Northwest Adventures!

Last month I had my first business travel to the Northwest. Several of our vendors are located out there and we try to knock them all out at once (Nike & Adidas are in Portland and Brooks is in Seattle). We flew in a day early so I was able to do a little downtown Portland runsploration...

Business meetings quickly ensued but I managed to get a campus tour at Nike. It's huge. Has several running trails on site, a large fitness facility (complete with lap pool) and a soccer field in the center. Loved the energy there.

A chandelier made out of gymnastics rings...love.

Everything is so green and lush there.

Campus selfie

After a few days at Nike we then visited Adidas. This campus also has a soccer field in the center where employees play on their lunches.

Adidas selfie (learned that the founder's name was Adi Dassler...and that Adidas wasn't an acronym, ha!).

Pharrell and Kanye are plastered everywhere, including the elevators

Adidas rooftop selfie

After Adi meetings we headed to the train station to take a ride north to Seattle

The train ride was 3 hours and had an excellent drink cart to pass the time :)

We were visiting Brooks in Seattle to celebrate their 100 year anniversary...they planned the weekend full of fun activities. Here's a view of the Puget Sound from my hotel room.

Bright and early on Friday morning the Finish Line crew made our way to the starting line of the 10 person relay...of which several hundred people participated.

Marc, Larry, Alyssa, Sarah, Andy and Ryan...the other three people on our team were from Z.appos.

I ran two of the 10 legs, as Sarah had been a little under the weather. Was gorgeous to run along the waterfront.

After a few business meetings we got fancied up and took a duck boat tour of the city. Here's a view of Seattle from the water...you can see the Space Needle on the right.

Boat tour with buddies

We also were able to take a tour of the new Brooks HQ building...then had cocktail hour on their balcony

The evening's entertainment included live music in one room and a dance party in another. There were almost 1,000 people in attendance. This was quite the event!

Midway through the evening this guy showed up. I had surprised him for our 10 year anniversary with a trip to Seattle. I was thrilled he made it in time to party with us and meet all my work friends. Missed this guy so much...I had been away from home for a week!

Here's us face-timing the surprise

And I was able to face-time with the girls every day that I was gone. Missed them so much!

The next few days were spent exploring the city...and breweries, of course.

Shots, shots, shots...

Hair of the dog

Happy 10 year anniversary to us!

While Mike came out to join me in Seattle my sister and niece were gracious enough to spend the weekend with the girls. This trip wouldn't have been possible without Kim and Taylor. Initially Izzy was sad to hear I wasn't coming home AND that her daddy was leaving. But to have their aunt Kiki and cousin Taylor at their house was the next best thing. Here's a pic Taylor took of our sweet girls one morning. I think they look so grown up here...can almost get a glimpse of what they'll look like in the future. So stinkin' cute.

Until next time, Seattle...