Scott Bush

Crystal and I “dashed” through downtown Seattle this morning, one of about a million other Seattle-ites. At least it sure seemed that way, as you can see:

We got there early, about 8, to help at the Quadrant reception room. We didn’t do much there, as it was already handled. But we saw some of my coworkers before heading to the starting line. We had to wait for some time but we started out with cheers and a lot of excitement.

Some of the excitement was generated by this guy. Dedicated humanitarian helping his thirsty fellow Dashers? Or horrible perpetuator of Irish-as-drunks stereotype? You be the judge, but all I can say is people love him! He had tiny cups for folks to help themselves to beer or whiskey. The beer was real, I know, but the whiskey might not have been.

The weather cooperated with us this time so (unlike last year), with a brisk wind to cool us off and keep us motivated to move along.

We really were amazed at the energy level of the crowd and how much fun it was to be out there on the Seattle streets. People cheered when we started, whooped and hollered in the tunnels, and were friendly as we all jogged along. Plus the view was great from on top of the aging Alaskan Way viaduct. It was interesting (a euphemism for scary) to see how worn the road was… rebar was visible in many places. Stuff you never really see when driving over it. We took advantage of the view and snapped a shot of us, too.

At the end of the course was the obligatory finish line and a number of sponsor’s booths giving out freebies: energy drinks, cheese, potato chips, Starbucks coffee, and energy bars. All were well received by that time as we were pretty hungry.

But, we weren’t done yet. We had to walk back to our car at the Key Arena!