The final race instructions pointed out that there were sections of the course on single track trails. They also pointed out that you could get by with road shoes. Since my current rotation of road shoes have been falling apart, I decided to pack one of my older pair of trail shoes, The North Face Single-Track. I made sure that the sole wasn't falling apart.
At about 4 am, I got a ride over to Ontario Airport to catch an early morning Alaska Airlines flight. The line for the TSA screening was long, but it moved fairly quickly. Once I made it up the escalator, I ended up behind a guy wearing The Dude's sweater. Nice. Must be a big fan of The Big Lebowski.
El Duderino!
I was fortunate to score a window seat in an exit row with the middle seat next to me ending up being empty for the flight. I was able to get a little bit of sleep after eating some Biscoff cookies and some ginger ale. As we approached Seattle, I got a nice view of Mt Rainier poking through the cloud layer.
Exit row seat
Mt Rainier
Once the plane had landed in SeaTac Airport, I used the restroom and made my way over to the Link light rail station. I took that over to the Pioneer Square Station. Since I failed to tap out at that station, it assumed that I went all the way to Northgate and charged me $3.50 instead of $3. For some reason, I had read that you didn't need to tap out, but that turned out to only be for buses. Here's a link on how to pay for fares.
From there I walked over to the waterfront to check out where I would be catching the ferry over to Bainbridge Island tomorrow. There was still a lot of construction in that area, so it was kind of hard to figure out where to go. I figured that I should be fine since there would be other runners tomorrow congregating here for the packet pick-up. It was just south of the Ivar's Fish Bar that I've frequented.
I then swung by the Pike Place Market to check out a few things. The place was packed as if COVID never existed. I walked by the original Starbucks and saw the usual long line. I skipped it for now, but I really want to get that out of the way on this trip and finally check that off of my bucket list.
The original Starbucks
I then started heading over to the Pacific Place mall to catch a movie. Along the way, I stopped at the Starbucks at Pine St and 4th Ave to get a drink. I placed my order on the mobile app and waited a minute or so before going inside. It would turn out that my drink was already sitting there waiting for me. The main barista making drinks was very busy, so he didn't ask me if I had a mobile order. Another employee noticed that I was waiting and asked. Sure enough, it was just sitting there. I drank it along the way to the mall.
Starbucks Westlake Center
Grande salted caramel cold brew
I bought a matinee ticket for The Bob's Burgers Movie on the AMC mobile app. The matinee showing was 30% off the regular price. I used my remaining reward points to purchase a regular sized popcorn. However, it was still over an hour wait. Since Din Tai Fung was about to open at 11 am, I decided to eat something there before the movie. The bar section was first come, first serve, so I sat at one of the seats at the bar. I ordered their regular xiao long bao which comprised of 10 dumplings. I also got an iced matcha milk tea. Honestly, their XLB was decent, but nothing spectacular. Definitely, not worth the hype or the price. They should count themselves lucky and blessed to have struck gold, to have such a cult following.
Pacific Place
Din Tai Fung
Menu
Iced matcha milk tea
Regular xiao long bao
After I finished my little snack, I went inside the AMC Pacific Place 11 to wait for my movie. I found a spot to sit down next to the window and waited until it was time to pick up my popcorn. I had an aisle seat in the last row of the movie theater. After the usual approximate 30 minutes of trailers, I got to enjoy the movie and a moment of levity. Originally, I didn't like the cartoon many years ago, but when I eventually gave it a chance, I found that the comedy and writing were really intelligent and just downright funny. However, I wasn't expecting this movie to have a decent portion of it being a musical. I was fading a bit during parts of the movie since I was tired from the early flight. I'll need to watch it again when it becomes available on Hulu.
