Here's to these types of family traditions.
Showing posts with label run-road. Show all posts
Showing posts with label run-road. Show all posts
01 December 2019
pacing Lucca at the Seattle Marathon
I am so proud of Lucca! 2019 was the eighth time we have run the Seattle Marathon together and this year she got within 59 seconds of her marathon PR. Wow!
Here's to these types of family traditions.
Here's to these types of family traditions.
13 October 2019
Dawg Dash 10k
Gosh, I think the Alaska Airlines Dawg Dash is my first 10k ever and other than a 5k I ran years ago in Seward Park, it's my shortest race in a very, very long time. And you know what? Short is fun but it's also not easy. :)
This was my first hard effort after dropping out of the Whistler Alpine Meadows 100 mile race (mostly) due to Plantar Fasciitis three weeks ago and it was so awesome to be able to push the pace again. And just to run!
I've been healing up from various ailments lately. About five weeks ago I pinched a nerve in my neck/shoulder that has taken ages to calm down and it still has a ways to go. Four weeks ago I got struck down with Plantar Fasciitis and one week ago I took a tumble off my mountain bike and bruised my ribs. All three of these things were "fists" for me and here's hoping I don't get a second opportunity to experience any of them as they all suck.
But I've running for about one week now and in a moment of exuberance/frustration I signed up for this race. Turns out it was a great idea.
Feeling like I needed to log some training miles I jogged over to the race. Quite by accident, I timed my arrival perfectly showing up about 20 minutes prior to the gun. This was just enough time to hit the bathroom, drop my running vest off at the gear check, have a gel and a sip of water, and stroll leisurely over to the start line. Go!
Wow, it has also been a very, very long time since I have run with 1000 people! What a zoo. I didn't start in the front as I had no idea if I could go fast so I had to slalom in and out of people for almost one mile in order not to get slowed down. It was kind of like playing Frogger.
After that first mile when traffic finally started to thin out and I thought my pace was something I could sustain, I notice a man who looked like he was in my age group some distance ahead of me. I figured why not try to hang with him...? So, of course, he immediately proceeded to put time into me.
Oh well, I was just having a blast running around the Univesity District. The course was super fun! We ran up to Ravenna Park, down through the park and then along the Burke Gillman Trail, and then snaked our way back and forth through the UW campus for the second half of the race. This is not a flat course and there are a lot of corners, I like that.
Around the mile 3 sign I saw this guy again. But I couldn't go any faster! So I just tried to hang on and hopefully, he would fade some. In retrospect, I managed my pace pretty perfectly. I was only passing people and never got passed. And with about 1 km to go, we hit a long, draggy hill and I managed to ease past this guy and then held him off on the last descent to the finish. Yes! There is always a race within the race and if only you know what the rules are it dramatically increases your odds of winning. :) Turns out he was not in my age group, he was younger. Still, he was an awesome carrot.
It was exciting when the 10k and 5k runners merged around mile 4, we entered campus and suddenly there is a stream of runners coming at us from the left. You had to pay attention!
The start was right next to Red Square and the finish was in Red Square. As soon as you crossed the line you got your finishers medal and they had a tent of laptops set up so you could check your results stat. the guy I was chasing for the whole race literally went straight to a computer and looked up his result. But then so did I once I saw this was possible. :)
I'm pretty sure I went as fast as I could given my current fitness and injuries. I didn't hurt myself and I had a good time, what a relief!
After the race I hung out for a bit, drank some water, ate half a banana and then jogged home. Oh man was that a slow return trip but you know what? It was also fun! I paid zero attention to the pace and just reveled in the fact that my foot was not hurting. And I had music so all was good. On the way home I just followed my nose and also didn't worry about the route. Good times.
I did see one sad thing running back tho. :(
For those of you that don't know, these white Ghost Bikes are memorials to cyclists that have been killed. All the flowers make me believe this was recent. And it's a kid's bike.
I used to ride my bike to races pretty frequently, maybe I should sign up for some more local running events.
Results
This was my first hard effort after dropping out of the Whistler Alpine Meadows 100 mile race (mostly) due to Plantar Fasciitis three weeks ago and it was so awesome to be able to push the pace again. And just to run!
I've been healing up from various ailments lately. About five weeks ago I pinched a nerve in my neck/shoulder that has taken ages to calm down and it still has a ways to go. Four weeks ago I got struck down with Plantar Fasciitis and one week ago I took a tumble off my mountain bike and bruised my ribs. All three of these things were "fists" for me and here's hoping I don't get a second opportunity to experience any of them as they all suck.
But I've running for about one week now and in a moment of exuberance/frustration I signed up for this race. Turns out it was a great idea.
Feeling like I needed to log some training miles I jogged over to the race. Quite by accident, I timed my arrival perfectly showing up about 20 minutes prior to the gun. This was just enough time to hit the bathroom, drop my running vest off at the gear check, have a gel and a sip of water, and stroll leisurely over to the start line. Go!
Wow, it has also been a very, very long time since I have run with 1000 people! What a zoo. I didn't start in the front as I had no idea if I could go fast so I had to slalom in and out of people for almost one mile in order not to get slowed down. It was kind of like playing Frogger.
After that first mile when traffic finally started to thin out and I thought my pace was something I could sustain, I notice a man who looked like he was in my age group some distance ahead of me. I figured why not try to hang with him...? So, of course, he immediately proceeded to put time into me.
Oh well, I was just having a blast running around the Univesity District. The course was super fun! We ran up to Ravenna Park, down through the park and then along the Burke Gillman Trail, and then snaked our way back and forth through the UW campus for the second half of the race. This is not a flat course and there are a lot of corners, I like that.
Around the mile 3 sign I saw this guy again. But I couldn't go any faster! So I just tried to hang on and hopefully, he would fade some. In retrospect, I managed my pace pretty perfectly. I was only passing people and never got passed. And with about 1 km to go, we hit a long, draggy hill and I managed to ease past this guy and then held him off on the last descent to the finish. Yes! There is always a race within the race and if only you know what the rules are it dramatically increases your odds of winning. :) Turns out he was not in my age group, he was younger. Still, he was an awesome carrot.
It was exciting when the 10k and 5k runners merged around mile 4, we entered campus and suddenly there is a stream of runners coming at us from the left. You had to pay attention!
The start was right next to Red Square and the finish was in Red Square. As soon as you crossed the line you got your finishers medal and they had a tent of laptops set up so you could check your results stat. the guy I was chasing for the whole race literally went straight to a computer and looked up his result. But then so did I once I saw this was possible. :)
I'm pretty sure I went as fast as I could given my current fitness and injuries. I didn't hurt myself and I had a good time, what a relief!
After the race I hung out for a bit, drank some water, ate half a banana and then jogged home. Oh man was that a slow return trip but you know what? It was also fun! I paid zero attention to the pace and just reveled in the fact that my foot was not hurting. And I had music so all was good. On the way home I just followed my nose and also didn't worry about the route. Good times.
I did see one sad thing running back tho. :(
For those of you that don't know, these white Ghost Bikes are memorials to cyclists that have been killed. All the flowers make me believe this was recent. And it's a kid's bike.
I used to ride my bike to races pretty frequently, maybe I should sign up for some more local running events.
Results
- 3rd - Men 55-59
- 34th - Overall
- official results
Nutrition (before)
- Hammer Bar and black tea with milk around 5:30 AM
- 1 Hammer Gel and water 10 minutes before start
Nutrition (during)
- nothing
Nutrition (after)
- water
- half a banana
- 2 scoops Recoverite when I got home
- a giant lunch right after my shower
Gear
- Topo Athletic Ultrafly 2 shoes
- Superfeet Run comfort insoles
- Stance socks
- Path Projects Tahoe CL 5" Base Liner
- Path Projects Sykes PX 7" Shorts
- Craft extreme short sleeve undershirt
- The North Face short sleeve shirt
- The Polka Dot Jersey trucker hat
27 April 2019
REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon
REVEL Mt Charleston Marathon baby!
Oh man, some people sure do LOVE their marathons... and apparently a ton of people also love downhill marathons since qualifying for prestigious events like Boston or New York is such a big deal. Hence the REVEL series where every single event seems to lose elevation. This particular event loses FIVE THOUSAND FEET. I know, right? #mindblown
I signed up for this not to go PR hunting, rather I figured a long, downhill run would be great training for big trail races. Turns out it was. And I did get a marathon PR...
Also, just a few weeks ago I said I had run my first road race in years, now I have run two in the same year!
<rant>
I'll just get this out of the way right now. If your race is so freaking popular that you need to keep tweaking the qualifying time, why don't you require people to qualify on a similar course? Similar in terms of distance obviously, but how about also similar in terms of elevation lost or gained? Seems so basic to me and I don't even play a race promotor on television...
</rant>
And yes, I know those rant tags are an old (and tired, and worn out) joke, but so am I. Suck it.
I was worried that since this race is just outside of Las Vegas it would a scorcher! I needn't have. Not only were the temperatures really comfy (48 degrees at the start and about 75 degrees at the finish - for me anyway), the pre-race announcement said that in past years they have had snow at the start! Yes, it did climb up into the low 90s later in the day but unless you are going to take over four hours and assuming you have a hydration plan you should be good.
