America The Beautiful

I have been working since March on a half-marathon plan for the Seattle SeaFair (June 26th). I was ready with what I believe was the same pace that I had in my Seattle Marathon of November last year, however, a possibility of going to California to be with my husband arose during the week. Priorities are priorities, and preferring being with my husband in SoCal I flew there and didn't race SeaFair. Not a bit of remorse. As I start my Seattle Marathon plan at the end of July I hope to find a Half Marathon race on the week I have to run the half distance.

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California was hot, however its mornings were nice for running. With the exception of Independence Day which was really hot, 85F, every morning I ran was in the mid 60's, which I consider the perfect temperature for running.

My favorite run of the week was certainly the 4th of July. It was a gorgeous sunny day (and hot) with a nice breeze. The beach was packed with families celebrating this great day. A cute kids parade showed hundreds of kids' bikes beautifully decorated on red, white and blue. In Bay Shore Ave, a street that shores with the Naples canals, a family was painting a huge American Flag on the asphalt. But what brought tears to my eyes was a lonely man standing on the sand facing the ocean with a trumpet. He was playing "America the Beautiful". I stop, heard the song with respect, and when he finished I ran toward him, shook his hand and told him: Thank you Sir, you gave me a beautiful gift. Happy Independence Day and God Bless America.

That night my husband and I went to the beach with our "beach bums chairs" and enjoyed the fireworks launched from the "Oil Islands" of Long Beach.

America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!



I am blessed that I can run and race in
America The Beautiful
from sea to shining sea!



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Even though I had a good 17-mile week, I feel as if I did not run at all. The reason? I have not raced since June 21st . Weird how we are. To replace tempos, which I dislike, I have been running weekly 5K races to replace them. These races became a weekly goal...but I have missed a couple of weekends, and it seems I will miss another two as tomorrow, I am off to Huntsville, Alabama for two weeks, and there are no races in the vicinity. I'd have to wait until I go back to Seattle and see what is available in two weeks.
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The pictures below are of a race I participated with a co-worker in Washington DC on June 18th at noon: Tidal Basin, 3K, which is scheduled every third Wednesday of every month. Although it is an informal race the organizers "DC Runners" register the results. It was a nice and fun race around the Tidal Basin/Jefferson Memorial with a big turn out with serious runners in the 5min/mile pace. My goal for this 3K was to get it under 18 min. I achieved it: 17:28 for a 9:23 min/mile. Chris did it in 11:41 for a pace of 6:17.

This race was the 413th monthly Tidal Basin 3K, the day before Juneteenth, which celebrates the freeing of America's last slaves on June 19, 1865.

This photo belongs to: www.visitingdc.com/memorial/tidal-basin.htm

I Hated Pink....Till This Very Day

I hated pink... till this very day. The day that I had the honor of running with hundreds of breast cancer survivors. A race where there was a pray for those beloved that had passed; where running time, even measured, was not important; where the hope and the goal was not in the PR but in the cure; where the medals were not for the fastest runners but for the real winners, the breast cancer survivors.

Every instant my feet pounded the asphalt was dedicated to all the women that have gone through this and survived, and to the ones that have passed. God Bless Them All.

The 5K race, with 15,000 participants, and in a "kinda summer" Seattle day, closed with a beautiful ceremony in our Seahawks Field where Survivors paraded indicating how many years they have survived breast cancer.

My company, Boeing, received the largest team award with 1,400 runners. Boeing pledged $100 for every Boeing runner, for $140,000!!!

My time 30:38 for a pace of 9:52.
0-1 year

Fremont Briefcase Relay: The Most Fun Race Of My Life...With 15 Minutes Of Fame Included

I made it to the front page of The Seattle Times....The paper's caption is:

"Runners take off Friday evening from the starting line of the Fremont Briefcase Relay at Adobe Plaza. In the relay, five-person teams wear work-related clothing (loosely interpreted), each team carrying a briefcase that contains a phone book. Lizzie Lee, center, in white dress, and Mimi Newman, at right in Oktoberfest attire, were among those starting the first leg of the relay."

Yesterday, June 06, 2008, I ran the most fun race of my life (so far...): The 5K Fremont Briefcase Relay. The run consisted on a 5K relay (5-member team running 1K each) wearing business attire from the waist up, with a briefcase with a 2008 Greater Seattle Yellow Pages in it.

Our business? Gold Diggers and a rich Bachelor to catch. The Gold Diggers: Shelly Martin, Alisha Schmidt, Cara Haubrich, and Lizzie Lee. The Bachelor: Mike Stevens.... Our briefcase: (to put the money and run) was my 3rd grade briefcase (43 years with me!!!).

1st. leg: Lizzie, 2nd: Alisha, 3rd: Shelly, 4th: Cara, and Mike recovered the briefcase for the last leg and to run away from the Gold Diggers. He had to run under 6 min/mile to make up for the time it took us to run with the wedding dresses. Our team did 27' something.

It was exhilarating and impossible to describe the magnitude of the fun.

After the relay, we ran the Fremont 5K (580 runners: 233 females, 347 males). I tried to break my PR given the "fast" course and get it under 29' (I only needed 2" for that), but couldn't do it. I don't know what was fast about the course, when the first 0.5 miles were uphill (and that was my leg in the relay!!!). I did 30'40" for a 9:53 pace. Overall 140/233, 4th in my division... We weren't many, we were only six old ladies in my age bracket!!!!!!

Mike did 21'25", Shelly 32'13", Alisha 27'34", Cara 31'56". Congrats to all, and THANKS for the wonderful time. Memorable.

The race didn't end well. 0.20 miles before the finish line during the 5K race a man collapsed before me, apparently with a heart attack. I hope and pray he made it.

On a boring note, my long run this week was a 10-miler, again on the treadmill, given the Fall/Winter lousy, icky, miserable weather we've had in the gorgeous Pacific Northwest. Pouring rain, sleet (yes, sleet) and cold!!! This week snowed in Stevens Pass. Our high yesterday only reached 54, that's fourteen degrees below the average high of 68. The weather reports say is not unprecedented but certainly unusual. This is our weather from June-uary as we call it.

But guess what? We had a sunbreak at 5:45 pm, 15 minutes before the Briefcase Relay. That was a gift..

Another week with a shortage of miles (16.7) and tomorrow Sunday I ain't running!!!!

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Ok. I lied. I did run on Sun another 5K. Pretty good. I'll post about it next Sun. My total week mileage: 19.8
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