The picture above is us standing in line to get on the shuttle buses that took you to the starting line. There were multiple lines and ours was SIX blocks long. We didn't get to the starting line until 10 minutes after the gun went off. ANNOYING.
The course was HILLY. Especially miles 15-20 and 25-26. When you've run that far going downhill hurts as much as going up. I was craving the flatlands of Phoenix. I wasn't craving the Phoenix heat though. The weather in Seattle that day was PERFECT.
We finished in 3:57. I was hoping to run faster.
Interesting facts - 68% of the runners were female, there were 21,000+ finishers and about 30% of those did the full marathon.
Dave hurt his knee two weeks prior to the race (he fell and sliced it open on a rock when we were camping). He wasn't even sure he was going to be able to run the entire race. He planned on running the half-marathon for sure, and if he felt good he would finish the race with me. Turned out he was able to run the entire race. It was a blessing for me because he ran right along side me encouraging me through the hills. It was disappointing for him not to run at his pace after so much training, but we have the St. George marathon coming up in October, so he's looking forward to that. Speaking of that, I'm not sure if I'm going to run any more marathons after this. Heck, I'm not even sure at this point if I'm going to run St. George. There is so much time that goes into training, and I need to make sure that I can mentally commit! Not to mention the pain . . . I wish that St. George had a half-marathon option and I would just do that! At this point a thirteen mile race sounds like a breeze!
Oh, and funny thing. After the race we had to walk TWO miles back to our car. It was pretty brutal. I was so tired and just wanted to sit down. Every joint in my lower body was aching!
We spent the rest of our vacation visiting with old friends and limping around the city. We went to our favorite resturants (Lola still tops the list), saw a movie, went to the market, took lots of naps, etc. Here are a few pictures from our trip. We weren't great about getting our camera out, so this is all we've got!
Big thanks to my parents for watching the kiddos. When we left Lily had just started antibiotics for an ear infection and Cannon got sick while we were gone, but my parents never complained. They took the kids to do lots of fun things! Poor Cannon is still sick - hopefully he gets better soon. Thanks Mom and Dad for letting Dave and I get away.
What a great way to celebrate FIVE years together.
