What a great way to start the summer! We finished the half-version of the 2008 Seafair Marathon! Drill Sergeant Jevon (pushing us to run more, complete in under 3 hours, and sticking with me even though I slowed him down), and Ox Rocket Autumn (says she's built like an Ox and then shoots off like a Rocket), and myself Butter Boy Neil (misheard Autumn calling me Buddy Boy, and to me it fit, but I'm melting da butta now). At least, these are nicknames I came up with throughout the course of our 13.1 miles. It has been a privilege to race with these two. Both of them could have easily left me behind to obtain a better score and they didn't despite my own prodding to do so.I never expected to jog so much of it. Upon registering in May I knew I could do it, especially after walking at least that much on Wednesday. Yet I can't believe I progressed so far from the pain felt from my first run in over a decade, merely weeks before this marathon. Today I'm a bit stiff and my lower-leg muscles are sore, but neither gave me any trouble as I walked over three miles in to Redmond this morning. To tell the truth, I never expected to do a marathon ... ever. What a treat it has been; I have gained so much self-confidence and a brand new reason for all this leg exercise besides losing weight: fun.
You can find the race results at AthletesLounge.com under event 2253. Autumn finished 11th among women doing the half-walk whereas Jevon and I finished 10th and 11th among men; in the combined results we took 20th among 572!
| Bib | Name | City, State | Age | Gen | Finish | Ag | Fo | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4636 | Cheryl Holman | 52 | F | 01:41:30.5 | 1 | 1 | ||
| 4736 | Matt Wong | 27 | M | 01:53:12.4 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 5556 | Vince Rothwall | Silverdale, WA | 48 | M | 01:57:19.8 | 1 | 3 | |
| 5191 | Aga Elkington | Renton, WA | 40 | F | 02:23:20.9 | 1 | 4 | |
| 5222 | Steve Frederickson | Kent, WA | 61 | M | 02:31:25.7 | 1 | 5 | |
| 5663 | Sonja Veile | Bothell, WA | 30 | F | 02:32:37.3 | 1 | 6 | |
| 5274 | Gordon Hartwig | Bothell, WA | 64 | M | 02:38:48.1 | 2 | 7 | |
| 5337 | Randy Kenyon | Bothell, WA | 49 | M | 02:39:04.7 | 2 | 8 | |
| 5440 | Damiana Merryweather | Seattle, WA | 35 | F | 02:43:26.4 | 1 | 9 | |
| 5087 | Rebecca Beard | Lake Stevens, WA | 31 | F | 02:43:36.1 | 2 | 10 | |
| 5390 | Maria Littlefield | Carnation, WA | 31 | F | 02:45:03.9 | 3 | 11 | |
| 5263 | Linnea K. Hallmark | Loveland, CO | 39 | F | 02:45:40.4 | 2 | 12 | |
| 5578 | Cheryl Scott | Arlington, WA | 42 | F | 02:45:51.2 | 2 | 13 | |
| 5559 | Julie A. Russell | Stanwood, WA | 49 | F | 02:46:14.7 | 1 | 14 | |
| 5608 | Robert Stern | Seattle, WA | 64 | M | 02:46:28.9 | 3 | 15 | |
| 5313 | Michael James | Bellevue, WA | 51 | M | 02:48:05.5 | 1 | 16 | |
| 5419 | Staci Martin | Kirkland, WA | 27 | F | 02:48:44.7 | 1 | 17 | |
| 5066 | Jeffrey Arredondo | Billings, MT | 34 | M | 02:48:58.8 | 1 | 18 | |
| 5065 | Anthony Arredondo | Renton, WA | 37 | M | 02:49:12.5 | 1 | 19 | |
| 5077 | Jevon Barlas | Seattle, WA | 29 | M | 02:50:58.1 | 2 | 20 | |
| 5484 | Neil Obremski | Redmond, WA | 28 | M | 02:50:58.5 | 3 | 21 | |
| 5275 | Autumn Havener | Redmond, WA | 25 | F | 02:50:58.6 | 2 | 22 | |
| 5640 | Diana Thurman | Olalla, WA | 61 | F | 02:51:34.6 | 1 | 23 | |
| 5593 | Erica Slatt | Seattle, WA | 31 | F | 02:55:01.5 | 4 | 24 | |
| 5196 | Teri L. English | Carmel Valley, CA | 62 | F | 02:55:40.1 | 2 | 25 | |
| 5055 | Stephen Ackerman | Gig Harbor, WA | 51 | M | 02:56:02.4 | 2 | 26 | |
| 5054 | Rachelle Ackerman | Gig Harbor, WA | 18 | F | 02:56:02.5 | 1 | 27 | |
