Anacortes Half Results

Location: Anacortes, WA

Official time: 1:57:44

Chip time: 1:57:40

Pace/mile: 8:58/mile

Overall: 49/126

Gender Place: 21/71

Age Place: NA

Oh my gosh....can it be true? I am actually posting a half marathon race recap? YES IT IS! I still need to do recaps for the Kirkland Half and the Seattle Rock N Roll Half, but maybe that will be my goal for the upcoming week :) On to the race recap...

After spending the night at the Little Bro's place up North, we woke up early and drove to Anacortes, WA for the Anacortes Art Dash Half Marathon. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Anacortes is very positioned between Bellingham and Whidbey Island, both of which are North of Seattle. It had been years since I was in Anacortes, but it was really a cute, small town. It was actually much, much nicer than I expected (I would even go back for a weekend, tons of small shops and views of the Puget Sound....but I digress) It was a quick drive and we found the start of the race quickly.

The packet pickup was situated right behind the Town Hall, and there was no line. I easily picked up my shirt and bib in no time. Unfortunately, I didnt READ the website well enough, and there was no timing chips for this race. WHAT? Luckily I had my Garmin with me, or else I would have been really pissed. The race was only $45, but still! I was surprised.

 Walking to the start

 Getting ready and standard shoe shot...

All of the runners walked 2 blocks to the start of the race. I again was very surprised to find out that the 5k, 10k and half marathon runners were all running on the same course at the same time. Yes, you heard that right. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem sharing the road with other runners, but a 5k is a totally different race than a half marathon. As the gun went off, I quickly found that I was running entirely too fast and I didn't want to get tired. Slowing down was difficult and luckily again, I had my Garmin to keep me on pace. As the Garmin beeped for the first mile, I actually had my fastest unofficial mile PR yet: 7:43 for the mile! At around mile 1.5 the 5Kers hit their dog-leg, and went back to the start line. It was a relief to not have sprinters running around me :)

Mile 2-4:

Mile 2 was along the Tommy Thompson Trail, which was a nice paved path along the waterfront. Luckily there were no other pedestrians in this area. It was really a nice run along the water, and reminded me of parts of the Bainbridge Island Half. We then reached a pedestrian foot bridge (or the tressel that is on the logo at the top of the page. It was really nice because it was REALLY long, and we had a cool breeze off the water on both sides of us. I have never run on such a long, low bridge before, but it was really scenic and beautiful.

Oh, did I mention that it was totally flat?? The 10kers had their dog-leg right before this tressel, so they didnt get to run anywhere along it. Too bad for them (haha)

Mile 4-5:

I purposely didnt look at the elevation for the half marathon. I figured I would be running the race no matter what, so I wasnt thinking about it :) Well, as it turns out, there is a HUGE LONG HILL at mile 4. I mean, it is really huge. It was one of those monster hills that even experienced runners walk up. As this was the case, I turned the corner and saw everyone walking. I made a point to not walk, and just power up the whole thing. I might have been going really slow, but I still managed to pass 2 people on the way up!

 As always, the picture doesn't do it justice!

At the top of the hill we then had a steady, long decline. My legs were really tired, so I was not going as fast as I could have on the descent. Oops.

Miles 6-9:

This part of the course was flat again, and all along the waterfront. Aside from the huge refinery, there were pastures and views of the Puget Sound. It was really pretty and relatively easy. Somehow I forgot to bring my GU! I kept thinking that it wasnt a big deal, and that there would probably be a GU booth somewhere along the race. Well, I was wrong. As I hit mile 8, I realized this and just kept thinking "I need more energy, I need more energy..." It was really not a good idea to dwell on this, and I was psyching myself out. I even ended up walking for about 1.5 minutes just to calm myself down. After that, I was okay, and just focused on finishing under the 2 hour mark.

Mile 9-10:

We circled back again and went back over the tressel. Luckily I knew the end was ahead and it was all flat from here. I also saw a huge seal swimming along with me while I ran above on the path. That is definately something you dont normally see on a half marathon!

I was passed (insert sad face here) buy a man who was pushing another handicapped man in a makeshift running wheelchair. I am not sure if it is the same person, but I have read about someone who does the same thing and brings their handicapped brother along in every race. I'll have to research this more....

