Picture of the week ~ Snow Spider

Seattle Beast ~ Spartan Trifecta

This year I had set a goal to get a Spartan race trifecta. Last Saturday I completed that goal! We had company this week so I delayed writing this post until I had some free time. We went on some fun hikes to some of our favorite trails while they were here. I wouldn't have thought I'd feel like hiking after doing a Beast, but I guess we trained appropriately for it. I was hardly sore afterwards. Quite a difference from how I felt after my first Spartan Sprint race in Montana in 2015. 

The first of my Spartan Trifecta races was in April, the Seattle Super.

The next event was the Montana Sprint in May.

The third event to finish my trifecta was the Seattle Beast.

We'd had alot of rain the week prior to the race, so I knew that course would be pretty wet. I had a good idea of what the terrain was like now it was just wait and see how they would make it a Beast course.

When "we" (my husband and our son in law ran it with me) arrived at the venue it was a little foggy, the weather forecast was for low 60's and partial sun. Happy day's, that meant it wouldn't be too miserable. 

 A special thanks our son in law, my brother and a Beasts OCR member that took photos throughout the day. We had alot!

As in the other races I've done there were the typical pushing, pulling, lifting, climbing over under and through, crawling and jumping obstacles. I put them in collages. Enjoy!

Here's a video of the day courtesy Snojos Obstacle Course Training - OCT - Enjoy watching our efforts!

Spartan Beast 2106 video. 

What a day, I gave it my all and I'm proud of me.

34 obstacles counting the wall before the start. 

Endomondo stats: 

total miles - 12.79 

total ascent - 2582 feet

total descent - 2454 feet

I am a Spartan - Aroo!

Picture of the week ~ Spartan Trifecta

Bellingham City Trails tour

Today was our last weekend training run before next Saturday's Spartan Beast race. We didn't run as far or on as difficult of trails as the last few weeks.

We decided on a Bellingham trail tour. 

We have a wonderful trail system in our city. We started at the Bloedel Donovan parking lot and headed out on the trail towards Scudder's pond. It was nice to hear the Red-Winged Blackbird's call as we ran along beside the pond.

When we approached Whatcom Falls park we took a right turn and headed towards the neighborhood in Iowa drive, so that we could connect to another trail in the Whatcom Falls trail network. As we were going along we noticed that many of the storm drains were clogged. We've been having alot of rain and alot more is predicted, so we did our community service and cleared the ones we ran by.

 Then on towards Whatcom Falls park again.

We were going to turn right just before the falls, but I just had to go and see how the falls looked.

Here's a video of the falls flowing fast and loud.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q3Xha4FcSg

We continued on and crossed the creek.

We chose a small side trail that would take us to the main trail that goes along the cemetery.

A great bunch of mushrooms right in the middle of the trail.

We connected with the main trail and headed towards Woburn st.

We ran just a short ways on Woburn and then took a left on the Whatcom creek trail.

That trail comes out on Meador ave. (behind Diehl Ford). We then ran along city streets (James, Ohio King, Texas, Lincoln, E North, King) towards Memorial Park next to Sunnyland school. We connected with the trail that goes over the freeway and continues till it crosses Woburn again near Haggens.

The trail head right behind the Woburn Haggens store.

My husband on the Alabama street pedestrian overpass.

We ran on till we came to the trail that connected us back to Scudder's pond and back to Bloedel's parking lot.

The calm before the storm? We have a big storm predicted to be in our area this evening. Will it be all hype, hmmm we'll see.

Next week at about this time I hope to be finishing my Beast race and earning my first Spartan Trifecta.

Wish me luck.

Endomondo stats -

total miles - 9.03

minimum altitude - 108 feet

maximum altitude - 456 feet

total ascent - 564 feet

total descent - 440 feet 

Picture of the week ~ Imminent Failure

This message just doesn't go away, so backed up & moving forward.

Out with the old, in with the new. 

73 lbs gone and I'm 'Alive"

I woke this morning and did my routine weigh in, and was happy to see I'd lost another pound. Every pound is a celebration for me. I'm only 7 pounds away from that original goal. I track my calories and weight with the "myfitnesspal" app. Here's a chart of my weight loss from 2008.

 

I'm still working on my 3 year ;-) weight loss goal I set in 2008, I'm determined to complete it yet. You can read my original weight loss goal blog post HERE.

