So today’s run of 12 miles up Terwilliger Ave was one I have wanted to do for a long time but never have, mostly cause the hills make me nervous. They weren’t nearly as steep as I had them pictured in my mind, but they weren’t easy either. So maybe 3.5 up hill then 2.5 rolling, but relatively flat then we turned around and back tracked. Here is the Garmin report. We did a really good job of keeping our heart rate down and going slowly but steadily. The route has pretty good paths along it in the form of sidewalks and paved nature paths. There is really only one area without sidewalks where you have to cut across an off ramp. The nature areas near Tryon State Park were really nice. One of these days I want to go all the way down to Lake Oswego, really only another 4 miles total. We ended our run with a really good healthy meal at vegetarian/vegan restaurant, very yummy and good for us, good recovery meal.