The Seattle trip, CONT.

Saturday morning D and I headed out to the race site to pick up our race packets for the Iron Girl 10K. It was a pretty small expo, but we were able to pick up our tech shirts and create our own goody bag with a Her Fitness magazine, some more Goody Stayput elastics, some individual packets of Propel drink mix and some mini Luna bars. They were offering free back and foot massages to I decided to let someone give my feet a little rub. Ahh, that was nice. From there it was on to downtown. The first thing we noticed as we exited the freeway was the massive REI store and since D was searching for some hiking clothes we stopped in. The REI store in Seattle is amazing....talk about a money and a time suck. They have a special trail around the outside of the store so you can test mountain bikes out before buying one. I found Injinji socks and cola Clif Shot Bloks that I was hoping to pick up. From there we went downtown and ate near Pike Place Market at a restaurant that offered a good view of watching fish fly at the Pike Place Fish Market. The rest of the afternoon was lost to shopping and more shopping....kind of embarrassing to travel all that way and all you do is shop...but D and I were on a mission. I wasn't kidding when I said I needed new pants thanks to the running benefits and my old ones not fitting anymore so I still needed to find another pair or two. We finally called it a night and went to an Italian restaurant near our hotel that had been recommended - Mama Melina's. It was terrific food (I would definitely recommend it) and we finished up early enough that we were able to get a good night's sleep before the race.
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As I've already mentioned before...the race was terrific. I couldn't have been happier with my time. After we chowed down at the breakfast cafe it was back to the hotel for a nap (wow...I conked out) and a shower. We checked out and made our way back downtown. We hit the Pike Place Market and the first order of business was lunch. We ate at the Pike Brewing Company and it was delish. A pint of their pale ale and their crab and artichoke dip helped to quell the growing rumblings in my stomach. After a round of fish and chips we were good to go to explore the Market a bit closer. We hung out and watched the guys at the fish market throw some good looking fish and crabs around....what a hoot. We wound our way through and found the very first Starbucks location...ever... We grabbed a beverage from there and sat outside and enjoyed the sun and the sights. Pretty soon it was time to head back to the car and make our way to the airport. All in all, a fun weekend.