Seattle Trip + Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon Race Report + Tons of Pics

Three things.

One.  Can you guys believe we are in the last week of June?!  It is blowing my mind right now that the fourth of July is next week.  It seems like this summer is just flying by!

Two.  Nike Women's Marathon is going to start letting us know if people made it through their lottery tomorrow.  Keep those fingers crossed!  They say it could take a few days for them to email everyone so if you don't get an email tomorrow, don't lose hope.

And three.  I wanted to share with you guys another race I did recently.  I'm putting each report up just in case you guys are thinking about doing these races next year.  Hopefully you guys will find these helpful; please use it as a simple point of reference when trying to plan out what races you want to do in the future.  And if you have questions about something I might have missed, please ask away!

My husband and I planned to do the Seattle Rock and Roll half marathon more than six months ago.  We had such a great experience with San Jose's Rock and Roll half last year that we knew they would put on a great race no matter what.  Plus, Seattle was a city my family and I have never been to so we thought it would be a great family get away.

I'll start with the race stuff.

We were able to attend the bib pick up/expo on Thursday.  The expo was huge.  The biggest bib pick up I've ever attended thus far.  It was located at the CenturyLink Field Event Center.  RnR races have corrals to make the start line process go smoothly.  Each corral had their own stand for bib pick up.  There were 40+ corrals!!  The stands went on for days.  The amount of booths/freebies/samples was astounding.  I've never experienced anything like it.  As always, RnR was extremely organized for this monstrosity of an event.

cheerleaders to welcome you to bib pick up

                             

TONS of vendors.  Have you guys ever bought anything from One More Mile Apparel?
The sayings on their shirts are so funny.

my husband (FYI, from now on I'm going to refer to this guy as Mr. DJ instead of writing 'my husband' out every time) purchasing nutrition/fuel for the race

course previews

It was drizzing on this day and my hair was out of control poofy.  I realized that my hair was just like this purple hair girl.


My boys and I +  the Geico Gecko

                     
On Friday, we did a lot of sightseeing.  I'll post pictures of stuff we saw later on in the post; that way, you can skip it if you just want to see the race stuff!

Saturday was race day.  Start time was at 7am.  I woke up at 5am so I can slowly get ready (because who wants to move quickly that early in the morning?!).  We stayed at the Seattle Westin which is about a mile from the Space Needle  (start/finish line location).  We took the monorail from our hotel to the start (station was right across the street).  We ended up getting to the start at 6:15.  Plenty of time to spare but better to be early than late.  We hung out inside the Seattle Center Armory to keep warm.  There were plenty of bathrooms here too, a better alternative to the port-o-potties outside.

Mr. DJ and I waiting in the Armory

It was reported that there were 18k runners at this race.  This wasn't the biggest race I've ran but it definitely is the MOST ORGANIZED.  There are big signs everywhere telling you where to go.  There were no shortages of anything.

I mentioned before that there were over 40 corrals.  My only issue with this race is that it takes awhile for all of the corrals to cross the start line.  I was in corral 19.  The race officially started at 7am.  I didn't cross the start line until 7:30am.  Having to wait an extra half hour was a little annoying especially when you're all set and ready and just WANT TO RUN and not stand in place.  But I guess this comes with signing up in any big race.  And I do understand that it is a much safer and actually better experience on the course when there  are corrals like this and I appreciate that.  I just am an impatient person and I hate waiting.  ;)

When we signed up for the race, I totally was expecting to run in the rain.  Because it's SEATTLE.  But race day gave us nothing but sunshine and actually it got really hot at some points.  There was some neighbor holding up a water hose and I am always so thankful for this on hot race days.  I ran through the water, got soaked, but dried up less than a mile later.  This was the only 'rain' we experienced on race day.

photo courtesy of the Seattle RnR site

The course itself was awesome.  From the Space Needle, we went through downtown, through the international district and then eventually through some neighborhoods with plenty of people always cheering the runners on.  At around mile 6 we hit a picturesque part of the course with Lake Washington to our right side.  It was absolutely breathtaking.  Everything was SO lush and green.  Now I get why Seattle is the Emerald City.  At this point, I saw a vow renewal taking place.  I wish I had taken a picture.  Some guy pulled his wife off the course (she was running) and asked her to marry him again after 35 years!  They had a officiant waiting and the family was all there.  So awesome.