Still, the organizers didn't take any chances. The start time was 5:30 AM. And since you need to get shuttled up to the top of Mt Charleston, the bus from town leaves at 3:30 AM. After some rudimentary math, you'll understand why I had to set my alarm for 2:00 AM. Ouch. Of course being in Las Vegas I briefly entertained the thought of not going to sleep at all... luckily that didn't last long. I think the "nap" I got was the smart call.
So here was my morning.
2:00 AM - wake up
2:30 AM - grab a Lyft to the shopping mall where you can catch the shuttle
3:45 AM - board the last possible shuttle bus so I don't spend needless time shivering at the top
4:30 AM - arrive at the start, realize it is not totally freezing and do a little happy dance
4:45 AM - get in line for the porta-potties, because, well, they tend to get busy
5:15 AM - put my warm clothes in my drop bag and toss it into the bag truck
5:20 AM - eat my gels and saunter over to the start
5:25 AM - hem and haw a bit about which pacer to follow...
5:30 AM - start running
Pro tip: for a downhill marathon, there are a few (read: more than two) significant "little" climbs in the first half of this course. It is not all downhill in other words.
Oh man, I felt great! Running downhill is fun!
My plan was to shoot for sub 3:10 but as the 3:05 pacers (there were a pair of them) slowly eased past me my plan changed. :) I know, classic. But in my defense, I have never run a marathon with this much elevation loss so didn't really have a good idea of what I could do or could not do. Plus, I have only ever run two marathons for a time in my life. The first was WAY back in 2012 and the second was in 2016. Suffice it to say that my marathon pacing was one big, fat guess.
6:30-6:40 miles had never felt so good! I could have had a freaking conversation out there. Heck, I could have made a sandwich while I was running. Easy peasy.
On the third(?) little climb I felt like running was not quite as easy as it used to be. But so what, right? By this time I had left the 3:05 pacers in my rearview mirror but I was still trying to convince myself that I was being cautious as the 3:00 pacer was nowhere to be seen and while on the downhill RUNNING WAS STILL SO DAMN EASY.
Here's another pro tip: the elevation profile of this race is misleading.
From this picture (which never has enough detail), you might assume (as did I) that the course doesn't really flatten out significantly until about mile 20. Oops, it doesn't feel like that. I could have sworn the grade changed quite a bit around mile 16. And it also sure felt significantly flatter way back when you pass the half marathon start. :( But if you're going to believe science (and who wouldn't do that?), my Strava elevation profile confirms what the race advertises, namely that the course doesn't really flatten that much until around mile 20 or even mile 22.
So be ready for it to feel loads flatter way earlier than you think. Just saying.
As I cruised past the halfway point I looked at my watch and I was still crushing it at sub 6:50 pace. But I was starting to get concerned that this wasn't going to last. I decided to turn this into an experiment/training run and see if I could go under 3:00. All I had to do was average under 7:00/mile from here to the finish. :)
Well with about six miles to go that still seemed possible but I'll cop to counting one or two proverbial chickens. Then at the mile 23 aid station there is a hill. And I was walking. And I started to feel like I look in this photo.
Rats.
But that's what experiments are for, you need to learn. Now I was just trying to fall apart as little as possible/as slowly as possible. Every time I did run I kept telling myself that 7:30 pace or even 8:00 shouldn't be this tough but it was and I could only manage something around 8:30. And I could only run about .25 miles before I had to walk a few steps again. Wow, when the end comes, it can come quickly.
Somewhere between this last aid station and the finish the 3:05 pacers passed me back.
Finally, I saw the finish line arch which was at most .5 miles away. But even then I had to walk one more time before I could run it in.
With about 50 meters to go you do a tight u-turn and I felt one of my legs cramp. Apparently, that finish could not come soon enough. :)
Whew! My only regret is that my heart rate strap decided today was a good day to take a vacation. Darn. At least it's not uncomfortable. Otherwise, I had a ton of type 2 fun today.
At the finish they took great care of the runners. There was a massage tent, cold/wet towels (I took an incredible feeling sponge bath), lots of cold water/coconut water/chocolate milk, and your number bib included a coupon for one piece of Dominos pizza, one pint of beer, and one slice of pie. I skipped the (sweet) pie. You could hang out pretty much as long as you wanted and then you could collect your drop bag from the start and board a shuttle back to the mall. Which is where Shelley picked me up. Yeah! No Lyft ride back home!
Here I am waiting at the mall in a much better mood than I was with two miles to go.
And whatever happened to the 3:00 pacer? I never did see him out on the course after the first mile... Turns out he went out way too fast and blew up himself! I heard he finished in around 3:08 or 3:10. I bet there were some angry people. Justifiably in my humble opinion. If you're gonna pace (and thanks to all the people that do!), the time should be verifiably well within your wheelhouse and not some sort of overly optimistic personal goal.
Things I learned and reinforced.
Oh man, some people sure do LOVE their marathons... and apparently a ton of people also love downhill marathons since qualifying for prestigious events like Boston or New York is such a big deal. Hence the REVEL series where every single event seems to lose elevation. This particular event loses FIVE THOUSAND FEET. I know, right? #mindblown
I signed up for this not to go PR hunting, rather I figured a long, downhill run would be great training for big trail races. Turns out it was. And I did get a marathon PR...
Also, just a few weeks ago I said I had run my first road race in years, now I have run two in the same year!
<rant>
I'll just get this out of the way right now. If your race is so freaking popular that you need to keep tweaking the qualifying time, why don't you require people to qualify on a similar course? Similar in terms of distance obviously, but how about also similar in terms of elevation lost or gained? Seems so basic to me and I don't even play a race promotor on television...
</rant>
And yes, I know those rant tags are an old (and tired, and worn out) joke, but so am I. Suck it.
I was worried that since this race is just outside of Las Vegas it would a scorcher! I needn't have. Not only were the temperatures really comfy (48 degrees at the start and about 75 degrees at the finish - for me anyway), the pre-race announcement said that in past years they have had snow at the start! Yes, it did climb up into the low 90s later in the day but unless you are going to take over four hours and assuming you have a hydration plan you should be good.
Still, the organizers didn't take any chances. The start time was 5:30 AM. And since you need to get shuttled up to the top of Mt Charleston, the bus from town leaves at 3:30 AM. After some rudimentary math, you'll understand why I had to set my alarm for 2:00 AM. Ouch. Of course being in Las Vegas I briefly entertained the thought of not going to sleep at all... luckily that didn't last long. I think the "nap" I got was the smart call.
So here was my morning.
2:00 AM - wake up
2:30 AM - grab a Lyft to the shopping mall where you can catch the shuttle
3:45 AM - board the last possible shuttle bus so I don't spend needless time shivering at the top
4:30 AM - arrive at the start, realize it is not totally freezing and do a little happy dance
4:45 AM - get in line for the porta-potties, because, well, they tend to get busy
5:15 AM - put my warm clothes in my drop bag and toss it into the bag truck
5:20 AM - eat my gels and saunter over to the start
5:25 AM - hem and haw a bit about which pacer to follow...
5:30 AM - start running
Pro tip: for a downhill marathon, there are a few (read: more than two) significant "little" climbs in the first half of this course. It is not all downhill in other words.
Oh man, I felt great! Running downhill is fun!
My plan was to shoot for sub 3:10 but as the 3:05 pacers (there were a pair of them) slowly eased past me my plan changed. :) I know, classic. But in my defense, I have never run a marathon with this much elevation loss so didn't really have a good idea of what I could do or could not do. Plus, I have only ever run two marathons for a time in my life. The first was WAY back in 2012 and the second was in 2016. Suffice it to say that my marathon pacing was one big, fat guess.
6:30-6:40 miles had never felt so good! I could have had a freaking conversation out there. Heck, I could have made a sandwich while I was running. Easy peasy.
On the third(?) little climb I felt like running was not quite as easy as it used to be. But so what, right? By this time I had left the 3:05 pacers in my rearview mirror but I was still trying to convince myself that I was being cautious as the 3:00 pacer was nowhere to be seen and while on the downhill RUNNING WAS STILL SO DAMN EASY.
Here's another pro tip: the elevation profile of this race is misleading.
From this picture (which never has enough detail), you might assume (as did I) that the course doesn't really flatten out significantly until about mile 20. Oops, it doesn't feel like that. I could have sworn the grade changed quite a bit around mile 16. And it also sure felt significantly flatter way back when you pass the half marathon start. :( But if you're going to believe science (and who wouldn't do that?), my Strava elevation profile confirms what the race advertises, namely that the course doesn't really flatten that much until around mile 20 or even mile 22.
So be ready for it to feel loads flatter way earlier than you think. Just saying.
As I cruised past the halfway point I looked at my watch and I was still crushing it at sub 6:50 pace. But I was starting to get concerned that this wasn't going to last. I decided to turn this into an experiment/training run and see if I could go under 3:00. All I had to do was average under 7:00/mile from here to the finish. :)
Well with about six miles to go that still seemed possible but I'll cop to counting one or two proverbial chickens. Then at the mile 23 aid station there is a hill. And I was walking. And I started to feel like I look in this photo.
