Nick's Half Marathon

Nick decided it would be a good idea to run the SF half marathon this morning.  No no, he didn't sign up on a whim, he signed up for it months ago.  

We spent the night in the city, since the race started at 5:30AM.  Talk about punishment!  Nick was up at 4:45 and I was close behind at 5:00AM.  I dropped him off near the ferry building and I was off to the cheer station - chrissy field.  Then I realized.....I've never driven in the city before.  Shoot.

Never fear - I've got the garmin!  So I pull over and type the address into the Garmione (that's what we call her).  Then those faithful words cross the screen - "Out of Satellite Reception."  The buildings in the city are too tall and you only get periodic signals.  So I was navigating the old fashioned way.  A map (a map that doesn't tell you which streets are one way).  Eventually Garmione was back up and running and I made it to Chrissy field where I snapped the picture above.  Nick started off at a great pace - he was at the 4 mile marker just under a 10 min/mile pace and his bald head was easy to spot!

Then I was back in the car and headed to golden gate park - or, the parking nightmare.  With 20,000+ runners, the event was huge.  So parking near golden gate park was hard to come by.  I think I managed a 5k, walking between the finish line and the car.  But if there was ever a time NOT to complain, it was today.  I mean, it could have been a lot worse.  I could have run from the ferry building to the finish line :-)

I tried to get some pictures of Nick crossing the finish line, but there were too many people in the way.  Then, we had a case of iPod-itis.  Nick didn't take his earbuds out, so he couldn't hear me yelling his name.  He also missed the announcer congratulating him as he crossed the finish line.  Either way, it was a successful outing.  Nick finished in 2hrs, 3min and 36 seconds, a 9min, 27 sec/mile pace.  AWESOME!  I will be much slower in October, but this race got me pumped.  Nicely done, Nick!

Just finishing the race!

Looking around for me.

Still looking for me......

I'm the world's best singer....

...in my car.

I can jam out like Kelly, Taylor and Carrie.

I can remember how much I missed my car when I was in college.  Nowhere to sing.  At least nowhere where the sound of the song could drown out my singing.

I wish I could sing better.

For now, I'll be a rock star in the Honda.

So sore I can't roll over

On Friday Nick, Lisa and I went water skiing/wake boarding/knee boarding on my bosses boat.  Those are muscles you don't use often.

I hurt in so many different places.  I think the worst is the pain in my forearms.  I can't even pick up a pen and write.  I can't grip anything.  I also can't roll over without groaning in pain.  It sucks.  And then I ran 6 miles this morning.  Haha, I'm going to be stiff manana.

Oh well, some Advil should do the trick.

If you can run 6 miles, you can do a half marathon

So my friend convinced me to sign up for the Nike Women's half marathon.  It was actually a lottery system where you submit your information and they randomly select the participants.  I decided I'd enter the lottery.  I actually thought I wasn't going to get in.  But of course, I did.  Nuts.  Now I'm going to run 13.1 miles in October.

The Nike Run Club meets every Sunday near our house, so I decided it would be good motivation.  It's awesome!  Last week I ran 4 miles and today I ran 6!  I've never run more than 3 ever in my life.  So this was awesome!  They have pace leaders that help you keep your pace and they have aid stations that hook you up with gatorade and luna gummy bears (delicious and sugary).  

I'm still surprised that I was able to run 6 miles - in the California heat.  But it really wasn't that bad.  And at the end of the race, the woman running with me said "now that you can run 6, you'll be set for the half."  I think it's going to be a little bit longer before I'm ready for the half, but I think it's going to be doable.

Now I just need to get a little faster.

Engineer by day, Wedding Planner by night

I honestly think wedding planning would be an awesome job.  I love planning events - and what better event than a wedding?  I've helped a few friends with theirs, and I love it!

Last week I did a trial hair run with Kellie!  I think it turned out well and she's digging it.  I'd post pictures, but she might want to keep it a surprise :-)

I enjoy planning and I've learned that I'm also pretty good at troubleshooting.  Like the time my friends 3 tiered wedding cake fell while being transported to the wedding venue.  The 2 lower levels were ruined and the top level had a huge hole in it - from a door handle.  But it all worked out in the end - a few flowers, some ribbon, and help from the bakery at Albertsons :-)

But I wont quit my day job just yet....

Why I still love Safeco

I will forever compare every stadium I ever visit with Safeco Field.  It is one of the greatest stadiums ever and will always hold a place in my heart - especially after graduating on the field.  That being said, I was pretty pumped to be making a visit to NY and Boston to see the new Yankee Stadium and Fenway.

The new Yankee Stadium is very nice.  It has a bunch of levels and a ton of seating.  We had heard earlier in the day that it might rain, so I said, "eh, no big deal, they can just close the roof."  Apparently that's just a seattle thing.  No roof on the $1.6 billion dollar stadium.  Honestly, it's a great stadium, but I'm not sure it's worth all that.

The good news - the M's won.

Off to Fenway.  This place is soo baseball.  It's so classic.  It feels like you are back in the old times, watching baseball, sitting in wooden seats.  

People were smaller back then.  This was made evident in the small seats.  Nick's knees were right up against the the seat in front of him.  But really, you can't complain.  It's Fenway.  And the Mariner's won.  Take that you crazy Red Sox Fans!