Miles 10-13.1

From here on out we were back on the Tommy Thompson Trail and heading back into town. It was still really flat and had few pedestrians to avoid in our way. Since there were so few runners in this race, I was really running by myself for most of the rest of the race. It was a really wierd feeling.

I did run past an older guy in his 50's. He noticed my Garmin and asked how fast we were going. His goal was to break 2:00:00, and I let him know he was well on his way. I kept on cruising at that point and just focused on the finish.

Running through town was difficult because we actually ran past the start and went a few more blocks to the finish. The volunteers at the end of the race were mostly really nice, but there were a few towards the end that I had to ask which way to run since it wasnt clearly marked. 

The finish line was out on a pier at the point of the city. Luckily I finished in:

So much better than I expected! For feeling as drained as I did, I was thinking I wouldn't break 2 hours. This isn't my PR, but it is my second fastest race :)

 Well, its not a medal, but it IS a ribbon :)

At the end runners were presented with a finisher's ribbon, and had an awesome snack table (string cheese, yummy almonds, fresh plums, bagels, breads, bananas, etc!) The Art Walk was right next to the pier, so most runners went through that afterward.

 You cant tell, but the shirt is the color of a highlighter!

Overall it wasn't a bad race. I really enjoyed the snacks at the end and the finisher's ribbon, but running with the 5kers and 10kers was difficult. Also, psyching myself out with no GU was irritating. I will definately be prepared with my GU for this weekend at the Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon!

Happy Running and Racing!

Anacortes Art Dash Link

Link to Results

4th of July Fun Run 5k Results

Location: Bainbridge Island, WA

Official time: 25:23

Chip time: 25:01

Pace/mile: 8:03/mile

Overall: 100/361

Gender Place: 22/177

Age Place: 3/19

On the 4th of July I decided to try to run in the annual Fun Run 5k on Bainbridge Island. I ran this race in 2008 and lets just say that it wasn't pretty. The course runs through downtown Winslow, has 2 major hills and is not for the out-of-shape. You can read my other recap here from 2008.

This is a rather small, local race, so I arrived about 15 minutes before the start of the race to register and get my t-shirt. The race was $25 and included a shirt, but no chip (they have never had chips). There was also an option to do the 1-mile Race as well for around $10. I registered and grabbed my shirt and headed to the start. 

While waiting for the gun, I noticed that there were around 400 runners already waiting. I weaved my way to the middle of the pack. There was one false start, but then the race started on-time at 9:15 am. As we started down the street, I realized that people with their dogs, small children and stroller were up at the front. Really? I ended up running through a few bushes and dodging people to get to where the runners where. Not what I was expecting. 

The first .2 of the race is downhill, then we start a slow decent until we reach the first mile. This is usually where people start dropping back. I was able to run and felt strong up the first long hill, and thankfully passed a lot of people too. We turned and went about .5 downhill. I used this as an excuse to run faster and try to get ahead of my normal pace. I was surprised again that most of the people around me were running slower on the downhill than on the uphill. Bad knees or something? I didn't get it...

There was a water station around mile 1.8 that was well stocked. At this point I was running at less than an 8:00 pace! I was pretty surprised...I was keeping pace with a girl who looked to be about 4-5 years older than me. Since there was few people in this race, it was awkward that we kept jockeying for position the rest of the race. More on her later...

We then started the dreaded HILL. Not only is this hill steep, but it is long and deceiving. You think you are at the top at one point, but really it is a false summit and you have to keep climbing. In 2008 I made it to the top but had to stop and catch my breath afterwards. It wasn't pretty! I just kept my head down and kept on going. It was nice to actually be the one who was passing others this time around! Unfortunately there was a little boy who was about 10 that flew by me....grr....

At the top of the hill there was a few people trying to catch their breath and sitting down! I even saw a guy puking at the top! I felt really bad for him, but it was pretty gross!! The last .5 was all downhill and I tried to catch my breath and go as fast as I could. I kept running back and forth with the girl that I saw earlier. I made my mind up that I would finish before her....no matter what it took. 

As we turned the last little corner we start to run through the downtown again. I was able to see the end in sight just as the girl passed me. I kicked it into high gear and sprinted past her at the very end of the race. Unfortunately that pesky 10 year old cut me off at the end as well (he must have had it in his head to beat me, haha). 

