GrumpysMonkey

This blog is going to be under heavy construction for the next few weeks. We’re trying to work out some design issues with Cook Local and so that we don’t screw up the site, we’re going to be making all changes here first. So layout and formatting is going to change regularly. Given that I’ve only got maybe 3 readers, I didn’t figure this would be too inconvenient.

Saturday, John and I (along with our friend Ben), ran our first marathon.

Common questions.

1. Why?  Um… because we wanted to do it. Also partially because we were guilted into it by Ben. But, we’d been running a lot, and enjoying it, but it was on our list of things to do.

2. How far is a marathon?  I get this question more than I expected. It is 26.2 miles.

So, now that you know those two things, onto the race report.

We’ll start with Friday.

Well, no, we’ll start with a little background. Back in January, Maureen was running, and Ben suggested that it would be fun for all four of us to run a marathon together. Actually, I think his words were something like “Well, M wants to run it, and I want to run it, and we want to run it with the two of you.” So really, we were guilted into it.

A little more background. John had a really hard time with training. As a diabetic, he needs to take in a lot more water and fuel than most people when running. We kept playing with how much water and how much fuel, but we never could get it right during training. His longest training run was 17 miles, and he was really on fumes at that point. So we were a little worried about him being able to finish.

Ok, background done, onto Friday.

Friday morning, Maureen, Ben, John and I all meet up for breakfast. One of the excellent things about running a marathon is that you can eat a lot in the days surrounding the run. So first, breakfast at Portage Bay Cafe for pancakes and hash. Next it was off to the expo.

We picked up our numbers and wandered around for a bit. John bought a new pair of MBTs and then we set off for a little walk and debated lunch. A quick trip to the running store and then to a pasta lunch. Carbs loaded, we headed home to relax. Got the bike out for M, watched some TV, and relaxed. Then M decided that she wanted an iPhone so we went down to the Apple store to get her one.

Some snacking, laying out the gear, and early to bed.

Saturday

There is one problem inhernet to running marathons. They take a long time. So long, in fact, that they usually start at some ungodly hour like 7am. Some even start at 5am. Luckily ours started at 7am. However it started in Tukwila. For those of you not from here, Tukwila is about a 25 minute drive south. This wouldn’t be a problem if we just needed to get to Tukwila on a normal Saturday morning, but we had to get there on marathon day, with 25,000 other people and Maureen had to get back to Seattle to get a parking place for the car, unload the bike, and bike to somewhere along the course where she could see us and take pictures.

So we set the alarm for 3:15 am and left the house at 4:30. Between that time we had some coffee, did a double check on all of our gear, and took some pictures.

So now it was off to downtown Seattle where the shuttles would pick us up. The Expo people warned us that we should be on the shuttle by 5am because there were TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND PEOPLE AND OH MY GOD IT WAS GOING TO BE THE APOCOLYPSE OF PARKING AND TRAFFIC. So we get downtown about 4:40, pull right into the parking garage, hoof it to the shuttle, get to the shuttle stop at 4:50 or so… and within 5 minutes there’s a nice empty bus pulling up. But first, time for a picture.

A few minutes later we’re on our way to the start line. Well, we hope we’re on our way to the start line. The bus driver had to ask the coordinator how to get to the highway. Not a reassuring sign. But twenty minutes later we pull into the start line parking lot. We get off the bus and we wait. And wait. And wait. And wander around a bit, and have a bagel, and wait. And freeze. And wait some more. And freeze a lot more. And then we turn in our sweaters to the gear check and we REALLY freeze.

Fast forward to about 7:30 and we finally merge into the throng of people and make our way to the start line.

But wait! The gun time was 7:00! Why did you wait until 7:30?

Well, many marathons operate under a sort of corral system. Your start time is based on the time you expect to finish. Really fast runners love this because it means there won’t be slow runners like us out in front of them slowing them down. So the fast runners start first, then every few minutes, another group goes. Our group was group 28, though we actually merged into group 23 and started with them.

Meanwhile… a few miles away…

Maureen was on the bike speeding towards the course. We didn’t know how close to the course she was going to be able to get, so we had no idea when we’d see her. She took this shot along the way.

She texted us before we started though and let us know that she was at the second water station. So as we ran by, she was able to snap some good shots. Here are the three of us about 2.3 miles in.

M took off again and so did we. At this point, we started to be running in more sun than shade and it started warming up. The temperatures really were just about perfect.

We ran down a hill and there was M again! John sprints down hills, but I’m a little more cautious, so M got a great shot of John waiting for us to catch up.

This was the prettiest part of the course. It runs right along the water and there was a gentle breeze cooling us off. M took off on the bike again and we kept running. We saw a great sign. Beer ahead of you, velociraptors behind you. Up ahead, around mile 7.2, we saw people stopping and gathering by the side of the road. What the heck? Was someone hurt? As we approached, people kept shouting “Bald Eagle! Bald Eagle!” Yep, there he was. Looking majestic and just watching all of us run by.

