Seattle Half Marathon, a race report. (Read 598 times)

The Seattle HM took place Sunday 11/26. This was my first HM event. I trained about 14 weeks, with one 5k on 10/26. I felt great heading into this race. I was happy with my training, no injuries bothering me and I thought I tapered well. My day started at 4.30 am. The weather: rain, some blustery winds and snow with a temperature right around 32. I like running in the rain - but snow?! And freezing cold?! The weather combo was unsightly. Suddenly I was questioning all my clothing choices and combinations because of the weird conditions. Got clothes worked out eventually. Then I was thinking about my neighbor's recent comment that he would never run another Seattle Marathon event again because of the horrible hills + horrible weather (associated with the late November start). DW dropped me off near start then went home to pick up the other support crew: 2.5 yo DD and DGrandma. Runners lined up in front of The Experience Music Project at 7.15am. Pace groups were at the very front of the throng and I had no chance to get near them. Not a big deal since I hadn't planned to run with a pace group anyway. It was still pretty dark out as the start of the race coincided with sunrise - precisely 7.30am. mile 1 - 8.43 Navigating through other runners and the concrete monorail pylons. Shoes soaked through within the first couple of minutes due to standing water on the streets. mile 2 - 7.40 Nice subtle downhill to the I-5 entry ramp. mile 3 - 8.13 Take the I-5 exit to a highway to the I-90 tunnel. This is a kind of surreal experience running on a highway that I have only ever driven at 65+ mph. Running through the tunnel provided a break from the weather and I liked hearing all the runners footsteps. I thought I was going out a little fast when I heard the times called out at the 3-mile mark. mile 4 - 8.10 We exited the highway and headed north along Lake Washington Blvd. I knew we'd be running parallel to the lake for the next few miles. mile 5 - 8.40 This stretch has some slight uphill that influenced my pace. Missed the GU station which really threw me off. I had an extra Gel with me though ... but I thought I would use it at the next water station. mile 6 - 9.03 More uphill grade slowing my pace a bit. Beginning to get worried about the missed GU and my stride unravelling. Missed seeing my family support crew by a few minutes here. mile 7 - 9.18 Used my gel but I was beginning to feel like I missed a window of opportunity to energize before the upcoming hills begin. mile 8 - 9.45 This hill tore me up. I am familiar with the hills on this course and I have been training on hills so I didn't think I would have an issue keeping form and running right through the hill on Madison. Wrong. I felt like I slowed to a crawl and this is when a bunch of runners breezed by me. It's like they were on bicycles! mile 9 - 9.35 Pleasant downhill through the arboretum. I was dreading a twisting uphill section coming up. mile 10 - 9.10 Felt pretty good here and enjoyed portions of this winding uphill. mile 11 - 13.01 Hit a wall here - can you tell with that split? I was feeling WET, very cold and low on energy. Cars driving along I-5 were sending a thick wall of water down on runners from an overhead embankment. Actually more like saturating runners. I felt like I was in some sort of Indiana Jones movie trying to dodge ice-cold waterfalls. My muscles were feeling stiff and chilly. mile 12 - xx.xx Footpod malfunction - uh oh. This threw me off a bit when my footpod and watch stopped communicating to each other. I was now thinking about the end and how good it will feel to eat a slice of apple pie. Or be out of the rain and elements. mile 13 - xx.xx Stadium finish. Time: 1:55:10. I finished about 1318/6003 overall, and 115/323 in my age group (40-44). Split 1 @ 6.2m: 52.16. Split 2 @ 6.9m: 1.04.03 Next HM? I want it less cold, less wet and slightly less hilly!

Next HM? I want it less cold, less wet and slightly less hilly!

Come do the Grand Rapids half next Oct. Seriously. We had some wind towards the end, but it was sunny and perfect temps. I'm amazed at your performance given those conditions. Brrr..... It's one thing to do 5 miles in stuff like that (which will be what a lot of my runs in the next 3-4 months will be like), but a HM race...wow! I hope you had plentiful hot cocoa and popcorn after that! k

wowee! I'm spoiled with my running weather - I can do colder temps and wind to a point...havent run in the rain yet and I'm not sure I'd be very pleased about it at all. WEll done on the race

Great report and congratulations, Jeff! Those were some brutal conditions to run in. Ya done good.

Grand Rapids? There are some flat running conditions in Ohio too (used to live there) ... maybe the midwest is the place to run a FLAT, DRY Half Marathon! Foodwise? For brunch I chowed down on crabcakes & huevos rancheros. Sounds like a gross combo - but what can I say, I was having cravings.

Come do the Grand Rapids half next Oct. Seriously. We had some wind towards the end, but it was sunny and perfect temps. I hope you had plentiful hot cocoa and popcorn after that!