(Half) Marathon to Marathon race report

This race had been on my wish list for a loooong time. The Marathon to Marathon has a lot going for it: the name (duh), the location in Iowa (a new state for me), and the sweet, small-town feel of everything from the race website to the events around the race.

So when I realized that this year's race was to be held the weekend after IRCE, I couldn't resist... even though it was only a few days before our trip to Peru. 

I mean, sure, an eight-hour drive isn't "close", but since I was going to be Chicago anyway, it was too good a chance to pass up. 

I picked up my car at O'Hare (dear Hertz, I ADORE Gold Canopy service!) and drove... and drove... and drove. It really did take just over eight hours, though I did make a few pit stops along the way. 

Arrived in the very cute town of Storm Lake, Iowa right around 5:00. I stayed at the Sail Inn Motel, right on the lake front, in a great room (#54) on the top floor at the end of the row, which meant I had a great view and extra privacy. 

Decided to walk the mile to the high school to pick up my packet -- too many hours sitting in a car! -- and liked the feel of the town. Cute houses, nice sidewalks, big old trees. Pickup was straightforward; was given a bag with my number, a tech tee, and a lot of detailed info. There were a lot of Maniacs there, but I didn't spot any Fanatics. 

Normally the event weekend includes a Friday night spaghetti dinner at the high school, but due to construction at the school, the dinner had been cancelled. 

Instead I walked back toward the lake along the main drag, stopping at The Boathouse for dinner before walking back via the lakeshore and trying for an early night. 

Race morning I was torn: do I walk the mile to the start, or drive? I decided to be lazy and drive, largely because I couldn't make a decision about which jacket to wear, so wanted to be able to ditch it at the last minute. 

Got to the high school about 20 minutes before the start, and just sat in the car for most of it. I had read the detailed and helpful race info, knew which bus I needed to get on (B, actually), and the plans for the finish. With about 10 minutes to go I headed over to the start area so I could cheer on the marathoners. I was just in time to hear the tail end of the race director's speech:

"We've had reports of serious storms in the area, and baseball-sized hail elsewhere in the state. Stopping the race for bad weather is entirely my decision. This is Iowa. So if a bus pulls up behind you and tells you to get on...  GET ON."

Mmmmkay. 

At precisely 6:00 a.m. the marathoners were released, along with bus A (carrying relay runners for leg 2 and 3). We cheered them on their way, then got on our bus to take us to the halfway point, where we would start at 7:00. 

The morning was pretty blustery, so the RD and the drivers decided to let us stay on the bus till about 6:50. (The drivers also needed to drop off relay runners for legs 3 and 4.)

Nice touch: the RD arrived and set up start line flags, so we weren't just starting from a spraypainted line on a country road. He also brought along a celebrity starter, a local businesswoman who had sponsored the race for years. Very classy. 

We started promptly at 7, running into a strong wind. Not fun. But after a few miles we had turned and had a tailwind to scoot us along. 

The sky was dark purple, and it took me a while to realize they were storm clouds and not pre-dawn skies. The setting was essentially flat, with acres of farmland and the occasional farmhouse, barn, or silo stretching away in all directions. 

It was super quiet, too: with only about 110 runners in the half, I was alone a lot of the time. 

I started passing the time by trying to guess when the first marathoner would catch up to me. Apparently I can't do that sort of math in my head. I blame the one hour "head start". But suffice it to say that I was surprised the the first marathoner didn't overtake me until somewhere after mile 8. 

I felt a little stiff at first, and worried about my ankles. But once I warmed up a little, the running felt good and I settled into an easy pace, and forced myself to stick to the 3:1 intervals I had decided to run. After all, I was in "taper mode" for Peru. The only two goals for the race were to finish in a new state and not get hurt. 

At on point I heard a frantic ringing of a bell coming from a farmhouse to my right. I wondered if it was a "twister's comin'! Get in the storm cellar!" sort of bell... but then decided it was a "you go, lone runner on a lonely road!" sort of bell. But don't think for a SECOND that I wasn't desperately scanning the skies. 

