Suz's Stories: October 2008

Royal Victoria Half-Marathon

This weekend was the Royal Victoria Half-Marathon and I have the aches and pains to prove it. It was a fantastic weekend with good friends, good food, and a lot of relaxation. So, I'll start from the beginning...well, enough of the beginning for you to get the picture.

After doing the Whidbey Island (Half) Marathon, four of us decided to do the Royal Victoria Marathon. Susan was so excited she signed up for the half marathon in April, just weeks after complete Whidbey. I reserved a hotel suite (for a really cheap price) and we got some other people to go along. The returnees from Whidbey were Kim, her sister Debbie, Susan, and I. Bev was supposed to do Victoria but at the last minute had to stay home. In addition, Kim's husband, Eddie, decided to join us, as well as Kim (Bunny).

So Susan and I left Seattle at 5am on Friday (10/10) and drove to Anacortes. We got on the ferry and headed to Victoria. Friday was spent lounging around and enjoying Victoria. On Saturday we met up with Kim and Eddie for breakfast and then picked up our race packets. Bunny joined up with us later in the afternoon. It was a great time, especially when you understand that our friendship (except for mine and Susan's) was forged on line. It was like sisters getting together (well, except for Eddie who had to put up with us). Sunday was the half-marathon and we all finished!!! The experiece was so great that we're going to do it again next year. See below for pics.

On the ferry to Victoria

Pouring tea

I'm smiling but I'm really hungry

Dim Sum Lunch

As soon as we got into Victoria we went straight to Don Mee's for dim sum. It did not dissapoint.

The Hotel View

After lunch we checked into the Executive House Hotel. It was reasonably priced and in a fantastic location!!! The hotel on the left is the backside of the Empress Hotel. You can almost see the water in the front. I would definitely stay here again. Here's the view from our one bedroom suite.

Millos Greek Restaurant

Dinner on Friday night was across the street from the hotel at Millos'. The food was great and they even had belly dancing. Instead of getting one dinner, we decided to splurge on small plates of appetizers: Taramo (fish egg paste - seriously...this was good), Babaghanoush, Grilled prawns, Flambe'd Greek cheese, and Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves). Not bad, hey? It was all good. Here we are standing outside of the restaurant. I made the hostess come out in the cold to take our picture.

Canadian Cuisine

Before Susan and I headed back to the hotel, we stopped at the food court at the mall to grab a snack. The only thing that really caught our attention was the poutine - see below.

Poutine

A lovely mixture of french fries, cheeese curds and brown gravy.

Suz, Bunny, & KIm

Pre Half Marathon

So after everyone met up, we all knew it was time to make some decisions about dinner. We thought we'd go over to the Spaghetti Factory at around 5:30 pm. Well, when we got there, we found out that there was a 2 hours wait. So instead of doing that, we headed back to our hotel and went to the restaurant. The food was really good and tasty - I was honestly surprised. Here's a shot of 4 of us at the restaurant.

Eddie, Kim & Debbie

Carbing up...

So one of the things I've learned about doing these half-marathons is that you do need to have fuel to finish the race, but truth be told, I'm just not that much of an athlete to warrant a whole plate of spaghetti. Nevertheless, it's what I ordered. In the end, I split the pasta with Susan and she split her cheeseburger with me. Yeah, I ate enough to fuel two full marathons.