RACE DAY!

Today was the first ever Rock 'N' Roll Half and Full Marathon in Seattle. What an experience! There were 25,000 entrants of all ages, shapes, sizes and abilities. At least two of us didn't train much and now, oh boy!, am I paying for it!! Oh well!


Thanks so much to Trevan and Jill for a wonderful dinner and sing tonight! The taco salad was excellent, as was the company!


And back to race day impressions. There were PEOPLE!!! Lots and Lots and LOTS of people. And even more cars and buses all trying to get to the same drop off points for the start line! Jolyn and I ended up walking about 2¼ miles before we even got to the start line and there was probably at least a tenth of a mile of being in the start area, too, before even GETTING to the start line! The first picture is BEHIND us (and we were pretty far back in the line up) and the other is the far-off start line!



I'm going to say straight away that there weren't as many bands I was expecting. I think in our 13.1 miles there were 7 bands? The BEST band was just a little kid on his electric guitar (he was pretty good for maybe 10!) with his dad on upside-down-trash-can percussion and his littler sibling doing some sort of percussion, too. The people lining the streets just stepping out from their houses and cheering us on were AWESOME and very much appreciated! The guy with the hose, though, he's beautiful and I'll love him forever!! There were very frequent water and Cytomax stations, which were very helpful since the weather turned out to be quite warm. The hills that many thought were hills weren't much to Jolyn and I, but we did notice them as we tried to run them. Around here we pretty much walk the hills, but they are DEFINITELY hills! When we were on the shores of the Lake we saw, perched high above in a tree, a regal bald eagle! The trek through the I-90 tunnel was GROSS! Talk about humid and stifling. The noise level was pretty high and echo-y, too. At mile 10-ish I was still smiling, but I could also see the end in view (never mind that we had to circle around and back to it on the other side!!)



The coolest part of it all was knowing that I had lots of friends encouraging me, running along beside me, watching for my finish -- even if on their computers at home, Mom!! And customers who told me to just walk to the start, but take a cut-off to get to my grouping faster! Thanks, Ken, I owe you a coffee!!

Kate (and Baby Mercury), Jolyn, and I

Projected time 2:55:40 Actual finish time 2:53:37 WooHoo!!!