Marathon Training while Vacationing in Seattle and ID

We had this vacation planned before I knew I was running the NYC marathon. I was signed up to run a half marathon in Idaho and a 10k in WA the next day. 2 new states!! This worked out great with marathon training. The rest of the runs I ran on my friend's treadmill and thanks to the 3 hour time difference getting up early and finishing my run before everyone else woke up was not difficult at all!

 

I can't believe I did 10 miles on my first day in Seattle! But thanks to the time difference I was up at 4 and done by 7am :) It's hard to tell what my paces were, but I did increase my pace every so often.  

Thursday night I came down with a stomach bug! First some severe diarrhea but also puking. Friday my stomach was a little off, but luckily by Saturday morning that was all gone. Zoe woke up a few times that night and I was worried she might get it too, but luckily she didn't. I was worried though and didn't sleep very well.

Saturday was the Hayden Lakes Half Marathon in Hayden ID. State #15!! It was really pretty but very cold, the start temperature was in the 30s! I started off well, but my first mile was 1.5 miles long, that kind of threw me off a little. All other miles seem to match with my watch and I ran 13.5 miles with an avg 8:51 pace. 

It was rolling hills with one big hill between mile 5 and 6. But after that actually kind of downhill. Most of my miles were sub 9, so that's great. My avg heart rate was 133 which surprised me how low it was. Goal was to enjoy this race, especially since I had the stomach bug 2 nights before the race. But it felt harder than the heart rate shows. Maybe I should have pushed it more. Or maybe it was the higher altitude? Not sure. The elevation gain was 740. 

After the race we drove 5 hours back to Seattle and I felt great! No soreness or anything! I was hopeful for the next day. I knew the Snohomish River Run 10 k was a flat and fast course and I was hoping to run a PR. 

I knew a PR is possible since I have done it recently in training. It was another cold morning, I lined up with the 1:45 half marathon pacer and was so excited to see my first 2 miles with a 8 min/mile pace. I felt great! Around mile 3 I heard some loud noise and a police officer on a motorcycle called us back and told us we're on the wrong way and to get back! I was worried and confused and asked people were to go but nobody knew and then I was pissed because I had a huge PR! At that point I decided to just go back where I came from and it should be around a 10k anyway. The last mile or so I finally saw someone directing the course and I was so mad and he apologized and told me we shouldn't be out there. 

Other course marshals tried to directed me in the wrong direction because they thought I'm one of the marathon runners. I literally jumper over a half inflated start line and finished with 6.5 miles and still a min PR. But my watch showed me 49:25 for the 10k distance - a 3 min PR!  I was so mad! I first cried for a few seconds and then saw some guy at the side who I thought was linked to the race and I just screamed at him WTF! The race director came over and apologized but I was so mad. I finished 2nd female overall, but since all fast runners got misdirected I didn't pick up the award.What a race! It's nt like me to loose my cool, so all that was really shocking. I definitely will remember my WA race! I still feel embarrassed to loose control in front of Zoe, but at that point I just couldn't control myself.

The good news, my legs felt fresh even though I ran a hilly half the day before! Both my knees hurt after the race and it was kind of weird, but after a rest day I was back to normal. Thankfully!

Very proud I got all my runs in while on vacation without interrupting too much of family time!