Today is my 30th birthday. In celebration I ran 30 km this morning. Many people have asked my why I would choose to do this. The short answer is “because I can.” The longer answer is that this run was inspired by an absolute resolve not be one of those people who bemoans turning 30. I wanted to embrace and celebrate my birthday instead of going to the drug store to buy anti-wrinkle cream.

My Dad (who is also celebrating his birthday today) picked me up at 6:45 am and we headed out to Golden Gardens. Dad has been my SAG (support and gear) wagon several times before so we’ve got the routine down. My plan for this run was to take it easy and have fun. I ran with my camera (attached to the waist strap of my water bottle holder) so I could take pictures along the way and share my adventure. The full set of photos is here. From Golden Gardens I headed along the Burke-Gilman Trail through Ballard and Fremont to Gas Works Park. I met Dad for a water refill in the Gas Works parking lot which was just past my 9 km mark. Normally I run right past the park but today I took a detour through the park to get this view of downtown Seattle and the Space Needle.

Then I continued along the Burke through the University across the Montlake bridge and into the Washington Park Arboretum. Up until this point it had been predominately cloudy but the sun started the break through. Once I got up and over to the Lake Washington side of things I could see that Mt Rainier was peaking through the clouds. I continued down Lake Washington to Leschi Park where I met Dad for a water/gatorade refill. At this point I’d run just over 20 km and was still feeling pretty good. As I left Dad headed to Starbucks to get his second coffee of the day. Hey, the SAG wagon needs to keep up his fluids too!

As it turned out the Blue Angels (the American equivalent of the Snowbirds) are in town this weekend for Seafair and this morning they were having a practice session over Lake Washington. There were lots of people who’d come down to the lake to watch the practice. The planes started appearing during the last 8 km of my run and they were a great, albeit loud, distraction device. At first the planes were doing solo fly overs but towards the end of my run they started doing formations of four. Unfortunately, Seward Park, where I’d planned to finish my run, was closed for the practice. Dad met me a the park entry and I turned around to retrace my steps for the last 3.5 km in the opposite direction. At one point I was running with my camera in my hand ready to start taking pictures once the Blue Angels appeared.

I think my 30 on 30 run was a huge success. I had a blast. I definitely started to fade towards the end of the run but that doesn’t matter. I’m not sure I’m going to make this an annual tradition (although next year I could to 31 km on my 31st birthday on the 31st day of the month) but it was a great way to welcome in a new decade.

Thanks to Dad for being the best SAG wagon out there and to everyone else who got on board, read my training posts and wished my luck with the run!

Since my 30 on 30 run is tomorrow morning I figure I’ve got to get this last weekly training post out tonight. Last week’s schedule got kind of out of whack because I wanted to do my long run before the weekend so I’d have 6-7 days before the big run. I ended up canceling an easy run, taking an extra rest day on Thursday and doing my long run on Friday morning in Vancouver (more on the Vancouver weekend coming soon).

The long run went pretty well. I ran along the beach, around the seawall and then through Stanley Park a bit. My heart rate was higher than I would have liked (same old story) and I just couldn’t run slow enough to get it down. Of course the fact that I saw a raccoon near Lost Lagoon and then a warning sign with “Rabies Risk” and a drawing of a raccoon on it probably didn’t help my heart rate!

Since Friday’s run I’ve been taking it easy and tapering for the 30km. I think I’m good physically but I’m a little sleep deprived having not gotten my usual 8+ hours on any of the nights that I was in Vancouver. Dad is going to be my SAG wagon tomorrow is picking me up at 6:45am to drive out to Golden Gardens where I’ll start my run. I will definitely not be racing the 30km. I’m planning on taking my time and enjoying myself!

The two big tests of this week were, not surprisingly, the speedwork session on Tuesday and the long run on Sunday. The speedwork was tough but it was nothing new. The long run however was my first run longer than a half marathon (13.1 miles) since the Ottawa Marathon in May 2007. Whoa. I chose a moderately hilly route which featured miles 6.5/19.5 – 10.5/23.5 of the Seattle Half/Full Marathon course. That’s the McGilva/Galer/Madison/Interlaken section of the course.

As it turned out the Madison hill was not as bad as I remembered but E Galer was way worse! It’s very short (0.10 mile) but it’s something like an 8.5% grade! It totally sucked up my momentum and sent my heart rate through the roof (185 bpm). I walked this section in the 2006 Seattle Half. I ran it on Sunday but I think in the future I’ll just power hike up it. Lesson learnt. Other that and a bit of a fade towards the end the run was great.

The 14.5 miler is the longest run that I’m going to do before the 30 km on my birthday. The plan is to do another solid week of training this week culminating in a 12 miler and then taper for 5-6 days before the big run. Today I mapped out my 30 on 30 route and I’m getting really excited!

I started this week hobbling around on sore legs from Potlatch (3 day ultimate frisbee tournament). All the starting, stopping and sprinting of ultimate took a lot out of me! However, by Thursday morning I was mostly back to normal and managed to knock out a solid tempo run. My current goal tempo pace is 8:27 and I came pretty close to that. Although the last mile was the toughest I was happy that I didn’t fade and pulled out a 8:26 mile.

I did the first half of Saturday’s 12 miler with Matt. That was a treat since my training pace is more like Matt’s recovery pace so even when we’re in the same city we don’t do too many miles together. I threw a few hills into the second half of the run. I figure I’ve got to get better at hills eventually. I paced by feel not heart rate and was really surprised when I saw that I’d averaged 170 bpm. I think the heat and direct sunlight might have had something to do with that. My legs were quite tired by the end of the run but I felt OK during the afternoon and evening. However, I crashed at 9pm and pretty much slept right through until 6:30 on Sunday morning! I suppose sleep is the ultimate recovery tool.

The 30 on 30 training is progressing well. Last week (week 4) I finally made it up to a weekly mileage of 25 miles and a long run of 10 miles. Now we’re talking! I did the 10 miler along the Victoria Inner Harbour on what might have been the hottest day of the year so far. Thanks to lots of sunblock and lots of hydration the run went great. However I think it might have taken a bit more out of me than I thought because my heart rate was pretty high on Sunday’s recovery run.

This week (week 5) is a step-back week for me. I scheduled this to coincide with the July 4 long weekend because it’s the annual Potlatch ultimate tournament. We’re getting the old Thunderstats gang together for the tournament. I actually haven’t touched a disc since last year’s tournament but I’m hoping to at least bring some fitness to the defensive end of things!