A Half-Marathon Weekend

On Saturday, September 27th, I completed my 3rd half marathon - the Happy Girls Run held in Spokane.  First and foremost, this was an awesome race.  I felt like I was in great shape, the course was difficult but beautiful, and it was amazing to run with so many women.  Secondly, this race kinda kicked my butt.  It was a tough course, with nearly the entire first half on rocky trails.  I had hoped to PR with a sub 1:51:00, but that just didn't happen.  I also came away with a foot injury.

All smiles before the race:

Looking a wee bit exhausted at the finish:

My race groupies:

The weather seriously challenged my packing strategy for our weekend.  As you can see, Kendry had to wear Daddy's coat in order to stay warm.  Fortunately, it was great running weather.

All along we had planned to spend the entire race weekend in Spokane, a short two hour drive from home. Justin's sister lives there and we intended to crash at their place. However, four days before the race our niece came down with fever that eventually developed into hand, mouth and foot. Yeesh!  For those who aren't aware, the twins came down with hand, mouth and foot - one baby right after the other - in August.  It was quite possibly our most brutal parenting week ever.  Needless to say, we were more than willing to make alternate arrangements for the race weekend in order to avoid hand, mouth and foot.  We ended up booking a hotel room for the weekend.  With a five year old and two babies still sleeping in cribs, it was quite an adventure, but we made it work.

Off we go!

With my race completed on Saturday morning, we strolled down to Riverfront Park in the afternoon.

 

In hindsight, walking probably wasn't the best choice for my injured foot, but its not like we were going to stay cooped up in the hotel room.

Before heading home on Sunday we hit up Trader Joe's and Manito Park. 

All that playground time paved the way for this on the drive home:

It was a fun weekend away.  While I didn't PR, I did finish under two hours with an official time of 1:59:37.1.  Out of 591 women, I placed 43rd.  

The babies did not get hand, mouth and foot.  Yeah, baby!  

And I came away with a cool new tee.

This race could be a fun yearly tradition.  Any volunteers to join me?

Happy running! 

(particularly if its hand, mouth and foot that you're running from)