Seattle RNR in detail: Saturday & Sunday

(at L, me at the start) Race day dawned very early - 3:15 am, as I mentioned in my last post. Diane and I toasted a couple bagels for ourselves, grabbed some bananas and our gear, and were out the door at 3:40 am. We arrived at the hotel and met the others in the lobby around 4:15 am, and got on the bus to Tukwila, where the race was to start. I think we arrived in Tukwila about 5 or 5:15 am. That gave us LOTS of time before the race. It was quite cold and I was glad for the warm clothes I'd bought at Fred Meyer (I got a Nike dri-fit pants & hooded sweatshirt for only $27 at 60% off because they were out of season!). We walked around and checked out the start; they had ample food (bananas and bagels! Guess we could have saved the trouble!) and cytomax and water. There were a TON of porta-potties (but probably not quite enough...) and lots of grass to sit on. We put our gear bags down because the grass was damp, and kicked back for a while. The time passed more quickly than I expected, and pretty soon we checked our gear bags and I got in line for the porta-potties. I thought it would be about a 15-min line, but it was more like 25 min and I really had to hustle to make it up to corral 13 where my first participant, Jason, was waiting for me. I figured I'd start with him because he was the fastest, and then work my way back.

John Bingham was the race announcer at the start, and he was still in fine form, telling us all kinds of jokes and getting the race going in style. It took Jason and I 19 minutes to cross the start line (and my last participant, in the last corral, waited almost an hour)! Thank goodness for chip timing. All the same, the race and the start were VERY well-organized and I'd do another Rock N Roll marathon in a heartbeat. They REALLY know what they are doing.

So, off we went, and Jason told me he wanted me to pace him for 10:30 miles; he was wanting to start off easy and speed up later. I must be pretty awesome at this (hahhaha) because the first mile was 10:31, and the next 2 miles (slight uphill) were in 21:21. By mile 6, despite a bunch of uphills, we were averaging about a 10:34 by my Garmin. I stayed with Jason until mile 9, when the course splits for marathoners & half marathoners. I wanted to make sure I could touch base with all the participants if possible, so I wished him good luck and told him I'd see him a bit later.

(at L, Lake Washington) A bit about the scenery - the first 4 miles were pretty unremarkable; industrial/commercial mostly, but not too ugly. Then mile 4-5 was in a neat neighborhood above Lake Washington; shaded, with pretty homes. Miles 5-9 were SO beautiful, along the shores of Lake Washington. Then the split; the marathoners went on the I-90 floating bridge in the middle of the lake - way cool, but I didn't do that part. They rejoined the half marathoners to go through the I-90 tunnel, where there was a BAND of all things (well, OK, I know this is a RNR marathon, but still - in the TUNNEL? The sound quality was HORRIBLE and it was waaaaaaay too loud!). Still, the tunnel was pretty cool to run/racewalk in. After the tunnel we ran in the express lanes between the regular traffic lanes. I thought it was really neat to racewalk on the freeway, especially since it was only for a short distance (1.5 miles?) and had pretty nice views. Then we came down into the city for the end of the 1/2 marathon along the Alaskan Way viaduct - gorgeous views. Full marathoners went north on the viaduct whereas 1/2 marathoners went south to the finish.

Back to the race, at mile 9, after leaving Jason. I walked back toward mile 8 to try and find Gwen, the next participant --- no easy feat, swimming against the tide :) but I stayed on the sidewalks a lot. I had to watch SO carefully to find her - there were a LOT of purple TNT shirts out there. I saw her after only about 0.3 or 0.4 miles and walked w/her; I told her Jason was just ahead and that he had said he'd slow down a bit so they could run together (he never did, and finished about 5 min ahead of her!). I was only with her a few minutes but she looked great; then I had to turn around so as not to miss my half-marathoner, Laurie, who was next. I walked back a little, and heard someone yell "TAMMY!" and saw my racewalking friend, Mary Snyder, from Boise, who is doing Portland to Coast with me in August. She is a FAST walker and I have seen her at several races now (once she beat me at 5K, and the next year I won at 5K and 10K; however, she is 57 or so, so she is waaaaay faster than me!). I had fun walking with her for a few tenths and the needed to get back to work :).

