March Mudness & Climbing

This morning, I ran the Oregon Road Runner’s Club’s March Mudness half marathon.  The race was on the Wildwood Trail in Forest Park.  We started from the Zoo, ran 6 ½ miles along the trail, turned around and ended at the Hoyt Arboretum.  It was a good thing we ended at the Arboretum shelter because the weather definitely cooperated with the spirit of the March Mudness race.  It was rainy and windy.  There were places where the trail had at least 3 inches of mud.  I had fun tramping through the mud and puddles and running down the steep hills – at least for the first half of the race.  After 2 hours and 26 minutes, I crossed the finish line (running, but just barely) and saw Mike with his camera.  Having Mike’s support meant a lot to me!  I really enjoyed the race, even though it was very difficult.  And I didn’t puke, like I did after the last race.  Run Vicki Run!

Mike is really enjoying climbing at the rock gym.  We climb at least three times a week.  Mike has been working on a V8 problem (the black route) for about 4 weeks.  He is the only climber that we have seen working on that particular problem, probably due to its difficulty.  Mike is close to completing the problem and really hopes to complete it this weekend.  The route is starting to stress a tendon in his left ring finger and he wants to move on to other routes.  Mike has also started working on a new route in the cave that involves 33 moves.  The first half of the route is a hard 5.11, and then the route quickly jumps to hard 5.12 moves after the climber is already very pumped.  Mikes estimates the entire route a 5.13a.  So far, Mike has gotten all the moves and he can complete the route in three sections.  Now, he just needs to link those sections, providing he can push past the pump in his forearms.