I'll be there man.

I'm number 1073.  Come say hi.

So how about some race reports?

(I just discovered this place after the Runners World forums fell apart. I would love to hear more about Seattle area events.)

Howdy everyone!  First post on RA.

I'm still pretty stoked about Seattle yesterday.  My 9th marathon overall, but the first time I've felt like I nailed everything just right.  Went into the race after a solid 4 months of training for this race with no injuries.  I didn't get sick the week before (don't you hate that!).  And finally seem to have gotten the right combination of pre and during fueling figured out.  Thankfully the weather cooperated too, and gave us nearly ideal conditions yesterday.  My only gripe would have been it was a bit windy running back Northbound on Lake Washington Blvd.  But really not that bad.

This is my first time running Seattle even though I've lived near Seattle my entire life.  The Galer / Madison hill had me a bit spooked.  I'm OK with hills generally, and don't shy away from races or training runs with hills, but at mile 20 of a marathon?  Please, that just seemed like a recipe for disaster!  With that in mind, and the generally hilly nature of the last 6 miles, my plan was to purposefully hold back a bit the first half and save some energy for the hills, yet still expected to "bank" some time the first 20 miles.  My goal was 2:45, and I wanted to run a 1:22 / 1:23 split.

First Mile - Spent much of it running behind the top 3 placing women.  I have a tendency to run a crazy fast first mile in marathons (like 10K pace fast).  I just get all caught up in the excitement.  It felt soooo slow, but was just what I wanted at around 6:30 pace.  Figured it wasn't a bad spot to run as I got warmed up.  After about 3/4 miles I peeled off, and started to speed up.

First Half - Concentrated on being smooth and comfortable.  Early on, didn't have any luck finding someone to run with for long.  After the initial shake out at the start, I was only passed by 1 other runner (more on that later), so it was generally just a slow creep up to the next runner, and then onwards again by myself.  The first few miles were around 6:20, and then brought it down and ran most of the flat miles around 6:10.  Around mile 11, I did finally  find someone to run with.  After a bit I asked what his goal was, which was a bit faster than mine, but he was running the pace I wanted.  Not much else was said, but we ran generally side by side until mile 18.  It's always nice to have someone else running the same pace to make sure you don't loose focus and let the pace wander too much.  Our half split was 1:22:10.  It was a bit slower than I thought I was at, but pretty much dead on where I wanted to be.

Half to 20 miles - I certainly felt the wind running up Lake Washington Blvd, but it didn't seem to affect our pace at all.  I tried a few times tucking in behind my pace pal, but it didn't seem to do any good.  I was a fair bit taller than him, so maybe it did help, but I still felt the wind on my face?  At any rate, I don't really like running right behind someone, so I just fell back in stride beside him.  The miles ticked by, and everything was feeling good.  Every 5-10 minutes we would slowly catch up to another runner and pass them by as we ran like freaking metronomes!  Unfortunately around mile 18 the other guy suddenly b-lined to the side of the road, saying he had to use the porta potty.  I didn't ever see him afterward, but checking the results I see he ran a 1:30 second half, so he never really got going again.  I was on my own from there to the finish.  Between mile 19 and 20, I heard footsteps coming up from behind.  A few seconds later a younger guy literally blows past me.  I though "oh no", this is me starting to fade and fall apart.  I still felt OK, so valiantly tried to pick it up and keep pace.  After a 1/4 mile maybe, I could start to feel a side stitch coming on (the last thing I wanted going into the hill), and looked down at my Garmin to check pace.  5:55!?!  OK, I wasn't slowing down, this guy was just running crazy fast.  I backed off, let him go, and  tried to get ready for the hill.  (as a side note, this turned out to be an 18 y.o. high school student, who ran a 1:23:40 / 1:17:24 split.  That is unbelievably impressive)

"The Hill" - Yea, OK, Galer is crazy steep, but really short.  Thankfully I felt no pressure pace wise, so I just kicked into low gear and chugged up it.  Turned on to Madison and tried to pick it up a bit, and even it levels off after a few hundred yards.  I forgot to hit the lap button at 21, so I don't have my split for that mile, but I believe it was still sub 7 over all.  It hurt, but wasn't as bad as I feared.

Miles 21 - 25.  Now I start to get a bit fuzzy.  I picked it up again nicely coming down through the Arboretum, but then you turn off into Interlaken park, and back up another hill.  Conceptually, I know it was up and down through the park, but I only seemed to notice the up.  My pace didn't suffer too badly, but most of my splits were now around 6:25.  Around 23 - 24 I could feel my hamstrings start to cramp up.  Thankfully I could just ease up ever so slightly and the cramping would subside.  Even though I was suffering, I was now passing other marathoners every half mile or so which always provides a nice boost.  Tons of half marathon walkers too, but that was more of an obstacle weaving through them.

