Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon race report

Still feeling happy … and a little sore … from running the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon on Saturday. It was a perfect Seattle summer day: skies were Perry Como blue, nice and cool in the morning, and I never got too hot… not like earlier in the week!

personalized bibs -- I noticed that Ryan's said "Run Happy!", which I thought was because he hadn't personalized it, but he said, "I wasn't creative enough to put my name on it…"

Worked the expo for a few hours on Thursday -- pretty quiet after the initial lunchtime flurry, but the short shift (4 hours), fun job (prize booth!), and good teammates (Emiko and Summer) made the time pass quickly. I'm still so impressed by the graphics for this race -- super cute. How cute? So cute that -- after running THIRTEEN RnR races, I bought my FIRST piece of official race merch. To be fair, much of that is because the last thing I need is more running gear, and I rarely buy apparel at other races. I haven't even bought any clothes at a runDisney race since 2010. I'm more of a pint glass / souvenir pin sort of gal.

I bought the tank on the bottom right -- AND wore it during the race!

Saturday morning was lovely and cool -- I wore a "disposable" t-shirt over my clothes -- and we rode the D-Line to the Seattle Center with a bunch of runners. How bewildering for the "ruggles" to see so many ponytailed runners piling on to the bus at 5:49 a.m.

(If people who do magic are different than muggles who don't, then people who run are different than ruggles who don't…)

The Seattle Center grounds looked great -- lots of nice, big activations from the sponsors. We followed the crowd and headed into the Armory, where we roamed around a little before finding a quiet corner to perch in. Eventually we made our way to the Brooks VIP Porta Potty line, where we ran into our Brooks pals Ryan, David, Jenn, and Tara.

Wil -- being foreign -- is always a little bemused? befuddled? annoyed? by the line sorting at the potty. Being asked "number 1 or number 2" when getting in the men's line always stops him briefly.

Brooks flew the "run happy" banner over the race … this time no one got escorted out in handcuffs...

We headed out to the corrals -- SO MANY CORRALS -- and found our spot. We were with the Wear Blue, Run to Remember group -- reading the names and seeing the pictures of the fallen soldiers always makes me weepy. When our corral made it to the start line, there was a brief pause while the names of the men and women being honored were read.

reading the names of the fallen

Amusing -- we had been sent an email the day before the race telling us about a "Race Day Surprise!" and to "Get Excited, And Don't Be Startled At The Start Tomorrow!" Why?

Because the Space Needle -- "for the first time ever"! -- would be "transformed into the world's largest starter's pistol" and a round of "thunderous comets" would be fired from the 200' level. Maybe people get spooked by fireworks… I don't know. Or maybe I'm accustomed to fireworks to send off at least the initial corral. But, anyway, they warned us multiple times through the morning, which was pretty funny.

The wheelers set off at 6:55 -- I just keep thinking how AWFUL some of this course would be in a wheelchair! Then a rock guitar version, a la Hendrix, of the Star-Spangled Banner (nice!) -- and then, after ANOTHER WARNING NOT TO BE ALARMED, the "comets" went off and the first corral was set loose.

the bluest skies you've ever seen, etc., etc.

I really enjoyed the corral time -- it was a gorgeous day, with the Space Needle dazzling white against the blue blue sky… just kept smiling and wanting to shout "THIS IS MY CITY!!! WELCOME TO MY CITY!!!"

(r)un happy race faces

I did miss having my friend John Bingham on hand to kick things off; though the announcers, a man and a woman, were okay. The man even said, "Nice to see you, to see you nice", though it was lost on 99.9997% of the crowd. Brucie never really entered our consciousness over here.

3, 2, 1...

Then we were off -- lots of elbow room due to the small corrals, which I love. I couldn't quite remember how we would be getting to the stadiums, so was a little surprised to be zigzagging onto 5th, but it's nice to run under the monorail, even if I didn't see any trains whooshing overhead. Up up up to the crest of 5th, then down down down to the ID, left and over to MLK, and then eventually out to the lakes. Somewhere along this stretch we ran past the Seafair water stop, staffed by CLOWNS and PIRATES and PRINCESSES and Sarah from runclub, which gave me a boost of energy.

Also nice to see the Dude … well, both of my favorite running dudes!

two dudes

The stretch along Lake Washington -- right after the half/full split and re-merge -- is super beautiful… especially since it's the "Wear Blue, Run to Remember" mile. Lots of people proudly standing with American flags and photographs of fallen soldiers, most of whom were shouting words of encouragement.

