Before we get into half marathon details... let's discuss the crazy weather we've been having.
We went from this:
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| SNOW! ON JUNE 12th! RIDICULOUS! |
To this:
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| IT LATER GOT AS HIGH AS 103 DEGREES. THIS WAS "IN THE VALLEY" WHICH IS WHERE I WORK. IT'S AT APPROXIMATELY 4500 FEET ELEVATION AND WE LIVE AT 7500 FEET. IT WAS ONLY ABOUT 10 DEGREES COOLER AT OUR HOUSE THOUGH. |
In only a matter of days we went from cold temps and snow to almost unbearable heat (even if it is a "dry heat").
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| THE EXTREME WEATHER TEMPS HAVE MADE FOR SOME PRETTY AMAZING SUNSETS THOUGH! |
And the POLLEN! Oh, the pollen.
It's everywhere.
No exaggeration.
From the valley looking up at the mountains, there are yellow clouds hovering above them. And since we don't have A/C up here... it's all over the inside of our house as well. Lovely, huh? Doesn't that make you east-coasters cringe?
I have to wear flip flops on the hard floors in our house because the coating of pollen on the floor makes it feel like you're walking on years worth of dust/dirt. It stresses me out.
Ok. Let's not dwell on that any longer. In other news, Zephyr has learned to cuddle and I love it.
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| HOW SWEET IS THIS? |
So, I literally have not run since last year's half marathon. And for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to participate in this year's Rock Tahoe half marathon without any training.
Guess what?
Training works!
Who knew?
It was quite obvious (at approximately mile 7), that we would simply be trying to SURVIVE the 13.1 miles (please don't underestimate the .1 mile... it is BRUTAL). And we did survive. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my friend Amy!
Last year I ran the half. I trained. I set a goal and I achieved it. And at the end of the race... I got a big, awesome medal and every part of my body hurt for days.
This year... I literally did zero training and honestly hadn't run a single step since last year's half marathon. I walked 99.9% of the race and at the end... I got the same big medal that all the runner's got and everything STILL hurt just the same.
Moral of the story?
Running is overrated.
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| AT THE STARTING LINE! IT WAS WARM OUT ALREADY! |
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| LOOK HOW CHIPPER AND HAPPY WE LOOK! |
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| THE START OF THE EPIC VIEWS |
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| LESS THAN A MILE IN AND ALREADY STOPPING FOR PICTURES! |
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| NOT REALLY SURE WHY WE THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD PLACE FOR A PICTURE... BUT... |
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| ...OUR FRIEND CHRIS WAS ABLE TO HOP IN A PIC WITH US (SHE WAS ONE OF THE AWESOME BIKE MEDICS FOR THE RACE). AND SHE DIDN'T THINK I COULD TAKE A SELFIE WITH ALL 3 OF US IN IT. GO GO GADGET ARM. MY SELFIE GAME IS STRONG. |
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| ABOUT TO RUN THROUGH THE CAVE ROCK TUNNEL! |
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| I LIVE HERE. |
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| SUCH A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO |
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| WE SURVIVED THE TUNNEL |
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| SOMEWHERE ALONG THIS STRETCH OF THE RACE I GOT A TEXT FROM MY SIS-IN-LAW WITH PICS AND VIDEOS OF MY NIECE'S SWIM MEET. WE LITERALLY WATCHED VIDEOS OF HER SWIMMING WHILE PARTICIPATING IN A HALF MARATHON!  |
Told ya. That was us... watching a video of Lainey... during a half marathon.
Why not?
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| BEAUTIFUL DAY FOR A RACE |
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| WILDFLOWERS IN THE MEADOW |
The race is a super social event. The aid stations are like parties. The views are amazing. And the people from sea-level trying to run at 7000 feet are pretty entertaining to watch.
There are photographers along the course and I pretty much try to look as foolish as I can in every picture. Credit must be given to the photographers for the following EPIC shots:
Amy may never run in public with me again.
Me to the photographer: "You got that shot, right? 'Cause I'm not doing it again.":
This next one is during the most exposed/sunny/absolutely shade-less part of the course and I was clearly deep in thought...
...thoughts like:
"What the hell was I thinking?"
"Why did I think this would be fun?"
"My feet feel like they are LITERALLY on fire."
And FINALLY... I crossed the finish line with one final leprechaun jump... which hurt like hell when I landed (in case you were wondering).
Post race smiles because the only walking left to do was to get us to food and the pool.
We survived! Every painful step!
Until next year when I'm sure Amy will talk me into doing it again because we'll only remember how much fun we had and we will be blissfully unaware of how badly we hurt.
(Plus we've done it every year that the race has been in existence... we gotta keep that going, right?)
So, the very next day I thought it would be a great idea to take the dog for an early morning hike. I was so stiff and sore from the day before and I felt confident that movement would loosen me up and make me feel better. It totally did. Temporarily.
Nevertheless, the doggie loved his walk. All the soreness was totally worth it.
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| LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS! |
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| AND THEN HE WENT FOR A SWIM! |
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| AND MIKE, BEING THE TRUE RIVER RAT THAT HE IS, BRAVED THE RIDICULOUSLY COLD WATER TO SWIM WITH OUR PUP. |
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| BRAVE BOYS. |
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And that's the latest and greatest from Tahoe!
XOXO and sweet puppy licks to you all!
