Saturday July 24 2021
With the organisers of Bloomsbury in Spokane WA, refusing to host the race, several times, eventually I gave up and looked at other options. I read about the Jack and Jill event and it sounded good – very highly regarded, downhill point to point and fast (half or full). I signed up for the half, and the weekend rolled around, very successfully!
We flew direct from Charlotte to Seattle on Thursday after work, picked up the rental and stayed at the Marriott in the Bellevue district of Seattle, grabbing dinner at a nice Japanese restaurant right next to the hotel, just as it was closing up for the night. The next morning we grabbed brunch in Chace’s Pancake Corral, a nice local cafe, and made the drive to North Bend. I picked up my race packet from the Nike store and we explored the local area – the Snoqualmie Valley. This is where the critically acclaimed TV series Twin Peaks was filmed, but we used our time to explore the local waterfall and historic subterranean power station, then the local logging and railroad exhibit.
View from the plane –
We also visited two local wineries – one small and next to a roundabout (Patterson Cellars), and one large and beautiful, modeled on a French chateau (Chateau Ste. Michelle Winerie). After that we drove to our next hotel, The Edgewick Inn; checked in and grabbed dinner at the local burger bar, Hammer Lane Burgers & BBQ.
Snoqualmie Valley –
I bedded down early for the night, and although it wasn’t a great sleep in a very creaky bed, didn’t feel bad when I woke the next morning.
I hadn’t been training particularly well, or hard, but I still felt relaxed and comfortable (if not confident) going into the race. It was a 5am start for breakfast in the room that I’d brought with me, and getting my race day gear ready. We drove ten minutes to the half marathon drop off / parking spot, and hiked the mile up the steep trail.
It ended up being the perfect warm up. I had read about the packed dirt and gravel surface en route, and had opted for a pair of Zoom Fly 1s and my normal Maurten drink and mixed dual gel strategy. I didn’t think trail shoes would be necessary, and I had no time in mind. Both these points ended up being good planning.
I put myself in wave one, and the gun went off at 0630. A couple of hot shots pushed ahead immediately, I took over a few, then hung at the rear of the lead group, a pack that eventually spread itself out. I just ran to feel and because of the slight decline, the first mile felt good at 6.20 pace, and I held that pace for the rest of the run. No stops, gel at miles 4.75 & 9.15 (normal then caffeinated), and I took on some water at all but the first two aide stations, whether I felt like I wanted it or not. One guy came from the back to overtake a few of us and headed off around mile 3. He must have slowed later because I overtook him with half a mile to run. I also gradually reeled in at least two runners ahead of me, a guy in navy and the Arizona road runner.
The start –
The soft trail surface didn’t seem to have any adverse effect, which was interesting, and great! I finished in 1 hour 22 mins – a new PR and an average mile pace of 6.16. Amazing to think that even now when I hardly focus on running at all, rarely run more than 30 miles per week, and hate almost all of those, that on race day, I was still able to run that time. For a long time, breaking 20 mins in the 5k just seemed so out of reach, and I had now run a half marathon time that equated to four and half consecutive 19.28 5Ks. I’m also not particularly light right now and have been trying to lift every other day. At the end of the race I even felt fine. I honestly felt I could probably have pushed harder, and that it would have been a great day to do the full marathon. It was a wonderful course – beautiful, fast and lots of shade.
The middle –
Course Scenery –
Race end –
Anyway, not sure what to conclude from all of this – maybe warm up? By walking up a hill with your wife? But anyway, a good day’s running.
Race data –
I was third overall and first in my age group, so after the race awards collection, we drove back to the hotel for a quick shower and change, then headed into Seattle proper. We parked at the hotel, left our bags with concierge, and walked into town. We grabbed a nice ginger beer from Rachel’s Ginger Beer and ate a large Iranian lunch from the Farvahar Persian Cafe next door. We explored the local markets at Pike Place, the sea front and a local Army/Navy store. We then visited Seattle’s iconic landmark, The Space Needle, and explored an exhibition from a local glass blowing artist, Chihuly.
We made our way back to the hotel to relax and catch up on some of the Tokyo Olympic news, before walking out to dinner later. We ate at Tilikum Place Cafe, and it was very nice.
The next morning, I did a six mile recovery run as I explored the river front of Lake Union loop and the old light rail, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then we headed to the airport via a quick stop at the Jimi Hendrix statue.
A great trip overall. Rockies CO next weekend, a race that will be much more difficult. Then proceeding that, Oregon via Boise.
Racing Americana 