Half Marathon Monday

This is a special Half Marathon Monday because it celebrates not one, but TWO major accomplishments.

Adri & Ellie at mom's first 5k!

Just as Sadie and I were finishing our new year's resolution of 13 half marathons in 2013, my cousin decided to jump on our crazy train... to which we said the more the merrier! With the same running base I started with in 2011 (read: none) and a 7 month old daughter, Adri began her running journey. Couch-to-5k become half marathon training which brought us to the Tacoma City Marathon this weekend!

If all goes as planned, there will be two more half marathon adventures before her 30th year is complete. We are already signed up to Beat the Blerch and have yet to pick the third race. So if you have suggestions, now's your chance!

The Tacoma City Half Marathon gets the award for strangest start experience. We spent just over two hours sitting on the concrete floor of an airplane hanger eating breakfast while our butts fell asleep.

Eventually we were on the road! And it was a wet road. Fortunately our custom-made trash bag shirts kept us dry. Big thanks to Sadie for that one.

Overall the race was great! It was tough at times - like going UP an overpass at mile 12 - and we just tried to keep moving forward. I might have offered to let Adri hit me if she could catch me in an attempt to keep her running. Turns out her hatred for walking was enough in itself. She's clearly a real runner. We crossed the finish line and she was a total champ! Super proud of you cousin!!!

Hey look! I think it's this way to the part of the course
where I hate your guts! Let's go!

Adri wasn't the only one with a major accomplishment for the weekend. The Queen of Crazy ran two half marathons in two days! This launched her to a new half fanatic level and a PR on the first day. With a time of 1:51:30, Sadie was not just first in her age group to finish but the first female. When compared to everyone running that day, only two people finished in front of her.

So grateful for these two badass ladies to run around with!

EARLY morning bus to the start

The half-way house offered beer to weary runners

FIN.

People Puzzles

About two months ago, I started working on this Rubik's Cube and just couldn't pull myself away. Since I'm not one to back down from a challenge, I decided to give this magical block my uninterrupted attention - there would be no time for dog parks, returning friends' emails, and certainly not time for blogging. 

Okay... so that's not the whole story. There might have been some work in there as well. Oh yeah, and some running too. Regardless of what I was actually doing, it's clear I wasn't writing any blogs.

I know you've been waiting anxiously... 

Not only was I learning about problem-solving, math, and frustration during this hiatus, but I was also learning about people. This is, in part, because I've taken more personality tests in the last 3 months than all of the other months of my life combined, but also because I've been interacting with a lot of different people. Really different people, in some cases.

Lately, I've noticed what people think they want from you is not always what they actually want. Take, for example, a distressed student with a problem that is ruining their life. (Dramatic, I know, but this is the life I lead.) At first, both of us think the goal is to solve the problem. I'm beginning to learn that's not always the case. Often, the goal is to vent, to connect, to be heard. 

I've also discovered when trying to help someone, the most heated and complicated of all issues become manageable when you acknowledge the individual and their experience before attempting to fix their problem.

On Giving

I learned something about myself today, or more accurately, about my priorities. I understand that people give money, time, and/or resources to different causes depending on what they care about most. But I had no idea how much I cared about a recent "gift" of mine until I received an email about it.

Last week, the Puget Sound Blood Center had a blood drive on my campus. I used to donate blood pretty regularly, but in all honesty, I'm a convenience kind of lady. If it's there and I'm in good health, I'll do it 10 times out of 10, but only twice have I gone out of my way to go to a donation center (and neither one of those events were recent). I didn't come across too many blood drives in Texas, so I was excited to have one so close to work here in Seattle. It was at work. Can't get much more convenient than that.

I was received an email thanking me for my donation. It said I was one of 16 donors who gave a total of 14 units of blood. FOURTEEN! How is it that a college with hundreds of employees and thousands of students only came up with 14 units? Don't get me wrong, 14 is better than none, but our collective effort was less than half of the blood needed for any one of the "your donation saves lives" stories.

I may not have lots of money to give or time to volunteer, but this is something I can do that I feel makes a difference. Despite the poor turnout this month, they're coming back. So, if you live near me or work with me - lookout! I will try to take you with me next time.


(and no, I won't pressure anyone ruthlessly. I understand that some people can't or just don't make donations in this way. But if you're not opposed to it... I'm coming for you!)

Here's some more food for thought thanks to America's Blood Centers:

New Year New Adventures

In just a few short years, I have gone from thinking New Year's resolutions were complete trash, to setting one myself and now even considering it as a tradition. There's something to be said for setting ambitious goals and holding yourself to them... so long as you're actually committed to putting in the work it will take to get it done.

It's fun to think about the things that can be achieved in a year and what you would feel like if you actually did them. For example, I could probably complete an Ironman at the end of 2014 if I were prepared to start tomorrow. But here's the catch: I not only need to be excited enough for the event to agree to do it and start tomorrow, I need to be excited enough to get out of bed 6 months from now at 4am when all I want in this world is sleep and a chocolate muffin. And when I find I'm no longer excited enough (see: primary reason New Year's resolutions fail), I need to be dedicated enough to do it anyway. That's the hard part - everything in between.

I am NOT trying to say that my 2014 resolution is completing an Ironman; it is most definitely not. What I am trying to say is: before you set a resolution, really think about whether or not you want to do it. Committing to what might be the most difficult triathlon ever is not committing to one day of glorious pain and suffering many months from now. It is committing to a radical priority, schedule, and lifestyle change - race day is just the result.

