Seattle 1/2 marathon here we come

My husband and I are on a running adventure together. In September I decided I would set a goal to run a half marathon this year. I tend to keep my exercise more regular if I have a goal in front of me (especially one that I have paid an entry fee to). I had decided on the Nookachamps run in January until......my husband said one day that he would do a training run with me and if we could run six miles,  he would sign up as well. Only he decided it would be fun to do the Seattle half marathon the last weekend of November of this year. That shortened my training time but I was very excited to have my running partner back with me.

A little history:
In the 70's my husband & Ralph Vernacchia started the Bellingham Track and Field club (which later became the Greater Bellingham running club), we had great fun alternating our turns running with a measuring wheel to measure distances for runs we created. It was a home project. I made homemade ribbons of construction paper for the participants, and also the monthly newsletter that was sent out. No one complained about the simple ribbons, in fact most thought they were great. We measured out the original Skagit flats marathon course together. Those were great times. We used to run alot. We've both run several marathons in the past, so running a half marathon isn't new for us.

After a long hiatus from running I got back into it last year. My goal was to run the Seattle half marathon (2009) breaking the 3 hr. mark. I finished just 20 seconds under. Much slower than my younger body used to run but quite the accomplishment for me that day.

So now my husband and I have been training for this November 28th in Seattle. We've done 5 long runs in preperation for the event. Each Saturday we do a long run they have been as follows: 10 miles, 13.1 miles,  14 miles, 11 miles and an 8 miler. Our last run the 8 mile run was more exciting than the others in the fact that winter decided to descend upon us early. We had our first northeast wind and snow.

The view out our front door the night before our training run day. Gusting snow, our car is barely visible!

We decided to drive to a local forested park to get out of the wind. So we ran loops in the park for about 2 hrs. in 3 inches of snow. It's the first time I've ran that long in snow. It was great. The temps. were in the high 20's. So much fun. So now we only have just under a week till race day. Hopefully it will be a little warmer than Saturday and just as much fun as our training runs have been.