November 29, 2010

Seattle Marathon

November 29, 2010

Seattle Marathon 2010

I finished the Seattle Marathon, 26.2 miles! I’m ecstatic that I finished strong and felt great at the end. My time was 7 hours, 37 minutes. 17:27 min miles. 11 minutes faster than my 2001 Portland Marathon time.

I was having serious doubts about my abilities to finish in the last week and was downright panicking in the past few days. I didn’t complete all the miles in my training plan as I had just traveled to see Alyssa and Sarah in California. Then the weather was too icy for walking here. I did do a lot of walking in California with both Alyssa and Sarah but didn’t wear my pedometer and didn’t track mileage. I completed a couple of small walks on Monday and Friday last week but not the long mileage that I normally do. Alyssa reminded me to trust my training and I wouldn’t be out of shape in just a few weeks. Alyssa helped to relieve my mind but I was still extremely worried about not having the determination to finish.

I packed my waist pack, (I fondly refer to as my exercise purse), on Friday night and placed my marathon clothes and shoes out so I wouldn’t forget anything. Packed in my exercise purse were the following items; phone, mp3 player, Kleenex, anti-bacterial gel, chapstick, two Luna bars, banana, turkey bagel sandwich (packed the morning of), gloves, ouch pouch, and an old driver’s license used for ID.

We drove to Seattle around noon on Saturday and checked into the Westin Hotel. This was the host marathon hotel so it was extremely busy with marathoners attending the expo. I picked up my marathon packet and shirt and perused the expo isles with Mark. I was hoping to find the vendor for my Iniji socks but apparently they weren’t at the expo. I did find the vendor for OneMoreMile and was tempted to buy another shirt. The shirt I wore for the marathon was from this company. My shirt is plain black with the words, Finishing = Winning. It fits great, feels comfortable, and the words are spot on.

Mark and I went to lunch in the International District. We looked up Noodle King in our telephone navigation and went to the address listed. Noodle King was a restaurant I found on the Internet that had pulled noodles. We first saw these on The Amazing Race and I have wanted to try them. Apparently the Noodle King went out of business so we decided to eat at the restaurant that was there in its place. I can’t remember the name but it had the words Food Court in it. The Malaysian Chinese food was fabulous. It was a little hole in the wall place but the food was very good. After a revitalizing lunch we went to Costco and then to a train store on Lake City Way. Back to the hotel where we ordered Pagliacci Pizza to be delivered. We went to bed at 10:30 and got a decent night’s sleep.

I awoke at 4:00 feeling refreshed but stayed in bed until 5:00. Drank some water and then got ready for my morning. I ate part of a banana and a few bites of a bagel, turkey, and cheese sandwich. Traffic was light and Mark was able to drop me off within a block of the starting line. I got to the starting line about 25 minutes before the race started. After using a port-a-potty I realized I wasn’t wearing my timing chip. I remembered placing it in my waist pack the night before so I started rifling through a snack-filled, Kleenex-filled, and all the other essentials-filled pack. My heart sank and my blood pressure rose when I realized it wasn’t there. Twice, I thought I did a thorough but frantic search, before calling Mark to ask him to look for it back in the hotel. I did a final search and sure enough it was there in the zippered area of my pack. After placing the timing chip on my ankle, called Mark again to tell him I found it, I started to get in the spirit of the marathon. I wore my ski jacket for the first mile of the marathon. The temperature was in the high 30’s and I was happy to have it.

I was ready as I could be and was about to embark on my full day of walking. A call was made on the loudspeaker for all the marathon walkers to come to the starting line. While standing there I looked up and saw a beautiful picture of the marathon sign and the space needle. I took a picture with my phone camera. It didn’t turn out as I hoped but it will always remind me of the start of the 2010 Seattle Marathon. The Star Spangled Banner was sung and then the air horn sounded the start of the marathon walk at 7:15 am.

