A little late but better then nothing- YOU go GIRL half recap

I finally had some time today to rethink about this half marathon I did back on September 16. This was my second year doing this run, and my 4th half of the year. So last year I ran this race at 1:59:58 and placed 3rd in my age divison. :) So this year I had a goal to beat: I must beat 1:59:58, so anything before that would be awesome!!  The last long run I had done was the 10miler 2 weeks before this, so i knew I was going to struggle at mile 10+ I always do I guess I need to run more long runs or something to get my mind pass that struggle.
So the morning of the race I had my outfit all picked out, black sparkle skirt, green top and cute socks. It actually got warm wearing those socks but it was cold at the start. This was the first time I didn't really know anyone running this race. Tall Mom Mel was running, Meredith and kali.
Alright race mile recap!

Mile1- I lined up infront of the 2:00 pacers knowing I had to keep ahead of them to beat my goal. And we were off, the first mile was a slight downhill, I always enjoy it because its a road I dont run at all so everything is so new and exciting. I kept passing people which means I should probably start closer up next time. my miles were a little off but it balanced out in the end.
Mile2- this was still a slight down hill running. I kept my pace , and noticed a lot of homeless men standing on the streets watching us run past. Im not going to lie it was a little strange having them watch us run. Im glad cops were standing around. Knowing the turn around point was coming, I started seeing people running the other direction, saw Mel but she didn't see me.
Mile3- going up the slight hill now, I grabbed some water and slowed down a bit because I knew the wright park hill was coming and I wanted to run up it.
Mile4- the first runner was coming down the hill as I was coming to it. I thought wow she's fast!! I kept trucking along that hill to the park. Im glad this year that wright park wasn't muddy like last year. It was nice seeing things I dont run around often. I saw a customer perry in the park and we gave eachother a high five. that helped me keep going. :) Finally done with the park and knew it was some down hills for a while!
Mile5- down hill, and off of a sudden this guy started to talk to me, "did you run last week at the over the narrows race?" yes I did, "i thought you look familiar what was your time?" Uh around 1:30 " mine too we must have ran the same the whole time. Well turns out this guy and I kept passing eachother and i passed him when 2:00 pacers past me and I never saw him again until i was heading to the finish and he was still going towards the turn around point.
mile 6- this is where the course splits for the 10k finish. I kept thinkning should i stop to pee? but i knew if i did my goal would be out of sight. I saw Tony and kept going up the hill.
mile 7- hilly mile. i believe this is where I took a chump here and noticed the 2:00 were passing me and off i went passing them again.
mile 8- i was still ahead of the pacers and kept going.
mile9- flat on ruston way. I kept looking for that turn around point! I knew it had to be soon. But i hadn't really seen anyone coming the other direction yet. and finally i saw a few people coming i knew it was coming closer. I did pass Mel here she was on her way back and she looked in pain.
mile 10- this is where i start to struggle. i started to slow down and ran with the 2 paces because i knew a lady there. we talked for a bit and then i just kept going. but she told me that the 2 were going faster then expected. so then i knew if i could keep ahead of them I would be golden!
Mile 11- I seriouly start to struggle more here I need to do more long runs to get past this hurdle! I kept looking back and the 2 got to me. I started to talk to them and they said this was a great race and i said i ran this last year and they were 3 min ahead of 2hrs so i knew i had this! I then took off from them and off I went.
mile12- why does the last mile feel so long?! I started to slow down due to that over pass hill. A girl came to my left and started to push me saying I have good speed and keep going you got this. i think this helped alot! Im not going to lie i think she was pushing my limits! NO walking at this point! Thank you girl for your pushing! I told a girl on my right to keep going she looked like she was dieing too.
Mile13- finally got to the top of the hill and the girl was like GO sprint to the end you got this. so off i went running down that hill to the finish line. I turned the corner and off i went sprinting. I saw the time clock at 1:57:23 I knew i had just PR , i just kept sprinting maybe I had 1:56 because of when I started the race. So i kept going and i was happy no matter what my time was! I thanked the girl that pushed me and paul was there waiting for me. I checked my time and it was 1:57:03!! :) and I placed 6th in my age group. I almost got another award because it was the top 5. Oh well!
I was glad to be done!!

