Seattle Marathon 2017 (7:15:34)

Eighteenth SM since 1990 when I've been in town

Selected finish times

^{. . . . age 47 (1990) - 3:55:21
. . . . age 57 (2000) - 4:05:08
. . . . age 68 (2011) - 5:28:18
. . . . age 72 (2015) - 6:07:06
. . . . age 74 (2017) - 7:15:34}

Early walkathon start with other aging marathon friends

who've also been reduced to mostly walking over the years.

^{. . . . Mega-Larry (73): . . . . . . . no. 1,999 since 1996 (52,373.8 mi)
. . . . Magnificent Monte (55) . . no. 555 since 2005 (14,541 mi)
. . . . Road-Kill Rick (73). . . . . . no. 496 since 1978 (12,995.2 mi)
. . . . Marvelous Mel (85). . . . . .no. 482 since 1983 (12,628.4 mi)}

Though I've run most marathons barefoot since 1990, walking involves lots of heel-striking that's pretty painful without any cushion so I broke down this time and wore a pair of 3.6oz Crocs I previously tested out in the Waddle-Waddle Marathon on Thanksgiving Day 2012.

^{. . . . Mega-Larry (73): . . . . . . . 6:28:13
. . . . Magnificent Monte (55) . . 6:29:13
. . . . Black Croc jon (74) . . . . .7:15:34
. . . . Road-Kill Rick (73). . . . . .7:21:29
. . . . Marvelous Mel (85). . . . . .8:41:49}

Lots of time to recall the glory days, that's for sure,

especially with Road Kill Rick and our combined

81 years of annual marathons.

Typical Seattle weather - drizzle to start / sunny for the middle miles /

downpouring after that. at the end. Fortunately, temps warm into the fifties.

Unfortunately, some medical cautions that have, fortunately, all been taken care of, have limited this year's mileages to a half marathon in March and the SM 26.2 so worst ever year of trying to break 800 miles for the first time since 2008.  Maybe a tenth anniversary try in 2018.  We'll see.

40th annual marathon anniversary year: 1977-2017

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Add 2017 to my single marathon years of 1977, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 when my 33 marathons in 20 years qualified me for Mega-Marathoner Bob Dolphin's Marathon Overachiever Club (for runners with 30-or-more marathons).  However, as a fitness-and-fun runner taking advantage of official marathons to see if I'm capable of running <<<(ed note: and-now-walking)>>> 26.2 miles without much, if any, cheating by running training.

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Unfortunately, with this year's "training" included only walking the Mercer Island (WA) half marathon in March and walk-a-muting five miles one or two times a week through October when a certain laparoscopic inguinal "procedure" put me in pure taper mode until marathon day (11/26/17), I'm again far short of an 800 mile year.

ps - now that I've been reduced to walking mode that features heel-striking instead of the more comfortable mid/fore-foot touches of running barefoot, I wore a pair of garden Croc clogs to cushion the heel-strikes.  It worked.

Posacita -
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I don’t do enough running to have a running log
so much appreciate the option of your weekly RR thread.

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On a personal note, I hope you have a chance while back down home to replicate your initial Paraguay Maraton with the same 42.2K you did last time, maybe over your same initial course with bepuzzled but supportive friends and family wondering about a gal they know running marathons but nevertheless cheering you on or joining you along the way. Good luck.
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2017: Eighteenth Seattle Marathon since 1990

Third on a new or much revised course.

Selected finish times

^{. . . . age 47 (1990) - 3:55:21
. . . . age 57 (2000) - 4:05:08
. . . . age 68 (2011) - 5:28:18
. . . . age 72 (2015) - 6:07:06
. . . . age 74 (2017) - 7:15:34}

STORMY FIRST SEATTLE MARATHON - 1990 (3:55:21)
After starting running one-or-two marathons a year in 1977 as circumstances permitted, by November 1990, I’d already run the Goodwill Games Marathon in Seattle in July and the Portland Marathon in October for a record three in one year so didn’t need to run another one to see if being in shape from winter skiing still sufficed to be able to run an annual 26.2 miles without much, if any, running training.  
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However, in November 1990, with winds and rain so fierce that one of the I-90 floating bridges undergoing repairs sank into Lake Washington, Seattle was experiencing what would turn out to be one of the city's three most historic storms.  Since been in the first two in 1994 (Inaugural Day Storm) and 1962 (Columbus Day Storm). I wasn't about to pass up a chance to run a marathon in one too.
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Further, I also figured most Seattle runners would not be willing to brave the cold wind and driving rains, thereby giving me a rare AG chance by default.  NOPE.  Instead, surrounded by runners wrapped in black garbage bags or plastic ponchos, that first SM taught me that, around here in the PNW, not running marathons in the rain could pretty much mean not running marathons at all, especially with only two per year back then (vs. 30-40 nowadays).  
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RAINY/SUNNY 18th SEATTLE MARATHON - 2017

