I took an early morning Southwest flight out of LAX. I had to leave for the airport early enough to avoid the morning rush hour traffic. The flight arrived at Sea-Tac airport early. I made my way straight for the light rail station. I bought an Orca card for $5 and loaded it with $10. Might as well get the card since I'll be back every year. Normally I get off at the Stadium station. However instead I rode it up to the International District station since it was too early and the expo had not opened yet. I passed some time by stopping at Uwajimaya to pick up some drinks.
Drinks
After that I made my way over to the expo located at the usual spot, CenturyLink Field Event Center. Along the way, I noticed that the parking lot was completely fenced off with what looked to be a concert being set up. It looked a lot like grunge, punk rock, and goth all mixed into one. Practically everyone that was attending that event was smoking something. It was a weird scene as marathon runners and these music attendees crossed paths. I guess we're all a little crazy in our own way! :)
At about a quarter to noon there was a pretty long line of people waiting to get into the expo. The line moved swiftly when the expo opened. After picking up my bib and shirt, I went through the expo fairly quickly. I stopped only to register for next year's race. Registration was $69 for the marathon plus $9.99 for transaction processing fee which came out to a total of $78.99. They also gave me a cotton t-shirt for registering at the expo.
After the expo, I headed over to my first stop for food whenever I come to Seattle and that would be Ivar's Fish Bar. I got the 4 pcs cod and a cup of white chowder. After the quick and cheap meal, I started heading over to the Pacific Place shopping center on Pine St to catch a movie at the AMC Movie Theater. I had a slight detour along the way. I stopped at Pine St and 1st Ave to take my annual photo of the Pike Place Market as a homage to Sleepless in Seattle. I caught the 1:45 pm showing of Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2. It was entertaining. However I thought it was pretty much more of the same stuff from the first movie, but with a different soundtrack.
4 piece of cod and cup of chowder
Pike Place Market
After the movie, I walked over to my hotel, WorldMark Seattle The Camlin, to check in. This was only my second stay at a WorldMark property since becoming an owner. I'm starting to get the hang of things. During check-in they invited me to a complimentary breakfast which included listening to an hour long presentation. I had to put in a $20 deposit in case I was a no-show. I took the elevator up to my room on the second floor. It was right next to the elevator door and the stairwell. The room was pretty nicely furnished, but it was a studio with a Murphy bed and nobody likes sleeping on those!
Murphy bed
I unpacked my bags and went through the expo haul which wasn't much. I thought that the race shirt on the right was a bit plain and boring. After I laid out my flat runner, I noticed that I had forgotten to pack my Shot Bloks. I made a mental note to go back to the expo tomorrow to buy some.
Expo stuff
Flat runner
After relaxing and watching some TV, I went back out for dinner. Originally I was going to go to the closest McDonald's, but apparently it was about 2 blocks too far. I ended up going to Johnny Rockets inside the Pacific Place shopping center. I briefly thought about eating at Din Tai Fung, but it was ridiculously crowded with a long line of people. It was pretty busy inside Johnny Rockets as well. Some seats opened up at the counter, so I grabbed a seat there. I ordered their Rocket Single burger, made it a double and also their Hershey's chocolate shake. The burger was super greasy. It might have been the most greasy one that I've ever eaten in all my life! The burger tasted okay and the shake was a nice dessert to go with it.
Johnny Rockets
Rocket Single (Double)
Hershey's chocolate shake
Along the way back to my hotel, a restaurant caught my attention because of the name, Café Yumm! I stopped and looked at the menu, but found nothing that looked yummy. :)
Saturday 6/17
I'm not sure if it was the extra grease or the milk shake, but I woke up with abdominal cramps and diarrhea at about 2 am. That should make me a bit lighter for race day! :) After going back to sleep, I woke up to get ready for my 8:30 am WorldMark breakfast and 1 hr presentation for current owners. The presentation was quite informative, during which I ate a croissant, a hard boiled egg, and a cup of coffee. Then came the hard sell. They always tell me it's a no pressure sales pitch, but man, the guy pushed hard to get me to buy some more credits. Eventually I was able to convince him that I wasn't able to afford to buy at the moment and he let me go. During my talk with the salesman, I was able to get two restaurant recommendations from him. He told me to go to 13 Coins Restaurant for a Louie salad since I told him that I liked the one at Cutters Crabhouse. He also told me to go to Double DD Meats for steaks because I told him that I was heading over to Uli's Famous Sausage for lunch.
WorldMark breakfast
I made my way back down to the expo. I bought some Shot Bloks for the race. I normally eat the margarita flavored ones, but I bought the salted watermelon to test them out since they also have double the sodium. Coincidentally a few of my local friends were also at the expo at that time. It was cool to catch up with two of them since they had moved up here from SoCal.
Salted Watermelon Shot Bloks
I then left the expo to eat lunch at Uli's Famous Sausage over at Pike Place Market. Who knew that they would have great tasting sausages over at the market place where they're known for seafood. The dining area inside wasn't that spacious, but fortunately I was able to find a spot. I ordered their 4 sausage house plate. The 4 that I picked were Cajun Andouille, German Bratwurst, Polish Kielbasa, and Hungarian. Man, they were good! Out of the 4, my favorite was the Hungarian as it was really flavorful and had a little kick.
Uli's
Lunch#1 at Uli's
After lunch, I hiked it back to my hotel. I hung out in my room until it was time for dinner. A few of my good Marathon Maniac friends invited me out for dinner. It was our tradition to eat sushi at Tsukushinbo. However this year, we were missing a few people so we ended up eating at Cutters Crabhouse. I really liked their signature Louie salad the last time that I was here, so I ordered it again. It was just as good as I remembered it to be, but this time the presentation wasn't as good.
Dinner with my Maniacal friends
Cutters Signature Louie Salad
Sunday 6/18
Pre-race stress! I got ready, packed up, checked out of my room, and dropped off my bag for storage. I got to the Westlake station early enough to catch the first train but it was packed to the gills! While waiting for the second one, I started talking to a girl from Colorado who was running in the half marathon. She made a comment about my Darth Vader pajama, asking if it was going to be a throwaway. Even the second train was packed to the gills! Finally there was room on the third train. Even so, it was a very tight squeeze. Once we got out of the train it was a very long line of runners riding the escalators out of the University of Washington station.
Exiting light rail station
After exiting the station, I took a picture of Husky Stadium and quickly made my way towards the back of the corrals. I didn't spot any directions pointing to gear check, but I remember reading the final instructions that that's where they would be located. Indeed they were. I checked my bag and jogged up to my corral. There wasn't time to even to get in line for a portapotty. The national anthem was being sung, but the speakers were cutting out. Once I got up to my corral I had to squeeze through the corral fencing since I was on the opposite side of the corral entrance. Shortly after the corrals ahead of mine were released, it was time to run a marathon!
Corral
This was the first year starting from the University of Washington. We started by heading south on Montlake Blvd before turning east on Lake Washington Blvd. During the first mile, everything felt okay except I had some weird leg cramps. I'm going to guess that my body hadn't fully recovered from yesterday's bout with diarrhea. I hung with the 1:45 half marathon pace group through the first mile and then backed off. The humidity was high and I could tell that my body was running hot. There was a steady climb up to mile 2 where we turned left onto E Madison St. Then it was followed with a right turn at McGilvra Blvd. We would stay on this road until it became Lake Washington Blvd again. It was a bit odd to be heading south instead of north on this familiar road. I felt a sense of relief when I saw and passed the I-90 knowing that we will not be running on it this year. I reached the "wear blue" mile at about mile 6. I ran along the left hand side to read all of their names. That briefly took my mind away from the slowly growing discomfort of running a marathon.
Wear Blue: Run to Remember
Once I got to about mile 8, the half marathoners peeled off and the marathoners kept going forward for the loop around Seward Park. This year we ran a clockwise loop of the park. This loop of about 2.5 miles has been my favorite part of the course as it is very beautiful and full of greenery. Just leading up to the loop, I happened to bumped into the same lady that I had bumped into last year at about the same point. Last year she was running for Team WorldVision and pushing I believe to be her boy in a stroller while playing some country music. This year, she was running with a group called, Marathons with Meaning. She told me about another runner pushing a stroller for 100 miles. You can read about that amazing runner in this article. I make about a million little decisions each day, even at a marathon a year ago, and I somehow end up right where I needed to be. I was drawn to this person last year because of my love for country music. It's always good to meet new people and to hear their stories. In particular I love to meet people that run for greater reasons beyond just checking off a bucket list item or staying in shape. They challenge me to look beyond my own needs and desires.
As I approached the short but steep hill up Genesee Way, my legs were toast. I tried to run up the hill, but the legs were cramping up and my left ankle was sore. This hill ate me up for breakfast! I limped through the halfway point at 2:13:02.
The course headed west on Genesee St until about mile 14 where it turned north up Rainier Ave. At about mile 16.5, the course turned left on Dearborn St. Then it turned south onto 4th Ave followed by the loop up to Royal Brougham Way. Approaching mile 18, the marathoners got teased with a glimpse of the finish line. We still had to put in 8+ miles on the 99 which included a killer out and back all the way up to East Queen Anne. It was a mixed bag of emotions for me through these final miles. I got to see a bunch of my friends ahead of me heading to the finish. This would be the last time seeing Downtown Seattle from the Alaskan Way Viaduct! Heading up on Aurora Ave was a slow grind, but it brought back fond old memories from early versions of this race course. My legs were cramping up pretty badly as I trotted across the finish line yet my heart was content as I was able to cross the finish line for the 9th year in a row. Next year, God willing, will be my 10th consecutive year running this race!
View of Downtown Seattle from the Alaskan Way Viaduct
Finish line
Finish: 5:22:42
Click here for my Garmin data.
After crossing the finish line, I got my medal and a bunch of drinks and snacks. I had to utilize all of the pockets in my shorts. I headed slowly to the UPS trucks to pick up my gear bag. They congratulated me as my bag was the last from the top shelf. I told them that I had a rough day. :)
I threw everything inside the bag and drank the chocolate drink before heading over to the entrance of the beer garden to give away my free beer ticket. It didn't take but 2 seconds to find a willing recipient. :)
Medal
I walked over to the International District station to take the light rail back to my hotel. First I had to reload my Orca card. The first few folks ahead of me were taking a long time paying for their fare. Once the train arrived, it was a short ride up to the Westlake station. Back at the hotel, I got my bag out of storage and used one of the restrooms to get cleaned up a bit. For this trip, I had booked everything as if the race was still a Saturday race. It wasn't until about a month out that I realized that the marathon had been moved to Sunday. So instead of relaxing in my hotel room, it was time for me to go get some food and head for the airport.
I went back to Pike Place Market to eat some more sausages at Uli's. I sat at the same table and ordered 4 different sausages, Chorizo Verde, Heavy Garlic, Merquez, and Nurnberger. The Chorizo Verde was their seasonal sausage and it was quite flavorful! The Heavy Garlic was also a good one. The Merquez might not be everyone's favorite as it was lamb and quite gamy. My favorite out of these 4 was the Nurnberger. Those Germans really know their sausages!
Lunch#2 at Uli's
After lunch, I walked over to the corner of 2nd Ave and University St to take the light rail over to Sea-Tac airport. Once I got to the airport I had to first use the restroom and then find a place to sit down to finish my bottle of water. What a vicious cycle! It was actually hard to find a spot to sit down. Most seats were reserved for the handicapped. After I finished my water, I got in line for TSA screening.
Once I got through I headed over to Ivar's to eat an early dinner. Normally my appetite doesn't return that quickly after a marathon, but man, I was pretty hungry. I ordered just their standard 3 piece cod which came with fries. In my bag, they had included a note to petition for the restaurant to stay at the airport. I'm way ahead of you. I did that before coming on my trip!
3 piece cod
My flight home was with United and it was an easy peasy flight home. I had a window seat and I got a nice view of what I believe was Mount Rainier. After drinking a can of cran-apple juice, I got a little bit of shuteye for my trip home.
Nice view from the plane
We landed at LAX early and it took a long time before we parked at the gate. Once I deplaned, I made my way up to the departure level to catch the parking lot C bus back to my car. I might want to start parking some place else or just walk to the parking lot because the bus was overly packed. Anyways that concluded another successful year of running one of my favorite marathons! I can't wait to return next year as it very well could be my 200th marathon!
Bus back to lot C
No comments:
Post a Comment