mile1-9:02
mile2-8:17
mile3-9:04
mile4-8:56
mile5-8:49
mile6-8:38
mile7-8:45
mile8-8:43
mile9-8:48
mile10-8:38
mile11-8:52
mile12-8:55
mile13- 8:55

Time: 1:57:03

Total over all finishers: 88/487

age division : 6/26

female finishers: 80/468

pace: 8:56

10 mile run "Over the Narrows"

I just love this 10 miler "over the narrows'' run, 3rd year in a row running this! This race always prepares me for the "You GO Girl" in mid september since I suck at long runs. So for this race I wasn't that prepared since I had just got back from my NYC trip a few days before. I picked up my packet, and was super excited for this race. I knew a few people running it which was pretty cool, Mel, Tiana, Jessica and Paul.

Race day morning, of course I had my outfit all picked out (green sparkle, and my white seattle RnR shirt) That morning was freezing!! But I knew I would warm up as soon as I got going. 9am and off we were running. Paul and I started together and then I passed him. I was going so strong at the start that I knew that was a bad idea for me to do that.All I knew was I wanted to PR this race because I did last year so I wanted a new PR. I knew I needed to beat 1:32. So the first 2 miles I was flying. Then it was a hill over by the airport, I wanted to walk because I hate hills, and my side was hurting me because I think I started to fast. So as soon as I knew it Paul was passing me and told me that I was hauling. The whole time i was thinking if he passed me and finish before me I would be super angry! So I had to stop walking and started running again. I was still ahead of Jessica and Mel, but all i could think of was " I gotta pass paul" As we were going thru the tunnel I kept thinking you must pass paul.. I saw my uncle on his bike so it was good encouragement seeing him and having him cheer me on. We got to the bridge and I swear to God, why do mean wear strong smelly things on a race? I know it's better then BO but i was stuck running this pace with this guy with strong perfume smell which was giving me a head ache.

 I still had paul in my view, he was seriously hauling butt. No matter how fast I was going he was still a head of me. I knew he was going to take a gel around the turn around point and knew if i could pass him there and haul he would have to catch me. So after the bridge theres that long hill, usually I can do hills pretty well, but I just wasn't feeling it. So i took a gel and thats when Jessica came up to me and we started running together until I couldn't keep up. But still in my mind I needed to pass Paul. I finally got to the top where the turn around point was and saw paul and his words were "are you going to catch me?" rude i thought which made me more motivated to pass his butt! I got back on the bridge he was still ahead of me and then all of sudden Mel and her hubby was next to me running. I ran with Mel for a bit and off she went. I kept thinking i know Paul will slow down soon (well at least i hoped) So still the hill by the airport i walked a few times because I really wanted a strong finish. I could see paul walking, I knew he was having a hard time (well thats what he told me at the end) Finally at mile 9 i caught up to him. He started running ahead and then I got a head. We started walking/jogging. We were both tired! Finally almost to the finish line he started running and almost ran me over turning a corner which made me angry! So at this point the angry got me and i wanted to just finish strong. At one point he was slowing down, and I took the corner and off I went. He noticed and started sprinting as well but as I saw the clock I pushed myself even more since I saw 1:29:xx and knew I would totally beat my last years time. in the end I finished before Paul by one second while he was a head of me the whole time! I got a new PR

So paul mentioned that Im still a better runner for long distance but for speed on shorter runs he has me beat. But Im up for the challenge...

race results:

overall : 141/384

51/216 females

age (20-29) 14/42

finish time : 1:30:16

pace: 9:02 per mile

Day 4 (china town, grand central, photography, diner, slice)

