Seattle Marathon 2005

This is a look back at the Seattle Marathon in Seattle, Washington on Sunday, November 27, 2005. I finished with a time of 3:26:06 (7:52 pace). I finished 275 of 2248 runners and 35th in my age group.

When I was training for my first marathon in the spring of 2005, I fell in love with running the long distances. This is what led me to pursue marathons in the way I have. But even before I ran my first in June I was looking ahead to the fall. I remember noticing that I could get a big discount in running Seattle if I registered before the end of May. So I decided to jump at the chance, fully realizing that the weather was a question.

I had a dream the night before the Seattle Marathon. In this dream I ran with a time 3:40. At the time my current PR was 3:51. I woke up and said to myself if I run 3:40 I will be VERY HAPPY. My attitude going into this race was setting a new PR. After a bad running at Lake Tahoe, I knew I was fast enough to PR, I just needed a somewhat flat course at low altitude. That's what Seattle is. So was was ready.

My mom, sister, and I drove up on Saturday. We got up there in the evening. We were staying at the Best Western about a block from the Space Needle and start of the race. We picked up our packets, and met a friend at the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Afterwards we went to bed.

What's so nice is that I could get up the morning of the race and walk to the start line. It was very chilly, and I was afraid it might rain. But the sun was peaking through the clouds. With start temps of middle 40's I waited until about 5 minutes to the start to get ride of my warm-ups. Once the race started, I was forced to go slow the first couple of miles, because of all the people.

Sometime between mile 5 and 8 I found out that they had pacing groups. Runners that were sticking to a pace and help runners. I was run along side the 3:30 pace group. I was very surprised. I thought to myself if I run a 8 min/mile I would be shocked. But I was feeling wonderful. So I decided to try to stick with the group as long as possible. After a few miles I was running ahead of the group. I thought to myself, if I can stay just ahead of the group as long as possible.

What can I say but I felt GREAT. I was running smooth and was having no problems. Just past mile 14 I really had to go to the bathroom, so I jumped into a port-o-pottie, and then jumped out. Very quick restroom break, and found the 3:30 pace group going past, and speed up to pass them. After that it was cruising all the way.

I did slow down in the last couple of miles, but ran a huge PR of 3:26. I was happy I can't even explain. On the way home, I was excited and it really got me excited about continuing this hobby of marathoning.