RocknRoll Seattle Race Recap

I've ran 3 marathons (All 3 were the Portland Marathon). All of them I have finished in over 5 hours. My fastest marathon time was 5:03:30. And each marathon left me a MESS,  (Broken toe nails, blisters galore and severely dehydrated) taking at least a week to recover. Saturday June 18th I went out and ran the Seattle Rock N' Roll Marathon with under 3 hours of sleep. I ran an Ultra marathon about a month and 10 days before that and did a few extra speed works than I shouldn't have during taper week. 

Saturday morning I woke up after an unfortunate night of very little sleep and headed towards the start line. After being dropped off about a mile away due to traffic, I jogged toward the start. I dropped off my gear and then went in search of the very celebrated inside bathroom facilities. By this time it was 6:15 AM...And all 3 floors of bathrooms had HUGE HUGE lines. lucky for me the start time was changed from 7 AM to 7:15 AM and honestly my corral didn't even start till 8 AM.  

First time wearing Stance running socks and I loved them!!!!

First thing I noticed when the race officially started was that I was definitely in the incorrect starting corral. My corral was for the 4:50 pace finishers. I had severely underestimated my abilities. I spent my first 5 miles weaving in and out of people to get into a comfortable pace. This was the first thing that felt so very different than my other marathons. I felt fine. I felt like I could go way faster. But, since I was not used to that feeling, I didn't want to get tooo crazy and go too fast. So, I stayed at about a 9:15/mi pace for the first few miles. 

There were so many amazing things about this run, but, the thing that left me in awe was the Blue Mile. A mile of pictures of fallen soldiers and people hold flags with the names of fallen soldiers. It took everything I had to not totally and completely lose it during that mile. Very powerful emotional mile. Then, there was the stroll around the lake, the trek across the bridges and the unsettling tour in the tunnels. 

But, let me skip ahead to the part I ALWAYS struggle with during a marathon. The final 5 miles. Exactly on time that wall definitely showed up in all of it's glory. Biting at my ankles and pulling at my quads. Pouring insecurity thru my eye lashes and rib cage. For a brief minute I had no idea why I was there and how I got so disgustingly fat. My feet were too big and my shoes were too small. My arms were floppy and knees kept knocking. "Why am I so sweaty? No one else is sweating like this. You are so gross." As quick as it arrived, it was gone. Suddenly, I was flying. It hurt more to run at a slow pace then it did to run faster with good form. So, I sped up. I took a selfie, turned on Eminem -Til I collapse, and ran my heart out. At mile 25.5 my ankles started cramping. A runner I think saw me start to slow. We had talked about how I was on pace to PR by 50 minutes. He knew I was wanting to finish strong. As I started to slow I saw him come up on my right and he gestured with his hand for me to go. It helped! It got me through the rest of the race. As other people were doing the "zombie shuffle" to the finish line...I was flying....My fastest mile of the entire marathon was the last mile.  Where others were walking up hills I was cruising up them. I used to struggle so much with hills. It was amazing to see the hard work I have put in finally pay off. 

As I came up to the finish line I wanted to cry. I had just finished a Marathon in 4:15:04 and still had fire to keep going if I had to. As I walked thru the food area, I was handed low fat chocolate milk (lame I wanted full fat) ... and I headed out to get my finisher jacket that I earned... I had one thought on my brain. "I can totally get under 4 hours for the Portland Marathon in October." 
One of the best parts is right after I finished my husband James sent me a text asking how everything was going. He wasn't going to be there till 2 so that he didn't have to wait around for me to finish and enjoy the after extravaganzas. I told him that I had finished and PR'ed and he says " You are already done?!" Apparently, he had showed up with the girlies early to see me finish but I finished so much sooner than we expected that he missed it. Not too shabby....and I love that he was trying to be there to see me finish:) 

This race will forever be one of my favorites. The energy was amazing and so were the runners and volunteers. I am so grateful to Alaska Airlines and Athlete IQ for the race opportunity. It will be hard to beat that racing experience! Oh yes, and thank you to Brooks for the awesome finisher jacket! 

