Super Jock n Jill 1/2 Marathon

This basically sums up the 4 days of weather that I experienced in Seattle this past Labor Day weekend.  The above pic was taken driving from Redmond to Woodinville on Labor Day for the start of the Super Jock n Jill 1/2 marathon.  Yucky weather for alot of outdoor activites but pretty darn awesome for running.  It drizzled/misted most of the race and I don't believe the temps got out of the 50's.

There were quite a few rolling hills throughout the course with the signature hill/mountain coming about the half way mark during mile 7.  This course had to have the most turns of any course that I've run.  The Garmin download reminds me of spaghetti.

Given the cooler weather and overcast conditions, I ran 11 minutes faster than just 2 weeks earlier in West Virginia and wrapped up my 37th state in 1:42:48.  This race was also timed with gun time only but it was announced prior to the race and there were signs to line up according to expected pace which led to a much smoother start than Parkersburg last month.  Next up is Hartford and Boston on a Saturday/Sunday back to back Columbus Day weekend.

Non running trip highlights/lowlights:

Dropping off the pups/heading to Parking Cents/IAH security check/ and flight takeoff all went off as smoothly as possible.

First hiccup came at Alamo car rental counter in SeaTac; I had reserved 3 days at $21.61 per day (before all the outrageous add-ons) through a travel agency.  When my flight settled down to a red eye flight I called the agency and requested a change from a 3pm return to a 10 pm return.  Agency assured me my rate hadn't changed; Alamo wanted $115 for the additional 6 hours (before all the outrageous add-ons) which would have put those few hours costing more than the entire previous 3 days!!!!  Consequently, if you have any questions about where anything is in SeaTac, let me know as I was in the airport for hours waiting for my flight (no way I was paying over $100 bucks additional).  Of course Continental ended up adding a 3:55pm flight which was of course sold out.  That was the 2nd of 4 return flights that I was on at some point in time.

Saturday evenings weather for the LSU/UW game only had a few sprinkles.  UW does a much better job handling game day traffic in my opinion in that they charge to park on campus and offer free park n ride bus service from various locations in the area.  I rode the bus and got in and out of the stadium area very quickly.

Redmond Town Center where I stayed reminded me very much of Market Street in The Woodlands.  Microsoft's campus was located nearby.  They even had a Saturday farmer's market just like Market Street.

I traveled sout to Mt Rainier National Park Sunday morning. 

My trip ended up being mainly a driving trip from west to east throught the park as it rained pretty heavily most of the day.  I did manage to get in one mile or so hike with a rain poncho on.  Getting back to civilization earlier than normal due to the rainier conditions was a blessing in disguise as I  missed a cell call but later got the message that my 15 1/2 older dog was having problems and needed someone to pick her up.  Thanks a million to Sara and  Dr Sarah for getting Dotty the attention that she needed.

I got a couple hours of sleep on the plane but not the restful night that I envisioned.  Looking at a 11:45 PM departure and a 5:20 AM arrival, I hadn't factored in losing 2 hours with time zone changes so I spent most of the morning napping once I retrieved the pups.