Didn't Catch A Dream, But Total Happiness!!!

Marathon Plan - THE WEEK - Seattle Marathon
11/24/08 - 11/30/08
Week Total: 33.6

Marathon week. Got sad news, my older sister Miryam died of cancer in Colombia on Tue 11/25. I haven't seen her since my dad died, 15 years ago. Lamenting distances, lost time and lost communication. Therefore, regrets.

Easy runs on Tue and Thu. Quiet and lonely Thanksgiving spent just watching movies and eating pasta. Expo on Friday. Bib # 1368. Got measured about everything imaginable and got a lot of results that I don't know what to do with them, such as my body fat is 19.4%, meaning I am "underfat"; a physique rating 0f 8 meaning thin and muscular, and a metabolic age of 16, having no clue what this means... If it means that my metabolism works as fast as a teenager's, I take it as a good number.

Saturday did absolutely nothing, just entertained myself watching musicals at home. I slept awesome every night during the Holidays (almost 10 hours each day) with the exception of Saturday, of course, when I slept 7.5 hrs, which was still pretty good.

On Sunday I couldn't have my complete cereal portion, I had nauseas, nerves??? Gun time was scheduled at 8:15 so I left home at 7am for a traveling time of 20 min, however, I forgot to add 40 minutes to get into the parking lot. So, this super type "A" personality had barely 10 minutes to go pottie and be ready... And because of this I couldn't meet my blogger friends Michelle and Eric. National anthem, and off!!!

I dedicated the race to my sister Miryam.

The weather was really nice, 54F / 12C and totally misty and overcast. No RAIN!!! It smell so good. My strategy was to run 1 mile and walk 1 minute, but I forgot. When I was in mile two I remembered it, and even though I said to myself "don't blow it" I decided to walk every two miles. My dream goal was a sub-5, (11:30 min/mile) and I was planning on doing everything possible to achieve it.

Mile 1 - 10:22 - At mile 0.3 I threw away a "disposable" jacket. At mile 0.7 I took my gloves off. I wonder why I had them in first place. 54F/12C and no wind means warm and nice for running, even without sun.

Mile 2 - 10:48 - The water station at mile two was the idea of only a genius (or not!!!). They didn't have cups, they had pitchers and large plastic water dispensers, so they were pouring the water in runners mouths. Can you imagine the mess? At mile two!!! when you have ALL the runners together...Putting that on the side, the first miles were nice running along 5th Avenue. I am a downtown Seattle lover.

Mile 3 - 11:38 - a 100% upward slope. At this point I noticed that my watch was not calibrated. It was doing 0.03 miles shorter, so it meant that my pace was not accurate. To have a sub-5 I needed to do a 11:05 per my watch, but never got it.

Mile 4 - 11:25 - a full mile of a slight downward slope inside Mount Baker Tunnel. It felt warmer... From now on they DID have cups for water...

Mile 5 - 10:48 - The magic of Seattle Marathon appeared on the scene. Lacey Murrow Memorial Bridge, which is the second longest floating bridge in the world, floating magically over the beautiful Lake Washington. The scene was spectacular. The mist covered most of the lake with the exception of the shores. Ducks and other birds could be distinguished through the mist. It was gorgeous. The sun tried to get its way through the clouds, adding a "from heaven above" effect, but the clouds didn't let it.

Mile 6 - 11:32 (turn around on a tunnel by Mercer Island, my first GU), 7 - 11:21 and 8 - 11:19, still on the bridge. Hard on the calves, all concrete. Yachts driving under a section that is not floating...

Mile 9 to Mile 17 - all flat course along Lake Washington. During these 9 miles I never saw the lake; all foggy. Mile 12 my 2nd GU. At mile 13. 1 my watch was off by 0.4 miles and the official marathon time was 2:35, telling me that I'd need to have a heck of negative splits for a sub-5. I still kept the dream goal in mind.

Mile 18 - 11:29 (off) - My 3rd and last GU. My chances were little (or zero?), knowing what was coming ahead in the marathon route.

Mile 19 - 12:01 - The last portion of a flat course, but my legs were feeling it.

Mile 20 - 12:00 - Official marathon time: 3:53. I still have 1 hr 07 minutes to do 6.2 miles, could be possible? Heck, yes if I am fresh, but I wasn't. Now is when the struggle started. A very short (0.15 miles) upward slope beat me.

Mile 21 - 12:49 - Here is where Seattle Marathon runners came to oblivion. Galer, the worst upward slope, totally uncalled for, and then, Madison Street, where we climbed 145 feet in just one mile . It was BRUTAL.

Mile 22- Half going down (I took advantage of gravity, and didn't hurt my legs), and half going up.

Mile 23 - I had in front of me, another hill for a whole mile, through Interlaken Blvd and a park that never ended. When I finished the darn hill, the marathon official time was 4:35 minutes, so it took me 42 minutes to do 3 miles from miles 20 to 23... Chao to my dream. 25 minutes to complete 3.2, almost a 5K when my 5K PR is 29:01. I was not disappointed at all. Even though I was battling it, I felt really happy. I knew I've done my very best.

Mile 24 - A ray of sun showed up. Not from the star, but my son Diego came to cheer me up and to run with me the last 2.2 miles.

Mile 25 - The Space Needle couldn't be seen. Covered still with mist. The flat portions of this mile were as bad as the upward slopes. I was pretty much exhausted.

Mile 26.2 - A terrible and hard downward slope, it hurt. Then flat, then a nice sprint. My watch showed 8:50, but be aware, another hill, for 0.3 mile. And then the entrance into the stadium, I sprinted as hard as I could, and there was this woman that I tried to pass, but she decided I was not going to, we sprinted so hard that the whole stadium was cheering. I heard the announcer mentioning our names. She beat me for five seconds. I crossed the finish line at 5:17:10, for a new PR and 38 minutes improvement compared to last year. Thanks Furman!!! (My watch showed 27 miles!!!)

I Didn't Catch A Dream, But Total Happiness!!!

After the race I could hardly walk. I went to the recovery area with my son and his fiancee, had hot soup, 2 bananas, 2 chocolate milk, and the best of the best: a 15-minute session of stretching and massage. It was amazing, I fell asleep. Then a guy tapped my shoulder, and said, ma'am, my name is James is there anything else you want us to do? I could walk after that like if nothing had happened. Then went with the kids to Bucca Di Beppo, but couldn't eat much (or nothing, I'd say)
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Congratulations to Eric and Michelle B. who did a triple challenge, three marathons back to back (Fri 11/28 Wishbone @ Gig Harbor, Sat 11/29 Ghost of Seattle, and Sun 11/30 Seattle Marathon)
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Thanks to my older sister Miryam for the not so many but very precious times together. God Bless You.

Thanks to my son for running with me the last 2.2 miles, to my daughter Alejandra that is fundamental to my runs, thanks to Shelly for being there at the end of the race, to my hubby for the consistent cold and nice cantaloupe waiting for me at the end of all my SoCal long runs, and thanks to all of you, my runner friends, for your disinterested friendship and support.
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The mist lasted the whole day. I am just a few meters away from the Space Needle and it can't be seen completely...