My Garmin said that I was about 25:01! This is fairly close to my 5k PR!! My goal was to get around 27:00 because it is such a difficult race, and I blew that out of the water! While walking through the end of the race, I noticed that I came in 101st....that pesky little kid robbed me of the top 100! Grr..... (UPDATE: I actually placed 100th! Yes! That little bugger took 99th......and he was under 14 years old!)

While grabbing a water and waiting for my friends to finish, I overheard the girl that was running with me during the race talking about ME! She was taking to a guy about how this girl "cut her off at the end".....um, no, I didn't do that and I just plain out beat her! Guess some people are sore losers  racers :)

Unfortunately there are no stats posted yet from the race. I was hoping to get this recap done earlier, but I was waiting on these results! Ill update if the results ever get posted.....I want to know my age group placing!

Also, on a side note, I went to a wedding later that day on the 4th of July. While talking with a group of people, one of my friends went around and introduced everyone. One of the girls looked at me and asked if I did the Fun Run earlier that day. I said yes, and she replied: 

 "you looked familiar....you beat me by one second in the race!"

Haha, whoops! It was really awkward talking to her. Apparently she does a lot of races and runs often. I don't think she was too fond of me though :) Overall, it was a great race and I took over 6 minutes off my time from 2008. I celebrated with a margarita or two afterward at the street parade :)

Hope everyone had fun on the 4th!!

UPDATE:

I placed 3rd in my age group! Woo Hoo!

www.bainbridgeyouthservices.org/funrun.php
Race Results Link

Benefits: Boys & Girls Club of Bainbridge Island

Another new half PR?

Yep, another new half marathon PR at the Seattle Rock N Roll Half this morning!

1:55:59!

Recap to come tomorrow...Im too exhausted to type it all tonight. Hope everyone had a great race, it was my favorite so far!

Bainbridge Island Half Results

Location: Bainbridge Island, WA

Chip time: 2:02:09

Garmin time: 2:02:08

Pace/mile: 9:20/mile

Overall: 83/172

Gender Place: 24/87

Age Place: 5/27

 Okay, seriously, I have no excuses....I just haven't posted the recap! No worries and nothing bad happened in this race, I am just SUPER slow this week. Not to worry, I have still been running. Just a ton going on :) Now for the recap!

As you might have seen me write about before, the Inaugural Bainbridge Island Half Marathon was last Sunday, April 25th. Located just a short ferry ride from Downtown Seattle, Bainbridge is a beautiful little island and known for its hills. There was a previous half marathon, the Toe Jam Hill Half, which has been run the past 28 years but has since changed its route and was renamed the BIHM. I am from the island, and never heard of it! Apparently it has been pretty small and not well known. Anyways, I was nervous for my hometown half and I knew the course well. Just check out the elevation if you didnt see it before:

Small graphic, but you get my point!

Anyways, I've been feeling down the past few weeks, so I didn't run on Saturday and headed over to the island. I had dinner at San Carlos Restaurant (a local Southwestern favorite) and had an awesome low-carb salad (with tons of guac and pork, my favorite!!) If you ever get a chance to go, do it! It was my perfect pre-run meal. I also had a peanut butter Builders Bar before I went to bed.

 Waiting for the start

I woke up later than a normal race day, since I knew the island well and there wouldn't be traffic. We arrived at 9 am, easily picked up the packet, tech shirt and chip and was ready to start! The start (Winslow Way and Madison Ave) was held a few blocks from the finish line (Waterfront Park). Since it was such a small race, we didn't even have a mat or anything to signal the start! A guy came over with a megaphone and announced the start. He also said that we didn't need a mat since they would "start" the chips at the same time remotely. I didn't even know they could do that!

 And we're off!

The course as I mentioned was quite hilly, with equally difficult hills and descents. We left downtown and went up an immediate slight hill on Grow. From running in the area I knew to pace myself and not burn out on this slight hill. We took a left and went on a long decent down Wyatt, which was nice. I was able to pick up the pace here and get going. After an even steeper decent down Wyatt, we turned at the head of Eagle Harbor and started a long climb to Blakely Elementary School (around mile 2.5) I was feeling great at this point and ran past quite a few guys who had to stop for a breather. One photo op below:

After we reached the Elementary School, we turned right and went down Baker hill (mile 3), which is a MASSIVE decline! I mean, it was steep! I was running next to an aid car the entire time, and was tempted to ask how fast I was going :) On a side note, the course was monitored extremely well for only 180 runners. I saw multiple police officers guiding traffic and ambulances riding along the course. It was nice to see!

