The Yakima River Canyon Marathon

Okay, I finally get to write about my marathon. I was a little worried because I hadn’t been getting enough sleep the last few days. I came home from school on Friday morning and took a nap. I slept for about three hours. I’m glad I did too. Friday night I finally got to sleep about midnight. We got up at five on Saturday morning and left at 5:30. The kids were quickly back asleep. The drive was uneventful. We arrived at the starting line in Ellensburg right at the perfect time. I had about 45-50 minutes to get my packet and warm up a little bit. I needed warming up because it was less than 30 degrees. Amanda thought that I was crazy for not starting out with long sleeves on or even gloves. I think the gloves would have been very helpful for the first mile or two, but after that I would have thrown them to the side of the road. By the end of the race it was in the mid 50’s, perfect running weather, not a cloud in the sky.

The race started right at eight o’clock. There was a countdown and then a big truck blasted its horn for the starting “gun.” That was a little different but cool. The national anthem that was sung before the start was not so cool, the lady didn’t do a great job and it was rather quiet. I was glad for the race to finally start. It had been a long time coming. I started about mid pack, which was probably a good thing. Even being mid pack, I still ran an eight minute first mile. That was perfect, not too fast, and not too slow. Amanda was waiting to take pictures with the kids about two to three hundred yards from the starting line. She snapped a few photos and Ella tried to take a video of me (which didn’t work, I guess she turned it off right after Amanda turned it on). That was it. I didn’t see them again until the finish line.

I had decided to run with my iPod since I have done a lot of my running with it. I figured I might get a little bored without it. I was pleased with my pace for the whole thing. During the first few miles I stayed behind a few guys who seemed to be going about the right pace. I felt like I could easily pass them, but I also felt like I really didn’t want to go out too fast and totally burn out for the last few miles. I resisted the urge to pass them, at least for a few miles.

It was really a pretty run. I really love the natural beauty of the great northwest and how green it is, but these desert hills were very pretty. There were several times when I turned off my music just to enjoy the natural beauty of the place. The road we ran on was closed except for support staff and emergency vehicles. There were no cross roads to the course either. It was in a very serene canyon that paralleled the main freeway.

The volunteers were very helpful and courteous. Overall I was very impressed with this marathon. Along the course at one point I saw a bald eagle soaring overhead. It was a good thing there was no traffic because I probably would have been hit by a car. I was jogging out into the middle of the road because my head was turned upward.

I kept track of every mile. They had markers at every mile and I got my split at every one. I stopped really briefly at about mile four or five, then again at mile nine or ten. Other than that I ran the whole way. I felt fantastic. There was one point about mile fifteen where there was a pretty big hill. This hill climbed up the side of a curving cliff so that the top of the hill was visible from almost a mile away. At the top, there was someone with a couple of really big speakers blasting upbeat music that made me want to run fast. I could hear it from almost a mile away. I thought that was pretty cool. It helped me out. I passed four or five people going up that hill. I didn’t feel like I was pushing hard, but I wasn’t about to walk up that little hill.

There was another hill at mile 22. This one was a bit larger. There were more people cheering us up it. Instead of the one set of big speakers at the top, there were three or four smaller boomboxes that you could only hear from a few hundred yards away. Just before I got to that hill, I realized that I only had about five miles to go and I was still feeling fantastic. I decided to pick up the pace. At mile marker 22 I called Amanda and told her where I was and that I was feeling great. I also told her that I would probably be there in about thirty minutes. Mile 22 was 8:10. Mile 23 was 8:50 that included a big hill and about 15 seconds for me to call Amanda while I was walking. Mile 24 was 7:18. I looked at my watch and thought to myself “holy cow!” I was still feeling great and I only had 2.2 miles to go. Mile 25 was 7:25. I slowed down a little bit, but that was still a great time considering it was mile 25. Mile 26 I was determined to drain my energy. I really hit it hard. This whole section was a nice gradual down hill into the finish area. I did mile 26 in 6:40. I felt great still. Was it true? I really ran my last mile of the marathon in less than seven minutes. My last mile was by far my fastest of the whole race. For the last .2 miles my time was 1:41. That comes out to be a 7:12 per mile pace for my last 3.2 miles. My overall pace for the race was 8:17. My slowest mile was almost ten minutes which included a quick bathroom stop. I think I probably passed ten or more people in the last mile or two. There was one point where I got a little emotional and a sense of overwhelming accomplishment came over me, but then I realized that I still had a mile or two to go. I got back into the game and finished strong.

