2013 RnR Seattle Half Marathon Race Recap

It's been a crazy month and I haven't been able to update my blog. What have I been up to? Six days after the San Francisco Marathon, I flew with my mom to the NW to run the RnR Seattle Half Marathon. For those who don't know,  I purchased a Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Tour Pass earlier this year. My goal is to complete seven Rock 'n' Roll races before December 31st and become a Rock Legend. Seattle was race #6.

View of Mt. Rainier from the airplane

We took a late flight from San Diego and arrived at Sea-Tac around 11:30 pm. This airport is quite far from Seattle downtown but fortunately they have great transportation. The Central Link light rail took us from the airport to Seattle/Westlake after making 11 stops along the way. Since we arrived so late, the monorail from Westlake to the Space Needle was already closed. We ended up taking a taxi to our hotel, the Hilton Homewood Suites. It was a good choice. Very close to the race start line.


Friday,  June 21st - Expo 
  

After a quick but delicious breakfast at our hotel, we slowly walked to the running expo. It was probably 2.5 miles away but it took us at least 4 hours to get there.  First we stopped by the Space Needle, only a few blocks away.

The city is getting ready for the race. Porta potties everywhere!

We walked to Seattle's famous Pike's Market.

We tried some vegetarian coconut chowder at award winning  Pike Place Chowder. I personally didn't like it but perhaps their other meatier options were better.

 

For dessert, we purchased 2 packs of chewing gum. You might wonder what it was for. I think this picture explains it all. I wanted to immortalize by love for my sister, Heidi, on the wall. hahaha. You see, she has a chewing gum phobia since she was a kid. We are now best friends when we were little, like all siblings, we used to fight a lot. To annoy her back in the days, I would chew gum non-stop. In return, she would do the same thing that I am doing in this picture but with cheese strings which is the thing I dislike the most in this world. It's pay back, little sis!  :-)

Seattle's Bubble Gum Wall

After a thousand and one stops, we arrived at the running Expo. It was located at the Century Link Field, home field for the football team the Seattle Seahawks.

We grew mustaches over there waiting for my running friends, the Medal Whores, to arrive!

In the meantime, I picked up my bib, exchanged my technical shirt twice and tried to win some Brooks' shoes with no luck. We were at the expo for one hour or so when my friends made their appearance. We took pictures at the Brooks Run Happy Cavalcade of Curiosities booth ( the same one that we saw at the RnR Portland expo) and left soon after. We walked together to our hotel, another 2.5 miles, with a quick stop to grab a bite.

It was the day of solstice and the skies were pink and bright until 10:30 pm. 


Saturday,  June 22nd - Race 

I can't recall at what time we woke up for this race but I know that the hotel opened their kitchen very early for us runners. Very nice!

We walked 10 minutes to the starting line and took more pictures.

It's time to stretch! Yes, I was wearing my Boston inspired tutu.  On your marks ready get set go...

My mom arrived at the corrals just before we took off to wish us good luck. We decided then that we will meet at family reunion D right after the race if not sooner. We didn't know Seattle that well so it was hard to coordinate, but I had the feeling I would see her somehow somewhere along the course.  My mom is awesome. What can I say! She is always full of energy and life.

As the gun went off, my friend May took off. I tried to follow her but she was too fast or maybe I was too slow or maybe I needed more time to recover. That's it! I ran the San Francisco Marathon just 6 days before. Oh, I was tired at mile 1. This never happened to me before. Quickly, I changed gears and decided to really enjoy the race and forget about the clock.

As we approached mile 1.5, I realized that this race was not going to be flat. I thought the hills would start at mile 4. I was wrong. My right foot was hurting. I was having a hard time. "Should I quit? No!" My negative thoughts were interrupted by the most beautiful sight of Mt. Rainier in the background. At mile 4-5, I saw Joe Taricani of the Marathon Show at a water station. I screamed "Joe, Viva Espana!". He replied "Ciry, Viva L'Italia". It's a joke between us. We are both soccer fanatics and love our teams, of course! Around mile 6, we entered Lake Washington. We ran north towards I-90. At one point, I had to come to a full stop as the roads narrowed to a single lane and thousands of runners were trying to make it through a small climb. This was just before entering the highway.

Military Tribute at Lake Washington

At mile 9-10, we ran on some nasty sewage smelling long tunnels. Oh, I truly disliked this part of the course. On top of this, they had a DJ blasting music uber loud. Not the best experience in the world. I felt claustrophobic. I was happy to leave the tunnels and see the city soon after.

We ran on top of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. We could see the Seahawks Stadium,  the Mariner's Safeco Field and the ocean right in front of us. "Yahoooo,  we are almost done ... but the Space Needle looks so far!"

At mile 11, I heard "Ciiiiiiry". It was my mom screaming from the top of Seattle's Pike's Market. She found me! She made my day. She took a picture too. Can you spot me? Of course, how many runners are wearing tutus?

Only 2 miles to go! I thought "easy peasy" but I was wrong. There was another tunnel and then a rather steep hill to the finish line. I think this is the first time I had run a course where the finish line was on a hill. Almost everyone was walking but I was sprinting.  I crossed the finished line in 2:16:52. Not a fast time for me but I could have been worse. I had just run the San Francisco Marathon 6 days before.

Soon after, I met my friend May who had arrived 10 minutes before me. We waited for our friends and picked up our preciousssss. Two Heavy Medals for me:1 for completing Portland and Seattle in the same year (Rock The Pacifics Peaks Heavy Medal) and 1 for completing six RnR ( Rock Star heavy Medal).

I am leaving you with some interesting picture I took at the race. Ha, the bodysuits are back! Question for you - would you wear this if it would make you faster?

Nice suit, men!

What's next? The Dumbo Double Dare. It's the Disneyland 10k on Saturday followed by the Disneyland Half marathon on Sunday. What are you training for?