Mercer Island Half Marathon Race Report

I've lost count, but I think today's Mercer Island Half Marathon - located just east of downtown Seattle - was my 32nd since my first one on November 1, 2003 in Dallas.

Gun Time - 2:24:16
Chip Time - 2:22:44

Yes, the course was hilly, but consider how else I handicapped myself.

Got little sleep, but it wasn't by design. I tried going to bed at 10:30 p.m., knowing that I was going to have to get up around 3 a.m. Not sure that I got to sleep until just before midnight. I shut the alarm off at 2:50 a.m.; however, for some reason, I didn't get up until 3:50 a.m.

I knew that it would take 2 and a half hours to get to where registration would begin at 6:30 a.m. I thought when I woke up late that I would be - well - out of luck; however, when I got online quick, I realized that the race didn't start until 9:15 a.m. and that registration closed at 9 a.m. (I can't imagine volunteers sitting there two and a half hours in the cold to do that. Incredible.)

I think what woke me up was that I was dreaming that I was getting ready for a race and I was taking clothes off. Rather, I was getting warm. Guess that must have been the covers in the bed. :)

I started to head south and before I get to the U.S.-Canada Border, there is an accident on Highway 99 near Surrey, BC and they have the road shut down completely. I have no clue on how else to get to the Border. I ask the RCMP officer and they route me to Highway 10, turn right on King George Highway and then go back to 99. Simple enough. Except when I begin to go south on Highway 10, after about a 1-mile U-turn, there is another accident and a detour that took me some time to find my way to Highway 99 again.

[I later found out while driving back to Vancouver that the accident was caused by a Mustang travelling north in the southbound lanes. What if I had left when I had planned? Hmmm ...]

I eventually made it to Mercer Island at about 7:45 a.m., parked and was seeing nothing but a steady rain. I've run in rain before. I just don't like to start in it. The walkers were getting underway at 7:30 a.m. God bless them. I can't see myself walking that far (to start with.)

I decided to set the alarm on my cell phone, put the seat back and try to sleep until 8:45 a.m. to see what the weather was going to do. I figured the worst that I would be out was the gas money if I didn't run because of the rain.

About 8:15 a.m., I woke up, ran down to the area to register, which was covered, and stewed around for about 10 minutes before finally decide to "just do it." (No, that comment was not sponsored by Nike.) And then, as it was raining before the start of the race, I was thinking, "I can't believe I just paid what I did to run this thing."

So here I am. I haven't run at all, except for maybe on the treadmill the first week home from Alpharetta. I had not done any exercise at all from the second swim that I did in Florida. Let's see that was over a week ago. So what do I do to see if I'm ready? I put myself through a hard hour and a half workout on the elliptical trainer yesterday afternoon - finishing at about 4:30 p.m. The calves were a little sore, but cardio-wise I felt great.

Yes, I know what you're thinking, "That's a recipe for disaster." I e-mailed Rick Cook and Bill Dwyer, told them I was going to go and that anything under 2:24 would be miraculous. I assumed that the course would be hilly, but there was no elevation chart on the race's web site. (I might not have gone on one hand, but I probably would have because I needed to get out of the city.)

The race time temperature was in the mid-40s and probably never got over 47-48 even though the sun came out a little bit in mile 12. But by then, I was already spent and not surprised.

I felt like I had eight really solid miles, despite a killer set of inclines in mile 2 (or maybe 3.) I almost thought they had transported mile 20 in Alpharetta to Washington state. They did. In two pieces. Some there and the hilliest part at the beginning of mile 13. Insane.

The course actually winded around Mercer Island to the south and the course itself was a winding road. If it was certified, it would have been the toughest course to certify because of all of the curves. And even if you tried to run the tangents (in the right hand lane of traffic, which was open), the road was very cambered.

The course also had some elements of Tacoma's Sound to Narrows 12K.

Mile 1 -- 9:52.69
Mile 2 -- 10:16.06
Mile 3-4 -- 21:17.38
Mile 5 -- 10:26.93
Mile 6 -- 11:04.25
Mile 7 -- 10:22.38 (began to think that I was as nimble as the Striders' John Yoder and was running strong.)
Mile 8 -- 10:45.94 (this was a big downhill, but it sucked a lot out of me. I ran it hard and fast, as they said Bill Rodgers would do on downhills. Yes, I wasn't on drugs thinking I was running it like Rodgers. Let's face it you have to dream.)
Mile 9 -- 10:45.27
Mile 10 -- 11:16.11
Mile 11 -- 11:17.05
Mile 12 -- 12:43.09
Mile 13 -- 11:30.79
Last .1 -- 1:06.17

Mile 13, after a steep uphill, was pretty much downhill to the finish line, which was nice. However, both of my calves were cramping. The inside muscle on my right thigh was tender. And back in mile 12, I was completely gassed.

I'm really surprised how I came away with those 11's in mile 10-11.

If I hadn't gotten lazy, even though I can really say that I was needing to recover from the Alpharetta Marathon, I could have run this better. Don't take this as me beating myself up over it because I'm not. My weight is up a little bit. I know it because I can feel it in my clothes. Therefore, I need to work to get it back down. I read recently that for every extra pound that you carry that it slows you down two seconds per mile.

I was doing the math walking back to the car and I really could give Rick some fits if I got down to what he weighed. What's incredible with me is that my weight, even if down a little bit, is still up because of the muscle in my legs ... BUT I still have a lot of mid-section muscle (and not in a good way.)

The guy who won the Sunmart 50-Miler this past December lives up here. His name is Greg Crowther. I don't know what his half marathon PR is; however, he ran this course last year in 1:09. Incredible. He would have been in the 1:05-1:06 range in Houston, maybe a minute less.

[Well, multi-time Seattle Marathon winner and an excellent ultrarunner named Uli Steidl won the race in 1:06 and change. Even more incredible.]

I had a good time. Challenging, but a good race all things considered. I know that there are all kinds of people who would have never tried to do what I did. But they also have different goals than I do.

It is still hard though being away and not doing a race with a friend.