Rough week

This week was a bit on a rough side with stirred up emotions. It started out just as any other regular week, but by Wed I visited Lisa's blog and read that entry on "call your loved ones". I call home every week, so it seemed to be just a reminder - but it turned out to be a very hard news: my sister just returned from colonoscopy and was diagnosed with colon cancer...she'll be 48 in 2 weeks, she lost her only son 2 and half years ago, and was all alone...and we both cried and were scared...Next week should be the surgery, no idea how far yet (it could be potentially as bad as my father-in-law's in February with his colon opening now in a sack outside of stomach, or, we hope, could be removed and connected the ends). I just wish I could be there for her right now. On the other hand, I also had some unpleasant discovery that I have to take care of the week following Bighorn (thus I can't fly home before July best case), but a milder scare.
On Friday I went to my orthopedic surgery doctor and we discussed opening the fascia to release the pressure for my compartment syndrom. We need to have a new needle-pressure done no more than a month before it, so I scheduled it for September 6th. The scar is going to be ugly!!! I may back off, I hate having my pretty legs damaged like that! Or not...

On a running front I actually had a pretty good week. There were 3 runs that went really strong, as in tempo (wish I knew exact pace or mileage, but as I mentioned before, on trails I go by HR and total time, or effort and amount of hills up and down), and some recovery runs, 2 hard leg weight sessions including all the Lisa's favorite frog leaps and bench jumps and jumping rope and such...Portland was unseasonable hot with whole week holding at 85F, so I used it to my advantage and ran between 3 and 6 pm.
On Tuesday my perfectly worn pair of Montrail Odyssey disappeared from the front potch - and I actually had other 4 pairs, much newer looking, sitting there! Mistery, but the thing is, I can race ONLY in Odyssey. I emailed our rep Paul and distributor Janis with a rush order - and Montrail came through for me! They said it was actually easier to put an order "on the house" as opposed to process my credit card, and by Friday I was running in new pair of Odyssey! Team rocks!
On Friday I got another wonderful present - I became a happy owner of a new digital camer! Well, new for me anyway. If any of you remembers, at Silver State I killed my old and clunky camera. At the same time Scott Dunlap, as he mentioned in his recap of the race, came to NV with no bags from home and been an avid photographer bought himself a new camera. So-o...he offered me his old one to be sent out in exchange of a promise to take more pictures! Thank you, Scott, you are the BEST!!!There you go: Stephen and Charlie are going crazy and Alex pretends to study for an SAT.
Speaking of an SAT, it was held on Saturday. I dropped Alex off at the Wilson High by 7:45 am and took off from there by connecting Terwilliger Rd sidewalk to Marquam trail system. We are so lucky to have trails (and hilly once) right at the doorsteps!

Trails!!! Inside the city!!!
The trail leads up to a highest point, and just before the top I was passed by a Red Lizards member Hans, and asked him to take a picture of me:) I told him about my upcoming race, he called me insane and said he trhrows up at the end of a marathon (in 2:45, BTW), I invited him to join in and promised he'd throw up much more...hope he got the joke though.

Counsil Crest, the highest point in city of Portland limits.
Hans went back down, and I continued to the Forest Park beginning at the Zoo, where I had a Cliff bar for a snack.

Break at the Zoo on Wildwood
It was more downhill on the way back, although the trail never let up in rolling hills, and I drank like a camel.

Marquam trail back

Done! Finally, back to school!

Wilson High.
I got after my estimated 17M run with way too much time on my hands, so I decided to use it to my advantage: I baked myself on the sun! I mean, I like to tan, and heat training is also very useful for that little run I plan on doing in, what, 12 days?
I am going to have a last "go" at the Gorge tomorrow for a short loop of 12 miles with couple good climbs and a couple of good downhills, then on to more taper.

Sunday highlights:
1. Well, actually Saturday - we became a bigger family: in addition to Charlie and our cat Daisy we now have a 5 week old kitten Tommy:) My former neighbor and Russian friend Katya called me that there was a nomeless cat with 3 new kittens in her backyard, and she was looking to home those with friends. I couldn't resist...neither could my boys. Have to say, this little thing mews pretty loud from 3:30 am and on!

2. I started on Bridal veil trail up to Angels rest and made it hiking all the way in the same time as I did on a hill repeat 7 weeks ago before Rumble 60k. Am I that horrible at running up or that good at hiking? Either way, I know I choose power-walking uphill with no thinking any time.

Zane Grey training? Nah, too easy:)

Now more like it!

3. As I tuned out on Angel's Rest trail, I suddenly saw a snake busting into the side grass! I am not sure what jumped higher - my heart or my legs, but both of them were racing for the next 3 minutes pretty hard. And as soon as I began to relax, I almost stepped on another one! While I have no idea what kind of snakes are those, I am petrified of them all.

Running on a nicely blooming trail shortly after snake meet.
4. Has anybody noticed my hair grew enough to be in a ponytail?

5. I dug out old Montrail shoes in a garage, and since I have no remote idea how many miles any of my shoes have (I have too many pairs rotating at once), I thought I'd give them a go. But I got heel blisters on uphills and toes banging on downhills. Who knew shoes shrink with age like people? Good by, Continental Divide...
6. On the way down there were so many hikers, like every 2 minutes. Great day in OR! And all in a good mood. One man said - yeah, that's a show-off, and I replied - you bet, I was helicopter-dropped at the top so I wouldn't have to do any climbing today! I was passing a woman with a dog, saying: on your left, she moved and said: my dog doesn't know left, but the dog moved too, so I responded - yes, she does, you just never saw it before! We laughed.
As I finished, I bumped into Ronda, Stacey, Jim and Chris (?) beginning their run and hoping to catch the heat of the day. I finally was able to ask a question about that famous 5M downhill road - and plan on doing it either Wed or Thurs! Of course, I forgot about camera right about then too:)

And with that - back to housekeeping.