It began on Wednesday July 28. We had a limo service pick us up at home which was a terrific idea considering all of the luggage we had as well as the time we'd be away. We got to the airport in plenty of time and settled in for the long flight. We changed plans in Denver and our flight was a little delayed leaving there due to a storm. Eventually we took off and made it to Seattle. We took a shuttle to the hotel and tried to get as much sleep as possible. In the morning Frank went back to the airport to get a rental car and then came back to the hotel to load up the car and the adventure to Mt Ranier begins. Here's a picture of Frank trying to figure out how to get all of our luggage into this little rental car!
Our first stop was breakfast at a 50's kind of place. It was cute and a great way to start our adventure. From there we drove to Mt Ranier. What an incredible location. Here are some pictures to try to capture what we saw there. It was a little overwhelming to think we'd be running up some of these mountains on Saturday at the White River 50 Mile Endurance Run!
Saturday morning we got up early (4:00 am) to make the 5:30 early start which was a couple of miles away from our hotel. Frank decided to run with me and we'd get through it together. I struggled from the beginning and at 8 miles, I told him he should continue as I didn't think I'd be able to make it. This was a very tough course. Only 2 hills but each about 7 miles straight up! It was not fun, at least for me! It was beautiful but a little too scary to really enjoy the views. The trails were very narrow and I found myself constantly having to pull over to let the faster runs go by and then again after they turned around. I was amazed at how effortless the elites are able to maneuver the technical trails. I was petrified that I'd fall off the ridge and never be heard or seen again! I made it back to the start/finish area, which was about 27 miles and had missed the cutoff so wasn't able to do the second half of the race. I was fine with that as I knew that I did not have another 23 miles in me. It was a struggle just to get the first "hill" done!
Now that we're home and I'm looking at the pictures of the race,I'm even more disappointed that I wasn't able to finish the race. It's seems that I just cannot get adequately trained to pull off a tough 50 miler. I'm not even sure if I could pull off an easy 50 at this point. I definitely have to work on this or just realize that those days are behind me and just accept that I can only do, what I can do. Enough whining, back to our vacation!
Frank finished the 50 so all was not lost. He said it was the toughtest 50 miler he had ever done however I was still disappointed in myself. Here are some pictures from the course. Frank sure looked tired! By the time I got to the photo spot on the course, the photographer was gone so I had to photoshop myself (thanks Tate) into the picture. I was so bummed that I didn't get that prized picture with Mt Ranier in the background so this is helped a little with that disappointment.
Now that the race is behind us we get ready for the second phase of our adventure. We return to our motel to get ready to return to Seattle in the morning. We are tired but happy and excited about the cruise. We returned the rental car at the airport and got a limo service to pick us up with all of our luggage and bring us to the Cruise Terminal. We got there early and checked in to prepare for boarding the ship. It was amazing at how smoothly everything went. We were actually able to get on the ship earlier than we had anticipated and were able to eat lunch. Wow! Let the eating begin!
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