National Coffee Day!

I do love my coffee, and you would think as a blogger I would have an awesome coffee pic to share, but I don't.  I'm currently drinking a salted caramel iced coffee that I made myself this morning! Sometimes it's hot coffee, but more and more it's iced because it's less acidic and kinder to my tummy.

Whatever coffee you're drinking today enjoy it!

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We found ourselves with an unexpected free Saturday, nice weather, and no plan as to what to do when our original plans fell through.  Thankfully we stumbled across the Watershed Festival on the Nisqually Nature Preserve, it was free, and there was a ton of activities that we knew Sky would love!

We had so much fun watching her have fun and exploring the boardwalk through the preserve!

 There was fish painting, printing a fish on a shirt, face painting, henna, beading, bird house building and it was all free!!!  Sky just went from booth to booth having a blast painting, building, playing and exploring!

This was by far her favorite thing!  They are colorful capes but most of them are animals so the hood is the face and the arms are the wings, or legs, or whatever.  The arms had sticks in them so when you lifted your arms if you were a bird the wings flapped like you were flying.  There was just enough of a breeze that the caps were all fluttering so pretty in the breeze.  Once there were enough kiddos dressed up a volunteer would lead them through the festival in a parade.  Sky LOVED it!!!!  We wen't back to this over and over and by the end of the day she had tried every cape on, and talked Daddy, Grampy and me into as well.

 Getting the sticks ready so she could flutter her arms in the parade.

 I love this pick because for one she's listening to Mark explain how to do it, and because when she concentrating she sticks her tongue out and it's adorable! 

School bus selfie!  Sky was so excited there was a school bus ride involved!

 So much green!  It was a pretty walk and it's crazy to think this is right next to I-5!

There is something so exhausting about being out in the sun on your feet all day long!  Chasing after Sky and managing her just adds to the exhaustion.  I was very happy to bundle up in a blanket after dinner and enjoy a glass of wine on the new wine patio!  Have to make the most of it when it's not raining because soon enough there will be not sitting out there enjoying wine.  

I only had one glass though because Sunday Morning I was up early making sure I was ready to offer run support to Michelle the second half of her Half Marathon.  I'm so proud of her for even starting the race.  It's a hard course when fully trained, but given she hadn't been able to train due to her back issues, an already hard course becomes so much more daunting!  

I was able to get to the aid station right before mile 7 to wait for her, and cheer on a lot of friends including Alicia who was running her very first half!  

I'm so proud of both of them.  Alicia finished 4 minutes faster than her goal which is amazing for such a hilly race!  Nice job Alicia!

I know Michelle was having a hard time at the end, and had to really dig deep to get to the finish line. It's so hard to know your friend is having a hard time and there really isn't much you can do about it. It seems so insignificant to just be there next to her offering encouraging words that don't really make it any easier.  She stuck with it  though and finished, and I'm so proud of her!

We were talking during one of the walking breaks about how difficult races are so valuable for perspective.  You learn how deep you can dig, that you can keep going even when it seems like you can't, you appreciate the runs/races that are magically perfect more than before, you learn the value of a full and injury free training cycle, and you have empathy for others that you may have lacked before.

While I know it wasn't fun there is value in perspective, and in knowing what you are capable of accomplishing under difficult circumstances.  Ultimately Michelle did it all on her own.  She made the decision to keep taking step after step when it would have felt a whole lot better to not even hit the start line, or stop when things started hurting.

Now it's time for both of us to rest for a while, cut back on the running, if we run at all, and get ourselves set up for a strong training cycle for Santa Barbara!

I'm actually starting a couple of 30 day challenges Oct 1st, pilates, planks, and squats to focus on and keep me busy while I'm not running (as much).  :)

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What kind of coffee are you drinking today?  

Who raced/ran this weekend?  Tell me about it!