When the race started I found I was exactly where I thought I would be. I’m a leading member of the back of the pack club! My goal was to finish the marathon and still feel good at the end and I hoped I wouldn’t be the very last person. I know there is nothing wrong with being last but I was worried there wouldn’t be any course support and having to carry my own Gatorade. I am happy to say there was course support throughout the entire marathon. I did way too much needless worrying. Next year I’m not going to worry about things out of my control.

The first few miles went by quickly. We walked along the monorail route and then 5^th Ave veered left. There was a clothing store in Seattle that had antique sewing machines lining the walls from floor to ceiling. I would like to go back to look at that store. At the top of 5^th Avenue was Mark standing there cheering me on. I traded my ski jacket for a fleece jacket that Mark was holding for me. A quick kiss and I started my jog down the hill. After jogging down the hill there was a water/Gatorade station in front of the King Street Train Station. I tried to drink a Gatorade and a few sips of water at every stop because I wanted to make sure I was properly fueled and hydrated. This was the start of the ramp to I-90. The walkers were directed to the right ramp and the runners to the left ramp. We walked on I-90 for a few miles until the ½ marathoners were directed off at the beginning of the floating bridge.

Jogging down the first hill about mile 1 1/4

Miles 4 ½ – 8 were on the I-90 Floating Bridge. It got quiet for a while and then the full marathon runners caught up to the walkers. After that the bridge was filled with runners and walkers. I kept thinking the turnaround point was closer than it was. I saw an orange street sign and thought that was where we would turn around. Turns out I shouldn’t pay attention to street signs when I’m looking for a marathon sign! I saw Tory Klementsen and waved and said a few words to her while I was walking back off the bridge. She is the instructor of the 5K running class I took. She caught up to me a few miles later and we talked for a few minutes before she and her husband took off jogging.

I-90 Floating bridge looking towards Bellevue

Miles 8 – 17 were on Lake Washington Blvd in the Seward Park area. Around mile 9 I decided to get out my MP3 player and start listening to The Quilter’s Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini. I was intent on people watching and didn’t feel the need to be distracted. I am going to listen again to this book because even though I listened to the book I really didn’t listen. I was too caught up in my marathon experience. Somewhere before mile 11, I finished my breakfast bagel turkey sandwich and Mark gave me another one that he had in the cooler waiting for me. Mark was at mile markers 11, 14, and 17. It was awesome to see him waiting there for me. Cowbells were provided by the marathon at the expo to ring to cheer the marathoners on. Mark was ringing his every time for me. There were posters along the route that read , “More Cowbells.” It was a nice take on the Saturday Night Live skit. The walk around Seward Park was nice and scenic. I ate half a banana and tossed the rest into a waste can. The path in Seward Park is a paved trail and right on the water. It is scenic and woodsy. In fact, all the miles between 8 – 23 are scenic with Lake Washington, beautiful homes to look at, and then the gorgeous calming arboretum. I would like to take a few walks down there next spring so I could watch the boats on Lake Washington and enjoy the spring foliage in the arboretum. In Seward Park I passed the 13.1 marker and I started tearing up. I knew I was ½ way and felt pretty good at that point.

Lake Washington Blvd about mile 14

I decided to try GU around mile 16. GU is an energy gel. I only tried GU once 10 years ago and thought it tasted like Vaseline. Since I knew I wasn’t eating the same way I did while on my training walks, I decided to give it a try. This time I took one of the packets and ate about a ¼ of it. It didn’t upset my stomach and didn’t taste horrible so the next time it was offered I ate a whole one. I ended up eating 2 ¼ packets total on the marathon. I have to say it really worked. GU and Gatorade helped me to not hit the wall. I really dislike the consistency of GU but I will use it again.

Interesting people I saw before and along the route.
1.  A women who had a sign that said, “It’s my 64^th birthday today.”  I wished her a Happy Birthday.  I assumed she was walking the marathon like I was.  Turns out she was running the marathon!

