Seattle Marathon

Seattle Rock n' Roll Marathon
Date: June 22, 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
Finish Time: 3:43:22
Pace: 8:32 min/mi

After training for over a year due to the cancelled race in New Jersey, I was somewhat prepared for the difficulty that the hilly Seattle course was going to present. I ended up running a race that I wasn't all that happy with, but one that became my new PR for the marathon distance. The race is literally one of the first things I did in the city of Seattle and created a memorable trip and a beautiful race. 

Janel's parents moved to Seattle a few years ago (actually in a city called Kirkland across Lake Washington), and I had always wanted to visit Seattle. The opportunity arose with the alignment of vacation time, a marathon, and a chance to see the city that I've always loved for no good reason. 

We flew out on Friday late so that when we landed in Seattle it was already close to midnight. The race was on Saturday morning at 7 AM so the night was short, and quite literally, the first thing I ever did in Seattle was run a marathon. What better way to get to know a city than run through it and get really sweaty? 

That's me! (Behind all those people)

The race started at the Seattle Center, home of the Space Needle. The race was pretty large and I found not as well organized as previous races I've been in, but nevertheless, the race had beautiful scenery and an awesome place to start. There were waves upon waves of people and I ended up starting the race by chatting with a woman in a tutu who was visiting from Minnesota. It was her first half-marathon and first time in Seattle. She was a bit nervous, but I told her it would be fun. 

The race went through downtown and then out the southern part of the city. I ran and I ran fast. My half-marathon clip was blazing. I knew this would be bad for me later, but I thought that I could do okay because of the cheering of people and the excitement of running in a new place. For some reason, I always have more endurance on a route I've never run before. 

For the record, the weather on this day was incredible. It was sunny the entire time, reached a high of around 70 degrees and the skies were blue and clear, very unlike Seattle. A section of the run goes around a small park that sits in Lake Washington and as I came to the turn where I would run along the edge of the lake, I was greeted with a view of Mount Rainier. The mountain is impressive and truly makes you speechless. If I had had my camera I would have snapped a picture because it rose out of the lake like some impressive monument. That moment made the whole race worth it. I could have stopped. But I was only half-way done. 

I ran so fast that Janel and her parents missed me at some of the places they expected to see me. But they caught me somewhere near the half-marathon mark. Janel got a few pictures and I was still in pretty good spirits. 

Shortly after this picture was taken, I tackled the guy in orange.

After this the race got really tough. If you look at the route, you'll see that the race takes you on Interstate 90 across the bridge over Lake Washington and then turns you back to Seattle. As it is an interstate, there are no places for people to cheer, and as it is miles 16 through 21, these are only the toughest freaking miles in the race. In addition to the lack of people, we ran on HOV lanes in the middle, well-protected, but still amongst traffic that was driving the interstate across the lake, probably wondering why all these people were running and looked to be at the edge of death.

As if that we're enough, when you reach Mercer Island, the interstate goes into a tunnel. The tunnel is about a mile long and is a slow, winding, sloped curve where there are fewer and fewer people. I wondered, if I go in, will I come back out? In the tunnel they also had a band. This was supposed to be motivational. I found it sickening. Literally. I mean no offense to the band. They might have been fantastic. But the music was loud, I had run 17 miles at this point, I was hot, sweaty, needed some energy, and the sounds echoed off the walls of the tunnel so that I felt like I was taking a Jimi Hendrix acid trip or something. It was one of the strangest experiences of my life and certainly ruined any momentum I had of finishing this race respectably. 

The worst was that after getting through the tunnel, you ran a little ways and then turned around to go back through it. Much of the rest of the race was a walking/running struggle for me. Downtown is uphill from where we were so the end of the race is filled with uphill slogs. A section of the race is on the Alaskan Viaduct and dumps you into another tunnel before emerging near the Space Needle. This road is narrow and curved, a great way to break your ankles. And at mile 26, with .2 to go, they placed a giant hill that went straight up to the Space Needle. Someone thought it was funny, but it is plain rude. 

I finished, and actually broke my PR in Detroit by 8 seconds. (I'm glad I ran that last little bit.) I nabbed my medal and then walked through the food stands eating and stretching and wondering where Janel and her parents were. I realized eventually that the food was still a part of 'racers-only' world and that I needed to keep walking to see people I knew. They were right at the exit waiting for me. 

Don't be fooled: I'm not smiling, I'm grimacing.

In all, I'm happy with the race. It is by far the most scenic I have ever done. I want to run it again, pace myself a bit better, and prepare for the psychedelic tunnel. I know I could do better on the race, but wow it was a beautiful day. It was a great introduction to Seattle and a nice day to run.