and all i got was this lousy...

It's been one week since I walked the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon and I'm just now able to move all my extremities... sans pain.

The starting line was at 8,500 feet. This I knew, before the race.

So it's a bit of a mystery why I didn't eat dinner the night before... why I went to bed at 2am... why I only had a Luna Bar for breakfast... why I didn't bring water with me on race day...

I wasn't, clearly, concerned with walking 13.2 miles at 8,500 ft because I thought, how bad can walking be, really.

I mean, it's walking.

I was peachy until mile 11. At which point, I met Nausea.

Shortly after I was visited by Dizziness.

Who was trailed mere moments later by OhLordyI'mGoingToHurl.

I crossed the finish line only to learn it was several MORE blocks to where I could retrieve my commemorative "I Almost Puked, Fainted and Died Walking 13 Miles on No Food, Water or Sleep" t-shirt.

And yet,

I would have crawled, literally raked my body across the expanse of hot concrete, to get that cheap piece of cotton... and I nearly did.

splish, splash, snowy dash

Today I ran in Seattle's St Patty's Day Dash which is described on the event website as "a 3 3/4 mile jaunt to celebrate the arrival of Spring and the Irish in us all." Well let me tell you, Spring either got the wrong address or attended an event elsewhere today. I woke up at 6:30am to find the entire neighborhood blanketed in snow and it was still coming down in buckets. Will someone please remind Seattle that this is, um, Seattle? I love snow but I'm done, over, through with it.

I contemplated bailing on the run and called my friend Sherrie for the obligatory faux-regretful "Oh what a bummer, it's snowing, let's go back to bed" conversation but sadly for me she wasn't having it. Clearly I need to plan these things with friends less resolute. I begrudgingly set about to find appropriate clothes for such weather and as I feared I had nothing. Poor planning (or optimism) on my part but I had packed all my cold weather clothes and taken them to our cabin in Twisp. This misstep resulted in me at the end of the race seriously wondering at what point hypothermia would set in. I was beyond cold and fully drenched. The race started in snow but less than a half-mile in turned to solid driving rain.

All that aside, this little race is the most festive and entertaining I've done and I'm genuinely regretful I haven't done it before. People of all ages, shapes, and levels of fitness turn out in the most outlandish and jolly St Patty's Day garb. In fact, I was distracted a good portion of the race just sizing up others and strategizing my apparel for next year (I'm thinking some combination of green hair and shamrock tattoos are in order.) There were some serious crazy-fun getup's that made those almost-four miles fly right by. The entire spirit of this race was really more about happy and less about racing. No matter the weather such an atmosphere is truly a treat. In fact those of you who wimped out on doing this with me would totally have been fine (you know who you are- uh-huh, you ;)

In the end this turned out to be exactly what I needed: a fun little boost to propel me back into running. Thanks to Sherrie and Molly for the ride and a delightfully arctic morning. I'm all jazzed now for the Seattle Half in June! Woohoo!