2.  A guy that was wearing a shirt saying, “I wish Pheidippides had died at 20 miles.”  I came across this guy about mile 18!

3.  A man dressed in a Superman costume complete with cape.

4.  A red-haired man dressed in a Scottish Kilt.

5.  A guy running in a bathrobe.  I only saw him from the back so I have no idea what he had on underneath.  The bathrobe was flapping in the wind as he ran by so I’m assuming he was wearing something else.  He also had on a pair of shoes that had individual toes.  Not sure what they are called.

6.  Yellow jacket guy and Red jacket backpack guy.  Okay these guys weren’t interesting, but I spent the first 9 miles playing leapfrog with them.  I would pass them and then they would pass me.  I lost sight of both of them around mile 9.  Both of them passed me by the way.

7.  Older grey jacket guy.  I saw him around mile 15 and followed him until mile 19 ½.  I was going up a hill and he told me to take shorter steps.  I knew this but I had totally forgotten about it.  I was happy that he reminded me.  He had done the marathon last year.  He also had his 66^th birthday the day before.  He finished the marathon 12 minutes behind me.  I hope when I am 66 I’m still doing marathons.

Miles 18 – 23 Crossing under the I-90 bridge onto the half marathon route was exciting because I was familiar with this part of the marathon. Somewhere around mile 19 I knew that I was going to finish and finish strong. I was still jogging occasionally even on the flat parts. Not jogging a lot, but enough so that it gave my legs a rest using different muscles. Mark was there to meet me at mile marker 20. It was wonderful to see him. Mile 20 is at the base of the steepest hills of the marathon. I was able to make it up these hills okay and knew that when I got to the top it would be a long but very pretty descent that would take me through the arboretum. I really like walking through the arboretum and I was feeling euphoric yet teary-eyed. I think it was the endorphins. I don’t remember ever feeling like this during the training walks I did. I can’t figure out why I was so emotional during this marathon. Mark was again at the Mile 23 marker. By this time I was very excited about finishing. Sometime during the marathon I noticed my hand was bleeding. I don’t know when it happened but I tossed a Band-Aid on it. The Band-Aid fell off so I stopped at the medical tent for a new one. The medical volunteer offered me a chair while she put a Band-Aid on my hand but I laughed and said if I sat down I might not be able to get up again!

Lake Union

Looking towards the finish line only a few miles away

Miles 24 – 26.2 I knew there were lots of downhills that I could jog and I think I walked fairly fast. I’m not sure where I got my energy, possibly from the GU, but these miles flew by and my feet flew with them. I did stop to take a few pictures on the overpass as I crossed into downtown. I counted four sailboats under sail on Lake Union and saw the scenic Space Needle where I knew the finish line and my medal were waiting for me. My pictures taken with the camera weren’t half as pretty as the view I had from the overpass. Next year I will bring a real camera. I thanked each policeman and course volunteer I passed for their time and effort. It made a huge difference to have the course support for the back of the packers. Somewhere around mile 25 I started to cry again. I was so happy that I had made it to the finish. I didn’t realize how important this was to me. At mile 26 I heard a large group of people yelling my name and cheering for me. There was my husband and about 20 strangers, which he apparently rallied them to cheer for me. Mark gave me a kiss and a dozen red roses before sending me off to the finish line. I asked him to save the roses for me and I went off into Memorial Stadium to cross the finish line. I crossed the finish line and realized that I not only finished before my projected time of 8 hours but I shaved 11 minutes off my 2001 Portland Marathon time. After crossing the finish line I bent down to receive my medal and told the volunteer, “Am I glad to see you!”

Beautiful roses Mark presented me with

In conclusion, I have to say this was a wonderful marathon! I am euphoric about completing it and I have a real sense of accomplishment. My body does ache today but it’s a good ache. Looking forward to doing the Seattle Marathon next November!

Seattle Marathon

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