Racing For Fun (Or How Not To Worry About Your Time In A Race) at The Snohomish Women's Run Half Marathon

Isn't it amazing how you can have a really great long run one day, where you feel like you could run forever, and the next week's long run all you want to do is stop running and die (with some major food eating somewhere between the stopping and dying).  Yep, was my experience recently.

I did the Snohomish Women's Run half marathon on May 7th and had a superb time!  Well, not a superb finish time.  This run wasn't about finishing as fast as I could.  This was a supported training run for me and I was supposed to run an extra 3 miles on either end of the race.  I didn't.  Why?  I was having too much fun visiting with all my running friends!  This was like a mini Skirt Sports Ambassador meet up with all the Skirt Sisters in attendance.  My friend, Jen, was also there volunteering.  So I spent the time before the race chatting and the time after the race chatting and enjoyed every minute.  Yep, I "raced" for fun and not for time!  I talked, took selfies and skipped and sang merrily.  Okay, not those last two things but I have seen people skipping in marathons as a way to change up the muscle use. Come to think of it, I've heard people singing merrily, also.  And laughing. And muttering.  And cursing. And crying. The crying can be for many reasons, the cursing not so much. You hear it all!  

Happy to be here!

Skirt Sister, Kriss!

Skirt Sister, Kim!

Skirt Sister Kaeili and I with matching skirts and shoes!

Throw back photo from North Olympic Discovery Marathon with Skirt Sister Marie because, somehow, even though she was at the race and we chatted, I missed getting a photo with her!  She was busy pacing.  She's an awesome pacer!

I was supposed to run this with my friend Kristy but she had an injury and was volunteering instead. I now had two choices.  I could run it alone or I could run it with a Skirt Sister and enjoy the miles with company.  Looking back, had I run it alone, I think I could have had a really good finish time as I felt super energetic and strong the entire time I was running and finished feeling like I easily could have run another half.  That said, I'm glad I chose the "fun" option and ran with Kriss.

I had paid a little extra for the VIP treatment.  This meant I had onsite parking, a race tee, and access to the VIP tent with the larger restrooms.  I was going to pay for parking anyway and the extra stuff wasn't all that much more so, why not?  It was nice to have the better bathrooms!  I never did get around to enjoying the extra treats in the tent and by the time I got my tee my size was all gone.  I was stuck with a very tight small.  My daughter likes it! I was bummed because it was really cute but my daughter looks good in it.

The weather was perfectly wonderful!  Partly cloudy which also meant partly sunny but not too hot.  Really, it was perfect.  I usually overheat pretty easily but my temperature felt very comfortable the entire time.  Happy runner girl!
We took off and had a fun little group for the first mile.  Yes, we were "those runners" taking selfies while running.  Hey, none of us were aiming for fast so why not have fun!  We also enjoyed the company of Sparkle Jen and Julie, fellow half fanatics/marathon maniacs.  It's a big happy club out there!

Eventually, our little selfie group naturally split up and we fell into our own paces.  Kriss and I continued on together and after what felt like too long (ha) we finally reached the turnaround for the half where we saw Skirt Sister and my running partner extraordinaire, Kristy.  Since there was no one else running right behind us we took a moment for another selfie.  Call me the selfie queen at this race!  I was having fun and my photos are proof! And volunteering deserves some "I was here" recognition!  She was out there by herself making sure no one wound up missing the turnaround and running a full marathon by mistake.  Thanks Kristy!  Fyi, I love that we caught your lone chair in the background.  Did you haul that out there yourself? Good idea!

The rest of the race was uneventful.  We made our way through the remaining miles, exchanged lots of "great jobs" and "doing great" accolades and finally made our way back to the park (it was very green and pretty by the river) and eventually found the finish line.  Photos were free, which I love, and even better, they turned out good!

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After we crossed the finish line we got a few refreshments, took a couple more selfies and I found my friend Jen, waiting patiently at her volunteer post, until I crossed the finish line.

I had to get a photo of everything I was able to stuff in the back pockets of my Super Girl Tank.  This held my water bottle, my shrug and some beans ... all very comfortably.

It's Jen! 

I finished up the days event with Lunch at Red Robin with Jen.  Seeing as I'd just torched some calories and planned on torching 11 miles more the next day (I figured since I didn't get those extra miles in, I'd run a second long'sh run the following day to make up for it) I ordered the fish and chips.  A burger sounded awesome but I planned on grilling burgers with the family later that night. Wouldn't you know it though, while I was eating fish my family was at home grilling burgers.  Stinkers!

