Green River Marathon in 3:29:47.
1 down, 1 to go. I decided to run this marathon is a rebound after my DNF at Eugene. It's a great run for that purpose since it is a low-key, no frills, FREE marathon. No race numbers. No mile markers. No awards. No traffic control. Just an accurately measured marathon on beautiful trails from Kent to Seattle.
This year there were about 200 runners, which I gathered is a lot for this race.The weather kept things interesting. It was raining at the start, and off and on for the first 10 miles. When it wasn't raining it was muggy. By around mile 16 it started to clear up and the humidity dropped, too.
Since my main goal is to run two marathons in two weekends, I approached this as an easy long run where I didn't have to carry my own fluids. Goal pace was mid 7:40s. To make sure I didn't run too fast I brought my camera so I could stop and take pictures throughout the course. I also stopped at all of the aid stations, which costed me 10-15 seconds on each of those miles. I also had to stop at a couple traffic lights, just for a few seconds, though. I got to run with the race director the first couple miles. He was a little slower than me so it was a good way to start. I ran with a few other people here and there, just to make the miles go by faster. Nevertheless, from mile 14 through 18 I was beginning to wonder if I was still on the course. There was nobody else around. It was a lot of fun running with no real time goals in mind, and just enjoying the easy pace.
I found that I was really in poor shape to run a whole marathon. Since 18 miles is the longest I've run in a couple months I expected to get to mile 20 feeling good and then go down hill from there. That was pretty much true, except I didn't anticipate how bad I'd feel over the last couple miles. I maintained the same pace through 22 or so. Once I started to get really tired, and everything was hurting, I reminded myself that I was planning on doing another in one week, so I backed off the rest of the way.
Afterwards it took me about 17 minutes to recover, as opposed to an hour or two like usual. The finish is across from Spuds Fish 'n chips. I passed on that, but enjoyed a big bowl of clam chowder!
I wish I had two weeks between these races. I'm pretty sure the second one would be a lot easier, just from the benefits of having run 26 miles, as well as being fully recovered. Instead, I anticipate not being completely rested. I'll play it by ear. I will probably take it even easier than I did today. My garmin is in the other room, so I'll get the splits later.
Mile - time - split
01 - 0:07:51 - 7:51
02 - 0:15:59 - 8:09
03 - 0:23:47 - 7:48
04 - 0:31:35 - 7:48
05 - 0:39:25 - 7:50
06 - 0:47:02 - 7:37
07 - 0:54:53 - 7:51
08 - 1:02:38 - 7:45
09 - 1:10:12 - 7:33
10 - 1:17:44 - 7:32
11 - 1:25:33 - 7:49
12 - 1:33:19 - 7:47
13 - 1:40:54 - 7:35
14 - 1:48:40 - 7:45
15 - 1:56:21 - 7:42
16 - 2:04:02 - 7:41
17 - 2:11:56 - 7:53.5
18 - 2:19:48 - 7:52
19 - 2:27:23 - 7:35
20 - 2:35:13 - 7:50
21 - 2:42:53 - 7:40
22 - 2:50:54 - 8:01
23 - 2:58:58 - 8:04
24 - 3:07:22 - 8:24
At this point my watch got stopped. Not sure of mile 25 split.
26 - 8:32
26.22 3:29:47 - 22.25 | 