yes, it's a book, not just a report. . . . please skip to the end if you just want the hard facts.

 

Inaugural Seattle Rock & Roll Marathon.

When a group of friends at KR/RA decided to meet up in Seattle for this Inaugural Marathon, I was thinking I would just do the Half, as I did not want to run a summer marathon.  The long training runs would have put me into a very warm part of the spring in Southern Oregon and I didn’t think I would do very well with that.  But in about November 2008, I decided to go ahead and commit to a marathon, even though I was partially injured at that point and not running much. What better time to register for a marathon, then when you are injured, right?

 

 

This was my second attempt at a marathon.  I started training in the spring 2008 but suffered an injury about 2/3 of the way through the training for Eugene 2008.  I chose a conservative running program to follow, Higdon’s Novice Plan, and made a few adjustments here and there to accommodate my schedule.  Overall, I got in the miles, some weeks a little more, some a little less, but I think I still stuck to the plan fairly well.  Everything seemed to line up for me as local races nicely coincided with whatever distance my long run was on a given weekend. And my training went well. Each long run went fairly smooth, the weather always seemed to cooperate with me, and most importantly, I wasn’t suffering any injuries as my distance increased. I had also met a great friend and running partner, Laura, and we were both in the same boat – training for a first marathon and even able to coordinate our schedules so we could run our long runs together.  I was happy and was feeling very confident as I finished up my peak week of 40 miles, including the 20 miler.

 

Then the taper crazies set in and as I decreased my mileage those few weeks prior to the marathon, doubts start creeping in, especially when even a 10 mile runs seems difficult.  I kept relying on the fact that come race day, all that adrenaline will kick in and the training will prove itself to have worked.

 

 

There was a large group of running friends converging in Seattle for this race. Some driving long distances and others flying in from around the country.  We rented a large house on Lake Washington and most people arrived Thursday at some point. Laura and I left Grants Pass around 1:30 p.m. on Thursday and arrived at the house about 9:00 p.m., where we were greeted by Erika & Peter, Amy, Tim, Nancy & Paul arrived a few hours later, and Amy’s husband, Dan, showed up on Friday after spending some time with some friends of us the day prior.  Holly also flew in on Friday.  Even though some of these folks I was meeting in person for the first time because we have been posting together at either Kickrunners or RunningAhead for a few years now, it felt like meeting old friends that I’ve known for years.  I think even my friend, Laura, was very comfortable with all these folks she had never met before. It really was a great group of people to live with for four days.  Marilou also came up to the house around dinner time on Friday and spent the remainder of the weekend there.

 

 

Friday was the Expo, so after a leisurely morning of visiting and drinking coffee, Laura, Amy, Holly, Nancy and I headed downtown to the Expo. Wow! It was huge!  We gathered up our goody bags, race numbers, and hit most of the booths for all the free loot.  We went back to the house and a bit later Nancy and I went out for a short easy 20 minute run.  Other friends came by that evening for a Pre-Race Pasta dinner. Francesca made a wonderful lasagna and it was a pleasure meeting her for the first time. Dave (divechief) came over and that was the first time I’d met him also.  We loaded up on delicious carbs and made our plans for the morning. We were only a few miles from the start and with a start time of 7:00 a.m., we figured leaving by 5:45 or 6:00 a.m. would be ample time. Wrong.

 

 

Surprisingly, I slept okay on Friday night. I was hoping nerves wouldn’t keep me awake all night. I got all my stuff laid out, bib number pinned on my shirt, and my chip on my shoes.  We left the house about 6:00 a.m. and ended up in slow crawling traffic for the next hour and 40 minutes or so. Some people that were stuck in I-405, got out of their cars and started running to the start. We weren’t that crazy. We knew we’d be late, but so would hundreds of others in all those cars behind us. And with a chip-timed race, it really doesn’t matter I guess.  I wasn’t stressing over this. There was nothing you could do anyways.

 

 

I was supposed to start in corral 17 and by the time we were dropped off, used the port-a-potties and got over to the start area, we (Laura, Amy, Tim and I) hopped in at corral 31.  Nancy, Erika, Holly and Marilou were able to get in with corral 25 I think and start from there. 

 

 

It was a nice morning and I didn’t need my throw-away shirt. Not a cloud in the sky, so while it felt great at 7:45 a.m., I knew it was going to be a warm day by the time I finished.  As we were standing in line, being shuffled along like a large herd, we made the turn in the line-up area and saw the start line. Ok, that gave me goosebumps. This was really happening. I was running in a marathon with thousands of others.

