Monday, June 25, 2012

Sometimes, I'm a drama queen. RnR Seattle Marathon Recap

Quick, last week recap:
Thursday: 5 miles, Back Bay, 3 at MGP, easy
Saturday: read below.


This week:
Tuesday: 4 miles
Thursday: 5 miles
Saturday: 11 miles
Sunday: 3 miles


It's almost as if I only left myself 34 days until my next marathon.....
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So. Rock n' Roll Seattle Marathon.....

Pre-Race
Becka, L, and I stayed an easy .75(ish) mile walk to the starting area, which seemed SUPER awesome after seeing the traffic. Traffic in Seattle? Ridiculous.

The starting line is in City Center, right under the Space Needle.
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We had Brooks VIP bathroom passes
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real bathrooms, with real water...
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and these happy people holding tray's full of goodies.
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Why, yes, I WILL run HAPPY

We started in corral 24, and it took about 35 minutes before we crossed the start line...
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Mile 1-5: 11:01, 10:24 (downhill), 11:15 (slight uphill), 10:42, 10:38
These miles started heading south through downtown, past the Nuun station at mile 2, and nothing else super exciting to mention. Mostly I was just excited that the weather seemed to be cooperating - overcast and cool. The bands on course (roughly one every mile ish) were okay, the spectators were fun.
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Mile 6-10: 11:54 (hill), 10:48, 14:04 (bathroom), 10:38, 11:29
Mile 6 brought a pretty big hill...
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there are tiny people up at the top, I swear.
...and I walked it - on purpose, I 100% planned to walk any tough uphills. I know they aren't my strength, and I didn't want to trash my legs on something that wouldn't gain me any time. We split from the half marathon course just before mile 6...
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And ran along Lake Washington...
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And then looped around Seward Park...
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PS, the water tasted funky. We quickly figured out why.
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Eff you, RnR.


Mile 11-15: 12:56 (bathroom), 11:04, 10:26, 11:24, 11:13
We headed out of Seward Park, hit the same restroom area as we did on our way in, and ran along the water again on Lake Washington, up to a random point just past the I-90 bridge, then looped back onto the bridge. There was a mile here dedicated to fallen soldiers...
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There was another stretch somewhere with a similar dedication to LLS, but I literally look the other way when I see that stuff while I'm running. The alternative is I cry every time, and it's REALLY hard to run and cry simultaneously.
Nothing else super exciting here. I felt fine. Still hitting roughly where I want to be - slight variations if there's an uphill/downhill, but that was how I planned to be running...

Mile 16-20: 11:18, 13:42, 11:45, 14:23 (walking the tunnel), 11:59
And then The Bridge Of Death. This sucked. We ran out onto a bridge...
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It was suddenly a thousand hundred degrees, the sun came out, and this was completely exposed. No shade. It was kind of nestled between and slightly below two adjacent bridges, so no shade, no breeze. I swear the temperature rose like 15*. It sucked. For real.
I feel like these times must be wrong, because I swear I thought I was dying.
At the end of the Bridge of Death, we went into a tunnel. A tunnel that was maybe a mile-ish long, and banked like a damn race track. I am not exaggerating.
Do you know what's remarkably hard to run on? Super banked road at mile 17. The only highlight was running into Lesley on the out and back, and she was only 2 miles or so behind us. So I ran/walked it through the first time, and straight up walked it on the way back. I joked (kind of) that I was done running, and would only run downhills from now on... {foreshadowing}

Mile 21-23 23:42, 6:18, 14:19
Ha. I know. 21 was another bullshit tunnel, 22 was stupid. 23 was no better. Oh, but I took these pictures...
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And then it started pouring fucking rain. So there were no more pictures.


Mile 24-26.7 14:14 (some downhill to run...), 17:01, 15:42, 10:25
....and then I for REAL ran no more. I kind of just.... quit. I didn't care that it was raining. I didn't care that I was carrying my phone and ipod in the rain (I mean, I care NOW that my phone is being wonky, and I sure hope The H doesn't read all these words...). I didn't care that it hurt LESS to run than it did to walk. I was done. I was pissed. I for real said I'd rather have hypothermia than run one more step on this godforsaken course.
I don't know how Becka and L didn't leave my whiny ass there, on that stupid road, but I kept walking, hoping Lesley would catch up and they could run off and save themselves from my misery. I know. Pretty dramatic.
The stretch from 23.5-25 was on a totally exposed, raised street, that was super hard to walk on, and super awesome to be pelted with pouring rain and cold wind on. But apparently I was really stubborn in my refusal to run another step.
Mile 26 we turned and there was another tunnel, but it was the MOST GLORIOUS TUNNEL IN THE UNIVERSE. We walked through there, to about 25.5, and B convinced me I should run. So I ran. My pace when I crossed the finish line was 8:18. For real.


Finish


When we crossed the finish line, grabbed our medals, and mylar, it was FREEZING cold, still pouring rain, and so windy. That mile walk back to the hotel was so much less awesome than it was in the morning.


