Home Is Where We Hang Our Flag: Bloomsday

Last weekend I had a much needed girls weekend away to Spokane, WA. Ken and the boys headed to Libby Thursday afternoon to spend the weekend with his parents. I left Friday about noon for Spokane. I went with my good friend Emily, Hilary (who I knew a little) and their friend MacKenzie (who I met for the first time). We went for the Bloomsday race which was Sunday. Friday night we got there, checked into the hotel and went to dinner. Then we found a fun bar and did some dancing until about midnight. Saturday we went and picked up our race packets, shopped and had a yummy dinner at P.F. Changs.

Saturday I also got to see my good friend Diana. We met in 2001 while we were both going to school at Pierce College. She is from Tacoma, WA and we were stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA at the time. She moved to Spokane and has been there for the last almost 10 years. She has a wonderful husband, Andrew and two little boys. She walked the race with her family.

Sunday was race day. It is a 12K (7.46 miles) race and there were around 50,000 racers signed up. I didn't think my achilles would be able to make it the whole way running. The longest I had run post injury was 3 miles and I am still supposed to jog and not run. My plan was to run until it started hurting and then walk the rest. When I got going I felt surprisingly good and was able to run the whole way. My time was 1:13 something. A healthy me could have ran it about 10 min faster. I was very happy with how I did though. It was a really awesome race. There were bands playing along the way and beautiful scenery.

I had an awesome weekend with great company. Ken and the boys also had a great time in Libby. There were able to see friends and do a lot of relaxing.