Because these write-ups are always so damned long, here’s a summary:
- I wasn’t able to sustain my 11:15 minutes/mile goal pace through the longer runs (16, 18 and 20 miles). So, unlike last year, I readjusted my race goals closer to reality.
- I still didn’t hit my goal of a PR, but I came pretty close on a slightly tougher course, so I feel pretty good about my performance. If you don’t want to click that link, my official time was 5 hours, 19 minutes and 16 seconds.
- I was really stoked to do a marathon with one of my dearest (I won’t say “oldest”) friends, who was instrumental in getting me to join Team in Training in the first place.
- I had a great time with all of my teammates in Seattle, which is a great city!
- I am grateful for the support of my friends — and especially my coaches — who were either with me in spirit or actually supporting me on the course. When you’re as slow as I am, you have a lot of time to think during a marathon. Chances are, if you’re reading this, I thought about you. Thank you for being there for me!
Here is the data from my GPS watch:
Now for the boring details.
The end of the training season.
After my horrible experience last year at Portland, I decided I could no longer just show up to training sessions and expect to improve. I have officially plateaued and needed to change things up.
My new “plan” was to really push myself every time I did a running workout, whether that was at the track or doing hill repeats. I did Thursday buddy runs at a tempo pace. And my long runs were done at my goal pace of 11:15 minutes/mile, which would enable me to break 5 hours — if I were able to sustain that pace over the course of a marathon.
Of course, things don’t always go according to plan, and my pace began to drop once the runs got longer.
My 16-mile run was done during the Big Sur International Marathon. I was part of a relay team and one runner had to drop out, so it worked out just fine. I ran the second and third legs, handed off the baton to my teammate and run wife Jen, who finished the race for our team. Meanwhile, I kept running until my watch said I’d done 16 miles. Then I still had to get to the finish line, so I ended up running 21.5 miles total. But everything after Mile 16 was done at a more leisurely pace. Still, doing the second and third legs of the relay meant I had to “race” up and down Hurricane Point — which is about a 500-foot climb in two miles — and we dealt with headwinds from the Northwest that peaked at 50 MPH! It was so windy that when the road turned inland and the wind became a crosswind, it blew my legs around and made it hard to run without tripping myself.
So when I calculated my 16-mile pace, I wasn’t too upset about my 11:41 min./mile pace. I felt pretty good at the end, despite jumping from 14 miles to 21.5 miles. Pretty sure my coaches would not be happy if I’d told them about this ahead of time.
Three weeks later, we did our normal San Francisco 18-mile training run. This course would have more elevation gain than the Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon in fewer miles, but my 12:00 min./mile pace was still pretty disappointing. So, this is when I realized that I wasn’t going to break 5 hours in Seattle.
A glimmer of hope.
One of my favorite races is the Capitola Half Marathon. It follows the coast, is mostly flat, and usually has great weather. It’s also a little short, so in order to get my half-marathon badge on Strava, I have to walk a little extra after I cross the finish line before I stop my watch.
This year, I picked up some new shoes which are amazing in every way except one: the right shoe rubs my ankle, which is annoying and could lead to a blister! I figured they would be okay to train in and I could always go back to my ASICS for races and long runs. But for some reason, I laced up these shoes for Capitola. They ended up working pretty well. I didn’t even get a hot spot on my right ankle. And I felt really good that day! I clobbered my half-marathon PR by about five minutes! My secret? I didn’t wear my hydration pack and didn’t use my normal 5 minutes/1 minute run/walk interval. I ran the whole thing, carried a few GU and salt packs in my running belt, and utilized all of the water stops instead of drinking when I felt like it.
This wasn’t the first time I’d run this race without taking any walk breaks, but it was the first time I “raced” it. I was pushing myself as soon as I felt warmed up and ended with an official time of 2:09:37! My previous personal record of 2:14:48 was also set at this race, so the five-minute improvement is a pretty fair assessment, in my opinion. I’d just run about 12.9 miles — and walked the last 0.2 — with an average pace of 10:11 minutes/mile!
Back to Monterey — and reality.
TNT always has their longest run of the season in Monterey. It’s beautiful. The weather is usually on the cooler side. And it’s pretty flat. Sounds like a recipe for getting back on my 11:15 min./mile pace, right?
Nope. Even though I felt great, 12:00 min./mile was the best I could do. But at least I had a realistic assessment of where I was at, fitness-wise. And I saw a deer.
So, when I picked up my race bib in Seattle, I put “5:14” as my estimated finish time. And I ended up being pretty close to that!
The calm before the maybe-maybe-not storm.
In the days leading up to an event, I turn to Weather Underground’s forecasts. This being Seattle, the race forecast went from warm and sunny to cool and thunderstormy in the span of about four days. I’ve never done a race in the rain, so I was kind of freaking out. But one of my friends reminded me that rain is better than heat, which calmed me down a bit.
