Seattle Half Marathon 2008

Both Kyle and I decided to run the Seattle half marathon a couple of months ago even though we were doing the World Championships 70.3 only a couple weeks before. I am not sure about Kyle but I think the main reason I registered for the race is that my employer paid most of the registration fee. I know not the smartest reason by hey why not. My other motivation was to beat my time from 2 years ago when I ran it as my 1st half marathon ever and I ran a 2:01 when I wanted a 2:00. Last time I felt the course beat me and I wanted to get that ghost out of my head.
Anyway we got up early I ate a slice of pumpkin pie for breakfast along with some nuun (yes looking at this now it seems like the strangest pre race breakfast). Then we drove to the start and got there nice and early, got good parking, took our bag of dry clothes to the drop area. Then it was of to the porta potties and low and behold it was early enough to have no line. After chatting with a few friends we went off to stretch and do a short little warm up run. These are all the reasons I like getting to races nice and early...
When it was time to line up we saw another friend that we met in Clearwater who has recently joined the Pauole Sport Team. We all lined up together but both her and Kyle had faster goals that me so I just did my own thing once the race started. Since we were not very far back in no time at all I was across the start line and off and running.
The first couple of miles through downtown were uneventful other than that with in half a mile the gloves were off, then the arm warmers. Of course I dropped an arm warmer and almost got run when I went back to grab it off the ground. Luckily I survived and kept running. I was almost surprised as the miles went by and all of a sudden I was running into the tunnel completely over heating. I contemplated pouring water on myself but remembered I was not in a triathlon and it was sort of cold out.. So I just kept running though the tunnel/sauna sweating like crazy. Luckily there was a very slight breeze when I ran out of the tunnel to help keep my temperature in line.
I kept my pace very consistent and mostly just had fun with it - no stressing allowed. Monique had mentioned one of her friends would be running and she was going to meet him at mile 5ish so I looked to see if she was still around. She wound up seeing me first and joined me. She was not sure where her friend was but lucky for me she ran with me while she looked around for him. I saw my mom and Jerry cheering on the long hill on Madison (I think) and made sure to smile for the camera since I was alittle to honest in Clearwater.
Monique ran with me and chatted for the rest of the race. It was a good stuff - I did not really feel tightness in my hips till the very last little roller half a mile out from the finish. Even though she kept trying to test me and see if I wanted to run faster or could run faster... but not today which I was ok with it since I still don't feel 100% recovered from Clearwater and the rest of the very long season.
In the end I was happy with my time especially based on not really pushing it to hard and most important I had fun and stayed very positive. It was the perfect ending to my very very long season.

Kyle, my Mom and I.


Monique and I after the race.

Overall finish time 1:50:42
mile splits - 7:57, 7:47, 8:24, 8:13, 8:21, 8:12, 8:31, 9:01, 8:22, 9:19, 8:14, 8:11, 8:18, 1:46
some other funny data is that my average heart rate was 188 bpm - totally normal for me but my max was 201 bpm - always find that funny how high it can get.

To answer a few people's question - Yes I am still alive.
I know I said I would post a race report to explain my finisher photos but for some reason I can't seem to finish it. I have most of it written and notes with photos for the whole thing but to be honest I'm still struggling with how I feel about the race and how I did. So sorry for the delay hopefully I will have it done soon.

In the mean time I have been going to masters swim 3 days a week again and getting some running in to get ready to do the Seattle half marathon in a week.. yeah I'm not sure what i was thinking but it is just a run and my goal is to just enjoy myself so it should not be to intense. But I already told Kainoa that after the race I want an entire week off from all forms of scheduled training. I need a break. I will probably still run or maybe go rock climbing, maybe yoga - really just what ever I feel like. Maybe just clean out our garage and reorganize things before the next season begins.

Finisher

swim 38:17 bike 3:00:30 run 2:10:54 final 5:56:26
overall 1154 of 1254 age group 49 of 51



and then..


I will explain everything tomorrow.

final pre race days

On Wed (Nov 5th) we got up a little early (at least for Kyle) to swim with James. The weather was still kind of icky - windy, kind of cold, and lots of waves. The swim actually went really good. The water is a great temp - not to cold but also not to warm. I swam all over the place and never in straight line. I blame the waves that kept pushing me around...
Afterward swimming my Mom & Jerry cooked us all a super yummy breakfast of eggs, toast and oatmeal.
Then we tried to go see the Big Cat Rescue but misunderstood that you had to be there at 9am or 3pm only. Oh well we met up with my Aunt Bernice who lives in Tampa and headed back to Clearwater.
Once back in town we stopped off at the race expo and did athlete check-in and walked though the expo. I was excited to see that all the gear was blue - my favorite color :) So I just had to get a pair of arm warmers, bike jersey and tri shorts. We also picked up some cool visors.
After spending way to much money Kyle got changed and went for bike ride with James while I walked along the beach with my Mom and my Aunt. Then I put my feet up and relaxed till dinner. I'm glad I decided not to ride with the guys since they came back saying that they feared for their lives a couple of times - I guess the drivers around here are not very considerate to cyclists.

