Ireland 2014, Part I: Sláinte!

My dear childhood friends, Mandy and Bethany, and I just returned from a beautiful week in Ireland. We met so many wonderful people, saw so much of the gorgeous countryside, drank so much good beer, and tried very little black pudding.

All three of us kept Facebook apprised of our adventures, and I enjoyed our posts so much that this will basically be a filled-out version of those. With more pictures! Yes!

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September 18

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We've been traveling since 3am in each of our timezones and we're only in JFK. Waiting eagerly for Mandy and our 9pm flight to Dublin!
 — with Bethany

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September 19

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Day 1(ish): Dublin. Ireland is beautiful and its people are so nice. I've never had beer art before. The Guinness Storehouse is well worth visiting. Finally, once you get over the terror, driving in the left is pretty fun, and I can even park within the lines now. Gooooodnight!

 — with Mandy and Bethany.

We found Mandy eventually, and the three of us survived the long transatlantic flight. We breezed through customs, found cash and coffee, and spent a good half an hour with Dooley rental cars while they located our car and shuttled us to it. Then all of a sudden, we were given a Renault Fluence and expected to actually drive it out of the car park and into a busy CLOCKWISE roundabout. Beth and I were the drivers this trip, and she volunteered my foggy brains for the first turn. It was pretty terrifying. With my two backseat drivers yelling "LEFT!" every other minute, though, we made it out of the car park, through the roundabout, and down the road thirty seconds before we pulled over at a pub for a full Irish breakfast.

Driving on the wrong side of the road!!! We made it a 1/2 mile and stopped for breakfast... This is tough! Check out this sweet parking job!

 — with Bethany and Jessica

I don't want to die.

Too hard to park.

Full Irish breakfast! First meal in Ireland is not too shabby!

 — with Mandy and Jessica.

The Full Irish Breakfast was impressively hearty. I tried everything, except for the white and black pudding (the cookie-looking things in the upper left). I had read about black pudding, also known as blood pudding. No thank you. I was scared away from the white pudding, but turns out, it's only sausage and grains! (Okay, I also didn't eat the mushrooms. I don't like them in general.)

Fortified, we began our tumultuous relationship with the rental car's GPS and headed onto the highway toward Dublin proper.

I'm driving! Mandy's yelling "STAY LEFT!" Beth figures out the GPS!

In a light rain, we arrived at our destination: the Guinness Storehouse. 

Here, we staved off the urge to nap with the self-guided tour through the old storehouse's seven floors. Guinness's distinctive flavor is from their roasted barley, we learned. The most interesting, albeit a bit much for the senses, was the Tasting Experience. You walk through a very dark hallway into a bright white room with four columns emitting vapors of four scents related to the beer: hops, barley, malt, and I can't remember what else. The smells got to be a bit much after a while, but we were soon instructed to take a small glass of Guinness into the next room. This was decorated like an old study or library, with dark wood paneling, deep green drapes, and painted portraits and busts of old dudes. Here, we were led in a proper tasting: lift your elbow up as if you are going to salute, inhale deeply, take a long sip, then exhale and TASTE THE GUINNESS. It tasted fantastic. 

We also learned an Irish toast: Sláinte! ("Health!") Actually pronounced something like "Slahn-cha," it took us several tries to stop saying "cilantro."

At the top of the Storehouse, we enjoyed a free pint (with beer foam art!) and views of cloudy Dublin.

We sleepily drove from there about an hour west to our amazingly beautiful hotel in Killenard: The Heritage. It completely spoiled us for the rest of our trip, which was organized by a travel agency and purchased as a Groupon. I must say, it's clear they spent most of the housing allowance on this place.

We barely made it through dinner at the resort's restaurant before crashing. This was the only hotel that gave us two rooms. My friends sweetly let me have my own for that night, as a reward for not killing them while driving just off the plane on the weird side of the road.

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September 20
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Day 2: Killenard, Limerick, Adare. After a countryside run on our resort grounds, we toured a beautiful estate named Emo Court. We found delicious fish 'n' chips and walked along the water in Limerick. Finally, we arrived in adorable Adare, where we entered our hotel to bagpipes almost alongside a bride and groom. We're definitely in the wedding video... That was awkward. We promptly left the wedding for Irish stew and beer in town.

 — with Mandy and Bethany.

As our resort boasted a 5k trail around its golf course, and because sunlight (loosely defined for Ireland--these Washington girls felt right at home) and activity are essential for me to adjust to a new timezone, I got up early and had a refreshing run. I even got to pet a kitty!

