See Jane Run Half Race Report

I took June off from racing (not on purpose - time is just going too fast!) and got back in the saddle with the See Jane Half in Seattle today.  This was my third time doing this race - in 2011 I ran it in 1:43:24, in 2012 I ran it in 1:32:49, and this year ... drum roll ... I ran it in 1:31:30 and landed my shiny new PR - woot!

This year I was lucky enough to be an Ambassador for See Jane Run which was awesome.  It's a great organization and I'm happy to get to be involved with them.  Here's a pic of some of the other Ambassadors:

So here's the nitty gritty about the race ... first off, it was HOT.  I lined up with a couple minutes to spare (after a long wait for the porta potties) and recognized a few faces at the starting line which was pretty cool.  I globbed onto a group of frontrunners at the start and went out ... first mile was 6:20 - too fast!  I kept the pace for a couple more miles along the perimeter of Lake Union but by mile 4 I was slipping.  Being super thirsty didn't help.  The first couple miles had great water stations, but they were all on one side of the course even during an out and back section meaning that on the "back" part I couldn't get any water.  My bad for not carrying my water bottle today.

Mile 5 I ran past my work which was pretty fun, then started over the Eastlake bridge. Miles 6 and 7 I was slipping again, but by mile 8 I felt like I was getting my legs back.  I fell into a rhythm somewhere between Eastlake and Wallingford zoning out looking at boats. From miles 9 - 12 there was another out and back - this one was a ton of fun as all the women were cheering each other on and hooting words of "good luck" and "almost done."

Rounding the turn at mile 13 I saw my boys (all three of them) and was so super happy to have my run crew there.  Wilson got pretty upset, though, as I ran past because he couldn't figure out why I wasn't stopping for high five, knuckles, hug, and kiss (our hello / goodbye routine of late). 

 

Post race, we explored Gas Works park climbing and running with the boys.  Then we found a cool mosaic to traipse around looking for different sea animals.

 Good times!