(7:15:34 - what a difference 27 years makes)
. . . New Route / Similar Weather but warm and pretty much protected from winds
Now, 27-years later, unlike the unrelenting wind and rains of 1990, to say nothing of the rain, sleet and cold at the 2006 Boomer Reunion over my 100th marathon weekend, a soft and warm drizzle (into the mid-fifties) started us off through the early miles from the Seattle Center through downtown Seattle to the International District.  Once down there by the China Gate on King Street, instead of going on to the I-90 on-ramp just a block or so away from my office, the revised course tracked my regular commute up King Street to Beacon Hill, down through the Seattle-Daejong Sister City Park and up to Rainier Ridge before dropping down to Lake Washington and down to Seward Park and back. .

There didn’t seem to be any complaints about missing the usual-and-notorious strong cross winds often blowing cold rains off the lake for the 1.5 mile crossing and another 1.5 miles coming back.
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Instead, maybe in celebration, the sun broke through for a couple of hours on the extended back-and-forth along Lake Washington Blvd to/from Seward Park as the event poncho provided by Amica Insurance at the SM Expo joined some energy bars and gels into my lightweight fanny pack.
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. . . . BELOVED HILLS
Though the new course missed the challenge of trying to run up to the top of the daunting half-mile Galer-Madison combo at the end of the lakeside running, things got back to normal very quickly on a new, roller-coastery, out-and-back through the east sector of the arboretum that was even more of a challenge, especially still being immediately followed by the long grind up through the familiar Interlaken Greenbelt alongside Capitol Hill for a view of the Space Needle awaiting at the finish line about three miles away across I-5 in Memorial Stadium.
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In fact, even more back to normal as the blue skies turned to gray for the last five or six miles complete with heavy rains almost as if to punish us laggards for being so slow. Thanks again to Amica for the ponchos.
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WALK-A-THONING
With my new doctor ordering a last minute “procedure” in late October to rearrange some errant innards that, overlooked for almost a year by the quack, . .. I mean doctor I’d happened upon after my former Dr. Reliant retired, had been limiting my running, I knew this year’s SM would be no match for previous year’s running and/or run-walking.  
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However, with many other veteran runner friends also being reduced to regular walking by Father Time and their own medical issues, I had familiar company at the 7:15 am hour early start, including four other runners-turned-walker friends who’d together chalked up some 3,975 marathons of more than 100,000 miles in 152 combined years.  
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^{. . . . Mega-Larry (73): . . . . . . . no. 1,999 since 1996 (52,373.8 mi)
. . . . Magnificent Monte (55) . . no. 555 since 2005 (14,541 mi)
. . . . Road-Kill Rick (73). . . . . . no. 496 since 1978 (12,995.2 mi)
. . . . Marvelous Mel (85). . . . . .no. 482 since 1983 (12,628.4 mi)}
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Compared to all their impressive totals, I’ve only run a little over 200 marathons in annual outings since 1977.  However, many have been with one-or-the-other of the above aging intrepids so the SM was another chance for great chats accurately recalling, I’m sure, without embellishment, the glory days of many marathons together and others experienced all over the world on all seven continents on our own.
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CROCS - with the mid-to-forefoot touches needed for the running barefoot I’ve been doing as much as possible since the 1990 Goodwill Games Marathon being very difficult to maintain while in walking mode that tends to heel-striking, I wore an old pair of 3.6 oz garden Crocs for a little heel protection. It worked, . . . but, if your feet can run barefoot, they can probably run in anything, e.g. aquasocks, flipflops, Japanese wooden and also straw sandals (geta / waraji), cloth jika-tabi with soft rubber-soles, cloth and also straw zori, etc.  
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Oddly enough, same as the posie’s DS gets a steady stream of comments for wearing his beloved Chaco sandals for marathons, to say nothing of on all three legs in our triathlons, I seemed to be getting as many, if not more, comments about Crocs as for running barefoot.
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No wonder I love running so much.                        

Thanks.


^{. . . . Mega-Larry (73): . . . . . . . 6:28:13
. . . . Magnificent Monte (55) . . 6:29:13
. . . . Black Croc jon (74) . . . . .7:15:34
. . . . Road-Kill Rick (73). . . . . .7:21:29
. . . . Marvelous Mel (85). . . . . .8:41:49}

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^{marathonfoto excellent pic. . . . . . . . . .  Marathon Twins for 40 years}

^{(but I'm not really in last place)}