Seattle Marathon Race Report

I'm going to try to be brief, because this was Aleks' day, so you can read her race report for the details.

It was snowing when Aleks picked me up this morning, and it's snowing (and accumulating!) now. In between, we had rain with a few breaks, and one point when we thought the sun might try to sneak out, but it didn't.

Obviously, it was cold. But at least it wasn't windy.

The marathon went pretty much as I expected it to. I didn't feel perfect even from the start, but my heart rate was right where it belonged for the distance and really stayed there all day, with little spikes for the hills. My legs felt heavy, especially my quads (which was weird, since my hamstrings hurt from snowboarding. Maybe there's some compensation going on there), and the top of each foot going into each leg hurt from just a few miles in until...well, they still hurt. I can't flex my feet or toes.

But all the pains I woke up with - hamstrings, the usual pain in my right foot, the bruise on my left foot - disappeared when we started running.

Aleks and I both wore our pink running jackets, so we got the "Go Pink!" yells throughout the course.

I brought with me Aleks' music and an external speaker so we could play it and sing along during the boring out-and-back parts of the marathon and a piece of paper - which thankfully didn't get so wet that the ink blurred - with all of Aleks' friends good wishes. (That includes Jessi, Kate, and Wes from the blogging world - Aleks was so excited to hear from you guys as well as her running partners and roommates!)

I think the best thing we had, though, was Latosha at three different points on the course to cheer us (and everyone else) around. Just the sight of her green hat perked us both up - what an amazing friend to come out and cheer on such an awful day!

We finished in 4:39 - 9 minutes slower than Aleks had hoped, but given the conditions and how tough the course really is, I think it was great. I know I had a really good time...although now I'm really tired.

Oh, one other thing I need to remember for future races: I need to have a better eating plan than "bring some food and eat it sometimes." I started to really lose it around mile 23 - after being perky and happy for hours before. I had a GU. Five minutes later, I was back to myself. But in those 10 or 15 minutes before the GU kicked in, oh my goodness. I was miserable. I don't need a lot of calories while running, but I do need them - and regularly. Eating when I remember to isn't good enough!