The hotel across the golf course.

Pretty stone church.

It was damp and cool and felt like fall!

IRISH KITTY.

I met the ladies (after a shower) at breakfast, where we enjoyed the first of several buffets that combined traditional Irish breakfast foods (gimme all the fried eggs and hash browns!) and what I've seen in other European countries' hotel breakfasts (yogurt+all sorts of good fixings, fruit, a variety of breads and pastries). Soon, it was time to break in a new driver and head for the west coast.

Day 2... Beth is driving on the left side of the road!!!

 — with Bethany and Jessica.

Beth is driving! Mandy's yelling LEFT! I'm fiddling with the GPS!

On the way west, we stopped at Emo Court, a lovely estate designed in 1790 for the Earls of Portarlington. We took a little tour, and learned that it was sold to the Jesuits for a while, and in 1960, was purchased and restored by a wealthy businessman, who lived there until he died in the 1990s. 

We continued on toward our small-village destination of Adare, stopping in Limerick for the afternoon. I had phenomenal fish and chips. Bethany purchased some sassy red lipstick that she rocked for the rest of the trip!

Limerick's waterfront!!! Such a cute little town for lunch, coffee and shopping!

— with Bethany and Jessica.

So sassy!

Now, I'd be hard pressed to find a more awkward way to enter a hotel. After a snafu with the GPS and misguided expectations, we parked at the Fitzgeralds Woodland House Hotel, loaded ourselves up with luggage, and rolled loudly toward the front entrance, accompanied by cheerful bagpipes. Soon, we realized that not only was there a bride and groom out front, they were preparing to imminently run through the doors in triumph to their fascinator-wearing guests and reception. Annoyed at this hurdle between us and our room, yet embarrassed at the prospect of interrupting a wedding, we froze. A woman in wedding finery, rolling a large bag of her own on up behind us, said, "come on, girls!" and we followed her into the lobby, literally seconds before the happy couple. We're in the wedding video, indubitably. 

Upon finally entering our room, we were hit by a deep, musty smell. Not wanting to linger, neither in the mold nor at the reception, we drove off for the adorable village of Adare. I had delicious beef stew with hearty brown bread and an equally hearty stout at our first pub, and Mandy convinced me to try Jameson at the second. It was the first whiskey I've ever enjoyed! Don't give me the smokiness of Scotch or the harshness of the American whiskeys I've tried, but Jameson was quite smooth.

Just introduced these ladies to the awesomeness that is Jameson... I'd say they like it  Can't wait to tour the Jameson distillery later this week!!!

 — with Bethany and Jessica.

Pub #1 for dinner and beer.

Pub #2 for whiskey.

While the room was musty and not nearly as fancy as our first hotel, we slept okay after airing it out. We were there for two nights, so we made a point to not be in the room much. Stay tuned for Part II, which will have many pictures from my second day of driving on the left, our eventful trip to the Cliffs of Moher, and a cheesy-yet-awesome medieval feast at a real castle!

Two Triathlons in Two Weeks + Two Days

HEY. I FINISHED A TRIATHLON. 

Then two weeks and two days later, I finished my second triathlon. How did that happen?

I trained for my first 10k, half marathon, and full marathon (see race recaps) with good friends in graduate school, who fairly quickly followed those accomplishments by completing several triathlons. I wasn't interested at the time, as I wasn't that into swimming and biking pretty much served to get me to campus and back on Jersey's less humid days. But I thought well, if they can do it, I can do it. I just prefer to RUN.

Then I moved to Los Alamos, where a crazy high percentage of local friends have done the Los Alamos Triathlon, the oldest continuously running triathlon. A large percentage of that group does half or full Ironman races. When one is immersed in this environment (or just deprived of oxygen for long enough up here), one starts to think, "You know, I really do need to try a tri."

First step? Start swimming once or twice a week. I had breathing issues and mild panic attacks in the water at first, but I built up slowly (and made sure I never forgot my inhaler). Once I made it up to more than four up-and-back laps of the long course (50m), I knew that leg would be fine. Plus, I learned to love my 6:30am mornings at the aquatic center. Such a refreshing way to start the day!

Second step: Get a decent bike. I had my heavy hybrid commuter bike from NJ, which stinks the most on these mountain-town hills. I had a Lotus road bike from 1984 that my sweet friend Jenn helped me tune up, which worked for me for a while, until one too many things needed fixed. Other friends combed Craigslist for me and helped me find an excellent deal on a pretty Scott Contessa (her name is Scotty [she beams me places]).

