PuLL Up

I learned a new running a race technique from my eight year old daughter.  It's called a Pull-Up.   I said, "a what?".   A  pull-up mom.  She proceeded to grab the back of my shirt and pulled herself up in front of me.  I got a good giggle out of it.  I made her let me try it on her.  Thinking of using it in my next marathon.  Don't think it will go over well.

AWESOME TEN MILES

I had the most excellent run the other night.  Ten miles.  I was feeling so strong.  I was wishing to be transported to a race right then and there.  I felt I could go 26 miles.  I felt like a Boston Qualifier.  : )  Now I doubt I was even close to that but it was great to feel that go.  I rarely have runs like that.  Where nothing hurts, I am not fighting my mind, my pace is great.  Like I said before, I didn't do it in stellar time or anything but WOW.  I love to run when runs go that well.  It went so well I didn't stop for a drink or take some steps to catch my breath.  I did a lot of hill work as well.  More!  I want more just like that.

This is my hill.  Think I have posted this picture before.  I imagine it coming alive and eating me whole.  That is why I must run up it fast as I can so it doesn't swallow me.

Henna Tattoo in honor of RUNNING

My husband and I were lucky enough to go to Seafair this weekend. So I splurged and decided to get one of the henna tattoo's.  It apparently is a skin stain that stays 2 to 3 weeks.  I decided to do a inspirational tattoo.  I ask them to write RUN HARD in the design.  As you can see from the picture there was a little miscommunication.  My ankle says RUN DRAH.  I thought "Oh well"  no biggie.  But it bothered me so I went back to the booth and ask them to fix it.  She got a little snippie with me.  "I asked you twice how you wanted it."  I explained or I would like to say I fired back, "you asked me the style of lettering I wanted, not if I wanted the word HARD written backwards.  Instead of admitting she messed up, I went ahead and asked her to just put stars over the word hard and all would be well.  It was.  I told her she did a great job.  Internally annoyed but that is prime reason I will never get a  real tattoo.    The henna dried and fell off.  It leaves a brown color stain.  I like it ; )  Makes me want to run.

Seafair Torchlight 8k RECAP

What a fun run!  Any excuse to get dressed up is my favorite.  Although we didn't win the costume contest, it was still fun.  We arrived early.  I have gotten to my last 2 races early.  It certainly does make it more enjoyable. There were no lines.  They were still setting up in fact.  It was a good plan that way because we needed to get walking to get the family seated for the parade.  Michelle fit right into our family.  She looked amazing.  It was so fun walking around Seattle dressed as a pirate.  It was fun as well to have another Mommie with kids around the same age.  She always had her eye on all the kids.  We made it up towards the space needle.  My hubby and the kids needed dinner.  Subway stop.  Michelle and I noticed a large group of people.  Most in costumes.  They were doing a judging contest.  Weird.  I thought you were suppose to dress as a pirate?  There were all sorts.  Well we didn't want to miss the contest.  We stood in line.  Introduced ourselves as the Cure JM pirates, blah blah blah.  Microphone, lots of people.  We stepped aside.  Suddenly someone got an award for raising money.  I looked at Michelle.  Did we miss the race?  To our horror we were in the wrong race.  Oh the humiliation.  OH WELL  we informed about 100 people about Juvenile Myositis.

After shaking our embarrassment off, and getting the kids settle on the parade route, we headed back to the start line.  It was crowded.  We had 5 or 6 different people ask to take our picture.  Lots of people telling us we looked awesome.

The Race


It was a little disorganized.  : (   No one new where to line up. The announcer was not on the started line but in the lot next to it so it was hard to here him from there.  We were jammed packed in at the starting line.  No one knew which direction to start.  There had roped off the start into two sections.  No one knew who was suppose to start on which side.  Not even the staff standing there.  We all kept asking and the kid shrugged.  The race started.  Everyone started moving so thats how we knew.  Of course I look down and my shoe isn't tied correctly.  LOL   I had to fix it while the crowd moved around me.    The run was easy.  Little up in the beginning.  We quickly came onto the parade route.  We realized we wouldn't be seeing the family.  They were sitting at the beginning of the parade.  : (   Next glich, a fire truck suddenly pulled out.  They actually stopped us.  We stood there in the middle of the parade while the truck backed out of the garage.  It was for an emergency I'm sure but still.  Good thing I wasn't bent to get a good time.  The course was poorly marked.  We suddenly had really fast runners heading towards us.  I got over to the other side of the street.  If there was going to be a collision, it was not going to be with me.  Our next stop was some costume alterations.  Michelles wig was not staying put.  We ditched it.  She had to hold on to it.  Such a trooper.  We came to 2 signs.  They were about 100 yards apart.  It vaguely said to turn around if you were doing the 5k.  Well we were the 8k so simple, go straight.  But more than one 5k's missed it.  Some turned back before the sign.  Some way after.  Not good.  We were treated to a rapid steep down hill then onto the viaduct.  Michelle was keeping good pace.  I kind of upped it to try and make up some time.  Out onto the Alaskan Way Viaduct.   Awesome!  Awesome view, nice and flat.   They race had already turned around at the end of the viaduct down by Qwest.  So we had the pleasure of trash talking those way ahead of us.  Well, motivate.  "Let's Go! Pick it up!  I'm right behind you!".  I was calling out number having a really great time.  This was fun race.  So I began asking aloud, "is it almost done, I don't want to get sweaty."   Although I was pouring buckets with my wig on.  We had a really fun pace going.  I continued to cheer runner's on .  Including a kid who was about 10 or 11.  Called his number out and yelled he was doing great.  I thought how great is that.  To think what it takes for us adults to get out there.  For a kid to be out there is amazing.  The same kid came and found me to thank me for rooting him on.  He needed to show me he finish.  I told him what a awesome job he did.   I lost Michelle around mile 3 and 1/2.  She was only minutes behind me though.  I crossed over the finish line and turned to concentrate on finding her.  If I lost her, it would have been hard to find her. Well, we were hard to miss.  A few times we had wondered away from each other.  Alls we had to do is look for big hair on each other : ).   I love my Michelle!   Our time wasn't anything to brag about.  I hope that Seafair Torchlight can get it together next year with being a little more organized.  : (   Sorry Seafair.  No worries, I will be back.  Too fun not too.

