Another Great Weekend

It was the first official weekend of summer and we had plenty of activities lined up to enjoy it.

• The weekend kicked off with girls' night at Kels and Mark's place. A feast of tacos, margaritas, chips and salsa was the perfect pre-race fuel, enjoyed while catching up with Kels and Gina.
• Following the race on Saturday, we headed over to the Gossett's to celebrate Chris' 33rd birthday. Not only were we able to catch up with friends, we were able to sit outside and enjoy one of the first sunny, warm summer evenings of the year.
• Sunday was spent relaxing, taking care of various chores and enjoying episodes of Mad Men.
• To top the weekend off, one of Corey's photos was chosen as an Olympus User Photo for June. It's so exciting to see one of Corey's photos of Roxy on their site!

We're both relaxed, recharged and ready to take on another busy week!

Seattle Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday, I joined 17,593 others to run the second annual Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. Between the half and full marathons, more than 27,000 runners from all 50 states and 23 countries participated to benefit the American Cancer Society.

It was a day of many firsts: while this was my sixth half marathon, I realized on the way to the race that even though I've lived in Seattle for almost 9 years, I've never actually run a half or full marathon here. I've also never run a race with so many people. While it made for constant runner / walker dodging, the excitement, energy and camaraderie that could be felt by such a large group of runners was unlike any other race I've ever run. It was amazing.

The only snag came when Corey was trying to exit the freeway to drop me off at the starting line --- traffic. We knew there might be some but never expected to sit in it for 45+ minutes as we crept the 3 miles towards the starting line. When I was finally able to dash out of the car, it was already 15 minutes past the race start. Luckily, with such a large group of racers (many of which were sitting in traffic with us!), there were "corrals", or staggered starting groups, so there were still thousands of people waiting to start the race after I made the 1 mile trek from the car to the starting line. Based on my expected finish time of 2 hours, I was supposed to start with corral 10; however, after finally arriving at the starting line, I began the race with corral 35. While I was thankful I didn't miss the race completely, I was a bit bummed to be starting with one of the last, slower corrals, which made for lots of walker-dodging throughout the course.

I finished the race in 1:57:35 and though I wasn't able to PR, I was happy with my time considering I wasn't able to train as much as I'd originally hoped.

I already know Corey is the best hubby ever, but it was reaffirmed when he offered (without me asking or saying anything about it) to drop me off at the starting line, take photos along the way, and then meet me at the finish. He knew that his offer would mean he'd be up and at 'em by 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and even still, he seemed eager to be a part of the big day. It was so great to see him and hear him yell "I love you!" near mile 7 --- I knew I was more than half way at that point and seeing him and hearing him cheer brought a smile to my face and some pep to my step the rest of the way.



Most memorable race moments:

• Bikers in leather and army men in their fatigues holding American flags and cheering us on near Seward park.
• Me having to hop over a freeway barrier around mile 10 as I realized I was technically on the 'marathon' side of the race course vs. the 'half marathon' portion, coming out of the I-90 tunnel.
• Corey at mile 7 - he must have seen me first, since when I spotted him, he was already holding up his camera, snapping away, when I noticed him.
• Tons and tons of "In memory of..." shirts and signs.
• Guy running with who I assumed was his wife, wearing a shirt that said "She just gave birth" with an arrow pointing at said wife.
• All the live bands that played upbeat music throughout the course.
• The crowds lining the course and cheering us on as we ran off I-90 and into downtown Seattle with about a mile to go.
• Last but certainly not least, my very own fan club (Gina and Corey) waiting for me in the madhouse that was the finish line. Knowing they'd be there helped keep me motivated to finish as fast and strong as possible.
  

Guilty Pleasure

Those of you who know me well know that one of my guilty pleasures is watching The Bachelor / Bachelorette. When it's on, I truly look forward to the new episodes each Monday to see what ridiculous things happen and this season is no different. Each episode is more and more unbelievable, leaving me and my girlfriends texting back and forth throughout the show about the horrible serenades, constant use of the phrase "guard and protect your heart", insane tattoos, girlfriends back and home and so on.

Typically, Corey is forced to watch the weekly 2-hour show with me (though surprisingly, he seems to remember the names of each contestants better than I do) but this week, the girls and I decided to get together for a Bachelorette date night. We had a blast. Between laughing hysterically while re-watching certain scenes over and over and playing a "guard and protect your heart" drinking game, we also found time to snack on the merlot chocolate sauce, which Sara brought back from her recent Napa trip, fruit and pretzels.