Third step: Actually ride the bike. I am not very good at it! I have these phenomenal cyclist friends, though, who teach me so much. They've patiently ridden with me to Bandelier or the Back Gate up these horribly long hills (which happen to be part of the tri course), done emergency work on it two days before the race, and given me lots of shifting tips. To be honest, I never felt that the bike leg would be fine. Once I realized that I might have to FIX SOMETHING on my bike during the race, I almost panicked. Beholden to a machine for race success/completion? Please just hand me my running shoes and set me free.

Fourth step, speaking of: just keep running. Not a problem. I'll never win for speed, but I'll keep moving.

All the way along, I had my friend Linda, from the Atomic City Roadrunners pace races. While she's been swimming and biking for a lot longer than I have, this was her first tri, too, so we obsessed about what to wear (we didn't want to buy special clothes without knowing if we liked it), what to have in transition, how to do transitions, and whether we'd be the worst ever (we probably weren't). 

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40th Los Alamos Triathlon, August 16, 2014
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The race was seriously so much fun. So chaotic. So hard, but I made all my goals (finish, have fun, be strong) and better than I predicted. 

SO MANY THINGS TO REMEMBER TO BRING.

Linda and I are marked up and ready to go!

The Los Alamos triathlon's order is bike (12.4 miles), swim (400m), run (5k). The mass start of bikes was pretty concerning, but I hung back until we spread out and settled in for a difficult ride. I wouldn't say it was all fun…but it was exciting! I know a lot of fast people, so I got many encouraging smiles and words when they passed me on their way back. I couldn't keep the smile off my face when I got to the top of the final hill coming back on the bike and had almost two miles of downhill to the transition area--I built up so much speed! I was so relieved: my bike had no mechanical issues!!!

Thanks to Lori for the pictures!

Transition 1 was fine--a friend was there cheering and followed me over to my spot, encouraging me while I changed. I stripped down to my swimsuit, threw on my goggles and swimcap, and jogged into the aquatic center. I couldn't catch my breath for the first 100m, but settled into a rhythm for the final 300m and thought, "Dude, I'm actually doing this…" I passed one person and got passed by one. Another worry was totally fine: no panic attacks! It was over quickly, then I climbed out and jogged back to my transition area (grabbing some water on the way from a nice volunteer). 

Transition 2 was more awkward, because pulling spandex shorts over wet legs? Yeah...this is why people spend the big(ish) bucks on a tri suit. :) I will invest in one for next year. My friend was there again for encouragement and laughed when I got out my inhaler ("You and me, sittin' in transition, takin' hits off our drugs!"). I had spray-on sunscreen to reapply, but I was so excited to run that I left it off. Ah well--I was done by 9am, so hopefully I didn't do too much damage. 

All ready to run! I'm so happy to have one sport left!

The run was THE BEST. My legs felt very heavy and I couldn't physically move faster than I was going, but the volunteers were terrific (a friend had a cowboy hat on and was shaking a cowbell with the most enthusiasm EVER). There was shockingly only one real hill on this route, and I thought to myself, "well, I could say I ran the entire thing, or I could honestly get a better time by walking fast up the hill and recuperating a bit." So I walked that hill! The gal in front of me ran the whole way, but the distance between us actually decreased while I was walking. I chose well. From the turn-around, it was pretty much all downhill or flat, and I started to feel better, so I picked up speed. The last 0.5 miles were really painful for my quads, but I managed to sprint across the finish line!

Tony, Jessica, Linda

It was an amazing experience and everyone was so nice. I knew several of the winners (overall/age group/team), which was fun, too. It's such a sweet little local race (there were 131 finishers this year). We stayed for most of the award ceremony, enjoying Cokes (which I never feel like, but it sounded perfect) and bagels. 

My time was 1:50:42 overall. Bike (12.4 miles): 58:12, T1: 1:53, swim (400m): 13:49, T2: 2:58, run (5k) was 33:48. :)

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Las Campanas Compadres Mini-Triathlon, September 1, 2014
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I'm not sure I had even finished my bagel when Linda said, "I found another tri. Let's do it." After a tiny bit of skepticism, I admitted that I couldn't think of a compelling argument against it, so I signed up for the Labor Day mini-triathlon (even shorter than the LA sprint tri) in the beautiful Las Campanas neighborhood of Santa Fe. 

