I took an early morning Southwest flight out of John Wayne airport. I always prefer flying out of here over LAX. It's a lot cleaner and the whole boarding process isn't as hectic. I landed at SeaTac airport a little before 10 am. I made my way over to the Link station to catch the light rail into downtown Seattle. I purchased a day pass for $6 since I was staying up in Lower Queen Anne and was going to meet up with my friends for dinner down in the International District later in the day. I got off at the Stadium station and walked over to the CenturyLink Field Event Center for the Rock n' Roll Expo. I got there at about 10:30 am and there was a line of people waiting to get in. For some reason I had thought that it would be open at 10 am, instead they opened at 11 am.
Once inside, it was the usual routine: pick up bib, pick up shirt, sign up for next year's race. They gave me a cotton t-shirt for registering for next year's race. They also gave me a shirt for Las Vegas because I mentioned that I was planning on volunteering for the race.
After being done with the expo, I made the walk over to the Ivar's at pier 54 for some lunch. There was still a lot of construction taking place, but this year it was open for business. I got an order of fish n' chips and a bowl of white chowder. It's not the best seafood in Seattle, but I do look forward to eating it every year.
Fish n' chips and a bowl of white chowder!
After eating lunch, I made the long walk up to Lower Queen Anne to check into my hotel. Most years that I've been coming to Seattle for this race, I have been staying at the Inn at Queen Anne. It is practically located across the street from the start line. The finish line used to also be at the Seattle Center, but this year it was moved down to the CenturyLink Field. I'm guessing that the new course wasn't finalized until very close to race day as the final instructions were not available until a few weeks at most before the race.
Inn at Queen Anne
Per my usual routine, I went through my expo haul and threw out the advertisements and stuff that I didn't need. I then laid out my flat runner to make sure that I had packed everything that I needed for the race.
Expo haul
Extra registration shirts
Flat runner
I then watched some TV and took a nice nap. I woke up to go meet up with my friends for dinner. I walked over to the Westlake Village Link station to catch the light rail down to the International District. Once there, I walked over to the Uwajimaya super market to buy my Powerade and water. We had dinner reservations at Tsukushinbo at 5:30 pm and I was a bit early, so I found a seat in the food court area and waited. Once dinner time approached, I walked on over to the restaurant. It was sprinkling a bit, so I stood under the awning to wait. This year they were a bit tardy in opening the restaurant. When it came time to order I decided to order the 3 item dinner combination instead of the usual sashimi combination or chirashi. It was more food for less money. My 3 choices were saba (mackerel), tempura, and salmon shioyaki. I also ordered their salmon yukke to check it out. It was pretty much a salmon tartare with pine nuts. They were able to split the checks this year which was way more convenient. Since my last visit to Seattle, they had extended the Link light rail line all the way up to the University of Washington. So when we were done, I walked with a couple of my friends to the Link station to take the light rail back to my hotel.
3 item dinner combination
Salmon yukke
Annual carbo-load dinner. Pic from Michael.
Saturday 6/18
I didn't have to wake up super early as I was staying very close to the start line. That put my mind at ease after last weekend's near debacle at the Hatfield & McCoy Marathon where I was really late in getting to the start of the race. I made sure to get up at the first alarm instead of snoozing and waiting for the secondary alarms.
After checking my gear bag and using the nearby restroom, I headed over to the starting line area. Per the usual Seattle weather, there was a threat of rain for the race, but ultimately it never did rain. As the start of the race approached, I went inside my corral and spotted a couple of my Marathon Maniac friends nearby. Between the four of us, we've complete quite a few number of marathons!
Start line
Lots of marathons have been run between these folks! Pic from Karen.
Things started off feeling pretty good, but I knew that it wasn't going to last very long. This year, instead of running straight into downtown, we hopped onto the Alaskan Way Viaduct where we ran a short out and back before heading into downtown. Man, that was a steep short climb up Seneca St! There were some downhills and rollers heading down to Rainier Ave. The right hip was really bothered by the downhills. At around the 10k mark, I thought I had spotted one of my friends. I kept calling her name and thought she couldn't hear me because of her music, except it would turn out not to be her. She finally told me that she wasn't who I thought she was... oops! I apologized and backed off. Creeper alert! Thank goodness it happened to be time for my scheduled walk break. Also my left foot was getting quite sore and bothering me. From Rainier Ave, we made our way onto Genessee Ave, up 43rd St, then to Lake Washington Blvd where we finally split off from the half marathoners. We headed over to Seward Park, where we ran the Shore Loop. This was my favorite part of the course. We reached the halfway point just as we were finishing the loop and leaving Seward Park.
