Get Your Rear in Gear 5K race report

SPOILER ALERT: I achieved one of my goals for 2014... and one of my 101 tasks... with a PR in this race!

My sweet pal Keely organizes a race called Get Your Rear in Gear. She created the event to honor her mom, who passed away 4 years ago at the age of 48 to colon cancer. I have known about the race for years, but never managed to run it.

Thanks to the time change -- and to not staying out TOO late on Saturday night -- I woke up this morning at 7:30. Because the race started at 8:30, I thought, what the heck? Threw on some clothes, grabbed a piece of bread and a bottle of fizzy water, and drove the 30 minutes to Redmond's Marymoor Park.

I arrived with 15 minutes to spare, got signed up, and then sorta realized what I had done -- I guess I now had to run this thing, huh.

I got in the starting chute, got teary-eyed while Keely talked about her mom and why she created this event, and then got ready to run.

before the start

Highlight: after Keely said, "Go!", the DJ played Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back". Classic.

I wasn't feeling super great -- and I certainly wasn't feeling limber or peppy -- but I decided I would just see how it went. I tried to focus on my breathing, and on running easily.

I also distracted myself by listening to other runners.

Mom to young daughter: "We've run this course before -- we just go around the corner and start heading back. I'd say we're more than halfway done."
Daughter to mom, a few seconds later: "Then why does that sign say 1 MILE?"

Ho ho ho.

The course was pretty easy and smooth -- after all, it's all run on paths in Marymoor Park, which probably averages one 5K per weekend during the year.

Not much to report, running wise -- except that I seemed to be passing people pretty regularly, and not being passed.

After mile 2 I started feeling a little queasy (typical!), so I backed off a little... and then started taking brief walk breaks. It was around the 2.5-mile point that I thought, hmm, this seems to be going okay... which then made me feel funny and need to stop and walk. Yeah, that's dumb, I know.

Not long before the final turn, I thought, "No, I won't break 30-minutes. Can't do it." And then, when I made the final turn, thought, "Oh, um, I still have 90 seconds... let's go."

And while I haven't found the official results online yet, my GPS tells me I finished in 29:32. A PR. And a goal. And a task. And a Very Big Surprise.

Of course, the important part is that I donated $40 to the Colon Cancer Coalition, 75% of which will stay in our local community.

Seventy-five percent of the net proceeds from each event go back into the local community to fund colon cancer support, education, prevention, and screening programs. The money is designated by the local volunteer committee to make the biggest impact for their area.

(But, yeah, I'm pretty happy about the new PR... :) )

Another highlight: the "Drummers for Bummers" group (really? really?) was a high school drum line who marched the 5K while playing the drums. Very nice.

Highlight #3: After the finish line, we ran through a giant inflatable colon. That's right, a Giant. Inflatable. Colon.

That's right. Giant. Inflatable. Colon.

Oooh, official results (which look like no one got "chip time" -- but I'm within a few seconds anyway):

Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver Half Marathon race report

With a start time of 8:15 (so civilized!), I didn't have to be up until 7:00. Had some leftover pizza for breakfast (perfect!), got dressed, and headed out to walk the few blocks to the start.

Other than visiting the girls at the Brook VIP Porta Potty, I managed not to see ANYONE I knew in the corrals. (Weird!)

Because the city of Vancouver was very strict about road closure and reopening times, the organizers decided to start the last corral, #24, at the front of the race, and 15 minutes early. Suz had psyched herself out a bit, so she decided to slide back (or was it forward?) to corral 24. I asked her afterwards how it was to start up front -- she told me she LOVED it -- "When else am I going to get to start in the first corral?"

facing the start line -- and corral 24 getting ready to go

I joined my corral much farther back and tried to get into a running mood. I was a bit footsore -- 3 days of standing on concrete floors will do that to you -- and had a weird pain in my leg. But no matter -- it was time to Rock 'n' Roll!

view from my corral

As usual for me, a lot of the early part of the course is a bit blurry… I do remember running through Gastown, then under the big Chinatown gate, and then through some pretty deserted industrial streets.

see, proof: the Chinatown gate

But just after mile 5 we arrived on the waterfront, and things got a lot prettier from there. I spotted this lady hustling along and asked if I could take her picture-- genius!

love love love this woman!