Bear in mind: our pool closed after the tri for a three-month renovation, so we couldn't swim again before the race. But it was only 200yds in a short-course pool. That's totally flail-able. I also took about four days off of everything, except hiking, when my sister visited. Malish. 

At least I felt that chill about it for a week, and then I got a nervous. But it was too late to do much, because I didn't want to overdo it. Oh well. It was just for fun.

And we got great swag!

This one was in the regular triathlon order, of swim (200yds), bike (11.4 miles), run (5k). That meant that transitions were all new to me again. I got there super early, though, and was able to set up without feeling rushed.  USAT apparently makes you run in the group for the age you'll be at the END of the year, which means I ran in 30-34. I am looking forward to turning 30, actually, but having a huge 3-0 in sharpie on my calf was a bit depressing. I'm still 2-9, people. Let me have my last month and a half in my 20s.

We both enjoyed singing the national anthem with the crowd at the start, and were only mildly confused by the athlete briefing.

This is my mildly confused face.

The swim was once again in a pool. A very small, four-lane, 25-yards-long pool. They had us estimate a swim time when we registered, numbered us from fast to slow, and started everyone ten seconds apart. I was skeptical, but the wait wasn't too bad. I was the 85th out of about 180 people to start. Once in the pool, I noticed that a) it was salt water, b) it was at maximum depth only five feet, and c) it was insanely choppy. I swallowed so much water. Again, I passed one person and got passed once, so even though I predicted 6:49 and swam it in 5:04, it was successful! 

Transition 1 was pretty slow. I was a little out of it--I pulled my spandex shorts on halfway, then sat down on the gravel, then put my socks and shoes on, then stood up and pulled the shorts on all the way. That's not how I planned it, exactly. But it worked. I did feel bad for getting some dirt on my neighbor's towel--notes for next time. Soon I was off biking, and MAN did it feel good!

THIS IS SO MUCH EASIER THAN LOS ALAMOS.

The course was a huge loop around Las Campanas, and started off blissfully downhill and then had really easy rolling hills for the first half or so. The uphills got a bit worse near the middle, but I kept reminding myself that they're all shorter than the ride to the Back Gate from the Los Alamos tri. We got this, legs. Keep pedaling. The views were fantastic--mountains at every horizon, bright blue skies, red dirt, green scrub.

Transition 2 was amazing. 36 seconds. I just had to drop off my bike, remove my helmet and gloves, throw on a hat, and go. 

This run wasn't the most best. It was an out-and-back course that was uphill all the way out, and my legs missed that little swim break they got in the LA tri! Right off the bike is hard! I had really given it my all on the bike, too! I hadn't done any bricks that were bike-run, because my training was for bike-swim and swim-run legs, and this was a surprise race. So the legs were in shock for a little while.

Still, I sure enjoyed it. It was pretty, people at my pace are really friendly for the most part, and one of my favorite race pictures ever happened:

HIGH FIVE! Or something... 

Yes. Linda and I remember successfully high-fiving, but you wouldn't know by checking the photos.

I had enough in me to flat-out sprint to the finish, received my fancy medal, wolfed down some oreos, and scarfed a breakfast burrito. 

Triathletes!!! 

 We stayed for the kids' race (so presh) and awards. Good thing, because Linda won first in her age group!! Amongst my fellow 30-34 year olds (NOT 30 YET), I was first or second in the bike (one person doesn't have a time listed), last in the swim, fourth in the run, and fourth overall, out of six women. Not too shabby! I plan to work extra hard on swimming this winter.

Final numbers: overall 1:26:11, swim (200yds): 5:40 (faster pace than LA), T1: 3:07, bike (11.4 miles): 42:53 (faster pace than LA), T2: 0:36, run (5k): 34:28 (slower pace than LA).

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next year!

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I want to bike with clip-ins, buy and wear a tri-suit, do a sprint tri with an open water swim, and if and only if I like all that, maybe try an Olympic distance. :)

SEAHAWKS CAKE for Super Bowl XLVIII

THE SEAHAWKS WON THE SUPER BOWL!

For only the second [edited: third--apparently the Sonics went in 1996!] time in my lifetime, one of Seattle's big four sports teams went to the championship. The Seahawks had a phenomenal year, and for their final game, THE big game, I had to make an epic cake.

First, I purchased food coloring. A lot of it. And found more in my cupboard.

The Seahawks played the Broncos, so I ordered a tiny horse off of Amazon. Technically, I ordered a 12-pack of farm animals. Do you need a chicken-themed cake? I might be able to accommodate. 