With just about a mile and a half left to go, we turned back into the wind, which was strong enough to make me drop to a walk -- I felt like I was being blown backwards with every stride. But then I saw the Marathon sign, which was pretty awesome. 

I finished in around 2:17, faster than I expected to have been. As I crossed the line the announcer called out someone else's name -- especially sad because a while later a woman from Spokane finished and he really fussed over her for coming all that way. I was handed a medal, directed to snacks and cold drinks, and then I went back on the course to cheer for incoming runners. 

Another race highlight: the local churches and fire department hold a post-race breakfast and lunch. Runners are given a token for their choice, since the lunch hadn't yet started (and was pulled pork sandwiches), I chose to have breakfast: a custom omelet, pancakes, and hash browns (skipped the bacon and sausage). The locals came out for breakfast, too; I chatted with a lady wearing a Marathon to Marathon t-shirt over her blouse. She asked how the race was, then told me she wasn't a runner, though she *had* walked to breakfast because she lives 2 blocks away and figured she wouldn't be able to park any closer, what with the roads being closed for the race.

After breakfast I went outside to cheer some more. I knew a bus would be heading back at 10:30, and when I felt the first raindrops I was determined to be on it. I caught a glimpse of yellow out of the corner of my eye and scurried off to get on the bus. I sat next to a woman named Caroline who had just BQed, and who works at Naperville Running Company. As we chatted and the bus started the 40-minute drive back to Storm Lake, it started raining. Crazy torrential rain. I just kept thinking of the runners still out on the course, and hoping rain didn't turn to lightning and thunder. 

I read later on FB that the RD kept the race going because there were no lightning strikes. Still, that was crazy rain!

I really liked this race for all of the homey touches, the handsome medal, the breakfast, the abundant info. 

I stayed in Storm Lake that night, working in my motel room and watching the storm -- which did turn into a huge lightning storm during the night. I kept entertaining little fantasies about owning a cottage there, walking along the lake in the evenings, and running the race every year. 

Next up: Peru!!!

That's state #25!!!

Rubbin's Racin'

photo courtesy On The Run Events

A couple of weeks ago I ran the Emerald City 10K where, despite feeling undertrained and lazily dropping to a walk more times than I needed to, mainly out of boredom.. I somehow squeaked out a 1-minute PR.

I have always maintained that a good portion of racing is mental. I am not the sort of person who pushes myself super hard, and I’ll be the first to admit that I often get lazy during a race. I’ve never been particularly good at pacing myself, either. I usually just try to keep up with Wil.

There has been one notable exception to this, however. Last year, at the University of Charleston Half Marathon, I saw a woman cut the course by about two miles. When she came onto the course I was a few 100 yards behind her, with only 2 miles to go. But I started to focus on reeling her in, passing her, and then holding off any challenges. I ended up beater her by about 2 minutes – AND two miles. In the process I ran just over 2:15, a fast race for me.

The other exception, I suppose, was during the Emerald City 10K. Just after crossing the University Bridge I took a little breather with about 3K to go. A woman wearing a Tinker Bell Half Marathon top, who I had passed running up the bridge, passed me on the downhill. I looked at her pace, thought it looked nice and steady, and one I could just hold on to… so I started running about 5 feet behind her.

Here’s the part I wonder about. I essentially ran behind her for the next mile or so, letting her set the pace (and, I suppose, do the windbreaking work). Is that weird? Is that wrong? We didn’t speak. For all I know, she didn’t know I was there. I didn’t run next to her, I just followed her lead.

I know that elites have pacers in both long and short races. I also know that my half marathon PR came from a race where I ran with an official pace group for most of the race. But was it still, somehow wrong to draft off this unknown racer? As we got near Gas Works, I decided to leave nothing in the tank. My legs and lungs felt fine, it wasn’t crowded, so I took off, quickly leaving my pixie pacer behind. I halfway hoped she would pick up her pace, follow my lead, so that we could have raced to the finish line… but maybe she wasn’t feeling as (weirdly) competitive as I was.

