Sea of Blue

There are so many great photos of yesterday's race that I had to do another post to share some of the wonderful things I saw and experienced. Full recap to follow.

 Getting ready to start in the shadow of the Needle. Source

 Carrying the Flag along the Viaduct. Source

 CW3 Frank Buoniconti

 

 SPC Aaron Aamot

 Army Staff Sgt. Nathan Wyrick

 Mike and I in our space capes

 At the start...Source

 Along the Wear Blue Mile. Source

 Another great shot on the Viaduct. Source

 

 Remembering the Fallen. Source

Marathoners along I-90. Source

 Me and my girls - Jess and D. Let's do this!

 Mike, Erin and I

 Most of the Wear Blue runners. Source

'

 Rachel and I at the finish. Source

 Some nice hardware...Source

On the Wear Blue Mile. Source.

Running in Blue - Seattle RnR

 Wear Blue Run to Remember - on the Wear Blue Mile

 I had such an phenomenal experience running this race today. It was by far, the best race experience I've had. Ever. It was everything I'd hoped it would be and so much more. Because I wasn't running for me.

The whole Wear Blue group is such a source of inspiration. The families.....the wives, mothers, fathers, husbands, brothers and sisters are running forward, one step at a time, one day at a time. I started with my girls, Jess and D, in the Wear Blue corral. We ended up running with two other lovely ladies who were running in honor of their husbands.
 

 Jess, Kryste, and Deidra

Kryste's husband, Chief Warrant Officer Three Frank Buonconti was killed in a helicopter crash in December 2011. They have 4 kids and Kryste ran her heart out for him. 

Me and Rachel, post race. Icing up those knees!

Rachel was running for her husband Army Staff Sgt Nathan Wyrick, who was killed in Afghanistan in October 2011. It was her first half marathon and I was very honored to run along side her for (almost) every step of the way....we got separated for a mile or two around the Wear Blue Mile but found each other. I am so glad that we did. I just met Rachel in the corral and found out she was running not only her first half marathon, but her first anything. And she rocked every step of it. It was an really cool experience to be able to run with someone the whole entire time and it was my privilege to cross the finish line with her after 13.1 miles. She finished so strong and ran her heart out. Nathan would be so proud of her and I know when she gets home, their boys will be proud of her as well. 

 Hanging out getting ready to start.....

It was a very humbling, inspiring, and emotional race. The five of us girls ran as a Wear Blue posse for the first 5 miles or so. When we got down to the lake, the full and half split up so Rachel and I went left for the half and Jess, D went right for the full. We somehow lost Kryste in the sea of people and I never saw her, Jess or D again. Sniff sniff. I planned to hang out and recover a bit and then walk back to mile 25 or 26 and run the girls in when they got there. I am not entirely sure what happened but I got out there by 11:30am and watched for them but somehow I missed them! I am so so bummed. I really wanted to watch them cross the finish line for this one. I waited for about an hour and a half, even though it was pouring down rain by then and all I was wearing was my red foil space cape thing. It definitely kept my top dry-ish, but I was cold and shivering to the bone by that time. So I decided to pack it in. I grabbed by bag from the gear check truck, threw on the warm dry layers I brought with me, and took the monorail back downtown. Got home and ate an huge breakfast and took the best hot shower ever. One three hour nap later and I almost feel normal!

 Me and my awesome friend Mike....he totally rocked it today.

I will do a full race recap/review tomorrow, but overall, for the size of the race, it was very well done. It didn't feel crowded, the volunteers all rocked and it was well organized. I will definitely do it again next year...but for sure the full next time!

Big Smiles-Let's do this!

Seattle RnR -- Running in Honor of....

Capt John Hallett and the soldiers from 1-17 Infantry Battalion of the 5^th Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Ft. Lewis. The Battalion and Brigade lost 41 soldiers during the yearlong deployment, and saw over 200 soldiers severely injured; twenty-three of those casualties came from 1-17.

