Seattle Marathon

I finished the Seattle marathon and I am a little disappointed in how I did.
I finished in 5:07 on my watch. The day was clear and sunny, just beautiful. It was warmer than expected - the high was 75F, with about 60% humidity, 68F had been forecast - but not very much warmer.

I drove the course two days before, it was very beautiful. After a weird start in Tukwila (tuck-willa), it quickly dropped down to Lake Washington and circled the western half the lake. Then it was I-90 freeway running through mile 13, then almost all the rest of the race was on the Alaskan Viaduct (freeway) which has an incredible view of Seattle harbor. The course had many hills, most relatively short, some quite steep. The course featured three tunnels - each fairly long, with no view from one end to the other, which was an interesting experience in itself. I've never run through a long, dark tunnel before.

I did ok through mile 16, but by then I just didn't feel "right". I was occasionally becoming a little bit dizzy. By mile 21 I was nauseated, and I chaulked that up as the cause of my not feeling right. I also had intermittent chills and "goosebumps" mostly on my arms but also my legs after about mle 19, which I blamed on the very cool shade alternating with the bright warm sun. At mile 19 I took a salt pill (my skin was thick with salt - meaning I was sweating and it was evaporating in the relatively dry air), and at mile 21 I took some Pepto Bismol tablets and they seemed to help, and I was able to finish, but with frequent walk breaks.

I drank a lot of water on the course - one or two cups at each water stop, plus "Smart Water" and a 20 ounce bottle of CytoMax at the starting line. I consumed three CliffShots along the course. So I was refueling and replenishing liquids and electrolytes, and still I pretty much bonked at mile 20.

Goosebumps (per the American College of Sports Medicine and also Runner's World [http://askcoachjenny.runnersworld.com/2008/03/goose-bumps-in.html]) indicates possible heat exhaustion, dehydration, or hyponatremia - all bad conditions to have during a marathon. Other heat exhaustion symptoms include dizziness and nausea. I don't get it. I have paid my dues on the long runs preparing for the marathon, and I was more attentive to fueling and hydration than on many other marathon courses. Yet I still didn't perform as I would like. Hmmm, another mystery to ponder.

Seattle

I'm here in Seattle staying at a friend's house. I was in Seattle for the World's Fair when I was about 10.
This is just the most wonderful city and I'm here at the very best time of year. Yes, it rains daily - a gentle shower - and then the clouds blow away and there is beautiful sunshine. Hardly the dark, gloomy city I recall from my childhood visit.

The city's surroundings are as green as it comes. There are seemingly endless woods, hiking/biking/running trails, pastures, and beautiful scenery in every direction. It is just absolutely gorgeous. I'd move here next week if I could.

The marathon is Saturday. It is looking like a great day for a run.

Insane thoughts

I have been thinking about how to get in my 22 miles this weekend, scheduled around the heat index values. There's no clear answer, its ugly all weekend..

However, I did measure it off using www.mapmyrun.com (which btw is an incredible piece of software), and the distance is 22+ miles from home to work.

Running that distance in the morning would require some advance placement of my laptop, change of clothes, and other personal effects. It could not be done Monday.

It is a net downhill and should take me about under 4.5 hours to complete at a comfortable pace. If I'm targeting arrival time of 7:30 am, I would need to leave the house at 3am.

I'm thinking Tuesday would be good for that. Need to plan to take the bus home in the evening...

More later as the plan unfolds.
Peter

midnight run

I had a 10-mile run to do this weekend, and it's always a challenge to figure out when to do them. So I figured I would go out Saturday night (and really at night this time, versus very early the next morning). My plan was to go down the Fairfax County Parkway for an hour and see where that leaves me, and then head home. I figured this would be about a 10-mile run overall.

I took my headlight when I headed out at 10pm, and it's a good thing I did too, because there was a lot more vehicle traffic than the prior week. The car lights shining in my eyes really made it difficult to see the trail and the headlight helped make it visible. I need to figure out a Plan B as far as the hat and the light go - the light shines through the visor and is itself a glare problem for my eyes.

The run was pleasant and uneventful. I was very tired when I got home at midnight. I stretched, ate something, took a shower, and went to bed quickly. I'm pretty sore this morning - i didn't ice my legs or anything, i was just too tired.

Emily's First Race

Today I ran with Emily on the Herndon Festival 5k - Emily's first race!!
It was very exciting.
Emily kept up a good pace under 10 minutes through Mile 1. After that she had to add some walking to her running, and the pace slacked up a bit.

She saw several of her friends running in the race, which surprised her - people she didn't think ran. And people on the sidelines from school were cheering her on as well. I told her "well, now your friends have seen you, I guess you are a runner."

For a part of the way I had her hand and helped pull her along.

She finished strong once the end was in sight.
Overall finish was 35:23, once second faster than me with 35:24.
I am very proud of her, she did a nice job.

early morning miles

The weekd of May 30/31 I needed to do a long run. But Saturday was busy taking the kids to the Herndon Festival and Sunday morning I was running a 5k with Emily (her very first race!) so I had thought I would run Saturday night. But Saturday night I was tired and decided I would sleep now and run later.

Intead, I got up at 2:45am and by 3:30 I went out for my 18 mile run. When I checked weather the evening before it showed all-clear throughout the night. When I checked weather as I got ready, it showed a 30% chance of thunderstorms. And when I was starting, I could see lightning in the distance.

I went down the Fairfax Country parkway, planning to turn around at Route 50 (about 9 miles) and then head back. There is a paved trail the entire way, though I've never been on it before. And as I'm leaving Herndon headed south, I can see lightning in the distance, and some pretty amazing electrical flashes.

I didn't bring a headlight, but there really was no need. There were only a handful of cars on the road, so once my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could see the trail well enough to run safely. There are only lights at the intersections, about once every couple miles, so it was a good chance to practice night running. The trail is in good shape with a flat, paved running surface almost everywhere. There are a few exceptions where weather and time have split the surface up, and those are mostly obvious.

I brought a couple slices of bread and a water bottle, driver's license and a credit card.

During the first 7 miles the lighting was coming closer and closer. I figured I would get rained on, just not sure how bad. About mile 7 it began to sprinkle and then shortly it began to rain. The air was warm and I was moving so it wasn't very cold, but I'm still not a fan of running the rain (though I am getting used to it). By the time I reached the turnaround point at Route 50 I was in the middle of the storm. There was a nice wind, a steady shower, and frequent lightning flashes. I was never the highest object in the area - always a light pole or trees or something -so I was never worried about being hit by the lightning. It was just fantastic to have these flashes of intense daylight and then darkness again. And the thunder pealing overhead was incredible.

The rain tapered off to a drizzle and then ended completely by the time I got back home at 6:30. Being rained on does make for "heavy feet" with the added water weight. All in all a successful and enjoyable run.

C&O Canal Towpath

The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal starts in Washington, D.C. near the Kennedy Center. It takes about 15 minutes from my office to reach the start of the canal. The canal travels through Georgetown for maybe a mile and a half and then, as if by magic, it steps out into a much more rustic-feeling dirt towpath surrounded by trees and bushes.

It is a delight to run along. The furthest I've gotten so far is up to Georgetown University, home of the Hoyas. My goal is to increase my speed a little and get up into some of the further locks.

The C&O Canal is a National Historical Park. The canal itself runs 184 miles to Cumberland, Maryland. In the area near Harper's Ferry, the JFK 50-Mile Run uses the C&O Canal towpath for 22 miles.