Half Marathon and more

Last saturday I ran my first half marathon.  It was such a BLAST!!!! Back in February when I signed up I had very low expectations of how I would do and what it would be like.  The reality of it went like this. 

8am Friday morning- drop the boys off at a friends to be babysat, drive with Greta and Ardie to Seattle. 

After a ticket, long border wait and insane traffic we arrived at the Health Expo to pick up my packet at 4pm

Friday evening- carb load dinner and asleep by 10:30 to be awakened by Greta half an hour later. My sweet sister Ardie told me to go back to bed and she rocked Greta until she settled down again.

5am Saturday- woke up, dressed for the race and headed out. Ardie stayed to babysit Greta and Van. 

6:45 am still stuck in traffic  trying to get to the race. Start time was 7am. Droves of runners were bailing on their cars and running to the start. We decided to join them. Picture this: the 6 of us running down the side of the freeway trying to get to the off ramp. James decides it would be faster if we hopped over the side and scrambled down to the lower road... through blackberry bushes. After de-tangling ourselves from the thorns and checking for major cuts :), which we couldn't feel because of the adrenaline coursing through our bodies, we began to run the 2 miles to the race. 

I was placed in the last wave to start and finally crossed the start line an hour and 10 mins into the race. 

The course was absolutely gorgeous.  From Tukwila, along Lake Washington where we saw a bald eagle, lovely homes where the owners cheered us on and sprayed us with their hoses to cool off, joining the I-90 through the express tunnel (so wild) and back downtown to the Qwest Field. 

Every mile a different band was playing and local cheer squads kept us pumped up. 

I crossed the finish line feeling ... emotional, happy, tired but not overly and proud of myself. 

It took me 2hrs 11mins and 47 sec. I'm really happy with that. I ran a nice easy 10 min mile.  

We all met up and stretch and basked in our runners high. 

Can't wait till next year... or maybe Phoenix in January!?!

After the race I jumped back into the car and headed for home. We were detoured because of a major accident on the 1-5 and didn't make it home until 10:30 that night. My quads where a little stiff the next day, I like to think it was from sitting in a car for 7hrs and not from my lack of  peak physical perfection. :)

Ready to go at 5 am

Basking in our achievement. 

Returning home victorious!

I'm planning on doing a mini triathlon in August for those of you who would like to join me. Aug 22 in Kelowna!!!

This summer has started out quite nicely. It's hard to describe how perfect the Okanagan is in the summertime. We've already had friends visit and look forward to more guests in the next week.
Greta can't get enough of summer junk food. She could eat chips and ice cream all day. 
Rolling down the hill at the waterslides.
How obvious is it that Greta has two brothers? She can already wield a sword and shoot a gun.
 Greta is also making huge progress with her walking. Inspired by her younger cousin, Van, she took her first steps this past weekend.