My first half marathon

This past weekend was a lot of firsts.  My first time being without my family.  My first time running a half marathon.  My first time to Seattle!  It was a whirl wind weekend, but it was good and a lot of fun!  It all started Friday.

Friday morning I had a ton of cooking to do.  I figured if my husband was gracious enough to watch the kids for three days, by himself, then I should try to make it as easy as possible for him.  That meant, Friday morning I was making meals and snacks for the next few days.  I was lucky, and efficient, enough to get all my cooking done in about an hour and a half!  That included, lentil soup, rice pudding, meatloaf cupcakes and various other snacks.  :)  I was feeling pretty good.  Ingrid also came into town to celebrate Gaetan's birthday so we went out to eat and got some new clothes for the kids.  Gaetan had to go to class so Ingrid stayed around and played with Tristan while Lucy took a nap.  I was planning on getting everything packed for our overnight trip while she was there, but we were having a good time hanging out, being silly with Tristan, I figured it would wait.

Once Gaetan got home I had to pack our family for an overnight as fast as I could.  We drove to the east side of the state to stay with some friends, because my flight was really super early Saturday morning.  The kids stayed up way past their bedtime, because I knew that Lucy wasn't going to bed without a fight.  Tristan pretty much just stayed up until we went to bed, which was about 11:30.  It was nice having dinner with our friends again. Something I miss a lot... we used to do it several times a week together, and it's so relaxing and filled with lots of food... what could be better?

Lucy woke up at 2 for some milk and after that I was wide awake.  Going through lots of things in my head, making sure everything was taken care of... then I got people up and ready around 4 so that we could get out of the door.  My flight left at 6:15... but since I haven't flown in a really long time I didn't know how long it was going to get through security and all that.  We made it there earlier than we expected, but it was a good thing because the security line was LONG.  Everything was perfectly planned so that I could hit the bathroom, and get something for breakfast without rushing.  I was going to relax a bit more once I was on the plane.

Chai... breakfast of champions.

On my way to Denver

I had made it on the plane!  Adventures.... ready to go!

The flight to Denver and stuff was pretty bumpy.  I didn't take my motion sickness medication because I'm still nursing and they suggest that you don't.  That was a labor of love.  I was sick sick sick.  I was really happy that I didn't throw up, but I was pretty much sick for the rest of the weekend because of it.  Oof.  We did fly over some mountains, which I took some pictures for Tristan and he was SO EXCITED about it.  Normally I sleep during my flights, but this time I didn't...

On my way to Seattle!

Mountains flying into Seattle

I landed in Seattle and it was so good to see my friends Amy and Brian.  We had to stick around downtown to pick up our race packets, so we walked around and hit up some of the touristy things to see.  It was nice just to get out and about and get some fresh air.  We hit up the Crab Pot which was some place Amy had never gone, but wanted to try.  It was good... but expensive.  :)  we found out that we actually had to go to Mercer Island to pick up our packets so that was a little bit of an adventure.  It's a beautiful island, and the houses were pretty impressive!  I figured it was going to make for nice scenery while we ran.

More mountains for Duder

Amy and Brian with some scenery

Space needle with 'Angry Bird'

In front of the musical fountain

Lunch!

We just hung out for the rest of the night, which was nice.  We got to bed at a decent hour for our early start the next morning!  We woke up fairly early because we were going to take a couple of buses to Mercer Island, because we figured the traffic was going to be a hot mess.  There was a little bit of a fiasco with the first bus option, but we made it there eventually :)  It was funny how much Brian seemed like he wanted to use public transportation but Amy wanted to just drive.  Turns out driving would've been just fine, but who would've known?  Traffic on a normal day is hectic, at best, so we figured that an event like this would make it worse.

The weather was pretty chilly when we first got there, but before the race I convinced Amy that it would be a good idea to wear shorts.  Personally, I hate being hot, so I would've much rather have been cold, which was not the case.  Once we got running we were SO happy that we had shorts on.

I am happy to say that I beat my goal!  I was just hoping to do it in less than 2 hours and 10 minutes (a ten minute/mile pace) but we did it in 2:04!  :)  That averaged out to be around 9:28... which is WAY faster than I ever run during training.  It must've been the environment and being around other people.  The island was beautiful... but really hilly.  Around mile 7 the lady there said something about the 7 mile ascension... and she wasn't kidding.  It was pretty much up hill until the biggest hill between 11 and 12.  oof.  Our first half of the race was about 57 minutes, which I was really happy with!  We even had a few  8 minute miles in there... but the last half of the race plus the combination of the hills was intense.

Happy we made it to the Island.. it was pretty cold (see blue lips!)

Before the race

After race, dry clothes... happy to be done!

I was happy to have been able to be out there and support Amy.  :)  It was a great experience to share together I thought.  We spent the rest of the day just hanging out, rehydrating, resting and just recovering from our fun filled adventure.  Later that night I was able to meet up with a good childhood friend.  He was flying into Seattle late that night so we met up for a quick drink, because everybody had to still go to work early the next morning, and I had to get ready to fly back home.

With Beaker at Pike's Brewery

The next morning another old family friend came over with her kids, and I got to give her my milk and see her kiddos.  She was nice enough to bring me downtown so that I could meet up with Amy one last time for lunch and catch the light rail to the airport.  That was the beginning of my travels home.  I talked with a pharmacist and she said that I could have motion sickness meds if I 'pumped and dumped' for a day.  I was relieved because I didn't want to be sick like that again!  The flight into Denver was so bumpy that they never took the fasten seatbelt light off and there were several times that my bunda actually left my seat!

I flew into Detroit around midnight and then we had to drive home after that.  It was so good to see my family again and be home. It was a great experience, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.  :)

JVG