We signed up in early November -- which was lucky for us, as the organizers had to shut down registration early as too many people had signed up! See, STT was a very grass-roots sort of race. No bibs, no timing chips, no awards, no permits... And apparently they had reached a number larger than they felt they could responsibly send running down sidewalks.
We walked to the start line -- hustling we got there about minutes before the start. A couple of hundred people, perhaps, many wearing their bright orange STT08 shirts. One woman dressed as a turkey. Another dressed as Pocahontas. Lots of people with strollers or little kids in tow -- many of them having no idea that lining up in the front was a bad idea.
A nice little talk from the organizer -- we had raised over $2000 for the Ballard Food Bank, yay! -- and then we were off. Plenty of chalk markings on the sidewalk, plus super cute direction signs wherever we turned.
We plugged along at a pretty decent clip. The first half of the route was a nice steady downhill. We turned to cross the railway tracks, and then hit the BGT for the run out to Golden Gardens. We even had a gentle tailwind -- perfect run conditions! We took two short walking breaks but otherwise ran steadily. Had to pass a few people on the narrow path right before the finish, but otherwise had plenty of room throughout.
Held hands as we crossed the line, a bit of whooping, then cups of water and we collected our t-shirts. Sure, the walking to and from the course was longer than the course itself, but we had had a nice run and we had raised some money for the food bank. Already looking forward to STT 2009!
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