Running Between the Lines: Rock 'n Roll Seattle 1/2 Marathon Race Report

After hearing about the Rock-n-Roll series, I have always wanted to do one of the races. This was also the year for our 1 year Anniversary and we had talked about going on a mini vacation. So, I started looking and we settled on Seattle for a few reasons. 1^st and most important reason – my husband’s brother and his family live outside of Seattle and I had never met them and my husband hadn’t seen his brother for 10 years. They weren’t able to make it to our wedding, so we thought we would go to them. 2^nd reason – we could use this trip as our 1^st Anniversary trip. And 3^rd reason – I could run the RNR Seattle half while we were there! So, we just celebrated our anniversary a little early (in June instead of August), I ran a race and we got to spend time with family. Very productive 5 day vacation! I’ll give the race report first and then post some pictures about the rest of our trip and all the fun things we did.

The race was on Saturday, June 25^th and I booked our stay in one of the hotels that sponsored the race. This was the best thing I could have done! All I had to do on race morning was get up, get ready and walk out of the lobby and get on the bus. The bus then shuttled us to the start in Tukwila which was about a 25 minute bus ride. I’m not a morning person, so not having to worry too much on how to get to the start was a huge plus for me!

The morning was overcast and chilly, but not unbearable. There were tons of people doing the race – I think around 35,000 – 40,000 people! I was toward the back of the pack and there was a lot of waiting. I actually crossed the starting line about an HOUR AFTER the actual start time. That is how long it took for them to get through all the different corral starts! But, there were great people to talk to and great music to listen to while waiting to start, and it definitely made the rest of the race better. I didn’t feel like I was weaving in and out of people and I didn’t feel like I was running in a huge crowd of people. That was what was nice about the corral starts.

The scenery was beautiful! The spectators were amazing and encouraging! The bands every mile were great! Since the race started in Tukwila and finished in Seattle, we ran in little neighborhoods, ran by a lake, ran in non-populated areas, ran on major highways, and then finished in the city. It was all different areas throughout the 13.1 miles. The neatest thing was getting closer to the city and seeing the skyline getting closer and closer until you were there at the finish! The best thing about the whole race is that I got to see my husband on the course! He was about a mile from the finish line and seeing him so close to the end gave me the strength to finish strong! It was the first race of mine he’s been to and I loved seeing him supporting me on the course!

I didn’t feel like I was completely prepared for this half marathon like I was the one in April. There had been so much going on and I did have some injuries that made me skip training runs, or cut my distances back. I felt pretty good while running the race. I had some soreness in my knee while running, but nothing major. It was about an hour after the race when I noticed my foot was really hurting. It hurt to walk on it even and it made the last 2 days of our trip a little difficult if I had to be on it for long amounts of time. Once I got back from Seattle, I went to the dr after a few days of it not feeling better. They didn’t find anything wrong with it but wanted me to wait a couple weeks and come back if it was still hurting. I stayed off of it (very hard for me to do) for 2 solid weeks and at that time it was feeling much better. Then the pain was completely gone after another few days. I never went back to the dr and have no idea what was wrong with it. It hasn’t acted up since. I usually run in Saucony’s, but I trained for this race and ran this race in Mizuno’s. I didn’t like them as well as my Saucony’s, but gave them a shot. It might or might not be the shoes, but that race was the last time I wore them and I went back to the kind I know that have worked for me in the past! Even with not being as prepared as I would have liked, I still did the 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 27 minutes and 54 seconds, so I was pleased. My pace was 11:14.

Everclear (one of my favorite bands from my college days) performed at the post race party and it was awesome to see them in person and hear some of their great songs! We hung around the party for an hour or so, then headed back to the hotel to rest a while before going to meet up with my brother-in-law and his wife. I did love my first experience with a Rock-n-Roll series race and can’t wait to do the Las Vegas one in December!

I wrote this blog post a month or so ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting it. Since writing this, I have actually finished my 2nd RNR event, but that race report will come a little later. Below are some pictures from the race and the overall trip!

I also wanted to add the website for the Rock 'n Roll Series events. If you haven't checked it out, you should! They have so many different sites all over the country!

http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/

The view from our hotel room