Seafair Marathon Results and Report

This was the 4th year of the Seafair Marathon and the 4th version.
2005 1st ever Marathon, I ran a 3:59:50, Great course, run down to and along Lake Sammamish.
2006 26th Marathon/Ultra, 3:57:39, a little tougher course, up and around Bridle Trails.
2007 47th M/U, 3:48:22, 3 min. PR mostly the same course as last year.
2008 67th M/U, 3:27:44, 21 min. PR, Toughest course yet, 1600 ft of gain and HOT!
I finished 8th in my age group and 48th overall.

It was cool running across the bridge but not really that much different than Seattle.

Splits were:49,50,52,55 minutes pr ~ 10k.
Full Race results are here.

Race Report to follow later...

I drove the course Saturday and got to witness first hand all the hills everybody had been talking about. That and the forecast, together with a cough I was given by Jenn all wrapped up in a satin bow, I saw my chances of making my goal time of 3:20 becoming harder and harder to achieve. My PR was still the 3:48:22 I ran here last year.

I didn't give up all hope. I like the heat, I like hills (running down them anyway), and I've never let a cold stand in my way of a finish line. New plan; run my race as planned, for as long as I could and then I could really see what I was made of... right?

We started the race about 13 minutes late. No biggie I knew Jenn would figure it out when the first runners came past late. It just meant it would be slightly hotter as I went around the course. The start was crazy, both the full and 1/2 started together. I started at a controlled pace about 5 seconds back from the starting line. I heard it was really crazy another 100 yards back.

Running across the bridge was cool but not the awesome wow factor that I expected. It was better than going across the I-90 bridge. I cruised up the east span and into Bellevue with very little effort. Before I knew it I'd reached Main Street in Bellevue so I started looking for my crew. Jenn and the kids were to meet me there and hand me some Heed. I saw them right away and there was Nicolette holding a recycled water bottle out so I could grab it as I went by. Isn't she cute!

Right after Main Street the real hills start. There were a few people walking up them. Only 7 miles in I figured it was too early for that so I grunted over all three slowing to 5.5 mph on the steepest one. They were just as steep on the back side so I really had to work to get the maximum benefit from gravity. After pushing it on those hills and drinking the 16 ounces of heed I really didn't want to pick up my 2nd bottle when I came back around to the mall(after 4 miles), but when I saw sweet little Jessica holding it out for me I couldn't refuse.

I could feel the heat already and it wasn't even 8:30 am. Somewhere between 10 and 12miles my ankle started to really hurt. I think it was from the camber in the road. Worse than the pain was the loss in strength. My gate turned into a wobble. I took a couple Advil just to try and take the edge off. And since I was taking things, I downed 2 salt tabs.

I passed over the half marathon mat at 1:39:27. That was about a minute slower than I wanted to be. I knew I'd be slowing down on the long hill at Bridle Trails and the other big one at 22 miles. Basically the writing was on the wall. There was no way I could make the second half in 1:41. I was still on track for a huge PR so I pressed on with everything I had, at least it felt that way at the time.

I really felt the ankle once I crested the top at 16.5 miles. I tried to run where the road was flattest but it didn't help much. I some places we could only run on the shoulder. They didn't block off a lane for us to run in. After I got past the boat ramp in downtown Kirkland I was forced to run up on the sidewalk because the angle was more than I could take.

I felt like I wasn't moving very fast but I did manage to pass a couple marathoners on the last hill. Once I made it to the top of the final hill it's only 1.5 miles to the finish. That was the longest 1.5 miles of the race. My ankle was screaming at me to stop and I could only manage about 8 mph downhill! The clock read 3:26:?? when I finished but after checking my watch and seeing the results online, I know that was wrong.

My youngest was there at the finish waiting for his turn to hand me a bottle. That was one good Mocha.

I was pretty dead when I finished, it was hot, but after 10 minutes I felt fine. I felt like I could go out and run some more (except for the ankle). It's a lot different than when I came in at 4 hours and it took a week to even think about putting my running shoes on again.

Today my legs feel great, my head is a little foggy from running with a cold and my ankle doesn't hurt if I walk around on my toes.