The Best Part

We didn't win the costume contest.  BUT we raised some serious awareness.  Two weekends in a row now. I couldn't be happier.  We entered as the CURE JM Pirates raising awareness for juvenile myositis.  It was the crowds decision with applause that decided the winner.  The winners were a family posing as Tinkerbell, Captain Hook, with there kids dressed up as the characters from Peter Pan.  We were ugly pirate wenches.  Next to a six month of baby being Michael Darling from Peter Pan, we had no chance, LOL.  That's ok though.  It was still fun.



My Favorite

My favorite was getting to go to the Torchlight Parade after the race. It was the first time that I can remember going to this parade in my life.  I was born and raised here so its kind of odd.  Everyone is always scared away by the large crowds.   The crowds weren't all that bad though.  My favorite in the parade was of course the pirates!  Gary did not care for them.  They are loud and scary.   Maybe this qualifies as the best part and my favorite:  I was waited for the pirates to notice Michelle and I, because we really played the part.  One of the last pirates of the float spotted me as he walked by.  It was perfect.  He paused, put his hand to his heart, acknowledged me and kept walking.  It was great.  Michelle got it all on video too.  What fun night.  We had no trouble getting back to our car.  The crowds were deeper in the parade.  The traffic was clear.  We will be back next year : )

Seafair 8k

Tomorrow is my first 8k race.  I was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.  This is the first time in my adult life I can remember part taking in any Seafair events.  I remember watching the hydro's on TV when I was kid.  This will be my third Seafair Event.  Yay!  I have been hard at work on my pirate costume.  Of course I am incorporating my CURE JM shirt.  My costume, is, well, lets just say I hope its not to hot tomorrow night.  It will also be televised on KIRO.  Should be fun.  I am not expecting to be fast.  Just wanna have fun.

My first 5k!

*For some reason I can't get this post to line up right, so it looks a little funky*


7am
Saturday Morning

Enumclaw, WA

I ran my first 5k.  So it seems that I went backwards.  I started with a full, then did a 1/2, and now a 5k.  Usually it goes in opposite order but hey, that's the ABC's of me?  It just sort of worked out that way.  I was really really excited for this one because my sister and niece were running in it to.  But lets not forget my Michelle.  We were the first ones there to sign-in.  The sun was out.  The morning was already beginning to warm up with the sun shining.  A beautiful morning for a run.  I had not signed up yet so it was good we were there to make sure there were no difficulties.  We were the race officials first "run thru" they said.  After getting registered, we went to breakfast at  The Kettle.  (If you have never been, it is a must).  We fueled up with some really great oatmeal The Kettle serves.  It was so much fun.

Start Line Fun Time

We headed to start line where we found Mom and Dad waiting. Well Mom was doing Zumba with a crowd of women.  Of course we joined in!  Very fun.

After Zumba, 9:00 was quickly approaching.  I roamed around a bit and found Tall Mom.  I introduced myself briefly.  I let her know I would be joining her down in Portland in October for the coaches certification class.  She was very nice.  I was honored to finally meet her!  They started announcing it was time to line up appropriately.  Six minute mile runners in the front.  That was not me.  We had hope to meet up after the race.