1st Battalion, 17th Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division
SGT Troy Tom  -- 8/18/09
PFC Jonathan Yanney -- 8/18/09
CPT John Hallett -- 8/25/09
CPT Cory Jenkins -- 8/25/09
SFC Ronald Sawyer -- 8/25/09
SPC Dennis Wiliams -- 8/25/09
PFC Jordan Brochu -- 8/31/09
SPC Tyler Walshe -- 8/31/09
SPC Jonathan Welch -- 8/31/09
SPC Kevin Graham -- 9/26/09
SPC Michael Dahl -- 10/17/09
SPC Kyle Coumas -- 10/21/09
SGT Fernando De La Rosa --10/27/09
SFC Luis Gonzales -- 10/27/09
SGT Dale Griffin -- 10/27/09
SGT Isaac Jackson -- 10/27/09
SPC Jared Stanker -- 10/27/09
PFC Christopher Walz -- 10/27/09
SGT Patrick Williamson -- 10/27/09
SPC Aaron Aamot -- 11/05/09
SPC Gary Gooch -- 11/5/09
SGT Anthony Paci -- 3/4/10
SSG Michael Blanchette

2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division
SGT Andrew McConnell -- 9/14/09
1LT David Wright -- 9/14/09
SGT Robert Gordon -- 9/16/09
PFC Alan Newton -- 10/2/09
CPT Benjamin Sklaver -- 10/2/09
PFC Brian Bates -- 10/27/09
SSG David Gutierrez -- 12/25/09
SPC Kyle Wright -- 1/13/10
SGT Carlos Gill -- 1/26/10

8th Squadron, 1st Calvary Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division
SPC Joseph Lewis -- 11/17/09

4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division
SGT Titus Reynolds -- 9/24/09
SSG Edward Smith -- 9/24/09
SPC Joseph White -- 9/24/09
SGT Adam Ray -- 2/9/10
SPC James Miller -- 3/29/10
SPC Jason Fingar -- 5/22/10
PFC Jacob Dennis -- 7/3/10

BSTB
SSG Silao Ilimaleota

Seattle Rock and Roll - Wear Blue Mile

I might have mentioned it but....this race is a first for me--my first RnR and my first race with Wear Blue. Since this is one of their two yearly 'big' events, there will be a very large presence, both runners and volunteers. As there was last year, there will be a Wear Blue Mile. WB volunteers will be manning the water station on this stretch, as well as creating a very significant and moving memorial along the roadside. It will include flags, posters with fallen soldiers lining the side of the road and a lot of very proud WB members in Blue cheering on those of us running.

2011 Wear Blue Mile

Honoring the fallen

This is not a race that I will be running for me or for a specific time goal. This is about so much more than me. I am running this race for our fallen brothers and sisters who've made the ultimate sacrifice. I've been trying to find a good story that truly captures what this organization is all about for a while now and came across this one today. Even though I know the story of how WB was created, it still moved me to tears. In the face of a huge unimaginable loss, one mom poured her grief into running and created a very supportive and healing community for herself. And I am honored that I get to be a part of it. 

"Donning their blue shirts, the group – made up of service members, family, and community members – forms a circle and calls out the names of the fallen – not out of sorrow but out of appreciation. “It’s a way of saying, ‘You can’t run, you can’t live, but we can and we’re going to make the most of this day, in honor of your sacrifice,’” says Lisa.

And for participating service members who are still healing from the losses they sustained during deployment, this circle of remembrance is also a chance to realize that the community members standing next to them appreciates the sacrifice the American military makes, that their families make."

For this race, I think it's only appropriate that I run in honor of all the soldiers from the 1-17 Infantry Battalion of the (then) 5^th Stryker Brigade Combat Team out of Ft. Lewis. The Battalion and Brigade lost 41 soldiers during the yearlong deployment, and saw over 200 soldiers severely injured; twenty-three of those casualties came from 1-17. The names of these soldiers are listed on the back of my shirt and I will be proudly running for each and every one of them. Those names will follow in their own post. 

2 more days!

3 Days to Go....

Seattle Rock and Roll is almost here! Without a doubt, the biggest race of the year in the Emerald City. Last year saw a field of about 26,000, which is on the small side for RnR's...but still a good 10k more than the Seattle Marathon, which was about 11-12,000. So it will be my biggest race ever and my very first Rock and Roll.

