Fairly fast course - one hill, well placed at .5 miles (the on-ramp to the top deck of the viaduct). But it was HOT (at least for Seattle standards), and I certainly felt the effects. Numerous times I thought about taking a break, but it was the thought, "What will I tell my wife?" that kept getting me through. Never stopped, and shaved over 2 minutes off of my previous best race.

A slow walk through the Seattle Fire Department "Misting Truck" - what a relief! And then a 20 minute walk to catch the next ferry to Bremerton.


Ummm . . . the heat, and a poorly organized race. No setup by pace - caused some slow going in the beginning.


For such a big event, I thought it would be better organized. It took 20 minutes of shouting over the speakers to get everyone lined up on the CORRECT side of the start/finish line. And no order by pace - huge flaw with this many people (probably ~1500 in the 8 and 5k combined). Oh, and I got admonished for taking two bottles of water at the end. And no chip timing. . . What did I get for my $20? . . . . Oh right, the shirt I'm wearing. Can't complain too much, got to run on top of the viaduct, with perhaps the greatest view to be had while running (picture beautiful downtown Seattle to the East, Elliot Bay and the Olympics to the West, and Rainier, Port of Seattle to the South).