I was tired by the time I got home but I think that was due to the early hour wake up call rather than the running.  I went to bed at a decent time and the next morning headed out for my 11 miles, which also felt really good!  I finished that run with a lot more confidence about my upcoming marathon, The North Olympic Discovery Marathon in Port Angeles.  2 strong runs in a row was encouraging.  The following weekend I did 16 miles which also felt pretty good.  And then the dreaded 18.5 miler slammed me into the dreaded wall.  Stupid wall.  But it's okay.  I am in taper now, yes, without ever achieving the 20 or 22 mile long runs but I'm squeezing this particular marathon into my schedule. My only goal is to go out and have fun (liar, liar pants on fire ... I really would like to beat my last two finish times on this course when the heat has baked me.  It's bound to be cool this time, right?  3rd time is a charm?) but mostly, if I finish with a smile on my face I'll be satisfied. Until the next race, that is.

As a Skirt Sports Ambassador I receive compensation in the form of clothing for promoting their stuff ... however, this blog post is all my own and my love of their stuff is 100% real and true!  It really is an awesome company with awesome clothing!

Mud & Chocolate Spring Trail Run Race Report

It's spring!  Yippee!  After a very rainy and wet (as in all time record setting wet) fall and winter here in Western Washington we are finally seeing a little bit of the promise of summer sunshine.  Lately we've all been feeling like God turned on the sprinklers and then went on vacation, having forgotten to set the automatic timer for the sprinklers to turn off at some point.  They've been watering, and watering, and watering the region day after day after week after week after month after month.  We are growing moss between our toes and our hair is beginning to mildew.  It's been bad, folks.  And this comes from a girl who normally runs happily in the rain.  But promising days are ahead ... finally.  

The days leading up to the Mud & Chocolate Half Marathon were some of those glorious sun filled days.  My weather app promised partly clouds and sun breaks for race day.  My weather app is a big fat liar. The afternoon/night before the race rain moved in.  Great, this is a trail race and that meant my new trail shoes were going to get a rude and muddy awakening to mud. When I woke in the morning and checked outdoors I was greeted with grey skies and moisture.  I checked my app ... it still promised sun but the hour upon which the sun was supposed to "wake up" had been pushed back a little bit.  But still, it was supposed to get nice so I dressed for a little bit of everything; capris, tank, and light half-zip pullover.  It was a good decision.  

My husband had agreed to do this race with me and by "with me" he actually intended to stay at my pace and run together.  That doesn't always work out well for either of us as neither of us winds up doing what's best for us individually, but being a trail race that neither of us had any time goals for, we figured what could it hurt.  His hours at work have been horrendous lately so it would be some good quality conversation time for us.   It also meant I had an on-course photographer!  And yes, I made him pose for a couple photographs as well.  (See the moss on that tree? That's the stuff growing between our toes in this region and if the rain doesn't stop soon it'll spread to our legs and arms - ha!)  

I'll cut to the chase regarding the race.  First, it was FUN!  I finally met my Skirt Ambassador Sister, Kim, after many failed attempts at other races for various reasons and we also met Ambassador Judy from New York. The race itself was well organized and beautifully run by NRG Running.  They always do a wonderful job with their races.  It was a 3 loop course which can drive some folks mad but I kind of like the way it breaks the race up into chunks.  As for the course, it was pure Pacific Northwest green glorious nature! Well, green and brown.  Yep, lots of brown mud and brown muddy puddles. We found ourselves leaping, dodging, skirting, and slipping and splashing our way through a plethora of muddy terrain until we finally gave up and just slogged through. Trail shoes are meant to get muddy! Even if they are brand new.  Sigh.  All the mud made the course way more difficult than the other two times I've raced on this trail system. It required a much higher energy output. It also rained almost the entire time.  I believe the sun started poking its shy head out the last 30 minutes or so that my husband and I were on the course.  But at least I wasn't hot.  Or cold.  In fact, I was pretty much the perfect temperature through the entire race.  That's unusual!  

Kim and I met for the first time in the bathroom of all places!  She was coming out of the stall I was waiting on.  My husband heard our  girly exclamations of delight from outside and just shook his head. 

After the race with our medals and mud caked shoes!

We'll need some long hot showers after this one!

 At the finish we got a large and cute medal, a chocolate medal, a full sized chocolate bar and the t's we had ordered.  Oh, and the finisher's goodie table full of chocolate eatery goodness!  Chocolate cupcakes, chocolate candy, chocolate donuts, chocolate cookies ... chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.  Yum!  Well worth the mud!  

Yummy cup of sweet chocolate goodness!

The race swag is cat approved!

I totally recommend any of the Mud & Chocolate Runs.  You can find information about them at their website and they offer multiple trail runs a year. You can link to it here:  Mud and Chocolate  And no, I haven't received any form of compensation for telling you this ... I just really think they put on a great race!  And now that you've read this race report, come back in a few days as I'll be posting about the Snohomish Women's Run where I ran the half marathon and met up with a bunch of friends!