Coming down that last hill during that last mile, Mount Adams off in the distance several hundred miles away, came into view. I thought that was totally awesome and thought to myself “what a way to end a great run.” It was really good.

When I got close to the finish line, I could hear Amanda cheering for me. That made me run even faster. I really appreciate my family for supporting me, even if I did make them get up at five am and drive a couple of hours. I was so grateful to have Amanda and the kids there to support me. I was so tired I didn’t notice if Ella and Alex were yelling for me. I’m sure they were.

I think I will run another marathon in a couple of months and keep running like I have been doing. I’ll probably even start doing more speed workouts and do more regular long runs. I was thinking that I would also start riding my bike. I might be able to get my dad’s old bike to ride on the paved bike paths around here. It will be some great cross training. Anyway, I guess this is long enough.

One more thing, on our way back from the marathon we ran into some traffic. Even though it was sunny and warm, they closed the mountain pass. They were doing avalanche control and so we ended up coming to a dead standstill on the freeway for about 45 minutes. We eventually hopped out of the car and let the kids play in the snow on the side of the road. They had fun doing that and were upset when we had to leave. We saw cars moving and so we quickly grabbed the kids and shoved them in the car, normally we can give more warning, but hey, we were on the freeway. What fun.

All in all, I’d say it was a really good day. I was really tired though. And even though it is two days later, I’m still tired and quite sore. My quads are the worst. I am fine except for going down stairs. I should probably have gone for a little run today. Oh well.

There, I’m really done now. Enjoy.

Okay, I'll share a few photos. This first one is right at the beginning. I was actually a bit cold.

Here I am coming into the finish line.

You can see by this photo that my "official" time was 3:37:10.

After the finish. I feel great


These last two is to prove to you about the traffic over the mountain pass.

Well, I guess that doesn't really prove anything. They could just be really close together. This is really how we were though for about 45 minutes. and here are the kids playing in the snow.

and that is really it.

Final Week

I have just one week before my Marathon. To be honest, I could have trained more for it. I am ready, and I won't die at the end of it like I did for the last one I ran a year ago. At least I hope I'll be okay. I ran this morning for ten miles in the rain and it felt great. I even got totally soaked by that car that drove through the puddle. I think that is the first time that has happened to me. I had to laugh when it happened because I thought it was funny. I bet it was funny to see too. 39 degrees. raining. windy. a poor guy in shorts and a long sleeve tee shirt. all you need to make it a funny sight is a big puddle on the road and a car to drive through it... anyway, enough about that. I was pretty much soaked through anyway. It was toward the end of my run.

I ran 34 miles this week. I felt like it was perfect for the week before a marathon. This next week I'll probably run two or three times and keep them pretty short runs. I'll probably even do a short tempo run on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I guess I'm a pretty bad planner. I called up the other day to a campground to get a cabin for the night before the marathon. They just happened to be closed this weekend. We could camp at the local KOA campground, but it is supposed to get down to about 35 degrees. If it is windy, we wouldn't get much sleep with the equipment we have. We could get a hotel, but that would be like 80 bucks. I think we will just leave on Saturday morning. I figure if I get up at five and leave by five thirty, we'll get there with enough time to pick up my packet and warm up and be ready to run. I get up at five for school anyway. It shouldn't be that bad, except for my family who are used to getting up closer to eight. Maybe I can convince my Amanda to let us go camping. Then we would only have to get up at like 6:30. We'll see. However we end up getting there I am excited for the race. I think it will be a pretty run. I guess for the most part it is slightly downhill. There is one uphill about mile 20, but overall I guess there is several hundred feet of vertical loss, maybe even a thousand. If you really care, you can go look up the course profile and map on their web site.

