Labor Day Half Marathon 2013!

Labordayrun.com

I'm officially done with 9 out of my 13 half marathons this year. Only four more to go, I can do this!

This time it was the Labor Day Half Marathon in Redmond, WA. It started and finished at Marymoor park. I picked up my race packet the day before the race in Seattle and they didn't really have anything fun in the bag, just tons of ads for the sponsors and some other race discount fliers for next year.

The race started at 9:00AM, my least favorite time of day for any half marathon during the summer time anyway. It was already so hot before the race even started, it was estimated to be 82 degrees that day. If I run at the pace I've been running lately with my knee injuries, I knew it was going to be super hot by the time I was going to finish.

I struggled this race, for some reason it seemed so much harder than all the other races I've done. There were a few factors, no on course entertainment, not very many people cheering along the course, the route was boring and it was sooooooo hot and the water station at mile 10 was out of water by the time I got there, what?!?! Those were just a few things that didn't happen, but they did and some of them are what they are and you just can't do anything about it.

The course itself started in Marymoor park, like I said and then we ran through downtown Redmond over to Willows road, which is a pretty big road, so there were cars driving by and kind of noisy. We ran by the golf course, then we turned down to head towards the Sammamish River trail and took that back to Redmond and to Marymoor park.

The finish of this race was my favorite part, not only because I was finishing, but because I was the only one running towards it the last 200 meters or so and all of a sudden I hear footsteps behind me and I look back and this guy is trying to pass me at the very end. There were a ton of people at finish line watching and I turn to the guy as I'm running and go "oh hell no" and I just start running as fast as my legs will go and he is doing his best and we just sprinted to the finish and I BEAT him!!! Everybody was laughing so hard and he came over to me afterwards and told me thanks for the encouragement at the end! It was really fun finishing like that, but I was beat, probably shouldn't have done that, but oh well, I enjoyed it.

They had a band playing and some booths with vendors and a Mac & Jack's beer garden. I didn't bring any cash, so I just walked around the booths for a little bit and headed back home.

As far as my knees went, I did much better than I thought. I was wearing knee supports on both knees and downed three Advil before the race and three more half way through and I made it to the end without too much pain. I feel like the supports definitely helped and I hope that I'll be able to finish my challenge for the year as I had wanted.

Hope to see you run!

Keili

See ya later Pre-K, bring it on Kindergarten!!!

 

Its that time of year again, when all the kids are graduating. This time however our little one is graduating as well. Chase just graduated from Evergreen Academy Montessori School and is now going to summer camps there. He has made lots of new friends and kept in touch with his old friends from when he was a little baby. Next up for him is Kindergarten, I'm so excited for him to go to public school, we'll find out what that's all about. The nice things is that one of his friends from his class is going to the same school, hopefully they'll be in the same class too. I think its always nice to have a familiar face around when you are in a new environment.

The graduation ceremony was so cute, they were all wearing caps and gowns and they walked down the carpet and sang some songs for us. I'm pretty sure that Chase actually didn't sing a word, but nevertheless it was adorable. Their teacher presented them with a certificate and a rose, then they changed the tassel and threw their caps in the air! Seriously the cutest thing you've ever seen. They has some snacks for us and we got to collect all of their school projects they had been working throughout the year and that was it. The school was officially over and our baby had graduated from Pre-K.

He has grown so much in the last year and learned so many new things. I think the biggest change that I've noticed is how well he is doing in reading. He can read three letter words and can sound out a lot of longer ones. He recognizes words in sentences and when we are out and about he will recognize some words randomly in a grocery store or street signs. I'm so proud of him every single day. He never seizes to amaze me. I do believe that he has learned so much from this school, he knows more than I know in some areas, do you know what shape a quatrefoil is? Well I didn't either, but I do now! He has learned organs and bones that I didn't even know where they belong. But my four year old can worn me ahead of time when he is going to kick me in my gallbladder while he practices his karate kicks :) All you Moms to little boys know exactly what I'm talking about, right? Go figure, now I know where that is as well. Its amazing when he knows geography and about continents and planets and plants and seeds and animals and things that I never thought that they would teach a four year old. But they did and he remembered and learned so, so much.

(I just love this series of pictures so much)

 

So what we've figured out is that our son is definitely the class clown and I think he will be his whole life, I'm positive of that. He gets such joy from making others laugh and that includes us. I'm pretty sure he gets his sense of humor from his Daddy and I love that. Who doesn't love a guy who makes your laugh, right? Another thing I love about Chase is that he just loves life, he is a very happy little guy. I love that he gets joy and happiness from the little things like the beach and bath time and stories and the iPad and running barefoot, playing in the dirt, sidewalk chalk and riding his bike super fast down hill. This is just a few things, there are just too many to name.

