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A week without running definitely took a toll on my half marathon training schedule, but it was worth it.

It was a great week traveling up the California coast to Oregon with my daughter Emma, her friend Christina and my friend Angie. I have thought about visiting Oregon for a long while now. It always seemed like a place I would want to live if I ever decided to leave California. Oregon was great but I’ll be staying in California.

 Our first stop was San Simeon to visit Hearst Castle. I’ve been there many times but it’s a favorite stop with a beautiful view!

The next stop was Monterey Bay to visit the aquarium. We got there just in time to see the sea otters being fed. I love sea otters!

When we finally made it to Oregon the very first thing I did was splash a gas station attendant as I pulled into the gas station. He was so pissed at me. In my defense I’m from California and rarely even see puddles. I wisely kept that comment to myself. Not making friends in Oregon.

Everything was soooo green and beautiful. There are rivers everywhere. These redwoods are in California though (I think. I kind of lost track. We made quite a few stops)

One of our stops was in Eugene, Oregon, which is the home of the University of Oregon and Prefontaine, a famous mid – long distance runner. He held records in Track and Field in the 70’s before dying in a car accident at age 24. He is a hero in the running community, especially in Eugene and Coos Bay, Oregon, where they have annual races dedicated to him and memorials in his honor. If you Google him you will find a ton of information as well as books and movies about him. Unfortunately I didn’t visit his memorial because I was so focused on seeing waterfalls that I completely forgot I was in Prefontaines’ home town. I have failed the running community by not even running while I was there :-(. I will go back, and I will run and visit his memorial rock in Eugene.

So after many hours on the road we saw some beautiful country and took a few nice hikes through the woods (in the rain or drizzle usually). We saw a lot of cows, horses, goats, sheep, but no deer until we crossed back into California (literally seconds after we crossed the line). We saw 4 deer on the right and a beautiful double rainbow on the left. Welcome back to California!

It was great to be home and see the sun again. I ran the next morning after getting home and it was wonderful! I do love running! It felt so good to be outside in the sun moving. I really needed to loosen my hips and lower back. I was 2 weeks away from my half marathon in San Luis Obispo and still needed to do a long run. I usually do my long run 2 weeks before my race but there was no way I was going to run 8 or 10 miles after spending 5 days driving. So I just eased back into my schedule and did my long run this past Saturday which was 1 week before my race. I did 10 miles and I won’t say it was brutal but I’ve definitely felt better. The run itself was okay but I was exhausted afterwards. I debated on just doing 8 because I didn’t want to psych myself out. Sometimes bad runs can do that. But I decided I needed to do 10, good or bad, and just get it in my head that I did it and can do my half without dying.

As much as running is a mind game it is still very physical. There is no way to be a better runner if you don’t run. Even the shortest of breaks from running affects your training. That fact alone is the most powerful motivating factor for me.

Bottom line, I had a fabulous vacation but I should have squeezed in a run, especially with a race coming up so soon. Live and learn.

Thanks for reading!

Next up…San Luis Obispo Half Marathon!

Keep running my friends!