What a beautiful weekend!

It was soooooooooo hot and I loved it. On Saturday I took a break from running. My alarm went off at 5:30AM and I did not want to get out of bed. But when I opened my eyes, I saw the moon sliver though my window above and it got my mind going so I got up. I picked up friend Mikenzie and we drove out to Colman Pool in West Seattle for a swim in the fabulous outdoor 50M salt water pool. It was so beautiful and calm. The swim was great, just what I needed to wake up and for my tired legs. For swimming, nothing beats swimming outdoors.

After swimming, a few of us went for coffee and donuts and the bakery, delicious. I seriously didn't think I liked donuts but I had one and it was pretty tasty. Looking forward to doing that again.

After donuts, Mikenzie, Asa and I went to the farmers market and dog park. M's dog, Jolee, is one of Struth's favorite dogs and vise verse, so they had a good time in the hot sun at Marymoor. And cooling off in Lake Sammamish.

By the time I got back, I needed some cooling off so I rode my bike down to the lake to take a dip. It was so refreshing but the many soft green things floating around and touching me made me keep thinking there was a fish or something bumping into me. It was just algae and what's it doing being so plentiful this time of year...can't imagine what it'll be like come August. I did see 4 eagles though and that was cool. And I took not one, but two naps in the shade. What's better that that??

Today, Sunday, Struth and I went up to Tiger to get in a good solid run. Whoa, it was hot. We started up Nook and then Section Line. There was no one out, it was early, 7ish, and I didn't see one person. I could tell it was going to be super hot and we had a long ways to go yet.

I got up to Tiger 3 in 45 minutes, my best time by 1 minute. And I was feeling pretty good. We continued on to Tiger 2 and Tiger 1. Beautiful view of Rainer up there. Struth and I got to East Summit in about 1 hour and 50 minutes and I was feeling it, hot and wet from my camel back nozzle cracking and leaking all over me. The water felt great but I was worried that I would have enough water to get me through the run. We got up to East Summit and I went to touch the famous rock to make it official and someone, (GLENN!) had left me a nice surprise up there. I knew it was him as I had just seen him 30 minutes earlier coming from that direction. A WhaGuru chew for me and a biscuit for Struth. Thanks Glenn. I devoured it.

Struth and I headed to Middle Fork and this is when things took a southward turn. I made a wrong turn somewhere and wound up at the bottom of somewhere and had a long was to travel back up to East and there wasn't much shade and I had no more water and my bottles of electrolyte were almost gone and I wasn't sure where I was. So, I just re-traced my steps and walked/ran all the way up back to East. From the time I left East until the time I got back, nearly 2 hours of travel time had passed. I stopped at every watering hole for Struth, he was so hot and so was I. I was not feeling so great now. We headed back towards Tiger 1 and stopped at the creek for Struth to cool off. I actually considered drinking from the stream b/c I was hot. I shared my turkey and cheese sandwich with Struth and had a hard time getting it down b/c I was so thirsty.

(I'm so envious of Struth here getting some cold beverage)

We got to Tiger 1 and then Tiger 2. I could not run up Tiger 2 because I was so dehydrated, my heart rate was skyrocketing when I would push it a bit, yet all I wanted to do was to get back to the car so I could get a drink. I had wanted to go down to the parking lot the back way, but I was not in good shape and 4-1/2 hours had passed and I thought running down Tiger 3 would be good enough and really, the smart thing to do as my body was already stressed from dehydration. We got up to Tiger 3 and I put the leash on Struth and we ran down Tiger 3 pretty fast. I was feeling bummed about the run and how it had turned out, but then I thought, this is a good learning experience and also, my leg did not hurt...so these are good things. I was so excited to see the car, yet so out of it. I gave some water to Struth and then I downed an entire liter of water before I even changed my shoes. This made me feel very light headed and I had to sit down. I felt horrible. I took off my shoes, drank my recovery drink and then started the car. On my windshield was another present from Glenn, more treats for me and Struth, thanks again Glenn.

On the way home, I got 2 bags of ice for an ice bath and a huge cold Gatorade. I drank the Gatorade in about 4 minutes and then ran an ice bath immediately. I didn't even notice how cold it was, I actually dozed off in the tub full of ice water. Yikes. I drank another liter of water and then another. I didn't pee for about 30 minutes after that second liter after the bath. I did get cooled off b/c I got to go sailing and the breeze and air really perked me up. It was a gorgeous night on the boat. We sailed out to Port Madison and anchored and the BBQ'd some halibut and ate it, along with other delicious treats. I continued to drink water. The sky was really starting to look cool, some clouds were rolling in.It was still quite warm until we stared to head back. The sky was dark in Seattle and yet to the west in Port Madison, the red sun was setting in party clear skies. We even saw a SHARK! (haha)
Anyway, we motored back b/c there was not enough wind to get us back in a timely fashion. It was cool to see the lightening in the sky so far away and yet when I looked over my other shoulder, I could see the setting sun. A great way to end the weekend.