I used my Elevate points for a free Virgin America flight from LAX to Seattle-Tacoma Airport on an early Friday morning. This is one of my favorite airports to fly into because you can just take the Link light rail into downtown Seattle right from the airport. There's no need to rent a car. The kids sitting next to me had some sweet suitcases.
I took the light rail straight to the race expo at the CenturyLink Field Event Center. This time I got off at the International District station. I usually get off at the Stadium station. Having walk from both stations, I think it's faster from Stadium station. After picking up my race packet and race shirt, I went through the expo before stopping by the Rock n' Roll area to sign up for next year's race for $90. It actually came out to $109.49 with fees and WA taxes. I love races where they give out bags of beef jerky. I would find out later after talking to my friends that I had missed seeing the legacy runner board at the expo. Oh well, I guess I'll have to keep an eye out for it next year.
After leaving the expo, I made a bee line for Ivar's Fish Bar out on the waterfront. I got their popular fish and chips with a bowl of red clam chowder. For some reason the guy taking my order didn't believe that I wanted the red chowder. He asked if I was sure that I wanted the red. I guess not a whole lot of people like it. That really hit the spot. I then pretty much burned it all off by hiking all the way to my hotel at Lower Queen Anne. The roads were super hilly and it was quite a workout to carry my bag up the hills. I've stayed here last year as well. You just cannot beat the location. It's called Inn at Queen Anne. There are plenty of places to eat at nearby and it's right next to the start and finish area of the race. I used two free nights when I booked this hotel, so I ended up paying for just one night.
Fish and chips with a bowl of red clam chowder
I walked back down to the expo and met up with my Marathon Maniac friends. We then hiked over to eat our pre-race meal in the International District. Since we all got to the expo by different means, we met up at the nearby Uwajimaya before walking over to the restaurant. I bought some drinks for the weekend.
I've been eating with Mr. Shoe for the last couple of years and this year he picked Tsukushinbo to eat some sushi and sashimi. Most of us, including me, ordered their Sashimi Dinner. It came with a bowl of rice and bowl of miso soup. They also gave us some edamame to share. The presentation of the sashimi was nice, makes you not want to eat it because it's been laid out so beautifully. The important part was that all of it was fresh and tasted delicious with a little bit of wasabi and soy sauce. It's a pretty small restaurant with minimal wait staff, but our waitress and even one of the sushi chef made sure to check up on everybody and every table. It turned out to be a great restaurant for some authentic traditional sushi and sashimi. Remember to make a reservation or show up right before they open because they only have one table open for people that didn't make a reservation. It's also located in the hilly part of the International District so bring your comfortable walking shoes. This place actually can be missed pretty easily as they do not have a restaurant sign outside. From what we could tell, everybody that wanted to eat there knew where it was located. I guess that they're popular enough whether through word of mouth or Yelp that they do not need a neon sign outside.
Sashimi Dinner
Dinner with some high profile Marathon Maniacs!
After the delicious dinner, I got a ride from Mr. Shoe back to my hotel. I went through the expo haul and set out my race gear before calling it a night. This year's race shirt had a nice design. I also got a shirt for signing for next year's race.
Expo haul
Saturday 6/21
I got ready and walked across the street to the starting area at the Seattle Center. I stopped by the Space Needle to wait for the Marathon Maniacs. There was quite a large group. I talked to the few that I knew. As the start of the race grew closer, the MM pre-race photo wasn't taking place yet, so I bailed to take care of important pre-race necessities. I hit the portpotties and checked my gear bag before heading into my corral.
The first half went pretty well. Sometimes people don't realize just how hilly it is in Downtown Seattle. It would flatten out once we got out of the Downtown area. I went through the halfway point right behind the 3:40 pace group at 1:50:10. I started having trouble during mile 14, but things still felt relatively okay. As with most years, the weather was just too nice. During the section on the exposed 90 freeway, I was slowed to a walk by mile 16. The legs were cramping up and it would just keep getting worse. The cambered tunnel roads and nonstop rollers in the second half made it tough. It was also getting warmer as the day went on. It was a rough finish, but it was my fastest time for this race and good enough to keep the 6 year legacy streak going.
1: 8:24
2-3: 16:04 (8:02)
4: 8:17
5: 8:17
6: 8:05
7: 8:14
8: 8:29
9: 8:35
10: 8:14
11: 9:30
12: 8:50
13: 8:44
14: 9:29
15: 9:46
16: 9:58
17: 12:51
18: 11:53
19: 13:08
20: 12:18
21: 14:02
22: 14:28
23: 14:54
24: 13:13
25: 13:44
26: 14:58
26.2: 2:09
Finish: 4:36:37
After getting my medal and the usual post-race goodies in the finisher chute, I bumped into a few of my Maniac friends. We shared our race experiences and took a few pictures. I then made my way over to the UPS trucks to get my gear bag before heading over to the stage area to get my free Michelob Ultra.
Seattle Maniacs!
Post race beer
At around 4pm I was hungry for my usual post race burger and thirsty for some beers. I decided to check out Buckley's On Queen Anne. It was close to my hotel, so I didn't have to walk too far. I started off with their featured IPA on tap while watching the soccer match on one of their several TV's. Then I ordered their Juicy Lucy burger with tater tots. It was a good burger and I love any place that serves tater tots. I prefer tater tots over fries any day. I then ordered their featured IPA on nitro to finish off my recovery meal. I didn't catch the name of the beers, but they were both good beers.
Featured IPA on tap
Juicy Lucy and tater tots
Featured IPA on nitro
Sunday 6/22
I love fresh delicious Pacific Northwest seafood even for breakfast! After checking out of my hotel, I walked over to Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar right about when they opened at 11am and they were all ready to go. I ordered a Space Needle Golden IPA for my drink. I then ordered 3 Shigoku and 3 Kumamoto oysters as well as their geoduck sashimi. Everything was very fresh and awesome. It's starting to be hard to find places that will serve geoduck, but I can always count on finding some whenever I'm in Seattle. It was just eaten with wasabi and soy sauce, so you can really taste the freshness of the geoduck. As for the oysters, it's hard to beat the taste of those Kumamotos! The Shigokus were very good as well. The staff at this location was very friendly. I had some nice conversations with all of them. I originally was going to go to their original location at Capitol Hill on Melrose Ave, but decided to check out this place since it had just recently opened and was just across the street from my hotel.
Breakfast beer Space Needle Golden IPA
Shigoku on the right, Kumamoto on the left
Geoduck sashimi
I then made my way towards the AMC Pacific Place 11 to catch a movie. Along the way I stopped by the Pike Place Market to take my annual photo of the famous sign. I finally watched The Amazing Spider-Man 2. I like the current reboot. I was not a big fan of Tobey Maguire. Having said that, although I thought the movie overall wasn't bad, I thought Electro was a huge disappointment in how they developed the character.
Also I was not a fan of the portrayal of the Rhino. I wish that they would stick more to the comics.
Pike Market Place
The Amazing Spider-Man 2
After the movie, I decided to stop by Ivar's Fish Bar one last time for some fish and chips before heading to the airport to catch my evening flight home. This time I went with the white clam chowder. The white chowder was definitely better than the red. I'll see you guys and the seagulls again next year!
Fish and chips with a bowl of white clam chowder
I walked over to the University Station to catch the light rail to the airport. While waiting for my flight, I decided to have a drink at the Seattle Taproom. I found an open table and had a large Elysian Immortal IPA. I thought about getting another beer, but service was horribly slow so I paid my bill and went to wait at my gate.
Immortal IPA
I guess there's no reason why I should ruin a tradition in ending my marathon trips. So on my way home, I drove to What's Up Men, to eat a late evening bowl of ramen.
Shiro ramen
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