My mom and I stayed a hotel within walking distance of the start of the Seattle Marathon. Since it didn’t start until 8:15am, I didn’t even have to set an alarm. woohoo. I got up around 6am and had a Starbucks NF misto while getting ready.
I wore arm sleeves and compression sleeves for warmth since it was 37* at the start, but I wished I hadn’t worn the Zensah leg sleeves. I didn’t really need them, but ohs wells.
I put on my sweatshirt and pants and we headed to the start around 7:30am.
The half marathoners started before us so we got to see them running the course as we were walking.
Aroudn 7:45am, I had 2 granola bars (280 cals). I had forgotten to buy a Clif bar, my usual pre-race breakfast, so I stole these from my mom’s house. Kinda dry and crumbly.
Right before the start, we found my brother who was just arriving from Portland and I passed my mom off to him and headed to the corrals.
After a super quick porta potty stop, I gate jumped and got into the shoot right before the start.
We started downtown right beside the Experience Music Project and the Space Needle.
I made sure to start pretty conservatively since I knew the course would be a little hilly, and I wasn’t sure how my legs were going to feel. The bad part about running 3 marathons in the span of 21 days is not having fresh legs and not knowing how to pace yourself.
So I got going around 8:05-8:30 min/miles and felt good from the start. I always run better in cold weather.
I saw my mom and brother right away at mile 2 and then 8.
I took my first gel at mile 9 and caught up with the 3:30 pacer at mile 10. I really don’t like running with pace groups; I hate the herd mentality and it seems to force me to go too fast or too slow.
But I didn’t want to speed up too much quite yet and I didn’t really want to fall back either so I stuck around in the dumb pack for the next 8 miles.
The course was very scenic and pretty; we ran across a floating bridge, through parks, around a big lake, through what looked like a forest, and ended up back in downtown Seattle.
From the very start my garmin was off, ahead about .2 miles. Going through a tunnel and losing reception didn’t help, and I finished the race with the garmin reading 26.57 miles.
At mile 14 I took my second gel and still was feeling like hot stuff, like I could be running way faster, but I didn’t want to bonk so I just chilled and kept cruising.
My mom cheering like a mad man; I saw them again at mile 17ish.
I took my third gel at 18.5 and figured if I didn’t hit a wall by 18-19, I’d be golden for the rest of the race. And I was.
I finally left the pace group and picked up the pace. There were some steep hills in the last part of the course, but I was still surprising myself with how good I felt and that I was running sub 8 min miles.
At mile 22 I took my fourth and final gel and powered it home. I finished in 3:26:36, 7:52 average pace. That’s my second fastest time, and besides NYC, this was one of the “easiest” feeling marathons I’ve run.
I felt so good that the last 6.2 miles, I passed 158 people and 0 passed me. (race stats told me that, I didn’t count. I’m not that big of a nerdball)
I know, no marathon is easy, but some certainly feel a lot easier than others. And I don’t know why. I wish I could bottle that easy feeling up and drink it every race. Or better yet, sell it for $50 a bottle.
I was pretty cold after the race but felt good, minimal but usual aches and pains.
I found my brother and mom right away and we headed back to the hotel so I could shower and change. Then we walked to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. soo good.
#10 was a complete miseryfest and #11 was a walk in the clouds. Funny how that is…
