Seattle RnR- The Events Edition



Oh, you thought Seattle Rock and Roll was just a race?  No, no, no- at least not if you do it right!  This race is actually an excuse to get together with other runner friends as many times as possible over the course of 3 days to eat, drink, shop and talk about all things running! 

My 'weekend' started when I picked my long lost BRF Cynthia (that's best runner friend fyi) up from the airport on Thursday evening around 5:15pm.  We drove up to U Village to grab a bite to eat and check out the Lululemon store and do a bit of shopping.  Our next stop was a local runner's house to attend the Another Mother Runner House Party hosted by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea.  They are the authors of the book Run Like a Mother which I purchased almost 2 years ago at the Iron Girl race in Seattle, and a brand new book- Train Like a Mother that they were promoting.  I loved the first book- if you haven't read it I highly recommend it.  These ladies are hilarious, honest, helpful, and it is just a perfect book to read as a mom that runs.  You can buy your own copy HERE!

I love all these things!

Once we arrived at the house we quickly grabbed a glass of sangria and wandered around saying hi to everyone.  There were many local bloggers and runners we knew and it was fun to get to know some of them in person.  There were snacks and then we went outside to sit and listen while the authors read from their new book and did a TON of giveaways.  They gave away a baby jogger stroller (no need for that in my house!!), moving comfort bra's, water bottles, nuun, insoles, socks, yurbuds, giftcards and tons of other stuff I am surely forgetting.  I didn't win anything but one of the ladies gave me her water bottle when she had won two.  One of the giveaways was to who had been to the track most recently- I had been Monday and she had been Tuesday so she got the bottle initially (super nice of her to share!).

I had never tried these socks, but now I need more because they are amazing! 

I bought a copy of the book and a cute purple tshirt that says "i run things" on it.  You can get your very own right HERE.  The authors both signed the book for me and we took a few photos.  Actually, I didn't take any photos at the party (what is wrong with me??) but somebody was taking fancy photos with a nice camera so there are photos somewhere!  We also got treat bags with sofsole socks, nuun, gu, coupons, samples and other fun stuff inside!  Soon after that we called it a night and made the hour drive back to Tacoma to get some rest before the next busy day!

Expo time!

Friday morning after I dropped the kids off Cynthia and I got ourselves completely packed with everything we may need in the next 36 hours.  Which was tricky since the weather was all over the place and I still was not sure what all I would need for the race!  So I packed everything I may possibly want to wear and we set off for the race expo at Century Link field in Seattle.  I love race expos and the Rock and Roll series never disappoints!  We arrived early so it wasn't too busy and within minutes we had our race bibs and goodie bags and were ready to shop!

At the Brooks "run happy cavalcade" there are a lot of fun activities and games to play.  I actually won a free pair of Brooks shoes!  I never win anything, and honestly was just hoping for a shirt since I thought that was the big prize lol.  The girl scanned my card and then rang a cowbell and presented me with a card good for one free pair of Brooks shoes of my choice.  I was sooo excited!! 

Winner!! 

After that we wandered around and shopped, collected samples and checked out all things running.  Heaven.  We bought some nuun (lemon tea and kona kola-yum!) from Zoe at the Nuun booth and got an awesome water bottle.  I was a little sad to miss out on meeting up with some of the other bloggers at 3pm when Mel was doing a little chat on the stage, but we had to go to Bellevue to check into our hotel before the dinner that night.  I tried (twice!) to register for next year's race since the discount is really good, but the computers were down both times and then I forgot to check one last time before we left.  Dang it!

So we left the expo, headed to Bellevue Square for lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and a little shopping at Lululemon and Lucy, then checked into our hotel.  We had about 15 minutes to get freshened up and changed, then head straight back to downtown Seattle for our Girls Night Out dinner hosted by Online Shoes and Brooks Running.  It was pouring rain, and we had to be inside the parking garage by 6pm.  We left our hotel right about 5pm thinking we would be fine, it was only about 15 minutes away (in theory, it was pouring rain on a Friday evening).  We pulled into the garage at 6:02pm- whew!  I was ready for a drink or two at that point though!!  Not a fan of Seattle traffic.