Rats.
But that's what experiments are for, you need to learn. Now I was just trying to fall apart as little as possible/as slowly as possible. Every time I did run I kept telling myself that 7:30 pace or even 8:00 shouldn't be this tough but it was and I could only manage something around 8:30. And I could only run about .25 miles before I had to walk a few steps again. Wow, when the end comes, it can come quickly.
Somewhere between this last aid station and the finish the 3:05 pacers passed me back.
Finally, I saw the finish line arch which was at most .5 miles away. But even then I had to walk one more time before I could run it in.
With about 50 meters to go you do a tight u-turn and I felt one of my legs cramp. Apparently, that finish could not come soon enough. :)
Whew! My only regret is that my heart rate strap decided today was a good day to take a vacation. Darn. At least it's not uncomfortable. Otherwise, I had a ton of type 2 fun today.
At the finish they took great care of the runners. There was a massage tent, cold/wet towels (I took an incredible feeling sponge bath), lots of cold water/coconut water/chocolate milk, and your number bib included a coupon for one piece of Dominos pizza, one pint of beer, and one slice of pie. I skipped the (sweet) pie. You could hang out pretty much as long as you wanted and then you could collect your drop bag from the start and board a shuttle back to the mall. Which is where Shelley picked me up. Yeah! No Lyft ride back home!
Here I am waiting at the mall in a much better mood than I was with two miles to go.
And whatever happened to the 3:00 pacer? I never did see him out on the course after the first mile... Turns out he went out way too fast and blew up himself! I heard he finished in around 3:08 or 3:10. I bet there were some angry people. Justifiably in my humble opinion. If you're gonna pace (and thanks to all the people that do!), the time should be verifiably well within your wheelhouse and not some sort of overly optimistic personal goal.
Things I learned and reinforced.
- Don't mess with success! I have been carrying all of my nutrition for every race these past two years and it works. So on this day, I opted for the very un-road racy vest with two big bottles. But you know what? I had everything I needed and never stopped at an aid station. I did cramp right there at the end but I call that perfect timing. :)
- Just because it isn't super hot according to the thermometer, doesn't mean it isn't a tough day. In the dry, desert air, I just don't have a good handle on how much I am sweating because it evaporates so fast. I was going through way more liquid than I thought. I had some good salt stains going on at the finish. I have never seen so many people get a ride in an ambulance because of heat as in this race.
- Hey, it's a downhill dummy! Don't skimp on the cushion in your shoes. Luckily I wore my most cushioned shoes and it was absolutely the right call. I saw some people in ridiculous (read: light and thin) footwear, I hope they didn't regret it.
- Take everything. Who knew the weather was going to cooperate like this? I had sleeves, a knit hat, an undershirt, and even a rain jacket in my drop bag. It's a great feeling when you packed the right outfit.
- If you want to run your fastest here, best to tap the brakes just a little more than you think you need to in the first half, trust me. I'm going to speculate that for most people this course will let you go about 10 minutes faster than a flat one will, plan accordingly with your pacing. And if you end up going 12 minutes faster because you had that much left in the tank, you can thank me later.
Here are all my pictures.
Results
- 1st - Men 55-59 (3:04:35)
- official results
Nutrition (before)
- water
- black tea with milk (at 2:15 AM)
- a Bonk Breaker bar I stole out of my brother in law's sports nutrition stash (at 2:15 AM)
- 2 Hammer Gels 5 minutes before the start
Nutrition (during)
- 2 large bottles each with 1.5 scoops Hammer HEED, 1 scoop Endurolytes Extreme Powder, .5 scoop Fully Charged
- 3 Hammer Gels
Nutrition (after)
- 2 scoops Recoverite
- lots of water
- lots of coconut water
- 1 piece of pizza
- 1 beer
Gear
- Topo Athletic Ultrafly 2 shoes
- Stance Run crew length socks
- Topo Athletic Team Shorts
- Hammer Nutrition sleeveless running shirt
- Topo Athletic Team Running Hat
- Ultimate Direction Race Vest 4.0
- Garmin fenix 3 GPS watch
- Stryd Running Power Meter
24 March 2019
Mercer Island Half Marathon
I couldn't have picked a better day for a road race. It wasn't too hot, it wasn't too cold, it was dry, I had tons of friends and clubmates running in the Mercer Island Half Marathon, and there were even friends by the side of the course cheering us on. Nice!
It has been years since I have run a half marathon or any road race for that matter. I got into ultra trail races specifically because it was not necessarily about going fast and more (for me) about adventuring. Turns out it's still fun to try and go fast every once in a while.
Pro tip: Mercer Island is not an ideal course if you want to shoot for a PR, it's hilly! What's funny is I have ridden my bicycle around the island a thousand times and I've even run this loop a couple of times but at race pace, the hills are much more noticeable. :)
I rode my bike to the start (of course) and so got to avoid the traffic jam and parking hassle. I was off to a good start. While I was changing my shoes in the parking lot I stumbled on Wick, it has been ages since I have seen this guy and it was super to catch up.
My stated goal was to run sub 1:35 but my secret goal was to run 1:30. Don't we all have secret goals? Of course we do, we're human after all. Plus, my coach was like, "I think you can maintain a 6:55 pace (1:30:40) no problem!" This after us having worked together for a few weeks?! No pressure.
I almost took a vest with me... then I realized I was being an idiot (and would look like an idiot) and that this was only 13 miles so I went with a handheld bottle instead. But I still carried all of my nutrition! Some things are best left unchanged.
It seemed like half of my running club (Seattle Running Club) was lined up in the front row, these people are legit fast! And there is always a big contingent of Club Northwest runners at this event.
Ready, set, go!
The start of this course is downhill so when I first glanced at my watch I was right on target pace. Then it flattens out. I was still on my target pace but we had only run about two miles! Then it kind of drags uphill just a tad. Now I was no longer running my target pace and I was actually feeling like crap! So I slowed down just a little. Another mile or two later and my crappiness had intensified so I slowed down again. :( Not the auspicious outing I was hoping for.
As we headed around the island I kept looking for carrots but each one either ran away from me or passed me. First, it was Trisha Steidl, then this tattooed woman in a Club Northwest singlet that everyone knows except for me. Then some guy in a red singlet. By this time I felt like I was just jogging along except I was still massively short of breath. How is that even possible?
Finally, about halfway around the island, I saw this man in front of me that appeared to be in my age group. I resolved to (hopefully) not to let him drop me. Motivation!
The only problem was he would fly down every descent! On the climbs, I would slowly real him in and then he would repeat this surge on the next downhill and open up a gap again. In my mind, I fancy myself a reasonable descender so this was baffling to me. But I guess pavement and technical trails are not the same things. And, I'm probably not as fast going downhill as I think I am. :) As we got closer to the finish I kept visualizing the course up ahead so I would know when we got to the last significant climb. I finally resolved to make my "move" on the second to last hill, the one that takes you up and over I-90.
The approach to this climb is a long downhill so I pushed a little more not to let this guy get too far ahead of me. It worked and we started the climb less than 50' apart. And by the top I had a big lead. Whew! One more short descent, and one more short climb and I was done. On this last hill heading up to the Mercer Island Community Center I heard Ben Luedke cheer me on, that was awesome!
[Photo credit Ben Luedke.]
I'm not positive if the guy I was racing was in my age group or not but I barely won my age group so if nothing else he really helped push me. Thanks random guy!
In the end, it's obvious that I did not slow down nearly as much as I thought I did or I rallied way more than I thought I was capable of in the second half. There's a lesson buried in there somewhere (maybe something like start slow, finish strong) but whatev... :)
When I told my sister Lucca about my run, she let me know this race was her first running race ever. At that race my mother Ulrike was pacing Lucca. Ulrike was pretty fast in her own right and very well known in the running community. As they would run past supporters and friends and volunteers people would say things like, "Ulrike, what are you doing way back (in the pack) here...?!" It did make me smile.
The bike ride back home felt wonderful.
Here are all my pictures.
Results
It has been years since I have run a half marathon or any road race for that matter. I got into ultra trail races specifically because it was not necessarily about going fast and more (for me) about adventuring. Turns out it's still fun to try and go fast every once in a while.
Pro tip: Mercer Island is not an ideal course if you want to shoot for a PR, it's hilly! What's funny is I have ridden my bicycle around the island a thousand times and I've even run this loop a couple of times but at race pace, the hills are much more noticeable. :)
I rode my bike to the start (of course) and so got to avoid the traffic jam and parking hassle. I was off to a good start. While I was changing my shoes in the parking lot I stumbled on Wick, it has been ages since I have seen this guy and it was super to catch up.
My stated goal was to run sub 1:35 but my secret goal was to run 1:30. Don't we all have secret goals? Of course we do, we're human after all. Plus, my coach was like, "I think you can maintain a 6:55 pace (1:30:40) no problem!" This after us having worked together for a few weeks?! No pressure.