The sun finally came back on Thursday :) We started the day off with a visit to the Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fl. We had wanted to go on Wed but did not make the tour times. The tour was amazing. You get to see all sorts of cats and support a great cause.
Afterwards we met up Col, Bryan and Liz at the Tampa airport to help get them and all there gear to the condo. They played bike for a while. Kyle's dad met us in Clearwater. They went of and got checked in and all that sort of stuff, Kyle went for a run and I went to the hot tub to stretched my legs out.
In the evening we went to the Athlete Welcome dinner which was out on a beach and had a good buffet style dinner. The weird thing was is that they had alcohol but no gatorade or even pop.. The presentation was kind of dry and boring but oh well.

Friday morning I got up a little earlier than Kyle and went for a short easy run - at 7am it was already warm enough to run in a tank and shorts.. Once I got back Kyle was up and we headed out to go for a swim. The water was calm!!! no waves, no swells. it was wonderful and the best thing is that the swim course buoys are set up.

We only swam for about 15 - 20 minutes but I focused on sighting and swimming straight. The water felt great and so much easier than the waves of the days before.
Next up was a super short bike ride just to make sure everything worked as expected then final run through of gear bags to make sure I had everything I wanted in them.
We met James over at the expo and checked our bikes and both gear bags. I had a good spot on the end of a rack but it was a ways away from the rest of my age group which was kind of weird.
Of course we had to walk through the expo again and Kyle talked to the Newton guy about the gortex winter shoes and grabbed a pair to run in for the Seattle Half Marathon. After talking with Kainoa about final race/nutrition/mental plans I spent the rest of the day/night was spent with my feet up in compression tights.

were did the sun go

Yesterday was 81°F today it was 68 °F so much for getting used to some heat. We started out the day with a swim even though the water looked less than ideal mostly grey and windy = rough water..
It took a bit to get brave the chill but once in the water it felt great. I was able to get in a good rhythm even though the water was so wavy. The best part was that usually Kyle pulls away from me and continues to but today I was able to stay closure to him than normal :)
We swam for about 25 min with a few hard efforts for a minute and then just tried not to get water up my nose.
There are more and more skinny tri people showing up, I think I counted 20 or so swimming at the same time as us and then more on their bikes and a few more running.. skinny tri people are taking over this town..

After swimming Kyle and I joined my Mom and Jerry for some to breakfast to a place called Kellys in Dunedin who had super yummy eggs. Once adequately fueled we continued up to the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs. We walked through the never ending tourist stores which answered where all the clutter in people houses comes from.. I limited my purchases to some hand made soap and some fudge for my after race treat. We also tested one of the greek restaurant s rice pudding and some greek coffee.

The sun had still not come out so when we got back to the condo we headed out on a bike ride. Before really getting started we met up with James a friend we met at the Hawaii 70.3 - of course before we could get rolling kyle and him had to talk bike tech a bit - boys are so funny lol.
We rode out over the cause way and then out on some bike trail. The cause way was actually kind of fun to ride over - a good climb up and a fun descend with a great run out. On the way back it was bit windy but nothing to bad at all. On the way down I did wish I could have added some weight because the guys completely smoked me but oh well not worth it. The rest of the ride was insanely flat. We wounded up spending most of the ride chatting and catching up to them with a few little sprints. We were out riding for an hour and got back just before sunset. It felt great to be on my bike :)

Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit warmer - maybe not 81°F but I am on vacation and would like some sun and need to soak up some Vitamin D.

we have arrived

After a very long day on an airplane yesterday we are in Clearwater. We spent last night getting settled, my aunt came by to say hi, found the grocery store, and got some dinner before sitting in the hot tub. My mom and Jerry got to witness what happens when Kyle and I don't eat frequently enough. We rushed them through the grocery store and ate a lot of crackers waiting for dinner to come. Once fed things went smoother and we were asleep early.
I woke up this morning at 5am eastern time which is insane.. but I stayed in bed and tossed and turned till about 8am when I got hungry. As usual when we travel to races Kyle's first priority is always the bikes. So as soon as he was awake he started putting the bikes back together. Our new double bike box worked really well and Kyle had them together in no time.
Next up was a short run. Notice in the photo Kyle is wearing a sweatshirt - it did not feel that hot. But as soon as we started running my legs felt soo heavy and I started to heat up. I tested out running with sun glasses since it is so bright her but it made my face extremely hot - with in a mile or so I sweating so much under my glasses that I had sweat running down my face like I was crying.. I was very uncomfortably hot the entire run. I'm very glad to have 6 more days to get used to the warmer temps.
After running we walked around the pier 60 and checked out the beach a little bit. They are already putting up tents for the expo and the beach is gorgeous. We spotted a lot of skinny tri biatchs running, riding and swimming all around town. I'm trying really hard not to get intimidated and just remember I have put in a lot of good training and I'm more than ready to have a fun day racing. and remember to breath..
Later we went out in search of the local tri shop to find a bike pump to fill our tires and found that they have relocated across the street of the host hotel so we went and got some Starbucks. On teh way back we happened upon a really cool bike shop called Hand on Bicycle. The owner was really cool and trued our wheels and pumped the tires up.
When we got home my Mom and jerry already had a yummy homemade dinner ready for us. Probably the weirdest thing today was my foot cramped up and it freaked out my mom. So I took a couple sport legs and must not have swallowed one all the way and an hour later coughed up a mess of the contents... Kyle thought I was choking and my laptop has a light white powder coating over the keyboard.. Kind of yucky.. So I'm trying to drink some cytomax but my throat and stomach feels kind of weird. Hopefully everything will settle over the night and I need to drink more water/electrolytes tomorrow.