Seattle Rock 'n' Roll 1/2 Marathon

Yesterday, I joined 17,593 others to run the second annual Seattle Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon. Between the half and full marathons, more than 27,000 runners from all 50 states and 23 countries participated to benefit the American Cancer Society.

It was a day of many firsts: while this was my sixth half marathon, I realized on the way to the race that even though I've lived in Seattle for almost 9 years, I've never actually run a half or full marathon here. I've also never run a race with so many people. While it made for constant runner / walker dodging, the excitement, energy and camaraderie that could be felt by such a large group of runners was unlike any other race I've ever run. It was amazing.

The only snag came when Corey was trying to exit the freeway to drop me off at the starting line --- traffic. We knew there might be some but never expected to sit in it for 45+ minutes as we crept the 3 miles towards the starting line. When I was finally able to dash out of the car, it was already 15 minutes past the race start. Luckily, with such a large group of racers (many of which were sitting in traffic with us!), there were "corrals", or staggered starting groups, so there were still thousands of people waiting to start the race after I made the 1 mile trek from the car to the starting line. Based on my expected finish time of 2 hours, I was supposed to start with corral 10; however, after finally arriving at the starting line, I began the race with corral 35. While I was thankful I didn't miss the race completely, I was a bit bummed to be starting with one of the last, slower corrals, which made for lots of walker-dodging throughout the course.

I finished the race in 1:57:35 and though I wasn't able to PR, I was happy with my time considering I wasn't able to train as much as I'd originally hoped.

I already know Corey is the best hubby ever, but it was reaffirmed when he offered (without me asking or saying anything about it) to drop me off at the starting line, take photos along the way, and then meet me at the finish. He knew that his offer would mean he'd be up and at 'em by 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning and even still, he seemed eager to be a part of the big day. It was so great to see him and hear him yell "I love you!" near mile 7 --- I knew I was more than half way at that point and seeing him and hearing him cheer brought a smile to my face and some pep to my step the rest of the way.



Most memorable race moments:

• Bikers in leather and army men in their fatigues holding American flags and cheering us on near Seward park.
• Me having to hop over a freeway barrier around mile 10 as I realized I was technically on the 'marathon' side of the race course vs. the 'half marathon' portion, coming out of the I-90 tunnel.
• Corey at mile 7 - he must have seen me first, since when I spotted him, he was already holding up his camera, snapping away, when I noticed him.
• Tons and tons of "In memory of..." shirts and signs.
• Guy running with who I assumed was his wife, wearing a shirt that said "She just gave birth" with an arrow pointing at said wife.
• All the live bands that played upbeat music throughout the course.
• The crowds lining the course and cheering us on as we ran off I-90 and into downtown Seattle with about a mile to go.
• Last but certainly not least, my very own fan club (Gina and Corey) waiting for me in the madhouse that was the finish line. Knowing they'd be there helped keep me motivated to finish as fast and strong as possible.