Summary:  I might as well start with the punch line: I did 3:03:28 by the clock and 3:03:24 by the chip, a good BQ (Boston Qualifying) time for my first marathon.  I was solidly on track to break three hours after twenty miles, but then I got some serious hamstring cramping that had me wondering whether I would even finish the race.  I stopped several times, slowed down a bunch, and fortunately I managed to shuffle to the finish. 

Check out race results and The Seattle Times' article on the race.

Pre-race:  Well after all the training the last several months, I was definitely ready to do this race.  With tapering the last few weeks, I was also starting to feel the need to go exert myself seriously.  I had a stomach flu the Tuesday before the race, but I don't think it impacted my race day performance.  The weather forecast was for sunny and cold, very rare conditions for Seattle at this time of year.  I was a little concerned that I would be too cold during the race, but it was not a problem at all.

Here's what I wrote in my pre-race post about my goals for the race:

Good: 3:20:59.  I started this whole thing wanting to qualify for the Boston Marathon.  For my age, I need to do 3:20:59 to qualify.  Based on how I have been running, this should be completely possible, barring injury, sickness or bizarre weather.

Better: 3:10.  For men under age 35, the BQ time is 3:10:59.  It would be cool to hit this time so I don't need any sort of "for my age" disclaimer.

Best: 2:59.  My 1:24:01 time from the Halloween Half Marathon suggests that I should be able to do under three hours in a full marathon.  It would certainly be cool to be able to say that my first marathon was faster than Lance Armstrong's marathon debut, but achieving this will require perfect execution and decent conditions.  Hopefully, I will avoid the stress fractures he got.

For the rest of this report, I've divided the text into sections of the race that were similar.  For each section, I am including a table with info for each mile: the cumulative time at each mile marker, mile splits, my average heart rate, the number of uphill feet as measured by the atmospheric pressure system in my running watch and the number of seconds between my cumulative time and the pace needed for a 2:59:59 marathon time.  The Seattle Marathon course map may be of interest as you follow this. 

Start-->I90, miles 0 to 5

I started very near the front, maybe five rows of people from the start line, figuring that I would be able to go fast enough to justify this position and not wanting to get caught up in the crowding that happens at a big race start a little further back.  This seemed to work pretty well.

My race support crew, comprised of my wife Lynn, my father, his wife Tina and my two sons David and Aiden, were stationed about a hundred yards from the start to give me my initial cheers.  Lynn took the photo at right; I'm in the white hat, gray top and black tights.

My goal at the beginning was simple: take it easy and just feel my way.  I think I did this quite well, easing up on the several moderate uphill sections and nicely striding out the downhills.  I got passed more than I passed for the first few miles, but I felt really smooth and strong.  The effort felt light, and I kept telling myself to back off and take it easy, even though my mile splits were a generally little faster than the 6:52 pace I wanted to maintain for the first half of the race.

 I90, miles 6 to 9

This felt like a transitional stage in the race.  The folks who like to run really fast at the start were starting to drop off, and the amount of passing decreased significantly.  There was a mild headwind from the east, so I tried to tuck in behind a couple of runners across the bridge.  This did help a little, as I felt my effort decreasing while pace seemed constant.  Up the hill on the east side of the bridge I felt really good, and I stayed on pace with the much smaller folks around me.  At the 10k mark they were calling out times, and I did 42-something.  This was cool to hear, since my effort was still quite light.  My heart rate was in the mid 150s, nice and low for me.  I've done some harder training runs when I do 15 miles with HR in the mid 160s, so I knew that this effort was quite maintainable for me.

Going back down the hill after the turnaround on Mercer Island, I picked up the pace, getting my cadence nice and high.  I passed several folks, then settled back into a good steady pace on the flats.

Just after the bridge, my support crew was cheering me on around the nine mile marker, where Lynn took the photo above.

Lake Washington waterfront, miles 10 to 17

This is a beautiful, flat section of the course, and I was feeling really great throughout it.  Frankly, I felt better on this section of the course than I have ever experienced while running.  I was now passing people regularly, I was doing under my three-hour pace, yet I didn't hurt at all.  At the half-way point, 13.1 miles, the clock had me at 1:28:17.  When I saw that, I was psyched.  My effort was contained, and I thought at that point that I would be able to negative split the race.

I was starting to get just a bit warm early in this section, so I unzipped my collar.  Zip collars are handy for races in colder weather.

My support crew was waiting for me near the mile seventeen marker, and I yelled something like "I'm gonna go sub 3!"  I thought at that point that I would be able to pick it up even further, feeling as good as I was at that point.  My father and son called out that I was in about 55th place in the race.

