Once a Runner

After I moved to Seattle, and the relocation package ran out and I still had nowhere to live, I serendipitously ended up living once again with my friend Amy. I had lived with her back in Houston briefly before she got a new job and sold her condo all in 6 magical days. We joked that I was her lucky charm for all the changes in her life. When I moved in the second time (on this occasion into her lovely condo in the heart of Seattle), we joked again that I would bring change. . . . . . sure enough, engaged within a week. I told her just to let me know when she wants to have kids, let me know and I'll camp the weekend in her backyard.

I loved living at Amy's, with the exception of the cable tv. In Houston I had a roommate and things are significantly cheaper, so of course I had 6 HBOs and 6 Showtime stations in addition to the super ultra deluxe cable package. At Amy's I had like 20 channels. 10 of them being a combo CSPAN, home shopping, and spanish/religious stations. It sucked for the few nights of the week where I was too tired from skiing to be out and about. I couldn't handle it, I needed entertainment. I started going through Amy's small book collection looking for something good.

I found a winner in the classic sport novel, "Once a Runner" by John L. Parker. I was skeptical since I myself am not much of a runner, I mainly did it to keep up my cardio so that I could be better at skiing, but mostly I found it boring and without a purpose (unlike Soccer, which I described as running with a purpose) so a book about it seemed kinda lame.

Nope. This book was so ridiculously awesome that I immediately wanted to take up serious running and begin training for something. The review on google post as following for the book:

"ONCE A RUNNER IS AN INSPIRING, FUNNY, AND SPOT-ON TALE of one man's quest to become a champion. Originally self-published in 1978 and sold at road races out of the trunk of the author's car, the book eventually found its way into the hands of high school, college, and postgraduate athletes all over the country. Reading it became a rite of passage on many teams and tattered copies were handed down like sacred texts from generation to generation. Once a Runner captures the essence of what it means to be a competitive runner, to devote your entire existence to a single-minded pursuit of excellence. In doing so, it has become one of the most beloved sports novels ever published"

My sentiments exactly. The night I finished was the same night I signed up for the Seattle Rock n' Roll Half-Marathon and said I expected to finish in 2 hours. Game on.

I knew as a non-runner I needed help, so I drafted my friend and serial marathoner Jenny to help me out. Boy did she come through! She sent me an awesome personalized training schedule for each and every day right up to race day. Amy also lent me another book, "The Competitive Runner's Handbook" by Bob Glover and Shelly-Lynn Florance Glover to supplement my running knowledge. Between those two resources I was set!

The first thing I did was ask people about the arbitrary goal I had set for myself when I signed up. I had no idea what my time would be, so I simply guessed something. After speaking with people and consulting the AST healthy living facebook page, I was told, this was actually a very ambitious goal for a non-runner who had never ran that distance. I was told realistically that I would probably run more like a 2:30 time since I knew that my regular mile average was a 10min/mile. This was confirmed by the handbook. Oops. I was nervous about being placed in a fast heat, but figured it would be good to be pushed race day.

For the next few months I followed Jenny's schedule the best I could and toward the end sort of fell off the band wagon due to being sick/on vacation/skiing. Two weeks before I was sort of willing to give up and admit defeat of not reaching my goal and questioning if I could finish at all (without stopping/walking).

My friend from work Connor, who also had been running the race 'for fun' and had not been training seriously, the day before the race decided to mysteriously drop out (Connor has no SISU). And the day of the race another friend who was supposed to meet up with me before the race ho'ed me out as well and left early for the bus (which is what I wanted to do, but everyone had convinced me that we could leave later. . . . . . ) so I ended up standing in a huge line with all the other late people and ended up at the race an hour behind start time and had missed my heat. Things were not looking good. . . . . .

I was in a not so happy mood at the end of the race lineup in heat #33 (far away from my heat #10) and was cold and irritated. As I waited for the other heats in front of me to go (there were several heats behind me as well for the walkers), I tried to give myself a pep talk and bounced around a bit to try to warm up my muscles. In the midst of my gloomy-ness a deep 1940 style leading lady voice came into my head and a woman in a salon chair turn around,

"If you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your half marathon, you're not the girl I thought you were."

