{Flashback Fridays} Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Recap

Looking at my race calendar, I realized I've ran a few (just a few) races in the past year that (obviously) have not made it on the blog.  So in an effort to share my racing adventures, I will be doing a little series I like to call "Flashback Fridays".  Each Friday I will be recapping one of the races I've done in the last year for your reading pleasure.  Just humor me. Ready, go:

 Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon
Saturday, June 22nd, 2013: Seattle, Washington

Since I ran the San Diego Rock n Roll Half last June, I figured I would switch it up a bit and pick a different June Rock n Roll.  Enter Seattle.  My friend Sheena and her college roommate were planning to do this race, and it looked like a great course in a great city, so I decided to tag along.  After visiting Seattle in December, I really wanted a chance to see the city when it was warm (hopefully) and sunny (hopefully).  This seemed like the perfect opportunity.

We arrived in Seattle on Thursday afternoon, just in time to make it over to the expo to pick up our bibs and check out the booths (read: get as many free samples as humanly possible). The Expo was held at the CenturyLink Field Event Center.  For someone who hasn't spent much time in Seattle (like myself), this is where the Seahawks play and is also conveniently located right next to Safeco Field where the Mariners play.  A lot of parking, but most of it is expensive, so be careful.  Bib and packet pickup was surprisingly easy.  I'm not sure if that's because we were there 2 days before the race and only the locals were picking up packets that early, or if what, but there was barely anyone in line.

After a quick lunch across the street at Pyramid, my mom and I revisited the expo hall to see how many free bags of pop chips we could accumulate. See below.  And then headed off to Bothell where we would be staying with family for most of the weekend.

Expo Loot

On Friday, the day before the race, I told my mom I only wanted to do one thing: take a ferry.  So we did.  Lunch in Port Angeles, a drive through Poulsbo, and another ferry back into downtown.

Ferry adventure!

Because the race starts and ends at Seattle Center, I really wanted to stay close to, if not, in downtown the night before the race. We found a great deal online to stay at the W Hotel downtown.  It was only 5 blocks from the monorail which takes you directly to the start line.  It was also convenient that the course ran right by the hotel not once, but twice. It made for easy spectating for my mom.  The monorail was one of the many organized options of getting to and from the race.  It worked great! The race started at 7am, so I took the monorail at about 6 am.  No lines, no waiting, just a lot of semi-nervous looking runners, some holding a banana.

Race Morning: I was ready (and I think I have an addiction to all things green)

The monorail drops you off right at the Armory in Seattle Center.  Word to the wise, the Armory has 3 floors of inside bathrooms with flushing toilets. All were open and operational.  Forget the port-a-potties.  Also, Starbucks was open and ready for those who can actually drink coffee before a race.

After dropping things off at gear check and doing a bit of stretching, we hopped into our corrals ready to start the race.  Being in corral 28 (or maybe it was 27), we didn't actually cross the starting line until almost 8am, one of the main drawbacks of a large race.  Hurry up and wait, for sure.

I really enjoyed this course.  The first 2 miles run through downtown Seattle.  Quite a few spectators make it outside their hotels to cheer on runners as they pass.  Just before mile 2 there is quite a downhill.  While I enjoyed it, I also had the "what goes down, must come up" mantra in the back of my head.  We made the turn onto Dearborn, and I saw a bunch of people on the side of the road at what looked like a makeshift water stop.  I realized that it was a Nuun waterstop! I yelled to Sheena (who enjoys Nuun much more than I do and bought 8 tubes at the expo) in excitement.  It was such a welcome change from the gatorade along the course.  Yay for Seattle races with Nuun!

Miles 3 through 6 ran through sparsely populated areas of town.  Lots of trees overhead, which was great considering there were almost no clouds in the sky.  It was a beautiful day!

Miles 6 and 7 were probably some of the best, most emotional miles I've ever run in a race. This course has a full mile of remembrance for soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Signs line the path with pictures and names of those who served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice. These are followed by a line of people holding American flags. This sent chills down my spine and gave me goosebumps.  It's additions like this to races that make me take an extra moment (or mile) to think hard about why I run and how appreciative I am to have the opportunity.