 I marked up the logo to measure proportions:

And then totally threw that out the window, and freehanded the outline on a 13x9 cake that had been frozen for about 30 hours. 

My favorite high-altitude cake, the Santa Fe Spice Cake from the cookbook Pie in the Sky.

The scariest part was the carving:

But it worked! I frosted it with cream cheese base layer.

Getting that almost-Seahawks blue was really difficult: I used a TON of the regular blue, a touch of black, and a dash of neon blue. The silver just needed a bit of black, and the neon green was perfect by itself! I piped on all of the blue outlines and piped in some blue filler. I used a spreading tool to moosh it smoothly to fill the edges. Then, I piped and spread the white, the silver, and the green eye. The finishing touch: that tiny bronco in the hawk's beak.

The cake was a hit at the Super Bowl party, where we had the normal spread of amazing football food, plus a super cute puppy.

The game itself was fantastic. I know it was boring or devastating for everyone else, but for Seattle and its fans, it was incredible. GO HAWKS!!!!!

Tucson Marathon, 12-8-2013

On a chilly morning that eased into a warm afternoon, I ran through beautiful Arizona landscape and completed my fourth full marathon. The Tucson Marathon was a small race with just under a thousand runners in the full. Point-to-point downhill with some rolling hills (and one aggravating monster at mile 23), and starting 2000' below my normal elevation, it had the potential to be very fast. My training this round has been only okay, however, with excuses of the "I've been stressed and emotionally drained" or "I want to do all the things, like hiking-lifting-MMAing-dancingbriefly, so I don't rest much" or "of course I need a trip to Jamaica [and I do actually intend to blog about it, you people who know who you are] with my girls, where I will exercise by floating in the Caribbean" variety, so I didn't really have a time goal. Spoiler alert: the PR is still 5:01:50, from Seattle. Despite a promise from my boss that he'd buy me coffee if I broke 5:00:00, I set my goal simply to not start off too fast (I've been burned) and to run consistently and strongly the entire course. SUCCESS.

Bethany and I met in Phoenix on Friday, where we spent a fantastic evening with Mandy, Bob, Sarah, and the puppy girl Stella. Bob cooked spaghetti for the weary travelers, and I was excused from a very late night of revelry and got a good night's sleep. After a lazy morning, Beth and I drove off to Tucson. 

The expo was held at the Hotel El Conquistador, which was gorgeous. It was the smallest of the marathon expos I've attended, consistent with the race itself. The layout was cramped and confusing, but I did emerge with a great new shirt and my bib! While white's not my best color, I'm using short sleeved shirts more these days--I typically run in either tanks or long sleeves, but for my new martial art and gym habits, I prefer a bit more moderate coverage.

We took our stash of Cliff bar samples off to our hotel, the Catalina Inn. Don't let the very drab exterior scare you--it was quite clean and comfortable inside, for the money I paid. They were extremely accommodating to the racers: breakfast started at 4am and a shuttle took us directly to the start line!

Bethany was exhausted from her previous night of partying and I was looking at a 4:15am wakeup call, so we decided to head to the nearby Olive Garden and then call it a night. We waited in the crowded lobby for 45 minutes in a hungry stupor. Apparently, Olive Garden is THE place to be on a Saturday night in Catalina, AZ. A couple struck up a conversation with us--after I told them I lived "near Santa Fe," the husband asked if that was close to Los Alamos. "…well, actually, I live THERE…"

We eventually carbo loaded successfully and returned to the hotel, where I performed my race-eve ritual of dressing the imaginary person:

CANNOT. FORGET. THINGS.

My alarm rudely woke me from a dream (in which Katie, Auna, and I stole pizza, got arrested, and rode off on motorcycles) to something even more strange. The lights turned on as soon as I stopped the clock and an extremely chipper Bethany said, "IT IS YOUR MARATHON DAY! I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO WAKE UP FOR FIFTEEN MINUTES!!!!" We both got breakfast, and she went back to bed, while I shuttled off to the start line!

It was freezing, with wind chill, up over 4750' on Mt. Lemmon. We were able to sit in the warm buses for 20-30 minutes, which was lovely. Finally, the portapotties called, and we shivered en masse for another half an hour. I wore my beloved UW sweatshirt, purchased freshman year, 2002. Mom said I could part with it. May it rest in peace or bless someone who needs it more--I ditched it when we were told to line up. (Volunteers collected the piles of discarded clothing and donated them.) 