Day 4
Today we went to check out china town. This is where you find gifts for cheap. I was able to find a shirt for cheryl and few shot glasses at a reasonable price! Then we kept walking to 5th ave where all the shops start. Went into sport stores, I actually was able to find some shin guards :) which was nice considering mine are so smelly! I needed new ones! :p
We walked to see little Italy and then off we went to the grand central. The grand central was so cool. The building is so detailed! Very roman style. There is a whispering wall area where it's 4 corners and you stand on one end and you can hear people talking across from
You. But it didn't work for us because they were doing construction on that part of the grand central. The ceiling has a night sky and shops in between. It was so pretty!
After we toured the grand central for a bit we found this cupcake place called "crumbs". This place has tons of cupcakes. We deiced to get a pack of 6 so we could try 2 kinds each. I picked cookie crumble, and apple one. The cookie one was dry. I wasn't happy with that one because it was dry. I hate dry cupcakes. Then the apple one- yummy!! It tasted like a apple muffin it was so moist and after that bite I wanted another one! Amy couldn't eat her pb one, so I finished it for her. That was awesome yummy! Not dry and it was pretty rich! Over all this crumb place gets a 4 star rating! ( only 4 because the first cake was dry!)

Then we headed toward the intrepid space museum. But on our way there I happened to look over at my right and saw this photography museum thing. So I wanted to check it out. It was pretty cool. Had black and white photos from the 1930 and such. I liked it! We were probably there for a good 45 min? Right before we left there was a gift shop with photography things. So of course we had to go in there. I knew I wanted something back from NYC that said NYC on it. But I didn't know if I wanted the plain "I love NYC " shirt. So while in this store I found this really cool shoulder bag with a zipper and such, it was printed with old cameras. I Thought very hard about the bag until I went around a corner and saw a shirt I absolutely loved. "I photography NYC" yup this was the shirt for me! And it was the same price as the bag. So of course I picked the shirt! Not sure if I will wear the shirt often like I would use the bag but we shall see! :)
Then we took a taxi to be closer to the intrepid but when we got there there was a line to get wait in. Not only one line outside. But another line to buy tickets. And then there's 2 more
Lines inside. And this place closed at 6. So we deiced to come back tomorrow with Pre order tickets. So by this point we were hungry and wanted some
Food. Amy wanted us to try a diner so that's what we did. Amy and Paul had burgers and they liked theres. I had chicken fingers. I wasn't that happy with my choice oh we'll lesson learned. But I did have some fries from each of there plate and those were pretty yummy! Then Amy was tired sober headed back to her place. Ate a drumstick ice cream on her roof top. We then went out to get a red box movie and a slice (pizza). This slice was pretty good. It was the size of Costco pizza. But way better. It was so greasy tho. But I thought it was pretty good ! Then i tried a garlic knot. Which was a bread stick in a ball form. It was actually really good. It tasted like a bread stick. But man it had a lot of garlic on it.
Then we watched salt the movie and went to bed early. When I say early it was 7 Washington time. And well I didn't sleep well last night kept tossing and turning. And has been up since 7 here so 4 Washington time.
I'm looking forward to seeing what will happen today. And I'm a little sad that my vacation ends tomorrow as well :(

Day 3( brunch, central park, time square-spiderman, dinner on roof )

Saturday morning we work up and we went to get brunch. They weren't opened yet when we got there due to a water leak in the kitchen. So we found a Starbucks and grabbed coffee and while I was there I happened to find Starbucks gift cards. Btw. I've been looking all over for those stupid things! I finally found it. Which was good considering people wanted some from me. Then it was finally time to sit down and have our brunch. I had a mimosa :) and they brought out deep fried dough with cinnamon sugar like a doughnut. It was soo good!! I ordered the banana pancakes. It was better then the ones I had in Hawaii! Then after brunch we walked to time square. We had a show "spiderman" at 2. So we were a bit early and walked around in time square in the day time which was much different in the night then day. We went to toy r us and walked around. This store was huge!! :) had 2 candy stores in side! We grabbed some candy and we were off on our way to see "spiderman"
This show was awesome! Spiderman flies over the audience! It scared Amy but wow I really like the songs and the whole performance! A well worth it show!! :) then afterwards we went to central park. Paul and I rode a bike that would take you around central park showing you all the movies and who live/d there. Our driver knew a lot about where things were filmed and such. Yes he was hard to understand most of the time but well worth the hour ride. ! But we had an awesome time!
Then for dinner we were invited to Amy friend house for dinner on the roof top. Homemade tacos!! Yummy :) it was good meeting some of Amy friends. But I was soo tired that I could barely stay awake during this time!
Over all a great day! :)

Day 2 ( 9/11 memorial, statue of liberty ferry-staten island ferry, brooklyn bridge, central park )

