Kseniya's Blog: Helvetia Half-Marathon 2009 weekend

I was registered to run half-marathon on Saturday and Gabe had a plan on going hiking with his class on the same day, so Friday night I was a total nervous mess. I had to make sure that I have everything I need for the race (including getting up on time) and that Gabe had his backpack packed. I tried a number of outfits for the race, settled on one combination and laid it out for the morning. But then, my allergies hit me really hard. I couldn't breath through my nose, my eyes were tearing, I couldn't stop sneezing. I started to think that my race is doomed... So, I defaulted to Benadryl, which also works as a sleeping aid...

I believe that my prayers were answered on Saturday morning. It rained overnight, so all the pollen was down to almost none. Just in case, I took my allergy meds and decongestants in the morning and I could actually breathe! Couldn't eat much because I was feeling nervous, still, but I knew I needed some carbs, so I had a dry toast and a handfull of gummy bears. Talk about Breakfast of Champions!..

Once I got to the race, I located the registration table, got in line to get my number bib and a timing chip, then it started raining. Since I was already in line (in the middle of a football field), I couldn't hide from the rain, so I just stood there, getting wet, hoping it will stop for the race... and it did! Thank goodness!

When all the runners started lining up for the race, I looked for the "pacers" or some sort of signs that indicate where you should be in the crowd, based on your running speed, but this year there weren't any! I just picked "about middle" of the crowd. I figured "surely I am not the fastest, but I am also not the slowest...", and I think that worked to my advantage! Since I didn't know what speed I was running (and I didn't even wear a watch), I just used my comfort zone as a measuring tool. The whole time I was hoping not to do slower than a 10 minute / mile pace. Turned out I did an average of 9:15 minute / mile!!! and I didn't stop once! As a result, I beat my last year's time by exactly 13 minutes. 2008 time was 2:14:10 and 2009 time is 2:01:10.

I was met by Tim, Larissa & Jon at the finish line. They even had flowers for me (Larissa's idea). How sweet!

After the race I got my Helvetia burger, and Tim purchased a couple of garden burgers (no idea why... probably thinking they are healthier...). My burger was pretty good, but the garden burgers were so bad no one wanted to eat those, I gave mine to the kids and Tim and I consumed the Garden kind.
I felt tired, but not too bad, for the rest of the day, and even went out shopping.

On Sunday my muscles finally let me know that I did over use them. Stairs were a major challenge, all day long.

I realized that strawberries were at it's peak, so the whole family went berry picking at the Sauvie Island. It was a perfect plan, Tim took his bike and went on a 13 mile ride. Kids and I went to a Kruger's Farm (and met him there later).
Honestly, kids weren't too interested in actually GETTING berries into a container. They just looked for bugs and did a taste test, comparing all the fields we went to.

Gabe liked the second and third field we went to the best.

Larissa agreed.

Jon gave it two thumbs up too.

If you look at the berries really-really close, you can see that they are actually fuzzy... hmm...

As for the rest of the weekend, since I am going through my jewelry making phase, I shall not disappoint. I made a few more pieces. Some are glass, some are fresh water pearls, but all were fun to make:

Glass bead necklace