I crossed the street and ran into the park at a full sprint, passing at least a dozen runners. Even when I got in the finish chute I kept sprinting, passing a few more folks. It was freakishly satisfying. The PR was just a bonus.

I asked a fast colleague of mine whether what I had done was wrong. He laughed, said, “Rubbin’s racin’” and then reminded me that it’s totally normal to trade leads. What do you think – should I have run next to my pixie pacer? Kept my distance? Does it make a difference that we were mid pack in a small, local 10K? Id love your thoughts.

Oh, and if by some miracle my pixie pacer ever sees this, I want to thank you, sincerely, for setting such a perfect pace. This PR’s for you! Well, above here.

Fremont 5K “race report”; or, “if you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter”

First things first: I didn’t run this race, though I did run it a few years ago with Suz for her first 5K.

Secondly: I work for Brooks, and we now sponsor this race, which is AWESOME.

In order to celebrate our upcoming move to our brand spankin’ new HQ in Fremont, the Brooks events team planned something special for this year’s race: we set up a cheering station in front of our building – which just happens to be right on the course, about 2 blocks from the start/finish line.

We were given neon Brooks hats, those insanely loud “thunder sticks”, cowbells, and signs, plus we had a band playing. (This also prompted our first noise complaint in the new neighborhood: a couple came over asking how long “that racket” was going to go on. BTW, it was 5:30 pm at the time, and the band was packed up by 8 pm.)

Wil met me in Fremont (where we pre-functioned at the George & Dragon, of course), and we arrived just as the relay runners were setting off.

I think the Briefcase Relay is the highlight of the event. Each team of 5 must carry a briefcase holding 5 full-size cans of food, which is donated to the local food bank after the race. The bag must have a handle, no shoulder straps allowed.

Brooks had a number of teams running, including the eventual winners. But I loved seeing the different team costumes – some as nerds, some as superheroes, or, my favorite, the tank tops printed with “TEAM BUILDING EXERCISE” on them.

We stood and cheered as the relayers came back, then decided to head over to Fremont Brewing for a quick pint before the 5K started as we had 25 minutes. Apparently EVERYONE had the same idea, so it took us a while to get our drinks, which meant we cheered for the 7pm start from the beer garden… and MAY have also cheered for the winners from there…

However, we were back in our spots cheering madly for most of the pack.

Slightly awkward set up: our building is on the NE corner of 34^th and Stone. The eastbound lanes of 34^th were closed, as were the westbound lanes west of Stone. But cars were allowed to drive eastbound as far as Stone, and then turn right – right in front of our building. So our cheer station was across a lane of traffic from the actual course… and it took us a while to work out that we could cross the lane of traffic and cheer from the edge of the course. (Something to remember next time!)

Wil and I both loved being able to stand there and cheer for the runners – especially the mid- and back-of-the-pack runners. Our location was perfect, too: within sight of the finish line, we were able to give people a little energy boost, a high five, and a push to the finish.

About 10 of us made sure to wait until the final racer came through; an elderly gentleman hustling along with the help of two walking sticks, we gave him the biggest cheer of the night.

I’ll be honest – I went because I felt I should go, and Wil came along in solidarity. But we both had a really fun time, and not just because we picked up a little race karma. My hands hurt from clapping, my throat hurt from yelling and my face hurt from smiling – a great night out!

I promise you: find a local race, get yourself a cowbell, make yourself a sign, and just go cheer for total strangers. And don’t just cheer for the leaders – cheer for the whole darn pack. You’ll leave feeling totally inspired… and totally grateful for cheering strangers in your next race.

Emerald City Run 10K race report

It has taken me a long time to get around to writing this report... in part because life and work and prep for our Inca Trail trip has been a little overwhelming, and in part because this race left me feeling a little... meh.

