Weekend in Review

It's Sunday night and this is the first chance I've had to sit down at the computer. We had a great weekend - busy, but great. Eric, Steve, Lorri and I headed up to Bellingham Friday afternoon. Once we got there, we went for a walk down to the marina at the lake, sat around the house talking more - because even though we'd just spent 2.5 hours together in the car, we still had plenty to say. We had went out to a great little Italian place nearby for dinner, then went back to the house and passed the time playing four-handed cribbage while we waited for Olga. I have to admit, sometimes four-handed cribbage can be confusing for some people, namely tired, light-weight wine drinkers. Olga got in late and we pretty much said hello, got her set and went to bed. Eric and Steve rode in with Olga, Lorri and I slept in (yay!) I think this was the first time that I've been with Eric at a race and not gone to support him - but I really enjoyed wandering the shops. Lorri and I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch - it opened when I was in high school, and Eric and I used to go on dates there. I had the same great taco salad (veggie version) on Saturday that I had back then.

The race started and ended in the small park that the Last Chance Marathon did (yes, I saw those damned arches again!). We thought that the guys would finish about two o'clock, so we headed over to the park after lunch, and though there was actually one parking spot available, it required parallel parking skills, which, sadly, I don't possess. Instead we drove about two blocks down to Eric's Dad's place and parked there. We walked back and waited under a leaky awning for the guys to come in - it was pouring buckets. Eric and Steve came in about 20 minutes later, and Olga a while after that. Lorri and I went back to Eric's Dad's place for a cup of coffee while Eric and Steve ate and socialized. We went back to the house to let them clean up, and headed home. We finally made it back to Puyallup about 8:30.


This morning the alarm rang early - we were previewing the first half of the Tacoma City Marathon course. We met in the park at 6:30 and then shuttled cars to the start. The 6:30 group was the early start - another set of runners went out at 7:30 at a little faster pace. Eric, Michelle S., Melissa, Ray, Patt and I headed out together. I enjoyed the course, though apparently we went through some seedy areas of town. It was all new and interesting to me - parts of Tacoma I had never seen. I really enjoyed going through the historic Stadium High section that was featured in the movie Ten Things I Hate About You, and along the waterfront.














Even better was some of the entertainment today - Melissa doing leaps and cartwheels, Ray, Michelle and I trying to do leaps, some hilarious conversation, and in general, just plain, good company. It was really fun to have Eric along for the run, too. I did have one mishap. I stuck my bottle full of chocolate soy milk back in the holder without putting the spout down - it was still fairly full. I didn't realize it till next time I took a drink - it was splattered everywhere. I had my white cap tucked into the bungee on the outside of the pack and part of it was soaked with chocolate, the back of my legs looked like I had run through mud, it was on my vest, my shorts and my shirt. What a mess!
We got stuck at the train tracks by an extremely long freight train that was creeping by. We were actually waiting patiently, when it came to a complete stop. That was it for us - we ran down the set of parallel tracks, high-stepping on the wooden railroad ties. We could see the caboose ahead - it started moving again just as we got to it. We cut across three sets of tracks behind the train and down to the waterfront (we did pause and look for other trains first, and it was way better than Eric's suggestion of climbing between the cars!) Patt peeled off around mile eight and caught a ride back to the park, while the rest of us ran throughthe waterfront and up to the park for ten miles, then did a small loop to make eleven. The halfway point is somewhere deeper into Pt. Defiance, and we were all happy with our distance so we called it a day. We finished up with Starbucks, meeting up with the other group of runners there. Oh, one other amazing thing today. Not only do Michelle and I share a name, but we also share a birthday - except she was born the day I turned 14!

Eric and I spent the rest of today catching up at home - I grocery shopped, made homemade soup and paid bills, Eric swept, vacuumed, mowed and kept laundry moving. I think we are ready for the work-week!