chrisesposito
06-28-2009, 05:26 AM
This was the inaugural Rock and Roll marathon & half marathon for Seattle, taking the place of the Seafair event. It was sold out at 25,000 people. For some reason, the vast majority of the participants were women - out of the 15,541 half marathon finishers only 4,202 were men. It was similar for the full. Out of 5,602 finishers only 2,543 were men.
The logistics of the race were that there was no parking at the start (Gateway corporate park in Tukwila), and no shuttles from the finish (Qwest Field) back to the start. Most people were either dropped off at the start or rode a race-provided shuttle from downtown Seattle to there. The race had a few issues getting everybody to the start line on time - they had too many buses very early (before 5 AM) and too few at 5:30 and later when most people showed up. In practice this just meant that you didn't start in your assigned corral.
woke at 5, ate 250 calories or so + 1 cup coffee.
3 Thermolytes + water@ 6:20, plus additional 2 in in liquid nutrition - 44 ounces water + 2 scoops HEED + 2 caffeinated gel, total of 400 calories and went through all but 2 oz. Had 1-2 small cups of water at aid stations. Another 2 Thermolytes at 10K.
Sunny and maybe upper 50s at the start.
warmed up for about 18 minutes, increasing pace to 8:55, then hopped into the next wave start. I had already run the first 9 miles comfortably at just over 9 min / mile as a training run, so I figured I could handle a bit faster pace in the race.
Felt good through 9.5 miles, then noticed the beginnings of a cramp in my left calf. Stopped just before mile 10, stretched the calf and took on more fluids and 2 more thermolytes. In hindsight I suppose I probably should have taken even more fluids and electrolytes up until that point. I was using the same amounts that had worked well in Vancouver, including using the Camelbak in-shirt bladder. The one drawback was that you lose the ability to track how much you've been drinking with any great accuracy, but I though I was was drinking regularly.
I began to baby the left leg (and slowing down as a result) in order to ward off a full-blown cramp meltdown. This worked until mile 12 when the left calf locked. I got help from a massage therapist that happened to be a spectator a few feet from where I stopped, and she spends about 2 minutes massaging out the cramp. I walk for a minute, then slowly build to the finish but still had to be careful about pushing it.
It's a much tougher course than Vancouver, and I was only just over a minute slower than that time so from that perspective it went well, but the cramps made for a frustrating last few miles.
5K: 27:22 (8:50 / mile)
10K: 54:58 (8:52 / mile)
9 miles: 1:20:06 (8:54 / mile)
13.1 miles: 2:00:07 (9:10 / mile)
The logistics of the race were that there was no parking at the start (Gateway corporate park in Tukwila), and no shuttles from the finish (Qwest Field) back to the start. Most people were either dropped off at the start or rode a race-provided shuttle from downtown Seattle to there. The race had a few issues getting everybody to the start line on time - they had too many buses very early (before 5 AM) and too few at 5:30 and later when most people showed up. In practice this just meant that you didn't start in your assigned corral.
woke at 5, ate 250 calories or so + 1 cup coffee.
3 Thermolytes + water@ 6:20, plus additional 2 in in liquid nutrition - 44 ounces water + 2 scoops HEED + 2 caffeinated gel, total of 400 calories and went through all but 2 oz. Had 1-2 small cups of water at aid stations. Another 2 Thermolytes at 10K.
Sunny and maybe upper 50s at the start.
warmed up for about 18 minutes, increasing pace to 8:55, then hopped into the next wave start. I had already run the first 9 miles comfortably at just over 9 min / mile as a training run, so I figured I could handle a bit faster pace in the race.
Felt good through 9.5 miles, then noticed the beginnings of a cramp in my left calf. Stopped just before mile 10, stretched the calf and took on more fluids and 2 more thermolytes. In hindsight I suppose I probably should have taken even more fluids and electrolytes up until that point. I was using the same amounts that had worked well in Vancouver, including using the Camelbak in-shirt bladder. The one drawback was that you lose the ability to track how much you've been drinking with any great accuracy, but I though I was was drinking regularly.
I began to baby the left leg (and slowing down as a result) in order to ward off a full-blown cramp meltdown. This worked until mile 12 when the left calf locked. I got help from a massage therapist that happened to be a spectator a few feet from where I stopped, and she spends about 2 minutes massaging out the cramp. I walk for a minute, then slowly build to the finish but still had to be careful about pushing it.
It's a much tougher course than Vancouver, and I was only just over a minute slower than that time so from that perspective it went well, but the cramps made for a frustrating last few miles.
5K: 27:22 (8:50 / mile)
10K: 54:58 (8:52 / mile)
9 miles: 1:20:06 (8:54 / mile)
13.1 miles: 2:00:07 (9:10 / mile)