Lake Sammamish Half Marathon - Run

Lined up about 50 feet behind the start line. The course is very narrow for the large volume of participants especially the first few miles. Tried to start far enough up to not get too caught up in the crowd but didn't want to start too far up and get caught up in a faster flow of runners. Hit it just about right. I wasn't sure what was going to happen with my sore foot so wanted to play it a little cautious until I got a sense of what it was going to do.

First two miles went very comfortably just under 8:00 pace. There was a pace group right in front of me and I was content to just cruise along behind them. Besides it was hard to get around them as they were a large tight pack and at this point the course had left the path and gone up on the shoulder of the main road. There were cones on the fog line but people were darting around the left of them into traffic. I thought for sure someone was going to get hit by a car. The pace group stepped it up to about 7:55 which was good as I was starting to feel pent up.

At about four miles we hit an aid station. Half the pack came to a complete stop which really irritated me. I had to go around them and missed getting a drink. As with my last race (same thing happened) my comfort was that I was now in front of all of them. I decided to turn it up a notch since I was feeling very strong and I wanted to put some distance between me and the pace pack.

I hit the halfway mark at 52 minutes and decided at that moment that I felt good enough to keep pouring it on. Hit a 7:30 mile and thought I better wait until a little later in the race to do anything too crazy and pulled up a little from there. I was passing quite a few people and that became my mental focus. Reel someone in, pass, and then look ahead to the next.

Felt great all the way to the finish line and achieved a negative split by 1:20. I was so happy.

Nothing. I run about 20 - 25 races a year and usually only 2 or 3 of those I walk away with a feeling of total satisfaction. This was one of those races where I felt I ran to my maximum potential for my current fitness and executed the race well. I'll savor this one for awhile.

Walked around to keep from tightening up. Waited to cheer on my brother and wife who also ran the race. Met up with fellow BT'ers for food and a few beers. It was really nice to see everyone. It is another reason I look forward to this day each year.

After the race went to my brothers for bbq and beer while sitting in the glorious early spring sun. Day after the race my foot is very sore but not as bad as it was post-race two weeks ago. It will be another week of swim/bike focus but that's not necessarily a bad thing.


My foot was sore. Nothing I could do about that and was thankful that it wasn't more of a hindrance.


This is a great event on one of my favorite courses. A very scenic run along the lake. With 1800+ it is starting to get a bit congested on the path. This is my third year and will continue to make it a tradition.