Conclusion:
I am a whiny baby. I was hurting, but certainly not hurt. Not hurting any more than I probably did during training. I COULD run, and running felt fine. I just decided not to. That is the LAMEST THING EVER.
Don't get me wrong - I finished a fucking marathon. That's pretty rad. I'm not even all that annoyed with my time - I was not tied to a certain time goal, so whatever. I'm REALLY okay with a 5:30.
But I quit. I just stopped trying. And that's not really cool. That really annoys me.
Also, I need to work in hill work, and do strength training again. Can't hurt....

Anyway.

So San Francisco is next, but I'm going into that with the same non-goals as Seattle. And hopefully I'll be able to better contain my whiny self.
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The rest of the Seattle trip was FANTASTIC. I've got a ton of stuff to cover still! But not today.

23 comments:

  1. lol. Since we are already formulating a plan for San Fran, I think it will be better. At least there BETTER not be a downpour. Congratulations on your marathon, I was happy to run/walk/talk with you. And you were probably less whiny than I was.

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  2. Wow. Wow. Whiny Marathoner, but marathoner none the less. Congrats on finishing under those crappy conditions. And, you liked that last tunnel? Clearly, you were delirious.

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  3. shh did you know you are a MARATHONER? Not just a MARATHONER but a bad ass m*ther effing MARATHONER. So there.

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  4. I have my first marathon in 13 days so I won't judge your whinyness untill I am done with mine :)

    Great job being a marathoner!

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  5. Well done! Getting round is a MASSIVE achievement! And I'm sure I'm much whingier!

    Coolest. Robot. Spectator. Ever.

    :)

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  6. You did it! You finished and set an instant PR! I felt bad for the marathoners....it started raining just as we finished the half...so I new it was bad! Talk about weather ADD in Seattle this past weekend.

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  7. But you finished and you are a marathoner!

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  8. The first half looked beautiful! Congrats on finishing, that's a HUGE deal! :)

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  9. Congrats on finishing it was not an easy course and when that rain started to pour WOW!! Great to meet you, sorry we did not get to chat more.. Hope you had some FUN here??

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  10. Argh, not an easy day....but no marathon is. You finished, and that's quite an accomplishment. Congratulations!!! :)

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  11. It sounds like you got hit with some crazy stupid weather.

    But you did it. And next time will be WAY better.

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  12. You did it!!! Congrats marathoner!You rock!

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  13. First off -- Congratulations. Secondly, running in the rain sucks, and so does running on banked roads. But you did it! I hope you are proud of that. Believe me, they get easier, and sometimes they get harder. And chances are you will keep running them. Why? Because you have the crazy bug like the rest of us runners.

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  14. Congrats on a your finish Marathoner. As long as you cross the finish line that is all that matters. Some people arent even able to do that due to injuries or just cant do it. I did my marathon june 16 in 5.32 so my hat goes off to you girl. With the weather an all.

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  15. Congratulations on finishing! And, you have plenty of more races coming up. SFM is a fantastic race, enjoy it!

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  16. You're not a whiny baby. Marathons are ridiculously hard and you're a badass. You're totally doing another one and you're excited about it! I wussed out after my first one and still haven't done #2.

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  17. You write one hilarious race report! Listen up--you're not whiny. Marathons are stinking hard, no matter what. You finished. End of story.

    A BIG congrats!

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  18. You're a Cancer. We're emotional. And when I ran my first marathon, I walked at least half of the last 4 miles. But I also wasn't reading a bunch of blogs written by peopel who had run a bunch of marathons. I had no expectations at all. Ignorance is bliss.

    Anyway, your first couple marathons are going to be painful. My first two - the last 6 miles were pretty bad (hit "the wall" both times). The last 2 I ran thsi year, and the one I paced, the end wasn't miserable. It hurt, but no "wall".

    Anyway, I'm so happy you finished that damn thing!! I was getting worried when the tracking wasn't updating that something happened (like you were hurt or something).

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  19. So sorry you had such a rough first time, but hey it can only get better from here! Congrats on finishing your first marathon!

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  20. The fact that you finished a marathon at all is nothing short of AMAZING to me. I've done exactly one half, and that's it. Unfortunately, that may have been my first and last. No running for me right now. (Total bummer). Guess I'll just have to live vicariously through you and your blog. XO

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  21. CONGRATS!!! they changed the course since i ran it but running on the bridge, tunnels, interstate crap sucked for me. i can’t believe you finished with an 8:18 pace :) i think marathons are definitely just as mental as they are physical. like you said-you still did it-congrats again!

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  22. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but I believe you said you FINISHED the MARATHON. You didn't DNS (like I did last fall), or DNF, you finished. I'm pretty sure if I ever get to where I can do a marathon I'll be delirious at some point. That was your first marathon, so now you know what it's like and how to plan for the next one :)

    p.s. I had totally forgotten about that robot! Oh, and thank you for the hose picture. It explains so much :)

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  23. I am running San Fran too! It will be my first marathon :)

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