A year ago this June, as I was feeling tired and worn out with my larger than life eight-month-pregnant belly, my good friend Darcy called me from Baltimore and said she wanted to make plans for a much-talked-about visit to Portland a year from then. The glitch? She also wanted me to run the Seattle Rock N’ Roll Half Marathon with her during the same visit. As many of you know, it is not a good idea to make life changing decisions while that pregnant, and yet I agreed and thought that I could use it as a goal to get back in shape.
As last fall came around, I started going out a few times a week and trying to run. I followed my friend Becky’s advice, starting with one minute of running to every four minutes of walking, building up until I could eventually run for 30 minutes. The rainy, dark winter put my running on hold, but in March I started up strong again, and thanks to a great training schedule from the ultimate marathon runner, my good friend Bethany, I trained to run the half marathon in Seattle last weekend. I ran early in the morning before Shane left for work, and then a longer run on Saturdays along a trail near our house. Luckily, most of the long Saturday runs I ran with Lori, who was also training for the same marathon, and we had a great time visiting and sharing crazy kid stories as we ran.
Last Wednesday, Darcy flew into Portland, and we spent the day Thursday visiting downtown Portland with the three boys in tow. It was fun to visit with her and catch up on old memories. Early Friday, Becky T. flew in, and we drove up to Seattle, with Shane, his brother Kelly, and the boys following behind us a few hours later. We enjoyed a great dinner at BJ’s, including some AMAZING pazookies, and then headed to bed.
Shane took us to the race starting point at 5:30 the next morning. There were over 17,000 competitors just in the half marathon, plus almost another 10,000 more in the full marathon, so there were a lot of people there at the start! It was exciting though with the music pumping and the crowds all excited to get running.
The race went really well, and I was excited to finish the race 30 minutes faster than I had thought I could when I first started training, and 20 minutes faster than I was thinking I could even as I left the finish line! The race was a little uphill at first, but then leveled out nicely for the middle. Towards the end, we had to run through this freeway tunnel that was so long and dark. I barely made it through that part, but once I came outside and could see the finish, it was better. Shane and the boys were all waiting near the 13 mile mark cheering me on, and I finished in 2 hours 12 minutes. I am excited to do another one now!
The morning before leaving, and at the finish line with our medals!
Shane took some video of me running by. Remember was you watch this that I had been running at this point for 13 miles already, so I’m barely hanging in there. :)
After a horrendous 2 hour drive back to our hotel due to traffic that I’d rather not go into here, we changed, ate lunch, and headed back to Portland. Becky and Darcy were able to stay for Sunday too, so we took them up to the Rose Gardens that evening to walk around.
It was a great trip and so fun to catch up with old friends! Thanks Darcy for inviting me to run with you, Becky for joining us and encouraging me, Bethany for the great running schedule and advice, Lori for running all the long runs with me, and Shane of course for helping me run and stick to my schedule, running with me sometimes even, and coming to cheer me on!
