Sea Wheeze Race Report - It Was So Fun!!!

Lots of bright colors at the race!

I think I couldn't have chosen a more fun race to run for my first half marathon. Everyone was dressed so brightly, the route was gorgeous, the weather was great, and I felt great. Overall I had an awesome time. My sister said this was probably the best half marathon she has run yet (I think this one made number eleven for her). She loved the energy and the route. We both said we'd like to come back for the 2013 Sea Wheeze.

This is the medal. I think it's a key chain (or bag tag) with a pair of shoe laces, that say Sea Wheeze at the tips, as the neck strap. I like it - it's different and practical.

Some photos of the racers heading to the corrals and one of the corrals. I wanted to show how brightly every one was dressed. There was tons of people in Ray, Flash, Paris (bleeding be-damned!), Power Purple, Pow Pink, Currant, and the new Sea Wheeze gear colors - lime, the orangey red, and the blue. As a lululemon fan, it was super neat that nearly everyone, probably 98%, was wearing lululemon. I decided on a different race outfit myself than I had planned on. Originally I was going to wear a Caspian Blue Swiftly tank but decided to go with Paris Pink since I was kind of sleep deprived and wanted a bright color to pump me up. Everyone else obviously had the same idea and being surrounded by so much bright color was very energizing. One other very different thing about this race was that there were no race bibs. We just had our timing chips and a wristband. That made the clothes the star of the race. I really liked not wearing a bib. I thought it was kind of a pain in the 10K I ran and I didn't have to stress about putting pinholes in my pricey lululemon clothes. The downside is that there were no race photos since there is no way to recognize anyone. My husband was taking photos so it didn't matter to me. My sister said she kind of liked it, too, since she always looks bad in her race photos and never buys them since they are so pricey. I would definitely vote for keeping the race no bibs again next year.

Instead of starting in the back, my sister talked me into starting in the 2:30 corral - she is a 2 hour racer - so we could start together. We also found Lulumum so we all started together. I was run walking so they dropped me fairly quickly but I spotted them on the Burrard Street Bridge. I actually caught up to Lulumum at about 11 miles and ran/walked the rest of the race with her. I was really pleased with my time considering how much I walked - there were two long hills that I mostly walked. I think my training really paid off because I felt really good at 10 miles and I started passing people that had passed me earlier in the race. The weather was in the low 70s but felt hotter at times because of the humidity. It didn't bother me too much since I did a lot of my long training runs in temps in the low 80s. Quite a bit of the course was in the shade, which was wonderful. Logistically, I thought the race went pretty well. The only glitch was that the first water station at 5K didn't have cups. They handed me a liter bottle of water which I poured into my water bottles (I was wearing a hydration belt) and then left at the side of the road. We passed the station again on the way back and it had cups on the return. There was quite a bit of entertainment on the course - from a choir, to a dj, to mermaids (see below). I never really spent much of the race thinking about the distance - there was lots to look at and the time seemed to go fast. However, the last couple miles went kind of slow. I ran without a GPS and all the signs were in kilometers so I was having trouble figuring out how far we had to go (I know, I'm an idiot).  My sister said her GPS clocked the course in a bit long - at 13.5 miles - and she thought she didn't weave an extra 0.4 miles. All in all, I would do this race again in a hearbeat.

The brunch was gone by the time I made it back but I figured it would be. My sister and I headed back into the store to get her some race souvenirs (photos and details below). Since she is a 2/4 there was a little more selection than in the other sizes but it was really picked over. We also ended up skipping the concert in favor of taking our kids to the Second Beach pool in Stanley Park so I don't have any info on the concert.

Chip firing off the starting gun

Crossing the Burrard Street bridge was one of my favorite parts of the race. Well, not the long uphill aspect of it, but I liked seeing the racers heading back. I passed my sister on the bridge.

One of the big cheer stations along the route.

Mermaids on the rocks towards the very end of the race.

My sister's haul - She was able to snag a Nothin But Run Jacket in the Bright Lime. I don't know where it appeared from because I thought the jackets were sold out last night. Those jackets came in the blue, I think the red, and the cream color with polka dots. I saw lots of people wearing them around Vancouver yesterday. She bought my niece a Light As Air skirt in the lime and herself one in black. She also bought herself two pairs of the Run Shorty Shorts in the blue and the lime. She got herself a cream racing length Cool Racerback. Since she is petite those work well for her.

I also got myself a Run in the Sun LS in the lime. I wanted one race item that had the Sea Wheeze runner girl logo on it.