Seattle Half Marathon was on Sunday, and is now in the books. I think I have finally defrosted enough from the race to be able to type this recap of the adventure. This was a race that was more of a battle of my body than my mind. It also reminded me of my own personal strength.
I came into this race with the mentality that I would be fine with any sort of performance, so long as I completed what I started. I had not done much training because of my knee. Luckily I had new shoes to do this race, and I was truly hoping to not have the same knee issues that attacked me during the Everett race. What I did not expect was the bitter cold that had descended upon Seattle during the weekend. Spokane is typically much colder than Seattle, but this weekend was quite the opposite. It had also snowed in Seattle which is something that is very rarely seen in Western Washington. What this had created for the racers on Sunday morning was a special bit of frozen misery.
Just like last year, the race for my group had a start time of 745am. I was there early to be able to check in my items at gear check, do a last minute pit stop, and spend as much time as possible in the warmth of the building near by before heading out into the brisk 27F temperatures for a few hours. The blow horn went off, and so did I, down the cold streets of Downtown Seattle and along a race course I was very familiar with and was excited to see. I could tell that I had started a little too strong and started to slow down slightly, but kept a decent pace. The cold was piercing though, running through my body like a cold saline line placed through an IV. I figured I would be warming up as I continued along the course. Little did I know that this would not be happening until the acupuncture table.
Mile 2 came with the first water station. The road was slick as any water that had spilled was immediately turning to ice. The water in the cups had thin films of ice across the tops of them, similar to a thin sugar crust on creme brulee. At this point I was thankful for some basic science knowledge: salt changes the freezing point of water, and gatorade is contains salt. My water belt was now my only source of liquid refreshment along this journey as I cannot stand ice in my water. I would be okay, but I knew I needed to be very careful and aware of continuing to drink, even when I thought I didn't need anything. Dehydration was going to set in quickly if I went with the idea that I was freezing cold and therefore not thirsty.
I continued along the course and onto the icy I-90 Expressway. It was not until we reached the tunnels that things warmed up slightly, well that is until I was spit out of the tunnels and now off the freeway and traveling along the west edge of Lake Washington. Most of the course was shaded, and so much ice was found in various areas. I still kept pushing on, but I did notice that I was slowing down and my knee, the lovely left knee with the metal screws in it, was beginning to freeze up making movement more and more labored. Not knee instability, but the cold was bone chilling as it hit the screws and this frigged cold was now running down the length of my bone. I kept going though. I did not come all this way to stop just because it was cold. By the halfway point, I looked at my phone to check the time and knew that a race under four hours was not going to happen, and I could have cared less. Insert banana and away I went.
I kept going, and to my surprise I never did hit a wall. Sure, I was freezing, and my knee was freezing up more and more. My hip was now taking over on my left side, overcompensating for the lack of motion that my knee was producing. I had a vanilla flavored bathroom caulk packet at Mile 9, and still kept moving. It was not until Mile 11 that things began to warm up! I saw the sun, and it was shining down on me. Finally warming up slightly, but still not enough to make knee movement happen very well. Didn't matter. In the distance, I could see the Space Needle. This was my landmark to say that I was nearly finished. Follow the freeway, go down the hill, around the corner, up a slight incline, around the last corner and into the stadium to cross the finish line is all I needed to do. And this I did. I tried running, but I was not very successful. I was so cold that I felt as if my running was slower than my walking. I mustered up that last bit of everything in me to run that finish though. Snow and ice covering the shoveled stadium grounds, but I made it and earned that medal. I thought I was going to cry out of sheer relief.
My time: 4:25:00.
Not my best showing. But I still finished! Never again will I consider a race in temperatures less than 36F though as that is the coldest that I have found myself to be truly comfortable in for putting down the miles.
I went to the recovery area and changed into my warm clothes that I brought on purpose. TMI moment: my thighs were so red that they looked wind burned. I warmed up slightly in my toasty clothes, found some snacks, and went in for my acupuncture treatment. Here they worked on my knee some, and covered me in a space blanket as I still was shaking from the cold. Later I went on to massage where I was again warmed up, but they focused on my back and hip. I was, and still am a little sore, but nothing like I was on Sunday. My left calf is a bit tight, and I can feel some tightness in the left thigh as well. Over all, I am doing much better than I have done in most other races. Massage is a must have, and acupuncture is even better!
So would I ever do this race again? The short answer: yes. I enjoy this race. I was spoiled last year with weather in the upper 40s and lower 50s. This year, it never got above 30F. That is ridiculously cold, and not normal for the area. I do plan to do this race again, but right now, my job is to work on healing my knee more from the instability issues I was contending with, and getting back into the idea of training. I have no races planned for the future outside of the Seattle Rock n Roll with Chewy in June. At least we know that it will be so much more comfortable in June compared to what it was Sunday.
With that, since starting this journey, I have completed seven races in 14 months which is an average of a race every two months.
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