Seattle Rock 'n' Roll, I'm Coming For You

Blogger and I are on shaky, shaky ground.  You see, when I woke up on Tuesday morning, I looked at my phone, and realized my post about rocking 20 miles hadn't posted.  This is the THIRD, I repeat THIRD time this has happened in the past week.  I don't know what is going on with the scheduled publish function but it is not working.  So then I tried to publish it from my phone.  That's where I made my huge mistake I'll never make again.  Because when the post showed up, it was EMPTY.  EMPTY I TELL YOU.  All of my beautiful photos and prose had disappeared off into cyberspace, never to be heard from again.  And I'm pretty sure that post would have won a Pulitzer. 

As if the morning wasn't starting off badly enough,then I had to go to the dentist.  And now I'm telling you about my woes.  Blogger already has one strike against him, so this makes two.  Three strikes and you're out, Blogger.  You better watch your step.

Anyway, I don't really feel like rewriting all of my "YAY GO 20 MILES I'M SO HAPPY" nonsense, so here's the Debbie Downer version of my previously peppy post.

On Saturday I ran 20 miles.  My new shoes finally got to come out and play for this run:

I ran at Alki Beach, which is an okay place to run I guess, at least if you like lovely groomed paths, waterfront paths, fake Statue of Liberties, fake Washington monuments, Space Needle views, wildlife, etc.  Not sure if you're into that kind of thing.

Look - the Space Needle!

You can't really tell but that's a HUGE eagle that was flying and landed right next to us.  It's either a Golden Eagle or an immature Bald Eagle.  I'm no bird expert though, and my high quality photography isn't really doing you any favors

This run was broken into 4 mini segments, because I'm high maintenance like that.

Run #1 (7 miles): 9:08, 8:50, 8:43, 8:27, 8:26, 8:24, 8:30
I got to Alki around 8:20am and the first 7 miles were done alone, with the company of my Mom via cell phone for a bit (at least until she said "You're sounding a little out of breath, you better focus on running" - thanks for the confidence boost Mom!) and by Ke$ha radio.  I was feeling a bit ambitious during some of these miles - all hopped up on being thankful for running and for being able to train for a marathon, and I'm sure my legs paid for my exuberance later.  I ate a blackberry GU and refilled my citrus Nuun before round #2.

Run #2 (6 miles): 8:50, 8:55, 9:01, 9:29, 8:54, 8:57
I had conned Zoe into coming to the meet-up early to entertain me for a few extra miles, and she fell for it!  Zoe is amazing and entertained me through my 2nd hour of running - Thanks Zoe!  Ate a chocolate chip mint GU and refilled my bottle before round #3.

Run #3 (6 miles): 9:43, 10:15, 9:49, 9:25, 9:20, 9:26
Then the blogger meet-up started, and a lovely group of ladies formed.  We all started off together but eventually we broke into smaller and smaller groups until it was just Allison, Zoe, and I.  Thanks Allison and Zoe!  My stomach started growling at 18 but it seemed silly to eat another GU at that point with lunch so near.  I need to figure that out though before the marathon. 

Run #4 (1 mile): 9:01
Allison and Zoe headed to Cactus for lunch and I just had one lone mile left to pump out, so I put Ke$ha back on and rocked out for the last mile.

And whew, I was tired, but in 3:01:35 (Average Pace: 9:05) 20 miles were all done!  And I felt pretty good the whole time! 

You wanted to see a really unflattering picture of my chins, right?  I thought so.

Then we had a lovely blogger lunch at Cactus, where I finally got to meet many of the ladies I regularly stalk online. 

From right to left: Erika, Julie, Stacie, Rebecca, Allison, Zoe, me, Robyn, Pensive Pumpkin, & Emily.

Run Pretty Far also hooked us up with some sweet headbands and arm warmers.  The arm warmers I chose are a bit small (I definitely needed a medium!) but the allure of the zebra stripe won out over functionality.  Thanks Run Pretty Far!

The End.  Blogger, I still hate you.  If it wasn't so much work to go to WordPress, I would.  I apologize if I have left out important details that I have forgotten in my rage. 

I'm currently thinking about when I should do my last 20+ miler.  2 weeks out from the marathon or 3 weeks out.  What do you think?  What have you done in the past?  What works best for you and why?