(I wrote this in Word, then pasted it here and the formatting is terrible, sorry about that. I've tried to get rid of the stupid little faces, but they seem to be a misread of some Word code so ignore them and the fact there are no paragraph breaks!)

This is long and informative and not just about the race, so pull up a chair and enjoy!

This adventure started sometime last year when Tetsujin sent me info on this race, and said the entry fee was half price as an intro special. I asked DH if he’d like to do the half, and he said hey, sign us both up for the full!  So I did… I’d never done a June marathon before, because it’s right in the middle of a busy summer of soccer and local races, but this sounded like a fun diversion from our usual summer stuff.

We prefer using the VRBO site (Vacation Rental By Owner) to find housing vs. hotels. The price is usually less than a hotel, and having a full kitchen to prepare meals is very cool, plus the opportunities for socializing are unbeatable. DH found several possible options and we asked on the daily if anyone was interested in sharing a house. Wow, what a response! We had 4 couples and some individuals interested immediately! How fun would this be? A house to share and socialize in… we’d done this for soccer tournaments in the past with great results, so this sounded like fun. In the end, we had us, Mariposai and her DH, Aamos and her DH, Ileneforward and her DH, Holly and Tammy with a friend from Oregon interested. We started an e-mail group and asked for preferences from the 3 options we’d narrowed down to, and the Lake Washington house was picked. Cool! Then Ileneforward won the marathon Nirvana Package (sweet!) that came with nights at the Westin, so we had space available. Welcome, TimBo and Dove! This was going to be fun!

Race weekend comes and we arrive on Thursday morning, pickup the car, then pick up TimBo. We were starving so stopped at the Marriott for a yummy lunch… hmmm, prolly should’ve waited till Seattle downtown but I was starving.

So we go to the house, Tim and I are trying to figure out the lockbox to thehouse, and he says, “Hey, who’s that?” I look up to see Aamos waving at us from inside! Turns out the housekeeping staff had let her in! So after hugs and introductions, we got moved in and then headed to the Expo where we met Ilene and Fast Forward and made a pre-arranged transfer of particular goods. Lots of sample snacks, on the spot purchases and signups for freebies later, we headed back to the house.

On the way back from the Expo, we came back along the race courseto find the start and see how far it was from the house. About 10 minutes… ok….

It was just the 4 of us for dinner the first night (Aamos’DH was spending time with friends) so we decided to go shopping. Aamos is a riot running around the store, hopping on the cart and trying to get the checkout girl interested in Tim, who was dutifully pushing the cart and generally behaving himself. Checkout Girl seemed interested in a bored sort of way, we made Aamos pay the bill with her credit card and we were on our way.Yum… grilled corn on the cob, chicken, mushroom and zucchini kabobs, brown rice and salad! Oh, did I mention we had wine, too?

<o:p>Later that night, Tammy and Laura came in from Oregon, and there were hugs all around!</o>

<o:p>And we had to show off the downstairs shower that was big enough to host a party in!</o>

(Tammy's fren Laura, Aamos, Tammy)

<o:p>Mariposai and her DH showed up around 10 and the party really got started!</o>

<o:p>The next day, DH and I went to get Holly from the airport, and later Tammy, Laura (Tammy’s friend), Aamos and Holly went to the Expo, and Tim, DH and I went for a short easy run at Seward Park. Marilou (Dove) showed up later after some really bad experiences on the road with flat tires and such… We were all together, and ready to partay!!</o>

For the dinner before the race, Francesca showed up with Lasagna (Yum!!), and we’d made spaghetti with a spicy garlicy sauce, garlic bread and asiago bread with roasted garlic, salad, grilled asparagus and cookies brought by Tammy and Laura. And more wine… Divechief showed up, as didRasmussenmp and Runrwife but they didn’t stay for dinner. (Dinner prep...l to r: Holly, Divechief, Laura, Aamos, Francesca; in back is my DH and Aamos' DH)

After dinner we had agroup “timing strip” installation party to make sure everyone’s timing device was securely installed. (and yes I got a text from Perchcreek the next morningasking if I’d put it on!) We actually got to bed at a decent time, and had the race day excitement waiting for us in the morning.

Ok, this is my race report, so I’m going to say here that while the house was awesome, our bed sucked. I woke up Friday morning with abackache, and it was worse on Saturday. I’m used to having lumbar back pain,but this was higher, like a “crick” in your mid-back that just yells at you every time you bend or flex. Lovely, I thought. But if I could deal with this it would be less than the agony that felled me at the halfway point of Boston.

We had breakfast, took some pictures of the amazing display of Marathon Maniac Gold in the house…

<o:p>…and took off in two cars in what should’ve been ample time for the race start. Wrong-o, Babee….</o>

We ended up in gridlock traffic on the 405, and just ground to a halt. We inched along over the next few minutes, and eventually the cellphones buzzed…”You guys ok? Should we wait?” We decided it wasn’t an “A” race for anyone, and while we did have three first-time marathoners in our car, we all decided to sit tight and just join the race when we could. After all, a quick glance revealed hundreds of other runners behind us, in the same plight. At one point, some runners got out to run to the start. We all decided to stay put, and BTW, we got there before the “runners!”

