Another day in the life of Karen...

Saturday, 04 July 2009

• Seattle

   

  Happy 4rth of July BTW!! :)

  Some pitures from the Seattle Marathon trip last weekend...

  Okay.. not many pics of the actual marathon...but here's the trip..

  

   

  Below is the finish (the evening before the race)...

   

   

  Quest Field (where the race finished)...

  

   

  One of the bridges that was part of the race...if you look close...you'll see runners running both tiers of the bridge...

  

   

     I didn’t get pics of me finishing. :(  My mom saw me finish but it happened so fast no time for a pic in action.  I did, however get someone to take a pic of my mom and I together right afterward, but the picture looks so horrible (there is salt on my face and I just don’t like it)- I was going to be humble and show it, but then on second thought, I've opted against it.  Call it vanity or what you will, if had turned out even just okay, or 1/4 to the way of okay, showing it would have been a done deal, but I'm too embarrassed to show it. Lol!  Ha ha!  Vanity wins.

  I wish my camera was w/ me during the marathon- you go over bridges, see the downtown and all these different styles of architecture, greenery, plus the pier, ocean, markets, etc.  It was very scenic.  There were some hills, but none steep.  And the weather there was perfect no rain, unseasonably warm- which for Seattle was nice.

  Re: finishing: my time wasn’t my fastest, but it’s all good.  Training in heat in AZ was difficult.  You can still overheat, even if well hydrated.   But then, despite knowing I trained like that, during the actual marathon I was hard on myself, sometimes thinking “you should be going faster Karen”.   And thing is, during any marathon, even if disappointed with the time (which I shouldn't have even been in this case), always got to feel grateful at the same time just to be healthy because always plenty of people around pulling muscles, or having to stretch out shin splints, other injuries.  So got to be thankful to be in healthy condition the whole way through.  In some ways I didn’t train properly anyhow (I did only 2 runs a week-  long run included- not smart/should do at least 1 more short run, and I went totally slow on long runs when running outside as to not overheat, which was probably smart but totally not good for helping my time.  Not proper training in all).  

  Anyhow, back to the pics...

  The Space Needle...

  

   

  The peir:

   

   

  The fish market...

  

  They had so much they were selling there besides the fish though - produce, and homemade goods, deserts of all types (at least on the weekends).  A fish market/ farmer's market/ delicious foods market of all kinds...very cool.  I didn't capture a good pic...I think I'm a bad historian w/ the pics in general.  I was historian of this service sorority one year in college...kind of a shorter photo album that year.;)  Poor historian I say. 

  Random cute dog pic taken in the fish market area...

  

   

  We took this tour of the town in these buses that go on land & float in the water.  This was the tour guide (he only wore the goggles for a little bit though)...

  

   

  My mom and I on the tour bus...

   

   

  On the tour, it was pointed out to us one of these below houses was the "Sleepless in Seattle" one.

  I forget which of the houses it was though.  Maybe I should take a guess.  Naw.  Just know it's one of them LOL

  

  The Mariner's stadium..

  

   

  Down town area w/ lots of shopping...

  

  I bought a book of poems at one of the bookstores, by this girl that writes these really emotional, sometimes dark, but captivating poems.  It's called "the Beautiful Collected Poems" by Michelle Tea.  She lived through all these different hardships including different types of abuse, selling herself, drugs, poverty, being used, among other things.  I'm entranced by her poetry.  She writes well and captivates emotions well.  Raw emotions, often angry and dark- but conveyed so clearly.  Talented. 

  Seattle is quite a libral city.  Laid back, but libral.  There was a gay pride parade going on while we were there, the day after the marathon.  I wanted to see part of it, just to see what it was like.  No pics though.  Again, I'm a poor historian for this trip ~_~

  As far as down down, a lot of coffee shops, a lot of clothing stores.

  Close to Seattle there's a near by attraction called Snoqualmie Falls- there was a hiking trail to the bottom of the falls.  Which the little hiking trail would have been way cool but we didn't do that..     

  because...

  my mom hurt her leg and couldn't walk normal! LOL!  Ironically, although I had no injuries from the marathon, my mom- randomly twisted her foot while walking to meet me at the finish and it swelled to the size of a softball.  She kept walking on it throughout the trip, which she probably shouldn’t have (bless here heart).  As a result, it’s probably healing a lot slower now, just talked to her earlier today and she says it still hurts her even though it’s been a week.  I felt bad because she was trying so hard to still do things.  It was just funny at the same time to hear some of the comments come from her, that I would have originally anticipated I’d be saying during the trip like “I feel like an 80 year old woman getting in this car.”  “I’m tired.” “I can’t walk that far, my leg hurts.” “I’m concerned about walking that distance.”  Lol!  It wasn't funny, but it was funny in some ways.

  

  This is us at one of the "view points"...

  

   

  View of Seattle from the flight home in the air...

  

   

  Ps.  Today is 4rth of July.  Horah!:)  And it falls on a weekend this year! Yay!!  My plans are still uncertain, but I have something I know I can go to, that will be fun, but I’m not definite on all plans though.

  Other randomness…

  I was reading in Oprah magazine recently an article about this interesting topic:  if you’re feeling scared about something not working out, whether a relationship, job, or any other circumstance, you may, actually subconsciously do things to make that which you don’t want happen come about, just so your brain/body won’t have the stress that it could happen.  You kinda subconsciously self sabotage, so that at least you aren’t stressed over the negative possibility.  The article says this may be more likely to occur when we think something has to go a certain way, and we don’t want to picture any other possibilities of what might happen.

  I can see how this concept is quite possibly true in some cases.  Not being okay with worse case scenario could actually do you in.

  One amazingly resilient person I know whose life had changed so much so fast (both in involuntary and voluntary ways) once mentioned…

  “I know whatever happens to me, I’ll be okay.” (I think that sentence sums up a lot of how she remains resilient.  I don’t think she meant “okay” in all senses of the word, just that she would be able to accept whatever happens/ was willing to deal with any negative possibilities that would come up).

  That seems like good perspective.  Not hoping or focusing on something negative happening, but being comfortable with all the possibilities.  I think it allows you to be comfortable taking on more risks- risks that would make you happier.  And probably, in the areas it’s most hard to cultivate that perspective, that’s were you need that perspective the most, because it might just do you in if you pressure yourself things have to go down a certain way.

  I need to remember that.

  I think that maybe could have been explained better though, hope it makes some sense- if not, then just ignore.  Okay moving on….

  Where was I before that?  Oh yeah, it’s the 4rth.  And I’m Americanizing it up:)…I’m decked out in my red tank top, blue jean shorts, rhinestone flip flops, and sparkly spray.. feeling that patriotic spirit!:)  Go America! (for today)…then I’ll get back to complaining about whatever’s wrong in our government, ect..tomorrow! Ha ha! JK!  I truly feel grateful to live in this country.  I originally planned to write about my "America" views today but also wanted to post pics of my trip + didn’t want this post to be too long (which it already is.  If still reading you're probably only one of the few).  I may post about America another time I suppose. 

   

  Hope you have a fabulous holiday!

  

   

  <3,

  Karen

  ~~~

  Random quotes:

  “Trouble is part of your life - if you don't share it, you don't give the person who loves you a chance to love you enough." ~ Dinah Shore

   

  “And he said take my hand,
  Live while you can,
  Don't you see all your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand.”

  ~Ordinary Day by Vanessa Carlton

   

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