It’s been about a month since Leona Divide, and some of you know, I take my recovery time very seriously. I took 2 weeks off from running completely, then just 3 miles the week after, then 3 miles the week of the race. In between though, I squeezed in some spin and cardio classes at the gym, and some 100 workouts.
On race morning, my friend Ed and I walked about a half mile from the hotel to the start line. It was perfect running weather, probably around 60F with a slight wind. Overcast, very Pacific Northwest usual. Just like all the other Rock N Roll run events, it was a very well organized race. Corrals were visibly marked and weren’t too packed at the time we got there, so we just slipped on in and just hung out until 8:00am. We eventually met up with our friends Grace and Mike. The National Anthem, some announcements, then there were a few minutes of silence in honor of the Boston Marathon victims. Everyone held peace signs up in the air for one very powerful moment.
The course started and finished Downtown adjacent to Waterfront Park. Overall, the field was spacious and there were no bottlenecks. Aid stations were well manned with volunteers on the ready. We all ran along the waterfront on Naito Pkwy and loop around Downtown, then we crossed a few bridges, which were pretty fascinating. It actually felt a little weird running on some carpet-like covers for the metal mesh of the bridge itself. We had to be careful because the carpet bunched up at times.
We then ran through beautiful neighborhoods with residents sporadically stationed cheering everyone on with creative signs and noisemakers. My favorite was the Laurelhurst neighborhood and park, pictured above. Loved the tree-lined streets and observing the uniquely designed houses. There were a few hills spread throughout the course, I think around 7 and 9, but after Leona, it didn’t seem like a big deal anymore. We then looped around to finish in the downtown area, filled with the spectators. Just like all Rock N Roll finishes, this also had high energy and packed with friendly faces!
Done! I wasn’t really sure what my finishing time was, as we weren’t paying attention to it. We did stick to a run/walk interval at a comfortable conversational pace. I really needed that, especially jumping from previous 3 mile run to 13.1! Oops! We ran as a group the whole time, taking photos at every mile marker, so that kept us busy and it was quite fun! I would recommend this race if you want to visit a great city, with a not too difficult course. We then celebrated our race with our own little pub crawl around the city via Brewcycle. Good times!!
So, what do you think ?