The second half involved a lot of walking for me. We head up Lake Washington Blvd, where we rejoin the half marathoners. As we got closer to the I-90, they had the Wear Blue: Run to Remember tribute to those that have fallen in combat. It's always hard to keep a dry eye through this section of the course. After a short out and back, we made our way up to the I-90. This was my least favorite part of the course. There was no shade when we were outside of the tunnels and when we were inside, the roads were heavily cambered and the air was stale. It was quite a relief when were finally done with the tunnels and were heading to the finish line with the CenturyLink Field and Safeco Field in sight. After one last circular incline up the Royal Brougham Way, it was a right turn on Occidental Ave for the finish line.
Click here for my Garmin data.
After getting my medal, grabbing a few drinks and a PowerBar, I made my way over to the UPS trucks to pick up my gear bag. After throwing my stuff into the bag, I got in line to pick up my finisher jacket. Then I made my way into the beer garden after they checked my ID for my Michelob Ultra. Since it took me longer to finish this year, there wasn't a whole lot of people in the beer garden.
Finish at CenturyLink
After I was done with my free beer, I made my way over to the bus stop at Jackson St and 5th Ave to catch the #1 bus up to Queen Anne. I only had to wait a few minutes before the bus showed up. It was $2.50 for the bus ride and it dropped me off right across the street from my hotel at 1st Ave and Republican St. Super easy and super convenient!
After getting cleaned up, I took a nice nap before doing a little research on where to eat for dinner. I didn't want to go very far, so I walked across the street to eat an early dinner at the Triumph Bar. I started things off with the pFriem IPA on draft, which was my kind of IPA since it wasn't overly bitter. It was early still, so I got to order off of the happy hour menu. I ordered their pork belly mac and beef tongue tacos. The flavors for both items were good, however the pork belly was way too dry for my taste. I got a Double Mountain Kölsch for my second beer. I must say that I'm starting to like the kölsch style of beer. The waiter suggested the breading pudding for dessert. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, but I said, "what the heck, why not? I just ran a marathon this morning!" That was a really good bread pudding.
pFriem IPA
Pork belly mac
Beef tongue tacos
Double Mountain Kölsch
Bread pudding
Sunday 6/19
I slept in a bit before waking up to pack up my stuff and to get ready to check out. After I checked out, I made the trek down to Pike Place Market to eat lunch at Cutters Crabhouse. In contrast to yesterday, the weather was really nice and sunny without a rain cloud in sight. It was Father's Day, so most people there had made reservations. I was by myself, so I was able to just find a seat in the bar area. I started things off with an Elysian Superfuzz Blood Orange pale ale, one of favorites. After looking over the menu, I decided on getting the Cutters Signature Louie salad and their clam chowder. They brought out the chowder pretty quickly. My waitress also brought out some bread to go with the soup. Shortly thereafter, she brought out the salad. Man, that was a really good salad! It was one of the best Louie salads that I've ever eaten. I finished my meal off with a Pike High Five hopped honey ale. It was a sweet and flavorful beer. You can definitely taste the honey.
Alaskan Way Viaduct
Elysian Superfuzz Blood Orange pale ale
Clam chowder
Cutters Signature Louie
Pike High Five hopped honey ale
After lunch, I walked by the Pike Place Market to take my annual picture inspired by the movie, Sleepless in Seattle.
I then made the trek over to the AMC Pacific Place over on Pine St and 6th Ave to catch a movie before heading to the airport. I decided on watching Central Intelligence. It was incredibly predictable from start to finish... even the feeble attempt at a plot twist could be seen from about a mile away. But the combination of The Rock and Kevin Hart was absolutely hilarious! It was funny as heck! I am sure that they will do many more movies together in the future.
After the movie, I walked over to the Westlake Village Link station and took the light rail to the SeaTac airport to catch my evening flight home. I made my way to the Ivar's for one last serving of fish n' chips.
Fish n' chips at SeaTac
The flight was delayed due to a mechanical issue. It's never good to see one of the engine doors open. I don't think anybody really mind since everybody wanted to see the end of game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. We started the boarding process as soon as the game ended with the Cavaliers making history by being the first team to come back from being down 1-3 in the finals to win the title. Some of us waiting for the flight joked that the pilots really wanted to see the end of the game and it never really had anything to do with the engine. Thank goodness we left just in time to make the curfew for landing at John Wayne airport!
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