Oh yeah, a few days ago I celebrated my birthday. I'm not old at all. Amanda and I went downtown and wandered around the market. It was nice to be able to ditch the kids. We grabbed some Russian Piroshky for lunch. I got some cool gifts including, itunes music, an inside/outside thermometer, toffee from English Toffee Anytime (check out the link on the side of my blog), and a flashlight that clips on my running hat for my night time running. Thanks everyone for all of those things. I bought myself some root beer. mmm mmm mmm. I love root beer but don't drink it very often because it is really not good for my, all that sugar and stuff. Amanda made me a great coconut cake too. That was scrumptious. She also made buffalo chicken for dinner. Overall it was a fantastic day. I wish it could be my birthday everyday. oh well.

I guess that's it for now. I'll give you a report about my Marathon next week.

20 Mile Run

This morning I got up at 5:00 to go for a 20 mile run so that I could be back by nine to go and help someone move. It was a perfect morning for running. It was a little cold, but it felt great. I was a bit slow for the first eight miles or so because it was dark and I was running on trails. I think the greatest thing about my run this morning, watching the dark, starlit sky lighten up as the dawn approached. When I first saw Mount Rainier this morning I could just barely make out its silhouette. It was awesome. Then gradually as the horizon started to get lighter, it became a more defined silhouette. Finally I could actually see the mountain and make out features on it. Then the sun hit the top of the mountain and then slowly climbed down the mountain. That was just so cool to see. Maybe I should have had my camera to take pictures. Oh well. Sometimes you just need to enjoy the moment. The run went well. When it was dark I averaged about 9:30 per mile, then it lightened up and I averaged about 8:30-8:40 miles. My overall pace was 8:58. Maybe it wasn't the dark that caused me to go so slow, but the breathtaking views of Mount Rainier. By the time I was finished with my run the mountain was covered in clouds. It was good while it lasted.

I have just five weeks until the Yakima River Canyon Marathon. I just signed up for it today. I'm definetly doing it. There is no way that I would pay 65 dollars then back out at the last moment. I am excited. I think it will be a great run. Maybe we'll go up the night before and go camping or something, otherwise we'll have to leave here by about five in the morning.

Something Made by Me

My brother posted this thing on his blog. I figured something made by my brother could be really cool. If you want something made by me, it is easy. Just follow the instructions below.

Well, all you have to do is be one of the first five people to comment on this post and offer the same thing on your blog! Easy, right? Well, of course there are rules.

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Feeling Better

Last weekend I mentioned that I was sick. This week I am feeling much better. It has actually been a pretty good week. I ran 33 miles this week. This morning was a 16 mile run. I felt great. The weather has been cooperating very well too. It has been sunny and clear all week. It was in the 50's most days. It is starting to rain right now though, and will continue to rain throughout the week. What? Rain? Never! Oh, yeah, I live in the Pacific Northwest. It is bound to rain at some point. Actually I enjoy the rain. A nice run in the rain is refreshing. As long as the run isn't too long. Then it could get miserable. I just have six weeks until the Yakima River Canyon Marathon. I just looked at the website and realized that I need to register for the race this week. Next Saturday the price goes from $65 to $80. I need to do what I can to save money, so I will register this week. Maybe I should just save the 65 dollars and not enter the race. I could just run 26 miles on my own, or something. No, I want to run in an organized event and get a race t-shirt and finishers medal and all that.

