Ten Days Until the Mandela Marathon

A lot has happened in my personal life in the past month, which has prevented me from keeping this little blog of mine going.  But here's to trying to keep it up.

My long runs have commenced and finished, I'm now in that taper stage.  I've done the long runs necessary to hopefully get me over the finish line for the Mandela Marathon on August 27.  I'm just not sure that I will get over the finish line quickly.  But, it's a training run.  It's a run to help me prepare mentally and physically for Comrades.  Though, looking at this profile map kinda has me scared for all those hills!

I recently journeyed to the United States, Oregon to be exact, to be with my father and sister.  It was an unexpected visit and one that was chaotic, tiring, heart wrenching and busy.  However, throughout the month, my running helped keep me grounded.  It gave me an excuse to take a little bit of time for myself.

I really enjoyed all of my runs in Oregon. Running in Oregon was so different than running in my neighborhood.  Runners and cyclists are respected and yielded to there.  There are sidewalks on nearly every roadway, along with bike paths.   It was also summer, with beautiful flowers blooming and blackberries to be harvested along the way if I got hungry.

The sun breaking through the trees at Oregon State University

Beautiful views along the Willamette River

Crazy flowers that reminded me of a Dr. Seuss book

Berries galore

Trail runs in the middle of suburbia

People really did do this

Well placed water fountains to rehydrate on those long runs

I managed a giant 25 kilometer loop around Corvallis that was beautiful.

We also did a little hike around Trillium Lake that had a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood

I enjoyed a ten kilometer trek through Portland, that led me to the Rose Garden. 

Mt. Hood is behind me as I ran an out and back route along the Colombia River along Marine Drive in Portland.  It was the easiest way to get in 30 kilometers without having to battle crosswalks, streets and finding my way. 

Beautiful Mt. Hood was a backdrop for a couple of my runs.

I was so grateful to my goal of running a marathon on August 27th during this trip.  It helped me focus and take a time out from all the craziness going on around me (literal craziness as my father was diagnosed with dementia).  I hope that everyone can find a physical outlet like running that allows them to free their mind and focus their energy as I was really grateful that running allowed me to do that in a month of chaos.