My Better Half-Marathon (10K for us, tho!)

  
Today was the day and boy did we bring it!  I couldn’t be happier with the results from today’s race!  First and foremost, it was with my number one bestie- my girl Guinevere!  Originally we were going to dress at Daphne and Velma, but after giving it a little more thought we went with Kevin and Russel from the movie Up.  I didn’t have everything just perfect- I should have had a gigantic backpack and a brown sash, but I think our costumes turned out really cute!  I ended up using my actual sash that I had as a Girlscout and just added a few things.  I even had the Ellie badge and spent yesterday creating the wilderness explorer badges.  Gigi was a rainbow in motion and seriously brightened up the dreary, drizzly, grey, Seattle day.  Afterward a few people commented to her that they loved being able to watch her rainbow tutu dodging and weaving in front of them while she pounded through the puddles.  I loved being able to find her in the crowd so easily!

 
The race itself was awesome.  We were at Seward Park so it was a mostly flat loop with Lake Washington on one side and a gorgeous forest on the other.  To earn our .2 miles (6.2miles=10k) they had us run up a mid sized hill at the very beginning.  It wiped scads of people out, but I managed to pace just a little behind Guinevere until we came down the hill where she disappeared from me until we met again at the finish line.  For me, the race was interesting.  I started out kind of hating running this morning.  It was really cold and the rain was just nonstop with the drizzle and the dripping off the trees, and don’t forget the puddles and mud…  But somehow, near the end of the first loop and onto the second loop I didn’t notice any of that.  All of the sudden I felt fast.  I know that’s all in my head, because look at my splits, but I started passing a lot of people and feeling my training.  Instead of wearing out, I was working out.  My breathing was fine, I was talking to people around me and digging on my tunes.  During the last few miles I decided to dig deep and pull up some energy and I actually shaved some decent time off of my miles!  I came into the finish strong and smiling, into the arms of my bestie: my girl Gigi.  

  
Not only did we both PR, GUINEVERE TOOK FIRST PLACE IN HER AGE BRACKET!  It should be mentioned that she was also the only person in her age bracket, but I seriously don’t even care.  How cool is it that she PR’d and got to celebrate that by getting the 1st place prize of a pink blankie?  It also says something about distances young runners are willing to take on.  I’m proud of her tenacity and willingness to push herself!  She’s already making plans for the blerch half marathon in September….  I have created an animal (who I adore and wouldn’t change for the world).  I took 15th out of 35 women in their 40’s.  That felt pretty good to me!  My last official 10K time had me about 15 minutes longer than today’s time of a few seconds over 70 minutes.  I’ve grown a lot as an athlete since September and my new record certainly shows that!  Woot woot for both of the Lj Girls! 

 Today also marked my inaugural run for my year of running for Curtis and asking ‘What would Curtis do?’ Curtis is a friend of mine who passed from esophageal cancer on Christmas Eve.  He is the one whose family, through the entire battle, encouraged everyone around them to remember to love one another and live as fully and completely as possible.  That time is not a guarantee and we need to meaningfully embrace what we have of it.  At his celebration of life event, among the Snickers adorning the tables, were buttons asking the question: What would Curtis do?  I had already decided to dedicate all of my major runs and hikes to Curtis and to carry his spirit with me on those adventures.  The button firmed that resolve.  If I can do it with the people I love, all the better. I think Curtis would.  And so Guinvere and I took inspiration from Curtis’s daughter who recently dressed as Mr. Fredricks, from the movie Up, complete with tennis ball, cane and balloons, such a fantastic costume, and we decided to go as Russell and Kevin as a nod to her.  I don’t think people knew who we were, but it was a really great time, no matter what and it all just felt so good and right.

Love.  

❤️love love love love love❤️