Day 2
I'm getting used to using the subway. It's still a different experience I'm not going to lie. So we had tickets to see the 9/11 memorial at 1130. We got there around 11 checked in. It felt like an airport with tons of security. I guess that's what happens when two
Buildings fall over. Once we got to the pools Amy sat down ( she just had her gallbladder taken out a week before and was still sore) Paul and i walked around taking pictures. As I was standing looking at this water pool with names around it It didn't look that big for a building that used to stand. But it was a good way to remember what had happened on that day almost 11 years ago. The two pools is where the buildings once stood. It was a waterfall so it sounded nice- drowned out the city around you to honor what happened that day. The north pool is bigger then the south pool. And right next store they were building world trade center. This time the bottom is all cement and its strong enough to with hold a car bomb. And it has triangle long piece to hold it up better this one around. They are building a museum for it but it wasn't done yet since it oil so much money cleaning up the mess!

After the 9/11 we walked to catch the staten island ferry. Which was free. You can take the ferry to the island that goes right past the statue of liberty and you hop off and get right back on. It was cool seeing the city in the day time on a boat and not at sunset.

We walked around more of the town and Paul and I walked on the Brooklyn bridge. We didn't walk the whole
Bridge just a quarter of it. Too many people. Then we kept walking and went back to Amy's for a nap! Woke
Up and headed to central park to watch a movie in the dark. It was cool! Animal house was the movie that was playing. It was a funny movie. They had this yummy popcorn for free there. I liked Oreo flavor kind! Then it was time to head back and go back to Amy's for bed.

Trip to NYC (day 1)

Trip to NYC to see my friend Amy! It was a spur of the moment trip- grabbed tickets on the last minute, cheap round trip ticket non stop and requested time off. And it worked out! Thursday morning got up at my normal time and headed to the airport. Paul dad dropped us off and we headed towards security. Passed through just fine found the restroom and got on the plane. The flight was alright not to bad. Got to NYC JFK airport and wow was it different. Birds in the airport flying around your head. I almost had one in my hair. People are just strange. I never seen so many odd things in my life until this trip! Amy picked us up and of we went. We got to her place and she showed us around her apartment and off we went to take
The subway for the first time ever. It was interesting leading to say. All kinds
Of people. It was crazy! It smells, worn down. We were headed to the downtown for a tour around the city in a boat. It was a guided tour and this guy never stopped talking! But it was nice. You could go outside and take pictures. But I just stayed in side. Took some awesome pictures of the city, the statue of liberty at sunset, and city at night! If I would have paid attention to the guy talking I probably would have learned some things about the history. But I was enjoying the scenery myself in my own little world. After the boat ride we walked to the place we were going to have dinner at. It was this Italian place. Very fancy but we had a groupon. So they sat us down and handed us bread and menus. She comes back and we handed her the groupon. She instantly was rude at that point and said we needed different menus. Which was basically the same
Menus and our food choice didn't change. The service after that point was poor. Slammed water cups down never coming by for more water and so on. Apparently with 3 people she added a gratitude on. Which I find stupid: it was only 3 of us not 6 of us. So needless to say our fancy food turned out to be $3 a person! Go us!
After dinner we walked to time square at night! It was awesome. Lights all up and lite tons of people even at time. And shops still open at that time! It was crazy. People dressed in costumes, huge lines in stores it was just interesting! We will be going back to time square Saturday for the broadway show!
Then we took the subway back to Amy's and went to bed. It was a long day of travel and site seeing!

Holy cow Im behind on blogging.

Hello blogger world!
It's been months since I have wrote anything in here, so here's a little recap as much as I can remember from the last few months.

July/aug
My dad  moved from AZ to Fargo,ND. Good thing I was able to see him while he was in AZ still.

We were manager less, which was fine because we were all waiting for that day to finally come. We just got a new one, Im sure I will write how I like her when it's been more then 2 weeks.