RnR did a good job of coning off the road, leaving the right side clear for marathoners and the left side for half marathoners. This made it a little crowded through this stretch for us… but was the right thing to do to keep the path clear for the faster marathoners. It had the side effect of putting us across the street and a lane away from the flag bearers -- which meant that, while I got choked p, I didn't have to stop because I couldn't breathe from crying...

Then came the second worst part of the course: that silly steep hill up to I-90. I cannot imagine how difficult that would be for the wheelchair athletes to race up. It's bad enough on foot!

The I-90 tunnel is so hard for me. Something about the muggy, airless interior, the tilted roadways, always makes me feel woozy. Having a DJ with strobe lights didn't help! So I dropped to a walk - there was nothing else to be done.

Not long after entering the tunnel, a fire truck came through. Not long after that we saw the pace vehicle (cool!) and then the lead bike and the lead runner. SO FAST. We all whooped and cheered for him. We didn't see another runner the entire time we were in the tunnel… though we did see a woman with a hand crank racing wheelchair after a couple of minutes. (Still not sure whether there were other wheelers… she was the only one we saw.)

Toward the far end of the tunnel there was a person down, surrounded by medics and others, stretchers, and lots of gear. I try not to look more than a glance to make sure the person is being attended to, since it's someone's private hell and I don't want to intrude. It didn't look good, but I tried to send good vibes (as much as I had any…) as we ran by on the far side of the lane.

I had reminded my pal Kerstin of my "RNRSEA Pro-Tip" before the race: hydrate up before you leave the tunnel! I don't know what it is, but I always struggle on the ramps to downtown (miles 9ish - 11ish). The sun, the ramps, the "so near and yet so far" feeling… and the lack of water! I always think they should put a water stop right where you exit the ramps … Maybe I just psych myself out? But this year, I drank water and Gatorade, the breeze was quite refreshing, and I ended up feeling better than usual. So that was good. Or maybe it was the Elvis impersonator at the end of the ramp, singing along, karaoke style, with Elvis classics from his gold lamé-draped DJ booth.

We headed up 2nd Avenue, happily grabbing water on the way, before turning left and going down the steep hill at Seneca to get on the top of the viaduct. This is my FAVORITE part of Rock 'n' Roll Seattle -- or any race that gives the opportunity to run on top of it. I love that it comes at the end of the race -- it makes me so happy to run up there in the sunshine with the gorgeous view of the water. Another huge energy boost in the final mile or so!

We did see someone who had stumbled, fallen, and hit his head. He was sitting in the middle of the road, surrounded by helpers and medics, looking a little dazed, blood trickling down his forehead.

Then into the 99 tunnel -- woozy again -- but we kept moving. As we emerged, someone said "three quick turns and you're on Mercer!" Down into the underpass, up the final hill (which always seems Very, Very Long because you can't really see the finish), and then we grabbed each other's hands and sprinted across the finish line in 2:27:29.

One very odd thing -- not being stopped by John for a post-race interview!

We worked our way through the finish gauntlet … medal, Gatorade, chocolate milk (HOW GOOD IS CHOCOLATE MILK?!?!), some snacks … and popped out by the fountain. It was just after 10, so we decided to go up to the Mecca to meet up with Kornfield and the Han… drifting back to the Center to watch Mudhoney at 11… and then over to McHugh's for a post-race pint around 11:30. While sitting there I glanced at my phone and discovered that Charley had been sending texts … oops! Sorry we missed the chance to celebrate with the fam!

Mudhoney rocking in the morning

cider at McHugh's

Overall, a fun race… and of course we already signed up for 2016. (You can currently register in the presale for Rock 'n' Roll Seattle 2016 for a mere $50+fees for the half, or $55+fees for the full -- a screaming deal! -- through midnight on Sunday, June 21.) Oddly enough, we didn't bump into any runners we knew on the course, at the finish, or after the race. We almost always randomly see old friends out there :).

Things I loved:
- the viaduct, of course!
- the Elvis impersonator we got to pass twice
- plenty of water and volunteers at the stops
- Clowns! Pirates! Princesses! at the Seafair stop
- the big fat medal

2015 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon medal

Room for improvement:
- I'd still like to see that water stop shifted closer to the ramps…
- I should probably TRAIN at some point for a race again…

But, seriously, Rock 'n' Roll Seattle is a great race -- one of my favorites. And I plan to keep running it every year, as long as I can.

101 Tasks in 1001 Days - 250 days in

I wish I could tell you that I'm ahead of schedule -- that in the first 250 days I have completed a quarter of my tasks.

