LOCATION: Seattle, Washington
The Seattle Marathon is probably my favorite marathon. It's a great course through Seattle, I love running with all the Maniacs and the support on the course is awesome. It's also the only marathon I have run every year since I ran my first marathon in 2005. It's become a Thanksgiving tradition.
That said, I was planning to run the double (Ghost of Seattle and Seattle Marathon). But the weekend before I was running a half marathon in Eugene, Oregon. Upon completing that half marathon, my right foot hurt really bad! I had such a severe pain that I could hardly walk. I thought maybe that I had a stress fracture. I waited a few days in order to see if the pain would continue. On Wednesday, the pain was just as bad as it had been, and then on Thursday the pain was completely gone! Not sure what it was, but I seemed to be back to normal. What's weird is that the pain was so bad, but yet it went away all of a sudden.
I decided at this point to do the Seattle Marathon, but decided to skip the Ghost of Seattle Marathon. My cousin was California flew up and joined me and my sisters on the trip to Seattle. It was her first time in Seattle, so we spent the day in Seattle doing the tourist thing. We went to Pike's Place, we saw the Space Needle and hit the expo where I met up with my friend Jon Dotson.
We stayed at the Best Western Hotel at the Seattle Center which meant I could walk to the start line and back after the race. I had no goal for this race. After not running for a week due to my foot pain, I just wanted to have a good race despite my time.
At the start I met up with Jon and had a chance to chat with a few other Maniacs. The weather was once again pretty good. It was overcast and cool with temperatures in the lower 50's. I started out running pretty smooth. I felt great and really enjoyed the energy of the event.
At the half way point I believe my time was about 1:50. I was feeling pretty good and more importantly I was enjoying the marathon. It was great to see so many of my Maniac friends. Upon coming to about mile 19 you head up a big hill, at this point, my time was slowing way down, but I still felt pretty good. Coming to the final few miles, my legs started to cramp and I was wanting it to be over.
The last mile was the hardest. My legs were cramping really bad, and I felt really bad because all the spectators at the finish were cheering me on, but my calf was cramping to the point, I was limping into the finish. I ended up finishing in 3:46, which is about average for me. I figure I didn't do a real good job of taking in calories, and the week off of running probably didn't help. I headed back to the hotel, and took a shower and we headed back to Portland.
The Seattle Marathon is probably my favorite marathon. It's a great course through Seattle, I love running with all the Maniacs and the support on the course is awesome. It's also the only marathon I have run every year since I ran my first marathon in 2005. It's become a Thanksgiving tradition.
That said, I was planning to run the double (Ghost of Seattle and Seattle Marathon). But the weekend before I was running a half marathon in Eugene, Oregon. Upon completing that half marathon, my right foot hurt really bad! I had such a severe pain that I could hardly walk. I thought maybe that I had a stress fracture. I waited a few days in order to see if the pain would continue. On Wednesday, the pain was just as bad as it had been, and then on Thursday the pain was completely gone! Not sure what it was, but I seemed to be back to normal. What's weird is that the pain was so bad, but yet it went away all of a sudden.
I decided at this point to do the Seattle Marathon, but decided to skip the Ghost of Seattle Marathon. My cousin was California flew up and joined me and my sisters on the trip to Seattle. It was her first time in Seattle, so we spent the day in Seattle doing the tourist thing. We went to Pike's Place, we saw the Space Needle and hit the expo where I met up with my friend Jon Dotson.
We stayed at the Best Western Hotel at the Seattle Center which meant I could walk to the start line and back after the race. I had no goal for this race. After not running for a week due to my foot pain, I just wanted to have a good race despite my time.
At the start I met up with Jon and had a chance to chat with a few other Maniacs. The weather was once again pretty good. It was overcast and cool with temperatures in the lower 50's. I started out running pretty smooth. I felt great and really enjoyed the energy of the event.
At the half way point I believe my time was about 1:50. I was feeling pretty good and more importantly I was enjoying the marathon. It was great to see so many of my Maniac friends. Upon coming to about mile 19 you head up a big hill, at this point, my time was slowing way down, but I still felt pretty good. Coming to the final few miles, my legs started to cramp and I was wanting it to be over.
The last mile was the hardest. My legs were cramping really bad, and I felt really bad because all the spectators at the finish were cheering me on, but my calf was cramping to the point, I was limping into the finish. I ended up finishing in 3:46, which is about average for me. I figure I didn't do a real good job of taking in calories, and the week off of running probably didn't help. I headed back to the hotel, and took a shower and we headed back to Portland.
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