Run Vegan Run!

What's the best way to get over pneumonia? Why, run a half marathon of course! Just kidding.

With my Achilles issues, and then my illness, my running season started to look bleak. I had to cancel my plans to run the Bellingham Half and the Rubber Ducky Half in Burnaby. I was pretty bummed. It looked like my running season would go without any race run. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I've run at least one event every year since I started running because it's one of my favourite things to do.

At the start of 2010, I was dreaming of running the Portland Marathon, but as the season wore on and the kilometres did not accumulate as I had hoped, I realized that once again I would have to put that dream on hold. Then, in the middle of my illness when I was feeling pretty low, db came to me with info about the Columbia Gorge race. It's just outside of Portland in Hood River, Oregon (a city I've been longing to go to since it's a vegan haven), and seems to be one of the most beautiful race locations along the Columbia river.

I became hopeful again. Of course it would all depend on how I felt running after having been sick.

I ran on Tuesday for the first time since getting sick and felt okay. I went further than I thought I would. It's still a bit difficult to take a deep breath, but I felt okay running with a couple of walk breaks.

Today I ran again, and felt even stronger. I kept thinking about the race to keep motivated. 

Last night we booked our hotel just outside of Hood River, since everything in Hood River seemed to be fully booked. We could stay in Portland, but it's at least an hour or more of a drive from the start line. We found another hotel only about a half hour from Hood River and booked that. db said even if I end up not running, we can at least go to Portland. It's also a big grape growing region for Washington and Oregon, so I'm sure we could find something to do as in visit a vineyard or two.

I'll run though. I haven't felt this motivated in a long time. Even if my time sucks and I have to walk the big hills, I'm going to finish this race. It is a hilly race too. Look at the elevation profile.

The steepest grade is only 5%, but it's a hilly route and looks demanding. I like the downhill to the finish though, that's always nice.

So, it's game on! I'm going for it. I haven't run a half marathon distance in a while...well, since my last half marathon last year, but I've consistently run more than 10 k throughout the year so I think the distance running memory is there. It also really helps to have lots of experience, so I know that I can at least be mentally tough when I need to (as in getting over those hills).

I can't wait!