Gervais 5k

I participated in the 2nd annual Sacred Heart 5k in Gervais, Oregon with Greg and my mom-in-law. Last year, I came in 3rd place in my age category. Granted, there were only 3 people in my age bracket, but it was still super fun to win a ribbon. I was looking forward to defending my title this year.





I didn't take any pictures while I was racing. I had my phone in my coat which I had quickly shed minutes after the race started. I didn't want to bother with having to try to fish it out of my pocket. I just focused on the course. I took this picture before the race started. Watching geese fly south while I raced was such a pleasant distraction.

I had set out to only walk this 5k. My leg pain was so dire, that I started to shuffle along just to finish faster. It was the first time I had run since I sprained my ankle on March 24th. I probably ran about 1/3 of this 5k. At one point, when I shuffled past fellow walkers, I heard one person say, "that's either a fast walk or a very slow run". Yep, that's my shuffle. I was very relieved when I crossed the finish line.





This year, only awards for the top finishers were given out. I have no idea where I placed in my age group, but I'm hoping I came in third. They had Door prizes again this year. People got to pick what they wanted in order of how they finished. There was everything from exercise equipment to a Justin Bieber CD. When it got to me, the only things left were baseballs and pumpkins.

My mom-in-law and the farmer are gracious enough to sponsor this small run. Schlechter Farms is an Oregon century farm. We love stopping by the farm to visit with them and to load up on amazing veggies! 

Jolked 3.99 Miles

 

 

For this jolk, my sis, husband, and I did 4:1 in Ladd's Addition.  Decreasing the walking really made me push harder.  It was a great work out and I only stopped to snap a quick pic to mark this walk.

Jolked 5.17 Miles along the Spring Water Corridor

 

On today's 5:1 training run with my sis, we headed down to Oaks Bottoms and then to the Sellwood bridge along the Spring water corridor  and returned home the same way.   It was a cloudy day, but we stayed dry which is all I could hope for after all the rain we had been receiving.  I really love walking along the Spring Water corridor.  It's peaceful and beautiful.  It's also great to see so many other pedestrians and bicyclists on the path.

 

 

I walked 25.6 miles in February.  This is much lower than my January totals, but I'm still very happy to have walked this much in a month.  My March goal is to top January's 41 mile record.

Jolked 6.07 Miles - Along the Waterfront

 

For today's 5:1 adventure, we headed down to the waterfront.  It was a really wild weather day with some sun breaks, but mostly it was cold, windy, and rainy.  This is the furthest I've gone in a really long time.  I'm trying to start building stamina to increase my miles since I'll need to do walk double this amount for the half in May.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jolked 4.70 Miles - Around the Westmoreland Golf Course

 

Today my sis, husband, and I continued our 1/2 marathon training.  We headed south and looped around the Westmoreland Golf course.  I like this course because there are some challenging hills and beautiful views along the golf course.  

Jolked 3.46 Miles

 

I felt so good jog/walking on Saturday, that I did it again!  Yay!  This time I did the 5k Dairy Queen loop.  I hadn't done this route since last spring.  I had another good outing and  I'm so happy that my legs seem to be cooperating with me.

 

 

One must be careful on the sidewalks in my hood.  This uplifting due to trees is more dramatic than most.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dairy Queen showed up pretty fast for me.  Since I've only walked for the past many months, it was interesting to see how much faster I travel by adding 1 minute of jogging after 5 minutes of walking.  I really like this system a lot.  The one minute let me really focus on my body.  I tried to work on my form and really be present for that minute.  I'm currently reading ChiRunning and I tried to use some of those principles when I ran.

 

 

 

On a super happy note, I walked 41.1 miles in January!  Wow!  I'm so happy with this.  Hopefully I can beat this number in February.

Jolked (Walked/Jogged) 4.55 Miles

 

I jogged!  This is a pretty darn big achievement for me.  I hadn't done any running since I completed a 1/2 marathon in May.  My leg issues made it just too painful.  But now I'm back at it!  I have another 1/2 marathon this May and I'm committed to finishing it faster than my last one - even if I only beat my time by 1 second.  My sis and I are meeting on Saturday mornings to train.  We are walking 5 minutes and then jogging 1 minute. I like to call these 'Jolks' which is jog and walk squished together.  

For our first meeting, we went through Oaks Bottom to the Spring Water Corridor and then looped back home through industrial SE.  I was so pleased with my performance.  Yes, my legs are still hurting, but they are doing so much better.  I can feel that I'm getting stronger and I'm making progress.  It felt so great to jog and not hurt too much.  My spirits are definitely high.

 

 

I only took 3 pictures on this day because I was really focused on the Jolk.  I was happy to see that the feral cats living along the train tracks on the Spring Water Corridor are getting much better living accommodations.  

Gervais 5k

 

 

I am now an award winning runner!  Don't fall over in shock.  No need to pinch yourself.  You aren't dreaming.  I competed in the Sacred Heart 5k Fun Run and took home 3rd in my age group.  But to be fair, there were only 3 people in my age group.  :)  

 

 

 

 

Gervais is a tiny town outside of Salem and my mom-in-law and the Farmer attend the Sacred Heart Church.  This was their inaugural run and my husband and I came out to be a part of this fundraising event.   

 

 

 

 

Before the 5k, we stood on the side lines and watched the kids 1k.  It was fun to cheer them on and see how determined they were.  

 

 

 

 

I started off with my mom-in-law walking for 3 minutes and running for 1 minute.  This is the first time I've run since the Eugene Half in May.  My ankles are getting stronger and it's time to introduce running back into my walks.  I only took two pictures on this 5k.  The top one is when my mom-in-law left me in the dust.  She has been training like mad for the Portland Marathon and there was no way that I could keep up with her.  I was happy to stick with her for the first 15 minutes.

 

 

 

 

For this picture, I just snapped a shot without trying.  I just wanted to document the feeling of running along country roads with a tractor plowing a field and John Cougar, randomly, playing on my iphone.  It just doesn't get more Americana than that; I really loved that moment in time. 

 

 

 

 

There were maybe 50 runners in this 5k.  No roads were blocked and the few cars easily passed by on the other side of the road.  It was so absolutely different than any 5k I've run in downtown Portland.   

 

 

 

 

As I've mentioned that my mom-in-law has been bit by the running bug and she able to combine this new love with supporting her community.  It was so gracious of her and the Farmer to help sponsor this race.   

 

 

 

 

We dropped my mom-in-law back off at the Farm and took home lots of wonderful vegetables.  It's good to know the Farmer.