I almost took a vest with me... then I realized I was being an idiot (and would look like an idiot) and that this was only 13 miles so I went with a handheld bottle instead. But I still carried all of my nutrition! Some things are best left unchanged.
It seemed like half of my running club (Seattle Running Club) was lined up in the front row, these people are legit fast! And there is always a big contingent of Club Northwest runners at this event.
Ready, set, go!
The start of this course is downhill so when I first glanced at my watch I was right on target pace. Then it flattens out. I was still on my target pace but we had only run about two miles! Then it kind of drags uphill just a tad. Now I was no longer running my target pace and I was actually feeling like crap! So I slowed down just a little. Another mile or two later and my crappiness had intensified so I slowed down again. :( Not the auspicious outing I was hoping for.
As we headed around the island I kept looking for carrots but each one either ran away from me or passed me. First, it was Trisha Steidl, then this tattooed woman in a Club Northwest singlet that everyone knows except for me. Then some guy in a red singlet. By this time I felt like I was just jogging along except I was still massively short of breath. How is that even possible?
Finally, about halfway around the island, I saw this man in front of me that appeared to be in my age group. I resolved to (hopefully) not to let him drop me. Motivation!
The only problem was he would fly down every descent! On the climbs, I would slowly real him in and then he would repeat this surge on the next downhill and open up a gap again. In my mind, I fancy myself a reasonable descender so this was baffling to me. But I guess pavement and technical trails are not the same things. And, I'm probably not as fast going downhill as I think I am. :) As we got closer to the finish I kept visualizing the course up ahead so I would know when we got to the last significant climb. I finally resolved to make my "move" on the second to last hill, the one that takes you up and over I-90.
The approach to this climb is a long downhill so I pushed a little more not to let this guy get too far ahead of me. It worked and we started the climb less than 50' apart. And by the top I had a big lead. Whew! One more short descent, and one more short climb and I was done. On this last hill heading up to the Mercer Island Community Center I heard Ben Luedke cheer me on, that was awesome!
[Photo credit Ben Luedke.]
I'm not positive if the guy I was racing was in my age group or not but I barely won my age group so if nothing else he really helped push me. Thanks random guy!
In the end, it's obvious that I did not slow down nearly as much as I thought I did or I rallied way more than I thought I was capable of in the second half. There's a lesson buried in there somewhere (maybe something like start slow, finish strong) but whatev... :)
When I told my sister Lucca about my run, she let me know this race was her first running race ever. At that race my mother Ulrike was pacing Lucca. Ulrike was pretty fast in her own right and very well known in the running community. As they would run past supporters and friends and volunteers people would say things like, "Ulrike, what are you doing way back (in the pack) here...?!" It did make me smile.
The bike ride back home felt wonderful.
Here are all my pictures.
Results
- 1st - Men 55-59 (1:30:43)
- official results
I was just 1:10 ahead of 2nd place and my average pace was 6:56. Way to work the tea leaves coach.
Nutrition (before)
- water
- 1 Hammer Gel 10 minutes before the start
Nutrition (during)
- large bottle with 1.5 scoops Hammer HEED
- 1 Hammer Gel
Nutrition (after)
- 2 scoops Recoverite
- water
- half a doughnut, but it was gross so I didn't finish it
Gear
- Topo Athletic Fli-Lyte 2 shoes
- Stance Run crew length socks
- Topo Athletic team shorts
- Craft Extreme Short Sleeve Baselayer
- Seattle Running Club singlet
- Brooks gloves
- Topo Athletic Team Hat
- Garmin fenix 3 GPS watch
- Stryd Running Power Meter
25 November 2018
pacing Lucca at the Seattle Marathon
Wow! For three reasons.
I'll get the Martin stuff out of the way stat so we can talk about the real star here, Lucca.
In my early years of running, I would routinely get overuse injuries. This was in part because I was overusing my body but also because I was not wearing the best shoes for me and because I did not know how to take care of myself. This year my injury was a real accident and not related to running at all. On October 20 I was riding home on my scooter when it slid out in a corner and I landed on my ass. Hard. Say hello to soft tissue injury! This injury was bad enough that I couldn't do anything for one week and could only do light gym work the second week. The third week I was able to ride my bike to work but I couldn't actually run until a little later. This left me just a few precious days to get in some miles and to taper/rest.
Hahaha...
Okay, the first thing I abandoned was the taper. After a couple of super duper cautious and short treadmill runs I ventured outside, my progression went like this.
Oct 21 - I try to ride my bike before I realize how serious my injury is and abort and hit the couch, sideways, because I can't actually sit on anything
Oct 22-28 - go stir crazy
Oct 29-Nov 11 - some light gym work + walking
Nov 12 - 3 miles on a treadmill
Nov 13 - stair workout
Nov 14 - 3 miles on a treadmill
Nov 15 - 6 miles on pavement
Nov 16 - 2 miles on a treadmill
Nov 17 - 6 miles on pavement
Nov 18 - 10 miles on trails
Nov 20 - stair workout
Nov 21 - 6 miles on a treadmill
Nov 22 - 10 miles on trails
Nov 23 - 6 miles on pavement
Nov 25 - Seattle Marathon
Now for the real story.
Lucca's official 2019 Boston qualifying time is 4:00 but because this race is so darn popular, her "improved" time is 3:55. So we set out with a goal of 3:55 and a dream time of 3:50. Lucca's Marathon PR is just sub 3:45 but she was recently coming off of a three-week break from running so didn't have the luxury of ideal preparation either.
Some numbers:
3:55 = 8:57 pace
3:50 = 8:46 pace
We both agreed that as long as we were seeing an 8:50 pace on our watches most of the time we should be good.
Ready, set, go!
As in years past, I carried all of our nutrition. Not needing to stop at aid stations in ANY race reaps you big rewards and hey, there is no rule that you have to use the nutrition supplied by the event so as usual, I was about the only person looking like I was heading out for an all-day adventure in the woods instead of like someone running a supported marathon.
I had two bottles up front and an extra one in back and I was carrying enough gel for both of us. I was also carrying my wallet (which contained my bus pass) and phone so I wouldn't be stranded in the event of a worst-case scenario. One real benefit of wearing a vest is you can use it to stash your clothes and as it happened, we had a freaking perfect day for running. It was a little cold (for me anyway) at the start but by the finish, neither of us were wearing gloves, Lucca had ditched her Buff and I would have been more comfy with one less shirt. Not too shabby for late November in Seattle! Another bonus of carrying your nutrition is you always get to eat/drink exactly what you want. And yes, I'm looking at you Hammer Nutrition, this stuff is SO good.
This year we got into the runner's corral a bit too far back. You would think it's easy to pass people on a four-lane road but not so much when it's this many people. At the very least you need to expend some extra energy weaving in and out of the crowd and it took us all the way down 5th Ave where we finally turned onto the I-5 Express Lanes before we saw the 3:45 pacer. Whew, now we could relax and slowly let them get out of sight again. :)
The course for the Seattle Marathon was new again this year. Gone is the iconic, scenic stretch along Lake Washington Blvd and instead we got to run a big out-and-back along the Burke Gilman Trail. And then another out-and-back on the Burke Gilman Trail.
First, some history.
Last year, because of Link Light Rail construction, the promoters had to abandon the out-and-back on the I-90 floating bridge. To make up for the lost miles they added some (hilly) miles in the Arboretum and to get to Lake WA Blvd from downtown Seattle you had to climb up and over a ridge. I guess some people complained about the extra elevation gain?! Anyway, this year they kept pushing the Burke Gilman route as a good thing.
"That's 25% less elevation gain on the half marathon course and 21% less on the full marathon! You're welcome."
Road runners... sheesh.
When I first heard that we were running on the Burke Gilman Trail I was 1) horrified (so flat, so boring) and 2) worried that this relatively narrow stretch of pavement would cause real safety issues with running traffic going in both directions. On a trail that is super popular on the weekends! Thank goodness my fears were mostly unrealized. When we saw the lead trio of runners, they only had one lead bicycle in front of them which I thought was insufficient but everyone else was spread out enough by the time they got to the trail to avoid any serious issues. The turn around on the Burke was kind of tight tho...
The route took us from Memorial Stadium south down 5th Ave as usual which is pretty cool. You are running under the Monorail so if you don't watch out, you might run into one of the concrete supports for the track. :)
From 5th Ave we turned onto the I-5 Express Lanes and headed north. On most any other day this would have been a highlight since these lanes are covered and it's usually pissing rain in Seattle this time of year but on this day it was just a few miles of running on really worn out concrete. Not that exciting. Until you pop out into the open, then you have a great view of Lake Union and Gas Works Park. And the race course is FIVE LANES WIDE. We took the 42nd St exit, dropped down one block to the trail and headed north on the Burke Gilman.
Lucca was doing great so far! And luckily, so was I! Our main concern here was just not going too fast. We still had the 3:45 pacer in sight but it's tricky to slow down just a few seconds per mile, especially since our GPS watches were telling us we were running anywhere between 8:00-10:20 pace. Not so helpful.