Popcorn
After I was done with the movie, I walked over to WorldMark The Camlin to see if my room was ready for me to check-in. There was a ton of very noisy construction taking place across the street from the property. Fortunately, I couldn't hear any of it when I made it up to my room. My room was ready without any wait and I was assigned room #610. Once again, per the usual, I had to stop by the concierge. I tried to decline, but he assured me that they weren't going to try and sell me anything. They just wanted to sign me up on a new booking app and would waive the $100 annual fee. I mentioned to him that I had just attended an owner update last weekend. Once again, he assured me that I could attend yet another one. In exchange for my time, they would be giving me 10,000 Wyndham Reward Points. I was tired and he had plain worn me out. I agreed to attend tomorrow at 2:30 pm and paid the $40 deposit that would be refunded to me when I show up for the update. I hope I'll be able to get back from the race in time to make it!
I got settled in my room and relaxed a bit before I went back out to meet up with my local friends for dinner at our usual restaurant, Tsukushinbo. I had thought about taking the light rail, but since the weather was nice and I had time, I decided to walk to the restaurant. Along the way, I stopped at the intersection of 7th Ave and Union St to check it out as there have been videos on the internet compiling all of the accidents at that exit from the 5 freeway. It didn't look too bad. The walk down to the International District wasn't too bad until I got closer. There were definitely more homeless people near the Link light rail station.
7th Ave and Union St.
Since I was a bit early, I stopped in at the Uwajimaya to buy some water for tomorrow's race. While the layout of the supermarket remained the same, it would seem that the interior was remodeled a bit. Per the usual, I got in the express checkout lane that was near the food court. The line was long, but it moved fairly quickly. After I paid for my water, I headed over to the restaurant. There wasn't anybody waiting there yet when I got there. A lady walked past a few times, so I asked if she was looking for a sushi restaurant. She said yes and I reassured her that she was at the correct spot.
In line to pay for my water
Tsukushinbo
Our favorite Japanese restaurant
After we were seated, I looked over the menu and decided to go with something different than what I've had in the past. I ordered the chicken katsu curry and added a fried egg for an additional $2. I also decided to get the ika maruyaki.
Chicken katsu curry add fried egg for $2 extra
Ika maruyaki
Dinner with locals
After dinner, a couple of my friends wanted dessert, so we walked over to the food court in Uwajimaya to check out what they had. They eventually got something at Beard Papa's.
Pointing at something
Due to the Mariner's game at the nearby T-Mobile Park, my friends had parked in Tukwila and had taken the light rail into International District Station. I could've taken the rail as well, but we parted ways as I elected to make the walk back to my room.
I laid out my flat runner for tomorrow's race and took a shower before calling it a night. The shower had really low water pressure. When I pulled down the Murphy bed, the mattress actually stayed upright. That was kind of strange as I usually find it strapped to the door that you pull down. Oh well, it was pretty easy to lower down. The pillows were in the closet along with extra blankets.
Flat runner
Sunday 6/12
I got ready and left my room at about 6:30 am to make the walk over to the ferry station. Per the usual, I walked over to 1st Ave before heading south and taking the Harbor steps at University St to reach the waterfront. As I was just starting down the steps, a guy sitting on the steps eating breakfast calls out to me. He asked me if I was headed to the race. He informed me that he didn't see anyone there. I told him that per the instructions, they weren't going to show up until 7 am.
Indeed, there was a line of participants waiting on the staircase up to the bridge to cross over to the Seattle Ferry Terminal. They had set up a table passing out race bibs and ferry tickets. You need a ticket to scan at one of the kiosks when going over to Bainbridge Island, but not on the return. We waited inside the terminal until they announced over the PA that it was time to board the ferry for Bainbridge Island. The restroom facilities were pretty nice inside the terminal. The ferry ride took about 30 minutes. They also had nice restrooms onboard the ferry.
In line for packet pick-up
Behind me
Ferry ticket
To the ferry terminal
Waiting for a different kind of rope drop
Inside the ferry terminal
The ferry
View to the north
View to the south
Pulling away
Almost to the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal
As the ferry was about to dock at the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal, we were instructed to go down to the car level. They were making additional announcements, but I couldn't hear a thing as it was pretty noisy and he or she wasn't using a bullhorn. I ended up just following the people in front of me. Eventually at about 8:30 am, we were given the green light to get off of the ferry and everyone started running. It was further up the road before we would reach the starting line timing mats.