Yes! It was was Professor Stromwell (played by Holland Taylor) from Legally Blonde, in my head there to pick me up! Within that one ridiculous pop culture line the gloom disappeared and I laughed to myself and was ready to run!

Note: If you ever want to feel good about yourself, run a rock 'n roll series race. There are so many people who are in no condition to be in any sort of race, let alone a long distance running race, you are bound to feel very very good about yourself. Not matter how little you trained. You will see someone who trained and prepared Way Way WAY less than you did. You get to feel good about that.

I felt really good running right from the start. I tried to not start off too fast, but I had to get out from the crowded running peloton. That is when the feel-good-passing-of-people began and went on for 13 straight miles. I dodged and weaved in and out of the spread of people in the various heats of those who had started ahead of us. I ran with joy to the beat of the bands that were along the way and to the people cheering and waving along the way.

The trail was quite lovely, going along the the historic houses and parks of Lake Washington. The water and gel-snack stands were spaced well along the trail. (Blackberry gel; turns out to be delicious. Who knew?) The path slowly found itself on the freeway and heading into the city and toward the finish line. It made a lap around the stadiums, so that runners got a a great view of the sound via the Viaduct (last Rock 'n Roll marathon to get to do so, before the demolition later in the fall).

Coming into the home stretch it was finally time let the final mile rip and going into the stadium parking lot with all the people cheering and I ran my fastest mile. I beat my goal of running the half in 2 hours. I did it in 1:57, averaging 8 minute 50 second miles. Significantly fast then any training run I had done prior. Apparently, passing people kinda makes you magically faster. I totally felt awesome! I think I got some of that runner's euphoria that they talk about in those runner's magazines.

After the race I got my medal, special space blanket, banana, bagel, and water and I wondered around until I felt ready to start the mile walk home. On the way to 1st Avenue, I accidentally met up with my new friend Pedro who I had met the night before and his friends. We all celebrated out race results with drinks and fish 'n chips at the local Irish pub. Perfect way to end the morning and start the afternoon!

When I finally got home, I rolled out my muscles with my foam roller (seriously has changed my life and my IT-issues), then finished with a hot bath and more foam rolling. The next day, pretty much pain free.

Overall it was such an amazing experience! I will definitely do it again next year (new course!)
Anyone want to join me?

Post Trip Summary

I made it to Seattle! Yay!

I would like to thank everybody who made my trip possible. Andres, Triina, Matt, Ben, Brret, Benton, Briana, Kyle, Alex, Sam, hippies, Wyoming locals, etc.

A special thanks to Grant for being my partner in crime and mountain guide.

It was an epic trip and one that really gave me the adventure and relaxation that I needed after such a hectic December of packing, moving, studying, working, and saying goodbye.

I did learn a few things. Saying goodbye is hard, no matter what the situation. Keeping busy is the best medicine. I also learned that I love skiing more than I remembered and that I really really needed that break. I think Benton and Briana have the best idea of taking a season off every now and then to just ski full time.

For the remainder, they say that time can heal most anything. I will be giving that a go with Seattle; all shiney and new with fresh possibilities. I'm super excited but prone to complaining, so I need to just chill and take things in stride. I know there will be adjustments to be made (like dealing with city parking), and making new friends, but the best thing I found out is that I already have great people in my life, even if they are far away.

Day 17: The Final Leg or How I Purchased Studded Tires

The final leg of my trip started off just fine. The roads were in decent condition, a bit more windy than I would have liked, which annoyed Mr. Toad, who on the smooth well rounded hills really wanted to let it rip and enjoy the final day of driving.

The sun started to shine as I transitioned from the small mountains of Oregon into the more gentle hills that are the high desert area of the tri-cities Kennewick, Richmond, and Pasco. This is Matt Dina’s old home and I thought about calling him to see if he knew of a good place for lunch. Then I saw that the clock was still before noon and that as new member of the state of Washington, perhaps I should instead get myself a chai tea latte and coffee cake at Starbucks and save lunch for when I was more hungry, perhaps Yakima or after.