My friend Megan asked for my help for a job. She asked me to help her get a job at Starbucks. So I told her to apply on line, and I would bring her to the stores and drop off her resume. So I took my time, gas, and good word to help her get a job. I asked the fill in managers if there store was hiring, and gave them megan's name. She had a call back from top foods Starbucks, and actually had an interview set up. So i was glad that she might had a job coming her way. Well a few days before her sister Melanie texted me saying that Megan was going to skip out on her job interview and move back up north with her druggie boyfriend. So I texted her and she told me things weren't working out down here in tacoma. Really bitch? I took time from my day to drive her around because she have no car, or baby sitter, I stuck my neck out there so her could actually have an interview, and what do she do? she went back to your bad habits of the boyfriend, and hes doing drugs and now she will be joining him again with the drugs. She has an 18month old baby. So Im hit the last straw with her...

On a happy note- my friend kelsey got married to her highschool boyfriend of 6 years! :) it was a good wedding. it was held at the church, she had alot of people there, and he not so much. I took lots of pictures of the wedding, and it was nicely put together. Jess did say the wrong name, and turned beat red, and when they were kissing someone yelled out from behind "okay thats enough" really who does that at a wedding? they didn't even really kiss it was more like a peck.. rude i think. Kelsey had asked me to help out at her wedding- so i did. I served punch and cake. which was fine because there wasn't any seats to sit down anyways. The church upstairs holds alot of people but downstairs it doesn't so it was bit crowded. it was a short wedding all together but it was perfect for them!

I was able to catch up with Jess while he was here marrying Kelsey! He stayed at my house for a night and calvins the other. It was good seeing him. We had dinner, and just sat outside on my deck watching lightning. I miss him and it was good seeing him!

GUess who's going to NYC>>>>This girl!! :) more to come on that!

But besides that I have been working, running more and enjoying summer!

Seattle Rock and Roll Half marathon 2012

Another race completed for 2012, Seattle Rock and Roll half marathon! I wasn't sure if I was going to run this race because of how expensive it was but Im glad I signed up ! This race was my second half this month alone, thats's right I ran 20 days before this one, call me crazy! Tiffany and Cynthia ran this "with"me. Thanks to them I signed up and ran this race! So Tiffany ran the half and Cynthia ran the full.

So Thursday I was able to go to Seattle and picked up my race packet to avoid traffic and huge crowds on Friday. I took Alex with me so I wasn't alone. I still hate driving to Seattle and finding parking! To much stress for me to be honest! Anyways after 20min of looking for a parking spot we finally found one and went into the expo at century link field and picked up my race packet! We walked around a bit, and I found a really cute tech Seattle RnR shirt. And since the hotel we got was so cheap(thanks for a discount) I didn't feel so bad for buying things at the expo! I sort of wish I took more time to actually look at things but going with someone who doesn't really understand makes it a little awkward.

So Friday came and I was suppose to meet Tiffany and Cynthia at the hotel. So I had Paul drive me up so we could have an early start to Seattle since race started so early 7AM! We got all ready for bed and lights out about 1030pm. We had our alarms set to 3:45A YIKES! (HA-im actually used to that time from work...) But I couldn't seem to fall asleep, Im pretty sure the girls were having a hard time too, we were just so excited for the race in the morning. I think I finally turned the brain off and all of sudden I heard this alarm, and thought "are you kidding me? It's that time already? I barely slept...." but it turned out to be a car alarm outside our room. I looked at the clock and it was only 12:45a. Good more time to sleep but still I wasn't that happy with that car!! So i finally went back to sleep and bam 3:45a came. I think we all just laid there not wanting to get up. So we all jumped in to our outfits and off we went. I ate my normal race day food- a banana, and a cliff bar- But I wasn't that hungry considering I think i always get a little nervous on race days.

