Seawheeze 2016 Recap

Sorry this post has taken so long to go up but I'm suffering from post Seawheeze weekend blues. We had also gone for a two week family vacation (glamping) and arrived the day before the Seawheeze festivities began so I'm still recovering and getting myself re organized. Wednesday afternoon pre seawheeze I was doing laundry like a mad woman and got through 5 loads of laundry so that I could go meet Lulu Addict at her hotel. It is such a FUN weekend and I really love getting together with Lulu Addict each year for our shenanigans. It makes it better to have a fellow fanatic to hang with that also has a reference point to each previous seawheeze weekend so we can constantly compare notes. Plus, we have our showcase store strategy down pat! This year we where also joined by a long time OG community member and that was fun. Shout out to AG! 

This year the die hard showcase store shoppers lined up about 20 hours too early. This included my little group. It certainly wasn't planned but when we saw that there was a lady camped out we kept a close eye to watch the progress and as soon as there where about 20 people lined up we decided to claim our spot. It turns out the woman at the front of the line was paid to hold the place until store opening by the very same woman who cut in line in front of us last year. I feel as though she should have at least paid the woman spot holding for her the minimum wage per hour. Cutting in line is low, but exploiting someone for such low pay to work for you is irredeemable. 

Hour one. Makeup still on. 

Lots of people used these inflatable beds so it was the most colourful showcase store lineup ever. I preferred my camping mat though. 

Took a little break at Lulu Addicts landing pad and really enjoyed her view. 

My gear. Backpack as pillow, neck pillow, camping mat, blanket and a good book. I'm reading 'The Mandibles'. 

I was really bad about taking pictures in the showcase store this year. My iPhone kept taking really blurry pictures, but also I was extremely tired from the long lineup and wasn't thinking straight by the time the store opened. I was in survival mode without coffee and I just wanted to get through it, grab what I wanted and go home to bed. Luckily, this year a few lucky volunteers got to shop the Thursday night because they had volunteered 5 years in a row. They where not allowed to share photos of the store or the products but people left the store with their new purchases and we where able to glimpse a few of them. Enough to form a plan of what I 'had to have'. I knew that I *needed* the Gather Me Slighty Jacket with the 'figure ground map' of Vancouver so that was the first item I grabbed in the store. I then grabbed the finger print version of the jacket, and the men's city blue print jacket, one of each Cool Racerback in my size and the duffel bag. I really didn't want to spend a fortune in the store so I took my time deciding what I needed to have and despite really loving a lot of the items this year I left with only the Gather Me Slightly Jacket in both prints.

I do regret not taking this Race With Grace 1/2 Zip. I loved the print, loved the colors. I just thought I'd not get as much opportunity to wear it as I would a jacket or a CRB. This was also my first year getting a jacket since it's a pricier splurge item but I knew that was the one thing I'd really regret not getting. I'm still sad I let this pullover go though. The cypher code print is so cool!

I was totally enthralled with this men's jacket print. I loved the color, loved that it was a blue print map of Vancouver. I love everything about it. I so wish the women's line had this print in something like a long sleeve top or a Cool Racerback, or even the Gather Me Slightly Jacket. I was so close to getting this one but the medium was huge on me in the arms and chest and really long, and it just didn't look right on me. My friend convinced me that the GMS jacket was so much more of a flattering fit and much softer on the inside. I don't regret not getting this, I just wish there had been other items in this print. It's so special. Honestly thought this years theme and the concepts for the prints where so great. Cypher codes, binary codes, city blue print maps, city ground maps, abstracted finger prints. This was such a great way to use prints to depict the 'Agents of change' theme. 

I always get Seawheeze Cool Racerbacks. I loved both of these prints mostly because of the colors but I opted not to get a CRB this year. I prefer the Seawheeze CRB's that are made of luxtreme vs these new polyester luon, or last years luon. The luxtreme CRB's seemed more special for some reason. 

The Vancouver city map blue print also showed up in the men's shorts. 

I almost got this Cool Racerback in black and white manifesto typewriter print but when I tried it on I thought the wavy lettering was not slimming. There where shorts in this print as well and I really liked those too. The black and white was much crisper in the shorts. 

Gather Me Slightly Jacket tried on upon my friends request. This is when she convinced me to get this over the men's jacket. 

my blurry picture from the check out. This was probably 8-8:30 am. 

Arrived home by 9:30 and quickly took pictures of my haul for Instagram before crashing for a long nap in bed. 