I had been trying to do the math in my head -- first, kilometers to miles, then also trying to work out if or when I would catch up to Suz. Running + math is hard for me. But I figured that I was trotting along at just under 11-minute miles, that Suz would be running right around 15-minute miles, and since I had started about 30 minutes afterward… hmm, let's start over.

But eventually I was able to get my head around the idea that I'd meet up with Suz somewhere around mile 7. Sure enough, not far from the halfway point, there she was, stretching just at the side of the road. I hustled over, we had a quick chat, exchanged a few cheers for each other, and separated again.

Suz tells me that though she'd been struggling in the beginning of the race: "Well, like a team that is getting pounded in the first half of the game, seeing you was kind of like my half-time. I threw out my game plan and tried something new." She shifted to 1:1 intervals and thinks she actually ran a negative split. Attagirl!

Soon we were running past those wonderful "A-Maze-Ing Laughter" laughing statues by Yue Minjun, and the lovely Sylvia Hotel, both of which made me wistful for a romantic weekend away in Vancouver.

A-Maze-Ing Laughter by Yue Minjun

A bit later the course took us into Stanley Park, and things got even prettier. I don't know the park at all,   but I'm pretty happy to report that we did NOT run up to Prospect Point… though there were some gentle hills here and there. We also ran under the road approach to the Lions Gate Bridge -- so we didn't get to see the pretty lions… except on our medals, of course!

(love this historical image of the Lions Gate Bridge in 1939)

At some point Jess and Kevin caught up with me -- Kevin (running his first half marathon!) looking fresh as a daisy, and Jess her usual gorgeous, happy self.

Two sad and scary moments -- running past two separate runners, lying on their backs. I can't place where they were on the course, but somewhere in Stanley park near the water. The first was being helped by some runners and a small "medic" cart/truck was coming to assist, too. The second, another mile or so along, was obviously in worse condition, as a fire truck and ambulance were moving down the narrow course toward them after I passed him. (Her? I don't know -- once I have seen that a person is being helped, I try not to look anymore.) I sent good running karma thoughts and kept going.

in Stanley Park

view of Vancouver

last couple of miles!

More pretty stretches, views of downtown Vancouver, and then the home stretch -- an oddly narrow walkway with a raised sidewalk of sorts on one side, and spectators along that. It seemed a little narrow… and uneven… but it was nice to have people cheering.

surely this must be the home stretch???

I thought I still had more running to do … but, suddenly, I could see the finish arch. I engaged in a little last-minute racing with a guy next to me (sadly, I think he won), and then tried to make my way through the chute.

Nearly missed picking up a medal because so many people were just standing around. C'mon, folks, get out of the finish chute! I did manage to get a bottle of water and a mylar blanket, but didn't see any food worth eating. (I did wonder if they were unable to import their usual finisher food?)

The finish line party was pretty muddy, very crowded, and, frankly, I didn't need to linger. I had thought about finding the merch tent, but I decided to just get out of there and go back to the hotel. (And, yes, I did stop for breakfast at Freshii. Again. So sue me!)

Some stretching, a breakfast burrito, a hot bath, and I was right as rain. I took the Skytrain to the airport, took a very small plane for a very brief flight back to Seattle, and was home in the mid-afternoon.

Things I loved about the race:

• Vancouver! What a lovely city!
• A well-organized corral start. I overheard a lot of runners impressed by the waves and the corrals -- which made sense, because I remember the BMO Vancouver Half being pretty chaotic at the start when we ran that back in 2010.
• Lots of pretty stretches along the water and through Stanley Park.
• Seeing my pal Dawn at the Expo.
• The GORGEOUS medal!

Room for improvement:

• I would have liked more -- or more obvious? - mile or kilometer markings on the course.
• The final, uneven stretch was difficult to run on.
• The GU station was weirdly early -- possibly at kilometer 9 rather than mile 9?

Not sure I need to run this race again, but was really happy to run the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver!

obligatory post-race medal pic!

Inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver Half Marathon medal

Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver pre-race report

I ran Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver last Sunday -- which will get its own post, I promise... But the days before the actual race were pretty run-tastic, too! I try to work one big race a year -- from set up to tear-down -- and then run the race. I've been lucky enough to work Denver, San Antonio, and St. Louis over the years, and I was excited to work the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Vancouver Half Marathon.

First of all, I took the train up on Thursday morning. THE TRAIN! Sure, I could have driven... but the train was $34 one-way. That makes it way cheaper than gas or mileage, expense-wise. Plus, umm... THE TRAIN!

there's something about a train...

Soon it was time to get on the train -- the Amtrak Cascades line, specifically the Mount Adams.

Clean, comfy, spacious -- and I had a seat by the window on the water side, facing forwards. This seemed like a stroke of excellent luck until I walked the train a bit later and discovered that no one was seated on the other side of the train because it was nearly empty.

Taking the train feels like luxury ... well, luxury with mediocre food.

(at least they had a hot vegetarian option!)

It was pretty great going up the coast -- especially when we went across tthe "lifty bridge" that we've often run under. I got a quick glimpse of the Ballard Locks as we went across it. 

view from the lifty bridge

The ride up was pretty uneventful -- a few scheduled stops (Edmonds, Everett, Stanwood, Ferndale) and a few unscheduled stops -- like when we got, literally, side-tracked. 

Favorite trainism: "side-tracked" -- when your train is moved onto a secondary track to wait so that a higher-priority train can go by on the main line. (Okay, maybe it's my ONLY trainism...)

quick glimpse of the Peace Arch as we sped by

crossing the Fraser River

Two side-track waits, plus a long wait for maritime traffic on the Fraser River to pass, meant that we were 90 minutes late getting in to Vancouver. But I went out into the drizzle, got a taxi, and headed over to the convention center to help with expo set up. 

This was the 4th real set-up I've worked, but the first one where I was issued a high-visibility vest. It was a little surprising, but then again there are lots of forklifts and cherry pickers and other big machines moving around, so it makes perfect sense.

calm before the storm!

I worked on unpacking Brooks and Moving Comfort product and getting as much of it out on the sales floor as possible. Meanwhile others were organizing Moving Comfort bras, Vancouver event merchandise, and Rock 'n' Roll Series merchandise. 

lots of cute Moving Comfort bras!

We put all the overstock in the back room, tried to keep it organized by size, and got everything else squared away for the next day. We managed to wrap up pretty early -- we headed back to the hotel not long after 5pm. 

cute Rock 'n' Roll keys at the Hyatt

That night I went out and grabbed take-out from Freshii -- an amazing small chain of restaurants that has lots of vegetarian options. Settled in to do a little work at the desk in my room at the Hyatt, then bed. 

On Friday the expo didn't open until noon, so I didn't need to be there until 11:30. I went out for a little walk, checked out the big new Lululemon store (not super amazing, but I did like the digital pants wall), and then headed over to the expo hall. I was a little worried that I didn't see anyone waiting to get in, but it was early...

We did some last-minute tidying, someone somewhere in the hall played a short set of accoustic music, and then the doors were open. The calm before the storm:

all of these tanks and most of these shirts were gone by the end of day one

cute NightLife gear for the ladies

… and for the fellas

I fully expected the first hour to be busy -- people coming in on their lunch break, rushing through, and heading out. And it was. But they didn't rush through... they lingered. They shopped. They bought like crazy. 

Kathy and I were kept busy restocking product, tidying up the racks, and helping people find sizes.... and it didn't stop feeling busy.

a quiet moment in the merch booth

By closing time, at 6:00, we'd already sold half of the weekend goal. We were starting to run out of sizes and products. And nearly all the backstock was out of the back room.

