26.2 Reasons to be Excited about Seattle

1. It's a Marathon... Who isn't excited for that?

2. It will be the third state to complete a marathon in... way short of all 50 states, but a start. (Ca, Az, Wa)

3. I'll be running with my coach and friend, Super Lori

4. Gard is running too! (aka Super Dude)

5. This will be my fifth marathon distance event this year... and it's only June.

6. My second Rock n Roll event of the year... pretty soon I get to smash a guitar.

7. Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Jimi Hendrix, but not so much Grey's Anatomy (except the first couple seasons... shhhh.)

8. Scott Jurek will be at the expo.

9. Monday after the race, we have a reservation to whale watch while kayaking off the San Juan Islands.

10. Tuesday after the race we'll be staying a night in Olympic National Park. They have hot springs, which I'm really looking forward to.

11. If reasons 9 and 10 don't get you hyped, how about a Triple Skinny Hazelnut Latte from the original Starbucks location.

12. Lake View Cemetery. I'm hoping to pay my respects to Bruce and Brandon Lee. Huge fan.

13. Blue Gatorade. It's delicious. (Yes, blue is not a flavor)

14. Expo! Who doesn't love an Expo? Especially for large races with plenty of booths.

15. Meeting Twitter and Facebook friends (16-19):

16. Fellow Pure Fit Radio ESR, Paige and guest blogger for the Duvall Days races. She was an early reader of the blog and it'll be great to meet her in person.

17. Dana, who we interviewed on the "An Easy 10 with..." series. She is running 52 marathons in 52 weeks to raise money/awareness for South Africa's AIDS orphans. Truly inspiring.

18. Fellow twitter pal Larissa. Speedy runner and self-described "blondie in a hot running skirt."

19. Christina, Christine, Kristina and Stefanie... all great runners who I look forward to getting a chance to meet. Hopefully, I can get the first three names to match the right people. :)

20. Understanding that events and expo's can be crowded and difficult to meet up... but we can give it a try. Heck, we'll always have Facebook. LOL.

21. Post-race meal. Isn't it always the best?

22. Bus shuttle to the start. I've been on a race bus shuttle three times: Big Sur, CIM and Arizona. All three races I set a PR in. Will history repeat itself?

23. San Francisco Marathon is a month away after this race. I'll be up in my weekly mileage and able to work on getting faster to tackle the SF course which plagues me.

24. Virgin Airlines. I hear they have great flights and that is what we will be taking there. Southwest on the way back. Not so excited about the latter.

25. My quest towards a low 4 hours marathon. In an ideal world this is a prep for a 4:20 in SF. Followed by a little a** kicking to get it to low 4 in early 2011 (late 2010?).

26. Vacation! I'll have several days away from work and will be doing what I love... running.

.2 — You had me at marathon.

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