Seattle Frozen Marathon

So...I said I would never run the Seattle marathon cause whoever decided to run a marathon in Seattle in November is not very bright. Well, I ran the marathon in November so I am not very smart either. It was the worst. Snowed the morning of the race. Rained as we got downtown to the start. Was about 35 degrees so it was pretty frigid out. Gail, Rick and I headed out to the bag check. After that it was out to the start in the nice cool rain. NOT! The race had about 2500 runners I would guess. We headed up town on a fairly gentle hill then wound our way across the Lake Washington on the I-90 floating bridge. I wore multiple layers of clothes but only shorts on the bottom. I also had gloves with heat packs in them for the first 6 miles or so.

I felt pretty good as we headed south along Lake Washington. I passed Rick a few times then felt good so picked up the pace to 9:15 or so. Around mile 12 my legs started to ache, kind of like the lactic acid burn you get towards the end. That was a big concern to me. They never got better. Th course gets pretty hilly the last 8 miles or so. My legs were gone by about mile 21. They just hurt and didn't want to go any farther. Walking was just as bad but I did walk probably a third of the last 4 miles. Rick the speed demon passed me at about mile 21. He looked real good so off he went after we chatted a bit.

It really started to rain the last couple of miles but I was pretty warm so it wasn't a concern. I ended up running a 4:43 which is my slowest marathon yet except for the Vegas one I got sick at last year. Rick ran a 4:35 and Gail a 4:59. All some of the slowest we have done. I noticed other runners I knew where pretty slow too. This course is not for a PR for sure.

Well ultra/marathon number 12 is done. The 31 miler 3 weeks ago was much easier than this one. And I am pretty sore in the quads and hips today. Also didn't get sick after this one. Only one other time have I not become nauseous afterwards. I forced my self to eat Mo's clam chowder and have a coffee. I think the coffee is the common denominator! Which is music to my ears.

Well the race was about 30 hours ago. Now I am thinking...."which marathon is next?" Crazy isn't it. Well I guess that's why I'm a Maniac (http://www.marathonmaniacs.com) number 228.

Meet Prez Steve of the Maniacs after the race. He took some pix of Gail and I, and we had a good chat. Super nice guy. Probably be seeing more of him in the future.