I flew in on Thursday, but not early enough to get my race stuff, so I just chilled out at the hotel. Nice view, too.
On Friday, I met my bro Eddie for breakfast. He’s lived in Seattle, off and on, for the last 20 years or so, and picked a nice English crumpet shop in Pike Place Market. We did some catching up and, because this was his first marathon, we also talked about race prep and what to expect. I’m always really happy to see others join the marathon club, but even more so for him because when I was going through a midlife crisis a few years back, he was one of many who pointed me to TNT — and I’ve never looked back. It’s a great experience and a great organization! This was also his third type of endurance event (he’d already done triathlons and a century bike ride), so he would be getting a little recognition at the inspiration dinner as a “triple crown” participant.
After breakfast, we went our separate ways: he had some work to finish and I… didn’t 🙂 I went to the expo, hooked up with some TNT alumni who were in town for the race, and we went to lunch afterward.
In case you hadn’t noticed, these events seem to revolve around food. Run to eat; eat to run! But when I got back to my room, I made sure my bib worked with my hydration pack, then “dressed my chair” so I wouldn’t forget anything or get stressed out the morning of the race.
Later that evening, we had a really inspirational inspiration dinner. Our MC was an honoree from the Seattle chapter and our honoree speaker was also a local. He was a pretty good speaker, mixing in crowd participation with equal parts humor and tear-jerking anecdotes about his fight with leukemia.
We also got a nice surprise from Toyota (the race sponsor): new TNT hats! I was looking for a new hat at the expo, but they were all too dark and not very breathable. These are the same brand and color I like, so I was stoked!
During dinner, we learned that 4 out of the top 5 fundraisers came from our chapter. Go Team!
After dinner, we met for a pre-race meeting. Since most of us had bought monorail tickets to the starting area, we decided to meet at 5:30 a.m. in the hotel lobby for final instructions, pictures, etc. So, I set my alarm for 4:00 a.m. — and woke up at 3:30. Oh well, I got about 4 hours of good sleep. You can hardly see the bags under my eyes in the team photo.
The start area was kind of confusing. It was at the Seattle Center, which was built for the 1962 World’s Fair, and wraps around the iconic Space Needle. So, obviously, it’s selfie time!
Since there were no signs to guide you, we all kind of wandered around. Even people who’d done this event before were confused because everything had changed. It was no longer a loop: the finish was a few miles away at CenturyLink Field. So, amid the mild chaos, I had to take a porta-potty selfie to text to my run wife Paulie. Don’t ask why. We’re just weird that way. You’ll see proof of that a little later.
We found our corrals with enough time to goof around, so why not take another selfie?
And another!
Then I found my buddy Eddie and a selfie happened.
Then, he went to his corral and I found Paulie. More selfies happened.
Then, we started to move. There were something like 45,000 people running today, so it took about 45 minutes for us to cross the start line. It didn’t help that the race was delayed 15 minutes for some unknown reason. But this is what the weather looked like when we got close to the start line.
“OMG, is that rain????”
After the race started, I put the phone away, so there are no race pics from me. Fortunately (in more ways than one), my friend Bree drove up from Portland to support us. She got a few good ones of me, which means she must be some kind of wizard.
She must’ve ran about 20 of the 26.2 miles with various friends and former teammates. Along the way, she gave me a great tip. I told her I was looking for a rest stop and she told me that if I could hold it until the half-marathoners split off onto their route, I’d have a much shorter line. She was right! In fact, I didn’t have a line at all. Here’s me afterward (I think was afterward…all I know is I was smiling after that instant porta-potty stop) 🙂
As for the race, itself, I had a much better experience than Portland. At the Portland Marathon, you start out with nice scenery, then suffer through the industrial section before grinding up St. Helens Road. By that time, even the prettiest scenery isn’t enough to overcome your pain.
In Seattle, the only ugly part was the tunnels. And then you can’t really see anything, anyway.
We started out in the urban center, then headed south and ran along the water’s edge until we hit the first tunnel. It was weird. All of a sudden, it got dark, warm and humid. There were some weird camber changes, too. This wasn’t too bad at the start, but from Mile 18-24, when you’re on the floating bridge of I-90, those tunnels start to hurt. They add some elevation changes, too.
True to the Rock and Roll name, there were some cool bands on the route. I especially liked the ones I heard in and around Seward Park. This is a remote area with almost no spectators, so having some good music to keep you pumped up was really helpful.
Also, this was the area when my mind (and body) started to play tricks on me. I don’t put sports drink powder in my hydration pack because it’s not real easy to clean. So I rely on electrolyte capsules and GU packs to provide the calories and electrolytes I need during the race. And this season, I added something called SportLegs to the mix. So somewhere around Mile 10, I realized I hadn’t had anything in a while, so I ate two electrolyte capsules and two SportLegs capsules. They did not sit well in my stomach. But rather than think I had indigestion, my hypochondriac self thought I was having a heart attack or something.
It’s funny how quickly things went south. One moment I was chugging along, focusing on my breathing and my cadence. The next, I was wondering if I should pull out of the race and if I collapsed, how long it would take for race medics to find me?
Then, two things happened: I let out a small burp and I hit the displays at Mile 16. First, the LLS had set up about 50 placards by the side of the road with honoree’s pictures on them. Then, there was an even larger display by a veterans group called “Wear Blue: Run to Remember” that honors fallen soldiers and helps their families. It seemed like I ran past a half-mile of people wearing blue and waving huge American flags, plus pictures of soldiers who “gave all.” One of the people I run for was a Vietnam veteran who beat throat cancer, but succumbed to heart failure after going into remission. I choked up a little, then refocused on what I was there for: to finish this thing for people who can’t.
The rest of the miles are kind of a blur because: a) they happened mostly on that damned floating bridge and b) that’s just what happens at the end of a marathon. But I definitely remember feeling good throughout this race (besides the hypochondria part). At no point did I “hit the wall,” or even enter the “bite me” zone. My legs were tired, but that’s to be expected. And I didn’t feel any real pain until I sprinted (yes, 10:00 min./mile is sprinting for me) at the end.
I ran a lot at the end with Coach Meghan because I was the last person on our team and I think the second-to-last person with TNT out on the course, so she must’ve ran with me for a mile and a half. (Note: Until MarathonFoto gets its act together and lets me purchase these images, the watermarked versions will have to do. This is as big as they get, but you get the point.)
I also got a good run in with Coach Erin, who, for the second race in a row, was the first and last coach I saw. I told her the same thing when I saw her here as when I saw her first in Portland, “I’m okay now. Save your legs for later because I’m going to need you at the end of the race.” These two lovely lasses ran me in and if MarathonFoto’s photog had his shit together, you’d see some awesome pics of me surrounded by a couple of babes at the end of a marathon. But he decided on a closeup of me, which is never the right answer.
Another photographer saw us and at least captured the moment. But it’s not the same from farther away and from a different angle.
After I saw Erin, I could see the stadiums where the finish line was. I thought I only had a little ways to go, but the layout of the road fooled me. I ended up “sprinting” the last 1.25 miles!
That’s really the only reason my IT band hurt after the race. Other than that, I felt “fine.”
I staggered through the finish area, remembered to check out at the TNT tent and went looking for my finisher’s jacket. One of the cool things about this event is marathon finishers get a nice windbreaker. That’s when I saw Coach Tim. He helped me find the right line, which saved me probably about 20 minutes (the women’s line was long because they ran out of small sizes).
Then I turned around and went back to the TNT tent to collect my thoughts. This was a good thing because I couldn’t seem to collect anything else. Everywhere I went, I left something behind. If I sat down at a table to drink something, I’d leave my glasses there. When I got up to get my glasses, I’d leave my food where I’d been sitting. It felt like I was playing a one-man version of hide and seek.
Then I got a call from Eddie. Except he couldn’t hear me. I thought he butt-dialed me because all I could hear was crowd noise! But he called me back and we were actually standing about 50 feet apart. He beat me by 10 minutes — the bastard! — but he’s always been a better athlete than I, so that wasn’t too big a blow to my ego. Here I am, celebrating the triple crowner and newly minted marathoner!
And here I am taking a selfie with a well deserved beer at Sluggers across the street from the finish area! That’s where we ate as soon as we could figure out how to walk again.
Post-race stuff.
Since everyone had different finish times, we all ate at different times. So, it was hard to get the team together for dinner. But a few of us met in the hotel bar later in the evening (just in time for my second huge meal of the day) to swap race stories. I lasted until 10pm, then had to go to bed. It was a long, good day!
Fly-away day.
Met some folks for breakfast and ate my first oyster ever at Lowell’s at Pike Place Market. It was in a Bloody Mary 😉 Dang, that restaurant has a beautiful view of the sound!
Then we took a little walk around the area, but had to cut that short because we had to check out of the hotel.
At this point, I just want to say that Seattle’s public transportation is pretty awesome. I wish we had that kind of service in the Bay Area. Our light rail doesn’t even go to the airport…which is why I had to park in the $22/day lot…because the economy lot was full.
I knew I was on the same flight home as Paulie, but didn’t know that Christina was on that flight, too. That was a cool surprise. We had lunch together, found that our plane was rerouted to another gate together, and were figuring out how we were going to save a seat for Christina (who had a B boarding pass) when we got another surprise.
I saw Dennis, our old TNT team manager who now works for SWA! He was kind of pissed that we didn’t tell he we were coming BEFORE we got to Seattle, but still managed to sneak Christina on with the A group so we could all sit together. Sometimes it pays to have friends in high places 🙂
Made it home okay. The cats were okay (although Primo ignored me a lot last night). And today was okay. But I just realized that my Tuesdays are now free and that makes me a little sad.
Next up, I have to figure out if I can afford to do the NYC Marathon this fall!