Time for some reminiscing about the Seattle marathon. This one was definitely the least dramatic marathon I ran so far. No epic battles with the heat, no major breakdowns, no mental battles, though there is no such thing as an easy last 10 k in a marathon. Given the fact that my previous marathon was only seven weeks ago and that in between I had done little more than keeping in shape, I am quite happy with my time of 3.43. I also had not trained on hills and the Seattle marathon has quite a few of them.
These were my splits
1 8:09
2 7:54
3 8:12
4 8:02
5 7:49
6 8:12
7 7:59
8 8:14
9 8:28
10 7:46
11 8:04
12: 8:05
13 8:02
14: 8:12
15 8:05
16 8:26
17 8:19
18 8:42
19 8:47
20 9:26
21 9:47
22 9:31
23 9:28
24 9:08
25 9:10
26 9:21
So up until mile 17, everything was fine and dandy. The first 8 miles we ran through downtown Seattle for about two miles, then up the highway on a bridge. This bridge/highway run is touted as being something unique, but I did not care for it all that much. It had some hilly parts on it, it was running on hard concrete which is hard on the knees and joints, we were pretty exposed to the cold out there and it frankly also was boring as all heck. I also had to pee and had to wait until mile eight until I found a porta potty with no line. When we came off the highway the course took us on a path along the water, about four miles down and four miles up again. Great running, but very small crowds. The first eight miles on the bridge I felt a bit weak in the legs, but I hit my stride in mile eight to sixteen. Then the terrain got a bit hilly and even before the first real hill I started to suffer; somewhere around mile 18-19. Pain in my side, I did not know where it came from. I think it was the combination of having eaten an energy gel without enough water and the change to a hillier terrain that threw my body off. I panicked for a second, but I guess this was an instance were I benefited from having some experience. I told myself to slow down, have an extra water at the next stop and not to worry too much as runners were flying by me. And it worked more or less. I was able to run it off and belch it out. (It was kind of stupid on my part. I had my own gels with me of my trusted brand, yet I could not resist to take a free energy gel from an unfamiliar brand handed to me. I cannot say no to a freebie.) By then however, the fun had started. Some steep hills and descents turning in to a more rolling terrain would mark the last 10k. I took it easy, careful not to blow my engine. By then I had seen that I could beat my time from last year (3.44.37) if I was able to run the last 10 K in slightly under an hour. Not impossible, but the hills made it hard. In a way, it made it interesting because it gave me something to push for, but it was also hard in a way, there was no relaxing. At mile 23 I noticed that it was going to be very close if I kept putting in those 9.30 plus minute miles as I had been doing and I was able to speed up my pace a bit in the last three miles to secure a PR. Granted, the terrain got a bit flatter towards the end (with one last nasty hill right before the 26 mile marker), but I was
still glad I was able to step it up and take some extra seconds in the last three miles.
So that was that. The Seattle marathon delivered what it hoped it would, a cool marathon where I would be able to have a more enjoyable run then seven weeks ago. And a PR as bonus. I was also happy with the way I went about the race, perhaps I started out a bit fast, but otherwise I felt like I was running more composed and smarter than in my other races, and I don't think that I could have ran a faster race than I did. No hitting the wall, or having dark thoughts about quitting or never do this again. This was also the first race that I did not walk one bit, so this was really my first marathon "run." Truth be told though, after the race, my legs hurt like they had never hurt before. The walk back to the hotel was definitely the hardest part of the day.
Looking back, I had hope to make more of jump forwards than 90 secs this year compared to last year, after all the extra training in the summer without any big injuries, but sometimes some extra experience under the belt is not a bad thing either.
Posted by vana0047 at November 28, 2007 12:50 AM