I was lucky enough to be one of 15 bloggers to be invited to the Online Shoes Girls Night Out event on Friday night before the race.  When we arrived there were place cards layed out and a wonderful goodie bag filled with fun things like a notebook, water bladder, reusable bags, samples, gu and the best thing EVER- the VIP potty pass so we could potty like rock stars at the race!  We also had a special shirt they designed and a collapsable cooler from Online shoes.  So generous and amazing!

My friend Heather works for online shoes- she left me a little note at my place setting!

We were fed dinner from Buca di Beppo with pasta, salad, bread and lasagna- it was perfect for carb loading!  We got to meet Dyana from Brooks and she gave us some great information about Brooks and we watched a slideshow about the company.  I really liked seeing the ad campaign and being able to see how Brooks really is all about running and running HAPPY!  After the presentation Kira showed us all of the shoes and talked about them one by one.  I am obsessed with running shoes and could have talked to her about them all day long- she was very knowledgable!  We even got to pass around a shoe that isn't even on the market yet -the Pure Drift which will release in January!

Brooks shoes- aren't they so pretty?

Sneak peek of the Pure Drift to be released in January. It can alternate from zero to 4mm heel drop by adding/removing an insert. Very light, very flexible and very innovative!

After the shoe demonstration we were told we could pick out not 1, but 2 free pairs of running shoes to take home!  One from the traditional line, and one from the pure project line.  Wow, I could not believe it!  They had stacks of 5 different shoe styles in all of our sizes and I made a beeline straight for the Pure Flow in beautiful purple!  I had been wanting to try that particular shoe for a while now but couldn't justify buying it.  I instantly loved how it felt on my feet and didn't even try on the Pure Cadence, and I already own the Pure Connects. 

A wall of shoes! 

I like them!  My own personal Pure Connects in white/blue and my new Pure Flows in purple!

The difficult task for me was deciding on a more traditional style of shoe to pick.  I have been wearing minimal shoes now (zero to 4mm drop) for almost 2 years and regular shoes kind of scare me.  When I was wearing traditional shoes I also needed a knee brace- since I switched I have not had any problems whatsoever with my knee!  I asked Kira several questions and tried all three pairs on- the Glycerin 10, Adrenaline 12 and the Ghost.  I was not a fan of the Adrenaline's, they felt strange on my feet.  I did like the Ghost but since more likely than not I will be just wearing them for walking or working out I went with the Glycerin 10.  It was seriously the most comfortable shoe ever, like walking on marshmallows.  But I am scared to run in a shoe that is just so much SHOE.  For now I have been living in them for walking around and they are great!

Shoe twins!

Soon our evening ended and we made the drive back to our hotel with all of our new loot, to settle in and try to sleep before the race in the morning (race recap here).  And remember that pair of shoes I won at the expo?!?  I think I will let my hubby pick out a pair of new shoes- I mean really, how many shoes can a girl own?  Wait, don't answer that!  It will be his reward for letting me have 3 days of fun without even griping about it.  He rocks.

Treats! 

Thank you sooo much to Online Shoes for hosting this event in your beautiful office and spoiling us so perfectly before our race.  And a huge thank you to Brooks for sharing your business ideas, history and your amazing product with us.  And thank you to Mel for organizing and getting the ball rolling so we could be spoiled the night before our race.  If you would like to check out the awesome Brooks shoes we tried on and purchase a pair for yourself (which I highly recommend) here is the best way to do so:

Brooks Shoes- here
Brooks Pure Flow- here
Brooks Pure Cadence- here
Brooks Adrenaline 12- here
Brooks Glycerin 10- here
Brooks Ghost- here 

Happy bloggers and their new shoes!!!

Anyone else out there running happy in Brooks shoes?  What do you wear and why do you love them?  I have ran 3 times in my new Pure Flows (a hill run, an easy run and a 10 miler) and so far- LOVE them!!

Oh, and I put that cooler to good use a couple of days ago!!