But I can't.

Part of it is the way I wrote the tasks -- some of them, such as #77: "Prepare 1 new recipe / month" won't be "done" until the final few days. Either that, or I'll miss a month, and the task is incomplete.

Part of it is that I am just not revisiting the list to see what I can or should be working on.

But let's take a moment to highlight the 19 things I have completed:

☑	1.	Finish my list of 101 tasks -- finished 11/13/14!
☑	4.	Update the 50 States Challenge page
☑	11.	Participate in a blog hop - completed 9/30/14!
☑	12.	Instagram for the blog
☑	13.	Add an Instagram widget
☑	14.	Set up a new Twitter handle - complete (okay, not a new handle, but I reactivated the @teamwilsun handle, so I'm calling it good)
☑	87.	Add a "countdown" (1/101, 2/101, etc.) widget to the blog
☑	19.	Fix needlepoint frame
☑	28.	Purge craft cabinet
☑	29.	Design and complete a "dad" memory craft
☑	92.	Make Christmas card tree
☑	33.	Hike Rim to Rim in the Grand Canyon - completed 10/4/14
☑	42.	Organize my retirement accounts - completed 3/27/15
☑	94.	Update my address book
☑	95.	Apply for Global Entry program - approved 4/17/15!
☑	57.	Run a sub 30-minute 5K - completed 11/02/14!
☑	72.	Watch all of West Wing - completed 11/30/2014
☑	73.	Watch all 6 Star Wars films in one day - completed on "ThanksGEEKing", 11/27/2014
☑	84.	Make cheese at home -- FIVE kinds so far! (Parmesan, mozzarella, feta, paneer, ricotta

That means I'm a bit short… however, there are some other tasks where I am progressing well:

☐	6.	Blog 150 times - as of today, I have made 58 blog posts -- so I'm slightly ahead of schedule here
☐	17.	Finish "honey" cross stitch by March 2015 -- well, I didn't make the time part of the task, but I'm still working diligently at the piece, and when I finish (June?) I'm still taking credit for it.
☐	76.	Visit 5 new museums or exhibits -- 3/5, with more to come soon
☐	77.	Prepare 1 new recipe / month -- 9/9 so far!! If/when I do this project again, I think I'll set it up as try x new recipes, rather than 1/month.
☐	88.	Take cheese courses at River Valley Cheese -- took the first one on 11/22/14, and am waiting for a class that features a cheese I really want to learn.

Finally, here are some tasks where I am slowly progressing…

☐	2.	Create an "about us" page -- this content is written, I just haven't sat down and crafted the page. I hope to wrap this up within the next couple of weeks
☐	3.	Create an "about us" widget for the blog -- this is coded … though of course it doesn't make sense to add it to the blog without having anywhere to land it on!
☐	36.	Make our wills -- we have a great new benefit at work which includes a service to write your own will. Okay, maybe I haven't progressed beyond researching that we have an online tool… but that's farther than I have come in 46 years!
☐	37.	Make my advance directive (5 Wishes) -- I actually reviewed the one I wrote nearly 10 years ago, and for the most part, it hasn't changed. I'd still like to sit down and get new ones written and witnessed.

The mathletes among you will notice that I'd only be "on track" if I had actually completed all of those tasks. So I'm falling behind (I hear the voice of the Master of the Crucible from Destiny as I type that).

I feel like it's time to recommit. In 115 days I'll be at the first anniversary of the project. Can I complete 20 more tasks? Unlikely, since I haven't completed 20 so far! But I think I can pick up some low-hanging fruit, including some of the blog goals (WordPress shadow blog and about me page), fitness goals (the pushups, the mile, touching my dang toes), some craft goals (the bracelets), adventure goals (stand up paddle boarding, camping), some very timely GOHIO goals (resume, LinkedIn, Parachute), summery House Proud goals (stain the patio, plant annuals), and even some "new" goals (slack line! hula hooping!).

Words of encouragement, tough love, etc. are welcomed….

Beat the Bridge 8K race report

Beat the Bridge is one of Seattle's great races. But somehow I have never run it. Looking over my race calendar, it looks as though we've been out of town most years -- Sage Rat Run in 2014, Rock 'n' Roll Portland in 2013, Bay to Breakers in 2011 … and I think there was a Bats Day in there as well.