I got a deal (of course; it's the only reason I decided to run this!), signed up weeks in advance, and then just forgot about it until a week or so before. 

Got up earlyish, got to Gas Works Park on the early side so I could find good parking, picked up my packet and shirt, and then just went back to my car to relax until start time. 

Though the color isn't really my thing, I liked that the shirt was "brick road" yellow, AND that it had glitter on it. 

2014 Emerald City Run shirt -- yep, that's GLITTER!!!

Made my way to the start with about five minutes to spare... Nice to see the costumes, especially folks who were more creative than running as Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, or the Cowardly Lion. (Though bonus points for those who got a "Gang of Four" together!) Saw a couple of Glindas, a Wicked Witch of the West, a pair of flying monkeys (loved that!) and, perhaps best of all, a man wearing a cardboard house and a woman wearing a swirling thing with a sign that said "I'm a tornado." 

The race director read out a pretty corny prepared intro in an Oz theme -- which he sounded uncomfortable doing -- and then we went over a little race / course info. Runners were confused about the course split for the 10K / 15K, I explained to a woman near me that it would be really obvious when you got to that point. The course was marked at very frequent intervals -- seriously, every 10 yards or so -- with bright yellow signs that served the triple purposes of advertising the race, letting residents, trail users, and drivers know that there would be a race, and keeping runners on course. (Smart!!)

We runners were released in clumps to reduce congestion in the first mile or so; I was toward the back of the second clump, but never felt too crowded. Of course, self-seeding is always problematic, and there were several walkers in my clump, but at least they mainly stayed to the side, and I was able to scoot past them almost immediately. 

The course followed the Cheshiahud Loop around the lake, which is relatively flat and scenic -- though when we run it on our own, we avoid some of the up and down on the NE corner by just running up to Eastlake and staying on the sidewalk...

There were two or three water stops on the course; the first of which was inconveniently placed in the narrow spot by the base of the footbridge on Westlake -- which resulted in a bottleneck and the need to stop. But other than that, the stops were okay. 

The race was, well, just okay. I guess I thought there would be more theming, somehow -- like we would be chased by flying monkeys, spooked by wicked witches, cheered on my good witches -- maybe at the cardinal points around the lake? I mean we could even have run through poppy fields or angry orchards. But if there was any Oz-themed stuff on the course I missed it. This seems like a big miss. 

On getting to the finish line, there was a rainbow arch and a "Welcome to the Emerald City" arch, both of which were nice. But it was too little, too late. 

rainbow arch

Welcome to the Emerald City!

Oh, and then there's the medal. It's handsome, has a lovely finish and good weight to it. But... One small problem:

Yep, "SEATTLE" is misspelled. 

Apparently, it was misspelled on the proof, too (at least I assume this graphic shows the pre-production proof):

I know, I know, mistakes happen. It's an imperfect world; screws fall out all the time. But still, ouch. 

Overall I have to give this race a B- -- still "above average", but with plenty of room for improvement. Even if I did run a new PR, and finish with a pleasant race face!

photo by On The Run Events

Things I liked:

- being able to pick up my packet on race morning. It's so much more convenient for me. However, I also love that they offered early pickup for

People who wanted it. 

- glittery race shirt!!!

- the bright yellow course marking signs
- custom medal

Room for improvement:

- needed more Oz theming on the course, whether that be costumed volunteers or signs or something. 

- typo on the custom medal :(

I don't need to run this race again, but it's a nice course -- and great to have the option to run a 15K in town. So I *can* recommend it, given that the price is pretty reasonable. 

No date has been set for the 2015 race yet, but you can look for it to be updated on the Emerald City Run website. 

Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland announced!!!

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

Look, I know that I'm geekier than most runners. But the holy trinity of Disney, Star Wars, and Half Marathons has come together for the Star Wars Half Marathon Weekend at Disneyland, just announced today. I'm stupidly excited, and just thinking about the race ... NEXT JANUARY ... essentially derailed me for most of the day.