Running on the Burke was thankfully not nearly as bad as I anticipated. I was predicting a massive, soul-sucking experience mixed with chaos from all the race and recreational traffic but luckily my imagination was (as usual) overly active and running along with Lucca was pretty fun. We sipped, snacked and chatted our way out to Magnuson Park and then back to Fremont. On the way it was a thrill to see David Papineau who was running his 50th marathon on his 50th birthday. Boom! He was easy to spot due to the pointy, sparkly birthday hat he always wears at this event.
Lucca was stellar. I kept track of the elapsed time and whenever I handed her a bottle or gel, she took a sip or gulped it down. And when we had drained our first bottle, she even managed to pull the full bottle out from my vest and swap it with the empty one while we ran. Awesome. I guess I hate taking my vest off while running...
After rolling through Fremont we ran the second out-and-back which takes you a little further down the trail toward Ballard. This section was dull and had it not been for the Hale's Brewery aid station - WHERE THEY WERE HANDING OUT ACTUAL BEER - it would have been hard to muster much enthusiasm. As we ran past this aid station table, I saw some growlers out of the corner of my eye and reflexively my body swerved right toward the table.
Me: "Woah... are you guys handing out beer?"
Hale's Volunteer: "Yeah, but hurry up, they're kinda trying to shut is down..."
By this point, my body was fully and completely locked into our 8:50 ish pace. And I was exceeding my fitness by a LONG shot. In fact, I had not run a road marathon since this time last year and I had not run this long period since the Pine to Palm 100. Yikes!
After stopping to drink that tiny cup of beer I set off to catch Lucca. Oh. My. God. It was everything I could do to run at an 8:00 pace for the quarter mile or whatever it took to catch her. I'm just glad I was able to!
When we got to Fremont we turned left up Stoneway for what I thought was the last hill. We climbed up Stoneway for a few blocks and then turned left to climb up to Aurora and then climbed the gentle hill that is the Aurora Bridge. So far so good.
I had purposefully not been obsessively checking my watch every 30 seconds so when I glanced down near the top of the bridge with just over one mile left to go and with about 10 minutes to go before we hit 3:50 I got pretty excited! As we started to descend I tried to calmly tell Lucca that I thought we could make 3:50.
If you have ever been close to your limit you know it's easier said than done to increase your pace. But I wasn't worried, I figured if we just didn't slow down 3:50 was in the bag! I just wasn't going to advertise that fact too loudly since it's never over till it's really over.
Then we turned right off Aurora. And we were faced with a 3-block climb. Oh no...
Lucca dug deep. Eating and drinking were not going to help at this point so it was just a matter of pushing harder and gutting it out. We did slow down but we did not walk! And boy was it nice to finally turn left and see the entrance to Memorial Stadium ahead instead of the traditional last hill the old course had.
I tried to gradually ramp up the pace on the descent and Lucca was totally game! As we entered the stadium I was moving about as fast as I could and Lucca was right in front of me. I could see the clock above the finishing arch and right then I realized we were going to be a few seconds short of 3:50 but only seven!
You want proof that Lucca pushed hard? Here you go. Magically, her husband Bil caught this on camera.
But as soon as Lucca threw up (and it wasn't much at all) she was fine. Way to go Lucca!
What an awesome/amazing tradition! These past few years I have just been signing up for the Seattle Marathon as soon as possible because that is the least expensive price but more importantly, I'm 99% sure Lucca and I will be on the starting line again. Even if I get injured.
After the race, Lucca and I limped around for a bit and soaked in the relative warmth. It was a spectacular day! Then Lucca and Bil walked back to their hotel to get cleaned up and to take the train home to Leavenworth. I put on some warm, dry clothes and walked over to Feierabend to meet some friends for beers and brats. Yes, that walk felt good. Oh yeah, so did the food and drink.
Here's to another year of running with my sister! And here's to Lucca for being so darn rock solid throughout and being willing to dig that deep at the end. Did I mention we had consecutive race numbers? That was fun. And hearing the race announcer mention both of us as we approached the finish - while pronouncing "Criminale" correctly - is so cool.
Here are all the pictures and videos.
Results
- 2018 is the SEVENTH time I have run the Seattle Marathon with Lucca.
- Somehow I frequently manage to injure myself several weeks prior to this event so end up running a marathon essentially "off the couch". Ouch.
- Lucca doesn't seem to be slowing down so this isn't getting any easier!
Thankfully (surprisingly?) I managed to get the job done and not so surprisingly Lucca keeps logging Boston (and New York, etc.) qualifying times. Way to go Lucca!
I'll get the Martin stuff out of the way stat so we can talk about the real star here, Lucca.
In my early years of running, I would routinely get overuse injuries. This was in part because I was overusing my body but also because I was not wearing the best shoes for me and because I did not know how to take care of myself. This year my injury was a real accident and not related to running at all. On October 20 I was riding home on my scooter when it slid out in a corner and I landed on my ass. Hard. Say hello to soft tissue injury! This injury was bad enough that I couldn't do anything for one week and could only do light gym work the second week. The third week I was able to ride my bike to work but I couldn't actually run until a little later. This left me just a few precious days to get in some miles and to taper/rest.
Hahaha...
Okay, the first thing I abandoned was the taper. After a couple of super duper cautious and short treadmill runs I ventured outside, my progression went like this.
Oct 21 - I try to ride my bike before I realize how serious my injury is and abort and hit the couch, sideways, because I can't actually sit on anything
Oct 22-28 - go stir crazy
Oct 29-Nov 11 - some light gym work + walking
Nov 12 - 3 miles on a treadmill
Nov 13 - stair workout
Nov 14 - 3 miles on a treadmill
Nov 15 - 6 miles on pavement
Nov 16 - 2 miles on a treadmill
Nov 17 - 6 miles on pavement
Nov 18 - 10 miles on trails
Nov 20 - stair workout
Nov 21 - 6 miles on a treadmill
Nov 22 - 10 miles on trails
Nov 23 - 6 miles on pavement
Nov 25 - Seattle Marathon
Now for the real story.
Lucca's official 2019 Boston qualifying time is 4:00 but because this race is so darn popular, her "improved" time is 3:55. So we set out with a goal of 3:55 and a dream time of 3:50. Lucca's Marathon PR is just sub 3:45 but she was recently coming off of a three-week break from running so didn't have the luxury of ideal preparation either.
Some numbers:
3:55 = 8:57 pace
3:50 = 8:46 pace
We both agreed that as long as we were seeing an 8:50 pace on our watches most of the time we should be good.
Ready, set, go!
As in years past, I carried all of our nutrition. Not needing to stop at aid stations in ANY race reaps you big rewards and hey, there is no rule that you have to use the nutrition supplied by the event so as usual, I was about the only person looking like I was heading out for an all-day adventure in the woods instead of like someone running a supported marathon.
I had two bottles up front and an extra one in back and I was carrying enough gel for both of us. I was also carrying my wallet (which contained my bus pass) and phone so I wouldn't be stranded in the event of a worst-case scenario. One real benefit of wearing a vest is you can use it to stash your clothes and as it happened, we had a freaking perfect day for running. It was a little cold (for me anyway) at the start but by the finish, neither of us were wearing gloves, Lucca had ditched her Buff and I would have been more comfy with one less shirt. Not too shabby for late November in Seattle! Another bonus of carrying your nutrition is you always get to eat/drink exactly what you want. And yes, I'm looking at you Hammer Nutrition, this stuff is SO good.
This year we got into the runner's corral a bit too far back. You would think it's easy to pass people on a four-lane road but not so much when it's this many people. At the very least you need to expend some extra energy weaving in and out of the crowd and it took us all the way down 5th Ave where we finally turned onto the I-5 Express Lanes before we saw the 3:45 pacer. Whew, now we could relax and slowly let them get out of sight again. :)
The course for the Seattle Marathon was new again this year. Gone is the iconic, scenic stretch along Lake Washington Blvd and instead we got to run a big out-and-back along the Burke Gilman Trail. And then another out-and-back on the Burke Gilman Trail.
First, some history.
Last year, because of Link Light Rail construction, the promoters had to abandon the out-and-back on the I-90 floating bridge. To make up for the lost miles they added some (hilly) miles in the Arboretum and to get to Lake WA Blvd from downtown Seattle you had to climb up and over a ridge. I guess some people complained about the extra elevation gain?! Anyway, this year they kept pushing the Burke Gilman route as a good thing.
"That's 25% less elevation gain on the half marathon course and 21% less on the full marathon! You're welcome."
Road runners... sheesh.
When I first heard that we were running on the Burke Gilman Trail I was 1) horrified (so flat, so boring) and 2) worried that this relatively narrow stretch of pavement would cause real safety issues with running traffic going in both directions. On a trail that is super popular on the weekends! Thank goodness my fears were mostly unrealized. When we saw the lead trio of runners, they only had one lead bicycle in front of them which I thought was insufficient but everyone else was spread out enough by the time they got to the trail to avoid any serious issues. The turn around on the Burke was kind of tight tho...