In the beginning, the idea behind Beat the Bridge was this: start the race precisely at 8:30, raise the University Bridge precisely at 8:50. So you had to run the two miles to the bridge in 20 minutes or less to "beat the bridge". Those who didn't beat the bridge had a band and prizes while they waited for the bridge to lower again. I still remember my friend Brenda telling me about the first year she ran BtB -- and how she needed a potty break right at the beginning and was, in her words, "the first person to be stopped on the bridge". (I told her she needed to "beat the bladder" next year….)

But in recent years, partially because the race has grown, and partially because it's nicer to have people feel like they succeeded, the bridge is now raised 20 minutes after the last person crosses the start line… so the bridge isn't actually raised for 35 minutes or so -- giving most people ample time to BEAT THE BRIDGE.

Still, it's a fun premise, inspired me to inspire the name of another local race (ahem), and it raises over a million dollars for the JDRF every year. So it was far time that we run it.

I "won" a race entry at a silent auction at work, and in addition Brooks employees were offered free entries, so Wil and I rolled up on Sunday morning, not sure what to expect. Because there are so many people who participate, they now divide up the race: there is a 4-mile family walk, a 1-mile kids dash, and the 8K wheelers and runners. Each course shares the starting area, but then splits so that they don't reconnect until the finish areas inside Husky Stadium. I love this, because it keeps congestion down on the courses.

I
t was a little hectic at the start. It wasn't clear how/where to enter the starting chute, so a lot of people --  Team Wil-Sun included -- just climbed over the railings. Because they moved the start arch between the Kid's Dash and the 8K, people moved to the start from the front, rather than from the back. So there were repeated calls to take three steps back, three steps back, three steps back…

There were lots and lots of people behind us:

And lots of people in front of us…

So many people, in fact, that they decided to do small "waves"… apparently so that they could allow traffic to ease at the 520 offramp. This gave us time to capture our race faces:

and after several minutes, we found ourselves at the start of the next wave. One odd thing -- they didn't cut us off very cleanly (and admittedly very difficult thing to do!), so we were left standing on the timing mat for a minute or two, and could here it pinging away with all of our chips. Oh well -- the point was to BEAT THE BRIDGE, which, given the fact that we knew they would break up the crowd behind us as well, we knew we had plenty of time.

Still, for our own goal, we wanted to get to the bridge within 20 minutes of when we crossed the line. I found this surprisingly challenging -- in part because of the hordes of people, and in part because I simply don't run fast anymore.

We rounded the corner past the Brooks tent -- with Tara and Stevie waving like mad at us -- and ran across the bridge in just under 19 minutes. Woot! Bridge beaten:

Not much to tell about the rest of the race, other than that it remained crowded. We held hands and scooted across the line in Husky Stadium … and were astounded by the crowds. We made a beeline for water, then the exit, and I took this shot from the stands. Lots and lots of people!!!

Really nice day for a run -- cool weather, no rain -- and a great cause. I admit that I probably won't run it again, but I'm happy to know that I can BEAT THE BRIDGE!!!

Tinker Bell Half Marathon race report

Woke up early -- again -- but felt reasonably spry. I feel like we left a little later than on Saturday, but there were a lot more people moving around. But we had to hustle, because the national anthem was sung while we were still moving into our corral.

I had been assigned A (ha ha ha), but moved back to B to run with Wil. I still think it's really weird that they discriminate like that, but what can you do. (Again, can you imagine the uproar if at, say, the Star Wars Half they decided to make corral A men only because it's a men-focused race?)

in our corral

Tink starting the half marathon

The wheelers were off, quickly followed by A, and then B. Rudy gave us a "run happy!" shout-out as we passed the stage, and off we went.

This race was something of a blur ... we kept up a decent pace at first, but were surprisingly leg-tired and had to slow to a walk for the last few miles. The course started by winding (and winding and winding) through the parks. Which was fun and amusing, but oddly enough I got tired of it. Sometimes the looping around is a little frustrating. That said, it's still nicer than the tile merchants of Anaheim, so I shouldn't grumble!!!

One HUGE highlight -- somewhere around the 5-mile mark, we ran through a gigantic stretch of Red Hat Ladies, who were whooping it up. Oh my goodness, I love the Red Hats. We ran along laughing and smiling and blowing kisses at the ladies. I cannot wait to be one myself. (And I think I have to encourage Mom to join a group -- those Red Hat Ladies are amazing!)

When we finally (seriously, like 150 yards later) passed them all, I had to stop because I was totally choked up and couldn't breathe. So awesome!

castle pic!