See, when runDisney moved the Tinker Bell Half Marathon weekend to Mother's Day for 2015, I figured it was to open up a space in the race schedule. I also figured it would be a Star Wars-themed race. But I assumed that it would be a race at Disney World in May, which would cause some soul-searching and fretting.

So imagine HOW THRILLED I was to learn that I'd been half right -- yes, it's a Star Wars-themed race... but it's in January, in CALIFORNIA!!! What's more, they're offering a "Rebel Challenge" of the 10K + the Half Marathon, which has me all giddy.

Registration opens on June 10 at 9am Pacific, and it's bound to sell out super quickly. Go to the runDisney website for more information or to sign up for a registration reminder. Or, wait, don't. Let me register first, okay? Thanks. :)

Monday Motivation

Team Wil-Sun's Long-Suffering Friend Suz ran the Rock 'n' Roll Portland Half Marathon last weekend and this is her finish-line photo:

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

This picture makes me want to go out and run. This, my friends, is how it feels to finish a race. :)

Congratulations, Suz, on RnR PDX, and best of luck with San Diego and Seattle in the next few weeks!!!

Sage Rat Run - Dirty Rat 10K race report

Another spoiler: day 2 of the Rat Deux challenge was just as great!

We had another nice breakfast at the hotel before heading out to Prosser, where Sunday's races would start and finish. 

We got to the start just as the duathlon participants were getting their course talk; I sorta wish I had listened because I have no idea where they rode, transitioned, or ran...

The crowd was a bit smaller on the Sunday, but we recognized a lot of people. 

Promptly at 8:00 we set off to a pistol shot. BANG! (Kinda loved that.) We ran a very short while through Prosser, past a big fruit processing plant, a dog in hysterics, and a small group of folks who had set up chairs next to the road. And then UP WE WENT. 

The road was paved for a hundred yards or so, and then transitioned to well-packed dirt and gravel...a really nice surface to run on. Except, umm, CRAZY STEEP HILL. 

Crazy. 

Steep.  

Hill.

It was pretty unrelenting for about two miles -- we were going up to the top of the ridge, after all. But the weather was glorious - bright blue sky, not hot - and we were really fine with just a gentle stroll. Call it training for the Inca Trail...

We were happy to see one friend along the road:

always nice to "see" John at a race!

**SIGN LOVE** - both days there were cute motivational quotes out along the race course. A local car dealership sponsored them -- really cute way to get more from a sponsorship than just a logo on a race shirt!

We got to the top of the ridge, where it leveled off slightly. Once on top I thought, wow, we could totally have done the 15k or the 25k, but nah. A slight downhill to the turnaround:

and then we headed back down the hill to the start. The view was truly gorgeous:

And, no, I can't resist a panorama or two:

Down down down we went, me nearly losing it on the steep gravel a couple of times. The nice folks were still sitting out in their lawnchairs, the dog was more mellow with just a couple of people trotting by, and the big fruit plant, before coming around the corner to the finish. Quite possibly our slowest ever 10K, but who cares? We still picked up this GLORIOUS HUNK OF BLING:

2014 Sage Rat Run Dirty Rat 10K medal

**MORE MEDAL LOVE**- Yeah, I included my 6-inch ruler in there for perspective. Simply awesome!!! This is another fantastic medal.

And, well, because we also ran the Sage Rat Half Marathon the day before, we were promptly handed the Rat Deux medal, too:

Sage Rat Run Rat Deux Challenge medal: fear no distance!

I took these medals into the office on Monday... and people went NUTS. People who run a lot. People who race a lot. Seriously, these medals are AWESOME. And many felt that the Rat Deux medal, with all the skulls and crossbones, may have been designed for me. :)

**POST-RACE FOOD LOVE, DAY 2**- Today we were treated to two delicious (and vegetarian!) salads from the Green Olive Cafe in Sunnyside. Both the black bean salad and the pasta salad were very tasty, and it took great restraint not to have seconds. SO NICE to have real food!

