Here is my race report for the Seattle Marathon. It was written for family and friends and that's
why I have explained some of the terms that I'm sure most of the readers here will already
understand.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------
This past Sunday I attempted the Seattle marathon. This was my first marathon and in fact my first
ever running race. My goal was to run the 26.2 miles in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Here in slightly
censored format is my long and self indulgent race report.
Here is the course map seattlemarathon.orgcoursemap03.jpgOpen ↗
Prologue: My alarm wakes my up at 6:30, I do what I do every morning and shut it off and go back to
sleep until 7:30. At 7:30 I get up, eat a banana and a dried fruit bar and slug back a glass of
water. I have a nice hot shower to warm up the muscles. I get out of the shower feeling energized
and ready to go. I am staying with my friend John Franke (pron. Franky) who conveniently lives 2
blocks from the start of the race near the base of the Space Needle. Franke walks me down there and
I run around looking for safety pins to attach my race number with. None to be found, but a
volunteer tells me to shove it in my pocket since the chip that I am wearing around my ankle will
take care of the official scoring.
Mile 1: After standing around for a while, the race starts at 8:15. I start mid packish in the crowd
of 2325. It takes a full minute just to cross the start line. The first mile is relatively easy
through downtown Seattle. It's hard to pass anyone at this point anyway. I get stuck behind a couple
of chubby loud mouths who think it's funny to yell "Are we there yet ?" and "How much further" every
5-10 seconds. I am wearing my heart rate monitor. Bad decision. For some reason it is reading 173
which is insanely high. I get a little freaked out but then I decide to ignore it. Additonaly the
chest strap keeps slipping off and falling down to my waist. This *never* happens. I keep hiking it
back up and it keeps falling back down. Finally I decide to let it fall to my waist and ... ignore
it. I'm also having problems with my gel flask that I bought the day before. The gel flask holds
this chocolate flavored energy spooge and comes with a little holster that holds the flask and clips
onto my shorts. It is bouncing around like crazy and bugging the [censored] out of me. Then it falls off.
I turn around and pick it up. I will have to hold it in my hand the rest of the race.
Mile 2: At the first mile marker, I check my watch and my pace band (piece of paper I wear on my
wrist that has all the times I need to make for each mile to finish in 3:45). I'm already 1 minute
off pace. I'm ok with this since I wanted to start slow anyway. I am treating the first 4 miles as
a warm up.
Mile 3: The first water station. Nobody is stopping for water. Figuring that there will be a big
line up at the next station I decide to stop for a swig. We pass Safeco field and head up the I-90
ramp. This is a slight incline and all I can see ahead of me is runners. I look back, same thing.
Mile 4-5: Not much to report here, except that I am a minute and a half off pace and decide that now
is the time to start catching up. I skip the water station and the bathrooms and pass a lot of
people. I can feel a blister starting to form on my right foot. I decide to ignore it.
Mile 6: We hit the I-90 bridge heading out to Mercer Island. I begin to feel some chafing in my
nether regions. This *never* happens and I don't understand why it is happening now especially only
6 miles into the race. I decide to ignore it. The leaders are coming back towards me the other way.
The pack of 3 looks like 1 contender and 2 pretenders. We cheer them on.
Mile 7-8: I'm really hitting stride now as we head back the way we came along the I-90 bridge. I
feel like a million dollars (CAN). I see the portly wannabe comedians and they are struggling,
already about 2 miles behind me. I resist the urge to yell "How much farther ?".
Flashback to 6:30 Saturday evening eating dinner. Frankes girlfriend Secil has made me a special
order pasta and chicken breast dinner. Franke: Eat some more pasta, you gotta run tomorrow.
Me: I don't wanna eat too much because then I'll have to Deuce. Franke: What's a Deuce ?
Mf: Number 2.
Mile 9: The Deuce is on. I pass a row of Honey Buckets (porta toilets). There is a loooong line up
and I'm not big on Honey Buckets so I decide to hold my cards as we head south on Lake Washington
boulevard.
Mile 10-11: Still feeling pretty good I have taken to counting steps 1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2-1 ...... There
is a rolling roadblock of people particicpating in the half marthon walk. They are 3 wide on the
road (and these ladies were w-i-d-e). This [censored] me off. Serenity now !! The male leader is heading
back towards us now, it is not one of the 3 from before. This time he cheers us on. I am impressed
and I hope he wins the race (I think he did).
Mile 12: Heading into Seward park, I check my split. I am now one minute ahead of pace. I think I
have time to play the Deuce. Everything works out pretty well as we run right by a public bathroom
in the park, no honey bucket for me !! There is only one person in front of me in the toilet line
up. I play the Deuce and throw down an Ace as well.
Mile 13: Wow, does that feel better. I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my kidneys.
Somehow I lost 5 minutes in the bathroom, but I'm back now and feeling like 2 million dollars (USD).
Mile 13.1 I do a little jig in my head as I cross the halfway marker. I have to make up 3 1/2
minutes in the second half to hit my goal.
Mile 14-17 I am now heading north back up Lake Washington Boulevard. There is a breezy head wind
that is making my fingers very cold. I am wearing shorts and a polypro shirt, which is fine, just my
fingers are cold. It's about 8 degrees Celsius out (45F for you yanks). The cooler temperature has
made it practically impossible to get anything out of my gel flask so I haven't really had any
source of energy since before the race. Either something is going wrong with my brain or all the
mile markers are messed up because I keep missing them. I think a bit of both. I get very confused
and I think I have lost 5 minutes and then that I have gained 5 minutes. I decide to ignore it and
keep running. I am passing a lot of people.
Mile 18-20 Somewhere along the way I became lackadaisical, forgot I was running in a race, and
actually slowed down for a few minutes. A woman in her mid 40s passes me and is running strong. This
is the first time I have been passed since my bathroom break, and she inspires me and breaks me out
of my slumber. I sit on her tail for the next little while. We run past some spectators cranking
Billy Joel from a ghetto blaster and this gets me pumped (Billy Joel ? who woulda thunk it). I run
right beside her for a few hundred meters with Billy pumping through my veins, but she seems to be
slowing. I offer words of encouragement and tell her that she is pacing me. This is the only time I
actually interacted with any of the other runners, I think I'm a bit of a snob. She looks tired so I
continue on without her up the first of many hills to come. We head into a wooded area on an old
windy road that is very green and scenic. People that started too fast are dropping like flies.
Mile 21: I pass the 20th mile marker, and start up the 21st mile. Alledgedly this is when "The Wall"
is supposed to hit. The genius who designed the course has decided to put the biggest hill right
here. It is very steep. I attack it hard. It feels great to pass people on this hill. It is a guilty
pleasure as I know some of them are not feeling good at all. However some cheer me on as I work my
way up. I'm having a lot of trouble reading both my pace band and my watch, but I think I'm only
about 45 seconds off pace.
Mile 22: The same hill continues up East Madison although it is not as steep now. The numbness that
I had earler attributed to coldness has now spread to include my whole hand. Then it moves up to my
elbows, then shoulders and eventually to my head. I feel halucinogenic, like I'm in a David Lynch
movie. I expect little backwards speaking midgets to jump out of the bushes at any moment with their
pet llamas in tow. I am a little worried and think I may have hit the wall, but I decide to keep up
the pace and if I fall over I fall over. I am also worried because I haven't been able to get much
sustenance during the race. I am weary of the gatorade because I have never trained with it and my
energy spooge is not working because of the stupid flask. I hit the top of the hill and the downhill
starts, but it is steep and hurts more than the uphill. Thankfully the wierd numbness subsides and
is now just in my hands and forearms, what a relief.
Mile 23-24 We head through the Arboretum (fancy word for tree park). Starting to feel good again as
it is a more gradual downhill and I figure I'm on the home stretch.
Mile 25 I pass my old place from when I lived in Seattle 2 years ago. I had told myself earlier that
this was the spot were I would start givin 'er. I change my mind.
Mile 26 The Space Needle is in sight, I head into downtown still passing people. My running style is
becoming very labored. I can't hold good form, but I can still hold pace.
Mile .2 I check my watch and I have about 3 minutes to finish the last little stretch. I am ahead
of pace now and am positive I will get my goal on chip time (the time from when you cross
the start line to when you cross the finish line). This is all that really matters to me but
I wouldn't mind getting my goal on photo time too (the time from when the starting gun goes
off and guarantees a nice picture of you crossing the finish line under your time). I come
into the stadium and I can see the clock ticking away 3:44:50, 3:44:51, .... I hit the
grass, it is soft and spongy and I am runnning as fast as I can .... to the 50 yard line ...
3:44:57 ... the 40, the 30 ... 3:45:00 ... the 20, the 10, TOUCHDOWN. I just miss it and
finish at 3:45:06.
Epilogue In the recovery area I can barely walk. Man servant Franke gets me food and water. He tells
me to look at my foot. The whole right side of my shoe is bloody as it has leaked out of the
blister. I feel tough. I head back to Frankes place where I do what all the top athletes do after a
big race; eat greasy chicken and drink whiskey.
I am very happy with my time, which was 3:44:12. I did the first half in 1:55:06 and the second half
in 1:49:06. I finished 402/1272 for males, 77/228 for my age group (M30-34) and 494/2325 overall.
Next stop Vancouver Marathon in May with a goal of 3:25.
Lessons I learned
1. Ignore it, it will go away.
2. Don't do anything different from training on race day. I already knew this, but I did make a
couple of minor exceptions and it did affect me. I made the mistake of taking a gel flask which I
had never used and having a shower in the morning which I believe caused my chafing.
3. Billy Joel rocks
4. Don't eat so much pasta the night before a race.
5. Don't wear your HR monitor during a race. I was told this by some members of the newsgroup but
sometimes I just gotta learn the hard way.
Thanks for reading.
Daryl