I think what I love the most about doing my latest back to back runs were that they were so completely different. Neither was done for time. The Tunnel to Viaduct 8K as I talked about in Running on My Own was all about showing to myself that I could run by myself in a large Seattle race. Just like most of the races I do, I do them mainly for the fun of it. I’m not out to be an ultra-marathoner or even do a personal best each time. Sure, that happens occasionally, but mostly I do it because it puts a smile on my face.
This year’s bucket list included finally doing the Allstate Hot Chocolate 15K in Seattle. A bunch of us have been wanting to do the run since well, run + chocolate + Seattle = Amazing!
When we all decided to run it, we didn’t plan on snowmagedon happening in the weeks before. Seriously, schools were closed, snow came day after day to a city that isn’t set for this kind of snow. This also meant a stall to any race training. In the end, we had already decided to do it as a fun run so we were totally cool with it.
Have you ever done a Fun Run? Do you know what I mean when I say it? A fun run is when you do the run….for fun. You really get into the fun of the day and focus less on time that you run. Sure, you finish the race, but whether you run, walk, jog or crawl it doesn’t matter.
How Do You Do A Fun Run? Me? I do it with a run tribe of course? My run tribe is awesome. There are a bunch of us. We all come in different shapes and sizes, we run at different paces and most of us met at the Stillaguamish Athletic Club where I work. Well, we decided to go all out. And it was amazing! That’s why I’m writing this post 😊
Top 5 Reasons to do a Fun Run with your Run Tribe!
You get to hang out with your tribe! We are all busy people, what better excuse than a bit of fitness to get together and do an away in the city. OMG! We drove in, parked the car at the hotel and even got to check in early. Thank you to my amazing hubby for being Platinum status at the Hilton chain. Seriously, this was meant to be. We even got a parking spot right in front of the hotel, so we didn’t have to pay valet parking!
You get to explore the city! Whether or not you are from the city where your fun run is or not, getting the chance to explore it with friends is a blast. We went to the expo. We laughed. We goofed off, took silly pictures, saw places some of us have never seen before. We had lunch out. We walked along the shoreline and then ran back to the hotel, grabbed a cup of coffee and warmed up while we watched the sun set.
You get to do girlie pampering things like you did in high school! Since we were staying at a Homewood Suites and knew we’d have a full kitchen, we all brought the fixings for a spaghetti dinner. Pasta, homemade sauce, garlic bread, a Cesar salad and sparking wine. We talked, we laughed, we shared stories. Then we threw on our jammies and used balls to massage out our feet. We did face masks. We laughed even more! In the morning we helped each other get ready and then we walked to the race.
You get to dress up in fun costumes! We went all out and went with the theme. The saying goes, “go big or go home!” We went for it. Hot chocolate means chocolate and what can five women do, they go as M&Ms? Complete with matching tutus, shoe laces, character t-shirts, CC Beanies and white gloves! Each of us wore a different color. We definitely stood out in the sea of black and maroon Hot Chocolate zip hoodies. Did we care? Nope!
You get to cheer on everyone! We cheered our little hearts out, rang our cow bells and perhaps we annoyed some people. Did that stop us? Nope. We cheered when we passed people, we cheered when they passed us, we cheered when the first 15K runner ran on the loop back to the Seattle Space Needle, we cheered when the first woman 15k woman ran on the loop back. We told people, “you got this!””you’re almost there””you made it up the hill!”. We cheered for our chocolate stops. For our marshmallow stops, for our Nuun hydration and water stops. We just had so much fun cheering, we cheered as we ran through the finish line.
I really could go on and on but I think the biggest take away was that we connected. That was so cool. Running brought us together, but we connected even more with this experience. I’ve done fun runs, but this was a full immersion fun run. You have definitely got to do this!
Here’s a few Highlights!
The time we walked down to the lobby in our jammies at 5:30am….
The time we danced and jumped rope with our corral workers…..
The time we stopped during the race to give M&Ms to a cop….
The time runner heading on the opposite loop shouted “the green M&M is destroying you!” Who happened to be Pat, the oldest runner in our group at 65 and just goes!
The time we lined up and linked arms for the photographer!
The time we ran around the corner and the announcer at the finish line yelled, “I think I’ve been here too long, I’m hallucinating and seeing M&Ms running past us!
The time we had a blast…and made memories…and connected. That’s really what life is about isn’t it?
A special thanks to the morning crew at the Seattle Homewood Suites just blocks from the Space Needle who went out of their way to wrestle us up a good breakfast so very early. Those ladies made our day! We wouldn’t have made it through the race without the bagels, peanut butter, banana, milk and coffee!
So fun! My family and I were headed to the science center just as many folks were finishing this run, and it looked like a great event! You can just feel all the joy in all your photos!
This looks super fun! We just did the St. Patty’s Dash (my first run postpartum) and it is giving me the itch to get back into it!
Awesome! I love the St Pats! I did it two years ago and if I hadn’t done the Hot Chocolate I would have done it this year!
[…] How do you make it work? The first step is figuring out who to go with, why you’re going, where you’re going and what you’re planning to do. My first getaways were single overnights centered around yoga or run events. If you want to do that, go to my post about how and why to Do a Fun Run with Your Tribe. […]
[…] How do you make it work? The first step is figuring out who to go with, why you’re going, where you’re going and what you’re planning to do. My first getaways were single overnights centered around yoga or run events. If you want to do that, go to my post about how and why to Do a Fun Run with Your Tribe. […]