The Biggest Loser Half Marathon, Seattle Edition!

 

Sorry, for being MIA for a while, but I haven't had access to my laptop, I finally have it back and I'm ready to share my 10th half marathon with you!!!

This time I decided to do the Biggest Loser Half Marathon, it was an inaugural run for Seattle. I think they have done other races across the country, but this was the first time they held it in Seattle. At this point I'm not really picky about the races that I'm choosing, but I do like the larger ones, where you get more than a few hundred people. I'm always afraid that I'll be the last one finishing, not that there is anything wrong with that, but honestly, I just don't want to be last, that's not too much to ask, is it?

This was my first half that I didn't feel like going to the expo the day before, I just chose to pick up my race bib and goody bag at the race. The course was very similar to the See Jane Run Half, they had a few slight changes but nothing major. This was the first time that I have ran a same course and I have to say that I enjoyed knowing what was next and being able to tell myself that all I need to do is just run around the corner and straight down and I'll be done. It felt good.

The race started at Gasworks Park in Seattle, this time the weather was absolutely perfect, it was cool, but not cold. They even had a couple of contestants from the Biggest Loser show. To be honest, I don't watch the show, so I couldn't tell you who they were, but everybody was snapping pictures and calling out their names. I got there with just about a half an hour to spare, got my stuff and gave my bag to gear check and off to the starting line I went.

The course was around Lake Union, its a beautiful course, you run across two bridges, past the University of Washingtons brand new football field and lots and lots of pretty water views. The race felt great over all. Lots of racers, it really was a sea of neon orange (that was the color of the T-shirt and the drawstring backpack that we got), I chose to wear my usual Lululemon gear, of course.

I was a little disappointed with the after race party. At other bigger races they've had lots of fun booths to look around at and good food to taste, at this race they just had bagels, bananas and water and that's it. So needless to say, I didn't stick around for too long, got my awesome medal and went home. And that's how it all went down.

 I'm a little disappointed that my times have gone down with each race, but I've had a lot of knee issues lately and I really just want to finish my 13 halfs for the year and then take some time off to recover and start training for the Seattle Rock'n'Roll half again in 2014.

See you at my next race,

Keili

Labor Day Half Marathon 2013!

Labordayrun.com

I'm officially done with 9 out of my 13 half marathons this year. Only four more to go, I can do this!

This time it was the Labor Day Half Marathon in Redmond, WA. It started and finished at Marymoor park. I picked up my race packet the day before the race in Seattle and they didn't really have anything fun in the bag, just tons of ads for the sponsors and some other race discount fliers for next year.

The race started at 9:00AM, my least favorite time of day for any half marathon during the summer time anyway. It was already so hot before the race even started, it was estimated to be 82 degrees that day. If I run at the pace I've been running lately with my knee injuries, I knew it was going to be super hot by the time I was going to finish.

I struggled this race, for some reason it seemed so much harder than all the other races I've done. There were a few factors, no on course entertainment, not very many people cheering along the course, the route was boring and it was sooooooo hot and the water station at mile 10 was out of water by the time I got there, what?!?! Those were just a few things that didn't happen, but they did and some of them are what they are and you just can't do anything about it.

The course itself started in Marymoor park, like I said and then we ran through downtown Redmond over to Willows road, which is a pretty big road, so there were cars driving by and kind of noisy. We ran by the golf course, then we turned down to head towards the Sammamish River trail and took that back to Redmond and to Marymoor park.

The finish of this race was my favorite part, not only because I was finishing, but because I was the only one running towards it the last 200 meters or so and all of a sudden I hear footsteps behind me and I look back and this guy is trying to pass me at the very end. There were a ton of people at finish line watching and I turn to the guy as I'm running and go "oh hell no" and I just start running as fast as my legs will go and he is doing his best and we just sprinted to the finish and I BEAT him!!! Everybody was laughing so hard and he came over to me afterwards and told me thanks for the encouragement at the end! It was really fun finishing like that, but I was beat, probably shouldn't have done that, but oh well, I enjoyed it.

They had a band playing and some booths with vendors and a Mac & Jack's beer garden. I didn't bring any cash, so I just walked around the booths for a little bit and headed back home.

As far as my knees went, I did much better than I thought. I was wearing knee supports on both knees and downed three Advil before the race and three more half way through and I made it to the end without too much pain. I feel like the supports definitely helped and I hope that I'll be able to finish my challenge for the year as I had wanted.

Hope to see you run!

Keili

See Jane Run Half Marathon 2013!

 

 I'm officially 7 for 13 on my half marathons this year.

This was my first See Jane Run and I really enjoyed it a lot. The course was beautiful, it started and finished in Gas Works Park in Seattle. The weather again was so gorgeous, but not best for running. I'm not complaining though, we'll take the sunshine here in Seattle any day!

The expo was at the W Hotel in downtown, kind of a hassle to get to and I had to pay for parking. The setup was really small, they were selling their merchandise and a few tables with energy bar tastings and that's about it, nothing too big. The Seattle Marathon was set up with a table right outside the conference room and they had some cute giveaways that my son enjoyed, like noise makers and pom poms. In the goodie bag they had the bib and some energy drinks and tattoos. We did end up riding the monorail afterwards, I had paid for an hour parking spot, so I figured, we might as well enjoy a little time in Seattle.

 

 So the run started at 8:00 and I knew that the parking situation was going to be a nightmare at Gas Works, so I was planning on being there at least an hour before hand. I got there just as I had planned and didn't really have as hard of a time finding a parking spot as I had thought, I had to walk maybe five minutes to the starting line.

 

They were setting up for the finish line festival with food and drinks, now I don't like to eat
anything but a banana before my races, so I asked if it was okay to have one before the race and they were totally fine with that. They had tons of Honey buckets and not much of a wait for them which was super nice. I sat by the water and stared at beautiful Seattle until it was time to start. The view from Gasworks park is by far my favorite in Seattle. I could have sat there for hours and just lounged, but that's not why I was there, I had plenty of time to do that after the race.

 

Finally it was time to start, the streets were narrow and we all kind of went the same pace, they did have three start times. I started with the 9-11 minute pacers, I did not finish there though :(. The course was around Lake Union and the weather was just beautiful, so the views that we got were amazing.

 

I went into this race with the mentality of not trying to beat any of my times. I knew that both of my knees were messed up, I'm still not 100% recovered from my tendinitis and I get really bad anxiety during my races. I have anxiety on a daily bases as is, but the races really make it bad, so I was hoping that not worrying about finishing at, or beating a specific time would make it better. It really worked, I didn't take my anxiety totally away, but it was much, much easier to control my breathing and keep going.

 

Needless to say I didn't get a really good time, but I was okay with that, going into it all sorts of injured. I finished strong and thoroughly enjoyed all the champagne at the finish line. This race is also called the chocolate and champagne race. The sponsors are Sees Candy and Barefoot wines, included in the race price is also a champagne glass that you get to keep :) I got a wrist band and once I picked up my glass filled with candy, I headed into the Champagne garden. They were serving two kinds of champagne a sweet red kind and a regular dry champagne. I tried the regular one and it was amazing and it tasted especially great after a long race. I had about three glasses I think, but they did run out of the regular kind and had to go and get more, I would recommend to go there first if you don't want to wait around while they replenish.

After that I headed back to the waterfront and just sat on the lawn and enjoyed the scenery, took some pictures and after a while headed back to my car and came home.

 

Overall I would recommend this race for sure, so far it has been one of my favorites in Seattle, right after the Rock'n'Roll one I think. I would definitely run this one again next year.

Hope to see you there,

Keili