Race Recap: Rock and Roll Seattle Half Marathon

After my long but awesome day with bloggers at the Expo my 4:30 AM alarm came a little too soon, but like I do on every race morning, I jumped right out of bed.  I cooked my staple pre-race (and everyday) breakfast of two scrambled eggs and an english muffin with butter.  I took my pup outside around 5 and it was STILL raining and by this point I was literally dreading 13.1 WET miles…ugh!

I made the unfortunate decision to ditch my new Bondi Band for a hat since I thought that would keep me drier??

Could that race bib BE any bigger?

I packed about a million layers of things including a garbage bag with a hole cut in it for my head and figured I would decide what to wear before I stepped out to go to the race.  At about 6 I drove over to my friend Sonia’s house and evidently my prayers were finally being answered…the rain stopped!!  I did a quick costume change to wear my new Bondi Band and Sonia dropped me off literally next to the start corrals.

Start line!

I went to corral 7 for a blogger peeps photo and then made my way to corral 11 to meet up with my running partner in crime, Lindsey!

stolen from Runner Maybe :)

Lindsey and I ready to rock!

Waiting through 11 corrals to start

I didn't wear a Garmin so I don't have any fancy mile splits but I'll try and break up the race into mental chunks for you all!

Mile 1-5

Not going to skirt around the issue I know we've all had...my stomach was MAD at me.  I kept trying to convince Lindsey to let me stop and use a porta potty but she just kept egging me on saying I could keep going and I did.  I was too afraid to drink much during these miles since I had to go to the bathroom but I was still moving forward at about a 9:00 pace.  Around mile 2 we saw Nuun HQ and they were busy handing out Nuun to thirsty runners.  Caitlin caught a glimpse of me as I ran by and screamed "yeah Nuun Kids on the Block" as she tried to hold up a sign.  I couldn't read it but it made me so happy to know she made one! 

Dear marathonfoto - please don't arrest me for stealing this pic, but I can't afford 40 BUCKS for one digital download. Thanks, marathonlar

Around mile 4 Nicole from Ricole Runs caught up with us and it was great to see her with such high energy and in a good mood since she was the insane one and running the marathon! After winding through downtown, past Nuun, we made it on to Rainier Avenue which was extremely unappealing.  We turned off Rainier around mile 5 and went up, up and up a hill.  It was semi-brutal but I managed to run up the entire thing and enjoyed a nice downhill after.  Unfortunately, Lindsey and I had to say goodbye to Nicole as she turned to go father south into Seward Park.

Miles 6-8

Okay, I can't ignore this little stomach issue anymore and I tell Lindsey to go on without me as I stop at a porta potty.  Major bonus - NO LINE!  I was in and out in no time and felt 100x better!  I was able to really start drinking Gatorade at this point and even munched on my sports beans for a couple miles.  I used miles 6-8 on Lake Washington Blvd and through the I-90 tunnels to try and catch up with Kerrie...she was my little carrot tempting me along. Before I finally caught up with my carrot I was having a bit of a mental block and started doubting my ability to run this thing without walking a little...chasing Kerrie was seriously the only thing keeping me going through these miles!

Miles 8-11

I caught up to Kerrie!! We chatted for a little but it was clear I wouldn't be able to keep her pace for the rest of the race so I let her go ahead of me.  Little did I know right behind me was Erin and Kim from Nuun!  We started chatting, encouraging each other up some not so fabulous hills, and talking about Nuun. At this point we made our way through Safeco and Century Link Fields an on to the top of the Viaduct.

Miles 11-13.1

I remember looking at the view only once during the run on the Viaduct and not really taking it in like I should have but at this point I just wanted to be DONE!  We ran through the Battery Street tunnel and got off of highway 99 to make our way to the finish.  As we rounded a corner to end on Mercer I realized we had one last hill to conquer...really Seattle Rock and Roll?  Now I understand Seattle is hilly but ending a race on a hill is kind of a bummer and really makes it hard to give it your all out sprint to the end!  It was hard for me to see people walking when they were so close to the finish line and I wish I could have picked them all up and ran with them but the end of the race is just for me so I pushed with what I had left and finished my 9th half marathon!

The HILL at 13 miles

2:02:13 - 9:20 pace

I was immediately reunited with my lovely Lindsey, we made our way through the post race goodies and I chugged the mini Jamba Juice and Chocolate Milk in about 5 seconds flat...perfect post race drinks!

This photo makes my heart melt, only a feeling a runner can relate to!

This half was really unlike any of the other 8 I have ran.  As I continue to get more involved in the blog community I am continually overwhelmed by the amount of support and awesome new friendships I have made.  This race brought it all together and it couldn't have been a more fun weekend!  I only wish I would have stuck around after for all the meetup madness post race but I had important things to do...EAT!  The rest of my day consisted of eating, sleeping, and then eating some more.

What's up next?  Well duh! Ragnar Relay Northwest Passage with NUUN!  I'm sure you are already sick of hearing about it but too bad because that is all I'm going to talk about until July 20 and probably at least a month after that ;).

Other RnRSEA runners...link up your race recap below!!