Myself, Cynthia and Tiffany in our race outfits

So we got our picture taken and off we were to down town seattle to find our parking garage- which was nice because it was so close to the finish line. Thanks for Tiffany I was able to use the "Brooks" VIP porta bathrooms. These were super nice compared to a normal porta potty. These had real flushing toliets, running water, and anything really you need like q-tips, gum, and such. Thanks Tiffany! =) I said HI to a few runner people (bloggers) and then Tiffany ran off to her Corral, and I stayed around with Cynthia. She ran with the "Run to remember" group. SO I watched them do their little thing. It was pretty cool. Then I lined up in my corral, I honestly should have just stayed with Cynthia. Oh well life goes on.. SO I was in corral 19. Race started at 7Am, and I think I was finally starting around 725am?  I wore my runner rain jacket because I thought it was going to rain. Well long and behold no rain! :D So mile 1- I think I was hitting a 8:30 min pace (fast i know) But I think i was trying to get ahead of the slower people- but turns out I was zig zagging the whole time through people who were much slower! mile 2 was a pretty fast mile as well and same with 3. But man Oh man I was getting warm so around mile 3.5 I took my jacket off.. and bam my nike (iphone) stopped and said work out completed. I was so mad, I was just trying to get the jacket off, and put the phone in my pouch and i ended up ending the workout. So once I got all put back together I had to restart it. So now I had no idea where I was at in my pace, time, and miles! So I just ran- I was hoping i would know what and where I was at to push my self more but nope.. lesson learned!!
So I kept running turned a corner and saw ahead of me a hill. A steep hill! BUt I got to it and kept running up it without stopping or walking! People were making me a little mad tho stopping and such so i had to run around them. But I did it, non stop running up the hill. And then it was down hill.. good thing it wasnt raining because I knew I probably would have fell down. anyways once we past that I came to the "race to remember" group. they were holding flags and had the fallen pictures up. It was pretty cool!

running with a smile

After that cool section, I ran through a tunnel which I thought would never end! But it was kind of cool the first time but the next few ones BLAH! Running on the freeway and looking at cars and seattle was pretty cool kept my mind not on running! Ran past the football and baseball fields and around then I started feeling that thought " WHERE THE HELL IS THE SPACE NEEDLE!" I was totally struggling at this point since i hadn't ran in 9 days! But i knew i couldn't stop. I think mile 10-11 were super hard for me but still i did it! I saw mile 12 and knew I was almost finished! While running I believe he was the first full marathoner to cross the finish line was approaching me. I saw him coming towards me and I thought "holy cow, Im almost done with my half and he's double me aready...I dont want him to pass me.." I picked my speed up and started to push myself to see if i could beat him.. well nope he kicked my butt. Once he passed me I just kept going. The finish line was up a little hill and around a corner. I finsihed strong at the end. Took some finish photos, and was feeling pretty good at that point. My leg was a little sore and knee but i just kept walking and grabbed my finishers food.

I found a nice place to sit down to eat my food, and i knew I had to go find the meeting place B for bloggers where some bloggers would be there and Tiffany. SO i was able to meet more bloggers! :D

finished :)

Results from the Seattle Rock and Roll

overall: 4085/12240 (half marathoners)
female: 1893/9568
age division (18-24): 178/734

5k: 28:11
10k: 57:41
10mi: 1:34:46
pace of 9:41
chip time: 2:06:56!

AZ pictures

My dad and I at the Grand Canyon

river

Sedona

grand canyon

My dad and I driving "some"where...

sedona

Finally a real vacation :)

Finally I was able to actually go see my dad over father's day weekend. He had moved back in November down to Gilbert, AZ. I was suppose to fly down in Jan to see him but the time I was suppose to head out my flight got cancelled and then I was snowed in stuck in my house for a week while I was hitting a minor depression mode. So I dont consider that a vacation since i stayed at home in the freaking snow. UGH anyways, it finally worked out that I could fly down to see my dad. I thought it would be cool to see him during father's day weekend. So I called him up and he said he had to figure out his work schedule. So he figured it out and we were set vacation was booked. June 14-18, I know short trip but so worth it. So the plan was to fly out thursday and fly in thursday night and he would actually be flying in too from his work and then we would fly out together on monday to our different locations. But he actually had lost his job 1 week after we booked this trip so I could have probably stayed longer if we knew. oh well but good news I still went on vacation! I was getting so excited to finally get out of Washington, a vacation away from work and go see my dad. So thursday came, I went running in the morning because I knew I had to get at least one more run in before running the Seattle RnR the following weekend. (more about that race soon! ) I then grabbed coffee, and last minute items for my trip. I was all ready to go and nervous as heck I hadn't flown alone yet. Paul was nice and took me to the airport. And off I went inside alone to figure it out on my own. I went through security and it wasn't bad. The lines were super long but I found my gate and got settled in. I boarded the plane (honestly why do they ask the last people on to wait..they should get on first) and found my seat, a window seat and no one sat in the middle! As soon as I got off the plane I called my dad and he was outside waiting! I stepped outside and BAM it felt like I was in an oven. It felt hot! But I was there and I was happy to see my dad! WE drove to a pizza place for a late dinner and then went to his house.

