Spokane Part 1

John & Jennifer changed up their marathon this year. Instead of Coeur D'Alene they chose Spokane. Jennifer was trying to qualify for Boston so they wanted a flat fast course. As it turns out it wasn't as flat as promised, but Jennifer still ran a qualifying time. Yay! Now she has to wait to hear if she gets in. Next year's race will be a bit different because the runners that were unable to finish this year are being allowed to run again next year. We don't know yet what that means about the number of runners. If they increase the number then Jennifer should be fine. If they keep the number the same then she might have more difficulty just because so many more people will be trying to get in. Hopefully she will know in October.

While they ran I wandered around downtown Spokane. What a funny place it is. It has a very small town feel although the population is over 250000. The downtown is lovely. They have restored all the original buildings so it looks beautiful. There are paths everywhere for running, walking & biking. The best part is the huge park right in the centre. It is amazing. The falls run right through it and there is a river, walking bridges, fun stuff for kids, fountains, and so on.

It is a great place for walking around. I was never worried about my personal safety. There are neat things to see everywhere. The benches are made of recycled materials so every one is different and truly is a piece of art. In addition, there are sculptures everywhere. If you look over the railing to the river you might spot a mountain goat or big horned sheep. You had to look everywhere because there was so much to see.

With the exception of one bizarre woman at the race package pick up I have never run into so many friendly people. Everyone was friendly! And helpful. It was quite amazing. The other thing I really appreciated was the every restaurant catered to gluten free eating. It was never an issue, and everything I had was delicious.

I took over 450 pictures. I will try to cut it back for the blog though. Let's get started:

I really liked these running sculptures

Canada Island

The Big Wagon!

Top of a carousel

You can see this no matter where you are downtown. I must have taken 100 pictures of it, from every angle.