I still hadn’t seen a visitor center, which I intended to completely load up on just about all the information about outdoor/adventure activities as well as winery info as I could carry. I had thoroughly enjoyed my ‘texas bucketlist’ and thought I should do something similar for Washington. I didn’t want to go back to the life of sitting around the house watching tv and doing homework/studying as I had for the 3 years I had lived with Gareth. I figured when I had the chance, I would go through the material and figure out my top things I wanted to do. Not so much a formal bucketlist, but more of a ‘things to do’ list.

I finally found one in Yakima, the 2/3^rd way point on my trip. I got an enormous gift bag of swag, heavily on the Yakima region and the winery region, but a good selection all the same. As I left the visitor center I didn’t notice anything wrong with the car. I did however notice quite the loud repetitive thumping noise as I entered the freeway. It seemed pretty weird, but quieted as I went faster. I turned off my Julia Child memories from France audio book and listened to the car. I decided something was definitely not ok and I pulled off the freeway at the next exit.

I found a closed fruit stand and pulled over. I inspected the tires and found the left back was definitely fully destroyed. I called AAA and started unloading the trunk to get out my donut.

The tow-truck came 20 minutes and 3 hot helpful guys later. I asked about the 55mph rule on the donut. He confirmed. I would have to drive very very slow. I took a look at Mr. Toad, who was very dismayed at the prognosis and asked if he knew of a tire place. I figured we might as well get a new tire now rather than drive over the pass in an inadequate donut.

I stopped at Les Schuab tire place and got a set of new studded tires and continued on my way. I was several hours behind schedule and would now have to go through the pass at night and through the slush storm that was going on.

It was a terrible remaining drive the closer I got to the pass and to Seattle. The final 2 hours turned into 4 and I was hungry since I had missed lunch and it was now passing dinner. When I finally made it to my corporate housing I was exhausted and ready for bed. I emptied the car and figured out dinner.

The concierge (Yes, my corporate housing is so fancy I have a 24 hour concierge) said the pizza place down the block was amazing and would deliver directly to my apt door (no need to go downstairs to pick it up). I ordered a margarita pizza and admired my temporary new digs. The corporate housing was beautifully furnished and completely hooked up. I had flatscreen tvs with cable and internet in both the living and bedroom, a good sized kitchen, and a lovely office that was now my ski den.

In 15 minutes dinner arrived promptly and I enjoyed the remainder of the evening with cable tv and the most glorious margarita pizza ever. I finally relaxed and thought, life is good.

Day 16: On the Road Again

After being well rested, well fed from my free breakfast, and feelin’ good I took off bright and early. It was another bluebird day sunny and crisp outside with the snow sparkling and mountains you could see forever from. I was sad to leave Wyoming and the last decent steak I figured I would have for a long time. I think I had gained at least 7 pounds on this trip due to my gorging on red meat and game.

Leaving Wyoming for Idaho and then Oregon, it was beautiful to see the mountains change in shape and type. Tall craggy ones in Wyoming, to generally more rounded and less defined. After a while, the snow disappeared and then reappeared as I went between ranges.

About Twin Falls I ran out of audio books. The last one I listened to was, “Shit My Dad Says”, which parts of are laugh out loud funny! Other parts are amusing stories and antedotes and a few heart warming moments. I highly recommend the book or audio book. In Boise I stopped at a borders and got two final audio books, “Earth (The book): A Visitor’s guide to the Human Race” by Jon Stewart and “My Life in France” by Julia Child. I started off with Jon Stewart and his Daily Show gang. It was somewhat humorous and kept me going till it was time to stop.

I made it as far as Baker City, Oregon before it started getting dark and snowing and I decided to call it a night. It was a long day of driving that went by fast with the great scenery and entertaining stories. I was glad to stop for the night and prepare for the big day; seeing my new home.

Day 15: This is what Contingency Days are For

I had decided that despite everyone’s recommendation, I should probably start getting closer to Seattle to make the final were days easier. There was only one problem and there is no other way to put this, so I will be straight up. When I woke up I was horribly hung over.This was no good since I needed to check out by noon. Me, my luggage, and the room went to war. It took me the final 2 hours (with multiple nap breaks) to pack and get it loaded in the car.

