Yep, that’s me, a rock and roll kind of gal.
Sorry no posts forever, I just moved and don’t have internet yet and don’t really feel like it is ok for me to blog about running and my lame lunches at work. I’ve only been there six months, after all.
Anyway, I ran the 2011 Dodge Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 marathon today! I had originally signed up for the full, but didn’t really train very well so dropped down to the half. No refund though. Lame.
I’ll warn you right now this post has very few pictures. I no longer have a camera at my disposal. But will be getting an iPhone in two weeks so look forward to THAT.
All screenshots from here
So, I was on my own this morning. I woke up at 3:36 am. Awesome, right? Doesn’t running sound fun to you? I had to shower and then walk 1.3 miles to the Westin where I took a shuttle to Tukwila. Are you with me on the fun yet? Then I sat on the ground for an hour with intermittent breaks to wait in line for a porta-potty, or as they are repulsively called here, Honey Buckets.
Because I never check a bag at races I was all nervous that the UPS people were somehow going to lose my sweatpants in the trek from Tukwila to Seattle -the UPS was awesome enough to cart 30,000 runners’ junk up to the finish line. But due to my paranoia, I didn’t bring anything, like my phone, or money, or my ID, or anything reasonable. You’ll hear why this was a poor decision later.
So we all lined up. I was originally in coral 12, but thought that might be too fast for my short legs and so dropped back to coral 16, behind the 2:00 hour pacer.
There was music, there was excitement, there were lots of stinky people. Why they were stinky BEFORE the race, I have no idea.
Beep beep, time for coral 16 to take off! At 7:23 am, 23 minutes after the start time. This was a HUGE race.
Here’s the map. I chopped part of the full marathon course off, ’cause who cares about those nuts:
So, you know, we ran. It was pretty flat, thank heavens, but with some rolling hills. Parts of the course were next to Lake Washington, and that was pretty. Other parts were on freeways, which is always weird.
We ran some more. I passed the 2:00 hour pacer, like the badass I am. But then when the marathoners split from the half-marathoners I felt like a weenie because I was wearing a marathon colored bib (yellow) because that was what I had originally registered for, so everyone knew I was cutting out early.
For once I think I actually paced myself pretty well. I began this race with the intention of taking it easy, as my training has been rather lacking. So I ran slower at the beginning and sped up when I felt I could. I passed a lot of people in the final 3 miles, which is usually when I’m getting passed.
Also, the volunteers and spectators for this race are AMAZING. I mean, the stages with bands are fun, especially if they’re playing fun songs (“Get Off of My Cloud” and “Living on a Prayer” being the total winners, in my opinion). But the spectators are great. There were also lots of highschool cheerleading squads which downright warmed my old heart, especially when I saw a basket toss.
Because I changed races, my chip timing was all wonky, but by using math (I know, believe it) and looking at my actual starting time, 5k, 6k and 9 mile times, I was able to deduce my final time: 1:56:00. Pretty good for taking it easy! I was satisfied.
Update: apparently my chip timing worked! 1 hour 55 minutes 32 seconds.
Anyway, after the race I drank water and got a Mylar blanket and a medal. I also picked up my gear from the UPS trucks successfully -no one had messed with my ratty Target sweatpants, thank heavens. Here’s why it was dumb to not bring my ID -there was beer tent at the end of the race! With free low calorie beer! Heaven! But though I certainly look old enough to drink and my stupid bib SAID my age, they wouldn’t let me in without a real ID. I was sad.
So I went home and drank one:
This was the other problem -as I had no money, phone, or bus pass, I had to walk home. 2.5 miles! On my poor tired legs. Silly. I did get lots of appreciative and quizzical looks, as I was still wearing my Mylar blanket. Next time I’ll plan better.
This was a very fun run -I think I’ll definitely do it again next year. At first I was super overwhelmed by the size, but everything was very well organized and lots of people makes the whole experience feel really special.
Maybe I’ll even do the one in LA in October…
