This week was a very busy and full of anxiety between running and my professional life. I just accepted a new role with our Microsoft solutions specialist team for the North West territory. This role brings along with it financial benefits as well as added responsibility and visibility. I am definitely both very excited and nervous to begin this new journey.
As far running goes, just 10 days ago I signed up for my first half marathon of the year!.... which was yesterday. Definitely had some doubts throughout the past week and a half so I went for a 10 mile run last Saturday morning. This was all before heading to Leavenworth for a friends bday. (mental note. Never run 10 miles before sitting in a care driving 3 hours over the pass again) My previous long run of the year was just over 5 miles as I had been primarily running 1 and 2 miles/day. I would have liked to have planned a little better and trained for this one but none the less I finished in a decent time. 2:12:52 with 10:08 pace. The course itself was much less flat than I expected! looked like a basic out and back along the waterfront with a little neighborhood running in there as well but I did not anticipate all the hills that were mixed int between the 6 and 9 mile marks! After coming back down all the hills we ran up it seemed like it would be smooth sailing on the way back along the straight flat waterfront road. We had another thing coming. Running into wind and rain the entire way back that seemed fitting for a damn episode of "The Deadliest Catch" was not what I had in mind! (Okay maybe I'm embellishing a bit but it wasn't fun) It seems that the running gods did not get a chance to reserve some time with the weather goods to make sure everything was in order.
During the pre-race shenanigans I ran into an old friend in the starting corral that had since moved to Portland and happened to be there running with her husband and father-in-law (who btw came in second place in masters!) I also met some amazing people during the run around the 11.5 mile point and we pushed each other up the final hill in the wind and rain to the finish. Shout out to my new running friends Eric and Mary! Also shout out to my boy Patrick for coming out and to Nate for bringing out another first timer and good friend Shantel. Last but not least I want to thank my wonderful GF for catching an uber early in the morning to come out and cheer me on to finish the race. Your support means the world to me. Thank you.
And now for todays RSD. Heavy rain (worse than yesterday). Around the same level of wind. Sore legs. And a warm bed. Definitely a recipe for staying home and catching up on some Netflix. Today was not the most fun of all runs this year, and as many obstacles there were against me there was only one thing that mattered. Getting in another mile for another day and continuing this streak. Yesterday was the first step in earning the "Crown of the Sound" half marathon series medal and today was another step towards my #run365 goal. So happy early St. Patrick's Day and here's to another day in the books and raising a glass of Guinness with friends over a delicious Irish meal.