I gained all of the weight from the medications I was on while being treated for anxiety. I'm not saying my life is perfect by any means, but I've developed life skills that help me get through the days much better and I'm still not relying on medication to get me through the difficult times.

I went for a training run today and the first two songs on my iphone playlist were "Live like you were dying" (sung by Tim McGraw) and "I'm Alive" (sung by Kenny Chesney/Dave Mathews). I thought how fitting, that's how I approach everyday now. I don't know how many days or years I have left on this earth, but I will embrace them and live them to the utmost. 

Here are the lyrics to "I'm Alive"

Verse 1:

So damn easy to say that life’s so hard

Everybody’s got their share of battle scars

As for me, I’d like to thank my lucky stars that I’m alive and well…

It’d be easy to add up all the pain

And all the dreams you sat and watched go up in flames

Dwell on the wreckage as it smolders in the rain

But not me, I’m alive

Chorus:

And today you know that’s good enough for me

Breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see

Today’s the first day of the rest of my life and I’m alive

Yeah, I’m alive and well

Verse 2:

The stars are dancin’ on the water here tonight

It’s good for the soul and there’s not a soul in sight

This boat has caught its wind and brought me back to life

now I’m alive and well

Chorus:

And today you know that’s good enough for me

Breathing in and out’s a blessing can’t you see

Today’s the first day of the rest of my life and I’m alive

Yeah, I’m alive and well

If you'd like to hear them sing the song "I'm Alive", here is a YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tex0U7qS7h4

As the songs says "Breathing in and out's a blessing can't you see".
This has been the evolution of Kimberly from 220 lbs. to 147 lbs.

Picture of the week ~ Woodstock Farm tree

Woodstock Farm

North Lost Lake loop trail run

Today's Spartan Beast training run was on the Chuckanut trails again. My husband had plotted out a nice big loop today. Before we left we looked at the hourly weather forecast - 80 to 100% chance of rain while we planned on being on the trail. I read on in the report and it said we would be having an atmospheric river flow for the upcoming week. 

We began at the North Chuckanut trail head parking lot again this week, and ran up towards Arroyo park. As you can see it was a very dark start this morning. The bright spot on the photo below isn't the sun, it's a rain drop on my iPhone screen protector.

We then headed up the North Lost Lake trail. Someone had tucked a little feather in the trail post.

It was raining pretty hard when we began and the trail was pretty saturated, as you can see in this video. At first I tried to avoid running right through the water, but as the miles went on I realized this was a losing battle and just enjoyed the puddle running.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYugaROK-8k

We then headed up towards the Rock/Burnout trails. This time we didn't go up either of these we continued on towards Fragrance Lake.

Such a dark, foggy day, no wonder they say that those that live in the PNW need to take extra vitamin D in the winter months.

Fragrance Lake had no reflection today.

After running around the lake, we connected with the Two Dollar trail and then ran out the road to the interurban trail for our finish stretch. As you can see in the following photos, it did get a little lighter and drier for the last leg of our journey.

We ended the day soaked to the bone, thankfully it wasn't cold.

2 weeks till our Spartan race, then we'll see if all of our training will pay off.

Endomondo stats:

total miles - 12.3

minimum altitude - 118 feet

maximum altitude - 1606 feet

total ascent - 2126 feet

total descent - 2129 feet

Another fun day of ups and downs on the Chuckanut trails.

September Summary - Spartan race training

September's training for the upcoming Spartan Beast at the end of October had many more aggressive workouts and trail runs than August. I'm holding up O.K. just a sore left shoulder I'm trying to keep happy. 

My close friends: foam roller, ice, heat & massage.

If you click on the photo below to enlarge it, you'll see the individual activities are color coded on the chart.

October 22nd "Beast or Bust".

Trifecta Bound.

Wish me luck, as they say "You'll know at the finish line".

Spartan race's quote:

"The Reebok Spartan Beast: This is our most difficult of the three. The Beast will test not only your endurance, perseverance and grit, but also your mind. The 12-14 Mile Beast packs more than 30 Signature Spartan Obstacles and your final hurdle to Spartan TRIFECTA glory. It won’t be easy but you can’t believe how good the medal feels at the finish line."

Picture of the week ~ Pink Petunia