Ballard Sunday Farmers Market

The Ballard Farmers Market in Seattle Washington, is open every Sunday, year round, from 10am to 3pm.  It is open regardless of the weather!  It is located on historic Ballard Avenue NW between Vernon Place NW and 22nd Avenue NW.

Johnnie, his father, and I stopped here the day after our 1/2 marathon.  This was one of the best farmers markets that I've been to in a long while.  There was a huge selection of fruits, vegetables, cheeses, fish, baked goods, prepared food, flowers, plants, and crafts.  It's hard not to smile walking through the market.  Your senses are overtaken with the fresh scent and bright colors of fresh produce and flowers, and the sound of street musicians and people happily enjoying their afternoon :)

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"Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well."

~Marcus Valerius Martial

Family Friday: June 28

42 Weeks Old

A few days late again this week.  I wanted to wait until we got home to take her weekly photo because it is easier to do here and we were really busy last week!  Cameron and I have also been battling a cold since we got back so we are moving slower than usual.

This past week we were in Seattle visiting Johnnie's family, seeing old friends, and running the half marathon.  We had a fantastic time seeing and doing many things that Seattle has to offer.  I have so many great photos that I hope I can find the time to do some separate posts about places we went.

Cameron had a great time hanging out with her grandparents and aunt all week!

We met with a friend and her children for a playdate at Playdate Cafe.  This was a toy-filled place where kids can play and mommies (and daddies) can socialize.  It was hard keeping toys out of Cameron's mouth so I tried to keep her mouth occupied with her pacifier.

We met up with a friend and his daughter in West Seattle for lunch at Sunfish Cafe (excellent fish and chips!) directly across from Alki Beach.  After lunch we took a walk along the beach.  Alki Beach is the rocky beach that Sam and Jonah rode their boat to and played on in the movie Sleepless in Seattle.

Cameron met her great aunt and uncle who came up from Oregon to spend the day with us.  We had a picnic on the beach at Golden Gardens Park and then went to the Ballard Locks to walk through the gardens, watch boats using the locks, and to see salmon using the fish ladder.

Another friend and I met up with our kids and strollers in Green Lake Park to catch up on each other's lives while enjoying a peaceful walk around the lake.  There is a fantastic two-lane paved path (about 3 miles long) around the lake for walking, running, and cycling.

We recently bought a new baby hiking backpack for Cameron so we headed up to the Boulder River Trail with Johnnie's dad to test it out.  We hiked for a while, stopped for lunch, and then hiked back to the car.  Cameron seemed to love being in the backpack and it must have been comfortable because she fell asleep in it!  We hiked through a moss-covered wilderness with huge trees along a river with scenic waterfalls... so beautiful!

Johnnie and I did a few things on our own while his parents spent time with Cameron.  We ran the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon, went to a Mariner's baseball game at Safeco Field, walked around downtown Seattle and through the Pike Place Market, went to the Ballard Sunday Farmer's Market, spent a night bar hopping in Ballard, and went out for an awesome Korean BBQ dinner.

We flew back to Hawaii on Saturday evening.  Unfortunately Cameron woke up unusually early on Saturday morning and quickly developed a cold throughout the day.  By the time we got on the plane, she was pretty congested and not feeling well.  Cameron screamed until takeoff and then thankfully fell asleep for about an hour.  After that she slept on and off and had a few more screaming fits.  The flight felt longer than the 5½ hours that it was.  It is no fun flying with a sick baby but we made it!

Cameron is just starting to get over her cold.  I'm glad it's not long-lasting, especially because I now have what she has.  I suppose I was bound to catch it with all the sneezing, coughing, drool, and mucous coming from her!

Today Cameron felt well enough to help me unpack her suitcase :)

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“One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure it's worth watching.”

~unknown

  

Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon

On June 22, we ran the Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon!  This was my 5th half marathon and Johnnie's 2nd.  Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Races are extremely popular and hotels fill up fast.  Therefore, we planned this trip, signed up for the race, and booked a room last year.

10 Reasons I love to run the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series races:

1. There are thousands of people who run, creating an exciting race atmosphere
2. There is a big health and fitness expo in the two days before the race
3. You get a technical t-shirt and medal for participating
4. The races are well organized
5. There are bands and cheer squads all along the course to keep you motivated while running
6. There are drink stations all along the course to keep you hydrated
7. There are medical stations along the course if you need them
8. There are many photographers all along the course to provide you with photo memories
9. There is a festival and headliner concert after the race
10. You get a special extra medal if you run two or more races in one year

There were an estimated 20,000 runners signed up for this race!  Everyone was organized by corrals, corral 1 being the fastest.  We were waaaayyy back in the corrals so it took about an hour before we even reached the starting line.  Johnnie had signed up for a faster pace than me and my running partners so he started further toward the front, crossing the starting line a little under 20 minutes from the first corral.  Everyone gets an electronic tag to wear on their shoe so your race time doesn't start until you actually cross the starting line.

It was a chilly morning so Johnnie and I both wore a shirt that we were willing to part with.  Near the starting line, there were places to discard any clothing you didn't want to run in.  All of this clothing was donated to a good cause after the race.  It was so nice to have something to keep us warm until we started running and great that we didn't have to run with it tied around our waist.  Once we started running, it was the perfect temperature for shorts and a tank top.

My running buddy and I each have goals of running a half marathon in each state, and hope to run many of them together.  Whenever we do run a big race together, we coordinate our outfits... for this race, we picked purple.   I always run races in running skirts because they are comfortable and cute.  Running skirts have tight shorts attached underneath so you don't have to worry about flashing your underwear to anyone.  I loved the hidden pop of yellow under the skirt I wore!

The race course was great!  We ran on the streets of downtown Seattle, along streets of quieter neighborhoods, through some residential areas, along the shore of a lake, through two tunnels, on the express lanes of the highway, and on the viaduct above the waterfront.  There were many hills on the course but most of them were gradual inclines/declines.

There were a lot of water stations along the course.  Every other drink station also had Gatorade available.  There was one GU station around 8.5 miles.  The drink stations were manned by companies or groups.  This station was manned by Alaska Airlines - they had fun airplane hats!

This drink station was manned by pirates... Arghhh!

The course took us on the tree shaded boulevard along Lake Washington.  This was so beautiful!

This road was lined with members of the Wear Blue Run to Remember group which is a running community that honors the service and sacrifice of the American military.  The road was lined with photos of military members who died in combat and dozens of people holding American flags.

We ran through the I-90 Express Lane Tunnel.  It was slightly uphill but very neat to run through!  The GU energy gel station was inside this tunnel.

The end of the course took us down the scenic Alaskan Way Viaduct which follows above the Waterfront area.  The Seattle Great Wheel is a new permanant ferris wheel on the Waterfront.  It is the largest observation wheel on the west coast, standing 175 feet tall.

The weather was perfect and the course was beautiful.  This was a really fun race that we will definitely run again someday!

Another finisher's medal to add to our collection!  This won't be our only one for the year.  I plan on running two more half marathons this year and Johnnie will running his first full marathon.  We are running fools this year :)

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"It's very hard to understand in the beginning

that the whole idea is not to beat other runners.

Eventually you learn that the competition is against

the little voice inside you that wants to quit."

~George Sheehan