From there I went straight to The Bunnery since I knew they served eggs and bacon all day long. I got an enormous bacon and tomato omelette with hashbrowns and toast and OJ and a large chai tea latte. An hour later, I was at least starting to feel better. Not good enough to want to drive for 5 hours, but good enough to do something in town.

Clearly I should take an elk sleigh ride at the National Elk Refuge. This was an excellent idea. I got my snowpants on and just chilled till it was time to go.

The elk tour was pretty cool. We had these enormous horses pull the sleigh up to a group of grazing elk and the guide talked and we took pictures. As long as you stayed in the sleigh they were cool with you being there. It was worth the $18 for the tour.

Next I went to the National Wildlife Art Museum, where I learned the history of how wildlife was view by the art world over history. It was pretty fascinating. (Spoiler alter: its pretty much how history viewed nature. If you’d like to read more on that subject I recommend the book, “Wilderness and the American Mind”). I stayed at the museum till close, which was 5pm and I was feeling quite cultured and a lot better. Clearly, I wasn’t going to Sun Valley that day.

I checked into a different hotel, the Parkway Inn, who was running a sale on Orbitz and had a nicer hot tub and pool. I went and had a great meal at the Snake River Grill who had a Wild Boar with apples and chanterelle special for the evening. It was ridiculously good. After that, it was hot tub and bed.

I was only slightly bummed that I missed out on going to Sun Valley, but I think I needed another day in Jackson Hole. There is so much to do there, that it was nice to just play tourist as well as giving my body another day off from skiing. In the end, this is exactly what contingency days are for.

Day 14: Hot Springs in the GTNP

The next morning, at 5am we got up and I brought Grant to the JH airport, then drove back and went promptly back to bed.

Hours later, I woke up to a bluebird sunshiny day. All rested up I went for a relaxing breakfast at the local bakery, The Bunnery. I read the paper and tried to decide what to do with my day. At the bar the night prior, I had heard about a hot springs that you could cross-country ski to and that sounded like a pretty good day. I decided to walk to the local cross-country ski store, Skinny Skis to get their opinion on the distance.

Inside, they were incredibly helpful and told me that the ski was pretty easy, but incredibly long and at this point in the day, I should have already left. Oops. They then recommended that I try a different ski to Huckleberry Hot Spring up in the Grand Teton National Park, which was much shorter and easy to get to. Grant had left me his park pass, so that I could drive to Big Sky through GTNP and Yellowstone NP so I was all set.

I drove the hour it took to get up there and put on my sweet new gloves I had bought at the Skinny Ski shop and headed out.

I met a few hikers on the trail who were just coming back and I got the DL on the springs. It turns out that there are several hot springs, not a single pool, so if one was full, just continue on the trail and there will be another one. I took the advice a skied on.

I got to the first set of pools and a group of college aged girls were getting up the courage to go in the first pool and a lone random dude was in the deeper pool. The vegetation levels in the pools that the sandwich guy I had spoke to about the springs as he made my to-go sammy were pretty high. This was apparently normal, which is why he liked to only go at night. I decided to move and find another set of pools.

On the way to the next set all of a sudden I looked up and there in front of me was a mamma moose and her calf. In my admiration of all the beauty around me, I had skied right up to them. I stopped. We stared at each other. I said, “Hi”. We stared some more as I took off my backpack and tried to find my phone to take a picture. I wasn’t really afraid, just calm. I knew I couldn’t out ski a moose, so I figured I’d just chill till she decided things were cool. A few moments later, she started to walk toward a tasty tree and start eating. I wasn’t a threat. Yay! I started skiing again.

When I told Grant the story later, he said I was lucky I was so small and non-threatening.

The next set of pools had a group of local ladies who were just chilling and drinking wine; and they invited me to join them as they were in a pretty large pool. The pool was located at the top of a series of waterfall pools and looked over the mountains toward where the sun was a few hours away from setting. It was too good of an offer to refuse.

The three girls were all good friends who hadn’t seen each other in a long time and were having a bit of a reunion. We all laughed and talked about different things and enjoyed the cold wine that the snow kept chilled. We stayed until the sunset over the Teton Mountain Range, then it was time to go.

