Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Puget Sound Beach & Swimming

We were up in Seattle area for 2 weeks because I really wanted a break from the HEAT in Arizona. The Washington weather didn't disappoint - it was perfect for me with just enough sun!

We were able to hit my old haunt - The Woodlake Pool! I have tons of memories here of swimming with my brothers and Laura, Erin and Holly. It's so fun to take my kids to do the same thing I grew up doing.


Eliza, Chloe and Grandma Debbie and I went to Owen Beach near Point Defiance one afternoon and flew a kite, dug in the rocks, got our feet wet, and threw rocks into the Puget Sound. It was a gorgeous day with perfect views of Mt. Rainier!







Thursday, July 22, 2010

Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon

One of my main reasons to go up to Washington the end of June/beginning of July was to run in the Seattle Rock N Roll half marathon. I had signed up for this race when Chloe was only 2 months old and figured it would be good motivation to get back in shape! Unfortunately I couldn't predict that the month before this race my kids would have croup, I would get mastitis TWICE, and have a vacation to Disneyland thrown in there also. Needless to say I was not nearly as prepared as I should have been for this race! I had only trained up to 8 miles. And only got 3 hours of sleep the night before.

Even though I was in tears by mile 13 due to exhaustion and pain.... I would still do this race again some day (just next time with a lot more training).

My dad is in awesome shape and ran with me the whole time. We started off the day by 4:30 a.m. leaving the house. We parked and ended up having to walk 3 miles to the starting line (not planned on!) and ended up missing the corral we were supposed to start with. The weather was perfect (temps in the 60s) and I was feeling great for the first 9 miles. The course went along Lake Washington, across a bridge, through a tunnel, and down a freeway ramp into Seattle. Not to mention the bands every couple of miles and the thousands of people running and cheering on the runners - it was definitely an experience to remember.

Here are some awesome pictures we took! Since I knew my time wasn't going to be good - I just concentrated on enjoying the experience and having as much fun as you can running 13 miles when you aren't in shape. We even stopped to take pictures around mile 9! I've never been so glad to see a finish line of a race.....





It might take me a little while to work up to another half marathon - but I'm determined to run this race again and get closer to my goal time! Thanks Dad for pushing me to finish!