Almost time to run
Behind me
After running away from the ferry dock, we made a left turn on Harborview Dr and hopped on the Waterfront Trail which ran into Shannon Dr. We then turned left at Bjune Dr, followed by a right turn at Madison Ave. We headed north on Madison Ave until we reached New Brooklyn Rd where we turned left. Shortly after reaching mile 3, we made a right turn onto Mandus Olson Rd. That took us to the Grand Forest East Entrance. This began the trail portion of the course. It was nice to run through here with the tree cover. After reaching Grand Forest West, we crossed the street at Miller Rd and hopped on the Forest to Sky Trail. We stayed on that until we reached the paved walking trail at Battle Point Park. That trail took us around the perimeter of the park until we exited onto Arrow Point Dr just across Montessori Country School. That road curved to the east where it had a dip followed by a series of climbs starting at about mile 8.
Going up the steep hill at mile 8
We then made a left turn onto Miller Rd followed by a right turn onto Koura Rd. At about mile 9, we made a right turn back onto Mandus Olson Rd heading south. After going over one last climb, it would mostly be downhill for the rest of the way, backtracking the route that we ran earlier. There were about 3 little bumps along the way which was where I took my walk breaks. My legs felt good enough for a decent run in with a left turn at the Bainbridge Island City Hall for the finish line.
Crossing the finish line
Finish line
Finish: 2:26:52
Click here for my Garmin data.
Once again with the Achilles tendinitis, I couldn't get much out of my legs whenever there was any incline. However, I could run okay whenever it was either flat or a descend. Although the course was pretty challenging, good portions of it was very scenic and beautiful.
After crossing the finish line, I got my finisher medal and headed over to the tables to get some snacks, a banana, and my race shirt. I bumped into the guy that I saw at the Harbor Steps. He had a pretty decent run, finishing in about 2 hours even. I ended up talking to a 60+ year old lady about the race. We pretty much chatted about how nice the weather was up in the PNW. Then after using one of the portapotties, I started heading over to the ferry terminal. I ended up walking most of the way with a lady that had run the race with two rather large German Shepherds. One looked to be a pure-bred named, Beowulf. The other named, Mojo, was a bit larger and looked to be mixed with another breed. We reached the terminal shortly after 11:30 am. The ferry had just left with the next ferry scheduled to leave at 12:20 pm. The few of us waited there as the line grew and grew until the ferry docked at the terminal. During the wait, a lot of runners stop by to pet the 2 dogs as they were really chill and very well behaved.
Finisher medal and post race goodies
Race shirt
Beowulf (darker) and Mojo
Waiting for the next ferry at 12:20 pm
Approaching the Seattle Ferry Terminal
As soon as the ferry docked back at Seattle, I made a beeline for Ivar's Fish Bar to get some lunch. Thankfully, there was no line and I was able to get my food with minimal wait. I ordered the 4 pcs cod with a bowl of white clam chowder. I was cutting it kind of close to have enough time to get back to my room and take a shower before the owner update.
4 pcs cod and a bowl of white clam chowder
Shortly after getting out of the shower, I got a call reminding me that I had an owner update to attend. I was pretty much already heading down to the lobby. Once I was down there, I waited a brief moment before the rep came downstairs to get me. Once we were on the 10th floor, I bumped into a few familiar faces as I've attended several updates at this location before. It would turn out that even though I had signed papers declining all offers just last weekend, not so surprisingly, they were still able to allow me to purchase 12,000 credits at that same highly discounted price that I had originally gotten at an owner update over at the Club Wyndham Harbour Lights location in San Diego where they were having one of those party weekends. With this purchase, I now have 53,000 credits and with an additional 12,000 bonus credits, that bumps me up to 65,000 credits to be temporarily in the Platinum level. That means, for the time-being, I won't be nickel & dimed for housekeeping fees. However in 18 months, I will have to purchase an additional 12,000 credits to stay at the Platinum level permanently. For quite some time, they've kept warning me about the level requirements being bumped up and that the Platinum level will eventually lose the free housekeeping tokens. I just need to get grandfathered into the current levels so they can stop bothering me with these owner updates!