We got to the runner drop off spot and headed to the start. No lines at the potties! I was supposed to be in corral 7, but we slipped into corral #27 and started at 7:41 a.m. The first many (I’d like to say 20) miles were full of walkers and half-marathoners and I found it exhausting to weave around them the whole time.The best part was when they’d stop right in front of you, and ponder which drink they wanted at the hydration stations… Grrrr! I felt like when I was running, I did pretty well, but it was hard to get a clear course to run on and avoid the constant walkers, stoppers and sight-see’ers. And it got hot… oy. Nothing like running on freeways and concrete in full no-shade sunlight to wear down this Alaska girl… This course has a lot of out-and-back sections which are kinda cool because you can see all the runners behind you. Holly was right behind me on the I-90 bridge, but then I didn’t see her after that. I got a little worried and told Mariposai and Dove that “I lost Holly!” at some point after the turnaround after mile 19 something. Shortly after that… “It” made itself known. “It” was the blister forming right under the ball of my right foot. My foot with general issues. Everything else was really feeling ok, but this was going to be a problem.

After the mile 19 turnaround I saw Maniac #3, Tony, who took my picture and posted it to his Facebook page while we were running. How cool is that? (I’m STILL not on Facebook…). I kept looking for Holly, who was actually right behind me, as I chugged along on what was supposed to be (per the map) mostly downhill. I saw Mariposai and Dove, TimBo and Laura, and at one point I saw Tammy and Aamos! And I even saw SR Lopez, who I yelled at loudly but he didn’t notice… he says he tried to get my attention but I didn’t hear him either. Something odd about this course, I guess.

There’s a hot, thirsty turnaround after mile 24, and that’s where I saw Holly again! She was very close behind, so on one of my [becoming more frequent] walk breaks, I grabbed a cup of water and waited for her to catch up. We ran together for a bit, then I had to walk to take pressure off that blister, and she’d move ahead. Then I’d jog ahead and pass her, then walk again, and she’d jog past me. We did this for a bit, till that hot coal in myshoe said “I’ll blow up if you do that run thing more!!!!!!!” so I walked a bit more on the outside of my foot and she ran on ahead. She ended up finishing about 30 seconds ahead of me, but waited and waved me across the finish. I took off my shoe immediately and found an ice bag to rest my blister on. We did have our finishers picture taken together though….

<o:p>DH met us at the U-V Family meeting area with recovery supplies (chocolate milk, beer and water), and eventually ourentire group found us and celebrated our accomplishments that day.</o>

Dinner that night included fresh Halibut and King Salmon brought by Rasmussenmp/Runrwife and Divechief. Mariposai made tabouli salad andAamos made a brown rice risotto dish. Dh grilled all the fish, as well as oysters from Pike’s Market and asparagus, and we had green salad and lots of yummy beer (thanks, Mike!) and wine. What a night! What a day! Here's a picture of the back of the house, and everyone is relaxing and enjoying the day.

<o:p>We had 8 marathoners at our house, 5 maniacs and 3 first timers. Everyone finished the race and we had no injuries. I think this is very cool! Because I was coming off a race-ending (at the half) injury, I was mainly interested in just finishing this race with no problems. Other than the annoying stops, starts and weaving caused by the slower runners/walkers in the later corrals, I was able to run some good paces up to mile 20 or so, when my blister started causing real problems. And, get this… the stoopid blister was fine and painless the next day! Hmph. Seems like a lot of “owie” and fuss for not much, now that I look back on it. Oh well. Marathon #14 is in the bag and I got past that #13 nemesis!</o>

<o:p>We left the house Sunday morning, sort of a “scattering to the wind” effect, but DH and I were the last ones out of the house. We did the final check of everything, caught up on as much laundry as we could and left by 11 a. m. Sunday. Spent an hour or so at Seward Park reading the paper and soaking up the sun, then headed downtown where we shopped, had lunch, shopped some more then headed to the airport to wrap up our weekend. I had no soreness, no blister pain after Saturday, and no back pain after getting some distance from that bed at the house. The only problem I had was generally feeling nauseated and like crap all day Sunday… DH thinks I spent too much time in the sun. Maybe.  But I’d do it all over again! And the house deposit was returned, with an invitation to stay at another of his properties with a 10% discount… Hmmmm…. It’s tempting!</o>

I'm even in this report. 

Excellent story and photos too!   Congratulations on making sunny lemonade of the race and more memories with this awesome group, Vole Conquering Goddess!

Love this report and the pictures! I almost felt like I was there!

this was just the perfect marathon weekend experience and I really owe so many thanks to you and Peter for doing so much to organize this. And Peter was just a true gem all weekend, taking care of so many details and never a complaint .  Absolutely loved meeting and getting to spend so much time with you guys.

Very cool report and pics!  Sounds like a fun weekend where everyone had the right attitude enabling them to overcome the bumps in the road and enjoy the experience.  Excellent!

Thanks for sharing Seattle with us.