Lily was there waiting for me, it was nice seeing her. They're house is beautiful! You walk in and it's the living room, then the kitchen is in the back with the laundry room bathroom and guest room on the bottom floor.  Then you go upstairs and there's a master bedroom with a nice master bath, and a full bath and two more guest room. I picked the room upstairs (my dad's sports room.) That first night was a hot sleeper! They set their AC to 80 considering it's 100 outside. So i was a little warm that night.

Friday- That morning I was wide awake at 530. The sun was shinning and so I just layed there in bed for a bit. I got out of bed and my dad asked if i wanted to go for a bike ride before it got to hot. So we hopped on bikes and off we rode to grab some coffee at this little coffee cafe that was on this farm. it was cute. The coffee wasn't that bad either! We ate breakfast and then rode back. Then it was pool time (btw it was like 80 at this time(7am)) We hung out in the pool for a few hours, and then drove around checking things out and even went to a shopping center. Then we went to dinner at this Joe's farm house place (same place as the coffee shop) And then went to a movie.

Saturday- I had slept better that night since i was getting very used to the warm weather. I loved every mintute of this weather! So got up and lily asked if i wanted to go to starbucks and get coffee. of course i did! So i went with her and grabbed some coffee. Then it was pool time again.! Then my dad and I went and started our dirve to the grand canyon. We drove to Sedona and ate lunch there. it was a cute little town and beautiful! Then went kept driving to flagstaff.(where we were going to spend the night) We got to flagstaff and went to the mall which was getto! And then walked around the town. This town is a hippie town! Lot's of crazies! We were also there during pride weekend which was interesting. We ate at this place called "pita pit" amazing! :D

Sunday- We got up early and drove 1.5 hours to the grand canyon! I hadn't been there before and it was truely amazing! Stunning even! We got there around 830 and took a bus tour all around the canyon. Stunning just stunning.! (pictures soon) Once we got done with the canyon we headed back to his house. I was burnt as heck! We forgot sunscreen...opps! I was so burnted that it sucked. I think im still red on my shoulders from last sunday but im turning tan and peeling at the same time. GROSS huh! Since sunday was father's day we went out to dinner at this texas road house place. OMG amazing food! Sunday was so much fun!!

Monday- That sunday night I slept horrible due to the burning of my skin. :( anyways i got up early and grabbed some coffee and didn't swim since i had a huge burn! I still went outside and sat by the pool. I didn't want to go back to washington yet. it was going to be 50+ degrees cooler then what i was used to. So i got to the airport and off i went leaving my dad in AZ while i had to go back to WA. I missed my dad a lot and I was glad I was able to see him. BUt I got to the airport and found my way to the gate. Security was a peace of cake! And once again an empty seat!! :) I got off the plane and paul picked me up.. HOLY COW i was freezing. It took 2 days to finally warm back up. I miss the warm weather. I miss my dad and i want to go back and visit already!!

SO i finally had a vacation and i needed it ! :) I had so much fun and i can't wait to go back and see them (my dad and LIly)!

PICTURES will be on another post!

A lot of graduations this year..

I think this is the year of graduations. I knew so many people graduating college, high school, middle school and elementary school. I find it interesting with all these graduations this year unlike last year was all weddings, and following year before that was all babys. I feel like my friends are living life backyards? Anyways I would like to do a little shout out to the people I know that graduated!

Tessa- My brother's girlfriend graduated from Gig Harbor and did running start at TCC. You sweet girl, Congrats on finishing Gig Harbor (even tho you weren't really there because of running start). I know you will do great things in the next step in your life. Im glad your dating my little brother and that we're actually hanging out more! Good luck in the next step of your education!

Harlie- My crazy wild cousin, I can't believe you graduated High school. (Tacoma school of the Arts). I still remember you playing with my brother with rugrat dolls or something? Good luck at Evergreen state college.

