Snowy mountain adventure

We took advantage of Brad's mini vacation for a day trip to Mount Hood with friends!

We met the Jolleys at 8 a.m. Friday in Tigard for a caravan to the Glacier View Sno-Park in Government Camp. There was a short stop at Meadowlark in Sandy for snowshoe rentals.

There were just two other cars in the lot when we arrived, and we had the trails almost to ourselves the whole morning. And the weather was just about perfect!

First, we did the Kurt's Connection loop. Then we circled Enid Lake. It was snowing heavily when we reached the clearing. Perfect for a family picture! 

Look at that crew! 

The family was on borrowed and rented gear. Brad and I always brag about our MSR snowshoes that strap in super quick, easy, and snug, a better system than some others with cloth straps that are difficult to tighten. BUT... those rubber straps have a shelf life, and Saturday was the day they failed! Brad and I almost immediately lost ALL the straps on our snowshoes - that's four per shoe! It was quite comical to watch each strap snap off.

Fortunately, we'd brought along cross-country skis to possibly use later in the day. So Brad returned to the car, swapped his gear, and skied down with my skis and boots. I swapped in the middle of the trail and skied the rest of the day.

With the very slow snow pack, the trails were much more conducive to snowshoeing than skiing. It was a challenging first ski outing of the year, and I crashed a couple times because of hidden roots and such. There was also a really sketchy creek crossing - but I did not end up in the water!

It was so fun to hang out with this crew:

After our two loops, we returned to the cars for cookies and cold pizza. Then it was on to Summit for tubing and hot chocolate. It was so fun to watch the younger Jolleys enjoy the snow! We would have joined them on the tubing hill if it wasn't $25/person!! Yikes!

We had a wonderful day and can't wait to get out again! Thanks, Jolley family, for spending the day with us :)

Clark County Turkey Trot (11/23/17)

The McKee family continued our Thanksgiving race tradition, and since we were running in Vancouver, the Woods joined us, too!

Last year's race was a bit of a bust, so we decided to return to the Clark County Turkey Trot, which we all did a couple years ago. Last time, it was SOOOOO cold. This year? 60 degrees and tank tops!

We drove north to Klineline Pond and grabbed parking spots in the auxiliary parking lot. Since there's no bag check (and rain clouds threatened), we hung out near the cars until it was time to ditch the warmups and head to the starting line.

This is what happens when you take a selfie a split second after your turkey hat pokes your husband in the eye! We laughed so hard when we saw this photo!!!! 

Try again without the poking!

The course is an out-and-back with a 5K and a 10K option. Eryn, Brad, and I chose the 10K while the parents chose the 5K. It's a beautiful, flat course (a couple tiny hills near the 10K turnaround) through the park.

I ran fairly hard until my right hamstring started cramping. When it continued, I decided to walk a portion of the return. Since this was just a fun run and not a goal race, I absolutely didn't want to risk an injury. Meantime, those dark rain clouds opened up, and I was walking in the pouring rain :)

I tested the leg a couple times and kept walking. Then with about 1 mile to go, the leg felt OK so I kicked it up. I ran hard the final mile, past 5K walkers, strollers, dogs, and more. The narrow path was also full of runners headed back to their cars. Very crowded and mildly unpleasant.

My complaint about this race is the narrow multi-use path - especially the finish. There's a foot bridge yards before the end that all finishers and all those leaving the park must share. It's not conducive to fast running (or any running, really).

The finish line was also not controlled, and a woman walking backward from the finish area stepped right in front of me as I was kicking to the end. There were two women and a leashed dog on my right, so when she stepped in front of me, I had nowhere to go. I slammed into her and almost fell on my face as I crossed the timing mat. UGH. She was completely unapologetic and actually gave me the stink eye as if it was my fault :(

Despite the hamstring cramp (thankfully, it ended up just being a cramp and not a pull!) and the near-face plant, I felt good about this run! I finished in 59:13, a 9:33 average. Someone was counting us at the turnaround, and I was 80th. After a bunch of walking (and watching people pass me), I finished in 123rd place.

Brad finished in 39th! He got a special magnet for being in the top 50 :)

We were SOAKED and returned to the car to change:

Soon, the rest of the family arrived for a group photo before we headed home for last-minute Thanksgiving dinner prep:

It was so great to gather for our annual Thanksgiving run! I think next year we'll try the Uberthons race near our house :)

No. 49

No. 49 was Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark's The Christmas Thief:

This was a cheesy mystery about a crook who steals the Rockefeller Christmas tree. Silly :)

No. 48

No. 48 was Death on Tap by Ellie Alexander:

I read Alexander's previous series set in Ashland. This is the first in her new series set in Leavenworth, Wash.

