June: In Which I Run the Rock and Roll with Wear Blue

Incredible month. Almost kept up with the mileage from last month...almost. 100.9 miles.

June was busy, very busy. I started the month out by making some changes around here. Still planning to do some tweaking, but things got really busy in a hurry after my initial tinkering. I made some tweaks to my training schedule, both before and after the Rock and Roll to accommodate the Ragnar Relay. I also did my schedule for my first full marathon....getting ahead of even the all important registration part!

You know what happens around this time of year? Besides school ending and summer starting, etc, etc. Mid year check ins on the goals and progress for the year. I am doing pretty well against my 2012 goals....pretty proud of my progress actually.

I did a new route along the waterfront and took some pictures...It ended up being a lot of fun, despite feeling all touristy.

The end of the month brought a graduation and my first Rock and Roll (half) Marathon. My girl officially graduated from middle school...*sniff sniff. I am old, right? Now that my kid is going to high school? Gahhhh....

Game On!

We ran with Wear Blue and it was a most extraordinary experience. I ran 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.

 Wear Blue Run to Remember

It was my favorite race by far. Loved every minute of it. You can read all about the best part here and the full recap here. Can't wait to do it again next year....But I will rock the full this time.

Finally, I closed out the month on a runner's high and registered for my first FULL marathon-- Portland on October 7, 2012. Game on!

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....

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.....