 

Amy and I decided to run together the whole race.  And what a blessing that was to have her by my side.  We chatted the whole way, although admittedly, I did less chatting during that last 1/3 of the race.  Laura and Tim race their race together. Laura and I talked afterwards about how much that really helps – to run with someone, talk when you want and sometimes not talk, but just always know that someone is right there by your side.  And I have to say that running with Amy was so much fun, not only because of the great conversations we had, but she wore her Marathon Maniac shirt and the Maniacs greet each other along the course, so it was a fun distraction to see other maniacs.

 

 

I liked this course. For the most part it was very scenic and it was such a beautiful day in Seattle. Miles 1-3 were along some neighborhoods as we gradually got closer to Lake Washington.  When we got to mile 4 or so, we ran along Seward Park, right by the Lake and several yachts were out making a very beautiful picture. It was about this time that I looked up in a large tree just by the sidewalk we were running along and a huge bald eagle was perched in the tree, sitting so low on a branch, it felt like you could almost touch him.  Another beautiful picture.

 

We made our way towards I-90 and miles 9-10 or so were an out and back on part of the I-90 bridge.  Since it was such a clear day, you could clearly see Mt. Rainier to the south.  Beautiful!

 

 

Turning around we then made our way through the I-90 tunnel and over towards Aurora Avenue.  This little section is sort of a blur to me. I remember seeing the mile 13 marker and glancing at my watch. I was around 2:17, so I was a bit disappointed at that point, knowing that I would not hit my goal of 4:30.  It was getting too warm and I knew I wouldn’t have a negative split in me.

 

 

Miles 13-16 were mentally hard for me, knowing that I was only at the beginning of the “second half marathon” portion of the course. Once I got to mile 16, I perked up some because then I knew that the remaining mileage was in the single digits.  9 miles to go, 8 miles to go, etc.

 

 

Heading up northbound on Aurora for a couple miles to the turnaround point was hard too. I think this was around mile 17-21. It’s such a long highway and straight, so it just looks like you are running on forever before you finally see that turnaround. The good distraction along this part was seeing the folks that were on their way back, so I kept watching the other side of the divider barriers for faced I recognized. This is where I saw Divechief and we stopped to exchange hello’s briefly, and then I also saw everyone else from our group – Laura and Tim, Erika, Holly, Nancy and Marilou.

 

 

Once we started heading back south on Aurora, we had to pass Qwest Stadium (where the finish was!) and continue heading south about a mile before we could turn around and FINALLY head towards the finish.  Right about mile 21 is where I felt pain in my IT Band. Up to that point, I had been doing so well, as far as not feeling any pain or too much tiredness.  But I think those hours of running and a lot of that running being on concrete, really took it’s toll. I felt that pain and my heart sunk knowing I was going to have to run about 5 more miles. I had to stop about once every mile or so to stretch out my IT band and walk a bit.  I walked through most of the water stops the 2^nd half of the race, while dumping water over my head and down my back to keep me cool. 

 

 

Mile 25 sucked. It was uphill and I hurt by this time. Then you had to do this crazy little hairpin turn to work your way down to the finish area. Once I made that turn and ran downhill, I had one of the worst pains I’ve ever felt through my right pinky toe. I think I had a blister.  There were so many fans along this part of the course, yelling and cheering and I could feel myself getting choked up.  I was so close to finishing, so close to reaching this huge goal of mine and all these people cheering and the noise over the loud speaker just made this such a surreal moment for me.

 

 

I saw that finish line up ahead and gave it all I had left for that last couple hundred yards. I wanted to finish strong and I wanted to pass the runners ahead of me as I neared that mat.  And what a welcome mat that was!   I didn’t even look up at the clock, which wouldn’t have mattered anyways, since I started about an hour late.  I remembered to turn off my Garmin at 4:48, so figured I must be around 4:45 for a finish time. 

 

 

I got my finisher’s medal, grabbed a few snacks, and Amy and I found our way to the pre-determined meeting place.  Peter handed me a chocolate milk that tasted Oh.So.Good!! I instantly felt a hundred times better after drinking that milk!   Laura and I hugged and cried. We did it. We ran a marathon! 