The route took us from Memorial Stadium south down 5th Ave as usual which is pretty cool. You are running under the Monorail so if you don't watch out, you might run into one of the concrete supports for the track. :)
From 5th Ave we turned onto the I-5 Express Lanes and headed north. On most any other day this would have been a highlight since these lanes are covered and it's usually pissing rain in Seattle this time of year but on this day it was just a few miles of running on really worn out concrete. Not that exciting. Until you pop out into the open, then you have a great view of Lake Union and Gas Works Park. And the race course is FIVE LANES WIDE. We took the 42nd St exit, dropped down one block to the trail and headed north on the Burke Gilman.
Lucca was doing great so far! And luckily, so was I! Our main concern here was just not going too fast. We still had the 3:45 pacer in sight but it's tricky to slow down just a few seconds per mile, especially since our GPS watches were telling us we were running anywhere between 8:00-10:20 pace. Not so helpful.
Running on the Burke was thankfully not nearly as bad as I anticipated. I was predicting a massive, soul-sucking experience mixed with chaos from all the race and recreational traffic but luckily my imagination was (as usual) overly active and running along with Lucca was pretty fun. We sipped, snacked and chatted our way out to Magnuson Park and then back to Fremont. On the way it was a thrill to see David Papineau who was running his 50th marathon on his 50th birthday. Boom! He was easy to spot due to the pointy, sparkly birthday hat he always wears at this event.
Lucca was stellar. I kept track of the elapsed time and whenever I handed her a bottle or gel, she took a sip or gulped it down. And when we had drained our first bottle, she even managed to pull the full bottle out from my vest and swap it with the empty one while we ran. Awesome. I guess I hate taking my vest off while running...
After rolling through Fremont we ran the second out-and-back which takes you a little further down the trail toward Ballard. This section was dull and had it not been for the Hale's Brewery aid station - WHERE THEY WERE HANDING OUT ACTUAL BEER - it would have been hard to muster much enthusiasm. As we ran past this aid station table, I saw some growlers out of the corner of my eye and reflexively my body swerved right toward the table.
Me: "Woah... are you guys handing out beer?"
Hale's Volunteer: "Yeah, but hurry up, they're kinda trying to shut is down..."
By this point, my body was fully and completely locked into our 8:50 ish pace. And I was exceeding my fitness by a LONG shot. In fact, I had not run a road marathon since this time last year and I had not run this long period since the Pine to Palm 100. Yikes!
After stopping to drink that tiny cup of beer I set off to catch Lucca. Oh. My. God. It was everything I could do to run at an 8:00 pace for the quarter mile or whatever it took to catch her. I'm just glad I was able to!
When we got to Fremont we turned left up Stoneway for what I thought was the last hill. We climbed up Stoneway for a few blocks and then turned left to climb up to Aurora and then climbed the gentle hill that is the Aurora Bridge. So far so good.
I had purposefully not been obsessively checking my watch every 30 seconds so when I glanced down near the top of the bridge with just over one mile left to go and with about 10 minutes to go before we hit 3:50 I got pretty excited! As we started to descend I tried to calmly tell Lucca that I thought we could make 3:50.
If you have ever been close to your limit you know it's easier said than done to increase your pace. But I wasn't worried, I figured if we just didn't slow down 3:50 was in the bag! I just wasn't going to advertise that fact too loudly since it's never over till it's really over.
Then we turned right off Aurora. And we were faced with a 3-block climb. Oh no...
Lucca dug deep. Eating and drinking were not going to help at this point so it was just a matter of pushing harder and gutting it out. We did slow down but we did not walk! And boy was it nice to finally turn left and see the entrance to Memorial Stadium ahead instead of the traditional last hill the old course had.
I tried to gradually ramp up the pace on the descent and Lucca was totally game! As we entered the stadium I was moving about as fast as I could and Lucca was right in front of me. I could see the clock above the finishing arch and right then I realized we were going to be a few seconds short of 3:50 but only seven!
You want proof that Lucca pushed hard? Here you go. Magically, her husband Bil caught this on camera.
But as soon as Lucca threw up (and it wasn't much at all) she was fine. Way to go Lucca!
What an awesome/amazing tradition! These past few years I have just been signing up for the Seattle Marathon as soon as possible because that is the least expensive price but more importantly, I'm 99% sure Lucca and I will be on the starting line again. Even if I get injured.
After the race, Lucca and I limped around for a bit and soaked in the relative warmth. It was a spectacular day! Then Lucca and Bil walked back to their hotel to get cleaned up and to take the train home to Leavenworth. I put on some warm, dry clothes and walked over to Feierabend to meet some friends for beers and brats. Yes, that walk felt good. Oh yeah, so did the food and drink.
Here's to another year of running with my sister! And here's to Lucca for being so darn rock solid throughout and being willing to dig that deep at the end. Did I mention we had consecutive race numbers? That was fun. And hearing the race announcer mention both of us as we approached the finish - while pronouncing "Criminale" correctly - is so cool.
Here are all the pictures and videos.
Results
- Another year of bonding with Lucca. Priceless.
- official results
Nutrition (before)
- water
Nutrition (during)
In total, the two of us consumed the following.
- 2 large bottles each with 2 scoops HEED, 1 scoop Endurolytes Extreme Powder, .5 scoops Fully Charged, 1 Race Caps Supreme, 1 Anti-Fatigue Cap, 1 Endurance BCAA+ Cap
- 9 Hammer Gels
Nutrition (after)
- 3 scoops Recoverite
- 3 Tissue Rejuvenator Caps
- 1 Floyd's of Leadville 50mg CBD Softgel
Gear
- Topo Athletic Ultrafly 2 shoes
- Stance socks
- Brooks undershirts
- Dynafit knickers
- Old Navy shorts
- Craft long sleeve undershirt
- Topo Athletic team shirt
- Hammer Nutrition trucker hat
21 June 2018
Seattle Stairway Foot Tour
Yesssss! The second attempt was the ticket.
I tried this run back in 2015 and because I was recovering from an injury only made it halfway. This year my schedule looked good so I revived the Seattle Stairway Foot Tour and my friend Bryan Estes and I ran all of it.
Some background.
This route was originally curated by Michael Yadrick who likes stairs perhaps even more than I do. Thank you Michael! I LOVE urban exploration and discovering cool alleys, stairs or greenspaces is still super fun and always makes me feel like a kid. Since this is not an official event by any means, I decided that I would bring it back this year and invite anyone who wanted to join me.
Some "rules" (really just one)
Turns out I carried a bit much and ate more from stores than I anticipated but that was okay as when my pace is mellow, I can tolerate pretty much anything. That said, having my "race bottle" with me at all times really helped.
Six of us met at the start. This picture only shows five and that's because Eric Bone showed up literally as we started running.
Having Eric along was a godsend! This guy is a world-class orienteering racer and he showed up with no technology, just a printed map in a plastic page protector. And he had this course DIALED. Man is he good. In retrospect, all of us could have (and perhaps should have) just turned our phones off and enjoyed the ride. Oh, Eric wasn't just carrying a map, he also had ONE WATER BOTTLE. Until he needed some electrolytes, then he purchased a Gatorade. Why do I wear a fancy, expensive running vest again...?
Yes, I tried to take a picture of every single flight of stairs that we climbed and descended, And I almost succeeded, I think I only missed a couple. I will not display them all here (but I will include a link to all my pictures and video at the bottom of this post) but here are some (too many?) highlights from our run.
If 6:00 AM is a good time to hit the gym or run or ride your bike, why not play beach volleyball?
The Duwamish Head Greenspace, so cool.
The Tug Inn, I'll need to drop by here again when I have more time and drink a beer. probably a Pabst Blue Ribbon...
No Mr. Convenience Store guy, I am not stealing soda.
Time to rehydrate!
Going down stairs is fun, and finding the contents of a stolen purse makes it feel like an adventure!
These little libraries were everywhere.
Sometimes "stairs" are not all steps.
I love that FANON Barbershop & Salon sees the value in promoting the comb-over.
Colors!
Sure, I mean who wouldn't...
Where's Waldo?
One of our climbs, the hardest in retrospect, was not a staircase at all, it was a crazy dirt trail up a cliff and through a homeless camp, I mean the St. Mark's Greenbelt...
Giving my feet a break.
It's tough to adequately/accurately describe the two sets of stairs that connect Magnolia Blvd W and Perkins Ln W. They were perhaps the sketchiest, steepest and close to the longest flights that we descended and climbed all day.
Oh yes, this happened. Twice.
This was one of those shots we just had to capture, on three phones.
Although we lost four people throughout the day we were joined by Julie Cassata when we hit Dravus St with a little less than 10 miles to go. That was awesome! Thank you for showing up Julie.
Here I am after changing into a dry shirt wondering how I am going to get home...
Man, that was fun! And it wasn't even truly Type 2 Fun. I was perhaps a little tired and under-trained going into this but the weather turned out fantastic (in hindsight I'm glad it didn't get as hot as I wished it had), the company was stellar, and my nutrition (thanks Hammer Nutrition!) and shoes (thanks Topo Athletic!) were the bomb. I had a really good time.
Here are all my pictures and video.