We then popped off property and into the quiet neighborhood (shhh! neighbors sleeping!) to run on some long, straight roads. We ran past the Pond (where the Ducks practice), past Muzeo (where we once saw two great exhibits: one on Victorian art, one on Steampunk), past the STRANGERS WITH CANDY (which I had been desperately looking forward to, because Red Vines are one of my favorite things to eat on a run), and then we turned back to the parks.

Did I mention that today we were dressed like this?

photo by Charles Hutchins

photo by Eli Madero

Yeah, that was awesome. We got a lot of love from spectators, castmembers, and of course the high school bands / cheer squads / dance squads on the course. (For the record, we don't know the people who took those photos of us … but they were posted on a Facebook group.) It helped, since we were both feeling pretty low. So happy when we passed mile 12, our spirits lifted by a super friendly Navy guy, along with some other runners who told us they had been following us since Disneyland and loved watching us run.

I love the location of the finish lines for these races -- much, much nicer placement, since there's no strange loop around a big parking lot. You just come out of the California Adventure backstage, cross the road, and you're in the home stretch. We crossed the line in 2:37:01 -- a bit slower than we might have hoped, but probably faster than we deserve!!!

Again, we had great costumes on our fellow runners -- a few other Tiggers, a really nice Donald, a super-cute Piglet, a stretching room tightrope walker, and the cast of Toy Story to name a few.

I don't remember seeing all that many characters, but we loved seeing the Lost Boys by the carousel; the fox looked at Wil and said, "heh heh, you've got Pooh on your head… heh heh".

We finished, picked up or FOURTH Tinker Bell Half Marathon medal, and then made our way to the challenge area to pick up our Pixie Dust Challenge medal. Big smiles:

Because of SNACKBOXGATE, we weren't sure what to expect… but clearly Disney had put dozens of people on a big room and had them open all 16,000 snack boxes, discard the applesauce, and separate all the other items out. (Bless you, folks, for your hard work!!!) So we passed through the finisher area and were handed a small bag with one item in it, then made our way along a line of tables where volunteers handed us other items from large bins. But they were super efficient, and there weren't a lot of other folks going through, so it went quickly. 

We considered earning a bit of race karma and cheering our fellow runners on… but the parks were beckoning so we made our way to Disneyland via Downtown Disney. 

We went immediately -- do not pass Go, do not collect $200 -- to the Haunted Mansion to meet the newest resident. Slight scare: we got in the line just as a cast member went running down to close the gate, and she then announced that playful spooks have interrupted the tours, but that we were welcome to wait and they were hoping to be back up and running within 20 minutes. We had a little time to kill, so decided to stick it out… and were rewarded with only a 5-minute wait… which I filled by eating most of the contents of my snack bag. :)

Super thrilled to have the chance to finally meet… the Hatbox Ghost!!!

After that we were treated to a private boat on Pirates of the Caribbean, where we were "hit" by the air cannon (LOVE THAT). Then we slowly made our way into Critter Country, where we rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, poked around in the Pooh's Corner shop (no, I still can't bring myself to buy one of the candy apples…), and then… it was time for this:

This was the longest, most sincere hug I've ever had from a character. It was preceded by Pooh and Tigger emerging from backstage, spotting us, and then freezing and pointing at us before running over to greet us. I should point out that we weren't the first in line, but it was clearly Very Important for Tigger and Pooh to say hello. 

When it was actually our turn, I spent what seemed like a very generous time with him -- he admired my medals, my tail, "ran" with me, and we posed for lots of pictures… which lots of other people also took, which felt a little odd, but whatever. 

Wil joined in, and Tigger made us all bounce. Yeah, it's hard to tell, but trust me, we're bouncing here.

Then it was time to move on. Tigger gave us both big hugs and sent us on to see Pooh around the corner. 

Pooh was thrilled to see Wil, first admiring his ears:

Then making this face:

And then both "running":

He then motioned for me to step in and we took a quick group photo.

I'm pretty sure there's no way to ever top these photos. :)

A bit later in the day, we did cross paths with another Pooh Corner resident, courtesy of the Springtime Roundup:

Rabbit was slightly perturbed that we hadn't donned bunny ears rather than our Pooh and Tigger headgear, but still reluctantly posed for a photo. 

The rest of the day is, admittedly, a bit of a blur… involving a trip to Alerto's, a swim, fresqourbons on Suz's balcony, a nap, and then returning to the parks from 6pm to midnight.

We are planning, of course, to register for the 5th Tinker Bell Half Marathon (May 8, 2016) when it opens on August 11, 2015. After all, we're legacy runners! Who else is in?