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Memorial Day marathon

Not quite, but almost.

Ava, current and future Spray Rodeo princess

On Saturday, I ran the Spray Half to the tune of 1:48:22.

It was a great event and I was really happy with my performance. Notably, I hit faster and faster splits in the last five miles: 8:19 (mile 9), 8:02 (mile 10), 7:44 (mile 11), 7:51 (mile 12), and 7:23 (mile 13).

We left Spray on Sunday but we weren’t done yet.

Leah and Charlie walking the shores of Timothy Lake.

On Monday, Leah and I subjected Ava and Charlie to a grueling ~14 mile hike around Timothy Lake.

For better or for worse, this is the epitome of our marriage — “should we turn around now?” is left unanswered and we keep going. Fortunately, our kids are more hardcore than we are.

An A+ Memorial Day weekend for the year in review book.

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Thirteen mile run up Eagle Creek this morning with Jordan and Ry. First signs of fall on the trail. Gorgeous — coming up on my favorite season of the year.

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Running with the watch of the future

Leah bought me a combination GPS & heart rate monitor watch for my birthday. Coming from someone who’s been running as many years as he’s been alive, this watch has completely changed training patterns.

Before, training to me was running as far as I could, as fast as I could. In my infamous first attempt at a marathon, I’d string together an eight miler, a fourteen miler, a nine miler and do a six miles on my off day. Needless to say, it was too much — my body fell apart three weeks before the marathon.

Now, because I’m training for endurance, all I need to do is keep my heart rate below 155. I don’t have to come out of every run exhausted, needing a day of recovery. Instead, I feel invigorated.

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Trail run with Jordan today to Hood’s Paradise Park. Twelve miles in total over three hours, and running for nine miles / two hours.

I didn’t bonk on this one, but I did feel pretty beat at the end of it. And today definitely wouldn’t have been a good day for forty.

The theory is that it was a combination of dehydration and the wrong heart rate for me. Planning to pick up a Garmin GPS + heart rate monitor watch — we’ll see how slow running at 145 bpm is like.

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Wonderful 55 minute run on Leif Ericksen with Jordan. Sun set to reveal peeks at the city through barren trees. Feels great to be back at it.

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Portland Marathon in 4:01:51

sundaydreaming

If I was in the Army, my nickname at work tomorrow would be Major Chafeage.

This morning, Leah and I completed our first ever marathon with a net time of 4:01:51. Considering I, somewhat stupidly, climbed Table Mountain yesterday, it was awesome to have such a great finish. Highlights of the course include great weather, a beautiful jaunt across the St. Johns Bridge, and copious amounts of gummy bears. The first 18 miles were strong. After that, my energy level dropped significantly and I dosed on said gummy bears to get to the finish line.

“Let’s do the ultra,” Leah says first at breakfast and then again this evening, referring to the Autumn Leaves 50/50 happening at the end of the month. Heh, we’ll see.

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