Nutrition (before)
I tried this run back in 2015 and because I was recovering from an injury only made it halfway. This year my schedule looked good so I revived the Seattle Stairway Foot Tour and my friend Bryan Estes and I ran all of it.
Some background.
This route was originally curated by Michael Yadrick who likes stairs perhaps even more than I do. Thank you Michael! I LOVE urban exploration and discovering cool alleys, stairs or greenspaces is still super fun and always makes me feel like a kid. Since this is not an official event by any means, I decided that I would bring it back this year and invite anyone who wanted to join me.
Some "rules" (really just one)
- This is a long run, and since running in warm weather is usually more fun than running in the cold, and to maximize daylight hours, it happens on the Summer Solstice and starts at sunrise.
There is zero official support (although Michael managed to engineer two aid stations in 2015) but since it's an urban run there are ample opportunities to buy whatever you need. I was a little short of liquids a couple of times but it was never a crisis. I was never short of food.
Long runs go better with planning and one thing I like to plan is my nutrition.
Turns out I carried a bit much and ate more from stores than I anticipated but that was okay as when my pace is mellow, I can tolerate pretty much anything. That said, having my "race bottle" with me at all times really helped.
Six of us met at the start. This picture only shows five and that's because Eric Bone showed up literally as we started running.
Having Eric along was a godsend! This guy is a world-class orienteering racer and he showed up with no technology, just a printed map in a plastic page protector. And he had this course DIALED. Man is he good. In retrospect, all of us could have (and perhaps should have) just turned our phones off and enjoyed the ride. Oh, Eric wasn't just carrying a map, he also had ONE WATER BOTTLE. Until he needed some electrolytes, then he purchased a Gatorade. Why do I wear a fancy, expensive running vest again...?
Yes, I tried to take a picture of every single flight of stairs that we climbed and descended, And I almost succeeded, I think I only missed a couple. I will not display them all here (but I will include a link to all my pictures and video at the bottom of this post) but here are some (too many?) highlights from our run.
If 6:00 AM is a good time to hit the gym or run or ride your bike, why not play beach volleyball?
The Duwamish Head Greenspace, so cool.
The Tug Inn, I'll need to drop by here again when I have more time and drink a beer. probably a Pabst Blue Ribbon...
No Mr. Convenience Store guy, I am not stealing soda.
Time to rehydrate!
Going down stairs is fun, and finding the contents of a stolen purse makes it feel like an adventure!
These little libraries were everywhere.
Sometimes "stairs" are not all steps.
I love that FANON Barbershop & Salon sees the value in promoting the comb-over.
Colors!
Sure, I mean who wouldn't...
Where's Waldo?
One of our climbs, the hardest in retrospect, was not a staircase at all, it was a crazy dirt trail up a cliff and through a homeless camp, I mean the St. Mark's Greenbelt...
Giving my feet a break.
It's tough to adequately/accurately describe the two sets of stairs that connect Magnolia Blvd W and Perkins Ln W. They were perhaps the sketchiest, steepest and close to the longest flights that we descended and climbed all day.
Oh yes, this happened. Twice.
This was one of those shots we just had to capture, on three phones.
Although we lost four people throughout the day we were joined by Julie Cassata when we hit Dravus St with a little less than 10 miles to go. That was awesome! Thank you for showing up Julie.
Here I am after changing into a dry shirt wondering how I am going to get home...
Man, that was fun! And it wasn't even truly Type 2 Fun. I was perhaps a little tired and under-trained going into this but the weather turned out fantastic (in hindsight I'm glad it didn't get as hot as I wished it had), the company was stellar, and my nutrition (thanks Hammer Nutrition!) and shoes (thanks Topo Athletic!) were the bomb. I had a really good time.
Here are all my pictures and video.
Nutrition (before)
- Nothing
Nutrition (during)
- 5 large bottles each with 1.5 scoops Perpetuem, 1 scoop Endurolytes Extreme Powder, .5 scoops Fully Charged, 1 Race Caps Supreme, 1 Anti-Fatigue Cap, 1 Endurance BCAA+ Cap
- 2 Hammer Bars
- 1 flask of Hammer Gel
- 3 large bottles each with 2 Endurolytes Fizz
- 2 ice cream sandwiches, some chicken & broccoli from PCC, San Pellegrino Limonata, a Naked Juice, a few mouthfuls of Coca Cola
Nutrition (after)
- 3 scoops Recoverite
- 2 Xobaline Caps
- 2 Tissue Rejuvenator Caps
- 2 REM Caps
- 1 Floyd's of Leadville 50 mg CBD Softgel
- 2 12 oz. Miller Lites
Gear
- Topo Athletic Ultrafly shoes
- Stance socks
- Patagonia Strider Pro 7" shorts
- Seattle Running Club shirt with the sleeves cut off
- Topo Athletic Trucker Hat
- Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest 3.0
26 November 2017
pacing Lucca at the Seattle Marathon
Five times! I have run all or part of the Seattle Marathon with Lucca five times. How cool.
I've said it before and I'll say it again; it's so nice to have common interests that bring you and your family closer together. For my sister and I, this interest has been running. In addition to this Marathon, we have also run a couple of ultra trail races together, started two more together, gone on a running "vacation" and I suspect there will be many more. Especially if I can convince her to enter TransRockies with me...
Lucca always seems to have a goal, even if she won't admit it. Today it was to PR on this course and to run sub 3:45. Long story short, we came up short. Looking back, we were due as every previous run here has been a PR and my head was starting to swell from my (self-attributed) pacing skillz. To her credit, once it was obvious the time goal was out of reach, she didn't waste energy dwelling on it and she didn't throw out the anchor either; she just continued at a manageable pace and still got 3rd in her age group. Damn.
I think I was the only participant wearing a running vest. My excuse is that I was carrying all of our nutrition and a camera. Not having to stop at aid stations is huge when you are gunning for a good time. And it paid off in other ways, the weather was unexpectedly nice and as we shed clothing I had a place to stow everything.
Here are some highlights, from my perspective anyway.
Dropping off our bags of clothing at the start. It is VERY nice to have whatever you want at the finish. Kudos to the Boy Scouts for showing up to help with these drop bags.
My personal favorite, the pre-start raingear shot.
In the BRIGHT sun starting to round Seward Park.
Coming up the Lake WA Blvd switchbacks. I suspect this was not Lucca's favorite section but it sure is a pretty section of road.
Entering Interlaken Blvd with less than six miles to go.
Turning into the headwind after crossing I-5.
Special thanks to Lucca's friend Robert (running next to Lucca above) for showing up to share pacing and photographer duties the last six miles. And congratulations Lucca for toughing this one out! You are an inspiration. Here's to a few more events together.
Here are my takeaways from this new course.
- It's' harder. Be ready for more hills in the first half and that out-and-back in the Arboretum felt like it was all uphill on the way back.
- I like this course! Climbing the switchbacks on Lake WA Blvd and coming back in the Arboretum isn't easy but it sure is beautiful. And I was never a huge fan of that concrete stretch on I-90...
Here are all my pictures and videos.
Lucca's results
- 3rd - Women 50-54
- official results
Nutrition (before)
- water
- Lucca had some coffee
- we both had a Hammer Gel 10 minutes before the start
Nutrition (during)
- 3 large bottles each w/1.5 scoops Hammer HEED, 1/5 scoop Fully Charged, 2 Endurolytes
- Hammer Gel
Gear
- Topo Athletic Ultrafly shoes
- Stance crew length socks
- long sleeve Craft undershirt
- long sleeve Topo Athletic shirt
- Topo Athletic running hat
- long finger gloves (that came off)
- wind vest (that came off)
- Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest 3.0
27 November 2016
pacing Lucca at the Seattle Marathon
Yes! This is the FIFTH time I have had the privilege of pacing my sister Lucca at the Seattle Marathon. If I'm not mistaken three of those runs resulted in a Marathon PR for Lucca... surely pacers deserve some of the credit? :)
And so I don't get accused of hogging all the glory, Lucca's friend Robert Ruvkun (pictured here) helped out on at least three of these too. And Lucca knows how to work. HARD.
This year the weather was threatening to suck! We've seen sleet and sun during previous editions and two days out it was looking lots like the wetter variety but then a window showed up and come race day it was dry and in the mid 40s. I'll take it! We got drizzled on some during the last 45 minutes but it was not bad and didn't get any colder. I never needed to put on more clothes.
It seems like I get injured a lot and I have only been able to run the entire race with Lucca twice. This year I was recovering from a torn calf muscle and with only four runs under my belt post injury it seemed silly to risk re-injuring myself so I had to settle for the last 10 miles. But, this course is super close to our house so I was able to see Lucca at the start, at mile 4, mile 8 and then run with her from mile 16. Not so bad.
Getting to the start required some creativity but not as much as feared. All the roads on the course were not yet fully closed so I was able to scoot (literally, I was on my scooter) to the start with no issues and meet Lucca to hand off some gels and give her a last minute drink. I also dropped off my own clothing so I would have something dry to put on after we finished.
