A race adventure in Seattle

We went to Seattle on Friday morning for an overnight trip for a half marathon.  We spent Friday afternoon at the Rock 'n Roll Seattle race expo.  The kids won prizes, stocked up on the giveaways from each of the vendor booths, and had a lot of fun just roaming around.  Aubrey, Savvy and I each bought a new Sweaty Bands headbands that are so cute.

After the expo we headed to our hotel and checked in.  Next we walked across the street to Whole Foods to get some dinner.  We have learned that the night before a race you don't even try to find a seat in an Italian restaurant.  It is best to either get take-out spaghetti or to find another option entirely.  Whole Foods is perfect.

We got an amazing surprise when we got to Whole Foods.  There was a sign at the front of the store saying that Fabio was going to be there....June 22nd....4:30-8:30 PM.  I was stunned to realize that we had walked into the place exactly when Fabio was there.  My kids were freaking out.  If you have not seen Fabio on the episodes of Ned's Declassified then you are missing out.  This is what my kids know of Fabio--that he was in one episode of Ned's and also a couple of episodes of Big Time Rush.  And now they all know that he is quite handy in the kitchen!

So we snapped some stealthy pictures of Fabio promoting his new whey protein powder.    Noah said that was the best birthday EVER because he got to talk to Fabio.

We were in a hotel near the Space Needle starting line (and finish line).  After a birthday celebration for Noah, we hit the sack to be ready to wake up early for the race.   But first we had to do our traditional bib-pinning and arm-swishing.

Race morning we walked to the start line, and later Aubrey brought Savvy, Noah and Zack to the finish line to watch the runners finish.  I loved having a little cheering section just before the finish line.

Mark and I ran this race as a training run for the 4th of July Sauvie Island Flat half marathon in a couple of weeks.  We took it easy.  For Mark, that meant he ran it in 1:34.  For me, it was 2:20.   Jacob didn't train AT ALL and was just hoping to survive.  I passed him at about mile 9 even though he had started at least 15 minutes ahead of me.  He finished sometime around 2:50.

But Joel dazzled us all.  He had trained to run up to 8 miles, and was planning to just walk miles 7-8 because of the race profile. But when it came to that point, he saw the hills for real and he decided to see what he could do, and he ran the entire race!  I beat him by only 6 minutes.  But I beat him, and that's all I cared about.  When a mom of 7 can beat her two teenage sons in a half-marathon, that is a good thing.

The post-race concert was not my favorite.  When I heard which band was playing after the race I told the kids it was just some strange band I had never heard of... Gym Class something.  They all freaked out....  "YOU MEAN GYM CLASS HEROES?"  Indeed, that was the one.  Apparently they are on the radio quite frequently, but when my cd player is full of Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, John Denver and Sesame Street I really had no way of knowing this.

I thought they were all idiots.  The kids demanded to know how I could think such a thing.  I told them to take one look at him and tell me why I shouldn't think so.   I like 80's music as much as the next person who grew up that excellent decade; however, Hall and Oates tattooed on your hands?  Not the biggest sign of intelligence in my book.  So I'm not their biggest fan.  But we had a great time, and it was fun to see the kids all dancing around and singing along.

But no matter the band, it is fun to be in a crowd of runners enjoying a post-race concert.

As the concert ended, the rain started.  We scurried back to our hotel, checked out and loaded up in the van for the drive home.

It was a fun weekend, and we have already signed up for the race next year.