That night, feeling tired from having done a lot of running around all day, I begged off an evening out… which meant a long, hot bath, pizza from Megabite Pizza (sesame seed crust!!!), and a few episodes of West Wing… 

Up earlyish on Saturday to be at the expo by 8:30. I made a detour to find Douglas Coupland's "Digital Orca" statue -- giant and charming on a rainy morning!

the convention center (site of the expo)

Digital Orca by Douglas Coupland

If I thought Friday was busy… Saturday was NUTS. We were solidly busy all day. A few friends came through: Connie and her husband, Ryan and his family, Jess and Kevin, Dawn, and Suz -- always nice to see my peeps! Between helping look for sizes, bringing out the last few scraps of merch, and spreading the dwindling product out across the racks, well, time flew. But I was dog tired (and more than a little relieved) when the announcer started the 30-minutes-to-closing countdown.

with Dawn from the Inca Trail trek!

So little merchandise was left that we were able to pack things up in just under half an hour -- crazy!

Suz came to meet me after the expo and we walked a couple of blocks in the pouring rain to the Steamworks brewing company for dinner. Why Steamworks?
1. It's a steam-powered brewery. What's not to love about that?
2. I read they had a great pumpkin beer.

So we enjoyed a tasty (if noisy) dinner, and then headed back to our hotels. I'd like to tell you that I enjoyed a great night's sleep… but the dudes who stormed home at 3:45a.m. and then had a dance party in their room spoiled that. But thumbs up to the Hyatt staff for quickly responding to my front desk plea!

I did manage to get back to sleep before getting up at 7am on RACE DAY!

Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon Corrals Announced

We're just under four weeks away from the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon, and the corrals have been announced.

It looks like runDisney is again keeping the front corrals quite small, probably figuring those people are more apt to be running for time. The great big corrals at the back do make me a little apprehensive, but I'm also sure that runDisney tests different strategies in order to find the right system for each race. 

I'm excited about running "the other direction" at the start -- which we haven't run since the Disneyland Half Marathon in 2010.

Wil and I will be in corral D -- where will you be?

Wine & Dine Half Marathon -- the West Coast Advantage

Runners from the West Coast tend to have a bit of a disadvantage at most runDisney events at Walt Disney World. It's not the long travel time -- plenty of East Coasters have a long journey. It's the time difference… and the early morning starts.

But West Coasters have a definite advantage when it comes to the Wine & Dine Half Marathon -- my new favorite race at Walt Disney World. If you're running it in 2014, here's three examples of why your internal body clock gives you an advantage over your East Coast running buddies.

1. Pre-race food. Let's face it, it's pretty hard to feel like eating at 3am (midnight, to you), and that dinner you had the previous night was a long time ago. A late lunch and then an early evening snack before the race is a lot easier to stomach. Pun intended. We ate lunch at 2pm, then ate a bagel with cheese at 7:30pm en route to the start.

We ate our lunch at Tony's Town Square, less for the pasta menu than for the inspiration in this photo:

our version … clearly fettuccine rather than spaghetti

2. The start time. A 10pm start may seem late to some folks, but, hey, 7pm is when you probably do some of your training runs, right? I often start a morning run feeling a little achy or a little stiff, and have to work to silence the voice in my head that tells me that I "just don't have it today". But at Wine & Dine 2013, we'd spent the early part of the day walking around the Magic Kingdom and then taken a short nap before going to the start. As a result, my legs felt great -- like I'd been gently warming them up all day. (BTW, I don't recommend a hardcore parks day -- but think of spending a few hours in the parks that morning as your day-before-the-race shakeout run… especially if you spent all day the day before on a plane.

3. The post-race party! I saw people commenting online that it was ridiculous to keep the post-race party open till 4am -- that no one would want to stay out that late after running. I -- and my West-Coast brethren -- beg to differ! That's only 1am to our body clocks, or a not particularly late Saturday night. Once we made our way to the party, at around 12:30am, we refueled with delicious food options from around the festival. As a bonus, all that walking around meant we didn't have any soreness in our legs the next day!

We LOVED running the Wine & Dine Half Marathon last year (read all about it here), and are a teensy bit sad not to be making the trip this year. That's one reason why I'm excited to be participating in this Virtual Blog Hop hosted by Didi at DISTherapy. Reading the other bloggers leading up to the race makes us feel like we're there!

On your way to Wine & Dine? Let us know how you're preparing for the race! Click the image to see all the blog posts: