I ran the inaugural Seattle Rock n’ Roll 1/2 marathon this past Saturday. Traffic was a nightmare. Weather conditions were perfect. After my brother-in-law dropped me, my sister and my husband off at the exit on the interstate (traffic was backed up for miles), we ran to the race start area and got into the obligatory last minute line for the port-o-potties….or as they are called up here: Honey Buckets. Lines were long. My husband and I were getting concerned that we were going to miss our starting wave. Of course, there were many marathoners and half-marathoners still sitting in shuttle busses on the highway – so at least we were in better shape than those runners. We waited for about 20 minutes, did what we needed to and ran to gear check which thankfully quick and easy. Quick jog to the starting line and we were off – a little late but overall, not too bad of a start. I love running at sea level 
I felt it immediately – the cardio vascular advantage of living at altitude and racing at no elevation.
The course was beautiful. After about four miles of running through neighborhoods, we ran downhill onto the scenic shores of Lake Washington. This part of the route was absolutely gorgeous. Skies were sunny, the water glistened … it was truly a fantastic experience. Once we hit mile 9, we went up an access ramp onto I-90. This was the most notable hill of the race and led us into a tunnel which upon entering, my Garmin lost satellite signal. I had no idea how long I was in the tunnel and whether or not the Garmin picked up the distance and pace. After this, the last few miles kinda sucked. For one thing, I was thrown off because, as mentioned, I had no idea how accurate my distance was on my Garmin. Also, since full marathoners were running some out and back segments, there were mileage signs for these runners that totally confused me. I ran past a 13 mile marker with 11.67 miles logged on my Garmin and I didn’t know what was going on! I continued my journey on I-90 into Seattle and finished at Qwest field. Final read on my Garmin: 13.35 miles… surprising to be a quarter of a mile off but many runners reported the same thing. Regardless, I achieved a new person record (shaving over 5 minutes off of my Houston 1/2 marathon time):
1 hour, 53 minutes, 30 seconds
pace: 8.40 per mile.
good day, good run.
[...] n’ Roll Marathon is on June 26, 2010 and I’ve been debating the full vs. the half. I ran the half marathon last year. This debate is a blog post in and of [...]