Before I get into that I thought I would share some drama regarding my November trip.
Before booking our return flight and adding the two extra nights, I made sure to fully discuss it with Zach and Kimberly. The only push back I got was that Kimberly insisted that at 3pm 6 weeks before the flight it would be the cheapest and we should wait.
dear girl follows pintrest. I know they "say" that is the best time.. One I can't ever wait that long and two it doesn't get much cheaper than $69. So when I was firm on disagreeing, she and thus Zach agreed that we should get the return flight.
So Sunday I got a text asking what flight had we booked. Down or back?
Well, I knew this meant something. Luckily they were hoping it was the return flight because Kimberly (who is cheer captain at her college) found that there would be a game on 11/15.
So this complicates things. Steve and I are planning to arrive at night on 11/14. (unless we get an early flight out on 11/15 that gets us there in time to go to the expo) I don't have to have us all on the same flight. So that is not my concern. My concern for Steve and I is that we have to be up early on 11/16 for the race and should they not get in until after midnight on that day it might be a pain. Doable, yes.. but still a pain. However really more the pain is what it does for Zach and Kimberly. They told me how they want a 7pm flight... well, that is great and all IF there is one (currently the latest on on alaska is 5pm) However there is still the issue of going right from her game to the airport. I can not see this going as easy as she thinks it will. I know they can skip the security because of DOD stuff.. but I know they still will need to get to the airport an hour before their flight. (cause boarding happens ahead of when the flight is scheduled for - duh) Oh to be 20 somethings...
I know I was a bit short with Zach when I told him that maybe they should just fly in on Sunday. I didn't mean to be. I just was tired from the race and really I can't see her having an evening game on Saturday making it easy for them to get to CA before Sunday. What I said set him off a bit and he suggested they just get their own room.
After I assured him that is not what I meant... we are still sharing a room. I just don't know WHEN they will arrive. Steve now feels like there is a good chance they will not be coming. I really hope that this is not the case!
Seahawks 12k
As I mentioned in my weekly training recap, last week I got a cold or bad allergies or SOMETHING. Not the plague by any means, but definitely a nuisance and definitely impacting my performance. I never take naps and last week (luckily I had days off) I took two (as well as one yesterday) I knew I was going to not be 100% for Sunday.
I was nervous about traffic and parking. I was headed up (about a 45 minute drive) by myself and I worried about navigating through bad traffic. I was ready and out the door by 7:15am.
I hit the exit off the freeway at about 8am. Not too far ahead of when Cynthia did. She was coming south though while I was headed north. Maybe this is what made all the difference, but I was parked by 8:15 while she took about another 30 minutes to get parked. I waited in the parking lot a while for her thinking at any time they would be showing up. Finally I decided I would be cutting it too close if I didn't find a restroom before they arrived.
So I left the parking lot and got in a VERY long line at Target. It moved quickly enough though and I was out soon enough.
I made my way to the staging area and soon I was getting texts from Cynthia that they had arrived and she had hit the porta potties. Meanwhile, vendors were walking around handing out samples. I somehow got offered a full pack of cliff blocks and ended up taking it.
I had no where to put this...so I ended up running the entire race with the package in my hands. Why I didn't just toss it I do not know.
With minutes to spare before the first wave of runners were released, she and I found each other.
We managed to wiggle into the second wave.
cool1: Cynthia and I are both great at wiggling into a spot)
With confetti shot into the air it was time for our wave to be released. We started running and found serious congestion on the course. Normally I really get frustrated by this. It was causing us to go much slower than either of us would have liked... but for me I was trying to not push too hard since I wasn't feeling great... so on this day I while it was a tad frustrating it was less so than it normally would have been.
What was frustrating though was the fact that as Cynthia and I dodged through the crowd we always seemed to end up on "drunk bumps" You know, the raised bumps in the center of the road to indicate the lane? I was sure I was going to trip on one.
Mile two opened up and Cynthia and I really got a much better pace going. I definitely didn't not feel at all like I was holding back and I felt like I was keeping up withe her just fine. (was she holding back for me? I didn't think so.. ) So we seemed very nicely match.
And then the hills came.
I don't train on hills. I don't train in heat. I need to do both. So add in that I was under the weather and I quickly realized that I was going to have to drop back.
I know I made it to mile 3 with Cynthia. I remember thinking it was just about.. maybe not quite the half way point when we saw her husband fly by us from behind. Somehow he had started in a wave behind us and being the quick runner he is not only caught up... but flew by. At that point when she laughed and pointed him out, I could see that we were in different places with our stamina. I was starting to breath funny.... which ultimately led to a side ached. Since she was able to chuckle still... I waved her on and told her I needed to drop back.
As much as I would have liked to finish with her, it was the right call. I ended up taking some walk breaks (up some of the remaining hills as well as through water stops)
All week I had seen that 4 miles was doable for me but that I didn't have anything left for more after that. So in those miles after 4, I saw a HUGE drop in my pace. I just had no stamina. I did however find that once the hills were over and in approximately the last half mile or so I was able to pick it back up and finish strong.
I finished a little less than 3 minutes after Cynthia (so it wasn't like I totally bombed
)
1:11:54 with a pace of 9:24. I was 1331 out of 4047 overall. 80th out of 382 in my division and 568 out of 2555 females. Not too bad... but I am sure I could have done better.
Now for those who read Cynthia's report, you may know that we had question as the the distance and our pace. Reported paces do NOT match the distance of a 12k. In fact... no one I came across had their gps show a 12k either (about 7 and 1/2 miles). It bugged me.. it bugged Cynthia. Luckily, Cynthia looked up the USTAF certification stats on the race. 12.31K!! I know that extra 2 tenths of a mile shouldn't matter, but it really would have made my pace look even worse that it did!
After the race, we hung out and chatted and we got a picture of three of us from a facebook group that Cynthia and I belong to. Sadly... no picture of Cynthia's husband who did AWESOME btw. He finished in under an hour!!!
The race really took it out of me but it was so much fun!!! What a beautiful day and what fun to run with Cynthia! I think come August I have hope that I can run at least part with her.. but know now that we will have no problems splitting up too.
Hooray for getting your costumes most of the way done!!I know... I have been toying with the idea. Steve and I had a long talk about it last night and decided - for sure- against it. Maybe next year. He wants to see if he can get through a half and not need to recover the next day first. Does this mean that I couldn't do it by myself? No... but the other consideration is funds. I have registered for so many races lately it really is starting to show in my bank account. Probably best to just go with the donald. Then maybe I will have enough recovery in my account by the time July and the registration for the phm rolls around to consider adding a challenge in that weekend.
I could do a 5k, 10k and then half though. Problem will be the days. I have a full day to travel there and a full day back... and can only spare 5 nights total between points and work schedule. Could make it too difficult. So ultimately I may choose not to do the challenge for phm weekend too.
How I did that, I don't know, but I need to tell you the shirts look awesome. 
I haven't done anything since our 12K and recent developments have seemed to ensure nothing is happening tonight either. 
super sad this morning though. Decided to test one of the possible tanks for the half at the gym. It did not breathe! In fact it still hasn't dried and I got off the elliptical a solid 25 minutes ago. And you can see it (tmi I know but ick).
You got out and ran! I am really wanting to run... but today was so hectic and then super rainy. I spent so much of the day thursday soaked... I think I am still recovering from that.
