Seatle Marathon Preparations

I can’t believe I’m doing another marathon today only 3 weeks after running San Diego!  I’d been eyeing Seattle since the beginning of the year, with an eye on the baseball schedule & my work trip to Tahoe.  Hubby was originally going to come with me, but decided to save his vacation for our last minute trip to Costa Rica (in only 2 weeks!!!!!).  So, I was off to my first marathon totally alone- no running buddy, no mom to bring me food, no hubby to meet me at the finish line.   I  do have some family in Tacoma who I am staying with & they were kind enough to drop me off at the start line.

I’m not sure why Rock n Roll marathons don’t do a circular loop instead of a point-to-point race which requires 2 separate staging areas for a start & finish line, plus requires participants to get from one to the other, either at the start or end of the race.  I’ve also noticed RnR’s are very fond of their loops, which can be both a pro and a con.  I personally get discouraged by them since you are running the same area twice & can see all the other runners ahead of you.  Others like it as a distraction to see other runners.  Again- there seems to be a huge split between the number of people running the half and running the full.

2009 Results- Full Marathon: 5646 Finishers (2572 M/3074)   &  Half Marathon: 15682 Finishers  (4236 M/11446 F)

2010 Results- Full Marathon:  4097 Finishers (2069 M/2028 F) &  Half Marathon: 17609 Finishers (5033 M/12576 F)

Hmm…I’ll admit this elevation profile looks a little daunting.  I have no doubt that those hills will really suck, but they are all fairly short (at most 1 mile long) compared to the flatter, longer hills in Nashville and San Diego.  I keep telling myself that 1 mile at 4% on the treadmill is ~200 feet elevation climb-  pretty much what mile 17 looks like & I can handle that (hopefully).  I’m not looking to go out after an PR’s here- especially with these hills, no food support, and a forecast for rain.  I’ve been a bit under the weather this week & just finishing up some antibiotics, so I’m just looking to finish marathon 12.

Here again is my race gear- fuel belt, food, and accessories ready to go.  Last time somebody asked how I carried all that food & I thought I’d show how I packed my 2 pouches with camera, chapstick, baby wipes, iPod, glucose tabs, peanut butter M&M’s, skittles and peanut butter crackers.  My plan is to leave a food bag around mile 8-9 if I can find a place & then somewhere around 16/21 to get more food.  I’ll be carrying cash in case the food bags are missing (I’m putting them out 2 days early on Thursday afternoon) so I can just pop into a gas station for more fuel.  I packed a complete change of warm clothes for after the race since it may still be cool, windy and rainy.

Chapstick, glucose, a 4-pack of crackers and M&M’s into the smaller pocket with a broken zipper.  The baby wipes, Tylenol & cash gets zipped up securely in the larger pocket before I toss in my camera & Pod, topped off with a bag of skittles.

Here are some of the other race reviews that I found helpful.  My big takeaway was that it will be pretty crowded with half-marathoners.  The first few miles along the lake are very scenic. There are a few bridges & several intimidating hills (that are all repeated on the loops).  I’m be glad to take a running break after this race until the fall.  I’m looking forward to the cooler weather & beautiful scenery.

2009 Full Race Review

2010 Full Race Review

2010 Full Race Review (very helpful, 2 parts)

2010 Full Race Review

2010 Full Race Review (very helpful)

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Had a great relaxing tour of Whidbey Island on Friday.