#99 - Ghost of Seattle Marathon 2010

DATE: Saturday, November 27, 2010

LOCATION: Seattle, Washington

This was a very interesting day! I had already run two marathons in two days, and did not expect a fast run. That said, I felt pretty good. I woke up that morning and I didn't feel overly sore. Once I got my day going, my legs felt good. I left the hostel about 6:30 and drove to Lake Washington. Many of the runners took the early start which meant the parking at the start was all gone. I ended up parking at Seward Park (about a half mile away).

I arrived and picked up my race bib about 7:15 and enjoyed seeing so many of my running friends. Many were running the Quadzilla and it was fun to see them for a third straight day. Other runners were doing the Seattle Double (Saturday and Sunday), so it was great to see other runners that I hadn't seen the last few days. As the time got closer we quickly realized that the race was not going to start on time. So many of waited for the runners to get checked in. We finally got started at about 8:15.

The course started with a 3.6 mile loop around Stewar dpark and then headed north for almost five miles before returning to the start area. We ran this twice for the marathon. I started out running with Terry Sentinella and I was runnign pretty fast. I was running about 7:45-8:00 pace. I felt like this was a little too fast, but I felt great, so I kept going.

When I got to the aid station at mile 7.5, I took my first GU and kept pushing along. I had thought that a sub-4 hour marathon was probably a good goal, but at this rate I was looking at more like 3:30-3:40 marathon. My first thought was that I couldn't keep it up. My second thought was that I wanted to keep my Quadzilla lead (I had the best combined time for all the male runners in the Quadzilla). I ran to the turn around and pushed back to the to the start area for the first half.

At the half way point of the race, I had run a 1:45:50. This was pretty amazing, I had no idea I had that much speed in me. I was on pace for a 3:31:40 marathon. I didn't think I could probably keep it up, but I thought a 3:45-4:00 marathon would be great. I kept pushing, because I wanted to see how long I could keep this up. As I made my way around Seward Park, I felt really good. I knew I had only 10 miles to go and felt I could do it.

When I go to the aid station at mile 20.5 I took another GU and powered to the turn around and back to the finsih. It was so great to see all the other runners on the out and backs. So many of them were Maniacs and it was great to greet all the other Quadzilla runners.

I pushed hard and managed to finish in 3:31:46, which means my second half split was 1:45:56, only 6 seconds slower then my first half. I was absolutly thrilled with my time and it was so great to hang out and chat with the other runners. After a few hours people were headed home, so I went back to my car and drove to downtown and check into my hotel. My mom and two sister met me there. It was all in all a wonderful day!