SeaWheeze Sunset Festival

One of the reasons I wanted to run SeaWheeze was because the night of the half there is a huge sunset festival in Stanley Park with yoga and music. After seeing all of last year’s pictures I knew it was too good to pass up.

After finally recovering from the run (see my race update here), I stumbled down to the Vancouver Convention Center to take a complimentary shuttle to Stanley Park for the festival. I have never been so happy to sit on a school bus before in my life.

The first thing I saw when I entered was a huge trapeze. It looked so cool! I heavily considered trying it, but after finally overcoming my injury and being able to complete the half, I really didn’t want to blow the Nike Women’s Half in October with a broken ankle. Instead I spent a great amount of my time watching everyone else swing and flip (and listening to all of the yells of sheer joy/terror). While we waited they had a running slideshow of photos from the morning’s race which was really fun (and thankfully didn’t include me).

The festival kicked off with yoga and it was so fun. The instructor, Eoin Finn, clearly hadn’t ever run a half before (really Utkatasana? Dude, no.), but his jokes and general relaxed demeanor made it part entertainment, part relaxing yoga, and part get to know your neighbor (really well if you took his advice to slap your neighbor’s ass as a congrats for running).

After yoga The Colourist took the stage and played a fun set. I liked their music, but it wasn’t until they played their last song that I realized I had heard them many times before on a Songza playlist I listen to at work. (Since then I have been obsessed with this song.)

Capital Cities played next, but I was so beat that I only stayed for a few songs. When I was getting ready to leave I decided I didn’t feel like waiting in line for a shuttle. I convinced myself it would be faster to just walk back (HUGE MISTAKE). I hobbled the few MILES back to the hotel, kicking myself the entire time for not taking the shuttle. Every time a school bus would drive by me (which was frequently since I walked back along the shuttle route) I wanted to beg them to let me on. But if I had done that, I wouldn’t have seen how beautiful Vancouver was at night. Stunning.