A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER

I can not put into words how wonderful these last two days were. My friend Mindy and I arrived in Seattle at 11:00 am on Saturday, stopped by the Westin and got all our event packets and everything we needed for the race. Then it was off to enjoy downtown Seattle for the day, one of my all-time favorite places. It was an absolutely beautiful, clear day and downtown was all decked out for Christmas. We went out for lunch, ate fattening lobster bisque soup, but we were running 13 miles the next day so it was justified. Went from store to store to store, and found some good bargains. Stopped in at a doughnut shop, once again perfectly justified. Then after much more shopping finished the day off with a delicious Italian dinner and creme brulee for dessert...yep we justified it. Downtown at night was beautiful, all lit up with Christmas lights, bands were playing music, and tons of people out shopping. We had so much fun on Saturday I kept forgetting the real reason we were in Seattle: To run a half marathon...yikes! Mindy is such a great friend, she's so funny and easy-going. We really had wonderful time together. Well, Sunday morning we woke up at 5:00 am to get ready for our race. You can't run 13 miles without mascara and lip gloss you know. at 6:45 we left our hotel and stepped outside to freezing temperatures and the moon shining brightly above the Space Needle. As we were walking down the street in the dark, we started seeing people from all directions, decked out in their running gear, heading in the same direction as us...that was an amazing sight. As we were standing at the starting line waiting for the blow horn to start the race, I was so nervous. Can I really do this? Before I had time to change my mind, we were off. We started right under the Space Needle and ran all the way down 5th street through downtown Seattle, the street was lined with spectators, and it was so amazing to see runners, shoulder to shoulder, as far as you could see. I was feeling good all the way up to mile 6, and then I really started feeling weak and couldn't keep up with Mindy's pace. Being the rock star that she is, she surged ahead of me and I just kind of settled into my granny pace and started talking to myself, "You're good Liz, you can do this, you feel strong, you're not even tired, you can keep running for another hour......". And then it happened, right at mile 7, there was this ginormous steep hill that actually went on for a long time, over half a mile. And I couldn't do it, I had to walk about half way through it. I was disappointed in myself at first, but now I think it was a good decision. When I saw the mile 8 sign, I knew I was going to make it, all I had to do was run 5 more miles, and I do that all the time. It was a beautiful run, we ran down by the water, and then through a wooded park, the sun was shining, the air was cool, spectators were cheering you on...It was awesome! Seeing the 10 mile sign was incredible. I couldn't believe I had ran 10 miles, the longest I've ever ran in my life, and I only had 3 to go! I tried to pick up the pace for the last two miles, but my poorly trained body was physically incapable. It took every ounce of will power to keep my legs moving on the last mile, and there were quite a few hills at the end. As I started getting closer to the finish line, the street was lined with tons of spectators cheering you on. I felt like I was back in one of my high school track meets running the last 100 meters of my 1500 meter race. I sprinted as hard as I could across the finish line, and when I stopped I seriously almost cried...I did it! What an amazing feeling that was. And I even finished with a better time then I was expecting. As I am typing this, my whole body aches, and it's going to hurt when I have to get up and walk to bed, but I am so glad I did this. And Mindy and I decided to make it an annual tradition! It really was a perfect weekend.

BEFORE:AFTER:

Another great part of this trip was that I got to see my little brother Ben, who lives in Seattle!