New PR at the Seattle R'n'R!

In May, I competed in the Rock 'n' Roll Portland Half Marathon, and earned myself a sub-two hour PR (personal record) on a pretty hilly, pretty challenging course.  So imagine how thrilled I was to realized that I PR'ed yet again in the even more hilly, even more challenging course of the Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon!

Since I had posed this way at the Portland race, it seemed only fitting that I repeat the pose for the Seattle race.  I figured it would give me good karma since I had PR'ed in the City of Roses and I was hoping to PR again in the Emerald City.  Before the race, I met up with a couple of my Fleet Feet running buddies, and when my friend Tracey and I realized we were in the same corral, we decided to start the race together.

Jarna, me and Tracey posing in front of the Space Needle before the start of the race.

I knew that Tracey was much faster than me, but I also knew that if I could keep her in my sights for the entire race, I'd be able to PR.  And that's exactly what I did.  I kept with Tracey, sometimes just barely having her in my sites ahead of me, sometimes getting a little bit past her, sometimes running right with her.  She was a great motivator.  And as we came to the last 0.2 of a mile, even though it was uphill, as I saw Tracey start to sprint to the finish, that gave me the push I needed to sprint to the finish and come in with a brand new PR of 1:58:45!

And not only did I earn the super cool finisher's medal...

...which I had inscribed with my name and time...

...I also earned the Pacific Peaks medal for completing both the Rock 'n' Roll Portland and Seattle Half Marathon races...

...which I was able to get inscribed with both my times!

At the end of the race, I got the added bonus of getting to see a few more Fleet Feet running buddies, Adrienne and Katie, and getting to celebrate with them, as well as Tracey.

Tracey, Adrienne, Katie, and I with our medals and smiles post race.

Besides the medals, I was able to add a few more pieces of race booty to my ever growing treasure chest, including the race shirt...

...front (above) and back (below)...

...a finisher's shirt to match the one from R'n'R Portland...

...front (above) and back (below)...

...and of course another commemorative race mug.

In addition, because I've completed two Rock 'n' Roll races in the same calendar year, I'll be getting this little beauty in the mail in a few weeks...

 Gotta love that racing swag!

Have you ever won multiple medals for a single race?

Running Buddies: Sister Edition

A couple weeks ago, I had another racing first...I got to run a half marathon with my younger sister, Nicole!

I was able to "convince" my sister that what she really wanted to do the 3rd weekend of June was run the See Jane Run Half Marathon in Boise.

So, as a celebration of the last week of the school year, I flew to Boise to run 13.1 miles with my sister and her friend, Kellie.  Of course, there was the added bonus of getting champagne and chocolate at the end of the race.  Seeing as how I wasn't getting into Boise until Friday evening, and the race was Saturday morning, my fabulous sister picked up my race packet for me, which consisted of an awesome reusable bag...

...our race numbers...

...and our finisher's shirt.

When we showed up the morning of the race, the one thing we all agreed upon was that it was kind of weird how few people were there.  I can personally say that I have never been to a race with so few people...but I will say it made running the race kind of nice, not having to worry about weaving around thousands of other runners.  Another nice thing about the race was that I got to relax and run a race without worrying about trying to PR...I was just there to have fun with my sister.  

And have fun we did!

This is us at mile 13...I had been trying out my "mentoring skills" on her, to which I was promptly told to shut up...

...and yet I was still in a pretty good mood when Micah (the brother-in-law) took our pics at the end...

...and got our intensity as we crossed the finish line!

Yay us...

 Finish line success!

Kellie crossed very soon after we did, and the three of us quickly took a finisher's photo together...

...and then got our drink on!

And of course, we had to take a picture with our wonderful mother. 

All in all, the race was a success.  Nicole ended up PRing, and we had a blast.  Plus, the finisher's medals...

...and champagne glasses (that were filled with chocolate truffles when they were given to us by the way)...

...were pretty cute as far as runner's swag goes.  And my mom even surprised us after the race by buying my sister and I matching jackets from the race (she is clearly the best mom ever)!

But the best part of all was getting to spend that quality time with someone I love, my sister, getting to do something I love to do, run!

Have you ever run a race with a relative?