PS: I find it important to add that according to Garmin I had 14 Personal Records....including a PR on my half marathon, 10 k and 5 k times. AKA it was a good day!

PPS: It does seem like this blog should just be titled..."How Awesome Am I" lol 

Pre-Race:
Coffee
Picky Bar-Smooth caffeinator 

GEAR-

Nike Running Capri

Nike tank

Spibelt

Saucony Kinvara 5

Stance Running Socks

Bur'ts Bees Peppermint chap stick

Garmin forerunner 225

Momentum Jewelry-Wrap Bracelet w/ Live Fearlessly Charm

Run Goo- No Blisters whoop whoop!

Course Provided-

Gatorade

Glukos

Alaska Airlines

Throwin it back-PCT 16 miler North

PCT-North from Bonneville. 16 Mi 4000 ft elevation gain


-My Trail Running Wake Up Call-

My friend Ryan and I were both training for the Smith Rock Ascent 50k and needed a good trail run for training. I had been training at places like Lacamas Lake and on the road (elevation gain 285 ft). Not exactly good elevation training.


So, we met up at the Bonneville Trail head and jumped on the Tamanous trail-that runs into the PCT heading North and leads you right past the gorgeous Gillette Lake. Now....I wasn't really doing much for hill training at the time and I was running this with someone who is much faster and stronger and who HAD been training correctly.  So, I was nervous and ill prepared. I knew this about 2 minutes in...he had me set the pace. We went maybe a quarter of a mile and then it extended into this uphill mountain. I had no idea. I had done so little hill training that when he had told me a head of time that the Elevation gain is close to 4000 ft...that meant nothing to me. It didn't even register on my radar as a thing. I knew a half a mile into the run that I was in trouble. I felt the anxiety of having a fellow runner with me who is much faster and stronger...and who was ultimately going to be held back by my excessive heavy breathing and sky rocketing heart rate. At mile 1.5 we stopped to shed layers, hydrate and honestly, to let me catch my breath. And I told him to "leave me .... just go get your workout done and Ill meet you back at the bottom." But, nope. He stayed ...throwing in a "it's an easy day for me anyway." EASY???? kjjdkfajds ! whaaa...pfft.  

I had never been on a run like this. It was definitely a humbling experience. If you would've asked me BEFORE I ran that if I was in good shape...I would've told you yes. After, I got done with this run I realized how much work still needed to be done to be ready for my ultra. 

"Trail Running" to me was, ya know, like on a trail..a well maintained, spider web free, smooth trail. A trail you could push a stroller on with no obstacles. Well, that's just silly. This trail was NONE of those things. There were down trees and landslides you had to climb over. A couple of creeks just flowing across said trail. Annnnnd it wasn't always super obvious (to me) which way to go. The best part was when we came up to a huge land slide that had trees, rocks and what looked like a moss mountain-we got to climb through that... Oh. Nope. The best part was probably when we hit snow. Not just a dusting. We were running through 6 inches of snow for at least a mile. Mind you, I was in shorts. There were weird moments where I realized I was leaving a trail of blood in the snow...looked down and my legs were tore up. <hmm cant imagine how that could have happened.> 
I remember saying on the way up this small mountain that going down would be so much faster. I learned another thing that day. Just because you are running down hill, it doesn't mean that it's going to be a fast descent. This is a very technical trail. You go to fast, you are falling. Period. So, I had to be careful. However, I STILL ended up rolling each foot at least once. We go to about 1 mile from the car and I quite literally had NOTHING left. I was zapped. I had finished off my entire pack of water. I almost felt drunk...but maybe like I had skipped the fun part. The next day I was more sore than I had been in a really really long time. I asked Ryan that day if he was sore and of course, he said "Nope". I think about that day like a "runners culture shock". I had no idea running could be like that. 

I have since done many trail runs very similar to that one and usually I do them alone. I have come so far and evolved into what I would call a very earthy runner. Now, these are my favorite kinds of runs. That specific run is one of the most beautiful ones I have ever done. And honestly, now that I am in so much better shape I would like to do it again...so I can really enjoy it.