Wiz in the Woods

The two were back to back so I may as well put them in one post; it may be long.

I tried to not put any undue pressure on myself as far as the marathon went. With that in mind….

Friday after arriving in Newport, Jerry and I went for a little walk. We then had a “munchie-lunchie” dinner; all foods I was used to. I did not wish to eat some new cooking before the event.

Saturday I rose at 5:30, my usual time. I had my usual breakfast, did my usual stretches, wrapped my legs, and then headed to the the start area. We walked about a bit then the start at 7:00 arrived. It was chilly and the course passed the start area at mile three so I decided to wear my fleece until I passed it off to Jerry at that time.

As had been the norm, I walked the first two miles. I ran to the three mile mark and gave Jerry my fleece and he had some Chapstick for me, which I had requested. I walked the hill down to the bay front and then ran to the Embarcadero where the sidewalk was concrete. It is far less forgiving than asphalt.

I decided to walk for some time just to make sure my leg was warmed up. At about mile 8 I started running; felt wonderful. However, that lasted about a 1/4 mile. My lower left leg tendons felt like they snapped out of place. Not a pleasant feeling at all. OK, I walk; and I did, the remaining miles.

Jerry “caught up” with me on his bike about mile 10. It was very nice to see him. We chatted for a bit then he moved on as there were plenty of runners/walkers in the area.

The course was an out and back so as I saw mile markers for the return trip and for the outgoing, I did the math and determined the turnaround would be between miles 15 & 16. Gee, I was correct! Some folks were lamenting “where is the turnaround?” I gave them my answer and hoped they were encouraged.

About mile 15 I felt a large blister forming on the bottom of my right foot. Oh well, with that and my bum left leg I could probably stay with an even gait. Mile 20 brought the popping of said blister; I felt it go. Bummer. I still felt fine having been very good about drinking at all aid areas.

Jerry showed up again shortly after the burst blister. I was basically by myself so his riding did not hinder any one. After a bit I did realize talking with him was taxing my strength. I told him I needed to zone out again with LOTR. He went on his way to meet me at the finish.

I actually felt quite fine the entire time and finished at 5:52:01/ 13:26 pace. I was of course pleased to be done and I almost started crying but didn’t; wasn’t sure I would be understood if I did.

The finish area was less than advertised so we went back to the motel. I was able to assess the blister damage. Not pretty! The ball of my foot had blistered, popped, and skin shifted. It was about the size of a silver dollar. After showering, I put on ointment and a band aid. We then went for food….Local Ocean, the best stuff in town.

I did some serious hobbling and felt quite embarrassed. When we got back to the motel, I looked at the blister and it had filled up with fluid. I removed the band aid which had been holding the fluid in. Great relief ensued and that was that! No more problems all week.

Totals: (approx.)
run - 2.0
walk - 24.2
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Now on to the camping!

Sunday we headed to Silver Falls State Park. We didn’t have a reservation but hoped that it not being a weekend it would not matter. We were correct. We paid for two nights and ended up staying a third. Monday we did some biking, 9 miles, on trails and single track. The waterfalls were quite pretty.

Wednesday, having checked the weather report we decided to go to the coast. Cape Lookout State Park was our destination. We secured a sunny site for two nights and basked in the warmth. Thursday was still sunny, and we felt we had hit a boon with warmth at the beach. In the afternoon we went walking, though we avoided the beach because the wind had picked up. Upon returning to our site, we saw that our staked tent, with sleeping bags & mat & “luggage” bags had rolled to the next site. We were astonished!! The wind gave no indication of letting up so we put everything in the van and moved to a more protected site. The rolling of the tent had badly bent four of the six tent poles. Fortunately Jerry was able to bend them into a usable shape. We pitched our tent in a wooded area of the campground and proceeded to prepare dinner. Hmm…. the rains followed the wind. We did cook but ate under the protection of the van tailgate.

It continued to rain through the night but we had hopes of drier weather as we went north Friday to Nehalem Bay State Park. It misted heavily as we made camp. It did not deter us from feasting on oysters cooked on the fire. During the night the rains returned and when we awoke Saturday, we were wet.

Time to give Mother Nature the nod and head home. We packed up a very wet campsite and drove home to arrive in time to cook a 9:00 breakfast. Then the unpacking and drying out commenced.

After all was unpacked and set to dry, Jerry went to Chinook to hang some more sheet rock. Home again, same projects……