 Source

I am very excited to be running this race with these guys. Honored to be a small part of something pretty amazing. The last few weeks have been a bit crazy. Peak mileage, my kid is graduating from the 8th grade, and there are a million and one end of year activities, parties, gatherings, etc. Apologies for being MIA....I know you all missed me tremendously! All two of you anyway.

Pinky promise there will be lots of pictures and posts coming up as I sail into race weekend. Hitting up the expo with the Ragnar gals and then to dinner to load up on pasta before hitting the sack early Friday night. I am starting to get a little worried about transportation though. The start and finish is at Seattle Center (new course this year), same as the Seattle Marathon Turkey Day weekend. I had no trouble getting the first Light Rail train downtown then hopped on the Monorail and made it to the start line with plenty of time to spare. This time, they've opened up the Monorail early again but only for pre-purchased tickets, which are now sold out I think. So I may have to hoof it the mile or so to the start. Think I can do that though....but now I'm starting to get a little worried about whether the Light Rail trains will be full by the time they get to me. We shall see....guess I'll be getting up super duper early!

Will.Not.Overthink. Does nothing for the pre-race nerves. You know what does? Cupcakes.

This was dinner. Not all of them. Just two. How's that for carb loading? I am so gonna regret that.

Make Yourself Monday

All of the above....

Make Yourself Monday

Make 2012 the year of YOU.

Long Run. In Pictures.

I am starting to get a wee bit bored with my long run routes. So last week, I decided to run along the waterfront instead of my usual Madison St./Lake/I-90 bridge loop. And the whole time I was running, I was wishing I'd had my camera. There were so many interesting things to see. So for yesterdays long run, I brought the camera. I felt kind of weird carrying it. And I certainly felt like a tourist taking pictures in my own city. But you know, what? It was kind of fun! So without further ado-I present to you: My 11 mile run along Seattle's waterfront.

Mile 1 - Looking over Downtown from the south. Took the heretofore unseen END of the Mt. to Sound trail. I usually go right at this point and head east. Today, I went west.

Still in the first 2 miles. This part of the trail sort of loops down by the freeway. Where you can see our lovely stadiums in the background- Safeco Field to the left, where our notsogreat Mariners play; Century Link Field on the right, where our notsogreat Seahawks and our Super Awesome Sounders play. A little Seattle locals humor: Century Link field is known as the Clink around here. For the record, we are really bad at naming stuff here. 

Around Mile 3-ish. Pier 54. Classic Seattle Waterfront, as in, this is where the tourists all go. Ivars is THE place to get some of the best seafood in the NW. And after stuffing yourself, you can head next door to do some shopping at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, which, as the name suggests, sells weird sh*t. 

 So, there's this now. I'm not sure what to make of it, except that I am slightly embarrassed by it.

Some interesting public art. I like that the cans say PURGE....

Around Mile 5

Here it is folks: the scene of the crime. If the crime is the filming of MTV's The Real World in 1998. Apparently, it's been remodeled a bunch since they filmed so it doesn't really resemble how it appeared on the show. Am I dating myself if I reveal that I actually still watched The Real World when it aired in the late 90's? 

 Around Mile 6-At the beginning of Seattle Art Museum's Olympic Sculpture Park, at Myrtle Edwards Park. On the left is the old Seattle PI globe, on the right is the Space Needle peeking up over the hill.

Some tug boats and a cruise ship....at the end of the trail. Mile 7. 

Ran all the way to the Magnolia Bridge!

Looking back towards the city...

So, we used to be a 2 paper town....but a few years ago, the Seattle PI closed down it's print publication. They are still online with a super trimmed down staff and we are stuck with the Seattle Times, that has an editorial board I frequently want to throw a brick at. But I digress....I've always loved the PI Globe. It's a true landmark here in Sea-town and thank Jebus, some Historic Preservation board or other had it designated as a landmark. 

Mortified, I tell you. 

