After pacing the Quad Cities Marathon last fall, I cancelled my plans to run the Marine Corp Marathon in DC in October due to Hurricane Sandy. Then, nesting set in. With my first child due in December, I let running take a back seat for a while. I was logging about 10 miles per week until March when I began to train for this marathon.
As you know by my previous posts, I'm not one to stick to a training plan much less come to the table with one! This time was different. Over the course of the 18 weeks leading up to the race, I averaged 45 miles per week. I peaked at about 70 miles per week. I ran a 27-mile solo long run (the first time I ran this distance outside of a marathon) just because I felt good that day (and also because I almost got hit by a car and the adrenaline was flowing!). By starting a running club (www.facebook.com/HFCRC), I found that we all became accountable for each other's training; weekly speed workouts, long runs, strength training, some good 5K races, drinking lots of beer with new running friends - all the pieces were there!
I finally got to a point where I felt like I was back in PR shape. That was, until I strained my calf muscle 8 days prior to the race! The calf was so bad that I could hardly walk and running was out of the question. Massage, compression and ice had little effect. I was hoping that with a week of rest, I could stumble through this one and knock Washington off my state list.
We arrived in Seattle on Wednesday and the race was on Sunday. My wife had a work conference so the kid and I relished the beautiful summer-in-Seattle weather and walked to the Pike Place Market (www.pikeplacemarket.org) for the freshest Rainier cherries, Copper River salmon, on-site roasted coffees and delectable macaroons (www.lepanier.com), visited the Museum of Flight (www.museumofflight.org) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Museum (www.gatesfoundation.org/Who-We-Are/General-Information/Visitor-Center) and scoured the city for the best donut shops (www.toppotdoughnuts.com and www.mightyo.com). The conference offered daycare so the Wife and I made a dinner reservation at Tom Douglas' Lola (www.tomdouglas.com/index.php?page=lola) that we didn't regret! This rustic Mediterranean-style restaurant is a must if you're in the Seattle area.
I should note that we were also out here for a family wedding the night before the marathon. The reception was in a skybox at the Mariner's Safeco Field. What's baseball without a ton of food, great beer and good people? This stadium is so nice compared to many ballparks; the amenities (food, drink, child perks), the employees and the stadium design is well thought out. Getting our photo with the mascot was just icing on the cake!
It was a 50-mile drive east to the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass, our hotel for the night near the start of the marathon. The race was point-to-point through the foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range and finished in the town that the television series Twin Peaks was set in. A gradual downhill course run on an old train path, racing flats were not the best shoe choice for 26.2 miles of gravel road! That oversight aside, this was one of the most beautiful courses I have run. You start by running through a 2-mile tunnel (a flashlight was highly recommended since it is pitch black in the tunnel and of course, I forgot mine) that opens up to a scenic route, replete with old train trestles, wildlife and many outdoor sport enthusiasts (the route is open to the public during the race).
Not knowing what my calf was going to do, I started out slower than usual. For the first 5 miles, I averaged about 7:15 per mile. Building confidence with a slightly altered gait, I decided to go for a sub 3-hour marathon. As if 50 marathons in 50 states by the time I am 50 isn't enough, I would like to do them all in under 3 hours (11 of my 15 state marathons before WA are sub-3 hours). This feat has only been accomplished by a small group of people to date.
Choosing to run a trail marathon that caps entries to 400 is not something I would recommend to the first time marathon runner; there were no spectators cheering us on and I ran 24 of those miles alone. However, this is the marathon I now prefer. You discover how strong you are when you have to run alone. You see the beauty of landscapes like few others do. You're left alone with your thoughts and plenty of time to solve your life's quandaries. I managed to achieve my goal of a sub-3 hour marathon by completing this race in 7th place overall, 1st place in my age group (30-34) and with an official time of 2:57:58. Not bad for worrying that my calf would give out with each step I took!
