But there's not much to say about it. I didn't train much. It's ridiculous, because it wouldn't have taken much to train. I had just done the Hot Chocolate 15k two weeks prior, so a few medium runs and one long run and I would have been good to go! But oh no, no way would I do something so easy! Instead I decided to run not ONCE in between the two races. I'm so smart.
Baby J had a few rough nights at the beginning and somehow I was just sooooo tired and so lazy and then the weather was bad and.... excuses much?
Anyway, since Becky wasn't doing it any longer, if Lisa hadn't been doing it I probably would have bailed! Luckily for me, these races are a DREAM logistically. Nice and close, free parking a few blocks from the start, Starbucks open with clean bathrooms with short waits, etc. I only want to do races like this from now on. Bye bye downtown Seattle events.
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It was so good to see Lisa and spend the first 4 miles with her! Neither of us were exactly ecstatic about the idea of running 13.1 miles, but poor Lisa was really hurting, and after 4 miles of run/walking, she decided to walk back to the start (the first section is a loop so we weren't that far away).
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Most of the race is a big out and back along the Tacoma waterfront Ruston area - very lovely views, although the drizzly cloudiness kind of hindered the loveliness.
Lucky for me, although Becky couldn't run the whole race as originally planned because of her knee, she agreed to run 5ish miles with me in the middle of the race! So after leaving Lisa at mile 4, I only had one mile alone before finding Becky at mile 5. And apparently the one mile alone was my fastest of the whole race (8:55).
The lesson here is, maybe I should train next time.
Thanks to the out and back on the water, most of the race is lovely flatness. But the elevation gain is actually a surprising 423 feet thanks to some large hills in the middle at the turnaround and a very nasty mean uphill to the finish.
Becky was not impressed with my attitude during the race, but somehow I still convinced her to keep running to the finish with me instead of stopping at 10. Thanks Becky!
Final thoughts on the race: Great logistics, love the free pizza at the end, adorable glittery medal. But not having a water stop until mile 4?! That's unacceptable in my book. Not enough water overall.
But that's a wrap! I need to find my running mojo again. I really really want to train for a race, like REALLY train, and show what I can do. I want a sub 2 (at least) this year. I want to run a marathon. I want a PR in SOMETHING. I want to do a triathlon. But I want all these things, but then I find it so hard to actually put in the work when push comes to shove.
Any motivation advice?
What would a post be without a picture of Baby J's bad hair day?!