Miles 4-6 were scenic and flat. I was feeling great and when I looked down at my Garmin, I was cruising at a 7:50-8:20 mile pace! That is a lot faster than I normally run, but I kept it up. We ran past the old historic Lynnwood Theater, and continued through Fort Ward State Park. The park is beautiful and has awesome views of the water (towards Bremerton) and you run through the bunkers and trees. Its a really nice area.

I dont know who these two dudes are but this is the only picture I can find :)

We then ran on the scenic South Beach drive, that is right on the water. There are some beautiful houses along this road and being RIGHT on the water was awesome. Plus it wasn't too warm with the breeze off the Sound. I was surprised by my Mom, Boyfriend and Chloe who met me at mile 6 to cheer me on! It was a huge boost for me, and nice to see a familiar face along the route. It really helped for the next horrible hill:

Toe Jam Hill! Let me just say that this picture (from the website) is NOT doing it justice! NOT AT ALL! This thing was brutal. It says that it is a 6% incline, but I think it is much steeper than that. You cant even see the bottom of the hill in the picture because it drops so steeply! I was planning on running this without stopping and slowly, and I mean super slowly, started chugging up the hill. After a hundred or so feet, I was making a snails-pace and was being passed by people walking up the hill. I gave up and realized that it was quicker and saved more energy to take long strides up the hill instead of jogging. The funny thing is that all of the other runners around me were doing the same thing! It was still tiring and I was catching my breath at the top. The nice thing was that once at the top we had almost a full mile running downhill. Still, it was tough to run so hard up hill then hard to stop yourself from slipping going downhill.

Mile 8 ran along the water again (Port Blakely) and we turned to go up Old Mill Road (or known as 3T). This was another steep hill and was equal to that of Toe Jam. I wasnt planning on walking, but I had to. I was really tired and wanted to conserve energy. There was a water stop at the top of the hill and they were handing out Hammer Gels. I ran with my trusty Gu, but I took the Hammer Gel to try at a later time. Once at the top of the hill another friendly runner started to talk with me. It was his 8th half marathon and his first time running on Bainbridge. He said it was the most beautiful course he had run on! I had to agree :) not that I'm biased or anything! He also ran in the Mercer Half and did a sub-2 hour! (Side note, I ended up beating him in this race!) It was nice to talk to someone, and we even kept talking up the hills on Old Mill and through mile 10.5. Old Mill is one of my favorite roads on the island and has a nice little view of the valley and where I used to ride horses. Just a pretty area.

We then turned and started to go back around the head of Eagle Harbor. I had another surprise and saw my Mom and Boyfriend again waiting for me! Here is an example of a hill that I didn't even think was a big deal compared to the other ones:

I was feeling good for how hard of a race it was and they got this picture of me doing a "flyby:"

Yeah, the girl behind me wasn't too impressed. I also tried to offload the extra Gu and Hammer Gels that were in my hand and ended up flinging them at the car! Sorry Mom and Bf :)

After this hill we were along the water again about to head up Wyatt (which we ran down at the beginning of the race). I saw a photog and decided to continue with my airplane theme which I dedicated to Little Bro:

Not sure if you can tell, but the ladies behind me were cracking up. You cant tell how much I was swerving to get these pics, but it was pretty funny. Yes, Im a huge dork :) Luckily they didnt seem to mind that I was totally photobombing their picture. At least they didnt seem to mind and were good sports about it!

There was a guy at the head of the bay who was cheering on the runners. As I came closer, he was actually YELLING at us! It was all encouraging, but he was really putting effort into it! I felt like he was my coach or something, yelling to go faster. We only had a mile and a half left, but most of it was a slight uphill. As we started going, I decided not to walk the last bit, and just go on up the hill. My Garmin beeped at mile 12 and I was at 1:54:00 which was a great time for all the hills and terrain, but I didnt think that I could do the last 1.1 in 6 minutes. I decided to run as fast as I could and just see what I could get.