The Race

We were all lined up side by side at the start line. The announcer was giving directions on where to go for the race.  I felt worried for a second but whatever.  We were having sharing which songs we were starting out.  The time ticked down and we were off and running.  I felt great.  The start of the race is the funnest part.  Nothing hurts yet.  The course went down about a half mile surprisingly turned into a trail.  It was rocky, dusty, dirty, and bushy but no worries.  It was difficult to get around people.  As the trail went on it narrowed even more.  I eventually got stuck behind a 8 year old girl running with her Dad.  I really had to back off because she was all over the place with her footing.  She was doing great.  It did not bother me.  The trail finally ended and broke back out onto the road.  The road was lite up with the sun.  I was able to get my pace back up.  Then the sun started doing a dance on my head and weighing me down. At the end of the road the course turned around.  This meant we got to see the lead runner.  I had fun cheering on the 2nd and 3rd place guys running.  "Come on, you can catch him!  Go Go Go!".  Soon 2 teenagers who looked like it was nothing to them cruised on by.  Behind them came Tall Mom.  I saved my best cheer for her.  "Come on Tall Mom, catch those pixies!"  She looked great, pushing on.  It was time for me to turn back which meant I would get to pass my loved ones.  My niece was first up.  I yelled, "come on, catch me".  My sister was next. She looked great.  She was fiddling with her ipod going strong.  I nearly missed Michelle and Cam.  I was starting to try and pick it up.  The gal in front of me looked like she was trying to work out a side ache or something.  She was doing a weird bend and crunch thing.  I kind of felt bad for her because I could tell she was struggling.  We then entered the trail again.  The bushes and grass seemed to be trapping the heat, so sweat was a pouring.  I wanted to pass bending lady. She was trying hard to keep pace.  I passed her as the trail widen. We were soon back on the road.  This meant the home stretch.  I began to hurt because my body knew sprinting was coming.  I told myself as soon as I cross that finish, its done.  Focus on that.  I opened up the best I could. The clock said 26.0something.  I growled because it wasn't much of an improvement.  After crossing I turned back up the street after finding my breath.  The family was there on the side line now looking for the next member of our crew.   The sweat from my race was pouring into my eyes.  I was temporarily blinded by sweat and make up.  Yes, I put make up on before a run.  Why I don't know.  Smearing it all over seem logical.  I would have hunted down a towel but then I would missed everyone crossing the finish.

  

Bryanna was first we spotted.  She looked a little zapped from the heat but finished strong.

Next we were on the look out for my sister.  We spotted her running in.  We all began to cheer.  What seemed like slow motion, her leg waved like a flag.  Suddenly she was on the ground.  My heart sank as the crowd gasped.  I was over come with emotion.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  She was down.  My brother-in-law took off running towards her out on the course.  My nephew followed.  I could see her trying to get back up.  Several people tried to help but she appeared to bat at them.  She wanted her husbands hand.  They got on both sides of her and began the trek in toward the finish line.  I was a balling mess!  I was so scared she had fractured it.  She had worked so hard up to this race.  She has been training for the Leavenworth 1/2 Marathon in October.  All of it potentially was left back in the pothole that took her down.  At 50 yards from the finish her ankle seemed to un-kink.  She finished on her own.  Several people around me were gasping how great it was she finished.  

After the race our families went to explore the Enumclaw Street Fair.  It was full of vendors and booths.  We came up on one booth that had these cut pirate scarfs for Saturdays pirate run.  I got to chatting with the lady.  She asked about my Cure JM shirt.  I told her about Gary and Juvenile Dermatomyositis.  She was asked a lot of questions.  She was very nice.  I selected 2 of her scarfs.  I asked if she could set them aside in a bag for me.  My friend had my money and I would come back and pay for them when I caught up with her.  She agreed, bagged them and set them aside.  I walked away to the corner where a few family member were standing.   Suddenly she was behind me.  I turned around and she said  "Here, I want you to have these.  Put the money towards that (pointing to my shirt) and have a  good run next weekend."  I started to refuse but was so touched.  I am not one to interfere with God blessings.  I could hardly believe it.  I called Michelle to tell her the news.  I told her to come quick with her camera so we could get our pictures taken with her.  So to you lady at the booth.  Here is to you and yours.  May God Bless you ten fold for your kindness.

• My favorite was trying Zumba before the race started.
• My favorite was improving on my minute per mile.
• My favorite was having my Mom and Dad there.
• My favorite was having the Pritchow, Saas, and Luddington Families there.
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  • My favorite was meeting Tall Mom from blog world.

Races

I have been shopping all the triathlons and races.  This can be an expensive hobby.  So worth it.  But on a single income, next to impossible and not very reasonable.  Maybe I should find a sponsor?   Must brain storm on how to get around this.  I love jotting down idea's like this.  I want to get into every avenue there is when it comes to running.  Including how to pay for it.  My vbf pointed out that if I did a race once a month then it kind of works out to the expense of a gym membership.  Good point!  : )     But that is why I am not a member of a gym lol. ; ( I would love to have CURE JM sponser me.  I could go around doing all the races in my CURE JM outfit.  Problem though is we or they are a non-profit organization.  We are trying to make money for research, not give it away.

Must do more research.