I wanted to find Laurie now; I walked back about 0.5 mile and didn't see her, so I called her, worried I'd missed her. But about 10 seconds after she answered the phone, I saw her! She was amazed at my timing. It was mostly luck, but some of it was knowing her pace and where to expect her. I had decided to walk her in to the finish, because Gwen and Jason wouldn't need me until the end, and my friend Diane would be several miles back (racewalking and run/walking more slowly than usual due to severe piriformis trouble), and Jeannie, my last participant, would be doing 18 min miles and would be way farther back.

(at L, view coming into downtown) Laurie had a sore foot (on top, kinda odd), but was doing pretty well anyway, and put on a game face to run to the finish for her niece, who has a very severe case of lymphoma. She said that any pain she had was much less than her niece ever experienced with cancer. I admired both of their strength, and took her all the way in to the finish of the half marathon. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and shot a whole bunch of pictures.

I knew Diane would be next, but knew with her sore hip I had a bit of time. I called her to see where she was (she was around mile 10.5 or 11) and walked back, stopping at an aid station to eat a gel and take some water and luxuriating in about 30-60 seconds of standing still to do it :). I found Diane about mile 11.8 or so, and walked her in to the finish. She was quite sore, and a bit miffed about her time (slow for her; 3:01 rather than her usual 2:48 or so for the 1/2), but happy to finish, since she had been in a LOT of pain the previous weekend and had not walked since.

Then I had a decision to make - I had called my next 1/2 marathoner to see where she was, but she didn't hear her phone, and so I had no idea where she could be. She was very well-trained and I knew she'd finish well (she'd done two 14-milers), and Diane (TNT coach for 10 years!) advised me that the full marathoners would need me more; the courses were different enough at the end that once I went after the full marathoners I'd have trouble getting back to walk Jeannie, my 1/2 marathoner, in. So I chose to go up the viaduct (backwards on the course) and find Jason & Gwen. Good decision. Diane was right - they did need me.

(at L, Jason hates mile 23) I found Jason about mile 20, and he was quite tired and just wanting to be done (I know that feeling!). He was strong in the face of adversity, though, and just kept on going. He had slowed quite a bit from our initial 10:30 pace, and was doing maybe 11:30 miles at this point, poor guy. I felt a bit bad for pacing him that fast to start, except that he did the SLC 1/2 marathon in 2:02 so I figured he had a 4:15-4:30 marathon in him, and he had wanted to get a 4:30. But at this point, he didn't care about his time any more and really just wanted to finish; it was his first marathon so he was going to PR anyway. I stayed with him until mile 23 or so, where there was another out-and-back (very convenient race for coaching full marathoners, not so good for coaching both 1/2 and full).

(at L, Gwen and I at mile 25, just after the hill) I went back for Gwen, who Jason had reported was about 0.5 mile behind him (he'd seen her at several turn-arounds). Sure enough, I spotted her pretty quickly and she was really glad to see me; her knee has been bugging her and it was hurting quite a bit now. I stayed with her for about 1-1.5 miles until I saw Jason coming back on the out-and-back, and went with him up the hill (why a hill THERE?!?! awful!) at mile 25. It was a short hill, but pretty steep and felt like a mountain. He looked good to go at the top, so I wished him good luck and went back for Gwen. She was hurting, and walking a lot. I walked slowly with her for a while, and then we went up the hill too (yeah, I got to do that beauty TWICE!). The last 3 miles of this race were just brutal --- out and back in an industrial port/container yard, kind of hot by this point (70, sunny, but at least there was a nice ocean breeze), ugly scenery, and that HILL. Icky. Yeah, the weather was pretty great, but about 10 degrees warmer than would have been ideal; still, I'll take it - with the breeze, and with dumping water over my head at the last few aid stations, I felt good. Gwen, on the other hand, was very hot and miserable, and her knee was hurting. Still, she gamely ran/walked on, and as we grew closer to the finish, her eyes lit up and she wanted to go faster. Pretty soon she was really pushing the pace. With only 0.2 to go, she really sped up and I stayed w/her, panting a bit. She egged me on, and we basically RACED to the finish - yes, raced. It was crazy and funny and actually very entertaining! We really sprinted at the end, and the announcer teased us, saying "Coach, why are you racing her to the finish? You're not supposed to do that!". Seriously, it was SO fun! I didn't think I had a sprint in me, but I got my HR up to 167, and we were flying and laughing our way across the finish. If there's a good photo of us, I am SO buying it!

