Saturday Sweat-Fest

Today was a plucky 11-mile run around Champoeg Park.

The weatherman promised 90+ degrees today, so we got a nice early start - about 7:30, although we would have started earlier if we hadn't had to wait until 7 for the gates to open. The park is a delightful place to run; it has a nice paved bike trail that runs from end to end, as well as a network of gently rolling single-track trail. It is a genuine Oregon park with plenty of towering pines and forest, and it almost compares to my favorite Tualatin Nature Park (but not quite.)

All in all, it was a good run. The last couple of miles were a bit of a challenge, but then again, the long runs always tend to be this way as we are slowly increasing our mileage every week. I was drenched, dripping, red-faced and a bit crampish - so it was a workout.

These long runs are important - the Eugene Women's Half is right around the corner, two weeks from tomorrow. Jenn and I figure we should be able to finish somewhere in the neighborhood of 3:05 -3:15; we shall see. I am hoping it won't be nearly as warm as it was today, especially since the race doesn't start until 8am.

After the run, it was off to Shari's for French toast and bacon. Then I scrambled home, took the fastest shower ever, and then Charles, Nicholas and I went off to the air show in Hillsboro, courtesy of my friend Christee who gave us a few free tickets that she and her family couldn't use. The air show was fabulous, but it was so bloody hot and we were sitting right out in the open and practically baked ourselves into the plastic of our seats. I ended up coated in a fine, salty crust once again, and in the course of our attendance, we probably ended up walking close to two miles, from having to park our car pretty far away from the gate to wandering around looking at all the cool planes after the show was over. So yeah, I probably did an actual half marathon today.  :-)

And now, I am bone-deep exhausted. I need to go take another shower and then curl up in my nice cool bedroom with the ceiling fan and find a Law and Order marathon on TV - you just know there's got to be one on somewhere.

Toodles for now!