Around mile 7/8 the Wear Blue: Run to Remember group was present.  There were pictures along the course of servicemen/women who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country.  I really had to concentrate on not completely breaking down and crying.  It was a great tribute.

photo courtesy of the Seattle RnR site

After passing Lake Washington, the course hopped on a shut down freeway that led us by SafeCo Field and the CenturyLink Stadium.  I could not believe they actually shut down a freeway.  This freeway led to a major bridge (we didn't run on the bridge but it was shut down nonetheless because we ran on the roads leading to the bridge). I don't think that would fly where I live in the SF bay area; people would start rioting.  Seriously.  It may be like shutting down I80 west and closing the bay bridge.  So I just wanted to take the time to thank the people of Seattle for being so patient and so tolerant of this course.

After SafeCo, the course wound its way through downtown again and then down past the Seattle Ferris Wheel by the water, past Pioneer Square/Pike Place Market and then back towards the Space Needle.  The course was pretty flat for the most part.  It starts getting hilly the last two miles of the race.  This was torture! But I heard that the course has changed and this year's was actually better.  There was one hill at like mile 12.5.  That was pure evil and just plain sadistic!!  I live in an area where I have to run hills all the time but I try not to find myself going uphill after just running 12.5 miles.  That hill almost had me walking.  Almost.

I pretty much ran the whole thing and I was pretty happy with that despite my super slow time.  I was ten minutes behind my PR.  But this was expected because I didn't put in the training time/miles this time around. Also, I do not recommend putting in a full day of sight seeing a day before a half marathon.  :)  The heat and the hills also did not help my time whatsoever.  BUT I had SO much fun with this whole experience.  It was my first destination race and it was such a fun experience that I want to do at least one destination race a year.  Now that I know how this all works, I think I can prepare a little better when traveling for a race.

The Medal

Seattle was beautiful.  We only spent five days there and the first impression I got was that it's a very chill place.  The people were down to earth and super friendly.  And everything is SO clean.  The link (kinda like BART) floor was this light blue color.  It just impressed me that it was so clean that it stays that color.  You'd think there would be stains or mud everywhere (because of the rain) but it was just CLEAN.  No weird smells either.  If you've rode on BART before, you know what I mean.

The air in Seattle also is just CLEAN and crisp.  No pollution at the horizon.  I keep using the word 'clean' but this is just the first thing I noticed about the place.

We hit up all the touristy areas.  Pike Place Market.  First Starbucks store.  Gum Wall.  Space Needle.  And we also hit up a Mariner's game.  My family and I are HUGE A's fans and guess who was in town!!??  The A's.  We really couldn't believe our luck.  

making his mark on the Gum Wall

at the top of the Space Needle

this is the market where they throw the fish.  We actually were lucky enough to see it live.  I was too slow with the camera though and didn't get a shot.

These two were able to get on the actual field and walk around

I absolutely LOVE Seattle.  I (hella) love the bay area and would never leave but if I HAD to leave, I might pick Seattle.  I definitely would go back to just visit in a heartbeat.

And if you're ever there visiting, you MUST stop at these places to eat:

Serious Pie.  Their pizza is SO YUM.  You simply must try it.

Portage Bay Cafe.  The breakfast here really shines.  The star is their Berry Bar.  Don't skip this to top your pancakes!

Beecher's.  The BEST mac and cheese you will ever try is located here.

Grill From Ipanema.  If you like meat, visit this Brazilian steakhouse.  I don't eat a whole lot of meat but Mr. DJ does and he absolutely loved this spot.

#imissSEATTLE