I ended up with a free evening and cuddled up in front of the Christmas tree and fireplace to finish this one :)

Columbia Gorge Half Marathon (10/22/17)

I'm very goal oriented. I do OK at self motivation, but if I give myself an outside goal (and a little competition), I really excel. That's one reason I love to race - because it gives me structure and motivation to get out and run!

I sought a fall half marathon to get me through the summer months and chose the Columbia Gorge Half Marathon on Oct. 22 in Hood River. It was described as gorgeous fall scenery and very hilly. Yep! Definitely lived up to its reputation.

Since it was a stormy weekend, and the forecast threatened mass amounts of rain, I was prepared for a very wet (but not too cold) race. But Brad and I arrived in Hood River to this:

NICE! It ended up being dry the entire race :)

The start was right next to the river. Not a bad place to hang out:

There was a huge tent set up at the start/finish, which would have been a lifesaver had the rains arrived. Still, it was nice to be inside and then step out to the start line (literally just to my left in this picture)

Parking would have been ample (and right next to the starting area), but the storm flooded the gravel lot, severely limiting available spots. Since we were coming from Portland, we arrived nice and early and grabbed a spot out of the huge puddles.

Inside the tent were tons of snacks and places to sit. Outside were plenty of porta-potties. Lines got long but moved quickly.

The out-and-back course had some serious elevation gain - mostly uphill the whole first half. This prompted me to run hills over the summer, choosing hills I would normally avoid in my daily routes.

We started next to the river and headed east to the Scenic Columbia Highway trail.

The only really weird thing was the starting corrals. We were supposed to self-select our start time based on our predicted speed. Since it's very hilly, I hung back to a comfortable pace group. But they staggered the starts by 10 minutes! A minute or 2 would have been sufficient. I ended up starting about 20 minutes after the first gun. That was odd. I guess it was to keep from crowding the narrow(ish) course, but it was strange to wait so long to start.

Brad was along just to spectate and be my personal photographer. Too bad he missed me at the start :)

I could tell he didn't see me as I ran past :)

Because most of the miles were on the trail, there were very few spectators. But I knew Brad would be waiting at the turnaround in Mosier!

Here I come, zooming out of the tunnel and up the hill:

Not knowing what to expect from this course, I simply had the goal of running most of the hills. And I made it to the turnaround without walking!

I walked briefly to greet Brad and take a gel. Then I was off!

Another weird thing was the half relay option. A whole bunch of runners were waiting at the turnaround to START their race.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a hill after the turnaround, and without knowing the course and having great pacing (since I'm not used to racing hills like this), I struggled a bit. I had to take some extra walk breaks and ended up positive splitting the second half. (my time was slower in the second half than the first half) I had hoped to gain some time on the downhill return, but that wasn't in the cards this time.

Side note - the overall winner (A WOMAN!!!!) hit exact even splits. But the next three runners all positive split, too. In looking at the results, many people were in the same pacing boat as me :)

Check out this view:

This really was a gorgeous course!

Brad was waiting as I kicked as hard as I could across the finish (I didn't have much kick left!):

My official time was 2:09:10 - a 9:52 average. My first half was 1:03:10 (9:39 average) - second half was 1:05:59 (10:04 average).

I'm disappointed that I couldn't translate those downhills into fast numbers, but I'm happy that I ran a very strong hilly first half! I was 332 out of 1,002 overall, 39th of 199 in my age place, and 177 of 713 for all females. 

I would definitely recommend this race! But work on your hills :)

Nos. 45, 46, 47

Sheila Connolly's Orchard Mysteries are great on audio book! I listened to these while doing yard work and chores and while running!

No. 45 - Rotten to the Core:

No. 46 - Dead Cold Brew:

No. 47 - On What Grounds:

:)

Ashes and licorice ice cream

The McKee side of the family said goodbye to Grandpa this fall. Most of us gathered in Depoe Bay to scatter his and Grandma's ashes in the ocean, sending them off to Hawaii :)

My life-long fear of water kept me on the shore while the rest of the fam boarded Samson for a short trip into the ocean:

After spreading the ashes, we all hung out in the candy shops and ate caramel corn and taffy! Then we had a wonderful catered meal at Side Door Cafe in nearby Glen Eden. It was a good time of food and fellowship with aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Then some of us returned to an ice cream shop for black licorice ice cream. We thought we were partaking because it was Grandpa's favorite. But it's actually Dad and Uncle John's favorite! We had a good laugh over that... and our black tongues!

It was actually pretty good!

I'm thankful for this special family time :)