Rock and Roll Seattle Half Marathon Fungi Find

Greetings fellow mycology lovers. Today I wanted to share a beauty I found during the Rock and Roll Seattle Half Marathon Race.

I ran my first half in November of 2015, the first year we lived in Washington. We called Port Orchard home, a short ferry ride away from Seattle located on the Olympic Peninsula. It was a cold and dreary Seattle Half Marathon, but as my first one, exciting nonetheless.

My second half was in summer of the next year, the Rock and Roll Seattle Half Marathon. It was much warmer, but did end up sprinkling a little here and there during the race.

I first race I completed with my friend and coworker, Casey. With the Rock and Roll, my cousin Cherie and her husband Clay, joined me. Clay ended up running the full marathon, while Cherie and I completed the half.

We got separated somewhere near the start of the race and were off on our own. I found out later that when she stopped for an espresso and bathroom break, I’d stopped to take a photo of a familiar looking mushroom.

Enter the Amanita

It was funny because I was slowly making my way along route when something caught my eye. I had to give it a double take before deciding to pull away from the crowd and check it out.

Instantly it reminded me of the mushroom in Alice and Wonderland. And although I couldn’t remember the name at the time, I knew it was something special.

Faster forward a couple of years when I was flipping through the photos uploaded on my computer and cam to this one. My partner happened to be sitting with me and made me stop on it.

“Where’d you find that?” he asked sounding almost a little in awe at the sight of it. “Oh, that’s the one I stopped and took from the Seattle Half. Remember, it’s the one Cherie and Clay did with me?”

He nods in remembrance but says he didn’t realize it was that kind of mushroom. The mighty amanita.

So, I think he said this one is psychedelic, but since he’s not here I can’t ask before posting this. If you have information to share on whether this is definitely an Amanita or not and what other characteristics it has, please let me know in the comments. Like the blog says, I’m an amateur mycologist and I’d appreciate any knowledge you can share with me along the way.