You've just got to love those guilty pleasures that allow you more time with your girlfriends, laughing and relaxing on a Monday night.

And for those of you who also enjoy The Bachelor and Bachelorette, here are some blogs to follow and read on days when you need a good laugh:

• I Love the Bachelor blog
• I Hate Green Beans blog
• Chris Harrison's blog (he's the host of the show)

Discovery Park

Made up of 530+ acres, Discovery Park is Seattle's largest city park, and offers amazing views to the many runners, walkers and dogs that take advantage of all the trails it offers. It's one of my favorite areas to run through, but we'd never taken Roxy all the way around the park. With an open afternoon on Sunday, we decided the break in the rain would be the perfect time to hit it up.

It'd get us out in the fresh air, Roxy worn out, and allow me to squeeze in a workout after a busy morning of cooking breakfast and cleaning --- a win, win, win, right? WRONG. Halfway through the 3-mile loop, it started to rain --- not just your typical Seattle mist, but actually pour. Of course, this was the part of the loop that was not covered by many trees like the first half of the trail. Luckily we had our rain jackets on, and even though we all got drenched, Roxy didn't seem to mind.

Hopefully the next time we decide to make the trek around the park, it'll be hot and sunny...I guess we'll just have to wait until July 5.

Happy Father's Day!

Now that Roxy's had her chance to say Happy Doggie Daddy Day to Corey, it's our turn to say Happy Father's Day to our dads!


Thank you both for being such great dads, role models and friends. We are so lucky to have you in our lives!


We love you and wish you both a fun and relaxing day!

Fall City Days

We met up with the Reeders, Gossetts and Nate to hit up Fall City Days yesterday.

In its 39th year, Fall City Days is a free, local festival that offered all kinds of activities to keep us busy for a few hours - a derby duck race, various local vendors and booths, all kinds of good food like brats, burgers (which Corey and Chris made even better with a 'let's see who can finish one the fastest' contest), elephant ears, corn on the cobb, and huge slices of watermelon left over from the watermelon eating contest, and lots of great people watching. And to top it off, the morning rain stopped long enough for us to stay nice and dry while we walked around the festival.

It was the perfect way to spend our Saturday afternoon --- thanks for the invite Reeders!

Happy Doggie Daddy Day!

(Note: The following letter is from Roxy to Corey in honor of Father's Day.)

Daddy -

Thank you for being such a great daddy! I hope you have a happy Doggie Daddy Day! I will try to be extra good all day. Plus, I got you a present and Mommy is making you breakfast in bed. Don't worry - I'll help her by making sure to clean up any scraps or crumbs that she may accidentally drop on the floor while she's cooking.

In honor of you on Doggie Daddy Day, I put together a list of things I want to thank you for and Mommy helped find pictures to go with some of them. It's a long list, but you're such a great Daddy, I had a hard time keeping the list down to just these things. Here goes!

Thank you...

...for driving all the way to Oregon to adopt a Frenchie...and for allowing that Frenchie to be me.

...for always playing fetch with me, even when you don't feel like it and even when I don't like to drop the ball for you. I LOVE fetch!

...for being such a great photographer and always catching the perfect shots of me at the perfect time. (Mommy thanks you for this one, too.)

..for always allowing me to cuddle with you, even when it isn't the most comfortable for you.

...for teaching me my first trick, and for having more patience than Mommy to teach me most of my others.

...for taking me to the park and on long walks every morning before you leave for work.

...for creating the contraption under the couch so my ball doesn't keep getting stuck underneath it. I always hated trying to stuff myself under the couch to get my ball...and I know you and Mommy hated when I kept knocking it under there.

...for all the yummy treats.

...for introducing me to new things, like snow (which I LOVE) and water (which I don't love).

...for still loving me, even when I have accidents or do bad things.

...for taking me to puppy class so I could play with other puppies and learn lots of tricks so I could have more treats.

...for introducing me to football and your favorite team, the Seahawks. I like watching it with you on the weekends, but sometimes, it makes me tired. (What can I say? I take after Mommy sometimes.)

...for taking me on road trips. I love going to new places, even if I do get pretty tired on the way home.

...for taking me to work with you sometimes. I love helping you work, and getting extra attention from all your co-workers.

Thanks for being the best Daddy a pup could ask for!

I love you!

Daddy's Girl (that's me, Roxy)