The Wenatchee marathon is my home marathon. This year I decided to run the half instead of the full for various reasons. Leading to this race I had so much "life induced" stress that I had no idea what to expect. To top it all I found myself without a car for this weekend (too long of a story to go here), but anyway, even until 6pm last night I did not know if I would find a ride to the race o r not. Well, miracles due happen and one of my "other" sons volunteered to drive me there (see feeding the "other sons" can pay off). So this morning we were up at 4:00 to get ready to drive the 2 hours to the race. I picked my bib# and soon after that I was found by  rasmussenmp and his beautiful and sweet wife, runnerwife. We later found dievechief.

The sad part of this story is that there was a SRLopez sighting and I NEVER saw him 

Here is a picture of mike, divechief and myself (sorry that only half of runnerwife was captured, so I cropped it), but I know that mike took a nice picture of the girls.

The course of the marathon is just lovely, yes with up and down rolling hills that becomes more and more noticeable the more miles you run, but lovely scenery and terrain.

Even dough I have ran 16 marathons, this was only my third HM (the way I look at it is why not spend a few extra dollars and run twice as much for my money ) I ran this marathon as my first long distance race back in 2006. My time then was 2:19 minutes. So today I new that no matter what do, I would get a HM PR.

My goals today: 

One: run a 1:55, which was shooting for the moon.

Two: finish at 2:00, which was still aiming for the sky,

Three: 2:05, believing that miracles do happen. This would be a nice finish time.

Four: 2:07 finish and then cry as I told runnerwife.

But most importantly, HAVE FUN and PUSH myself (after all that was my prescription for the day )

Well, I won't bore you with the details I finished the race knowing that I gave my all and a little bit more (splits are on my log here. Mile 11 was brutal, a series of short up hills followed by going up to the bridge). But the North Cascades were so showy today that even with the pain I was still smiling having fun.

Finish time: 1:59. A 20 minute PR from my last HM (not sure if that is relevant since I have been running a lot more since my first race).

5th out of 23 in my AG. No bad for my wings. I think the ten pounds I lost since January has helped with this result.

As  you can see, this was not a flat course at all.

The funnest part was seeing my West side friends enjoying our Eastern WA sunshine! I am so spoiled where I live. I got sunshine, I got snow, I got mountains!  I got trails. How can I ask for anything more.

After I finished I waited for Dievechief to finish and I snap this picture of him.

Now it is up to dievechief and russmussenmp to finish the story.

Mariposai

PS: oh twocat, sorry to disappoint you...I did NOT win the race. , but I tried...I promise.

. 

Well, not much to tell in my marathon story (RR).  A race that turned out not to be a race.  My goal lwas to o sub 3:20 and possibly PR with a beyond the star goal of 3:15.  I won't go into the before the race stuff as Nancy covered it.  MY run started 15 minutes after the 1/2 marathon start, so I got to see Ms Butterfly, Mr Diver and Ms Runnerwife off down the road.  My first ten miles went by well, I was working a little harder then I was hopeing to but was averaging 7:30 per mile.  Then I scuffed my right foot on a small raised piece of asphalt.  A few steps later my right calf started to get sore.  I tried slowing down, speeding up, decreasing my stride length and increasing the stride length and stretching, all to no avail.  I stepped off the course at mile 15 (1:53:10), walking the mile and a half back to the start.  My first DNF in 48 marathon starts, though it was the correct choice.  Calf is a little tight this evening but will be ok.

I did see SR on the out and back section early in the run.

Best part of the day was our lunch afterward.  Catching up with friends.  Seeing those wings dancing on the table was a sight to behold.

MIke E and Spare - jury is still out on the Hanson's training plan. 

Sus has "no comment".  Although she did have an ok run (2:20).  Not what she had hoped for.  Her first 7 miles went well then she had some tummy issues. 

Oh, man, Mike--really sorry to hear about your race.  I was so close to doing the same thing in my last one, too.  I'm sure your knee hurt, but it's that mental part where you know that you're not going to get your goal--that's what get's me.  Anyway--like Tramps said--you have another one in a month.  We'll hear how the Hanson Plan works after that one.

First congratulations to Mariposai, divechief, and rasmussenmp for lining up at the start!

Mariposai great race and setting a new PR is always a nice bonus!

divechief you have no idea how much I wish I was out there running a HM in nice weather!  Plus you got to meet some of the RAs right before and after the race and that must have been fun too.

rasmussenmp you are 100% right the DNF is better than CNR (can not run) for the next few months.  Good call.  I hope your leg is back to its old self in the next couple of days.

Thanks for the sunny photos of your half-mari Mari and a big PR.

You’ll never forget such a powerful run.

Even if the times might get even faster in future halves,

I bet this’ll aways be the best. <<<(Divechief and MikeMp)>>> too.

I never could figure out running a half-mary’s instead of marathons either

but the sunny phictures and happy faces could change my mind too.

I bet not wanting to miss the fun helped MikeMP change his mind too.

.

However, please give diveschief some of your make-up next time. .

Are you still engineering on the Wenatchee?

What's the legislature doing?

.

ps - francesca: I’ve got the same plans for the Seattle R’n’R.

In fact, I’m hoping to some training with a divechief lunch on Wednesday.

.

pps - which Port Gamble did you do, . . . or all three?

[Port Gamble will host a 100 M, 100 K, and 50 M run]

What are the Congress Critters doing?  who knows.  Probably find out soon.

of course for the critters, long term planning means 2 years.

Still on the WSF Wenatchee?  Yep, we will soon see for how much longer.   Conoco tankers are hiring,  Alaska state ferries is hiring,  I have to take a one week class for Haz Mat to work for Marsk.  Many other options while I see if Washington State Ferries decides to continue the downward spiral.

but, Lunch on Wednesday?  I had Tuesday on my Calendar.  Wednesday will not work for me.

.

However, please give diveschief some of your make-up next time. .

Are you still engineering on the Wenatchee?

What's the legislature doing?

.

 

ps - francesca: I’ve got the same plans for the Seattle R’n’R.

In fact, I’m hoping to some training with a divechief lunch on Wednesday.

dave -

thanks for Tuesday clarification.

Hope francesca can come down then too.

We could take her to Sushikyou right up the street.

Before her running days, Furanchesuka used to live in Tokyo.

.
ps - who's Ted, What's an inner warrior?

 I think I should be able to make it on Tue. email me the details Jon, please.

And since Tet asked, and it should be said,  Ted that was on all the Wenatchee marathon bibs was as I understand, the race co-founder and race director for many yearsl  He died of cancer a few months ago.  Hopefully the race will go on in his honer for MANY years.

Dave