This week we got an ad in the mail from a local chiropractor. He was doing a special intro rate of 35 dollars for all the x-rays and other exams plus the first adjustment. Amanda love the chiropractor, and I had never been to one, so I called up and scheduled an appointment for Amanda. I went the next day. It was interesting to see the x-rays of my spine. A couple minutes after my adjustment, I got light headed and felt like I was going to pass out. It was pretty weird. He said that was very unusual. I had to sit down and drink some cold water. I felt better after 20 minutes or so. If I had more money, I would probably go more often, but I don't have a job right now, so I just won't go very often. I'll probably go back in a month or so, but I'll have to review my finances and see if I can afford to go regularly. Maybe we can afford to send Amanda once a month.

Anyway, that's it for now.

I am still alive

Yes, it is true. I am still alive. It has been a few weeks since I have written anything on here, so I figured I'd better satisfy my viewing public. Here you go:

for the last few weeks I have done very well at keeping up with my running. Last week I did a 14 mile run. I am building up too. I was going to do a 16 mile run tomorrow, but since I got sick yesterday, I am not going to run that far. I will see how I feel, but I will probably only do 6 or 8 miles. Being sick is no fun and it has interfered with my marathon training. I'll still be alright for this race though. I've been running strong.

School has been going very well lately. I have been getting a lot of practice time on the computer simulators for the Air Traffic Control classes that I am taking.

Well I really don't have much else to write about, so I guess I'll leave you with a photo or two.

Here is Alex about a month ago:


And here is Ella about a month ago:

More about my latest goal

Well, I don't really have much more to say about the marathon goal I now have, but I'll just write some random things here and see how it ends up.

I only ran four times in December and I have now gone running twice in January. I felt like I needed to set some sort of goal (i.e. find some race to run) in order to get me out and working out again. So, Sunday evening I was sitting at the computer and looking up some random stuff. I could do the Whidbey Island Marathon, which I would like to do, but they run it on a Sunday and I don't do races on the Sabbath. Maybe I could do it just this once... well then I found a marathon just the following weekend near Yakima. That one was on a Saturday, so I decided I would go for the one in Yakima. It also gives me another week to be ready for a 26.2 mile run. It is also closer to where I live.

I got onto runnersworld.com and used their smart coach tool to help me get a training plan. I printed out what they had and I might add in or adjust the workouts here and there to make them work for me. The main thing is my Friday or Saturday long run that need to be building up each week. I'm starting out this week with ten miles. I know it sounds like a bit much since I haven't been running, but I think I'll be alright. I ran 5.5 yesterday, tomorrow I will to about 6, then I'll do about five again the next day. I think I will be ready for ten on Friday or Saturday.

I have been walking to and from school every day this month. I like the nice, fresh, crisp, cool air in the morning. It helps wake me up in the morning and I feel more ready for class. It is about a mile and it takes me about 15 minutes. It got me thinking about hiking up in the mountains. Last saturday I got up early and went for a 3.2 mile walk (acording to my GPS) down on the trails by the college. It took nearly an hour. If I figure that I can walk 3.2 miles per hour, then I could walk the 93 miles around the Wonderland Trail in 29 hours. If I jogged even just 10-15 minutes per hour I could easily do it (at least I think so) in less than 24 hours. The trick would be to pace myself. I have wanted to do the Wonderland trail ever since I first heard about it. This trail circumnavigates Mount Rainier. Lots of people do this as a multi day (5-7) day hike, but I really want to try to do it in one go. I would need someone to be my support while I do it.

But my mind has wandered off really far. Before I did that I would do the White River 50. The Yakima River Valley Marathon would be my warm up trainin run for the White River 50 and the WR50 would be my warm up training run for the Wonderland Trail. I really wanted to do the WR50 last year, but I couldn't get up here in time, and I ended up doing the Bartlett Park Ultra near Memphis last summer. I'm glad I did it, but I don't think I ever want to run in the heat like that again. Unless I get really crazy and try to go for the Badwater Ultramarathon. I would have to be really really crazy though to do that. I have thought about trying to go for it, but It would take years of preperation. Maybe sometime in the future.

Well, for now I'll stick to the 5-6 mile runs with weekend runs starting at 10 miles. I like running long. It gives my time to myself to think about something, nothing, or whatever the heck I feel like thinking.