Well, I ended up finishing at 2:02:09, which isnt a PR or even sub 2-hour, but it was by far the best race I have run. It really blew Mercer Island out of the water for difficulty and extreme hills. It was a well manned race and the few supporters out there were awesome. I wouldnt advise anyone to do this race if they havent trained for it (or if you are sick!!)

BF and I after the race

There was drinks, food and snacks after the race, but nothing exceptional (although the water stations were well stocked and had water, Gatorade and gels). The tech shirt is nice, but they had no medals to hand out (sniff sniff). I guess that's what you get when the entrance fee is only $50 and its benefiting the local Boys and Girls Club. So I guess that's okay....but I really really like medals!!

Finish line and food afterwards

A few hours after the race I received an email with all my race info. It turns out that my 2:02 is only 47 seconds off my PR! Not only that, but I placed 5th in my age group (5/27), was the 24th female to finish and was in the top 50% overall for the finishers (male and female)!! WOW, I wasn't expecting that! Ill still be chasing the sub-2, but I think its coming in my future. I did this race about 20 minutes faster than I was expecting!

More exciting news to come and a week recap on the way. Happy running and thanks for all the kind comments this week, I needed it before the race! :)

Race Results

Race Website

Picture Website

Whidbey Island Half Results

Location: Whidbey Island, WA

Official time: 2:06:50

Chip time: 2:06:31

Garmin time: 2:06:45

Pace/mile: 9:39/mile

Overall: 532/1349

Gender Place: 249/916

Age Place: 68/183

Well, the second half marathon for 2010 completed! Woo hoo! The good news is that running in the Whidbey Island Half Marathon last Sunday completed my goal for the year (running two half marathons in 2010)! The bad news is that it was really a difficult run. I'll start at the beginning....

On Saturday my Mom, Little Bro and I left to go to Whidbey Island. As you might have seen, we stopped at the Tulip Festival on the way up. It was absolutely beautiful! If you are in the PNW, it is worth going to at least once. There are fields and fields of different colored tulips all in bloom at once. My only suggestion is to arrive early, as the highway can become quite crowded with all of the traffic. Pics below (and the ones from here) are taken by Little Bro:

We then made it to the Race Expo, which was pretty small for a half and full marathon. Not many freebies, but I guess that's what you get when there are less than 4,000 people running in the entire event. Well organized and lines were short but they had already run out of the small t-shirts that I preordered! Grr! Seriously, what's the point of pre-registering if you get a shirt that doesn't fit? But I digress.....the shirts were a really nice tech fabric in short sleeves for the half, and long sleeves for the full. 

Luckily we stayed in a hotel that was right across the road from the half marathon start. Since Im not a morning person, this let me sleep in as late as possible :) Also, they allowed pets for a small fee, so Chloe my rat-cow was able to stay too. Pretty exciting stuff for her!

We arrived at the start with plenty of time to spare. I had my usual pre-race protein bar and was good to go. Since I have been sick lately, I took 2 Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom Severe an hour before the start to reduce my cold symptoms. I figured that if I was able to run on my bad hip in the Seattle Half (with 3 ibuprofen) I could run with a cold (and 2 Tylenols). Probably not a good idea.....I hate people who "fake" cold symptoms or injuries. I really don't get sick very often, and I usually think that most of it is literally "in your head." I figured most of running is a mental game, so I could run through anything.

Little Bro and I at the start

The lines were fairly long for the port-a-potties, but luckily we didn't have to go. The race started on time and we were off! Little Bro pulled out ahead of me early on, but I already figured that I wasn't really going for a sub 2 while being so sick and stressed out lately. My real goal was to hopefully beat my Seattle Half time of 2:16. I was thinking I might run even slower than that, but I just wanted to compete in general and see how it went.

Click here for a map of the route. The first 2 miles were easy and mostly flat or downhill. My Garmin beeped at mile 2 and it had only been 16 minutes! Not bad! At this point I was feeling great and we headed into a pinwheel for mile 3. I was chugging along but suddenly felt completely drained. I mean, we were running on totally flat ground and I was ready to call it a day. This was worse than my horrible 11 miler in February. I made sure that I had plenty of protein that morning and the night before, so I shouldnt have been that tired. I also had a TON of water to stay hydrated the day before. What gives?? Then I realized that it must be the cold medicine! WTH??