Headed home. At Mile 11-- I made it back to the Stadiums and caught the train home. 

Hope you enjoyed your tour of the Seattle Waterfront! I had a good time taking pictures...it gave me something to focus on....

Happy National Running Day!

Why do you run?

Mid Year Check In - 2012 Goals

It's June. You know what that means, folks. It's time for a mid-year check in. You know, like they do at work....In January of this year, I wrote a post detailing my 2012 goals. Unrelated: Mileage for the year, as of 6/5/12 is 482. Not too shabby. Without further ado--here are my goals for the year and how I'm doing, score included. First, the big goals:

*Train year round-for the entirety of 2012
....Killing it. I've trained like clockwork all 6 months of the year so far. And I just finished my training  schedule through October so I'm definitely on track to meet that goal! 4/5 Exceeds Expectations.

*Run 1 race per month - 12 races for 12 months
....Done and done! Jan and Feb were 5k's, Mar, April and May were half marathons. I also have my race schedule all mapped out till the end of the year so that one is in the bag as well, if all goes according to plan. 5/5 Outstanding


*Run at least 3 half marathons
....Already done and planning on two more at least before the year's end. 5/5 Outstanding.

*Run my first full marathon
.....Planning to run the Portland Marathon on October 7th. 26.2 - bring it! 3/5 - Meets Expectations, but only b/c I haven't started training for it and it's still a few months out.

*Become more social with my running
.....Getting there. I joined a Ragnar Relay team for NW Passages in July so there is 11 other running obsessed people I've brought into my life so far...Meeting more runners to race with -- but I need to make more plans to run with folks when I'm not racing. Will keep me from getting too complacent in my routine. 3/5 Meets Expectations.

So far so good. Tracking to meet these goals, without question. I love it when I actually accomplish stuff!

Now, on to the mirco-goals:

*PR's throughout the year
.....So far so good. Every half marathon brings me a better time. Went from a 2:22 my first half to 2:05 in the last one....aiming to hit a sub 2 hour half by years end. Totally gonna nail it. 5/5 Outstanding.

*Pacing--staying consistent and pushing it down to the 8-9 min range
.....Getting there. See above....last half pace averaged 9:36 -- down from 11:08 in my first half. Speed work helps, even though it's a major bitch. 3/5 Meets Expectations

*Doing more consistent speed work
.....Haven't done as many of these workouts as I'd hoped, see above. But I am definitely seeing the benefits so will continue to try to get these in done every other week as planned. 3/5 Meets Expectations

*Cross Training- I wanted to incorporate it into my training
.....Really didn't do much until the last month or so. I really wanted to do yoga and strength training more often but it just hasn't happened. In the last month though, I've been really consistent about getting in some arm/ab work in at least 5 days a week. Can already tell the difference in muscle tone and overall feeling of strength. Will definitely keep at it, as that will only help me bring that pace down further. 2/5 Needs Improvement.

*Blogging-Wanted to figure out not suck at it
.....Getting there! Learning as I go. Did some updates last weekend and love the new look. Going to keep trying new things and teaching myself as much as I can.3/5 Meets expectations.

*Eating Better
......Still continuing to lose the weight I gained after quitting smoking....down about 30 lbs and working on fitting into all my old clothes. Doing better but still not where I'd like to be. Can't be good at everything, right? 2/5 Needs Improvement.

*Taking better care of my body-enough sleep, vitamins, learning how to use the dreaded foam roller, get regular massages
......Working on it. Figured out the foam roller and it's my new BFF. Wish I could afford a massage every month, but I'll have to settle for paying/bribing my daughter to rub my shoulders every now and then. 3/5 Meets Expectations

So there it is. On track to meet many of these goals and I think I will definitely make some serious gains in my running this year.

Make Yourself Monday

Everyday, every week, doing something to make myself PROUD.....

Training Schedules

I've been slaving over this masterpiece....my training schedule for my first Full Marathon this fall. I've already planned out to the Ragnar Relay, factoring in the back to backs I'll be doing so I don't die out there. Which meant I slightly tweaked the schedule in the run up to the Rock and Roll on June 23rd.

