Seawheeze Half Marathon

Hot damn I love racing. All last week I was so excited that I got to race this weekend. And Lululemon and Seawheeze sure did deliver!

Several months ago, when I met Rebecca, she mentioned that she was headed up to Vancouver for the Lululemon Seawheeze Half Marathon in August.

My thought process:
Vancouver? Awesome
Weekend exploring a new city? Awesome
Half Marathon? Super awesome
Sign me up yo!

Like that was a difficult decision at all...

Anyways, the weekend finally arrived and Rebecca picked me up Friday for our weekend adventure.Unfortunately, Canada is crazy, and after passing the border we were hit with some insane traffic. I guess those Canadians think its a good idea to try to squeeze five lanes of traffic down to one in order to go through a tunnel. I was NOT a happy camper and I had to pee.

Thank goodness you're pretty, Vancouver, because that traffic was NOT!

Leaving our obscenities on the road, we finally made it to our hotel and booked it to the "expo" to grab our bags. It wasn't until we got back to our room after dinner that we realized there were no race bibs!

The insanity! How can I run a race without a race bib?!?!

Ok, it ended up being alright, but I was still weirded-out for awhile! I mean, what am I supposed to add to my bib wall?

The next morning, Rebecca and I got ready (read: I peed about 12 times), walked over to the start and said our "good luck!"s before heading to our corrals.

Since I've been doing CrossFit, I have been running a lot faster. Pretty much without even trying, so I had set a lofty goal of a 1:45.00 pr. My previous pr was a 1:52.00 at the More Fitness Half Marathon in Central Park in Spring 2011.

I set out feeling strong like bull. Perhaps too strong. My first two miles were close to 7.00. I always get so excited to start racing and get caught up in the adrenaline flowing through my veins that I can't contain myself. I finally got into a rhythm and started hitting 8 minute miles about mile 4. Of course, around mile 9, I totally started sucking it and my pace fell to 8:20s/30s for the rest of the race.  

I still finished smiling and was definitely happy to get a pr and new, pretty medal!

Rebecca and I eventually found each other and slowly meandered back to the hotel to shower.

 We wandered around Vancouver for the rest of the day and ended up at Nuba for dinner. My stepmom had mentioned Nuba to me when she heard I was headed to Vancouver and said that she and my Dad had LOVED it there. I wasn't planning to make it a necessary dining choice, but when our hotel concierge recommended it as well, Rebecca and I were all over it!

I ordered the Fatoosh salad, which was probably the best I've ever had! I love it when you get more vegetables than just romaine or iceberg lettuce! I also got the Garden Falafel, which had hummus underneath and tahini drizzled on top. It was served with what the waiter said was their "spicy" sauce (hello, delicious) and beet pickled cabbage. I think it took me all of five minutes to finish this and I highly recommend Nuba if you are in Vancouver.

I pretty much went straight back to the hotel and passed out afterwards.

The Seawheeze weekend also had free yoga classes, a free concert and some other really fun things that we just didn't get around the partaking in. Maybe next year?

We drove back to Seattle uneventfully on Sunday and I am excited now to kick New York City Marathon training up a notch!