Although I knew I was going to do the running portion of Seawheeze this year, I opted for a new challenge of not training for it at all. I did this for two reasons, 1. I didn't want to have to sacrifice my crossfit time and in particular my olympic lifting classes. Training for a half marathon takes a lot of time and dedication and I can never manage to balance it with also doing crossfit and getting my kids to their activities. As the miles pile on, I end up abandoning crossfit which I love, for running which I only sometimes like. I don't mean I dislike running though, I just don't find it as joyful as I find crossfit or oly lifting. Reason 2. was that I was really curious to see how far I could run and how I would feel running distance without any prior dedicated training. It was sort of a test to see what my fitness level was at. Everyone laughed at me when I said I was sure I could wing 6 miles of steady running but it turned out I was able to go 7.66 miles of steady running and I'm really proud of that. My time was abysmal so don't even look at that (I pretty much walked the last half of it) but I'm actually really proud that for 7.66 miles I had a really steady pace. I also am really proud that for the entire race I felt really good cardiovascular wise. I didn't feel winded, I didn't feel heat stroke or dehydration that a lot of other people felt that day (it was a scorcher and very humid). I felt really, really good. After 7.66 miles though my right quad was starting to charlie horse on me. I have been feeling achy knees for the past month from lifting and really tight quads so I'm not surprised this was wear I started feeling the miles. After about 9 miles my quads both cramped up really bad and my feet where extremely sore so I was walking, hobbling and stopping to stretch frequently.  As always, the seawall portion of the run was my white wale and I inevitably tank it right at the very start of the seawall. But still, I felt good otherwise. I could feel some blisters forming on my feet but they didn't cause me to require bandages. 

I was dropped off by my dad as is my usual half marathon routine at Lulu Addicts hotel where I could stash my gear. I didn't put my 'timing chip' tags on my shoes until I got downtown and I have to say I really hate this years tags. They where really motivated to get rid of Chip Wilson's timing chip I guess. 

Our walk over to the plaza and then to the corral. 

I wore my last years Seawheeze hat, my menthol Drop It Like It's Hot Tank, Lorna Jane Unicorn bra (lol!). 

The crowds in the corral. Note the wonderful colourful prints and outfits. Lululemon's new designers need to observe this live because this is what Lululemon is all about. Not neutral edgy colors full of attitude and airs. 

really questioning my sanity in attempting to run a half marathon untrained. 

Lulu Addict and Lulumum! The bratty bloggers unite!

The starting arch I loved that as the waves of runners where being let through they where sending smoke signals from the top of the arch. That was really cool. 

Vancouver police cheering station. They are hiring! 

This was just after the bridge heading into Kitsilano where the Lululemon corporate office is. This is the first year ever where head office staff where not outside the building cheering on runners. This was something definitely noticed by many. 

hydration station? Just joking. Someone had a party the night before. 

The puppy cheer station! This was at the turn around in Kitsilano just before you turn back to the bridge. 

Oh yeah! Rosacea really kicked in for this run. I woke up the next morning with the worst rosacea outbreak of my life. It was horrifying. All better now and under control.

It was SO hot! I hydrated the night before with gatorade and I think that made all the difference for me. I also stopped at each hydration station and drank both a cup of regular water, and a Nuun electrolyte water wether I was thirsty or not.  I was paranoid that I would pass out at some point because of the lack of training. The course was really well staffed with medics and that was a good thing because a lot of people did collapse from heat stroke and dehydration. 

This is the very start of the seawall where I face my white whale. This is where I start to question if I can honestly finish this thing despite the fact that my inner mantra the whole way up to this point was 'I'm doing it!!'. 

lots of random flesh coloured cheering stations. I appreciated it though! It was hot, and they where wearing body suits for us all damn morning!

Another cheer station.

the most loved cheer station. 

The course finish changed this year to end on the seawall below the plaza but that last 'mile' the cheer stations kept saying is 'just around the corner, I promise' was interminable. It took so much mental energy to get to the finish line which you could not see from a distance until you turned that last corner. I was devastated to see that once I crossed I had to continue walking along the path to collect my medal, walk walk walk, get water, walk walk walk, get hat, walk walk walk, get to the brunch line up. Oh my god the brunch line up! It was an hour long line up up a winding hill in the blazing sun and the only other option was to abandon brunch and go up a steep flight of stairs. I learned that the runners that finished at 2 hours and later had no water at the finish and this is where many people collapsed. The other problem this finish had was that the busiest finish times at 2 hours to 2:40 had major congestion all the way down the seawall at the arch, with no water, and a hour and 40 minute wait for brunch. I know that Lululemon has realized this is a huge problem finish line and I'm sure it will be changed next year, solely for the reason that congestion + lineup + extreme heat + no water is a huge safety issue. At a minimum, running out of water at the finish line is unacceptable. 

I had to sit for about 15 minutes before I could work the nerve up to line up here. 

The start of the lineup for me. 

The end of the brunch line up. I saw someone being worked on by medics. I actually saw a few people on the course at about mile 7, and mile 11 being worked on. I'm glad they had a lot of medics on site. 

Drank my water, ate my delicious brunch and was feeling better. At this point I was able to call my husband to come rescue me downtown. Because I live in the suburbs away from downtown, I've only ever been to one sunset festival which was the first year at Jack Pool Plaza. It's such a drag though to come back in the evening, find parking, then find the shuttle bus to get to Stanley Park and line up again there. Its fine if you are staying downtown but if you are local it's not as enticing. There was special edition gear sold at the Sunset Festival which was runner specific with 'mission complete' written on it but those sold out instantly by people purchasing for their friends ('angeling'). I would have loved the option to buy this at the finish line at the plaza during the afternoon and would have loved if they had enough quantity for runners but I don't think I would have made the effort to go to the festival for it. Next year I'd like to go to the festival too. 

My dad made me this really awesome medal holder. I love that he even welded little ball bearing stoppers on the ends. I can't wait to hang it up and display my Seawheeze medals and my BMO Half Marathon medal.