At mile 4 I was wobbly as we headed around Oak Harbor. Luckily the course is beautiful and runs mostly along the harbor or in view of the harbor. It was sunny, not too warm and not crowded at all - perfect running conditions and I felt like crap. Mile 5 continues to be flat through Windjammer park (which is also the finish of the half and full marathon races). Running through here felt like I had rubber for legs. I'm pretty sure that I was stumbling and swerving the entire time. I had a few funny looks from people on the course....honestly, it probably looked like I was drunk! (I wasn't, I swear!!) Yikes!

Mile 6 heads up from Oak Harbor into farmland and pastures (with views of the water still). Somewhere along this point I started to feel really sick. I mean, I wasn't sure if I needed to throw up or find a port-a-potty. I struggled up the hill and my face was probably green or ghostly white. I did not feel good. I think that a combination of the cold medicine, being over-stressed the past few weeks and over-exerting myself in the first half of the race just took a toll on my entire system. Blah.

Miles 7-9 were awful. I wanted to die. It was flat and beautiful, but I was dragging. I finally stopped to use a port-a-potty at mile 8. It was either stop for a minute (literally, only a minute) or possibly barf on one of the poor volunteers handing out GU. Also, we were running through plowed pastureland, and there was no tree or shrub to hide behind if I became sick.

I felt a bit better at that point, but had to stop again at the port-a-potties at mile 11. It was either that or get a DNF, and I wasn't about to let that happen. I have to say I was disappointment in stopping, but it only added possibly 3 minutes total to my time (I kept my Garmin running to track time). I was also worried that I might actually pass out while on the course. I was THAT lightheaded the entire time. I managed to grab another GU, but I was so nauseous that I wasn't about to force it down. I decided to just keep running and finish as soon as possible.

Trust me, Im not as happy as I look!

At mile 11.5 we started to run downhill back to Oak Harbor, so I knew we were in the homestretch. I tried to push it, but I really couldn't go very fast. I knew a PR was out the window and I really had no idea what time it was....I figured I didn't need to make myself feel worse by looking at the Garmin. Around this time a pace car drove by my. I wondered what it was then I saw a blur fly by me. The marathon leader had passed me! (Note: the marathon started an hour before us and they ran the half course as the second half of their course). Holy cow he was fast! We were going downhill and I was probably running a respectable 8 minute mile, and he was EASILY running a 5 minute mile! I turned to the guy running next to me and our jaws just dropped. Dang, I wish I was that fast!

Mile 12-13.1 was the longest mile in my life. We wound back through Windjammer Park to the finish, but I was completely spent. My official chip time ended up being 2:06:31, which is only 5 minutes slower than my Mercer Half time 3 weeks ago!

Not only was I woozy and sick, but I was pretty sick for the rest of the day too. The medal at the end did help me feel better though!

 Im a sucker for a medal!

Finishers woot-woot

I really did learn a lot from this race. In retrospect, my time was pretty good. 5 minutes slower than my PR (albeit on an easier course) really isn't that bad. I learned my lesson that you should NOT take cold medicine before running 13.1 miles, or any race in general. Please let my experience show you to not do that in the future! I also have come to respect racing, and loving good running days. I will be SURE not to take advantage of my next good running day from now on!

I also proved to myself that you can really get through anything if you put your mind to it. I should NOT have raced, but I was still able to get it done once I put my mind to it. Might have not been the smartest thing to do, but it does show how mental running can be. (Too bad it made my cold worse the past 2 days, boo) Oh well, live and learn!

On another sidenote, Little Bro broke the 2 hour mark with a time of 1:56! Good job little bro! :) And a thanks to Mom for coming out on her b-day weekend to support us!

Ill leave you with 2 pictures we snapped after the race. Unfortunately, the funny pics my Bro and I tried to take during the run were not captured. There is always next time....

 

Nice toe-touch Little Bro! That star-jump took the last bit of energy that I had. I had to sit afterwards, haha.

Happy running!

Race Results

A few images from here and here

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)

Race Results

http://www.stpatsdash.com/index.html

Benefits: Autism & Detlef Schrempf Foundation

First image via Seattle PI