Seattle Half Marathon

November 26, 2006
Seattle, WA
13.1m Run

The Seattle 1/2 Marathon was my first attempt ever at this distance back in 2003. I distinctly remember registering for the 1/2 walk because even though I was going to be wogging the race, I didn't want to be last in terms of time, silly me. As it turns out I would have been last in the run but I ended finishing just fine albeit with a finisher shirt that said 1/2 Marathon Walk instead of 1/2 Marathon Run.

After a few months of "active recovery", I'd kind of had this race in the back of my mind as fall began. Since I wasn't really training I just kept up my weekly 3 and 5 mile runs and then added a increasingly longer run on the weekends. I got several 6, 7 and 8 mile runs in and then 2 runs of about 8.6 miles but with less than 2 weeks til the race I just never got around to going beyond that.

Fast forward to the week before Thanksgiving, I hadn't really run all that much so I did a 5 miler on both Friday and Sunday and felt fine. Monday night I started coming down with something and by Tuesday I couldn't talk at all. ARGH!!!!!!!!!! Diagnosis: Laryngitis. No talking for at least 2 if not 3 days.

Those of you that know me can only imagine what a challenge this was. No phone calls, no meetings with co-workers, no talking to my husband, nothing. By Thanksgiving I was about crazy so thankfully my voice started to croak back. I made the decision Friday that I was feeling ok enough to at least walk 13.1 miles so I started getting ready for the weekend.

Unfortunately the forecast called for snow and 100% chance of precipitation on Sunday so things were not looking good. I went up Saturday, hit the expo to register and met up with Susan and Carole from my WW Tri-ers group (Puddyrat and Cjsews). We had a great dinner with their husbands (they were all running the full marathon, Susan and I were doing the 1/2) at the Old Spaghetti Factory. I had my traditional pre-race Ravioli, yum!

I laid all of my warmest, rain proof clothing out and prayed for sun.

Race Day
The sun was a no show and I woke up to constant rain and reports of snow in all of the surrounding Seattle suburbs. Oy vey! What on earth was I thinking. I connected with Laura (CatDoc) from the Tri-ers board and we stayed inside as long as possible. At about 7:20 we headed for the start which was just about 2 blocks from my hotel.

After a few minutes the masses started moving and we were off. I was totally geared up. I had a ball cap style hat (to keep the rain off my face), ear warmers, a face mask, long sleeved wicking shirt, rain jacket, garbage bag, tights, gloves and my fuel belt (filled with warm water). My mile 2 I'd discarded the garbage bag and face mask because I was just too warm.

Mile 1 - 12.00
Mile 2 - 12.35

I was running with Laura and her husband for a while but they were going a little faster than I'd planned so I told them to go ahead and run without me. Just after the 2 mile marker you get on the I-90 Express lane and that's always fun. I'd been running behind this guy for a couple minutes and since he didn't have headphones on I decided to comment on his fuel belt that (and I'm not exaggerating here) had like 8 or 9 bottles.

So we're pacing each other and I'm like "You've got a lot of water bottles there", he replies with something about this being his first race and he wanted to be prepared. I start asking about what prompted him to do the race and he asks me and somewhere in the abbreviated, why are we both soaking wet running 13 miles today, he says I look familiar and am I from Seattle. I'm like "no, I'm from Portland" All of the sudden, he's like "OMG, we met in Cannon Beach".

Lightbulb moment!

While Preston and I were at our favorite hotel over Labor Day weekend we met this really nice couple. We had several things in common with them and had a few great conversations but they lived in Seattle (which sucked for us since we thought they were very cool).

So here I am running along in the pouring rain with 15,000 people and I run into Shane!

What a small world, so we're running along and we're chatting about our races and goals and why we run and his wife Shell who's also on the course doing the 1/2 marathon walk and before you know it we're at mile 6.

Mile 3 - 12.47
Mile 4 - 12.24
Mile 5 - 13.32
Mile 6 - 12.47

After the 10k mark Shane and I start talking about our finish time. I'm kind of concerned that I may be holding him back but he says he's totally fine with our pace and "now we've got less to go then we've gone"

Mile 7 takes us up a long hill which I just heard has a 12% grade. Yikes! No wonder I walked it. Mile 8 and 9 have us heading into the Arboretum and we're still talking and running along. Somewhere in here a car is parked on a corner blasting the theme from Chariots of Fire and Shane and I both gave a WOO HOO to the car's owner. Love the musical inspiration!!! There were a number of hills but the time was passing so quickly and I was hardly noticing how totally wet and cold I was because I was so enjoying having a running partner.

Mile 7 - 12.54
Mile 8 - 13.38
Mile 9 - 12.27


About every mile or 2 we'd catch up with Laura and her husband. They'd be ahead of us on the uphills and we'd eventually catch them on the downhills. Once we hit mile 10 we knew we were on the home stretch. For the previous 2 hours Shane and I had been talking about how we both really wanted to finish under 3 hours and after we hit the 10 mile mark we knew we were going to do it.

Mile 10 - 14.03
Mile 11 - 11.18

I think they must have measured the miles a little close here because 10 was so long and 11 was pretty short but it was no matter to us. Just before mile 11 we saw the Space Needle and that was Shane's sign that we were really close. At this point I'm looking at my watch and I start to get psyched! I WOO HOO'd as we went under I-5 because not only were we going to finish under 3 hours but I could tell we were going to get in the 2:50 range.

At the 12 mile marker I was giddy because holy mackeral my legs felt fine, I had a great morning in spite of being soaked to the skin and I was on track for a PR.

Mile 12 - 12.38
Mile 13 - 12.23
Mile 13.1 - 1.21

We rounded the final corner and headed up the last hill which is a cruel reminder that we've just run nearly 13 miles. There's the Space Needle and the Stadium directly ahead.

WOO HOO - We hit the turf and sprinted the length of the football field and we were finished.

Final Time - 2:46.47

Are you kidding me!!!!! That is a 12.43 average. Of course I immediately figure out that I'm freezing and totally soaked but holy mackeral. 2:45 was like my dream time in perfect conditions.

Shane and I got our medals, took some pictures and a massage and then I headed to the hotel for the drive home and he went to watch his wife Shell finish her race (She did awesome by the way!)

I'm a little stiff but otherwise I feel great and my running confidence is increased which was the goal.

As an aside, I'm a fairly solo athlete. I like to do my own thing and I've struggled finding that perfect balance of someone who's my pace and can talk or just run along in silence. So today was absolutely awesome. Shane it was a pleasure running with you! Thanks for making the day go so well. Congrats to both you and Shell.

I didn't end up being a Snow Leopard this weekend but I think I earned the Speed Leopard title :)