Rock'n'Roll Seattle!

"You go run a Marathon, I'll be in Mexico..."
-Yet another awesome Heather quote.

Pre-Race notes
My PR for a half marathon is 1:29:06 from the First Half Marathon earlier this year. I signed up for this marathon ages ago, when they first announced it. I was one of the first few to register for the promotional cost of $50. I was asked by my coach to drop down to the half marathon due to the proximity of this race to Ironman Canada. At that time, I estimated I might be in shape to run a 1:26... fairly optimistically! I was then asked last week not to race it, but rather to run it in mid zone 2 to mid zone 3 Heart Rate in a time of 1:45:00. Heather was shooting to run under 1:45:00, so I figured it would be a nice chance to run with her... and maybe help her get another PB at this distance.

We went down to Seattle on the Friday Morning and checked out the Race Expo. This event was massive, much bigger than I had anticipated. After the Expo and wandering around the city a bit, we went out for a run. I was asked to do 40 minutes of zone 1 Heart Rate. This is where it occurred to me that my zone 1 was pretty fast, certainly much faster than the 5:00/km pace I had been asked to run. Zones 2 and 3 are even faster. So I got creative with my interpretation of what my coach wanted. I knew his concern was with me racing too hard and then needing time off hard workouts for recovery. So I decided to run zone 3 and see where that got me... I was determined to not run hard enough to need any recovery time. I was thinking I could maybe get under 1:30:00, if the course wasn't too hilly. I solidified my decision later that night over dinner, and even went so far as to proclaim I might be in 1:28 shape if I can find the zone!

Pre-Race
I woke up at 3AM in order to be out the door by 4AM. They shuttled us all out to Tukwilla, WA on several hundred yellow school busses a la, The Boston Marathon. The logistics of getting us all out there for the 7AM start involved running the busses from 4-6AM. Heather and I were in the starting area by 5AM. I learned a similar lesson in Boston, with regards to wandering around too much. "Hey Heather, let's go sit down a while..."

The Race
The 1:26 time prediction (LOL!) meant I was seeded in the first corral with the other sub elite runners, the elites were one corral in front of us. We're all sub elite runners here, right guys? Guys? LOL. We half marathoners were mixed in with the marathoners. The corrals snaked back behind us, some 39 or 40 corrals. Heather and 2 of our friends were together in corral 2 just behind me, so I hung out at the back of corral 1, and chatted a bit. Oh yeah guys, I'm feeling good. Here comes a 1:28!

The gun goes off and off we go! Right off the hop there's a big hill... literally 100m into the the race. I think to myself "Oh great, there goes my heart rate...". But it doesn't even get into zone 3. I pick up the pace and get comfortable. I ran really easy through the hill-themed first 5km. I really eased up on the uphills and kept my heartrate in zone 2, to low zone 3. Somehow the first 5k was 20:39 (4:08/km) and Garmin claims my splits were: 4:02, 4:04, 4:11, 4:04, 4:11

The next 5km featured a big climb, so I really eased up. By now I was running in thinner crowds with sub 3 hour marathoners, and sub 1:30 half marathoners... and probably a few people who were going out way too hard en route to a big crash and burn. I was once again running without an iPod, so it was easy to pick out the latter category as they panted along, struggling to hold pace this early in the race. It was a good reminder to check my breathing which was still effortless and very controlled. I was kind of playing cat and mouse with this one guy who looked like a 2:55 marathoner to me. He'd walk away from me on the uphills while I kept my heartrate low, then I'd bomb by him on the downhills once it was safe for me to increase the pace with a low heart rate. After the first huge uphill, I ran a 3:39 km down the subsequent downhill and left my 2:55 friend for good. I crossed the 10k mat in 41:15 (still a 4:08/km pace), and Garmin says those splits were: 4:01, 4:17, 4:18, 3:39, 4:05

This is where I bridged up to my new friend, Lyudmila Vasilyeva. I passed her as we ran around the lake and she caught up and kept with me. We chatted a bit and it turns out it was her first time running a half marathon... in fact it was her first run over 8 miles. Between miles 8 and 9, the course separated and we parted ways with those fast marathoners. The crowds thinned dramatically. As Lyudmila and I passed the time chatting about how she was once the 7th fastest female miler in the world, and I was once a touring punk rock musician, I noticed we were easily able to maintain a conversation as we effortlessly ran. Garmin says we banged off splits of: 4:04, 4:05, 4:02, 4:07... then we went into a tunnel and I lost reception, but it took 7:51 to run 2km through the tunnel. While we we in the tunnel, the 2 lead marathoners came running past us... surprisingly NOT much faster than what we were running. The 3rd and 4th place Kenyans came up shortly after and we cheered them on.

Time was flying, I was really enjoying having someone to run with. Lyuda mentioned we were likely running a 1:26 if we held this pace. What?! Zuh? But this was easy, we were practically jogging! Could I POSSIBLY run a 1:26?! That was my lofty December goal, there's no way!

This is where I got excited and determined to see what we could do. Lyuda was a very smooth runner, very efficient and like a metronome up the hills. I would try and keep her close on the uphills, then hammer the downhills and force her to catch back up to me.

"Nice mile. Well under 6 min pace."
"Hmm, I'm Canadian... what's a mile?"

I knew I had been running a 4:08 average pace all race, which would get me a 1:27. But now Lyuda kept cranking up the pace and we were now running like elites. We were flying past people here and there, as we started our 6km kick. I told her she was probably going to be in the top 20 women overall and asked why didn't she enter as an elite? She said she didn't train enough for the distance and that she had paid her own way in. Fair enough, let's go! As we came into town, Lyuda was starting to pull away. I would not let her beat me though, so this is where I threw out my zone 3 plan. I was now into zone 4 and touching zone 5 up some of the hills. The crowd along the long finishing shoot pumped me up I bridged back up close to Lyuda, who at one point had put about 20 seconds up on me. She crossed the line 2 seconds ahead of me, but I got her by 7 seconds on Chip Time, thanks to my back of the corral start.

1:25:37

The last splits were: 4:03, 3:50, 3:45, 3:26, 3:46, 3:34
Average pace for this race: 3:59/km.

I think I could have done 1:23 with a bit more effort, but my legs are fine, and don't require any recovery time. I will likely try and go under 1:23 (to qualify for the New York City Marathon) in December, after Ironman, and once I have done some speedwork. This is just one more building block towards my big goal of becoming a sub 3 hour marathoner next year.

Heather met her "A" goal as well, and went under 1:45:00
1:44:46