| 5367 | Melinda M. Larson | Bellevue, WA | 52 | F | 02:57:57.1 | 2 | 28 | |
| 5473 | Khang Ngo | Ocean Shores, WA | 31 | M | 02:58:03.9 | 2 | 29 | |
| 5405 | Thu Ly | Ocean Shores, WA | 25 | F | 02:58:04.4 | 3 | 30 |
Interesting to note there were 470 women and only 102 men in our group. I think we did pretty good even compared to half-marathon runners, so next one I'll probably register as a runner. Of course, Beaver still kicked my ass with 2:32! Way to go Jim, I hope your knees are okay!
Here's a few photos I took with my camera phone ...
Morning of the marathon, 5:05am, sitting on the steps outside the apartment building waiting for Autumn.
Caption
My "J chip" which is worn on the wrist (or ankle) and keeps track of your personal time. A zapper at the starting line resets it and something at the finish line records however many milliseconds have elapsed.
Autumn struggling to pin on her bib, 5275.
The shuttles from the parking at Bellevue Square (e.g. end of the race) to the start consisted of a huge fleet of school buses. I thought it was overkill until Jevon barely made it for waiting to ride one over. My knees pressed so tightly up against the seat in front of me that I could barely move, definitely not made for adults.
Cannon fire from the Pirate Ship "Moby Duck" signaled the beginning of the marathon. They also drove out front of the runners and stopped just past 520 to direct our foot traffic off the appropriate exit with an "arr". I saw no rum.
Start line of the marathon behind the milling crowds of people. There's a gap here where vehicles are supposed to go through ...
Ox Rocket Autumn giving us a toothy Seafair smile and not yet wearing her sunglasses.
It's either a big tight-lipped smile or a grimace from the portable bathrooms behind me.
Shuttles for the Seafair Marathon.
An endless sea of people waiting patiently in long lines to unload in a wall of Honey Buckets. What you can't see in this is the opposite side where another wall of these plastic poop pits drew long lines threaded between the people facing the other direction. Also at the end was a free-standing spot for guys, but I never saw it through the throng.
Here I am having almost completely crossed 520 on foot. Woohoo! We even ran a good part of the way thanks to Drill Sergeant Jevon. This floating freeway of gridlock grimaces actually proved a fun and refreshing first leg of the journey, except for maybe the other lane still being open to cars.
A look back at 520 and all the people crossing it on foot. I heard at the Expo from some guy explaining the route that this hasn't happened in over a couple dozen years.
And now after the marathon here I'm taking a picture of myself after getting my bag from gear check.
Drill Sergeant Jevon adjusting his medal.
Ah ... better? We were at Gilberts when this was taken, the host there was great about getting us a table even though it was really busy.
More pictures to come when I get the shots Missy took off our Canon camera. In the meantime, here's some more fun links:
- Seattle PI Pictures
- Kenyans finish 1st, but it's not surprising is it? Two hours and twenty minutes for 26.2 miles! That's over 11 mph!
- Hundreds of Marathoners Miss Buses! Jevon is even more lucky than I realized. Even with the multitude of shuttles, hundreds still missed the event that registered. Ouch, I would be devastated.
- msteechur's Photostream has pictures from their point of view in the marathon.
See the photos at my Picasa Gallery.
1 comments:
Built like Ox
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