Beautiful Weather, Questionable Hill, Orca Half Done

Latonya MJ(HF17757) – 🐋 ORCA HALF MARATHON — WASHINGTON 9/19/26🏃🏾‍♀️
State #34 ✔️ | Half Marathon #61 ✔️ ❤️
✈️ FRIDAY — SEATTLE
Flew DFW ➡️ Seattle and Ubered to our Airbnb. We purposely stayed close to the race transportation, and that turned out to be a GREAT decision!
🍜 Friday night, we Ubered to Spring Vietnamese & Thai for dinner.
🏃🏾‍♀️ SATURDAY — RACE DAY
The weather was BEAUTIFUL! ☀️
But let me tell you… if you’re looking for a true road race, this ain’t it! 😂
There was an additional ½ mile through the park just to get to the starting line, then about 3.4 miles through Lincoln Park. That section was gravel—not rocks, but definitely not pavement—and there was a HILL that had me questioning my life choices! 🤣
After leaving the park, we ran through the neighborhoods along Alki Beach, sharing the smaller streets with traffic. The course had several loops/out-and-backs, which wasn’t my favorite, but the scenery was beautiful!
The race also had:
✔️ Wave starts
✔️ Half Marathon + 8K
✔️ Medal at the finish
✔️ GU stations about every 2 miles
✔️ Water stations with cups
✔️ Restrooms along the course
✔️ Good-quality race shirt
✔️ Saturday race gives you more time to finish
🍤 AFTER THE RACE
We grabbed a late lunch at Salty’s Seafood, which was just a quick walk from the Airbnb. Perfect way to refuel after 13.1! 🦀🍤
🏠 AIRBNB REVIEW
The location was PERFECT—literally across the street from the bus pickup!
The only downside? The owners had kids, so once we made it back, we could hear little feet running around upstairs. 😂 But after 13.1 miles, we were WAY too tired to care! 😴🤣
✈️ SUNDAY — HEADING HOME
Taking an Uber back to SEA and then heading home!
💡 TRAVEL TIP
If you’re planning to run this race, I’d look at June–September for Seattle and give yourself some extra time to explore.
And THIS is where I messed up! 😂 I wish I had booked a later flight because Victoria, Canada is just a ferry ride away! 🇨🇦⛴️
I didn’t originally plan to visit because I’ve already been to Victoria, but after realizing how close it was, I definitely wished I had given myself more time.
If you’re a faster-paced runner, you could absolutely add Victoria to the weekend. They even have the world’s smallest Chinatown, which would’ve been fun to check out!
Washington — State #34! 🏃🏾‍♀️🐋❤️
Half Marathon #61 in the books! 🎉

Photo and Post Credit Latonya MJ(HF17757)