Whidbey Island 10K

About this time last year, I ran the Whidbey Island Half-Marathon, so for the past few months I've periodically received emails encouraging me to sign up for the race again this year. I have been running here and there, and while I am in no shape to run a half marathon, I decided that it would be fun to run the 10K instead. 

My parents agreed to watch the girls (and Shelby) so Kyle and I could spend the night and have a little getaway. We dropped the girls off yesterday mid-morning with Grandpa and Grandma and headed out. This is prime tulip time in the Skagit Valley, so we started off with lunch at a little diner in La Conner and then drove through the tulip fields.

We then made our way to Oak Harbor and the event expo to pick up my race packet before heading to our hotel. We relaxed for a short while (we were hoping to make use of the hot tub at the hotel, but it was closed.) and then headed into downtown Anacortes to a little hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant for dinner. After dinner, we went for a walk through the marina and talked about how we will never own a boat!

The reality of traveling without the kids...when one of the kids is a nursing infant!

The race was this morning so we headed out from the hotel and had a pleasant drive from our hotel down to the start line. After dropping me off, Kyle found several places along the course to cheer me on. The weather was almost perfect...a little too breezy to actually be perfect:) It was a beautiful course and I thoroughly enjoyed the entire run!

Trying to stay warm at the start!

I'm not so sure what to think about that ponytail...
(and my dad suggested that it would probably be
easier to run if I kept my eyes open!!)

All finished! They didn't mess around when it
came to the medals! That thing is huge!

My official results!

Whidbey Island Half Marathon

Last weekend I ran the Whidbey Island Half Marathon with Megan, a friend from work. We didn't get to train together as much as we had hoped and we both went into the race knowing that it was hilly and that we probably weren't in quite as good of shape as we should have been! That being said, I think we would both agree that the race went quite well and we were happy with how it went!

Kyle and I dropped the girls of with Grandma on Friday afternoon and headed down to Whidbey Island. We stopped for a few pictures at Deception Pass and then made it to our hotel in Oak Harbor. 

21 weeks pregnant and ready to run!

It's a beautiful view!

We walked from our hotel to the Expo where we picked up both my and Megan's race packets and sampled a few new flavors of Nuun Sports drink...there wasn't much else at the expo! For dinner, we found this cute little Italian restaurant, Rustica, where we had some delicious food. Then it was back to the hotel where we had an early-to-bed sort of night! 

Saturday morning Megan met us at the hotel at 6:15 and Megan and I hopped on the shuttle to take us to the starting line. It was a bit chilly, but it was clear and not raining so a beautiful day for a run! My hip has been bothering me for the past few weeks of training and when it started hurting at mile 0.5, I was a bit worried! But it didn't get much worse until about mile 7, and even then it remained at a tolerable level of pain for the rest of the run! Significantly better than the last few training runs I did!!

Kyle brought his road bike along and rode along both the Half-Marathon course and the full marathon course. He saw us around mile 5 and was able to take a few pictures and then headed off towards the finish. It was a bit hillier than he anticipated and we were running a bit faster than I had told him we would be doing, so we actually made it to the finish about 15 minutes before he did!

Around mile 5...still feeling pretty good!

At the finish line. 1 hr 59 min and 56 seconds!

Megan and I at the finish...with our medals to prove it!

Towards the end, I was definitely ready to be done running, but for being 21 weeks pregnant and not doing quite enough training, I was quite surprised that we were able to finish in 2 hours! It was a pretty course and I think it would be a fun one to do again! 

Bellingham Bay Half Marathon

Back in January, I signed up for the Bellingham Bay Half Marathon and race day finally arrived! (I don't usually sign up for races that early...but they had a registration deal I couldn't pass up!!) Ben and Kelsey both ran it as well, so we turned the whole weekend into fun family time.

The race started at 9:00 and was a bit chilly...the thermometer in my car read 41* as I pulled out of the driveway! Thankfully the sun came out and the temperature was almost perfect by race time. Kels and I were hoping to finish in 1 hour, 45 minutes and we were both quite happy when we finished in less than that! 