25 to finish.  That down hill at 25 (I think) was awful!  I so wanted to simply blast down it, but in reality I had to sort of hobble down and simply survive it.  After that though, I was able to pick it back up.  I knew my goal was at hand, and just needed to focus a bit longer.  I came around the last corner onto Mercer street, and there was one last marathoner to try to pass, still about 20 yards ahead.  I've NEVER been able to react this way at the end of a marathon before, but was able to actually kick and caught him as we rounded the corner onto 4th, into the stadium.  As I passed him, the other runner immediately picked it up, and went back ahead.  A moment later I reacted and passed him again as we went onto the field.  I thought I had it!  But then as we are mere 10 yards from the finish I hear the groaning from behind as he pulls back ahead of me.  I gave all I had, to try to match pace as we crossed the finish.  The official results have us tied, but sadly I believe the photo finish will show he had me.  Either way, it was the most exhilarating finish I've ever been in!

Official results were 1:22:10 / 1:23:19 split, 2:45:28 official time (SMA needs to check the math there).  I was 2nd masters (behind Uli who won the race), and 14th overall.

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Primer - There wasn't a whole lot left when I finished either.  I did however snag a cup of hot chicken noodle soup, and some hot chocolate which were nice.  Otherwise, I only saw bagels and bananas too.

Thank!

Jason

A 2012 Seattle Marathon Race Report

Fitness context: Although I've run pretty consistently for the past 3 - 4 years or so, this was my first marathon try. I adhered pretty rigorously to the Higdon Advanced I training plan, with my goal being a BQ.

First Half: 

As a novice, I run pretty inconsistent mile splits, so my plan at the start was to just stick with the 3:05 pace group to see if and for how long I could hang. Everyone I talked to pre-race made the point that the course is a tough one to negative split, so I was gearing up for a speedy first half -- which didn't turn out to be the case.

Indeed, for the better part of 12 miles, the 3:05 group ran at a pretty leisurely pace. But because I was caught up in the pomp and circumstance of a big event, I didn't pay much attention to the passage of time, focusing instead on my running form and on not throwing gatorade all over my face. I assumed -- blindly -- that the pacer was running at the intended speed.

While this made for a scenic and pleasant experience on the one hand, it caused some panic when the pacer told the group that we were a full minute behind schedule with about 3/4 of a mile to the halfway point. Right then, 50% of the pack broke out ahead, at which point my race began in earnest when I decided to follow them.

Second Half:Right around mile 15, the new 3:05 pacer caught up to the group I was running with, and he was seriously trucking. Anticipating the hills, our new strategy was to bank about 15 seconds per mile so that Galer and Interlaken wouldn't wipe us out. And this, for me, was by far the worst part of the race. There was a pretty strong headwind coming out of Seward Park, and even though we were running peloton-style, people were dropping from the group at a good clip. I really struggled to keep pace on the pavement flats because my feet and calves were starting to kill. I updated my goals accordingly: stay with the pace group until the beginning of the hills, come what may after that.

When we got to E Galer, I was barely hanging on and expecting to bonk. In unexpected contrast, however, the hills were a strange relief in a way. The pacer slowed down on the incline, and my calves and feet soles were granted a respite. The hills sucked, of course, but the fact that I was enduring a different sort of pain calmed me down. I was able to get back in the thick of the group, which was where I found myself at the end of the hill section.

The last little bit of the race was painful physically, but it was pretty clear that the worst was over and that a BQ was well within reach. My mental state alone and the little surges of adrenaline attendant to passing someone near the end of the race (which I realize is a little unflattering), propelled me to the finish. I BQ'd with over a minute to spare.

That said, I could barely walk up the ramp to the aid station, where the pickings were slim. Overall, though, I'm really happy with my performance and the entire event.

The pacer's stated goal was to run a slightly positive split -- somewhere in the 1:31:30 range for the first half. Even though I ran out ahead late, I finished in something like 1:33, so I imagine the pacer was at least 30 seconds behind me. I saw him after the race, and he was fairly apologetic about the whole thing, but I didn't press for details as to what happened.

Still, I think staying with the pace group for most of the first half was a net benefit. If I had broken away earlier (like many people did whom we later passed) my running would have been far less efficient, and having a pack to keep up with gave me a great motivational edge: the running seemed like substantially less work when I was in the group.

And congrats on that time, Kenobi. 2:45 is no joke -- unlike those stadium stairs, which, you're right, are a cruel, cruel joke.

Wow, I skip out for a couple days and this thread blew up.

I had a pretty good race.  For some reason my feet were feeling really heavy way to early in the race.  I went out with the aim of getting in <3, but my last Seattle was 3:08, so I would've been happy beating that.

The 3:05 pacer caught up to me at about mile 23-24.  He only had one guy with him, was that you screamies?  I mostly kept up, but had gone out a bit harder than I wanted to, and ended up coming in at 3:04. . .

Seattle is tough, and miles 20-23 were particularly so.  I have fun (even though I didn't PR), and met a couple nice runners to boot. It usually takes me a few days to get collected enough to write up a report.

No, that wasn't me.  It was only my 2nd Seattle Marathon, and I got pretty quiet after the start.