2009 Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon

I'm a little slow in my updates, as almost a month ago (June 27th, 2009 to be exact) I ran my 2nd half-marathon of the year. My wife and I made it part of our vacation to the Pacific Northwest, and took part in the inagural Seattle Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon. It was my first experience with one of the very popular "Rock 'n Roll" races, and although it was a little more expensive than I am used to with other races, it was well worth it. The expo was well put together. The shuttle buses from downtown to the starting line on race day were great, the starting area had everything I could need, the corrals were organized well, the fluid stations were numerous and very well staffed, and the finish area had more food than I could eat.

As for the race itself, I was a little overwhelmed by the masses of people (the event was sold out with 25,000 participants - most of which were doing the half, as I was). I was assigned to the 4th corral (based on my expected finish time of 1:45 when I registered), while my wife ended up way back in the mid 20s. So I managed to cross the starting line shortly after the actual race started, while my wife did not make it there until about a half hour later. Given the large number of people, the first few miles were very crowded. Despite the corrals, I managed to get stuck behind people that seemed way too slow to be starting that far up, and I had to make my way through them whenever possible, which was not easy. As a result, my time on the first few miles suffered.

Beyond that, the course was great. While there were plenty of hills as promised, it was not as bad as I had built it up to be in my mind beforehand. A lot of the run was pretty rural since we started south of Seattle in Tukwilla and made our way back to downtown and the finish line which was next to the football stadium. I managed to pick up my pace as the race went along, and after mile 10, I realized I had a chance to set a PR, which I had convinced myself before the race started was not going to be possible. So that made me run even faster, and I was feeling good. Well, as I neared the finish line, at about 12.9 miles, my calves started cramping since I was pushing to hard, and I had to slow my sprint and labor painfully to the finish. I couldn't remember my PR time, so I wasn't sure if I had beaten it or not. Later out, I found out I missed it by 3 seconds! But ultimately I was very happy because I did not expect to come even close to beating it since the hills I saw on the course elevation map had psyched me out before the race even started.

Here are my final results:

Chip time: 1:39:50
Overall place: 458 / 15,676
Gender place: 333 / 4,235
Division place: 57 / 754
Pace: 7:37/mile
5km time: 24:29
10km time: 48:18
9 mile time: 1:09:26

2009 Cleveland Half-Marathon

Yes, I am in fact still running. After seemingly reaching a plateau over the past couple of years, I am finally starting to see a small bit of improvement. A few weeks back, on May 17th, I ran my first half-marathon in 2 years and beat my previous best time by just under a minute, finsihing in 1:39:47. Here are my full results:

Chip Time: 1:39:47
Overall Place: 286 / 4181
Gender Place: 226 / 1813
Division Place (M30-34): 38 / 307
Pace: 7:36.6
10K Split: 46:17

Not too bad. My goal was to get in under 1:40, which I did, barely. I was discouraged in the last mile when the 3:20 marathon pace group passed me, but I managed to have a good last mile and make it in just under.

As far as the course, I ran the full Cleveland Marathon back in 2008, and while I only did the half this time, I felt the course was better. The start area was much improved over last year when there were many turns through crowded areas. Also, the wind situation did seem to be better with running west away from the lake and east near the lake, though at times there was still a stiff headwind, especially near the end when approaching downtown on the Shoreway. The finish area was also improved. I think after last year's race I said I would not run it again, but now I would actually consider running the full marathon in Cleveland again.

My next plan is to likely run the Akron Marathon at the end of September. Depending on whether or not I take it easy and run with my wife (who is considering running this as her first marathon), I may then run either Detroit or Columbus three weeks after that.