After a couple of late nights we really needed sleep, but hitting the snooze button repeatedly wasn't a good idea. Instead of waking refreshed and recharged we were instead reminded of the incredible urgency and the need to be on the road by 7:30am. That was only 45 minutes away.
Amazingly, we managed to get everybody dressed and into the car by 7:45. Even though we were all still eating as we got on the freeway it really was quite the accompishment.
We were rushing because we needed to meet Les, Janelle, and Connor in Preston to caravan to Qwest Field for our second Race for the Cure. Last year we went with Katherine and Paul, but this year it was part of the official Miles for Melons training schedule so we were meeting Michelle and crew there. (Daryl, in training for some insanity of his own, did the competitive 5k race so they were already there.) At the last minute we had realized it started at 9am instead of the published 9:30am so let the tizziness begin.
Parking was no problem and we met up outside Safeco Field with no complications. The only issue before the race was really someone else's fault. In the long line of portapotties I found one of about 10 that were "green" indicating they were empty. I knocked and opened the door and, "HELLO." Clearly, she was unfamiliar with the concept of locking the door. So I found another and all was good.
The "race" itself isn't really a race, which was good because there were several moments where we weren't moving at all. Squeezing that many people onto the aging viaduct was worse than rush hour so 5k (roughly 3.1 miles) took seemingly forever. However, in the end I was the first person in our group to cross the finish line. Thank goodness nobody else knew we were racing.
After the walk we went inside Qwest Field for the goodies and to celebrate the survivors. Like last year, it was pretty emotional, though chasing Lilly helped distract me a bit. Lilly particularly liked a visor Amy picked up and pranced around with it jauntily set on her head.
We found Blue Thunder drumming up a storm outside and hung out while the kids danced a bit. Clara remembered them from the last Seahawks game we had been at and Lilly loved the crashing beat.
By now we were all getting hungry and although free chips can go a fair ways we needed more. Ivars was just up the street so we got fish/chicken and chips and let the traffic bleed away. Unfortunately, by the time we got back to the stadiums people were showing up for the 1pm Mariners game so we had to fight those crowds. Oh well. The best laid plans blah blah blah.
(Yes, we did consider going to the game, but realized the kids were about spent and we'd be rushed as it was to make the rest of our afternoon work. Maybe next year.)