Getting home was slightly more exciting. Now all the roads on the course were fully closed forming this giant bubble you had to circumnavigate. After figuring out that Royal Brougham does not go through by the stadiums, and getting stuck behind a cargo train further south, I opted to get on I-90 for half a mile so that I could exit on Rainier. Thank goodness my scooter can do 50 mph and there were very few cars on the freeway this morning.
I changed my clothes and grabbing drinks, gels and my camera and walked up to the I-90 Express Lanes. Which is an awesome place to spectate this race from! Here are the Marathon leaders at mile four.
Spotting Lucca was thankfully pretty easy so connecting with her as she exited the tunnel was not a problem, she gave me her gloves and I gave her a drink. Then I had a front row seat for watching the leaders as they returned. When Lucca came running back we connected again, I gave her some gels for the run around Seward Park, another drink and headed home. This time I was going to have over an hour to wait.
Finally it was time to pace! Here I am looking very fresh (because I was) on Lake WA Blvd waiting for my sister.
Lucca looked good! She is such a steady runner and it's pretty tough to tell when she is suffering. Unlike me who emotes every ache and pain. :( She pointed out a runner in a red event shirt that she had been running with for a while so we used him as a carrot/pacer. It worked pretty well and we might have even dipped below her target pace for a couple of miles. I also spotted a woman in teal that we could use if this guy sped up or faltered.
Lucca is usually strong on the climbs. Today looked like no exception. We passed red event shirt guy and teal shirt woman on the first climb just north of Madrona Dr but on the E Galer St climb she finally started to show the effort.
Up until this time we were solidly between the 3:40 and 3:45 pacers but going up E Madison St the 3:45 group and teal shirt woman slowly passed us. But not red event shirt guy, I suspect this hill was the nail in his proverbial coffin. Yeah for small, selfish victories! :)
ASIDE - Lucca's Marathon PR was 3:45:01 so her goal today was to run sub 3:45.
Lucca ran a super descent and we had almost closed the gap to the 3:45 pacer by the time we turned left off of Lake WA Blvd and started climbing up Interlaken Blvd but it was just a little too much today. Once again we had to let them go and they slowly eased up the road.
My father always meets Lucca on Interlaken. It does not matter how crappy the weather is or that he only gets to see Lucca for 10 seconds, every year he's there. This year was no exception and we both got in a high five and a lightning hug before we ran into the woods.
Shortly thereafter we were joined by Robert.
Robert is awesome! He was a student in Lucca's Physician Assistant program at the UW and they have stayed in touch and he runs. And he loves to pace too! Robert has a great sense of humor and is also a reasonably accomplished action photographer with his iPhone. Always a plus. Meeting him always injects new life and energy which is much appreciated at mile 20+ believe you me.
We still thought there was a chance as Lucca's chip time did not coincide with the clock time and she battled on. That's another thing about Lucca, she never throws in the towel (that I have seen anyway), she still puts in a solid effort even if Plan A is not going to happen. So impressive.
Running south on Boylston Ave E can be a heart breaker. As usual there was a slight headwind here and I was so wishing I could give Lucca a little push or something, anything to help her speed up.
Lucca kept at it! She ran an awesome descent crossing I-5 and down Republican St. If only the route kept going downhill... but as anyone who has run this event will tell you, it does not. Somehow Lucca still managed a solid climb up Mercer St and into the finish.
Here I am at the finish - fresh!
Here here is Lucca calmly checking her watch.
What...?! Hadn't she just pushed super hard? And thrown up (just a little) after crossing the finish line? Some people just have that smile that won't quit.
In the end Lucca only missed her target time by 1:11 and got her 2nd fastest time.
Talking to her this effort was much harder than her PR so on a good day, and perhaps with some Marathon-specific training like speed work she could still crush 3:45. I'm sure of it. And I hope to be there on that day.
Congratulations Lucca! You are an inspiration and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to run with you.
Here are all my pictures and videos.
Nutrition
And so I don't get accused of hogging all the glory, Lucca's friend Robert Ruvkun (pictured here) helped out on at least three of these too. And Lucca knows how to work. HARD.
This year the weather was threatening to suck! We've seen sleet and sun during previous editions and two days out it was looking lots like the wetter variety but then a window showed up and come race day it was dry and in the mid 40s. I'll take it! We got drizzled on some during the last 45 minutes but it was not bad and didn't get any colder. I never needed to put on more clothes.
It seems like I get injured a lot and I have only been able to run the entire race with Lucca twice. This year I was recovering from a torn calf muscle and with only four runs under my belt post injury it seemed silly to risk re-injuring myself so I had to settle for the last 10 miles. But, this course is super close to our house so I was able to see Lucca at the start, at mile 4, mile 8 and then run with her from mile 16. Not so bad.
Getting to the start required some creativity but not as much as feared. All the roads on the course were not yet fully closed so I was able to scoot (literally, I was on my scooter) to the start with no issues and meet Lucca to hand off some gels and give her a last minute drink. I also dropped off my own clothing so I would have something dry to put on after we finished.
Getting home was slightly more exciting. Now all the roads on the course were fully closed forming this giant bubble you had to circumnavigate. After figuring out that Royal Brougham does not go through by the stadiums, and getting stuck behind a cargo train further south, I opted to get on I-90 for half a mile so that I could exit on Rainier. Thank goodness my scooter can do 50 mph and there were very few cars on the freeway this morning.
I changed my clothes and grabbing drinks, gels and my camera and walked up to the I-90 Express Lanes. Which is an awesome place to spectate this race from! Here are the Marathon leaders at mile four.
Spotting Lucca was thankfully pretty easy so connecting with her as she exited the tunnel was not a problem, she gave me her gloves and I gave her a drink. Then I had a front row seat for watching the leaders as they returned. When Lucca came running back we connected again, I gave her some gels for the run around Seward Park, another drink and headed home. This time I was going to have over an hour to wait.
Finally it was time to pace! Here I am looking very fresh (because I was) on Lake WA Blvd waiting for my sister.
Lucca looked good! She is such a steady runner and it's pretty tough to tell when she is suffering. Unlike me who emotes every ache and pain. :( She pointed out a runner in a red event shirt that she had been running with for a while so we used him as a carrot/pacer. It worked pretty well and we might have even dipped below her target pace for a couple of miles. I also spotted a woman in teal that we could use if this guy sped up or faltered.
Lucca is usually strong on the climbs. Today looked like no exception. We passed red event shirt guy and teal shirt woman on the first climb just north of Madrona Dr but on the E Galer St climb she finally started to show the effort.
Up until this time we were solidly between the 3:40 and 3:45 pacers but going up E Madison St the 3:45 group and teal shirt woman slowly passed us. But not red event shirt guy, I suspect this hill was the nail in his proverbial coffin. Yeah for small, selfish victories! :)
ASIDE - Lucca's Marathon PR was 3:45:01 so her goal today was to run sub 3:45.
Lucca ran a super descent and we had almost closed the gap to the 3:45 pacer by the time we turned left off of Lake WA Blvd and started climbing up Interlaken Blvd but it was just a little too much today. Once again we had to let them go and they slowly eased up the road.
My father always meets Lucca on Interlaken. It does not matter how crappy the weather is or that he only gets to see Lucca for 10 seconds, every year he's there. This year was no exception and we both got in a high five and a lightning hug before we ran into the woods.
Shortly thereafter we were joined by Robert.
Robert is awesome! He was a student in Lucca's Physician Assistant program at the UW and they have stayed in touch and he runs. And he loves to pace too! Robert has a great sense of humor and is also a reasonably accomplished action photographer with his iPhone. Always a plus. Meeting him always injects new life and energy which is much appreciated at mile 20+ believe you me.
We still thought there was a chance as Lucca's chip time did not coincide with the clock time and she battled on. That's another thing about Lucca, she never throws in the towel (that I have seen anyway), she still puts in a solid effort even if Plan A is not going to happen. So impressive.
Running south on Boylston Ave E can be a heart breaker. As usual there was a slight headwind here and I was so wishing I could give Lucca a little push or something, anything to help her speed up.
Lucca kept at it! She ran an awesome descent crossing I-5 and down Republican St. If only the route kept going downhill... but as anyone who has run this event will tell you, it does not. Somehow Lucca still managed a solid climb up Mercer St and into the finish.
Here I am at the finish - fresh!
Here here is Lucca calmly checking her watch.
What...?! Hadn't she just pushed super hard? And thrown up (just a little) after crossing the finish line? Some people just have that smile that won't quit.
In the end Lucca only missed her target time by 1:11 and got her 2nd fastest time.
Talking to her this effort was much harder than her PR so on a good day, and perhaps with some Marathon-specific training like speed work she could still crush 3:45. I'm sure of it. And I hope to be there on that day.
Congratulations Lucca! You are an inspiration and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to run with you.
Here are all my pictures and videos.
Nutrition
Gear
- Topo Athletic Magnifly shoes
- Freaking Old Navy tights and shorts! I know! It was Black Friday...
- The North Face long sleeve base layer
- Hammer Nutrition long sleeve running shirt
- Ultimate Direction PB Adventure Vest 3
- Garmin fenix 3
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