We had hoped to stop in at the super cute Bern's Tavern... until we realized that it was 9:30 on a Sunday morning... So instead we headed back to the hotel, got cleaned up, and made our way slowly home.

A few additional memories from our Sage Rat Run weekend:

The Best Western GrapeVine Inn in Sunnyside was really, really lovely -- especially the breakfast room in the atrium with a view over a vineyard.

Best Western GrapeVine Inn breakfast room

The deep fried asparagus from Davy's Burger Ranch may not look like much, but it was easily the finest I've ever had. (Take that, Burgerville, with your skinny spears and sparse breading!) It's good I was sharing with Wil because I could easily have snarfed down a pound or so on my own...

We had it on our list to do some wine tasting... but then were PARALYZED by choice, so wandered in to the Horse Heaven Saloon and tried all of their beers...

Huge cheers to the Sage Rat Run organizers, the amazing volunteers, and the local police/sheriff/guardsmen who directed traffic and kept the runners safe.

Sage Rat Run Half Marathon race report

Spoiler alert: the Sage Rat Run weekend was one of the nicest race-cation trips ever! Nice courses, really well organized races, tasty and abundant real food at the finish, great shirts, amazing medals, and super nice people. Seriously. Run one or more of the races they put on for this weekend. 

We drove from Seattle to Sunnyside on the Friday night after the Brooks "future of running" 100th anniversary party. Walked in to the Best Western Grapevine Inn at about 10:30pm and were warmly greeted and speedily checked in. The manager asked whether we were "Sage Rat Running" the next day, and then helpfully told us that the start was about a quarter mile away. Handy! I don't often stay in official race hotels, but this has made me think I should ALWAYS do that!

Because the race started at the civilized hour of 8:00 a.m., we were able to enjoy the hotel's very nice breakfast before heading out. Lord knows I love waffles. And hard-boiled eggs. 

Being us, we left absurdly early, and drove the 4 minutes to the Walmart parking lot to pick up our bibs and shirts... which took all of two minutes to do. We were told to keep our bibs for day two, which was good to know (and smart and eco-friendly). 

**SHIRT LOVE** - the website said that the men's shirt would be "tactical black", while the women's shirt would be "some color my wife will choose". Now, anyone who has actually met me knows that a black race shirt is something of a holy grail for me. So OF COURSE I wanted the black shirt. I LOVED that I was able to select a men's-sized shirt when I registered. Oh, and as it happens, the women's color was a very handsome pumpkiny orange. Still, was thrilled to gents black shirt!

Had plenty of time to kill, so we wandered around the Walmart, where I picked up some fizzy water and managed to not buy the boy's Batman shirt with attached cape. Yep, I'm a model of restraint...

More and more runners were gathering... And then I saw this:

**MASCOT LOVE** - The Sage Rat Run had a MASCOT, a giant sage rat named Dusty. AWESOME. I mean, who does this????? Let me be absolutely clear: Dusty the Sage Rat is NOT a local school mascot. He is the race mascot. I mean, he doesn't even have a day job running a theme park.

So of course there were pictures....

There was a brief course talk at 7:45, and then we headed the couple of hundred years to the start. I really had no idea what to expect, numbers-wise. But there were a few hundred of us, which felt like a very nice size.

After a few minutes of milling around and chatting with our fellow runners (Wil got lots of attention in his Fanatics singlet) we headed out.

Much of the course was on a well maintained bike trail that runs from Sunnyside, through Grandview, and on to Prosser. It was described as "not scenic" because much of it is sandwiched between the interstate and a 2-lane highway... but I thought it was plenty pretty.

The goal for the half marathon, frankly, was to finish and get the medal. The stretch goal was to see a sage rat in the wild. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOALLLLL!!!!

