15 miles on my feet

I woke up earlier this morning than I do mid-week. Why? Because I'm an athlete and want to "fit it all in." I had plans with my dad to do our annual father/daughter hike today, but I needed to get in an 8 mile run, so I decided to get up early, do the run, then go hike. Let's just say my legs hurt.

I had the opportunity to run my 8 miler with Kerrie and thank goodness I had someone to run at 6:30am with on a Saturday cause I wouldn't have had a good 8 miler without her. We ran the Cedar River Trail, which is flat and averaged a 9:27 pace. I feel okay about this time, I know I can run faster, but my hips were really giving me troubles like in the Lake Samammish Half Marathon...ugh...

Then I sped home, quickly showered and my Dad and I left on our 7th annual hike! Surprisingly, we didn't choose the hike prior and picked one on a whim this morning. We chose the Noble Knob trail on the Northeast side of Mt. Rainier and boy did we luck out. The views were incredible, the weather was perfect and there weren't gobs of people hiking. In fact we only saw 5 other people on the trail. Score! The hike was 7 miles, but only gained 800 feet, so it wasn't strenuous, but after running 8, 7 more miles on my feet did get a little tiring. But it was totally worth it. I love hiking, getting out in nature and seeing the amazingness Washington has to offer. Kerrie and I were just saying what a perfect place Washington is to live on our run. Plus, this is a special thing that only my Dad and I do, so I really cherish our annual hikes.

Dad and Me

Mt. Rainier

I thought this was the Noble Knob, but it wasn't. But it was cool and knoby.

THIS is the Noble Knob.

You could see for.ev.er. Looking North toward Mt. Baker and the Cascades

Oh yeah, KONA was today. I was out of cell coverage most of the day, but when I got back on my Twitter, Crissy had just taken 2nd on the run. Just reading tweets was nuts. Congrats to ALL athletes that raced at Kona today!