Brittany-  I've only known you for a year but i love playing soccer with you! Congrats on graduating High school and good luck in the next stage of life.

Elle- Paul's little sister- She also graduated from GH with Tessa. I wish you best of luck in college!

Troi- my stylish cousin, congrats on finishing middle school. I still can't believe you will be entering high school this fall. You're growing up way to fast! Enjoy it before it's gone. Good luck!

Jaron- my little balloon animal making cousin- you are no longer in elementary school. I still think of you as 7 years old. Good luck!

North Olympic Discovery Half marathon 2012 recap

Alright 2nd half marathon of this year is completed! :) 2 down 3 more to go! So heres the recap of the race!.
This is my second time doing this race. Last year I ran this for the first time, first time ever for a half. last year I had a knee brace and wore Nike shoes. (Thanks Nike for giving me knee problems.) But after running since then I found the right shoes, and no more problems! :) anyway last year I ran this race at 2:15:30. So going into this race I had the mind set of beating that time from last year. Which I knew i could but didn't know by how much I could. I ran a few half's since then coming under or just at 2 hrs. So leading up to this race I didn't train much. I trained more for the cinco de mayo then this one. I just didn't have the time to train that well (thanks work) anyway at least I had a 8 mile run in before this race. Anyways everything was ready, hotel booked, time off work, and packed.
So I worked Saturday and was able to get off early :) and went home and made sure everything was packed, (you know make sure i have my shoes and such) And we were off to port Angeles around 2. We stopped for Paul at Starbucks to get coffee for his two hour drive. (thanks for driving :) ) well i thought i would take a nap on the way up, but he almost ran a red light so i wasn't tired after that moment.
We got there around 4:15 and went to expo to get my race packet! The expo wasn't great, so we left quickly. Checked in to the hotel and drove around town to explore. And then it was time for dinner, I wanted carbs...so IHOP it was! and what a better way to carb load is breakfast! :) And then went back to the hotel to rest. Saw an amazing sunset and then went to bed.

sunset

The alarm went off at 6 but i didn't get out of bed until 630 and got ready, and by 8:30a i was at the start line.

On this trail there were hills that i walked up last year that I ran all the way up without stopping!! :) And I forgot how beautiful this trail was and how many different smells you come encounter with. EX: farm lands, to river, to poop station and sea water.

before race

9am race started and I was off to run this course once again. I was running at a good speed, according to my iphone the first few miles i was under 9min, probably around 8:40 pace. Anyway paul was there taking pictures :)

around 1.5 miles

I would hate to run in these the whole time

So mile 1- was down this farm road and does this turn around point to the discovery trail.

mile 2-3?

This is where I saw paul and started to grab the pack of gel to be opened

around mile 6 I wanted my gel chumps but couldn't open the freaking thing so i kept going and was super happy to see Paul and that's where I had him open the packet for me, but he was having a hard time opening it too. So i finally had my gel at around mile 7. Around mile 8-9 i think i saw Paul again for the last time before the finish line. I still had my good pace going until i couldn't open the pack then i think i was getting tired and slowed down a bit. I reached mile 10 and started to struggle but kept going. Around mile 11-12 my ipod told me where i was at in the time, around 1:42 and i thought to myself, I can do this I can possibly make it under or just at 2 hrs. So around mile 11.5-12 I picked my speed up and that last mile was a struggle but i knew I was almost finished and gotta keep going to beat the time from last year. There was few guys around me but i kept pushing my self ahead of them. This one guy near the end I looked over and thought " I will beat you..: So as soon as I was getting closer to the finish line i picked up my speed again. I saw the time clock at 2 and it just turned to 2:01, so i sprinted and crossed at 2:01:09. Walked around grabbed food, and my medal and found Paul.

last photo opt for 4-6miles

finish line

completed race :)

And off we were back home. I'm not going to lie my legs are sore as i type this!

But This morning I checked the official results!... Drum roll please.....

results:

total 233/1004 runners
total females 104/735 :)
age 20-24 females i placed 7th!
pace of 9:10
gun time : 2:01:09
net time: 1:59:58
WHOO under 2 hours!! one happy girl right now.
second half under 2!