Oh Yes We Did

Oh yes.  We ran, walked, and perhaps even crawled like a girl.  Remember my previous post?  That was just to get you excited to hear about the REAL DEAL.  Here's a wrap-up of our half marathon weekend!

Every year there's been a pre-race dinner for Run Like a Girl, but for some reason we never got around to signing up for it.  Boy were we missing out!  Talk about a great (girly) evening!  We ate chocolate before dinner, enjoyed a wonderful meal, filled up a wine glass (and took the glass home),  cheered loudly in attempt for them to throw free stuff to our table, bought raffle tickets for the TONS of amazing items they were giving away, looked under our chairs to see if we were the lucky winners of the "Bag of Courage" (Rachel now has no excuse to not dig deep into her bag of courage!) and ate more chocolate while laughing the whole evening.  So fun!  All the while looking out into the Bay during a gorgeous evening.  Pretty wonderful.  I think the dinner event also distracted most everyone enough that when we went to sleep that night we almost forgot what we were about to do to our bodies the next day!  Okay well, almost.   

Here's who we shared a table with.  What lovely ladies!

Rochelle, Julie, Carol, Rachel, Cindy, Melissa, Kjirstin, Amie, and Martina!  

The Haugland Girls

Okay so its not all fun and games.  Wait.  Yes, it actually was!  The half marathon was a little over the top, a little cheezy, and a LOT amazing.  Did we get crowned with a tiara within the first two miles?  But of course!  Were we eating chocolate by mile four? Why yes.  Did we do a little disco dance somewhere along the way?  You betcha!  (It gave Kjirstin a chance to advertise for her Young Life Dance-Off in November. . . little plug) Did we get our picture taken with a SUPERHERO while eating yet again MORE chocolate?  Hmm... only at Run Like a Girl.  And after mile 6, we of course acknowledged Breast Cancer Awareness with the Ta - Ta Mile.  We were given a pink bracelet to help us remember. . . and without feeding Hunter for an extended period of time that day, lets just say that I didn't need a bracelet to be aware!   We then enjoyed some shot blocks to keep our energy up, and were given a lai at the Hula mile before we walked/ran/staggered across the finish line.

You think I'm finished?  Ha!  What girly half marathon would be complete without some handsome FIREMEN at the finish, ready to give us our medal and congratulate us on our completed goal.  Not this one! This was definitely a surprise and a fun new feature from past years.  This one still makes me chuckle a little.

Now you might think that an Out - And - Back style half marathon might be a little ho hum, but you haven't seen this course!  My Aunt Carol described it as a "Half Marathon Hike" because it is the most beautiful course any of us have ever been on!  It starts in a park and then goes along the interurban trail that overlooks the water, crosses creeks, passes moss - laden forested areas, and sweeps through magical trails draped with tree branches and beauty all around.  So we all agreed that seeing it for a second time only enhances your experience!

Okay back on track (I could talk about this all day).  Once we were done gawking being congratulated by the firemen, we were pretty much treated like royalty.  They of course provided the normal bread, fruit, and ice cream, and even the 10+ minute massages.  But, are you ready for this?  They also had salon studio artists come and give "Sweaty Up - Do's" to all who wanted.  Unfortunately I couldn't really find this as an attractive option for me, but it looked as though others were reveling in it, and they really did look pretty good after some good curling/spraying/up - do - ing!  Perhaps I missed out. . . but I had a cute little guy to go see and hug and he didn't care what my hair looked like!

Here's a few of us post - race

And yes, this year it brought out the muscle pose in us as well!

Melissa's are not real.

What a fun event to share with family and friends!  Seriously.  Come join us next year, or at least consider it!  If not, then well, I guess there's just more chocolate for me!

There should be some fab pictures posted in the next week or so.  Check 'em out at:  http://www.runlikeagirlbellingham.com/About_the_Event.html