We could see the I-90 bridge at this point, and knew soon we’d be running on it. M took more shots and here we are at mile 7.5 or so. She took off and we figured that we’d see her after we got off the bridge. Well, we were wrong.

Here’s a great shot she took of us just getting onto the bridge and the express lanes. The bridge segment is about 1.5 miles long.

At this point, we’re running on concrete. We saw several people limping or struggling on the bridge. Concrete is harder on your body than asphault. I didn’t notice the difference too much. Sure, concrete is harder, and I do notice that asphault is better, but we were all still doing OK. Ben stopped a couple of times to give people encouragement and in one case, some Alleve. Just ahead of where the picture was taken, we burst out from under the overpass and ran in full sun on the bridge floating on the water. It was a neat experience. We took in some fuel, and some salt, and refilled the water bottle. Turned around and headed back.

Wait… hold on… it’s M! Again! She got down on to the bridge and was sitting on the concrete dividers waiting for us at around mile 12.

Along we went and into the I-90 tunnel. Now here’s one of the places on the course where I really didn’t think we needed a band. At least not a band with a drum. It was kind of loud in there. But another water station, some salt for John, and press on we did. Chatted with a half marathoner who was doing her first. She kept saying she was in awe of us and we kept telling her that this was how it started and soon she’d be doing fulls as well.

Out of the tunnel and a little further down and we’re almost at mile 14 and there she is again! M was everywhere!

We get to run through downtown a bit and some guy shouts to us as we go by asking why everyone is running. Err, it’s a marathon? I thought that was rather obvious. Down to the Viaduct and it is time for some nice shade. More running, more fuel, more short walk breaks. At this point, I’m starting to feel it. My back is a litle sore, but I’m stretching. This is also about the furthest that John has ever run without major issues. So I’m just watching him and hoping that he keeps going and doing as well as he’s done so far.

Out into the sun again and M’s at the top of an overpass taking pictures. John was a bit ahead of me at this point. I was running faster than he was, but I was taking walk breaks every mile. At a couple of points on the course, I had to have Ben pinch my shoulders to break up the tension. That was a lifesaver. I definitely need to work on my posture for future races.

Maureen didn’t follow us up the viaduct. So we didn’t see her again for almost another hour. During that time we went another 4 miles or so and here we are right around mile 20.

John was having a hard time by this point, but he was pushing through and just kept running. I was really proud of him. My back hurt, but other than that, I was still doing OK. Of course my feet hurt, and my legs were tired, but that is totally to be expected at 20 miles. It was really my back that was the issue so I’d stop every mile and stretch my back. We’d come a long way and we knew we’d finish.

It was also at this point that we started to see the clean up crew. This was my main worry for the marathon. The course is only open for 7 hours (or so they said on the website), and while I wasn’t really worried about finishing, I was worried about finishing before they closed up the water stations and the bands. Around mile 20, they were picking up mile 15 (15-20 were an up and back venture so we could see mile 15 from mile 20). But we were still doing OK. A little close for my comfort, but not too bad.

By mile 23, we were really hurting. John had slowed way down (but was still running), and I was stopping more frequently. Mile 24 seemed REALLY long, but mile 25 was a little shorter than we thought. At mile 25 John stopped running. We walked about half a mile until the last little downhill. Thank goodness mile 25.5 to mile 26 was down an offramp. We started running at the offramp and just kept going.

As I saw the 26 mile marker, I really started to choke up. We were going to run a fucking marathon and we were going to finish together. It was very emotional. We were really moving quickly at this point, possibly faster than we’d moved at any time during the whole race. We passed 26 and it was just two left turns and into the finishing chutes.

Ben hung back so John and I could finish first and together. We held hands like we do for every race, and ran as hard as we could.

Crossing that finish line was a great feeling. Sure, everything hurt, and we were tired and hungry, but we made it. M was there taking pictures (though honestly, I didn’t even see her), and we were done. We picked up our medals and water and headed to the recovery area.

The recovery area wasn’t actually great. They had bagels and oranges and bananas and chips. The orange quarters were fantastic. I had four in the space of about a minute. Best orange ever. Grabbed a bag of chips and blankets and we headed out to find Maureen.

After we hydrated and had the chips, it was a long walk back to the car (about a mile). But it was a slow one. Off to cheeseburgers and fries, home to eat, and then finally a shower and a little nap. Legs were sore, feet were sore, and backs were sore, but overall, I felt a lot better than I thought I would. A few pain patches were applied, and the car trip to dinner was very ben-gay scented, but other wise we were doing ok.

Now, it is four days later and I feel great. No soreness, no lost toenails, no blisters. The very next morning, I rolled over and told John I wanted to do another one. I hate myself a little for saying that (mainly because Ben kept telling me that was what was going to happen), but I want to do another one. I want that amazing feeling of accomplishment. We’ve done what many people never even dream of doing. We are, and will always be, marathoners.