26.2 miles with 25,000 of my closest friends

Tomorrow is the inaugural Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon. 26.2 miles of rock and roll, crowds, runners, tired legs, sore muscles, blisters and bleary-eyed smiles. Okay... that's just my personal experience. But... I'm looking forward to it. Okay, right now I am a nervous nelly and thinking about tomorrow makes me want to puke. I am looking forward to mile seven. That's about when the jitters go away and I find my groove. The crowd will be somewhat thinned out by then and my brain will find that happy place where I flit from thought to thought as my feet and legs take on a life of their own and just follow the course.

My mom and sister will be at the finish line cheering me on. They can walk on the ferry and then walk to the finish line to see me. I let Blaine off the hook because driving into the city and finding parking during an event of this size would be a sheer nightmare for him. There's a live band every mile along the 26 mile course and a huge celebration at the end, followed by a concert at Marymoor Park. I'm thinking that the one thing that will get me through the last three miles will be the free, cold beer at the end. Seriously, a cold beer at the end of a run like that is AWESOME.

I am incredibly proud of my friends Randi and Janet for running the half marathon, their first ever. They've trained hard (harder than me I think!) and they will be awesome. I am sorry I won't be at the finish line to cheer them on, since their finish line is my halfway point. I expect to see pictures, gals! The weather is supposed to be sunny and mid 70's. I am bummed about that. I was hoping for clouds and a few sprinkles. I run MUCH slower in the sun.

Okay, off to obsess over the course map and elevation chart a bit more.

Happy Friday!

-Ingrid

Fun Night!

We had a great party at the house last night for my birthday. We couldn't use the backyard due to rain, but everyone seemed to enjoy staying inside and visiting. Isn't if funny that you spend all day cleaning and making the house presentable (translation: hide the toys and laundry) and most guests opt to hang out in the kitchen? Murphy's law though...if we hadn't cleaned, EVERYONE would have wanted a house tour.

Here's a pic of me and the girls. I've known all of them since junior high and Tabitha (on my right in the pic) and I have been best friends since we were three-years-old.

A Quiet House

Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile, we had wonderful house guests this past week. My good friend and her twin boys, who are exactly one week older than our son (they were born on Christmas eve and our son was born on New Years Eve - 2003). Three four-year-olds in one house is hilarious, by the way. They live in Sweden, so we are lucky if we see them once or twice a year. Next year, we hope to visit them or meet them for a vacation in Italy (if our dollar is doing better than its current peso status).

I have developed my training plan for the Portland Marathon (Oct. 5). I have NO idea if my body will hold up to that kind of training but hey, it's worth a shot. I can always chicken out and shoot for the Seattle Marathon the end of November.

Max is doing very well. All his tests have come back normal. No signs of cancer in his chest, lymph nodes, abdomen, spleen, etc. Tomorrow he gets his CT scan. I am so so so hopeful that the tumor is small. The CT scan will determine how extensive the surgery on his jaw will be...and will actually determine once and for all if surgery is possible. He still plays like a puppy in the backyard. He and Brandy had a serious game of tug-of-war in the backyard today. I filled up our wading pool and it was so warm that me, my son and both dogs spent a good portion of the day sitting in it!

Weekly running mileage: 0/24 (today is a strength and rest day)
Song that got me going this morning: Beautiful Day by U2

My friend and Agility Trainer Extraordinaire produced his first agility training video and I thought I'd share. Jef trains my talented and handsome Max (and me too) in competition agility. At the risk of inflating Jef's already large ego, I must say that we are grateful for his coaching...and Max is especially grateful for his sandwiches.

Jef, I had no idea you were such a comedian...okay, maybe I did. But seriously, Milo took this one to the next level!



For more information on Jef and agility, visit http://www.jef-b.com/Dogs/

Rainy Days are Girlfriend Days

I know the time stamp on this will say Sunday, but I'm posting for Saturday. I didn't mind the rain too much today because I met the girls for a movie and drinks. We saw the ultimate girlfriend movie, "Sex and the City." Was it predictible? Yes. Long? Yes. But I enjoyed it, and the company, immensely. Afterward we had drinks and got caught up. For those who don't know this, I've had the same group of girlfriends since junior high, and in one case, since preschool. There are five of us, and we make it a point of getting together at least once a month. It's become increasingly harder with careers, spouses, kids, etc. But we all make it work. We each have our own network of friends and separate social circles, but there will always be the five of us. I feel lucky to have that.

I started the day with my long run. According to the training shedule, it was supposed to be 9 miles. I mapped out a new course on http://www.mapmyrun.com/ and hit the road. All was well until about mile seven, when I discovered that a road on my map didn't actually exist in real life and was, in fact, a solid wall of trees, brush and nettles. Oops. Had to improvise...got a little lost...then my Garmin informed me I'd completed my run...and I was still 1.5 miles from home. Oops. I walked a bit, then reset the Garmin and ran the last mile. This of course gave me an excuse to indulge in a large portion of thai food and many glasses of wine with said girlfriends later in the day.

Sunday (okay, technically today) we are taking our four-year-old to see Kung Foo Panda. Sounds like an odd movie, but he saw a trailer and he really, really, really (reeeeaaaallly mommmy) wants to see it.

Okay...it's 4 am and the house is completely quiet. I should be writing...

Mileage goal: 9 miles - done, plus one!
Song of the Day: "Dancing Queen" by ABBA. This song came on the iPod at about mile 5 of my run and made me smile like a lunatic as I powered up a hill.