 

As we are enjoying out beautiful summer here in Seattle, I'm slowly starting to buy school supplies. I just like to be prepared, what can I say. I was amazed how many things they are asking for a Kindergarten class. I think more than anything its a change from what we are used to, he is actually going to carry a backpack to school, how cute is that. I'm so excited for his first day of school that I'm probably going to have his bag packed like a month before school starts.

 

Wishing everybody a great summer, enjoy the sun and spend lots of time with friends and family. Make sure you check out the little video clips below of his graduation!

Keili

Rock'n'Roll Pacific Peaks Challenge 2013!!!

I will be running the Portland Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon on May 19th and the Seattle Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon on June 22nd, this will award me with a very special Pacific Peaks medal and in addtion for completing two Rock'n'Roll events in one calendar year, I will also get the Rock Encore medal.

I'm so excited, I finally booked my hotel to Portland, its just a bit too far to drive for a day to pick up my race packet and drive back, so we decided to stay overnight and just enjoy a nice night out while we were there. Its only a week away and I've really been lacking on my training, I've been good about working out my legs at the gym, but running has been challenging. I've been trying to get my leg muscles stronger to prevent tendonidis, I really hope to see a difference in my time, but I have not done any long runs since my last half marathon at the end of April, three weeks ago. We'll see I'll do a race recap once we get back home and let you know how it goes.

I ran the Seattle race last year as my very first half marathon and I had a great time, so I'm super excited to be doing it again, last year I didn't stay for the concert or anything. I'm planning on staying for the afterparty this year though, to get the full experience.

Check out their web sites for all the Rock'n'Roll events, they have so many of them and they always draw tons of crowds. I believe there were about 16,000 people running last year, if you think about it, I was originally put into corral 41!!!! That's how many people there were. In addition, the more races you do, the more medals you earn, they even have international races, if you are interested in travelling to some fun races http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/heavy-medals

One day I really want to do their Las Vegas one, its supposed to be at night running down the Strip. How amazing would that be, I bet there are a lot of people cheering on, since it is the city that never sleeps, plus if you don't get a great time, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right!!!

Let me know if you've ran any of them and which one you enjoyed the best.

Keili

Seattle Rock'N'Roll Half Maraton 2012

 

So I finally did my first half marathon and finished with an awesome time, I think. Final chip time ended up being 2:12:34, so I was very proud that. My estimated finish time was 2:15, I was glad to have beaten that.

They did an amazing job putting together the whole event, I've never been to one before, but I really enjoyed it. I was by myself unfortunately, but I made the best of it and enjoyed it all.

I was originally put into corral 41, but when I went to the Fitness Expo I got myself moved up to corral 25. The race morning was cold and rainy, I was worried about parking Downtown since all the prepaid parking was sold out, so I left my house at 4:45 to make it there super early to get a parking spot, the race didn't start until 7:00AM and my corral didn't end up leaving until about a half an hour after the clock time. Didn't need to worry about parking, plenty of spots, so I took a stroll to the Space Needle (the starting line) and just walked around a bit. I didn't want to check my bag too early since it was a cold morning, great for running but when you are not running it was super cold.

They had some food and fruit and water, I really didn't want to drink anything because I did not want to worry about having to use the bathroom during the race. I just enjoyed myself and then checked my bag and made my way to my corral. Ton of photographers everywhere, taking pictures before during and after the race, I had a great time even though I was by myself.

The course itself, I was a bit disappointed about, it was supposed to be showing off Seattle's best sites, however pretty much the three quarters of the race was down Rainier Ave S, which is known to be the worst part of Seattle (bars on the windows, etc.). Only about a mile or so was on Lake Washington, we did get beautiful views of the Puget Sound almost all the way to the finish line, however it was all uphill and by that time I was getting super tired and trying to run uphill is not an easy task.

I made it though, very proud of myself and cannot wait until my next one on August 11 in Vancouver BC, the SeaWheeze Lululemon half marathon!!!!! Maybe I can make it in under 2 hours???? Probably not.

I also have the Warrior Dash coming up on July 22 and the Run for Your Lives run on August 4th. Lots to look forward to prior to the Disney runs.

We "Beat the Bridge" run. Running with Friends!

We finally did it. My very first official timed race. We had a team that we put together, most people from my work were running it and that's all we could talk about all day every day up until the race.

We had pre planned that my co-workers and I were going to run together and meet up before the race.

I got up super early, I figured traffic was going to be a nightmare to get into the parking lot. Once I got there I met up with my friends, it was so crowded, I'm so glad we were able to find each other and stick together the whole race. 8K went by so fast, we all stuck together through out the race and finished with a time of 43:33 and pace of 9:34, best time that any of us had done on any runs before. We were so proud of ourselves and got a finishers medal at the end.

One race down 2 more to go before the Disney half marathons.