We had decided before the race that we would run to the halfway point and then walk the rest of the way. We are starting to have pre-Peru paranoia, so we are trying to stay healthy. No sense knocking ourselves out now!

Any time we had to cross a street, small or large, one or more local police were there, all super friendly and very appreciative. Even when we headed through downtown Grandview and had to cross the 2-lane highway, they were doing a great job of managing traffic. 

I loved running past the hop fields most of all. I have this ridiculous idea about growing hops on our garden... but until then....

More nice course pics:

Eventually we arrived on the outskirts of Prosser, a super cute little town on the Yakima River.

Having strolled leisurely for the past six miles or do, it felt a little weird to run it in, but, hey, it's tradition! We got a nice little shout out as we ran across the line hand in hand. (And, yes, a spectator said, "Awwww!")

**MEDAL LOVE** - Then we collected our medal. Our massive, massive medal:

Yep, I included a 6-inch ruler in the picture just to make it clear that this baby is HUGE. And gorgeous, and very, very custom.

We were handed cups of ice water (nice touch!) and made our way to the party. 

**POST RACE FOOD LOVE** - in addition to an abundant supply of bagels, orange wedges, bananas, and I may have even glimpsed PBnJ sammies, each runner was given a slice of pizza and a donut. Distribution was controlled in a simple, but totally effective manner: little "bug" stamps on the race bibs, which got scribbled on when you picked up your food. No one got shorted on food, and no one took more than their fair share. 

Also, the donuts were blueberry cake donuts, being made fresh right there. Nice!

**ORGANIZATION LOVE** - Rather than buy custom bibs, the organizers got Road ID bibs and customized them with stamps. I'm not sure whether they used different colors for the different events, or went off numbers to distinguish between the half, 12K, 10K, 5K, etc. you can see the two little bugs (with highlighter scribbles) in the lower left for post-race food; we also have the "Rat Deux" (two sage rats) on the right. Super super smart!

We hung around for a while chatting, but then decided to get on a shuttle back to the start. I am sorta wishing we had stayed longer in Prosser, though we did go back and spend the afternoon there after going back to the hotel and napping and showering. 

All in all an awesome event - and this was just day one!

Inca Trail Adventure : one month away!!!

It's hard to believe, but a month from now we will be in PERU. It seemed very far in the future when we signed up last November!!!!

Today we managed to get our long sought-after yellow fever vaccinations. It seems there had been a shortage of the vaccine in the U.S. for several months. We started trying to get it back in January, to no avail. Well, that's not 100% true; the King County Health Department had some available, but the only way they would dispense it was if you made a weekday appointment with the travel nurse at a cost of $110 PER PERSON, on top of the vaccine cost. That just seemed absurd, so we didn't want to do it. 

We were, however, pointed to Katterman's Pharmacy... which was HUGELY helpful. Back in March we got the typhoid "vaccine in a pill" as well as the hepatitis vaccine... by just walking in and filling out forms. (And paying for the vaccines, of course!) 

They were finally able to get more vaccine in, so tonight we hustled over there after work and got our jabs. 

One slight weirdness - the pharmacist told us in passing that the vaccine is now considered "lifetime immunity" rather than the previously believed 10 years. Oh, um, we have both had the vaccine before, bit probably not for decades. No matter, really, but it was surprising to learn. 

Also, turns out Wil's insurance covered all three of the vaccines we had gotten so far, so je was able to get a refund on the first two and only pay for the yellow fever docentation ($35) for that. Needless to say, United HealthCare *doesn't*...

Now all we need to do is get a prescription for anti-malaria pills, and we'll be set, medicine-wise!

Blingity Bling Bling

As I left the party hurriedly at 7pm on Friday, someone asked me why I was driving to a race in Sunnyside. Well, this is why:

One half marathon, one 10K trail run, and three BIG HONKIN' MEDALS at the Sage Rat Run weekend!

Full race report to come in the next few days, but I really needed to post this tonight!!!