So what are my resolutions for 2014? Quite a few people have asked if I will run 14 half marathons in 2014 and to that I say, "I'm not sure." It's not out of the question, but it's not at the top of my (regular or running) list right now. Here's what I have so far:

• 5k in 30:00 or less
• 10k in 60:00 or less
• Half Marathon in 2:20:00 or less (2:15:00 is also a time I've thought a lot about, but seeing that I've consistently run around 2:40:00 for the past year, I think knocking 20 minutes off if plenty to start).
• Moon up. I now have a diagnosed running condition: I am a Half Fanatic. Currently on the lowest moon level, I would love to move up to another! (Yes, I know these are actually planets and not moons)

Then I have bunch of "fuzzy" goals, meaning they're not particularly measurable and therefore not attainable either. Golden rule of goal setting: make sure it's measurable or how else can you tell if you've done it or not?!

• Spend more time with our family now that we're close by.
• Cook at home more and have fun doing it.
• Make significant progress on our debt. I would love to be debt-free by the end of 2014, but I haven't crunched the numbers yet to see what this would look like.
• Get better at maintaining clean spaces instead of having to dedicate entire days to clean them up.

There you have it! I'd love to hear what other people are taking on for the upcoming year.

Simple Kind Words

My favorite email of the week was 20 words. One of them was a smiley face. It went like this:

Thank you so much!
That was really helpful. :)
I finished the application thanks to you.
Have a good day.

I didn't do anything groundbreaking - I answered a few questions and I didn't take forever to do it. But it was important to this person. This email reminds me how meaningful it can be to tell people when they make a difference. A lovely reminder to take a moment to tell someone you appreciate what they've done instead of just thinking it.

Mission Accomplished: 13x13x13 - 13

I have been collecting things to say for this final blog. Things I considered writing about along the way, but thought, "I'll save that until then end." I don't feel like writing any of those things now. Blogging lesson learned: just say what you want to say when you feel like saying it.

What I would like to share today is:

2 Final Times: Our last (and 13th) half marathon of 2013 was 13.6 miles and included a massive hill at the end.

Official Final Time: 2:34:00
13.1 Time: 2:26:38

I am not done running. I still have a hard time wrapping my head around the concept that I am a runner. Just two years ago I ran my first 5k on Thanksgiving and it was the longest continuous distance I had ever run. So let me just get this out of the way now: if I can do it, you can do it. I don't know what my running future looks like, but I'm excited to find out! It will most likely still involve half marathons, but also other distances like 5k and 10k. I have proposed to Sadie the idea of a themed year where we only run races with ridiculous names like the Geoduck Gallop (pronounced: gooey duck gallop) or anything having to do with Sasquatch. If you have any good ideas, send them our way!

If you don't have a crazier half, get one. There's no way I would have ever run one half marathon, let alone thirteen in one year (or THREE in one month) if it wasn't for Sadie. I have pointed this out to her many times along the way. I'm a firm believer in pushing yourself as an individual if you want to learn and grow. But sometimes it takes someone else to come up with that goal so spectacularly insane that you can't resist trying. I like to think Sadie and I are each other's crazier halves. She convinces me to run distances that are best suited for driving, and I drag her across third world countries on binge eating and walking sprees. I guess this means it's my turn again?

This is all to say that (as totally insane as I thought it was at first) running 13 miles 13 times in 2013 was a total blast! It taught me a lot not only about myself, but the combined power of two crazies and a solid support team on a mission (I'm lookin' at you Tiffany, Lee, Laila, Casey, and many others). Go Team!


Let's take a walk down memory lane, shall we?

We ran the LIVESTRONG Austin Half Marathon in
February 2012 - it was my first half marathon.

Casey made signs for us.

Then we did it again in 2013!

Sometimes we were scared...

...but usually we were excited.

We always worked hard.

and ONCE I beat Sadie to the finish line to take
her picture there. (this wasn't even a half marathon
though, and in her defense... she was 30 min late)

But through aches, pains, bronchitis and a whole
lot of tendinitis, we made it through! 

PR: 13x13x13 - 12

Yesterday, I completed my 12th half marathon of the year AND got a medal! I wasn't expecting any more swag this year, so I was pleasantly surprised thrilled to get one!

When I got home and Casey asked, "How did it go?" I think the first thing I said was, "I got a medal!" He picked up my cardboard circle with a sticker on it and looked at it curiously. Okay, so it's not made of medal, but I earned it dammit and I'll call it a medal!

You know what else I got with my cardboard circle? A personal record!
Final Time: 2:28:01

One of my goals for this experience was to work my way to a time of 2 hours and 30 minutes. With times that have consistently been 10-15 minutes slower than that, I was getting a little nervous. But I finally did it!

Sammamish River Trail

This was also the second half marathon in a row that was organized by a local running club. This means:

• The run was super cheap!
• I am now a member of a local running club
• We ran on local trails where I can run again (unlike the middle of the street in downtown Austin)
• I'm pretty sure I've discovered a group runners who complete marathons once a week (don't even think about it, Sadie!)

I am definitely feeling the effects of the extra push, and this recovery will be a bit longer, I can already tell. But at least I have a couple of weeks until the next one. Oh yeah, that's right - 3 half marathons in one month! Very appropriately, Sadie and I will run our last half marathon of the year on Thanksgiving Day.

#12 Start / Finish Area

Surely, it won't be my last half marathon, but I'm looking forward to taking my life (and my weekends) back from running for a bit. Well, sometimes. I'm thinking about actually working on my speed at reasonable distances like 5k and 10k. 

If anyone wants to help us celebrate the completion of our New Year's resolution (who does that?!) come to the Wittle Waddle at Gas Works Park!

Then we eat!

Imagine how fast I'd be if I didn't stop to take so many pictures!

To my Texans: Yes, all races in Washington start
at a cute little cabin in the woods. It's a rule.

Getting our instructions at the start.

Turn around! The half-way point.

More of the Sammamish River Trail.