Before I had actually started training for this run, I had decided that one of my running goals was to get back to the place where I could comfortably run 5 miles at an 8 min/mile pace. It's always a bit of a struggle to figure that out because sometimes I run by myself and other times I push both girls in the double stroller and we end up stopping multiple times to get snacks, to take off sweatshirts, to put on sweatshirts and to pick up items that have been thrown out of the stroller.  As the training progressed, I was happy with how it was going and was pretty confident that we could run all 13 miles at an 8 min/mile pace. A big thanks goes out to Kyle for pushing me out the door to go run somedays and for keeping me motivated along the way!!

Ready to Run! Hanging out pre-race.

 The race route...it's a beautiful course that winds its way through downtown and then heads out along the water! 

 Uncle Ben is in the middle with the blue shirt and the neon yellow socks/shoes

 Aaron (another good friend of Ben and Kelsey's) 

 We had to stop and give a high-five to our cheering crew! 

 And I think maybe Kelsey snuck in a little kiss from Mallory:)

Auntie Kim, Uncle Thane, Elias and Malachi were farther along the course so we had more fans along the way! It was a fun surprise when we came across them because we didn't know where they were going to be! 

 We followed the pacer for the first few miles...

and then by mile 5 we upped our pace and ran the last 8 miles a bit faster!

Uncle Ben, Auntie Kelsey, and Mallory after the race...

perhaps a future runner in the family?

Ben finished in 1:29 (ahead of his goal of 1:30) and Kelsey and I finished in 1:41! I think we were all happy with how the race went!

Afterwards, we headed back to Grandpa and Grandma's house for brunch and an afternoon of relaxing/cousin hangout time. 

 Grandpa with Haleigh and Malachi

 Haleigh got a hold of someone's phone!

 Grandma taught Elias and Annaliese how to play Hi-Ho, Cherry-O!

Apparently it's hard work playing all day...this little peanut didn't take a nap at all on Sunday and played hard all day long! She crashed the minute we got in the car to head home!

The Bellingham Bay Half Marathon and a weekend of Crafting

Although Kelsey decided that running the half-marathon wasn't in her best interest due to lack of training, she still made the trip up from Seattle to cheer me on! The race was this past Sunday and my friend Marguerite was able to run in Kelsey's place. We picked up our race packets at the expo on Saturday and met up Sunday morning for the race. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, slightly foggy and perfect running weather! Kim and Elias dropped Marguerite and I off at the Depot Square downtown for the start of the race. Mom, Dad, and Kelsey came shortly after with the rest of the kiddos. They were a great cheering team! My goal was to run the race in 2 hours and I came in at 1 hour and 51 minutes! I felt strong the whole time and can genuinely say that I had fun running!!

Auntie Kelsey was planning on staying here until Wednesday morning but ended up leaving Tuesday afternoon after Mallory had several rough nights where she was awake more than she slept. However, since we were all going to be together, we planned on doing some crafting. Kelsey brought along a few sewing projects, Kim brainstormed Christmas ornament ideas, and I started working on Haleigh's first homemade Christmas ornament. It was a successful few days!

 Haleigh and Mallory

Cousins!

 Auntie Kelsey sewing Mallory a pair of shoes

 Annaliese created all kinds of things out of playdoh!

 Figuring out how to sew a skirt

 Auntie Kelsey made Mallory the dress and shoes; Grandma made the headband!

Auntie Kelsey made the girls matching skirts!

Yesterday, after Auntie Kelsey and Mallory left, my mom and I took the girls to the park to get some fresh air. Annaliese didn't really want to play to play on the playground so we went for a walk past the fish hatchery and across the waterfall. She was running ahead of us and then she stopped, turned around and said, "My skirt is following me!" Yesterday is also the day that Annaliese has started to call my mom "Grandma" instead of "Mama." She makes it a three syllable word "Grr-and-ma" and it's pretty cute!