Dang! Sunday was SO nice! We went to the Beat the Bridge 8k where I not only beat the bridge (the Montlake bridge goes up 20 minutes after the race starts and you have to be on the OTHER side of it in order to officially "beat" it), but I beat my personal best on this race. I ran it in 41:48 with an average 8:24 minute mile! That, for me, is not just good...that is "Stop the Presses!!" great! So I was QUITE excited about that.

After the race we went to Subway for lunch then blew up our kayak (Stearns inflatable) for a maiden voyage. What fun! It was quite easy to set up. We launched it like we actually knew what we were doing, and spent an hour paddling around Greenlake. It was gorgeous! We saw lots of inner-city wildlife (water fowl, fishies, turtles, and lots of sea gulls) and just had a nice, pleasant time! And when we got home, we even got some gardening done!

But now the rain is back. BUMMER! It actually felt like summer there for about 10 minutes!

I have the Coeur d'Alene Marathon this weekend. Note the smashingly good time on my race above. It did not have a positive impact on my knees. Darn. I am REALLY hoping this will not be an issue on the race. If it is, it is. I will NOT have learned my lesson because it seems I always go out and do something dumb the week before a race. I've been going somewhat easy this week, which is a good thing. It's just hard. I get VERY stir crazy when I am tapering down for a race. This is just a "training run" though, officially. My real "race" is June 21. (Oooh! One month from today!) I had a 24 mile run on my schedule and I figure "If I'm running 24, I can run 2 miles more and get a medal!" That will also knock off one more state in my goal to run a marathon in all 50 states plus DC!

Next state is Minnesota, then Illinois (Chicago Marathon in October).

I have to bike home from work today. I just hope the rain will let up long enough for me to enjoy a nice peaceful (kind of) ride home.