Only three week out until RnR. I'm starting to get pretty excited. I was focusing on all the races in the summer and beyond and haven't really given this one all that much thought. It will be fun to run that one with Wear Blue and some of my Ragnar teammates. So between now and then, I've got a couple back to backs and will start transitioning back to morning runs to beat the heat (haha, relatively speaking at least).

Post RnR, I'll be focusing on Ragnar for a few weeks and then boom- it's time to start training for my full. I've probably got a little tweaking to do once I start living it. And I was actually pretty torn for a bit on how many days per week I should run for this but feel like I've got a good solid plan. I started by pluging in all the variables to Smart Coach on Runner's World and got a good base schedule. From there, I decided on how my long runs would progress from 13.1 to 26. I am big believer in tackling the full amount during training. There are a lot of plans that have you stop short around 20 but I'm not down for that. I want to do the full amount, every single sweat drenched, tear stained mile at least once so I don't die during the race. But anyway, I built the long runs, progressing about 10% a week until taper week. Rounded out the total, peaking at about 45 miles a week.

From there, I plugged in shorter runs throughout the week, sticking with Wednesdays alternating between tempo and speed workouts. I have been doing 5 days a week for about 6 months now, so I felt comfortable sticking with that. But the total daily mileage isn't a huge difference from what I've been doing. So that means, I'll be only really killing my body on a weekly basis on increasing the long run. And that will be enough really. To be perfectly honest, I'm a little scared of running anything longer than 13 miles. But I'll get there. As they say, you've got eat the elephant one bite at a time.

Excuse Me While I Tidy Up Around Here....

Since this blog is only a teeny tiny baby (almost 6 months old!), I am doing some experimenting in the name of teaching myself the very rudimentary aspects of designing a blog. I figured out how to add code yesterday....woot woot! Not that hard, but I just haven't taken the time to really fiddle around and learn how Blogger works. I like it because it's a pretty simple interface for someone like me to learn--a totally self taught semi-tech savvy person.

I say semi-tech savvy because there is a ton I still don't know but I'm figuring it out as I go along. I am in my mid 30's...so that means me and folks my age are really the only generation that has one foot in the tech world and one foot out. We remember what it was like to take "Typing Class" in high school but the beginnings of the internet and email came around by the time we were in college. We spent most of our growing up years without all the technology that pervades all aspects of our lives now but we were also early adopters to much of it in our 20's; and unlike our older generational counterparts, it's a been a bit easier to get up to speed on it. (As a pretty young mom of a teenager, I'm shocked by how many of my daughter's peers parents are utterly clueless; I suppose I shouldn't be but I am. Constantly.)

In any case, I am doing some remodeling over here. Adding a few things here and there, trying to figure out how to replicate ideas and cool functions I see on other blogs, and trying to make the design a bit more clean. So I'll be trying out some alternate designs and in general, changing things around some. Excuse the mess! And wish me luck. I am pretty sure I can't break Blogger, but you never know.....

May: In Which I Run Lots of Miles and Decide I like Gu after all

This month concluded with 102 miles for May. Beat that last highest mileage month by a couple miles and it feels good. Maybe by this time next year, that will a normal week for me, like some of my running heroes. A girl can dream, right?

May 2012- 102 miles

May also brought the successful conclusion of Man Up Month, in which I PR'd at the Kirkland Half. Getting so close to that sub 2 hour half....definitely going to try for that at the Rock and Roll later this month. 

2:05:44 Boo Ya!

Planning for Ragnar also progressed and I got to meet the team for the first time; most of them anyway! We are getting details sorted out and I finally got around to tweaking my training plan for the Relay. 

Memorial Day was this week and I pledged miles for Wear Blue's Run for the Fallen-- 11 miles. I ran in honor of Air Force Senior Airman Ashton Goodman and all the other brave men and women who've made the ultimate sacrifice during their service to this country. 

And finally, I decided to try out some chocolate flavored Gu and it wasn't bad! I didn't spit it out and actually liked it. Yay for new fuel options! 

Chocolate=Frosting Flavored=Not Gross