Sunday, March 14, 2010

St Pats Dash 3.8m Recap

Location: Seattle, WA
Official time: NA
Chip time: 32:15
Pace/mile: 8:29/mile

Overall: 1262/7823
Gender Place: 294/4318
Age Place: 50/523


Today was the Henry Weinhard's St. Pats Dash in Downtown Seattle. The website said that this was the largest St. Patrick's Day run in the US, and their expectations were exceeded; over 15,225 people participated in the 3.8 mile dash today! As you can see from the picture above, it was a complete sea of green on the streets! My boyfriend JJ and my little bro joined me for the festivities.

Wearing green and not getting pinched!! 
This was my first time running in the Dash, and it was also a new route for them this year. It started at the Seattle Center, went around a block, then headed up highway 99, pinwheeled, and went back to Seattle Center. What the race didn't state was that it was a gradual hill all the way up 99, which lasted well over 1.3 miles!

Since the race officials expected the crowds for this event, there were 4 waves: Green (run, timed and award), red (run, timed only), Purple (jog, untimed) and Yellow (walk, untimed). In theory, this was a great idea, but at the start of the race all of the other waves crowded the start. Admittedly, we arrived with about 30 seconds to spare, but it took over 3 minutes to get through the crowds to the starting line! This left us with a huge gap to start running, then fighting the last of the "fast" red wave for positioning.

The first .3 were pretty easy, as I was virtually running by myself. As soon as I turned and started to make my way up 99, I was constantly dodging people to get through. I actually felt great during this race, and it was nice to finally be passing the majority of the people :) My goal was to run well, but not injure myself before the Mercer Half next weekend.

After the pinwheel turn I made a quick dodge for the photo guy (I think the dude in front of me blocked my shot) but then I had a burst of energy and ran as fast as I could while in control the last mile and a half. My final time was 32:15, but I am not sure if this is the gun time or the chip time. The official results only show one time, where usually they state which is which. Does anyone know which time is posted? My iPhone said it took me around half an hour, so I'm not sure which is correct. The timing chip is probably correct and I probably just have wishful thinking!

Also, my little bro ran with me for most of the race. He mentioned that there were a few of you who yelled "Sarah" and "Brunette" during the race! I had my headphones in and I'm usually in a complete zone while running. Please know I wasn't ignoring you!! :) I did look for you guys after the race, but I was unable to spot you in the 15,000+ crowds. I hope you guys had great races and I want to meet you guys soon!!

JJ and I posing near the fountain

Just in case we missed the photo-op during the race, my bro and I decided to take "action shots" near the fountain. Hopefully none of you spotted us looking like total dorks. Note that these are the "good" shots, the bad ones are ridiculous! I managed to look like an evil leprechaun in one shot.....

Standard sibling action shots

The tents post-race had the standard fare: magazines, brochures, granola bars, electrolyte water, fruit, etc. They were also giving out beads and St Pats gear at this race. (Race medal beads shown in picture below) We went into the Henry Weinhard Beer Garden and saw former Sonics player Detlef Schrempf. We would have stayed longer, but the beer garden was cash only, and the line was too long to go out and come back in. I was looking forward to the beer garden too!
Post race tents and beer garden at Seattle Center
Sooo, we ended up having a beer with our post-race breakfast. Crisis averted. Hope everyone who participated had a great race or a great weekend!

Celebratory beer after the race (Hef of course!)

 Dash longsleeved t-shirt and medal (aka beads)

Benefits: Autism & Detlef Schrempf Foundation
First image via Seattle PI

8 comments:

  1. Hi Sarah,
    Wow, what a fun race!! Good job!! I love the pictures...were you a cheerleader or in dance line? You had to be in one of those activities:) Look at how high Sarah can jump! Thanks for sharing..it makes me excited for my own Get Lucky! 7K coming up on Saturday:) I hope that you have a wonderful week Sarah!

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  2. oh wow!!! thats such a cool pic with all the people in green!! awesome!!!!!
    great job on the run!
    have a great monday!

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  3. This sounds like such a fun event. SOOO many people (and so much green). Congrats!!!

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  4. Way to go on the race!! I love all of the pictures :-) Looks like you had a great time. Have a wonderful week!

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  5. Sounds like an awesome race! Great job! Love those pictures. Especially, the sibling action shots!

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  6. Great report. Next year, I'm there!

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  7. That looks like an awesome race!!! Great pics!

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  8. It looks like you had so much fun! Love the pics!

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