Holiday Weekend Recap

This was one of the best 4th of July holiday weekends weather-wise that we’ve had in the Seattle area so I definitely spent as much time as possible outside, working on my runner’s tan. On the morning of the 4th of July, I joined the Seattle Green Lake Running Group for a little jaunt around the lake. As you can see from the photo below, everyone was decked in their finest red, white and blue athletic apparel. I ran two laps around the lake for a total of 6.13 miles. Everyone in the group is so nice (and very speedy) and despite the fact that it’s a little bit of a haul from the Eastside, I’ll definitely be back to join them for more runs.

Seattle Green Lake Running Group decked out for the 4th of July

I was a little short on mileage for my weekday runs so doubled up and ran 4 miles in the evening, close to dusk. My legs were feeling great so I decided to make this run a tempo run which was a bad mistakes. My shins started screaming and towards the end of the run, I could barely walk. I came home, iced my legs and immediately put them into compression sleeves. I did the next logical thing any runner would do and started researching the difference between shin splints, stress fractures and compartment syndrome. Thanks to the powers of the Internet, I did the one-legged hop test and realized I just have a gnarly case of shin splints. The husband and I skipped fireworks since he came down with a cold and went to bed early.

My Weekend in Training

I had a pretty productive weekend running-wise and am feeling much more confident about Rock ‘n Roll Seattle than I was a couple of weeks ago.

On Saturday, I met up with Dawn, Genajuade and Katie for a 7.5 mile run through Marymoor Park in Redmond and on the Sammamish River Trail until we hit Redhook Brewery in Redmond. We met up with a few more folks at Redhook and then enjoyed our much deserved beers and treats. My treats = a big, fluffy pretzel and a pulled pork sandwich. Running seems to bring on the HUNGER. Since it was hot and I didn’t want to develop the dreaded shin splints, I took it fairly slow, average a 10:30 pace with some miles at a 9:30 pace. I think the entire Eastside was out on the Sammamish River Trail; it’s great seeing so many happy, active people out on a nice sunny day. My face was one giant salt lick by the time I was done.

On Sunday, the hubs and I were supposed to go to Bainbridge to visit our favorite ice cream place (Mora) but we realized that was the day of the Chateau Ste Michelle staycation event, full of food trucks and billion-dollar cars. If there’s one thing I can do well, it’s eat so a mini food truck rodeo is just my thing. I filled up on pulled pork sliders, a pork taco and kimchi fried rice from Marination Station. I then got a scoop of chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Parfait. Yum.

Random cat in a stroller

I didn’t have any formal running plans on Sunday but since I was a glutton all day, I decided to check out the Redmond Watershed Preserve trails in the evening. There were lots and lots of hills and while I haven’t checked my Garmin for official elevation gains, my legs were getting pretty sore. I managed to run up every single hill, albeit very slowly. I also wore my new neon pink compression socks that I had purchased earlier in the day since I think they help with the shin splints during hill work. And they make me go faster (and look awesome). Total mileage on Sunday was 3.5.

I didn’t run today but hubs and I went to breakfast in Ballard and then headed over to Woodland Park Zoo since it was on the way home. Hubs was wearing his Fitbit and said we walked 4.5 miles throughout the day.

I’m so not ready to go back to work.  Did any of you have a sweat-fest this Memorial Day weekend? By the way, I’m hosting a weekend 8.5-ish mile run on the Kirkland waterfront this Saturday and a Hills-of-Doom run (aka Tolt Pipeline Trail) next Tuesday evening if you want to join.

Oh, and this happened. Poor kitty: