Seattle Zombie Run race report

Busy weekend! Okay, so it’s Tuesday night and I’m just getting down to writing up the weekend events…

Friday night we went to a little place called Embellished in Edmonds to (attempt to) paint “Starry Night”. Yeah, maybe the fact that I hadn’t painted since… junior high? … should have told me that I shouldn’t start with a Van Gogh masterpiece? Anyway, this is the result:

Starry Night (on the Prairie)

I’m actually pretty happy with it. Suz’s is MUCH NICER.

Anyway, Saturday morning Wil and I ran the Zombie Run in Magnuson Park. Weeks and weeks ago (months and months?) I bought a deal on Zozi for $25 that got both of us in to the race. Why not?

Again, this is the summer of “weird little races” – so a Zombie Run seemed like a great addition to the list.

We arrived a bit early at the park – our “check-in” time, as humans, was a highly civilized 10 am… but being Team Wil-Sun, we got there early… But all that meant was that we got free parking equidistant from the park exit and the race start, we checked in and got our bibs and packets in 2 minutes, and then were able to just hang out and relax for an hour.

Packets were nicely thought out: a shirt (white, sigh), a “zombie survival pack” string bag, a “life belt” and three balloons, and a very funny stretchy terrycloth headband. As usual, I laugh when I see bib numbers at an untimed event… especially when I’m not sure there were course photographers…

We got our stuff, took it back to the car, and got our stuff ready. We inflated our life balloons properly… not just adding a teensy amount of air, the idea being that we could make them harder to pop. C’mon people, play the game right. Whenever I saw people with tiny little balloons, I thought “What tiny lives you have.”

Wil ready to run!

Life balloon (latex free!)

Oh, and of course I can’t forget this… a zombie squirrel. Well, maybe mummified squirrel:

We milled around before the run started. I was surprised at how small the event seemed, though I will say it did seem well organized. Creepy music was playing over the PA, and busloads of zombies were being driven away from the check-in hangar to be distributed around the course.


A few minutes before 11 a helicopter flew over. People seemed to think it was a news helicopter, but it clearly wasn’t – no branding. But boy oh boy do people like the idea of getting on the tv news… (So weird!) The entire time we were running, the helicopter circled overhead, lending a slightly creepy, intense feeling to the day. (Honestly, this was cool. I promise. )

Starting chute -- note the life balloons on the humans

We got into the starting chute and waited. Apparently check-in was taking longer than expected (oh, humans, when they say to arrive at 10, please don’t arrive at 10:55… ). A blood-splattered scientist took up a megaphone and started to tell us about the outbreak… a load of chemicals were spilled, which triggered a zombie virus. Or something like that. We were told that there would be “safe zones” at each mile, where we could recharge our life balloons and get some water before continuing on.

Some more creepy music, a few more buzzes from the helicopter, and then we were sent out to fend for ourselves…

Race Face!!!!

The first kilometer or so we just trotted along. Possibly my favorite part of the run was this sign:

A little ways past the sign we came to what I had, in my mind, imagined as a flipped tanker truck, but was actually a UHaul rental pickup and some large plastic barrels on the ground next to it… the chemical spill. Oh. But they had two “workers” next to it with megaphones, imploring everyone to turn back because there were zombies ahead, and warning everyone about the danger.

Being brave… or foolish… we continued on. As we entered a little patch of trees, we saw them – our first zombies. The path was pretty narrow and the runners were still really bunched up, but the zombies weren’t too aggressive and it was easy for us to avoid them. But I could hear the popping of life balloons as we darted from side to side to avoid the zombies.

As we continued along, there were more and more clumps of zombies along the trail. I managed to keep all my balloons up to the first safe zone, though Wil lost one in a wide space with a lot of fast-moving zombies. This was the best part of the course, I think – lots of fast zombies in a large space with what looked like airplane tail fins – the zombies and runners could hide a bit.

Humans who lost their lives pretty much stopped running and just walked until they reached a safe zone and could get more life. I'm not gonna lie -- sometimes we used these dead humans to block the zombies...

life-less humans

At the first safe zone Wil picked up a replacement balloon and we slurped down some water. It was getting hot – almost 11:30 by this point – and I was weirdly sweaty. Maybe because of the sweatband???


We headed out and immediately were set upon by a horde of zombies. I had my hair in a ponytail and while a zombie was grabbing for a balloon, he got a fistful of hair instead. OUCH!!! Now, I almost always have 2 or 3 extra hairbands on my wrist. Today? None. Dangit. When we got to a slightly less zombied zone I tried to just knot it on top of my head, with little success. A more secure up-do would have to wait till the next safe zone…

Wil lost his life balloons, but managed to scavenge a bit of life when we saw an unpopped balloon on the ground. I lost two of three before we made it to the second safe zone. We were allowed one balloon each in the safe zone, I had some more water, and then knotted my hair and tried to secure it with the one hairband I had.


Then we were back in it – with just over a mile to go to safety (aka the finish line) and two life balloons each. The paths were narrow, and riddled with zombies. We approached a tunnel. Outside a man in combat fatigues stood with a megaphone telling everyone that there were heavy concentrations of zombies ahead. As we tried to get through the narrow tunnel, we both lost our remaining life balloons. But, I think, we died heroically so that our fellow runners might live. At one point Wil let out a bloodcurdling “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!”, which made all the zombies – and a lot of humans – freeze. Ha!

The remaining kilometer was more gentle for us because we didn’t need to keep sprinting or dodging. I actually managed to take a few zombie pics. Best zombie of the day? The sweet one handing out flowers. I assume he had been a vegetarian when he was a human…

We noticed that very few humans had any life balloons left as we hit the home stretch. One woman had one stuffed under her shirt. Yeah, okay honey, so you “survived”, but was that really the point?

It was hot, we were antsy, and most people were still on the course when we finished… so we decided to just head home. We did, however, stop at the Violet Sweet Shoppe on the way home since we were over on that side of town. So very yum!

Nice things about this race: clever swag bags, efficient packet pickup, nice additional merch. I also feel like I got a good workout because there was a lot of short sprints and side-to-side motion. Lots of stuff I don’t do all that often. Oh, and the sweet headband was hilarious.

Room for improvement: I believed the hype. I thought it would be more built-out than it was. I honestly expected a tanker truck on its side. Yeah, okay, I now realize that this was unrealistic. But still. I wanted a more immersive experience.

Next weekend Suz and I are doing Run For Your Lives as zombies – can’t wait to see what it’s like on the other team!

Run 10 Feed 10

Run 10 Feed 10 is a running event with both actual races and a virtual component. The premise is simple -- run 10K, and donate 10 meals in your local community. The "races" are being held in September and October in New York City, San Francisco, and Chicago. In addition to the races, a growing number of "fun runs" are being held across the country, including here in Seattle, Boston, LA, and Miami. I would have signed up for the Seattle race on September 28, but I'll be in Illinois that day running the Alpine Races Half Marathon.

Luckily for me, there's also a virtual option -- a "run my own 10K". I signed up for that, and will dedicate the first half of the half marathon to Run 10 Feed 10. For my $28 registration fee, I'll receive one of these sweet "feed bags":
Of course, most importantly, I'll also be donating ten meals. So it's a huge win.
I remember running a 5K around Green Lake several years ago... as the several hundred runners gathered, a woman came up to us and said, "So... what is this race?" We told her the name, and she said, "Oh... cool.. what does it raise money for?"

And it struck me... it didn't raise money for anything... well, other than the event organizers...

I'm not gonna lie -- I don't always race for charity. In fact, I rarely do. But all else being equal, I like to do what I can, when I can.

It's easy to get involved, whether you want to join one of the races or fun runs, or run a 10K on your own. Just go to www.run10feed10.com to learn more.

Torchlight Run 5K race report

The Torchlight Run is a Seattle tradition -- one of the highlights of the local running calendar. I had only ever run it once... though I did register for it a couple of years ago and ended up bailing as it was the night we got home from the Alaska Marathon cruise...
Brooks is one of the main sponsors, so employees get to run for free. Free race? Yeah, I'm in!
The race is always held the night of the Torchlight Parade, and starts an hour before the parade. The course has been changed --improved, frankly j-- from the previous time I ran it, so the runners run down the parade route and back on the glorious Viaduct. This race is quite possibly perfect for me -- you get a mile or so of cheering crowd, get to high-five kids, and then you get to run on the top of the Viaduct. Oh, and it starts at 6:30 pm, so you don't have to get up early!
Suz and I decided to run it together. We left her car downtown, found Eric and Grace on the parade route and left her bag with them,and then headed to the Seattle Center. First we stopped to see the ladiesin the Brooks tent, and picked up a sweet tattoo:

Then we pretty much just milled around until the start... once we took the traditional pre-race photo, of course!

(as Suz commented later, she was already red, and the race hadn't started!)
The race starts with a relatively steep downhill... which, of course, we had to run up at the end. But never mind that! A few turns and we joined the parade route! Lots of cheering fans, lots of kids standing at the edge of the road hoping for high fives. Did I mention I love this race?
We ran the first mile, and spotted Eric and Grace in the crowd. They cheered wildly, and snapped this awesome photo:

quoting Suz: "you look really chipper"

We continued along the parade route, then turned down the hill to get on the Viaduct. As we reached 2nd, we (and the rest of the pack) were stopped... by cops... to let buses through. WHAT???!?!?!? That was weird. But we weren't in it for time, and were headed on our way pretty quickly.
Then up onto the Viaduct, where the 8K split to the left and we turned right to head back to the start. Oh, Viaduct, how I love thee! Another gorgeous night in the Emerald City:

angelic!!!

I'm not gonna lie, we dawdled on the Viaduct. It's just so nice up there, and such a nice night... But then it was time to get moving. We exited the V before the tunnel, and then ran down Western. Suz was flagging a bit, which meant I went into ultra-perky mode. I did tell her that I often am the one who fades, and that Wil has to get perky... and that I know how annoying it is. :) But I still kept pushing her, and she responded. (Yay Suz!)
We walked up the big steep hill at Denny, then ran again on the flat toward the finish. Another steep hill remained, which we walked, but once we got to the apex we started running again to the line. Yay!
After the race we got some water and snacks, and then went our separate ways -- Suz to meet up with Eric and Grace to watch the parade, me to walk to the bus stop and go home. On the way to the bus stop I walked past the parade floats all waiting to go -- and lots and lots of princesses in their sparkly tiaras. My favorite moment was when a little girl walked up to a very sparkly lady on a horse and asked who she was. The lady said, "We're the Ellensburg Rodeo Royalty!", which made me happy. I mean, who wants to be a Daffodil Princess when you can be a Rodeo Queen?
The next race is the Race the Reserve Half Marathon in Coupeville on August 10!

100 days till the Wine and Dine Half Marathon!!

We signed up for the Wine and Dine Half Marathon months and months ago, deciding that it would make for a great anniversary present for the two of us. I mean, if bronze is the traditional anniversary gift, a race medal should probably fit, right?
I've got several other half marathons between now and the Wine and Dine -- including three new states! -- but this is the race I'm really looking forward to. Why? Because Disney puts on a great race, of course... and because we'll get a nice vacation out of it.
I also like the idea of a night race -- even if I worry a little about how to prepare for one! In a lot of ways, we're lucky, since we're coming from the West Coast and arriving the day before the race. That won't give us much time to adjust to East Coast time, so 10pm (the start time for the half marathon) will feel a lot more like 7pm. Even if we start in a late corral, we will be done long before "10pm" (1am, that is...), and even if we stay at the post-race party until the bitter end, we'll still be leaving at "1am" (4am, in Florida...). It's payback for all of those races where we had to get up at midnight to be on a shuttle at 1am to start running at 4am...
Me being me, I've made a plan for race day... Our goal is to get to the expo on the Friday night, but that of course depends on how long it takes us to get out of the airport (and assumes that our flight will be on time!). But we can also go to the expo on Saturday morning, if need be. We have reservations for a late lunch - 2pm - at Tony's Town Square Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom. Pasta? Check. Amusing? Check. Lady and the Tramp theme? CHECK!!!
After lunch we'll either wander around Magic Kingdom for a little while, or possibly just head back to the hotel and lounge by the pool for a couple of hours. Maybe even a nap? Then we're off to the races...

Randomness from the walking commute

Since we moved to our new (temporary) office space in the U District, I have been walking to and/or from work most days. A couple of days a week I even run in. It's so nice to spend the hour walking rather than 45 minutes driving. Of course, it's summer now... we'll see how I feel when the rains come in November!

Anyway, today while walking home I had two very different, and unexpected exchanges. 

#1 - While walking up a hill in a not particularly busy area, I noticed a small group of young men walking toward me. 

Guy: How're YOU doin'?

Me: Fine, thanks, you?

Guy: Cool. Umm, hey, are you, umm, walking for the HEALTH?

Me: (surprised) Oh! No... just walking home from work. 

Guy: Well, all I can say is, well, you look GOOD.

Me: Aww, thanks!

Guy: No problem. 

#2 - While walking along a busy sidewalk, next to a sidewalk cafe, a man walks toward me and as I get close to him says:

WOULD YOU NOTICE ME IF I PUT MY #*CK IN YOU EAR?!?!

Exchange #1, unexpectedly nice. Exchange #2, unexpectedly weird. I did wonder if maybe he was wearing an earpiece and was talking to someone else... Who knows. Very odd. 

That's the magic of the walking commute. Sometimes things are delightful, sometimes things are weird. And sometimes you see a pink bunny painted on a garage door. 

Color in Motion 5K race report

I remember the first time I heard about a "color run" -- an event where you run a 5K while being gradually covered in different colors of bright powder. I had recently started working at Brooks and thought, wow, what a great event for Brooks to sponsor. I mean, can you imagine if the "blue" station was all Brooks?

Unfortunately we were also then sponsoring the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series -- unfortunate in that our events budget was totally tapped out for the year -- though the head of marketing thought it sounded fun.

Fast forward a few years, and it seemed like everyone was holding "fun" runs of one sort or another. In the meantime, they somehow became a divisive issue in running... Apparently, "real runners" don't run these sort of runs. In fact, according to The Color Run -- who I believe invented the color run idea, and are holding 100 events in 2013 -- 60% of their participants are doing their first 5K.

Color runs, mud runs, foam runs, zombie runs... what's so offensive to "real runners"? One thing might be that most of these events aren't timed. And maybe "real runners" only care about time? I say, the more the merrier. Get people out there and moving -- whether at a walk, a jog, or a 4-minute mile. And if to entice people out you give them a party along the way? Awesome!

That said... I had never run any sort of "fun" race. Sure, I'd run a few 5Ks, but most of them were at the beginning of my running life. I just don't enjoy them enough -- I like the feeling of achievement after a half marathon.... Besides, for a 5K, I spend waaaaay more time getting to the race, getting parked, and waiting for the start than I do actually running the race. (And I am decidedly NOT fast...)

So this year I decided to pick out a bunch of different types of "fun" run to do. In my race calendar you'll see I have a color run, a mud run, a zombie run or two, and others I'm hoping to add in. Why not? I'm up for it!

Last Saturday Team Wil-Sun ran the Color in Motion 5K, held down in Tacoma. Yes, it was an awful long way to go for a 5K, but it seemed like fun and the date worked for us both.

Image courtesy the Color in Motion 5K

I have to admit I didn't know what to expect when we arrived -- early -- at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.  I wanted to get there early so we could pick up our packet, since we couldn't drive all the way down to T-town on the Friday night for the official packet pickup. But we got parked, got in the fast-moving line, and exchanged our "tickets" for a bag containing a bib, a white "Color in Motion 5K" t-shirt, a couple of temporary tattoos, and a wristband. We then went back to the car to relax... and customize our shirts. (Yeah, I brought sewing scissors, didn't you?)

We passed the 90 minutes before the start by going across the street to Fred Meyer for some random, early-morning shopping. We weren't the only "color chasers" to be milling about the store! We also had a look at the orange color station -- a few dozen yards before the finish line:

all clean... an hour before the start

tubs of color!

squeeze bottles full of color

But eventually we headed back to the car, and then we made our way to the start. As usual, there were super long lines for the porta-potties... until we went over to the start, which was the front of the stadium, and discovered that the stadium bathrooms were open. Sweet!

pre-race photo (you don't often see me in white!)

We went and stood next to the starting area -- I didn't feel like I needed to wedge myself into a corral, feeling that I would just slide in when people started moving forward. The organizers had announced that they were going to start everyone in waves every 10 minutes... but they didn't close off the sides of the corrals, so people just kept filling in from the front. But we stood in the chute and danced around a bit, and tried not to get too bored. They were playing cute dance music, and announcing each start with a blast of color fired from a fire extinguisher.

milling around at the start... photo blurred by the ziplock bag we used to protect the phone!

Eventually, in either the third or the fourth wave, we were let loose. There was a bit of awkward navigating around folks with strollers, big groups of walkers, and so on, but within about 50 yards we had pretty much cleared all the other runners in our wave.

Now, three days before the race, the organizers sent out an email saying that "Due to restrictions with the City of Tacoma, color packets will be handed out at the finish line only." Wow. What did THAT mean? Did it mean that there wouldn't be any color at all? Wil and I considered actually not bothering to go, since it wasn't clear to us whether the course would still be colorful or not. (Apparently I wasn't alone in this worry -- their Facebook page had a lot of comments on it... but I didn't look at it until after the run...)

clean shirt... just waiting for color

But at the time of the start, we didn't know what was going on. We ran and ran and ran... I'd estimate that it was well over 1K... closer to 1 mile... colorless. We kept passing people and overhearing them ask each other when the color would start. But then, around a corner, I saw a cloud of color!

We rounded a corner and saw ... oddly enough ... a line. Yes, a line to go through the color station. I'm not going to lie, we considered avoiding the station so we didn't have to wait in line. But then I reminded myself that we were there in order to get colored-up, so we relaxed a bit and let the color-chasing begin!

Yellow was our first stop... we watched people drop to the floor and roll around in the color, but I just thought I'd see how much color we'd pick up by running through. Turns out, we picked up plenty:

me and ol' Yellowbeard...

I'm not gonna lie -- it was fun. Really fun. I mean, who doesn't love getting blasted with brightly colored powder?

"it was all yellow" - Coldplay

After passing that station, we had pretty smooth running the rest of the race. We never had another crowd at a color stop, which meant we got plenty of attention from the color-givers. Or whatever they were called.

The running part was a little boring -- we ran mainly through a residential neighborhood that was pleasant enough, but I did keep fretting about how much color was on their streets. Well, near the color stations, anyway. (Yes, that's why they didn't hand out color packets beforehand.) But we ran along, playing with the different colors. At the green station, Wil decided to stop, drop, and roll in the powder on the ground... after all, green is his favorite color!

The orange station just before the end was pretty crazy -- I got a facefull of power... but it was cool. We crossed the finish line in... well... who knows how long? We hadn't timed it, and neither had the organizers. I'm cool with that.

We picked up a couple of different packets of color -- though the distribution was a little haphazard. I was somehow desperate to get purple or blue powder, but never managed to get any other than a little handful from a boy standing near the finish....

immediately after the finish ... I had NO IDEA I was so dusted

The crowd was growing at the finish party -- more dance music... and lots of packets of color.

And before long, what with all the color-flinging, we looked like this:

I love that Wil's nose and forehead are GREEN

We hung around a while, enjoying the vibe... but then we decided it was time to head home. Still, we made time for a few pictures:

Wil

Sun

color-full!

it's not easy being green...

I love that my glasses were covered, too 

team photo!

Did we have fun? Yes. I loved all the color and the happy people. It was fun to see kids excited to run ... you know, in the real world. But would I do another color run? Not sure. I think that the Color in Motion group put on a pretty good event, but Tacoma is too far away. Maybe if they had an event in Seattle I would consider it. Would I recommend a color run to anyone else? Sure... as long as they weren't hoping for a PR.

"after" -- the shirts hanging outside

my Adrenaline GTS kicks may never recover

Have you ever done a color run? Any other fun run? Would you recommend it?

Women-only races... hmmm

I run a lot of races. I love races. So I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened:

That's me (in black) with my pal Lindsay (purple), running the Kirkland Half Marathon way back in May 2010. We signed up for that race kindof at the last minute -- possibly the day before? -- and it was my "qualifying" race for Half Fanatics way back when. (I had run the Vancouver Half the weekend before, so qualified as a single moon fanatic with 2 races in 9 days.)

It was also one of the first times I had EVER run with anyone besides Wil -- and Lindsay was a perfect running companion, keeping me laughing through all 13.1 miles.

Fast forward 3 years... I've run a lot more races, become a SIX MOON Half Fanatic (4 half marathons in 4 days), and always figured that one day I'd show up on some race brochure or website.

Pro-Motion Events puts on a lot of great races in and around Seattle. They usually have great shirts, great courses, and great organization. Over the years I've run several of their races -- the Resolution Run, Love 'Em or Leave 'Em 5K (now Valentine's Day Dash), the Firecracker 5000, the Fremont 5K, the Dawg Dash, the 12Ks of Christmas, and, yes, the Kirkland Half Marathon. So when I got an email yesterday about a new "Women of Wonder" race, I figured it was worth reading about.

I actually laughed out loud, however, when I got to the site and vaguely recognized someone in the banner. Yeah, that's me in my former life (hence the swoosh hat....), just starting one of my first half marathons, running happy with my gal Lindsay. Or at least we have our race faces on. Or something.
I have to admit that I think it's pretty cool. I mean, I always hope to see myself in a RunDisney recap. So maybe a local race is a good start.

It's just that I don't approve of women-only races. And the Women of Wonder run is women-only. Not just women focused -- women exclusive. I checked -- there isn't an option to choose "male" under gender on the registration form.

I also don't approve of men-only races. I think of Kathrine Switzer fighting so hard to run the Boston Marathon back in 1967... a race that women weren't allowed to run until 1972. Is this how far we've come, that women can now exclude men from an event in the name of "empowerment"?

I want to quickly add that I'm not opposed to women-themed races, such as the Tinker Bell Half Marathon, or the Princess Half Marathon, See Jane Run, Nike Women's Marathon, etc. Hell, most of the race shirts I've accumulated over the years are "unisex" -- ha, I mean, MENS -- so if for a change a man might have to suffer with a pink, women's cut shirt, then that's fine. But excluding a person from doing something on behalf of their gender is sexism, plain and simple. Substitute "men"... or even "whites" for "women" in a women-only race, and tell me that that's okay.

I'm sorry if some women are uncomfortable around men. I'm sorry if some women lack the confidence to be themselves around men. But in the real world, in real society, we live our lives with lots of different people. Wanna run in pink tutus with your girlfriends? Cool! Get a group together! You don't need a women-only race to make that happen. Want a sparkly medal, a women's cut race shirt, and an expo full of glitter? Also cool! There are lots of events -- open to both men and women -- where you can do that.

Maybe I'm just sensitive to this because a woman shouted at my husband for daring to run the Tinker Bell Half Marathon with me in 2012. A race that is women-themed, but also open to men and women. I rarely run a race without my husband -- the WIL in Team Wil-Sun. So don't tell me that I'm not allowed to run without my running buddy because he happens to be male.

I realize that I'm opening myself up to a lot of criticism here. But I think running is something for everyone -- and we should be encouraging everyone to get out and run. Discriminating against runners on behalf of their gender is wrong. So despite being one of their cover girls (ha ha), I won't be signing up for the race.

Okay, stepping off my soapbox now. How do you feel about women-only races? How about a men-only race? (I can't actually think of any in the US, but perhaps there are some?)

2014 Tinker Bell Half Marathon general registration opens today!

(image courtesy RunDisney)

Wil and I are both annual passholders for Disneyland / Disney World, and have been for a few years now. One of the newer perks is early registration for select RunDisney events. Perfect! So we actually signed up for the 2014 Tinker Bell Half Marathon last week. Disney does things right -- they wouldn't have let the race sell out to just pass holders -- I'm sure there were X number of slots opened up for early registration, not all of them. But it was still nice to just get signed up and take care of things right away.

Because we've done the two previous races, we're pretty committed to running this race every year in the future -- even if we do stop becoming passholders at some point. This year's new twist was the addition of a 10K -- which, unfortunately, is not also part of a "challenge" like the "Dumbo Double Dare" for the Disneyland Half or the "Glass Slipper Challenge" for the Princess. (Why, RunDisney, why???) It's obvious that the challenges create extra excitement -- and get people to stay longer! But perhaps Disney is testing out the idea that more different people will sign up for the events, rather than the same people running multiple races? (Here's something odd -- though the new "Dopey Challenge" in Florida is sold out, the Goofy is not yet sold out for next year. I guess if you're Goofy enough to run a half and a full, you're Dopey enough to run a 5K and a 10K as well...)

Anyway, we looked at the race, the price, the timing -- and the lack of a challenge -- and had to think about it pretty hard. I mean, we are sad not to be running the Dumbo Double Dare this fall -- Bumbershoot trumped the race again -- but part of the draw of that challenge for THIS bling lover is the extra medal. So no extra medal -- and probably no Coast to Coast for us in 2014 -- made it less appealing.

But we knew that we would be going down to Anaheim on the Friday anyway... and, well, we've always said a 10K in the parks would be perfect... so we blinked and just signed up for the 10K, too. Gulp.

Oh, and of course, I had to order a couple of each of the comemmorative pins and a necklace. I'll add the pin to my now totally over-the-top race medal pin lanyard (yeah, I pretty much look like a jerk when I wear it...) and the pendant from the necklace to my race charm bracelet (which is slightly more subtle... but only slightly). Hooray for good merch!

The Glass Slipper Challenge in Florida sold out in one day, though the Princess Half didn't sell out for a few weeks. As I'm typing this, the RunDisney site is reporting that the Tinker Bell Half is 73% full, but they haven't posted any stats for the 10K or 5K. I'm curious to see how long before this race is sold out.

Our pal Suz signed up this morning while en route to Mackinac -- though she assures me she wasn't driving at the time. :)  We're encouraging all of our runner pals who expressed medal envy at the Tink bling to sign up today -- as I've always said, RunDisney puts on a great race, and the Tinker Bell is an ideal event for a first half marathon!

Langley Half Marathon race report

Spoiler alert: I think this is an actual representation of the elevation profile of this course. No, really.

Just returned from a fantastic weekend away that combined many of my favorite things: ferries, islands, hard cider, artists, Victorian architecture, Wil, and a half marathon! Of course, I may have combined a few too many things...

Yesterday morning we got an early ferry from Edmonds to Kingston (stopping there for a delicious breakfast at J'aime les Crepes) and then drove on to Port Townsend. We dropped our car at the Bishop Victorian and then headed out to explore the town. A very cute Victorian seaport, with a thriving farmers' market and some cool shops to poke around in. Then at noon we headed over to "Summer Cider Day" -- where there were something like 50 -- FIFTY!!! -- hard ciders to sample. Okay, we limited ourselves to the 10 tastes we had purchased with the ticket -- which was plenty. Our favorites?  Schilling Cider's ginger cider (spicy!), EZ Orchards' 2009 Cidre (v. v. French), and Whitewood Cider's Old Fangled (crisp!).

I'm not going to lie -- the day got a little fuzzy at this point. We checked in to the hotel, got settled in our room, had a nap, got up and spent a couple of hours at the art walk, before collapsing into bed. 

Things one should do the day before a race: drink plenty of water, stay off your feet a bit, eat food you are accustomed to, avoid too much alcohol, oh, and don't get sunburned. 

Yeah, we didn't do any of that. So we headed off in the morning with unhappy bellies and at least one banging headache. 

But the little ferry ride between Port Townsend and Coupeville was pleasant, and we got to Langley nice and early -- early enough to park very near the start. And my Nike Sportwatch was eager to run...  We picked up our bibs and swag bags -- it always makes me laugh when a small race has better swag than big races. We got soap, hand lotion, some Gu, some VitaC packets, a little first aid kit, and -- always amusing -- the little sample of Shave Secret oil. One day I think I'll try it.  But best things of all -- RACE SOCKS!!! We received tech socks at our first 15K, the Birch Bay Road Race -- and I'm surprised that more races don't make them. I mean, how many race shirts does a runner really need?

tech socks! Mine on the left, Wil's on the right.

We passed the time before the start, chatting with locals and enjoying the morning. The race director made a little speech, a woman played the national anthem on a trumpet, and we sang happy birthday to runner 222. Cute. I still felt wretched. I've felt queasy at races before, but never at the beginning of a race!

The race had a "rolling start" -- we had gathered at a wide part of the road, but the start was actually a hundred yards down the street. The RD explained it -- "like in the Tour de France". We trotted down the road a ways, then funneled ourselves over the start mat -- and we were off!

The course was described as having "gently rolling hills" and "some flat stretches". It took me a while to realize that it was a joke. A slightly cruel joke.

Not long after the start -- and some actual "gentle" hills -- we came to this sign... and this hill:

I assure you, this was not gentle. It was not rolling. But it was a hill. In fact, here's the actual elevation profile:

I think the real challenge is to spot the "flat stretches"...

Anyway, once the 4-mile, 7-mile, and 10K runners and walkers turned off the road, we were pretty much on our own for the rest of the race. It meant we just settled in to our pace, and took it easy. That said, there didn't seem much point to run up the hills... or down some of the steeper ones. The views were lovely -- lots of trees, views of Saratoga Passage, and bright blue sky. Oh, and hills. Lots of hills.

The last half mile before the turnaround was on a "primitive" road -- hard packed gravel. And it had an absurdly steep hill right at the end of it. Oof. But we hit the top, grabbed some water, joked with the guys at the water stop, and then headed back down. I was surprised to learn that there were actually some people behind us.

the last, very steep hill to the turnaround

rolling home

The miles back to town were uneventful, but the morning was getting warm. Anything we ran down on the way out, we had to run up on the way back. The top of my left foot was hurting by this point, as were my knees. I haven't had knee pain during a race for a long time -- I'm guessing it was from pounding down the hills! Hills, heat, and a hangover -- three ingredients that made for a slightly painful day out.

Anyway, we slowly made our way back to town, passing the starting line and being thankful that two firefighters had been stationed there to direct us to make a left turn. (Really, an arrow would have sufficed...)

Then down the last hill into "downtown Langley", where the Choochokam arts festival was ramping up for the day. We held hands and scooted across the line in a very slow, gently rolling 2:45 or so. Yeah, I don't know where the time went either.

After crossing we were handed these super cute finisher's medals:

2013 Langley Running Festival Half Marathon medal

and directed to a little field where we had quite possibly the nicest watermelon in the history of the world. We wound down by meandering around the festival, coming very close to buying a new wallet, a metal crow, and a pizza paddle -- but without actually buying anything. Then we went home the long way -- I couldn't face the ferry lines!

The Langley Half Marathon was part of a running festival with four different distances -- pretty ambitious for a small event! It was great to see the locals turn out in force, however. The half marathon course was well marked, well supported, and pretty. And, yes, the "rolling hills" are a running gag. Packet pickup was fast, and the swag was generous. I'd recommend it for anyone who might find themselves in the area on race day. Just beware the GENTLY ROLLING HILLS!

rocking the socks