I just finished my second of 50 marathons, this one in the gorgeous city of Seattle. If you haven't been to the Pacific northwest, go there. The landscape is absolutely gorgeous, right where the mountains meet the ocean. I traveled there with my evil twin, Krystal (OK, she's not really evil and was a great supporter of me this weekend, thanks sis!) and my friend Jen, who completed her first "official" half-marathon. Great job Jen, you did awesome! We were all first-timers in Seattle, and had a great time exploring together.
First, my take on Seattle (if you wanna know). It seems no one is born and raised there. Or at least not that we met. We did end up meeting lots of people from the Midwest, or L.A. Since we all grew up in the Midwest, and Jen currently lives in L.A., we had a lot in common with the people and had some really fun and interesting conversations. Also, there is excellent shopping there (Seattle is home of the Nordstrom flagship store). However, you might not guess this by what people are wearing around town. Granted, the people I might have been were likely mostly tourists, but it seems that North Face fleeces are considered "fashion" rather than simply outerwear. But don't get me wrong, you need a fleece there even at the end of June. It was much cooler than I anticipated, since Weather.com told me the highs would be low 70s. What it didn't tell me was that the high occurs only from 5pm to 6pm and then the temperatures drop back down to the low 60s. We did not pack accordingly. Unfortunately the weather was the only source of chills for us, although we tried to get some on the Pike Place Market ghost tour. While our guide Penny was entertaining at times, we did not get as scared as we hoped. Well, not except for our fear of contracting some disease from the gum wall outside of the theater where the tour began in Post Alley. Gross is the only way to describe it. We also tried to find some ghosts on the Underworld tour, which takes you through the former streets of Seattle, which are now under the current streets. Apparently some parts of the city are higher than they were originally, and after they rebuilt the city following a big fire in the late 1890s, what used to be the old sidewalks are now tiny passageways underneath the new sidewalks. We got to learn all about the lucrative prostitution industry and our tour guide even taught us a new method of contraception (don't ask). The tour was followed by a free cocktail, and if you are ever at the Underground lounge the bartender makes a great dirty martini or cosmo.
We also took a ferry over to Bainbridge Island which is full of some cute boutiques and some wineries offering tastings. I recommend paying Charlie a visit at the Victor Alexander winery and if you're lucky you can get a taste of his Semillon. It was delicious. But if you're single, be careful. Charlie is quite the charmer!
Ok, now for the race. The first portion of the course was amazing and beautiful....and cold. After I warmed up though, I was able to enjoy the views of Lake Washington and Seward Park. There were bands at almost every mile, which is a great perk of the Rock-n-Roll series of races, so I do recommend them. Plenty of aid stations and good crowd support in the downtown area. I started off at a comfortable pace hitting the halfway mark around 2 hours 11 minutes. My sis was waiting for me at mile 14 with some energy gels, Tylenol, water and anti-bacterial hand spray. (the port-o-potties were lacking in this area). She will tell you that it was her lavender-orange hand spray that made it possible for me to run the second half at about 2 hours and 2 minutes. This is apparently what is called a negative split folks, and I have no idea how I was able to run the second half so much faster than the first. But for whatever reason, at about miles 15-16 I felt really good and strong, so I went with it. This never happens to me, and probably will never happen again. My end time was about 4 hours 12 minutes, which I am completely happy with. Not a personal best, but the negative split was a new personal accomplishment for me.
One negative thing about running a marathon in a place you've never been to before is the pain of walking around sightseeing afterward. But Jen and I toughed it out and had a great time anyway and Krystal was a good sport about our complaining. I think she was having sympathy pains. The 3 of us found out we were good travel mates and are looking forward to traveling to another race together. Where to next???
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