(at L, FINISHERS!) I got Gwen to the medical tent for some ice for her knee, and stayed with her while I stretched. Then we grabbed some food, went to the TNT tent, and I found Jeannie. She had finished well and was very pleased and had had a great time. I apologized for not being able to walk with her, but she was OK with it and had so much fun she didn't care. Phew. I made the right decision, for sure, because Gwen and Jason had really needed me more.

I had to hurry to get my gear bag and get back to the hotel, because Diane needed a ride to the airport. She had showered in Jeannie and Laurie's room, and had met her daughter for lunch while I finished w/Gwen & Jason. I took her to the airport, and then sat in awful traffic for an hour getting back to my aunt & uncle's home. My right piriformis, which had been stiff during the race but not painful really, started to hurt quite a bit from sitting in the car (my high school friend Glen called it "driver's ass" at lunch, and he was totally right about that - it hurts so much when driving!), plus I was very, er, well-hydrated, and uncomfortable. I did find a gas station with a restroom eventually (whew!) and made it back "home" for a shower.

I was tired but wanted to see my grandpa, so I went over there and showed him race pictures and pics of the kids for about an hour. Then I drove downtown to attend the victory party with Jeannie and Gwen. Lots of good food, but the buffet line was WAY too long - not enough lines. I was SO hungry by the time I got my food, and it was quite unpleasant. The venue was nice - it had bowling alleys and pool tables (not that you really want to bowl after 26.2, though!), but I was too tired to do much besides eat. I got back to the hotel, picked up some souvenirs for the kids, drove back to my aunt & uncle's home, and hit the sack.

Awoke too early the next morning, so I decided 3.5 miles or so was in order to loosen things up. I did 3.5 hilly miles in about 38 min for an 11-min pace, and it felt pretty darn good. Hamstrings are a bit sore, as is my right shin, right piriformis (same ol' same ol' there), and my right deltoid. My lower back is a bit sore too, but overall, I feel good. Seriously, I've been a LOT more sore after a tough weight training workout. Tomorrow may be worse, but I've got 8 miles planned with a friend, so I'll be out there stretching things out :).

After my walk I had breakfast w/my grandpa, packed up, and headed to the airport. Jeannie almost missed our flight, but got there just in time. Other than that, the trip home was happily uneventful, and I got in a great nap :) (and now am having trouble feeling sleepy... oh well). Speaking of sleep, I'd better get some, but first a few stats.

Marathon:
Total miles: best guess is 27.8 miles (Garmin kicked out during one tunnel, but still gave me the miles; the other tunnel it didn't register the mileage, and the course map said 0.4 miles. I went through it both ways for 0.8, and my Garmin said 26.98, so that makes 27.8 total).
Total time: including ALL stops (I never stopped the watch), it was 5:24. Gwen finished in 5:16, and she started 8 min behind Jason, which makes 5:24. The total time also includes the slower walking I did with Diane and with Gwen at the end.
Average time per mile: 11:40. WOW. That is really good, considering that I felt pretty decent at the end (much better than at Nike last October), and considering that I could have gone faster for a good part of that time. Makes me hopeful for a great race in Portland this fall.

MORE PHOTOS HERE