Last year, my destination race ladies and I had a blast at Seawheeze, Lululemon’s inaugural half marathon. (Read all about it HERE.) We got awesome loot and loved Vancouver, too. So when registration opened, we all signed up again and more friends, too!
We had no travel troubles this year and Emily and I had first class seats! (Thank you, Ben!) We arrived late and woke up bright and early for a quick shake out run (and a few pics!) in Stanley Park.
We went to get our “race packages” and the line was over 2 hours long (um, what?!?) so we went to shower and get changed. We went back and the line was still quite long. We waited. All of the cheerfulness and costumed performers did nothing to quell my inner New Yorker’s annoyance about the waiting. It was a beautiful day which I did not want to waste in a line. We got in after an hour and checked out the race store. People were plunking down tons of cash for limited edition lulu-wear. Not us though! (Jokes on us because eBay is full of folks making a ton on this stuff right now!)
We headed out for lunch with Ryan and Wendy and then visited Yaletown before getting ready for dinner. We had a nice carby and salmony dinner in Kitsilano and then came back to get ready for an early start. Our waitress left us a cute note, too. [An aside, service is so great and friendly in Vancouver!!]
In the morning, I checked the weather (perfect 60s and overcast) and my InstaPeptalk from Karen Salmansohn. It said “You can’t be negative and awesome. Pick one.” Perfect race reminder. We met up and went to Wendy and Ryan’s hotel which was 100 yards from the finish line to leave our bags for after the run. We took pics with our group and Chicago friends and lined up in the first corral. They sang Oh, Canada and we were off.
Stacy, Wendy and I started together with the 1:35 “Pace Beavers.” They ran way faster than pace and so did we even though they dropped us. We settled into a good pace and enjoyed the hilly first part of the course. We were looking forward to seeing our fast friends coming our way in the middle of the course. It is an out and back loop over the Burrard Bridge.
We cheered for Verdo (he was in 3rd place and even high fived a bunch of little girls at a cheer station and smiles and waved at us, too!) and got those around us to do so, too! We cheered for Ryan who was also in the top 10! Then we looked for Sam, David, Emily and others. It was a blast and make the kilometers fly by. We also high fived the girls and whoever else wanted to high five us! There was great energy on the course.
We got to Stanley Park seawall and caught Krista the 2nd 1:35 pacer who indicated she was a minute or so slow. This was OK as we were hoping to beat 1:40 and were well under. Wendy was running very strong and went ahead a bit. We kept her bright yellow tank in sight. Then Stacy went in chase. I was feeling better than last year, but still found this part to be a bit relentless. It is flat and all looks the same despite being so beautiful. I tried to remember my pep talk and to stay positive. The kilometers clicked by. With about a mile to go, we turned into Stanley Park and went up a spiteful little hill that I remembered from last year. I felt so slow, but tried to keep it together and get to the finish.
I pushed as hard as I could and hit my watch and realized that it said 1:40.00 and hoped that the official clock would give me a second lower. Not that it matters, but I have been under 1:40 for the 8 halfs that I ran this year and that was my goal for today, too. Last year I was in at 1:40.43 so at least I improved this year. I am not sure why I have so much trouble on the easier back half here!
It was a good day for my friends! Verdo came in 3rd, Ryan came in 7th with his 9th PR of the season, Stacy was faster than last year with a strong comeback from her injury, Wendy ran her best of the year, Mahala surprised herself with nearly her best of the year, too! The official clock had me at 1:39.57. Phew, skin of my teeth! (I was also 99th woman so squeaked into top 100 barely!)
We got into dry clothes and took tons of pics! Like last year, there were free massages and a fantastic brunch with Belgian waffles, quiches and fruit and a fun festive atmosphere. It was a bit overcast so we did not stay as long. We went to clean up and get ready to enjoy the day. The race started at 7 AM so it was still plenty early!
Here is a race time highlight reel:
The weather improved and we cleaned up and headed to the Cactus Club Cafe on the beach for lunch like last year- same table, too! It was delish! We headed over and clowned around our friends the A-maze-ing Laughter men again, too.
Lululemon changed the post race party to the evening and moved it to Stanley Park. There were no free yoga mats this year, but they had a huge beer garden and concert with Xavier Rudd with the yoga. We went for drinks and met up with a big group from Chicago. It was awesome! Check it out:
All in all it was another great event. The race was well organized and had a great course. The loot was good, too! The shorts were really nice this year (and were available in a longer style- thanks for taking our feedback!) as were the bags and extras after the race – nice wooden, locket style medals, pain reliever gels in a pouch and special edition Skull Candy headphones. The post race amenities and party were awesome, too! Not to be a grouch, but Lulu could still learn a few things about race management. The water stops were too short, in funny spots and had alternating drinks and confused volunteers. I already mentioned number pick up. The positives far outweighed the negatives. Bravo to Lululemon for out-doing last years awesome inaugural event!
The loot:
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That said, our destination race crew will probably look for a new destination for next year. Who has suggestions??