The race MCs played a terrible recording of the Star Spangled Banner, and then with the dulcet tones of Run, Run, Rudolph, just after the sun peeked over the hills, we were off! 

The course was winding and fairly steep downhill for a couple of miles, and the flattened into a gradual downhill for *most* of the rest. Soon after the start, a good-looking guy struck up a conversation, asking how many I've done (this was his first) and whether I had any goals (his was to finish). He ran off ahead, but I'd run into him much more later in the race.

I felt so strong! There was so much oxygen, and we were going downhill! I stuck to my plan, though, and reined in my pace. I walked the few legitimately steep inclines, but breezed up the more gradual rolling hills that were on the four-mile roundtrip out-and-back portion off the main highway upon which we ran for about half of the race. Normally out-and-backs kill me mentally (SO FRUSTRATING), but this was fine! It was pretty! The volunteers and spectators on that stretch were especially welcome, as that main highway part was almost completely devoid of them. I also used the turn around to verify that there were plenty of people behind me. Heh heh heh. Sweet.

Around mile 15, I warmed up enough to remove my long-sleeve shirt. So many runners ran the entire thing bundled up. 

Dear Arizonans, 

50-60F is NOT run-in-sweatshirt-and-gloves-and-hats weather. 

Love, 

the Girl from WA/NJ/NM 

At mile 17, I had my first moment of despair. You know, where you wonder why you would ever choose to run this far, or really, why anyone would EVER run at ALL. That was a hard mile. I took a couple of walking breaks, switched my music up, and shook it off by 18. 

This race, I fueled with alternating Espresso Love Gu and Honey Stinger packets. I ran with my own water, but drank a swallow or two of Gatorade at aid stations. They handed out Cliff Shots, and I tried one…but it was just weird enough to make me stick with my regular fuel. I had six gel packets total, approximately one every four miles, starting at mile 1.1. Somewhere in the low 20s, a station passed out M&Ms! The first few were delicious, and then I almost choked on one. No more M&Ms while running. A motherly volunteer at another late stop forced a couple of goldfish crackers on me, as I apparently looked like I needed salt. Again, I choked. I am not allowed to eat solid food while running, okay?

So, my friend! I passed him around mile 20, and we exchanged "WE GOT THIS" encouragements. I was running pretty consistently at this point, so I'd pass him during his walk breaks, and he'd pass me when he ran. He fist bumped or yelled encouragement every time. It's amazing how much that helps. This happened (as it always does) with another couple of people. One woman found me after and we congratulated each other. Runners (in my pace group anyway) are so *NICE*.  

I was impressed with the sheriff/deputy presence--many, many were out, blocking and directing traffic for us. I did almost get hit once, and that was pretty uncool, but for the most part, they managed to keep roads half open and runners fully alive. 

I really started losing it physically around 22, and at 23, I was pretty convinced that the race was never going to end. Ever. That mean monster of a hill didn't help, nor did the steep descent that followed. My knee had been hurting for the past two days and the entirety of the race (ssshhh I'm fine; I shouldn't confess these things on the internet), so the downhill made me very nervous. I survived, and I had less than a 5k left. When was the last time I couldn't finish a 5k? I got this!!

I started counting the evenly spaced orange cones of protection: run past three or more, take a walking break, but only until the very next cone, then run again. That worked.

I continued my tradition of crying during half and full marathons near the end. I apparently cannot fight the combination of exhaustion, pain, anticipation, and excitement of being ALMOST DONE! 

Mile 26! Only 0.2 miles to go!

Mile 13, for the lucky halfers! ONLY 0.1 MILES TO GO SPRRRRIIIIINT! YEEEAAAAH!!!

I finished strong with barely anything left in the tank, so was ecstatic.  My time was 5:29:38, and I finished without injury.

Bethany's beautiful face met me after I got my medal and water. She led me slowly back to our car, where she had a caramel brûlée latte and Subway sandwich waiting for me. SO GOOD.

She drove back to Phoenix, where we were fed fried chicken, fried risotto balls, and macaroni and cheese, and watched the Seahawks barely lose to the Niners. It was an excellent afternoon.

Now, it's kind of hard to walk, due to good soreness. I'm resting up and planning my next moves. I'm going to take a couple of years off of full marathons now, to work on my strength for and with MMA and my speed with 10ks and halfs. I also want to do more of our awesome local trail races, and become a decent skier of bumps. I'll get back to fulls when I have a good shot at that sub-5:00:00 time. Did I say that before? I mean it this time!!