At mile 8, we made a left turn onto the I-90 freeway (yes you read that right) and made our way into a mile long tunnel back into downtown.  This part was pretty killer.  It was as hot as a sauna in there, and my GPS watch was not entertained.  This was not my first foray in freeway running, as the San Diego Rock n Roll runs along the curvy and slanted 163 freeway.  This wasn't nearly as slanted. Sheena went on ahead after I slowed down and yelled "save yourself" in her general direction.

The remaining miles of the race were ran back through downtown, passing CenturyLink, and out on to the Alaskan way Viaduct.  At this point, I was just working through the miles, counting down to 13.  We ran through another tunnel right at mile 12.  Not nearly as sauna-like, and a nice reprieve from the sun. 

In the home stretch, right at the end of the race, we turned the corner to what seemed like would be the start of the finisher's shoot.  Enter, small but killer hill right at mile 12.9.  I was not a happy camper. In fact, I think I said "you've gotta be freaking kidding me" out loud.  As I attempted to sprint up the hill, my will to live quickly dissipated and I began to walk.  As I ran/walked through the finish line, I said goodbye to my hope of a PR and just started to look forward to the water and free Jamba Juice.

Final time: 2:29:33.

Moral of the story: I would love to do this race again next year, with some hill training.

After the race, we raced (again) back to the hotel to shower quickly before check-out time (note to self: schedule late checkout), had breakfast at Pike's Place with a great view of the water and went to my first Mariners game.  Overall, I would say the weekend was a success!

Training for Philadelphia {Week 1}

Cue the Rocky music now (I promise I'll only use that line once or seven times in the next 4 months).

While I may have posted at the beginning of the month that my training had officially started, according to Hal Higdon, it really didn't start until last week.  I've decided to use a modified version of his Novice 1 schedule, an 18 week program. Basically, I've moved around the days I'm running and added in an extra cross training day so I can continue twice a week boot camp sessions (more on my amazing boot camp in another post, I promise).

I like Hal Higdon's schedule because it requires 2 rest days.  I feel like so many of the plans I was looking at scheduled 6 days of running. While that may work for some people, I know I would get burned out pretty quickly on that schedule.

Here's how Week 1 went for me:

Monday - 3 miles

One of my favorite places to run in San Diego is down at Mission Beach boardwalk.  It's flat, it's simple, and it provides endless people watching opportunities, especially during the summer.  I know the mile markers like the back of my hand, so I don't spend so much time stressing over my watch or even my pace. 

Tuesday - Cross

Mission Fit Camp is a comprehensive fitness boot camp that I've been participating in since Spring 2011.  It's what got my butt in gear in the first place, and I love going every week.  Tuesday classes focus on biceps, triceps and a cardio circuit.  I have finished class on many a Tuesday wondering how I will blowdry my hair on Wednesday.  I'd say that's a success.

Wednesday - Cross & 1.5 miles (walking)

Because I had plans on Thursday evening, I went to fit camp on Wednesday instead.  Wednesday classes focus on legs, shoulders and agility training.  Think squats, lunges, shoulder presses and obstacle courses.  After I finished, I attempted to get in some miles at Balboa Park (my other favorite running venue in San Diego), but my legs weren't feeling it.  I walked through the park, instead, to stretch out my legs. 

Thursday - 3 miles

I returned to Balboa Park on Thursday to finish what I started on Wednesday.  Though I love the park, I find that I have become a bit bored with my typical 3 mile loop, so I changed it up a bit.  There are so many paths and directions you can go in the park it doesn't matter if you want to get 1 mile or 6 miles in. 

Instagram summary: miles, architecture & a downtown view

Friday - Rest

I enjoyed this.

Saturday - 7 miles (6 miles planned)

My first long run of the training cycle called for a 6 mile run.  This isn't so bad since I'm used to do 5-6 milers every so often.  My friend Kacey is training for the New York Marathon, so I figured she might also be running longer miles on Saturday.  And, of course, she was! We decided to meet (at the insane time of 6:45am) on Saturday morning at Mission Beach and see where the morning took us.  This was probably one of the easiest longer runs I have done in forever.  Kacey doesn't care about mile markers, or pace, or how much distance is left.  She just sets her watch for a particular amount of time that should be about how far she needs to go, and just starts running.  I like her style.  We talked about anything and everything: race mishaps, babies, running outfits, what we were going to eat for breakfast. And before I knew it, we had done 7 miles.  I will *definitely* be calling her again when I get up into the double digits. 