I was pretty tired after all of that, so I took a bottle of grape juice and went back to my room. I didn't feel like going out for dinner, so I finished off the rest of the post race snacks and the juice in lieu of a proper dinner. Later that evening, I caught yet another showing of Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi.
Monday 6/13
I had set my alarm and tried to sleep in until 7 am, but I was wide awake around 5 am. I got up, turned on the news, and slowly got ready to check out of my unit. I had plenty of time as the check out time was at 10 am. Eventually, I took a shower and packed everything up. I left my room just before 10 am and dropped the keys off at the front desk. I went back up to the 10th floor to say goodbye to my new WorldMark owner rep. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with this one.
From there, I walked over to the original Starbucks at the Pike Place Market and got in line. The line was long, but it wasn't too bad. However, there was a rather unkempt person that got in line right behind me. I ignored him and proceeded to wait. However, I then smelled cigarette smoke. He had started smoking. Shortly after he had finished his cigarette and had flicked the butt into the street, he got out of the line and crossed the street. He went up to a guy and asked him something and moved on. He looked like just another downtown Seattle vagrant, but what was the point of him waiting in that line in the first place? I seriously doubt that he had about $5 to buy a cup of overpriced coffee! I just did it so that I could cross it off of my bucket list. When I finally got to the front of the line and went inside, I ordered a grande Americano with light ice. It was $1 extra for Pike Place Reserve coffee. However, when it came out, it was a hot Americano. I figured that the barista didn't see the light ice request. It wasn't enough for me to raise a stink. Also, while I was waiting, I believe a guy named Will had also ordered a grande Americano. He thought that I was stealing his drink until I showed him the sticker with my name on it. Honest mistake. Emil does sound a lot like Will.
Long ass line
Almost there!
Grande Americano light ice???
I walked over to the nearby Cutters Crabhouse to check out their current menu. I haven't been here in years, but I was sadden to see that they no longer served their Crab Louie Salad. That was my favorite item on their menu.
I still had plenty of time before my evening flight home. After a few minutes of indecision, I finally decided to make that trek up to Queen Anne to eat some burgers at Dick's. It's rather funny that I've stayed at the Inn at Queen Anne several times when I was in town to run the Rock n Roll Seattle Marathon. However, I had never once eaten at Dick's which was just next door. I now come to find the hotel to be closed. According to this Seattle Times news article, it had been bought by King County to house homeless people. Unfortunately, in a more recent news report, crime has increased around the homeless shelter. Once I arrived at Dick's, I ordered the usual, 2 deluxe burgers. All of the tables were removed from the dining area. There's only standing counter space all along the perimeter of the restaurant.
No tables
Dick's deluxe burger x2
After finishing my 2 burgers, I used their restroom before heading out. From there I hoofed it down to the Westlake Station to catch the light rail. I decided to just head over to the airport and wait it out there. I didn't need to tap out at the SeaTac Airport Station as it was $3 regardless.
Westlake Station
I didn't immediately get into the TSA line for general boarding, but man, that line was long! I was there so early that my flight wasn't assigned a gate yet. The mobile app was offering an earlier flight for a fee of $50. After getting through security screening, I made my way to concourse B to get an iced coffee at McDonald's. I used the mobile app deal to get the drink for $1. I found a nearby seat where I charged my ancient iPod Shuffle and passed some time playing games on my iPad. When it was about dinner time, I ordered 2 quarter pounders with cheese using the BOGO deal on the mobile app. A couple of hours before boarding time, I headed over to my gate over at concourse D. Thank goodness I was able to eventually end up with a window seat once again in an exit row. Again, the middle seat next to me was empty. I guess I lucked out for both outbound and inbound flights as I was not assigned any seats when I first booked my flights for this trip. The Alaska Airlines app worked well and was very easy to use. I was able to pick and change my seats quickly and with ease. The flight home was again on a Boeing 737, but this one looked much older. I landed in Ontario at about a half hour before midnight. It was way past my bedtime, so I was pretty darn tired. With work tomorrow, perhaps I should've paid for an earlier flight!
McDonald's in concourse B
Large iced coffee for $1
Dinner
Time to go home
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