Chased by a Chihuaua

A chihuaua chased me on my bike today. Did you know that chihuahuas can run up to 15 miles per hour? Me neither! See below for the full story.

Mountain View Alps
My two major workouts this week took place in the Mountain View Alps. This area is about 4 miles east of Duvall and is covered with hills. 80% hills and 20% flat area. This is where I live.

Ice Cream Sundae
I've named yesterday's run "Mountain View Ice Cream Sundae with a Cherry on Top". It starts at my house, heads into the forest on logging roads, goes to the corner of Mt. View road and Cherry Valley road, and heads back up the main roads to my house. Total mileage is about 5 miles with an elevation loss and gain of 500 feet. Dan ran with me yesterday, which helped motivate me to push the pace.

Today's workouts included a morning yoga class in Duvall and a road bike ride. Yoga felt amazing after running hills. Yoga has become an integral part of my training. Without it, my body feels terrible. I love yoga.

Lollipop
I've named today's bike ride "Lake Margaret Lollipop". This route starts at my house, goes down to the corner of Mt. View road and Cherry Valley road, heads back to my house and finishes with four laps around Lake Margaret (a nice, semi-flat 1.7-mile loop). During my first lap I was chased by a white chihuahua. I was biking about 12 mph when this tiny little yappy dog ran at me full speed and continued to run next to me for about 1/4 mile. Chihuahuas are fast! I picked up speed, but it stayed right with me. Then I slowed down, afraid that it might run in front of me. I finally picked up the pace and lost it.

Caroline: 1
Chihuahua: 0

Hills and Gratitude
Both workouts included 500 feet of elevation gain over 2 miles. A good chunk of my run and bike workouts were spent going uphill. I used to dislike running and biking hills. Now I use my time going uphill to think about what I am grateful for in my life. Here is what I came up during Ice Cream Sundae and Lollipop:

I am grateful to have a strong and healthy body. I am grateful to work with a person like Andy, a true and honest leader and a role model in the wetlands program. I am grateful that I take vitamin pills everyday because I choose to and not because they are part of a treatment plan to keep me alive. I am grateful for sunshine (Is it really shining?). I am grateful for my yoga teacher Kelley, who just finished her last round of chemotherapy for breast cancer and is a lovely, inspirational, radiant woman. I am grateful for friends and family. I am grateful for my quads. I am grateful for my quads. I am grateful for my quads...

Running as Prayer
I'll leave you with a quote my friend Michelle posted on my Facebook wall today:
"...the Hopis consider running a form of prayer; they offer every step as a sacrifice to a loved one, and in return ask the Great Spirit to match their strength with some of his own."

Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Training Week One

I started training for the Beacon Rock 25k trail race on Monday, April 18th. The race is on June 12th and takes place at Beacon Rock State Park in the Columbia River Gorge. I'm running the race as a fundraiser for the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF), to support my co-worker Andy who lives with Multiple Myeloma. Multiple myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells, and the MMRF is the world's largest private funder of myeloma research. Check them out at www.themmrf.org.

My goal is to raise $2,000 for MMRF by June 12th. Check out my fund raising website: http://www.active.com/donate/triplec4mmrf

My first day of training was a rest day. I took Scout on a walk in the woods and ended up seeing a black bear. I'll take that as a good sign.

On Thursday after work, Dan and I ran 6.5 miles at Cougar Mountain State Park. It was raining most of the time, but that didn't spoil the fun. After an hour and twenty minutes of hills we ate dinner at Chipotle Mexican Grill in Issaquah. I love Mexican food after a good workout.

I spent my weekend in Montana with my good friend Eve. We spent five hours climbing Newton Peak in the Yaak Valley (Eve backcountry skied and I snowshoed) on Saturday. Though we didn't summit the peak, we made it to Newton Ridge for some killer views.

I stopped in Moses Lake on my way back from Montana to do a trail run at Potholes State Park. Watched meadowlarks singing and great-blue herons flying overhead. Got my last dose of sun before heading back to the rainy westside.