Seattle Marathon 2007--Half Marathon Race - RunHalf Marathon

The horn sounded and everyone yelled and we all started moving and then stopped. We kind of jerked along like this for a while, but eventually we started moving. The first couple of miles were very crowded and it was hard to get into the pace I wanted. There was also a decent amount of downhill at the beginning that I don't remember from doing the full last year. The first miles went by pretty uneventfull and when we turned onto lake washington boulevard it started to thin out and I was able to settle into a nice steady pace. I had planned to run the first 7 miles a little conservative and then slowly increase my pace the rest of the way in. I passed the halfway chip timer in 58:24. Once I saw the 7 mile marker I picked it up a bit and just told myself 'here we go, now is when you'll hit or miss your goal time.' I remembered how horrible the hills felt when I ran the full last year and I had trained for them this year. I really didn't find any 'horrible' hills that I had remembered from the full, but I also didn't have 13 more miles in my legs at that point either. Ran through the parks and when I saw the 10 mile marker I just went for it. I really started to hurt and my legs were feeling really tired at that point, but I just kept asking myself 'How bad do you want it'. I did run into some difficulty coming over an overpass, I couldn't get my breathing under control and my legs were on fire. I had a little thought in the back of my head that told me it was o.k. to walk for a little while and end the suffering, but then I thought about all the training, hill workouts, treadmill runs, running in the wet and cold and just thought to myself 'its only pain, just about 10 more minutes of pain and it will all be over.' I ran down the steep street that I remembered from the marathon and it wasn't that steep. When I saw the left hand turn just before the stadium entrance I got some weird burst of energy and started sprinting in. When I saw the clock at 1:49 i gave a little fist pump and when I got closer to the finish I raised my hands and smiled when I crossed the line. I bent down to untie my timing chip and then promptly started coughing. I was coughing so much that a medical person came over and asked me if I wanted to go into the med tent. I assured him I was fine and walked towards some friends who came to see me finish. I felt like I was about to cramp up, so I stretched out my calves and quads on some steps. I was very out of it for about the next 40 minutes until I got some food and water in me. Overall I was very happy with my result. I have had I disappointing and frustrating year athletically and in general, so it was nice to accomplish something this year. 3 races I had already singed up for ,including my little sister's first half, D.N.S. due to being underway and spending half the year underwater on a submarine. Anyways happy and relieved that the hills weren't as bad as I remembered from the full.

maybe run the first 6 miles out a little quicker after it thins out.

walked over to some steps past the finish line and stretched out my legs for a couple minutes. walked to the victory recovery area and grabbed a banana and some liquids


nothing


can't figure out how to load the race photos but if you go to
seattlemarathon.org and castor or #4814 will bring up my photos. I'm wearing black tights with a blue/black longsleeve shirt and clear glasses.