Jennifer O'Meara's Staging Area

As far as I know, SWR is the Seattle area’s only major women’s race. I wish we had more, but I’m glad we have this one. There are three races – 5K, 10K, and half marathon. I have run the 10K in past and ran the half this year.

1.) Course – flat and fast. First 10 miles is on the road and absolutely wonderful. The last 3 miles is on a trail and more twisty, not as perfect, but still fine. This is a PR course. I love running on the first 10 miles on the wide open road.

2.) Parking / timing – I’m glad they run the race at 7 am as it keeps things nice and cool. However, there is limited parking for $30 at the race. Otherwise, you must catch a shuttle that I believe leaves at 6 am from Everett. If you’re driving from the Seattle area, that makes for an early morning. I got up at 4:45 for this race.

3.) General atmosphere – I love the positive, celebratory and supportive atmosphere of a women’s run. As far as atmosphere and vibe goes, you truly cannot beat this race.

4.) Portapotties. They needed twice as many portapotties. There was a line of at least 100 people for the portapotties when I went to the start line to start the race. Many of those people must have been late to start.

5.) Other – There are pace groups for the race ,which was great. Thank you to the wonderful pacers! The website said there would be age group awards, but there were none on race day. There was a nice pink shirt. The medals were kind of lame this year. I appreciated the volunteers handing out cups of water on course. Just another thing that makes this an awesome race for a PR.

This is a low-key local triathlon. Organization was a bit weak. Bib pickup was meant to be the day before the race, and the organizers were 90 minutes late. No major harm done, as they distributed bibs on race morning.

Parking was easy at Beaver Lake Park. Since there were few participants, it was easy to rack bikes. The race started about 15 minutes late, which in my experience, is not bad for a triathlon. There were two waves separated by two minutes. I think the race would be improved by sending four waves rather than two, or by separating the waves by age / gender rather than signup time. The swim was a bit crowded and I had trouble passing people late in the race, despite the field being quite small.

The water temperature was about 80 degrees, and most people didn’t wear wetsuits. The lake was like glass that morning and remained very calm throughout the swim. I think I saw only one kayak on the course, which I thought was a bit light.

The bike course is only 13.5 miles, but I found it very difficult. Bike is my weakest discipline; strong cyclists won’t be troubled, but weak cyclists will struggle. Be prepared to take your time on the one major hill. I though the course was well-marked, though I did meet one guy who took a wrong turn. The race does go on some busyish roads, but since it was a Sunday morning, there was minimal traffic. I felt very comfortable and safe throughout the bike portion – just tired!

The run is 4.3 miles and is described as “flat.” With dead legs from the hilly cycle, I’d call it more rolling hills or undulating than flat, but it really wasn’t bad. It goes through quiet neighborhood roads with a brief section on a trail. Overall, a pleasant run, and it was early enough in the morning to be shaded.

This is a nice low-key local race with a challenging course (for such a short event). Organization is a little weak, but I recognize putting on an event like this isn’t for the faint of heart, and I appreciate all the work the organizers put in.

There really aren’t many races on the streets of Seattle. This one goes around Lake Union. It’s a mostly flat course, scenic at times, and very well organized by Snohomish Running Club. A large field usually shows up with lots of runners fast, slow and in-between. It’s a must-do if you’re in the Seattle area.

A couple of small complaints:
1.) The course measured short both times I ran it, both on my watch and on others on Strava
2.) In 2022, the times were off by 20s for all runners. I observed this on my own watch and confirmed checking other runners on Strava. (The times were reported fast; I wish I’d run as fast as they said I did.) I’m not sure if they ever fixed this, but it’s a pretty fundamental thing to record times correctly.

This is a perfect PR race:
Typically cool weather
Flat course
Absolutely superb organization
Wonderful pacers

The loop course makes this relatively convenient from a logistics standpoint, and there are lots of accommodation options in Houston.

This was my first marathon, and I’m glad I chose this race.

Taking place in mid-September, you’re likely to get decent weather for the Orca Half. Light rain is not unusual, but it’s very unlikely you’ll get poured on the whole time, and it’s also likely to be just right in terms of temperature – not too hot, not too cold.

The race has 300 feet of elevation gain, mostly round early on with a major hill from 1.5 mi to 2.5 mi. Also, there were no cups provided at the race, so it’s not a great PR option as you’ll lose a couple minutes either stopping at aid stations or carrying (heavy) water. However, it’s a great race to run just for fun or as a training run and generally comes with a nice medal.

The course is point-to-point and you take buses from W. Seattle to the start. The busing has been very well organized the two years I’ve run the race.