 Taken on a different day, but same amazing view.

Sunday - Rest

I had planned on going to a free boot camp on Sunday morning, but instead I decided to sleep in and walk to pick up my car from where bachelorette festivities had begun on Saturday afternoon.  A nice leisurely mile walk finished off by iced coffee & a bagel was just what I needed to end the week. 

Wine tasting is the best form of bachelorette celebration.

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I'm traveling for my high school reunion this week, and will be home on the east coast for 6 days.  I'm not going to lie, I am a little worried of getting in the miles in the midst of east coast humidity and catching up with friends.  Wish me luck!

And so it begins... {Philadelphia Marathon Training}

Three months ago I made the plunge and registered myself for the Philadelphia Marathon... 15 minutes after registration had begun.  Clearly, I was excited (for the significantly discounted registration fee for the first 1000 registrants).  As of yesterday, according to the June issue of Runner's World, I should be starting my 20 week training plan. 

When I stop to think about the fact that I will be running 26.2 miles on November 17th of this year, I can't even believe it.  I vividly remember myself saying, at least 2 or 3 times in my life, "I will never run a marathon, I can't even picture myself doing anything for 5 hours, let alone running for that long".  Well, start the visualization, Suzanne.  It's happening. 

Day 1 of training was simple, just a quick 3 miles.  I left work yesterday feeling inspired and ready to start this journey, excited for the next 20 weeks of challenging myself physically and mentally.  I hadn't really given much thought to my goals or how I would really move forward to accomplish this goals.  So, as I started my 3 mile "easy jog" in the blistering hot sun of what is San Diego during a heat wave, I realized that maybe I should take a few miles to think about it and maybe I should have waited until the sun went down to attempt anything outdoors.  Here is what I came up with, and hopefully these goals will push me to successfully complete my first marathon!

• Blog about it: I started this blog last fall as a way to keep myself accountable for my running and to share my adventures.  Clearly, I have not done so well, as my last entry was in December of 2013.  So I'm going to use this logical "beginning" as a fresh start for keeping people (or maybe just myself) in the loop.
• Be flexible:  Training schedules are easy to follow when the rest of your life is constant.  Looking at my work, and play, schedule for the next few months, my life is anything but.  I have a trip to Europe planned for work, I'm in a wedding, and I'm apparently also very good at planning every waking moment of my weekends through the end of the year.  My goal is to keep up with the weekly mileage on the suggested days, but also know that if I have to swap out a day for another, it won't be the end of the world.
• Be smart about the weather: I realized yesterday, while suffering through 3 miles which should be easy, that I HATE running in the heat. In fact, I'm pretty much a baby about it.  I just hate that feeling when you're running along and a blast of heat hits you in the face.  Give me cold weather running any day.  I'd rather not be able to feel my ears than feel like I'm stuck in an oven.  So, I realized I may have to reintroduce myself to morning runs, maybe even before the sun comes up, until October rolls around and San Diego returns to its 70 degree self.  Or as Runner's World said this month: "When a long run coincides with extreme heat and humidity, consider moving the run to a different day or splitting it in two and doing the second half of the run on a treadmill in an air-conditioned gym." Air-conditioned gym, here I come. Yuck.
• Maintain excitement: Not only for completing my first marathon, but for running itself. Looking at my weeks in September and early October, I realize that my life will be dedicated to training.  I'm excited for this challenge, and I'm excited to be dedicated to something that intensely.  But at the same time, I want to be conscious of burn out. I want to enjoy every run, every mile and come out in the end excited for my next race after Philadelphia. 
• Find a group to run with: My gaggle of running friends has significantly dwindled in San Diego in the recent months, and I find myself bored and lonely more often than not. Joining a running club without knowing anyone is almost as frightening as your first day of kindergarten.  Will anyone talk to me? Will I be the slowest one? Will anyone like my outfit?  It's ridiculous.  My goal for the summer and for this training cycle, is to finally get over myself and make it to a group run with complete strangers.  Hopefully, after a few awkward miles, I might make a friend!
•  Continue to improve on speed: In the past year, I have improved my per mile pace by almost 1 minute.  Sometimes I almost can't believe it.  I want this to continue! Perhaps I should find a coach?

Coming up on the blog: recaps of my last few races that I've been hoarding in draft mode and a few attempts at travel blogging.