 

 

Nutrition-wise, I think I did well.  For breakfast I had a bagel with peanut butter, a banana and drank some Cytomax.  During the race, I had a Gu at mile 7.5, 3 gel blasts at mile 14, another Gu at mile 17.5, and three more gel blasts at mile 22 or so. I think.  I drank Cytomax that I carried with me, and also grabbed some through various water stops. Altogether, I went through approximately 48 oz of liquid during the race. Surprisingly, I never had to use the bathroom, so I think I gauged myself pretty well on intake versus what I was sweating out.  I would do some math problems in my head occasionally during the last 10K just to make sure I had my mental acuity. And I never felt any cramping, so I think I kept a pretty good balance with sodium and electrolytes.

 

 

I wore black shorts, my Souther Oregon Runners shirt, a black visor and my Asics Foundation 7’s.  I had about 100 miles on my shoes prior to the marathon.

 

 

The IT pain I was feeling during that last 10K of the race seems to subside fairly quickly. I put some ice on it at the house later that evening and rubbed it out a few times. I could still feel a little residual soreness on Sunday, but it wasn’t too bad. By Monday it was completely gone.

 

 

That evening after the race, we had a big dinner at the house again. Mike and Sue Rasmussen brought over salmon and they also brought me a rose for completing my first marathon. Very thoughtful and very much appreciated!  Divechief brought over halibut and oysters, Nancy made the best tabouli I’ve ever had and Amy cooked up brown rice with veggies. Oh, what a scrumptious meal that was!! 

 

 

I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect first marathon experience. It was about so much more than just the race. This was a whole package deal and everything from the comfort of a great house, the friendships and bonding that occurred over the course of the weekend, the race experience itself, the great food and ambience, all were an essential part of marathon weekend for me. I think it’s going to be impossible to top this one.

 

I’m already thinking of what Marathon #2 should be because I know with some more training, and a less hilly course, I can PR again.

 

 

Ok, official data:

 

First the splits:

9.35 (lots of dodging going on for the first 3 miles or so, since we started out with a slower field)

10.10

10.28

9.52

10.36

10.01

10.08

10.29

10.40

10.09

10.25

10.19

9.55 (13 miles done)

11.30

10.27

10.38

9.17 (uh, I don’t think so! I think this where we ran through a tunnel that probably messed up my garmin)

12.54 (again, this has to be wrong)

11.15

11.40

10.03

10.26

11.08

12.08

12.11

12.01

The walk breaks I had to take towards the end really slowed me. I remember looking at my Garmin at mile 20 and it was 3:26, so that last 10K was pretty darn slow.

 

 

Final time: 4:46:34

AHR: 160

Overall: 3199/5618

Sex: 1440/3067

Div (40-44): 200/433

AgeGrade: 50.6% (not sure what that means. Probably means I’m average)

 

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! I received so much encouragement from many of you and your words of advice and things I've learned from you all helped me accomplish my goal.  

Yes, it IS a book! But it is a great read - thanks, Tammy.

 

Despite the IT problems, it does sound like a perfect first marathon. It really is breathtaking to cross the finish line of your first marathon, isn't it? You will always remember that moment, and many of the other great moments of your fantastic weekend with new and old friends. Congrats on a great effort!

 

Jay

Niiiice!    Hope you're still floatin'!!

Great report, and it was wonderful to finally meet you

 

Congratulations!!!

Tammy ,

Congratulations on a great first Marathon!!!!!!

 

I'm so glad we met last Friday, and I hope we'll get a chance again soon , in fact if you have time when you're up this way in July, let me know , we could go for a run!!

 

I was hoping I would see as many of the "house runners " as possible on the course and I really paying close attention to everybody going by on the I90 bridge......I guess when I found out what time you all had started  it made sense!!!

 

remember........it is never too early to sign up for the next one.....!!!!!!!!

 

Francesca

Awesome, Tammy. You did a great job and ran a smart race. Very nice to have company (and such experienced company) along with you, too! It was wonderful to meet you and I'm so happy you ran so well and finished with a smile! Congratulations and I'll be looking forward to hearing about your next marathon adventure!

Stunningly done!    Congratulations!!!!!!!!!  I'm so excited for you. Nothing says it better than contemplating #2!

 

Thanks for such a wonderful read. 

Tammy Tammy....thank you soooo very much for that. I am having a VERY hard time writing a RR about such a great and amazing race....and all the great Friends at "the" house. I was so very excited when me and Laura saw you a couple of times...I knew your ITBS was hurting when we saw you. But.....you finished in grand style....you Rock Tammy. And the hugs were sooo very nice too Sweetheart. I am so glad I got to meet the Tampster....such a pretty and talented runner and person. Tim PS: Thanks for bringing Laura along for the ride too....what a sweetie too.