How's it going? I'm exhausted. And it's only the 2nd full day of our vacations! I definitely think we need to pace ourselves a little better!
We arrived Friday "morning" and went to check out Pike Place to find something to eat and see what all the fuss was about. It wasn't quite what I had expected, a maze of hallways and then we finally found the main area (we went in from the water side rather than the city side. oops). We had chowder and salads for lunch, bought a bag of cherries ($1.99/lb!) and Woody got some jerky.
Then we walked around a bit till we went back to the hotel to check in and change for the Mariners game. We took the light rail out to the stadium, which we had taken to downtown from the airport, but basically walked all around the perimeter of the park before we found will call. It was also raining. We had enough time to walk around and check out the stadium before sitting down.
I'm not ashamed to admit that we didn't make it through the entire game. We were exhausted and the game wasn't very exciting. It was a nice park though, even though the roof was closed because of the lousy weather. We made our way back to our hotel and slept very well!
Saturday morning we woke up to rain. There's a very well equipped gym in the hotel, so we went down there to find all four treadmills occupied and a few other people lifting weights. I did the elliptical for about 35 minutes and Woody about the same. We then did some strength training. The only thing about the room is that it was not very clean. I would have thought it would have been better watched after; I had to call housekeeping to have them deliver more towels when they ran out. Still, it was a good way to wake up and start the day.
After cleaning up and eating bananas, we headed to the Ferry, even though it was still gloomy and foggy. We took the ferry out to Bainbridge Island where we found breakfast at a diner, shopped at the Saturday morning farmer's market (where we should have had breakfast), checked out the marina, tasted wine and had some delicious ice cream (dark chocolate and blackberry for me)!
Thankfully the weather cleared up while we were there and it turned out to be a beautiful day! We headed back to Seattle. We dropped off some things at our hotel and then headed out again. Off to the See Jane Run expo.
Truthfully, I was pretty disappointed in the expo. The ballroom was twice the size it needed to be for the number of vendors present. There were probably less than 10 booths and I thought there was to be champagne and chocolate at the expo (that's part of the 'gimmick') but it looked like they had long run out when we arrived around 4:30pm. They also had some cute See Jane Run shirts and sweatshirts, but at $55 for the sweatshirts, they were quite a bit more than I'd want to spend. So, we had some time to spare before dinner and used it up at the Nordstrom's Anniversary Sale! Of course, what would I get there but workout pants?!
We met a bunch of bloggers for dinner: Mel, Chelsea (and husband), Kerrie, and Zoe, plus Mel's sister Jayne! It was a great dinner and I'm so glad I was able to meet them all! Everyone was so inviting and even though they're all good friends, Woody and I didn't feel out of place at all. They all ran the half; it was the first for both Chelsea and Jayne. The dinner was delicious, although I ended up sick from the 'gluten free' pasta early this morning. I think the order was mixed up and i got regular pasta, which really is not cool. (if you have celiac or a gluten intollerance, I suggest you stay away from Il Fornaio). Unfortunately, the picture our off-beat waiter took didn't turn out well.
This morning was an adventure getting to the race. I had to take a taxi because we're not getting a rental car till Tuesday and the first cabbie at our hotel didn't even know where the park was, and it's in the city!! I finally found a cabbie who could take me to Gasworks Park and we were on our way. I got there pretty early, but that was okay. I chatted with a few people, stretched my legs and woke up. It was cool and gloomy, of course. Seems par for the course so far on this trip! Woody left the hotel about 10minutes before the race was to start, which gave him plenty of time to cheer me in at the finish line!
I had heard there were 1700 women running the half and 700 running the 5k. There were about 10 porta-potties! Thank goodness I didn't have to go! The half started at 8am and I cheered at the start line; we started the 5k at 8:30am. There was a decent size crowd, but just about no one along the route. There were quite a few volunteers at water stations along the 5k, hopefully it was the same for the half marathon runners. I had was actually feeling pretty great this morning, despite all the hills we've been walking the past two days, and my knee didn't bother me at all! I ran a strong, steady pace the entire race and cheered for the other runners. I really think the runners were supporting each other well. There was this girl, probably about 12 years old, who I think finished in the top 5. She was speedy! I had energy at the end so I sprinted to the finish line and really felt like I had given it my best right now. I'm proud of how I did, even though I don't know my official time yet. Definitely one of my best runs so far since my stress fracture!
Woody and I watched some more runners come in, checked out the view of the city then cheered for the first half finishers then finally got a cab back to downtown. We stopped at Portage Bay, as suggested by a friend I reached out to on Facebook, for brunch. The line was 30minutes for 2 people, but we found two empty seats at the bar and grabbed them. I had these delicious buckwheat pancakes and amazing local berries from the berry bar! They believe in local, organic and sustainable foods. It was delicious and we had a great time watching the line cooks cutting up fruit and chopping potatoes the whole time!
We walked back to the hotel from the restaurant in the rain. I have no idea how far it was, but a pretty good distance. I took a shower and we headed out for City Center. Emily had told me about Bite of Seattle and Michelle from Chobani asked me to stop by the Chomobile. I couldn't possibly say no to an invitation like that! We took the monorail out there and found our way through the craziness that was Bite of Seattle (a lot of vendors similar to the typical street fair in NYC, but there were some places that had non-fried foods as well) and met Marshal and Davis at the Chomobile! We got to talk to Marshal for a bit; it was cool to learn about the truck and the events they're going to. Woody and I both love Chobani so it was interesting to find out that the brand is incredibly popular yet still vastly unknown across the country! People...go try Chobani!! It's delicious!!
Woody and I had heard about the Queen Anne neighborhood, which is right in the area, so we decided to go check it out. We did not know that it meant hiking up a gigantic mountain!! And I mean gigantic. I don't know why I didn't take a picture of this thing, but it was huge. And went on forever. We climbed to the top and then some more. Sometimes I really don't know what we're thinking! We got tea and a place in Queen Anne then headed back down the mountain and back to the monorail. Now, we're collapsed in the hotel for a little while but I think we're about to head to the International District to find some Chinese or sushi for dinner.
It's still raining.
I hope you've all had a fantastic weekend!!
- What was the highlight of your weekend?
- What are you looking forward to this week?
