Marathons: Paul #50, Leah #40, State #34 : Seattle Marathon 2014
30th November 2014, Seattle, Washington, USA
Finish Time = 3:52:44
Following Thanksgiving we continued the weekend by heading over to Seattle. The day before the marathon we explored the city including heading up to the top of the iconic Space Needle, something I’ve always wanted to see.
Approaching the Space Needle
View from the top
View of downtown Seattle from the top
It was cold and windy up there!
Inside there were some great features you could activate with the iPhone app, including being able to see through “holes” in the floor
We walked by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
In the afternoon we went over to the expo, timing it so that we arrived for the guest speech from Dean Karnazes. We got great seats up at the front of the room and listened to Dean’s engaging talk for the next hour.
At the talk with Dean Karnazes
Afterwards he went back to his expo stand for the Greek Gods Yoghurt, so we lined up there to talk with him. It was great to chat with him again, we told him about our 50 States quest and he asked a few questions about how we were getting on. I got my second book signed by him (the first from Chicago 2011) and we shared a few jokes. I didn’t want the moment to end, but was glad to have had the time at all.
Second time meeting and getting a picture with Dean. He’s such a huge inspiration. I got his 50 Marathons in 50 States book signed, before my 50th marathon!
Book signed.. thanks Dean!
It was definitely a bit of a come-down afterwards… back to reality… we continued on around the expo to look at the various products and vendors there.
We bumped in to the Marathon Maniacs President, Steven Yee, and talked with him for a bit and a couple of other Maniacs. After the expo we went to pick up food to cook dinner and back to the hotel.
In the morning we made our way to the start and all the Maniacs gathered together for a picture. It was freezing cold at 25F / -4C but warmer than in Kansas at least.
We’re there at the back
When we set off we’d got a mile into it and my achilles started to feel tender again. I slowed the pace down to do a few miles at an easy speed to warm up, given the conditions. Leah slowed down too and we did some warm up miles. Once we hit 4 miles we sped up again and it felt good to fly along. Most of the road was fine but soon we were running over long bridges, which are always more susceptible to ice. We were trying to run towards the edge where it had started to thaw or in patches of sun where it was warmer, otherwise it was quite slippery. The bridge was an out and back so we started seeing runners coming back from the turnaround. After a while we spotted Dean Karnazes running around the 3:20ish pace group.
The views of downtown Seattle were amazing and a lot of the course was actually through very scenic running routes, surrounded by trees and overlooking Lake Washington.
Great views of Lake Washington
We started talking to another Marathon Maniac who was the final day 4 of the Quadzilla, an annual challenge where a group of Maniacs complete 4 marathons in Seattle in 4 days, finishing with the Seattle Marathon. Many of the participants were walking most of the course by day 4 but this guy was speeding along at a fantastic pace. It turned out that he had run it every year since the idea began, 2010 I believe, and was normally much faster than this in regular marathons, I suppose you would have to be to be keeping up that kind of pace after 4.
Enjoying the course
As we neared the finish, we ran into the football stadium and towards the finish line.
Final push across the frosty football field
As we crossed the line I threw up at “2” and Leah a “0” to signify our 20th marathon of the year.
20 marathons so far in 2014
Seattle Marathon completed, it was a great day
As soon as we finished someone shouted out to us and it was the President of the Marathon Maniacs club, waiting at the finish to cheer people on. We chatted for a bit and then made our way to the recovery (FOOD!!) area to get some much-needed warmth and to eat and drink everything I could lay my hands on.
I couldn’t have wanted anything more out of this marathon weekend, it was a really good marathon that not only took in areas of the city but also the outskirts and some tree-lined areas with great views. Meeting Dean again was a huge boost and made this a fantastic and rewarding experience.
Elevation Graph from my running watch:
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