Scratched Half Marathon in Washington State

When I did back-to-back half marathons last April 30-May 1, I did it to prove to myself that I could get my body to a point where I could. (It is the same type of thought process, I think, that causes people to think about a 50K and then a 50-miler.)

I really needed the rest Saturday evening. I had gone to bed late Thursday, had worked all day Friday, went back to the hotel and got into bed at about 7:15 p.m. However, I don't think I got to sleep until somewhere around 9:45 p.m. The alarm, though, was off at 12:30 a.m. so that I could be on the road by 1:15 a.m. Then it was a seven-hour drive, including stops at the Border, gas, food and a little picture taking, that put me in The Dalles, Oregon (from Vancouver) by 8:15 a.m.

At about 8 a.m. Pacific time this morning, I was going to get out of here by 8:15 a.m., drive the two and a half hours to Olympia, Washington, register and be ready to run again at 11:30 a.m. However, when I was re-checking things, the runs started at 11 a.m. -- making it a little bit more difficult. So mark the Leprechaun Classic Half Marathon down as a scratch!

The thing is too that I wasn't making a special trip here like I did last year to Iowa and Nebraska. Washington state isn't going anywhere and I'm going to be up in these parts for awhile. I figure I might as well be smart about things, especially since I ran pretty hard yesterday.

I'm going to head down to Eugene, take in a few sights, try to find a couple of the parks there, stop by Hayward Field and then try to stop in at Powell's Bookstore in downtown Portland before heading back towards the Border.

As I was driving yesterday and seeing some of the incredible sights in this part of the country, I thought to myself, "If Sarah was along on this road trip, we'd have to stop (and justifiably so) and take tons of pictures." I believe from where I was at, driving along the Columbia River back towards Portland, that you can see both Mount Hood and Mount Saint Helens. I got a picture or two (and one really good one of the Dam at The Dalles with Mount Hood in the background), but I'm having uploading pictures from my personal laptop to blogger.com and not sure why.