Race Recap: 2013 See Jane Run Half Marathon

Thanks to being an ambassador for See Jane Run I got a free entry to the Seattle race and man it could not have been a more beautiful day for a race in Seattle! I'm sure some would argue it was "too sunny" but I found it just perfect, especially since a lot of the course was shaded.

Let's rewind to the expo though...

The expo was really really really small and held in the W Hotel downtown.  Even though it was super tiny they had some great stuff there and the packet pickup was a breeze and my friend and I chowed down on samples of See's Candies and Soy Delicious ice cream bars!

They had motivational sayings leading up to the expo and in the expo area which I thought was pretty cool.  I also picked up my ambassador t-shirt and to my surprise got another bag filled with some awesome goodies...thanks See Jane Run!!

Softest tee ever...I love it! And those Gu Chomps were delicious at mile 7 during the race!

I spent the rest of Saturday hanging out with friends, chowing down on Thai to carbo load and heading to bed at a decent hour.

My neighbor/friend, Lindsey, was also running the half (her second one ever, the first being a super hard trail half) so we met and carpooled to the race.  I decided (very wisely I might add) to run with Lindsey and help pace her to a hopefully under 2:15 race.  This would keep me a bit slower than my average race pace, which I was completely fine with since Ragnar is just days away.

Race morning, eyes aren't quite open yet!

We arrived at Gasworks Park about 30 minutes before the race started and had just enough time to use the port-o-potties, check bags and do the pre-race warmup.  Location for this race was just too perfect for me since it is only a couple miles from where I live and parking wasn't much of a hassle at all! I missed the ambassador photo at the start but I think I saw a few of the ladies running out there and everyone looked great!

Miles 1-4: We started right at 8:00 and took off north of the park and over the Fremont Bridge.  Then we proceeded to a small out and back on the ship canal trail which I didn't even know existed! Pretty certain the turnaround was a bit short because after that the mile markers were off by about .25 miles for the rest of the race.  Lindsey and I were hitting miles in the 9:30-9:45 and she was feeling strong so I kept trying to keep the pace a little under 10:00 as much as possible.

Miles 4-8: After the out and back we made our way south to South Lake Union park and then back north on the eastside of Lake Union. The miles were pretty uneventful and Lindsey and I kept a good pace.

Miles 8-10: These miles started to get a little slower and I think those speedy beginning miles were beginning to wear on Lindsey.  She really powered through and we made our back towards Gasworks Park and literally past the finish line (talk about a mental battle!).  We headed north of Gasworks on the Burke Gilman trail for our last out and back.

Rira caught us before we headed out and back on our last miles!

Miles 10-13.1 (err...12.9): Heading out on the out and back was tough! My right hip/butt was starting to really hurt and I was ready to be done. I was a tad tempted to just pick up the pace and go for it but I ran with Lindsey this far, I wanted to see her to the finish!  After we turned around I just kept telling her "we are almost done, let's go!"  We both had enough energy to sprint to the finish and my watch read around 2 hours, 8 minutes! 

MAJOR BUMMER: This course was short by .25 miles which was really the only major CON of this course.  Lots of people with distance watches were talking about this, so I think that first turnaround was just a bit short...no biggie but I know some runners are really particular about that kind of stuff :).  Next year, course officials really need to go double check the course.

Happy finisher!

Rebecca was chasing us the last few miles!

Lindsey and I post race! 

Rebecca, Lindsey and I barely made is 100 feet from the finish before we collapsed in the grass to re-hydrate and stretch. We finally made it up and made our way through post race activities, including another ice cream bar...yumm!! You collect a champagne glass filled with chocolates and then into a "champagne garden" for a post race beverage.

Call me crazy, but the last thing I want after running 13.1 miles is alcohol so Lindsey and I called it a morning and headed home for showers and food!

Thanks again to See Jane Run for choosing me to be a 2013 ambassador and putting on an awesome race!  I would highly recommend this race to newbies and advanced runners alike.  Great course support, great post race treats and an environment where the fastest runner and slowest runner are treated equally.

Follow See Jane Run on Twitter and like them on Facebook to keep in touch!

Question: Have you ever run an all (or mostly) women's race?