Saturday was so much fun!!!
We got up at 4am. Brenda came over to sit with the girls. Felicia picked up Seth and me at 4:45am to head to Seattle for our big race, the Seattle Rock n Roll Half Marathon! :)
They had us drive a crazy round about way to the parking garage on Mercer because of all the road closures. We got a nice tour of classic Seattle sites like Pioneer Square and Pike Place Market though. And we got to see a traffic cop in action, complete with whistle and hand motions. :)
After we parked and put on our wristbands we headed to our In Tunes perks pass warm-up/bathroom area. In retrospect, I don't think it was worth the $30 we paid. But it was nice to be able to wait inside a warm building with nice real bathrooms vs porta potties. If the weather had been bad I think it may have been more beneficial. But the weather was sunny and fabulous and not very cold at all, even at 6am. I never even brought a jacket and felt comfortable the whole time.
We met up with Felicia's family just a few minutes before the first wave start at 7am. We were in corral 30 which was estimated to start at 7:51am, so we had plenty of time. We posed for pictures and chatted a bit then headed to our corral which was so far back it was down 5th all the way around the corner on Mercer. Pretty much right in front of our parking garage. :)
It was exciting to be in the corral and chat with the other runners beside us. We did a few stretches while we waited and slowly crept closer to the starting line. We spotted an airplane flying over the race towing the banner "run happy". :)
Felicia was smart and used the porta potty one more time while we waited for our corral to start. I really think my strategy to drink no water the morning of the race paid off. (I drank lots the night before) Once the race started I was able to make it through all 13.1 miles without having to stop for a bathroom break. I had never been able to make it without at least one potty break during all of my training long runs, so that was an accomplishment! :)
Finally we were up to the front and the announcer counted us down. We heard the horn, and were off! It felt so good to be moving!!!
It was so cool to be running down the middle of the street with the shops beside us and the monorail track overhead. A monorail did pass right over us, which was startling at first but neat to see. The first couple of miles were fun and conversational. After that the talking dropped off and everyone was pretty quiet. Except me, ha,ha! Sorry Felicia, I am a chatty runner. Which of course she already knows and graciously puts up with. :)
When we hit the 2 mile mark I knew we were already making the classic mistake of starting out too fast, even though it felt like we were keeping a good pace. We were under 11 minute miles at that point, though Felicia had a good point about mile 2 being mostly downhill. Still, our pace should have been closer to 12 min miles. Oh well! :)
The bands at every mile and the spectators cheering us on from the sidewalk made it so much fun. It really kept you going and took your mind off the fact that your hips are already starting to hurt and its only mile 5. Yes, I usually always feel it in my hips first, then one or both of my knees, then just my legs in general. It doesn't really bother me though because I don't let it. You just have to push on and smile and set your mind on other things, and talk Felicia's ear off. Lol!
When we turned off Genesee St and started running along the park we ran beneath a giant inflatable guitarist straddling the road. That was fun. A little farther down they had a huge spray of water you could run through to cool down. That water felt so good!
Even though Felicia wore a running belt with 2 water bottles we did end up grabbing some Gatorade the volunteers handed out. Drinking Gatorade from a small paper cup while running takes some talent. A talent I obviously do not possess. I ended up wearing more Gatorade than I drank, but it was still refreshing. After the race, Felicia's cousin Sarah, a veteran marathoner, explained about pinching the opening of the cup to form a funnel. For some reason they left this tip out of my copy of The Complete Guide to Running. As a side, the fact that I was reading the aforementioned title the night before the race highly amused Seth. In my defense, at least I was informing myself even if it was last minute. His approach to winging it (having signed up for the race only the week before and completed 0 hours of training) was not really my style. :) Moving on...
After the run through Genesee park the course spilt, and the half marathoners kept to the left to turn onto Lake Washington Blvd. It was about this point that a runner coming up behind us tripped on a cone and broke his fall with my back. Ouch! His right elbow stabbed into the left side of my back. No, that was not very pleasant. At least we were turning on to a beautiful stretch of Lake Washington waterfront!
Lake Washington Blvd was one of my favorite stretches of the race. It was peaceful, cool and shady. There were geese swimming along with us in the water below. I tried to point them out to Felicia but all I got was a grunt. Lol!
Then we came up to the row of flags! It was beautiful and sad and inspiring all at the same time. Nope, I didn't feel my hips a bit running by the flags.
Just after mile 7 we left the lovely lakefront and turned into the I-90 tunnel. It was kind of cool running in the tunnel at first but it got really muggy in there. I was happy to see "the light at the end of the tunnel". I really was!
We emerged right around mile 8. I did think it was neat to run on I-90 and see the cars in the lanes beside us wave and drive by. I called out "slug bug"s and Felicia humored me.As we approached the I-5 North to Everett exit I joked with Felicia about taking the exit and running home. I think I got another grunt. :)
It was about this point that we needed some extra motivation so we played some music, like Eye On It by Toby Mac, Happy Day by Tim Hughs, and a few other songs on my iPhone.
It was great to pass (and be passed by) other Team World Vision runners and encourage each other with a shout out. There were also people from various charities and organizations planted along the route cheering everyone on. By mile 10 and 11 you really need the encouragement, especially when the road starts uphill.
Running along the Alaskan Way Viaduct we had a great view of the waterfront and big Ferris wheel. I may or may not have quoted some cheesy lines from Spirit of the Marathon 2. "We got this!" :) A lady came up to Felicia and told her she was an inspiration! See, I wasn't the only one talking Felicia's ear off! :)
When we emerged from the Battery Street Tunnel we only had about a mile to the finish. That was exciting! But we also had one last hill. That was kind of brutal when you are already so spent and ready to finish. But we powered through.
We had made a pact to sprint to the finish when we saw the finish line. I'm not so sure you would call what we did a sprint but after 13 miles it felt like one. We both raised our hands as we crossed the finish line. Whoo Hoo! We did it!
My stop watch read 2 hours 38 minutes. When we got the chip results online it gave us a 2 hr 39 min finish time. I'm very happy with my first race results. I'm also happy I was able to run the entire race without stopping to walk or stretch, and that I felt great after. I had so much fun and can't wait to do it again!
