Bloomsday 2016

I finally registered!  Now I'm nervous.  I have 2 coworkers that are doing the Rock 'n' Roll half in Seattle, which is what made up my mind for sure . . . that, plus a good friend gave me the money for the registration . . . but I've been putting it off.  I am very bad at waiting for the last min to sign up for races, but the price keeps going up, so I needed to do it. 

I don't know if I'm going to run with my coworkers, or do it on my own.  I'd like to at least carpool with them because I don't want to go into Seattle on my own, but we haven't talked about it very much. 

So . . . this last weekend . . .

I ran Bloomsday. I ended up going to Spokane alone.  Damian had a track meet on Friday and I couldn't take Maddox because Damian was going to be my babysitter while I ran.  I don't/didn't trust my aunt to watch him, and I don't think she could have anyway.  She didn't feel very good the entire time I was there.  So they both stayed home and I did the 6 hour drive on my own.  That particular drive is very hard because the first 3 and a half hours are the same as going to my parent's house.  About 1 hour from my parents house though you turn and still have another 2 and a half hours left of the drive which makes that time awful. 

Anyway, I made it okay.  I listened to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for most of the trip.  I also rolled my shoulders while driving with a lacrosse ball, which worked surprisingly well.  My shoulders are surprisingly less sore. 

My cousin's son is living with my aunt right now.  I can't stand my cousin, but I actually like a couple of his kids (I've only really hung out with 2 of his 4).  My aunt was in bed when I got there, but awake, she came out and said hi and went back to bed.  My cousin (cousin once removed, but I'll call him my cousin from now on) was awake and he likes to talk. And talk. And talk.  I went to bed around 11, or later, not sure exactly and I think he was still talking. 

On Saturday morning I was up earlier than everyone else, which isn't new for me.  =)  I got my coffee and read for a little bit.  I was thinking that it will be nice not to have any kids, but it wasn't long before my cousin was up and talking again.  He had to go to work and my aunt wasn't feeling very good so was laying down, so I thought I'd get a break.  But I did want to go for a run.  My aunt heard me getting dressed to run and she came out and said there was a bluff a little ways down the road.  I was only wanting to go about 3 miles, but I figured if I got lost it'd be okay to go farther.  I decided to go to the bluff my aunt talked about and see where that led me.

It was pretty, but only a little over a mile from her house.  I ended up going passed her house 2 times to get the 3 miles in.  =)  I should have gone in after passing it the first time, I had to use the bathroom badly!  I had eaten Dairy Queen chicken strips on my drive on Friday, and I think that it caused issues.  I don't eat much fast food at all anymore, so I don't think my digestive system liked it. 

Anyway, when I got back I showered and was looking forward to a quiet afternoon reading without kids.  Ha!  My aunt decided to come out and chat.  I think I read a total of 15 pages. =(

I had to go to the Trade Show to pick up my race packet but my cousin wanted to go with me.  He was late getting home from work, but we went after he got there.  It was kind of fun wandering the trade show with him. When we first entered the area there was a place giving out donuts, I think they were selling them, but they had mini donuts as samples.  I went to grab one and the guy gave us this paper hat upside full of mini donuts, so we wandered around carrying a big thing of donuts snacking on them.  =)  I wish I had taken a picture but I didn't think of it. 

I was looking for a armband that would fit my phone with the case on it.  I just got one a couple weeks ago and I hate it.  It's too big for my phone, it bounces around a lot.  (I ordered it online.)  The armband I did find was a bit more than I wanted to spend, so I ended up not getting it.  But we had fun. 

Saturday evening my sister came with her boyfriend and we chatted for a little while before I went to bed.

My cousin drove me to the race start on Sunday morning.  We were almost late because there were no safety pins in the bag and I didn't realize that.  I spent too long looking for some in my aunt's house, and then found 4 in my car.  =)  I guess that's the life of a runner. 

So my cousin dropped me off and I passed an empty porta potty, but thought that I was late and wanted to get to my color corral, so didn't stop even though I had to go.  That was such a stupid mistake, the closer I got, the longer the lines were.  By the time I got to yellow (the runner's corral) the line was ridiculously long.  I decided I could wait until I found one on the course. Ha!

At the start, the first time I've been close enough
to the start line to see it from where I was standing.
It's the balloons that you can barely see.

Waiting

I was hoping that since I got to start with the runners this year (the last 2 times I've done it I've been in the walking groups because the first year we {my sister and I} walked, and the 2nd year I was too lazy to send in proof I could do it faster) that it would be less crowded and I wouldn't have to weave so much.  Sadly, I was wrong.  I still had to weave around lots and lots of people. 

From experience, I knew there were outhouses close(ish) to the start and I knew I needed to stop, no matter what.  I got to them about mile 2 and thankfully the line wasn't long.

I did not really go into this race hoping to make a PR, I didn't think I could. I haven't been very fast in my regular runs, almost all my 5 mile runs have been over 9 min miles, but I kinda hoped I would.  I'm going to walk it next year with my sister and I don't know if I'll run it again, but I wasn't putting any pressure on myself. 

Elevation map

The first time I ran it, I told myself it was okay to walk up Doomsday Hill, since I ran up it last time, I did put pressure on myself to run up it.  I thought it was harder this time, probably because I told myself I couldn't walk it. 

About mile 6 an old high school friend was there cheering on his twin brother (who starts with the elite runners, no joke, he had a 6.35 avg min/mile time) and then waited for my slowness to pass him.  I didn't stop, but I waved on my way past.  And then at mile 7 my aunt, cousin and sister were waiting.  I high fived them, they took a picture and I kept running.  =)

Anyway, when I crossed the finish line the time said 1:15:?? and I was pretty bummed, my previous time was 1:10:15.  It took me a little while to remember that I didn't start with the gun, but was actually quite a bit back . . . so I waited, very impatiently for the official results to post.

 

1:07:57!  Even with my bathroom stop, I still beat my last time. 

 I met my sister and we walked back to her car, another mile back to mile 7 where they parked.

We went back to my aunt's house and had pizza.  I had to go home because I had to work on Monday, so a little after 1pm, I left to make the long drive home.

My aunt and I. I'm wearing the Bloomsday shirt, which you
can only get if you finish. No medal, just a shirt.

I did stop in Moses Lake on my way home to say hi to another old high school friend.  That was a very weird, very weird, meeting, maybe another story for another day, and then I was on my way again. 

I just looked up the official race photos, and I don't have any that are as good as the ones from 2 years ago, but I have a couple good ones.  You may have to zoom in quite a bit to see me in the first one, but I'm wearing a pink shirt and purple striped capri pants. 


Behind the blonde with the purple pants

 Since I started this several days ago, and it's taken me 2 or 3 days to finish it, I'll post it now.  =)  I'm officially done with my 7th race of my 40th year. (My goal is a race a month for the year.)