I think you've heard about enough from me for now. I'll try to keep you updated on how my running is going.

oh, by the way, I did some looking back at the logs and in 2008 I ran about 1385 miles. That far surpassed my goal of 1000 miles. In 2007 I logged about 250 miles. I know for sure I ran at least 50-100 miles more than I logged, because I didn't start logging my running until about September or October. Maybe my new goal should be 1500 miles in 2009. no, I'll just run. If I get there I get there. I should be able to get there if I keep runing often.

Here is a photo of me on January first snowshoeing up American Fork Canyon with my cousin. It was pretty fun. That was the first time I had ever gone snowshoeing. Maybe I'll have to get myself some.


And I just had to throw in this video of Alex. Yesterday at dinner, out of the blue, he started doing this. Apparently he was trying to eat really fast, so that he could beat Ella. I think Ella ended up eating faster. I guess this is just not the way to eat really fast. I laughed so hard at this. Awesome!!!

A New Goal

I have been a bit of a slacker lately, so I decided I needed to stop slacking off. In order to help me be motivated, I decided to run a marathon on April 4th. It is the Yakima River Valley Marathon. It sounds like it will be a good one. I'll be ready for it. It will also help me be ready for the White river 50 in July.

A Cold Swim

Last week when my brothers were here, we decided to go for a little swim in the harbor. The air temperature was about forty degrees and so was the water temperature. We are just a couple of crazy guys doing crazy things. We have done this a few times before. Usually it is done after we celebrate the new year at about 12:30am new years day. The difference of just a few weeks does not really make that much difference. It is still cold. there was no ice floating around though, so I guess it wasn't really that bad. Anyway, enjoy watching us be crazy.



Maybe we should have waited until today. It snowed here last night and today's high is supposed to be about 30 degrees. I had fun playing around with my new video editing software. I think it is nicer than my other one, I just need to learn how to use it. I did manage to find the stretch tool to make a portion of it play in slow motion. I only spent about ten minutes on it, so there is not much to it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

My Dad: August 30, 1943 to November 30, 2008

This past Sunday evening November 30, 2008 at about 8:30pm my dad passed away after fighting a losing battle with Lung Cancer. He fought and fought. He really did not want to give up, but the cancer had taken its toll on his body. Heavenly Father took him and I'm sure has greater plans with him. It was a struggle for all of us especially during his final days and weeks because it was practically impossible to communicate with him. I know he is now in a peaceful place where he can get a good breath of air.

On Sunday morning I decided to go up and see my parents. I am glad I was able to be there and help support my family in this time of struggle. It is very different from the previous death I experienced because we knew it was coming and we had time to plan and prepare for it.

He was born on August 30, 1943.

Here is his sister holding him when he was about two and a half months old. He was a bit late coming, his other siblings were born in the 20's.

Here he is with his dad in 1949.


What a happy kid he was.

Right after high school he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served on the USS Robison.


He was proud to have served in the Navy.

All growing up I remember how much he loved fishing:


and camping: here is his nephew Fred and his friend Ross.


In 1976 he met and married my mom Lois.


He was such a generous man and always willingly gave of his time when he had any. He worked really hard to support us.

I have always looked up to my father in many ways. He was always looking forward to that next big adventure. I remember when he would ride his bicycle from Seattle to Salt Lake City. I am glad I got to share that experience with him twice. He also had ambitions to ride his bicycle around the world. He wanted and planned to hike the entire length of the Pacific Crest Trail. He managed to hike a few hundred miles of it. His most recent big adventure was the Big Ride Across America where he and several others rode their bicycles from Seattle to Washington D.C. in support of the American Lung Association of Washington. They raised $250,000.

I got married on his 60th birthday five years ago. I was happy to share the date of celebration, I hope he was too.


He will be missed by us all. I just know that he is already up in Heaven looking forward to his next big adventure.

Dad, we love you and will miss you.