I skied back and went about finding me some dinner to feed the appetite I had worked up. I decided on the Silver Dollar Bar and Grill where I had some of their famous corn chowder, a salad, and New York gorgonzola linguine. It was all so crazy good. I figured I should eat all the beef/game I could since in Seattle I doubted I would get anything that good for a long time (as far as red meat goes).

Afterwards I decided to get dessert in the bar where I chatted up the bartender and my waiter when he got off. We discussed the merits of me leaving Jackson and moving on to Big Sky in Montana or Sun Valley in Idaho. They suggested neither since the snow was so much better in JH than anywhere else right then. I ended up closing down the bar with my new friends and then heading home. Yet another good day!

Day 13: Grant’s Happy Place

Everybody has one or two places that make them really truly happy. Grant’s two places are Whistler and Jackson Hole. The whole ride up the day before, he chatted in an animated manner and his whole face lit up whenever he spoke of it. You could just tell it was his happy place. And he was so excited to show me his favorite mountain.

The next morning we peaked outside the window and discovered that the snow someone had promised at the bar had not fallen. So we rolled over and went back to sleep, we were in no hurry. After an additional hour, it was finally time. Grant also knew of a great shack-on-the-side-of-a-building momo/burrito place called D.O.G. (Down on Glen), that was the local’s favorite. You could get a giant egg, tots, sausage, salsa, and cheese burrito. It was delicious and way too big for one meal. Grant stuck the rest in his pocket for later, a very smart move since food on the hill is ridiculously expensive.

When we got there we headed up to check out the Mountaineering National Championships that had taken place that morning. Grant had competed in last year’s competition and wanted to see the last few competitors coming in. He pointed out the ultra lightweight Dynafit alpine touring gear and spandex just about everyone else had been sporting. Apparently he had raced in his everyday PBR skis and normal green outfit and was not nearly as serious as everyone else (as he pointed out that his time included a waffle stop during the course of the race).

After we got our passes we were lucky enough to get on the new tram that they had built in 2008 to replace the original that has stood since 1966. When they retired the old tram in 2006, I had wanted to go to Jackson Hole then and ride it on one of its farewell voyages, but alas, no one else wanted to go. Everyone was poor and just out of college.

The mountain was beautiful and I was excited to be going up. Grant has kept saying, once I saw the mountain in all its glory, I too would fall madly in love with it.

There were only two problems with that prediction. 1) It was weird misty weather, warm on the bottom, and fierce windstorm on top. No visibility past the immediate ridge. 2) I was tired. After 6 days of skiing hard (4 in a row, this being #5), my muscles were exhausted. Graduate school had done me a great disservice as far as being prepared for a ski trip. For the final month I had been so busy and over extended with school, work, and moving. I hadn’t had time to go running, just an occasional yoga class to keep things stretched out and my sanity. That day they had had enough and my body started to shut down.

Poor Grant had to deal with me skiing ridiculously poorly. In addition the lack of visibility, it was giving me vertigo, where I didn’t know if I was skiing or standing. At one point I told Grant to go off without me and leave me for a while at the Casper lodge, where I tried to load up on sugar and all the caffeine a hot chocolate would provide. It did not help. Finally after a few laps, Grant came in and had lunch. I slept at the table while he ate. It was sad, my body seemed to have rejected skiing for the day.

Magically at 2pm, something happened (sugar?) and my body suddenly woke up. Grant and I headed out to the Saratoga Bowl to find some good snow in the trees. It was far enough that the there was still soft snow, and low enough in elevation to be out of the clouds and out of the wind. It was perfect. Grant and I would bound down the mountain, him whooping and hollering in his happy place, and my legs finally working. We just about finished up all our remaining time on the mountain in that corner. I was finally awake and wished that we now had more time to ski.

We did one lift up to the gondola so I could get a better view before skiing down and with perfect timing catching the bus back to town. This time we made it to the Million Dollar Cowboy steak house in time to get the awesome burger&beer deal. Afterwards we headed back to the Snow King Resort to hot tub and for Grant to pack. Our time together was growing short as he had to fly home the next morning.

It was an imperfect day and one that I don’t consider as having given Jackson Hole a fair shake. A real Jackson Hole ski day will have to be saved for another day. I can only hope to have as great and patient of a guide as Grant again. I had a feeling when I am ready the mountain would be waiting and ready for me.