Seattle Rock and Roll Marathon -
What a great event! The support was the best in any race I've been in, by far. Not to say it's always bad, not at all, just that the support of the race yesterday was way over the top - in a
good way...Each water station, lining both sides of the road, had a minimum of about 40-50 volunteers. Some had 100's, mind blowing as you ran by a sea of hands handing out water and CytoMax for what seemed like a full block. Very cool.
The day was clear skies and expected to reach mid 70's - great for pictures, maybe not so much for running. It was amazing to see the sea of
humanity stretched out before and behind as far as you could see. Most races have about 5000 runners both 1/2 and full combined, yesterdays had 25,000 combined. It's surprising when you see a familiar face, or even a few in the sea of people.The day went well until mile 22, then the pain of my IT Ban started
to really effect my stride and I slowed from about 8:20 minute miles to about 9:45 and having to walk about 4-5 times to let my right leg stretch out. The goal for yesterday was to finish of course, but was also not to stop moving forward, so no standing or leaning to rest. However, I felt I had plenty of energy and mental focus to stay running in the mean miles (23-26), I just had a blowout that made it physically impossible to stay running the whole time.If I was a car it would be like both front and back tires on the right side had flats, I still had half a tank and the engine was fine, but I had to bring it in slow.
On the route I did get to see Lynn and Jaime at the turn around on 99, which was great! I can't ever say enough about what a boost emotionally seeing someone you care for show up and cheer for you. You can carry and have a lift for the rest of the race if you see someone for even 15 seconds on the course as you run by. Amazing...
Shell and Lil' K were out there as well supporting Alley, Tony and I. The three of us after 7 odd years of running finally running the same Marathon together, crazy! Alley had a great day despite falling down some stairs two days before and hurting her back and Tony finished strong having to work through some cramps late in the race.
Overall a pretty sweet day, got home had a 3 hours nap, picked up pizza and movie and crashed early. Not bad for a full days work...