Half Marathon day...finally!

We meant to rest our legs last night, but ended up thinking that dinner was a good idea. Jackson found a restaurant a short walk from our hotel that looked good so we headed there. You guys. You guys. The neighborhood we ended up in was like nothing we'd ever seen. Eclectic would be a word that may somewhat express how...interesting...the people in this area were to us. There was a peep show for 25 cents store, a sex toy shop, a store selling clothing for prostitutes/strippers/sorority girls, a hostel with people eating their dinner on the windowsills, and people getting stoned on the sidewalk. If you can think of something outrageous, it was happening on this street. The odd part is, we were seated on the patio to take this all in and still loved our meal. Folks stopped and asked us if the restaurant had the big boxing match on. We answered as if we knew because it seemed like the neighborly thing to do. We never feared for our safety or anything. It was just a whole new world from Fishers, Indiana!

Dinner at The Fish Shack with this handsome man

My Mom would NOT be pleased with pallets used as decor,
but it looked really cool

Then we really did come back to go to bed by like 8:30 Vancouver time. Imagine my surprise to be woken up at 11:35 p.m. to Jackson yelling about being hot. I was sweating in my sleep, too. It turns out that their heating system hear is very odd and when we turned on the "AC" it turned on the heat. They don't turn on their AC until much later in the summer. Instead of it just not working, though, they have it blow hot air. Our room got to 91 degrees (fahrenheit-ha! One must clarify their measurement system up here.)!! It was insane. After a call to the front desk and a visit by a staff member, the fake AC was turned off. We opened our window, got some fans and tried to sleep. UGH! Of all nights to have a bad night of sleep. Oh well. Such is life!

Ready to race!

 The race started at 7 so I drove Jackson nuts by taking my time getting ready before heading to the subway station. We had to ride the train out of town and then run back in. It turned out to be almost a 2 mile walk just to start the race! What the world?! Anyway, it was a clear and crisp morning that was perfect for our race. We met some friendly Canadian folks in our corral and then it was time to go.

The race was not nearly as crowded as the Indy mini so that was a nice change. We had a great 5k time and then I kind of tightened up. Jackson trained much more for this than I did and with an injury holding him back from the marathon, he wanted to help me set a personal record on this race. That wasn't happening as I did not get to train much because of the identity theft crisis at work and personal income tax season. (I know, I know excuses are like buttonholes...) Anyway, I could never get my hips to really open up and let me hit my stride. We did run/walk intervals nearly the whole race, but I never really got in my zone.

It was a great way to see the city, though. We went through Chinatown, Yaletown (think Broad Ripple), Stanley Park (think Central Park) and the waterfront. There were parts of the race that were so scenic that I just wanted to stop and take photos. I didn't. A ton of people did, though. I guess they didn't have a serious race partner like me. ;)

I find that half marathons are really emotional for me. I never really believe in myself athletically like I do academically or intellectually. It is simply never an option for me to quit because when that thought even floats through my mind I think about my brother Brian who would have loved the chance to walk any distance without crutches and I keep going. While quitting is not an option, the self-doubt always creeps in. Am I physically able to do this? Yes, I'm a healthy 30 year old. Do I have the mental toughness to finish strong? Ehhh...debatable. When folks read your name badge and cheer you on individually saying things such as "Go Jenna from Indiana!" (I was wearing an IU shirt) or "I like that stride, Jenna!" or "Keep it up, Jenna. You're looking great!" or "I'm so proud of you, Jenna. Keep going! You're getting close!" or "You've come so far, Jenna. Finish strong. You got this!" I get really, really emotional. I just love these people for taking time out of their days to help cheer me on during what is undoubtedly a rough time of self-doubt.

We had one older lady that we kept seeing (that happens in these races) who had been training to walk it with her husband when he passed unexpectedly. She decided to keep training and do the race in his honor because "he'd walk with her from up there." That story made me cry. Then, when we were only about 5 miles from the finish we watched her go down. She was unable to breathe and had to be medically evacuated. We hope she is OK. I cried because she just wanted to finish in her deceased husband's memory and her body just quit on her. We finished for her.

I actually found a last bit of energy and passed Jackson at the finish line, but it was so close that the timing mechanism didn't catch that. Darn it! He was a champ and stuck with me through a hard-fought, slow race.

Finished!

Medals! Hooray!  

After the race we grabbed a taxi (yep, 2 miles back wasn't happening) to our hotel where we showered and promptly slept for about 3 hours. We were exhausted. We grabbed lunch at Nando's again- so good- before walking down to a park to enjoy some sunshine and a cold Starbucks. The people watching in these parts is just amazing and we sat there for hours soaking in the sun, resting our bodies and taking in the characters around us. It could only have been better if I had remembered to bring a book of some sort with me!

Chilling on a rock! 

Our hangout this afternoon

We shopped around at some of the boutiques in Yaletown and then realized that we could not afford to do that. Whew! The folks on HGTV are not lying when they say this is a pricey place to live. Forget the astronomical real estate prices, housewares and such are insanely priced, too.

Birthday boy!
A few days early :)

We lounged a bit longer in the room and then headed out for Jackson's birthday dinner at The Keg. It is his favorite steakhouse and we always try to make it around his birthday. The trouble is that they're primarily in Canada with only select U.S. locations so it is a task to make it each May! We did it, though, and dinner did not disappoint. He had his beloved peppercorn steak and all is well in the world again. We meandered around the odd neighborhood by our hotel again before admitting to each other that we were beat and needed to turn in for the night. It was a big day and though the race didn't go as well as planned, at least we finished and got to enjoy each other!