Sunday, June 29, 2008

2008 LIVESTRONG Challenge Portland

This weekend was our Livestrong weekend starting on Saturday for the Livestrong Village for packet pick-up and again then the actual event today, both at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton.

Yesterday we had an opportunity to meet former World Champion Time Trial Cyclist Mari Holden - she also won a silver medal in the Sydney Australia Olympics also in time trial both in 2000. Today she actually rode the 70 mile route, leaving between 7:30 and 8:00 this morning as was back at Nike by 11:30...CRAZY!

RUN OR RIDE?
At first when I suggested doing the 5K to Tom it was because the volunteer opportunities had not yet been posted on Livestrong just yet. Crazy me decided a 5K would be fun. Really though, after several weeks into the training I realized that this challenge will be really special because we had to put so much into it. Last week when I was finally able to run 30 minutes straight this running thing started to stick! So, in the end the training was well worth it and I feel better and have more energy. Now running will be a regular part of our physical fitness routine

LIVESTRONG Challenge Day
This morning we made our way over to the Nike Campus and had to park at least a half a mile away from where the staging area was....that was a really good warm up to our run. Another cool thing is just how many people actually do the 5K run/walk - hundreds! The start was slow, but once we got going we just kept a steady pace so that I would still have enough umph at the end to make a strong finish. I thought the route was pretty good, mostly flat which had a stretch in the shade - with the temps so high yesterday, the streets were still quite warm. As a cancer survivor my finish was in a different lane than Tom so I could receive my yellow rose. Once I received that I just plain ol' stopped. I was done! I DID IT!! Our approximate finish time was 40:37-ish, not bad for a first time 5K-er! (actual time was 39:47)

POST EVENT
We essentially had our lunch at 9:30 this morning which included beer. I did not partake in the brew, but opted for the FRS and water instead. We didn't eat before we left and had a couple of Shot Blocks when we returned to the car so we were good and ready to eat! Salmon Burger and Apple for me and LOTS of water! It was nice to hang out and people watch for a while. Since Lance would not be arriving until 12:30 we decided to head home as I was starting to get a little too much sun - although it felt good. There is always next year!

The day was so amazing and I reached my goal. With my success today I look forward to running in other events and hopefully improving my time and running again in the 2009 Livestrong Challenge!

3 comments:

  1. Congratulations Nancy (and Tom) on another successful Livestrong Sunday.
    Now you can get back to more of your favorite activity - riding your bike.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yeah Nancy and Tom! You worked very hard to train for something totally different and you succeeded!

    Way to go!

    Bruce and Lynette

    ReplyDelete
  3. Official run time - 39:37.438 or 12:46.9 pace

    ReplyDelete

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