I Ran and I Ran Fast-ish

 

I ran the fastest half-marathon of my life!!  I still can't stop smiling about this.   I've been running for a long time so to get a PR is not something I ever thought I could do.  But I beat my fastest time from twenty years ago and it felt awesome!  

I've been training hard and stacked up the miles on my long runs pretty early so I've had a few extra weeks to really feel prepared.  I've done all my runs on trails/roads around Sammamish which means a ton of steep hills so my pace has always been slower than what I'd like so I decided for my last long run I'd run along the race course which is a paved trail around Lake Sammamish and it's super flat.  I ran the ten miles almost a minute faster per mile than what I'd been doing on my previous runs and still felt great.  That's what gave me the crazy idea to go for a PR and not just try to run the race.

The night before the race I sat down and calculated that if I ran an 8:38 minute mile I could break my record half-marathon time of 1 hour and 53 minutes.  I've gotten a 1:53 in two races but those were literally twenty years ago!  Yes, those race courses weren't as flat as this one but who cares!  Like a true pro, I wrote the times on my arm so I could do my best to stay consistent.  I woke up feeling great and loved having a friend with me so I wasn't lonely at the starting line.  

 I wore an old race shirt to keep warm until the race was about to start, then tossed it in the trash before I started running.

I started strong and I finished strong.   The weather wasn't terrible although it rained on us most of the race.  At each mile marker I was within a few seconds of my predicted pace, which was so awesome to be that consistent.  I stayed with the same group of runners until about mile 10 and then people started to drag.  Right about then, my friend surprised me by showing up to cheer me on and took the photo above.  It was just the motivation I needed so I cranked up my music, prayed, and picked up my pace.  I felt Lindsey right beside me.  She was always my favorite running partner.

My much younger friend Tami, finished about a minute in front of me and here's her cute family cheering on the runners.  

At the finish and I was still feeling good but so glad I was done!  I'd been following that girl behind me the entire race but she started to drag when I dug deep and passed her.  Boy did that feel good :)

I got to ring the bell!!

Here's me at Target a couple hours later, sporting my race medal.  Yes, I was that proud that I wore it all day!  I wasn't even sore the next day and that felt like a huge win too.  Hip, hip, hooray for old ladies doing hard things!

Half-Marathon

March started off with a bang!  I ran a half-marathon the week after we got back from Hawaii.  I'd actually trained really hard for this race and was hoping to PR.  I kept track of my running routes and my pace as I trained and felt the thrill of accomplishment as I watched my average pace gradually drop as I increased my speed.  My friend who teaches our weekly HIIT class decided she wanted to run her first half-marathon and invited a bunch of us to join so I even had friends to do the long runs with on Saturday mornings.  I was pretty excited for this race.  Unfortunately I'd spent the two days prior to the race, cleaning up after the many puking episodes from Parker and Landon who came down with Ethan's stomach bug.  But I was optimistic I wouldn't catch it because I was feeling fine.  But I was wrong. 

My feet were feeling heavy from the start and around mile 8 I was feeling like my legs were bricks and I was dizzy and basically wanted to die.  That's when I realized I had Ethan's stomach bug that he was battling the week before as we drove home from CA.  I didn't throw up but I felt terrible and just wanted to stop.  I kept going and tried to keep a steady pace as the freezing rain poured down.  I was miserable.  At mile 12, I pulled out my phone and called Ethan since he was my ride home.  I didn't want to sit around at the finish line to celebrate, I just wanted to get home.  I was soaking wet and freezing!  But I finished with a decent time of 1:57.  I got home, took a hot bath, and stayed in bed for the next two days as our whole family fought The Stomach Plague of 2023.  

I ate nothing for two days except for half of a post-race banana.  Such a bummer.  I have cleaned up some pretty terrible things in my years of being a mom but this weekend topped them all.  In ways I will never forget.  My children owe me big time for the things I did for them while they were sick.

Meanwhile Marcus was going to the hospital for more tests to try to get better from his concussion.  He had the mi
ssion doctor call us and thankfully Randy was feeling well enough to talk on the phone while I listened in from my bed.  It was terrible and gave me so much empathy for Marcus who threw up almost every day for five weeks.  Poor kid.

One of the views from an early morning run.  Ironically, the worst weather we had to run in was during the race.  We had mostly great weather for all our long runs.

School's Out!

Summer is in full swing around these parts and getting to this point was no small task.  The last two weeks of school have been filled with all the end of the year activities so we're all thrilled to relax and enjoy our summer break.

Landon's last play date with these boys.  They've been coming over to our house every Tuesday morning to play before school for most of the year.  Landon has loved it!

Landon's kindergarten field day

I was assigned to bring popsicles but we really needed hot chocolate

Kindergarten graduation - Landon is in the font middle

Landon LOVED his teacher and couldn't wait for school each day

Marcus had his last choir concert and they actually sounded good for a bunch of boys whose voices are changing

Last day of 6th grade

Ethan's last cub scout activity - The Rain Gutter Regatta

Last day of 4th grade - Good bye and good riddance to a tough year with a tough teacher. 

Waiting for the bus on the last day

Here it comes!

Hooray for Ethan!  Hooray for summer!

Summer movie night at our friends house meant a delicious nacho bar with homemade cheese sauce, homemade guacamole and salsa and the great movie Nacho Libre

 And this is me the following morning at the end of my Seattle Rock n' Roll Half Marathon.  Luckily the yummy nachos I ate the night before didn't slow me down at all.  {Sometimes it's nice not having a colon.}  I haven't done a half marathon in 6 years and this one was huge!  40,000 runners kind of huge.  It was my first race of this size where we started in waves and I was placed in the 8th corral out of 30 which means I was pretty fast-ish.  I finished in 1:53 minutes, exactly the same time I finished the DC half marathon back in 2007 when I was much younger, so that felt good.  I had hoped to run a little faster but the Seattle course isn't an easy one.  There are some serious uphills and a couple tunnels to run through which mess up your GPS so pacing is tough.  There were bands performing along the course, cheerleaders from various high schools, a mariachi band singing on an overpass, and taiko drummers under a bridge were just a few of the highlights.  I ran past the Space Needle, along Lake Washington, and saw a boat crew out rowing in the water so it was the whole Seattle experience rolled into one. 

That is a huge line of runners waiting for the port-a-potties.  These lines weaved in, out and around other lines for other groups of toilets.  It was insane!  I gave up waiting and headed to the start for fear I'd miss the race.  They ended up starting the race 15 minute late to give more people time to get there.

Me at the finish line with my sweet medal

And now we are gearing up for Randy's family reunion at Lake Tahoe.  Summer is in full swing around here!