Our 23rd anniversary was, marvy. Well, except the getting up at 3:45 a.m. thing. Did you know there is a 3:45 in the MORNING too? Yeah! I saw it this morning. It's nothing to write home about.

Anyhow, we got up early and I did a bit of work before taking off. We double checked all of our gear. Roy had BIG butterflies, which was cute because he's always Mr. Cool. I know how much this was out of his comfort zone, so I'm so proud of him for suggesting it and following through. Got to Seattle just as the sun was rising, found parking and set up our transition area. I was trying hard to be conscientious of not doing too much "This is how you do this, this is how you do that" to him because he's certainly watched me. I wanted this to be an "us" thing, not a "Tory runs the show because she's done it" thing.

They gathered all the swimmers for the first wave, which went off at 6:55 so I got to watch 35 minutes of swimmers go ahead of me, which was actually kind of nice. It usually freaks my freak (thanks for that, Sheala...I love that saying) to see others in the water because it looks so FAR! Each wave went off 5 min apart except the first two because the elites are so fast. They only were 1.5 min apart.

My wave went (I ran back to kiss Roy before my wave) and I had three interesting experiences I've never had on the swim.

1. I did not have even a moment of fear or panic. I actually felt confident from the moment I stepped into the water.
2. I overtook a LOT of swimmers, and a number of people from previous waves. Generally I am the last out of the water, or close, in my wave. I even used strategy and stayed with the pack. Normally I try to get away from people for fear I'll be kicked. I almost acted like I knew what I was doing!
3. I SWAM OVER someone! I didn't mean to and I felt bad, but in the water (which was very murky and dark) you can't see the person in front of you sometimes if they're in a full black wetsuit!

I finished the swim in, according to my watch, 18 minutes which is definitely a record for me! That was half mile! W00t!

I ran in and found Roy in the relay area and he took off. He has a comfort bike and felt self conscious about that, but he wasn't the only one on a comfort bike. Plus I saw plenty of people in pretty spiffy gear who weren't very fast. I reminded him that spendy gear doesn't make the triathlete. I had lots of time to take my wetsuit off and hang out (his bike was 12 miles). I am going to have to figure out a faster way to get that off because it takes me FOREVER! LOL! Chatted with some people, got ready, went potty and then went to wait for him with the camera. I finally saw him running in (he figures his bike took him 40 min or so, which is GREAT on his big bike considering he has a bad knee). I got a picture of him running in and kissed him, then I took off on the run.

The run went well. First mile was 8:20, which is fast for me, but I didn't have the excuse of just having biked 12 miles. Second mile was 8:50 with a 1/4 mile pretty nasty hill in there, so I felt good about that. Third mile was 8:06. I was hoping to break an 8 min mile, but that's okay. Roy met me at mile 3 and took my picture, then we ran in together holding hands across the finish line. I hope they got a picture of that because if they did, I'm going to order it and give it to him as a gift.

We hung around at the end and got lots of freebies, which was fun. They did a much better job of organization than they did on the marathon!

After the race we went to the Bite of Seattle. I had this awesome "bite plate" for $9.50 with all proceeds to go to feeding the hungry. It was lemme think...Ah, here it is on their website!

Sunday
Gelatiamo
Chocolate Gelato - Delicious, smooth, rich in flavor but low in fat, this is Gelatiamo's Chocolate Gelato (Oooooh! So good that I split the 1/4 cup serving with Roy because it was EXTREMELY rich)

Volterra
Porchetta Sandwich – Pork roasted with garlic, fennel and herbs on a rosemary roll (Okay....good, but not really special, wouldn't make me go to that restaurant)

Al Boccalino
“Ancient” Roman bawlz – bawlz with red wine, honey, cumin, celery and fresh peas (these were greasy and gross and tasted like they were made of ancient romans)

Crush
Crispy Skinned Blue Prawns with Corn Soup and Basil (OMG, delicious!)

Green Leaf
Grilled Beef with Lemongrass – Thin-sliced rare beef steak and pork belly grilled on a lemongrass skewer and served with an anchovy pineapple dipping sauce (kinda icky, too lemony)

Lola
Cumin Scented Leg of Lamb, Pita, Tzatziki (DELICIOUS!)

Brasserie Margaux
Smoked Salmon Éclair – Smoked salmon and dill éclairs with goat cheese, capers and Walla Walla onions confit Balsamic glaze (So good I wanted to marry it, but I did share with Roy)

Roy had Panda Express! LOL! He's got SUCH adventurous tastes!

Something did bother my stomach from that list. Maybe too rich, I don't know. I'm feeling fine now, though. The tastes were all pretty small, except the Porcheta, which was on a small sourdough roll, but big enough to feel like you were getting a good taste.

Later on we BBQed small steaks and corn over our fire pit, then played Cribbage and finished the night with Big Brother. A very nice, low-key anniversary!