Seattle Summer

Touring the Seattle Public Library

What a great end to the summer!  And it was a nice distraction through the last couple weeks of marathon training.  I had long time out-of-town friends visiting and staying with us on consecutive weekends.  Seattle really shone too.  Instead of the fall rains, we had sun and more sun.  Record dry weather for Seattle in fact.  I have no doubt we will lose some plants in the garden as I failed miserably in keeping up with garden watering.  Oh well.  I just consider it a good thing that we'd not planned on planting this fall!

Mischief Distillery

Fun stuff to do in Seattle:
Theo Chocolate Factory Tour - a quick and informative tour of a small batch, organic and fair trade chocolate maker in Fremont.  There are lots and lots of samples!
Fremont Mischief Distillery - a local distillery also in Fremont that offers free wee samples.  yum!

Theo Chocolate!

Tour the Downton Seattle Public Libary.  I happened to have a couple architects handy as we followed the self-guided tour available from the information desk.  I work a couple blocks from this library and visit it at least once a week but this tour still took me to places I hadn't seen.
Top Pot Doughnuts - yum.  They were OUT of a new flavor salted caramel old fashioned.

Seattle Public Library Koolhaas

Of course we wandered through Pike Street Market and had some samples at Beecher's Cheese.  We also grilled some salmon at home.  Those are just a given.

I'd not known the friends were going to visit and had signed up for the Alderdash.  This was a running/walking event (not timed so not a race) on Bainbridge Island which supported the wonderful IslandWood program.  IslandWood takes kids and puts them into a spectacular outdoor learning center "designed to provide exceptional learning experiences and inspire lifelong environmental and community stewardship."  

Having run the trails over on Bainbridge Island last year, I knew this would be a fun event on a gorgeous course.  it would require a short ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbrige but really that would be a fun thing for out of state visitors.  The friend is not a runner but she was game to walk a 10k and her husband is a casual runner who'd enjoy it as well.  Woohoo!  

This event did not disappoint!  It was a beautiful morning for a ferry ride. With four of us, we brought our car but the event was providing a shuttle service to and from the ferry terminal.  It was a very well organized event with some really nice touches.  The friends who have never done any sort of running event were all impressed.  We had to inform them that this was not the norm!  

We got off running right on time.  And down we went.  I knew it would be hilly and this 10k course did not disappoint.  We roamed a bit around on the ADA accessible trails within the IslandWood campus.  I had wanted to run at a moderate pace and get a good workout in if I was feeling good.  I was feeling great and pushed the first downhill miles knowing I could then settle back and finish strongly.

The view down from the Canopy Tower

The course then went out onto roads, down to a gravelled waterfront trail with view of the Winslow Ferry terminal and then back up.  Wow.  There was one short but steep hill which was really surprising.  It was straight up!  It was a long hill back up to the finish.  This course had nice water stops along the way and was well marked.  I finished and immediately turned around to jog back to my friend who was walking.  They had a wonderful lunch available.

We also got a map of the trails and went to explore IslandWood's Canopy Tower and Pedestrian Bridge.  The tower is worth climbing if you ever get a chance. Basically we all agreed that we'd all love to come here for a week of school! 

We stopped quickly in Winslow to wander about a bit and window shop and then were back in Seattle by late afternoon. This was the first annual Alderdash adn I am already looking forward to next year.  

The friends returned to DC on Tuesday and I completed my last marathon paced workout before the marathon this morning.  Despite sleeping horribly I had a very hard time slowing myself down to marathon pace.  I think this is a good sign! I feel ready and really curious to see how this all plays out.