I90 to Seattle Tennis Club, miles 18 and 19

Shortly after mile 17, I felt a near-cramp in my right hamstring.  It didn't actually cramp, but I took a kind of half step to straighten out my leg immediately.  That was a scary moment... if that kind of cramp happened for real, I would be incapacitated.  I backed off a little at that point, knowing that I had a cushion to the three-hour goal and not wanting to risk exacerbating that cramp.  Still, I could feel that something wasn't entirely right with my hamstrings.  I felt great in cardiovascular function, though.

Seattle Tennis Club to Capitol Hill, miles 20 to 22

Right in front of the Seattle Tennis Club, it happened: wham, a sudden and serious cramp and severe tightening of my left hamstring.  I had to stop immediately; I couldn't continue running no matter how much I might have wanted to.  I massaged it for a few seconds, and I tried to stretch it gingerly.  I think I was stopped for about thirty seconds, seeing several people pass me, all of whom I had recently passed.

I managed to get going again, but I felt that I needed to do what felt like a weird shuffle run, since I didn't want to risk bending my knees much and causing the cramping again.  I was very worried about another cramping incident--if bad enough, my 3:20:59 Boston Qualifying time was at risk, and heck I was concerned that I might have to drop out of the race entirely.

At the mile-20 mark, I calculated that I needed to do about a 44-minute 10k to break three hours.  That seemed like it might be possible; in normal circumstances, it would be frankly not too hard.

Shortly thereafter, I got another severe cramp, this time in my right hamstring.  Again I had to stop, even longer this time, for more massaging and stretching.  I got going up the serious hill on E. Galer St, but I was moving really slowly now, super concerned about the cramping.  I downed gels at every water station, hoping that might possibly help.

Part way up the hill on Madison, I saw Chris Jones with one of his kids.  He gave me a very enthusiastic cheer, which was just what I needed at that moment.  He also took the photo above, showing me concentrating on getting up that hill.

Capitol Hill to Finish, miles 23 to 26.2

The shuffle run that I had to do seemed to reduce my running efficiency a lot, so my heart rate rose even though my pace dropped.  It was a serious struggle to keep going, as stiff as my legs were, but I really wanted to finish this thing, hopefully with a BQ time. I stopped a couple of times in Interlaken Park, again massaging and stretching.

Cam and Lara Ferroni, Steph Bonigut and Sean Pickton were waiting for me in Interlaken, giving me yet another very well timed emotional boost.  They said later that I looked pretty good, but that was only because I was happy to see them.  Lara took the photo at right.  I noticed that they had written "Go Tread" in chalk in the street.  I pointed to it, gave them a thumbs up, then noticed the signs they were carrying.  It was definitely a terrific inspiration--thanks guys!

I had to stop for the cramps only once more after I saw them.  Now I was just concentrating on holding my easy pace, knowing that the race was nearly done.  Interestingly, I passed as many runners as passed me... clearly I wasn't the only one struggling.  Many of the half marathon walkers gave us helpful cheers as well.

At the half marathon ten-mile mark, I calculated that I needed to do about a 20-minute 5k to the finish to break three hours for the marathon.  Nope, that wasn't gonna happen, so I continued the mellow pace, wanting to make sure that I did in fact finish.

I was worried going down Fairview that the cramps would come back, since downhills seemed to be the riskiest thing.  So I basically ran with my legs totally straight--at least that is what it felt like to me, although the reality is that I surely bent my knees some.

I don't remember much of the rest before Memorial Stadium except for thinking that I had a good shot to break 3:05 if I could just hang on and not cramp up again.  The last mile seemed to take forever, but finally I got into the stadium.  I saw my faithful support crew once again, and my son David hopped over the crowd barrier to do the last forty yards with me.  That was a really great moment to welcome him onto the course so he could run across the line with me.   He also helped me when he informed me that I needed to finish on the left side of the finish line, not the right side where the half marathon folks were supposed to go.  You can see in the photo at right that I had my arm around him--not for support, just to feel him there.

Post-Race:  For several minutes after I finished, I could barely move because of the cramps and stiffness in my legs.  I grabbed some food and water, then sat in the stands for a while.  I didn't feel tired in my heart and lungs, so my fitness seems OK for a marathon. 

I ended up 7th in my M40-44 age group, which earned me a nice little plaque.  Overall, I was 57th male of 1232 male finishers.  Once I have had a little more time to reflect on the race, I will write up some learnings and assessments.

Finally, here are a couple of post-race photos.  The one on the left was a couple of minutes after I finished, and then much later I am with my father and sons. 

Thanks very, very much to all of the folks who supported me through the race:

• The organizers and volunteers of the Seattle Marathon for putting on a great race, including arranging for some stellar weather.
• Jack Daniels, who doesn't know that he was my virtual running coach for this race.
• My various friends, colleagues and Jill Fry team members who gave me encouragement and advice through the process, especially those who cheered for me on race day.
• My family, both for the support on race day and all your patience leading up to the event while I trained.
• Most importantly, to my wife Lynn for her incredible support through it all.